The Intrepid and the Hornet are the third and fourth vessels of the Essex class, numbered cV-11 and cV-12 respectively. Originally, these two aircraft carriers were planned to be in service in 25 years, but with the acceleration of the course of the war, the US Navy failed several times in the Pacific, and the six aircraft carriers were sunk one after another, the United States had to speed up the construction of the "Essex" class aircraft carriers, advanced the service time of the two aircraft carriers to the end of 24, and approved the large-scale construction of the "Essex" class aircraft carrier plan, starting from the third batch, it is to build six aircraft at a time.

Unlike the Tang Empire, the warships of the Tang Empire Navy were mainly named, and then numbered. For example, the number of the aircraft carrier "Taizu" is 5O1, the number "5" indicates the aircraft carrier, and the "first one" in the back. In the normal case, it is common to refer only to the name, not to the number, and only in the literature, in order to avoid confusion and error, the number is used to describe it in detail.

The warships of the U.S. Navy are primarily numbered and secondarily named. For example, the "Essex" has the number cV-9, where "cV" is the fleet carrier, and "the ninth." Most of the time in the U.S. Navy uses its number, so there are many warships in the U.S. Navy that have the same name, for example, the name "Bumblebee" was once used in the number netetbsp; The two carriers did not go to Midway, but turned around on the way back, and returned directly to Pearl Harbor escorted by several destroyers, and entered Pearl Harbor on December 29, where they were immediately towed into the dock of the U.S. Navy Ship Repair Yard for a complete overhaul. Previously, Pearl Harbor had only one dock that could accommodate warships of more than 20,000 tons, but after the outbreak of the war, the number of large warships that needed to be repaired increased dramatically (there was a competition between the USS Enterprise and the USS Hornet for docks), so the US Navy added a large dock here, and it was built in October, just in time to provide maintenance assistance for the aircraft carrier.

The wounds suffered by both aircraft carriers were not light. But none of them are lethal, and this is mainly due to the excellent design of the "Essex" class aircraft carrier. For example, the armored flight deck, the reinforced armored column plate (the thickness of the waterline is more than 1oo mm, the thickness of the main engine bulkhead is nearly 8o mm), the multi-compartment layout, etc., all of which greatly improve the survivability of the aircraft carrier.

The "Valiant" received four bombs and one torpedo during the battle, although on the way back to Pearl Harbor. More than 3ooo tons of water have entered, the aircraft carrier has tilted several degrees to the left and lost one-third of its power, but the aircraft carrier still returned to its home port strongly, and after filling the loopholes and pumping out the seawater in the aircraft carrier, it was dragged into the dock (if the seawater is not pumped out, the dock will not be able to bear the weight of the aircraft carrier).

The situation of the "Hornet" was not much better, although the aircraft carrier avoided all the torpedoes during the battle, but received three bombs. The most serious wound was a hit on an aircraft carrier lift.

The bomb that exploded under the hangar not only killed hundreds of crew members, but also destroyed half of the aircraft carrier's motors. As a result, in the subsequent damage management rescue, because there was not enough power supply to immediately extinguish the fire, one-third of the cabin on the aircraft carrier was burned down, and a large number of officers and men were burned alive.

After being docked, American engineers estimated that the two carriers would take at least four months to repair, and Nimitz gave them only two months, and that was from the end of December, the day the aircraft returned to Pearl Harbor (the Intrepid was towed into the dock five days after returning to Pearl Harbor). Fortunately, at that time, the United States was building the "Essex" class aircraft carriers in large quantities, and there was a large supply of spare parts. In order to be able to repair the two aircraft carriers within two months, the U.S. Navy mobilized several transport ships to ship all the spare parts stored in the East Coast shipyard to Pearl Harbor. In addition, a group of skilled workers was mobilized from the shipyards in the rear to help repair the aircraft carrier. In the end, this led to the construction of two of the third batch of aircraft carriers being extended by a month, but it is very cost-effective, at least at the beginning of 25, the US Navy still has two aircraft carriers ready to be commissioned.

In fact, the construction and maintenance of aircraft carriers test the industrial strength of a country. An aircraft carrier is small to a screw. As large as a catapult, there are tens of thousands of parts, consisting of millions, if not tens of millions. If nothing else, if you classify these parts and organize them into a book, they are all thousands of pages thick. It can be said that without a strong industrial base, it is really impossible to build an aircraft carrier, at least not a good aircraft carrier. In Germany, for example, the Zeppelin took five years from design to construction, and it is still parked on the slipway. The Persian Empire also built several small aircraft carriers before the war. And European powers such as France have not built their aircraft carriers until now. At that time, there were only three countries that really had the strength to build aircraft carriers on a large scale: the Tang Empire, the United States, and Great Britain. Among them, the British aircraft carriers are very different from the aircraft carriers of the Tang Empire and the United States, and there are not many of them. Therefore, it is the Tang Empire and the United States that really put aircraft carriers in the first place.

Judging from the plans of the two sides to build aircraft carriers, it can actually reflect how strong the real estate industry of the two countries is. The "Lake" class aircraft carriers were built four in the first appropriation, 8 in 23 (later increased to 1O), and 12 in 24.

Almost at the same time, the U.S. Navy also began to allocate funds for the construction of "Essex" class aircraft carriers, of which the allocation in 23 years reached 11 (actually 4), the original allocation of 2 in 24 years, after the outbreak of the war changed to 1o, and the allocation in 25 years reached 8. Perhaps these figures will make people feel that building an aircraft carrier is as easy as building blocks, but in fact this directly reflects the strong industrial base of the two countries, not to mention anything else, the tens of thousands of tons of high-quality steel needed to build an aircraft carrier are not just any country can get it.

On the battlefield, what is fought is the will, morale, fighting spirit, and tactical advantages of the soldiers on both sides.

Outside the battlefield, what is fought is the overall strength of the country, especially the industrial and scientific and technological strength. Before the outbreak of the war, who could have predicted that aircraft carriers would dominate the seas, and at the same time, who would have thought that when the country's industrial machinery was fully operational, aircraft carriers would be built in dozens, not as in the past. It's hard to afford to build a few ships.

Maybe the Japanese are more rampant, but by no means terrible, Japan has no foundation, and if it does not achieve an absolute victory in the first battle, then Japan is doomed. The United States is different, the United States thought a lot before entering the war, and the decision to enter the war was also very cautious, which can be seen from the industrial adjustment of the United States. Americans are also not arrogant. Knowing very well the gap between it and the Tang Empire, he has always behaved cautiously on the battlefield and does not dream of a quick victory. Such an opponent, and an opponent with a strong foundation, is the most formidable opponent.

While the two aircraft carriers were still under repair, the U.S. Navy received a second gift, the "Independence" class light aircraft carrier, which was converted from the "Cleveland"-class cruiser. The first to be renovated, the Independence, will be commissioned at the end of the year, and the next two ships, the Princeton and the Bellawwood, will be commissioned by March, and will then rush to the Pacific Theater to fight on the ground. The degree of transformation of this class of aircraft carriers far exceeded the estimates of the intelligence department of the Tang Empire.

The US Navy also decided to convert the "Cleveland"-class light cruisers into light aircraft carriers as a last resort. After the First Battle of the Marianas, the "Lexington" and the "Wasp" were sunk. The other four carriers were all wounded. The US Navy lost all its aircraft carriers at once. The service time of the "Essex" class, as well as the degree of service, simply cannot meet the needs of the navy. Therefore, the United States decided to look for a more suitable warship. Transforming it into an aircraft carrier, as a result, nine light cruisers of the "Cleveland" class were selected.

"Independence" was formerly the cruiser "Amsterdam", the renovation of which began in February 24 (according to the intelligence of the Don Empire, it began in June) and was commissioned before the end of the year. The other eight ships are also being renovated and will be the first to be completed, so these nine light aircraft carriers are also named "Independent" class light aircraft carriers, and their numbers are from netbsp; The aircraft carrier of this class has a standard displacement of 1o662 tons and a full load displacement of 1475o tons. The total length is 19o meters, the width is 22 meters, and the flight deck is 166 meters long. The width is 33.25 meters, and the average draft is 6.4 meters. Four steam turbines, four boilers, four-shaft propulsion, maximum output of 1o million horsepower, maximum degree of 31 knots, 15 knots of cruising capacity of 13ooo nautical miles. The defensive armament was two 127-mm anti-aircraft guns, 16 4o-mm anti-aircraft guns, and 1o 2o-mm anti-aircraft guns. In general, 45 fighters are carried. One of the squadrons is a squadron of ground fighters and a squadron of bombers (mostly sBd). There are nearly 16oo officers and men (including aviation personnel) on the ship.

In addition to the degree, the "Independence" class is inferior to the large fleet carriers in all respects, and the staffing is on the high side (the "Essex" class has only about 3ooo people, and the number of carrier aircraft is "Independent"

level nearly twice as much). But the most important performance of the "Independent" class is there, which is enough to keep up with the large fleet aircraft carriers and not be left alone. In addition, the appearance of the "Independence" class to a large extent makes up for the lack of aircraft carriers in the US Navy, which can be regarded as a very successful aircraft carrier, a product of war.

While the Tang Empire was creating one industrial miracle after another, pushing one aircraft carrier after another off the slipway and incorporating it into the battle sequence of the Navy, the Americans were also creating miracles. When the American war machine moves, I am afraid that even the Tang Empire will not dare to underestimate this opponent. Not to mention anything else, so many "Essex" class aircraft carriers are being built on slipways, nine light aircraft carriers are being put into service for 6 times, and the Americans are renovating them with merchant ships, or a large number of newly built escort aircraft carriers are being launched on 6 times. These are all things that the Tang Empire does not dare to take easy at all. This was the most formidable opponent the Tang Empire had encountered in its centuries of world domination, and it was also the most difficult opponent to defeat.

When Tan Renhao returned to Naha Port, more and more news came in. The main thing is still the case with the repair work of two aircraft carriers of the American fleet. By about 10 February, the convoy carrying spare parts needed to repair the aircraft carrier arrived at Pearl Harbor, and Imperial intelligence determined that the two aircraft carriers, which had been badly damaged in the Second Battle of Wake Island, would be repaired in late March and immediately incorporated into the naval battle sequence.

"!" Hao Dongjue gritted his teeth, as if he wanted to rush to Pearl Harbor and swallow the two aircraft carriers in his stomach, but he didn't have such a big belly. "We should have let our cruisers kill them in the first place, and the bombs couldn't solve these two aircraft carriers, so we used shells to kill them-"

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head, he really thought about this problem at the beginning, but at that time, the distance between the two fleets was more than 2oo nautical miles, and the degree of the two aircraft carriers was more than 2o knots, and it took more than 2o hours to catch up, and after more than 2o hours, the two aircraft carriers entered the cover range of the shore-based bombers on Midway, and the cruiser was killed.

"Don't worry, they can escape the first day of junior high school, but they can't escape fifteen, there is still more time, maybe, next time they will not have such good luck to drive back to the shipyard."

"Yes, Ren Hao, I heard that the marshal is going to make new arrangements for us?"

Tan Renhao did not answer this question, but immediately changed the subject. "After the officers and men return to the 6th Army, let everyone be active, maybe we will be sent to the Southwest Pacific Theater next time."

Hao Dongjue nodded, and when he was about to ask, Tan Renhao left the command cabin. On the issue of flexible configuration of the fleet, Tan Renhao basically agreed, but he didn't want to discuss it too much.

A few days later, a new piece of information arrived: an aircraft carrier formation had entered Pearl Harbor, and it was certain that there was at least one fast carrier in it, but it was impossible to determine the ship's side number. The submarine, which now had this aircraft carrier group, was observed with a periscope at dusk, and only for half a minute, then it made an emergency dive, and after getting rid of the destroyer's blow, sent a telegram the next day.

The battle alarm sounded immediately, although it is not yet certain what kind of aircraft carrier it is, but it is definitely an aircraft carrier, and it is an aircraft carrier with bombers on board, then, this is a huge threat. After receiving the news, Tan Renhao immediately went to the Naha Headquarters, waiting for more information from the Navy Command.