When Tan Renhao came to the Navy Commander's Office, Nie Renfeng and Gan Yongxing were discussing the United States' entry into the war.

"Take care of yourself, pour what you want to drink, and there's wine in the cupboard."

Nie Renfeng smiled and nodded at Tan Renhao: "Maybe now is not the time to celebrate, so I'll save the champagne until the day of victory." ”

Tan Renhao poured himself a glass of wine, he was also tired, drinking some low-strength wine would help relieve fatigue.

"We're waiting for a declaration of war from Lord Xiang."

Gan Yongxing asked Tan Renhao to sit on the sand next to him, and then pointed to the huge radio on the coffee table. In half an hour, the Prime Minister will read out the declaration of war against the United States. This is not a declaration of one of us, but of all the members of the Confederates. The German and Persian Empires were to announce the declaration of war at the same time. ”

"It's the middle of the night in Germany and Persia."

Tan Renhao frowned slightly.

"The official declaration of war will be co-delivered by the diplomatic representatives of the Allied bloc at noon today, at 9 a.m. Tehran time."

Nie Renfeng explained: "Now this is just a declaration of war against the people in the country. According to the relevant agreement, this time we will declare war on the United States as a group of countries, not for each country to declare war on the United States alone. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, he knew about this before he knew about it, this was an effective way to strengthen the "Tehran Declaration" and the status of the "Allied Group".

"Moreover, after the declaration of war against the United States, a supplementary declaration of war will be made by the Allied bloc to all hostile countries."

Gan Yongxing handed a cigarette to Tan Renhao: "The war will become a war between groups of countries, not between countries." We have also received information that the President of the United States has already contacted the brains of several other hostile countries yesterday, and now our enemies are also working on related aspects, and we will probably set up a military alliance similar to the 'Allied bloc'. ”

"These are all politicians' business, how to play this political chess game. Not a soldier should be concerned. ”

Nie Renfeng forked the double ship: "Our task is to defeat the enemy, every enemy in the war." The task at hand is that we must determine the actions of the US Navy and control the situation in the early stages of the war, and seize the initiative in the war. Of course, I'm the commander of the Navy, but I think you two are better equipped to do the job. ”

Tan Renhao was surprised. Because he thought that after the outbreak of war, the headmaster would send him to the fleet, and now, listening to the headmaster, his hope of being able to sail is still very slim!

"The biggest trouble now is that we haven't fully determined the specific location of the two US aircraft carrier task forces."

Gan Yongxing sighed and said, "I just received information that a task force with at least one aircraft carrier passed through the Panama Canal yesterday. In addition, another aircraft carrier group, which had been on standby in San Francisco, was also on its way to Pearl Harbor. Now all six fleet aircraft carriers of the US Navy are deployed in the Pacific region......"

"If these two pieces of information are reliable, then at least one point can be proven."

Tan Renhao grasped a place that Gan Yongxing had overlooked. "There are only four aircraft carriers in the two task forces that are currently operating outside."

Gan Yongxing nodded. "Intelligence should be reliable. Just ......"

"The most important thing for the chief of staff now is to be clear about the specific location of these two task forces and their specific configuration."

Tan Renhao pinched the cigarette butt. After pondering for a while, he said: "There are three configurations of the two task forces, one is to distribute them equally, and each fleet has two aircraft carriers. And the result is that if any fleet has ever had the strength of our carrier fleet, the Americans would not be stupid enough to do so. Second, Sany allocates that one of the task forces has three aircraft carriers, and the other has only one aircraft carrier. This will at least ensure that a task force will have a strength similar to that of our aircraft carrier fleet. Finally, there is the four-zero formulation. One fleet has four aircraft carriers, while the other does not have aircraft carriers. This arrangement is very irrational and very dangerous, and without an aircraft carrier, not only will it not be able to complete its reconnaissance mission, but it will also be easily attacked. ”

"And what do you mean?"

Nie Renfeng's expression became serious.

"What would they do if the U.S. fleet first revealed the location of our two aircraft carrier fleets, or the specific location of one of the aircraft carrier fleets, such as the specific area of operation of the first task force?"

Tan Renhao extinguished the cigarette butt. "If I were the commander of this U.S. fleet, I would have rushed to attack and concentrate the bombing maneuvers on the three aircraft carriers at the first opportunity, and a devastating blow would completely ineffective the first task force before the first task force could react. Subsequently, it can be decided whether to carry out supplementary bombing or not, depending on the situation. And losing the lead in an aircraft carrier engagement is equivalent to losing more than half. The worst result was the destruction of all three aircraft carriers of Task Force 1 and the loss of any damage to the American fleet. Perhaps this is unlikely, and the most likely is a three-to-one outcome, but of course this prediction will not be too accurate. But in any case, there is a ninety percent chance that our losses will be higher than those of the American fleet. And with the arrival of the two new aircraft carriers, the US Navy will have the number of aircraft carriers we have in half a month, and we may only have the second task force left, fighting alone, and then the initiative will fall into the hands of the United States, and the situation will be extremely unfavorable to us! ”

Nie Renfeng and Gan Yongxing both became serious, and this possibility exists, and it is very big. Although the commander and chief of staff of the First Task Force have had the opportunity to train for more than half a year, they have not actually commanded naval battles between aircraft carriers, and they are extremely unfamiliar with aircraft carrier battles (Tan Renhao, they have not studied aircraft carrier tactics in the military academy, while the Imperial Naval Officer Academy only added an aircraft carrier tactics course to the course of the 198th batch of cadets three years after Tan Renhao's graduation, because there are no teaching materials and enough combat examples, this is only an elective course), if the US Navy knows this (it is extremely probable, although the personnel transfer of a country's navy is a secret, it is by no means an unobtainable secret), then it will definitely find the first task force。

"The last time we received a message related to the US aircraft carrier fleet was three days ago."

Gan Yongxing put down his wine glass, and he was not in the mood to taste the wine, "The submarine that replied to the telegram has not yet returned, and the US fleet appeared in the waters between the Caroline Islands and the New Guinea Islands. There is no mention of aircraft carriers in the content of the telegram, only large warships, and there are quite a few warships. Now we can't be sure at all whether this is the US task force or not, let alone whether there are aircraft carriers in this fleet. How many aircraft carriers are there. Now that we have lost contact with this submarine, maybe it has already been sunk. ”

Tan Renhao took a cigarette and walked to the map of the Pacific Ocean on the wall. This piece of information came back three days ago, and at that time, Tan Renhao found Gan Yongxing, and then there were so many things, and Tan Renhao handed over this matter to a staff officer to continue to follow. He also regretted that he had ignored such an important clue.

"Our submarine reconnaissance line is already in place."

Gan Yongxing walked over: "There are eighteen submarines between the island of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The second is south of the Caroline. There are twenty-four submarines. The last time the U.S. fleet was located about 15o nautical miles from the second submarine reconnaissance line. ”

There are two red lines on the map, each with small dots on the red line, which indicates the submarine cordon, and the aggravated red dot indicates the submarine deployed on this cordon. Each submarine has a fixed patrol range. Under normal circumstances, the submarine will dive during the day, and at regular intervals (usually half an hour, the danger zone will be extended to an hour), float to the periscope depth, and search the surrounding sea area with the periscope. At night the submarine will float to recharge the battery. and giving officers and soldiers a chance to breathe fresh air. And each submarine will sail according to the patrol route (usually in the shape of an "8"). The patrol range varies from 2o to 5o nautical miles. In sea areas where there is no way to send patrol aircraft, submarines are the only reconnaissance force, which is also one of the most important tasks of submarines in warfare.

Both submarine cordons are targeted. Thereinto. The cordon between the Solomon Islands and the island of New Guinea is mainly in the direction of Australia. The US aircraft carrier task force has disappeared from the Pacific Ocean for more than a month, and it is completely possible to go to the eastern or southern waters of Australia to stand by first, and this is the air area of the Tang Emperor's reconnaissance force. The submarine cordon in the Caroline Islands is aimed at the Central Pacific Ocean. The Caroline Islands and the Marshall Islands are all spheres of influence of the United States, and the US Navy's ground aircraft carrier task force can completely hide in these waters and then seek opportunities to move westward.

Tan Renhao looked carefully at the map. He is very familiar with submarine vigilance tactics, especially in the past few months, and he has been strengthening his ability as a senior staff officer. Rational arrangements and the use of submarine reconnaissance forces are of great use in naval warfare. Now the Imperial Navy has deployed four submarine cordons. In addition to these two in the southwest Pacific, there is one between Midway and the Hawaiian Islands (in fact, Midway belongs to the Hawaiian Islands and is its westernmost island), and the last one is between the Aleutian Islands and the Kuril Islands. These four submarine cordons were all set up for the U.S. task force, and the submarines that carried out reconnaissance patrols were the sirens outside the Imperial Gate.

"Any questions?"

Nie Renfeng also walked over.

Tan Renhao shook his head slightly, and then supported his chin with his hand. "Is the headmaster's submarine cordon completely reliable?"

Nie Renfeng glanced at Tan Renhao and did not answer this extremely simple question. No cordon is completely reliable. Just as any safe lock is not reliable.

"I think the U.S. fleet has broken through these two warning lines that we have set up, or is maneuvering to break through these two submarine warning lines."

Tan Renhao picked up a wooden stick and pointed it on the Caroline Islands: "The deployment of this cordon is not tight, and in order to avoid the US patrol planes, the submarine floats for at least an hour during the day, and is also very cautious when sailing at night. I'm afraid that most submarine captains will choose a safe route rather than follow orders exactly. In this way, there is a stretch of sea between Palau (a small archipelago in the middle of the Caroline) and Yap Island, which is inaccessible to submarines. In addition, we have only three submarines deployed in the western part of the Caroline Islands to the Philippines, and the main vigilance is carried out by patrol aircraft. Both places have serious vulnerabilities. ”

Nie Renfeng nodded slightly, these loopholes are enough to kill.

"It's the windiest and roughest season in the western Pacific."

Tan Renhao put down the stick: "The attendance rate of the patrol aircraft is very problematic, and it is difficult to carry out normal patrol tasks in bad sea conditions. The activity of submarines will also be affected. Maybe the American fleet is right under the noses of reconnaissance planes, maybe it will pass by our submarines, and who knows? ”

"Is there any news about the chief of staff in the past two days?"

Nie Renfeng looked at Gan Yongxing.

Gan Yongxing immediately shook his head. "No intelligence was received about the American fleet."

"Could it be that the American fleet disappeared from the waters of the Caroline?"

Nie Renfeng's face immediately sank: "Immediately dispatch a group of long-range patrol planes over, and call for all the submarines in the nearby waters that have no combat missions to look for the US fleet!" ”

Gan Yongxing immediately went to pick up the phone, and Tan Renhao also returned to the sand. Nie Renfeng made a deployment transfer at this time, maybe it was too late. The U.S. fleet is looking for Task Force 1, and Tan Renhao is almost certain that there are at least three aircraft carriers in this U.S. fleet. The only hope now is that the location of Task Force 1 will not be revealed.

"Headmaster......

Nie Renfeng glanced at Gan Yongxing, who put down the phone, and then sat back as well. "Ren Hao, now we have to ensure the safety of Task Force 1, do you have any ideas?"

Tan Renhao realized that he was starting to think that the withdrawal of Task Force 1 might be too extreme. He shook his head and said, "Now we can only believe that Rear Admiral Jiang Zhongmin can grasp the situation well, and this is also our chance to annihilate the US task force." ”

Nie Renfeng nodded, and then called Gan Yongxing over. Tan Renhao's remarks are to the point, and this is both a danger and an opportunity, and if we can change the unfavorable situation and take out the US task force, then it will be a great victory.