Who was the best fleet commander in the Imperial Navy during the Great War? This issue is not controversial, and no one can take Tan Renhao's place. However, after the war, many war historians had different views, and the opinions of these people were surprisingly unanimous, that is, Tan Renhao could not be regarded as just a "fleet commander", and to a large extent, Tan Renhao's responsibilities were far greater than that of a fleet commander. In addition to Tan Renhao, the best fleet commander is not a "professional" admiral like Lei Shaoqing, Chang Jianxin, and even Jiang Zhongmin, but two other admirals from the side, these two are Hao Dongjue and Huang Xiaotian.

Relatively speaking, because of the inextricable relationship between Hao Dongjue and Tan Renhao, for example, he is Tan Renhao's brother-in-law, and he has cooperated with Tan Renhao for several years, most of the key battles are commanded by the two of them, in addition, Hao Dongjue served as the commander of the fleet late, etc., although Hao Dongjue's unique ability in commanding aviation operations is recognized, but after the war, his reputation as the commander of the imperial naval fleet is not very loud. When anyone mentions Hao Dongjue, they will never forget to talk about Renhao who helped him succeed. Similarly, when anyone mentions Tan Renhao, they will never forget Hao Dongjue, who helped him win many major victories. In other words, Hao Dongjue has always existed in the shadow of Tan Renhao, and he has hardly gotten rid of Tan Renhao's influence on him.

Although Huang Xiaotian was also born in the First Task Force, and he started from the grassroots level, he successively fought with Tan Renhao and Lei Shaoqing, two fleet commanders. But in all respects. Huang Xiaotiandi's independence is quite large. From the beginning when Nie Renfeng promoted him to the commander of the fleet, to the end of his fame, Huang Xiaotian almost fought alone. In other words, Huang Xiaotian was not influenced by Tan Ren Haoduo, and more importantly, the Fourth Task Force was almost single-handedly established. And this fleet can become the Empire No. 2 aircraft carrier task force, and all the credit can be counted on Huang Xiaotian's head. This is where he is most successful, and at the same time, it is also where he is more valuable than Hao Dongjue.

In the evaluation of Huang Xiaotian after the war, there are two words that are used the most, one is "genius", and the other is "diligence". These two points are inseparable. Huang Xiaotian has the talent to become the commander of the fleet, relative to Hao Dongjue. His abilities were more comprehensive, and while he was proficient in aviation operations, Huang Xiaotian spent a lot of energy on familiarizing himself with seafaring operations, and in addition, dealing with numerous fleet affairs. He also showed his talent. And his diligence is even more difficult to ignore, from the formation of the Fourth Task Force at the beginning, to the tireless service of the fleet and the fight on the battlefield for several years, these are all manifestations of diligence. The most worth mentioning is that Huang Xiaotian has never had a suitable partner, Jiang Zhongmin is just a temporary cameo partner, and most of the time, Huang Xiaotian is the soul mission of the Fourth Task Force. And he was the only commander of Task Force 4, the chief of staff of the fleet for most of the time. It's just a "chief of staff".

Of course, among Huang Xiaotian's many evaluations, the most positive is his aviation command ability. To a large extent, Huang Xiaotian's ability to command the fleet's aviation operations was by no means inferior to Hao Dongjue's. Both are from aviation! And they all worked in the position of aviation combat staff for a long time, and this is what distinguishes them from other fleet commanders. But the most affirmative thing is that Huang Xiaotian's ability to "stand out from the crowd" is his accurate judgment and grasp of the battle situation, and this, throughout the entire war, I am afraid that only Tan Renhao is above it.

The first time Huang Xiaotian showed accurate battlefield judgment was in the "Battle of the Coral Sea". In this battle, the Fourth Task Force accurately played its role, and from beginning to end, Huang Xiaotian accurately understood Tan Renhao's campaign intentions, as well as the methods and steps of the campaign, and accurately appeared in the most correct position. What is even more commendable is that in the later stage of the campaign, the Fourth Task Force also "exceeded" its combat mission and made an important contribution in the annihilation of the 31st Task Force.

At that time, the coordination between the 1st Task Force and the 4th Task Force could be described as "flowing water", and the commanders of the two fleets had very little contact in the early stages of the campaign, but both clearly understood each other's intentions and adopted extremely correct tactical arrangements, which laid the foundation for the final victory. Although most people believe that the victory in this battle was the result of Tan Renhao's command, and most of the credit should be attributed to Tan Renhao, from another point of view, without the cooperation of the Fourth Task Force, the First Task Force would not have been able to win the victory, and would even have been completely defeated by the enemy. Therefore, Huang Xiaotian's contribution is indelible, even if he plays a supporting role, it is also an extremely important, almost more equal supporting role.

As with the 2nd Task Force stationed in the Central Pacific Theater before, for the most part, the 4th Task Force was the "special" fleet in the Southwest Pacific Theater. In the early and middle stages of the entire Pacific War, the US Navy's counterattacks were almost always concentrated in the Central Pacific direction, and the number of counterattacks carried out in the southwest Pacific direction was quite limited. Therefore, with the exception of the "Battle of the Coral Sea," most of Task Force IV's combat missions were ground support, supporting the Marines in capturing islands in the southwestern Pacific. Compared with the magnificent naval battle, "ground support" seems very ordinary and ordinary, and this is not a battle to obtain military merits, but a battle of silent dedication. Because of this, for a large part of the time, the Fourth Task Force did not have too eye-catching performances, but only made its due contribution on the battlefield.

It can be said that among the many fleet commanders at that time, Huang Xiaotian was the most rootless, the most capitalless, and the least valued one. Not to mention anything else, just from the perspective of interpersonal relationships, Huang Xiaotian is far inferior to several other fleet commanders. Tan Renhao, Jiang Zhongmin, Chang Jianxin, Lei Shaoqing and others are all Nie Renfeng's direct disciples and are the objects of Nie Renfeng's key cultivation. Hao Dongjue is also Tan Renhao's brother-in-law. It is often recommended that the new and Lei Shaoqing's iron buddies, and there is also the support of Liao Hanxiang, Wu Qiyu and many other generals, and Luo Yunchong and other young admirals are also his buddies. Relatively speaking, the only thing Huang Xiaotian can rely on is Tan Renhao. Lei Shaoqing, Chang Jianxin, Hao Dongjue, these young generals from the Fourth Task Force. From this point of view, when Huang Xiaotian became the commander of the Fourth Task Force, perhaps the fate of the Fourth Task Force was already sealed.

If it had been someone else, I'm afraid I would have been depressed a long time ago. The internal struggle of the Imperial Navy can be regarded as a severe test, if not even the internal struggle can be handled. So how do you go to the front line to defeat the enemy? Huang Xiaotian did not get depressed, perhaps from the first day he became the commander of the fleet. He realized that the Fourth Task Force was just a piece of chicken ribs, but he did not give up, nor did he deal with it passively. Rather, it is actively challenging all the difficulties encountered and overcoming all enemies, not only on the battlefield, but also on the battlefield, the old system of the Imperial Navy. At this time, Huang Xiaotian needs not only his outstanding talent, but more often, what he needs is persistence and diligence. It is tireless efforts and more than others. And this is another point where Huang Xiaotian has received many praises, his diligence!

From the beginning of the formation of Task Force 4, the position of this fleet was awkward. At the beginning, the main reason why Nie Renfeng decided to set up the Fourth Task Force was to provide a permanent fleet to the Southwest Pacific Theater, and with the start of the ground offensive in the Southwest Pacific Theater, it was definitely necessary to have more than three aircraft carrier task forces operating on the battlefield. This can be seen from the deployment of the local fleet at that time: the second task force was stationed in the Pacific theater, the fourth task force was stationed in the southwest Pacific theater, and the first task force was a mobile fleet, which could support the two theaters at any time. For more than two years, Task Force 4 was active in the Southwest Pacific and provided strong support to the Marine Corps.

Perhaps, no one would have imagined that after more than two years of tempering, the Fourth Task Force has taken on a completely new look, and when the Second Task Force was severely damaged, the Fifth Task Force was almost completely wiped out, and the First Task Force rushed to the Indian Ocean, only the Fourth Task Force was supporting the battle situation in the Pacific Ocean. More importantly, in the past two years or so, the Fourth Task Force has produced a large number of outstanding officers and men, and the proportion of its veterans is even higher than that of the First Task Force. In particular, when all aircraft carrier task forces have been restored to the three-aircraft carrier fleet, the personnel quality advantage of the fourth task force is very obvious.

At that time, the proportion of veterans of the 1st Task Force Air Force was about 70 percent, while the 4th Task Force reached 7 out of 5 percent. In addition, among the top 50 air combat aces of the four carrier-based aviation brigades of the Navy at that time, 18 were in the Fourth Task Force, which was only two less than the First Task Force and three more than the Second Task Force. Among the top 100 bombing aces, the 4th Task Force had 32 people, only one less than the 1st Task Force and seven more than the 2nd Task Force. In terms of officers and men in the fleet, the proportion of veterans in the First Task Force was only 65 percent, while the 4 Task Force exceeded 70 percent. It can be said that, in addition to being a little less than the 1st Task Force in terms of the best pilots, the quality of the personnel of the 4th Task Force is definitely above that of the 1st Task Force!

The most important thing is that the staff officers of the Fourth Task Force Command at this time are all veterans, and most of them followed Huang Xiaotian when the Fourth Task Force was formed. In several other fleets, on the contrary, the situation is not so rosy. The staff officers of the First Task Force have changed back and forth several times, not to mention anything else, and now the cooperation between Tan Renhao and Zheng Guanhua is not very good. Not to mention the second task force, although Hao Dongjue and Wei Dongbei have cooperated for several years, the staff officers under the two are not very good. The situation of the Fifth Task Force was even worse, and Jiang Zhongmin did not have a few outstanding staff officers under him. The fleet command is the brain of the entire fleet, and whether or not the fleet commander can smoothly command the fleet in combat depends to a great extent on the speed at which the staff officers of the fleet command can convey orders and whether they can accurately and promptly adjust the fleet's actions during operations. Therefore, to a large extent, the criterion for judging the combat effectiveness of a fleet is to see whether the fleet has a sufficiently good staff team.

In addition to the personnel advantage, the 4th Task Force had another advantage, that is, the 4th Task Force had the best fleet of warships in good condition at that time. After Task Force 2 arrived in the Southwest Pacific Theater, Task Force 4 was given a long break to recuperate, and most of its ships were serviced and repaired. Subsequently, when accepting the third aircraft carrier battle group, the Fourth Task Force was given another short opportunity to recuperate, and at this time a batch of new warships were replaced, and those "Rui Beast" class large air defense cruisers were incorporated into the Fourth Task Force at this time. Of course, the intact rate of warships is also directly related to the quality of the officers and men of the fleet; a high-quality contingent of officers and men can often enable a warship to maintain good combat effectiveness for a long time, while a contingent of new recruits will cause excessive wear and tear on the battleship and shorten the interval between maintenance.

It can be said that under the circumstances at that time, taking into account various factors, the combat effectiveness of the Fourth Task Force was far superior to that of the other task forces, even if it was a little worse than that of the First Task Force. This is the most important advantage in Huang Xiaotian's hands, and it is also an important factor for him to dare to make a guarantee to fight against the US Fifth Fleet alone.

While the other four task forces gathered in the southwest Pacific to support ground forces in attacking the Australian mainland, Huang Xiaotian guarded the defense line in the Central Pacific alone. At that time, he did not consider the evaluation he received after the war, nor did he consider his position in the navy, the position of the Fourth Task Force in the navy, and the only thing he could think about, and the only thing he should think, was how to deal with the Fifth Fleet and how to accomplish this difficult task.

This is not a task for Huang Xiaotian alone, but a joint task of the entire Fourth Task Force, nearly 30,000 officers and men, and in the eyes of others, this is almost an impossible task.

But at the same time, many people did not expect that this would be a task that would make Huang Xiaotian famous, a task that would eventually become the commander of the "number one" fleet of the Imperial Navy.