After the fleet passed through the Caroline Islands, Tan Renhao handed over the work of commanding the fleet to Hao Dongjue, which by the way allowed Hao Dongjue to have more time to familiarize himself with the navigation work of the fleet, while he himself took a reconnaissance plane with auxiliary fuel tanks and sat in the navigator's position, and flew to Lae first to report to Yan Guozhong.

When the major officer saw Tan Renhao, who had jumped from the rear cockpit of the bomber (the reconnaissance model of the "Shooting Waterbird"), wearing a flight cap on his head and a set of coffee-colored flight jackets, he immediately ran over. He was amazed, wasn't this general afraid of a flight accident, and he had worked as a navigator before?

"General, it's been going well all the way, right?"

"It's okay, it's just that the cockpit is too crowded and there is no place to sleep." Tan Renhao smiled and nodded at the staff officer who was Yan Guozhong, and then took out his luggage from the plane's glove compartment (under the cockpit of the plane, which is used to store self-defense weapons, spare maps, radios, and some emergency rations during combat, which is mainly prepared considering that after the bomber made a forced landing on the 6th ground, the pilot needed to evade the enemy's search and capture). "Help me arrange Colonel Yang Qinkai's accommodation, he will be waiting for me here for a few days." … mobile station ap.bsp; "No problem, I'll take you to the place where you settle down first, and then go to the headquarters."

The jeep quickly left the airport and drove onto a dirt trail. Tan Renhao and the others were housed in a villa next to the theater headquarters, and later Tan Renhao learned that this was once where MacArthur lived when he was the commander here. After asking Yang Qinkai, who sent him, to fight the time by himself, Tan Renhao went to change into a general's uniform, and then followed the major to the headquarters.

"You're pretty positive, I thought you'd have to arrive the day after tomorrow." Yan Guozhong received Tan Renhao very warmly, "The front is relatively simple, my tea here is not as good as that of General Gan Yongxing, this box was snatched from Gan Yongxing last time, and there is only so much left." ”

"General Yan, you are too polite." Tan Renhao took the teacup. Then he sat down, "Come early if you can, it's better than grinding time on a battleship." And when I'm gone, I can let Hao Dongjue be more familiar with nautical affairs, so I can't let me do everything. ”

Yan Guozhong shook his head with a smile. "I asked Huang Xiaotian and Yan Shiqi to come tomorrow, and we will determine the battle plan at that time. This time, the chief of staff transferred the first task force, mainly to prevent the US military counterattack on the Solomon Islands, have you received the latest information? ”

Tan Renhao frowned slightly. Then he shook his head.

Yan Guozhong went and got a document. "Arrived just yesterday, the latest in the activities of the US Navy. Now our submarines are basically not able to get close to Pearl Harbor, and I heard that the Americans know what kind of underwater listening system they have, and as soon as our submarines get close, they will be revealed, making it extremely difficult for us to obtain information. ”

"Underwater listening system?" Tan Renhao glanced at Yan Guozhong, probably a little similar to the microphone on the submarine.

"I don't know what it is, but I've heard that we have a similar system, and we're going to deploy to a few major ports in the near future, so that U.S. submarines don't wander around our doorstep."

Tan Renhao shrugged his shoulders, and then flipped through the papers.

The underwater listening system is actually the earliest subsea passive sonar system. Merely. At that time, such a system was rudimentary, the applause was high, and the chances of a current submarine were not great. Its main components are some microphones that are placed on the seabed. These microphones are connected to the shore by cables, and after the signal is transmitted to the shore, there is a set of equipment to analyze it (mainly by the human ear to distinguish, after all, the noise in the sea is very loud), and the approximate location of the submarine can be calculated by determining the orientation of the target of each group of microphones, or the time difference of the signal back.

There is not much information, the most important of which is that the US battleship fleet has left Pearl Harbor, and its fleet number is probably Task Force 53, and if it goes to the Southwest Pacific Theater, then it should be Task Force 31. This number does not matter. It is important that six battleships of the American army were in it, in addition to more than a dozen cruisers, more than a dozen destroyers. Although the formation has been active in the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands for several days and has also conducted training, it will definitely leave the waters of the Hawaiian Islands and go to the war zone.

"There is no news of US aircraft carriers?" Tan Renhao closed the document and read it for a long time, but he didn't care about it most.

"Not yet. Maybe those aircraft carriers are in this fleet, who can say clearly? Yan Guozhong took the document, then took out a cigarette, and after Tan Renhao refused, he lit it himself, "This fleet left the port four days ago, and I received the news the day before yesterday." If the U.S. military is ready for a large-scale counterattack, then their aircraft carriers are almost ready.

Now we can basically conclude that the direction of the U.S. counterattack is on this side of the southwest Pacific, and it will no longer be Wake Island. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly and didn't answer.

"Since the beginning of March, the radio activities of the US military in the southwest Pacific theater have been much more frequent, and many long-wave telegrams have been issued every day." Yan Guozhong sneered, "The battle situation on Kuah Island is very favorable to us now. Your small fleet, and Task Force 3, took out two 'Washington Express', stopped two U.S. troops, and sent a lot of supplies to Kuah Island. According to the current situation, if the U.S. military is unable to reverse the situation, at least control some of the sea supremacy at night, we will be able to occupy Kuah Island by the end of April and force the U.S. military to leave the Solomon Islands. The Yankees had no choice, and even if Nimitz made a bet on the Central Pacific, MacArthur would never agree, and he couldn't hold out for long. ”

"In other words, the U.S. military will inevitably reinforce the Solomon Islands, and the key is to seize sea supremacy, at least at night." Tan Renhao pondered for a while, "It seems that those six battleships are really a troublesome matter. ”

"I also asked Yan Shiqi, and his answer was very simple, he didn't have any certainty about defeating the six battleships of the American army, but he was still a little confident in delaying time, so the key was still in the daytime battle."

Tan Renhao stood up and walked over to the large theater map hanging on the wall.

"The U.S. military is also well aware of the importance of aircraft carriers, and even if their battleship formations can defeat Task Force 3 in a night battle, if they can't get out of the range of our bombers before dawn. Then they still failed, and the battleships were exhausted, then we would have to fight for cruisers, and the American army had much fewer cruisers than ours. Yan Guozhong also walked over, "So, General Gan Yongxing judged that the US military would deploy the aircraft carrier behind the battleship to provide air defense cover for the battleship at least during the day." ”

"It's as simple as that?" Tan Renhao glanced back at Yan Guozhong.

Yan Guozhong shrugged his shoulders. "Although I am the commander of the theater of operations. But I'm only a 6-team general, and it's up to you to decide how to fight this naval battle. Now you are the co-commander of the three task forces, even if you are only a temporary commander, but you are in charge of the naval battle. ”

Tan Renhao let out a sigh. "It seems to me that this naval battle, whether it is commanded by Spruance or Halsey, they will not adopt such conservative tactics."

"Mostly Halsey, Halsey is the commander of Task Force 3, and Spruance is still in trouble. He has to bear some responsibility for the failure last time. No matter how Nimitz protects him, I'm afraid he's going to get into trouble. ”

"Even Halsey, with his characteristics. Will he use aircraft carriers defensively? Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head, "In my opinion, Halsey can't wait to press the aircraft carrier to the front and let the battleship cover the aircraft carrier." ”

"If that's the case, then we have nothing to worry about."

"Of course, he wouldn't take such a risk, at least Halsey is still a sensible and intelligent commander." Tan Renhao's gaze returned to the map, "Covering battleships can use fighters on other islands, in addition." Halsey also has three small aircraft carriers. Where are these three aircraft carriers now? ”

"One is at Pearl Harbor, and the other two are probably about to arrive at Pearl Harbor, but maybe they won't enter Pearl Harbor." Yan Guozhong picked up a wooden stick and pointed to an island in the South Pacific Ocean on the map.

"The U.S. military began to strengthen its forces on Christmas Island six months ago, building airfields and anchorages that can support aircraft carriers. If the US military decides to strengthen the landing in the southwest Pacific at the end of March, then these two aircraft carrier groups can go directly to Christmas Island to replenish fuel without going to Pearl Harbor, and then leave for the southwest Pacific theater. Halfway through, you may refuel in Samoa or the New Hebrides. ”

"Then these two aircraft carriers will be able to reach the battlefield in time." Tan Renhao nodded slightly, "In this way, Halsey can use two, at most three small aircraft carriers to provide air defense cover for the battleship formation, even if it is two, it can also arrange 9o fighters, which is already past the air defense fighters of an aircraft carrier fleet." Well, he also has two large fleet aircraft carriers in his ship, and even a small aircraft carrier. ”

"You're saying that Halsey will put this main fleet somewhere else?"

Tan Renhao nodded, but where would Halsey arrange this fleet with the most powerful striking force?

Since the "Second Battle of Wake Island", Tan Renhao has attached great importance to the other party's commanders. When he was at the Navy Command, he also found some spare time in his busy schedule to carefully study the materials of Spruance, Halsey, Nimitz, MacArthur, and other senior commanders of the US military, and tried to find out from the experiences of these people their regularities, or characteristics, when commanding operations.

Halsey was a commander who was good at offense, not defense. This can be seen from the operations of the Third Fleet under his command during these months. Although the Third Fleet has not been strong enough, Halsey has created a lot of trouble for Yan Guozhong with his limited strength, so that Yan Guozhong has to arrange the tasks of the Third Task Force to the fullest, and also reduces the strength of the Third Task Force to support the attack of the 6th Fleet, and even asks for the extra escort warships of the First Task Force. Halsey himself also valued offense, not defense. This time, the U.S. military transferred almost all the main warships in the Pacific Ocean to the Southwest Pacific Theater and incorporated them into the Third Fleet.

Letting the battlefleet support the defenders of Kuah Island and seize sea supremacy is only an operation to hold Kuah Island, and in fact it is still defensive in nature. Halsey would certainly not invest the most important aircraft carrier forces here, especially the two large fleet carriers, and he would use at most two small carriers to provide air defense cover and air support for the battlefleet. So, where exactly is Halsey going to put his main force?

Tan Renhao first saw the Coral Sea, which is the largest ocean in the world, so named because of its many coral reefs. The Solomon Islands are just north of the Coral Sea, and if Halsey places the carrier task force in the Coral Sea, it can only threaten the Imperial 6 and the 3rd Task Force on Kuah Island at most, and will not be able to deal with the 4th Task Force and the 1st Task Force hiding behind the 3rd Task Force at all. Even if it dragged on until daytime, both sides sent bombers to attack each other's battlefleet, and the result was that the third task force was exchanged for six battleships of the US army, which was obviously a loss, and the US army could not withstand such huge losses.

The greatest threat to the US battlefleet is the fleet aviation, not the shore-based bombers of the HNA Army, and the number of shore-based bombers deployed on Bougainville Island and Rabaul is not large, and the quality of the pilots is much worse than that of the fleet aviation, and they are better at ground bombing than bombing warships. U.S. warplanes on other islands in the Solomon Islands were more than enough to deal with the Empire's shore-based bomber force. So, Halsey's target must be the Empire's aircraft carrier task force. So, how was he able to take out the 4th and 1st task forces by surprise, as well as the 2nd task force, which was likely to be reinforced?

Time difference! Tan Renhao immediately thought of this, Halsey would definitely take advantage of the time difference in the arrival of the Tang Empire's fleet to try to annihilate these fleets separately. But the big question is, where does Halsey want to place his fleet to achieve this goal? Tan Renhao's gaze moved upwards to the map, and he immediately laughed when he saw the vast ocean between the Solomon Islands and the Gilbert Islands.