After listening to Jiang Zhongmin's story, Tan Renhao was also a little chilled, in the same situation, he would definitely not be able to do better than Jiang Zhongmin, and he would definitely abandon the two small aircraft carriers that could not sail at full speed, and win a chance for the fleet aircraft carriers to escape. What's more, most of the officers and men in Task Force 5 were novices, and if something went wrong in the middle of a crisis, even the best commander would be able to save the fleet.

This example does not explain anything, and it is impossible to prove that battleships are stronger than aircraft carriers, and the only thing that can be proved is that the influence of natural factors on naval warfare is very huge, and in the face of natural forces, manpower is very small. The defeat of Task Force 5 was largely caused by factors beyond their control, and the timing of the timing of the Anglo-French Combined Expeditionary Fleet was very appropriate, perhaps this was the opportunity they were waiting for.

This battle also reflected another objective problem, that is, the British expeditionary fleet and the French expeditionary fleet did not act together, at least, at the tactical level, the two fleets acted separately. At that time, the fastest of the British and French expeditionary fleets should have been the British Navy's battle cruiser, but this battleship did not participate in the combat operations against the Fifth Task Force, otherwise, the "Qiandao Lake" aircraft carrier probably would not have been able to escape.

This gave Tan Renhao an opportunity, if the British and French expeditionary fleets were separated at the tactical level, then this must be a loophole that could be exploited.

"Don't think about it." Tan Renhao patted Jiang Zhongmin on the shoulder, "After receiving new information in the past two days, let's discuss specific combat operations, if you want." I suggest you go back to the Navy Headquarters first, and I will take care of the matter with my boss. ”

"No, I can stand it." Jiang Zhongmin sighed. "I'll go arrange the replenishment of the fleet first, and then I'll go down to the Intelligence Section to ask if there is any new news."

Tan Renhao nodded. "I'll go back to the fleet too. If you have any news, let me know immediately. ”

After returning to the fleet, Chang Jiexin came over.

"How did you talk to Jiang Zhongmin?" Chang Zhixin knows the reason why Tan Renhao stayed.

"His mood is a little low, after all, such a painful failure, anyone will be affected." Tan Renhao brought Chang Jianxin to his cabin. He did not want the staff officers of the fleet to hear the comments about Jiang Zhongmin. "It seemed that he was under a lot of mental pressure, and I asked about the attack on Task Force 5. The responsibility is not on him, I would have made the same decision as him in the circumstances, and the result would not have been much better than his. ”

"So, do you want him to go back first?"

"I've thought about it, and if I were to speak from an objective point of view, I'd suggest the headmaster bring him back, but. I think it's better to let him stay. ”

Chang Jianxin sighed secretly, and then took out a cigarette.

"The Headmaster's purpose for making him serve as Task Force 5 is clear, and the Headmaster's intention to let him stay and assist us this time is also very clear." Tan Renhao glanced at his old friend.

"Lao Chang, you are a smart person, you should know the deep reason for this, and I won't find out. Judging by the principal's arrangement.

This time, we are only here to do a part-time job, and since the principal has let Jiang Zhongmin stay, then he will not be allowed to return to the Pacific Theater. ”

"You're saying that even if we win the battle, we will still let Jiang Zhongmin stay here in the future, and we will be transferred back?"

"It must be so, we're just firefighters." Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head, "Let's not think so much, no one can change the principal's arrangement, and this matter is directly related to us, if we find out, it will not be good for us, right?" ”

"Hey!" Chang Jianxin sighed, "It's okay, at least the principal still values us and doesn't let anyone else be this firefighter." ”

"Let's fight this battle first, and we'll talk about other things later." Tan Renhao didn't have much to say, "Come over for dinner in the evening, let's discuss the combat operation in detail, maybe there will be new information in the next two days, we have to first determine a few general directions, so that we can start operations immediately after receiving the information." ”

"Okay, then I'll go back and arrange all the work first." Chang Jianxin stood up, "I'll come back in the evening." By the way, you have to think about how to distribute the newly incorporated warships. ”

Tan Renhao smiled and nodded, and sent Chang Jianxin outside. He was also a little aggrieved in his heart, the principal could be said to take special care of Jiang Zhongmin, in Tan Renhao's own opinion, what he got now was all he got back on the battlefield, not through any relationship. What made him a little puzzled was that Jiang Zhongmin didn't make any great contributions, although he was capable, but there were more capable people in the navy, why did the principal take care of him? Even if Tan Renhao knew the deeper reason, he still couldn't figure it out, perhaps, this is the so-called military politics.

The general campaign plan had been determined before arriving in Colombo, and Tan Renhao also asked the staff officers of the fleet staff to make a detailed analysis of the four situations, determine the approximate probability of the occurrence of these four situations, and then roughly determine what kind of action should be taken based on the probability.

The most likely scenario is that the French expeditionary fleet will no longer participate in future combat operations, and at the same time will not be in a hurry to return home and surrender to Germany. In this case, the French expeditionary fleet had only one choice, which was to return to the port of Cape Town first, and it is not known whether it would remain in the port of Cape Town, or return to the French ports in the Caribbean, or to the French ports in the North African colonies. At that time, in the South Atlantic, as well as in the southern Indian Ocean, only the port of Cape Town had enough capacity to accommodate the French expeditionary fleet, and the others were small ports and lacked infrastructure. Therefore, this was the only option for the French expeditionary fleet in the short term.

In this case, no matter what decision the British Expeditionary Fleet makes, for Tan Renhao and Chang Jiexin, they only have one chance, either to seize the British Expeditionary Fleet first, fight a decisive battle with the British, and after defeating the British, go south to force the French Expeditionary Fleet to surrender. If the French expeditionary fleet had not surrendered, or had fled, the same could have been achieved. At least, there will be no more trouble in the Indian Ocean. If the British expeditionary fleet cannot be found. Then you had to go south to Cape Town to force the French Expeditionary Fleet to surrender, or defeat the French Expeditionary Fleet, and then turn back and clean up the British Expeditionary Fleet. This brought up a new problem, namely, the 3rd Task Force and the 1st Task Force had to move south as soon as possible. This would have been possible to reach the port of Cape Town in time, and if the British expeditionary fleet had been allowed to return to Cape Town first, the problem would have been complicated.

In view of several other situations, Tan Renhao also made relevant analyses. In the end, it was concluded that there was a more than 50% chance that the French expeditionary fleet would return to the port of Cape Town, and that it was very likely that it would remain in the port of Cape Town and not be in a hurry to return home. If the British captured the port of Cape Town and took control of the oil depots, the French expeditionary fleet would not have wanted to return home. And the British, in order to ensure that those few French battleships did not fall into the hands of the Germans, would have done so. At least secretly take control of the port of Cape Town, and then try to convince the commander of the French expeditionary fleet.

That is, to defeat the combined Anglo-French expeditionary fleet. Then, the 3rd and 1st Task Forces would have to go south and fight the enemy in the South Atlantic.

And in this case. The only way to win is to annihilate the enemy individually, and Task Force 1 has almost no chance to use its aviation strike capabilities! The problem was not just the weather, but the bigger impact was that there was no port between Colombo and Cape Town for the fleet to dock and replenish, and the distance between the two places was more than 3,000 nautical miles, and the route was more than 5,000 nautical miles!

Herein lies the problem, even if the fleet sails at the most economical speed (which in reality can never be done), the aircraft carrier just runs back and forth, the cruiser simply does not have enough fuel to return home, and the destroyer cannot even complete a one-way voyage.

That is, the fleet had to carry out at least one refueling on the way. Ideally, if you take into account the current bad weather conditions, the need to consume more fuel during combat, and the minimum fuel retention rate that warships must guarantee, then the fleet will have to refuel at least three times along the way!

Refueling during the voyage was not a big problem, and in the Pacific the Imperial Navy often did this. However, the weather conditions here are even worse, and the supply operation will definitely be affected.

What's more, the only ones that could accompany the fleet to the south were fast combat support ships, that is, those that could reach a speed of 24 knots, and there were no such supply ships in the Indian Ocean, when the Imperial Navy's fast combat support ships were deployed in the Pacific theater. Therefore, it is necessary to set up supply points in advance and let the supply fleet go south in advance by using ordinary oil tankers, which are all running at speeds below 16 knots, or even 12 knots. The resulting problems are almost impossible to solve, such as how to arrange escort forces? In addition, if the supply fleet is discovered by the enemy, the fleet will not be replenished, and the consequences will be unimaginable. What if the supply fleet and fleet are missed?

If these problems cannot be solved, then the operation to attack Cape Town and deliver a surprise blow to the enemy will not be successful. And after abandoning the raid, the only way is to fight along the way. Putting aside the time it would take to capture the strongholds that had already been occupied by the Anglo-French forces along the way, if the Anglo-French expeditionary fleet appeared at the same time, then Tan Renhao and they would be sending them to death. Moreover, the whereabouts of the 3rd and 1st Task Forces would certainly be exposed, which would give the enemy more opportunities, and perhaps the British Expeditionary Fleet needed such an opportunity. Obviously, this kind of balanced attack is the most dangerous.

The special environment and special combat methods all made Tan Renhao feel a headache. Long-distance running is originally his forte, but the problem is that when the conditions are not ripe, long-distance running itself is to send him to death. Is there any other way now? The answer is obviously no, if the British are determined to go around in circles with Tan Renhao in the Indian Ocean, then Tan Renhao really has no way to take the British expeditionary fleet.

This is a question that has to be considered. The British Expeditionary Fleet entangled the First Task Force and the Third Task Force in the Indian Ocean, so in the Pacific Theater, there were only the Second Task Force and the Fourth Task Force, as well as the Theater Fleet in the two theaters, and at most a newly established Task Force. This is certainly what the US Navy is most willing to see, and the US Government will certainly exert pressure on the British Government to hold off the 1st and 3rd Task Force as much as possible to create an opportunity for the US Navy to launch a counterattack in the Pacific.

Delaying time would not do the Imperial Navy any good, otherwise, Nie Renfeng should have let Chang Jianxin come to the Indian Ocean and leave the First Task Force in the Pacific Theater. The fundamental purpose of Nie Renfeng's request to Tan Renhao to command this combat operation was to hope that the commander of the Imperial Navy, who was best at raiding, would lead the fleet to take the British by surprise and solve the crisis in the Indian Ocean cleanly.

After taking these problems into account, Tan Renhao actually had no choice, he had to rush to the port of Cape Town and destroy the rear base camp of the British Expeditionary Fleet, and at that time, if the British Expeditionary Fleet dared to operate in the Indian Ocean, it would be trapped in the Indian Ocean and would not spare fuel supplies at all. Therefore, the British expeditionary fleet could never abandon the port of Cape Town.

Thinking of this, Tan Renhao had an even more headache. Relatively speaking, the port of Cape Town is more important to the British and French expeditionary fleets, this is the only port they can get supplies and support, then, the British and French expeditionary fleets will never give up the port of Cape Town, and will definitely realize that the Tang Imperial naval fleet will attack the port of Cape Town, and when the time comes, it will also keep the port of Cape Town desperately. Perhaps, the Anglo-French expeditionary fleet is returning to Cape Town!

Coupled with the fact that France has been defeated and the French government has announced its surrender, there is no reason for the Anglo-French expeditionary fleet to remain in the Indian Ocean. They must have returned to Cape Town, or were on their way back to Cape Town. If you go south to Cape Town at this time, it is very likely that you will encounter the British and French expeditionary fleets at the same time, and then fight a naval battle with a superior enemy with little chance of victory.

When Tan Renhao thought about these issues clearly, he found that the situation was very unfavorable, and from the beginning, it was almost an impossible task!