If the military is the soul of the navy, then the fleet is the solid valuation of the navy. Any first-class navy has a strong fleet, and a navy without a strong fleet is not a strong navy at all.

In the middle of 25 years, the Tang Imperial Navy ushered in the third peak of warship service since the outbreak of the war. The number of warships commissioned in June alone exceeded the total size of the navy of any other country at that time, except for the United States and Britain. At the same time, the Tang Imperial Navy established a fifth task force, and the other four task forces also regained their combat effectiveness during this period.

The new establishment of the First Task Force has already been introduced, and the warship application report submitted by Tan Renhao was all approved, and the First Task Force was the first fleet to restore its combat effectiveness, becoming the most powerful fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy at that time, and also the most powerful task force in the world. Then, the fourth, third, and second task forces were also restored by early July, while the fifth task force was announced in late July, and it would be several months before it was officially formed.

Task Force 4 is the second fleet to be restored to combat effectiveness, and it is still a two-carrier battle group, with a new artillery strike formation. The details are:

"Taihu" aircraft carrier battle group: "Taihu" aircraft carrier. "Suzaku", large air defense cruiser "Gao Shilian". "Root River", heavy cruiser "Hailar". Six destroyers of the "City" class.

"Chaohu" aircraft carrier battle group: "Chaohu" aircraft carrier. "Xiao Li", "Qu Tutong" large air defense cruisers. "Nenjiang", heavy cruiser "Songhuajiang". Six destroyers of the "City" class.

Shelling formation: "Mangzhong". "Great Heat", "Lichun", "Stinging" heavy cruisers. Twelve destroyers of the "City" class.

The fleet consists of two aircraft carriers and one large air defense cruiser of the "Rui Beast" class. Three large air defense cruisers of the "Li Jing" class, four heavy cruisers of the "River" class, four heavy cruisers of the "Trotto" class, and twenty-four destroyers of the "City" class had a total of 38 warships. The fleet has more than 22,000 officers and men. In addition, there are 2800 aviation personnel (including pilots), 240 combat aircraft, dozens of seaplanes.

The 3rd Task Force followed the 4th Task Force to regain its combat effectiveness. At that time, Task Force 3 was still the only fleet in the Imperial Navy with battleships as its core. The details are:

Battleship formation: "Guangzhou", "Guiyang", "Nanning", "Changsha", "Wuhan", "Changsha", a total of six "New Provincial Capital" class battleships.

Cruiser formations: "Wudinghe", "Luohe". Two heavy cruisers of the "River" class. "Cold Dew", "Frost Fall", "Lidong". "Liqiu", "Chuxia", "Bailu", "Autumn Equinox". Seven heavy cruisers of the "Trotto" class. A total of nine cruisers.

Destroyer formation: sixteen destroyers of the "City" class.

The fleet consisted of six battleships, nine cruisers, and sixteen destroyers, for a total of 31 battleships. The fleet has more than 28,000 officers and men, and more than 1,100 aviation personnel (including pilots, all of whom are seaplane units), and has dozens of seaplanes.

The Second Task Force did not regain its combat effectiveness until early July, mainly because the maintenance work of the "Hulun Lake" aircraft carrier had delayed time. In fact, the progress of the maintenance of this aircraft carrier has been quite fast, and because of the misappropriation of a batch of spare parts of the aircraft carrier, the service time of the "Poyang Lake" in the second batch of "Lake" class aircraft carriers has been delayed by two months, resulting in only five "Lake" class aircraft carriers in service in June. The second task force is also a two-carrier battle group, and it is also equipped with a separate artillery strike formation. The details are:

"Hulun Lake" aircraft carrier battle group: "Hulun Lake" aircraft carrier. "Xuanwu", "Changsun Wuji" large air defense cruisers. "Hanshui", heavy cruiser "Qingjiang". Six destroyers.

Battlegroup "Lake Bell": Aircraft carrier "Lake Bell". "Du Ruhui", "Li Xiaogong" large air defense cruisers. "Krulun River", heavy cruiser "Silamulun River". Six destroyers.

Shelling formation: "Liqiu", "Chuxia", "Bailu", "Autumn Equinox" four heavy cruisers. Twelve destroyers of the "City" class.

The whole fleet consists of two aircraft carriers, one "Rui Beast" class large air defense cruiser, three "Li Jing" class large air defense cruisers, four "River" class heavy cruisers, four "Trotto" class heavy cruisers, and 24 "City" class destroyers, making a total of 38 warships. There are more than 22,000 officers and soldiers in the fleet, and more than 2,800 aviation service personnel (including pilots). In addition, there are 240 combat aircraft and dozens of seaplanes. Its strength is comparable to that of Task Force 4.

When Task Force 5 was announced, there was only one aircraft carrier battle group, as follows:

"Qiandao Lake" aircraft carrier battle group: "Qiandao Lake" aircraft carrier, "Du Ruhui", "Fang Xuanling" large air defense cruisers, eight "City" class destroyers.

Because the Fifth Task Force had no combat mission at that time and continued to train the officers and men of the fleet, it did not follow a strict aircraft carrier battle group at that time, and at the same time did not set up a separate artillery strike formation, and its scale was the weakest of the five task forces at that time.

In addition to these five task forces, a training fleet was also formed in the Imperial Navy at that time.

With the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier as the core, the fleet is equipped with four old-fashioned cruisers and four old-fashioned destroyers, and its main task is to train the newly incorporated officers and men of the fleet for the navy and to familiarize the pilots with take-off and landing operations on the aircraft carrier before entering the fleet air force. The training fleet has been operating in the Bohai Bay for a long time and does not undertake combat missions, so it does not belong to the establishment of the Imperial Navy.

In addition, the Imperial Navy had six small aircraft carriers that had completed the refit at that time, as well as the aircraft carrier of the "Poyang Lake" fleet, which was still in perch. According to the advocacy of most fleet commanders of the Imperial Navy at that time, small aircraft carriers did not form separate carrier battle groups, but operated in clusters. That is, by two, or more than two small aircraft carriers. In addition, a small aircraft carrier formation was formed with coordinated combat escort warships, rather than an aircraft carrier battle group with a single aircraft carrier as the core. As for the use of these small aircraft carrier formations for command, it will be determined according to the actual situation on the battlefield. So, in June. The Imperial Navy had only two small aircraft carrier formations, which were directly attached to the Imperial Navy Command and reinforced to the extent necessary during operations.

The details are:

The 1st small aircraft carrier formation: "Taishan", "Huashan", "1 Hengshan" small aircraft carrier. Eight destroyers of the "City" class.

The 2nd small aircraft carrier formation: "Songshan". "Hengshan", "Huangshan" small aircraft carrier. Eight destroyers of the "City" class.

The formation of the two small aircraft carriers is the same, and the modified small aircraft carrier is designated the "Mountain" class. The Imperial Navy summed up part of the experience from the problems that arose when the opponent used small aircraft carriers, that is, small aircraft carriers are not suitable for fighting in the brutal first-line battlefield, at most they play an auxiliary role, and most of the time they are active in the second-line battlefield, so the small aircraft carrier formation does not need to be too strong to escort forces, and the most important thing to pay attention to is not air defense, but anti-submarine. As a result, two small aircraft carrier formations were not equipped with cruisers (and the new cruisers of the Reich at that time were not enough to be allocated). There are only escort destroyers, and all of them are destroyers of the "City" class (anti-submarine version) with extremely excellent anti-submarine capabilities.

These preparations were completed before August, when Tan Renhao returned to Zhoushan with the new warship. Only the establishment of the first four main task forces has been determined, and the fourth and third task forces will certainly be able to regain their combat effectiveness by the end of June, and only the fourth task force will not be able to recover until early July.

By 22 June, the other warships of the First Task Force had arrived at the port of Zhoushan one after another. Most of the battleships were after the completion of the acceptance work. It was immediately taken over by the officers and men of the 1st Task Force and rushed over. Because these warships were built in several shipyards, they arrived in Zhoushan separately. When more than 50 warships were all moored in Zhoushan Port, almost the entire port was crowded.

"How's it going, you're happy with the new fleet, right?" Gan Yongxing looked at Tan Renhao next to him.

Looking at the battleships in the far harbor, Tan Renhao smiled, he had already inspected all the battleships yesterday and was extremely satisfied with the state of the fleet. Needless to say, the performance of the battleships was naturally in full swing, and the previous miserable battleships have returned to their peak state after a comprehensive restoration. The morale, fighting spirit, and mental outlook of the officers and men also made Tan Renhao feel very satisfied. After learning that the fleet would receive new warships, many officers and men of the fleet took the initiative to shorten their vacation time, rushed back in a hurry, and took the initiative to devote themselves to the maintenance and training of the warships. At present, white smoke is rising from the chimneys of dozens of warships, and Tan Renhao has ordered Hao Dongjue to lead the fleet to go to sea for navigation training, so that the officers and men can master the new warships as soon as possible, as well as the improvements on those old warships, so that the fleet can give full play to its most powerful combat effectiveness when fighting.

"Huang Xiaotian is also receiving new warships over there in Guangzhou, and they will probably be able to regain their combat effectiveness by the end of the month, and then they will go to the battlefield."

"Send Task Force 4 to the Southwest Pacific Theater?" Tan Renhao turned his head, and he also guessed this.

The port of Guangzhou is the home port of the 4th Task Force, so the 4th Task Force is assembled in the port of Guangzhou and will not come to the port of Zhoushan.

"Yes, that's a decision I made after consulting with the principal." Gan Yongxing glanced at the battleships in the harbor again, then turned around and walked down the hillside, "The First Task Force is our main fleet, and we don't need to go to the Southwest Pacific Theater for the time being. With the current strength of the Fourth Task Force and Huang Xiaotian's command ability, it was enough to deal with Halsey. In addition, the last of the second fleet aircraft carriers will probably be commissioned in August, and we have not yet decided on the arrangements for this aircraft carrier. When the time comes, decide which fleet to be assigned to. ”

"That is, it is quite possible to create another three-carrier fleet?" Tan Renhao immediately understood the meaning of the chief of staff's words.

"This depends on the situation on the battlefield, and the escort warships equipped for the 'Poyang Lake' aircraft carrier will not be commissioned until August, so we have not determined the whereabouts of this aircraft carrier for the time being." Gan Yongxing nodded slightly, "I have read the report you put forward on the direction of the main attack of the US Navy and the principal. In fact, judging from the information we have now, it is really impossible to accurately judge the direction of the US Navy's main attack. There is so little intelligence, and the help that the MIA has provided to us is very limited. The headmaster is considering a new set-up, and if we can delay the decisive battle until August, the situation will be more favorable to us. ”

Tan Renhao was also thinking quickly. "What does the principal mean is that Task Force 4 will be deployed in the Southwest Pacific first, and Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 will not immediately enter the war?"

"Your task now is to bring the fleet to peak combat strength as soon as possible. Two new aircraft carriers have been added, and now Task Force 1 has at least half of the recruits, right? Gan Yongxing glanced at Tan Renhao, "These officers and soldiers need training, in a few days, let Hao Dongjue take the fleet back to Naha, strengthen the training work, and let the recruits get familiar with the affairs of the fleet as soon as possible." You can rest assured, if there is a combat mission, the headmaster will definitely arrange it for you. The Fourth Task Force also went to the battlefield to warm up, and we are still studying how to deploy and fight. ”

"Then I will ask Hao Dongjue to lead the fleet to return directly to Naha after completing this navigation training." Tan Renhao also knew very well that the situation at hand was very complicated, and before the specific movements of the US Navy were judged, the First Task Force could only make pre-war preparations. "Is the principal still following the last method, first making pre-deployment, with the First Task Force as the mobile fleet, and then making new arrangements according to the specific deployment of the US military?"

Gan Yongxing didn't speak, as if he hadn't heard Tan Renhao's words. When he walked to the side of the car, he stopped and said to Tan Renhao: "If you come to my side tomorrow, we will determine the specific deployment situation quickly, and you will know when the time comes." ”

Tan Renhao didn't ask any more questions, he just wanted to return to the fleet as soon as possible. This time, a large number of recruits were replenished, and these novices lacked training, Hao Dongjue couldn't do it alone, so he had to rush back as soon as possible, just arranging training tasks was enough for him to bother, and he felt that there was nothing to do to continue to stay in the naval headquarters.