"General, the front deck of the Yorktown has been blown over!"

The major general, who looked to be in his fifties, turned around, glanced at the staff officer who came to report, and said calmly: "Fix it immediately, after the storm passes, I want to see a complete aircraft carrier, not an aircraft carrier without a head!" ”

"Yes, General!"

The Major General turned around again and looked at the choppy sea ahead, damn the weather.

His name is Spruance and his full name is Raymond Ames Spruance. Fifty-six years ago, on July 3, Spruance was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and seventeen years later, Spruance was admitted to the United States Naval Academy, where he studied hard and excelled in grades, but was unknown (the United States Naval Academy's requirements for cadets are more than just grades) Three years later, Spruance left the academy and served on battleships, and two years later was promoted to second lieutenant officer (the U.S. Naval Academy was not an officer academy at the time) After five years of service, he was finally promoted to captain of a destroyer, A year later, he was transferred ashore and married. Two years later, he was promoted to major, and he served in the position of major for two years before being promoted to lieutenant colonel. By the year O1 (Tang calendar, 1919 AD), he met Halsey, and became a destroyer captain under Halsey, which was greatly appreciated by Halsey. In the years that followed, Spruance served in the civilian service, as well as on several destroyers. By O8 (Tang calendar) he entered the U.S. Naval Military Academy for further study, and then transferred to the battleship "Mississippi" as a deputy captain (in the U.S. Navy, in those days, he could go to the battleship as captain and co-captain, which was the basis for a better future) to June 13, returned to the military academy as an instructor, and was subsequently promoted to colonel officer. In 15 years, he served as chief of staff to the commander of the destroyer escort fleet, Watson, and in 17 years he became the chief of tactics at the Naval Military Academy (this position is somewhat similar to Nie Renfeng's position as the president of the Imperial Naval Academy, and later many Spruance students held important positions in the Navy), and in 2o years he became the captain of the "Mississippi". At the beginning of 22, he was appointed commander of a naval military district, and was promoted to rear admiral in November of the same year. With the outbreak of war on the two continents of Europe and Asia, his responsibilities gradually increased, and by the middle of 23, he was also the commander of the Caribbean theater of operations, and the commander of the 5th cruiser detachment in the same year. Served under Halsey.

In the First Battle of the Marianas, Spruance commanded the cruiser fleet to fight with Halsey, and performed well in the battle. At that time, the fact that the "Enterprise" and the "Hornet" were able to escape and avoid sinking had a lot to do with the courageous performance of the cruisers commanded by Spruance in air defense operations.

Judging from Spruance's service experience, in fact, he can only be regarded as a very ordinary general, at least, he was just a very ordinary general before that. Like, from ensign to captain. It took him five years of precious time. In the Tang Imperial Navy, as long as they could be promoted to general, from second lieutenant to captain. Generally, it only takes three years, and if you do that, it is very difficult to have a chance to become a general (of course, there are exceptions) In addition, in his service experience, Spruance spent most of his most crucial years (45 to 5o years old, the most critical years for a colonel to become a general, which is also the most glorious years of a soldier), teaching in the academy instead of serving as a commander in a combat unit. These are enough to prove it. Spruance was actually just a very ordinary major general until this time, and he was an "old qualified" major general who was only promoted at the age of fifty-four.

Perhaps, Spruance owes most to Halsey. Nimitz found Halsey, who was recuperating from his wounds in a hospital bed, and asked Halsey to recommend him a fleet commander, and Halsey did not hesitate to say the name "Spruance". At that time, Nimitz did not know much about Spruance, only that he was the commander of the 5th Cruiser Task Force. Halsey went out of his way to recommend Spruance. Nimitz believed in Halsey, and Halsey believed in Spruance. As a result, Nimitz really used this major general, who had not even been on an aircraft carrier before, to command the 16th task force!

It's also a strange thing that Spruance and Halsey can become friends, and they are appreciated by Halsey. The personalities of the two are completely different, Halsey's personality can be described as "enthusiastic and unrestrained", he speaks loudly, and often waves, giving people a feeling of being full of energy, as if there is a never-ending energetic energy, even in the hospital, he is not happy, in order to be able to see the battleship in Pearl Harbor, he even found someone to cut down a few big trees in the hospital, because those trees blocked his view! Spruance, on the other hand, is an extremely calm person, rarely angry, and will remain calm and calm no matter what the situation, and will always have an expressionless look.

No matter where they are, these two people are obviously not the same type of general. Perhaps, it is this great difference in personality that makes the two find complementarity, so they can maintain a relationship as friends. Halsey recommended Spruance to Nimitz, and it was because of Spruance's calmness. Of course, this "calm" and "steady" do not mean the same thing. Although Spruance had never been on an aircraft carrier, he was extremely familiar with aircraft carrier tactics. His years of work at the Naval Military Academy allowed him to absorb some cutting-edge knowledge, including the remarks of the aircraft carrier officers in the navies of various countries, and the article on Renhao was also picked up by the Americans) Like Halsey, Spruance also firmly believed that aircraft carriers would be the main force of the future navy, and aircraft carriers would replace battleships as the new maritime hegemon.

This is also the main reason why Halsey recommended Spruance, Halsey knew his cruiser fleet commander very well, perhaps, there were really few generals in the US Navy at that time who had Spruance's rich knowledge of aircraft carrier tactics, and what Spruance lacked was only the experience of turning his knowledge into practical action! In other words, Spruance lacked only a chance to practice, and now Nimitz has given him that opportunity.

If anyone else were in Spruance's current position, I am afraid that he would not even have the courage to lead the fleet to sea, and he was promoted from the commander of the detachment commanding several cruisers to the commander of the task force, commanding dozens of warships, and it was the last old battle of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet. Spruance is also feeling the pressure, but he sees more opportunities. Perhaps, this is the opportunity he has been waiting for for fifty-six years!

The fleet did not go very well after it came out, and the three aircraft carriers now included in the 16th task force all had problems of one kind or another. The Saratoga's boilers were not able to reach maximum power, the flight deck of the Yorktown was not fully secured, the Hornet was less than 4o small-caliber anti-aircraft guns (there were no more machine guns in Pearl Harbor at that time), and the three aircraft carriers were not fully loaded with fuel and bombs, so the fleet first docked at the anchorage at Midway. And it was here that a submarine of the Tang Empire (Liao Hongpeng's submarine No. 1O9) appeared on them.

The replenishment work was originally planned to last for two days (in this way, after the fleet went west, it was just right to avoid the current storm), but this submarine of the Tang Empire completely disrupted Spruance's arrangement, and the whereabouts of the fleet had been exposed, Spruance did not dare to delay any longer, and immediately ordered to speed up the replenishment, shortening the two days to 3o hours, and immediately after completing the replenishment, he left the anchorage at Midway (in fact, a small temporary dock. Previously, it was only for small ships carrying supplies to the defenders of Midway) to go to the battlefield.

It was on this day that the fleet did not miss the storm, but hurriedly entered the storm zone. There's no way around it. There were at least hundreds of reconnaissance planes of the Tang Empire searching the waters between Wake Island and the Mariana Islands, and if the fleet wanted to advance covertly, it would have to take advantage of the weather as cover. The bad weather caused a lot of trouble for the fleet, and four destroyers had already been left behind (the destroyers were too leaky on a rainy day, and all the battleships of the fleet were like light boats in the sea, and they could be tossed by a huge wave at any time. But the bad weather also protected the fleet at the same time, at least those reconnaissance planes of the Tang Empire could not fly in the storm. That's a hell of a thing.

Spruance stood behind the porthole for a moment, then came to the charts hanging on the wall (there are no chart tables on American aircraft carriers, charts are hung on the wall) and two staff officers were marking some parameters on the charts, including those of the fleet, as well as some newly received information. Looking at the markings on the chart, Spruance suddenly remembered what he had said to Halsey before he took office.

Halsey recommended him to Nimitz, much to Spruance's gratitude, but also to Spruance's confusion, Halsey is a man who has a clear distinction between public and private. He would never recommend Spruance because of personal connections, and he handed over the last bit of the U.S. Navy's fortune to the rear admiral, who had never commanded an aircraft carrier. So, why did Halsey recommend him?

Halsey's answer was simple: he couldn't think of a better fit. In other words, Spruance was the commander who was most familiar with aircraft carriers in Halsey's eyes at the time, although most of the time, Spruance stood on the bridge of the commander of the cruiser, looking at the aircraft carrier a few nautical miles away, rather than directing the aircraft carrier to fight.

Whether it was a joke or Halsey meant something else, Spruance had no choice. Before leaving, Halsey told Spruance to fight as he wanted, regardless of how others commanded the fleet. That said, let Spruance do it and don't think too much about it. Maybe this is Halsey's style of command (which he did when he commanded the First Battle of the Marianas, and it was thorough), but it also made Spruance understand that he had no way out, and the entire U.S. Navy had no way out, and then Hawaii, the West Coast of the United States, and the mainland of the United States. There is only one way out for him, and that is victory, and defeat is equivalent to losing everything!

For others, it may be pressure, but for Spruance, it's more of a motivation. Just like every hero in history, he will always appear in the right place at the right time, do something appropriate, and in this way, turn history around and become a hero who created history. Spruance may not believe he could be such a hero, but he is now in that position. Whether he wants to be this hero or not, he has to do something now, something right, something that can save the day.

Thinking of this, Spruance had a feeling of wanting to laugh.

"General, Yorktown reports that the flight deck cannot be repaired right now, and must wait until the storm has passed!"

Spruance looked northwest at the USS Yorktown, which was signaling Morse with its lights.

"How much time will it take to fix after the storm has passed?"

Spruance turned, his expression calming back.

"At least twelve hours."

"I'll give them four hours, understand? Four hours, up to four hours! ”

Spruance stressed several times, then turned away. He didn't talk nonsense anymore, an order is an order.

Perhaps, now everyone is praying that the weather will get better soon. Even Spruance is a little tempted to curse the damned God, how long is this storm going to last? Thinking of this, he glanced in the direction of the "Yorktown" again. The weather was so bad that the moonlight and starlight at night were obscured by dark clouds. The "Yorktown" is not visible at all, only a general outline can be seen.

This is not the first time that an aircraft carrier has been blown over the flight deck by a storm, as early as a few years ago, an aircraft carrier of the British Navy was damaged by a storm in the North Atlantic, and the root cause was the open hangar and the bow. Who would have thought that such a storm would break out in early April in the normally calm Pacific Ocean (the North Pacific, and the western Pacific Ocean is not calm from August to December)? Perhaps we should follow the example of the British, with a fully enclosed bow and a semi-enclosed hangar!