When the fleet entered Pearl Harbor, there was a drizzle of rain in the sky, and the light color of the Q98 was very low, as if it were overhead. This is also Spruance's mood at this time, compared to when he left Pearl Harbor, the current Fifth Fleet is no longer a complete and powerful fleet.

A few hours ago, Spruance received several extremely important messages that also informed him of the situation in front of him.

The three aircraft carriers of Task Force 4 have all returned to the port of Apra, and the speed of their voyage can be roughly estimated from the time of the fleet's arrival at the port of Apra, and the state of the three aircraft carriers of the fourth task force can be roughly judged from the speed of their sailing. In addition, several submarines of Task Force IV were found to have sent back reports. Of the three carriers, only one is in serious condition, and the damage to the other two aircraft carriers has been controlled, in other words, at least two aircraft carriers in Task Force 4 will be repaired soon, which will restore a certain combat effectiveness to Task Force 4. The sneak attack on the submarines had failed, and only one had escaped, much to Spruance's regret that if a sneak attack had been successful, Task Force 4 might not have existed.

The Bennington, which arrived at Necke Island more than a day ago, is now repairing holes below the waterline of the hull, and will then try to pump seawater out of the hull to ensure that the carrier can continue its voyage without danger before returning to Pearl Harbor without having to go to the Kauai side for similar repairs. The "Boxer" arrived at Kauai a little later, and the aircraft carrier was not ambushed by the submarine, which was a blessing in misfortune. The carrier will make the necessary repairs on the side of Couai before returning to Pearl Harbor, and perhaps before the Bennington.

Preparations have been made for the repair of the aircraft carrier, and there are four dry docks at Pearl Harbor that can be used to repair the aircraft carrier, but the problem is that the damage to the "Bennington" and the "Boxer" is quite serious, and the power systems that need to be replaced for these two aircraft carriers are only available in San Francisco, and Pearl Harbor does not have much reserves. Therefore. After returning to Pearl Harbor, these two aircraft carriers will also be sent back to mainland for repairs, and will not be able to be repaired at Pearl Harbor.

This is where Spruance feels the most headache, maybe it doesn't take much time to repair the aircraft carrier, but the two aircraft carriers from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco, just one way takes about ten days, and now every second counts, wasting ten days. There will be unintended consequences. But there is no way to do this, even if the repair equipment and spare parts that need to be replaced can be sent to Pearl Harbor, Pearl Harbor only has four dry docks, and can only provide maintenance support for four aircraft carriers at the same time, and one aircraft carrier will inevitably go to San Francisco.

In addition, Nimitz also sent news that the combat operation to land on Midway Island was temporarily suspended. Spruance had long anticipated this, and the Fifth Fleet had lost its ability to combat aviation, although the airfield on Midway had been blown up. But when the Fifth Fleet returned to Midway. I am afraid that the Tang Empire's ground marines have already repaired the airfield, and it is difficult for the fleet without aviation strike capability to get close to Midway Island and destroy the airfield on the island with artillery. This does not guarantee the seizure of air supremacy. Under the threat of the Tang Empire's shore-based bombers, it was impossible for the landing fleet to approach Midway, and therefore it would not be able to attack Midway.

Nimitz did not mention in the telegram the next stage of combat operations, after all, the telegram itself was not very secure. But Spruance had already predicted that now the Fifth Fleet was incapacitated, and although the Fourth Task Force was also seriously wounded, the counterattack in the Central Pacific became a tiger riding force, making Nimitz unable to advance or retreat. If the counterattack were terminated, then Nimitz would be responsible for the defeat in the entire Pacific theater, at least MacArthur would not miss this opportunity to shirk responsibility. At the very least, it will shift the responsibility for the defeat of the Australian continent to Nimitz, so that Nimitz will have to face huge pressure at home. If the counterattack continues, it will be impossible to attack Midway, and it will be difficult to attack the Marshall Islands, so perhaps Nimitz will have to settle for the next best thing and choose a place closer to the shore where shore-based aviation can support the counterattack, such as Gardner Island. While the point of fighting back against Gardner Island is almost zero, it's much better than doing nothing. And as long as the counterattack starts, then the Tang Imperial Navy can be dragged down, so that the escort warships of the Fourth Task Force have to go into battle, and they can't hide in the ports in the rear. Then, as long as the aircraft carriers of the Fourth Task Force regain their combat effectiveness and those Tang Imperial fleets in the southwest Pacific arrive, the aircraft carriers of the Fifth Fleet can be put back into service, and there is still hope for victory in the strategic counterattack in the Central Pacific!

After so many years under Nimitz, Spruance is still very clear about Nimitz's command style, and it can be said that now Nimitz has no other choice but to attack Gardner Island. However, the problem is that the war situation in the Central Pacific is not centered on Gardner Island, and even if Gardner Island is captured, the US Navy will still be in an extremely passive situation, and if too many troops are invested on Gardner Island, it will also have a huge impact on future combat operations. There is only one way to change the tide of the battle, and that is to restore the Fifth Fleet's combat effectiveness as soon as possible, at least partially restored!

When returning home, Spruance took this into account, the damage to the three aircraft carriers "Hancock", "Good Guy Richard", and "Antietam" is not serious, especially the "Hancock", which can recover its combat effectiveness within about half a month, but an aircraft carrier obviously cannot turn the tide of the war, and if the fleet wants to play its due role, it is necessary to ensure that these three ships are repaired as soon as possible. Nimitz has already made relevant arrangements, and if all goes well, all three aircraft carriers can be repaired by the end of the month, which is good news.

Spruance's biggest concern was not the U.S. military's counterattack, but two other major problems. One is when the Fourth Task Force will regain its combat effectiveness, and the second is how long MacArthur can hold out in Australia. If Task Force 4 were to return to combat effectiveness by the end of the month, even if only two aircraft carriers were to be repaired, it would greatly limit the operations of the Fifth Fleet, forcing Nimitz to adopt a more conservative approach in arranging a counterattack, making it almost impossible to attack Midway directly. Similarly, if MacArthur were quickly defeated and the Tang Empire's ground forces quickly captured Sydney, then the Tang Empire's navy would at least arrange for another task force to carry out combat missions in the Central Pacific, and it would probably be the most powerful task force first. When the time comes, even the five aircraft carriers of the Fifth Fleet will be repaired. Back in the fleet, Spruance didn't have the confidence to defeat Task Force 1 and Task Force 4!

Spruance didn't have much hope for MacArthur, the Bradley Mobile Force was finished, and MacArthur was at a loss for the war situation on the Australian mainland, and it was impossible for this old bastard who only knew how to play political tricks to defeat the ground forces of the Tang Empire, and it was simply impossible to hold out in Sydney for long. The only hope is in how quickly the carriers of the Fifth Fleet can be repaired. If we can restore to three aircraft carriers in the middle of the year, maybe there is a glimmer of hope, which is much better than no hope!

After the "Hancock" docked. Spruance immediately followed the officers sent by Nimitz to the theater command. As Spruance had speculated, Nimitz was arranging an attack on Gardner, but the problem was that without the support of the fleet, it would not have been possible to take Gardner Island easily with only shore-based air forces on Neck.

"Now the Don Imperial Marines have repaired the airfield on Gardner Island." Nimitz called Spruance outside into the garden, "I've arranged for long-range bombers to deal with the airfields on Gardner and Leysan, and the combat operation began yesterday morning. What is the situation with the fleet now? ”

"It doesn't get any worse than that." Spruance's answer was straightforward.

"It's not easy for you to bring back five aircraft carriers. I also learned about the Shangri-La, maybe it was a submarine. But who knows? Nimitz sighed. Admiral Kim called two days ago, and the news of this battle has not been announced for the time being, mainly because the situation in the country is a little unstable. But we can't afford to delay it for too long. The president is going to make an official announcement around the 10th, asking us to provide as much favorable information as possible. Of course, the news of the defeat of Task Force 4 is true, and this is the only thing we can commend about it. The key now is that we have to launch a larger offensive, and you should understand the importance of that. ”

Spruance nodded slightly, this is where he felt a headache, if there was no indication after the Fifth Fleet was defeated, I am afraid that both he and Nimitz would lose their black hats.

"Our only option is Gardner Island, and attacking Midway is no longer possible. But we still have a chance to attack Gardner. "Nimitz didn't speak quickly, but you could hear that he was under a lot of pressure." The aviation forces were to first destroy the airfields on Gardner and Leysan islands, at least guaranteeing that air supremacy would not be handed over to the naval forces of the Don Empire. But this was still far from enough to take Gardner Island, and without the support of the fleet, it would be difficult for the Marines to achieve victory on Gardner Island. Therefore, I intend to have the Fifth Fleet set off again to support the attack on Gardner Island. ”

"But now our situation is not much better."

"I know this, the same. The situation of the Navy of the Don Empire will not be better than ours, their aircraft carriers have also lost their combat capability, and we are surpassing our opponents in the number of cruisers, destroyers. Nimitz forced a smile, "How's Turner doing?" ”

"The injury has stabilized and now I am being taken to the hospital and will be able to recover in about a month."

"You used to be the commander of a cruiser formation, and you're not new to artillery battles, are you?"

Spruance also smiled reluctantly, he was indeed not unfamiliar with artillery battles.

"If you don't feel comfortable continuing to command the Fifth Fleet, I'll consider having Mitchell replace you."

"There's no need for that." Spruance immediately rejected Nimitz's offer. "When are we leaving?"

Nimitz's gaze stayed on Spruance for a few seconds, and then he said: "It will take a few days to bomb Gardner Island and Lysan Island, and in three days, the other escort ships will be able to return to Pearl Harbor, you first organize the fleet, so that the officers and men can get enough rest, if everything goes well, you will lead the fleet to set off in five days, I will arrange for the air force to provide you with cover, and the marines will be ready at the same time." ”

Spruance sighed secretly, the combat operation was too tightly arranged.

"I will personally supervise the maintenance of the aircraft carrier, you don't need to worry." Nimitz also meant that Spruance couldn't let go of those carriers. "Plus, if all goes well, we'll get a couple of new ships in August."

"How many aircraft carriers can be put into service ahead of schedule?" Spruance was secretly shocked, if this was the case, it was indeed great news.

"No, not an aircraft carrier, but a couple of cruisers, newly built air defense cruisers, and a batch of destroyers."

Spruance was disappointed that a few cruisers and destroyers could not change the tide of the war.

"You go and get ready." Nimitz stood up, "The day after tomorrow, you come to get the battle plan for attacking Gardner Island, establish a good connection with the Marine Corps, if there is nothing else, you can relax first in the next few days, don't press yourself too hard." ”

Spruance didn't rest after he returned, and there were still too many things for him to deal with, such as the rest and recuperation arrangements for the officers and men of the fleet, the maintenance of the battleship, and the supply work. In addition, he had to visit the wounded to ensure that the officers and men of the fleet had enough morale. At the same time, he also had to finalize the list of those who had made meritorious contributions in combat, because after all, there were still a number of officers and men who were eligible to receive commendations. In addition, Spruance did not forget to visit Turner, who was recuperating in the hospital. The doctor saved Turner's leg and did not let the rear admiral leave the fleet because of this.

After arranging these tasks, Spruance began to consider how to cooperate with the attack on Gardner Island. The Tang Imperial Navy deployed more than 10,000 Marine officers and men on Gardner Island, for which Nimitz prepared a landing force of two Marine Divisions, and another Marine Division would remain on Necker Island as a campaign reserve. And the only thing that Spruance can be sure of is that the Tang Imperial Navy will not sit still, and the escort battleships of the Fourth Task Force will definitely appear near Gardner Island!