At about 8 p.m., a dozen warships of the shelling formation returned to the landing ground on Gardner Island with sufficient ammunition, and they would arrive at about 4 a.m. for at least four hours of direct fire preparation before the Marines went ashore, and then covered the disembarkation of the Marines. According to the plan, the three carrier battle groups will also provide reinforcement fire support to the Marines at dawn and provide direct aviation support when the Marines come ashore, and then withdraw from the battle to fully deal with the threat of the Fifth Fleet, with only the artillery formations responsible for providing artillery support to the Marines.

When the artillery formation rushed to the landing site, the landing fleet led by Han Shaofeng arrived at the periphery of the landing site at about two o'clock in the morning of the 23rd. Gardner Island flickered with fires, and all the exposed buildings of the American army were destroyed by shells and bombs, and many of the fires were not extinguished. The landing fleet stopped at a distance of about 10 nautical miles from the coastline, and the officers and men of the Marine Corps had already gotten up one after another to begin preparations for the landing operation.

"General, sent by Task Force 1." 16K. Mobile station ap.

Han Shaofeng took the order, which was sent by seaplane from the First Task Force. He took a quick look at it, and it mainly explained the situation of the First Task Force to provide support to the Marine Corps during the landing operation, as well as the liaison arrangements between the two sides.

"Let the officers and soldiers have breakfast at four o'clock, today will be the most intense day!" Han Shaofeng gave the order to the staff officer, "Perhaps, now General Tan Renhao is thinking about how to deal with the Fifth Fleet."

But that's not our business, our mission is to rush to Gardner Island and take this island! ”

Just after four o'clock. A ground artillery formation consisting of six cruisers and twelve destroyers passed by the sea where the landing fleet was anchored, a few minutes later. The guns on the battleship burst into flames, and then the sound of the guns came, and the artillery fire on the ground before the landing was prepared, which was also the most intense artillery fire in the landing operation. Eighteen battleships. In addition, hundreds of guns on the four destroyers escorting the landing fleet were constantly pouring shells at the US targets on the island, and the seaplanes hovering over the island dropped several incendiary bombs from time to time to report the information on the island to the fleet commander, and at the same time asked the gunners to adjust the shelling parameters so that the shells could be hit more accurately on the enemy's heads.

The shelling lasted for two hours, and when it was almost dawn, more than a dozen minesweepers and minesweepers rushed up and began to clear the mines set up by the US forces in the shallow waters. These warships were organized directly into the landing fleet. After the "Battle of the Solomon Islands", the U.S. military began to lay minefields near various heavily guarded islands to cope with the attacks of the Tang Imperial Marines. In particular, in some sea areas that are more suitable for landing operations. The U.S. military laid a large number of mines. These mines pose a great threat to the landing ships, and in the battle on the Port Moresby side, more than a dozen landing ships were sunk or destroyed by mines. Officers and soldiers suffered heavy casualties. Therefore, the Navy urgently dispatched a number of minesweepers from the rear bases to the front-line troops, which were specifically responsible for clearing the obstacles for the landing fleet.

None of these minesweepers had a very large displacement, the maximum 500 tons. The smallest is only a few tens of tons. In the past, minesweepers did not fight with the fleet, because the fleet fought in the open sea, and no country could lay a large number of mines in the deep sea, and the threat of mines to the fleet was not very large. Therefore, in the past, these minesweepers operated mainly at the main bases of the Imperial Navy to prevent enemy submarines from coming to the port to lay mines. And now, they can be considered to come in handy.

At half-past six, the fire support ships in the landing fleet also began to move. Although these converted fire support ships from merchant ships were slow and had very poor resistance to strikes, it was impossible for them to participate in fleet operations, but their firepower density was unmatched by any other warship. Immediately after the first use in Port Moresby, the Navy ordered a number of such ships for the Marine Corps, equipping each landing fleet with five such fire support vessels (the landing fleet is within the establishment of the Marine Corps, and the basic unit is the landing ship transporting one Marine Division), and a single rocket salvo of five fire support ships is enough to cover a landing ground 500 meters wide and 3,000 meters long, and after several salvos, I am afraid that nothing can stand in front of the Marine Corps.

In fact, the greatest significance of the fire support ship was the liberation of the fleet. In previous landing operations, because the fleet was the only force to provide fire support to the marines (later there were aviation, but the landing site had to be within the range of the aviation, and this situation could probably only occur in the southwest Pacific), so when the marines landed, the fleet had to operate in the vicinity of the marines, and at least an artillery formation had to provide fire support for the marines. With fire support vessels, the fleet can reduce its support for the marines and spend more energy on dealing with the enemy's fleet rather than being confined near the landing ground. This is of great significance, as it not only liberates the fleet, but also enhances the role and status of the Marine Corps itself.

It was also for this reason that the Imperial Navy later modified a large number of other types of fire support vessels. For example, some cruisers and battleships were scrapped with their main guns (in fact, these guns can still be used, but their accuracy does not meet the requirements of naval warfare, and ground shelling is absolutely enough) on merchant ships, and equipped with a large number of shells, so that it can provide more accurate fire support for the Marine Corps (the accuracy of rocket artillery was not solved at that time). In addition, an "anti-aircraft support ship" with hundreds of small-caliber anti-aircraft guns installed specifically to provide anti-aircraft cover for the landing fleet of the Marine Corps appeared. In addition, fire support ships equipped with dozens of Army 155mm guns designed to provide accurate, intensive artillery support to the Marine Corps at close range also appeared.

The appearance of these ships gave the Marine Corps the ability to launch landing operations on its own, and finally liberated the fleet completely. These fire support vessels are in many ways unworthy of being called "warships", but in some respects, their performance is incomparable to that of regular warships. Like what. A 10,000-ton fire support ship can carry at least 3,000 tons of ammunition, while any 10,000-ton ground cruiser can carry up to 300 tons of ammunition. In the case of absolute sea and air supremacy, the density of firepower provided by the fire support vessel. Strength, as well as sustained combat capabilities, far surpassed the battleship. That's exactly what the Marines need. Without sea supremacy, the Marines would not have been able to land.

While the artillery fire on the beach east of Gardner Island was in full swing, bombers from Task Force 1 arrived. The three squadrons of horizontal bombers carried all incendiary bombs, and the task of these bombers was to drop more than 200 500-kilogram incendiary bombs on the US army's defensive positions on the beach and drive the US troops out of the underground fortifications. Forced the US military to abandon the line of defense on the beach.

This time, the bombers of Task Force 1 were carrying improved incendiary bombs. Compared with the previous incendiary bombs, this kind of incendiary bombs specially used against beach defense positions and underground fortifications are more fluid, and the ignition time is slightly later, and its most striking feature is that the incendiary agent in the incendiary bomb begins to spray in mid-air, and after it covers a certain area, the ignition device detonates and ignites these incendiary agents. This allows for a larger coverage and better combustion results. It is also because of the greater fluidity of the liquid incendiary that the fire can easily burn into the underground fortifications. Make the enemy defenseless.

"Now the Marines are making final preparations for the landing." Hao Dongjue put down the phone, "Han Shaofeng asked when our second batch of bombers would arrive. ”

"According to the plan, let these bombers reach the sky over the landing site at eight o'clock." Tan Renhao looked at Hao Dongjue, "Tell Han Shaofeng." They have half an hour of direct air cover, hoping that the marines will be able to rush to the beach in this half hour, and the next action will be to let him have direct contact with Wei Dongbei, and we will be out of the battle. ”

Hao Dongjue nodded, then picked up the microphone of the phone and directly conveyed Tan Renhao's words to Han Shaofeng.

"When will the fleet enter the intended channel?"

"Half an hour to go." The nautical staff officer answered the commander's question, "the formation is now being adjusted, and the fleet will be able to enter the predetermined channel before the first bombers return." ”

Tan Renhao returned to the chart table, at this time, the second batch of bombers was taking off one after another, and Hao Dongjue also went to the aviation operations center.

When the fleet was replenished, Tan Renhao thought about this combat operation in a comprehensive and detailed way. The Fifth Fleet had not yet appeared, at least not to prove that it had appeared, and he had to make a dangerous move.

The crux of the problem is not here, Tan Renhao has been trying to guess and judge the actions of the Fifth Fleet according to Spruance's thinking, and in the end he came to the conclusion that if the Fifth Fleet is to be killed, then it is very likely that the landing fleet will suffer certain losses, and the most important thing is that the First Task Force must appear in a place that Spruance did not expect, so that Spruance cannot find the First Task Force and bomb the landing fleet when he thinks that the First Task Force is not much of a threat to him. The First Task Force took advantage of this opportunity to take out the Fifth Fleet.

Precise parameters have been marked on the charts, including the parameters of the route, as well as the parameters of the distance that the American forces on Gardner Island were able to detect the fleet. The nautical staff even marked the danger with yellow and red lines, and the extent of the exposed area. The First Task Force sailed along the coastline south of Gardner Island.

According to Tan Renhao's judgment, the Fifth Fleet is most likely to appear in the waters south of Gardner Island, and it should be within 200 to 250 nautical miles of Gardner Island. If Spruance does not find Task Force 1, then the Landing Fleet will be attacked, and when the time comes, Task Force 1 will be able to attack the Fifth Fleet. In addition, the Fifth Fleet may also be in the waters north of Gardner Island, and the 1st Task Force is sailing close to Gardner Island, and the radius of the Imperial Navy's bombers is 50 nautical miles longer than that of the U.S. Navy, which is enough for the 1st Task Force bombers to fly to the Fifth Fleet. The last possibility is that the Fifth Fleet is in the waters east of Gardner Island, and if Spruance really wants to avoid war, then Task Force 1 has enough chance to fight it.

Finding the Fifth Fleet is the key to the key, so it is crucial to arrange a good reconnaissance mission while arranging bombers to support the Marine Corps.

After the departure of the second batch of bombers, the reconnaissance planes on the three aircraft carriers also set off one after another.

And the seaplanes on the escort cruiser were on the road an hour and a half before dawn. These seaplanes had a patrol radius of 250 nautical miles (maximum patrol radius) and were mainly responsible for searching the south and east sides of the fleet, with only some being sent to the north to conduct searches. If Spruance wanted to attack the First Task Force, he would have to go into the search range of the seaplanes, then Tan Renhao would have enough chance to find the Fifth Fleet instead of being suddenly attacked by the Fifth Fleet.

"The reconnaissance plane has departed." Hao Dongjue returned to the command cabin, "According to your request, focus on searching the southern seas." In addition, Han Shaofeng also called, he can provide fuel for our seaplanes, but now the Marine Corps is too busy. After the Marines come ashore, he will first set up a seaplane base and transfer a group of seaplanes from Midway Island to be responsible for searching the northern seas, but this will be at least tomorrow, and if the landing operation does not go well, it may have to wait until the day after tomorrow. ”

"Just let them hold on." Tan Renhao pondered for a moment, "After Yang Qinkai comes back, let the pilots go to rest, send the intelligence of the Fifth Fleet, and let the pilots understand the enemy's situation first." Say hello to the aviation department and complete the preparations for the re-departure of the bombers as soon as possible. ”

"I've already arranged it, and everyone has been quite nervous for the past two days."

"That's it, we can only continue to wait for news from the reconnaissance plane." Tan Renhao sat down, "Anyway, we have already set up a posture, whether Spruance has the courage to fight us or not depends on how he wants to fight this battle!" ”

Hao Dongjue also sat down, now that the Marines are about to leave, maybe the factor that can finally force Spruance to come to the decisive battle is the Marines to attack Gardner Island. This was the only fatal flaw of Spruance, who had to assist in the defense of Gardner Island.