The relevant news was also sent to the battleship "Nanning", the flagship of the 3rd Task Force. Following Tan Renhao around the southern waters of the Solomon Sea for more than ten days, Chang Jianxin had been asking the officers and men of the fleet to hurry up and train, and at that time, the proportion of recruits in the Third Task Force was the largest among the four main fleets.

The four newly commissioned battleships were almost all filled with new recruits!

As more and more officers and men were killed or disabled in the war, the Imperial Navy accelerated the pace of training new recruits, expanded the scale of training for new recruits, and even built several new training centers and mobilized a number of old warships to train new soldiers. But the problem was that the most losses in the navy at that time were the officers and men on aircraft carriers and cruisers, and relatively speaking, the losses on battleships were not very many, so the focus of training was on the officers and men of aircraft carriers and pilots.

It was only four months after the construction of the second batch of "New Provincial Capital" class battleships began that the supporting team of officers and men was formed, and then trained on several training ships. The initial training work was carried out for more than a year, but the problem was that the Imperial Navy did not have exactly matched training ships at that time, and the four newly built battleships were very different from the first batch, and the training effect was not very good, which caused quite serious problems.

The second batch of four "new provincial capital" class battleships is very different from the first batch, its standard displacement has increased to 41,600 tons, and the full load displacement has reached 48,500 tons, in order to allow the battleship to continue to maintain a speed of 31 knots, the new battleship uses eight high-temperature and high-pressure boilers with greater power, and the output power of the supporting steam turbines has also increased a lot. In addition, these four battleships have a lot of improvements. Even two other battleships of the "New Provincial Capital" class that were built in the first batch were partially improved during the overhaul, all aimed at dealing with the four "Iowa" class battleships newly commissioned by the US Navy!

The "New Provincial Capital" class battleships were originally designed for the Japanese "Yamato" class and the American "Iowa" class battleships. But the problem is that the intelligence obtained by the Tang Imperial Navy at that time was incorrect. The Yamato-class displacement was underestimated, but fortunately, the Yamato was blown up and sunk, while the Musashi and Shinano had not yet been built. Japan was finished, so the battleships of the "New Provincial Capital" class did not encounter the formidable "Yamato" on the battlefield

Class battleships. And on the side of the United States, the intelligence services of the Tang Empire at that time obtained information about "Iowa"

The data of the class battleships turned out to be of the "South Dakota" class. As a result, the "New Provincial Capital" class had a slight performance advantage over the "South Dakota" class battleships, but compared to the "Iowa" class, it was a big difference.

It was not until the United States entered the war that the Tang Imperial Navy figured out the difference between the "South Dakota" class and the "Iowa" class, two battleships developed from the same "North Carolina" class.

The Iowa class battleships were originally designed with a standard displacement of 35,000 tons, but later changed to 45,000 tons! And the standard displacement of the "new provincial capital" level design is 38,000 tons! If the performance of the two ships is comparable. Then the "Iowa" class has several thousand tons of extra armor steel, and its defense capabilities are significantly better! In addition, the "Iowa" class uses a 406-mm main gun with a 50-caliber barrel. Instead of the 45-mm gun of the "South Dakota" class, the power of the gun has definitely increased, and possibly even a lot!

Faced with this situation, it was too late for the Tang Imperial Navy to design new battleships.

At that time, a better high-temperature and high-pressure boiler was developed, as well as a 55-caliber 400-mm gun. The Navy immediately decided to comprehensively improve the battleships of the "New Provincial Capital" class, and the second batch of "New Provincial Capital" class battleships were built according to this standard, the displacement was increased to 41,600 tons, and the battleships removed some unnecessary parts and partially modified the internal structure, as a result of which the weight of armor was 3,500 tons more, and all of these armor were laid on the key parts of the battleship. In addition, all 400 mm guns with 55 times caliber barrels were used, and the two overhauled battleships were also replaced with new main guns (because the power system could not be completely replaced, and the hull structure could not be significantly changed, the plan to strengthen the armor defense had to be abandoned).

There are also many other improvements, such as the use of better radar, better gun sighting system, etc. What's more, all six battleships used an improved version of the Type 23 armor-piercing projectile (which was heavier and focused on enhancing the armor-piercing power at long range), and its armor-piercing power was further improved when using a 55-fold diameter main gun. In addition, the range of the battleship's main guns has been increased to 21 nautical miles (the previous maximum was only 19 nautical miles), the penetration distance of the main armor belt of the "South Dakota" class battleships has been increased to 14 nautical miles, and the penetration distance of the main armor belt of the "Iowa" class is also expected to be 10 nautical miles, that is, about 20,000 yards (the calculation standard of the US military, one yard is about 0.9 meters).

At that time, the maximum firing range of the MK-7 main gun of the US army (the main gun of the "Iowa") was more than 20 nautical miles, and it could penetrate the main armor belt of the "New Provincial Capital" class at a distance of about 10 nautical miles.

The biggest problem brought about by the new battleships was that it was difficult to complete the training in a timely manner, and when the Third Task Force went to the Southwest Pacific Theater, the training work of the Third Task Force was only about 60 percent complete. The reason why Tan Renhao let the third task force hide behind was to let the recruits get familiar with their warships as soon as possible. Chang Jianxin was also well aware of this, and when the Third Task Force was reorganized, he also made some changes to the establishment of the fleet, including the recruitment of more than 500 veterans as non-commissioned officers, the promotion of more than 80 excellent non-commissioned officers as officers, and the assignment of these sub-positions to key positions on the four new battleships, who were responsible for leading new recruits and training their new subordinates.

In the afternoon, after receiving Tan Renhao's order, Chang Jianxin sent the fleet south, and arrived at the rear of the first task force at about six o'clock, and then a new order was issued.

"This is the sea area that the general wants us to patrol at night." The nautical staff first marked the sea area mentioned in the order on the chart. Then he marked a route with a red pencil, "This is the route of the 33rd Task Force of the United States Army when it was discovered, and General Tan judged that they were pursuing the 4th Task Force." So we had to maneuver to the southwest of Task Force 4 and intercept Task Force 33 at night. ”

Chang Jianxin looked at the chart for a while. Then he walked back and forth in the command cabin. Because the space on the battleship is much larger than that on the aircraft carrier, the most important thing is that there is no need to set up an aviation combat department, so the command cabin is more spacious.

"Let the fleet turn, accelerate to 22 knots. In addition, orders for combat readiness were issued and preparations for night artillery battles were made. Chang Jiexin stopped, "Let the kitchen prepare supper in advance, and the fleet will enter combat mode at ten o'clock." ”

The order was quickly conveyed, Chang Zhixin also quieted down, and soon, his adjutant brought him dinner, the officers and men of the fleet began to eat dinner, and the staff officers in the command cabin began to change shifts.

At the time of the new dinner. The staff officer clearly marked the rest of the situation on the battlefield on the chart. Unlike charts on aircraft carriers, battleships used charts in much smaller proportions, and each one was very large. Anyway, there is enough space on the battleship, and it won't care about such a little anymore.

"General, all the information is marked."

"You go to dinner, besides. After seeing the Chief of Staff, let him come over. After the staff officer walked away, Chang Jiexin took out a cigarette and walked to the chart table.

Task Force 1 has now ceased to sail to the north and is hovering south of Task Force 3, while Task Force 4 continues to sail northeast.

Judging from Tan Renhao's deployment, he definitely wanted to use the Fourth Task Force to lure the 33rd Task Force to the gun port of the Third Task Force. But the question is, will Task Force 33 always follow this route? In addition, Tan Renhao's first target was never the 33rd Task Force, but the 31st Task Force, then the 32nd Task Force, and finally the 33rd Task Force, so what was his purpose in doing this?

Thinking of this, Chang Jianxin laughed. He knows Tan Renhao too well, on the battlefield, Tan Renhao is definitely the kind of commander who will not be emotional, when the first task force cooperated with the second task force, Tan Renhao used the second task force many times to lure the enemy, and then let the first task force attack. In particular, in the "Second Battle of Wake Island", the 2nd Task Force was the first to kill out, attracting Spruance's strike force, and then the 1st Task Force dispatched bombers to attack the American fleet. So this time, Tan Renhao must have thought the same way, putting the fourth task force in the open, and the task of the third task force is to block the 33rd task force so that it cannot get close to the aircraft carrier task force, and what Tan Renhao has to do is to kill Halsey's 31st task force first, Mitchell's 32nd task force, and then clean up the 33rd task force. Then the tasks of Task Force 3 could not be more obvious.

"Commander Chang, is there any new news?" Gu Zhenyun went to sleep in the afternoon, and he rushed over after receiving the news from the staff officer.

"Lao Gu, come and take a look, there must be a lively scene tonight, and we are singing the leading role." Chang Jianxin called Gu Zhenyun over, first said his judgment, and then said, "Our opponent this time is still Kincaid, if we can defeat him, then we will take revenge for the last time!" ”

Gu Zhenyun nodded slightly, he had only been with Chang Recommended New Partner for a few months, and he was not very familiar with this new fleet commander. In addition, he always thought that after Yan Shiqi left the fleet, it was very likely that he would be the commander of the fleet, but as a result, a new commander was transferred, and it was a new commander who was much younger than him. Gu Zhenyun didn't have too many thoughts about not being promoted to the commander of the fleet, he knew his ability, and Chang Jianxin also respected him very much, but the problem was that he was not familiar with how to cooperate with the new commander.

"Even if we can't defeat Task Force 33 in Kincaid, after dawn, the bombers of Task Force 1 and Task Force 4 will help us take out Task Force 33. So, we have to stop the enemy first, and then we have to fight the 33rd Task Force second! ”

"The question is, won't the American bombers bomb us after dawn?" Gu Zhenyun asked a question.

Chang Jianxin hesitated for a moment, then said with a smile: "Old Gu, do you think Halsey will take us first?" I don't think so, first of all, Kincaid must have received Halsey's order to pursue Task Force 4. Secondly, Halsey has not yet arranged for bombers to deal with Task Force 4, which proves that he is still far from Task Force 4. And Halsey's target is our aircraft carrier task force. I can assure you that even if we were less than 100 nautical miles from Halsey by now, and as long as Task Force 4 and Task Force 1 had not been defeated, Halsey would not have sent a bomber against us, all we had to worry about was the huge guns on those seven American battleships! ”

"Then General Tan and General Huang will arrange bombers to support us after dawn?"

Chang Jianxin laughed. "Well, it depends on whether they can kill the 31st Task Force and the 32nd Task Force first, if they can, then we will definitely get support, if not, we can't escape."

"That is, we still have to fight this battle on our own, and it is better not to pin our hopes on the bombers."

Chang Jianxin nodded. "Quite right, judging by the intelligence provided by the 4th Task Force, the 33rd Task Force had seven battleships, twelve light cruisers, and twelve destroyers, while we had six battleships, nine heavy cruisers, and sixteen destroyers. In terms of battleships, we have one less, but in terms of cruisers and destroyers, we have a considerable advantage, and on the whole, we are about the same strength as the 33rd Task Force, and if we really want to fight, it will depend on who plays better. ”

"Who else has better luck!" Gu Zhenyun added that in the artillery battle, the element of luck is very large.

"Yes, then let's see whose luck is better, at least we're prepared, and now Kincaid is still eyeing Task Force 4!"

Both of them laughed, and Gu Zhenyun also secretly made up his mind that he must kill the 33rd Task Force, and must not lose to Kincaid again, avenging the last battle, and avenging Yan Shiqi, who must live in a wheelchair for the rest of his life!