Laicheng, when the battleships of the First Task Force slowly sailed into the anchored harbor, the first thing Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue saw were the two huge battleships.

"Lao Chang is getting big this time, and the two battleships add up to 100,000 tons, right?" Hao Dongjue's words tasted a little sour.

"Yes, but it's not like it's a one-man thing." Tan Renhao laughed, the navy does not have the rules of the army, and the spoils of war do not belong to individuals.

The two U.S. battleships were very special among the battleship groups at anchorage. The American battleships had some similarities with the battleships of the Tang Empire, for example, the "South Dakota" class and "Iowa" class battleships of the United States at that time used three triple main gun turrets, and the "New Provincial Capital" class of the Tang Empire also used three triple main gun turrets. In order to strengthen the defense, these three types of battleships all used the method of floating side design, and the auxiliary guns of the battleships were deployed in similar positions, and they all used high-level dual-purpose secondary guns.

Of course, there are still a lot of differences between these three types of battleships. The "Massachusetts" was significantly smaller than the "Wisconsin" and much shorter than the "New Provincial Capital" class battleships. In addition, the "New Provincial Capital" class battleships used high bow towers and triangular masts, while the two American battleships used low bow towers and tower masts. Because of these differences, it is easy to recognize these ships from their appearance.

In the harbor, a group of engineers have boarded the US battleships in small boats, and are trying to find a way to fill the holes in the two battleships, pump out the stagnant water in the ship's body, and restore the deployment of the power system. This way, it can be driven back to the Empire's ports without the need for a tugboat to tow it back. Other than that. The five "New Provincial Capital" class battleships will also be temporarily repaired to avoid surprises on the way back to the Empire. It's just the simplest repair. The actual overhaul will not take place until the ships return to the Imperial Shipyard.

When the "Xingkai Lake" aircraft carrier slowly stopped, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue immediately saw Chang Zhixin waving to them on the beach. The two did not stay long, immediately left the aircraft carrier and took a fireboat to the improvised dock. When the three brothers met, they were naturally very happy.

Tan Renhao saw it at a glance, and Chang Jianxin was very excited. Whoever really wants to capture 100,000 tons of loot, then it's strange not to be excited.

"Chang, you have a treat this time!" Hao Dongjue put Chang Jianxin's shoulder, "Your kid is really lucky, tell us, how did you get these two battleships?" ”

"Let's find a place to eat first, and talk while eating." Chang Jianxin couldn't close his mouth with a smile, "Huang Xiaotian went to General Yan Guozhong to report first." I said hello to him and had dinner together in the evening. ”

"Then let's go to General Yan Guozhong to report first." Tan Renhao called Hao Dongjue.

"Alright, I'll send you there. Just picked up Huang Xiaotian. ”

The three of them didn't say much, and immediately got into the jeep. Because Task Force 3 had a lot of work to deal with, Chang Jiexin did not call his partner, and the losses of Task Force 1 were not large. Tan Renhao didn't let Hao Dongjue worry about it, and arranged for several senior staff officers to be in charge of the fleet's recuperation.

When he came to the theater headquarters, he happened to meet Huang Xiaotian, and Yan Guozhong was not here, but went to the grassroots troops, and he left a message for the staff officers, asking Tan Renhao and them to come over early tomorrow morning. The four of them didn't delay any longer, and immediately went to the "snack street" and found the restaurant where they had eaten last time.

The owner of the restaurant must be a family member of the military, and he must have heard of the great victory of the fleet in the south, and he must have known that Tan Renhao and several of them were the heroes of this battle, so they were extremely polite to Tan Renhao, and they also said that they would give a discount and charge half less money for wine and food. Naturally, this time it's a new treat.

After the four of them hurriedly filled their stomachs, Hao Dongjue asked the previous question again, and Huang Xiaotian and Tan Renhao also looked at Chang Jianxin curiously. For them, they also felt that it was almost impossible to capture two enemy battleships on the battlefield, but how did Chang Jiexin do it?

"Actually, I'm afraid you won't believe it.

"At that time, the American officers and men on the two battleships had already begun to retreat, and they had also opened the sea valve to sink the battleship. However, the battleship did not sink, and we later found out that the compartments of the two battleships with sea-passing valves had actually been flooded long ago, and all the connected watertight hatches had been closed. The battleship was flooded quite severely, and if it hadn't been for the timely mobilization of dozens of small generators and pumps, I am afraid we would not have been able to tow these two battleships back. ”

"Then the Yankees didn't think of detonating the ammunition depot?" Hao Dongjue frowned, the best way to self-destruct the battleship is to detonate the ammunition depot on the battleship.

"The three main artillery ammunition depots have been filled with water, and the secondary artillery ammunition depots have been mostly destroyed. Moreover, the U.S. troops withdrew so quickly that the officers who remained behind in charge of the demolition simply did not have time to set up the time bomb. ”

"And what about the explosives they use to destroy their own battleships?" Tan Renhao asked a more professional question. There were self-destructive explosives on every battleship, and they were on every battleship of the Imperial Navy.

"The compartment where these explosives were placed was also flooded, and the US military couldn't get in at all, so how could they be detonated?" Chang Jianxin laughed, "We can only say that we are lucky." These two battleships were literally doomed to sink, but we moved a step faster, and the Yankees certainly didn't expect that there were so many backup generators on our ships. ”

All four of them laughed. Previously, there were not many backup generators on the warships of the Imperial Navy, and later, in many battles, several aircraft carriers of the Empire were unable to drain the seawater from the ship's hull due to the lack of backup generators, and as a result, they sank. In response to this problem, the Imperial Navy has prepared backup generators on aircraft carriers and escort ships, which can be transported to other warships, or used cables to provide power to other warships. But no one could have imagined that these backup generators would end up on two American warships.

"Chang, your kid is really lucky. If you were somewhere else, I'm afraid the first thing you would have thought of at that time would have been to run for your life, rather than to tow the two enemy ships back. ”

"I did think about running for my life at the time. But then I felt that there were two of you fleets in front of me. I don't need to run away either, since there is a chance to capture the enemy's capital ship, then why let it go? Chang Jiexin threw away the cigarette butt, "To be honest, I was a little worried at the time. If you can't beat Halsey, then Task Force 3 is completely finished, but luckily that's just my concern. ”

"I don't know if Halsey was killed or not." Huang Xiaotian interjected, "The 31st Task Force only escaped with a few destroyers, and if we kill Halsey this time, then we will have one less formidable opponent." ”

Tan Renhao's gaze swept around the three of them and said, "Regardless of whether Halsey is finished or not, the US Navy is no longer capable of confronting us in the southwest Pacific. The only thing to worry about is Spruance's offensive operations in the Central Pacific, is there any update from there? ”

Huang Xiaotian shook his head. "I also want to know the specific situation, but I haven't found General Yan Guozhong. And now on the Central Pacific side, the US military has not yet taken Wake Island, and the specific situation is not very clear. ”

"So. We should have new tasks soon. Tan Renhao tapped his fingers on the table a few times, and then said: "The Third Task Force will definitely return to China for major repairs, and it will probably take several months to repair those five battleships." Often, you cruisers that are not damaged. Can some of the destroyers stay for the time being? ”

"No problem, just arrange a group of honest destroyers to escort us, and I will stay if I can fight." I often recommend that the new answer is very refreshing.

"If the Headmaster doesn't use Task Force 5, then we now have two task forces to fight ......"

"There's no reason for the marshal not to use Task Force 5, right?" Hao Dongjue looked at his partner.

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head. "It depends on the training of Task Force 5 and the changes on the Atlantic side. So far, the chief of staff has not let those two small aircraft carriers go to the Central Pacific Theater, and it is obvious that the chief of staff will integrate these two small aircraft carriers into the Fifth Task Force. And the aircraft carriers of the fleet in the last place of service will definitely be assigned to the second task force first, so that the second task force can recover as soon as possible. Therefore, for the time being, it is quite possible that we will have only Task Force 1 and Task Force 4 fighting in the Pacific. ”

"At least, it's much better than the U.S. Navy." Huang Xiaotian agrees with Tan Renhao's viewpoint. If Nie Renfeng wants the Fifth Task Force to participate in the war, then the Fifth Task Force should be operating in the Pacific Theater now, instead of continuing to stay in the East China Sea.

"General Yan Guozhong is definitely planning a new offensive operation." Tan Renhao glanced at the three of them again, then dipped his fingers in the wine, and drew a rough diagram on the table, "He will definitely take Port Moresby first, so that there will be enough time to build Port Moresby into a base for landing on the Australian mainland." The Marines will then quickly sweep the New Hebrides and aim to attack New Caledonia early next year to complete the strategic outflanking operation. At that time, we will completely control the Coral Sea, and even enter the waters south of the Great Barrier Reef, so that when attacking the Australian mainland, we can choose to land anywhere in the northeast or even southeast of the mainland, which will result in the US military forces on the Australian continent simply not enough to hold the entire defense line. ”

"Then, we must leave a fleet in the Southwest Pacific Theater to assist the Marine Corps in the attack." Hao Dongjue said what Tan Renhao didn't say directly.

"At the same time, we have to hold on to our defenses in the Central Pacific." Tan Renhao leaned back in his chair, "Judging from the current situation, the strategic offensive launched by Nimitz in the Central Pacific will definitely stop, and they will complete the combat operation of attacking Wake Island as soon as possible, and then use Wake Island as a base to try to delay our pace and make it difficult for us to launch a counterattack in the Central Pacific." But at the same time, considering the entire war situation, if we want to successfully defeat the Australian mainland, we must also contain the US military in the Central Pacific. The most effective way is to attack the Hawaiian Islands, so that the US military cannot take care of the Southwest Pacific theater! Comparatively speaking, the Hawaiian Islands are more important than the Australian mainland. ”

"But the question is, do we have enough forces to launch a strategic offensive in two directions?"

Chang Jianxin asked a more in-depth question.

"We have the advantage of sea supremacy, and if the army can put the main forces into the Pacific theater on time as promised, then we will have enough forces to launch a strategic offensive in both directions. Of course, before we can do that, we have to first seize sea supremacy in the Central Pacific. Tan Renhao glanced at Chang Jianxin, "Therefore, it is very likely that the chief of staff will immediately dispatch a fleet back to the Pacific Theater to assist General Liao Hanxiang in holding Wake Island." If Wake Island can't be defended, then we'll have to defend Midway Island and paralyze the airport on Wake Island, making Wake Island an isolated island. And the key is whether we can defeat the Fifth Fleet commanded by Spruance. ”

"It seems that the Fourth Task Force will stay in the Southwest Pacific Theater." Huang Xiaotian also understood that if a fleet needed to be sent to the Central Pacific to fight the Fifth Fleet, it would definitely not be the Fourth Task Force.

"Let's go to General Yan Guozhong tomorrow, maybe he has already contacted the headquarters, as for how it is arranged, it depends on the decision of the naval command."

Tan Renhao didn't talk about this matter anymore, and he knew very well in his heart that if the principal needed someone to defend the central defense line, then the first task force would be the best candidate.

After dinner, the three of them hurriedly took their leave. Tan Renhao was not able to fall asleep all night. During the three days when the fleet returned to Lae, he was also thinking about the next stage of combat operations.

The victory at the Coral Sea directly changed the situation in the entire Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Navy was no longer able to launch a strategic counterattack, and the Third Fleet was essentially wiped out, while the Tang Imperial Navy now had six, and soon there would be seven fleet carriers, while the U.S. Navy had only one fleet carrier. No matter how the next battle is fought, the strategic offensive is certain. But before that, defeating the Fifth Fleet and seizing sea supremacy in the Central Pacific became the last and most important step before launching a strategic offensive!