When the strike team set off from the US transport fleet, the reconnaissance planes had already discovered at least 38 German submarines, and in addition to the five that had previously served as decoys, 33 German submarines had launched attacks, of which 28 had successfully completed the first round of attacks and were in the process of conducting the second round of attacks.

The German army invested so many submarines at one time, which also surprised Tan Renhao. It was only then that he remembered that the First Fleet had not encountered German submarines for several days, and it was obvious that when the convoy left Britain, the Germans received information and immediately began to organize submarines to attack. Then the German submarines near this sea area must have received orders to encircle and suppress the American transport fleet, and no submarines appeared on the route of the First Fleet. Now, Tan Renhao is not worried about whether those German submarines can attract the US escort warships, but whether the US escort warships can withstand the frantic attack of the German submarines and protect the most important merchant ship. If the attack of German submarines is successful, then the actions of the First Fleet will not make any sense.

The battle between the submarine and the destroyer was fought quite fiercely. Since the beginning of the battle, some submarines have been trying to entangle the escort warships and create opportunities for other submarines. Obviously, the German army's plan of action was quite thorough, and the tasks of each submarine were deployed very well, otherwise there would not have been such close coordination. Similarly, the performance of the US escort warships was also very brave. This group of escort warships has already run dozens of times back and forth in the Atlantic. He had fought many battles with German submarines, and every captain and every officer and soldier on the battleship had rich experience in anti-submarine warfare. In the first two and a half hours, six submarines have been killed, and this is probably a new record for anti-submarine operations in the Atlantic. However, the commander of a U.S. escort warship had never encountered such a frenzied submarine attack.

Several German submarines did not leave immediately after firing a salvo of torpedoes, but reloaded the torpedoes in the vicinity and attacked again. And three of these submarines were sunk by the destroyer before half past three. Other than that. Several old submarines also surfaced and directly attacked nearby merchant ships and escort warships with deck guns, and these four old submarines were also sunk by the ground guns of the escort warships before four o'clock. By this point, the Germans had lost at least thirteen submarines, but there were still more than twenty submarines that had not retreated and were still attacking the transport ships.

By half-past four. That is, most of the German submarines withdrew from the battle after completing the third round of torpedo attacks, and there was only one reason for them to withdraw from the battle, and that was to run out of torpedoes! There are 20 torpedoes on XXI-class submarines, and 6 are consumed in one salvo. Some of the submarines had already consumed some of their torpedoes during previous patrols before they came to encircle and suppress the U.S. convoy, so it was quite good to be able to complete three torpedo attacks. After running out of torpedoes, the submarine can only use deck guns when it is on the surface, and compared to the guns on the escort warship, the artillery fire on the submarine is not worth mentioning, and this will expose the submarine directly to the escort warship. It has become extremely fragile, and it is a madman who will make the submarine compete with the escort warship for artillery fire.

By this time. Only about five submarines were not withdrawn from the battle, and the pressure on the escort of the US military was much lower. The USS Liberty has managed to avoid at least five attacks. Dodged no less than 30 torpedoes. During the battle, the freighter sailed at a speed of more than 20 knots, apparently, this is an ordinary "10,000-ton ship", but is specially designed to transport valuable cargo, similar to a transport ship with a fast combat support ship.

The five submarines left behind did not take any more blind risks, but kept loitering around the flotilla, preventing the U.S. military from salvaging people who had fallen overboard. And forced the U.S. convoy to turn around and deviate from its original course. Probably. The Germans are organizing a submarine attack on Xindi, and more submarines are probably coming, but there is no way to get there in time. Therefore, the task of these five submarines is to slow down the US convoy and try to drag it until the next night, so that there is still a chance to organize a second submarine attack. This is also exactly in line with the needs of the First Fleet. At least thirteen U.S. escort warships were dealing with the five submarines, while several more escort warships covered the remaining six transports as they turned south. At that time, the escort warships of the US military were all concentrated in the most dangerous southwest direction, and in the northwest direction, that is, in the area where the assault team arrived, there was not a single escort ship at all!

The reconnaissance plane quickly reported back the new movements of the US convoy, and it was past 10 o'clock at this time, and the assault team had already set off for about an hour and a half, and according to the plan, it would take two hours for the commando team to reach the US transport fleet, but because the US convoy suddenly turned around, this time would be extended, and it would take about three hours. Therefore, the assault team will reach the US convoy at dawn, and if all goes well, by the time the US escort warship discovers the commando, the bomber group has already arrived, and the commando team will be able to board the "Lady Liberty" and take control of the freighter before the US military can react.

After receiving the report from the reconnaissance plane, Tan Renhao sent telegrams of inquiry to both the Second Task Force and the Third Task Force.

Dong Jue immediately replied to the telegram that the bomber group of the Second Task Force was already on standby on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, and at this time the Second Task Force was no more than 150 nautical miles away from the US transport fleet, and the bomber group would only need about half an hour to arrive, and these bombers would set off before half past five and would first be on standby near the US transport fleet to ensure that they could quickly enter at dawn and sink the US escort warships to ensure that the assault team could smoothly capture the "Lady of Liberty."

Chang Jiexin also quickly replied to the telegram. The "escort flotilla," consisting of four heavy cruisers of the "River" class and eight destroyers of the "City" class, had already broken away from the third task force at two o'clock in the morning. The mission of this "escort fleet" was to cover the ships after the bombers of the second task force had taken out the American escort warships and the commandos had successfully taken control of the American transport ships, so that they could avoid being attacked by German submarines. At this time, the "escort fleet" was not 40 nautical miles from the US convoy and was approaching at a relative speed of 24 and would arrive shortly after dawn.

The other two task forces were all acting according to the plan, and nothing went wrong, and Tan Renhao was a little relieved

When he was a little more relaxed, the three aircraft carriers of the First Task Force and the reconnaissance planes that had already been sent to the flight deck also took off one after another.

This was a reconnaissance plane sent by the 1st Task Force to search for the US Atlantic Fleet. At this time, Task Force 1 was located to the west of the U.S. convoy convoy, about 80 nautical miles south of Lieutenant Colonel Guan Chunsheng's cruiser formation. The mission of Task Force 1 was to find and intercept the approaching US Atlantic Fleet, and to prevent the US Atlantic Fleet from sending bombers to blow up and sink the transport ship. Of course, in Tan Renhao's view, if the US Atlantic Fleet dares to approach, this will definitely be an excellent opportunity to defeat the last hope of the US Navy. At that time, even if the First Fleet does not succeed in capturing the "Lady of Liberty", as long as the US Atlantic Fleet is killed, then this operation will not return empty-handed.

According to the information previously obtained, if the US Atlantic Fleet had left Norfolk Harbor and headed directly for the convoy, the distance between it and the First Task Force would have been within 350 miles in the early morning of the 24th. This is within the maximum combat radius of the US carrier-based bombers, but it is completely within the combat radius of the "Falcon" and "Peregrine Falcon"; when the time comes, the bombers of the First Task Force will be able to launch an attack, while the US Atlantic Fleet will not be able to attack the First Task Force. Of course, this is an ideal scenario, and an ideal scenario is unlikely to occur on the battlefield.

In order to be able to find the US Atlantic Fleet in time, and the 1st Task Force did not have a "reconnaissance eagle". Tan Renhao had to arrange for another 36 bombers to carry out reconnaissance missions in addition to the 36 reconnaissance planes. These 72 reconnaissance planes will focus on searching the waters northwest and west of the fleet, and the reconnaissance planes will have a 400-mile patrol radius, so that the "Falcon" can fly at the fastest cruising speed after taking off, reduce the flight time on the way, and thus discover the US fleet's plans as soon as possible.

The relevant strike missions were also arranged long ago, and after sending out reconnaissance aircraft, the 1st Task Force had 180 bombers and 108 fighters left, except for a squadron of air defense fighters. Tan Renhao can use other fighters to form two attack waves, which can ensure the destruction of at least two three-carrier task forces. As long as the aircraft carriers of the US Atlantic Fleet are eliminated, then the second task force can be allowed to follow, and the second task force will send bombers to launch a third round of attacks. The pilots also got the battle plan at night, but the problem is, until now. Tan Renhao is still not sure whether the US Atlantic Fleet will pounce directly.

What gave Tan Renhao the most headache was that he didn't know who the commander of the US Atlantic Fleet was. When the First Fleet was still fighting in the Caribbean, Tan Renhao received several pieces of information that had not been confirmed. The commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet was mentioned in these reports, but almost every one of them mentioned a different general. That is, there is no way for Imperial intelligence to confirm who the commander of the US Atlantic Fleet is!

For the names of those few US generals who are not very familiar, Tan Renhao still doesn't attach much importance to it. What really gave him a headache was that in a piece of intelligence he mentioned a name that he was extremely familiar with, and it was also the most headache for him - Spruance! In other words, Spruance is very likely to become the commander of the US Atlantic Fleet and become Tan Renhao's opponent!

If the intelligence services are not yet sure of the choice of the commander of the Atlantic Fleet of the US military. Then Tan Renhao would rather believe in the worst judgment. The former commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet was Ernest Brown. Kim, now the US Secretary of the Navy. King has also been the commander of the Atlantic Fleet. Even when the Tenth Fleet was formed, he also served as the commander of the Tenth Fleet. It was also the only thing that Imperial intelligence knew about the commander of the US Atlantic Fleet at that time.

After the end of the Pacific War. Nimitz returned to the United States, where he resigned from all his positions and returned home to retire, citing illness. Admiral King, on the other hand, was in charge of defense programs on the U.S. homeland, and it was difficult for him to hold multiple positions. In this context, the appointment of a commander of the Novaya Zep Atlantic Fleet is not a strange thing. At that time, the only place capable of serving as commander of the Atlantic Fleet was Spruance, who once saved the U.S. Navy and was criticized again. In particular, his experience in fighting with the Tang Imperial Navy was unmatched by any other American general. If the President of the United States no longer holds the Fifth Fleet accountable for the defeat. Then Spruance is quite likely to become the commander of the Atlantic Fleet.

Based on these analyses, Tan Renhao believes. If the U.S. military didn't want to quickly lose control of the Atlantic and lose the last fleet, then Spruance would have been appointed commander of the new land. And this is what Tan Renhao is most worried about. If someone else were to serve as the commander of the Atlantic Fleet, I am afraid that it would not be the turn of the First Fleet to make a move, and Huang Xiaotian's Third Fleet would have already trampled on the last bit of hope of the US military. However, if Spruance really takes this position, it will not only give Huang Xiaotian a headache, but also Tan Renhao. Not to mention giving Spruance six aircraft carriers, four battleships, and numerous escort warships, even if he only gave him a three-carrier task force, he would have enough ability to threaten the First Fleet or the Third Fleet.

The most important thing is that the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, after recovering its strength, has not gone to sea to fight, but has been training in the Chesapeake Bay and nearby waters. This is Spruance's usual style, if it were any other general, I am afraid that he would have led the fleet out to find a decisive battle for the Third Fleet, only Spruance had the patience to complete the training first, and wait for the opportunity during this period, and then seize the enemy's loophole to launch a surprise attack. If that's the case, then Tan Renhao has to think a little more, will Spruance use this transport fleet as bait?

These suspicions aggravated Tan Renhao's worries, and at the same time strengthened his vigilance. However, there was no intelligence at that time that Spruance was officially the commander of the US Atlantic Fleet, and at the same time, there was no intelligence to prove that the transport fleet was a decoy, and the real purpose of the US military was to lure the First Fleet into being fooled. Under such circumstances, in addition to carrying out the orders of the naval command, Tan Renhao could only be extra cautious and avoid being hit suddenly, but his worries were not relieved because of this!