At half past eleven o'clock that evening, the 3rd Task Force left the English Channel and entered the Bay of Biscay, and at this time another telegram was sent. At this time, Task Force 1 had joined Task Force 2 and was patrolling the waters south of the Bay of Biscay in preparation for joining Task Force 3. Task Force 5 went to the Portuguese port of Deportivo de la Cruña first, and Task Force 6 went directly to Santander.

By this time, it would have been possible to ensure that Task Force 3 would no longer be attacked by the enemy. At this time, Tan Renhao was worried that it was not the RAF ground bombers, but the British Navy ground submarines.

During the Great War. The reputation of the British Royal Navy's submarine force is not as loud as that of its German counterparts, mainly because German merchant ships rarely enter the sea area of British submarine activity, so the British submarines do not have a good record in the operation of breaking diplomatic relations. But this does not mean that the British Navy does not have a decent submarine force, on the contrary. Like the Germans, the British Navy attached great importance to the development of submarines. And attaches great importance to the position of submarines in the maritime battlefield. Precisely because there were not many commercial targets for British submarines to attack, the main task of British submarines was not to break diplomatic relations, but to penetrate deep into the Baltic Sea, which was controlled by the German Navy, where they attacked German merchant ships and secretly laid mines along the German coast. Of course, British submarines also carried out some very special tasks, such as sending secret troops to Northern Europe, transporting weapons and ammunition to the Nordic rebels, sending spies to the European continent, and dealing with ships and warships of the Persian Empire in the Mediterranean.

The Bay of Biscay has always been a major area of British submarine activity. Before the defeat of France. Most of the British submarines were deployed in ports towards the Irish Sea and Celtic Sea, if they needed to go to the Mediterranean. will pass through the Bay of Biscay. The Bay of Cobiscay is not entirely suitable for submarine activities. In the northern part of the Gulf and in the eastern part of the mainland waters, the water depth is less than 100, and the seabed topography is extremely complex, so the inland activities of submarines in this sea area are greatly restricted.

The third task force was very careful to choose a safer route when it withdrew from the battlefield. At night, the role of anti-submarine patrol aircraft is not very large. At that time, the German army did not have enough demand. So there are anti-submarine patrol aircraft that are not equipped to detect and attack submarines at night. Now that the RAF's ground interdiction of Task Force 3 and Task Force 6 has failed, it is likely that the Royal Navy will use its submarines to intercept the retreating Task Force 3.

Fighting continued over the British mainland, and the Luftwaffe fulfilled its promise, after two rounds of bombardment in the afternoon. On the night of the 23rd, the Luftwaffe made another sortie and concentrated bombing several important industrial cities, forcing the British Royal Air Force to carry out night interceptions. This also had a certain effect on covering the retreat of Task Force 3. When the British army was focused on German bombers, it was difficult to organize forces to intercept the 3rd Task Force.

By the early morning of the 24th, Tan Renhao had not left the command cabin. He's been here for almost forty hours now. Thinking that the 3rd Task Force was likely to be ambushed by British submarines, he couldn't calm down at all. At least, for now, position. The 3rd Task Force fought a beautiful interdiction battle with the 6th Task Force and succeeded in annihilating the British Home Fleet. The last hope of the British was gone, and their own losses were within a bearable range. In particular, the 3rd Task Force did not suffer significant losses and most of the damage should have been in Gibraltar. Or it could be repaired in a Portuguese port without having to return to the empire. But as long as there is a British submarine at this time, the sneak attack is successful. Then the fruits of the victory of the 3rd Task Force will be in vain. In extreme cases, a submarine can even take out several battleships . Luck is not always on the side of the Imperial Navy, and if any British submarine captain is lucky enough and brave enough at this time, it is possible to create a miracle in the history of naval warfare.

"You go and rest first." Zhu Rongzhe was a little worried about Tan Renhao's state, but he also knew why Tan Renhao couldn't calm down until now." As soon as I get word about Task Force 3, I'll send someone to call you."

"No need to ......" Tan Renhao glanced at the chief of staff. At this point, he was also extremely tired, and then he smiled reluctantly, "Okay, then I'll go back to the cabin first, there's news. Come and notify me immediately."

"No problem, I'll stay here forever, and you can change me tomorrow morning."

Zhu Rongzhe has persisted for more than 40 hours now, and his energy has been seriously overdrawn. Tan Renhao didn't want the chief of staff to worry about himself anymore, so he left the command cabin. After returning to his own cabin, Tan Renhao couldn't sleep. After lying on the bed for a while, he got up again. He decided to write out the battle report first and send it back to the Navy Command, and at this time, Gan Yongxing and Nie Renfeng must have been anxiously waiting for the battle report ahead.

The report is not difficult to write, the fleet not only succeeded in accomplishing the highest strategic objectives, but also defeated the enemy tactically, sinking eight British battleships and a dozen other battleships without losing a single battleship. Other than that. It also shot down hundreds of British bombers in fleet defensive operations. Comparatively speaking, the two main task forces lost only one cruiser and four destroyers. In addition, in terms of the number of casualties among officers and men, the Imperial Navy was also much less than the British Royal Navy. Most of the officers and soldiers who fell into the water were rescued. He also captured a lot of enemy officers and soldiers. The battle has been won, and it is enough for anyone to be proud of the victory.

Before the battle report was finished, a staff officer rushed over. The Xindi telegram had been delivered, but it had nothing to do with Task Force 3, but was sent by the Navy Command. After Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin and read the telegram, he realized that before this, Jiang Zhongmin had sent the battle report back as the deputy commander of the combined fleet.

"I really don't know what Jiang Zhongmin is thinking, does he think that the Fifth Task Force is the hero of this naval battle? Or rather, the Second Fleet is more than us? "Zhu Rongzhe felt very unfair." If you want to fight for merit, you don't have to behave so explicitly, this battle report shouldn't be submitted by him! ”

"Don't think about it so much, maybe Jiang Zhongmin is thinking that we are already very tired and sharing our worries." Tan Renhao was also deceiving himself, but he didn't write the word "dissatisfaction" on his face like Zhu Rongzhe.

"Worry? Isn't he tired? Zhu Rongzhe sneered and didn't continue, after all, there were more than a dozen staff officers on duty in the cabin.

Tan Renhao smiled, and then said: "According to the plan, let the nautical staff reset the course, since the naval command asked us to return to the Gibraltar fortress, then we don't have to go to the port of La Cruña."

"I've already sent someone to call the navigation staff, and the Xindi route will be set up soon."

"Also, don't forget to inform Task Force 5 that they will also go directly to the Gibraltar Fortress, while Task Force 6 continues to the port of Santander, where they will wait for the New Earth order."

Zhu Rongzhe nodded, and went to the communications staff to send a telegram. Tan Renhao didn't feel any tiredness at this time. In addition to commending the fleet's bravery and tenacity in battle, and giving special commendations to the 3rd and 6th task forces, the naval command also told them to return to the Gibraltar fortress as soon as possible and wait for the next combat operation.

Although the entire telegram was only 200 words, it contained a huge amount of information. The telegram also mentions that the naval command has arranged for several repair ships to go to the Gibraltar fortress, and the engineering troops have already rushed over a few days ago. So. Ships that were able to be repaired at the Gibraltar Fortress did not have to return to the Imperial mainland, allowing more ships to remain combat-ready. Continue to participate in the next combat operations.

Although the telegram does not directly mention that there will be a new ground combat operation soon, judging from the deployment of the naval command, the expansion. In addition, the construction of the fortified Gibraltar will certainly begin immediately, and in the future the fort of Gibraltar will become the most important naval base of the Imperial Navy in the Atlantic. At the same time, the command of the Navy clearly wants to keep more ground warships in combat effectiveness, which is enough to indicate that soon there will be a new ground combat operation.

Through this, Tan Renhao thinks a lot. The first is the next stage of combat operations. Now that the British navy had been largely defeated, if the German navy had by this time had a complete fleet, and had concentrated enough transport and landing ships, the Germans would have forced their way across the English Channel. The problem was that the German navy did not have enough landing ships and transports, nor did it have a strong enough surface fleet. This situation was quite favorable to the Empire, if the British were a little more sensible. Then surrender to the Don Empire will be considered at this time. After the war, it received the aid of the Tang Empire, quickly recovered its economy, and became the only power in Europe that could compete with Germany, and even continued to maintain its status as a great power after the war. This is the only way out for the UK, and the main variable is whether the British prime minister will make a wise decision at this time.

If Britain chooses to surrender, then the next task of the fleet underground must be to enter the English Channel, or even enter the mouth of the Thames, and then go upstream, just like Marshal Yuan Haoyi back then, and lead the fleet into London. Of course. This time, they can't set fire to Buckingham Palace, but they can at least go to the British Imperial Palace for a tour. Get a taste of royalty. Of course, all this is far away, and the British will not necessarily surrender. If Britain still does not surrender to the ground then . Then the Imperial Navy will definitely launch a landing operation on British soil in the near future. There will not be too many landing troops on the ground, and the combat effectiveness of the British Army is not very good. The real workhorse is still the fleet. As long as the fleet has seized sea and air supremacy, it will not be too difficult to land on the British mainland. For this, the Imperial Navy has been preparing for many months . It wasn't very difficult to send a few Marines to the British mainland.

It is unrealistic to expect the British to surrender at all, and for the sake of insurance, the naval command must have drawn up a plan for landing on British soil. In order to ensure that the fleet is able to exert its strongest combat effectiveness in combat operations. Then it will inevitably reorganize the First Fleet and the Second Fleet, which have suffered losses. Tan Renhao first vetoed the possibility of transferring the Third Fleet to the British battlefield. The first is that the Third Fleet is expanding its victories in the Caribbean at this time. The second is that the Third Fleet must contain the U.S. Navy. This way, the First and Second Fleets don't have to think about the new land threat. And judging from the situation of the two fleets at this time. The most likely place to be reorganized is Task Force 6.

In the Sixth Task Force, the "Fuzhou" and "Songjiang" will definitely have to return to the empire's native land, and those engineering maintenance ships will not be able to repair the damage of these two warships, let alone restore them to 100% combat effectiveness. Similarly, if the situation of the "Hefei" is more serious than what Gu Zhenyun estimated, the "Hefei" will have to return to China at that time. As a result, Task Force 6 was practically unable to continue operations as an independent task force. At that time, it is very likely that the 6th Task Force will be temporarily assigned to the 3rd Task Force, and the Navy Command will most likely transfer the 2nd Task Force to the 2nd Fleet in order to maintain the balance between the 1st and 2nd Fleets.

After generating this idea, Tan Renhao quickly rejected it. It is impossible for Gan Yongxing not to know who Hao Dongjue is, so it is impossible for Hao Dongjue to partner with Jiang Zhongmin, it is really impossible for these two to be together without making trouble. In addition, in the next combat operations, if neither the First Fleet nor the Second Fleet can undertake combat missions alone, and at the same time, the cooperation between Renhao and Jiang Zhongmin is still not tacit enough, then the Second Fleet should not be strengthened by weakening the First Fleet. Thinking of this, Tan Renhao was basically sure that only the Fifth Task Force would be left in the Second Fleet for the time being, the Sixth Task Force would be temporarily disbanded, and the ships that could continue to operate would be incorporated into the Third Task Force, thus strengthening the First Fleet. When the time comes, if you really need to have a hard time with the British. The First Fleet would be the only force to participate in the war, and if Britain chose to surrender and quickly signed a surrender agreement with the Tang Empire, then the next operation on the British side would most likely not have much to do with the First Fleet.

The more I think about it, the bigger the land will be, if Britain surrenders, then the First Fleet is likely to leave European waters quickly, and then it should go to the Americas to join the Third Fleet, and then deal with the US Navy's Surface Atlantic Fleet together. If this is the case, then after arriving at the Gibraltar Fortress, the First Fleet will have to be ready to depart at any time. Tan Renhao also quickly made a decision to find out the situation of the three task forces as soon as possible. And when he gradually calmed down, he realized that it was almost dawn!