Seeing Spruance's battle report, neither Turner nor Mitchell could be happy. All three of them felt that there was nothing to be happy about, and that the huge loss was only a test. Although a group of pilots with extremely high talents emerged in this battle, this little discovery is not worth rejoicing about compared to losses, and it can even be said that this is not of much significance, those talented pilots are nothing at all in front of the old birds of the Tang Imperial Navy.

The atmosphere in the room was dreary, Spruance was smoking, and when he returned home, Spruance had already thought about quitting smoking, but now, only cigarettes could calm him down. The report of losses was summarized by the staff officer of the fleet, and when Spruance saw it, he was also a little incredulous, in his opinion, it was simply an insult, an insult to the US Navy. After the bombing of Nihua Island, there was such a high rate of loss, which made Spruance very sad. This reminded him of a common saying in the Tang Empire, is the U.S. Navy just Adou who can't be supported?

"You've seen all of this." Spruance lit another cigarette, "The situation in the aviation forces is even worse than we thought. If Nihua Island is almost an undefended island, then Wake Island can only be regarded as an isolated island, and it is incomprehensible that we have lost 76 warplanes here, and more than 20 of the returning bombers have been severely damaged and cannot be repaired! ”

"Redmond, Wake Island's defense is much stronger than Nihua Island, and it's normal for huge losses to be huge." Turner didn't know what to say, or rather, he wanted to find out why.

"Really?" Spruance was not at all interested in the old partner's "justification". "If that's the case, should we lose more? Could it be that our pilots are very good? Wake Island is just an isolated island, and just a few months ago, it was under our control. It only took a few months for the Tang Imperial Navy to restore the defense of Wake Island, aren't these things we should consider? ”

"It's not just us." Mitchell's words were much more peaceful, "Most of our pilots don't have much experience, on the contrary, there are a large number of elite pilots in the Tang Imperial Navy, and it is already quite good to be able to achieve this result." ”

"Yes, not really. But should we be satisfied with this? Spruance sighed, "As we all know, the Tang Imperial Navy has always assigned the best pilots to carrier-based aviation units, and the quality of its shore-based aviation is much lower than that of carrier-based aviation. In the first round of bombing, we had three times as many fighters as our opponents, but we lost more than 40 fighters, and in a decisive battle with the Tang Empire's ground fleet, we could not have the advantage in the number of fighters, so how many bombers would we lose. to be able to complete the assault? Other than that. Wake Island is just an island, an island that doesn't move, and you take a closer look at the bombing hits. Less than 30 percent of the bombs hit their targets, while fleets could move, warships could evade bombs, and anti-aircraft fire on battleships was much denser than on islands. So, when bombing battleships, how high is the hit rate? Twenty percent, or ten percent? I'm afraid, not even the minimum requirements! ”

At this point, Turner and Mitchell had nothing to say. It's not that they don't know the seriousness of the problem, it's just that they won't admit it before. Or rather, they are looking for reasons to excuse themselves without confronting these problems. That's the point, Spruance sees it more thoroughly, and doesn't think to excuse the poor performance of the fleet aviation. There is no reason on the battlefield, victory is everything, and the losing side has no reason to change the outcome of defeat, so it is not important to find a reason to excuse it, and it can even be said that there is great harm.

There was silence in the room for a while. Spruance pulled out another cigarette. "The problem is obvious, now the quality of the fleet aviation is far from meeting the most basic requirements. In addition to training, the only way is to train in actual combat, and we still need more opportunities for pilots to gain enough experience, especially in the rain of bullets and bullets, and the experience summed up, which cannot be replaced by training. ”

"The problem is, we don't have enough time right now." Mitchell immediately raised his head, "The two task forces of the Tang Empire are in the waters near Midway Island, our bombing of Wake Island has exposed the fleet, the fleet of the Tang Empire may come at any time, and it is impossible for us to continue to stay on Wake Island." ”

"Mike's words are right, we must retreat now." Turner is also on Mitchell's side, and Mike is Mitchell's name.

"Retreat is certain, but we can't rush back to the battlefield." Spruance nodded slightly, pondered for a moment, and said, "This time, there must be the first task force among the two fleets of the Tang Empire's navy, and Tan Renhao is likely to be the commander-in-chief, and you are all familiar with this Tang Empire's naval general." There is also Huang Xiaotian, in addition, Hao Dongjue, Chang Jianxin and others are our old opponents. If we go north, it is very likely that we will run headlong into the main fleet of the Tang Empire, and then we will not even have a chance to struggle. ”

The room was quiet again, and Mitchell and Turner lit cigarettes.

The three of them all knew that the whereabouts of the Fifth Fleet had been exposed, and when the bombing of Nihua Island was made, the fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy was still in Apra Harbor, so the Fifth Fleet could let it go, as long as it retreated before the Tang Empire's fleet arrived. This time it was different, the Tang Imperial fleet was in the Midway Navy, which was more than 1,000 nautical miles to the north, and it would only take two days at most to rush over. If the commander of the Don fleet had anticipated the return of the Fifth Fleet to Pearl Harbor, he would certainly have managed to intercept the Fifth Fleet and inflict a blow on the way back. Therefore, the Fifth Fleet could not return directly to Pearl Harbor, which was most likely to be sent to death on its own initiative.

"If we can catch one of our opponent's task forces, then we have the ability to annihilate it."

Spruance glanced at Turner and didn't rush to speak, he had the idea, but he knew it would be risky.

"Kelly's analysis makes sense, but the question is, how can we catch one of the other side's task forces?" Mitchell furrowed his eyebrows, Kelly was Turner's name.

"Herein lies the problem. How can we be sure of seizing one of the opposing task forces? Spruance extinguished the cigarette butt, "Judging from the ground intelligence received some time ago, the Tang Imperial Navy now has at least five aircraft carrier task forces concentrated in the waters near Midway Island, that is, there are fifteen aircraft carriers. In addition, the third task force, that is, the task force with battleships as the main force, is also very likely to be among them, so the fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy concentrated in the waters of Midway Island has reached six. ”

"It's far more than we can do."

"That's not the point." Spruance stopped Turner. "In our current state, we can only deal with one task force of the Tang Imperial Navy at most, if we encounter two task forces at the same time, even if we can annihilate them, our own losses will be unbearable, and as long as the Fifth Fleet collapses, then the Hawaiian Islands will be completely finished, and there is no way to stop the attack of the Tang Imperial Navy. If we encounter more task forces, then we may not even have a chance to fight back. ”

The other two nodded, this is needless to say.

"So. Will the Imperial Navy of the Tang Empire let a task force act alone? Spruance smiled wryly. The chances of this are zero. The most likely formation adopted by the Tang Imperial Navy is to have three aircraft carrier task forces together, and two elite aircraft carrier task forces. and the 3rd Task Force to form another fleet. In this way, it is possible to guarantee that any fleet can fight against us alone and not fall behind. Then the opportunity we talked about at the beginning simply does not exist! ”

"Then we can only circumvent it." Mitchell sighed secretly, "In the absence of a decisive battle with the Tang Empire's naval ground fleet and a decisive victory, in order to ensure that the Tang Empire's navy will be a mouse-barren when attacking the Hawaiian Islands, then we must ensure the safety of the Fifth Fleet, and we can't easily fight a decisive battle with the Tang Empire's navy." ”

Turner nodded, not saying anything more.

"Is it a way to avoid war?" Spruance shook his head, "If I were to command the Tang Empire's fleet. Then only one fleet would need to be arranged to assist the Marines in landing on Kauai, and the other fleet would definitely be on standby nearby. Now that our approximate location has been revealed, the Tang Imperial Navy will definitely arrange the fleet with three aircraft carrier task forces in the waters south of Nihua Island, waiting for us to assist in the defense of Khao Yai. The other fleet was to support the Marines in the waters off Nihua Island. The tactics were simple, but they worked, and we had almost no chance of crushing our opponents, as long as we were close to Niwa Island. Then we'll be the first to find out, and then we'll be hit! ”

"But the problem is, as long as the other side's task force is concentrated and active, then we don't have much chance!" Turner glanced at Mitchell, hoping to get some support from Mitchell, but Mitchell didn't speak.

"It's not that there are no opportunities, but that we have to create them." Spruance pulled out another cigarette, but this time he didn't light it right away. "At its most basic level, the commanders of the Tang Empire's navy would think that we were operating in the south, and perhaps they would be able to judge the purpose of our bombardment of Wake Island, and in any case, they would have deployed another fleet south of Nihua Island to cover the fleet supporting the landing of the marines. If we can go around to the north of Nihua Island, then we can surprise our opponents. At that time, regardless of whether we can defeat the fleet of the Tang Empire, we will retreat immediately after completing the bombing, and if the situation is critical, we can even let the bombers land on Kauai Island or other nearby islands, without rushing back to the fleet, first ensure the safety of the fleet, as long as the fleet still exists, then we have the next chance! ”

Turner nodded, the fleet is fundamental, and if the fleet is lost, there is nothing.

"But how can we get around? Moreover, time is now pressing, the Tang Imperial Navy may attack Kauai in these two days, and we don't have enough time. Mitchell wasn't so optimistic.

"The timing is not a big problem." Spruance lit a cigarette, "The defense of Kauai Island is not comparable to that of ordinary islands, and it is even stronger than the original Kuah Island. Moreover, there were no other nearby islands for the Tang Imperial Navy to serve as forward bases, and almost all the support needed by its marines depended on the fleet, so it was quite difficult to attack Kauai Island. According to the standards of landing operations of the Navy of the Tang Empire, before the marines went ashore, the fire strike force had to provide the marines with at least three days of fire readiness. That's still the bare minimum standard, and it's not surprising that when attacking a target like Kauai, the firepower preparation time has been increased to ten days. And now we haven't heard of the bombing of Kauai, so we still have a few days to complete the maneuver. In addition, it was enough for us to complete the bombing operation before the marines of the Don Empire set up landing grounds. So timing is not an issue, the big question is, how are we going to go north. ”

"You can only go around to the east." Mitchell said directly, "The other routes are dangerous, and we have to avoid the Tang Empire's task force as much as possible. ”

"How much time is this going to take?"

"It will take at least eight days, and if you take into account the state of the fleet warships, it will take ten days." Turner answered Spruance's question.

Spruance was silent for a moment, then said, "Then let's be sure for now." You go back first, and I'll send you a new route later. Still sailing in the previous formation. ”

Both Turner and Mitchell got up to say goodbye, and after talking to Spruance, both were nervous, and to be precise, there was not much hope for the future. Spruance didn't know that he had affected the two partners, and all he could think of was how to solve the problem at hand.

That night, Spruance identified a new route and sent it to the other two task forces in time. At the same time, the fleet left the waters near Wake Island and embarked on a new journey. Spruance didn't know what the outcome of this campaign would be, he only hoped that it wouldn't be too bad, and that thousands of young men would not be left in the sea forever as sacrifices to the god of the sea. …