The first task force arrived at the predetermined sea area more than 20 days earlier than planned, and during these 20-odd days, in addition to restoring the officers and men, the most important thing was to test the performance of the warships, practice new tactics, and arrange training in all aspects.

At this time, Task Force 1 had two aircraft carrier battle groups.

In addition to the aircraft carrier "Xingkaihu," the "Xingkaihu" aircraft carrier battle group also includes the large air defense cruisers "Li Jing" and "Wei Chigong," the heavy cruisers "Daxue" and "Winter Solstice," and four destroyers.

In addition to the aircraft carrier "Daihai," the "Daihai" aircraft carrier battle group also includes the large air defense cruisers "Duan Zhixuan" and "Chai Shao," the heavy cruisers "Xiaohan" and "Dahan," and four destroyers.

In addition, the fleet also has four heavy cruisers, the "Baoding River", the "Qingcheng River", the "Luanhe", and the "Fenhe", as well as eight destroyers.

The four separate heavy cruisers were the first four of the heavy cruisers of the "River" class after the "Tsurotto" class. The River-class heavy cruisers were a completely new type of heavy cruisers designed and built by the Empire after the outbreak of war.

At that time, a dispute had already arisen about heavy cruisers versus light cruisers. Some admirals advocated the development of low-cost light cruisers to meet the tasks of ground support. If necessary, light cruisers can be equipped with 200 mm heavy guns (reducing the number of guns), but mainly 155 mm guns, so that light cruisers will be enough to perform ground support tasks, and this will effectively control the cost of building warships and have more warships. At that time, there was some basis for these proposals. The cost of building a heavy cruiser is enough to build two light cruisers, and the combat effectiveness of two light cruisers is higher than that of one heavy cruiser. Results. The Imperial Navy still chose to continue the development of heavy cruisers, rather than replace them with light ones.

The Imperial Navy's resolute choice of heavy cruisers was also well founded. First of all, the large destroyers of the Imperial Navy adopted 155-mm guns, and the displacement was very close to that of the light cruisers of European countries, capable of performing most of the combat missions of light cruisers, especially in ground support, and their 155-mm guns were sufficient. Secondly. The anti-aircraft firepower of a heavy cruiser was definitely not comparable to that of a light cruiser. If two light cruisers were to replace one heavy cruiser, first, the fleet's command system would be too complicated, which would be unfavorable to the fleet's operations, and second, it would also lead to a decrease in the density of anti-aircraft firepower, especially in key directions. Finally, the heavy cruiser's 200 mm guns were still the main force of ground support to a large extent, while the light cruisers' 200 mm guns would have been severely reduced in all other aspects. It's actually not a good deal.

Combining these factors, the Imperial Navy still decided to develop heavy cruisers, and at the same time compensate for the lack of warships by expanding the number of large destroyers built. This also led to the fact that there were no light cruisers in the Imperial Navy, and a large number of destroyers in the fleet.

The "river" class is a product of this controversy. Its design mother body is the "solar term" level, and the biggest changes in the design are..., one is the increase in displacement. to accommodate stronger and more artillery. The second is the use of 240 mm caliber main guns, which improves the capabilities of heavy cruisers in sea operations. Third, the radar position was set aside from the beginning, and the anti-aircraft firepower was emphatically improved, with the result that the air defense capability of this class of heavy cruisers reached the level of the "Li Jing" class at the beginning, and it can be said that it was one of the most powerful cruisers in the imperial navy at that time.

The establishment of the 1st Task Force was not very large, with two aircraft carriers, eight cruisers, and sixteen destroyers, a total of just over 20 warships. But the forces of the fleet are very capable. Almost all battleships were in the best condition. During the recuperation period, the battleships of the fleet returned to port for regular maintenance. The ground battleship replaced the badly worn parts (the catapults on the aircraft carrier were replaced with new ones, and the catapults were the most worn out of the entire aircraft carrier spare parts), and some damaged parts were replaced, almost all of which reached the condition of new warships.

More importantly, the energy and morale of the officers and men of the fleet have returned to their best condition. After more than a month of rest, the officers and men were rotated to the extent that they had the opportunity to take leave, with an average of 20 days of home leave for officers and 15 days on average for soldiers. For officers and men, being able to get family leave during the war-torn period is of great help in raising morale and morale, and of course, it also reduces the complaints of officers and soldiers.

Tan Renhao revised the fleet's air defense combat queue so that large air defense cruisers provided close cover, and heavy cruisers provided perimeter cover. After summing up the many problems exposed in actual combat, Tan Renhao made some modifications to the air defense formation of the fleet, such as strengthening the destroyers into the air defense formation to make up for the air defense loopholes. Second, the distance between the escort warships and the aircraft carriers has been changed, and efforts have been made to give full play to the air defense power of the fleet as much as possible. The change in tactics is based on the advancement of technology.

The biggest change is the official entry into service of VT shells. The name "VT bomb" is actually the name of the Americans, and the Tang Emperor's ** team officially called it "electromagnetic proximity fuse munition", and the principle of action is to excite a special fuse through the principle of resonance of electromagnetic waves, so that the shell explodes within a certain distance from the target. In this way, even if the shell does not directly hit the target, the shrapnel and shock wave generated by the explosion can still destroy the target and achieve the purpose of strengthening the air defense.

Because of the limitations of the technical conditions at that time, the first batch of VT bombs equipped by the Tang Imperial Navy were all 120 mm caliber, and 80 mm caliber VT shells could not be put into practical use until the middle of 25 years. The main problem is that the electromagnetic proximity fuse is difficult to fit into an artillery shell of nearly 80 mm caliber, and the size of the fuse must be reduced. This problem has basically been solved, but there are no breakthroughs in several key technologies, so it is not equipped with 80-mm anti-aircraft guns for the time being.

The emergence of the VT bomb is a huge technological advance, and it can even be called one of the most significant inventions of World War II, and its role in the Pacific theater is very obvious. Previously, there had always been a problem of inefficiency in the air defense of the fleet. The 120-mm anti-aircraft guns did not have a high rate of fire. And the rotation rate is not large, and it can only be intercepted at long range. The accuracy rate is very low. And the 40-mm and 20-mm anti-aircraft guns could only provide close anti-aircraft cover, which was already a matter of life and death. The performance of the 80-mm anti-aircraft gun, which was developed by the Tang Imperial Navy with the introduction of German 88-mm anti-aircraft gun technology, was between that of 120-mm and 40-mm anti-aircraft guns. The advent of VT shells has completely changed this situation, greatly improving the interception efficiency of 120-mm anti-aircraft guns, and greatly improving the efficiency of air defense operations when applied to 80-mm anti-aircraft guns.

Before. As long as the enemy bombers break through the interception of the air defense fighters, the proportion of enemy bombers that break through the air defense interception of the fleet is more than 70 percent, and the hit rate of bombs dropped is between 20 and 50 percent, that is to say, the total hit rate of the enemy planes breaking through the bomb dropping rate is between 20 and 40 percent. This hit rate is quite striking, that is, if the air defense fighters of the fleet are not able to completely intercept the enemy aircraft. The aircraft carrier was almost doomed to a bomb. In actual combat, it is almost impossible to strive to increase the interception rate of air defense fighters to a perfect level, and the fleet will never be indispensable for the cover of anti-aircraft artillery fire.

VT bombs have changed this situation, and the actual combat has proved that with the emergence of VT bombs. The accuracy of artillery fire and air defense has increased by almost two or even three times, which provides the fleet with more intensive anti-aircraft fire, which ensures that the aircraft carrier has enough cover even if the air defense fighters cannot intercept all the enemy aircraft.

It was precisely because of the emergence of this new type of ammunition that Tan Renhao decided to change the air defense arrangements of the fleet, raising the distance between the large air defense cruiser and the aircraft carrier to five nautical miles, and striving to extend the air defense network and ground boundary as much as possible. In addition, heavy cruisers were more flexible in the fleet, and destroyers that were not equipped with 120 mm anti-aircraft guns were used to fill the air defense loopholes in the fleet. After changing the composition of the fleet. Tan Renhao also arranged several drills close to actual combat. As a result, the new anti-aircraft formation was able to give full play to the anti-aircraft firepower of the fleet more effectively. Increase the efficiency of the air defense operations of the fleet.

The new establishment naturally requires more training to familiarize the officers and men of the fleet with the new tactical arrangements. This is the main task of the 1st Task Force in the waters near the Kaping Amarangi atoll. The fleet has been undergoing high-intensity recovery and adaptability training, and the officers and men have no complaints; anyway, after the training, the fleet commander will give them enough rest time, and the fleet commander and chief of staff still take good care of them, and compared with other fleets, the officers and men of the first task force are treated much better. For example, while the 1st Task Force was resting, the 3rd Task Force was still fighting on the front line, while the officers and men of the 4th Task Force were undergoing hellish training.

Tan Renhao was assigned to Hao Dongjue to be responsible for the specific training work, and he did not intervene in any specific way, because the training of the fleet was one of the main tasks of the chief of staff, and it was impossible to let the commander be responsible for everything. In addition, Tan Renhao also wanted to exercise Hao Dongjue's navigation ability, Hao Dongjue did not have the opportunity to go to the navigation crash course like Huang Xiaotian, so he could only improve his navigation ability through practice and the guidance of others.

While Hao Dongjue was busy, Tan Renhao was nervously paying attention to the changes on the battlefield, especially the movement and adjustment of the US military.

At the beginning of December, the Imperial News Bureau sent an important piece of information that the huge fleet of four aircraft carriers and two battleships of the US Navy had left Norfolk Naval Base on the east coast of the United States and was heading south. Unfortunately, the content of this intelligence is not detailed, there is no mention of the formation of the fleet, and the specific size of the fleet is not mentioned. The information was obtained by the Flag Bureau from the German side, and German spies witnessed the departure of the fleet off the coast of Norfolk base, and then a German submarine spotted the southbound fleet in the waters off the Bahamas.

The signal for battle has been sounded, and the US Navy's aircraft carrier battle group, as well as the battleships, are in service as scheduled, which is completely consistent with the information provided by the Intelligence Bureau before, and the US Navy fleet is going south at about the same time. The fleet must be rushing towards the Panama Canal, preparing to enter the Pacific Ocean from the Panama Canal.

On December 14, new information arrived. Tang Empire spies ambushed in the Panama Canal Zone spotted the American fleet passing through the Panama Canal and confirmed that there were four aircraft carriers, two capital ships, eight cruisers, and nearly twenty destroyers, which were none other than the US Navy's aircraft carrier battle group.

"The U.S. fleet arrived at Pearl Harbor around December 20." The distance from the Panama Canal to Pearl Harbor is certain, and Tan Renhao marked this route on the chart, "It will take about a few days for the fleet to adjust its deployment, complete the new establishment, and assign the command personnel of the task force, and then it can go to sea to fight, so the time for the US Navy to counterattack is after December 25." ”

"Judging from the information we have now, in addition to Spruance being the commander of the Fifth Fleet, responsible for commanding a task force to operate, the other task force commander is likely to be Rear Admiral Turner." Hao Dongjue put the relevant information on the chart table, "In addition, judging from all kinds of information, it is very likely that the United States will organize the two aircraft carriers into a special battle group, which should be assigned to the 51st Task Force under the command of Spruance. In the event of a decisive battle with our fleet beforehand, this special battle group will concentrate on covering Task Force 51. The anti-aircraft fire of the two battleships was certainly not weak, and the speed was fast enough to keep up with the aircraft carriers, which was a difficult problem. ”

"The main issue is the specific configuration of Task Force 51 and Task Force 52." Tan Renhao sat down, "Whether it is a two-two preparation or a three-one preparation, we haven't received any exact news now." ”

Hao Dongjue also sat down, making it clear that the opponent's formation is extremely important, which is directly related to the tactical arrangement.