On the evening of 3 May, after receiving a telegram from the Navy Command, Tan Renhao and Chang Jianxin immediately handed over the affairs of the fleet to their respective chiefs of staff, and then took a transport plane arranged for them by Weng Yiming to Durban, where they transferred to a long-range water patrol plane to a seaplane base on the island of Madagascar, returned to Moroni at noon the next day, and then passed through Diego Garcia, Colombo, the Lion City, and Guangzhou, and finally returned to Zhoushan on the afternoon of 5 May. Along the way, the two barely made any stops, spending almost all of their time on the plane.

The reason why the principal recruited them back, Tan Renhao and Chang Jianxin were very clear in their hearts. Although the 1st Task Force and the 3rd Task Force had won a beautiful victory in the South Atlantic, the situation in the Pacific Theater had already begun to deteriorate, and the US counterattack was about to begin, and in order to ensure the smooth progress of the attack on the Australian mainland, it was necessary to keep the 1st Task Force and the 3rd Task Force busy returning to the Pacific Theater. The five main task forces of the Imperial Navy will all be concentrated in the Pacific theater, with thirteen fleet carriers, six small aircraft carriers, five battleships, more than sixty cruisers, and more than one hundred and fifty destroyers. At that time, even if it continues to maintain investment in the southwest Pacific, it will still have enough forces to deploy a strong enough fleet in the Central Pacific direction, and it will be difficult for the US military to reverse the situation in the Pacific theater with a counterattack.

In late April, after defeating Cunningham and Goldford, Tan Renhao had already realized that Task Force 1 was likely to be immediately transferred back to the Pacific Theater, but he did not expect it. The Headmaster will transfer Task Force 3 back as well. At that time, there was practically nothing to worry about on this side of the Atlantic, and if a large-scale attack was not organized, then there was no need for Task Force 1 to remain in the Atlantic. And judging by the situation at that time, the conditions were not ripe for organizing a large-scale offensive.

To organize a large-scale strategic offensive in the Atlantic, the fleet is a necessary force, but not a sufficient force. Unlike the Pacific Theater, the Atlantic Theater has very few islands here, and combat operations are basically centered around strongholds on the Fiji mainland. The task of the fleet remained to seize sea supremacy. And to ensure air supremacy in the absence of the immediate creation of a base of shore-based aviation. But the problem is that in the Atlantic theater, it is the marines that dominate, and the fleet only until the auxiliary role. Especially when attacking the heavily defended Gold Coast, the Marine Corps is indispensable. At that time, Weng Yiming only had two marine divisions in his hands, and there was no supporting transport fleet to provide logistical supplies for these two marines, and there was not enough landing fleet. At that time, most of the transport fleets and landing fleets that were originally operating in the South Atlantic theater and the Indian Ocean were transferred to the Pacific theater to participate in combat operations against the Australian mainland. As a result, the Imperial Navy's ability to project forces over the Atlantic was quite poor. It was not very difficult for the Marines to regain Cape Town, after all, Cape Town was at the southern tip of Africa, the logistical supply lines were not very long, and the fleet had seized sea supremacy, and the Marines had captured Durban ahead of schedule, all of which laid the foundation for the recovery of Cape Town. But you have to attack the Gold Coast with your current forces. It's almost impossible! More importantly, the Imperial Navy did not have any strategic plan to launch a large-scale offensive in the Atlantic, and there was no need for the Imperial Navy to invest too many forces in the Atlantic before winning a decisive victory in the Pacific Theater, that is, taking Australia and Hawaii.

There was no need to continue the advance, and the weather would begin to change in August, so there would be no need for Task Force 1 to remain in the South Atlantic. What's more, France had already been defeated at that time, and there were only a few French battleships left that did not fall into German hands, although the British Navy still had a dozen battleships, but these battleships were all in the North Atlantic. Moreover, at that time, the British Navy had already taken on most of the combat missions in the Mediterranean, and at the same time had to watch out for the German fleet in the Baltic Sea, and it was almost impossible for the British Navy to draw the main warships to form an expeditionary fleet, and it was impossible to threaten Cape Town. Even if the British fought desperately to organize an expeditionary fleet again, they would definitely not be able to go south until a few months later, and by that time, there had already been a change in the Pacific, and it didn't matter if the First Task Force was in the South Atlantic, as long as the Third Task Force was guarding this side, the British would not want to cross the Cape of Good Hope and enter the Indian Ocean.

It was based on this judgment that Tan Renhao believed that the First Task Force would be immediately called back to the Pacific Theater. The result was much better than he expected, and not only was the 1st Task Force ordered to return to the Pacific Theater, but the 3rd Task Force was also ordered to return to the Pacific Theater. As for the principal's arrangement, Tan Renhao has to see it more clearly than Chang Jianxin.

At that time, there was definitely a need for a garrison fleet on this side of the South Atlantic, regardless of whether the British Navy was threatened or not, there must be a fleet to guard Cape Town, if Cape Town fell again, not only would the face of the Imperial Navy be unbearable, but Nie Renfeng would also be questioned by others. Therefore, Tan Renhao initially judged that the Third Task Force would stay, at least until a decisive victory was won on the other side of the Pacific. But now the principal has let the Third Task Force return to the Pacific Theater all the time, and from this, Tan Renhao has two new judgments.

One is that the newly commissioned battleships will definitely be assigned to Weng Yiming's South Atlantic Fleet. Before, there were six old battleships in the South Atlantic Fleet, and these six battleships were sunk in the port of Cape Town, Weng Yiming is organizing forces to carry out salvage work, but the hope is not very big, even if it is salvaged, Cape Town does not have the infrastructure to repair these warships, and if it is towed back to the empire for repair, it will take several months just to go back and forth, and it will cost a lot, and the battleships after repair have seriously fallen behind in terms of combat effectiveness. Therefore, when the third task force returns to the Pacific theater, the third batch of "new provincial capital" class battleships will definitely be replenished to the South Atlantic Fleet, with these four battleships, plus a number of cruisers and destroyers, the strength of the South Atlantic Fleet has increased a lot compared with before, even if it is threatened again, Weng Yiming has enough capital to compete with the British.

Tan Renhao's second judgment is that something happened in the Pacific Ocean, and it is very likely that there is an irreconcilable contradiction between Lei Shaoqing and Jiang Zhongmin. After hearing that Lei Shaoqing was appointed commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater Fleet, and later learned that Jiang Zhongmin had been recruited back to the mainland, and the Fifth Task Force would be given priority care, Tan Renhao realized that Lei Shaoqing's position as commander was an idle position, and Jiang Zhongmin's appearance made him firmly believe that his judgment was not wrong. Tan Renhao knows Lei Shaoqing very well, if Jiang Zhongmin finally obtains the command of the fleet in the Southwest Pacific Theater, then Lei Shaoqing will definitely not give up, and if these two people have a conflict, it will definitely be the number one thing in the navy. What Tan Renhao didn't expect was that after Gan Yongxing, Yan Guozhong and others got involved, the question of the command of the fleets in the theater broke out in advance.

Tan Renhao thought of the conflict between Lei Shaoqing and Jiang Zhongmin from the fact that the principal transferred the Third Task Force back. If the headmaster hadn't tried to reconcile the contradictions between Lei Shaoqing and Jiang Zhongmin, he wouldn't have had any reason to transfer the Third Task Force back. Judging from the current situation of the Third Task Force, the five battleships, as well as most of the cruisers and destroyers, need to be maintained, and the maintenance work will take at least 10 days, plus the time required to return to the sea, the Third Task Force will at most take part in the combat operation of attacking the Australian mainland in early June. The four newly commissioned battleships are already participating in combat operations in the Southwest Pacific Theater Fleet, and there is no reason at all for such a large-scale transfer just for the sake of one more task force or, to be precise, one more battleship. Therefore, the principal recommended the new ones to go back, which is to recommend the new ones to play a buffering role and alleviate the direct conflict between Lei Shaoqing and Jiang Zhongmin.

For the principal's arrangement, Tan Renhao was very happy in his heart. He is a smart person, and the biggest beneficiary of the principal's arrangement is Lei Shaoqing. After Chang Jianxin returned to the Southwest Pacific Theater, then Chang Jianxin directly competed with Jiang Zhongmin for the command of the fleet, and the final solution was that both sides would make concessions, and it would be Lei Shaoqing who would benefit. This also proves that the principal is not too partial to Kang Zhongmin. Of course, the most important thing is that it makes Tan Renhao feel a lot better, at least the headmaster is fair to his disciples. The principal gave Jiang Zhongmin a lot of opportunities, but he also gave Tan Renhao a lot of opportunities, gave Chang Xinxin a lot of opportunities, and now also gave Lei Shaoqing an important opportunity.

Along. Tan Renhao was thinking about this issue, and of course, he also focused on the tasks that the First Task Force might perform after returning to the Pacific Theater, or the possible arrangements.

After the return of Task Force 1 to the Pacific theater of operations, there were only two possible arrangements. One was to be sent to the Central Pacific Theater to cooperate with Task Force 4 and join forces against Spruance. In the "Battle of the Coral Sea", the First Task Force and the Fourth Task Force fully cooperated to solve the Third Task Force commanded by Halsey, and the cooperation between Tan Renhao and Huang Xiaotian can be said to be seamless, and both of them know each other very well. In addition, the First Task Force and the Fourth Task Force are the two most powerful aircraft carrier task forces in the Imperial Navy, and they are the strongest of the four aircraft carrier task forces in terms of the ability of their commanders, the quality of the officers and men of the fleet, and the combat effectiveness of the fleet air force. Therefore, the 1st Task Force and the 4th Task Force should be the strongest combination against the 5th Fleet.

Another arrangement is that for the time being, the Fourth Task Force will still contain the Fifth Fleet in the Central Pacific, and will not hesitate to make strategic concessions to delay the speed of the US counterattack. During this period, the first task force moved to the southwest Pacific, and the first task force, the second task force, the third task force and the fifth task force have been supporting the combat operations of attacking the Australian mainland, which can greatly improve the speed of the attack and strive to complete the task of capturing Australia as soon as possible. No matter how powerful the Spruance is, it is impossible to win, and the Imperial Navy can still take down the Hawaiian Islands in one go, or a strategic decisive victory!

Relatively speaking, Tan Renhao is more inclined to the latter. In order to attack Australia, the Imperial Navy has been working hard in the southwest Pacific for nearly two years, and the investment is quite huge. If the focus is on the Central Pacific, then this will inevitably affect the attack on Australia. As long as Australia is captured, the situation in the entire Pacific theater will be revitalized, and at that time, even if the US Navy builds six more fleet aircraft carriers, the Imperial Navy will have more aircraft carriers in service, and the Imperial Navy's advantage in the Pacific theater will be more obvious, and both sides will have to concentrate on fighting in the waters of the Hawaiian Islands, and the US Navy will have no choice but to be forced to carry out passive defense on the Hawaiian Islands. From an overall strategic point of view, it is the most advantageous choice to temporarily make concessions in the Central Pacific and give priority to attacking Australia!

Of course, as for how to arrange it, this is a question for the principal to consider. Tan Renhao only knew that after he returned to Zhoushan, the principal would definitely ask him for advice, otherwise, he would not let him and Chang Jianxin return to the Navy Headquarters immediately. And Tan Renhao was not sure what kind of opinion to put forward, after all, he did not fully understand the situation in the Pacific Ocean now, and he did not have an intuitive impression, so he did not rush to make a judgment. Therefore, on the way, he thought that after arriving in Zhoushan, he first had to talk to the chief of staff, and it was not too late to go to the principal after he had a clear idea.

When Tan Renhao and Chang Jianxin arrived in Zhoushan by plane, it was already dark. The two did not go to the naval headquarters, but went directly to Tan Renhao's house. Originally, Chang Jianxin wanted to go to the hotel to live, but Tan Renhao warmly invited him to live in his home, and Chang Jianxin was not polite. What made Chang Jianxin a little embarrassed was that he didn't prepare gifts for Tan Renhao's family, he felt that he had to bring a few toys to "Xiaobao", but he was in too much hurry along the way, and he didn't have time to prepare.

……