After occupying Guam, the Tang Imperial Navy has been trying to expand the capacity of Apra Harbor, with the ultimate goal of making Apra Harbor the same level as Naha Port and becoming the most important military base of the Tang Imperial Navy in the Pacific. Although two years was a short time, the United States had already built a lot of infrastructure, and in times of war, everything was focused on the war, and the expansion of the port of Apra went well, even exceeding the initial hopes of the Imperial Navy.

At present, there are four large dry docks in Apra Harbor that can undertake the maintenance work of aircraft carriers, and the most important four large cranes of 500 tons have been built not long ago, which is an important infrastructure for the maintenance of warships, especially for the replacement of some heavy and bulky equipment for warships. In addition, there are several smaller dry docks and floating docks, which can be used to repair cruisers and destroyers. Three new wharves have also been built in the port, including two longitudinal wharves. Because of the expansion of the port area, the breakwater has been extended by more than 2,000 meters, and in order to build more infrastructure, the engineers of the Marine Corps have even hollowed out one-third of Lanlan Mountain to create nearly half a square kilometer of land in the west of the port! 16K. Mobile station ap.

In order to make the port of Apra a home port that could support the fleet alone, the Imperial Navy spent a lot of money. For more than two years, tens of thousands of Imperial Marines have been deployed to Guam, a third of whom are engineers. In addition, a large amount of equipment was brought from the empire itself, and the engineering equipment needed for construction alone, as well as the heavy equipment required for the port infrastructure, was enough to load more than 80 freighters! In Liao's words, the expansion of the port of Apra was equivalent to the construction of two Naha-sized ports on the imperial mainland. Although this is a bit of a loss, the importance of the port of Apra is irreplaceable by any other port, especially for those fleets fighting in the Central Pacific, the port of Apra is their rear base, and the role of the port of Naha is far less than that of the port of Apra.

At that time, it took 5 to 10 days for the fleet operating in the Central Pacific to return to the port of Naha and return to the port of Apra. It only takes 3 to 5 days. In other words, if the fleet is stationed in the port of Apra, a round trip can save 4 to 10 days on the voyage, even if the tactical significance is not considered, it can also save more than 10,000 tons of heavy fuel and allow the fleet to move on the battlefield for several more days. If the ship is damaged in battle, then more than 10 days can be saved for repairs. Then the battleship will spend less time on repairs, and it will be able to repair it faster and put it into the next battle earlier, which is obviously of great significance to ensure the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Navy. In addition, the expanded port of Apra will also be able to accommodate more landing ships and transport ships, so that with the port of Apra as a base, the marines can reach the war zone more quickly and enter the battle.

At a strategic level. The expanded port of Apra became the core of the Empire's outer defenses. This is equivalent to extending the Empire's territorial defense circle from the Ryukyu Islands to the Mariana Islands, adding more than 1,000 nautical miles of defense space and giving the Imperial fleet more assembly and training locations. At the same time, it would also add a line of defense, so that the United States would have to attack the Mariana Islands first before advancing to the Ryukyu Islands, which would be equivalent to adding more room for the Imperial Navy to maneuver. Therefore, from this point of view, the strategic significance of the port of Apra is far greater than that of the port of Naha!

Finally, and an important reason why the Imperial Government agreed to expand the port of Apra, would allow the Empire to occupy and control the Mariana Islands for a long time, so that it would not have to be returned after the war. It can be said that the Mariana Islands are the gateway to the western Pacific. And the western Pacific is the gateway to the empire. Ever since the United States took control of the Mariana Islands, the Empire has been stuck in the throat, and the United States has put its gun on the Empire's chest. After the occupation of the Mariana Islands, the Empire, naturally, would not consider any possibility of returning the islands to the United States. The most fundamental way is to turn the Mariana Islands into the territory of the Empire, but this is very difficult to do politically, even if the Empire wins the war, the Empire's annexation of the Mariana Islands is not legitimate, after all, this is not the time for the Empire to have the final say. At the same time, the annexation of the Mariana Islands will also carry a heavy burden. The most effective way to control the Mariana Islands was to turn them into an overseas territory of the Empire. That is, the Mariana Islands are not part of the territory of the Empire, but are administered by the Empire. In this way, the empire did not need to gain political legitimacy or solve the problems of the hundreds of thousands of indigenous people of the archipelago, while at the same time keeping the archipelago under its own control. In order for the Mariana Islands to become an overseas territory of the Empire, the occupation of the Mariana Islands would have to become a fait accompli, that is, no one could replace the Empire in control of the Mariana Islands, and the expansion of the port of Apra was an important step.

Huang Xiaotian is not very worried about these long-term strategic issues and political issues, after all, he is just a fleet commander, and he only cares about whether his aircraft carriers can be repaired quickly. Liao Hanxiang's arrangements were very thoughtful; on the day the Fourth Task Force returned to Apra Port, some engineers began to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the three aircraft carriers, among which the "Honghu" was the most troublesome in pumping water, and it was necessary to first plug the loopholes below the waterline of the hull, and then the stagnant water in the fleet could be pumped out, and finally the aircraft carrier was sent to the dock. The repair of the other two aircraft carriers was much easier. The next day, the "Taihu" and "Chaohu" were pushed into the dock by tugboats, and repairs began that night. The "Honghu" will take a few more days to repair the loopholes, and it will be able to enter the dock for full repairs in about five days.

Looking at the two aircraft carriers in the dock on the opposite shore, as well as the "Honghu" aircraft carrier docked next to the horizontal dock, Huang Xiaotian's mood was very complicated. He had already asked the ship engineers who had just finished inspecting the aircraft carrier, and the "Taihu" and "Chaohu" were both damaged by bombs, which were relatively easy to repair, and the spare parts that needed to be replaced had basically been delivered, or would be delivered in the near future, especially the boilers and steam turbines that needed to be replaced were already in place, and the repair work was being carried out intensively, and the "Honghu" was much more serious, especially the damage caused by the two aviation torpedoes, which almost killed the aircraft carrier. It's a miracle to be able to get back to Puerto Apra. The aircraft carrier will certainly need to be repaired for a much longer period of time, and the most optimistic estimate will take two months, perhaps three months, and maybe it will continue until the end of the year, mainly because the comprehensive inspection of the aircraft carrier has not yet been completed. It is not possible to accurately determine the time required for repairs without knowing whether the main structure has been damaged or not.

"I heard that the 'Qiandao Lake' is going to be repaired." Yan Yulong knew what Huang Xiaotian was thinking, "Maybe, this aircraft carrier will be incorporated into our fleet at that time." ”

"The Fifth Task Force also had an aircraft carrier damaged last month, and even if the 'Thousand Island Lake' was repaired, it would be provided to the Fifth Task Force first." Huang Xiaotian sighed secretly, "Don't think about it so much, have you already arranged it?" ”

"The boilers on the battleship have been started. As planned, we set off in the early evening. ”

Huang Xiaotian looked at the battleships parked next to the two longitudinal piers and at the anchorage, and white smoke was rising from the chimneys of the escort warships in the Fourth Task Force and a batch of destroyers provided by Liao Hanxiang, and the officers and men were busy on the battleships, making preparations before departure.

"General Liao Hanxiang doesn't have any other requirements?"

"No, just let you go to Midway as soon as possible." Huang Xiaotian turned his head, "Originally, I wanted to set off together, but you also saw it." There's still a lot to take care of here. And directing artillery battles is not my forte, so ......"

"Don't talk so much, someone has to go anyway." Yan Yulong laughed. "Okay, you go to General Liao Hanxiang to report earlier, he left you behind, obviously asking you to do something else, don't delay time here."

Huang Xiaotian glanced at his watch, it was already half past four in the afternoon. "It's okay, let's go again. Now the fleet is left with these cruisers and destroyers, and in the short term, neither the 1st Task Force nor the 2nd Task Force will be able to rush over. General Liao Hanxiang is helping us get more cruisers and destroyers, but there is not much hope. If the Fifth Fleet still dares to fight. Then we will have to fight with them for naval guns and torpedoes! ”

"Don't worry about this, although I am not an artillery expert like the new general, if I really want to fight the Yankees, I still have two hands."

"That's good, don't underestimate the enemy." Huang Xiaotian walked towards the end of the dock, "In addition, pay attention to the emotions of the officers and men of the fleet, this combat operation is not easy for everyone. Maintaining good morale is the most important thing. ”

Yan Yulong nodded, he had been working hard to learn from Huang Xiaotian, hoping to become a commander like Huang Xiaotian one day.

The two chatted for more than an hour, until Yan Yulong was about to board the cruiser "Suzaku", and Huang Xiaotian said goodbye to him. The Fifth Fleet's escort warships will certainly continue to come out to operate, and perhaps the US forces will attack Gardner Island, and the only escort warships that can fight the US fleet and support the front-line Marine Corps are these escort warships of the Fourth Task Force. Liao Hanxiang did not let Huang Xiaotian lead the fleet to set off, but let Huang Xiaotian stay, and handed over the task of commanding the fleet to Yan Yulong. This is also in line with Huang Xiaotian's command ability, at least Huang Xiaotian himself does not think that he is better than Yan Yulong in artillery warfare. Of course, this is also an opportunity for Yan Yulong to exercise, if Yan Yulong can achieve major achievements on the front line, it will be of great help to him to become a fleet commander in the future. Perhaps, this is Liao Hanxiang's special arrangement, maybe Liao Hanxiang already knows whose grandson Yan Yulong is.

When the fleet lifted anchor, it was already dark, and Huang Xiaotian watched the battleships on the dock line up in a neat column heading towards the waterway, and his mood was also complicated at this time.

According to Huang Xiaotian's own thoughts, the fleet needed to rest for at least a few days, but now they had only returned to Apra Port for less than three days, and most of the officers and soldiers had not even set foot on the dock. He once raised this issue to Liao Hanxiang, hoping to let the fleet stay for two more days, at least so that the officers and men on the battleship could rotate to the shore to relax, but the situation on the battlefield did not allow Liao Hanxiang to agree to Huang Xiaotian's request, and just this morning, a submarine sent a telegram back, and another US aircraft carrier returned to Pearl Harbor, and the US fleet was making preparations for the port. Therefore, Liao Hanxiang ordered the Fourth Task Force, composed of escort warships, to prepare for the waters of Midway Island in the morning to prepare for the battle with the US fleet.

The long whistle interrupted Huang Xiaotian's thinking, he looked up at the outside of the port, the "Vermilion Bird" had reached the exit of the port, and the whistle sounded three times in a row, Yan Yulong and a group of fleet staff officers were standing outside the commander's bridge, waving goodbye to Huang Xiaotian. Huang Xiaotian also waved his arms, he didn't know whether to say goodbye to Yan Yulong or not, because no one knew what the outcome of this expedition would be.

Judging from all aspects of intelligence, the Fifth Fleet still has more than 10 cruisers and nearly 30 destroyers, and perhaps Nimitz will also integrate a group of battleships stationed at Pearl Harbor into the Fifth Fleet, then the strength of the Fifth Fleet is still above the Fourth Task Force, and Yan Yulong only has three "Rui Beast" class, three "Li Jing" class, three "Jianghe" class, twelve "City" ships, and eight old-fashioned destroyers provided by Liao Hanxiang. If he encounters the Fifth Fleet, Yan Yulong's situation is quite dangerous, and he may not be able to defeat the Fifth Fleet at all, and at that time, he can only see whether Yan Yulong will retreat, and how fast the retreat will be.

The battleships left the port one after another, and the sky was already completely dark, and the starry sky seemed a little blurry. Huang Xiao stood on the dock for a while, and then returned to the villa facing the port arranged by Liao Hanxiang for him, I heard that a rear admiral of the United States Navy lived here, and the conditions were quite comfortable.

"General, Major Wen Haomao has arrived." The adjutant greeted Huang Xiaotian outside the door.

"Wen Hao's spear?" Huang Xiaotian hesitated slightly, and then remembered that it was the submarine captain.

"He's in the study, do you want to eat together?"

"Yes, let's go and prepare for dinner!" Huang Xiaotian said again, "I'll go to the study first, and come and call us when the meal is served." ”

After the adjutant entered, Huang Xiaotian entered the villa, he first hung his coat on the coat rack by the door, and then walked up the stairs. The study was on the second floor, and when he came to the door of the study, he found that the light was on inside. Huang Xiaotian wanted to know who the major officer was, so he pushed open the door and walked in.