By mid-October, there was more and more intelligence about the U.S. Navy's strategic counterattack. Tan Renhao received several pieces of information related to the transfer and deployment of the US Navy within a few days, which surprised him, could it be that the imperial intelligence department had not heard about this before, and then suddenly received so much information?

The captured Japanese were sent to the naval headquarters in about ten days, and Gan Yongxing had a barracks vacated, and then a gendarmerie battalion was mobilized to cooperate with the work of the intelligence bureau. The interrogation of the Japanese was carried out by the personnel of the Intelligence Service, and the Navy was not involved, but the Navy only had to ensure the normal operation of the camp and provide them with some necessary logistical support. Jiang Zhongmin was in charge of the specific affairs, and Tan Renhao didn't even bother to ask, and his main energy was focused on the strategic counterattack of the US military at the end of the year. … ap．bsp; The US Navy's Pacific Fleet was able to acquire at least four new aircraft carriers by the end of the year, and they were much larger than the "Yorktown" class "Essex" class aircraft carriers, which were "Essex" (number cV-9), "Yorktown" (number cV-1o), "Valiant" (number cV-11), "Hornet" (number cV-12). Two of them were named after the sunken USS Yorktown and HMS Hornet.

The status of the "Essex" class aircraft carrier in the US Navy is very similar to that of the "Lake" class aircraft carrier in the Tang Imperial Navy.

After World War I, the United States refitted the world's first aircraft carrier and first began to demonstrate the status of aircraft carriers in future naval warfare. Years before the Japanese attack on Naha, the U.S. Navy conducted a secret exercise to prove that it could use aircraft carrier-carried bombers to attack ports. Blow up the ships in the harbor, and the exercise took place at Pearl Harbor. It can be said that Yamamoto's later plan for a sneak attack on Naha Port drew on the US Navy's exercise to a great extent, and the US Navy even secretly provided Japan with some exercise materials, otherwise, Yamamoto would not have been so sure that his sneak attack would have been able to destroy the First Fleet of the Tang Empire, which was the most powerful in the world at that time, and seize sea supremacy in the western Pacific. They don't dare to go to war rashly.

In the U.S. Navy, one of the more representative aircraft carrier officers is Halsey. This naval officer from the Orthodox Naval Academy later went to the aviation school to learn how to fly an airplane, and even got a pilot qualification certificate! It can be said that in terms of respect for aircraft carriers, Halsey is more thorough than Liao Hanxiang, and he has decades of more service experience than Tan Renhao, which gives him more time to perfect his aircraft carrier tactical theory.

In terms of aircraft carriers, the United States, as a pioneer, adopted a very different way of exhibition from the Tang Empire, and it was also different from Japan's small steps. It can be said that it combines various factors.

A set of American methods. After the "Langley", the US Navy also built the aircraft carrier "Raider", which still carries a great experimental nature. And because of its small displacement and poor seaworthiness, it was converted into a training aircraft carrier shortly after the "Lexington" and "Yorktown" classes were put into service, specializing in the training of aircraft carrier-based pilots. The "Lexington" and "Saratoga" that appeared later were actually after the signing of the "Songjiang Treaty," and in order to avoid wasting naval resources and to take advantage of the provisions of the treaty, the two aircraft carriers that were renovated were not really fleet aircraft carriers. It was not until the "Yorktown" class that the United States began to officially show its fleet aircraft carriers.

Judging from this exhibition route, the United States is the first to build an experimental aircraft carrier. This is an opportunity to demonstrate the ability of the aircraft carrier in naval warfare, and to take the opportunity to train the pilots and the officers and men on the aircraft carrier. Subsequently, two "Lexington" class aircraft carriers were used to refine the aircraft carrier combat doctrine and lay the foundation of the Navy's aircraft carrier fleet. Starting from the "Yorktown" class, the United States abandoned the method of exploring and expanding at the same time, and directly started to build a large fleet aircraft carrier. This point is relatively the same as the American battleship exhibition method, after determining some key technologies, it is based on a battleship. Carry out large-scale construction and, if necessary, fully develop new warships.

In fact, the "Yorktown" class, as the first official fleet aircraft carrier of the United States, has a large number of shortcomings, and its most criticized is its fragile underwater protection capability and fragile survivability. The actual combat also proved this point, the "Lexington" and the "Saratoga" were both hit by dozens of bombs and torpedoes, while the four "Yorktown" class aircraft carriers would be easily sunk, and there was little survivability in the face of bombs and torpedoes, especially torpedoes.

In fact, this problem exists in all countries, such as the Tang Empire's "Emperor" class, and Japan's "Soryu" class have serious design flaws, which is why the Tang Empire later built the "Yangtze River" class, and Japan built the "Xianghe" class. It stands to reason that the United States could make minor revisions to the problems exposed by the "Yorktown" class and then build a new fleet aircraft carrier, but in fact, the United States did not do so.

Before the outbreak of the war, the US Navy had six aircraft carriers, which were no longer under the strength of the Tang Empire's aircraft carriers, so the US Navy did not immediately start construction of new aircraft carriers, and did not immediately make minor modifications to develop an improved version of the "Yorktown" class aircraft carrier. The US Navy's approach is more direct, summing up all the flaws on the Yorktown-class aircraft carriers, and then completely redesigning a new aircraft carrier, and this is the "Essex" class aircraft carrier.

In fact, the lessons learned by the Americans were the same as those of the Tang Empire. There is only one reason for the fragility of the survivability of the Yorktown-class aircraft carriers, and that is the excessively low displacement. In fact, it is the treaty that limits the capabilities of aircraft carriers. At that time, it was either necessary to reduce the number of aircraft carried by the 1 carrier (the Japanese practice), or to increase the displacement of the aircraft carrier, and there was no third solution. The former will significantly weaken the combat effectiveness of the aircraft carrier, and both actual combat and theory have proved that if the number of aircraft carried by the aircraft carrier is less than 9o, it will be difficult to form an effective strike force, and it is better to reach 12o. In order to meet the requirements of this number of carriers, and at the same time make the survivability of the aircraft carrier enough to withstand the test of war, then it is necessary to increase the displacement.

The result of the Tang Empire's argument was that the aircraft carrier had a displacement of at least 32ooo tons, and later adopted a small compartment design. As well as the addition of armor, the full load displacement reached 38ooo tons. The results of the arguments on the part of the United States are similar: in order to meet the requirements of all quarters, the displacement of the aircraft carrier must certainly exceed 30,000 tons, and it is impossible to design an excellent aircraft carrier within 30,000 tons. As a result, the standard displacement of the aircraft carriers of the "Essex" class approached 28ooo tons, while the full load displacement reached 35ooo tons. This is already very close to the "Lake" class aircraft carriers.

The Tang Empire and the United States had completely different ways of displaying aircraft carriers, but in the end they both chose the same solution, which was also the conclusion reached in the war. Therefore, some people say that the "Essex" class aircraft carrier is the "Lake" class aircraft carrier in the US Navy, which is the product of the US Navy's copying of the Tang Imperial Navy. As for whether this point of view is correct or not, I will not delve into it here, the only thing that is certain is that in the maritime battlefield at that time, the "Essex" class aircraft carrier was the only one that could compete with the "Lake"

The warships that compete with aircraft carriers are the hope of the US Navy.

To be precise, the US Navy will receive four carrier strike groups. In addition to four aircraft carriers of the "Essex" class. The US Navy will also acquire supporting warships by the end of the year, including at least a dozen cruisers and dozens of destroyers. There are even two North Carolina-class battleships, and by early next year, the US Navy will have four more South Dakota-class battleships in service, and four more Iowa-class battleships in 25 years. These three tiers of battleships are fast battleships and can be used as aircraft carrier ground escort warships. In this way, the strength of the US Navy in the Pacific Ocean will increase dramatically, and when the time comes, the Tang Imperial Navy will have to face a fleet as powerful as the First Task Force.

The combat capability of the four "Essex" class aircraft carriers should not be underestimated, and if Halsey or Spruance commanded the operations of these four aircraft carriers, it would not be underestimated. According to the experience gained by Tan Renhao on the battlefield. Four carrier battle groups are enough to launch a strategic counterattack and turn the tide of battle in one direction. And to deal with these four aircraft carriers, the Tang Empire had to concentrate at least two task forces, and if it wanted to maintain its superiority, it was necessary to drive the fourth task force into battle. More importantly, after the United States has four aircraft carriers, it has the ability to take the initiative to attack, and if it cannot contain the US Navy, then the Tang Imperial Navy can only passively defend on the long defensive line.

The more you know. The more worried Tan Renhao became. In the latest piece of intelligence, it has been proved that the two battleships "North Carolina" and "Washington" will definitely complete the refit by the end of the year, and then be integrated into the aircraft carrier battle group and enter the Pacific Ocean together. Both battleships were commissioned in the middle of 23 (a difference of only a month). When the United States entered the war, both warships were active in the Atlantic, and then they were sent to shipyards for enhanced anti-aircraft firepower and radar installation. The purpose of the renovation was to make the two battleships air defense warships, providing close air defense cover for the aircraft carriers. At that time, the US Navy did not have a single large air defense cruiser similar to the "Li Jing" class, and the only way was to transform the fast battleship, with the battleship escorting the aircraft carrier.

The four South Dakota-class battleships ("South Dakota", "Indiana", "Massachusetts", "Alabama") will also be completed at the beginning of the 25th, or even in early January, and will be commissioned immediately, and then it is very likely that they will be transferred to the Pacific Ocean as escort warships for aircraft carriers, or a separate artillery strike fleet. If the U.S. military chooses to launch a strategic counterattack at the beginning of 25, then at that time, these four battleships will also participate in the war.

The anti-aircraft firepower of these six fast battleships is definitely stronger than that of the "Li Jing" class, after all, the battleships have a large displacement, a more spacious surface, and can deploy more anti-aircraft guns. With the cover of these six battleships, if you want to deal with American aircraft carriers, you will not be able to drive straight as before.

On the other hand, on the Tang Empire's side, although there are now six aircraft carriers and four battleships, they are organized into four fleets. In terms of overall strength, the Tang Empire's navy still has an advantage, but it also has unavoidable problems.

The second task force is operating only in the Pacific theater, and it is still unknown whether the "Lake Bell" aircraft carrier of the second task force can be repaired before the end of the year. Task Force 3 was pinned down in the Southwest Pacific Theater and had to assist the 6th Squadron in sweeping the Solomon Islands, and the attack on the Solomon Islands would certainly not be completed by the end of the year. It took so much time and invested so many troops to attack Lae, and the U.S. military's defense in the Solomon Islands is far greater than Lae, and it will probably take more than half a year to capture the Solomon Islands. Task Force 1 was a mobile force, moving back and forth between two theaters of operations, which could fill some loopholes, but could not solve the problem practically. Task Force 4 had not been in force for a long time, but it lacked adequate training, and the condition of the two aircraft carriers had not been very good, making it difficult to carry heavy burdens.

To be more precise, the Tang Empire's front was too long and the forces were too scattered. If the U.S. Navy has the ability to take the initiative to counterattack, then the Tang Empire will have to fight the U.S. military on the long front of nearly 5,000 nautical miles from the Japanese mainland to the Solomon Islands, and the defensive side will definitely be very passive.

The only solution is to take the initiative to attack, but now in terms of the strength of the Tang Empire's navy and the deployment of troops, there is no way to take the initiative to attack at all, except for the attack in the southwest Pacific. If it is not possible to take the initiative to attack, then it can only take the initiative to defend, and the main point of active defense is to pull the US fleet to the battlefield chosen by the Tang Imperial Navy to fight, rather than the US military to choose the direction of counterattack.

Tan Renhao only thought of this solution, and to achieve this goal, there was only one way, that is, to speed up the offensive in the Solomon Islands, so that the US military would realize the passive situation in the southwest Pacific, and send all four aircraft carriers over to fight a decisive battle with the Tang Imperial Navy in the southwest Pacific. And to achieve this goal, it is necessary to increase troops in the southwest Pacific and at the same time select several key points to attack, and strike at the places where the US military has to defend and has to use aircraft carriers to defend.