In March, the Atlantic Fleet's basic training had been tested, and Spruance was pleased with the performance of the Montana class. In particular, during the two night shelling exercises, the artillery radar installed on the "Montana" class accurately captured targets 2 yards away and accurately guided the main guns to fire. This convinced Spruance that the gun-sighting radar of the "Montana" class was no worse than that of the "New Provincial Capital" class battleships of the Tang Empire.

The training of the aircraft carriers was also basically completed, and the six aircraft carriers were given enough officers and men of the fleet. The performance of the aviation service units, which was the focus of the training, was also good, basically meeting Spruance's requirements. However, the problem is that the training of pilots is completely not in place, and the difficulty of training pilots is much greater than that of training officers and men of the fleet. In particular, the training of pilots of carrier-based aircraft units requires a lot of time, as well as high-intensity training.

At that time, in order to be able to obtain a sufficient number of carrier-based aircraft pilots as soon as possible, Admiral King also reached an agreement with General Arnold that the army aviation would provide a group of excellent pilots for the naval aviation, so that there would be no need to retrain pilots, and only the pilots of the army aviation would need to master the methods of using naval combat aircraft, and at the same time have the ability to land and take off on aircraft carriers, and then they would be able to form combat capabilities. This agreement has helped the Navy solve a lot of troubles, but the problem is that the pilots of the Army Airlines are used to flying the combat planes of the Army Airlines, so they have to change to fly the fighters of the Navy Airlines, and at the same time have to master the ability to take off and land on the aircraft carrier. This is by no means an easy task.

At that time, all the fighter pilots who were deployed to the US Naval Air Force were Army Air Force pilots, and the main fighters of the US Army Air Force were the "Mustang" series. The main fighter of the US naval aviation is the F4U, and the two fighters are very different in terms of operation, the "Mustang" is dexterous and many times performs tactical bombing missions. On the contrary, the "Super Corsair" is much bulkier and less flexible. Even if it has a decent bombing capability, in most cases, it is carried out in air combat missions. In addition, the HNA is also equipped with a large number of tactical bombers, and the SB3C is the real workhorse of naval aviation. This carrier-based bomber has almost no air combat capabilities, and it is even more difficult for fighter pilots of the army aviation to adapt. In desperation. Spruance had to try to recruit a group of former SB3C and F4U pilots from the Marine Corps to train the pilots on the ground.

The biggest problem is not yet adapting to the new combat aircraft, but how to land and take off on the aircraft carrier. The Norfolk Naval Air Station has a set of special land simulation training equipment, that is, the environment on the aircraft carrier is simulated on the land airfield, and the pilots are first trained on the land airfield, and then transferred to the aircraft carrier for training after they have initially mastered the skills of landing on the aircraft carrier. This greatly reduces the difficulty of training and gives pilots time to adapt. Trainable accidents continue to occur, with 34 pilots killed during the three-month habilitation training period. And in similar training in pre-war areas, the accident rate was less than one-third of this rate!

In terms of training. Spruance is certainly the most ruthless commander of the US Navy. Pilots flew at least three times a day, and the fleet left the Norfolk military port in batches every day. Training in the Chesapeake Bay, or outside in the Atlantic Ocean. All ground leave was cancelled, the officers and men had no time to do anything else, and all the time was planned to be spent on training, even the rest time after dinner at the end of each day was reduced to half an hour, and then there were evening lectures, or officers were responsible for summing up the lessons learned in the training.

Under such intense training. In just over three months, Spruance had built an Atlantic Fleet with no combat power into a force capable of going to sea. And look for opportunities to deal with the powerful fleet of enemy fleets. Of course, this was the propaganda of the US Navy at that time, as well as some major media in the country. Spruance's position was thus consolidated, but he knew in his heart that the Atlantic Fleet was still far from going to sea. Also in March, Spruance went to meet with Admiral King, and after reporting on the fleet's training, Spruance asked to give him more time to prepare, and to avoid sending missions to the Atlantic Fleet as much as possible, so that he could have more time to improve the fleet's combat effectiveness.

Admiral King did not agree, nor did he directly refuse Spruance's request, and Spruance did not show toughness, because at this time the fortress of Gibraltar had fallen into the hands of the Tang Imperial Navy, and the Tang Imperial Navy's encirclement and suppression of Britain had begun, and the British Navy could be defeated at any time.

At the end of March, when the British Home Fleet had been defeated, Spruance received orders to prepare the fleet for departure. At that time, Spruance was continuing to train the fleet, and in desperation, he was only able to bring the fleet into combat readiness, but it did not reduce the intensity of the training. After all, the order did not mention when the fleet would depart, the American president was also hesitant on the British issue, and Admiral King must have strenuously opposed the dispatch of the last fleet to support Britain, and a little sane people knew that Britain would definitely be defeated, and at this time the United States sent any fleet to the North Sea, it would not be possible to change this reality, but would put the American fleet in danger of being besieged by the main fleet of the Tang Empire.

Just when Spruance feared that the Atlantic Fleet would receive an order to fight for England, the tide of the war took a rapid turn. Britain announced its surrender before the President of the United States could make a decision to support Britain, or even to express to the British ambassador to the United States that the United States would unswervingly support Britain. Immediately, the Tang Imperial Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Expeditionary Force in Europe were quickly dispatched and brought the situation in Britain under control within three days. At that time, the American diplomats in Britain were not embarrassed, but many of them were not able to escape. Only one flotilla docked in the northern ports of Great Britain left the port before the arrival of the occupation forces of the Don Empire. This is the one that carries hundreds of tons of heavy water, and a large number of important people

Team.

When the news of the British defeat reached Norfolk Military Harbor, Spruance was relieved rather than grieve and regret. At least, no one will send a fleet to fight across the Atlantic now. In addition, the Tang Imperial Navy will definitely need to spend a lot of effort to stabilize the situation in Britain, and at the same time adjust its deployment, so that the fleet that has been fighting abroad for several months can get a short chance to rest. That way, he has more time to prepare. But this time Spruance's prediction was completely wrong, and on the third day after the British surrender was announced, he received a direct order from Admiral King that the Atlantic Fleet should leave port as soon as possible to pick up the convoy returning to the United States.

Just like when Tan Renhao received that he was asked to lead the First Fleet to intercept the U.S. convoy, Spruance was extremely surprised after receiving Admiral Kim's order. With twenty-two escort ships in the transport fleet, enough to deal with the dangers along the way, is it necessary to have the huge Atlantic Fleet to meet them? Not to mention anything else, the Atlantic Fleet will consume tens of thousands of tons of fuel for a single sortie, and it will only be an economic account, which is also a very loss-making transaction. But Admiral King's order was clear and extremely strong. Spruance delayed the departure for two days, citing the fleet's inadequate preparation, until Admiral King sent another telegram and affirmed that it was a direct order from the president, and Spruance had to lead the fleet out of Norfolk Harbor and embark on a voyage to meet the convoy.

The day after the fleet left Norfolk. On the 22nd of the month, Spruance received a telegram from Admiral King, and when he read the contents of the telegram, he realized that the operation of the Atlantic Fleet was not so simple. In the telegram, Admiral King had already mentioned that the First Fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy had left British waters and had not returned to the fortress of Gibraltar, judging that the First Fleet was most likely on its way to intercept the convoy and was likely to encounter the Atlantic Fleet. Spruance was asked to prepare for engagement. In addition, the battle order was also modified, changing the receiving fleet to the receiving fleet, and defeating the First Fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy. In other words, if it encounters the First Fleet of the Tang Empire, Spruance will have to fight a decisive battle with it. And there is no escaping.

Upon receiving this telegram, Spruance hesitated. He knew very well that the Atlantic Fleet at this time was by no means the opponent of the First Fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy, and the news of the Atlantic Fleet's departure from Norfolk must have spread, if the First Fleet knew that the Atlantic Fleet was rushing to join the transport fleet, then it would definitely put the attack on the Atlantic Fleet in the first place, and at that time, it would not be the Atlantic Fleet that would attack the First Fleet, but the First Fleet that would attack the Atlantic Fleet. Even if it's 10,000 steps back. Neither side was able to detect each other in time and fight a relatively balanced battle. The Atlantic Fleet is by no means a battle-hardened opponent of the First Fleet, and it will definitely be the Atlantic Fleet that will be defeated in the end. And not the First Fleet. If you take another 10,000 steps back, even if the Atlantic Fleet defeats the First Fleet, it will eventually suffer heavy losses, and the Tang Imperial Navy can withstand the losses of the First Fleet, and when the time comes, there will be the Third Fleet, and the Second Fleet can continue to besiege the United States, while the US Navy will lose its last bit of capital. Even if you take another 10,000 steps back. The Atlantic Fleet defeated the First Fleet without much loss. So will the Third Fleet, operating in the Caribbean, sit idly by? Obviously not, as long as the Third Fleet maneuvered in time, it would be ambushed on the way back to Norfolk by the Atlantic Fleet, and by then, the Atlantic Fleet would still be unlucky.

With all that in mind, it's strange that Spruance doesn't hesitate. Under the circumstances, in order to outmaneuver the enemy and save oneself, one had to defeat the First Fleet while avoiding heavy losses and avoiding the ambush of the Third Fleet when returning home. Judging from the comparison of the forces of the two sides, as well as the quality of the officers and men, the actual combat capability of the fleet, and the ability of the commander, Spruance did not even have a 1/10,000 chance of winning.

It was precisely because of these hesitations that Spruance finally decided to avoid the main problem. Having received an order from Admiral King, Spruance ordered the fleet to turn around, adjusting its speed. Admiral King's order mentions only requirements, and does not mention the specific arrangement of tasks, so Spruance can adjust the actions of the fleet within his own terms of reference. In the eyes of others, Spruance ordered the fleet to sail south, in order to maneuver the fleet to the south of the transport fleet, so as to block the main fleet of the Tang Empire that was chasing after him, but Spruance's real purpose was not to do this, but to delay the arrival time by changing the course and strive to avoid the First Fleet. That is, from the very beginning, Spruance did not intend to pick up the convoy of transports, but wanted to stall for time. If the purpose of the First Fleet is to take out the convoy, then after completing the mission, the First Fleet will withdraw to the fortress of Gibraltar or go to the Caribbean, and then the Atlantic Fleet will be able to justifiably return to the port of Norfolk instead of pursuing the First Fleet.

This idea eventually led Spruance to avoid the First Fleet, but at the same time caused him to "miss" the opportunity to fight the First Fleet. After the convoy was finished, he received an order to return to the Norfolk military port. At that time, Admiral King and the President of the United States did not hold Spruance accountable, because the First Fleet intercepted the convoy earlier than they expected, and even if the Atlantic Fleet rushed over directly, it would not change the facts. Spruance, of course, was quite pleased with the result, he had no idea what cargo was in the convoy, and he thought that nothing was more valuable than the last bit of money in the U.S. Navy.

In fact, Spruance was not afraid of fighting the Tang Imperial Navy, nor was he avoiding combat operations. With the deepening of training, it is no longer possible to continue to improve the combat effectiveness of the fleet through training. After all training is basically in place, only through actual combat can the combat effectiveness of the fleet be further enhanced. But Spruance didn't want to fight a battle that he wasn't prepared for, and besides, he already had a specific idea of the battle, but the time was not yet ripe.