Since leaving the port of Guangzhou, the fleet has been on a navigational combat mission for almost two months, and even since the last time it left Port Vila, it has been fighting at sea for a month and a half. During this month and a half, the officers and men of the fleet hardly had any rest, and even when receiving supplies, they had to participate in high-intensity supply operations, and there was no time to rest. The Air Force has continued to operate with high efficiency, with each pilot conducting an average of 2.5 combat flights per day. During the two-and-a-half-day voyage of the fleet back to Port Vila, Tan Renhao did not strictly require his officers and men, except for continuing to maintain their shifts, the officers and men who had their turn to rest could relax during this period, and also made an exception to provide beer to each officer and soldier.

Tan Renhao himself did not relax, he still had a lot of things to deal with, and they were all things that he had to deal with personally. Especially for the combat report, he really wanted Zheng Guanhua to help him write it, but the problem was that only the fleet commander was qualified to write the battle report, which was one of the main jobs of the fleet commander, and no one could do it for him. In addition, he had to seize the time to understand the battle situation on the Central Pacific side and familiarize himself with the next battlefield. Even if Tan Renhao has not yet received the order for the fleet's next move, he knows very well that after returning to Port Vila, the fleet will go to the Central Pacific Theater to deal with the troubles there.

Tan Renhao did not put pressure on the staff officers, but only asked the fleet to get the statistical results before returning to Port Vila, but the staff officers were more conscious and sent the statistical results on the evening of the day the fleet left the battle. In Zheng Guanhua's words later, those staff officers also wanted to relax and rest, so they hurried to finish everything that needed to be done, so that they didn't need to worry about the unfinished work at hand when they were resting.

Counting from the day of the landing operation on June 20. By the afternoon of August 2, the last bombers returned to the fleet. During these 42 days of combat operations, the fighters of the 1st Task Force flew nearly 50,000 sorties, which were evenly distributed. Each combat aircraft is required to carry out 2.5 combat sorties per day. In these 50,000 combat flights, combat aircraft consumed a total of 80,000 tons of aviation gasoline and used up 35,000 tons of ammunition. In other words, an average of 1.6 tons of fuel and 0.7 tons of ammunition are dropped on an average sortie. Maybe these statistics don't tell us much. Compare it with the previous combat operations of the 1st Task Force. I know how intense the operation was this time, and it lasted for 42 days, instead of one or two days in the past, and only a dozen days at most.

During these 42 days of combat operations, Task Force 1 lost 174 combat aircraft, including 128 bombers and 46 fighters. In addition, 14 seaplanes were shot down or crashed during rescue missions. In addition to the aircraft damaged during combat operations, in these 42 days. Task Force 1 had 354 engines, 678 landing gears, 729 landing hooks, and 1,287 gun barrels replaced. These are normal combat attrition. That is, almost every bomber was replaced with a new engine, a pair of main landing gear. Two landing hooks, and all the barrels of the machine guns! In addition, after the end of combat operations, at least one-third of the fighters have fatigue damage to the main load-bearing structure, that is, these fighters will definitely not be able to continue to serve in the front line, even if they are sent to the rear teaching troops, they will not be used for long before they will be decommissioned, and then sent back for dismantling.

These data reflect from one side how fierce the combat operations in the past 42 days and days were. Although from beginning to end. The First Task Force was not threatened much, and it was very difficult for US heavy bombers that could fly over the First Task Force to deal with warships. And the tactical bombers of the US army have long been withdrawn to the interior. However, high-intensity combat operations are themselves a kind of attrition on the fleet. Not only did the combat aircraft suffer a lot of losses, but even the warships, especially the aircraft carriers, suffered a lot of failures. The catapults on all three aircraft carriers almost reached the limit of overhaul, and dozens of blocking cables were replaced during operation. In addition, the flight deck, power system, and even the communication system of the aircraft carrier have reached the deadline for overhaul, and there have been many failures. Maybe all these losses can be compensated, but it will definitely take time.

The most important thing is not how serious the loss of warships and fighters is, because the loss of these hardware can be compensated. The Reich has enough fighters, and the new ones are more than capable of meeting the requirements of the pilots. The repair of the battleship will not be much of a problem, and most of the non-combat wear and tear and damage can be carried out in Port Vila, or can be repaired after arriving in the port of Apra, without affecting the combat effectiveness of the battleship. What really deserves to be talked about is the loss of the officers and men of the fleet, especially the air force, that Renhao is concerned about and attaches importance to. This is also the problem he does not need to worry about the most, compared with every previous combat operation, the first task force in these 42 days of combat loss rate of pilot loss is the lowest, and the pilots who were replenished in the middle of the battle have been fully trained, dozens of major aviation officers are safe and sound, this is also the most happy for Tan Renhao, he himself did not expect that after these 42 days of fighting, those main pilots are all alive. This is not to say that Tan Renhao is cursing them to the end, but in the past, let alone 42 days of fighting, maybe just one or two bombing operations, there will be a few squadron leaders, and the squad leader will not be able to return to the fleet.

The day before the fleet returned to Port Vila, Tan Renhao had written the battle report, he was not in a hurry to read the battle report on the Central Pacific side, he also wanted to relax himself. The nerves that have been tense for dozens of days also need to be relaxed, and like other officers and soldiers, he is also an ordinary person.

"It looks like a Task Force 2 plane!" Zheng Guanhua pointed at the plane that was flying towards the aircraft carrier "Longganhu", "Yes, it must be a fighter of the Second Task Force!" ”

Tan Renhao also saw that it was a fighter of the Second Task Force from the logo painted on the plane and the number on the vertical tail.

"What is this fighter flying here for?" Zheng Guanhua was a little puzzled, now the Second Task Force was more than 100 nautical miles to the east, and returned to Port Vila in parallel with the First Task Force.

"I don't know, maybe one of the pilots is crazy and wants to try if our anti-aircraft guns are fierce enough!"

Both laughed. If the fleet was still operating in the theater of operations at this time, then this fighter would definitely be intercepted. And it's an intensive interception.

"General, that fighter asked to land, do you want him to land?"

"Landing?" Zheng Guanhua looked at Tan Renhao.

"Guide it to landing. Maybe it's a madman who eats too much and has nothing to do! Tan Renhao had already figured out who was going crazy, and although he felt a little unbelievable, it was definitely possible.

After circling twice over the aircraft carrier, the "Golden Eagle" "crashed" into the flight deck of the aircraft carrier under the command of the landing guide. The landing maneuver was not very pretty, and the landing hook hooked up the sixth blocking line. And the horizontal angle is still a little off, if you don't brake in time, I'm afraid you will rush out of the flight deck.

Damn, if it's that bastard, I want him to look good! Tan Renhao thought so as to walk down the ship island and onto the flight deck. Sure enough, as he expected, Hao Dongjue, who was wearing a flight cap, jumped out of the cabin, and this kid was also wearing a set of coffee-colored flight jackets, as far as Ren Hao knew. Hao Dongjue didn't have such a flight jacket.

"It's not bad, the performance of the 'Golden Eagle' is indeed much better than the 'Sparrowhawk' I used to fly." Hao Dongjue said as he took off his flight cap and gave it to an orderly next to him, and now everyone recognized him as the former chief of staff and the current commander of the second task force.

"Damn, you kid haven't been crazy enough?" Tan Renhao walked up quickly. He had already noticed that several orderly personnel were snickering, and it seemed that these officers and men were still very welcome to the former chief of staff to "return to his parents' home."

"Dude, I miss you to death, don't you just rush over immediately?"

"Two stinky men, what's there to think about?" Tan Renhao frowned, "Did you bring any other clothes?" ”

"Bring it, in the cockpit."

"Why don't you put it on?" Tan Renhao sighed. "Go change your clothes first, and I'll fix you later!"

"Renhao. Don't get me wrong, I'm here to send you news. ”

"Send a message?" Tan Renhao turned around, "What's the news?" ”

"You didn't receive a telegram from General Yan Guozhong?"

Tan Renhao frowned, then looked at Zheng Guanhua, who was standing behind him.

"Our radio station is broken and is being repaired now." This was originally a trivial matter, and Zheng Guanhua did not expect that he would not receive Yan Guozhong's telegram because of this.

"I knew something was wrong with you, you see, I ......"

"Fix the radio right now, and let the backup radio work now." Tan Renhao glanced at Zheng Guanhua, and then said to Hao Dongjue, "You go to change your clothes first, I'll wait for you in the command cabin, you won't get lost, right?" ”

Hao Dongjue laughed, the first task force is his hometown, although the current flagship is the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier, but the "Lake" class aircraft carriers are all the same, the position of the command cabin is so eye-catching, who will get lost?

Soon after Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin, Hao Dongjue, who had already changed into the general's regular uniform, rushed over.

"Why did Yan Guozhong send a telegram?"

"It's not the Central Pacific yet." Hao Dongjue took out a cigarette as he spoke, "The message sent by your father-in-law to Yan Guozhong asked you to go to Guam as soon as possible to report it." ”

"Am I alone?"

"No, we, it should be us, Yan Guozhong didn't say it directly, just asked the fleet commander to return to Port Vila as soon as possible, he has already prepared the plane for us." Hao Dongjue leaned against the railing, "Have you read the battle report of the Fourth Task Force?" ”

Tan Renhao shook his head. "It's just a general understanding, I haven't had time to read it yet, I've been busy dealing with the combat report for the past two days, and your combat report has been written?"

"I wrote it yesterday, anyway, I just put together the previous battle reports!"

Tan Renhao rolled his eyes, he really didn't know how Hao Dongjue, the commander of the fleet, was appointed. "Come on, that's also called a war report? Hey, I can't say anything about you. Ngan Kwok Chung asked us to go back to Port Vila now? ”

"Yes, the sooner the better." Hao Dongjue laughed mischievously, maybe only in front of Tan Renhao could he show his immature side.

"Then I'll let Zheng Guanhua prepare the seaplane now."

"There's no need for that, you know how to use the compass, right?"

Tan Renhao glanced at Hao Dongjue a little puzzled, any naval officer knows how to use the compass, that is the most basic ability.

"That's good, let Zheng Guanhua prepare a bomber, and you can navigate me later."

"Bomber?" Tan Renhao understood now.

"What, are you scared?" Hao Dongjue glanced at his watch, "If we take the seaplane, we won't be able to catch up with the dinner that Yan Guozhong prepared for us, I heard that Yan Guozhong specially hired a chef, the cooking skills are very good, especially good at making seafood, and a few small dishes from Jiangsu and Zhejiang." I don't know if you'll like it, anyway, I like to eat Sichuan food, I don't know how this chef cooks Sichuan food. ”

"Come on, come on, then let's not delay." Tan Renhao was about to drool when he heard it, "By the way, Yan Guozhong, is there any better wine?" ”

"This must be indispensable, although it is not as good as the fine wine cellared in the marshal's house, but Yan Guozhong is also the commander of the theater of operations, the general of the Marine Corps, will his wine be worse?"

Tan Renhao immediately laughed. "It's not bad, and don't forget to call Shaoqing."

"Do you still need to worry about this? Yan Guozhong will not forget Lao Lei. ”

"That's good, you've eaten enough canned food, and it's time to change your appetite!"

The two of them just said this as they walked out of the command cabin. Zheng Guanhua did not wait for Tan Renhao's instructions to get the aviation crew to prepare a bomber, and at the same time made several fighters ready to take off. He was not worried that the group would be intercepted by the enemy, and there were no US airfields within a radius of 1 kilometer. Zheng Guanhua's only concern was whether Hao Dongjue would be able to fly the bomber to Port Vila and land safely at the airport.

"Sit down, don't yell later, you kid almost threw up on my back the last time I took a plane!"

"Come on, drive carefully, just don't fly into the sea. By the way, you haven't flown in a few years? ”

"If you don't start it, maybe 4 years!"

Tan Renhao found that he didn't need to navigate Hao Dongjue, and the fighter in charge of escorting them would take them back to Port Vila. When the bomber was dragged to the ejection position, Tan Renhao regretted it, how could they forget the painful lesson a few years ago?