Tan Renhao is already familiar with the work of the Navy Command, and he is even considering whether he should ask the principal for more salary. Of course, Tan Renhao didn't have the courage to do so, and the tasks assigned to him by the principal were of great significance. Over the past few years, Tan Renhao has also discovered that the principal is gradually exposing him to the overall strategy of the navy. From the initial tactical problems, to campaign planning, to strategic planning, from the fleet to the theater, to the fleet, and then to the naval headquarters, this series of changes is actually to cultivate Tan Renhao's ability and cultivate his comprehensive ability, not just let him make outstanding contributions to fleet operations.

Whether in the army or in the navy, there are two different kinds of generals. A kind of general, like Yan Guozhong, Yan Shiqi and others, is more suitable for carrying out front-line command tasks, and on the battlefield, they can make an army with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people run as effectively as an efficient machine, and give full play to the most powerful combat effectiveness. The other kind of general, like Gan Yongxing, is more suitable for arranging the overall strategy and carrying out the overall planning in the rear. The role of these two types of generals is different, it is undeniable that the major contributions of front-line generals are undeniable, but at the same time, it is undeniable that only those generals who are proficient in strategy and can accurately grasp the major strategic directions are the real backbone of the force, and they have a better chance of being promoted and becoming soul-type commanders.

Tan Renhao has always belonged to the front-line generals, and no one in the imperial navy can lead him in commanding the aircraft carrier fleet to fight, but at the same time, his grasp of major strategic directions and sensitivity to strategic issues have made him the chief of the general staff of the navy. And even the naval command potential. But if he really wants to get to that point, he must get more training and more practice opportunities. and more experience. These are all lacking in Tan Renhao. And at the same time, it is also the reason why Nie Renfeng repeatedly arranged for him to serve in the naval command.

Tan Renhao has long experienced the principal's hard work, although he complains constantly, but every time he has done an excellent job of completing the tasks assigned to him by the principal and the chief of staff. This time was no exception, after Tan Renhao left the principal's office. immediately went to Gan Yongxing.

"This is the latest intelligence, related to the United States." Gan Yongxing had also prepared things for Tan Renhao a long time ago, "You will definitely be very interested, and a large part of it is the shipbuilding capacity of the United States." ”

Tan Renhao hesitated for a moment and took the second document handed over by Gan Yongxing.

"This is our shipbuilding plan, you can compare and see." Gan Yongxing shrugged his shoulders, "After reading it, let's have a good talk, and then determine how to fight the next stage of combat operations." ”

"Chief of Staff, how reliable is this information?" Tan Renhao shook the document on the United States.

"Almost 100 percent reliable. We have confirmed this through a number of sources, many of which were provided by German ground intelligence. Gan Yongxing sighed, "You read it carefully first." Now that we have the overall idea, let's talk about it. I'll take care of some troublesome things in the past two days, and if you have any doubts, you can come back to me. ”

Tan Renhao nodded. Immediately took his leave and left. Gan Yongxing's last sentence meant that if there is nothing to do, don't bother him. He also knew that Gan Yongxing had a lot of things to deal with when he returned to the Navy Command, and he didn't think about bothering Gan Yongxing, anyway, he was sure of this kind of technical thing.

The credibility of this information, which has been confirmed by the local intelligence agencies of the Tang Empire and Germany, is quite high, and most of it is the 24-year production report submitted by the US government at the beginning of the year.

Tan Renhao had to admire the ability of the intelligence officer, and even got this kind of top-secret information.

But he was also a little worried, maybe similar intelligence from the Tang Empire had already been obtained by the intelligence agencies of the United States.

The war potential of the United States is indeed very strong, and in terms of the ability to build merchant ships, the number of merchant ships built by the United States in June 24 has already surpassed that of the Tang Empire. This is a manifestation of the comprehensive national strength of the United States, and the second is that the wreaking havoc of the German Navy in the Atlantic Ocean has forced the United States to use more resources to build merchant ships to ensure the delivery of more strategic materials to Britain, France, Russia, and other countries.

An important reason for the huge increase in the ability of the Americans to build merchant ships was that after the entry of the United States into the war, the construction began to be carried out in a standardized mode. At that time, the United States mainly built two large cargo ships, one for transporting dry goods and the other for transporting oil and rice. These two standard merchant ships are called "Liberty Wheel" and "Victory Ship", both of which have a standard deadweight of 10,000 tons, and all the designs have been determined. A large number of prefabricated parts are first manufactured in the factory, and then sent to the shipyard for assembly, assembly line production, in the shipyard assembly workshop, hundreds of welders are busy day and night. At the beginning of '24, the launching time of the same kind of merchant ship was six months, by March, it was shortened to four months, by May it was shortened to two months, and by the end of '24, the fastest record of the American shipyard was four days and fifteen hours, and it took less than five days to assemble a 10,000-ton merchant ship, and by the time it was launched, the paint on the hull had not completely dried!

And in June 24, it took at least six months for the Tang Empire to build a 10,000-ton merchant ship, and even at the end of 24, it took at least three months. Obviously, in the construction of merchant ships, the Americans created a miracle, just like the emergence of this country, a miracle that is hard to believe.

The construction standards of warships are completely different from those of merchant ships, although the Tang Empire and the United States are now also using standardized assembly line methods to build warships, but the construction speed of warships is still much worse than that of merchant ships.

Among other things, the quality requirements for high-strength steel used in the construction of warships are much stricter than those used in the construction of merchant ships. In addition, the survivability of the battleship after damage must be taken into account, so the main structure of the battleship must be comprehensively strengthened, and armor steel plates must be laid on a large scale. On the contrary, the standards for the construction of merchant ships are based on the wind and waves that may be encountered while sailing, and in addition, when building in large quantities, less steel must be used. The decks of many merchant ships are made of wooden planks instead of steel plates. Other than that. During construction, as well as after completion, the acceptance work is much more rigorous.

All this limited the speed of construction of battleships. Although the ability to build merchant ships can reflect a country's ability to build ships, it cannot accurately reflect a country's ability to build warships.

The United States because of the needs of the war. Its ability to build merchant ships is already the first in the world, but its ability to build warships is still under the Tang Empire. This also accurately reflects the different needs of the two countries in the war. The United States needs to bear the consumption of the two strategic transportation routes in the east and west. Especially in the face of submarine strangulation warfare, the large losses of merchant ships must be quickly replenished, otherwise with the collapse of supply lines, the Australian mainland, as well as Britain and France, and other countries are bound to collapse. Opposite. The Tang Empire did not have the pressure on these two sides. For the Tang Empire, there was only one main sea route, that is, through the South China Sea into the Indian Ocean, and then through the Red Sea, the Eastern Mediterranean to Southeast Europe, this strategic transportation route connecting the Persian Empire and Germany. In addition, the number of submarines operating in the Indian Ocean is very limited, and there is no enemy fleet operating in the Indian Ocean, so this route is relatively safe. There were not many ships lost, and there was absolutely no need for the Tang Empire to build merchant ships on a large scale to compensate for the losses on the route.

The Tang Empire spent more effort to build warships, which was exactly what the Tang Empire needed. In the German Navy collapsed. The Persian navy was pinned down in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Tang Empire had to undertake almost all naval operations, not only facing the United States, but also the British. Even a second-rate maritime power like France. As a result, it is conceivable that the Tang Empire must use its limited resources to create a navy that can at least rival that of the United States and Britain. The United States, on the other hand, did not have this pressure, and all of America's maritime pressure was in the Pacific, and the Atlantic Ocean was controlled by the British Navy, so the United States did not need to significantly surpass the size of the Tang Empire's navy except for its efforts to redeem its defeat in the Pacific.

Compared with the scale and speed of the construction of American merchant ships, the speed and scale of the construction of its warships are on the low side. Tan Renhao first recognized this. If the U.S. Navy wants to win in the Pacific, it must have a navy at least equal to that of the Tang Empire, so the U.S. must build more warships to restore its superiority in strength, so why should the U.S. build a large number of cheap merchant ships instead of more warships? There is only one reason, and that is that the industrial power of the United States has reached its limit, and it is simply not able to build more warships. At least, the US Navy's ability to build warships has reached its limit!

This is extremely crucial, and it can be said that it is a sign that the United States has shown signs of fatigue and that the United States has reached the peak of its strength. Tan Renhao was not happy at all, the reason was very simple, the strength of the Tang Empire had actually reached its peak, and the gap between the two sides was extremely weak, and it could even be said that they were going hand in hand. Now the question is who can keep this state for longer, and who can hold on longer.

Tan Renhao compared the shipbuilding plans of the two countries, in terms of overall scale, the Tang Empire was slightly superior, but in terms of the main warships, the two countries were on par. Now the biggest advantage of the Tang Empire is that it lost fewer warships in naval battles, so it did not suffer a loss in terms of troops. But who can predict the outcome of the next battle, who will have the advantage after the next battle.

As things stand, the US Navy will soon reach the size of its heyday, with six fleet carriers, nine small carriers, batches of battleships, cruisers, destroyers being incorporated into, or re-joining the battle sequence. The number of main warships of the Tang Imperial Navy was about the same, and the two sides returned to the balance point again, and a decisive battle was inevitable. Tan Renhao then discovered a new problem, that is, whether in the Southwest Pacific Theater or in the Central Pacific Theater, investing so many main warships at the same time will bring an almost unsolvable problem to both sides, that is, confusion in command!

The confusion caused by the coordinated operation of multiple task forces is quite serious. The coordination of the two task forces will lead to problems in coordination, and the problem is even more serious when the three task forces are fighting, and if the four or five task forces are fighting, even the best commanders will not be able to arrange them, let alone take care of any detail. The crux of the matter lies here: Judging from the capabilities of the command systems of the two sides at that time, it is simply impossible to command more than three, or even three task forces, to carry out combat missions in the same theater, and the size of the navies of the two countries will reach three task forces, or even more than four task forces, by July. It became clear that it was impossible for either side to send all task forces to a single theater of operations at the same time, let alone involve them in the same naval battle, unless someone could solve the command problem, or two people would be in command instead of one.

Tan Renhao firmly believes that his judgment is not wrong, and it is impossible for him to command three task forces at the same time, and even if he commands two task forces, it will be very difficult. In the year and a half that the US Navy has entered the war, there has never been a case in which more than two task forces have participated in a battle at the same time, that is to say, the US military also has the same problem.

The scale of a war is largely determined by the capacity of the chain of command to accommodate it, and it is not possible to commit as many troops as you want. Land warfare and naval warfare are the same, and the number of troops on a battlefield carrying out combat missions must be determined by the capacity of the command system. This is just like a task force can only have a maximum of three aircraft carrier battle groups, and if it expands further, it will only bring serious confusion in command, and in the end, it will even lead to a painful defeat.

If the U.S. military does not solve this problem, then the only option for the U.S. military is to launch a counterattack in two directions, one for the main attack and one for containment. The question now is, which direction will the US military choose to attack the main attack, and which direction will it contain it?

The problem is also here, and Tan Renhao has not been able to make a judgment immediately, he needs more information, and he also needs more information. These are what he doesn't have now, and it seems that he really has to trouble Gan Yongxing.