On the morning of 24 March, the three task forces of the First Fleet met in the southern part of the Bay of Biscay, near the northern part of Spain, and then headed for the fortress of Gibraltar. It was only at this time that Tan Renhao was relieved, and after handing over the command of the fleet to the navigation staff, Tan Renhao and Zhu Rongzhe both went to sleep for a long time. By 27 March, the First Fleet had returned to the fortress of Gibraltar. The day before that, the 5th Task Force had also arrived at the Gibraltar Fortress.

At this time, five engineering maintenance ships sent by the Navy Command had arrived, and hundreds of landing ships and transport ships were moored in the Gulf of Algeciras, and more ships were arriving. In order to make room for the fleet to anchor and repair the damaged warships, a group of ships had already moved to the ports of Ceuta and Tangier on the other side of the strait, but the bay was still unusually crowded at this time. When entering the harbor, the battleship had to sail carefully, and finally had to be helped by tugboats to get to the dock to avoid colliding with nearby ships.

It took several hours to get to the dock before the aircraft carrier "Longganhu" docked. Due to the limited number of berths at the dock, most of the warships are anchored in the bay, and only the fleet flagship. and damaged warships can dock at the dock. During this period, Tan Renhao had already arranged the work of the First Task Force after entering the port, and at the same time, he also noticed that there were several huge ships equipped with a dazzling array of engineering ships for maintenance equipment.

"This should be a new building, right?" Zhu Rongzhe also stood outside the command cabin. Look at the engineering maintenance ships.

"I guess, it's much smaller." Tan Renhao nodded slightly, "It seems that those battleships that have only suffered minor injuries will be repaired here. You contact the Fortress Command as soon as possible to determine where to make repairs, and then have the damaged ships of Task Force 3 repair first. Remember to contact the Chief of Staff of Task Force 3."

"It looks like the Chief of Staff of Task Force 3 is still in Lisbon."

Tan Renhao was stunned. I've forgotten about this, so I'll go to Chang Zhixin and ask him to pay attention to the fleet maintenance area. You're in charge of arranging the repair of our ships that have broken down. Finish it as soon as possible, and maybe, in a few days, we will receive an order to fight in Xindi."

"No problem, I'll arrange it right away."

After giving Zhu Rongzhe's instructions, the aircraft carrier "Longganhu" also docked. Tan Renhao immediately got off the bridge and came to the dock. This longitudinal wharf, which is only about 300 feet in length, is a temporary construction site, mainly to sink the cement prefabricated parts to the bottom, and then build the necessary facilities on the wharf, which becomes a wharf for ships to dock. There were hundreds of officers and soldiers on the dock who were busy, because it was too narrow for the jeep to drive at all, and Tan Renhao could only leave the dock on foot. Soon, the aircraft carrier "Xingkaihu", the flagship of the 2nd Task Force, docked to the other side of the dock, while the "Nanning", the flagship of the 3rd Task Force, docked next to another pier.

While waiting for the new and Hao Dongjue. Tan Renhao continued to look at the huge engineering maintenance ships. Two of them are providing repairs to an aircraft carrier in Task Force 5, presumably due to a breakdown of some important equipment on that carrier. It needs to be removed for repair. The flight deck of the aircraft carrier has been dismantled in a large section. An overground crane on a maintenance ship is lifting the steel armored deck open. More than 100 officers and men on the aircraft carrier were busy, and the scene was very spectacular.

A few years ago, in the Pacific theater, there were more than a dozen engineering maintenance ships in the service of the fleet. At that time, the Imperial Navy was steadily advancing, and as the war progressed, the lack of forward bases for the Imperial Navy, and the lack of front-line ports to serve the fleet, was exposed. On the Pacific Ocean. This problem is not too obvious, after all, the port of Naha. The port of Apra was in the rear, and it didn't take much time for the fleet to return, but the U.S. Navy was not completely defeated at that time, and the U.S. Pacific Fleet had enough big threats. In order to ensure that as many warships as possible can continue to fight on the front line, the Imperial Navy has built a number of engineering maintenance ships. The mission of these auxiliary ships is to go to the front line to repair damaged ships. In this way, the damaged battleship does not have to return to the rear port, which saves a lot of time to and from the sailing place, and also avoids the damaged battleship from being attacked by enemy submarines when returning to the landing place, and saves a large number of escort forces.

It can be said that . At the height of the Pacific War, it was these engineering maintenance ships that ensured that the Imperial Navy fleet could always fight on the front lines. Although, many serious injuries are impossible to repair on the front line, especially aircraft carriers that were damaged in battle, almost all of them can only be repaired back to the rear ports. But. A large number of escort warships can be repaired by engineering maintenance ships if they fail to do so, without the need to go back to compete with the aircraft carrier for the location of the maintenance dock. Judging from the statistics of the Imperial Navy itself, the fourteen engineering maintenance ships operating on the front line at that time saved the fleet at least tens of thousands of sailing hours and ensured that dozens of warships continued to fight on the front line. This is of great significance, and without these engineering maintenance ships, no task force would have been able to maintain its full strength, and many escort ships would have spent more time on repair and maintenance.

With the Imperial Navy's victory in the Pacific War and the gradual advance of the battle line towards the Atlantic, the lack of ports on the front line and the location of naval bases that could provide maintenance support for naval warships quickly became apparent. In the middle of the 26th century, the Office of Naval Technical Equipment proposed to several shipyards to build ships with larger displacement, stronger maintenance capabilities, and the ability to carry more spare parts, and their activity self-sustaining to be more self-sustaining. At that time, it was obviously too late to redesign the engineering maintenance ship, and the engineering maintenance ship was not a combat ship, and the requirements for survivability were not high, and there was no need to redesign it according to the standards of the battleship. As a result, within a month, three shipyards came up with plans to build accordingly, and all three plans were converted with large freighters, which could save time, reduce costs, and meet the requirements of the Navy. Immediately, the Navy placed an order, requiring these three shipyards to build a "prototype ship" for the Navy to test before the end of the year.26 At the end of the year, all three "sample ships" were delivered to the Navy, and after passing the rigorous test, the Navy was quite satisfied with the three kinds of engineering maintenance ships converted from 50,000-ton large cargo ships. Larger orders were placed immediately, with each shipyard receiving an order for three new lands. By the end of 27, two shipyards had already built Xindi engineering maintenance vessels. As a result, all five engineering maintenance ships that had been built were sent over.

"See those repair ships?" Hao Dongjue rushed over first, "This time, Lao Chang doesn't have to worry about the maintenance of the battleship anymore, probably the sixth task force will also rush over and complete the repair work here as much as possible, after all, it will take too much time to return to the empire."

"It's always coming!" Tan Renhao pointed to the north of the dock, "You guessed right, it seems that Lao Chang is also very happy now."

Chang recommended the new is full of spring breeze, trotting all the way over. Like Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue, after entering the port, he noticed those engineering maintenance ships, and at the same time thought that the damaged warships in the fleet did not need to return to the empire, and he was also very happy in his heart.

"How. Big hero, you're the real protagonist this time." Hao Dongjue greeted him with a hippie smile, and then said in a woman's voice. As a war correspondent. I wonder how General Changda knew that the enemy was going to P. Tsetsmouth Harbour, and how he hid in the rainstorm all day before returning safely? ”

"you, it's not serious." Chang Zhixin almost kicked it over.

Tan Renhao shook his head with a smile and walked to Chang Jianxin's side. See those repair ships, right? You go and ask as soon as possible. Let's see if we can get all the damaged ships of Task Force 3 to complete repairs here."

"I have already arranged for the staff officer to inquire, and let the engineer first check the condition of the damaged battleship, and probably get the maintenance assessment report the day after tomorrow, and then be able to determine whether to return to the empire mainland for repairs." Chang Zhixin ignored Hao Dongjue, who was smiling at him, and followed Tan Renhao towards the direction of the fortress, "I have also arranged other things, it seems that this time the naval command is ready to give us a new mission. Otherwise, there would be no rush to send these maintenance ships. It looks like it's still a new building."

"It's supposed to be a new site, and we've never seen a maintenance ship like this on the other side of the Pacific before." Tan Renhao avoided the topic that was often recommended to be mentioned in the new place. Have you noticed that now the port infrastructure construction is underway, it seems. This will be our naval base. If the whole of Algeciras Bay were to be utilized, it would be enough to support several task forces."

"Yes, I also saw that, if that's the case, wouldn't the fleet deployed here become the emperor of Europe?" Hao Dongjue immediately interjected a sentence and came in.

"Dongjue, it's impossible for you kid to be sent here, even if the chief of staff wants to arrange for the second task force to come over, I won't agree." Tan Renhao pushed Hao Dongjue back with a word." Anyway. In the future, there will certainly be a fleet that will remain at the fortress of Gibraltar until the situation in Europe calms down. The Gibraltar Fortress is our most important base in European waters."

"Then we will return the fortress to the Spaniards. Or is it to the British again? "Chang Jianxin said to the point.

"I don't think it's likely." Tan Renhao is also thinking about this problem." Although it is not hundreds of years ago now. Even if we win this war, it is unlikely that we will dominate the whole world. The same can be done. With the rapid rise of Germany, we will not be able to leave Europe as cleanly as we did back then. As an important force in containing Germany, the status of the fortress of Gibraltar was irreplaceable by no other military base. Now, Spain has just been defeated, and it is impossible to ask us for the return of the fortress of Gibraltar, and the British have already occupied the fortress of Gibraltar, so there is no reason for us to hand over the fortress to the British. Therefore, in the future, it will become a military base for the Imperial Navy. There's no way we're going to leave the Gibraltar fortress again."

"I can only hope so." It is still a bit pessimistic to recommend Xindi, after all, the empire had to abandon the fortress of Gibraltar in the middle of the day. Who can guarantee that after the end of the war, there will be no national independence movement in Europe?

"Don't think about it so much, it's not something we can decide." Tan Renhao changed the subject, "Lao Chang, have you seen Jiang Zhongmin?" ”

"No, after getting to the dock, I didn't contact Jiang Zhongmin, probably he wasn't on the battleship, he should go to the fortress headquarters now." The flagship of the third task force and the flagship of the fifth task force were on the same pier, and Chang Jianxin did not take the initiative to find Jiang Zhongmin.

"Then let's go to the fortress headquarters as soon as possible and see if there is any news about the new land." Tan Renhao quickened his pace, after all, the Fifth Task Force arrived a day earlier, maybe Jiang Zhongmin had already made contact with the Navy Command over there.

"Renhao, do you think we'll have a new land mission?" Hao Dongjue immediately chased after him.

"Definitely, otherwise, the Navy Command would not have let us go back to the Gibraltar fortress directly, let alone let us hurry up to repair the damaged warship." Tan Renhao glanced at his brother-in-law, "However, don't ask me what the mission is, you also received the same telegram, I only know so much, and now I also want to know what the new land mission is."

Dong Jue stuck out his tongue, he wanted to ask this question again, but Tan Renhao answered first.

"Dongjue, don't ask so much, when we get to the fortress headquarters, we will naturally know." Seeing ■ Dongjue's expression, Chang Jianxin also laughed. If you want to say who can control the words of Dongjuedi, probably only Tan Renhao.

The three of them didn't ride in a car, and the Gibraltar fortress was originally the size of a palm. Now there are tens of thousands of officers and soldiers gathered in the fortress, and the roads are full of soldiers and transport vehicles, and it is not easy to walk by car. Soon, the three of them arrived at the fortress headquarters. The headquarters has been renovated and is still located on the peninsula at the southern tip of the fort. Garrisoned by an infantry company, the garrison is not considered tight, and there are tens of thousands of soldiers nearby at this time, and there is no need to guard the force more closely. When the three of them arrived on the ground, they were taken directly to the office of the commander of the fortress. Only then did Tan Renhao remember that the Navy Command had arranged for the commander of Xindi to come over, and he didn't know who this commander was!