Volume Twenty-Three: The Springboard for Progress, Section Twenty-Eight: Opportunity

Before leaving for the Atlantic Fleet, Spruance took time to visit Admiral Nimitz, who had returned home to retire, in Fredericksburg, Is. At that time, the Pacific Fleet had already existed in name only, and the Pacific Theater had been abolished, and most of the staff staff was incorporated into the Coastal Defense Command of the Western Theater, under the command of Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Nimitz still holds the title of commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, but this title no longer has any meaning.

Spruance didn't just visit his old boss at home, but he wanted Nimitz's guidance on the future combat operations of the U.S. Navy. Over the course of several hours of conversation with Nimitz, Spruance gradually formed a general impression of future combat operations.

The two of them had the same view of their opponents, and they both believed that the most powerful navy of the Tang Empire was the First Fleet, and the commander of the First Fleet, Admiral Tan Renhao, was their biggest opponent. From this point of view, both of them also believed that if they wanted to turn the tide of the war, they should not fight with the First Fleet too early, but should try to find other fleets of the Tang Imperial Navy, first defeat the friendly forces of the First Fleet, and let the Atlantic Fleet accumulate combat experience through the battle, and then find the First Fleet for a decisive battle after having sufficient strength, so as to turn the tide of the war.

It doesn't make much sense to select an escort fleet that mainly provides support to the Marine Corps and does not have much naval combat capabilities, or a theater fleet, and the Atlantic Fleet needs high-intensity combat experience, not to deal with an opponent who is not capable of fighting back. Therefore. It was only possible to choose the main fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy.

If he could, Spruance would definitely choose the Second Fleet to attack, because both he and Nimitz believed that the Second Fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy was the weakest of the three main fleets, and it was also the easiest to deal with, as long as Spruance was careful when commanding and tried to give full play to the advantage of troops. Even if the Second Fleet's counterattack would inflict a small loss on the Atlantic Fleet, it would not be significant, while the officers and men of the Atlantic Fleet would be able to gain very valuable combat experience through the battle, and give those pilots a taste of what it is like to be on the battlefield. But the problem was that there was no chance of dealing with the Second Fleet at all. Especially after the announcement of the surrender of the British, the Second Fleet will be permanently stationed in the Mediterranean and North Seas. It became the garrison fleet sent to Europe by the Tang Empire, and basically did not participate in front-line combat operations, unless the Atlantic Fleet took the initiative to attack, otherwise it would be difficult to encounter the Second Fleet. If they take the initiative to attack, they will easily be intercepted by the First Fleet, and then they will have to fight a hard-fought battle with the First Fleet under a disadvantaged situation. If the operation to annihilate the Second Fleet is not completely successful, it may even be caught between the Second Fleet and the First Fleet, and at that time, even if the Atlantic Fleet has grown wings, it may not be able to escape!

In the event that it is impossible to deal with a lone Second Fleet. The Third Fleet could only be chosen as the target of the first strike. At the time, Nimitz was also in favor of this arrangement. On the way to Norfolk. After officially becoming chief of staff of the Atlantic Fleet, Spruance has been thinking about how to deal with the Third Fleet. During the months between the fleet's training, he had the staff officers pay full attention to the movements of the Third Fleet and recorded every movement of the Third Fleet in order to summarize the characteristics of the Third Fleet's activities.

Over the course of a few months, Spruance gradually gained confidence. Judging from the comparison of strength, the Third Fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy has a certain advantage in aviation combat capability, and it is the only fleet of the Tang Imperial Navy that completely uses aircraft carriers as the main force. On the contrary, the Atlantic Fleet has a more pronounced advantage in close combat capabilities. Then. The Third Fleet has always been active in the Caribbean, which is a marginal sea. With the American continent to the west and hundreds of islands to the north and east, it is difficult to conceal the fleet's whereabouts, and at the same time, the fleet's activities are somewhat restricted. If the timing of the battle is right, the Atlantic Fleet's advantage in close combat can be exploited, avoiding the strengths of the Third Fleet's aviation strikes, using battleships and more numerous cruisers to defeat the Third Fleet, and then sending bombers to carry out supplementary strikes, ultimately annihilating the Third Fleet.

Following this line of thinking, Spruance planned several sets of battle plans, and the staff officers of the fleet command also planned several sets of battle plans, and each set of plans was centered on the battleship's ground artillery combat capabilities, and the combat time was almost always chosen to be conducted at night. But the tide of battle changed much faster than Spruance had imagined.

Before March, when the training work of the Atlantic Fleet had not yet been completed, the Third Fleet made several sorties in succession and assisted the Marine Corps in successfully destroying the most important US military bases on the Little Andres Islands, and finally forced the US forces to withdraw from the Little Andres Islands and fully retreat to the Greater Andrés Islands. Subsequently, the Third Fleet launched an attack on the Greater Andrés Islands in early April, although this was only to "cover" the British surrender in order to confuse the Germans, but in the end, it still forced the American military to abandon its military bases in Haiti and several other nearby islands, and the line of defense was further retreated.

As the U.S. lines retreated, the number of Atlantic Fleet's access to the Caribbean plummeted, leaving Spruance with fewer options. In addition, the Tang Imperial Navy has established air stations in the Little Andres Islands and some islands in the Greater Andrés Islands, and has used shore-based reconnaissance planes and patrol planes to closely monitor several major straits entering the Caribbean Sea, making it difficult for the Atlantic Fleet to enter the Caribbean Sea in a covert situation. Even if you can stealthily enter the Caribbean Sea, it is difficult to operate in the Caribbean Sea. And after entering the Caribbean Sea, as long as it is discovered, it will be hit by hundreds of shore-based bombers of the Tang Imperial Naval Aviation, and even if the Third Fleet does not move, the Atlantic Fleet will be overwhelmed by stormy shore-based bombers.

When many fleet staff officers thought it was impossible to take out the Third Fleet first, Spruance did not give up. The reason is simple, he has no choice. If he hadn't taken out the Third Fleet while the First Fleet was still at the Gibraltar Fortress, he would have had no hope of turning the tide of the war when the enemy's two main fleets had joined forces. Therefore, it is necessary to try to take out the Third Fleet first, even if there are no conditions, then create conditions!

Just as Spruance was worried about what to do with the Third Fleet, he received an order to go and pick up the convoy. at

When the First Fleet was likely to go to intercept the convoy, it also received information that the convoy had left the Caribbean and was missing. By this time, Spruance had already realized that the convoy that was returning to the United States must be loaded with extremely important cargo, otherwise the Tang Imperial Navy would not have sent the First Fleet to intercept it. If this is the case, then it is also a reasonable arrangement for the Tang Imperial Navy to dispatch the Third Fleet to respond. That is, the Third Fleet will leave the Caribbean and go into the Atlantic!

Spruance did not share the results of his analysis with his staff officers, for he knew that those staff officers saw not an opportunity, but a danger. Indeed, if the Third Fleet takes the initiative to move closer to the First Fleet, then the two fleets will support each other, and the Atlantic Fleet will not have much chance to attack the Third Fleet. But the problem is that if the Third Fleet does not take the initiative to move closer to the First Fleet and is also prepared to intercept the convoy, then Spruance's long-awaited opportunity will come.

At that time, Spruance ordered the fleet to turn south, in fact, to find the whereabouts of the Third Fleet as soon as possible. When deploying reconnaissance forces, he also made the south a key search direction, and two-thirds of the reconnaissance planes were sent to search for the Third Fleet. At that time, the order he gave was to look for the First Fleet, and he knew very well that the First Fleet would not appear to the south of the convoy, and there was no need to set the course so south, what he was really looking for was the Third Fleet! In order to increase the chances of getting to the ground of the Third Fleet early. Spruance also slowed down the fleet's sailing, intending to allow the Third Fleet to catch up. At that time, some staff officers raised doubts, believing that this was a combat operation to take out the First Fleet before delaying. Spruance ignored this question, as long as he took out the Third Fleet, then the operation would have been successful, and no one would ever accuse him.

High-intensity reconnaissance was carried out for several days, until the news of the annihilation of the convoy arrived, and the reconnaissance aircraft still did not manage to find a trace of the Third Fleet. Forthwith. Spruance received the order to return. It can be said that when the order to return was given, Spruance was very unwilling. He could conclude that the Third Fleet would not be more than 500 miles away from him, and if the convoy could hold out for one more day, his reconnaissance planes would have a good chance of finding the Third Fleet. But. Now that the convoy is finished, and the First Fleet will certainly return to the Gibraltar fortress, the Third Fleet will not be able to continue its north-easterly voyage and turn around and return to the Caribbean. There is no longer any need to continue the search for the Third Fleet.

At that time, the Third Fleet was indeed about 550 miles southwest of the Atlantic Fleet, and Spruance's reconnaissance planes could only fly 350 miles away. After Huang Xiaotian learned that the transport fleet had been intercepted by the First Fleet, he immediately turned around and returned home, at least Huang Xiaotian would not have the slightest idea of despising the US Atlantic Fleet. Like Tan Renhao, Huang Xiaotian also suspected that Spruance was in command of the Atlantic Fleet, and this suspicion made him dare not stay on the battlefield for an extra minute. After receiving the order to retreat, he did not hesitate to let the Third Fleet return. Thus avoiding the Atlantic Fleet.

Plus, Spruance didn't know. At that time, the first task force was only 500 miles away from him. Tan Renhao had long expected that the Atlantic Fleet would take the initiative, so he put the First Task Force in front. If he continues to search south for the Third Fleet, he will most likely run into the First Task Force, and it is not certain who will be hit first.

It can be said that if it were not for the fact that the three fleet commanders at that time had their own ideas and worries, the newly formed Atlantic Fleet of the US military would have encountered the two most powerful fleets of the Tang Imperial Navy in the first combat operation. The results can be imagined. Too many coincidences caused the three fleets to staggered as they were about to discover each other's lands, all of them empty-handed. Maybe. It should be fortunate that Spruance is that if there is a real encounter, it will definitely not be the Tang Imperial Navy.

After returning safely to Norfolk Naval Harbor, Spruance did not give up the opportunity to first look for a decisive battle for the Third Fleet. After all, this is the only way for the US Navy to turn the tide of the war. Two days later, Spruance received news of the Third Fleet's entry into the Caribbean, and he quickly deduced that he had been very close to the Third Fleet, but had not been able to detect it. This made Spruance feel very sorry.

Similarly, Admiral King, and even the President of the United States, are lamenting this combat operation. Of course, the American media reported another high-intensity bombardment. Journalists in government-controlled territories simply don't report on the war as it is. In the American newspapers at that time, there was no mention of the importance of the transport fleet at all, but focused on the convoy's escort warships successfully sinking more than a dozen German submarines, and in the ensuing engagement, the Atlantic Fleet killed five aircraft carriers, four battleships, and dozens of other warships of the Tang Imperial Navy. And the biggest benefit that these reports brought to Spruance was that many American people who were kept in the dark at that time sent a large number of condolences to the Atlantic Fleet!

No amount of false news coverage can change the reality of the war, and repeated failures have put the United States in a desperate situation. As in those reports, the United States at this time needs a victory, and a real victory on the battlefield. The Atlantic Fleet brilliantly "accomplished" a mission, so all hopes were again pinned on the US Navy. At that time, Eisenhower had stabilized the war in Mexico and established a new defensive line, the Tang Expeditionary Force had stopped attacking, and the American army had no way to launch an offensive on the southern battlefield in Mexico for the time being. Only the Atlantic Fleet will be able to take the initiative!

In early May, just a few days after the Atlantic Fleet returned to Norfolk Naval Harbor, Spruance received a real order for battle. The order, issued by the President through the Admiralty, only mentions that the Atlantic Fleet must take the initiative to achieve a major victory, and that the rest of the forces will cooperate fully, and there are no specific requirements. In other words, Spruance must be responsible for planning a counterattack at sea! For Spruance, this is an opportunity, but at the same time, a problem! Sea Soul Volume 23 Springboard for Progress Section 28 Opportunity