On the fourth day after Japan's Southwest Combined Fleet arrived at Naha Naval Port, the exercise with the Imperial First Fleet serving as the yellow side and the Japanese Southwest Combined Fleet serving as the blue side began in earnest.

The two huge fleets left the port of Naha at around 2 a.m., and according to the plans of the two sides, in addition to the joint maritime search and rescue exercise, the fleets of both sides will also conduct confrontational offensive and defensive exercises. Of course, no training ammunition will be used during the exercise, let alone live ammunition. It's like two martial arts masters comparing with each other, at most they just point to the end, not go deeper.

Tan Renhao also put down the rest of his work on this day and rushed to the headquarters operations center of the Fifth Fleet. The operations center is located in a large conference room on the first floor and is temporarily repurposed. Because the Fifth Fleet did not participate in the exercise, it could only watch the whole process. However, it can be regarded as enjoying the treatment of "landlords", and the entire process of the exercise is open to the Fifth Fleet. To this end, Chief of Staff Wu Xianyu specially arranged for more than 20 staff officers in charge of communications and intelligence, and set up a huge sand table in the middle of the conference room, using some models of warships to represent the fleets of both sides, and then according to the information received, the entire exercise was reflected on the sand table.

By the time Tan Renhao and the three of them arrived, most of the staff officers of the Fifth Fleet were concentrated here, and finally even General Liao Hanxiang rushed over. The exercise will last only one day, with several joint search and rescue exercises in the morning, while confrontation exercises will begin around 12 noon. For this reason, Chief of Staff Wu Xianyu even sent someone to the canteen to order hundreds of boxed lunches, so that the staff officers did not have to rush to the canteen to eat.

Tan Renhao didn't squeeze to the sand table like Hao Dongjue, he stayed in the corner on the left hand side of the entrance door of the conference room. To be honest, Tan Renhao felt a little nervous. After his report was handed in, the fate of the Fifth Fleet was actually on the stake. If the First Fleet can defeat Japan's Southwest Combined Fleet, then the Fifth Fleet will face an extremely embarrassing situation, and may even be abolished. Of course, from the bottom of his heart, Tan Renhao didn't want the Imperial Navy to lose to a former opponent, and it was also an opponent who had been beaten down by the Imperial Navy. However, from another angle, Tan Renhao would like to see the wonderful performance of the air force in this exercise, even if it is the Japanese air force.

Someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder, and Tan Renhao trembled in fright. After seeing that it was Colonel Ji Xiaobin standing next to him, he breathed a sigh of relief, and then smiled awkwardly.

"Nervous?" Ji Xiaobin could see his mood from the layer of cold sweat on Tan Renhao's forehead.

Tan Renhao nodded awkwardly. "It's a little, but it'll be over soon."

"There's nothing to be nervous about, trust your own judgment!" Ji Xiaobin patted Tan Renhao's shoulder a few more times, and then went to find another staff officer.

The joint search and rescue exercise ended at about 10 o'clock, after which the main formations of the two fleets went to the predetermined location. Obviously, such an arrangement is not fair, if it is to simulate a real combat exercise, then there is no regulation of the exercise area at all, which can only make it easier for the First Fleet to find an opponent, and at the same time put the Japanese Southwest Combined Fleet, which has only two main warships, in an extremely passive position. At the very least, the distance between the two fleets was less than 100 nautical miles, leaving Japan's Southwestern Combined Fleet with little time and space to deploy, or even to release bomber groups.

At twelve o'clock, the exercise officially began. More than a dozen radio stations located on the right side of the conference room by the window ticked, and more than 20 staff officers were also busy. The communications staff is responsible for reporting the situation on the front line to the intelligence staff officers, who in turn move according to the information obtained using the models of the warships representing the two fleets in the sand table.

For the first ten minutes, the officers in the room were a little nervous, after all, this was the first confrontation exercise between the naval fleets of the two countries after the end of the First Global War. However, the tension was soon broken by a few whispers.

Ji Xiaobin came to Tan Renhao's side again. "Second Lieutenant, do you want to make an estimate?"

Tan Renhao was stunned for a moment, then laughed awkwardly, then he looked at his watch and said: "It's been twenty-five minutes, if everything goes well, the first wave of bombers of the Japanese Southwest Combined Fleet has completed takeoff and formation, and now it should be killing the first fleet." ”

Ji Xiaobin frowned slightly, and motioned for Tan Renhao to continue.

"If I were the commander, I would send a second wave of bombers in half an hour." Tan Renhao sighed, "In this way, the two waves of bombers can land one after another when they return home, without rushing to land on the deck before the fuel runs out, of course, there is no such situation now, after all, the combat distance is too short." In addition, the first wave of bombers was enough to tear through the First Fleet's air defense network, and even if it did not inflict heavy damage on the main force of the First Fleet, it created an opportunity for the second wave of attacks and slowed down the advance of the First Fleet. ”

"And then?" Ji Xiaobin took out a cigarette.

"Then I will decide whether to organize a third round of attacks based on the actual situation when the first wave of bombers returns, and probably when the second wave of bombers starts to attack." Tan Renhao took the cigarette handed by Ji Xiaobin, "If the first round of attacks is not ideal, and the second round of attacks is not able to completely damage the First Fleet, I will immediately organize the first wave of bombers returning to refuel, hang bombs and torpedoes, and launch a third round of attacks before the First Fleet approaches." This was also the last round of attacks, and if it failed, then the shells of the battleships of the First Fleet would have already hit the aircraft carriers of the Japanese Southwestern Fleet. The premise, of course, is that the Japanese Southwestern Fleet cannot leave the sea area where the exercises are scheduled to be conducted. ”

Tan Renhao smiled bitterly, this is not a drill at all, this is a show! Ji Xiaobin didn't ask any more, he lit a cigarette.

The entire process of the exercise was almost no different from Tan Renhao's analysis. When it was reported that the Japanese Navy bomber formation had broken through the anti-aircraft fire network of the First Fleet, Tan Renhao had already realized that everything was over. If this was a real naval battle, then the First Fleet would only have the fate of being slaughtered, and the large-caliber guns on those battleships would not have a chance to be used at all.

At about five o'clock in the afternoon, the exercise ended, although the final result saved the face of the Imperial Navy, but anyone with a discerning eye knows that the Imperial Navy has lost, and it is extremely faceless!