When the Tang Empire was arranging its troops and preparing to kick off the campaign again, the United States was also making major adjustments. As early as early June, the U.S. intelligence department judged that the Tang Empire's next offensive target would most likely be islands in the southwest Pacific, and then looked for an opportunity to land on the 6th Australian Big 6.

In order to cope with the new challenges, the United States is also making adjustments to its war command structure. If the Pacific Theater Command is still responsible for combat operations in the Pacific direction, it is clear that every aspect cannot be taken care of. In addition, the situation in the south-west Pacific is very different from that in other parts of the Pacific. In this direction, the defense of Australia's big 6 is the top priority, and the dense distribution of islands also determines the importance of the ground battlefield. Therefore, before the Battle of the Mariana Islands ended, the US Navy and the 6th Army reached an agreement to establish a new theater outside the Pacific theater, as well as the Southwest Pacific theater.

This organizational change was actually exactly the same as the reform of the Tang Empire, and the United States also carved out the Southwest Pacific region and established a new theater of operations. In order to balance the six armies, the commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater is not a naval general, but a general of the 6th Army, that is, Admiral MacArthur, commander-in-chief of the US Army in Australia.

MacArthur had always been the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army in Australia, and when the United States entered the war, he and Nimitz each proposed a set of offensive plans. The plan he proposed was to march from Australia into the South Seas region, and threaten the mainland of the Tang Empire from the south. This plan was later rejected, because at that time, the US military in Australia was too small to defend, how could it have the strength to sweep the Nanyang region? Moreover, such an operational plan will inevitably involve the mobilization of a large number of naval fleets, and the US port facilities in Australia are not enough to support the entire Pacific Fleet. More importantly, the Tang Army had already consolidated the defense of the Nanyang region, while the US military was mainly deployed in the southeastern region of Australia, and there were very few military bases in the northern region of Australia, and even fewer airfields capable of deploying bombers. At least thousands of bombers are needed to support them, not to mention that the transfer of these bombers is a severe test, even if they are transferred to the Australian Big 6, I am afraid it will be difficult to be sent to the battlefield.

Because his proposal was rejected, MacArthur once reacted upward, and even went to the president, hoping to change the battle plan and focus on the southwest Pacific. Let the 6th Army hit the main force. It turned out to be a no-brainer. After the defeat in the Battle of the Mariana Islands, MacArthur went around even more, blaming Nimitz for his command mistakes and promoting his own battle plan and the importance of attacking the South Seas. Under MacArthur's lobbying, Admiral Marshall, chief of the general staff of the US Sixth Army (the US Sixth Army has no commander-in-chief, only chief of general staff), and Admiral King, commander-in-chief of the US Navy, finally made concessions and decided to strengthen the deployment in the southwest Pacific and gradually shift the focus to the southwest Pacific theater. If the Don Army does not attack in the Southwestern Pacific. Then we should try our best to advance to the South Seas. Of course, this is just a plan, in the absence of sufficient guarantees of sea supremacy. It is almost impossible for the US ** team to cross the sea and attack the South Seas region.

In fact, there were no major mistakes in the command of Nimitz in the Battle of the Mariana Islands, and several fleet commanders appointed by him completed their tasks during combat operations, and Halsey and Spruance both inflicted heavy losses on the Don Imperial Navy and salvaged the situation. The reason for the defeat of the US military is that it is inferior in strength to its opponents. Judging from the investments, losses, and other aspects of this battle, the US military is obviously at a disadvantage. Being able to withstand the weight of hundreds of thousands of Tang troops for half a year is already a great miracle. Therefore, Nimitz is not blamed, and there is no reason for him to take responsibility for the failure. But there was no escaping the fact that MacArthur's accusations had to be answered, and the result was that the Pacific Theater was split in two, with Nimitz in charge of operations in sectors other than the Southwest Pacific Theater, and MacArthur as the supreme commander in the Southwest Pacific Theater.

With the change in the theater system, there was also a change in the establishment of the Pacific Fleet of the US Navy. In the absence of enough warships. The US Navy has adopted a completely new organizational system, that is, the command structure of the fleet remains basically unchanged, but warships are assigned to different fleets when they carry out combat missions in different theaters.

After the reform, the U.S. Pacific Fleet was divided into two main fleets, of which the Fifth Fleet was under the command of Nimitz, and the former Pacific Fleet Command was reorganized into the Fifth Fleet Command. Under MacArthur's command was the Third Fleet, which was formed by some of the staff officers of the former Pacific Fleet, as well as some staff officers transferred from the Atlantic Fleet. That is, the Fifth Fleet is responsible for combat operations in the Pacific theater of operations, while the Third Fleet is responsible for combat operations in the Southwest Pacific theater. This system was later extended to the entire U.S. Navy, numbered odd for fleets in the Pacific and even for fleets in the Atlantic.

In fact, the establishment system of the US Navy fleet is similar to that of the Tang Imperial Navy. The Tang Imperial Navy did not strictly regulate the number of the fleet, but the task force was under the command of different theater commands in different theaters. In this way, the integrity of the fleet is basically guaranteed, so the command of the fleet is a set of teams, there is no temporary replacement, and the commander to familiarize himself with the situation of the fleet, which can improve the combat effectiveness of the fleet in brutal battles. On the contrary, the US Navy has focused on ensuring the integrity of the warship's personnel and men, and the fleet command team will be replaced in different theaters, which in fact ensures the operational continuity of the warship, and a warship can run around in several theaters and continue to fight. In fact, this is all determined by the different circumstances of the two countries, the Tang Empire has the advantage of warships and pays more attention to the performance in important naval battles, while the US Navy temporarily lacks enough warships, so it pays more attention to the attendance of warships.

After the change in the establishment of the fleet, the personnel relations of the Pacific Fleet of the US Navy also changed. Halsey has returned from injury, and as a result, he was assigned to the Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations, responsible for commanding the Third Fleet, while Spruance stayed in the Pacific Theater, and Nimitz also promoted him to the chief of staff of the theater and be his deputy, which cannot but be said to be Nimitz's importance to Spruance. In addition, a large number of generals were promoted and placed in important positions, such as Turner and others, who were all requisitioned. Fletcher, who had also returned from injury, did not immediately return to the fleet, but remained in the Pacific theater of operations, awaiting new arrangements.

By the end of June, that is, after the transformation of the United States in the Pacific was basically completed, the intelligence department of the United States also received information that the Tang Empire was about to launch a new offensive in the Pacific, and the direction of the attack was likely to be the Bismarck Islands in the southwest Pacific. Or the Hawaiian Islands in the Mid-Pacific Ocean. Soon, the movement of the Tang Army was also sent, and after comparing these news, Nimitz immediately judged that the next offensive of the Tang Army would be mainly in the Southwest Pacific, but it would definitely launch an offensive in the Central Pacific to contain the US Navy.

Nimitz's judgment was accurate, and he immediately reported it to Admiral King, and the news was quickly delivered to MacArthur. MacArthur's judgment was similar, and the Tang Empire was temporarily unable to attack the Hawaiian Islands. Moreover, the offensive front on the Hawaiian Islands was too long. The Tang Empire would not advance eastward until it had absolute maritime superiority. Well, at a time when the US Navy was temporarily powerless to challenge the naval supremacy of the Tang Imperial Navy. If the Tang Empire Navy wants to expand the results of the war and seize the initiative in the Pacific, it will definitely launch a new attack, if it can sweep the southwest Pacific and drive the US troops out of Australia, then the United States can only retreat to the Hawaiian Islands to the Samoa Islands This defense line, losing the ability to operate and counterattack in the western Pacific, the battle line will be flattened, paving the way for the Tang Empire to finally enter the Americas.

The movement of U.S. troops also began very quickly, by mid-July. The United States has sent five convoys to Australia with at least 15 divisions of ground troops, thousands of combat aircraft, and a large amount of war materials (this batch of supplies can only arrive at the end of July at the earliest, and the latest will arrive in mid-August), but the problem is that the US Navy had very few forces in the Pacific at that time, only one aircraft carrier battle group "Enterprise", and the maintenance work of this aircraft carrier only needs to continue until mid-July. In other words, the U.S. Navy actually had no ability to prevent the Tang Empire from moving south to the Southwest Pacific.

The situation is too dangerous to be any more dangerous. Nimitz has ordered the ship repair yard at Pearl Harbor to repair the USS Enterprise by 15 July, and the carrier battle group will be back in combat by 20 July. Next, he arranged for a new fleet commander. The best choice is definitely Spruance, now Halsey has gone to the Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations, and Spruance has already proven his ability in the last naval battle (the failure of the last naval battle is due to the fact that the 1st Task Force 16th Fleet was not able to block the blows of the Don Empire's bombers, after all, the results achieved by the 17th Task Force were far greater than the losses) But now Spruance is the Chief of Staff of the Theater and has more important responsibilities. In the end, Nimitz had to use Fletcher, and let Fletcher command the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier battle group, ready for battle with the Tang Imperial Navy's task force.

In the Southwest Pacific theater, MacArthur was also actively preparing for the war. If the Tang Empire wanted to go south to Australia, then it had to obtain an advance base, and the Bismarck Islands, the Solomon Islands and the island of New Guinea were all ideal advance bases. In other words, it is possible for the Don army to choose one of the dozens of islands here and open up a new battlefield. As a passive defensive side, MacArthur had few options. It is almost impossible to ensure that every island is adequately defended on a long defensive line, and this is the problem that all defense commanders have to face. The attacking side can choose any breach, while the defending side is unlikely to have enough troops in any one location. As a result, MacArthur made a more conservative defensive deployment, that is, to ensure the safety of Port Moresby and the Solomon Islands, and then use the aircraft deployed in these places to cover the Bismarck Islands and Lae. This deployment was also more in line with the situation of the US military in the southwest Pacific at that time, MacArthur did not have enough capital to confront the Tang Army head-on on the front line, and he could only pin his hopes on the deep defense line, hoping to drag down the Tang Army with the help of defensive depth.

By mid-July, the U.S. military had received accurate information that the Tang Empire's main offensive direction was the Bismarck Islands and the island of New Guinea, and that it would launch a diversionary attack in the Central Pacific in advance, so that the only fleet of the U.S. Navy could not go south. Nimitz also reacted quickly, and after learning that the three task forces of the Tang Empire had left their home port and the newly established task force had also entered the South China Sea, he immediately ordered the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier battle group, which had just recovered its combat effectiveness, to go to Midway Island to stand by and wait for a decisive battle with the Tang Empire's naval fleet.

In the southwest Pacific, MacArthur's movements were also immediate, and by the end of July, he had deployed at least five Third Fleets to the Solomon Islands and Port Moresby (some of which were warships of the Australian local army) and had left the port of Brisbane for the Coral Sea, ready to support the attacked frontline troops at any time.

By this time, both sides had already opened their positions and were ready for a new battle, but the initiative of the war was still in the hands of the Tang Empire, and the US army only judged the direction of the Tang Empire's attack through limited intelligence and speculation, and could not know the exact movement of the Tang Emperor's ** team. For example, Nimitz didn't know whether it was one task force or two task forces heading east, so he left the USS Enterprise Carrier Battle Group (the Fifth Fleet, the first task force) at Midway instead of sending it to the waters near Wake Island.

MacArthur's side was also extremely passive, and he could sense that the Don Army's attack must be in the northeastern direction of the island of New Guinea, most likely Lae, or some island in the Bismarck Islands with a large airfield and a large number of troops, and it was very likely that it was New Britain. But having a judgment does not mean that he can make a corresponding deployment, because he does not have enough capital in his hands!