The development of bombers is mainly handled by Colonel Luo Yunchong, who has just joined the Navy and has been promoted to two ranks, but Tan Renhao has also been following up on this plan. At the very least, before the First Task Force is back in combat and ready to carry out the next combat mission, Tan Renhao does not need to focus more on the affairs of the fleet, so that he can pay more attention to the development process of the first heavy bomber in the history of the Imperial Navy.

According to the development process of the fighter, after making the decision to develop a heavy bomber, the HNA first decided to determine the performance parameters of the bomber. However, Luo Yunchong had already prepared for this. Then it was a matter of tendering the Empire's major aircraft factories to submit theoretical designs in accordance with the military's performance requirements. Then, the military will determine the feasibility of the plan according to the plans submitted by each manufacturer, and select several sets of the most reasonable plans from them, enter the plan development stage, manufacture prototypes, and determine whether they can meet the performance requirements of the military. Finally, choose the best one and enter the production development stage.

However, during the war, this system was much reduced. After determining the technical requirements, the Navy directly issued design requirements to the two aircraft companies, Shenfei and Hafei. However, later Chengfei and Xifei also asked to participate in the design competition, so the two aircraft factories also submitted their own design plans. This is not a theoretical design plan, but a complete bomber design scheme.

"On the whole, in fact, the design of Xifei is the most reasonable!" Luo Yunchong did not bring personal feelings and prejudices, "Although there are two performances that do not meet the requirements, this is the most reliable and the most reasonable." On the contrary, although the proposal submitted by Shen Fei seems to be very advanced, there are many factors that cannot be determined, and we simply do not know whether the prototype can meet the design indicators. Cheng Fei and Ha Fei's plan is also passable. General, which one are we going to use? ”

Tan Renhao frowned slightly and said, "Must you choose?" ”

Luo Yunchong nodded. "By the rules. We should now identify two prototypes for the production plant. ”

"Then let all four production plants build a few prototypes first." Tan Renhao straightened his waist and moved his slightly sore body, "Let them get on the horse together, and after the prototype flies, we will know who has the best design and who is the most feasible." ”

"That's good, but the budget is ......"

"Funding is not an issue, and it doesn't cost much to build a few prototypes. We are now going to make sure that there is more than just a heavy bomber. And also to fight to make the best heavy bomber out. Tan Renhao took out a cigarette and lit one for Luo Yunchong first, "Therefore, it must be beneficial for us to spend more money on this." ”

"Okay, then I'll contact the four manufacturers in the afternoon and ask them to come up with prototypes quickly."

"A month, no, in the middle of next month, we will see heavy bombers that can fly." Tan Renhao spit out the tobacco, "Tell the four manufacturers." If they can't get a prototype by then. will be eliminated directly. Anyway, it's a big order, and they must be very eye-catching! ”

This is indeed a big order. As a result, Shen Fei was the first to be eliminated, because Shen Fei did not have the experience and foundation to build large aircraft, and did not hand over the prototype on time. However, Shen Fei's avant-garde design scheme was retained, and a few years later, a world-famous bomber would be born on this design. The other three manufacturers all built the first prototype on time. Without exception, the prototypes submitted by the three manufacturers were all improvements on the previous old aircraft, using the improved body of the old aircraft to install more powerful engines, and making some adjustments and modifications to the aerodynamic layout to meet the requirements of the Navy.

After a month of test flights and selection. Hafei submitted the land plan and finally won. However, in order to be able to quickly manufacture this kind of bomber, Chengfei and Xifei will also participate in the later production work, while Shen Fei is responsible for providing engines to Hafei and manufacturing the main wing of the bomber assembled by Hafei.

Later, this heavy bomber produced by the Harbin aircraft factory received the designation H-12 and received the nickname "Bomb Mover". The aircraft is 23.5 meters long and 6.02 meters high. Wingspan 32.87 meters. Four Typhoon 13B star engines are installed, with a single power of 1400 horsepower, a maximum take-off weight of 26500 kg, a maximum speed of 225 knots at a flight altitude of 7000 meters, a maximum ceiling of 12000 meters, and a maximum bomb load of 8500 kg. With a bomb load of 6,000 kg, the maximum range when flying at an altitude of 7,500 meters reached 4,800 km, and when carrying a bomb of 3,000 kg, the maximum range was 5,800 km. In addition, 12 machine guns were installed on the aircraft.

It can be said that this is the best kind of strategic bomber in the entire early World War II, far better than the strategic bomber of the British Empire, and later the B1 of the United States of America is very similar in performance. However, what many people don't know is that the aircraft was actually developed on the basis of a verification bomber designed by Hafei before. If the Reich had realized the importance of strategic bombers a few years earlier, perhaps the war would not have broken out, at least not by Japan. Judging from the situation at that time, if the Tang Empire's army aviation had more than 1,000 such strategic bombers in its hands, the Japanese would definitely have to consider the security of their homeland before launching a war. In fact, this is exactly what the Japanese regretted later.

When entering the test flight verification stage, Tan Renhao handed over all the work to Luo Yunchong to be directly responsible. It is precisely because of this that Luo Yunchong later became the commander of the strategic bombers of the Imperial Navy. Although during the war, Prime Minister Xue Xiyue was able to suppress both sides, but after the end of the war, this became the biggest difference between the navy and the army, because both sides realized at that time that the strategic bomber force was the most powerful force in the hands of the empire. As a result, under the competition between the navy and the army, the Imperial Air Force, which is also the third branch of the empire, was born. And the first commander of the Imperial Air Force was the Imperial Air Force General (at that time, due to the restrictions of the army and navy, the Air Force Commander was a general, not a marshal. Later, the army and navy were also implicated, and their commander rank was also demoted to general) Luo Yunchong.

Of course, Tan Renhao didn't think so long-term. At that time, he was most happy about his own fleet.

With the arrival of a large number of warships, the 1st Task Force regained its combat effectiveness after more than two months of rest.

The aircraft carrier "Xuanzong" was "lying" in the dock of the Jiangnan Shipyard for more than two months, and more than 1,000 engineers and workers of the shipyard worked in shifts to finally repair the aircraft carrier, which was almost finished. And during the repairs, the engineer is still in the ammunition depot of the aircraft carrier. Isolation doors were added to the oil depots, and armor that was not too thick, but much better than nothing, was installed in these important areas. The biggest improvement is that the electric engine room on the carrier has been increased by two, at the cost of carrying fuel and ammunition.

At the same time, the "Taizu" also spent half a month going to the shipyard to renovate, and its main transformation was the preparation of the electric engine room. Because of the limited conditions, the ammunition depot and the oil depot of the "Taizu" were not equipped with isolation doors, nor were they armoured.

The biggest gain was the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier, which was commissioned more than a month ahead of schedule. The workers of the Dalian shipyard first concentrated on completing the "Yangtze River", although this caused the "Yellow River" to be delayed by about a month. It's certainly worth it though. The aircraft carrier has just completed its perching. All the way south, the sea trials were carried out in the course of the crossing, so hundreds of engineers and technicians followed the aircraft carrier to Zhoushan. The Navy was satisfied with the results of the sea trials. And some small-scale modifications can be carried out directly in the port of Zhoushan, without the need to return to the Dalian shipyard. Subsequently, the aviation unit belonging to the "Yangtze River" also arrived in Zhoushan.

During this period, the establishment of the aircraft carrier aircraft unit of the naval aviation unit was adjusted. In the past, the ground wing was not abolished, but the group determined by the type of aircraft was abolished, and the aircraft-carrying unit of each aircraft carrier was changed to a group, and the group consisted of squadrons of various types of aircraft, namely a fighter squadron, a torpedo bomber squadron, and a dive bomber squadron. Squadron of reconnaissance aircraft. Each squadron has a squad, and the squad is a small group, which is the smallest establishment. Of course, the command structure and personnel system have also been revised. Deng Zichao, Zhang Naiding, and Jiang Wenhan respectively served as captains of the aviation groups on three aircraft carriers, and at the same time they were all promoted to lieutenant colonels and officers of the naval aviation forces. Luo Jinming is still the captain of the wing, and he was promoted at the same time. Became a brigadier general of naval aviation. However, in the future, Luo Jinming will no longer go out with the fleet, but stay in the rear, and the specific front-line command work will be completed by the three captains.

In addition to the increase in the number of aircraft carriers to three, and all three aircraft carriers are in the best condition, the First Task Force has also added more than 10 escort warships, the most important of which are the four newly arrived "Li Jing" class large cruisers.

The four large cruisers were "Qin Qiong", "Wei Chigong", "Cheng Zhijie", and "Duan Zhixuan". These four large air defense cruisers are almost exactly the same as the "Li Jing", the only difference is that the radars on the four warships have been replaced with the latest models, although the detection range has not increased much, but there are many fewer failures. Including the "Li Jing," the First Task Force has five air defense warships, and all of them have been built in full accordance with the requirements of air defense operations from the beginning of their design. This greatly increased the air defense combat effectiveness of the 1st Task Force. After the war, some people commented that although the "Li Jing" was not the most well-designed first-class air defense cruiser, it was the first-class air defense cruiser with the best performance in the entire Pacific Ocean. Later, the fame of the "Baltimore"-class air defense cruisers of the United States of America was far below it.

Eight heavy cruisers of the "Trotto" class also arrived at the 1st Task Force one after another. All eight ships were newly built, but with some changes, the main guns on the ships were replaced with improved 200mm guns instead of the old 200mm guns. This is probably an additional request made by the Navy after the fleet suffered a loss in the Kerama waterway. In addition, all eight battleships were equipped with radars. Including the other three heavy cruisers, Task Force 1 already had eleven heavy cruisers.

The last to join the fleet were twelve destroyers. These destroyers are the main anti-submarine force of the fleet.

By this time, Task Force 1 had three aircraft carriers, five large air defense cruisers, eleven heavy cruisers, and sixteen destroyers. In addition to the absence of capital ships (battleships and battlecruisers), the strength of the First Fleet was not under any of the Japanese fleets, not even the combined Japanese fleet. The most powerful striking force of the First Task Force is naturally the three air groups in the fleet, which are equipped with a total of 336 combat aircraft. Among them, there are 12 special reconnaissance planes modified from the "Osprey" that Tan Renhao specifically requested (however, these 12 reconnaissance planes can also be used as bombers with torpedoes at any time, and their biggest feature is that they are equipped with special long-wave radio stations).

Perhaps, the only regret of the fleet at that time was that only one fighter squadron was equipped with the new "Vulture" fighters, but this was only the initial model of the "Vulture". According to the requirements of the Navy, the "Vulture" should be equipped with a 2200-horsepower star-shaped air-cooled engine, but Shen Fei had problems with the design, and finally confirmed that the turbocharger has little effect on naval fighters, especially aircraft carrier carrier-based fighters, because aircraft carrier carrier-based fighters do not often fly at high altitudes, and the biggest use of turbochargers is to increase the output power when flying at high altitudes. As a result, Shen Fei proposed to equip the "Vulture" with an ordinary engine of a supercharger. However, the development of a new engine took some time, and the Navy was in a hurry to get better fighters to counter the Japanese "Zero". As a result, Shen Fei increased the power of the Feng 12 to 1800 horsepower, and let the "vulture" use this engine temporarily, and then install the new engine after the new engine was successfully developed. The Navy has adopted this compromise approach.

Hao Dongjue proposed to equip all three squadrons with new fighters, but Tan Renhao refused. The reason is very simple, the "Vulture" has not yet matured, and the finalized "Vulture" can be used in a few months, and the pilots are already familiar with the performance of the "Sparrowhawk", and if they are reequipped, they will need time to familiarize themselves with the new fighters, and they will also need time to train, and at that time, the First Task Force did not have time to do this work. As a result, only the fighter squadron on the "Yangtze River" used the "Vulture", and the fighter squadrons on the other two aircraft carriers still used the "Sparrowhawk".