Unlike the commanders of the task force who commanded aircraft carrier operations, it was only after arriving in the North Atlantic that Chang Jianxin really experienced the taste of the main force. Unlike the Pacific Ocean, which the Imperial Navy was familiar with, the harsh sea conditions in the North Atlantic became the real enemy of the fleet.

Since entering the Bay of Biscay, the sea conditions have been extremely bad, at least the officers and men on the aircraft carrier think so, for the battleship, the problem is not serious, tens of thousands of tons of warships, but also specially designed for bad sea conditions, the seaworthiness of the battleship is far above the aircraft carrier. Hundreds of years ago, the North Atlantic used to be the "high seas" of the Imperial Navy, the sea where the Imperial fleet could freely enter and exit, but for the new group of officers who are now often recommended, the North Atlantic is definitely a strange sea, a sea that they are not familiar with. Since the withdrawal of the Imperial Navy expeditionary force stationed at the fortress of Gibraltar more than 200 years ago, the fleet of the Imperial Navy has never appeared in the North Atlantic as a conqueror, and has never reached the North Atlantic in a combat posture!

After the 1st Task Force sent the information, Chang Jiexin issued an order for combat mobilization, and the fleet entered a combat state. Not only Chang Jianxin, but since leaving the port of Apra and heading for the Panama Canal, every officer and soldier of the Third Task Force has been waiting for this day to come. Because only at this time, the 3rd Task Force is a veritable main force, and no longer a supporting role on the battlefield. In order to familiarize the officers and men of the fleet with the situation in the North Atlantic as soon as possible, Chang Jianxin even asked the chief of staff of the fleet to get thousands of sets of books, including books on the history of the Imperial Navy's conquest of the West, books on the nature of the North Atlantic's marine climate, and introductions to the situation of Britain and other European countries on every warship, when there was no combat mission. Most of the officers and soldiers spent a lot of time learning about the situation on the other side of the globe and preparing for the battle.

The new person is no exception, as long as there is nothing to do. He would take the time to learn about the situation, everything from the weather, to Haven, to the specific reports of the various Atlantic naval battles he could find. And his main concern was, of course, the situation of the British Navy, especially those of the British battleships.

It can be said that the development of the British Navy is deeply influenced by natural geographical conditions and has distinctive characteristics, in addition to national strength. In addition to cultural factors, the greatest influence on the British Navy was the unique climate in the North Atlantic. Britain was the first to build aircraft carriers, and as early as the First Global War, it bombed German port cities with seaplanes taking off from seaplane carriers. Thus, the British Navy was also the first country to come into contact with the operational tactics of naval aviation. It stands to reason. The British were ahead of all other nations in aviation, but in reality, the British Navy's aircraft carriers were not commendable, at least in the eyes of the Imperial Navy's officers and sailors, and the reason for this problem was that Britain had to design its aircraft carriers first and foremost emphasize climate adaptability. And not the combat capability of aviation.

Some comparisons have already been made, among the aircraft carriers of the same class built by the maritime powers, the aircraft carriers of the British Navy pay the least attention to the number of aircraft, and the aircraft carriers of similar displacement also have the least number of aircraft. At the same time, the seaworthiness of the aircraft carriers of the British Navy is the best, with a fully enclosed bow and a fully enclosed hangar. Armored decks, optically guided landing systems, and so on, were invented and first adapted by the British Navy, and without exception, these technologies were pioneered for the unique climate of the North Atlantic.

In just a few days, Chang Jianxin understood why the British would "go to extremes". Perhaps the wind and waves did not have a great impact on the battleship, at least the conditions of the commander's cabin where the new commander was stationed were very comfortable, but after entering the Bay of Biscay, the bad sea conditions forced several aircraft carrier task forces to pay extra attention to the weather changes when choosing a route. In particular, for the movement of the low-pressure air mass, several groups of meteorological reconnaissance planes will be dispatched every day, and they will avoid the low-pressure air mass and try their best to operate in the sea area with good weather conditions, and will not dare to directly enter the English Channel like the two battleship task forces. Of course, Chang Jiexin is not only concerned about the climate, he is also a little worried about his old partner.

"Have you made contact with Task Force Six?" Chang Jianxin looked at the communications staff officer, and all day long, he was trying to contact Gu Zhenyun, but without breaking the radio silence, he could only arrange for a seaplane to find the Sixth Task Force, which naturally caused a lot of trouble.

"The third batch of liaison planes has been dispatched, but ......" the communications staff officer shrugged his shoulders helplessly, "and still haven't found the sixth task force." ”

The other staff officers were silent, and at the same time looked at Chang Zhixin, when the fleet arrived in Lisbon, the chief of staff had acute appendicitis and had to leave the fleet and go to the Imperial Embassy in Portugal, so that now there was only one new commander in the fleet. According to the unwritten rules of the fleet of the Imperial Navy, when the chief of staff of the fleet was absent, the nautical staff officer was the acting chief of staff of the fleet, then the operational staff officer, the communications staff officer. Therefore, in addition to the new recommendation, the highest status in the fleet is the navigation staff.

"It's a nuisance." Chang Jianxin breathed a sigh of relief, "Continue to look for the Sixth Task Force, I don't know if they have received a message from the First Task Force." No matter how much we don't care about it for now, we have to take care of our own affairs, have you all read the telegram? ”

The crowd immediately nodded, and then gathered around the chart table.

"After the telegram from Task Force 1 arrived, we roughly analyzed it." The Maritime Staff is arguably the most in the fleet and has the most contact with the Commander, "So far, we have not received any information related to Samoville. The British aircraft carriers must have entered the Irish Sea, but the problem is that these aircraft carriers pose little threat to us, and if the weather is suitable for aviation operations, there will naturally be other fleets such as the First Task Force to deal with them, and if the weather is not suitable for aviation operations, then the main guns of the battleships can only decide the victory. A few of us discussed it individually, and decided that the three 'Eagle'-class aircraft carriers were just a decoy, and the real opponent was the battleship fleet under the personal command of Satsumville! ”

After the navigation staff officer had roughly finished introducing the situation, Chang Jianxin pondered for a while. "Here's the problem, Summerville hasn't shown up yet, so what exactly does he want to do, and what is he doing now?"

There was silence in the cabin again, and the atmosphere felt a little oppressive. The big war is imminent, but now that we don't even know where the enemy's main force is, you can imagine what the mood of these dozen people will be like.

"Perhaps, they will take the Strait of Dover?" The communications staff officer broke the silence, after all, everyone didn't have a feeling in their hearts, someone had to come out and speak.

A few people shook their heads, after all, the telegram from Task Force 1 had already mentioned that it was unlikely that Satsumville would enter the Bay of Biscay via the Strait of Dover, but there were still a few staff officers who had reservations. Chang Zhixin secretly observed these subordinates who had been with him for several years, and then laughed. The atmosphere eased a lot, and a few people were relieved and let out the breath in their stomachs.

"Let's put it this way, Sarmoville hasn't shown up yet, and the only explanation is that he's trying to get close to us, from a route we didn't think of." Chang Jianxin propped his hand on the table, "According to General Tan Renhao's analysis, it is very risky for Satmoville to take the Strait of Dover, but there is one thing we cannot ignore, that is, the attitude of the Germans. ”

"The Germans will take the initiative to spare the British fleet?" The navigation staff officer frowned slightly, "The Luftwaffe has deployed thousands of combat aircraft on the other side of the channel to closely monitor the Strait of Dover, the German Navy has just been defeated, and that mustache must be angry, if the Luftwaffe lets the British fleet pass through the Strait of Dover unharmed, I'm afraid that the fat master of the Luftwaffe will not wait for the next day." ”

"That being said, the question is, are we sure what the Germans will do?" Chang Jiexin's facial muscles twitched, "Don't forget one thing. How many of the factors contributing to the demise of the Far Eastern Fleet were caused by us. More importantly, the ultimate goal of the Germans was not to defeat Britain at sea. Rather, it was to land on British soil. If Schell is able to return to the ports of the German mainland safely, then the German Navy will most likely seize sea supremacy while we deal with the British Home Fleet, and assist the Army to cross the English Channel and land on the British mainland. Now, only a dilapidated fleet returned to German ports, and even if the ships survived, they would not be able to regain their combat effectiveness in the short term. Now the Germans can only watch us go and defeat the British, watch our marines wait for the British mainland. In the end, the conquest of Britain, then, will the Germans willingly let Britain finally be controlled by us? ”

After such an analysis, several staff officers who initially thought that the British fleet would not pass through the Strait of Dover were a little hesitant.

"We are all well aware of the ambitions of the Germans, and Britain will be the key to the post-war landscape of Europe, and to whether Germany can unite Europe. As long as Britain is under our control. The Germans would not be able to compete with us for world hegemony, let alone become the hegemon of Europe, so Germany would not have watched us attack Britain itself, so it is not surprising that the Germans were doing something at this time. Chang Jianxin glanced at everyone. Even if the German reconnaissance planes discovered the whereabouts of Samoville, I am afraid that the Luftwaffe will not take any action, but will leave us at the back of the enemy, as long as we are defeated by the British home fleet, then Germany will have the next chance, otherwise, then they can only be relegated to the second-rate power. You will never be a world-class power! ”

"But the question is, does Samoville have the guts?" The communications staff officer cautiously raised a new question.

"You mean, Summerville doesn't dare take the Strait of Dover?" Chang Zhixin smiled and shook his head, "As far as I know now, Summerville is not a mediocre fleet commander, although compared to Cunningham, Summerville is not so sharp in attacking ability, but he is not lacking in courage. What's more. If the Germans had done anything, Satsuma would have not hesitated to choose our northeastern route. And not from the Irish Sea. ”

There was silence again. The new analysis did not convince everyone that the British Home Fleet would pass through the Strait of Dover, because there was not enough evidence, it was just analysis and speculation. But that at least says a little bit. That is, the previous judgment that the British Home Fleet was unlikely to pass through the Strait of Dover was wrong, and now the Third Task Force had to face threats from both directions at once.

"The most important thing is that we need to contact Task Force 6 as soon as possible." This time, it was the seafaring staff officer who broke the silence, "Although we have the ability to defeat the British Home Fleet alone, if we want to win a complete victory and ensure that we do not suffer too much damage, we should act in conjunction with the Sixth Task Force, so that we can be completely sure!" (Fastest update n).

Chang Jianxin nodded slightly. "Maybe Task Force 6 will be aware of the threat from the new land, but ......"

Before he could finish speaking, a communications officer ran in. "General, the seaplanes of Task Force 6 have arrived."

"It's really Cao Cao, Cao Cao is here!" Chang Jiexin turned his head, "Any news?" ”

"The battle plan for the 6th Task Force has been delivered." The communications staff officer was stunned for a moment, and then laughed awkwardly, "I'll go get it right away, and now the seaplane has just landed." ”

The communications staff officer immediately glared at the subordinate and let him out. After waiting patiently for more than ten minutes, the staff officer sent over a document wrapped in waterproof kraft paper, the content was not very much, Chang Jianxin only took less than five minutes to read it, and at the same time, his face was gloomy.

The second person to read the document was the navigation staff officer, and after reading it, he gave the document to the communications staff officer, and his face changed.

"I didn't expect Gu Zhenyun to be so unenlightened." Chang Jianxin gritted his teeth, "Let's go it alone, at least we're not Sher, and we're not so easy to bully." ”

"General. Do you want to contact Task Force 6 by radio? At this time, the communications staff officer also finished reading the battle plan of the Sixth Task Force.

Chang Zhixin raised his hand and hesitated, he shook his finger, it was not the time to break the radio silence, and he was a little annoyed that he was worried about Task Force 6 while he was worried about Samoville.