The Battle of Ryukyu Island was the largest battle between the two warring sides since the beginning of the war. The campaign lasted three days from the bombing of the Ryukyu Island by the Army Aviation of the Tang Empire. It was also during the fierce battle between the First Task Force of the Tang Empire and the First Air Fleet of the Japanese Navy, in order to contain the Japanese forces on Ryukyu Island, the Tang Imperial Army Aviation carried out another round of bombing of Ryukyu Island at noon on the same day.

The most exciting, and also the most tragic, was still the decisive battle between the two fleets. Unlike the Battle of Jeju Island, from the very beginning, the fleets of both sides came straight to each other, not in a hurry, and the purpose of both fleets was very clear, that is, to destroy the opponent and control the air and sea supremacy in the waters of Ryukyu Island.

Judging from the comparison of troops, the First Task Force has three aircraft carriers and more than 300 combat aircraft, while the First Air Fleet has four aircraft carriers (the light aircraft carrier "Long Shout" did not participate in the battle and was left in the waters near Iwo Jima), which is close to 300 combat aircraft. In addition, the escort warships in the fleets of the two sides are not much different, and the performance of the combat aircraft of the two sides is not very different. As a result, the two sides were evenly matched in their forces, and there was no decisive difference. On top of that, the backbone of the pilots on both sides basically participated in the Battle of Jeju Island, and the newly recruited pilots also underwent extremely rigorous training, so there was not much difference in the quality of the pilots on both sides.

The result of the battle was a crushing defeat for the Japanese First Air Fleet, and the victory for the First Task Force of the Tang Empire. The result was somewhat unexpected, at least with a bit of luck. Fundamentally, however, the most important reason is the difference between the two sides in their understanding of the application of aircraft carriers in naval warfare.

In terms of the time of engagement, Nagumo Kazutada's First Air Fleet could have launched an attack on the First Task Force first, but Nagumo Ichitada was too cautious and missed the best fighters, which eventually led to the failure of a series of attacks, and only in the end did he happen to sink the aircraft carrier "Taizong" of the First Task Force. On the contrary, at the beginning of the campaign, Tan Renhao was extremely clear about what the most important purpose of the First Task Force was, and he directly put the attack on the First Air Fleet of the Japanese Navy in the first place, so after knowing the news of the approach of the First Air Fleet, he first sent an attack aircraft group, and then followed closely by a second wave of bombers, and after resisting the attack of the Japanese bombers, he immediately sent a third wave of bombers. All the striking forces of the fleet are concentrated to complete the mission of the campaign and achieve the strategic purpose that needs to be completed at the end of the campaign.

In the course of the specific engagement, in fact, the pilots of both sides performed very well, and there was a certain element of luck in both sides, but the good fortune of Task Force 1 seemed to be more. The first wave of bombers led by Luo Jinming destroyed the formation of the second wave of bombers sent by Nagumo Yizhong, and as a result, the strength of the escort fighters of this group was seriously weakened. Then, Deng Zichao's second wave of bombers intercepted the second wave of Japanese bombers halfway and inflicted heavy damage on them. If this had not been for this, then when Task Force 1 was bombed for the second time, I am afraid that several aircraft carriers would not have escaped the bad luck. However, the Japanese pilots seized the last opportunity to celebrate the victory and relax their vigilance in the Tang Imperial fleet, and unexpectedly concentrated on attacking the aircraft carrier "Taizong", and finally sank the aircraft carrier.

War is cruel and unforgiving, and luck is reserved only for the prepared side. Judging from the entire course of the engagement, the officers and men of the 1st Task Force were well prepared and energetic. For example, when the Japanese aircraft group was attacked for the first time, the officers and men of the fleet stuck to their posts and successfully repelled the Japanese aircraft. Moreover, the aviation service personnel on the aircraft carrier were not idle, preparing for the departure of Zhang Naiding's third wave of bombers. In this way, Tan Renhao was able to send a third wave of bombers in time and finally forced the Japanese fleet to withdraw from the battlefield.

As a result of this naval battle, three aircraft carriers of the Japanese First Air Fleet, "Akagi", "Kaga", and "Soryu" were sunk, and only the "Flying Dragon" escaped, in addition to four escort heavy cruisers, and seven destroyers were killed. The First Air Fleet lost 259 warplanes and suffered more than 4,700 casualties, including more than 400 pilots. In other words, even if the "Wyvern" still had a certain combat effectiveness, the pilots who had accumulated a lot of experience after the outbreak of the war lost almost as much in this battle.

The aircraft carrier "Taizong" of the first task force of the Tang Empire sank, the large air defense cruiser "Li Jing" suffered heavy damage, and several other warships were strafed by Japanese aircraft. The fleet lost 78 aircraft and 835 casualties, including 147 pilots (more than a dozen parachuted pilots were later rescued by submarines). Although the Fifth Air Wing (later renamed the First Air Wing) lost a lot of pilots, most of whom were veteran pilots with war experience, the flight backbone of the fleet survived, and at that time the Tang Empire had a better pilot training mechanism, and more and more pilots were pouring into the Imperial Navy.

The fleet reached the sea off the port of Zhoushan in the afternoon of the next day. The officers and men of the fleet headquarters transferred to the aircraft carrier "Taizu" all came to the gangway outside the island. The position next to Rear Admiral Ji Xiaobin is reserved, which is the position of Colonel Tan Renhao, chief of staff of the fleet. The port of Zhoushan was already in sight, and Tan Renhao had not yet come out of his cabin.

"There's nothing wrong with him, is it?" Hao Dongjue was a little worried about Tan Renhao.

Lei Shaoqing frowned slightly, and then looked at Major General Ji Xiaobin. "General, I'll go see him, maybe ......"

"He's out." Ji Xiaobin had already seen Tan Renhao coming up the ramp from the back.

Lei Shaoqing immediately turned his head, and Tan Renhao, who was wearing a clean military uniform, quickly walked over, his expression was still so calm, as if nothing had happened.

"Renhao, you don't have a problem, right?" Hao Dongjue seemed a little talkative.

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head. "It's okay, you're almost home, right?"

A heavy cruiser stationed in the port of Zhoushan met him and began to lead the first task force. To everyone's surprise, standing on this heavy cruiser were Admiral Nie Renfeng, as well as Admiral Gan Yongxing, the two most important figures of the Imperial Navy had come to greet the triumphant return of the fleet!

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