13,500 kilometers southeast of Orenko, the capital of the British New Bridy Islands, Port Vila.

On a hillside overlooking the harbor on the outskirts of the city, there is a British-style colonial-style villa, and on the lù platform of the main building decorated with white sè fences, Admiral Schroeder, commander of the British-American-Australian Combined Fleet, dressed in snow-white uniform, stopped and saluted Admiral Robinson, commander-in-chief of the Anglo-American Southwest Pacific Theater, and a group of naval and army generals behind him.

"I'm sorry to be late, there was a little accident on the way~

My Mexican driver hit and killed a monkey. ”

Schroeder excused himself for being late as he took off his military hat and shook Robinson's hand.

"Unfortunate monkeys, may Solomon's yellow monkeys have the same luck."

Robinson never deviated from the topic.

Schroeder handed the military hat to the shì on the side, and casually replied: "The yellow monkeys in Alaska are obviously unlucky. ”

Robinson tilted his head back at the dazzling array of food and drink on the table: "Don't mention Alaska, it's just a hot dog on the street, and now we're going to make a Thanksgiving meal." ”

As he spoke, everyone sat down one after another, and the two commanders, Schroeder and Robinson, sat opposite each other, and next to them were their respective naval and army subordinates and staff officers, and the dining table was like a river, separating the two distinct camps.

It wasn't a formal lunch, the table was full of snacks and fruit, and in addition to red wine, there was a choice of black tea and coffee, and Schroeder asked for a pot of black tea.

"Early tomorrow morning, our army will attack the Solomon Islands again, and the purpose of this operation is to open an advance base on Malaita Island to consolidate our army's defensive posture north of the Coral Sea, and I hope that the army and navy will closely coordinate and complete the task with tact and flexibility."

Robinson's opening remarks seemed a little lacking in confidence, especially the last sentence of "witty and flexible" made Schroeder frown slightly.

Schroeder is not full of confidence in this battle, but he thinks that since he has made up his mind to attack, he should put aside all his worries, and make up his mind to look forward and backward, which is not called determination, but play.

"When the fleet is ready, you can raise the fire."

Schroeder said lightly, his gaze casually skimming over the masts lining the harbor.

The promise of the commander-in-chief of the theater of operations is not a lie, and even goes beyond it.

Just yesterday, a huge fleet of dozens of warships, large and small, and transports of all kinds, including five dreadnought battleships, a Pearl Harbor-class converted aircraft carrier, two brand-new Omaha-class light cruisers, eight Weeks-class flat-deck destroyers, and several old cruisers and destroyers, sailed into Port Vila unscathed.

The five Dreadnought battleships included: the "South Carolina" class of the "South Carolina" class, the "Florida" class of the "Florida" class, the "Wyoming" class of the "Wyoming" class, the "Rivadavia" and the "Morno" of the "Rivadavia" class.

The first three were all survivors of the Battle of Pearl Harbor, and the last two were originally ordered by the Argentine Navy at American shipyards and were "leased" by the US Navy after the war.

Compared with the three 12-inch dreadnoughts that Admiral Robinson promised to replenish a week ago, there are more "South Carolina" and "Wyoming".

However, in Schroeder's eyes, the former's combat power was insignificant, and the arrival of the latter overshadowed the "Florida".

As the first class dreadnought of the US Navy, the "South Carolina" class, which was developed on the basis of the former dreadnoughts, was obsolete just after entering service, and compared with the dreadnoughts of other naval powers of the same era, the smaller displacement (16,000 tons) made it impossible to equip it with heavy armor, and the maximum thickness of the main armor belt was 254 mm: it is not surprising that eight 305 mm 45 x diameter guns were arranged in a full center line knapsack arrangement, Moreover, it was not equipped with a centralized fire control system: its low speed (18.5 knots) made it even more difficult to fight with the subsequent dreadnought formations.

The "Wyoming" class is the last level of the U.S. Navy, equipped with 12-inch (305 mm) main guns, and is also the only battleship in the U.S. Navy before the war that uses 50 times the diameter of the inch, and the G twin turret is installed in one go.

The installation method of the main turret is also novel: two by two, one group in the front, and two groups in the rear are arranged in a full center line knapsack, and each side can exert the firepower of all six turrets and twelve main guns, compared with the contemporaneous Anglo-German mainstream battleships with five to six main turrets, but can only effectively use the eight main guns of four main turrets on either side.

The Wyoming class also eliminated the large area of medium-thickness armor left over from the pre-dreadnought era and placed on top of the main armor belt, retaining only the mantle gun profile armor and flue armor, and used the weight saved to strengthen key defensive structures such as the main armor belt, horizontal armor and turrets.

This is also the first attempt by the US Navy to the concept of "focused defense", which is in line with the trend of the dreadnought era of artillery battles getting farther and farther away, and the need for protection against medium-caliber rapid-fire guns is getting lower and lower.

The "Florida" class, which was built before the "Wyoming" class, has only five firepower, and the full center line is arranged, and the range and power of the 45 times the diameter of the twin are far inferior to those on the "Wyoming" class.

In view of this, Schroeder ordered that only the "Wyoming", "Livadavia" and "Morno", which were also equipped with 50 times the diameter of the inch, be included in the 52nd under his direct command

The task force, the main artillery unit, was formed into the 4th Squadron of Battleships, and fought against seven other super-dreadnought formations equipped with inch (356 mm) main guns.

The "Florida" was temporarily assigned to Vice Admiral Brian's 54th Task Force Anal Escort Support.

As for the newly arrived "Holland Port" converted aircraft carrier, Schroeder intended to use it as an aviation support ship directly under the main artillery combat unit, mainly carrying fighters, supplemented by a small number of anti-submarine patrol aircraft, specially escorting valuable battleships.

However, in order to make up for the losses of the "Tucano" shore-based air force in the last Battle of the Holy Island, this time, the "Dutch Port" still had to be a transport worker, carrying Bijia fighters and mouth torpedo planes, and going to San Cristobal Island with Task Force 562 first, and releasing these planes to Kirakira Air Base before the landing operation began.

The two Omaha-class light cruisers, armed with 12 6-inch (152 mm) guns, 10 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, eight 3-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft guns, and capable speeds of up to 34 knots, will be reinforced to Vice Admiral Wittson's Task Force 51, the Carrier Mobile Force, bringing the total number of light cruisers in the formation to six.

The Wicks-class destroyers will be used to replace the old 700-ton destroyers in the main force, such as the Paulding-class and the Monaghan-class, and the eight old destroyers will be added to Vice Admiral Brian's Task Force 54, bringing the total number of destroyers in the formation to 24.

The strength of each task force after the reorganization is as follows: 51st task force: 1 regular fleet aircraft carrier (Victory), 1 modified quasi-fleet aircraft carrier (Panama), 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers, 117 carrier-based aircraft, and 2 water flights.

Task Force 52: 7 super-dreadnought battleships with inch guns, 3 dreadnought battleships with 12-inch guns, 1 converted Associate Fleet carrier (Dutchport), 3 armored cruisers, large protective cruisers, 12 light cruisers, 44 destroyers. It carries 48 carrier-based aircraft and 26 seaplanes.

Task Force 53: 2 light cruisers, 4 destroyers, 42 submarines.

Task Force 54: Dreadnought battleships with port-inch-in-inch main guns (USS South Cairolena, USS Florida), 4 former dreadnought battleships, armored cruisers, 2 light cruisers, 24 destroyers.

Starting tomorrow, that is, on 25 June, the above fleet forces will all be carried out around one central task: 27,300 US Marines and tens of thousands of tons of equipment and supplies in the first echelon of dozens of landing ships and transport ships of various types will be safely escorted to Ulu Bay on the east coast of Malata, covering the troops to rush to the beach and land until the fleet is unloaded, and then return to Port Vila to load the second echelon of 32,000 US Marines and army officers and men, plus the corresponding equipment and supplies, and do it again. If necessary, they had to go to Noumea, French Caledonia, and load and pack the 25,000-strong reserve of American and Australian troops assembled there for a third time.

If all goes well, in one month's time, Malata's forward airfield will be built enough to accommodate a small air fleet of 40 to 50 combat aircraft.

Three months later, the airfield was built into an aviation base with a variety of supporting facilities, accommodating a large air fleet with 150 combat aircraft.

At the same time, the Kiracilla Air Base on San Cristobal Island will continue to be expanded to eventually accommodate 250 to 300 combat aircraft, and the Rennell Island Water Base on the island, not far to the west, will also be expanded to accommodate 100 seaplanes and shore-based aircraft.

The three bases support each other, and with the mobile cooperation of the naval fleet, they will coordinate to control the southern part of the Solomon Islands and the eastern area of the Solomon Sea, and prevent the East Asian coalition forces from breaking through and cutting off the defense line at 10 degrees south latitude from this area, which is the only fortified front in the current Southwest Pacific Theater.

Time, time is of the essence.

Do we still have enough time?

Schroeder's face was filled with an unknown expression that puzzled everyone present, between perseverance and constipation. @。