On August 21, 1916, in Port Vila, located in the middle of the British New Hebrides, the Allied South Pacific Combined Fleet (formerly the United States, Britain and Australia) and the flagship of the 52nd Task Force "California" was quietly moored.

In a corner of the 32,000-ton hull, heavily guarded by military police, the commander of the fleet, Admiral Seaton Schroeder, with his military cap in one hand, stepped briskly into an unmarked cabin.

On both sides of the long table in the middle of the cabin, there were already naval officers in snow-white sè uniforms and army officers in khaki sè uniforms.

When the admiral stood still at one end of the long table, and there were already two rows of straight human walls in front of him, Schroeder raised his hand to return the salute, and nodded for everyone to take a seat.

Everyone sat down one after another, and Rear Admiral Nobel Erwin, the chief of staff of the fleet, who was sitting on Schroeder's right hand, nodded slightly to the commander, and reached out to open the folder in front of him.

"Now, I would like to convey to you the orders and briefings sent by the Naval Operations Department earlier today."

"The order to the Combined Fleet in the South Pacific is-"

"First: Launch the 'Watchtower' campaign as originally scheduled. That is, the main forces of the fleet will set sail on September 3 to cover the landing of the 2nd Marine Division at Marau, in the southeast corner of Guadalcanal, and rush to repair the forward airfield in order to consolidate the defenses of the Solomon front. ”

"Second, the submarine and cruiser units of Jīng will be dispatched to form a detachment and stationed on the west coast of Australia, and cooperate with the British and French fleets of South Africa and Madagascar to carry out sustained and powerful sabotage attacks on the sea shipping of the East Asian Alliance through the Indian Ocean."

"Thirdly, convoys to supply bases in the South Pacific via the Panama Canal. Threatened by enemy submarine and cruiser forces from the Hawaiian side for a long time. In recent months, the lack and ageing of escort ships, as well as the enemy's increased presence and more effective tactics, have led to mounting losses on transport vessels. ”

"In order to improve the operational efficiency and staffing density of escort ships. In order to reduce the loss of transport ships, from September, the escort convoy from Panama was changed from full escort to relay escort. The U.S. 3rd Fleet is responsible for escorting ships east of 150 degrees west longitude, and west of it is for the South Pacific Combined Fleet. ”

"The South Pacific Combined Fleet should submit the escort force allocation table as soon as possible and carry out the escort handover under the coordination of the Naval Transportation Command."

Speaking of this, Major General Erwin paused. Slightly raised the pitch.

"The message to the entire South Pacific theater is—"

"From August 14, the main force of the East Asian Combined Fleet entered the Red Sea, attacked the port of Suez with an aircraft carrier force, and supported the landing of the army on the Eritrean coast with the capital ship force."

"The British, French, and Italian detachments stationed in the Red Sea had previously withdrawn most of their surface ships and were now relying on submarines to engage in interdiction operations with other small ships, and the British Cypriot Air Force, which was urgently reinforcing Egypt, suffered heavy losses in the Battle of the Gulf of Suez."

"From this, it is expected that the main forces of the East Asian Combined Fleet will be in the next battle. There will be no strong containment, and it is entirely possible that the transfer to the Pacific will be carried out by November this year. All units of the army and navy in the Pacific Theater should improve their defenses, reorganize their defenses, and be ready to thwart the enemy's counterattack at any time. ”

Before Chief of Staff Erwin could speak, the entire conference room looked at each other except for himself and Commander Schroeder.

After a moment of silence, Lieutenant Colonel Douglas MacArthur, who was the liaison officer of the Allied South Pacific Theater Commander-in-Chief Admiral Will Robinson in the fleet, clenched his fists and said indignantly: "On the one hand, we have to plan and plan to attack, and on the other hand, we have to divide our troops to break diplomatic relations and escort ships, and we also have to prepare to deal with the big counterattack of the East Asian Combined Fleet, but we don't mention reinforcements at all. What the hell do those guys in the Department of Naval Operations think! ”

Admiral Schroeder cast a grateful look at Lieutenant Colonel MacArthur for crossing the branches, but he still had to be official and unemotional: "Lieutenant Colonel, now is not the time to complain, we have to count the resources in our hands first, and find a way to allocate them reasonably, there is really no way to distribute them." in order to apply for reinforcements from the superiors. ”

MacArthur shrugged his shoulders and said no more, and Rear Admiral Erwin took advantage of the situation to answer: "Then let's start with the inventory of the fleets - Commodore Reeves, what is the situation of the 51st Task Force under your acting command?" ”

Joseph Reeves, who succeeded British Rear Admiral Witson after the Battle of San Cristobal Island (known in the Chinese army as the First Battle of the Solomons) and acted as commander of the 51st Task Force as the captain of the aircraft carrier "Panama", had just been promoted from colonel to brigadier general because of his calm command in the Battle of Malaita Island (known to the Chinese army as the Second Battle of the Solomons).

Hearing Major General Erwin's name, Brigadier General Reeves raised his fingers and introduced him like a treasure.

"Everyone should know that from the Battle of San Cristobal Island to the Battle of Malaita Island, the main striking force of Task Force 51 is the two aircraft carriers Glory and Panama.

"The former is a Royal Navy purpose-built fleet aircraft carrier rated to carry 72 combat aircraft; The latter is a quasi-fleet aircraft carrier converted by our US Navy with a fast cruise ship, rated to carry 42 combat aircraft and 3 spare aircraft. ”

"Prior to the Battle of Malaita, I reformed the Panama's air operations by setting up an active parking area on the flight deck, which increased the total number of combat aircraft actually carried by the Panama to 63, adding an important bargaining chip to the victory of the Battle of Malaita."

"After the Battle of Malaita, I tried to convince the captain of the Glory to adopt a new way of operating in the air, and I wanted to mix the American and British carrier-based aircraft squadrons in the same wing."

"It wasn't easy at first, but luckily Major General Witson, who was still recuperating in Sydney, informed me about it, and he agreed with my idea, and with his help, I was finally able to start implementing my plan in the next two days. If all goes well, starting next month, the Honor will be able to carry up to 93 combat aircraft, bringing the total number of aircraft carriers in the entire task force to 156, compared to 117 during the Battle of San Cristobal. That's a one-third increase. ”

"The addition of four Omaha-class light cruisers after the Battle of Malayta-Tajikistan has fundamentally improved the surface artillery combat capability of the task force, and together with the original two Royal Navy Caliope-class light cruisers, they constitute the main surface artillery combat force of the task force. The other two Royal Navy Linxian-class light cruisers in the fleet have been ordered to be transferred to Vice Admiral Brian's Task Force 54. ”

"At the same time. We also got 6 of the latest Clemson-class fleet destroyers to replace the 6 Sampson-class destroyers that were in service before the war. This class of ships not only has a strong endurance, but is also equipped with the latest active anti-submarine sonar and Y-type depth charge guns, and together with the six Wicks-class destroyers built last year, they constitute the main torpedo and anti-submarine warfare forces of the task force. ”

Brigadier General Reeves paused, and emphasized with a serious expression: "The above is the current troop summary of the 51st Task Force, it should be noted that since the maximum speed of the USS Panama is only 26 knots. It is very likely that the task force will not be able to get rid of the pursuit of the enemy's high-speed large cruisers in a night battle, and the current force configuration can only meet the minimum needs of self-defense. ”

Rear Admiral Erwin spread his hands and expressed his understanding: "In this way, the 51st Task Force is no longer able to draw troops, do you have any objections?" ”

After confirming that there were no objections, Rear Bird Erwin continued: "Next, as the chief of staff of the 52nd Task Force, I will explain the situation. ”

"Although in the Battle of San Cristobal in early June. The newest dreadnought battleship in the fleet, the USS Tennessee, was torpedoed by enemy aircraft and forced to return to the dockyard on the east coast of the mainland for repairs. The cruise ship converted Quasi-Fleet aircraft carriers "Pearl Harbor" and "Manila" were also sunk one after another, but with the arrival of successor forces, by the time of the Battle of Malaita, the strength of Task Force 52 had been restored.

"After replenishing the three 12-inch dreadnoughts of the U.S. Navy Florida and the Brazilian Navy's Minas Gerais and São Paulo, the total number of capital ships in the fleet has increased from the original 11 to 13, which is enough to make up for the shortage of troops caused by the damage to the Tennessee, and also allows the wyoming in poor condition to take time to go to Sydney for short-term maintenance."

"The addition of the aircraft carrier USS Holland Harbor, which is of the same class as the USS Pearl Harbor and the USS Manila, restores part of the 52nd Task Force's air escort capability. This allows the fleet to operate independently from the support of shore-based aviation. ”

"In the Battle of Malaita, the 12 capital ships dispatched by the 52nd Task Force played a key deterrent role, forcing the Chinese army's battle cruisers and high-speed battleship formations not to turn around and go south, and to seek opportunities to engage in surface artillery battles with the 51st Task Force with weak firepower, so that the 51st Task Force was able to calmly dispatch two waves of air attack teams, and finally achieved the major result of sinking and damaging one enemy battle cruiser."

However, due to the lack of high-speed battleships with a speed of more than 24 knots. In addition, there is a lack of first-rate capital ships equipped with main guns of more than 15 inches, and the fleet's capital ship formation may have no chance of winning in the face of a fast battleship formation with a comparable number of East Asian Combined Fleet. ”

"In terms of cruisers, after the Battle of Malaita, Task Force 52 transferred six old armored cruisers and large protective cruisers to Task Force 54, retaining six Chester-class reconnaissance cruisers with enhanced anti-aircraft firepower, and six Omaha-class light cruisers with high speed and strong surface artillery combat capabilities, making the deployment of troops more capable and efficient."

"In terms of destroyers, long before the Battle of Malaita, 36 of the fleet's 44 destroyers belonged to the Wicks-class that was commissioned last year, and in the last week, the latest eight Clemson-class destroyers have replaced the remaining eight Cassin-class destroyers that were in service before the war, thus qualitatively strengthening the fleet's anti-submarine escort capability."

"Even so, compared with the total number of capital ships in the fleet, the configuration of cruisers and destroyers is still somewhat insufficient, especially the lack of battle cruisers and new 8-inch class main gun large cruisers, and it may be difficult to expel them in a timely and effective manner when they are torpedoed by enemy high-speed cruisers covering destroyer formations......"

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