When Spruance was explaining the results of this battle to Nimitz, Tan Renhao was also in front of a pile of battle reports. Shortly after receiving the sinking of the aircraft carriers "Essex" and "Yorktown," Tan Renhao also received another telegram from the Second Task Force that the "Hulun Lake" had run aground near Tawonji Atoll, but the aircraft carrier was so badly damaged that it would probably take a lot of effort to repair it. When Hao Dongjue was asked to give the news to the theater command and Liao Hanxiang to organize forces to rescue the "Hulun Lake" aircraft carrier, Tan Renhao came to this cabin let by the captain to draft a report on the results of the battle (the loss report can be submitted later).

Since Tan Renhao was investigated and Lei Shaoqing was subjected to the investigation turmoil after the "First Battle of the Marianas," Nie Renfeng specially commissioned a group of staff officers who were proficient in government work to draw up a manual on how to write naval battle reports, which would serve as the basis for future fleet commanders to submit battle reports. Although this manual is not yet a specific naval rule, it does help commanders when submitting battle reports, and can also reduce some unnecessary troubles.

In this manual, it is stipulated that if the commander cannot accurately judge the situation after the end of the battle (which is almost 100% the case), he can speculate on the results of the battle and the losses according to the telegrams received by the various units during the campaign, draft a temporary battle report, and then complete the official battle report based on the information obtained in the later period, and the temporary battle report is only used as a reference and does not have the role of qualitative for the campaign.

In fact, this opened the back door for the fleet commander. The first battle report submitted by the fleet commander is the official battle report, and setting up a temporary battle report can actually allow the fleet commander to reduce trouble, and if there are discrepancies in the official battle report in the later information, there is still a chance to revise it, and the temporary battle report does not have the nature of qualitative for the battle. Naturally, there is no need for the commander to be responsible for this. Of course, there are loopholes in this, such as the fleet commander can use this to exaggerate the results of the battle, and if something goes wrong, make corrections. Therefore, Nie Renfeng also added one article later, that is, the temporary battle report does not have the role of evaluating the battle merits, which delays the affirmation of the fleet's results. The reward of meritorious officers and men of the fleet was delayed. bsp; Of course, this problem is not serious, if you want to be promoted, the approval process will take a few months, if you want to get a medal, the approval process will also take a lot of time, before that, a little more time to do the investigation and verification, this is not a big problem.

What Tan Renhao wanted to accomplish was the part of this temporary battle report about the results of the battle (the part of the battle damage was mainly the casualty figures of officers and men, and the work of counting the casualties was the responsibility of the fleet staff department, which was very cumbersome. It also takes a lot of time). Although this temporary war report has no official value. But this will certainly have a big impact on the Theater Commander, the Navy Commander, and even the Imperial Ministers when making their next decisions. Tan Renhao felt that it was very difficult to write. After all, he is not the kind of person who likes to exaggerate the results of the war, and he does not want to affect the decision-making of the upper echelons because of some false alarms (the review of the battle report actually mainly relies on the enemy intelligence obtained in the later stage, and this may take several days, or even months, and the decision-maker can only rely on the battle report provided by the front-line command to make a judgment for most of the time, especially when the war is urgent, it is difficult to prove whether the front-line commander's battle report is accurate in time, so it can only be simplified because of ugliness, And a responsible front-line commander will not scribble the war report).

Tan Renhao read these telegrams from beginning to end, and still felt unable to put pen to paper. The battle was fought a bit chaotically. But there is a clear pattern in it. If you want to talk about feelings, then Tan Renhao's first feeling is that Spruance is the most formidable opponent he has ever encountered.

Judging by the activities of the American fleet reflected in these telegrams, Spruance was the kind of commander who was both bold and careful. His initial decision was very aggressive, and it reflected his boldness, daring to take advantage of the reconnaissance blind spot of the Tang Imperial fleet, take the initiative to close the distance, and attack first, if it wasn't for Tan Renhao's timely change of the route of the First Task Force. If the US reconnaissance plane had been avoided, the result would have been completely different.

At the same time, Tan Renhao also felt that Spruance knew his conducting characteristics very well. As if he knew that he was going to take an adventure, as if he knew that he would send a reconnaissance plane before dawn to search the sea area where the US fleet was most likely to appear, and at the same time accurately grasped the time of arrival of the first task force.

This made Tan Renhao feel a little scared, and the opponent knew him, which proved that the opponent had a way to find out the loophole in his command and then defeat him. This time, it can only be that Tan Renhao reacted in a timely manner and made a decisive decision, and Spruance only lost one move. So, is there such good luck next time?

In addition, Spruance's delicacy in command and his deep understanding of naval aviation tactics also made Tan Renhao deeply admired. For example, the sortie rate of fighters on the US aircraft carriers, as well as the quality of the officers and men of the fleet, and the aviation service personnel were not as good as those of the Tang Empire's aircraft carriers, so Spruance effectively dispersed the pressure on each aircraft carrier and tried to ensure that half of the forces could be concentrated in the bombing in both directions. Secondly, Spruance's accurate deployment of the relative position of the two task forces almost made one of the two sharp arrows shot by Tan Renhao fly, and if only one American task force was destroyed and the other was missed, the result would be completely different.

With the few pieces of information he had, Tan Renhao classified Spruance as the most formidable and difficult opponent to deal with. The basis of his victory was the excellent quality of the officers and men of the fleet, better bombers, better pilots, and more intense naval anti-aircraft fire. If he loses any of these advantages, he will lose, and he will lose badly! If Spruance had the same aircraft carrier, the same officers and men, the same bombers, the same pilots, and the same use of new anti-aircraft shells, perhaps Tan Renhao would be on the run. Moreover, these advantages that Tan Renhao now has will disappear sooner or later, the quality of the US pilots will improve, the United States will have enough ability to develop better bombers, the United States will definitely be firing VT bombs, and the US aircraft carriers will be advanced enough. If Tan Renhao can't make progress in the art of conducting, then what awaits him next time may be defeat rather than victory.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt afraid. As a matter of fact. He also realized that his adventurous tactics were flawed. Although he had won through risky tactics before, none of the opponents he had defeated were real opponents. If you have an opponent like Spruance, then the risk-taking tactic is very much about throwing yourself to the end rather than winning the game. Tan Renhao also quickly realized that what he lacked most now was the overall command ability to fight an evenly matched battle with his opponent when the strength of the two sides was equal. This ability does not depend on some advanced tactical theory. Or it is some kind of inspiration, intuition can be brought about, which needs to be accumulated, it needs to be richer in actual combat experience, and it is necessary to have a deeper understanding of the deep meaning of naval aviation tactical theory.

The more he thought about it, the more irritable Tan Renhao felt. His back also hurt, and after taking two painkillers, he made himself another cup of strong tea, and then washed his face with cold water to calm himself down. He didn't think about it that much either. Let's count the results first.

Soon. Tan Renhao counted the results, and after drinking the strong tea, he felt a lot more energetic. There was no longer any pain in his back, and he roughly counted the losses of battleships and planes. When he took out the two statistics and made a simple comparison, it became clear that he was actually the victor, although he had only achieved a very narrow tactical victory, but he was the victor.

Judging by the losses of battleships, only one aircraft carrier, one cruiser, and two destroyers are now determined. And it is certain that the American fleet lost at least two aircraft carriers, four cruisers, eight destroyers, and this is only for sure. In addition, only one aircraft carrier was severely damaged by the Tang Imperial fleet, and most of the other escort warships were only strafed by US fighters, and they were not even slightly damaged. At least two aircraft carriers of the American fleet were heavily damaged, and several other warships were heavily damaged. In terms of combat aircraft. Tan Renhao saved more than 1oo bombers, and all the carrier-based aircraft on the four aircraft carriers of the US fleet were lost, and those that were not shot down were also forced to land on the sea because they could not return to the aircraft carrier or the island airfield to land, which can be regarded as a loss (in fact, many fighters of the Tang Imperial Fleet also made a forced landing on the sea). Judging from the number of warships and fighters on both sides, Tan Renhao is indeed the victor.

From the perspective of the campaign, although the US military still has two battleships and more than 20 other warships have combat effectiveness, none of them can fight. Tan Renhao also has the "Bear Lake" aircraft carrier battle group in his hands, and there are more than 30 escort warships that can continue to fight. In other words, the US military has actually lost its sea supremacy, and perhaps the US military can dispatch battleships at night to pursue the "Lake Bell" aircraft carrier, but this hope is almost zero, the maximum degree of those two battleships is only 28 knots, and the maximum degree of the "Lake Bell" aircraft carrier is 33 knots, as long as the day dawns, those two battleships will be sunk by bombers even if they are iron turtles.

The U.S. military has lost the ability to land on 6 Wake Island, and even lost the ability to withdraw the 6 troops on Wake Island, unless the U.S. military dares to send a fleet to evacuate the 6 troops at night.

Thinking of this, Tan Renhao suddenly stood up, hesitated for a moment, and immediately walked out of the cabin, walked briskly towards the command cabin, and later trotted up. When he came to the command cabin, Hao Dongjue was still counting the casualties with a group of staff officers.

"Ren Hao, has your battle report been written?" Hao Dongjue glanced at Tan Renhao, and asked the staff officer to receive the things and go to the side to get busy, and vacated the chart table.

"No, there's no urgency for the time being." Tan Renhao glanced at everyone, "How many cruisers do we have now, and how many destroyers can be mobilized?" ”

"We? Or are we two fleets? ”

"Aside from the destroyers in the USS Bell Lake, how many of our ships can move to the waters of Wake Island before dark?" Tan Renhao added the beginning of the conversation.

Hao Dong thought about it quickly, but this was not what he was mainly responsible for.

"Commander, if we leave four destroyers for the 'Bear Lake,' we can mobilize at least twenty-five cruisers, and twenty-two destroyers, to get to the waters off Wake Island before dark." The navigation staff helped Hao Dongjue answer, "These are all the warships that can be mobilized by the two task forces now." ”

"Leave four destroyers near Tawonji Atoll to prevent US submarines from sneaking up on the stranded aircraft carrier 'Hulun Lake' at night." Tan Renhao also made a decision immediately, "The other warships must rush to the waters of Wake Island before dark!" ”

"Wait!" Hao Dongjue stopped the communications staff officer, and then asked Tan Renhao, "Why don't you return to Guam as planned?" ”

"Do you want those thousands of U.S. troops on Wake Island to slip away?" Tan Renhao glanced at Hao Dongjue, "Spruance will not leave these officers and soldiers of the 6th Squadron, he will definitely send the 6th Fleet to pick up these officers and soldiers tonight, and even arrange for some battleships, including those two battleships, to go to cover." If we withdraw now, and the bombers on the 'Lake Bell' are unable to operate at night, and we don't consider how the defenders on Wake Island will face the fire of those warships, if we let a few thousand American troops escape back, then our 6th Squadron will have thousands more enemies to deal with in the future! ”

Hao Dongjue nodded, and he immediately understood what Tan Renhao meant. "Then, I'll contact the 'Bell Lake' to see if they can send a night bomber, maybe General Han Shaofeng will be grateful to us after learning this news!"

"Then go get in touch." Tan Renhao did not object to Hao Dongjue's proposal, "Immediately give the order out, and the warships that have completed the task of salvaging the officers and soldiers who have fallen into the water must rush over before dark to prevent the US troops from withdrawing the 6th Sentai team!" ”

The officers in the command cabin immediately got busy, reported the report, drew up the formation plan, and after Tan Renhao asked Hao Dongjue to call him in the evening, he left the command cabin and prepared to go back to sleep well, as for the battle results report, it would have to wait until after the battle tonight to write.