Because the airfield on Midway had been blown up by bombers from the Fifth Fleet, Huang Xiaotian did not go to Midway Island to take a plane back to Guam when the fleet arrived near Midway, but returned with the fleet. It was the morning of the 5th of July when he saw the destroyer that had come to "greet" them into the port of Apra, and the fleet had sailed for almost five days before finally returning to the port of Apra.

On the way back, several US submarines desperately attacked the Fourth Task Force on the returning fleet, and even one attack almost succeeded, and the torpedoes fired by the US submarine almost grazed the buttocks of the "Taihu" aircraft carrier, and if it was 2o meters higher, the "Taihu" would certainly not be able to return to Apra Harbor. And these American submarines did not end well, only one American submarine was not killed by the destroyer, and the other American submarines were besieged by the destroyer, and the destroyer did not stop attacking until the light wreckage inside the submarine emerged on the surface of the sea.

In the past few days, Huang Xiaotian has also received information from all sides, and he has not been idle. In addition, the officers and men on the warships were not idle, and in particular, the officers and men on the three aircraft carriers were trying their best to repair the aircraft carriers in order to reduce the amount of maintenance work after the aircraft carriers returned to port. In addition, Huang Xiaotian also received news from Liao Hanxiang that the three aircraft carriers will be repaired in Apra Port, and Liao Hanxiang has already transferred several engineering ships from the rear, as well as a large number of spare parts, and a group of ship engineers will rush to Apra Port to be responsible for the maintenance work of the Fourth Task Force. These "logistics affairs" were all arranged by Liao Hanxiang himself, Huang Xiaotian was not very worried, and he was more concerned about the current situation on the battlefield.

The news that all six aircraft carriers of the Fifth Fleet had been heavily damaged was confirmed by the intelligence services, who even managed to get the details of the Fifth Fleet's report to Nimitz at that time. Of course, Huang Xiaotian's tactical arrangement of having the bombers of the Fourth Task Force bomb six aircraft carriers separately instead of concentrating on killing three of them was also affirmed and approved by the Navy Command. Under the circumstances, it would certainly be more advantageous for the Imperial Navy to have completely lost its ability to combat aviation than to have three aircraft carriers in the operation of the Fifth Fleet. At least, in the short term. Both sides only had escort warships to use, and relatively speaking, the number of escort warships in the Fourth Task Force was not much less than that of the Fifth Fleet, and the combat effectiveness was much stronger. Thus, after this battle, both sides had zero aircraft carriers at their disposal in the Central Pacific, the number of cruisers was 9 to 12, and the number of destroyers was 19 to 31. The power gap has narrowed a lot. The situation became more favorable for the Imperial Navy.

It is precisely because the Fifth Fleet cannot continue operations, or at least the aircraft carriers of the Fifth Fleet, that Nimitz has put on hold indefinitely the combat operation of the counteroffensive on Midway. Although there was information at the time that the US military would attack Gardner Island after giving up the attack on Midway, and use the air force on Necker Island to support the combat operation of attacking Gardner Island, Gardner Island could be lost, while Midway Island could not be lost. In addition, the strategic significance of the US attack on Gardner Island was not great, at most it only made the battle line of the Tang Imperial Navy a few hundred nautical miles away from Pearl Harbor. The threat to the Hawaiian Islands has not been lifted. And the Don Imperial Navy will definitely try to counterattack Gardner Island and eventually take down the Hawaiian Islands.

Huang Xiaotian has taken these changes in the general direction into account, and he doesn't attach too much importance to them. In Huang Xiaotian's opinion. The U.S. military's strategic counterattack on the ground in the Central Pacific has lost its foundation, and even if it storms Gardner Island, the U.S. military will pay a huge price. Maybe Nimitz will organize the escort warships of the Fifth Fleet to fight to support the attacking forces, but the escort warships of the Fourth Task Force and the destroyers in Liao Hanxiang's hands will also continue to fight, at most it will only be an artillery battle between the two sides, which may not be a bad thing for the Imperial Navy. Therefore, even if the Fourth Task Force has now lost its aviation combat capability, the Fourth Task Force has already completed its most fundamental task. It will be difficult for those American aircraft carriers to be put into combat at the end of August, or even in September. Judging from the current battle on the Australian side, the 6th Army and the 6th Task Force will definitely be able to capture Sydney in August, and then the First Task Force and the Second Task Force will be transferred, even if the Fifth Fleet recovers some of its combat effectiveness in August, it is almost impossible to win the First Task Force and the Second Task Force, not to mention that the two lightly damaged aircraft carriers in the Fourth Task Force can be repaired in August. When the time comes, Liao Hanxiang will definitely attack in a big way. What the U.S. military should be worried about is not how to take Midway or Gardner Island, but how to defend those important islands in the eastern part of the Hawaiian Islands!

It can be said that this battle not only caused heavy losses to the Fourth Task Force, but also changed the situation in the Central Pacific, and determined the situation in the Central Pacific in a way that Huang Xiaotian had never thought of before. Before 30 June, Huang Xiaotian had never thought of fighting a confrontation with the Fifth Fleet, nor did he expect that he would eventually lose both sides of the Fifth Fleet. Of course, if you take into account the battles that came later, then this naval battle is not a lose-lose situation. This is also Huang Xiao, Tian's most concerned issue, his "Death Fleet", as well as the legendary submarine, finally made the loss of the Fourth Task Force not worth mentioning, especially the submarine No. 542, which almost turned the entire tide of the war, and even finally determined the situation in the Pacific Theater.

Huang Xiaotian only received a specific battle report from the "Death Fleet" when he returned to Apra Harbor. Of the nine battleships, only one destroyer made it back to Midway with great difficulty in four days and nights. By that time, the airfield on Midway had been repaired, and the battle report brought back by the destroyer was immediately sent back to Guam, just in the morning of Task Force 4's return to Apra Harbor.

Jiang Hailong did not live up to the oath he had made to Zhenhai Banner, and he, along with the more than 2ooo officers and men of the Imperial Navy on those eight battleships, fought to the last moment. Even if Huang Xiaotian was not very familiar with naval artillery battles, but from the words of the battle report, Huang Xiaotian felt the fierceness of those few hours of fighting, and he also knew that if it was not for the wounded to be sent back, the last destroyer would not take the initiative to withdraw from the battle, and would definitely fight to the death! The more than 2,000 officers and men of the Imperial Navy who died in this battle represent thousands of comrades-in-arms who wore the same white uniforms and made an oath in front of the Zhenhai flag.

The three heavy cruisers were not timid in the face of eight American heavy cruisers. Even when they were flanked by American warships, they never gave up the fight. These three heavy cruisers never gave in to the enemy from beginning to end, and even when the battleship sank, the guns on the battleship were still roaring, firing shells at the enemy, and there was not even the captain who gave the order to abandon the ship, and few officers and men took the initiative to jump into the sea to escape. Decades later, when the Reich's deep-sea submersibles found the three warships sunk at more than 4ooo meters of the sea. The remains of the officers and soldiers have long been devoured by fish and shrimp, but every gun on the battleship maintains a fighting posture, and some of the guns still have the last shell that did not shoot out in the chamber!

Later, several directors of the empire made several films based on the battle, which was named the "Battle of Gardner Island", and each film became the box office champion of the year. Many veterans of the Navy were moved to tears when they saw that the guns on the battleships that were about to sink were still firing back. Maybe the movie can't reflect the real history, but this does not prevent those young people who grew up in a peaceful environment from understanding how their ancestors fought to the death against the enemy on the battlefield, so that they can feel the strength of the empire is due to the fearless battles of these batches of emperors on the battlefield, as well as their bloody sacrifices!

When Huang Xiaotian got the report of the submarine coming back from the Theater Submarine Command, he really wanted to get to know the major captain named Wen Haomao. It can be said that it was the timely arrival of this submarine that made the "Death Fleet" finally embark on the road to death, but the same. It was also the six torpedoes fired by this submarine at the last moment that made the sacrifice of the "death fleet" of great value.

When Huang Xiaotian learned about the battle, his feelings were very complicated. If this submarine had not sent a telegram, then the "Death Fleet" would have missed out with the US fleet, and although it would not be able to catch up with the Fifth Fleet in the end, the more than 2ooo officers and men would not have died because of this, and they would definitely be able to return to Apra Port in the end. But in the same way, if it were not for the hard work of the "Death Fleet" and the timely seizure of this submarine's advantageous position. If six torpedoes were fired at a very close distance, then the two American aircraft carriers would not have been hit by torpedoes!

Huang Xiaotian didn't know how this submarine completed its combat operations, and he didn't want to know, but he really wanted to meet Major Wen Haomao. Therefore, after returning to Apra Harbor, he immediately sent his adjutant to the submarine base on Saipan, contacted the commander of the submarine force there, and asked Major Wen Haomao to come to Guam as soon as he returned. Huang Xiaotian didn't know whether to blame or praise the major who had created a miracle, but he knew that after seeing this major, maybe he couldn't say anything!

Things were not as rosy as Huang Xiaotian thought, and on the afternoon of returning to Apra Port, Liao Hanxiang called him over and told him a very bad news.

"Is this information reliable?" Huang Xiaotian couldn't believe the information in his hand.

"The reliability of the intelligence is completely certain." Liao Hanxiang walked over with a teacup, "Now there are three aircraft carriers that have returned to Pearl Harbor, and our submarines and intelligence departments have confirmed this." Two days ago, an aircraft carrier arrived at Kauai, and now it's probably about to Pearl Harbor. And this morning, the last carrier arrived at the small port of Kauai, and although the aircraft carrier was almost sunk, it did not sink and will return to Pearl Harbor after the necessary maintenance is carried out on Kauai. ”

Huang Xiaotian gritted his teeth, that is to say, the Fifth Fleet only lost one aircraft carrier, the torpedo fired by the No. 542 submarine may have only hit one aircraft carrier, maybe there was an aircraft carrier that was torpedoed and did not sink, anyway, it is certain that the Fifth Fleet still has five aircraft carriers.

"However, the latter two aircraft carriers will certainly not be repaired in the short term, and the most optimistic estimate is that they will not be able to return to service until the end of the year." Liao Hanxiang picked up the cigarette, "There's nothing to regret, and the last aircraft carrier hasn't returned to Pearl Harbor yet, I've mobilized the nearby submarines, maybe there will be a second miracle." ”

"Unless our submarine captains are too bold to die." Huang Xiaotian sighed secretly, "But what you said is also reasonable, at least the five aircraft carriers of the Fifth Fleet have been damaged, but I don't know when the three aircraft carriers that returned to Pearl Harbor first will be repaired?" ”

"This is not yet certain, judging from the submarine reports I have received now, these three aircraft carriers are not slow to return to Pearl Harbor, so the damage will not be too great, maybe it can be repaired in one to two months."

Huang Xiaotian nodded slightly, if its damage is similar to the three aircraft carriers of the Fourth Task Force, with the facilities of Pearl Harbor and the ship repair capacity of the US military, it may only take a month for these three aircraft carriers, or one or two of them, to be repaired.

"Okay, let's let the intelligence department have a headache about these things, and I'll tell you as soon as I have more accurate information." Liao Hanxiang hesitated for a moment, "The key problem now is that the escort battleships of the Fifth Fleet have not suffered much loss, Nimitz will definitely let these battleships be dispatched, and we only have cruisers and destroyers left, and now is not the time for us to relax!" ”

Huang Xiaotian nodded, this was also a problem he was considering, and he had already thought of a way to deal with it.