The Tang and US armies have been fighting for Kuah Island for half a year, and neither side can help the other, except for the special terrain conditions of Kuah Island, both sides have taken this as the main battlefield, and this is also the main reason for the protracted delay in the battle on Kuah Island. Yan Guozhong could see the importance of Kuah Island, and MacArthur could also see the importance of Kuah Island. After the end of the "Battle of the Solomon Islands", MacArthur had realized that Kuah was in danger. In order to hold Kuah as much as possible, MacArthur had to take the risk of sending transport ships to deliver supplies to Kuah. At the same time, he also saw the opportunity, believing that the Tang Imperial Navy would also be difficult to organize after the end of the naval battle, so on the night of April 5, MacArthur sent the first transport ships north.

The flotilla of 12 transport ships carried mainly food, medicine, and fuel. MacArthur was only able to find the 12 transports, so the ammunition they carried was extremely limited. At that time, the U.S. troops on Kuah Island lacked not only food and medicine, but also ammunition. As a result, MacArthur had to organize a second supply to deliver ammunition and equipment to the defenders of Kuah.

The 12 transports returned to the port of Brisbane in the early morning of the 7th, and Tan Renhao arrived in Lae in the afternoon. It took more than two days to load the ships with ammunition supplies. By the afternoon of the 9th, the fleet had left the port of Brisbane again and began to head north, while Tan Renhao was commanding the First Task Force to conduct training north of the Solomon Sea. In the afternoon of the same day, a Tang Empire submarine patrolling the Coral Sea spotted the convoy, which was protected by six destroyers, and sent a telegram two hours later. Tan Renhao received the news at around 6 o'clock, and he immediately ordered the fleet to go south to intercept the US convoy.

MacArthur wasn't stupid. The five-day and night-to-night replenishment trip had actually exposed the US military's transportation capabilities, and this kind of smuggling operation was indispensable, and the Tang Army would certainly organize a fleet to regain control of the sea in the waters off Kuah Island. Therefore, before sending the convoy, MacArthur also telegraphed Kincaid (by this time Halsey had already returned home) to ask Kincaid to immediately organize a "Washington Express" to escort the convoy.

Kincaid received the news on the afternoon of the 8th. MacArthur's order almost drove him insane, but he was not Halsey, and he did not dare to confront MacArthur. In fact, Kincaid has very few warships in his hands that can be mobilized.

At that time, the U.S. military had about 1 cruiser and more than 20 destroyers in the Southwest Pacific theater.

Of these battleships, 6 cruisers, 4 destroyers are being repaired. There is no way to go to sea at all.

In addition, Kincaid has sent eight destroyers to escort the three battleships back to Pearl Harbor for overhaul. In other words, Kincaid now has only 6 cruisers and 17 destroyers to mobilize, and among these warships, there are 2 destroyers whose ground power systems have not been completely repaired and cannot keep up with the speed of the fleet, and the other 6 destroyers have been sent to the port of Brisbane.

Kincaid scraped together and finally got the last 6 cruisers (all light cruisers) and 9 destroyers to refill their fuel and leave Port Vila on the night of the 8th. Head northwest. Prepare to rendezvous with MacArthur's convoy halfway through and head to Kuah Island together. These 15 warships are the latest "Washington Express".

As for the specific strength of the US Navy in the southwest Pacific, the intelligence department of the Tang Empire did not have an accurate information. It is only roughly known that the number of warships that the US Navy can mobilize in the southwest Pacific will not exceed 30, and after deducting some warships that must be used to carry out other missions, there are actually only a dozen warships that can be used to escort transport ships. This intelligence analysis was sent to Task Force 1 at about 7 p.m. that night, when the fleet was still more than 30 nautical miles from the Bouin anchorage. Five minutes later, another telegram arrived.

"MacArthur will definitely not let the convoy risk this time, I heard that Halsey has returned home, so it should be Kincaid who stays here, Kincaid is not a fierce general like Halsey. He wouldn't be fighting MacArthur either, so Kincaid would definitely try to arrange a convoy. Tan Renhao finished reading the first telegram, "The previous 'Washington Express' was deployed by Kincaid himself, right?" ”

"That's what Wei Dongbei said, Halsey gave Kincaid the power to command the small fleet after making Kincaid the chief of staff of the Third Fleet. It seems that the first few 'Washington Express' teams were all commanded by Kincaid. ”

"What should be the land number this time?"

"Thirty-eight, maybe thirty-nine, who knows?" Hao Dongjue shrugged his shoulders and gave the second telegram to Tan Renhao, "Huang Xiaotian sent it." Task Force 4 and Task Force 1 will not meet until the morning after tomorrow at the earliest, and they will come in time, but don't count on them for tonight's battle. ”

Tan Renhao quickly read the telegram. "I didn't think to count on them either. ' The Washington Express 38's forces should not be very strong, and we can handle it completely. Go prepare your ammunition supply first, remember, you only have two hours. Judging from the telegram sent by the submarine, the US fleet will probably arrive at Kuah Island after dawn, and we can only arrive at half past six at the earliest, and hurry up when it is time to replenish supplies, and after two hours, whether or not it is fully replenished, the fleet will immediately move south at full speed. ”

At 8:15 a.m., the fleet arrived at the Bouin anchorage, and the officers and men of the Marine Corps, who had already received the news, had loaded the ammunition onto the boats, which quickly approached before the battleships had completely stopped, and then quickly sent the ammunition to the ships with small cranes on the battleships. The replenishment work actually lasted only an hour and a half, and most of the battleships were not able to replenish their ammunition, and when many of the ammunition was still stacked on the deck and did not have time to load it into the ammunition depot, Tan Renhao ordered the fleet to go south at full speed and rush to the battlefield, at this time it was 9:45. Even if the fleet were to move south at a speed of 31 knots, it would take at least nine hours to cover the nearly 300-nautical-mile voyage. Obviously, time is running out.

Seeing that the sailors on the deck were busy transporting the ammunition boxes loaded with shells to the ammunition depot, Tan Renhao was also anxious. It took two hours for the submarine to send a telegram, and if it had been sent two hours earlier, he would have been able to reach the waters south of Kuah Island by five o'clock in the morning, instead of rushing forward as he did now. But this can't be blamed on the submarine, after all, the officers and men on the submarine are also people, and it is already very good that they can send a telegram, so they must not be allowed to surface in front of the US destroyer, and then exchange the lives of dozens of people for a telegram.

"Let's go eat. It's useless to rush now. Hao Dongjue was actually in the same hurry.

"No, I'm not hungry yet." Tan Renhao shook his head, "Let the officers and soldiers take a good rest after moving all the ammunition in." Sleep in turns for four hours at night, and two hours before arriving on Kuah Island, all personnel are to enter combat positions. ”

Hao Dongjue nodded and flicked the cigarette butt into the sea.

"Also, the seaplane takes off before six o'clock." Tan Renhao leaned against the guardrail of the commander's bridge. "This time we don't have bombers, just these seaplanes. It would be nice to have them do something, at least that's airplane. ”

Both laughed, and it was strange to command the shelling fleet after the loss of the aircraft carrier.

To the south, the U.S. fleet is also advancing rapidly. The Washington Express 38 joined the convoy at four o'clock in the afternoon, and then the fleet quickly headed north to make way for the convoy. By about ten o'clock, the small fleet of 15 warships had reached about 80 nautical miles south of Indispenser Reef and about 150 nautical miles from Kuah Island, and the fleet was heading north at a speed of 30 knots. It is expected to reach the waters of Kuah Island at around 764 o'clock. But the problem is. The convoy of transports that followed behind was about 200 nautical miles from Kuah, and the speed of this convoy was 22 knots, that is.

The flotilla arrived at Kuah after seven o'clock.

The theater commanders on both sides were also aware of this problem, and the time for the fleet to unload cargo was after dawn, when the fleet was not the only force on the battlefield, and the role of aviation was even greater. Therefore, while the two sides are arranging their fleets, they are also adjusting their own air force deployments.

That night, MacArthur deployed more than 200 warplanes, including six fighter squadrons and four bomber squadrons, to the airfields on Rennell Island and Marquila Island. These fighters all arrived before 12 o'clock, and all of them were able to fly to Kuah Island before dawn. Cover transport fleets and fleets.

When he received the submarine telegram, he immediately calculated the approximate time when the US convoy would arrive at Kuah Island, and after discovering that the US military would risk unloading its cargo after dawn, in addition to contacting the First Task Force to intercept it, he also began to adjust the deployment of the shore-based troops of the sea and sea at the same time. In the evening of the same day, Ngan Guozhong sent at least 300 additional combat aircraft to the airfields on Bougainville and Kuah islands, including four fighter squadrons and five bomber squadrons (not fully staffed). The planes were also deployed by 12 p.m. and will reach the skies over Kuah before dawn.

The battle alarm sounded again. Tan Renhao also received several telegrams from Yan Guozhong in the evening of the same day, including the deployment adjustment of the HNA Airlines, the radio channels used to communicate with the HNA fighters, and the information on the deployment and adjustment of the US Air Force. Before 12 o'clock, the night reconnaissance plane dispatched by Yan Guozhong had determined that there was an abnormal movement at the US airfields on Makila Island and Rennell Island, and this was a signal that the US military had strengthened its air force deployment.

"U.S. bombers will definitely arrive around dawn." Hao Dongjue quickly made an analysis. "It's just that, so far, our position has not been revealed, and the US military is not sure that we will arrive before dawn, so the US military should deploy fighter jets, mainly responsible for providing air defense cover for the transport fleet and fleet. Judging from the information provided by General Yan Guozhong, the number of US troops on Makila Island and Rennell Island is between 200 and 300, of which about 40% are bombers. ”

"That's about 100 planes." Tan Renhao shook his head, "It seems that we have to be careful of the danger above our heads when dealing with the Yankees' fleet. ”

"Naval fighters arrived before 6:20." Hao Dongjue sighed secretly, "The communication channel has been set up, this time the fleet is responsible for directing these air defense fighters to fight, even if we don't have an aircraft carrier, we have the cover of fighters, this is a blessing in misfortune." ”

"Arrange the aviation operations department, which will be responsible for liaising with air defense fighters, and they will be responsible for air defense operations." Tan Renhao also felt a little headache, he didn't know whether those shore-based fighters of the HNA could effectively cooperate with the fleet. "In addition, after the battle began, the fleet was divided into two fronts, reducing the area of the attack, and trying to close the distance, so that the American bombers could throw a mouse. Also, let the two destroyer formations be prepared for a torpedo attack. We have an advantage in the number of warships and in terms of performance, and if this is destined to be a bloody battle, then we will fight a melee with the Americans, so that their bombers will not dare to attack easily in order to avoid accidental damage. ”

"How close is this?" Hao Dongjue glanced at Tan Renhao.

"Within 3 nautical miles, fighting to the death, I don't want to sit still. At that time, even if it is a one-on-one battle, we have a great chance of winning, not to mention that we have more warships than the enemy? ”

Hao Dongjue nodded, did not object, and immediately went to convey the order.

Tan Renhao walked out of the command cabin, this kind of hard-fought battle was something he would never want to fight, but he had no choice. Yan Guozhong will certainly focus on deploying bombers to attack U.S. transport ships and destroy supplies that have already been sent to the beach, rather than protecting Task Force 1 in the first place. Tan Renhao did not mean to accuse Yan Guozhong, after all, the tasks and purposes of each commander are different. When the safety of the fleet could not be ensured, the only thing Tan Renhao could think of was to fight a melee with the enemy, and when the warships of the two sides were entangled, the enemy's bombers would not dare to drop bombs easily.

The fleet is moving fast, and time is passing fast. By half-past four, the lookout on the battleship saw Mount Bopomanahue in the silver night sky, and the U.S. military still controlled the mountainous area of Kuah Island, and Popomanahue Mountain was the core of the U.S. Army's defense of Kuah Island.

The storm had cleared, the night sky was clear, and the sea was calmer, but it didn't last long, and after dawn, a man-made storm of steel and fire would sweep over the sea again.