Halsey hurried out of MacArthur's office and hurried to the airport. He will first rush to Port Vila (the only U.S. naval port in the New Hebrides, located on Efate Island in the middle of the archipelago), where he will transfer to the aircraft carrier HMS Valiant, the flagship of Task Force 31.

While Halsey is a brave commander (that's what everyone says of him), he's not stupid, and he's smart. Moreover, he is also a legendary general.

Long before the last World War, Halsey graduated from the Naval Academy ahead of schedule because the U.S. Navy needed a large number of officers, and served on the battleship "Missouri" and became a member of the U.S. Navy officer corps. Prior to the last war, Halsey had captained the USS Fruse, where he met a man who was engaged in maritime surveying, who is now the president of the United States. The two formed a friendship on the warship, which laid the foundation for Halsey's later rise to prominence (the U.S. president served as deputy secretary of the Navy during the interwar period). Later, Halsey went to the Naval Academy to serve as the captain of a training ship, and coincidentally, the school's first cadet flight brigade used this ship as a training base. It was also at this time that Halsey came into contact with the theory of aviation warfare, and he was out of control, and soon became obsessed with aviation combat. At that time, he was not approved to participate in flight training because his eyesight was not very good, but he went to buy off the officer in charge of the physical examination, flew into the sky smoothly, and later got the pilot qualification certificate! Prior to the outbreak of the war, Halsey served as captain of the USS Saratoga, and later became commander of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier group, and was promoted to rear admiral. Before the United States entered the war, the "Enterprise" was not able to participate in the "Philippine" naval battle because of how long the road was, and when he arrived, he was immediately promoted to the first "Battle of the Marianas" and defeated the second task force, but Halsey was also wounded in this battle and, like the aircraft carrier he commanded, went to "repair" for several months.

After returning from injury, Halsey was transferred to the Southwest Pacific Theater. Before leaving, Nimitz had a conversation with him, and the point of the conversation was that the navy's belongings must not be handed over to the loser of the 6th Army. The Navy cannot be destroyed in the hands of a landlubber. Of course, that's not what Nimitz said, but Halsey understood it that way. After arriving in the Southwest Pacific Theater and becoming the commander of the Third Fleet, Halsey never gave in to MacArthur and has always firmly controlled the meager possessions of the Third Fleet.

While still lying in the hospital, Halsey was watching the battle on the battlefield. After arriving in the Southwest Pacific Theater, because the Third Fleet was just an empty shelf for a long time, with not much to do, Halsey continued to pay attention to the changes on the battlefield.

"Second Battle of the Marianas". "Two Naval Battles of Wake Island". These three battles touched Halsey deeply. He managed to get the battle reports of these three battles, and he studied them carefully, and the result. He came to two conclusions, one is that Fletcher is not worthy of commanding the aircraft carrier fleet to fight, and the other is that Spruance did his best, but the opponent is stronger than him, and the two battles can be said to be glorious despite defeat.

There is nothing to comment on the "First Battle of Wake Island" commanded by Fletcher, and the only thing Halsey regrets is that the aircraft carrier "Enterprise", which he once served as captain and commander of the formation, and was also his flagship, was buried by Fletcher. He had lived on the ship for several years and had a lot of affection, when he handed over Task Force 16 to Spruance. Halsey repeatedly told Spruance to "take care" of the aircraft carrier (in fact, Spruance never commanded the "Enterprise" operation).

In the "Second Battle of the Marianas" and the "Second Battle of Wake Island", Spruance's performance was actually very good, and Halsey admired Spruance's command art, but the problem was that Spruance faced the Tang Empire's number one aircraft carrier commander who was stronger and no worse than him in commanding operations. It was not easy for Spruance to seize the opportunity to destroy the enemy in battle, and no matter who was replaced, Spruance could not have done better. The same is true of Halsey himself. Therefore, when the president was ready to "settle" Spruance, Halsey came forward to vouch for Spruance, and he even sent a long telegram to the president, explaining his analysis of the battle in detail, regardless of whether the president could read his tactical analysis or not, anyway, his goal was achieved, the president did not meddle in Nimitz's affairs, and Spruance remained in the position of commander of the Fifth Fleet.

Halsey didn't forget to analyze his opponent's strength when he was in Las Spruance. It was Lei Shaoqing, the commander of the Second Task Force, who killed Fletcher, and Halsey knew that Lei Shaoqing was Tan Renhao's partner back then, and the two were still fellow countrymen, and their relationship was very good. And the commander of the other two naval battles was Tan Renhao, that is, Spruance faced Tan Renhao twice. In the first encounter, Spruance played with his hands, and as a result, he had the upper hand tactically, and although the goal of the campaign was not achieved, the responsibility was not on him. In the second encounter, the two sides were evenly matched, although Spruance seized the opportunity, but in the end he was defeated by the opponent and even tactically, let alone the victory or defeat in the battle.

From this point of view, Halsey is very strong as the commander of the number one aircraft carrier fleet of the Tang Empire. The vice admiral, who was only a little over 2o years old, had honed his tactical skills for three years after the war, and more importantly, he was a commander who was well versed in attack, a commander who could turn any little chance into a final victory. Halsey also realizes that Tan Renhao is actually similar to him in many ways, as long as he is sure that he can win the risk, then he will take the risk. But there is also a big difference between the two, Tan Renhao's victory is not entirely based on risk, but to a large extent depends on his accurate grasp of the battle situation and accurate judgment of the enemy's situation.

Although Halsey refused to admit that Spruance was superior to him, he knew that he was the best match for Spruance. Spruance has already fallen into the hands of Tan Renhao twice, and this time the first task force has rushed over, and there is no doubt that Tan Renhao will still command the Tang Empire task force to fight, so is it possible to defeat him? What Halsey lacked was faith, and he never grieved about the things of faith. What he needed was a chance, a chance to defeat his enemies, and he was preparing to create it.

The purpose of arguing with MacArthur was to seize this opportunity, and Halsey didn't care how much of a role the six battleships could play, he focused on the combat effectiveness of the five aircraft carriers. Since MacArthur needed battleships, leave them to him, and all Halsey needed was aircraft carriers.

Halsey was also accurate in his judgment of the current situation. The island of Kuah is the focus of contention between the two sides for control of the island. The ground forces and fleets of both sides have been fighting for several months, although the 6th team of the Tang Empire has landed on Kuah Island, but it has not occupied Kuah Island, and it is still fighting fiercely with the US defense forces on the island. And this time, the Tang Empire transferred the fleet, clearly to speed up the offensive of Kuah Island, and look for an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the American fleet, that is, a decisive battle with the Third Fleet commanded by Halsey.

After analyzing the situation of the battle, Halsey determined that Task Force 3 would remain in the waters off Kuah Island. They will even leave the artillery fleet that was transferred before in the waters of Kuah Island. Continue to support the offensive of the 6th Sentai and blockade Kuah Island, so that the US Army cannot increase troops on Kuah Island. And the aircraft carrier fleet of the Tang Empire will never easily enter the Solomon Sea. It will not be too close to the southern waters of the Solomon Islands. Then, the Tang Empire's aircraft carrier fleet will operate north of the Solomon Islands, keeping a distance of 2oo to 2 third task forces on Kuah Island, and second, it can send bombers to take out the 32nd task force going north when necessary. Of course, this is only a preliminary judgment, and there is no way to determine it.

Halsey is convinced that since the other party is the commander of the aircraft carrier fleet, he will attack the aircraft carrier as the main goal, just as Halsey will make sure that the fourth task force and the first task force are eliminated first. The commander of the Tang Empire must also ensure that the 32nd Task Force is taken first. The question is here, what will the commander of the Tang Empire use to solve the 31st task force?

On the way to Port Vila, Halsey pondered the question. Tan Renhao is an offensive commander, in attack and defense, he will most likely choose to attack, and this is also the characteristic of an aircraft carrier commander, even a cautious commander like Spruance is no exception, he will be so decisive when attacking. If Tan Renhao wants to choose to attack. So will he still be in the waters north of the Solomon Islands?

Arriving at Port Vila, Halsey transferred to a seaplane and headed for the fleet. He still finds it difficult to figure out his opponent's arrangement. If Tan Renhao chooses to attack, he will definitely be more active in deploying the fleet, for example, arranging the fleet a little further south, and in this way, it will inevitably let the fleet enter the strike range of shore-based aviation, which is a very dangerous move, which is different from the caution that Tan Renhao showed in the last naval battle, so what will he do?

Once on board the USS Valiant, Halsey locked himself in the Commander's Bridge. Looking at the chart in front of him, Halsey felt a little eyebrows, at least a little sure. He quickly found the key point. If the Tang Empire's aircraft carrier fleet was in the waters near Bougainville Island, then the main task would be to cover the 3rd Task Force and seize the opportunity to take out the 32nd Task Force. But the problem is that Tan Renhao will never be so conservative, he will not use the precious bombers on three aircraft carriers in the two task forces for the sake of six battleships. Then, if he gave up the task of covering Task Force 3, he would have many options.

By this time, Halsey had realized that his deployment of Task Force 31 might have been discovered by his opponents. If the opponent guesses his battle arrangement, he will definitely make a-for-tat deployment. The only solution is to change the campaign arrangement. But when Halsey looked at the charts again, he didn't have as many options as his opponents.

The distance between the Solomon Islands and Nauru Island is about 65o nautical miles, and the reconnaissance aircraft deployed by the Tang Empire on Nauru Island can cover at least 45o nautical miles, and 3oo nautical miles is an absolute search range. In addition, the reconnaissance planes deployed by the Tang Empire on Bougainville Island can also cover the Solomon Islands, and about 2 Task Force 31 only has a limited range of more than 1 nautical miles, and the range of maneuver that can be selected by Halsey is too narrow. If the fleet of the Tang Empire used reconnaissance planes to search this sea area, then the result would definitely be exposed!

The more he thought about it, the more Halsey felt that he had no way out, and that the situation on the battlefield was unfavorable to him. Maybe he could have set the route a little further north, or a little further south, but that would certainly be very dangerous. However, Halsey soon showed up a little bit, a solution that could help him solve his problems.

It can be said that naval warfare itself is a combination of chance, luck, and strength, in which luck is often more important than strength. And there are two kinds of luck, one is bumped into, and the other is self-created. If you often bump into good luck, then you are just a lucky general, and only those generals who know how to create luck and create opportunities are excellent generals.

Halsey falls into the latter category, and while creating opportunities and luck, he also needs to take certain risks, sometimes even risking life and death, but it depends on whether there is a relatively high return. If the risk is proportional to the reward, and the gains from the risk far outweigh the losses that may be incurred, then there is nothing wrong with taking the risk.

Now that Halsey thought of this, he had to take another risk, gambling with his opponent's net worth with his life, winning all if he won and losing all if he lost, and this was Halsey's character, as his nickname suggested.