Volume 2: War breaks out Chapter 5: War or Peace? (Part 1)
In order to prevent sudden attacks by submarines, the Fifth Fleet strictly adhered to anti-submarine evasion guidelines during navigation.
Every two hours, the fleet would make a quick turn.
The escorting anti-submarine destroyers and the seaplanes responsible for outer searches have been operating on the periphery of the fleet.
However, the Imperial Navy did not take submarines too seriously.
During World War I, the German Empire's submarines exerted enormous destructive power in the Atlantic Ocean, but the Tang Empire did not take submarines, a naval warfare weapon, seriously.
Tan Renhao has been staying on the flagship "Li Jing". Although the situation is very tense, no more news has been received. It is not certain whether to fight or not.
Tan Renhao also took this opportunity to familiarize himself with this task force which seemed a little unfamiliar to him.
In terms of the number of ships, the size of the Fifth Fleet has expanded by nearly half.
It now has 28 large warships larger than destroyers, including 3 aircraft carriers, 1 large cruiser, 12 heavy cruisers, and 12 destroyers.
In terms of personnel, the size of the Fifth Fleet has almost doubled. The most important thing is that the Fifth Air Wing was incorporated into the Fifth Fleet, which added several thousand officers and soldiers (most of them are ground crew and officers and soldiers stationed at shore air stations). In terms of officers alone, the Fifth Fleet has added nearly 500 people, and the fleet's staff has more than 20 new faces.
The biggest change in the Fifth Fleet is fundamental.
A year and a half ago, the Fifth Fleet was just a shell. Apart from three aircraft carriers, it had almost no warships that could be considered main forces. Even the previous flagship, the "Yancheng", was eliminated from other fleets and had been in service for nearly twenty years. In other fleets, warships of the same level had long been eliminated.
Now, the Fifth Fleet not only has a state-of-the-art large anti-aircraft cruiser, but also twelve heavy cruisers that are either newly built or have undergone comprehensive modifications and are in peak condition.
More importantly, for the first time, the Fifth Fleet had complete air defense capabilities, and for the first time, thirteen warships with powerful air defense firepower were truly capable of providing close-range air defense cover for aircraft carriers.
Another change in the Fifth Fleet is in the quality of its officers and men.
This is most evident in the military ranks of the aviation force's officers and soldiers.
It took more than just a few words or the approval of Marshal Sagittin for Liao Hanxiang to bring the Fifth Air Wing under the command of the Fifth Fleet.
In order to make the officers and soldiers of the Fifth Air Wing obey his command, General Liao Hanxiang did a lot of work, the most important of which was to comprehensively improve the treatment of pilots.
When the Fifth Air Wing was formed as an independent unit, ordinary pilots were staff sergeants and navigators were sergeants.
This salary is very low. All the pilots of the Army Aviation were "collectively" promoted to officers two years ago, and some pilots even became school officers.
It is a fact, and a very grim fact, that the military ranks of naval aviation officers and men are generally low.
Liao Hanxiang had previously proposed improving the treatment of pilots. If pilots were treated according to the standards of technical non-commissioned officers, more outstanding talents would flow into the Army Aviation.
As a result, his proposal was suppressed for two years.
This time, Liao Hanxiang again proposed the request to improve the treatment of pilots, and obtained the consent of the Navy Command on the condition that the Fifth Fleet would bear 30% of the increased allowances for the officers and soldiers of the Fifth Air Wing.
As a result, when the Fifth Air Wing was incorporated into the Fifth Fleet, all the pilots became officers, and even the navigators became officers.
Of course, it's not just pilots who are seeing improved pay.
Among ground crew members and officers and soldiers on warships, the number of promotions increased by two times. Even though there were still many people who did not get promoted, Liao Hanxiang used the activity funds of the Fifth Fleet to improve the living standards of officers and soldiers.
Especially for the officers and soldiers on the warships, the motivation generated by this change is enormous.
The 15 million dollars in funding from the Fifth Fleet can allow these officers and soldiers to have two more dishes for each meal and receive an extra apple every day.
Perhaps, this benefit seems insignificant to ordinary people, but for the soldiers of the Imperial Navy, for those naval soldiers who live on the sea all year round, this little benefit is enough to make them feel satisfied.
It is no exaggeration to describe the changes in the Fifth Fleet as "reborn" and "renovating the marrow".
Before, the Fifth Fleet was a small fleet that was not even as good as some local fleets, but now the Fifth Fleet is recognized as the hope of the Imperial Navy.
These changes are not only reflected in the documents, the warships of the Fifth Fleet, the quality of the officers and soldiers of the Fifth Fleet, but also in the expressions and psychology of the officers and soldiers of the Fifth Fleet.
In just three days, Tan Renhao had already noticed this subtle change in the expressions and conversations of the officers and soldiers of the "Li Jing".
Of course, he is one of them.
Although General Liao Hanxiang has not arranged a new position for him yet, the position of operations staff of the Aviation Operations Staff has been reserved, and that is the position of a major.
In the Fifth Fleet, no one could compete with Tan Renhao for this position.
"Renhao, come out quickly!"
Tan Renhao put down the document in his hand and rubbed his temple. He had been reading the information for more than three hours in a row.
"Come out quickly, don't waste time!"
As Hao Dongjue said this, he pulled Tan Renhao out of the cabin.
"What's the hurry?"
Tan Renhao was a little annoyed. If he became the operations staff officer of the Aviation Operations Staff, then Hao Dongjue and Chang Jianxin would be his main deputies. However, this kid Hao Dongjue was still looking for trouble all day long and never did his job.
Hao Dongjue did not answer Tan Renhao, but pulled him directly to the gangway outside.
"Did you see that? Damn it, the Japanese fleet!"
Many officers and soldiers on rest had already come to the gangway outside, including Chang Jianxin.
Tan Renhao looked towards the northeast and saw a fleet approaching. Although he could not clearly see the national flags and naval flags flying on the warships, the shapes of those warships were very different from those of the Imperial Navy. The tall forecastle with a "Japanese style" made it easy to tell at a glance that they were Japanese warships.
The outside of the battleship immediately became lively, with many officers and soldiers pointing and talking. Especially as the two fleets approached each other, the officers and soldiers became even more lively.
Suddenly, a shrill battle alarm sounded, all the officers and soldiers were startled, and then they all returned to the battleship.
According to naval combat regulations, all officers and soldiers on rest will act as damage control personnel during combat and must stay near their posts.
