In fact, Gu Zhutong didn't know how to fight.
Stevenson didn't think of it, Gu Zhutong thought of it, and thought very thoroughly.
Although in Gu Zhutong’s view, the U.S. fleet's initiative to fight against it is the biggest mistake, and the best choice should be to stay near the homeland and wait for the Chinese fleet to be sent home, but Gu Zhutong also thought that if he retreats to the homeland, Then the U.S. military had to conduct homeland defense operations from the very beginning.
Obviously, the US military does not want to start fighting on the mainland so early.
This is understandable, or in Gu Zhutong's expectation.
On the west coast of the United States, the main reason for the successive defeats of the U.S. military is that before the Chinese military squadron landed, the U.S. military’s homeland defense deployment was not fully in place, resulting in many problems exposed during combat, especially the deployment of troops. Seriously unreasonable.
It can be said that if the time of landing on the west coast of the United States is not January, but March, the situation will be very different.
Obviously, the US military has learned a lesson.
More importantly, the east coast is not the west coast.
Although in the East Coast area, the US military has much more troops, and the infrastructure is more complete, the space available for military mobilization is also much larger, and the population is also much larger, and these are beneficial to the defending side, but the East Coast is also more. Important, it is definitely not like the West Coast, which can retreat under adverse circumstances.
To put it bluntly, no matter what the fight is, it is impossible for the US military to retreat actively in the East Coast region.
In fact, let alone a strategic retreat, even a tactical retreat is impossible.
You know, the East Coast region has not only the capital of the United States, but also the largest city in the United States. Of the top ten cities in terms of population, six are in the East Coast region. More importantly, the East Coast region is the most important industrial area in the United States and the second agricultural area.
It can be said that if the East Coast region is thrown away, the United States will not be saved.
To put it simpler. Not to mention losing the East Coast region, as long as it is severely damaged by the war, the United States will inevitably lose this war.
In this way, the U.S. military must not give way in the East Coast region.
You know, in the West Coast area, the US military adopted the tactics of fortifying the walls and clearing the country after the general situation was gone. Caused huge trouble for the Chinese Communists. The main point is that there are no strategic facilities of important value in the West Coast area. And to the east is the Rocky Mountains, the tallest on the North American continent. To put it bluntly, even if the entire West Coast region is lost, the United States may not be defeated. On the contrary, if the Chinese Communist Party can be contained in the West Coast area and forced to invest heavily in the Chinese Communist Party, it is obviously beneficial to the US military.
In a sense, this is also the main purpose of the US military's tactics of fortifying walls and clearing the fields.
Obviously. In the East Coast region, it is impossible for the US military to fight like this.
To put it bluntly, if the US military dared to adopt the tactics of stiffening the walls and clearing the fields on the east coast, the Chinese military team would definitely be happy to take over the towns in the area.
Gu Zhutong understands this very well, and he also knows that the purpose of the US military is to buy time.
In this way, the US fleet will definitely try its best to avoid a decisive battle, but will not take the initiative to retreat, and will find ways to entangle the [China] fleet.
Obviously, this was the result that Gu Zhutong didn't want to see the most.
You know, if it drags on. It is extremely unfavorable to China's fleet.
Don't forget, [China] is more than 10,000 kilometers away from the mainland, even if you take the Suez Canal, the length of the maritime supply line is more than 14,000 kilometers. On the contrary, the US fleet basically fights at home. As long as it drags on, the huge consumption of materials will soon drag down the [China] fleet.
Of course, the biggest problem is not logistical support.
You know, the Chinese navy has never fought a naval battle in the Atlantic before. Not familiar with this battlefield, and the naval officers and soldiers of China are not very familiar with the climate here.
The biggest problem is, if it drags on. The situation is likely to change.
Of course, Gu Zhutong is not worried about the US military. But the ally behind him.
Although Feng Chengqian didn't talk to him about morality and Italy, Tian Daifang talked a lot, and they were all things that made Gu Zhutong more worried.
For example, the German and Italian authorities do not want [China] to dominate the fighting in the Atlantic.
Obviously, as long as it drags on, as the German-Italian navy regains its vitality, there will definitely be extra branches.
On the Pacific battlefield, Gu Zhutong would not have similar concerns at all.
To put it bluntly, what the Pacific War was like was the matter of the Chinese navy, and it had nothing to do with the Second German Empire and Italy. More importantly, the Chinese navy did not expect much help from the Second German Empire and Italy on the Pacific battlefield.
On the contrary, in the Atlantic battlefield, this is not the case.
Even Gu Zhutong did not expect the German-Italian combined fleet to play a role, but there is one thing undeniable that the logistics support of the Chinese fleet must rely on Germany and Italy.
You must know that at that time, most of the navy's transport ships remained in the Pacific Ocean to support combat operations in the west coast area.
In this case, the logistics support of the Chinese navy in the Atlantic can only rely on the allies.
In addition, the [Chinese] Navy has only two ports in the Atlantic Ocean, one of which is still in the Mediterranean, and the throughput capacity of these two ports is not large.
As a result, without the support and assistance of Germany and Italy, it is not impossible for China's fleet to obtain sufficient supplies.
Obviously, as long as there is a problem in the rear, Gu Zhutong will be in big trouble.
In this way, Gu Zhutong must seize this opportunity to achieve a decisive victory before Germany and Italy regard the Chinese navy as a threat.
At this point, Gu Zhutong must count on the U.S. military to be more active.
Of course, Gu Zhutong is by no means unsure.
Judging from the situation at the time, the US military had a fatal flaw.
This is, after the naval battle in the Azores, the US military did not take advantage of the situation to seize the archipelago, but left the archipelago to its opponent.
This caused an extremely serious problem.
This is, even if the US fleet is dealing with the Chinese fleet, it lacks the most basic conditions.
It can be said that this is the most unfavorable place for the US military.
Although the Atlantic Ocean is much smaller than the Pacific Ocean, it is still wide enough. The distance between the Azores and Bermuda is more than 2,000 kilometers, which not only exceeds the combat range of tactical aviation, but also exceeds the flight radius of long-range patrol aircraft. Therefore, it is difficult for the US fleet to fight near the Azores. It is impossible to get the cover and support of shore-based aviation, and even reconnaissance assistance.
In fact, even if the US fleet is playing more conservatively, the situation is not optimistic.
This is, Bermuda is not a large group of islands, but distributed over a large area, and most of the islands are not large enough.
More importantly, before this, the US military did not pay much attention to this island.
Until the defeat of the United Kingdom, the United States did not take this archipelago acquired from the British seriously, but deployed some anti-submarine patrol planes here and opened several anchorages for the transport fleet to avoid danger. It is also true that the infrastructure of Bermuda is not perfect.
According to the intelligence obtained by Gu Zhutong, the US military can deploy up to 300 to 500 combat aircraft in Bermuda.
What's more terrible is that Bermuda is not close to the United States, so it is impossible for the US military to strengthen the military deployment of Bermuda in the short term.
In other words, it is impossible for the US military to wait until the fleet departs before going to Bermuda to build an airport.
In this way, even if the US fleet retreats to the waters near the Bermuda Islands, it will be difficult to obtain sufficient support and it will be impossible to gain an advantage.
Under the circumstances at the time, unless the US fleet continues to retreat, it will have to face the Chinese fleet.
Obviously, if the US fleet intends to retreat to the west of the Bermuda Islands, it will not be so active and will take the initiative to find the Chinese fleet for a decisive battle.
Just like this, Gu Zhutong made special preparations.
That is, there are three fast combat support ships in the supply fleet that carry nearly two hundred aircraft spare parts and carry a group of air service personnel. According to the arrangement of the care and Zhutong, after reaching the Azores, the three fast combat support ships will send equipment and personnel to the island, and then assemble the combat aircraft. Of course, these combat aircraft are mainly long-range patrol aircraft used for reconnaissance.
If you can make good use of the Azores, Gu Zhutong will be able to find the US fleet in the shortest possible time.
At that time, if Spruance was commanding the US fleet, Gu Zhutong would not have much hope, after all, Spruance was not an easy opponent to deal with. More importantly, Spruance has a strategic vision, so he will definitely delay time.
As for Stevenson, even if Gu Zhutong doesn’t know much about him, he has reason to believe that the fleet commander who missed the heaven-sent opportunity in the Azores naval battle may not be able to grasp it again in the same waters. Opportunity, it is also possible to make mistakes.
In fact, what Gu Zhutong can do is to wait for his opponent to make a mistake.
To put it bluntly, no matter how well his deployment is in place, the initiative is not in his hands, that is, as long as the US fleet refuses to come to a decisive battle, Gu Zhutong will not be able to obtain a decisive opportunity. Obviously, the deployment made by Gu Zhutong is only to seize the opportunity when it comes.
It is undeniable that Gu Zhutong's situation is relatively passive.
However, only the fleet commander who sees the opportunity and seizes the opportunity is an excellent fleet commander, and Gu Zhutong has always been an excellent fleet commander.
All previous battles have also proved that there is absolutely no shortage of opportunities on the battlefield.
In fact, there are opportunities everywhere on the battlefield, and what is really lacking is the talents who grasp the opportunities.
You know, in this battle, many outstanding fleet commanders have emerged, but few of them are truly outstanding.
Compared with other fleet commanders, the biggest characteristic of an outstanding fleet commander is the ability to seize opportunities.
In this regard, Gu Zhutong is definitely a leader, and it can even be said that no one can match.