"We have to bring as many people as possible home. After these aircraft have completed their combat missions, they have no combat effectiveness. They have not even enough fuel. If they need to land, we need to clear the deck and greet them in the prescribed way of navigation. You all know that we are the most vulnerable at this time. Whether the enemy planes attack us with the return aircraft group or we recycle the aircraft, it will lead to our destruction. We still have two aircraft carriers, and there are more than 4,000 naval officers and soldiers on it. Think about them, we are using small losses to exchange for more people's survival. If this is a crime, then I am willing to bear it." Old Fletcher lit his pipe, took a deep breath and said.

"You can't do this, I won't sign it on such a document, and I don't think Mr. Logan would," Mitchell insisted.

"Well, then why don't we ask Mr. Logan? You have experienced more and more cruel wars, so you will have more say than you?" Old Fletcher looked at Logan.

"From the perspective of victory in the war, it is understandable to make such a choice, but I personally cannot accept it for pilots to perform nearly mortal missions." Logan paused and continued: "If possible, I hope that the pilots who eventually landed on the sea can receive rescue. Whether it is a submarine or a destroyer, they are the bravest and most contributors in the entire fleet. We must leave them a way out, even in theory."

"This is acceptable, I'll arrange it." Old Fletcher said.

"Do we still need to bring some seaplanes to perform reconnaissance or other tasks?" Mitchell was unwilling to continue to struggle on this sensitive and uncomfortable topic.

"We must bring some. We need to use seaplanes to perform reconnaissance and suppress submarines. We also need to defend air defense when necessary, but we cannot bring too many. We have to leave enough seaplanes on the main battleship. We will bring up to 2 ships." Old Fletcher said.

"What about the destroyer?" Logan asked.

"We can allocate a total of 10 destroyers in total, two of which follow the Constellation, and the remaining 8 follow the main force. Leave the rescue mission of the pilot to the submarine force." Old Fletcher quickly made arrangements. To put it nicely, the two destroyers accompanying the Constellation are escorts, to put it bluntly, they are preparing to catch people after the Constellation sinks. Of course, the premise is that these two destroyers can survive......

"If necessary, the Assaulter can also be waived. Mr. Mitchell, you should hand over the captain's authority to the deputy, and you and I will come to Zeppelin." Old Fletcher said at last.

"No, I will not leave my warship, even if he will be sunk in the end, and it is enough to have General Roger on Zeppelin," Mitchell refused.

"No, you have to come here, this is my order. In addition, even if you go back, in order to sue me in military court, you must survive." Old Fletcher said firmly. As the saying goes, a thousand troops are easy to get, and a capable commander must be protected as much as possible. Therefore, even though Mitchell and Old Fletcher had a bad fight just now, Old Fletcher must keep Mitchell in order to have an excellent aircraft carrier commander in the future.

After four hours of hard work, the combat report was finally completed, and Sims quickly approved this report that could be a desperate attempt. The US Navy did not have enough time, and every second delay in the Sulawesi sea meant a crisis and the consumption of the already small inventory resources. Therefore, after some preparation, Sims decided to carry out this operation code-named Hell Three-headed Dog in the early morning of tomorrow.

The reason why this operation was named the Hell Three-Headed Dog was naturally the deeds of the legendary hero Hercules in Greek mythology and legend. One of the things was that he had subdued the Hell Three-Headed Dog in the Underworld. Before he performed this mission, no one thought he would succeed. Crown Prince Ruprecht once named the first large-scale naval battle he personally commanded. This time, the Americans used the same code name as the Crown Prince used in the Battle of Dogel Sands, in fact, to get a start. After all, in that war, the German high seas fleet severely damaged the British fleet. This time, the Americans also wanted to severely damage the Japanese fleet!

"If possible, I don't want to experience such a thing again in my next military career." Logan wrote in his diary, which shows how dangerous this operation is.

Two seaplane cargo ships and 10 destroyers will be accompanied by three aircraft carriers. In order to maintain high speed, the two seaplane cargo ships selected were also transformed in high-speed ship types, and the load was "appropriately" reduced. Before departure, the only three remaining aircraft carriers in the US fleet were also making final preparations.

Huge rope ladders were hanging from the deck of the huge aircraft carrier, and a large number of officers and soldiers left the warships with some items. This time, all warships were extremely likely to be sunk, so in this case, in order to reduce unnecessary casualties, most non-combatants had to be transferred. To put it in the words of Old Fletcher, it is better to go to less people.

The rest of the people were busy inside the battleship. They first checked the fire-extinguishing equipment inside the battleship and added additional fire extinguishing agent to the fire-extinguishing spray equipment. (In fact, there is nothing magical, it is soapy water.) All the personnel are decreasing, but the fire extinguishing team and the damage management team are increasing, and they are equipped with additional asbestos fire-proof suits and handheld fire extinguishers.

Everything that might ignite inside the hull was removed, including but not limited to all non-combat wooden items, cotton fabrics and textiles, and even non-fire-resistant paint in some places was hung up. Aviation fuel reserves and ammunition reserves were also cut to a minimum. Considering that this attack only had one chance, wouldn’t it be useless to leave too much ammunition and oil? So most of them were removed. It was just enough for the aircraft to use.

In order to improve the effectiveness of the warship against torpedoes, some of the originally evacuated heavy oil tanks were re-eached, such as seawater, and some compartment were also placed with foam cement, which was the function of preventing water from entering. The power system was carefully maintained and an additional water pump was added. In order to prevent the flame from burning the wires, inert nitrogen was also injected into the wires and lines.

"We have done everything and then wait for the judgment of the God of War!" Old Fletcher wrote before the war.
Chapter completed!