The Japanese military circles generally considered Navy Commander Yamaguchi Tamon to be rough in his methods. After Yamaguchi Tamon took charge of the Japanese Navy, the number of Japanese pilots dying in training accidents annually increased fourfold. It reached the point where some secretly gave Yamaguchi the nickname "Evil Spirit."

However, the Japanese military also considered Yamaguchi a standard man of action—one who would never waste words when he could take action. When Yamaguchi issued the order for the Japanese Navy to mobilize, the entire Japanese military knew a major battle was imminent!

Yamaguchi did not like to hide facts. After the previous operation to attack Midway Island was abandoned halfway, Yamaguchi explained the reason to the Japanese naval officers and men: "Due to the US military's extremely advanced air defense systems, our forces have not yet found a way to crack them. Rashly attacking would only increase casualties in vain. Therefore, the military operation was aborted."

So when Yamaguchi ordered the sortie this time, the Japanese naval officers and men, who had already mastered aluminum foil interference technology (chaff), began writing their wills. Many wept as they wrote. Based on their understanding of Yamaguchi, since he ordered an attack, the Japanese army was really going to put their lives on the line this time. The training presided over by Yamaguchi was already extremely harsh; in war, the Japanese naval officers and men would inevitably face brutal combat. Every single Japanese sailor faced the possibility of death.

Crying aside, and fear aside, the morale of the Japanese Navy was not poor. Although Yamaguchi Tamon was strict, he was not tyrannical. Naval officers and men not only mastered tactics during training but also, through ceaseless instruction, came to understand *why* they had to act that way in combat. After understanding the internal logic of combat, although death still terrified the Japanese sailors, the fear of death itself was greatly weakened.

Yamaguchi's operational plan completely aligned with the strategic thinking he had explained to Ishiwara and Yamamoto: to drain the US military's combat power. The Japanese Navy quickly communicated with the Chinese Navy within the Allied forces. The Chinese Navy indicated they would prioritize coordinating with the Japanese Navy's actions to create pressure on the US military. At the same time, the Chinese Navy also dispatched 5,000 fighter jets to coordinate with a series of Japanese Navy offensives.

Before the Japanese fleet set sail, Yamamoto's order was transmitted to all participating units: "In this battle, our army must win. Therefore, I require all officers and men to not treat the US military with the slightest contempt. The US military is an army with great courage and perseverance. A lion uses its full strength even when hunting a rabbit; even if our army fights the US military with absolute superior forces, any contempt for the US military will only increase our losses. Gentlemen, please go all out to win the war!"

The Battle of Wake Island was the first step of the Battle of Midway. The fighting proceeded just as Yamaguchi had expected. The dozen or so fighter jets on Wake Island, defended by over 1,800 US troops, were easily wiped out by the Japanese army. But even though the US military suffered wild bombing from the Japanese and Chinese air forces, their will to fight remained firm.

When the Japanese landing ships approached Wake Island, the concealed US artillery immediately opened fire and accurately hit a landing ship, inflicting heavy damage. If it hadn't retreated in time, this landing ship would very likely have been sunk.

Receiving the report, Yamaguchi Tamon did not fly into a rage. Instead, under the uneasy gazes of the officers in the headquarters, he calmly ordered: "Order the destroyers to continue probing the US positions on Wake Island. Once exposed firepower points are discovered, let the Air Force destroy them with full force! In addition to eliminating ground targets, the Air Force must also guard against US Air Force reinforcements at all times."

The Japanese army began the attack at 8:00 AM, and it wasn't until 4:00 PM that they destroyed all US military fortifications and firepower points on Wake Island. Surprisingly, the US military did not send any aircraft to the rescue. At 4:48 PM, the Japanese landing troops stepped onto Wake Island. At 5:08 PM, the US troops on Wake Island received orders from the Pacific Fleet Command to surrender to the Japanese. The Japanese army's first objective had been achieved surprisingly easily.

Yamaguchi ordered emergency repairs to the airfield on Wake Island and the stockpiling of fuel and supplies. Meanwhile, the aircraft carrier formation and the Navy Marine Corps, coordinating with the Chinese land-based naval aviation, launched an attack on the Marshall Islands.

Wake Island had never been a US airbase for supporting the Marshall Islands, but as an atoll, its internal lagoon was already used by the US military as an anchorage for 5,000-ton vessels and submarine forces. After taking Wake Island, Yamaguchi immediately began deploying an anti-submarine defense line centered on the island.

Three hours after the order was issued, the first anti-submarine formation composed of six destroyers began to move. When the anti-submarine formation reached a position 200 nautical miles northeast of Wake Island, they discovered traces of US submarines.

The warships currently used by the Japanese Navy were all built within the last three years. Yamaguchi fully cooperated with China's requirements, and these destroyers all carried helicopters. When the listening sonar detected a US submarine, a helicopter immediately took off and dropped depth charges at the location where the submarine was found.

The shape of the depth charges looked very much like oil drums. Since depth charges only need to explode at a set depth and use the shock wave to destroy the underwater submarine, the cylindrical shape was actually more suitable for combat.

Sure enough, after the first three bombs exploded at a depth of 30 meters, the signal of the US submarine on the sonar strengthened. Judging by the trajectory, the US submarine realized it had been discovered and was going full speed in an attempt to escape.

The underwater speed of US submarines was less than 9 knots. As long as they were discovered by Asian Allied anti-submarine destroyers with speeds exceeding 30 knots, they could not escape. Three destroyers spread out and advanced at a speed of 25 knots, encircling the US submarine. While sailing, the Japanese submarines also very cautiously searched carefully with sonar.

Relying on advanced Chinese sonar systems, Japan's "Sonar Sages" used their amazing hearing to detect very subtle abnormal signals amidst a mass of chaotic signals. Ensign Kogure, who discovered the signal first, reported his discovery to his superior without hesitation. Originally, the Japanese Navy did not have such a process; given Japan's culture of "not causing trouble for others," doing so was tantamount to making the superior take responsibility.

But after "Evil Spirit Yamaguchi" took charge of the Japanese Navy, he conducted forceful reflection and discussion on the problems brought about by this culture. Any Japanese naval officers who insisted on traditional habits were all cleared out of the Japanese Navy. However, cultural traditions are not easily changed. To solve the problem in a short time, Yamaguchi directly appointed many Chinese naval officers within the Japanese Navy, using these Chinese officers to change Japanese traditional culture.

The object of Ensign Kogure's report was precisely Chinese Navy Major Su Youzhuo. Serving in the Japanese Navy, Major Su Youzhuo understood Japan's "Sage" culture quite well, so he immediately ordered his destroyer to adjust frequencies. Sure enough, in the search by China's new equipment, the subtle abnormal signal was amplified and strengthened. Several other Japanese Navy listeners immediately judged that it was the slight sound emitted by one, or possibly even two, submarines starting their electric propulsion systems while maintaining silence. It was very likely that the US military had a trap laid by 2-3 submarines in this area.

The Allied Navy's method of dealing with this kind of trap was very simple and crude: "Blast the hell out of them." While using active sonar to probe the suspicious sea area, anti-submarine helicopters dropped depth charges of different depth settings one after another.

In less than ten minutes, the US submarines could no longer hide. They began to evade the depth charges, making their signals clearly visible on the sonar. Unexpectedly, not just three, but four US submarines were bombed out. This made Major Su Youzhuo feel fortunate but also quite fearful in retrospect. If the anti-submarine formation had been slightly slack, a major disaster would have occurred. If a destroyer were hit by a single torpedo, it would likely be finished right there.

This retrospective fear was meaningless to the underwater US submarine force. When the Chinese Navy anti-submarine force fired active sonar at the submarines, the US submarine sonar operators immediately yanked off their headphones. The sound of active sonar was deafening in the headphones, nearly rupturing the operators' eardrums.

But the horror did not end there. Once the sound waves emitted by the Chinese active sonar collided with the US submarines, they caused a thumping sound inside the submarines, as if someone were standing outside smashing the hull with a large sledgehammer.

The current US submarine force had learned the Wolf Pack tactics of the German submarines through exchanges with the German submarine force. This tactic had exerted tremendous power from 1939 to early 1941, before Britain and Germany made peace.

The specific method of the German Wolf Pack tactic: generally, several submarines are sent to hunt at sea during an operation. When a target is found, they track it underwater. A "Wolf Head" boat commands the unified action of the "Wolf Pack." The Wolf Pack generally attacks at night. The submarines in the pack pass covertly through the gaps or flanks of the opposing escort fleet. Because multiple submarines launch attacks on the same target simultaneously, the hit rate is increased, and several torpedoes can hit the same target at the same time. Thus, "Wolf Pack tactics" can achieve relatively large combat effects, hence the name.

The industrial strength of the United States far exceeded that of Germany, and the US military already had its own submarine construction plan. After both the United States and Germany joined the Allied Powers (note: context suggests opposing alliance, usually "Axis", but text implies US/Germany alliance against China/Japan. In this timeline, US/Germany are allied against China/Japan/Russia?), the United States obtained many technologies and tactics from Germany by providing raw materials and technologies Germany urgently needed.

The quality and tactics of current US submarines were in no way inferior to Germany's, and the US production speed of submarines far exceeded Germany's. Facing the disadvantage of the US Navy, the US military mass-produced submarines. After the failure of the previous Marshall Islands campaign, the US military dispatched more than 200 submarines to the waters between Wake Island and the Marshall Islands, seeking opportunities to inflict heavy damage on the Asian Allied Navy.

Because US electronic technology was very advanced, the US fleet's anti-submarine capabilities were as powerful as its air defense capabilities. The US submarine forces attacking Chinese aircraft carrier formations suffered heavy losses, so the US military had to adopt Wolf Pack tactics, preparing to ambush Asian Allied fleets passing through these waters. But they did not expect the Asian Allied forces to be so cautious, conducting comprehensive anti-submarine operations in the waters they controlled.

Seeing they could not escape, the four US submarines each chose their own course. Two submarines attempted to flee, one surfaced to surrender, and one sank rapidly, preparing to use depth to evade the Chinese anti-submarine formation's search.

The first to be sunk was the diving submarine. Although it dove at maximum speed, it was not fast enough compared to the depth charges. It only reached a depth of 70 meters before the water pressure generated by a depth charge exploding within 10 meters of the submarine blasted a large hole in it. Under 7 atmospheres of pressure, seawater poured in. Before long, this submarine completely lost buoyancy and sank uncontrollably into the deep sea.

The other two submarines fled underwater at speeds of less than 9 knots. To anti-submarine helicopters, this speed was a big joke. Since the US submarines continued to resist, they naturally suffered fierce attacks and were soon sunk.

Only the one submarine that surrendered survived. When this *Gato*-class submarine, reaching 95 meters in length, surfaced, most of the Chinese and Japanese anti-submarine officers and men seeing a US submarine of this class with their own eyes for the first time were shocked by its massive size.

Both China and Japan had submarines of similar tonnage. Such submarines had a cruising range exceeding 10,000 nautical miles at cruising speed and were killers that roamed the oceans. At least theoretically, the ultra-long range of large submarines meant their demand for supplies was not very high. Even if a large number of Pacific islands were liberated by China, the large submarine force would still possess the ability to attack Chinese coastal shipping.

However, large submarines carried limited torpedoes and lacked battlefield survivability. Once discovered, even a destroyer could easily eliminate the submarine. Even so, the threat of submarines was real and could absolutely not be taken lightly.

The US submarine that surfaced was not merely cowardly. As soon as it surfaced, the radio on the submarine immediately began transmitting rapidly, sending out large blocks of encoded text. The US military had adopted automatic transmission technology. While the personnel inside the submarine were rapidly destroying codebooks and other classified materials as well as much advanced equipment, the prepared information was automatically transmitted via long paper tapes as the 50-plus US naval officers and men worked quickly. They transmitted the location and process of this battle to the US side, providing experience and lessons for the next battle.

The Asian Allied anti-submarine destroyers received these messages from close range. The officers and men on the ships did not stop the US military from transmitting. According to the Geneva Convention, once a US submarine executed this act of surrender, they could not be killed. Moreover, more US radio content would help in deciphering US codes. As for this captured submarine, it was excellent material for studying US submarine development and really could not be wasted.

The US Pacific Fleet soon received the information and learned that four submarines had been wiped out so quickly. This caused regret in the command of the US Pacific Fleet, which currently possessed only 398 submarines. And this defeat contained even more terrifying content: the Asian Allied forces had ample vessels to perform anti-submarine missions. This was very bad for the US military.