Chapter 1183 The American Fleet

After hearing Truman's words, there was a sudden silence in the White House Cabinet Room. The full audience of ministers and senior generals of the American federal government frowned and said nothing.

Outside the window, there is the green lawn of the White House. The sun was shining brightly, the green grass was swaying in the wind, and the sunlight filtered in. When we entered the conference room, it became a bit cold and damp in the gloomy atmosphere.

The U.S. defenses in the Caribbean and North America look impregnable. In the United States, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean, there are no less than 20 million regular Allied troops wearing military uniforms, of which no less than 6 million are front-line ground troops, and they are well-equipped! There are also a large number of militiamen who can be added to the regular army. In addition, there were countless ships and aircraft on the sea and in the air. The total number was only slightly more than the Nazi enemies on the other side of the Atlantic.

Such troops and weapons and equipment should be able to defeat any enemy who attempts to invade.

In the past, when European enemies faced so many heavily armed American soldiers across the ocean, they probably would not even have the slightest idea of ​​invasion.

But now this war is unprecedented, with the emergence of advanced weapons that were unimaginable before the war, allowing the Nazi enemies to destroy American cities and kill American people from the air or underwater without even setting foot on North American soil.

Even if everyone holds a gun, they can't fire at an invisible enemy!

I don’t know how long it took, but the American generals who were thinking hard about countermeasures suddenly heard President Truman’s deep voice.

"This is also our opportunity to hit the German maritime power hard, right?" the president said tentatively, "Since we have guessed the Germans' goal, can we set a trap? If we can defeat the Germans near Bermuda, Maybe there will be a decent peace.”

Ernest King and William Leahy looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time: Set a trap to trap the German devils? Don’t the Germans know how to set up traps? Maybe the seven German aircraft carriers that just set sail are a decoy... When it comes to anti-ship capabilities, the German army is much stronger than the US military.

"What's wrong? Is our sea and air power no longer capable of fighting?" Truman asked again when he saw that the two admirals were silent.

"Mr. President," Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King looked embarrassed, "If we lose... we may have to accept an embarrassing peace treaty."

"Is it very likely that we will lose?" Truman asked with his eyes wide open.

"Mr. President," William Leahy took over the topic and said, "The Germans now have far more than seven large fleet aircraft carriers available. They also have eight Zeppelin-class ships in the Port of Belém, Brazil. In addition, their Kaiser Although the Lin-class aircraft carrier does not meet the standards of a large fleet aircraft carrier, it does not have many carrier-based aircraft and its speed is not very slow. It can be used as a fleet aircraft carrier.

Moreover...our bombers also encountered German anti-aircraft missiles over Buenos Aires! This kind of anti-aircraft missile flies very fast, and also has guidance means, so it can hit very accurately. If this kind of weapon is installed on a surface ship, it will cause great losses to our attack aircraft fleet. Therefore, it is safer for us to act according to the original "Statue of Liberty" plan. "

Truman was very frustrated by the words of Ernest King and William Leahy. He has clearly felt that the U.S. Navy has lost the spirit of destroying the enemy when it sees it. Even when the U.S. Navy lost all its capital ships in 1942, Truman did not find that the Navy's senior generals were so timid and fearful of the enemy. At that time, everyone was confident of victory and knew that the difficulties were only temporary. As long as the ships built in batches were launched into service, the U.S. Navy would be invincible.

But since the Battle of Bermuda, Truman never felt confident of victory from any U.S. naval general. The lack of confidence is reflected in specific command, which means acting conservatively and not daring to fight decisively. Although it still has the largest naval tonnage, aircraft carrier force and carrier-based aircraft fleet in the world, the US Navy has almost become a fleet presence in the Atlantic Ocean. It has been huddled near the east coast of the United States and the Caribbean Sea for several months, almost becoming a fleet.

After the voting for the 1944 U.S. election, the Atlantic Fleet simply gave up on the blockade between Bermuda and the Nova Scotia Peninsula, and no longer sent a large number of destroyers to patrol near the blockade to prevent them from being used by the German Me264 Missile sunk.

So now there are only F-13s equipped with AN/APS-20 radar patrolling the Bermuda-Nova Scotia peninsula blockade. The blockade effect is much worse than before - equipped with S-band AN The F-13 (an improved version of the B-29) with the /APS-20 radar can barely function as an early warning aircraft, but the early warning effect cannot be compared with that of later generations of early warning aircraft carrying "balance beams" or "big pot lids" Yes, only by coordinating patrols with surface ships equipped with high-performance radar can we better complete the blockade and warning tasks.

And now, facing the main force of the approaching German aircraft carrier force, it is not surprising that the U.S. Navy once again chose to sit back and not fight.

"Then what should we do?" Truman spread his hands, "Are we just going to watch the German fleet approach the East Coast and then launch countless missiles into New York and Boston?"

The Americans now have a lot of intelligence on German cruise missiles, and know that this weapon can be launched in three ways: shore-based, ship-based, and air-based. The missiles that can be used to attack the U.S. mainland are all launched from surface ships and the air. Among them, air-launched missiles are limited by the number of Me264 long-range bombers and cannot reach the level of "countless". The number of ship-based missiles with surface ships as launch platforms is hard to say. Intelligence shows that as long as a catapult is installed on the ship and a few additional solid rocket boosters are used, the missile can be launched into the sky. This means that the Germans can convert a large number of low-value ships such as freighters and tank landing ships into missile launch platforms!

"There will not be countless missiles launched into New York and Boston," William Leahy immediately said to the president, "We have a way to prevent the German fleet from approaching the east coast of the United States."

"Is there a way?" Harry Truman looked at William Leahy suspiciously, waiting to hear the next words.

William Leahy said: "The key to stopping the German fleet from approaching is the airport in the Bermuda Islands. As long as the airport is not destroyed, the German fleet will not dare to cross the Bermuda Islands-Nova Scotia Peninsula blockade."

"But what can we do to prevent the airport from being bombed?" Truman asked, "We can't deploy too many shore-based aircraft there, right?"

"Yes," Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King took over the question, "The airport there is limited in size and can only deploy 300 fighters at most."

The land area of ​​the Bermuda Islands is not large, and the flat land where the airport can be built is even more limited. Although the US engineers have been working day and night to expand the airport since the end of 1944, the scale of the airport is not large after all.

"Are 300 enough?"

"Enough!" Ernest King replied, "We can deploy all fighters, and we also need to deploy air superiority fighters such as P-51 and F6F. We can also send about 10 escort aircraft carriers from the Norfolk base to support the air defense operations of the Bermuda Islands. These aircraft carriers are also equipped with F6F fighters.

In addition, we can also deploy 300-400 P-51 and F6F at the airports along the coast of Virginia. In this way, we can use 900-1000 air superiority fighters for air defense operations in the Bermuda Islands. Although we cannot annihilate the German aircraft carrier force, it is enough to strike their carrier-based aircraft. As long as we can win the air battle over the Bermuda Islands, the German fleet will naturally not dare to approach the east coast of the United States."

In fact, this is a retreat tactic that completely abandons the offensive!

"Is this the Joint Chiefs of Staff's battle plan?" Truman asked.

Although he was disappointed, he was a civilian president who knew nothing about naval operations after all, and it was impossible for him to propose his own battle plan. And he couldn't think of anyone who could replace Admiral Ernest King to lead the Naval Operations Department.

Before the Battle of Bermuda, Nimitz might be a candidate to replace King, and Spruance and Halsey could also be considered. But now Nimitz resigned because of the defeat, and now he has retired from active service and returned home to retire. And Halsey was simply captured by the Germans and imprisoned in the Nuremberg concentration camp. I wonder if he is learning German now?

Although Spruance has not fallen, he has become the pillar of the US Navy - serving as the joint commander of the Pacific-Atlantic Fleet. If he is transferred to the Naval Operations Department, who will command the fleet?

So now Truman can only continue to trust the Naval Operations Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff who have made the war into what it is now.

"Yes," William Leahy nodded. "This is the plan of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

"So... where will the fighters be drawn from?" Truman asked again, "Are there not 600 air superiority fighters in the Bermuda Islands and the coastal areas of Virginia now?"

Air superiority fighters are not interceptors, let alone night fighters. They are used for aerial combat to seize mid-altitude and low-altitude air superiority. They are not very effective in intercepting bombers and missiles. So they are deployed at the forefront where there is a possibility of contact with enemy fighters. There are some in the Bermuda Islands, but there are not 300. There are not many on the east coast of the United States, only about 1,000 in total, and they are very scattered.

Henry Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air Force, took over Truman's question and said, "President, we will draw fighters from the east coast and Canada, and it will never affect the defense of the Caribbean."