Chapter 1221 Atomic Bomb 3
2:40 p.m., Eastern Time, April 26, 1945.
The USS Essex, 90 nautical miles off Long Island, New York, on the east coast of the United States.
Rear Admiral Arleigh Burke, Chief of Staff of the 56th Task Force, was standing on a platform outside the island, holding a telescope and looking southeast. Suddenly, in his telescope, a four-engine seaplane (a seaplane) flying at a sea-skimming altitude suddenly appeared. The speed of this seaplane did not seem slow, at least reaching 300 kilometers per hour, and soon approached the Essex class. And it also became very huge in Arleigh Burke's telescope, almost occupying the entire eyepiece.
"Go tell the admiral that Admiral Prunes' Mars 1 has arrived!" Arleigh Burke said loudly to a staff officer behind him.
The seaplane that came was the largest aircraft owned by the US Navy, and it might also be the largest in the world! It is codenamed JRM "Mars" and has a maximum take-off weight of 74.8 tons. It can carry 180 fully armed soldiers or more than 20 tons of cargo, and can also be used as a long-range maritime patrol bomber.
However, there are not many people and cargo in the JRM "Mars" seaplane that flew near the flagship of the 56th Task Force today. There is only an important person and his several staff members on it. The reason why this giant airship was used is just because it is the fastest seaplane transport aircraft owned by the US Navy, and there happened to be one parked on the Potomac River near Washington (this seaplane was used by US President Truman to escape), so it was used to transport Admiral Spruance, the joint commander of the US Navy Pacific-Atlantic Fleet.
Arleigh Burke and his boss, Admiral Mitchell, commander of the 56th Task Force of the United States, only learned an hour ago that Admiral Spruance would personally arrive at the Essex aircraft carrier - this was a sudden surprise, but also expected.
Now the "Essex" is rushing to the battlefield near Newfoundland with a huge number of ships covering dozens of square nautical miles. Before this huge fleet sails to Newfoundland, it is wandering in the waters west of the Bermuda Islands, waiting to fight with the invading European navy!
But the plan cannot keep up with the changes. The large-scale airborne and airborne landing of German paratroopers in Newfoundland has played the momentum of the main attack. Moreover, the F-13 reconnaissance aircraft also discovered a large fleet in the Atlantic Ocean about 300 nautical miles southwest of Newfoundland.
Now the decisive battle deployment of the US Navy Pacific-Atlantic Fleet Joint Command was completely disrupted. Spruance had to issue an order to the 56th Task Force to "go north along the east coast of the United States and approach Newfoundland" before going to Washington to attend an emergency military meeting.
This is just a temporary and unclear order, which is equivalent to handing everything over to Admiral Mitchell, commander of the 56th Task Force. This is not the style of the cautious and strict Admiral Spruance.
So it is understandable that after attending the White House meeting and learning about the latest intentions of President Truman and the Pentagon, Spruance personally flew to the USS Essex to discuss the battle plan with Admiral Mitchell face to face.
The huge seaplane finally stopped steadily on the sea near the USS Essex. A motorboat with the ship emblem of the USS Essex, under the control of American naval soldiers in white sailor uniforms, rode the wind and waves and approached the giant airship.
The hatch on one side of the seaplane opened, and the gangway was lowered. A naval lieutenant in a dark blue uniform half-stood out of the aircraft hatch. He glanced at the motorboat and saw Admiral Mitchell and Rear Admiral Arleigh Burke coming out of the cabin.
"Two generals, Admiral Spruance is in the cabin. He invites you to come aboard and talk."
"Okay, okay."
Mitchell agreed repeatedly, and then waved to Arleigh Burke. The two boarded the seaplane one after the other.
After entering the airship, the two found that it was quite spacious and luxuriously decorated. It didn't look like a military aircraft, but more like the interior of a luxury passenger plane.
When the two walked into the cabin, Admiral Spruance was already standing on the soft red carpet in the cabin waiting. When he saw Mitchell, he stepped forward and shook hands and hugged cordially.
"Mark, I'm glad to see you." Then Spruance waved to Arleigh Burke again, "Arleigh, not bad, you're already a major general."
Mitchell looked at the furnishings in the cabin and asked Spruance with a smile: "Raymond, whose plane is this? It's so beautiful."
"The president's!" Spruance said, "When the German bombers break through the East Coast air defense network, the president will immediately leave the White House and take this plane to Chicago on the Potomac River... Of course, this is top secret!"
It is no secret that the president of the United States will leave Washington when things go wrong. Generals of Mitchell and Arleigh Burke's level all know it - they also know that if the president does not run away, Vice President Kennedy will take office in Chicago, and there is already a fully equipped "backup government" in Chicago that can take on the responsibility of leading the United States at any time.
After chatting for a while, Spruance finally got to the point. He told Mitchell and Arleigh Burke: "The current situation is very dangerous. We are likely to fail in Newfoundland. Once this happens, , we lose the war.”
"I know," Mitchell nodded and took out his pipe, which had already been filled with tobacco. "Is that okay?"
"It's okay, I want one too." What Spruance took out was a cigar. An adjutant lit the cigarette for him, and then lit Mitchell's pipe.
Mitchell said: "Does the higher-ups feel that a decisive battle at sea is not certain?"
Spruance nodded: "Actually, I think so too." He paused and glanced at the expressionless Mitchell, "Now we must absolutely avoid another Bermuda defeat... so I plan Use a feint to divert the main force of the German fleet away from Newfoundland, thus creating favorable conditions for anti-landing operations in the direction of Newfoundland.”
"Anti-landing operations?" Mitchell asked quickly, "Have the Germans started to land?"
"Not yet." Spruance shook his head, "But it will be soon. There are already German water minesweeping aircraft operating in Concepcion Bay this morning."
A sea minesweeper plane hangs a ring-shaped electromagnet under the wing of the sea plane (the plane is like stepping on a large iron hoop), then flies over the target sea area at low altitude, and uses the electromagnet on the plane to detonate the magnetism on the seabed. Mines. However, the mine-sweeping effect is not ideal, and it has no effect on traditional anchor mines.
"That's easy to sweep." Admiral Mitchell took a puff of cigarette and smiled sarcastically, "The Germans must not know how many mines we have laid in Concepcion Bay, right? And... we and the British A large number of PT torpedo boats and U-class submarines are also deployed in Concepcion Bay, ready to carry out mine-laying missions and raid the German landing fleet!”
The PT torpedo boat has a wooden hull, so it is suitable for operating in sea areas full of magnetic mines and performing raids and mine-laying missions.
The U-class submarine is not a German U-boat, but a first-class light submarine designed by the British. Its displacement is generally between more than 500 tons and more than 700 tons (more than 500 tons on the surface and about 700 tons underwater). It cannot travel far into the ocean, but it can Can perform offshore defense missions.
When the British mainland fell and North America faced the danger of invasion, PT torpedo boats and U-class submarines became the focus of construction. Now more than 3,000 PT torpedo boats and 500 U-class submarines have been built, and there are 1,600 PT boats and more than 300 U-class submarines in service.
Although Newfoundland was not the main direction of German attack as expected (as expected by the Americans), the U.S. Navy and the British Royal Navy's Canadian Fleet still deployed dozens of U-class boats and hundreds of PT boats there, half of which were stationed there. In Concepcion Bay - it's not that we knew in advance that the Germans would land here, but Concepcion Bay is close to St. John's, the Allied headquarters on Newfoundland, and the main torpedo boats and submarine forces are placed here. Just for convenience.
The PT boats that happened to be placed in Concepcion Bay started dropping mines into the water since the German paratroopers landed on the west coast of Concepcion Bay. There are more than a hundred PT boats, and they can drop 4-4 mines at a time. 6. One boat can drop at least 30 mines a day. More than a hundred PT torpedo boats can drop more than 3,000 mines. How can it be swept clean?
"The Germans will land even if the mines are not cleared," Spruance said. "At noon today, they conducted another airborne landing on the west coast of Concepcion Bay, dropping at least 5,000 paratroopers and a large number of weapons. Equipment. Grays Harbor was also captured this morning as German aircraft suppressed the 240mm artillery on Bell Island.
Additionally, Old Perican and Ile de Basque (a small island near the entrance to the west shore of Concepción Bay) were also occupied by the Germans. Almost the entire western shore of Concepcion Bay was now controlled by the Germans. The number of troops that have been airborne is estimated to be more than 25,000, so the landing operation is bound to start. It is impossible for the Germans to abandon the west coast of Concepcion Bay and so many paratroopers. "
Mitchell nodded, "Raymond, how are we going to fight?"
"Six Essex-class aircraft carriers and three Independence-class aircraft carriers were separated to form the 57th Task Force and headed towards the Azores. The remaining fleet was divided into two and all the heavy cruisers and battle cruisers were taken out. , organized into the 11th Task Force, and the remaining ships entered the Bay of Fundy to hide and standby. "