Chapter 792: Pacific No. 1

"They don't know how to clean their butts..." Stalin couldn't help laughing when he heard Vlasiko's report. "What a bunch of fools, but there's no problem. Just let their servants follow. After all, we still need these people now."

It really doesn't matter. Comrade Marx didn't say that revolutionaries must clean their butts, right? Moreover, the Soviet Union and the international G movement still need these Indian Bolsheviks who are making revolution with their butlers and servants to lead the way - this is necessary at this stage, otherwise the Soviet Red Army will look like invaders.

When they bring the Red Army into India and establish a revolutionary base, their historical mission will be completed, and then it's time to clean up the revolutionary team...

Vlasiko only reports, and how Stalin handles it has nothing to do with him, so he saluted Stalin and turned away.

After the Kremlin's butler left, Molotov walked in with Hopkins, the special envoy of US President Roosevelt, and Pavlov, Stalin's secretary and translator.

Hopkins came to the Soviet Union for the joint US-Soviet war in the Pacific. Now that the British mainland was controlled by Germany, the North Atlantic route could no longer be restored, so the North Pacific route became the only lifeline of the Soviet Union.

Moreover, the Atlantic Fleet of the Soviet Red Navy had no place to use in the Atlantic, so it was imperative to switch to the Pacific.

Once the four Soviet-class and two Kronstadt-class ships of the Red Navy arrived in the Pacific, it would be possible for the US and the Soviet Union to jointly fight against Japan.

"Comrade General Secretary," Hopkins changed the subject after greeting Stalin for a few words and tried to explore the issue of joint operations against Japan. "Due to the fall of the British mainland, most of the European continent will fall into a long and dark era."

Pavlov translated his words into Russian, and Stalin's face soon became very gloomy. Because Hopkins' words showed that the United States had given up the "Europe First" strategy and switched to the "Pacific First" strategy.

However, there was no other way. Once the British mainland was lost, the United States would have no springboard to invade Europe. Although Iceland was still in the hands of the United States, Iceland's geographical location was too remote, and the island's population, industry and infrastructure were seriously insufficient, making it difficult to support the stationing of a large army.

"Therefore, President Roosevelt believes that we can consider concentrating the forces of the two countries to fight against Japan together." Hopkins continued, "If we can defeat Japan and seize control of the Pacific. Then in the future, the Soviet Union and the United States can join hands to fight against Germany, the public enemy of all mankind."

He used "confrontation" instead of "elimination", which shows that Roosevelt has given up the idea of ​​eliminating the European Axis Powers.

"Concentrate the forces of the two countries to fight against Japan?" Stalin glanced at Hopkins, "But our forces must be used on the Western Front! The Germans are still besieging Leningrad, and they have occupied a lot of land in Ukraine. We must launch a new offensive in the spring of 1943 to ease the situation in Leningrad."

Leningrad cannot be lost! So the Soviet Supreme Command has decided to launch the second Leningrad Relief Campaign in the spring of 43. In order to win the second battle to relieve Leningrad, Stalin has decided to withdraw troops from the Far East. Under such circumstances, it is impossible for the Soviet Union to go to war with Japan.

"Comrade General Secretary, we understand this situation," Hopkins said with a smile, "so we are willing to provide you with more assistance through the North Pacific route. However... at the same time, we still need to make some preparations for the future joint war against Japan."

"Preparation?" Stalin asked, "What preparation?"

Hopkins said: "Establish several military bases in the Vladivostok region of the Soviet Union to store materials for attacking Japan and station at least 20 air force wings."

It turned out that the United States wanted to secretly station air forces in Vladivostok, the fortress of the Soviet Far East! In this way, once the Soviet Union and Japan go to war, the bombers and fighters stationed in the Far East can launch air strikes on the Japanese mainland at the first time.

"But this is likely to cause a complete breakdown of Soviet-Japanese relations," Stalin frowned, and he lit his pipe and took a puff of smoke while speaking. "If that happens, we may be caught in the dilemma of fighting on two fronts."

"Comrade General Secretary," Hopkins smiled and said, "I think... whether Japan blocks the North Pacific route does not depend on whether we deploy aircraft in the Soviet Far East, but on whether their combined fleet can gain a clear advantage in future operations. If their situation becomes increasingly critical, then your Far East will be very safe."

Stalin smoked, thought for a moment, nodded and said: "Yes, once the Japanese completely control the Pacific, they will definitely cooperate with Germany to strangle our Soviet Union. But... you shouldn't allow this to happen? As far as I know, 1943 will be the year when your aircraft carriers will be put into service in large numbers."

"1943, 1944, 1945 and 1946 are the years when our aircraft carriers will be put into service in large numbers!" Hopkins said slowly, "Because we no longer need to build ships for the counterattack in Europe and maintain the lifeline of Britain, all shipbuilding forces will be used to produce warships to deal with Japan! Among them, the construction plan of the Essex class has increased to 40 ships, the Independence class has increased to 30 ships, and the Midway class aircraft carrier with a displacement (full load) of nearly 60,000 tons is planned to be built 10 ships! All these projects will be completed by the end of 1946."

This is 80 fleet aircraft carriers!

After the fall of the British mainland, the US government and Congress no longer considered the world's leadership, but the Pacific and South America must be taken, otherwise the United States will be trapped in North America, and the future will be difficult.

And to seize control of the Pacific and South America, the navy is of course the key. Even the struggle on the South American continent is actually dominated by the navy - South America is different from North America and Europe. There is no convenient road and railway network there, and the northern part of South America is full of tropical rainforests that are difficult to pass.

Therefore, the inland areas of South America are underdeveloped and have a small population. The core areas are all on the coast. Whoever controls the sea power controls South America.

So after the United States gave up the counterattack on Europe, its strategic thinking has become clear and simple - that is, to use its strong industrial strength to focus on the development of the navy and aviation that can be used for maritime operations. And aircraft carriers are the top priority!

Because the United States wants to dominate the Pacific, it must take the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian Islands are too far away from the west coast of the United States, and shore-based aircraft cannot reach them at all. Therefore, they can only build a large number of aircraft carriers and use carrier-based aircraft to compete with Japan's shore-based aircraft deployed in Hawaii for air supremacy.

Considering that shore-based aircraft have certain advantages over carrier-based aircraft in performance (provided that the technical level is equivalent), the US Navy believes that they must invest several times more aircraft than the Japanese in the Hawaiian Islands to win.

While building large aircraft carriers, the US Navy did not completely abandon the plan to build large battleships and cruisers - this was also related to the fact that the Atlantic was controlled by Germany, and the United States no longer needed to build ships to aid Britain and send troops to Europe. Now the United States had sufficient shipbuilding capabilities and resources for large surface ships - not only were the six Iowa-class ships under rapid construction, but the five powerful Montana-class ships were also all started in 1942 (this was also related to the Yamato crisis).

However, the six Iowa-class ships, the five Montana-class ships, and the six Alaska-class ships (these six large cruisers that should belong to battle cruisers were also started in 1942) seemed to be difficult to counter Japan's at least four Yamato-class ships and the super battleships of Germany, France, Italy, and Britain (the Bloody Queen).

The US Navy was not very willing to start building new battleships. Because the construction cycle of battleships is long, it takes at least three years for a super battleship of the Montana class to be put into service from the laying of the first keel. It would be good if the additional orders could be completed in early 1946.

Moreover, with the continuous advancement of aviation technology, battleships have become a gradually obsolete weapon, so the US Navy is reluctant to build too many.

The combination of the German Ju288 and remote-controlled glide bombs caused the United States to lose its sea power in the Atlantic. The Americans themselves have also made considerable progress in remote-controlled glide bombs. In addition, they are also ahead in carrier-based twin-engine aircraft. The development contract for the carrier-based twin-engine multi-purpose fighter code-named XF7F was signed on June 30, 1941. After the fall of the Hawaiian Islands, the United States urgently needed a carrier-based heavy aircraft, so the Navy Department added a huge investment to Grumman, allowing them to hire more engineers for research and development. The prototype of the XF7F has been tested in October 1942 as required by the contract (there have been serious delays in history).

In this case, the Americans thought of using the Soviet Union's four Soviet-class and two Kronstadt-class to attack Japan.

Hopkins paused for a moment, then continued, "Comrade General Secretary, if you can transfer your four Soviet-class and two Kronstadt-class ships to the Pacific Ocean via the Arctic Ocean route (the Soviet-class ships cannot pass through the Panama Canal), and at the same time allow us to deploy powerful air forces to the Far East, and use military aid to strengthen the military strength of the Far East anti-fascist camp, then we will be able to launch a devastating blow to Japan after 1944."