Chapter 811 The War of Attrition Begins

"Torpedoes! Starboard front!"

"Anti-impact, ready!"

"Boom..."

Two black barracuda-like torpedoes slammed into the sturdy body of the Akagi aircraft carrier from under the blue waves, but only made a loud noise - if the Japanese ship-borne anti-aircraft gun system is a fatal shortcoming, then the American torpedoes are a huge joke.

The MK14 torpedoes used by their submarines are just big iron bars, and it is considered good luck if one or two out of ten explode normally. The MK13 torpedoes used by the naval aviation are not much better. Not only are they slow and short-ranged, but the conditions for delivery are very harsh. What's more hateful is that they often don't explode.

It is precisely because of these poor-performance torpedoes that the effectiveness of the American anti-ship operations launched in the Pacific has been severely discounted, and so far it has not been enough to cause fatal losses to the Japanese.

In the Battle of Panama on March 17, the poor Japanese ship-borne anti-aircraft gun system destroyed the Hiryu and Soryu, while the poor-performance American torpedoes saved the Akagi, Kaga and Kongo. They were besieged by dozens of American TBF torpedo bombers, and each was hit by 3-6 torpedoes, but two-thirds of them were duds, and the remaining one-third was not powerful enough to cause a fatal blow to the three sturdy warships.

However, the bad luck of the Japanese First Mobile Fleet on March 17 did not end. Shortly after Halsey's second attack wave completed the attack and returned, the air defense alarm sounded again over the Akagi.

At 6:35, the second attack wave of the US 16th Task Force arrived over the First Mobile Fleet. However, it was already dark at this time, and the visibility on the sea surface became very low. Looking down from the sky, only the burning Soryu and Hiryu became the target of attention.

So the two aircraft carriers that were trying to save themselves once again became live targets, and each was hit by 4-5 1,000-pound bombs and negligible torpedoes within a few minutes (torpedoes are difficult to hit in the dark, and most of them are duds). This round of attack issued the final death sentence to the two aircraft carriers. At 6:45, the ammunition depot of the Soryu aircraft carrier was exploded by fire. The violent explosion blew the aircraft carrier into two sections and quickly sank into the sea. Including the captain, Colonel Yanagimoto Yanagi, a total of 117 people (mostly damage control personnel) became gods with the ship.

5 minutes later, Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi, commander of the 2nd Air Fleet, issued the decision of "discipline of Hiryu" with tears in his eyes. The destroyer Nobuki fired a torpedo to send the Hiryu aircraft carrier to the bottom of the sea.

"Mr. President, it is confirmed that two Japanese medium-sized aircraft carriers have been sunk, which should be Hiryu and Soryu!"

At the same time as the two Japanese aircraft carriers sank into the sea, US President Roosevelt had received this unprecedented great news since the beginning of the Pacific War.

"Three escort aircraft carriers for two medium-sized fleet aircraft carriers... We won, right?"

Roosevelt, who called himself the "President of the Navy", asked Admiral Lacey, the President's Chief of Staff, who was reporting the good news to him.

"Mr. President, in fact, we lost more than three Borg-class aircraft carriers," Admiral Lacey replied with a smile, "We also lost two light cruisers. However, in terms of the exchange ratio of aircraft, we have a great advantage this time. This has never happened in previous battles, which shows that the turning point of the Pacific War has arrived!"

In fact, for the United States, aircraft carriers are not worth much at all, let alone escort aircraft carriers built in batches like the Borg class. What is really valuable is the pilots, who are the main strike force on the Pacific battlefield.

Since the Pacific War began on December 7, 1941, the United States has always been at a disadvantage in the exchange ratio of fighters and pilots. This is due to the high quality of Japanese pilots and the superior performance of Zero aircraft.

But these two factors have changed now!

First, a large number of ace pilots who participated in the air battles in the Pacific War and the European War were assigned to various training bases as instructors, which greatly improved the training level of American pilots.

At the same time, sufficient fuel supply also allowed American pilots to get more flight time before going into battle, so that they could practice skilled flying skills.

In contrast, the Axis powers such as Germany, Japan and Italy, which had a tight supply of oil, had to reduce the flight time of pilot training in order to expand the size of their regular fleets. This resulted in the poor technical level of the rookie pilots who had just joined the army - Germany also had this problem, but it was not as serious as Japan.

Except for the veterans who joined the army before the Pacific War, American pilots were ahead of German and Japanese pilots in terms of the technical level of the novices who joined the air force after the outbreak of the Pacific War.

The second reason, of course, was the emergence of the three ace models of F4U, F6F and P51. The Zero aircraft that crisscrossed the Pacific battlefield at the beginning of the war now met its terminator!

"According to current statistics, we have a 1:3 advantage in the exchange ratio of fighters." Admiral Lacey paused and added, "This is a preliminary statistic. According to past experience, after verification, our number of shootdowns will be reduced by about half."

"1:1.5?" Roosevelt asked.

"That's about the number," Admiral Lacey, "excluding injuries, it should be 1:1.5, which means a key turning point!"

"We won the air superiority!" Roosevelt laughed, "Even if the exchange ratio is 1:1, we won. Because we have 10 times the enemy's aircraft and pilots... As long as I want it, we have that many! "

Of course, 10 times is for Japan, and 10 times that of Europe is a dream, but when Europe is blocked across the Atlantic Ocean, it is simply a piece of cake to come up with 10 times more aircraft, pilots, and aircraft carriers than Japan. .

"President, you are right," Admiral Lacey said with a smile. "After we implement the 'Pacific First' strategy, the Japanese will never be able to resist it."

Roosevelt smiled and asked: "General, when can we launch a counterattack on the Pacific battlefield? It won't really have to wait until 1944, right?"

In 1944, it was the US military's original plan to gather dozens of aircraft carriers and several Iowa-class battleships to counterattack the Hawaiian Islands. However, when formulating this plan, the Americans did not expect that they would be able to regain air supremacy in the Pacific battlefield so quickly.

"The date of counterattack can be brought forward completely," Admiral Lacey thought for a while and said, "Once the 3rd Fleet enters the Pacific, the number of our large aircraft carriers in the Pacific will increase to 5, and there will also be 7 light fleet aircraft carriers ( Five of them are Independence class, and the other two are Raider and Wasp), and the number of new battleships will also increase to three. I think... we can launch an attack in the North Pacific."

"North Pacific?" Roosevelt asked. "Aleutian Islands?"

The Aleutian Islands were occupied by the Japanese army in 1942. However, the value of the islands was not high at the time, so the Japanese army with limited resources did not deploy heavy troops there.

"Is this archipelago important?" Roosevelt thought for a while, but couldn't think of the importance of the Aleutian Islands.

Lacey shrugged and said: "Before today, it was not particularly important... But after today, the Japanese cannot afford to lose the Aleutian Islands. Because the Aleutian Islands can cover our breakup fleet from the north Breaking into the Western Pacific!"

Although it is a bit far to break into the Western Pacific from the Aleutian Islands, for the United States, which has an endless amount of oil, traveling more distances is not a problem.

If three Essex-class aircraft carriers and two Yorktown-class aircraft carriers (Yorktown, Enterprise) break into the Western Pacific together, then there will not only be problems with the Japan-Hawaiian Islands route and Japan-South Pacific route, but also Even the route between Japan and the Nanyang Islands must be interrupted!

The mainland is almost blocked!

"Is our large aircraft carrier going to enter the Western Pacific?" Roosevelt asked with squinted eyes.

"Actually there is no need," Lacey replied. "As long as we have the intention to attack Dutch Harbor, the decisive battle will definitely begin near the Aleutian Islands."

Roosevelt understood William Lacey's idea. Admiral Lacey wanted to take advantage of the United States' air superiority in the Pacific to provoke a series of battles to consume the strength of the Japanese navy. As long as the Pacific War is dragged into the quagmire of a war of attrition, there is no need for an exchange ratio of 1:1.5, but an exchange ratio of 1:1. In fact, an exchange ratio of 2:1 can wipe out the little strength in the hands of the Japanese!

In fact, the strength of the United States is more than that. Even if it wants to exhaust Germany, it is not impossible...if the British mainland does not surrender.

It's a pity that the United States now has no springboard to counterattack Europe. It seems that it can only watch the Germans enjoy themselves in the old continent for decades and a hundred years.

Just as President Roosevelt's eyebrows were slightly raised, Colonel Cotton, President Roosevelt's aide-de-camp, suddenly walked quickly into the Oval Office.

"Mr. President, Admiral," he first gave a military salute to the two men, and then reported quickly and quickly, "The Department of Naval Operations just called. The Panama Canal has been bombed by Japanese planes! There are already several sluice gates. Destroyed by torpedo!"

"What?" Roosevelt almost jumped up - really just a little bit closer, he was already about to jump, but couldn't get up.

"What's going on?" William Lacey stood up immediately and looked directly at the sweaty fat Colonel Caton.

"Naval Operations Department reports," Colonel Caton said with a sad face, "30 minutes ago, dozens to more than a hundred Japanese bombers took advantage of the airport in the canal zone to turn on their searchlights to recover aircraft (mainly P51s that attacked from Panama and Ju288s that took off to intercept P47), it sneaked into the Panama Canal area from low altitude, first bombed the airport and anti-aircraft gun positions, and then released torpedoes at several locks. Four locks were damaged to varying degrees! The Panama Canal... is temporarily unavailable! It’s open to navigation!”