Chapter 921: Still Defeat Thirteen

"Great! Let the Franklin return immediately and send four destroyers to escort it. No matter what, it must reach the Panama Canal safely."

"Panama? Why not return to San Diego first?" Major General Browning asked his cautious superior Spruance.

"Don't go back to San Diego," Spruance said, "We may be ambushed by Japanese submarines and fleets on the way back to San Diego. We can't take such a risk. It's safer to go to Panama... Not only the Franklin will go to Panama, but the main force of the 58th Task Force should also return to Panama."

"Understood, sir." Rear Admiral Browning asked again, "When can the main force of the fleet return?"

"The night after tomorrow... at the latest on the night of the 29th!" Spruance paced in the bridge of the Essex with his arms folded, "The airport on Christmas Island will definitely be bombed into the surface of the moon tomorrow morning, so the Japanese can only fight us with aircraft carriers... I estimate that there will be another big battle during the day on the 27th, 28th or 29th, and then there will not be many planes on the Japanese aircraft carriers to consume. In this way, the first phase of the "Hunter" operation will be completed, and the second phase can begin next."

There is also a second phase! Japan is really in big trouble this time.

It turns out that the action of the 58th US Task Force was divided into two phases. The first phase was a feint to attack Christmas Island. On the one hand, the tactic of "exchanging warships for planes" consumed Japanese planes and pilots, and on the other hand, attracted the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet to the vicinity of Christmas Island.

The second phase of the operation was a "large formation to disrupt commerce" with the purpose of consuming the fuel of the Combined Fleet - disrupting commerce was just a pretense, and the main purpose was to lead the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet around the sea.

So after the goal of the first phase of the operation was successfully achieved, the 58th Task Force would be divided into two, and the slow-speed landing ships and transport ships would return, and most of the combat ships would also return.

And two Iowa-class battleships, one South Dakota-class battleship and two Essex-class aircraft carriers plus some ships with longer range, such as the Baltimore-class heavy cruiser, the Cleveland-class light cruiser, the Oakland-class light cruiser, etc. formed a 58th commerce disruption fleet. After completing a supply, they would break into the Western Pacific to the west!

The deterrent power of such a commerce-breaking fleet cannot be compared with the combination of an Independence-class aircraft carrier and a Cleveland-class light cruiser.

So the Japanese cannot turn a blind eye and will inevitably pursue and intercept them - and they cannot intercept them casually, they must go all out.

Because the combat effectiveness of two Iowa-class battleships, one South Dakota-class battleship and two Essex-class aircraft carriers is very impressive, and the Japanese ships cannot be beaten by them if they come less. As long as the 58th Task Force can go around for a month, the Japanese Combined Fleet will at least burn 450,000-500,000 tons of heavy oil, and Japan's transportation lines in the Western Pacific will also be greatly affected.

And one month later, another large commerce-breaking fleet will be dispatched to take over the work of the 58th commerce-breaking fleet. After that, it will be the second Christmas Island Battle...

In short, American imperialism will not give the Japanese militarist fleet time to rest. From now on, it will be an uninterrupted war of attrition!

Constantly consuming Japan's oil and the lives of elite pilots!

"No! I don't agree!" At midnight, Jisaburo Ozawa, commander of the Japanese First Mobile Fleet on the aircraft carrier Shokaku, was arguing with the rear through the radio.

"What we need to consider now is not the strategic issue, but the issue of battle and tactics." Ozawa dictated the telegram, "Currently, the First Mobile Fleet has only 10 carriers, which can accommodate more than 400 regular carrier-based aircraft at most, and there are only Zeros but no Hayate, which can't beat the F4U and F6F with overwhelming numerical advantages.

So tomorrow's attack is simply irresponsible suicide, I can't agree to such a reckless action. Moreover... Today's operations have shown that the current strength of the naval aviation alone is simply unable to annihilate the invading American fleet! The attack will only destroy the essence of the naval aviation!"

Spruance and Nimitz are smart, and Jisaburo Ozawa is not stupid either - he is different from Yamamoto, Nagano and Ito in the rear. He is a front-line commander, so he knows very well that the Japanese naval aviation has lost its sharpness at the beginning of the war.

Before the war started today, he still had high hopes for the Japanese Army's "Pacific Decisive Battle Plane" Hayate fighter, thinking that the high-altitude and low-altitude combination of Hayate and Zero could restrain the American F4U and F6F. However, the results of today's air battle showed that the Hayate fighter was overstated. Its performance in the airspace above 6,000 meters was not as good as the American F4U, and it was not as good as the F6F below 6,000 meters.

Moreover, this somewhat useless Hayate fighter cannot be put on an aircraft carrier. Since the Christmas Island airport will be destroyed by the US naval guns, starting tomorrow, the Japanese army can only rely on the aircraft carriers of the First Mobile Fleet to fight. At that time, the Zero 52 will be a single pillar of support.

"What Ozawa said makes sense!" Yamamoto Isoroku read Ozawa Jisaburo's call back and nodded after careful consideration.

The battle on the 26th in Hawaii time was a combination of shore-based + carrier-based, but the result was still heavy losses! If there is only carrier-based and no shore-based in the future, it is likely that the exchange ratio on the 26th will not be achieved, which is just sacrificing the lives of elite pilots in vain.

"We can conduct a full-team assault!" Ito suggested. "It is impossible to abandon Christmas Island. There is an army division on the island! And once Christmas Island is lost, the U.S. military's breakup fleet and submarines will Be more active!”

"A whole-team assault?" Yamamoto Isoroku asked, "What kind of assault method?"

Ito said: "All carrier-based aircraft can be dispatched at one time... so there are about more than 400 aircraft. And there is no need to mount torpedoes. All 'Meteor' torpedo attack aircraft can be mounted with bombs. Because I have seen the specific damage report , found that the loss of the torpedo aircraft force was astonishing, reaching almost 80%, and the results were not obvious. It seems that it makes sense for the Germans not to deploy torpedo bombers on the aircraft carrier."

"But it is impossible to sink all the large American aircraft carriers with less than 300 dive bombers."

Questions immediately came up. Now everyone knows that the US emperor is no longer a paper tiger. 300 dive aircraft will never be able to deal with their 80 aircraft carriers (the Japanese overestimated the number of US aircraft carriers). This battle still cannot be fought.

"There are also battleships and submarines!" Ito said. "The whole team's attack is not only the carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier, but also the three super battleships including Yamato, Musashi, and Shinano that arrived in the waters of Christmas Island, and the four King Kong ships. -class fast battleships, as well as all submarines... The attack by carrier-based aircraft is only to damage some large American aircraft carriers, causing them to slow down or lose some of their combat capabilities, thereby creating favorable conditions for the battleships and submarines to attack!”

"Do you want to fight hard?" Yamamoto Isoroku nodded, then looked at Ito Zhengichi, "What if I lose?"

"Kill yourself if you lose!" Ito replied.

"Ah?" Nagano Shushen was stunned and looked at Ito Zhengyi in surprise, "Ito-kun, do you want to commit seppuku?"

"Of course not!" Ito shook his head, "It's just a battle. Even if it loses, the empire still has a chance."

"Then suicide is..." Nagano Shushen was a little confused.

Yamamoto Isoroku took the question and said calmly: "Nagano-kun, the suicide Ito-kun mentioned should refer to the suicide missile... which is the method of the Marshal of the German Empire. If the navy loses the battle on Christmas Island this time , then the only way to fight the Hawaiian Islands in the future is this way.”

After all, "kamikaze tactics" are a bit like jumping over the wall in a hurry, and Japanese militarism is reluctant to adopt them until they are at the end of the road. However, people like Yamamoto and Ito have not forgotten that this happened.

…

"Saved the Franklin? That's great."

At this time, US President Roosevelt was relieved that the USS Franklin aircraft carrier had been saved. He smiled and said to General Leahy, the Chief of Staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army and Navy (a very awkward title, equivalent to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) who came to report to him: "We are fighting a great battle. Yeah?"

"Yes, it's great," said Admiral Leahy. "Exchanging ships for planes... is unthinkable."

"We are rich people!" The President of the United States shrugged, "Rich people have their own way of fighting wars." Roosevelt looked at William Leahy, "If a problem can be solved with money and equipment, don't use human lives to solve it... This is Our principles, I hope that we can also follow these principles during the landing in the Hawaiian Islands.”

"I understand, Mr. President." William Leahy smiled, "In fact, we have been preparing for a long time. Several light ships dedicated to near-shore fire support have now completed development and are preparing for mass production. Wait until When we counterattack the Hawaiian Islands next year, there will be hundreds of these inshore fire support ships to bombard the Japanese. "

"But the Japanese also built many forts on the Hawaiian Islands," Roosevelt asked. "Is there anything we can do?"

"There are some ideas now," William Leahy said. "One is to use a remotely controlled B-17 or B-24 loaded with explosives to hit it; another method is to use a dive bomber to drop a 1,000-pound armor-piercing bomb."

Because it picked up Germany's remote-controlled gliding bombs very early, the United States' research in this area is now better than in history. The BQ-7 remote-controlled suicide aircraft and the B-24 remote-controlled suicide model have now been successfully developed. Of course, these two weapons are prepared for the battle to regain the Hawaiian Islands. Once Christmas Island falls into the hands of the United States, it will become the place where BQ-7 and B-24 remote-controlled suicide aircraft attack!