Chapter 959: Japanese Jets, American Heavy Torpedo Ships

The "Silver Reaper" missile, jointly produced by Germany's Henschel Company and Britain's Rolls-Royce Company, is actually a small jet aircraft - in fact, it is not too small, with an empty weight of up to 1.8 tons and a full weight of up to 2.8 tons. It is also equipped with two 20mm cannons (the Japanese did not purchase the optional cannons, but after the "Silver Reaper" was shipped back to Japan, Japan's own 20mm cannons were installed), and the firepower is not weak.

In addition, the "Silver Reaper" also has a "trainer version" with larger wings and tails, as well as retractable landing gear.

Now, as long as the other "Silver Reapers" are modified according to the "trainer version", all 180 "Silver Reaper" missiles can be turned into high-altitude interceptors - they can be brought to an altitude of more than 12,000 meters by the Me264, and launched after approaching the US bomber group, using their own high speed and firepower to attack the US high-altitude bombers.

After completing the attack, these "Silver Reaper" aircraft can also use the landing gear to land at a nearby airport.

The idea of ​​using some of the "Silver Reapers" as high-altitude fighters was first proposed by Minoru Genda, who had personally flown this missile (training missile). And it soon received the support of Takeo Yasuda, the head of the Army Aviation Headquarters - in the face of the huge expenditure of 120 million European marks, the land and sea dispute is no longer a problem. It is really "too un-Japanese" to spend all the 120 million European marks investment at once.

At least these "Silver Reapers" should be used properly before their engines expire, and then used for impact...

"We still have 53 Me264s now," said Takeo Yasuda, "which means we can launch 53 "Silver Reaper" jets at a time. 70-80 Type 3 "Hien" IIs can be prepared in the short term. In this way, we can dispatch more than 120 high-altitude interceptors at a time. If the number of long-range bombers in the United States is less than 120, it is entirely possible to wipe them out at once."

Army Chief Sugiyama Hajime laughed a few times when he heard this: "If we can really wipe them out, American bombers will never dare to come again."

"There is no problem with the navy...?" Tojo Hideki looked at the Navy Ministers Isoroku Yamamoto and Osami Nagano, who seemed a little tired, "The navy is not in a hurry to launch a missile special attack now, right?"

Osami Nagano and Isoroku Yamamoto looked at each other, and Nagano said: "There is no need to launch a missile special attack within 3 months."

"Missile special attack" is the end and climax of "Operation Jie No. 1". According to the plan, 180-200 Silver Reaper missiles will cause a devastating blow to the aircraft carrier forces of the US Pacific Fleet!

After the "missile special attack", the combined fleet's counterattack will be launched, dealing a devastating blow to the remaining US Pacific Fleet and landing fleet. The US ground forces that have landed on the islands of the Hawaiian Islands will be wiped out after losing the cover and support of the fleet.

However, it is not the time to launch a "missile special attack" yet, because the Americans have just hit Palmyra Atoll and have not even touched Christmas Island, let alone landing on the Hawaiian Islands.

"How is the battle on Palmyra Atoll?" Tojo Hideki then turned the topic to the ongoing Battle of Palmyra Atoll.

The area of ​​Palmyra Atoll is nearly twice that of Midway Island, and it is also an undefendable atoll. However, the Japanese army resisted there for a simple reason - it is an atoll.

The so-called "atoll", as the name suggests, is a circular island reef, surrounded by a circle of coral reef islands that have emerged from the water, and a lagoon in the middle.

This special terrain can be used as a natural anchorage. The "Truk Anchorage" of the Japanese Combined Fleet is a large atoll.

Of course, the Palmyra Atoll cannot be compared with the Truk Atoll, which is much larger and can accommodate the entire Combined Fleet. The Palmyra Atoll is limited in area and can only accommodate a dozen ships at most. It is too small for the huge four US task forces.

But the Americans can put a floating dry dock into the Palmyra Atoll!

A floating dry dock is a dry dock that can float on the sea. It can be moved on the sea. Battleships and aircraft carriers with a displacement of tens of thousands of tons can be put in for overhaul at sea, just like in a port. In order to complete the ship repair task, the floating dock cannot be just a dock. It must also be equipped with a power station and workshops for mechanics, electricians, carpenters, etc. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a movable offshore shipyard.

And this kind of thing is a treasure for a fleet fighting in the ocean. It allows the side to have the ability to quickly repair the main battleship near the battlefield. The current European Combined Fleet has four large floating docks, each of which can accommodate a Hindenburg-class battleship.

Japan does not have this kind of "luxury". The strength of the Japanese Navy lies in the combat fleet and aviation. Various auxiliary ships, transport ships, and work ships cannot be compared with the United States, and are even far behind Europe. Not to mention the floating dock, there is only one much cheaper repair work ship, the Akashi.

However, although the Japanese Navy does not have a floating dock, its generals all know that there is such a thing.

Moreover, there is a small airport on the Palmyra Atoll that can park more than a dozen single-engine aircraft. It is enough to deploy a squadron of P51B/C. Although not many, it is enough to provide a certain amount of air cover for the floating dock in the atoll.

So the Palmyra Atoll, which is suitable for placing floating docks, must be defended no matter what, even if it delays a little time.

In addition, the Japanese defense of Palmyra Atoll can also attract the landing fleet of the US Navy, creating opportunities for the attack of submarines and heavy torpedo ships.

"Mr. Prime Minister," Isoroku Yamamoto took over the topic and said, "The Central Pacific Fleet reported that the US assault fleet has been arranged in an 8×8 square nautical mile array on the sea near Palmyra Atoll, and the naval gun firing has started this morning."

8×8 square nautical miles of landing ships? Tojo thought: Japan's landing ships are in "strips", and the American landing ships are originally calculated in square nautical miles...

"Then the 8th Fleet will not do nothing, right?" Tojo asked.

Yamamoto answered confidently: "The 8th Fleet's heavy torpedo assault force has set out and will soon launch a heavy torpedo assault on the US landing fleet! At the same time, submarines will also launch sneak attacks... Tonight, Hawaii time, dozens of US ships will be sunk around Palmyra Atoll!"

...

"Ali, our people have already boarded, do you know what this means?"

Seeing the amphibious tanks leading the Marine Corps infantry to rush onto the beach of Palmyra Atoll, Lieutenant General Kinkaid, commander of the 31st US Task Force, put down his telescope and asked Brigadier General Arleigh Burke, who was standing beside him in a straight uniform.

Arleigh Burke was promoted to a naval commodore after the last "Pacific cruise" of the 58th Destroying Fleet. His daily duties also changed from the chief of staff of the aircraft carrier group to the commander of the destroyer patrol group.

By the way, this Arleigh Burke is actually the best destroyer unit commander of the US Navy. He has made a name for himself in the Atlantic battlefield and the Caribbean battlefield. Even the German Navy knows that there is such a guy who is good at using destroyer units. The destroyer squadron under his command won 11 combat victories in the Caribbean Sea, and sank 12 European torpedo boats (8 of which were German "beast" class and 4 of which were Italian "torpedo boats") and 4 destroyers, one of which was a terrible French "fantasy" class destroyer!

In addition to his remarkable record, he also invented a special trick to deal with 93 oxygen torpedoes, which was to force the enemy ship to launch k11 or Mk15 torpedoes. The purpose was not to destroy the enemy with torpedoes, but to force the enemy ship to evade and delay the torpedo launch, so as to win time for his own artillery fire - because he had discovered that the enemy's torpedoes were prone to sympathetic explosions during the confrontation with the torpedo boats of the European Combined Fleet. So when the torpedoes were not as good as the opponent's, he simply used precise artillery fire to blow up the opponent's torpedoes.

Relying on this trick, many European torpedo boats were lost in his hands, and later he was nicknamed "torpedo boat killer".

However, what he had to deal with in the Pacific was not the weak European torpedo boats, but the powerful Japanese heavy torpedo destroyers and cruisers. After the "First Midway Night Battle", the Americans had realized that the Japanese would use torpedo night battles, a daunting means in the Caribbean battlefield, to deal with them.

"Sir, the landing fleet will be attacked by Japanese destroyers tonight!" Arleigh Burke replied, "But I will let the Japanese destroyers who come to attack at night know how powerful they are."

"That's great," Kinkaid patted Arleigh Burke on the shoulder, "Arleigh, tonight I must lead the main force of the 31st Task Force to the open sea in secret, so the landing ships near Palmyra Atoll and the Marines on the atoll can only rely on your patrol formation."

He paused, "Arleigh, is the force enough?"

"Enough!" Arleigh Burke said, "4 treaty heavy cruisers and 16 Gridley-class heavy torpedo destroyers are enough to deal with the Japanese devils."

It turns out that the United States also has heavy torpedo destroyers! The Gridley class was designed and built in the 1930s. The theoretical maximum speed is 38.5 knots, but in reality it can run at a speed of 40 knots or more, only slower than the French "Utopian" class. The torpedo firepower is 4 4-tube 533mm torpedo tubes, which cannot be reloaded, which is incomparable to the Shimakaze class, which has 3 5-tube 610mm torpedo tubes and can be reloaded once.

However, the number of "Gridley" class is much larger than that of "Shimakaze" class. Due to the need for the tug-of-war in the Caribbean Sea, this type of fast destroyer with a standard displacement of 1,500 tons was built in large quantities by the United States, with a total of dozens of ships.