Seven Hundred and Twenty Nine Tragic Japanese Navy

Hearing Nagumo Tadaichi's question, Sato turned his head, his face was full of frustration and unwillingness, because he wanted to avenge his subordinates, but in the end he almost took his own life. The war was no longer what he knew it to be, because at that time, sitting in the cockpit of the Zero fighter, he could feel the incomparable confidence. Now, every time he thinks of the scenes of being chased and beaten by the U.S. Air Force in circles, he feels a dull pain in his wounds—whether it is the wounds in his heart or his arms.

The Zero fighter is no longer the invincible existence that it used to be. Now most American pilots know how to use some three-dimensional maneuvers to get rid of the entanglement of the Zero fighter. No matter how brave he is, he can't change the disadvantage of the fighter itself. He felt like he was dancing in chains.

Thinking of this, he opened his mouth slowly, and said to Nagumo Chuichi in a hoarse tone: "Your Excellency, the performance of our fighter jets has been thoroughly grasped by the Americans, and their maneuvering and evasion is desperate. To be able to do what the veterans who died didn't."

At this moment, he was no longer afraid of his boss. People who had experienced a life-and-death test often saw things as very simple. In their eyes, there were only two options: survival or death. Nan Yunzhong sighed. He also knew that these precious new pilots would not have much effect, but he really didn't have any decent troops to use.

"If we can attract the U.S. Navy to be within the combat radius of the land-based aviation, is it possible to reverse the situation?" Nagumo Takaichi whispered, but he knew better than anyone else that in fact this was just to comfort the frontline soldiers. And a ridiculous way to hypnotize themselves.

The Empire of Japan, like the United States, does not have an independent air force. They only have an army and a navy in terms of organization. These two opposing forces have their own aviation units. As far as the intensity of training and consistent word of mouth are concerned, the overall strength of the Japanese naval aviation is stronger than that of the army aviation—this also reveals a terrible message from another aspect: that is, the Japanese naval aviation cannot handle it. The Americans, the Army Aviation Corps, are equally confused.

Moreover, Japan's army aviation and naval aviation can basically be regarded as the aviation forces of two countries, and their production systems and personnel training systems are completely different. As far as aircraft are concerned, the models are different, the parts are different, the factories are different, and even the research and development are separated. In terms of the quality of pilots, the naval aviation was better than the army aviation a few months ago, but now, it can really be said to be half a catty. However, because Army Aviation pilots can only use terrain navigation, they often get lost, while naval aviation pilots will look at the sextant to judge the direction. Therefore, only God can know how useful the Army Aviation can be when performing maritime missions.

The current situation is that the pilots of the Japanese naval aviation are losing relatively quickly. During the battle during this period, the Japanese army aviation that did not participate in maritime operations was forced to be transferred to the islands on the sea to participate in the battle. However, these army aviation pilots can basically only fight on the islands. defensive warfare and bombing of ground targets,

Because there is no reference object on the sea surface, they cannot carry out long-distance support operations, and their training does not include bombing of moving targets, so the attack effect on moving targets at sea is also very limited.

Such a patchwork of troops can only be regarded as better than nothing, and it is a bit difficult to expect it to create any miracles. Nagumo Chuichi and Yamamoto Fifty-Six held several combat meetings, but they all ended up failing because there was no good solution. What makes them even more disturbed is that the U.S. Navy has not launched a counterattack for a long time. It seems that the Americans are waiting for their powerful industrial production system to fully wake up.

In such a battle, the Americans hit the weak point of the Japanese navy very cleverly. The Japanese navy is now in a very conflicted mood. They hope that the Americans will fight back later so that they can train more pilots, and they also hope that the Americans will do it earlier. So as not to let the United States produce more weapons and equipment.

However, the Americans fought steadily, and Nimitz clearly grasped what Japan was most afraid of. He did not rush to find the Japanese navy for a decisive battle, but stayed in the Hawaiian waters and waited for his new fleet to join the battle sequence. At that time, the United States will have more than 7 aircraft carriers, and the Japanese will lose the absolute advantage of the aircraft carrier fleet. At this time, the Americans will launch a full-scale counterattack in the Pacific Ocean, and the Japanese army can only be exhausted.

Unlike the difficulty in replenishing pilots after the loss of the Japanese Navy, the lost pilots of the U.S. Navy can be replenished quickly. The huge industrial system allows the U.S. to reserve a large number of pilots in the private sector. These people can be quickly converted into basic fighter forces during wartime. And the survival rate of American pilots is much higher than that of their Japanese counterparts.

"Is there no way to change to another type of fighter?" Sato suddenly asked Nagumo Tadashi who had walked a few steps away: "Your Excellency, the performance of our fighter jets has been figured out by the Americans. Even the excellent pilots in the world can't afford such a rapid consumption! Can't our technical department come up with an updated fighter?"

"Really... I can't get it out!" Jiro Horikoshi, an aircraft designer far away in Japan, lamented to his subordinates who raised the same question: "Under normal circumstances, we should improve the Zero fighter and change the flight performance of the aircraft. , we can deal with the current situation. However, there is really no room for improvement in the design of the Type Zero fighter, if we forcibly change it, it will be the same as redesigning a fighter.”

"Then let's redesign a fighter!" An assistant clenched his fists and said fiercely. But after saying this, he regretted it. After all, as a technician who has participated in aircraft design, he knows how difficult it is to redesign an aircraft.

Moreover, it is not that Horikoshi Jiro and others have not tried in this regard. In fact, a newer fighter jet has made a wooden model and is experimenting with its resistance in the air. Shape, just bigger and faster. This fighter uses a newer engine, and can reach an astonishing speed of 600 kilometers per hour, and even exceed this speed, flying to the terrifying limit of 650 kilometers.

But what makes people desperate is that the new engine is still in the laboratory, and the failure is difficult to control to a low level. Even if it is barely equipped, whether it can achieve the expected effect is still unknown. The service time of this fighter is set in June 1939, which means that it will take about 5 months at the earliest to be in service. Type fighter jets, fighting against the increasingly powerful U.S. Air Force.

"We don't have time." Nagumo Tadaichi turned his head, looked at Sato with a face of despair, and said with some despondency: "When we have new fighter jets, the Americans will have more than ten aircraft carriers. By then What will we use to defend the territory for His Majesty the Emperor? So, Sato-kun, put away any chances, we can only fight, for the future of the Great Japanese Empire, fight to the last moment!"

Not far away, on the airport of Army Aviation, two Army Aviation fighter jets are taking off slowly. They were ordered to take off to patrol the nearby sea area. Yamamoto Fifty-Six is ​​standing by the edge of this airport at this moment, looking at the two paintings The plane with the red sun logo flew slowly into the sky, with an indescribable feeling in my heart.

On the deck of the aircraft carrier, he sent away those familiar pilots in this way countless times, but again and again, these pilots never flew back. They died in battle in a foreign country, and they did not even leave their bodies to their relatives back home. As the supreme commander of these people, Yamamoto felt that he actually caused these pilots to die, so he has become taciturn and sullen recently.

As the general of the Japanese navy, Yamamoto Fifty-Six, like many famous Japanese naval generals, followed the command principles handed down from the British Empire. From the bottom of their hearts, the Japanese navy is learning from the strongest maritime power, the British Empire, so Yamamoto and almost all Japanese commanders pay attention to the Nelson fighting spirit of fighting against the enemy. But this kind of bullying idea can only be felt by the British Empire, which has dominated the ocean for 100 years, because at least before 1937, the British Empire still had money, ships and people. However, the Japanese navy, which pursued the idea, played this game against the US Navy to kill itself. Japan's productivity is not as good as that of the United States. But the naval aviation has always been fighting against the enemy, and there is no time to accumulate their precious pilots.

I really can’t blame the commanders of the Japanese Navy for being idiots, because they relied on learning from the British Navy to defeat the Beiyang Navy of the Qing Dynasty and the Russian Far East Fleet. It's so easy to use. In the minds of ordinary people, the idea must be that the soldiers are not brave enough, not that there is something wrong with the basic tactics of pressing the bottom of the box.

But Yamamoto is not an ordinary player. He has already realized that the navy's tactics of reckless consumption are definitely a problem. Lose US naval power.

The problem now is that Ren Yamamoto Fifty-Six has all kinds of strategies, and Nimitz of the United States just doesn't fight. The big hole Yamamoto dug for Nimitz in Southeast Asia, the prey of the U.S. Navy is useless if it is not fooled. So at least for now, the Japanese navy is a tragedy.