904 Spruance's Choice

"The Japanese planes may have already taken off, and now it's too late to send out reconnaissance planes." Spruance looked at the nautical map in front of him angrily, because the Pacific Ocean used to be the back garden of the US Navy, so this chart is very detailed. (Baidu search website updates the fastest and most stable)

The reef islands on the densely packed Solomon Islands are marked on it, and these things provide good cover for the approach of the Japanese fleet. Everyone knows that this is not the time to complain, but it is really difficult for people to cheer up in a short time after being slapped hard by the enemy.

"No, we still need to send a reconnaissance plane. If possible, we must find the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet." In the end, Spruance ordered several seaplanes to take off, and immediately rushed to the west to patrol, trying to find the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet. After he gave this order, his mind was still in a mess.

The Japanese navy's battleship force on the east side seems to have no way to resist his fleet. Once the Japanese navy's warships rush in, the American fleet has no chance of winning at all, but there are not many opportunities to send planes now, maybe only once, which requires Si Pruance made his choice.

If he chooses to take off the plane to attack the Japanese battleship fleet on the east side, then he may achieve the result of completely annihilating the Japanese battleship force, and the price may be that the Pacific Fleet is severely damaged by the Japanese army. Maybe Japan will take the opportunity to retake the Marshall Islands, go north to Wake Island and Midway Island, and enter Hawaii again, but this time the United States will no longer have a fleet to stop the opponent.

Of course, if he ordered to attack the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet, the fate would not be much better. At least the Japanese battleship fleet would wipe out the fleet he commanded.

However, he has an advantage that the Japanese navy does not have anyway, that is, even if the fleet in his hand is wiped out, the U.S. Navy will still have more and newer warships launched, and the Japanese navy's family background is not humble To put it bluntly, it means sinking one ship and missing one ship.

Therefore, based on this starting point, Spruance made his own response decisively: "Order the fighter force to take off first to expel the possible Japanese attack fleet. The three-wave attack echelon continues to stand by and is ready to go at any time."

"Yes" A liaison officer of the aviation unit stood at attention and saluted, and then began to arrange tasks. The number of US aircraft carriers has an advantage. Barely able to do it.

Spruance's plan was as follows. He first let some fighter jets fly to ensure the absolute safety of the sky above his fleet, and tried to defeat the Japanese attack fleet in the first wave of attack.

Then use battleships and other ships to drag the Japanese battleships in the east for as long as they can, and then take off planes to pounce on the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet.

Sink the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet which is not dominant in numbers. In the process, his carrier fleet moved westward, leaning against the Japanese carrier fleet to the west, and distanced itself from the Japanese battleship force. Then Halsey's battleships began to go north, blocking the Japanese battleship fleet in the east, and striving to wipe out the Japanese combined fleet after paying a heavy price.

It has to be said that General Spruance is worthy of his title of famous general for being able to come up with such a counterattack in such a short period of time, but there are also some wishful thinking in his plan, such as Count on the two old battleships to withstand the attack of Nagato Mutsu's two cutting-edge Japanese battleships.

There are loopholes in the plan, so when Halsey heard the plan, he nodded and agreed. He led the two battleships under his command, namely, the USS Washington and the USS North Carolina, to give up chasing and killing the wounded Hyuga. Start heading north.

Miura Miura was struggling to fight against American aircraft and warships, but when he was about to end the Ise, he ushered in his own "turning point". He watched the American warships that had entered range fired a few shells hastily, then turned around and stopped the pursuit.

"Yamamoto-kun's plan succeeded, and these Americans are shrinking their forces." In the bridge command room of the Hyuga, Miura Miura put down the binoculars in his hand and said to his first officer: "They gave up attacking us, which means they have to go back to do it." more important things”

He gritted his teeth, touched his command knife with his hand, and finally issued a combat order: "Turn around and chase the American battleships and move forward at full speed to entangle the two battleships and prepare for artillery battle."

Miura deserves to be as fierce as a Japanese soldier. He knew that even if his battleship safely escaped from the theater and finally returned to Japan, it would not be able to form any greater combat power. However, in this chaotic time, helping Yamamoto's main fleet and Nagumo Chuichi's air fleet to share some of the pressure of the US fleet may help his fleet win the war.

So he resolutely decided to turn around and return, entangled with the American battleship, and bought more time for Yamamoto Fifty-Six's attack plan. It has to be said that the Japanese navy has gained a foothold in the world with two naval battles in the past 70 years, not because of bragging and luck, but because of its cunning and viciousness. Dazuo Miura is a typical example of such a Japanese navy, and it is unreasonable to stalk him.

The second wave of U.S. attack aircraft in the sky has been ordered to return. The U.S. Navy took some advantage first and achieved the record of sinking the battleship Ise of the Japanese Navy. This is equivalent to taking the "first blood" of the Solomon Sea Battle. Morale boosted.

"Fire to tell those Yankees that we are coming." Miura pressed his command knife, staring at the sea and issued a combat order: "Pay attention to air combat and be careful of the American planes going and returning. Send a telegram to Marshal Yamamoto telling him our ship Return to the theater, prepare to entangle the American battleship, ask him to wait for the opportunity"

"Yo Nishi Miura is indeed a model of the Imperial Navy." Yamamoto even felt a little regretful. He felt that if he appointed Miura as the commander-in-chief of the decoy fleet, perhaps the decoy fleet would be able to fight better. However, when he heard that the US battleship fleet began to shrink, he was shocked by the rapid response of the US Navy.

Since Miura decided to completely sacrifice the decoy fleet and help Yamamoto achieve his great cause, Yamamoto shouldn't be stingy, so he immediately ordered, sent a message to the base camp, and temporarily promoted Miura Osamu to Major General Miura.

Then there was a serious flaw in Spruance's plan, and that was that Halsey's fleet, which he had hoped to turn back against Yamamoto's fleet, was now entangled by a wreck of Miura's. The entire battlefield is now unpredictable, and it has become a mess.

"The Japanese attack fleet is approaching." The U.S. Navy with radar really has an advantage over the blind Japanese navy. When the Japanese aircraft approached the U.S. fleet, the U.S. radar discovered these uninvited guests.

So the American planes on standby in the sky rushed to meet the Japanese attack fleet. Even if the Japanese Zero fighters are familiar with the performance of the United States, they are still a very dangerous opponent, because these planes are piloted by the most elite Japanese pilots, and if you are not careful, you will be bitten by these crazy sky hounds .

The fighter jets of the two sides were soon intertwined. There were constant sounds of plane explosions in the sky, the roar of the engines when the two sides pulled up the planes, and the roar of the engines when they dived, making the sky of the Solomon Islands extremely noisy. . A unparalleled air battle kicked off, and the Japanese army's first attack echelon fell into a bitter battle.

"Lucky for a long time," the pilot of a Japanese plane shouted slogans, and then controlled the plane with torpedoes to rush towards an American aircraft carrier. Obviously, the US military's anti-aircraft firepower is very fierce, and some US destroyers are also trying to disperse the offensive formation of Japanese aircraft as much as possible. The sky is full of dazzling straight lines dragged by tracer bullets, forming a large impenetrable net.

The plane hit the fire net ejected from the American anti-aircraft gun, and then turned into a pile of burning debris in an instant, but another Japanese plane following the plane managed to rush through the anti-aircraft fire net, throwing a The torpedo was accurately thrown at the distant American aircraft carrier.

A white straight line quickly extended in the sea, and then hit the US Navy's aircraft carrier USS Raider, and then a huge explosion slowed down the aircraft carrier, and ignited a raging fire, which was difficult to extinguish for a while. With such a good start, the Japanese aircraft naturally would not waste the opportunity, and seized the opportunity to drop a few torpedoes on the aircraft carrier.

As a result, the hull of the USS Assault aircraft carrier began to tilt amidst the sound of explosions. The main fleet sank an aircraft carrier just after the battle began. This is definitely not good news for the US Navy fleet. Looking at the billowing smoke burning in the distance from the bridge of the No. 1 aircraft carrier, I don't know how to end all this as soon as possible.

Soon, these Japanese carrier-based aircraft showed their superiority in attack quality. After all, these carrier-based aircraft pilots are also the last elite of the Japanese naval aviation. They continued to attack the US fleet, and despite heavy casualties, they created another unparalleled opportunity.

The USS Saratoga was hit by a Japanese aircraft and began to burn, the second major US Navy carrier to be hit. This also means that the US aircraft carrier fleet has lost almost half of its troops before it started to counterattack.

This one is not considered today, it is a supplementary update added yesterday for Christmas. Long Ling has been making up updates all his life, but at any rate, this time it is a supplementary update, not an owed update. There will be two updates in the evening... Since it is a supplementary update, please ask for some recommended monthly tickets. Thank you for your support. ~~

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