Chapter 1014 Axis Attack (3)

ps: Let me reiterate, after updating the Qidian APP, this chapter is said to be closed by default. Readers who need to browse the comments please enter the settings interface and reopen it...

"President, the TF48 fleet has arrived in Perth, and General MacArthur has also called back and agreed to serve as Chief of General Staff." Li Hai worried, "The Franklin can be completely repaired in Australia, but the Wasp must be repaired at the Hawaii Naval Shipyard. Currently at Pearl Harbor Under the threat of the Japanese army, the fleet was unable to dock smoothly in the face of the combined fleet circling outside Hawaii, and the risk of forced entry was too high. "

This risk is foreseeable. At present, even MacArthur's plane does not dare to fly directly to Pearl Harbor. If it is intercepted, it will be a very terrible thing.

Truman scratched his hair in distress: "What should we do?"

"The loss of Christmas Island may be inevitable. The only feasible way is for TF48 to replenish fuel and supplies in New Zealand, detour off the coast of New Zealand and then turn northeast, first toward the Galapagos Islands, and then turn north. "California." Turner drew a route, "We have military aviation in the Galapagos Islands. It is relatively safe to enter the air defense circle of the island and the Central American air defense circle. Of course, a long way around is inevitable."

"General MacArthur also returned to China on a warship?"

"It's safer this way."

Looking at the route he sketched on the map, Truman couldn't help but smile. This was more than just a long detour. After this detour, the entire trip was almost equivalent to doubling the original shipping line, which was more than 10,000 nautical miles. Can this fleet withstand it?

As if reading his mind, Li Hai explained: "The fleet itself can support long-distance voyages of more than 10,000 nautical miles, and can also go to the Galapagos Islands for replenishment on the way. There is no need to worry about battery life for the time being. The only concern is time. . It will take longer.”

"If everything goes well, how long will it take to see them both?"

"It may take 7-8 weeks." Li Hai calculated and gave a number.

Truman exclaimed: "7-8 weeks?"

Li Hai nodded: "If it's just to meet Nimitz and MacArthur, it will take at least 6 weeks, and 7-8 weeks I mean the fleet."

Transfer from Perth to the East Coast and complete repairs on the Franklin: 1 week;

Arrive in New Zealand and complete supplies: 5 days;

From New Zealand to Galapagos Islands: 28-30 days;

Galapagos Islands to California: 1 week.

The only time saved was for the two military leaders to disembark in the Galapagos Islands and catch a plane back to the United States.

"Okay." Truman reluctantly agreed, but he was thinking about how the situation in the Pacific and South America would deteriorate in six weeks.

"After the two aircraft carriers of the TF48 fleet return and complete repairs, there will be two fleet aircraft carriers, two battleships and 14 escort aircraft carriers available in the Pacific." Turner laid out the data again, "If in the next aviation battle If we can kill another 1-2 fleet aircraft carriers and 1-2 escort aircraft carriers, the Pacific Fleet will have a chance to be evenly matched. At the same time, we will have two more Essex-class battleships available in the Atlantic Ocean."

Speaking of battleships, Turner felt lucky. When Hewitt led the transport fleet to Port Seguru to put down the transport fleet, Turner, who was frightened by the German submarine, forcefully demanded that the New Jersey return to the homeland immediately - it was useless to stay in Port Seguru anyway. Hewitt was unhappy at the time, but could not resist the joint orders issued by Turner and Lehi. Before the arrival of the main German fleet, the only battleship on the east coast retreated along the Brazilian coastline under the protection of four destroyers and reached the Caribbean Sea, and then returned to Norfolk smoothly.

Some people think that if the New Jersey stays in Port Seguro, the Roosevelt cluster may be able to support it for a longer time, but it is meaningless if it lasts longer. The New Jersey in Port Seguro will eventually be a dead end - Mingbangbian As a fixed fort.

But when Truman turned his attention to Arnold, he, who had always been submissive, finally broke out: "No, I don't agree with this! Now the losses of Army Aviation are too great, and it has reached an unsustainable point. In the past half month, in the Pacific, Nearly a thousand crews were lost in South America (nearly 2,000 aircraft were lost), and the number of skilled crews owned by Army Aviation has been reduced to less than 3,000 (excluding the strategic airlift part, this is because Arnold allowed a large number of novices to follow and participate) As a result of the attack), if we want to fight again, we can only maintain one battlefield: either give up the South American support war or give up the Pearl Harbor air battle. Otherwise, not only will the pilots mutiny, but next year you will not have an independent air force, just cancel the Army Aviation. ——Because no one will fight anymore.”

As soon as these words came out, Eisenhower, representing the Army, and Turner, representing the Navy, fell silent. Now the two men were in very similar situations. Ike was acting in Marshall's position until MacArthur came to take over; Turner was acting in Admiral King's position until Nimitz came to take over.

But the next second they both spoke at the same time.

"Abandon South America for the time being." Turner said first.

"Abandon the Pacific air war for the time being." Eisenhower also stated his opinion.

"Ike, we can't give up on the Pacific Theater. If we weaken it a little more, we can deal with the main force of the Combined Fleet - you are the deputy commander-in-chief of the Pacific Theater." Turner advised earnestly, "Besides Hawaii, there are also Australia and New Zealand. !”

"No, I am the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army first. The situation in South America is more dangerous than in the Pacific. You said that the Japanese cannot take Hawaii at the current level of consumption, but it is not necessarily the case in South America. The Germans are aggressive. George and the Fifth Army are too dangerous. Even Clark's troops in Recife dare not say they are safe." Eisenhower explained, "They are more urgent and need more support!"

"Hawaii is the mainland, Brazil is just..."

"Brazil still has more than 100,000 ground forces. Once South America is lost, the next domino will be the Caribbean. If the Germans put their planes and fleets and even If all rockets are deployed to the Caribbean, will America still be safe in the future? "

Seeing that the two people's quarrels were getting louder and louder, Truman slammed the table fiercely: "Stop arguing, I'll give you a suggestion: the Army Aviation is responsible for the Pacific air war, and the Navy Aviation is responsible for supporting the South American Army, how about it?"

Now it was the turn of the two people to look bitter: It took Truman a long time to figure out that all the better land-based pilots of the East Coast Navy Aviation were transferred to the carrier-based aircraft training team by Turner. Although there were many crews and aircraft left, they were all brand new rookies. It was wishful thinking to expect them to go to South America to support the war. It was almost like sending their heads.

As for the carrier-based pilots, there was no need to think about it. Turner would never hand them over even if he died!

"How could this happen? How could this happen?" Truman held his head in pain.

Li Hai, who had not spoken, sighed: "I'll give you a compromise plan: the main force of the Army Aviation will be to maintain the South American battlefield, supplemented by the Pacific aviation war - the maximum loss of crews per week shall not exceed 100 groups, and the Navy will provide another 50 groups, which means that the total number of crews per week shall not exceed 150 groups, and continue to maintain pressure on Japanese tankers."

Since Li Hai mediated in this way, Arnold, Turner, and Eisenhower could only nod in agreement - although they were not the most satisfied, they could barely accept it.

Thinking of Eisenhower's mention of rockets just now, Truman asked with mixed feelings: "How is the attack of German rockets? How is the progress of our rocket development?"

Carmen, who was in charge of the US rocket project, came to report immediately, but there was not much optimism on his face, but he was in a heavy mood.

"We got some rocket debris in London. After in-depth analysis, we believe that the opponent's range is between 400-500 kilometers. Judging from the situation of the Brazilian rocket this time, the range is at least between 600-800 kilometers, and there may be greater room for improvement. After two comparisons, Germany has made three progress in the field of rockets:

First, the accuracy has been improved. The accuracy of the Brazilian rocket is more than one-third higher than that of the London rocket, and the specific way it is achieved has not been fully understood;

Second, the propellant has been innovated, which is not only safer, but also improves the combustion efficiency, which is conducive to supporting a longer range. We have fully mastered the old fuel formula, and the new fuel formula is still under analysis;

Third, in addition to ballistic rockets that burst out of the atmosphere, the Germans have newly developed aircraft used in the atmosphere, similar to an unmanned jet, with high technical content and lower cost."

"When can we have the same weapon?"

"But It will take another 3-4 years. "Von Karman explained embarrassedly, "The only progress we have made so far is to turn the concept and design proposed by Professor Goddard in the 1930s into reality and re-test it. The test was completely successful and achieved better results - but this was the technical level 10 years ago; we imitated the London rocket to make 24 replicas and launched them 19 times. 9 of them failed completely - they exploded immediately after launch or exploded on the spot; 7 failed midway - they exploded or crashed due to unstable attitude after flying for a period of time after launch; only 3 were successful, but the best one only lasted 47 seconds and flew about 190 kilometers, and the worst one was less than 130 kilometers. "

The British actually fished out a complete V2 rocket from the silt of the Thames, but the three major military leaders kept it secret from Churchill, and did not hand it over to the Americans, but tried every means to hide it and prepare to imitate it themselves. The Americans only relied on some collected debris to reversely imitate the sample, which was very impressive. Of course, a lot of money was spent, more than 300 million US dollars were burned without seeing much.

After listening to the report, Truman was a little disappointed, but he did not show it on his face. Instead, he encouraged the rocket project team further.

Nothing can be achieved overnight, especially high technology - the sample of the Tiger tank has been obtained a long time ago, so why can't we imitate it now? According to the actual combat feedback of the army, the newly developed M26 and the hybridized M26/SP are still no match for the German Tiger 2.