Chapter 1078 1944: Speed ​​and Lightning (28)

The reason that made Horikichi cry so sadly was, of course, the many crises faced by the decoy fleet - slow speed, low defense capabilities, divided troops, and operating in broad daylight. It was almost as if he had a "Death" banner on his forehead, but not like this It's not possible, because Halsey refused to divide the troops yesterday and still took 550 aircraft to operate in a group. If he continues to refuse to divide the troops, he or Tsunoda will not be able to handle this scale. Even if he and Tsunoda work together, it may not be easy. Eat it, so you must throw the bait to your opponent to make him think there is an opportunity and divide his troops.

Before the decoy fleet separated, Horikichi had telegraphed Tsunoda and Tsukawara to inform them of the change of formation and asked them to make corresponding adjustments based on the current position of Halsey: Tsukahara accelerated northward, Tsunoda adjusted course and accelerated to meet the decoy fleet. and.

Fifteen minutes later, Tsukahara sent a telegram, informing the fleet that it was still nearly 1,300 kilometers away from Halsey's fleet. Even at maximum speed (Nagato's 25 knots), it would be difficult to reach the strike position before this evening. He hoped to The total attack time will be tomorrow morning.

Halsey knew that there was a Japanese fleet behind him, but he lost the news of the fleet after the other party left the Mexican waters. He did not know that Tsukahara had been struggling to catch up, and subconsciously believed that the fleet was still far away. Tsukahara performed the last refueling operation before leaving Panama. He used a tanker to replenish all the fuel on the warship, and then sent the tanker to the Galapagos Island to standby under the protection of some warships. He led the main force northward, traveling at a very fast speed for several days. It exceeds 23 knots, but he is much more restrained than Tsunoda. Although he is traveling at high speed, he does not race a boat - he never drives above 25 knots.

Starting from the afternoon of the 26th, after more than 60 hours of chasing, he had narrowed the distance from Halsey from 1,900 kilometers to within 1,300 kilometers. Although it was still a bit far away, it was no longer out of reach.

Based on the information revealed in this telegram, Chiaki Matsuda was hesitant to implement the "bait" strategy until Tsukawara came closer, but Horikichi still firmly ordered the execution - because if the U.S. military does not divide its forces tonight and the second aviation battle cannot be achieved, Regarding supplies, there will be major problems along the way to the north tomorrow - it may not be easy to pump Musashi and King Kong oil at that time.

"William, we found another Japanese fleet, with two regular aircraft carriers and two battleships..." McCain shouted in surprise, "It's the fleet that attacked Seattle."

At 14:38 that afternoon, the TF50 fleet finally found the Tsunoda fleet that had been searching for a long time. It was not because the U.S. reconnaissance plane suddenly launched force, but because Tsunoda boldly adjusted its heading to 225 degrees after receiving Horikichi's telegram. After several hours of driving, the distance to Halsey quickly shortened, finally allowing the U.S. reconnaissance plane to fly in. Tsunoda reduced the distance to 960 kilometers and made a discovery.

Of course Tsunoda was taking a risk by doing this, but he also had a lot of confidence:

First of all, the 29 aircraft that Horikichi supplied to him have landed safely. Now the two Unryu-class ships in the Second Air Battle are basically full, with a total of 141 aircraft. If Halsey forms a fast column, the strength of both sides is worthy of a battle;

Secondly, Hori Tikichi sent out a decoy formation and drove it at 45 degrees. The second battle course was 225 degrees, and the two sides met head to head and drove in opposite directions. The decoy fleet speed was 15 knots, and Tsunoda maintained 16 knots. The combined total speed was 31 knots, and the distance from each other per hour was It can be shortened by 55 kilometers. Especially after Tsunoda adjusted the route and separated the decoy fleet from the fifth aviation battle, the distance between the two sides was shortened to only 970 kilometers in less than 5 hours. If the current speed continues, the distance between the two sides will be further reduced to 750 kilometers when the sun sets at 6:30.

On the surface, if the gap continues to be shortened at this speed, they will not be able to merge until dawn the next day. However, Tsunoda has already considered clearly that this speed is not the maximum speed, and there is still room for improvement: he plans to take the risk of speeding up the fleet after nightfall, using the last bit of fuel to reach more than 27 knots, and then requires the decoy fleet to increase its speed accordingly. At 16 knots (the fastest speed), the two fleets continued to maintain the same course, resulting in a combined top speed of 43 knots.

According to this strategy, the distance between the two sides can be shortened by 80 kilometers per hour, and it only takes 9 and a half hours to meet. The two sides will meet at 4 a.m. on the 30th and start refueling operations.

Masafumi Arima is convinced that all fuel replenishment can be completed within 4 hours. In this way, by 8 o'clock in the morning, not only will the fuel be fully replenished in the second aviation battle, but also the carrier-based aircraft power of the decoy fleet-an additional 68 fighter jets will be available for direct fleet control. It is more reliable to cover the air defense.

Tsunoda bet that Halsey wouldn't be able to hit him at 8 o'clock in the morning: because the sky would light up at 6:30, the U.S. military needed to conduct reconnaissance to determine its position before dispatching aircraft, and it would not be possible to arrive before 8 o'clock at the earliest - even though At that time, the distance between the two sides may be only 400-500 kilometers.

Just when Halsey, McCain and their staff were facing the new situation and judging whether to send a fast column to fight Tsunoda first, at 15:04, another reconnaissance plane reported that it had discovered the Japanese fleet, heading 45 degrees, speed 15 Festival, the fleet size is smaller than the Hawaii Army Aviation reconnaissance intelligence, and it is 975 kilometers away from the TF50 fleet.

The Japanese army has divided its forces! This is what Halsey and McCain immediately thought of. Now TF50 is faced with multiple choices:

First, organize a fast column to eat the Japanese decoy fleet. The staff reminded that if the fast column advances at a speed of about 30 knots, the gap between the two sides can be reduced to less than 800 kilometers around 5 o'clock in the evening. Basically, the last sunset can be used to launch an attack, but You can only return at night;

Second, organize a fast column to attack the Tsunoda fleet. The fast column also advances at a speed of 30 knots. At 16:45, it can reduce the distance between each other to about 770 kilometers, ensuring that it can hit the opponent before dark, but it can still only return at night;

Third, maintain the pressure of the entire army and move toward the expected meeting point of the Japanese army. The distance between them can be reduced to about 450-500 kilometers at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning.

Fourth, organize a rapid column to press forward but do not attack today, and reduce the attack distance to within 150 kilometers at dawn tomorrow.

Fifth, organize a rapid column to attack. Regardless of the outcome, the rapid column will turn around or wait in place after nightfall to continue joining forces with the escort aircraft carrier formation.

How to choose?

Halsey was suddenly in trouble. His first thought after discovering Tsunoda was to organize a rapid column to attack Tsunoda. However, the appearance of the decoy fleet not only changed the situation drastically, but also made the decision-making hesitant.

The biggest problem facing TF50 now is that the two enemy forces are not too weak. To organize a fast column, two ships must be pressed together to be confident. If two Essex-class ships are spread out to attack both ends, they may not be able to take down one. , the ensuing backlash will be astonishing - he can hit his opponent, and the opponent can also hit him!

Halsey was not clear about one detail: Although the Japanese decoy fleet appeared to have seven "aircraft carriers," it actually had only 68 fighter jets and no offensive capabilities at all - this was something that could not be seen from any reconnaissance aircraft. Now the decoy fleet seems to have shrunk in strength, but its scale is still there.

He asked McCain for his opinion. The latter couldn't tell which plan was best at once, but he looked at the problem from different angles: "William, things are not that simple. Why should the enemy divide his troops when they are doing well? No division of troops or adjustments. We haven't even found an opponent on the route. After the division of troops, did the original Japanese fleet also organize a fast column similar to ours? - There is no reliable information yet. This is a snake entrenched in the dark. If we take action rashly, it is very likely that Got bitten hard."

Halsey was shocked, and suddenly thought that this was also a very scary prospect - the disadvantaged Pacific Fleet would not dare to play a 1:1 exchange with Japan. If the Japanese army used 2 or even 3 Yunlong-class ships to exchange for his 2 Ethiopian ships, The remaining warships of the TF50 fleet will be destroyed.

McCain then analyzed: "If I guess correctly, the fleet attacking Seattle should be able to reach more than 25 knots at full speed. Why is it advancing slowly at only 16 knots? Is it deliberately confusing us?"

The reason why the Tsunoda fleet did not drive faster was not because they didn't want to go faster, but because they ran out of fuel. Halsey and McCain couldn't figure out such a bloody thing, and McCain could only infer that it was a conspiracy.

"I kind of understand what you're thinking. The enemy exposed part of his strength yesterday to lure us into dividing our forces, but we didn't fall for the trick. Today, he deliberately exposed another squadron, and then divided up the main force of the fleet attacking Pearl Harbor to lure us into dividing our forces as well. Once I organized a fast column to pounce on me, and the secret Japanese fast column will soon work together to pounce on my vanguard..." Halsey pointed at the chart and said, "The enemy can organize two fast columns, but our army can only Organize a formation; the enemy's pilots are not afraid of returning at night, but most of our pilots are not. The enemy has more and more favorable conditions than we do by organizing a rapid column."

"I didn't think about the night flight just now, but you reminded me." McCain sighed with lingering fear, "This is so damn insidious... I bet that the Japanese commander must be Horikichi! He is the only one. You can come up with so many crazy ideas.”

Halsey could only respond with a wry smile. The bitter consequences of losing too many elite pilots have finally come to full effect. Now we are at a loss to fight: not at a distance, not at night, not in large aircraft formations... Just like in the past when there were more pilots and more aircraft carriers in the fleet, He might take the gamble regardless of the risk. As long as he can kill and injure the enemy, there won't be any other problems.

Now he simply does not dare to take risks with the few remaining pilots and warships. The combined fleet's current strength not only exceeds that of the Pacific Fleet, but even exceeds that of the U.S. Navy as a whole. Even though he believes that the United States has unlimited potential, it is unable to parry it in a short period of time. Not only is Japan the enemy, there is also the Axis Combined Fleet eyeing the Atlantic. It is reported that the fleet has reached the depths of the North Atlantic, and its whereabouts are unknown. Washington is very nervous.

He was suddenly in trouble. He made only one wrong choice. He was convinced that the fate that awaited him and the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the TF50 fleet would be an abyss...