Chapter 1079 1944: Speed ​​and Lightning (29, Additional Update for 3,000 Votes)

For Japan, Operation Czech-1, which destroyed the fuel system of Pearl Harbor, has been successfully completed. Except for the slightly higher cost, the rest are within the affordable range. The next key battle is the Czech 2 - the encirclement and suppression of the main force of the US Pacific Fleet, clearing the way for the subsequent Czech 3 - the battle to attack Hawaii.

So far, the Jet 2 is still in many difficulties, but it is completely under the control of Horikichi. This is clearly seen by Chiaki Matsuda and the staff. On the surface, it seems that the combined fleet is divided into several fleets, and at one time there was a second voyage. The battle was difficult due to lack of fuel, but in fact Chiaki Matsuda never saw embarrassment on Horikichi's face, only confidence - even if he failed to induce Halsey to divide his troops, his confidence was not shaken. Except for being clearly seen in "Tenchu ​​****", this kind of confidence seems to be rarely revealed in the combat field, so Chiaki Matsuda is also very interested.

To be fair, Halsey has generally responded well so far, but the fatal problem of imperfect intelligence cannot be avoided - his reconnaissance planes often cannot find the Japanese fleet, and his estimate of the strength of the Japanese army is also slow. Can't decide.

The total number of aircraft owned by the Japanese army is 378 (169 Horikichi + 68 decoy fleet + 141 Tsunoda). After deducting the nearly 30 Saiun Kai and Yo Saiun that cannot be used in combat, the number of actual combat aircraft is 350. After deducting the reconnaissance aircraft, the US military has 378 aircraft. There are exactly half as many combat aircraft.

However, the Japanese army has more pilots than Halsey. Tsunoda still has nearly 260 pilots. Before the division of troops, Horikichi had more than 450 pilots, and the total number of pilots was more than 700. It was more than Halsey, which had 550 aircraft and 650 pilots. There are more than 50 people in the west.

What cannot be ignored is the comparison of quality and experience. When the support fleet departed from Japan, it had more than 650 pilots, one-third of which were experienced backbones, and the remaining two-thirds, more than 400 pilots, were considered novices. After the second After several consecutive rounds of operations in the Pearl Harbor Attack, these new pilots all had actual combat experience. The Battle of Tsunoda in Seattle also gave some of the novice pilots (although the number was small) a training, which means that all current Japanese pilots have experienced actual combat, and Halsi's more than 650 pilots have more than 100 actual combat experiences, which is really far behind.

The experience of sailors also varies greatly. More than 75% of the Japanese army's officers and soldiers have more than one combat experience. The US military's sailors are also mainly newcomers, with an experience rate of only 25%. Especially among the 12 Casablanca-class escort aircraft carriers, 8 of them have been promoted from pilots to sailors. Yi Shui'er is a newbie and has never participated in any battle. Even the other four ships only undertook escort operations in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and followed Nimitz from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to Pearl Harbor.

This is how TF50 was formed with mainly new ships and new people. Nimitz, who was well aware of the situation, had such a reminder. After all, Halsey and McCain were battle-hardened veterans. He and Sprue Enns is somewhat relieved.

For Horikichi, these problems do not exist: he knows how many warships TF50 has; although he does not know how many aircraft are on the warships, he can strictly infer based on the full strength of the Essex-class and Casablanca-class - and the facts Basically the same; he still knows exactly how fast the TF50 can run. The doubts and difficulties that Halsey faced did not exist for him - so it seemed that Halsey had more troops, but Chiaki Matsuda felt that the commander was driving his opponent into the cage step by step.

Facing the possibilities listed by McCain, Halsey hesitated for a long time, but still could not completely sort out the clues, so he had to continue to ask the staff: "If I don't divide the troops, the Japanese will organize a rapid column to take the initiative to attack this evening. Us?"

"It's hard to say..." McCain thought for a long time before replying, "Although it is very possible, I prefer that the enemy will not do this for two reasons: First, if our army maintains its current speed and course, No change, the enemy will not have a chance to enter the 800-kilometer attack range until at least 17:00. By the time they arrive over the fleet, it will be dark and the Japanese will not be able to get much advantage; secondly, our army currently has a complete lineup and has There are 550 combat aircraft, including nearly 230 fighter jets. The Japanese attack may have to come in multiple waves, but our army can deploy all air defense fighters at once to intercept and defend. The Japanese offensive fleet will definitely be overwhelmed when faced with 230 fighter jets. Blood flow. This is why the enemy has been using various means to trick us into dividing our forces. Horikichi sees clearly that as long as we move forward as a group, his fleet cannot defeat us. "

"The only concern is that these two fleets..." Halsey clicked on the decoy fleet and Tsunoda fleet whose positions were clear on the chart. "They will join forces tomorrow morning, which will greatly enhance the enemy's strength."

"In fact, nothing has changed. Instead, it makes it easier for us to gather together and annihilate them." McCain shrugged. "It's nothing more than Horikichi recombining part of his power with another fleet. Originally A was strong and B was weak, but now it has become A is weak and B is strong. It's just that he uses the stronger fleet to face us every time. In essence, it does not increase his military strength. However, the small force he now hides in the dark needs to be more vigilant to prevent his opponents. Give us a sudden blow."

Halsey was basically convinced. At 15:45, after in-depth discussions and repeated simulations and map work by his staff, he finally decided to stand still: the results of the deduction showed that the results of a fast column attack in the evening would be very limited due to line of sight. ——3-4 escort aircraft carriers or 1 fleet aircraft carrier, and the fast column will run the risk of losing more aircraft - some aircraft will be lost during the attack, and others will be lost when returning, and it is precisely this batch of BTD attack aircraft that will be lost regardless of the aircraft carrier. Both the crew and the aircraft are very valuable to the current TF50.

The staff officers came to a cruel conclusion: Even if the Japanese army only defends but does not counterattack, due to factors such as long-distance voyages, night flights, and fighter interceptions, the loss of our attack group will exceed 65%. This is an unbearable price for tomorrow's war, because The Japanese army still has a fast column that has not shown its face.

In the end, Halsey decided to continue to advance the large formation, in order to prevent the Japanese army from organizing fast columns to eat him, and took the initiative to adjust the formation speed from 17 knots to 14 knots, intending to take a breath first and return to more than 16 knots at night.

It was impossible for Halsey and McCain to just defend. They quickly formulated an attack plan: they would first release reconnaissance aircraft at around 5 a.m. tomorrow, and then release the attack aircraft group 20 minutes later to pounce on the theoretical possible rendezvous point of the Japanese army. Based on the intelligence from the reconnaissance aircraft, the aircraft group corrected its route midway and prepared to attack.

The staff deduced that at about 5 o'clock tomorrow, TF50 would be about 500 kilometers away from the two Japanese fleets, just in time to launch a wave of attacks.

Faced with the overall disadvantageous situation in the Pacific and repeated advice from McCain and others, "Bad Bull" Halsey finally did not dare to send out a fast column to devour the decoy fleet prepared for him by Horikichi, and chose the safest method. ——We should face the coming Japanese attack with a constant and ever-changing attitude, and prepare to attack at dawn the next day.

To prevent misunderstandings, he asked his subordinates to send the detailed information to Washington and asked Spruance to help find out if there were any flaws. The TF50 is currently the only mobile force on the West Coast, and any negligence may lead to destruction. as a result of.

Washington called back an hour later. Spruance believed that the existing response was more appropriate. He was not the only one who thought so. Nimitz and the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff all agreed with the existing option after judging the situation between the enemy and ourselves. The British Gram also sent a telegram asking for caution.

Regarding his idea of ​​launching a quick attack early tomorrow morning, Nimitz privately reminded him not to attack with all his troops! At least half of the aircraft must be left to deal with emergencies. The consequences of an air attack would be disastrous - who is sure that the two Japanese fleets must be meeting? What if the course changes tonight?

Halsey and McCain took this reminder seriously.

Nimitz specifically added a sentence at the end of the telegram: If you are sure that your opponent is Horikichi and does not have a very favorable fighter opportunity, you may as well turn around at night and give up the pursuit. Sometimes effectively preserving yourself is also a victory.

Halsey and McCain both shook their heads at this suggestion: turning around was impossible, which meant that the Navy and Pacific Fleet would completely lose their value and would only be able to huddle on the West Coast as a presence fleet and a harassment fleet. However, the telegram reminded Hal Xi, tomorrow's battle is not as easy as it seems. His mentality has changed unknowingly. He believes that if he cannot defeat his opponent by a large margin, it is acceptable to successfully eat a small part of the enemy fleet while preserving his own strength. The accumulation is small. A big victory not only allows the troops to be fully trained, but also serves as a reminder to other services and Washington.

At 17:45, the aviation staff loudly reported to Halsey: "Four enemy reconnaissance planes were discovered!"

"Sure enough! The Japanese are waiting for us to divide our forces and sent reconnaissance planes to check the specific status of the fleet." Halsey patted his head happily and said, "Let the carrier-based aircraft shoot them down as much as possible."

Usually the Japanese army only dispatches one reconnaissance plane, but now they send out four at once, obviously preparing to carry out an extraordinary reconnaissance mission - which immediately made Halsey and McCain think of each other. But the Japanese army moved faster. As soon as it was determined that the TF50 fleet had not divided its forces, it immediately fled. The F4Us only missed.

"Sir, the opponent turned a blind eye to our two fleets and still refused to divide their forces." Chiaki Matsuda said with a smile, "I feel that the enemy is a little too cautious. If I take command, they will definitely rush forward. Even if they don't take the bait fleet, they will still attack Tsunoda. The second aviation battle."

"Is it possible for two Essex-class ships to sink two Yunlong-class ships?"

"It depends on your luck... You can at least kill one. If you sacrifice a little more, you can kill two."

Horikichi nodded: "Assuming that both of them were sunk, how many attack aircraft do you think the Americans will lose?"

"Kakuda has more than 60 fighter jets. Assuming that the US military sends an attack formation of 180 aircraft, according to the normal exchange ratio, the opponent will lose at least 80-90 aircraft after the air attack."

"What do you think about losing 80 planes first, and then losing 40 planes on return?"

"You want to lose so much?" Matsuda Chiaki was shocked.