Chapter 402 Breaking the Atlantic Ocean (7)

After receiving the telegram and rushing to the White House, Admiral Jin's face was ashen. Unexpectedly, before a large-scale confrontation with the German army, the aircraft carrier formation he had high hopes for lost two aircraft carriers, two battleships and one heavy cruiser. At the same time, there were 2 more aircraft carriers. One battleship was injured and more than 80 aircraft were lost, but Spruance told the truth on one point - the strength of the German army was now obvious to all, indicating that the 300,000 tons sunk by the Royal Navy in the North Sea Battle was no accident.

But the words "no accident" are even more sad, which shows that the real strength is inferior to others. Admiral Jin thought of the extremely sad joke that has been circulating recently: The Royal Navy has been the world's overlord for 200 years. Even more powerful than the Royal Navy is the U.S. Navy. Together, they were invincible in the world, but they were defeated by the Japanese first. Having learned a lesson with airplanes, now even German airplanes can do whatever they want - those stupid guys (note: either British or Americans) who invented airplanes and aircraft carriers should be hanged 1,000 times!

"What to do now?" Roosevelt asked in confusion and worry. "Spruance is still insisting on pursuing the German fleet. Is it necessary to let him come back? I'm worried that he is too impulsive!"

Ingersoll, the commander-in-chief of the Atlantic Fleet, did not speak, but his eyes revealed that his thoughts were on the president's side. Admiral Jin didn't think so. He had a character that became more courageous with every setback. Now he felt more and more that Turner's idea was right. He must concentrate all his strength to give the German army a desperate blow to recapture the Azores Islands from Spruance. Judging from the reported situation, the German land-based air defense circle will be drawn according to the standard of 500 nautical miles in the future - because the fleet was attacked 800 kilometers away from the Port of Heroes, the air defense circle can really be drawn at this level, and the Azores is the fulcrum. It’s so scary—the air defense circle on the west side of the Iberian Peninsula and the air defense circle on the east side of the Azores perfectly border each other, which means that the sea area between the Azores and Portugal has entered a state of blockade similar to the North Sea, and any Allied ships In the future, anyone who wants to travel through time will have to take great risks - not all fleets have the size and strength of fleets X and Y, but even the latter were beaten to death by the Germans today?

He could not agree to the request to withdraw the fleet now. It would be easy to come back, just send a telegram and issue an order, but today's losses were completely solidified, and there would never be any chance to recover the losses. Spruance was the person he favored and recommended. Before departure, he forcefully laid out his position in front of the British and took over the command of the Royal Navy. Regardless of the national image or the standpoint of self-decision, Admiral Kim could not Slap yourself.

"President..." he spoke with difficulty, "we cannot withdraw the fleet. Based on the scale of the 500-nautical-mile air defense circle and the fulcrum of the Azores, it basically means that all the sea areas east of 37 degrees west longitude are controlled by Germany. Below, that’s terrible.”

Roosevelt subconsciously looked at the map and immediately understood the implication of Admiral King's words: The 37th west longitude line is located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. If the east of this line is not controlled, it means that half of the Atlantic Ocean will return to the axis. Not only will the scope of activities of the Anglo-American Allies be greatly reduced, but the confidence in the world will collapse - the Axis can share control of the Atlantic seas with the Allies. Is this even a big deal? The image of the German Army as invincible is well-known around the world. Even if it wants to challenge it, it is not the turn of Britain and the United States. The confidence of the Allies and most countries in South America in Britain and the United States is entirely based on sea power. If one day the Axis is not only overwhelmed in the army The Allies can also compete with Britain and the United States in the navy. Is there any hope of winning this war?

"Before the newly commissioned warships are put into operation, this fleet is one of the few effective forces we have in the Atlantic, and we really cannot afford to lose it." Ingersoll took a breath and expressed his concerns, "In addition, we and We are still steadily overwhelming the British warships on the slipway, but if we only count the power currently floating on the sea, we are..."

He couldn't finish the second half of the sentence. Roosevelt thought about it and found that this was not an alarmist: the Axis Group currently has at least 12 powerful battleships (battlecruisers) and 5-8 aircraft carriers. The British and American Not only is the total strength of the navy slightly less than its opponents, but the performance of its carrier-based aircraft and the quality of its pilots are also far inferior to its opponents. What a sad scene this is - the navy ranks third in the world (Japan), fourth in the world (Italy), and The fifth (Germany) actually beat the world's first (USA) and the world's second (UK) to such a miserable state.

"The more critical the situation is, the more determined we must be to destroy the enemy fleet, especially its aircraft carriers. Even if it is 1 for 1 or 2 for 1, we can accept it." Admiral Jin argued, "If Sprue Enns can use the two aircraft carriers in hand to destroy the German aircraft carriers. I will not hesitate to issue this order. This means that by the end of the month, we will still have three aircraft carriers available, but the enemy will not have any aircraft carriers. Then continue We have new aircraft carriers put into service every month, and the enemy cannot keep up with this speed. But if we retreat in the face of difficulties, even if we only retreat temporarily to accumulate strength, it will cause inestimable losses."

"For example?"

Admiral King described a terrible scene to Roosevelt: ...as long as the Axis fleet appears in South America and the Allies are unable to deal with it, the countries in South America will definitely fall into full panic, because all the naval forces there combined are no match for the German fleet. A Tirpitz battleship can walk sideways on the Brazilian sea. Based on the political systems and traditional styles of those countries in South America, coupled with regional powerful countries such as Argentina and Mexico that have been constantly involved with Germany, the consequences would be disastrous.

Admiral Jin said in a low voice: "What if we do nothing and the Germans organize 2-3 divisions to land in Brazil or somewhere else?"

Roosevelt didn't react after hearing this, but it woke Ingersoll up. He opened his mouth wide in shock and couldn't say a word - he didn't think that Admiral King was alarmist or deliberately intimidating Roosevelt, but I think this could turn out to be a terrible reality.

If Hoffman heard these words, he would definitely laugh with joy: Are the Americans crazy or something? They dare to land in Brazil with 2-3 divisions. Do they really think that German soldiers are supermen? But in the eyes of Americans, the army strength of a country like Brazil is worth three divisions. Not to mention three German armored divisions, even three American divisions can be completely flattened - the war experience gained by the United States since the US-Mexican War That's it.

Roosevelt was deeply moved by this. He could ignore Europe and Asia, but these little brothers in South America must be controlled, otherwise the United States' international image and status as a great power will collapse. He nodded: "You have convinced me. Give the fleet another chance. Today's loss actually has nothing to do with the German Navy - it is the German Air Force's powerful aircraft."

Speaking of aircraft, Admiral King immediately responded: "Spruance said in the telegram that the Bf-219 was very similar to a new Japanese aircraft he had seen in the Pacific, and he suspected that the Germans had comprehensively improved it. It is more powerful and better than the Japanese version. Since the F4F is not a match for the Bf-219, he hopes to completely replace it with the F6F as soon as possible so that pilots will not die needlessly. "

"What's Grumman's production like?"

"Originally, they were expected to produce 200 aircraft this month, but I asked them to fully accelerate it. They even stopped the F4F production line to increase the production of F6F to more than 500 aircraft."

Ingersoll added: "The major shipyards have also informed them that other projects will be temporarily suspended and we will fully accelerate the construction of fleet aircraft carriers and escort aircraft carriers. We will start construction 24 hours a day and not stop for a moment."

"Production is also a war, and it even determines whether we can achieve final victory." Roosevelt asked with bright eyes. "Spruance emphasized twice in the telegram that the enemy has very fast and very concealed aviation torpedoes. We I just want to ask, what kind of torpedo is this, and how fast is it? "

There was silence in the office. The two admirals didn't know how to answer this sentence. The Navy has been blinded many times on the torpedo issue: many submarine captains have been complaining that their MK14 torpedoes hit the target but refused to explode. Admiral Jin has slapped the table on the table more than once, but with little success - this phenomenon has been going on for more than a year, and there is still no improvement. The confusion about Japanese torpedoes is even greater. More than half a year ago, Pacific Fleet Commander-in-Chief Nimitz asked the question "How-far-is-far?" It sounded a lot like a couple flirting. We often ask stupid questions like "How-far-is-always?" But the bloody result of the battleship North Carolina being hit by a torpedo over 10,000 meters away is right in front of us, and no one can help but take it seriously. Admiral Kim would bet that if the Germans used American torpedoes today, Spruance's fleet would only lose 1-2 battleships.

"It has been observed that more than 50 knots..."

“Where are our similar products?”

"Less than 35 knots."

"It's not even 70% of the enemy's level?" Roosevelt suddenly turned around and told his two men, "I don't care what method you use, you must narrow this gap. The Army's Sherman tanks are not German at all. The opponent of the Tiger tank was ridiculed as a 'Lonson lighter' by outsiders. I don't want to hear that the Navy's torpedoes will also be ridiculed as a '30-fold torpedo' in the future..."

In the evening, the North Sea Fleet southwest of the Madeira Islands received intelligence forwarded by the Azores defenders, detailing the process of discovering and severely damaging the US fleet. The telegram finally made a request, hoping that the North Sea Fleet could cooperate with the island defenders to attack the U.S. fleet. This enemy fleet was completely destroyed.

Surrounding this request, great controversy arose within the fleet, and everyone had different opinions on whether to reverse the request...