Chapter 695 Atlantic Strangulation War (4)

"Didn't you say that the enemy's main formation is staying near the Azores?"

"Yes, the Army Air Force bombers also tried to attack, but failed." Admiral Jin, who came to report, was also frowning and confused. "One thing the telegram said for sure is that it was an aircraft carrier that attacked us. "

"Can you get any specific information?"

"A little bit, secret information from France claims that the Germans used French battleships to transform them. It is either the Dunkirk or the Jean Bart. Experts estimate that the Dunkirk is more likely. This is not good news. ..." The HMS Brave aircraft carrier (Essex class) had just been commissioned two days ago, and the Royal Navy officers and soldiers are still undergoing final sea trials. Admiral Jin expected to gain further advantage over the main force of the Axis Fleet, but he did not expect the Germans A new aircraft carrier has been commissioned. Now the ratio of aircraft carriers between the two sides has changed from 6:4 to 7:5, and the ratio of battleships has changed from 8:5 to 8:6. The gap between them is actually narrowing.

"Are there any other aircraft carriers that can be dispatched?"

"The Hornet and Wasp (Essex-class) will still be in service in the first ten days of next month, but they are both scheduled to be put into use in the Pacific and must complete necessary sea trials. They will not be truly combat-effective until early December."

Admiral Kim did not say clearly that the carrier-based aircraft pilots for these two warships have not been fully implemented. Except for less than one-third of the skilled officers and soldiers who can be selected from the original Pacific Fleet pilots, the rest of the troops must be recruited from domestic However, in China, except for the pilots who are responsible for training tasks, the rest have been deployed to the main fleet or escort aircraft carriers. The joint element operation in South America alone occupied 1,200 pilots (groups). The original arrangement of the Navy Ministry was quite good—— It is planned to transfer them from the escort aircraft carrier back to the fleet aircraft carrier when they mature. Now that something like this has happened, not only have the pilots of four escort carriers been lost at once, but it also means that once the main fleet fights with the German army, the loss of pilots will be even greater.

There are indeed thousands of carrier-based aircraft pilots in the United States who have obtained qualified take-off and landing certificates, but Admiral Jin knows the quality of these rookies very well. He has performed several missions and used the "natural elimination method" to screen out some of the fundamentals. It's useless. I just give food to people when I go there. Now the United States has introduced the assembly line training method that the United States is most proud of in pilot training: rookies who have completed training in batches first go to a real offshore aircraft carrier to adapt to the ship, allowing them to understand sea takeoff and landing and inland river paddle wheel takeoff and landing. The difference; after passing, perform low-intensity escort operations, such as transporting supplies from the east coast to the Caribbean, and then engage in high-intensity escort operations after maturity, such as performing escort missions on the British-Canada route; then join the escort aircraft carrier to engage in combat assistance, and finally Officially joined the fleet aircraft carrier to participate in frontline operations.

The outline requires that the elimination rate at each pass should be no less than 25%. In this way, after passing five passes, the chance of a pilot with a certificate of qualification formally joining the fleet aircraft carrier in combat service is about 25% - approximately every 1,000 pilots can serve on two ships. The Essex-class aircraft carrier is equipped with sufficient personnel and can maintain a certain combat effectiveness. The idea is indeed good, but the losses are staggering. Many pilots were eliminated before the final pass - for example, the NG215 fleet lost 150 pilots (groups) at once. To gather more people, they can only reduce the number of pilots from the previous one. The qualification requirements of the file, and finally the recursive effect of dominoes.

Another way to solve the problem is to send one more of these two aircraft carriers to the British. It would be no problem for the British to get another qualified carrier-based aircraft pilot, but these two aircraft carriers are destined for Nimitz. Admiral Kim Not wanting to give it to the British unless absolutely necessary means that Nimitz will have to wait until at least January next year to get another Franklin - which will be very detrimental to the Pacific War situation.

"The British-Canada route cannot be cut off. Winter is about to enter. Air transportation will encounter more difficulties. Great Britain cannot bear the torture for too long." Roosevelt was worried. "Our delay in launching the Azores campaign has made Churchill unable to resist. If we continue If he breaks his promise on material delivery, I'm afraid it will be really difficult to maintain it. You don't want our soldiers to get involved in British domestic politics, right?"

"Intervention" actually means "assisting the coup". Admiral Jin certainly understands this, and he is strongly opposed to doing so. He is eager to get rid of this big burden. If he helps Fatty Qiu to stage a coup again, the United States will be completely inseparable from Great Britain. .

"That can only allow General Ingersoll to find the right opportunity to fight the Germans, but the outcome is unpredictable."

Roosevelt said: "If the main fleet can hold off the opponent and only allow the escort formation to attack the Falkland Islands, how confident do you think it is..."

"More than 70%, but we have to be prepared to bear the cost of 20,000 casualties and the loss of at least 500 aircraft." At this time, the US military did not know that the second batch of German reinforcements had arrived, and it was still based on 2 marine brigades and 150-200 aircraft. The aircraft on the left and right were used to measure the strength of the Falklands defense force. The total strength of the two marine brigades was nearly 16,000. The lessons of the two battles to seize the islands in Tarawa and Bermuda had just passed. The United States knew that it had no advantage at all in fighting land wars. So I raised the standard of 20,000 casualties with a guilty conscience. This indicator is actually a big improvement compared to the two previous battles, but it is still enough for the heads of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to jump in: If you attack an overseas island, you will lose 20,000. If you attack the European continent in the future, Landing, facing 5 million elite German troops, how many US troops are planning to die? 5 million? 10 million? Everyone is worried when they think about this terrible prospect, but no one wants to point it out.

When he heard the figure of 20,000, Roosevelt also frowned - this meant that even if he won the battle, at least 3-4 divisions would have to be brought back to rebuild, and then there would be the Azores below. If the Falklands were to be lost, 20,000, the Battle of Azores will not be less than 100,000 anyway, but can he not fight because of heavy casualties? Doesn't that play into the enemy's hands?

He gritted his teeth and said: "You are responsible for formulating a mature adjustment plan: the main fleet will deal with the axis fleet that broke diplomatic relations on the British-Canada route - whether it is the enemy's squadron or the main fleet, the British's newly acquired aircraft carriers also require that they be acquired as soon as possible. Complete the sea trials and join the battle; escort the fleet to seize the Falkland Islands. If we really have to bear the loss of 20,000 and 500 aircraft, I hope to send some more forces. "

Admiral King knew that Roosevelt had made up his mind, so he had no choice but to nod his head in approval.

When I received the top-secret telegram from Admiral King, the Atlantic Fleet was resting and replenishing on the east coast. It was really mixed news for Admiral Ingersoll: Fortunately, the British said that from November onwards, the Brave would be able to complete sea trials ahead of schedule and join the war. At the same time, a new aircraft is supplied to the fleet - the F6F-5 fighter jet is officially put into service. Compared with the previously used F6F-3, it is faster and has better climbing efficiency. Its performance is slightly superior to the German main fighter Bf-219, TBF The torpedo bomber has also been upgraded to the TBM-3 (universal version) equipped with R-2600-20 engines, which increases its speed and range;

The worry is that the Germans have increased their troops again, and intelligence also says that the enemy has also invested in new carrier-based aircraft, which are not weak. The performance of the SB2C used to replace the SBD dive bombers is still unsatisfactory, although this aircraft is known as "Hell". The "Diver" aircraft also followed the Japanese approach and began to adopt the idea of ​​integrating dive bombing and torpedo attack. However, apart from being heavy (7.8 tons), it was almost useless. It was scolded by front-line pilots. They would rather use the slightly improved and upgraded SBD-5. , and refuse to use SB2C.

Historically, the U.S. Navy has always had the upper hand after the Battle of Midway, so the immature SB2C can push forward, wait for gradual improvement, and eventually replace the SBD. Now it is in a weak position on the scene, and the voice of the front line is very heavy, Turner He said forcefully, "If you dare to let the aircraft carrier force equip this kind of 'hell plane', I will order my men to push them all into the sea as soon as I get out of the sea, as many as they can! It is better to lose aircraft in vain than to lose people in vain!"

The bosses of the Joint Chiefs of Staff knew that Turner could do what he said, and they had no choice at all, because the British refused to use SB2C even after they got the courageous aircraft carrier. They only wanted SBD - even if the Americans eliminated it. All models are available. Besides, with Admiral Jin covering Turner, no one dared to touch a hair on the latter. In the end, the Curtis Company had no choice but to break out its teeth and recycle all the first batch of SB2C as scrap, resulting in a loss of more than 4 million US dollars. However, the SBD production line of Douglas Company, which was originally planned to be shut down, continued to operate at full speed. Turner's image in their eyes was extremely high - "the true backbone of the Navy who is responsible for his subordinates!"

This delay delayed the departure of the Atlantic Fleet by nearly four days. Then the Richelieu and the Dunkirk continued to rage in the Atlantic. Not to mention merchant ships flying British and American flags, even neutral merchant ships heading to Britain had to stop for inspection. No matter what supplies they were, as long as they were needed by Germany All of them were labeled by Hinz as "conveying strategic materials in violation of the neutrality law" and were detained and transferred to the Azores; even if the Azores did not need it, as long as the British needed it, Hinz would seize it with the goods on board the ship. It can be sold at a good price if shipped back to the country or given to Spain and Portugal - besides, are there things in the world that the British need that are not "strategic materials"?

Of course, the ship was not confiscated. The German Navy also sent government seizure documents to the ship owners so that they could explain to the cargo owners. Otherwise, who would be willing to continue transporting the goods next time?

Grain, wool, wood, cloth, ore, beef, all the supplies like running water were collected, and the Marine Corps' pension and incentive fees were settled.