Chapter 968 Nimitz's Counterattack (1)

On July 14, 1944, in the waters of Recife in northeastern Brazil, a huge steel dragon was moving forward in an orderly manner on the sea.

The entire Atlantic Fleet was divided into two echelons: the front was the combat echelon led by Nimitz himself, code-named TF48; the back was the huge transport echelon, which included not only army equipment transport ships, but also the navy formation's own supply ships.

In the formation of the TF48 fleet, Nimitz once again innovated:

The first is that the aircraft carrier formation and the artillery formation are no longer formed separately, but completely blended together. Tactics and equipment are always changing. He has three powerful Iowa-class battleships under his command - New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Missouri. Each of them can run at a speed of more than 30 knots, and can move at the same speed as the Essex-class aircraft carrier to achieve accompanying combat.

The strong industrial power of the United States can be seen in the construction progress of the Missouri. The construction of this warship started in January 1942 and was completed in less than three and a half years. In comparison, the British Lion battleship, which is not as large in tonnage and combat effectiveness as the Iowa class, started construction in 1939 and has not been completed so far. It is said that it will be completed by August at the earliest, but judging from the current situation, it will be good if it can be completed before October, let alone August.

Hoffman is troubled by these British battleships. There are a total of three British battleships lying on the slipway, namely Lion, Brave (both Lion class) and Vanguard (Vanguard class). According to the construction progress estimated by the United Kingdom itself, Lion will be completed in August 1944, Vanguard will be completed in March 1945, and Brave will be completed before December 1945.

At present, the main structure and equipment installation of Lion have been basically completed. Hoffman believes that there is no big problem with the ship. At most, a group of engineers can be sent to inspect it. However, Vanguard and Brave still need to be built by the British. There may be various problems. Negative work is still a light problem. If there is unqualified quality, boiler problems, and large deviation of artillery fire, it may directly cause big trouble in the naval battle.

The Armament Department initially suggested that the latter two battleships be modified into angled aircraft carriers according to the treatment of the previous warships. The problem is that after they are modified, the Yunlong class, which started construction in early 1943, will be put into service in large quantities, and there is no urgency to convert aircraft carriers. Moreover, the Anglo-German contract has not yet been signed, and the British side has not handed over the technical drawings and parameters of these warships, making it even more difficult to design a complete reconstruction plan.

After listening to the opinions of experts, Speer believed that if the British side could guarantee the quality and progress, it was recommended to continue construction in Britain. If not, simply tow it back to the German shipyard for outfitting. The main guns can continue to use three triple-mounted 406mm (16-inch) 45-caliber main guns designed by the United Kingdom, and other facilities (such as radar, anti-aircraft guns) can be equipped with German standards to form a unified system.

Even if battleships will no longer be the mainstream of naval warfare in the foreseeable future, Germany and Italy are still very envious of the 406mm naval guns in the hands of the United Kingdom. The 380mm guns on the Bismarck class are not powerful enough. The Veneto class considered using 406mm naval guns at the beginning of its construction, but the technical content was too high and it could not be adopted. The 381mm naval guns finally used were powerful enough, but the dispersion accuracy and corrosion resistance of the gun barrel were very poor. Now that the United Kingdom has joined, these technical difficulties do not exist. If there is an idea, all naval guns can be replaced with 406mm at an appropriate time.

After demonstration, experts believe that the overall strength of the Bismarck class and the Veneto class can reach 90% of the Iowa class after replacing the 406mm naval guns, which is slightly inferior to the Lion class. Italy has expressed its interest and is ready to replace the main guns at the right time.

However, the Americans don't have so many worries. They just need to speed up the construction. Now the Illinois and Kentucky are still lying on the slipway. Because the US Navy has suffered much greater losses than in history, these two warships started construction earlier than in history. The Illinois is expected to be commissioned in June 1946, and the Kentucky is expected to be commissioned at the end of the same year. In 1947, the more powerful Montana-class ships will begin to serve. In September 1947, the first Montana-class ship, the Montana, will be commissioned (construction period 48-54 months, average 51 months).

In order to fight against Japan's super battleships and Axis battleship groups, the United States spent a huge amount of money and launched a huge 8-8 fleet construction plan, that is, to build 8 new Montana-class ships, complete 6 Iowa-class ships, and then add 2 ships, and by 1950, a luxurious configuration of 8 Montana-class ships + 8 Iowa-class ships will be achieved. However, the 88 Fleet is destined to be a bubble, because the first ship of the Iowa class, the Iowa, has sunk to the seabed about 2,000 kilometers away from Western Australia. The Navy applied for an emergency budget for two Iowa-class ships two days ago, but the large slipways have been fully used and there is no time to build them, even if the cost is willing to be borne.

At the beginning, because the super battleship brought by the appearance of the Yamato was too shocking, the United States could not wait to restart the Montana-class construction plan, but as time went on, doubts about the construction plan began to grow. One voice believes that the Montana class takes too long and the Navy cannot survive the short-term period of insufficient strength; another voice believes that the Montana class is very expensive, and this part of the cost is better transferred to more aviation and armored combat readiness.

The Navy has another voice. Some experts believe that the large angled aircraft carrier built by Germany has certain advantages, and they also plan to extract an Iowa-class ship for transformation. Some even think that the Iowa ship is not enough, and suggest using the Montana-class ship to build a super aircraft carrier.

Although these various arguments have their own reasons, they have not formed an overwhelming consensus, and the construction progress of the Iowa-class and Montana-class is still progressing steadily. Nimitz originally believed that the emergence and rapid growth of aircraft brought about the destruction of the era of giant ships and cannons, but after Hori Teikichi creatively used the Yamato to charge, he was shocked to discover the important value of battleships, especially super battleships - strong defensive capabilities.

It is obvious that a pure battleship unit has no chance of winning against the enemy's aircraft carrier formation. However, if battleships are mixed with their own aircraft carriers, and battleships serve as regional defense centers for unified defense, their toughness can be fully utilized. That is, in a wheel-shaped defense formation, one battleship serves as a bodyguard for 1-2 aircraft carriers, and two anti-aircraft cruisers and four destroyers form an aircraft carrier battle group. The innovatively organized aircraft carrier battle group is much more survivable than the previous aircraft carrier battle group that used heavy cruisers as protection.

After studying the Spruance case, Nimitz found that although the fleet was eventually destroyed, it experienced three waves of attacks from the main aircraft carrier formation of the Combined Fleet before it was destroyed, and the performance of the Iowa, which served as the backbone of defense, was remarkable. This further strengthened his concept that battleships, especially super battleships, still have value, but whether it is necessary to build so many is debatable.

Nimitz even has a more radical view: using the Montana hull to build a super anti-aircraft battleship, that is, only installing cruiser-level 203mm naval guns, and the number can be compressed to 3 triple-mounted (9 guns), and the empty tonnage and space are all installed with defensive firepower to strengthen the fleet's anti-aircraft firepower network.

This view currently has only one supporter at the top: Turner!

The latter even went a step further, believing that even the 203mm naval guns did not need to be installed and could be removed altogether, with only anti-aircraft firepower deployed, including 127mm dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns (newly developed 54-caliber 127mm twin-mounted), 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns and 20mm Oerlikon machine guns. According to Turner's idea, if a 70,000-ton ship had no main turret, at least 48 127mm anti-aircraft guns and more than 100 20mm close-range firepower could be deployed.

Then the saved tonnage was provided to the engine, so that the engine horsepower could be increased to the same level as the Iowa class - the eight boilers and turbines of the Montana class all used independent bulkhead compartments, which greatly improved the ability to resist flooding. In order to reduce the weight of the power unit, the Montana class main engine power was only 172,000 horsepower, 40,000 horsepower less than the Iowa, so that the speed dropped to 28 knots. Turner believed that after the ship was lifted up, this super anti-aircraft battleship could reach more than 30 knots (Iowa can reach 33 knots at full speed), which would make it more valuable to accompany the battle.

Nimitz had experienced Turner's madness, but this madness obviously exceeded his expectations, and the Navy Committee did not even accept Nimitz's compromise suggestion, let alone Turner's idea. Ingram and Halsey of the Pacific Fleet did not agree with this idea.

But even Turner himself did not know that his idea actually had a soulmate.

At the recent naval equipment development seminar held in Germany, Hoffman proposed the idea of ​​a "mobile anti-aircraft tower": since the construction quality and progress of the Brave could not be guaranteed, and it was not worthwhile to convert it into an angled aircraft carrier, the 406mm naval gun group originally intended to be used with it was simply allocated to the Tirpitz to enhance the latter's firepower, and the Brave's hull was used as an innovative platform to build a new type of warship, without naval guns!

The idea of ​​"no naval guns" scared everyone, but Hoffman argued: "Our electric twin-mounted 128mm dual-purpose artillery has proved its value on air defense towers, why can't it be installed on warships? In addition, the densely packed Phalanx has also been recognized in actual combat, and it is recommended to put them all in. The anti-aircraft rockets at the Peenemünde base are getting closer and closer to practical use. An area can be reserved for installing rockets to give them a chance to show off."

"Rockets take up too much space and are difficult to get on board."

"Change your thinking, launch vertically, and bury them under the main deck." Hoffman smiled slightly, "Can't those huge and well-defended naval gun ammunition depots be used to accommodate rockets?"

The US Naval Committee still had to discuss it, and in Germany, Hoffman decided the fate of the remaining three British battleships with just one sentence: The Daredevil was destined to appear as a mobile air defense tower, and the name Daredevil really deserved Hoffman's willfulness...