Chapter 984 Nimitz's Counterattack (17, 3,000 Votes Plus More)
Chapter 63: Nimitz's Counterattack (17)
At about 2 a.m., Nimitz's main fleet rushed forward. Two battleships, four light cruisers, and eight anti-aircraft cruisers tightly protected the three main aircraft carriers in the center of the formation and rushed out. More than 20 destroyers on the periphery did not care whether they were useful or not, and all fired hedgehog bombs at once, making a huge noise on the sea.
The entire fleet seemed to be running around like a headless fly, but to be honest, this trick was actually effective. Germany now relied on sonar to determine the direction and range. The explosion of hedgehog bombs interfered with the sonar soldiers' ability to distinguish, making the sound guidance of the second interception line less successful than the first one, and they had to rely on periscopes for line-of-sight attacks.
Since the US military had become a frightened bird, the microwave search radar could not calm down and use it again. The intercepting German submarines were much freer. In addition, with several fewer escort aircraft carriers and cruisers, the second batch worked more efficiently. The experienced and courageous Seawolf surfaced directly, without precise aiming, and directly used a fan-shaped salvo of 6 torpedoes. After firing, he immediately dived and continued to reload regardless of whether he hit the target or not.
The tragic US military finally learned the power of the torpedo night.
The battleship Missouri, located at the core of the formation, was hit in the middle of the ship by a torpedo fired from more than 6,000 meters away. With a huge explosion, a gap was blown open. Although the damage control team tried their best to plug the leak, nearly 5,000 tons of seawater still poured in. This new battleship, which had only been in service for a few days, tilted 11 degrees and its speed was reduced to only 23 knots. The torpedo was originally aimed at the Franklin, and he was just a shield.
Nimitz let him reluctantly follow behind and let four destroyers protect him. But the good times didn't last long. Seeing that a battleship was alone and damaged, the U3318 submarine seized the opportunity and launched three Tiger Sharks, heading straight for the Missouri. Although one was blown up by a destroyer and the other was deflected, one still hit the Missouri's port bow firmly, almost blowing up the entire bow. Now the Missouri's bow is low, and the entire front of the ship is buried in the sea. The steel plates that rolled outward after the damage increased the sailing resistance, forcing the ship's speed to drop to only 17 knots - the XXI and XXIII class can run faster than the Missouri at full speed.
"Sir, the Missouri suffered a heavy blow!" Smith's heart was in his throat, "and then two escort aircraft carriers were sunk!"
"Damn it!" Nimitz slapped the wall angrily but could do nothing. He wanted to turn around to look at the Missouri, but found that he was powerless in the dark.
"Keep advancing and get out of the ambush area." When he said this, the USS Pasadena (Cleveland-class) light cruiser guarding the left wing of the fleet was hit by a torpedo on the port side. The 10,000-ton light cruiser struggled for 3 minutes and sank with anger and unwillingness.
This is the second Cleveland-class light cruiser to sink today. When passing the first blockade, the Springfield, a ship of the same class, was hit by a tiger shark and also sank, plus the loss of 3 anti-aircraft cruisers. 5 cruisers have been written off tonight.
The losses of the US Navy in this time and space far exceed those in the same period in history. Even the United States, which is rich and powerful and has superior industrial capabilities, has to be frugal. The construction plan of heavy cruisers with a construction period of nearly 3 years has long been cut off - the construction plan of subsequent ships of the Baltimore class has been cancelled, and the Des Moines class, which is known as the strongest heavy cruiser, has only drawings but no budget.
The construction plan of the light cruiser, which had a construction period of nearly two years, was also greatly adjusted. The construction plan of the Cleveland-class ships started before 1944 continued to be maintained and accelerated. After 1944, no new Cleveland-class ships were built. The so-called last all-gun light cruiser, the Worcester-class with a displacement of nearly 15,000 tons, was directly sealed without even the final drawings.
The US Navy is currently focusing on building a type of cruiser - the Oakland-class, a subsequent modification of the Atlanta-class. Compared with the historical performance, the current Oakland-class has been greatly simplified in non-critical positions. One of the features is that the four quadruple 28mm secondary guns were replaced with 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns. The second feature is that the eight 21-inch (533mm) torpedo tubes and the supporting torpedo storage rooms were all cancelled. The third feature is that each Oakland-class ship attempts to carry two Seahawk seaplanes - which can be used for reconnaissance and fleet anti-submarine.
Although the US Navy's shipbuilding ideas are not as radical as Hoffman's - for example, destroyers are replaced with dense air defense and battleships are built into fleet air defense platforms, but there is no lack of innovative ideas. They clearly saw the weakness of the United States in the field of torpedoes: there are neither good torpedoes nor effective torpedo combat opportunities, so they simply canceled the matter directly, saving money and displacement. Carrying seaplanes can effectively enhance the reconnaissance effect and anti-submarine capability - although anti-submarine is still blind at night.
In a word, facing the general situation of air warfare, anti-aircraft cruisers with enhanced air defense capabilities are more conducive to accompanying Essex-class operations.
After the improvement, the standard displacement of the Oakland class was reduced to 5,700 tons, and after the difficulty was reduced, more shipyards with poorer technical levels could be newly built. After absorbing more than 100,000 British shipyard workers and engineers, the technology and construction strength of various medium and large shipyards have been greatly improved. Under the premise of rotating operations and construction, the construction period of a single ship has been compressed from the original 18 months to 12 months. The construction cost was compressed to US$21 million (FY 44 price, less than US$7 million if the FY 38 currency index is used). In comparison, a Fletcher-class destroyer costs US$14 million and a Victory-class destroyer costs US$3 million.
The increase in US war spending, the loss of US capital and the loss of European bonds caused the US dollar exchange rate to plummet - all countries that joined the Axis camp defaulted on US debts, and countries like Argentina also confiscated a large amount of US capital. This bleeding even hurt the US more than the failure of several major battles.
Defaulting on US debts and confiscating US capital has even become a magic weapon for the Axis to recruit younger brothers: the Brazilian government after the Montero coup immediately announced that it would "not recognize" all US dollar loans from the Vargas government. In contrast, the British approach was much more subtle and civilized: Edward VIII demanded compensation from the United States on the grounds that the United States supported the military coup, and the amount was slightly larger than the bad debts owed by Britain to the United States. Other European and Middle Eastern countries that have declared war on the United States have defaulted on their debts to the United States with the support of the Axis.
Some pro-Axis countries that have not declared war on the United States but also owed debts to the United States also benefited. Germany asked these countries to compensate on its behalf for the significant property losses caused to German residents during the US bombing of Germany - using their debts owed to the United States. Germany only required a 50% compensation rate, and it did not need to pay actual US dollars. It could be paid with marks or German bonds. If it could not pay marks, it could be paid with goods or raw materials. In other words, these bad debts were written off by Germany, the debt collector, by 50%. It not only pleases Germany, but also avoids half of the debt. Why not do it? As for the post-war period? Germany will bear the brunt of the fall, and the Germans will come forward to settle it.
Japan followed Germany's example. First, in 1942, it "returned" the British and American concessions to the Wang-chi Nationalist Government. Then, in early 1944, President Wang came forward to "not recognize" the British and American debts owed and borrowed by the Chongqing government. After the "final peace effort plan" submitted by Japan and the United States through Sweden and Switzerland last week was rejected by the United States again, all the Far Eastern countries occupied and supported by Japan (such as the Philippine and Siamese governments) announced the confiscation of American capital and refused to recognize American debts.
The Japanese Army and Navy Headquarters were angered by the US's refusal and prepared to hold a swearing-in ceremony for the decisive battle between Japan and the US in Tokyo, determined to "fight to the end!" with the US, no longer seeking "reconciliation with the US", and prepared to see off Tsukahara Jishizo. As for Hori Teikichi himself, he will soon go to Cairo to attend the Axis Summit with Prime Minister Prince Higashikuni, Army Minister Tada Shun, and Foreign Minister Tani Masayuki. At that time, Ishihara Kanji and Yamamoto Isoroku will preside over the army and navy work in Japan.
Of course, Japan's strength is still weaker and the surrounding countries are poorer. No one has transferred the "debt repayment to the US" to Japan, but even so, it is enough to disgust the United States.
On the one hand, there are huge debts and capital losses, and on the other hand, a large amount of currency and treasury bonds are issued, so the US dollar exchange rate has fallen sharply. Originally, the black market exchange rate between the dollar and the mark before the war was about 1:5 (official 1:4). By mid-1944, the black market exchange rate between the dollar and the mark had dropped to only 1:3 (official 1:3.5). Although Germany had not stopped printing marks and issuing mark bonds, the more than 1,000 tons of gold and more than 2,000 tons of silver obtained from Japan gave Germany great confidence. Even if it was a battle of consumption, it was no longer afraid of the United States.
The results of the two escort aircraft carriers and five cruisers had locked in the cost of the torpedo array used by Krank and 200% of the profit in advance. Next, it was time to prepare to reap the high net profit.
At 2:47, the first excess profit was paid to Crank's account: the remaining four escort carriers besieged by seven submarines were hit by two more torpedoes, and the other two escaped separately;
At 2:58, the second excess profit was paid: the Missouri, which had been hit by two torpedoes, was hit by two more spears, and the hull took on more than 13,000 tons of water. The bow and the No. 1 turret were basically swallowed by the sea. This warship, which held the signing ceremony of the surrender ceremony in history, came to the end of its service life, and the captain had no choice but to announce the abandonment of the ship.
At this time, the Missouri had not sunk until 7 minutes later, when the German submarine that had completed the second round of loading completely sent it into the sea with a tiger shark.
This warship alone caused the Americans to lose $140 million (1942 budget price), but the German army's harvest continued...