The Rise of the Third Reich

Eastern Time, April 26, 1945, 2:40 p.m.

On the east coast of the United States, 90 nautical miles off Long Island, New York, the USS Essex aircraft carrier.

Rear Admiral Arleigh Burke, chief of staff of the U.S. 56th Task Force, was standing on the platform outside the ship island, looking toward the southeast with a telescope. Suddenly, a four-engine sea cargo airship (that is, a seaplane) flying at a sea-skimming altitude suddenly appeared in his telescope. The flying speed of this sea airship did not seem to be slow, reaching at least 300 kilometers per hour, and it quickly approached the "Essex" class. And it also became very large in Arleigh Burke's telescope, almost occupying the entire eyepiece.

"Go tell the general that Admiral Pruance's Mars 1 has arrived!" Arleigh Burke said loudly to a staff officer behind him.

This flying boat is the largest aircraft owned by the U.S. Navy, and may be the largest in the world! Code-named JRM "Mars", it has a maximum takeoff weight of 74.8 tons and can carry 180 fully armed soldiers or more than 20 tons of cargo. It can also be used as a long-range maritime patrol bomber.

However, the JRM "Mars" flying boat that flew near the flagship of the 56th Task Force today did not have many people or cargo on board. There was only one important person and a few of his staff. The reason why this giant airship was used was simply because it was the fastest sea transport aircraft owned by the U.S. Navy, and there happened to be one parked on the Potomac River near Washington (this sea airship was used by U.S. President Truman to escape ), so it was used to transport Admiral Spruance, the joint commander of the U.S. Navy's Pacific-Atlantic Fleet.

Arleigh Burke and his boss, Admiral Mitchell, commander of the U.S. Task Force 56, only learned one hour ago that Admiral Spruance would arrive at the USS Essex in person - this It was something surprising, but also something that was expected.

Now the "Essex" is rushing to the battlefield near Newfoundland with a huge fleet of dozens of square nautical miles. Before this huge fleet sails to Newfoundland, it is wandering in the waters west of the Bermuda Islands. , waiting to fight the invading European navy!

However, the plan could not keep up with the changes. The large-scale airborne and airborne landings of German paratroopers on Newfoundland established the momentum of the main offensive. Moreover, the F-13 reconnaissance aircraft also discovered a large fleet in the Atlantic Ocean about 300 nautical miles southwest of Newfoundland.

At this time, the decisive battle deployment of the U.S. Navy's Pacific-Atlantic Fleet Joint Command was completely disrupted. Spruance had no choice but to issue an order to Task Force 56 to "go north along the east coast of the United States and approach Newfoundland" before heading to Washington to attend an emergency military meeting.

This is just a temporary and unclear order, which is equivalent to handing everything over to the commander of the 56th Task Force, Admiral Mitchell. This was not the style of the cautious Admiral Spruance.

So after attending the White House meeting and understanding the latest intentions of President Truman and the Pentagon, Spruance personally flew to the USS Essex to discuss the battle plan face to face with Admiral Mitchell. That’s understandable.

The huge flying boat finally stopped steadily on the sea near the "Essex". A motorboat with the "Essex" emblem, controlled by U.S. Navy soldiers wearing white sailor uniforms, rode the wind and waves straight towards the giant airship.

The door on one side of the airship opened, and the gangway was lowered. Half of a naval lieutenant commander wearing a dark blue military uniform leaned out of the aircraft door. He glanced at the airship and saw Mi who was coming out of the cabin. Admiral Chell and Rear Admiral Arleigh Burke.

"Two generals, General Spruance is inside the cabin. He invites you to get on the plane and talk."

"Okay, okay."

Mitchell agreed repeatedly, and then waved to Arleigh Burke, and the two of them boarded the airship one after another.

After entering the airship, the two found that it was quite spacious and luxuriously furnished. It looked less like a military aircraft and more like the interior of a luxury airliner.

When the two entered the cabin, Admiral Spruance was already standing on the soft red carpet inside the cabin waiting. When he saw Mitchell, he came up to shake hands and hug him cordially.

"Mark, I've finally met you." Then Spruance waved to Arleigh Burke again, "Arleigh, that's good, he's already a major general."

Mitchell looked at the furnishings in the cabin and asked Spruance with a smile: "Raymond, whose plane is this? It's so beautiful."

"The president's!" Spruance said. "When the Kraut bombers break through the East Coast air defense network, the president will immediately leave the White House and board this plane on the Potomac River to Chicago... Of course, this is Top secret!"

It’s no secret that the President of the United States will leave Washington when things go wrong. Generals at the level of Mitchell and Arleigh Burke all know that - they also know that if the President does not run away, Vice President Kennedy will be there. Chicago came to power, and there was already a fully equipped "backup government" in Chicago that could shoulder the important task of leading the United States at any time.

After some small talk, Spruance finally got straight to the point. He told Mitchell and Arleigh Burke: "The situation is very dangerous now. We are likely to fail in Newfoundland. Once this happens, we will lose the war."

"I know," Mitchell nodded, and took out his pipe, which was already filled with tobacco, "Is it okay?"

"It's okay, I want one too." Spruance took out a cigar, and an adjutant lit it for him, and then lit Mitchell's pipe.

Mitchell said, "Does the higher-ups feel that the decisive battle at sea is not certain?"

Spruance nodded, "Actually, I think so too." He paused and glanced at Mitchell, who had no expression on his face. "Now we must absolutely avoid another major defeat in the Bermuda Islands... So I plan to use a feint to divert the main force of the German fleet away from Newfoundland, thereby creating favorable conditions for anti-landing operations in the direction of Newfoundland."

"Anti-landing operations?" Mitchell asked hurriedly, "Have the Germans started landing?"

"Not yet." Spruance shook his head, "But it will be soon. This morning, there were German sea minesweepers operating in Conception Bay."

A sea minesweeper is a seaplane with a ring-shaped electromagnet hanging under its wing (the plane is like stepping on a large iron ring), and then it flies low over the target sea area and uses the electromagnet on the plane to detonate the magnetic mines on the seabed. However, the minesweeping effect is not ideal, and it has no effect on traditional anchor mines.

"That's easy to clean up." Admiral Mitchell took a puff of his cigarette and laughed sarcastically, "The Germans must not know how many mines we have laid in Conception Bay, right? Moreover... we and the British have deployed a large number of PT torpedo boats and U-class submarines in Conception Bay, which can carry out mine-laying missions at any time and can also raid the German landing fleet!"

PT torpedo boats have wooden hulls, so they are suitable for activities in waters full of magnetic mines, carrying out attacks and mine-laying missions.

The U-class submarine is not a German U-boat, but a first-class light submarine designed by the United Kingdom. The displacement is generally more than 500 tons to more than 700 tons (more than 500 tons on the surface and about 700 tons underwater). It cannot run to the ocean, but it can perform near-shore defense missions.

When the British mainland fell and North America was in danger of invasion, PT torpedo boats and U-class submarines became the focus of construction. Now more than 3,000 PT torpedo boats and 500 U-class submarines have been built, and there are 1,600 PT boats and more than 300 U-class submarines in service.

Although Newfoundland was not the main attack direction of Germany as expected (by the Americans), the US Navy and the Royal Navy's Canadian Fleet still deployed dozens of U-class boats and hundreds of PT boats there, half of which were stationed in Conception Bay - not because they knew in advance that the Germans would land here, but because Conception Bay was close to St. John's, the headquarters of the Allied forces on Newfoundland, and the main force of torpedo boats and submarines was placed here for convenience.

The PT boats that happened to be placed in Conception Bay started throwing mines into the water when the German paratroopers landed on the west coast of Conception Bay. More than a hundred PT boats could throw 4-6 mines at a time, and one boat could throw at least 30 mines a day. More than a hundred PT torpedo boats could throw more than 3,000 mines. How could they sweep it clean?

"If the mines are not cleared, the Germans will land," Spruance said. "At noon today, they made another airborne landing on the west coast of Conception Bay, dropping at least 5,000 paratroopers and a large amount of weapons and equipment. Because the German planes suppressed the 240mm artillery on Bell Island, Grays Harbor was also captured this morning. In addition, Old Pelican and Basque Island (a small island near the entrance to the west coast of Conception Bay) were also occupied by the Germans. Now the entire west coast of Conception Bay is almost occupied by the Germans. Control. The estimated number of troops that have landed is more than 25,000, so the landing operation is bound to be launched. The Germans cannot abandon the west coast of Conception Bay and so many paratroopers. "

Mitchell nodded, "Raymond, how should we fight?"

"Six Essex-class aircraft carriers and three Independence-class aircraft carriers will form the 57th Task Force and attack the Azores. The remaining fleet will be divided into two, and all heavy cruisers and battle cruisers will be pulled out and incorporated into the 11th Task Force. The rest of the ships will enter the Bay of Fundy and wait in secrecy. "