The Rise of the Third Reich

When people are unlucky, drinking cold water will get stuck in their teeth. When a ship is unlucky, it is like the battleship Mutsu. It was only hit by two 16-inch shells, and the hits were not particularly vital, but it became paralyzed because of bad luck. Power was lost and the fire spread. If it weren't for the good performance of the Nagato, which almost sank the Colorado by single combat, the battleship Mutsu would have been sunk by the Colorado.

However, the Mutsu is not much better now. It has only barely recovered some power, so it can pump water to put out the fire. The fire has finally been controlled, but it can't be put out for a while, and the speed has not been restored. It can only sail slowly on the sea at a snail's pace of 5 knots, dragging thick smoke. This is really a target that is easy to be discovered! Fortunately, it started to rain at dawn today, and the American planes should not be able to take off.

Of course, the Nagato had no time to accompany the Mutsu to slowly crawl on the sea. Takasu Shiro left the three destroyers Yukikaze, Nowaki, and Shigure to protect Mutsu and sail slowly, and led the main force of the fleet to meet with Yamamoto Isoroku - this was actually Yamamoto Isoroku's order, because the commander's cabin, chief of staff cabin and staff cabin on the Yamato were all burned, and it could no longer serve as the flagship of the Combined Fleet. Moreover, the Yamato itself was also seriously injured and needed to return to Japan for overhaul as soon as possible. So Yamamoto Isoroku decided to move the headquarters back to the Nagato.

When Yamamoto Isoroku made the two decisions of moving the headquarters and returning the Yamato as soon as possible. But he didn't expect that his opponent would not give up even after losing to this point, and was actually ready to gamble his last capital - the Wasp and the Ranger aircraft carriers!

"Commander, do you really not need the Wasp and the Ranger to cover us?"

On the battleship Washington, Rear Admiral Frederick, Chief of Staff of the Pacific Fleet, looked at the cloudy sky with some worry. Now Nimitz's command has been transferred to the last battleship of the Pacific Fleet, the USS Washington. The USS Washington, escorted by a dozen light cruisers and destroyers, is hiding under a large rain cloud about 80 nautical miles southeast of the Big Island of Hawaii.

Although there are clouds to cover it, there is no direct aircraft hovering in the sky. The two aircraft carriers that originally left San Diego with the 7th Task Force are now 130 nautical miles northeast of the Big Island of Hawaii, preparing to launch an air strike.

"No need." Nimitz answered very straightforwardly.

He smiled and said, "The Japanese air force now has to pursue Halsey, support the battle on Oahu, and protect the damaged 80,000-ton battleship and two equally damaged Nagato-class ships (Nagato was also hit by five 16-inch shells, but only one was hit). And because of the weather, the Wasp and the Ranger must have launched the first air strike. When the Japanese were bombed, they would definitely send planes to search the northeast where the weather was good, and ignore the southeast where thunderstorms occasionally fell. Therefore, we are very safe. By the way, where is Spruance? When can he join us?"

Spruance was very lucky last night because the radar of the Japanese battleship Hiei was damaged, so it could not effectively track his three cruisers and one destroyer. And he successfully led the Hiei away from Kaneohe Bay, allowing the other destroyers to rescue some people, including more than 200 valuable carrier-based aircraft pilots.

"It's still 50 nautical miles away from us. We will be able to meet up in 2 hours."

"Where's the Japanese battleship? Is it still following?" Nimitz asked.

"It's not following anymore. It's gone." Rear Admiral Frederick sighed softly and smiled bitterly, "It's still unlucky. If the Kongo-class battleship was lured here, it would definitely not be a match for the Washington."

It was really unlucky. The Pacific Fleet lost two more precious battleships in this battle! And the battle on Oahu was also a very ugly loss. Only a small part of the people who were preparing to retreat withdrew. And the result of the battle was only to severely damage a Nagato-class battleship and medium-damage the 80,000-ton Japanese battleship.

"It will be sunk, it will definitely be sunk," Nimitz said with a smile, "Fletcher will not let me down. And the 80,000-ton Japanese battleship looks like it will take several months to repair. Before that, the Japanese should not be able to launch a counterattack against Australia. And they have to rack their brains to defend Hawaii, which is not easy for the Japanese."

...

"Commander, the Marines have taken Diamond Hill, and part of the Taiwan Mixed Brigade that has landed has now begun to attack Honolulu."

Yamamoto Isoroku, who was frowning as he inspected the burned commander's office, chief of staff cabin, and staff cabin on the Yamato, got some good news that made him happy.

"Ugaki-kun, it seems that the Battle of Hawaii will be a great victory in a few days." Yamamoto Isoroku said, "Then we can use Hawaii to contain a large number of US naval forces."

Ugaki Matoi seemed to disagree with Yamamoto Isoroku's point of view. He shook his head and said, "Commander, we will also deploy a large number of troops in Hawaii, and our forces will also be contained."

"We will also be contained?" Yamamoto smiled, "Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ugaki said, "The Hawaiian Islands are the key point guarding the central Pacific and the gateway to the Western Pacific. As long as we firmly guard it, the United States will be unable to threaten our empire's hegemony in the Western Pacific. It's just that Hawaii is far away from our empire. The mainland is far away, with a distance of more than 3,000 nautical miles. Therefore, the transportation of supplies is difficult. If we want to maintain hundreds of thousands of troops and thousands of regular aircraft in Hawaii, the amount of supplies our empire needs to replenish Hawaii every year will probably be extremely huge. It requires occupying millions of tons of merchant ships for continuous transportation.”

Ugaki has always opposed the occupation of Hawaii, because in his view, although occupying Hawaii will require a huge price, the cost of occupying it is really negligible compared to the long-term defense of Hawaii.

"Do you need that many?" Yamamoto Isoroku smiled and shook his head and said, "Hawaii will be destroyed if there is no war. The war must be a decisive battle. It is a battle for the national destiny of our empire and the United States. Therefore, neither the United States nor our country dare to take it lightly. The Battle of Hawaii has begun. Now that Hawaii has fallen into our hands, the United States will not easily counterattack until it is fully prepared. There may not be a second Battle of Hawaii in three to five years, so we will not waste time in Hawaii. Instead of using military and financial resources, it is better to use bluff and create an empty city strategy. As long as the Americans mistakenly believe that Hawaii is heavily stationed and do not dare to invade easily, we will achieve our goal. "

Set up an empty city plan in the Hawaiian Islands! ? Ugaki stared at Yamamoto Isoroku, whose head was wrapped in gauze and whose expression was a little unpredictable. I thought to myself: No wonder I can become a commander, I just have ideas! Hawaii, which was conquered with so much hard work and at such a high price, could be used as an empty city. Those stupid Americans must not have thought of it. If the empty city plan can be made more realistic, for example, it can be claimed that there are thousands of planes, tens of thousands of missiles, and an imperial army of 830,000. So how can the United States dare to attack Hawaii if it doesn't have dozens of warships and hundreds of aircraft carriers? And to save so many ships, even the United States would have to spend ten or eight years, right?

Moreover, while the United States is preparing to counterattack the Hawaiian Islands, it must also guard against Japan using the Hawaiian Islands as a base to attack the west coast of the United States and Canada, and also guard against the Japanese break-up fleet setting off from the Hawaiian Islands to attack the United States-Australia route. Therefore, the considerable strength of the U.S. Navy will be contained by the Hawaiian Islands. This way Japan can do whatever it wants in the Western Pacific.

When Matoi Ugaki was secretly admiring Yamamoto Isoroku, a staff officer from the Combined Fleet Headquarters suddenly rushed into the Yamato officers' mess that had been occupied by Yamamoto and Ugaki as a temporary headquarters. As soon as he entered the door, he even forgot to perform military salutes and shouted: "Commander, the Mutsu was bombed! The Mutsu was sunk by American planes!"

Yamamoto Isoroku and Ugaki Matoi jumped up suddenly, both of them looking inexplicably surprised.

Ugaki said: "How is that possible? It's raining outside!"

The waters where the Yamato is located are currently windy and raining, and planes cannot come at all, but it is not raining in the entire waters near Hawaii.

The staff officer said: "The Yukikaze's telegram said that within an hour of the heavy rain over there, dozens of American planes arrived and dropped dozens of torpedoes and bombs. The Mutsu was hit by 4 torpedoes. and 5 bombs, one of which hit Mutsu's No. 3 turret and caused a big explosion."

It turned out that the fire ignited on the Mutsu became a very eye-catching target on the sea. As a result, it attracted an American submarine wandering near the Hawaiian Islands and followed it all the way. Because there were three destroyers, Yukikaze, Shigure and Nowaki, guarding Mutsu, the timid American submarine did not find the opportunity to launch a torpedo - in fact, the sonar on the Japanese destroyer was very poor and the submarine was not detected at all. So as soon as the heavy rain stopped, the submarine summoned dozens of American aircraft by telegraph, and a bomb torpedo sank the Mutsu.

"Baga!" Ugaki Matoi cursed, "There are American aircraft carriers nearby, and they haven't escaped yet."

Yamamoto Isoroku ordered angrily: "Order Nagumo to send a Comet aircraft to search as soon as the sky clears. Under no circumstances can the American aircraft carrier escape!"

Yamamoto Isoroku also looked a little ugly. Yamato was destroyed, Mutsu sank, and two army aircraft carriers were lost. More than a hundred carrier-based aircraft were lost one after another. The aircraft were nothing, but the pilots on them were all precious. ah. Although the battle in the Hawaiian Islands was won, the price seemed to be high.