The Rise of the Third Reich

Lieutenant General Ozawa Jisaburo's Japanese First Mobile Fleet was discovered by an American Catalina seaplane near noon on March 16, 1943.

At this time, Lieutenant General Halsey's U.S. 3rd Fleet was 1,200 nautical miles (2,220 kilometers) away from them, and carrier-based aircraft could not reach each other at all. Vice Admiral Spruance's Task Force 16 is more than 600 nautical miles (1,110 kilometers) away from them, which is still too far for carrier-based aircraft.

Panama City and the Galapagos Islands are also 600-1,200 nautical miles away from them. Since the United States currently does not have remote-controlled glide bombs such as Hs293 and Fritz-X (the United States now has a radio code-named VB-1 Remote control guided bombs, but these bombs cannot glide and can only change the landing point by adjusting the bomb's tail. They are more suitable for dealing with road facilities on the ground. They are not effective against surface ships, so the Americans will only use them as a series of attacks. A wave within a wave, rather than attacking alone. In addition, the Americans have also developed remote-controlled B-24 and remote-controlled B-17 super killer weapons that they want to use against surface ships, but they are still being tested), so they are deployed. The B-24, B-17 and B-25 bombers in the Panama Canal Zone were also not suitable for bombing the Japanese fleet.

As for the 19th Task Force that attacked from Panama City, it had just left port on the evening of March 16, so naturally it was impossible to fight Japan's First Mobile Fleet immediately.

Therefore, during the day on March 16, there were no further exchanges of fire between U.S. and Japanese fleets and aircraft. In addition, various types of reconnaissance aircraft and seaplanes sent by both sides have not discovered the other side's ships.

The afternoon of March 16th slowly passed by in an extremely tense silence.

But when night fell on March 16, dozens of B-24 Liberator heavy bomber/reconnaissance aircraft and Catalina seaplanes carrying airborne radar began flying from airports in Panama and the Galapagos Islands. Take off and roar towards the sea area and surrounding waters where the Japanese fleet was discovered at noon.

"Commander, a B-24 has found the Japanese fleet!"

At around 22:30 that night, the reconnaissance plane sent out made a discovery.

"The Japanese fleet is approaching the coast of El Salvador or Nicaragua. It has reached the K13 waters and has about 30-40 ships!"

Major General Ralph Heinkel reported the discovery of the reconnaissance plane to Lieutenant General Gormley, and then he frowned and analyzed: "The Japanese are not going to attack El Salvador or Nicaragua... I think their goal is the Panama Canal ! They want to delay the entry of American ships from the east coast to the Pacific by blowing up the canal's locks and dams. This is probably the only way they can delay their demise. "

Because as many as 30-40 Japanese ships were discovered, Major General Heinkel no longer thinks this is a bluff.

"It looks like there will be a big battle tomorrow!" Vice Admiral Gormley looked at the latest position of the Japanese fleet on the chart. "Ralph, how many fighters can we dispatch after dawn tomorrow?"

"The planes on the Galapagos Islands are very difficult to reach. The Japanese should have carefully calculated the routes." Heinkel said, "Unless all the planes there are diverted to Panama..."

"No, this won't work." Gormley immediately rejected Heinkel's proposal. "It's not yet certain that the Japanese target is the Panama Canal... The Galapagos Islands are also a very valuable target. The Japanese Once it is captured, the Panama Canal will be bombed every day!”

Heinkel thought for a while and felt that Lieutenant General Gormley's concerns were justified. The Galapagos Islands are the gateway to the Panama Canal. Once the gateway is lost, the role of the canal will be reduced by at least half.

And because the U.S. military has not been stationed in the Galapagos Islands for a long time, it has not had time to build forts and fortresses on the islands. There are not even many Marines guarding the islands, so the main defense force of the islands is more than a hundred aircraft. Aircraft belonging to the Marine Corps.

"Vice Admiral, shall we launch the first attack wave early tomorrow morning?" Rear Admiral Heinkel then made a suggestion to launch an attack. "We can allow the 16th Task Force and the 19th Task Force to approach the Japanese fleet. , and at the same time dispatch B-24s, B-17s, B-25s and P51s from the Panama Canal Zone..."

Because traces of the Japanese fleet were discovered within the jurisdiction of the Southeast Pacific Command, Vice Admiral Spruance's Task Force 16 is now under the command of the 9th Fleet. However, Halsey's 3rd Fleet is not under the jurisdiction of Vice Admiral Gormley because it is still in the Caribbean.

Therefore, the 3rd Fleet was not mentioned in the proposal made by Rear Admiral Heinkel.

"It's better to seek advice from Lieutenant General Spruance," Lieutenant General Gormley said. "How to deal with the Japanese, he has more experience than me."

Vice Admiral Gormley is self-aware. He is not a "fleet general" but a "diplomatic general." He was the head of the naval delegation to Britain before the fall of the British mainland.

I still know a little bit about the European Combined Fleet and the battles on the Arctic Circle route, but I have no idea about the Japanese in the Pacific.

Spruance had previously served as the chief of staff of the Pacific Fleet, and after Halsey's misfortune, he became the frontline commander of the Pacific Fleet, personally commanding escorts and breaking diplomatic operations.

"No, we can't get close to the Japanese fleet for the time being."

On the Enterprise, Lieutenant General Spruance immediately told his chief of staff, Colonel Murray, after receiving the telegram from the Southeast Division: "I cannot risk the Enterprise, Yorktown, and Independence and let the 19th Task force goes on an adventure."

"Commander, do you want the three Borg-class aircraft carriers of Task Force 19 to serve as decoys?" Colonel Murray immediately guessed Spruance's intention.

Compared with the USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown, the value of the Borg-class escort aircraft carrier is much lower. Moreover, most of the Borg-class ships and its successors, the Casablanca-class ships (which have already been built one by one), were built in Seattle and Portland on the West Coast. Even if the Panama Canal is temporarily destroyed by the Japanese, the Borg and Casablanca classes can still be launched in batches. Although the combat effectiveness of the escort carriers is far inferior to that of large fleet carriers such as the Enterprise, they cannot sustain the production of twenty or thirty ships a year (according to According to the plan, 10 Borg-class ships will be built in 1943, and 19 Casablanca-class ships will be built)!

And although the escort aircraft carrier is a bit "watery", the F6F and F4U carried on it are genuine.

Spruance thought and said: "You can let the 19th Task Force approach the K13 sea area, and then send P51 from Panama to cover after the Japanese aircraft group is detected by radar... Wait until the 19th Task Force fights the Japanese aircraft. , we will approach from the north and launch a shuttle bombing."

The so-called shuttle bombing is a strategy of just sending out planes without taking them back. After carrier-based aircraft took off from the USS Enterprise, USS Yorktown and USS Independence, the three aircraft carriers immediately withdrew northward. After completing the attack mission, the plane landed directly at an airport in Nicaragua or El Salvador. In this way, no matter what the outcome of the air attack, Spruance's three aircraft carriers would not be sunk by the Japanese.

"Your Excellency, Commander, the electronic reconnaissance has discovered another enemy aircraft." In the bridge command center of the Akagi aircraft carrier, it was also a scene that felt like facing a powerful enemy that night.

According to the repeated reports of the discovery of enemy aircraft by the No. 21 and No. 13 electric probes on the ships of the First Mobile Fleet, it shows that the Americans have mastered the exact location of the First Mobile Fleet.

And the ones that are constantly harassing us now must be US military reconnaissance planes equipped with radars!

Seeing that the officers in the command center were a little nervous, Ozawa Jisaburo looked very relaxed, and laughed and said: "We are in the tiger's den, but if we don't enter the tiger's den, how can we catch the tiger's cubs?"

As he spoke, Ozawa turned around and walked towards the hatch. His chief of staff, Furumura, quickly followed up and asked: "Your Excellency, Commander, where are you going to inspect?"

"Inspection?" Ozawa shook his head and said with a smile, "This is the Akagi. Is there any need for inspection? I am going back to the cabin to sleep."

"Sleeping? But..."

"But what?" Ozawa smiled, "Can American planes still bomb at night?"

This is of course impossible. Current radar technology can only allow American aircraft to detect the Japanese fleet, but it is impossible to support American aircraft to launch an attack. Otherwise, it would be the time for the United States to counterattack Hawaii.

"Your Excellency Commander, the first wave of attacks tomorrow..."

"Cancel!" Ozawa waved his hand and said, "Use full air defense and let the Americans come first."

"What? Let the Americans attack first?" Furumura was startled by Ozawa's words.

Ozawa shrugged, "This is inevitable. We haven't discovered the enemy's aircraft carrier yet, but the enemy already knows our exact location. So early tomorrow morning, they will definitely launch an attack first. But... there is nothing to worry about. , because we are not too close to Panama now, and we are in a position where the American P51 and their medium bombers can attack, but their SBD and TBF cannot reach us, so we just take the opportunity to consume their P51. At the same time, it can also attract American aircraft carriers to fight.

As long as we can exhaust all the P51s in the Panama Canal Zone, we can at least destroy the canal locks. "

Due to the surrender of the British mainland, the Japanese now also understand the characteristics of most American fighters, so they can also formulate targeted combat plans. In Ozawa's view, among the fighter jets currently equipped with the US military, the greatest threat is the P51 series aircraft. The ultimate range of this aircraft is almost the same as that of the Zero, and it also has strong ground-to-sea attack capabilities. It can be equipped with bombs as a fighter-bomber (in fact, there is also a dive-bombing model). Moreover, its performance in mid-low-altitude combat and mid-high altitude is average. It is definitely the enemy of the Zero fighter and the combined fleet!