Chapter 174 Plank Road-Panama (IV)

Port of Panama.

Brigadier General William B. Fletcher came to the seaplane dock that the Navy First Hybrid Wing early to prepare to personally deploy the mission of the day.

As a rare aviationist in the US Navy, Fletcher proposed as early as 1910 that in future wars, the Chinese Navy would likely take off seaplanes from a fast mothership to attack Pearl Harbor, but was denounced as "delusion" by the naval leaders at that time.

Perhaps it was because the water was close to the water and the moon was first obtained. Mahan's idea of ​​maritime power had a particularly deep impact on the US Navy. The Americans did not hesitate to participate in the naval competition. Compared with other naval powers, the Americans focused more on battleships and less caring about auxiliary ships such as cruisers and destroyers. Even from 1905 to 1913, a new cruiser was not started in eight years. Most of the more than 80 destroyers completed before the war were small destroyers of 400 to 700 tons, which were almost unsuitable for combating in the vast Pacific Ocean.

Against the backdrop of the theory of "big ships and giant guns" that dominate the world, Fletcher, who dreamed of building a powerful naval aviation force, encountered walls everywhere and struggled, but he was not discouraged and finally got in touch with Navy Colonel Washington Irving Chambers, who had the same ideals. The two hit it off and Chambers came forward and was allowed to test the aircraft takeoff on a warship.

On November 14, 1910, performance pilot Eugene Berley flew a Curtis propulsion biplane with airbags on the lower side, successfully took off from the simply modified cruiser "Birmingham" and landed safely on the sea 2.5 nautical miles from the warship.

Two months later, Yili successfully landed on the temporary modified stern platform of the armored cruiser "Pennsylvania".

Immediately afterwards, Glen Curtis, the "father of seaplanes", completed the final practical test at the Port of San Diego: the plane took off from the ship, landed on the sea, and then recovered through the ship's boom.

The U.S. Congress reluctantly allocated only $25,000 to build the first Naval Aviation Force. The Navy purchased two Curtis A-1 aircraft and a Wright aircraft, and was first tested by naval officers in July 1911.

Fletcher was appointed as the first director of the Navy's aviation. At first, he had only two officers transferred from the logistics forces, and they were sent to the pioneer of the aviation industry, the Wright brothers. By April 1914, the Navy's aviation forces had 30 aircraft and 28 pilots. When the United States decided to invade Mexico again, the USS Mississippi battleship carried six seaplanes to Veracruz for reconnaissance and suffered the first battle damage - an aircraft returned with a bullet hole in the horizontal tail wing. The press reported this incident funnyly as "the first air battle of the USS** team."

During this period, the navy leaders finally showed great mercy and agreed to convert a coal ship "Jupiter" on the verge of scrapping into a seaplane mothership. It can carry 6 aircraft at a speed of 10 knots and run 6,000 nautical miles at one go, but its maximum speed is only 14 knots, and it cannot even catch up with the old shore defense battleship that the ship is currently concerned about.

After the outbreak of the European war, the British naval aviation forces made a big splash in the North Sea operations, adding a lot of confidence to Fletcher. The reality of China's rapid advancement of the power line to the Marshall Islands also prompted the stubborn naval masters to change their minds slightly. After all, after the construction of cruisers for eight consecutive years, the fleet's surface reconnaissance capabilities were already insufficient, and before the new reconnaissance cruisers were put into service. Developing carrier-based aviation was the only shortcut to improve fleet reconnaissance capabilities.

So in the mentality of cramming, the Navy issued an order for 100 aircraft to Curtis and Wright in September 1914, and entrusted the two companies to assist in training pilots.

On the eve of the Pearl Harbor incident, the U.S. Navy Air Force had a total of 8 water squadrons. 65 aircraft, 18 of which were deployed in Pearl Harbor together with the "Jupiter".

On the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, the naval aviation foundation on Ford Island was the first to be hit. 18 British Short seaplanes shattered and burned in just a quarter of an hour. Jupiter, which was anchored on the north side of Ford Island, survived and more than 20 pilots carrying three squadrons stumbled back to San Diego.

The prophecy was verified by reality, but Fletcher was not happy at all.

The leaders of the navy regretted it and hurriedly sent people to the UK to seek teachings. Only then did they find that the British Navy had completed three aircraft and six watercraft carriers before the outbreak of the war. Within three months after the outbreak of the war, there were as many as 200 carrier-based aircraft on just 12 motherships!

Fletcher did not think that scolding bureaucrats with more brains than steel ingots could solve any problem. Before the remnants of the main fleet returned to San Diego, some people in Washington were yelling to build 10,000 aircraft and 100 motherships to fight all the way to the Bohai Bay.

Aircraft are easy to build, but pilots are not easy to train. Fletcher's total of less than 100 pilots. Half of them are rookies with less than 100 flight hours. When will it take to teach those 100 or 20,000 qualified carrier-based aircraft pilots?

However, at this time when it was too late, the Washington men suddenly took the naval aviation corps raised by his stepmother. They asked him to bring three best squadrons to Panama for defense.

Fletcher had no choice - the order was issued by Lieutenant General Sims, the chief of staff of the Navy, faced him, and specifically stated that this was also what the president meant.

Since we cannot disobey the president's intentions, let's set off. The three squadrons brought with us are all equipped with the latest Curtis and Short seaplanes. However, the most experienced pilot stayed at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, and hundreds of naval flight cadets need them to train step by step.

Fletcher did not make up his mind to let the rookies be cannon fodder. His calculations were very simple: if the enemy did not come, the rookies would take the opportunity to improve their experience. If the enemy came, the main task of the troops was to reconnaissance patrol rather than air combat attack ships. The risk was not high. Even if they were hit, the seaplane would be safer to force the landing on the sea.

In short, it is important to keep all team members in mind: if the plane is gone, you can buy it again. If the skilled pilot is gone, it will take several aircraft resources and more than ten months to cultivate another one - in any case, preserving life is the priority.

The sky was so beautiful that there was a line of uneven white fish belly in the mountains on the east. Fletcher saw that the pilots on duty arrived one after another and began to assign tasks.

"Hack, Anderson, your group is responsible for the 007 waters today. We have 6 warships patrolling there, two cruisers and four destroyers, don't read it wrong."

"George, Nick, you go to the 008 waters, there are no ships there today. If you see a fleet, I want to congratulate you, and I will report it before the butt is broken. If you have a breath, I will invite you to have a drink."

"Robin, Steven, you go to the 009 waters, I see what are there... two submarines? Hi, you have seen them in Port Cologne, right? Don't mess it up, what are there on our submarines? Yes, the white color circles like toilets, I don't know if there are any enemy submarines, but if you find anything other than submarines, okay, congratulations to you too..."
Chapter completed!