McCain met Lieutenant General Harsay, the commander of the Pacific Fleet aviation fleet, in Midway. He was appointed Chief of Staff of the 5th Air Fleet commanded by Harsay. The Lieutenant General commanded two aviation warships.
, the Enterprise and the Hornet, including three heavy cruisers, also have a large number of frigate warships.
He met with the fleet on Midway, and the 5th Special Mixed Fleet continued to sail west after replenishing fuel and supplies. They were ordered to go to Wake Island, and President Roosevelt finally convinced Congress to agree to allocate funds to arm the island.
When the 5th Fleet arrived, half of the fortifications here had been completed, but the airport on the island had just started construction, and there were no air defense weapons.
During the voyage, the two aviation ships will be ordered to conduct military training in Halsey.
"We may join the battle tomorrow, and we must be ready to start the battle immediately no matter when." Lieutenant General Halsai's hair was gray and wrinkles were covered in his face. He seemed very old, but he still had a fighting spirit.
"But we were tied up with our hands, and Congress limited our combat areas to Africa and Australia." On the Enterprise bridge, McCain stood beside the lieutenant general and said, "In other words,
In the area, we will not be able to attack the Chinese actively, I don’t like this. We are worried all day long and have to be on guard against the sudden attack of the enemy.”
Halsey's face twitched, "I don't care about those things. If I encounter an enemy, I must take action in advance. As for any responsibility, I will bear it... John, see if we can approach Japan,
What will they help?"
"This is impossible, General!" McCain was startled, "They will kill us all. Compared to the opponent, our strength is simply not enough to get close to that sea area."
"I just say that, General Stark asked to evaluate the naval forces needed to reinforce Japan." Halsey raised his gray brow, "If the Chinese occupy that area. For ours
Maritime control was very unfavorable and we had to retreat outside Midway in the North Pacific.”
"But our strength is not enough, and the Japanese are not enough. The Chinese are waiting for us to go and die. They have eight aviation warships swimming on the sea in that sea area and can only send a fatal blow at any time. If we want to gain an advantage, we will have an advantage.
.There are at least 12 aviation warships. Maybe we will not have a chance until 11 Essex-class aviation ships are put into service next summer. But by then, I'm afraid the Japanese will be finished." McCain said, "Before, the whole thing is
The navy has ignored the construction of aviation ships. It is believed that as long as we have enough battleships, we can gain an advantage. The Chinese are indeed far-sighted than us in this regard. They now have 18 aviation ships, which is impossible for the navies of various countries to add up.
Confrontation.”
"We need to quickly reorganize our arms, but Congress is dragging us down. The president is ready to send four battleships to Japan, two Nevada and two Pennsylvania to show our support for them," said Haersay.
"What can four old battleships? What can they do to make the Chinese sink them?" McCain said.
"Maybe, the president needs to find an excuse to participate in the war so that he can develop his military without any scruples. Only by doing his best in this way can we win." Halsey frowned again, as the commander of the aviation fleet.
He has a lot of complaints about the navy spending huge sums of money to build five Montana-class super battleships. This money is enough to build 15 Essex-class aviation warships. He can't figure out the psychology of the top leaders no matter what. No matter what, he is from
From the perspective of this, even five aviation ships may not necessarily lose to five super battleships.
Is it because both the Japanese and Chinese have started construction of the "super battleship"?
And there is intelligence that the so-called six super battleships that the Chinese call started construction at the same time are likely to be new-class aviation warships, a huge aviation ship.
Thinking of this, his face slowly became serious, "Is it possible for John. to convince the Admiralty to cancel the construction plan for the five Montana classes?"
McCain thought about it, as a naval general who was born in the air force, his views were similar to Halsey, but they were not as radical as Major General Mitchell of the Air Force. "There is no such possibility, those five giant ships have already
Laying with keels, when we convinced the above, they have all started to be launched. Can you imagine that the Navy Department will order them to be demolished? Even if they want to do it, there will be another storm in Congress. Even if the five ships are flashy and unreal
We can only complete the wastes of them, and we must also dress them up as symbols of the US Navy."
"Is there any way to build more aviation ships?" Halsey looked up at the sky with his hands behind his back.
"Only by reporting additional funding, we need more airships, and I think if war is urgently needed, Congress will approve it." McCain said, "but we need to show the urgency and necessity of equipping airships.
” McCain replied.
"A chance like this will be seen soon. The Admiralty ordered us to approach the sea off Japan, and two Lexington-class airships will meet us in Guam." Halsey's tone was deep, "You guess we will
Several warships were sunk, but we were not afraid of them."
"It is possible that the entire army will be wiped out!" McCain was really surprised. He thought for a long time before he said this from his mouth.
"Oh my god, we need to save our lives. I want to report to the Admiralty alive to apply for more aviation ships!" Halsey smiled and then burst into laughter.
The lieutenant general's courage infected McCain, "Of course, even if we lose, we will have to bite the meat from our opponents."
The Chinese focused their strength on both Japan and Australia, while the Indian Ocean Fleet had only one special mixed fleet dominated by two aviation ships. It was obvious that they used their main strength to deal with the Pacific Fleet. And
Another point is that most Chinese fleets are within the protection of land-based aviation forces. If there is an emergency, they can also receive air support from land-based aviation forces.
This is the most troublesome thing the U.S. Naval Operations Department feels when formulating a combat plan.
Roosevelt needed an excuse to declare war. If it could not be so, the United States would not be able to prepare for sufficient war. He finally convinced Congress to pass the Recruitment Act and the Navy Expansion Act with a weak majority to expand the size of the US Army.
To 1.5 million people, but Congress still has strict restrictions on the expansion of arms.
If the United States is really involved in the war, the situation is definitely different.
Only in this way can he expand his arms without any scruples.
If the American fleet enters Japan, China will inevitably be unbearable, and it is almost certain that the Republican Navy will launch an attack on the American fleet.