The attack aircraft groups of both sides encountered each other unexpectedly at sea, but they both chose to avoid the battle. On the one hand, the mission was important, and on the other hand, it was because of their confidence in the air defense capabilities of their own fleets. This is evident from the fact that the fleets of both sides knew the other's attack.
This is evident from the fact that the fleet of aircraft is approaching them, but they are not retreating but advancing. Of course, the purpose of both sides is still
There is a slight difference. Wegener's purpose is to allow the vanguard fleet that no longer has the role of a surprise attack to join the rearguard fleet faster to enhance the air defense capability, while Spruance is simply to shorten the flight of the next carrier-based aircraft attack.
distance, the latter is obviously more confident, but it is no wonder that anyone with 11 aircraft carriers in hand will become so confident
Although the two German fleets were heading towards each other and wanted to merge as soon as possible, as Spruance expected, the speed of the aircraft was much faster than the warships, so the US attack aircraft group rushed to the German aircraft carrier before the German fleets could merge.
In front of the fleet. In Spruance's view
, Although Wegener's trick succeeded, it weakened the air defense capabilities of the aircraft carrier formation. Perhaps he originally thought that it would take two attacks to kill most of the German aircraft carriers, but now one attack can achieve the goal. Even so, the loss of the US military
It’s not smaller than originally expected.
However, the attack by the US military's attack fleet was far more difficult and dangerous than Spruance expected. This was first of all because this wave of attack aircraft was sent out to eliminate the remaining enemies in the original plan, and the number of aircraft was not as large as the first wave.
, there are only more than 300 aircraft in total, of which there are only more than 100 fighter jets, but Wegener unexpectedly left as many as hundreds of fighter jets to protect the aircraft carrier formation. Considering the gap in the quality of the pilots on both sides, this alone
The strength is enough to pose a great threat to the US military attack fleet.
In addition, the US military was also surprised to find that the German Navy, which had always been severely short of auxiliary ships, actually had so many air defense auxiliary ships. There were more than 30 air defense auxiliary ships in the vanguard fleet. It was not because the Germans focused their air defense there.
side, because there are more air defense auxiliary ships on the rear guard fleet side, the total number has reached an astonishing 45 ships, although there are no patrol ships with larger tonnage among them.
Although they are foreign ships, they are all Crescent-class destroyers with world-class air defense capabilities, plus the anti-aircraft firepower of the five aircraft carriers. There are more than 400 large-caliber anti-aircraft guns alone. Such a terrifying air defense firepower configuration is not comparable to that of the US military.
The main fleet, but it has far exceeded the imagination of the US military pilots, and it is enough to leave them with profound memories that they will never forget.
The reason why famous generals like Spruance can make such serious misjudgments is largely because although the detection range of early warning aircraft radar is very large, its resolution ability at long distances is actually quite limited. Take
For sea detection, it can detect the general location and size of the target fleet, but it cannot determine the number and specific types of ships. The commander can only rely on the commander to measure it based on the strength of the signal.
Since Germany had been short of auxiliary ships before, Spruance had a fixed mindset and took it for granted that the German Navy now only has less than fifty cruisers and destroyers in total, and even if there were this number, training would inevitably be
It is very inadequate. As for why the signal detected by the early warning aircraft's radar is so strong, Spruance's explanation seems reasonable on the surface. The radar reflection characteristics of the supply ship are very obvious. One ship is worth several ships, or even
More destroyers yet!
However, Spruance did not expect that since the endurance of the Crescent-class destroyer is very amazing and is not inferior to that of the battleship, in order to allow the fleet to have a higher speed and at the same time confuse the enemy, Wegener would
This time I didn’t even bring a single supply ship with me.
And Spruance did not expect that Germany would be able to build no less than 50 Crescent-class destroyers in more than a year by using at most half of the shipbuilding capacity of the occupied territories, slave countries and allies.
, as the earliest industrial region in the world, the heritage of Western Europe should not be underestimated. In terms of training, Wegener learned from the quick experience of the Chinese Navy and persuaded Goering to recruit a large number of troops from the Army.
Because of the poaching, the anti-aircraft artillery and radar troops on the new ships are basically experienced veterans. Although the special training of the Navy does not take effect so quickly, these destroyers will definitely not be happy when they go out to fight the destroyers of the allies, but in air defense operations
On the other hand, they quickly reached a very high level, and in battles between aircraft carrier formations, they only needed to do this job well.
Although he regretted it deeply, Spruance was a rare and excellent naval general after all. After receiving the report, he not only did not let the attack fleet abandon the mission and return home, but strictly ordered them to complete the mission resolutely, because the German aircraft carrier formation had strong air defense capabilities.
, after all, it is the defensive side, and the initiative still lies in the hands of the US military aircraft group that launches the active attack.
Moreover, although the five aircraft carriers of the German rearguard fleet have enhanced their air defense capabilities, the formation arrangement is therefore difficult to cover everything. It cannot be as invulnerable as the German vanguard fleet. US military pilots can always find weaknesses in defense.
The most important thing is that the three aircraft carriers purchased from Japan in the German rearguard fleet are really incompetent [
Based on the tradition of the US military attaching great importance to the lives of officers and soldiers, it stands to reason that this kind of order, which is almost equivalent to asking everyone to die, should be resisted by lower-level officers and soldiers. However, the US Navy, especially the carrier-based aircraft pilots, have their own differences.
unique culture. Because the accident rate of carrier-based aircraft is much higher than that of land aviation
The aircraft are much higher. Even in peacetime, the United States loses hundreds of carrier-based aircraft pilots and crew members every year. This ratio is actually quite alarming. Under such circumstances, who dares to sign up for the carrier-based aircraft force?
Most of them are desperadoes who like challenges and excitement, and even regard life and death as nothing.
In addition, this battle did not happen suddenly. These pilots had taken some "refreshing" drugs before the battle, so they became more brave and fearful. So after hearing the words of the fleet commander on the radio, not only did everyone not
There were a lot of complaints, but instead they were like tigers that saw their prey, howling with excitement.
Although the fighting spirit of the aircraft does not increase the combat effectiveness much, heavy losses under the attacks of German fighter jets and anti-aircraft artillery fire cannot be avoided. However, the air attack party always has the tactical initiative, and the American pilots are like eating each other.
They fought as hard as if they had taken medicine, so many planes still successfully rushed into the core area of the German rearguard fleet.