Episode 178 Do you dare to sink the American cargo ship?
The Japanese heavy cruiser Myoko patrolled the Western Pacific with three destroyers, searching for the American fleet. At 8 a.m. on April 5, the carrier-based seaplane finally discovered a fleet of three giant ships. The Myoko squadron
Immediately his morale was boosted, he increased his speed and chased the fleet. Three hours later, he caught up with the fleet.
As expected, these three cargo ships are all American cargo ships. The smallest weighs seven or eight thousand tons, and the largest weighs more than ten thousand tons. They are lined up in a line and running towards the southwest at full speed. The words "Free Russia" are hung on the cargo ships.
flag, but the English name of the ship and the shipping company it belongs to are painted on the bow. Most Japanese naval officers understand English, and they can tell at a glance that this is an American ship.
The Myoko signaled the American cargo ship and shouted in English with a loudspeaker, ordering the American cargo ship to stop for inspection. However, the three American cargo ships showed typical "cowboy character" at this time. Not only did they not stop, but they did not answer at all.
On the contrary, it increased its horsepower and kept running forward. - The performance was the same as when a Japanese cargo ship faced a Ming army submarine. However, the Japanese cargo ship faced a short submarine. Once it faced the tall Kongwu cruiser, most of them
The cargo ships have all stopped honestly. But now the American cargo ships are really like cowboys, they actually ignore the heavy cruisers...
This is the first time the Japanese Navy has faced an American fleet, and whether it can handle it properly is of great importance. The Myoko did not dare to fire rashly, but followed the fleet closely while constantly sending reports to the country asking for instructions on how to take action.
.
…
The Naval Command in Tokyo received the telegram and started a heated debate. Japan had originally decided to launch a "counter-attack" against the Ming Dynasty, which was to sink the freighters transporting supplies to the Ming Dynasty. But now that things are happening, watching
Seeing three American cargo ships with English written in front of them, the Japanese navy's senior officials were paralyzed and could not muster the courage to order the firing.
At this moment, the captains of the American fleet were like ants on a hot pot, constantly sending telegrams to domestic companies, asking the company and the U.S. government to mediate urgently, and they must not let their ships be sunk by Japanese warships.
.A shipping company only has a few ships. If three ships were sunk in one go, it would be bankrupt.
Domestic shipping companies in the United States, as well as the cargo owner's company, all received the telegram almost at the same time. These businessmen who were eager to make money seemed to have thought of the "Japanese warship" for the first time at this time, and they were all extremely anxious and talked to each other.
Contact, exert influence in the federal government, the White House, and Congress, and want the U.S. government to warn the Japanese government through official channels not to do this.
But obviously, from a legal perspective, this matter has nothing to do with the U.S. government. It is the Russian Federation buying goods and leasing ships from these private companies in the United States. This is a personal business behavior. To say what the U.S. government can do
The most that can be done is to call on the Japanese government not to harm the American crew members on the ship and to strictly abide by international conventions.
To put it bluntly, the reason why the United States has the Neutrality Act and prohibits the transportation of war supplies to the warring countries is because it is afraid of falling into this situation. On the one hand, it is easy for American sailors to suffer casualties and become victims of the mutual blockade of the warring countries. In this case
, what attitude should the U.S. government adopt? Is it still neutral? On the other hand, selling a large amount of goods to belligerent countries will always generate a large amount of credit. While the United States appears to have made a lot of money from the war, it actually holds a lot of IOUs.
By that time, I had been involuntarily involved in the circle of right and wrong. If I didn’t want the white note in my hand to turn into waste paper, I had to intervene in the war to ensure that my debtor country became the winner. In any case, if I want to start a war,
Wealth, but also want to stay out of the matter, it is not easy to do so.
In this era, the isolation sentiment in the United States was very strong, and people across the country did not want to be involved in another war like World War I. Later, in the early stages of World War II, even if the United States amended the Neutrality Law to allow the sale of war supplies to belligerent countries, it also added the "cash settlement"
These two items, "take care of your own account and transportation", can avoid being involved as much as possible.
But it was possible to do this during World War II, because the control of the Atlantic Ocean was in the hands of the United Kingdom. "The belligerent countries took care of themselves for transportation." In fact, only the United Kingdom could "take care of itself." Germany could not "take care of itself" at all. It was equivalent to selling it only to the United Kingdom.
This is no longer possible. The control of the sea in the Western Pacific is in the hands of Japan. If the United States proposes "self-transportation", it will be equivalent to not allowing Ming Dynasty to buy goods.
…
The current situation is that the Myoko squadron is staring closely behind the three American cargo ships, eyeing it with eager eyes, and may open fire at any time. On both sides of the Pacific, Tokyo is quarreling, and Washington is also quarreling. Many people in the United States have opposing views.
The congressman simply proposed that the United States should take this opportunity to introduce a circle of right and wrong, and should initiate a vote to amend the neutrality law and make the terms more stringent, at least requiring the purchase of state-owned ships for self-transport.
At the same time, Nanjing also knew about it. Shen Rongxuan convened several ministers for a quick discussion and decided not to express his position for the time being, but to pay close attention to the progress in the Western Pacific to see if Japan had the courage to sink the American cargo ship. If the Japanese ship
In the end, no artillery fire was fired, which means that Japan was scared. Of course, everyone was happy and pretended that nothing happened. If Japan really sank the American cargo ship, then Ming's situation would be particularly difficult. Either send warships to escort, or
Let all American cargo ships take the Atlantic and Indian Ocean routes, and the voyage range will be thousands of kilometers longer.
In addition, I am afraid it must be announced that all losses will be compensated by the Russian government (actually Ming Dynasty). Otherwise, I am afraid that no shipping company will be willing to take the risk of bankruptcy to earn your few freights.
Already.
In Tokyo, the debate spread from the Naval Command to the Cabinet, which held an emergency meeting but was still unable to make up its mind.
One school of thought is that we must act in strict accordance with international conventions. If the American cargo ship does not stop, then we will warn and shoot. If it does not stop, we cannot attack the people and the ship together. To sink the American ship and kill the Americans, this is
This is exactly what the Ming Dynasty wanted. That would easily push the United States into war. Once the United States joins the Ming Dynasty camp, it would be terrible.
Another school of thought is, fight! What is so scary about the United States? How many people does the U.S. Army have? How much stronger is the U.S. Navy than the Japanese Navy? What’s more, the United States is a corrupt country that advocates glitz and pleasure. Americans advocate individualism and are a piece of loose sand.
It’s scary. And Japan has the spirit of Yamato. Even if it starts a war, it won’t be a problem to deal with the United States!
And the most scheming one is Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro. Konoe Fumimaro's view is that if Japan sinks an American cargo ship, the United States' reaction is likely to be exactly the opposite. It will not be an outrage and shouting, but a resurgence of isolation.
, demanding withdrawal from the circle of right and wrong. There is still a very strong isolationist faction in the United States. This sinking incident will give this faction a good excuse. On the contrary, if Japan does not dare to sink the American cargo ship this time, then in the future
Don't even think about sinking a cargo ship. All American ship owners will see the signal and will regard the inspection orders of Japanese warships as nothing. Even many Ming Dynasty cargo ships may fly the American flag as a talisman.
Prime Minister Konoe made some analysis and finally convinced most people.
After a six-hour stalemate in the Western Pacific, at five o'clock in the evening, the order to fire was sent to the Myoko.
Suddenly, all the Japanese officers and soldiers on the Myoko cheered, and the fanatical shouts of "Long Live" resounded across the sea and sky. Along with the cheers, the main turret motor on the front deck of the heavy cruiser began to scream, the armored turret slowly rotated, and the gun barrel was slightly raised.
He got up a little and aimed at an American cargo ship at the very back.
"Fire!!!"
"Hey! Fire!!!"
There was a loud noise, and a large ball of fire spurted out from the barrel with black smoke, and the cruiser shuddered. After a brief scream between the sea and the sky for a few seconds, the last American cargo ship exploded violently, filling the air with fireworks.