Chapter 39, Return of the United Fleet (Part 2)
Admiral Ernest Joseph King, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Navy Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, is a veteran of naval aviation. He has made countless achievements in his life, spanning various professional fields, including rescuing a ship that sank on the high seas in the 1920s. The submarine successfully rose to the surface. Therefore, he is revered as the "Almighty God" in the U.S. Navy. However, in addition to his superior abilities, Admiral King is cold and aggressive by nature. He has a persevering character like iron nails and fire sticks, and can even be said to be a bit stubborn. . He is tough and cold towards people, almost to the point of being rude
At that time, there was a half-joking and half-serious comment about him in the U.S. Navy. The original words came from his daughter: "Admiral King is the calmest person in the Navy because he spends almost all his time angry." - —He had no time to be nervous. President Roosevelt once said that he was a "gas blowtorch shaver" - even every beard of his was so imbued with a tough attitude that it had to be burned off with fire.
Among the American naval generals, there are many whose self-esteem was damaged by him and whose career was ruined by him. Therefore, although General Jin has deep qualifications, he is very unpopular. Before the outbreak of the Pacific War, he had been scheduled to be thrown into the Military Affairs Council to rest until his death - an advisory group specially designed to accommodate a naval veteran who had nowhere to be arranged. However, shortly after the Pearl Harbor incident, Roosevelt remembered this veteran and appointed him as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Navy Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, referred to as Chief of the U.S. Navy. It is said that General Jin once said this harshly after learning about the incident: "Just watch! When something bad happens, they will know they are coming to find me!"
However, in this time and space, Admiral Jin's war career was really full of anger and grievance, making his anger grow stronger year by year.
On the Atlantic battlefield, Germany's few large surface ships had been almost wiped out by the British army before the United States entered the war. The Mediterranean is the exclusive domain of the British Royal Navy, and the Italians were seriously short of heavy oil reserves before the war. As a result, the Italian Navy stayed in the port for a long time and refused to burn oil for dispatch. Therefore, the U.S. Atlantic Fleet had little to do except escort transports and play whack-a-mole hunting German submarines.
On the Pacific battlefield, for the Americans, it was one defeat after another, one nightmare after another: Pearl Harbor, Singapore, Philippines, Java, Ceylon, Australia, New Zealand, Noumea ...Although the Allies have always had an absolute strategic advantage due to their strong comprehensive national strength and the innate geographical advantages of the US-UK alliance, they have suffered repeated defeats in tactics, especially in several key naval battles. They all ended in defeat. It was even once attacked by the enemy's Yamato-class battleship formation and the Panama Canal was blown up!
In short, since the beginning of the Pacific War, the U.S. Navy has encountered almost nothing to be happy about. There is only one embarrassing defeat followed by an even more embarrassing defeat. New fleets are constantly being formed and constantly being destroyed by the Japanese. Their combat effectiveness and cohesion are forever. It cannot be cultivated.
Alas, in war, human life is neither valuable nor extremely precious, because the high-quality population itself is the most precious resource. It takes at least eighteen years for a qualified soldier to grow up after going through untold hardships and consuming countless resources. , and it only takes one bullet to kill him. If you are an infantryman with low technical content, you can also recruit cannon fodder from the colonies, but not everyone can become a sailor who needs to master certain skills.
With the world's largest industrial strength, the United States of America can continuously produce countless supplies and equipment, but it cannot quickly produce an inexhaustible supply of qualified soldiers, especially since it usually requires several years of training. Only qualified sailors can graduate... Although new warships with increasingly advanced capabilities are still being launched into service, the quality and skills of the sailors have not The situation is getting worse and worse, and morale is getting lower and lower, which also makes Admiral King's anger more and more intense-in the past few years, he has tried his best to obtain funding in Washington, and built a huge fleet again and again, and again and again They put them into the hands of the frontline generals, expecting to hear the news of victory again and again, but the result was disappointment and even despair again and again!
As a naval veteran with extensive experience, Admiral Jin had even vaguely seen the signs of failure in the war!
In fact, at the beginning of the war between Japan and the United States, although the U.S. military was angry because of the attack on Pearl Harbor, they were still very optimistic about the development of the war, and they were even more confident that the United States could achieve final victory, because there was too much power gap between the United States and Japan. It's like a fight between a child and an adult. Even if the child takes advantage of the situation at the beginning when the adult is not paying attention, it will not help. As time goes by, he will be beaten hard, or even beaten even harder.
However, war is not a game of chess, nor a simple comparison of strengths and weaknesses. No one can determine the winner or loser before the war begins. In war, a stage that gathers the essence of all human materials and talents, the situation is like the wind and water, infinitely changing, and there is never a rule that the strong will win.
For example, during the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France, France always had an absolute strategic advantage with its economic strength ten times that of Britain and its flexible and ingenious diplomatic methods, which put the already weak British in a long-term position. It was surrounded by enemies on all sides, besieged by France, Scotland and other countries, and faced the strategic dilemma of suppressing the Irish rebellion. However, the weak and isolated British army performed exceptionally well in the three key battles of Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, beating the French who had good cards in their hands. The ground was looking for teeth, and the country almost died.
Then, during the Seven Years' War, Prussia, which was still very weak at the time, was besieged from all sides by Russia, France, Austria and Sweden at the same time. It was almost fighting the entire Europe with the power of one country. It can be said that the strategic situation could not be worse. However, with the genius tactics of Frederick the Great and the internal chaos of the coalition forces, Prussia, which was originally considered to be on the verge of collapse, actually persisted until the end, and instead defeated its opponents...
——It can be seen that no matter how huge the overall strategic advantage is, if it cannot be transformed into a real tactical victory on the battlefield, it is meaningless. Otherwise, there would not be all kinds of war legends in this world where the weak defeated the strong.
Fortunately, the Japanese Empire was not England during the Hundred Years' War, nor Prussia during the Seven Years' War. Although the U.S. military has never been able to defeat the Japanese naval combined fleet on the sea, it directly destroyed the mind and heart of the Japanese Empire by dropping two atomic bombs on Tokyo!
When the nuclear explosion in Tokyo was successful and the Halsey fleet swept across the Japanese archipelago, Admiral Jin, who had always had a straight face, rarely smiled for a few days.
However, good moods come suddenly and go quickly. The cheers of celebration are still in my ears, but the dawn of victory has not yet arrived.
——I thought that after bombing Tokyo and blowing up the emperor, the Japanese would not even have a government anymore, so they would naturally fall apart. When the Allies give them a way out, the millions of Japanese troops will naturally surrender without a fight, and the coveted giant ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet will also fall into the hands of the United States.
Who would have thought that the destruction of Tokyo could not force the Japanese army to surrender, and the slaughter of the imperial family did not scare the Japanese. Even if they sent a large army to land and occupied the major cities and industrial areas of the Japanese archipelago, it seemed that they could not destroy this old enemy's will to resist. Instead, they Pushed into the arms of the Bolsheviks!
Although some Japanese did choose to surrender and cooperate, the stubborn Japanese raised the red flag and retreated to the mountains to continue resisting. The Soviets were still transfusing them across the Sea of Japan and sending a steady stream of supplies and equipment to them. In the hands of the Bolsheviks, Japan continues to be an enemy of the Allies!
Even General MacArthur, the intended governor of Japan, became a prisoner of the Japanese guerrillas and was paraded through the streets like a monkey in an iron cage.
Now, although the unfortunate Admiral MacArthur has been rescued, the war situation in the Japanese archipelago is obviously in a quagmire.
※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※
——At first glance, four months after landing in Japan, the situation of the US military invading Japan seemed to be good. Although the army commander, General MacArthur, was unfortunately captured for a time, the Pentagon immediately transferred General George Patton from North Africa to take over his squad, and gradually increased the ground troops on the Japanese battlefield to 400,000, organized into the Third Army Group , and continued to pursue the remaining Japanese resistance forces. At present, it has occupied Japan's most important industrial cities such as Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Tokyo, Nagoya, and Sendai, as well as all the grain-producing plains on the Japanese archipelago.
The Halsey Fleet traveled across the entire East Asian waters, providing favorable support to the anti-Bolshevik forces in North Korea and China. The Stars and Stripes has replaced the Rising Sun Flag and become the most eye-catching symbol of hegemony in East Asia, even surpassing the red sickle and hammer flag in the north.
But in fact, all these domineering and flamboyant moves are based on astronomical material consumption.
——Currently, in the areas occupied by the US military in the Japanese archipelago, it seems that there are many large cities that were once prosperous and prosperous, but now they have basically been bombed into a scorched earth strewn with corpses. Industrial and agricultural production have all collapsed, even from ordinary people. The last bag of rice was snatched from the cellar, but the supplies that could be recovered in the end were still very pitiful. The "Japan Provisional Government" supported by the US military, this puppet government that completely obeys the orders of the United States, is strictly speaking an empty frame. It has neither popular support nor effective rule. Its actual use is at best to recruit surrender and provide support. In addition to being a legal name, it helped the US military raise a group of indigenous vassals, and the US military had to pay for their salaries and supplies.
In this case, every bullet and barrel of fuel used by Halsey's fleet and Patton's Third Army Group, every can of can, every piece of bread consumed, and all supplies provided to the Eastern Allies , all must rely on transportation from the United States. For this reason, there are currently more than 1,200 Liberty Ships running back and forth on the long supply line across the Pacific, enduring occasional sneak attacks by Japanese submarines and sporadic bombings by Japanese aircraft, providing these young men from the other side of the earth. Transporting supplies... Even with the industrial strength of the United States of America, which ranks first in the world, it is really difficult to maintain a supply line of 20,000 kilometers for 400,000 troops, tens of thousands of aircraft, and more than 3 million tons of warships. .
What's even more terrible is that the quagmire that the US military is trapped in is not just a Japanese archipelago, but the entire East Asia. In order to resist the expansion of the Soviet Bolshevik camp and prevent the entire East Asia from being dyed red, the US military immediately broke through Japan's blockade. Countries in East Asia are cobbling together "anti-communist camps" in an attempt to curb the development of red forces in various countries. As a result, their reputations have quickly changed from liberators to stinking dogs:
The original Japanese Empire invaded and expanded all over the Eastern world and made countless enemies. It was the common enemy of East Asia with resentment from all sides. Therefore, the US military can easily find enough allies in East Asia. Now that the Japanese Empire has collapsed, all the colonies it once invaded have voluntarily given up. The remaining Japanese resistance forces have also raised red flags and cut off from the militaristic, brutal and bloody old empire. So it is the turn of the United States, which has been meddling everywhere. Become the public enemy of East Asia Alright... Although the U.S. military has spent huge sums of money to cultivate several allies in the "free world" camp in East Asia, basically all of them are scumbags who cannot support the wall. They often also have many shortcomings such as shamelessness, incompetence, and ignorance. , the situation of the United States of America in East Asia is still very unfavorable.
In addition, while the maritime transportation capacity of the United States of America is trying its best to protect the Pacific battlefield, it also has to maintain the British's huge consumption in the Atlantic direction: before the war, the British oil sources mainly relied on three places, one was the Iraqi oil field group , a Persian oil field group, and a Borneo oil field group, which consume approximately 12 million tons of fuel every year. However, as the war progressed, first the Borneo oil field complex fell into the hands of the Japanese army, and then the Kingdom of Iran defected and joined the Axis camp, forcibly confiscating the British-owned oil fields in the territory. Finally, when the British army was completely defeated by Rommel in North Africa, the Iranian army also invaded Iraq from the east. All three oil field groups in British hands fell and have not been recovered so far.
Today's North Sea oil fields have not yet developed oil, and the British Isles' crude oil supply depends entirely on imports. After losing the source of oil in overseas colonies, Germany still had the technology to turn coal into oil. Britain was left with only three million tons of domestic crude oil reserves. After using up, it could only reach out to the Americans for begging.
As a result, starting in 1943, the United States had to transport tens of millions of tons of fuel to Britain every year, and it was refined oil... In addition, it also had to transport Argentinian beef, Canadian butter, and American Camel cigarettes to the British. , Coca-Cola drinks and canned luncheon meat - after losing most of the colony, John Bull was short of almost everything except turnips and potatoes! I can’t even drink Ceylon black tea anymore!
Moreover, such huge amounts of US aid did not end with the fall of the Nazis. On today's European battlefield, although the U.S. military did not directly go to war with the Soviet Union, the anti-Soviet armies of various countries organized by the British basically had to rely on the United States to bear all fuel and supply expenses on the battlefield - there is no way, today's Europe It is basically a scorched earth, and its production capacity has almost collapsed. Although Spain did not participate in the world war, it was tortured even more miserably in the previous civil war and has not yet recovered. What else could Churchill's war cabinet do besides reaching out to the United States?
Faced with such a scene of money flowing like water, no matter how big the United States is, it is already overwhelmed - from the National Government of China to the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, from the United Kingdom to France, from Spain to Italy, from Australia In the Middle East, everyone is reaching out to the White House to ask for this or that, and the Americans have to figure out transportation channels themselves... At this point in the war, even the United States is already betting on its national destiny!
What’s even more frustrating is that the United States of America is still dragging a group of pig teammates with little success and failure to gamble on the national destiny!
However, even though the U.S. military was already so deeply entrenched on the battlefield, MacArthur, who had just been rescued from the iron cage, actually thought that the chaos was not big enough and went around clamoring to recapture the Philippines - even though the Japanese troops originally stationed in the Philippines , are currently either withdrawing or waiting to surrender, but in order to take over the vacuum area left by the Japanese army, the red guerrillas of the Communist Party of the Philippines, nicknamed "Hooks", and the "white guerrillas" supported by the US military are already fighting...
Obviously, MacArthur, who holds the rank of Marshal of the Philippines, is very eager to use a victory to wash away the previous humiliation, but he has not considered at all whether the United States can afford to open up another territory with its existing military and national strength. The huge consumption of the new battlefield.
However, the above-mentioned troubles are all issues that the White House, Congress and the Army need to consider. As a veteran Navy and a professional soldier, Admiral Ernest Joseph King believes that his only task as Chief of the Navy is to eliminate That hateful old rival: the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet.
In the past, the U.S. Pacific Fleet has lost many times in the death arena of the Southwest Pacific, losing its pants along the way. Only by relying on the cheating device of the atomic bomb and the surprise and unprepared North Pacific strategy, they have gained the current advantage through opportunistic methods.
However, such a victory was achieved by bypassing the Japanese combined fleet, and there were too many mixed elements.
Now, the return of the combined fleet from the north has announced that the war in the North Pacific has officially begun, and this time, Admiral Jin never wants to lose again.
"...five Yamato-class battleships, one Kongou-class battleship, two other old-fashioned battleships, twelve heavy cruisers, about twenty regular and modified aircraft carriers of various types, and ninety to one hundred small and medium-sized armed ships... ...The combined fleet is almost all elite this time!”
Admiral Jin murmured to himself as he looked at the intelligence documents spread out on the table and the Japanese map with many red and blue circles. At the east and west ends of the Japanese archipelago on the map, in Tokyo and Hiroshima, huge fleets from the United States and Japan were assembled respectively, and a decisive naval battle was about to break out.
Although the strength of the Japanese combined fleet is not weak, Halsey's fleet has become stronger after being supplemented. The warships and aircraft currently in Halsey's hand are at least twice as many as those of its opponents! Although the Japanese Navy has the advantage of operating on its own territory, it also has the weakness of shaken military morale and disordered command system.
If after all this, you still act like a coward and don't have the courage to face the enemy in a decisive battle, then the U.S. Navy will have no fighting spirit at all.
Moreover, if the Halsey fleet continues to avoid the war and delays it, resulting in the US military being unable to obtain sea control in the North Pacific for a long time, at least a safe navigation channel between the East Asian continent and the west coast of the Americas, then the legitimate government of China and the pro-American government of North Korea will Will it be destroyed due to the interruption of support, which will not only make the Bolsheviks' momentum to sweep the world more rampant, but also cause all the previous US aid investments of the United States to be in vain.
In the final analysis, as long as the Japanese naval combined fleet cannot be defeated, the United States cannot truly become the overlord of the Pacific!
"...The war with the Japanese has been going on for so many years. All parties are not allowed to drag it on any longer. It is time to make a final end!"
Admiral Jin sighed and finally made a decision, "...send a telegram to urge William (Halsey) to complete the rest of the fleet as soon as possible and wait for an opportunity to have a decisive battle with the Japanese combined fleet! The fleet at his hand already has an overwhelming advantage! Moreover, his old enemy Yamamoto Isoroku has been blasted into the sky by an atomic bomb, and now the alliance Fleet Commander Narumi Inoue is said to be a nerd, so it should not be difficult to deal with..." Then, at the Yokosuka anchorage in Tokyo Bay on the other side of the world, Admiral Halsey held the war urging telegram he had just received and listened to his ears. Despite the sound of air defense sirens and the banging of anti-aircraft guns, he couldn't help but smile bitterly - Do you want to decide the outcome in a battle? How can it be so easy? ! !