"Want to buy Zeppelin and Prussia?"

Hersman looked at a Japanese admiral in front of him -- Hasegawa Kiyoshi, head of the Japanese naval military delegation to Germany with very thin eyes and a long face, and felt a little helpless in his heart. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Because as soon as he heard the demands of the other side, he knew that the Japanese were continuing on the wrong path. The Japanese have too much of a "ship protection" mentality, and they regard aircraft carriers as treasures, and they are not willing to lose any of them.

In Hersmann's view, in addition to the "European Community" class (that is, the E aircraft carrier converted from the hull of the H41), which can take off and land jet aircraft, other aircraft carriers, including the "Zeppelin" class and the "Prussia" class (rebuilt from the hull of the Dutch battlecruiser "Ethai Lake") are not too valuable.

Of course, both the "Zeppelin" and "Prussian" classes have the possibility of installing oblique flight decks, but the modification project is very huge, it will take at least 6-8 months, and it will add thousands of tons of weight to the aircraft carrier, and the weight will also increase in the upper part, which will affect the seaworthiness of the ship.

Historically, the Essex-class aircraft carriers of the United States have reduced the weight of the ships by reducing the guns on the aircraft carriers, but in the current situation of fierce fighting, it is certainly impossible to remove the anti-aircraft guns on the aircraft carriers. So it was not easy to install an oblique flight deck on the "Zeppelin" and "Prussia" classes.

However, Hersmann still could not sell the ready-made aircraft carriers of the "Zeppelin" and "Prussia" classes to Japan, which would turn him into a public enemy of the German Navy.

"It's impossible," Hersman shook his head, "the Zeppelin-class and Prussia-class cannot be transferred, but I can arrange for European shipyards to produce armored aircraft carriers for you." ”

"Now there is a free slipway where a large armored aircraft carrier can be built?" General Kiyoshi Hasegawa immediately asked with interest.

Slipways, which can build tens of thousands of tons of giant ships, are now a scarce resource, and all the large slipways in Japan are now being rebuilt. As far as Hasegawa Kiyoshi knows, the large slipways here in Europe are also occupied, and there is almost no spare space for Japan.

"Petrograd has two large slipways, with a length of 300 meters and a width of 42 meters, which is enough for the construction of a large aircraft carrier."

Hersman is talking about the Leningrad Baltic Shipyard and the Russian Royal Navy Shipyard, where two Soviet-class battleships were built.

Due to the hasty retreat of the USSR from Leningrad, neither of the two large shipyards did carry out enough damage, and the vast majority of shipyard workers and technicians did not retreat (the USSR did not need to develop the shipbuilding industry for the time being).

Now the two shipyards are entrusted to the German shipyard in Germania and the French shipyard in Penholt, where the construction of the Kesselring-class aircraft carrier is to begin.

Seeing that Hasegawa Kiyoshi was a little hesitant, Hersman said: "The order can be sent to the Germania plant in Germany and the Penholt plant in France. ”

The Germania shipyard and the Penhult shipyard are both large European factories, and the technology is absolutely guaranteed. Moreover, the two Russian shipyards in Petrograd have also built such large ships as the "Soviet" class, and the accumulation of technology is sufficient.

"Well," Hasegawa chuckled, "we want to order a Zeppelin-class and a Prussian-class...... They are all improved, and we need to improve on the basis of the original design. In addition, we will also send engineering and technical personnel to supervise the factory. ”

The request made by Kiyoshi Hasegawa was planned for a long time...... The Japanese not only want the Germans to help build aircraft carriers, but also master Germany's most advanced aircraft carrier construction technology and shipboard system technology through these two orders -- although Germany and Japan are allies now, it is really hard to say whether Japan and Germany can live in peace for a long time after defeating the United States!

"In principle, it is possible, you can discuss the specific situation with the shipyard and the people of the EC Arms Export Committee." Hersman shrugged and said, "Although you have not yet recognized the Russian Empire, this does not affect the Germania shipyard and the Penhult shipyard from receiving orders. ”

Arms exports from the European Community (intra-Community sales are not counted as exports) are now subject to uniform control, but Hersmann has already nodded his head, and the Export Committee checkpoint is easy to pass.

"By the way," Hersman inquired about the situation in the Pacific before the meeting with Admiral Hasegawa Kiyoshi accepted, "the Americans have made a large-scale sortie this time, and our spies lurking in San Diego recently discovered 2 Wyoming-class battleships, 2 New York-class battleships, 2 Mexico-class battleships, 1 Florida-class battleship, 1 South Dakota-class (USS Washington battleship), 2 Iowa-class, 4 Essex-class aircraft carriers, and 4 Independence-class aircraft carriers. And another two or three hundred ships of various types! ”

San Diego, the eyes of the US Pacific Fleet, was the target of German intelligence surveillance as early as the 30s, and the Stasi organization set up a spy network there, although it could not penetrate the upper echelons of the US Pacific Fleet, but it was still able to monitor the military port.

Therefore, upon learning of the dispatch of the US Pacific Fleet, Hersman immediately ordered the Military Intelligence Bureau to further investigate the situation, and soon obtained some extremely valuable information -- all the old battleships of the Americans had arrived in the Pacific Ocean, and all of them had gone to sea to fight.

"What? There are also 2 Wyoming-class battleships, 2 New York-class battleships, 2 Mexican-class battleships, and 1 Florida-class battleship in the port of San Diego? Hasegawa was stunned. These 7 battleships are now ......"

"They all went to sea, with two or three hundred other ships!" said Hersman. The Port of San Diego is now empty. Someone from the Naval Liaison Office will send you the report shortly...... This is infallible intelligence! ”

Kiyoshi Hasegawa gasped!

These 7 old battleships of the Americans no longer have the value of fighting fleet artillery battles in the eyes of Hasegawa Kiyoshi. So the purpose of the Americans in transferring them from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean was certainly not to engage Japanese battleships like the Yamato.

And if this kind of battleship does not fight a decisive battle of the fleet, it will only have two uses, one is air defense; The second is the bombardment of the other side.

If it was for air defense, it didn't make much sense to bring them all the way from the Atlantic. Because the US Atlantic Fleet also has the need for air defense operations, it is better to transfer a few more cruisers with strong air defense firepower to transfer them.

Therefore, Hasegawa Kiyoshi immediately made a judgment: the purpose of the Americans to mobilize 7 old battleships to the Pacific Ocean was to attack the islands!

The counteroffensive of the Americans in the Pacific Ocean will soon begin!

……

"Your Excellency Marshal, the Combined Fleet and the Military Command Department have judged that the target of the US Pacific Fleet's counteroffensive may be Holland Harbor in the Aleutian Islands or Christmas Island, 2,080 kilometers south of the Hawaiian Islands."

In Tokyo, Japan, in the building of the Ministry of the Navy, Navy Minister Isoroku Yamamoto, Military Command Minister Shuseki Nagano, Deputy Military Command Department Lieutenant Ito Junichi, and Yokosuka Town Guard Governor Nagumo Tadaichi were all gathered in a conference room.

Now the speaker is Rear Admiral Ito, deputy director of the Military Command Department, this person is the soul of the Japanese Navy's Military Command Department, and of course he is also a scholar who once studied at Yale (the Japanese Navy elite are all scholars, and they have all studied in prestigious universities in the United States, either Harvard or Yale or Columbia University), and when he was a naval attaché in the United States, he was also very familiar with Spruance, the number one general of the Pacific Fleet.

"Ito-kun, tell me your judgment," Yamamoto Fifty-six interrupted Ito, who was reading from the script, "Is it Holland Harbor or Christmas Island?" ”

Unlike in history, when Japan only captured the westernmost islands of the Aleutian Islands, Attu and Kiska Islands, the Japanese navy once had a greater advantage in the Pacific Ocean, so it captured the most valuable port in the Aleutian Islands.

However, it is precisely because of the fact that there are too many strategically valuable territories that the Japanese army in the Pacific is now a little underarmed.

It is impossible for the Japanese to put hundreds or thousands of shore-based planes at every strategic point, because the total number of commonly used planes now owned by the Japanese Navy and Army is about 9,000 -- although Japan's domestic aircraft production can reach more than 10,000 planes a year, training pilots is a particularly fuel-intensive undertaking, and relying on Japan's effective oil supply of more than 6 million tons a year, the number of standing planes has been increased from more than 4,000 to 9,000 in more than a year after the start of the war. It's already quite a miracle (many of these pilots are "miracles" with only a few dozen hours of flight time).

However, 9,000 standing aircraft was still a bit insufficient for the vast battlefield that Japan had to defend.

In particular, after the United States adopted the hateful tactic of aircraft carriers to break diplomatic relations, Japan had no choice but to deploy planes on some islands in the western Pacific, coastal areas of the mainland, Taiwan Island, and the Philippine Islands, wasting a large amount of troops.

Moreover, the Japanese Army deployed more than 1,000 warplanes in Manchuria and Korea to deter or prepare for an attack on the Soviet Union, which was to march into the Far East, Mongolia, and Siberia once the Germans occupied Moscow...... So the planes and tanks of the Kwantung Army cannot be removed!

In addition, although Japan abandoned its plan to attack Australia and New Zealand, it did not have a truce with the Australian and New Zealand authorities, and the US troops stationed in Australia and New Zealand did not withdraw. So air battles in the South Pacific are going on every day, and the Japanese have placed thousands of fighters in this direction!

As a result, there are only more than 4,000 aircraft that the Japanese Navy and Army can use in the frontal battlefield in the Pacific, of which more than 1,000 are carrier-based aircraft. There are only more than 3,000 aircraft that can be used for the defense of first-line islands (including the Aleutian Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, the Lane Islands where Christmas Island is located, and Midway Island and Wake Island behind Hawaii are considered first-line).

There are not enough troops at all, so it is very important to judge in advance the target of the US military's attack.