“… After the arrest of Nosaka Sanzo, Chairman Takeda strengthened his guidance of the armed forces and adjusted the positions of some leading cadres of the Navy and Army. And I also got a new job -- a member of the Red Navy's Combined Fleet Political Committee. Well, theoretically, I, who knew nothing about the Navy and was seasick, became the Supreme Commander of the Combined Fleet! Fortunately, I had a good relationship with the main leading cadres of the Navy, so I took over the work of political commissar of the United Fleet very smoothly. On July 1, 1935, I put on a blue navy uniform and boarded a plane bound for Hawaii Island with a letter of appointment signed by Chairman Takeda himself. - The above is an excerpt from Yasuo Yasuda's memoir "Memories of a Revolutionary".

Yasuo Yasuda flew from Tokyo on a JU52 seaplane via Saipan, Wake Island, and Midway to Hilo Bay on the island of Hawaii. This bay is now the temporary anchorage of the Combined Fleet, and the bay is densely packed with ships of all sizes, hundreds of them! The battlecruiser Akagi, the flagship of the Combined Fleet, was docked at a deep-water berth in the port of Hilo Bay, and Yasuda Yasuo boarded the giant battleship with a full load displacement of up to tons accompanied by Yamamoto himself. All the officers or commissars of the Combined Fleet at or above the brigade level lined up on the deck of the Akagi to greet them.

Such courtesy to a high-ranking member of a political party is completely inconceivable in the navies of countries such as China, Britain, the United States, and Germany, and it is impossible for even the pre-revolutionary imperial navy to happen. However, in any GCD-led people's state, it is taken for granted. Yasuo Yasuda is now a member of the Rìg Zhōngyāng Political Bureau and the secretary of the Rìg Pacific Bureau! Yamamoto Fifty-six was no more than an alternate member of the Rìgzhōngyāng Political Bureau, while Ishihara Wan'er, the new commander of the Hawaiian Front of the Red Army, held a position in the party as no more than a member of the Zhōngyāng Committee... At the same time, Yamamoto and Ishihara are both members of the RÌG Pacific Bureau, and theoretically speaking, the RÌG Pacific Bureau is the supreme leadership body of the RÌBEN in the Pacific theater, and Yasuda is the supreme commander of the entire Pacific RÌ Army! Of course, this is just a theoretical talk, Yasuda's actual mission is to supervise the army, and if he really wants to take command of the Pacific Army, his opponent, Admiral Kimmel, the new commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, will be overjoyed.

Surrounded by a group of high-ranking naval officers, Comrade Yasuda walked into the luxurious officer's room of the battlecruiser Akagi and looked at the full cabin with a smile on his face. The stern and murderous faces made Yasuda feel a little uncomfortable, and he missed Batavia's comfort nest very much. However, he couldn't show a single bit on his face, and he nodded with satisfaction: "Everyone, zhōngyāng, has decided on a new general military route, and after settling Oahu, we will march to Australia!" ”

I don't know how many times the strategic navy has been mentioned in Australia, and now it has finally become the national policy of Rìben, which made these naval officers burst into low cheers. They have been waiting for this day for a long time, especially after the crushing defeat of Britain and the United States in the Middle East, when the British Empire is on the verge of collapse and the rich Australia has almost become a terra nullius.

However, the capture of Australia would require the capture of Oahu and the Hawaiian Islands into a fortified fortress in the middle of the Pacific before it would be possible to divert the main forces of the Combined Fleet to the South Pacific. But the U.S. Pacific Fleet will not watch Oahu fall, and another life-and-death contest between the U.S. Navy will soon begin! Thinking of this, Yamamoto fifty-six waved his hand, and the cheering naval officers immediately fell silent.

"Comrades! The current world revolution is still very serious, and Germany is massing heavy troops in Poland, East Prussia, and Romania, and will soon invade the Soviet Union! China has stationed millions of troops in Burma and Tajikistan in Central Asia, and is about to invade India! At the same time, China and Germany simultaneously massively increased their troops in the Middle East, and the third Middle East war was about to break out. In the next year to a year and a half, the world revolution is likely to go through extremely difficult periods, but for us it is a good opportunity to develop and grow, because the main forces of the two imperialist camps, both China and Germany, have placed their main forces in the Soviet Union, the Middle East and India, and have no time to take care of the Pacific theater. Britain had completely declined and become a vassal of Germany, the United States had suffered heavy losses in previous wars, and the Panama Canal had been destroyed by the brave men of our naval aviation, and it would be unusable for a long time to come. The powerful US Navy on the East Coast will be difficult to transfer to the Pacific.

Therefore, it is the best time for our generation to carry forward the god of naval combat and establish special honors for the country! ”

Speaking of this, Yamamoto Fifty-six suddenly stood up: "Now please ask Political Commissar Yasuda to read out the instruction No. 101 of Comrade Takeda Heng, Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Committee!" ”

With a bang, all the naval officers in the cabin stood up, and Yasuo Yasuda also stood up and quickly took a document clip from the secretary Yoshiko Kawashima, opened it and began to read it aloud: "Rì Moto Revolutionary Military Committee KO 1 Chairman Decree ......"

Just as Yasuda Yasuo read out Takeda's presidential order and opened the curtain on the Third Battle of Hawaii, Admiral Kimmel was also studying the Pacific charts in detail with Nimitz and Halsey at the Pacific Fleet Command in San Diego on the west coast of the United States. In order to launch operations in the Persian Gulf in the Middle East, the two large aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet were all transferred to the Indian Ocean, and it was originally planned to transfer them to the Pacific Fleet when several Essex-class aircraft carriers that were on trial voyage in the Caribbean Sea were officially put into service, so as to make up for the lack of aviation combat strength of the Pacific Fleet. But no one expected that the Panama Canal would be blown up by Rì himself with a suicide plane! Now, the Essex-class aircraft carriers will have to be delayed for at least a month to reach San Diego, and Rì himself has taken the opportunity to start storming Oahu, it seems that he wants to seize the island in one fell swoop!

Oahu has been under siege for more than a year, and although the island's supplies and ammunition are abundant, it is far from exhausting. But the planes on the island were depleted in the constant fierce fighting! Oahu, which has lost its air cover, is like a samurai without armor, and he has become covered in bruises under the combined attack of the warships and planes of the Rì Army, and he is already in danger!

As soon as Oahu was lost, the Rì Army completely occupied the Hawaiian Islands, the most important point in the Pacific Ocean! Even if the United States had more battleships and aircraft carriers, it would be difficult to use them for operations in the South and Western Pacific without recapturing the Hawaiian Islands. Although the sea is boundless, ships and sailors cannot always float on the ocean, ships need to be repaired, supplies need to be replenished, and officers and men need to rest. All of this required a reliable naval base, and the only one in the central Pacific that could serve as a rear base for the entire Pacific Fleet was Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands.

So, Oahu is something you can't afford to lose! Otherwise, I don't know how much effort it will take to regain it in the future, and the Rì army will definitely try to destroy the port facilities at Pearl Harbor before losing Oahu, and I don't know how long it will take to repair it? Ten of you don't even want to let the Pacific Fleet use Pearl Harbor until the end of this world war.

In order to defend Oahu, the Pacific Fleet can only be dispatched to the waters of the Hawaiian Islands to fight a decisive battle with the Rì Fleet, but the Pacific Fleet now has no large aircraft carriers available, and only 10 escort aircraft carriers of several thousand tons converted from merchant ships, which are no match for the dozen or so aircraft carriers of the Rì Ben Combined Fleet! How good is that?

"William, can you use escort aircraft carriers and battleships to reinforce Oahu? The Pacific Fleet now has 18 working battleships, and the Fleet Decisive Battle is not our opponent. Kimmel turned his head and asked Halsey, who was sitting next to him with a few pictures of fighter jets.

Halsey is now the commander of the Pacific Fleet's aircraft carrier force, and he holds the XFG1 aircraft being tested. Bessel and Ego. Developed by the design team led by Sekowski, the biggest highlight of this fighter is the installation of an XR-4 engine developed by Pratt & Whitney, which is also being tested, which has a power of up to 1BC5 horsepower! Compared to the current Type 93 carrier-based aircraft, the engine power is almost double! Moreover, the XR-4 is only the initial model, and under normal circumstances, this newly developed engine will form a series, and the final mature model of the XÌNG will have a significant increase in energy - even 2300 hp is very easy.

And the high-horsepower engine of course means that the aircraft can have a greater combat weight, longer range and faster speed! A fighter with 1,805 horsepower will almost certainly be able to beat a fighter with 900 horsepower・・・・・・ or in other words, just wait for this XFPU1 to be finalized and equipped with the Pacific Fleet's naval aviation! Until then, Oahu must not be lost! Hearing Kimmel's inquiry, Halsey put down the photo in his hand and smiled: "Rì himself will not fight a decisive battle with our fleet, they only have capital ships that can be used for naval battles, and we have 30 of them!" If I were the commander of the Combined Fleet, I would definitely use airplanes to solve the battle, even if I couldn't sink our battleships, just blow them up and achieve the goal, wouldn't I? These big guys are really fragile, and every time they get injured, they have to repair for months. ”

"So what do you mean, we're sitting in St. Diggory waiting for news of the fall of Oahu?" Kimmel asked, frowning.

"I didn't say that." Halsey, nicknamed the Brute Bull, watched the fall of the most critical U.S. base in the Pacific Ocean not fit his character, so he waved his hand and continued: "Fortunately, we have 10 escort aircraft carriers in our hands, and we can use them against Rì himself. ”

"With an escort carrier?" Nimitz, who was studying the charts, suddenly straightened up and interrupted Halsey, "William, you're not kidding, are you?" The kind of aircraft carrier with a full load displacement of just over 1 ton, no armor, and a speed of at most a dozen knots can deal with the Canglong class? ”

"I can't deal with it." Halsey shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands again, "They're just some merchant ships with a wooden aviation deck and a bomb, but why are we using these escort carriers to fight against the Canglong-class?" Isn't there no airplanes on Oahu now? Isn't each of our escort aircraft carriers capable of carrying about 20 carrier-based aircraft? There are 10 Wildcat carrier-based fighters out of 10 escort carriers, and the maximum range of the PR is 1239 km, so our escort aircraft carriers only need to sail to 1000 km off Oahu and then release the planes. ”

Halsey's words suddenly gave Kimmel and Nimitz hope, and Kimmel clapped his hands and smiled: "Good way, good way, why didn't I think of it?" As long as we can get 200 planes on Oahu, they can at least last an extra month or two, and then at least 6 Essex-class ships will reach Santo Diego, and we have nothing to fear! ”

"But Rì himself has at least 10 Soryu-class ships deployed in the Hawaiian Islands, they are very fast, and if they find our escort aircraft carriers approaching, they will attack, and then those escort carriers with little legs and feet can escape?" Nimitz hesitated.

"Haha・・・・・・" Halsey laughed: "Why run?" Isn't it just 10 escort aircraft carriers? If you are found by Rì himself, don't do it, sink it! Anyway, the United States has no shortage of escort aircraft carriers. ”

There really is no shortage of them! There are currently more than 60 escort aircraft carriers under construction and more than 40 have been built or converted on slipways across the United States. After more than two years of war mobilization, the huge industrial strength of the United States has begun to show its might!

Unfortunately, now that the world war has come to an end, the two real big winners, the Great Chinese Federation and the Great German Empire, have already focused on the post-war period, rather than on the battlefield.

While the three of them were talking, the office door was suddenly pushed open. "Raymond, which gust of wind brought you here?" Halsey exclaimed loudly when he saw someone coming. Coming in was Halsey's brother-in-law, Spruance, who is now the commander of the U.S. Navy's Caribbean Theater of Operations. Seeing Kimmel, Nimitz, and Halsey, Spruance immediately took out a transfer order from the briefcase he was carrying and handed it to the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Kimmel: "Admiral, I am now under your command, this is an order from the Admiralty." ”

"Battleship detachment commander... Haha, I didn't expect it to be you, Raymond, you kid is really prosperous! Kimmel took the order, looked at it, and laughed. According to the original practice, the post of commander of the battleship detachment of the Pacific Fleet should be concurrently held by the commander of the Pacific Fleet.

Before the outbreak of the World War, battleships were regarded as the core of the naval fleet, so the fleet commanders of most naval powers concurrently served as commanders of battleship fleets, with the exception of China. However, the current situation is that the battleship has become a chicken rib in the sea battle, and there is almost no chance to go into battle to kill the enemy, and even if it barely enters the battlefield, it seems that it will be bombed. In this case, it does not seem to make much sense to put the Pacific Fleet Command on the battleships again, and it is even more unnecessary to have the commander of the Pacific Fleet concurrently the commander of the battleship detachment. So Kimmel sent a report to the U.S. Department of the Navy, requesting that the fleet command be moved ashore and that a full-time commander of the battleship detachment be appointed.

Spruance looked at the charts on the table, then at the three in the room, smiled and asked in a low voice, "Looks like I'm not late, right?" Is the fleet going to war? ”

"It's going to be a battle, but it's not your share." Halsey smiled and patted his brother-in-law on the back: "Now is the era of aircraft carriers, your battleships will honestly stay in the big pool of San Diego and be the storage fleet!" ”

"Aircraft carriers?" Spruance was stunned, "Aren't all the aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet stuck in the Indian Ocean. ”

"Well, we still have escort aircraft carriers!" Halsey told Spruance exactly what he had envisioned. Spruance pondered for a moment and muttered, "The Pacific Fleet now has 18 capital ships, and it is decided that it is a very large force, so it is a serious waste to put the Zài fleet in the harbor like this. He looked at Kimmel solemnly: "Admiral, on the way to San Diego, I have been thinking about how to use our capital ship to fight Rì himself. ”

Kimmel's face froze: "Raymond, what are you going to do?" ”

"I want to take all the capital ships of the Pacific Fleet to Australia, using Port Moresby as a base." Spruance replied: "We have signed an agreement with the British for the mutual defence of Australia, and Port Moresby has our Marines and Air Forces, and the port facilities are good, and there is a large dockyard, which is an ideal base for the fleet." He paused, and said in an accentuated tone, "I think we'd better stay in Port Moresby as much as we can, and never leave again." ”

Kimmel and Nimitz looked at each other, they understood what Spruance meant, now that Britain and Germany are getting closer and closer, it is estimated that it will not be long before Britain and Germany will jointly defend Australia, and there is nothing to do with the United States!

Spruance continued: "Now that the main forces of the combined fleet are concentrated in the Hawaiian Islands, and the South Sea Islands do not have a large fleet, I think this is our opportunity, if we appear in Port Moresby, or if we find that we are advancing towards the South Pacific, they will definitely split half of their fleet to fight us in the South Ocean Islands or the South Pacific, so that the pressure on the Hawaiian Islands will be greatly reduced." ”

Kimmel thought for a moment, frowned, and said, "But what about the logistics supply of the fleet?" Without Hawaii as a transit point, we would have to cross the entire Pacific Ocean, make a detour of tens of thousands of nautical miles to Port Moresby, and potentially be intercepted by our fleet on the way. ”

Spruance shook his head: "Admiral, I don't think we need much supplies to stay afloat in Port Moresby. He smiled and said, "Because we just changed places to store the zài fleet." ”

"Go to Port Moresby to save the zài fleet?" Nimitz looked at the chart, his eyes lit up, and he smiled: "Raymond, it's really yours, this idea is really wonderful-!" ”

Kimmel looked at Nimitz with some confusion, and Nimitz explained: "Port Moresby is the choke point south to Australia, and if we put 18 capital ships and hundreds of planes there, it will be difficult for Rì himself to seize Australia." ”

"I understand this." Kimmel shrugged, "But what does it have to do with us?" ”

"Of course it does!" Nimitz sneered, "If Rì himself can't go south, then where will they go next?" ”

Where will it be? Kimmel said in his heart: "It is probably impossible for the West Coast of the United States, the Army has deployed eleven armored divisions and fifty-three infantry divisions along the West Coast, as well as more than 3,000 land-based aircraft. But if you don't fight the West Coast, where else can you fight? Is it to fight China? Thinking of this, he glared at Nimitz.

Nimitz smiled: "This question should make Chang Ruiqing, the chairman of the GCD and the premier of China, go to his heart, shouldn't it?" ”