~Chapter 787 Encounter in the Pacific

"The Chinese could not threaten the Chinese with oil, the oil fields of Southeast Asia falling into Japanese hands and the Strait of Malacca under Japanese control. They will not easily send troops to the south and challenge the Japanese. And they still have a Siberia and the Far East to digest, which will take time. At least before winter comes, or even before the next winter, they shouldn't make much of a move. At this time, Nimitz was in the front-line headquarters in the Samoan Islands base, which had been operating for many years, and looked through the reports about China that had just come from China.

He raised his head and said to Spruance again: "Although the Huaxia people have four super battleships and six aircraft carriers, they are a naval freshman after all!" ”

The navy requires qualifications, and the Japanese defeated the Chinese Beiyang Naval Division before they became one of the world's naval powers, but they were only second-rate.

Although the cannon of the giant ship was an inevitable condition for a strong navy, it was not the main thing, otherwise there would be no destruction of the Spanish Armada. The use of strategy and tactics allows the navy to defeat the strong in battle.

Nimitz, who had just succeeded the hapless Admiral Kimmel as commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, was faced with the destruction of almost all of the main warships of the Pacific Fleet. And Washington's top brass needs to lean toward European policy in order to save Britain's dying lifeline.

This allowed him to mobilize the main fleet, not even a single battleship. Only the USS Saratoga, USS Yorktown, and USS Hornet are enough for alert.

But Nimitz did not admit defeat and arranged a plan to attack the Japanese by a sneak attack, and the formation of two aircraft carriers, Yorktown and Bumblebee, raided the Marshall Islands and Gilbert Islands controlled by the Japanese in June this year, sinking 1 destroyer, 2 submarines, 1 transport ship and 7 other small ships of the Japanese, and won the 787th chapter of the US Navy against the Japanese Navy.

"But our opponent this time, the Americans, sent a formation that cannot be underestimated. Two Iowa-class battleships, the details of which we do not yet know. It's just that I learned from Skynet that the caliber of their guns is quite a bit smaller than our Yamato, only 16 inches. The turret armor is no more than 17 inches thick. Although their metallurgical level is a little higher than ours, the overall strength is not as good as our Yamato. Yamamoto Isoroku sat in the luxurious captain's room inside the Yamato and explained to his men.

Although the Japanese also bought two Yamato-class battleships in order to quickly expand their military strength. But it did not prevent their Yamato from being completed on schedule, and even under the stimulation of the super battleship storm, it was brought forward.

Now the Yamato is still the flagship of Yamamoto Isoroku, and this time for the decisive battle with the U.S. Pacific Support Fleet, the Yamato also came.

Since hearing about the departure of the American fleet, the Japanese wanted to intercept on the way. From Midway Island to Wake Island, all the way to Chuuk Island, the most important naval and air base of the Japanese in the Pacific, the movements of the Americans were closely searched.

History has changed dramatically, and Meng Xiang can no longer predict it in advance. Although the spies can provide timely information, Meng Xiang does not easily interfere in the dog-eat-dog matter between Japan and the United States.

In the vast sea, the Americans bypassed Hawaii and took the South Pacific shipping lanes, which made the Japanese interception in the Central Pacific fail.

But Yamamoto didn't care, he preferred that the location of the decisive battle be farther away from the mainland of the United States, so that the Japanese logistics supply line would be shorter.

When he learned that the U.S. fleet had arrived in Samoa and was ready to move forward to run the island of Fiji, he knew that the time had come for a decisive battle.

Fiji Island was a British colony, and although the port of Suva in Fiji was a natural harbor under the original harvesting methods of the British, it could not provide sufficient logistics support to the US military. On the contrary, it is not as good as Eastern Samoa, which has always been a colony of the Americans.

The capital city of Pago Pago is also a natural deep-water port, and after years of operation by the Americans, a large airport has been built, which is more suitable as a base. In the original history, Pago Pago was one of the main bases of the U.S. military.

The American fleet could not gain a foothold in Fiji and temporarily docked at Pago Pago.

But then, Yamamoto knew that with the permission of the British, Fiji might also become an air and sea base for the Americans.

If the Americans gain a foothold on the island of Fiji, they will form an iron triangle with New Zealand and southwest Australia.

If it weren't for the golden opportunity for the Japanese to occupy the French island of New Caledonia and the Vanuatu Islands by relying on the heavy losses of the US Pacific Fleet, the British busy in Europe, and the French being accepted as the younger brother by Germany, I am afraid that they would not even be able to rush out of the Coral Sea.

Of course, he didn't know that there had been a sea battle in the Coral Sea on a certain plane, but he did know that he was going to direct a classic battle at sea near the island of Fiji.

"We have to speed up the construction of several ports, such as Honiara, Noumey and Port Vila, so that they can provide us with better logistical support!" He continued.

Just as the Americans also needed to run the port of Suva in Fiji, the Japanese logistics line at this time was simply not capable of supporting long-distance operations, and the Japanese base in the South Pacific was now temporarily set up in Port Moresby on Irian Island. But the next step is to attack both southwest Australia and New Zealand, and it is necessary to build a logistics springboard for the fleet......

However, it is now impossible to wait for these forward bases to come into play, because the Japanese have received information that some of the American warships are going to operate in Sydney.

This time, the U.S. fleet not only brought battleships and aircraft carrier formations, but also a large group of supply ships to follow.

The British and Australians placed huge orders for weapons, ammunition and various military supplies, especially heavy weapons such as tanks, which this time came with the US Pacific Support Fleet. Otherwise, Nimitz would definitely not have avoided it, and would have been fighting with the Japanese fleet long ago near Midway.

Moreover, as the Anglo-Australian forces retreated step by step, MacArthur's frequent requests for help caused a division of American land forces to rush to Australia with the ship to support.

These need to be transported to the Australian mainland, whether it is Sydney, or the war-torn frontline of Coffs Harbour.

The Japanese attack from the sea caused the Allies to lose Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, but the Allies still relied on the Darling River and the Great Dividing Range to stop the Japanese madness.

It's just that Sydney, east of the Great Dividing Range, is in danger of being attacked by the powerful Japanese navy and is in dire need of reinforcements, and this time the American fleet will also leave some warships to guard nearby.

And these were not what the Japanese wanted to see, so the decisive battle began early.

Neither side was ready to advance to the base, relying only on the fleet for an unavoidable duel at sea.

……

"I found the fleet of the Americans! Location: Southwest ,,。 A battleship, a cruiser were detected, and their carriers were not found! Xiao Zhaoming excitedly reported everything he saw.

There were no American aircraft carriers around, so that the 97 ships, which were not very fast, had less scruples about attacking and continued to move forward.

"Oh my God, there's a long fleet behind them. There are cargo ships, there are tankers, and there are troop carriers, and I saw their troop carriers! One cruiser was again spotted, as well as five destroyers. Still not found their carriers! The 97 carrier-based torpedo plane flew high to dodge the clouds of smoke from the anti-aircraft guns sprayed by the cruisers below and continued to report.

At this time, Jizaburo Ozawa in the distance frowned and did not make a decision.

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