Bismarck

If a reconnaissance plane encounters an accident at this time, it can be basically confirmed that it has been shot down.

Yamamoto turned around and looked at his secretary: "How is it? Did Inoue Narumi's long-range reconnaissance aircraft's supplementary reconnaissance produce any results?"

"No news, Admiral..." The secretary lowered his head, flipped through the memo folder in his hand, and shook his head helplessly at Yamamoto.

"The planes that took off from the Marshall Islands are at the limit of their reconnaissance here. The reconnaissance planes that took off from Wake Island were intercepted by the US aircraft carrier. The Americans set up a fighter patrol line in front of their fleet, and our reconnaissance planes were all intercepted by them, resulting in heavy losses. As for the reconnaissance planes that were arranged to bypass them, not only did they have a limited range, but they also didn't seem to have returned..."

"No news? Never mind." Yamamoto was not very surprised. After all, sometimes no news itself is a kind of news.

Behind this American fleet, there is most likely another fleet hiding in the shadow behind the fleet in front!

"If the Americans really have a second fleet lurking, what will they do...

Yamamoto fell into thought.

He did not dare to act rashly now. As the supreme commander on the battlefield, the correctness of his judgment was directly related to the victory or defeat of this battle, the survival of this fleet, and even... the prosperity or decline of the empire.

It seems that the commander is a very glorious role, but the pressure behind him can make people breathless. His every move, every thought and every move may result in the death or injury of tens of thousands of people.

But now, he has nothing else to rely on. Even in this foggy battlefield, he has to make the most correct judgment based on the most limited information.

As for whether it will be successful or not, only God knows.

Success or martyrdom may just be a matter of a single thought.

If you are an indecisive person, you would probably be so worried that you don’t know what to do.

Fortunately, Yamamoto is a gambler.

He dared to make this bet.

"…Judging from the current battlefield situation, this fleet won't be too far away from the first one, and it should also be parallel to the maximum reconnaissance range of the Marshallese aircraft." Yamamoto stated his judgment very straightforwardly: "If this is the case, then everything makes sense! The only problem now is to figure out the exact location of the second American fleet!"

But soon, Yamamoto thought of something else: "Wait, if this is a trap set by the Americans... Oh, where is Kakuji Kakuda's Fourth Carrier Fighter?"

"Here, halfway between Kwajalein and Wake Island, they are about halfway. Their current speed is 20 knots, and they are expected to reach Wake Island around 10 o'clock tonight."

Hearing Yamamoto's question, the secretary quickly pointed out the location of Kakuta's fleet to Yamamoto. However, after seeing the mark, Yamamoto also frowned...

"Have we arrived here? This is a deep sea area... If the Americans took the initiative to organize this battle, they must have sent submarines to lurk here in advance! It seems that Kakuta has almost stepped into the ambush circle... Should we let Kakuta temporarily evacuate and meet up with Yamaguchi, or will he be discovered by the Americans and be exposed? Or should we take the risk of the Fourth Air Fleet suffering losses and use the enemy's tactics against him?"

Yamamoto came to a crossroads of choice. No one knew what tactics to use. War has infinite solutions.

"It seems that even if the Americans don't speed up, they can bomb Wake Island at the latest at 25 pm, and then avoid a night battle. Kakuda is still nautical miles away from Wake Island. Even if he speeds up to knots, he will not arrive until : pm. He will definitely not be able to make it during the day..."

"If Kakuta withdraws temporarily, the Americans will most likely know that we have discovered their intentions. And... although this seems safe, our military strength is at a disadvantage, and after the air raid on Wake Island Airport, we can only launch fighter planes at best. If we can't launch reconnaissance planes, we can't determine the exact location of the US Second Fleet. This situation of not having the initiative is an absolute disadvantage!... It seems that in this case, there is no chance of turning the tables in a head-on confrontation!"

"Besides, if we can't even defeat the Pacific Fleet in front of us, how can the Empire force the Americans to negotiate with us?!... It seems that for the sake of the Empire's national destiny, even if it means risking the loss of the Fourth Carrier, I have no choice but to take this gamble!"

Holding his chin and watching the battle situation, the eight-fingered gambling god was now making small calculations again. The Japanese Navy had to win on the battlefield before forcing the Americans to negotiate; and under the dual influence of Yamamoto's gambling god mentality of closing down his business in Las Vegas when he saw him, Yamamoto quickly made up his mind - although as long as you look at Yamamoto's expressionless and calm face, you can know that this decision was not easy for Yamamoto, who is famous for his gambler character...

"Pass my order to send an urgent telegram to Yamaguchi, Kakuda, and Inoue Narumi immediately, using the highest level of code:

First, this American fleet is likely to have a second aircraft carrier formation hiding behind it. Initial speculation is that it will be lurking in the northeast of Wake Island, and its forces are likely to be the three remaining American aircraft carriers!

Second, order Yamaguchi and Kakuta to be on guard against ambushes by American submarines along the preset warning line, especially Kakuta, who is now only 300 nautical miles away from Wake Island! Although according to intelligence, the Americans have at most 20 submarines in Pearl Harbor, and so far the tactics of American submarines tend to be deep-water lurking, with limited reaction time and speed, but I don't want to hear that any ship "wins the jackpot" on the battlefield!

Third, tell Inoue and Kakuta that Kakuta's 4th Carrier Fighter Group will continue to advance towards Wake Island. At the same time, tell Inoue to continuously send out long-range bombers this afternoon and tomorrow morning to suppress the group of American aircraft carriers that have been discovered. Any strength that can be tied down is strength. Tell them not to worry about the losses. I will transfer all the bombers that can be dispatched in the Central Pacific to reinforce them. As long as they can nail down the first group of American aircraft carriers and lure out the second group of American aircraft carriers to expose their position, they will win!

Finally, tell Yamaguchi Tamon that, just to be on the safe side, he should move his fleet route further north, bypass the possible submarine blockade area of ​​the Americans, and if possible, rush to the battlefield by noon tomorrow to directly launch a surprise attack on the second American aircraft carrier fleet! ! "

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ps: recommend a book [Fog Ship Kiev in East Asia]

Chapter 605: Showa must know shame!

On March 4th, at 3 pm, the wind was level 5, southwest-west, and it was sunny.

The distance from here to Wake Island is only 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers), which is just within the maximum combat radius of Fletcher's TF17 task force - this is the result of Fletcher commanding his fleet to accelerate to knots and starting to rush.

Looking out the window, on the flight deck of his flagship, the USS Lexington, there were eight F4F fighters, twenty-one SBD dive bombers, and eleven TBD attack planes carrying heavy bombs whose mission was to directly destroy the runway. The pilots were eager to fight, and they were just waiting for his order to set off immediately!

About five thousand yards away was another large aircraft carrier, the USS Saratoga. Fletcher could estimate that it should be equally busy there.

However, Fletcher himself is not very optimistic...

Just three hours ago, his fleet had just encountered an air raid by Japanese twin-engine bombers from the Marshall Islands. Although the twenty Japanese bombers in that air raid were very brave, they were helpless in front of the F4F Wildcat fighters and the anti-aircraft artillery fire. In addition to a heavy cruiser that was bombed by an underwater explosion of a near miss, the most dangerous bomber was just trying to hit the Saratoga, but was "just right" to be hit by a 127mm anti-aircraft gun salvo from the Saratoga at a distance of yards and disintegrated in the air! Fletcher still remembers that his sailors and even the staff of the headquarters were all in high spirits at the time, shouting God bless America and so on.

However, as a commander, Fletcher has to consider more in-depth issues.

By now, the United States had some understanding of Japanese aircraft. One of the things was that the endurance of Japanese aircraft was generally very abnormal. Even single-engine dive bombers and torpedo planes had a range far greater than that of American carrier-based aircraft with a maximum combat radius of only 200 nautical miles - not to mention the terrifying "Zaku" - Zero fighter!

Now that our fleet is only 200 nautical miles away from Wake Island, considering that the Japanese have already grasped our movements, regardless of whether the Japanese airport on Wake Island has sent out aircraft to attack us, we still don't know what the results and losses of this attack will be.

And... I haven't discovered the movements of the Japanese aircraft carrier until now!

The mission of luring the enemy has not been completed, and the wind is against me now. Even if I have to turn the rudder after launching the plane, I still have to drive the boat back when I recover the plane!

Now I can only grit my teeth and stand here...

"Report to the General, the carrier-based aircraft are ready to take off!"

The captain of the Lexington, Rear Admiral Fitch, came over and reported to Fletcher.

"Everyone take off..." Fletcher waved his hand in a disinterested manner, and soon one of his men walked to the radio microphone and passed on the order for everyone to take off. However, Fletcher did not watch how these planes "flew", but asked Fitch with some worry: "Fitch, there is still no news about the Japanese aircraft carriers, where do you think they will be?"

"Well... General, you know, I come from an office background..." Fitch scratched his scalp, looking embarrassed.

"Okay, okay, just pretend I didn't ask." The easy-going Fletcher watched the planes on the deck gradually empty, and shook his hands with a wry smile on his face. "But now is the time to pay attention. The Japanese counterattack may be coming soon. The Wasp may not be able to withstand it alone. So, Fitch, you prepare a team of fighters to go on deck and stand by. We will retreat temporarily. Hold on for three hours, and after we recover the planes in this round of attack, we will evacuate the battlefield. We will still have time to fight their aircraft carriers tomorrow."

"Okay, I just had the same idea." Fitch nodded in response. But immediately, someone behind them shouted:

"Report! Radar detected the enemy! Right in front of us, 70 nautical miles (130 kilometers) away!!"

Hearing the report from the radar soldier behind them, Fletcher and Fitch looked at each other.

"They are coming?" Fitch was a little surprised.

"It looks like a fierce battle is about to begin! In less than half an hour, our planes will have time to take off and occupy altitude!" Fletcher was relatively calm after all. After being surprised, he quickly issued a battle order: "Order the patrol fighters to intercept; order the Wasp to prepare to take off the second echelon of fighters to intercept; Lexington and Saratoga fighters to get on the flight deck immediately and be ready to rotate as the third echelon at any time!"

"Also, tell everyone to hold on for three hours - it's going to be a tough battle!"

"Yes!!"

----At the same time, 100 nautical miles due south of Wake Island---------

A group of green planes with red round wings came from the direction of the Marshall Islands, and then flew over the Japanese fleet that was turning on the sea, dragging a faint tail cloud condensed by the high-temperature exhaust gas of the piston engine cylinders in the sub-zero altitude, and flew towards the north from the top of the 4th Air Fleet.

Under these streaks of clouds, the commander of the 4th Carrier Fleet, Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuda, was in the bridge of his flagship, the Hayabusa, and he shouted into the intercom with an impatient look on his face:

"Take off! Take off! Take off immediately! Those planes of the land-based air force have already flown over, why don't you take off quickly!!"

At Kakuta's urging, the three Japanese light aircraft carriers changed their course from due north to a windward course of southwest-west and began to launch carrier-based aircraft.

However, in contrast to Kakuta's enthusiasm, the staff and advisers around him were all in cold sweat, looking at their boss with confused eyes. He was a man of big ships and big guns and was famous for his bravery. But in the face of Kakuta's explosive temper, no one dared to persuade him.

This place is still 300 nautical miles away from the American fleet! Even for the Zero fighter, which is famous for its ultra-long range, the pilots will lose most of their physical strength and energy after flying such a long distance - no matter how strong the fighter's combat effectiveness is, no matter how hard the Japanese pilots train, how much strength can they exert in a state of fatigue?

Another point is that anyone who knows a little about aviation knows that in combat, every aircraft wants to drive the engine to the point of unlimited overload, and the fuel consumption is often five to ten times that of cruising speed! Even if it is a Zero fighter with an ultra-long range, after flying 300 nautical miles, it still has to fight an air battle with the Americans to cover the attack group - even gods can't stand such a torture! !

But Kakuta's temper was well known to everyone! Even under normal circumstances, the Japanese military staff had great power, and it was difficult for the general officers to oppose the decisions they made. But that also depended on the person - Kakuta was such an anomaly!

Finally, a brave staff officer came over with cold sweat on his forehead and trembling with fear and said, "Commander... this place is too far..."

He couldn't help but be trembling with fear. You know, even in front of General Yamamoto Isoroku's most trusted and famous aviation staff officer Genda Minoru, Kakuda dared to slam the table! As for himself, who had the courage to persuade him, he was just an unknown minor staff officer...

The young staff officer was sweating profusely as he gritted his teeth: Will I get beaten?

"What do you mean it's too far? If it's too far, then we won't fight? As a soldier of the Showa era, you should be ashamed for saying such things! You should be ashamed, do you know that?" he shouted loudly.

Seeing Kakuta turning around, the young staff officer quickly shrank his neck.

He planned to move away immediately if the commander extended his hand...

Fortunately, he was only given a cold look by Kakuta, but he was not beaten. Kakuta didn't seem to be in a bad mood, and he even started to explain, which was unprecedented: "Don't think that I don't know how to operate an aircraft carrier just because I was trained on a battleship! Our reconnaissance planes have been monitoring their tracks, and now they are 200 nautical miles away from Wake Island. They will most likely take off and bomb Wake Island. If they take off now, they will have to organize a landing at around 5 or 6 o'clock. The time we send planes will arrive at their heads just in time for them to organize a landing and they will be unable to fight back!"

"This...?" The staff officer was speechless on the spot. He followed Kakuta's words and found that what Kakuta said was indeed reasonable. Aircraft carriers must fly in a straight line when taking off and landing, and have no ability to fight back or evade. Moreover, at this time, the carrier-based aircraft sent out before were also hovering at low altitudes waiting to land, and most of their fuel and ammunition were exhausted, and they also had no ability to fight back.

As they were talking, the carrier-based aircraft of the 99th Air Fleet had already started to take off. Although the combat effectiveness of light aircraft carriers was very low, and the flight deck was not long enough to launch more attack aircraft, the three light aircraft carriers could only put together nine Zero fighters, seventeen Type 97 carrier-based bombers, and twelve Type carrier-based attack aircraft, which was only equivalent to the normal dispatch capacity of a large aircraft carrier. However, in the battlefield where the Japanese army was still seriously insufficient in manpower, being able to send this wave of aircraft was already the largest reinforcement that Kakuda's small fleet could provide to the Wake Island Airport!

But what about this voyage…? The staff officer continued to muster up the courage and raised this question tremblingly.

However, when Kakuta heard his explanation, he laughed, he actually laughed!

"Oh? Hangcheng? You're a good kid, responsible and good at thinking about things carefully!" Extending his big hand and patting the staff officer, Kakuta came over and said with satisfaction.

The staff officer subconsciously wanted to dodge...

"Don't worry about the range. We will rush over at full speed soon. The plane will take three or four hours to return, and by then they can return a hundred nautical miles closer - so the range problem will be solved, right? This is called long-range attack, and I invented it! Besides, even if something happens to us, there is still the Wake Island Airport for them to land! Just don't tell me that the 24th Air Squadron on Wake Island can't fill a few holes in three hours!"

"Um... Your Excellency, this is really... Okay, okay, I understand!" The staff officer who was slapped in the face by Kakuta looked at Kakuta Kakuji who had approached him with a fierce look on his face. He could smell the bad breath of the Major General Commander when he inhaled. Then he looked at the fleet of planes that had taken off one after another outside the porthole. He could only break out in a cold sweat and nodded helplessly.

but……

"boom!!"

A column of water, clearly a lightning strike, shot up from the side of the battleship. To the left of the Hayabusa, the aircraft carrier Hiyo, which had just launched its strike group, was lucky enough to win the first prize...

From where they were, they could even see the entire ship shake.

"This...a submarine! Watch out for the submarine! Launch an anti-submarine alert immediately!!"

The headquarters of Kakuji Kakuta, who was feeling proud just now, was in chaos for a moment.

Chapter 606: Lexington Sinking

At dusk on the sea, the war was still raging.

Fletcher's judgment was not wrong. Half an hour after he released his planes, the counterattacking Japanese aircraft group: a group of about forty planes, under the cover of a dozen Zero fighters, had already rushed over Fletcher's head - the TF17 task force had now entered the fighter combat radius of the Japanese airport on Wake Island. The Japanese bomber group was no longer in a naked running state without any fighter cover as before.

Although there were many American fighters, and even some SBD Dauntless dive bombers flew into the sky to intercept. But in front of the fierce Zaku, these planes were tightly entangled by the well-trained Japanese Sea Eagles. Then, the Japanese bombers rushed in from the area where the fighters of both sides were fighting. Although many bombers were dragging American fighters behind them, behind these American fighters were Japanese fighters chasing them relentlessly. And those bombers, with the cover of fighters, rushed up regardless of anything, with crazy onboard radios.

Under this fierce attack, the US fleet, which had been well trained in daily training but had never been tested in brutal actual combat since the Spanish-American War and had only accumulated limited combat experience in low-intensity raids, was still gritting its teeth and persevering, but it was no longer able to stop this group of murderous thugs...

Soon, the bad news happened right before my eyes...

"Report! The USS Wasp was hit!"

"What!?" Fletcher was shocked and rushed to the porthole. He saw thick smoke and raging fire in the direction of the Wasp aircraft carrier not far away.

Almost all senior U.S. Navy officials knew that this aircraft carrier, which was squeezed out of the tonnage gap, was almost inherently flawed: lacking armor, lacking horsepower, and even lacking means of damage control. Once damaged, the damage and fire could easily get out of control.

But now, let alone rescuing the Wasp, Fletcher himself can't save himself.

The following batches of Japanese aircraft continued to charge desperately at the US fleet over their heads, and the targets of these batches of aircraft were obviously the other two aircraft carriers - and because of their high center of gravity, the Lexington-class aircraft carriers had extremely poor maneuverability and were now unable to protect themselves.

Before the Japanese air raid was over, no one had the time or energy to rescue the Wasp...

On the USS Lexington, which was desperately turning to avoid torpedoes and dive bombing, Fletcher tried his best to stand firm on the tilted hull while covering his eyes in pain...

He can't do anything now...

----------

The Japanese air raid finally ended, leaving the place in complete chaos.

The CV-7 Wasp aircraft carrier was hit by two heavy bombs and a suicide plane. The main engine room was shut down and a raging fire was ignited. Although the US Navy officers and soldiers did not give up hope and rescued for another half an hour, at four o'clock in the afternoon, the radar reported that a new wave of air attack threats had been discovered.

Under the dual pressure of the air raid alarm and the fire that was finally out of control, all the crew members of the Huangfeng had to evacuate their beloved warship before the arrival of the Japanese air raid group, and watched with pain as their comrades on the destroyer sank the aircraft carrier, which had only been in service for a year and a half, with torpedoes...

An aircraft carrier was bombed by enemy planes, and because of the emergence of new enemy forces, the US fleet had to reluctantly give the order to abandon it in front of everyone. This had a very bad impact on the morale of the US fleet.

Although our carrier-based aircraft also bombed Wake Island, the island airport was at most temporarily unusable, and our aircraft carrier was directly sunk in the battle.

The most crucial thing is that until this point, the target of this feint attack - the Japanese aircraft carrier, has not even been found.

But...the battle still has to be fought.

The air group that attacked Wake Island would return in an hour at most. In order to recover their comrades, the fleet had to stay in position and not retreat. Fletcher had no choice but to stay here with the two remaining aircraft carriers.

The twenty or so twin-engine bombers flying from the Marshall Islands were easy to deal with. They had no fighters to cover them, and were quickly beaten to pieces by the patrol fighters over the aircraft carrier.

However, such air battles also consumed a lot of fuel and ammunition of the fighters. After the repulse of this wave, most of the fuel and ammunition of the US carrier-based fighters over the fleet had been consumed. Many planes have already begun calling the aircraft carriers, hoping to land and replenish immediately.

At this time, the planes that bombed Wake Island had also begun to return. After a long 200-nautical-mile round trip, they had very little fuel left. Moreover, many planes returned with scars, flying shakily and could fall at any time, so they needed to prepare for landing immediately - and they had to be arranged first.

The aircraft carrier has only one runway. Considering the time it takes to hook, unhook, and tow off the runway, the aircraft carrier can only land one plane within two to three minutes... But now...

There were dozens of planes in two groups in the sky, all crowded together at this time.

Just in case, Fletcher was busy arranging the landing order of the two groups of carrier-based aircraft while piecing together the last few aircraft that could be dispatched from the two aircraft carriers and bringing them onto the flight deck.

But at this critical moment, the radar soldier started shouting again: