PS: The monthly pass in February has been added, and the next step is to add the arrears in March......

It is true that the efficiency of decision-making in democracies is not good in normal times, and it can be delayed as long as it can be, but when it comes to a critical moment, the enthusiasm that bursts out is also breathtaking. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Hearing that Germany used "long-range" rockets (as opposed to rocket artillery) to hit London from the European continent, not only killing thousands of people but also unable to defend against the news, Washington was boiling, and that night it rushed into action - this is really a matter of life and death, when the Germans made the Paris cannon, and now they have the London rocket, what if the Germans go crazy with transatlantic rockets in the future? Aren't the American people living in endless fear forever?

According to Goddard's reasoning, if Germany now has a rocket with a range of 400-500 km, it is easy to raise it to a range of 6000-8000 km within 10 years, knowing that when he was engaged in rockets 13 years ago, the range was only 20 km, and now it is unimaginable that it can develop to this situation.

At this rate, the rocket range is not to mention 6,000-8,000 kilometers, even more than 10,000 kilometers is just around the corner. The senior leaders of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who are familiar with global geography, know very well that if there is really a 6,000-8,000-kilometer rocket, then the first-line launch in Portugal, Spain, and Northwest Africa can directly envelop the essence of the east coast of the United States, and if the Germans are mad and pull the rocket to the Azores for deployment, then most of the United States will be in it. When the time comes, the Germans will not fight wherever they want? No wonder the Germans have always been not interested in developing heavy long-range bombers, it turns out that their attack path is this, which is much more clever than the United States to engage in B-17 \ B-29, which can neither be intercepted without dead people.

No one is a god, and the top level of the United States will also misjudge Germany's actions, and will overestimate the strength of the opponent because of the current unfavorable war situation. The reason why Germany is not interested in developing heavy bombers can be explained by this kind of remark, entirely because the cost is too high to afford, and the United States itself has a good ability to manufacture aircraft, and now, on the contrary, it feels that what the Germans have in their hands is better and more powerful -- the ultra-high speed of Mach 4, the unpredictable landing point, and the safety of the undead are simply the greatest magic weapon for the great powers to run rampant in the world. No wonder the Germans are so tough and aggressive, it turns out that they have real guys in their hands! Think of the achievements of the Germans in the field of jets, not only jet fighters, but even jet bombers have come out, and let people not live?

Goddard predicted: Now Germany dares to come up with a 400-kilometer rocket, and according to the convention and the process of research and development, they have at least 1000-1500 kilometers of guys on hand to test. This speculation is well-founded, but he never expected that the Germans would step farther than he thought, in early 1944, after the successful tandem test of the two-stage V2 rocket, the German side directly crossed the V4 rocket of about 1500 kilometers and went to the V6 of 2500-3000 kilometers according to Braun's suggestion, and in the Penemünde design office, the V8 of the 5000 km class was formed on the drawings. The five-in-one launch force ordered by Hoffman is also in full swing, including the extra-large submarine (I-400) on the slipway, the super truck (40-meter-long, mobile launch platform) in the research institute, and the underground silos.

The first to be completed is the rocket launch train, which can become a rocket launch platform after a slight modification based on the train gun base, and this time there are two rocket companies in the Netherlands that use the train platform to carry out V2 rocket maneuver launch attempts, the effect is very good, and it is much simpler than waiting for the Dora cannon. Within 120 minutes, including the selection of the launch site, camouflage, rocket fuel injection, target determination, erection, launch, retraction and retreat, it was verified in practice that the mobile launch is completely feasible, and the next stage is ready to try road launch, after all, the V2 rocket is not too large, and the existing large truck can cope with it.

Goddard also guessed about the multi-in-one launch force, but because his current main job is responsible for the research of shipborne rockets (hoping to provide short-range anti-aircraft firepower), he did not consider the direction of submarines, but put forward the concept of "shipborne rockets", saying: "Even if we can't build a rocket of 6000-8000 kilometers for the time being, the Germans may not be able to hit us, they can produce rockets of 1000-1500 kilometers, and install them on large warships for mobile launches, A warship of the size of Essex can carry a lot, 200 pieces, 100 pieces can be loaded, and then launched in groups of 4-5 ships, I think the combat effect will be better than that of bombers, and the cost will be lower and safer in the long run. You don't even need to build such an expensive big guy as an aircraft carrier, it is a good launch platform to modify it with a Victory ship, a ship with dozens of them, and a fleet can carry thousands of them......"

If we follow this inference, as long as the Germans drive their warships far away from the coastline and avoid their own radar and aircraft monitoring, they can automatically launch them at the push of a button. Is that worth it? At that time, the eastern region will always worry that there will be overwhelming rockets flying overhead, and they will not even be able to eat and sleep! Will the United States, which has always relied on the cover of the two oceans as a natural security barrier, have a stable place in the future?

It must be said that Goddard is worthy of being the grandmaster of American rocketry, and his imagination is rich enough, and the outline of a heavy missile cruiser (battleship) and the idea of a saturation attack took shape in an instant - although in later generations this was an evil path!

Early in the morning of April 4, a flowing order was issued, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff established the Rocket Bureau, which was under the command of Admiral Arnold of the Army Aviation (both of which belonged to aviation), and was actually directly under the management of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Goddard and his recommended Professor von Kármán were directly conferred the rank of major general and served as the chief and deputy director of the Rocket Bureau after verification by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to the list drawn up by the two men, the three giants of the Joint Chiefs of Staff gathered all the professors engaged in rocketry, fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, aeronautics, and other professional fields in major US universities and scientific research institutions to hold a meeting and mobilize them to put aside the theoretical research at hand for the time being and concentrate their energies on participating in this project.

All scholars who are willing to join are awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel and colonel according to their academic status and importance in the industry, and a young man like Qian Xuesen, who already has a certain status in the academic circles, does not care whether he is an American or not, as long as he is willing to serve the United States, he is also offered the rank of captain. Even the doctoral students of various professors, regardless of whether they have graduated or not, have mobilized them to participate in this project and enjoy special subsidies from the military.

In the past, it was very difficult for scholars to ask for scientific research funds, most of which were tens of thousands, and it was particularly important to be able to pass 300,000 yuan. Now the starting price is 2 million and there is no upper limit, as long as Goddard and Carmen think it is important, they can sign and get money, the only requirement is confidentiality, and all the results cannot be published to the public. Roosevelt had planned to embezzle 2 billion from the special national debt, but in the afternoon Congress unanimously voted to include the 2 billion in the special budget and not to occupy other funds -- the congressmen were also afraid of rockets.

The first plenary meeting of the Rocket Agency was held in the evening of the same day and a consensus was reached:

1. The British side is required to keep part of the rocket attack site and wreckage, and it would be better if the unexploded physical objects could be collected, and the experts will visit London in the near future to evaluate the power and performance of the rocket on the spot;

2. It is hoped that the government can send agents to steal relevant technical data from Germany or destroy relevant facilities;

3. It is recommended that the government find German rocket research bases, production plants and bomb them to slow down Germany.

The consensus was quickly accepted and deployed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In addition to rockets, jets are also a headache. The bombing of the southern part of Britain had entered its second day, and the German attack momentum was unabated, and all the targets of some value in the south were bombed to a pulp, and the German jet bombers' high-flying style of play made the pilots of the Royal Air Force feel desperate, and they resorted to all the methods they could not deal with, and finally they were forced to risk attacking the German departure airfield on the other side of the channel, but they were stopped by more numerous and better equipped German planes, and the losses were very large. The British side strongly demanded that the United States quickly put in the Meteor jets, but the problem was that the United States did not have much stock of its own, so the Joint Staff Committee once again ordered several military industrial enterprises to temporarily reduce the manufacture of other aircraft and make every effort to ensure the production and supply of the Meteor.

Britain and the United States are still considering the production and mass service of the Meteor, but the German side has even the second-generation jet Ta-183 verification machine has been basically finalized, and the core technical indicators have also been locked, waiting for the completion of the final test to form a pre-production type, according to Hoffman's schedule, the model will be put into mass production at the beginning of 1945 and put into service as soon as possible, in addition to considering the development of the carrier-based type - Me-262 carrier-based is difficult, but the weight of the Ta-183 is much lighter, the take-off and landing distance is shorter, relatively speaking, it is easier to get on the ship. Moreover, oblique aircraft carriers have also appeared one after another, and the prerequisites are met.

In the afternoon of that day, Spruance made one last attempt, sending a reconnaissance plane to search the surrounding waters, but finding nothing, and he was determined to return to South Africa to resupply and prepare to fight in the direction of the Indian Ocean, as requested by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But fate played a joke on him, and Cranke began to return after completing the Brazilian raid.

Now that the German fleet is returning from north to south and the American fleet from northwest to southeast, an unexpected engagement is about to begin......