Cole told the Japanese Navy top brass what Hoffman said about the specific situation of the US aircraft carrier: After the Battle of the East Solomons, the USS Enterprise was severely damaged and forced to go to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for a month-long overhaul, and the main US forces in the Pacific region became a three-aircraft carrier task force with the USS Vespa, USS Saratoga, and USS Hornet as the core. On August 31, the Saratoga was damaged by a torpedo fired by the Japanese submarine "I-26" and required three months of repairs, and on September 14, the Wasp was hit by three torpedoes fired by the Japanese submarine "I-19" and was finally abandoned and scuttled because the damage control team was unable to contain the ensuing fire. In the second half of September, the U.S. Navy had only one aircraft carrier, which was called the "September Crisis" -- the weakest time since Pearl Harbor. By the end of October, the USS Enterprise returned to the waters of the South Pacific after emergency repairs, and although the US aircraft carrier group in the Pacific Ocean had recovered, the number was still only two, of which only one aircraft carrier, the Hornet, was intact. At this time, Japan still had two air squadrons, including the three ships Shozuru, Zuizuru, and Zuiho in the 1st Air Force, and the Hayabusa and Flying Eagle in the 2nd Air Force (originally there was also a dragon and a light air carrier, which was sunk at the end of August), a total of two large and three small aircraft carriers. The number of aircraft carriers of the two sides is 2:5, and the number of carrier-based aircraft is about 169:280.

"Based on the above factors, this commander has categorically decided to mobilize all warships near the Truk Sea to advance to the waters of Kuah Island to seek a decisive battle against the US aircraft carrier formation." Horiyoshi glanced at everyone with blazing eyes, and said word by word. "This operation was personally commanded by me, and I led all the warships, including the Yamato, to attack, with Yamato as the general flagship."

Mobilizing Yamato? Everyone's brains are clouded. This was something that had never happened since the beginning of the war, and someone immediately retorted, "However, the Yamato is a symbol of the Imperial Navy, and it cannot be used lightly." ”

"Why not?" Horikichi said solemnly, "The battleship was built for war, not for anchoring at anchorage as a hotel, not to mention the Yamato." If the Musashi is here now, I will not hesitate to use it. ”

The battleship Yamato has always had the name of the Yamato Hotel, on which the Combined Fleet Command maintained a luxurious life. It makes the base camp, especially the army, very unaccustomed to it.

"But...... Your Majesty...... ...... of the Ministry of the Navy Is there a disagreement from the Military Command Department? ”

"Since I have been appointed commander of the Combined Fleet, I have the right to mobilize all warships. Before I took up my post, Kaixiang Yamamoto personally told me that the Ministry of the Navy would never interfere with military orders, and Chief Fushimi Miyahiro Kyowang also advocated that all warships be mobilized according to operational needs—even Yamato would not let me use them, so I would have resigned as soon as possible. "Yamamoto Isoroku has always been very hesitant to use capital ships, especially several warships such as Yamato, Nagato, and Mutsu. Horikichi is clearly more courageous than him.

"We are afraid that if the battleships, especially the Yamato, are lost, it will be detrimental to the commander."

"That's not something you should think about. Is this something for the Commander of the Combined Fleet to consider, or do you feel that you need to help the Commander take on this responsibility? ”

"Don't dare!"

"Now issue the order for the battle."

"What?" Everyone was shocked, thinking that they were here to discuss how to advance the next step of the operation, but they didn't expect that the commander had even thought of the battle order.

"The battle order is to be read out by the chief of staff of Caolu, and the specific plan will be submitted to you before dawn tomorrow."

"With the 1st and 2nd fleets as the core, an artillery fleet will be formed to strike at the US forces on Kuah Island; With the 3rd Fleet as the core, a mobile fleet will be formed to be responsible for operations against US aircraft carrier formations. The artillery fleet was personally commanded by the commander of the combined fleet, and the mobile fleet was commanded by Vice Admiral Tsukahara 243. If necessary, the shelling fleet obeys the operational requirements of the mobile fleet. Grass Deer ignored the whispers in the venue, "The specific team composition is as follows......"

Shelling fleet formation

Total flagship: Yamato

2nd Sentai (Battleships): Nagato, Mutsu, Fuso, Yamashiro

6th Sentai (Heavy Cruisers): Aoba, Kinugasa, Furutaka, Kako

9th Sentai (Light Cruisers): Kitakami, Oi

4th Sentai (Heavy Cruisers): Atago, Maya, Takao

Sentai 5 (Heavy Cruisers): Myoko, Haguro

Mobile fleet formation

Flagship: Shohe

1st Air Force (Aircraft Carrier): Xianghe, Zuihe, Zuiho

2nd Air Force (Aircraft Carrier): Hayabusa, Flying Eagle

Team 3 (Battle Cruiser): Kongo, Haruna, Hiei, Kirishima

7th Sentai (Heavy Cruisers): Kumano, Suzuya, Mogami

8th Sentai (Heavy Cruisers): Tone, Chikuma

10th Sentai (Light Cruiser): Nagara (as the leader of the destroyer formation)

"The main change in this reorganization is the abolition of the 11th Sentai (Hiei, Kirishima). It was incorporated into the 3rd Squadron, consisting of 4 Kongo-class battlecruisers to form a mobile fleet for rapid escort, and the rest remained unchanged, and all destroyers and other ships were grouped in a unified manner according to the original fleet establishment. ”

Kondo Nobutake thought to himself: The artillery formation will be greatly weakened if it lacks 2 Kongo-class battle cruisers, but considering that the general flagship Yamato is accompanied by the artillery fleet, this loss of troops is enough to make up for it, so he also agreed.

However, Horikichi couldn't sit still in the second half of the sentence: "The key to this operation is to discover and strike before the enemy, so we are prepared to use the artillery bombardment fleet as a bait to lure the enemy's aircraft carrier formation to be exposed, so as to create an opportunity for our mobile fleet to destroy the enemy." ”

Nobutake Kondo sprang up like a cat whose tail had been trampled: "Sir, the battleship is the main force in the decisive battle, and it should not be thrown lightly. ”

"In my mind, this operation is a decisive battle, and if we can't destroy the enemy's aircraft carrier formation, our combat mission will be a complete failure, let alone the implementation of the Indian Ocean Raider...... "Horikichi said lightly.

"But ......"

"It's nothing, carry out the order, and I'll take all the responsibility alone." Horikichi said angrily.

"Yes!"

"The general code name of this operation: Operation Tianhao." "In view of the fact that the Imperial cipher has been repeatedly deciphered by Britain and the United States, the base camp has decided to introduce hundreds of the latest cipher machines from Germany, and 40 of the first 50 cipher machines will be transferred to the Combined Fleet for use. In addition, from 12 o'clock tomorrow, the new password will be activated. Before that, we have to tell the Americans a little bit of information with the old cipher, telling them that we are about to launch a counteroffensive. ”

What the? Everyone was shocked, this should be a situation of full secrecy, why did the commander actually say that he wanted to reveal it to the Americans?

"If it is not revealed to the Americans, how can they be willing to send an aircraft carrier group to fight?" Horikichi smiled slightly, turned his head and said to Kusaka, "Organize all ships to carry out telegraph shooting with the goal of counterattacking Port Moresby in New Guinea......"

Everyone laughed. (To be continued.) )