ps: Something happened today, the update was late, sorry......

The headquarters in Washington was in a gloomy fog, and everyone kept their heads down, not knowing what to do next: early in the morning, they had received bad news that the Puerto Rico Air Force base had been destroyed by a combination of bombs and artillery shells, and that was the second devastating blow to Puerto Rico. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

"Gentlemen, we should be glad that the enemy is not trying to ......land in Puerto Rico," Roosevelt racked his brains to relieve pressure on the senior generals, "and if they gain a foothold in the Caribbean as a result, we will never be at peace." ”

Marshall barely managed to squeeze out a smile that was uglier than crying.

"The other good news is that the main force of Admiral Ingersoll's battleship formation has retreated to safety, and they will go to the Gulf of Mexico to anchor temporarily and then return to the east coast." Lehi then added, "In the midst of misfortune, we lost the aircraft carrier formation, but at least we retained the essence of the battleship force. ”

Secretary of State Hull interjected: "Prime Minister Churchill sent a telegram of inquiry, deeply shocked by the losses and the situation of the battle, and he is also under great pressure at the moment, and there are constant calls for peace talks with Germany, but he has stated that he will continue to fight the Nazis." ”

"Mother, after the sinking of the Radiance, is there no fleet aircraft carrier left in the Royal Navy?" Roosevelt asked.

Admiral King replied: "We have urgently contacted the British side and learned that they also have a fleet aircraft carrier, the Unicorn, which has just been completed. ”

The Unicorn was originally a maintenance aircraft carrier in the Royal Navy, although the appearance is exactly the same as the fleet aircraft carrier, but the hangar was originally designed as a maintenance workshop, and the speed is relatively slow, up to 24 knots, but because the British lost several aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean naval battle, the Royal Navy, which was in a hurry to go to the hospital, built the Unicorn as a real aircraft carrier, and on the basis of the general structure of the hull has been determined, the construction was completed on the basis of a month and a half of delay than the original time by temporarily strengthening the power and modifying the structure.

The modified Unicorn has a displacement of more than 17,000 tons, and the level of armor defense is not as good as that of the Brilliant, but after passing through the deck mooring, the standing carrier aircraft can reach a maximum of 66, which is far greater than the Tejas class, and the power can reach 28 knots after reinforcement, which is barely a fast aircraft carrier.

Roosevelt smiled wryly: "So, the British will have aircraft carriers available in the Atlantic next month, but we won't have one?" ”

"It's not all, the USS Cowbans (Independence-class) will be ready for service in 10 days, and the USS Bunker Hill (Essex-class) will be in service at the end of this month at the earliest, but these two warships were originally scheduled to support the British side, are we ......" Admiral King did not continue, but the meaning in his eyes was clearly telling Roosevelt - you know!

Roosevelt waved his hand: "We can't delay any longer, otherwise Prime Minister Churchill himself will have a hard time, I don't think it's better to do this, given that the Royal Navy now has a fleet aircraft carrier, we will provide the light aircraft carrier Cowpens to the United Kingdom, and the Bunker Hill for our own use...... Wait for the subsequent Essex-class aircraft carrier to be completed and then provide it to the UK. ”

"Okay then......" Admiral Kim was obviously a little reluctant, but now Britain and the United States are a pair of difficult brothers, and if Britain really surrenders, the United States will be completely finished, so he can only admit it by pinching his nose.

"In order to compensate for the delay in the delivery of the fleet carriers, we first provided 10 escort aircraft carriers and enough carrier-based aircraft to the British side, and all the fighters were F6F, is it difficult to do so?"

"There's a little bit of it, but it can be overcome."

Although there was no mention of postponement or cancellation of Plan A+, it was clear to everyone that Plan A+ would not be able to be executed anytime soon, and that Plan A+ would have to undergo major revisions in light of the problems exposed by the campaign, and Turner had been tasked with resubmitting it next month after it was upgraded to Plan B. As a result, the escort aircraft carriers originally scheduled for the A+ program were free to provide to the British side. Admiral Jin silently calculated that he would give 5 ships in May and 5 ships in June, and this progress could basically be guaranteed; The Intrepid (Essex-class) could be commissioned in late June, and it was a big deal to give the aircraft carrier to the British.

"But the Atlantic Fleet has only 1 aircraft carrier, which is obviously not enough." Lehi pondered for a moment and said, "Do you want to consider withdrawing the Pacific Fleet back?" ”

Roosevelt turned his gaze to Admiral King, who did not explicitly say yes or no, but stated only one fact: "The Monterrey is still four weeks to complete, the Cabote (both ships of the Independence class) will be ready for service in early June, the Pacific Fleet is currently resting in Australia, and now the Panama Canal is disrupted, and it will take at least two months for them to return to the East Coast if they detour South America." ”

The implication of Admiral King's words is obvious: it is not cost-effective to withdraw the Pacific Fleet from the Far East, and by the time it returns at the end of June, there will be one Essex and two Independence-class ships available on the mainland, and the only ones that the Pacific Fleet can use now are the Essex and Saratoga.

"Well, then don't pull it back, the situation in the Far East is also critical." Roosevelt sighed, "At the moment it seems that we can only go on the defensive in the direction of the Atlantic. ”

If the defense of the Caribbean becomes more and more important, Marshall was soon given the task of strengthening the strategic points in the Caribbean, including Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Panama, Mexico, and other places, and deploying sufficient aircraft and land, according to Roosevelt's vision, at least one division and more than 200 aircraft in each of these areas.

"As for the possible restoration of the Panama Canal, what are the prospects for your assessment?"

"It's worse than you think." Admiral Kim sighed, "The Japanese sank 2 battleships in one go, and blew up all the canals and locks in the canal, and experts believe that there are four steps to recovery: the first step is to clean up the earthworks buried on the warships; The second step is to float or tow away the two warships; The third step is to clean up the rest of the earthwork underwater; The fourth step is to re-dredge and build locks...... The overall construction period is expected to last more than 48 months, of which towing away or floating the two warships, which together have a tonnage of more than 80,000 tons, is the difficulty. ”

Roosevelt frowned: "Is there any other way?" ”

"The other is to open another canal near the Gatun locks, about 10 kilometers long. Exploration takes 12-14 months, the construction period takes 24-30 months, and it takes about three and a half years, which may be compressed into three years if the construction rate is unconventional. ”

"Well, next month we'll have a special meeting to discuss this issue in detail." Roosevelt smiled wryly, "The Senate and the House of Representatives informed me that they would need to be questioned in secret by both houses in three days, and that they would have to pass the interrogation to obtain the follow-up construction budget." (To be continued.) )