Seeing that there were signs of pinching up on both the land and sea, Eisenhower stood up to escort the Falkland Islands at the critical moment: "I do not think that there is a contradiction between the war with the German fleet and the attack on the Falkland Islands, at present the army needs to be deployed in many directions such as French Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia, etc., and it is urgent to eliminate the interference of the enemy's navy. In the second phase, we need to eliminate this interference, and as for the third phase, our focus is to give priority to the defeat of the German-Italian fleet, whether it is to defeat the German-Italian fleet near Bermuda or to achieve this goal near the Falkland Islands, and I would say that it is better to do it near Bermuda, which is closer to the mainland and can be effectively supported. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

Admiral Kim nodded, Ike's words made some sense, not showing weakness, but also meeting the requirements of the army, it seems that he was reused by Marshall, he thought about it and asked: "What if the enemy just shook a shot and immediately retreated back to the Azores?" ”

"Then we'll keep an eye on them first and create opportunities for the Army to act." Eisenhower replied, "I'm wondering, if we can't just wipe out the Falkland defenders with the transport fleet and the accompanying escort carriers without the interference of the German fleet?" ”

"This ......" it was Admiral King's turn to mutter: saying that he could appear a little rash, saying that he couldn't appear a little weak-hearted, but at the critical moment, Hewitt came out to support him, and said: "I don't think it's a big problem, the aircraft carriers and destroyers we gave to the Royal Navy at the end of this month can be put into use, which can greatly enhance the strike force." ”

Marshall, of course, understood the principle of taking what he saw was good, and immediately said: "This is very good, the first and second phases of the army are not expected to be completed until early November, and it just so happens that the two sides will join forces, the navy will use the main fleet against the main force of the German and Italian navy, and the Royal Navy detachment and the army will attack the Falkland Islands -- we can still fulfill the president's request to launch the Falkland offensive campaign on Christmas Eve." ”

"Then I think we will go to the hospital together and report the meeting to the president, and the order will be issued like this first?" Lehi, who was presiding over the meeting, asked the two.

Admiral King and Marshall glanced at each other and nodded in agreement.

The order was soon issued: the army forces in Port-au-Prince continued to carry out the task of attacking on the road, and Admiral Ingersoll led the main force of the fleet to turn to Bermuda to engage Germany and Italy, and at the same time asked the British and American troops on Bermuda to prepare for defense and buy time for the navy.

"It's a lot like a Battle of Midway......" Listening to Ozawa's report on the concept of the battle, Marchar frowned and said, "It's nothing more than that Midway is now replaced by Bermuda, you say, will we?" ”

Ozawa's face froze, his expression was a little unnatural, he still hasn't figured out why the Battle of Midway failed inexplicably at that time, not only defeated, but also lost 4 aircraft carriers in one go, which is simply incredible. However, he did not participate in it personally, and it is inconvenient to publicly evaluate this matter, because as soon as he said it, it was going to involve Nagumo and Yamamoto, and now the general explanation within the Japanese Navy is that the password leakage leads to passivity, but Ozawa knows that it must not be so simple, but it is just that the top and bottom are unanimous and not exposed, you must know that the loss of Midway Island is only now completely released, and many of them are also added to Hori Yoshi's head, which is really unknown.

He smiled bitterly: "It's still a little different, the U.S. troops at Midway have already laid an ambush and are ready to raid us, and now the U.S. troops are still wandering around the Caribbean, and they will arrive in at least 3 days." ”

"You're going to fight?" Cranke asked.

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Let's fight a fight, we can't go back home without a fight, we can't always avoid the Americans, and the confidence and morale that we have built up so hard will be gone......," Mashaal mused, "but we have to take Bermuda first, and we have to move quickly, we only have 24 hours." ”

"Report to the sir, the attack fleet is ready."

"Good." Ozawa looked at the time, "At 5:15, the air defense fighters will take off first, and at 5:45, the attack aircraft group will take off one after another, complete the assembly before 6:30, and then wait for the US military to follow up after the attack; If the enemy does not come, then the night attack will begin directly after dark, and the commanders of the aviation units will again familiarize themselves with the directions......"

Machar nodded, and ordered: "Send a telegram to Lieutenant General Bey, after dark the artillery formation will advance at maximum speed, and at 3 o'clock in the morning I hope the shells will fall on Bermuda!" ”

The question of whether or not to attack the German-Italian fleet before dark did cause some controversy on the Bermuda Islands, but the tradition and morale of the enemy still inspired the British and American officers and men, and in order to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the opportunity to return to the island, on the one hand, the air defense forces made preparations, and on the other hand, other measures were also taken: heavy bombers with a long range, represented by the B-17 and B-25, went to land on the mainland after completing their missions, and the local airfields provided light guidance; Other short-range fighters and attack planes parachuted back to the vicinity of Bermuda after completing their missions, never landing so as not to expose their targets.

In fact, this choice is also wise, and it is too difficult for them to let these rookies play night landing.

At 6:45, the huge sunset began to slowly fall into the sea, and the British and American aircraft appeared in the sky.

"Come on...... Let you taste the power of the hedgehog! ”

The Hedgehog class was originally an anti-aircraft destroyer that was prepared to start construction using the Hoffman Phalanx, and it is expected to be installed on the slipway of the Z-class destroyer under construction.

In order to enhance the anti-aircraft firepower, the designers vigorously piled up armaments on them, using six 88mm high-level dual-purpose guns (long-range air defense) with a total of 12 in three groups of twin installations, 16 40mm Bofors high-group (medium-range air defense) and 12 phalanx (short-range air defense), and even retained two torpedo tubes. However, problems arose in the subsequent specific construction process, the first is that the center of gravity is improved after the armament is piled up, and the navigation, especially the ocean-going performance, is not good; The second is that the firepower is too bloated, resulting in overlapping of some gun positions and insufficient firing range.

It is also worth noting that although the 88mm proximity fuze originally adopted by Germany was successful, because the 88mm shell was relatively small, the effect was greatly reduced after it was barely stuffed in, and the lethality was weakened a lot, and at this time, the 128mm electric full-function control anti-aircraft gun equipped with the local air defense tower played a major role and worked very well in actual combat, so the design was revised again and turned into two twin-mounted 128mm high-level guns in the front and rear, and then took the opportunity to cut off the torpedo tubes that were in the way.

After this restoration, there was too much firepower, and finally the 16-door 40mm Bofors was reduced to 12, the 12-seat phalanx was changed to 8, and then an additional fire control radar was added, and all the modification tasks were finally completed. As a result, the 4 destroyers (Z33\Z34\Z38\Z39), which could have been completed in the spring of 43, were delayed until May-June, and the model was changed to D-class destroyers, with a standard displacement of 3200 tons, codenamed D1-D4, and the Z35 \ 36 \ 43 \ 44 \ 45 that was still waiting on the slipway behind would also undergo similar modifications and become ships 5-9 of the D series.

In order to conform to the evolution of large-scale and intensive anti-aircraft firepower, the German Navy also launched an upgraded version of the Hedgehog class - Porcupine class, the tonnage was further enlarged to 6000 tons, and the light cruiser class was promoted, and the main armament was still the same as the Hedgehog class, but the number was more and the layout was more reasonable, including three twin 128mm high-level dual-purpose guns (long-range air defense), 20 40mm Bofors high group (medium-range air defense) and 12 phalanx (short-range air defense), relying on its larger tonnage and more slender hull, for better defense. The German designers did not know that the Japanese side was also working on the conversion of the second follow-up ship of the Agano class into an air defense cruiser, but the general idea was relatively close - this was all the experience gained during the war.

"Enemy planes have 4 minutes to reach ......"

"Take the initiative to intercept......" Ozawa looked at the sunset that had sunk half in the sea, "Use the last bit of brightness to let the carrier-based aircraft shoot down some first......"

Due to the slow flight of heavy bombers, the main ones that were put into attack in the early stage were SBD and TBF, and it was F4U that provided them with defense, and there were also some Spitfires, and now the German fighter group with BF-219C as the main force finally met the opponent, F4U and Spitfire Compared with the F6F carrier-based aircraft commonly used by the US Navy, not only is it faster, it is better maneuvering, and the firepower is also stronger (F4U is generally 4 20mm cannons).

Although the quality of British and American fighter pilots was not as good as that of the battle-hardened German pilots, they actually had the upper hand in terms of aircraft performance, so they did not play such disparities as the Japanese side often had 1:5 and 1:6, and the exchange level of fighters was only 1:2, and even with the downed SBD and TBF, the overall exchange ratio was only 1:3. Fortunately, it was getting late, and the two sides could not see clearly, and the experienced German planes came up with a way to fly away at a low altitude and completely rely on the anti-aircraft fire of the sea to counterattack -- because the British and American pilots were not skilled enough to fly at ultra-low altitudes, the battlefield suddenly became layered, and the British and American planes lured to a low altitude tasted the blazing dense array firepower, and the posture was not a batch of ammunition, but a storm of metal, as long as it was shrouded, there was no possibility of escape, and the German ships now had fire control radars to provide aiming, not afraid of the night at all.

The low-altitude attack aircraft group did not bargain, and the high-altitude heavy bombers could not take advantage of it, the B17\B25 arrived at the battlefield after dark, and the witty Cranker ordered the aircraft carrier to stop all anti-aircraft fire and avoid all bright light, and only allowed cruisers and destroyers to shoot at the air, and the aircraft carrier was completely hidden in the dark night, integrated with the surroundings, like a black hole, and the heavy bombers could only throw bombs at the bright light, which had only a 23 percent hit rate, and even fewer hits at night...... (To be continued.) )