Admiral Kim, who received the telegram and rushed to the White House, turned pale, but he did not expect that before a large-scale battle with the German army, the aircraft carrier formation on which he had high hopes first lost 2 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships and 1 heavy cruiser, and at the same time 2 battleships were damaged and lost more than 80 aircraft, but Spruance told the truth - the strength of the German army is now obvious to all, which shows that the 300,000 tons sunk by the Royal Navy in the North Sea Battle are no accident. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

But the comments of the words "no accident" are even more sad, which shows that the real strength is inferior to others. Admiral King remembered the sad joke that had been circulating recently: the Royal Navy was the world-renowned hegemon of the four seas for 200 years, and even more powerful than the Royal Navy was the US Navy.

"What now?" Roosevelt asked, confused and worried, "Is it necessary for Spruance to keep him coming back if he is still pursuing the German fleet?" I'm worried he's too impulsive! ”

Ingersoll, commander-in-chief of the Atlantic Fleet, did not speak, but his eyes revealed that his thoughts were on the side of the president. Admiral King, however, did not think so, because he was becoming more and more courageous in his character, and now he felt more and more that Turner's idea was right, and that he must concentrate all his forces on the German army in a desperate blow in order to retake the Azores, and judging from the situation reported by Spruance, in the future, the German land-based air defense circle should be divided according to the standard of 500 nautical miles -- because the fleet was attacked at a distance of 800 kilometers from Angra Heroshato, but if the air defense circle was really drawn at this level, the Azores fulcrum would be too terrifying The perfect border between the western and eastern air defense circles of the Iberian Peninsula meant that the sea area between the Azores and Portugal had entered a blockade similar to that of the North Sea, and any Allied ships would have to take great risks if they wanted to cross in the future - not all fleets had the size and strength of the X and Y fleets, but even the latter would not be beaten to the head by the Germans today?

He couldn't agree to the request to withdraw the fleet now, it was easy to come back, just send a telegram and give an order, but today's losses were completely solidified, and there was no chance of turning it over. Spruance was the person he favored and recommended, and before he set off, he put on a score in front of the British and seized the command of the Royal Navy, and Admiral King could not slap himself in the face from the standpoint of national image or self-decision-making.

"The President......" he opened with difficulty, "we can't pull the fleet back. According to the scale of the 500-nautical-mile air defense circle and the fulcrum of the Azores, it basically means that the sea area east of 37 degrees west longitude is under German control, which is terrible. ”

Roosevelt subconsciously looked at the map and immediately understood the meaning of Admiral King's words: The 37th parallel of west longitude is located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and if the east of the line is not controlled, it means that half of the Atlantic Ocean will be returned to the Axis camp, and not only will the scope of activities of the British and American allies be greatly reduced, but the confidence given to the whole world will collapse -- the Axis can share the Atlantic sea supremacy with the Allies. The invincible image of the German Army is famous all over the world, even if it is to challenge, it is not the turn of Britain and the United States, the confidence of the allies and most of the countries in South America in Britain and the United States is all based on sea power, if one day the Axis not only overwhelms the Allies in the army, but also can compete with Britain and the United States in the navy, is there any hope of winning this war?

"This fleet is one of the few living forces in the Atlantic that we cannot afford to lose until the newly commissioned warships are put into operation." Ingersoll took a breath and expressed his concern, "Together with our warships and the British on the slipway, we are still firmly overpowered, but if we only count the forces that are now floating on the sea, we are ......"

Roosevelt thought about it for a while and found that this was not alarmist: the Axis group together currently has at least 12 relatively powerful battleships (battle cruisers) and 5-8 aircraft carriers, and the combined strength of the British and American navies is not only slightly less than that of their opponents, but also far inferior to their opponents in terms of performance and pilot quality. The world's fifth (Germany) actually beat the world's No. 1 (the United States) and the world's No. 2 (Britain) to such a miserable point.

"The more critical the moment, the more determined we must be to destroy the enemy fleet, especially its aircraft carriers, even if it is one for one or two for one." Admiral Kim argued, "If Spruance can use the two aircraft carriers in his hand to fight the German aircraft carriers, I will not hesitate to give this order, which means that by the end of the month, we will still have three aircraft carriers available, but the enemy will not have one aircraft carrier, and then every month we will have new aircraft carriers put into service, and the enemy will not be able to catch up with this speed." But if we retreat in the face of difficulties, even if it is only temporarily to build up strength, it will cause incalculable losses. ”

"For example?"

Admiral King painted a horrific picture of Roosevelt: ...... As long as the Axis fleet appeared in South America and the Allies were unable to deal with it, the South American countries would be in a total panic, because all the naval forces there combined were no match for the German fleet, and a single battleship Tirpitz could move sideways in the Brazilian Sea. According to the political system and traditional style of those countries in South America, coupled with Argentina, Mexico and other powerful countries in the region that have been constantly involved with Germany, the consequences are unimaginable.

Admiral Kim said in a low voice: "What if we do nothing and the Germans organize 2-3 divisions to land in Brazil or somewhere else?" ”

Roosevelt did not react to this remark, but he woke up Ingersoll, and he opened his mouth wide in astonishment, unable to utter a word -- he did not think that Admiral King was being alarmist and deliberately intimidating Roosevelt, but that it was likely to become a terrible reality.

If Hoffman heard these words, he would have laughed with joy: Are the Americans crazy or something, 2-3 divisions dare to go to Brazil to land, really when German soldiers are supermen? However, in the eyes of the Americans, the army strength of a country like Brazil is worth three divisions, not to mention three German armored divisions, even three American divisions can be completely bulldozed -- this is the case with the war experience that the United States has gained since the Mexican-American War.

Roosevelt was solemnly moved by this, he could ignore Europe and Asia, but these little brothers in South America must be controlled, otherwise the international image and status of the United States as a great power will collapse with a bang. He nodded: "You persuaded me, give the fleet another chance, today's losses actually have nothing to do with the German Navy - it is the Luftwaffe that the aircraft are powerful." ”

Speaking of the plane, Admiral Kim immediately said: "Spruance said in the telegram that the BF-219 is very similar to a new Japanese aircraft he has seen in the Pacific Ocean, and he suspects that the Germans have completely improved it, stronger and better than the Japanese version, and given that the F4F is not an opponent of the BF-219, he hopes that the F6F will be fully replaced as soon as possible, and the pilots will not be sent to death in vain." ”

"What is Grumman's production?"

"Originally, it was expected to produce 200 aircraft this month, but I asked them to fully accelerate it, even at the cost of stopping the F4F production line, to increase the production of F6F to more than 500 aircraft."

Ingersoll added: "The major shipyards have also greeted them, and other projects have been temporarily stopped, and the construction of fleet aircraft carriers and escort aircraft carriers will be accelerated with all efforts, and the construction will start 24 hours a day, and it will not be stopped for a moment." ”

"Production is also a war, and it even determines whether we can achieve the ultimate victory." Roosevelt asked, "Spruance emphasized twice in the telegram that the enemy had very fast, very stealthy aerial torpedoes, and I wanted to ask, what kind of torpedo is this, and how fast is it soon?" ”

There was silence in the office, and the two admirals did not know how to answer this sentence, and the Navy had repeatedly blinded itself on the torpedo issue: many submarine captains had been complaining about their MK14 torpedoes hitting targets but refusing to explode, and Admiral Kim had slapped the table more than once for this, but with little success -- this phenomenon had been going on for more than a year, and it was still not getting better. The confusion about Japanese torpedoes was even greater, and more than half a year ago the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, Nimitz, asked "how-far-is-far?" It sounds a lot like a couple flirting and asking, "How-far-is-always?" "Such a stupid question, but the bloody result of the battleship North Carolina being hit by a torpedo of more than 10,000 meters is in front of us, and no one can ignore it. Admiral King was willing to bet that if the Germans were using American torpedoes today, Spruance's fleet would lose only 1-2 capital ships at the top.

"More than 50 knots ...... observed"

"What about our analogues?"

"Less than 35 knots."

"It's not even 70% of the enemy's level?" Roosevelt turned abruptly and explained to his two men, "I don't care what you do, you must close the gap." The Army's Sherman tank was ridiculed as a 'Ronson lighter' because it was no match for the German Tiger tank, and I don't want to hear the Navy's torpedoes be ridiculed as a 'seven-fold mine' in the future......"

In the evening, the North Sea Fleet southwest of Madeira received information from the defenders of the Azores, informing them in detail of the process of discovering and inflicting heavy damage on the American fleet, and the telegram finally made a request, hoping that the North Sea Fleet would cooperate with the defenders of the island to completely destroy the enemy fleet.

There was a great deal of controversy within the fleet over this request, and there was no consensus on whether or not to turn around...... (To be continued.) )