The results of the naval battle in the South Atlantic were announced through their respective media in the next two days, and both sides claimed to be the victors of the battle, and it is entirely up to different opinions to see whose propaganda is more watery, depending on the angle from which the problem is viewed, but no matter which angle you stand on, it cannot change the fact that neither side has particularly powerful warships in the South Atlantic:

Although the U.S. military still has six intact escort aircraft carriers and the USS New Jersey, their mission is to escort Patton's forces back, and focus on the transportation of supplies to North America in the next month;

Although the Germans kept the Jean-Bar and 3 battleships, they were all scarred and could not afford to fight. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

But if we look at the short- and medium-term future, there is no doubt that the Germans have the overall upper hand. Kranke used a detachment to fight out Nimitz's main fleet, the Germans still had a main fleet of 4 aircraft carriers, and the American fleet aircraft carriers were empty.

At present, the closest to completion in the United States is the Good Guy Richard and Randolph (both Essex class), which was originally scheduled to be completed in early September, but under the urging of Turner, Lehi and even Truman in turn, and even hinted at the premise of slightly relaxing the acceptance criteria in some non-important parts, the manufacturer did not dare to brag, only said that it was at most a week in advance,

Then there are the three aircraft carriers (Shangri-La, Lake Champlain and Antietam) (all of the Essex class), which are scheduled to be completed in late October, and the shipyard says they can be completed 10 days ahead of schedule – no sooner.

But even if the two aircraft carriers delivered in late August have to be tested and run-in, they will be able to form a battle at least until October, and the next three aircraft carriers will catch up with Christmas, and Admiral Kim, who is hospitalized, has nothing but a sigh after hearing the news.

What made the Navy even more troublesome was that this operation lost a large number of carrier-based aircraft pilots, and the Navy's reserves were almost exhausted, and as a last resort, Turner asked the Pacific Fleet for help, saying that all the remaining warships of Nimitz were left to the Pacific Fleet, but hoped that Ingram would provide at least 150 groups of pilots to the Atlantic side first, otherwise even the aviation on the Good Guy Richard and Randolph would not be able to make up.

Although the Pacific Fleet trained a group of pilots in the past six months, Ingram watched this very closely, and Nimitz deduced that Horiyoshi's counterattack was very likely, and the two sides bargained, and finally gave 120 groups for the Franklin's sake.

In addition, there are more than 50 groups drawn from escort aircraft carriers in China, and there is still a gap of 70 groups from the minimum of 240 groups. Lehi, who was forced to have no choice, could only ask Truman to come out to Churchill and recruit some former Royal Navy carrier-based aircraft pilots who fled to Canada, and Qiu Fat couldn't take too many people, Somerville hated the Americans for killing Marshal Pound, and finally barely managed to gather more than 20 groups of Canadian and British carrier-based pilots.

After this down, Turner got 200 pilots, but even then there were still 40 sets short.

In the end, he was forced to be so helpless that he transferred 10 groups from the reserve training instructors, and took away 30 groups of Lv.4 pilots with the best level on the escort aircraft carrier, and let them use the next two months to forcibly raise the level.

But this only meets the minimum requirements (300 groups are required for normal establishment), and when I think that there will be a gap of at least 360 groups of three aircraft carriers in December, Turner is so anxious that he has the heart to jump off the building.

At present, although the US Navy continues to train novice pilots, the additional high-level pilots cannot keep up with the speed of consumption, and what is worse is that due to the casualty rate of carrier-based aircraft pilots at every turn, the number of volunteers who have signed up to serve as carrier-based aircraft pilots has begun to shrink, and many families do not even agree with young men signing up to be pilots.

He complained in his heart that Nimitz should not fight with the Germans in aircraft carrier warfare, didn't he say that it was better to use the transport fleet to attract German firepower and then fight out a group of German pilots and German warships? How did it come to the end that the transport fleet was unscathed, but the main fleet got in? Didn't Nimitz know that the army had millions of troops, and the navy fleet was the only one?

Of course, this last sentence Turner does not dare to say now, which is not in line with the principle of "political correctness".

The situation of the German army is much better than that of the American army, although it sank 2 aircraft carriers and 2 cruisers, but 1 aircraft carrier was rebuilt from a cruise ship, which was not very strong in the first place, one Ise was sunk by being forcibly used by itself with injuries, and 2 cruisers are also considered trivial - compared to the 4 Cleveland-class and 8 Oakland-class of the American army, it is a dream to wake up with a smile. As for the Rhine class, 4 have just been replenished in China, and the problem is not too big, only a few capital ships that have been heavily damaged and created in the middle are a little troublesome.

But since the Great War, which of these capital ships have not been scarred but survived tenaciously in the end?

After emergency repairs, the most seriously injured Jean-Bar, although it did not have the combat capability of the aircraft carrier, at least its speed was restored to more than 20 knots, and several parts of the battleship that were struck by lightning were also urgently reinforced. Hearing the news that General Machar was about to send the main fleet to reinforcements, Crank's tightly knit brow couldn't help but loosen.

Although the Air Force lost dozens of planes to protect the fleet that day (most of the personnel were intact), after all the HNA planes landed in Rio, the strength of the Air Force swelled to some extent, and there was no need for cooperation -- the HNA was originally transferred from the Air Force in the past, but now it is nothing more than a return to see that the former comrades-in-arms are even more affectionate.

The U.S. Army Air Force attempted to send heavy bombers to continue attacking the German fleet, but the reinforced Luftwaffe built a tight defensive network and thwarted the U.S. attempt.

News of the German-American Battle of the Atlantic also reached Japan, and the base camp unanimously said that it was a godsend to defeat the United States, and was more enthusiastic about the Battle of Midway proposed by Horiyoshi, who believed that the Americans would not collapse, but the news that the American forces had lost several hundred groups of pilots was unequivocal.

Horikichi said to Yamamoto Isoroku: "I really don't understand why the Americans are adopting such a stubborn attrition tactic, shouldn't they shrink back and accumulate strength?" Even being false with us is a strategy. ”

The latter shook his head: "It's okay to be false and wrong, but don't forget that this is the year of the US presidential election, and Truman does not dare to take such a risk." ”

Horikichi patted his head: "Forgot!" Oops, I made a mistake. No wonder Truman didn't want to talk to us, he didn't want to put a burden on himself, and we couldn't fight anyway. ”

Tsukahara 243, who was about to lead the team, interjected: "I heard that Dewey is a pacifist, will it be better for him to come to power?" Is there still hope for reconciliation between Japan and the United States? ”

Horiyoshi and Yamamoto Isoroku smiled bitterly in unison: "It is true that Dewey advocated peace, but what he advocated was peace with Germany and tough on Japan. ”

Tsukahara 243 said that he did not understand this logic, according to his thoughts: After the reconciliation between Japan and the United States, Japan is still much weaker than the United States, and Germany is the biggest opponent of the United States in the competition for world hegemony. Doesn't it mean that the Pearl Harbor incident can be discussed, and that it is okay to punish the "culprits" and "pay reparations," so why refuse to say it without saying it?

"Tsukahara-kun, do you think that when a new president comes to power, it will be peace for Germany and Japan, and he will be in a secure position? In our country, such a prime minister is going to be condemned by heaven and a thief. Horikichi sighed, "I've been talking about the final peace between Japan and the United States recently, and the prime minister has reminded me many times to pay attention to my identity, the occasion, and the atmosphere, alas...... When will the 'patriots' come to heaven to punish me? ”

Tsukahara smiled: "You are too worried, everyone knows that you are for the good of Japan, and you want to die fewer people and fight fewer wars, but the Americans are unwilling, it's okay if they don't want to, wouldn't it be good if we fought until they were willing?" ”

"Please!" Yamamoto bowed slightly towards Tsukahara, "I look forward to you helping me wash away the shame of Midway." ”

"It's serious, it's serious, the positions and responsibilities of the two chiefs are more important!"

On 4 August, the huge combined fleet was secretly assembled in various ports, the strong mobile fleet was reorganized, and the army forces and equipment began to board the ships.

In order to win the Battle of Midway, Horikichi poured all the forces at hand into his pocket:

The mobile fleet has 6 aircraft carriers, including: Dafeng, Zuihe, Xianghe, Yunlong, Amagi and Bayarn. Among them, the Béarn dismantled the original French boiler and replaced it with the same main engine of the Yunlong class, but because the displacement was more than 2,000 tons larger than that of the Yunlong, the front hull was different, so the maximum speed could only run to 29 knots, and the carrier aircraft was slightly more than the Yunlong by 4, which can be regarded as another Yunlong in general. In order to renovate the Béarn, Japan did not hesitate to slow down the construction progress of the Aso aircraft carrier, and installed all the materials and parts used on the Béarn.

Originally, there was still a time point to wait for Katsuragi and Kasaki to be completed in October before leaving, but Horikichi thought that there was no need to wait, and the existing forces were basically complete, so it was the best time window.

After the 3rd and 4th ships of the Yunlong class are commissioned in October, they will strive to get another British Giant-class and reorganize into 5 air battles (Tsukahara 243 is followed by 1 air battles and 2 air battles, and patrol in the Indian Ocean is 3 air battles)

Since this time Tsukahara 243 was performing the duties of commander of the Combined Fleet, his flagship and headquarters were prepared to be arranged on the Yamato, and the 2nd Naval Battle Tsunoda would be in command of the Taiho.

The scale of the artillery bombardment formation is also not small, in addition to the Yamato, Musashi, and Shinano three Yamato-class super battleships, it also includes Nagato and two Kongo-class, in view of the experience of the Atlantic theater and the experience of the last "Musashi breaking", Tsukahara directly incorporated two modified Kongo-class, 4 heavy cruisers, and 8 light cruisers into the mobile fleet. In addition to 4 slightly slower battleships, the shelling fleet included 4 more heavy cruisers and 4 light cruisers.

On August 8, Hirohito personally saw off all the cabinet ministers at the docks, and in the midst of a deafening "onboarding" sound, the combined fleet began its main crusade......