"Commander, one of our seaplanes reported the discovery of an unknown fleet in the K15 waters before it went missing......"

"What? K15 waters? There ...... "Commander of the U.S. 9th Fleet and Commander of the Southeast Pacific Command, Vice Admiral Gormley. The news of the report by Major General Heinkel was taken aback. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

He hurried over to the large chart hanging on the wall of his office, and Rear Admiral Henkel also walked to the map and drew a circle with a red pencil on the map of the sea somewhere between Clipperton Atoll and the Galapagos Islands.

"Right here," said Rear Admiral Henkel, "about 1,200 nautical miles from the Panama Canal and 650 nautical miles from the Galapagos Islands." ”

"The seaplane...... Lost contact? Was it shot down by an enemy aircraft? Lieutenant General Gormley asked with a frown.

"It should have been shot down," said Rear Admiral Henkel, "and the last telegram from the plane said that the radar had detected unidentified ships 60 miles away, numbering more than 10, one of which was a large ship of more than 10,000 tons, possibly a Japanese aircraft carrier." ”

"1 Japanese aircraft carrier?" Vice Admiral Gormley thought for a moment, "Does the Pacific Fleet Command have information on this?" ”

"No," said Rear Admiral Henkel, "nothing has been found of the submarines placed in the waters of the Hawaiian Islands." ”

At present, the Americans basically do not know anything about the deployment of the Japanese Combined Fleet -- they only know that the Japanese Combined Fleet does not stay honestly in the military ports on the mainland, but they do not know whether they went to Rabaul in the South Pacific or to Pearl Harbor.

Neither of these is a peacefully open port, and American agents simply cannot infiltrate it. So the only way to wander around is by submarine, but the Japanese Navy has learned a lot from Dönitz's European Combined Transport/Anti-Submarine Command, which will use Type 97 boats to carry radars, searchlights, depth charges, and cat's eye fighters to maneuver around important sea areas. Therefore, the American submarines did not dare to get too close to Pearl Harbor, and the reconnaissance was naturally not going well.

Lieutenant General Gormley thought for a moment and said to Major General Henkel: "Mostly a feint operation, like those damn balloon bombs, to draw our attention to the Pacific Ocean in order to cooperate with the German offensive in the Caribbean. ”

"Lieutenant General, it is also possible that Japan really wants to bomb the locks of the Panama Canal." Major General Henkel doesn't really think it's very likely, but since he thinks of it, he must mention it.

"It's possible," Golim nodded, "so we have to figure out the intentions of the Japs...... If it was just a feint, the size of the Japanese fleet in the K15 sea area should not be large. Our canal locks are not something that a few dozen Japanese planes can destroy! ”

Not to mention the fact that the United States has deployed nearly 600 planes in the Canal Zone and the Galapagos Islands (not including the planes of the Ninth Fleet), even the anti-aircraft artillery and anti-aircraft balloons used to guard the canal locks and dams are enough for enemy planes to drink.

Therefore, the attack on the Panama Canal by dozens or even hundreds of fighters sent by one or two aircraft carriers will basically not succeed.

If the Japanese really want to attack the Panama Canal, they will inevitably have to send their aircraft carrier forces in a big way, and this is an opportunity to deal a heavy blow to the Japanese devils!

"But how do we find out?" Henkel asked, thoughtfully.

"Send a fleet to search and form Task Force 19." Gormley thought for a moment and said, "Send three escort carriers, the USS Kopahi, the USS Cole, and the USS Nassau, plus the heavy cruiser USS Wichita, the light cruiser USS Memphis, the light cruiser USS Raleigh, and 6 destroyers. In addition, all long-range reconnaissance planes equipped with radars will be sent out again this evening. “

A local tyrant is a local tyrant, just casually hit 3 aircraft carriers and 3 cruisers and send them out!

Although the 3 Borg-class aircraft carriers are all escort aircraft carriers that cut corners, the 3 cruisers are all genuine, not the "special ships" of the Japanese.

As for destroyers and frigates, the total number of destroyers that have been built, are under construction, and are planned to be built since the beginning of the Pacific War has exceeded 1,000, and they are simply worthless.

……

"What? Japanese aircraft carriers have all run to the vicinity of Panama to send them to their deaths? That's great, be sure to sink it! ”

Halsey on the battleship Iowa immediately shouted when he learned of the "suspected discovery of a Japanese aircraft carrier." Since the outbreak of the Pacific War, he has been popular with the Japanese, and once sat on the cold bench because he was defeated by the Japanese. I've been holding my breath for a long time, and now it's finally time for the dumpling ship to serve in large quantities, of course, I will kill it when I see the day.

"Sir, this is mostly a Japanese feint," Rear Admiral Browning reminded Halsey, "and the Japanese must have sent the aircraft carrier near Panama to cooperate with the German offensive in the Caribbean." ”

"Maybe it's a feint, maybe the Japanese devils are really crazy and want to die!" Halsey gritted his teeth, "I've been battling these lunatics in the Pacific for more than half a year, and I know them best." By the way, where is the location of the found? Will our carrier-based aircraft be able to get hold of it? ”

"In K15 waters, 1,200 nautical miles from us." "We simply won't be able to get them, and we won't be able to pass through the Panama Canal, which would take too much time and could delay the fighting in the Caribbean direction." ”

Now the entire US command top is bewildered by the arrival of Kesselring in Guyana, the sudden exposure of ME262, and the main force of the European Combined Fleet that disappeared from Gibraltar. No one recognized that it was the Germans who feinted, and that it was the Japanese who were in charge of the main attack. Halsey, who was shouting that he would be killed in the future, was no exception, and he did not think of sailing the 3rd Fleet across the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean to hunt down the Japanese fleet.

However, the American vice admiral, who hated the Japanese, still wanted to find an opportunity to strike at the Japanese fleet, and he went to the chart table with Browning, studied it carefully for a while, and then stretched out his finger and poked at the North San Juan Bay near Nicaragua on the chart.

"How about going to the North San Juan Bay neighborhood?" "It's less than 1,000 nautical miles from K15 waters. ”

"I still can't reach the K15 sea." Browning said.

"I know," Halsey grinded his fists, "but it would be nice to be close to those damn Japanese, what if they really go crazy?" So we have a chance, we have 5 aircraft carriers and 360 carrier-based aircraft! ”

……

"K15 Sea ...... Japanese aircraft carriers? ”

At the same time, Spruance, commander of Task Force 16, was also reported. However, his courage is much smaller than Halsey, and the first thing that comes to mind is not the opportunity to kill the Japanese, but the possibility that he will be killed by the Japanese.

"Then they're so close to us!" Spruance glanced at the charts and immediately became nervous.

His task force 16 is now cautiously heading south along Mexican territory, which was drawn into the Allied camp by the United States at the outbreak of the Soviet-German war in June 1942, but the Mexicans were not enthusiastic enough to send troops to fight the Axis bloc, and were not prepared for war except for a few squadrons of fighters that were training. So now it is also impossible to provide air cover for Spruance's Task Force 16.

"We're almost 1,200 nautical miles from San Diego!" Spruance added, "So we can't count on San Diego's planes to support us, and if it's the main Japanese force that appears in the K15 waters, then we're in a bit of a danger......

The 16.5 Aircraft Carrier Group under his command has only 3 motherships, namely the Enterprise, Yorktown and Independence, of which the Enterprise and Yorktown carry 79 commonly used carrier-based aircraft, and the Independence carries 30 commonly used aircraft.

The three aircraft carriers have a total of 188 commonly used aircraft, and another 18 reserve aircraft, and their strength is somewhat weak. However, because the 16th Task Force has completed the refitting of carrier-based fighters, it now has 56 commonly used F6F (28 each for Enterprise and Yorktown) and 24 commonly used F4U (6 each for Enterprise and Yorktown, and 12 for Independence), so its air defense capability is still quite strong, and it is not without the power of a war.

So although Spruance was nervous, he couldn't turn around and flee back to San Diego right away, otherwise he, the commander of the task force, would not be able to get along.

"Change course," Spruance ordered, "we'll go to the waters near Clipperton Atoll and wait by while sending reconnaissance planes and seaplanes to the enemy." ”

Spruance decided to find out the situation of the Japanese fleet and then make a decision on whether to fight or leave. At the same time, Jizaburo Ozawa also decided to send enemy planes to search the surrounding waters of 400 nautical miles.

"Send seaplanes and comet planes to search," Ozawa Jizaburo said to Mitsuo Fuchita, the aviation staff officer of the First Mobile Fleet, "and every inch of the sea must be carefully searched!" In addition, the six motherships of Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Zuizuru, and Shozuru must be ready to dispatch one squadron of Comet dive bombers, one squadron of Tenzan torpedo attack planes, and one squadron of Zero fighters at any time. ”

"Your Excellency Commander," Mitsuo Fuchida jotted down Ozawa's order, and then asked, "Are the carrier-based aircraft going to carry out an attack on the ship?" ”

"Yes!" Jizaburo Ozawa nodded, "It's an attack on the ship...... The Panama Canal is the throat of communication between the two oceanic fleets of the United States, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the tiger's den in Longtan, so there will be a bloody battle. Tell all the pilots that our imperial kingdom is in ruins, and in this battle, I hope you will work hard! ”

"Hay!" (To be continued.) )