"Yesterday, 7 December 1941 - a day of shame that must always be remembered - the United States of America was subjected to a sudden and deliberate attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Air Force. The United States and Japan live in peace www.biquge.info and are still holding talks with their Government and the Emperor at Japan's request with a view to maintaining peace in the Pacific. In fact, just one hour after the Japanese Air Force squadron had begun bombing the United States island of Lake Wahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States also submitted to our Secretary of State an official reply to the latest letter from the United States to the Japanese side. While the reply stated that the continuation of the ongoing diplomatic negotiations seemed useless, it did not contain any threats or hints of war or armed attack......

…… Believe in our armed forces - relying on the firm determination of our people - we will achieve inevitable victory, may God help us! I ask Congress to declare that there has been a state of war between the United States and the Empire of Japan since the unprovoked and despicable Japanese attack on Sunday, December 7, 1941. ”

The voice of US President Roosevelt was solemn, calm, and slightly angry, but it gave the listener confidence, and came from the loudspeaker of the battleship "Pennsylvania".

This was Roosevelt's speech asking the United States of America to declare war on the Japanese Empire, and it was also a war mobilization speech to the people of the United States. The Senate and House of Representatives will certainly respond by overwhelmingly or even unanimously declaring war on Japan, and the American people will certainly be inspired by their president to go to war with the utmost enthusiasm.

However, this is of little use to the main forces of the US Pacific Fleet, which are departing from port. The Japanese had destroyed most of the planes on Oahu by air strikes the day before. It also incapacitated the two most powerful battleships in Pearl Harbor, the USS Maryland and the USS West Virginia, and had to run aground in Pearl Harbor. In addition, the USS Arizona was bombed and sunk at Pearl Harbor, and the USS California and USS Oklahoma were not sunk but were completely incapacitated and became a wreck.

Therefore, the only battleships that followed Kimmel out of Pearl Harbor now were the flagship USS Pennsylvania, the USS Tennessee and the USS Nevada, which were outdated and did not have very much firepower.

Relying on these three battleships, the Pacific Fleet will not only encounter the "Yamato Hotel", but also the four ships of Nagato, Mutsu, Kirishima, and Hiei.

But Kimmel still took the lead of the moving ships in Pearl Harbor. Because of the two waves of Japanese attacks launched yesterday afternoon and the bombing of Saipan by Halsey before, Kimmel had a very bad premonition...... The Japanese air raids on Oahu will probably last for a few days, and they will not stop until they blow up all the American ships and facilities in Pearl Harbor, and they will not even rule out the occupation of Oahu!

So Admiral Kimmel, who was a little cornered, could only find a way to divert the Japanese fleet away from the vicinity of Hawaii. Now the U.S. Army has urgently mobilized 300 P51s, which were supposed to be shipped to Europe, to San Francisco and San Diego, and are preparing to ship them to Hawaii by freighter. As long as Kimmel's fleet could divert the Japanese fleet from Hawaii for 10 days, the planes would be delivered. With these 300 P51s, Oahu is saved.

"Admiral, an unidentified radio signal has been heard, and it is in our vicinity."

No sooner had the Pennsylvania sailed out of Pearl Harbor than the fleet's communications staff reported a disturbing piece of news.

"It's a Japanese submarine!" Kimmel immediately ordered, "Order the destroyers to be on guard and not to let the Japanese submarines approach the battleships." ”

His judgment was very accurate, lurking in the waters south of Oahu was the Third Submarine Force, which belonged to the Japanese advance group, and its commander was Rear Admiral Shigeyoshi Miwa, commander of the Third Submarine Fleet. It has 9 submarines, including I-8, I-68, I-69, I-70, I-71, I-72, I-73, I-74 and I-75. It was now discovered that the main force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet had left Pearl Harbor with the I-70, which was closest to the port.

With the help of the fire and moonlight from the burning tanks, the I-70 could easily spot the huge fleet that was departing port. However, when the IL-70 sent out the information that the "American fleet had left port", the opportunity to carry out a sneak attack with torpedoes was lost.

A group of destroyers that had left Pearl Harbor earlier than the Pennsylvania received orders and began to move in the direction of the I-70, which had to fire a torpedo at the battleship Pennsylvania at a distance of more than 30,000 meters, and then swooped down. However, due to the distance, the Type 93 spear torpedo fired by it did not hit any target.

Admiral Kimmel did not know that he had just escaped, and after ordering the destroyers to be on guard, he began to give orders to Rear Admiral Fletcher's Task Force 2.

"Let Rear Admiral Fletcher immediately lead the fleet to join the main forces, we need F4F on the Raider as direct cover...... By the way, how many F4Fs are there on board the Raider? ”

"And 22 more."

"How many carrier-based F4Fs are there on Oahu?" Kimmel asked.

"There are 12 of them."

"All transferred to the Raider." Kimmel pondered, "Now that the Japanese have found out that we are leaving, they will definitely stop bombing Oahu and come after us." ”

……

"What? The submarine found out that the main forces of the Pacific Fleet left Pearl Harbor? At least 3 battleships? As soon as Nanyun Zhong received the latest information from the staff officer, he couldn't help but scold, "Baga! Didn't you say that 1 battleship was blown up and sunk and 6 battleships were heavily damaged? How come there are still 3 of them now? How many battleships were there in Pearl Harbor? ”

"It should be eight, but only seven were found during the bombing yesterday, and there may be a Pennsylvania-class docked." Minoru Genda, an aviation staff officer, hurriedly replied, "There may be two other American battleships that are slightly injured and can still be moved." ”

"3 battleships, at least 1 aircraft carrier......" Nagumo Zhong struggled at first, "On the other side is Oahu, who should be attacked?" ”

"American battleships and aircraft carriers should be attacked, after all, it is the fleet, not the port, that can dominate the seas."

Immediately there was a proposal from the staff of the 1st Mobile Fleet. Compared with port facilities, battleships and aircraft carriers are greater results and are naturally more attractive.

Minoru Genda frowned, shook his head and said, "Commander, the lower officer thinks that Oahu is the most valuable target...... Now Oahu is like a badly wounded enemy general, and it's time to go all out to get the head. ”

"Go all out to get the head of the enemy general?" Nagumo Tadaichi looked at Minoru Genda, "Occupy Oahu? ”

"That's the best policy!" "The second best thing to do is to completely destroy Pearl Harbor's oil depots, airfields, and shipyards with bombing and naval artillery, so that it will not be able to play its role as a home port for the next two or three years," Minoru Genda said. And...... As soon as the Army landed on Kauai, the American battleships and aircraft carriers themselves would have come to the rescue. Because the Americans simply cannot afford to lose Hawaii! ”

Nanyun Zhongyi scratched his bare head, Gentian's words were not bad. As long as the Taiwanese mixed brigade lands on Kauai Island, are you still afraid that the Americans will not come? Not only will 3 battleships and 1 aircraft carrier in the waters off Hawaii come, but even the main force of the American aircraft carrier group near Saipan will arrive, and then it will be a decisive battle that will determine the future and fate of the Japanese Empire!

"How many other commonly used carrier-based aircraft does Nagumo have?"

In the "Yamato Hotel", Commander Yamamoto 56 had just gotten up and was having breakfast with his staff in the spacious and comfortable cabin while discussing the battle situation.

"Commander, the First Mobile Fleet still has 432 commonly used aircraft."

Because none of the Japanese pilots carried parachutes, and the Japanese Navy did not seriously study the matter of rescuing and salvaging the overboard pilots. So the pilots who were shot down during the engagement on December 7 were already gods, so there were not a few reserve aircraft that came in handy.

"There are 432 left...... Yamamoto twisted his eyebrows, "and there is still the strength to fight!" At least destroy Oahu! When will the Hawaiian Dispatch Fleet be able to join the First Mobile Fleet? ”

"We can meet today from 1 to 2 p.m., about 200 nautical miles from Hawaii."

Yamamoto Fifty-six thought for a while and said, "You can make a surprise attack in 11-12 hours...... At 0:00 on the 9th, the shelling of the oil depot area could begin. Then the 1st Mobile Fleet should focus on bombing the airfields on Oahu during the day today, and destroy all the airfields and oil depots on Oahu before the US aircraft carriers attacking Saipan rush to the battlefield in Hawaii! And then concentrate on dealing with American aircraft carriers! ”

As soon as Yamamoto's order was given, he saw a staff officer walk quickly into the commander's cabin and hand a telegram to Ugaki. Ugaki glanced at the telegram and his brow furrowed suddenly.

"What's going on?" Yamamoto fifty-six asked.

"It's an emergency power from Saipan...... The reconnaissance planes sent by Saipan found that dozens of heavy bombers had flown to Guam. ”

Most of Saipan's planes have been destroyed by Halsey's carrier-based aircraft, but a few have slipped through the net. These planes were mainly reconnaissance aircraft, and they were not in Saipan at the time of the strike. Therefore, today the Japanese army in Saipan can still send planes to Guam to reconnoitre, and it turns out that dozens of B-17s are roaring.

"Is it a B-17?" Yamamoto Fifty-six frowned, "Are the Americans going to use the B-17 to bomb Saipan?" ”

"And Truk Atoll." "It's not far from Guam, within the combat radius of the B-17. ”

Yamamoto nodded, he didn't expect that these B-17s were going to bomb the emperor at all, so he just gave the Japanese defenders of Truk Atoll an order to make full air defense, and then went to discuss how to clean up Oahu and the main force of the US Pacific Fleet. (To be continued.) )