When people are unlucky, drinking cold water will stuff their teeth. When the pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info and the ship was unlucky, it was like the battleship Michinoku. Obviously, he only suffered two 16-inch shells, and the hit was not particularly critical, but he became half-paralyzed because of bad luck. Power is lost, fires spread. If it weren't for the Nagato's good fight, which almost sank the Colorado by heads-up, it is very likely that the battleship Mutsu would have been sunk by the Colorado.

However, the Mutsu is no better now, but it has barely recovered some power, so it can pump water to extinguish the fire, and the fire is finally under control, but it cannot be extinguished for a while, and the speed has not recovered, so it can only sail slowly at a turtle speed of 5 knots, dragging the smoke slowly on the sea. What an easy target to spot! Fortunately, it began to rain as soon as it dawned today, and the American planes should not be able to make sorties.

Of course, the Nagato did not have the time to accompany the Mutsu to climb slowly on the sea, and Takasu Shiro left three destroyers, Yukikaze, Nobun, and Tokiyu, to escort the Mutsu on a slow voyage, and he led the main force of the fleet to join Yamamoto Isoroku - this was actually Yamamoto Isoroku's order, because the commander's cabin, the chief of staff's cabin, and the staff compartment on the Yamato were all burned down, and they could no longer serve as the flagship of the combined fleet. Moreover, the Yamato itself has suffered a lot of trauma and needs to return to Japan as soon as possible for overhaul. So Yamamoto Isoroku decided to move the headquarters back to Nagato.

And Yamamoto Isoroku made the decision to relocate the headquarters and the Yamato to return as soon as possible. But he didn't expect that his opponent would not give up after losing to such a point now, and he was actually ready to bet on the last old book - the USS Wasp and the USS Assault!

"Commander, you really don't need the Wasp and Raider to cover us?"

On the battleship Washington, the Chief of Staff of the Pacific Fleet, Rear Admiral Frederick, glanced at the cloudy sky with some concern. Now Nimitz's command has been transferred to the USS Washington, the last battleship of the Pacific Fleet. Escorted by more than a dozen light cruisers and destroyers, the USS Washington took refuge under a large area of rain clouds about 80 nautical miles southeast of the island of Hawaii.

Although there was cover from the clouds, there was not a single plane hovering in the sky. The two aircraft carriers that had left San Diego with Task Force 7 were now preparing to launch air strikes 130 nautical miles northeast of the island of Hawaii.

"No, I don't." Nimitz replied very crisply.

He smiled and said: "The air force of the Japanese devils now has to pursue Halsey, but also to support the Oahu operation, and also to protect the wounded 80,000-ton battleship and 2 Nagato-class ships that are also injured (the Nagato also received 5 16-inch shells, but only a break). And because of the weather, it must have been the Wasp and Raider that launched the air strikes first. When the Japanese are bombed, they will certainly send planes to search the northeast direction where the weather is good, ignoring the southeast direction where thunderstorms are falling from time to time. Therefore, we are very safe. By the way, where is Spruance? When will you be able to join us? ”

Spruance was very lucky last night because the Japanese battleship Hiei had a damaged radar and was unable to effectively track his three cruisers and one destroyer. He also succeeded in diverting the Hiei from Caneohe Bay, allowing several other destroyers to rescue some people, including more than 200 valuable carrier-based pilots.

"We're still 50 nautical miles away, and we'll be able to meet in two hours."

"And what about the Japanese battleship? Still following? Nimitz asked.

"I didn't follow anymore, I'm gone." Rear Admiral Frederick sighed lightly and said with a wry smile, "Still unlucky, it would be nice if that Kong-class battleship was brought over, it would definitely not be the opponent of the Washington." ”

It was really unlucky that the Pacific Fleet lost 2 more valuable battleships in this battle! Moreover, the battle on Oahu was also lost ugly, and only a small part of those who were ready to retreat were withdrawn. And the result was only the destruction of a Nagato-class and the destruction of the 80,000-ton Japanese battleship.

"There will be sunks, there will be," Nimitz said with a laugh, "and Fletcher won't let me down." And the 80,000-ton Japanese battleship looked like it was going to be repaired for a few months, and before that, the Japanese should not be able to launch a counterattack against Australia. And they have to fight to defend Hawaii, which is not easy for the Japanese. ”

……

"Commander, the Marines have already taken Diamond Mountain, and the Taiwanese mixed brigade that has landed is now also attacking Honolulu."

Yamamoto Isoroku, who was frowning and inspecting the Commander's Office, the Chief of Staff's Cabin, and the Staff Cabin, which had been burned down by the Yamato, received some good news that made him happy.

"Ugaki-kun, it seems that the battle of Hawaii will be won in a few days." Yamamoto said, "At that time, we will be able to use Hawaii to contain a large number of U.S. Navy forces." ”

Ugaki didn't seem to agree with Yamamoto Isoroku's opinion, he shook his head and said, "Commander, we are also going to deploy a large number of troops in Hawaii, and our forces will also be contained. ”

"We're going to be pinned down too?" Yamamoto smiled, "Why?" ”

"Isn't that obvious?" "The Hawaiian Islands are the gateway to the western Pacific Ocean. As long as we hold on firmly, the United States will not be able to threaten our empire's hegemony in the Western Pacific. It's just that Hawaii is far away from the mainland of our empire, more than 3,000 nautical miles. Therefore, it is difficult to transfer materials, and if we want to maintain hundreds of thousands of troops and thousands of commonly used aircraft in Hawaii, the amount of supplies that our empire needs to replenish to Hawaii every year will be extremely huge. I'm afraid it will need to occupy millions of tons of merchant ships and keep transporting them. ”

Ugaki had always opposed the occupation of Hawaii because, in his view, the cost of capturing Hawaii was great, but the cost of capturing Hawaii was insignificant compared to defending it for a long time.

"Need that much?" Yamamoto Fifty-six shook his head with a smile and said, "Hawaii will fight if it doesn't fight, and the war will be a decisive battle, a battle of national fortunes between our empire and the United States." Therefore, neither the United States nor our country dared to start the battle of Hawaii easily. Now that Hawaii has fallen into our hands, the United States will not easily counterattack until it is fully prepared. Perhaps there will not be a second battle of Hawaii for three or five years. Therefore, instead of wasting troops and financial resources in Hawaii, it is better to bluff and put up an empty plan. As long as the Americans mistakenly think that there are heavy troops stationed in Hawaii and do not dare to attack easily, we will achieve our goal. ”

Empty the city in the Hawaiian Islands!? Ugaki stared at Yamamoto Fifty-six with gauze wrapped around his head, but his expression was a little unfathomable. I thought to myself: No wonder I can be a commander, I just have an idea! Hawaii, which worked hard and spent so much money, was actually used to sing an empty city plan, and those American ghost animals who were stupid must not have imagined it. If you can sing the empty city plan more seriously, for example, it claims that there are 1,000 planes, 10,000 missiles, and 830,000 imperial troops. So how dare the United States, with dozens of warships and hundreds of aircraft carriers, come to attack Hawaii? And to save up so many ships, even the United States will have to spend ten or eight years, right?

Moreover, while preparing for a counterattack on the Hawaiian Islands, the United States also had to guard against Japan's use of the Hawaiian Islands as a base to attack the west coasts of the United States and Canada, and it also had to guard against the Japanese fleet from departing from the Hawaiian Islands to attack the US-Australia route. Therefore, the considerable strength of the US Navy will be contained by the Hawaiian Islands. In this way, Japan will be able to do whatever it wants in the Western Pacific.

When Ugaki was secretly admiring Yamamoto Fifty-six here, a staff officer of the Combined Fleet Command suddenly rushed into the Yamato officers' cafeteria, which was occupied by Yamamoto and Ugaki as a temporary headquarters. As soon as he entered the door, he forgot to salute the army, and shouted: "Commander, the Mutsu has been bombed!" The Mutsu was blown up and sunk by an American plane! ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six and Ugaki both jumped up violently, both of them looking surprised and inexplicable.

Ugaki said, "How is that possible? It's raining outside! ”

The sea area where the Yamato is located is now windy and rainy, and the planes will not be able to come at all, but not the entire sea area near Hawaii is raining.

The staff officer said: "The telegram from the Yukikaze said that within an hour of the heavy rain on their side, dozens of American planes came, dropped dozens of torpedoes and dozens of bombs, and the Mutsu was hit by 4 torpedoes and 5 bombs, one of which hit the No. 3 turret of the Mutsu and caused a big explosion. ”

The fire aboard the Mutsu turned out to be a very eye-catching target on the sea, and as a result, an American submarine loitering around the Hawaiian Islands followed along the way. Because three destroyers, Yukikaze, Shiyu, and Nobu, were escorting Mutsu, the timid American submarine did not find a chance to fire a torpedo - in fact, the sonar on the Japanese destroyer was so poor that the submarine was not detected at all. So as soon as the rain stopped, the submarine summoned dozens of American planes by telegraph, and a bomb torpedo sank the Mutsu.

"Baga!" Ugaki cursed, "There are American aircraft carriers nearby, and they haven't escaped yet." ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six ordered a little angrily: "Order Nagumo, as soon as the sky clears, send a comet plane to search for it, no matter what, you can't let the American aircraft carrier run away!" ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six's face was also a little ugly, Yamato was broken, Mutsu was sunk, and two army aircraft carriers were lost, and more than a hundred carrier-based aircraft were lost one after another, and the planes were nothing, but the pilots on it were all treasures. Although the battle in the Hawaiian Islands was won, the cost seemed to be not small. (To be continued.) )