Hearing Truman's words, there was a dead silence in the White House cabinet room. The ministers and senior generals of the federal government of the United States of America, who were full of pen and fun www.biquge.info, frowned and did not say a word.

Outside the window, there is the green lawn of the White House. The sun was shining, the grass was swaying in the wind, the sun was pouring in, and in this conference room, it became a little cold and damp in this low atmosphere.

America's defenses in the Caribbean and North America seem impregnable. In the United States, Canada, Central America, and the Caribbean, there are no less than 20 million regular Allied Army soldiers in military uniforms, including no less than 6 million ground troops on the front line, and they are well armed! There is also a large number of militias that can be replenished into the regular army. In addition, there were countless ships and aircraft at sea and in the air, and the total number was only a little more than the Nazi enemy on the other side of the Atlantic.

With such troops and such weapons and equipment, it should be able to defeat all enemies who attempt to invade.

In the past, the enemies of Europe would not have even had the slightest idea of invasion in the face of so many heavily armed American soldiers across the ocean.

But now the war was unprecedented, with advanced weapons that were unimaginable before the war, allowing the Nazi enemy to destroy American cities and kill American civilians from the air or under the water without even having to land on North American soil.

Even if everyone has a gun, they can't fire at an invisible enemy!

I don't know how long it took, but the American generals, who were struggling to think about countermeasures, suddenly heard President Truman's deep voice.

"This is also our chance to deal a heavy blow to German maritime power, is it?" The president tentatively asked, "Now that we have guessed the goal of the Germans, can we set a trap?" If we can defeat the Germans near Bermuda, maybe we will have a decent peace. ”

Ernest. Kim and William. Leahy looked at each other and shook his head at the same time: "Set a trap for the German devils?" Wouldn't the Germans have set up a trap? Maybe the 7 German aircraft carriers that just set sail were a decoy...... When it comes to anti-ship capabilities, the German army is much stronger than the US military.

"What's wrong? Could it be that our sea and air forces are already fragile? Truman, seeing that neither admiral had spoken, asked again.

"Mr. President," said Chief of Naval Operations Ernest Brown. Kim looked embarrassed, "If we lose...... Perhaps we will have to accept an embarrassing peace treaty. ”

"Is there a good chance of losing?" Truman asked, glaring.

"Mr. President," William. Leahy took up the topic and said, "There are far more large fleet aircraft carriers available to the Germans now, and there are eight of their Zeppelin-class ships in the Brazilian port of Belém." In addition, although their Kesselring-class aircraft carriers are not up to the standard of large fleet aircraft carriers, they are not small in carrier-based aircraft, and their speed is not very slow, so they can be used as fleet aircraft carriers.

And...... Our bombers also met German anti-aircraft missiles in the skies over Buenos Aires! This anti-aircraft missile flies fast, and it also has guidance means and hits accurately. If such weapons are installed on surface ships, it will cause significant losses to our attack aircraft fleet. So it's safer for us to follow the original Lady Liberty plan." ”

Ernest. Kim and William. Leahy's words made Truman very upset. He already clearly felt that the US Navy had lost the spirit of destroying the enemy. Even in 1942, when the U.S. Navy's capital ships were lost, Truman did not notice that the Navy's senior admirals were so timid and fearful of the enemy. At that time, everyone had the confidence of victory, knowing that the difficulties were only temporary, and as long as the ships built in batches were launched into service, the US Navy would be invincible.

But since the Battle of Bermuda, Truman has never felt confidence in victory from any of the American admirals. And the lack of confidence is reflected in the specific command, that is, acting conservatively and not daring to fight a decisive battle. Although it also has the world's largest total naval tonnage, aircraft carrier force, and carrier-based aircraft fleet, the U.S. Navy has almost become a presence fleet in the Atlantic. For several months in a row, it shrank off the east coast of the United States and in the Caribbean Sea, almost becoming a presence fleet.

After voting in the 1944 U.S. election, the Atlantic Fleet simply abandoned the Bermuda-Nova Scotia blockade and no longer sent a large number of destroyers to patrol the blockade to prevent them from being sunk by missiles by the Germans' Me264s.

Therefore, now only the F-13 with the AN/APS-20 radar installed on the Bermuda-Nova Scotia blockade line patrols back and forth, and the blockade effect is much worse than the original one -- the F-13 (an improved version of the B-29) equipped with the S-band AN/APS-20 radar can barely reach the early warning aircraft, but the early warning effect cannot be compared with the early warning aircraft with the "balance beam" or "cauldron lid" on the back of later generations, and only patrols with surface ships with high-performance radars. in order to complete the blockade and vigilance tasks better.

And now, in the face of the surging main force of the German aircraft carrier force, it is not surprising that the US Navy once again chose to shrink back and not fight.

"So what are we going to do?" Truman spread his hands, "Shall we just watch the German fleet approach the East Coast and then launch countless missiles into New York and Boston?" ”

The Americans now have a lot of information about German cruise missiles, and they know that there are three types of weapons that can be launched: shore-based, ship-based, and air-based. The missiles that can be used to attack the continental United States are launched from surface ships and from the air. Among them, the number of air-launched missiles is limited by the number of Me264 long-range bombers, which cannot reach the level of "countless". It is difficult to say how many ship-based missiles can be launched using surface ships as launch platforms, and there is intelligence that as long as a catapult is installed on the ship and a few additional solid rocket boosters, the missile can be launched into the sky. This means that the Germans can massively transform such low-value ships as freighters and tank landing ships into missile launch platforms!

"There will not be countless missiles being launched into New York and Boston," said William. Leahy immediately told the president, "We have a way to prevent the German fleet from approaching the east coast of the United States." ”

"There's a way?" Harry. Truman looked at William suspiciously. Leahy, wait to hear what follows.

William. "The key to preventing the approach of the German fleet was the airfield in Bermuda, and as long as the airfield was not destroyed, the German fleet would not dare to cross the Bermuda-Nova Scotia blockade line," Leahy said. ”

"But what are we going to do to save the airport from being blown up?" Truman asked, "We can't deploy too many shore-based aircraft there, can we?" ”

"Yes," said Chief of Naval Operations Ernest Murphy. Kim took up the question, "The airfield there is limited in size, and it can only deploy a maximum of 300 warplanes. ”

Bermuda has a small land area and even more limited land on which airports can be built. Although from the end of 44, American engineers began to expand the airport day and night, but the scale of the airport was not too large after all.

"Is 300 enough?"

"Enough!" Ernest. Kim replied, "You can deploy all fighters, and you can also deploy air superiority fighters like the P-51 and F6F." It can also send about 10 escort aircraft carriers from the Norfolk base to support Bermuda's air defense operations, and these carriers are also equipped with F6F fighters.

In addition, on airfields off the coast of Virginia, we can put 300-400 P-51s and F6Fs on board. This will allow us to use 900-1000 air superiority fighters for air defense operations in Bermuda. Although it could not annihilate the German aircraft carrier forces, it was enough to hit their carrier-based aircraft. As long as we can win the air battle over Bermuda, the German fleet will naturally not dare to approach the east coast of the United States. ”

In fact, this is a kind of shrinking tactic that completely abandons the attack!

"Is this the joint chiefs of staff's battle plan?" Truman asked.

Although he was disappointed, he was, after all, a civilian president who knew nothing about naval operations, and it was impossible for him to come up with his own battle plan. And he couldn't think of anyone who could replace Ernest. Admiral King went to head the Department of Naval Operations.

Before the Battle of Bermuda, Nimitz might be a good replacement for King, and Spruance and Halsey could also consider it. But now Nimitz resigned because of the defeat in the war, and now he is retired from active duty and returned home to retire. And Halsey was simply captured by the Germans and imprisoned in the Nuremberg concentration camp, I wonder if he is learning German now?

Spruance has not yet fallen, but he is now a pillar of the U.S. Navy -- serving as the joint commander of the Pacific-Atlantic Fleet, and if he is transferred to the Department of Naval Operations, then who will command the fleet?

So now Truman can only continue to believe in the Naval Operations Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff who are fighting the war like they are now.

"Yes," said William. Leahy nodded. "That's the plan of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

"So...... Where are the fighters drawn from? Truman asked, "Now there are no 600 air superiority fighters off the coast of Bermuda and Virginia, right?" ”

Air superiority fighters are not interceptors, let alone night fighters, they are used to engage in aerial combat to seize air supremacy at medium and low altitudes, and they are not very effective in intercepting bombers and missiles. Therefore, they are deployed at the forefront of possible contact with enemy fighters, and there are some in Bermuda, but there are not 300 planes, and the number on the east coast of the United States is not much, about 1,000 planes in total, and they are still very scattered.

U.S. Army Air Corps Commander Henry Murphy. Arnold took up Truman's question, saying, "President, we will draw warplanes from the East Coast and Canada, and we will never affect the defense of the Caribbean." ”