Admiral Spruance's judgment on the night of September 26 (Hawaii time) did not materialize. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoOn the battlefield of Christmas Island, there were no fierce sea and air battles during the day on September 27 and September 28.

The Japanese fleet and planes seemed to disappear into thin air, allowing nine American battleships and cruisers to tilt tens of thousands of powerful high-explosive shells on Christmas Island, destroying all the targets on the island that could be observed by aircraft. On the evening of the 28th, he detonated an underground oil depot containing tens of thousands of tons of aviation gasoline, creating a mushroom cloud that looked like an atomic bomb explosion, and even people on the USS Essex, more than 100 nautical miles away, could see the smoke column rising into the sky.

"Hehe, it's so pleasing to the eye, bring my camera, I'm going to take a picture of it!"

Spruance was standing on the platform of the aircraft carrier's bridge at this time, holding a camera in his hand, and he was shooting at the mushroom-shaped smoke in the distance.

Major General Browning beside him also looked very pleasant, "Admiral, the oil depot on Christmas Island has been blown up, and from the height of the smoke column, it should be a large oil depot of tens of thousands of tons...... It is estimated that it is aviation gasoline, and now the Japanese devils will be distressed for several months. ”

Tens of thousands of tons of aviation gasoline is nothing more than the United States, and they have 260 million tons of oil a year to squander.

But for Japan, which only has more than 6 million tons of oil a year, tens of thousands of tons of aviation gasoline is definitely a huge wealth!

"They won't dare to stock up on Christmas Island again." Spruance said, "It will even reduce the defense of Christmas Island, which will be very beneficial for us to occupy it next." ”

Japan hoarded so much gasoline on Christmas Island in order to cope with the fierce sea and air battles, and thousands of fighters of various types had to burn at least 1,000 tons of oil in a single sortie. Tens of thousands of tons of oil reserves can only cope with dozens of sorties.

In the eyes of the elite staff officers of the Japanese Navy, the Battle of Christmas Island will be the beginning of the Armageddon in Hawaii, and it is entirely possible to fight for a month, and the planes deployed on Christmas Island can hit at least 100 attack waves.

And now the result is much more than they expected, just 3 attack waves lost more than 400 aircraft (not counting the losses from the 1st mobile fleet), and the reincarnation rate of pilots is even higher than 50%! After only one day of fighting, the Japanese planes on Christmas Island had to change the scene in disgrace, and the aviation gasoline that could not be taken away was now destroyed by the bombardment of naval guns.

This time, it's really a loss of planes and fuel loss!

"Sir, it seems that the Japanese planes will not be dispatched again, they cannot afford to lose." Miles. Admiral Browning said, "It is better to start the second phase of the operation tonight." ”

According to the original plan, Task Force 58 was to be divided by the 29th at the latest, if they had not been defeated by the Japanese.

"Alright," Spruance nodded, "just tonight...... The main fleet retreated in the direction of Panama; The 58.0, 58.3 and 58.5 groups formed the 58th Fleet and was commanded by Rear Admiral Mitchell, commander of the 58.5 Carrier Group. ”

The 58.0 Group is composed of 3 cutting-edge battleships, the USS Iowa, the USS New Jersey, and the USS Washington; The 58.3 cruiser group consisted of 2 Baltimore-class heavy cruisers, 6 Cleveland-class light cruisers, and 2 Oakland-class air defense cruisers; The 58.5 Carrier Group consists of two large fleet aircraft carriers (USS Hornet and USS Yorktown).

Therefore, the entire fleet consisted of 3 battleships, 2 aircraft carriers and 10 cruisers. The scale is not very large, but the combat effectiveness should definitely not be underestimated. If Japan had left them alone, the lines of communication in the western Pacific would have been cut off instead of being destroyed, and even some islands that did not have sufficient aviation to defend would be shelled.

And if Japan wants to take this broken fleet...... If you want to bombard it with battleships, you have to go out with 3 Yamato-class horses to get it. However, the speed of the three American battleships was faster than that of the Yamato-class, and it was not easy to catch up.

The Hornet (Essex-class) and Yorktown air fleets will also be assembled (drawn from other carriers), with a total of 170 commonly used F4U and F6F, as well as 24 reserve aircraft, and 10 escort cruisers are also "air defense ships". If you want to use air strikes, you have to take at least 500 elite pilots (captains), and all of them have to fly carrier-based aircraft, because the broken fleet will not be close to the islands where a large number of Japanese planes are stationed.

And if the Japanese Navy loses another 500 elite pilots, then their aircraft carrier aircraft force will be scrapped......

……

"Commander," Keizo Furumura trotted all the way into the cabin of Jizaburo Ozawa on the aircraft carrier "Shozuru". "The reconnaissance plane found a huge mushroom-shaped smoke coming out of Christmas Island, which was thousands of meters high!"

"Got it." Jizaburo Ozawa nodded slightly.

The destruction of the oil depot on Christmas Island was expected, and although it was strong, it could not withstand the bombardment of 406mm naval guns.

"Christmas Island should be hell now, right?" Jizaburo Ozawa said to himself, "So...... Tomorrow should be the day when the landing battle will officially begin. ”

"Yes," Furumura nodded, "Commander Onishi and Major General Saito Yoshiji of the Army's 43rd Division are ready to fight a Tamashatter Battle." ”

"Jade Shatter Battle ......" Jizaburo Ozawa sighed, "Onishi-kun is a rare expert in aviation warfare." ”

Otanishi Takijiro is a veteran of Japanese carrier-based aircraft pilots, who joined the Kasumigaura Air Force not long after he came out of the 40th phase of the Navy, and has been working hard in the Japanese Navy's aviation department since then, and is a real aviation expert. In Ozawa's opinion, it is meaningless for such a person to die on Christmas Island, because there is not a single plane on Christmas Island now, and there is no need for aviation warfare experts at all. To defend the island, it is enough to have Major General Saito.

However, Onishi was the commander of the front fleet, and leaving Christmas Island at this time was an escape, even if there was an order from the military command department, out of the dignity of a samurai, he could not leave.

"Where is the main force of the Combined Fleet?" Jizaburo Ozawa shifted the conversation away from the sad Christmas Island and turned to the main force of the Combined Fleet, which was rushing at full speed.

"It's still early, just over a thousand nautical miles." "It looks like we'll have to wait a few more days before we can launch a surprise attack." ”

In order to rush to the battlefield of Christmas Island as soon as possible, Koga Mineichi also lost his blood this time! With 9 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier, 10 heavy cruisers, and dozens of other ships, he rushed in a straight line from the Japanese mainland to Christmas Island at a speed of 20 knots -- a speed of 20 knots was not an economic speed, and the heavy oil alone burned to the heart's content, and he also risked taking a straight line instead of a Z-shaped anti-submarine route.

But in this way, regardless of fuel consumption, I am not afraid of the submarine rush, and it takes 8-9 days to complete the journey of more than 4,100 nautical miles (I have to refuel once on the way), and I can only arrive on October 3-4, and now it is only the 28th.

Jizaburo Ozawa nodded a little helplessly, and was about to end his conversation with Furumura and go out for a walk, when suddenly a rush of footsteps came, and then he heard a report from a fleet staff officer.

"Come in." Ozawa said.

"Your Excellency the Commander, Your Excellency the Chief of Staff," the staff officer who came in looked happy and bowed to the two people in the cabin, "Good news, the American fleet has retreated from the vicinity of Christmas Island, and Christmas Island is saved!" ”

"Huh?"

Ozawa and Furumura, who were still sorry for the arrival of Onishi Takijiro, who was about to break the jade, were stunned.

"Retreated?" Furumura asked, "Isn't there a mistake?" Why did the Americans retreat? ”

"There can be no mistake," said the staff officer, handing over the telegram from Christmas Island, "it was the telegram from the 10th Front Fleet Command that the American fleet had stopped shelling an hour earlier and had left. Seaplanes taking off from Palmyra Atoll (under the command of the 10th Fleet Front) conducted reconnaissance and confirmed that the American fleet was moving away from Christmas Island. ”

What's going on? Really ran away?

Ozawa and Furumura looked at each other, and they both felt a little like falling into the fog.

"Commander," Furumura thought for a moment, and offered a plausible-sounding reason. "Could it be that the traces of the main fleet were discovered by American submarines?"

……

"It seems that the U.S. fleet was really scared away by the main force of the combined fleet, and in this operation, our Imperial Japanese Navy won a big victory......"

At 6 a.m. Tokyo time on September 30 (10 a.m. Hawaii time on the 29th), Marshal Isoroku Yamamoto announced the successful end of the battle on Christmas Island in the War Room of the Japanese Navy Ministry...... The Americans retreated, and they lost so many aircraft carriers and ships, of course, they were losers, but there was not much cheerful atmosphere in the war room.

"It's a cowardice to retreat like this!"

"That's right, it's not worth calling it a soldier at all!"

"Why did the Americans retreat when they could have fought again? There can't be any conspiracy, right? ”

The staff officers in the war room talked in a low voice, Yamamoto Isoroku and Nagano Shusei glanced at each other, now these two people looked very tired, since the American fleet approached the Hawaiian Islands, the two of them have not had a good rest, and they have been staying in the war room of the Navy Department all day to listen to the news and discuss countermeasures. Originally, both of them thought that there would be a decisive battle on Christmas Island, and their spirits were extremely high, but now when they heard the news of the retreat of the Americans, their tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and they only felt a burst of fatigue.

"Gentlemen, although it is incredible, it is indeed determined after repeated reconnaissance, and there should be no mistake." Nagano said in a hoarse voice, "Maybe the real purpose of the Americans is to consume our fuel and elite pilots......"

Before he could finish his sentence, a staff officer hurriedly barged in and handed a copy of the telegram to Ito Junichi, whose eyes were bloodshot.

Ito looked at the telegram, and his whole person became energetic as if he had taken a dose of stimulant, and he said loudly: "Your Excellency the Minister, Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, the American fleet has not retreated yet......"