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October 30th, late at night.

Snow-white searchlights pierced the night, countless trucks rushed around warehouses and docks, sailors shouted from time to time, North Korean and Taiwanese coolies were tired and snorting, but no one dared to slow down, and the booms of the cranes on the ships swung back and forth more frequently than usual.

Standing inside the bridge of the battleship Yamato, watching the battleships that had completed their supplies sail out of Rabaul military port one after another, the face of the commander of the Combined Fleet, Isoroku Yamamoto, showed a smug look on his face that could not be concealed.

Although the Americans took the Combined Fleet by surprise by using aircraft carriers to break diplomatic relations, in a short period of one day, three ship regiments (another ship group transporting ammunition to Rabaul was hit at noon on the 30th) were severely damaged, and six ships sailing alone were sunk, and the total tonnage lost exceeded 120,000 tons, which was greater than the losses caused by British and American submarines and camouflaged attack ships in a month.

But this kind of tactics of jumping over the wall in a hurry also shows that the Americans don't have too many cards to play. To use a Chinese idiom, this is called poor donkey skills - no tricks!

What about sending 3 broken aircraft carriers at once? It's just a surprise to Japan, and it can't change the contrast between strength and weakness in the Pacific Ocean at all. Now the absolute advantage is still on the Japanese side. The aircraft carriers of the Americans did not dare to fight with the Japanese Combined Fleet in an upright manner, and only dared to disturb the rear of Japan with this method of stealing chickens and dogs, which was completely a sign of weakness!

Moreover, the Americans' broken aircraft carriers have already angered the Great Japanese Combined Fleet!

Now, they're about to taste the wrath of the Combined Fleet!

There was a rush of footsteps, followed by the voice of the captain of the Yamato, Takayanagi Yi Hachidasa: "Commander, the Yamato is resupplyed!" ”

"Let's go, Yamato!"

Yamamoto Isoroku gave the order to Captain Takayanagi to attack in a very calm tone.

October 31, 0:15.

Under the watchful eye of a U.S. Navy submarine "Dolphin" equipped with SJ's sea-searching radar, the battleship Yamato, escorted by two destroyers, slowly sailed out of the Rabaul base and joined up with the main ships of the Combined Fleet that had been waiting in the sea off the harbor for a long time.

……

"Commander, the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet has left the port of Rabaul!"

Spruance rushed into Admiral Nimitz's office, holding the telegram he had just received.

"Left Rabaul?" Nimitz hurriedly asked, "When, where to go?" ”

Spruance replied: "I left late at night on the 30th to the early morning of the 31st local time, and went northwest after leaving the bay." ”

To the north!

Australia is in the south, and to the northwest is to go to the western Pacific to find three American aircraft carriers...... Mostly!

Nimitz didn't ask any more questions, and the SJ radar on the submarine "Dolphin" could only search for these. As for the impossibility of following the Japanese Combined Fleet to the north, the underwater speed of the "Dolphin" could not keep up with the Japanese fleet at all, and it could not stay underwater for much time.

"Where is the FS06 fleet?" Nimitz asked about the flotilla of transport ships FS06 that was heading towards Australia.

"Near French Polynesia, almost 3,600 nautical miles from Sydney."

Now the FS06 fleet is at a speed of about 12 knots, and it takes 300 hours to drive 3,600 nautical miles, that is, 12 and a half days. As long as these 12 days are spent peacefully, the United States will have quite enough troops in Australia, and it will also have a powerful 4th Armored Division!

Fearing that Japan might acquire powerful tanks from Germany, the 4th Panzer Division increased its anti-tank capabilities as much as possible, armed with a large number of M4 medium tanks and M10 tank destroyers. It can be said that as long as this division arrives safely, it will be difficult for the Japanese to capture Australia.

"12 and a half days is too long...... "Nimitz shook his head, "the Japanese are just, but they are not fools and know which is more important than 3 aircraft carriers and Australia." ”

It is difficult to hunt down three U.S. carrier groups in the vast Pacific Ocean, but it is simple for the Japanese to maintain the security of the mainland-Saipan-Rabaul and mainland-Hawaii routes. It is enough to form a large ship group and escort it with a light aircraft carrier at the same time.

Although it is very troublesome to do so, and it may reduce the efficiency of maritime transportation, it is much easier than chasing the United States to break the aircraft carrier across the ocean.

Moreover, according to the report of the FS06 flotilla, the flotilla has already been detected by reconnaissance aircraft of the Japanese.

As long as the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet had a normal mind, it would be impossible to spare such a large convoy of troop carriers...... If the Japanese really want to attack Australia!

Therefore, Nimitz estimated that the Japanese were likely to use their troops on time. First search north for a few days, and after not finding the US aircraft carrier, they will divide their forces to the south. At least a few large fleet carriers will be taken out to attack the FS06 flotilla in the south. If these Japanese aircraft carriers were allowed to catch the FS06 fleet, it would be a heavy loss.

But Nimitz already had a way to deal with it!

"Immediately form the FS07 fleet!" Nimitz whispered, "The 4th Armored Division must be sent to Australia within 1 week!" ”

Plans for the formation of the FS07 flotilla were drawn up as early as the time the FS06 flotilla set sail. It was not to form a new fleet from San Francisco, but to merge a part of the FS06 fleet with high-speed cruise ships and the 1st Task Force under the command of Halsey, and Halsey's fleet escorted them to Australia quickly - the large cruise ships of this era were all high-speed ships (the luxury cruise ships of later generations were also high-speed ships, which could generally run about 30 knots, and there was an American cruise ship in the 50s that ran to 40 knots), which could keep up with the aircraft carrier task force. Therefore, when the aircraft carrier task force and the high-speed cruise ship merge, the average speed of the entire formation can be maintained at more than 20 knots.

In addition, 3 of the 6 large cruise ships in the FS06 fleet are specially modified to carry a large number of vehicles. The M4 tanks, M10 tank destroyers and M7 self-propelled guns of the 4th Panzer Division, as well as some tank maintenance vehicles, were loaded on these three converted cruise ships. The other three large cruise ships were loaded with personnel and some equipment of the 4th Armored Division.

That is, as long as these 6 large cruise ships can reach Australia, there will be a difficult armored division on the Australian continent. Even if the follow-up FS06 fleet cannot arrive, Australia will be able to hold out for a long time.

Of course, these 6 large cruise ships were not loaded with all the equipment of the 4th Panzer Division, and many trucks and towed guns were not among them. However, it is not difficult to gather vehicles and artillery on the Australian continent, after all, there are still 9 American infantry divisions with motorized weapons, and it is not a problem to allocate some equipment to the 4th Armored Division.

……

"Are you sure you got rid of the American submarine?" Yamamoto fifty-six asked.

"Pretty sure!" The captain of the Yamato, Yoshihachi Takayanagi, replied, "The Yamato is equipped with a radar radio receiver imported from Germany, and now we can be sure that no American submarine is tracking us with radar." ”

Although the radar of the Germans is inferior to that of the British and Americans, the radar radio wave receiver is still very reliable. This device was originally developed for German submarines to deal with British anti-submarine patrol aircraft (anti-submarine reconnaissance machines use radar to search for submarines sailing on the surface, and if there is no radar receiver on the submarine, then they do not know that they have been spotted and cannot dive in time to avoid bombing). However, now the German submarines are not very busy, so this equipment is "supported" to Japan in large quantities.

With this radar receiver, the Combined Japanese Fleet, which is now heading north, will be able to detect whether there are enemy submarines or planes and use radar reconnaissance.

At the same time, Yamamoto also sent several destroyer formations to search around, and these destroyers were also equipped with sonar purchased from Germany. In addition, there are sharp-eyed "cat's eye soldiers" on the destroyer, and if the US submarine does not dive deep enough, it can still be easily spotted in the clear water of the South Pacific.

"Mixi!" Yamamoto Fifty-six nodded, and then asked Ugaki, "Has the division plan been formulated?" ”

"Commander, the plan has been made." Ugaki replied, "With 6 aircraft carriers including Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Flying Dragon, Zuizuru, and Shozuru and the two battleships of Kongo and Hiei as the core, form the 1st Air Fleet and head south to the Coral Sea!"

With four battleships such as Yamato, Musashi, Haruna, and Kirishima and two motherships such as Flying Eagle and Hayabusa as the core, the 1st Fleet was formed, and the 1st Air Fleet went south to the Coral Sea.

The 1st Air Fleet was responsible for attacking the US aircraft carrier group, and the 1st Fleet was responsible for striking the US transport fleet.

In addition, with four aircraft carriers, including Fengxiang, Xiangfeng, Ruifeng, and Longfeng, as the core, the 5th and 6th fleets will be formed to search for the US aircraft carriers. If nothing can be discovered, the 5th Fleet will be responsible for the mainland-Saipan-Rabaul route, and the 6th Fleet will be responsible for the mainland-Hawaii route. ”

The so-called fame is nothing but a fool, Nimitz, a generation of famous generals of the US Navy, is not a fool, and Yamamoto Isoroku, the god of the Japanese Navy, cannot be a fool.

Nimitz tried his best to lure the enemy north, but how could Yamamoto 56 be easily deceived? The combined fleet's furious northward march this morning was nothing more than a big show for the US submarines lying in ambush outside the port of Rabaul.

"Very well," Yamamoto Fifty-six nodded heavily, "now continue north, and implement the division plan as soon as it gets dark." ”

"Hay!" (To be continued.) )