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On 20 February 1941, President Roosevelt's bill to Congress on "ordering supplies for aid to the Soviet Union from South China" was rejected because of the unanimous opposition of congressmen representing the interests of the military-industrial complex. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

You must know that the purpose of the US "Concession Act" is to stab the US military production, and in the eyes of many congressmen, there is no need for outsiders to share this big cake, and the United States is enough to support the arms needs of the free world.

As for whether the Soviet Union could finally obtain war materials, it was not in the consideration of these politicians, and anyway, the accounts of the materials were recorded on the Soviet Union after they were loaded on the ship, and the interests of the United States would not be harmed. With almost four to five times the population of the Axis powers, and a five-to-one ratio of total industrial output between the two countries, there should be little problem for the Allies to win in the end, and there is no need to make up for other countries to take advantage of.

When answering a reporter's question in Mumbai, An Yi said that the United States had not taken into account the urgent needs of the allied countries for weapons and equipment, and that the bill had not been passed.

Most U.S. congressmen laughed it off when they saw the news in the newspapers, but the subsequent battle between the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Navy in the Central Pacific Ocean changed their attitudes.

After the US Navy gained control of the Solomon Islands last year, it did not deploy troops on a large scale to the Solomon Islands due to the tight South African and Australian battlefields.

In January of this year, a new group of trained and armed troops left for the Pacific theater, and Nimitz prepared to use the Solomon Peninsula as a forward base to attack Bougainville, New Britain and New Ireland to gain control of the central Pacific Ocean and create conditions for a counterattack on Australia and New Guinea.

For this reason, the US military has begun to build military bases and airfields on Kuah Island on a large scale, and in particular, once the construction of several large military airfields is completed, all the military bases in the Central Pacific occupied by the Japanese army will be threatened by US land-based fighters.

Under these circumstances, Vice Admiral Kusaka, commander of the Japanese Navy's Southeast Fleet, dispatched the 25th Air Force of the Japanese Army in Rabaul to dispatch 50 planes to attack Kuah Island, but they were intercepted by the aircraft carrier-based fighters that had taken off from the "Essex," which had just joined the US Navy, and no results were achieved.

On 23 July, the Japanese 25th Air Force dispatched another 41 planes to attack Kuah Island, sinking the transport ship "Elliott" and damaging the destroyer "Jarvis." However, the Japanese planes in the air raid only focused on attacking the US warships, but did not bomb the mountains of materials piled up on the beaches of Kuah Island, which were extremely weakly defended but extremely important, and this was the most fatal mistake of the Japanese naval aviation.

Vice Admiral Kusaka felt the seriousness of the situation and immediately decided to launch a counterattack, although at this time most of the Japanese navy was concentrated on the main island for modernization and rearmament, and the forces in the Central and South Pacific were scarce, he still quickly concentrated the nearby warships, a total of five heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and one destroyer, and sailed south from Rabaul on the night of 26 February under the command of the commander of the Eighth Fleet, Mikawa Gunichi.

If the Japanese army wanted to move south in broad daylight, it would not be possible to avoid the reconnaissance of the US army.

As a matter of fact, as early as daylight on 25 July, a US bomber in charge of monitoring the movements of the Japanese troops spotted four Japanese ships that were being ordered to assemble at Rabaul, but they were too far away from Kuah Island to attract the full attention of the US troops. That night, as soon as Mikawa's fleet dispatched a US reconnaissance submarine, it discovered and reported to its superiors, and at this time, the Japanese fleet was still more than 500 nautical miles away from Kuah Island, which also did not attract the attention of the US military.

At about 8 o'clock on 27 February, a US carrier-based reconnaissance plane discovered Mikawa for the third time

fleet, but the pilot did not report to his superiors in time due to the consideration of radio silence, and after returning to the aircraft carrier in the afternoon, he did not think so, and only reported to his superiors after a snack, which was a full delay of six hours

, so that the US military did not have time to send planes to reconnoiter and verify again.

What is even worse is that the US reconnaissance plane pilot also erroneously reported the composition of this fleet as two seaplane carriers, three cruisers, and three destroyers, causing Rear Admiral Kelly Turner, commander of the US Navy's landing formation, to erroneously judge that such a fleet could not be used to carry out naval warfare, and that it was very likely that a seaplane base would be built in a harbor somewhere in the Solomon Islands to make up for the lost seaplane base in the New Georgian Islands.

On the one hand, because the Japanese army had just begun to use the new code, it would take a while to break the code, and on the other hand, the Mikawa fleet adopted strict radio silence during the voyage, so it was unable to provide accurate information.

Kelly Turner knew that his landing formation was the primary target of the Japanese army, and that the only way from Rabaul to Kuah Island was a narrow waterway between the two island chains of the Solomon Islands, which is commonly referred to as the "trough sea".

Therefore, on the 27th, Kelly Turner specially sent an additional reconnaissance plane to reconnoiter along the "trough sea," but because of bad weather, the plane failed to fly the whole way as ordered and returned home, and the pilot did not report that there were any special circumstances, so Turner knew nothing about the upcoming naval battle.

As early as 4 o'clock in the morning, he ordered five heavy cruisers to eject and take off a carrier-based reconnaissance plane to conduct a comprehensive reconnaissance survey of Kuah Island, and learned about the composition and location of the US fleet.

At around 4 p.m., Sanchuan sent two more reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance in order to further ascertain the situation.

Mikawa Gunichi's fleet entered the area between Kuah Island and Tulagi Island, which later became known as the "Iron Bottom Bay"

In the waters of the city, two reconnaissance aircraft were dispatched for the third time to verify the night mooring positions of the US ships and to drop flares in the air during night battles to mihuo the US Navy.

It was precisely because of Mikawa's repeated reconnaissance that he had a complete grasp of the situation of the US military that he was full of confidence in the next naval battle. Mikawa decided to enter Iron Bottom Bay from the south of Savo Island, destroy the American cruisers first, then the transport ships, and finally withdraw from the north of Savo Island.

Immediately after making a decision, he passed the light signal of the flagship heavy cruiser "Chokai", and put the battle plan ... Inform the ships.

In the afternoon, the Japanese ships threw all the flammable materials on the deck into the sea to carry out a final inspection of the ammunition.

At half past ten o'clock in the evening, in the southern part of the equator at the end of summer, the sky was already completely dark, and the Japanese fleet headed by the "Bird Sea" lined up in a single column with a distance of 200 meters, raised the white flag on the mast, accelerated to 28 knots, and broke into the waters of Kuah Island with murderous spirit.

At the same time, Rear Admiral Jack Fletcher, commander of the US aircraft carrier squadron serving as a cover for the sea and air, reported to Vice Admiral Gormley, commander of the US South Pacific Fleet, on the pretext of the loss of carrier-based aircraft and the lack of fuel, requesting that it be withdrawn.

Rear Admiral Turner had no choice but to urgently convene a meeting of Major General Krachley, commander of the covering formation, and Brigadier General Vandergreft, commander of the 1st Marine Division, to inform him of the sudden situation and announce that his ship would be withdrawn the next day due to the loss of air cover, even though the landing force had not yet unloaded a quarter of its supplies.

Vandergrif protested vehemently, but Turner felt he had no choice but to unload as many supplies as he could overnight.

The atmosphere of the meeting was very tense, and after several hours of meeting, it was still unhappy.

At the end of the meeting, Rear Admiral Krachley was halfway back to the flagship by motorboat, and the naval battle began.

The deployment of the U.S. military in Iron Bottom Bay is divided into three patrol areas, which are drawn by a 125-degree extension of the center point of Savo Island between Kuah Island and Tulagi Island... It is divided into two patrol areas, north and south, and the east patrol area is east of the meridian on the west side of Florida Island. In the southern sector, three cruisers and two destroyers of the 1st Group were on alert, in the northern sector three cruisers and two destroyers of the 2nd Battalion, and in the eastern sector, two cruisers and two destroyers of the 3rd Brigade were on alert, and two destroyers patrolled west of Savo Island as radar guard posts.

Before going to the meeting, Cratchley only designated the captain of the cruiser "Chicago" to act as the commander of the patrol in the southern sector, and there were no specific instructions or operational plans.

At one o'clock in the morning of 28 February, the Japanese ships sailed to the northwest of Savo Island, and the Japanese watchmen were of high quality in night fighting, and first discovered two patrolling US destroyers, but the US destroyers equipped with new radars failed to spot the Japanese ships.

Considering that his formation commander was more than 8,000 meters long, the combat area was narrow, and it was night, and it was inconvenient for the formation to fight, Sanchuan ordered all ships to fight cattle on their own in accordance with the battle plan.

At 1:13 a.m., Mikawa gave the order for a general attack.

It wasn't until ten minutes later that the US destroyer "Patterson" spotted the Japanese ship and just radioed the alarm: "Attention! Unidentified warships are entering the port! "The Japanese seaplanes dropped flares, which illuminated the American ships in the southern area clearly, and the Japanese shells and torpedoes came one after another. The starboard side of the cruiser "Canberra", which had been allocated to the British Navy, hit two more torpedoes, and was hit by 24 shells one after another, losing its combat effectiveness in less than five minutes, and being sunk by the Americans themselves after dawn.

The "Chicago" received the alarm, and the captain ordered the flares to be fired, but several flares did not ignite, and at this moment, the captain found that several torpedoes were being fired, and immediately turned the rudder to evade, but it was too late, the bow of the ship was hit by a torpedo, and the mast was also hit by a 203-mm shell, and the "Chicago" fired back again and again, because the Japanese ships were very fast, they only had time to fire 25 shells at the destroyer "Yukaze", which was at the end of the Japanese ranks, and lost their target, and withdrew from the battle to the west.

The destroyer "Patterson", which was the first to discover the Japanese ship, engaged in an artillery battle with the Japanese ship, and the captain of the ship ordered the torpedo to be fired, but the torpedo commander did not hear the order and did not carry it out, and the ship was hit by a Japanese bomb and two naval guns were destroyed. The destroyer "Baghley" occupied the firing position, and the captain gave the order to fire the torpedo, but the torpedo firing was not yet set, and he watched the Japanese ship leave, and by the time the torpedo was launched, it was already impossible to catch up with the Japanese ship that was far away.

It took only six minutes for Mikawa to severely damage the US ships in the southern area, and then he immediately went to the northern area at full speed.

Because the "Chicago" did not inform the North and East Regions of the operation, and because the lightning and thunder over the anchor at this time covered up the cannon sound and fire in the South Sector, the US troops in the North Region were completely unaware that the Japanese troops had arrived.

Colonel Liverko, the captain of the cruiser "Vincennes," was more alert, and at 1:45 a.m., he felt a slight vibration of the ship's hull and saw flashes of artillery fire in the southern sector, but he mistakenly thought that it was a friendly neighbor shooting at enemy planes, and did not expect that it was a naval battle, but instead ordered to prepare for an air battle.

When the Japanese ships approached a distance of 8,000 meters, they first turned on their searchlights, and then began to fire a salvo with all their artillery fire, and Liverco thought it was a US ship in the southern zone, and asked the other side to turn off the searchlights with a walkie-talkie, and ordered the military flag to be raised to show his identity.

It was only then that Livorko came to his senses and ordered to fire back, but soon the carrier-based seaplane was hit and caught fire, becoming an obvious target, the Japanese turned off the searchlights, concentrated artillery fire, and the "Vincennes" was hit by bullets one after another, and had to turn left to evacuate, at this time the Japanese torpedoes swarmed again, and three torpedo nacelles exploded in the port side company, and the hull of the ship was seriously tilted to the left and sank.

After the cruiser "Astoria" was attacked, the captain of guns ordered to return fire, the captain thought that he was hitting his own people, and ordered to stop shooting, but the Japanese unceremoniously rained down bullets, and after repeated pleas of the gunner, the captain ordered the resumption of firing, but the Japanese had already calibrated the target, and the shells hit the "Astoria" one after another, and the superstructure was almost completely destroyed, so they had to retreat southeast of Savo Island and sank at noon.

The Japanese then used searchlights to shine on the cruiser "Quincy", and at this time the cannon of the "Quincy" had not yet turned around, and the shells fired by the Japanese ships had already set off a high column of water next to it, and the "Quincy" used its main gun to bombard the "Bird Sea" with the searchlight on, hitting two shots, one of which hit the bridge of the ship, but unfortunately missed by five meters and did not hit the command room where Mikawa was located, and hit the chart room next to it, and all 34 staff officers in it were killed.

Unfortunately, only two salvos were fired, and the captain thought that it was a mistake to hit a friendly ship, and ordered to stop firing, missing a great fighter.

At about 2 o'clock, a torpedo fired by the Japanese ship hit the port side, and the engine room exploded, igniting a raging fire, and it sank soon after. Due to the concentrated attack on the US cruisers by Japanese ships, the two US destroyers were lucky to escape.

At this time, if Mikawa dropped his fork and attacked the transport ships near the beach, it would be within reach, but he did not know that the US aircraft carrier group had already left Kuah Island, and he was worried that it would be attacked by US carrier-based planes after dawn, so in order to avoid unnecessary losses, he ordered a return voyage at 2:20 a.m.

Withdrawn to the vicinity of Savo Island, the Japanese Navy and the U.S. Army "Talbot", which served as a radar guard

The destroyer encountered, the American ship was outnumbered, was damaged and caught fire, and reluctantly sailed to Tulagi Island, Sanchuan

The fleet then returned to Rabaul along the "trough sea".

In this naval battle, the U.S. called the Battle of Savo Island, and the Japanese called it the First Battle of the Solomons, the U.S. forces sank four cruisers, damaged one cruiser, and two destroyers, and suffered more than 2,000 casualties. Only the chart room of the "Torikai" was destroyed, and the torpedo tubes of the "Aoba" were broken, killing 30 people and wounding 50 people.

This was the first naval battle between the Japanese and US forces for the battle for Kuah Island, and the Japanese army, relying on its quality of night combat and reconnaissance on the spot, once again won a one-sided victory with accurate naval artillery and torpedo attacks, but Mikawa did not regard the US transport ships as the main target of attack and did not attack them, which brought a very adverse impact on the sabotage of Kuah Island, and was criticized by name by Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, commander of the base camp and the Combined Fleet.

First of all, the US military was very problematic in its operational deployment, dividing its rather powerful cover formation into three parts and patrolling in different areas. Second, they made an erroneous judgment of the enemy's situation, and therefore did not prepare for battle, and in addition the vast number of officers and men lacked vigilance, their will to fight was weak, their friendship and neighborly coordination were not proactive enough, their communications and contacts were slow, and their reconnaissance was ineffective.

The defeat in the Battle of Savo Island caused a great sensation in the United States.

The resources of the United States are not endless, and building ships requires a lot of materials, which will inevitably reduce the production of weapons and equipment for the army.

For this reason, the U.S. government once again submitted to Congress a bill to "order supplies for the Soviet Union from South China", and General George Marshall, commander-in-chief of the army, also went to Capitol Hill to explain it personally, and finally passed the bill by an overwhelming majority, South China obtained the coveted order, the Soviet Union also got the much-needed resources, and the war moved towards an unknown track.