January 28, 1939. Sydney, Port Jackson, the battlecruiser USS Prestige, the flagship of the Australian Grand Fleet.

The sound of standing up rang out in the luxuriously decorated officer's quarters of the Prestige, and the sound of leather shoes, tables and chairs clashing filled the most spacious room on the Prestige. The generals of the Allied forces in Australia, including senior commanders of the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, the Army, and the U.S. Army, gathered together. All of them stood up and saluted Admiral Wavell, commander-in-chief of the British Australian and New Zealand Theater, Admiral Cunningham, commander of the British-Australian Grand Fleet, and Admiral Marshall, commander-in-chief of the US South Pacific Theater.

Wavell, the commander-in-chief of the British forces in Australia and New Zealand, who had just fled from Singapore to Australia and declared "I will go back" in front of reporters, looked gloomy and raised his hand to salute the saluting generals, and then sat in his seat in a daze. Anyway, he didn't have anything to do with today's combat meeting, and it was the Navy who sang the leading role, just look at the location of the meeting.

And the commander of the Australian Grand Fleet, Admiral Cunningham, will also announce an extremely risky course of action at this meeting! Of course, Admiral Wavell was resolutely opposed to this battle plan of risking the last bit of capital of the British Imperial Navy, but behind the other side was First Admiral Winston. Churchill's support.

The Yankees Marshall also sat next to Wavell, and of course he supported Cunningham's adventure plan, and it was the British aircraft carrier that took the risk anyway. Regardless of victory or defeat, the pressure on the United States will be reduced.

Cunningham was the last to step into the conference room, looking a bit like dough, and the admiral, who always looked kind and wealthy, was now full of confidence, and his eyes rarely sparkled. He nodded slightly to Wavell and Marshall, and then glanced sharply at the audience. This is the most outstanding British admiral in history during World War II, and the Taranto Surprise Attack is his masterpiece! And in this time and space, in order to save the British Empire in danger, Admiral Cunningham is also ready to use the aircraft carrier in his hand to stage a surprise attack! Yes, it's a surprise attack on the Japanese! Why can Japan only attack others, and other countries can't repay the other in their own way? This time, Admiral Cunningham intends to use six large aircraft carriers, 360 carrier-based aircraft, and the national fortunes of the British Empire as a bet to prove to the world who is the best navy in the world.

"Everyone!" All eyes turned to Cunningham, the admiral standing in front of a hanging chart, a whip in his hand, his face calm and his eyes blazing. Pointing to a few small islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on the map, he said:

"The 'glow-in-the-dark' battle plan, submitted not long ago, has been approved by the Imperial Admiralty. A few days ago, when the plan was being formulated, all of you were involved, and you should have some understanding of the basic content of the plan. But for now, I'd like to explain to you once again the basics of the 'Luminous' project. This is because, after being submitted to the Admiralty, some of the contents were revised at the request of the Admiralty. ”

"The 'Luminous' battle plan will be an offensive plan that will take the initiative to attack the Japanese Navy's assembly area! The target of the plan was Truk Atoll, known as Japan's Pearl Harbor. Located in the middle of the western Pacific Ocean, about 1,100 kilometers from the island of New Britain, this atoll is made up of 11 volcanic islands and more than 80 coral reefs, and was originally a German colony that became a Japanese trust after the end of the last world war. Japan, on the other hand, illegally fortified Truk Atoll and built docks, warehouses, barracks, oil depots, airfields and other facilities there, turning the entire atoll into an important anchorage capable of accommodating all the ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet. If the naval facilities on the Truk Atoll are completely destroyed, the activities of the Japanese Combined Fleet in the South Pacific will be greatly affected. In addition, the Japanese Army has recently been massing towards the atoll, which is expected to serve as a forward base for Japanese attacks on the New British Isles and the Solomon Islands. So the blow to Truk Atoll is of extraordinary significance to the Allied defense of Australia, and may even become a turning point in the Pacific War! ”

"In order to carry out the 'Luminous' plan, the Australian Grand Fleet will attack in its entirety, including 2 battle cruisers, 6 aircraft carriers, 5 heavy cruisers, 10 light cruisers, and 32 destroyers...... Excluding seaplanes, 360 carrier-based aircraft will be dispatched, including 108 Pipenose Swallow fighters, 126 Swordfish torpedo bombers, and 126 Barracuda dive bombers; In addition, the Royal Naval Air Force and the United States Army Air Force will dispatch 35 Brest 'Blenheim' light bombers and 35 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers from military airfields on the island of New Britain to combat naval carrier-based aircraft......"

“…… In addition, the air raid on Truk Atoll will be timed on a sunny night around February 15, 1939, and the upcoming raid will be an unprecedented aircraft carrier night raid! Six aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy will arrive at point X, about 120 nautical miles from Truk Island, between 8 and 8:30 p.m. that night. Gentlemen, from there our air warriors will go to Truk Island and tell these yellow-skinned oriental monkeys with bombs and torpedoes how aircraft carriers and planes should be used! ”

As soon as Cunningham's words were finished, Lieutenant General Phillips took the lead and began to applaud, which ensued. No matter how risky Cunningham's plan was and how high the probability of success was with a night air raid on Truk Atoll, at least Admiral Cunningham correctly understood the essence of the Navy and aircraft carriers! The navy is an offensive arm, and the aircraft carrier is a sharp weapon for attack. From this point of view, the Japanese army in the Pacific now has a really good opponent!

……

At this time, the West Coast of the United States was in the early morning of January 28.

Inside Port Santo Diego, the largest naval base on the west coast of the United States, the lights are as bright as daylight.

Six huge aircraft carriers left the Pacific Fleet's new home overnight, guided by searchlights. The U.S. Navy and the French Navy now form the U.S.-French task force, which includes three U.S. aircraft carriers, three French aircraft carriers, three New Orleans-class heavy cruisers, six Brooklyn-class light cruisers, 24 destroyers, four fast supply ships, four fast tankers, and the flagship of the fleet is the American aircraft carrier Enterprise.

Standing in the fleet command center on the second floor of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier ship island, watching the brightly lit military port gradually disappear from sight, Halsey retracted his gaze: "Is the Japanese devil's aircraft carrier still in Pearl Harbor?" ”

"They haven't been found to be leaving." Chief of Staff Struance shook his head: "The Pacific Fleet sent 12 submarines to cruise near Pearl Harbor, and no signs of large-scale sorties were found from Japanese aircraft carriers, only a few small-scale sorties, all of which were formed by an aircraft carrier formation, which should be training in the waters of the Hawaiian Islands." Lieutenant General, could there be a mistake in the intelligence? ”

"Nope! They must have been waiting for supplies and fuel from home, and we burned everything when we retreated! ”

Halsey said hatefully: "The Japanese have now angered us, and the industrial power of the United States is exerting its might, so time is on our side, and Japan can only choose to fight quickly, find our key points and strike decisively." Panama is obviously the key point, its strategic position is too important, once Panama falls into the hands of Japan, our throat will be held by them! ”

"Well, most of our shipyards are on the East Coast, and without the Panama Canal, these warships will have to take a long detour to the Pacific Ocean."

"It's not just a question of detours, but also what are those countries in South America going to think? Will they still see the United States as the leading force in the Americas? Halsey's eyes lit up, he walked to the chart, looked at it for a while, and said: "Raymond (Stroance), I have an idea, we can divide the six aircraft carriers in our hands into two formations, of which three French aircraft carriers form a group and cruise in the sea 100 nautical miles north of the Galapagos Islands, and three American aircraft carriers will lurk in the Galapagos Islands......"

"Sir, are you trying to use three French aircraft carriers as bait?"

"Yes," Halsey smiled deeply, "Although the three aircraft carriers of the French can't hold a few planes, their protection and anti-aircraft firepower are first-class, even suicide planes filled with explosives are not easy to sink them, right?" ”

"Then the French will be willing......"

"They have no choice!" Halsey sneered: "The news from Europe says that by the end of 1938 at the latest, Hitler will be able to control Norway, and then it will be France's turn!" So they are now in dire need of American assistance. ”

"Hitler is about to take control of Norway! That the North Sea War ......"

"Britain is defeated!" Halsey's face darkened, and before leaving San Digo, he received some news from Nimitz about the European battlefield: Hitler's navy had gone out again after more than two months of silence, targeting the northern Norwegian port of Narvik, and the British home fleet had not reacted in the slightest. It is clear that they suffered more losses in the November Battle of the North Sea than announced!

"Sir, San-Diego's briefing." At this moment, the voice of the fleet's communications staff officer suddenly sounded with a little panic. "Last night, the British army in Singapore surrendered to the Chinese!"

"What!?" Halsey roared, his palm slamming on the chart table. "Is there a specific situation? Didn't the British always claim that Singapore was the strongest fortress in the world? ”

"There is no too specific situation, just know that China forced Singapore to submit with aircraft bombing and heavy artillery bombardment, and the British claimed that the Chinese A4 Thunderhawk dive bomber was capable of carrying a 1.8-ton armor-piercing bomb! All the batteries of the Singapore Fortress were destroyed by this bomb, and then five 'Polish Legion' class armored ships bombarded it with 280mm main guns for more than ten days, and the Singapore Fortress has been reduced to rubble, and the loss of personnel is as high as more than 10,000 people! Therefore, in order to save his life and avoid unnecessary losses, Lieutenant General Percival had no choice but to order the troops to surrender to the Chinese Defense Forces. ”

"A bunch of cowards!" Halsey gritted his teeth and cursed. "I didn't expect the honor of the British Empire for hundreds of years to be tarnished by a group of cowards. I hope they will be brave in the face of the bombing of Hitler's air force in the future, or we in the United States will have to ......" Halsey took a deep breath and instructed Strøance: "Please French Vice Admiral Jean. Sur has come to the Enterprise for a meeting, and I'm going to talk to him about killing the Japs! ”

"Sir," Stroon didn't give the order, but approached Halsey's side and reminded in a low voice, "Chinese six aircraft carriers...... Now that they have taken Singapore, those 6 motherships can go wherever they want, will the Japanese change their plan of action? Maybe they will hand over the South Pacific theater to China, and then concentrate 8 aircraft carriers to fight us. ”

"Nope! I'm sure the Japanese devils felt just as bad as I did when they heard the news! Halsey sneered: "Because the more China snatches from us, the less Japan will be able to get, and even they themselves will end up being slaves of China!" ”

At Pearl Harbor at this moment, the atmosphere on the Nagato, the flagship of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, was indeed unusually gloomy. Halsey was not bad, as the Chinese side came to the good news, the atmosphere on the battleship would be a little lower, and today, even after the scorching sun near the equator hit the battleship, it became a little cold and damp because of the oppressive atmosphere here.

"Your Excellency, Commander, Tokyo Emergency." The staff officer's loud shout rang in Yamamoto's ears, and the commander of the Combined Fleet was looking down at the draft of the "Mi Battle Plan" that had just been drawn up. Hearing this somewhat angry roar from the staff officer, he knew that it was not good news, and he didn't raise his head, but said lightly: "What's the matter?" ”

"Your Excellency, it was sent by the Secretary of the Admiralty."

"Oh, got it, show it to me." As soon as he heard that it was Eisuke Yamamoto, Yamamoto did not dare to slack off, but he took the telegram and sighed softly, because the telegram said that the Chinese side refused to hand over South Borneo and Sumatra to Japan (which belonged to the Dutch East Indies and was supposed to be attacked by Japan according to the agreement). Therefore, Prime Minister Konoe urgently convened a five-phase imperial meeting to discuss countermeasures, and although at this meeting, the top brass of the Japanese army and navy expressed deep indignation at such untrustworthy behavior of the Chinese, but they did not dare to break with China. In the end, it was only decided to attack the remaining part of the Ranyin as soon as possible. So in this telegram, Eisuke Yamamoto asked the Combined Fleet whether it would be possible to attack Panama and the South Pacific at the same time as it could send another battleship formation to occupy Mindanao (the territory of the Republic of the Philippines, the trusteeship has not yet been transferred to Japan) and Sulawesi (the territory of Lanyin), and if possible, consider occupying Java as soon as possible...... Moreover, the army has promised to conquer the above-mentioned areas with a small number of troops, so the transport problem can also be solved, and now it is only up to the United Fleet to see if it is determined.

"Go and ask Chief of Staff Ugaki and Deputy Chief of Staff Kuroshima to come over." Yamamoto sighed inwardly, got up and left his desk, walked over to the charts hanging on the bulkhead of his office, and stared.

According to the "Mi operation plan", the forces of the combined fleet have now been used to the extreme, and 8 carriers make up two air fleets; 5 battleships made up the First Fleet; The 10 heavy cruisers were also divided into two to form the Second and Third Fleets; In addition, there is the 4th and 5th Mine Fleet, which consist of light cruisers and destroyers; The 6th Underwater Brigade, the 7th Underwater Brigade, which consisted of submarines...... Among them, the First Air Fleet was commanded by Vice Admiral Narumi Inoue, and attacked Panama and the Galapagos Islands with the cooperation of the Second Fleet, the Fourth Mine Fleet, the Sixth Underwater Fleet, and the 16th and 102nd Divisions of the Army.

The Second Air Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi, will attack the island of New Britain and the Solomon Islands with the Third Fleet, the Fifth Mine Fleet, the Seventh Underwater Fleet, and the Army's 6th and 106th Divisions.

Yamamoto himself, on the other hand, will personally command the five battleships of the First Fleet, which will be stationed at Truk Atoll around February 10, where they will command the whole situation. And after the Second Air Fleet defeated the British and Australian Grand Fleet, he commanded the First Fleet to cover the landing of the 5th and 10th Divisions of the Army on the island of New Guinea.

But now that Lanyin is going to be added as an offensive target, this time the appetite is too big, right? In case there is something bad, I am afraid that all the work will be wasted!

"Your Excellency! We can regroup the First and Third Fleets into a new Third Fleet with two battleships and three heavy cruisers as the main forces. The Eighth Fleet was formed with two other battleships and two heavy cruisers as the main force to cover the 10th Division to attack Lanyin. In addition, the First Fleet was formed with the Nagato as the main force, and the 5th Division was responsible for supporting the landing on New Guinea Island. "Kuroshima Kameto had already learned from his staff officer about the instructions of the Minister of the Navy, so as soon as he saw Yamamoto pondering there, he made his own proposal.

"Ugaki-kun, what do you think?" Yamamoto turned around and asked his chief of staff, Ugaki.

"That's all it can be." Ugaki pondered for a moment, and then said: "We may be able to let the Eighth Fleet move first to confuse the British, and if we can attract part of the forces of the Australian Grand Fleet to the Lanyin side, then we will be more sure of our southward operation." ”