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On 13 April, the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier group finally joined up with the USS Hornet, and the three aircraft carriers and several warships headed straight for the Japanese mainland.

The USS Hornet aircraft carrier is much better than the Liberty Dragon, and it can be said that it is not a high-grade battleship at all. Li Guang was very blushing.

Its main parameters are as follows:

Standard displacement 19900 tons, full load displacement 25000 tons

Power 120,400 hp

The flight deck is 750 feet in length and 228.6 meters.

The maximum speed is 34 knots

5 artillery 5-inch guns, 30 40mm anti-aircraft guns, up to 60 20mm anti-aircraft guns

Standard carrier-based aircraft 80-90 units

Crew 2700.

The length of the Liberty Dragon's deck is 210 meters, which seems to be only 18 meters shorter than the Hornet. It is only seventeen meters wide, less than six meters narrower than the Hornet.

But if you compare the length and width of the B25 bomber, you can see where the huge difference lies.

The length of the B25 bomber is 16.13 meters, and the width is 20.6 meters. On the deck of the Bumblebee, the bombers can be staggered in double columns, and of course the outer bomber wings have poked out of the deck.

However, the deck of the Freedom Dragon of the Naval Resistance Army was too narrow, and it could only be arranged in one column. Even if it were staggered diagonally, it would only be eight stalks, and again, the wings protruded out of the deck.

In this arrangement, the take-off runway is also more than one meter less than the take-off line on the Hornet. This is a land-based medium bomber, not a carrier-based dive bomber, and it is quite difficult to take off by one meter more than one meter.

And the American aircraft carrier USS Hornet. Bombers can take off from the middle of the runway when taking off. The Freedom Dragon of the Naval Resistance Army, even if the fighter takes off, it has to deviate from the center.

There is an even more important point. The maximum speed of the USS Liberty Dragon is just over thirty knots, while the USS Hornet can reach speeds of thirty-three knots.

One hundred and forty meters of runway takeoff, which refers to the speed of the aircraft carrier at thirty knots.

The Hornet can easily reach 30 knots, while the USS Liberty Dragon takes at least an hour to accelerate from 22 to 30 knots.

It's war, and in an hour, anything can happen.

All of this is difficult for the Naval Resistance Army.

Look at the fleet forces of this sortie. Li Guang actually regretted it a little, to put it bluntly, this was just a show to inspire, especially the hearts of the Americans, and it had little tactical and strategic significance at all.

For this performance, the two armies made such a large sortie. I don't know what the US military thinks. Maybe it may be nothing for the U.S. military, but for the Naval Resistance Force, it is the main force. It's a bit more than worth the loss. For this performance. The USS Liberty Dragon aircraft carrier will leave Tang Port for at least a month and a half, which is really a bit of a showmanship.

After the Battle of Ceylon, although Tanggang was temporarily worry-free, it was difficult to say that anything unexpected would happen, and there were too many changes in history for Li Guang to grasp. Li Guang sometimes speculated. In the Battle of Ceylon, if the Allies had such three aircraft carriers to join, they might be able to take out the entire Nagumo fleet.

Li Guang is worried that a large-scale controversy is also taking place in Japan. The controversy is unfolding both between the Navy and the Army as well as within the Navy.

From the end of the Battle of Ceylon in early April, the first phase of the Japanese offensive in Southeast Asia was a complete success.

During the five-month offensive. The Japanese army occupied more than 20 million square kilometers of land in Southeast Asia and controlled a population of more than 200 million. And the Japanese Navy lost only one battleship of the size of a cruiser or more - the aircraft carrier Soryu. And the losses of cruisers and destroyers did not exceed twenty units. It can be said that this result completely exceeded the expectations of the Japanese Navy, and there was jubilation in Japan.

Behind this jubilation, the army and navy disagreed on the next military strategic direction. In the eyes of the Japanese Navy, the army of little Japan is simply a bun of buns that have never seen the world. At this time, the Japanese Army did not want to expand again at all, and they were now bent on returning to the northeast of China and fighting the old enemy of the Soviet Union.

This is a good opportunity, considering that the Soviets have won in Moscow, but they themselves are in a very weak state. Although the number of Soviet troops in the Far East has not decreased, the elite veterans have been transferred to the Moscow front.

However, the Japanese navy had a great appetite, and officers at all levels asked to go south. However, there are three directions within the Japanese Navy regarding the southward movement. The first is India, led by Jizaburo Ozawa, commander of the Southern Fleet, and Kuroshima Kameto, the former staff officer of the Combined Fleet. If this direction is opened, it can join forces with the German army in the Middle East. Its strategic significance is unquestionably great.

The second, led by Rear Admiral Ugaki, chief of staff of the Combined Fleet, proposed to move eastward, target Hawaii, and fight a decisive battle with the disabled American fleet. This idea also caters to the minds of many people, defeating the British Far East Fleet, and then defeating the American Pacific Fleet, so isn't the entire Pacific Ocean the Japanese Empire doing whatever it wants?

The third is the southward expansion plan proposed by Tomioka Dingtoshi, chief of the naval operations section of the base camp, which advocates occupying the Solomon Islands first, and then continuing to advance southward, cutting off the connection between Australia and the US Pacific Fleet, isolating Australia, and then breaking through each of them. It seems to be very good, so there are many Japanese navies who support this plan.

After a noisy debate, it was up to Chief Yamamoto 56 to make the decision. But this clapper is not so easy, no matter which plan requires the help of the army.

The Army said that if it advances eastward, as long as the Navy defeats the US Pacific Fleet, then the Army will be happy to sit back and occupy Hawaii and decide the outcome of the war. Anyway, as long as the Navy can take out the US Pacific Fleet, then the Army will not be able to occupy Hawaii, and the Emperor will not allow it.

But is the Japanese Combined Fleet really sure of this? After being ridiculed by the Army, the staff officers of the Combined Fleet stopped mentioning this idea.

As for the strategy of advancing southward, the Japanese Army's head shook like a rattle, saying that if it had to send at least a dozen more divisions and regiments according to the Navy's concept, the Japanese Army would not be able to draw so many troops at all. The staff officers of the combined fleet said. The meat can be eaten bite by bite, first on a smaller scale, and gradually occupy Australia, and the army said that it can consider it. However, some benefits are required.

As for the attack in the direction of the Indian Ocean, the Japanese Navy has made a bloody investment this time. The reason is very simple, the fleet of the Naval Resistance Force is too heavy in the resentment of the Japanese Navy.

Take a look, the commander of the First Fleet, Takasu Shiro, an attack by the Hainan Island Maritime Resistance Army. Almost pulled him off the post of commander of the fleet.

The commander of the Second Fleet, Nobutake Kondo, was harassed from the eastern Pacific Ocean by submarines of the Maritime Resistance Army to Hainan Island.

The commander of the Fourth Fleet, Vice Admiral Inoue Nami, was even more resentful of the Naval Resistance Army. His men. Two major generals died just a few months after the start of the war. And the Japanese Navy and the Army did not lose more officers than Nakasa in these four or five months.

The Fifth Fleet, although now the commander has been replaced by Vice Admiral Goshiro Hoso. But. The Fifth Fleet had the largest number of warships killed by the Naval Resistance Army.

The Sixth Fleet is Japan's submarine fleet. The submarines that this fleet lost in the hands of the Maritime Resistance Army were also not one or two. Moreover, one of the commanders of the warring team was still in the battle of the Arabian Sea, and was secretly surrendered by Major General Kono Wancheng. This guy hates the roots of the Hai Kangjun's teeth even more.

Needless to say, the First Air Fleet was destroyed by the fighters of the Naval Resistance Army, and Yamaguchi is still considering whether to commit suicide and apologize. Can you not want to deal with the Naval Resistance Army?

Vice Admiral Jizaburo Ozawa of the Southern Fleet directly confronted the Naval Resistance Army, and he also hoped to be able to kill the Naval Resistance Army, but his strength was not inferior. But it was not enough to really defeat the naval resistance and the fleet with the participation of the British. Jizaburo Ozawa, who was threatened all the time, of course, wanted to relieve the pressure on the southern fleet.

Moreover, since Pearl Harbor, the submarine of the Maritime Resistance Army has begun to attack Japanese ships frantically, and the Japanese Army's transport ships have not been sunk by one or two. According to rough estimates, no less than 2,000 Japanese officers and men died under the torpedoes of the submarine of the Maritime Resistance Army, and almost one infantry wing was buried in the vast sea. Recently, the Army had reported to the Emperor because a Japanese Army fleet had been attacked, and the Japanese Army had lost the equipment of an independent heavy artillery wing.

How many independent heavy artillery wings did all of Japan have in the whole of World War II? The answer is nineteen. Historically, the Japanese army only stationed five independent heavy artillery wings in Nanyang, and in the Chinese mainland battlefield, plus the Kwantung Army, there were only five independent heavy artillery wings at this time. The others are in Taiwan and Japan, and are cherished as treasures.

What is even more infuriating is that the submarines of the Maritime Resistance Force have recently begun to operate near the Japanese mainland, whether it is fishing boats, merchant ships, or warships.

In fact, this is a misunderstanding of the Japanese army, and the Naval Resistance Army has only a dozen submarines, and there is no such a large radiation range, and a considerable part of it is due to the US submarines. Moreover, how can the Naval Resistance Force be as extravagant as the US submarine force, using valuable torpedoes to sink worthless fishing boats. But now, when Japan mentions submarine attacks, the first thing that comes to mind in the entire Japan, whether it is the army or navy, is the naval resistance force.

The resentment is too great.

It can be said that the naval resistance army has accumulated the resentment of almost all the fleets of the Japanese army. Therefore, the offensive of the Japanese Navy in the Indian direction was the most resolute. For this reason, the Japanese Navy unprecedentedly reached an agreement with the Japanese Army in this direction.

The navy was really bleeding, and the Japanese navy handed over all the rights and interests of Borneo to the Japanese army. You must know that Borneo has an extremely important oil field - the Bali Baban oil field. can spit out this piece of fat, and the Japanese Navy has really made a bloody investment. You must know that in the whole of Southeast Asia, there are two oil fields, one is the Palembang oil field on the island of Sumatra, and the other is the Bali Baban oil field in Borneo. These two sites produce more than 5.8 million tons of crude oil per year, which is enough for the whole of Japan. Of course, they are all blown up now. Moreover, the navy said that once the army took India (including Ceylon and Burma), the navy still did not seek the slightest benefit.

You must know that the Japanese army and navy have been in conflict for a long time, and the fact that the two sides were able to make such a deal shows how big a step the navy has taken. Although the oil fields on Borneo are not as good as those in Palembang in Sumatra, they can also produce one or two million tons per year, which is enough for the army. In addition, the Netherlands have colonized Borneo for many years, and the production of rubber and cane sugar in Borneo is not low. What's more, all the benefits promised by the Navy to the Indian side have made the Army even more tempted.

The navy is also proud, and the soil bun army is satisfied with a little sweetness, I really haven't seen the world.

To put it simply, the Japanese Navy's idea is that as long as the Naval Resistance Army is killed, then even if it works for the army in vain. And this idea is shared even by Chief Yamamoto Isoroku.

It's still the same sentence, the resentment is too deep.

No matter how well the people below communicate, the strategic direction still depends on Yamamoto's 56 decision, and General Yamamoto has every opportunity to take charge of military affairs, so he naturally has to consider it more thoroughly.

Before General Yamamoto's 56th General makes the decision, the war has to continue, and it can't be cold, right? Therefore, the plan for the southward advance was first implemented, and anyway, the battle for the southward advance was mainly fought by the navy, and the army did not dispatch much.

Therefore, the Fifth Air Force had work to do, and the aircraft carriers Xianghe and Zuihe were put into the direction of the Solomon Islands without much rest.

The specific military operations of the Japanese army are no different from history, but the strategic preparations for the Indian direction are very different from history. Li Guang was preparing to bomb Tokyo on the Liberty Dragon, and he did not know that the Tang Port of Ceylon, the nest of the Naval Resistance Army, had been included in the occupation target of the Japanese army. (To be continued......)