May 28, 1943. Rear Admiral Spruance left Pearl Harbor with Task Force 16 and headed northeast for Midway. A day later, another Rear Admiral, Fletcher, led Task Force 17 and left Pearl Harbor for Midway.

But what the world didn't know at the time was that on May 28, the day Spruance left Pearl Harbor, the Red Navy task force under the command of Kuznetsov and Sukhoi also left Pearl Harbor early in the wee hours of the morning.

This huge fleet is called TF18 according to the U.S. Navy's naming convention, which is the 18th Task Force. However, according to the custom of the Red Navy, it is better to call it the Red Navy task force.

The fleet consisted of four battle cruisers, four heavy cruisers (Baku, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius), four light cruisers (Arkhangelsk, Severodvinsk, Kronstadt, Murmansk) and two aircraft carriers, followed by eight destroyers (Storm, Unforgettable, Swift, Indomitable, Courageous, Fierce, Invincible, Noble).

The commander-in-chief of the Red Navy task force was Admiral Kuznetsov, and the commander-in-chief of the aviation forces was Admiral Sukhoi. And this creates an interesting and embarrassing reality, it stands to reason that the Red Navy task force is under the command of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet, and Nimitz, as the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet, handed over the battlefield command of the Battle of Midway to Fletcher, as mentioned earlier, Fletcher was just a rear admiral at this time. It is a bit awkward and awkward to have a rear admiral in command of two foreign admirals no matter how you look at it.

Of course, the reality on the battlefield at that time was. Fletcher, the commander-in-chief, was only in name. Only nominal command. In fact, he commanded both Kuznetsov and Sukhoi. Nor can he command Spruance in his own country, and the three task forces are actually fighting alone. And what's even more interesting is that among the three task forces, the commander-in-chief Fletcher's task force is the worst, with only one aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown, and everyone knows that Yorktown was rushed to repair and finally put into battle, no matter how you look at it, it is all wounded.

A brief introduction to the formation of combat aircraft on the aircraft carriers of the United States Navy, at that time the aviation wing on board the Yorktown carried 25 Wildcats (F4F), 37 Dreadnoughts (SBDs) and 13 TBDs. The Enterprise and Hornet carried 27 Wildcats, 38 Dreadnoughts, and 14 and 15 TBDs, respectively. Overall, the carrier-based aircraft wing of the US Navy aircraft carrier has less than 80 fighters, and the number of attack aircraft obviously accounts for two-thirds of the total number of aircraft.

It can also be seen from this distribution ratio that the US Navy was more offensive than the Red Navy at that time, and the ratio of fighters to attack aircraft was about one to one. In the case of the Minsk and Kiev, the ships were armed with 48 Yak-3Ks (divided into two carrier-based aircraft regiments) and 44 Ro-2s (also divided into two regiments). This shows that the Red Navy attaches great importance to air defense operations, so the proportion of fighters is higher.

It is difficult to say which of the two companies is more scientific in the distribution ratio of carrier-based aircraft, but judging from the situation in the Pacific theater later, the US Navy is also gradually increasing the number of fighters. This means that they have also found that the rigors of combat require more fighters to defend the skies.

At this time, the US Navy's air combat capability was indeed quite poor, not only because of the small number of fighters. To make matters worse, the Wildcat's performance is quite, and it hardly pleases against Zero. Moreover, it should be noted that the pilots of the Japanese Navy at that time were all old fritters, and they surpassed the US Navy by a large margin in terms of combat experience and flight skills, and it can be said that the US Navy was almost lame in air combat.

Of course, the Americans are not without better carrier-based fighters, whether it is the F6F Hellcat or the F4U Corsair, they are good aircraft, but what gives Nimitz a headache is that these advanced aircraft appeared a little late, are in the process of being reequipped, and cannot catch up with the Battle of Midway.

Looking back at the Red Navy's Yak-3K, it is undeniable that in terms of technical performance alone, it can beat all the carrier-based fighters of Japan and the United States, but the very good and powerful Yak-3K is not without an Agrasulfus heel. That is, the combat radius of the aircraft mentioned above is too small, and the Yak-3, which is out of the Yak-2 series, is still a small and flexible route, and the relatively light combat weight and volume make the aircraft extremely dexterous, but at the same time, because the aircraft is small, it also sacrifices the fuel load.

Let's put it this way, although the Yak-3K is appropriately enlarged on the basis of the Yak-3, the increase is limited, and the maximum range is just enough for 1000 kilometers, to be honest, this is really a short leg. Not to mention that compared with the zero battle that sacrificed defense in order to protect the range, it is also shorter than the F4F (1680 km).

The combat radius of the short range is small, and in terms of typical escort and air combat missions, the combat radius of the Yak-3K is 300 kilometers (this has to be the whole high-altitude appearance), in fact, when accompanying the carrier-based attack aircraft to carry out attack missions, the combat radius of the aircraft is more than 200 kilometers. Honestly, it's too small.

And to the embarrassment of the Red Navy, the Ro-3 attack aircraft that was matched with the Yak-2 was a monster with a large range, with a maximum range of 3,200 kilometers, and a combat radius of 1,000 kilometers when carrying two 500-kilogram bombs or an aviation torpedo. Look at the Yak-3K, at most, it will escort the Ro-2 for 300 kilometers, and the remaining 700 kilometers of the Ro-2 will basically run naked. In other words, the Ro-2 has the advantage of a large range, but it cannot be brought into play.

However, the designers of the Red Navy are not fools, and the reason for this painful situation is that the Red Navy has special requirements for the Ro-2, which integrates three combat missions, to meet the three tasks of long-range reconnaissance, dive bombing and low-altitude torpedo attack. Among them, long-range reconnaissance has high requirements for the range of fighters. In order to prolong the reconnaissance time of the Ro-2 as much as possible, the designers had to increase the fuel tank.

In addition, thanks to the steam catapult on the Red Navy aircraft carrier, the Ro-2 can catapult and take off on the deck with full fuel and ammunition, and the Ro-2 can fill the magazine as much as possible in every sortie, and the single-wave strike capability is still quite good. And this is something that the American dreadnought cannot compare with TBD.

Only in the Battle of Midway. This advantage of the RO-2 is not fully manifested. Because of the Catarina Seaplane Support (PBY) on Midway. The Ro-2 does not need to be on the main reconnaissance mission, just be a bomb truck with peace of mind.

Speaking of which, we can calculate that the three American aircraft carriers have a total of 79 fighters, 113 SBDs, and 42 TBDs, for a total of 234 fighters. On the side of the Red Navy, there were a total of 184 fighters. In other words, the Allies had 418 warplanes at Midway (not counting the land-based fighters at Midway airfield, nor the seaplanes carried by warships other than aircraft carriers).

And how many fighters does the Japanese Combined Fleet have? Nagumo Tadaichi's First Fleet had a total of only 266 fighters on the four aircraft carriers. In terms of strength, it is out of absolute infadvantage. Of course, some comrades have to say that the Americans have no advantage in history, so can they not be awesome if they have two more aircraft carriers?

In fact, even without the reinforcement of the Red Navy's task force, the Japanese would not have any advantage, excluding the fighters of the Red Navy, the US Navy still has 234 carrier-based aircraft, which seems to be worse than the 266 of the Japanese First Air Force. The gap seems to be even greater for the Americans.

However, don't forget about Midway. There are still a certain number of fighters on the island, and of course some comrades want to say that the US air power on Midway Island is too poor, and most of the fighters are F2F Buffaloes, which is too inferior. Yes, the air power on Midway is not enough to see, but their existence will inevitably distract the Japanese, and now you can't use your mobile phone while driving, and you can't use your mobile phone for two things while fighting, isn't that death?

Let's put it this way, Yamamoto's plan to attack and occupy Midway Island is itself a sieve, it seems inexplicable, its purpose is quite nonsense, just a few troops, but also to take care of two tasks, really when the imperial army is superhuman?

It can be said that from the very beginning, the Japanese fell into the pit, and for Nagumo Tadaichi, things were very difficult to do, whether to hit Midway or to find the US Navy's aircraft carrier decisive battle? It can be said that if this problem is not solved, it will be impossible to fight well in the next battle. The end result is only a painful torpedo or bomb as in history.

If the Japanese had not been so greedy in formulating their plans, and had honestly set a goal of annihilating the living forces of the US Navy, and had made a fuss about this goal, the Battle of Midway would not have been as miserable as it would have been, even if it could not be won.

It's just that a devil is a devil, and the island thinking makes them only a gambler, what is a gambler? It's self-righteous when you win, and even the pants are used to turn over when you lose. And now the devils are still immersed in the victory at Pearl Harbor and cannot extricate themselves, and they are not psychologically prepared for a fierce battle at all, and always take it for granted that they underestimate their opponents. So in this time and space, they are similar to the performance in history, they still divide their forces in the Aleutian Islands, they still think that the two US aircraft carriers are squatting at Pearl Harbor, and they think that a mere projectile-sized Midway Island can be taken casually.

On the Allied side, the situation was different, because with accurate intelligence support from the Soviet side, the United States could basically conclude that Japan's target was Midway, and there was no need for Washington to exert unnecessary pressure on Nimitz, as was the case in history. In addition, the addition of the Red Navy's task force gave the Allies an absolute upper hand in their maritime strength, which made it a lot easier for the Americans.

However, the addition of the Red Navy's task force also brought unexpected troubles, that is, waiting for the rabbit or taking the initiative. Yes, in Sukhoi's opinion, since the enemy has figured out the whole plan, why are you stupid waiting to be beaten? Why wait at Midway, let's take them by surprise directly on the way through which the Japanese fleet must pass, and finish off the combined fleet in one go.

This kind of thinking is very much to the taste of the Russians, who always like to take the initiative, and the Russian thinking is sometimes as simple as this - it is better for me to go to trouble others than for others to trouble me.

Of course, the US Navy did not lack the intention of taking the initiative to attack, and a group of officers headed by Halsey were eager to try and loudly echoed the idea of the Russians taking the initiative to attack. However, Halsey was in the minority after all, and for the United States at that time, it was more advantageous to think that its own strength was temporarily below Japan's, or the conservatives who were better at defending and counterattacking.

Moreover, Halsey himself was still hospitalized at this time, and after the Battle of the Coral Sea, the sea bull tragically suffered from unexplained dermatitis and itching. There is no way to command the battle at all. It was precisely because of Halsey's absence that Spruance, the cruiser commander who did not have any experience in aircraft carrier command operations, was vacant.

Of course. From a practical point of view. The initiative is not so reliable, the Allies do know the target of the Japanese Combined Fleet, but they do not know which direction its main fleet will come from, it is still quite difficult to find a fleet in the vast sea, once the initiative attack is empty, the consequences are unimaginable.

Anyway, the Japanese are aiming at Midway, and they will definitely get Midway, so it is better to wait at Midway Island and fight the stick. This is much more secure. After some debate, Nimitz was determined to surprise the Japanese at Midway.

Of course, there is also a point in how to give this surprise, that is, where exactly to ambush the Japanese fleet? There may be comrades who are going to say it again. Lao Ma, you are lying to the number of words, didn't you say that you were going to ambush the Japanese at Midway? How do you say it again?

Not really, after all, Midway is a small island, surrounded by the vast Pacific Ocean, do you know from which of the eight directions of the southeast, north, west, and east came out of the Japanese? In case you squat on the west side, but people insert it from the north, isn't that a waste of preparations?

So. At that time, the question of where to place the three task forces was very important. Fletcher's opinion was to place the task force northeast of Midway, while Washington wanted the fleet to be southeast of Midway. As for Kuznetsov and Sukhoi, they want to stand by west of Midway.

We all know that historically, the U.S. Navy's task force operated northeast of Midway. According to Fletcher, placing the fleet in the northeast direction would be the best option to ensure the safety of the fleet (it was almost impossible for the Japanese to kill it from the northeast) and the security of Hawaii.

Of course, from the point of view of later operations, it is indeed safe enough to put the fleet there and can be slightly conservative, which is also in line with Fletcher's personality. It's just that on this plane, his opinion is no longer so convincing.

The reason is that the Allied task force is now strong enough that it does not need to hide from the Japanese, and it can be more proactive. To take the initiative, it was natural to shorten the distance between the fleet and the Japanese fleet, and placing the fleet west of Midway Island was naturally the most active tactic.

It's just that this plan is too positive, Nimitz feels that it is more risky, and there is always a fear in Washington that Midway is just a front for the Japanese, and the real target of the devils is actually Hawaii. Last time they were playing air raids, this time the main force poured out to capture Hawaii, is it not impossible?

Just imagine, once Hawaii is captured by Japan, the connection between the mainland of the United States and Australia will be completely severed, and the Taiping fleet will also retreat to the mainland.

Therefore, Washington attaches great importance to the safety of Hawaii, and hopes that Nimitz will pay more attention to the problems of Hawaii than to Midway, which is thousands of miles away. If this time Midway is still a guise for devils, what if the remaining main forces of the Pacific Fleet are lured away and the Japanese take advantage of the situation?

Although this fear was strongly dismissed at Nimitz's insistence, Washington was happy to see its fleet closer to Hawaii. Then in the event of the worst, the fleet can quickly rush back to drive away the Japanese devils. So Washington wanted the fleet to move southeast of Midway, that is, closer to Hawaii.

Well, this is indeed a problem, the senior officers of the Pacific Fleet led by Nimitz and Fletcher want the fleet to go to the northeast of Midway, while Washington wants the fleet to go to the southeast, coupled with the Red Navy's proactive sense of war, these contradictions are difficult to reconcile!

So after a long debate, at the last moment, the three sides reached a compromise, Spruance and Fletcher's fleet operated northeast of Midway, as in history, while the Red Navy task force operated in the north-southwest direction of Midway.

And this arrangement of the fleet was not entirely the result of compromise, but also technical and tactical considerations, such as why the Red Navy task force was operating on the west side of Midway, and later generations believed that the Americans deliberately sent the Russians to death.

Of course, this is naturally nonsense, because at that time, the two sides were grasshoppers on the same rope, and they could only help each other in the same boat, and it was impossible to be brothers. The reason why the Red Navy operates on the western flank is that the combat radius of the Yak-3 mentioned earlier is relatively small, because the combat radius of the Yak-3K is small, and if you want to cover the attack aircraft throughout the process, you must get closer to the Japanese fleet.

At that time, the mainstream opinion was that it was more likely that the devil would come from the west, so it would be closer to set up an ambush southwest of Midway. And considering that the anti-aircraft firepower of the Red Navy fleet is stronger and the ability to resist strikes is stronger, it is understandable for them to follow the Japanese army, so this arrangement is more of a tactical consideration.

Moreover, placing the Red Navy southwest of Midway Island has another advantage, that is, the water reconnaissance planes on Midway Island can go all out to reconnoiter the west of Midway, while the southwest direction can be handed over to the Ro-2 of the Red Navy, which can also make reconnaissance more detailed and reliable. (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you to Drunken No Maple, Pig Chic 2, llkkjjllkkjj, Fat Fly Ah Fly, Akula-class nuclear submarine observer, Demon Loki & Fox and Comrade Juventus!