Chapter 161: Hawaii Raiders

December 25 at 5 p.m. ET, White House, Washington.

On several couches in the Green Room sat President Wilson and his military advisers.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson, then 56 years old, was the child of a Presbyterian pastor and inherited a strong moral and missionary attitude to life. He was a brilliant lawyer, trained as a lawyer, and after teaching law at Princeton University, he became president of the university, then governor of New Jersey, and was elected the 28th president of the United States in 1913.

Unlike his predecessor Taft, Wilson also advocated "peace of morality and conscience" and believed that the United States should remain neutral in future major wars, but he emphasized "defending peace and upholding justice with sufficient strength."

In 1908, Wilson published a five-volume History of the American People. In it, he repudiated President Jefferson's policy of opposing the naval embargo 100 years earlier, saying that the war of 1812 was "a war of weapons brought by peaceful plans." In his first annual report to Congress in his year of inauguration, Wilson declared: "We have always considered a strong navy to be our proper and natural means of defence." …… In the future, as we have in the past, we should keep ourselves strong at sea. ”

Under his encouragement and supervision, the US Navy changed the sluggishness of the Taft era, the large-scale shipbuilding plan was passed one after another, the plan to increase the number of naval reservists was put on the agenda, and the construction of the Panama Canal, the San Diego base, and the Pearl Harbor base also began to be accelerated.

"The United States may be able to have the moral high ground, but if the other side ignores our morality for a while, then we have no choice but to defend our freedom and justice with warships and guns, and force them to find their conscience, in order to achieve a just peace that conforms to the universal morality of mankind."

It was precisely because of this belief that after learning of the arrival of the East Asian Combined Fleet in Marshall, Wilson agreed to the stationing of the Navy's main fleet at the Pearl Harbor base to "demonstrate our strength and determination and drive the Chinese back to the negotiating table." ”……

However, no one expected that the other party would actually launch a despicable air sneak attack and destroy half of the fleet with those unelegant little toys!

"The fleet must retreat immediately, and as many warships as possible must be withdrawn, if the main fleet is all destroyed, the whole of America will fall under the iron heel of that great East Asian empire."

The military advisers were worried, as if the Chinese army was going to storm Washington tomorrow and repeat the atrocities of the British who burned down the White House in 1812.

"I ask the president to submit a request to Congress as soon as possible to declare war on China, and to make a short speech to the people explaining the situation."

Secretary of State Lansing looked depressed, presumably still holding out his anger over the Chinese envoy's declaration of war this morning.

"The Chinese have chosen war, and they will pay the price." President Wilson said angrily, and then ordered his secretary Glenn Mitchell to go to Congress and ask for a declaration of war.

"The Philippines and Indochina have also been attacked, and it seems that the enemy's target is the whole of Asia and the Pacific, and we should immediately liaise with Britain and France to flank the enemy on both sides." Lansing emphasized.

"In this way, we must be on the side of the Entente, and we must win the final victory with the strength of the Entente as a whole, and we have started so badly - it is bound to be a long war of attrition." William S. Benson, the Navy's most senior active admiral, lamented, "We need to act now to turn the tide as quickly as possible and take back the initiative." It is proposed that a naval operations department be established as soon as possible to be responsible for the fleet's operational command and campaign planning in a unified manner, so as to meet the needs of a long-term war in the future...... But in any case, we will have to go through a dark period. ”

"Yes, a dark time, hopefully no darker than we now imagine - send a telegram to Evenley at once, and ask him to retreat to the West Coast as soon as possible!"

Whether or not President Wilson's expectations can be fulfilled seems to depend on the luck of the 24 torpedo planes of the USS Florida and the 1st Carrier-based Aircraft Wing of the Chinese Army.

The "Florida" probably realized that it had become the prey of a large mass of "noisy mosquitoes" on the port side, the black smoke from the chimney became thicker and thicker, the waves splashed in the bow, the waves crashed into high walls of water on both sides of the channel, and the huge hull rushed desperately towards the outer mouth of the channel at a high speed of more than 20 knots......

The Chinese torpedo fleet soon approached the unruly steel beast, ready to send it to the fish and shrimp of the deep sea with a deadly weapon under its belly.

At the moment when the tip of the behemoth protruded from the outer mouth of the channel, the first batch of torpedoes was dropped, followed by the second and third batches, and the tracks of twenty-four torpedoes appeared in three overlapping sectors on the light blue sea.

The observer in the back seat of the torpedo machine excitedly looked forward to the result, and soon someone cheered: water column! A huge column of water was set off on the port side of the enemy ship! What a beautiful water jet!

However, this beautiful column of water was too little, and after waiting for several minutes, I only saw five or six in total, two or three of which seemed to be caused by torpedoes hitting the reef on the shore.

The "Florida" slowed down slightly, but it quickly opened the channel and began a violent maneuver in a zigzag shape.

Cai Yong patiently circled over the "Florida" several times, waiting for a miracle to happen - maybe the thunder head did not explode immediately? Maybe there is already a fire on the ship and it is spreading to the ammunition depot? Maybe......

However, he only saw the "Florida" leisurely dancing ballet at sea, as if he was laughing at Cai Yong's luck - something that he couldn't even do during the exercise, and he still wanted to hit the shit luck in actual combat?

Cai Yong quickly looked around, and the squadron attacking other targets was assembling northeast of Pearl Harbor, preparing to return home. Outside the harbor, the large cruiser, which had been circling in place before the attack, had tilted badly, and the two battleships that had left the harbor earlier, one smaller seemed to be paralyzed in place, and the other, the larger one, presumably of the Nevada-class, was unscathed and swaggered away from the coast.

What are the targets in the port...... The two damaged cruisers, one capsized and the other bowed into the water, and the intended goal was achieved.

It's a pity, it seems that with the performance of the "Thunder Eagle", it can only be done to such a point.

The Empire needs more advanced aviation!

Although it is a pity, more than half of the opponent's capital ships have been killed, and the current results have far exceeded expectations.

So, I can happily return home.