When the Japanese army landed in Southeast Asia in the Second Theater and began to sweep through Southeast Asia, the island of Okinawa, which was close to the Japanese mainland, also became a new focus of the war.

After the Fourth Theater captured the Ogasawara Islands, all Japanese barriers in the Pacific Ocean were cleared, and the troops of the expeditionary corps were directly aimed at the Japanese mainland.

At this moment, the Japanese base camp also received the news that the Red Alert Empire had gathered heavy troops and would land on the Okinawa Islands.

The Imperial Council was convened again, this time mainly on the actions of the Navy.

At the time of the defeat of the Battle of Iwo Jima, a large number of suicide planes had already been organized on the Japanese mainland, and Mitsuya Ushijima had 100,000 troops to support Okinawa Island to defend against enemy landing operations.

However, the Japanese Combined Fleet, which has never been dispatched, still has the last vestiges of Japan's vitality.

At the Imperial Council, although the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy still refused to fight, the Naval Command Department ordered the fleet to fight for the honor of the navy, and this time the combined fleet will have to fight.

A war is a war, but how to fight this war is very particular.

The combat order issued by the Navy Command Department was a suicide attack, and the Command Department was well aware that once the Combined Fleet went out, it would never come back.

But the war has reached such a point that there is no way to attack, but it is also necessary to attack.

Otherwise the war will be over, and what is the use of leaving this fleet?

Against this backdrop, Admiral Kiyoshi Hasegawa, who had returned to Japan, as commander of the Combined Fleet, led the fleet out of the waters off Okinawa to meet the enemy's fleet at sea.

The satellites in the sky were always paying attention to the movements of the Japanese fleet, and as soon as the combined fleet made a move, the Xuanwu Fleet in the Fourth Theater received the relevant news.

The Japanese Combined Fleet formed two battle groups, one consisting of six aircraft carriers, followed by two cruisers and twelve destroyers.

The other was a fleet of battleships of two Yamato-class battleships, consisting of eight cruisers and six destroyers.

The cautious Japanese Combined Fleet sent a large number of reconnaissance planes to search around the fleet and at the same time look for opportunities to fight.

In the waters of the Pacific Ocean, 400 kilometers south of Okinawa, the Xuanwu fleet was already ready to go.

If the Japanese Combined Fleet does not make any more moves this time, then the Xuanwu Fleet will directly approach Okinawa and launch a strong attack on the Japanese Combined Fleet, and by the way, seize air and sea supremacy over the Okinawa Islands.

When attacking Iwo Jima, the Japanese Navy could bear it, and the Naval Command Department knew that dispatching the Combined Fleet would be a death, so the Combined Fleet still retreated.

There is no way to shrink anymore, and the dispatch of the Combined Fleet is also an inevitable result.

Compared with the combined fleet encounters in history, the combined fleet in this time and space is much better, at least it is not the Yamato that faces a powerful opponent alone, and there are other warships.

But by the same token, the Japanese Navy would certainly be more willing to face an adversary like the United States than an enemy like the Red Alert Empire, which was completely impossible to win.

Although the Japanese Combined Fleet still had strength, the Xuanwu Fleet they had to face was a hundred times stronger than the US fleet at this time in history.

The battle was an asymmetrical one from the start.

On the Yamato, the flagship of the Combined Fleet, Hasegawa stayed quietly in his lounge.

The huge Yamato, like a huge castle on the sea, is also the most comfortable warship in the living environment of the entire Japanese Navy since its development.

The Yamato, which represents the soul of the national navy, is also the symbol of the Japanese Navy.

That's why the Yamato has survived to this day.

With the hope of the entire Japanese nation, however, in Hasegawa Kiyoshi's mind, there is only deep despair.

In this sortie, the Combined Fleet took away all the fuel it could, but it still couldn't support the Combined Fleet's operational needs for too long.

On the table in front of Hasegawa Kiyoshi's eyes was a plan with "Operation Tianyi No. 1" written on it.

It is said that it is a plan, but the content is not even a thousand words, and there is only one real content in it, for the honor of the Japanese Navy, even if the combined fleet is completely destroyed, it will create more trouble for the enemy.

In fact, the Japanese Admiralty was hopeful that the Combined Fleet would hold out longer, attract the enemy's attention on the sea, and buy Japan more time.

Kiyoshi Hasegawa is now Japan's last admiral, and he has no choice, and if he were given the choice, he would still be willing to stay in Tokyo and continue to serve as a naval inspector.

"Bang Bang Bang"

There was a heavy knock on the door, and a major general pushed open the hatch and walked in, placing a telegram in front of Hasegawa Kiyoshi.

"Report to the commander, the air force has sent a message that the reconnaissance planes of the air force have spotted a formation of enemy battleships two hundred and forty kilometers to the east, with four battleships, two cruisers and four destroyers, and the commander of the air force, Vice Admiral Rokuro Tsurae, has requested that fighter planes be dispatched to attack."

Hasegawa Kiyoshi took the telegram, read the contents, then nodded and said, "You can fight, but you must ensure that you will be killed with one hit." ”

The Major General was ordered to go out and send a message to the air team.

Vice Admiral Rokuro Hasegawa is an old subordinate of Kiyoshi Hasegawa, a very cautious commander of aircraft carrier operations.

This caution keeps it from making big mistakes, but it's also hard to make a difference.

The contents of this telegram in his hand were the reports sent back by the reconnaissance planes forwarded by the air team.

There was a reconnaissance plane that spotted the traces of the enemy fleet, but it was not the enemy's aircraft carrier fleet.

And this is also in line with Hasegawa Kiyoshi's thinking, he is reluctant to meet the enemy's aircraft carrier fleet, and his priority target is the enemy's battleship force, or the enemy's transport.

It is enough to avoid the main forces of the enemy's navy and choose an opportunity to cause problems for the enemy.

Even if the Military Command Department asked him to come out with the combined fleet to send him to his death, he couldn't directly serve the emperor as soon as he came out, so he could play the role of the fleet.

However, what Hasegawa Kiyoshi didn't know was that a day after the Japanese Combined Fleet left Okinawa, the Xuanwu Fleet also opened its pockets to welcome the arrival of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

All the movements of the combined fleet were detected and known, and the position of every Japanese reconnaissance plane was on the radar of the Xuanwu fleet.

How could there be a fleet of battleships, which appeared within the attack range of Japanese carrier-based aircraft.

The Japanese reconnaissance plane that played the report had long been blown to pieces by a close-range combat missile of a Wasp carrier-based aircraft.

The message was an electronic warfare aircraft of the Xuanwu fleet, sent to the Japanese air force.