"Kaga, Kaga, I'm going to have a buffet at night! Do you think I should eat less at noon so that I can save my stomach for the evening? ”

"But Akagi...... You're already eating your fourth bowl of rice, don't you think it's too late to say that? ”

"It's okay! Believe in my strength! ”

“……”

In the cafeteria of the Kaga aircraft carrier, Kaga, who looked at Akagi, who was quickly destroying the fourth bowl of rice, didn't know what to say for a while.

As good friends who survived the Washington Naval Treaty together, Akagi and Kaga are not sisters of the same type, but they have always had a good relationship with each other.

As the two aircraft carriers that have served as the main force of the Japanese Navy for the longest time, the First Air Force carried by Akagi and Kaga is also the most experienced group of pilots in the Japanese Navy, with a flight time of more than 1,800 hours, and even more on the Kaga.

This powerful combination of elite and ace makes Kaga feel very proud and proud of being an aircraft carrier in the first air battle. But after all, the hull of the two men was a product of the end of the First World War, and even after the modernization and modification of the impractical structure such as the three-deck, some of the drawbacks have not been solved until now.

It is precisely because of these flaws that there are indeed zài that Kaga occasionally hears some voices from some admirals that make her feel very unhappy.

After killing six bowls of rice in a row, Akagi patted his only "half-full" lower abdomen, and contentedly occupied Kaga's bedroom to take a nap, while Kaga needed to go to the headquarters because of something, so she refused the tempting invitation to sleep with Akagi, and got off the boat and came to shore alone.

After going ashore, Kaga went straight to the base headquarters, originally wanting to go upstairs. But as she passed the door of the conference room, the argument from inside caught her attention. Kaga could vaguely hear that it was the voice of Yamaguchi, the commander of the Second Air Warfare, but what he was saying made Kaga instantly have a nameless fire in his heart.

"Your Excellency, I think the key to this operation is speed, so I propose to take the first air battle out of the attack sequence. After all, the performance of the Akagi and Kaga ships had obvious flaws, the Akagi's cruising power was insufficient, and the Kaga's speed was too slow. Acting with these two old ships, it is not good that it will drag down the entire operation! ”

"But General Yamaguchi, the pilots of the First Air War are also the most experienced in combat in our army, and these elites will definitely be needed in this operation."

"That's easy! Wouldn't it be nice to exchange them for Xianghe and Zuihe. ”

"General Yamaguchi! Can I say you think beautifully! ”

While Yamaguchi was talking, the door to the conference room was suddenly pushed open. Furious, Kaga strode towards Yamaguchi Tawen, looking like he was about to tear the other party apart. Fortunately, Kaga's captain Nagabo Kusa stopped her in time, so that Kaga didn't do anything out of the ordinary in the conference room.

And Yamamoto Fifty-six, who was sitting at the head of the conference table, looked at Kaga, who was glaring angrily, and smiled secretly, and then got up and became his best peacemaker.

"Okay Kaga, don't get so excited, no one will disqualify from the first air battle, just like none of us think that this battle will have a chance of winning without one air battle."

"Humph! There will be no concessions here! ”

glared fiercely, and dared to look down on himself and Akagi's Yamaguchi. Kaga, who had already realized that he had trespassed on the high-level conference room, bowed apologetically to Yamamoto Fifty-six after letting his feelings be stable, and then silently exited the conference room.

The top naval officials at the scene, you look at me, I look at you. There is a feeling of crying and laughing. This Kaga usually looks like a three-nothing girl, and it's scary that she doesn't want to start a fire!

…… Stand-in part......

The Kaga aircraft carrier is an aircraft carrier designed and built by the former Imperial Japanese Navy. The original design was a battleship, and construction began in July 1920 as part of the "88th Fleet Plan". It was built by Kobe Kawasaki Shipyard (カワサキ/kawasaki). Launched on November 17, 1921. In accordance with the provisions of the Washington Naval Treaty signed in 1922, the Kaga ceased work in 1922 and was originally planned to be disbanded. Japan converted the "Amagi" and "Akagi", which were the capital ships that had been suspended, into aircraft carriers. In 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck Japan. The "Amagi" at the shipyard was scrapped due to the twisting of the keel, and Japan replaced the "Amagi" with a slightly smaller battleship "Kaga", which was scheduled to be stopped for destruction, and transformed it into an aircraft carrier.

The name "Kaga" is derived from the name of the ancient Japanese feudal kingdom of Kaga, which is located in Hokuriku, which is different from other Japanese naval aircraft carriers that are mostly named after flying animals, mainly because the "Kaga" was a battleship when construction began, but it was converted into an aircraft carrier in the middle of construction, but it did not change its name and continued to use the original battleship name.

From June 1934 to October 1935, the Kaga was modernized at the Sasebo Naval Shipyard. Originally, the design was intended to refer to the U.S. Navy's Lexington-class aircraft carriers as a model, but after the "Tomozuru Incident", all Japanese ships recalculated their center of gravity, and in order to reduce the crosswind area, the deck design of the Lexington-class was completely abandoned and replaced with a ship design similar to that of the Akagi.

The main modification is that the horizontal chimney that curves downward is canceled because it occupies too much space on the ship and the temperature of the chimney makes the interior environment of the ship unfavorable, and it is changed to the same style as the "Akagi" that stretches directly outboard and bends sharply to the sea, which reduces the weight of the "Kaga" by 100 tons, reduces the turbulence problem when the carrier-based aircraft lands, and also solves the problem of high heat in the cabin of non-commissioned officers and soldiers and the flight deck next to the chimney.

Because the runway was too short to adapt to the take-off and landing of the new class of aircraft, the impractical middle and lower flight decks were cancelled and the all-access flight deck was modified, and the flight deck was extended to the bow of the ship and supported by columns. Space was reserved in front of the flight deck for aircraft catapults, but the Japanese catapults had not been developed until they were sunk. The number of lifts has been increased to three. The island bridge is located on the starboard side of the hull, which makes it easy for each aircraft to take off and land when parallel to the "Akagi" (the island bridge is located on the port side of the hull). At the same time as the flight deck was refitted, the main engine of the Kaga was replaced, and two British Browncurtisturbines were replaced with domestically produced Shipmaster Headquarters turbines, so the stern was slightly extended.

The original 120 mm twin anti-aircraft guns were removed and replaced with new 127 mm twin anti-aircraft guns, and the anti-aircraft gun positions were increased so that the anti-aircraft gun fire net could cover the wingman; The 200 mm main gun was maintained at 10, which was the first among Japanese aircraft carriers at that time in terms of firepower. The modernized and refitted "Kaga" was also the largest aircraft carrier in Japan by tonnage before the "Shinano" was put into service.

After the replacement of the main engine and the increase in the usable capacity of the ship, the fuel carrying capacity of the ship increased to 8,200 tons, the standard carrying aircraft of the "Kaga" increased to 90, and the maximum carrying aircraft could reach 103 when necessary (this is the state of using old-level aircraft such as the Type 96 ship fighter); The maximum speed was increased to 28.3 knots, and the cruising speed was increased from 14 knots 8,000 knots to 16 knots 10,000 knots, but this speed was considered too slow by the commander of the Second Air Force Yamaguchi before Pearl Harbor, so at the beginning he had set up a plan to exclude the First Air Force from the attack sequence (Akagi was short legged, and the "Kaga" was not fast enough), but because the carrier-based aircraft crew of the "Kaga" was the most experienced group in the Japanese Navy, it was ensured that the ship could participate in the battle.

Before Pearl Harbor, the Kaga, one of the six aircraft carriers involved in the war, was the slowest to depart from Kure Harbor in order to receive the latest class of shallow water torpedoes, and these 100 torpedoes were the only weapons used by the Japanese Air Fleet at that time to carry out underwater attacks on the battleships Pearl Harbor. The Kaga suffered the most losses in the Pearl Harbor operation, with 15 fighters not returning, accounting for half of the total Japanese losses. (To be continued......)

PS: Weekend! It's the weekend again!!

PS: It is estimated to be 1~1.5 hours, forgive me!