Chapter 2707 Impossibility and Possibility 2
On the enemy's home court, it is impossible for a battleship to sail at the most economical speed, and a high cruising speed must be maintained. The 10-knot endurance of American battleships before Nevada was less than 8,000 nautical miles! So to be honest, those American dreadnoughts are simply unable to participate in such an expedition. They have insufficient endurance, and they burn coal. The coal refueling operation is much more troublesome than replenishing heavy oil. This is true for capital ships, and the same is true for destroyers. However, because American destroyers now all burn oil, it is easy to replenish them. If there are oil ships, they can barely enter the Sulawesi Sea, but it is not enough to stay for a long time.
Therefore, Shigetaro Yoshimatsu's inference is correct, that is, it is impossible for all the battleships of the US fleet to fight in the Sulawesi Sea. So now there is only one question left, what if some US battleships come over? This is okay from the perspective of endurance and replenishment. After all, the fleet is small and there are fewer ships that need replenishment. The brand-new warship has good endurance and replenishment is more convenient. But there is another tactical problem. If the Americans just send the super-dreadnoughts and aircraft carriers, they will not be able to defeat the main force of the Japanese fleet. Moreover, if they are fighting in the Japanese area, the opponent has land-based advantages. Well, the Americans Aren't you afraid that you will play too big this time and lose a lot of fleets? Anyway, the Japanese did not dare to do this. The Germans did it in the North Sea, but that was also when they hit the British on the Dogger Sandbank not far from their own side.
Therefore, even though Kantaro Suzuki's views are very close to the Americans' strategic and tactical thinking, neither Shigetaro Yoshimatsu nor Betty could have imagined that the Americans would be so crazy this time and actually separate the main force of the fleet to travel across the ocean. Something is happening in Kalimantan! Sometimes it is said that the upper limit is as high as the people's hearts are high, and there is some truth in it!
Therefore, after some discussion, the Japanese and the British preferred that the American fleet came this time to try to ambush the combined fleet. For this reason, the Japanese choice was to be cowardly and wait until the situation was unclear. After the situation became clear and the size and location of the U.S. fleet was known, the combined fleet attacked again.
Therefore, the combined fleet began to shrink its forces and even moved north of the Philippines to avoid possible attacks by the US fleet. This undoubtedly meant that the last opportunity to prevent the US fleet from penetrating deep into the Sulawesi Sea and attacking Zalagan was lost! After all, the two sides are a bit far away, and the American fleet is preparing to race to Zalagan Island at a high speed this time!
"No matter what the Americans are prepared to do, we must increase the defense power of the Talao Islands, especially aviation power. After all, this is a crossroads. If we deploy an air force here, it will be of great significance to restrict the actions of the US military. , and based on this, we can form a complete front together with the Philippines and New Guinea." Betty revealed one of its previous plans.
"Yes, but in a hurry, we cannot deploy too many aircraft, supplies and ground personnel. It may be difficult for the attack force, but we can deploy some reconnaissance aircraft and fighter units. At the same time, we'd better let Goodnow's The seaplane reconnaissance force will expand some search areas to see if the U.S. fleet can be found again tomorrow morning," said Motaro Yoshimatsu. Later, the top brass of the British and Japanese navies discussed some matters and then adjourned the meeting.
Everyone is preparing, and at the same time, what are the Americans doing?
"We have crossed the last island of the Talau Islands and have now officially entered the Sulawesi Sea. So far, our main fleet should not have been exposed." Magiffin said to Sims.
"I hope so. Didn't our fighter force destroy a seaplane? And it is said that this seaplane was sending a message?" Sims asked.
"That's right, but the telegram should not have been sent completely. Our radio listening station tracked the seaplane. The time it took to send the telegram did not take more than three minutes. The Japanese used a charade machine similar to ours. It took three minutes. It’s just enough to send the identification code in front of it,” said Ma Jifen.
"Are there no other fish that slipped through the net?" Sims said hesitantly.
"There should be no more. At least not in the core circle of the fleet. When we were resupplying, a total of 70 aircraft of various types took off and scattered around the main fleet. They were all at altitudes from 300 meters to 5,000 meters above the sea level. Our fighter jets. Coupled with the air defense outposts composed of a large number of destroyers, if all of these are missed, it would be God’s will, and there is nothing I can do about it." Ma Jifen said half seriously and half jokingly.
"Okay, order the fleet to sail in a dense formation, maintain a speed of 18 knots, and further strengthen radio control from now on. We have entered the final sprint stage!" Sims said.
"From now on, it will theoretically take us two and a half to three days to arrive at Tarakan Island. This is the Japanese inland sea. What should we do if we encounter a merchant ship?" Ma Jifen said.
"If a Japanese merchant ship is directly destroyed, other merchant ships will be temporarily detained. By the way, if it encounters a British ship, it will also be destroyed. That's it. At the same time, the destroyer squadron as the vanguard is ordered to consider turning on radio jamming during the day. equipment,” Sims said.
"Tomorrow, our submarines will also launch a new cordon at this location to warn the Japanese fleet that may be coming from the direction of Davao." As he spoke, Magiffin came to the chart and drew a line across the Talao Islands. The dotted line is the cordon newly deployed by the Americans to guard the eastern exit of the Sulawesi Sea.
"Actually, if the Japanese fleet has completed combat readiness at this time, then even under the most ideal situation, if we are only exposed after completing the attack on Taragon Island, then the Japanese combined fleet will still have the opportunity to attack in the Sulawesi Sea. The east end exit is blocking ours." Sims took a deep breath and said in a gloomy tone.
"Our fleet is far stronger than our opponents, and since we are raiding Taragon Island, our losses will be very small. Even if we encounter the Japanese fleet, we will not be afraid," said Ma Jifen.
"Perhaps, as the Germans said, we took too long to prepare this time, and there may be loopholes in our plan. We will show all our cards before our opponents. And the Japanese are not stupid, if we show all our cards , if the Japanese fleet still dares to challenge, it means that their fleet strength has made great progress." Sims said.
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