Iron Cross

Regarding the new calculation results, Halsey nodded with satisfaction: "Very good, very good, very good!"

McCain shook his head: "We have enough time, but not enough troops. Two Essex-class ships need to retain at least 36 escort fighters? We can only send out an attack group of about 150 aircraft."

"No! You can send 180 attack groups, and the escort fighters can be transported by the escort carrier group behind. It is not limited to 36. As long as the dispatch is reasonable, 80 will be fine." Halsey explained, "Our army will definitely attack and return. Part of the force will be lost, and the vacant positions can be filled by the extra escort fighters, and the remaining aircraft will be returned to the escort carrier formation. This method has been used by Spruance and Nimitz, and it has worked well. "

"Even if 180 aircraft can be gathered to overwhelm them, can they deal with the opposing force? The opponent is said to have 10 aircraft carriers. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and Admiral Ingram only estimate that there are 200 aircraft. I don't think there will be less than 250 aircraft. Since Judging from the usual composition of the Japanese army, there are at least 100 anti-aircraft fighters among the 250. Assuming that the enemy concentrates on defense, we may lose more than half of the attack aircraft. Can you guarantee that the 180 attack group can destroy the entire enemy force? Isn't 3-4 aircraft carriers considered good? The enemy will still have 6-7 aircraft carriers left, and they will still have enough power to counterattack. As long as one of the two Essex-class ships loses its ability to take off and land, there will be no need to fight the rest of the battle. "

Halsey was stunned by what he said, and his joy suddenly turned into seriousness. After thinking for half a minute, he said: "Yes, you are right, then I will deploy more attack aircraft..."

"Wait a minute, your attack aircraft needs to fly from the escort carrier formation 300 kilometers away from the rear. The range is not enough. After the first attack wave takes off, it needs to use the decks of two Essex-class ships to land, refuel, and attach bombs. Take off again, and then fly for another hour and a half to fight. Don't you think the time is too tight? I'm not sure whether organizing such a second wave of attacks can catch up with the opponent before sunset. Even if it can, it will definitely be bad when we come back. It's dark, I think many people will fall into the sea..." McCain advised him earnestly, "There are now three Japanese fleets. It is okay to deal with one of them first. If the loss is too great, we will definitely be defeated by the others. Swallow two - it's like tennis, the enemy has three match points, every time we play is a decisive battle, we must be cautious."

Halsey's face became more solemn, judging whether McCain's reminder was correct. After thinking for a long time, he could only nod unwillingly: "It is indeed difficult to organize a fast column to eat the opponent in one bite. What do you think?"

"I suggest that we follow the new course calculated theoretically. At least until tomorrow morning, we should maintain the formation of the entire army. Anyway, we can't hit the enemy, and the enemy can't hit us either. We will make a judgment based on the reconnaissance situation tomorrow morning. The enemy situation, maybe we have found another enemy fleet?" McCain reminded him, "Don't forget, the opponent is very powerful and will not leave such a big gap for you and me to take advantage of."

After McCain's repeated persuasion and repeated weighing, Halsey finally made up his mind to adjust the fleet's course from 295 degrees to 280 degrees at 11 o'clock that night, organize fast columns without dividing troops, and continue to press forward with the entire army at a speed of 17 knots. The target of attack was quietly changed from Tsunoda fleet to Horikichi's headquarters.

Horikichi was not idle at night, sending Tsunoda options for the next move while carrying out large-scale fuel replenishment.

At 10 o'clock in the morning on the 28th, Horikichi received intelligence and informed that the Halsey fleet not only adjusted the route to 280 degrees, but also shortened the distance to less than 1,600 kilometers. Due to the route adjustment, the distance from Tsunoda not only did not decrease, but also increased. expanded by nearly 40 kilometers.

He laughed: "The Americans are preparing to eat us first, but this commander is very cautious and refuses to divide his troops. Let's tease him... The fleet's route is changed to 0 degrees and inform Tsunoda that his route You can adjust with the Americans to appropriately narrow the gap with the US military, and adjust the original rendezvous point to the south. "

Tsunoda then changed the course to 278 degrees, almost westward and parallel to Halsey. Masafumi Arima then reported the latest fuel situation: Musashi had 12% remaining fuel, Kongo had 17% remaining, and most of the other ships were at 20%. Around, the highest is no more than 25%.

Kakuji Tsunoda frowned and asked, "How far can the Musashi go?"

"Theoretically, we can travel more than 850 nautical miles at the most economical speed. Arriving at the meeting point is not a problem, but the battle is hanging in the balance..." Masafumi Arima was worried, "Are we really preparing to pump out Musashi's oil according to the commander's request? I'm afraid of the officers and soldiers. They won’t understand.”

"You have to carry it out even if you don't understand!" Anxiety flashed across Tsunoda's brows, but he quickly suppressed it, "Unswervingly follow the commander's instructions! You must not look forward and backward in a war. Hey, Musashi is really in big trouble this time, and it's all mine. Wrong! Nishimura will probably scold me to death!”

Only then did Arima Masafumi remember: Nishimura Shoji was still on board the Musashi, and he hadn't told him about the oil pumping yet.

"What do you want to say?"

"Tell me, although it is only a last resort, it is necessary to communicate in advance." Kakuji Tsunoda waved his hand, "Just say that this situation was caused by my mistake and it is none of the chief's business. Don't cause trouble to the chief!"

As soon as Nishimura Shoji received the telegram, he immediately jumped up and cursed. After cursing for a few words, he suddenly felt something was wrong: This didn't seem to be the work of Kadota. He and Kadota had been classmates for so many years and knew the latter inside and out. Although Kadota was sometimes impatient, his attitude towards battleships, especially Yamato-class battleships, was not so harsh. Most of it was the opinion of the superior. Kadota was embarrassed to bring up the superior, so he was so careless with me. I must beat him up later!

Sure enough, after asking Arima Masafumi in detail, he learned that it was the order of Hori Teikichi, which relieved him: the superior could issue such an order, which meant that he must have a plan in mind - that is, only a wise superior like him could have such courage!

In the evening, McCain, who received the telegram, said to Halsey: "William, there are two pieces of news, one good news and one bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

"Me?" Halsey smiled bitterly, "Enough bad news, let's hear the good news first."

"The good news is that we are lucky today. The reconnaissance planes sent by the Hawaiian Island Army Aviation continued to find the enemy fleet in the evening."

"What about the bad news?"

"The bad news is that the enemy has changed its course. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the reconnaissance plane found that the course of the enemy fleet has become about 0 degrees. It is currently more than 1,400 kilometers away from us. If we continue to travel at the current speed, it will be impossible to shorten to within 700 kilometers before 7 o'clock tomorrow. The possibility of further adjustment of the route by the Japanese army cannot be ruled out. Even if you organize a fast column, you may not be able to attack in the early morning tomorrow!"

"Damn it!" Halsey punched the bridge bulkhead fiercely. Originally, Hori Teiji and he were traveling in the opposite direction, and the distance was shortened relatively quickly. After Hori Teiji adjusted the course, the distance shortening speed slowed down greatly.

"What can you do to shorten the gap?" He turned around and asked the staff.

"Now our army is at a higher latitude than the enemy fleet. If we want to shorten the gap, we must keep a similar course with the enemy. The angle of the route can be slightly reduced. The Japanese army is 0 degrees, and our army is preferably around 340 degrees."

"How much can it be shortened at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning?"

"Take 18 knots and it can be shortened to about 1,000 kilometers."

"Can it be closer?"

"No, the enemy's speed is 15 knots, and we only have a 3 knot advantage. It's really hard to go faster."

Halsey gritted his teeth. He found that he was in big trouble. Under the premise of catching up with the Japanese fleet, if the large forces acted together, there was only a 3 knot speed advantage, which was not fast enough; if a fast column was organized, there would be a speed advantage, but no manpower advantage, and this was still based on the fact that the opponent did not change the course. If they changed, it would be even more troublesome.

Faced with the dilemma of not being able to have both the advantage of force and the advantage of speed, he felt as if someone was strangling him and he couldn't breathe. Finally, he squeezed out a sentence from his teeth: "We can only adjust like this first, and see if there is any chance tomorrow morning!"

At 8 o'clock in the morning on October 29, the reconnaissance plane sent by Kakuta found Halsey for the third time. The latter had been tossed out of temper. In the past two days, the Japanese reconnaissance planes could find him every day, while the reconnaissance planes he sent out always failed to report. If it weren't for the help of the Hawaiian Army Aviation, the TF50 fleet would be blind.

The failure to find the Japanese fleet cannot be blamed on the US crew. In the end, it was the reconnaissance planes that were not good.

The Catalina seaplane reconnaissance aircraft commonly used by the US military has a long range, but is slow and relies on land-based support. It is difficult to cooperate with the fleet after leaving the island; the Seahawk seaplane reconnaissance aircraft, which has been in service for a short time, has good performance, but its range is too short. Even with auxiliary fuel tanks, it can only reach more than 1,800 kilometers. It is generally used as an anti-submarine aircraft by the US military, especially after Nimitz suffered a big loss from German submarines in the South Atlantic. Now Halsey has brought a fleet of Seahawk seaplane reconnaissance escorts.

The US side also tried to convert attack aircraft such as SBD\\TBF\\BTD into reconnaissance aircraft, but they were either slow or short-range, so that the fleet commanders drooled every time they saw the Japanese and German Caiyun Kai - not only does it fly fast, but it also has a long range and can be carried on ships, which is ideal. Both Halsey and Spruance called out loudly: If you can't build a better reconnaissance aircraft than the enemy, can you at least copy one for me?

Unfortunately, the Caiyun Kai was rarely shot down, and even if it was shot down, the wreckage could not be obtained, so that the Americans still know a little about its technical details.

In the end, there was no choice but to go back to the starting point and transform the fighter into a reconnaissance aircraft - transform the F4U into the F4U-P. After the F4U reconnaissance aircraft was converted to a two-seater version, even if it was equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks, the cruising range was shortened, and it could only reach 2,500 kilometers at most. Excluding the necessary take-off and landing and mid-course flight redundancy, the maximum reconnaissance radius was 1,000 kilometers. However, in these three days, except for the occasional shortening of the distance between the Kakuta fleet to within 1,000 kilometers, most of the time it was 1,100 kilometers away, exceeding the farthest field of vision of the US reconnaissance aircraft.

For the Caiyun Kai with a range of nearly 5,000 kilometers, the maximum reconnaissance radius was 2,000 kilometers. Therefore, the Japanese army could find Halsey every day, and they visited him regularly in the morning and evening. Halsey was at a loss every day. If it were not for the Hawaiian Army Aviation, he would not know where he was left by Hori Teikichi.