The Rise of the Third Reich

"Commander, one of our seaplanes reported that it had found an unknown fleet before it lost contact. The location is in the K15 waters..."

"What? K15 waters? That's..." Vice Admiral Ghormley, commander of the 9th Fleet and commander of the Southeast Pacific Command of the United States, was shocked by the news reported by Major General Ralph Heinkel.

He hurried to the large sea map hanging on the wall of the office. Major General Heinkel also walked to the map and drew a circle with a red pencil in the sea area between Clipperton Atoll and the Galapagos Islands on the map.

"Right here," said Major General Heinkel, "about 1,200 nautical miles from the Panama Canal and 650 nautical miles from the Galapagos Islands."

"That seaplane...lost contact? Was it shot down by an enemy plane?" Vice Admiral Ghormley asked with a frown.

"It should have been shot down," said Rear Admiral Heinkel. "The last telegram sent by this plane said that the radar detected unidentified ships 60 miles away, with more than 10 ships, one of which was a large ship of more than 10,000 tons, which might be a Japanese aircraft carrier."

"A Japanese aircraft carrier?" Vice Admiral Ghormley thought for a while, "Does the Pacific Fleet Command have any information about this?"

"No," said Rear Admiral Heinkel, "No submarines deployed in the waters of the Hawaiian Islands have been found."

Now the Americans have basically no grasp of the deployment of the Japanese Combined Fleet - they only know that the Japanese Combined Fleet is not staying in the military ports of the mainland, but they don't know whether they went to Rabaul in the South Pacific or Pearl Harbor.

Neither of these two places is a peaceful and open port, and American spies can't infiltrate them at all. So they can only use submarines to wander around, but the Japanese Navy has learned a lot of real skills from the European Joint Transport/Anti-Submarine Command led by Dönitz, and will use Type 97 large boats equipped with radars, searchlights, depth charges and cat-eye fighters to fly over important waters. Therefore, the American submarines did not dare to get too close to Pearl Harbor, and the reconnaissance was naturally not smooth.

Vice Admiral Ghormley thought for a moment and said to Major General Heinkel: "It is probably a feint, just like those damn balloon bombs, they are all trying to attract our attention to the Pacific Ocean to cooperate with Germany's attack in the Caribbean."

"Lieutenant General, it is also possible that Japan really wants to bomb the locks of the Panama Canal." Major General Heinkel actually didn't think this possibility was very big, but since he thought of it, he had to mention it.

"It is also possible," Ghormley nodded, "so we must figure out the intentions of the Japanese devils... If it is just a feint, the scale of the Japanese fleet in the K15 sea area should not be large. Our canal locks cannot be destroyed by dozens of Japanese planes!"

Not to mention that the United States has deployed nearly 600 aircraft in the canal area and the Galapagos Islands (not including the aircraft of the 9th Fleet), even the anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft balloons used to guard the canal locks and dams are enough to give the invading enemy planes a pot.

Therefore, the attack on the Panama Canal by dozens or even hundreds of fighters sent by one or two aircraft carriers will basically fail.

If the Japanese really want to attack the Panama Canal, they must mobilize their aircraft carrier forces in large numbers. This is an opportunity to deal a heavy blow to the Japanese devils!

"But how can we find out?" Heinkel asked thoughtfully.

"Send a fleet to search and form the 19th Task Force." Ghormley thought for a while and said, "Send three escort aircraft carriers, including the Kopahi, Cole, and Nassau, plus the heavy cruiser Wichita, the light cruiser Memphis, the light cruiser Raleigh, and 6 destroyers. In addition, send out all long-range reconnaissance aircraft equipped with radar tonight."

The rich are rich, and they just casually sent out 3 aircraft carriers and 3 cruisers!

Although the 3 Borg-class aircraft carriers are shoddy escort aircraft carriers, the 3 cruisers are genuine, not the "special ships" of the Japanese.

Now the United States not only treats aircraft carriers as dumplings, but also builds dozens of light cruisers and heavy cruisers. As for destroyers and frigates, the total number of ships that have been built, are being built, and are planned to be built since the start of the Pacific War has exceeded 1,000, which is simply worthless.

…

"What? Japanese aircraft carriers are running to Panama to die? That's great, we must sink it!"

Halsey on the battleship Iowa immediately yelled after learning the information that "Japanese aircraft carriers were suspected to be discovered." He has been bullied by the Japanese since the outbreak of the Pacific War, and was once benched because he was defeated by the Japanese. He has been holding back a lot of anger for a long time. Now that he has finally waited until the dumpling ships are put into service in large numbers, of course he must kill them when he sees them.

"Sir, this is probably a Japanese feint," Major General Browning reminded Halsey, "The Japanese must have sent aircraft carriers to the vicinity of Panama to cooperate with the German offensive in the Caribbean." "Maybe it's a feint, maybe the Japanese devils are really crazy and want to die!" Halsey gritted his teeth, "I have been fighting these lunatics in the Pacific for more than half a year, and I know them best. By the way, where are they located? Can our carrier-based aircraft reach them?" "In the K15 waters, 1,200 nautical miles away from us." Major General Browning said, "We can't reach them at all, and we can't pass through the Panama Canal. It takes too much time and may delay the battle in the Caribbean."

Now the entire US military command hierarchy is confused by Kesselring's arrival in Guyana, the sudden exposure of Me262, and the disappearance of the main force of the European Combined Fleet from Gibraltar. No one realized that it was the Germans who were feinting and the Japanese were responsible for the main attack. Halsey, who clamored to kill the Japanese fleet in the Pacific, was no exception. He never thought about sending the 3rd Fleet through the Panama Canal to the Pacific to pursue the Japanese fleet.

However, the U.S. Navy Vice Admiral who hated the Japanese still wanted to find an opportunity to attack the Japanese fleet. He and Browning went to the chart table together, looked at it carefully for a while, and then stretched out his finger to poke at the nearby chart. North San Juan Bay, Nicaragua.

"How about going around North San Juan Bay?" Halsey said. "It's less than 1,000 nautical miles from K15 waters."

"We still can't reach the K15 sea area," Browning said.

"I know," Halsey rubbed his fists, "but it's good to be closer to those damn Japanese. What if they are really crazy? Then we have a chance. We have 5 aircraft carriers and 360 carrier-based aircraft!”

…

"K15 sea area...Japanese aircraft carrier?"

At the same time, Commander Spruance of the 16th Task Force also received the report. However, he was much less courageous than Halsey. The first thing that came to his mind was not the opportunity to kill the Japanese, but the possibility of being killed by the Japanese.

"Then they are very close to us!" Spruance glanced at the chart and immediately became nervous.

His 16th Task Force is now cautiously heading south along the territorial waters of Mexico. Mexico was pulled into the Allied camp by the United States when the Soviet-German War broke out in June 1942. However, the Mexicans were not very enthusiastic about participating in the war and did not really Troops were sent to fight the Axis group, and apart from a few fighter squadrons in training, there was little preparation for war. Therefore, it is now impossible to provide air cover for Spruance's 16th Task Force ship.

"We are almost 1,200 nautical miles away from San Diego!" Spruance added, "So we can't count on San Diego's aircraft to support us. If the main force of the Japanese appears in the K15 waters, then we are in danger..."

The 16.5 aircraft carrier group under his command has only three carriers, namely Enterprise, Yorktown and Independence. Enterprise and Yorktown both carry 79 commonly used carrier-based aircraft, and Independence carries 30 commonly used aircraft. .

The three aircraft carriers have a total of 188 regular aircraft and 18 reserve aircraft, making their strength somewhat weak. However, Task Force 16 has completed the replacement of carrier-based fighter jets and now has 56 commonly used F6Fs (28 each for the USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown) and 24 commonly used F4Us (each for the USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown). 6, Independence 12), so the air defense capability is still quite strong, but it is not without the power to fight.

Therefore, although Spruance felt nervous, he could not immediately turn around and flee back to San Diego, otherwise he, the commander of the task force, would not be able to survive.

"Change course," Spruance ordered. "We will wait in the waters near Clipperton Atoll, and at the same time send out reconnaissance planes and seaplanes to search for the enemy."

Spruance decided to find out the situation of the Japanese fleet and then make a decision whether to fight or leave. At the same time, Ozawa Jisaburo also decided to send enemy planes to search the surrounding waters of 400 nautical miles.

"Send seaplanes and Comet aircraft to search," Ozawa Jisaburo said to Lieutenant Colonel Mitsuo Fuchida, the aviation staff officer of the First Mobile Fleet. "Every inch of the sea must be carefully searched! In addition, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Zuikaku, Each of Shokaku's six motherships must be ready to dispatch one squadron of Comet dive bombers, one squadron of Tianshan torpedo attack aircraft, and one squadron of Zero fighters."

"Your Excellency, Commander," Mitsuo Fuchida wrote down Ozawa's order, and then asked, "Are carrier-based aircraft going to conduct an attack on the ship?"

"Yes!" Ozawa Jisaburo nodded, "It is an attack on the ship... The Panama Canal is the communication throat of the two ocean fleets of the United States. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a dragon's pool and a tiger's den, so there must be a bloody battle. Tell all pilots that our empire Regardless of success or failure, I hope you will work hard in this battle!"

"Hai!"