The Rise of the Third Reich

Before the terrible thoughts in Black Island Turtle Man's mind could be driven away, a staff officer from the Central Pacific Fleet sent him an even more unexpected news: The electrical detector on top of Diamond Mountain discovered that dozens of enemy ships were approaching the Black Island Turtle Man. Hu Dao!

"What? Are the Americans really going to attack Oahu?" Black Island Turtle Man exclaimed, "Don't they care about casualties?"

Mikawa Junichi on the side snorted coldly: "Even if the Americans don't care about casualties, Oahu is not something they can capture... The Oahu Fortress is enough to withstand 1 million, no, 10 million U.S. troops!"

The Kuroshima Turtle Man who had just lost his composure also came to his senses at this time, nodded heavily and said: "What Commander Mikawa said is absolutely true. The fortress of Oahu is impregnable. If the US military dares to invade, even if there are tens of millions of them, they will be killed and injured." !”

He and Mikawa no longer regard "millions of enemies" as a large number that can flood the Hawaiian Islands, because the U.S. military now attacking Hawaii is measured in square nautical miles, and the number must exceed 1 million.

Now that the American surface ships are here, Kuroshima Kame and Mikawa Junichi naturally cannot watch the battle leisurely. The two immediately returned to the operations room of the Central Pacific Fleet Headquarters. At this time, the sick Shiro Takasu had also arrived and was sitting on a chair listening to the fleet's senior staff officer reporting on the situation.

Seeing Kuroshima and Mikawa walking in, Takasu Shiro asked: "Kurojima-kun, Mikawa-kun, how is the situation outside?"

"Your Excellency, Commander, the Americans launched a suicide attack on the No. 1 Navy Airfield. Their suicide plane seemed to hit the oil depot, causing a fire."

The Black Island Turtle Man frowned and reported. Black Island doesn't care if the airport runway is blasted with several big craters, because there are 4 large airports on Oahu that can take off and land Me264. Moreover, there are many Japanese engineers and North Korean and Taiwanese civilians on the island, so they can fill up the big hole quickly.

But the oil depot was blown up, which made people feel distressed. Tens of thousands of tons of aviation gasoline were stored in the oil depot at the First Naval Airport. If it was burned out, the loss would be too great. In fact, the oil depot was fine. The fire seen on Black Island was caused by solidification. Yes, a full 9 tons of solidification crashed into an anti-aircraft artillery position together with the BQ-7 suicide plane, burning hundreds of Japanese artillerymen alive.

"Baga!" Takasu Shiro didn't know that the oil depot was fine, so he cursed in a low voice.

The Mikawa Army said worriedly: "Your Excellency, the electric reconnaissance has just discovered that dozens of American ships are approaching Oahu. They are likely to use mines to block Pearl Harbor. If they succeed, the 8th Fleet will not be able to get out." went."

This time Mikawa guessed correctly. One purpose of Halsey's night attack tonight was to imprison the Japanese 8th Fleet in Pearl Harbor so that Niihau Island would be easier to attack. In order to achieve this goal, there will be dozens of "Baby Shark" class submarines laying mines outside Pearl Harbor tonight!

The targets now detected by Japanese electronic reconnaissance are actually the "Gridley" class fast destroyers commanded by Arleigh Burke that cover submarine operations. Each destroyer carries 1 torpedo and 4 127mm guns. , is used to deal with Japanese submarines or destroyers.

If Mikawa Junichi's fleet were to go to sea now, not only would it be attacked by dozens of American "heavy mine ships", but also underwater American submarines would also attack, and the losses would definitely be very heavy.

"Don't worry," Takasu Shiro said. "After dawn, minesweepers, submarine destroyers, and East China Sea anti-submarine patrol aircraft will be sent out to clean up the sea outside. By then, the 8th Fleet can leave the port safely."

Takasu's calculation is actually not wrong. Warships are very valuable to the Japanese navy and cannot be taken casually. However, he ignored the huge numerical advantage of American ships. There were 51 American "Baby Shark" class submarines laying mines outside Pearl Harbor tonight. Just build a lot of submarines, and the Little Shark class has built more than 300 submarines as the main submarine). Each "Little Shark" carries 10 Mk-15 torpedoes and 40 mines.

In other words, 51 submarines can lay 2,040 mines in one night, and these mines are not traditional trigger mines, but non-trigger magnetic mines. This kind of mine does not lie on the water, but sinks to the bottom. As long as a Japanese warship passes nearby, it will detonate the mine due to its own magnetism. This kind of mine was invented by Japan's ally Germany and was used in the 1939 war. It entered the battlefield at the beginning and sank many British ships. However, there were also several magnetic mines that were captured by the British (this was inevitable, because magnetic mines were deployed in shallow seas, so there was a problem of rising and falling tides. Some mines were thrown into the water when the tide was high, and they were exposed when the tide receded. True colors), and then the British copied the magnetic mines and gave them to the United States.

The magnetic mines imitated by the United States are now used in the Battle of the Hawaiian Islands. Not only was Pearl Harbor completely blocked by these mines, but the nearby port of Honolulu was also blocked and turned into a dead port.

Not only were the cruisers and destroyers of the 8th Fleet unable to leave Pearl Harbor, but even the small ships sent out to clear mines and submersibles were bombed and sunk eight in a row!

At the same time, U.S. submarines sent to Japan's offshore waters and Southeast Asian islands also began to lay bottom-type magnetic mines or anchor mines in various shallow water channels starting from mid-February 1944 to block Japan's external access. trading.

…

"It's a magnetic mine!"

News that the minesweepers and submarine destroyers belonging to the Central Pacific Fleet were bombed and sunk reached Japan, and Yamamoto Isoroku immediately knew what was going on.

Because on the Atlantic battlefield, Americans and Europeans have long used magnetic mines to compete with each other, and even developed acoustic mines and hydraulic mines based on magnetic mines.

Although the United States has not used magnetic mines in the Pacific battlefield, Yamamoto Isoroku, who is very concerned about the Atlantic battlefield, still paid attention to the situation of mine warfare in Europe and the United States. It also tasked the Japanese Navy's military delegation in Germany to find ways to crack magnetic mines.

In fact, there is no good way. One is to degauss the ship; the other is to use electromagnetic minesweeping equipment to detonate it. The former is a big project and there is no time to do it in wartime. The only way is to degauss the professional minesweeping ships first. The latter is also very troublesome, as many towed electromagnetic minesweepers have to be manufactured, and the electromagnetic minesweepers may be damaged and must be replaced at any time.

In addition, the method of using electromagnetic minesweeping equipment to detonate mines is not 100% successful. After all, Americans and Europeans have been hurting each other with magnetic mines for nearly two years, and they have also figured out some ways to deal with electromagnetic minesweepers.

Therefore, mine clearance operations are a job that requires a lot of manpower, material resources, and patience.

"Your Excellency, Marshal, recently there have been many incidents of ships being damaged and sunk by mines near the Bungo Channel, Kii Channel, Sagami Bay, and Tokyo Bay near the Strait of Malacca." Deputy Chief of Naval Command Seiichi Ito said to Yamamoto with some concern Fifty-six said, "In addition, American submarine activities are becoming increasingly rampant. If effective measures cannot be taken, I am afraid that the mainland will soon be starved of resources."

Yamamoto Isoroku shook his head. To ensure smooth transportation of local resources, there is actually no good way. It is to invest more resources in the navy.

The first is to invest more destroyers and anti-submarine patrol ships. Now the United States has invested hundreds of submarines in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asian islands! Dozens of old destroyers cannot deal with it anyway, and several times the number of escort destroyers must be invested.

Secondly, a sufficient number of minesweepers and propeller boats must be invested - this not only involves the construction of wooden-hulled ships and electromagnetic minesweeping equipment, but also involves the training of personnel.

According to the experience of European and American mine warfare and submarine warfare, if the enemy invests one submarine to mine mines, our own side needs at least three minesweepers to clear mines to ensure safety.

Moreover, mine-laying submarines are active, while minesweepers are passive. To ensure the absolute safety of the waterway, a certain number of minesweepers must be maintained in every area that may be mined.

For Japan, the deployment of thousands of wooden-hulled minesweepers is indispensable at all costs. In addition, a sufficient number of submarines must be assigned to protect the minesweepers to prevent them from being sunk by submarines.

The escort destroyers are even more important. The number must be increased to at least 300 to ensure that the increasingly rampant US submarines are suppressed.

But where do so many minesweepers, submarine destroyers, destroyers and qualified naval officers and soldiers come from?

Yamamoto Isoroku, the Navy Minister, also felt a little helpless!

"Passive defense is not always an option," Chief of Naval Command Osamu Nagano shook his head and said, "Taking proactive measures is the only effective solution to overcome the lack of national strength. The only way to win against the increasingly rampant U.S. submarine activities is in the 'Operation Jet-1' Later, it turned its troops to Australia, forcing Australia to expel the US military and negotiate peace with our empire. "

This is indeed a solution, and it can not only solve the headache of US submarines - because at least half of US submarines are based in Australia. It can also solve the problem of possible US strategic bombing of Nanyang oil fields, which is indeed a solution once and for all.

"First airlift several sets of Type 5 electromagnetic minesweepers (which have just been copied) to Oahu." Yamamoto Isoroku also knew that what Nagano said was the only solution - Japan cannot fight like Europe and the United States, so it can only fight first Seek victory and then seek perfection.

"In addition..." Yamamoto Isoroku added after thinking, "The Americans' attack on Oahu really puts us in a dilemma."

As he spoke, he glanced at Ito Zhengyi, the deputy director of the Military Command Department, as if seeking his opinion. Ito said: "What the Army is now worried about is that the Americans will use the tactics of night raids by suicide planes and close-in bombardment by battleships to destroy the airport on Oahu... The First Naval Airport suffered relatively serious damage last night. Since the Americans have successfully blockaded Pearl Harbor, they may send out battleships tonight!"