Chapter 522 Tiger! Tiger! Tiger Twenty-Six

"Mr. Ugaki, the German ship 'Emperor Friedrich III' is equipped with a radar, right?"

Nanyun Chuichi turned his head and looked at the huge but weakly fired armored ship and asked Ugaki Matoi.

Ugaki Matoi replied: "Yes, now all large German surface ships are equipped with radars. The 'Emperor Friedrich III' is equipped with a FuMo23-B radar, which has a sea detection range of 40 kilometers and an air detection range of 200 kilometers."

"Great!" Nanyun Chuichi laughed, "Now I know how to use this island missile cruiser."

"Oh? How do you plan to use it?"

Nanyun Chuichi smiled and said: "Of course, I will try my luck."

"Try your luck?"

"Yes, I will try my luck... Let two destroyers protect it 80 nautical miles south of the First Mobile Fleet and sail in parallel with the First Mobile Fleet. This way, it can serve as an air defense alert and wait for an opportunity to launch a missile attack when the US aircraft carrier approaches my First Mobile Fleet."

"So, what if the US carrier-based aircraft attacks the 'Emperor Friedrich III'? What if the Emperor launches an attack? "

"It's okay. The radar on the Emperor Friedrich III should be able to detect them, so the aircraft carrier can immediately send planes to protect it. "

"But... it still sounds unsafe. The Emperor Friedrich III weighs more than 20,000 tons and looks like a battleship. If the Americans send too many planes, they will still sink it. "

Nanyun Chuichi shrugged and smiled: "No problem... The Americans will definitely attack the aircraft carriers of the First Mobile Fleet first, and will not embarrass a battleship of more than 20,000 tons." He paused and added, "Most likely not, as long as the luck is not too bad, nothing will happen."

Nanyun's method turned out to be to place the Emperor Friedrich III in the direction where the American aircraft carriers are most likely to appear, 80 nautical miles away from the First Mobile Fleet, which is about 150 kilometers. If the American aircraft carriers discover the First Mobile Fleet and want to launch an attack, they must approach to a distance of 300-400 kilometers from the First Mobile Fleet.

300-400 km minus 150 km equals 150-250 km, so the Emperor Friedrich III has a chance to launch a "missile attack". It can take advantage of the US aircraft carrier's "neglect" of the battleship (when the aircraft carrier and the battleship are found at the same time, the carrier-based aircraft will definitely give priority to the aircraft carrier), sprint at full speed for dozens of nautical miles and then launch all 10 V3 manned missiles.

"All 10 V3 missiles are fired at once, and all are aimed at an aircraft carrier, and it must be sunk!" said Chuichi Nagumo, "Even if 10 of the best pilots are exchanged for an American aircraft carrier, it is worth it."

A V3 manned missile weighs about 2.5 tons, and the warhead includes an armor-piercing warhead and 800 kilograms of explosives. 10 missiles are 8 tons of explosives, and no matter how strong the aircraft carrier is, it cannot withstand the damage of 8 tons of explosives. Even if only 2-3 missiles hit in the end, Nagumo believes that it is enough to sink an American aircraft carrier or completely lose its combat effectiveness.

…

“Lieutenant General, the telegram from the Pennsylvania found two Japanese aircraft carriers shelling Kauai…”

“What? Aircraft carriers are shelling Kauai?”

On the USS Enterprise, Lieutenant General Halsey suspected that he had heard wrongly. How could aircraft carriers be used to shell islands?

“Yes, two Japanese aircraft carriers are shelling Kauai!” The staff officer answered very affirmatively, “The Marines stationed on Kauai reported this, and the seaplanes that took off from Pearl Harbor later discovered that two Japanese light aircraft carriers were shelling Lihue Town near the east coast of Kauai.”

Lihue Town is the capital of Kauai Island. There is a civilian airport and a small port nearby. It is a very important place for the Japanese army attacking Hawaii. Therefore, the Taiwan Mixed Brigade that landed on Kauai Island is now attacking Lihue Town, and the two aircraft carriers that are bombarding Lihue Town are of course the Japanese Army aircraft carriers “Shinshu Maru” and “Akitsu Maru”.

Although these two aircraft carriers are only about 10,000 tons, they are small but fully equipped. They have everything an aircraft carrier should have, including a flight deck and the ability to take off and land aircraft. Therefore, the reports of the US Marines and seaplanes are not wrong.

"The aircraft carrier that bombarded Lihue... Well, there are also naval guns on the aircraft carrier, which can indeed be used for bombardment." Halsey frowned and said, "How far are we from Kauai? When can we launch an air strike?"

"800 nautical miles," the navigation staff immediately replied, "18 knots, you can enter the air strike position in 50 hours."

"50 hours is too long!" Halsey waved his hand, "Don't take a zigzag route, take a straight line, so that more than 30 hours are enough... We should be able to launch an air strike on the 17th."

"Lieutenant General, this is very likely a trap." A staff immediately reminded, "The Japanese may have 8 aircraft carriers (actually 11) in the waters near the Hawaiian Islands, and there are at least 6 more in addition to these 2."

"Of course I know!" Halsey smiled nonchalantly, "The Japanese have so many battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, and they actually used two aircraft carriers to bombard the coast. This is obviously a trap, just to lure us to sacrifice. But no No matter what, we still have to sink their aircraft carrier! Then leave immediately and let the remaining 6 Japanese aircraft carriers pursue. This will give Admiral Kimmel a chance to escort the transport fleet into Hilo Port."

…

"Yamato Hotel", the commander-in-chief's office.

General Yamamoto Fifty-Six was studying the latest news with his staff at this time. The news is not very good. Japan's intelligence network on the west coast of the United States has collected news that the United States is transporting aircraft and reinforcements to Hawaii!

In addition, Japan also received a report from Germany about the transfer of the main force of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet to the Pacific! A powerful fleet, including the aircraft carrier "Wasp", the battleship USS North Carolina, and the battleship USS Washington, has set off from New York Harbor and headed for the Panama Canal. It is expected to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands in 20-25 days.

"The U.S. transport fleet and battleships cannot approach Oahu!" said Combined Fleet Chief of Staff Matoi Ugaki, "The First Mobile Fleet and the First Fleet will definitely destroy them."

"Of course they will not get close to Oahu," Yamamoto Isoroku said calmly, "but there is not only one Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands... The target of this American transport fleet should be Hawaiian Island. Hawaiian Island is among the Hawaiian Islands. The largest island has an area of ​​more than 10,000 square kilometers. Although there is no good port, there are still several small and medium-sized ports, and there are several airports on the island that can be used. If the Americans deploy a large number of aircraft on Hawaii Island, then we will. Will suffer failure!”

"Commander, do you want the mobile fleet to block this American transport fleet?"

Yamamoto Isoroku shook his head, "Do you know where they are?"

Ugaki Matoi was stunned and shook his head. Yamamoto continued: "If I were the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, I would find ways to divert the mobile fleet away, and then use the main force to escort the transport fleet into the port of Hawaii Island. As long as they enter the port and send their best If the P51 fighter jets are unloaded from the ship, then we will lose, because the battle in Hawaii will become a protracted war!”

"Commander, then we..."

Yamamoto Isoroku said, "We must destroy this transport fleet, and by the way, destroy the battleships of the Pacific Fleet leaving Pearl Harbor... These battleships are always a threat to our landing on Oahu."

"Commander, what are we going to do?"

Yamamoto Isoroku smiled and said: "We have to use our tactics and let them appear on their own!"

…

"Admiral, the SH01 fleet is still 100 nautical miles away from us."

"The reconnaissance plane didn't find anything, right?"

"No, everything is fine."

"Great, let's get them closer to us."

Admiral Kimmel exhaled softly. He has now led the fleet around the Oahu-Kauai waters and arrived on the Pacific Ocean east of Hawaii Island. The main purpose of the Pacific Fleet coming here is to join the SH01 fleet coming from San Diego. The SH01 fleet is composed of 60 transport ships and tankers and 10 destroyers. In addition to fuel, ammunition, various supplies and nearly 5,000 Marines, the ship was loaded with 300 P51 fighter jets and a corresponding number of pilots and ground crew.

Such a huge fleet is only escorted by a mere 10 destroyers without any air cover. It is conceivable how dangerous this journey is. And in order to rush for time, this fleet did not take a Z-shaped anti-submarine voyage, but went straight to Hawaii Island after leaving the port.

If there were a group of Japanese submarines guarding the road, wouldn't it be easy to sink twenty or thirty submarines?

Fortunately, the fleet was safe along the way and did not encounter Japanese submarines.

"Call Halsey and tell him we have rendezvoused with SH01." Kimmel wiped the sweat from his forehead and felt a little more relaxed. "Send a telegram to Washington as well and tell the Navy Department the good news."

"Yes, Admiral."

As soon as the fleet's communications staff turned around and left, Chief of Staff Fletcher immediately came up to him, also holding a telegram in his hand.

"Admiral, Vice Admiral Halsey's telegram, weather permitting, his fleet will launch an air attack on the morning of the 17th, targeting Japanese ships near Kauai."

Admiral Halsey nodded, "Okay, then we will escort the fleet into Hilo Port on the evening of the 17th."