Chapter 801: Decisive Battle in Panama - Americans Are Nervous
The sound of hurried footsteps reached the spacious and luxurious commander's meeting room in the battleship Iowa. Halsey, who was reading the latest battle report (the battle report of the Pacific battlefield) sent by the Pacific Fleet Command in the meeting room, looked up and saw that the chief of staff, Major General Browning, had walked in.
"Commander, the report from the Caribbean Theater Command," Major General Browning said quickly and hurriedly, "The Army Air Force in the Caribbean Theater encountered the Germans' new fighter planes over Guyana and suffered heavy losses. Ten B-17 bombers were shot down within a few minutes!"
"Oh." Halsey was not surprised, but just said, "The escort fighters were too careless, right?"
It is only a few hundred kilometers from Trinidad and Tobago to Paramaribo, the capital of the Republic of Guyana. Any type of P51 and P47 can escort the B-17 throughout the journey. Moreover, bomber groups usually adopt high-altitude raid tactics (in fact, there are no valuable targets in Guyana, and the American bombing is just for the South American great men who are watching), and the German Fw-190 in Guyana is insufficient in number and has no performance advantage over P51 and P47, so the interception effect is not ideal.
Major General Browning shook his head and said: "It can't be blamed on the escort aircraft, but the Germans used a new high-speed high-altitude fighter without propellers! It can fly 700 kilometers above 11,000 meters... or 800 kilometers per hour!"
"What? No propeller? It can fly 700-800 kilometers at an altitude of 11,000 meters?" Halsey was also a little scared. "This should be a jet plane, right? The Germans already have a jet fighter that can be used in actual combat!"
This is not a joke!
The Germans have a high-altitude bomber Ju288 that can carry remote-controlled gliding bombs, which poses a great threat to American surface ships. It was not until the F4U began to be deployed on ships that this situation was completely changed.
The F4U has good high-altitude performance. Although it is not as good as the Fw-190T, its firepower is very strong. It has 4 20mm cannons (the F4U in this time and space is customized for the Ju288 to some extent, so most models have 4 20mm cannons). Once the Ju288 is caught, it can be easily shot down!
But if the Germans have jet fighters that can fly 700-800 kilometers at an altitude of 11,000 meters, then the F4U or even the P47 fighters equipped with turbocharged engines may not be able to deal with them.
In this way, the Ju288 can happily use remote-controlled glide bombs again!
"Now the Caribbean theater is a little panicked!" Browning said, "Admiral Eisenhower believes that the emergence of this new aircraft and the arrival of Marshal Kesselring are likely to mean that the Germans will launch a large-scale offensive in the Caribbean Sea."
This seems possible! The Ju288, used in conjunction with jet aircraft, can not only seize sea control, but also suppress the US military airports in Trinidad and Tobago.
Once Trinidad and Tobago falls, there will be a huge crisis in the Caribbean theater!
"Admiral Eisenhower wants us to stay in the Caribbean?" Halsey asked with a frown.
"Yes, he wants us to stay for a while," Browning said, "He sent a telegram to ask for our opinion."
"There is nothing to say," Halsey slammed the table, "If the Germans really want to launch an offensive in the Caribbean, our 3rd Fleet must stay here! The Caribbean is much more important than the Pacific Ocean... Venezuela alone has tens of millions of tons of oil, which must not fall into the hands of the Germans in any case!"
"Then I will send your suggestion to the Naval Operations Department?"
"Okay." Halsey saw that Rear Admiral Browning was about to turn around and leave, and hurriedly stopped him and said, "State in the telegram that we can wait in the waters near Panama. If the Germans have no intention of invading the Caribbean for the time being, we can immediately enter the Pacific Ocean through the Panama Canal."
"Understood, Mr. Admiral."
...
"Mr. President, the Naval Operations Department believes that the 3rd Fleet can be allowed to stay in the Caribbean for a while."
The suggestion jointly proposed by Halsey and Eisenhower was soon adopted by the US Naval Operations Department-Admiral Ernest King was also a little afraid of the Germans. And he also knew a lot about jet aircraft and knew that the Germans were using a brand new aircraft in Guyana.
So on March 10, at an emergency meeting held in the White House, he proposed to Roosevelt that the powerful Third Fleet be used in the Caribbean battlefield.
"How many planes do we have in the Caribbean battlefield?" Roosevelt did not make a decision immediately, but asked about the deployment of troops.
"There are more than 3,000 planes." Admiral Arnold replied, "If you count the planes in the Southeast Pacific Theater and the Third Fleet, the total number exceeds 4,000!"
"What about the Germans?" Roosevelt asked again.
"It is estimated that there are 800 planes," Admiral Lacey, the President's Chief of Staff, reported, "In addition, the European Joint Fleet has at least 8 large aircraft carriers that can carry more than 500 carrier-based aircraft."
"We have a 3-fold advantage?" Roosevelt was slightly relieved.
"But the enemy has jet fighters!" Admiral Arnold, commander of the Army Air Force, sounded unsure. "We have almost no fighters to fight against, so we must have a several-fold advantage in numbers."
Roosevelt interjected: "We must also speed up our jet aircraft project and strive to produce an aircraft that can fight against German jet aircraft within 1943!"
This task is not easy to accomplish, because the United States is far behind in the development of jet aircraft. The level of the engine is only equivalent to that of Britain and Germany in the 1930s, and parts often fall off when running at high speed.
Moreover, the British did not move their jet aircraft development project to Canada - because the factories and laboratories of British aviation equipment manufacturers such as Gloucester, De Havilland, Rolls-Royce, and Westland, which participated in the development of the British "Meteor" fighter, are all in the UK, and Canada has no conditions for research and development at all.
If the "Meteor" project is to leave the UK, it can only go to the United States. However, the British government was unwilling to hand over such a valuable project until the last moment, and as a result, the "Meteor" project almost fell into the hands of the Germans. And the Americans can only get a bunch of drawings and samples that were transferred to Canada in advance. It is a dream to rely on these things to develop a jet aircraft comparable to the Me262 in 43 years, and the Me262 itself still has a lot of room for improvement.
In comparison, it is more reliable to steadily improve the high-altitude performance of P47, P51, P38 and F4U. After all, the engines and aerodynamic shapes of these aircraft still have great potential to be tapped.
Just as Admiral Arnold was about to make some more reliable suggestions, Colonel Cotton, the aide to the US President, hurried into the Oval Office and brought another heart-shaking bad news.
The main force of the European Combined Fleet collectively set out and left the port of Gibraltar!
"All left?" President Roosevelt asked.
"Yes, Mr. President," Colonel Cotton replied, "The agents of the Strategic Intelligence Agency disguised themselves as sailors on Brazilian merchant ships and found that there were almost no ships in the naval port when passing through the Strait of Gibraltar."
The Strait of Gibraltar is too narrow and it is also a shipping throat. It is impossible to prevent neutral ships from passing through, so it is not a suitable fleet home port. It was just that before the British mainland surrendered, the French naval port of Brest near the Atlantic Ocean was not very safe, so the home port of the European Combined Fleet was placed in Gibraltar.
After the surrender of the British mainland, Brest in France and Portsmouth in Britain became the first and second home ports of the European Combined Fleet. Now the main force of the European Combined Fleet is moving away from Gibraltar. However, in order to confuse the Americans, this sensitive time point was deliberately chosen.
"It seems that the Germans' target is likely to be the Caribbean Sea!" Admiral Leahy, the President's Chief of Staff, said, "We can't take it lightly... We can't afford to lose in the Caribbean Sea!"
Roosevelt looked at Admiral Ernest King, "Ernest, do we have a way to reinforce the Caribbean Sea?"
The US military's strength in the Caribbean Sea is "very insufficient" now! There are only the 3rd Fleet, the 9th Fleet, more than 4,000 aircraft, less than 500,000 ground forces and more than 3,000 tanks/tank destroyers, which is not safe at all!
"The main force of the Pacific Fleet can be mobilized to the south for reinforcement," Ernest King said, "It's only 3,000 nautical miles from San Diego to the Panama Canal, and it can arrive in 7 days at a speed of 18 knots."
"How many troops can be mobilized in the Pacific Fleet now?" Roosevelt asked again.
"There is a battleship, two large aircraft carriers, one Independence-class aircraft carrier, at least four heavy cruisers and more than 10 light cruisers."
"Okay!" Roosevelt calculated in his mind. Halsey's Third Fleet has three large aircraft carriers and two light aircraft carriers; Ghormley's Ninth Fleet is relatively weak, with only three Borg-class escort aircraft carriers; in addition, the Atlantic Fleet's Second Fleet is now stationed at the Mayport Naval Base in Florida. The fleet also has two Independence-class aircraft carriers and three Borg-class aircraft carriers. If the aircraft carriers sent by the Pacific Fleet from San Diego are added, the number of aircraft carriers in the Caribbean Sea will reach 16.
"Let the Pacific Fleet send a task force with three aircraft carriers as the core!" Roosevelt said, "We cannot take any risk of failure in the Caribbean Sea."