Chapter 2560 The Storm I
Although the U.S. Navy and Army Joint Conference had some twists and turns, no matter what, the Americans still solved the most important issue, that is, when will the Japanese combined fleet attack! Incidentally, the problem of the U.S. Army was solved. That is, in the next stage, the Japanese Army may also use weather problems to launch a counterattack. On the one hand, this is because the visibility is beneficial to the attacker. On the other hand, in the view of the Japanese army, in bad weather, the U.S. Army There will be problems with the army's supplies.
Therefore, under this premise, the U.S. Navy and Army began to adjust their deployment. The land offensive that Pershing originally planned to launch may have to be postponed and changed to a defensive counterattack first, and then take advantage of the trend. As for the navy? Then they are honestly preparing to clean up the redundant ships and concentrate the remaining warships in a few sheltered anchorages to survive the bad weather in the coming period. At the same time, they will reduce the scope of defense and concentrate the originally scattered forces.
However, it turns out that this time the Americans really guessed it right. The Japanese Combined Fleet was indeed preparing to launch a large-scale offensive. Originally, this offensive would be launched in advance. However, because the British weather forecast was wrong, the arrival of the tropical storm was slower than The expected time was a little later, so the offensive was delayed until now. However, no matter what, the British did the qualitative analysis right, and some mistakes about the specific dates are understandable!
"What the hell is this?" Betty looked at the new battle plan sent by the Japanese and felt a little headache. Previously, Betty's suggestion to the Japanese was to launch a limited attack, using his sharpest sword, the Fuso-class battleship, to take advantage of the bad weather to enter the landing site. It would be best to kill a few American pre-dreadnoughts, and then move on. Hit a wave of transport ships, or bomb the temporary US military port on land twice, and that's it. Quick in, quick out, grab a handful and go. Then use armored cruisers to break diplomatic ties across the ocean to further disperse the U.S. Navy's combat effectiveness, and then consider launching a larger-scale frontal attack.
But what is the final result? The Japanese seem to be dissatisfied with Betty's "little fight", and they are ready to take advantage of this bad weather to make a big deal! The Japanese decided to attack with all their troops!
"Don't the Japanese know that you have to eat one bite at a time and walk one step at a time?" Betty was very dissatisfied with this somewhat reckless plan. Let's not talk about the tactical goals. At least under the current circumstances, the entire combined fleet will work together. When attacking, concealment and coordination along the way are a problem. Even if there is cover from bad weather, the huge fleet size and possible radio contacts along the way may lead to the exposure of the fleet. Once the main forces of both sides encounter, then everyone knows that it will be good if the Japanese can run away!
Although Betty was not optimistic about the outcome of the Japanese navy in this war, as a conscientious officer, he still tried his best to formulate a plan for the Japanese that seemed to have a chance. The core of this plan was to continuously weaken And attrition, waiting for opportunities in the early stage and then taking advantage of bad weather to steal chickens is only the first step. Sending armored cruisers or even quasi-dreadnoughts captured from Russia to break diplomatic relations is the second step of attrition and delay. When the Americans had to disperse their fast fleets and the Germans to the Pacific to conduct counter-attack operations, the Japanese fleet would have the opportunity to severely damage the remaining fleet of the U.S. Navy in a direct decisive battle.
However, under the current situation,
The Japanese are obviously impatient. Before the first step is completed, the Japanese combined fleet will attack with all its forces! Perhaps the Japanese might have an advantage in terms of battle losses. After all, the Japanese navy is the active attacker and its tactical literacy is indeed better than that of the Americans. However, strategically speaking, it is estimated that they will suffer a loss because the advantages of the German and German navies are too great, even if The battle loss ratio of the battleship is 1 for 2, and neither virtue nor virtue will suffer! Moreover, this battleship is still above the Dreadnought level. If it is a pre-dreadnought battleship and an armored cruiser, I am afraid that 1 for 3 would be acceptable to the Americans!
Betty frowned and turned back two pages and began to look at the Japanese Navy's combat plan in detail. When he saw this plan, Betty had a headache again. He can feel that the Japanese Navy is indeed learning from the advanced experience of the world's first-class navy and is indeed improving itself. But how to say it? A lot of materials have been accumulated, but in the end the biochemistry was not completed. Generally speaking, the tactical details are very complete, but there are still problems on the strategic level.
For example, in the battle mission, although the Japanese Navy stated that it wanted to play a war, the Japanese still set the targets in the battle mission as "pre-dreadnought ships used to support ground operations" and "transport ships and ports." In other words, the target of the attack has not actually changed, but the force used in the attack has increased from 4 to 6 Fuso-class battleships to 10 fast capital ships in the entire combined fleet!
However, Betty felt a little bit pained. Do you need 10 fast battleships to hit these targets? If the battle line of 10 fast battleships is spread out, it would probably be 4 kilometers long, right? Is it really okay to walk like this with open fire? And the most important thing is that if you deal with Qian Wuwei, there is no need to use such a large formation. After all, the United States' former Dreadnought Fleet was also dispersed in squadron units. In a real fight, 5 Fuso-class battleships are enough to clear out 4 to 5 pre-dreadnoughts. Doubling the number of capital ships won't make you any faster!
Well, to put it bluntly, it’s killing a chicken with a knife. However, the Japanese obviously thought of this problem, so in the specific combat link, the force was divided into two parts. The first part was the first team composed of 6 Fuso-class battleships, and the second part was the remaining The second fleet consisting of three Kongo-class battlecruisers and one fast battleship was in trouble for a long time. It turned out that the Japanese's so-called trick was to let the two Japanese fleets disperse their attacks and then steal the chicken at the same time!
"This plan looks good, but the coordination of the fleet in bad weather will be very troublesome and may even drag each other down." Betty put down the plan in her hands and said to Shimamura Hayao who was sitting opposite and drinking black tea. "If we only send a detachment of Fuso-class battleships, then even if we encounter the Bavarian fleet, we can evacuate under the cover of destroyers. After all, the weather is bad, the battleship's main gun striking distance is significantly reduced, and the Germans are afraid that we will be in a certain place We have arranged a support fleet everywhere, so we don’t dare to pursue it deeply, but now, if we put all the chips in our hands at one go, the situation will be different.”
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