Chapter 928: Powerless 1

"We seem to have lost again." Looking at the telegram forwarded from Pearl Harbor in front of him, Vice Admiral Benson, the Secretary of the Navy, said with a gloomy look.

"Okay, Lieutenant General, I am here on behalf of Mr. President. I have only one question. If we choose to conflict with Japan at this time, what are our chances of winning? Please analyze it from a purely military perspective and do not consider politics. "U.S. Secretary of State Robert Bacon said.

Americans think similarly to Japanese. Don't even think about finding the truth on this matter, because no one can tell clearly. The Americans did lay mines, and American submarines did appear in this sea area. The Japanese ship exploded like this. Unless the Japanese admit that their ship's ammunition spontaneously combusted, the Americans will definitely not be able to escape their involvement. Thinking about the Maine incident more than ten years ago, Americans are not hypocritical. Since something has happened, it must be solved first, and how to solve it naturally depends on whether the big stick in hand is strong!

"If all the Japanese battleships are King Kong, then I definitely suggest that the President uses this opportunity to beat the Japanese. But it is a pity that there are only 4 King Kongs, and the Japanese dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts combined are enough 12 ships! Among them, 2 are fearless and 10 are super-dreadnought.” (It’s not that the Americans didn’t invest enough money, but because they switched to fearless a little late. In terms of the total tonnage of the fleet, the U.S. Navy has a huge advantage.)

"And we currently only have 12 ships, including 8 dreadnoughts and 4 super-dreadnoughts. As for the performance of the Nevada, you should have seen that it cannot beat the Japanese's most cutting-edge Fuso-class battleships. The U.S. Navy only has 2 Nevada. The Japanese currently have three Fuso ships and will launch a fourth ship in the next year." Benson paused and then said, "So, I don't think we can beat our opponents."

"Okay, so what if it takes a while? The big guys in the White House and Capitol Hill are very angry about the atrocities of the Japanese. Our Pennsylvania-class battleships and New Mexico-class battleships are under construction. If nothing else, Congress will The funding will increase the speed of construction," said Robert Bacon.

"Although the two Pennsylvania-class battleships have already got off the slipway, if they want to complete the outfitting, it will take at least a year, and even faster it will take about nine months. And only one of the three New Mexico-class battleships has got on the slipway. The other two are preparing to start construction. We can't count on any of these warships." Vice Admiral Benson said with a wry smile. The scene before him gave him a feeling of déjà vu.

It seems that this was the case before the Spanish-American War. The U.S. Navy had more than five battleships under construction or outfitting on the slipway. If the war broke out two years later, not to mention crushing the Japanese Navy, at least it would not lose so miserably. ! And now? The same is true for the U.S. Navy. The battleships on both sides are 12vs12. But the quality is obviously not the same level. After the Japanese Navy completed the last Fuso-class battleship, there will be no new battleships in a short time. However, the Americans now have 5 battleships and 5 30,000-ton battleships on the slipway! Altogether, there are 60 14-inch guns! But it’s a pity that you can’t see it and use it!

Benson may not be a strong warrior on the battlefield.

But he still knows a lot about naval construction. At least he grasped the outfitting time of the Pennsylvania-class battleship very accurately. Historically, the time from launch to service for American Iron Turtles was about 16 months, and the fastest was 11 months. Therefore, 9 months to complete the service is already very fast. But still can't catch up.

What's more, in Benson's view, even with two Pennsylvania-class battleships, the two sides are evenly matched. The Japanese Navy's 2 Dreadnoughts and 10 Super Dreadnoughts beat the U.S. Navy's 8 Dreadnoughts and 6 Super Dreadnoughts... .. It is true that the Japanese King Kong is brittle, but the American fearless 10-inch and 11-inch main armor cannot be said to be that strong... Moreover, the Fuso-class battleships of the Japanese fleet are simply too powerful. Consider the opponent's speed advantage and personnel quality advantage. No matter what Benson thinks, he feels that the fight is not very reliable. As for waiting for the subsequent New Mexico-class battleships to enter service, it will be too late. At least 2 years later!

"With all due respect, I don't think the big bosses in the government have the determination to fight at all. They may be worried about failure, or they may be unwilling to face the entire Allied Powers group. Otherwise, the government would not block the news so tightly." Lieutenant General Benson pointed to another document on the table and said. This is a telegram just sent to him by the White House, requesting the Navy Department to cooperate in blocking information. Judging from the wording and requirements, there is a feeling that a big matter is being trivialized.

"This time Sims is not good enough. If, I mean, if we change someone, for example, Major General McGiffin to command the fleet, will the situation be better?" Robert Bacon looked at the document with some embarrassment. Yes, because it was he who asked the president to "handle it carefully." So the Secretary of State changed the topic and said.

"Our base, logistical support, auxiliary fleet and fleet endurance are all problems. This cannot be solved by changing someone. Unless the person leading the American fleet is God! Otherwise, we will not win. We may be able to win in a certain battle. Gain some victories, but it is impossible to fight for the islands across thousands of kilometers with the Japanese navy and army, and I think the problem of the army is bigger than the problem of the navy. The size of our army does not seem to be larger than the number of Bavarian legions. More!" Lieutenant General Benson also hacked the Army.

The environment in the United States is so good. There are only weak chickens around. If the navy can also expand the empire's sphere of influence, then the role of the army is actually the police. Historically, Pershing was appointed commander-in-chief of the US military in May 1917. Later, a survey was conducted on the U.S. Army's arsenal and found that there were only 285,000 rifles, 400 field guns, and 150 mountain guns...

The United States is strong in industry. Once activated, it can indeed unleash its powerful production capacity. Take rifles as an example. During the United States' participation in the war, Americans produced 2.5 million rifles. It is more than 8 times the number of rifles in stock before the war. If we take the period from April 1917 to November 1918 as a standard, the number of machine guns produced by the British and Americans was about the same, while the number of rifles produced was 100 to 127. In terms of bullets, Americans have slightly less, but they still account for more than 80%. Of course, the number of artillery produced was relatively small. During the same period of time, the American artillery was only a quarter of the British, let alone compared with the French.

Therefore, an objective evaluation of the current level of the U.S. military industry is that it is very weak during peacetime. Once the war begins, it is relatively vigorous, but overall, let alone reaching the level of overwhelming the heroes during World War II, it is comparable to the military production of Britain, France, and Germany during the same period. It's worse than anything else. Of course, this may be because the mobilization time is too short.

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