Chapter 929: Weak-Hearted 2

Therefore, in Benson's view, even if the Navy is fine, the U.S. Army is definitely not suitable to fight across half of the Pacific and the Japanese to fight a protracted island-taking battle with New Guinea on the Pacific islands.

More importantly, can the Navy be okay? Although the current U.S. fleet is considered to be strong and is known as the third in the world, it is not far behind the British Navy, which is the world's number one, and the German Navy, which is the world's second. It's quite far behind. Let’s not talk about the issue of quantity and quality of dreadnoughts. Simply speaking, in terms of fleet composition, the U.S. fleet is very abnormal.

For example, the U.S. fleet has almost no fast battleships! This fast battleship is not a battlecruiser. After all, there are only three countries with battlecruisers in the navy. It is not a shame for Britain, Germany and Japan not to have battle cruisers or fast battleships.

But if you don’t even have a light cruiser with a speed of more than 25 knots, that would be unreasonable! And the United States in this dimension is the same as in history, there is not even a new light cruiser that is passable! Although it is not like the Omaha class, the first pure-blooded light cruiser in history, which only started construction in 1918. But in this dimension, the Omaha-class light cruiser is still on the drawing board. Currently, the U.S. Navy has four construction plans, and because of funding issues, General Benson tends to choose the cheapest one...

If you want to go to war, the fleet does not have light cruisers as a reconnaissance force. What an embarrassing thing it is... Without reliable investigative power, we will definitely fall into passivity. There is no light cruiser to defend against the opponent's destroyer lightning strike, which affects the tactical performance in one aspect. Maybe one of the battleships is accidentally killed by the opponent's destroyer and it will be a big loss. Therefore, the current U.S. fleet is pretty good from the perspective of the main fleet, but its actual combat effectiveness is somewhat worse.

To be honest, the status of the U.S. Navy in this dimension is not as good as it was in history. Apart from anything else, if we draw a line in history in 1919, the U.S. Navy's 15 battleships, 7 super-dreadnoughts, and more than 2 dozen pre-dreadnoughts would still be terrifying. The second most powerful super fearless battle group in the world. Although the Japanese have 4 King Kongs and 4 12-gun Super Dreadnoughts, I personally feel that on paper the Americans' Iron Turtles are stronger in a fight to the death. If nothing else, at least they are strong!

And in this dimension, facing the still powerful British fleet, the hacked German fleet, and the extra-large Japanese combined fleet, the Americans really can't stand up... And what is the key to this problem? It’s not that the United States has no money, no industry, and no one, but that Congress’s appropriation for naval construction is too strict.

To put it more radically, it would be "the enemy is on Capitol Hill"! Roosevelt became the president of the United States as in history. During his tenure, he did increase the navy's military expenditures and benefits. But it stands to reason that the U.S. Navy, stimulated by the Battle of the Philippines, should catch up. National hatred should generate a financial bonus. The number of capital ships should be increased a lot.

In fact,

The U.S. Navy is indeed performing better than it has historically. But it was still worse than Japan, which had acquired the Philippines and was preparing for war. The U.S. Navy's military expenditures are indeed higher than those of the Japanese, but considering that a large part of these military expenditures are used to build naval fortresses in Hawaii. So they have become "fixed assets" such as reinforced concrete and shore artillery. Therefore, it is normal for the main fleet to be slightly worse. And when Theodore Roosevelt left office. U.S. Navy military spending has fallen sharply again. Therefore, in terms of battleship competition, it is not as good as the British.

Another point to complain about is that the cost of American battleships is actually not cheap. Taking the USS New York as an example, the cost is US$5.83 million. According to the exchange rate of US dollars and British pounds at that time, which was 4.85 to 1, it would be about 1.2 million pounds. Does it feel very low? But this does not include artillery and armor! The cost of armor generally accounts for about 30% of the total cost of a battleship. If artillery is included, the cost will probably be huge!

National hatred will never be forgotten, but even if you want to avenge it, it depends on the timing. This is just like after the Franco-Prussian War, the French have never forgotten it, and then waited until nearly half a century later to recover it with the help of Britain and Russia. Place. The same is true in the United States. Although hatred continues, Americans will not take action when there is obviously no chance of winning.

"So if we want to change the current situation, what should we do?" Robert Bacon asked.

"It's very simple. I can give those big guys a very good idea, that is, wait, or pray to God every day that the Germans will not lose this war. Even if it is a tie result, we can get the entire former German Far Eastern Colonies," Benson said.

"So is there a possibility that after Germany wins the war, it wants to break the contract?" Robert Bacon thought for a while and asked.

"The possibility is very small. It is impossible for them to get these places back because it is now under the control of us and the Japanese. If the Germans want to come in, the investment and risk involved are unimaginable. And they are exhausted. The Germans didn't have the strength to do that either," Benson said.

"But what are the benefits of Germany supporting us in acquiring colonies in the Far East? It is impossible for a country to do things that are not beneficial to itself." Robert said.

"Roosevelt should answer this question for you. He firmly believed that the Germans would do this. Otherwise, he would not agree to a quasi-alliance with Germany. I am just a soldier, and it is not my business to discuss politics. Work, now you have the answer you want, is there anything else? If I don't have it, I need to clean up Sims' mess." Benson was already preparing to issue an eviction order.

He is really in no mood to pay attention to the politicians in the White House and Capitol Hill now. Sims has fought such a bad battle and wants him to end it. Both warships were severely damaged. The distance from the Bismarck Sea to Pearl Harbor was several thousand kilometers. Pulling this ship back was a problem, especially the New York, with half of its boilers exploded! If you want to get it back, let's find some high-power tugboats first. Then there were the maintenance arrangements after returning to Pearl Harbor and the blockade of information, all of which he had to personally deal with.

"This is a terrible thing," Robert Bacon said to himself after he left.

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