Chapter 912 Funding
Vice President Truman is now most worried about the "Atlantic Defense Line" and the "Pacific Defense Line". In his opinion, it is a shameful waste to allocate a large part of the already tight resources and financial resources to build those "useless" fighters, bombers, and warships! He did not expect that his fighters could have a 1:1 exchange ratio with the German fighters. Even if it was 2:1 or 3:1, he would strongly support the development of the aviation force, but the reality is that the exchange ratio between the two sides has reached a terrible 1:6 or 1:7, and there is no chance of winning.
His words made the high-level officials of the Navy and the Army Aviation look a little ugly, but Truman didn't care about these and said like a broken jar. "I suggest reducing or simply terminating the production of weapons and equipment such as fighters, bombers, and warships, and using the saved resources for the "Atlantic Defense Line" and the "Pacific Defense Line", or land warfare weapons."
"!!" The faces of the high-level officials of the Navy and the Army Aviation were completely dark, and Commander Arnold couldn't sit still. Just as he was about to argue, President Truman said unhappily. "This is also what most members of Congress mean."
When they heard "Congress", most people were stunned. Even Commander Arnold just opened his mouth and finally could only sigh heavily.
As mentioned earlier, the U.S. Congress holds the "money bag". The U.S. Constitution stipulates that the House of Representatives has the right to propose the defense budget.
For example, after the end of World War II in the original time and space, the U.S. Navy was preparing to build a "super aircraft carrier". This aircraft carrier, called the "United States" class, has a full load displacement of 30,000 tons. Even according to the standards of later generations, the "United States" class is a behemoth. The United States class uses 8 1200PSI high-pressure steam boilers and four steam turbines with a total power of 280,000 horsepower, which can allow this nearly 80,000-ton behemoth to reach a high speed of 33 knots. The flight deck layout of the United States class is also quite special; there are four catapults on the ship, two of which are set on both sides of the bow, and the other two are set in the middle of the hull and slightly tilted outward; with this configuration, four aircraft can theoretically be launched at the same time. In addition, according to the concept at the time, because the hull was very long, in theory, when the stern was recovering the carrier-based aircraft, the two catapults at the bow could still launch the aircraft synchronously.
The ship could accommodate about 10 nuclear bombers, and the stored aviation fuel and nuclear weapons could allow the fleet to be deployed eight times; in this way, if eight super aircraft carriers were deployed at a time, with a total of 80 nuclear bombers, 640 nuclear bombs could be dropped on the enemy before the fleet needed to be resupplied.
The construction of this crazy aircraft carrier was approved by then-US President Truman, and the keel was laid. But just five days later, the US Air Force lobbied Congress vigorously and raised various questions about the Navy's shipbuilding plan. In the end, then-US Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the cancellation of the United States-class aircraft carrier construction plan.
The retirement of the famous F14 "Tomcat" fighter in later generations was also related to the US Congress's cut in the defense budget.
In short, as long as Congress disagrees, the army can't buy even a rifle or a grenade, let alone airplanes, tanks and battleships.
Seeing that everyone's faces turned from angry to helpless, Vice President Truman continued. "What the congressmen mean is that the production funds for fighters, bombers, and warships should be cut by at least 40%, and the savings will be used for the research and development of army weapons and the construction of defense lines." Obviously, the congressmen no longer expect to attack the European continent, and are more worried that the Germans will launch a landing operation on the US mainland in the near future.
It is not difficult to imagine that once the Germans land on the US mainland and gain a foothold, the fate of the United States will not follow the British Empire and the Soviet Union?
Although the best way is to intercept the German landing fleet at sea, the "unpromising" US Navy completely makes the congressmen lose confidence. It seems that no matter how many warships are built, they cannot match the Germans. Once they meet, their entire fleet will be sunk. Even if they build more warships, they can't keep up with the speed of the Germans sinking.
In this case, continuing to invest huge amounts of money to build those sea giants seems to be a stupid decision, which is simply giving the Germans a record in vain. Therefore, they were more optimistic about the Atlantic and Pacific defense lines that had already started construction, hoping to build these two lines into an indestructible iron wall to keep the Germans out forever.
After a while, Commander Arnold spoke weakly. "Then our Army Air Force will stop the production of P-35, P-40, P-38, P-39, P-43, P-47, B-24, B-25, B-29 and other fighters and bombers, and only retain P-51 fighters and B-17 bombers." Although the current P-51 fighter is not a match for the German fighter, it is already the most impressive fighter of the US Army Air Force. "As for the P-61 (a night fighter, the world's first fighter equipped with radar at the beginning of its design, huge in size but still with good maneuverability, plus powerful firepower, it can completely fight against enemy fighters) and P-63 (an improved version of the P-39, with improved high-altitude performance, but not equipped in large quantities in the original time and space, but after modification, it became an unprecedented "manned target aircraft" for strategic bomber machine gunners to practice shooting), the B-26 bomber (B26 "Predator" compared to B25, B26 has a faster speed and a larger bomb load, but it does not have a better reputation - it is known as the "Widow Maker") will also terminate its development."
"!!" General Leahy glanced at Commander Arnold in surprise, who was so decisive, but noticed Vice President Truman looking at him, considered it quickly in his mind, and could only endure the pain. "The Naval Aviation will also stop the production of F2A, F4F, and F4U fighter jets, and only retain the production of F6F fighter jets. TBD torpedo bombers, BF/TBM "Avenger" torpedo bombers, and SB2U "Apologist" dive bombers will also be eliminated, leaving only SBD "Fearless" style. "As for those warships with various models, he can't decide in one or two words. "I have to go back and discuss the choice of battleships. I will come up with a plan as soon as possible." General Leahy felt extremely bitter and cut off 40% of the funds at once. The South Dakota-class battleships and Iowa-class battleships that were originally planned to be built The follow-up construction plan and the construction of the Midway-class aircraft carrier could only be abandoned.
Vice President Truman nodded slightly. "We don't have much time. We need to develop more advanced and powerful land warfare weapons as soon as possible. At least it can rival the German Panther tank." As for the Tiger tank equipped with a 105MM caliber tank gun, senior US military officials analyzed that this tank is short of Time will not be put into large-scale service, and the Panther tank will still be the main tank of the German army.
MacArthur said somewhat depressedly. "To rival the German Panther tanks, our tanks must be equipped with at least a 90mm tank gun." (Today's chapter)