Imperial Overlord

The fleet that the United States invested in this time is not actually heading south in the Marshall Islands, but heading north in Australia.

Commanded by General Halsey, the commander-in-chief of the U.S. front line, the fleet consists of two state-of-the-art battleships, three older battleships, and four converted aircraft carriers.

The construction speed of the U.S. Navy’s converted aircraft carriers is three points faster than Li Le, a traveler, estimated. Now five cruise ship converted aircraft carriers have been launched into service.

This type of aircraft carrier is named by the US military as the Sangamon class, which is a very well-designed **** aircraft carrier.

In the original plan, the United States was going to use the Liberty wheel as a basis to rebuild a practical light aircraft carrier.

However, because the hull tonnage of the Freewheel was too small and the speed was too slow, the United States eventually changed its plan.

The designers refitted the oil tanker built according to the 1936 Merchant Shipbuilding Plan, which is large and fast, making it a good fit for the retrofit program.

At the beginning, this kind of ship was refitted to deal with German submarines and the Atlantic guerrilla fleet, so the start time was earlier.

As a result, these ships were not delivered to the United Kingdom, which was in urgent need of escorting the aircraft carrier, and the British government surrendered, so these ships were intercepted by the United States.

Immediately after, the Pacific War broke out, and the U.S. Navy accelerated the construction of these four warships, and soon obtained its much-needed **** aircraft carrier.

Moreover, this is not the entire possession of the US Navy today, because nearly 10 **** aircraft carriers of various performances have been launched into service, but they are all training near the US coastline.

As the world's largest industrial country, once the United States' industrial mobilization ability is activated, its power is absolutely beyond everyone's imagination.

To build about 20 **** aircraft carriers in one go, this terrifying production capacity is far from what Japan can match.

Therefore, even if Yamamoto Fifty-Six wanted to break his head, he could not guess that the American fleet not only came, but also came aggressively after accumulating a powerful force.

Halsey's tactic is very simple, that is, defend the Solomons to the death. For this reason, the fleet under his command was divided into the First Fleet, the Second Fleet and the Third Fleet, which carried out different combat missions.

Three old battleships, refitted New Mexico-class battleships, were deployed in the Solomon Islands, and they were protected by a dozen destroyers to provide air defense cover.

The mission of these old battleships was to prevent the Japanese battleships from approaching and attacking the airport facilities on the islands.

The U.S. Navy also continued to learn during the battle. Halsey summed up his experience and lessons from the battle case where the Midway airfield was destroyed by the Japanese ship-borne artillery. This time, the focus was on providing fire cover for the airfield on the island.

With these battleships, the Japanese could not use tactics from the Battle of Midway to risk getting into the combat radius of shore-based fighter jets and destroying American land airfields.

The Third Fleet was ambushed in the north of the Solomon Islands, and was desperately entering the battle circle. This fleet is all new warships, and the combat capability is quite powerful.

The USS North Carolina and USS Washington are both new warships that have just been launched into service, with high air defense levels and strong combat effectiveness.

Moreover, this pair of sister ships is also equipped with a 406mm caliber main gun that the Japanese are very afraid of, which poses a huge threat to Japanese warships.

The main purpose of this fleet is not to attack the Japanese fleet, but to let the Japanese fleet shift its main attack direction to this direction.

Halsey led the main force of the fleet, the four Sangamon-class aircraft carriers, waiting for an opportunity south of the Solomon Islands. When the Japanese fleet is attacking the third fleet, which is the decoy fleet, he will dispatch a plane to attack the main formation of the Japanese fleet!

In contrast to the Japanese Combined Fleet, the forces for this attack included the two battleships Nagato and Mutsu under the direct jurisdiction of the Combined Fleet, and the four battlecruisers Kongo, Haruna, Kirishima, and Hiei of the Second Squadron of the First Fleet.

The First Air Fleet commanded by Chuichi Nagumo, but only Akagi, Shokaku and Zuikaku are three fleet aircraft carriers.

After all, the Kaga and Hiryu are still being repaired locally, and the aircraft carrier Soryu has been sunk. Nagumo Chuichi now has only half of the power he had when he attacked Pearl Harbor.

What is even more tragic is that even the remaining half of the force is not the original half of the combat effectiveness of the four-month battle. The elite pilots lost by the Japanese naval aviation have already exceeded one-third of the base.

The inability to replenish the same elite naval pilots has already caused Chuichi Nagumo, the commander of the aviation fleet, a headache.

With this trade-off, the gap between the two sides in the war has narrowed significantly: 6 Japanese battleships against 5 American battleships, and 3 Japanese fleet aircraft carriers against 4 American **** aircraft carriers.

It seems that the basic strength of the two sides is similar, and Japan has a slight advantage. What's more terrible is that the US Navy warships are equipped with a new type of weapon such as radar, and the carrier-based aircraft pilots have also figured out the tactical characteristics of the Japanese Zero fighters.

But even so, the Japanese naval air force still has as many as 230 aircraft, and the US Navy's four **** aircraft carriers have only 160 carrier-based aircraft.

If you include land aviation, the United States has the advantage. The United States has deployed 200 fighter jets, as well as more than 200 attack aircraft and bombers in the Solomon Islands.

This number makes the total number of aircraft in the theater of the United States reach 2.5 times the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy! It also gave the U.S. Navy the ability to compete for air supremacy for the first time~www.wuxiaspot.com~ The Battle of the Solomon Islands kicked off with the Japanese Navy carrier-based aircraft attacking the Solomon U.S. island airport. The fierce battle reached noon that day, and Japan finally found out U.S. First Fleet from the south.

"There are at least 2 battleships! The reconnaissance plane found at least 10 American warships, and the main force of the US military is just south of Solomon!" The intelligence officer reported the latest findings of the reconnaissance plane to Yamamoto.

After making a gesture on the nautical chart, Yamamoto fifty-six narrowed his eyes, weighing the specific purpose of the US fleet in his heart.

"This is just a squadron! It's not the main force of the US fleet! Let the reconnaissance plane search in the direction of the Marshall Islands! I don't believe that the Americans only have battleships!" The command to look for.

"Let Nagumo's First Aviation Fleet move westward! Move to the right wing of my main formation! The entire fleet is ready for air defense operations!" After waiting for a few minutes, there was still no new progress. Living.

He couldn't take the risk that he couldn't let the precious aviation fleet and the US Army Air Corps go to waste. So he is ready to take back his troops and concentrate on finding the American fleet first!