Vice Admiral Jizaburo Ozawa's First Japanese Mobile Fleet was discovered by an American Catarina seaplane near noon on March 16, 1943.
At this time, Vice Admiral Halsey's US 3rd Fleet was 1,200 nautical miles and 2,220 kilometers away from them, and carrier-based aircraft could not reach each other at all.
Vice Admiral Spruance's Task Force 16 was more than 600 nautical miles and 1,110 kilometers away from them, a distance that was still too far for carrier-based aircraft.
And Panama City and the Galapagos Islands are also 6,001,200 nautical miles away from them, because the United States does not yet have remote-controlled gliding bombs such as HS293 and Fritz X, the United States now has a radio-controlled guidance bomb codenamed VB1, but this kind of bomb cannot glide, and can only change the landing point by adjusting the tail of the bomb, which is more suitable for dealing with road facilities on the ground, and the effect on surface ships is not good, so the Americans will only use them as a wave in a series of attack waves, And not alone.
In addition, the Americans have also developed remote-controlled B24 and remote-controlled B17 super killers to be used against surface ships, but they are still being tested, so the B24, B17, and B25 bombers deployed in the Panama Canal Zone are not very suitable for bombing the Japanese fleet.
As for the 19th Task Force, which had just left the port on the evening of 16 March, it was naturally impossible for it to immediately engage the Japanese 1st Mobile Fleet.
So during the day on March 16, there was no further exchange of fire between the fleets and planes of the United States and Japan.
In addition, reconnaissance planes and seaplanes of various types sent by both sides did not discover each other's ships again.
On the afternoon of March 16, a tense tranquility slowly passed.
However, as night fell on 16 March, dozens of B24 Libertadorer heavy bomber and reconnaissance planes carrying airborne radars and Catarina seaplanes began to take off from airfields in Panama and the Galapagos Islands, whistling towards the sea area where the Japanese fleet had been discovered at noon and the surrounding waters.
"Commander, a B24 has found the Japanese fleet" At around 22:30 that night, the reconnaissance plane sent out made a discovery.
"The Japanese fleet is approaching the coast of El Salvador or Nicaragua and has already reached the waters of K13 with about 3040 ships" Rear Admiral Ralph Henkel reported the discovery of the reconnaissance plane to Vice Admiral Gormley, and then he frowned and analyzed: "The Japanese should not be going to attack El Salvador or Nicaragua, I think their target is the Panama Canal, they want to delay the time for American ships to enter the Pacific Ocean from the east coast by blowing up the canal's gates and dams, this is probably the only way for them to delay their demise." ” Because the number of Japanese ships detected was as high as 3,040, Rear Admiral Henkel did not consider it a bluff operation now.
"It looks like there will be a big battle tomorrow" Vice Admiral Gormley looked at the latest position of the Japanese fleet on the chart, "Ralph, how many fighters can we dispatch after dawn tomorrow" "It's hard to get airplanes on the Galapagos Islands, and the Japanese should have carefully calculated the route."
"Unless all the planes are transferred to Panama," Henkel said.
"No, it won't work."
Gormley immediately rejected Henkel's proposal, "It is not certain that the Japanese will target the Panama Canal and the Galapagos Islands will also be a very valuable target."
Once the Japanese occupy it, the Panama Canal will be bombed every day."
Henkel thought for a moment and felt that Lieutenant General Gormley's concern was justified.
The Galapagos Islands are the gateway to the Panama Canal, and if the gateway is lost, the role of the canal will be reduced by at least half.
Moreover, because the US military has not been stationed in the Galapagos Islands for a long time, it has not had time to build batteries and forts on the islands, and there are not even many marines guarding the islands, so the main garrison force of the islands is more than 100 aircraft belonging to the Marine Corps.
"Lieutenant General, shall we send the first attack wave early tomorrow morning" Rear Admiral Henkel then made a suggestion to launch an attack, "Let the 16th and 19th task forces approach the Japanese fleet, and at the same time send B24, B17, B25 and 51 from the Panama Canal Zone" Because traces of the Japanese fleet were found in the territory of the Southeast Pacific Command, Vice Admiral Spruance's 16th Task Force is now under the command of the 9th Fleet.
However, Halsey's 3rd Fleet was not under the jurisdiction of Vice Admiral Gormley because it was still in the Caribbean.
Therefore, in the proposal put forward by Rear Admiral Henkel, there was no mention of the 3rd fleet.
"Let's ask Lieutenant General Spruance for advice," Lt.
Gen.
Gormley said.
"How to deal with the Japanese, he has more experience than me."
Vice Admiral Gormley was self-aware, he was not a "fleet general" but a "diplomatic general".
Before the fall of the British mainland, he was the head of the naval delegation to Britain.
I still have a little understanding of the battles on the European Combined Fleet and the Arctic Circle route, and I don't know anything about the Japanese devils in the Pacific.
Spruance had previously served as chief of staff of the Pacific Fleet, and after Halsey's bad luck, he became the front-line commander of the Pacific Fleet, personally commanding escorts and breaking diplomatic operations.
"No, we can't get close to the Japanese fleet for the time being."
On the Enterprise, Vice Admiral Spruance immediately said to his chief of staff, Colonel Murray, after receiving a telegram from the Southeast Pacific Division: "I can't risk the Enterprise, the Yorktown, and the Independence, let Task Force 19 do it." ” "Commander, do you want to let the 3 Borg-class aircraft carriers of Task Force 19 act as bait" Colonel Murray immediately guessed Spruance's intentions.
Compared to the USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown, the value of the Borg-class escort aircraft carrier is much lower.
Moreover, all the Borg class and its successor ship, the Casablanca-class, have been built in Seattle and Portland on the West Coast.
Even if the Panama Canal is temporarily destroyed by the Japanese, the Borg-class and Casablanca-class can still be launched in batches, although the combat effectiveness of the escort aircraft carrier is far inferior to that of a large fleet aircraft carrier like the Enterprise, but it cannot withstand the output of twenty or thirty ships a year According to the plan, 10 ships of the Borg-class class will be built in 1943, and 19 ships of the Casablanca class will be built And although the escort aircraft carrier is a bit "watery", the F6F and F4U carried on it are genuine.
Spruance pondered: "We can let the 19th Task Force get close to the K13 sea area, and then send 51 from Panama to cover after the radar detects the Japanese aircraft group, and when the 19th Task Force and the Japanese aircraft fight, we will approach from the north and launch a shuttle bombing." ” The so-called shuttle bombing is a method of fighting in which planes are dispatched and no matter what they are called.
After the carrier-based aircraft took off from the USS Enterprise, USS Yorktown, and USS Independence, the three aircraft carriers immediately withdrew north.
After completing the attack mission, the plane went directly to the airfield in Nicaragua or El Salvador.
So that no matter what the result of the air raid was, Spruance's three aircraft carriers would not be sunk by the Japanese.
"Your Excellency, the detectives have spotted another enemy plane."
In the bridge command center of the aircraft carrier Akagi, this night was also a scene of facing a great enemy.
According to the repeated reports of the No. 21 and No. 13 telegraphers on the ships of the First Mobile Fleet, the discovery of enemy planes shows that the Americans have mastered the exact location of the First Mobile Fleet.
And now it is the US military reconnaissance planes that are installed with radars that are constantly harassing them Seeing that the officers in the command center were a little nervous, Ozawa Jizaburo looked very relaxed, and said with a smile: "We are in the tiger's den, but if we don't enter the tiger's den, how can we get the tiger."
As he spoke, Ozawa turned and walked towards the hatch.
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His chief of staff, Furumura, hurriedly followed and asked, "Your Excellency Commander, where are you going to inspect?"
"Inspection," Ozawa shook his head and smiled, "This is the Akagi, and I still need to inspect the official to go back to the cabin to sleep." ” "Sleep is it" "But what" Ozawa smiled, "Can the American planes still come and bomb at night?"
Of course, this is impossible, the current radar technology can only allow American aircraft to detect the Japanese fleet, but it is impossible to support the American aircraft to launch an attack, otherwise it would be the United States to counterattack Hawaii.
"Your Excellency Commander, Tomorrow's First Attack Wave" "Cancel," Ozawa said, waving his hand, "with all the air defense, let the Americans come first." ” "What made the Americans attack first" Furumura was taken aback by Ozawa's words.
Ozawa shrugged, "It's inevitable, we haven't spotted the enemy's aircraft carrier yet, but the enemy already knows our exact location."
So tomorrow morning, they will definitely attack first.
But there is nothing to worry about, because we are not too close to Panama now, in a position just enough for the American 51 and their medium bombers to attack.
The BF can't reach us, so we just took the opportunity to consume their 51, and at the same time attract American aircraft carriers to come and fight.
As long as we can exhaust all 51 of the Panama Canal Zone, we can at least destroy the canal's locks. ” As a result of the surrender of the British mainland, the Japanese now understood the characteristics of most American fighters and were therefore able to develop targeted battle plans.
In Ozawa's view, among the fighters currently equipped with the US military, the greatest threat is the aircraft of the 51 series.
The ultimate range of this aircraft is almost the same as that of the Zero, and it also has a strong ability to attack the ground and sea, and it is a model that can be equipped with bombs as a fighter-bomber, and in fact, there is also a dive bombing model.
Moreover, the performance of medium and low altitude combat and medium and high altitude is very average, and it is definitely the great enemy of the Zero fighter and the combined fleet t1706231537: