"Sir, look at it, it's an Iowa-class."
Hearing the adjutant's voice, Admiral Halsey, who was aboard a JR Mars long-range sea transport airship, yawned, turned his tired, slightly tanned face and looked out into the sea below.
Below is the Gulf of Panama, almost 24 hours of continuous flight from Niihau Island to Panama Bay, but the JR "Mars" long-range sea transport airship does not have such a large range, and must refuel in San Diego on the way.
It's dusk, and in the sunset bay, a fleet of more than 20 ships is lining up into the west entrance of the Panama Canal.
Among them, the most eye-catching is undoubtedly an "Iowa"-class battleship with a standard displacement of 44.56 million tons.
The huge hull of the ship, like a floating city, is slowly illuminating in the golden sunlight, slowly sailing into a wide river next to Panama City.
"It's the Wisconsin," Admiral Halsey said to himself, "the most powerful battleship in the world, and we have four of them now, and if the Germans find out that they all pass through the Panama Canal into the Caribbean, they will be nervous for a while." ” According to the plan, four "Iowa"-class battleships that participated in the Second Battle of the Hawaiian Islands and one "North Carolina"-class battleship Washington, which also disembarked from the Hawaiian Islands battlefield, will complete simple maintenance in the port of San Diego and sail through the Panama Canal into the Caribbean Sea.
At the same time, the four Soviet-class battleships anchored in New York Harbor will also be replaced with the Stars and Stripes to join the US Navy in the name of "Lend-Lease".
In exchange, the Soviet Pacific Fleet could use U.S. bases in the Pacific Ocean while being resupplied and repaired, and at least 100 U.S. submarines would fly the red flag and participate in the Soviet Red Navy's broken engagements.
In this way, four Soviet-class, four Iowa-class, and one North Carolina-class battleships would constitute the Iron Fist of the U.S.
Navy's attack in the Atlantic "Admiral, the Germans will find our Iowa-class into the Caribbean" Halsey's adjutant seemed to be a little confused by the words of the chief.
"Yes," said Halsey, "they have an intelligence network along the Panama Canal, and there must be quite a few new German submarines in the Bay of Panama right now."
It's a pity that our reconnaissance planes and destroyers can't catch them" "The new submarine of the Germans" asked the adjutant, "the kind of U-boat that is said to be able to dive underwater for a long time and has very low noise" "Yes."
Halsey shook his head, "Another masterpiece of the Germans, if we could have such a submarine, the war in the Pacific would have ended long ago." ” "Still, our submarines and shipwrecking ships with the Soviets sank many Japanese transports," the adjutant reassured Halsey, "and the number of sunks in July exceeded 300,000 tons, which the Japanese could not afford." ” Not only did more than 100 submarines of the Pacific Fleet join the battle, but also two Kronstadt-class battlecruisers escaped the pursuit of the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet.
Halsey didn't pick up, just sighed softly.
He knew very well that no matter how many Japanese transports were sunk and how many oil wells in Southeast Asia were blown up, it would not be of much significance to the United States.
Because this is only a bargaining chip at the negotiating table, the reason why the US Navy and Army Air Forces are still frantically attacking Japan is simply because Japan refuses to withdraw from the Hawaiian and Aleutian Islands.
While Halsey was talking to his lieutenant, the giant seaplane he was flying in had landed in the Gulf of Panama with a maximum take-off weight of 748 tons, and after gliding through the water for a while, it came to a safe stop next to a heavily guarded seaplane dock.
"Carl, what do you see?"
"Sir, I found an Iowa-class ship that has entered the river."
"I'll see."
I don't know if Admiral Halsey really has the intuition of a so-called famous general, or if the blind cat touched the dead mouse.
Just as the plane he was on landed in Panama Bay, the U-boat numbered U2511 was maneuvering underwater not far from the west entrance of the Panama Canal, and it also raised its periscope and looked around, and also spotted the Wisconsin that was entering the canal.
The "Seawolf" lurking under the surface is the newest and most powerful Type 21 submarine of the German Navy.
If it comes to the surface for people to see, any navy soldier who knows anything about submarines will be able to see it by its appearance alone.
It has a sleek, sleek body that appears extraordinarily compact, extraordinarily slender, like a sharp ship that can split the waves.
The curved conning tower looks very modern.
The sleek and cramped submarine deck is devoid of the usual deck guns and anti-aircraft machine guns, and it looks neat and elegant, and if you want to make or use submarines, the absence of such a deck gun and anti-aircraft machine gun as a design will give you a sense of how extraordinary this beautiful submarine is.
Deck guns and anti-aircraft machine guns were not superfluous for ordinary submarines, but something indispensable Because now all submarines in the world, except for Type 21 U-boats, can only continue to sail dozens of nautical miles underwater at a low speed of a few knots.
As a result, when they sail at sea, they spend most of their time floating on the water, and only dive when entering battle or evading attacks.
Therefore, the use of self-defended deck guns and anti-aircraft machine guns is indispensable weapons when sailing on the water.
However, the Type 21 U-boat does not have deck guns and anti-aircraft machine guns, which shows that it is a submarine that all submariners dream of, and can really potential underwater patrols and operations The submarine's underwater speed and range are unprecedented, with a maximum speed of up to 172 knots, which is already exceeding the cruising speed of most hulls.
Its large-capacity battery allows it to dive 360 seas at a speed of 4 knots, or sail continuously for 10 hours at 1214 knots.
This means that the Type 21 U-boat can patrol underwater at a higher speed for an entire day, and then surface at night to recharge.
So deck guns and anti-aircraft machine guns became weapons that could be canceled.
And the attack power of this type of U-boat that can sail underwater anti-aircraft is also quite amazing "Sure enough, it's an Iowa-class" The captain of the U2511, Major Albert Schney, had his eyes on the periscope and soon spotted the battleship "Wisconsin" entering the canal.
"It's a pity it's too far for our torpedoes to hit it."
The first mate on the side, Karl Schlenburg, said.
"This is already the fourth, and there is another 1 large aircraft carrier passing through," Major Schney exchanged the periscope to the first mate, and then took the notebook that recorded the briefing and flipped through it.
It records the discovery of two Type 21 U-boats, U2501 and U2506, which were also patrolling the area of Panama Bay, on August 8 and 9.
In fact, the purpose of the three Type 21 U-boats placed in Panama Bay was not to sneak attack passing US warships, but to patrol and monitor.
The importance of the Panama Canal is not only known to Americans, so one of the main tasks of the 10th Submarine Group, deployed in the Pacific Ocean by the German Naval Submarine Command, is to monitor the canal.
At the same time, German intelligence has a dense network of agents in Panama, which can also closely monitor every large American surface ship passing through the canal.
August 12, 1944.
In the newly opened Joint Operations Command Center in the large general staff headquarters of Cuosen, staff officers in front of the wall are constantly marking the tactical map with eye-catching red and blue arrows, dots, lines, and stickers of ships or planes of various sizes.
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Whoever sees this oversized tactical map covered with lines and stickers will probably feel like they can't find the north.
However, as long as you study it carefully, you will find that the situation of the Atlantic theater shown on this large tactical map is very clear and intuitive.
When a staff officer in a blue navy uniform glued a sticker symbolizing the Iowa-class battleship to the sea east of the Panama Canal on the map, Field Marshal Raeder, commander-in-chief of the German Navy, turned his head and said to the Hesman Imperial Marshal who was present: "The fourth ship and the four Soviet-class ships that were originally moored in New York Harbor also disappeared last night. ” "4 Soviet-class, 4 Iowa-class" Hersman frowned, "The Americans seem to be preparing for a large-scale military operation."
"It's Guyana," said Air Force Commander-in-Chief Raeder, "and the Americans have wanted to attack there for a long time." ” "It could also be the Azores and Cape Verde."
Commander of the Naval Aviation, Richthofen, who is also in the General Staff today, said that "if the autumnal equinox is passed, Iceland and Greenland may also be targets for the Americans" "Imperial Marshal, should we leave the 10th, 11th, and 12th Task Fleets in the Atlantic?"
Marshal Raeder suggested at this point.
"What is the opinion of Field Marshal Lütjans?"
asked Hersman.
"He believed that because of the Panama Canal, the Americans could combine their two-ocean fleets and turn them into one fleet."
"So the battleships and aircraft carriers that enter the Caribbean, and the fleet that remains off the coast of Chile, can be used in a single battlefield if necessary," Raeder said.
Unless we can destroy the Panama Canal" t1706231537: