EST, April 26, 1945, 2:40 p.m.
ET.
On the east coast of the United States, 90 nautical miles off Long Island, New York, the aircraft carrier "Essex".
Rear Admiral Arleigh Burke, chief of staff of the U.S.
Task Force 56, was standing on a platform outside the island, holding a telescope and looking southeast.
Suddenly, a four-engine cargo airship flying at a sea-skimming altitude appeared in his telescope, which was a seaplane.
The speed of the airship does not seem to be slow, at least 300 kilometers per hour, and it is soon approaching the "Essex" class.
And it also became very large in Arleigh Burke's telescope, taking up almost the entire eyepiece.
"Go tell the Admiral that Admiral Pruance's Mars 1 has arrived," Arleigh Burke said aloud to one of his staff officers behind him.
The jetship is the largest aircraft owned by the U.S.
Navy and possibly the largest in the world, codenamed the JR "Mars", with a maximum take-off weight of 748 tons, can carry 180 heavily armed soldiers or more than 20 tons of cargo, and can also be used as a long-range maritime patrol bomber.
However, the JR Mars watercraft that flew near the flagship of Task Force 56 today did not have much personnel and cargo in it.
There was only one important person and a few of his staff members on it.
The reason why this giant airship was used was only because it was the fastest flying water transport plane owned by the US Navy, and there happened to be a water airship moored on the Potomac River near Washington, which was used by US President Harry S.
Truman to escape, so it was used to transport Admiral Spruance, the joint commander of the US Navy's Pacific Atlantic Fleet.
Arleigh Burke and his superior, Admiral Mitchell, commander of U.S.
Task Force 56, learned that Admiral Spruance had personally arrived at the USS Essex a week earlier, which was a surprise but expected.
Now the "Essex" is rushing to the battlefield near Newfoundland with a huge number of ships numbering dozens of square nautical miles, and before this huge fleet sails to Newfoundland, it is wandering the waters west of Bermuda, waiting to engage the invading European navy But the plan could not catch up with the change, and the German paratroopers launched the main attack on the mass airborne and airborne landings on the island of Newfoundland.
And the F13 reconnaissance aircraft also spotted a large fleet in the Atlantic Ocean about 300 nautical miles southwest of Newfoundland.
At this time, the deployment of the decisive battle of the US Navy's Pacific Atlantic Fleet Joint Command was completely disrupted.
Spruance had no choice but to give Task Force 56 an order to "move north along the east coast of the United States and approach the island of Newfoundland" before leaving for Washington for an emergency military meeting.
It was a temporary and unclear order, which amounted to handing everything over to Admiral Mitchell, commander of Task Force 56.
This is not the style of the cautious Admiral Spruance.
Therefore, after attending the White House meeting and learning about the latest intentions of President Truman and the Pentagon, Spruance personally flew to the aircraft carrier "Essex" to discuss the battle plan with Admiral Mitchell in person.
The huge water blimp finally came to a steady stop in the sea near the "Essex".
A motorboat with the "Essex" mark, under the control of a US Navy soldier in a white sailor uniform, rode the wind and waves to the giant airship.
The hatch on the side of the airship opened, and the gangway was lowered, and half of a Navy major in a dark blue military uniform leaned out of the door, and his eyes swept over the motorboat, and he saw Admiral Mitchell and Rear Admiral Arleigh Burke coming out of the cabin.
"Two generals, Admiral Spruance is in the cabin, and he invites you to get on the plane and talk."
"Okay, okay."
Mitchell said yes, then beckoned Arleigh Burke, and the two of them boarded the airship one after the other.
After entering the airship, the two found that it was quite spacious and luxuriously furnished, not so much like a military aircraft, but like the interior of a luxury airliner.
When the two walked into the cabin, Admiral Spruance was already standing on the soft red carpet inside the cabin.
When he saw Mitchell, he stepped forward and shook hands and hugged him cordially.
"Mark, I've seen you."
Then Spruance waved at Arleigh Burke again, "Arlie, yes, I'm already a major general." ” Mitchell looked at the furnishings in the cabin and asked Spruance with a smile, "Raymond, whose plane is so beautiful?"
” "The president's," Spruance said, "would leave the White House as soon as the Germans' bombers broke through the East Coast air defense network, and the president would immediately leave the White House and take this plane to Chicago on the Potomac River, of course, that's top secret."
It's no secret that U.S. presidents leave Washington when things don't go well, and generals of the Mitchell and Arleigh Burke levels know that if the president doesn't run away, Vice President Kennedy will come to power in Chicago, and there is already a well-equipped "reserve government" in Chicago that can afford to lead the United States at any time.
After a bit of rambling, Spruance finally got straight to the point, telling Mitchell and Arleigh Burke: "The situation is very dangerous, we are likely to lose in Newfoundland, and if that happens, we will lose the war." ” "I know," Mitchell nodded, figuring out his pipe, which was already filled with tobacco, "is that okay?"
"It's okay, I'll have one too."
Spruance felt for a cigar, and an adjutant lit it for him, then lit Mitchell's pipe.
Mitchell said: "Do you feel that the decisive battle at sea is not certain?"
Spruance nodded: "Actually, I think so too.
He paused and looked at the expressionless Mitchell, "Now it is absolutely necessary to avoid another major defeat in Bermuda, so I plan to use a feint operation to divert the main force of the German fleet from the vicinity of Newfoundland, so as to create favorable conditions for anti-landing operations in the direction of Newfoundland." ” "Anti-landing operation" Mitchell hurriedly asked, "the Germans have begun to land" "Not yet."
Spruance shook his head, "But it's almost over, there are already German water-sweeping planes operating in Concepson Bay this morning." ” The water-level minesweeper is to hang a ring-shaped electromagnet under the wing of the seaplane, and the airplane is like stepping on a large iron ring, and then fly over the target sea area at a low altitude, and use the electromagnet on the plane to detonate the magnetic mine on the seabed.
However, the minesweeping effect is not ideal, and it has no effect on traditional anchor mines.
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"That's a good sweep."
Admiral Mitchell took a puff of his cigarette and smiled mockingly, "The Germans must not know how many mines we have laid in Concepson Bay, and we and the British have also deployed a large number of T-torpedo boats and U-class submarines in Concepson Bay, which can carry out minelaying missions at any time, and can also raid the German landing fleet."
The torpedo boat is wooden-hulled, so it is suitable for operating in sea areas covered with magnetic mines, performing raid and mine-laying tasks.
The U-class submarine is not a German U-boat, but a first-class light submarine designed by the United Kingdom, with a displacement of more than 500 tons to more than 700 tons, more than 500 tons on the surface, and 700 tons underwater.
With the fall of the British mainland and the danger of invasion in North America, the T-torpedo boats and U-class submarines became the focus of construction.
Torpedo boats and 500 U-class submarines were built, and 1,600 T-boats and U-class submarines are in service, and more than 300 are in service.
Although Newfoundland Island was not the main direction of attack of Germany as expected by the Americans, the US Navy and the British Royal Navy's Canadian fleet still deployed dozens of U-class boats and hundreds of T-boats there, half of which were stationed in Concepson Bay, not because they knew in advance that the Germans would land here, but because Concepson Bay was close to St.
John, the headquarters of the Allied forces on the island of Newfoundland, and it was convenient to place the main forces of torpedo boats and submarine forces here.
And the T-boats that happened to be placed in Concepson Bay began to drop mines into the water when the German paratroopers landed on the west shore of Concepson Bay, and more than 100 T-boats could drop 46 mines at a time, a boat could drop at least 30 mines a day, and more than 100 T-torpedo boats could throw more than 3,000 mines "The Germans would have landed if the mines were not clear," Spruance said, "and today at noon they made another airborne landing on the west shore of Concepson Bay, dropping at least 5,000 paratroopers and dropping down a lot of weaponry."
Artillery, so Grace Harbor was also captured this morning.
In addition, Old Perrican and a small island on the island of Basque Country, near the western entrance to the Strait of Concepsion, were also occupied by the Germans.
Now almost the entire western shore of Concepson Bay is under German control.
The number of troops already parachuted in was estimated to be more than 25,000, so the landing operation was inevitable, and the Germans could not have abandoned the west shore of Concepson Bay and so many paratroopers. ” Mitchell nodded, "Raymond, then how are we going to fight?"
"Separate 6 Essex-class aircraft carriers and 3 Independence-class aircraft carriers to form the 57th Task Force to go straight to the Azores, and the rest of the fleet will be divided into two, and all the heavy patrols and battle patrols will be drawn out and incorporated into the 11th Task Force, and the rest of the ships will enter the Bay of Fundy to hide and standby." t1706231537: