In order to coordinate command, the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff divided the Pacific region into the Pacific theater and the Southwest Pacific theater. The Southwest Pacific theater includes the Oceania region south of the equator. General MacArthur, who was born in the army, serves as the theater commander. Other regions in the Pacific are the Pacific theater, and the Pacific Fleet Commander Nimitz serves as the theater commander.
In order to fight against the three major fleets of the Republic Navy, namely, the South Pacific Fleet, the North Pacific Fleet and the North Pacific Fleet, the US Pacific Fleet has also set up three Pacific fleets, namely, the South Pacific Fleet with Admiral Golim as the fleet commander, the Central Pacific Fleet with Admiral Halsey as the fleet commander, and the North Pacific Fleet with Admiral Kincaid as the fleet commander,After Admiral Ernest King became the Commander in Chief of the Navy, the three fleets were renamed the Third, Fifth and Seventh Fleet.
Since the Republic Navy occupied the Marshall Islands, it has stopped its march. The situation in the Central Pacific region has gradually stabilized. At present, neither side can move forward. There is about 2000 nautical miles from Midway Island, the forefront of the U.S. military, to the Marshall Islands. Similarly, the Republic Navy is unwilling to take an expedition to attack the U.S. Hawaiian naval base.
To the north, the Republic Navy only occasionally makes some harassing attacks on the Aleutian Islands, and the military strength of both sides in this area is not very strong.
At present, the focus of the whole war situation is focused on the South Pacific region, where the situation is not optimistic for the Allies.
The Republic Army is stepping up the construction of railways and roads on the island of New Guinea, approaching Port Moresby step by step, and building ports and airports on New Britain, New Ireland and Bougainville, gradually approaching the maritime transport line between the United States and Australia.If the Republic Navy cannot be stopped from advancing, the war situation in Australia will become more difficult.
The third fleet commanded by Lieutenant General Golim, namely the South Pacific Fleet, is the most powerful fleet in the Pacific Fleet, with five aviation warships, five battleships and eight heavy cruisers, as well as an Anglo Australian fleet with three heavy cruisers.In order to preserve Port Moresby, MacArthur advocated that five army divisions and two marine divisions should be concentrated to launch counterattacks in New Guinea and New Britain, but Nimitz opposed such large-scale landing operations.
Nimitz believes that the current strength of the Pacific Fleet is not enough to grasp the initiative at sea. If the landing action is carried out rashly, it will inevitably lead to a big sea battle with the Republic Navy.With the strength of the Pacific Fleet, there is little certainty of victory.If valuable air and naval warships are lost again in the sea battle, it is possible to lose the sea and air control over the entire South Pacific region, which will have a disastrous impact on the war in Australia.
Contrary to MacArthur's eagerness to counter attack, Nimitz proposed to go step by step.The strategy of steadily advancing.He advocated that Solomon Islands should be the first target for counterattack.With the support of the aviation fleet and shore based aviation, the marines first landed on the southern islands of Solomon Islands, and then built airports on the newly occupied islands to expand the operational scope of the shore based aviation.Then, with the joint support of the aircraft and shore based aviation, gradually move north along the Solomon Islands, gradually bring Rabaul into the operational scope of the US shore based aviation, and finally organize forces to counter attack Laicheng in Rabaul.
Finally, the Joint Chiefs of Staff accepted Nimitz's view and decided to launch a counterattack in Solomon Islands.
When Admiral Nimitz summoned his staff to discuss how to fight back.Lieutenant Colonel Leyton, Chief of Fleet Intelligence, reported to him that the Republican Army was advancing towards Solomon Islands and began to build an airport on Bougainville Island.It is obvious that the goal of the Republican Army is to enter the Solomon Islands southward to control the passage from the Coral Sea to the northeast of Australia, and to establish an air base here to prepare for southward entry into Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia to cut off the sea passage of Australia.
Nimitz decided to spare no effort to prevent the Republic Army from marching towards Solomon Islands, because it would directly threaten the success of the whole Australian battlefield. Only by pouring all the strength of the Pacific Fleet can he prevent the upcoming large-scale attack, according to his judgment.All 12 aircraft warships in his hands must be sent to stop the Republican attack.
The question is, what if the Chinese put all their warships into the South Pacific and Hawaii did?Although Leiden's report mentioned that there is no sign of the Republican Navy moving towards Hawaii, the Beiyang Fleet, which has been operating in Japan and the Aleutian Islands, currently has four fleet aircraft ships, which may pose a fatal threat to the periphery of the Hawaiian Islands, especially Midway Island, which is relatively weak in defense.
There were great risks in the whole battle plan, and Nimitz flew to San Francisco specially for them.Discuss with Admiral Kim, Commander in Chief of the Navy, the strategy, gains and losses of the Pacific theater of war.
Admiral Jin also believed that the success or failure of Solomon Islands was related to the success or failure of the whole Australian war situation. He agreed with Nimitz that it was necessary to prevent the Republican Army from going south to Solomon Islands and seizing the strategic initiative of the Coral Sea, and agreed that the Pacific Fleet would send all aircraft warships to fight for Solomon Islands.
The commander in chief of the navy also realized the huge risk, and agreed to transfer two "Essex class" aircraft warships and two "Hornet" and "Bumblebee" aircraft warships from the Atlantic Ocean to strengthen the defense of Hawaii.
Just as Nimitz and Admiral Kim returned to Pearl Harbor after their meeting in San Francisco.Located at the Republic Navy Base in the west of Guam, on a deep-water berth about 1 nautical mile from the coast.Four newly commissioned "Beihai class" aircraft warships and two battle experienced "Jiangsu" and "Zhejiang" aircraft warships are quietly docked on the sea.
There are still planes on the three aircraft battleships "Qinghai", "Xihai" and "Xinjiang" undergoing intense takeoff and landing training. The "Beihai class" aircraft battleship is a large main fleet aircraft battleship newly designed and built by the Republic Navy after summing up the experience and lessons of previous naval battles.This class of aircraft ship has a length of 276 meters, a width of 38 meters, a design standard displacement of 48500 tons, a full load displacement of 62000 tons, 12 heavy oil boilers, 4 steam turbines, a total power of 210000 horsepower, and a design speed of 31 knots.
The most eye-catching feature of the "Beihai class" aviation warship is the use of a large diagonal deck, which is 302 meters long and 58 meters wide. The flight deck can be used for taking off and landing of fighters at the same time, which makes the use efficiency of fighters in naval warfare have been greatly improved.Another inconspicuous change is that the medium range anti-aircraft guns are cancelled on this class of aircraft ships, and only 37mm and 25mm Gatlin type short-range anti-aircraft guns are equipped. The deck space vacated makes the number of carrier borne aircraft reach 162, almost twice the number of carrier borne aircraft on "Jiangsu class" aircraft ships, and the attack capability has been greatly improved.
Maybe it is to show the attitude of attaching importance to aircraft ships, or maybe it is really because "Beihai class" aircraft ships are the warships with the largest displacement and the most advanced equipment of the Republic Navy. After the service of "Beihai class" aircraft ships, the main officers of each fleet have successively moved their headquarters to this class of warships, and aircraft ships have become the flagship of each fleet instead of battleships.
In the elaborately decorated conference room on the second floor of the "Qinghai", on both sides of the long table covered with dark green velvet, sat a dozen fleet commanders of the First Fleet in dark blue battle suits, and the commander of the East China Sea Fleet of the Republic Navy, General Cheng Yaoheng, was sitting in the main seat, announcing the battle order issued by the General Staff and the Ministry of Navy.
"... The US Pacific Fleet will send all its main forces to remove the threat to Solomon Islands and New Caledonia Islands. The main forces of the Northern Ocean Fleet will attack Midway Island and occupy it after all the main forces of the Pacific Fleet have rushed to Australia, thus threatening the safety of the whole Pearl Harbor.Our mission is to intercept the reinforcement of Midway Island by the US Pacific Fleet after the attack of the Beiyang Fleet.Since the beginning of the war, among the major naval fleets, we have lost two major aircraft warships, and we were both lost to the Americans twice.Why do I always urge the Military Commission to name the two 'Beihai class' air warships assigned to us as' Guangdong' and 'Guangxi', so that we can always remember the two main warships we lost, which is our shame!Now, the day of revenge has finally come. When our order is given, it is the time for us to fight with the main force of the Pacific Fleet.Recently, all fleets need to speed up their training. This time, we will make the enemy double to repay our losses! "
At this point, Cheng Yaoheng's voice became stern. Since the war began, although the navy has lost eight main warships, the rest of the fleets were sunk by escorting cruisers. Only the East China Sea Fleet was a little bit backward, and the sinking of two main warships was spread over their heads.Although the President and the senior management of the Navy Department both said that it was normal for the warship to sink, when the officers of each fleet met, they were always ridiculed, which made the whole fleet hold their breath.