Chapter 73 super battleship

Fuchida Mitsuo was the flight commander of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and he was also the first person to fly a plane to bomb Pearl Harbor. It can be said that the Japanese army's successful surprise attack relied on Fuchida and his troops to charge forward, but he also had a strong feeling for it. Feeling left out. At Pearl Harbor, five pocket submarines were also involved in the attack.Pocket submarines are also called special submarines. Each submarine can only take 2 people. It actually has little actual combat function.At the end of the attack, except for one of the 10 submarine crew who fainted and was captured, the remaining 9 were all killed.

After the war, the meritorious deeds were rewarded, and the 9 people who died in battle were promoted to two ranks, and the title of military god was posthumously awarded.Fifty-five pilots died in Yuantian's army. Yuantian asked for the same promotion, but the government refused to approve it. He asked why, and the answer was that you had too many dead, and you couldn't afford it! Fuchida was even more annoyed that the government attributed the biggest achievement in the attack on Pearl Harbor - the sinking of the battleship "Arizona" - to the pocket submarine.Fuchita was almost annoyed, because that day he clearly saw an oil tanker docked on the outside of "Arizona", separated by the oil tanker, how did the little submarine shoot the torpedo at the battleship?

"Arizona" sank, it was our bombers who did it! The fact that the dead pilots were so underestimated was a big blow to the morale of the flight team. Some flight captains have been complaining that the higher authorities deliberately poured cold water on them, making people unable to work hard. It stands to reason that even if the military command doesn't try to fight for it from the government, as the leader of the joint fleet, Yamamoto, who usually talks about "aviation victory", will have to say a few words, but he doesn't seem to do anything about it. The flying team is the backbone of the fleet and aircraft carrier. To put it bluntly, even if you are the overlord of Chu, you still have to rely on these two arms to help you lift a thousand catties.Yamamoto had been kind to Fuchida, and he was also a hero in his mind. However, facing the scene in front of him, Fuchida couldn't hide his disappointment.

The Pearl Harbor incident and the series of victories after that did bring about some extremely subtle changes in Yamamoto.Before that, he was at a relative disadvantage in terms of strength, so he dared to fight to the end. His tactical ideas, "aviation wins", "aviation priority" and "big battleships are useless", each one is more avant-garde than the other, which also made him stand in the tactical leadership. at the forefront. But in his bones, Yamamoto, like most senior naval officials, still regards battleships as the most important fleet, not aircraft carriers.He said that "big battleships are useless", in part because his battleships were inferior to others.After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the battleships of the Japanese Navy had the upper hand and wiped out all the battleships of the Pacific Fleet, and Yamamoto's mentality changed accordingly.

Everyone may go to the opposite of their own thinking. Although Yamamoto is unwilling to admit it, or has not noticed it yet, he has already changed his flagship, which is the super battleship "Yamato" that has just been launched. "Yamato" started construction in 1937, and it took four years to complete its construction. No matter in size, displacement, speed or firepower, it surpassed the previous "Prince of Wales" and "Arizona". Compared with the proud "Bismarck", it has become something that cannot be put on the table. "Yamato" has both offense and defense. When you talk about attack, one of its shells weighs one and a half tons, and soldiers can climb in and out of the barrel.You said, the steel armor on the side of the ship is nearly half a meter thick, and it is called "the unsinkable Yamato".

Therefore, although Yamamoto often talks about aircraft carriers and aviation, everyone can see that he is really satisfied with "Yamato".Since having this super ship, Yamamoto no longer travels far. He mainly relies on the aircraft carrier task force commanded by Nagumo when he goes out to fight. The Japanese call it a mobile force. But the criticism of Yamamoto also arises from this: either you move to land like Nimitz in order to grasp the overall situation, or learn from your idol Togo Heihachiro, go to the ocean, visit the front line in person, and command in the mobile unit, What's the matter with always squatting at home so unhurriedly?

I don’t know if this kind of gossip has drifted into Yamamoto’s ears. What people see is that Yamamoto treats seven battleships including Yamato as coffins, and they all gather at the anchorage of Hashirashima in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan. Until the Battle of Midway Island, all these warships were moored at Zhushima, motionless, as if the sky was falling, and they were all going to be supported by these seven "strong men". After a long time, naval officers simply called the Combined Fleet Headquarters "Zhushima", and some carrier-based aircraft pilots called these battleship units "Zhushima Fleet" in a sarcastic tone.

Fuchita was puzzled by this: "'Hashirashima Fleet' is practicing shelling every day, but I don't know where their guns are going to be directed." The battleships of the Pacific Fleet disappeared without a trace. They were bombed and sunk, so there was no way around it; but the "Hashirashima Fleet" also stood still. Wouldn't the effect be the same as being bombed? Sometimes Fuchida and his pilots even had an illusion, thinking that Yamamoto was going to carry forward his Bushido spirit and wait for Nimitz to repair all the damaged ships in the Pearl Harbor incident before setting up a lineup for a duel?But looking at Yamamoto's appearance, it seems that he is not such a gentleman.

In Fuchita's view, the "Hashirashima Fleet" should be merged with Nagumo's mobile force, with the aircraft carrier as the main force and the battleship as support, and head east. In that case, the Pacific Fleet might have been wiped out long ago. up. Of course, this matter can’t be entirely blamed on Yamamoto. His “Eastern Expedition Plan” is always unapproved, and he is reluctant to join the “Zhushima Fleet” during the “West Expansion” and “South Expansion”. Too much waste. It is possible to "go east" now, but isn't it too late?