Chapter 78 The general left the battlefield due to illness

After the raid on the Marshall Islands, some staff officer with poor imagination came up with a bad idea. He organized the Halsey Fleet into the 13th Task Force and assigned it the task of "13th Long-range Attack". "13" is a very unlucky number in the West, not to mention "Double 13", no sane sailor is willing to set off under such circumstances.Halsey was very angry when he heard about it, and immediately sent the chief of staff to the Pacific Fleet Headquarters to protest. The date of departure of the port was brought forward by one day. People who often need to go to sea are superstitious. Yamamoto is so, and so is Halsey.Although the designation was changed, Halsey still encountered a series of unlucky things since then: several attacks were thunderous and rainy, and the results were not satisfactory. Finally, he encountered the Battle of the Coral Sea and was unable to catch up with the battle.

Only the Tokyo Air Raid was left to talk about, but it was not a perfect pleasure for Halsey, because it was the army bombers that dropped the bombs on the Japanese mainland in the end, not Halsey's ship-based bombers. machine. Unbeknownst to Halsey, none of this was the pinnacle of bad luck. As early as during the air raid on Tokyo, Halsey developed a rash all over his body, and his body was unbearably itchy. He tried all the suggested treatments, but none of them worked. Persisted, had to go to the hospital for examination. After the doctor's examination, he was diagnosed as "systemic dermatitis". The etiology was preliminarily estimated to be caused by high mental stress and tropical sun exposure. He had to be hospitalized immediately without further delay.

Halsey dragged his body and insisted on seeing Nimitz before being hospitalized. When Nimitz saw Halsey, he saw at a glance that the doctor's request for hospitalization was reasonable-Halsey's whole body had been deformed, not only had black eye circles, but was also very emaciated, and even his military uniform It looked empty. It's no wonder that for six months, except for a short stay in port, this general has never disarmed his armor or unsaddled his horse, and commanded the ship. He worked so hard that even the iron man had to collapse. Halsey became sick from overwork and could no longer continue to lead the army to fight, which made Nimitz's heart cold.Although some people suspected that Fletcher was ineffective in command in the Battle of the Coral Sea, Nimitz could only decide to let him continue as commander-in-chief.

Task Force 16 was still short of a commander, and Nimitz asked Halsey to recommend a replacement, and Halsey recommended Spruance. Spruance had previously served as the commander of the cruiser fleet. Although he was not well-known, Nimitz had a good impression of him. Now Halsey strongly recommended him and immediately appointed him. Halsey just bid farewell to his beloved battlefield. He regarded being forced to give up command operations this time as "the most painful disappointment in his life". After that, he covered himself with ointment and took a boat to the United States for special treat.

Fletcher's Task Force 17 arrived at Pearl Harbor one day late. The reason for its late arrival was naturally related to the injury of the "Yorktown". The future Battle of Midway will inevitably be a battle between aircraft carriers and aircraft carriers just like the Battle of the Coral Sea.The Pacific Fleet originally had 5 aircraft carriers. In addition to the "Enterprise" and "Bumblebee" of the 16th Task Force, the 17th Task Force has lost "Lexington", and the "Yorktown" is riddled with holes. repair. The "Saratoga", which was overhauled on the west coast of the United States, has been repaired, but it is far away in South America, and it is difficult to arrive in the Central Pacific to participate in the war as scheduled.

Even a clever wife can’t make porridge without rice. Faced with the dilemma that only two aircraft carriers can participate in the war, Nimitz jumped in a hurry. He even put down his big brother’s face and sent an IOU to the British Admiralty, hoping to borrow an aircraft carrier. use. The British's reply was polite and priceless: "We can't borrow one. We also need to protect the safety of the British Empire." This was the most nerve-wracking stage for Nimitz. He is not a person who is easily nervous, but in the days before the Battle of Midway, he suddenly suffered from insomnia and his eyes were red.

The only hope can only be pinned on "York City".Except that the mainframe was not damaged, "York City" was covered in bruises. Some people estimated that it would take three months to repair it. Fletcher was relatively optimistic, but he also said that it would take at least two weeks, and he could no longer catch up with the upcoming battle. Nimitz worked as a naval engineer and was no layman in warship restoration.Before seeing "York City", he judged from the description in the telegram that the restoration would not take three months, but whether it would take two weeks would depend on the actual situation.

On May 27, 1942, the anchor day of the Japanese mobile unit was also the day when "Yorktown" returned to Pearl Harbor.Nimitz boarded the "Yorktown" and personally inspected the hull. The thrusters and elevators of "Yorktown" are good, and the wooden flight deck has been repaired on the way back.The cabin that has been pierced by the bomb needs to be repaired. The others are just ugly and do not affect operations and safety. They can be ignored in special periods. Nimitz judged with the eyes of an expert, so it should not take two weeks to deal with it, but a few days will be enough.He turned around and gave an order to the maintenance department: "Do everything possible to fix it within three days!"

The maintenance department acted immediately.In less than an hour, welding tools, steel plates, and other materials were gathered in the dock, and a large number of mechanics flocked to them. Before the cables on the ship were fastened, there was a sound of clanging and knocking on the ship's deck. The entire Pearl Harbor was mobilized in an emergency. Both the mechanics and the crew were all engaged in the repair work against the clock. Even Nimitz sometimes wore waist-length trousers and boots to conduct on-site command in the dock. The hard work paid off, and a miracle was born. It took only a little more than two days for "Yorktown" to miraculously recover.Of course, it is not completely improved. For example, the speed has been greatly reduced, only half of the original, but the requirements of Nimitz are not high, and it is OK to be able to sail and take off and land the plane.

Nimitz heaved a sigh of relief. Although the participation of three aircraft carriers was still insufficient, everyone had tried their best and could no longer make up even half of them. He summoned Rocheford to ask the exact date when the combined fleet would attack Midway, but Rocheford could not answer.