Chapter 23 no less than a gamble

The result of the Augusta naval battle made Koga very angry.In this naval battle, the Japanese ship had an advantage: In terms of firepower, the two heavy cruisers were equipped with 203mm naval guns, but they couldn't beat the "six-inch machine gun" of the American ship; Nothing. Koga attributed all this to Omori's poor command. He immediately dismissed Omori, and sent Lieutenant General Kurita Takeo to lead a team south from Trukpo to restore the defeat caused by Omori. On November 4, a U.S. reconnaissance plane spotted the Kurita formation heading to Rabaul for refueling, and issued an enemy report in time.

The Kurita formation was a more powerful cruiser-destroyer formation, consisting of 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers.At this time, the Merrell formation was replenishing fuel and ammunition in Purvis Bay. The journey was too long, and even if they arrived, they would be outnumbered.To replenish the troops, all the heavy cruisers have been recalled to the Central Pacific by Nimitz. Halsey seemed to have seen the scene of the Kurita formation rampaging and bloodbathing Cape Torokina. He felt unprecedented pressure: "During my entire tenure as the commander-in-chief of the South Pacific, this is the most critical moment I have faced."

In desperation, Halsey remembered one thing.Just 16 months ago, MacArthur had proposed a bold combat plan, that is, to send an aircraft carrier force into the Solomon Sea to attack the Japanese ships anchored in Rabaul.MacArthur originally did not control the aircraft carrier force, and the Pacific Fleet, which controlled the aircraft carrier force, ignored it, so the plan was shelved. Right now, it just so happens that the US Fifth Fleet (the Central Pacific Force) in Pearl Harbor has an aircraft carrier brigade in the hands of Halsey, but its scale is not large. There are only two aircraft carriers in total-the "Saratoga" and Light aircraft carrier "Princeton".

The "Princeton" is an aircraft carrier converted from a light cruiser before the war. The number of aircraft and aircraft maintenance capabilities are very limited. In fact, only the old gun "Saratoga" can make people feel at ease.It was no less than a gamble to let them go deep and dangerous, and Halsey's son was serving on one of the aircraft carriers at the time. Even if he was called "the bull", the ideological struggle was very fierce. The success or failure of "Operation Cherry Blossom", and even the success or failure of the South Pacific War, depended on whether the Kurita formation could be stopped.After a period of silence, Halsey finally gave the order to set sail: "I really would rather the two aircraft carriers be damaged, as long as they are not lost, but I can't tolerate our people being wiped out at Cape Torokina, while We stood by and rubbed our hands."

Halsey's chief of staff noticed that at that moment, Halsey became very old and "looked 150 years old." On November 5, under the command of Major General Sherman, the aircraft carrier force with the "Saratoga" and "Princeton" as the core set off and sailed to the northern part of the Solomon Sea about 230 nautical miles southeast of Rabaul. 97 carrier-based aircraft flew out to Rabaul.Sherman did not leave a single aircraft escort, the carrier was protected by fighter jets from the Wella Lavela base.His luck was also good, there were showers and fog in the northern Solomon Sea, and the carrier happened to hide in it.

However, the sky in Rabaul was clear. Two hours ago, the Kurita formation had just arrived in Rabaul. The harbor was crowded with ships, and the U.S. carrier-based aircraft immediately launched an attack. Rabaul turned pale with fright, and quickly intercepted it with anti-aircraft artillery and "Zero".Taking advantage of the escorting "Hellcat" and "Zero" fighting planes, the dive bombers and torpedo planes passed through the brown anti-aircraft fire and dealt a devastating blow to the Kurita formation. There were four heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and Two destroyers were seriously damaged.

Only 10 U.S. planes were lost, while 25 Japanese planes were shot down.This raid scared the cautious Koga enough. Although he knew that there was a U.S. aircraft carrier parked near Rabaul, such a large-scale raid made him think that the U.S. aircraft carrier must be escorted by powerful fighters. An ant may shake a tree, and it is overwhelmed. Fearing that his heavy cruiser would be hit again, Koga recalled the scarred Kurita formation to Truk without sending planes to search and attack. Koga was timid and shy, but someone suddenly became excited. This person was Lieutenant General Ozawa who had strongly opposed pushing the first flight forward.

Since the retreat of Guadalcanal, there has been no major aircraft carrier battle in the Pacific.Affected by factors such as the fuel crisis, the United Fleet was unable to engage in a major war, and the aircraft carriers could only be parked in the port. The American "Time" magazine once listed Koga as the cover character in 1943, with a small line below: "His fleet is in where?" The aircraft carrier was not used, and the carrier-based aircraft had to go to another route. The first flight battle returned to China for training, and the second flight battle was transferred to land. After "miserable struggles", they were finally wiped out.What surprised Ozawa was that during this period, the news of the US aircraft carrier force was completely cut off.He judged that the aircraft carrier flight team of the US military should also be undergoing intensive training and ready to go.Moreover, Ozawa also heard that although the Pacific Fleet lost most of its aircraft carriers last year, it has built a new batch of giant aircraft carriers this year, which made him both surprised and suspicious.

It's hard to guess charades, because you don't know how far the other party has grown.A full nine months have passed, and Ozawa couldn't help being excited when the US aircraft carrier suddenly appeared. They were killed according to the official law, and starved to death according to the Buddhist law.It's wrong to act rashly like Koga, but it's even more wrong if you see that it's not cheap.If Ozawa wants to find this US aircraft carrier force, one will fight one, and two will fight two. In this case, a trip to Rabaul is worthwhile.