Chapter 194 Bait

It was obvious that on June 14th, French had given up all the ideas of taking advantage of the situation.

His tactics are very simple: the fleet entered the Coral Sea from the Tasman Sea under the cover of the shore-based aviation, and then moved near Australia, using carrier-based aviation to cooperate with strategic aviation to attack the Solomon Islands, and the shore-based fighter jets provided air defense cover for the fleet.

To put it bluntly, the fleet played the role of advancing air force bases and solved the problem of insufficient range of shore-based fighter jets.

However, French did not give up the hope of a decisive victory and made necessary arrangements for this.

In his opinion, it only takes two days at most, the carrier-based aviation and strategic aviation can destroy the air bases on the Solomon Islands, complete the most important strike mission, and then go deep into the Coral Sea to fight the Chinese fleet. Therefore, all he needs is two days. During these two days, the Chinese fleet must be kept on other places, such as the New Hebrides. For this reason, France let the shore-based aviation force bomb Ende Island and destroy the Chinese Marines long-range artillery on the island.

The troops and then dispatched transport fleets to the New Hebrides. In this way, it is easy for the Chinese army to think that the US fleet will cover the fleet to the New Hebrides and then enter the Coral Sea from the east. In order to fight the US fleet, the Chinese fleet will definitely move eastward and guard near the New Hebrides. By the time the Chinese fleet commander understood what was going on, the US fleet had entered the Coral Sea and began to bomb the Solomon Islands.

Of course, this tactic is not foolproof.

First, the US fleet cannot expose its whereabouts in advance, and cannot be discovered by Chinese submarines guarding the south of the Coral Sea at least until the night of the fifteenth day. Secondly, the operation to attack the Solomon Islands must be decisive and quick to ensure that all air bases on the archipelago are destroyed within a specified time. Finally, and the most critical, that is, the Chinese fleet can enter the Coral Sea from the north of the New Hebrides Islands within one day.

You must know that the US military will definitely not be able to destroy all air bases on the Solomon Islands in one day.

In this way, the US fleet is likely to be hit by the Chinese fleet when attacking the Solomon Islands. Therefore, France must make correct arrangements for the combat use of carrier-based aviation, leave enough air defense fighters on the second day of the battle, and be prepared to be attacked first.

In fact, this was also the most effective tactic French could adopt at that time.

After the war, many people believed that French's tactics were too conservative, which was the main reason why the US military missed the opportunity in this naval battle. In the eyes of these people, French should lead a fleet to the New Hebrides, bypass the Chinese Navy's submarine cordon from the east of the Fiji Islands, then sail north, then turn south from near Nauru, and raid the unprepared Chinese fleet from the north.

You should know that during the entire battle, the Chinese fleet did not pay attention to the north.

The problem is that if French really wants to fight like this, he will probably suffer even more severe failures.

The reason is very simple. The US fleet sailed in a large circle to Nauru. Even if the entire journey is maintained at a speed of 45 knots, it will take more than four days. In other words, it will not be possible to reach Nauru until June 17, so it can attack the Chinese fleet 2,000 kilometers away as early as the early morning of June 18. According to Mu Haoyang's deployment, if the US fleet has not appeared by June 16, it will strengthen the reconnaissance efforts in the northern part of the Fiji Islands. By June 17, the Chinese Navy will definitely be alert and will expand the search range accordingly. In other words, the US fleet may have been exposed in the early morning of June 18, and it is unlikely that it will attack the Chinese fleet.

Of course, there is another key factor.

Even if the US fleet reaches the vicinity of Nauru and successfully attacks the Chinese fleet, the possibility of achieving major results is not very high. You should know that the attack power problem of the US fleet has not been solved, and the determination to damage the Chinese fleet alone is very slim. If the Chinese fleet is not severely damaged, the situation of the US fleet will be extremely embarrassing, because near Nauru, the US fleet will not be able to obtain enough air cover. The result is that France either ventures to return to the southwest Pacific or retreat to Shaway.

The former is likely to put the US fleet in a desperate situation, because the Chinese fleet, knowing that it is impossible to catch up with the US fleet, will definitely concentrate its efforts to block the waters to the southwest Pacific and strive to intercept the US fleet on its way back to the southwest Pacific. If the latter is chosen, it means that French's combat operations in the southwest Pacific will be completely failed, Guadalcanal will inevitably be occupied by the Chinese army, and the US Navy will also lose the opportunity to return to the southwest Pacific.

It can be seen from this that the key is not whether it can attack the Chinese fleet, but whether it can severely damage the Chinese fleet.

Direct entry into the Coral Sea has an extremely prominent advantage, that is, the US fleet can fight under the cover and support of shore-based aviation forces.

In fact, this is the only way to solve the problem of combating capabilities.

You should know that with the US military's strike capabilities, only when the carrier-based aviation and strategic aviation fight in concert, strategic bombers launch an attack first, and then enter at the same time, can they be sure to severely damage the Chinese fleet, and other attack tactics are not absolutely sure.

It can be said that it was precisely because of this issue that France decided to enter the Coral Sea directly.

Obviously, Mu Haoyang complicated the problem at that time.

At that time, the only one who really wanted to be the opponent was Tong Shaoyun.

On June 14, the main reason for the dispute between Tong Shaoyun and Gong Jifei was that Tong Shaoyun believed that the US fleet would enter the Coral Sea directly, and would not go to the New Hebrides, nor would it detour the Fiji Islands. Gong Jifei believed that the US fleet would detour the Fiji Islands the most likely.

On the fifteenth day, it seemed that Gong Jifei's guess was proven.

On that day, the US Air Force resumed air strike operations and launched two attacks in the morning and afternoon, dispatching more than 600 bombers and nearly 2,000 fighter jets. This is also the day when the US Air Force has dispatched the highest intensity in the Coral Sea since the US fleet arrived in the Southwest Pacific.

In the evening, the U.S. fleet left the Port of Wellington.

When he received the news, Gong Jifei immediately concluded that the US fleet was sailing northeast and would meet with the fleet, and then separate from the fleet to the south of the New Hebrides. The fleet would bypass the Fiji Islands and provide air cover for the fleet heading to the New Hebrides during this period. At that time, Gong Jifei also believed that the US fleet would launch a sneak attack when the Chinese fleet attacked the fleet.

For this reason, Gong Jifei asked the Second Fleet to stay.

Interestingly, until this time, Tong Shaoyun still believed that the US fleet would not go to the Fiji Islands, and that fleet was just a bait.

At that time, Tong Shaoyun mentioned a very critical point, that is, the intelligence agency had proved that the fleet departed from Wellington was the An27 fleet that arrived on June 6. This fleet departed from the port of Long Beach in the United States and transported about four million tons of various materials to New Zealand. When it returned, it mainly transported crops, minerals and food produced in New Zealand. The destination was San Francisco in the United States. In other words, the fleet was carrying combat materials that could not be used in the New Hebrides Islands, and there were not so many combat materials available in New Zealand.

Why transport daily necessities to the New Hebrides?

Even if the US military cares about the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers stationed in the New Hebrides and more than one million civilians living on the archipelago, there is no need to use a fleet of more than 30 large transport ships to deliver the supplies that are not in short supply at this time.

In fact, there is no port in the New Hebrides to accept this fleet.

Don’t forget that Port Viagra is blocked by a shipwreck. The US military spent a lot of effort to open the waterway, which can only provide ships with a displacement of less than 50,000 tons. However, in the An27 fleet, no transport ship has a displacement of less than 100,000 tons, so it cannot enter Port Viagra.

These clues made Tong Shaoyun firmly believe that the US fleet would not go to the New Hebrides Islands at all.

However, Gong Jifei still believed in his judgment. Although he also admitted that Tong Shaoyun's statement made sense, there was one thing that Tong Shaoyun could not explain, that is, the US military released this bait in order to attack the Chinese fleet so that the US fleet could take the opportunity to attack. In this way, the US fleet would definitely move near the fleet and be deployed when the fleet headed to the New Hebrides Islands.

It can be said that this is definitely not a blind worry.

You should know that the maximum speed of the US fleet is forty-five knots, and it can last for more than ten days at this speed, while the speed of the transport fleet is around twenty knots. In other words, the US fleet has a fast enough speed to complete combat deployment without slowing down.

If this is true, the US fleet will definitely appear near the New Hebrides.

At that time, Tong Shaoyun also admitted that there was such a possibility, but he felt that the possibility of the US fleet entering the Coral Sea from the Tasman Sea was greater.

You should know that even if French intends to attack the Chinese fleet, he may not necessarily go to the Fiji Islands. It is entirely possible to enter the Coral Sea directly, and then launch a surprise attack from the rear of the Chinese fleet when the Chinese fleet strengthens its search and surveillance efforts in the Fiji Islands.

Unfortunately, Gong Jifei is the fleet commander.

According to Mu Haoyang's appointment, before contacting the US fleet, Tong Shaoyun must obey Gong Jifei's command and shall not take action without authorization.

As a result, on the night of the fifteenth day, the First Fleet moved about two hundred kilometers northeast.

Interestingly, Gong Jifei did not let Tong Shaoyun move, but agreed to Tong Shaoyun's request, that is, to let the Second Fleet stay south of Ende Island.

This arrangement is related to the daytime battle.

In the afternoon, the US military focused on bombing Ente Island, destroying the Marines' artillery positions, and both long-range artillery battalions lost their combat capabilities. Fortunately, there were four large-caliber coil electromagnetic guns that were not blown up, so the Marines decided to try to get these four electromagnetic guns to fight again. Gong Jifei-yong's second fleet stayed mainly to cover the Marines on Ente Island. You must know that if the US military found that the artillery on the island was still fighting, it would definitely

When bombing Ente Island again, maybe small ships would transport ground troops to Ente Island. Before this, the US military had used night as cover many times to allow small ships to transport assault troops to islands controlled by the Chinese army, causing great trouble for the Marines. At the beginning of the year, the US special forces even blew up a large arsenal on New Georgia Island, causing thousands of tons of ammunition to explode, and the violent vibration could be detected even Guam thousands of kilometers away.

Chapter 194 Bait
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