Volume 2: The crown and the hat are all over the capital, and the spirit is full of energy and enter the foggy city Chapter 91: Strength Card (Part 2)
Subtitle of this chapter: After all this trouble, it almost became "The Man in the High Castle"!
The first aircraft carrier of the U.S. Navy was the Langley (CV-1), which was converted from the coal carrier Jupiter. During , it had been converted into a seaplane carrier (AV-3) and was sunk by the Japanese.
The second "Lexington (CV-2)" and the third "Saratoga (CV-3)" are both Lexington-class aircraft carriers. These two sister ships were converted from battlecruisers that were started in 1920.
The fourth is the light aircraft carrier "Ranger (hull number CV-4)", which is the first specially designed aircraft carrier of the US Navy. After its completion, it served in the Atlantic Fleet.
After that came the Yorktown-class aircraft carriers, but during their construction the "Yorktown scandal" broke out, and due to various (Yuan) party (general) reasons, until the Pearl Harbor incident broke out, Yorktown (hull number CV-5) and Enterprise (hull number CV-6) were still being fitted out on the slipway and had not yet been put into service, while the third Hornet of the same class had just had its keel laid.
Therefore, after the Pearl Harbor incident, the Pacific Fleet was left with only one aircraft carrier, the USS Lexington.
The airport, oil depot, dock, pier, repair factory and headquarters in Pearl Harbor were severely damaged, and the U.S. military was no longer able to repair and maintain large ships in the short term. At that time, the U.S. military was also unsure whether the Japanese would launch a second wave of attacks. Therefore, the "Lexington" had to cover all the ships that could be moved to San Diego, the largest naval base on the Pacific coast.
However, the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Isoroku Yamamoto, still refused to give up. He ignored the advice of his staff and took great risks to send the First Carrier Division led by Jisaburo Ozawa to hunt him down..
The USS Lexington bravely took on the role of rearguard and, with the cooperation of the submarine force, successfully blocked this fast formation.
However, the "Lady Le" was also severely damaged. Fortunately, Major Heinze Chandler, the commander of the damage control department, remained calm and injected carbon dioxide into the oil and gas pipelines, successfully extinguishing the fire in the cabin caused by the leakage of aviation gasoline.
In the place where Chuis heard the news, there was evidence that he had received a telegram before the war, on which CO2 was written. This telegram was sent from a telegraph office near Yuan's manor in Los Angeles.
When the Lexington arrived in San Diego, everyone was stunned. The bridge was on fire and smoking, and it was unrecognizable. There were several large holes on the deck, and two unexploded torpedoes were stuck in the waterline. The carrier-based aircraft were almost completely destroyed. One-third of the crew on the ship died, another third was injured, and half of the officers, including the captain, were killed.
Heintje was lucky enough to survive and was only slightly injured, but the only aircraft carrier in service had to be towed into the dock for major repairs.
In order to boost morale, the crew members who had already made great contributions became American heroes promoted by the government. Major Chandler not only received the President's commendation, but was also promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and immediately became the deputy captain of the newly launched USS Enterprise.
The handsome lieutenant colonel was still unmarried at the time. After his photo appeared in major American newspapers, countless love letters flooded in from all over the United States.
But this kind of gossip cannot change America's dire situation in the Pacific.
The Japanese Navy did not land on the Hawaiian Islands immediately. Instead, it adopted the approach While carrying out conventional bombing on the military facilities on the Hawaiian Islands, it sent landing troops to occupy the surrounding islands.
At the same time, the Japanese military launched an operational plan to capture Australia, and this time the Japanese Army did not refuse.
The Hawaiian Island is so important to both sides that the US Navy, knowing that the other side is surrounding the point and attacking the reinforcements, has no choice but to send ships and personnel collected from various places to the battlefield for support.
Because they had achieved a strategic advantage greater than their best expectations before the war, the Combined Fleet, which was feeling a little dizzy from top to bottom, summoned domestic reserve forces to kill these moths that were flying into the fire.
This series of battles is known in history as the "Battle of Hawaii."
The US military's "add fuel to the fire" tactic naturally failed. Not only did it make the Pacific Fleet, which had already suffered heavy losses, even worse, it also dealt a heavy blow to American morale.
It is said that even Mr. Yuan Yanshu, who was in Los Angeles at the time, was very worried, so he had an inspiration in his mind and wrote the science fiction masterpiece "The Man in the High Castle" published after the war. In the book, America really surrendered to the Axis powers.
Of course, in real history, the United States certainly did not surrender. On the contrary, with a much stronger industrial base than Japan, the Pacific Fleet gritted its teeth and survived the initial unfavorable situation, and the goddess of victory began to tilt towards them.
Throughout the Pacific War, Heinze Chandler's performance can be described as just okay. Although he did not have any flashes of inspiration or particularly heroic performances, he was generally a commander who could carry out tactical tasks perfectly.
Especially after becoming the captain of the aircraft carrier USS Midway, Colonel Chandler unexpectedly became a rather conservative naval officer. One of his mantras was, if one more death could get me 100 points, then I just want to pass .
His former superior, William Frederick Halsey, nicknamed "Bull", often denounced him as a coward in public. Other high-ranking naval officers also disliked Captain Heintje because he had a catchphrase that he would rather consume 10,000 tons of explosives than a single soldier.
However, he won the love of his subordinates, especially the pilots and the lower-level soldiers. In fact, since he became the boatswain of the Chaumont, he has always been quite protective of the soldiers who violated the rules, and turned a blind eye to the violations of discipline by his subordinates. Moreover, if the soldiers asked him for help in any difficulties, he would generally not refuse. Sometimes, he would even take the initiative to lend a hand.
You should know that the US military strictly implements the separation of officers and soldiers because they believe that too much contact between officers and soldiers will lead to some adverse consequences.
However, Heintje's unconventional approach won him a large number of loyal followers at the grassroots level. Therefore, whether during the war or after the war, the naval officers and soldiers under Heintje almost obeyed his orders and were even willing to break military discipline for him.
It is said that some soldiers had conspired to murder officers who opposed Heintje . So Heintje Chandler became the leader of the largest treasure hunt in history...
——Excerpt from Dan Brown's "SCP Code"
