With the development of communication technology, important news from the battlefield is no longer as susceptible to blockade as before, especially when one of them deliberately does it, the speed and scope of transmission of war reports may be beyond people's imagination.

Less than an hour after the battle, the news that the US and British fleets lost the three main battleships of the US and the UK caused an uproar at the top of the US and Britain. Although the destruction of the Hart fleet did not reverse the strength comparison between the two sides on the Atlantic Ocean, such an incredible defeat is undoubtedly worthy of attention and vigilance. If the fundamental problem cannot be found and a solution is found, there may be more and heavier losses waiting for the US and British army in the future, and the favorable situation that tens of thousands of soldiers exchanged blood and lives will no longer exist...

On this day, U.S. Navy Secretary General William Vicky Pratt was accompanying President Franklin Roosevelt to inspect the submarine base in Boston. Hearing bad news from the front line, Roosevelt immediately stopped inspecting and ordered Pratt to summon Rear Admiral Sherman, who was in charge of intelligence, to try to find the root of the disaster from him.

After analyzing the common reasons, Sherman evasively revealed a message that the Irish king personally led a fleet to fight.

Admiral Pratt seemed to have never received such a report before, and he asked in surprise: "How reliable is this news?"

"In fact, this news has not been confirmed yet, and there is no other information to prove it." Major General Sherman replied with a dismay.

Although this failure has nothing to do with him, as the helmsman of the US Navy and the chairman of the joint conference responsible for coordinating US-UK naval operations, Prat was to blame, so he asked a little annoyed: "So you neither report to me nor remind the fleet commander ahead in time?"

Major General Sherman quickly explained: "Yes, sir. During the war, we receive a huge amount of information every day, and then spend a lot of manpower to screen and identify. According to convention, we will only take corresponding measures if we have been verified or have a reliability of more than 75%, or if the value is particularly important."

"Is the importance of this information not in line with the third condition you just mentioned?" General Prat asked back.

Sherman's sideburns had begun to sweat: "Yes, sir, our staff did neglect this."

Before Pratt could continue to bombard the other party, Roosevelt, who had been president for only more than three months, waved his hand: "A person who can find key information from complex affairs is excellent, and even if he fails to do this, it cannot prove that his ability or vision is wrong. I think everything General Sherman is doing is performing his normal duties, and there is no need to be too harsh. Now what we care most about is what the enemy will do next, and how we should deal with it."

After hearing this, Platt's expression became even more severe. He lowered his head and thought for a while, and said to Roosevelt with a serious expression: "You know, our plan is to use Lieutenant General Hart's advance fleet as bait to lure the Allied main ships out of the waters of San Miguel and Santa Maria, so that they can lose their land aviation protection umbrellas, and then severely damage them with naval aviation. With Hart's character, once it finds that the situation is not good, it will definitely not be stubborn and forceful, so none of us would have expected that his advance fleet would be hit in a battle with a small difference in strength. Something must be wrong here. Now we have no bait, but Standley's main fleet and Brock's aircraft carrier formation are still acting as planned. This may be the worst thing at present, and they must be notified to change the plan immediately."

Roosevelt said leniently: "In my personal understanding, General Standley is a steady, determined and flexible person. He will definitely change his plans in time unless he does not receive bad news that Hart's fleet was severely damaged."

This is a sure sentence, but Pratt looked at Sherman and both of them looked strange.

Roosevelt noticed their expressions and asked back, "Is this possible?"

Pratt said: "To prevent the enemy from discovering whereabouts, the Standley fleet has been radio silent since its departure. So far, there has not been a telegram sent by them, and it is impossible to determine whether they have received the message. Although the chance of such a situation is very small, it is not absolutely impossible. To ensure that we immediately transmit the message through the reserve frequency and the British frequency. The three frequencies cannot be interfered with at the same time."

Roosevelt was certainly able to figure out the possibility of extreme pessimism from the tactful and official explanation of the Navy Minister of Operations. He couldn't help but hold his forehead with his hands: "Oh, God bless! If we lose in the Atlantic Ocean, the German fleets and planes will soon appear in our eastern waters. They will establish a bridgehead for land offensives in Argentina, and by then we will have to accept the harsh conditions for Russia and Japan to participate in the war and hope that they can compete with the Germans on the battlefield."

Pratt stood up and said, "Mr. President, we will not let this theoretical possibility become a reality easily, I will make arrangements now."

Roosevelt made a gesture of self-indulgence. When Pratt left the room, he said to Major General Sherman: "I hope our worst plan will always be just plans."

Sherman curled his lips to express his understanding and agreement.

Next, Roosevelt was silent for a while, and then said, "Tell me about the amazing God of Germanic Battle! How much do you know about him? With your eyes, does he really have the ability to fight as rumored?"

Sherman took a deep breath and replied in a gentle tone: "We should firmly believe in a philosophy that there is no one in the world who will never fail. No matter how great the commander is, he has his own weaknesses in character, and this strong man who is highly respected by the people of Germany and Ireland is no exception. Over the years, we have carefully studied a large amount of information related to him, including the papers he wrote during his service in the German Navy, and the textbooks he guided the Irish Navy instructors to compile. He found that most of his military adventures were based on meticulous thinking, that is, he considered the various situations that might occur on the battlefield in advance, and then chose a route with the lowest cost and the greatest benefit."

"So he is a very smart commander," Roosevelt pondered.

Sherman nodded, "Yes, Mr. President, he is very smart and very cunning, and there is almost no second commander who is as good at mechanical technology as he does. Imagine who knows the warships he commands better than designers?"

Roosevelt fell silent again, realizing that he might have made a fatal mistake from the beginning, that is, to ignore the god of killing hidden in the enemy camp, but as Pratt said, who would have expected that the Irish monarch would personally take charge of the battle in the rain of bullets on the battlefield?

After a while, Admiral Pratt returned to the room and reported to the president that the password telegram had been sent out, neither Standley nor Bullock had any response, and the British side had not received telegrams from ships participating in the combat operations recently. It seemed that all ships were strictly enforcing battlefield discipline.

After flying over half of the Atlantic Ocean, Platt's telegram was interpreted and printed by the automatic decoder on the ship, and submitted it to Standley and Brock by the communications officer.

As Roosevelt speculated, after hearing the defeat of Hart's fleet, Standley quickly adjusted his combat plan. The main fleet of the coalition forces stopped advancing eastward, and at the same time, it dispatched a large-scale carrier-based aircraft to attack the combat formation that appeared near the Allied escort fleet.

The aircraft carrier formation commanded by General Claude Brock originally advanced in line with Standley's main fleet. After the battle situation changed unexpectedly, he followed the instructions sent by Standley through the light signal to lead the aircraft carrier formation to move forward alone.

More than 300 nautical miles northeast of San Miguel Island, the independent-class aircraft carrier Princeton, the Glorious-class aircraft carrier Victory and the Fearful, and the auxiliary aircraft carriers modified by merchant ships, Randolph, Richard, Parker and Lynch formed a considerable aircraft carrier formation. This is almost all the HNA ships that the US and British navies can find at present, but it is not so much a desperate bet in despair, but it is more like a hope to give it a try. Under the stimulation of the war, the US's industrial economy has turned into wartime.

On the east and west coasts and Canada's main ports, shipyards of all sizes are stepping up the construction of various military ships. As long as the US and British Allied Forces persist for another 9-10 months, the first batch of wartime aircraft carriers will be completed one after another. By then, the advantages of the US and British Navy in the Atlantic will be consolidated and expanded, and the new 40,000-ton fleet aircraft carriers have also started construction. The US Navy ordered 12 ships in one go and the Commonwealth Army ordered 4 ships. When these big guys are completed and put into service, even if the allies do their best, they may not be able to compete with their opponents.

Because the flagship "York City" was damaged and returned to repair in the Second Battle of Texel, Claude Brock moved to the heavy cruiser "Chicago" to continue to command the coalition's HNA ships. In the previous phase of the combat operation, the US and British aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft units were not as good as their opponents, but the losses were much greater. This made Brock feel a lot of pressure. It is said that the Admiralty Department intends to use 52-year-old Lieutenant General Kenneth Whiting to replace Brock. This person is the first captain of the US Navy's first aircraft carrier and is said to be more familiar with the aircraft carrier than anyone else. If you want to keep your position, strive to

To restore reputation in the battles that followed, Brock urgently needed a significant victory. After releasing the first wave of attack aircraft, he made the ships ready and waited for the war report to be sent back from the front. He decided the composition of the second wave of attack aircraft based on the combat situation. According to his vision, the first wave of attack aircraft may not be able to completely seize air supremacy. The second wave of aircraft still needs a considerable number of fighter aircraft escorts, but the result is far from what he expected. The enemy fleet only had a very small number of carrier-based fighter aircraft covers. It seems that the main aircraft carrier of the Allies did not ambush in that direction.
Chapter completed!