Admiral Spruins' judgment on the evening of September 26 (Hawaiian time) did not become a reality. On the battlefield of Christmas Island, there was no fierce sea and air battle during the day on September 27 and September 28.

The Japanese fleet and planes seemed to have disappeared into the air, allowing nine American battleships and cruisers to tilt tens of thousands of powerful high-explosive shells toward Christmas Island, destroying all the targets on the island that can be observed with planes. On the evening of the 28th, an underground oil depot containing tens of thousands of tons of aircraft gasoline was also detonated, creating a mushroom cloud that seemed to explode an atomic bomb. Even people on the USS Essex aircraft carrier, more than 100 nautical miles away, could see the smoke columns soaring into the sky.

"Haha, it's so pleasing to the eye. Get my camera quickly and I'm going to take it down!"

At this time, Spruins was standing on the platform of the aircraft carrier bridge, holding a camera in his hand, and taking a long shot at the mushroom-like smoke and dust in the distance.

Major General Browning beside him also looked very happy, "Admiral, the oil depot on Christmas Island was blown up. From the perspective of the smoke column, it should be a large oil depot of tens of thousands of tons... It is probably aviation gasoline. Now the Japanese devils have to feel distressed for several months."

Tens of thousands of tons of aviation gasoline are nothing for the United States. They have 260 million tons of oil to squander a year.

But for Japan, which only has more than 6 million tons of oil a year, tens of thousands of tons of aviation gasoline is definitely a huge asset!

"They will never dare to stock up on Christmas Island again," said Spruins. "It will even reduce the defense on Christmas Island, which will be very beneficial for our next step of occupying it."

Japan hoarded so much gasoline on Christmas Island to deal with the fierce sea and air war. Thousands of fighter jets of various models had to burn at least 1,000 tons of oil for one attack. Tens of thousands of tons of oil could only cope with dozens of attacks.

In the eyes of the elite staff of the Japanese Navy, the Christmas Island Battle will be the beginning of the final battle in Hawaii. It is entirely possible to fight last month, and the planes deployed on Christmas Island can at least fight hundreds of attack waves.

But the current result is much beyond their expectations. More than 400 aircraft were lost in just three attack waves (excluding the losses from the First Mass Fleet), and the pilot's reincarnation rate was as high as more than 50%! The Japanese planes on Christmas Island had to turn around in shame after just one day. The aviation gasoline that could not be taken away is now exploding due to the bombardment of naval guns.

This time I really lost the plane and the fuel!

"Sir, it seems that the Japanese planes will not be dispatched again, and they cannot afford to lose." General Myers Browning said, "It's better to start the second phase of the battle tonight."

According to the original plan, the 58th Special Mixed Fleet will be divided on the 29th at the latest if they have not been defeated by the Japanese.

"Okay," Spruins nodded, "Tonight... the main fleet retreats towards Panama; three brigades, including 58.0, 58.3 and 58.5, form the 58th Break Fleet, commanded by Major General Mitchell, the commander of the 58.5 aircraft carrier brigade."

The 58.0 Battalion is composed of three new battleships, the Iowa, New Jersey, and Washington; the 58.3 Cruiser Battalion is composed of two Baltimore-class heavy cruisers, six Cleveland-class light cruisers and two Oakland-class air defense cruisers; the 58.5 aircraft carrier battalion is composed of two large fleet aircraft carriers (Bumblebee, York City).

Therefore, the entire fleet of destruction is 3 battleships, 2 aircraft carriers and 10 cruisers. The scale is not very large, but the combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated. If Japan lets them ignore it, the traffic lines in the Western Pacific will not be destroyed but will be directly cut off, and even some islands that do not have enough aviation garrison may be bombarded.

If Japan wants to take down this fleet of destruction... it will take three Yamato classes to fight. However, the three American battleships are faster than the Yamato class, so it is not easy to catch up.

The air fleets of Bumblebee (Essex class) and York City will also be organized (drawn from other aircraft carriers), with a total of 170 commonly used 4u and 6, and there are 24 backup aircraft, and 10 escort cruisers are also "air defense ships". If you want to use air strikes, you have to take at least 500 elite pilots (captains), and they all have to fly carrier-based aircraft, because the fleet will not be close to the islands where a large number of Japanese aircraft are stationed.

If the Japanese Navy loses another 500 elite pilots, their aircraft carrier-based aircraft troops will be wiped out...

...

"Commander," Kizo Kumura trotted all the way into the cabin of Ozawa Jisaburo on the aircraft carrier "Shoka". "The reconnaissance plane found huge mushroom-shaped smoke emerging from Christmas Island, thousands of meters high!"

"I understand." Ozawa Jisaburo nodded slightly.

The oil depot on Christmas Island was destroyed as expected. Although the oil depot was strong, it could not withstand the bombardment of naval guns.

"There should be the Avici Hell on Christmas Island now?" Ozawa Jisaburo said to himself, "Then... tomorrow should be the day when the landing war officially begins."

"Yes," Komura nodded, "Commander Oshi and Major General Saito Yoshiji of the 43rd Division of the Army are preparing to fight a shattered battle."

"Take Dao Fight..." Ozawa Jisaburo sighed, "Oshiki Kwan is a rare aviation war expert."

Takijiro Oshiki is a veteran of Japanese carrier-based aircraft pilots. He joined the Kasumi Air Force shortly after he came out of the 40th period of the Navy. He has been working hard in the Japanese naval aviation department and is a real aviation expert. In Ozawa's view, it is meaningless to die on Christmas Island, because there is no airplane on Christmas Island now, so there is no need for aviation war experts. To fight the island, it is enough to have Army Major General Saito.

But Daxi was the commander of the fleet. He left Christmas Island at this time and escaped at the last minute. Even if there was an order from the military command, he could not leave out of the demeanor of the warrior.

"Where is the main force of the joint fleet?" Ozawa Shisaburo moved the topic from the sad Christmas Island to the main force of the joint fleet that was coming at full speed.

"It's still early, and we've only walked out of more than a thousand miles." Gucun said, "It seems we have to wait a few more days before we can launch the raid."

In order to arrive at the Christmas Island battlefield as soon as possible, Koga Fengichi was also spending his money this time! He took 9 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier, 10 heavy cruisers and dozens of other ships, and rushed from Japan to Christmas Island at a high speed of 20 knots. The speed of 20 knots is not an economic speed. Heavy oil alone is frightening, and he also ventured to take a straight line instead of the Z-shaped anti-submarine route.

But even this is the way, regardless of fuel consumption, it is not afraid of submarines. It takes 8-9 days to complete the journey of more than 4,100 nautical miles (you have to replenish fuel once in the middle), and it will not be possible to arrive from October 3rd to 4th, and now it is only 28th.

Ozawa Jisaburo nodded helplessly. Just as he was about to finish his conversation with the Kuncun and went out for a walk, suddenly a burst of rapid footsteps came, and then he heard the report of a fleet staff officer.

"Come in." Ozawa said.

"Hiss Commander, Chief of Staff," the staff member who came in looked happy and bowed to the two people in the cabin. "Good news, the American fleet has retreated from near Christmas Island, and Christmas Island has been saved!"

"ah?"

Ozawa and the Ancient Village were both stunned for the regret of being about to break up.

"Retreat?" Gucun asked, "Isn't it wrong? Why did Americans retreat?"

"It's absolutely impossible," the staff officer presented the telegram from Christmas Island with both hands. "It was the telegram from the 10th Fleet Command. The U.S. fleet stopped shelling an hour ago and left. The seaplane that took off from Palmyra Atoll (under command of the 10th Fleet) conducted a reconnaissance and confirmed that the U.S. fleet was away from Christmas Island."

What's going on? It's really gone?

Ozawa and Gucun looked at each other, and they felt a little like falling in fog.

"Commander," Gucun thought for a while and offered a reason that sounded reliable. "Can it be that the main fleet was discovered by American submarines?"

...

"It seems that the US fleet was really scared away by the main force of the joint fleet. In this battle, our Imperial Japanese Navy won a great victory..."

At 6 a.m. Tokyo time on September 30 (10 a.m. Hawaii time on the 29th), in the Japanese Navy Provincial War Room, Marshal Iroku Yamamoto announced the end of the victory of the Christmas Island battle... The Americans retreated and lost so many aircraft carriers and ships. Of course, they were losers, but there was not much joy in the combat room.

"It's extremely timid to retreat like this!"

"Yes, I'm not worthy of calling him a soldier at all!"

"The Americans can obviously fight again, why did they retreat? There will be no conspiracy, right?"

The staff members in the combat room started to whisper. Yamamoto Ioruku and Nagano Slim Sexy glanced at each other. Now the two of them looked very tired. Since the US fleet approached the Hawaiian Islands, they both had not had a good rest. They stayed in the Navy Department's war room all day and listened to news to discuss countermeasures. They both thought that a decisive battle would take place on Christmas Island, and they were extremely excited. Now that they heard the news of the American retreat, their tense nerves relaxed suddenly, and they felt only a wave of fatigue.

"You guys, although it's incredible, it's really confirmed after repeated reconnaissance. There should be no mistakes." Nagano Slim Soo said in a hoarse voice, "Maybe the real purpose of the Americans is to consume our fuel and elite pilots..."

Before he finished speaking, a staff officer rushed in and handed a telegram to Ito Kazuichi, whose eyes were covered with blood.
Chapter completed!