Chapter 1548 Fierce defeat (seeking monthly ticket)

Admiral Nimitz and Vice Admiral Halsey have both returned to the aircraft carrier USS Essex. As the lead ship of the "Essex-class" aircraft carrier, the "Essex" aircraft carrier was undoubtedly very lucky in this naval battle.

During the fierce naval battle, no German carrier-based aircraft attacked the aircraft carrier, allowing the aircraft carrier to survive the fierce naval battle safely. Even the entire U.S. Navy's No. 1 aircraft carrier formation lost only one aircraft carrier. Compared with several other aircraft carrier formations, their losses are very slight.

Of course, this is not because the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft group does not want to attack this aircraft carrier formation, but because this aircraft carrier formation is located on the westernmost side of the entire fleet. It is also the farthest away from the German Navy's aircraft carrier formation. Therefore, the carrier-based aircraft fleet of the German Navy did not use this aircraft carrier formation as the main target of attack.

Admiral Nimitz and Lieutenant General Halsey, who returned to the USS Essex, were not at all happy. Because they lost too much in this naval battle.

"General." Lieutenant General Halsey came to Admiral Nimitz's office.

"Has the battle damage been calculated?" Admiral Nimitz asked.

"Yes, General." Lieutenant General Halsey nodded.

"So, how much did we lose in this battle?" Admiral Nimitz asked.

Obviously, he knew the loss would be terrible, so he was ready for this result.

"General, we have sunk 15 aircraft carriers in this battle. Including 'Randolph', 'Ticonderoga', 'Lexington', 'Saratoga', 'Hancock', 'Hornet', 'Yorktown', 'Raider', 'Enterprise', 'Wasp', 'Princeton', 'Bellowood', 'Cawpen' USS, USS Independence and USS Monterey," Lt. Admiral Halsey reported.

Listening to the names of the sunk aircraft carriers one after another, Admiral Nimitz closed his eyes in pain. For him, these sunk aircraft carriers undoubtedly represent the strength of the US Navy and their hard work! But now, these aircraft carriers have all sunk into the sea. This makes their painstaking efforts over the years in vain!

"In terms of capital ships, we lost nine capital ships, including 'New Hampshire', 'Louisiana', 'Illinois', 'Wisconsin', 'Kentucky', 'South Dakota', 'Indiana' , 'Massachusetts' and 'Alabama'." Lieutenant General Halsey continued.

"Two 'Montana-class' battleships, three 'Iowa-class' battleships and four 'South Dakota-class' battleships!" Admiral Nimitz said helplessly.

In this naval battle, the U.S. Navy not only suffered heavy losses from the capital ship formation, but also suffered heavy losses from the aircraft carrier formation. It can be said that they lost a complete defeat. All ambitions were sent to the bottom of the cold Atlantic Ocean during this battle. It is almost impossible for them to compete with the German Navy for sea dominance in the Atlantic Ocean. Even, you have to worry about the German navy launching an attack on the east coast of the United States. This is not a good thing for the US Navy.

"In terms of cruisers and destroyers, we have a total of 19 heavy cruisers, 28 light cruisers and 63 destroyers sunk." Lieutenant General Halsey continued.

Admiral Nimitz nodded. Under the attack of the German Navy's capital ship formation and aircraft carrier formation, the U.S. Navy suffered extremely heavy losses. They have already paid extremely heavy losses in this battle.

"In terms of carrier-based aircraft, our losses are also very large. The carrier-based aircraft units on the 24 aircraft carriers are almost completely lost. The remaining number of carrier-based aircraft is less than 200." Lieutenant General Halsey said.

"Oh!" Admiral Nimitz sighed helplessly. No matter from which aspect, the U.S. Navy has suffered heavy losses. In a short period of time, they even lost the strength to compete with the German navy. Especially the loss of carrier-based aircraft and pilots makes it difficult for the U.S. Navy to recover its strength in a short period of time. It will be very difficult to compete with the German Navy again.

"General, we lost to the Germans again in this naval battle. They are stronger than we expected!" Lieutenant General Halsey couldn't help but say.

"How much damage have we done to the Germans?" Admiral Nimitz asked next.

"Preliminary estimates indicate that we sank one German aircraft carrier and one battleship, and severely damaged three German aircraft carriers and five capital ships. In terms of cruisers, we sank four German heavy cruisers and 13 light cruisers The destroyer probably sank 18 ships. In addition, some German cruisers and destroyers were severely damaged. In terms of carrier-based aircraft, the Germans lost about 600 to 700 aircraft. In addition, we also shot down 400 Germans. base aircraft. Overall, our losses were much greater than the German losses," Lt. Gen. Halsey said.

Admiral Nimitz nodded: "This is inevitable. Compared with the results we have achieved, our losses are too great. Those German warships that were severely damaged will appear in the Atlantic Ocean again in a short time . This is undoubtedly a great threat to us."

"Yes, General," Lieutenant General Halsey said.

"General, if we want to defeat the German navy in a short period of time and compete with them for sea dominance in the Atlantic Ocean, it may be impossible. Let alone threaten Europe." Lieutenant General Halsey continued.

"From now on, our main energy will have to be on the defense of the homeland. After returning to the United States, I will ask the shipyards to further speed up the construction of warships. We need more aircraft carriers to deal with Germany people," Admiral Nimitz said.

"Yes, General. If we can quickly get a batch of supplements, we may be able to hold the eastern coastline. In addition, the production of F4U fighters must also be accelerated. At the same time, the next level of more powerful carrier-based fighters also needs to be accelerated. Time to develop." Lieutenant General Halsey suggested.

Admiral Nimitz nodded: "In addition, we also need a special anti-aircraft cruiser. The German aircraft carrier is under the protection of the anti-aircraft cruiser, which makes the attack of our carrier-based aircraft crushed. We must also have such a warship!"

Lieutenant General Halsey took this very seriously. The power of the German Navy's air defense cruisers has made every US carrier-based aircraft pilot fearful of it.