Hawaii, Pearl Harbor.
Zhuge Weidao's residence is located next to a bay to the west of Pearl Harbor. Although it is also within the scope of Pearl Harbor, it is some distance from the bay that is the naval base of the Ming Dynasty's Pacific Fleet - although the entrance and exit of this Pearl Harbor is very It is narrow, but the layout inside is not small. There are islands, bays, and peninsulas. The total length of the coastline suitable for building docks and docks is forty to fifty kilometers. Not to mention the Pacific Fleet, even if all the "1,000 ships" of the Ming Dynasty were sent over, Pearl Harbor would definitely be able to accommodate them.
In addition, the entrance to Pearl Harbor is very narrow, less than 1 kilometer wide. It's the kind of terrain where once the fort is repaired, the large fleet inside can sit back and sleep peacefully. Moreover, the water in Pearl Harbor is very shallow, only a dozen meters deep, which is enough for large warships to float, but it is too shallow for submarines and air-dropped torpedoes... Of course, there are no air-dropped torpedoes now. This kind of thing, a torpedo weighing several hundred kilograms is still too heavy for current carrier-based aircraft.
So the interior of Pearl Harbor is indeed the home of the Grand Fleet!
According to the requirements of the Ming Dynasty's Navy Department, since the Kingdom of Hawaii was completely controlled by the Ming Dynasty, large-scale construction work began at Pearl Harbor. The fort at the entrance to Pearl Harbor, the military port dock and naval shipyard in Pearl Harbor, the oil depot, coal depot, ammunition depot on the shore, and various supply warehouses. There are also Pacific Fleet shore headquarters, large and small airports, military camps, Pacific Fleet camps, and living areas for officers, non-commissioned officers, and family members, all of which have been built in the past few years. get up.
By the time Zhuge Weidao led the Pacific Fleet over, although not all of these major projects were completed, they had already begun to take shape. The barracks, headquarters, living quarters for soldiers and non-commissioned officers, and the family members have all been built. Among them, Zhuge Weidao, the commander-in-chief's family, lived on a small peninsula at the bottom of a slender bay to the west of Pearl Harbor. Four Chinese-style garden villas were built on this peninsula, occupied by the admiral, deputy admiral, chief of staff of the Pacific Fleet and the commander-in-chief of the Pearl Harbor garrison respectively.
The current admiral of the Pacific Fleet is Zhuge Weidao, the deputy admiral is Chen Jian, the chief of staff is Li Kezhi, and the commander-in-chief of the Pearl Harbor garrison is Huang Shuren—all old acquaintances!
In addition, Guo Xiaobao, Wang Wen, Ling Zongjun, Yu Yang, and Ye Wu, all of whom have followed Zhuge Dao since the "Daoguang Printing" campaign, also have houses in the officer living area of Pearl Harbor. Only one Ma Xuchen did not follow him to Pearl Harbor because he was promoted to admiral of naval aviation.
Zhuge's wife and children were all brought to Pearl Harbor by him. He has Natalie, Daheikong, Nalandili, and Ali, a total of one wife, two concubines, and a maid. It is really enviable for others that the four women can still live happily together!
Before arriving at Pearl Harbor, Daheikong was already pregnant, and her belly had gradually swelled during this time. Zhuge Weidao's fourth child will be born this year, the twelfth year of Taiping.
As for Admiral Zhuge's fifth child, it has been arranged that Natalie will give birth to and raise it, so these days, he is working hard to get Natalie pregnant before he leads his team on a voyage next time... ....
...
"Where do you want to go on your next voyage, Brother Michiko? Is it to escort the Echigo division from Japan to Mexico, or to go south to the Marshall Islands to occupy Eniwetok Atoll?"
In addition, news from the Navy Ministry said that the first ship of the Guangdong-class aircraft carrier, the Guangdong, will enter service in our Pacific Fleet next month... Why not use it as your flagship next time you sail! "
Drinking tea in the living room of Zhuge Weidao's house and talking about the voyage was Huang Shuren, the commander-in-chief of the Pearl Harbor garrison.
During this time, Fleet Vice Admiral Chen Jian and Fleet Chief of Staff Li Kezhi went on a mission and led a detachment of the Pacific Fleet to escort the troop transport to Mexico.
When they returned, it was Zhuge Weidao's turn to go on a mission - in order to allow the Pacific Fleet to balance work and rest, Zhuge Weidao divided the fleet into two squadrons. Among them, Zhuge Weidao himself led the first squadron, and Chen Ship Then lead the Second Squadron. In the absence of a major battle in the Pacific, the two squadrons took turns sailing.
There are two sailing directions for these two squadrons. One is towards the Americas, which is mainly to escort troops transported from Japan to the Mexican Empire to participate in the war. The United States began general mobilization after declaring war on the Mexican Empire and Japan. !
The United States is serious and is preparing to use all its naval and land forces and its industrial strength to fight a war with Mexico and Japan!
The Mexican Empire immediately began its general mobilization. However, Mexico's native white population is only more than 2 million, which is too small to fight a full-scale war with the United States.
Therefore, we can only ask Daming for help. The way the Ming Dynasty helped the Mexican Empire, in addition to supporting arms, was to transport Japanese soldiers to Mexico to participate in the war.
After all, Japan now has a population of more than 20 million, which is enough to compete with Americans!
In addition, the Ming Dynasty also sent a serious Ming expeditionary force to California in the name of protecting overseas Chinese... The Pacific Fleet was also responsible for transporting the logistics of these Ming troops stationed in California.
The second sailing direction of the Pacific Fleet Squadron is the South Pacific...that is, towards Australia!
However, the Pacific Fleet did not arrive in one step and rushed directly to the east coast of Australia. Because there are layers of island chains blocking Australia's east coast in the northeast direction.
There is no way for the Pacific Fleet to rush directly to Australia. It must work step by step and break forward.
The first step in advancing into Australia is to control the Caroline Islands and the Marshall Islands. Both archipelagoes have some atolls that can be transformed into anchorages for the Grand Fleet.
As long as the Pacific Fleet takes one or two of the key atolls and builds them, it will have an advanced base for entering Australia.
After taking these two bases, we will have Rabaul and the Solomon Islands... After we take the Solomon Islands, we will have the Coral Sea and Port Moresby!
Zhuge Weidao knew very well how to fight the battle in the direction of the Solo Islands and the Coral Sea.
Therefore, Zhuge made a private division of labor with Chen Jian. He will be responsible for the tasks in North America, while Zhuge Weidao will be responsible for the tasks going south.
Before Chen Jian's escort mission, Zhuge Weidao had already led the First Squadron of the Pacific Fleet to escort a regiment of Ming Army Marines and a regiment of Japanese troops to capture Truk in the Caroline Islands. atoll.
In addition to these two "heterodyne", Zhuge Weidao also has the task of remotely commanding the Dezhou Haizi, which is also very important.
Although the Texas Coast Guard won a complete victory in last year's Battle of the Atlantic, because the Nicaragua Canal has not yet been connected, the Texas Coast Guard is still isolated and it is difficult to receive direct support from the Pacific Fleet.
However, Zhuge Weidao still did his best to mobilize ships from the Pacific Fleet and send them to the Caribbean to support the Texas Sea.
Just when the Texas Navy's aviation fleet entered Port Elizabeth (an important port in Mexico). Zhuge Weidao sent a support fleet consisting of two warrior-class cruisers, six destroyers and six torpedo boats. It was commanded by Wang Wen and should be arriving soon...
