Canteen System Assistance Notes

He drew two circles on the map and marked the intersection of the two with a diagonal line. Finally, he continued to draw based on this diagonal line, extending a fan-shaped area that was exactly in the waters near Rennell Island.

"Based on the US military's assumption of sailing at around 20 knots, they're probably here now." Major Mieno Takeshi finished drawing and pointed at the map. "Above, Excellencies, this is where the US aircraft carriers should be right now. In 12 hours, they should be in this gray area."

"Damn it! Why didn't they report the situation earlier? They intercepted the signal this morning, and they're only reporting it now? It's already dark!" someone cursed. "They've missed the opportunity to fight!" "Sir Hara Chuichi, the interception teams in Truk and Kwajalein are very experienced. They've fought against the Communist Army in Modu and Jiao'ao, and they've achieved great success."

Major Mieno Takeshi glanced at the 5th Carrier Air Fleet commander and replied respectfully, "Intercepting US military communications and attempting to locate and decipher them, as well as verifying and transmitting the intelligence, all takes time. Please understand."

Lieutenant General Hara Chuichi glared at Major Mieno, then turned and whispered with his chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Yamanet Mishifu, who he brought with him. After receiving the other party's reply, he widened his eyes and showed an expression of dissatisfaction, but in the end he did not say anything, just crossed his arms and sat down on the chair.

"Now that the foolish enemy has revealed their true colors, our Imperial Navy must attack them wherever they are found, and we must defeat them! The opportunity to fight is fleeting. Gentlemen, what decision should we make?"

A brief silence fell in the war room at Hara Chuichi's question. But then Zuikaku's flight leader, Major Shimazaki Shigewa, spoke up. "The key now is to determine the enemy ships' exact location. The fleet must dispatch fighters to search the area where they may be. As flight leader, I can lead a night sortie and arrive in the morning."

The Shuanghe currently lacks a dedicated carrier reconnaissance aircraft. If reconnaissance missions are required, they are often handled by Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft. However, Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft cannot carry torpedoes during these missions. Therefore, such reconnaissance missions effectively reduce the number of carrier-based attack aircraft in the actual attack wave. Torpedo aircraft can inflict damage to enemy ships below the waterline, making them far more lethal.

"Faced with a powerful enemy, how can we rashly reduce our fleet attacks?"

As expected, upon hearing this proposal, Hara Chuichi looked unhappy. "General Inoue just contacted me. He has coordinated with Rabaul, Nauru, and Shortland to dispatch large boats and naval reconnaissance ships to search the area. The attacking force should remain on the mother ship and join the advance once the information is confirmed."

"Sir, any information transmitted by the submarine must first be sent to General Inoue, and then reviewed and forwarded before it can be received by our ship." Major Mieno Takeshi bowed. "Just now you..." Just now you scolded the Truk and Kwajalein listening teams...

"For a standard aircraft carrier, the 25-round bombs dropped by the ship's bombers can inflict severe damage, crippling its takeoff and landing capabilities. Once one of them is breached, we can launch a ship-based attack, preventing the enemy ship from escaping... Moreover, after our ship and the Shokaku launch reconnaissance and attack aircraft, each attack formation will still have 12 aircraft. I believe that with our Sea Eagles' honed skills, we should be able to destroy the US aircraft carrier."

Lieutenant Colonel Yamaoka Sanshifu came out to smooth things over. He lowered his voice and said to Hara Chuichi:

"Sir, the academy's ship, Iwate, was just sunk by a bomb. Although this is a disgrace to the navy, please trust the ship's bomb." "Okay..."

The staff officers around him all said so, giving him a way out. Hara Chuichi finally breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to "follow their advice" to send out attack ships for reconnaissance and maintain the "disarmament of attacking the enemy ships" strategy.

But at this moment, a string of white stars suddenly lit up in the dark night sky. The dazzling starlight made people squint and turn their heads away. Following the captain's announcement, several people in the war room quickly boarded the bridge to investigate the situation.

"This is... a flare..."

A string of flares, like beads on a string, rained down from the sky, and the sound of four heavy bombardments echoed across the distant night sky. Under the pale magnesium light, the Shokaku and Zuikaku, the accompanying heavy cruisers Myoko and Haguro, and the remaining six destroyers, all operating under a blackout, cast long shadows on the sea.

Chapter 641: The Battle of Rennell Island (Part 3) The Adventures of the Honest Man

It was early morning on May 2, 1942, and the sky was just beginning to brighten.

It had been about five hours since an Army B-17 reconnaissance aircraft, through random nighttime flare drops, discovered a "highly likely" Japanese carrier fleet target in the waters north of Santa Isabel Island. This information transmission time lag was considered rapid for the US military, which had to relay the information from the reconnaissance aircraft to the Army aircraft, then to the Navy, and finally to Task Force 17. However, this happened five hours ago.

Frank Jack Fletcher, holding a cup of coffee, watched the VB and VS line up for takeoff on the bridge - he was thinking about the current situation.

Yesterday, his decisive decision did not get the due reward. The goddess of luck did not lift the skirt of the 17th Task Force - the attack formation that went to attack the "Japanese aircraft carrier" in the intelligence came up empty-handed, and in the end it could only drop all the bombs and torpedoes on the Tulagi seaplane base corresponding to the "mopping up the Japanese outer base" mission.

The attack formation reported good results, but this was not the result Fletcher needed - he needed to determine the location of the Japanese aircraft carrier. If yesterday's attack was ultimately unsuccessful, but the location of the Japanese aircraft carrier was confirmed, it would still be worth it.

Unfortunately, the only intelligence we have about Japanese aircraft carriers is this rather vague sentence: "There are aircraft carriers in the Solomon Sea to the west, but their exact location is unknown; there is a fleet in the waters north of Santa Isabel Island to the north, which may contain aircraft carriers."

This won’t do. We must find the location of the Japanese aircraft carrier.

In the night before dawn in the South Pacific, the ground crews of Saratoga and Yorktown shouted and hung 250-pound bombs for reconnaissance on the SBDs, and released VS and VB squadrons for reconnaissance in a disorderly manner, forming a wave of reconnaissance screens - to be honest, during the entire World War II, the coordination between the US Navy's aircraft carriers was indeed not very good, and the reconnaissance screens of the two ships were quite uneven.

But eventually, the bomb-laden VBs and VSs were dispatched. They turned north, each responsible for a sector, and flew north over the Solomon Islands. The Saratoga and Yorktown, having completed their launch, began turning west and south to change their positions and conceal themselves.

It was impossible for the two ships to send out all their S8Ds for reconnaissance. After weighing the pros and cons, Fletcher ultimately chose to prioritize reconnaissance to the north. Although the Army Air Force's intelligence was still somewhat unreliable, it was still four or five hours old, making it more valuable than the "aircraft carrier west of the fleet, in the Solomon Islands" report, which was over twenty hours out of date.

Next, they just had to wait for the reconnaissance teams' SBDs to transmit intelligence back, and then launch carrier-based aircraft to attack based on the specific location of the Japanese aircraft carrier. "Sir! New intelligence!"

Not long after the reconnaissance formation flew out of sight, the officer from the radio room walked into the aviation bridge. After whispering a few words to the aviation group leader, he immediately handed the telegram to Fletcher. The group leader called two cartographers and began to draw on the nautical chart.

"The Catalina spotted a Japanese carrier formation?" Fletcher glanced at the report briefly, then put down his coffee. "The PBY took off from Milne Bay... Where's my carrier?" "35° west-northwest of Woodlark Island, 120 nautical miles. But they didn't spot the Japanese carriers directly—they spotted Japanese Zero carrier-based aircraft there."

Fletcher pursed his lips and frowned. "This is another vague piece of intelligence, and it comes at a very bad time." The aviation group leader nearby had already ordered his men to begin working on the nautical chart. He took a look and saw that the approximate location was in the waters further south of where the Japanese carrier-based aircraft had been spotted yesterday, about 100 nautical miles away. This was indeed a possible location for the Japanese carriers.

But before Fletcher could make a decision, three voices rang out in the bridge almost at the same time:

"Sir, radar room reporting! We've detected a large aerial target at a distance of 26 nautical miles, 15 degrees east of north!"

"Neosho reports, two Japanese reconnaissance planes have been spotted, tracking the oil tanker formation, requesting they be driven away!" "Radio room report! Enemy air targets are transmitting, General, we've been spotted!"

Son of a bitch!

Fletcher cursed inwardly, but the subsequent announcement made him feel like he was falling into an icy cave.

"Neosho reports, we've detected a radio signal from a Japanese reconnaissance plane – it's moving away from the tanker and heading towards our ship!" The Japanese are coming!

Guided by CXAM radar, Yorktown's direct-guard Wildcats swooped down on the "large water target" and quickly discovered it was a Japanese Type 97 Longboat. The enemy's flying skills were exceptional, and they handled the interception of three Wildcats with skill, flying extremely low and dodging several attacks before being shot down.

Before it was shot down, the radio room detected another radio signal transmission.

Another group of Wildcats began to fly in the direction of the fleet tanker Neosho, intending to drive away the Japanese reconnaissance planes. However, Fletcher's mind was almost full of the scene of the Japanese aircraft carriers starting to accelerate into the wind and the fighters, dive bombers and torpedo planes parked on the decks began to take off.

The enemy attack wave is coming soon!

We must take off our direct-line fighter planes immediately to intercept the enemy aircraft!

Linear thoughts immediately occupied the top of Fletcher's mind, but the next second, this emotional thought was controlled.

Putting aside the seaplanes hanging to the east of the fleet, the carrier-based reconnaissance planes released by the aircraft carriers first discovered the fleet tanker Neosho further east. It is impossible that they were released by the Japanese aircraft carriers located in the Solomon Sea to the east - they were most likely from the large fleet in the north that "mixed with aircraft carriers".

At the moment, they only have two aircraft carriers. Even if they launch all their Wildcats, there's probably not enough time for the fleet to complete their climb and effectively intercept. So, the current situation is actually as simple and clear as "1+1"...

Frank Jack Fletcher was not one for reckless action, but the rapidly changing battle situation and the looming shadow of the Japanese aircraft carriers forced him to make a risky decision - and as a qualified commander, he was not afraid of taking risks. Fletcher suddenly remembered a Chinese proverb: "It is better to break one of the enemy's fingers than to sprain all ten." Now, the fleet had only one choice: all he could do was choose a more reliable target.

He wanted to launch an attack wave in advance and attack the Japanese aircraft carriers in the north!

"Boys!" Fletcher shouted. He had not followed his staff's advice and immediately went down to the armored situation room, but instead stood in the aviation bridge. "Yes, yes, sir!"

"Those yellow-skinned Japanese flat-top boats are just north of us, just north of Santa Isabel Island! They're only two hundred miles away from us.

"Now, their reconnaissance planes have spotted us, and their carrier-based aircraft are arrayed on their aircraft carriers, ready to attack us. They want to repeat the tragedy of Pearl Harbor on us, to plant the flag of victory on us, and to make our wives, children, and friends weep and grieve!"

"I have only one thing to say about this,"

Fletcher took a deep breath and adjusted his emotions. Passionate speeches were not his style, but the current situation required him to say something. "I want to say, boys! Kill the Japs!"

"Fuck the Japs!"

"Everyone, take your positions!"

The Yorktown, the first ship of the Yorktown class, and the Saratoga, the second ship of the Lexington class, began to drive their tens of thousands of tons of bodies, adjust their course, and increase their speed.

Soon, 30 knots of deck wind began to sweep across their full-length decks,

The conditions were perfect for the aircraft to take off. Inside the hangars of the two aircraft carriers, ground crews rushed back and forth, working tirelessly to prepare for takeoff. Soon, one after another, the dark blue fighter planes were hoisted up the elevators one by one and lined up on the deck for takeoff.

Suddenly, the skies above Task Force 17 were filled with shouts and neighs, as a massive attack wave began to take shape. The Saratoga, with its wider deck and more convenient operating conditions, was the first to complete the formation of its carrier-based aircraft and began its march north.

And this time, it seems that God is really on Fletcher's side:

The VS-5 squadron of the Yorktown discovered the Shokaku and Zuikaku sailing into the rising sun about 90 nautical miles northeast of Santa Isabel Island. The fury from the 17th Task Force finally had a clear target.

Chapter 642: Battle of Rennell Island (IV) Goodbye, Yorktown

Many times, humans always have a beautiful fantasy, full of hope: believing that the revenger's anger can be fully realized, believing that giving up everything can bring happiness.

All enlightenment will be rewarded in the end. I believe justice will triumph over evil every time.

Believe that people's subjective initiative can break through the shackles of reality and create extraordinary miracles.

However, this world is ultimately a materialistic world, and nothing will change simply because of people's wishes.

弗莱彻这位老实人的放手一搏只给美国海军换来了一瞬间的优势。在5月1日深夜和5月2日凌晨，日军部署于拉包尔和瑙鲁的九七大艇就在夜色中起飞，在4700公里以上的巨大航程加持下前往伦内尔岛附近空域侦查。

Among them, the crew led by Captain Jounosuke of Yokohama Air Force successfully approached the US fleet from the east and, in the early morning light, successfully determined the type, number, position, and course of the US carriers. Although his large craft was quickly shot down, and the crew was killed, the 5th Carrier Fleet gained the advantage of launching the first attack wave.

Fletcher's desperate gamble only narrowed the gap in reconnaissance and intelligence between the two sides, creating a near-equal battle between the USN and the IJN. As the Japanese attack wave crossed over 300 kilometers above Guadalcanal, the first naval battle in human history involving aircraft carriers officially began!

The morning mist hadn't yet completely dissipated under the morning sun, leaving the sea surface vague and drifting. Staring at the reflection in the water under the sunlight could make one feel a little drowsy. However, no one dared to be careless, and no one dared to look down at the sea. Because, besides the noise of the boilers and the sound of the warships plowing through the sea, a strange sound had already appeared in their ears.

It came from far away, gradually getting stronger, like an approaching angry wild bee, or a growling mechanical coyote. Finally, the wild bee and the coyote turned into a howling demon - a large number of single-engine carrier-based aircraft painted dark green leaped up from the distant skyline and swooped down on the fleet.

虽然约克城桅杆顶部的CXAM雷达为全舰队提供了大约15分钟的预警时间，但这点时间也大约就够高炮手们被士官们用哨子和皮靴踢到了战位上罢了!匆匆放飞的12架野猫努力爬升高度，同18架零战缠斗了起来，但旋即被38架99舰爆和24架97舰攻冲开了防卫圈。

The fleet, which formed an anti-aircraft formation, including 127mm dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns, 28mm "Chiayi Organ" quadruple anti-aircraft guns, and .50 anti-aircraft machine guns, began to launch projectiles and fragments into the air, but the density of these barrages was obviously not enough! The highly skilled Japanese pilots adjusted the route, flipped the fuselage, and the Type 99 carrier-based bomber began to dive down from the sun, entering a destructive dive route.

According to Japan's standard anti-ship attack procedures, the primary purpose of the Type 99 carrier-based bomber, with a 25-number designation, was not to sink enemy warships, but rather to suppress enemy anti-aircraft firepower and disrupt the takeoff and landing capabilities of enemy aircraft carriers. Ten seconds later, a towering column of water began to rise from the fleet.

The New Orleans was hit, the Portland was hit, and the Hamman was nearly lost!

The hit rate of bombs dropped by these old Japanese sea eagles who had undergone "monthly fire, water, wood, gold and gold" training in the early stages of the war was indeed ridiculously high! Just a few small formation dives were enough to instantly cause three ships outside the Yorktown to be hit or nearly lost. With the stagnation of their anti-aircraft firepower, the Type 97 carrier-based attack ships that had been fully assembled on the periphery had an almost perfect timing and accurately penetrated the US air defense network through the gap and rushed towards the Yorktown in the center of the position.

Three of the planes entered from the stern of the Yorktown, while the other three dropped bombs in a fan-shaped pattern on the broadside. The escort ships and the Yorktown's anti-aircraft guns opened fire fiercely, but only shot down one enemy plane and damaged another. Five torpedoes were dropped from the Japanese planes' racks and swooped down on the Yorktown!

Yorktown immediately turned full left, intending to dodge the more dangerous stern torpedo. But before she could even consider the torpedo, the larger number of 99 carrier-based explosives had already launched a concentric attack, aiming at her and Saratoga, the two most valuable targets.

The two ships' anti-aircraft guns opened fire, but ultimately it was unable to completely dispel the bombardment and ship-to-ship attacks coming from multiple directions. The 99mm carrier-to-ship bombers, swooping down from the sun, scored three hits on the Yorktown's deck in an instant, while simultaneously striking the Saratoga with two 250kg "25" shells. Neither ship had heavy horizontal armor protecting its decks, and several of the bombs pierced the runway, exploding violently inside the hangar.

Then, two comb-shaped torpedo waves, angled 90 degrees apart, were launched by the 97th Fleet, aiming at the Yorktown. Simultaneously, a similar attack was directed at the Saratoga. In an instant, the broadsides of the two American ships were once again covered in spray.

Boom!

The Yorktown was hit by 2 torpedoes and the Saratoga was hit by 1 torpedo!

Damage control alarms blared, explosion-proof lights flashed orange-red, and fully armed damage control personnel rushed to the damaged area. In just a few minutes, two core warships of Task Force 17 were hit by shells on their decks and torpedoes underwater.

The battlecruiser Saratoga's hull saved her. The torpedo protection part, which had "eaten raw" the 533 oxygen torpedo in history, was extremely strong when facing the 450mm aerial torpedo. As a result, the power of the entire Saratoga was intact at this time, and only some compartments were flooded and the power was cut off.

The unfortunate Yorktown had no such leeway. Although her sturdy hull and compartment design prevented her from sinking after just two torpedoes, her engine room, with its flawed design, was hit by a torpedo that jammed the outermost drive shaft on the port side of the ship, causing gears in engine rooms 1 and 2 on the port side to fly sideways, resulting in a power outage and a massive influx of water.

The Yorktown's speed suddenly dropped sharply, and the uneven thrust forced it to turn hard to the port side, forcing the escorting destroyer, the Morris, to make an emergency turn and avoid a collision. In such a fast-paced naval battle, losing speed and steering flexibility was a death sentence!

Although the bridge immediately slammed the starboard rudder and reduced the power of the right No. 4 drive shaft to balance the yaw, the Yorktown, spewing superheated steam and with the hangar on fire, immediately became the most conspicuous target on the battlefield. The Japanese planes that had not yet dropped their ammunition pounced on them like hyenas that had found a wounded lion. A large amount of water began to rise around the slowing Yorktown.

The escorting destroyers Morris, Anderson, and Russell headed towards the damaged York

The city came closer and formed a tight anti-aircraft formation. The Portland, which had just been hit, had just put out the fire on the ship and also came closer and used its secondary guns to attack fiercely.

Disperse the 97 carrier-based attack aircraft that attempted to re-enter the attack route.

They shot down two Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft and one Type 99 carrier-based bomber, but ultimately could not stop the onslaught of Japanese carrier-based aircraft. Within moments, Yorktown was hit by two more shells and a torpedo. One of the torpedoes dropped by the Japanese plane even struck the escorting destroyer USS Russell. The poor destroyer's boilers immediately exploded. After the mist cleared, the entire destroyer had completely lost power and began to rapidly capsize.

Meanwhile, the flames inside Yorktown's hangar intensified. Because the attack wave had been launched late, the fuel lines, which hadn't had time to be injected with carbon dioxide, became the primary culprit. The successive bomb hits ignited a fire that was nearly impossible to extinguish, and the high temperature and toxic smoke prevented the damage control team from approaching. The third torpedo, which struck the ship's bell, finally sent a massive shockwave through the entire engine compartment, crippling the ship's last remaining power system.

The problem of the Yorktown-class ship's centralized boiler and engine layout became apparent at this moment. As the boilers and engines stopped working, she spewed out high clouds of superheated steam and was completely paralyzed on the sea.

Chapter 643: Solomon's Arc

May 2, 1942, in the waters of Rennell Island.

The full-deck assault waves unleashed by Shokaku and Zuikaku successfully damaged Saratoga and crippled Yorktown. For the next two hours, although below-deck damage control crews worked to stop the leak, they were unable to restore power to the carrier. During this time, the accompanying heavy cruiser Chicago attempted to tow Yorktown, but due to the significant tonnage disparity between the two carriers, the attempt was unsuccessful.

At the same time, the fuel, aircraft and bombs in the Yorktown hangar began to explode intermittently, and the fire became increasingly uncontrollable. Because it was an open hangar, such small-scale explosions never evolved into a large explosion large enough to blow off the deck. As a result, although the Yorktown was in such a miserable state, it still stubbornly floated on the water.

The only consolation for the fleet was the return of the attack team that had been dispatched earlier. According to the report, they had successfully hit the Japanese Shokaku with four bombs and two torpedoes, and had successfully hit the Zuikaku with two bombs, successfully paralyzing two Japanese aircraft carriers.

By this point, Saratoga had nearly brought the fire under control and restored power after the torpedo failure. However, the two large holes in her deck meant she was no longer able to recover her aircraft. Having just completed a round of attack and running low on fuel, the Wildcats, SBDs, and TBDs could only lower their altitude, make forced landings, and wait for destroyers to pick them up.

But to make matters worse, about an hour and a half after the attack formation returned, the destroyers deployed to the outer perimeter reported again that they had detected Japanese air targets. The second wave of Japanese attacks was coming.

In this battle, later known as the Battle of Rennell Island, the Japanese successfully sank the aircraft carrier Yorktown and severely damaged the Saratoga, and also sank

Damaging several escort ships – Hara Chuichi's second round of attacks, all with all his might

Wave hit the Saratoga with another 25-round shell, but did not damage its most critical power system; and the Yorktown, which was paralyzed on the sea, was hit by Japanese planes again because its roll was still unclear and its "death condition" was not obvious. It was hit by 3 torpedoes and 2 bombs.

This time, even if Fletcher wanted to save his flagship, he had to order the command flag to be lowered and abandon the ship to escape.

The light cruiser USS Brooklyn, the destroyers USS Irwin and USS Monaghan rescued the crew and pilots, including Fletcher, and the latter fired torpedoes at the "Yorktown", which had begun to list significantly, to prevent the Japanese from capturing it. After being hit by four 533mm torpedoes, the tenacious "Yorktown" finally sank in the warm waters of the South Pacific.

On the Japanese side, the damage suffered was not as obvious as reported by the attacking formation.

Although Fletcher took a risky gamble by releasing the attack formations from the Yorktown and Saratoga, the poor coordination between the American carrier fleet meant that the two carrier strike groups did not arrive at their targets simultaneously, as the Japanese did, resulting in a critical time difference. Furthermore, due to their lack of experience against Zero fighters and the limitations of their aircraft's performance, the two carrier strike groups were severely disrupted by the Sokaku Naokai aircraft. This, coupled with problems with coordination and navigational disorientation, ultimately resulted in limited success.

Fortunately, Zuikaku was only hit by one 500-pound bomb and missed by two 1000-pound bombs. The 500-pound bomb merely penetrated the side anti-aircraft gun mounts before plunging into the sea, causing less damage than the structural damage below the waterline caused by the near misses, which resulted in water ingress. However, after damage control personnel sealed some compartments' watertight doors according to combat training manuals and filled the ballast tanks on the opposite side with water, Zuikaku quickly regained air operational capabilities and participated in the second attack wave.

Shokaku wasn't hit too hard, taking two bomb hits and one torpedo during the attack. The torpedo that struck the side's anti-torpedo bulge even failed to fire, a classic US Navy tactic. Perhaps due to her "sister" being too much of a gamble, two 5C-pound bombs struck the deck, one colliding with the side of the ship's starboard bridge; the other landed just aft of the flight deck. Consequently, two elevators crucial to Shokaku's aviation operations were either jammed or completely lost, effectively rendering her unable to operate her air forces.

This kind of damage couldn't be repaired at anchor! The Shokaku would likely have to return to the mainland to repair this "mid-range" damage. And Zuikaku, with cracks below the waterline, would ideally need to return to dry dock if she didn't want to operate with the damage. As for the Shoho, mistaken for a fleet carrier in her original time and space and subjected to brutal bombardment by the Lexington and Yorktown, she remained an uninvolved spectator in the battle, unscathed.

The IJN ultimately achieved a tactical victory in the South Pacific, and even achieved a rare small victory at the strategic level.

After this battle, although the Japanese transport fleet retreated due to the appearance of the US aircraft carrier and did not land directly in Port Moresby, the South China Sea Detachment chose their second target - landing in Basabua.

The Japanese army immediately captured Buna, which the US and Australian forces had originally planned to reinforce in Operation God Bless. At the same time, the Kawaguchi Detachment, under the command of Major General Kawaguchi Kiyokane, boldly bypassed Milne Bay and landed on Samarai Island, forcing the Allied forces in Milne Bay to abandon the submarine base and retreat towards Australia.

Shoho, in good condition, with only ten Zero fighters, unleashed a devastating blow, seizing air superiority in the battle zone and providing limited ground support to the Japanese. Under the command of Major General Tomitaro Horii, a veteran of frontline battles; Harukichi Hyakutake, commander of the 17th Army, a veteran of long-standing battles against the Eighth Route Army in China; and Tadamichi Kuribayashi, perhaps the best chief of staff in the Japanese army, the landing Japanese forces quickly swept through the already limited number of American and Australian troops in the area, bringing the region under their control.

At this point, with the exception of Port Moresby, the last remaining Allied holdout in the region, the Japanese had successfully secured a complete occupation of the Solomon Islands. As the Japanese began constructing air bases in the occupied territories, it was likely that a chain of land-based airfields would soon be formed, relying on Milne (Samarai), Kokoda, Buna, Lae, Rabaul, and Buin. Once this chain of airfields was established, the warplanes bearing the plaster flag would be able to wreak havoc in the skies, completely destroying the Allies' air superiority in this area.

At that point, the Japanese could rely on land-based aircraft and a smaller number of main surface ships to blockade this crucial sea area. With air supremacy reversed, the movement of US surface ships would be severely restricted – and the initiative on the battlefield could fall into the hands of the Japanese!