So far, the artillery on at least 8 cruisers and above is considered to be unsuitable for the mission, and they went back to Pearl Harbor. The reason is very simple. The barrels are bald! Marshall personally saw the artillery on these cruisers, and some of the artillery used strong charges to force the artillery from a rifled gun to a smoothbore...

As an officer, Marshall knows that the so-called lifespan of naval guns does not mean that they cannot continue to fire after reaching their lifespan. They can still be fired, but the accuracy will fall outside the standard. There is no doubt that these must be returned. The artillery of the battleship of the warship is not just a problem of the barrel reaching the end of its life, but it is really completely useless. Not only needs to replace the front bore and even the breech... This is troublesome. It's not simply a matter of pulling out the front chamber and replacing it with a new one. Instead, open the turret and replace the entire cannon! Although these warships were not sunk, it means that in this war, these warships that left have no chance to return to the battlefield. Time does not allow!

　　 But even so, such losses are still tolerable for the large US fleet. Marshall and Benson contacted at least 3 times for fire support issues. When he asked Benson in a very formal manner for the last time whether the fleet's ammunition depot could undertake such fire support tasks, Benson's answer was yes! But still refused to follow Pershing's request!

　　 At this moment, Marshall is really angry! He pointed to Benson's nose and denounced the opponent's behavior, and dropped a list of the American soldiers killed in the last few days on the opponent's table! However, in the face of Marshall's accusation, Benson picked up the list of the dead, and then flipped through Marshall's roar. Finally, he picked up the pencil next to it and drew the name on one of the pages.

　　 "This is my relative who died just two days ago, and I still have his death notice in my hand." Benson's voice was not loud, but Marshall calmed down. "You know? It's been three weeks and the Japanese fleet hasn't appeared yet. Do you think this is our luck, or does it indicate something else?"

"A fool knows that once the New Ireland Island is occupied by us, the New Britain Island is actually insecure. We can build an airport on the New Ireland Island and block the fleet with the air force at least 5 times stronger than the Japanese. New Britain Island. We can completely neutralize it. Then, the next target is Guinea. Well, you tell me, what should the Japanese Navy do in the face of this strategic situation?" Benson asked.

"They are like killers hidden in the dark. They wait for us to be exhausted before they suddenly jump out and give us a lethal knife. You know very well that our fleet has been sailing and fighting at sea for more than 25 days. Many light warships have been forced to return for maintenance, so well, if we fire another 4000 rounds of main artillery shells within a day according to General Pershing’s request, then our naval guns will be in very bad condition. At that time, it was time for the Japanese to attack." Benson said.

Pershing has his reasons. As long as the US Army’s artillery units are stationed after they can conquer the woods and hills in front of them, they can force the Japanese artillery to retreat, and the vacated areas can be used to build military stations and airfields. The situation of the entire war is also Will change,

Benson also had a reason. He had to count the lifespan of the gun barrel to provide support to the army, and calculate the supplementary speed of carrier-based pilots to provide cover for the army. Up to now, nearly half of the former dreadnoughts’ masters Cannon life is not optimistic. If we follow Pershing's request, what is the concept of destroying 2,100 14-inch shells? At least 10 14-inch new 14-inch guns can be used for direct lighting life! At this time, before the invention of chromium plating, a main gun with a full charge life of 200 rounds was already very good, and it is worth mentioning that because of the distance, if you want to suppress the deep Japanese fortifications, you can use all Charge! The elevation angle of the American naval gun is a bit low...

　　 Obviously, when the war has been fought to this level, American 14-inch naval guns cannot be brand new. Many battleships have their main gun barrels in their lifespan that has reached half. These more than 2,000 rounds are a dozen? The naval guns of the two battleships should be replaced. The artillery of the U.S. Navy itself is a problem. The ablation problem of the 14-inch L50 gun has not been solved until now. Then 20 14-inch naval guns should be destroyed? How much artillery capacity is left in the US fleet?

Benson’s staff calculated the current combat effectiveness of the U.S. fleet. Among the five dreadnought and super-dreadnought fleets, the fifth battleship squadron, which has been undertaking the cover task, has actually been abolished, and the life of the artillery is not optimistic. In peacetime, these artillery pieces are worn out enough to be scrapped. Now they are still fighting on the front line, and their accuracy and muzzle velocity have been difficult to meet the needs of enemy battleships~lightnovelpub.net~ and these warships were built earlier due to time, using coal as power. The fouling of the flue and the aging of the steam pipes allowed these warships to have a speed of 14 knots. Not to mention the fatigue and low morale caused by prolonged fighting.

The fourth battleship squadron is in better condition. The fire support task is not too onerous. Except for providing fire suppression in the first few days, there are not too many tasks. However, if Pershing requested all 1,800 12-inch shells. If you go out, it will probably be useless...

Benson’s 10 super-intrepid battleships of the 1st and 2nd battleship squadrons and 4 German Bavarian-class battleships of the 3rd fleet are the absolute core. The combat effectiveness remains relatively complete, especially the Su Xiong fleet. Up to now, except for several reports Except for the shooting for training purposes, the Bavarian 15-inch heavy gun is the same as the new one...

　　What, you ask those 14 former dreadnoughts? One of them was forced to withdraw from the battle because it hit a mine. In addition, 4 former dreadnoughts have withdrawn from the battlefield due to war losses. As for the remaining 9 former dreadnoughts, one of the detachments is performing daily cover tasks, and the other 5 former dreadnoughts are undertaking night patrol tasks. The current situation can be said to be a carrot and a pit! I really can't get it out!

　　 The loss of the cruiser's strength was also very heavy, and one armored cruiser was also sunk by mine. In addition, 5 cruisers were forced to go back for maintenance due to their bombardment missions. Now, the U.S. Navy has only 5 to 6 armored cruisers capable of participating in fleet battles at any time!

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