Of course, the Bismarck Sea was not a ghost ship. On the contrary, before 7 o'clock in the evening, the ship was basically full, with a total of 798 pilots including the captain Lieutenant Colonel Simmons.

Since receiving the retreat mission, Simmons has figured out what to do to transfer the entire ship No. 800 people to the docking USS Duluth light cruiser (Cleveland class) as soon as possible. The general method is to rely on lifeboats or traffic boats to ferry, but he thinks it is inconvenient and slow, so he must find another new solution.

The only advantage is that the ship only needs to dock with the Duluth. After thinking hard for a few hours, Simmons, an outdoor sports enthusiast, suddenly came up with a good way to build steel cables!

Arrange steel cables on the starboard flight deck railing and let the lifeboat carry the other end of the steel cable. With the cooperation of the officers and soldiers on the opposite side, hook the lower deck railing of the Duluth, and set up a steel cableway. The two ships maintain a width difference of more than 100 meters, and drive in the same direction at low speeds, so as to ensure that the cables are at moderate tension and do not cause collisions between the two ships.

Since the height of the flight deck is higher than the height of the cruiser's deck, he swung along the steel cable and slid easily outside the cruiser railing under the action of gravity. He asked someone to try it. As long as someone responded, he could sweep one person in about a few dozen seconds (a steel cable can support more than 10 people). The only requirement is that those who swung over should be brave, and never look at their feet, otherwise they would fall down by the turbulent sea water.

It is certainly a big danger to do this at sea, although he can set up a lifeboat between the two ships and rescue him if he falls down. At first, he did not regard it as the main method, but just wanted to give some young men who are brave enough but have no time to transfer.

But the Japanese army's unexpected attack disrupted everyone's position. He knew that as long as he was found by a bomb, the weak body of the Bismarck Sea would definitely not avoid the situation of the ship being destroyed and the slow Casablanca class would have been a delusion to escape, so he discussed with the Duluth to evacuate urgently, and turned south while finding a suitable place to stop the ship and quickly transfer personnel.

So this supplementary passage turned into the main passage for rapid transfer between the two ships. In order to speed up and improve safety, the staff members who had a clue also thought of other tricks. Since the steel cable swaying has been established, why do people need to swing one by one? Wouldn't it be faster to imitate cable cars and go directly to go through batches?

So the ground repair crew used a lifeboat to urgently transform a hanging basket, and equipped it with cables at the front and rear ends. While relying on gravity and height difference, the officers and soldiers on the Duluth struggled to pull it hard. Although the hanging basket seemed a bit risky, it was much easier than a person who swung it alone. Although it was heavy in the past, it was not slow to put it from high to low, and the speed was not slow. Although the hanging basket was retracted from low to high, it was not difficult for left-behind soldiers to pull it up because it was light.

At the critical moment of death, the sailors were afraid or not, and finally gritted their teeth and swung to the opposite side through the cable basket. The officers and soldiers on the Duluth also tried their best to rescue their comrades. At most, the two ships arranged a total of 4 steel cables (usually these steel cables are used to drag other ships). Each steel cable was quickly released with 5 people at a time. In the end, most of the sailors rushed to the opposite side by relying on a simple cable car.

Fortunately, these two warships were not discovered by the first attack wave. The two warships boldly stopped ships, neither turning on the lights nor counterattacked in the air. They could only use this method to transfer personnel in an orderly manner. In just about an hour, most of the personnel were transferred to the escape moment. The American soldiers showed extraordinary strength and courage. Even if they were afraid, they closed their eyes and swung them through the air.

At 20:24, in just over an hour, all crew members moved safely through the gap between the first and second attack waves of the Japanese army. Then the Duluth cut off the steel cable and unlocked the two ships. This was also the last situation seen by the four Japanese pilots.

Originally, according to McCain's unified deployment, each ship had to leave a few people to control the warships to attract the enemy's attention, but Simmons did not want his subordinates to sacrifice in vain, so he used two iron rods to block the steering wheel and maintain the course. He himself took a lifeboat with the last group of evacuated personnel to go to the Duluth. When he stepped on the deck, everyone gave warm applause, applauding Captain Simmons for his wise decision and saving the lives of 798 people on the ship.

Everyone said goodbye to the Bismarck Sea with a complicated expression. Duluth soon ran northeast with the Cleveland-level 32 knot highway. As for the Bismarck Sea, which was stuck in the rudder, it still drifted southward at a speed of 18 knots to attract the attention of the Japanese army.

Now this escort aircraft carrier has become the trophy of the four pilots, a unique and unique trophy!

The whole story was brought to the screens of Japan and the United States after the war. The Americans filmed the first half, called "The Great Escape". The Japanese filmed the second half, called "Top Gun", and the story of the sweeping trio was also included.

"What? Four pilots of our army captured an empty escort aircraft carrier?" Kusato Ryunosuke, who received the telegram, showed an incredible look, but when he saw the name on the signature, he couldn't help but feel happy. "It turned out to be Toshio Oda and Hiroyo Nishizawa... there is nothing these guys dare not do!"

Obviously, Lieutenant General Chief of Staff was deeply impressed by the sweeping trio.

"Send a few water detectives to send a few of the best turbine officers and soldiers to drive the ship back... Let them turn on the lights, otherwise it will be difficult to find!"

On the Katsuki, Chiaki Matsuda and a group of staff officers laughed when they received such news. Everyone was talking: "A ship and an aircraft, even a cheap escort carrier, is worth at least 120 million US dollars, right? Just throw it away like this?"

Hori Teiki knew the news but didn't laugh, and just sighed silently.

"Sir?"

"This Casablanca-class escort aircraft carrier takes only 6-8 weeks to build. The United States can build more than 100 ships a year with full power. In the eyes of Americans, officers and soldiers on it are much more important than warships." Horitoki sighed helplessly, "I was wondering when will Japan be so rich that it will throw away tens of millions of dollars without blinking?"

Everyone was speechless. It was impossible to change to Japan. Even if all the people in the boat were killed, they had to find a way to save the boat. Perhaps this was the reason why the commander lamented the difference in strength?

"Let them turn on the lights, otherwise it will be bad if they are accidentally injured by the third wave... In addition, the code telegram required the US warship to surrender. As long as the lights are turned on, our army will be regarded as surrendering and will not attack. They will come to receive them after dawn! We will resolutely eliminate the enemy troops that refuse to surrender, without showing mercy!"

After half a minute, Hori Teiki added: "These pilots are very brave and have made great contributions to the empire. They should be commended with the key points. After the event is completed, the leader will be in the two levels of the Chinese Communist Party, with a bonus of 100,000; the remaining meritorious personnel will be in the first level of the Chinese Communist Party, with a bonus of 50,000! We will inform the entire army to praise it!"

"100,000?" Everyone's eyes widened: In this era when the annual salary of the navy general was less than 10,000 yen, a huge sum of 100,000 was indeed enough to buy a half-machine zero battle.

"The ship they got was worth tens of millions of yen... According to my intention, it is not an exaggeration to reward 1 million. Unfortunately, too much money will harm them and will cause unnecessary controversy. Let's do it first."

Therefore, Toshio Ota, who had not become an officer in the end in history, became a naval captain (based on his military achievements over the past few years, he had been awarded the rank of lieutenant before departure, and Hiroyo Nishizawa was awarded the lieutenant because of the large number of shot down). However, Toshio Ota was not at all thinking about these things. He only hoped that the troop officers and soldiers would come soon so that the title of temporary captain was removed and the black sea was much more difficult to drive the ship than to fly a plane...

"The Alabama sent a farewell signal... They were besieged by enemy planes and were already hit by three torpedoes, which could not last long." At sunrise in Washington time, the staff members reported to Nimitz and others with red eyes.

"Where are William and the others?"

"The flagship USS Franklin has abandoned the ship, and a group of people have escaped, probably rescued by the destroyer..."

Halfway through the conversation, a staff officer rushed over: "I just received a telegram from Chief Halsey. He and some of his personnel have been transferred to the destroyer...but...but..."

"But what? He was injured?"

"He's fine, but..." the staff officer said hesitantly: "...May...General Kane is killed!"

"What!" Nimitz could no longer hold on after hearing the bad news, and fell head-on. He was quickly taken to the hospital by an ambulance. The others next to him, including Spruins and Turner, all cried...

Truman and Dewey have been waiting for news at the Joint Conference. When they heard this, they couldn't help but burst into tears: they just lost Patton not long ago, and McCain again today. There were a lot of generals in the hospital, and Nimitz just fell down again. Sadly, the dawn of victory in America is far away.

Li Hai was silent for a long time and finally advised: "From the current situation, the main force of the Pacific Fleet can basically be saved. The situation in Hawaii will be quite dangerous. The United States has inevitably lost in this war. While Japan has not yet captured Hawaii and Germany has not approached its homeland, it is recommended to seek a ceasefire... Regardless of Japan and Germany."

Truman and Dewey both subconsciously shook their heads. It was not that they refused to make peace, but that the peace conditions are not easy to negotiate now.

The two had exchanged opinions on the peace talks in private. Truman told Dewey about the last time Japan sought peace. Of course, the situation has changed drastically now, and he did not dare to hope to continue to follow the original conditions.

Dewey didn't want to blame Truman for rejecting Japan's peace proposal. He would also refuse. Before this battle, he even wanted to have peace against Germany and the war against Japan to the end. Based on the current situation, Dewey believes that it should be realistic, "to ensure the independence of the Philippines and not violate the interests of American commercial capital in the Far East... As for the Pearl Harbor Incident, Japan no longer requests an apology. As long as the Japanese official statement is issued, it is a mistake for diplomats."

Of course, this is a fool, but it is not possible to say that. But the two of them knew very well that even if such conditions were to be accepted by Japan now, it would be very difficult.

But is it harder than winning?
Chapter completed!