So far, at least 8 warships above cruisers have been considered unsuitable for continuing the mission, and they have returned to Pearl Harbor for a simple reason, the barrel is bald! Marshall has personally seen the cannons on these cruisers, and some of them have been driven from rifled guns to smoothbore guns because of the use of strong charges...

As an officer, Marshall knew that the so-called life span of a naval gun does not mean that it cannot continue shooting after it reaches its life span. It is still OK to shoot, but the accuracy will fall outside the standard. There is no doubt that the artillery of these warships that must go back is not just a problem of the barrel reaching their life span, but it is really completely useless. Not only does it need to be replaced with the bore and even the breeze needs to be replaced... This is a problem. This is not simply pulling out the bore and replacing the new one. Instead, it needs to be opened and the entire cannon will be replaced! Although these warships have not been sunk, this means that in this war, these leaving warships no longer have the chance to return to the battlefield, and time does not allow it!

However, even so, such losses are still tolerant for the huge American fleet. Marshall and Benson had contacted at least three times for fire support. When he asked Benson in an extremely formal manner the last time whether the fleet's ammunition depot could undertake such fire support missions, Benson's answer was yes! But he still refused to implement it according to Pershing's request!

At this moment, Marshall was really angry! He pointed at Benson's nose and scolded the other party's behavior, and threw a list of people who died in the US in recent days on the other party's table! However, facing Marshall's accusations, Benson picked up the list of dead, and then flipped through Marshall's roar. Finally, he picked up the pencil next to him and drew a name on one of the pages.

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

"I'm a fool who knows that once New Ireland is occupied by us, New Britain is actually no longer in danger. We can establish an airport in New Ireland and then block the New Britain with a fleet of at least 5 times stronger than the Japanese. We can completely invalidate it, and then the next target is Guinea. So, tell me, in the face of this strategic situation, what should the Japanese Navy do?" Benson asked.

"They are like killers hiding in the dark. They wait for us to be exhausted before they suddenly jump out and give us a fatal blow. You know very well that our fleet has been sailing and fighting on the sea for more than 25 days. Many light warships have been forced to return to maintain. Well, if we fire 4,000 main gun shells in one day according to General Pershing's request, then our gun situation will be very bad. By then, it will be the time for the Japanese to launch an attack." Benson said.

Pershing had his reason. As long as he could conquer the woods and hilly areas in front, once the U.S. Army artillery troops arrived, they could force the Japanese artillery to retreat. Then the empty space could build stations and airports, and the situation of the entire war would also change.

Benson also had reason. He had to count the lifespan of the gun barrel to provide support to the army and calculate the speed of the carrier-based pilot to provide cover for the army. Up to now, the lifespan of nearly half of the former dreadnoughts' main guns is no longer optimistic. What is the concept of knocking out 2,100 14-inch shells according to Pershing's requirements? It can directly eliminate the lifespan of at least 10 14-inch 14-inch guns that have been shipped out! At this time, before the invention of chrome plating technology, a full-load life of 200 rounds of a main gun was already very good, and it is worth mentioning that due to the distance issue, if you want to suppress the Japanese fortifications in depth, you should use full-load! The elevation angle of the American naval gun is a bit low...

Obviously, the war has reached its current level. The American 14-inch naval gun cannot be brand new. The life of the main gun barrel of many warships has reached halfway. With more than 2,000 shells, it is time to replace the naval guns of two battleships. The artillery of the US Navy itself is a problem. The ablation problem of the 14-inch L50 artillery has not been solved yet. If you kill 20 14-inch naval guns? How much can the US fleet's artillery combat capabilities remain?

Benson's staff calculated the combat effectiveness of the current US fleet. Among the five dreadnoughts and super dreadnoughts, the fifth battleship team, which had been under cover missions, had actually been abolished, and the lifespan of the artillery was already very unoptimistic. If it were peacetime, the wear of these guns would have been scrapped. Now they are still fighting on the front line, and their accuracy and initial muzzle velocity are difficult to meet the needs of fighting against enemy main battleships. Moreover, these warships were built earlier, and the coal used as power, the ash accumulation of flue and the aging of steam pipelines made the speed of these warships reach 14 knots. Not to mention the fatigue and morale of personnel caused by long-term combat.

The Fourth Battleship Detachment is in better condition, and the fire support mission is not heavy. Apart from the first few days of responsibility for providing fire suppression, there are not many tasks. However, if the 1,800 12-inch shells required by Pershing were fired out, it would probably be useless...

Benson's 10 Super Fearless Battleships of the First and Second Battleships and 4 German Bavarian-class battleships of the Third Fleet are the absolute core and their combat effectiveness is relatively complete. Especially the Suxiong Fleet. Until now, in addition to the several shootings reported for training purposes, Bavaria's 15-inch heavy artillery is the same as the new one...

What, you ask those 14 front dreadnoughts? One of them was forced to withdraw from the battle because they hit a mine. The other four front dreadnoughts have withdrawn from the battlefield due to the loss of war. As for the remaining nine front dreadnoughts, one of the team is carrying out daily cover missions, and the other five front dreadnoughts are responsible for night patrol missions. The current situation can be said to be a carrot and a pit! It is really impossible to draw out!

The loss of cruisers' forces was also heavy. One armored cruiser hit a thunder and sank. Another 5 cruisers were forced to go back to maintain due to shelling missions. Now, the US Navy can maintain only 5 to 6 armored cruisers that can participate in fleet wars at any time!

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Chapter completed!