However, after John Clark finished his call with Fang Lang, he went directly to his father, Major General Joseph Clark, commander of the U.S. Fifth Aircraft Carrier Fleet, and told his father what Fang Lang had said.
After hearing what John said, General Clark fell into deep thought. When an officer becomes a general, he can no longer consider problems from a purely military perspective.
He must have his own political vision, otherwise he will not go far. And General Clark was able to become a powerful general in the US Navy in an environment full of racial discrimination. He is definitely not an ordinary person.
Therefore, he saw through the essence of the matter at a glance. The Brazilian warships joined the British Pacific Fleet to participate in the Pacific War. This was not simply a matter of increasing the military strength of the British Navy's Pacific Fleet.
Rather, it was a matter of Britain taking this opportunity to exert political influence in America's backyard. Clark could almost foresee that the British would never miss such a good opportunity.
Then, the Brazilian warships joining the British Pacific Fleet would have a very bad and unacceptable impact on the United States in Latin America. Compared with this political impact, the cost of providing the Brazilian Navy with a small fleet becomes insignificant.
After seeing this clearly, Clark did not hesitate to directly contact General Nimitz, the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Theater. Here I want to explain to everyone that General Nimitz was the commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Theater, and MacArthur was the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces in the Pacific Theater.
That is, General Nimitz was only responsible for managing the US military, while MacArthur was responsible for coordinating and managing all the Allied forces. Of course, Nimitz later served as the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in the Pacific Theater.
"General, I just received a message and I think I should report it to you. I wonder if you are free."
...
...
After receiving a positive response, General Clark hung up the phone and went directly to Nimitz's office.
"You mean the British want the Brazilians to join their Pacific Fleet and fight in the Pacific theater?"
General Nimitz's questioning voice came from his office. His voice was not loud and his tone was very calm. As a general who had the power of life and death over hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, this little thing could not cause him any emotional fluctuations.
"Yes, my son is a good friend of that Brazilian naval officer. I don't know whether he leaked the news intentionally or unintentionally."
General Clark gave General Nimitz a detailed report of what had happened.
"Is the news true?"
"I have confirmed on the way here that Brazilian government diplomats are indeed communicating with the British government on this matter. The specific details are still being discussed."
Of course, General Clark would not report directly to his superiors without investigation. Before going to General Nimitz's office, he had arranged for personnel to conduct a detailed investigation, and the results were obviously true.
After hearing General Clark's report, General Nimitz thought for a moment and continued calmly:
“Isn’t our government involved?”
"The two parties should have contacted each other privately and did not inform us. So, they only found out about this after I asked them."
General Nimitz, who had always been very calm, finally started to speak in a bad tone when he learned that the two allies were actually colluding behind the United States' back.
"These British people have not yet given up the dignity of the so-called empire on which the sun never sets, and are still trying to reach out to us in America. It's really abominable.
So what do these Brazilians want to do? Their so-called navy wants to come to Asia to get a piece of the pie? Isn't that overestimating their capabilities?"
After hearing General Nimitz's question, General Clark told him what he knew.
"As far as I know, the Brazilian Navy's original purpose of applying to us to join the Pacific battlefield was actually to build a modern naval fleet, but the size of the fleet is unknown."
General Nimitz smiled disdainfully and said:
"Do they still want to have an aircraft carrier fleet? Can they afford it?"
"It's not clear yet. Maybe we need our people to intervene and communicate with them to know their thoughts."
In the question-and-answer session between the two, Nimitz had a clear understanding of the entire incident. As a commander, he had to think about the problem at a more complex level.
"Is it possible that after the British government received the news that we refused the Brazilian Navy to join the Pacific battlefield, it took the initiative to extend an olive branch to Brazil?"
In fact, General Clark had also considered this issue. After all, considering the time when the Brazilian army joined the war and Brazil's views on the war, it was unlikely that they would actively want to join a battlefield that had nothing to do with them.
“This possibility cannot be ruled out.”
Since this has become an established fact, we need to consider how to deal with it. General Nimitz looked at General Clark. He believed that when General Clark came to report this matter, he must have had his own complete ideas.
So I asked directly:
"What's your opinion?"
Clark did not hesitate and directly stated his thoughts.
"General, I think we cannot allow the Brazilian Navy to join the British Pacific Fleet. This will cause great damage to our international prestige, especially to our American strategy. We should step in to dissuade the Brazilian Navy from this dangerous idea."
Although Clark did not explicitly say how to dissuade the Brazilians, his meaning was actually very clear.
"You mean we support them with a fleet?"
"The war is about to end, and selling a few of our surplus warships to them is the cheapest option. As long as they agree not to join the British Pacific Fleet."
Clark was not surprised that General Nimitz saw through his plan at a glance. However, how to provide support specifically depended on General Nimitz's own considerations.
In fact, Clark's idea is indeed the lowest cost solution. As long as the Brazilians get what they want, it will be difficult for the British to persuade them.
However, if Brazil really achieves its wish, it will bring uncontrollable risks to the US strategy in the Americas. Therefore, General Nimitz said cautiously:
"But having such a strong navy in South America will affect the regional balance. We must be cautious about this matter."
Brazil and Argentina have always been the biggest competitors in South America, so General Clark had already considered that General Nimitz's concerns would disrupt the regional balance.
"Perhaps selling a few warships to Argentina can maintain this balance."
Seeing that General Clark had already considered these issues, it was obvious that he had thought it through carefully. General Nimitz no longer hesitated and said directly:
"That makes sense, then do as you think!"
As for how to solve the problem of the Brazilian government, it can be solved directly from the political level. However, this problem was revealed to John by Fang Lang, who is also John's savior and good friend.
Since Fang Lang himself really wants to participate in the Pacific War, General Clark also wants to help him realize his wish, so he said:
"From what John said, the Brazilian navy man who leaked the news to him is of Chinese descent, and he himself hopes to join the Pacific battlefield to fight against Japan. What if they are really willing to fight?"
General Clark's words made Nimitz put the coffee cup he had just picked up back on the table, and looked at General Clark and said:
"Oh! There is such a situation. Does he have a great influence in the Brazilian Navy?"
General Clark must be aware of Fang Lang's situation. After all, he was his son's savior, and he had even contributed to his son's transfer from the Army to the Navy!
“It should be said that he is a pro-American faction that we support in the Brazilian Navy. He is only 20 years old. General Chambers arranged for him to attend our destroyer captain training course.
After graduation, he sank four German submarines during his first escort mission for the Atlantic Transport Fleet. Chambers said that he might be a naval genius, at least he had an extraordinary talent in anti-submarine warfare.
He is currently the only captain in the Brazilian Navy with a record of sinking a ship in actual combat, and he should be a person with a certain influence in the Brazilian Navy. "
General Clark's words aroused the interest of General Nimitz. Nimitz himself was only 22 years old when he first served as the commander of a destroyer, making him the youngest destroyer captain in the US military.
Now he actually met a guy who was even more powerful than him when he was young, and who had obtained the actual combat sinking record when he was younger than him. He couldn't help but look at him differently.
"There is such a situation. He is so young, but he has such a resume. Now that you mention it, I am a little interested in this guy. Since we are going to provide warships to the Brazilian Navy, we can incorporate this guy into your fleet and help us in the Pacific battlefield! Let's see if he is really that powerful."
After getting Nimitz's permission, Clark accepted the order without any further ado.
"Understood General, I will communicate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a timely manner."
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