In Tokyo, the Island Nation's capital, at the Naval Ministry, Navy Minister Admiral Yoshida Zengo and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu sat with furrowed brows, their expressions exceedingly grim. News from the Combined Fleet that the task force had been defeated dealt them a heavy blow.
"Has Admiral Yamamoto returned?" Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu asked.
"Admiral Yamamoto is flying back now. He is expected to return this afternoon," Navy Minister Admiral Yoshida Zengo said.
Although Admiral Yoshida Zengo had assumed the post of Navy Minister and become the foremost of the Three Chiefs, his seniority was relatively low. Both Admiral Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto had once been his superiors, so he kept a very low profile.
"Yoshida, the task force's crushing defeat has put us in an extremely dangerous position. Our Capital Ship Squadron has now been almost completely wiped out. This war will likely be very difficult to fight!" Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu wore a grief-stricken expression.
If the previous naval battle had been a bone-breaking, tendon-wrenching blow to the Island Nation Navy, then the task force's crushing defeat this time was a fatal strike. It had all but reduced more than twenty years of the Island Nation Navy's development to ashes.
Lieutenant General Yoshida Zengo nodded. "Yes, Your Highness. Before the war broke out, we all overestimated our own strength and underestimated the Germans' strength. Even with only two fleets deployed in the Pacific Ocean, we are unable to defeat them. If possible, we should not have gone to war with the Germans so early. If we could have waited another year, the situation might have been different."
If the Island Nation's war with Germany could have been postponed by a year, the Island Nation Navy's strength would have risen once more. In terms