afterglow

Chapter 633: No. 22 Waterline Deception Paint; Death of Five Brothers

Zou Pu was now confused by the Yongle's repeated failures in firing, and suddenly such bad news came out.

Another fleet appeared in the northeast? As expected, the US military really had a backup plan, using the transport fleet as bait and reserving supporting forces on the periphery.

The Ming army had anticipated this situation and did not panic because of it. Instead, what made the officers panic was their own situation.

"Leave that fleet to the aircraft, and concentrate on the battle!" Zou Pu gave the instruction in a deep voice and then shouted loudly: "Gunnery officer! Calibrate the range-finding equipment and re-establish observation."

It is known that American warships like to use a bow wave deception paint, that is, to paint realistic waves on the bow with paint, pretending that they are sailing at high speed, so as to make the opponent misjudge the speed. The Ming army battleship gunnery officers are certainly aware of this preference of the US military.

However, the Yongle's previous few half-salvos either missed far or near, which shows that the ship's judgment of the target's speed was correct. Otherwise, if the judgment was wrong, the water column would be in front of or behind the Washington.

Therefore, the only reason is that the ship misjudged the distance to the target. Could it be an equipment failure?
The feedback from the 13.8-foot optical rangefinder on the bridge showed a distance of 10 km, and the radar detection result showed a distance of about km. Several experienced officers also roughly estimated that the distance was more than ten kilometers.

In addition to the main rangefinder on the bridge, each main turret also has its own rangefinder, and without exception they all report a distance of 13.8 km. Although the ranging and angle measurement errors of the meter-wave early warning radar are large, the error cannot reach as much as 3.5 km.

At this time, a Type 37 seaplane launched by the Longshuo flew over the US fleet and dropped a series of large aerial flares.

The brightness was even more exaggerated than that of artillery-fired flares. More than a dozen US warships were illuminated brightly, or the ship's shadows with clear outlines were revealed.

The seaplane launched by the Yongle followed closely behind, and there was a brief conversation between it and the mother ship.

"Yongle No. 1, report the relative position of the enemy battleships!"

"Report, the enemy battleships are about 800 meters ahead of the heavy cruiser, in single column."

"Are you sure we are in the same column?!"

"Yongle No. 1 confirmed."

But in the eyes of the Ming army officers and soldiers, the Washington was clearly behind the other warships and farther away.

The gunnery officer and a captain were the first to react. They both shouted in unison: "Fuck!"

Then the gunner rolled his eyes and said angrily, "We've been fooled! How cunning! That was a fake painted on, the waterline is fake. Pass the order, use the target cruiser in the same team as the reference to correct the distance!"

In order to achieve a surprise victory, the U.S. military painted the USS Washington with Measure-22, which painted the above-water part of the ship dark to blend in with the sea surface, leaving only the topmost point light-colored, thus misleading the naked eye into thinking that the battleship was farther away.

The data from the radar is actually in line with reality! The US military! So cunning!

【Picture】

When the Ming army destroyers were charging towards the US fleet, some of the other side's destroyers also bravely rushed towards the Ming army fleet.

The USS Laffey (DD-459) was speeding at a top speed of 36 knots, so fast that the dozen or so 128mm anti-aircraft shells fired at her from the side fell into the sea to the right rear.

Seeing that the Longshuo had been badly damaged and was on fire, the Lafite headed straight for it, attempting to strike this giant ship that was twenty times larger than itself with torpedoes.

The destroyer Yi Yang attempted to protect the Long Shuo and opened fire at the rapidly approaching "Jackal". Multiple anti-explosive shells hit the Laffey, destroying a turret and causing multiple fires.

The Laffey also attacked the Yi Yang, which was in the way, without mercy. Captain Major William Hank ordered all ships to fire at the Yi Yang.

The two ships hurt each other. The Yi Yang hit the Laffey, causing more than a dozen fires and a mess on the entire ship. The latter also hit the bridge of the Yi Yang in the fourth round of salvo, resulting in heavy casualties among officers including the captain. The navigation officer then took over the command.

The Lafite, like a fire ship, changed its course slightly and fired nine torpedoes at the Longshuo at a distance of five and four kilometers respectively.

However, due to the chaotic and critical situation, the hasty sailors forgot to release the safety of some torpedoes.

The Yi Yang rushed forward without hesitation and tried to block the mines for the Long Shuo. Fortunately, the Ming army sailors on the lower deck heard a "bang" and then there was no more movement.

In the end, two torpedoes hit the Longshuo, but only the one on the front right side of the hull exploded, raising a huge water column as high as the bridge.

The U.S. military's torpedo warheads have now been replaced with the famous Torpex. This aluminum-containing mixed explosive has a very high explosive heat and an underwater explosion power of up to 153% TNT equivalent.

Materials scientist Hu Mengwei's underwater protection system has withstood the test of actual combat. The five-layer compartments and expanded asphalt filling can absorb severe impacts and high-energy bubbles well.

Apart from minor damage, the hull of the Longshuo was otherwise intact, the water inflow rate was still within a controllable range, and only a few fires occurred inside.

This series of actions made the Laffey a thorn in the side of the Ming army fleet. The first bird to stick its head out gets shot, and the price of being arrogant was to be subjected to heavy concentrated fire.

The Laffey, which had already been severely beaten by the Yi Yang, was bombarded by dozens of shells of different calibers in succession, and its superstructure was blown to pieces.

The tenth Hanjiang-class light cruiser, the Wujiang, did not want to take action, but considering that the Laffey was too arrogant, the Wujiang still sent two rounds of salvos at her to show her power.

“Boom boom—boom boom—”

4座双联装144㎜舰炮伴着炮口焰喷吐出41㎏重的杀伤爆破弹，其中一发水中弹钻入拉菲号尾部主轴隧舱以后爆炸，导致她的航速迅速从36节骤降至21节；还有一发杀爆弹诱发了博福斯40㎜高爆弹的连环殉爆，闪烁的焰火就像是绽放的绚烂烟花！
The severely injured and unrecognizable Laffey could no longer fight. Captain William Hank vividly described the destroyer as a flaming ship sailing in hell!

He then ordered the ship to be abandoned, and the American sailors left their positions to arrange lifeboats, and some went to call the anti-aircraft artillery who were blood-thirsty and immersed in repeated shooting.

At almost the same time, the Northampton on the other side of the battlefield also suffered a new round of salvos from the Zhengde.

This time, two more 320mm armor-piercing shells hit, one destroyed the B turret, and one penetrated into the engine room and destroyed the steam turbine. The Northampton was seriously damaged, especially the fire on the middle deck was serious, because the Zhengde had previously destroyed her two OS2U Kingfisher seaplanes. Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley was unwilling to risk letting the cruiser fight with injuries, and then asked the Northampton to withdraw from the battle.

After seeing through the waterline deceptive paint trick used by the Washington, the Yongle reestablished observation and continuously corrected the shooting parameters with half salvos.

With the joint assistance of the optical rangefinder and seaplane for correction, Yongle quickly formed a cross-fire.

Knowing it was no match for the enemy, the Washington made a small right turn to evade, intending to adjust its position before changing its target.

Doing so would destroy the effective observation results established by both sides, because the speed and distance had changed, and they would have to start calibrating the target all over again.

However, Lieutenant General Robert Ghormley believed that his side had the advantage of fire control radar and would definitely react faster than the Ming army, so he made this decision decisively.

However, at 2:47, just as the Washington turned, an ultra-heavy armor-piercing shell weighing 1.41 tons fired from the No. main turret of the Yongle hit the side of her bridge hard!
The armor-piercing shells of the Ming Dynasty Navy used Gu's explosives, which is an aluminum-containing Amato explosive composed of 70% TNT, 20% ammonium nitrate, and 10% aluminum powder. Because the armor-piercing shells have a small charge, they have to find ways to enhance the damage effect after penetration. The trial-produced Type 416 20.5mm armor-piercing shells are loaded with 1.4kg of Gu's explosives, with a loading coefficient of %, and the shell body has good structural strength.

The personnel on the platform outside the bridge were blown away by the shock wave and fell heavily on the deck.

The casualties inside the bridge were even more serious because Vice Admiral Robert Ghormley was unwilling to hide in the sturdy command tower. A high-speed fragment from the explosion directly cut off his left arm, causing him to fall into a coma immediately. Dozens of other officers and soldiers in the bridge, including the captain, were either killed or injured.

The deputy captain who took over the command was obviously more cautious. He ordered no more preparations for shooting. The Washington repeatedly accelerated and decelerated and made evasive maneuvers to avoid being targeted by the Ming battleships, placing all its hopes on the TF-53.2 fleet that was attacking from the flank.

There are countless battleships available in the Pacific Fleet sequence, and naturally there is more than just the USS Washington participating in this battle. The real mobile force - the TF-53.2 fleet is about 53.1 kilometers northeast of the escorting TF- fleet.

At this time, a fantastic picture appeared between the sea and the sky in the northeast direction - flames flickered continuously, and dense light traces crisscrossed and flew, as if a fierce sea and air battle was taking place.

The North Carolina, South Dakota, Indiana and a dozen warships were attacked by the Ming navy. Two Type 2 interceptor-bombardier aircraft flew over the U.S. mobile fleet and dropped a series of flares, making the sea area as bright as day.

Because night attacks were difficult to coordinate, the Ming Army's naval aviation had to adopt a small formation of three planes. More than twenty Type 37-E twin-engine shore-based torpedo planes were divided into eight formations and took turns to attack.

The Type E, equipped with the 1500-horsepower Crane Type 448 engine, has a much larger carrying capacity than previous models, and can easily carry two mm aerial torpedoes.

Considering that twin-engine medium bombers were rather clumsy, a storm attack on the US fleet would inevitably result in heavy losses with little effect, so the Ming Navy separately approved the use of magnetic fuses by shore-based torpedo aircraft units.

Compared with the unreliable magnetic fuze in the past, the current improved version has better reliability, but stereotypes have caused the navy to remain skeptical about it, so there are no plans to promote it for the time being.

Dozens of torpedo tracks intertwined on the shimmering sea surface, and the foam left behind by the torpedoes flashed with the glow of flares and muzzle flames.

During the battle, the Quincy was eager to avoid the incoming torpedo and turned sharply, causing a collision with the destroyer USS Preston (DD-379), which was basically broken in half and took on a large amount of water.

Six of the Ming army's shore-based torpedo planes that participated in the battle failed to return. A total of more than 40 aerial torpedoes were dropped. The North Carolina was hit by one, the Indiana was hit by two, and the Pensacola was hit by one.

In the initial battle area, the screen ships of both sides were exhausted from fighting, most of the light cruisers and destroyers were badly damaged, and several destroyers were about to run out of ammunition.

After emergency repairs, the power of the Longshuo was restored, and the No. 3 main turret began to roar again after nearly half an hour. However, her condition was obviously not suitable for continuing, so Zou Pu ordered the Longshuo to withdraw from the battle.

Seeing this, the USS Mahan (DD-364), which was five or six kilometers away, aimed and fired the last two torpedoes. In an instant, more than ten 127mm normal shells flew towards the Longshuo.

Without waiting for Captain Mei Xuan to give instructions, the angry officers and soldiers of the No. 3 main turret had already aimed and quickly calculated the parameters on their own, and fired four salvos in response to the American destroyer.

The huge shells were like pebbles thrown into a pond, and the small Mahan was like a floating paper boat, shaking violently up and down and left and right, and was immediately seriously damaged.

In another corner, Jiangning and Beipanjiang joined forces to attack Juneau, hitting the opponent with at least 144 127mm anti-killing and penetrating bombs. At one point, only one twin-mounted mm dual-purpose gun on Juneau could operate normally.

Finally, after being hit by two torpedoes from the Jiangning on the front of the ship, the ammunition depot of the Juno exploded and it was immediately paralyzed on the sea. It then quickly took on water and capsized in a series of small-scale chain explosions. It disappeared without a trace in just a few tens of seconds, as if it had been swallowed by the deep sea.

The Juneau continued to explode until the moment before it sank. Only a very small number of people on the ship survived, and more than 600 people, including the five Sullivan brothers, were killed.

At this time, the three battleships of the TF-53.2 fleet, 406 kilometers away, had adjusted their positions. The North Carolina, South Dakota, and Indiana fired at the Type- Special Forces Fleet in a single column formation. More than twenty mm super-heavy armor-piercing shells fell around the Yongle every minute.

Because the bombs were falling too densely, the Ming army could no longer determine whether the US army had formed a cross-fire.

Seeing that friendly ships had joined the battle, the USS Washington, having successfully completed its basic mission, immediately fled.

For the U.S. military, the core goal tonight is to repel the Ming army's interception fleet. The amount of results achieved is secondary.

At this point in the naval battle, all the pressure fell on Zou Pu, the commander-in-chief of the Ming army fleet.

In the original plan, the US military would send two to three high-speed battleships. Although their side only had two ships, the Yongle and the Longshuo, they could get support from shore-based aviation. In theory, it would be no problem to force the US reinforcements to return empty-handed.

The first accident was that the Longshuo suffered heavy damage and lost its combat effectiveness early; the second accident was that the Yongle was deceived by the deceptive paint and failed to suppress the Washington; the third accident was that the existence of the Indiana was not detected before the war.

In order to conceal itself, the Indiana used a special camouflage paint and remained anchored in a deep-water bay east of the Big Island. The concealment work was done very well.

【Picture】

Zou Pu looked into the distance and saw a flash of light on the deep sea surface. It was the American battleships firing a salvo.

"Order, our team will retreat and return home, watch out for enemy submarine ambushes; the second wave of aircraft will change their mission to attack the enemy transport fleet."

(End of this chapter)