afterglow

Chapter 641: Deserting from the battlefield; the fall of the giant beast

There is an island called Socorro in the sea 464 km south of Baja California, Mexico. The island is not small, but it has a small population.

Busy shipping routes pass right near it, and this sea area is the only way from San Francisco to Panama and vice versa.

"I am so scared to be alone in such a remote place."

In the bridge of the Ziwei Zuoyuan, the navigation officer said nervously.

"Are you scared? That's great." Cheng Jian, who was standing next to him, was holding a Go endgame record and playing a game of Go with a staff officer.

He said leisurely: "A thousand-mile raid must catch the enemy by surprise and catch him off guard. Now pack up and prepare to refuel."

That day was August 8th. After a long voyage of eight days and nights, the Type 30 Air Raid Fleet successfully arrived at its designated location.

When the Ming Navy received the intelligence, they did not have much time to react, so everything seemed very hasty, which made the officers and soldiers feel uneasy involuntarily.

However, for a fleet to travel thousands of miles to attack, the window of opportunity is too short. Who knows whether it will miss the target. If it doesn’t find it, it will be a wasted trip.

At sunset that day, the fleet suddenly received a report from its own submarine.

"Enemy fleet spotted, one battleship, two aircraft carriers, and several screen ships, heading 340 degrees, speed 14 knots, 115 degrees and 210 nautical miles relative to 'Yangshanbao'."

Yangshanbao refers to Socorro Island.

The first to discover the British and American fleets was the Xiaoman-3 ocean-going submarine. The approximate range of her combat cruise was the waters west of Los Angeles. After setting off from Rabaul, she headed straight for her destination.

When we were almost there, we received instructions and immediately turned south, and luckily we met the target.

Nine days ago, when the fleet set out, the Navy also issued instructions to submarines cruising along the west coast of the United States - if there were sufficient torpedoes and remaining oil, they should head south to patrol the waters near Socro Island.

After the order was issued, four submarines chose to go south, and Xiaoman No. 3 was one of them.

"Okay, God helps me." Cheng Jian calmly put away the chess record and said calmly: "Come here, do the homework on the picture."

The staff officers immediately gathered around the square table in the war room. On the glass panel of the table was a large nautical chart, illuminated by the white light below.

The results of pencil and ruler drawing were used to calculate the trajectory of the British and American fleets if they continued to sail at this speed, and then determine the appropriate time and route for their own attack.

If the attack is launched at dawn tomorrow, the fleet should arrive in the waters near Socorro Island.

The C-112 air attack fleet immediately turned to the southwest, slightly distanced itself and deployed its battle formation, quietly waiting for its opportunity.

It was a sleepless night.

When I thought about being in the vast ocean and ambushing the enemy deep in enemy territory, emotions of uneasiness, excitement, tension, anticipation and fear lingered in my heart.

In the second half of the night, it was originally planned to take off seaplanes to track the target fleet, but the inspection officer was worried that this would risk exposing himself, so he temporarily ordered a two-hour postponement.

It was 9:1 on September 4st when the Donghu seaplane carrier lowered the two Type 30 large seaplanes on board, which then glided over the sea and took off.

The Xihu-class, with a standard displacement of 0.94 tons, is a rare high-speed large seaplane carrier with a maximum speed of 29 knots and can carry 20 small seaplanes or 2 large seaplanes.

Because of their excellent performance, in addition to the West Lake, East Lake and Taihu that were completed before the war, the Ming Navy placed additional orders for Chaohu and Honghu after the outbreak of the war.

There is no need to say much about the Type 40 seaplane. It was a long-range reconnaissance aircraft that the Ming army relied on very much. It was the only one with the ability to search for enemies in the vast Pacific Ocean.

This large four-engine seaplane has an ultra-long range of up to 6800 km, and its Yuannian-type sea search radar can detect a single large warship 70 km away.

Cheng Jian was promoted to brigadier general at the end of last year. Ouyang Zhanghua's evaluation of him is: bold and careful, with a quick mind.

It can be said that Cheng Jian's caution was quite justified. The radio signal sent by Xiaoman No. 3 yesterday evening was intercepted by the British and American fleets. Although it could not be deciphered, they at least knew that there were Ming army submarines active nearby, and that the submarine had also sent out a telegram.

Captain Grady Grantham, captain of the armored aircraft carrier Indomitable, ordered the fleet to begin sailing in a zigzag formation to reduce the risk of being attacked by torpedoes.

However, Captain Arnold, captain of the battleship Alabama, disagreed with this and believed that the ship should speed up and move away from this area.

This fleet was just traveling along the way and was not organized for combat missions. The temporary command was in the hands of Colonel Arnold.

After the dispute between the two ships, Grady-Grantham had no choice but to give in, but was also quite dissatisfied.

At 5:26 in the morning, the Alabama's radar warning equipment suddenly sounded an alarm - the ship was illuminated by an unknown radar signal, and the Alabama quickly turned on the radar.

Soon, the light aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto also activated its radar and quickly detected an unidentified aircraft in the distant sky, and the identification of friend or foe was invalid.

The officers found it incredible - how could there be Ming army planes here? It was 4,000 to 5,000 kilometers away from Hawaii!

Of all the possibilities, they chose to guess that it was a four-engine seaplane, perhaps on a special ultra-long-range reconnaissance mission?
The San Jacinto then released three Hellcats to intercept.

At this time, the sky where the East Sky and the Sea meet was already showing light, but the sky was still dark.

What the British and American sailors did not know was that more than 200 kilometers away on the sea, a large number of Ming army carrier-based aircraft had already taken off into the blue-black sky.

After completing the formation, they rushed towards here in a mighty manner.

After a long time, three Hellcats caught up with the plane under the guidance of radar. It was consistent with the officers' guess, and it was indeed a Type 40 seaplane.

"I see it, Big Catalina, get ready to attack."

American pilots fighting in the Pacific were very familiar with this large seaplane and nicknamed it the frigatebird (Fregata). However, since the San Jacinto had just come from the East Coast, the pilots vividly called it a large-sized PBY Catalina.

"Donghu No. 2 report, 6:25, visual confirmation, the enemy fleet's course remains unchanged, but the speed has increased slightly."

At the same time as this telegram was sent, the self-defense machine gun of Donghu No. 2 was already fiercely firing at the Hellcat that was chasing it...

In order to maximize the strike effectiveness, the first wave of attack formations of the Type 112 Air Attack Fleet contained only a few torpedo planes.

太微左垣号放出了10架战斗机、22架俯冲轰炸机、5架鱼雷机；紫微左垣号放出了9架战斗机和18架俯冲轰炸机。

It didn't take long for the British and American fleets to detect the fleet of planes heading towards them and they were immediately horrified.

Although most people still couldn't believe that the Ming aircraft carrier task force would appear in this sea area, the light spots on the radar flat-panel display screen reminded everyone that this was a fact. Colonel Grady Grantham ordered all available carrier-based fighters to take off and fight as soon as possible, and the Indomitable immediately became busy.

The nearby San Jacinto was equally busy, and the sailors looked anxiously at the slowly operating elevators.

The Ming army's attack formation then appeared in the west, maintaining a steady formation and approaching quickly.

The weather in the Pacific Ocean is nice today, with bright sunshine and sparse clouds.

The cunning Ming army aircraft group did not rush directly to the target, but circled eastward and turned around only when they reached the east of the British and American fleets.

In this way, the rising sun is behind you, attacking from the shady side, thus preserving yourself to the greatest extent.

A dozen Sea Spitfire MkIIIs belonging to the 807 Squadron were coming towards them, while the Hellcats of the VF-30 Squadron were still one kilometer away.

The British and American carrier-based aircraft that were temporarily deployed lacked coordination and were seriously out of touch. Although their number was close to that of the Ming army's fighter planes, they were unable to effectively intercept those dive bombers.

The Seafires and Hellcats were tightly entangled by the Falcon and were unable to split themselves. More than half of the Type 37 bomber-class D-class broke through the blockade and headed straight for the attack position.

At 7:04, the British and American fleets launched an intensive anti-aircraft symphony. The American 5-inch and British 5.25-inch dual-purpose guns opened fire fiercely under the guidance of the fire control radar.

The combat efficiency of the British and American fleets, which responded hastily, was poor. Some gun positions were slow to move and even fired intermittently.

Despite this fact, in the eyes of the Ming army pilots, the incoming firepower was still dense, like a big net bag covering themselves.

Planes that were set on fire by 20mm tracer bullets fell into the distance, leaving thick black smoke behind. Some planes were hit by powerful 40mm high-explosive bombs and disintegrated in mid-air.

According to the orders of the lead commander, the Indomitable and San Jacinto were priority targets.

The "Dongcixiang" team of Taiwei Zuoyuan attacked the Indomitable; the "Shaozai" team of Ziwei Zuoyuan attacked the San Jacinto; the torpedo planes of the "Dongshangxiang" team of Taiwei Zuoyuan also attacked the Indomitable as appropriate.

The Ming army dive bombers that arrived at the attack position were ready and began to flip and dive towards their selected prey one after another at intervals of four seconds.

At 7:10, the San Jacinto became the first victim of this naval battle. A 500kg armor-piercing bomb penetrated into the lower cabin and exploded, which was basically equivalent to a heavy mark on the book of life and death.

The Independence-class light aircraft carrier was rebuilt based on the Cleveland-class cruiser. Although small, it is a regular warship after all, and its survivability is much better than that of an escort aircraft carrier.

Then she was hit by two more bullets, gradually losing power and paralyzed on the sea.

The Indomitable came under attack a little later. The armor-piercing bombs dropped by the carrier in a dive were basically the defense limit of this armored aircraft carrier. She was hit by four bombs in total, two of which failed to successfully penetrate the armored flight deck.

Compared with the first three Illustrious-class ships with single-deck hangars, the design of the fourth ship, the Indomitable, is quite different. It has a double-deck hangar and a larger displacement, so strictly speaking it should be classified as a separate class.

When the "Tojo Xiang" team set out, there were only five torpedo planes. One of them had a mechanical failure and crashed into the sea. Three were shot down during the breakthrough phase. The only remaining YH-TWZ-1-4 was also blocked by anti-aircraft fire and could not move forward. So it changed its target and dropped torpedoes on the Alabama.

At 7:23, a white water column as high as the bridge suddenly rose up. The rear part of the left side of the Alabama was hit by a torpedo, causing a propeller shaft to deform and stop rotating, and the main shaft tunnel compartment was also filled with seawater.

The Ming army's carrier-based aircraft flew away calmly, leaving behind a mess, and the radio frequency band was filled with the communications of the British and American fleets.

Colonel Grady Grantham was already very dissatisfied with his American counterparts, and he decisively ordered the Indomitable to move away from this troubled area at full speed.

The Indomitable is much more important than the Alabama. Now it is in a difficult situation and it has to run away first.

Almost an hour later, the second wave of attack formations released by the C-112 Air Attack Fleet arrived.

Several US destroyers were still putting up futile resistance, but to no avail. The Alabama, whose maximum speed had dropped to 22 knots, was soon hit by more than a dozen 500kg armor-piercing bombs.

This was not enough to penetrate the battleship's deck armor, but it greatly weakened the Alabama's anti-aircraft firepower. Several dual-purpose turrets had been destroyed, and several Ming army carrier-based aircraft were strafing at low altitudes. The explosions and bullets made every gun position on the deck extremely bloody.

The belated torpedo plane formation dropped nine torpedoes one after another. The Alabama tried its best to evade, leaving a conspicuous serpentine trail on the sea.

In the end, four torpedoes hit the ship, and because the Ming pilots deliberately launched a one-sided attack, all of Alabama's water was concentrated on the left half.

When the water intake exceeded two thousand tons, Colonel Arnold had to order water to be poured into the right compartment to maintain the balance of the ship, but this only delayed death.

The last three torpedo planes approached to a distance of less than 700 meters before dropping their torpedoes. Except for one dud, the other two all hit the target and exploded.

Two high white water columns symbolized the countdown to the battleship's demise.

From now on, the imbalance of the Alabama has entered an irreversible stage - the water inflow to the left half is still increasing, and it is no longer possible to maintain coordination by reverse injection because the right half has just been filled with seawater.

"What should we do? We have used up all the mines. It looks like we won't be able to sink the ship anytime soon."

"Don't delay, return home quickly."

The British and American fleets had already sent out distress signals when they were attacked. Although the enemy did not know the specific coordinates of the C112 air strike fleet, the risk was still too great.

Cheng Jian was reluctant to stay for long, as he was worried that the fleet would be intercepted on its return voyage. To avoid being exposed, the fleet did not even send back a message to report victory, and maintained strict radio silence.

After recovering the carrier-based aircraft, the Type 112 Air Attack Fleet immediately fled far away.

"Order, the fleet will leave first, East Lake One and Two will search and rescue the pilot who fell into the water, and then gather at the meeting point No. 6."

"Order."

Sailing westward under the shining sun, the fleet gradually disappeared on the sea horizon.

The battleships were incredibly strong, especially the Alabama, a new ship that had only been built and in service for less than a year, and whose design was much more advanced than the old battleships.

The four destroyers accompanying her tried to save the battleship, but their combined displacement of less than 2,000 tons was less than one-fifth of the weight of a South Dakota-class ship.

The Alabama held on for another six hours until the sun was about to set below the sea level, when it capsized completely and sank deep under the sea at 18°40' north latitude, 110°29' west longitude.

The U.S. Navy was very annoyed by this, as was Capitol Hill. The former believed that the Indomitable's desertion led to the tragedy, while the latter believed that the Navy was too negligent.

The Indomitable's captain, Colonel Grady-Grantham, was later charged, but the charges were dropped before he could go to court-martial.

The general routes of both parties are as follows:

(End of this chapter)