afterglow

Chapter 649 Turning off the lights in broad daylight? This must be a trap

It would be fine if he failed at a critical moment, at most he would not be able to participate in the battle.

But at a time of crisis like this—who knows if the Ming army was lying in ambush nearby, waiting for you—how could you have produced so much black smoke? You were afraid that others would not be able to find you, right?

Even an experienced general like Mark Mitchell was frightened, and he hastily gave the order to shut down the boiler of the Intrepid to prevent it from continuing to smoke.

The officers and sailors of the Constellation were equally flustered and sent the wrong light signal, from "Shut down your boilers" to "Shut down your lights."

Why turn off the lights during the day?

The puzzled Intrepid immediately sent out a "please confirm command" light signal to express its doubts.

The officers and sailors then realized the stupid mistake they had made and quickly corrected it and reissued the order to shut down the boiler.

The billowing black smoke went straight into the sky and could be seen from a long distance.

Sailors' exclamations were heard from the bridge of the USS Bunker Hill, the flagship of the TF-60 task force, which was 58.2 km away.

Raymond Spruance walked out to the platform outside the bridge, and what came into view was the black smoke that diffused into the blue sky and white clouds in the west.

Huh? What the hell is going on?

The officers and sailors in the bridge were either confused or looked serious.

"It's not looking good for the 1st Squadron. My goodness, that black smoke is maybe 30000 feet high?"

"They may have been torpedoed."

If Raymond Spruance knew that this was caused by a mechanical failure of the Intrepid, he might have wisely chosen to use it as bait, luring the Ming army to attack according to local conditions, thus exposing themselves.

However, no one knows the truth now, and everyone thinks that this was an ambush by a Ming army submarine.

Should we break radio silence to ask for confirmation? Have we been exposed?

The radar did not detect any Ming army aircraft, and the radio monitoring team did not intercept any suspected communications from Ming army submarines.

If we proactively send out a telegraphic inquiry now, we will most likely expose ourselves.

"What should we do, sir?" someone asked in a low voice.

After a long struggle, Raymond Spruance finally decided to find out the truth.

Command, control, communications, and intelligence, three Cs and one I, the commander must grasp the actual situation of the troops as promptly as possible.

"Prepare for directional medium wave transmission, low power, 100 watts or 200 watts, to inquire about the situation of the 1st Battalion." He gave instructions.

The characteristic of medium waves is that they propagate close to the surface, and only a small part is reflected toward the ionosphere. In addition, during the day, sunlight makes the ionosphere more likely to absorb electromagnetic wave energy, so low-power medium wave communications are difficult to transmit over long distances.

Now forced to break radio silence, the US fleet adopted the method with the lowest probability of being intercepted.

Not long after, the Constellation responded in the same way.

"No combat encounter has occurred. The Intrepid's power system has a fault. I have ordered the power to be shut down and I am trying to resolve the problem."

Upon hearing the news, Raymond Spruance breathed a sigh of relief.

Because now it only means that our side has not been exposed, that's all.

The black smoke that goes straight into the sky is so conspicuous that it can probably be seen hundreds of kilometers away. If it is an airplane in the sky, the distance must be even farther.

Many US carrier-based aircraft carrying out search missions discovered this strange thing - how come their own fleet seemed to have suffered a severe blow after only setting off not long ago?
10月13日下午15：47，呼号为鸬鹚二十七号的大型水上飞机正在明军舰队北偏东十几度方向580㎞海域上空平飞。

This Type 40 seaplane is a bit unique. It has a hemispherical cover protruding from its nose, making it stand out from the crowd.

The long flight was very boring and the crew members were chatting casually.

The vast ocean is endless. It is said that the US military will invade from the east or southeast, so there may only be sporadic submarine activities in the north.

Suddenly, the co-pilot noticed that the skyline at eleven o'clock seemed a little strange. The color was dark and a little gray, which did not look like cumulonimbus clouds.

So the plane slightly adjusted its course and flew towards the direction where the miracle appeared.

Only a moment later the radar operator called out.

He looked around and reported, "There's something going on! There are a lot of echo signals coming out, about 172 kilometers away."

"No? How can we encounter the enemy in this direction?" The flight mechanic felt incredible.

"How is it? Does it match the signal characteristics of the large ship? Is it correct?" The navigator hurriedly picked up a red pencil and started writing and drawing on the log and nautical chart.

Several people gathered around and stared at the Type A oscilloscope and PPI flat-panel display.

The radar operator pointed to the display and said, "Look, a whole fleet."

Cormorant 36 immediately sent out its first telegram: "An unknown fleet has been spotted. The radio detectors have detected multiple ships in the distance. Our coordinates are 1°152'N, 28°2'W. The target is 170 degrees and kilometers north and west of our own. The time is recorded as :."

Six minutes later, Cormorant 27 sent a second message: "There is suspected thick smoke rising from the target direction. The smoke column is very large and can be clearly seen."

The strength of an army or a general is largely related to their learning ability. It is not terrible to make a mistake once, but it is terrible to make mistakes all the time.

It seems easy to correct mistakes as soon as you realize them, but in fact, those who can do it are already outstanding.

Examples of this can be found in the armies of major powers - the Russians perfected the theory of deep warfare after suffering losses; the Japanese switched to island depth defense after suffering losses; and the Americans summed up the magnetic tactics after suffering losses.

The war lasted for several years and hundreds of naval battles, large and small, took place.

Among the lessons learned by the Ming Navy, the top priority is actually the ability to search for the enemy. Zhou Changfeng used a more modern term, he called it situational awareness capability.

Will aircraft carriers use large or small formations? Will carrier-based aircraft strike in waves or just one-shot?

Compared with the ability to search for enemies, these seem less important.

The future development trend is undoubtedly radar. However, due to the curvature of the earth, the electromagnetic wave transmitter should be as high as possible, and the ideal carrier platform becomes an airplane.

Therefore, with the support of Zhou Changfeng, the Ming army launched the early warning aircraft project as early as the 40th year of Zhichang.

In addition to those experimental products that have no actual combat value, the first type to be put into use is the Yuannian Airborne Search Radar, which is installed on the Type 70 large seaplane. This meter-wave radar can detect a single large warship at a maximum distance of 100 km or a fleet at a distance of km. It played its due role in the previous Wanli raid, and has also made great contributions in the Pacific anti-submarine warfare in the past year or so.

Of course, the Ming army was not satisfied with this, so as soon as the first-year airborne radar was finalized and put into mass production, it immediately started the research and development of the next generation.

The main design of this project was undertaken by Guangzhou Tianning Telecommunications Company, while the development of the most critical radar heart - the multi-cavity magnetron - was handed over to Shanghai Yongchang Electric Company.

The final result is the Type 2 search radar, which just passed preliminary testing in August this year.

This is a microwave radar that operates in the decimeter band. It initially used a herringbone-shaped Yagi antenna, and later switched to a dish-shaped parabolic antenna with a wavelength of 32 cm, a frequency of 775 MHz, and a peak power of 160 kW. It can detect fleets up to 180 km away, and even farther if environmental conditions are very good.

Compared with meter-wave radar, decimeter-wave radar has higher detection accuracy. Generally speaking, its advantages outweigh its disadvantages, and it can be regarded as a qualitative leap.

The Air Force and Navy ordered 100 and 480 sets respectively, and emphasized the fastest delivery. The demand was so urgent that the Navy even bought two prototypes and installed them on aircraft for use.

Although the prototype still has many weird flaws and problems, it is not unusable!
The Ming Navy has a unique advantage in terms of radar-carrying platforms - it is equipped with excellent large seaplanes and high-speed seaplane carriers.

Small planes cannot be equipped with large radars, and large planes cannot be carried by warships. The transportation and support of large seaplanes can only be the responsibility of seaplane tenders.

The major powers often converted cargo ships into auxiliary vessels such as water aircraft carriers. For example, the USS Tangier of the US military was converted from a cargo ship, and the British Navy's Riviera was converted from a train ferry.

The advantage is that it is cheap and convenient, but the disadvantage is that it is slow.

The Ming Army's Dongting Lake class was also converted from a cargo ship, but the West Lake class was completely different. It was a specially designed and built high-speed watercraft carrier, and its original design intention was to accompany the fleet in operations.

For example, although the US military's PBY Catalina seaplane has a powerful ASV search radar, its carrying platform cannot keep up with the pace of the fleet.

This time, the two Type 40 seaplanes carried by the Xihu and Taihu seaplane carriers were both equipped with this new radar. The iconic feature of the appearance is the hemispherical radar cover protruding from the nose of the aircraft, which contains a parabolic antenna.

In addition, the Military Equipment Bureau of the Ministry of War unified the complicated radar naming method, using more intuitive and clear Chinese characters plus digital numbers to make them easy to identify at a glance. For example, the Type 2 search radar was renamed the Type 3 airborne search radar, where "Three" means the third model.

The US fleet appeared in the north?

And there was also a very conspicuous large amount of black smoke rising?

"Strange! Why did you go over there?"

"And they even set off smoke. This is clearly a trap."

"Who knows, maybe a submarine launched a surprise attack."

"There's no submarine activity here for the time being, right?"

All the officers felt incredible. They speculated that this might be a deliberate act by the enemy and it was a trivial trick that could be easily seen through.

After thinking it over again and again, Ouyang Zhanghua decided to adjust the overall strategy. He slowly said, "Strike back and strike back. Don't move until you know the enemy's situation. Let's see what they want to do first."

"Order!"

The Ming fleet received the message sent back by Cormorant 27, and so did the U.S. fleet.

Although it was impossible to decipher the detailed contents of the telegram, the U.S. military determined that it was a reconnaissance telegram based on the individual words that could be interpreted.

The American generals thought that they had definitely been discovered because they underestimated the enemy.

At 16:15, Raymond Spruance decisively ordered the fleet to change course and sail rapidly away to the northeast at a speed of 26 knots. After completing the repairs, the Intrepid did not return to the fleet, but maintained its original course.

This was to keep as far away from the Ming fleet as possible to reduce the possibility of an air attack, while also using the Brave as bait to attract attention.

If we delay any longer, it will be too late to launch the attack. When night falls, we will have a whole night to consider how to play the game.

Because something quite unexpected happened, both sides were quite cautious.

Shortly after the commanders of both sides made their decisions, Cormorant 27 continued to approach the US fleet, hoping to confirm the size and lineup of this inexplicable fleet by visual observation.

The Intrepid sent out four Hellcats to intercept, and it kept moving forward in the face of dense firepower.

Before being shot down, it sent back a very unclear telegram.

"Visual observation: enemy fleet consisting of 3 aircraft carriers and several screen ships, heading northeast at high speed. There is 1 aircraft carrier stationary to the southwest of the enemy fleet. This aircraft has been intercepted by enemy aircraft."

This telegram made the Ming army generals even more suspicious, and there was no news from Cormorant No. 27 afterwards.

Several aircraft carriers appeared in the north at the same time. This did not seem like a bait, but was most likely one of several detachments.

Ouyang Zhanghua decided to lead the fleet to maneuver westward at high speed, adjust its position through a whole night of tactical transfer, and then attack the US fleet as appropriate after dawn.

The afterglow of the setting sun was reflected on the sea, and the Ming army fleet sailed towards the blood-red sunset.

At 18:24, the U.S. submarine Black Whale (SS-211) discovered a Ming army transport fleet 1680 km northwest of the Hawaiian Islands in the last glimmer of light at dusk.

The captain, Major Carter, immediately ordered the boat to surface and pursue at full speed, intending to seize a good position to ambush the passing fleet.

However, an hour later, the submarine's diesel engine broke down. The engine room was filled with the smell of burning oil, and from time to time there were loud clanging sounds of metal colliding. It was obvious that the Black Whale could no longer maintain high-speed navigation.

The American submarine soldiers could only watch their prey leisurely sail away.

The Ming army transport fleet that the Black Whale encountered consisted of three low-speed oil tankers, two ammunition supply ships converted from freighters, and three frigates. Its mission was to provide additional supply support to the Ming army's main fleet if there was a need. If there was no need, then everything would be fine.

The regretful and frustrated submarine soldiers cursed the unreliable diesel engine and sent a telegram.

"Our boat spotted a Chinese transport fleet, suspected to be oil tankers and cargo ships, heading 50 degrees, speed 9 knots, 47 degrees north west of Oahu, 920 nautical miles."

Soon, the staff officers in the Bunker Hill's war room became busy.

On the nautical chart, they extended the course of the Ming army transport fleet reported by the Black Whale, and extended the flight path of the Ming army seaplane, and drew a large circle with the intersection of the two lines as the center. This was roughly the range where the Ming army's main fleet was located.

The results of the operation in the picture actually deviate from the actual situation by several hundred kilometers, but they still have certain reference value.

"If the enemy commander is a bold man, he may send a battleship formation to approach us as quickly as possible, so that we will have to deal with both planes and battleships at the same time tomorrow during the day," speculated Adjutant Major General John Lewis.

"No, this time it should be our old rival, Ouyang. He is a cunning and calm Oriental man, and he will not do that." Raymond Spruance stared at the nautical chart and imagined the fleet's sailing trajectory in his mind. "I think he may have made the same decision as me."

(End of this chapter)