afterglow

Chapter 653: Sink her no matter what! End of the artillery battle
Most people did not expect the war situation to evolve to this point.

As the saying goes, "The navy is a branch of the military that can be completely defeated in a single afternoon." In the conventional impression, a fleet decisive battle should be decided in a few hours at the least, or at most a dozen hours, but this time it was completely different.

From the outbreak of the first naval and air battle on October 10 to today, October 14, it has been three days and two nights. Such a long span of fighting has overturned the cognition of many naval officers.

Initially, both the Ming and American armies thought they were fully prepared, but it turned out that plans could not keep up with changes, and now both sides are facing a number of severe difficulties.

First of all, there was not much ammunition left. Even after being resupplied by the transport fleet, the remaining ammunition was still not optimistic. Moreover, the key heavy bombs could not be replenished, and the impact of the attack was greatly weakened.

Secondly, there were heavy losses of carrier-based aircraft and crew members. Most of the surviving aircraft carriers only had one-third of their carrier-based aircraft capable of launching attacks, and some even had only one-quarter left.

There are also signs of fuel shortages. The warship's heavy oil boiler consumes a lot of fuel when operating at full capacity. The frequent high-speed tactical maneuvers in recent days have caused fuel consumption to be far higher than expected, and the oil tanker's oil tanker is almost empty.

"Enemy situation update at 12 noon. The enemy battle fleet is 60 nautical miles away from our fleet. Commander-in-chief, give the order."

In the bridge of the Chang Gung, more than a dozen eyes were focused on Ouyang Zhanghua.

He looked out the window and saw the Qiming in the distance emitting black smoke everywhere.

What is certain at the moment is that a light fleet aircraft carrier and a new large fleet aircraft carrier of the US military have been sunk, and an equally new Essex-class large fleet aircraft carrier has been hit by two hits, and is either sunk or damaged.

Our ships Taiwei Zuoyuan were seriously damaged, Gouchen were seriously damaged, Changgeng were slightly damaged, Ziwei Zuoyuan were slightly damaged, and Tianshu were slightly damaged. There was no risk of sinking. The only one in danger was Qiming.

The Tianshu does not have combat capability in the first place, which means that the only three large, medium and small aircraft carriers that still have the ability to attack are the Chang Geng, Ziwei Zuoyuan and Beiluo Shimen.

Ouyang Zhanghua gave the first instruction without hesitation - to withdraw the severely damaged aircraft carrier.

Such a high-intensity sea and air battle was still too difficult for wooden flight deck aircraft carriers such as the Taiwei Zuoyuan and Gouchen. Fortunately, the US carrier-based aircraft made the mistake of dispersing their attacks, otherwise the possibility of survival of the two would be very slim.

In order to avoid the risk of ambush by US submarines, he asked the two ships to take an alternative route through the rough North Pacific Ocean under the escort of more than a dozen screen ships, crossing the Tsugaru Strait to Vladivostok.

As for what’s next…

He was still hesitant as to whether to have a decisive battleship battle like the European War.

The Qiming is a giant armored aircraft carrier converted from the fourth Yongle-class battleship. Its standard displacement is as high as 4 tons, almost equivalent to two 1.8-ton Gou Chen-class aircraft carriers.

It would be fine if the other aircraft carriers just gave up decisively and withdrew quickly from the battle, and they could declare a glorious victory of one for three. However, the Qiming was in a half-dead state now, and it was really hard to give up on her easily.

Ouyang Zhanghua, with a serious look on his face, put one hand behind his back and held his pocket watch in the other hand. He said in a deep voice: "The conditions for a decisive battle are not yet sufficient. Let's play a diversionary game to delay the enemy fleet and hold them back."

Most officers clasped their fists and accepted the order. Only a few showed hesitation, but they did not question it.

Information provided by the Intelligence Department of the Grand Marshal's Office indicated that the new U.S. battleships also used 16-inch caliber main guns, and the rest of the data was unclear. Therefore, everyone knew that the four battleships that were coming now all had the same firepower configuration of three triple-mounted 3㎜ main guns.

Only the Yongle and Xuande ships were equipped with triple-mounted 416mm main guns, the Kaihuang was equipped with triple-mounted 352mm main guns, and the Zhenguan and Yonghui were equipped with triple-mounted 384mm main guns.

Traditional battleship artillery battles are actually very simple and crude - count the tubes first, then look at the speed.

The US military has a total of 36 406mm main guns.

明军总计有18门416㎜主炮、18门384㎜主炮、9门352㎜主炮。

If two battlecruisers and two special battleships were put into the battle line, 36 more 320mm main guns could be added.

Overall, the Ming army had a slight advantage, but not a big one.

As for speed, because the Zhenguan and Yonghui could only reach a maximum speed of 23 knots, the Ming army was at a speed disadvantage due to the drag of the two, while the US army was able to seize the T-head position at a speed of 27.5 knots.

At 12:30, the Taihu water aircraft carrier was ordered to tow the Qiming. After approaching the Qiming, the crew hung a 48mm diameter steel cable on the left anchor chain of the Qiming with a crane hook.

At 12:47, the two ships were sailing slowly westward at a low speed of only 4 knots. The steel cable broke and the towing was interrupted.

At 13:10, Taihu replaced the cable with a thicker 64mm diameter cable and tried to tow again. This time it seemed to be OK. During this time, three small explosions occurred inside Qiming.

At 13:15, the 58th Squadron of the 4th Task Force appeared within visual range.

In order to assist them in the battle, William Halsey also ordered the 3rd Squadron to follow closely, with the Glorious and Indomitable providing carrier-based aircraft patrol and alert support. In addition to the capital ships, the two fleets of the US military also had a total of 1 Atlanta-class air defense cruiser and 23 destroyers.

Soon, the US battleship formation adjusted its course and sailed diagonally along the tangent line toward the northeast of the Ming fleet.

Dong Yunzhang, the commander-in-chief of the bombardment fleet, instructed via radio: "All soldiers must be loyal to their duties, fight bravely, defeat the invading enemy, enhance our military prestige, and win supreme glory!"

The U.S. commander, Major General Willis Lee, also instructed: "We are inferior to the enemy in numbers. We should use our advantage to sink the aircraft carrier to the bottom of the sea no matter what."

The flagship North Carolina took the lead, followed by Iowa, South Dakota, and Indiana. The four high-speed battleships with 16-inch main guns changed their formation and formed a battle line with a distance of 1000 yards (914m) between the ships.

The heavy cruisers and destroyers, which were originally on guard in an arc formation in front of the fleet, now moved to the side of the battle line to adjust and reorganize.

The Chang Geng and Ziwei Zuoyuan launched an attack wave consisting of 10 fighters and 17 torpedo planes.

Due to this harassment, the US battleship fleet was forced to disperse to respond, but this attack did not achieve any results.

In view of the aerial threat to his side, Willis-Lee decided not to waste time in seizing the horizontal lead position, but to enter the same-air battle directly.

The artillery battle officially broke out at 14:14 that afternoon. The North Carolina fired the first half salvo, and six Mk6 super-heavy shells flew out of the muzzle and flew towards the Yongle 8 km away.

The combat principle of the US battleships is usually to start attacking at the maximum range. In addition, if the number of the own side is less than that of the enemy, the battleships in the front half will focus on the same target, and the battleships in the back half will each attack one of the other targets. Therefore, the North Carolina and the Iowa will focus on the Yongle, the South Dakota will attack the Xuande, and the Indiana will attack the Yonghui.

The most sophisticated of the US battleships, the Iowa, naturally has cutting-edge technology - the Mk8 fire control radar, while the other three ships only have the Mk4 fire control radar.

The Mk8 fire control radar is a microwave radar with a detection range of 40000 yards (36.6 km) for battleships and a ranging accuracy of 15 yards (13.7 m). It has the ability to capture the water column of artillery shells to correct shooting parameters and has a high degree of automation.

In fact, the Iowa has the ability to conduct blind firing purely relying on electronic equipment without optical equipment. However, this time the US military did not completely rely on the fire control radar and still used a combination of the two to conduct aiming and test firing.

Because the distance difference was too great and the artillery skills of both sides were not very good, they were unable to form a cross-fire.

Like almost all naval commanders, Dong Yunzhang could not resist the temptation to incorporate battlecruisers into the battle line to participate in the artillery battle. This time, the two fragile battlecruisers Yongyuan and Yuanxing also participated in the battle.

The Ming Navy emphasized "long-range firing and concentrated attacks." The hit rate of long-range artillery fire was low, so it was necessary to compensate for it by concentrating fire from multiple ships to weaken the enemy as quickly as possible.

The Yongle and Xuande's target was the Iowa, which posed the greatest threat. With the assistance of the seaplane that had been launched not long ago, it was not difficult to identify it - the two chimneys of the same height and far apart were obviously neither the South Dakota class nor the North Carolina class.

The four US battleships all used waterline deception paint, while the Ming battleships used bow and stern length deception paint. Simply put, the bow and stern were painted grayish white, so that the bow and stern would be easily confused with the sea-sky line background from a distance.

【Picture】

The roar of the huge cannons resounded between the sky and the sea. The Xuan De's Type 39 triple-mounted 13-inch main gun spewed out dazzling muzzle flames. The blast blew away a large area of ​​sea water on the side of the ship, forming a circle of white waves that spread outward.

The Ming Navy's large-caliber naval gun armor-piercing shells also had a dyeing design, which was to install a small, highly sensitive instantaneous fuse and a paint box on the wind cap. When the shell fell into the water, the paint box would explode, thus dyeing the water column with color.

This is actually a replica of the French Navy's K-type artillery shell dyeing device, and the effect is good, so the British also copied the French design.

The water column of the Yongle is yellow and that of the Xuande is red to distinguish them.

On the vast blue sea, red, yellow, green and purple colored water columns rise and fall one after another!
Under the guidance of the seaplane, the Ming battleships used the step-fire method to repeatedly calibrate their fire. Afterwards, the Xuande was the first to form a straddle fire.

In a sense, straddle shooting is equivalent to hitting the target. Then you just need to keep shooting according to these elements, and the rest depends on luck.

She immediately switched to effective firing, and the 416mm main gun began to fire at the Iowa with one super-heavy shell after another weighing 1410kg. At this time, the two ships were 30.2km apart!
The Xuan De's third salvo scored a hit, and a super-heavy shell landed on the front deck of the Iowa, penetrated into the left anchor chain locker and exploded.

Because at this time the Iowa also formed a cross-fire with the Yongle, she was unwilling to evade and continued to maintain her course and speed and fired fiercely.

The two sides fired at each other for six or seven minutes. The Yongle was hit by three bullets, the Zhenguan was hit by three bullets, and the Yonghui was hit by one bullet (in the water).

Looking down at the sea, you can see two battle lines on the blue ocean constantly spewing flames and sending huge deadly projectiles to each other.

During the fierce battle, four Sea Spitfire fighters emerged from the clouds and swooped down in groups of two on the Ming army seaplanes that were surveying the battle situation and assisting in the bombardment.

The fragile single-engine seaplanes had almost no ability to fight back, and soon several of them were on fire and crashed into the sea.

Three Saker Falcons rushed over from the side of the battlefield, and the Seafires immediately began to climb to gain the height advantage in advance.

While the fighter planes of both sides were fighting, Major General Willis Lee lost no time in ordering the fleet to adjust its course, thus rendering invalid the shooting parameters previously calculated and determined by the Ming army through test firing.

Without the important means of aiming, the accuracy of the Ming army's battleship formation's artillery fire dropped sharply.

It is extremely difficult to conduct long-range artillery fire relying solely on the warships themselves. The hit rate of Ming army battleships against targets 30 km away is only 1.2%. If there is assistance from seaplanes, the hit rate can be increased to about 5%.

【Picture】

The battle lasted until 15:28. With a deafening roar and thick smoke, Iowa's B turret was destroyed by Yongle. These were the only two super-heavy shells that hit her from Yongle. The one that hit the bridge was a dud.

In addition, the superstructure of the Iowa was also badly damaged by the seven 7mm anti-personnel bombs fired by the Yongyuan and Yuanxing, and a large crack was blown in the front chimney.

Just at this moment, the Ming Navy's shore-based aviation force, which had flown a long distance from Oahu, finally arrived. 27 Type 58.4-E twin-engine torpedo planes broke into the battlefield from south to north and pounced on the TF- fleet.

The US battleships, cruisers, and destroyers immediately opened fire!

A large number of torpedo tracks appeared on the sea surface, but the intensive artillery fire seriously hindered the attack of the large and heavy shore-based torpedo planes. In the end, except for the North Carolina which was hit by a torpedo, the other warships were unharmed.

Given that all four battleships had sustained varying degrees of damage in the artillery engagement and that aerial reconnaissance showed that the HMS Kaiming appeared to have been abandoned, Rear Admiral Willis-Lee decided to call off the battle.

At 10:16 on the afternoon of October 16, the U.S. military, which was not resolute enough to fight, took the initiative to withdraw its troops, announcing the official end of this sea and air battle that lasted for three days and two nights.

Just west of the battlefield, the Taihu had cut off the towing cable of the Qiming, which had been experiencing sporadic small-scale explosions. The fire inside was completely out of control, and the power compartment had been engulfed in flames half an hour ago and was irreversible.

After all the officers and soldiers had evacuated, Captain Dai Zhengjun, the captain with a complicated look in his eyes, sighed, and was the last one to board the lifeboat.

The Dinghai-class destroyer Changning fired all nine 512mm torpedoes one after another. With the rumbling explosions and tall water columns splashing, this giant ship with a standard displacement of 4 tons tilted at a speed visible to the naked eye. Not long after, it capsized and quickly disappeared on the sea, leaving only a few debris floating.

On the platform outside the Chang Gung bridge, Ouyang Zhanghua felt the sea breeze blowing on his face and asked calmly, "Have all the people been rescued?"

"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, there is only one airship left to search and rescue the pilot who fell into the water."

"Well, pass the order, gather the formation, pay attention to anti-submarine warfare, and return."

As the sun sets, the sunset glow dyes half the sky red, and the clouds under the setting sun become gradient colors.

The fleet sailed westward, and the long white tracks completely disappeared after more than ten minutes. Various debris and debris also drifted farther away with the ocean currents a few hours later. The traces of the fierce battle in the waters west of the Mori Fracture Zone over the past sixty hours were quickly wiped out by the boundless Pacific Ocean.

(End of this chapter)