With a "boom", the Yamato's shells exploded on the starboard side of the Washington in turn, stirring up six columns of water that rushed to the sky.

"420 meters to the right!"

Although it did not cause substantial harm to the Washington, the power of these six water columns shocked Major General Li, who commanded the operation, into a cold sweat, and he screamed: "18-inch cannon!" ”

The Washington itself is equipped with a 16-inch gun, of course he knows what the power of the 16-inch gun can be, but the power of Yamato is obviously far more than the 16-inch gun, the fact and the comparison of strength finally made him sober up - the other party is not on the same level as himself, just now at a long distance Yamato and Nagato look like the size is not much different, but after the distance is closer, you can see at a glance what the strength of the other party is, and the lookout post also has news: "It is estimated that the displacement of the super long gate class will exceed 60,000 tons......"

The first round of shelling by Mutsu and Nagato also did not hit the target, but in the eyes of the crews of the San Francisco and Salt Lake City, the other party was undoubtedly no different from a terror troll, and you must know that the current shelling distance of 26,000 meters is almost the limit range of two heavy cruisers, and they cannot return fire at all. Now everyone understands, not to mention that the other side has 3 battleships, and just one Yamato is difficult for the Washington to bear.

Seeing that the distance between the two sides was still narrowing, and the strength of the other side was beyond his own strength, Rear Admiral Li issued a second order: "The fleet will turn 20 degrees to the left again, break away at the highest speed, and the destroyer will carry out a torpedo ......attack."

Seeing the TF64 array change again and the destroyers behind it advancing forward, Nobutake Kondo unhurriedly issued an order: "Heavy cruiser accelerate forward and destroy these ants." The battleship turned 15 degrees to the left and concentrated fire on the USS Washington - first to paralyze him. ”

"Distance: 25,740 meters."

At this distance, the Washington's 406mm can also hit Yamato, Nagato, or Mutsu. However, now Rear Admiral Li was in a hurry to retreat, and the accuracy was far behind, on the other hand, the three Japanese battleships were fighting more and more fiercely, and 410mm and 460mm caliber armor-piercing shells exploded around the Washington.

The "straddle-firing enemy ship ......" experienced two and a half salvos, and when it came to the third salvo, the observers of the Yamato were pleasantly surprised to report this result, and the commander tower was jubilant - the straddle firing was there. Then it's time for the hit.

Like a leaf falling in the wind, the Washington shuttled forward on the splashing sea, and the destroyer formation that had been behind it had already crossed the flagship. Prepare to save it with a suicidal lightning strike, except that they first have to pass through the fire network blocked by nine heavy cruisers with 203mm guns.

"Boom!" In the 5th salvo, 2 shells of the Yamato received the first hit, one on the front turret of the Washington. The 460mm armor-piercing projectile mercilessly pierced through the turret armor and caused a violent explosion. The surrounding 87 sailors were killed in an instant, the turret was completely scrapped, and another shell hit the main armor belt of the ship's swollen part, fortunately, this time it probably didn't penetrate because of the angle, but the impact caused was still extraordinary, and the people in the command tower felt that they were pushed hard, and they were unstable at once.

At this time, Yamato's hit range was about 24100 meters. With its opening score, Mutsu and Nagato's shells also hit the Washington in turn. Although they were not as powerful as the Yamato, they were also terrifying 16-inch guns, and they smashed the Washington into a mess. The latter released a smoke screen while trying to escape, occasionally firing a few guns to return fire, not to hit the enemy ship, but to interfere with the enemy's shooting.

At 5:18, the No. 4 reconnaissance plane of the TF64 formation sent news: the enemy landing fleet was discovered, 2 battleships, 2 light cruisers, 8 destroyers, and 11 transport ships of various types - they found the retreating 8th Fleet under the command of the Sanchuan Army, but still did not find the aircraft carrier formation that Kincaid was looking for.

At 5:19, the lookout post of the USS Washington reported that the organic swarm was approaching, and TF64 thought it was saved, but after another half a minute, the moment of despair came - it was not Kinkaid's air strike formation, it was a Japanese plane.

"It's over......" Rear Admiral Li only had this thought in his mind, he thought that this was an attack group released by the Japanese aircraft carrier formation, but in fact it was only a zero-battle cover group that the Munda Island Air Force came to support, and it did not have the ability to attack the sea.

He smiled miserably and said to the chief of staff: "The ship turns 20 degrees to the right, and the three turrets shoot at the opponent's three battleships respectively, blocking their offensive routes and covering the retreat of the three cruisers......"

"Sir......" The chief of staff hesitated for a moment, but still carried out the order.

The USS San Francisco, USS Salt Lake City, and USS Atlanta respectively received telegrams from the USS Washington saying "This ship is covering your retreat", and several captains were about to cry - everyone saw that the USS Washington was no match for the Japanese battleships Sanjo at all, and that the flagship was using its own remaining lives to provide cover for itself!

The re-turned, Washington, of course, blocked the offensive line of the Japanese artillery fleet, but it also completely exposed itself to the fire of the Japanese ships. At 5:21 a.m., the Yamato shells hit the side and tail of the Washington in succession, and this time the main armor belt that was tilted 15 degrees and 324mm thick could no longer bring good luck, and was unceremoniously continuously penetrated, pouring 3,000 tons of seawater in 2 minutes, and the Washington speed, which had been detached at 26 knots, suddenly dropped to 17 knots, and at the same time tilted 9 degrees to starboard. The damage control team did their best to save the fast battleship, which had only been in service for a year and a half, but they could not withstand the repeated attacks of the three Japanese ships, and more and more parts were hit, and the tail turret was also destroyed in the engagement. Only the remaining central turret continued to fire stubbornly, and one of the shots caused a near-miss to the Mutsu, causing a lot of tension from the entire Mutsu to the Michinoku.

At 5:26, the Washington entered more and more water, the speed further dropped to 11 knots, the hull had been tilted to the starboard side 15 degrees, even if it was filled with water, it was difficult to restore balance, and Rear Admiral Lee, who had nothing to do, ordered to abandon the ship, and almost at the same moment, the destroyers that launched a decisive attack returned in vain under the blockade of the heavy cruiser group of the Japanese artillery bombardment fleet, except for one warship that hurriedly fired torpedoes at the maximum range of the torpedoes, the rest of the warships were sunk one after another before they could be launched.

At 5:29, the Washington, which was broken and had more than 7,000 tons of water, suddenly capsized to the right, and then the stern of the ship began to sink slowly, including Rear Admiral Li, only 184 of the 1,943 crew members of the ship finally escaped with their lives; A minute later, the last retreating destroyer was also hit and destroyed. At this moment, except for the three cruisers in San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Atlanta, the rest of the TF64 formation were sunk. The three cruisers that narrowly escaped relied on their high speed, combined with the cover of the USS Washington and the destroyer group, to re-extend the distance between themselves and the Japanese fleet to more than 35,000 meters, and the distance continued to widen, but all the American soldiers who witnessed the destruction of the destroyer and the flagship were full of tears.

It only took more than half an hour to achieve such fruitful results, and the Yamato command tower was full of jubilation, but Horiyoshi smiled very little, and he only said thoughtfully, "Americans are far from being as greedy for life and afraid of death as we said before the war......

It was very embarrassing to say this kind of thing at the time of victory, but including Kondo Nobutake, Kusaka and other important officials, all nodded in approval, after all, no one is blind, Kondo Nobutake mustered up the courage to step forward: "Sir, we can do what the Americans can do, and even better than them - don't you personally serve as a bait with the dignity of the commander of the combined fleet......"

Horikichi smiled and nodded: "Yes, it depends on who can fight to the end!" For the sake of the enemy's sacrificial spirit, gentlemen, please sink the last three cruisers. ”

"Yes!"

Although the three American cruisers temporarily extended the distance by virtue of their speed and cover, the artillery fleet did not let them go, and still hung behind them and pursued them with all their might—the sea attack force on Munda Island was about to arrive later, even if it could not sink them, it would be enough to reduce their speed, and then these three cruisers would definitely not be able to escape.

With 36 Zero Battle cover, Kusaka Ren felt that he was a lot more confident, and his mood was not as nervous as just now, and he smiled and said to Horiyoshi: "Sir, what you said is completely correct, the enemy aircraft carrier formation is indeed some distance from us...... You see, it's 5:38 now, and the attack aircraft group hasn't even appeared. ”

Horikichi frowned: "This is not a good thing, it shows that they are farther than I thought, let alone 100 nautical miles, I'm afraid it will be 200 nautical miles......"

As soon as his words fell, suddenly a terrible siren began to sound: "Report, a group of aircraft has been found in the west-southwest direction, and it is suspected that the enemy formation is ......."

"Good!" Horikichi patted the armrest and stood up excitedly, "It's finally here......"

Kusaka Ren and Kondo Nobutake glanced at each other helplessly, what kind of good is this? Ignoring the expressions of the two, Horikichi turned his head and yelled at the combat staff officer: "Take the current location of the Yamato as the center of the circle, and compose the picture with the radius of the enemy's SBD bomber flying for 50 minutes...... No, expand to 70 minutes. ”

With a "bang," the combat staff officer picked up the compass and drew a large circle with a radius of about 250 nautical miles on the chart, and everyone's eyes were projected into this circle at once.

"The enemy fleet is most likely in that circle." Horikichi pointed to the chart and said, "The northeast is Kuah Island, we came from there last night, and the aircraft carrier formation is not expected to be there; To the northwest is the island of Munda Island, where it is impossible for the enemy fleet to go. Considering that the enemy aircraft group is attacking from the south-west, the enemy's aircraft carrier formation will focus on the west, especially in the southwest, and of course it is possible to ...... due south In addition to the original planes, additional reconnaissance planes were immediately dispatched to intensify the search in the above-mentioned directions, and the range was expanded to 300 nautical miles, and two planes in one squadron, each of which carried out a two-stage search for the enemy in a 10-degree fan-shaped plane, arranged a search surface of about 120 degrees. (To be continued.) )