The Bismarck Sea is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, surrounded by the northwest coast of the island of Papua New Guinea and the Bismarck Islands, covering an area of 240,000 square kilometers.

On the evening of May 18, 1942, 100 nautical miles north of the border between the northern Bismarck Sea and the Pacific Ocean, the sea lost its former tranquility.

The sound of dense gunfire and the roar of engines of fighters, bombers and torpedo planes as they dived, and in the violent explosions, white droplets of various sizes were lifted from the blue waters, which looked like fountains from a distance.

Water droplets are scattered in the sky, emitting a brilliant rainbow of light under the reflection of the setting sun.

On the fast-sailing destroyer Yukikaze, the captain Kenjiro Tobita Nakasa had no time to enjoy the beauty created by nature, so he howled and commanded the sailors of the ship, maneuvering the narrow hull of the Yukikaze, rushing left and right in the rough waters, dodging the aerial bombs falling from the sky.

Aerial bombs fell one after another around the Yukikaze, setting off a column of water that soared into the sky.

Tons of seawater were sent into the sky by aerial bombs, and then fell heavily and slapped against the deck and buildings of the Yukikaze.

On both sides of the ship and stern, 14 25-mm anti-aircraft guns were fired at full power, frantically pouring fire on various enemy planes in the sky, but they still could not stop the enemy planes from approaching.

Waves of seawater splashed onto the bulletproof glass of the bridge, and then slid down to the deck under the influence of gravity, leaving only ripples of mysterious beauty on the windows, but they could not attract the attention of Kenjiro Tokita, who had no artistic ability.

Kenjiro Tokita Nakasa looked through the window, his gaze hurriedly sweeping over the right front of the ship. I could clearly see that on the sea more than 200 meters away, a destroyer was emitting billowing smoke and flames from the stern, and the bow of the ship was slightly upturned. The march to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean is underway.

On the port side of the ship, the sailors crackled and jumped frantically into the water like dumplings.

Tokita Nakasa couldn't help but let out a scolding: "Damn the Americans, the Asahun is also finished, and now only the three of us are left to face the Americans alone." ”

Looking around, Fei Tianzhong was horrified to find that it was less than half an hour. The original fleet of eight ships turned out to be only three ships left, and the Yukikaze under his command was the only warship.

Facing the direction of the starboard side of the Yukikaze. About three hundred meters away, it should be the transport ship Bamboo Knife, and five or six hundred meters in front of the left, the unlucky guy who was being besieged by planes. Is it Taimeimaru or Nojima Maru?

It doesn't matter who it is. In short, under the siege of nearly five enemy aircraft, he will definitely follow the other ships and send the full ship of ammunition and crew directly to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, not to the destination port of Rabaul.

With all his spirit, Kenjiro Tokita Nakasa, with his keen observation and astonishing judgment, commanded the Yukikaze's body of more than 2,000 tons, and deftly avoided the attack of three aerial bombs.

The brave anti-aircraft gunners also took out two odious enemy planes. Kenjiro Tokita saw one of the enemy planes dragging black smoke and plunging headlong into the sea directly ahead. A huge white spray splashed on the surface of the sea.

There were fewer and fewer enemy planes circling in the sky, and most of the enemy planes had turned around and left after dropping bombs and torpedoes, and there were less than 10 enemy planes in sight.

As Kenjiro Tokita judged, the transport ship in front of the left failed to escape the siege of US fighters, and it was only a matter of time before the hull **** to the sea and sink.

Looking to starboard, there were three enemy planes hovering over the Taketo, but because the two ships were too close, Kenjiro Tokita Nakasana couldn't make up his mind, and the final target of the three enemy planes would be the Taketosa.

"A torpedo machine was found on the port side. A torpedo machine was spotted on the port side. ”

A terrible shout reached Kenjiro Tokita's ears, and Tokita hurriedly turned his head to look at the port side, and saw an enemy plane, almost close to the sea, rushing towards the Yukikaze, and at an angle almost perpendicular to the port side of the Yukikaze.

As soon as Feitian Zhongzuo's eyes locked on the enemy plane, he saw a big black guy thrown from the belly of the torpedo plane.

The big black creature fell into the sea, dragging a white trail and rushing towards the Snowwind.

"Left full rudder, left full rudder." Seeing the torpedo rushing towards him, Tokita immediately shouted an order.

The slender hull of the Yukikaze, which was speeding on the surface of the sea, immediately turned sharply to the left, trying to keep the hull parallel to the course of the torpedo in order to avoid the fatal blow.

However, it was already too late, perhaps it was too late under Tokita's orders, maybe the torpedo was too fast to give the Yukikaze enough time to turn around.

Before he could complete the turn, the torpedo rushed to a distance of less than fifty meters from the Yukikaze.

"It's over." Kenjiro Tokita closed his eyes in pain.

I never imagined that my military career would end today, my dream of being a general, my return with honor in the war, and the dream of being personally received by His Majesty the Emperor, and the dream of the glorious Tokita family, all sank into the sea with this torpedo from the Americans, turning into fish and shrimp feces.

With the 2,000-ton hull of the Yukikaze, it could not withstand the power of the explosion of hundreds of pounds of explosives in the torpedo, and once it was hit, it would only end up with pieces and bones.

Half a minute later, his brain went blank, and Kenjiro Tokita, who was standing on the bridge with his eyes closed and waiting for death, opened his eyes and shook his head, and his ears, which had lost his hearing due to nervousness, also regained function.

Turning to look in the direction of starboard, Kenjiro Tokita saw the bow of the Taketoga transport ship on the right, shattered into countless large and small steel fragments in the shroud of black smoke and fire, scattering into the sky.

The smoke cleared, the bow of the Bamboo Knife almost disappeared, and sea water poured into the hull from the bow.

Under the weight of the sea, the bow of the Bamboo Knife sank rapidly, rushing to the bottom of the sea with an indomitable momentum.

What's going on? Why did the torpedo that rushed to the Yukikaze, but sank the Taketosa?

The tragic situation of the Bamboo Knife made Kenjiro Tobita stunned, and he lost his ability to think for a while.

"Long live the Emperor, the torpedo went through the bottom of the ship and did not hit us."

One of the sergeants shouted excitedly, shouting. On his young face, the muscles of his cheeks jumped and jumped, the experience of going around in front of the gates of hell just now. Apparently freaked him out.

Hearing Sergeant Matsuda say that the torpedo had drilled under the hull, Kenjiro Tokita recovered from the shock.

The scenes that had just happened instantly replayed in his mind.

It must have been that the enemy plane threw the torpedo too closely, and before the torpedo had time to rise to a depth that could hit the underwater part of the Yukikaze, it passed through the bottom of the ship and hit the Taketobe on the starboard side.

Thinking about the mystery, Kenjiro Tokita shouted, "Long live His Majesty the Emperor." ”

With this shout, Tokita felt the fear of the torpedo in his heart being spewed out of his body. Instantly rediscover yourself.

Commanding the Yukikaze and dodging the bombs dropped by the last two enemy planes over the battlefield, Kenjiro Tokita decisively gave a heroic order.

"The ship turned around. Return to the battlefield and rescue the crew from overboard. ”

The crew faithfully carried out the captain's orders, turned sharply on the surface of the sea, and returned floating sheets, military hats, vegetables and fruits, and groups of sailors. It looks like a messy battlefield.

All enemy planes have left. The sun has set, the night is about to fall, the enemy aircraft should not have enough time to launch the next round of attacks, it is a good opportunity to save the crew who fell into the sea, as comrades, you can't watch them feed the sharks.

The Snowwind roams the seas, rescuing a horde of chicken-like sailors and carrying the two surviving captains.

After confirming that there are no cries for help from people who have fallen into the water on the sea. Kenjiro Tokita gave the order to make a U-turn, and the Yukikaze continued its advance towards the port of Rabaul.

And before arriving at the port of Rabaul. A long radio wave flew out of the Yukikaze.

1.30 p.m., 19 May, Meeting Room of the Combined Fleet Command, Port of Yokosuka, Mainland Japan.

Senior naval officers headed by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Combined Fleet, gathered together.

All the participants arrived on time, and Yamamoto Fifty-six no longer closed his eyes to recuperate, opened his eyes and looked at Minoru Genda, and nodded slightly.

"Genda-kun, you can start."

Minoru Genda got up and walked to the chart hanging on the wall, picked up the whip and pointed to a point in the northern part of the Bismarck Sea on the chart, and said: "According to the telegram sent by Kenjiro Tokita, the captain of the destroyer Yukikaze, yesterday evening, the first special transport fleet transporting arms to the port of Rabaul was attacked by American planes, and except for the destroyer Yukikaze, all the other three destroyers and four transports of the fleet were sunk.

After telegram inquiries last night and this morning, I learned a very important detail about the battlefield. The position in which the enemy aircraft appeared, and in the direction in which they disappeared after the offensive, was not Papua New Guinea in the south, but in the open sea in the east.

Based on this clue provided by Tomada Nakasa, can we conclude that the 1st Special Transport Fleet was attacked by enemy aircraft carriers, and not by land-based aviation? ”

Another right-hand man under Yamamoto Fifty-six, Kuroshima Turtle Osa, saw that after Minoru Genda finished explaining, he first glanced at Yamamoto Fifty-six, and then looked at himself, obviously waiting for himself to speak, so he shook his expressionless poker face and said to Minoru Genda: "The enemy's planes will not be boring enough to go around the sky in circles and waste precious gasoline to confuse us, and if they are departing from the island of Papua New Guinea, there is no need to confuse us." So, we can conclude that it was definitely the aircraft carriers of the Americans who attacked the 1st Special Transport Fleet. ”

"Does everybody think so?" Yamamoto Fifty-six glanced at the officers attending the meeting and asked lightly.

Senior officers such as Nagumo Tadaichi and Yamaguchi Tabun nodded their heads one after another, expressing their agreement with the judgment of the two senior staff officers, Genda and Kuroshima.

Next, in the conference room, starting from Yamamoto Fifty-six, almost all the officers' faces flashed with expressions that Kenjiro Tokita could never have imagined.

"Can we celebrate that we have achieved an initial victory in the outpost battle of the Midway Operation Plan?" Yamamoto asked with a smile.

"Although I am a little sorry for the soldiers who served His Majesty the Emperor in this battle, I still want to applaud and celebrate this victory, with this victory, our battle of Midway will have at least a thirty percent better chance." Nanyun Zhongyi's face, a rare smile.

"That's right, it is precisely because of the sacrifice of the 1st Special Transport Fleet that we can be sure that the information that General Rosen, our Excellency Diablo, said about the decipherment of our army's military code by the Americans, is completely reliable." Lieutenant General Tabun Yamaguchi said.

Minoru Genda put down the whip in his hand, restrained the smile on his face, and replaced it with a scared expression.

"Thankfully, we planned this probe and confirmed the reliability of Diablo's information. The Americans would not have taken this risk if it were not for reliable intelligence to send aircraft carriers deep into the rear waters controlled by our military to attack our convoy.

Thanks to His Excellency Diablo, we can discover our terrible flaws in the military code in time to avoid being used by the enemy in future decisive battles and causing even greater losses. ”

Nagumo Tadaichi said with a smile: "Genda-kun, since we are sure that the US military has deciphered our code, we must thank Your Excellency for the information provided, and after the decisive battle of Midway, you go to Europe and personally thank Your Excellency." ”

"If the Commander is willing to give me a vacation, I am more than willing to go to Europe and have another in-depth discussion with His Excellency about the use of aircraft carriers in future wars." Minoru Genda said.

"When you win the Battle of Midway, I will arrange a trip to Europe for you as a reward." Yamamoto said.

"The situation now is that we know that the Americans have broken our code, and the Americans don't know that we have perceived that the code has been broken. Can we take advantage of this and set a trap for the Americans to win another brilliant victory at Midway? Lieutenant General Tafumi Yamaguchi asked.

"I also have this intention, as for the specific information to be revealed to the Americans, the General Staff will be led by Kuroshima-kun to complete it, and the attention of the American Pacific Fleet can be drawn to the direction of Midway Island in the early stage. After all, the enemy has at least one aircraft carrier operating in the southwest Pacific region, and we must give the Americans enough time to transfer the aircraft carrier in the direction of Midway. Yamamoto said.

"I understand what you mean, Commander, leave everything to Kuroshima, please rest assured. The Battle of Midway was bound to be a great victory over the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Black Island Turtle Man said confidently.

"Kuroshima-kun, I believe in the strength of you and Genda-kun. After the Battle of Midway, the U.S. Navy will have no strength to fight again, and as long as we follow the battle plan in the "Diablo Project" step by step, the entire Pacific Ocean will definitely be included in the territory of the Great Japanese Empire. Long live His Majesty the Emperor. Yamamoto fifty-six shouted.

"Long live His Majesty the Emperor."

A loud shout rang out from the conference room. (To be continued.) )