Volume 24 The Overlord of the Sea Section 43 The Wolf Enters the Sheepfold

Spruance did everything possible not to contact the Combined Fleet too early, and when he wanted to return to Norfolk, Tan Renhao also found out Spruance's idea, and on the fifth day, Tan Renhao personally rushed to the battleship "Nanning", discussed it with Chang Jianxin, and then contacted Han Shaofeng. In the end, it was decided that the Third Task Force would take the lead in entering the port of San Diego that night and shell the US port defenses, while the Marines would launch an attack on the harbor area by 8 a.m. on the 6th at the latest, and the fleet would provide direct artillery support to the Marines.

At that time, it was mainly Chang Jianxin who was arranging the actions of the fleet, and the battleship "Hefei" to which Tan Renhao was located, as well as the four destroyers responsible for covering the battleship "Hefei", would not participate in offensive operations. In addition, Han Shaofeng also contacted the shore-based air force in the afternoon of the same day, and the tactical air force bombed the city of San Diego before the fleet assault that night to attract the attention of the US military, and then supported the fleet to bomb the US defense facilities in the port.

In the evening, Chang recommended the five battleships and eight cruisers under his new command to advance first towards the port of San Diego, while the other battleships were left behind, responsible for shelling outside the harbor and providing artillery support to the marines advancing towards the harbor after dawn. The engineers of the Marine Corps had already cleared the obstacle at the exit of the harbor in the afternoon of the same day, and opened a channel for the fleet to enter the harbor. Although the channel was a bit narrow, allowing only one battleship to pass through at a time, it was enough for Task Force 3 to get in.

It was definitely a rather risky decision for the fleet to take the lead in attacking the port of San Diego, and if it was changed somewhere else, Tan Renhao would not dare to propose such an action at all. Similarly, it is precisely because the port of San Diego is special that Tan Renhao thought of this risky way.

The Port of San Diego itself is a natural deep-water harbor shaped like a flattened pocket, with the harbor exiting to the south. It is about 15 kilometers long from north to south. The width of the east and west is between 2 miles and 3 kilometers, the whole harbor is very long and narrow, the largest water in the interior of the port is >:) meters, and the average water depth is more than 20 meters, which is enough to accommodate any big Santiago in the world at that time.

When Spain ruled Cuba, it was because Santiago had the best deep-water harbor in the whole of Cuba. So it was built as a fortress and at the same time as the home port of the Caribbean Fleet of the Spanish Navy. After the United States occupied Cuba, it also quickly took advantage of the port of Santiago, which was one of the most important and well-equipped ports of the United States Navy in the Caribbean at that time.

In general, ports in this geographical environment were easy to defend and difficult to attack, when the United States was at war with Spain. The U.S. home fleet did not dare to enter the port of Santiago, but by blockading the port of Santiago, it finally forced the Spanish fleet to rush out on its own initiative, and then took advantage of the narrow water at the exit of the harbor to encircle and annihilate the Spanish fleet. Since then, the United States has established its hegemonic position in the Caribbean in one fell swoop.

It is precisely because of this that no one wanted to let the Third Task Force enter first, and when Tan Renhao made this suggestion, Han Shaofeng and Chang Jianxin immediately realized the importance of this plan. The situation at that time was very favorable for the offensive operations of the 3rd Task Force.

The first is that there will not be a large number of mines in the harbor, as long as the channel into the harbor is opened. Then the 3rd Task Force does not need to worry about the threat of mines in shallow waters. In the past, the US Home Fleet could not deal with the shore defense artillery on both sides of the strait because of the limited range of its artillery, but now the range of the guns on the warships of the Third Task Force is much longer than that of the US shore defense guns, so naturally this problem no longer exists, so the fleet can strike at the US military positions on both sides of the strait by the way when it advances. Finally, the number of American warships in the harbor was small. There was no way to threaten Task Force 3 at all. And the greatest advantage of this adventurous operation is that as long as the third task force enters the harbor. And if the U.S. defensive positions along the way were shelled, then the Marines could advance all the way to the southeast of San Diego along the passage opened by the fleet, and then attack San Diego, without having to force a break through the U.S. defensive positions in other directions in San Diego, avoiding the need for the Marines to fight offensive battles in positions that were not very familiar.

With so many benefits, Han Shaofeng and Chang Jianxin naturally will not object. At that time, Chang Jianxin didn't think it was enjoyable enough, if he was allowed to kill it, wouldn't it be a wolf into the flock? Han Shaofeng was also worried about how to break through the defensive positions set up by the US troops on the periphery of Santiago, and he even decided to temporarily stop the offensive on the night of the 4th, and wait for the arrival of the second batch of six marine divisions before attacking Santiago, and now as long as there is close artillery support from the fleet, maybe the two infantry divisions on the ground can take Santiago, and the ships transporting the second batch of landing troops can directly dock in the port, and there is no need for the engineers to build a second improvised pier on the beachhead. This not only saves a lot of time, but also saves a lot of trouble, and more importantly, allows the second batch of six Marine Divisions to go into battle as quickly as possible, and sweep the southeastern part of Cuba at a faster speed!

At half past eight in the evening, the four cruisers, lined up in front of the battleship formation, first arrived near the exit of the harbor. The first to enter the harbor was not these four cruisers, but a small frigate arranged by Han Shaofeng. This frigate will lead the way for the ships behind to pass through the narrow waterway and enter the harbor, rather than running aground at the exit of the harbor because the large battleship is confused and the operation fails.

It was not until 9:50 a.m. that the cruisers at the rear of the formation entered the harbor, and by this time the cruiser formation at the front had already entered the harbor for nearly three nautical miles, and had already begun shelling the American defensive positions on the coast on both sides, especially the American defensive positions and artillery positions on the eastern beach, 20 minutes earlier.

The sudden artillery bombardment made the U.S. military unsure of the direction at all, until the U.S. military discovered that the shells were flying from the harbor, and then they found the dozen or so huge warships that were constantly firing in the night, but at this time it was too late for the U.S. troops to counterattack. Relying on the information provided by the reconnaissance plane, the seaplanes that set off ahead of schedule first guided the naval guns to strike at the artillery positions of the US troops, and as the US troops began to counterattack, their concealed shore defense guns were also exposed, and the seaplanes immediately provided the warships with new ground targets

This is definitely an unequal artillery battle, both in terms of numbers. Or from a qualitative point of view. There is nothing fair about this fight.

In terms of numbers, a cruiser had 9 200-meter heavy guns, 16 120-meter secondary guns, 24 80-mm guns, and dozens of 40-meter and 20-meter machine guns. The number of guns on the battleships was much higher, in addition to 9 400 mm guns, 24 80 mm guns, and more than mm and 20 m machine guns. If the guns of three battleships are fired at the same time. Nearly 300 shells can be fired in one minute, and these shells are enough to destroy the defensive positions of an infantry regiment, or several artillery positions at once.

The US military is obviously at a disadvantage, not only is the number of artillery pieces very small, but it is mainly equipped with meter-caliber army artillery, and its 155-meter-caliber heavy artillery is quite limited in number, and it is difficult to conceal it. It was destroyed in the first place. And 105 millimeters into a threat, let alone against battleships.

By the time the last cruiser entered the harbor, several US artillery positions in the southern and central parts of the harbor had been destroyed, as had dozens of concealed shore anti-aircraft guns. The defensive positions on the eastern side of the harbor were all shrouded in flames. Many of the US officers and men who were exposed in the panic became ideal targets for the small-caliber machine guns on the battleship. These cannons were originally intended to defend the ground, and their rate of fire was very fast, and the range was not too short. In particular, the theoretical rate of fire of the 2-mm machine gun reached 250 per minute, and the actual rate of fire also reached more than 120 per minute, and the dense rain of bullets covered the positions of the US troops. Any officers and soldiers who were exposed were targeted.

The fleet did not stop, but sailed north at a speed of about 5. Chang Jianxin did not speed up the fleet, mainly because the harbor is relatively narrow, and there are shallow water areas on both sides, if the speed is too fast, the battleship can easily rush into the shallow water and run aground. In addition, there is no threat to the counterattack of the US military, so there is no need to increase the speed. Maintaining a slow speed can also improve the accuracy of shelling.

By the early morning of the 6th, the cruiser that was running at the front had reached the vicinity of the dock area of the harbor. And the shelling of American warehouses behind the dock began. The four cruisers entered the relatively open waters in the northern part of the harbor one after another, and immediately all of them began to suppress the American fortifications in the dock area.

By the time the five battleships of the new command had arrived, the U.S. troops guarding the docks, as well as the non-combatant officers and men in the area, had already fled with their heads in their hands. Instead of shelling the pier, the five battleships aimed their guns at the city of San Diego in the northeast, and then began shelling US targets in the city under the guidance of seaplanes, especially the US headquarters in the south of the city.

The last four cruisers arrived about one o'clock earlier, and by this time the first four cruisers had completed their bombardment of the dock area, and all eight cruisers aimed their guns at the American defensive positions south of downtown San Diego. It was a section of the U.S. defense line set up to defend San Diego, and Han Shaofeng's Marines were about 10 kilometers southeast of the U.S. defensive position.

It can be said that it was only by this time that the shelling really began. The 3rd Task Force that entered the port of San Diego was not a wolf into a flock, but a wolf into a sheepfold. The US commander did not expect that the Third Task Force would directly attack it, so he did not make any defensive preparations. At that time, the US military had already considered laying mines in the port area, but a large number of mines were still hoarded in warehouses and not put into the port; as a result, at about half past one o'clock in the morning, all these mines were guided, and the huge light-watching and rolling fireballs produced by the explosion rose to a height of several hundred meters, and the officers and men of the Marine Corps more than 20 kilometers away could see it clearly.

By about 3 a.m., the target had been largely destroyed, and the U.S. forces on the southern side of downtown San Diego had begun to retreat. Chang Jiexin also gave the order to fire freely at this time, and then he sent a telegram to Han Shaofeng, telling the marines to advance to San Diego without waiting for dawn, as long as they were ready to attack. Han Shaofeng also quickly replied that the Marine Corps could only launch an attack at six o'clock at the earliest, and there would be fire support ships entering the harbor at that time, and there was no need for the Third Task Force to support the Marine Corps attack during the day.

Han Shaofeng arranged a fire support ship to replace the Third Task Force, probably because he didn't want the Third Task Force to steal all the credit, after all, the fire support ship belonged to the direct command of the Marine Corps. Moreover, at that time, Task Force 3 had already removed all the surrounding fire points, and the fire support ships would not be much of a threat.

Chang Jianxin didn't care so much, after calling back to Han Shaofeng that the Third Task Force would withdraw from the battle after dawn, he gave a supplementary order to the captains of each ship, that is, before half past six, all the shells must be exhausted, even under the shells of a 20-mm machine gun. And as long as the shells do not hit the heads of the marines, they can shell any target.

With this order, the captains of the ships went crazy, and the gunners went even more crazy. You know, each 20-mm gun on the battleship had 2000 shells, and the cruiser had 1200 shells for the same caliber gun. There are so many shells, not to mention anything else, the officers and men who are responsible for carrying the shells alone will be tired enough, and maybe they will even break dozens of barrels.

The next three hours of shelling were frenzied, with many of the ships pouring shells aimlessly, and most of the guns aimed at the city, so that at least the shells would not land on the nearby Imperial Marines. At about half past six, that is, when Chang Zhixin gave the order to retreat, the battleships were equipped with armor-piercing shells for sea operations and other guns except for VT shells for air defense

At this time, the marines had already launched an attack, and Han Shaofeng's fire support ship had also entered the harbor. Chang Jiexin was very satisfied with the shelling this night, as for how Han Shaofeng would fight next, because Han Shaofeng did not invite him to participate, Chang Jiexin did not care very much. Sea Soul Volume 24 Overlord of the Sea Section 43 The wolf enters the sheepfold