An hour before receiving the telegram from Tan Ren Haodi, the 3rd Task Force passed through the island of San José in the Gulf of Panama, and when the telegram arrived, the flagship "Nanning" was about 20 miles away from Panama City, and the four battleships in other places were about the same distance, and only the cruiser formation running in front was a little closer to Panama City, about 12 nautical miles.

"They were fifteen minutes ahead of the scheduled time!" The communications staff officer handed the message to Chang Zhixin, "It will take about 20 minutes for us to enter the ideal range."

"What about the cruiser formation?" Chang Jianxin is not wordy, he also knows. Tan Renhao is the kind of person who often doesn't act according to the plan, and he has long been used to it./

"It has reached the effective range. You can fire in five minutes."

"Then let them do it first, just let the American artillery fire a few shots, let us know their exact location, so that we can use as little main gun as possible."

The communications staff officer immediately went to give the order, and the radio silence had been broken by Task Force 1, so there was no need for Task Force 3 to remain silent.

The ground cruiser formation, consisting of six "Trotto" class and four "River" class heavy cruisers, completed the turn two minutes after receiving the order. At that time, ten cruisers were advancing in columns (Huaxia Chinese Net

, the direction is being adjusted, so it is enough that each cruiser will need to turn individually, aiming the port side direction at Panama City. Three minutes later, ten cruisers fired the first salvo almost simultaneously.

Dozens of heavy artillery guns fired a salvo with a powerful flash. Chang Jianxin saw the situation in front of him in the telescope. The sky is brightening. The ten cruisers are like ten turrets floating on the sea, and the ground speed of the formation has been reduced to about 12 knots, so that the shells can hit the target as accurately as possible. The frequency of shelling is not high. This is not a ground artillery battle between fleets, but an artillery bombardment of the ground . In order to save shells, after each round of shelling, the lookout will report the impact point and adjust the shelling parameters to make the next round of ground shells closer to the target.

"General, the U.S. military is starting to shoot back!"

Chang Zhixin nodded, still holding the binoculars. Looking at the ground cruiser formation ahead. A few shells landed near the third cruiser in the formation, and from Chang Jianxin's angle, the impact point of those shells was very close to the cruiser, but in fact it may have been several hundred meters off. The shells did not blow up the ground water column on the sea surface, which is justified by the fact that the US army did not have heavy shore defense artillery, and most of them were 155 mm ground army artillery. It's the same as the intelligence says. Chang recommended the new a little relieved. When the time comes. Other battleships were able to ravage the enemy beyond the range of the U.S. shore defense guns without fear of being hit by enemy shells.

"We are suppressing the US artillery positions!" The gun staff officer was very conscientious. However, Chang Jianxin couldn't see the situation on land, after all, it was still more than ten nautical miles away, far exceeding the visual distance.

"The first American artillery position was destroyed, and now the target is being transferred." (Huaxia Chinese Xiaoxiaotou contribution.)

)

The cruiser formations began to turn . Because the formation has been sailing towards the east. Therefore, after reaching the limit of the range of naval guns, the formation must turn around. At the same time as the steering ground. The battleship's main guns stopped firing and the turret was rapidly turning. Once you've turned around, it's time to fire in the direction of starboard.

"The 'Litang River' was shot!"

Chang Jianxin immediately looked at the seventh cruiser in the formation, the US troops must have several artillery positions, and just seized the opportunity of the cruiser formation to turn to the ground, and concentrated their firepower on the cruiser "Litang River" that was at the corner of the route. The shell should have hit the bow deck of the ship, and below that is the soldier's cabin, and smoke has risen from the battleship, and I don't know where the damage to the battleship occurred. Or the battleship is releasing a smoke screen .

"The 'Litang River' reported that the location of the bomb was in the 4th compartment of the ship. There were no heavy casualties, no damage to combat effectiveness, and the battleship was still able to continue fighting."

Chang Zhixin put down the binoculars." How long will it be before we can open fire? ”

"It's going to take another five minutes." The nautical staff officer answered the commander's question. (Provided by Huaxia Premium Members)

"Contact the other four battleships, load their shells, determine the parameters of the shelling, and strike at the American artillery positions first." Chang Jianxin gave the order to fight." Immediately prepare for battle, and in the first round of shelling, it is necessary to eliminate the US artillery positions, so that the Yankees know what the real shelling is! ”

The officers and men on the five huge battleships moved quickly, and the busiest of them were the gunners of the main guns. All the ground guns are back in the 5 elevation position, and the gun commander is checking the condition of the artillery ground to determine the initial setting value of the artillery ground. Then, the high-explosive bomb weighing more than a ton was sent up from the ammunition compartment below by the bomb picker, and the shell was quickly loaded into the artillery chamber, and the three propellant packs were also pushed in, and then the gunner closed the chamber, locked the bolt, and now only need to press the firing button, and the shell will fly out at a speed of 800 meters per second until it hits the target. In addition to the gunner, the gun chief on the ship is also the busiest, he needs to determine the shelling target for the battleship, set the shelling parameters, and then assign the shelling parameters to the ground fire control sergeant for each turret. The fire control sergeant arranges the order in which the three main guns are fired.

The battleship began to turn and at the same time began to slow down. The hull is slightly tilted, and now it is not to avoid enemy attacks, there is no need to turn at a large angle. Chang Zhixin grabbed the handrail next to him, and at the same time looked towards the ground gun staff of the fleet. When the ship turns to the ground, the turret will also rotate and point roughly at the target. When the battleship entered a straight line again, and the speed dropped to about 12 knots, Chang Jianxin nodded to the gun staff, it was time

"The ships are firing, targeting the US 2 artillery position!"

In less than fifteen seconds, the "Nanning" was the first to break the silence, and the first shell was fired in five seconds from the nine main guns on the ground on the ground of the three main gun turrets. The ground firing time of the three guns in each main gun is staggered, usually two seconds. If all nine guns are firing at the same time, the strong recoil is likely to destroy the turret base, so it is necessary to stagger the guns to disperse the recoil.

The battleship shook violently. It is often recommended that the new grip is put into the armrest. In the deafening sound of gunfire, the glass on the porthole was shaking. This is a very shocking scene, Chang Zhixin is very familiar with this feeling, and I like this feeling very much, this is a feeling of strength, just like a strong person will appreciate his toned muscles, Chang Zhixin admires the huge cannons on the battleship, that is, the strongest muscles on the battleship.

The other four battleships also fired their first salvo within a minute. At this time, the battleship formation was still about 14 nautical miles from the coastline, and the American ground artillery positions were there. Not far from a clearing of land. The cannonball only needs a minute and a half to cover this distance. It then smashed into the ground at a speed close to the sound of a sound, and there was a huge explosion. The ground strike is not an armor-piercing shell, but a high-explosive shell, each high-explosive shell weighs slightly less than the armor-piercing bullet, and it is loaded with 200 kg of high-energy explosives. One such shell can destroy everything within a radius of 250. Even the steel artillery is no exception.

When the battleship returned to calm, the shells had not yet flown this distance. Chang recommended the new pick up the telescope. Looking in the direction of the U.S. artillery position. High-speed artillery shells are invisible, and only when a mushroom cloud rises from the American position, does it indicate that the shell has arrived. It took a little bit of a minute before it could be heard, and it was already very faint by then. It cannot be compared with the spectacular scene when the fire was fired just now.

"Report, the first round of shelling completely covered the target!" Less than fifteen seconds after a cloud of gunpowder rose from the American positions, the gunnery staff reported the results of the shelling.

"Yes, it seems that everyone is in shape!" Chang Jianxin smiled with satisfaction. Continue to look for targets and focus on striking US artillery positions! (Huaxia Chinese Net.)

)

The main guns on battleships will not be used easily. The main reason is that the life of the main gun body is quite limited. More importantly, no battleship will carry too many high-explosive shells, and the main artillery shells are used against enemy battleship armor-piercing shells. Therefore, only the kind of targets that pose a significant threat to the cruiser and are of very high value are worthy of the battleship to deal with the main guns, in general, the cruiser has 200 meters heavy guns, and the destroyer has 155 guns. And the 120 mm ground height and flat dual-purpose gun is enough to deal with most ground targets.

"General, the bombers of Task Force 2 are coming!"

Chang Jianxin walked to the porthole. A large group of bombers is flying from afar, and according to the plan, the ground carrier-based aircraft of Task Force 2 are responsible for striking US military targets near Panama City. At this point, the sky was just getting bright. Task Force 2 arrived a few minutes late, but it wasn't a big deal. The U.S. military has only just reacted from the strike, and it is impossible for their fighters to take off so quickly. Escorting ground fighters for bombers will not let US fighters run rampant.

"General, the Marines have sent a message, they are coming, let's complete the fire preparation as soon as possible."

"Let the destroyers take up in formation!" Chang Jianxin glanced at the navigation clock, and at 6:35, Han Shaofeng was really on time." The cruiser switched to striking the US shore defense positions. When can our seaplanes take off? (Huaxia Chinese Xiaoxiaotou contribution.)

)

"It's ready to take off right away."

Chang Zhixin nodded. Let's all get moving, it's time for us all to take the stage."

The battleship was the first to carry the ground seaplane, and at that time, the battleship formation artillery bombardment task was the lightest, because the fleet was too far away from the coastline to use the 120-meter secondary gun, and the 400-meter giant cannon could not find a valuable target, and the battleship ground shelling mission was the lightest, and the most active was the front cruiser.

Each "new provincial capital" class with ■4 seaplanes, originally equipped the battleship with seaplanes, not to carry out reconnaissance missions, but to perform calibration tasks, its main task is to go to the front line to observe the impact point, so that the battleship's main guns can hit more accurately. Since the advent of radar, in naval artillery battles, seaplanes rarely have the opportunity to perform school artillery tasks, only when hitting the ground, radar can not effectively detect ground targets, and it cannot play a role, and the ground use of seaplanes has been revealed.

When the cruiser formation made the second turn, each cruiser also released two seaplanes. At this time, the destroyer formation had already rushed up. The destroyer has a shallow draft, and the 155-meter main gun can deal with most ground targets, and can also reach close artillery fire, in ground support, the destroyer is even more active than the cruiser. Moreover, a 155-meter artillery shell is much cheaper than a 200-meter artillery shell, and the 155-meter artillery ground rate of fire is much faster, so the destroyer is more competent for a close-range ground strike mission.

At about seven o'clock, the "Nanning" reached the sea about 6 nautical miles from the coastline. At this point, the ground targets near the coastline are basically destroyed. The U.S. artillery positions were also gone, the artillery fire was extending inward, and the destroyer formation even rushed to the vicinity of the mouth of the canal and was shelling the Rodman military port on the west bank of the canal. The cruiser formation turned around again and began shelling the port of Balboa, opposite the Rodman military port.

"What other targets are worth firing on?" Chang Jianxin didn't think it was enjoyable, and until now, the battleship's main gun has only fired a salvo, and the other targets have been taken care of by cruisers and destroyers.

"U.S. Command." The gun staff officers are also selecting valuable targets, "The US headquarters is in the north of the city, and neither cruisers nor destroyers can hit it, and only our main guns have sufficient range." (Provided by Huaxia Premium Members)

"Okay, let's hit this first, let the plane provide the parameters, and first come to three salvos to remind the American generals!"

Soon, the seaplanes sent back the shelling parameters, and the five battleships also completed the turn, and the barrels of the main guns were raised high. Then, the first salvo was fired in less than five minutes with 45 huge bullets, and the three salvos were completed. It is also enjoyable to recommend the new one, but the Panama Defense Command of the US Army has fallen into bad luck.

"The target was completely destroyed, the shelling was successful!"

Chang Jianxin laughed, this is called a real firepower strike, suddenly, fast, accurate, deadly, and efficient. If the fight continues in this way, the US military targets will be completely destroyed in less than three hours.

"Contact the Marines." Chang Jianxin feels that the time is almost up." Let them get ready to come up, and get ashore before we run out of shells! ”

Under the heavy artillery fire of the 3rd Task Force, the US ground and shore defense facilities were destroyed like tofu. It's an unequal battle. The U.S. forces had only 120 guns in Panama City, while Task Force 3 had hundreds of guns, and in less than an hour, the U.S. defenses were destroyed. And the next thing to do is to let the Marine infantry go up and clean up the mess.