When the four "Iowa" rushed over, Chang Zhixin actually had only three "intact" battleships in his hands. The "Guangzhou" and "Nanning" both have one less turret, while the "Wuhan" has two less turrets, and the fire on the battleship has not yet been extinguished; when Chang Jianxin received the news, the "Wuhan" had already entered more than 1,000 tons of water, and the officers and men on the battleship were trying to find a way to drain the water, and the captain also said that he would fight to the end.

It only took Chang Jianxin half a minute to make a decision, and his decision was very simple, continue to pass to the left, maintain a speed of 18 knots, and strive to turn faster than the American fleet, so that the main guns on the four "Iowa" class battleships could not be used all, maybe this is only ten minutes at most, but it is enough. In addition, he did not let the "Wuhan" withdraw from the battle, since there are still three giant cannons, then there is still combat effectiveness!

At this time, the warring sides were 6 to 4 in terms of the number of battleships, and in terms of the number of main guns they were actually only 42 to 36. Chang Zhixin's advantage is not obvious, and his biggest advantage is to use the time when the enemy is temporarily unable to judge which battleship has the most firepower and which battleship has the weakest firepower to try to defeat the opponent as much as possible. In other words, if Kincaid couldn't accurately determine which three battleships were complete, then he would have to waste shells and time on some enemy ships that had already been wounded, and that's why Chang Jiexin didn't let the "Wuhan" out of the battle!

At this time, Chang Jianxin also understood why Yan Shiqi behaved so ruthlessly when he commanded the Third Task Force. In the brutal fleet artillery battle, there is no room for the slightest emotion. If the situation is normal, Chang Jianxin should definitely let the most seriously injured "Wuhan" withdraw from the battle first, or at least let the battleship temporarily withdraw from the battle. But Chang Zhixin knows that he can't do this. Letting the "Wuhan" be withdrawn, the loss of three main guns is still secondary, which will cause the other battleships to receive more shells. It will also lead to casualties among the officers and men on other warships, and it will also allow Kincaid to determine the key targets more quickly. Only by being there can you truly appreciate the harshness of artillery battles. This is completely different from aviation operations, arranging bombers to strike at the enemy hundreds of nautical miles, or even hundreds of nautical miles. It is impossible for the commander of the aircraft carrier task force to see the brutal battle ahead with his own eyes, but as the commander of the battleship task force, he can personally experience the thrill of those shells weighing more than one ton flying overhead, and can also experience the shock and pain when the battleship is hit by the shells.

In two minutes. Chang recommended the new contact issued several orders, the most important of which was the matchup arrangement. In order to defeat the opponent as soon as possible, Chang recommended that the "Guangzhou" and "Guiyang" concentrate their firepower against the No. 1 enemy ship ("Iowa") of the US fleet, the "Nanning" against the No. 2 enemy ship ("New Jersey"), the "Changsha" against the No. 3 enemy ship ("Missouri"), and the "Wuhan" and "Nanchang" against the No. 4 enemy ship ("Wisconsin"). The order was sent out immediately.

It is most reasonable to recommend a new arrangement. The "Guangzhou" and "Guiyang" were the first batch of "new provincial capital" classes in the place of service, and although they were equipped with new main guns with 55 times the diameter, new gun sighting systems, etc., the armor of the battleships was not strengthened, so they would definitely suffer losses when fighting against the "Iowa" class. And these two battleships had 15 main guns on them.

The opponent has only 9 guns, and uses firepower to make up for the lack of armor, so that. Even if it is very likely to lose one of them, the other can take out the enemy ship. The "Nanning" had three fewer main guns than its opponents, but as the flagship of the fleet, the "Nanning" had sufficiently thick armor. The quality of the officers and men was also the best among the four battleships newly commissioned, and even if they could not be defeated, they would have to be towed to other battleships to come to support. The strength of the "Changsha" is equal to that of the opponent, and who wins and who loses depends on luck. The "Wuhan" and "Nanchang" have only 12 main guns, while the opponent has 9, the advantage is not very obvious, if the opponent strikes the "Wuhan" first, then the "Nanchang" will have a chance to defeat the opponent and win.

Judging from this arrangement, the key to the artillery battle at that time was whether the four battleships in the front and rear could quickly win the victory, and whether the "Nanning" could hold back its opponent. Of course, in addition to assigning goals, Chang Zhixin has also made more arrangements.

"Tell the captains that you can maneuver freely from now on, and try to deal with your opponents as much as possible." Chang Jianxin called the communications staff officer over, "Let the destroyer formation and the cruiser formation keep up, and be prepared for lightning strikes, if necessary, I will give orders immediately." ”

The battle has been fought so far, and in order to be able to avoid the enemy's shells as much as possible, so that the battleships can maneuver freely (this is limited, that is, without destroying the battle line, each battleship on the battle line can turn, accelerate and slow down within a permissible range to avoid the enemy's shells), so that the flexibility of the battleships is greater.

At this time, Kincaid on the "Iowa" must have been more painful than Chang Zhixin.

At 12:18 p.m., the situation of the left flank formation was reported, the "South Dakota" was finished, the violent explosion directly caused the bow and hull to break, and the front end of the battleship began to sink, and the captain had already given the order to abandon the ship three minutes ago, and the officers and men were jumping into the sea to escape. The power system of the "Massachusetts" had been completely destroyed, the engine room of the No. 2 engine room was in the water for a few minutes, and the battleship was floating on the surface of the sea, although it did not sink immediately, but it was not far from the end. The captain is trying to figure out how to pump out the seawater in the engine room of the No. 2 ship so that the battleship can recover some power, so that there is still a chance to save it. The "Alabama" was flooded beyond the maximum reserve buoyancy and was slowly sinking, and the captain had already given the order to abandon the ship, that is, the battleship was also finished.

At the same time, an incomplete battle report was sent, the three "South Dakota" class were not sacrificed in vain, at least confirming that four main gun turrets on the three battleships of the opposing side were destroyed, and the most seriously injured of them should be the enemy ship No. 5 ("Wuhan"). In addition, enemy ships No. 1 and No. 3 must have lost a turret.

"General, the enemy fleet is accelerating to the left. The steering angle is about 30 degrees, and it's going around in front of us! ”

"The fleet turned 35 degrees to the left at a speed of 21 knots. Catch up as soon as possible! Kincaid also made an immediate decision, he would definitely not be able to run. Despite the loss of three battleships of the "South Dakota" class, he did not think about giving up the battle, and now he has no way to escape, and the bombers on Tagura Island will definitely arrive at dawn, and before that. The only thing he can do is for the other side to sink a few battleships as well!

Kincaid's idea was a bit tragic, which even gave Kincaid the idea of living and dying with the fleet at this time. And the battle is like this, and the 33rd Task Force almost does not even have the strength to fight back, and there are many reasons for this.

The most serious is the intelligence lapse. Until the radar on the USS Iowa spotted the six battleships, all the U.S. commanders, including Kincaid, believed that Task Force 3 was operating in the waters off Kuah Island, ready to support the landing of Marines in the New Hebrides, rather than having already appeared in the Coral Sea! The results of this serious intelligence blunder can be catastrophic.

If Kincaid had known that Task Force 3 had arrived, he would have had the seven battleships work together instead of splitting into two. I wouldn't even think about shelling the two Tang Empire airfields on Tagura Island. In this way, at the beginning of the engagement, he could hit six of the opponent's battleships with seven battleships. The advantage is in the hands of the US military, not in the hands of Task Force 3. If that's the case, maybe it's now the commander of Task Force 3 who is thinking about how to end it.

The second is the difference in the performance of the two warships. The Tang Empire built the best battleships in the world, starting from the age of sails. For hundreds of years, the Don Empire had the best warships, the best artillery in the world. If you look at the most powerful battleships of the Tang Empire and the United States at that time, it is enough to know the difference between the two countries in terms of warship construction.

The maximum displacement of the "New Provincial Capital" class (the beginning of the second batch) was 48,500 tons, while the "Iowa" class (after improvement) reached 59,000 tons, which is 10,000 tons more than the "New Provincial Capital" class, and in addition to the structural weight, the main armor of the "Iowa" class must have weighed thousands of tons more. However, in fact, the defense capability of the "new provincial capital" level is not below the "Iowa" level, and first, the key parts of the "new provincial capital" level are more concentrated, so the length of the main armor belt is longer than that of the "Iowa"

The level is shorter by more than ten meters. The second is that the powertrain of the "new provincial capital" class (starting from the second batch) has a larger power-to-weight ratio, so the powertrain is more compact. Third, the quality of the armor steel used in the "new provincial capital" class is significantly better, so thinner armor can be used to play the same defensive effect.

Let's look at the performance of the main guns of both sides. Before the "Iowa" class, the US military's 406-mm guns had only 45 times the caliber length, while the "New Provincial Capital" class later used 400-mm guns with 55 times the caliber barrel. 400 mm is an order of magnitude the same as 406 mm, and the longer the barrel of the gun, the greater the initial velocity of the shell. The length of the barrel is limited, and the biggest limitation is the processing and production process, as well as the quality of the cannon steel, the treatment process of the inner wall of the gun chamber, and so on. It is precisely because the Tang Empire has a technical advantage in this regard that it dares to use a 400-mm gun against the 406-mm gun of the US army. Moreover, with the delivery of Type 25 armor-piercing shells to the Navy at the end of 25, the power of the main guns of the battleships of the Tang Empire increased considerably.

Of course, the biggest difference between the two types of battleships was actually in terms of gun aiming. The "new provincial capital" class has a complete radar targeting system, but the US military's radar targeting system on the "Iowa" class is still not enough to shoulder the heavy task of artillery warfare. In addition, the "New Provincial Capital" class began with the second batch (the two ships of the first batch were improved during the overhaul), and were replaced with a 24-meter sight, and its aiming accuracy has improved a lot, far exceeding that of the "Iowa" class.

In addition to the gap in intelligence and the performance of warships, in fact, the gap in the quality of officers and men between the two sides is also very huge. If Chang Jiexin is very dissatisfied with the quality of the officers and men on the four new battleships, then Kincaid can only be described as "speechless" about the quality of the officers and men on the four "Iowa"-class battleships. At that time, there were only more than 800 officers and men with combat experience on the four "Iowa" class battleships (all of them were transferred from the three "South Dakota" class), and these four battleships had a total of more than 7,400 officers and men, and less than one-ninth of them had experienced officers and men.

And there are a total of 2,700 veterans on the four "New Provincial Capital" class battleships that are in service in the second batch, accounting for one-third of the total officers and men of the four battleships!

At the time, Kincaid didn't think about these details, and this comparison of pure theory and technology was not very meaningful in actual combat. However, every battle is actually determined by many, many small factors, and sometimes, even a single shell can completely change the whole battle, and the question is, who has the good luck to hit this crucial shell.

Therefore, there are many accidental factors in the process of fighting, but there are also some inevitable factors. This is also the essential characteristic of war, and it is inevitable among many accidents. The intelligence of the two belligerents, the performance of weapons and equipment, the quality of the soldiers, the ability of the commanders, and so on are all inevitable factors that determine the outcome of the battle and even the war.

The four "Iowa" began to accelerate their turn. Kincaid soon regained his composure, and when the fleet turned, he issued a new arrangement of engagement: "Iowa" against enemy ship No. 1, "New Jersey" against enemy ship No. 3, "Missouri" against enemy ship No. 4, and "Wisconsin" against enemy ship No. 5. In other words, Kincaid spared enemy ships No. 2 and No. 6.

Kincaid's arrangement has two purposes, the main purpose is to hope for a good luck, if the "Wisconsin" can quickly eliminate the No. 5 enemy ship, and the "Iowa" and "New Jersey" can solve the other enemy ship, then the two sides will return to a four-to-four situation, and the strength will basically be leveled. Another purpose is to try their luck and kill the opponent's flagship, and this is likely to be the No. 3 or No. 4 enemy ship, if the opponent's flagship is killed and cause confusion among the opponent, then there is also hope for victory.

This is Kincaid's only hope, and he knows very well that the first ten rounds of engagement will decide everything, and if luck does not come in the first ten rounds of artillery battles, then he will be a complete defeat!