(NetBP; Spruance had no worries or concerns when it came time to arrange for bombers to strike Task Force 2, and in his opinion, two batches of bombers consisting of 72 BD, 62 TBD, and 48 F4U would be enough to send Task Force 2 to the bottom of the sea. (Literature read BP; When preparing to "meet" the bombing of the US military, Lei Shaoqing did not have any foundation in his heart. Although the 120-mm anti-aircraft guns of the Second Task Force were also equipped with T-shells, and Lei Shaoqing also had the fleet use T-bombs to hit target planes (a glider that was towed by a bomber with a steel length of several hundred meters "can cut the steel if necessary"), proving the effectiveness of T-bombs, Lei Shaoqing did not have much confidence in this type of ammunition, and at the same time, he did not change the fleet's air defense configuration like Tan Renhao.

In fact, at that time, Task Force 2 was even more powerful than Task Force 1. The aircraft carrier battle groups of both fleets are of the same composition, two large cruisers of the "Li Jing" class, two heavy cruisers of the "Trotsky" class, plus four destroyers of the "City" class. However, the second task force is equipped with the third batch of large air defense cruisers of the "Li Jing" class, which have an increased displacement of several hundred tons, a few meters longer hulls, a large amount of more deck area, and more anti-aircraft artillery guns. In addition, in a separate artillery formation, the 2nd Task Force had two "rivers"

The air defense capability of the four heavy cruisers of the "Temperary" class is obviously much stronger than the air defense capability of the four heavy cruisers of the "River" class of the First Task Force, and the ability of the two heavy cruisers to be divided into two more will be very important in air defense operations.

At that time, Tan Renhao did not compete with Lei Shaoqing for the two heavy cruisers, and the first task force was originally a mobile force, and there was no need to undertake artillery combat tasks and provide artillery support for the Marine Corps. He plays the role of a firefighter who only needs to deal with the enemy's main fleet. The Second Task Force is stationed in the Pacific Theater and has many tasks to undertake, so it is also necessary to have two more cruisers. Of course, this is also Tan Renhao's humility to his friends. In Tan Renhao's opinion, the strength of the First Task Force is already strong enough, and two more cruisers may not be able to help much.

The actual combat results proved that Spruance's self-confidence and Lei Shaoqing's worries were actually unnecessary, or completely wrong. The emergence of a type of weapon will inevitably change the face of war, even if it is a weapon with a very one-sided scope of use. It will also have a profound impact on the war. T bomb is this kind of weapon that changed the face of war, after the appearance of T bomb, the defensive side in naval warfare has a sharp short sword, although this does not essentially change the situation in which the attacker has the advantage, but the role played by T bomb on the battlefield, and the far-reaching impact on the development of the entire war situation is very obvious.

Spruance's big mistake may have been to split the bomber group into two groups, rather than to concentrate on the group. This was actually caused by the U.S. fleet itself, and Spruance didn't want to reveal the position of the fleet at that time, so he could only use liaison planes to get the 52nd Task Force to attack, and the middle half an hour could not be saved. If Spruance were to let the bomber swarm concentrate on the ground. Then he would have to wait half an hour longer. If he waited for half an hour, it would have a serious, even devastating, impact on the subsequent combat operations.

The bombers of Task Force 51 left the fleet at 7:05. The bombers of Task Force 52 left the fleet at 7:35 a.m., because Task Force 52 was at least 70 nautical miles away from Task Force 51 to the northeast of Task Force 51, so the bomber group reached Task Force 2 not just half an hour late, but 50 minutes! Ten minutes after the bomber group from Task Force 51 left, Spruance received a telegram from Pearl Harbor, and he gave the order to attack.

In fact, Task Force 2 was about 180 nautical miles away from the 51st Fleet at this time, and because Task Force 2 was retreating south at full speed, it would take Spruance bombers an hour to catch up with Task Force 2. The bombers sent by Task Force 52 will take at least an hour and 50 minutes to catch up, and the attack launched on a large strike radius will greatly limit the evasive maneuver of the bombers when attacking, so that the bombers cannot patiently choose an effective breakthrough point.

The actual time for Task Force 51's bomber group to reach Task Force 2 was 8:02, which was three minutes less than planned (mainly because Task Force 2's retreat was not completely facing away from Task Force 51). This batch of American bombers was first stubbornly intercepted by the superior air defense fighters of the Don Empire. 36 "Falcons" against 24 "Corsairs", even if the task of the "Pirates" is only to entangle the "Falcon" so that those "dreadnoughts" and "marauders" can break through the interception of fighters, when facing the excellent fighter pilots of the Second Task Force, the US fighter pilots who flew the "Pirates" did not take much advantage. (Literature read BP; "Falcon" is also very clear. (Qingfeng Literature Network?) Bypassing the "pirates" and fighting bombers with bombs and torpedoes is their first priority. Therefore, only 12 "Falcons" will be responsible for diverting or pestering the "pirates", and the other 24 "Falcons" will be responsible for intercepting the approaching American bombers. The air battle was launched near the US bomber formation, the fighters of both sides, and the self-defense firepower on the bombers were intertwined, and some nervous US fighter pilots even hit machine gun bullets on their own bombers, and the navigators in the back seat of some bombers were in a panic It was difficult to distinguish the same gull-shaped wing "pirates" and "falcons", as long as there were fighters approaching, they would use self-defense machine guns to strafe, and as a result, many "pirates" ate machine gun bullets (the weapons of the "Falcon" were four 20 mm guns, Not equipped with an aviation machine gun).

By 8:13, after paying a heavy price, the US bomber group finally broke through the interception of the air defense fighters of the Tang Imperial fleet and began to approach the Tang Imperial fleet. And those "falcons" also quickly received orders and quickly withdrew from the battle. Seeing that the air defense fighters of the Tang Empire withdrew from the battle ahead of schedule, the US bomber pilots were relieved and secretly happy. In the past, the Tang Empire's air defense stations would fight from 35 nautical miles away from the aircraft carrier until they were 5 nautical miles away from the aircraft carrier, but this time, the Tang Empire's fighters took the initiative to withdraw from the battle when they were about 8 nautical miles away from the aircraft carrier. But the US pilots did not know that the real nightmare was waiting for them.

123-mm anti-aircraft guns using T-shells when the target was 5 nautical miles away. Combat can be guided by radar (a ground-air defense tactic), with several anti-aircraft guns against a target at the same time, using barrage attacks to shoot down enemy aircraft. Of course, before this, there was no anti-aircraft artillery radar to guide the operation, and this time the second task force still did not adopt this tactic, after all, the gunners did not trust the radar, and the radar at that time was indeed difficult to play the effect of fire control. But. Heavy cruisers, as well as large air defense cruisers, have several 120-mm anti-aircraft guns concentrated in a certain place to attack a single target, which greatly improves the combat efficiency of 120-mm anti-aircraft guns (on the "Li Jing" class large air defense cruisers, one-third of the length of the bow is set up on the left and right sides of the battleship, and two twin 120-mm anti-aircraft guns are set in the middle of the left and right sides of the ship's left and right sides).

The heavy cruisers of the "Tsavage" class arranged three twin 120-mm anti-aircraft guns at 25-meter intervals in the middle of the left and right sides of the battleship. After the advent of the "River" class heavy cruisers, two twin 120-mm anti-aircraft guns were deployed on the left and right sides of the middle of the battleship).

When the US pilots saw the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns on the cruisers of the Tang Empire, which were still several nautical miles away from the fleet, they began to shoot, and I am afraid that some pilots snickered, while many pilots did not regard this as a threat at all, and almost no US pilots thought of maneuvering at this time to avoid the flying shells. But more than ten seconds later. There are quite a few U.S. pilots who can't laugh anymore.

In the first round of artillery bombardment, the 120-mm anti-aircraft guns of the heavy cruiser "Shocking" located northeast of the "Hulun Lake" accurately shot down two BDs on both sides, while the heavy cruiser "Lichun" on the other side also shot down two BDs to complete the turn, and the "Changsun Wuji," which opened fire a little later, cleanly killed the two TBDs in the first round of shelling, and the "Li Xiaogong" on the other side of the "Li Xiaogong" smashed the two BDs into a volley. The 12 twin-mounted 120-mm anti-aircraft guns on the bow and sides of the ship were deployed on the "Hulun Lake" and also displayed their might. Two salvos took out three BDs

Like the air defense warships in the "Hulun Lake" battle group, the six heavy cruisers that were separately organized also showed their might in the first three minutes, and the number of US bombers shot down by the 120-mm anti-aircraft guns of the six heavy cruisers in just these three minutes reached 12. At this time, only the battleships of the "Lake Bell" battle group, which was located south of the fleet and had not yet turned immediately, had not yet let the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns strike.

Within the first three minutes, 23 US bombers were shot down, while only 68 US bombers arrived in the first batch, and fewer than 46 US bombers avoided the air defense fighters. Only 23 of them were killed, and before the bombs were dropped, these 23 bombers had to go through three nets of fire organized by 80mm anti-aircraft guns, 40mm anti-aircraft guns, and 20mm machine guns!

At this time, the mood of the US bomber pilots can only be described as shock, how have they ever seen such an accurate long-range anti-aircraft artillery? I have not seen any shells capable of exploding near the warplane. And those Tang Empire fighter pilots who watched the battle from the sky were probably also shocked, they really didn't expect that the interception rate of the fleet's large-caliber anti-aircraft artillery would surpass that of the air defense fighters!

Of the 23 US bombers, 12 BDs and 11 TBDs were shocked, and after the US pilots reacted, they immediately launched an attack on the nearby "Hulun Lake" aircraft carrier. (bp; This height can avoid the attack of 40-mm anti-aircraft guns and 20-mm machine guns, and it also makes the 120-mm anti-aircraft guns that cannot exceed 75 degrees in elevation look into the sky, but they cannot avoid the attack of 80-mm anti-aircraft guns.

The 80mm anti-aircraft gun is a ship-type anti-aircraft gun developed by the Tang Empire after introducing the technology of the German 88-mm anti-aircraft gun, and its main role is to make up for the gap between the 120-mm anti-aircraft gun and the 40-mm anti-aircraft gun. Before the 80-mm anti-aircraft gun was equipped with the fleet, "the 20-mm anti-aircraft gun was the only long-range anti-aircraft gun, and the only anti-aircraft gun with an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, while the 40-mm anti-aircraft gun had a firing height of only about 3,500 meters, which made it difficult to effectively intercept dive bombers." And the 120-mm anti-aircraft guns, because of the insufficient elevation angles, often could not deal with dive bombers that had already flown over the fleet. In addition, "the rate of fire of 20-mm anti-aircraft guns was too low (the rate of fire of a single run would not exceed twenty-five rounds per minute), and the effectiveness in close air defense operations was very low." The 80mm anti-aircraft gun filled this hole, reaching a height of 5,500 meters (the army version was a little better), enough to intercept dive bombers, and the elevation angle was large enough to deal with bombers overhead. In addition, after using the automatic loader (the army model does not have it), its high rate of fire reached 45 rounds per minute (the magazine capacity was six, so the actual combat rate of fire was not so fast), so the 80-mm anti-aircraft gun was affectionately called "large-caliber machine gun" by the naval officers and soldiers.

When the 12 BDs broke through the interception of the 80-mm anti-aircraft guns, 5 more were lost, only 7 entered the dive course, as a result, 2 more were concentrated by 40-mm shells and 20-mm shells, and as a result, even the bombs were not dropped, and only 3 of the 5 BDs that dropped the bombs escaped, and the other 2 were shot down after dropping the bombs.

On the sea, the TBD's attack became more difficult, and all the 40-mm anti-aircraft guns and 20-mm guns on the two cruisers on the side of the aircraft carrier escort were aimed at the 11 TBDs, and only 5 of the 11 TBDs dropped torpedoes, and only one of them changed the attack course and escaped.

Under the fire of bombs and torpedoes, the "Hulun Lake" aircraft carrier quickly began to turn. Lei Shaoqing, who was outside the commander's bridge, was also dragged into the command cabin, when the sound of the bomb whizzing and falling into the air came, everyone was nervous, the bomb height of the BD was only 500 meters, although there were only three bombs, but the bomb hit rate of the US dive bomber must be more than 30%, which means that at least one bomb must hit the aircraft carrier!

Volume 9: The fifty-eighth stanza of the ocean iron current follows one after another

Seeing the smoke rising from the aircraft carrier, Lei Shaoqing tried his best to maintain his composure. The damage management team has already appeared, trying to control the fire, and the aircraft carrier, which had been doing vigorous exercise before, is starting to slow down. Thanks to the excellent design of the aircraft carrier, the 1000-pound aviation armor-piercing projectile only penetrated the armored flight deck of the aircraft carrier, and then the No. 3 hangar below exploded, and the shock wave damaged the second half of the flight deck, leaving a large hole about five meters in diameter on the flight deck, and the surrounding steel plates were curled upward, and black smoke came out of it. Because the power system of the aircraft carrier suffered little damage, after being shot, the aircraft carrier also managed to dodge five torpedoes, and all the attacks of the TBD failed.

The surrounding escort warships were preparing to approach to help the aircraft carrier, and the damage management personnel on the aircraft carrier also quickly rescued the aircraft carrier. If the fire spreads, it will threaten the ammunition depot and fuel depot of the aircraft carrier, so it is necessary to control the fire and extinguish the fire before repairing the damaged parts of the aircraft carrier.

"The fire is under control and it will take half an hour to clean up the scene and extinguish the remaining fires." Chang Jian quickly figured out the situation, "The flight deck can only use the first half to recover the fighters, and the first two hangars are not affected, but we can only use the recovery net." ”

A recovery net is a type of backup landing equipment on an aircraft carrier. Under normal circumstances, the fighter uses the landing hook at the tail of the aircraft to hang the blockade on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier and let the fighter land on the aircraft carrier, while in some special circumstances, such as the fighter is damaged, the landing hook cannot be put down, or the pilot is injured and cannot guarantee that the landing hook is hung on the block, it is necessary to use the recovery net on the front position in the middle of the flight deck. A recycling net is actually a large, sturdy net, usually woven with high-strength fibers, much like a fishing net. It's just much stronger. The fighter plane lands directly into the recovery net, and then slows down. This is only used in emergency situations, and the recovery network only recovers a few more fighters, which is difficult to use on a large scale.

"When will the bomber group return? How long will our fighters last? Lei Shaoqing let out a sigh, he didn't ask the damage management team, but he could see from the ship island that most of the huge holes on the flight deck could not be repaired, and more than a dozen of them were blown up. It was also very troublesome to change the blocking (at that time, it was difficult to change the blocking on the aircraft carrier at sea, so the aircraft carrier at that time generally set up more than a dozen blockades).

"There are still 20 minutes to go, and I have already arranged for them to land on the 'Lake Bell' aircraft carrier, and if the aircraft carrier cannot be put down, they will first receive the injured bombers, abandon the bombers that cannot be repaired, and focus on ensuring that the pilots can return home safely." Chang Jian looked at his watch, "The fuel of the fighter will probably last until about nine o'clock, but this is not certain." Previous air battles consumed a lot of fuel. Are we not letting part of the bombers ......"

"Usual. Don't you think there's a problem? Lei Shaoqing's mind suddenly flashed, recalling the scene in the "Second Battle of the Marianas", when he was attacked when he was recovering the bomber group of the First Task Force. The Second Task Force lost two aircraft carriers and was almost wiped out.

"You mean ......"

"The U.S. military has only a few dozen bombers, isn't that too little?" Lei Shaoqing glanced at Chang Jian, "Spruance has at least four aircraft carriers in his hands, and he has already discovered that we have two aircraft carriers, so he doesn't have any use for it, and only uses the bombers on one aircraft carrier, right?" ”

Chang Jian nodded slightly, and said: "Spruance's four aircraft carriers are organized into two task forces, if ......"

"Yes, that's it!" Lei Shaoqing reacted violently, "Order immediately." The fleet returned to air defense, all fighters patrolled the perimeter, emergency repairs to the aircraft carriers were stopped, and all personnel moved into their positions. Also, contact Zhang Naiding and Deng Zichao to return to the 'Bear Lake' aircraft carrier, and if they can't land, they will make a forced landing on the sea and let the destroyer salvage them. And also. The USS Lake Bell Carrier Battle Group pulled out of the battle at full speed and left us alone. ”

Chang Jian did not hesitate to give the order, the battle alarm sounded again, and the escort warships that were still approaching the "Hulun Lake" began to evacuate to the periphery, and the fighters that had already entered the inner air defense circle of the fleet began to accelerate the expansion of the fleet's ground air defense interception range. Soon the "Lake Bell" also sent a telegram, and they were still retreating south at full speed, and were ready to receive the returning bombers.

Lei Shaoqing glanced at his watch at this time, it was already 8:50, and the first wave of US bombers had been defeated for twenty-five minutes, so where was the other US bomber?

He looked at the sky to the north of the fleet, and soon, about twenty nautical miles away from the fleet, a dense group of small black dots appeared. When Lei Shaoqing reacted, the air defense alarm in the fleet also sounded, and the second batch of bombers of the US military finally arrived.

The U.S. commander who led the bomber group of Task Force 52 did not know that the bomber group of Task Force 51 had been completely wiped out (the bombers that had dropped bombs and torpedoes had escaped were also intercepted by fighters, and none of them slipped away, and the destroyers of Task Force 2 had picked up dozens of American pilots). When he saw only one smoking aircraft carrier and a large number of escort warships on the sea, he thought that the other aircraft carrier had been blown and sunk. Obviously, the US commander regarded all the cruisers that remained behind to cover the "Hulun Lake" as escort warships in another aircraft carrier battle group.

This time, the interception range of the fleet's air defense fighters was only 20 nautical miles, while the ground kill range of the fleet's air defense artillery was nearly 8 nautical miles, and the fighters could only operate within the range of 12 nautical miles, and the interception time was less than five minutes. The battle was still very fierce, and most of the air defense fighters did not have much artillery shells and fuel left, but in front of the US bombers and escort fighters, these "falcons" did not retreat, and their task was to protect the aircraft carrier, and every fighter pilot was told when he was incorporated into the aircraft carrier's carrier-based fighter unit that when the aircraft carrier was threatened, even if he sacrificed himself, he must ensure the safety of the aircraft carrier, and he must not hesitate at all.

More than 20 "Falcons" and more than 20 "pirates" fought together, and both sides were desperate, and the US pilots were also excited, and there was only one aircraft carrier left. Moreover, it is also a wounded aircraft carrier that is accelerating (when the US bombers arrived, in order to control the fire on the aircraft carrier, the ground speed of the "Hulun Lake" aircraft carrier had been reduced to 18 knots, and the aircraft carrier accelerated from 18 knots to 33 knots, which took at least five minutes), and they won by killing this aircraft carrier. Of course. None of these U.S. pilots realized that the bombers of Task Force 51 in front of them were flying in front of them. If the bombers had run out of ammunition, they should have turned back, and they should have met them on the way, but they did not encounter the bombers of Task Force 51 (the scattered escort fighters were retreating from different directions, and the fighters had retreated long before the bomber group was taken out). At this time, I am afraid that none of the US pilots have considered this issue, and they only have the dying aircraft carrier in their eyes.

This time, when the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns on the battleship roared, the "Falcon" did not withdraw from the battle, and the front was intercepted. They shot down less than a dozen American bombers. In the US military aircraft group, there are a total of 66 bombers, and more than 50 US bombers continue to advance. No matter how brave the anti-aircraft artillery on the battleship is, it is impossible to block the attack of more than fifty bombers!

The battle was fought so fiercely that the T-shell would not identify the enemy target, and as soon as the shell left the muzzle, the electromagnetic proximity fuse was activated, and it exploded as soon as it was close to a metal object. Artillery shells mainly rely on the fragments produced during the explosion to kill the target, and in order to enhance the effect, each 120-mm shell also contains more than 500 5-gram steel balls, which can not only destroy the aircraft when spilled.

It is also capable of taking out the pilots in the plane (the T-bomb has earned him the title of "Pilot Killer"). When the fleet is in air defense, the gunners on the battleship cannot distinguish between the enemy and our fighters, and even if they do, in the fierce battle, who can control the shells from hitting only the enemy planes, and not their own planes?

The "Falcon" desperately intercepted the US fighters, and the US bombers also desperately broke through the fire network composed of anti-aircraft artillery fire and fighter planes. This time, the US pilots were not "disappointed", and they also learned the power of the T-bomb. 8 nautical miles to 3 nautical miles. It only takes about 2 minutes for the bomber to fly, and within 2 minutes, a 120 mm anti-aircraft gun can fire at least 40 shells against at least four targets, and at that time, the second task force participated in the battle with a total of 184 120 mm anti-aircraft guns, of which sixty percent can fight (the other four percent are facing the direction of the US bomber's attack and cannot be used), that is, there are about more than 100 120 mm anti-aircraft guns, and at least 4,000 shells can be fired within 2 minutes. During the entire war, an average of 100 rounds of 120 mm T shells could shoot down an enemy aircraft (this efficiency was already quite high, before the advent of T shells, "000 rounds of 120 mm shells may not be able to shoot down an enemy aircraft"), the initial efficiency of T shells was not so high, but 150 to 200 shells to kill an enemy aircraft can still be done, that is, before the US military entered the inner defense circle of the fleet, nearly 30 bombers were beaten down by 120 mm anti-aircraft guns.

The outcome of any battle cannot be calculated statistically, after all, there is a chance in battle, and this chance is also important. However, the results of the entire war can be calculated statistically, and the actual combat effect does not deviate much from the statistically calculated results. This time was no exception, when the US bombers broke through the fleet's outer artillery fire and air defense network, 27 bombers were beaten down, and after the war, the air defense warships of the second task force fired a total of more than 4,200 T bombs in this battle, that is to say, an average of about 155 T bombs shot down a US fighter plane. This result is very close to the statistical average result after the war.

There were 23 US bombers that broke through the anti-aircraft fire network organized by fighters and large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, and at this time most of the warships in the fleet were still returning to their positions in formation, and there were several huge loopholes in the fire network organized by 80-mm anti-aircraft guns and other small-caliber anti-aircraft guns. The US pilots also quickly discovered these loopholes, and those who were able to break through the first two levels were all excellent pilots in the US military, many of whom had participated in previous battles, and even a group of veteran pilots during the "Philippine Sea War".

Of the 23 bombers, 14 were BD and 9 were blocking A -- the two bombers were still divided into two groups, the BD penetrated from a high altitude and attracted most of the anti-aircraft artillery fire by the way, and the TBD attacked from a low altitude and seized the loophole to drop torpedoes.

Lei Shaoqing witnessed the "performance" of US military pilots on his flagship, and he was surprised by the growth rate of US military pilots. Two years after the outbreak of the war in the Tang Empire, the quality of the pilots of the Tang Empire was greatly improved, and the backbone pilots were all real trump cards. It has only been one year since the United States entered the war, and the quality of its pilots has improved so much that even Lei Shaoqing has to admire the ability of the United States to train pilots.

The anti-aircraft guns on the battleship roared angrily, and the gunners could not care about the danger of overheating the barrels and possibly exploding, and they could fire the shells, which always had a little effect. This was also the tragic stage of the naval battle, and the US bombing only needed to break through the rear layer of air defense network before dropping bombs and torpedoes on the aircraft carrier. It was also a life-and-death moment in naval warfare, and it was clear to the officers and men on both sides that they were one step away from victory or defeat.

When the aircraft carrier was maneuvering violently to avoid the bombers that were diving down from overhead, Lei Shaoqing tightly grabbed the handrail next to him, he couldn't play any role at this time, the aircraft carrier had been handed over to the captain's command, and he could only pin his hopes on the captain and the officers and men on the battleship, whether they escaped the bombing of the US army, or were bombed and ate torpedoes, it depended on the performance of these officers and men.

The screaming sound when the bomb fell, Lei Shaoqing subconsciously wanted to squat down, but then he still held back, the first bomb exploded under the sea outside the port side of the aircraft carrier, and then the second bomb fell on the track behind the aircraft carrier's buttocks, and then the aircraft carrier slammed into a shock, the violent vibration of the explosion and the sound of the explosion came, Lei Shaoqing knew that the aircraft carrier was shot. (Net?bp; (NetBP;

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