Immediately after the four battleships had made a right turn, Kincaid gave three more orders.

The first is that the fleet passes 15 degrees to the left, and goes around the opponent's rear at a speed of 16 knots while ensuring that all the main guns on the battleship can continue to shell the opponent. This trick is very clever, if the third task force does not turn, then the US fleet will be forced to occupy an advantageous position, and finally passively beaten.

If Task Force 3 turns, it will collide head-on with the three South Dakota-class battleships that are approaching and have already completed the turn, and the two battleships in front of them will definitely be subjected to concentrated shelling. In addition, Task Force 3 had another option, which was to speed up and withdraw from the battlefield first, and after the speed of the battleships exceeded 20 knots, the accuracy of the artillery bombardment would be much lower, and it also gave Kincaid time to put the seven battleships together and gain an advantage in terms of strength.

The second order was that the six destroyers of the right flank formation immediately launch a torpedo attack, so that the Tang Imperial battlefleet could not carry out concentrated artillery bombardment while Kincaid was turning, and at the same time gain time. Six destroyers were indeed a little less, but Kincaid now had to sacrifice these six destroyers to buy himself the most important time.

The final order was for the cruiser formation to immediately follow and enter between the right and left flank formations to prevent the enemy destroyers from launching a torpedo attack.

Kincaid had already expected that if the opponent chose to turn, he would definitely immediately send destroyers to launch a torpedo attack to prevent Kincaid's right-wing formation from turning. If the opponent chooses to accelerate, he will definitely send destroyers to attack the left flank formation, so that the three "South Dakota" on the left flank

Class battleships could not immediately come up. Buy them time.

It was past 12:10, eight minutes after Kincaid ordered the right-wing formation to turn, and Chang Zhixin also figured out the situation. Four Iowa-class battleships are approaching. And the three South Dakota-class battleships are still approaching at a rapid pace.

"Kincaid's purpose is definitely to force us to turn, or to leave the battlefield for a while!"

Gu Zhenyun when he received the report. It was also immediately judged.

"I know, this old boy still has two hands." Chang Jianxin sneered, "Let the cruiser formation keep up, beware of the torpedo attack of the enemy destroyers, and the fleet will accelerate to 24 knots." Left pass 30 degrees. ”

Gu Zhenyun was stunned for a moment, and immediately asked, "Let's rush towards those three 'South Dakota' classes?" ”

"Not to rush over, but to go around behind the butts of these three battleships." Chang Jiexin glanced at his partner, "If these three battleships don't slow down and turn, we can deal a fatal blow to them in twenty minutes, if they slow down and turn, then Kincaid's fleet will not be able to meet immediately, and we still have an advantage." The targets of the shelling were readjusted and prepared to deal with the three 'South Dakota' class battleships, and the engagement distance was certainly within 10 nautical miles. Not even five nautical miles, we will drive out these three battleships with all our might, and wait for Kincaid's right flank formation to turn around. Let's take out four more Iowa-class battleships. ”

"Do you want a destroyer?" Of course, Gu Zhenyun understood Chang Zhixin's intentions, and now if he wanted to win, he had to make it impossible for the American battleships to gather together and annihilate them separately.

And the three "South Dakota" class battleships were relatively weaker. As long as these three battleships are killed, then Kincaid will lose.

"No, now we are accelerating, and we don't know how much combat power we will lose, save the destroyer for the last, block Kincaid's torpedo attack first, and knock out his destroyer and those light cruisers!" Chang Jianxin walked behind the porthole on the left, at this time the distance between the two sides was widening, and the shelling had temporarily stopped, "Let the cruiser formation and the destroyer formation follow, let's speed up!" ”

Ten minutes later, Kincaid noticed that Task Force 3 was not only accelerating, but also turning at the same time, and he immediately understood what the other party meant, and then Kincaid ordered the four battleships to speed up immediately. But now, the distance between the four "Iowa"-class battleships and the three "South Dakota" class is not 5 nautical miles, but 7 nautical miles, and the three "South Dakota" class did not follow the left pass, but headed behind the four "Iowa"-class battleships in formation. The 3rd Task Force was inserted directly into the rear of the left flank formation, and if the three South Dakota-class ships did not turn immediately, then they could only return fire with tail guns.

Kincaid did not think much about it and immediately ordered three "South Dakota"-class battleships to accelerate the left pass at a speed of 27 knots. While this would result in seven battleships not being able to fight on one, at least seven battleships would have their port sides aimed in the direction of the enemy. Then, the four Iowa class battleships also began to accelerate, but the problem is that the battleship is not as easy as cars and tanks to accelerate from 16 knots to 24 knots! And even more so, three battleships of the "South Dakota" class with full speed steering were simply not able to effectively carry out shelling!

In order to gain time, the six American destroyers of the left flank formation were also killed, and together with the six destroyers of the right flank formation, they rushed towards the six "new provincial capital" class battleships at a maximum speed of 37 knots. Chang Jianxin did not let the battleships bombard those destroyers with their main guns, its 120 mm secondary guns, as well as the 200 mm and 240 mm heavy guns on the cruisers that had caught up, and the 155 mm main guns on the destroyers were enough to deal with these American destroyers.

The battle suddenly became fierce at this time, and in order to cover the destroyer charge, 12 American light cruisers also followed, bombarding the cruisers and destroyers of the Tang Empire with 155 mm and 127 mm guns. In the north of the battlefield, four heavy cruisers of the Tang Empire stayed behind the side of the battleship formation, bombarding the American light cruisers with 200 mm and 240 mm main guns, and the 16 destroyers divided into two formations quickly killed, organized a mine barrier on the side of the battleship, and used 155 mm main guns to continuously hit the American destroyers that were rapidly approaching.

The battle between the cruisers and destroyers was not as thrilling as the battleship duel, but it was no less tragic. The officers and men of both sides of these ships knew that they were not the protagonists on the battlefield. But it can bring some changes to the battle.

In the cruiser ground bombardment, the light cruisers of the US army actually did not have any chance, so to speak. The U.S. light cruisers did not regard the 9 heavy cruisers in the north as opponents, and the targets of the U.S. cruisers' bombardment were the destroyers of the Tang Empire, which had already protruded!

The main guns on the American light cruisers were of two calibers. One is 155 mm, the other is 127 mm.

Both guns were capable of penetrating the pitifully thin armor of the "City" class destroyers at a distance of five nautical miles. But in the same way, the armor-piercing shells of the 155-mm guns on the destroyers of the Tang Empire could also penetrate the armor of American cruisers. But the problem is that the 16 "City" class destroyers are dealing with 12 destroyers of the US army, and do not regard the light cruisers of the other side as opponents.

The 200 mm and 240 mm main guns of the heavy cruisers of the Tang Empire (the rate of fire of these two guns was not much different) were capable of knocking out American destroyers and light cruisers at a distance of 10 nautical miles. But the problem is that the rate of fire of these two guns is too low, only two shells a minute, while the US 127-mm gun can fire nearly 20 shells a minute, and the 155-mm gun can fire eight shells a minute. In addition, 9 heavy cruisers were used against American light cruisers, not destroyers.

Comparatively speaking, the cruisers of the Tang Empire were obviously much stronger, but those destroyers were no match for the 24 American light cruisers and destroyers. This is where the defending side is more passive, and this is also a new arrangement that is often recommended. There were no torpedoes on the cruisers of the American army (except for the Japanese at that time. Few countries installed fish launch tubes on cruisers), and it was the destroyers of the American army, and not those light cruisers, that really posed a threat to battleships. So it is more important to knock out the destroyers of the US military!

On the battlefield, Kincaid did not let his destroyers and light cruisers go to death alone, and the main guns on these battleships did not stop when he directed the four battleships of the right flank formation to turn. Rather, they were firing at the 9 heavy cruisers. In addition, when the battleship formation on the right flank was still eight nautical miles away from the eight destroyers to the east of the Tang fleet, the 127-mm secondary guns on the battleships also opened fire.

The scuffle didn't last long, and it was really just a small episode on the battlefield. Unlike the duel between aircraft carriers, in a decisive battle of battleship formations, the loss rate of escort battleships was very high. If the tide of battle changes, or if the fleet commander wants to gain more advantages and needs to buy time, or if he wants to delay the enemy, then the escort ships must be dispatched to gain enough time for the battleships with their own sacrifices. This is also the cruelty of artillery warfare at sea, in many cases, even if the officers and men on these escort warships know that they are rushing to die, they have no choice.

The melee lasted for more than half an hour, and when the escort warships on both sides withdrew, only 3 of the 12 US destroyers successfully fired torpedoes, and these torpedoes could not hit the Tang Empire battleships that had been transferred, and at least 6 destroyers were sunk immediately. In addition, five American cruisers were sunk or caught fire. On the other side of the battlefield, 4 destroyers of the Tang Empire were also sunk, 3 were heavily damaged and caught fire, and the other 9 were also wounded, but they continued to fight. Among the four heavy cruisers, the "Cold Dew" and the "Frostfall" were hit by huge bombs from American battleships, and the two battleships sank within five minutes.

"Lidong" was hit by a near-miss, the left engine room was seriously damaged, the speed was reduced to 12 knots, and finally had to withdraw from the battle ahead of schedule. The bow of the "Liqiu" was blown away by a huge bomb, and the three front compartments were flooded, and finally it had to withdraw from the battle.

Before the escort warships of both sides withdrew, the artillery battle between the battleships resumed at half past twelve, at which time they were still about 12 nautical miles away from the three "South Dakota" class, although at this distance the Type 23 armor-piercing shells could penetrate the main armor belt of the "South Dakota" class, but the speed of the battleships was 24 knots, not 18 knots, and the accuracy of the shelling was unacceptably low. Only two shells from the eight previous salvos hit the target (one each for the "South Dakota" and "Massachusetts"), and all of them hit inconsequential positions, posing no threat to the two battleships at all.

"Let the damaged cruisers and destroyers retreat in the direction of Tagura." Chang Jiexin is also quickly adjusting the establishment of the fleet, "The other warships that can keep up with the speed of the fleet are all coming up, let them all hide behind, we will first deal with the three 'South Dakota' classes, and then go to clean up the other four 'Iowa' classes." Tell the other captains to beat me to death and let Kincaid be finished! ”

The artillery battle became more and more intense, and at this time, the captains of the six battleships knew that they had such a chance, and the four "Iowa"-class battleships would definitely come over soon, and whether the third task force could win this naval battle depended on whether they could send the three "South Dakota" class battleships to the bottom of the sea before the four "Iowa"-class battleships arrived, and at least the three battleships would have to completely lose their combat effectiveness!

Kincaid is also aware of this problem at the same time, but now he has no destroyers in his hands, and the only thing that can turn the situation around is to let the four "Iowa" class enter the battle as soon as possible and inflict overwhelming artillery fire on the opponent, and if the three "South Dakota" class battleships can hold on, then he has a good chance of winning!

By 12:40, when the distance between the two sides was only 9 nautical miles, and the speed of the six "New Provincial Capital" class battleships had been reduced to 18 knots, the artillery battle could be considered to be in earnest. By this time, the three South Dakota-class ships had also turned about 25 degrees to the left and aimed their port side at the enemy. At the same time, the four Iowa-class battleships were 14 nautical miles away from them, and they had not yet been able to get around them because of their slow speed and larger radius when turning. The three South Dakota-class ships also reduced their speed to 16 knots at this time, and in several salvos before that, none of the shells fired by these three battleships could hit the target.

After the adjustment, this time the "Guangzhou" and "Guiyang" dealt with the "Alabama" (the rear of the US left-wing formation), the "Nanning" and "Changsha" against the "Massachusetts," and the "Wuhan" and "Nanchang" against the "South Dakota." were still two against one.