It was 8:25 p.m. when the seaplane landed next to the large cruiser "Qin Qiong," about an hour and 20 minutes after Tan Renhao gave his new order. By this time, the shelling fleet had sailed west for three hours, and it was already 7o nautical miles from South Iwo Jima. If the fleet returns at this time and sails as fast as possible, it will return to the vicinity of South Iwo Jima at about 10:40 a.m.

Lieutenant Colonel Luo Zhongyong, the captain of the large cruiser "Qin Qiong" and the temporary commander of the artillery bombardment formation, immediately ordered the fleet to turn around and return to the waters near South Iwo Jima at 31 knots, preparing for a night battle with the Japanese Combined Fleet. Several other warships did not hesitate at all, and they all turned around one after another to keep up with the pace of the "Qin Qiong".

Luo Zhongyong was originally a light cruiser captain in the First Fleet. Before the outbreak of the war, he followed the First Fleet to the port of Naha, but was admitted to the port headquarters hospital due to acute appendicitis. When the war broke out, that is, when the Japanese attacked Naha Port, Luo Zhongyong had not yet returned to the fleet and was hospitalized for observation. At that time, the hospital was also bombed, but it was not the target of the Japanese bombers. Luo Zhongyong escaped the catastrophe. The surviving fleet officers like him during the retreat were the targets of the evacuation. By the time he recovered, the First Fleet was gone. He also lost his own battleship. Later, when the "Qin Qiong" was in service, he was selected to become the captain of this large cruiser, and at the same time was promoted to lieutenant colonel.

At the beginning, Luo Zhongyong looked down on Tan Renhao, a commander who was ten years younger than him, but after several naval battles, Luo Zhongyong had to admire Tan Renhao's ability and was willing to act as Tan Renhao's subordinate to escort the aircraft carriers in the fleet. Kill all the way from Ryukyu Island to the Ryukyu Basin and then to Iwo Jima. Under his command, the "Qin Qiong" had already achieved fifteen victories, shot down fifteen enemy planes, and did not damage itself. But. Luo Zhongyong was not satisfied, he always thought that if there was no way to bombard an enemy warship with the main artillery, even if he shot down a hundred enemy planes, it would not be a great achievement!

At this time, in addition to "Qin Qiong", there were also two large cruisers in the fleet, "Wei Chigong" and "Duan Zhixuan", and the names of these three large cruisers were all generals when the Tang Empire was founded. Other than that. There are also five heavy cruisers and four destroyers, "Mangzhong", "Summer Solstice", "Xiaoxia", "Great Heat" and "Liqiu". A total of five radars were equipped on eight cruisers (it was not until the end of the war that the Tang Empire began to equip destroyers with radars). All three large cruisers had radars on them, and the "Mangzhong" and "Summer Solstice" also had radars installed on them. At night, radar can spot large targets up to 15 nautical miles away, even in bad weather. It is also possible to detect large warships up to 1o nautical miles away.

Luo Zhongyong is not the kind of officer who is brute. After the First Fleet was attacked by Japan. That is, when he was recuperating in the hospital, he thought about it a lot. The Imperial Navy collapsed almost overnight, and three of the most powerful Imperial Navy fleets disappeared from the sea. What led to this result? And how should we fight the enemy and win in the future? Luo Zhongyong didn't look at Ren Hao like that, he only understood one truth, that is, you can't fight hard with the enemy, if you want to defeat the enemy, you have to fight the enemy's shortcomings with your own strengths.

The fleet is moving fast. At half past ten, the radars on all five battleships were activated, followed by three large cruisers. Five heavy cruisers, divided into front and rear, formed a line of battle, patrolling at 24 knots northwest of South Iwo Jima, while four destroyers were in the rear of the line. Only when it was most necessary would Luo Zhongyong let the destroyer carry out a torpedo attack.

The only sound on the surface of the sea was the sound of the steam turbines on the battleship and the waves as the battleship cut through the sea. The lights on each ship were extinguished, making it difficult to distinguish them from the pitch darkness, even in very close quarters. Luo Zhongyong was not worried about a sudden shelling by the Japanese fleet. The Japanese warships did not have radar on board, and could only rely on visual sight of the target. And at night, the human eye does not see farther than the radar. As for what it would be like after the battle began, Luo Zhongyong hadn't thought about it yet.

In fact, Luo Zhongyong didn't think about it that much at all. In the afternoon, the fleet was attacked by Japanese bombers, and as a result, the arriving fighters drove out the Japanese bomber "Qin Qiong" and added two more victories, knocking the two "one-type six attacks" into a volley explosion. Now all Luo Zhongyong thought about was how to drag the upcoming Japanese Combined Fleet until dawn to complete the task entrusted by the fleet commander.

"There's a reaction on the radar, sir!" As he spoke, the radar operator pointed to the screen: "There are at least a dozen large targets in the 18 nautical miles to the northeast. ”

"Little Japan is here!" Luo Zhongyong sneered and said to the communications officer next to him: "Give an immediate combat order, we will fire fifteen nautical miles, even if we can't penetrate the armor of the Japanese battleship, we can't give little Japan a good life." ”

Then Luo Zhongyong came to the commander's bridge. The target information obtained by the radar will be transmitted directly to the gun commanders of the three main guns, who will fire a salvo according to the ground orders issued by the shelling officer. This was an improvement made by the warship when it returned to port after the Battle of the Ryukyu Basin. In this way, there is no need to repeat the transmission of shelling data, which increases the degree of shelling and improves combat efficiency.

It was also quiet in the commander's bridge, and the staff officers were a little nervous. The staff officers on these large cruisers had received regular training in shelling, but before the bombardment of South Iwo Jima in the afternoon, the main guns of the "Qin Qiong" had not fired a single shell in battle! This was the first actual combat artillery bombardment in which the battleship participated, and it was facing the Japanese Combined Fleet, which had several capital ships, and those huge shells that could easily tear through the weak armor of the "Qin Qiong", if no one was nervous, it would be strange.

Luo Zhongyong was also nervous. That's when he thought about what the battle would look like. Before the battle began, he believed that the Japanese could not see them. However, after the battle began, the fire from the main guns of the battleship would inevitably expose the fleet, and then he would have to face an overwhelming number of shells.

"Sir, the Japanese fleet is fifteen nautical miles away from us, will the shelling start now?"

Luo Zhongyong hesitated slightly, and then nodded affirmatively. "Begin shelling. Do not give the enemy any preparation. And also...... Each warship can decide for itself when to withdraw from the battle. ”

The staff officer glanced at Luo Zhongyong in surprise and immediately understood the meaning of this sentence. In a real fight, three large cruisers and five heavy cruisers were definitely no match for the Japanese battleship formation. There will definitely be a warship that will be shot, and Luo Zhongyong gave the autonomy to the other captains in advance, this is to preserve the strength of the fleet. Of course, the staff officer knew very well that Luo Zhongyong would definitely fight hard. At least fight the enemy until you complete the mission.

The three large cruisers fired first, and the maximum range of 24o-mm armor-piercing shells reached 16 nautical miles, but at this distance it was only possible to tear through the weakest point of the armor belt of the Japanese "Kongo" class battleships. As for whether it can threaten the "Yamato", no one knows because no one knows how thick the armor of the "Yamato" really is.

All three large cruisers fired at the target with the strongest signal. Although no one can be sure that it is the battleship "Yamato", almost everyone believes that it must be the battleship "Yamato". Luo Zhongyong did not intervene in the shelling, and the Japanese counterattack would not be too fast, and the shells would have to fly for at least two minutes. And within these two minutes. Each main gun is capable of firing four shells. Of course, Luo Zhongyong did not know whether those 24o mm caliber armor-piercing shells could threaten the battleship "Yamato". All he knew was. With a displacement of 70,000 tons, the "Yamato" is the largest warship in the world. And how much of this 70,000 tons is armor?

After four rounds of shelling, the lookout reported only two shells hitting the target. The shells that hit the sea were invisible, and only the fire from the explosion of the shells on the battleship allowed the lookout at the top of the mast to determine whether it had hit the target. At that time, ground radar could not completely replace the lookout, at least it could not judge the impact point.

Luo Zhongyong walked to the porthole on the right. The fleet was sailing north, and he also saw a fire in the distance. Then there were sporadic fires in the Japanese fleet, which were not caused by the explosion of the shells when they hit. It was the guns of the Japanese battleships that fired back!

"It's so fast, ready to evade!"

The fleet quickly dispersed, and all the officers and men on the battleships saw the fire coming from the guns of the Japanese battleships. Luo Zhongyong silently calculated the time in his heart, and in the space of nearly two minutes, the bridge of the commander's ship was so quiet that it made people's hearts palpitate. When the sound of cannonballs breaking through the air was heard, everyone unconsciously raised their heads, as if they had forgotten that there was a ceiling above their heads.

"Left full rudder!" Luo Zhongyong had replaced the captain and was in charge of the control of the battleship. An experienced naval captain can tell the approximate point of a shell by the sound of it falling, which is the only way for a battleship to avoid shelling.

"Qin Qiong" Xun's left pass. Several shells fell on the right rear of the battleship, and the shelling of the Japanese fleet at a distance of two hundred meters was not very accurate. Almost at the same time, several other battleships also turned to avoid the shells fired by the Japanese battleships. At this time, the only thing that was not quiet was that the commander of the ground artillery on the battleship did not stop shelling.

Within five minutes, the Japanese fleet had carried out six rounds of artillery bombardment, and the three heavy cruisers under the command of Luo Zhongyong had already fired twelve salvos! Not a single shell hit Luo Zhongyong, and their battleship fleet had already begun to turn to the northwest, preparing to lure the Japanese fleet out to fight.

When the Japanese fleet brought the distance closer to twelve nautical miles, the 2oo-mm guns on the five heavy cruisers also opened fire. This was the maximum range of the 2oo mm gun, and at the beginning of the battle, all five heavy cruisers could only do it in a hurry.

"Sir(bsp;)" Don't let the enemy get close to ten nautical miles, and then the fleet will all retreat! Luo Zhong quickly glanced at the staff officer next to him, "Continue to pass to the left, ready to shell from the port side." We have to take a roundabout route to get the Japanese to catch up, and at the same time we can't let them get too close! ”

The staff officer did not say anything more, and the words of the captain in the battle were orders that the staff officers could not argue.

When the "Qin Qiong" had just finished turning, a batch of shells fell. Luo Zhong quickly gave the command to turn three times to avoid the shells.

"Sir, the Summer Solstice has been shot!"

Luo Zhongyong was startled and immediately rushed to the porthole in front. The "Summer Solstice" is just two chains in front of the "Qin Qiong". The shell hit the battleship directly in the swollen parts. Probably a 356 mm caliber shell was fired from a Japanese battleship. There was already a fire on the battleship.

"Let the 'Summer Solstice' retreat immediately. Damn the right rudder, don't crash into it! ”

The "Summer Solstice" did not retreat immediately, but fought back vigorously. And the fire on the battleship immediately attracted a large number of shells, probably the lookouts on the Japanese battleship thought that this battleship was more obvious.

In less than five minutes, the "Summer Solstice" was hit by at least five huge shells, and more than twenty shells of 2o3 mm caliber smashed into the battleship. The battleship was finished, and ten minutes after the captain gave the order to abandon the ship, the ammunition depot on the battleship exploded, and then disappeared from the sea.

At this time, the "Qin Qiong" and several other battleships were all hit by shells, but fortunately, the ones that hit these battleships were 2o3 mm shells. Although these cruisers could not withstand the blows of huge shells, as long as they were not hit in key parts, the threat of 2o3 mm armor-piercing shells was not very great.

"Aim at those Japanese heavy cruisers, and if you can't beat the *** battleship, you will hit the *** cruiser!" Luo Zhongyong was also very excited, "The fleet is ready to retreat to the west, stretch the distance and hit their cruisers." ”

"What about the officers and men on the 'Summer Solstice', Sir?"

Luo Zhongyong hesitated for two seconds. "Wait until we've killed the Japanese Combined Fleet before we rescue them. Now we have to hold off the enemy so that the commander can send bombers at dawn! ”

The fleet began to turn en masse, and the four destroyers went out at this time to attack the Japanese fleet with torpedoes, which was necessary to cover the retreat of the fleet.

The sea was boiling, and the Japanese fleet was also chasing after the fleeing artillery formation, and at this time there were about six hours before dawn!

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