"Boom!"

At 1:12 a.m. on December 18, 1941, the heroic American battleship USS Nevada was shot!

A 460mm caliber Type 91 armor-piercing projectile weighing 1460 kg slammed into the front of the second turret of the battleship Nevada. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoIf you play this process in slow motion, you will see that the twin turrets are like a balloon that has been blown up, first bursting into a dazzling ball of fire, and finally into countless fragments and broken parts. The entire battleship seemed to have been kicked by a giant of infinite strength, violently shaking and moving several meters to the right.

At a distance of 10,000 meters, even at night, the main guns of the Yamato were able to hit very accurately. Just one minute after knocking out one of the Nevada's turrets, in the 12th salvo fired by the Yamato's nine 460mm guns, another Type 91 armor-piercing projectile hit the thickest amidship on the Nevada's side side, easily tearing through the 13.5-inch-thick armor steel plate, breaking through the protective armor wrapped around the boiler compartment again, and a large explosion came in the boiler compartment, blowing up 8 of the 12 Yarrow heavy oil boilers, and also blowing up the pipes that carried high-pressure steam into the engine room. High-pressure steam spilled around the boiler room and nearby compartments, scalding to death dozens of soldiers who did not die in the explosion of the shells!

The explosion in the boiler compartment caused the Nevada to lose all power, and the battleship's speed dropped suddenly, but it slowly glided forward by inertia. The Nevada, which lost its speed, naturally could not dodge the incoming shells, and in just 2 minutes, the poor battleship was hit by 2 more Type 91 armor-piercing shells fired by the Yamato and 2 356mm armor-piercing shells fired by the Kirishima. The Nevada was hit in the No. 1 turret in the bow, on the bridge, on the lifeboat deck amidships, and at the stern waterline. The ship burst into flames, and seawater poured into the breach at the stern waterline.

After confirming that the Nevada had lost power and was sinking, Isoroku Yamamoto ordered the muzzle to be turned and aimed at the Pennsylvania, the flagship of the Pacific Fleet.

At 1:18 a.m., the third salvo fired by the Yamato and Kirishima towards the Pennsylvania formed a straddle fire.

Seeing a huge column of water rising around the battleship, the people in the USS Pennsylvania's command tower suddenly had a sense that death was imminent.

"Quick, hurry up and generate electricity for San Diego and Pearl Harbor bases......" Kimmel suddenly remembered something, and he said in a trembling voice, "tell, tell them that we have met a Japanese super-battleship near the island of Hawaii with a displacement of at least 70,000, no, 80,000 tons!" It also has 9 18-inch guns! It is the most powerful battleship in the whole world! ”

It seems that Kimmel is ready to die for his country with a smile, and now he is sending a telegram to let the Admiralty and the President of the United States know that the Japanese devils have an 80,000-ton battleship in Hawaii! So the defeat in the battle of Hawaii is not that he is too incompetent, but that the devil is too powerful.

In addition, he was also reminding Roosevelt and Stark that the kind of battleships that were not heavy enough should not be sent to Hawaii...... The Japanese have 80,000 tons of large battleships, except for the Montana class, I'm afraid other battleships are not opponents!

No sooner had the telegram been sent than a Type 91 armor-piercing bullet from the Yamato hit the 18-inch armor plate on the front of the Pennsylvania No. 1 turret. The powerful armor-piercing shell tore through the heavy armor and exploded inside the turret, blasting the turret with three 14-inch cannons to pieces.

All the people in the command tower of the battleship Pennsylvania were tossed to the ground by the shells and the huge shock from the explosion. Kimmel was helped up by his adjutant, and the frightened commander of the Pacific Fleet suddenly thought of something at this time, and ordered loudly: "Disband the formation!" Order the convoy to be disbanded immediately as well......"

Disbanding the formation meant that each of them had escaped, and it also meant that the operation to deliver supplies and troops to Hawaii Island tonight had completely failed, but it was the only right thing to do right now.

Kimmel hopes to take advantage of the Pennsylvania's focus to get the Tennessee and the transports carrying valuable supplies to escape. No sooner had his order been conveyed than the shells of the Yamato and Kirishima found the Pennsylvania again.

"Boom ......" The hull of the Pennsylvania seemed to be slammed by something a few times, and a huge explosion seemed to sound in Kimmel's ears, and then he only felt that his whole person was thrown into the sky, and then his head hit something hard, and he only had time to think that he was going to die for his country, and the world in front of him fell into darkness.

The Pennsylvania was still desperately resisting, and all the guns that could get their hands on the Yamato were firing at the Yamato, pouring countless shells onto the Yamato's sturdy hull, and all the people were desperately praying to God for a miracle. But the miracle did not show after all, but it was the Yamato that delivered the fatal blow.

In the 12th salvo of the Yamato and Kirishima ships against the Pennsylvania, a Type 91 armor-piercing shell of the Yamato hit the waterline of the stern of the Pennsylvania, opening a terrible hole, and also blew through the engine room of the Pennsylvania, and hundreds of tons of seawater rushed in.

Then one 356mm shell from the Kirishima hit one of the Pennsylvania's 127mm secondary guns, and several 127mm shells were detonated, causing a large fire, which in a blink of an eye spread to the ammunition depot of the secondary gun that did not close the hatch, resulting in a large explosion and a larger fire.

And just as the fire was raging, the engine room of the Pennsylvania had been flooded by the sea, and the whole ship lost power, becoming a fire floating on the sea. However, Yamamoto Isoroku then ordered the Yamato and Kirishima to turn their guns to the fleeing Tennessee, but saved the lives of the unconscious Kimmel and Fletcher. On the orders of the captain of the Pennsylvania, the battleship was quickly abandoned, and both Kimmel and Fletcher were transferred to the destroyer USS Syms. The Syms then fired 2 torpedoes at the Pennsylvania, ending its "pain".

The two American generals who escaped from under the guns of the Yamato had a different fate, with Kimmel taking responsibility for the Hawaiian fiasco, being demoted to colonel and retiring. Fletcher, because he was the commander of the aircraft carrier, soon led two aircraft carriers converted from fast cruise ships to go into battle.

In the end, the battleship Tennessee, which participated in this "Battle of Hawaii Island", was not able to escape. It was quickly overtaken by the faster Yamato and Kirishima, and then sent the battleship, which had been very lucky in the Pearl Harbor raid, into the icy depths of the Pacific Ocean with 18 volleys, and all 1,083 officers and men on board were killed......

After sinking the Tennessee, Yamamoto Isoroku, who wanted to take it as soon as he saw it, made a mistake that was not too big or too small. Instead of ordering the formation to be disbanded in pursuit of the fleeing American ships, he led the fleet to Hilo Harbor, where a single artillery shot razed the harbor, the battery, the nearby airfield, and the town of Hilo.

The main reason why he commanded this was that he was worried that there would not be enough destroyers to protect the Yamato and Kirishima after the disbandment of the formation, so that the two battleships would be exposed to the threat of American submarines. But in fact, near the Hawaiian Islands, there were not many American submarines at this time (the submarines all went to the Philippines and the Atlantic). As a result, Yamamoto's decision allowed dozens of U.S. ships near Hawaii Island to escape, and a large number of U.S. Navy officers and sailors survived.

However, for US President Roosevelt in the White House, the preservation of many light ships and transport ships is really not good news. Now he has great bad news in front of him - the Hawaiian Islands are likely to fall!

"Dreadnought aircraft capable of sinking aircraft carriers...... And 80,000-ton super battleships! God, when did Japan become so strong? ”

Roosevelt loudly questioned his senior aides in his Oval Office. The news from Hawaii really made people feel a sense of joy and sorrow, and at one moment it was the sinking of two Japanese aircraft carriers; After a while, it turned into the aircraft carrier Hornet, which was sunk by a single blow of Japanese dreadnoughts! Then came even more terrible news, Japan actually had an 80,000-ton battleship! Moreover, this battleship also had 18-inch cannons, which easily sank 3 American battleships, including the USS Pennsylvania, the USS Tennessee and the USS Nevada, near the island of Hawaii!

But this is not the most terrible news, the most terrible news is that the battery on Oahu is simply not able to withstand the bombardment of 18-inch cannons......

"What should we do?" Roosevelt asked, "Do you want to watch the Japanese occupy Oahu?" ”

"Mr. President," said Chief of Naval Operations Stark, "the Japanese have 80,000-ton battleships...... We don't have any kind of battleship to engage it. ”

"Then let's build it!" Roosevelt roared, "Don't we have the most powerful shipbuilding capability in the world?" ”

It is true that the United States has the strongest shipbuilding capability in the world, but it will take a lot of time to build a super battleship like the Yamato-class with this ability. Since this battle at Hawaii Island proved the value of super-battleships, the construction of American battleships of the Montana-class class will not only not be canceled, but will also be accelerated.

However, no matter how much it was accelerated, the "Montana" class could not be put into use until 1944 or 1945, and it was still difficult to quench the thirst of the distant water. The conundrum before President Roosevelt now is the Hawaiian Islands! (To be continued.) )