The First Task Force did not encounter any trouble along the way, and the voyage seemed to be very calm, but Tan Renhao's mood was not calm at all. News of the fierce battles between Task Force 3 and Task Force 33 was sent every half hour, including reports from Task Force 3 and reconnaissance information from seaplanes on Tagura Island.

Tan Renhao did not have much intuitive understanding of naval artillery warfare, and in the past few years, in addition to providing artillery support for the Marine Corps, he had hardly commanded naval artillery battles, let alone commanded artillery battles between battleships. In addition, Tan Renhao is not very sure whether Chang Jianxin can command the Third Task Force to win, at least as far as he knows, Chang Jianxin's artillery knowledge is all theoretical, all learned in school, and his opponent is Kincaid, who beat Yan Shiqi to a cripple, and this time the US army still has one more battleship, can the Third Task Force win? … Ａp．

Tan Renhao never thought that the 3rd Task Force would win, in his opinion, Chang Zhi's new task was to drag out the battle until dawn, so that the 33rd Task Force could not be withdrawn before dawn, and then let the shore-based bombers on the island deal with the 33rd Task Force. But when the battle lasted until midnight, Tan Renhao gradually realized that maybe Chang Jianxin was much more powerful than the honest good brother he knew who didn't like to talk much.

"Damn, Lao Chang has made a move this time, the three 'South Dakota' class are finished, and the reconnaissance plane has confirmed that two of the three battleships have been sunk, and the other one has also stopped!"

After twelve o'clock, the news of the destruction of three "South Dakota"-class battleships arrived, which was the first good news Tan Renhao received. At the same time, he also realized that this must have been a turning point in the night battle.

"How's the situation on their side?"

"The damage was not large, and the 'Wuhan' was heavily damaged. The Guangzhou' and 'Nanning' were slightly injured......" Hao Dongjue said as he took out his cigarette. His hands were trembling slightly, trembling with excitement.

"'Nanning'?" Tan Renhao was startled and immediately looked at his partner.

"Don't worry, the 'Nanning' is just the tail turret has been knocked out, and the old man is fine. He had already sent a telegram, and now the 'Nanning' is still fighting. Hao Dongjue knew what Tan Renhao cared about.

"That's good, what about Kincaid?"

"The situation with Kincaid is not clear, and it has not yet been determined which enemy ship is Kincaid's flagship." Hao Dongjue slowly spit out the cigarette, "Well, the 33rd Task Force must be almost finished, and now Kincaid's destroyers and cruisers have been consumed by more than half, and there are still a few torpedoes on the destroyers in Lao Chang's hand that are not used." Moreover, Kincaid has only four 'Iowa', and there are always six 'new provincial capitals'. The situation is in our favor. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, and didn't say anything more. He was well aware that the artillery battle between battleships was not just about the number of battleships. And it is also more than the number of main guns, as well as the accuracy of shelling, the armor-piercing ability of shells. Now Task Force 3 has no clear advantage in either of these areas, if luck is added to that. Maybe the situation is not as good as Hao Dongjue expected.

Hao Dongjue didn't talk nonsense anymore, and the command cabin was quiet again. After he finished smoking, he went to adjust the reconnaissance plan, anyway, no one could sleep at night, it was better to find something to do.

At three o'clock, the new war report arrived, and Hao Dongjue rushed back as fast as possible.

"The two 'Iowa' are finished." Tan Renhao gave the message to his partner, "The 'Wuhan' has withdrawn from the battle, and the 'Changsha' has sunk. ”

"What!?" Hao Dongjue didn't believe his ears a little.

"'Iowa' is more powerful than we thought, at least a lot more powerful than the previous intelligence mentioned." Tan Renhao sat down, "Now the situation is extremely favorable to Lao Chang, he still has four battleships, and the 'Guiyang' and 'Nanchang' are basically not injured, while the US army only has two battleships, and they are all injured, Lao Chang works harder, Kincaid will be finished." ”

In fact, at this time, Kincaid had already finished with the "Iowa", but Tan Renhao didn't know it. At the same time, Chang Jianxin in front didn't know that in front of Chang Jianxin, there were at least two US battleships still firing, and only the No. 3 enemy ship was sunk, and the No. 1 enemy ship was not sunk immediately, but the three main gun turrets, as well as all the secondary gun turrets on the starboard side, were destroyed and lost their combat capability.

"Hold them all down and quickly take out the other two enemy ships!" Chang Jianxin also ruthlessly at this time, "Don't give the enemy any hope, the cruiser formation quickly bypassed from the west to prevent the enemy destroyers and cruisers from escaping, and the destroyer formation prepared a torpedo attack to give the enemy the final blow!" ”

The final decisive moment came, and at this time only five main guns on each of the battleships "New Jersey" and "Wisconsin" were still firing, and all the secondary guns on the starboard side were dumb. The two battleships also did not hold out for long.

The closest to the "New Jersey" was not the "Nanning" against it, but the "Guiyang" in second order, and the distance between the two ships was only 5 nautical miles. At this time, the "Guangzhou" had also gone around, and under the order of Chang Zhixin, the "Nanning" was also pressed up. The closest to the "Wisconsin" is the "Nanchang", and the distance between the two ships is about 564 nautical miles.

At such a close distance, the huge shells fired by both sides were deadly, and no armor could block the blow of armor-piercing shells of more than 400 mm caliber at such a close distance.

"Guangzhou", "Guiyang", "Nanning" first laid siege to the "New Jersey".

At this time, there were still three main guns on the "Guangzhou" in battle, while the nine main guns of the "Guiyang" did not have any problems, and the "Nanning" also had five main guns firing. The ratio of the main guns of the two sides is 17 to 5, and this advantage is even more obvious. Even if the rate of shelling of the main guns of both sides is about the same, then in one round of shelling, the "New Jersey" can only choose one target to fire 5 shells, while the opponent can fire 17 shells at a time!

The battle for the annihilation of the battleship "New Jersey" ended at 3:15 a.m., with five salvos fired from each of the three battleships. The hit rate exceeded 30 percent, and nearly 30 shells hit the "New Jersey" in a row for more than 10 minutes, while the "New Jersey" returned fire and hit only one shot at the "Guangzhou."

The fate of the USS New Jersey was tragic. Amid a violent explosion, the battleship capsized to the right at around 3:40 a.m. In the end, it sank before five o'clock, and less than 50 American officers and men on the battleship escaped, and the rest sank with the battleship.

The "Canton" also withdrew from the battle at this time, and the shell knocked out the last main gun on the battleship. This is also the best luck of the "New Jersey" shell, but the problem is. This luck came a little too late, and if it had been hit at the beginning of the battle, the outcome of the battle would have changed.

The battle to annihilate the "Wisconsin" was much more difficult, and when the three battleships besieged the "New Jersey," only the battleship "Nanchang" was fighting against the "Wisconsin," and the ratio of the main guns of the two sides was 6 to 5, which was not a very big difference.

While the "New Jersey" was desperately fighting, the "Wisconsin" did not hold out. The captain of the ship, after several failed attempts to contact the fleet command, immediately ordered the battleship to turn left and accelerate, preparing to flee from the battlefield. And this battleship was able to reach speeds of up to 33 knots. If it is allowed to run, the new battleships will not be able to catch up.

Seeing that the enemy was about to run, Chang Jianxin immediately let the destroyer formation press up. Firing torpedoes at the course of enemy ships. The scattered torpedoes forced the Wisconsin to slow down and continue to fight to avoid torpedo attacks. And the "Nanchang", which had been north of the "Wisconsin", also began to accelerate at this time, when it spotted the enemy ship preparing to sail east. "Nanchang" immediately turned at a faster pace and kept accelerating, ready to rush to the front of the enemy ship and intercept it, and as long as the battleship was blocked, and when the other three friendly ships arrived, then it was finished!

Just when the "New Jersey" was about to finish, the "Nanchang" and the "Wisconsin" began a "race". Because of the threat of destroyers, the speed of the "Wisconsin" has not been able to be raised (its acceleration ability is not as good as that of the "New Provincial Capital" class battleships).

At about half past three, the "Nanchang" had already begun to turn to the right, aimed the starboard side of the battleship at the approaching enemy ship, and then opened fire. At this time, the distance between "Nanchang" and "Wisconsin" was only 4 nautical miles!

"Look, General, they're going to collide!"

When Chang Jianxin turned his head, he happened to see the No. 4 enemy ship rushing towards the "Nanchao," and at this time, the "Nanning" was about 7 nautical miles away from the No. 4 enemy ship, and the "Guiyang" was a little more than 8 nautical miles away from the No. 4 enemy ship.

"Immediately open fire, intercept it, order the 'Nanchang' to leave, don't let the enemy bump into it!"

"Nanchang" did not leave, at this time the speed of the "Wisconsin" had reached 22 knots, and it continued to accelerate, the power system of the enemy ship was not damaged, so it was very likely to run at a speed of 33 knots. If it can't be intercepted, there's a good chance it will escape!

The closer the distance, the higher the accuracy of the shelling, a distance of 4 nautical miles, for a battleship sailing at a speed of 22 knots (while continuing to accelerate), it only takes 10 minutes at most, and the two battleships will collide together, and within 10 minutes, the six main guns on the "Nanchang" fired a total of 33 shells, hitting the enemy ship, this hit rate is frighteningly high. But the problem is that the power system of the battleship is in the middle and rear of the battleship, and the shells fired by the "Nanchang" only smashed the B turret in front of the battleship (the A turret had been destroyed before), the bridge and other parts of the front of the battleship into pieces, but it was not able to destroy the power system of the battleship, let alone make the enemy stop.

In these ten minutes, the "Nanning" also fired more than a dozen shells, while the "Guiyang" only fired three salvos, but the miracle also appeared at this time, a shell fired from the "Guiyang" accurately landed on the aft deck of the "Wisconsin", and after penetrating the horizontal armor, it exploded in the right rudder compartment of the battleship, resulting in the failure of the battleship's right rudder and stuck in a position of about 15 degrees to the right. And the direct effect of this shell was that the "Wisconsin" began to turn to the right!

If there is no shell, the "Wisconsin" is very likely to hit the "Nanchang" amidships, and the result will definitely be catastrophic, even if the "Nanchang" is a giant ship with a displacement of nearly 50,000 tons, and the "Wisconsin" is a giant ship with a displacement of more than 50,000 tons, and 22 knots is about 40 kilometers per hour, if these two behemoths collide together, even if the "Nanchang" does not sink, it will almost be scrapped!

When the "Wisconsin" collided with the bow of the "Nanchang", Chang Zhixin smashed his fist on the chart table.

"General, the report sent by the 'Nanchang' shows that the bow of the ship has fallen off, the adjacent compartments have been closed, there are probably more than 100 officers and soldiers killed or missing, and the battleship is not in danger of sinking!"

"Damn, kill that enemy ship!" Chang Jianxin roared, "All go up, don't let the enemy run away!" ”

The duel between the battleships ended at this point, but the skirmish between the cruiser and the destroyer continued until about five o'clock, and only the three fastest American destroyers (and the first to escape) managed to escape, and the other American battleships were annihilated one by one. And the most incredible thing is that in the end, two American ships were not able to sink themselves, but were successfully boarded by the officers and men of the Imperial Marine Corps on the cruiser and "captured" (a bit of an exaggeration, hehe, don't laugh at it). The two battleships were the USS Massachusetts and the USS Wisconsin.

"Captured two American battleships!?" Hao Dongjue was also surprised when he saw the telegram, "Damn, what kind of fame is you doing?" This must be the biggest trophy we have captured! ”

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head, he didn't believe this was the truth at first, after all, the officers and men on any battleship would sink the battleship after defeat. Later, he learned that the American officers and men on the two battleships had suffered quite heavy losses at that time, and most of the cabins had been flooded, and some of the officers and men had already jumped into the sea to escape, and everyone thought that the two battleships were finished, but as a result, Chang recommended that the new cruisers be sent to "occupy" the two battleships, and finally dragged the two battleships back!