The result of three "South Dakota" class ships against six "New Provincial Capital" class ships was something anyone could have imagined, and although the battle with a huge difference in strength lasted about 20 minutes, the final result was disastrous for Task Force 33. It was also during this 20-minute battle that the final outcome of the duel between the third giant ships during the Great War was determined after the naval battle of annihilating the "Z Fleet" and the "Battle of the Sea of Solomon".

The "New Provincial Capital" class was designed for the South Dakota-class battleships, known as the "number one ship in the late treaty". Prior to this, the "Dignity" class battleships of the Tang Imperial Navy were standard treaty-type battleships, while the "South Dakota" class was the most formidable battleship built by the US Navy according to the new standards at the end of the Songjiang Treaty (the "Iowa"-class battleships were not limited by reference to treaties from the beginning of their design). The targeted design of the Tang Imperial Navy allowed the first four battleships of the "New Provincial Capital" class to surpass the performance of the "South Dakota" class, which was already demonstrated in the "Battle of the Solomon Sea". And after being refitted, replaced with more powerful main guns, and adopting new armor-piercing shells, better radar and aiming equipment, the two first batch of "New Provincial Capital" class battleships had a more obvious advantage over the "South Dakota" class, not to mention the advantages of the four second batch of "New Provincial Capital" class battleships. What's more critical is that this time it's six to three, and it is often recommended that there are twice as many battleships and main guns as the enemy!

During the more than 20 minutes of fighting, the officers and men of the six battleships, especially the gunners, finally found a sense of exuberance, and the combat distance was less than ten nautical miles. The end that awaits the three "South Dakota" class battleships is destruction, complete destruction!

Together with Guiyang, the "Guangzhou" and the "Alabama" were eliminated, bringing the "Battle of the Solomon Sea" to a successful conclusion. It can be regarded as a break between these three battleships.

"Guangzhou" fired a total of 13 salvos, firing 102 shells. Hit the "Alabama" a full 24 rounds. At that time, the "Alabama" also fired back at the "Guangzhou", and the "Alabama" returned fire in eight rounds, causing the "Guangzhou" to eat five huge bullets. In addition, the "Guiyang", which was helping on the side, fired a salvo of 124 luns and 108 shells. There were 17 hits on the "Alabama". Not to mention the "Alabama", even the sunken "Yamato" was hit by 42 400-mm armor-piercing shells from several nautical miles away, and at that time, there was absolutely no battleship in the world that could withstand the 42 rounds of 400-mm bombs, even if it was 42 pieces of iron weighing one ton and smashing down at a speed of about 300 meters per second, the "Alabama" could be smashed!

The first two rounds of shelling on both sides were all in vain, and during this period, the lookout on the "Canton" first accurately judged the point of impact, and the gunners on the battleship immediately calculated the ballistic correction parameters, and asked the gunners to adjust the shelling parameters in the third salvo. Two 400-millimeter bombs hit the "Alabama", and the distance between the two sides was less than 9 nautical miles. And even with Type 23 armor-piercing shells, the main armor of the "Alabama" can be torn at this distance, not to mention the Type 23 improved armor-piercing shells with better armor-piercing capabilities.

Two armor-piercing shells, one hit the front of the A-turret of the "Alabama". Exploding inside the turret, the turret was scrapped, and the dozens of gunners in the turret were all destroyed. The second shot fell on the ground horizontal armor plate behind the battleship's chimney, after tearing through the armor plate almost 200 mm thick. An explosion exploded in the compartment below, and a huge hole was created on the "Alabama".

The fourth salvo of the "Canton" again hit two shells of the "Alabama". Almost at the same time, the "Canton" was also hit by a 406-mm shell, which was in the seaplane hangar, and almost the entire seaplane hangar was blown away, but this did not pose a mortal threat to the battleship. The "Guiyang" also hit a shell of the "Alabama" in the fourth salvo, and this shell fell on the base of the B turret, and this shell was not able to completely penetrate the 440 mm thick armor plate, which only caused the B turret to rotate and failed to accurately aim at the "Guangzhou".

The first four rounds of artillery battles have already decided the battle between the three battleships, and there is almost no suspense in the next battle, only the last turret in the tail of the "Alabama" can fight, although this turret has dodged several rounds of shelling in a row, but it only hit the "Guangzhou" four times, and only one shell played an important role, opening a hole in the "Canton" turret B, destroying this turret, so that "Canton" From the eighth salvo onwards, it was only possible to fight with two turrets.

By about 12:10 a.m., the "Alabama" had begun to sink, and 16 shells in its waterline caused three-quarters of the battleship's port side compartments to be flooded with seawater, with more than 8,000 tons of water entering the battleship, and the battleship was already seriously tilted to the left. Although the captain had ordered the ammunition depot to be filled with water to avoid an explosion, in order to avoid capsizing, it would be necessary to fill at least half of the compartment on the starboard side, which would result in the battleship having more than 15,000 tons of water and the "Alabama" having a reserve buoyancy of less than 10,000 tons, which means that if there was no way to drain the seawater, then the battleship would be completely destroyed. By this time, all of the main power units on board the Alabama had been destroyed, and the few remaining spare pumping machines could not guarantee that the water would be discharged more than the incoming seawater. At half past twelve, the captain gave the order to abandon the ship, and the officers and men on the battleship abandoned the rescue operation of the battleship.

At the time of the "Alabama" disaster, the "Massachusetts" did not have a good time, and under the siege of the "Nanning" and "Changsha", the "Massachusetts" would not end much better than the "Alabama".

At that time, the opponent chosen by the "Massachusetts" in the first three rounds was the "Guiyang", but it did not hit the "Guiyang" shell, and the commander on the battleship found that the "Guiyang" was shelling the "Alabama". And when it was the No. 3 and No. 4 ships in the Tang Empire's formation that opened fire on him, he immediately ordered to turn to the other party's No. 3 ship, that is, the "Nanning", and open fire. Outcome.

The first three salvos fired by the "Massachusetts" at the "Nanning" all failed, and at that time the "Massachusetts" fired a total of eight salvos at the "Nanning". Of the 54 shells fired from these eight volleys, only 6 hit the "Nanning", and the most important shell hit the C turret, allowing the "Nanning" to fire 7 salvos with two turrets!

During this time, "Nanning" fired 1 volley at "Massachusetts". 96 out of 14 shells hit. Behind it, the "Changsha" fired 11 salvos at the "Massachusetts", 99 of the 12 shells hit. The "Massachusetts" received a total of 26 shells, although this number was much less than that of the "Alabama", but of these 26 shells, at least 15 hit key positions, and all of them penetrated the main armor belt. So the situation with the "Massachusetts" is even worse than with the "Alabama".

The main gun turret of the "Massachusetts" was pierced by two shells in succession, and five minutes later, the A turret was knocked out by at least three shells in two salvos of the opposing side. By 12:15, the "Massachusetts" was still fighting with only its B turret remaining. At this time.

The captain had already ordered the ammunition bays of the two destroyed landlord guns to be filled with water. But the most lethal thing was the opponent's salvo from the fourth to the eighth round, in which the five rounds of "straddle fire" hit the bridge of the battleship commander and the dozen shells below the waterline. Thereinto. All five shells that hit the port side engine room of the "Massachusetts" pierced the main armor, destroying all two engine rooms on the port side, and causing the No. 4 engine room behind the starboard side to flood, and finally depriving the "Massachusetts" of three-quarters of its power. And the two platoons that hit the battleship commander under the bridge detonated the secondary gun ammunition magazine on the battleship. As a result, hundreds of 127-mm shells exploded rapidly, almost blowing up half of the commander's bridge!

When the battle was at its most intense, the "Nanning" also had a feeling of trepidation, and two shells flew from a height of less than 100 meters above the bridge of the commander of the "Nanning" and landed on the starboard side of the battleship and exploded. If the other side is a little more lucky, only one 406-mm armor-piercing shell needs to hit the bridge of the commander of the "Nanning", then the commander of the third task force and all the officers of the headquarters will be reimbursed.

With the "Massachusetts" being fired, the accuracy of the shelling increased a lot, and the squad leaders of those artillery squads did not even need to be provided by the gunnery officer to provide the shelling parameters, and could adjust the shelling themselves according to experience. At least, the squad leaders of these artillery squads are real veterans. When the stern turret of the "Nanning" was hit, Chang Jianxin was shocked to the floor, but he quickly stood up, and rejected the staff officer's proposal, and remained in the command cabin, he didn't want to hide underneath, at least the armor on the commander's bridge was the thickest on the battleship.

"General, look!"

Chang Jiexin immediately turned around, and at the same time picked up the telescope, in front of the "Alabama", the "South Dakota" suddenly exploded violently, and a huge fireball with a diameter of more than 200 meters was rapidly rising into the night sky, illuminating the sea within two nautical miles around the battleship.

"It was the 'Wuhan' who did it, probably hitting the ammunition compartment of the main gun."

"Let them go on, don't stop!" Chang Jianxin looked back at the navigation clock, "It's ten past twelve, where are the other four enemy ships now?" ”

"We're about 11 nautical miles away, and they're already firing!"

"The fleet turns 30 degrees to the left in five minutes and prepares to engage another group of enemy ships!" Chang Jianxin quickly gave the order, and at this time, he had already seen the dawn of victory.

Before the arrival of four Iowa-class battleships, the "South Dakota" received the heaviest blow.

In the previous engagement, the South Dakota had performed the best of the three battleships, firing nine salvos that destroyed all two main gun turrets in front of the Wuhan, and at least 12 406-mm armor-piercing shells hit the Wuhan. Just when the captain of the "South Dakota" thought that the "Wuhan" had no strength to return fire, a 400-mm armor-piercing shell fired from the stern turret of the "Wuhan" accurately hit the base of the "South Dakota" B turret, and after penetrating the main armor belt, it exploded directly in the cartridge room of the main gun, detonating thousands of propellant packets, which can be said to be a catastrophic blow!

In the previous battle, the "Wuhan" fired only 48 shells, and at most only 6 hit the "South Dakota," of which the most damaging one hit the bridge of the commander of the "South Dakota," killing dozens of US officers and men. The "Nanchang," which attacked the "South Dakota" together, fired nine salvos, and about 11 of the 81 shells hit the "South Dakota," of which two exploded under the bow waterline of the "South Dakota" ship, and the one that hit the front of the A turret was the most destructive, which caused the "South Dakota" to lose one-third of its firepower.

Although it received 17 shells, the "South Dakota" was the luckiest of the three battleships of the left flank formation, but the moment before the four "Iowa" class returned to the battlefield became the most unlucky. The armor-piercing projectile that was fired in the cartridge room of the B turret itself contained only more than 10 kilograms of explosives, but it was thousands of kilograms of propellant that could be detonated! The huge explosion not only blew up the main gun turret weighing more than 1,000 tons, but also directly damaged the main structure of the battleship. Then, more than 200 rounds of 406-mm shells in the ammunition compartment of the main gun in the B turret were also detonated. As you can imagine, two huge explosions occurred almost simultaneously, and it was the mushroom clouds that were created after the explosion of the projectile packs.

In the distance, on the USS Iowa, Kincaid had just given the order to open fire on the two battleships at the very end of the enemy formation when a large explosion occurred on the USS South Dakota. When Kincaid saw that huge fireball, he immediately knew that the "South Dakota" was finished, and the other two battleships must be almost finished at this time.

At 12:13, the first batch of huge shells from the "Iowa" class battleships fell near the "Wuhan" and "Nanchang", although this batch of shells was only a few rounds, and all of them failed, but this means that the main force of the US army has returned to the battlefield, and Chang Jianxin also found that he is still a long way from victory!