These planes rained bombs on the "Yamato," and countless near-misses set off high columns of water, but they did not cause much damage to the "Yamato," and not a single bomb directly hit. But 30 minutes later, the Chinese planes dealt another fatal blow to the "Yamato", 14 bombs directly hit the super battleship, the bombs damaged three decks, part of the internal devices and anti-aircraft guns were blown up, and the anti-aircraft gunners were either killed or wounded. The deck of the "Yamato" was blown up in a mess, and blood flowed profusely. The damage caused by the "Shark" torpedo machine was even more staggering. Ten torpedoes hit the 70th rib on the port side of the battleship, and 3 hit the 70th, 110th, 138th rib on the starboard side. Thousands of tons of raging sea water poured into the hull from the torpedo explosion, increasing the roll and submerging the bow up to 4 meters. Although the "Yamato" was again righted to the left by 1 degree after further flooding, the speed was reduced to 16 knots, and later to 12 knots. The distance between the super-battleship and the fleet was getting farther and farther, and by this time she had already withstood the blow of 32 torpedoes, 67 bombs, and no less than 100 near-misses.

At 13:50, the 2nd attack wave 320 planes sent by General Fu Renxuan flew over the Yumoto fleet again, and at this time, the air and sea were full of death traps, and the "Yamato" was completely in a desperate situation. A series of explosions rang out from the giant ship, and under this three-dimensional attack that was almost devastating, even the thickest armor could not withstand it. Under several waves of rotational attacks, at least 40 torpedoes were hit on the starboard side of the "Yamato", and almost 80 bombshells were hit on the deck. The superstructure of the super-battleship "Yamato" was almost gone, and the burning hull had begun to fall seriously to starboard.

The sailors in the bilge of the ship faintly heard the rumbling of cannon from the deck, and they only knew that they were under air attack, but they did not know the exact situation. Due to the failure of the air intake, the soldiers collapsed weakly to the floor in the smoky cabin, for whom the battle was over. The torpedo had already blown the hull open, and it was conceivable that in the other dark cabins, there were many men clinging to the iron railings of the ladders, perhaps tearing each other apart in the dark, and running for their lives, but even if they climbed up, they could not stay long, because the sea water had already rushed in, and the water level was getting higher and higher. It is not known whether these people may be struggling in despair, or they may be waiting for death in a daze.

"Yamato" began to tilt. The pilots watched as the "Yamato" capsized, its track gradually disappeared, its speed became slower and slower, and the ship's anti-aircraft guns were firing erratically, like a fountain that had been cut off from a water source. At 14:20, a thunderous explosion was heard from the front of the ship, and the main gun ammunition depot on the "Yamato" was detonated. After a while, the "Yamato," the symbol of the Yamato, was gradually submerged by the sea, and a large whirlpool nearly 100 meters deep suddenly formed on the surface of the sea. After sinking for a few seconds, another big explosion occurred at the ammunition depot of the "Yamato," and a loud sound was heard from the bottom of the sea, and columns of smoke and water several hundred meters high soared into the sky, and after the sound died down, nothing could be seen...... the "Yamato" was blown up to nothing, and none of the officers and men on the ship were spared, and everything ended there. The surrounding destroyers scattered in a hurry, and the Chinese planes allowed them to escape, disdainful of pursuit. Perhaps they felt it would be better to keep a few witnesses so that they could go back to their books and tell the latest account of the scene.

The cruisers and destroyers of the Japanese army turned around and fled desperately north. The officers and men on the Chinese aircraft carrier thought they were dreaming. Without this personal experience of desperation, we would not have truly understood what "hope" and "joy" are. In addition to being excited, the officers and men could not help but feel sad. Rear Admiral Fang Xianying later wrote in his naval battle report: "God has been protecting us. ”

A telegram from the plane followed: "The fleet is sailing north...... sailing north, sailing ...... north, and ...... north." "Not only are the cruisers heading north, but the entire fleet is heading north.

Then the pilots saw the huge "Musashi" sunk by torpedoes and bombs dropped by Chinese planes, which was a memorable and thought-provoking scene. The Chinese attack planes, which had not yet had time to drop airborne bombs and torpedoes, turned their anger on the "Musashi" and other warships of the fleet. After a wanton and indiscriminate bombing, the Chinese military aircraft group completely unloaded its "baggage." All the officers and men of the fleet, including the Musashi, were cursing at the moment for the aviation units that should provide them with air cover.

However, the plane never appeared, but the Chinese military plane came again. At 14:45, 325 Chinese aircraft launched another round of attacks on the "Musashi". At this time, most of the anti-aircraft guns of the departed "Musashi" were no longer usable, and they became a dying dinosaur that could be slaughtered, although relying on the remaining anti-aircraft guns in the rear of the ship, he himself shot down about 30 Chinese torpedo planes. But that won't stop more Chinese planes from attacking under the skilful manipulation of their pilots. The "Musashi" ship ate another 31 torpedoes, 19 hit the port side, 5 of them hit almost the same position, that is, the 140th rib, the others were hit by the 40th, 60th, 75th, 125th, 145th, 165th, 2 hit the 80th and 105th ribs on the starboard side. More than 30 bombs directly hit the superstructure, completely destroying it, and hundreds of near-miss bombs fell near the battleship, and the huge column of water covered the huge battleship like a mountain, so that the speed of the escorting destroyer "Qingshuang" dropped from 36 knots to 20 knots at once. The top of the No. 2 main turret of the "Musashi" was hit (naturally, it was not penetrated), and the anti-aircraft gun ammunition magazine was flooded. The air defense command post located at the top of the bridge was also hit (the first bridge and the war room caught fire), the captain of the ship, Rear Admiral Toshihei Inoguchi, who commanded above, was wounded in the right shoulder, and the commander of the anti-aircraft gun, Eisuke Hirose, was killed. The captain of the first bridge was also killed. A total of 78 people were killed and wounded in the entire bridge. The command of the battleship was temporarily out of order. At this time, Deputy Captain Kato Kenyoshi Daisa, who was staying in the second bridge (here was the battleship's reserve command post), took over the command. But it didn't take long for the wounded Inoguchi to come to the second bridge to continue commanding. At this time, the ship's left tilt had reached 10 degrees, and it could only barely recover to 6 degrees after pouring water to starboard. The bow of the ship sank 8 meters, and only the top of the huge chrysanthemum coat of arms (4 meters in diameter) was still on it.

In order to save the dying supersea steel behemoth, as a more realistic option, he ordered the battleship to fight for the beach on the nearby coast. More than 65,000 tons of seawater have been poured into the hull of a huge battleship with a displacement of 160,000 tons. Due to the flooding of the mechanical room, the electricity on board the Musashi has disappeared. Several of the main engine bays have been filled with seawater, and only one is still operational. In order to maintain balance, the entire crew and the things that could be carried were concentrated on the starboard side, and the bow was almost submerged.

The Musashi turned around, and as night approached, the atmosphere intensified. The situation deteriorated further due to the hasty rudder during the turn, and the battleship, which was already riddled with holes, almost capsized. The battleship tilted 12-14 degrees to the left, the speed dropped to 6 knots, and the machines were completely unusable. The "Musashi" was slowly sinking, and the sea water had already reached the foredeck, flooding to the No. 1 main turret. Realizing that his ship could no longer be saved, Inoguchi ordered the commanders to assemble on the second bridge. Because the gangway was damaged, the men had to use emergency nets to get inside. Inside the bridge, where it was already difficult to stand up straight, Ariga handed over the suicide note he had just written to Vice Captain Kenkichi Kato (in the suicide note, the admirer of the big ship and cannon admitted his defeat and pleaded guilty to his country), and ordered him to lead the crew to evacuate the sinking "Musashi". Inoguchi himself remained in the second bridge, ready to live and die with the huge "Musashi".

After most of the crew evacuated, the "Musashi" had tilted 30 degrees to the left, and the 160,000-ton supergiant suddenly tilted sharply to the left, and the rat-gray steel hull as huge as a mountain suddenly flipped over, and at the same time, two violent explosions occurred inside the hull. After withstanding the blows of 420 aircraft, more than 50 torpedoes, 120 bombs and no less than 200 near-misses, the "Musashi", one of the largest super-battleships in human history, finally sank to the bottom of the sea with 3070 crews.

The sinking of the "Yamato" and "Musashi" marked the fate of the Navy's helpless defeat in the Pacific.

The battle was not all over by this point. The watchmen of the escort aircraft carrier "Deyang," which belonged to the southern group, found that at an altitude of about 3,000 meters, there were four Yumoto fighters flying from the southwest, and their actions were very strange, and they were not at all interested in the planes taking off from the aircraft carrier at that time. These planes flew horizontally and were concealed in clouds and fog as much as possible. When they came to the skies over the southern group, three of them dived downward, while the fourth hovered overhead, watching its wingman movements like a reconnaissance plane. It was discovered that one of the three planes suddenly accelerated its downward thrust and then fell like a stone on the stern of the escort aircraft carrier "Anyang." Before the air defense units could open fire, and the battleship did not have time to report on his actions, an 8-meter-long hole had been opened on the flight deck of the "Anyang." A group of planes caught fire. Almost at the same time, an explosion was heard as a meteor fell. Then I heard the explosion of oil depot and ammunition. The plane exploded before it could drop its bomb. Some of those present said that they were very skeptical of the strong will of the self-destructive. The newspaper has already talked about this form of attack, a mysterious weapon, which he invented. After the crash of the first plane, the Chinese were skeptical of this strong will, but they could not be fooled again in a matter of seconds. This time the air defense forces opened fire, and the planes continued to dive, exploding as they approached the waters near the bombing target. The fourth plane, which was still hovering in the air like an eagle, was aimed at it by the air defense forces, and after it was hit by an artillery shell, it dragged a puff of black smoke downward, so it decided to choose the escort aircraft carrier "Anton" as the target. Anti-aircraft fire could not make it change the target of the offensive. The crash was heard from various warships and a puff of smoke and flames were seen. The two aircraft carriers were badly damaged, and after temporary repairs, they were able to continue their mission, but the sailors on board suffered many casualties as a result.

The second group of the Zoben air death squad, which continued to target the four aircraft carriers of the northern group, launched an attack before 11 o'clock. 6 aircraft took part in the operation. Now, the ship knows what a danger it would take if it didn't destroy these madmen. Two planes were shot down and crashed into the sea while descending. The other exploded over its target, splattering bloody wreckage on the Chinese soldiers. Three more planes hit targets of their choice. Two of them damaged the escort aircraft carrier "Changchun", but the injuries were not serious. The third crashed in the center of the flight deck of the escort aircraft carrier "Weihai". The increasingly terrifying, continuous explosions made the "Weihai" shake up quickly. Its deck was blown up, and burning gasoline filled the deck. An orderly retreat began. A few minutes later, the "Weihai" sank into the sea. At 11:10 a.m., the plane launched a third attack. But this time the attacker was not a suicide plane. The pilots dropped bombs on the target, they did not want to destroy their planes, so the results were not great.

On the morning of the 16th, six planes of the Death Squad attacked the escort aircraft carrier again. The planes always slowly descend from the clouds, sometimes hovering over for a while before deciding to dive to death. There is no doubt that they are choosing who to attack or making last-minute calculations. As the distance of their dive is getting shorter and shorter, one can see the bombs hanging under the wings. The attack on the 16th did not sink any Chinese aircraft carriers, but several aircraft carriers were damaged. The approximate result of the attack of the death squad on the 25th and 16th was that 1 escort aircraft carrier was sunk, 4 were seriously damaged, and 1 was lightly wounded. The Chinese newspapers fully reported on the attack by the death squads, and for Yue himself, the price they paid was high, but the results were not great.

On the 25th, the Kurita fleet, which was retreating northward, was attacked by the planes of the Chinese air force and escorting aircraft carriers for a whole day, and after receiving Wu Qianlong's order, the planes of the large aircraft carriers of Yang Chengwu's fleet, which were heading for Leyte Island at full speed, also participated in the attack. With three and a half hours to fly away from the target, Yang Chengwu sent the aircraft with the longest range. At the same time, he heard Jin Yuqi's call. The pilots found that the Kurita fleet was sailing north in an orderly manner at a speed of 24 knots. At 13:10, the offensive began immediately, and the ground-based fighters attacked. They are quickly wrecked or repulsed. Despite this, the results achieved by Yang Chengwu's pilots were not outstanding. Because they were tired, and the ship was still sailing in formation. Two hours later, the attack of the second group of Chinese ships was also not ideal. It is said that the battleship "Nagato" was hit, and it received 14 bombs, but these four bombs do not seem to seriously damage the "Nagato". Due to the long flight, Yang Chengwu's plane was not able to load the torpedo. The planes escorting the aircraft carrier harassed throughout the afternoon, but with less ammunition, and they dropped the last light bombs in the engine room and attacked the deck of the warship with bazookas, but they did not suffer serious losses from this. At nine o'clock in the evening, the sky was dark, and Kurita's flagship and 16 warships, including two battleships, which were almost all damaged, sailed into the San Bernardino Strait. In the middle of the night, the battlefleet led by Zhang Qifan personally rushed to the mouth of the strait, but it was already a step too late.

The majestic, new, and magnificent "Fuxi"-class super battleships are the pride of the Chinese fleet. After a fast voyage of 300 nautical miles, it ran another 300 nautical miles at full speed in the Southern Strait. But they came too late. In order to deal the most severe blow to the battleships, after inflicting heavy damage on the Ozawa fleet, the main forces of the rapid forces may have to attack the Kurita fleet. But in the end, they didn't hit even a single shell, neither attacking Ozawa's troops nor Kurita's forces, and the sailors on the ship were disappointed.

At 1:30 p.m., the night sky reconnaissance plane reported that one of the warships was heading for the strait, and Wu Qianlong immediately gave an order, and a battle fleet drove to the waterway in the southeast, and the radars of all the warships were tracking him and firing when the distance between him and him was shortened. This is 1 destroyer. Three Chinese cruisers and three destroyers set sail for battle, and soon sank it.

After the battle, Wu Qianlong announced that his naval fleet was "defeated, defeated, and driven away." "In fact, some of the support ships of this fleet have long since fled. If the battle on Leyte ended with a Chinese victory, then these were the indisputable victories: the bridgehead was saved, and he lost 2 160,000-ton super battleships, 3 heavy aircraft carriers, 5 light aircraft carriers, as well as 12 cruisers and 22 destroyers. Seventy-five percent of the tonnage of the ships that participated in the battle were buried at the bottom of the sea. Thanks to the bravery and tenacity of the Chinese navy's soldiers and pilots, the victories in these partial battles were more fruitful than large-scale coordinated operations. In this battle, known as the "Iron Bottom Bay", three Chinese aircraft carriers and three destroyers sank in the sea; Six aircraft carriers and two destroyers were seriously damaged, and 225 Chinese planes were shot down. In this attack, the casualties of the Chinese army reached 4,203, with 1,251 dead and 2,210 missing.

(To be continued)