When completed, the Lexington-class battlecruiser was as high as the Americans had expected, with exceptional speed and heavy armament, equipped with 8 Mén 18-inch MK2 naval guns and mounted in twin loads on four turrets. ** The broadside main armor belt has been thickened to 356 mm, which makes it more defensive against the enemy (but not against any of the main guns that might be mounted on a super battleship). The high speed of 35 knots of the "Lexington" class allows it to safely approach the enemy's capital ships and attack them with its own weapons.

A total of six Lexington-class battle cruisers consisted: USS Lexington, USS Saratoga, USS Constellation, USS Assault, USS Constitution and USS Independence. The construction of the "Lexington" class battlecruiser was the largest in American history, and in 1921 the keel of the class was laid, but in the following time, due to the conference held in Washington to limit naval armaments, they were almost sentenced to death, because of the adoption of the Washington Treaty, all six ships were stopped in June 1922, according to the treaty, two of them were allowed to be converted into aircraft carriers, but for various reasons, the other four battle cruisers were not officially canceled. After the expiration of the Washington Treaty, in the face of Japan's shipbuilding maniacs, the "Lexington" class construction plan was reintroduced, and the original construction plan was improved in many ways, and all six ships of this class were completed in 1938. Among them, the "Lexington" and "Saratoga" were deployed in the Pacific Ocean and became the lead ships of the Pacific Fleet.

At this time, the battlecruiser "Lexington" was flying the vice admiral's flag of Halsey on the mast, splitting and slashing làng, and speeding towards the boundless ocean.

Halsey stared at the sea antenna in the distance for a long time, he wore deep sunglasses, blocking out the scorching sun, and the staff could not peek into his heart through his eyes, but only looked at him with apprehensive gaze from time to time.

At this time, Halsey's heart was full of pride.

Because he was victorious. He overcame himself, his cowardice, his laziness, his inferiority, his mercy to fate, and his adversity.

The USS Lexington was the largest warship he commanded in his lifetime. His long years in the Navy have made him accustomed to the sea, which is now familiar and familiar to him. As a newly promoted vice admiral, he ushered in the peak moment of his life, but at the same time faced the most difficult challenges of his life. He knew that he was now facing the main force of the entire Imperial Japanese Navy, and that there was little hope of victory, and defeat was the most painful. But he is a commander who can only face the facts and make the right choice. He knew that with the two new battlecruisers under his command alone, it would be extremely difficult to win the battle in front of him. But he, like Hannibal, Marlborough, Sherman, Wellington, and other famous generals of all ages, went to the battlefield to meet his own victory.

"Report! Radar detects enemy ships! Directly ahead, it is suspected that there are three battleships! An officer hurried to Halsey's side and reported to him.

"That means that their aircraft carrier is not far away." Halsey's face flashed with excitement, and his staff's faces began to turn white.

Halsey immediately noticed the mood of his subordinates, he turned around, took off his sunglasses, looked at everyone, and said in a deep voice: "We are fighting against an enemy with absolute superiority, so we can't give up the hope of surviving!" I want everyone to do their duty, because now we are the only force that can stop them! ”

After listening to Halsey's words, the staff members remained silent.

"If you want to leave, get off the boat now!" Halsey yelled, "I don't need cowards on my ship!" ”…,

Halsey's scolding made many people's faces appear ashamed, and some held their heads high, and a look of determination appeared in their eyes.

"Well, since no one has disembarked, let's determine the battle target." Halsey looked at everyone, his expression slowed down, he smiled, and said, "Our goal of the battle is: to kill the Japs!" Kill a lot of Japs! Kill lots and lots of Japs! ”

"Kill the Jap!" The officers roared like mad with him.

At this time, several Japanese planes suddenly appeared in the sky.

"It's a fighter of the Japanese." One officer looked up at the sky and said, "Probably after attacking Oahu." ”

"Maybe their bombers will come in a moment." Another officer said worriedly.

"Leave them alone! Our goal is ahead! All we have to do now is rush over! Halsey said, giving the order in a loud voice, "Full speed ahead!" ”

At about the same time, Nagumo Tadaichi also received an alert that "two enemy battleships had been found".

By this time, Nagumo Tadaichi had already sent reinforcements to Oahu, and when he heard the report, he was not surprised.

He had just received a report from the planes attacking the "Yorktown" that the "Yorktown" was only escorted by a few cruisers, and was not accompanied by large ships.

That is, the two battlecruisers of the Americans, either have already fled, or they are going to attack alone.

With Nagumo Tadashi's knowledge of the Americans, he would rather believe that the Americans wanted to commit suicide attacks.

Now that the attack aircraft group has been almost all dispatched, there are very few planes that can be used to attack enemy ships, but Nagumo Tadaichi is not worried.

Because at this time, his aircraft carrier was escorted by four powerful battleships. So when he learned that the Americans' only two remaining capital ships had appeared, he felt a sense of relief.

"Let the Americans taste our shells!" Nan Yunzhong looked out the window and said loudly.

At this time, Nagumo Tadaichi's heart was still full of longing for a steel duel with the cannon of the giant ship.

And he didn't think about what kind of trouble these two American battlecruisers would bring him.

At this moment, the sea antenna in the distance flashed a red light, followed by a thunderous sound.

Nagumo Tadaichi knew that it was a unique sight when the battleship's huge cannon struck.

Halsey's "Memoirs of the Pacific War":

“…… At this time, the 'Lexington' was heading towards the main force of the Japanese fleet, and my original plan was that if they could not avoid the battle, we planned to take the initiative to go there and dig them out and beat them up. But the report of the reconnaissance aircraft dispelled this idea, because the Japanese had already discovered us by this time and sent battleships to escort aircraft carriers to meet us. ”

"To understand this upcoming huge naval battle, it is necessary for us to first clarify some details of the organization of the enemy's fleet. Nagumo Tadaichi's fleet was under Yamamoto Isoroku, and the battlefleet, although it was an escort for aircraft carriers, also seemed to be directly under Yamamoto Isoroku. And the Japanese troops landing on Oahu do not seem to be under the command of Isoroku Yamamoto. If the Japanese could unify their military orders and share the same battlefield intelligence and control system, then this naval battle would be completely different. ”

"At 8:22 a.m., I made a broadcast on the ship in the highest pitch and gave the order to attack."

"At 8:26 a.m., I ordered Captain McCain to turn around and strike at the Japanese fleet.

"At 8:27 a.m., the Lexington opened fire, and two minutes later, the Saratoga followed suit."

"At 8:30, the enemy ships opened fire on us."

"The lads of the 'Lexington' were all good, and although the enemy's shells fell from the sky like meteorites and fell all around us, no one panicked, and all of them held their posts. I have to admit that the Japanese artillery fire was very accurate, but I still have to say that our gunners were more bāng, and less than five minutes after the jiāo fire, we hit the Japanese warship,...... There was a cloud of black smoke rising from the sea, a huge explosion resembling an undersea volcanic eruption, and many people shouted loudly, and we hit a Japanese battleship! ”…,

"The reconnaissance aircraft said that we sank the largest and newest battleship in Japan, which was not the case, and later we learned that it was the Japanese battleship 'Kirishima', a battleship with a displacement of 30,000 tons, with 8mén 356 mm guns, this is an old-fashioned and modernized battleship, after being hit by the 18-inch main gun of the 'Lexington', it exploded violently and sank very quickly, which was our first successful revenge on the Japanese fleet. At this moment the Japanese light ships rushed up and tried to torpedo at us, but we were repelled by heavy artillery fire, and the observation post determined that three Japanese cruisers and one destroyer had been sunk, and we had wounded many other ships. (The Americans' observations were inaccurate, and in fact this short battle only sank the battleship Kirishima and damaged many Japanese ships of all types, forcing two heavy cruisers 'Myoko' and 'Tone?) and two destroyers returned home. ）

"As if stunned by us, the Japanese warships began to circle in circles, retreating first to the west and then to the east, as if they had received a death order from the emperor himself. …… It was only a year later that I learned that our speculation was not outrageous. The commander of the Japanese fleet at that time wanted to retreat, but received an order from the commander of the combined fleet and turned back. ”

"At the same time, the Japanese battleships reappeared, and they seemed to be so afraid of our 18-inch guns that they did not dare to engage us head-on, and I guessed that they were covering the evacuation of the aircraft carriers, so I ordered the 'Lexington' to continue to rush forward, and to fight the enemy battleship Jiāo while looking for the enemy's aircraft carriers. At 9:43 a.m. we finally found the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet, and I saw four aircraft carriers, three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and eight destroyers, located southwest of the 'Lexington,' at a speed of about 15 knots. We immediately launched an attack on this Japanese fleet, and at this time the three Japanese battleships were also concentrating their fire on us. ”

"The enemy's artillery fire was extremely fierce, and the 'Lexington' was hit three times in succession by the enemy's 16-inch main guns, and it burst into flames, but the flames were quickly extinguished, and our combat effectiveness was not affected in the slightest, when Spruance sent a telegram from the 'Saratoga', suggesting that the 'Saratoga' should meet the Japanese battleships, and I led the 'Lexington' to attack the Japanese aircraft carriers, and I agreed. So, we went our separate ways. I couldn't help but rub my hands together at the thought of the prospect of sending enemy ships to the bottom of the sea one by one with artillery. ”

"None of us knew at the time that the enemy we were facing had 6 aircraft carriers, 3 battleships, 8 heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers and 22 destroyers, and the enemy's fleet was supposed to be our mortal enemy, but now their planes are gone, because they all went to Oahu, and the only force that could pose a threat to us was those battleships."

"With the Saratoga under cover, our operations against the Japanese Central Fleet became easy, as if a tiger had broken into a flock of sheep, and we launched a fierce attack. Successfully hit a light aircraft carrier of the Japanese. It was the 'Wyvern', and I saw that the fire had spread to every corner of the warship, that its bomb depot and fuel tank had been ignited, and that the aircraft carrier had begun to tilt up with a violent explosion, and that I had noticed a strange phenomenon, and that a small group of Japanese had climbed into the dinghy with a large portrait of the Emperor in their respectful hands, at the risk of being buried in the flames. ”

"The Japanese aircraft carrier actually sank after only two of our shots. Seeing the destruction of this Japanese aircraft carrier, many people roared loudly, they waved their fists, and hugged each other warmly, I knew that they were expressing the pleasure of revenge in their hearts in this way. ”…,

"At the same time that the 'Lexington' sank the 'Wyvern', the 'Saratoga' also achieved significant results, and the communications officer reported that they sank another Japanese battleship, and later we learned that it was the 'Hiei', which was the same class as the 'Kirishima' that we sank, and I have to say that these old Japanese battleships are really vulnerable in front of our 18-inch guns."

"After the 'Wyvern' was hit by us, the Japanese aircraft carriers began to flee, and several heavy cruisers tried to cover them, and it must be said that these Japanese heavy cruisers fought very tenaciously, and their shells hit the 'Lexington' several times, and although the armor of the 'Lexington' resisted the blow, it caused a lot of casualties to our heroic officers and men. The captain of the Lexington' was Captain William? Braque, who served as my chief of operations before and after the war. He was about to leave the Lexington, and his successor, John? Admiral Hoskins has already taken to the ship. At this time, he also commanded the battle on the ship. The shell of the Japanese heavy cruiser hitting the 'Lexington' almost killed Colonel Hoskins. He suffered a serious injury to his foot and had to be amputated immediately on the ship. After the amputation, Hoskins was mounted on a stretcher and carried to the side of the ship to avoid gunfire through the ship's blazing flames. While waiting, he was able to smile and salute me, who came to visit him at the same time, and asked with a smile: 'Can I get permission from your Excellency to leave the ship?' ’”

"I said, 'I'm sorry to have taken you to this dangerous place and caused you to be so badly injured.'"

Hoskins shook his head and said with a smile that he hoped that one day, with a prosthetic leg, would be able to command a warship as good as the Lexington, because he was ahead of any other applicant. I asked him what that meant, and he said that if the emergency siren had been pulled on the night of the game and the speed of the command position, he would have been faster than all of them, because at least one foot was already ready-to-wear shoes and socks. We all laughed out loud when we heard his answer. ”

"The discovery of the main aircraft carrier of the Japanese army confirmed my point of view: little Japan went all out. But I don't want to wait for the prophecy to be confirmed, what I need is to fight! I inspected it for a while and then returned to the bridge, at this time all the surviving superstructures of the Japanese Central Fleet were badly damaged, especially the turrets and fire control systems were badly damaged, and it was impossible to strike at us, we could have destroyed them all, but my target was the enemy's aircraft carriers, and if we took out these aircraft carriers, it would be tantamount to reversing the defeat, and we would not have to worry about these threats from the sea in future operations. ”

"It was very difficult for me to make the decision to abandon the support of the defenders of Wake Island and go all out to attack the enemy's carrier formation, but in retrospect, if I had been in the same situation and had the same information at the time, I would have made the same decision."

"I walked into the command room, pointed to the position of the Japanese aircraft carrier formation on the map, and said, let's go here, Mick. It was 10:25 a.m., and soon we caught them. The radar first spotted a large aircraft carrier, and I ordered to take up positions in front of the enemy ship and bombard the enemy ship with its main guns. ”

"At 10:50 a.m. I observed a terrible explosion in the distance, and a few moments later I received a report that a large enemy aircraft carrier had sunk after a large explosion. Later I learned that it was the 'Canglong'. ”

"The radar observed 2 more enemy aircraft carriers and a light cruiser, and the enemy was speeding up to 25 knots, and by this time we had reduced our speed to 25 knots. If the enemy maintains its current speed and course, it will escape from the range of our naval guns before noon. ”

"Next, I'm going to start recounting the unbearable part, and to this day, this memory still aches faintly. I'd better take an excerpt from my battle diary to recreate what happened in order. ”

"At 11:18 I received a telegram from the 'Saratoga': I am engaged in a battle with the enemy's aircraft. I felt a little confused when I received the telegram. Could it be that she is fighting the enemy aircraft carrier Jiāo? ”

!@#