603 War of Aggression against Japan! Ten races against time

March 18, morning.

200 nautical miles east of Hainan Island and 160 nautical miles south of the Pearl River estuary.

The flight deck of the aircraft carrier Nakayama was extremely busy, and one after another A2A ship bomb and Martin T4M torpedo planes were constantly lifted onto the deck by elevators, and the air crew soldiers immediately pushed them to the take-off assembly point at the stern of the ship and lined them up, and then slowly stuffed the thick airborne torpedoes and 200 kg bombs that had been prepared into the belly of the aircraft with carts.

On the platform on the second floor of the island, Zhao Zheng held a cigar in his mouth and looked up at the gradually whitening sky: "Haven't you found the main force of the Japanese fleet yet?" ”。

Hailong shook his head: "The submarine and the destroyer are searching with all their might, but they still haven't found anything, it looks like they can only wait for the seaplane to search, but the general location of the Japanese fleet can't be wrong." ”

"Well, they should be in the southeast or south of the Dongsha Islands."

Zhao Zheng nodded and said with certainty: "I also graduated from the Etajima Naval Academy in Japan, and I couldn't be clearer about the thoughts of those little devils." As long as there is one percent hope, they will do 100 percent effort, and now their hope of success is far more than one percent, so they will not leave, and they will definitely fight us to the end."

"That's right, there is still hope for them to fight, if they pat their butts and leave, they will have no chance, and they are not afraid of losing everything, even if they lose everything, Britain and the United States will most likely support them to contain us."

"Therefore, we must take advantage of this opportunity to completely eliminate the main force of Japan's naval aviation, otherwise they will be our henchmen sooner or later with the support of Britain and the United States" Zhao Zheng's eyes were cold, he walked into the command center, stood in front of the chart platform, and said after looking at the meeting: "If the Japanese main fleet sails eastward after breaking through into the South China Sea, it should be close to the Dongsha Islands by now, so that in another hour at most, submarines and destroyers should find their traces." If they break into the South China Sea and lurk south near the Philippines, they should be spotted by seaplanes taking off from our two light cruisers. If there is no shadow of the Japanese main fleet in these two places, then they must be heading southeast after entering the South China Sea, and they are coming towards us, and our reconnaissance planes will also find them."

After some analysis, Zhao Zheng identified three possible sea areas where the Japanese fleet could be hiding, one of which was searched by destroyers and torpedo boats of the Second Fleet and submarines of the Third Fleet; the other was searched by seaplanes sent by two light cruisers sent out in advance to lurk; The last one was searched by reconnaissance planes of the First Air Fleet. It's basically foolproof. The carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier set off in advance and flew northeast in advance, waiting until the Japanese main fleet was found before determining the final course.

"Commander, Captain Shi of the Selim Sultan asked for instructions that he wanted to search for the damaged Japanese heavy cruiser, and it is estimated that the rudder of that ship was broken......"

"No, you don't." Zhao Zheng interrupted Meng Hailong and sneered: "It's not a big deal to ship a heavy cruise, and what is the way for it to survive when it goes southwest?" The best outcome was to drive to French Indochina and be disarmed by the French. ”

"Tell Shi Guoxiang that his task is to escort aircraft carriers and not to give the Japanese heavy cruisers a chance to raid us"

"Let the carrier-based planes hurry up a little more, they must start taking off before 5:10, send two squadrons of bombers to rescue Chen Si's cruiser, and the other planes will go to the east to search for the main force of the Japanese fleet, I guess they are there."

After the staff officer left with Zhao Zheng's order, Meng Hailong leaned forward, propped his hands on the chart table, and stared at the southeast area of the Dongsha Islands on the chart: "Commander, do you think the Japanese aircraft carrier is just east of us?" Could it be that they are also preparing carrier-based aircraft to deal with us? ”

"That's for sure" Zhao Zheng nodded: "The Japanese have not been playing aircraft carriers for a day or two, although their planes are not as advanced as ours, but they are absolutely first-class in terms of tactics and training, and their Akagi and Kaga are both battleships and battle cruiser hulls, which are stronger than our Nakayama class, and are also equipped with 200 mm caliber naval guns, so they will not be as cautious as us." They'll be here at full speed when they discover the Second Fleet."

“…… However, the Japanese should not be able to determine our position, and it is even possible to mistake the Second Fleet for the First Air Fleet, which is our advantage. ”

"Commander." Chief of Staff Meng Hailong took a telegram from the communications officer at this time, and after a few quick glances, he frowned and reported: "The report of the No. 025 submarine found the Japanese fleet 10 nautical miles east of the Dongsha Islands, including a Kongo-class battlecruiser and a light cruiser and destroyer, but no aircraft carrier was found. ”

"Oh? It doesn't look like there will be an aircraft carrier near the Dongsha Islands. ”

"Yes, this battle cruiser should belong to the same fleet as the two heavy cruisers, and it should be going to deal with the second fleet."

Zhao Zheng raised his eyebrows, the probability of an aircraft carrier appearing in the sea near Dongsha can basically be ruled out, then the only thing left is the vicinity of the Philippines and his own east. If the Japanese aircraft carrier was hiding near the Philippines, then the Japanese battlecruiser would be a dish of its own

Luo Youjun, who was checking the bombing plan beside him, was also overjoyed, the planes on the deck were almost ready, the torpedoes and bombs had been taken out of the ammunition magazine and hung on the planes, and it would only take 20 minutes at most for the carrier-based planes to be dispatched.

"Are the carrier-based aircraft ready?" Zhao Zheng's shout sounded in Luo Youjun's ears.

"Well, the first wave is two squadrons of fighters, two squadrons of bombers and two squadrons of torpedo machines." Luo Youjun paused, thought for a while, and said, "Is it enough?" ”。

"Send all the bombers out" Zhao Zheng looked at his watch, raised his head and glanced at the eyes in the command center: "We are probably only 100 nautical miles away from the Japanese, so I don't plan to carry out a second wave of air strikes, we must succeed at one time." The order was to be given priority to the first wave of bombing against Japanese aircraft carriers, including the two bomber squadrons supporting the Second Fleet, to bomb aircraft carriers after they discovered them."

"As long as the Japanese aircraft carrier is blown up, the South China Sea will be ours"

"Yes"

At the sound of the order, the pilots of the Hainan Airlines, who had been waiting on the deck for a long time, climbed onto the fighter planes one after another, and waited intently for the take-off signal flag to be waved down. When the flight controller standing on the foredeck suddenly waved the red flag in his hand, the blocking iron on the first take-off line that was only 110 meters away from the bow was quickly released, and the F2A carrier-based aircraft, which had already driven to the largest engine, roared and rushed to the end of the deck.

At a distance of 150 meters from the bow there was a second flight line, which was intended for bombers and torpedo planes, which had heavier take-off weights and therefore required a longer runway, at which point there was also a Martin T4M that accelerated at full speed out of gravity.

As one fighter plane after another took off, in just 20 minutes, all 120 planes on the two aircraft carriers had already left the deck, and the flight deck, which was still crowded just now, suddenly seemed empty and lonely.

At the same time as the carrier-based aircraft took off, the seaplanes carried by the battlecruisers and light cruisers were also "shot" into the air, and their mission was not only to search for the Japanese fleet, but also to save the pilots who had fallen overboard.

Looking up at the group of planes in the distance, Zhao Zheng whispered to Meng Hailong beside him: "After the first wave of bombing is completed, we will retreat to the northwest, and let the shore-based planes on Hainan Island come out to meet us." ”

……

"Nani"

On the Akagi, Vice Admiral Mitsumasa Yonechi stood up abruptly, snatched the telegram from the heavy cruiser Myoko from the staff officer, and his face "revealed" a complex expression mixed with joy and nervousness.

"It was discovered that the China Aircraft Group, about 100 aircraft, swept over our ship from west to east, located in east longitude xxx, north latitude xxx."

"The aircraft carrier of the Shina people turned out to be to the west of us" Mitsumasa Yonechi walked to the chart platform and quickly pointed his finger to the position mentioned by the Myoko in the telegram: "It is only 100 kilometers away from us, and in twenty minutes the planes of the Shina people will arrive, and all the carrier-based planes will be ordered to take off to meet the enemy"

"Order Hase-Osa to command the Ashigara and the Haguro with the two destroyers and immediately move westward at full speed, and be sure to catch the Shina aircraft carrier before it retreats."

"But Your Excellency...... If four ships are taken out of formation, our anti-aircraft firepower will most likely be insufficient. The staff officer hesitated and reminded.

The First Air Fleet had only two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and five destroyers, except for two aircraft carriers, which were not equipped with many aircraft, and if the two heavy cruisers and two destroyers were transferred, there would be only three light cruisers and three destroyers left in the escort aircraft carriers. With these six ships, it is simply impossible to fully defend the aircraft carrier, and a hundred enemy aircraft will easily break through the anti-aircraft fire.

Mitsumasa Minai was stunned when he heard this, and only then did he realize that there seemed to be a big loophole in the "Special No. 1 Battle Plan", and the forces were really too scattered. The 37 combat ships were dismantled into three, which were to carry out such tasks as feints, decoy the enemy, and surprise attacks. In the process of implementing the plan, the Second Fleet was dismantled and used, and now the First Air Fleet was also dismantled......

But this is again a helpless thing, because now the Japanese Combined Fleet has to rely on heavy cruisers and battleships to attack aircraft carriers, the speed of which is much faster than that of battleships, and the attack range is as high as hundreds of kilometers. There was no better way than to use the high speed of the Myo-class heavy cruiser to approach the other side, and then try to grapple and hold out until the battleship arrived.

As for the two aircraft carriers that act as decoys, it seems that they can only be resigned to fate, after all, the key to this battle is to sink the China aircraft carriers, as long as they are sunk, the China Navy will be inseparable from the protective circle of shore-based aircraft. In this way, there will be no danger off the coast of Korea and Japan, and the Japanese navy can also use surface ships to block China's external shipping routes in order to force China to make certain concessions in future peace talks.

Mitsumasa Minai still had a gloomy face, and said calmly: "Got it, let the Ashigara and Haguro attack, the China aircraft carrier should be a hundred nautical miles away, and they will be able to reach the bombardment distance in two and a half hours, tell Hasei Osa, we will try our best to buy him time, and wish him a long military luck."

One hundred nautical miles is one hundred and eighty kilometers, and the Miao-advanced 200-mm gun is enough to kill at a distance of 10,000 meters. And those two aircraft carriers can't turn around and run away until they reclaim their planes, otherwise more than a hundred of the best pilots will be lost in vain, and their value is not under one aircraft carrier. Therefore, the longer the delay of Masamitsu Yonechi here, the more likely the surprise attack commanded by Hasegawa Kiyoshi will be successful

……

The 100-kilometer journey was only a blink of an eye for the F2A and A2A, which had a cruising speed of 250 kilometers per hour, and after more than 20 minutes, the huge group of aircraft had approached the sky above the Japanese aircraft carrier group.

At this time, the Japanese First Air Fleet had already set up an air defense formation under the order of Masamitsu Minechi, with two aircraft carriers in the middle, three light cruisers and three destroyers around, and dozens of anti-aircraft guns of various calibers pointed obliquely at the sky, waiting for the formation.

Seeing the arrival of Chinese aircraft, the first to pounce on them were twenty-four Type 92 warships, which were also all carrier-based aircraft carried on the two Japanese aircraft carriers. To Zhao Zheng's surprise, in order to preserve the "seeds" of the air force in order to make a comeback in the future, the two aircraft carriers that acted as decoys carried only some fighters.

"Fighter fight, blow up those damn Type 92s for me, torpedo planes go around the back, dive bombers follow me, 1st squadron target Akagi, 2nd squadron target Kaga"

Lieutenant Colonel Long Yuhui, who was in charge of directing the air raid, glanced at those clumsy Type 92 ship battles with disdain, decisively gave the order to attack, and then took the lead in pulling up his A2A dive bomber and climbing up.

"Attention all dive bombers, four thousand in height, dive bombing formation, target Akagi."

As the order was given, twenty-four dive bombers followed him to climb high, refuel, occupy a position and prepare for a dive attack. At the same time, forty-eight Martin T4M torpedo bombers also circled and lowered their altitude to 1000 meters, pulling out of the attack formation.

……

"The left is full of rudders, the aircraft carrier is in the middle, and the cruiser destroyer protects the wings."

"Concentrate all the firepower that can 'shoot' at the air, and hit me hard"

"All accelerate, we rush east"

Seeing that his twenty-four Type 92 warships were dragging down with thick smoke, Mitsumasa Yonechi gritted his teeth, cheered up and began to command the battle. Because he knows that this war has reached the most critical moment, and now it depends on whether his two aircraft carriers will finish first or the heavy cruisers under the command of Hasegawa Kiyoshi will find the China aircraft carrier first.

Mitsumasa Yonechi glanced at the group of planes that were rushing towards him at high speed, and then at the high-altitude artillery fire that was firing wildly, and a glimmer of light flashed in his bloodshot eyes.

"They don't have enough dive bombers"

At the moment, there are only 24 A2A dive bombers here. The A2A dive bomber can only carry 200 kg of bombs, which is enough to penetrate the wooden aviation deck, but under the aviation deck are empty hangars and ammunition magazines, which will not give these bombs any chance to detonate bombs. And the strong hulls of battlecruisers and battleships may not be seriously damaged even by a few 200-kilogram bombs. So dive bombers are not a problem, now it is enough to concentrate on evading the attacks of torpedo planes.

The key to this battle is that 48 aircraft torpedoes on 48 Martin T4Ms are the key to this battle, and Mitsumasa Yonechi estimates that four to five aviation torpedoes on the hulls of Akagi and Kaga can ensure sinking, but according to intelligence, the training time of the Shina torpedo attack aircraft is relatively short, and the hit rate should not be so high. And as long as they survive this round, their own heavy cruisers will definitely be able to find the China aircraft carrier

"Fire"

Dozens of anti-aircraft guns began to neigh, and more machine guns also frantically fired into the air. Clouds of black smoke continued to explode in the sky.

In the face of the constantly exploding shells, Long Yuhui in the cockpit smiled coldly, these 120 mm twin anti-aircraft "shooting" guns were not used to fight dive bombers at all, but those 25 mm twin anti-aircraft "shooting" guns were a bit threatening. However, neither the rate nor the number of "shots" was enough to form a tight barrage to block the breakthrough of the dive bombers.

Long Yuhui shouted loudly: "Don't look at those shells, they can't hit our three-plane formation, rush ...... with me"

"Pay attention to the dive angle, aim at the deck of the carrier, hold on to the '' longitudinal rods, and we'll take them out"

"Rush in."

"Rush"

At the same time as the dive bombers launched a desperate assault, the 48 Martin T4M torpedo planes were engaged in an attack that was close to "suicide".

The high-angle and high-speed dive of the dive bomber brought great difficulty to the aiming of the antiaircraft guns, and the clumsy fuselage of the torpedo planes and the low-altitude sea-skimming flight of the torpedo planes were simply allowing the antiaircraft guns to aim calmly

"Brothers, follow me," Major Li Yong, the squadron leader of the 2nd Torpedo Squadron, shouted this sentence and felt as if he was a platoon commander or squad leader of the army, leading his soldiers to blow up the enemy's bunkers. The chirping of machine gun bullets shuttling past his ears was endless, Li Yong gritted his teeth, stared at the balls of his eyes, and rushed vigorously against the enemy's various bullets and shells, simply not taking his "sex" life seriously.

The torpedo bomber he piloted didn't know how many times the enemy's bullets hit him, and he was unconscious, just holding on to the "" longitudinal pole, and only the larger and larger aircraft carrier Akagi was left in his eyes.

“20、19、18……”

Li Yong's plane had already rushed to within 2,000 meters of the Akagi, but he still did not drop the torpedo in order to ensure that it hit the target. Because he knew that this air attack on the Japanese aircraft carrier was a one-shot deal, and if it could not be sunk, there would be no chance again, and as the elite of the naval elite, the 1st Torpedo Squadron would win the first battle no matter what.

"It's now" When Li Yong counted to 10, his torpedo plane, strewn with bullet holes, was only 1,000 meters away from the USS Akagi.

A 450-kilogram aviation torpedo was like a short sword that was thrown with all its might, and it only took 50 seconds to kill the Akagi at a distance of 1,000 meters.

"Boom ......"

The explosion exploded from underwater, and a huge mist almost obscured the mountain-like ship, and the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi was accurately hit

"Follow up, follow up"

"The second team continues to attack the Akagi and kill it, kill it......"

"The 3rd and 4th teams attack the Kaga ......"

"Dive bomber attack target Kaga ......"

All kinds of shouts filled the pilots' headphones, and before the Akagi could wake up from the shock of being hit by a torpedo, two more 200-kilogram bombs pierced its wooden aviation deck and exploded in the empty hangar, and from the sky, the 30,000-ton hull seemed to give people a big disembowelment, and then another aviation torpedo hit the starboard side of the Akagi, and the huge hull trembled in the continuous explosions.

However, the aircraft carrier Akagi, which had received two torpedoes and two bombs, did not have the slightest intention of sinking, but a light cruiser full of bushido spirit was hit by two aviation torpedoes while blocking the hole of the Akagi, and then caught fire, lost power, and floated desperately on the sea.

"No. 42, No. 43, **it** Akagi"

Seeing that the Akagi just refused to sink, Long Yuhui, who commanded the air attack, was about to bite his teeth, after all, the aviation torpedo was not a heavy torpedo used by submarines, and in the face of the Akagi using the hull of a battle cruiser, the power was still too small. Historically, this hapless aircraft carrier was destroyed after being detonated by bombs dropped by American dive bombers during the Battle of Midway, which detonated the bombs on the deck and refueled carrier-based aircraft, and the attention was to be destroyed, not sunk, and it was four heavy torpedoes fired by four Japanese destroyers that really sank Akagi.

Mitsumasa Yonechi was inhaling the coolest air at this time, and in just ten minutes, his flagship Akagi had already suffered two torpedoes and two bombs, the wooden deck was blazing, and the starboard side was flooded and the hull was tilted. What annoyed him even more was that the Akagi's anti-aircraft fire didn't seem to be working as well as it should. Because the opponent's hundreds of planes (including fighters) are besieging their two motherships, and the planes and fighters that have dropped bombs and torpedoes do not get out early, but are constantly churning up and down, attracting anti-aircraft fire, so that those targets that are really threatening have little anti-aircraft fire to take care of, and it seems that the anti-aircraft fire of the fleet is still not organized.

“… In the direction of the bell, two "two mournful shouts suddenly rang in Mine's ears.

As soon as he turned his head, two more torpedo bombers appeared on the starboard side, and the anti-aircraft guns kept spewing tongues of fire, and suddenly one of them was accurately hit by a 25-millimeter shell and exploded on the spot, but the other threw a black dot from the belly of the plane, forming a white "colored" track on the sea surface.

"Knock ......" was another muffled sound, and on the Akagi, everyone felt the huge hull under their feet tremble, and the exploding wave flooded the stern, and the torpedo hit the stern of the Akagi Opened a hole in the outer wall of the power compartment, and tons of sea water suddenly surged in, and the speed of the Akagi instantly decreased to less than 10 knots.

At this time, the port side had already begun to be filled with water, and the damage control team members were rescuing this precious aircraft carrier like crazy, and Mitsumasa Yonechi walked out of the command tower despite the obstruction, and stood on the high place of the ship island to look around, only to see that the sea surface had become a "mess" into a mess, and there were fires and water columns everywhere, and the dive bombers of the Chinese people were in a three-plane formation, constantly diving and dropping bombs, while the torpedo planes were in groups of two and two, constantly shuttling between the ships, and throwing one black "colored" torpedo into the water.

On the side of the Akagi, the aircraft carrier Kaga also trembled violently in the sound of the explosion, the hull was obviously tilted, and it seemed that it had also hit a lot of torpedoes and bombs, but there should be no danger of sinking for the time being.

"Your Excellency, another plane is coming," I don't know who shouted. Minai jerked his head up and saw 24 more biplanes coming from the northwest, and it turned out that they were 24 A2As sent to bomb the heavy cruiser Nachi, but they rushed over as soon as they got the information that the Japanese aircraft carrier had been discovered.

"How much time has passed?"

"50 minutes," the staff officer replied after thinking about the time of departure of the Hase detachment.

How long has it been? Mitsumasa Minei only felt that his eyes were black for a while, how could this time pass so slowly after being bombed than in the geisha hall

……

The aircraft carrier Nakayama, the flagship of the South Ocean Fleet.

In the command center, Zhao Zheng, Meng Hailong, and Lu Shiyan, the German affairs adviser, sat around the chart platform, anxiously waiting for the battle report from the front line, and several radio stations used to monitor the fighters' channels were turned on to the maximum, transmitting the shouts of the pilots and the sound of guns and cannons on the battlefield to this place.

From the cheers of the pilots again and again, Zhao Zheng and the others knew that the two Japanese aircraft carriers had suffered a lot of bombs and torpedoes, but the problem was that Long Yuhui and Li Yong, who were in charge of the command, never reported the good news of sinking the aircraft carrier, and even the news of the big break.

Zhao Zheng looked at the chart with an anxious face, and the models of the three heavy cruisers were placed on it, and the models that marked the First Air Fleet were getting closer and closer. It was the three Japanese heavy cruisers Ashiga, Haguro, and Nachi, of which Ashigara and Haguro were "approaching" from the east, while Nachi was killed from the northeast after dropping the dying Fuzhou and Hangzhou light cruisers, but their whereabouts were discovered by seaplanes.

"How much time do we have?" Zhao Zheng turned his head and asked Meng Hailong.

"We'll have to leave quickly after recovering the plane in an hour and a half, they have three heavy cruisers, and they can't protect them with the Selim Sultan."

603 War of Aggression against Japan! Ten races against time

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