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The bombardment of Wilmington continued until eight o'clock in the morning, and after the U.S. High Command received a report from the Wilmington garrison, Eberly ordered the U.S. Navy to destroy the Imperial Chinese fleet. www.biquge.info Of course, Eberly also thought that this might be a trap for the Imperial Chinese Navy, and that the Imperial Chinese Navy fleet in Delaware Bay was just a bait, and there might be an ambush for the main fleet of the Chinese Empire nearby. So he also sent a squadron of ten battleships, six battlecruisers, and eight destroyers under the command of Vice Admiral Mengte to attack the Imperial Chinese naval fleet there in Delaware Bay. And he led the main fleet to follow, fifty nautical miles away from the Meng special fleet. His plan was that once the Mengte fleet was ambushed by the main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy, then he would lead the main fleet of the US Navy to counter-encircle the main force of the Imperial Chinese Navy from the flank and rear, and completely destroy the main force of the Imperial Chinese Navy through a decisive battle.

Both sides want to catch each other, but who can catch and who will take the bait becomes an unpredictable variable.

Since both the Chinese and US militaries have reconnaissance planes to provide aerial reconnaissance, both sides sent a large number of reconnaissance planes to patrol the nearby airspace before the start of the war, in order to discover the enemy fleet as soon as possible.

The Imperial Chinese Navy knew that the range of the US reconnaissance aircraft would not exceed 200 kilometers, so the main fleet was placed 200 kilometers away from the coastline.

The reconnaissance planes dispatched by the Wilmington garrison reported that no main force of the Imperial Chinese Navy had been found within 200 kilometers, and only a detachment of battle cruisers was attacking Wilmington. After receiving this report, Eberly believed that with the strength of the US fleet, it was completely possible to completely annihilate the detachment of the Imperial Chinese Navy, which had penetrated deep into the Delaware Bay, and that under the prewarning of reconnaissance planes, it could quickly withdraw before the reinforcements of the main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy arrived.

Eberly's view was shared by the leading admirals of the U.S. Ocean Fleet, who all believed that the presence of aerial reconnaissance aircraft at any time was sufficient to provide two to three hours of early warning, so that the U.S. fleet had enough time to destroy the Chinese Imperial Fleet in the Delaware Bay.

Similarly, the Imperial Chinese Navy on the other side also took this factor into account.

Li Dingxin, commander of the Combined Fleet of the Chinese Empire, was in a hurry to hold an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures against the tactical deployment of the US Navy.

Lin Fan, a staff officer of the fleet, said: "The US Navy is a little smarter than expected, they only sent more than 20 warships to the Delaware Bay to rescue, and the capital ships followed 50 nautical miles away to take cover, and their purpose was to counter and ambush us. ”

Liu Guanxiong said: "Opportunity and danger are proportionate, since we know that the US fleet in front of us is bait, then are we pulling teeth out of the tiger's mouth?" ”

Li Dingxin nodded and said: "Pulling teeth from the tiger's mouth is also a tactic, after all, the number of capital ships of the US Navy is twice as large as ours, and it is naturally good if it can be divided and annihilated." ”

Zhou Yaohai thought for a while, and suddenly said, "It's not that there is no opportunity." We can take advantage of our existing strengths and resources, as long as we win the distance difference and the time difference. ”

Li Dingxin asked, "Tell me what you think!" ”

Zhou Yaohai then explained: "Pulling out the teeth of the tiger is to concentrate superior forces to eat the enemy's salient, which can be described as winning in danger, and if you are not careful, you will be attacked by the enemy in front and back." At present, the enemy's situation is that the US reconnaissance planes know that the main force of our fleet is not within their reconnaissance range, and this distance is 200 kilometers. Calculated at the average speed of our main fleet, this time is three and a half hours. The U.S. main fleet is fifty nautical miles away from the bait fleet, and the estimated time is about one and a half hours according to the average speed of the U.S. main fleet. The US fleet's information relied on reconnaissance planes located at Wilmington Airport, and the reconnaissance planes taking off from Wilmington Airport went back and forth about half an hour apart. If our fleet takes advantage of the time before the enemy's previous reconnaissance plane returns and the next reconnaissance plane does not arrive, it can quickly set off for the sea area where the scheduled engagement is intended, then it will be able to gain about half an hour. ”

Liu Guanxiong added at this time: "Our electronic jamming ships can carry out radio jamming on US reconnaissance planes, and when US reconnaissance planes discover our fleet, prevent them from reporting to the US main fleet, so that the US main fleet can only wait for their reconnaissance planes to return and land after receiving the news, so that we will have an extra hour." ”

Li Dingxin calculated and said, "There is still a time difference of half an hour." ”

Lin Fan thought for a while, and suddenly said: "Half an hour is not difficult, it is easy to get Wang Shouchang's battle cruiser detachment to withdraw from Delaware Bay, and lead the US military fleet to take the initiative to move closer to the direction of our main fleet. If radio interference is turned on, the US fleet will not be able to communicate with each other, so that the US main fleet will not know the situation ahead and will continue to move forward according to the original route, and by the time they find out that something is wrong, they will have at least opened up a distance of more than 70 nautical miles, so that the reinforcement between the US main fleet and the bait fleet will take more than two hours. ”

Everyone nodded their heads, if the plan was deployed in this way, the time difference problem had indeed been solved. The time difference problem is solved, and tooth extraction is possible. However, the most critical issue is still variable.

Liu Guanxiong suddenly asked: "The key is the judgment of the enemy, will the enemy be fooled?" ”

Lin Fan said with a smile: "Then it depends on Wang Shouchang's ability, I can't bear the child to trap the wolf, and if necessary, I can give the enemy a little sweetness." ”

Li Dingxin said with some hesitation: "But Wang Shouchang is a battle cruiser detachment in his hand, and if he gets entangled with the enemy's battleship detachment, I am afraid it will be dangerous." ”

"That's right!" Liu Guanxiong said: "The Battle of Jutland proved that the battle cruiser is really looking for death when it encounters a battleship, but according to the report of the reconnaissance aircraft, the US military does not seem to dare to send their main battleship as bait, and the advance reinforcement fleet is a group of early Shenbow-type battleships and battle cruisers, in addition to thicker armor, the speed and firepower are not as good as our battlecruisers." ”

Lin Fan added: "The U.S. Navy has no experience in naval warfare, and judging from their backward artillery skills and naval tactics, as long as Wang Shouchang keeps a distance of 20 kilometers from them, he should be able to retreat and successfully complete the enemy's mission." ”

Li Dingxin looked at everyone and asked, "Do you all mean this?" ”

Everyone glanced at each other and nodded at Li Dingxin.

Li Dingxin saw that everyone had the same attitude, so he agreed to this plan.

However, for the sake of insurance, Li Dingxin ordered the submarine fleet to protect Wang Shouchang's fleet at any cost if necessary, after all, a battle cruiser is worth far more than a Tang-class submarine.

Of course, Li Dingxin also ordered the 1st, 2nd, and 4th aircraft carrier battle groups to prepare for a naval battle, but he did not expect much from them, because the US Air Force would certainly send a large number of combat planes to protect the main force of the US Navy. At this time, although the Imperial Chinese Naval Air Force had achieved brilliant results in every air battle and suffered heavy losses to the US Air Force, the number of combat aircraft of the US Air Force far exceeded that of the Imperial Chinese Naval Air Force, and one batch after another was defeated, while the main aircraft group of the Imperial Chinese Air Force was concentrated on Mexico and the west coast of the United States, and was supporting the operations of the Imperial Chinese Army, and the St. David's base in Bermuda could not be repaired in a short time, so it was impossible to move the east coast far away to support the decisive naval battle.

After the battle plan was issued, Li Dingxin ordered the combat planes and bombers of the three aircraft carrier battle groups to take off, abandon the attack on the Norfolk base, and instead go to attack the main fleet of the US Navy, with the aim of delaying the US fleet.

At about 7:40 a.m., the fighter group and bomber group of the Imperial Chinese Naval Air Force flew over the main fleet of the US army. Half an hour before this, US reconnaissance planes and warships on the perimeter had sounded the alarm, and a group of US fighter planes taking off from the US coastal air base arrived in time to engage in a fierce air battle with the Chinese Imperial Naval Air Force.

Due to the large number of combat planes of the US army, the fighter group of the Imperial Chinese Naval Air Force could not protect the bomber group separately, so the bomber group had to stay at an altitude of 5,000 meters and wait for an opportunity.

The air battle between the two sides lasted for half an hour, and although many US fighters were shot down, there were still more than 1,000 fighters hovering in the airspace below 2,000 meters, so that the Chinese Imperial bomber group did not dare to lower its altitude to avoid being shot down.

At about half past eight in the morning, the fighters of the two sides had been fighting for more than an hour, and the US forces had lost more than 400 combat planes. At this time, many US fighters had run out of fuel and were returning one after another. The Thunderbolt fighters and Cat Demon fighters of the Imperial Chinese Naval Air Force were also forced to withdraw from the battle sequence due to running out of fuel. Only the Hellfire fighters were left to continue the fight. Although the Hellfire fighter can last for several hours, after an hour of fighting, the ammunition has been exhausted, and it will soon have to return.

The U.S. military knew the superiority of the Chinese Empire's aircraft, so the second BO aircraft soon arrived as well, forcing 200 H2 bombers of the Chinese Imperial Naval Aviation to drop bombs horizontally at high altitudes. Nearly 1,000 tons of aerial bombs were dropped, but the hit rate was extremely low, only three American warships were damaged, but they successfully delayed the speed of the American fleet.

After that, the Imperial Chinese Naval Aviation flew in to attack every hour, and the US military relied on the advantage of a large number of planes and proximity to coastal airfields to repel the attacks of the Imperial Chinese Naval Aviation many times, but paid a heavy price and lost a large number of combat aircraft.

Outside the port of Wilmington, Wang Shouchang was commanding a fleet to carry out indiscriminate artillery bombardment of the city, and the powerful battle cruiser fire plunged the city into a sea of fire and panic, and occasionally several U.S. Coast Guard speedboats came out to try to launch a counterattack with torpedoes, but they were intercepted by the light cruisers of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

Four U.S. submarines in the Wilmington garrison area tried to sneak up on Wang Shouchang's fleet, but before they could get close, they were detected by the anti-submarine sonar array of the light cruiser of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

The sonar array hit the hull of the U.S. submarine, and as the sonar echo became more and more rapid, indicating that the anti-submarine cruiser of the Imperial Chinese Navy had spotted and was getting closer, and soon after a depth charge attack, all four U.S. submarines were sunk.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Wang Shouchang received an order from Li Dingxin, commander of the Combined Fleet, asking him to prepare for the enemy.

Wang Shouchang suddenly smiled bitterly after reading the electric order: "It seems that the difficulty of the game has increased!" ”

Ten minutes later, the bridge staff officer suddenly reported: "Report, the enemy fleet has been discovered, consisting of sixteen capital ships, escorted by eight destroyers, in the direction of the target 15 south-east, at a speed of 21 knots, and at a distance of about 19 nautical miles 7 chains. ”

"It's coming so fast!" Wang Shouchang sighed, immediately cheered up, and shouted: "Prepare to fight against the sea!" ”

"Yes! Prepare for combat against the sea! ”

A hurried siren sounded, and four battle cruisers and four light cruisers of Wang Shouchang's fleet quickly stopped shelling the city of Wilmington and prepared for sea operations.

Wang Shouchang didn't have time to think about it, so he hurriedly studied the nautical chart with the chief of staff, and quickly ordered a retreat according to the coordinates of the planned ambush area given by Li Dingxin.

"The right full rudder twice, combat speed."

The order was issued, and all ships of Wang Shouchang's fleet formed a "刂" formation, with four battle cruisers and four light cruisers escorting the escort, and turned to the northeast.

On the other side, Meng Te's U.S. fleet had already discovered Wang Shouchang's fleet at the same time, and seeing that Wang Shouchang's fleet had fled without a fight, and thinking that there was no main fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy within 200 kilometers, he was relieved to fight, and immediately ordered six of the fastest battlecruisers to pursue, and the slow battleship followed behind, escorted by destroyers.

At 9:15, Wang Shouchang led the Ninth Team to the mouth of Delaware Bay. Since he wanted to lure the U.S. fleet to the bait, Wang Shouchang ordered the entire fleet to move forward at a speed of 25 knots. At the same time, the six battle cruisers sent by the Mengte fleet approached at a speed of 27 knots. The distance between the two sides soon entered the range of 20 kilometers.

At 9:23, the six battle cruisers of the Meng Special Fleet approached Wang Shouchang's fleet at a distance of 16 kilometers. At this time, the two fastest Denver-class battlecruisers among the six American battle cruisers suddenly accelerated to 30 knots, and the 16-inch giant guns were quickly raised, aiming at the Chinese Emperor ** ship. The other four Atlanta-class battlecruisers had reached the speed limit of 27 knots and could no longer be raised, and the USS Denver and Springfield broke away from formation.

"Knock knock!"

At 9:27 a.m., the main guns of the American battle cruisers USS Denver and USS Springfield opened fire. In an instant, the roar of 16 16-inch cannons was earth-shattering, and the shells whistled and fired at the fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy, and the prelude to the Sino-American Atlantic naval battle officially began.

Sixteen artillery shells weighing one ton streaked over the fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy and exploded on the sea more than 500 meters away on the other side, raising columns of water hundreds of meters high. Despite the distance, the officers and men of the Imperial Chinese Navy could still feel the power of the 16-inch cannon.

Wang Shouchang put down the binoculars and sighed: "Although the accuracy is very poor, it will be very dangerous if you take a shot." ”

The chief of staff said: "Are we still firing?" ”

"Order the ships to return fire!" Wang Shouchang said: "The error of the enemy's first round of shelling is more than 500 meters, and they have to correct it at least three times before they can threaten us (when the dichotomy correction error is about 50 meters, it is considered a threat to the battleship). ”

Wang Shouchang's order was issued, and the No. 1 main guns of the four battle cruisers, Emperor Yang Jian of Sui, Emperor Yang Guang of Sui, Emperor Wu of Jin, and Emperor Hui of Jin, opened fire one after another, and carried out a comparative artillery bombardment of the position of the US fleet to determine the position of the enemy fleet and prepare for the subsequent fire salvo.

"Knock knock!"

About seven or eight seconds after the sound of the cannon, I saw four huge columns of water several hundred meters high set off near the US fleet. Two 381-mm shells fired by the Sui-class battlecruiser landed on the sea about 160 meters away from the USS Denver, while two 356-mm shells fired by the battlecruiser with a relatively backward fire control command fell on the sea about 270 meters from the USS Springfield.

Although the caliber of the main guns of Wang Shouchang's fleet was one to two inches smaller than that of the main guns of the US Denver-class battlecruisers, in terms of the power of the explosion, the two sides were about the same. It depends on whether the shells of the Imperial Chinese Navy are black and golden, and the shells of American warships are still cotton gunpowder, and the explosion yield is a full difference of one and a half levels.

Meng Tee wanted to give the Imperial Chinese Navy on the opposite side a dismount, but he found that he was wrong. He thought that the Imperial Chinese Navy would definitely respond to him with a salvo of firepower, but the other party only fired four range-measuring shells, and it was obvious that the calmness of the Imperial Chinese Navy made Meng Te dare not despise it anymore. At the same time, the difference in the gunnery strength of the two sides can be seen from the position of the first shell impact of the two sides, and in this respect, the Chinese Imperial Navy far surpassed the US Navy.

"It is worthy of being the strongest navy in the world, and this calm and superb gunnery is worthy of praise, no wonder it is so arrogant, and arrogance also has capital."

Meng Tete muttered to himself, and the adjutant next to him asked, "General, do you want to avoid it?" ”

Meng Teh waved his hand and said, "We're dodging after they finish the second round of shells." ”

Two minutes later, the USS Denver and USS Springfield fired a second salvo of fire. Just as Wang Shouchang judged, after the second round of firepower volleys fired by the US fleet, the point of impact was still 300 meters away, and it did not pose a threat.

At the same time, the ships of Wang Shouchang's fleet opened fire again, and four shells whistled and landed on the sea only about 80 meters away from the US fleet.

"Boom!"

The shells exploded violently, causing smoke and rain in the sky, and seawater splashed onto the American warship like a torrential downpour.

Meng was shocked, although he was prepared, but he was still shocked when he saw it, and hurriedly shouted: "Avoid it immediately!" ”

The U.S. fleet hurriedly changed its speed and sailing azimuth to avoid the course it had just taken. After the US warship performs evasive maneuvers, its main gun needs to be re-aimed and the parameters corrected. On the other hand, the Imperial Chinese Navy could continue to maintain its course and speed because the shells of the US ships had not yet reached the warning line, and the main gun fire would not be affected. In this way, the time required by the Imperial Chinese Navy, which was superb in gunnery, was shorter than that of the US Navy in the preparation of artillery fire, which became an advantage in artillery battles.

At the same time as the U.S. fleet was carrying out evasive maneuvers, the four battle cruisers of the Imperial Chinese Navy fired their first fire salvo.

"Knock knock!"

The flagship Sui Wendi was the first to fire. The tongues of fire from the three triple 381-mm guns spewed out, the hull of the ship shook violently to the side, and nine shells burst into the sky, drawing nine long parabolas, and shooting in the direction of the enemy ship with a piercing whistling sound. Immediately afterwards, the other three ships also fired a volley, and more than 30 shells smashed into the US fleet in an instant.

"Boom!"

A few seconds later, columns of water rose around the US warship, the sea splashed, the waves rolled, the fog was like clouds, and the sea instantly boiled