Nobutake Kondo certainly wasn't planning to row back to Tokyo by boat. If that were the case, even if he was in a high position, he would definitely be tried by a military court for desertion.www.biquge.info

The scale of the Japanese Navy's operation was very large, with as many as eleven battleships alone. As commander-in-chief, Takasu Shiro could not command them all by himself.

Therefore, Yamamoto 56 organized eleven battleships into two artillery strike formations. The first was the second and third warframes, commanded by Takasu Shiro himself, and had seven old battleships of Ise, Hinata, Fuso, Kongo, Haruna, Kirishima, and Hiei.

The other is the first warring team consisting of the super battleships Yamato and Musashi, as well as the new battleships Nagato and Mutsu. The first team will be commanded by Nobutake Kondo. Nobutake Kondo said goodbye to Shiro Takasu to return to his flagship, the Yamato.

A complicated look flashed in Takasu Shiro's eyes, he pursed the corners of his mouth, raised his hand and gave a military salute, "I wish you a long time in martial arts!" ”

"The whole fleet is moving faster, and the torpedo compartments of the gun emplacements are ready to fire at any time." The captain of the light cruiser Kitakami and the commander of the 9th Sentai Squadron, Masao Ueno Osa, gave a deep order from the bridge of the Kitaboard.

Ahead is the southern entrance to the Kerama Waterway, and in the dark and rainy night there will inevitably be enemy warships. Ueno's caution is understandable.

Looking at the distant island of Toka'ao shrouded in darkness, Ueno Masao's heart swelled with a touch of nervousness. Although the Japanese top brass was not afraid of the battleship formation of the Ming Navy, because they had as many as eleven battleships. But Masao Ueno was scared.

His Kitakami was just an ordinary old ball mill-class light cruiser, with a full load displacement of only 7,000 tons. Not to mention encountering the battleships of the Ming Navy, even a single shelling of a heavy cruiser could make him unable to eat and walk around.

Thinking of the admirals who were hiding under the heavy armor of the battleship, Rieno Masahiro felt a sense of dissatisfaction. Isn't it just to enter the naval academy a few times earlier? They can hide behind and wait for their exploits, but they have to take the risk to find their way. This kind of contrasting treatment is really infuriating.

"Shelling!!" While Masao Ueno was still thinking nonsense, a heart-rending shout made him suddenly start. Hurriedly raised his eyes, and a series of fires suddenly lit up on the dim sea in the distance.

As a veteran officer who has served in the Navy for many years, Masao Ueno knows very well that those points of light that look like matches are actually the muzzle flames fired when the guns of battleships are fired!

"Turn the rudder, evade!" Masao Ueno shouted "Fire!" ”

The two light cruisers, the Kitakami and the Oi, followed by seven destroyers of the 6th and 17th Destroyers, quickly began to turn to try to evade the attack. At the same time, the ships constantly fired back with fire. The captains of each ship are senior officers, and everyone knows how to do it in this situation.

An overwhelming burst of artillery fire soon fell near the Japanese vanguard fleet, and the density of fire was so high that Masao Ueno's eyelids jumped. Judging by the flight time of the shells, the distance between the two sides is not too far. And judging by the density of shells falling, there are at least a dozen or more battleships opposite you!

Forcibly suppressing the fear in his heart, Masao Ueno roared loudly, "Send a report to the flagship, we are attacked by the main force of the enemy fleet!" Order all ships to speed up their preparations for lightning strikes! ”

In order to cope with the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Ming Navy, the Japanese Navy has always attached great importance to the use of torpedoes, which are weapons of small profit and large profits. Like the Kitakami and the Oi, both of which were converted before the war, and had a staggering forty torpedo tubes!

Moreover, the Japanese secretly developed an acid (oxygen) torpedo, which had a long range and excellent concealment, and almost no bubbles were produced when sailing under the surface of the sea. It's fast, it's undetectable, and it's very powerful. It is regarded by the Japanese as a decisive weapon.

Nine Japanese warships began to accelerate towards the waterway. The ship's guns were bombarded incessantly, and the torpedo tubes were ready. Just wait for a certain distance to start a lightning strike.

As the Japanese fleet continued to advance, the density of shells falling around them skyrocketed. If it was a spring breeze and drizzle before, now it is hail and lightning. The density of the shells was so high that from the air it looked as if several Japanese warships were walking through a forest formed by a huge column of water.

"The Pufeng is broken!"

"The Ray stalls!"

"Dawn is on fire!"

"The Gufeng exploded!"

In just a few minutes, nearly half of the nine Japanese battleships had been lost, and the remaining battleships were also wounded. Masao Ueno's face was already as cold as ice.

Ueno Masao completed his mission and exposed the position of the Ming Navy through his own sacrifice. But this sacrifice needs to be filled with a huge loss!

"The Big Well has exploded!!" An exclamation captured everyone's attention. The Oi, the same type as the Kitakami, had now turned into a huge fireball, and the scorching flames accompanied by a terrifying violent explosion tore the cruiser with a full load displacement of nearly 7,000 tons to pieces. The raging flames soared up to a height of 100 meters, and the entire Japanese fleet in the rear could see clearly.

Specially modified lightning strike ships such as the Kitakami and Oi have a fatal drawback. That is, they are equipped with too many torpedoes. So many fused torpedoes are just time bombs. Once hit by artillery fire, the entire battleship will be reduced to the ruins of the explosion in that instant. That's the case with the hapless Big Well. An armor-piercing projectile of 200 mm caliber pierced his torpedo compartment and detonated the torpedo. None of the 440 Japanese naval officers and sailors on board the Oi were spared.

"Launch the torpedo!" Unable to withstand this tremendous pressure any longer, Masao Ueno shouted and ordered the battleship to release the torpedo.

The Kitakami began to fire torpedoes like dumplings, and then made a sharp turn to evacuate the battlefield. Several other destroyers, which had not yet been sunk, followed their flagships and fired torpedoes several kilometers away from the enemy fleet, and then began to flee.

This oxygen torpedo is basically impossible to detect at night. However, the Ming Navy still deduced from the movements of the Japanese warships that they had released torpedoes. Ignoring the continued pursuit of the Japanese battleship, after a rush to dodge, a heavy cruiser Zhaoqing was hit by a torpedo and caught fire. The powerful oxygen torpedo caused the battleship Zhaoqing to ignite a raging fire, which was very conspicuous in the dark night.

Before the Ming fleet, which had escaped the torpedo attack, went to avenge the Zhaoqing, there was a heartbreaking and mournful whine in the air! Heavy shells from the battleship formations of the Japanese Navy came over.

"Shelling!" The terrible sirens sounded throughout the fleet, and the Ming heavy patrol formation, which had been ravaging the Japanese advance fleet with dense artillery fire, became the target of the Japanese battleship formation at this time. Hordes of heavy artillery shells whizzed through the sky and landed on the sea near the heavy patrol formation. The huge column of water stirred up by heavy shells was even higher than the mast of a battleship!

Night battles, night battles from a distance. Moreover, it is a long-distance night rainy combat where both lookout posts and radars will be affected. The Japanese could not tell what type of Ming battleship they had fired at before. In addition, Masao Ueno kept shouting in a panic before, and encountered heavy enemy artillery attacks. There is also the fact that the Zhaoqing is so conspicuous in the night after the fire and burning, and the Zhaoqing is still a large warship of 10,000 tons.

Combining various reasons, Takasu Shiro naturally regarded the Daming Heavy Patrol Formation, which had already exposed the target, as a target.

Seven Japanese battleships pulled out a long snake formation, concentrated their fire on the side of the side, and within ten minutes they fired several rounds of heavy artillery bombardment.

Except for the Zhaoqing, whose target was unusually obvious and itself caught fire and burned. The Fuling and Chengde heavy cruisers were directly hit by large-caliber armor-piercing shells. Among them, the Fuling was destroyed in an instant. On the other hand, the Chengde was torn apart in the bow position, resulting in a large-scale water ingress, reduced speed, and at the same time caused a fire, which exposed the target in the night, and the target was soon bombarded and sunk.

In just over ten minutes, the Ming Navy sank three heavy cruises one after another: Zhaoqing, Fuling and Chengde. Several other heavy cruisers were also damaged by near-miss shells and small-caliber shells. The entire formation was in crisis.

The reason why the Japanese Navy was able to achieve such results in such a short period of time. In addition to the fact that the two sides are closer at this time, the hit rate is greatly improved. The Zhaoqing caught fire before, which not only ignited its whereabouts, but also put the surrounding warships in a dangerous situation. The Fuling and Chengde are located at the front and rear ends of the Zhaoqing respectively. In addition, there is another important reason, and that is the luck of the Japanese army.

In many naval battles, it is all about luck. Can it hit, can it be broken down, and will it explode after it is broken! No one can be sure of this, it all depends on luck. There is no doubt that Lady Luck stood behind the Japanese during this time.

It's just that luck is a bit of an ethereal thing. The Japanese battleship formation seized the opportunity to inflict heavy damage on the Ming heavy patrol formation with ferocious artillery fire, but it was completely unaware that the Ming battleship formation had quietly killed from the flank of the Japanese fleet from the sea area between the outer island and Kuba Island!

The southern part of the Kerama Suido is actually two entrances and exits. The Outer Earth Island is the central point and the main channel is formed by the Outer Earth Island and the Tokaao Island on the right, which is the main entrance and exit point for large ships. On the other hand, the waterway between Kuba Island and Kuba Island is usually only visited by fishing boats, and few large ships sail it.

Compared to the bustling and bustling main waterway, this is an obscure place. But tonight, a decisive battle at sea destined to go down in history will surely make this route famous all over the world!

Lieutenant General Wang Haibo made a bold decision before the war began, he sent a heavy patrol formation to act as a blocker and bait on the main channel. And he himself led a formation of battleships to the flank of the Japanese fleet from the other side! (To be continued.) )