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Chapter 1315: The Scourge of the Second Fleet (4)

Ignoring the warning of the red altitude warning light, five S3 reconnaissance planes roared like lightning from 50 meters above the cruiser "Kiso," bringing a violent air current. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Since the air raid began, the nerves of the officers and men operating the antiaircraft guns on the cruiser "Kiso" have been tense, especially after the fleet received an order from the upper peak to stand by when it was moving towards the Yellow Sea, and it has also closely monitored the fighters of the Chinese Air Force in the rear that appear and disappear in the clouds, as well as the reaction in the clouds directly above the sea level less than 1,000 meters, and are ready to respond to strikes from the air at any time.

When five S3 reconnaissance planes of the 6th Squadron of the 1st Air Regiment roared down from the sky behind and let out a sharp roar, the antiaircraft gunners on the "Kiso" had quickly adjusted their firing angles, and 44 25-mm antiaircraft guns and 6 13-mm antiaircraft guns began to spray tongues of fire to their heart's content.

However, at this moment, the fighters were already very close to the battleship, and the anti-aircraft guns could not exert their due power at all, and the cruisers in the distance even stopped firing for fear of accidentally damaging the "Kiso".

The afterimage of the tracer bullets fired by the Japanese anti-aircraft guns relieved Ye Fei, who led the reconnaissance plane group to lure the Japanese artillery fire, almost brushed the top of the "Kiso", rushed up, and quickly disappeared into the thick clouds.

No one noticed the sky behind them, and once again ten fighters swooped down from the clouds, approaching the "Kiso" almost in the blink of an eye. At this time, the officers and men operating the anti-aircraft guns on the "Kiso" reacted and hurriedly moved the muzzles, but it was too late.

Lieutenant Colonel Hou Cheng, the leader of the fifth squadron piloting the AB26 bomber, ignored the warning roar of the safety warning lights when the fighter plane was below 1,000 meters altitude, and gently pressed the red bomb button when he swooped to an altitude of 300 meters. The belly magazine of the AB26 bomber quickly opened, and a 50-kilogram napalm ejected like a ghost, shooting straight at the bridge of the cruiser "Kiso".

Hou Cheng jerked the joystick up, opening the accelerator to the maximum, and the terrible overload force pressed his body against the seat. AB26 quickly raised the nose of the aircraft, and at the top of the cruiser "Kiso", the antenna was only a few tens of meters, and the plane rushed out. Hou Cheng accelerated his ascent, turned his head to check on his companion's fighters, and saw that the fighters behind him were diving and dropping bombs one after another, and he couldn't help grinning, and secretly shouted "It's done" in his heart.

Napalm is a new type of aviation bomb designed by the Syrian Ordnance Research Institute in accordance with An Yi's ideas, the general gasoline bomb is liquid, easy to sputter and can not be adsorbed on the surface of the object to burn, the power is not large, after the joint research of chemists and military experts of the Syrian Institute and after many experiments, after adding naphthenes, fatty acids two chemical components, gasoline, alcohol and other combustible substances have undergone gelatinization, and the original napalm was born. Later, the experts added active alkali metals, such as calcium, barium, etc., to the coagulant, and the hydrogen released by the combination of metal and water burned violently, which greatly improved the combustion power of the napalm.

Prior to this, this kind of aerial bomb had only been used in training grounds, and the huge power surprised the pilots involved in the experiment, but this was the first time it had been used against the enemy. Therefore, even Hou Cheng, who has a flight record of thousands of hours, was very excited, and almost couldn't wait to see how much damage this kind of bomb caused to Japanese ships.

The result did not disappoint, when the whole body of silver napalm exploded on the platform in front of the bridge of the "Kiso", and the sound was not loud, the Japanese officers and men near and far breathed a long sigh of relief, thinking that they had touched a dud, but soon they could not laugh out loud......

When the pillar of fire reached its apex, it naturally spread out in the shape of a mushroom, and the flames like a waterfall splashed out from the edge of the mushroom-shaped, almost instantly, the bridge command room of the cruiser "Kiso", which was the command center of the Fourth Mine Combat Team, was surrounded by flames, and the commander Major General Shigekoro Hososumi and more than a dozen staff officers who were talking turned into burning men with teeth and claws, screaming miserably in the flames, and then fell down with a bang.

At the same time, the flames that flew in the air were attached to all the terrible fires, even steel, and more than a dozen anti-aircraft turrets near and far were surrounded by flames, and dozens of Japanese officers and men who were on fire fell to the deck and rolled on the ground like crazy.

However, the cold deck did not extinguish the flames, but instead filled the whole body with flames, and the Japanese officers and soldiers who came to rescue people were quickly affected and joined the crowd rolling on the ground.

Just when the cruiser "Kiso" suffered a heavy blow and every officer and soldier was terrified by the ghostly fire that seemed to come from hell, four napalm bombs fell from the sky, and the entire battleship was instantly plunged into a sea of fire. There was no time to think at all, and the final five armor-piercing shells fell on the main turrets in front and behind the "Kiso" cruiser, and the weakest part of the top armor of the entire ship was quickly penetrated, and the bombs exploded violently inside the cabin.

The sailors on the Kiso, who were surrounded by flames that could not be extinguished, and who felt extremely desperate in their hearts, saw that the ship was swaying sharply, knew that something was wrong, and when they saw the terrible situation of their comrades wailing in the flames, they could no longer bear the fear in their hearts, and they jumped into the sea one after another.

Sure enough, larger-scale explosions followed, and 25-mm and 13-mm anti-aircraft artillery shells, 140-mm naval artillery shells, and a large number of torpedoes, which had already been scorching under the high temperature, automatically ran out to join in the fun, as if holding a concert of various shells, exuding all their own energy, and earth-shattering explosions came one after another, splashing sparks as high as fifty or sixty meters, making ships near and far desperately dodge, and the order was in chaos.

In the clouds behind the Japanese Second Fleet, Zhou Yunlai shouted happily: "Well done!" I'm afraid the little devil is going to be in a hurry now, let's make persistent efforts to try to kill two more warships, so that the devil's emperor will die of distress! I just found out today that it was so cool to hit a battleship with an airplane! ”

There was a burst of laughter from the intercom, and Hou Cheng, who had already adjusted the state of the fighter and observed the tragic situation of the "Kiso" cruiser from a distance, was so excited that his voice trembled a little:

"It's very cool, under the threat of the little devil's air defense artillery, close to the enemy ship to drop bombs at close range, and then quickly pull up, this feeling is really incomparable, it's like a race with death, it's too exciting!"

"What's the matter, it's time to look at our fourth squadron!"

After Huang Bangqiang finished speaking into the microphone, he changed the frequency of the call, and yelled at the brothers of the fourth squadron: "Okay, brothers, the fifth squadron has just shown its hand, we can't lose to them!" However, this time we are facing a much larger Japanese cruiser, with thicker armor and more turrets, so we should be careful when acting. ”

"Understood!" "Got it! ”、“ok！ Huang Bangqiang changed the call frequency again, and then piloted the fighter plane, staring closely at the five reconnaissance planes of the Fifth Squadron and swooping down, flying over the Japanese cruiser again, and immediately roaring "attack," pressing down the nose of the plane, and roaring all the way towards the Japanese cruiser in the center of the moving ship.

The target of the bombing of the 4th Squadron this time was the heavy cruiser "Nachi" of the "Myoko" class of the 5th Squadron of the Japanese Army, which had a displacement of up to 14,980 tons, a maximum speed of 34 knots, a crew of 773 people, and was equipped with 5 twin 203-mm turret-type naval guns, 3 front main gun turrets, 2 rear main gun turrets, 8 127-mm guns, and 52 25-mm anti-aircraft guns. In order to reduce weight, the armor of the main gun turret was only 25 mm thick, which could only protect against close-in bombs. Because of the fierce firepower and fast speed of cruisers of this class, it can be called the pinnacle of the heavy cruiser family of the navy of various countries in the world at present, and like the heavy cruiser of the "Kaohsiung" class, it is the core strike ship of the second fleet of the Japanese army with cruisers as the main force.

Presumably having learned the lesson of the sinking of the cruiser "Kiso," the heavy cruiser "Nachi" began to maneuver in an S-shape air defense, and at the same time launched all anti-aircraft artillery fire to strike at the incoming fighters.

The blind cat also has a time to catch a dead mouse, not to mention that the barrage woven by a large number of anti-aircraft artillery shells of the Japanese army is also thick, a S3 reconnaissance plane that has crossed the top of the "Nazhi" heavy cruiser and is climbing in a straight line was hit in the fuel tank and exploded in the air, although the other four reconnaissance planes got out safely, but there were beads of sweat on the forehead of every pilot, as Hou Cheng said, every dive seemed to be a race against death!

Seeing that in the sky ahead, the wreckage of the plane was falling one after another, Huang Bangqiang gritted his teeth, and regardless of it, he led the fourteen bombers of the fourth squadron to pounce on the turret, bridge and other key parts of the cruiser "Nazhi", frantically threw incendiary bombs or armor-piercing shells, and then quickly pulled up the nose of the plane and rushed desperately into the sky and clouds.

In the process, two more AB26 bombers were hit by Japanese anti-aircraft artillery fire, and because they did not directly hit the fuel tank, thick black smoke rose from their buttocks.

At this time, the Japanese Navy's proud "Nachi" had been continuously destroyed by napalm and armor-piercing shells, and the flames were soaring into the sky, and the turret part had already been lifted off completely, and it was a mess in the ensuing explosions, and the officers and men on the ship were crying wolves and running in all directions, but they could not escape the judgment of the flames from hell, and staged a big drama of "barbecue of living people" one after another, and the tragedy of the scene made people look sideways.

The roof leak happened to rain overnight, and just when the hull structure of the "Nazhi" was seriously tested and was on the verge of collapse, and any slight blow could lead to the disintegration of the ship, the two bombs dropped by the two AB26 bombers hit by anti-aircraft fire in a hurry happened to fall in the sea water on both sides of the heavy cruiser "Nazhi", less than five meters from the hull.

The bomb roared violently in the seawater, setting off a column of water thirty or forty meters high, and the huge water pressure almost hit the "Nachi" at the same time, and quickly tore the wall of the heavy cruiser with an indomitable momentum, and the Japanese sailors who worked in the compartment below the waterline of the "Nachi" or hid the threat of fire above became the first victims, and almost without resistance, they were harvested and killed by the impact of the huge current, and the various cabins quickly flooded, and the situation was constantly collapsing, even if there was no external force, It would not have been long before it would have sunk, but this is when the hull suffered heavy damage again.

Two AB26 bombers, which were hit by anti-aircraft artillery shells, rushed to the turret part that had already been torn open by armor-piercing shells, causing a violent explosion again, and in the flames sprayed everywhere, two ammunition depots hidden under the third deck of the turret were finally killed in the high temperature, and the tragic scene of the "Kiso" was repeated again.

The entire "Nazhi" exploded violently, the sound was earth-shattering, and the fierce flames and the debris of the ship were flying everywhere, hitting a destroyer that was rapidly evading, and the destroyer quickly rose up with thick smoke, and then lost its ability to maneuver, and rose and fell with the waves on the sea, and the situation was precarious.

On the bridge of the "Kaohsiung," Rear Admiral Miki Taiichi, chief of staff of the Second Fleet, leaned on the railing of the open-air command post and watched as the "Kiso" was slowly sinking, and the "Nachi" also had an accident, witnessing that the destroyer that was accidentally injured by the "Nachi" was left far behind by the fleet, and that there were Japanese sailors waving for help everywhere on the sea, but there was no way to stop the fleet to save him.

You must know that Miki Taishi is not only the chief of staff of the Fourth Fleet, but also the commander of the Fifth Squadron of the Fleet, and the "Nachi" is the absolute main force of the Fifth Squadron, and is also the command ship of the Fifth Squadron.

However, since it was not clear how many fighters the Chinese Air Force had dispatched, and it was not known how many follow-up fighters would come, Miki Taishi had to grit his teeth and order the fleet to speed up its march and join the Third Detachment of the First Fleet as soon as possible.

At this time, preserving the strength of the fleet has become the only driving force to support Miki Taishi to persevere!

Soon, the cruisers "Kiso" and "Nachi" of the Japanese Second Fleet capsized and sank one after another, and many destroyers, protected by the anti-aircraft fire of these two cruisers, panicked and desperately approached the "Kaohsiung," the flagship of the fleet. However, due to the evasion of the cruisers "Kiso" and "Nachi," which had accidents one after another, time was delayed, and three destroyers broke away from the cover of the fleet's anti-aircraft fire.

There was no suspense, under the hospitality of the armor-piercing shells and napalm of the 4th and 5th squadrons of the empty regiment, including the destroyer that had lost its kinetic energy, four ships quickly capsized, and as for the Japanese sailors who were struggling on the sea, who could have thought of them? This can be regarded as the sad end of the invaders!

Since the 4th and 5th squadrons were running out of ammunition at this time, it was difficult to pose a substantial threat to the Japanese fleet heading eastward, and Colonel Zhou Yunlai, the leader of the 1st squadron, decisively gave the order for all the fighters to return home.

At this point, the first naval and air confrontation of the Sino-Japanese War came to an all-round end, and the Japanese fleet lost the aircraft carrier "Kaga," the light cruiser "Kiso," the heavy cruiser "Nachi," and nine destroyers and fled in disarray, and the Chinese Air Force won a complete victory

In this battle, the air group lost two of the latest AB26 bombers and one S3 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, but compared with the results achieved, such a effort is almost negligible.

What is particularly important is that this naval and air war shattered the myth of the invincibility of the Japanese Navy, made the Japanese Navy carry out a profound reflection from top to bottom, and carried out a series of upgrades and transformations of the weak links such as carrier-based aircraft, anti-aircraft firepower, and warship armor, which made the US Navy suffer enough, greatly weakened the national strength of Britain, the United States, and other countries, and also allowed China to reap enough benefits at the negotiating table, almost changing the pattern of World War II, and the impact was extremely far-reaching.