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Chapter 462: Sino-American Atlantic Naval Battle (11)

"How so?"

Looking at the aerial bombs that were screaming and falling in the sky, Admiral Eberly, commander of the US Ocean Fleet, was dumbfounded. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info""None/pop-up window/advertisement full text txt.

Originally, his fleet was torpedoed by the naval aviation of the Chinese Imperial Navy, and more than a third of the battleships were damaged, which already made him very entangled. Today, the bomber group of the Imperial Chinese Naval Air Force dropped bombs in the air, and in the blink of an eye, one by one, aerial bombs weighing one ton landed on the sea around the US ship and exploded violently.

In an instant, huge columns of water hundreds of meters high were stirred up on the sea surface, the waves rolled violently, the sea water splashed, and in the blink of an eye, the water mist filled the sky, and the breath was full of heavy water vapor.

A series of explosions rang out, like a hundred lightning thunderbolts. As the bombers of the Chinese Emperor continued to adjust their positions, the impact point gradually moved from the sea to the American warships.

After a short period of adjustment, the bomber group accurately dropped aerial bombs on the US warship. The one-ton aerial bomb penetrated the horizontal deck of the U.S. warship with the help of gravitational acceleration, and as the time-delay fuse spun rapidly to the end, the bomb detonated instantly.

"Boom!"

A violent explosion sounded on the American ship, and the destructive power was in no way weaker than the 17-inch shells fired by the ship's guns.

Among them, the Texas and Nevada were directly sunk. These two early superbow battleships were hit by aerial bombs falling at high speed because of their weak horizontal armor protection capabilities, and their armor was instantly penetrated. After the USS Texas was hit by eleven aerial bombs, the entire battleship was torn apart and immediately disintegrated and sank. Although the Nevada was hit by four bombs, the deadliest one was that one bomb pierced through the retaining wall of the oil depot, causing a super explosion of 100 times the yield, and one-third of the hull was blown to pieces, and then capsized.

The five-minute bombardment caused heavy damage to more than 20 US warships, and more than half of the warships caught fire and smoke billowed from them.

All the ships of Eberly's super battleship detachment were severely damaged, and the original course was also changed by torpedoes and aerial bombs of the Chinese Emperor, and the scheduled battle plan was forced to be interrupted.

Eberly never expected that Li Dingxin would play this trick with him, and at this moment he regretted it so much, he really underestimated the strength of the Chinese Imperial Navy.

But he did not regret taking the medicine, and when the main fleet of the US army was raided by the naval aviation of the Chinese Empire, Li Dingxin, who was on the opposite side, was commanding the main force of the combined fleet to approach quickly.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, after a tactical maneuver, the Imperial Chinese Navy formed a firing position favorable to the main forces of the American fleet.

Ten U.S. Navy battlecruisers rushed forward to block the fleet before the Imperial Chinese Navy could attack the Eberly fleet.

However, the backward thinking of the US Navy cost it dearly. Before the ten battlecruisers could reach the interception position, they came under a volley of fire from three battleship battle groups of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

In particular, the first battle team under the personal command of Li Dingxin, the speed of the four Ming-class battleships reached 30 knots, and the battle cruisers of the US Navy no longer had any advantage in speed. On the contrary, because the armor protection is too thin, as long as it is hit by a shell from a Ming-class battleship, it will be catastrophic.

At 4:03, the American battle cruisers fired a salvo of fire. The three battleships Zhu Yuanzhang, Genghis Khan, and Zhao Kuangyin were each hit by a large-caliber shell, but the armor of the three ships neutralized most of the destructive power and did not cause fatal injuries.

Instead, a salvo of fire from three battleship fleets of the Imperial Chinese Navy hit the three battle cruisers USS Frankfurt, USS Sacramento, and USS Hartford. Among them, the command tower of the Frankfurt Battle Patrol, the flagship of the US battle patrol fleet, was hit by an 18-inch shell from the battleship Zhu Di. The command tower, which was only 280 mm protected, was blown up in an instant, and all 35 middle and senior officers of the commander of the US battle patrol detachment were killed. Fortunately, the conning tower was the most protected place for the American battle cruisers, and after being hit by an 18-inch shell, although it failed to save the conning tower, it unloaded most of the explosive power, allowing the Frankfurt battlecruiser to save its life. /net/full text

The battlecruisers Sacramento and Hartford were not so lucky, though. The Sacrato Gate battle cruiser was hit by two 17-inch shells on the port side waterline, and the violent explosion instantly tore open a 7-meter-long crack, and the sea fiercely poured into it, and the Sacrato Gate battlecruiser immediately tilted to the left and sank at a visible speed. The Hartford battle patrol received a 16-inch shell, but it was hit by the vital ammunition depot, and with a loud "boom", the 204-meter-long battleship instantly broke into two pieces from the middle explosion point. More than 2,000 US officers and men on it fell into the sea one after another, during which more than half of them hit hard objects and died before they fell into the sea.

The commander of the US battle patrol detachment was killed, and the two battle cruisers were magnificently sunk in the first round, which was a huge blow to the morale of all the officers and men of the US battle patrol squadron.

At 4:17, the battlecruiser Indianapoli was hit by an 18-inch shell fired by the battleship Zhu Yuanzhang, and two-thirds of the 28-meter-high island was blown away, and flames and smoke gushed out, killing and wounding hundreds of American troops on it.

A minute later, four of the most powerful super battlecruisers of the U.S. Army, the USS Frankfurt, the USS Honolulu, the USS St. Paul, and the USS Helena were all heavily damaged. Because its hull is equipped with a 17-inch cannon, the turret protection is strong, which provides protection for the entire battleship to a certain extent. However, its waterline armor was still weak and could not withstand any shells over 13 inches. The Frankfurt, Honolulu and St. Paul battle cruisers were hit on the side of the ship, and a large number of hulls were flooded, but fortunately, their large hulls and many watertight compartments were able to avoid sinking on the spot after emergency damage management, but it was impossible to continue the fight, so the three ships turned around and evacuated. The battlecruiser Helena continued to fight, but soon its stern rudder was broken and incapacitated. Seeing that the battleship detachment of the Imperial Chinese Navy was entering the firing salvo position, the American troops above were worried that there would be no place to die, so they coerced the captain to raise the white flag and surrender.

At the same time, the USS Birmingham, HMS Tallahassee, USS Des Moines, and other American battle cruisers saw that the four most powerful battle cruisers either fled or surrendered, and saw that the battleships of the Imperial Chinese Navy had reached the speed of battle cruisers, and knew that there was no hope of winning the battle, so they turned around and fled.

At 4:20 a.m., the U.S. battle cruiser detachment was routed by the Imperial Chinese Navy. Li Dingxin continued to lead a fleet of five battleships to approach Eberly's battleship group.

By this time, Eberly's battleship group had been disrupted by torpedoes and aerial bombs dropped by the Imperial Chinese Naval Aviation, and each of them was wounded. The officers and men of the U.S. Navy were panicked and pessimistic about the prospects of naval warfare. Coupled with a radio communication failure, Eberly's orders could not be conveyed in time, causing the U.S. fleet to be basically in a state of confusion.

According to Li Dingxin's operational arrangements, each squadron will concentrate its firepower on attacking the main ships of the US forces that are wounded, lonely, and left behind, so as to inflict heavy damage on the US Navy as soon as possible.

At 4:25 a.m., the four Ming-class battleships of the First Squadron approached the Third Detachment of the US Fleet and formed a salvo at the USS New York. Li Dingxin's goal was very clear, that is, to concentrate the powerful firepower of the four Ming-class battleships and destroy the weaker ships in the US Navy fleet first. Because the US fleet had fallen into chaos and the flagship's command system was out of order, it avoided the important and concentrated superior firepower to attack the weaker US warships first.

"Fire!!"

After the order was given, the 18-inch main guns of the Hongwu Emperor, Yongle Emperor, Xuande Emperor, and Chongzhen Emperor opened fire almost simultaneously, smashing angry shells into the enemy ships.

"Knock knock!"

The 1.8-ton super shell burst out from the muzzle, pierced through the smoke above the sea, and smashed into the battleship New York, which was lone by the US Third Detachment.

At this time, after the battleship New York was attacked by an aerial bomb, fires broke out in many places on the island, causing great command inconvenience to the US commander in the bridge, so that he could not avoid the enemy's fire attack in time. As a result, three 4-mm shells from the No. 4 main gun of the battleship Chongzhen hit the rear bridge. The 1.8-ton bomb instantly pierced the rear bridge and continuously penetrated four layers of armored decks of only 30 mm, exploding in the boiler room.

The battleship New York is the oldest superbow-type battleship in the U.S. Navy, equipped with 8 13-inch guns, and the armor is still the armor of the Divine Bow ship, and the speed is only 20 knots, and the actual speed has dropped to 18 knots due to aging factors.

Although for the super battleships of the Imperial Chinese Navy, four Ming-class battleships beat a New York-class battleship in a group, which is really a bit of a bully.

The New York was subjected to a volley of fire from four Ming-class battleships, and in the face of the overwhelming array of super shells, it was too late for the "New York" to evade, and it was immediately beaten all over its body, and there was the fire of shell explosions everywhere. Soon, the energy released by the high-explosive armor-piercing shell swallowed the "New York" in a sea of fire and black smoke.

Perhaps many American sailors have long been ready to sacrifice, but the war is cruel, far more than they imagined. The high-energy fragments flying everywhere instantly tore the human body to pieces, and the scene of flesh and blood flying suddenly frightened many American soldiers who had never experienced war.

The "New York," which had been hit by three 18-inch shells, was suddenly like a hell on earth, with a sea of scorching fire everywhere, stumps and broken arms everywhere, and heart-rending screams that could be felt by every cell of the living US soldiers.

At 4:22, the second fire salvo of the battleship Yongle the Great, two 456-mm shells directly hit the starboard waterline of the "New York" with armor. The waterline belt draped in 280 mm thick armor was pierced, and a 1.8-ton high-explosive delayed armor-piercing projectile exploded after penetrating the outer armor.

After the violent explosion, a temperature of 3,000 degrees Celsius was instantly generated, and everything around it with a burning point lower than this temperature was ignited, and it was torn to pieces by the blast wave of the explosion, and splashed everywhere. The shock wave quickly spread to nearby cabins, causing a raging fire.

The location of the explosion was very close to the ammunition depot, and the sailors inside the "New York" forgave the use of traditional fire extinguishing tools for fear of detonating the ammunition depot, and directly opened the water inlet valve to fill the burning compartment with water.

The fire gradually came under control as the inside of the battleship continued to be filled with water, but the battleship began to tilt to the right. There was no way, and the captain of the "New York" was forced to order the four compartments on the port side to also be filled with water at the same time, so as to balance the battleship.

In this way, the New York, which was originally relatively super slow, was reduced from 18 knots to 12 knots because of the water injection.

At 4:24, with a volley of fire from the battleship Chongzhen Emperor, after several rounds of fire, the ship's 12 18-inch shells hit six of them. In a series of violent explosions, the battleship New York was sunk.

While the four Ming-class battleships of the First Squadron were striking hard at the "New York," the four Song battleships of the Third Squadron were attacking the Washington, the flagship of the Fourth Detachment of the US Army.

As the fourth ship of the Colorado-class battleships of the United States Navy, the Washington has four twin 16-inch main guns, and the caliber is the same as that of the Song-class battleships, but the Song-class battleships are triple-packed, with a total of 12 main guns, which is four more than the Washington.

At the same time, the 3rd Squadron of the Imperial Chinese Navy occupied a favorable position under the cover of the Air Force, and at this time formed an L-shaped formation against the 4th detachment where the Washington was located. Although it was not an absolute T-shaped position, the Song-class battleships had a speed of up to 29 knots, a full eight knots higher than the Washington, which was enough for the four Song-class battleships to fully enter the T-shaped horizontal position in the next five minutes.

However, the USS Washington was not subjected to a fatal air attack, and the fire on board the ship has been extinguished. When the captain of the USS Washington found the Chinese Imperial fleet approaching, he was ready for battle, but to his surprise, the opponent's speed was as high as 29 knots, which made him think that the opponent was a battle cruiser fleet, causing it to underestimate the enemy.

"Knock knock! Knock knock! ”

The Washington's two forward guns opened fire and attacked the battleship Song Young-jong, which was lying in front of her. At the same time, the four triple 16-inch guns of the battleship Song Yingzong also opened fire. Three times the enemy's shells whizzed, and two shells hit the second turret of the USS Washington, and although it failed to destroy it, it damaged the turret hydraulics and made it impossible to turn.

Although the "Washington" was not subjected to lethal shells, one of its main guns failed, which made the firepower of the ship's bow even less than that of the enemy, and only two main guns were left to return fire.

In just a few minutes, the battleship "Washington" was successively attacked by the Song Shenzong, Song Zhezong, and Song Zhengzong, and was hit by more than a dozen 16-inch shells. If it weren't for the fact that the battleship Washington had 320 mm armor protection, which greatly reduced the degree of destruction, I am afraid it would have been sunk. Despite withstanding the first saturation blow of the Imperial Chinese Navy's Third Squadron, the Washington was littered with ignited fires, accompanied by a series of explosions, leaving the superstructure barely intact.

The Washington's secondary artillery system was still a single-mounted layout, and many shells and propellants were piled up nearby, as a result, many ammunition were detonated, which aggravated the casualties and the expansion of the fire.

"Azimuth 035, distance 13500 meters, elevation angle 40!"

"12 rounds loaded!"

"Ready! …… Fire! ”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The four Song-class battleships fired another volley, and the muzzles of the 48 16-inch guns spat out a large cloud of smoke, and then the shells burst out of the chambers and roared straight towards the "Washington".

"Boom!"

A series of violent explosions, two shells fired from the rear main gun of the Song Zhezong, hit the starboard waterline of the "Washington". Suddenly, the waterline of the USS Washington's 320 mm armor was shaken apart, and two cracks of two meters and three meters long respectively caused a large amount of seawater to pour into it.

The captain of the "Washington" always held that as long as he was not seriously injured, he would have a chance to dodge this deadly attack. But now it seems that hope is always good, but the truth is cruel.

The starboard waterline belt armor was cracked and exploded into two long openings, and the American sailors were rushing to repair it with all their might, and the pump motor roared, pumping out the incoming seawater. However, unfortunately. A minute later, a fire salvo from the battleship Song Shenzong of the Imperial Chinese Navy, a shell hit the starboard crack of the Washington.

With a loud "boom", the original two cracks were instantly exploded, turning into a huge gap more than four meters wide, and the sea poured into it frantically, and more than a dozen American maintenance soldiers were knocked away before they could react, and all of them were killed.

In a matter of moments, more than 5,000 tons of seawater poured in, and the entire battleship tilted to the right, sinking rapidly at a speed that could be seen.

Knowing that he could not be spared, the captain of the "Washington" still gritted his teeth and ordered the battleship to go directly to the flagship of the Third Squadron of the Chinese Imperial Navy, Song Zhenzong, with the intention of dying together.

Seeing the "Washington's" suicide attack intentions, the Third Combat Squadron of the Imperial Chinese Navy quickly dispatched two escort destroyers to intercept it.

In fact, the two sides were more than a dozen kilometers apart, and the Washington would never be able to hit the battleship of the Chinese Emperor. But the commanders on both sides were so nervous during the battle that Captain Washington was too naïve to want to die together, while Captain Song Zhenzong was too cautious to send a hunting ship to intercept him.

The two destroyers approached the Washington at high speed, but before they could get closer, the Washington had already sunk.

The First and Third Squadrons of the Imperial Chinese Navy both achieved results in the first time, sinking an American battleship each. Similarly, the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Squadrons of the Imperial Chinese Navy quickly found lone and badly wounded warships of the U.S. fleet to attack.

By half past four, the US battleships USS Oklahoma, USS Pennsylvania, USS Arizona, and USS New Mexico were sunk one after another, and at the same time, seven US cruisers and 12 destroyers that sacrificed themselves to protect the capital ships were sunk.

The Imperial Chinese Navy became more and more courageous, while the U.S. Navy became less and less confident as it fought, and soon its military morale was weakened.

Relying on its speed advantage, the Imperial Chinese Navy took advantage of the chaos of the main force of the U.S. fleet and quickly sank the lone and wounded battleships of the U.S. army. As the U.S. capital ships were sunk one after another, the main force of the U.S. fleet was routed on all fronts.