In the East China Sea, on the evening of June 5, Yamamoto almost fell into despair on the bridge of the commander of the huge battleship "Yamato." Although the Ozawa fleet reported that they had sunk two enemy carriers and damaged the other two, this was far from their goal, and Ozawa's fleet was also sunk by three aircraft carriers, and the other three aircraft carriers were also heavily damaged, and the entire air fleet was almost completely incapacitated.

And his enemy, so far, has at least more than 10 intact aircraft carriers, and with his battlefleet alone, it is difficult to take advantage of aerial bombardment.

But Yamamoto was determined to continue his march towards Okinawa. His aim, relying on the powerful main guns and armor of the two Yamato-class battleships, forced the enemy into a night battle with him. He pinned his hopes on the muzzle of the eighteen-inch cannon of the "Yamato", which was obviously a bit too wishful thinking.

Because of Vilmots? Admiral Yankel had already gathered 17 battleships on hand and were ready to fight him.

In other words, most of the naval personnel have a rather strong battleship plot, and always fantasize about the scene of using giant ship cannons at sea one day, although they have now entered the era of aircraft carriers, but most of these generals are still believers in giant ship cannon doctrine in their bones.

Now Admiral Yankel has gathered in his hands four battleships of the "Combined Forces" and "German" classes with a standard displacement of 48,000 tons, eight "Mackensen" and "Dinghai" class battleships with no inferior performance to the "Nagato" class of the Japanese Navy, two Italian "Veneto" class battleships, and five "Bavaria" class battleships of the German Navy. In terms of numbers, the allied battleships were twice as large as the Japanese ones, and in terms of performance, the "Yamato" may be slightly stronger than the "Combined Forces" and "Deutschland" classes. However, the maximum firing range of the 10 55 times caliber 410 mm main guns on the German-Austrian new battleship is no worse than that of the "Yamato", and it is also equipped with the latest radar ranging system.

But this battleship showdown did not start in the end.

Due to the excellent secrecy work done by the Japanese, Yankel did not even know that the "Yamato" was equipped with an 18-inch main gun. Naturally, he happily set out from Okinawa with a dozen battleships, preparing to crush Yamamoto. However, the battle plan drawn up by Kuroshima Kamehito, a staff officer of the Combined Fleet, was a bit cumbersome and complicated, and Yankel was a little confused about what the Japanese wanted to do.

Yamamoto was indeed preparing to attack Okinawa, but this combined fleet sortie would normally take more than a day to travel more than 1,000 kilometers from the Bungo Suido to Okinawa. Actually, after leaving the Osumi Strait. Yamamoto has not escaped the surveillance of the coalition aerial reconnaissance and submarine forces, and Yamamoto's whereabouts have always been under the control of Yankel.

On the evening of 5 June, news had already been transmitted that Ozawa's fleet was completely finished, and that the three aircraft carriers "Xianghe", "Longxiang", and "Feiying" had been sunk, and that the battleship "Kirishima" and two heavy cruisers had also been lost, and that the "Zuizuru" had also been heavily damaged, leaving only two converted aircraft carriers. And also the loss of ninety percent of carrier-based aircraft.

After receiving the telegram, Yamamoto understood that this time the combined fleet was completely finished. Even if the Americans came, they could no longer save Japan. However, he was still ready to make a surprise attack on Okinawa as planned, preparing for a "decisive assault".

However, the battle plan drawn up by Kamishige Tokudasa was that after passing through the Osumi Strait, the main force of the Combined Fleet would go as west as possible until it was almost due north of the main island of Okinawa and then turn south, so as to widen the distance between it and the Allied Air Fleet as much as possible. to avoid engaging at sea at a distance.

However, the coalition fleet did not know the contents of the combined fleet's plans, and on the morning of 6 June, carrier-based aircraft from the air fleet under the command of Admiral Sucker and Admiral Chen Shiying discovered the whereabouts of Yamamoto's fleet about 140 nautical miles east of the Tugara Islands. However, the coalition forces could not tell whether the Combined Fleet would now turn south or continue westward to the Sasebo military port on Kyushu Island. In fact, Yamamoto is currently just over 110 nautical miles from the Sasebo Military Port. If the Combined Fleet were to return to port, it would be quite difficult to pack up.

So, Admiral Sukel sent a telegram to Admiral Yankel, who was on the battleship "Combined Forces", asking the commander's intentions: "Is it necessary to dispatch an air fleet?" ”

Admiral Yankel was now about 150 nautical miles away from Yamamoto's fleet, and of course he knew Admiral Sukel's intentions, and he was also worried that if Yamamoto turned to the west, he would definitely not be able to catch up with the enemy, so he replied helplessly: "The aviation unit will attack immediately now!" "I can't catch up anyway.

As a result, eight Austrian-Chinese aircraft carriers, about 50 nautical miles behind the Yankel Battlefleet, began to attack, and at 9:30 a.m., the first attack wave of 260 carrier-based aircraft completed the formation and began to attack the Yamamoto fleet. Immediately afterward, at 10 o'clock, and at 10:30 a.m., the air fleet sent more than 230 fighters of the second attack wave and more than 160 combat aircraft of the third wave.

There was no suspense at all about the outcome of the naval battle, although the Yamamoto fleet had two modified aircraft carriers, "Chitose" and "Chiyoda", and it itself had only more than 50 combat aircraft, and it did not have much offensive power. Beginning at 11 a.m., within 10 minutes of the start of the battle, the only 40 or so fighters that Yamamoto's fleet could resist were shot down, and the so-called "main fleet" of the entire combined fleet became a target on the sea. All the pilots of the coalition fleet aircraft unit had to do was to choose the angle of the dive over and over again, and then start diving, dropping bombs, and pulling up like an exercise, and wave after wave of coalition planes were doing the same thing. Of course, the main targets of the bombing were the eight battleships led by the "Yamato" and "Musashi", and of course the other warships in the combined fleet were not spared.

The entire naval battle turned into a one-sided slaughter, and at 13:10, the aircraft carriers "Chiyoda" and "Chitose" were sunk first, followed by the heavy cruisers "Chokai" and "Maya", and the light cruisers "Oyodo" and "Kamiko", and the battleship "Yamashiro" was also sunk. Thick smoke is now billowing from the sea, the combined fleet has become a mess and has begun to flee in all directions, and the entire air defense circle is full of loopholes.

Yamamoto stood on the bridge of the "Yamato", his face was pale, his lips were tightly closed, and he did not say a word. The Chief of Staff of the Grass Deer was also standing beside him, and he had already ordered the entire Combined Fleet to begin to retreat with all its might, but whether it would be able to escape, no one knew. In fact, even if these battleships were able to escape a few times, it would not have much impact on the tide of the battle. These expensive battleships are completely powerless in the face of aircraft carriers.

At 13:30, the battleship "Fuso" was martyred, the entire battleship was broken into two, and none of the 1,420 officers and men on the ship survived. The "Yamato" was also hit by four bombs and three torpedoes, but the super battleship did hit, but the speed was slightly reduced, and it was still not a big problem.

After only an hour and a half of fighting, the Combined Fleet had already lost almost a third of its capital ships.

At 14:10, the coalition forces focused their targets on the two super battleships of the combined fleet, and at 14:30, the "Musashi" was hit by at least 12 torpedoes and 7 aerial bombs, and it had tilted 20 degrees to the left, and Yamamoto reluctantly gave his last order before his death: "The chief officer retreats."

At 14:33, the bridge of the "Yamato" was hit by two 600-kilogram bombs and one 900-kilogram bomb in succession, and a large explosion occurred, killing most of the members of the command of the combined fleet, including Yamamoto. The entire Combined Fleet fell into confusion and began to flee separately.

The "Yamato" was already scarred, most of the secondary and anti-aircraft guns were out of service, and although there was no fatal damage to the hull structure, the speed had dropped to 20 knots.

At 14:47, the battleship "Hyuga" sank.

At 15:35, the "Mutsu" was heavily damaged, and the speed dropped to 15 knots, during which the heavy cruisers "Myoko", "Haguro", and "Kumano" sank, and the cruisers "Abukuma", "Kamiko", "Kitakami", and "Oi" were also sunk one after another.

At this time, the weather took a turn for the worse, saving the Japanese fleet from the tragic fate of total annihilation.

As it began to rain in the skies, the coalition forces did not succeed much in the final wave of attacks, sinking only the cruiser "Kiso", four destroyers and three transports.

At 16:42, Admiral Yankel, in view of the weather conditions, ordered the attack to be halted, the fleet began to return south, and the entire naval battle ended.

The commander of the Japanese Second Fleet, Nobuchiku Kondo, who was on board the Nagato, took the place of Yamamoto who was killed in battle, and ordered the remnants of the Combined Fleet to retreat to the Sasebo Military Port. By this point, the combined fleet had almost completely lost the ability to attack. (To be continued.) )