Over the East China Sea, hundreds of planes of the Imperial Chinese Navy's aircraft carrier battle group circled, rushing at high speed from all directions towards the ships on the sea.

At the moment of entering the air, the padlock under the belly of the plane instantly popped open, and the bomb fell with a roar, exploding on the sea near the ship, stirring up columns of water hundreds of meters high.

The sea splashed, the waves rolled, and hundreds of square kilometers of the sea boiled in an instant, like a storm at sea. The ship was jolting and shaking in the waves, and occasionally it was hit by bombs, and a fiery red mushroom cloud suddenly rose on the hull.

At 4:33 a.m., following the martyrdom and sinking of the battleship Fuso, the flagship of the Combined Fleet, the 30,000-ton Chaoshen Bow battleship Ise, the third ship of the Fuso class, was bombed by seven 500-kilogram bombs, and the huge 17-story island was instantly flattened in a violent explosion. Immediately afterwards, the ship was attacked by 10 torpedo-carrying Cat Demon fighters, and 2 of the 10 red-headed torpedoes with the black gold charge hit the starboard side of the Ise and exploded at the middle junction of the No. 3 and No. 4 main gun turrets.

The violent explosion instantly tore open the armor belt on the starboard side of the Ise, and detonated the ammunition depot under the No. 4 main gun, which in turn spread to the ammunition depot under the No. 3 main gun turret.

"Boom! Boom! ”

The ammunition depot of the two 356-mm guns exploded one after another, and the violent explosion was like a volcanic eruption, and the smoke and flames soared thousands of meters into the sky. The 30,000-ton hull was blown in two in an instant, and the debris flew several kilometers away.

The battleship Ise sank rapidly at a speed that could be seen, and four minutes later, the 30,000-ton hull sank to the bottom of the sea at a depth of more than 1,000 meters.

At the same time, more than 40 main warships of the Combined Fleet were attacked by hundreds of planes of the Imperial Chinese Aircraft Carrier Battle Group.

At 4:36 a.m., two battleships, An Yi and Hanoi, of the Second Detachment of the Combined Fleet, were sunk by six torpedoes and four torpedoes respectively. The two battleships, the Satsuma and the Settsu, were heavily damaged, each hit a torpedo, and the hull was seriously flooded. However, as the main battleship, the second ship was the target of the key bombing, and was bombed by 13 aerial bombs and 7 aerial bombs one after another, and the superstructure was seriously damaged, and large fires were ignited in many places, and smoke and flames were obscured in the air.

At the same time, the battleship Katori, the flagship of the Third Detachment of the Combined Fleet, was rammed and sunk by the Kashima of Higashihizo Province in the panic behind after being hit by two torpedoes. When the Kashima was reversing, it was hit by two aerial bombs dropped by five Jian-5 fighters following the pursuit, and the steering gear and oars were lost, and it lost its ability to maneuver, and was then sunk by three torpedoes.

At 4:39 a.m., the remaining two battleships of the No. 1 Battleship Detachment of the Combined Fleet, the Yamashiro and the Yuexiang, were besieged by more than 70 bombers and fighters one after another, hit by more than a dozen aerial bombs and more than 10 torpedoes, and finally were seriously flooded by the hull and sank 12 minutes later.

As another key target of the Imperial Chinese Naval Aviation, the four Kong-class battlecruisers of the battle cruiser detachment of the Combined Fleet did not escape their fate.

Although these four battle cruisers dodged the bombardment that had just begun at a high speed of 27 knots, these four King Kong-class battle cruisers had a bunch of 356 mm guns and had nothing to do with the Chinese Imperial fighters in the air. After half an hour of hiding in the eastern provinces, the four battlecruisers finally exposed their Achilles' heel, which was that the armor was too thin.

The Kongo-class battlecruiser had only about 228 mm of broadside armor, and although its powerful shipboard rapid-fire guns could block torpedo attacks from the water, its horizontal armor was thinner, only 30 mm per layer, for a total of only three layers. As a large number of bombers dropped bombs one after another, the four battle cruisers suffered heavy damage one after another.

At 4:40 a.m., the island of the battlecruiser Kongo was already in a sea of fire. With a rapid buzzing sound, five Jian-3 fighters formed a bombing formation and suddenly flew into the air, dropping the last seven 200-kilogram bombs on the King Kong.

After the piercing whistling, a bomb hit the deck at the rear of the main gun turret of the Kongo's Amidship No. 3, and the huge habitual name of the bomb instantly pierced the deck, and pierced through four layers of protective plates one after another, exploding in the boiler room.

The violent explosion instantly swept through the entire No. 4 boiler room and detonated a violent explosion of the steam boiler. At the moment of the explosion, 200 tons of boiling steam and boiling water splattered everywhere, and more than 100 engineers who were working in the boiler room were burned to death and injured by the way, and screams were repeated.

The explosion of the steam boiler destroyed the power system of the King Kong, and the speed of the ship quickly dropped from 27 knots to 10 knots, at which time the four Cat Demon ships flying from the upper left quickly grabbed the fighter plane and dropped torpedoes on the port side of the King Kong.

"Boom!"

Three violent explosions came out one after another, and the port side and stern of the King Kong were blown open three openings more than one meter wide, and the flames and smoke rolled out from the explosion gap, and then the sea water poured into it fiercely, and the entire 30,000-ton giant ship quickly tilted to the left.

Vice Admiral Uemura Yan Zhicheng immediately ordered the loss of management, but he had no skills to recover and had to order the ship to be abandoned. But the naval aviation of the Chinese Empire did not give them a chance to abandon the ship and escape.

At 4:44 a.m., three high-speed Jian-5 fighters were pursuing the Asama, the flagship of the Sixth Detachment of the Navy. At this time, the sea with a radius of more than 200 kilometers was full of thick smoke, and the Asama Hizo Province had no sense of direction, and unknowingly approached the ship Kongo.

The three Jian-5 fighters were about to drop the only 300-kilogram bomb they were carrying on the Asama ship, but unexpectedly, the long plane flew over its head and threw the bomb it was carrying onto the Kongo, which exploded after penetrating the three decks of the Kongo, detonating the Kongo's ammunition depot, causing the Kongo to be martyred, and all the more than 2,000 officers and men of the ship were killed.

As a result, because of the martyrdom of the Kongo, the 70-meter-long hull of the Asama from bow to amidship was instantly blown to pieces, and the ammunition depot under the main gun in the bow of the ship was also detonated, causing the Asama ship and the Kongo to die together, and only 3 of the more than 780 people on the ship survived.

At the same time as the Kongo was sunk, the other three battle cruisers Hiei, Haruna, and Kirishima also did not escape their fate, and were besieged by more than 100 bombers one after another, with an average of 17 torpedoes and more than 130 aerial bombs, and finally all of them were sunk at about 4:52.

At 4:55 a.m., the first wave of bombardment, which lasted more than 40 minutes, ended, and 12 capital ships of the combined fleet were sunk, including the four superbow-type battleships and four only battlecruisers in service in the navy, and 19 other capital ships were severely damaged to varying degrees.

As the Chinese Imperial Aircraft Carrier Battle Group focused on attacking the best of the capital ships of the Combined Fleet, at the end of the attack, most of the advanced capital ships were sunk, but some of the older warships in the fleet that were relatively slow survived, but they were all severely damaged to varying degrees.

The main force of the Pacific Fleet of the Chinese Empire, which was pursuing southward along the Ryukyu Islands, was furious when Lin Jianzhang, commander of the fleet, learned through a carrier-based reconnaissance plane that Ye Zugui had commanded an aircraft carrier battle group to attack the combined fleet.

"It's too unusual, and you go to war without an order."

After Li Dingxin, chief of staff of the fleet, confirmed the results of the aircraft carrier battle group with the telecommunications room, he said to Lin Jianzhang: "I didn't expect that the attack power of the aircraft carrier battle group would be so powerful. ”

Li Dingxin handed the battle report to Lin Jianzhang, Lin Jianzhang didn't look at it, it was still on the table, and said: "I'm telling you about Ye Zugui's disobedience, don't care about the rest." ”

Li Dingxin smiled, picked up the battle report and handed it to Lin Jianzhang, and said, "Let's take a look first!" It's never too late to dispose of it after reading it! ”

"How many big results can be few, it's just trivial!" Lin Jianzhang couldn't resist Li Dingxin, and muttered to take the battle report.

After reading the battle report, Lin Jianzhang was stunned for a moment, he thought that the aircraft carrier battle group would sink at most a few battleships with weak armor and small tonnage, such as cruisers or destroyers. However, he didn't expect that all the eight super god bow-type capital ships of the combined fleet were sunk, and this result surprised him.

"How? Changed your mind, right? Li Dingxin said with a smile: "This credit is not small, and there is no loss of a plane." ”

Lin Jianzhang put down the battle report, and the anger just now had been replaced by joy, but this did not mean that he did not pursue Ye Zugui and their unauthorized actions.

"Merit is merit, transgression is excess, two different things, don't mix them up."

Li Dingxin said with a smile: "I have underestimated the role of the aircraft carrier battle group, and I have to say that this battle has revolutionized the way of naval warfare in the future." It is no wonder that His Majesty has always emphasized that the aircraft carrier battle group will become the main combat weapon of the Navy in the coming period. ”

Lin Jianzhang said: "Don't interrupt, tell you that Ye Zugui's matter is not over yet?" ”

Li Dingxin smiled and said, "What else can I do?" Strictly speaking, Ye Zugui and they are not acting on their own. They received an order to attack the reconnaissance planes of the combined fleet, and I have already asked about it just now, guess what they say? They said, 'There are a lot of reconnaissance planes in this warship, and we have knocked out those that flew in the sky, but there are still a lot of stocks on the battleship, and in order to strictly carry out the orders of the fleet headquarters and resolutely destroy all the naval reconnaissance planes, we sent a bomber group to bomb the ship-based reconnaissance planes on the warship, but the ship was accidentally blown up and sunk. ’”

"It's a loophole!" Lin Jianzhang was suddenly angry and funny.

Li Dingxin said with a smile: "So, this time I have to admit that Ye Zugui and their loopholes are good." Not only did we see the tremendous combat effectiveness of the aircraft carrier battle group, but also helped the fleet sink more than a dozen main warships of the Navy, saving the fleet a lot of trouble. At the same time, I think they are also trying to prove the value of their aircraft carrier battle group, and we will not pay attention to them in the future and leave them at home as vases. ”

Lin Jianzhang sighed and said: "Actually, it's not that I don't know the power of the aircraft carrier battle group, I have always attached great importance to His Majesty's words, even if Your Majesty mentions something the size of a sesame seed, I will keep it in my heart." His Majesty has already said more than once about the use of aircraft carrier battle groups as main battle weapons. How can I not be concerned? ”

Li Dingxin asked: "Then why do you still keep the aircraft carrier battle group at home and don't use it?" ”

Lin Jianzhang explained: "You don't know, we don't care about this United Fleet. We keep the carrier battle group at home and continue to hide it because they are more useful. ”

Li Dingxin suddenly said in surprise: "What are you going to do with them?" ”

Lin Jianzhang explained: "Our biggest enemy at present is the U.S. Navy, and I once thought of using an aircraft carrier battle group to attack Pearl Harbor, the largest U.S. naval base in the Pacific, and planned to use an aircraft carrier battle group to sink all the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor in one fell swoop." ”

Li Dingxin was surprised: "This is a very good plan!" I agree! ”

Lin Jianzhang sighed: "But now Ye Zugui and they have used the aircraft carrier battle group to attack the combined fleet, and in a few days, the whole world will know about our aircraft carrier battle group." This thing is the most effective when it is used for the first time, and the US Navy will definitely be on guard, and if we want to attack Pearl Harbor again, I am afraid that we will not be able to achieve the expected combat effect. ”

Only then did Li Dingxin understand that Lin Jianzhang was motivated by this strategic consideration, so he said: "If this is the case, then our aircraft carrier battle group has been exposed early." ”

Then Li Dingxin said: "But this can't be blamed on Ye Zugui and them, after all, we usually despise them too much, and it will inevitably cause dissatisfaction in their hearts." This action is the result of long-term dissatisfaction, and we are also at fault. ”

Lin Jianzhang nodded, and in his heart, he did favor the idea of giant ships and cannons too much, ignoring the feelings of the officers of the aircraft carrier battle group.

"Let's not mention this yet!" Lin Jianzhang said suddenly: "Since the elite capital ships of this navy have been blown up, then let them do it!" If I can wipe out the entire Combined Fleet, I won't bury their credit. ”

Li Dingxin immediately sent a telegram to Ye Zugui, commander of the Sixth Fleet, conveying Lin Jianzhang's order.

Ye Zugui and the others were also sweating, afraid that the fleet command would blame them, and after learning that Lin Jianzhang had allowed them to continue to send planes to bomb the Navy, everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

After the end of the first wave of bombing, the aircraft carrier battle group of the Imperial Chinese Navy in the waters southwest of Kume Island has prepared a second wave of attack aircraft.

Considering that the first wave had already achieved significant results, and the essence of the capital ships of the combined fleet had been lost, the second wave of attacks was very easy.

At 5:13, the 100 Catdemon carrier-based fighters of the second wave of attack aircraft group, all carrying torpedoes, were dispatched, and their goal was to sink the dozen or so old battleships left in the combined fleet.

At 5:50 a.m., the second wave of attack planes flew over the operational area.

At this time, it was gradually slanting westward, the remnant sun was like blood, and the entire naval battlefield was covered with thick smoke. Many of the battleships had already been severely damaged by the first wave of bombardment, and some struggled for an hour, and finally could not prevent the battleship from sinking and were forced to abandon the ship. Some of the ships were stopping to repair the damaged parts, and the ships that had been slightly injured or not injured did not go south, but searched for and rescued the officers and men of the Navy who had fallen into the sea.

Perhaps they thought that the bomber group of the Chinese Empire was only this wave, or perhaps their backbone, the fleet commander, the fleet flagship and the fleet capital ship, had already sunk, and they no longer had the backbone and did not know what to do next.

Seeing that the remnants of the Combined Fleet were still in the previous bombing area, it saved the trouble of the second wave of attack planes searching for the ships.

The approaching Cat Demon carrier-based fighter at high speed immediately aroused the vigilance of the ships below. Unlike the first wave of attacks just now, all the officers and men of the Navy, from top to bottom, were not prepared at that time, and it can be said that most people did not know that the bombers of the Chinese Empire could inflict such heavy damage on the warships of the Navy.

After the first wave of attacks, the officers and men of the remnants of the ships were like frightened birds, and immediately opened up at full speed and fled in all directions.

The main target of the 100 Cat Demon ships of the second wave of attack aircraft was the old capital ships of the Combined Fleet, so they did not pay attention to the fast cruisers and destroyers.

At this time, the largest and most advanced battleships left in the Combined Fleet were the Satsuma-class battleship No. 1 Satsuma and the Satsuma No. 2 Satsuma battleship. The second ship was heavily damaged during the first wave of air raids, by which time the speed of the Satsuma had dropped to 10 knots, and a third of the stern had sunk into the sea. In addition, although the battleship Settsu was successfully repaired and prevented from sinking, it could not run fast.

In the face of the Chinese Imperial planes approaching in the air, the officers and men on the second ship suddenly closed their eyes sadly, they had no power to resist, only prayed.

Amid the humming sound, five Cat Demon carrier-based fighters flew over the sea at a low altitude, and after judging the course and speed of the Satsuma, the pilots calculated the amount of advance when dropping the torpedoes, and dropped their own torpedoes one after another.

Five torpedoes plunged into the sea and surfaced a few seconds later, and the high-speed torpedo engine propelled the 300-kilogram torpedo at a speed of 36 knots towards the Satsuma and Settsu, respectively.

"Right rudder 35, avoid it immediately!"

Although the second ship has faltered and the turning and evasion actions have become slow, the commander of the ship above still does not want to sit still, they have to struggle to the end.

A miracle happened, the second ship formation sailed, and the first , third, and fifth torpedoes were evaded by the rudder, and passed through the bow of the Satsuma, the stern of the Settsu, and the gap between the two ships, respectively, and missed. And the second and fourth torpedoes, because they were too close, passed through the bottom of the second ship.

None of the five torpedoes hit, and the officers and men on the two ships immediately cheered, rejoicing that they did not die. However, their luck was only temporary, the five fighters that had just finished dropping the torpedo pulled up violently and flew over the heads of the second ship, followed by five more Cat Demon fighters coming in formation and dropping five torpedoes again.

With a snort, the torpedo dragged a long bubble and rushed towards the ship at high speed. The first torpedo fired at the Satsuma did not explode due to angle problems, but was deflected. However, the second torpedo hit the port side waterline of the Satsuma.

There was a loud "boom", like a thousand thunders and lightning crashing into each other, and the port side of the Satsuma stirred up huge waves hundreds of meters high, and the sea quickly poured into it through a large hole more than one meter wide that had exploded. Originally, the Satsuma was hit by two torpedoes, miraculously survived the first wave of bombardment, this time another torpedo, and there was no watertight tank to balance the seawater poured in, so the battleship of more than 20,000 tons sank rapidly at the speed that was seen.

At the same time, the battleship Settsu in the back was even more miserable, and of the five torpedoes in the second wave, the other three hit her all.

"Boom!"

In a series of violent explosions, the hull of the Settsu was blasted open with three large holes, and the sea water poured into it fiercely. Because the design of the Hanoi-class battleships was not reasonable enough, the lateral strength of the hull was seriously insufficient. As the sea water at both ends of the hull was too heavy, the entire hull quickly broke into three sections after a minute, and sank in less than two minutes.

As with the fate of the Satsuma and the Settsu, the ships, which had already been heavily damaged in the first round of bombing, were sunk one after another in the first 20 minutes of the second round of bombing.

At 5:25, all 100 torpedoes of the second wave of bombers were dropped. The combined fleet battleships Satsuma, Settsu, Kashima, Kashii, Fuji, Asahaya, Hatsuse, and Mikasa were all sunk, and the armored cruisers Izumo, Iwate, and Yakumo, as well as cruisers Shintaka, Izumi, Takasago, Akashi, Tsushima, and Otowa were sunk.

After the second wave of bombardment, only the two armored cruisers of Tokiwa and Azuma, which were scarred, and six cruisers, namely the Kasaki, Chitose, Tsushima, Aso, Soya, and Tsutsu, were left in the Combined Fleet, while only 4 of the 20 Minekaze-class destroyers that had been following the fleet were lost, and the other 16 were basically intact. Their highly mobile surnames were difficult to capture by the planes of the Chinese Empire, so they survived. The four lost destroyers were not directly sunk, three of them were sunk by torpedoes that had no target in the confusion, and the fourth destroyer was also sunk by the ships in the chaos.

By the end of the second wave of bombardment, it was already late, and the sun was about to sink into the sea. Since the aircraft carrier-based planes could not take off and land at night, Ye Zugui, commander of the Sixth Fleet, ordered all the aircraft carrier battle groups to stop taking off fighters and contact the carrier-based planes released as soon as possible, ordering them to return to the nest as soon as possible.

Although Ye Zugui's aircraft carrier battle group failed to completely wipe out all the warships of the Combined Fleet, its great success was self-evident, and the capital ships of the Combined Fleet were basically wiped out, especially the most elite Fusang-class battleships and Kong-class battlecruisers were sunk, so that the Navy's capital ships that could threaten the Imperial Chinese Navy in a short period of time were not able to threaten the capital ships of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

At around 7 p.m., the main forces of the Pacific Fleet arrived and joined Ye Zugui's aircraft carrier battle group.

(To be continued)