Chapter 230 Worse Worse

Before dark, Yamamoto finally got a message about the Third Fleet, and the fleet, which had been departing from the Philippines, encountered two battleships of the Chinese Navy, the Wuhu-class battleships Wuhu and Tongling, known to the Chinese as Wuhu-class, with a standard displacement of 32,000 tons and nine 305-mm cannons. The Chinese built four battleships of this class, two in the Third Fleet, and the other two in the First and Fourth Fleets. In front of such a battleship, the fleet did not even dare to send a distress signal, and obediently surrendered. The crew had been left to fend for themselves in small boats with limited water and food, but luckily they had been rescued by a flotilla from Java and had been rescued by telegram from Guò. Since these two battleships are there, then the aircraft carriers belonging to the Third Fleet should also be there.

In other words, the Third Fleet appeared in the northeast of the Philippines, what is this for? Eleven freighters were torpedoed and sunk without any suspense, and the purpose of the Chinese Third Fleet still seems to be very clear. The question is to break the aircraft carrier? This is also extravagant, Yamamoto Fifty-six has never had a clear concept, because this matter is really unreasonable.

As Yamamoto's most trusted staff officer, Kuroshima Kameto put forward his own point of view in a timely manner: "Your Excellency, I think it is very likely that I am cruising behind my flank, waiting for the opportunity to join the Second Fleet in a decisive battle with our combined fleet, because of the existence of my fleet, the Third Fleet could not go north normally, and the Chinese deliberately went around in a circle. ”

This possibility is existing, and it is very large. After all, the Third Fleet has two aircraft carriers (in fact, the task force is three). Yamamoto Fifty-six never thought that the Third Fleet was heading for Naha.

At this time, Yamamoto's mind was all about the main force of the Second Fleet. After all, there are four large aircraft carriers of the Chinese Navy, as well as four of the largest battleships, so it can be said that as long as the Second Fleet is defeated, it can gain the initiative at sea. When approaching Miyakojima, Yamamoto was also much more relieved. The lost planes quickly took off from the island and all landed on the deck before dark. At present, the Japanese Navy has not shown a special shortage of pilots, and they can basically cope with it.

It was dark, and Yamamoto and his combined fleet seized the time to rest and wait for tomorrow's battle, and the Second Fleet of the Chinese Navy would definitely follow far behind. Seek an opportunity to strike at the Combined Fleet. In Yamamoto's view, if China wants to defeat Japan, it can only defeat the Japanese navy first, and to defeat the Japanese navy, the combined fleet will bear the brunt. If he were the commander of the Second Fleet, he would not give up this opportunity lightly. After all, the Chinese Navy has a greater advantage over aircraft carriers.

The daytime battle gave Yamaben a sense of the Chinese Navy's combat prowess, and at the same time filled with new hopes for defeating the Chinese Navy. Tomorrow, we can send more fighters to fight, and then the main force of the fleet will approach Miyako and Ishigaki Island, so that we can get the assistance of the Zero fighters deployed on the island in advance, which will be very helpful for winning this battle. It is even possible to take off directly from the island with the Zero as an escort fighter for the fleet's sortie group.

Yamamoto was wondering what to do tomorrow when he was on the dark sea. A sneaky little dot appears. This thing is a periscope for submarines, speaking of which, Japan also has submarines, and the Yi-3 type is a relatively inferior product, and it is okay to engage in reconnaissance, and it is also a good hand at throwing mines.

Unlike China, Japan has used a bit of steel on large surface warships, and its emphasis on submarines has always been low.

The submarine No. 037 has been active in the waters of this area, and when it found the Japanese Combined Fleet, it was frightened and hurriedly dived, and after the fleet passed and quietly surfaced, there was no radar on the submarine. You can only peek from a distance with a periscope. It is very difficult for a submarine to attack a warship, and it can only be an ambush waiting for the rabbit, or a bold sneak attack into the military port. After all, the speed of submarines is slow, not to mention battleships, that is, in general, in front of destroyers. Submarines also belong to the death of the light, so there is a reason why the Japanese Navy does not pay attention to submarines.

It's hard to say about luck, just after the 037 submarine reported the location of the Japanese Navy, and was about to dive, a Japanese battleship suddenly appeared in the periscope and the speed was not too fast. The captain of 037, Pang Yushan, is an outlaw, and he was moved when he saw the opportunity, especially when he appeared in front of him, it seemed to be the Fusang, this is a big guy.

At this time, if the torpedo is released, there is no question of whether or not to run away, but whether to hide from the past. If you hit a torpedo and dive, the destroyers and light cruisers will definitely surround it, even if you bully the Japanese Navy without sonar, this is also very dangerous, and in front of such a large fleet, it is basically the life of sinking to the bottom of the sea.

But this Pang Yushan thought about it and felt that it was appropriate to gamble, and the submarine would not lose money no matter how it was calculated for a battleship. As soon as the root of the tooth was bitten, the heart was horizontal, and the order was to load the torpedo. Whoosh, swish, after sending out four torpedoes, regardless of whether they hit or not, they immediately dived, and then slowly left step by step at a very low speed.

China uses electric torpedoes, which are characterized by small movement and are not easy to detect, especially at night. The disadvantage is that whether the torpedo goes off or not depends on whether God gives face. Although the Fuso was not directly hit during the daytime battle, it did eat a few bullets that were close to missing, all of which were within 50 meters. There was nothing going on at the time, and suddenly there was a problem with the power system, a boiler broke down, and the speed could not get up. After reporting to the flagship, the Fuso slowed down and tried to repair it as much as possible, and if it didn't work, it drove back to Naha while it was dark to repair it.

Who would have thought that at this time, the 037 submarine was secretly preparing to do something bad, and the lookout post of the slowing down Fuso couldn't see far at all at night, and he tried to stare at the round, even if he took cod liver oil as a meal, he couldn't find the torpedo coming from a distance of a thousand meters.

When the torpedo was close to 200 meters, the white spray was finally discovered, but Fuso was too late to dodge, and all four torpedoes hit, one of which hit the boiler directly. 037's luck was good, three of the four torpedoes sounded, and the violent explosion led Pang Yushan, who was praying with his eyes closed under the water, his body shook, and he waved his fist excitedly, and began the difficult escape road amid the cheers of the officers and men of the whole ship.

When Yamamoto heard the news, the Fuso was already hopeless, all four boilers had been destroyed, and the opening caused by two torpedoes in the front section was no longer a problem of being blocked or not, and the entire battleship was sinking at a speed visible to the eye.

After less than half an hour, there was only one flagpole left on the sea. Blood spilled from the corners of the mouth of the commander of the Combined Fleet, and he ordered that the submarines that committed the crime must be dismantled. Destroyers and cruisers on the sea were busy, and depth charges were thrown away as if they were not paying for money. No. 037, which sank directly to the bottom of the sea, is leaving the crime scene firmly and slowly at the speed of a snail, no matter how the vibration above, a battleship has been killed anyway, no matter how bad the result is, isn't it the end of everyone?

Don't say it, the anti-submarine capability of the Japanese Navy is really not ordinarily bad, there are dozens of light cruisers and destroyers, and the Leng did not sink the 037, which has a relatively strong ability to resist pressure. Two hours later, when No. 037 escaped five kilometers away at turtle speed, the movement of the depth charge was no longer felt, and Pang Yushan, who breathed lightly, hurriedly reported the good news.

Fang Jianxiong, who hadn't slept yet, saw Chen Shaokuan come to report the good news in person, and he also felt a little incredible, this kind of thing can happen. Such a large fleet, still in motion, how could it be found by the submarine to sneak attack, and this submarine escaped safely, what is this Nima called? This captain of the ship is really a madman.

In any case, this is a good thing, and all the officers and men of the No. 037 submarine were rewarded with a bonus of 1,000 yuan each, and the captain Pang Yushan was promoted to one level and collectively won a second-class silver star medal. $1,000 is not a small amount in the year, and the average worker is only $60 or 70 a month. This bonus is really nothing compared to a Fuso.

Yamamoto Isoroku and his combined fleet, which was already difficult, would have made matters worse. The attack during the day was ineffective, and it was attacked at night, so it's hard to say what the outcome of this battle would be. What Yamamoto doesn't know is that the confidence of the Chinese Navy is actually insufficient, not to mention that there are many aircraft carriers and many warships, and they are really playing with the Japanese Combined Fleet, and the officers and men below are fine, and the officers above are really trembling and are responsible for the entire fleet.

It's dawn, it's a good day, and it's very suitable for everyone to fight for their lives at sea! After the four Japanese aircraft carriers directly scattered all the fighters, the main force of the fleet quickly marched towards Ishigaki and Miyako Island, and the 80 Zeros that took off from the islands rushed over to escort them. The Zero fighter won a great victory because of the operation against the US Navy, and Japan now has a bit of a Zero that is all navy. Moreover, the Zero Type of this time and space came out relatively early, and it is already the main combat aircraft of the Japanese Navy.

Interestingly, She Zhenxing's calculation is the same, after approaching the Miyako sea area, the Mustang fighter that Taiwan takes off is actually not far away, and the Mustang is faster, and it can even take off in the early morning before dawn, and the plane is dangerous when it is when it lands, and the requirements for taking off day and night are not very high. In addition, the bombers in the air also have experience in night flight.

Yesterday, all the Mustang planes that flew from Taizhou went to Taiwan, so at 4 o'clock in the morning, together with a Mustang fighter wing stationed in Taiwan, a total of 156 Mustang fighters took off from Taiwan and flew over the Second Fleet. At this time, Yamamoto did not know that the endurance of all carrier-based aircraft of the Chinese Navy was more than 3,000 kilometers. The Mustang is even more perverted with a range of 3,900 kilometers, not to mention taking off from Taiwan for a round trip, and there is no problem at all in going around in circles over the fleet for two hours.

Both sides wanted to go together, and both planned to make full use of shore-based aircraft to catch the opponent by surprise.