Episode 92 The Battle of the Diaoyu Islands

After half an hour's flight, Taiwan Island is 100 kilometers away on the right and Diaoyu Dao is 70 kilometers away on the left. Below is the vast sea, with endless ripples glistening in the intense tropical sun.

In the sky ahead, a small gray figure appeared. It was a warship.

The group leader waved his hand to the friendly planes on the left and right in the cockpit, signaled that he had found the target, and flew there, ready to fight. The pilots of the friendly planes nodded and gave a thumbs up to indicate receipt. The pilots put on their goggles and stared at distant targets, their adrenaline began to rise, their hearts beating faster, and they were ready to fight to the death.

In the distance, the gray warship moved slowly like a small beetle, trailing white trails behind it. The group is getting closer, and the warships below are getting bigger and clearer. It can already be seen that it is a cruiser.

As far as the eye can see, there are no enemy planes in the sky on all sides. And on the vast sea, only this one warship can be seen.

At this time, several black clouds exploded in front of the group, followed by several more. Looking down, the warship below was shining brightly, like a hedgehog.

Every highlight is a tongue of fire. All the guns of the Japanese ships were firing into the sky. One can imagine how nervous the Japanese ship was at the moment. It's probably never seen such a large fleet.

Dozens of black clouds burst out in the middle of the Ming army's fleet, one after another. In the muffled sound of the roar, many planes felt the impact of the shock wave and jolted violently. The sound of clanging shrapnel was also heard from time to time.

The leader of the fleet glanced at the Japanese ship below, compared the bird's-eye view photos on the dashboard, and said on the radio:

"It's wonderful. Brothers, attack with me. ”

At the sound of an order, 42 dive bombers lined up in a neat formation and dived downwards one after another. The 36 torpedo planes roared, scattered in all directions, lowered their altitude, and began to select positions, ready to strike a lethal blow from a low altitude when the dive bombers attracted the enemy's anti-aircraft fire to the high altitude.

……

It was a hopeless situation for this lonely cruiser. More than 40 dive bombers and more than 30 torpedo bombers were by no means able to cope with the anti-aircraft fire of a single warship.

The dive bomber went straight down from a high altitude at a very fast speed and a large elevation angle of **10 degrees. The guns and machine guns of the cruisers below spewed tongues of fire, and tracer bullets intertwined with lines of fire, trying to meet the whizzing planes. And the bomber pilots of the Ming army couldn't care about it at the moment, they had already put life and death out of the way, turning a blind eye to the passing line of fire, turning a deaf ear to the large black clouds around them, and only looking at the rapidly growing cruiser below.

"Steady...... Hold ...... steady" said the bombardier, with his eyes on the scope and his thumb next to the red button, sweat all over his head, "Steady...... Steady...... Put!!! ”

Hearing his "release", the driver didn't say a word, and immediately pulled up. The plane almost skimmed over the mast of the Japanese ship, and in the blink of an eye it climbed up, leaving the behemoth behind.

A huge column of water rose close to the Japanese cruiser, and the sea water fell on the deck like an avalanche.

The pilot saw the bow number clearly. This is the Myo-Premium Heavy Cruiser, the Nachi.

The Ming army's dive bombers rushed towards the Nazhi in turn like a swarm of bumblebees. Within seconds, the Nachi was surrounded by columns of water. And this heavy cruiser shot tongues of fire upwards wildly, and at the same time increased its horsepower to turn left and right, dragging a long S-shaped white wave. From the air, it looks like a white earthworm. It can be seen that the officers and men of the Japanese ships are of a very high level, and the hard training they usually have come in handy.

But it still didn't work. Half a minute after the battle began, the first bomb was finally dropped on the deck of the Nachi. Suddenly fireworks soared into the sky, and large fireballs tumbled and rushed into the sky. A machine gun was flipped into the air and rolled into the sea. Several Japanese artillerymen could almost be seen flying in the air and falling into the sea.

On the radio, more than a dozen Ming pilots cheered. A dive bomber, obscured by a column of black smoke, recklessly rushed straight over, just in time to be hit by the tongue of fire from a 20-mm machine gun, which exploded and disintegrated in the air, and also fell into the sea as a fireball.

This achievement also apparently inspired the Japanese sailors. The Japanese sailors below, wearing steel helmets, shouted frantically, shook their machine guns and opened fire on the swooping planes. And the Ming planes not only dropped bombs, but also strafed. Coupled with the explosion just now, the back deck is already full of blood at this moment. Even if the Japanese artillerymen did not hit it, they were splashed with blood all over their heads. Even the anti-aircraft guns were covered in blood. However, these sailors who fought for the first time still gritted their teeth, shouted frantically, and tried to shake the barrels of their guns in the way they usually practiced hard, fighting to the death.

One after another, the planes of the Ming army were hit by bullets and caught fire, some of them exploded directly, and some dragged long smoke into the sea, and jumped two or three times in a row like a water drifter before they were shattered. Others, who were lucky, were not fatally injured, so they staggered back with the fireworks in tow.

……

At this time, two more groups of planes appeared at a low altitude in the distance, one left and one right, slowly flying towards the Zhi. They were all biplanes, and they all had long torpedoes hanging under their bellies.

The commander on the bridge of the Nachi only discovered the torpedo machine at this time, and immediately shouted a loud order to transfer fire to intercept it. But at this time, the guns of the whole ship were raised high, and the various gun crews were also engrossed in fighting the dive bombers. Now they suddenly received an order, and they all shook the barrel down.

At least half of the guns of the Nazhi were now deployed to deal with low-altitude torpedo machines. The high-altitude dive bombers suddenly felt the pressure greatly reduced, and one by one they were bold and concentrated on aiming and diving. Within ten seconds, two more bombs hit one after the other.

On the cruiser there were already fireworks. The deck was covered with blood, entrails, severed arms and stumps, and the miserable wails of sailors mingled with the sound of guns and the roar of airplanes to form a song of death. However, the unwounded Japanese sailors in the various gun positions still held their posts, gritting their teeth and firing at the torpedo group.

The torpedo machine was slow and cumbersome, and at this time it was simply a live target. In the face of the dense artillery shells that rushed in the face, the torpedo group suddenly burst into flames and exploded one after another like dumplings. Within a minute or so of being discovered by the Japanese ships and flying within the attack distance, 10 torpedo planes were hit one after another, and blood was spilled in the air.

Finally, the flight came to the range of the torpedo attack. The torpedo captain gave the order, and the planes began to attack freely.

At this time, in order to avoid the torpedo, the Chi was already moving forward in an S-shaped track. It kept filling its rudder on the left and on its right, and its huge hull dragged the billowing fireworks, rolled over the white waves, and rushed left and right like a drunk, trying to make it difficult for the torpedo bombardier to determine its course, and thus to grasp the timing of the torpedo.

But it didn't work, there were too many torpedo machines, and they were approaching from both directions. In the blink of an eye, more than 20 torpedoes had been thrown into the sea one after another, forming two torpedo nets, dragging bubbles from the port and starboard sides. The cruiser could not escape.

The captain of the Nazhi turned pale, beads of sweat kept rolling down, and he commanded in a loud voice:

"Right full rudder! Right full rudder! …… Left full rudder! Left full rudder! …… Right full rudder! …… Left full rudder! …… Left...... Right...... Left...... Fast! Fast! Ah, not good!! ”

There was a loud tremor, and everyone on the bridge was tossed to the ground, and then flames rushed up from below, and the billowing black smoke from the side completely obscured the view.

Before the captain could get up, there was another loud bang, and the whole cruiser shook again. He understood, having hit two torpedoes in a row, the warship was finished.

By the time a few officers got up, they found that they were unsteady on their feet—the ground was heavily tilted and continued to tilt at a rate of a few seconds. The warship is finished, there is no salvation.

The Ming pilots were in the air, watching the Japanese cruiser quickly tilt and then begin to roll on its side.

There was a cheer in the headphones.