Episode 183 Decisive Battle at Sea (2)

At dusk on the 14th, the first day of the battle between the sea and the air did not come to an end until the sun sank into the sea and the night covered the sea. At this time, the Changping fleet was also close to the Tianquan sub-fleet, and the two fleets met in the night. The entire Grand Fleet continued to sail southeast, deeper into the western Pacific.

At the same time, the Japanese Akagi detachment was also ordered to rendezvous with the Mitsu Battlefleet, and the entire large fleet continued to move westward in the night, facing the Ming fleet. The Japanese fleet continued to send destroyers and light cruisers to reconnoiter in several directions at high speeds, hoping to meet the Ming fleet tonight and start a night battle. Night warfare has always been a self-proclaimed strength of the Japanese Navy, and now they are even more eager to make full use of their hard training in peacetime on the occasion of this decisive battle.

At about 11 p.m., the "scouts" of the two large fleets met first. It was cloudy at sea, and I could barely see some stars. The Japanese light cruiser "Isuzu" and a Ming destroyer were separated by a distance of three thousand meters and discovered each other almost simultaneously. The Ming destroyer immediately fired a volley of torpedoes, and at the same time turned the rudder and quickly withdrew. The Isuzu opened fire immediately, and the first salvo only stirred up a few columns of water on the side of the Ming destroyer, but the second salvo was unusually accurate, with a 139 mm shell hitting the Ming destroyer. Suddenly, smoke billowed from the destroyer, and the fire was blazing.

By this time, the destroyer was already as conspicuous as a Christmas tree in the dark, and it was easier for the Japanese to aim. For the next ten minutes, the Isuzu dodged the torpedo and chased and hit. There was a sea of fire on the Ming destroyer, and the hull of the ship was tilted at a large angle, slowly stopped on the surface of the sea, and gradually sank.

At the same time as this battle, both sides had already sent the situation back to their respective fleets. A large number of reinforcements from both sides are rushing here at full speed.

Half an hour later, a light cruiser of the Ming army, the "Le Yi", and two destroyers arrived first. What greeted you was a bleak sight: one of your own destroyers had become a floating "island of flames", and the living sailors were struggling among the oil slicks and corpses. In the distance, a dark light cruiser was cruising rapidly, looking rather unkind.

Obviously, the Isuzu had already discovered the Le Yi first, and it was the first to fire. Seeing an orange fire flashing on the opposite side, Le Yi knew that it was not good, and the people opened fire. The Le Yi immediately returned fire and accelerated, parallel to the Isuzu sideways. Two Ming destroyers fired a barrage of torpedoes at the Isuzu as they went around the destroyed destroyer to rescue the sailors.

The two light cruisers were sailing at high speed and firing at each other several times, and the Le Yi was the first to be shot, and a 139-mm shell exploded on its side. But the Le Yi is not a light and thin destroyer after all, and it can still withstand such a shell. The captain of the Le Yi knew that the Japanese Navy was fighting at night, so he didn't plan to bombard each other from a distance of several kilometers like this, so he would have no advantage. He ordered to speed up towards the Isuzu, trying to reduce the gunnery of both sides as the distance decreased.

But just when Isuzu's goal is getting bigger and bigger, Leyi's own goal is getting bigger and bigger. When the distance between the two sides was shortened to about 1,000 meters, the Isuzu was hit by one bullet, and the Le Yi had already been hit by three bullets, and the hull was already close to being seriously injured.

Seeing that the fight would inevitably be sunk if it continued to fight, the captain of the Le Yi ordered a smoke screen to be cast with hatred, and the left full rudder retreated rapidly, leaving the battlefield with the two destroyers.

And the Japanese light cruiser Isuzu, at this time, like a samurai who has won two battles in a row and has a slight color, proudly rampant on the dark ocean, still firing non-stop, and the shells are still whizzing past the ass of the Le Yi. On the Isuzu, the wild shouts of the Japanese officers and men "Long live" rose higher and higher.

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The commander of the Japanese Grand Fleet was Vice Admiral Takasu Shiro, commander of the First Fleet of the Combined Fleet. When the news of the first battle reached the flagship Mutsu, the staff officers were applauded, and Takasu himself was also greatly encouraged. Because he had served as the captain of the Isuzu, and it was the Isuzu who played a majestic role in the first battle, Takasu was naturally very happy and thought it was a good omen.

He analyzed that as the main forces of the fleets of the two sides continued to come into contact, the Ming army would soon find that it was not an opponent of the Japanese army in night battles, and then would make a wise choice: keep a distance from the Japanese army at night, disengage from the battle, and wait until daytime to fight a decisive battle. Takasu decided not to let the Ming army succeed, and strive to carry out a decisive battle of the main force at night, so that the advantages of the Japanese army could be brought into full play. He ordered the main battlefleet to speed up, quickly lean upward, and once the position of the main force of the Ming army was clear, it would immediately meet it to seek a decisive battle.

Just when the light cruiser of the Ming army Le Yi was defeated, the first wave of the "main strikers" of the two sides encountered. The first to enter the battlefield was the heavy cruiser fleet of the Ming army. Sun Wu, Yue Fei, Shizhong, and three heavy cruisers lined up in a horizontal line, spewing black smoke and violently appeared from the night. Immediately, the three warships turned at the same time, the horizontal formation became a column, the original front became the side, and all the main guns were freed.

The Isuzu was still chasing after Le Yi, and coldly saw a bright spot flashing in front of him, and there were three tall figures faintly in the flash. Immediately, the air roared, and a dense column of water jumped more than ten meters ahead.

At this time, the Isuzu found out that it had collided with the three big guys of the Ming army, and it knew that it was not good, so it immediately turned the rudder and fled. But the three heavy cruisers of the Ming army had already seen it. The Isuzu was hit by a main gun shell of the Le Yi, and now there are still flames on the deck that have not been extinguished, which is extremely conspicuous in the dark night, and Lao Yuan was locked by the fire control system of the three Ming army heavy patrols. And the Ming army revisited himself in the dark, and it was not until the time of firing that he was discovered by the Isuzu.

However, the night artillery skills of the Ming army were indeed inferior to those of the Japanese army. The three heavy cruisers aimed for a long time and fired a salvo at the same time, but not a single shell hit in the first round. But now it's close, after all, and the Isuzu shines like a torch. After the first round of test firing, the three Ming cruisers were corrected, and in the blink of an eye the second salvo was fired, and at least three shells hit the Isuzu. There was a violent explosion on the Isuzu, black smoke rising into the sky, and flames erupted far away, illuminating the sea for several kilometers as if it were day.

This is clearly the ignition of the ammunition depot. After the explosion, the Isuzu broke into two and quickly sank into the water. The oil slick on the surface of the sea was still burning, and the water surface that had just sunk was stirring in a large whirlpool, and a large number of bubbles and white gas were rising, and even the sea water was boiling.

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At this time, the Japanese heavy cruiser fleet also arrived on the battlefield. There were 4 ships in the first round, Mogami, Mikuma, Myoko, and Haguro. While calling for reinforcements, the Ming army took the lead in firing. The destroyers brought by both sides were not idle, galloping at high speed in front of the two armies, constantly firing torpedoes at the enemy fleet's positions and firing flares over the enemy fleet. Soon, the entire sea was illuminated by magnesium light. The heavy cruisers of both sides cleaved the waves, the guns rumbled, the firelight flashed through the night sky, and the air was filled with the piercing whistling of shells.

In this way, the first wave of the main battle of the fleets of both sides began.