"There was a fierce sound of gunfire from the rear of the fleet," Gorshkov recalled, "the situation was not clear, I did not know what was happening behind until a few minutes later Comrade Kuznetsov informed me that the Murmansk formation had been attacked by the enemy, and he ordered me to go to the reinforcement ...... as fast as possible"

At that time, Gorshkov's four heavy cruisers followed closely by the two aircraft carriers, and immediately after receiving the order, they began to turn the rudder and move closer to Murmansk, which at that time was more than eight kilometers away. This distance was not too far for the Tallinn's 203-mm guns, and it was completely within the effective range, but Gorshkov did not blindly give the order to open fire immediately.

He later explained: "The situation on the battlefield was chaotic, and the sea search radar caught more than a dozen targets, and they were mixed together, and it was difficult to distinguish between friend and foe ......"

Of course, this is not the most critical reason, and another reason why Gorshkov does not advocate immediate fire is that he does not want to reveal his position too soon. Like Yurisic, he was also quite jealous of the Japanese army's mine warfare capabilities. And now his fleet and even the main forces of the fleet are practically within the effective range of Japanese torpedoes. Therefore, in addition to urgently retracting the formation, he immediately ejected several water reconnaissance planes.

Just as Gorshkov cautiously approached the area where the incident occurred, the observation post on the Yura finally spotted the five torpedoes fired by the Kokang earlier, and they immediately issued a warning to Nishimura Shoji. However, the latter, after raising his binoculars and seeing the torpedoes with the help of flares, shook his head with disdain: "What kind of garbage is this!" ”

Yes, the five 53-39 torpedoes that came slowly and unhurriedly were out-and-out garbage in the eyes of Nishimura Shoji, and the Type 93 acid torpedoes had a range of 48 to 50 kilometers at 20 knots. The range is up to 36 km at speeds from 38 to 40 knots. And these beautiful animals in front of them did not choose to attack with the fastest speed mode at such a close distance. This speaks volumes about how rubbish its torpedo performance is.

Anyway, in Nishimura's opinion, it was not a problem at all to avoid this batch of torpedoes, because the number of these torpedoes was too small and the track was obvious. Of course, he didn't care, Nishimura Shoji still fulfilled his duties as a commander, he notified the destroyers behind to pay attention to the enemy's torpedoes, and then waited ******** the moment when his torpedoes were powerful.

After completing the turn, the 4th Destroyer Squadron, led by Yura, immediately fired a wave of torpedoes, in addition to the Haruyu, which had already been seriously damaged. Its main target was the Murmansk, in order to sink the "heavy" cruiser. The Japanese did their best.

"Attention, the enemy fired a torpedo!" Yurisic quickly noticed the movement of the Japanese ships, and he immediately issued a warning to the friendly ships, but to his surprise, the enemy torpedoes had almost no track and could not observe their presence at all, which caused great trouble in evading their attacks.

"Right full rudder!"

Yurisic could only order an immediate and complete change of course, and at the same time as he began to turn the rudder, the Murmansk also began to make an emergency turn, and it was clear that Kokorin also knew that the enemy's torpedoes were powerful. The only one that moved a little slower was the Honorable, and the rigid and conservative Captain Brkic insisted on turning only after receiving orders from the Murmansk. And this also laid the groundwork for the subsequent catastrophe.

Because of the emergency turn, the Murmansk and the two destroyers had to suspend the salvo. Turning to firing flares in the direction of the Japanese fleet, even with radar, was a little more reliable for most traditional naval officers.

At the same time, the Ro-2, which had taken off from the Kiev, also arrived at the scene and also began to drop flares at the sea where the Japanese fleet was located, and for a time the entire sea was illuminated. Jurisic later recalled: "Good fellow, we were taken aback, there were a dozen enemy ships lined up on the opposite side, some firing fiercely, some firing torpedoes, and our heavy cruisers were not yet visible, which made me feel that the situation was somewhat serious." ”

As the Murmansk and the two destroyers began to turn, the pressure on the Japanese was light, and as more and more friendly ships arrived on the scene, the Japanese gained an overwhelming advantage in firepower.

Kokorin recalled: "The enemy's artillery skills were quite masterful, and it is difficult to imagine that this was achieved without the help of radar. A row of flares flickered above our heads, and through them we could see more shells flying towards us, and a constant row of drainage columns rising from the surface of the sea, sometimes dense enough to cover us......"

Yurisic also recalled: "The enemy kept getting hits, and an AK-630 automatic gun on the middle deck happened to be hit, and in an instant the gun disappeared, and all that was left was a large hole in its original position, and thick smoke and flames kept coming out of it...... Immediately after that, the bow and stern of the ship were also shot, and some of the cabins were flooded, and all the electric and hand-cranked water pumps were used, which barely ensured that the hull did not continue to tilt......"

However, compared with the bullet and the tilt of the hull, what was more unfortunate was what happened to the Honor. As mentioned earlier, the ship was slow to react and missed the best opportunity to dodge the torpedo, and even if Captain Burkić later took out the art of steering dancing on the tip of the knife, he could not prevent the fate of being hit by the torpedo.

The ship's veteran later recalled: "I stood on the bridge and watched the situation in the sea, but it was difficult to find the spear torpedoes, even if my eyes were bigger than a light bulb." Comrade Burkić himself was at the helm, and one torpedo crossed the bow of the ship, and before we could breathe a sigh of relief, the other rushed towards our hull, and he could only desperately turn the steering wheel to dodge...... My dear, my heart was in my throat, and the torpedo almost grazed our hull, and just as we were breathing a sigh of relief applauding Comrade Burkić's superb steering skills, another torpedo that we did not find hit us......"

With a loud bang, the hull of the Venerable was lifted out of the water, and the entire bow was covered with a curtain of water, and in the words of the veteran above, "I was thrown into the air, and my head hit the ceiling of the bridge so hard that my eyes were full of stars." Then I fell down hard and hit the deck, and it was a terrible blow. I felt like my whole body was falling apart. About a minute too much. Maybe longer. The screeching sirens finally brought me back to my senses, and I slowly climbed up by the bulkhead, stunned by the sight before me! ”

The Type 93 acid torpedo hit the front of the Honorable hull, to be precise, near the A turret, and the torpedo filled with 480 kilograms of Shimose HUO medicine was so powerful that it broke the keel of this part in an instant. Under the combined effect of the waves and the huge kinetic energy generated by the explosion, a part of the Honorable about 20 meters long bow was blown away!

The new air defense destroyer, which had been in service for less than a year, suffered a catastrophe, anyway for Lieutenant Commander Kokolin, who witnessed the scene on the bridge. His only reaction at the time was: "The Venerable is over!" ”

The Honorable was in a really bad situation at the time, with a large amount of water ingress from losing half of her head, and the huge vibration and shock wave from the explosion also shut down the generators, which caused the electric pumps to not work, and it seemed only a matter of time before the raging waters soaked the destroyer. What's worse is that the huge vibration stopped the main engine at the same time, and she was hit and dropped anchor, she was simply a live target on the sea, even if she was not flooded, the Japanese would not let her go.

At that time, however, Kokorin and Yurisic did not care whether the Noble was alive or dead, because the Japanese were almost entirely focused on them. In the words of Yurisic: "The heavy artillery fire was almost suffocating!" ”

In just ten minutes, the Murmansk and Kokang were hit ten and twelve, respectively. Fires broke out in several places on the hull, and some machine guns and anti-aircraft guns were destroyed, which looked like they were going to be dog-strapped anyway.

Nishimura Shoji was so pleased with this scene that he ordered the duty officer to record it in the battle log: "Destroy one enemy cruiser." ". He even proudly said to his chief of staff: "It is only a matter of time before all enemy ships are destroyed!" ”

However, Nobutake Kondo, who had just rushed to the edge of the battlefield, was not so optimistic, because he noticed that Nishimura Shoji had not yet found the main force of the American animal fleet, and he had always attacked only two "light cruisers" and one "heavy cruiser", where was the enemy's main force? This question plagues Nobutake Kondo.

Previously, after hearing the news that Nishimura Shoji had discovered the US fleet, he immediately ejected a group of water reconnaissance planes to reconnoitre, but what made the vice admiral depressed was that these water reconnaissance planes were like kites with broken strings, and there was no news at all, which made him very anxious.

So where did Nobutake's water reconnaissance plane go? It was not simple, one group did not find the Red Navy, the other was discovered by the Red Navy and immediately shot down. In the face of the Red Navy's prevention and control system, these water ducks are really not enough.

Of course, there is nothing to be happy about Kuznetsovle saying that shooting down these seaplanes means that his aircraft carrier is very likely to have been discovered by devils, and although he does not know whether the devil pilots have the ability to fight at night, he still understands that the situation is grim in line with the principle of leniency for the enemy.

"Did the reconnaissance aircraft detect the enemy's aircraft carrier?" Kuznetsov was very concerned about this issue, and if he could, he would really like to eject another batch of Ro-2s to figure out the situation. However, he knew that this would not work, because the Red Navy still had too few pilots qualified to take off and land at night, and if all these good men were sent out to reconnoitre, once an enemy plane appeared or found a Japanese aircraft carrier, who would attack?

Kuznetsov was walking around the bridge anxiously, and on the other side his partner Sukhoi was not much stronger, and the mustache was pricking up his ears to listen to the radio, and the two mustaches were constantly trembling slightly, which fully showed that he was also in a hurry.

"The Venerable has been badly damaged, oh my God, the torpedo has blown off half of its hull!"

When the pilot of the Ro-2 brought the news, Kuznetsov's face was rather ugly, every ship in the fleet was his treasure, and any loss made him extremely sad. Especially the Honorable is bad news that a catastrophe is coming at the first hearing, and it can be said that Kuznetsov is in a terrible mood.

He stared at the charts with his eyes fixed, and the only thing on his mind was - what the hell are you doing, Gorshkov?

It stands to reason that Gorshkov should have arrived on the scene and entered the battle, but so far his four heavy cruisers have not reported any news, or that he has not contacted the flagship at all, and he has disappeared from the battlefield like a ghost.

If he didn't know Gorshkov's character very well, Kuznetsov might have wondered if the kid had run away with the wind.

"Would you like to contact Comrade Gorshkov?" Sukhoi asked suddenly.

Kuznetsov shook his head and said: "No, I know him, he must have his own plans!" ”

Gorshkov did have another set of plans. He didn't go directly to reinforce Kokolin. Instead, it avoided the frontal area where the Japanese ships were gathered. Detoured back to the side of the Japanese fleet. He believed that with the Japanese combat style, they would soon project a large number of torpedoes at the Murmansk and other three ships on the front, and with the performance of the Japanese 93 torpedoes, they could run 20 kilometers at the fastest speed, and there were almost no trails, and if they rushed to the front, they would inevitably be ruined by this wave of torpedo offensives, and if they did not do well, they would pay losses.

Gorshkov, although he did not like these heavy cruisers very much, did not mean that he would put his comrades in danger. He chose to avoid the front of the Japanese ship and make a detour to the other side to avoid being struck by lightning. You can also hit the opponent by surprise.

It should be said that Gorshkov was quite right, and when he suddenly appeared on the battlefield and greeted the Japanese with a 203-mm gun, they were stunned.

"Yaga! How did the enemy ship come out of that direction! ”

Nishimura Shoji burst into foul language, because Gorshkov appeared in a completely different direction than the direction in which the Kokang and Murmansk were found earlier, and now these four enemy ships looked bigger than the three cruisers that attacked before, what is this? Could it be a battleship?

This discovery made Nishimura Shoji smoke in a hurry, and if it was proved later that these ships were battleships of American animals, it would prove that he had made a great mistake. Consume a part of the precious torpedo in vain! And it also misled the main force of the fleet, which is simply a heinous crime!

Nishimura Shoji, who was so anxious that he jumped to his feet, didn't have much to do. In addition to ordering the ships to quickly load their torpedoes and prepare for the second lightning strike operation, it was to remind Nobutake Kondo that there was a suspected enemy battleship.

Then Nishimura Shoji began the second turn, he had to quickly adjust the formation to deal with the four "battleships" on the other side, and at this moment, his good calculation was over, and just as he had just turned, the destroyer Murayu, which was following Yura, suddenly caught fire and exploded.

The explosion of the Murayu left the Japanese completely confused and did not understand what was going on, and after the battle, the Japanese believed that the ammunition in the ammunition depot of the Murayu should have spontaneously combusted and then exploded.

This possibility is not impossible, who has made the Japanese accustomed to using Shimose HUO medicine for a long time. The main ingredient of the so-called Shimose HUO medicine is actually picric acid. Picric acid is a kind of ZHA medicine with high mechanical sensitivity, which is particularly prone to fire and explosion after being impacted, especially after combining with metal. Mikasa during the Russo-Japanese War and the explosion of the Mutsu in World War II were inseparably related to it.

But this time, it's really not a matter of bitter acid, the real cause of the explosion of the Murayu is a thunderstorm. Earlier, the Kokang and the Venerable had fired a batch of torpedoes, which had completed the required "distance" as set and then turned back to launch a second attack. The Murayu was also lucky, and it might not hit it if it didn't turn the second time, but Nishimura Shoji ordered to turn again, which made the blind cat 53-39 torpedo run into a dead mouse.

The 53-39 torpedo is very average in terms of range, speed and concealment, and its caliber is smaller than that of the Type 93 oxygen torpedo, but it is still very powerful. Its thunder head is filled with 317 kilograms of blunt black aluminum ZHA medicine, which is a composite ZHA drug, and its main ingredient is ******. The explosive power is several notches higher than that of picric, and the natural 53-39 torpedo is not necessarily less powerful than the Type 93 torpedo.

The Murayu that was hit also took a dirt plane on the spot, and a super large hole was opened in the middle of the hull, and the sea water poured into it, and the Kung Fu Murayu tilted fifteen degrees in a few minutes.

Let's put it this way, the Village Rain is also useless at this time, and the next battle will have nothing to do with it. Not only was the Murayu unlucky, but Yura was also unlucky, and at the same time as the Murayu was in the middle of the thunder, Gorshkov ordered all ships to gather fire to attack the lead ship of the Japanese fleet, which was actually a concentrated attack on Yura.

The four improved heavy cruisers had a total of 36 203-mm guns, which is no joke, especially since Gorshkov's fleet was lucky enough to get a hit in the first salvo.

Yura ate two 203-mm grenades on the spot, and a 140-mm gun on the right side of the bridge suddenly disappeared into a burst of fire. And that's just the beginning, because the 76 guns on the four Soviet heavy cruisers also quickly began to fire, don't look at its small power, but the rate of fire is fast!

With a rate of fire of 40 rounds per minute, it was like a machine gun, and the deck and superstructure of the Yura were turned into hell on earth by the greetings of the 76 guns of the four heavy cruisers. The superstructure was beaten like honeycomb coal, and the deck was filled with corpses and wounded, and the flames slowly ignited, soon covering most of the hull.

At the same time, the 203-mm guns of the Soviet heavy patrol were not idle, although they could not fire at the opponent like the 76-mm machine guns, but from time to time one or two hits were fatal. The battle lasted only ten minutes, and under the blow of the heavy cruiser of the Red Navy, the bridge of the Yura collapsed with a bang, and a group of officers, including Nishimura Shoji, were either killed or wounded, and they were considered to be stewed! (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you to the rustic Duanfang, 13452314, the one-horned sea cucumber bread cat, the king of mending knives, the ghoul kissing ink and Comrade Juventus!