The Hiei was hit hard, which made Mikawa Junichi feel unprecedented pressure. Originally, the four battle cruisers of the Red Navy had a great advantage over the two battle cruisers, but now they have become four to one, even if Kondo Nobutake and Takagi Takeo's several heavy cruisers can continue to fight, but it is almost impossible for the heavy patrol to wrestle with the battle patrol, once the King Kong makes a mistake, the rest of the heavy patrol is probably going to be stewed.

After thinking for three minutes, Mikawa had to admit that he couldn't hold on now, so he could only send a telegram to Kondo Nobutake: "The enemy ship has a significant advantage, do you want to retreat temporarily?" ”

As the commander of the fleet, Kondo Nobutake also felt that the situation was not good, and in the interval between the artillery battles, his two heavy cruisers launched two rounds of torpedo attacks, but they could not help the enemy. Now that the Hiei has been hit hard again, the King Kong alone may not be able to support it alone. It seems unlikely that any further fight will achieve the desired result?

For Nobutake Kondo, the so-called ideal result is, of course, the destruction of the fleet of American animals, preferably the destruction of the enemy's aircraft carriers. But at the moment, it was beaten away by four capital ships without even seeing the enemy's aircraft carriers, which is a bit embarrassing no matter how you look at it.

After thinking for a moment, Kondo Nobutake asked the left and right staff officers, "What about the enemy ship losses?" ”

In fact, Kondo Nobutake's question is worth touching, and the reason why he asked about the losses of enemy ships was nothing more than to want to know if he could explain to his superiors. If you sink or damage several enemy ships, you will not be ashamed to give an account of the past even if you retreat temporarily. Of course, if there are no results in the war, with the personality of the Japanese who want to save face, it is estimated that they will have to hold on to the end.

Of course, in fact, Nobutake's original intention in asking this question was not to save face, but in fact he wanted to convey an intention to the staff officers - to give me a reasonable result. We're going to win.

Yes. Nobutake Kondo's original intention was actually to retreat. Because no matter how you look at it, you can't beat it, but he, the commander, took the initiative to ask for a retreat, which is really something. It is better for the staff officers to take the initiative to suggest and give a plausible explanation - for example, we did not retreat on our own initiative, but turned on victory, or temporarily retreated and repaired until the next day.

All in all, Nobutake Kondo can't take the initiative to retreat, he has to pretend to maintain the image of the chief. At this time, it is particularly important that the staff officers can understand the intentions of the commander. If you want to meet that kind of stunned youth, it's really hard to do.

Fortunately, there were still many staff officers in the Japanese army who knew how to share the worries of their commanders, and someone soon reported the brilliant results of tonight's battle: "The Fourth Destroyer Squadron reports sinking one enemy light cruiser and severely damaging two. The 5th and 7th heavy cruiser squadrons reported sinking two enemy heavy cruisers and seriously damaging four. Our 4th Heavy Cruiser Squadron and the 1st Squadron of the 3rd Battleship jointly inflicted heavy damage on one enemy battleship. ”

Let's just say that, according to the Japanese statistics, on this night they sank a total of three cruisers and heavily damaged six, in addition to one battleship. Judging from this account, not to mention the brilliant results, but I can really explain the past.

Anyway, Kondo Nobutake's face is much better. He hummed softly and nodded and ordered, "Immediately report this good news to Chief Yamamoto." Tell this team that our fleet has temporarily retreated and repaired, waiting for the next day to fight again! ”

About forty minutes later, Yamamoto received this telegram, and as the commander of the Combined Fleet, he could certainly see the truth. Regardless of whether these results are true or not, I am afraid that Kondo Nobutake is not temporarily retreating, and there is no possibility of fighting again in the future. I'm afraid that the situation of his fleet is not good, otherwise he would not have asked for a retreat after the "great victory".

Of course, Yamamoto Fifty-six will not be stupid enough to debunk all this, since the situation on Kondo's side is not good, it is not the best strategy to continue to hold on or fight to the death, and it is more important to push the boat down the river and let him retreat to preserve his strength.

So Yamamoto quickly agreed to Kondo's request, but he was undoubtedly apprehensive about the battle after dawn. Why? Because according to the plan of the Black Island Turtle Man, the carrier-based aircraft of the Second Mobile Force were to land on the Flying Dragon and the Ruifeng. At this time, whether the Ruifeng can still join the Wyvern as planned is really a question. Once the two aircraft carriers cannot converge, won't some of the carrier-based aircraft of the Second Mobile Force fall into the sea?

So at that time, Yamamoto Isoroku categorically ordered Kondo Nobutake to join Nagumo Tadaichi as soon as possible, and he was also thinking about what was going on with this American fleet that had a melee with Kondo Nobutake. Yes, Yamamoto Isoroku felt very strange, because according to the results of Nagumo Tadaichi's reconnaissance, the American fleet should still be north of Midway, but the location of Kondo Shintake's encounter with the enemy ship was west of Midway, which is very different from each other.

Yamamoto Isoroku had to consider a question: Could it be that there were two American fleets on the battlefield?

If this speculation is true, then everything can be explained, and that is that Nobutake Kondo and Tadaichi Nagumo are facing two very different fleets. And this will cause big trouble!

Yes, Yamamoto Fifty-six is quite worried, if these two American fleets have aircraft carriers, then the Black Island Turtle Man's counterattack plan tomorrow is almost a piece of waste paper, no matter what, it will not be able to win, and there is even the possibility that the meat bun will fight the dog and there is no return.

Thinking of this, Yamamoto Isoroku immediately dictated two more telegrams to Nobutake Kondo and Tadaichi Nagumo. A telegram to Nobutake Kondo asked him to immediately eject a water scout to find out the situation of the enemy fleet, especially whether the Americans had aircraft carriers. And the telegram to Nagumo Tadaichi was similar, except that he was asked to confirm the enemy's position and the number of aircraft carriers.

The two telegrams were sent out at half past one in the morning, and about an hour later, Nagumo Tadaichi and Kondo Nobutake received them, respectively. At that time, the situation of the two was completely different.

Let's talk about the situation of Nagumo Tadaichi first, according to the request of Kuroshima Kameto, Nagumo Tadaichi retreated north at high speed with the Flying Dragon and other cruisers and destroyers, and especially did not fire torpedoes at the Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu that caught fire and exploded. Because the Black Island Turtle People still have the dream of dragging these three aircraft carriers back to their hometown for repairs after defeating the beautiful animals.

At that time, Nagumo Tadaichi left only two destroyers to observe and monitor, and as soon as he found that the American animals were trying to approach these three aircraft carriers, he flatly fired torpedoes to sink them.

By about ten o'clock in the evening, Nagumo Tadaichi's fleet was about two hundred nautical miles away from the American task force. This distance is not safe enough. But fortunately, the carrier-based aircraft of the Enterprise and the Hornet did not detect Nagumo Tadaichi. After some emergency repairs. Some of the damaged carrier-based aircraft on the Wyvern have also been repaired, and at least Yamaguchi is confident that he can do a big job.

However, Nagumo Tadaichi did not have so much confidence, in his opinion, there were four aircraft carriers that failed to win during the day, and at this time there were only two small aircraft carriers and a hundred carrier-based aircraft left, which was even more unpredictable. Moreover, Nagumo Tadaichi also had certain doubts about the sinking of two enemy aircraft carriers reported by Yamaguchi.

Of course, Nagumo Zhongyi is not envious, jealous and hateful, but just on the facts. Wartime pilots are spiked because of adrenaline. What they see and experience is not necessarily true. What's more, the human eye is not so reliable, it can be said that a considerable part of the results on the battlefield are false positives, except for these mistakes, the real situation is probably far from as good as you think.

What's more, Nagumo Tadaichi also thinks that the tactics of the Black Island Turtle People are also a little taken for granted, according to the plan, this batch of planes will fly nearly 1,700 kilometers (the Type 99 ship explosion will take off later because of its short range, but it will also fly 1,200 kilometers, which is almost close to its ultimate range). Such a long distance is quite a test for the pilot. If there is a problem with positioning and navigation, the consequences are unimaginable.

It's not just the plane and the pilot, because flying long distances is a problem. When these carrier-based planes took off from the aircraft carrier of the Second Mobile Force, they only refueled and did not hang bombs. That is to say, after landing on the Wyvern and Ruifeng, the bomb hanging and refueling operations will be carried out. However, according to the time, it was about 8 o'clock in the morning anyway. If you count the more than an hour of refueling and hanging the bomb, it will be about nine o'clock anyway.

And now in the summer of the Northern Hemisphere, the days are very long, usually at 5 o'clock in the morning. In other words, for more than four hours between five in the morning and nine in the morning, Nagumo Tadaichi's fleet will be quite dangerous. Once the U.S. military discovers their position, it is entirely possible to attack first, and if the Flying Dragon and the Ruifeng are destroyed, then more than 80 carrier-based planes flying from the Second Mobile Force will also have to go to sea to feed the fish.

All in all, the plan was too "fine-grained" to leave much room for error, and if something went wrong, it would be devastating. But people can't help but make mistakes, especially in a high-tension environment, where the likelihood of making mistakes is even higher.

Anyway, Nagumo Zhongyi was relatively nervous, in order to grab some more time back, in order to prepare more fully, he led the fleet to the north as much as possible to get closer to the second mobile force in the north and shorten the flight distance.

And his insurance practice caused two problems, one was that Yamaguchi Tabun was highly dissatisfied, and the proud tail of Yamaguchi Tawen thought that Nagumo Tadaichi was avoiding the war and was fleeing away from the American fleet. According to Yamaguchi's idea, it would be better to get closer to the American fleet, which would shorten the attack distance and make it easier to accurately grasp the movements of the enemy's aircraft carriers.

However, in Nagumo's opinion, this is also more dangerous, in fact, even at eight o'clock in the evening, Nagumo Tadaichi did not completely run out of the strike range of the US carrier-based aircraft, just because it was dark and there was no way to attack.

This is the first question, and the second question is that if Nagumo Tadaichi runs farther north, the farther Kondo Nobutake in the west will have to go north to join him. Originally, the time for Kondo Nobutake's side to hurry was tight, and if he couldn't catch up, it would be a lot of fun.

Of course, Nagumo Tadaichi also made preparatory measures, that is, in case Kondo Nobutake's Zuiho did not catch up, then take off first and those carrier-based aircraft on the Flying Dragon attacked first. After these 20 or so planes flew away, they were just right to accommodate the first batch of more than 50 carrier-based planes of the Second Mobile Unit (the 99 ship took off after the explosion and was still behind). In this way, the Wyvern alone can complete the attack.

However, this scheme was also problematic, the first problem was that the Japanese were forced to divide the attack wave into three. If you think about it, there were only 100 carrier-based aircraft, and after being divided into three waves, the power was naturally greatly dispersed, and the striking power was naturally reduced. And this is simply nonsense in the eyes of Yamaguchi Tawen, who strongly advocates sending out all the attack aircraft in one go, rather than adding fuel tactics and throwing them in little by little.

This is still the first problem, and the second problem is that after all, the second mobile unit has more than 80 carrier-based aircraft, and only one aircraft carrier of the Flying Dragon can theoretically operate with it. But it has to be said that it is quite reluctant. The more than 50 carrier-based planes that landed in the first batch of the Second Mobile Force need to be refueled and hung with bombs, right? It will take an hour no matter how fast it is. During this period. If the Pioneer Wyvern was released, the first wave of attacking planes returned. Or the Zero for the protection of the Wyvern is going to land and refuel, where is there room on the deck at that time?

Let's put it this way, Nagumo Tadaichi's approach puts high demands on the operation of the deck of the aircraft carrier, and the Japanese must coordinate everything, otherwise there will be a lot of fun. Let's put it this way, the Japanese battle plan is too "compact" no matter how coordinated, and unless they can be as rigorous as robots or computer programs, the consequences will be unpredictable.

After talking about Nagumo Tadaichi's situation. Let's go back and look at Kondo Nobutake, when he sent a telegram to Yamamoto Isoroku, he didn't say that he was full of confidence, at least he was relatively sure about the retreat. His plan was for the four battleships Kongo, Atago, Chokai, and Suzuya, to cover behind, and the Hiei to go first with the seriously damaged cruiser.

In other words, Kondo Nobutake felt that it was not a big problem to withdraw while fighting, but what he didn't expect was that the script was wrong from the beginning. Less than five minutes after he gave the order to retreat, the King Kong, which was the pillar of the troops behind the palace, was blown up.

In the fierce shooting, the red Samara suddenly erupted into a small universe, and the salvo was more accurate than the last, and five of the ten salvos before and after were hit! And in these ten rounds of volleys. The King Kong actually ate a total of six 305-mm shells!

The first to be hit was the last turret in the stern of the King Kong, and the 229-mm gun shield was completely insufficient to withstand the blow of the Red Navy's 305-mm armor-piercing shells. With an earth-shattering bang, the three long barrels on the turret were all twisted and deformed, and one of the blown up barrels even plunged directly into the rear bridge of the King Kong, shattering a devil officer on the spot.

This is still the lightest, and more importantly, the armor-piercing shell rushed into the turret, killing all the devil gunners who "dared" to stand in the way, and then exploded, this explosion ignited the waiting shell in the turret, and with two earth-shattering roars, the turret turned into a leaky pressure cooker, and the top cover was removed when he landed.

The only good news for the devil is that the shell exploded in the turret, instead of rushing directly into the ammunition depot under the turret, and the consequences were unimaginable!

Just when the whole ship of the King Kong was busy fighting fires and saving people, another 305 mm shell flew over, this one was also surprisingly accurate, and hit the "leaky pressure cooker" again, the only difference was that the turret was pierced, and after killing a lot of devils who were fighting fires nearby with the metal fragments produced, it drilled into the deck of the King Kong from the other side, penetrated several decks and exploded after hitting the horizontal armor.

The explosion destroyed five or six of the surrounding compartments and caused a strike on one of the Kongo's steam turbines, causing its speed to begin to decrease, and it can be said that it was this bomb that prevented Kongo from escaping.

In the next few rounds of firefighting, the King Kong was hit one after another, the main armor under the bridge was opened, and the middle of the hull was shot and some anti-aircraft gun positions were killed, and the fire began to spread, and the King Kong became slower and slower.

Soon the King Kong was caught up because of the drop in speed, and was tragically kneaded by the four battle cruisers of the Red Navy at a very close distance. According to post-war statistics, in 10 minutes, the King Kong was hit by a total of 15 305-mm shells, 125 130-mm shells, and 278 76-mm shells, and countless 30-mm grenades fired by the AK-630.

Anyway, the King Kong was directly paralyzed on the surface of the sea, and it couldn't move. But as the old saying goes, good fortune depends on it. Seeing that the King Kong is already a dead dog, Mikhail. Sergeyevich ordered to stop the attack on the King Kong, because he felt that there was no need to waste shells and time. It's more important to hurry up and chase down the running Biei.

This decision allowed Sanchuan Junyi to pick up an old life, and he was ready to commit suicide at that time, but who would have thought that the beautiful animals would run away in a swarm, which made him breathe a little relieved, and then hurriedly ordered the officers and soldiers to rescue the King Kong, and it was best to recover the power as soon as possible.

When Mikhail. After Sergeyevich left with four battle cruisers, the destroyers Shiranui, Kasumi, and Hatsukaze, who were hiding in the dark, approached the burning Kongo and began to spray water on it to help extinguish the fire. At that time, the steering gear of the King Kong had been completely broken, and it could be said that it had lost its ability to steer. The hull of the ship was even more desolate, the bridge had burned down, and the remnants were pitch black.

Fifty meters away from the King Kong, you can smell the "aroma" of barbecue, but at that time, this smell did not promote appetite, but made people vomit. At that time, Mikawa Junichi thought that even if the Kongo was disabled, he could not give up casually, after all, this was a precious capital ship, and he hoped to use three destroyers to tow the Kongo to evacuate the battlefield.

However, this idea was opposed by Kondo Nobutake from the beginning, for the simple reason that the sea area where the Kongo was located was not safe at all, and there were cruisers and destroyers in the vicinity. Once caught, not only will the King Kong not be saved, but the three destroyers towing the King Kong will probably have to be finished together!

So Kondo Nobutake categorically ordered: "Immediately scuttle the Kongo, and all officers and men retreat on the destroyer!" (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you to Panda Baby, kaiqicat, old students, zz120, rain leaks, Nanyue Brute Dragon, Ghoul Kiss Mo and Comrade Juventus!