The two sides, which are ostensibly evenly matched, show signs of one or the other. Of the dozens of * dropped by Mitchell bombers, only one hit the target, but this insignificant * seemed to be the key to turning the tide. In the shelling from a huge distance, the Japanese army's large combined image rangefinder could not be used, which made the Japanese navy, which was more sophisticated in archery, at a disadvantage in shelling. This advantage was exaggerated by a serendipitous and extremely large hit of the US military. In the dark, God seems to have a tendency.

Rear Admiral Woking observed the situation and ordered the Northampton, as well as its sister ship, the Louisville, to approach the Fuso from the flanks at speed. It is likely that the four main guns of the Fuso were blocked by the smoke and could not exert their firepower, and maggots fell right from this wound.

The 203 mm guns of these two American cruisers could completely inflict great damage on the aging Fuso at close range. And the American battleships attracted the enemy's main artillery fire from the front.

The Japanese army had no intention of retreating and continued to move forward bravely. The Japanese fleet did not have heavy cruisers, but had a much larger number of destroyers. The enemy's strategy was clear to Keizo Furumura in the bridge of the Fuso battleship, and the Yamashiro had already identified two Northampton-class heavy cruisers in the enemy fleet 15 minutes earlier, which meant that the enemy had up to 18 203-mm cannons. But he won't take advantage of his speed to slip away. If the enemy wants to get closer, he will be in the middle of it. Today's sea conditions are good, the wind and waves are calm, and it is a good time to use the * surprise attack. He had 11 light cruisers and destroyers in his fleet, and the enemy had only 7. Among them, the Kawauchi-level light patrol of the third * team has been specially modified for the * battle, and the speed is very fast, and once it is approaching, it will play a decisive role. In addition, he has two more powerful assault ships and is currently looking for advantageous positions. He knew that the two large ships had secret weapons deployed on them that specialized in destroying enemy battleships.

The lower sea conditions increased the distance at which both sides began shelling. It also allows Chiyoda's radar to track targets at a longer distance.

In the command module of the Chiyoda, Beppu is a famous friend of Daisa, waiting for the time to come. He was shouldering the first actual combat of this new weapon. The Chitose's resounding victory ten days ago put invisible pressure on him. He knew that he was armed with a more advanced model than similar weapons on the Chitose. He had known a few years ago that radios could be used to track air targets in addition to communication, but it was still unheard of to use to control weapons.

This weapon uses an electric probe as an eye, and will show the location of the target in a peak situation on the oscilloscope. What the operator has to do is much simpler than his counterparts on the Chitose, as long as he aims at the target, and the flight altitude is automatically controlled, which does not require human control and is not disturbed by sunlight. However, there is also a problem, that is, the target will suddenly disappear due to the clutter generated by the waves, and even if the target can be seen visually, the radar may not be able to detect it. If the radar rediscovers the target in a short time, it will have time to correct the correct trajectory, but if it takes a long time, it means that an expensive weapon has gone down the drain.

Beppu Daisa's original plan was that if the situation stabilized, he was not in a hurry to hit the first serve*, but now the situation is not good. The flagship, at a distance of more than 12 nautical miles, was miraculously hit by the Americans. Then the Americans very professionally moved in the direction of the damaged starboard side (which happened to be on Chiyoda's side), trying to take advantage of the ineffectiveness of the 4 main guns here and expand the advantage.

The fleet began to make desperate attempts to turn the tide with those small ships of several thousand tons, but it was not difficult to dodge * in the clear South Pacific Ocean in such clear weather.

Historic moments are emerging, and sometimes God just needs to show his will quietly – like the one that hit the rangefinder impartially*. It can lead to a deflection of the balance of strength between the two sides, and this sign is very clear.

Beppu Osa ordered a quick approach to the battlefield, and he waited for the radar tracking to last for a longer period of time, with a minimum of 50 seconds per minute, and still only 30 seconds. This means that half the time the radar does not see the target at all.

The U.S. fleet had long since spotted an enemy warship in the east, wandering near the horizon, and in the distance could only see two bloated masts (in fact, two electric scouts) with huge cage watchtowers installed. But no one cares about it, because it's too far away to pose a threat.

The Louisville's tail gun, at a reluctant angle, fired several shells at the approaching Chiyoda, as a warning, to let the other side know that it was being seen. But the Brain Speed Japanese ship did not fight back. The U.S. military estimated that the Japanese ship's main guns were not powerful enough and were ready to rush up and fire*, or they were just bluffing to distract them. The detection target is located at a distance of about 20 nautical miles.

In the 419 command cabin, Cheng Dayang and Lin Xiuxuan began to talk about whether to repeat the old trick and remotely control the enemy's * counter-attack.

Cheng Dayang advocated that once the enemy launched, it would be possible to turn the situation around, so he suggested using electronic superiority to control * to go around and hit the Japanese, 419 ammunition was insufficient, this was an opportunity to send it to the door. But Lin Xiuxuan did not agree with such a plan. Lin estimated that Makino was monitoring from a nearby ship, so such an approach could be a surprise. He advised to leave the naval battle alone, because no matter which side wins, it is unlikely to be decisive. 419's mission is to find Makino and destroy him.

Cheng Dayang couldn't agree with Lin Xiuxuan's train of thought at all, he felt that since Makino might use cherry blossom bombs to attack one of the battleships on every ship nearby (he estimated that Makino would hide on the battleship), there would be a certain probability of destroying this dog day.

Lin Xiuxuan shook his head, he felt that Cheng Dayang had experienced so many things, and he still had no concept of the probability of killing the traverser, thinking that he could fulfill his wish by chance.

The two sides quarreled, and seeing that the Chiyoda's radar continued to track the time more and more stable, the cunning Japanese warship began to turn to maintain its speed. This means that it no longer needs to keep closer, and it needs to turn some of the bow to increase the launch angle.

The commissar sat in front of the screen and watched as the enemy began to uncover the tarpaulin behind him, revealing huge weapons that were somewhat different from those on the Kagoshima test site. Maybe in a few minutes, the enemy will be attacking.

"Don't make any noise," the commissar shouted, stopping the two of them, "I have an idea." ”

Both sides turned to him.

"I have a compromise."

As soon as the political commissar said this, Cheng Dayang and Lin Xiuxuan were a little deflated, obviously he came to the mud again, but let's listen to what he has to say.

"I think Captain Cheng Dayang ...... There is also Lin Zhi's statement, which is all reasonable. But it's all too extreme......"

"Well, let's go ahead and see." Lin Xiuxuan nodded.

"In my opinion, the US Navy has an advantage in tonnage and firepower, and the second air cover is approaching, and they have a good chance of winning, and we don't need to play God."

"But you have to count those two ......," Cheng Dayang couldn't help but interject.

"Listen to me first. We don't have to control those Sakura Bombs to fight back against the Japanese ships, that would be too obvious, it will alarm Makino, so it will be difficult for us to find him, we only need to move a little bit and let them all be lost, so that the enemy's weapons test will end in failure, and they will not be able to equip a large number of them in a short time...... And the more Makino appears near the Chiyoda, the more likely it is to participate in troubleshooting. ”

There was silence in the command cabin for a while, Cheng and Lin were both evaluating the words of the political commissar, although he was making peace with the mud again, but this time it was obviously reasonable. The main thing that leads to Makino's assumption seems to be right.

The Chiyoda continued to track, and Beppu Osa received the exciting news that his radar could track the target continuously 95% of the time. He ordered an immediate battle.

Two* took off from the launch rails and flew towards the nearest cruiser, the USS Louisville. The Sakura shell launched by the Chiyoda is an improved version, which reduces the charge, increases the speed and armor-piercing ability, and theoretically can paralyze a 10,000-ton cruiser with a single shot. Now there are two shots flying to the target.

The steam trail left by 419 from the surface of the sea, a ballistic correction of *, which is a command-guided *, is still only a primitive guided weapon, but it is clear that the Japanese have taken another step. First of all, judging from the trajectory of the Sakura bomb in flat flight, some kind of altimetry device should have been used. Although 419 did not directly observe the last Chitose attack, from the description of the American pilots who listened to it, it was a high-throw trajectory, and it was judged that the Japanese still lacked accurate altimetry at the time, but now they seem to have it.

* Fly close to the sea at an altitude of 120 meters and quickly pounce on the target. Thanks to radar ranging, it can accurately determine the timing of the altitude reduction. The drawings salvaged a few months ago played a key role in the overall design, otherwise a single altimetry device would have been enough for the designer to make a lot of detours. Of course, all thanks to Makino's improvement of the early German autopilot, as well as the exploration of the tube era, radio remote control, which eventually made the Sakura Bomb a stable platform. After a long period of hibernation, Makino's tremendous destructive power is now being rapidly unleashed. This destructive power dwarfs the significance of the assassination of Asano or Hasegawa.

According to Shu Ping's estimate, the cherry blossom bomb fired by Chiyoda is only two steps away from the automatic homing*. It depends on the progress of the enemy's automatic control technology and radar miniaturization, and it is believed that with Makino's castle, both of these things should be under development. As soon as the * of active radar guidance appears, the jamming capability of the 419 will be greatly reduced, and it will be difficult for the UAV to simultaneously jam several * at the end without relying on commands, and at the same time flying in different directions.

The Louisville began to counterattack, and although the anti-aircraft artillery crew had never seen anything like this, the lads began to fight back according to common sense. But the subsonic speed of * makes it extremely difficult to estimate the amount of lead, especially after these * have entered the dive trajectory. Still some small-caliber ammunition hit *, but * the armor in the front (in fact, also armor-piercing shells) blocked the machine-gun bullets. The American crews watched * getting closer and bigger.