"Division?"

"Divide the troops!"

Facing Li Mo, who came in time at the right time, Chen Ping nodded emphatically after telling the content of the intercepted telegram he speculated, and then suddenly drew two thick lines along the southeastern section of the Solomon Islands, branching off from the Hebrides where Vanunatu is located, and then merging into arrows in Caledonia. 【 I want:Super fast update 】&p;&p;Chapter Baidu search:Pen fun&p;&p;

Looking at the demonstration line drawn, Li Mo and the others frowned, judging from Claxton's previous cautious, almost hide-and-seek character, it was normal for him to choose to divide his troops, because he must have received the telegram sent by the two British detachments before the fall, and from the dispatch of eight battleships and heavy patrols to intercept them, it was inferred that the number of capital ships of the fleet ambushing him was about four.

In this way, as long as he divides his forces, then he can keep at least four capital ships, and if he is lucky, it is possible to keep six or seven.

It should be said that Claxton's move was indeed hit on the soft underbelly of the first task force, although they were equipped with six more light cruisers and six destroyers before departure, but it was difficult for light cruisers and destroyers to play a role in the decisive battle of the fleet, and the high-powered heavy artillery was not a joke, especially before German intelligence said that the United States had purchased a rangefinder from Germany a few years ago, and also obtained some design drawings of the fire control system from France, plus the news sent by Gu Junhuo through the Rabaul telegraph station last night also mentioned that it was found that there was a three-meter rangefinder on the US ** ship, from which it can be deduced that 7 percent of the US capital ships are likely to be equipped with a primary fire control system.

The primary fire control system is not too threatening, but it can greatly help the U.S. fleet guns increase the range, and with the unique tall cage mast of the United States, this means that the eight capital ships of the United States may also have the ability to engage more than 20,000 meters.

The long distance of the engagement means that the pursuit and interception time will be extended, and Gu Junhuo, who does not have an advantage in speed, may face the problem of not being able to catch up with the enemy.

And after being divided into two forces, the choice of the first task force will also encounter difficulties, because the Hebrides are not very far from the garrisoned port of Noumea, and the islands are dense, so it is impossible to finish one and then pursue the other, so you can only choose to eat four of them!

So how will Gu Junhuo arrange it?

"I know him, I think he will also divide his troops to intercept!" Chen Ping took out a cigarette, lit it and exhaled, his eyes flashed: "That small, his appetite is bigger than anyone else!" ”

"Do you want to remind him not to take risks?" Rong Yu, who had already arrived, immediately asked.

Chen Ping shook his head: "It's useless, he is still silent on the radio, even if he receives our telegram, I'm afraid he won't change his mind." ”

"But if we divide our troops, I'm afraid. &p;&p;Chapter Baidu Search: Biqu&p;&p;"

"There's nothing to be afraid of." Li Mo waved his hand, stopped everyone, and said coldly: "There has never been a bloodless battle, if Gu Jun Huo can choose and defeat the four heavy cruisers, then it will be worth paying a little sacrifice!" ”

These words made everyone breathe a sigh of relief, because what the emperor said was right, except for Ning Xiaochuan, who suffered a little crime in the previous two battles, it was basically smooth sailing, which also made many people have high expectations for this interception battle, but the battle at sea is like stabbing each other in a black room, if even these people can't accept sacrifices and losses, then the soldiers below may not dare to fight. (Full text reading, all in. (.i. Want. Wen. Learning Network)

"Wait."

After Li Mo finished speaking, he asked Chen Ping for a cigarette, and then habitually walked to the window, the lights in Beijing in the distance were still bright, and in a trance he seemed to see countless faces of expectation, what will happen to this interception battle that was like a fog from the beginning? ——

The Hebrides (the name of the country Vanuatu was not written before the name of the island, in order to take care of friends who read books on this map), at this time it was still a colony administered by Britain and France, although it was close to Australia, because of its geographical remoteness, Britain and France have not been stationed, but after the United States and Britain signed the Pacific Agreement, they began to build permanent fortresses and garrisons here, but at that time they needed to give priority to the Solomon Islands, Marshalls, Fiji and Caledonia, so they could only rely on the Australian fleet to patrol here.

Epi is located in the middle of this archipelago, a volcanic island of just over 400 square kilometres, which is now only a few indigenous people, but its geographical location is very important because it is right on the middle line of the Hebrides.

In the dark, two Hebei-class battleships with two light cruisers and three destroyers were lying quietly on the south side of the island, looking at the white line in the eastern sky, Gu Junhuo looked at the time again.

Five thirty o'clock.

In half an hour, the sky will be bright, and everything will be prototyped.

Although he was very sure that Claxton would choose to let the four heavy cruisers take the eastern route, that is, cross the Hebrides, but just in case, he still chose this ambush place, because this is the middle line, if there are four South Carolina-class ships on this side, then he can also accelerate westward and cooperate with the heavy patrol formation that is vital to intercept the Sa Zhen ice.

In order to ensure that it can speed up quickly, the fleet has been circling around this narrow body of water at a slow speed of 5 knots, and the boilers still maintain enough steam pressure, according to the usual data, it only takes ten minutes for two Hebei class ships to accelerate to a high of 25 knots, so even if the prediction fails, he still has room to make up for it.

But in that case, the four South Carolina-class ships would definitely have escaped. ##笔趣必去##

Waiting can be a nuisance at any time and place, and although the Raider had released four Hornets ten minutes earlier, it was difficult to see the plume of smoke as the fleet was moving as it was not yet fully lit.

Is it South Carolina or Pensacola?

At the same time that Gu Junhuo was anxious, Vice Admiral Claxton, who chose to change his flagship to the St. Louis and personally led the heavy patrol formation to break through, also made him more and more uneasy, judging from the two naval battles he had obtained before, Hua's capital ships were undoubtedly better than themselves, not to mention that they didn't need to choose to go around in the middle of the island, and they could take the open waters of the Coral Sea, so it stands to reason that they should have appeared a long time ago, but why haven't they appeared so far?

Chasing the wrong one?

Claxton shook his head, the Chinese fleet is not stupid, on the contrary, it has combat experience that the United States cannot match, and they know very well that if they allow themselves to cross the Hebrides, they will never have a chance again, so.

They're just ahead!

By the time the thought popped into Claxton's mind, a buzz had already sounded over the fleet, followed by a series of fires from the dark sky.

Plane!

Damn, they definitely have warships capable of carrying army aircraft with machine guns specifically!

At 5:45, when Jin Wei discovered the four American heavy cruisers in the dark, the silent Hebrides suddenly became noisy, and several strange signals were heard in the telegraph room of the four Pensacola-class heavy cruisers at the same time.

Even if the U.S. radio technology is not as advanced as that of China, the communications officer knows that this is at least a large number of signals generated by four or five warships interconnected.

Claxton had no choice but to send a telegram to his battleship formation, which was heading south along the Outer Hebrides, telling them that there was an ambush ahead, and the rising sunlight had allowed him to see the billowing plumes of smoke on the southern horizon.

Without any hesitation, he chose to accelerate and turn left, leading four heavy cruisers to accelerate to the Fiji Islands to the east.

His decision was later greatly criticized, because many US officials thought that if the eight capital ships met, they might still have a chance to break through, but there were also many people who supported him, because the interception was far more than his four battleships, and once they met, they were afraid that the tragedy of the previous two naval battles would be repeated.

No matter what the later people say, in fact, from the time he chose to turn left, there was no way to change the ending, because Gu Junhuo also ordered a right turn, and the four American heavy cruisers were parallel, and at the same time, the bow was tilted 15 degrees to quickly close the distance.

The acceleration that began almost simultaneously showed the huge difference in power between the two countries, relying on the booster boiler and steam turbine, the Hebei class reached a high speed in only ten minutes, while the small water-tube kerosene mixing boiler and reciprocating steam engine on the Pensacola heavy cruiser, which was claimed to be the United States at the time of launching, increased the speed in a full thirty minutes.

The difference of 20 points allowed the two Hebei class ships to quickly close to the meter.

But just as Gu Junhuo was considering whether he needed to fire immediately, an unexpected scene appeared, because the lookout reported that the four American heavy cruisers actually fired first.

The decision to fire first to slow down oneself when the acceleration has already suffered a loss and the caliber of the ship's guns is indeed a little dumbfounded, and it also shows the serious inexperience of the US Navy.

According to later understanding, the reason why Lieutenant General Claxton chose this way was because he felt that his caliber was small and his protection was insufficient, so it was better to rely on the fire control system and take the opponent by surprise at a long distance.

Perhaps he thought that Huawei would definitely reduce the armor if it increased the speed of the warship, and his 305mm naval guns should be able to cause damage to the other side, but in fact he was completely wrong.

The protection standard for battleships proposed by Li Mo is that they must resist their own shells at a distance of 16,000 meters, so let alone such a long distance, even if it is narrowed to 15,000 meters, it is impossible for the four heavy cruisers to penetrate the important parts of the Hebei class.

And this lack of common sense, derived from inexperience, once again highlights the immaturity of the US Navy, if Claxton's previous caution was perfect enough, but from the moment he was in command of the battle, he began to make serious mistakes.

As soon as the shells fell, the water column continued to rise from the side of the two Hebei-class, and the momentum was indeed very terrifying, but the damage was not at all.

The big problem was that the first fire did affect the speed, and by the time the opponent's Fujian was hit by a 305-mm shell on the heavily armored side ten minutes later, the distance between the two fleets was already close to a meter.

Looking up in disappointment from the scorched darkness left by the explosion on the ship's side of the Fujian, Claxton ordered a 15-degree turn to the left, but it was too late, as Gu Junhuo also gave the order to open fire after giving the order to follow the left turn.

The gunners on both battleships had long been filled with fire from enemy shells, and when they heard the order of the gunner, they immediately fired the first volley.

Just six minutes after the first round of testing passed, the Fujian made the Renault Heavy Cruiser, which had just hit her, taste the bitterness, and it only took one to let the U.S. Navy know how big the difference of two inches is!

At 6:21, after the Fujian aimed at its target Renault fired a perfect round of straddle fire, the No. 1 turret in the bow played a role in the next salvo, a heavy armor-piercing projectile weighing 680 kilograms, directly penetrated from the top of the Renault No. 1 turret, the weight and acceleration of the shell itself directly made the imitation of the British Invincible class, only one more chimney Renault seemed to be pressed by the giant's big hand, and sank sharply.

It should be said that the Renault at this time was extremely lucky, the original armor-piercing shell from the turret through the shell would definitely rush into the bomb cabin, but this shell actually made a miracle all the way down, penetrating a full five decks, and actually did not rub the bullet library but entered the ballast tank and exploded, 15 kg of TNT is not much, but it is enough to cause great damage in the enclosed space, instantly destroying the entire structure at the bottom of the bow and opening a big hole in the underwater part of the port side.

At that time, when they saw this shell rushing straight down from the top of the turret, many American sailors on the Renault closed their eyes, but after half a day, they found that the shell was actually fine, so they secretly rejoiced that when they were about to thank God, the second salvo of the Fujian completely destroyed the heavy cruiser.

Because the good luck just ran out!

At a distance of 19,000 meters, the angle at which the shells fall will begin to straighten, so it is a great test of horizontal armor, and the 50 mm horizontal armor that can imitate the invincible class can't even stop the 305 mm shells fired by the Beijing class in the Battle of the West Corner, not to mention being pierced by three 356 mm heavy armor-piercing shells at the same time.

The shells went all the way down the chimney and the rear of the aft turret side, and the two that drilled into the final chimney exploded at the keel, while the latter one entered the oil tank and exploded, and only a few seconds later, the heavy cruiser, once known as the pride of the United States, capsized and then flew out of its belly like a dead fish, and only 31 of the ship's 830 officers and men were rescued, and the rest were all detained in the icy warship.

According to the sailors of the destroyer who were sent to destroy it with torpedoes after the war, they could still hear the clanging sound of the ship's belly and shouting for help a few hours later, but no one was able to lift up the 20,000-ton battleship, so they could only use two torpedoes to help the American sailors get rid of it earlier.

After seeing the rapid capsizing of the Renault, Claxton and the American sailors understood through the hits on their own side and the tragic situation of the Renault that the difference of two inches turned out to be so huge!

Cold sweat instantly crawled all over the backs of all American soldiers-

PS: Fourth!! Shout out crazy monthly pass before exhaustion!! ……

To be continued)