"Boom!" With a huge explosion, the hull of the battleship Hyuga suddenly burst into flames, and then began to sink, and the US Navy equalized at this moment. Now two Japanese battleships have been sunk by the US forces, and two US aircraft carriers have been sunk by the Japanese -- just now, the aircraft carrier Yorktown has also lost the need to rescue it, and can only open the sea to sink itself.

Miura, who had just received a telegram and learned that he had been promoted to rear admiral, stood on the rickety bridge and watched as he watched the chaos around him, the fire on the pierced A turret, and the smoke had obscured most of his vision, so that he could only see part of the water.

He smiled wryly and threw away the telegram that had officially promoted him, as if he had thrown away a piece of trash that was not important at all. Miura no longer knows the difference between being a big sa or a major general at this time, and he doesn't know whether it is worth it for him to lead thousands of subordinates to die like this.

The whole ship shook violently again, and then the piercing explosion was heard again, and he knew that the fire was out of control, and that there must have been a huge explosion at the ammunition depot - in short, it was all over, at least his life would end here.

"Go ahead...... Shoot back! Each turret fights its own battle and fires freely! Long live the Great Japanese Empire! Long live His Majesty the Emperor!" In the end, Miura still shouted his order, he wanted to drag the American fleet, and only by dragging the American fleet could all these sacrifices be meaningful and worthwhile.

The hull of the ship had begun to tilt due to the massive ingress of water, and the 30,000-ton behemoth made a steel twisting creak, and there were explosions and cries of soldiers everywhere. Several of the Hyuga's main gun turrets had either been destroyed or had lost the angle of fire, the entire battleship had largely stopped firing, and the nearby sea was littered with floating corpses and soldiers overboard.

Just as the tail of the battleship Hyuga was tilting in the direction of the American fleet, a Japanese destroyer was accelerating frantically and rushing towards the fleet of the American Navy. In the middle of the side of the hull of this destroyer, the name of the destroyer is written in Japanese, "Yutachi".

The destroyer, as the escort ship of the decoy fleet, had been following the battleship Hyuga, and at the juncture when Miura decided to return to the war, the destroyer made the same choice. It began to approach the battleship North Carolina at its highest speed, and finally managed to get within range of the Japanese torpedoes.

On the one hand, because of the smoke of the battleship Hyuga as a cover, and on the other hand, the US Navy really did not expect that the crazy Japanese soldiers would dare to challenge the battleship with a destroyer. So in a moment's paralyzing carelessness, the Japanese destroyer ran out of all the torpedoes in one go.

When the soldiers of the U.S. Navy opened fire frantically, turning the destroyer Yutachi into a sieve, the torpedoes fired by the Japanese destroyer finally caught up with the immobile North Carolina, and knocked the wounded American battleship into a sieve. The huge battleship ate three torpedoes in one go, and the entire hull began to tilt due to the flooding.

Because the damage management personnel on the American battleship were all new recruits, and there were not many experienced maintenance technicians, in the end, because of the unfavorable damage management, the North Carolina failed to repair and began to sink slowly.

The Solomon Mad Dog destroyer Yutachi was even more credited this time, as it sank the badly wounded American battleship USS North Carolina before it sank itself, completing the most worthwhile exchange in the entire Battle of Solomon Sea.

It's a pity that because the destroyer Yutachi didn't have time to send a distress signal before it was sunk, and the entire Solomon Sea area was too chaotic because the battle lines of the two sides were too chaotic, and no rescue was launched, so all the soldiers on the Yutachi did not wait for their rescue team, and the most poor people were floating on the sea for four days and three nights before they were found, and at that time they were already white corpses.

All 1,387 officers and men of the battleship Hyuga were killed, and all 226 men on the destroyer Yutachi were also killed. If you add the soldiers of other warships such as the battleship Ise, which suffered heavy losses, the number of Japanese casualties now exceeds 3,000.

This successful torpedo assault also achieved the only success of the Japanese Navy's decoy fleet, sinking the USS North Carolina, the newest American battleship. The record of both sides sinking each other was also reversed by this surprise attack, and the Japanese Navy once again temporarily led 3-2.

The battleship North Carolina was torpedoed by a Japanese destroyer just now...... Sunk!" Inside the bridge of the command ship of the USS Wasp, Spruance also got from his own men that his own forward fleet had suffered heavy losses.

Spruance, who got the news, was so angry that he almost spurted out a mouthful of old blood, because it was supposed to be a frontal battlefield where the US Navy bullied more and less actually made the Japanese Navy fight a one-for-one ending. This is undoubtedly very bad news for the U.S. fleet, which wants to drag down the Japanese Navy by changing its sons.

"Now, we can only see whether our carrier-based aircraft can sink the aircraft carrier fleet of the Japanese Navy. They are our only chance...... If they can do something, we still have a chance, and if they don't, then we will be sinners in all of America. Spruance looked at his men and said, "Let the fleet continue to the west, continue to distance itself from the Japanese Eastern Fleet." ”

At the same moment, Yamamoto's assault fleet was speeding forward, frantically approaching the U.S. Navy fleet. They want to get close to the U.S. fleet before the U.S. Navy's carrier-based aircraft are free to take them out, in exchange for a greater advantage. So they frantically moved closer to the direction of the US Navy, hoping to settle the situation with a round of artillery bombardment.

It was on the bridge of the battleship Nagato that Isoroku Yamamoto took the last telegram from the battleship Hyuga. The handwriting on the message made Yamamoto Fifty-six feel like a knife, after all, his fleet had sunk two battleships, which was definitely very bad news for the Japanese Navy.

For the Japanese Navy, every battleship is a valuable asset, and it is the foundation accumulated by the country's frugality. Now two ships have been sunk here, and that is already an unprecedented heavy loss for the Japanese Navy.

"Your Excellency Marshal!" a staff officer bowed his head behind Yamamoto Isoroku and said, "The American fleet has been moving west to avoid a head-on collision with our army, and although the speed of the other side is not low, we are still shortening the distance between the two sides. At this time, within half an hour, we should be able to see the American fleet. ”

Yamamoto knew of course that they would meet the opposing fleet in half an hour, and he also knew that the two American warships were approaching his fleet one after the other, under the cover of other warships. Based on his experience and the intelligence provided by the seaplanes on the battleship, he would soon discover the greeting that the U.S. Navy had prepared for him, and he was confident that he would crush the fleet that had been ordered to intercept him.

"My decoy fleet can sink a new battleship of the US Navy, so what will the Americans of my main fleet use to stop it?" Yamamoto's hanging heart seemed to let go of more than half, after all, although the battle situation in front of him made him extremely sad, but after all, the Japanese Navy occupied the initiative on the battlefield, and had obvious advantages.

In the script that Yamamoto was thinking in his heart, the assault fleet he led himself would be able to take out at least two battleships of the Americans and disrupt the operational deployment of the United States. If Nagumo Tadaichi's fleet succeeds in another sneak attack, then the Japanese Navy will basically annihilate the US Pacific Fleet at the cost of about two battleships and two aircraft carriers this time -- this outcome is quite acceptable.

"It seems that God bless my emperor, the winner of this naval battle is our combined fleet of the Japanese Empire!" Yamamoto Fifty-six put his hands behind his back, looked at the distant sea, and quietly waited for the moment when the American battleship entered his range.

......

On the battleship USS Mississippi of the U.S. Navy, Captain Auden put down the binoculars in his hand, looked back at the adjutant who was holding the latest battle situation message, and laughed softly before he said slowly: "So, the Japanese fought back heroically and sank our battleship North Carolina?"

"Yes, sir! Now we have to wait for reinforcements from General Halsey, it seems to be a little later. The adjutant nodded and replied to his superior.

Colonel Auden nodded, and then said loudly to the officers and soldiers on the entire bridge: "Gentlemen, we should let the Japanese know that not only do they have brave soldiers, but we Americans also have our heroes! Today! We will be our own heroes!"

"yes!" shouted to all the American servicemen in attendance, waving their arms. Americans have no shortage of heroes, and they are not lacking in heroism. It's just that they need a reason, a reason to get themselves into the role of heroes. Obviously, the Japanese gave them this reason, and the current US Navy also has its own reasons why it cannot lose.

"Speed up! The battleship Colorado can't withstand the attack of the Japanese Navy, we must help it resist all attacks!" Captain Auden gave an accelerated order in a loud voice: "Attract the opponent's artillery fire, we will be the shield of the friendly forces!"

"God bless America!" After the two sides approached the distance of the artillery battle, Captain Auden shouted a loud slogan, and the Americans on the bridge were brave and fearless at this moment, and their morale was high!