The middle of April 1939 was destined to be the most critical point in the entire Second World War, at this point in time, the elite armored units of the Soviet Union went south to seek an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the German armored forces, and the magnificent Battle of Kursk officially kicked off.

At this point in time, the Japanese Navy's fleet had laid a vast net in the Solomon Islands, determined to fight the U.S. Navy's fleet to the death. And this once unknown Solomon Islands has finally been remembered in history because of this naval battle and is familiar to the world.

Similarly, at this point in time, the Japanese Kwantung Army gathered 600,000 soldiers in an attempt to attack the Soviet Union in the north and seize the mountains of strategic materials in the Soviet Far East. They intend to use these supplies to support the war and fight a more protracted Pacific War.

And almost a month later, in May, Field Marshal Rommel gave the order to attack in Africa, and the oil resources he had accumulated from Syria were almost enough for him to launch a war for the Suez Canal, so this desert fox in North Africa naturally started an offensive war in the Middle East.

The strength of the Pacific Fleet of the US Navy is actually quite a headache for the Japanese Navy. At Pearl Harbor, the Japanese sank the USS Tennessee, USS Arizona, USS Nevada, and the USS Oklahoma in one fell swoop, but now the US Navy still has a large number of battleships that can be used against Japanese warships.

Older ones include the USS Pennsylvania, the USS New Mexico, USS Idaho and USS Mississippi, and the more advanced ones are USS California, USS Colorado, USS Maryland, and USS West Virginia. Of course, the Americans did not completely lose to the Japanese in battleships, although they did not come up with super battleships, but they commissioned two new ships ahead of schedule: the USS North Carolina and the USS Washington.

Of course, these battleships are also assigned to the two theaters of operations in the Atlantic and the Pacific, and there is even a ship on the route of the South Atlantic around the Middle East, so among the battleships of the US Navy, the old New Mexico and the Idaho and the newer battleship West Virginia are still in the Atlantic, the Maryland is still sailing in southern Africa, and the Pennsylvania is being repaired on the west coast and cannot participate in the war for the time being.

As a result, the total number of front-line battleships of the American army remained highly consistent with that of the Japanese, including the USS Colorado, the USS Mississippi, and the USS Washington and USS North Carolina - a total of four battleships.

So when Halsey discovered that two Japanese battleships had appeared in front of the U.S. Navy fleet, he did not hesitate to move his battleship forces up, and the faster USS Washington and USS North Carolina took the lead, following the first wave of attack aircraft of the U.S. Navy to kick off the Battle of Solomon.

To be honest, taking the North Carolina-class battleship, which had just been commissioned in 1938, to fight the Ise-class battleship launched in 1915 against the Japanese Ise-class battleship launched in 1915 was a bit of a bully. However, these two Japanese battleships were not given for nothing - they were modernized in 1935 and can definitely be regarded as relatively advanced battleships in service.

And if there was any country before the start of World War II that could compete with the British Navy in terms of artillery training level, it was the Japanese Navy. In terms of overall artillery training and experience, the Japanese Navy is more than a step ahead of the US Navy in the artillery battle of warships.

However, at this time, the Japanese Navy's decoy fleet was not only facing two American battleships, but also a field of American planes overhead. So the whole battlefield kicked off in an extremely chaotic situation.

"Send a telegram to His Excellency Marshal Yamamoto! We have succeeded in attracting the attention of the American fleet!" The captain of the battleship Ise put down the binoculars in his hand and instructed his first mate: "Reload the main guns with ammunition! Prepare for air defense operations! You personally command the battle on the air defense side, and the fleet as a whole accelerates!"

"Hey!" the first mate bowed his head, then quickly exited the command bridge, and the battle alarm sounded, and the huge battleship of the Japanese Navy showed its hideous face, and all the cannons began to point at the sky. The shouts of air combat resounded throughout the interior of the battleship, and all the soldiers were busy in the small cabin, and the battle to determine their fate was about to begin.

"The air combat begins!" Standing in the air defense command position, the first mate drew his command knife and pointed out at the dense US planes in the sky: "Shoot! Dispel these damn Yankees!"

"Boom!" "Bang!" The anti-aircraft running of different calibers spewed dazzling tongues of fire, making the battleship Ise instantly turn into a huge hedgehog with tongues of fire, and tracer bullets flew sideways around the battleship, while American planes were like dexterous swallows, shuttling back and forth in the cracks formed by the pillars of light formed by these tracer bullets.

Feeling the near-miss bomb dropped by the American plane exploding not far from the hull, the captain of the Ise held the table next to him with his hand, tried to stand up straight on the shaking bridge, and looked at the planes circling back and forth outside the window, he didn't know when his reinforcements would arrive: "We are a decoy fleet, and we must fight to the end on our own!"

He gritted his teeth and loudly encouraged his subordinates around him: "His Majesty the Emperor will definitely bless us! Battleships are not something that can be sunk by those tiny planes, and we will definitely be safe and sound!"

In fact, at this time, the Japanese Navy decoy fleet was still 40 kilometers away from the front of the US Navy fleet, and the main guns of both sides could not aim at the enemy. The Japanese Navy has been doing zigzag maneuvers because of the need to evade the attacks of the aircraft, and even the aiming of the main guns has not yet been carried out.

Suddenly, an aerial bomb hit a Japanese heavy cruiser in the distance, and the huge explosion turned the cruiser into a huge flame, and the Japanese soldiers nearby saw the process of the cruiser breaking and sinking, and they didn't know if their fate would be so miserable, in short, from this moment on, all the Japanese soldiers had something more called despair.

"Shoot! Keep shooting! We are His Majesty's soldiers! Don't give up your will to resist because of the sacrifice of your comrades! Long live the Japanese Empire!" "A commander on the gun emplacement, who was in the air defense command position, shouted wildly into the sky. However, his voice was quickly drowned out by the roar of a 127 mm anti-aircraft gun.

As the battle continued, the Japanese Navy's air defense network became more and more crumbling, after all, it was a self-defeating thing to counter a large number of aircraft with a small number of warships. After a full 40 minutes of fighting, a bomb dropped by US naval aviation finally hit the Ise, the flagship of the Japanese decoy fleet.

The Japanese soldier holding the 25 mm caliber triple anti-aircraft gun magazine was swept to the surface of the sea by a huge wave of air, and the huge bomb left a hole in the deck, and the nearby steel and unknown things twisted to witness the power of this aerial bomb.

Of course, the shock was also transmitted to the Ise command bridge, and as the battleship shook violently, the fleet commander of the decoy fleet, that is, the captain of the battleship Ise, stumbled a few steps, and he waited anxiously in the frantic attack of the American army, waiting for Marshal Yamamoto Isoroku to appear on the battlefield and save the decoy fleet that was about to collapse.

"Once again, send a telegram to Marshal Yamamoto and General Nagumo Tadaichi! Just say that our army is already engaged in battle with the main force of the American fleet, and let them rush to the battlefield as soon as possible. Otherwise, the battleships of the decoy fleet will be finished!" finally gained a foothold, and the captain of the battleship Ise finally sent a second telegram urging the attack, after all, what he was most looking forward to now was the guns of the Japanese fleet to launch a counterattack.

"Boom!" As the distance between the two fleets was getting closer, the American battleships began to attack the Japanese battleships with their main guns, but the two Japanese battleships on the other side, the Ise and the Hyuga, were unable to use their main guns against the threatening American battleships because they had to avoid the American planes.

The Japanese soldiers on the battleship were frightened by the splashing water and the battleship that kept exploding and catching fire, although the Japanese anti-aircraft guns of various calibers were still constantly returning fire, but from the beginning, Japan had already lost several battleships.

Struggle, the word is very appropriate for the Japanese Navy's decoy fleet, the planes in the sky and the approaching American battleships, so that this fleet is the most unlucky character in the entire Battle of the Solomon today, no matter how you look at it. They struggled under the attack of the U.S. Navy, praying to heaven that their friendly warships would be able to sail into the battlefield faster.

Just when the decoy fleet was miserable, far away in the easternmost position of the entire battlefield, Yamamoto Isoroku was leading his fleet to advance at full speed towards the predetermined battlefield. He wants to try to bring the fleet closer to 30 kilometers before the alert planes taking off from the US aircraft carrier fleet find themselves.

"Full speed ahead! You know, the allies of the decoy fleet are waiting for news from us! Don't back down!" Yamamoto Fifty-six stood on the bridge and said loudly to his staff and adjutant: "The Great Japanese Empire has a long military fortune!

The sharp bow of the battleship Nagato tore through the calm Pacific Ocean, and the Japanese Navy's newest battleships took the lead and rushed towards the U.S. Navy's carrier fleet. Yamamoto's first step had apparently had some effect, at least he had deceived the first wave of the U.S. Navy's attack force.

"It seems that Amaterasu is still protecting Japan......" Yamamoto Isoroku stared at the sea and muttered softly—

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