Like the other 30 or so sister ships, the Qinshui also carries three five-pack 480mm torpedo launchers, and the single launch volume is considerable.

In a sense, the Wenchang-class destroyers were not very successful, and the Ming Navy appeared to be a little greedy - both powerful artillery and powerful torpedo armor.

Therefore, with a standard displacement of 1,750 tons, they used slightly smaller medium torpedoes instead of the standard 21-inch (533mm) heavy ship torpedoes in order to plug more torpedoes on the premise of explicitly requiring three twin 128mm naval guns.

When the later Penglai class arrived, the navy abandoned the idea of having both fish and bear's paws, and reduced the artillery configuration, with only 4 single-mounted naval guns.

Now, the Qinshui is very cunning, firing only five torpedoes from one torpedo launcher, and the other two are still in a state of readiness.

The bridge of the Maryland was filled with the exclamation of "torpedo", and everyone's hearts were tightened, and an atmosphere of despair filled the entire bridge in a matter of seconds.

Fifty-four-year-old Major General Frank Fletcher, who is highly experienced, saw the scene of the torpedo falling into the water and immediately issued an emergency evasion order, "Calm down! Left full rudder! Stop the car! ”

Cutting out to avoid torpedoes is an extreme test of luck, and the slightest carelessness will fail; Deceleration inward cut is a relatively better option.

The 30,000-ton ship turned to the left with all its might, and the Maryland had to orient its bow as far as possible in the direction of the torpedo.

The battleship tilted visibly, many of the items in the compartment fell with a clatter, and the sailors prayed in anxiety that they could avoid the torpedo.

"Hahahaha, it's really a left turn!" The gunners of the Qinshui couldn't hide their excitement, "Nail another row of nails to this guy's coffin!" ”

The cunning Qinshui was now helmed by the captain himself, who fired the first round of torpedoes and then turned twenty degrees to the right, then kept a straight course for a few hundred meters before firing a second round of torpedoes.

The smoke and thunder officer said loudly into the microphone: "The lightning strike is fired to 190, the depth is five meters, and the whole thunder is fired in a volley, release!" ”

The other two quintuple torpedo launchers emitted the crunch and sizzle of compressed air explosions, and ten torpedoes were dropped into the sea one after another.

In the blink of an eye, a long line of tracks appeared on the sea, and the white spray behind the torpedoes seemed to be glistening under the light of the artillery fire fired by both sides.

The distance of four kilometers would take more than 170 seconds for a speeding torpedo, and now all the two sides had to do was wait.

The torpedoes fired by the Qinshui in two batches formed a deadly trap - the routes of the two groups of torpedoes in front and behind were crossed.

This meant that after the Maryland turned left and cut inside to avoid the first round of torpedoes, its port side would be completely exposed to the incoming second round of torpedoes.

During the three minutes of what could be called a death sentence, the American sailors pushed the rate of fire of the Mk12 high-level dual-purpose gun to the limit, firing at a terrifying rate of 22 rounds per minute.

During this period, the Qinshui was hit seven times in a row, and the whole ship was in a mess from beginning to end, and there were more than a dozen fire points at the same time, but it was miraculously not seriously damaged, and even the speed did not drop.

The Maryland, under the command of Rear Admiral Frank, passed head-on through the five torpedoes of the first round, but the torpedoes of the second round were approaching from the side, already at an extremely close distance of several hundred meters.

"Boom!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom! ”

At 2:50, the Ming sailors observed the first explosion, followed by three explosions in a row, and the water column was evident without exception.

The Maryland had a mine in the stern, destroying two propellers and the stern rudder; There were two mines on the left side of the hull, and the torn holes caused a large amount of seawater to pour in; There was also a mine in the bow.

The violent blast wave and high-energy bubbles also caused fragments to fly inside the hull at the mid-mine site and ignited debris in several compartments.

The tall water column was like a giant fountain, and the left half of the Maryland was drenched in seawater, and the American sailors on the deck were all chickens in the soup without exception.

In an instant, the Maryland was fatally struck.

"Long live !!"

"Holy! Well played! ”

The Qinshui burst into unprecedented cheers, the faces of the sailors turned red, their eyes were blazing, some raised their arms and shouted, and some excitedly slapped the railing.

Originally, the battle line of the TF-12 fleet was the USS Maryland, the USS West Virginia, and the USS Northampton, but because the USS West Virginia was damaged by the collective fire of two Ming battleships, the USS Northampton is now following behind the USS Maryland.

Therefore, the Qinshui, which had succeeded in the surprise attack, immediately encountered the oncoming heavy cruiser.

The captain calmly commanded the battle, and the three twin 128mm naval guns opened fire fiercely, and more than 60 shells were poured out in dozens of seconds. As the two sides got closer, the hit rate skyrocketed.

The Qinshui was also hit by multiple 127mm shells, and was covered in bruises, but there were still no shells that caused serious damage, and only a slight leak occurred in the high-pressure steam pipe of one boiler.

The Northampton had been hit by dozens of shells in a confrontation with three Ming light cruisers, and the superstructure was blown to pieces, but the impact was not great.

The Qinshui's approach bombardment was also useless, just adding a few more strokes to the already messy and tattered Northampton.

So far in the naval battle, the Northampton has actually performed quite well, with one enemy and three enemies, it has severely damaged the Qiantang River at the beginning, and then damaged the Beipanjiang and Xiangjiang.

When he saw the Qinshui suddenly appear and surprise the Maryland, the captain ordered the main guns to be reversed, so now the three triple 203mm main guns have been rotated 180 degrees, pointing at the Qinshui coming from the opposite direction.

"Boom, boom, boom—"

The two were so close that the muzzle flames from the salvo of the Northampton's main guns seemed to engulf the tiny Qinshui.

As soon as the latter began to release the smoke screen, he was immediately hit hard by the horrific shelling!

One shell blew away turret No. 1 and damaged turret No. 2, while the other shell tore a hole several meters in diameter in the middle of the hull.

Several of the Qinshui's twin 38.4mm anti-aircraft guns converged on the main gun control tower on the top of the Northampton triangular mast, causing a mechanical failure of the firing azimuth disc and the interruption of communication lines.

At the same time, she made a particularly thrilling circle from a few dozen meters behind the Northampton.

However, the Qinshui's slaughter ended here, and her good luck was completely exhausted.

Two minutes later, at 2:58, a 127mm shell from the USS Northampton hit the stern of the ship, detonating the depth charge storage.

The violent explosion formed a huge fireball in an instant, and the loud noise and orange-yellow flash even attracted the attention of the Ming officers and soldiers on the other side of the battlefield.

On the Yuan Feng, Liu Zaiyao, who was constantly coughing up blood because of internal injuries, witnessed the scene there - the dark blue destroyer burst out with a large tumbling mushroom-like flame!

The last third of the Qinshui was almost shattered, and smoke was rising from every crevice of the ship, completely turning into a floating bonfire in the Torres Strait.

Her bow tilted at a speed visible to the naked eye, growing at an angle that grew larger and larger, and finally capsized to the left at forty or fifty degrees......

During this period, a group of torpedoes fired by the destroyer Changyi ten minutes earlier also unexpectedly achieved results.

The destroyer Gridley was attacked by several Ming destroyers and was forced to release a smoke screen for a tactical retreat, but in a panic it encountered a group of torpedoes fired by the Changyi.

One of these torpedoes, which were running out of fuel, was one lucky man who successfully completed his mission at the end of his life.

The Type 30 512mm ship exploded with a torpedo in the middle of the hull, and the huge power of 350kg of Qin's explosives almost tore the hapless destroyer in two.

She quickly disappeared from the water, leaving only floating heavy oil and debris, with only a handful of officers and men carrying lifebuoys to escape before the ship sank.

The officers and men of the Changyi were also quite surprised, and they were only thinking of sending thunder to further disrupt the formation of the US fleet, but they didn't expect it to really hit?

The Maryland, which had been raided by the Qinshui before, only had a speed of 7 knots left, and the rudder was damaged, so it could not even steer, so it could only turn around its original position.

"A large amount of water ingress into the spindle tunnel compartment, and the servo fails ......"

"Sir, the Maryland is no longer suitable as a flagship, you'd better move immediately!"

At 3:12, Rear Admiral Frank and his staff left the Maryland and took great risks to board a transport boat to the West Virginia.

During this period, shells from the Ming fleet continued to fall near the two battleships, and the aftermath of the water column made the small traffic boat like a flat boat in a big wave.

The 39th T-Detachment was no better, with a total of 56 rounds of ammunition from the flagship Yuanfeng, including 11 Mk3 406mm armor-piercing shells.

Most of its secondary guns were destroyed, and the bridge, chimney, and hull were beaten like a hornet's nest, full of bullet holes and breaches. Wired communications on the ship were cut off, fires broke out in many compartments, and damage management crews were battling the flames.

The ammunition depot of the No. 3 main gun was at risk of explosion, and because the fire could not be controlled in time, it had to be filled with water; At the same time, due to the water ingress caused by a shot at the waterline of the right hull, he was forced to pour water into the left compartment to maintain balance.

The two sides fought bloodily for more than an hour, and both sides were defeated.

At this time, Liu Zaiyao and other admirals pinned high hopes on foreign aid -- the first squadron of the second detachment of torpedo planes of the naval aviation -- arrived belatedly.

As an elite unit trained in night warfare, the second detachment and the first team have always been regarded as treasures, but in such a remote and desolate place, there is no reference at all, and they can only completely trust the instruments, and the difficulties of navigation make the Ming pilots suffer.

Sixteen Type 37 torpedo bombers took to the air, but not only were they delayed for half an hour because they got lost, but five were also lost.

Of the five, two returned on their own, one went missing after sending a distress message, and the other two were not heard from.

The two planes that had come out of the torpedo formation were responsible for piloting and directing the planes, and the latter dropped aerial flares over the fleet, once again lighting up the entire sea area.

The rest of the torpedo planes attacked in groups of two, and in order to avoid accidents, they were far apart from each other.

"Enemy planes!"

"My God, how dare they?"

At the same time, in the southeast of this sea area......

Two twin-engine torpedo planes were flying aimlessly in the deep night sky, and these were the two that were left behind.

In the cockpit of the twin-engine torpedo aircraft numbered YH-2-1-5, two pilots were swearing at the navigator.

"Lao Tzu really fucking obeyed you, what's the matter with you? Usually the assessment is excellent and excellent armor, but it won't work if you really go into battle? The main driver said with regret and annoyance.

The navigator took a picture of the aviation map, frowned, and said: "You two still have the face to blame me, I just took a nap, and when I opened my eyes, you two told me that you were left behind?" Can't fly with others? ”

The helpless radio operator hurriedly played the round and persuaded: "Okay, okay, brother, don't make any noise, don't you have a lot of oil?" If not, let's go back. ”

The main driver replied angrily: "There are still forty-six." ”

At this moment, the co-pilot suddenly picked up the binoculars, looked at it for a few seconds, and then muttered, "Huh? There seems to be a bright spot at the far end of the direction at one o'clock, and it looks like an artificial light. ”

The navigator raised his hand to turn off the lights in the cabin to eliminate reflective interference, then picked up the telescope and looked at it carefully, "It's thirty kilometers here...... I'm afraid that the oil will not be enough, so let's go back directly. ”

The main driver seemed to be angry, and he wanted to contradict him, "That's not good, I'll go out at night, and I won't be able to sleep well if I don't get some results when I go back." ”

The radio operator was surprised, "Damn, Wu Guangqian, don't mess around, what if there is no ship over there?" ”

"What's the panic? When the time comes, it's a big deal to throw the torpedo and throw the guy behind you into the sea, and you will definitely be able to fly back. ”

Because the radio was silent, the other torpedo plane was unknown, so he sent a signal with a flashlight to ask.

Later, the two planes swooped down together on the place where the light was coming from.

The co-pilot of YH-2-1-5 was not mistaken, the highlight was indeed the artificial light, and it was the USS Lexington, which was damaged yesterday when the sun was setting, and the destroyer USS Mastin, which escorted her.

Two warships, one large and one small, were heading southeast to Townsville on the Australian continent at a cruising speed of 14 knots.

The Lexington's damage management crew had been working hard to repair it, first extinguishing the fire in the hangar for a few hours, then plugging a breach and draining half of the inlet compartment.

Now they are continuing their operations on the deck, filling the smaller flight deck bullet holes under the illumination of searchlights.

The nightmare came in such a situation - who would have thought that in the second half of the night, two Ming army planes would inexplicably come to raid?

"Huh? What is that noise? ”

"Where's the plane?"

"What the hell? Enemy? ”

The tired sailors were a little sluggish, and it was too late to notice something was wrong.

"Knock !!"

"Da-da-da-"

Under the farewell of a series of 12.7mm tracer shells, the two Type 37 torpedo bombers flew away.

The crew members inside were in high spirits, and their previous grievances were swept away.

Although for some reason only one torpedo detonated, this aircraft carrier, which had been "heavily damaged" before, took another heavy blow, and it should be impossible not to sink.

YH-2-1-5 ended the radio silence and sent a telegram destined to be talked about in the future:

"Rooster Song, at three o'clock and two, I happened to encounter an enemy aircraft carrier, suspected to be the Lexington, and the attack was successful."

At this time, in the bridge of the Amagichi Sagaki Ship, Zhou Changfeng, who was napping in a chair, was suddenly woken up by cheers.

"Victory, victory!"

"Hooray!"

He looked left and right for a while, and asked puzzledly, "Has the American fleet retreated?" ”

Seeing him like this, Zhu Yuanwei, who was smiling, said leisurely: "Zhou Zhizhao is really calm. ”

(End of chapter)