The friendly troops were fighting in the front, and the outcome was uncertain, but Zhou Changfeng was able to sleep so calmly, which made Zhu Yuanwei impressed with him.

In this situation, in this situation, how can you sleep?!

It can only be said that Zhou is worthy of his name, and he does have the demeanor of a famous general - Mount Tai collapsed in front of him and his color remained unchanged, and the Yellow River was determined at the top and his face was not shocked, which was the posture of a general.

Before, there were constant combat communications from the bridge of the ship ahead, and everyone knew that the fleet was fighting with the enemy, and the battle was inextricable.

Actually, Zhou Changfeng had already figured it out at that time.

The enemy interceptor fleet was qualitatively stronger than the Ming army's landing detachment fleet; It is just a matter of attacking the strong with the weak, the problem is that the enemy is still waiting for work and occupying a favorable position in advance.

Facing two major disadvantages? The admirals were confident of victory, but Zhou Changfeng still felt that it was too risky and conceited.

Because of the loss in the Battle of Darwin, the Ming Army has calmed down a lot; Due to the heavy losses of the Second Paratrooper Regiment in the Battle of Davao, even the regiment commander was hung up, and the popular "theory of the invincibility of the gods descending from heaven" in the Ming Air Force stopped.

But the navy seems to be still immersed in the joy of winning many battles before, is it possible that human beings have suffered losses throughout the ages to be able to remember?

Therefore, if you fail to win, it is also a good thing, and the conceited mentality of the top brass of the Ming Navy will be cured.

After thinking about this, Zhou Changfeng had no scruples, he casually wrote a few words of his feelings and thoughts in his notebook, and then put on his earbuds and closed his eyes... Go to bed!

As a result, when you wake up, you really won?

"The rescue of the second detachment is really ...... Oops, just in time for the rain! ”

"Yes, if it weren't for them, I think the end result would have been to retreat."

The officers were chattering with joy and fear, praising the first squadron of the Second Torpedo Detachment of the Naval Air Force for finally arriving on the battlefield in time.

The Maryland, which had been heavily damaged, was hit by two mines again, and the inclination was very large, and it is said that the American sailors had already seen abandoning the ship and evacuating.

The heavy cruiser HMS Northampton, the fierce enemy who caused great trouble for their side in this battle, was also hit by a mine and was forced to withdraw from the battle.

"This battle is too risky, and it is pure luck to win, but you can't be lucky every time." Zhou Changfeng was a little helpless, and then asked, "How is the repair?" Can you take off a plane after dawn? ”

One of the majors replied with his fists clenched: "It's too late, I guess it's going to be time." ”

The middle and front sections of the Amaichi Sagaki were each hit by a 500-pound bomb, and the good news was that the hole in the middle section was smaller, and it could barely be repaired on its own, and the hole in the front section had to be returned to port.

Once the middeck has been repaired, the fighter can take off, allowing the fighter to accelerate from the very end of the deck, almost enough distance for the fighter to pull up when it is about to reach the front of the hole.

Although the efficiency is low, as long as there are four or five carrier-based planes that can hover over the fleet and be on alert, it will be relatively good to disperse and intercept the incoming enemy aircraft group.

"Herald!" Zhu Yuanwei raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said lightly: "Inform all ships and ships that the enemy fleet is defeated, we should go, and the sea ahead is unimpeded." ”

The convoy of transports laden with Army and Marine Corps officers and men gradually picked up speed from its near-anchored slow voyage to the east through the Torres Strait at a speed of 11 knots.

By the time the Amagichi Zuoyuan passed through the area of engagement a few hours earlier, the tragic scene had not faded.

Zhou Changfeng walked out of the bridge, stood on the platform outside and looked around, only to see countless debris floating on the sea surface within a radius of several kilometers, clothing, rigging, canvas, life rafts, and the corpses of dead sailors on both sides.

There are many dark places on the surface of the sea, and those are all leaking heavy oil, which has gathered into a thick layer.

The destroyer Fanchang was heavily damaged in the previous battle, the whole ship was engulfed in flames, the fire was out of control and could not be contained, and the officers and men were forced to abandon the ship, but she stubbornly floated on the sea until now.

Zhou Changfeng, who had a complicated gaze, pointed at her and asked, "It's not sinking yet, why don't you rescue it?" ”

Zhu Yuanwei said calmly: "It's burned out from the inside out, and there is only a shell left, it's not worth repairing, it's better to build a new one." ”

A quarter of an hour later.

Jiang Ning, who used to love to take pictures, still maintains his preferences, and the field hospital of the 1st Marine Brigade and other service units take the Feng'an freighter.

As they passed by, it coincided with the USS Ryan destroyer striking the Fanchang.

Two white tracks appeared on the surface of the sea, heading straight for the still burning Fanchang.

"Boom! Boom! ”

Due to the long period of scorching flames, the strength of the steel of the Fanchang's hull was greatly reduced, and the rivets and welds were also partially failed, and two 512mm naval torpedoes easily cut her off.

It only took a few sips of tea, and only some debris, oil stains, and waves remained on the sea.

Jiang Ning took a few photos with his newly purchased Jingrui brand camera, which just happened to record the whole process.

Zhou Changfeng also saw this scene on the left wall of the Heavenly City, he thought about it for a while, and asked, "The newly commissioned destroyer should be able to use this ship name in the future, right?" ”

"I'm afraid it's no show, and it will be gone after a few days of expulsion." The previous major said.

"Huh? Why? ”

"There are so many counties in the east, west, north and south of the Ming Dynasty, all waiting for their names to be chosen. Only a ship that has been sunk in battle can be named twice, just like the Qinshui, brave and strategic, and lethal with a small and big blow. ”

After hearing this, Zhou Changfeng didn't know why a trace of desolate and pathetic feeling came to his heart.

The Fanchang is destined to be lost in the long river of history, and even military history lovers a hundred years later will only notice it when they carefully study the history of the construction of destroyers in the Ming Navy and the naval battle in the Torres Strait...... Oh, it turns out that there is such a destroyer in history.

The destroyer worth more than 9 million yuan is still like this, and how small the individual is.

The Yuanfeng battleship, which had received more than a dozen rounds of 406mm armor-piercing shells, was heavily damaged and tilted severely.

The light cruiser Xiangjiang tried to connect the steel cable to assist in the righting, but almost dragged itself over, and the captain hurriedly ordered the steel cable to be cut.

In the end, the Ryan, who had just been punished by lightning on the Fanchang, came to the side of the Yuan Feng.

After all personnel were evacuated, the Ryan fired two torpedoes at her.

At 7:19 on December 4, the third domestically built battleship Yuan Feng, which entered service in the seventeenth year of Zhichang and was built by the Ming Dynasty, sank near the junction of the Torres Strait and the Coral Sea.

In this battle, the T-39 Task Force successfully repelled and severely damaged the TF-12 Task Force with good training, brave tactics, successful surprise attacks, timely foreign aid, and good luck.

The Ming army lost four destroyers, and the battleship Yuanfeng sank; The light cruiser Qiantang River suffered heavy damage, but the damage was manageable.

The U.S. lost three destroyers, the light cruiser USS Phoenix was sunk, and the battleship USS Maryland was sunk; All the remaining ships were damaged to varying degrees.

Because of the heavy losses, the Ming fleet did not pursue.

At this time, the TF-12 fleet was full of frustration, and the officers and men were particularly depressed and annoyed.

Damn it! Obviously, the Ming fleet has been stopped, but who would have thought that these Chinese would take the risk of sending night planes!

"How's the Lexington doing?" Major General Frank, who was physically and mentally exhausted, asked.

"There is no update yet, and it should still be repaired."

The Lexington was inexplicably attacked by two Ming torpedo planes in the second half of the night, and was hit by another torpedo, which is really puzzling.

The explosion of the torpedo caused fires in several compartments, causing the deflagration of some aviation gasoline vapors that had accumulated in the ammunition depot of the 1.1-inch anti-aircraft gun due to damage to the pipes, which in turn led to the detonation of the ammunition depot.

As a result, the entire ship of the Lexington lost power and power, and the damage management unit has been trying to restore it.

In this way, after dawn, a group of Ming military planes that took off from Darwin came to this sea area again, and the task was to verify the results claimed by YH-2-1-5.

Because it was a long-range patrol, the six Type 37 twin-engine torpedo planes only carried two 250kg bombs. The pilots found the Lexington still floating on the surface of the sea, wisps of black smoke rising into the sky.

Six planes attacked, damaging the Mastin, who was escorting it, and again hitting a bomb on the Lexington, but to no avail.

The situation at the scene was immediately sent to the T-shaped 39th Task Fleet, and Liu Zaiyao ordered the super destroyer Yunhe and the light cruiser Beipanjiang to rush to chase and kill.

During this time, the Lexington's bilge was seeping through the water, and the emergency diesel generator was only able to drive a few pumps.

Unable to get in and out, most of the bilge was completely submerged by the sea, and the damage management units that were fighting with flashlights in the dark were forced to evacuate.

The damage management team members have been working continuously for more than ten hours so far, and everyone is exhausted.

At 16:42 in the afternoon of the same day, two Ming warships appeared on the sea level in the northwest direction.

Colonel Frederick Sherman had no choice but to abandon the ship, and the sailors began to lay down their rope nets and Kali rafts one after another.

Since the Lexington had as many as 2,000 men, the destroyer Mastins alone could not pick up all of them, so only the pilots, officers, and wounded were picked up on the Mastin.

At 17:20, the wounded Mastins fired eight torpedoes at the starboard side of the Lexington, but only four detonated.

At this time, the two Ming warships were already very close to each other, and the shells fired by them kept falling on the nearby sea.

The situation was urgent, so the Mastins hastened and fled the land of right and wrong.

[Picture]

What no one expected was that the Lexington, which was originally tilted 16 degrees to the left, was instead rebalanced due to a large amount of water ingress on the right side of the hull.

Later, because there is more water in the front, she takes on a posture of low in front and high in the back, with the stern slightly upturned and slightly inclined to the right.

The Beipanjiang and Yunhe, who rushed to the scene, were also stunned, and the two ships circled around her a few times, not knowing what to do.

The two asked Liu Zaiyao for instructions, and Liu Zaiyao ordered to first assess whether there was a possibility of rescue, and then sent a telegram directly to the naval governor Xia Jinbo.

The latter was quick to instruct: try to rescue it as much as possible, try to capture it; If not, we must also seize the time to investigate the hull structure.

Because it will be sunset soon, and there is a high probability that the United States and Australia will not carry out air strikes, so the Ming army has plenty of time to figure out a way.

The Beipanjiang light cruiser has a standard displacement of 8,800 tons and a power of 100,000 horsepower, which is barely capable of towing; The Super Destroyer Yunhe is responsible for patrolling and guarding the vicinity.

At 19:22 after dark, the first loss management team boarded the Lexington.

While lapping and dragging the steel cables, they also attached cables and tried to integrate into the Lexington's power grid, but failed.

The good news is that although there are multiple damages to the hull on both sides and the bilge is full of seawater, the overall sealing is good, and although it is still seeping, there is no risk of sinking for the time being.

Connecting to the power grid is ineffective, but it can be directly connected to the pump.

That night, the damage control team members worked all night, and the naval officers of the two Ming warships also formed three teams to explore, investigate, and record the design of the Lexington in a race against time.

"The hangar of an American aircraft carrier is so high."

"Interesting, that's actually the height of two decks, but in the middle is a steel frame."

"And there's a plane hanging up there?"

"Wonderful, hang the spare planes on it, this is at least ten more planes."

The Americans did not know that the Lexington had not sunk, and the Mastins had truthfully reported the situation at that time, but who would have thought that the battleship, which had already suffered heavy damage, had been torpedoed by four more torpedoes but had not sunk?

So the Beipanjiang dragged the Lexington all the way west.

After a night of hard work, most of the water inlet on the lower deck of the latter ship was emptied, and now the attitude of the whole ship is no longer low in the front and high in the back, and the drag resistance is much smaller.

The next day, at noon.

The two Ming destroyers that ran aground and ran aground on the southern channel were all out of trouble and rebuilt.

The 39th T-Detachment arrived off the coast of Moresby and was subjected to three rounds of air raids along the way.

To tell the truth, such a fleet with heavy losses continued to carry out the landing mission, and Zhou Changfeng felt very bottomless in his heart, and repeatedly asked to retreat, but was dissuaded by many calls.

Among the air force units stationed in Rabaul is the Sixth Light Bombardment Detachment, and the old acquaintance Mu Yu has now been promoted to the commander of the detachment, and he personally packed the ticket, which made Zhou reluctantly agree.

The Ming Air Force organized four large-scale air raids and nine small group harassment air strikes in succession, basically destroying Moresby's airfield and spare airfield, leaving it unusable for most of the time.

This greatly reduced the pressure on the landing fleet, which had to deal with the occasional enemy aircraft coming from Australia.

The guns rumbled, the fleet fired all the guns in unison, and the depth of the two selected landing sites was blown into a sea of fire.

Several minesweepers were clearing the channel of mines, and from time to time a few sporadic shells fell near them.

"It's so hard, it's so hard, I'm so stressed by what you're doing."

In the bridge of the battleship Yuanding, Zhou Changfeng covered his forehead and complained.

In front of him was Liu Zaiyao, who was bandaged like Ah San - the Yuan Feng was beaten so badly that almost all the bridges were blown up, the deputy captain and the chief navigator were both killed, and the survivors were all wounded.

Thanks to the fact that he was transferred to the Tianshi Zuoyuan before the battle that day, otherwise he would have been finished, and now Xia Xiaoshi may be preparing to organize the banquet of the first seven.

"Not necessarily." Liu Zaiyao waved his hand, sighed again, and said casually: "Everyone in the world knows that there is no one who can command the landing operation calmly. ”

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Today's winter solstice, have you eaten dumplings?

(End of chapter)