Since the 42nd T-Squadron was spotted by planes dispatched from the US airfield on Kuah Island five days earlier, on 18 March, the TF-27 task force on standby in New Caledonia hastened to prepare for battle.

Commodore Richmond Turner, after studying, decided to set out on the 21st, and was expected to pass through the waters east of Kuah Island on the evening of the 23rd, and then attack the Ming fleet at night, depending on the situation.

The chances of defeating the Ming fleet during the day were slim to none, and that aircraft carrier alone would have been enough to inflict heavy damage on the TF-27 task force.

Although night operations were fraught with difficulties, the officers were full of fighting spirit based on their trust in the CXAM long-wave radar installed on the Quincy Heavy Cruiser.

Nowadays, CXAM radar is becoming popular, but the production is limited, and this long-wave radar weighs more than two tons, which can only be carried by cruisers and above warships, and miniaturized SC radar is still under development.

At the same time, in order to better exercise the fleet's ability to coordinate operations, Rear Admiral Richmond specially arranged an exercise to check and fill in the gaps.

The Australian Heavy Patrol and the Dutch Light Patrol Tromp also had additional liaison officers in place to prevent miscommunication.

Two days earlier, on March 21, the TF-27 task force had departed as scheduled.

After careful and fearful sailing, three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and nine destroyers finally crossed the Coral Sea unharmed, approaching Guadalcanal at dusk on the 23rd.

In the second half of the night, at 3:57 on the 24th, the U.S. fleet, which had bypassed Kuah Island from the east, sailed due west in a standard column.

Due to the fact that the north and south are islands, clutter and echo interference are serious, and the actual performance of the radar with a detection range of more than 10 kilometers during the test has shrunk seriously.

Until this moment, the radar on board the Quincy could not be considered to have found the target.

Several radar soldiers stared at the A-type oscilloscope and talked for a few words, confirming that the regular echo signal was abnormal, and then reported the discovery of the enemy.

"Sir! 210 degrees direction, 5600 yards, probably enemy ships. ”

Commodore Richmond thought for a moment and then ordered: "Combat alert, the fleet turns to course 275 and increases speed." ”

At this time, the 42nd T-shaped fleet of the Ming Navy was still anchored in the coastal waters north of Kuah Island.

The sailors took turns resting, and the intense and hectic replenishment of ammunition at sea was still underway, and no one realized that the danger was approaching.

The Amaichi Ugaki had been overhauled for several months due to damage, during which time an experimental long-wave warning radar was installed for her.

The admirals believed that because of the presence of aircraft carriers, the US military was unlikely to dare to launch an attack during the day, and the greatest risk was at night, so they specially set the radar start time at night.

It can be seen that the fleet is on guard? Yes, but not much.

After discovering the abrupt waveform on the oscilloscope, the officers of the tele-reconnaissance department on duty on duty stared at each other and were about to shout a warning, but suddenly thought of something.

On the northern side of Tulagi Island, yesterday a convoy of its own convoy went to unload its cargo and supply the Tulagi garrison on the island.

Calculate the time, and the unloading should have been completed.

Could the unidentified ships detected now be the convoy?

Six minutes later, the destroyer Chunhua, which was on guard patrol 4 km east of the fleet, heard radio communication from the Amaichi Sagakin.

Soon, a Guantong soldier ran to the port side with a portable signal light and began to send a light signal towards the dark north.

"I'm 'Chunhua', and I'll identify myself immediately."

"Sir! They're signaling, but we can't read it. ”

In the bridge of the Quincy, Commodore Richmond thought calmly for a few seconds and decisively ordered: "Send a fault signal in the language of international maritime lights." ”

As a result, the Quincy used the maritime light signal commonly used by civilian merchant ships to send the light message "Our ship's engine is faulty".

This greatly confused the Ming fleet, this answer cannot be counted or wrong, maybe the requisitioned merchant ship is really out of order?

At 4:06, the lookout post of the heavy cruiser Australia observed a relatively clear silhouette of the ship, and it was almost certain that the largest battleship was the Yuanxing.

Since the Ming fleet was carrying out replenishment operations at sea, it could only turn on the lights, so it was naturally at the double disadvantage of exposing itself and anchoring at rest.

At this moment, the two fleets were less than five kilometers apart, and the captain of the Australia took the initiative to break the radio silence and ask the commander for permission to open fire.

Commodore Richmond approved a minute later, and all the battleships of the TF-27 task force pointed their guns at the Ming fleet in unison.

Suspicious, the destroyer Chunhua turned to the right, and at the same time turned on its searchlights rather vigilantly, trying to verify whether the unidentified ships were indeed its own convoy.

A 96-centimeter-caliber searchlight emitted a snow-white beam of light that illuminated the Salt Lake City re-patrol a few kilometers away.

"I wipe?!"

"Enemy ships! Enemy ships were spotted in the direction of forty degrees! ”

The sailors of the Ming army were shocked when they saw this, although they were already suspicious, but many people were still taken aback.

"Boom! Boom! ”

A U.S. DESTROYER WAS THE FIRST TO OPEN FIRE, AND TWO 127-MM FLARES FLEW OVER THE HEAD OF THE T-FLOTILLA 42nd Squadron, and a parachute was deployed in the rear, emitting a bright and dazzling light.

In an instant, more than a dozen Ming warships were revealed.

From the perspective of the American sailors, more than a dozen large and small white silhouette silhouettes are neatly moored on the sea.

"Boom, boom—"

The light cruiser Tromp was the first to fire, and the sailors of the Royal Dutch Navy, who had moved all the way from Dutch East Indu, were probably eager for revenge, and fired a salvo at the lone destroyer Chunhua.

Three twin 150mm Bofors guns erupted nearly 10 meters of muzzle flames, and the shells swept across the sea in a straight trajectory towards the Ming destroyer only three kilometers away.

It turned out that he couldn't eat hot tofu in a hurry, and the five 150mm grenades all passed over the foredeck of the Chunhua and burrowed into the sea behind, and only one shell hit the No. 2 turret.

"Boom!"

The Xiangshan-class destroyers have a total of five single-mounted 128mm guns with closed turrets, and the second turret is located in front of the bridge.

This turret is essentially a closed shield, and its main purpose is to protect against wind and waves, but other than that, it can only withstand shock waves and shell fragments.

The 150mm tip fuse grenade exploded violently, tearing the thin steel plate like tearing tin foil, and the shock wave and various debris flew in all directions, crackling and smashing on the bridge windshield.

"The one who steps on the horse every day plays yin!"

"The right rudder is full, smoke is released, and all guns are fired in unison."

"Full rudder right!"

"Smoke canisters start!"

"All gun positions are under unified control of shooting."

The Chunhua immediately made a sharp turn and fired back at the Tromp with all the firepower it could use.

The shells fired from the 128mm guns, 38.4mm anti-aircraft guns, and 20.8mm anti-aircraft guns flew towards the Dutch's only remaining "large" battleship, and the flames flashed on the upper part of the hull.

The Tromp, who struck first, was slapped hard by Chunhua's retaliatory return fire - a 128mm anti-explosive bomb fired by the latter's second salvo hit the Tromp's chart room, killing seven or eight of them on the spot.

A little farther away, the T-42 Squadron was still unclear what the situation was.

The first to react were the officers and men of the Asu River Light Patrol, who saw the searchlight beams and the flashing lights in the night, coupled with the rumbling of cannons, and everyone immediately realized that it was not lightning and thunder, but must have been attacked by enemy ships.

The Chunhua turned off its searchlights and fired flares to warn while calling in the radio band.

"The lightning strikes to one or four or five degrees, sets a depth of three meters, shoots in sections, and releases!"

This sea area was still shrouded in darkness except for the firelight of the two warships.

The situation was critical, and the Chunhua did not have time to confirm the number, ship type, and position of the invading enemy, but in a hurry, it fired six torpedoes indiscriminately in the southeast direction, hoping to disrupt the position of the American fleet and buy time for its still stationary fleet.

Task Force TF-27 was actually turning northwest for Commodore Richmond Turner, which Commodore Richmond Turner intended to use to occupy a T-shaped position and thus gain firepower superiority.

However, the destroyer USS McCall (DD-400) seemed to have an idea of her own, and she continued to sail westward, while accelerating and bombarding the Chunhua fiercely.

This caused the destroyer Landsdale behind her to be stunned.

Seeing the ship in front of it accelerate and maintain course, the Landsdale mistakenly thought that the fleet commander had just given the order to "surprise the destroyers and launch torpedoes when they approached," and that she had mistakenly missed this order.

So the captain firmly ordered the speed to increase the speed and prepared to launch the torpedo.

At 4:15, the American fleet split into two groups - the main force sailed northwest and began to attack the Ming fleet; The two destroyers struck at a rapid pace to the west, plunging straight in.

"Commander-in-chief, the enemy fleet is heading three hundred degrees, five thousand five hundred meters apart!"

"Report! Two enemy destroyers approached from the east at high speed! ”

"Flare it." Xiong Zhuguo, who was hurrying from the room, gave the first order.

Several flares of different calibers flew to the north, and several light clusters of different light and darkness appeared in the night sky, illuminating the American fleet with a long snake formation.

After ascertaining the enemy's situation, Xiong Zhuguo instructed the Nanjing to turn on its searchlights to illuminate one of the largest warships, while the other destroyers fired torpedo volleys, thus disrupting the existing course of the US fleet.

The beams from Nanjing's two 96cm searchlights firmly locked onto the Salt Lake City, illuminating the heavy cruiser with a sparkling light.

However, the firepower of the U.S. fleet, which had the advantage of being the first mover, arrived earlier, and the shells fired by the battleships such as the Salt Lake City, the USS Quincy, and the USS Australia fell on the Yuanxing.

Due to the close proximity, as many as ten shells were hit in one minute, a third of which were 203mm ordinary shells.

In the violent tremors, the front deck and superstructure of the battle cruiser were blown beyond recognition, and the turret seat No. 1 was damaged and could not be turned.

At 4:21, the Ming fleet, which had hastily responded to the battle, officially began to return fire.

The Salt Lake City was hit by multiple shells from the Qilianshan and Asujiang, a 144mm anti-explosive shell destroyed the SOC Seagull seaplane, and the Mk6 gunpowder gas catapult was also affected.

Suddenly, a huge flame rose in the middle of the Salt Lake City, and dozens of meters in front and behind were stained with flying aviation gasoline, igniting a raging fire.

The heavy cruiser became a conspicuous bonfire, so bright that it lit up both the front and rear battleships.

Seeing this, Nanjing, which had already received several shells, wittily turned off its searchlight.

After damaging the destroyer Chunhua and forcing it to release a smoke screen to withdraw from the battle, the Tromp turned its guns and prepared to change its target.

The Azov was also heavily fired at her because of its outer position, and the Tromp chose her as a new target, and then fired several half-salvos in succession at a distance of less than four thousand meters.

The Azoe, which was invincible with both fists and four hands, was severely damaged, the No. 1 and No. 2 turrets were destroyed, the bridge was beaten to pieces, the central fire control equipment failed, and several holes were blown out of the waterline of the hull......

Because the Ming fleet was in an upright position relative to the TF-27 task force, most of the warships, including the Yuanxing, could only return fire from the front, and the No. 1 turret of the Yuanxing was stuck and could not be rotated, so it could only shoot at the American fleet with a single turret for up to 12 minutes.

At 4:38, the Quincy observed a large number of torpedoes fired by a Ming destroyer.

At least twenty torpedo tracks were moving from left to right, the churning waves glowing with the glow of the fire, and they were on the ramming path of the American fleet.

Commodore Richmond was forced to give the order to turn to the left to avoid it, which led the fleet of the long serpentine formation to follow suit.

As a result, the fleets of the two sides became almost parallel.

The No. 3 and No. 4 turrets in the rear of the Yuanxing finally waited for the moment to exert their might, quickly completed their aiming, and fired four consecutive volleys at the Salt Lake City.

At 4:50, the first armor-piercing shell hit the middle of the hull of the USS Salt Lake City.

A minute later, the salvo scored two more hits, the second blowing off her chimney and the third exploding in the boiler room.

The thin-skinned Pensacola class was as fragile as a plastic toy in the face of 320mm armor-piercing shells, and the Salt Lake City lost most of its power, power was cut off, and the sailors hurriedly activated the backup generators, and the captain decided to withdraw from the battle after hesitation.

At the same time, the destroyers USS McCall and USS Landsdale had rushed to a distance of only eight or nine hundred meters from the Ming fleet, a distance that was almost face-to-face for naval warfare.

The McCall was the first to fire a group of torpedoes, and the Landsdale attacked a little later, but fired all the torpedoes in one go.

At 4:56, at least one of the torpedoes hit the Azov and successfully detonated, and the light cruiser was blown out of the middle of the hull with a huge gap, wide enough to fit a small car.

At 5:03, a dozen torpedoes fired from the Landsdale approached the Yuanxing after a long voyage.

"Torpedo!"

"One, two, three!"

The slender battle cruiser had weak steering ability, and it was still unable to avoid it with all its might, and there was a mine in the bow.

At 5:05, the sixteenth round and a half salvo from the Australian again covered the Qilianshan - the latter was eyed by the Australian from the start.

One of the 203mm rounds hit the ammunition supply ship that was moving away from the engagement zone impartially.

After a night of continuous operation, most of the ammunition had been delivered, but the explosion of the remaining hundreds of shells was still terrifying.

The shock wave spread in all directions, and the fire that shot straight into the sky resembled the second round of the sun......

[Picture]

(End of chapter)