Because the main fleet of the Ming army had been killed before, and the US military was defeated in the battle for air supremacy, the Pacific Fleet had to hide in the waters near the island of Hawaii.

It was impossible to enter the port to rest and recuperate, on the one hand, the pier of Hiro was small, which could only accommodate a small number of warships, and on the other hand, there was a risk of heavy losses from the Ming army's air raids.

As if in a stress reaction, many American officers found that the sky had fallen after the Ming army landed on Oahu, and they strongly proposed that the Pacific Fleet be dispatched immediately to destroy the Ming beachhead at all costs.

Chester-Nimitz had been calmly analyzing the situation of the war, so he was unmoved, and as a result, some officers sent a joint telegram to Washington, claiming that the commander was passive and avoiding the war, and requested that he be dismissed.

The president stood by his decision, believing he was not wrong, and Admiral Harold Stark, Secretary of the Navy, also rejected the ridiculous proposal of a change of general.

It was not until the afternoon of July 25 that a submarine sent back a telegram that most of the Ming warships were still anchored and cruising in the waters near Kauai, which meant that the Ming fleet north of Oahu to support the landing was temporarily isolated.

This seems to be a wonderful opportunity, sweeping the beachhead of the Ming army in one fell swoop and inflicting heavy damage on the Ming army that has already landed!

Chester realized that the opportunity could not be lost, and decisively convened a meeting to formulate a plan of battle, and William Halsey, who had always been radical, had already been impatient and threatened to personally lead the fleet to attack on the spot.

However, this task did not fall to him, and Chester felt that he was not composed enough, and Raymond Spruance was probably more suitable for this fight.

In the end, the command selected the San Francisco Heavy Cruiser as the flagship, along with the USS Indianapolis, the USS Chicago, the USS Helena, the USS Philadelphia, and several destroyers (3rd Destroyer Squadron and 5th Destroyer Squadron 9th Detachment).

In addition, the battleships USS West Virginia, USS California, and USS Arizona joined the fleet.

The sortie of the last two old battleships was carefully considered, and they would be tasked with shelling the beachhead, and it was necessary to wipe out the materials and equipment of the Ming landing force to the greatest extent.

If necessary, the commander can take all measures, including beaching and grounding, to achieve the goal, which shows the determination of the command.

The West Virginia, armed with 406mm guns, was responsible for suppressing the Ming battleships and covering the other two battleships to shell the beachhead.

Designated as Task Force TF-37.1, this force consisted of 3 battleships, 3 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 13 destroyers, under the personal command of Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance.

The aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and USS Saratoga will also be on the lookout, with two ships and a number of frigates formed as Task Force TF-37.2, commanded by Vice Admiral John Halsey.

The fleet did not engage in night battles, but only cruised the waters northeast of Oahu, waiting after dawn to cover the retreat of the assault fleet or ambush the enemy who might come in pursuit.

In order to avoid being discovered by the Ming reconnaissance planes, the two fleets set off on the evening of 26 July.

The weather in the Hawaiian Islands was generally not good on the past two days, with the bright starry sky obscured by dark clouds, and only a few gaps revealed the hazy moonlight.

Task Force TF-37.1 moved rapidly through the dark sea at a speed of 19.5 knots, surrounded by the roar of the waves.

The entire fleet from top to bottom was unslackened, and everyone knew the importance of this mission - whether or not they could solve the danger of Oahu depended on this battle.

The assault fleet traveled more than 200 kilometers from the vicinity of Maui to its predetermined position in the waters north of Oahu, and it took a total of six hours and twenty minutes, by which time midnight had passed and the time had come to the second half of the night.

At 0:43 a.m. on July 27, the assault fleet began to increase its speed in preparation for the ensuing battle.

However, when the destroyer USS Worden (DD-352) suddenly slowed down and fell behind, the ship immediately hoisted a signal flag saying "Our ship is malfunctioning" and sent a light to indicate that a high-pressure turbine was malfunctioning and could not maintain high speed.

"Sir, it looks like the Worden can't keep up." The captain of the San Francisco said.

"We have our own business to do, let them go." Raymond Spruance stared intently at the deep sea ahead.

Task Force TF-37.1 is rapidly approaching the waters off Haleiwa in the darkness of night, and its speed has been increased to 21 knots.

The Ming army had long anticipated the night attack by the US troops, and had imagined various night attack situations many days beforehand, such as a situation where only cruisers and destroyers were available, or a situation in which submarines, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers attacked together.

In response, Song Zhongkai originally planned to deploy a detachment with the Longshuo and Kaihuang as the core at Kayina Point. If the enemy comes to attack, they can quickly reinforce and counter it.

However, due to the current precarious fuel margin, the size of this detachment has been reduced again and again, and only the battleship Longshuo, the light cruiser Liujiang, the super destroyer Changle, and the rest of the destroyers are actually deployed.

The basic establishment of destroyers in the Ming Navy is the 3+1 model, that is, three destroyers with one lead ship, which is a destroyer detachment.

For an ordinary destroyer unit, the lead ship is a light cruiser; However, the total number of light cruisers is limited, and the worse units will use the Xiangshan-class destroyer as the lead ship.

The lightning strike team is also in 3+1 mode, but the difference is that all of them are three Penglai-class destroyers with one Jinghai-class super destroyer.

At present, there is an eviction unit and a lightning strike unit in Cape Kaina.

After several months of continuous fighting, the logistical problems of the 180th Special Service Fleet have become more and more severe, and the supply problem has been plaguing the admirals recently.

Fleets of transports from afar often had accidents, some of the tankers were delayed, some were sunk, the fuel was never filled, the total amount was limited, and the battleships could only allocate a part of the fuel at a time.

Destroyers with large consumption and small fuel tanks have already had a fuel crisis, and individual destroyers are not even enough to support high-speed navigation in combat condition, and most of them are left with only 14 hours of fuel left at a cruising speed of 36 knots.

Song Zhongkai yesterday ordered the detachment to be given priority to the defense of the Cajna Point detachment, and since all the oil tanker storage tanks had bottomed out, he asked the Yongle and Xuande to draw heavy oil to feed several destroyers.

For example, the Changle super destroyer replenished 122 tons of heavy oil from the Xuande, and the reserves rebounded to about 35%.

A larger convoy will arrive in Kauai this afternoon, loaded with thousands of tons of fuel, ammunition, food, medicine and other supplies.

And this time, because of the careful escort, only one merchant ship was sunk, but it was obviously too late to catch up with the battle that was about to break out.

Zhou's insistence on landing in Haleiwa under the condition of insufficient supplies certainly seized the opportunity, but it also prevented his air and naval forces from exerting their full strength.

Admirals certainly had the right to oppose him, but most of them agreed with such intentions.

At 1:05 a.m. on July 27, Task Force TF-37.1 approached the waters off Cape Kahuku in northern Oahu.

Raymond Spruance issued a series of orders, and the flagship, the San Francisco, began to relay commands to ships via light signals.

"The fleet will enter the attack course in a southwesterly direction in a compound column. Destroyer columns used torpedoes to carry out close-range attacks. Cruiser and battleship columns followed the flagship to maintain course, attacking with full artillery. The fleet finally turned northward, and decided to retreat and turn around to attack again, depending on the situation."

Raymond Spruance graduated from the Naval Academy in 25th place, a good grade, and later excelled in commanding destroyers, and served as the head of the Naval Academy's tactical department, where the admiral was historically known as the smartest man in the Navy.

At 1:17, the CXAM radar of the San Francisco detected a large number of targets in the southwest direction.

"Sir! We found them, target 235 azimuth, 23,000 yards. ”

"Combat alert, I need to ditch unnecessary equipment, depth charges and anything on deck that will burn."

"Understood! Ditch depth charges and deck combustibles. ”

"The target is at 235 azimuth, 22,500 yards away. Maintain an engagement course, ditch depth charges, and clear deck combustibles. All ship personnel entered combat positions, first level alert, closed all watertight hatches. May God bless America."

At 1:20, the assault fleet began to abandon depth charges, and the wooden boxes, canvases, and cables on the deck of the battleship were all thrown into the sea.

U.S. sailors began to do final checks on the munitions to be issued and the torpedoes to ensure that the fuse insurance was lifted.

At 1:35, on the right of the assault fleet was a column headed by the San Francisco Heavy Cruiser with a distance of 1,200 meters between the front and rear, and on the left rear was a column led by the Helena with a distance of 1,000 meters between the front and rear.

There were only sporadic points of light in the endless darkness, and it was not known whether it was the navigation lights of the Ming fleet or the lights on the Haleiwa beachhead.

In such a dark environment, the TF-37.1 task force fleet rushed at a murderous speed of 21 knots, and a night battle at sea was about to break out.

At the same moment, the radar of the Kunlun Mountain Heavy Patrol also spotted a large number of unidentified ships approaching.

Signal lights flashed, flares rose into the air, and artillery guns were fired to warn the whole fleet.

In the bridge of the Beiluo Division, Wei Yingchun, the chief officer of the landing fleet, immediately gave an alert order, "Prepare for war!" Four flares were fired alternately in a 55-degree direction, and a telegram was sent to inform the detachment and the Kauai command. ”

At this time, on the sea north of Cape Kaina, more than a dozen warships of the detachment were quietly anchored here.

Mei Xuan, the captain of the Longshuo, was woken up from his sleep, and when he was half-asleep, he only heard his own soldiers shouting anxiously: "Chief soldier! There is a case! There is a case! ”

"What's the matter? Enemy attack? ”

"There was cannon fire in the east, and flares, and the landing fleet said that the teleprobe had spotted a lot of ships approaching them."

"Is it really delivered to the door? It's not easy for anyone to come today! Mei Xuan said while buttoning half of his military uniform: "Let's go, head for fifty, the ship will lead, and all the columns will follow except for the lightning strike detachment." ”

"Order!"

At 1:45, one of the destroyers in the landing fleet fired four artillery flares in succession to the east.

The 128mm flares emitted a dazzling white light, illuminating the sea surface within a radius of several kilometers, each flare hit farther, and the lookout posts of each ship watched with bated breath, but the first three shots were nothing, and there was nothing on the flowing sea.

It wasn't until the fourth flare lit up in mid-air ten kilometers away that some silvery-white ship shadows appeared.

The observation post of the battleship Zhanghe was the first to notice the abnormality and immediately reported: "Enemy ship spotted!" Five battleships and many destroyers, heading 250 degrees, 12 kilometers away! ”

Apparently the U.S. military did not come with so many battleships, and the lookout posts considered the USS San Francisco and the USS Indianapolis as battleships.

"Sir, we've been discovered." The captain of the San Francisco raised his hand to cover his eyes.

"The destroyer began to assault. The right rudder of our ship was adjusted to the new course of 275 degrees. Raymond said calmly.

With his order, more than a dozen destroyers in the left column began to increase their speed, rushing forward at a high speed of 28 knots.

The cruisers and battleships of the right column turned slightly to the right to better develop their firepower, after all, they had been spotted in advance and could not get closer as originally planned.

"Boom-boom-boom-"

At 1:55, the battleship Arizona was the first to open fire, firing a half-salvo at one of the "heavy cruisers".

The "heavy cruiser" that was selected as the target was actually the battleship Yongpei, and ten seconds later, six towering columns of water rose in front of her.

The two sides soon began to shoot at each other, and the US military now does not have practical artillery aiming radar technology, and the current battle is basically the same running line for the Ming and American armies.

The ICN is very different from the IJN, which trains hard for night warfare, and does not attach much importance to night warfare, and does not have the characteristic of IJN ejecting flares from seaplanes at night - in ICN's theory, the ideal time for a decisive battle between the fleet is evening and dusk.

As the distance was drawn, multiple artillery flares illuminated the incoming US fleet clearly, and one Ming warship after another flashed brightly, and countless shells flew head-on.

The Farragut (DD-348), which rushed to the front, was also the most unlucky, being hit by two 208mm, two 144mm, and 13 128mm anti-explosive shells in four minutes, killing and injuring countless people, and seriously wounded.

The Farragut then hoisted the signal flag, turned to the left and disengaged from the battle, hastily draining all the torpedoes in the general direction.

The USS Moffett (DD-362), which was following behind, was also hit by multiple shells, but she fired eight torpedoes after calmly aiming.

The Mk14 533mm torpedo that fell into the water first sank and then floated, remaining at a set depth to rush towards the Ming fleet at a top speed of 45 knots.

At night, the low level can be seen, the flickering light of the fire interferes with the vision, and the threat of torpedoes is greatly increased.

The Haihe delivered in the 25th year of Zhichang is the oldest light cruiser in the Ming Navy, and her bow was hit by two torpedoes, and dozens of seconds later the left hull was hit by a mine, fortunately it was a dud.

The Haihe was nearly decapitated, and the bow was gone, as if it had been broken by a monster—the steel plates twisted, the cables exposed. The hull quickly tilted and lost its combat effectiveness.

At 2:07, the Haihe hoisted the signal flag that "the ship has been severely damaged" and released a smoke screen while leaving the battle.

The West Virginia's chosen target was the same battleship Yongping as the Arizona, and her 4 twin main guns roared in unison, spewing dazzling flames up to tens of meters long!

The Mk3 406mm armor-piercing projectile roared out at a speed of 792 m/s and smashed heavily into the Yongping 13 kilometers away.

At least one shell hit the ship directly, penetrating the main armor belt and then exploding in an officer's compartment, as the entire crew was on combat duty, causing only a few casualties.

Another battleship of the Ming landing fleet, the Zhanghe, has always been known for its excellent artillery bombardment, but now it has failed to hit two and a half salvos in a row.

The exasperated gunners again ordered the main guns to open fire, firing a salvo at the Arizona at 2:15, two of which penetrated the stern and exploded, and one of the underwater shells hit below the waterline on the left side of the hull, tearing a hole about two meters in diameter.

"Well played!"

"Wan Sheng!"

"Good boy, take credit! Great credit! ”

Just as everyone cheered, a loud noise came from the side.

The sailors turned their heads to look and saw that the huge water column on the side of the Kunlun Mountain more than 900 meters away was retracting, and then the various lights of the heavy patrol were extinguished one after another.

【Schematic diagram of naval battle】

(End of chapter)