Chapter 557 Empire Strikes Back

"Didn't the troops?"

"Spand troops!"

Facing Li Mo, who arrived at the right time, Chen Ping nodded heavily after saying what he had speculated about the content of the intercepted telegram, and then suddenly drew two thick lines along the southeast section of Solomon Islands, which parted from the New Hebrides where Vanuna Tau was located, and finally merged into arrows in New Caledonia.

Looking at the demonstration line, Li Mo and everyone frowned. Judging from Clarkston's previous cautious and almost hide-and-seek surname, it was normal for him to choose to divide the troops, because he must have got the telegram sent before the destruction of the two British squadrons, from the dispatch of eight battleships and heavy patrols to intercept. It was inferred that the number of capital ships in the fleet ambushing him was about four.

In this case, as long as he divides troops, he can keep at least four capital ships, and it is possible to save six or seven ships if he is lucky.

It should be said that Clarkston's move was indeed on the weakness of the first task force. Although they were equipped with the most six light patrols and six destroyers before departure, it was difficult for light patrols and destroyers to play a role in the decisive battle of the fleet. The powerful heavy artillery is not a joke, especially before German intelligence said that the United States a few years ago. China has purchased a rangefinder from Germany and obtained some design drawings of the fire control system from France. In addition, the message sent by Gu Junho through the Rabaul telegraph station last night also mentioned that there was a three-meter rangefinder on the US [***] ship, from which it can be inferred that 70% of the American capital ships may have installed a primary fire control system. .

The primary fire control system is not a big threat, but it can greatly help the range of U.S. fleet guns. Coupled with the unique high cage mast of the United States, this means that eight U.S. capital ships may also have combat capabilities of more than 20,000 meters.

The long combat distance means that the pursuit and interception time will be extended, and Gu Junhuo, who does not have the advantage in speed, may face the problem of not being able to catch up with the enemy.

And after being divided into two strands, the choice of the first thong fleet will also encounter difficulties, because the New Hebrides is not far from the port of Nouméa with troops. In addition, the islands are dense, so it is impossible to chase the other after one, so you can only choose to eat four of them!

So how will Gu Junhuo arrange it?

"I know him, and I'm afraid he will also divide his troops to intercept!" Chen Ping pulled out his cigarette, smoked it, and his eyes flashed: "That boy, your appetite is bigger than anyone else!"

"Do you want to remind him not to take risks?" Rong Kai, who had already arrived, immediately asked.

Chen Ping shook his head: "It's useless. He is still silent on the radio. Even if he receives our telegram, I'm afraid he won't change his mind."

"But if we also divide the troops, I'm afraid."

"There is nothing to be afraid of." Li Mo waved his hand and stopped everyone. He said coldly, "There has never been a bloody battle. If Gu Junhuo can choose and kill four heavy patrols, then it is worth paying a little sacrifice!"

These words made everyone breathe a breath, because the emperor was right. In addition to Ning Xiaochuan's some crimes, the previous two battles were basically smooth, which also made many people have higher expectations for this interception war, but the battle at sea is like stabbing each other in a dark room. If even these people can't accept them. In case of sacrifice and loss, I'm afraid the soldiers below will not dare to fight.

"Wait."

After Li Mo finished speaking, after asking Chen Ping for a cigarette, he got used to walking to the window. The lights in Yanjing City in the distance were still bright. In a trance, he seemed to see countless expectant faces. What would the end of this foggy interception war from the beginning? ——

New Hebrides (the name of the island was not written before, Vanuatu, in order to take care of friends who read the map), was still a British-French colony at this time. Although it is close to Australia, Britain and France have not been stationed due to geographical proximity, but the United States and Britain signed the Pacific Association. After the discussion, a permanent fortress and garrison began to be built here, but at that time, priority was needed to be given to Solomon Islands, Marshall, Fiji and New Caledonia, so the Australian fleet could only patrol here first.

Epi Island is located in the middle of this archipelago, which is a volcanic island of only more than 400 square kilometers. There are only some indigenous people on the island now, but its geographical location is very important because it is just on the middle line of the New Hebrides.

In the dark, two Hebei-class battleships with two light patrols and three destroyers lay quietly on the south side of the island, looking at the white line in the eastern sky. Gu Junhuo looked at the time again.

5:00 p.m.

In another half an hour, the sky here will be bright, and then everything will be prototyped.

Although he was sure that Clarkston would choose to let four ships patrol the eastern line, that is, across the New Hebrides, he finally chose this ambush just in case, because this is the middle line. If four South Carolina-classes are on this side, he can also accelerate to the west. , cooperate with the heavy patrol team, which is crucial to intercept the ice of Sa Zhen.

In order to speed up quickly, the fleet has been circling in this narrow waters at a slow speed of 5 knots, and the boiler still maintains enough steam pressure. According to the usual data, two Hebei-class ships can accelerate to a maximum of 25 knots in ten minutes at most, so even if the prediction fails, he There is still room for compensation.

But in that case, the four South Carolina class will definitely escape.

No matter when and where, waiting may be the most annoying thing. Although the Assaulter has released four bumblebees ten minutes ago, it is still difficult to see the rolling smoke column of the fleet's operation because the sky has not completely brightened.

Is it South Carolina or Pensacora?

While Gu Junhuo was anxious, he chose to change his flagship to come to St. Louis. The haze in the heart of Lieutenant General Clarkston, who personally led the heavy patrol to break through, also made him more uneasy. Judging from the two naval battles he got before, Xinhua's capital ship was undoubtedly faster than himself, not to mention that they did not need to choose to go to the island. By detour in the middle, you can completely walk through the open waters of the Coral Sea, so it is reasonable that they should have appeared long ago, but why haven't they appeared so far?

Wrong pursuit?

Clarkston shook his head. The Xinhua Fleet is not a fool, but has combat experience beyond the reach of the United States. They know very well that if they cross the New Hebrides, they will never have a chance again, so.

They are right in front!

When this idea suddenly jumped into Clarkston's mind, a buzz had sounded over the fleet, and then a series of fires lit up from the dark sky.

Airplane!

Damn it, they must have warships that can carry army aircraft with machine guns!

At 5:45, when Jin Wei found four American heavy patrols in the dark, the silent New Hebrides suddenly became noisy. In the telegraph room of the four Pensacora-class heavy cruisers, several strange signals were monitored at the same time.

Even if the U.S. radio technology is not as advanced as Xinhua, the communications officer also knows that this is a large number of signal waves generated after at least four to five warships communicate with each other.

At this time, Clarkston had no choice. When he sent a telegram to the battleship formation heading south along the Outer Hebrides to tell them that there was an ambush ahead, the rapid rising sun had made him see the rolling smoke column on the southern horizon.

With little hesitation, he chose to accelerate and turn left, leading four heavy patrols to accelerate to the Fiji Islands in the east.

His decision was later criticized, because many U.S. officials thought that there would be a chance to break through if the eight capital ships rendezvoused, but many people supported him, because the interception was far more than his four battleships. Once rejoined, they were afraid that the tragedies of the previous two naval battles would be repeated.

No matter what the later people said, in fact, the ending could not be changed from the time he chose to turn left, because Gu Junhuo also ordered to turn right and go parallel with the four American heavy patrols. At the same time, the bow deflected 15 degrees and quickly narrowed the distance.

The acceleration that began almost at the same time shows the huge gap in power between the two countries. Relying on supercharged boilers and steam turbines, the Hebei class reached the highest speed in just ten minutes, while the small water pipe kerosene hybrid boilers and reciprocating steam engines on the Pensacora heavy cruiser, known as the fastest Pensacora heavy cruiser in the United States, were enough It took 30 minutes to increase the speed to the fastest.

The gap of 20 points allowed the two Hebei-class ships to quickly close to 22,000 meters.

But just as Gu Junhuo was considering whether he needed to fire immediately, an unexpected scene appeared, because the lookout reported that four American patrols actually opened fire first.

In the case that the acceleration has suffered a disadvantage and the caliber of the naval gun has been damaged, it actually fired first to slow down its own speed. This decision is indeed a little dumbfounded, which also shows the serious inexperience of the U.S. Navy.

It was later learned that Lieutenant General Clarkston made such a choice because he felt that his caliber was small and his protection was insufficient, so he might as well rely on the fire control system to catch his opponent off guard at a long distance.

Maybe he thought that Xinhua would definitely reduce armor if he improved the speed of warships. His 305mm naval gun should be able to cause damage to the other party, but in fact he was completely wrong.

The protection standard of battleships proposed by Li Mo is that they must resist their own shells at a distance of 16,000 meters, so not to mention such a long distance, even if it is closer to 15,000 meters, it is impossible for the four heavy patrols to penetrate the important parts of the Hebei class.

And this inexperienced common sense once again highlights the immatureness of the U.S. Navy. If Clarkston's previous caution was perfect enough, but from the beginning of the war command, he began to make serious mistakes.

The shells fell in waves, and the water column kept rising from the two Hebei-level ships. The momentum was indeed very falling, but there was no damage at all.

The biggest problem is that the first fire did affect the speed. Ten minutes later, the opponent's Fujian was hit by a 305mm shell in the thickest armored side, the distance between the two fleets was close to 20,000 meters.

After raising his head disappointedly from the scorched black left after the explosion of the Fujian ship, Clarkston ordered to continue to turn left for 15 degrees, but it was too late, because Gu Junhuo also issued a firing order after ordering to follow the left turn.

The gunners on the two battleships had long been full of anger by the enemy's shells. After hearing the order of the gun chief, they immediately fired the first round of volleys.

Just six minutes after the first round of testing, the Fujian made the Renault heavy patrol that had just hit it suffer. With only one, it let the U.S. Navy know how big the gap of two inches is!

At 6:21, after Fujian aimed at its target Renault with a perfect cross-fire, the No. 1 turret of the bow was followed by a volley of neutral work. A heavy armor-piercing shell weighing 680 kilograms penetrated directly from the top of the Renault No. 1 turret. The weight and acceleration of the shell itself directly imitated. Invincible British class, Renault, with only one more chimney, seemed to be pressed by the giant's big hand and sank.

It should be said that the Renault was extremely lucky at this time. Originally, the armor-piercing shell would definitely rush into the ammunition compartment from the turret, but this shell unexpectedly went all the way down, penetrated five decks, and did not rub it to the ammunition depot but entered the ballast pod until the explosion. 15 public The loading of jin TNT is not much, but it is enough to cause huge damage in the closed space. It instantly destroys all the structures at the bottom of the bow and opens a big hole in the water part of the port side.

When they saw the shell rushing straight down from the top of the turret, many American sailors on the Renault closed their eyes, but half a day later they found that the ammunition depot was fine, so they secretly celebrated that when they were ready to thank God, the second round of the Fujian volley completely destroyed the heavy patrol.

Because good luck has just been used up!

At a distance of 19,000 meters, the angle of the shell will begin to fall sharply, so it is a great test of horizontal armor. It can imitate the invincible 50mm horizontal armor and even the 305mm shells shot by the Yanjing class in the Battle of the West Cape can't be blocked, not to mention being penetrated by three 356mm heavy armor-piercing shells at the same time.

The shell went all the way down the back of the chimney and the tail turret respectively. Finally, the two drilled in the chimney exploded at the keel, and the one behind exploded into the oil tank. Just a few seconds later, the heavy patrol, which was once known as the pride of the United States, capsized, and then quickly revealed its belly like a dead fish. The whole ship 830 Only 31 officers and soldiers were rescued, and all the rest were detained in the cold warship.

According to the destroyer sailors sent to destroy it with torpedoes after the war, they could still hear the jingle of help from the belly of the ship a few hours later, but no one could help the 20,000 tons of overturned warship. In the end, they could only use two torpedoes to help the American sailors get rid of the United States early.

After seeing the rapid capsize of the Renault, Clarkston and the American sailors understood from their hit and the tragedy of the Renault just now that the gap of two inches was so huge!

Cold sweat instantly covered the backs of all U.S. soldiers.

(to be continued)