Chapter 559 Empire's Counterattack

"Captain, the pilot reported that thick smoke came out of the front bridge of the Heilongjiang, three turrets were destroyed, the deck was tilted to the left, and the radio communication was all interrupted. Captain Sa's ice!"

"Ban."

Before the communication officer finished his words, Gu Junhuo hit the sailing table with one punch. He looked at the St. Louis, which fled 25,000 meters away, and his eyes were full of anger!

It is also 25 knots. It is impossible for the Hebei class to catch up and escape without a speed advantage, and change to a more flexible heavy cruiser, so it has been 40 minutes away from sinking the Columbus. Both Jiangsu and Fujian can only watch the two American heavy cruisers rushing on the road.

In the case of high-speed pursuit, with the same speed and only six main guns, even if the battleship runs out of fuel, it is impossible to chase on the cruiser. The most important thing is that the Heilongjiang and Jilin on the other side have reached the most critical moment. If you don't think of a way, I'm afraid that these two Jilin-class will never do it again. The law is back!

So we have to find another way.

Gu Junhuo took a few deep breaths and fixed his eyes on the light patrol and destroyers that followed the operation.

This time, six light patrols and six destroyers accompanied the First Task Force. In addition to the two Yangtze River-class to protect the Raiders in the distance, he has four Jinghai-class and six Weiqing-class in his hands, of which are divided into two formations. The first formation is on the side of Sazhenbing.

Just now, the three Weiqing-class destroyers have shown the ability of torpedoes. The spear two modified torpedo charge is enough, and one is enough to destroy any capital ship, but the range is a little short. Even if a charge starts from 10,000 meters, the maximum range of 6,000 meters will make the destroyer face nearly six minutes of enemy's secondary artillery bombardment.

The Pensacora class is designed to imitate the invincible battle patrol. It has 16 127mm rapid-fire guns. Even if there are only 8 shots fired on one side, these guys can shoot 6 shells per minute. Even if they hide in the corner to attack, they will be targeted at least 4, which means that these undamaged secondary guns will be in six minutes. At least 144 shells were fired inside, and there were also torpedoes to counterattack at close range.

The Weiqing class is very strong, and even countries can't surpass them in a few years, but it is a destroyer after all, basically without armored protection. Even if the hit rate is 20%, it will be hit by at least 28 shells, which is deadly enough!

But what else can I do?

"Captain, is it too early for a torpedo assault? The other party's secondary guns are still strong enough to deter, and I'm afraid to use them rashly. Deng Haohong reminded.

Gu Junhuo nodded. He didn't know this danger. The investigation results were clear. The two American battleships' secondary guns were powerful enough, not to mention the two basically intact heavy patrols, but there was no second way at this time!

So after thinking about it, he slowly said a famous saying that was later widely circulated in the emperor.

"No sacrifice, no victory!"

"Order, first, second drive patrol immediately." Just as Gu Junhuo made up his mind to let the patrol force launch a torpedo attack to slow down the other side's speed and force them to change direction, the correspondent had already shouted, "General, the pilot reported that the first patrol team launched an attack!"

Bang.

The pen in Gu Junhuo's hand suddenly broke--

Zhu Houbin can no longer describe his mood at this moment. As a pilot, he is performing a reconnaissance mission. He can see the whole battlefield clearly, but because he can see it clearly, he feels an unprecedented shock.

On the sea, the Harbin has completely stopped, and thick smoke rises from the deck. Even from his eyes, it can be seen that it is impossible to keep the meritorious battleship of the empire, but what makes him unbelievable is that when many sailors began to abandon the ship and board the lifeboat, the only one on the stern was okay. The main guns used also shelled the Oregon, which was also unable to move and did not even have the power to fight back.

He can feel the mood of the gunners in the turret at this moment. When their comrades-in-arms fell into a pool of blood one by one, and even the captain's life and death are still unknown, hatred has replaced all reason. If they can't completely blow up the Oregon, it is estimated that they will not want to leave their beloved warship.

Finally, after four consecutive shells hit at close range, Oregon's thick armor could not hold on. The violent explosion spewed out of the bow, and the smoke even rushed into the altitude of hundreds of meters. Then the whole warship seemed to be lifted up by a sea monster from the stern, straight into the seabed nearly a depth of nearly a kilometer.

Finally, the door of the No. 5 turret hatch of Heilongjiang opened and rushed out more than a dozen members of the artillery squad. They only saw them shouting, jumping, and spitting straight to the Oregon, which had fallen to the bottom of the sea. Then they rushed to the other side and squeezed into the last few lifeboats.

Turning around and chasing the channel for a long time, the South Carolina has also been stationary. The deck began to tilt slowly. The plane flew forward again. The battle on the sea is still continuing. The speed of the two damaged Michigan and Massachusetts has also dropped to 15 knots, although their rival Jilin can still maintain 1 Eight knots, but the whole body is already covered with scars. There are only two of the five double main guns left to shoot, but they still bite and they don't want to let go.

Especially the Michigan, which just hit the Heilongjiang bridge, was taken care of. All four main guns were aimed at its crazy shells, and even the armored secondary guns that knew they could not gnaw were joined the shelling.

Looking at such a tragic scene, Zhu Houbin's tears fell down in an instant. As a new generation of naval pilots, he had experienced death and war, but he never knew that the confrontation between the battleships was so magnificent and miserable that he even had the idea of flying a plane to the enemy ship.

At this moment, a more unexpected scene happened. Only two Jinghai-class light cruisers and three destroyers that had completed the task rushed into the battle circle. The two light cruisers rushed wildly while suppressing the enemy's secondary guns with 24 152mm naval guns on the ship, covering the three that could sail 11 per minute. A destroyer with a speed of 00 meters and a speed of 37 knots launched a torpedo attack.

Zhu Houbin's voice cracked in an moment!

The torpedo is very powerful, but there must be a premise for torpedo attack the capital ship, that is, that is, the visibility at sea is low, or at night, if you want to attack during the day unless the other party basically loses its ability to fight back, especially the most threatening rapid-fire secondary gun must be suppressed, so no commander can win or lose in the battle of the capital ship. Before, or forced to cover the retreat of the capital ship and other key situations, the destroyer will not be sent to participate in the attack.

But at this time, the secondary guns on the two American battleships that continue to go south have not completely lost their effectiveness. Although they are suppressed by light patrols, they still cannot be completely foolproof.

Three destroyers, like dolphins jumping on the sea, quickly chased through several broken and immovable capital ships. They only saw their speed getting faster and faster. Finally, they suddenly accelerated more than two American heavy patrols from a distance and launched a death attack about 15,000 meters in front of their bows!

At the same time, in order to disperse the enemy's firepower, the two Jinghai class also launched an assault from the direction of the stern. Zhu Houbin could even see that the torpedoes on the five warships had clenched the launchers, waiting for the last moment.

It seems that they feel the threat. The two American battleships began to quickly deflect the bow, hoping to cross the body and exert all their firepower, but the three destroyers and two light patrols are very flexible, always maintaining the inner corner of the axis of the American battleship, rushing against the gunfire!

In a trance, Zhu Houbin seemed to see a pair of red eyes on the five cruisers, and saw their ferocious but proud smiling faces.

Suddenly, only a violent explosion was seen from the head destroyer Chen Tang. The explosion began to spread from the position of the torpedo launcher in the center, and instantly swallowed up the small destroyer.

But this not only did not scare the two partners behind it, but also stimulated their assault belief. They only saw them slammed out along the edge of the explosion and continued to rush towards their opponents.

10000 meters!

9000 meters!

8000 meters!

Boom!

Zhu Houbin counted the time to enter the six-kilometer attack channel in a minute and a second. Just as there were only 2,000 meters left, the second destroyer was hit by the main gun of the USS Massachusetts with a 305mm shell in a nearly flat sweeping position.

At this distance, even the battleship can't resist this attack, not to mention the destroyer with a displacement of only 2,500 tons and no armor protection. The destroyer began to flood almost instantly.

Just when the American sailors thought they had solved the dangerous words, the third destroyer rushed out of the explosive smoke of its partners again, with flames, and finally stepped into the red circle in everyone's hearts.

6000 meters!

After a rapid U-shaped bend, ten spear type 2 torpedoes were thrown out, and ten snow-white wakes suddenly appeared on the sea. The Massachusetts and Michigan knew that this was the last moment, and struggled to avoid it with the last effort. The small-caliber rapid-fire gun on the ship was full of fire, aiming at the waves. Ten sharp spears that appear from time to time.

The sound of bombardment continued to sound from a distance, and huge splashes shot out from the bottom of the sea. The torpedoes that were constantly hit by the rapid-fire gun made Zhu Houbin and all the pilots' hearts nearby begin to sink little by little. Especially when a few white lines rushed back against the battleship's hull, several excited pilots were very excited. As soon as you push the oil rod, you have to dive up to avenge your comrades-in-arms.

But at this moment, Zhu Houbin suddenly felt a flash of black shadow in the net. The heavy spear in the front of the white track plunged into the bow of the Massachusetts ship fiercely. The torpedo with 450 kilograms of TNT loaded showed unparalleled power. The battleship's bow with a displacement of 20,000 tons seemed to have been held up and jumped nearly ten. After the rice, it suddenly fell into the sea, and the waves roared to both sides like a tsunami.

"Good play!"

When Zhu Houbin sat in the cabin and waved his fist fiercely, the other two explosions made the cheers stop abruptly. Only a Jinghai-class light patrol attacking from the tail saw thick smoke rolling up, and the two main gun turrets of the bow were lifted. From the outside, it should have been formed after being hit by a large-caliber gun and hit by the ammunition depot. But the light patrol, which attacked with the destroyer at the same time, was not fruitless. Twenty spears of the two light patrols completely paralyzed the most rampant Michigan, and sank to the bottom of the sea with Oregon just half an hour later.

In just 20 minutes of the assault battle, everyone was stunned. They not only shed tears for the bravery and tenacity of the cruisers and destroyers, but also cheered excitedly for the final annihilation of four American battleships!

When the Massachusetts sent out the last telegram, telling them to be careful of the torpedo tactics of the Xinhua Navy, and the telegram to bless the successful breakthrough, and was sent to Lieutenant General Clarkston and St. Louis for a heavy patrol. The latter was less than 5,000 meters away from the New Hebrides, but there was no sign of electricity from under the water. The white tail made all the beautiful [***] official's eyes fall out of the bridge.

It was not until one of the four torpedoes that came out of thin air hit the port side of the St. Louis that a word popped up in Clarkston's mind.

Submarine!

The St. Louis finally sank 3,000 meters from the coast of Eroman'a Island at the southern end of the New Hebrides under the influence of the customary surname. The only incredible thing is that Lieutenant General Clarkston miraculously survived and survived on the island with nearly a hundred sailors, and was passed by a ship half a month later. The Australian patrol ship was rescued and returned to the United States.

This is a careful killing!

This ship, which has been following the U.S. heavy patrol, arrived here. After seeing the battle of the capital ship, it quietly moved here in advance and carried out a bold and rampant ambush!

It once again announces that in addition to reconnaissance, the tiger shark has the ability to ambush and kill when it has the accurate direction and intelligence of the other party!

The perfect kill made Gu Junhao make up his mind to order all destroyers and light patrols to launch a torpedo attack on the remaining American heavy patrol Rossville, forcing it to slow down.

12 o'clock sharp.

After sacrificing a destroyer, in the face of a fierce torpedo frenade, the Roseville had to slow down and change direction again. This maneuver that revealed more than half of the hull was caught by Fujian. It took only three minutes for twelve 356mm guns to penetrate the boiler chamber, making it a The lower part fell to 10 knots, and then the Fujian gunners, who were stimulated by the news of the Heilongjiang, shot 120 heavy armor-piercing bullets at a distance of 15,000 meters in a nearly sadistic way!

At this time, it was less than 15 nautical miles away from the port of Nouméa, and the British garrison on the island even saw the crazy move of the Fujian to kill the Roseville!

At 1:30, Fujian returned with the second-wheel patrol. At the same time, Gu Junhao sent the first contact telegram.

At 2 o'clock sharp, the anxious General Staff received the war report forwarded by Guam.

The first mixed fleet Heilongjiang sank, Jilin was seriously injured (later after returning to Guam, it was found that it could not be repaired and was dismantled), Dinghai light patrol sank, Sihai light patrol was seriously injured, and three destroyers sank!

1286 people were sacrificed, 189 seriously injured, and 451 minor injuries. General Sa Zhenbing's left arm was seriously torn. On the way home, after emergency inspection by the military doctor on the rendezvous ship, he had to perform an amputation operation in order not to infect the wound!

This is the most costly naval battle in the history of the Xinhua Navy. The cost is extremely high, but the sacrifice of the soldiers was not in vain, especially the decisive assault launched by the first-wheeling patrol at the last moment, which not only shows the tenacious style of Xinhua soldiers, but also lets the world know the price of sacrifice!

Because the four South Carolina-class battleships, four Pensacora-class heavy cruisers, three protective cruisers and one British mothership of the U.S. Mobile Fleet were all sunk!

At 3:00 p.m., with the confluence of the two formations and the mother ship Raiders and the supply ships, this careful planning consisted of three naval battles: the Battle of Perth, the Battle of the West Cape and the New Hebrides respectively. It sank a total of 25 enemy ships (the enemy of Nauru fled) and destroyed most of the mobile forces in the British and American Pacific in one fell swoop. Later, it was known as the battle of the imperial counterattack. Only two days after the declaration of war, it laid the foundation for the situation in the Pacific in the coming year!

2 days, reversal!

(to be continued)