Chapter 615 Wanli Iron Pliers 8

The sea, like a pool of blue amber, cotton-like clouds floated out of the window, and the high Chiriqui volcano in the distance rose like a pagoda, but none of these made Shunzi relax his eyebrows.

Because he was in big trouble, the oil meter on the dashboard didn't go!

The watch shows that it is already 3:50 p.m.

This is not a good thing. Although he can be sure that he is full of gas when he starts, 90 minutes have passed since departure. Although he has been flying at the most fuel-efficient speed of 280 kilometers, in this case, the bumblebee can only fly for 200 minutes to ensure the fuel consumption of another ten minutes during the final landing.

Shunzi has great confidence in his skills. As a silver star pilot who successfully took off and landed more than 50 times on the small deck of the assault-class training carrier, the wide deck of the Xiqin is no different from the ground airport runway, but he still needs spare oil, because he may encounter an attack squadron when he goes back, even if he can It takes enough time to clean up the emergency landing on the deck.

He knew that he could not delay any longer, so he gently flicked his wrist, and the dexterous bumblebee immediately reacted, but when the Panama coast in front of him began to become smaller, the white spots under the clouds suddenly flashed.

"Hott 184!"

Shunzi's pupils shrank into a cold star. He knew this famous British-made seaplane. Although it was painted with the American flag, he was sure that he was right. He also knew that the United States had recently introduced this kind of aircraft to imitate. The horsepower was much stronger than that of British-made, and the wings were also larger. It was said that it was to learn from his own safety. After installing a torpedo, it can be used as a torpedo machine.

"This plagiarism country that infringes on knowledge and patents!" Looking at the American version of Short 184, Shunzi remembered the words of his best friend Zhang Ou. According to that man, the United States has now become the number one thief in the world. The car engine is copied from Xinhua, the warship imitated by Xinhua, the radio was secretly built and did not pay a patent fee. The plane imitated the United Kingdom, so is the machine gun, and the tank is still legal. It was sent by the country. The most annoying thing is that I didn't pay for it after using the emperor's electricity recently!

Thinking of Zhang Ou's gnashing of teeth when he said this, Shunzi felt funny. He didn't care about these things. All he knew was that this American-made Short 184 was a little strange, because it didn't go to the battlefield in the southern Gulf of Panama, but desperately flew north!

This is strange. The transfer distance of Short 184 is only 480 kilometers. It is impossible to fly back to the United States from here. Where is it going?

Shunzi looked at the immovable oil meter and couldn't make up his mind. If he tracked it, he might not have enough oil to go back, but if he didn't follow it, what if? After a moment of hesitation, he looked at his watch again and again, and finally made up his mind to hide in the high clouds for a while.

As time went by, sitting in the cockpit, Shunzi could almost feel that the plane was getting lighter and lighter. It had been more than ten minutes. If he didn't go back, he would really have to land at sea.

Do you want to chase or not?

Seeing that the buried Short 184 under the clouds had no sign of turning, Shunzi had to sigh, but when his hand was just about to move the vertical pole, in the distance of the clouds, thick smoke suddenly rushed to his forehead.

"The dog said, I caught you!" -

"What!"

In the Idaho, Lieutenant General Andrew suddenly stood up, and his tall body stood in front of the staff like a brown bear. He grabbed the telegram from the N Fleet, and his face faded quickly.

"Okrahma and Wisconsin were damaged and could not be separated. We were dragged into the decisive battle, asking for support and asking for support!"

"He should be sent to the gallows!" Lieutenant General Andrew roared, and his staff vest was covered with sweat, pinched the telegram, and secretly swept the last two consecutive repeated words from the corners of his eyes.

Mayo, a fool, should leave immediately after encountering the enemy instead of facing him. Although the Nevada class is almost built in imitation of the Hebei class, it is not the real Hebei class after all. The Xinhua Empire has much more experience in battleship construction technology and application than that of the United States, so the two are almost comparable.

If he quickly breaks away and implements the bait plan, Xinhua's combat intentions will be exposed now. According to previous speculation, if Xinhua does not catch up, it means that they do not want to attack Panama at all, because no one will risk landing without destroying the enemy's naval mobile forces and controlling the sea.

If they chase, it means that they really want to attack Panama. At that time, as long as the time is delayed for 2 hours, even if the Xinhua aircraft carrier appears, the plane will lose its role in the night. The side with the absolute advantage of the force can at least hit the enemy hard, and even sink three or four of the opponent's capital ships!

But now, it's all over!

Before the opponent's purpose was tested and the key to whether the aircraft carrier was nearby, Mayo sent the N fleet to the other side of the people's teeth.

He knows Mayo very well. This is a man who is majestic when he bullies the weak. When he meets a strong man, he will be tied up and even be beaten down. If it weren't for his little experience in commanding the fleet, if it weren't for his few generals with actual combat experience, if it weren't for the fleet, he couldn't find a replacement. Maybe he won't come here at all.

Andrew was indeed angered. If Mayo was in front of him, he would definitely send him a bullet, but now he must calm himself down.

"How long will it take for us to arrive?"

"You can reach the shelling distance in an hour and a half!"

"Then how long do you think Mei, how long can the N fleet last?" Andrew asked.

The staff officer noticed Andrew's words. He no longer wanted to mention Mayo, so he immediately said, "We don't have much information about the Hebei-class battleships, but from Xinhua's consistent battleship construction level, the combat capability of each Hebei-class ship should be about 1.5 times that of Nevada.

According to this calculation, if you want to sink Nevada, which has strengthened the protection ability of key parts, it must be reduced to a distance of at least 15,000 meters, but at this distance, Nevada can also cause damage to them, so they must first knock out the counterattack ability of the N fleet at a long distance to continuously shorten the distance, I personally think The N fleet can last for at least an hour. As long as N keeps heading north during this period, we can see it in an hour at the latest, and we still have a chance to rescue them.

Andrew nodded and took a deep breath: "Cancel the radio silence, send a telegram to Fleet N, let them get close to me at all costs, and order all planes stationed in Panama to set out to protect them retreat!"

The staff officer nodded. This is the last resort. Neither the Camel F1 nor the Short 184 can cause too much trouble to Xinhua's main fleet, but now we can only use this method to test whether the aircraft carrier is nearby.

"Go and tell everyone, get ready, at the latest hour and a half, we will fight!" Andrew walked to the porthole and looked at the washed blue sea outside, almost clenching the water with his fists.

"One hour!"--

On the deck, Xi Zhiyong stood in front of his beloved dragon tooth torpedo machine, put his feet on the two stars on the head of the machine, and then wiped it with cotton gauze.

He was a sea eagle pilot of the second flight fleet of the task force, two gold stars, representing him in all two naval battles of the fleet. In the Battle of False Bay, he and his partners sank the France, the Battle of Colombo off the coast, and sank Spain.

Although the army was transferred to the third flight wing to be promoted to the captain of the attack brigade, and the latest Dragon Tooth single-winged all-metal torpedo plane was replaced, these two gold stars were retained.

On the deck, the comrades-in-arms of the Third League quietly looked at the Venus on the captain's plane, and their eyes were full of envy. They wished to immediately add a string of Venus to their plane.

After seeing them from the corners of his eyes, Xi Zhiyong smiled. Like his former captain Jin Wei, he is not a person who likes to talk big. He prefers to use actions to encourage his comrades-in-arms. These hot and envious eyes are exactly what he wants to see, because the golden little guy will inspire these little ones who are about to leave for the first time. The desire of novices on the battlefield, the desire to win!

"Don't look at it. You should all have it later."

After Xi Zhiyong handed over the cotton yarn to the air, he clapped his hands and was about to explain a few more words, but a harsh alarm suddenly sounded on the deck. The voice was in his ears, but it was as pleasant as the sound of heaven!

"Boarding!"

"Gunnie, finally here!"

"Mom, I love you!"

While shouting, the dragon teeth, who had nothing to do just now, immediately turned into wild monkeys with peppers on their buttocks and quickly drilled into the cockpit. In just a few minutes, Xi Zhiyong's dragon tooth propellers had turned into a light curtain.

"23!"

Fang Lan, who came to the third team of HNA with Xi Zhiyong, pressed his military cap, ran to him with the roar of the propeller, stuffed the information into the cockpit, and patted his hand fiercely: "K kill them!"

"Don't worry, they can't run away!" Xi Zhiyong put his fingers together. In the fierce salute, the two motherships had soared in the wind. In just five minutes, eight bumblebees that had already been prepared rose from the two motherships. Because the enemy had no air power, they were only responsible for the outpost, detecting and guiding the dragon tooth fleet this time, so as not to waste oil.

Ten minutes later, the deck wind had reached its maximum. The deck flight commander raised his hands, and the chess player in the distance raised the flag. When he squatted down and his hands suddenly turned into arrows pointing at the bow, Xi Zhiyong quickly released the brakes.

The dragon teeth carrying the "fish bone" were not as flexible as before, but the fierce deck wind still provided enough lift. When the island passed by, Xi Zhiyong saw the upright posture of the commander and the chief of staff on the air pipe platform, and the right hand holding the salute high.

"Get up, baby!"

Xi Zhiyong pulled the vertical pole with all his strength. When the fuselage was light and suddenly jumped out of the deck, the war eagle seemed to hear the shout, and the wind took it into the void along the wide wing.

In 20 minutes, the 52 dragon teeth of the two dragon teeth attack squadrons that had already been prepared on the Xiqin were successfully taken off, and the black aircraft immediately flew to the north.

Thirty minutes later, Dongqi also released the same number of two attack squadrons, following the former and disappearing on the blue sea--

"Report, the main force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet was found north of the Azuelo Peninsula, with a total of 23 warships, respectively." In the report of the staff, Fang Jin immediately walked to the chart.

23 warships, calculated at a speed of 18 knots per hour, can appear at a combat distance of 25 kilometers to the north for an hour and a half at most, while the four struggling guys in front of them are still heading north. Although the speed is only 16 knots left, they must chase and fight all the time, so that it only takes more than an hour. It will happen.

Similarly, because the two aircraft carriers are far beyond the detection range of the other party's aircraft, it will take an hour for the attack fleet to arrive, which shows that the opponent knows how to calculate!

"Do you want to compete for an hour?"

"Humph!" Fang Jin sneered. It's useless to calculate. After a while, he should know what the world is!

"Sar, plane!" Before Fang Jin gave the order, the captain next to him shouted, and then everyone only saw a large group of dense planes rushing out of the Gulf of Panama.

"I'm going to work hard." Looking at the four light patrols with strong air defense capabilities facing these planes that didn't even carry torpedoes, everyone in the Luojing bridge couldn't laugh or cry. Do they want to bump into each other?

With the restoration of the traditional four-on-four mode of the 12th Fleet, Tan Haodong, who watched the battle, also knew that it was now the final stage!

At 4:21, the two fleets that were close to 19,000 meters knew that they had entered the most critical time. The shells shuttled back and forth on the crazy sea. After multiple rounds had been completely locked on the target, the Wisconsin, which had been hit at a speed of 16 knots, was the first hit hard. A 680 kg armor-piercing shell from The stern No. 3 turret passed through, causing the explosion and tilted the turret. If the United States had not modified the well explosion-proof compartment, the shell would have killed the Wisconsin.

Two minutes later, Hubei, which was opposite to the Wisconsin, also ate two shells from the other side, causing the rear chimney to be broken, but this was also the last result of the Wisconsin.

In the next two consecutive rounds, Hubei let the other party taste the difference between 50 times and 45 times the body tube. Five armor-piercing bullets hit the Wisconsin one after another. The first one drilled in from the navigation bridge and flattened the upper half of the front bridge. The second one did not penetrate the main armor belt of key protection, but the last three However, the biggest weakness of the class of battleships was found.

Horizontal armor!

Since the sea war distance has become farther and farther away, all countries have realized that the future horizontal armor will be tested, but because this storm is coming too fast, many people are not fully prepared. For example, although the Nevada class adopts the key protection concept proposed by Xinhua, it does not continue to strengthen horizontal protection. Its level The thickest part of the armor is only 5 inches (127 mm).

The next three armor-piercing bullets drilled through the horizontal deck one after another. The deadliest was the fourth one. It passed through the middle of the No. 3 and No. 4 boilers. After destroying five boilers, it unexpectedly deflected and exploded after entering the oil tank.

Heavy oil is also uncompressible. Although the armor-piercing ammunition is only 7 kg of TNT, it still caused great trouble. With the help of the expanded heavy oil, it swept four cabins and squeezed through the underwater hull. The fire caused completely destroyed all the boiler compartments. In the end, although the Wisconsin was still stubborn. After fire on the surface of the water but losing all its power, it is doomed to be unable to leave the Gulf of Panama.

At 4:29, the battle against the Nevada Henan also completed the final kill. In a perfect shelling of 5 out of 12, a 680 kg armor-piercing shell told the Americans that Xinhua did not only take the lead in the concept of building a ship.

According to the observer's report, the armor-piercing shell was drilled from the top of the turret of the USS Nevada IV. Finally, the American sailors confirmed that the shell went straight down into the sealed compartment where the propellant was stored deep in the well. The propellant was a ** explosive, and its power was not much worse than that of TNT. When it exploded violently. After blowing up the two turrets of the stern with soaring flames, Nevada lost half of its ability to fight back. If the captain hadn't quickly ordered to inject water into the bow to maintain balance, maybe the Nevada would have sunk first.

After two ships were hit in a row and almost lost their combat effectiveness, Tan Haodong and everyone had no time to be happy, and the most worrying scene appeared.

At 4:35, Washington hit his opponent Hunan with two consecutive armor-piercing shells. Although the armor-piercing shells did not penetrate the frontal armor of the turret, like the previous Oklahoma, both shells of No. 1 and No. 1 and No. 3 temporarily lost their combat effectiveness, so that Hunan had to fire tenaciously under only half of the firepower left. .

Similarly, Washington is also uncomfortable, because every battleship has its own surname!

Han Linchun, the captain of Hunan, led the Hunan and injected it with a unique spicy surname on the children of Xiangxi. Although there were only six main guns left, and the speed was also disappearing, the whole of the Hunan was not only not depressed, but also their eyes were red. When the shells hit the opponent one after another, after a few rounds like crazy, Hua All the sights on the front and rear bridges of the Shengton disappeared, and the navigation bridge disappeared. Almost in an instant, a fire broke out on the opponents who fought each other.

It should be said that although the Washington, Nevada, or the previously hit Wisconsin, are novices, they still reflect the fighting style of the American cowboys. Even so far, they have not completely conceded defeat. Even the Nevada, which was the most seriously injured, has been seriously flooded on the hull and has slowed down. After falling to 8 knots, the remaining four main guns in the bow were still fired (one damaged).

Surprisingly, it was the Oklahoma. When it was time to fight the bayonet, the flagship of the N Fleet kept maneuvering on the sea, which even Fang Jin felt puzzled at that time.

Afterwards, it was learned from the rescued American sailors that Major Mayo, who was later called a disgrace in the U.S. Navy, had been scared and only converged according to Andrew's orders, but forgot that his partners needed a flagship to fight with them.

Perhaps Hebei and Oklahoma are the least interesting couple on the battlefield. Continuous maneuvers made the hit rate of both sides extremely poor. It was not until 5 o'clock sharp that after Major Mayo could no longer stand the dismissal of his officers, the artillery battle gradually heated up.

After two armor-piercing bullets hit the main armor belt of the side line of Hebei in a row and pulled out a wound about 3 meters long and 50 centimeters wide, Hebei also completed the final battle with the most bizarre shell on the battlefield.

Observers did not record the shell until many years later, an underwater search team solved the reason for the final sinking of the Oklahoma.

A near-arrow bullet.

The shell, which landed on the port side of the Oklahoma, was supposed to go straight to the bottom of the sea, but with the help of water buoyancy, it deflected. First, it hit the 5-inch torpedo compartment wall, pulled out a crack 11 meters long and 1 meter wide, and then drilled into the lowest ballast seal in the middle of the hull.

The sealed cabin is completely full of seawater. The shells tore all these thin steel plates and swept everything before exploding in the water tank. With the help of the cavity effect, it finally penetrated the upper power tank, causing the ship's hull to enter the water quickly.

At this time, Oklahoma regained a little bit of the dignity of the U.S. Navy. The second mate Sean personally took people to plug the gap and closed the seal, but he was pressed into the water tank by the smashed steel pipe.

At 5:15, when a large amount of thick smoke appeared in the north, Fang Jin sneered and ordered the distance to be closer to 15,000 meters, and then pointed all the shells at the waterline of the four Nevada-class battleships!

On the Idaho 29,000 meters away, with a high-power telescope, Lieutenant General Andrew, who was anxiously waiting to enter the firing range, almost bit his teeth. When he saw that the four Nevada ships were submerged by shells and began to tip over one by one, he suddenly raised his arms to force fire regardless of the range.

But the arm was frozen forever at that moment.

"Enemy aircraft!"

(to be continued)