Chapter 719 The first sound

Lt. Carl is a typical beautiful person. He is rough, tough and aggressive. For him, as long as he can defeat the enemy, the life and death of a small fleet has nothing to do with it.

Besides, what can you do if you are worried? It is impossible for the current Pacific Fleet to rescue Spruance from the encirclement and interception of more than 20 escort ships, so he is more concerned about the telegram!

"Fair to the southeast."

There are only two possibilities to sail southeast in the position marked by the staff, one is San Diego under his feet, and the other is the Baja California Peninsula, which is unanimously recognized as the most likely landing of Chinese people!

These seem to be two goals, but they are actually the same. It's very simple. You can't enter the United States from Tijuana without destroying San Diego.

"Order General Shire to prepare that the Chinese may land south of Tijuana."

"Let everyone cheer up, we are going to fight a hard battle!"

=======“Four o'clock direction, 3 destroyers!"

"Strengthen observation and pay attention to to torpedoes."

"Left full rudder, the main gun is on standby."

"Get ready for the rapid-fire gun and be careful of enemy planes!"

The light cruiser Juno was already in a mess. The sailors ran to the deck in panic and looked at the huge fleet in the distance with their helmets. Everyone was stunned, because they had never seen a fleet of such a size.

Several rolling columns of smoke brought the sailors out of surprise. Although they had begun to turn, as long as they looked at the size of the waves hit by the other side's bow, everyone began to feel cold.

Spruance clenched his fist. Although the fleet in the distance made him blush and knew that if he could rush in, he could stop Xinhua's landing, but in the face of the two Yangtze River-class light cruisers and ten destroyers that chased him, he could only protect himself first.

Compared with Juno, the advantages of the Yangtze River-class light cruiser are still obvious. The L52/152mm gun has a longer range and stronger killing. Although the optical ranging has caught up with the United States, the use of fire control and naval gun follow-on system makes the accuracy incomparable. More importantly, in terms of power, Juno used 20 sets. The boiler and 8 steam turbines barely run 28 knots, while the latest Yangtze River class only needs 12 boilers and 4 steam turbines to run 31 knots of high speed.

What's more, the Yangtze River-level light patrol has been fully equipped with radar. Not to mention it's such a big day now, even at night, being chased by them means that Juno and San Juan can no longer escape.

Seeing the entangled pursuit, nearly 100 meters per minute, Spruance and all the officers were anxious. There was only one way to drag each other, destroyer, sacrifice!

Under the order of Spruance, six U.S. destroyers with a displacement of no more than 800 tons gritted their teeth and left the formation and rushed to the pursuing enemy. Although the speed was already very fast, the small ship made the navigation extremely unstable. From a distance, it looked like traveling on the waves.

When Spruance and others were full of hopes to disperse each other by a torpedo attack and distance themselves, the pursuing Xinhua destroyer also suddenly accelerated, but they did not choose the U.S. destroyer, but made a circle and rushed to the two cruisers.

"Boom." The Yangtze River opened fire.

At a distance of 15,000 meters, the 12 main guns of the two ships fired at the same time, and six 152mm shells per minute kept falling around the U.S. destroyers. Seeing that the other side's firepower was fierce, the destroyer formation also began to learn the method used by Xinhua before and scattered the destroyer. Two or two formations continued to maneuver at high speed in an attempt to avoid shells and launch attacks.

This scene made Spruance a little relieved. In his opinion, no matter how strong the Yangtze River class is, it will take a while to deal with the scattered destroyers, so that he even has the opportunity to kill the chasing Xinhua destroyers and leave calmly.

But.

"Captain!"

In the shouting of the adjutant, Spruance and everyone saw a violent fireball rising from a destroyer, and in the blink of an eye, it lost its vital speed.

Within no speed, the destroyer is the target!

"How can it be so fast?" Sprues pinched his fist hard and didn't even notice that his fingernails were pinched in the palm of his hand. The 31-section snake-shaped maneuvered destroyer was difficult to aim at. How could it hit it so quickly?

Luck?

Boom!

Another explosion came, and the second destroyer began to catch fire. Now everyone knows that it can't be luck.

Spruance quickly raised the telescope and was slightly stunned when he saw the tiled antenna on the top of the mast of the light cruiser, but then the scene made his eyes straight. He only saw that the main gun of the light cruiser was turning left and right. No matter how mobile he was, no matter where the targeted destroyer rushed, the muzzle They all seem to point to each other.

What is this?

The third destroyer was hit. This time it seemed to hit the ammunition depot. The violent explosion tore off the small hull, and the hit destroyer disappeared on the sea in the blink of an eye.

So the heart contracted violently, and Spruance put down the telescope. He already knew that it was too stupid for him to let the destroyer intercept it. Although the United States has learned the appearance of light patrol, it has always been difficult to draw skin and bones, and the internal gap is really too big!

"Fire!"

Juno and San Juan also opened fire. Eight triple guns fired at the Weiqing-class destroyers on both sides at the same time. Although the density of the shells is the same and the firepower is not much different, the accuracy is really not flattering. In addition to the lack of advanced naval gun follow-up system and fire control command, the lack of a large number of veterans has also caused The quality of the navy has seriously declined, and the gunners are often fired shells before they are fully locked because they are too nervous.

Four Weiqing-class destroyers were arranged in a neat single formation, like light petrels. When the distance was close to 6,000 meters, the hull suddenly deflected to the left. When a U-shaped curve was drawn on the sea, ten black spots also rushed into the sea from the hull at the same time.

Although the track of the torpedo could not be seen, the lookout knew very well that it was a torpedo attack tactic unique to the Xinhua Navy, and quickly shouted to remind the quick-fire guns and machine guns on the deck to be ready to intercept.

The two Brooklyn-class light patrols shook violently, and the stern water waves formed two S-shaped, and the bows kept deflected, trying to avoid the invisible and terrible opponents.

At that moment, even Spruance felt that ten thousand years had passed. It was not until the deck observer saw a few dark shadows wiping the stern of the ship and leaving that he wiped a cold sweat. But when everyone was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a few black spots in the sky made all the nerves tense again!

At this time, Spruance and young U.S. Navy officers found that they were more like a toddler than their opponents' endless attacks!

On the deck, the gunners of the rapid-fire gun were already in a cold sweat, and their eyes locked on the uniplanes that had never been seen before. When they expected their opponents to lower their altitude and let them know that the anti-aircraft firepower of the American light patrol was strong, these planes did not mean to descend at all, but aimed at the head of the cruiser. Fly over.

Doesn't they carry torpedoes, just reconnaissance planes?

In surprise, Spruance raised his telescope. Just as he wanted to see it clearly, the 47mm anti-aircraft gun on the ship finally opened fire, but soon the anti-aircraft gunner began to go crazy, because the other party did not descend to the altitude, so that the elevation became larger and larger, and the shells began to become more and more inaccurate, gradually even I can't hit it anymore!

"What's going on?" Looking at the black spot under the belly of the plane, Spruance suddenly had a terrible feeling rising from the bottom of his heart. Just as he was thinking about why these planes were not as high as before to drop torpedoes as before, one of the fighters, which was about to reach the top of his head, suddenly sank down, and then rushed down in a nearly vertical posture.

"Ji."

A harsh sound that had never been heard, as the plane that seemed to have lost control and dived down, or simply wanted to install suicide, suddenly sounded from the top of the head, like a ghost crying and a wolf howling, which scared many sailors involuntarily covered their ears and hid behind the armor in horror, but even so, the sound was Like a night owl, it keeps penetrating into the mind, which makes people panic and chill.

Spruance suppressed the unpleasant sound and saw that the screaming plane was getting bigger and bigger in his eyes. When it was less than 100 meters away from the deck and a black spot suddenly rushed out of the belly of the plane, Spruance suddenly understood!

It is not out of control or suicide, but dropping bombs! I'm diving to drop bombs!

Looking at the direction of the black dot falling, Spruance waved to the front deck and shouted, "Go away, get out of there!" Unfortunately, the shout was drowned out by the shrill. When the "life-threatening" crazy plane with traditional dragon wings under the wings could be pulled up by rubbing the mast, it was too late.

Spruance saw with his own eyes that a black dot almost vertically drilled in from the top of the No. 2 turret. Time seemed to freeze in this second. He only felt that the warship under his feet trembled violently after a shudder, and then the No. 2 turret leaped up like a rocket tied to the bottom, followed by a firelight and nitrate. The smoke came out from under the turret.

The 9,000-ton Juno could not stop 250 kilograms of armor-piercing shells at all. The violent explosion tore up the outer wall of the hull in an instant. When the No. 2 turret and the bottom ammunition compartment exploded one after another, the hull suddenly broke into two parts along the bridge. 703 officers and soldiers, including Spruance, even came to the lifeboats. Before he could put it down, he disappeared into the whirlpool.

5 minutes later, the lonely struggling San Juan was also hit by two armor-piercing shells and a spear three-type torpedo in a row, accompanying the Juno to disappear into the blue sea.

The screams of ghosts and wolves disappear from their ears, and the sky seems to be calm. The night owl for the first appearance is like an elegant gull bird. After a circle, it disappeared into the distant sea again. The American sailors who floated on the sea waiting for rescue looked at them in a daze and didn't understand. Is the sound just now really what they made? Question mark

What kind of planes are they?

Although the two cruisers were sunk, the dragon wings were not complacent. They knew very well that today is only the first sound, and tomorrow is the time for the night owl to make the world tremble!

===== The burgundy disk sank into the sea little by little, leaving a beautiful gorgeous light and shadow.

The fortifications are still being reinforced, and the trenches need to be dug deeper. Countless sandbags are piled up and thickened. A quick-fire gun all points to the sky, thicker and larger heavy guns point to the sea, and hundreds of biplanes quietly stop on both sides of the runway.

In San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Tijuana, while the soldiers were busy, they couldn't help but turn their heads and look at the beautiful setting sun.

230 nautical miles, it takes ten hours.

So, everything will be decided tomorrow morning!

(to be continued)