Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Hero of 1911

Text Chapter 929 Japan¡¯s Counterattack (End)

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    "150? At least!" Zhang Peng, who had just completed his sixth kill, received the news, and his heart sank suddenly.  (Looking at the attack group of the Literature Museum and the defensive battle just now, the Lightning fighter is obviously better than the zero battle in terms of maneuverability and protection. As long as the pilot makes no mistakes, he can completely suppress the opponent. But the problem is, can he guarantee one-on-one or even one-on-one  Two will win, but in one-on-three or even one-on-four, the technical advantage will be equalized or even significantly weakened by numbers. But it is too late to say this now. Fortunately, the formation still has enough fuel left, but the ammunition is a little tight.

    "Eagle No. 1 is calling, Eagle No. 1 is calling. The enemy situation is wrong. Now I need all the fighters to hear it and immediately climb closer to me, ready to fight." Zhang Peng made an emergency call while quickly climbing to an altitude of 5,500 meters.  Within a moment, twenty-two Lightnings gathered around him.  Because both sides maintained a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour, he discovered the densely packed Japanese aircraft group below ten minutes later.

    When they saw the size of the fleet, all the pilots took a breath of air: "God, there are at least 200 aircraft, right?"

    "Yes, where did you fly from? Is it Japan?"

    "What should we do? We only have twenty-three, and Captain Yun and the others are still refueling."

    After discovering the Japanese aircraft fleet, the communication channel was quickly filled up.  Everyone knew very well that as long as they moved the operating lever and rushed down, they would definitely have a narrow escape!  But there was no choice at this time, and Zhang Peng knew better, so he took a few deep breaths, slowly rolled up his sleeves, and spoke slowly: "Everyone knows the target sequence, and bombers (torpedoes and dives) cannot be allowed to do so under any circumstances.  They are all bombers) approaching the fleet. In addition, I am here to tell you that we will not die because this is our airspace!" He gently moved the operating lever.  Lightning turned sideways and began to prepare for the dive.  Behind them, the war eagles formed a column and turned sideways.  "We are the Navy, we are the elite Fifth and Sixth Air Groups. Trust me! Follow me! I will fight side by side with you, and together with you we will sweep through thousands of armies!"

    "Go!"

    Twenty-three Lightnings, twenty-three big hands pushed the joystick at the same time.  The dull sound of the engine became crisper, and the whine of air rushing past the radiator turned into the loudest charge of the Chinese naval aviation.  "Enemy attack!" The alarm sounded in panic from the Japanese fleet. Zhang Peng and his comrades had already penetrated the entire formation from top to bottom, and one hundred and thirty-eight black and red lines of fire were like the whip of death.  In an instant, they flew over the Japanese bombers.

    This is a heroic attack wave of twenty-three versus two hundred and twenty!  The momentum displayed during the dive attack actually suppressed more than two hundred elite Japanese navy pilots.  In just one charge, fourteen Japanese bombers were shot down neatly.  This harsh slap made Major Tetsuo Iwamoto, who was leading the team to protect him, feel a rush of energy and blood rushing into his brain. Unexpectedly, he was attacked by a sneak attack just as he was approaching the target. He was so angry that he pushed the control stick hard: "Protect the bomber. Attack!"

    "Captain, the Japanese are coming!"

    "Double aircraft formation, keep up!" Zhang Peng turned around and saw dozens of enraged Zero Fighters breaking away from the fleet and rushing over.  Without any hesitation, he immediately called on all the aircraft to soar up from a low altitude of 2,000 meters. Using Lightning's super vertical climbing ability, he rushed to high altitude again before Zero War arrived.  "Be careful. They are going to carry out dive tactics again." Seeing Lightning's extremely fast climbing ability, Iwamoto Tetsu sent out a part of the zero battle to pursue, and took the remaining zero battle to fly below the bomber group.  When Zhang Peng entered the sky and saw this posture, he immediately knew that he had met a master.  This is obviously to wait for him below.  But he had no choice. The Japanese aircraft group was only fifteen minutes away from the fleet's air defense circle. Within these fifteen minutes, he had to shoot down as many bombers as possible, so he once again aimed at the scattered bomber group and dived down.

    Just when he led the team to complete the dive tactic again.  When he shot down seven bombers, Tetsuzo Iwamoto also brought more than thirty zero fighters.  Using its excellent hovering ability, it quickly rolled and caught the tail of the Eagle Squadron.  "Spread out and dive to get rid of them." Being bitten at the tail is extremely dangerous at any time, so Zhang Peng sighed and had to order the formation to disband and fight on their own.

    At the same time, chaos arose on the Sichuan aircraft carrier. The orderly supply work suddenly accelerated, but it was simply impossible to complete refueling and loading in just twenty minutes.  Especially reloading takes at least half an hour!  But there was no time at all, so Yun Xiangnan, the captain of the Sixth Aviation Group, rushed into the cockpit, glanced at half of the fuel gauge, and forcibly started the engine.

    ¡°Captain, it¡¯s not filled up yet.¡± ¡°It¡¯s too late, get out of the way and clear the runway.¡±

    "Sir, your bullets It doesn't matter, two machine guns are enough."

    "No, we can't fly anymore! The holes in the wings must be repaired immediately, otherwise the skin will tear during combat." "Fuck you, I want to take off!"

    The entire deckThe whole place is filled with such shouts.  The pilots who had just landed did not care about their fatigue, and some even took off with water and cans.  When Yun Xiangnan led his formation into the sky again, his nose suddenly felt hot and his throat was on fire.  I saw that Zhang Peng and his comrades had been completely surrounded by zero battles. The sky was full of flashing lines of fire, and hundreds of fighter planes were fighting against each other.  "I'll fuck your grandma!" A pilot rushed from 2,000 meters to 500 meters, ignoring the four Zero Fighters chasing behind him, and shot down a 97-ship with wide eyes.  But then he himself was hit by Zero War from above and below, and he could never get up again.

    "Up, up, up! Fight the bombers first, let's go up!" The sacrifice of their comrades deeply stimulated the pilots.  Yun Xiangnan ignored the amount of fuel and pushed the accelerator to the bottom, roaring towards the two nearest Nine-Nine Ships.

    The battle in the sky was extremely chaotic. Although Lightning tried its best, the Japanese bombers still took advantage of their numerical advantage and continued to pounce on the 23 Fleet that was evading at high speed through the channels separated by the zero battle.  Like the Eagles of the 23rd Fleet, Japanese bombers also selected two aircraft carriers as their first targets.  "Protect the aircraft carrier! Full right rudder, fire at full speed!" On the light cruiser Heilongjiang, Luo Yong saw more than a dozen Jiujiu warships pounce directly on the Guizhou from above his head. He immediately turned the rudder and pointed the bow of the ship at the aircraft carrier in order to use all his capabilities.  The ship's anti-aircraft firepower.  "Boom, boom, boom" Rounds of gun flames spurted out from the battleship, dense shells exploded in the sky, and countless shell casings flowed from the gun emplacements to all parts of the deck.  The bomb loader was sweating profusely and just focused on feeding boxes of ammunition into the magazine.

    But there are simply too many Japanese bombers.  Even though the escort warships, led by the two battleships, exerted all their firepower, Japanese aircraft continued to break through the air defense circle.  "Be careful!" At the same time as the lookout on the bridge of the Sichuan shouted, two 99 bombers had already emerged from the dense firework and swooped down towards the deck.  "Left full rudder! Concentrate the rapid-fire cannon fire and prepare for impact!" the captain of the rear admiral shouted loudly, reminding the officers and sailors.  "Hit, hit!" a 20-year-old anti-aircraft gun loader shouted excitedly, because the Japanese wingman was hit by his gun squad and turned into a ball of fire and fell into the sea hundreds of meters away.  .  But before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief.  The Nine-Nine Ship driven by Lieutenant Commander Mischio Achizu was already less than a kilometer away from the aircraft carrier.  This pilot, who had hit targets in the Andaman and Seychelles and was known as the Japanese Navy's number one ace of ship bombers, lived up to his reputation. He braved a dense rain of bullets and rushed to 450 meters before launching a 250 kilogram aircraft into the air.  The bomb hit the Sichuan's rear deck steadily.

    "Boom!" The bomb penetrated from the rear deck of the Sichuan.  and exploded in the hangar.  Dozens of airmen who were busy assembling spare aircraft were killed, and flames instantly filled the entire space.  The explosion also affected the 40mm anti-aircraft gun at the stern of the ship, detonating the anti-aircraft ammunition depot here.  Fortunately, the Sichuan-class aircraft carrier uses an easily repairable wooden iron-clad deck and an open hangar, so the explosion shock wave did not cause greater damage after the pressure was released through the ventilation windows.  But it has to be said that this is also because the Japanese aircraft were too far away from the attack, so they all carried 250 kilograms of bombs.  If it is 500 kilograms, then this one blow is enough to kill half the life of the aircraft carrier.  When the Sichuan rushed out of the smoke, even Yang Guochang was startled.  The left stern of the aircraft carrier seemed to have been bitten by something, and a nearly ten-meter-long hull was missing.  The navigation deck is revealed.  "Fortunately, I didn't slow down." Lin Ruosheng also patted his chest, but just as he was about to rejoice, four more Nine-Nine Ships broke through successfully.  Rushed to the Sichuan and Guizhou respectively.

    "Destroy them, destroy them! Concentrate your firepowerboom!" Lin Ruosheng's eyes were red.  But the sudden trembling under his feet made him no longer care about the aircraft carrier.  The bomb hit the port side of the Anhai, destroying three 40mm anti-aircraft guns, directly flattening the traffic boat and crane, and causing a fire.  Seeing that the Ninety-Nine Ship exploded triumphantly and quickly escaped, a Lightning rushed into the fleet's air defense circle risklessly to avenge the dead sailors of the Anhai.

    "Report damage! Power cabin"

    "The power is intact, three cabins on the port side amidships were destroyed, the No. 4 auxiliary generator failed, and the radar antenna was broken! Damage control, seal off the adjacent cabins, startCommander, Sichuan!" Yang Guochang has not yet  After asking about the damage, the Sichuan ship next to it was hit hard again!  The second bomb directly hit the bridge. The bomb penetrated the navigation bridge and the air traffic control tower. The explosion and flames instantly destroyed all glass and cabins.  After the smoke subsided, everyone discovered that half of the bridge was missing, half of the chimney collapsed, and more than 20 senior officers, including the captain, had all died!  To make matters worse, after the chimney broke, a large amount of toxic smoke poured into the ship.  When the first officer, who was dealing with the damage from the first bomb at the stern of the ship, learned that he had become the highest officer on the ship, he immediately ordered half of the boilers to be turned off to prevent the spread of toxic smoke and cause greater damage.  Although the threat of toxic smoke was removed, it also reduced the aircraft carrier's speed to 23 knots.

    When dealing with air attacks, speed determines the life or death of a warship. Stalling means that bombs and torpedoes cannot be avoided.  Seeing that the Sichuan slowed down significantly, Luo Yong, who had already shot down three enemy planes with his ship, fiercelyPulling off his hat, he shouted angrily: "Nineteen degrees right rudder, move closer, 1,000 meters away! Keep the same speed and avoidance direction. Send a signal for the Sichuan to continue sailing, and our ship is responsible for protecting the starboard side of your ship!"  Others didn't know the meaning of what he did, but Yang Guochang and the officers and soldiers of the 23rd Fleet felt their noses were full of heat.  Because in the past dozens of exercises, the Navy has discovered that torpedo aircraft are the most dangerous to ships.  There are great restrictions on the use of torpedo aircraft. The bomb must be dropped at a low altitude of 500 meters, otherwise the torpedo will plunge into the deep sea due to the excessive impact force.  If a fighter plane wants to enter a low altitude of 500 meters, it does not mean that a few hundred meters is enough. It must slow down and descend from at least two to three kilometers away. Therefore, if a warship is inserted between the target and the aircraft at this time, it can destroy the torpedo to the greatest extent.  The aircraft attacks from this direction.  Of course, the warship in the middle will be hit by enemy torpedoes at this time.

    A simple synchronized sailing tactic requires great courage.  When the Heilongjiang rushed forward decisively, it meant that more than 600 officers and soldiers were determined to protect the safety of the core aircraft carrier with their flesh and blood!

    After the dive bombers continuously broke through the air defense circle, slower torpedo planes also came from low altitudes.  Deal with both high and low directions at the same time.  The fleet's anti-aircraft fire began to scatter.  "Ninety-Seven Ship Attackers, three!" Sure enough, shortly after the Heilongjiang attached itself to the starboard side of the Sichuan and performed a synchronized maneuver, three Ninety-Seven Ship Attackers rushed out of the smoke with torpedoes.  In the intensive firepower, the Japanese pilots obviously did not expect that there would be a light cruiser in front of them; due to the angle of the launch, two of them had to turn at low altitude to go around behind.  But the rapid-fire guns from Heilongjiang and another destroyer quickly hit them, shooting down one and driving another away.  But in the end, the torpedo plane still launched a torpedo a thousand meters away.

    Japan has always been the leader in torpedo technology, while the Republic of China, Europe and the United States were slightly behind in this regard.  The Type 91 aviation torpedo also maintains the Japanese tradition of heavy torpedo tactics.  The 450 mm diameter projectile has a 240 kg warhead and a speed of up to 42 knots!  If he didn't slow down, Luo Yong thought he had a good chance of avoiding it, but now he had to maneuver at a low speed for the safety of the aircraft carrier.  A loud rumble sounded from the stern of the ship.  The Heilongjiang tried hard to evade but was still unable to avoid it and was hit by a torpedo on the starboard side of the stern.  The violent explosion tore apart the fragile underwater protective armor, and within minutes hundreds of tons of seawater poured into the cabin.  But what is surprising is that after Luo Yong ordered water injection to maintain balance, the Heilongjiang was still able to maintain a speed of 24 knots and stubbornly held up the aircraft carrier.

    At this time, the fleet formation has begun to become chaotic, following the Sichuan.  Dinghai and Ninghai also suffered bombs and torpedoes in succession.  Fortunately, the overhaul of the two battleships focused on strengthening horizontal armor and underwater protection capabilities, and the lack of power of Japanese bombs prevented further damage.  However, the losses of the two ships were also great, especially the Dinghai.  Because it was flying the flagship flag, it became the third target of Japanese bombers. After being hit by two torpedoes in succession, its speed dropped sharply, and the deck also tilted five degrees.

    "Can it be maintained?" But the most dangerous ones are the Sichuan and Heilongjiang.  Luo Yong was worried about damage to the stern of the ship.  He ran to check the situation in person, and the huge gap and damage made him extremely distressed.  Just as he was about to go to the lower level to take a look, the captain of the damage control team suddenly shouted and threw him to the ground: "Captain, be careful!" A Zero Fighter broke in and fired at the stern of the ship, killing him on the spot.  Several sailors.  Taking this opportunity, the two assaulting 97 ships also launched torpedoes from 700 meters away.  Boom boom Two consecutive explosions shook the more than 7,000-ton ship. Luo Yong and the sailors who had just crawled over fell down one after another.  Three torpedoes, even a heavy patrol could not withstand it, so the Heilongjiang quickly tilted heavily and sank in the Philippine Sea, the deepest place in the world, twenty minutes later. Two hundred and seven of the six hundred and thirty-two officers and soldiers were killed.  Die in battle.

    The fierce battle did not end with Luo Yong's order to abandon the ship. Even the aircraft carrier Guizhou, which had always been favored by the goddess of luck, emitted black smoke, ate two bombs, and half of the deck began to catch fire.

    At two o'clock in the afternoon, the attack aircraft group led by Lei Shaobao and Liu Yu finally appeared in sight, but what they saw was a terrifying scene.  The fleet that was still intact before leaving was in chaos, and almost every battleship was on fire and smoking!  The sky was full of strangled fighter planes, and the torpedo tracks on the sea were shocking. The explosions and thick smoke made it almost impossible for them to distinguish the battleship's hull number.  To make matters worse, the decks of both aircraft carriers were already on fire, making it impossible to see whether they could still be used.  "Damn it! If you have fuel, follow me!" Since most of the fighter planes are running out of fuel, even if they want to, they don't dare to do fuel-consuming actions such as fighting, so Lei Shaobao and Liu Yu carry some fuel with them.  The planes joined the battle circle, while the planes running low on fuel were forced to land near the seaplane.

    Although dive bombers and torpedo planes cannot fight fighters, they can definitely deal with aircraft of the same level.  Moreover, the addition of dozens of aircraft also made Tetsuzo Iwamoto, who was unclear about the details, afraid to fight and immediately called everyone to retreat.  At this moment, the most heartbreaking scene appeared!  A 99-ship destroyer explodedUsing the thick smoke as a cover, it suddenly dived down towards the Pearl River light cruiser from an altitude of one thousand meters.  Since the Pearl River's anti-aircraft firepower had been destroyed by bombs before, it did not have time to block the explosion of the Nine-Nine Ship.

    The light cruiser's protection was already poor. After the bomb detached from the pylon, it penetrated the horizontal armor from the joint of the No. 1 and No. 2 turrets and penetrated the turret well.  The explosion ignited the propellant on the hoist, and eventually spread and detonated the entire ammunition depot!  In the rumbling explosion, the front deck of the Pearl River with a standard displacement of 10,350 tons exploded in all directions, the hull was broken from here, and explosion dust was raised hundreds of meters high!  In the end, the warship only remained on the water for five minutes before sinking into the sea with 790 officers and soldiers.

    All the pilots went crazy. The big explosion of the Pearl River made them forget about the amount of fuel and ammunition. Everyone rushed towards the Japanese plane at full speed!  At this time, more than 30 Lightnings and more than 40 Lifengs coming from Penghu and Keelung also joined the battle circle. Facing an increasing number of Chinese aircraft, Tetsuzo Iwamoto took the remaining Zero Fighters to cover the bombers.  Fight and retreat at the same time.

    Since many fighter planes were seriously short of fuel, Yang Guochang ordered to stop the pursuit.  By 3:20 in the afternoon, after the last Japanese 97 large boat that rescued the pilot was shot down, the Battle of Ryukyu was declared over.

    In this first real aircraft carrier battle in human history, both sides paid a heavy price.  In a six-hour battle of wits and courage, the two Japanese battleships Matsushima and Itsukushima were sunk, the aircraft carriers Hosho and Zuiho were sunk, and two light cruisers and six destroyers were sunk, for a total of 153  A fighter jet was shot down.  The 23rd Fleet of the Republic of China Navy was also constrained by the "combat radius", which led to a sneak attack by Yamamoto Isoroku's main force after the victory. The Sichuan aircraft carrier was seriously damaged and capsized while being towed back to Keelung Port, and had to be hit by its own torpedoes.  Shen, the aircraft carrier Guizhou also stayed in the dock for half a year.  The two battleships Dinghai and Ninghai were moderately damaged and each went to the slipway for four to six months for repairs. Two light cruisers and five destroyers were sunk, and the remaining battleships were also injured.  Due to the damage to the aircraft carrier deck, the pilots had to make an emergency landing or parachute. At last count, 39 fighter jets were shot down and 96 were damaged during the emergency landing.  Fortunately, due to Yang Guochang's advance arrangements, only twenty-two pilots were killed or missing in action, and the rest were all rescued.  More than 2,000 naval officers and soldiers also died in the battle, and the rear admiral captain of the Sichuan aircraft carrier became the highest-ranking officer in the Republic of China to die in battle since the war began.  Zhang Peng, captain of the Fifth Fleet of the Navy, shot down six Zero Fighters in one battle and shot down 16 Japanese aircraft in total. He suddenly became the Zero Fighter nemesis that attracted national attention. Yun Xiangnan, Lei Shaobao, Liu Yu and others  Also awarded the title of Ace.

    ¡°If the first round of raids was calculated without intention and was just a wonderful performance by shore-based aviation, then the Battle of Ryukyu was the navy¡¯s solo dance, which truly broke the Japanese Navy¡¯s invincible myth.  After the war, both countries declared victory at the same time. The Republic of China announced that it had sunk 40 battleships, including battleships and aircraft carriers, and destroyed 800 aircraft. Japan even claimed to have sunk four Chinese battleships and four aircraft carriers, destroying the main force of the Nanyang Fleet.  .  During the battle that day, Zhanjiang, Hong Kong and Guangzhou were also bombed by Japanese aircraft from the Philippines. Due to adequate radar and air defense preparations, most of the Japanese bombers were intercepted and only a few completed bombings, which did not cause much damage.

    After receiving Yang Guochang's battle report, Yang Qiu stayed in a daze on the sofa for a full hour.  It is not because of losses, but because of the loss of two aircraft carriers, the navy only has three fleet aircraft carriers left to use (escort aircraft carriers have great flaws when used because of their speed and protection).  After Yamamoto Isoroku returned, the Japanese Navy already had four fleet aircraft carriers stationed in the Ryukyu waters, and Rabaul's Shuang He was also on its way back.

    To make matters worse, due to the sinking of the Sichuan, the Guizhou needed major repairs. Whether he could successfully capture Guam and hold it suddenly became his concern.
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report