Chapter 2655: Murder in the Dark Night 2
"Enemy attack! Notify the canal defense fleet immediately, we are under attack! It is an attack from a large warship!" Faced with the unexpected blow, the US escort fleet immediately began to implement countermeasures, and Spruance immediately rushed towards the canal with a destroyer Spotting the behemoth in the distance, the firelight when shooting at the foghorn had already outlined the rough shape of the giant ship. Spruance knew that he could not compete with such a behemoth, but the honor and responsibility of the navy made him rush forward without hesitation. Go up!
Half a minute later, strings of 6-inch and 4.7-inch shells roared in and landed around the Asagiri, raising water columns. However, this kind of attack was nothing to the top pre-dreadnought ship. The shells were easily deflected, and the Asagiri only deployed a few secondary guns to deal with it.
The Americans responded quickly. Destroyers and some merchant ships began to release delays to gain opportunities for friendly forces to evacuate. Under the threat of clouds of smoke and destroyer torpedoes, the Asagiri seemed a little timid. The battleship began to Part of the firepower was transferred from the transport ship to the U.S. Navy escort warships. The dense rain of bullets weaved a fire net on the sea and drove away the American cruisers and destroyers. A large number of merchant ships began to turn and evacuate in the opposite direction. Just when the Americans thought that the situation had stabilized, the sudden attack of the battleship Yamagiri completely paralyzed the Americans!
The American fleet almost crashed into the Yamagiri's gun muzzle, and the Japanese did not hesitate to aim their main guns at their biggest prey, the transport ship Chicago with a displacement of up to 12,000 tons!
"Fire! Stop this guy." The Chicago is a transport ship with certain armaments. The four 4.7-inch cannons on the ship fired crazily at the Yamagiri not far away. The dense high-explosive bombs even hit the target. A fire broke out, but a moment later, two 12-inch high-explosive shells hit almost simultaneously, instantly breaking the backbone of the battleship. One shell directly hit the waterline, and the violent explosion directly opened a hole in the hull. A large hole that is fifteen meters long! Another shell hit the rear of the hull, and the entire steering gear compartment and a propeller were completely destroyed. The fire quickly spread across the hull and quickly lost control, so much so that the Japanese attack only lasted 5 minutes before they lost interest!
With the roar of the giant cannons, Japanese submarines quickly joined in the massacre. These piranhas, like smelling blood, rushed towards the target and were ready to use deck guns and torpedoes to kill these fleeing prey. Fifteen minutes after the war started, a loud noise came from the battlefield. The torpedo launched by the No. 23 submarine successfully hit a transport ship filled with ammunition. The explosion of thousands of tons of ammunition instantly turned the ship into several pieces. Thousands of tons of debris, a huge fireball rose into the sky on the sea, illuminating the entire battlefield in an instant. And this seems to be a signal, indicating that tonight's battle has reached the most critical moment!
Faced with an unknown number of enemy warships encircling them from multiple directions, the Americans finally chose to disband the fleet, and the remaining transport ships began to pull out smoke and fled in all directions. This situation made the Japanese warships a little confused. After all, the personnel on these attack ships were not as good as regular battleships. And it was the first time to perform such a task. Various responses and experience are somewhat lacking. For example, at this time, the battleship Asagiri was tightly entangled by a cruiser and two destroyers. They were like a pack of wolves surrounding an elephant, constantly harassing them with smoke.
Use your own naval guns and torpedoes to block the Asagiri and continue hunting.
"The main gun concentrates its firepower to kill the cruiser, and the secondary gun deals with the destroyer! Avoid the smoke and let's rush forward!" Yamamoto said impatiently.
In the other direction, the Yamagiri naturally had no pressure on the only two destroyers. After first severely damaging one of them with intensive firepower, it forced the other one back. The Yamagiri began to chase the fleeing transport ships. He focused on a target, and this target was a bit fast, gradually taking Shan Wu away from the battlefield.
At this time, the situation of the Japanese submarines remaining on the battlefield was not that advantageous, because there were still two armed transport ships in the retreating fleet. Their firepower was really weak, with only one 105MM artillery and Two 75MM artillery pieces, but even so, while avoiding torpedoes, these two armed merchant ships still suppressed the surrounding submarines. After all, artillery warfare is not what submarines are good at.
Submarine No. 21 became the first victim in this battle. The unprotected submarine hull was quickly covered with dense artillery shells and bullets. The red-eyed Americans even used a large number of 12.7MM large-caliber machine guns and aircraft. The 20MM machine gun was used to straf the sea surface. Not to mention, this high-speed weapon had a really good killing effect on submarine gun emplacements. After several rounds of intensive shooting, more than a dozen Japanese naval officers and soldiers fell in a pool of blood. Among them, the subsequent 105MM shell that hit opened a hole in the submarine, and clouds of acidic gas began to spread out. Unfortunately, the acidic battery compartment of the submarine was hit!
"Move over the alert submarines, we have encountered a tough situation this time!" Colonel Sasaki, who was assisting in commanding submarine operations, issued the order. He kept cursing the two battleships in his heart, and agreed that you would kill the entire fleet. After everything was done, how come the Americans still have such powerful firepower?
These two American armed cruisers were very conscientious. They did not drive away the submarines around them and flee for their lives. On the contrary, they turned on their searchlights and continuously searched the surrounding sea to drive away these deadly assassins for their colleagues. Under the fierce battle between these two American armed transport ships, the Japanese Navy's hunting efficiency plummeted. At the same time, a US destroyer squadron patrolling nearby was also coming from not far away!
"We had an almost perfect start, but the execution process was a bit poor." Sturdy looked at the sea that had turned into a pot of porridge and couldn't help but frowned. To be honest, he felt that the quality of the fleet in his hands was a bit poor. If If the quality of the technical officers and soldiers of the Japanese Combined Fleet can be described as excellent, then these people in his hands are mediocre, and there are also some problems in the execution of tactics. He can be sure that the colonel has transferred back the submarine responsible for guarding, because He hasn't received a report from the warning submarine for half an hour! And this behavior will make the Japanese fleet pay the price!
When will the price be paid? Naturally when the American destroyers are in place! And this time will come soon, because the speed of American destroyers is more than 35 knots!
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