In fact, there is another reason why the U.S. Navy chose to challenge the Japanese Navy at this time, that is, the ammunition and supplies on the island are getting less and less, and the mood of the garrison is becoming more and more unstable...... Of course, this refers to the U.S. military, and the Chinese troops can also live well in the situation of two meals a day, and such living conditions are already much better than the precarious and difficult days at home.

But the U.S. military is different, the U.S. military's emotional instability is a big deal, just like the previous Galahad unit in Burma, a special forces unit will also try to assassinate Stilwell because of emotional instability, and the current Marine Regiment is still a new recruit, so who knows what they will do when they are emotionally unstable.

According to Clifton's investigation, there were at least five cases of suicidal behavior or suicidal tendencies in U.S. troops stationed on Kuah Island because they couldn't stand the pressure...... This is a side effect of too much superiority in life, and if the Chinese army has any emotional problems, a reprimand for doing ideological work will be over.

Therefore, the U.S. Navy also felt that it could not wait any longer, and the Navy needed to fight a battle to let the U.S. forces on Kuah know that the Navy had returned, that the Navy had not abandoned them and that it would soon bring them a large number of supplies.

As a result, the U.S. Navy made full preparations for this attack, or rather a challenge to the Japanese Navy.

They divided the fleet into three formations:

The first formation is an aircraft carrier task force with the "Hornet" as the core, and this formation is placed in the waters 180 nautical miles southwest of Kuah Island to prepare for combat.

The task of this formation was obvious, to provide air cover for attacking warships...... Although the fighters' ability to fight at night at this time is very poor, especially on the sea, pilots often can't tell where the sky is and where the ocean is on the pitch black sea, which is very dangerous for fighters flying at high speed. However, it is difficult to guarantee that you will need to use airplanes. For example, the battle will last until dawn the next day, and for example, Japanese fighters will attack American warships at dawn.

The second formation is a battleship task force with the "Washington" as the core, which serves as a maritime guard in waters about 50 nautical miles east of Malaita Island;

The task of the battleship task force is also very clear, that is, to act as a reserve for the attacking fleet, and to rush to the aid of the attacking fleet as soon as there is a problem.

The third formation was the 64th Task Force, which was dominated by cruisers.

This is also known as the offensive fleet, which consists of five destroyers and four cruisers. Sail directly to the waters of Kuah Island to search and attack Japanese ships and fight a night battle.

It can also be seen from this that the US Navy was fully prepared for this battle, and even after the defeat in the "Battle of Iron Bottom Bay," the US military fully realized its own shortcomings in night battles, so it often organized warships to conduct night training, studied and formulated the relevant essentials of night battles, and it can be said that everyone from officers to soldiers was ready to fight a battle.

Rather, it was the Japanese Navy...... Because of the victory in the "Battle of Iron Bottom Bay" and the fact that the US Navy has always avoided fighting at night with the Japanese army, the Japanese army naturally has a kind of thinking of underestimating the enemy. Thinking that the night was the world of Japanese warships, the US Navy did not dare to fight against it at all, so it laxed in all kinds of ways...... It even reached the point that because its warships had to carry out the bombing mission of the Kuah airport at the same time, some of the warships carried shells were all high-explosive shells instead of armor-piercing shells.

However, the U.S. military's battle on this night should be said to have relied on some luck.

The U.S. attacking fleet sailed to the waters off Kuah Island at 9 p.m. that night, and two Japanese naval formations also drove nearby, but because of a rainstorm that had just fallen, visibility was very low, so no one could detect anyone.

At this time, an oolong incident occurred: Scott, the commander of the US fleet, ordered the seaplanes on the cruiser to take off for reconnaissance, and one of them broke down during take-off and caught fire...... That's a big deal. A fire in the dark night, which almost exposed the position of his fleet to the enemy.

Although Scott immediately ordered the burning plane to be pushed into the sea. But it was still discovered by Japanese warships.

But to everyone's surprise...... Instead of firing at them, the Japanese warships fired signal lights at them.

It turned out that the Japanese thought that the fire was a signal from their own warship, so they used the light to signal back, which made the US Navy immediately know the location of the Japanese warship.

At the same time, seaplanes reconnoitring from the air spotted another Japanese ship group...... It turned out that the U.S. Navy plunged headlong into the middle of two Japanese warship groups in the dark night. It's no wonder that the Japanese thought that the fire in that direction was their own.

Scott then gave the order to turn, turned around and rushed towards one of the Japanese ships.

As a result, the U.S. Navy inadvertently took a very advantageous position, with nine of their warships facing the flanks of five Japanese warships...... This is the most advantageous position in naval battles, as enemy warships are the most bombed when they are facing their own side, which is known as the "T" cross-head position in naval battles.

But even so, Scott did not dare to give the order to open fire easily. Because the U.S. warships were also sailing in a long snake formation before, and then they made a big turn, so the warships at the very end of the line were left far behind, and they may also face themselves horizontally...... This made Scott a little confused and couldn't tell the difference between friend and foe.

It wasn't until the captains of the ships asked for fire one after another that Scott gave the order to fire with some trepidation.

A field of artillery shells soon rained down from nine warships of the US Navy towards five Japanese warships, and several Japanese warships were blown up in flames in an instant.

If the US Navy continues to attack at this time, I am afraid that these five Japanese warships will not be able to escape this fate.

But Scott missed that opportunity...... Until the Japanese warship was shelled, it thought that it had been accidentally injured by friendly forces, because the Japanese Navy did not believe that the US Navy would challenge them at night, so it still did not fight back and still fired signal lights at the US warship.

At this time, Scott hesitated, and even thought that the target of the US Navy's artillery bombardment was his own warship, so he ordered to stop firing. Some US ships did not listen to Koster's orders and continued to fire their guns. Scott repeatedly reiterated the previous order and personally urged his flagship "San Francisco" to finally stop shooting.

Then Scott ordered the U.S. warship to turn on the identification lights, and soon made sure that there was no doubt that it was a Japanese warship in front of him, and then Scott relented and ordered to resume firing.

But after only a few minutes of delay, the Japanese warship reacted and turned to prepare for battle.

(To be continued.) )