The Surigao Strait, which connects the Mindanao Sea to Leyte Gulf, is actually a 30-nautical-mile narrow waterway with high winds and waves and steep cliffs on both sides. In the bright moonlight, the scenery is particularly magnificent.

As soon as midnight passed, and the moon had just set, the warship appeared. The first Chinese troops to fight were torpedo boats. These speedboats did not rush at Yue himself at a gallop as the work can describe, but quietly touched Yue himself, and as soon as the torpedo was fired, they galloped and fled. The Chinese army's speedboats are equipped with radar, and even if they are sailing in the rain, storm, and fog at night, they can still spot themselves on the radar fluorescent screen and launch an attack. Unfortunately, that night, the fog dissipated, and he found these speedboats, and the warships of all sizes bombarded them together, and the destroyers chased after them. At this time, the Chinese destroyers entered the battle and set off a smoke screen. Many speedboats had already fired torpedoes from favorable positions, but at that time it was impossible to observe the effect of the attack, only to disrupt the position of the fleet.

Destroyers followed. Like the speedboats, they were equipped with radar, and at first they followed the shadows shown by the radar phosphor screens. It is said that the warship is also equipped with radar, but it is not as good as the Chinese army, but it is not enough to detect the enemy within the torpedo range. At 2:58 a.m., the first searchlight of the fleet was turned on, and the Chinese destroyer fleet immediately turned its rudder and set off a smoke screen. Several groups of Chinese destroyers were clung to the nitty. Instead of attacking the fleet from the front, a small fleet of destroyers rushed back and forth in the dark night, sometimes attacking, sometimes fleeing, and so on and so forth. The rumbling sound of cannons echoed in the canyon, and one after another the cannonballs fell into the water, stirring up layers of black waves on the sea, and the flames pierced the night sky from time to time. The captain of the destroyer "Tianji Star" of the Chinese army was not standing on the bridge at the moment, but was in the "combat command post" in the cabin. Wearing headphones, he stood by a 30-centimeter-large radar phosphor screen, observing the progress of the battle while directing his battleship. At 3:51, while the Chinese destroyers were in a fierce battle, the Chinese battleships and cruisers also opened fire. A volley of cannons fired, and countless cannonballs formed a series of fire dragons that flew over the heads of the destroyer soldiers. Officers watched their shots in front of a magical fluorescent screen. If you see a shadow disappearing on the fluorescent screen, people know that it is a sinking ship. The fleet was under heavy shells and torpedoes. After the fleet sailed, the sea was turbulent, leaving a churning track, which was immediately cut off by torpedoes. Naturally, the fleet was not willing to be beaten, but their firepower was not fierce and their shooting was inaccurate. The remnants of Nishimura's fleet fought and retreated, and Vice Admiral Shima's fleet, which had come from the north to reinforce him, was also beaten to pieces after sailing into the murderous Surigao Strait, and now the remnants of the two fleets were fleeing with each other, crowded and colliding with each other, and were in disarray.

By daybreak, the entire Surigao Strait had been turned upside down by Chinese cruisers, torpedo boats, and destroyers. On the sea covered by layers of heavy oil, there were brazier-like warships and countless wreckage fragments, some of which were still on fire, and the lifeboats were crowded with escaped sailors. The commander ordered the rescue of the victim himself. The Chinese destroyer spread a lifenet and threw a lifebuoy and cable at the oil-stained himself. However, most of these people refused to let the Chinese rescue them, and even when they saw a Chinese destroyer approaching, some of them turned around and jumped into the water. In the Nishimura fleet, only the heavy cruiser "Tottori" remained, but it also caught fire and was later sunk by aircraft and torpedo boats. Only 1 of the 3 cruisers of the Shima fleet escaped safely.

More than 7,000 people died in the Surigao Strait. The Chinese lost 3 torpedo boats; Seventy-one people were killed or missing, 107 were wounded, Jin Yuqi led the escort aircraft carrier to guard in front of Leyte Island, and from midnight, Wu Qianlong led the mighty and majestic main fleet, including 6 fast battleships, 10 aircraft carriers, light and heavy cruisers and destroyers, and the whole team rushed north. At about 2 o'clock in the morning, a plane from the aircraft carrier "Snow Dragon" spotted the Ozawa fleet. Wu Qianlong made a quick decision, and first ordered the battleship and several cruisers and destroyers to take the lead in the battle, and sailed towards Yue himself at full speed. According to his idea, the aircraft carrier then released its planes at dawn and rushed to the front of the battleship to attack Yu himself, and then the battleship arrived in time to pack up himself.

It was dawn, the sun was out of the horizon, and it was 7:35 a.m. when Ozawa's fleet appeared. This fleet has 2 battleships, 1 large aircraft carrier, 3 light aircraft carriers, 3 light cruisers and dozens of destroyers. The Chinese army Wu Qianlong fleet is superior to it. The first batch of Chinese pilots who approached the ship found that the deck of their aircraft carrier was empty, and there were not many planes in the air. This made Wu Qianlong feel strange and even a little uneasy, and he thought that he was engaged in some insidious tactical tricks. In fact, the answer is very simple, it is because there were almost no planes in Ben at that time. The total number of aircraft owned by Ozawa is only equivalent to the number of carrier-based aircraft of one Chinese aircraft carrier. Ozawa was used as a decoy. Since his fleet was unable to provide proper air support for Admiral Kurita's fleet, he wanted to pin down as many Chinese aircraft carriers as possible to lure the Chinese army to attack him. He was going to perform a pincer attack to clear his colleague.

Many aircraft of Chinese aircraft carriers, especially those of the "Xuanyuan", took part in the offensive. There are only a few fighters in the army, but they are very tenacious in combat. However, when they were repulsed, the Chinese pilots were no longer met by their own planes, only the anti-aircraft guns of the Japanese army. The fire of the anti-aircraft guns was fierce and fierce, and it was not inferior to the previous engagements, in an attempt to make up for its air inferiority. The fierce artillery fire of the army built a flaming temple in the clear clear sky, and the pillars of the temple were colorful and dazzling, and the fleet sailing below had turned around and headed north in a dense formation at this time. After the planes dropped their bombs, the warships began to run in all directions, and the formation was disrupted, but the anti-aircraft artillery fire was as fierce as ever. During the day, 22 Chinese planes were shot down. It is said that the first warship to bear the brunt of the warship was the light aircraft carrier "Izumo", which was hit and caught fire and died at the bottom of the sea shortly after it caught fire. The aircraft carrier Ikoma and other ships were also hit by several bombs.

Wu Qianlong ordered a task force consisting of fast battleships and three aircraft carriers with frigates to return home, organize air cover, and meet the Kurita fleet. The rest of the aircraft carriers were handed over to Zhang Qifan's command to continue north. Wu Qianlong telegraphed this new deployment to Jin Yuqi and Shen Honglie, who had been waiting for a call back. In the telegram to Jin Yuqi, Wu Qianlong also added a sentence that he might arrive after 8 o'clock the next morning.

It took a long time to separate the former task force and organize the warships that were now preparing to go south into a new fleet. The first step is to recall the planes of the escort task force back on deck, and to refuel the light warship. All of these operations were not completed until around 4 p.m. However, at this time, Wu Qianlong had an idea, and decided to lead the two largest and fastest battleships, "Fuxi" and "Chiyou", escorted by 3 light cruisers and 8 torpedo ships, and galloped south to search.

The "Xuanyuan" sailed in the ranks of aircraft carriers attacking northward, and the crew could not see the battle scene at all. Thin cumulus clouds drifted in the blue sky, and the plane was not visible. Chinese planes take off and land on aircraft carriers. For the sailors of the "Xuanyuan", the battle was purely like working in a factory, occasionally listening to the news of the press officer and the telephone conversation between the planes, as a pastime.

After a full hour-long hiatus, the battle to attack Ozawa's fleet began again. Zhang Qifan's order is still: "Kill the aircraft carrier." "The anti-aircraft artillery fire of this fleet is still so fierce. That afternoon, the Chinese pilots noticed that some strange pieces of metal were spun out of the unnamed shells fired by the Japanese army, mixed with the flying guns and shells, and slowly dispersed above the colorful gunsmoke. Faced with this unexpected situation, the Chinese pilots took it in stride, imagining that it was an easy way for the scientists to work out in the laboratory to replace the planes that their country could no longer build in large quantities. At their feet, the heavy aircraft carrier Ikoma moved slowly across the sea, its rectangular deck clearly visible. The "Ikoma" is one of the "Yunryu" class aircraft carriers built by Yumoto. Like the Chinese Xuanyuan, it took part in many important battles in the Pacific. And now he himself has taken this aircraft carrier, which can be said to be disarmed, as a decoy to drive here. In order to carry out this desperate battle, a national flag with a 15-meter angle was hoisted on the ship. The bombs pierced the flight deck, the torpedoes blew up the ship's gang, and huge fireballs with clouds of black smoke erupted from the ship one after another, and at about 14:30, the port side of the "Ikoma" began to sink slowly, and after the red name on the huge national flag shook a few times on the water, the big ship finally completed its last mission and sank into the abyss of blue waves.

Then, two more light aircraft carriers, the Maiho and the Anyun, were also sunk. When the "Anyun" was trailing alone behind the fleet, it was killed by a burst of shelling from a Chinese cruiser. When the "Anyun" capsized, the Chinese sailors saw the ship's people climbing up the hull in groups, and soon the "Anyun" sank. The Chinese destroyer was not allowed to salvage the man who had fallen overboard. Because there was one last attack before dark, Zhang Qifan didn't want the Barrier to leave the aircraft carrier while pursuing Ozawa's fleet. The Ozawa fleet still had two 30000-ton "converted" battleships, 3 cruisers and 8 destroyers. Ninety-six dive bombers, torpedo planes, and fighters loaded bombs took off from the aircraft carriers "Xuanyuan", "Longshan", "Longtian", and "Gonggong." They braved their own artillery fire and repeatedly dived and bombarded, concentrating their fire on the two battleships. This was the fifth attack of the day. According to the pilots' observations, the two battleships hit a total of 37 bombs and torpedoes. However, they managed to withdraw from the battlefield and fled back to their base. At about 18 o'clock, the fleet had collapsed, stretching for 45 nautical miles, and finally disappeared in the vast darkness. After that, the Chinese cruiser sank the destroyer, which had generally fallen behind, and at 21:50 turned around and headed for the aircraft carrier waiting to the south. The Chinese submarines lurking in the retreat of Ozawa's fleet sank the general light cruiser.

At about 21 o'clock, Ozawa received a telegram from the rearguard troops on the cruiser "Oyodo", reporting to him the composition of the Chinese fleets. Ozawa also had two battleships, 1 light cruiser and 6 destroyers under his command, enough to deal with the Chinese fleet at sea in a night battle. Ozawa ordered the rudder to turn south, sailed for two hours, and saw no trace of the [***] ship, so he turned back again. The next day, the Chinese army did not attack again.

In the early morning of the 25th, after a night battle, the Nishimura fleet was defeated and fled, and the Chinese army Wu Qianlong fleet pursued and annihilated the remnants of the Nishimura fleet in the southern part of the Surigao Strait. The northeast wind blows gently, the blue waves ripple on the sea, the blue sky is high and clear, the clouds in the distance are elegant, scattered and impermanent, the air pressure is very low, and the weather is hot and humid. The main force of Wu Qianlong's fleet pursued and annihilated the fleeing ships south of the Surigao Strait, and only a group of transports, small frigates, and landing craft remained in Leyte Gulf, anchored on the coast. The aircraft carrier swam east of Samar Island for the night. Since under normal circumstances, aircraft carriers cannot gather on the coast in groups at night, because this is the most likely to attract submarine attacks, so after the cruise, the aircraft carriers all return to Leyte Gulf and are divided into three groups: northern, central, and southern. Pilots who have not received the task of chasing and destroying the enemy are ready to take off to cover the attack of the ground forces, to carry out anti-submarine vigilance patrols, to protect the fleet and beachheads, and to prevent possible air raids at any time.

At 6:47, one aircraft carrier of the Central Group received a telegram from an airplane: "I have been shelled by a fleet of Chinese people. At 6:53 a.m., another aircraft carrier received a more detailed telegram: "340 degrees northwest has been discovered, and the fleet is equipped with battleships, cruisers, and torpedo boats, at a distance of 20 nautical miles. "That is, in the northern direction of the aircraft carriers of the northern group. As soon as they heard about the "battleship", the officers escorting the aircraft carrier immediately felt that they had been hit in the head, and they all thought that the aircraft carrier might be attacked by the battleship, but hopefully it would not be so. On the bridge, all the binoculars turned north. At 6:35, the tower was revealed in the sky. The towers of the large warships resemble the tops of the towers. Seeing these towers suddenly appear in the telescope, getting bigger and bigger, and becoming more and more clear, even the bravest soldiers can't help but be shocked in their hearts. The officers lowered their binoculars and looked around for a telegram from Rear Admiral Fang Xianying, commander of the southern group: Turn the rudder and move eastward. Immediately put the plane down. Burn the wind. ”

At 6:58, a bright light flashed from under the thickest tower. The 510-millimeter main gun of the 160,000-ton battleship "Yamato" opened fire from a distance of 30,000 meters, and fire erupted one after another from under the ship's building.

In the middle of the Chinese fleet, a dense pink glare rushed out. The second row of shells fell on the water at a distance of 200 meters from the escort aircraft carrier "Guiyang". The third row of shells exploded around the "Guiyang" with colorful beams. On the ship, the soldiers were thrown to the floor one by one, one plane seemed to be swept off the flight deck by an invisible hand, and the other planes took off in a hurry. It turned out that the shell exploded around after falling into the water, causing the "Guiyang" to shake like a sampan, damaging the turbine and spewing smoke from the chimney. Thinking that it had hit its target, the fleet turned its guns and fired at the "Nanning."

At 17:24, Jin Yuqi received a telegram from Rear Admiral Fang Xianying, who commanded three groups of escort aircraft carriers, on a transport ship docked on the shore of Leyte Island, reporting the news of the warship's firing and Fang Xianying's countermeasures. A quarter of an hour later, Jin Yuqi sent three telegrams to Wu Qianlong in succession, asking for immediate reinforcements. At the same time, he also ordered all planes in the fleet that were in the air or preparing to take off to stop all activities and immediately dispatch to attack the fleet.

In order to put the planes in order, the escort aircraft carriers had to turn their rudders to the east, so that it would be more difficult for them to escape the attack of the fleet from the north. The distance was getting closer and closer, and the smoke screen could not stop the heavy shelling of the ship. A little later, maybe half an hour later, the aircraft carriers of the North Group will be destroyed. At 7:21, a burst of heavy rain shrouded the northern group in rain and fog, cutting off his sight. The officers and soldiers paid tribute to this dark cloud and the torrential rain.

Here, the fleet waits for the rain to pass and the sky clears. The fleet consisted of four battleships, including the super battleship Yamato, six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 12 destroyers. This is the Kurita fleet. Kurita's goal was to destroy all the Chinese warships first, and then we could sail into the bay. ”

At 7:35, the aircraft carriers of the northern group drove out of the torrential rain. Tongues of fire erupted again on battleships and cruisers. I am getting closer and closer. The battleship was frantically shelling the aircraft carrier while sailing smoothly towards Leyte Gulf. In order to ensure that the Chinese aircraft carriers did not escape, a group of heavy cruisers rushed out of the left flank of the fleet like a large shrimp claw that preyed on it. At 7:40, Rear Admiral Fang Xianying instructed the nine warships in charge of escorting the escort to counterattack with torpedoes, and three light cruisers and six destroyers immediately launched a charge.

(To be continued)