Chapter 874: Night Attack on Battleships
readx; The Shinano, at this time, had already implemented strict lighting control, and the entire battleship was pitch black, and there was no light visible from the outside, not only it, but also the Takao, Haruna, and the two heavy cruisers of Tone and Chikuma, as well as several light cruisers and more than a dozen destroyers, also maintained strict lighting control. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info
Not only did they maintain light control, but they also maintained strict radio control, and the entire fleet only received radio communication without radio signals, in order to maintain the strictest secrecy!
Vice Admiral Yoshimura Ohno was standing in the Shinano's operations conference room at the moment, and in the conference room was a large group of officers who said, 'This naval officer!
"Just ahead of us, is the second mobile fleet of the Chinese people, according to previous reconnaissance intelligence, it has been convinced that the enemy fleet has at least five aircraft carriers, and according to the establishment of the Chinese naval fleet, it is very likely that there are two aircraft carrier groups with six aircraft carriers. The previous air raids launched by our First Air Fleet and Second Air Fleet have destroyed one enemy aircraft carrier and severely damaged two. Now our mission is to sink the other three aircraft carriers of the China! Lieutenant General Yoshimura Ohno continued:
"The escort ships in the presence of the enemy fleet have been identified as at least two battleships, two large cruisers. The rest are dozens of light cruisers and destroyers! ”
Although the air attack on the Second Mobile Fleet by the carrier-based air force was not very effective, it still transmitted relatively accurate reconnaissance information.
"No matter what, we must leave this air fleet of the people behind, at all costs!" Yoshimura Ohno propped his hands on the long table, and his face showed determination: "For the honor of the Imperial Navy, for the great cause of the Imperial State, and for the sake of the Emperor, we must do whatever it takes!" ”
As he spoke, he looked around at the generals present: "If we can't inflict heavy damage on the enemy's aircraft carriers tonight, then it will be impossible for us to escape from the enemy's carrier-based aviation after dawn!" Therefore, if this battle is not successful, it will be benevolent, I hope that you will not have any luck thoughts, and must have the determination to sacrifice for the imperial country! ”
The group of naval officers below said, "All of them have serious faces, and none of them speak, but their eyes show a look of determination, and they have been trained by the spirit of bushido for a long time, and they have more courage to die than the soldiers of other countries."
In these years, not every country's army can launch a suicidal charge without hesitation, not even the Western army, not even the squadron that claims to be the best nation in the world. This is not to say that the combat effectiveness of the army is not good, nor is it that the beliefs of the soldiers are inferior to theirs, but that the traditional thinking is different.
In the Chinese Army, what is admired is firepower and quantity! In addition, the Chinese population is large, and the number of troops is far more than the armies of other countries! The mindset of Chinese generals is that even if the same number of troops are more effective than the enemy, they will concentrate more troops to attack. If you can fight one with ten, you definitely don't have to fight one with nine. Semi-automatic rifles and submachine guns can be used without bolt-action rifles.
The same attack was blocked, and it was said that the way chosen by this general was likely to be to launch a decisive attack and gnaw it down. In the thinking of the generals of the Chinese Army, the first reaction is to request rear artillery support, the second reaction is to request air force support, and the third reaction is to request reinforcements.
If the Chinese Army in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China was the first war in the 20s, when the Chinese Army still maintained a fine style of solid combat, then the Chinese Army after the 40s has gradually evolved into a young soldier unit, and in addition to being better than the US Army in terms of discipline and tactical choices, the specific combat style has been able to compete with that of the US Army.
And the American-style or the current Chinese Army is: the firepower is awesome, but the style of the troops has become a young master.
Without enough artillery and air support, don't expect these army masters to attack!
Comparatively speaking, the navy with the British tradition is more tough, because the British navy believes in fighting the enemy, regardless of whether the enemy is strong or not, it will fight when it encounters, and whether it can be fought or not is something that will be considered after the fight.
This can be seen from the fact that when the 25th Squadron encountered the transport and escort formation, it did not hesitate to attack!
Of course, this British naval tradition is not the same as the suicidal spirit of bushido, and the suicide attack of the self is simply to rush out of the trenches without hesitation even if he knows that he is going to die, and the only thing in the world that consumes the enemy's machine gun bullets can only be done by this army.
The current attack fleet led by Vice Admiral Yoshimura Ohno is preparing to launch a decisive attack!
Of course, this is not a suicide attack without a chance of victory, if Yoshimura Ohno's assault fleet can successfully get close and inflict heavy damage on the 21st and 22nd fleets, then Yoshimura Ohno's assault fleet will be a great success, and there is no need to worry about being counterattacked by carrier-based aviation after dawn.
In fact, the 1st Guerrilla Formation under the command of Yoshimura Ono had already separated from the main fleet in the early hours of this morning and was heading towards the eastern seas, and it did not approach for the whole day, and went around the waters northeast of the 21st and 22nd Squadrons and maintained strict radio silence.
During the day, the focus of the Second Mobile Fleet's operations and reconnaissance was on the direction of the Amami Islands, and although there were reconnaissances in the northeast and other directions, they were not much, so that they were never able to find the first guerrilla formation called the 'Navy', and Yoshimura Ohno never approached the Second Mobile Fleet, but waited for the coming of night and prepared to launch a night attack on the Second Mobile Fleet.
And now, their chance has come!
Of course, what Yoshimura Ohno didn't know was that not far from them, a submarine of the Chinese Navy was slowly surfacing at this time and ready to recharge!
However, as soon as it surfaced, the submarine was extremely shocked to find that not far from them, there was a huge fleet passing by at high speed!
The SS96 submarine belongs to the fourth submarine fleet of the First Fleet and is of the Octopus class. The Octopus-class submarine was also developed by the Chinese Navy in the mid-thirties, and the first ship was commissioned in 1940, which belongs to the eighth phase of the Navy's development plan, with a surface displacement of 1,500 tons and an underwater displacement of 1,900 tons. The maximum speed on the surface of the water is twenty knots, and the maximum speed under water is seven .5 knots. The cruising range is up to 15,000 nautical miles on the surface and 130 nautical miles underwater. The safe dive depth is 160 meters, equipped with 10 600 mm torpedo tubes, six in the bow and four in the stern, firing a large number of Type 37 oxygen torpedoes in service with the Chinese Navy, with a crew of 64 people.
Compared with the submarines of various countries, the surname of the octopus-class submarine is not prominent, at most it is flat, and it has a relatively strong German submarine style.
This is because the Chinese Navy's submarine development process was greatly influenced by German submarines, and after the end of World War I, the Chinese Navy's submarines basically started by imitating German U-boats, and during the thirties, China and Germany carried out a lot of military and technical cooperation, which was further influenced by the German submarine style.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that although the Chinese Navy has a large number of submarines in service, submarines have not received much attention within the Chinese Navy, and the Chinese Navy has put its strategic focus on aircraft carriers almost from beginning to end, and the Chinese Navy pursues absolute surface sea dominance, and does not attach much importance to the weapon of submarines, and the number of submarines during the twenties and thirties is very limited, and before 1938, the Chinese Navy had only more than 40 submarines. More than half of them are old submarines that were commissioned during the twenties and can only be used for training purposes.
It was not until after the outbreak of World War II that the Chinese Navy accelerated the construction and service of submarines, developed the Octopus-class submarine, and built more than 40 Octopus-class submarines in one go, and then improved the Hippo-class submarines according to the Octopus-class submarines, and built more than 50 Hippo-class submarines.
In the strategy of the navy, these submarines are used to block the sea transportation of the enemy's navy, and the expected range of activities is in the western Pacific and South Pacific waters.
After the declaration of war on the First Fleet, the submarines of the First Submarine Fleet and the Fourth Submarine Fleet went out to sea one after another to block the connection between the mainland and the South Pacific, and also sank many transport ships.
As a member of the Octopus class of the main submarine of the Chinese Navy, the SS96 submarine was originally tasked with a blockade mission, but after it surfaced, it discovered that after the shock of Yoshimura Ohno's fleet, SS96 immediately dived again to avoid being attacked by the anti-submarine attack in this fleet!
As for the fact that it is impossible to attack actively, the surface speed of the SS96 is only 20 knots, and the underwater speed is even slower at only 7 knots, and unless it is said in advance that the fleet is in the passing position, it is simply impossible to pursue and attack the enemy fleet. You must know that Yoshimura Ohno's first guerrilla formation came for a night attack, and all of them were high-speed warships, and the Takohsiung, which had the lowest speed, had a high speed of 31 knots. At this time, Yoshimura Ohno's 1st guerrilla formation was moving at a cruising speed of up to more than twenty knots, and SS96 could not catch up at all.
If you can't catch up, it doesn't mean that SS96 won't do anything, and soon SS96 will inform its superiors of the discovery of the enemy fleet!
Ten minutes later, the communication officer on the Yandi received the warning message that the enemy fleet had been discovered, and because the matter was urgent and serious, he did not stop at all, and immediately went straight to the command room of the headquarters to report the news to Vice Admiral Lu Jian.
"An enemy fleet has been spotted sixty nautical miles to the northeast, and there are several large warships! Judging by their course, it is clear that they are coming straight for us! Lieutenant General Lu Jian frowned.
After the brilliant air raid at noon, the second mobile fleet did not go well in the afternoon and evening, and the large-scale landing accidents that occurred during the return of the third wave and the return of the sixth wave made Lu Jian feel very bad, because he found that the number of planes lost in the accident was about the same as the number of planes shot down by the enemy on this day.
If these situations come a few more times, it is estimated that the carrier-based aircraft of the Second Mobile Fleet will have to be lost!
"Immediately order the 3rd Air Group and the 4th Air Group to immediately break away from the southwest to avoid the battle, and transfer the 5th Cruiser Group, the 16th Destroyer Group, and the Shaohao to join the fleet directly under them."
After receiving the news, Vice Admiral Lu Jian immediately issued an order to adjust the formation and retreat the aircraft carriers to the west to prevent them from being attacked and killed by the enemy fleet. Vice Admiral Lu Jian will personally lead the capital ships in the formation directly under him to intercept the enemy's attack formation and prepare to launch lightning strikes with destroyers and light cruisers.
He said: "The advent of this high-speed attack formation has caused the Second Mobile Fleet to suffer the most severe crisis since the beginning of the war!"