Chapter 1318: Destroyer Charge
Although the U.S. Navy's 'Iowa-class' battleships have one less main gun than the 'Montana-class' battleships, their displacement is also 20,000 tons less, making their armor a little weaker. Pen | fun | pavilion www. biquge。 info, however, was much faster than the 'Montana-class' battleships. After all, the Montana-class battleships were designed by the U.S. Navy to deal with the Chinese Navy's Donghai-class battleships. The opponent of the 'Iowa-class' battleship is the 'Three Emperor-class' battleships of the Chinese Navy.
In line with the idea of comprehensively suppressing the Chinese Navy, the U.S. Navy built five 'Montana-class' battleships and six 'Iowa-class' battleships. It's a pity that the focus of the development of the Chinese Navy is not on battleships at all, but on aircraft carriers. After the outbreak of war, the Chinese Navy successfully attacked the Hawaiian military port and wiped out the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet.
The three 'Iowa-class' battleships of the U.S. Navy quickly broke away from the formation and rushed towards the aircraft carrier formation of the Imperial Navy. The movements of the US Navy attracted the attention of the Imperial Navy.
"Damn, the three 'Iowa-class' battleships of the Americans are accelerating, and their target is our aircraft carrier formation." A staff officer shouted in horror. If the aircraft carrier formation is overtaken by the 'Iowa-class' battleships of the US Navy, the consequences will be very serious.
The 'Iowa-class' battleships could easily damage the aircraft carriers of the Imperial Navy with their 406 mm guns, and even sink these aircraft carriers easily. In this case, it can be regarded as a real heavy blow to the Chinese Navy.
Why, knowing that the battleships of the Imperial Navy were invincible to the battleships of the US Navy, were still desperately fighting the battleships of the US Navy, and their main purpose was not to drag down the battleships of the US Navy and buy time for the aircraft carrier formation? In doing so, the Americans made the Imperial Navy's plans unexpected. In close combat, aircraft carriers have little combat effectiveness. It was mainly cruisers and destroyers that protected aircraft carriers, and even the main guns of several battleship detachments of the Imperial Navy could not deal with the battleships of the US Navy, let alone these cruisers and destroyers. Once the aircraft carrier fleet of the Imperial Navy is caught up, the consequences will be unimaginable.
"Damn, you have to find a way to stop the Americans' Iowa-class battleships. Otherwise, the losses we have paid will be in vain. Rear Admiral Cai Junbao, commander of the 3rd Battleship Detachment of the Imperial Navy, gritted his teeth and said.
"However, General, the speed of the Americans' three 'Iowa-class' battleships has increased to more than 30 knots, and they are still speeding up, and we can't catch up at all." An operational staff officer said. The battleships of the Imperial Navy, for the most part, were old. Despite proper maintenance, the speed of the ship began to drop. Even the 'Five Emperor-class' battleships had a speed of only 27 knots. It simply could not catch up with the Americans' 'Iowa-class' battleships with a maximum speed of 33 knots.
"Send a telegram to the commander and tell them to be careful. Also, get the destroyer formations ready to launch lightning strikes on the three 'Iowa-class' battleships of the Americans. Even if you can't sink them and disrupt their course, it is very necessary to delay time. Major General Cai Junbao ordered. The only battleships in their hands that could threaten the Americans were probably only destroyers. The speed of destroyers is generally above 36 knots, and some of the cutting-edge destroyers that have just been commissioned have reached a speed of 40 knots, which can completely catch up with the Americans' 'Iowa-class' battleships. The main guns of these destroyers, although only 120 mm, are impossible to deal with the 'Iowa-class' battleships with thick armor, and even if they hit, it would be like scratching the 'Iowa-class' battleships. However, the 610 mm super-heavy torpedoes carried by these destroyers are undoubtedly a mortal threat to the Americans' 'Iowa-class' battleships.
The 610-mm super-heavy torpedo of the Imperial Navy began to be developed after the fall of the Empire to Japan. After the fall of the empire to Japan, it obtained a lot of technical information and military talents from Japan. Those Japanese took refuge in the empire in order to survive. At that time, in order to deal with the powerful navy of the empire, Japan tried to develop a torpedo with great power, long range and fast rate of fire.
The Imperial Navy named this torpedo "Underwater Killer", codenamed Type 35 torpedo. Because the oxygen in the fuel is increased, the engine is more effective, so this torpedo is also called an oxygen torpedo. Type 35 torpedoes with a caliber of 610 mm, a warhead weighing 850 kg and a maximum speed of 50 knots. However, reaching a speed of 50 knots, the range is only 12,000 kilometers. When the speed drops to 43 knots, the range is more than 20,000 meters. When the speed drops to a low speed of 36 knots, the range reaches 40,000 meters.
There is no doubt that the Type 35 torpedo has become the most powerful torpedo of this era. The submarines and destroyers built by the Imperial Navy were all equipped with this kind of torpedo, which greatly improved their combat effectiveness.
On the aircraft carrier "Phoenix Mountain," the flagship of the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Navy, Admiral Chen Houfu suddenly looked bad when he learned that the three "Iowa-class" battleships of the Americans were rapidly pursuing the aircraft carrier formation of the Imperial Navy. He had previously ridiculed the Americans by focusing their attention on the battleships of the Imperial Navy rather than on aircraft carriers. But now it seems that the Americans have not forgotten this at all!
The aircraft carrier formations of the Imperial Navy, after the battleship detachments and the battleships of the US Navy, changed course in order to be able to evade the battleships of the US Navy. It's just that, under the influence of escort carriers, the speed of the fleet is only 24 knots. Now they are just over thirty kilometers away from the battleships of the US Navy. At the speed of the U.S. Navy's Iowa-class battleships, it would take a maximum of twenty minutes to close the distance between the two sides to within range of their main guns.
"How long will it take for the Americans to open fire on our aircraft carriers?" Admiral Chen Houfu asked.
"Commander, in a maximum of twenty minutes, those escort aircraft carriers located in the rear of the fleet will be within the range of the US naval guns." A staff officer replied.
The aircraft carrier formation of the Imperial Navy has six main aircraft carriers, 12 escort aircraft carriers, plus other escort warships, there are hundreds of large and small, stretching for more than ten kilometers.
"Send a telegram to the 1st Battleship Detachment and the 2nd Battleship Detachment, the situation is critical, let them ventilate the boiler under strong pressure, and within twenty minutes, be sure to rush to the battlefield." Admiral Chen Houfu ordered.
"Yes, Commander." The staff officer nodded, and immediately went to telegraph.
In fact, the Imperial Navy's 'East Sea-class' battleships and 'Three Emperor-class' battleships were already on their way to arriving quickly. It is not far from the battlefield, and it is absolutely no problem to get to the battlefield in twenty minutes.
However, after receiving the order from Admiral Chen Houfu, they all knew that the situation was urgent, so they all increased the speed of the battleship again, striving to reach the battlefield within fifteen minutes.
At the same time, Rear Admiral Cai Junbao also gave the order for lightning strikes, and the twelve 'sub-class' destroyers of the Imperial Navy immediately left the queue and accelerated to chase after the three 'Iowa-class' battleships of the US army.
The Imperial Navy's 'sub-class' destroyers had a displacement of 3,200 tons and a maximum speed of 40 knots. Although, the main gun is still a twin 120 mm. However, there were many secondary guns and anti-aircraft guns. The secondary guns were six 88-mm high-level rapid-fire guns, plus 12 twin 40-mm anti-aircraft guns and 20 single-mounted 20-mm anti-aircraft guns. 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine guns, even more. This type of destroyer has extremely strong air defense combat capabilities, and is generally used as a fleet air defense warship.
Of course, the four triple 610mm torpedo tubes in the bow of the ship are also a huge threat to large surface ships. Especially in the dark night, these destroyers can rush at the enemy's large surface ships at high speed, approach to a position of about 10,000 meters, and fire 610-mm torpedoes. The torpedo rushed to the target at a speed of up to 50 knots, making it simply impossible for the opponent to dodge at night. Firing 12 torpedoes at a time is enough to severely damage or sink an aircraft carrier or a battleship.
After receiving the order, the 12 'sub-class' destroyers immediately began to accelerate and rushed towards the three 'Iowa-class' battleships of the US army. Although, the speed of the 'Iowa-class' battleships has exceeded thirty knots. But in the face of the speed of the 'sub-class' destroyer, which is as high as forty knots, it seems a little unsightly.
The 12 destroyers of the Imperial Navy rushed to the battleships of the American army, and such an obvious action, the Americans, of course, knew what it meant.
"Damn, the destroyers of the Chinese, a whole 12, they want to use lightning strikes against us. All secondary guns were ordered to prepare for fire. Let the 'New Orleans-class' cruisers and the 'Sims-class' destroyers also fire with all their might. "The order for the construction of the battleship 'Wisconsin' of the US Navy.
The three Iowa-class battleships were accompanied by three New Orleans-class cruisers and four Sims-class destroyers, whose mission was to protect the three Iowa-class battleships and provide them with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine protection. When they encounter a lightning strike, their mission is also to attack the enemy's lightning strike hull with all their strength to protect their own warship.
"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "The 127-mm high-level dual-purpose guns of the three 'Iowa-class' battleships opened fire, but there were only five 127-mm high-level dual-purpose guns on one side, which seemed a little inadequate against the twelve fast destroyers of the Imperial Navy. (To be continued.) )