Nine Hundred and Five, Resisting Is Victory

Although two aircraft carriers were lost and the current situation of the U.S. fleet is quite dangerous, Spruance decided to continue fighting because he knew that the U.S. could not accept a defeat now, and he had to keep winning in order to be stable. Congress impeached Nimitz and Roosevelt, his backers.

So based on this idea, he naturally ruled out the humiliating idea of ​​keeping the fleet away. What he thinks about now is how to turn this naval battle into a victory, a great victory for the US Navy.

"Okay! Okay! I understand! Thank you for everything you have done for the United States!" An adjutant put down the phone in his hand, walked quickly to Spruance's side, and reported to him: "General The news just came back from a seaplane that they spotted the Japanese navy fleet on the west side, and the coordinates are almost the same as you guessed."

"Take off the attack plane immediately! Fight back along the path of the Japanese navy's carrier-based planes! I want to make sure to sink these Japanese aircraft carriers! Understood?" Spruance glanced at the aviation liaison officer behind him, gritted his teeth and said .

"Yes! Sir!" The officer stood at attention and saluted, and then hurriedly gave the order to attack. The quality of the US Navy's carrier-based aircraft is not much better than that of the Japanese army, but they do overwhelm their opponents in terms of quantity. Even if two aircraft carriers are burning and slowly sinking, the number of carrier-based aircraft of the US Navy is still much more than that of the Japanese army.

There are about 40 Japanese attack aircraft in this wave, which is almost half of the entire aviation force of the Japanese Navy. In other words, Japan can maintain this strength in the next attack, but it will not be able to fight again after that. As long as it withstands these two waves of Japanese attacks, the U.S. Navy will survive the most dangerous time period.

Thinking of this, Spruance found that he was still alive. As long as the carrier-based aircraft of the Nagumo Fleet could complete the combat mission, he could even kill the entire Japanese Navy Fleet and destroy Yamamoto Fifty-Six's family fortune. The "United Fleet" were all sunk at Solomon.

But soon another news came. A staff officer reported to General Spruance that the two battleships USS Washington and USS North Carolina were blocked by a Japanese battleship returning. Things: "Both sides are shelling now. The Japanese navy's shelling capability is very strong, and the battle is very intense now."

"..." The Japanese warships went back and forth so recklessly, which shocked the senior officials of the U.S. Navy. They all heard that there were many Japanese soldiers who were brave enough to die, but today they saw the real madness. Who can guarantee that when he finally escapes from the gate of hell, he can still make the decision to fight back resolutely?

"Send a telegram to Halsey! Let him maintain the speed of returning, and sink that Japanese battleship!" Spruance also revealed his fierce side as a soldier at this time, clenched his fists and said in a vicious tone. .

He thought very simply,

That is, since his battle plan has been disrupted, he now has one combat purpose, which is to pull more Japanese warships into the water to sink one or one, and pull as many Japanese warships as possible to sink together. This is his tactic.

"Let the battleships Colorado and Mississippi continue to move eastward, and the Japanese battleships must be prevented from approaching the fleet!" Spruance continued to adjust the formation of the already chaotic American fleet. He tried his best to complete his original plan, even if the two new battleships could not return to the defensive position on time, he had to distance himself from the two battleships in the hands of Yamamoto Fifty-Six.

The battleship Colorado was seriously injured when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. If it was a peaceful era, such serious injuries may not even be repaired within two years. However, the U.S. military tried its best to finally allow this battleship to catch up with the battle of the Solomon Islands, an epic naval battle. But what kind of role this battleship can play, only God knows.

The battleship is now barely able to maintain the level that can be opened, and its main guns cannot be fired in salvo, thinking that it will disintegrate the unstable internal temporary support structure. And it can only drive at a speed of 15 knots, which is not much faster than the transport ship behind it. The main purpose of letting it follow along this way is to let it serve as a turret to support the US landing on the Solomon Islands.

But after all, man is not as good as God. The U.S. Navy and the Japanese Navy kicked off the battle of the Solomon Islands without warning. Half of the fixed turret that was originally intended to support the landing of the Marine Corps was now used as a A decisive battleship stood at the outermost edge of the entire fleet.

To say that this Colorado is actually closely related to the Japanese Nagato-class battleships, they were called "forced G7" because their main guns had the same caliber back then, so if they were to have a decisive battle under the same conditions, it is really possible Evenly matched.

It is a pity that the Japanese Navy gritted its teeth and completed the modernization of the two battleships Nagato and Mutsu in 1937, while the U.S. Navy did not refit the Colorado-class battleships on a large scale due to the impact of the financial crisis, so they are now The gap is a bit big.

Moreover, the internal injuries of the Colorado were very serious, and it was completely a shelf. Anyone who knew the inside story knew very well that the current battleship Colorado is not even a crispy battlecruiser, but can only be called a "large cruiser".

"There is no way! Now we can only assign tasks like this! Before the return of the USS Washington and the USS North Carolina, Japan's eastern fleet can only rely on the old battleships and ourselves." Spruance stared Looking at the sea chart, he temporarily ignored the threat from the east. He must now calm down and concentrate on completing the duel between the US Navy's aircraft carrier fleet and Nagumo Chuichi's aviation fleet.

Excluding the threat from the flanks, what the US fleet needs to face now is the upright duel of carrier-based aircraft. Just now, the U.S. carrier-based aircraft had set off in formation and killed Nagumo Chuichi's aircraft carrier fleet. After a round of calls, the U.S. Navy now temporarily took the lead.

Most of the 40 Japanese carrier-based aircraft were shot down by the superior American aircraft and anti-aircraft artillery units. Therefore, although the Japanese navy has achieved the record of sinking two US Navy aircraft carriers in this round of fighting, it has also suffered a lot. Suffered no small loss.

Inside the command bridge of the Akagi aircraft carrier, a Japanese officer walked up behind Nagumo Chuichi, respectfully handed out a piece of paper in his hand, bowed his head and said, "Your Excellency, the 41 carrier-based aircraft that our army took off The first wave of aircraft attacks sank two US aircraft carriers, and the remaining four carrier-based aircraft are returning."

"Yo Xi! You did a great job! They are worthy of being the loyal souls of our Imperial Japanese Navy!" Nagumo Tadaichi's eyes lit up when he heard the news that the two US aircraft carriers had been sunk. Yamamoto Fifty-Six's plan now seems to have been at least half successful. As long as the main US fleet is wiped out, it is only a matter of time before the Japanese navy comes back.

However, as a general who has been in command of naval carrier-based aircraft for a long time, Nagumo Chuichi is also aware of his current situation. He has now used up all the chips in his hand. What kind of ending this war will eventually lead to is no longer his own. It's under control.

To put it bluntly, Yamamoto's entire plan was to exchange for an opportunity for the Japanese naval aviation to attack first. Yamamoto hoped that this wave of attack would be able to seal the world with one blow, and Nagumo also planned this way. But who would have thought that the U.S. Navy would resist his first wave of attacks. Now that the positions of the three Japanese fleets have been exposed, the two sides finally "meet each other honestly".

"Take off more fighter jets immediately! Prepare to face the US attack fleet! Let the fleet upgrade from the second-level air-to-air alert status to the first-level air-to-air alert status!" Nagumo Chuichi issued a combat order.

He can't run at this time, because turning around and running away is equivalent to throwing the entire Japanese battleship fleet to the Americans, so he can only bite the bullet and continue to attack. After defending the first wave of American attacks, he will attack the United States again. fleet. As the commander of this aviation fleet, he is confident that he will lead his own fleet to withstand the attack of the US Navy.

"Woo... woo...!" The siren in the Japanese navy ship also began to sound. The anti-aircraft guns that were originally placed flat began to point at the sky. Nagumo Tadashi stared at the sky and saw the teams of American planes rushing out of the clouds on the horizon.

Above his head, the hovering Japanese Type Zero fighter roared to meet him. In the distant sky, two formations of planes intertwined like this, drawing white lines in the blue sky. The formation of the U.S. planes was disrupted, and the Japanese planes and the U.S. planes got into a mess and began to fight each other.

An American plane was shot down, and the pilot opened his parachute in the sky. The plane lost the pilot's control and crashed into the Pacific Ocean with thick smoke. Yun Zhongyi could see clearly. He also saw an American fighter chasing and firing at a Japanese Zero fighter. He also saw his own destroyer shoot down another American plane.

"The number of U.S. aircraft has been reduced, so their overall advantage cannot be brought into play!" Nagumo Tadaichi sneered, put his hand on the command saber at his waist, and said to the people around him: "As long as my fleet If we can withstand the attack of this wave of US carrier-based aircraft, we will win!"