Chapter 385 Marshal Mai’s Flagship Successfully Transferred!
It turns out that the temporary decision to replace ammunition did not allow Yamaguchi Tamon to become the first one to change ammunition.
After all, there is only one Dutch ocean-going tanker in the waters around Oahu, which poses no threat to the Japanese raiding force.
However!
The ugly soldiers in Pearl Harbor seized the fleeting opportunity. They used the time lost by the enemy to change ammunition to restart most of the island's air defense systems.
When the carrier-based aircraft of the Japanese carrier appeared again on Oahu, a large number of heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft guns of various calibers suddenly opened fire, and the sky was instantly covered by a dense firepower network.
The sudden counterattack caught the Japanese carriers off guard to some extent.
To make matters worse, the weather was not on the side of the IJN.
Pearl Harbor, which was originally clear, is now covered by low clouds.
In such a harsh environment, even the elite pilots in the naval aviation can hardly guarantee their actual combat hit rate. If you want to expand the results of the war, you must pay a certain price.
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"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel! Look! There is a battleship moving to our lower left!"
Hearing this, Fuchida Mitsuo immediately picked up the telescope and began to observe. The battleship had a signature triangular mast, and it seemed that there was a fire control device on the top.
This kind of illegal construction unique to the United States allowed the old devils to guess which ship the other side was even without looking at the intelligence and the hull number.
"That's the USS Nevada! It seems that the ugly Chinese have reached the end of their rope and are trying to escape the port."
"If we can sink it, there is a certain probability that the channel will be completely blocked, making Pearl Harbor unable to operate normally in the next few months."
Unlike other battleships, the USS Nevada will keep a boiler burning even during holidays when there is no combat mission.
It is precisely because of good habits that she has become the only surface ship in the military port that can be started in a short time.
When Fuchida Mitsuo and others finally broke through the outer anti-aircraft firepower network, the battleship had already untied the ropes and anchors with the joint efforts of the workers and crew, and was rushing towards the south of Pearl Harbor.
"Pass my order, except for the first formation, everyone will act according to the original plan."
"The first formation should not attack immediately, wait until the Nevada arrives at Queen Emma Cape before deploying the formation!"
To be honest, it is difficult to completely block the waterway with only an old-fashioned iron turtle. In order to improve the feasibility of the plan, the old devils decided to play a long game.
After all, for the ugly people now, the battleship will inevitably die if it stays in place. Even if they know that the calm in front of them is a conspiracy against them, they have to bite the bullet and fight to the death.
As for whether they will let go of a high-value target due to negligence?
Don't joke, in addition to six aircraft carriers, the assault fleet also has two Kongo-class battleships, Hiei and Kirishima.
We are both level 5 ships, and both have 356mm main guns. Can it be that my sixteen guns can't beat your ten guns? What's more, we have Chuichi Nagumo, a mine warfare expert, so what's there to be afraid of?
After receiving the order from their captain, the 97th carrier attack from Kaga and Akagi temporarily climbed to a higher altitude and watched the Nevada sail south.
When the target arrived at the designated combat area, more than a dozen torpedo bombers and dive bombers began to lower their altitude and showed their fangs to the enemy ships.
"The anti-aircraft gun group is on full alert!"
"Stop those Japanese and don't let the enemy get close to our battleships!"
Unlike the original timeline, the captain of the Nevada did not spend the night on shore. It is precisely because the backbone is present that the sailors can burst out with good combat effectiveness.
Seeing the enemy planes appear, Colonel Scanlan grabbed the communication device without hesitation and issued combat orders to the entire ship.
Every soldier sticks to his combat post and pulls the trigger as soon as his superior orders.
"Shoot!"
When the first enemy plane entered the range, the anti-aircraft firepower teams on the battleship immediately opened fire, firing angry bullets and shells at the little man in the air.
The current Nevada has not been modernized yet. Most of the 127 on the ship are not dual-purpose anti-aircraft and anti-aircraft, and there is no trace of Oerlikon and Bofors.
But with only a single-barrel 127 anti-aircraft gun, Chicago piano and some 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns, the sailors still played the style of American anti-aircraft defense and even achieved quite good results.
Of course, the pilots of the First Air Force were not rookies.
After losing three Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft, the skilled and daring Benzi began to use the barrage in reverse, diving to avoid the anti-aircraft firepower network while locking the position of the enemy battleship based on the fireworks.
"Boom!"
Accompanied by bursts of exclamations and the explosion of torpedoes, the port side of the Nevada was hit by the Type 91 modified II aviation torpedo.
Although her hull below the waterline has a 38mm thick anti-torpedo belt.
However, due to design defects, there is no waterproof area on the inner side of the defensive bulkhead, and the core compartment of the ship is directly behind it.
After being hit by a torpedo, a large amount of water entered and the hull tilted toward the bow. The subsequent bomb attacks frequently interrupted the actions of the damage control team.
"Captain! The main fuel tank is broken. The lower cabin is flooded, and the hull has tilted eight degrees."
As soon as these words came out, Colonel Scanlan immediately ran out of the bridge and looked at the important parts such as the deck and main turret below.
"In this situation, we absolutely cannot pass through the strait. If the ship sinks here, it will most likely block the channel exit, and we will have to dock her on the shore!"
In the end, the Nevada, which suffered three torpedoes, eight aerial bombs, and several near-misses, ran aground at Naval Hospital Point.
After the air attack, the crew still needed to fight fire and water to prevent the Akagi from achieving the achievement of being ruthless.
However, even the most optimistic maintenance personnel have to admit an ironclad fact: Continuous water intrusion will sooner or later cause the ship to sink in shallow water.
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"Lieutenant General Halsey! Colonel Maury is calling!"
"Currently, the USS Enterprise, using the wreckage of the USS Lexington and USS Saratoga as cover, is fighting the enemy's carrier-based aircraft formation. She relies on her own ship-based weapons to cooperate with the USS California and ground forces, The position has been stabilized for the time being.”
"Except for some serious damage to the deck and hangar, there are no problems with the rest of the aircraft."
As soon as these words came out, Halsey finally put her hanging heart back into her stomach.
Currently, there are only three aircraft carriers in the entire Pacific Fleet. If the Enterprise is destroyed by the Japanese carrier-based aircraft formation again, then he will be no different from the bare commander.
The Big E is indeed damaged, but since the aircraft carrier is not in a state of combat readiness, there will definitely not be a fuel and gas explosion or a chain explosion of ammunition in the hangar.
The deck was unarmored, so it was easy to repair. As long as we add carrier-based aircraft, we will be a good man again in a month.
Of course, a large part of the reason why the company was able to survive the air raid was because Yamaguchi Takan miscalculated the ammunition.
In the old Japanese's original vision, even if the damage of 250KG aerial bombs to battleships was limited, it was definitely more than enough to destroy a Yorktown-class aircraft carrier.
But here comes the problem.
For surface ships with pure wooden decks and open hangars like the Enterprise, armor-piercing aerial bombs with very small charge coefficients can only make a hole in the flight deck.
Even if a 250KG aerial bomb exploded in the hangar, it would be difficult to cause any substantial damage.
Fire inside the ship?
American damage control will take care of everything. In the worst case, the burning carrier-based aircraft will be pushed into the sea.
The most correct choice for Yamaguchi Dawen should be to let each aircraft carrier's 99-ship explosion formation carry four 60KG or two 120KG high-explosive aerial bombs.
The bomb with its light weight will not produce too strong penetrating power during the fall and can explode close to the bottom of the flight deck.
In fact, the problems of the Japanese assault fleet in the second wave of attacks were far more than that. The most serious mistake was that many pilots chose the wrong target to attack.
The type 99 type 25 armor-piercing aerial bomb carried by this book can cause negligible damage to battleships. Light cruisers and destroyers are the most suitable targets.
But most of the pilots of the raiding fleet were young beasts in their twenties. No one wanted to tell their families when they went home that they only bombed light ships with a tonnage of less than 10,000 at Pearl Harbor.
In addition, there was the first wave of attacking Zhuyu ahead, so they desperately threw 250KG aerial bombs on the battleship, scraping it for almost half an hour.
There were even some outrageous idiots who tried to blow up Pennsylvania in the dock with their gadgets, but of course they failed.
As for the Phoenix, St. Louis and an Omaha class anchored in the northeast of the harbor, they really didn't even want to take a look, and they rushed out of the harbor with several destroyers.
All I can say is that the Phoenix City is worthy of being Marshal Mai’s flagship in the future, and even the turning posture is very similar.
After a moment, Halsey sighed heavily.
"Go ahead and strengthen the defense around the Enterprise. No one knows whether the Japanese will launch a third wave of attacks. We must save the last aircraft carrier."
"God, I don't know what I'm going to do next."
In the original timeline, the Enterprise had to wait until 1943 to fight alone.
At that time, of the only three aircraft carriers left, one was deployed in the Atlantic Ocean, and one was still lying in the dock. The only one still capable of fighting was the Big E.
It's good now. Three aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet were almost destroyed by the book group. How could this prevent Halsey from worrying. (End of chapter)