afterglow

Chapter 483 Night Attack; Naval Battle of Guadalcanal-Tulagi Strait

Five days ago, on March 3, the T-18 Squadron was discovered by aircraft dispatched from the US military airport on Guadalcanal. The TF-27 task force on standby in New Caledonia hastened to prepare for the battle. Prepare.

After research, Brigadier General Richmond Turner decided to set off on the 21st. It is expected to pass through the waters east of Guadalcanal on the evening of the 23rd, and then attack the Ming fleet at night depending on the situation.

The possibility of defeating the Ming fleet during the day is extremely slim. The aircraft carrier alone is enough to severely damage the TF-27 task force.

Although night operations are full of difficulties, the officers are full of fighting spirit based on their trust in the CXAM long-wave radar installed on the Quincy.

Nowadays, CXAM radars are gradually becoming popular, but the production is limited. Moreover, this long-wave radar weighs more than two tons and can only be carried by cruisers and above. The miniaturized SC radar is still under development.

At the same time, in order to better train the fleet's ability to coordinate operations, Rear Admiral Richmond specially arranged an exercise to check for leaks and fill in the gaps.

The Australian Army's heavy cruiser Australia and the Dutch Army's light cruiser Tromp are also equipped with additional liaison officers to prevent miscommunication.

Two days ago, on March 3, the TF-21 task force set off as scheduled.

After careful and wary navigation, 3 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser, and 9 destroyers finally passed through the Coral Sea safely and approached Guadalcanal Island at dusk on the 23rd.

In the middle of the night, at 24:3 on the 57th, the US fleet, which had already bypassed Guadalcanal from the east, sailed due west in a standard column.

"Sir! Direction 210 degrees, 5600 yards, it may be an enemy ship."

Could it be that the unknown ships detected now are transport fleets?

Three twin-mounted 3mm Bofors naval guns sprayed out muzzle flames nearly ten meters long. The shells passed over the sea in a straight trajectory and were fired at the Ming army destroyer only three kilometers away.

This greatly confused the Ming fleet. This answer cannot be calculated or wrong. Maybe the requisitioned merchant ship really had a malfunction?

At 4:06, the lookout post of the heavy cruiser Australia observed a relatively clear silhouette of the ship, and it was basically concluded that the largest warship among them was the Yuanxing.

Soon, an observation soldier ran to the port side carrying a portable signal light and began to send light signals towards the dark north.

Several radar soldiers stared at the A-type oscilloscope and chatted for a few words, confirming that there were abnormalities in the regular echo signals, and then reported the discovery of the enemy.

A U.S. destroyer opened fire first. Two 127mm illumination bombs flew over the head of the T- Squadron, and deployed its parachute at the rear position, emitting a bright and dazzling light.

"I am 'Chunhua', please identify me immediately."

Since there are islands in the north and south, clutter and echo interference are serious. During the test, the actual performance of the radar with a detection range of more than ten kilometers shrank seriously.

The sailors took turns to rest, and the tense and busy maritime ammunition supply operation was still in progress. No one realized that the crisis was approaching.

In an instant, more than a dozen Ming army warships were revealed.

At this time, the Ming Navy's T-42 Squadron was still anchored in the offshore waters north of Guadalcanal.

The light cruiser Tromp was the first to open fire. The sailors of the Royal Dutch Navy, who had transferred all the way from the Dutch East Indus, were probably eager for revenge and fired a salvo at the lonely destroyer Chunhua.

After discovering the sudden waveform on the oscilloscope, the officer of the electrical detection department on duty froze his eyes and was about to shout a warning, but suddenly thought of something.

The naval generals believed that due to the existence of the aircraft carrier, the US military was unlikely to dare to launch an attack during the day, and the greatest risk was at night, so they specifically set the radar startup time at night.

At this moment, the two fleets were less than five kilometers apart. The captain of the Australia took the initiative to break radio silence and asked the commander for permission to fire.

"Sir! They're sending signals, but we can't understand them."

Full of doubts, the destroyer Chunhua turned to the right and at the same time turned on its searchlight vigilantly, trying to verify whether these unknown ships were our own transport fleet.

Facts have proved that you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. Five 150mm grenades passed thrillingly over the front deck of the Chunhua and went into the sea behind. Only one shell hit the No. turret.

"Enemy ship! Enemy ship found at 40 degrees!"

On Tulagi Island in the north, yesterday a transport fleet of our own went there to unload cargo and supply supplies to the Tulagi garrison camp on the island.

The Ming army sailors were shocked when they saw this. Although they were already suspicious, many of them were still frightened.

From the perspective of the US sailors, more than a dozen large and small white silhouettes of ships were moored neatly on the sea.

On the bridge of the Quincy, Commodore Richmond thought calmly for a few seconds and decisively ordered: "Send a malfunction signal using the International Maritime Light Language."

Commodore Richmond thought briefly and then ordered: "Battle alert, the fleet will turn to course 275 and increase its speed."

Calculating the time, the unloading should have been completed.

The 96cm caliber searchlight emitted a snow-white beam, illuminating the heavy cruiser Salt Lake City a few kilometers away.

Therefore, the Quincy used the maritime light signal commonly used by private merchant ships to send the light language "Our ship's engine is out of order."

The 150mm tip fuse grenade exploded violently, tearing the thin steel plate apart like tinfoil. The shock wave and various fragments flew in all directions, crackling on the bridge windshield.

"boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

Since the Ming fleet was conducting supply operations at sea and could only turn on lights for lighting, it was naturally at the double disadvantage of exposing itself and being stationary.

The Xiangshan-class destroyer has five single-mounted 5mm naval guns in a closed turret, and the No. 128 turret is located in front of the bridge.

"I wipe it?!"

"Boom boom boom——"

The Tianshi Youyuan was overhauled for several months due to damage. During this period, an experimental long-wave warning radar was installed on her.

This shows that the entire fleet is wary? Yes, but not much.

It was not until this moment that the radar onboard the Quincy discovered the target.

Commodore Richmond approved it a minute later, and all the warships of the TF-27 task force pointed their guns at the Ming fleet.

This kind of turret is essentially a closed gun mantlet. Its greatest use is to resist wind and waves. In addition, it can only withstand shock waves and shell fragments.

Six minutes later, the destroyer Chunhua, which was on alert patrol 4km east of the fleet, heard the radio communication of Tianshi Zuoyuan.

"The one who rides on the sun is playing dirty tricks!"

"Full right rudder, let out smoke, and fire all guns in unison."

"Full right helm!"

"The smoke canister is on!"

"Firing is under unified control at each gun position." The Chunhua immediately turned sharply and fired back at the Tromp with all its available firepower.

The shells fired by the 128mm naval gun, 38.4mm anti-aircraft gun, and 20.8mm anti-aircraft gun all flew towards the only remaining "large" warship of the Dutch, and clusters of fire flashed on the upper part of the hull.

Tromp, which struck first, was slapped hard by Chunhua's retaliatory counterattack - a 128mm anti-kill bomb from the latter's second salvo hit Tromp's seaside. The drawing room was blown up, killing seven or eight officers and soldiers on the spot.

A little further away, the D-42 Squadron still didn't know what the situation was.

The first to react were the officers and soldiers of the Asojiang light patrol. They saw the searchlight beams and flashes of bright lights in the night, coupled with the rumble of cannons, they immediately realized that it was definitely not lightning and thunder. An enemy ship must be attacking.

The Chunhua turned off its searchlight and fired a warning flare while calling on the radio frequency band.

"Shoot the lightning strike at 1,45 degrees, set the depth at three meters, shoot in sections, and release!"

This sea area was still shrouded in darkness except for the firelights fired by the battleships from both sides.

The situation was critical. At this time, the Chunhua had no time to confirm the number, ship type, and position of the invading enemy. It just fired six torpedoes indiscriminately toward the southeast in a hurry, hoping to disrupt the position of the U.S. fleet and create opportunities for its own side. The still stationary fleet bought time.

The TF-27 task force is actually turning to sail northwest. Brigadier General Richmond Turner intends to use this to occupy the T-shaped head position and thereby exert its firepower advantage.

However, the destroyer USS McCall (DD-400) seemed to have her own ideas. She continued to sail westward, while accelerating and violently bombarding the Chunhua.

This caused the destroyer USS Landsdale behind her to be confused.

Seeing the front ship accelerating and maintaining its course, Landsdale mistakenly believed that the fleet commander had just issued an order to "attack destroyers, approach and launch torpedoes", but she missed this order by mistake.

Therefore, the captain decisively ordered to increase the speed and prepare to launch torpedoes.

At 4:15, the US fleet was divided into two groups - the main force sailed northwest and began to attack the Ming fleet; the two destroyers quickly assaulted toward the west and went straight in.

"Commander, the enemy fleet is heading three hundred degrees and is 5,500 meters away!"

"Report! Two enemy destroyers are approaching from the east at high speed!"

"Show off the flares." Xiong Zhuguo, who hurried from the living room, gave the first order.

Several illumination bombs of different calibers flew to the north, and several light groups of different colors appeared in the night sky, illuminating the US fleet in a long snake formation.

After ascertaining the enemy's situation, Xiong Zhuguo instructed the Nanjing to turn on the searchlight to illuminate one of the largest warships, and the other destroyers launched torpedoes to intercept, thereby disrupting the current course of the US fleet.

The beams emitted by the Nanjing's two 96cm searchlights were firmly locked on the Salt Lake City, illuminating the heavy cruiser gleamingly.

However, the firepower of the US fleet, which had the first-mover advantage, arrived earlier, and shells fired by the USS Salt Lake City, USS Quincy, USS Australia and other battleships fell on the Yuanxing.

Due to the close distance, as many as ten artillery shells hit in one minute, one-third of which were 203mm normal shells.

Amid the violent vibrations, the battlecruiser's front deck and superstructure were blown beyond recognition, and the No. 1 turret seat ring was damaged and unable to rotate.

At 4:21, the Ming fleet, which hastily responded to the challenge, officially began to fight back.

The Salt Lake City was hit by multiple artillery shells from the Qilianshan and Asujiang. A 144mm anti-explosive bomb destroyed the SOC Seagull seaplane, and the Mk6 gunpowder gas catapult was also affected.

Suddenly, a huge flame rose in the middle of the Salt Lake City, and dozens of meters in front and back were stained with flying aviation gasoline, igniting a raging fire.

This heavy cruiser became a conspicuous bonfire, the fire soaring into the sky that it illuminated both the front and rear battleships.

Seeing this, the Nanjing, which had already taken several shells, wisely turned off its searchlight.

After the Tromp severely damaged the destroyer Chunhua and forced the latter to release a smoke screen and withdraw from the battle, it turned its gun port and prepared to change targets.

Because the Asojiang was on the outside, a large amount of firepower was also fired at her. The Tromp selected her as the new target, and then launched multiple rounds of semi-volley fire at a distance of less than four thousand meters.

The Asojiang, which was hard to beat with two fists and four hands, was seriously damaged. Both the No. 1 and No. 2 turrets were destroyed, the bridge was in a mess, the central fire control equipment failed, and several holes were blown in the waterline of the hull. …

Since the Ming fleet was in a vertical position relative to the TF-27 task force, most warships, including the Yuanxing, could only fire back from the front, and the No. 12 turret of the Yuanxing was stuck and unable to rotate, so For minutes, it could only fire at the US fleet with a single turret.

At 4:38, the Quincy observed a large number of torpedoes launched by Ming destroyers.

At least twenty torpedo tracks were moving from left to right, and the rolling waves shone with the light of the fire. They were on the collision course of the US fleet.

Commodore Richmond was forced to order a turn to the left to evade, which drove the fleet in a long snake formation to follow suit.

In this way, the fleets of both sides became nearly parallel.

The No. 3 and No. 4 turrets at the rear of the Yuanxing finally waited for the moment to show their power, quickly completed their aiming, and fired four consecutive salvos at the Salt Lake City.

At 4:50, the first armor-piercing shell hit the middle of the Salt Lake City's hull.

A minute later the salvo scored two more hits, the second shattering her chimney and the third exploding in the boiler room.

The thin-skinned and stuffed Pensacola class was as fragile as a plastic toy in the face of 320mm armor-piercing bullets. The Salt Lake City lost most of its power and the power was interrupted. The sailors hurriedly activated the backup generator. After hesitation, the captain decided to withdraw from the battle. .

At the same time, the destroyers McCall and Landsdale had rushed to a place only eight or nine hundred meters away from the Ming fleet. For a naval battle, this distance was almost equivalent to face to face.

The McCall fired a group of torpedoes first, and the Landsdale attacked slightly later, but fired all the torpedoes in one go.

At 4:56, at least one torpedo hit the Asovian and successfully detonated. A huge hole was blown out of the middle of the light cruiser's hull, so wide that it could almost accommodate a car.

At 5:03, a dozen torpedoes launched by the Landsdale approached the Yuanxing after a long voyage.

"torpedo!"

"One, two, three!"

The slender battlecruiser had weak turning ability, and even though it tried its best to dodge, it still couldn't avoid it. A mine hit the bow of the ship.

At 5:05, Australia's sixteenth and a half salvo once again covered Qilianshan - Australia had been eyeing the latter from the beginning.

One of the 203mm normal bullets hit the ammunition supply ship that was moving away from the fighting area without any bias.

After a night of continuous operations, the supply ship had delivered most of its ammunition, but the explosion of the remaining hundreds of shells was still terrifying.

The shock wave spread in all directions, and the fire that shot straight into the sky was like the second sun...

【Picture】

(End of this chapter)