afterglow

Chapter 495 Chapter is solved but not completely solved; Operation Shuwen!

April 4, Guam.

Looking out of the plane's round window, one can see blue sea, white sand, lush greenery, and beautiful scenery. As an island of constant summer, Guam is warm and pleasant all year round, with very few sweltering heat.

It was undoubtedly a tourist attraction worth visiting in peacetime, and millions of tourists visited it every year.

However, Zhou Changfeng had long been tired of such a tropical island scene, and even had a faint feeling of physical disgust - tropical diseases, cruel killings, bloody battles, and scenes of life and death had been ingrained in the subconscious of him and all the soldiers.

"Copy that! Pull up, let's go."

"Yes."

The Type 35 transport plane carrying him was already starting to approach, but the pilot and co-pilot pulled up again according to the tower instructions.

The plane climbed a little and began to circle around the airport. At this time, everyone saw a Type 29 service plane flying in slowly.

The twin-engine, double-wing Type 29 service aircraft is often used to do various odd jobs. The left engine of this aircraft from Saipan has stopped and the propeller is in a feathering state.

After it landed safely, Zhou's transport plane continued to descend.

When the plane stopped, the gangway moved closer, and the cabin door opened, Zhou Changfeng saw more than a dozen officers greeting him.

The leader, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the A-180 Special Agent Fleet, Yi Jie, raised his hands and said with a smile: "A few days ago, we were thinking about who should be in charge of attacking the island this time, and I felt that it should be Zhou Daizhao. Hey, as soon as the news came, it turned out to be true. !”

"Hey, what you said puts me under a lot of pressure. You all take it so seriously. You don't want me to issue a military order, do you?" Zhou Changfeng also smiled and returned the greeting casually.

Everyone present was stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter.

"Don't dare, don't dare, who dares to do anything to you?" Yi Jie waved his hand repeatedly, and then extended his hand to make a sign of invitation.

While riding to the fleet admiral's residence, the group talked about the unusual events of the past two days.

"Kuwu Island was attacked yesterday morning. A section of the railway was bombed and a coal train was overturned."

"Kuwu Island? Where did the enemy come from?"

"Submarine, there is a section of railway in the southeast of Kuwu Island close to the coast. The enemy submarine sent people ashore to ambush and fired with deck guns."

Just when Zhou Changfeng arrived by plane, the USS Saury (SS-189) submarine successfully completed its mission.

The saury left Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands a month ago on her third combat cruise since the outbreak of the war. But this time her mission was a bit special. It was not simply hunting transport ships, but sneaking to the Tartar Strait to the west of Sakhalin Island to lay mines.

The oil produced from the oil fields in the northern part of Sakhalin Island will pass through. The route between the mainland and the island is relatively busy, with many ships and ferries going back and forth every day. The US military is naturally eyeing this place.

She laid dozens of mines along the Strait route, then returned the same route and detoured northward to the southeastern waters of Sakhalin Island.

There are coal mines in the southern part of Sakhalin Island, and a one-way narrow-gauge railway connects the north and the south. The Saury sent a team composed of submarine soldiers to plant explosives on the railway.

A coal train was unlucky enough to be attacked and derailed and overturned. Then the Saury floated to the surface and bombarded it violently with its deck guns. It fired more than 20 rounds in a row, causing a mess. Finally, the nearby Ming army patrol ships arrived. I used to get away with it.

"Americans are quite interesting. There have been more and more harassments recently. They are disturbing, disturbing, damn, it's so annoying." Yi Jie couldn't help complaining.

The person sitting in the co-pilot's seat was a colonel's staff officer. He said, "Since last month, there have been six records, and I don't know how many have not been discovered."

U.S. submarines are found throughout the Western Pacific. Even the Ryukyu Islands reported sightings of unidentified submarines. A Ryukyu Navy patrol boat attacked them, but with no results.

In the past month and a half, a total of three ships have been clearly confirmed to have been sunk, and one is controversial.

The US submarine force was very active, and Zhou Changfeng was very wary of it.

He asked about his own losses, thinking that if the anti-submarine pressure increased, he could consider putting hedgehog bombs into use.

However, after learning that the loss was not significant, he temporarily shelved this plan.

"...Not counting this month, the total (loss) from the beginning of the war to last month is 440,000 tons." the colonel replied.

"Has there been a sudden increase recently?" Zhou Changfeng asked another question.

"This... is not obvious, it is almost the same as before."

"it is good."

Nearly half a year has passed since Mingmei declared war, and a total of 44 tons of transport ships and requisitioned private merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty, North Korea, Ryukyu, and Lanfang navies were lost.

This loss is not much, with the monthly average being less than double digits. Daming alone completed 73 tons of merchant ships last year - and it has not adopted special measures or supporting policies to expand production.

At the same time, the merchant ships built by vassal states such as Korea, Ryukyu, and Lan were not taken into account. Therefore, the total tonnage of our own merchant ships rose instead of falling.

Zhou Changfeng had heard about the major shortcomings of US military torpedoes in history. The Ming Navy also received multiple reports from grassroots units about "the ineffectiveness of US military torpedo attacks."

It seems that the Americans haven't solved their poor torpedo reliability yet.

"Zhou Daizhao will tell you a happy story. Last month, a North Korean oil tanker called Zongxian was hit by five or six torpedoes. Some of them were set too deep and slipped under the ship. The other three torpedoes were stuck directly on the hull."

Both Zhou Changfeng and Yi Jie couldn't help but laugh, and the latter said: "There will be more allusions in the future, and the oil tanker borrows thunder."

However, what the Ming Dynasty admirals, including Zhou Changfeng, did not know was that the profound impact of the Lexington's capture due to a failed lightning strike had long ago affected certain bureaucrats in the U.S. Naval Ordnance Bureau.

Some members of the House of Representatives angrily threatened that if the military courts did not give these American criminals the sanctions they deserve, they would submit a special bill to allow the FBI to take over the matter completely.

Because of this, the Americans' torpedo problems have been initially solved.

The reason why it is called a preliminary solution is because the Mk14 torpedo has two problems-a depth-fixing device problem and a fuze problem. So far, the Newport Naval Torpedo Station has only solved the problem of "the torpedo sailing deeper than the set depth."

Solved, but not completely resolved.

The probability of successful detonation has increased from 20% to 40%...the probability has doubled, which is far ahead!

Since mid-March, the first batch of 60 Mk14 533mm torpedoes with improved depth-fixing devices have been shipped and shipped across half of the Pacific to Pearl Harbor.

However, everything takes time.

The manufacture of torpedoes is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and it takes more than a day or two to transport them from the West Coast to Hawaii. Moreover, submarines equipped with improved torpedoes will also take several days to reach the target waters after leaving port.

Many submarines still carry torpedoes with dual problems on combat cruises, but the Americans have also thought of homespun methods -

Since there is a problem with the torpedo depth-setting device and the actual depth will be deeper than the set value, wouldn't it be better to just set it to zero?

It's embarrassing to mention this crude method, but at least the US submariners don't have to worry about the torpedo passing under the target.

On April 4, a pre-war meeting was held at the Fleet Admiral's Mansion in Guam.

Although it was previously planned to complete the assembly on the 20th, the plan could not keep up with the changes. Several warships were delayed due to weather conditions, mechanical failures and other reasons, so the assembly completion date was postponed to the 23rd. A lieutenant colonel read out the military order of the Metropolitan Governor in public, saying:

"According to His Majesty's order: All actions shall be carried out in accordance with the fifth revision of A No. 6062. This battle must not be taken lightly, and there must be no internal strife. All participating departments must work together to achieve the final result. If there are any changes, the admiral will make his own decision. Please obey this order without disobeying it, and those who neglect the military will be severely punished."

Song Zhongkai, who was dressed in a pure white military uniform, stood in front of the generals and said calmly: "I heard that there are rumors that have been widely circulated recently, saying that the war has gone too smoothly so far. It is impossible for life to be smooth sailing. I am afraid that I will be frustrated this time. "

There was silence on the scene. After a few seconds, he continued: "It's quite good. An arrogant soldier will be defeated. Such rumors can make people sober and careful."

Although the climate in Guam cannot be called extremely hot, it cannot support so many people staying in the same room. Everyone's face is red and their backs are sweating.

"Leave the blocking of the enemy navy to us, and the important task of landing on the island depends entirely on you." Song Zhongkai stared at Zhou Changfeng with a solemn expression.

More than twenty eyes focused on the latter, making him feel unprecedented responsibility and pressure.

"Please rest assured."

"This sentence is enough."

The operation number for the attack on Hawaii was "A/608/2/4", the code name was "Shu Wen", and the order of operations was:
The first formation was personally commanded by Song Zhongkai, with battleships as the main force, and was responsible for carrying out shore bombardment support or possible fleet decisive battle missions. There were two squadrons in total.

A-4 artillery fleet, 2 high-speed battleships, 2 heavy cruisers, 6 light cruisers, and destroyers.

A-5 artillery fleet, 3 low-speed battleships, 9 light cruisers, and destroyers.

In addition, one seaplane carrier Donghu and five oil tankers were strengthened.

The second formation is commanded by Major General Li Yang. It is an ocean-going submarine force. It is responsible for setting up a submarine cordon in the north and south of Hawaii to guard, guard, and monitor the movements of the US fleet, and to select suitable opportunities to conduct ambush. There are two squadrons in total. .

E-Nineteen Submarine Warfare Fleet, 7 ocean-going submarines.

E-6 submarine warfare fleet, ocean-going submarines.

There are also 3 submarine carriers Tianwu, Jimeng, and Wuzhiqi, as well as 2 oil tankers and 4 destroyers escorting them.

The third formation is still commanded by Ouyang Zhanghua. It is a powerful aircraft carrier combat force with a total of two squadrons.

C-2 air raid fleet, 1 aircraft carriers Taiwei Zuoyuan and Tianshi Zuoyuan, as well as 5 light cruiser and destroyers.

C-2 air raid fleet, 1 armored aircraft carriers Ziwei Zuoyuan and Ziwei Youyuan, as well as 5 light cruiser and destroyers.

There are also 2 supply ships and 4 oil tankers.

The fourth formation is commanded by Major General Zou Pu. They will set off from Tarawa Atoll and join the main force. They will be responsible for ensuring the absolute safety of the transport fleet and serving as the assault force of the entire fleet. There are three lightning strike fleets in total.

There are a total of 9 light cruisers, 4 super destroyers, 43 destroyers, and 4 oil tankers.

The fifth formation is commanded by Major General Wei Yingchun. This formation is also called the Hawaii Landing Force. It consists of a large number of transport ships and auxiliary ships. It is bloated, complicated and clumsy.

There are a total of 27 cargo ships, 6 landing ships, 3 hospital ships, and 5 supply ships, carrying about ground troops from the rd Marine Brigade and the th Regiment of the th Marine Brigade.

The escort force is the only remaining light aircraft carrier Fomalhaut, as well as 1 seaplane carriers, 2 light cruiser, and 1 destroyers.

Except for the fourth formation, all other formations set off from the Mariana Islands and finally converged and rested at Midway Island.

However, Zhou Changfeng still has some small regrets.

Due to the extensive damage and unfamiliarity with the structure, repair work on the Lexington was slower than expected and has not been completed to this day.

At the same moment, Midway Island thousands of kilometers away...

"Bon voyage! Hahaha, just kidding... headwind, headwind!"

"See you tomorrow."

Four Type 40 large seaplanes were parked next to the pier, and more than thirty crew members boarded their respective planes after saying goodbye to the ground crew.

Soon, the four planes took off one after another, and finally disappeared where the sky and sea meet in the east.

Knowing yourself and your enemy will ensure you can win a hundred battles. Intelligence is the most important thing in war. It is necessary to do everything possible to conduct reconnaissance on Pearl Harbor before the battle begins.

The straight-line distance from Midway Island to Oahu is two thousand kilometers. Seizing Midway Island is undoubtedly a good thing for the Ming army, otherwise it would be even more troublesome to conduct reconnaissance operations.

In order to cooperate with aerial reconnaissance, the Qingming A-7 submarine was ordered to provide radio navigation correction assistance at Johnston Atoll.

At 4:21 on April 11, one of the Type 16 seaplanes suffered a mechanical failure. Both engines on the left wing had abnormalities, which was suspected to be caused by fuel problems.

Ten minutes later, the plane returned.

At 13:21 that afternoon, the other three aircraft successfully established radio contact with the Qingming A- submarine and corrected their course.

As a long-range large aircraft, the Type 40 seaplane has quite complete onboard equipment, including electric water heaters, gas stoves, toilets, etc., which can help the crew maintain their physical strength and energy during the long flight.

Three Ming army aircraft approached the Hawaiian Islands at dusk and were immediately detected by Kauai's long-wave early warning radar.

The US military, which was completely overwhelmed, immediately sounded the air defense siren - the activities of the Ming army had been too frequent in the past month, at least four or five times.

Just two days ago, a Ming army submarine was sunk, and now it’s happening again?

The US military quickly dispatched eight P-36 fighter jets and F4F Wildcat fighter jets to take off to intercept the target.

However, the current US military radar does not yet support precise guidance. Coupled with the dark sky and dense clouds, the eight US military fighter jets failed to find the invading enemy.

After the three planes flew over Oahu, they encountered unexpected trouble-Pearl Harbor and Honolulu were implementing blackouts, and it was pitch black below.

"Tsk! It's really a shame."

"Did you see that light spot? Is it a lighthouse?"

"Uh... That should be Kenner Point over there."

However, they estimated the position of the reference object through a few light points, and quickly adjusted their course and flew towards Pearl Harbor.

At 18:09, three Type seaplanes arrived over Pearl Harbor in a formation of one in front and two in the back. The guidance aircraft in front dropped aviation flares.

In an instant, the dark night was torn apart by pale light!
Immediately afterwards, countless searchlight beams and anti-aircraft gun tracer bullets pierced the starry sky from below!

　Chinese New Year is too much of a delay, running around visiting each other, I don’t like it

　　
　
(End of this chapter)