Emergency Doctor Mercenary Road

  Chapter 56 The flame cannon smashes the stubborn enemy

  Lu Fei talked a lot, pointed and drew on the map, and even marked the position and the formation of the ships on the map.

  The captain and the generals listened to Lu Fei's tactics and specific measures, and couldn't help but stunned and stunned. After grouping and perfecting the countermeasures in detail, they each returned to the ship by seaplane without mentioning it.

  Turner led the staff to quickly improve the details, and formed the tasks and action outlines of each ship. The encrypted telegrams were photographed to each ship, so that the steps in the action must be unified. In addition, Turner urgently reported to the Naval Headquarters and asked the Naval Headquarters to coordinate. On the early morning of August 9, an aircraft carrier was sent to hunt down the remnants of the Japanese fleet. The Naval Headquarters was very nervous, but it was temporarily powerless. It was unrealistic to transfer the aircraft carrier formation overnight, search for the dark sea in the middle of the night, and bomb the Japanese fleet.

  The U.S. military on Guadal Island is now loose on the outside and tight on the inside. All naval fighters have canceled their vacations and will be in place immediately. The seaside observation post is fully opened. By 16:00 in the afternoon, Japanese seaplanes were reported from observation posts secretly flying towards the waters between Guadalcanal and Tulagi islands. Ships and cruise planes were ordered not to shoot down Japanese seaplanes, pretending to know nothing.

   As soon as the Japanese seaplanes left, the entire southern and northern cruiser detachments all moved into action and began to advance towards the predetermined area. After the exercise is in place, it is already more than 7 pm. According to the established plan, the torpedo boats and destroyers began to dump gasoline into the middle passage of the waters. An oil belt 10 kilometers long and 300 meters wide was formed. This operation took another 2 hours. At 10:30 in the evening, it was completely dark. A destroyer placed 5 mines in all directions on the channel at the end of the oil belt near Guadalcanal.

   Since then, the trap has been dug, waiting for the prey to come.

   At 1:20 in the middle of the night, Turner and Lu Fei were in the cockpit of the heavy cruiser Chicago.

   "The biggest threat to the Japanese army is the flares of seaplanes. If the Japanese can't see our ship, they can only wait to die or run away. Have you arranged for a medium bomber to blow up the flagship? Lu Fei asked General Turner.

"This is still the main point I added to your plan, will I forget? Now that the bombers have taken off, 6 bombers are waiting for the firelight to light up, and then blow up the Japanese flagship and the seaplanes he loaded, or at least destroy them. Even if the flares are still fired, it’s nothing. They are as bright as day here. Our warships are illuminated by this light, which is not a big problem, and all the ships have already started the ignition. When encountering enemy flares, they will move to evade.”

   In fact, Lu Fei's plan was very simple and crude, which was to cause visual impairment.

  The U.S. ships are not trained enough, and the hard steel on the front at night will definitely not be able to get the Japanese fleet. But what if I can see you and you can't see me? That's different. Lu Fei came up with a highly targeted suggestion. The main strategy is: pre-setting the battlefield, laying mines, setting fire to light, fighter bombing, firing ten thousand cannons, firing torpedoes, and finally two shamelessly fighting one.

  Lu Fei felt that the Japanese fleet had entered the preset waters and was heading for the depths. He took out his infrared telescope, but of course he couldn't see anything now, and it would be lively later.

   "Boom", the first Japanese ship hit a mine! A loud bang opened the prelude to what was historically known as the Battle of Savo Island.

   As the lead ship of the Japanese heavy cruiser struck a mine, the oil belt at sea was instantly ignited. Under the raging fire, eight Japanese ships were exposed. The U.S. ships began to urgently conduct fine-tuning of shooting Zhu Yuan. The torpedoes of destroyers, torpedo boats, and submarines have already been ranged and are being adjusted to prepare for launch.

   The commander-in-chief of the Japanese heavy cruiser, Sanchuan Junyi, was stunned at the moment when the ship "Choikai" hit the mine! He was preparing to issue orders for each ship to attack the enemy separately, and the seaplane was ready to take off and launch flares. "Choikai" triggered the mine at this time!

  How can mines be placed in the waterways in the port? After a little thought, Sanchuan Junyi immediately understood something.

   "Baga, this is the enemy's trap. Send a message to let each ship evade urgently, fight for each other, and get out of the single-column formation." Sanchuan Army shouted and issued an order. Before he could finish his words, the screeching sound of dive bombers could be heard in the sky.

   A row of three dive bombers has already rushed down towards the lead ship "Chokai". The long fire belt has exposed the eight Japanese warships clearly, just like Christmas fireworks, dazzling and dazzling.

   "Boom, Boom, Boom", the three bombers dived and dropped bombs and then pulled up, leaving Chokai with two bombs, which burst into flames.

   At this time, other Japanese ships were still waiting for the flares to be launched, but the US destroyers, torpedo boats, and cruisers had already launched dense torpedoes at the heavy cruiser fleet with a single column of 8,000 meters. It will take a while for the torpedo express to arrive directly, but the cannons have long been unwilling to be lonely and fired one by one.

  According to the pre-arrangement, two cruisers will fight one, the heavy cruiser will fight first, then the light cruiser. So the U.S. heavy cruisers paired up, exchanged shots of Zhu Yuan, filled the gap, and began to frantically output firepower against the Japanese ships.

   For a time, water splashed around the Japanese ship, and heavy artillery shells continued to fall near the Japanese ship. Nearly missing bombs hit the right side of the second Japanese heavy cruiser. Under the pressure of sea water, the hull is deformed, and the power drops.

Many Japanese cruisers immediately responded with artillery fire, but in the dark sea, there was a fire here, and the other side couldn't see clearly in the darkness, and there were very few flares fired. I could vaguely see the outlines of some enemy ships. Difficult to aim.

   At this time, the Japanese flagship "Chokai" was hit by heavy artillery with a height of more than 203mm. The fire on the ship became more and more prosperous, and the sound of explosions was heard from time to time. The ship was tilted more than 20 degrees.

  The flagship of the Japanese army was suddenly attacked, and the ships were in chaos, and it was no longer possible to form a unified step.

   "Boom, bang, bang", the sound of the sky was continuous, the Japanese cruiser was delivered to the door by torpedo express, and the thunder began. There were several loud noises on the sea, and at least three Japanese cruisers were torpedoed.

   As many Japanese warships were shot and set on fire, the accuracy of the American heavy artillery became more and more accurate, although the Japanese warships kept evading and dodging. However, the U.S. reconnaissance plane also launched the second step of the lighting plan, flying over the Japanese army and starting to drop flares. The Japanese ships still have nothing to hide. The speed of the heavy cruisers is not fast, and now they are only beaten, and they don't know where the opponent is.

  Turner looked at the battlefield with his binoculars. He said anxiously: "The third ship of the Japanese army was shot, and the chimneys flew. The eighth ship turned and was about to run. It didn't even hit a shot. It looked like a light cruiser, and its speed was not slow."

"Brother-in-law, we can't leave them all, just run and run, leave the big guy behind, the cruiser that runs, and hunt him down tomorrow morning. I'm afraid other cruisers will start running too. Bring more flares to the reconnaissance plane, The bombers are ready to pursue and kill, and our heavy cruisers are also ready to participate in the pursuit." Lu Fei added.

  Turner asked the transmitter to send a message, and coordinated the steps of each ship with the bomber and reconnaissance plane on the island.

  The Japanese fleet unexpectedly did not escape, and relied on its own flares to counterattack. The artillery fire was so accurate that some shells had already landed on the Canberra. But the line of sight is too bad, only occasionally. However, the artillery fire on the left and right sides of the U.S. fleet was getting more and more accurate. Only one of the eight Japanese warships escaped and was not hit by a light cruiser.

  Suddenly, the fifth Japanese ship in the single column evaded and escaped from the fire zone, preparing to hide in the dark. Although it was shot, the fire was under the control of the fire team. The fire head was much smaller and could be put out immediately.

   "Boom", but I was hit by a mine when I was evading. There was a loud bang, and a large hole was blown out of the bow. The reconnaissance plane in the air saw the red light flashing on the edge of the fire belt again, and hurriedly flew over and dropped a flare. The hapless Japanese ship was again exposed to the flash of flares. After that, countless artillery shells were exchanged. Two minutes later, he was hit by 5 shells with a caliber of 203mm or more, which were directly blown into two pieces and sank on the spot! This was the first Japanese ship to be sunk.

  The Japanese ships were not stupid after being attacked by three-dimensional saturation. They began to rush to and fro, but the reconnaissance planes and bombers were strictly ordered by Turner, and they had to give the tracking lighting of the flares one-on-one. The Japanese ships kept scrambling left and right, but they were constantly bombarded and raided by artillery fire and torpedoes.

   Seeing that the trend of the Japanese ships is gone.

   At this time, the flagship "Chiaohai" used the lights to make a lantern language: scattered to break through, our ship dragged back for cover, long live the emperor!

   "Choikai" swerved hard to the left and swooped toward the U.S. ships by the coastline. But it had already been hit by plane bombs and U.S. artillery fire, two hits on the deck, and a large hole was blown out by a mine, pouring into a large amount of seawater. The speed is only 8 knots.

  The two U.S. destroyers approached bravely and carried out a torpedo attack, one by one torpedo lines rushed towards it.

   "Boom boom boom", the torpedoes rang again and again, and the "Choikai" reached the end of its life and began to sink rapidly.

   Later, I learned from the rescued Japanese navy soldiers that the commander of the ship, Mikawa Jun, tied himself to the bridge of the ship and sang the king's generation and the ship sank together, which was considered a heroic death.

  The Japanese ships turned back one after another, and the queue was extremely chaotic. The American heavy cruisers took the opportunity to output firepower desperately, while the destroyers and light cruisers were desperately approaching, and torpedoes were fired one after another. Japanese ships also hit Chinese and American destroyers with heavy artillery, and one destroyer was sunk on the spot. But the general trend is that the Japanese ships were shot one after another, and gradually they were unable to catch up. After constant fierce battles, the Japanese ships sank one after another!

   In the end, only 2 ships escaped with injuries and went to chase the light cruisers that escaped earlier.

   Two hours have passed since the battle started. The sea gradually calmed down, and U.S. destroyers and torpedo boats began to rescue the fallen U.S. and Japanese navy soldiers. Three U.S. heavy cruisers also went after the Japanese ships, and the remaining few stayed behind just in case.

   Turner kept getting reports. After mobilizing troops to pursue the Japanese ship, the bomber sank another Japanese ship at the sea exit, and the remaining two enemy ships disappeared into the darkness.

  Lu Fei watched the live broadcast of the gunboat duel for a long time, and his blood boiled. However, he still calmly suggested that Turner recall all the ships, and the poor should not pursue them. Waiting for the bombers to chase after dawn, if there are heavy cruisers that are now injured or sunk by counterattacks, it is not worthwhile.

  Turner was horrified, and he was almost carried away by the victory. He understood what he said and hurriedly sent a recall telegram. The battleships stopped their pursuit one after another and returned to port safely.

   At this time, preliminary statistics of the results of the battle have been made. 5 enemy ships were sunk, and one enemy ship was wounded and then sank, and a total of 6 enemy ships were sunk. One was wounded, one escaped, and a total of two escaped. One US destroyer was sunk, and two heavy cruisers were lightly injured. The injured cruiser has been basically repaired. Casualties have not been counted.

   This is an unprecedented gunboat duel for the US military, and it won an overwhelming victory! Turner ordered that the flagship of the Chicago issued a victory telegram, which spread throughout the navy and the defenders of the island. The telegram contained only a brief sentence.

   "Tonight the Japanese devils were sent to the bottom of the sea by us!"

The sentence    was also used as a closing statement when it was sent to the Naval Headquarters after the preliminary statistics of the battle results. Later, it was cited as a classic by the US media, and even as a slogan for the US military to fight back in the Pacific battlefield.

   After that, every time the U.S. military sank a Japanese warship, the first sentence of the telegram was always "Tonight the Japanese devils were sent to the bottom of the sea by us!"

  5 hours after the end of the naval battle, General Nimitz personally called Turner and highly praised the dedication and decisive fighting spirit of the US Navy and Air Force. He even brought the 1st Marine Division and spoke highly of Lu Fei's decision-making suggestions, and expressed that he would apply to the US government for the Congressional Medal of General Turner and Captain Jack!

  At 8:00 in the morning, U.S. reconnaissance planes and bombers on Guadalcanal Island were fully dispatched, followed and pursued along the oil belt of the injured Japanese ship at sea, and finally sank the fleeing Japanese heavy patrol on the sea 200 kilometers away from the island. The other light cruiser fled without a trace.

   So far, the U.S. military has won the naval battle of Savo Island, and the Japanese army has suffered heavy losses, causing a comprehensive shock to the Japanese battle base.

   (end of this chapter)