Chapter 460: Sino-US Atlantic Battle (9) [Second update]

【Second update today】

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On the Atlantic Ocean, the main force of the Imperial Naval Combined Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy was heading towards each other with a distance of 33 kilometers. Both fleets were performing tactical maneuvers and constantly changing formations to deal with possible attacks by the other party.

The Imperial Navy Air Force dispatched 1,000 fighters to fight nearly 2,000 US battleships in the nearby airspace. It no longer exchanged fierce fire with US fighters like before, but chose to deal with maneuverably and circle around the US main fleet.

The U.S. fighter jet fleet was worried that the Imperial Chinese Naval Air Force would attack the U.S. surface fleet, and 1,000 aircraft were always hovering over the U.S. fleet.

According to Wang Jiancheng's order, the Chinese Navy Air Force saved ammunition and used the advantage of long-distance air stagnation to engage in cat-and-mouse handling with US aircraft.

At first, the US fighter jet group did not dare to act rashly, so they only sent a small number of fighter jets to chase. But the problem is that once the US military loses its numerical advantage, it will be a one-sided massacre when facing the advanced lightning and Hellfire fighter attacks of the Chinese Empire and has no power to fight back.

The two sides fought for about 20 minutes, and the fighter planes of the Imperial China kept getting close to harassment. There were always US pilots who could not stand provoking and violated orders to attack or forgot that they had left the cover of the aircraft group, and they were shot down by the carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial China Navy.

This tactic of adding fuel is a taboo for military strategists, and the US military commander had to order additional aircraft to be sent to participate in the expulsion.

At 2:55, the Imperial Naval Air Force broke out in fierce battle with the US Air Force again. Thousands of aircraft from both sides fought in the airspace 30 kilometers away from the US fleet. Soon the Imperial Naval Air Force fought and retreated, creating the illusion of losing, constantly attracting the US fighter fleet to stay away from the US fleet.

At the same time, the US military divided the fighter aircraft group into two parts, part of which was used to expel the fighter aircraft of the Imperial Empire and part of which was used to protect the US fleet. This soon led to the fact that the fighter aircraft group responsible for expelling the Imperial Empire Naval Aviation was unable to form a local advantage due to insufficient number. It was hit hard by the Imperial Empire Naval Aviation, and a large number of US fighter aircraft were shot down.

The US Air Force commander was soon red from his eyes and just wanted to send more planes to participate in the battle. As a result, the fighter jets used to protect the US fleet will be continuously drawn away, resulting in fewer and fewer escort fighter jets in the Eberly Fleet.

Finally, the Chinese Empire Navy Air Force's tactic of luring the tiger away from the mountain was successful. The US Air Force fighter fleet continued to stay away from the Eberle Fleet, and the US fighter jets responsible for protecting the Eberle Fleet were quickly reduced from the first 1,000 to 500.

While the air forces on both sides were fighting fiercely, Eberly knew that the US Air Force could not seize air supremacy, so he took advantage of the opportunity that the Chinese Navy Air Force could not strike his fleet and resolutely ordered the main fleet of the US military to attack.

At 2:45, the US Ocean Fleet was 25 kilometers away from the Chinese Empire Navy Combined Fleet. The US Fleet was lined up in three large rows and two small rows. Dozens of large warships were distributed on the sea surface of more than 200 square kilometers, forming a huge "Six Mahjong" formation, which was very spectacular.

Similarly, the five battleship battle groups of the combined fleet of the Imperial Navy also formed a formation similar to the "Five Mahjong". The difference is that the Imperial Navy is waiting for the Air Force to create fighters, while the US fleet is preparing for a head-on decisive battle.

At about three o'clock, the fleets of the two sides were about 23 kilometers apart, and General Eberly, the commander of the US Ocean Fleet, issued an order to "start the battle."

"Dongdongdongdongdongdong!"

Four twin 17-inch cannons of the US Navy's flagship USS North Carolina were the first to fire. The shells roared and shot into the sky, drawing long parabolas. After seven or eight seconds, they landed on the sea near the Imperial Navy warship, and instantly aroused huge water columns.

Immediately afterwards, the main guns of dozens of other US warships opened fire, and shells hit the Chinese Empire Navy like raindrops, exploded with a bang, and huge waves rolled, sea water splashed, and the sea boiled in an instant.

After the US Navy opened fire, the Imperial Chinese Navy was not willing to be outdone. With Li Dingxin's order, 20 super battleships of the Imperial Chinese Navy fired and fought back immediately, and the Sino-US Atlantic Navy's Battle began in full swing.

On the vast sea, the two most powerful naval forces in the world fought a decisive battle, with an unprecedented scale, far exceeding the Battle of Jutland. This battle of destiny between the navies of China and the United States entered a state of intense heat from the very beginning.

Eberly believed that the US Air Force would not last for a few days. Once it lost air supremacy, his fleet would be severely attacked by the Imperial Navy Air Force. He saw that the main fleet of the Imperial Navy had only 20 battleships, and he had 25 super-divine bow battleships, 10 god bow battleships, and 10 battlecruisers, which were overwhelmingly advantageous. Therefore, he was confident and decided to take the opportunity to destroy the opponent in one fell swoop.

The fleets of both sides walked opposite each other and kept getting closer.

At 3:05, the fleets of both sides were 20 kilometers apart. After three rounds of firepower volleys, a 16-inch shell fired by the battleship of the Imperial Navy, the battleship of the US Navy, hit the fore deck of the US Navy, the US Navy. The shells instantly penetrated through the horizontal armor belt with only 180 mm protection, and then exploded after a continuous three-layer steel plate. The violent explosion caused the horizontal deck of the battleship of the Nevada torn a twist-shaped gap of more than two meters wide, and fire and thick smoke gushed out.

Two minutes later, the third ship of the Imperial Navy, Emperor Xuande, made two of 12 shots, and the first shot hit the port waterline of the USS Michigan battleship. The shells instantly penetrated through only 280 mm of armor protection and continuously penetrated through the four decks before exploded. In an instant, the Michigan battleship had a fire of more than 100 meters horizontally. The explosion shock wave rolled out in black smoke, and then the sea water poured violently backwards. Due to the extremely destructive power of the 18-inch shell, all the watertight capsules of the Michigan battleship were destroyed. The USS Michigan was unable to close the horizontal watertight door, causing the sea water to pour in quickly. In less than two minutes, more than 3,000 tons of seawater were entered. The entire battleship was seriously tilted left and was about to sink.

Another shell hit the Minnesota cruiser next to the USS Michigan battleship. The shell penetrated through the horizontal deck on the port side, penetrated three horizontal decks in succession, and penetrated from the bottom near the starboard side. Since the shells of the Imperial Navy were equipped with delay fuses, the shell shot the Minnesota cruiser and exploded before it exploded. Although the shell exploded outside the hull, the explosion was astonishing. The entire battleship was instantly overturned, and the bottom was facing upside down on the sea, leaving only a huge oar spinning.

Just a few minutes after the decisive battle, the US military lost a battleship and a light cruiser, but no shell hit the warships of the Imperial Navy, which made Eberly very annoyed.

Due to the interference of the US radio communication, the US fleet was unable to transmit commands by radio, and could only rely on the most primitive flag and light signals. However, the main ships of both sides fought to the decisive battle, with a huge gun caliber and amazing explosion power. During the fierce battle, countless artillery shells on both sides fell into the sea, causing hundreds of meters of water columns and huge waves, and frequently blocking the flag and light signals, making a command often repeat multiple times before it could be transmitted from one warship to another. The US fleet was spread over the sea of ​​more than 200 square kilometers. It had been more than ten minutes since the order finally reached the farthest warship.

After several formation changes, Eberly did not dare to change the formation easily, for fear that frequent formation changes would lead to chaos in the fleet, which gave the Chinese Empire Navy an opportunity to take advantage of.

This did not happen in the Chinese Empire Navy. Through the fleet channel, the flagship's orders can be passed to the captains of each ship at any time. At the same time, the captains of each ship will promptly report the battle situation and damage to the ship to the flagship.

Seeing that the US fleet had not changed its formation for a long time, Li Dingxin asked: "What is Wang Jiancheng doing? Why haven't he attacked yet?"

Liu Guanxiong put down his telescope and said, "It should be soon! Look at the number of alert fighters above the enemy fleet is getting smaller and smaller, which means that Wang Jiancheng's plan to lure the tiger out of the mountain has worked."

Li Dingxin took a look and then said: "I just received a report from the peripheral submarine fleet that five aircraft carriers of the US Navy are on the way. Once they arrive, hundreds of fighter jets will join the battle. These five aircraft carriers pose a greater threat to our fleet than the US aircraft that took off from the land airport."

Li Dingxin was worried about the five US aircraft carriers heading north from Florida. Originally, these five aircraft carriers were heading to the Gulf of Mexico and were preparing to take off fighter jets from the Gulf of Mexico to attack the Sino-Mexico coalition forces, and relieve the pressure on the US military on the Western Front. However, the US military soon discovered that the fighter jets carried by these five aircraft carriers could not reach the hinterland of Mexico, and the Gulf of Mexico was full of submarines of the Chinese Empire, which made the US aircraft carriers dare not approach the Mexican coastline, and did not achieve any results. So at Eberle's request, the US Command assigned the five US aircraft carriers to Eberle's command.

Liu Guanxiong said: "Hasn't Luo Qidong sent a fleet to intercept it? The US aircraft carrier cannot take off the bomber. A fleet of light cruisers and two ASCHEU air defense cruisers and several submarines are enough to eliminate it. Even if it cannot be eliminated, at least they will not be allowed to participate in this decisive battle."

Li Dingxin said: "With that being said, I am always worried about something unexpected."

Lin Fan smiled and said, "You are too worried! We will not lose!"

Just as this was the sound of several shells approaching, Li Dingxin and others looked up and three 16-inch shells hit the flagship Zhu Yuanzhang battleship at the same time.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Three violent explosions sounded, and Li Dingxin and others in the commander's tower suddenly shook their bodies and fell to the ground without standing firmly. Although these three 16-inch shells failed to penetrate the abnormal armor protection of the Ming-class battleship, which was as high as 450 mm, the impact of the explosion was very fierce, like an earthquake, causing the entire battleship to tremble violently for five or six seconds before stopping.

“Report the situation?”

"Report! Two guns were shot on the port side, leaving two craters, and the armor protection was normal. The ship deck was penetrated by two layers, five people were killed, and the deck soldiers were extinguishing the fire."

Although the losses were slight, Li Dingxin and others became nervous. Reports that other warships had not been hit, the flagship was hit by three shells at the same time, which shows that the other party is concentrating firepower to attack the flagship of the joint fleet.

“The feelings are for us.”

That's right, it was for the flagship. After thinking for a long time, Eberly finally ordered the firepower of two teams of eight super battleships to concentrate on attacking Li Dingxin's flagship Zhu Yuanzhang battleship.

Three shells hit the battleship Zhu Yuanzhang, but failed to cause serious injuries, which made Eberly very upset. At the same time, he also understood that this super battleship was not so easy to injure.

At 3:15, the fleets of the two sides were about 18 kilometers apart. Although the number of US warships was large, the hit rate was very low, and only five shells hit the Chinese Empire Navy warship. Among them, the Tang-class battleship Li Shimin was the worst injured, and he was hit by a 17-inch shell. A large hole was torn on the stern deck, almost breaking through the ammunition depot armor under the No. 3 turret. Li Shimin survived, but the 17-inch shell had a huge destructive power. A large fire ignited at the stern. Captain Li Shimin had to mobilize a large number of people to put out the fire first. In this way, the three 381mm main guns of the No. 3 turret were temporarily extinguished, and only six main guns of the No. 1 and No. 2 continued to fight, but the firepower was significantly reduced.

The other four shells were all below 14 inches, hitting two Yuan-class battleships and one Song-class battleship, causing fatal damage.

On the other hand, the Chinese Empire Navy had superb artillery skills and advanced fire control systems. A total of 13 shells hit US warships. Among them, 11 shots hit the main battleships, causing heavy damage to six US battleships and fired in multiple places. The other two shells hit a light cruiser and a destroyer. The light cruiser sank within three minutes after being hit, and the destroyer was directly sank by a 17-inch shell from the Haishan battleship.

At 3:25, the fleets of the two sides were about 15 kilometers apart. At this time, Li Dingxin was hesitating whether to continue to approach, because he knew that the closer he got, the firepower of the US naval guns would become more and more accurate. The accuracy of the Chinese Empire Navy within 15 kilometers and 20 kilometers was much higher than that of the US military with its advanced fire control commander and radar technology. If it could not destroy the enemy's formation, it would be more cost-effective to hide outside and strike long-range.

Just as Li Dingxin was hesitating, Wang Jiancheng's report came from the telecommunications room.

"Reported, Wang Jiancheng called and the 13th Air Wing, which was responsible for the raid, will launch an attack on the enemy fleet in 5 minutes."

"Great! Finally, I'm waiting!"


Chapter completed!