Chapter two hundred and sixteen the sinking of the Kagu
Yamabekawa Sankana's aviation unit originally performed two tasks: after attacking the artillery of the Kanmei defenders, it would escort the landing fleet, help them destroy Fuzhou's coastal defense fortifications, and target the cadet army and air force, and jointly The Fleet Air Force uses human sea tactics and attrition tactics to defeat the Cadet Air Force, which has superior technical and tactical capabilities. The effect is good. The training and growth cycle of pilots is long, resulting in a shortage of pilot reserves for the Cadet Air Force. This is more than The two sides fought frequently this week, and the fighter jets of each aircraft carrier fleet of the Combined Fleet almost rotated once. Although the losses were very heavy, they also shot down dozens of Xuebing Army fighter jets. The most important thing is that the Xuebing Army fighter pilots were not able to With enough time to rest, the fighter planes cannot perform routine maintenance. Even if Tielin Fei wants to launch a long-distance attack, he needs to mobilize fighter planes and pilots from Baiyun Mountain Airport.
The Fuding air battle was definitely an accident, but the occurrence of this accident completely changed the direction of the war in southern Fujian and southwestern Zhejiang. Not to mention the southern front troops of the South China Front, not to mention the failure of the offensive, they are still facing the risk of being encircled and annihilated, and Gu The strategy of a two-sided attack by land, sea and air, led by Hisao, also failed when the landing fleet withdrew from the coast of Fuzhou.
The main force of the landing fleet is the battleship "Ise" and the heavy cruisers "Kakoko" and "Nachi". These three ships were arranged by Yamamoto Isoroku into the landing fleet. They were originally intended to destroy the Fuzhou coastal defense fortifications, but now , but became Qi Minghao’s priority target.
A total of thirty-four Swordfish successfully broke through the sea area blocked by the Japanese heavy artillery. After entering the three-kilometer range, the Japanese heavy artillery lost its effectiveness and could only be bombarded with close-in defense artillery. At this time, their threat to the Swordfish was small. much more,
The combat characteristics of torpedoes determine that the cadets will give priority to warships with larger targets for attack, and the battleship "Ise", the heavy cruisers "Kakoko" and "Nachi", as well as three large merchant ships converted into The troop transport ship naturally became the target of the first round of strikes.
The Swordfish troops launched an attack in squadron units. Qi Minghao personally commanded a squadron and first targeted the "Jiagu" heavy cruiser. The three ships were 001, which Qi Minghao personally commanded, 002, which was captained by Chen Zhonghe, and then the The numbers of the 003 and Swordfish ships of which Ding Maogen was the captain were accumulated according to the launch time. These three ships were the first three Swordfish to be launched. Among them, 002 and 003 were launched on the same day, and they lived up to expectations. , all passed through the sea blockade blocked by Japanese heavy artillery,
The three speedboats ignored the sniper fire from the two frigates on the right wing and plunged straight into the ocean between the "Kakko" and the frigate. The Swordfish's speed was too fast. The captain of the frigate closest to the "Kakko" saw that something was wrong. , immediately turned their course in an attempt to block their advance route, but were a step too late. They could only watch helplessly as the three ships appeared on the left wing of the "Kakko" dragging bright water lines, and then turned around one after another, and the bows of the ships They all aimed at the "Jiagu",
The "Kakoko" heavy cruiser is the second ship of the Furutaka-class heavy cruiser. After later modifications, its current displacement has reached more than 8,000 tons. Compared with the Swordfish, which is less than 100 tons, it is definitely a behemoth. However, , just like a lion is defeated by a pack of wolves. At this time, the "Jiagu" faced the attack of three swordfish, just like a lone lion trapped in a pack of wolves, with no sharp claws and teeth, but it was helpless to defeat the three wolves.
"Go all to the port side, use the anti-aircraft guns and machine guns." Facing the three swordfish that were getting closer and closer, with their claws already exposed, the captain of the "Kakko" Suzuki Taiho Osaka became frightened. He walked out of the captain's room and grabbed the railing. shouted down,
The "Jiagu" was in complete chaos. The Japanese soldiers did not have the insight of the superiors. They did not take the attack of the swordfish group seriously at first. Also, the total tonnage of the incoming enemy ships was not as good as that of the "Jiagu". No. 1 ship. This is not on the same level at all.
However, when they saw the torpedo launcher nozzles of the three Swordfish beginning to tilt towards the sea and getting closer and closer, they finally realized that this small boat with fangs could also kill the big guy under them, and immediately panicked,
"Click, click, click..." The sound of machine guns rang out. The "Jiagu" was equipped with eight fixed-base machine guns with a caliber of 25 mm. Among them, three were able to be used for defense on the left wing. The three machine guns fired wildly, and some bullets hit the target. , the students on the Swordfish immediately suffered casualties,
001 was also shot by a Japanese machine gun. A bullet hit the hull of the boat, making a loud "dang" sound. Qi Minghao grabbed the armrest in front of him with his left hand and held the microphone in his right hand. He was fearless and fearless. The torpedo attack got closer and closer. The better the effect, the "Pebble" heavy-duty torpedo equipped on the Swordfish Expedition this time has a maximum range of more than four thousand meters, but considering that the speed is only about 14 meters per second, Qi Minghao wants to get closer and strike again, one thousand meters away. , eight hundred meters, five hundred meters, three hundred meters, "Boom." There was an explosion behind the boat, and a huge wave rose into the sky, almost throwing 001 up. This is a frigate three or four kilometers away from here. Aware of the danger the Kako was facing, he fired the gun at the risk of accidentally shooting the Kako.
At this moment, Qi Minghao, who was already sweating on his forehead, finally shouted with all his strength: "Launch."
"Bang." The almost negligible sound of torpedo launching sounded in the reverberation of the explosion. 001, 002, 003 launched two torpedoes almost at the same time.
Six torpedoes were launched into the water, the electric motors roared, water splashed behind the torpedoes, and then formed two bright traces and rushed towards the "Kakko".
The distance was less than 300 meters, and at the "Pebble"'s speed of about 14 meters per second, it only took 21 seconds to complete the run. The six torpedoes almost completely locked onto the huge hull of the "Kakko".
"Eight grids." A Japanese monster shouted, lowered the machine gun, and fired desperately at the torpedoes coming towards him.
Suzuki Taibo was sweating profusely. He ran back and shouted into the microphone: "Full right rudder, fast, fast."
Suzuki Taibo's critical decision was right. If he wanted the Kako to compete with the Pebbles in speed, he would be hit by at least four torpedoes. If he turned the course to the left, he might be able to dodge four torpedoes. , Moreover, even if it is shot, it will be shot at the stern, which can avoid the boiler room or ammunition depot from being hit.
The decision is right, but it does not mean that it will be effective, because before the turn, the "Jiagu" was traveling at high speed.
All six torpedoes were successfully activated and rushed towards the enemy ship. Qi Minghao finally breathed a sigh of relief. He ordered: "Turn right and rush over." Six torpedoes were fired in a salvo, and he was not worried about whether the enemy ship would avoid it. , what he is thinking about now is how to continue his efforts and try to sink another big ship. You know, they still have six torpedoes on hand.