What made Chen Yuanyang and the Haikou and Higashiyama fleets famous was the Takeku aircraft carrier fleet of which Koizumi Toshiichiro was the commander.
Koizumi Minichiro was still in Singapore at that time, so according to Yamamoto Isoroku's instructions, the Takeku aircraft carrier fleet departing from Sasebo Naval Port, led by deputy commander Narumi Inoue, would first go to Singapore to rendezvous with Koizumi Miichiro, and then pass through Malacca entered the Indian Ocean and directly attacked Karachi,
Speaking of the selection of commanders for the three squadrons of the Japanese Combined Fleet, there is a truth in it. Originally, Koizumi Miichiro's qualifications were not enough to serve as the commander of the Takeku aircraft carrier fleet. However, Yamamoto Isoroku was appointed by Koizumi Miichiro. Due to the influence of Nagumo Chuichi, generals who are specialized in torpedoes such as Nagumo Chuichi are extremely unfavorable. They believe that they cannot adapt to modern naval warfare where aircraft carriers are the main force, so they strongly reject Nagumo Chuichi as the commander of the squadron. However, Nagumo Chuichi is this category. The generals are the backbone of the Japanese Navy, and the Japanese Navy is a place that pays attention to qualifications. Yamamoto Isoroku valued Koizumi, but Koizumi not only lacked qualifications, but also had few achievements in the past, so in the end, the three squadron commanders became As a result of the internal compromise, the Yamamoto faction received two, while the seniority faction received one.
Letting Inoue Narumi serve as the deputy commander of the Takeku aircraft carrier fleet is also a product of compromise. This is because Koizumi himself is too unsatisfactory. The independent leader has almost never won a battle before. Even though the seniority faction made compromises in order to obtain a squadron commander, it is still Strongly questioning Koizumi's ability, Yamamoto himself was actually worried about whether Koizumi could take on this important task, so he promoted Inoue Narumi as deputy commander, thus settling the seniority faction.
Regardless of qualifications or ability, Inoue Narumi had no problem serving as the deputy commander of the Takehisa aircraft carrier fleet. However, things went wrong in his hands. Yamamoto made him serve as Koizumi's deputy out of safety considerations, but hoped to use him Koizumi's experience and stability allowed Koizumi to make fewer mistakes. However, Inoue Narumi did not think so. Koizumi Minichiro relied on a series of inventions and creations and almost single-handedly established a complete military industrial system in Southeast Asia. Although he has a great reputation in the country , but Inoue Narumi didn't buy it. Privately, he even questioned Yamamoto's appointment, thinking that it was nepotism: fighting a war is not about industrial construction, nor about invention and creation. Koizumi's success in Singapore has already It has been proven that he is a scientific and technological talent and a good player in politics. However, looking at his previous poor record, Yamamoto-kun appointed him as the commander of the Takeku aircraft carrier fleet. It was really, really hasty.
There are many confidants around Inoue. Since they can be called confidants, these people will naturally start from Inoue's standpoint and give him priority in everything. Someone suggested to him that why not establish certain merits before the decisive battle and then replace them? Someone came up with a specific plan and believed that the Yellow Sea route has always been a major problem for the mainland to quickly obtain supplies from Southeast Asia. The fleet has to take a detour if it takes the Philippines to Singapore. Why not take the Yellow Sea? The time saved can be used Attack the large and small military ports along the coast of the Xuebing Army...
Inoue was tempted. After reporting to Yamamoto, he did not wait for Yamamoto's instructions, turned around and sailed directly to Taiwan, and dispatched aviation troops to attack the Kaohsiung military port.
Inoue and his confidants took it for granted. In their opinion, the local naval power of the Xuebing Army, whether it was the Haikou Fleet or the Dongshan Fleet, because the maximum displacement of the ships under its jurisdiction was only around 10,000 tons, it was simply not enough to compete with the Takeku. The aircraft carrier fleet competed with the fact that the first strike seemed to confirm this. The Kaohsiung naval port belonging to the Dongshan Fleet could not withstand the sudden attack. First, there was a light frigate and nearly ten Swordfish and two more. The Ming-class submarines under maintenance were bombed by more than a hundred fighter planes and were all sunk. Then the docks and shore facilities of the Kaohsiung Naval Port were also severely damaged in this round of bombings. The Dongshan Fleet lost more than 200 lives as a result. casualties,
The success of the first attack naturally gave great encouragement to the Japanese naval officers and soldiers of the Takejiu aircraft carrier fleet. They continued their efforts and immediately launched an attack on Dongshan Military Port. Dongshan Military Port, also known as Dongshan Naval Base, was the first military base built by the Xuebing Army. The naval base naturally has extraordinary significance in the academy navy. Inoue Narumi knew this, so he paid more attention to this attack. In order to completely remove the Dongshan military base and hit the Dongshan fleet hard, he sent four aircraft carriers to participate This attack,
Four aircraft carriers, two battleship carriers, and two escort aircraft carriers carry more than 200 fighter planes in total, plus as many as 30 other warships. It is said that they are powerful enough for both air defense and sea defense. But as a result, the sky-blocking fighter group appeared over Dongshan, and the land-based aviation force of the Xuebing Army arrived. When the fighter planes of both sides were fighting in a melee, Chen Yuanyang had already ambushed as many as three soldiers. Ten Song-class and Ming-class submarines launched a counterattack against the Japanese warships. The anti-submarine capability of the Wujiu aircraft carrier fleet was actually not weak in the aircraft carrier group. However, who would have thought that Chen Yuanyang could predict the unknown and in just three years Within hours, an ambush was set up on their attack route in advance. Combined with the smooth air attack on Kaohsiung, the Japanese captains couldn't help but wonder if it was the bait that the Xuebing Army had set earlier.
No matter what the attacking Japanese captains thought, it was no longer helpful at this time. There were as many as thirty Song-class and Ming-class submarines, and more than five of them would launch torpedoes at the same area at every turn, even if the fleet's frigates, destroyers and even heavy cruisers One after another, they blocked the route of the submarine attacking the aircraft carrier, but it was still difficult to avoid the aircraft carrier being attacked.
The two sides fought fiercely for an hour and a half. As the escort fighter planes took off, the fleet gradually took control of the situation. The swordfish swarm of the Xuebing Army appeared. Chen Yuanyang was ruthless enough. The two fleets under the jurisdiction of Haikou and Dongshan More than two hundred Swordfish ships were all dispatched. Well, the most classic small-fish-eat-the-big-fish style naval battle in human naval history was born.
This naval battle, known as the "Dongshan Naval Battle" in history, ended with the Japanese army losing three aircraft carriers and nearly twenty other warships of various types, and the Xuebing Army losing seven submarines and thirty-five swordfish. Looking at the numbers alone, It seems that the Xuebing Army lost more ships, but in terms of tonnage, the Xuebing Army's losses were less than one-sixth that of the Japanese army. If casualties are also included (not even 800 Xuebing Army died in the battle) By then, the Japanese casualties exceeded 6,000), and the Xuebing Army was a complete victory.