Nagumo Chuichi considered that "the performance of our fighter planes is not as good as that of the Chinese. If the HNA troops want to block the Chinese attack, they can only adopt special attack tactics. This means that the existence of the aircraft carrier actually has no decisive effect on the battle situation." ", so he categorically ordered Kinoshita Kagito to move the last reserve force to the right wing, and he soon tasted the consequences of doing so.
Xu Mengyong's command plane was equipped with a small air police radar system. Although the warning radius of this system was only about 35 kilometers, it was enough to allow him to take the initiative in air combat. The cluster of Japanese aircraft that appeared above the radar screen suddenly shrank. When he returned, he didn't know that these Japanese fighter planes had gone to carry out other orders, but the blank space in the upper half of the radar screen made him understand that the opportunity for his unit to make a contribution had arrived. Xu Mengyong played a trick when he led his team to attack. Wang Hai ordered him to attack the Japanese battleships, but he first aimed his attack at the aircraft carrier cluster in the middle of the Japanese battleship array. His original plan was that once a Japanese aircraft maneuvered to intercept, he would pretend to retreat and attack the Japanese left wing in the name of retreat. The battleships launched a sudden attack. Now, there are no Japanese aircraft to intercept them. In other words, the only thing that the Japanese army can pose a threat to them now is anti-aircraft artillery. Affected by the theory of aircraft carrier victory, the Japanese Navy attaches great importance to the self-prepared air defense force of the ships. However, just as the spear always takes the initiative in the contest between spears and shields, in the contest between air defense forces and fighter planes, fighters with high maneuverability will naturally have the upper hand. You must know that at this time, there is no high-defense force like in later generations. guidance performance of anti-aircraft missiles,
Nagumo Tadashi had made the worst-case scenario of sacrificing several aircraft carriers, but at the same time, he hoped to minimize the losses, so after giving the order to Kinoshita Kagiaki, he ordered the escort ships of each aircraft carrier to attack the aircraft carriers they were escorting. The aircraft carrier moved closer to provide anti-aircraft fire support. Chuichi Nagumo did this, which was indeed the right choice. However, Xu Mengyong's attack target was not the aircraft carrier group, but the battleship group in front of the aircraft carrier group. If it helps Xu Mengyong's students and helps them reduce the density of air defense firepower in the sea area where the battleship is located,
If the disappearance of the group of intercepted enemy aircraft made Xu Mengyong see an opportunity to attack and establish a career, Nanyun Zhongyi's move would help him reduce his psychological burden and allow him to organize the offensive more unscrupulously. In the command channel, he shouted loudly : "Brothers, speed up and turn, target, battleship, attack." Later, he shouted: "The tiger shark goes first, the Chinese sturgeon follows, the tiger shark pays attention to bombing the Japanese ship's main gun, and the Chinese sturgeon pays attention to the angle of attack."
Thirty-six fighter planes drew a beautiful arc in the air and rushed straight towards the sea area where the Japanese First Battleship Squadron was. Seeing this scene, Nagumo Tadashi's expression changed drastically, and he shouted that he had been fooled, and at the same time ordered Kinoshita Keygi. Qu, ordered him to organize fighter planes to intercept at all costs, and must stop the Chinese.
Just when Xu Mengyong's men were turning around collectively, the flagship Hyuga of the First Battleship Squadron where Takasu Shiro was located had just severely damaged a heavy cruiser of the Pacific Fleet. The heavy cruiser was hit twice by the Hyuga's main gun, and the ship Not only was the main gun on board destroyed, it also caused a fatal explosion. In the violent explosion, the heavy cruiser was covered in fire and thick smoke. Seeing that even if it did not sink, it had lost its combat capability. This scene firmly convinced Nagumo Zhongyi's determination to carry out the "giant ship and artillery tactics" to the end also made him cherish the five battleships even more. At this time, Xu Mengyong aimed his attack at the first battleship fleet. If his counterattack was lifted, it would naturally cause his strong reaction,
However, since almost all of Kinoshita Kagi's fighter planes, except for the reserve group that took off last, are fighting to the death with the cadet army, or are looking for aircraft carriers to land due to running out of ammunition and fuel, he can actually use them. It was just the reserve force, but this caused the Japanese aviation force in the reserve force to be at a loss as to what to do.
Also, in just ten minutes, Nagumo Chuichi changed his orders three times. Not to mention the Air Force, which had trouble accepting ground orders, even the ground forces would definitely suffer from command problems due to too many changes of orders. Therefore, although Kinoshita Keygi carried out Nagumo's order very thoroughly, the re-turn of the reserve force was not achieved for a long time, and even caused sequence confusion, which instead affected the support for the left wing second battleship flotilla. ,
The Yamato aircraft carrier fleet has five battleships, namely Mutsu, Hyuga, Fuso, Kongo, and Kirishima. Among them, the First Battleship Fleet has three battleships, Hyuga, Kongo, and Kirishima. Among them, the Hyuga is of the Ise class, and the Kongo and Kirishima are both of the Kongo class. The three Japanese ships all have main guns with a caliber of 356 mm, and all have eight guns. Among them, the Hyuga has eight main guns. The guns of the two battleships are all forward-mounted, while the latter two battleships have four in the front and four in the rear. In other words, as long as they are commanded properly, these three battleships can fire sixteen 356-mm artillery shells at the same target area at the same time. This is No wonder that at a distance of thirty-five kilometers, the Hyuga's main gun fired only two salvos and severely damaged a heavy cruiser of the Pacific Fleet; no wonder Nagumo Chuichi had high hopes for them. Three ships The main gun of a battleship is sufficiently deterrent, and its anti-aircraft firepower is also not weak. Take the Hinata as an example. After the ship was refitted, the original 20 mm caliber anti-aircraft guns were increased to thirty, and sixteen twin guns were also added. It is equipped with an 88mm caliber anti-aircraft gun and four square-arranged short-range air defense platforms. The air defense platform originated from the idea of Koizumi Miichiro. Each platform is equipped with four twin-mounted 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns. , not only can be used for short-range air defense, but also has the ability to attack non-submarine-launched attack torpedoes.
In addition to the three battleships, the First Battleship Squadron also has three heavy cruisers and six destroyers. The anti-aircraft weapons on these battleships are activated at the same time. You can imagine the tightness of the anti-aircraft firepower network they weave.
To deal with this kind of warships that are armed to the teeth, the best weapon is actually the air fortress. The horizontal coverage bombing of the air fortress is not enough to sink these warships, but it is not a problem to destroy the buildings on the ship, and the anti-aircraft weapons of these warships Once the platform is destroyed, it will only be a matter of time before it is sunk by a tiger without teeth.
Takasu Shiro's attention was originally focused on the military aircraft carrier in the distance. At this time, he heard the shrill air defense siren and had to turn to the southeast sky. He picked up his telescope and saw clearly the number and number of incoming enemy planes. He frowned and said dissatisfiedly: "Ba Ge, what did Kinoshita do? How could he let that man's fighter plane attack us from behind?" He said this, but he was not panicked in his heart. There was only one incoming enemy plane. The brigade seemed to be quite large, but he was confident that with the air defense force of his unit, it would not be a problem to carry it through. "Let the Chinese aircraft carriers exist for a while longer." He said confidently, and then ordered all ships to enter air defense mode. , first drive away the China flies in the sky,