In terms of size and attack power, compared to aircraft carriers, torpedo speedboats, missile speedboats and heavy cruisers are simply the difference between mice and elephants. However, just like elephants are in danger of death once a mouse gets into their trunk. , whether it is an aircraft carrier or a heavy cruiser, once it is approached by a torpedo boat or a missile boat, the result is destined to be a tragedy.
The missile launched by the assault fleet did not cause much damage to the US ship, but for the officers and soldiers of the US aircraft carrier formation headed by Li Mei, it was like guarding a pile of gasoline barrels to guard against any flames but suddenly found that they did not know. It was like there was a time bomb on the gasoline barrel. This sudden blow filled them with despair.
"Chinese raiding fleet."
"God, how could I forget this?"
"General, what should we do now?"
What could Li Mei do? If it was daytime, if there was no raid by China's long-range bomber fleet, if... Li Mei suddenly regretted it now, because it was not that they had no chance to deal with China's raid fleet before, and they discovered the Chinese torpedo speedboat during the day At that time, he could actually send a certain size of fighter planes to patrol the surrounding waters. In that case, it would take up to two hours, and he believed that he would be able to completely annihilate this Chinese fleet composed entirely of small ships.
Taking a deep breath, closing his eyes and thinking for about five minutes, Li Mei gave the order, ordering all destroyers and cruisers to immediately turn to the rear, and at the same time, all aircraft carriers accelerated forward.
Even though Li Mei was in the army aviation before and was not good at naval warfare, he had already seen clearly the Chinese plan. The Chinese were both long-range bombers and raiding fleets, including the night attacks launched by the Chinese against the Japanese fleet. They are all targeting aircraft carriers. Why did the Chinese do this? Li Mei believes that there are two reasons. On the one hand, the Chinese have realized that they are no match for the combined U.S. and Japanese fleets; on the other hand, the Chinese have not defeated Japan or Japan in one battle. The certainty of the United States single fleet.
"The purpose of the Chinese doing this is to weaken our air power so that they can be invincible in future confrontations. Just imagine, once we and the Japanese lose their air power, then the next step is for us to have a fleet We have a numerical advantage, but we can still attack or defend. The Chinese only need to continue to launch air attacks on us. In other words, no matter how much advantage we have in the number of ships, once the air power is contained, Then we will be in a position of being passively attacked, so what we have to do now is to preserve our aircraft carriers as much as possible. Only in this way can we deter the Chinese fleet and prevent them from provoking a decisive battle prematurely."
The above words were spoken by Li Mei to several heavy patrol captains a little later.
At that time, behind the Hornet aircraft carrier, more than ten American destroyers and cruisers that were ordered to block the Chinese raid fleet had lost their combat effectiveness, and five of them were in a semi-sunken state. This made those heavy cruisers The captains had the idea that Li Mei would use them to top the tank, and they couldn't help but began to question Li Mei's orders.
Compared with the horizontal bombardment of the aerial fortress cluster, the precise strike of the raiding fleet is more threatening.
After all, as professional ship killers, torpedoes and ship missiles have fixed-point lethality, especially armor-breaking capabilities, far beyond that of aerial bombs. However, because they were surrounded by the raiding fleet, the American destroyers and cruisers could not even maneuver. It cannot be used, and as a result, the raiding fleet has become a nightmare in the eyes of the Americans.
Our aircraft carriers have suffered great damage in previous bombings and have basically lost their combat capabilities. In this case, let them withstand the attack of the Chinese raid fleet and use their bodies to protect the destroyers and destroyers that still retain intact combat capabilities. Cruisers were the best option, but Li Mei did the opposite. Considering that he was from an army aviation background and might not be very good at naval warfare, American captains certainly had the right to question his decision.
There was a conflict at the command level of the U.S. aircraft carrier formation. Huang Tianxun and Zhang Xiaolin did not know about this, and they had no time to study the issue.
The American captains did not know that at this time, China's two top commanders were feeling a little headache or even angry because they could not reach the American aircraft carrier.
"The enemy commander is good." This is Zhang Xiaolin's evaluation to Li Mei. As the only air fortress stranded above the battlefield, his current role is more like the eyes of the raiding fleet, personally seeing the changes in the US fleet's formation. Witnessing Li Mei pulling the aircraft carrier that had almost turned into a fire ship from the front to behind the frigate group to protect it, but the raiding fleet could only watch helplessly, Zhang Xiaolin had to admire Li Mei's method.
After all, ship-to-ship missiles are still in their infancy at this time, and the mass of ship-to-ship missiles carried by missile speedboats cannot be too large. Therefore, if you want to sink enemy ships at this time, you can only rely on torpedoes and heavy aerial bombs to accurately A blow to the meter.
The combat mission of the Sky Fortress Cluster has been completed. Although the result is not satisfactory, it is acceptable, so Zhang Xiaolin can still maintain a good mentality. Compared with him, because he could not sink even a US aircraft carrier as scheduled, Huang Tianxun was a little bit jealous of Li Mei. Gritting my teeth.
At the beginning, he thought about bypassing the destroyer and cruiser groups and attacking the aircraft carrier, but the result was counterproductive. Although the torpedo speedboat had the speed advantage, its shortcomings were also obvious. The skin was too thin. Well, the range of attacking the aircraft carrier was still limited. Unable to get it, five ships were sunk by US naval gunfire. Seeing that the entire detour team might be wiped out if they continued, Huang Tianxun had no choice but to admit defeat, pinching his nose and asking them to give up the detour and continue to attack the frontal target.
The battle lasted for nearly three hours and ended with the Chinese raiding fleet voluntarily withdrawing from the battlefield. At this time, there were not many American warships left intact.
This naval battle, later known as the "Sino-American North Pacific Encounter", was regarded by many as it was the first time in human history that long-range bomber units were dispatched to conduct ultra-long-distance operations, and it broke the naval battle law of "displacement = combat power". The country's naval academies include it in the textbooks and teach it as classic battle examples.
This night was destined to be sleepless for the Americans and Japanese, because it not only changed the balance of power between China, the United States, and Japan in the Pacific, but more importantly, after this night, the U.S.-Japanese combined fleet had lost the initiative. The ability to attack, in other words, just after this night, the Chinese Pacific Fleet began to take the initiative in the Pacific War. They are not far away from completely seizing control of the North Pacific, and this will inevitably affect the Pacific region. The war situation on land.
To put it simply, China is one step closer to its complete rise.