Saipan is about 21 kilometers long from north to south and 7 to 12 kilometers wide from east to west. It is the largest island in the Northern Mariana. It was originally a German colony in the Pacific and was captured by Japan during World War I. However, due to the influence of Japan, the United States, Britain and France,
There was an agreement among the four countries that neither Japan nor the United States would build fortresses or military bases in the Western Pacific, so the island's defense was very weak.
Tarabeg Port is located in the northwest of Saipan Island. It is a semi-enclosed natural lagoon surrounded by coral reefs. Its port capacity can accommodate more than 100 ships.
Wei Zihao stood in front of the chart and thought for a while, and decided to order the fleet to launch an attack on Saipan Port. After all, there was no complete fort fortification on this island. At most, there were a few army artillery. However, even the Japanese Army's largest caliber 150mm
Millimeter heavy artillery is unlikely to cause much damage to our three warships. Even the weakest armored cruiser "Nanchang" among our three warships can withstand the attack of a 155mm naval gun fired from 3,000 meters away, let alone
It is said that the armor-piercing ability of the army artillery is much weaker.
What makes me a little worried is that it is said that the Japanese are building a small airport on the island. I wonder if there are any Japanese aircraft stationed on the island.
After making up his mind, Wei Zihao ordered the fleet to turn backwards, with the "Wuchang" leading the way, the "Nanchang" in the middle, and the largest "Li Jing" at the end. The fleet lined up in a column and turned around again to the race.
The fleet is advancing at a cruising speed of 18 knots in the direction of Pan Island. The fleet is now about 110 nautical miles away from Saipan. The fleet will try its best to get to Saipan around 5 pm, and then launch an attack on the port at dusk.
At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the fleet was about 40 nautical miles away from Saipan Island. It started to rain lightly in the sky. The wind and waves on the sea were about level 4. The visibility was very low, and the ships could only communicate with each other using signal lights.
At 4:37 pm, the fleet arrived outside Tarabeg Port. It was raining moderately in Saipan Port, and the sea was almost like night. Wei Zihao issued a combat order, and the "Wuchang" took the lead and rushed into the port.
The "Wuchang" approached the entrance of the port and was about to turn when a Japanese torpedo boat rushed out from behind Cape Canaveral with its headlights on. The captain of the "Wuchang" Wu Ziang was startled and immediately ordered the warship to approach
Turn right.
Japanese torpedo boats carried out routine cruises in the wind and rain. If they had known that the Republican warships would rush into the harbor and hid behind Cape Canavera and waited for the opportunity, they would have inflicted heavy damage on the Chinese warships.
The "Wuchang" escaped by luck.
However, the "Wuchang" was still in a hurry. Its main and secondary guns were aimed at the port. No one expected that a Japanese torpedo boat suddenly appeared under their noses. The larger artillery could not turn back at all, and this 50-meter torpedo boat
The torpedo boat weighing approximately 1,000 tons got right into the blind spot of the "Wuchang" artillery.
The Japanese on the torpedo boat were also startled at first. Suddenly, a dark gray shadow like a hill appeared in front of their eyes. After they reacted, they tried hard to turn the bow back. After they sailed out of Cape Canaveral, they happened to
It is the side and rear facing the "Wuchang".
It was the twin-mounted 25mm anti-aircraft machine guns on the "Wuchang" that fired first. The bullets hit the Japanese boat and emitted sparks, but failed to cause any serious damage. The Japanese were trying hard to turn the bow of the ship in an attempt to attack the "Wuchang".
"Launch torpedoes."
Seeing that the situation was critical, the "Wuchang" simply turned on several searchlights on the ship, in the hope that the lights would interfere with the Japanese's sight and actions, and also hoped that the "Nanchang" behind it could provide fire support.
The "Nanchang", which was less than 5 chains behind the "Wuchang", discovered the dangerous situation faced by the "Wuchang" under the light of the lights. Song Shijie decisively lowered all the secondary guns on the side of the "Nanchang" and risked the anti-aircraft guns.
There was no risk of damaging the "Wuchang", so they all fired at the Japanese torpedo boat. After all, these artillery pieces of their own could only cause some skin injuries to the "Wuchang", but if the Japanese torpedo boat fired the two torpedoes on the boat, it would be impossible.
The good "Wuchang" will be handed over here today.
Suddenly artillery fire broke out on the sea. A 105mm shell fired from the "Nanchang" directly tore the Japanese torpedo boat into pieces. After a huge fire, nothing could be seen on the sea.
The frightened "Wuchang" fired several illumination bombs into the harbor. Sure enough, it saw dozens of gray figures parked on the sea. Only some outlines could be seen in the rain. The "Wuchang" and "Nanchang" would
The eight torpedoes in the side torpedo launchers were fired randomly into the harbor, and no one knew where they could hit. The main and secondary guns of the two ships were fired into the harbor, but there was no target. They were just bombarding aimlessly and randomly.
Three torpedoes hit the target, and fire ignited in the harbor, which indicated the direction for the "Li Jing" outside the harbor. Soon, the main and secondary guns of this heavy cruiser also began to bombard the harbor aimlessly.
At this time, there were 28 Japanese cargo ships moored in Taraberg Port, four of which were oil tankers coming from the Southeast Asia. Since it was raining moderately, the artillery shells fired from the Republican Navy warships had almost no target, but they could not cope with the large number.
"Wuchang" and "Nanchang" have a total of 24 152mm main guns, 28 105mm secondary guns and 24 75mm anti-aircraft guns. The "Li Jing" outside the port has 10 254mm main guns and 8 152mm main guns.
mm secondary guns, 12 105mm high-level and flat dual-purpose guns, 16 75mm anti-aircraft guns, a total of more than 100 artillery pieces bombarding the harbor indiscriminately.
"Report, intercepted wireless telegram sent by Japanese troops on the island!" Wei Zihao and Chang Lin were standing on the platform outside the command tower watching the effects of the fleet's bombardment into the harbor, when the fleet communications staff officer informed him of the latest situation. Dealing with it
Merchant ships did not need armor-piercing bombs. During the nearly hour-long bombardment, the attack fleet fired a total of more than 5,000 high-explosive bombs into the harbor. Although the hit rate was extremely low due to visibility problems, it was enough to cause serious losses to the Japanese.
"This is expected." Wei Zihao glanced at the telegram and handed it to Chang Lin beside him.
"We have caused such a stir here that all merchant shipping on this route will be interrupted tomorrow." Chang Lin said: "Are we returning from the Sulawesi Sea as planned?"
"No, let's take the shortcut home!" Wei Zihao said. Preserve yourself and destroy the enemy. This is the general combat principle of the Republican Army. Preserving yourself should even take precedence over destroying the enemy.
The scattered Japanese army artillery counterattacks on the island were quickly annihilated by the naval gun counterattacks.
After an hour of fierce bombardment, Wei Zihao ordered the fleet to withdraw from the battle. This time he did not take the same route as when he came, but chose to prepare to cross the Bash Strait and return to the base in a straight line.
He knew very well that the angry Japanese would definitely use all their strength to pursue and intercept him. The road would be long and the journey home would be full of hardships and dangers.
Tokyo, the Imperial Navy, it is destined that none of the decision-makers of the Imperial Navy can live in peace that night.
In one attack on Saipan Port alone, 9 Japanese merchant ships were sunk, 12 ships were severely damaged and stranded in the port. All port facilities in Tarabeg Port were severely damaged, and the entire harbor was in a mess.
When the Naval Command sent a commendation telegram to Wei Zihao's fleet, the Japanese Navy also received the exact news that Saipan Port and the South Pacific route were attacked by the Republic Navy fleet.