Six hundred and twentieth chapters tiger tiger tiger tiger
However, as in history, the Japanese aircraft fleet did not bomb the naval docks and military oil depots at Pearl Harbor, because according to Yamaguchi's combat plan, the air defense forces of Oahu and even the entire Hawaiian Islands must first be destroyed, including aircraft on airports and aircraft carriers.
, and land
The anti-aircraft artillery on surface and warships, especially the large-caliber anti-aircraft artillery that can fire proximity fuse shells, while the small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery with a closer range can be fired first, because the airspace range they can control is relatively small, and
Enemy planes at high altitudes cannot reach them either.
Under such a request, just over a minute after the three aircraft carriers were attacked, the airport on Oahu and the air defense positions deployed with large-caliber anti-aircraft guns were also heavily attacked by Japanese bombers. The U.S. military, which was unable to respond, almost
Before any decent counterattack could be made, the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns at the airport and on the ground were all rendered useless by the enemy's fierce air attacks. At this time, other warships in the harbor except the aircraft carrier had also been attacked by the Japanese.
Since the bombers carried basically high-explosive bombs during the first wave of attacks, the Japanese bomber pilots wisely focused their attacks on thin-skinned warships below heavy cruisers. As for big guys like battleships, the Japanese bombers
Although some bombs were dropped, the purpose was only to destroy the threatening large-caliber anti-aircraft guns on the ships, rather than to sink these battleships, because high-explosive bombs would be difficult to cause fatal damage to battleships unless their yield was high enough.
destroy.
However, if the Japanese Marine Corps wants to land on Oahu, these giant ships must be sunk. Yamaguchi Tawen has been prepared for this, and the Japanese pocket submarine that has sneaked into the harbor at this time is shouldering such a heavy task.
Moreover, a considerable number of the bombers in the second wave of attacks also carried heavy armor-piercing aerial bombs...
The "California" battleship anchored at the outermost part of the entire battleship group was first attacked by a submarine torpedo. The "California" battleship's underwater defense and anti-sinkability were obviously inferior to the new ones that had been put into service by the great powers in recent years.
After the battleship was hit by three torpedoes on the side string, the battleship "California" sank quickly...
The slightly younger battleship USS West Virginia had better luck. It was only hit by one torpedo in this round of attacks. It was not fatal (a pocket submarine can only launch light torpedoes with a caliber of 450mm). However, because it was not in a combat state, it was watertight.
The cabin was not completely closed, resulting in seawater
The ships continued to pour in. As a result, the ship sank rapidly. Fortunately, the water depth at the mooring location was relatively shallow, and it finally ran aground in the harbor. Although it did not completely sink, the severely tilted hull and the few remaining personnel made the ship have a standard displacement of more than
The 30,000-ton giant ship completely lost its function...
The flagship of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and the oldest battleship "Pennsylvania", although it had the most personnel on duty, was unfortunately hit by four submarine torpedoes. It had just been hit by a 1.8-ton super-heavy high-explosive aerial bomb.
.The hull of the ship was already severely damaged, but as a result, the damage was added to the damage. After struggling to move for several hundred meters, it capsized and sank in the harbor...
The USS Arizona, the sister ship of the USS Pennsylvania, was the luckiest ship. Due to its location, it was not hit by a single torpedo during the attack by the Japanese mini-submarine. But the good luck did not last long, and they hurriedly boarded the ship.
The American officers and soldiers finally launched the warship, and the second wave of attack aircraft sent by the Japanese army had already flown over it...
An 800-kilogram armor-piercing aerial bomb dropped by a Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters (Note 1) hit the front deck of the USS Arizona without any bias, first detonating the black seaplane catapult.
Gunpowder magazine, which leads to
The smokeless powder magazine of the main turret exploded. The Arizona's bridge collapsed after the explosion, and a huge hole was blown out in the front of the hull, causing the entire hull to sink. 1,177 officers and soldiers were killed, including Captain Van Waal.
Colonel Kenberg...
At this point, all four American battleships in Pearl Harbor were destroyed. Fortunately, not long ago, a large number of American battleships were transferred to the east coast to prepare for the war against Germany. There was also one battleship that happened to be not in the harbor at this time, so the number of anchored in the harbor was higher than in history.
The eight battleships were much less, otherwise the losses would have been staggering. For the Americans, this can be called a blessing in misfortune, and if the Japanese knew about the Pearl Harbor incident in history, they might laugh at themselves with joy rather than worry.
There are gains and there are losses”?
In addition to 7 battleships, the two Japanese attack waves also successively sunk 12 other battleships (including those that ran aground like the USS West Virginia) below heavy cruisers (excluding small boats with a full load displacement of less than 1,000 tons).
11 non-combat ships were sunk and forced to land, while those on Oahu
All the airports had long been bombed to the point where no more aircraft could take off and land, and the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns on the ground had all been silenced. By this time, the air defense capabilities on Oahu had been almost completely lost, and the airports on other Hawaiian islands had also lost their ability.
Was raided by Japanese aircraft...
"Not a single U.S. aircraft was able to take off, and the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns had no effect, and more than a hundred aircraft were lost. Low-altitude bombing can certainly avoid radar detection, and the accuracy is also very high.
However, the threat from small-caliber anti-aircraft guns and even anti-aircraft machine guns has also increased a lot.
...." Yamaguchi Takan muttered to himself after reading the preliminary battle report. Fortunately, although the losses were huge, the most important goal was achieved, which was to clear the air defense forces in and around Oahu.
So that the fleet can calmly deal with the strong fortress group on Oahu...
Although Hawaii has not yet been officially incorporated into the territory of the United States, it has been the main base of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet for a long time. As the main island, Oahu has built a large number of solid fortresses early on, with the same 406mm model as the battleship.
Fortress cannon (13 turrets, 2 in each turret, 2 in total)
6 giant cannons.) are extremely powerful. If they don't get rid of them and start landing, it will be tantamount to letting the Marine Corps officers and soldiers die collectively. But the Americans naturally also know the value of these giant cannons and specially designed and built them.
It built an extremely strong fortress and protected it tightly, consisting of a 6.1-meter-thick layer of earth and stone, and a 2.4-meter-thick layer of earth and stone.
The super-strong protection superimposed by 4 meters (the baffle above the shelling port is 3.66 meters thick) and 305 mm thick steel plates (embedded in the reinforced concrete layer) (ps: this is the weakest defense among the forts)
One of them, the protection of the Oahu fortress group far exceeded the requirements during World War II.
The Japanese army also miscalculated once. Yamaguchi Dawen was cautious enough and only made some estimates based on the Maginot Line data provided by the German army.) Even the most powerful battleship main gun in the world can't do anything.
No, unless you are lucky enough to be able to hit it through the fortress's artillery opening...
Note 1: Since the first wave of attacks had severely damaged U.S. military aircraft and large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, the second wave of attacks no longer used ultra-low-altitude penetration tactics, but switched to high-altitude bombing. On the one hand, it was to avoid small-scale attacks by the U.S. military.
On the other hand, the caliber close-range artillery can only exert the destructive power of armor-piercing aerial bombs on high-protection targets only if the bombing height is sufficient. (To be continued...)