At about 7 o'clock in the morning on the 9th, the Tianshu squadron sailed 40 nautical miles east of the Fujian coast, still about 60 nautical miles away from Taipei. According to the established route, the voyage south along the coast has now been completed, and it is time to turn to the southeast.
Deep into the East China Sea.
Just after the fleet commander issued the order to turn the fleet, the lookout hand of a destroyer in front of the fleet found a thin white mark 3,000 meters ahead of the port side. After a closer look, it was judged to be a periscope.
This is definitely not a Ming army submarine. The Ming army submarine should have surfaced long ago and would not spy on the friendly fleet at such a close distance. Moreover, the opponent is in a horizontal position, and the Ming army fleet is in a position with the highest torpedo hit rate.
The destroyer's bridge horn screamed twice, turned its front main gun, and fired a "dang" shot. A water column exploded on the sea in the distance, and then the periscope was retracted.
The Ming army destroyer sent an alarm to the flagship, and at the same time, it accelerated suddenly. White waves rolled up at the stern of the ship. The ship turned sideways and rushed toward the submarine, spewing black smoke. The high-speed boiler roared and cut through the waves, like a locomotive.
Immediately afterwards, the three aircraft carriers of the Ming Army turned collectively, all pointing their sterns in the direction of the submarine, to minimize the area that might be hit by torpedoes. The three aircraft carriers, escorted by six destroyers, accelerated to "escape" northwestward.
And they quickly distanced themselves from each other. The other two destroyers also rushed over at high speed, and the three destroyers opened their posture and searched the sea menacingly.
The sailor at the stern of the ship turned the handle, and the depth charges, which were like large oil drums, rolled from the shelf into the sea, and were left behind by the high-speed destroyer. Soon, the seawater behind the destroyer rose into white "hills", and then
In an instant, these hills exploded like volcanoes, and the snow-white seawater rushed tens of meters into the sky with foam, and then fell like an avalanche, with a loud noise that shook the sea.
Depth charges rolled down into the sea one after another, sank, and exploded. The entire sea surface was turned upside down for a moment, as if the sky was falling apart.
After the three aircraft carriers and six destroyers drove northeast for several nautical miles at high speed, they collectively turned due south again, formed a large circle outside the "hunting ground" for hunting submarines, circled back, continued to maintain high speed, and headed southeast first.
step.
The remaining three destroyers remained unyielding. Their acoustic detectors kept detecting the submarine's position, and then dropped depth charges one after another. The sea surface also kept "avalanche".
The purpose of doing this is to sink the enemy submarine. Even if it cannot be exploded, it can force the enemy submarine to hide deep in the water. Just to save its life, it will give our main fleet time to leave this dangerous sea area. When the main fleet is far away,
The submarine could no longer catch up, and the remaining destroyers turned around to catch up.
After bombing like this for about an hour, there is still no large oil slick or debris floating up on the sea surface. This means that the Japanese submarine has either escaped or is hiding very well. It is now far enough away from the main fleet, and it is time to
Went to rendezvous.
The three destroyers then stopped bombing, turned around, and took up high speed to catch up with the main fleet. As for the Japanese submarine, it was a lucky escape this time.
…
If the Japanese submarine is not sunk, then it will float up soon and raise its antenna to report the position of the Ming army's aircraft carrier fleet. Now the destroyer is holding its head down and bombing it for an hour, which is equivalent to gaining an hour for the fleet. The main fleet
It is another 25 nautical miles closer to the target sea area.
There are now Japanese cruisers patrolling almost every wide strait in the Japan-Ryukyu island chain. The Japanese Navy has a battleship parked at the Naha base in Okinawa, the Hiei. The Hiei
It is a King Kong-class battleship, with a top speed of a little over 30 knots, making it a high-speed battleship.
Okinawa is located in the middle of the Ryukyu island chain. As long as any Japanese aircraft or submarine discovers the Ming fleet and reports the direction of the Ming fleet, the Hiei can arrive at the island chain within ten hours at the fastest.
In any strait on the sea, join up with the cruisers there and jointly attack the Mingships.
Although the main purpose of the Tianshu squadron is to sink Japanese battleships, the Ming army is more willing to eat it one bite at a time. There are two heavy cruisers in the strait that the Tianshu squadron has chosen to pass. Now the Ming army fleet is focused on
We must rush to the predetermined sea area as soon as possible, and before the battleship Hiei and the two heavy cruisers merge, we must first concentrate on sinking the two Japanese cruisers. Then, when the Hiei arrives, we must concentrate on sinking the Hiei.
sink.
In fact, even without this Japanese submarine, the whereabouts of the Tianshu squadron cannot be concealed for long. It is already dawn, and Japanese reconnaissance planes have begun frequent searches in the East China Sea. Even if they are not discovered by the submarine, they will soon be discovered.
The plane was discovered.
…
Sure enough, just as the three destroyers caught up with the main fleet, a small black spot appeared in the sky far to the east. The Ming army's lookout post did not need to identify the aircraft model at all, and could only judge the aircraft based on the direction in which the opponent was flying.
It was a Japanese reconnaissance plane. The entire fleet sounded the alarm again. All the main and secondary artillery, both light and heavy, were loaded with anti-aircraft shells and their muzzles were raised.
After a while, the small black dot gradually grew larger, and the model of the aircraft could be identified with a telescope. Sure enough, it was a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft. It probably flew over from the Okinawa base.
The fleet commander issued an attack order, and all twelve Ming warships fired their guns. The Japanese aircraft in the distance were surrounded by dense black dots.
The Japanese reconnaissance plane suddenly accelerated and rushed towards the Ming army fleet, showing no fear at all. As the plane quickly approached, the Ming army's artillery fire also shortened its range, and the black spots in the distance turned into black clouds nearby, full of
There was a muffled sound all over the sky. At the same time, the 40mm cannon and 20mm cannon on the warship also sprayed out tongues of flame, and tracer bullets drew lines of fire in the air, like whips, lashing towards the aircraft.
The Japanese reconnaissance plane had obviously been hit by more than one bullet. Both engines were spraying flames backwards, dragging long plumes of smoke. When it passed by the Ming army destroyer, countless bullets and shrapnel entered the plane.
Here, observers on the bridge of the Ming army could even hear the sound of "ding-ding-ding-ding".
Suddenly, a black object fell from the belly of the Japanese reconnaissance plane and staggered into the sea. The water column stirred up was only a few meters away from the Tianxuan aircraft carrier.
That was a bomb. A bomb hung under the belly of a Japanese reconnaissance plane.
As soon as the Japanese reconnaissance plane dropped the bomb, the entire fuselage disintegrated in the air. The wreckage fell into the sea dragging a fireball.
…
The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were once again "played with a heartbeat" by the Japanese army. The officers and soldiers on the Tianxuan experienced a brush with death. They all knew that after discovering the Ming army fleet, the Japanese reconnaissance plane could have
It was a reconnaissance plane, not a bomber, and it was not its job to attack the enemy fleet. But because this plane had a bomb on it, it rushed over like a madman, risking being shot down.
We need to throw bombs onto the Ming aircraft carrier.
Of course, it's just a little bit close. If it were really thrown up, the Tianxuan would certainly not be sunk, and the hull would not be seriously damaged. But its deck runway would be severely damaged, and it would be difficult to repair at sea.
Then whether Tianxuan's carrier-based aircraft can function in the next mission is another matter.
The officers and soldiers of the Ming Army were once again shocked. No one understood why the Japanese pilots were so crazy. Thinking of fighting such a crazy army, everyone could not help but feel chills running down their backs.
In any case, the position of the Tianshu fleet has been exposed. The submarine just now should have surfaced and sent a telegram. And this reconnaissance plane must have reported the position of the Ming fleet before it was shot down.
If its pilot can come and drop bombs without any scruples, he must have completed his main mission.
The Tianshu squadron is currently about 100 nautical miles away from the predetermined sea area between Taiwan Island and Diaoyu Islands, which is almost a four-hour voyage.
The fleet commander ordered the entire fleet to turn collectively and sail into the wind. The three aircraft carriers began to release the first batch of aircraft.
The mission of this group of aircraft was to conduct reconnaissance and determine the specific locations of the two land cruisers. An hour and a half later, the attack aircraft group began to be released.