Half an hour later, the first attack wave aircraft group returned to the aircraft carrier formation and landed one after another. At this time, the second attack wave aircraft group had also flown over Okinawa and began to swarm down the Naha Port and concentrate on bombing the Hiei battleship.
The battleship Hiei began its final desperate struggle. All the guns on the ship, regardless of caliber, were firing crazily into the air. The anti-aircraft guns around the naval port were also bombarding the air. However,
The Ming army had too many aircraft, including a dive bomber group, a torpedo bomber group, and a fighter group. The three groups totaled a hundred and dozens of aircraft, and they swarmed and attacked like a swarm of wasps.
Anti-aircraft guns are not an effective anti-aircraft weapon in the first place. The truly effective anti-aircraft weapons are fighter jets, but there are currently no bases in Okinawa. Relying on anti-aircraft guns alone is too inefficient. Moreover, the artillery of various calibers on battleships and ports combined does not amount to more than a hundred.
Just a door.
More importantly, at this time, the concept of "air defense" in various countries was far less in place than it was in World War II. Half of the land-based artillery in Naha Port were coastal defense artillery, with large caliber, long range, and slow rate of fire.
, now the artillery shells are temporarily replaced with delay fuzes and used as anti-aircraft guns when shaken. The effect is quite poor. The only ones that are really effective are the two dozen specialized anti-aircraft guns.
At this time, the Ming army had experienced several ship attacks and had initially developed a feel for it, and the progress in the first few battles was always the fastest. In each battle, the experience and lessons of the previous battle were summarized, and the tactics could always be improved.
Great improvements have been made. Now, the Ming Army has three aircraft
The cooperation between the two is quite skilled. Fighters straf to suppress anti-aircraft fire + dive bombers drop bombs at high altitude. After all the artillery fire is attracted to high altitude, the torpedo bombers suddenly rush out from low altitude, and the fighter jets straf to suppress the enemy artillery fire and drop deadly torpedoes.
Both the artillery of the Hiei and the artillery of the Naha Naval Port were participating in actual combat for the first time. And the pilots of the Ming Army were all veterans now. They had already fought several battles against ships before; anti-aircraft guns against the ground
He was even more familiar with the attack. He had practiced it countless times on the Qing army during the Unification War.
Especially for this attack on the ship, the Hiei was still parked in the harbor. It was not sailing at high speed or making S-shaped evasive maneuvers, so it was a completely stationary target. Within ten minutes of launching the attack, the Hiei had already
He was hit by four bombs, and thick smoke billowed on the deck. At this time, people in the surrounding ports
The anti-aircraft artillery crew also suffered heavy casualties. Several guns were directly hit by bombs and exploded into a pile of scrap metal. Although the rest of the artillery crew was not directly hit, the crew members also suffered heavy casualties due to bomb shock waves, shrapnel, and fighter jet strafing. So.
As a result, the rate of fire and accuracy of anti-aircraft guns are greatly reduced.
Seeing that the land-based anti-aircraft guns were almost suppressed, the fleet leader ordered the torpedo planes to enter the battlefield and launch an attack.
…
A large group of torpedo planes drilled down from a nearby high altitude and stayed close to the sea surface in the harbor. Facing the dense machine gunfire, they dropped torpedoes at the flanks of the long battleship. The Hiei did not move or evade. For the torpedo planes
The technical requirements for crew members are also not high.
If they were in a naval battle, they would have to be very close to throw torpedoes, otherwise the hit rate would be very low. But now, they can drop torpedoes very far away, even a thousand or two kilometers away, and then pull up early.
, greatly avoiding being hit by warship gunfire.
In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen torpedoes were thrown into the water, dragging dense white lines, rushing towards the Hiei. At this time, the captain of the Hiei urgently ordered to start sailing and untie the mooring, but it was already too late. The three-ship
The behemoth of more than 10,000 tons is not a car, and it cannot start just by starting. Just over a minute later, the first torpedo traveled more than a thousand meters and hit the side of the Hiei.
The earth-shaking explosion, the white water column several stories high, and the huge battleship were shaking all over, but they seemed to be fine. Black smoke began to erupt from the chimney, and the white waves at the tail became bigger and bigger. Gradually, the huge
The body slowly moved forward.
The battleship took off.
But it was already too late. More than ten seconds later, the second torpedo hit the battleship's front waterline armor. A few seconds later, the third and fourth torpedoes hit the battleship's middle waterline armor and armor almost simultaneously.
Stern.
Unlike ship-based torpedoes, aviation torpedoes are smaller in size and power. Although the battleship was hit by four torpedoes in a row, they did not hit the same location. The two torpedoes hit the main armor belt in the middle and did not penetrate.
One torpedo hit the forward armor, causing water intrusion, but the damage was not serious. However, the fourth torpedo hit the stern of the ship, probably damaging the propeller. The giant ship stopped just as it started.
The captain of the Hiei was condescending on the bridge, looking desperately at the torpedo tail marks that were rushing towards him in the sea, knowing that there was nothing he could do to save the ship. He gave the order to abandon the ship, then took off his telescope, and slowly returned to his
Cabin.
The fifth, sixth, and seventh torpedoes hit the Hiei one after another. The battleship finally began to tilt and roll over in a series of big explosions. The high-altitude dive bombers did not stop for a moment, and the bombs were still dropping like dumplings.
Throw it down. Water columns rise and fall around you, while explosions on the ship occur one after another.
One, the main battleship Hiei had become a hell ship spewing fire and smoke. The surrounding seawater was densely packed with Japanese sailors who jumped from the ship into the water. They screamed and rushed to swim to the shore. And in
At the same time, there are no less than ten torpedoes heading here.
In a series of big explosions, the Hiei was hit by several more torpedoes. In fact, it had been destroyed by this time. But these torpedoes accelerated its rollover and sinking speed. After the waterfall-like dense water column fell, only
I saw that this huge ship had sunk and ran aground. The huge body was turned sideways at 45 degrees, and half of the main gun turret was submerged in the water. The bridge exposed above the water was still emitting thick smoke, and the windows and windows were blown out.
The cracks are spitting out fire.
…
At this time, the headphones of the Ming army fleet were already filled with cheers. The team leader could not restrain his excitement and shouted loudly:
"Brothers, let's return! ... Well done to everyone! Well done!! Well done to you all -!!!"
"oh----!!!"
"Long live--!!!"
"Hahaha……"
"It's so cool——"
The three groups of aircraft in the second attack wave rose to high altitude and regrouped, heading back towards the setting sun, which was gradually setting in the west. Those fighter jets were doing victory rolls excitedly, "juggling" around the bomber group, venting their emotions to their heart's content
The team leader did not scold them, but just laughed with everyone. The entire fleet did not look like a returning unit, but like a group of bachelors who had just come out of the pub.
They really had reason to be ecstatic. Two days after the war started, they sank a Japanese battleship. And this huge achievement was not done by our own battle fleet, but by their small aircraft. The total loss was only one dive bomber.
Two torpedo bombers and one fighter jet. At the cost of four small single-engine aircraft, a 30,000-ton battleship was sunk. This was an unprecedented first time not only in the Ming army, but also in the history of world naval forces.
.
After flying out of sight of Okinawa, the fleet began to go radio silent. This was because they wanted to hide their return direction and the location of the aircraft carrier formation. It would soon be dark, and the aircraft carrier formation would then enter a covert navigation all night long.
.
But when the second attack wave landed on the deck at about 6:30 in the evening, the commander of the Tianshu squadron could not restrain his joy and decided to generate electricity and report the good news to Nanjing.
…
As the sun set in the west, bathing in its last afterglow, Nanjing was now amidst the lights of thousands of houses. The good news passed into the Purple Mountain Fortress, and immediately, the entire headquarters fell into cheers and applause. Regardless of the army or the navy, at this moment
Swallowed by the great ecstasy of this day.
Amid roaring applause, several trolleys pushing champagne entered the hall.