The Wei Qing turned southwest and ran at a high speed of 25 knots. The captain calculated that it was now four o'clock in the afternoon, and there were still two and a half hours until dark. Even if he tried not to use the boiler, he could sail at the maximum speed of 36 knots for two and a half hours.
Hours, it can only drive 90 nautical miles, and cannot escape the combat radius of Japanese bombers in Okinawa. Now we can only count on the long time it takes for the Japanese Okinawa base to receive the news, complete preparations, and then search at sea.
One thing. It is best to make it dark before the Japanese plane finds itself, or just when it finds itself.
At six o'clock in the evening, the last thing the captain of the Wei Qing wanted to see happened. A twin-engine plane flew from the east and quickly flew over the top of the Wei Qing. He could clearly see that
The plane was a Japanese reconnaissance plane.
The Wei Qing immediately fired a salvo of artillery. The reconnaissance plane was slightly damaged and quickly climbed away from the battlefield.
Now the exact location of the Wei Qing has been discovered by the Japanese. The entire ship's officers and soldiers have entered the most nervous state. They all know that a large group of Japanese dive bombers and torpedo planes will soon attack. However, it is now entering dusk, and it is only 100 meters away.
It was too dark to carry out an air raid, which was just a snap. The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty threw their arms away and worked harder, while cheering God in their hearts, praying that God would win the race against time between the Japanese army and the Japanese army.
At around 6:30, riding the last ray of sunset, a small black dot appeared in the distance between the sea and the sky. The battle alarm of the Wei Qing sounded throughout the ship, all the guns raised their barrels, and anti-aircraft bombs were loaded.
After completion, the rangefinder reported the precise coordinates of the enemy aircraft to the fire control station, which in turn notified all artillery crews.
There were about two squadrons of enemy planes, half of which were dive bombers and torpedo bombers, and no fighter planes. It seemed that the Japanese army was quite confident in its air superiority in this sea area.
The Wei Qing's 8-inch main gun fired first, sending large-caliber anti-aircraft shells into the sky several kilometers away, firing a large barrage in front of the Japanese aircraft fleet. The Japanese aircraft fleet also increased their horsepower at this time, and the Wei Qing's main gun fired again.
Before firing, it rushed to a fairly close distance. At this time, a series of anti-aircraft secondary guns of the Wei Qing opened fire. The heavy cruiser was covered in flames, and with a high speed of 25 knots, the smoke and white waves were far away.
Dragging the ground behind him, covered with a burning sunset glow, it was a spectacular sight.
After a bomber was shot down, a squadron of Japanese dive bombers climbed to the top of the Wei Qing and began to dive one after another. Soon, white water columns rose one after another around the Wei Qing. The Wei Qing sailed at high speed in an S-shaped route, leaving no chance for the Japanese aircraft.
Target opportunities.
Just a few minutes after the dive bombers started dropping bombs, the Japanese torpedo bomber squadron began to try to get close to the Wei Qing. The captain of the Wei Qing was covered in sweat, but still very calm. He knew that the torpedo planes were a more deadly threat than the dive bombers. Use dive bombers
Bombers attract warship firepower and create opportunities for torpedo planes to get closer. This is an old trick used by the Ming Navy to attack Japanese ships. Ming Navy officers have long been warned repeatedly about what to do if they are bombed by Japanese aircraft.
The captain of the Wei Qing decisively ordered to lower the muzzles of most of the guns and fire horizontally, giving priority to the torpedo planes.
Although torpedo planes are deadly, they are slow in speed, low in altitude, and bulkier than dive bombers. Moreover, they fly towards you in a horizontal direction without much change in their route, so they are very easy to hit. Under intensive artillery fire, four torpedo planes were on the way.
They were shot down. But the remaining eight torpedo planes still escaped the gunfire and flew closer.
Four of the torpedoes entered the water one after another, dragging straight white lines towards the Wei Qing. At the same time, the four torpedo planes dispersed and climbed away from the battle.
The captain of the Wei Qing was in the command room, staring at the eight white lines on the sea through the glass. His face turned slightly pale, but he still ordered in a calm voice:
"Left full rudder."
"Yes! Full rudder left!"
Turning the steering wheel handle rapidly, the warship began to tilt to the left, and the scenery outside the portholes also moved quickly to the right. Originally, the eight torpedo white lines were perpendicular to itself, but now they quickly became horizontal. The Wei Qing's lateral line quickly
It narrowed and pointed the bow of the ship in the direction of the torpedo attack.
"Whoosh..."
There was a sharp sound, and a torpedo dragged a white mark and passed a few meters away from the bow of the Wei Qing. At this moment, there was a muffled sound above the right side, and a torpedo plane finished throwing the torpedo and tried to fly over.
The Wei Qing was hit when it was overhead, exploded into a fireball, rolled and fell to the sea not far away.
However, the torpedo plane that was shot down on the starboard side and the other three torpedo planes had just dropped their torpedoes, and the four torpedoes dragged white lines and rushed towards the right side of Wei Qing's belly.
The captain of the Wei Qing was extremely nervous. He knew that although this kind of light airborne torpedo would not kill him at once, if he was hit by this one, he would not be able to return to the Ming Dynasty. Before entering the dry dock for overhaul, the speed would be very slow.
Even if they barely managed to get out of the combat radius of the Japanese aircraft in Okinawa after a night's sailing, they would be overtaken by the Japanese fleet coming from Okinawa overnight.
He stared at the torpedo line outside and ordered again:
"Full right rudder!"
"Yes! Full rudder right!"
At this time, the entire warship shook violently, accompanied by a loud noise. The captain's heart sank, and he secretly screamed that it was bad. But at this time, he could not care about anything else. Commanding the warship to avoid torpedoes was the top priority of all problems.
First. He continued to stare at the rapidly approaching torpedoes outside. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the bow of the ship turning to the right and another torpedo passing a few meters to the left.
At this time, the bridge duty officer took the microphone and reported to the captain:
"Captain, we received a call from the damage control center. A bomb hit the rear deck. The rear deck caught fire. The rear deck was completely damaged. The crane and two seaplanes were completely damaged. All No. 5 anti-aircraft gun groups were killed. A 40mm bomb was fired.
The Foss was completely damaged. The No. 4 main turret was moderately damaged. All efforts are being made to extinguish the fire."
The captain nodded:
"good."
In any case, a squadron of Japanese torpedo planes had finished throwing torpedoes. Now that the threat of torpedoes had been avoided, all they had to do was look above their heads. At this time, all the guns were raised at a higher angle and bombarded the Japanese dive bombers with all their strength.
The sun has basically set now, and the sea is already very dark. Viewed from a high altitude, the dark gray Wei Qing almost blends into the sea. If it were not for the white waves trailing behind it and the flickering flames of anti-aircraft guns, the Japanese aircraft would
It's hard to find out where it is at once.
The fire on the rear deck of the Wei Qing has been brought under control, and the scattered flames have been extinguished one by one. Only the billowing smoke is left behind, rising to high altitudes. Now the visibility of Japanese aircraft is even more difficult to maintain, and dive bombers often dive.
They refused to drop the bombs two or three times because they could not see the target clearly and it was difficult to aim. There had been no bombs dropped around the Wei Qing for a long time. The pressure on the officers and soldiers on the ship gradually relaxed. Everyone knows that today's test is over.
Soon, the sky became darker, and the Japanese dive bombers did not even dare to dive for fear of rushing into the sea. The captain of the Wei Qing glanced at the dark sea and sky, and decided to change the mode.
"Cease fire across the ship," he ordered, "cast smoke screen!"
"Yes! All ships cease fire! Cast smoke screen!"
After a while, the roaring gunfire around them fell silent, and only the roar of the aircraft above and the mechanical operation of the Wei Qing main ship could be heard. The boiler room activated the "smoke-making mode", and a large cloud of excess black smoke came from
The smoke billowed out from the chimney, and merged with the black smoke from the damaged rear deck. Like ink, it polluted a large area of the sky behind it so that one could not see his fingers. At the same time, a batch of smoke cans around the ship's hull also spewed out.
A large amount of white smoke and black and white smoke combined together almost completely enveloped the Wei Qing.
Seeing that they could no longer gain anything, the Japanese fleet finally decided to return. Fortunately, they also damaged the Wei Qing, which was considered a victory.
Listening to the sound of the Japanese aircraft group getting further and further away, until it disappeared, all the officers and soldiers on the ship were completely relieved... This time it was so damn suspenseful.
After a night of sailing, the Wei Qing was completely away from the threat of the Japanese fleet and aviation, and could finally return safely. At this time, it was only 200 nautical miles away from the Philippines.
Early the next morning, facing the rising sun, a solemn burial ceremony at sea was held on the front deck of the Wei Qing. The military band slowly played mournful music, and all off-duty officers and soldiers stood upright in white uniforms. Amidst the bursts of rifle fire, several
The bodies of the fallen soldiers were wrapped, covered with national flags, and slid into the sea one by one.