Chapter 2765: Night Battle One

Of course, the same recklessness, the situation is different, the bad luck of trying to find the Japanese main fleet with 1 battleship and 2 armored cruisers? That's pure brain twitch! That's not realistic at all! If the 13 capital ships of the Japanese Navy catch you, it is estimated that one of the armored cruisers will explode after a few salvos! So, this time, Raeder's primary goal is to target the peripheral destroyers! That's right, a destroyer! The main weakness of the Japanese Combined Fleet is the destroyer, a little guy like a destroyer must not be underestimated, and it can come in handy at critical moments! For example, to cover the maneuver of the capital ship, such as anti-submarine, such as delaying time!

As a large fleet, when it is parked at night, the capital ships may form a group, but the destroyers will inevitably form a shield around the periphery to shield the American submarines as far as possible. Now, any large-scale fleet has depth. Yes, and considering the nighttime environment, this depth already allows the Japanese battleships at the core to be unable to support the destroyers on the periphery. As long as Raeder is ready to fight and leave, he can always get some after one night. benefit.

As for, what if the Japanese fleet is dispatched in full force? Isn't that simple? Just talk about it. In addition to consuming the destroyers of the Japanese army, it is more important to let the Japanese cause misjudgments. After misjudging the position of the US fleet, the US Navy can gain more time in tomorrow's daytime battle. Of course, the battle tonight can be said to be fraught with dangers, and there might be accidents. Whether it is a mouse playing with a cat or a meat bun to beat a dog tonight, it all depends on Raeder's operation and the opponent's response!

"Where is the location of the Japanese fleet?" Raeder asked.

"Half an hour ago, the position reported by our submarine was probably here." As a liaison officer, Nimitz marked the position of the Japanese fleet on the chart.

"Our submarine can still determine the position of the Japanese fleet?" Raeder said with some surprise.

"Yes, after the air strikes of the first two days ended, the remaining three aircraft carriers of the Japanese Navy withdrew from the battlefield, and the Japanese allocated some destroyers to cover the retreat of the capital ships, although they added some escort destroyers to ensure their own The anti-submarine network is safe, but the strength is still significantly reduced. Moreover, how should I put it, the Japanese must already know our approximate route, so if someone pushes us, we can reverse the Japanese’s approximate interception route. So, as long as If we are willing to pay some price, it is not difficult to determine the approximate location of the Japanese fleet," Nimitz said.

"Has the Japanese fleet implemented blackout?" Raeder continued to ask.

"The battleship fleet implemented relatively strict blackouts, but the destroyers did not. The Japanese anti-submarine equipment was very backward. Their hydrophones and sonar levels were very low. In addition, submarines may float up at night, so they The destroyers need to use searchlights to find submarines or periscopes on the surface. Their outermost destroyers are about 10 kilometers away from the fleet.” Nimitz explained.

"If this is the case, the Japanese may not have enough destroyers." Raeder asked.

"So they added some anti-submarine ships, which are a simplified version of a destroyer. They don't even have torpedoes, just anti-submarine bombs and a few light artillery pieces." Nimitz said.

"Okay, order the fleet to adjust its course, let's go to the Japanese to discuss night battles." Raeder ordered. Now that we have all the information we need, based on the current distance between the two fleets, it will take about an hour for the Raeder fleet to meet the destroyers at the outermost edge of the Japanese fleet. From the encounter, they still have about 3 hours. It was not until dawn, and considering the time for the fleet to retreat and the main force to rendezvous,

Raeder has two hours to engage the Japanese fleet!

At this time, the entire Japanese fleet did not have the slightest awareness of the opponent's desperate plan, or in their subconscious mind, they could not imagine that the disadvantaged American and German navies dared to use a small number of fast warships to carry out night attacks! The idea is insane!

"We have discovered the position of the Japanese fleet. The ship with the searchlight in front of us should be the outermost destroyer, and those light spots in the distance should be the position of the main Japanese fleet." Raedel carefully compared the intelligence and observation data said afterwards.

"General Fletcher Jr. sent a telegram asking if the armored cruiser would join the battle?" Nimitz asked.

"It's not necessary for the time being. Let's hand over the outermost destroyers to the destroyer squadron. Let the two armored cruisers follow the flagship. Before we fire, we can't act rashly!" Raeder said. "In addition, send a signal to the seaplanes, requiring them to rush to the sky above the Japanese fleet within half an hour. If there is any change in the other party, immediately release flares to mark their positions!"

"The order you gave to the seaplane is very vague. How do you define this change?" Nimitz said with some embarrassment.

"It depends on the quality of the pilot. Many orders cannot be issued very accurately. If it is my old subordinates, they will naturally know what to do. Forget it, this wave of seaplanes will come out from the flagship." Lei Del thought for a while and said.

"Uh, that's fine." Nimitz was even more embarrassed.

A few minutes later, Halsey began to sail towards the target with 4 destroyers, while the other 4 destroyers were still following around the main fleet. So, the first battle tonight slowly kicked off!

In other words, war is the most tempering. After several naval battles, Halsey can already be called the best destroyer officer in the entire US fleet. Tough style of play is a style, but it does not mean that Halsey is brainless. Before the battle, Halsey conducted a detailed reconnaissance.

"There are two ships in total, both are escort destroyers, guys with almost zero surface combat capability, one with lights on, and the other without lights, but the other one is not well hidden, through the guy with lights in front, We can see it." Halsey said to his subordinates while observing the distant target with a telescope. That's experience! Generally speaking, when anti-submarine, there will not be only one ship to carry out, because the number of depth charges dropped by one ship is not enough, and if a single ship is easy to be attacked, so usually two ships operate together, one In the light, one in the dark.

"Our two destroyers will fight one. Remember, don't use naval guns, use torpedoes! When you get close, fight again! Fire within 500 yards!" Halsey said.

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