Chapter 2768 Night Battle 4
"No, wait, we need to know the location of Japan's main fleet now!" Redel said, and just as Redel finished speaking, a series of flares suddenly fell from the sky, at least a dozen or more of 100,000 candlepower flares It illuminates a large area of the sea like daylight!
"This is the result of what I have been waiting for! Order the rangefinder to immediately measure the distance of the Japanese fleet in the distance!" Redel said excitedly. Even though there were a large number of flares, the entire Japanese fleet was still not illuminated. However, this It was enough for Redl. In the few minutes before the flare went out, the well-trained German naval fire control personnel could already estimate the approximate distance between the two sides!
"18 kilometers! The error is within 500 meters! The Japanese fleet's speed is around 12 knots, and they haven't started to accelerate yet. They seem to be hesitant!" A moment later, the fire control officer sent the data.
"18 kilometers? That's enough! Send a signal to the Second Destroyer Squadron and ask them to cooperate with us to kill this pursuer! End the battle within 10 minutes!" Redel ordered. Ten seconds later, four large German destroyers belonging to the Second Destroyer Division had already surrounded them from the side. Two minutes later, the flares released by the two German destroyers illuminated the Kiso light cruiser and the Japanese destroyer!
"Fire at full speed!" At this time, the straight-line distance between the Redel fleet and the Japanese pursuit fleet was less than 5 kilometers! It was already within direct range of the naval gun. Even the rangefinder on the top of the mast was omitted. The rangefinder on the turret was aimed directly at the target. After more than ten seconds, the eight 15-inch guns and side strings of the battleship Mecklenburg were A large number of 6-inch guns fired the first round of shelling!
In the dark night, the scene of a large number of naval guns firing was extremely spectacular. Balls of orange flames spurted out from the muzzles and then connected into one. They were as conspicuous as flares on the sun, even causing some unprepared people to appear briefly. Blinded, tons of artillery shells roared towards the target. Just a few seconds later, Japanese warships crashed into the fire net formed by the fleets of the United States and the United States!
As the most conspicuous target, the Kitakami naturally bore the brunt. In the first salvo, one 15-inch shell and one 10-inch shell successfully hit the poor warship. The 875-kilogram semi-armor-piercing shell easily hit the target. A huge hole was torn open in the middle of the hull of the light cruiser Kitakami, leaving a 10-meter-long scar like being disemboweled. The huge shell moved forward and finally detonated in the engine room! With the explosion of dozens of kilograms of TNT explosives, the two roaring turbines were instantly destroyed. Flames and shock waves tore apart the cabin walls, sweeping across everything they encountered with a death scream. Another 10-inch cannon shell lived up to expectations, directly destroying the two 6-inch cannons on the bow with one shot. Soon, more 6-inch shells began to sweep across the entire deck. Before the Kitakami could react, the battleship had been severely damaged.
"Turn the firepower to other battleships, and hand over the severely damaged battleships to the destroyer torpedoes!" Fletcher ordered. Under his order, the two American armored cruisers decisively aimed their guns at the destroyers behind, while Halsey His movements were swift, and he led his destroyer to quickly approach the position less than 800 meters away from the Kitakami, and then fired two torpedoes in a row!
A moment later, two huge fireballs jumped up on the sea surface at the same time. One of them was naturally the light cruiser Kitakami that was hit by a torpedo, and the other was a destroyer that was directly killed by a 15-inch naval gun! Only 5 minutes have passed since the battle began. A light cruiser and a destroyer have been sunk, and two destroyers have been severely damaged. Only the last destroyer escaped before the encirclement closed.
"Let the destroyer squadron kill the remaining dead fish, then release smoke and evacuate to the predetermined location immediately!" Redel is quite satisfied with the results of this attack. So far, he has exchanged a destroyer for a light cruiser of the opponent. With 4 fleet destroyers and 2 escort destroyers, this deal was already very profitable. Considering the Japanese main fleet that was eyeing the enemy in the distance, Redel decided to withdraw first and take a look at the limelight.
"Isn't this too cunning?" Looking at the battlefield in the distance, Motaro Yoshimatsu felt angry and depressed in his heart! When the main gun of the Redel fleet opened fire, Motaro Yoshimatsu naturally discovered the fire of the shooting, and the Japanese fleet was also prepared to provide fire support as soon as possible.
However, the distance was too far and the exposure time was too short. Even with all calculations, the U.S. fleet only fired for 5 minutes. Moreover, in a night battle, it was too difficult to hit a target 15 kilometers away by just relying on the flash of artillery. ! In fact, Redel took advantage of these two points and then pulled out the tiger's teeth! Proper planning and clean movements! And even when he was running away, he didn't forget to release some smoke. The whole process was really watertight!
"Awesome. The commander on the opposite side should be Redel. It seems that our juniors are in a lot of trouble." Betty couldn't help but frowned and said, Su Xiong had already returned home. Anyway, Betty absolutely does not believe that the U.S. Navy can carry out such an operation, so the commander can only Redel, and then think of the previous behavior of using flares to mark the position of the Japanese combined fleet. Even from the enemy's perspective, Betty also admitted that the other party did it. It's really good!
"Immediately order all seaplane carriers and supply ships to the non-combatant side of the main fleet, just in case." Betty suggested.
"Yes, order the fleet to shrink immediately and have all destroyers withdraw into the engagement range of the battleship's night battle artillery. Pay attention to maintaining light control." Motaro Yoshimatsu also reacted and immediately ordered. So the entire Japanese fleet began to shrink and hid the fragile battleships at the core. The entire fleet was like a huddled hedgehog, and the guns of the 13 battleships were like the spikes of this hedgehog. The attackers were unable to strike! After all, when you can hit others, others can hit you!
Ten minutes later, the Japanese seaplanes also took off, and groups of seaplanes began to search the surrounding waters for the American and American fleets. In this case, it basically means the end of the harassment operation tonight, because once you fire again, the seaplane will quickly find your approximate location, and then fly to your head and throw flares. In this case, It's definitely not that easy if you want to run again, even if the smoke is released, it will be difficult to escape.
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