Chapter 382 Let's See Whose "Wife" Sank
Hawaii time, 5:40 a.m. on December 7.
On the vast sea, a huge fleet was silently cutting through the waves like a ghost. At this time, the devils were only 220 nautical miles away from Pearl Harbor.
Following the order of Chuichi Nagumo, the commander-in-chief of the front line, the deck ground crews of the six aircraft carriers suddenly became busy.
Various types of carrier-based aircraft took off one after another, and then assembled in the designated airspace at the fastest speed, and then rushed straight to the target military port in the distance.
"Lieutenant Colonel Fuchida, the seaplane reconnaissance aircraft of Tone and Chikuma have sent news!"
"At present, the entire Oahu Island has not implemented a blackout, and the enemy's Pacific Fleet is all in Pearl Harbor! Admiral Yamamoto's plan has completely deceived the ugly people!"
Hearing this, Fuchida Mitsuo, the flight captain of the Akagi, showed a wicked smile.
In order to perfectly complete this raid mission, the base camp began to make preparations for a rainy day several months ago.
The first to take action were the Army Red Deer, who increased the strength of the Kwantung Army in July and acted as if they were going north to join the German Third Army in attacking the Russian Bear.
The second was the Navy, whose frequent mobilization and reconnaissance put the enemy into a blind spot, causing a five-star reviewer to still micromanage the air force stationed in the Philippines.
The last blow was launched by the students of the Etajima Naval Academy.
In order to cover up this operation, they frequently appeared in public places in the form of officers. This move was only to confuse spies from various countries lurking in the mainland.
In a sense, the Copperhead Snake planned by the Allies three years later is similar to Japan's current plan.
"The Ugly Country is nothing but a beast!"
"Since isolationism has kept their homeland away from war, let's help the Ugly Country evoke the memory of the First World War! Get ready for the attack, we are about to reach our destination!"
Just as the three were talking, there was a little commotion in the radar station on the northern coast of Oahu.
"Hey, guys, guess what I saw! A large shadow appeared 132 nautical miles north of the island! It's too big to be an airplane, right?"
As soon as these words came out, all the soldiers in the room immediately surrounded him.
Looking at the shadow composed of dense pixels on the screen, the captain on duty immediately rushed to the communication room, trying to report the discovery to the air defense command as soon as possible.
As we all know, the little gadgets independently developed by Britain during World War II basically fell into the hands of the ugly people for various reasons.
The radar monitoring system of Pearl Harbor is the same as that distributed on the coastline of the British Isles.
It can only detect echoes within a certain range, and cannot distinguish what the object approaching at high speed is, nor does it have the enemy identification function of later generations.
But by chance, there happened to be a group of B17 bomber formations flying from the mainland to support Pearl Harbor today.
After receiving the report from the lower-level radar station, the head of the air defense command was not panicked at all. He even asked his men to turn off the radar and not disturb his rest.
After all, today is the weekend. Who would want to stay at their post on Sunday?
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At 7:53, the first wave of attack formations.
Pearl Harbor under the morning light, from high altitude, is covered with mist and lush. If it were not during the war, it would definitely be a good choice for tourism.
But at this moment, Mitsuo Fuchida only has eyes for the channel between Ford Island and the Navy Dockyard.
There are three aircraft carriers lined up from southwest to northeast, namely Enterprise, Saratoga, and Lexington.
In addition, Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arizona, and Nevada are also moored on the battleship street on the south side.
As for the remaining light and heavy cruisers and a bunch of destroyers?
Sorry, Mitsuo Fuchida really doesn't like those little junks now. In the mind of this ace pilot of the Navy, the above-mentioned battleships and aircraft carriers are the top priority of this operation.
"Everything is unusually quiet. The Ugly Country's ground anti-aircraft artillery didn't fire a single shot, and even no planes took off to fight in the bay."
"Great!"
"Send a signal to Rear Admiral Yamaguchi immediately! Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!"
After that, the first wave of attack teams, a total of 193 carrier-based aircraft, flew towards the Pacific Fleet below.
Among them, 49 Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft carried 800 kg armor-piercing bombs. These special bombs were modified from Nagato's main gun shells, and even the Ugly Country's iron turtles could be blown through.
Another 50 Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft carried Type 91-2 aerial torpedoes with wooden fins. They are the main force to attack surface warships.
There are also 51 Type 99 carrier-based bombers. These dive bombers target the island's air defense facilities and airports, just to stop Ah Chou's counterattack from the source.
Finally, there are 43 Zero fighters. Their tasks seem relatively easy at the moment. They only need to be responsible for escort and vigilance.
In fact, it stands to reason that there should be no aircraft carriers in the current Pearl Harbor.
Because the current mainstream thinking of the U.S. Navy is self-contained, only giving aircraft carriers auxiliary combat functions, their top leaders use aircraft carriers more as aviation cruisers.
The above viewpoints have been reflected in many fleet exercises.
Since it is a cruiser, it is natural to disperse and perform reconnaissance, search and even transportation tasks.
In the original timeline, the Saratoga was pulled back to the domestic dock for repairs and upgrades in January 1941 because it had been in service for too long.
It would not be until the end of the year that she would receive new carrier-based aircraft and return to Pearl Harbor to join the fleet.
But!
Due to the sudden and strong rise of the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese headquarters felt an unprecedented threat, so they added to the original southward advance plan.
Under desperation, Ah Chou could only speed up the upgrade of Saratoga so that it would return to the fleet in early November this year.
As for the situation of the Enterprise, it was really interesting.
Under the command of Halsey, she set off on November 28 and was ordered to transport 12 wildcat fighters to Wake Island and conduct reconnaissance and search along the way.
In the original timeline, this fleet would encounter a storm at sea, resulting in not returning to the military port at the scheduled time.
But it seemed that there was a will in the dark. Halsey, who encountered an emergency, directly possessed the Bull and the Son of the Storm, and took the fleet safely through the eye of the storm.
All I can say is that his luck is as bad as ever. He doesn't come when he should, and suddenly appears when he shouldn't.
Finally, there is Mrs. Lie. In the original timeline, she should have left Pearl Harbor on December 5 and headed to Midway Island to transport 18 reconnaissance planes, and conduct reconnaissance searches along the way.
However, due to the storm, the commander who sought stability chose to wait in Pearl Harbor. Anyway, the Japanese could not attack, so there was no need to rush the task of strategic transportation.
In fact, in the final analysis, it was all because of a certain butterfly named Huang.
But I still have to thank him for presenting a big drama of three aircraft carriers gathering in Pearl Harbor to all the viewers.
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"Group One! Get into combat position! Our primary targets are the enemy's battleships and aircraft carriers!"
"Torpedo planes go and take out Lexington first. Her position is the most suitable for the formation to cut in. The ship bombers go and blow up the battleships. Let Arizona be our sacrifice first!"
"Black card! Onboard!"
After receiving the order from their own flight captain, more than 30 Type 97 carrier-based attack planes from Canglong and Feilong, carrying special torpedoes, rushed towards the aircraft carrier from the south at an ultra-low altitude.
They flew almost close to the sea surface.
Such a low altitude made the ugly country sailors who had never seen the world think they were living in a dream.
After all, during World War II, the way carrier-based aircraft carried out torpedo attacks was to launch torpedoes at an altitude of 100 meters and a distance of 1,200 meters from the enemy ship.
After the torpedo fell into the water, due to kinetic energy and potential energy, it would continue to dive to a depth of about 60 meters.
Then it relied on its own power to float to a depth of about five meters from the water surface and finally hit the predetermined attack target.
It is precisely because of the above principle that in a certain Minsk magic game made by the white-haired guy, there is a mechanism for torpedoes to be crushed.
The reason why the pilots of this book flew close to the sea is that the average water depth of Pearl Harbor is only fourteen meters, and conventional torpedoes will directly sink into the mud even if they are thrown into the deepest waters.
For this reason, the pilots specially installed wooden fins on the tail of the Type 91-2 aviation torpedo. And all pilots are required to carry out ultra-low-altitude bombing at a position of about twenty meters.
When arriving at the predetermined attack location, twelve Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft released torpedoes at the same time.
The white lightning marks on the sea surface are crisscrossed, and even the most skilled destroyer captains find it difficult to avoid them, let alone a large surface ship that is motionless.
Boom!
With a loud bang, the left side of the Lexington tilted severely.
"It was penetrated below the waterline! Our ship is rapidly taking in water! Damage control team! Act quickly!"
I won't sleep anymore, I'll just have to endure it