Chapter 421 Snow Wind Club? Where Are Everyone?

Afternoon, Seto Inland Sea.

At this time, the sea was in a mess, with fragments of the Nagato's armor scattered everywhere, but more were the remains of the ship drifting with the waves.

Although a few "lucky" Japanese sailors did not die directly in the explosion, they could not escape the huge whirlpool and could only be sucked into the dark seabed with reluctance and despair.

Standing on the battle bridge of the Mutsu, Captain Yamasumi Sadajiro was holding a telescope and observing the disaster scene in amazement.

From his perspective, the huge mushroom cloud mixed with thick smoke and dust seemed to connect the ocean and the sky.

The upside-down battleship Nagato was sinking to the bottom of the sea at a slow but firm speed, carrying countless corpses around.

"Amaterasu!"

"Don't you care about your own people? Why did things develop into what they are now!"

When it came to the emotional part, the old Japanese even had a glimmer of tears in the corner of his eyes.

That was Nagato, the spiritual totem of his own navy. Even when the Yamato was commissioned, it still maintained an unshakable position in the Combined Fleet.

But such an important battleship was defeated by the enemy in an incredible way, just like a dead fish disappeared in the Seto Inland Sea.

"Commander, what should we do next? Should we continue to move forward according to the original route?"

The sudden new title swept away the sadness in Yamasumi Sadajiro's heart. But before the old devil had time to secretly rejoice, a sense of fear surged into his heart.

Damn! I became a substitute!

At the moment when the fleet commander and the flagship captain died, he, the colonel with the highest rank and the oldest experience on the scene, naturally became the temporary commander.

If it were normal times, Yamasumi Sadajiro would definitely applaud.

But the First Fleet suffered heavy losses in this battle. As the current highest commander, he would definitely face the anger and roar of his superiors after returning.

According to Yamasumi Sadajiro's understanding of his own senior management, in order to deal with the pursuit of Tianhuang and the angry citizens, he would most likely be pushed out as a pawn and forced to become the scapegoat who committed seppuku to apologize.

Thinking of this, the old devil suddenly felt powerless.

"Baga!"

"Why am I so unlucky! I should have fought for the position of captain of Kongo."

"If I could fight with Vice Admiral Nanyun, I might have become a respected rear admiral, and I would not have encountered such an unreasonable enemy!"

After a burst of wailing and complaining, Yamasumi Sadajiro also knew that this was the worst result. He could only force himself to cheer up and start directing the rescue work on the scene.

Saving more people and reducing losses may win a glimmer of hope for himself.

Since it was not determined whether the enemy's attack formation had a backhand, the auxiliary ships of the First Fleet did not dare to rush up to rescue people.

After all, their ships were not auspicious, and no one could guarantee that they could return to the home port alive.

With the idea of ​​"a friend dies rather than a poor man", the work ships, seaplane carriers and special cruisers all pretended to maintain the anti-aircraft ring formation, watching their colleagues die painfully in the water.

However, even if the eighth ship of the Kagero class, Yukikaze, was present, it would probably be too late to rescue.

"The 24th Squadron, go and rescue the survivors of the Nagato."

"The 4th Submarine Squadron, the Yakaze destroyer is in your hands. You can still rescue it over there, and try to tow it back to Wu Port for repair."

Just as the orders were orderly delivered to the ships, a sudden explosion interrupted the old devil's command.

"Boom!"

Looking at the source of the explosion, Yamasumi Sadajiro saw the illegal building in the fire at a glance.

The Fuso-class battleship was originally an experimental ship developed and produced under the wrong theory of adding more water to the noodles and more noodles to the water.

In order to suppress the tough guys in the Achou family with firepower, the Japanese designers stuffed six twin-mounted 356mm main guns into her.

As the price of carrying these weapons, the main armor belt of the Fuso was stretched many times, which shared the already not-so-excellent defense capability.

This resulted in the paper data of the super crossbow class looking extremely fierce, but it was essentially just a paper tiger.

In the attack just now, the eager Fuso blocked a torpedo for the Nagato, which was the main reason for her explosion and fire.

"Where is the damage control team! Rescue!"

"We have lost a battleship! We must not sink another one!"

In fact, the three damage control teams on the Fuso have been working hard to rescue since they were hit by the torpedo, and there is no need for Yamasumi Sadajiro to specifically order them.

It's a pity that their efficiency is really not high, and they have never been able to control the disaster.

Unlike the three-stage damage control of the deck, front and rear of Achou, the Honko Navy has its own unique understanding and divides the damage control of a ship into three teams.

The first team is responsible for the firefighting of the entire ship, the second team is responsible for the correction of the hull, and the last one is to repair the power system.

The above distribution seems clear and reasonable, but once it is in actual combat, it will expose fatal problems. Because such treatment will cause the soldiers of a certain team to run around the whole ship, and eventually lead to a sharp drop in maintenance efficiency.

This is the current embarrassing situation of the Fuso.

"Commander! Our ship is seriously flooded and is about to lose all power!"

"The damage control team can only minimize the losses, but it does not rule out the possibility that everyone needs to abandon the ship."

As soon as these words came out, Yamasumi Sadajiro felt his eyes go dark, as if he had seen the scene of himself committing seppuku to apologize, and he fainted with a wail.

In just a few hours, a battleship sank and a battleship was severely damaged. He was definitely the worst colonel commander in the entire IJN history.

······

Time goes back half an hour ago.

Wu Port is a military port located northeast of Hashira Island. It is surrounded by the three large islands of Four, Nine, and Hon, and it has natural advantages in safety and concealment.

In addition, the location of the port is very convenient. It is close to the Bungo Channel in the south, the Kii Channel in the north, and the Kanmon Strait in the west.

The reason why the garrison was set here and the Combined Fleet chose this place as its home port is precisely because of its geographical advantages of being able to go south, east, and west.

Of course, the above advantages will all become reasons for the enemy to attack in their eyes.

Moreover, the strategic bombing operation of the Eighth Route Army Air Force was originally intended to strike at the enemy's potential.

The naval dock in Wu City not only has the ability to build and repair large warships, but is also one of the only two shipyards that can build the Yamato class. Naturally, it is the target of the troops' key bombing.

Just as the comrades were about to arrive at the destination, the Fengxiang, which was originally staying in the military port, moved and left the anchorage at full speed with three destroyers.

"Sir, what happened?"

"I just saw a lot of Zero fighters flying to the northeast. Did the First Fleet receive any orders?"

The person who spoke now was the captain of the Fengxiang aircraft carrier. His eyes were full of desire for battle, and everyone present could see that he was eager to prove himself through a big battle.

There was no way. Compared with the world-famous Akagi, Kaga, Feilong and Canglong, Fengxiang, Japan's first aircraft carrier, really had no decent record.

At the outbreak of the Pacific War, she even became a training ship for training new recruits.

As the major in charge of the carrier-based fighter formation, Ishizaki Heihachi and his team members were unwilling to settle for the status quo.

"I just received a notice from Admiral Yamamoto that our rear area was attacked by an unknown enemy. The Zero fighters of the First Fleet must have gone to support."

After speaking, the Japanese soldiers around him all showed surprised expressions. They really couldn't figure out which force could plan such a bold action.

However, several majors led by Ishizaki Heihachi soon became excited.

"It must be the Ugly Country! Only they can send bomber groups from a long distance! Captain! Please allow my team to go out to support and capture the enemy's aircraft carrier to avenge their hatred."

In the eyes of the Japanese, the only force in the entire Pacific region that has the ability to attack their own rear area is the Ugly Country.

Although he didn't know how the other party sneaked into the near sea, he dared to pat his chest and guarantee that the enemy must have dispatched an aircraft carrier.

As long as the Enterprise could be destroyed, the Fengxiang would immediately receive the same honor as the mobile fleet.

While Ishizaki Heihachi and others were still enjoying the future, Captain Kawaguchi Daiichiro poured a basin of cold water on them without hesitation and said to the major with a serious face:

"This place is hundreds of kilometers away from the rear. By the time your Zero fighters fly to the destination, the enemy will most likely have fled the battlefield."

"So don't even think about support. The First Fleet sent out the flying squadron just to avoid any trouble."

"Our mission is to cooperate with the anti-aircraft artillery positions to defend Wu City. There are many cruisers and submarines under construction in the dock, and they are the main targets."

As soon as these words came out, the naval aviation pilots sighed with regret, as if they had missed a lot of military exploits.

In fact, Kawaguchi Daiichiro was also helpless. Although the old devil did not expect to defeat the unknown enemy, he wanted to run away to the sea with the main force of the First Fleet.

If someone blocked him in his nest, the Fengxiang might be sunk with the current defense force of Wugang.

Facing the little man in the sky, only by defending the air together can you feel safe!

Just as the Japanese were talking, the roar of piston engines suddenly sounded in the sky.

At first, Kawaguchi Daiichiro and Ishizaki Heihachi thought that those were flying squadrons taking off from the anchorage of Hashira Island. But as time went on, the two noticed something was wrong.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

They didn't wake up until the anti-aircraft guns in the city began to work.

"General Yamamoto is right! The enemy really came to attack the shipyard! Commanders, take your positions! Fighters accelerate and take off! Anti-aircraft guns are on full alert!"

After briefly formulating tactics, Kawaguchi Daiichiro came to the operations room of the Fengxiang.

Because the bridge was dismantled, the old Japanese took a lot of effort to see the incoming enemy aircraft group with a telescope.

"Baga! Which country's bomber is it? It's still four-engine? Could it be the ugly country's army aviation departing from the southern coast of the Republic of China?"

Following Kawaguchi Daiichiro's order, the Japanese on the Fengxiang and the three escort destroyers took action one after another.

The former speeds up the launch of carrier-based fighters, striving to release all fighters before the enemy begins bombing. The latter operates the anti-aircraft guns on the ship, and starts to counterattack as soon as the enemy aircraft enters the range.

Although most of these people are new recruits who have never been on the battlefield, the complicated training in the past has filled them with confidence, and they believe that they will not lose to the enemy they are about to fight.

"Ishizaki-kun, don't mistakenly enter the battlefield above the city. If you rush in rashly, you will most likely be accidentally injured by friendly forces. Leave it to the anti-aircraft artillery group on the ground."

"Your mission is to shoot down all bombers close to the coastal docks. Shoot down all enemies for me!"

"Ah!"

Hearing this, Ishizaki Heihachi turned away murderously and trotted towards the flight deck.

······

At the same time, at an altitude of 40 kilometers away from Wu Port.

The comrade who was in charge of leading the Third Squadron of the First Air Division was still a combat hero. Looking at the vaguely visible coastline in the distance, Zhao Baotong said in a relaxed tone:

"Our mission is to bomb the enemy's Fengxiang first."

"If nothing unexpected happens, there should be only one aircraft carrier in the Japanese military port. But just in case, everyone should take a few more glances at the photos before the action, and never mistake the target."

"After destroying the Fengxiang, if we still have enough ammunition, then go find the light cruiser under construction."

"Received!"

After the mission was clear, the sixteen Mosquito fighters immediately pulled up and exposed the Lancaster fleet in the air.

That's right, it was pulled up.

This arrangement was made because Zhao Baotong decided to use the bomber squadron as bait. When the enemy's ship attack began to "hunt", they would kill from high altitude and solve the enemy with one blow.

The reason why this combat hero was so confident was that the hangar of the Fengxiang was really pitifully small.

Even if the Japanese captain ordered all the fighters on the deck to take off and fight, and even pulled out the spare planes in the hangar, he could barely gather 15 planes.

To put it bluntly, with so few fighters, not all of them were Zero fighters, and whether they could defeat the self-defense machine guns of the Lancaster fleet was a question. (End of this chapter)