Great time travel

Chapter 126, South Indian Ocean Pursuit

Compared with Chief of Staff Shen Shigetoku's various fears and worries in the rear headquarters, the "Blue Mermaid" women's fleet in the Indian Ocean is all gearing up, full of ambition, and high-spirited, fully showing that they are newborns. A calf is not afraid of a tiger's adventurous spirit.

——Just like every guy who got a big steel toy like a battleship couldn't help but pull it out and shoot a few shots.

Strictly speaking, this time in the southern Indian Ocean, killing wild monsters and fighting mobs is indeed a Novice Village task with extremely low difficulty and risk—the opponents are just a group of transport ships and auxiliary ships with broken hearts and gallbladders running around desperately. , running very slowly, although equipped with a little self-defense firepower, such as a few heavy machine guns or a few artillery pieces, but in the face of the attack of regular warships, such armed strength is actually no different from having none.

However, although Japan's "Blue Mermaid" women's fleet is all cutting-edge ships, the quality of personnel is really poor. The gold content of a victory is fading.

First of all, the cruiser Kaohsiung, which was handed over to the girls to drive, fired nearly a hundred salvos at a cargo ship at a long distance just after entering the range, but none of them hit, not even a near miss. The ship remained unharmed...but in the end the freighter was so frightened that it stopped the ship with a white flag.

Then there was the battleship Musashi as the flagship. Before it broke out of the Strait of Malacca, a boiler explosion and a pipeline leak occurred. A fire broke out on the spot, killing and injuring nearly a hundred people, and the entire ship had a power outage for nearly [-] hours...the ship had to drop anchor on the spot. Repairs were rushed, and the command system became a mess.

Then there is the heavy cruiser Nachi, which did not consider the tide problem when chasing a cruise ship fleeing northward to India. Unfortunately, it caught up with the low tide and ran aground on the beach. Now it is paralyzed on the sandbar in the Palk Strait waiting for rescue... I hope that in the future Before the rescue arrives, don't be attacked by the Indians on the shore.

The most embarrassing thing was the destroyer Harukaze, which was actually killed by an armed merchant ship - the tail of that ship was equipped with a 203mm heavy gun, and it hit the Harukaze ship like a god. In the bridge cab, another shot damaged Harukaze's boiler turbine, so he took the opportunity to drive to full speed and slip away.What's more terrible is that, next, the Harukaze, which lost its power and was paralyzed on the sea, failed to wait for the rescue of its own people first, but unfortunately encountered the British destroyer HMS Shrew, and was sent into the bottom of the water by a torpedo. The crew spent a day and a night in the sea before being picked up.

However, the British destroyer HMS Shrew could not escape very far, and was besieged by four other Japanese destroyers, and finally sank by mines.

And what made Chief of Staff Shen Shigetoku break out in a cold sweat was the distress of the battleship "National Idol" Yamato...

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In the equatorial waters southeast of the Maldives Islands, a fierce naval and air battle is in progress.

The screams of the dive bombers, the thud of the anti-aircraft artillery bombardment, and the shouts of the sailors were intertwined on the deck.

Wearing a snow-white uniform, golden tassels on her shoulders, and a gorgeous saber hanging from her waist, Ms. Minami Rika, the acting captain of the Yamato, looked up numbly at the US "Corcia" dive bombers and the revenge attack. Raider torpedo plane.Whispering and circling around the battleship Yamato under his feet, he rolled and turned flexibly, and launched fierce and fearless attack dives on Yamato and the escorting destroyers again and again.

These U.S. naval aviation soldiers, with their slightly green technology and indomitable courage, faced the crazy shooting of the Japanese warship's anti-aircraft artillery firepower, and constantly adjusted their flight altitude and angle amidst the roaring roar and dazzling fire, heading towards the gunpowder. A string of black dots was sprinkled on the diffuse sea surface, and then suddenly climbed out of contact... The string of black dots that fell from the fuselage quickly exploded into huge balls of flames, and the long impact points exploded in succession. A wall of flames.The huge sound wave and flame wall cover up all the noise and color on the sea surface, which is enough to be described as earth-shattering.

Although the Japanese fleet's anti-aircraft fire nets were also extremely blazing, like erupting volcanoes, causing American planes to fall like meteors.However, the U.S. fighter planes eager for revenge continued to rush towards the Yamato like moths to a flame!
——Before, after Ms. Nan Lixiang, the acting captain of the Yamato, led the ship into the Indian Ocean, she didn't pay attention to the small fish and shrimps at all, and focused on the biggest prey in this pursuit: the flagship of the British Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet, Battlecruiser "African Ares" Prestige.

Because according to the accurate information obtained by the reconnaissance satellites, the U.S. and British troops currently do not have any aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean, not even the kind of escort aircraft carriers converted from cruise ships.Therefore, without the cover of the aircraft carrier's naval aviation, Captain Nan Lixiang boldly led the magic-modified nuclear fusion-powered battleship Yamato and two escorting Shimakaze-class destroyers, and clung to the Renown... And finally in the equatorial waters south of the Maldives Islands, successfully bit the tail of the battlecruiser Renown.

Regrettably, although the Allied forces do not have any aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean today, and the entire Indian Ocean route is in a state of closure, but at the Maldives Islands Air Force Base in the heart of the Indian Ocean, because the Allied forces are aggressively advancing from the front lines in North Africa and the Middle East. For the sake of retreat, a full thirty squadrons of fighter jets and bombers were deposited!Originally, these planes were going to return home, but now they can be used to besiege the Yamato.

——Although more than half of them are Army Aviation aircraft and have no training in attacking ships, they are all experienced pilots withdrawn from the front lines in North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. After hanging bombs and torpedoes, they are still worthy of a battle.Not to mention that there are at least four veteran HNA squadrons left...

Thus, in an instant, the offensive and defensive momentum reversed, and the battleship Yamato under the command of Ms. Nan Lixiang changed from a hunter to a prey before it could fire a shell at the desperately running Renown... The first thing that appeared was just a ka The Talina seaplane hovered far away in the sky.Captain Nan Lixiang didn't care much about this, but continued to chase the Renown.But then, the radio at the rear sent an urgent warning: a huge attack aircraft group had taken off from the Maldives Islands and was rushing towards the sky of the Yamato!

Nan Lixiang, who hadn't experienced the test of a real hard battle, suddenly panicked, so she had to give up the pursuit of the Renown and turn around and retreat eastward.However, even the magically modified nuclear-powered Yamato-class battleship that can drive to 42 knots at full speed is still unable to outrun the plane... Shortly after the Yamato completed its U-turn, the Allied fleet that took off from the Maldives roared in. Launched a series of dive attacks!
At the beginning of the battle of the Maldives, it was started by the salvo of the 460mm main gun of the No. 460 turret at the tail of the Yamato-shooting the aircraft with the [-]mm main gun of the Yamato, which can be regarded as a great invention of the Japanese navy.For this reason, the Japanese army specially developed three types of anti-aircraft bombs, also known as shotgun shells or fireworks bombs. In the vernacular, they are flower bombs. One shot will explode into countless fragments. It can be said that it can attack in all directions up, down, left, and right. The effect is not armor piercing or explosion, but directly smearing your face.Moreover, what it disperses is not conventional metal shrapnel, but incendiary bombs rich in various chemical combustion substances. Every time a three-type anti-aircraft bomb is fired, a huge meteor shower will burst in the air. , just like gorgeous fireworks blooming.

However, behind this bright and gorgeous fireworks, there is a deadly danger hidden.After each Type [-] anti-aircraft bomb explodes, it can split into thousands of fragments, or thousands of small incendiary bombs, instantly turning a large piece of sky or sea into a sea of ​​flames.

More importantly, the blooming of each group of fireworks can theoretically clear out a large area of ​​enemy bombers or torpedo planes-in the World War II era, at least the bomber formations in the early days of World War II were not like modern military jets , in order to avoid collision accidents, the planes need to be far apart from each other.On the contrary, due to the small size, slow speed and poor equipment of the aircraft at that time, many early models of fighter jets and bombers did not even have radios, and air commanders had to rely on gestures and semaphore to issue orders.Therefore, in order for the pilots to be able to hear each other's gestures and even hear each other's voices, the fleet at that time was tightly packed when the formation went out, and they would disperse when they were about to go into battle.

And every time the three-type anti-aircraft bomb is fired, it can form a spherical space killing range with a diameter of 300 meters.In addition, it has a long range, and it can attack the enemy planes before they disband their formation. If you are lucky, you can kill an enemy squadron with just one shot...

Of course, in actual combat, the luck of Yamato-class battleships is usually not so good.Moreover, in the late World War II, with the advancement of radio technology, aircraft from various countries were equipped with radios one after another, and the formations became more and more dispersed.In addition, this Type III anti-aircraft bomb containing a large amount of flammable chemicals is still a source of danger when installed on a large warship. Because the Japanese military technology level is not up to standard, the performance of this Type III anti-aircraft bomb is very unstable. Maybe it will explode at any time, which is almost the same as the "powerful oxygen torpedo"-but if it is really aimed correctly, the effect will be astonishing.

——Relying on the precise calculation of the tactical computer, three giant bombs roared out of the muzzle, passed through the low clouds at 1000 meters, and drew a highly curved trajectory in the atmosphere, accurately hitting the incoming US plane. The explosion exploded in the formation, turning into countless fine shrapnel, forming three huge inverted bowl-shaped meteor fireworks in the air, spreading across a vast space, and killing a dozen Avenger torpedo aircraft in an instant...

After the 460mm main gun fired two Type III anti-aircraft shells, the U.S. fighter planes with heavy losses finally reached the sky above the battleship Yamato, and a more intense sea-air decisive battle broke out-all the anti-aircraft guns of the Yamato fired at the same time. Three layers of airtight and terrifying barrage; the escorting two magic-modified Shimakaze-class destroyers also moved towards the approaching route of the enemy plane, using large-caliber anti-aircraft guns to fire artillery fire, and built two firepower belts to drive away the enemy planes. the Grim Reaper.Dense anti-aircraft artillery shells burst into clouds of hot metal shrapnel in mid-air, weaving a deadly net called death, and shooting down the US military aircraft entering this area one by one.But even though many of their colleagues have gone and never returned, the red-eyed U.S. pirate attack planes still went forward and took turns to shoot and drop bombs, causing eye-catching water columns to continuously rise up on the sea around the Yamato

Under normal circumstances, Sophie, the ship's wife who corrupted the Yamato, would have already taken over the automated air defense system, blowing up a batch of U.S. fighter planes that came in batches with unerring accuracy.However, the main body of the ship girl Sophie, the Russian cruiser Aurora, was unfortunately affected by the nuclear explosion in Leningrad, and the soul of the ship girl Sophie was also severely damaged. Paralyzed, has not yet fully recovered.

Therefore, the sea-air battle that broke out in the Indian Ocean could only rely on the rookie female sailors on the ship to play freely... As a result, due to insufficient air defense training, various problems soon appeared: inaccurate range measurement, The movement is out of joint, the supply of ammunition is intermittent, and the radio proximity fuze on the anti-aircraft shells is also affected by the high-power jamming equipment on the US bomber, and they explode at a position far away from the enemy plane... It was full of planes, and it seemed that shooting in any direction would hit one. However, no matter how frantically the sailors on the ship fired, the record was still much less than expected.Like a ferocious buffalo fighting a swarm of bees, no matter how it growls and rams, it can't do anything to these little wasps.

Taking advantage of the gap caused by all this chaos, five Avenger torpedo planes finally broke through the Yamato's long-range fire net, approached the "Yamato" battleship from various heights and angles, and dropped the first batch of air-dropped torpedoes—at this time However, relying on the assistance of the tactical computer, the observers of the "Yamato" ship accurately and immediately reported the speed and course of the American torpedo.Captain Nan Lixiang also calmly commanded the "Yamato" to avoid the first wave of torpedo attacks.But the problem is that the evasive maneuvering of the battleship further affected the performance of anti-aircraft artillery fire to a considerable extent. Therefore, a squadron of "Corcia" dive bombers immediately rushed towards the face aggressively and accurately dropped the bomber before being shot down. heavy bomb.

In an instant, a huge and violent explosion tore through the stern and rear deck of the Yamato, causing the entire ship to be violently shocked.Fragments of cracked steel and wood flew all over the sky, leaving a huge crater in the deck.The crew of the Yamato had to venture out of the cabin, use high-pressure water hoses to extinguish the fire in embarrassment, and push the blown-up seaplane into the sea, barely curbing the further spread of the fire.

The hit of a mere bomb theoretically does not affect the defense of the Yamato.And, in return, Yamato's anti-aircraft guns smashed three Corcia dive bombers to pieces.Then there was another unlucky Corsair attack plane, which was shot down by the frantic Captain Nan Lixiang personally operating individual air defense missiles.However, stimulated by this achievement, more and more U.S. attack aircraft fleets poured out, like sharks smelling blood, swarming into the fire net at the risk of death, and pounced on the Yamato—” Corsair attack planes, Corcia dive bombers, Avenger torpedo planes, and even lumbering four-engine B-24 heavy bombers all joined in the fun.The battleship Yamato twisted its huge body with difficulty, avoiding the bombs that fell like raindrops, and soon lost two consecutive bombs, and water seepage appeared on the side of the ship.

The two Shimakaze-class destroyers in charge of escorting were even more unlucky. Their sophisticated and fragile high-temperature and high-pressure boiler systems were already very prone to failure.When it came to the harsh wartime state, all the chains were lost. Because the boiler was damaged and burst, the two ships broke down and shut down one after another. Then, under the siege of the US attack planes, they exploded and sank one after another. Only Yamato was left. No. [-] is still fleeing and struggling alone on the sea.

Then, the most dangerous moment finally came——while the Yamato was struggling to deal with the enemy planes attacking all over the sky, while running desperately towards the east at the maximum speed, it unfortunately collided with the gun of a British submarine. On the mouth... the continuous artillery fire obviously affected everyone's attention. When the scouts screamed "four torpedoes, port side, dodge quickly!", it was too late!

——Captain Nan Lixiang, who was covered in cold sweat, looked from the bridge and saw four torpedo signs and four tunas moving at high speed, approaching the port side of the "Yamato" ship!Although she immediately risked a full port rudder and played a game of sea drifting, she was finally hit by a torpedo... There was only a "boom", and more than half of the crew were almost thrown up, and then fell on the ground on the ground.Before they got up, two more [-]kg heavy bombs hit the No. [-] turret on the front deck one after another. Although they failed to break through the top armor of the turret, they damaged the transmission mechanism, making it impossible to fire again. .

As time went by, more and more thick smoke came out of the Yamato ship, and the damage control team members ran back and forth and still couldn't save it.The fire net of the anti-aircraft gun was also blown out of the gap, making the frequency of being shot higher and higher.Although Captain Nan Lixiang took out individual air defense missiles, which can be called black technology in this era, they caused enemy planes to explode in the air like hitting birds.However, in front of the overwhelming US military aircraft fleet, there is still the danger of being outnumbered.

In fact, the Yamato at this time had already run out of the combat radius of the US shore-based aviation.However, after repeated defeats and repeated defeats recently, the U.S. military, which urgently needs a victory to boost morale, has made up its mind. It would rather let all the planes go away forever, and the pilots find a place to parachute and soak in sea water to wait for rescue, and they also want to take Yamato in the Indian Ocean. The ship was sunk... After a three-hour sea-air battle, the U.S. military lost more than 150 fighter planes of various types, and more than 300 planes ran out of fuel and crashed, and the pilots parachuted into the sea.However, the Yamato was also hit by five torpedoes and eleven aerial bombs in a row. The hull was flooded with more than 500 tons of water. The two main gun turrets were damaged and could not fire. six knots.

Fortunately, night has fallen on the Indian Ocean at this time, and the US military combat aircraft in the Maldives have basically been exhausted.However, the plane at this time did not have the ability to fight against the ship at night, so it could only sit back and watch the cooked duck fly away again, and watch the severely damaged Yamato stagger away.

After more than an hour, the flames on the deck of the Yamato were finally extinguished.The smoking wreckage of the lifeboat was also thrown into the sea, only the crooked and torn steel plates had gaps like shark teeth, and the sloping cabin walkway was covered with oil and blood... It has been a long time since we left the zombie apocalypse Nan Lixiang, who had never been subjected to such a cruel test, couldn't help sighing sadly when she saw this.

——According to the analysis of the staff officers and the radio instructions from the rear, the Yamato at this time is still not really out of danger.Because although it has left the attack range of the US military's shore-based aircraft, it will take at least one day before it can enter the effective range of its own shore-based air defense and obtain air cover from its own aircraft.If the battlecruiser Renown, which had been being chased by the Yamato before, took the opportunity to turn around and kill it, then with the speed and firepower of the opponent, and the half-dead state of the Yamato, the possibility of failing and sinking in a conventional artillery battle, I am afraid More than ninety percent.

However, until the Yamato was completely out of danger and rendezvoused with its own destroyer who came to the rescue, the Renown did not appear again...

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Although from the interlaced and complicated radio waves in the sky, Admiral Fraser, commander of the British Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet on the Renown, had already known the tragedy of the Yamato being besieged by American planes and severely damaged.But from the beginning to the end, he did not try to turn the rudder to kill a carbine at all. Instead, relying on the help of the US shore-based air force to get rid of the pursuit of the battleship Yamato, he rushed directly into Kenya's Mongolia without any reluctance. Port of Bassa.

——In Admiral Fraser's view, since the British Empire can only bid farewell to the Indian Ocean anyway, and will never continue to be an enemy with the Japanese, preserving its strength is far more important than winning.Even if the Yamato is sunk, only the Americans can really benefit.And if the Renown is lost, then the British Empire’s government-in-exile, which has now moved to Guyana, will not even have a capital ship—in this cruel era where there is no power and no right to speak, no matter how humiliating and difficult the situation is, the British Empire The Royal Navy must not be reduced to an air fleet on paper.

As a result, Admiral Fraser, despite the ridicule and abuse of the US troops stationed in Africa on the shore, stayed and rested in the port of Mombasa for a period of time, and successively gathered a group of auxiliary ships and civilian ships that escaped from the East. Governor Mountbatten and General Wingate arrived, as well as more than 1 British troops who had withdrawn from Singapore and India, and then continued south with them, passing through Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, Maputo and Germany. Ban Hong finally arrived in Cape Town, South Africa with a large refugee convoy at the beginning of September.

According to the plan discussed in advance by Admiral Fraser and Governor Mountbatten, they should cross the Atlantic Ocean after a short rest in Cape Town, go to the colony of Guyana, and join the cabinet government of Churchill in exile... However, this plan ultimately Still a bubble.

——This patchwork and unarmed hodgepodge fleet had just arrived in Cape Town, when it was raided and disarmed by a group of ferocious South African soldiers in the name of quarantine, and then an arrogant Boer envoy came Persuading Admiral Fraser to surrender: "...on behalf of the South African Federal Government, I declare that the Renown has become our property, and at the same time sincerely invite you and your subordinates to join the newly established Southern African Community Navy..."

Regarding this, Admiral Fraser, the commander of the Eastern Fleet of the Royal Navy, was stunned for a while, then trembling all over, with tears in his eyes, and deeply felt the malice of this world-he had fought bloody battles for half his life. The British Empire no longer exists now... and the battlecruiser Renown, which has been with him for several years, will also lower the Mi Ziqi flag representing the glory of the past, and will forever be reduced to the existence of the "African God of War"...

——Half a year after the outbreak of the Third World War, the military power of the British Empire finally completely withdrew from the arena of the World War...