The time from the discovery of the Japanese fleet to the time it was shot down by the seaplane was very short, and the content of the telegram sent was also very short. There was no detailed description of the Japanese fleet, and there was no time to even send the specific location.
There is a rough direction, and the reconnaissance plane's direction of investigation is very clear. Even if there is no detailed location, a lot of information can be inferred.
An hour later, a Seagull reconnaissance aircraft belonging to the Indian Ocean Navy flew to the area where the seaplane was shot down, but the Japanese warship had disappeared and was missing.
It doesn't matter, no matter which direction the Japanese combined fleet goes, the final destination must be Guam, and more and more reconnaissance aircraft and submarines are gathering in this area.
Half an hour later, a "ghost submarine" belonging to the East India Navy issued an early warning and spotted a Japanese fleet about 900 kilometers northwest of Guam. The fleet included large Japanese aircraft carriers and battleships.
This location is about 270 kilometers away from where the seaplane was shot down. In such a short period of time, the fleet that shot down the seaplane could not have traveled so far. The staff therefore judged that this might be a Japanese squadron.
Since the squadron included large Japanese warships, Tang Li immediately ordered reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance in this area, and ordered the combined fleet on standby in Guam to go out for operations.
The "Seagull" still did not find the Japanese fleet when it arrived in the relevant waters, and the "Ghost Submarine" also lost its target because of insufficient speed.
At this time, night gradually fell, and the pilot's field of vision was greatly restricted. An Army Aviation "Cheetah" fighter jet on patrol spotted a Japanese water reconnaissance aircraft. The Japanese aircraft was quickly shot down, and the reconnaissance aircraft of both sides began to engage in close combat.
After aircraft carriers replace battleships as the core of the formation, who can first discover the location of the enemy fleet has become the key to winning a naval battle.
This has already been proven in previous military exercises in southern Africa.
The Japanese have also increased their emphasis on aircraft carriers.
But the level of attention is not enough.
After the successful attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Navy was full of confidence. The Japanese government announced that Japan had become the "most powerful naval power" and did not take the navies of the United States, the United Kingdom and Southern Africa into consideration at all. Before the combined fleet left for Manila, the Japanese Navy for the first time
1 Air Fleet Commander Lieutenant General Nagumo Chuichi even claimed: No matter what the mission is, I can complete it.
As a result, the First Air Fleet led by Chuichi Nagumo was raided by frogmen of the Southern African Navy in Manila. Both "Akagi" and "Soryu" were sunk, and the strength of the First Air Fleet was greatly damaged. This time it went to Guam and was completed and put into service last year.
The "Shoikaku" and "Zuihe" both went into battle, and the main force of the combined fleet came out in full force.
The fiasco in Manila did not make Chuichi Nagumo change his attitude. To this day, Chuichi Nagumo still firmly believes that the Japanese navy is superior and capable of defeating the Southern African navy, because "Akagi" and "Soryu" were not sunk on the battlefield, but were sunk by the southern African navy.
Africa was wounded in a sneak attack. Nagumo Chuichi even had illusions about "Akagi" and "Sangryu", hoping to salvage "Akagi" and "Sangryu" and send them back to Japan for repairs.
This must be a fantasy. Manila is now being attacked by the Southern African Air Force every day. The "Akagi" and "Sangryu" that are still sitting in Manila have changed beyond recognition. The Southern African Air Force is no longer even targeting the "Akagi" and "Sangryu".
target, because it has lost its attack value.
Throughout the night, reconnaissance aircraft of the Indian Ocean Fleet and Pacific Fleet were busy looking for the location of the Japanese Combined Fleet.
The same goes for the Japanese Combined Fleet. In addition to the four large aircraft carriers, the Japanese Combined Fleet also has four so-called "aircraft carriers" that can only carry seaplanes to participate in the war. This standard is recognized by the Japanese side. Only Japan in the world can only carry seaplanes.
The platform carrying seaplanes is called an "aircraft carrier".
According to this standard, all heavy cruisers and some light cruisers in the world can also be counted as aircraft carriers.
At 6 a.m., an F6F carrier-based aircraft belonging to the Pacific Fleet spotted the Japanese combined fleet about 600 kilometers northwest of Guam, and a large number of Allied fighter jets immediately swarmed in.
The first thing to arrive over the Japanese combined fleet was a torpedo plane taking off from the USS Enterprise.
Americans hated the Japanese so much that the U.S. commander who led the torpedo fleet launched a surprise attack on the Japanese fleet without air protection.
The result was very tragic. The Japanese combined fleet was a complete formation, with very powerful anti-aircraft firepower, and was protected by "Zero" carrier-based aircraft taking off from the aircraft carrier.
All 12 US torpedo planes were shot down. Most of the torpedo planes did not even get the chance to launch torpedoes. Only three torpedo planes stared at the frantically pursuing "Zero" and the overwhelming anti-aircraft firepower and struggled to launch torpedoes, but they did not hit any.
Target.
The second wave of torpedo planes arrived at the battlefield. The commander leading the group did not know the tragic fate of the previous wave of torpedo planes. After arriving at the battlefield, they also directly attacked the Japanese fleet.
The pilots of the "Zero" carrier-based aircraft were extremely happy.
The torpedo plane is not very fast when carrying heavy torpedoes. In order to ensure the attack effect, it has to fly close to the sea surface. The biggest advantage of the "Zero" is low-altitude combat. This kind of fighting method of the gourd boy saving grandpa has no effect on the Japanese combined fleet.
any threat.
At 6:15 in the morning, the "Cheetah" that took off from Saipan finally arrived at the battlefield and started a fierce air battle with the "Zero".
The "Cheetah" had performance advantages, and the "Zero" had the help of the Japanese joint fleet's anti-aircraft firepower. The battle was unprecedentedly fierce. A "Cheetah" was hit by Japanese anti-aircraft fire after shooting down a "Zero".
"It fell directly into the sea, and the pilot didn't even have a chance to parachute.
Parachuting is useless. Don't expect the Japanese army to abide by the "Prisoners of War Convention" and give prisoners of war treatment commensurate with their status, even if it is very difficult and expensive to train fighter pilots.
The Japanese can kill even American prisoners without restraint, and the same is true in southern Africa.
As time went by, more and more "Cheetahs" arrived on the battlefield, and the situation began to turn against the Japanese army.
When the "Zero" is fighting against the "Cheetah", it must also pay attention to dealing with dive bombers and torpedo planes that are constantly attacking the fleet.
When a "Zero" was chasing a "Seagull" bomber, it was accidentally shot down by its own anti-aircraft fire. The "Seagull" was also shot. However, it still struggled to fire the torpedo due to its strong protection. The pilot failed to fire the torpedo after firing the torpedo.
Instead of pulling up the nose of the plane, it crashed directly into the Japanese aircraft carrier "Hiryū" which was taking off fighter jets.
The "Seagull" hit the flight deck of the "Flying Dragon". The deck of the "Flying Dragon" instantly ignited a fire, and it lost its combat capability in a short time.
Don't have too many expectations for the Japanese army's damage control capabilities. The American "Yorktown" in another time and space was severely damaged when participating in the Battle of Coral Island. It dragged a ten-mile oil trail back to Pearl Harbor and only used
He regained his fighting ability in three days and three nights.
The Shokaku, which was also severely damaged in the Battle of Coral Island, missed the ensuing Battle of Midway Island.
The same is true in this time and space. "Akagi" and "Canglong" have not been fished out yet, and they will probably lose their maintenance value if they are fished out.
Repairing is not easier than building a new ship. The key is value. The Japanese obtain the steel they need to build warships by acquiring ships that are about to be demolished from the United States. How strong can these refurbished steel be?
Southern Africa and the United States never do this. If the ships are scrapped, they are more likely to be used as target ships and sunk in military exercises.
At 7.30 am, the "Goshawk" fighter jets from the Indian Ocean Fleet and the F6F carrier-based fighter jets from the Pacific Fleet also joined the battle. At this time, the ratio of the Japanese carrier-based fighter jets above the battlefield to the coalition fighter jets reached 1:3. The Japanese jointly
The fleet hasn't even taken off torpedo planes and bombers yet.
To dispatch torpedo planes and bombers, the location of the coalition fleet must first be discovered.
The Japanese did not pay enough attention to reconnaissance aircraft. They did not even have professional reconnaissance aircraft. The reconnaissance tasks of the fleet were carried out by battleships and seaplanes carried by heavy cruisers.
Seaplanes lack attack capabilities and protection. They cannot fly high or fast. Although their range is not bad, they will be almost dead when encountering coalition fighter jets.
Moreover, the number of seaplanes is still seriously insufficient. Battleships can only carry three, and most heavy cruisers can only carry one. With these seaplanes, trying to find the location of the coalition fleet in hundreds of square kilometers of sea is almost like finding a needle in a haystack.
Even if the location of the coalition fleet is found, if the Japanese torpedo planes and bombers want to attack the coalition fleet, they must first break through the interception of the coalition fighter jets and then break through the air defense firepower network of the coalition fleet.
The attack aircraft currently used by the Japanese army is the 97 carrier-based attack aircraft. This aircraft was developed by the Japanese army in 1935 and is close to the old model ten years ago. Although the Japanese have subsequently upgraded the 97 carrier-based attack aircraft, its performance is still seriously insufficient.
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97 Ship Attack can carry torpedoes, and because it lacks dive capability, it can also carry bombs for horizontal bombing.
The fastest speed of the 97 Ship Attack is only 377 kilometers per hour. Under the current standard of fighter jets that can easily reach speeds of 600 to 700 kilometers per hour, as long as it is discovered by a fighter jet, it will be a dead end.
As for the battleships, in the Battle of Midway in another time and space, the battleships of the Japanese combined fleet had super-large-caliber main guns, but they had no chance to be used from beginning to end. Even the anti-aircraft firepower was proven to be unsuitable for cooperating with aircraft carriers.
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It was the same this time. While the coalition aircraft carrier formation was fighting fiercely with the Japanese aircraft carrier formation, the main Japanese fleet attacking Guam was still 200 nautical miles away. According to the "Yamato"'s fastest speed of 27 knots, it would take about seven and a half days to reach the battlefield.
Hours later, the day lilies were already cold by the time "Yamato" arrived.
Even if it can arrive in time, the "Yamato" cannot catch up with the aircraft carrier's starting speed of 30 knots.
As soon as the battle broke out, Nagumo Chuichi sent a telegram to Commander Yamamoto Isoroku of the Japanese Combined Fleet for help.
Yamamoto Isoroku did not reply to Nagumo Chuichi. The main fleet he led was still advancing towards Guam. As long as the "Yamato" arrived in Guam, it could completely destroy the Guam military port and island defense facilities.
This is destined to be a luxury hope. The coalition forces have many more fighter planes than the Japanese army estimated before the war. Even if half of the fighter planes are allocated to deal with the fleet led by Nagumo Chuichi, they still have enough power to deal with the main fleet led by Yamamoto Isoroku.
At 9 a.m., a "Seagull" reconnaissance plane spotted the main Japanese fleet led by Isoroku Yamamoto 250 nautical miles west of Guam.
The two "City" class aircraft carriers "Elizabeth" and "Salisbury", as well as the "Nyasaland" aircraft carrier took the initiative to attack.
The three aircraft carriers carry a total of 350 fighter aircraft.
The main fleet led by Yamamoto Isoroku only had two seaplane carriers and carried a total of 50 seaplanes.
At 10:50, the "Goshawks" of three fighter squadrons took off from three aircraft carriers respectively. After completing the formation above the fleet, they advanced towards the Japanese main fleet led by Yamamoto Isoroku.
This order was too cautious. The Japanese fleet had no fighter protection at all. The poor attack power of the seaplanes could be dealt with by relying on the "Sea Harrier"'s own capabilities.
In other words, the "Sea Harrier" does not need the protection of fighter jets at all when carrying out attacks.
There are a total of 36 "Goshawks" in the three fighter squadrons, and their opponents are 50 seaplanes with inferior performance.
The result of the battle was without any surprises. Only one "Goshawk" was lost during the battle, and all Japanese seaplanes were shot down.
The Japanese army only took off less than 40 seaplanes, and the remaining seaplanes did not dare to take off at all.
Even if they all take off, it is useless. I can only give honor to the "Goshawk" pilots. This time, the Indian Ocean Fleet has given birth to two ace pilots.
These two ace pilots had already accumulated three kills before joining the battle. During the battle, other pilots cooperated and tried their best to leave the chance of shooting down to these two pilots.
The two lucky guys lived up to expectations. After the battle, they accumulated five and six aircraft respectively, and were successfully promoted to ace pilots.
By the way, before the Battle of Guam broke out, the Indian Ocean Fleet in Southern Africa already had 45 ace pilots.
The only regret is that among these 45 aces, the one with the most shot downs was only 37, which cannot be compared with those famous aces who often shot down hundreds.
Southern Africa is different from Germany. Germany has a small number of pilots, so the ace's results are terrible.
There are many fighter planes in southern Africa, so there are opportunities for pilots to participate in battles. Most of the time, there are more wolves than meat. If a pilot wants to become an "ace", in addition to his own sufficient strength, he also needs the cooperation of other pilots.
The Japanese main fleet without air protection was even worse than the air fleet led by Nagumo Chuichi.
When the air fleet faces an attack, it can also release the "Zero" to resist. When the "Yamato" faces an attack, it can only rely on its own anti-aircraft firepower.
The latest red-head torpedoes equipped in southern Africa have a range of more than 20,000 meters. In order to ensure the attack effect, bomber pilots usually launch torpedoes within 10,000 meters. This distance is beyond the visual range of Japanese observers.
By the way, Japanese warships have not yet been equipped with radars.
It’s not that I don’t want to pretend, it’s that I don’t have it at all.
