Dewey ordered the fleet to turn 90 degrees without hesitation and flee northeast. What he meant was to detour around Wake Island, avoid the bombing range of enemy bombers, and make a curved movement toward the Marshall Islands.
As soon as the reconnaissance plane appeared, enemy bombers began to visit the sky above the Dewey fleet, and dived slightly to drop bombs on the fleet. The bombs exploded in the sea area around the fleet, raising a large amount of water columns. Since the opponent did not dive at a low altitude, the hit rate was not
too high.
But even so, the pressure on the frightened Dewey fleet was still considerable.
Because of the lessons learned from the past, Dewey ordered the fleet to place all the rapid-fire cannons, machine guns, light and heavy machine guns, etc. that can be fired into the air on the army and navy ships in a position where they can attack the air at a large angle.
Cope with pressure from the air.
It just comes in handy now. As soon as the Imperial bombers approach the sky, these light and heavy weapons, as long as they are at an adequate angle, will be launched into the air. This is somewhat of a threat to the aviation formation, so the Imperial aviation pilots do not dare to lower their altitude too much.
height. The corresponding hit rate is not high!
But this does not matter to the Tai 1 and Tai 2 bombing formations. After all, Yan Bing's tactical thinking for the squadron is to squeeze the Dewey fleet towards the northeast Yan Bing main fleet. The real killer move is to attack the enemy.
On the way to escape.
"Report to the Commander, there is a Chinese Imperial Fleet heading towards Wake Island to attack our fleet!" In the process of escaping rapidly, the seaplane dispatched by Dewey reported to the Dewey Mixed Fleet the intelligence of the enemy fleet it had detected! And the intelligence
The officer immediately reported the information to Dewey.
After receiving the news, Dewey jumped up as if he was electrocuted and asked the intelligence officer urgently: "How many warships does the other party have, which fleet is it, and what is its speed?"
The intelligence officer replied with a grimace:
"Due to the presence of fighter-bombers on the other side, our No. 1 water reconnaissance aircraft cannot get close to the opponent's sky. However, according to a rough visual inspection by the scout, the opponent has many battleships of super-dreadnought or above, and there are also more than 40 other types of fast ships.
Like the Chinese Empire’s Pacific Fleet, it doesn’t seem to be too big!”
"Not too big? How is this possible? You know, we have more than a hundred warships. Facing a force nearly three times theirs, how can they have the courage to pursue our fleet? And the Pacific Fleet has more than 70
There is a warship! There must be a trap inside!" Dewey screamed and muttered his worries.
Faced with such information, not to mention the cunning Dewey, even the most ordinary staff officer would be puzzled. This situation is very abnormal. If something is abnormal, it must be a monster!
Since the other party has discovered traces of its own fleet, it must already know the strength of its own fleet.
Our own fleet has more than a dozen battlecruisers, more than twenty armored cruisers as escorts, and dozens of other ships! But the other party has the courage to pursue them with the help of several battleships and more than 40 escort ships.
The powerful own fleet, this makes no sense?!
And in terms of warship configuration, my own fleet has been 'eliminated' by previous bombings. Some of the thin-skinned, slow-moving old ships have been sunk, and the rest are all new high-performance armored ships! Could it be that 3 dozen
1 situation, the people of the Chinese Empire don’t know what it means?!
"Order to send a telegram to Wake Island! Inquire about the situation on Wake Island!" Dewey's intuition told him that the actions of the Chinese Empire's Pacific Fleet were strange and there must be some shocking conspiracy hidden there. So he decided to send a telegram to Wake Island to inquire.
I want to test whether Wake Island is in the hands of the enemy to judge the enemy's motives.
But in the face of the Pacific Fleet's high-power electronic jamming equipment, how could Dewey's telegram possibly penetrate it!?...
"Reporting to Captain, we have intercepted Dewey's radio waves. Dewey's fleet asked about the situation at Wake Island base! Do we want Wake Island to answer Dewey's department? In addition, do we ask Commander Yan Bing for instructions on our next specific tactics?" Pacific Squadron
The electronic ship intelligence officer, after receiving the electronic intelligence from the Dewey fleet, reports to the electronic captain.
"You're asking for permission! Is there something wrong with your brain? Commander Yan Bing's main fleet is currently radio silent. How can he reply to the order?" The captain of the electronic ship laughed and scolded: "Okay! You report the information to the three command ships.
That’s it, we don’t need radio silence!”
The electronic ship intelligence officer smirked and said: "It's the captain! Hehe..."
Dewey Mixed Fleet Electronic War Room: "Report to the Commander! There is no reply from Wake Island, but the Pacific Fleet that is chasing us has sent a telegram. It says...it says..." The intelligence officer held the
According to the contents of the telegram, he stuttered and reported the situation to Dewey. But he did not explain the specific content clearly.
Dewey said angrily: "What the hell! What did the other party say? Why are you hesitating? Hmm!!" As he spoke, he angrily snatched the telegram from the intelligence officer's hand.
However, the intelligence officer still reported the report truthfully: "Report to the commander! The other party said, 'Young girl Dewey... just stop yelling! I'm going to lick your ass!'" This time the intelligence officer didn't stutter again, but his
He had a strange look on his face, looking like he was holding back his laughter, and his face was red.
Just a few lines of the telegram were torn to pieces by an angry Dewey. He roared: "Damn yellow-skinned monkey, you are simply too much!" The furious Dewey wanted to change the course and clean up the tail behind him.
.But he still restrained this impulse with great control.
Because he suspected that the other party was deliberately irritating him, and it was possible that the main force of the Pacific Fleet was on its way.
"Course to 11 o'clock, the fleet is moving forward at full speed!" Dewey ordered, reason overcoming impulse. After the dragging ship sank, the unburdened fleet could finally sail at full speed. Dewey wanted to leave this sea area quickly, and the threat of the annihilation and bombing formation made Dewey
Very insecure.
But no matter how he tried to escape, there were always dozens of fighter jets hovering above the fleet.
These Pacific Fleet fighter-bombers did not go all out for dive bombing. Instead, they relied on the advantage of high altitude and used the machine guns under the belly of the aircraft to shoot at the ghost soldiers visible to the naked eye on the deck of Dewey's fleet.
At this time, the empire's carrier-based fighter-bombers have all been converted into D-type fighters. They are not equipped with top-mounted armaments like the old-fashioned aircraft. Instead, they are equipped with down-shooting machine guns on the belly of the aircraft, and are equipped with several millimeters of thick armor around the cockpit.
Steel plate, overall aluminum alloy body.
Under the belly of the aircraft, it can also carry cluster grenades, hand-thrown light bombs, mechanically dropped heavy explosives and torpedoes, etc., to effectively perform ground attack missions. The benefits of this design are obvious. With the advantage of height,
The fighter-bomber does not need to dive.
The firepower of Dewey's fleet below was limited due to its tilted-up position. The shooting angle and shooting height were very limited. Therefore, they could only mechanically shoot at high altitudes in vain. They were unable to deal with the fighter-bombers whizzing by at high altitudes.
The effective threat caused these exposed gunmen to continue to be shot and fall down.
But even so, the fighter-bomber formation does not dare to be careless. After all, it is easy to make mistakes when walking along the river!
Dewey was very resentful in the face of the constant harassment by the Chinese Empire's fighter-bombers, but he had no choice but to secretly swear in his heart that when he returned safely, he would report it to the Navy and have all the warships
Mount anti-aircraft guns.
"Report to the general! The forward fleet has discovered the presence of an enemy fleet, please give instructions?" The angry Dewey received the bad news again, which can be said to be even more unfortunate. The forward route of his fleet has been cut off by the enemy. This means that,
Your own fleet has been attacked from both sides by the other side...
"What is the specific information?" he immediately asked the adjutant. At the same time, he finally realized that the reason why the bombers kept harassing them was that they were driving him into an ambush!
"About thirty ships, more than twenty capital ships, and a dozen auxiliary ships. In addition, the forward fleet also discovered a D-type aircraft carrier that once appeared in Southeast Asia in the enemy's fleet, and forward water reconnaissance aircraft
, one was shot down by a fighter-bomber taking off from its aircraft carrier."
"What? There are fighter-bombers taking off and landing on the sea?! How is this possible? Are you sure?" After hearing this, Dewey immediately jumped to his feet and howled.
"Yes, General! This is the news brought back by the No. 1 seaplane that escaped. According to the report of the No. 1 observer, there are dozens of fighter-bombers taking off and landing on the opponent's aircraft carrier, and they have been pursuing us.
Come!" the adjutant replied to Dewey with a grimace and fear.
"How is this possible? How is this possible? The other party does not need to face us. With just these dozens of fighter-bombers, our fleet can be wiped out!" After receiving confirmation again, Dewey roared with a red face.
But he immediately thought of the key to the problem, which was to get close to the aircraft carrier and destroy it.
What he thought was indeed reasonable. When he has no effective means to deal with the opponent's fighter-bombers, he must quickly approach the opponent's aircraft carrier and sink the aircraft carrier at all costs. Then the opponent's fleet will become a fish without water and cannot replenish fuel and ammunition.
Fighter-bombers will pose no threat to our own fleet!
Dewey knew that with this state, he was determined not to escape. The only solution for now was to fight with all his strength. With the advantage of the number of his warships, he could definitely defeat him: "Order the entire team to line up.
Conical array, advance towards the opponent’s aircraft carrier with all your strength, be sure to destroy the opponent’s aircraft carrier!”
"It's the general!" the adjutant hurriedly conveyed the order.
Soon, fierce alarm bells sounded in Dewey's mixed fleet, and whistles also sounded one after another. The old ghost soldiers on each ship, under the command of the commander, ran to their battle positions in panic. These circumstances
This means that the Dewey fleet has entered a high-speed battle-ready state.