Endo Kiichi, who suffered a torpedo and lost a destroyer, commanded the fleet to set up an anti-submarine formation and sail towards Fuzhou Fou at a speed of fifteen knots.
Facts have proved that Endo Kiichi's caution is indeed effective. At 15:43 pm, when they were one hundred nautical miles away from the mainland, they were attacked by a second wave of submarines. However, this wave of attacks was not like the one at noon.
It's so simple. This wave of attacks was launched simultaneously by five submarines on both sides of the Japanese fleet. Even though the Japanese fleet was well prepared, the Japanese fleet still faced the torpedoes that appeared from all sides at the same time.
In the chaos, a destroyer and two troop transports were sunk, and a light cruiser was seriously injured. Fortunately, the water anti-submarine aircraft on the Japanese aircraft carrier scrambled to take off and desperately fired at the suspicious sea area.
The destroyers also frantically dropped depth charges all around, turning the surrounding sea upside down.
In this chaotic ambush, one of the four lurking submarines was exposed and was rushed by Japanese destroyers and sunk with depth charges, while the remaining three took advantage of the chaos to escape.
The news of the loss of a submarine soon reached the ears of Su Rui, who was far away in Guangzhou. Su Rui, who looked gloomy, clutched the telegram in his hand and looked very ugly.
Liang Zhi on the side knew how Su Rui was feeling at the moment, and he comforted softly: "Sir, you don't have to be too sad. Although the U-27 submarine has all died for the country, they also sunk a Japanese destroyer, which can be regarded as
A well-deserved death.”
Su Rui sighed softly, "Ziran, you have to know that those submarine sailors are all highly educated talents that we have worked hard to select. Even if one of them dies, I will be heartbroken. Now more than fifty sailors from the entire submarine have returned."
Dahai, this kind of loss is really too great, do you think I can help but feel sad?".
Liang Zhi remained silent. Although he did not intervene in the formation of the submarine force, he still knew some things. The selection of submarine officers and soldiers was simply more stringent than the selection of pilots selected from a hundred. No matter in terms of academic qualifications, mental quality or physical fitness, they were all the same.
Those who are waiting for the first grade will be dismissed even if they are even slightly unqualified. In the words of Navy Commander Cheng Sheng, it is simply more stringent than choosing a son-in-law.
For example, the selection of general ground forces such as infantry is the simplest. Anyone with sound limbs and no acute infectious diseases can join the army. However, for armored forces, artillery or observers who have higher education requirements, they require junior high school students.
(Junior high school students) or even high school education is enough. Even the so-called proud pilots only require junior high school students to start.
But this submarine soldier is different. The standard minimum educational level of a submarine soldier must be a high school graduate. As for the physical or mental quality requirements, the requirements are even higher. For example, a submarine soldier has one requirement:
What the military does not have is that all submariners must have neat teeth. This is because submariners need to rely on diving respirators when they need to work underwater or are in distress. This determines that submariners must have neat teeth to bite.
The mouthpiece of the respirator. Therefore, submariners require that the distance between the upper and lower canines should not exceed 0.3 centimeters after the inner teeth are engaged. As for other requirements for various body organs such as ears, eyes, etc., the requirements are not listed one by one.
Strict and demanding requirements make the selection of submariners very difficult. Especially these days, there are so few educated young people, and it is even more difficult to select qualified submariners from such a small number of people. In addition,
In the competition for the Air Force and the surface ship force, it can be said that the selection of submarine force personnel has always been a problem. In the past two years, the submarine force has only formed an underwater force of twenty-two submarines. This shows that the construction of the submarine force
of difficulty.
After a while of silence, Su Rui asked Liang Zhi, "Zi Ran, is there any plan on the submarine to ambush the Japanese ship?".
Liang Zhi quickly replied: "Sir, the submarine force still has a final ambush plan. Seven submarines are conducting a final ambush eighty nautical miles away from the shore. They are expected to contact the Japanese army at 18 o'clock tonight. However,
According to the aerial reconnaissance report, the Japanese fleet became more cautious after the second ambush. They dispatched more than a dozen seaplanes to conduct continuous reconnaissance around the aircraft carrier fleet. Once traces of submarines were discovered, they would immediately drop depth charges. Our
If the submarine takes the risk of launching an attack, we don't know what the outcome will be, but the losses will definitely be very heavy."
Su Rui pondered for a long time before slowly saying: "Let's do this. Order the submarine force to suspend operations and cruise around the Japanese fleet first. Order the naval aviation division to dispatch immediately to attack the Japanese fleet!"
"What? Let the navy be dispatched?"
Liang Zhi was shocked when he heard this. In fact, the Hainan Division was a shore-based aviation force adapted from the 3rd Air Force Division that was originally planned to be established but had not yet been completed.
The so-called shore-based aviation is the naval aviation based on land and water airports. Their mission is to assist or help the navy compete for coastal air and sea control. Moreover, there are certain differences between the shore-based aviation fighters and the air force. For example, now
The fighters equipped by this shore-based aviation force and responsible for seizing air supremacy are not the main P-51 Mustang fighters equipped by the 1st Air Division and the 2nd Air Division. They are F6-F Vixen fighters and F-4U Corsair fighters.
The F-4F Corsair fighter is also a very excellent fighter. The biggest difference between it and the F6-F fighter is that in addition to its excellent acceleration performance, durability and long range, it can also carry some ground attack weapons.
Ground attack mission.
In addition to these, the Hainan Division also formed two bombing brigades, equipped with SBD-5 needless dive bombers and TBF Avenger torpedo attack aircraft. In order to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the Hainan Division, Su Rui specially ordered the Logistics Department to transfer materials and personnel
The purpose of tilting towards the Marine Navigation Division is to allow them to quickly form combat effectiveness. But as of today, the Marine Navigation Division has only been established for less than three months. According to the plan, it will take another three months to officially form an army, but now Su Rui wants to
The unformed naval division went on a mission to attack the Japanese fleet, which had to worry Liang Zhi.
"Sir, the Marine Navigation Division has only been established for less than three months. The pilots are still seizing the time to train, especially those pilots of bombers and torpedo planes. They have not completed the training of attacking ships. Should we send them out now?
Too hasty? If so, I'm afraid the casualties will be huge. How about we let the 2nd Air Division take over for the Marine Division? Didn't they sink a Japanese battleship and several destroyers last time?
?".
"You're confused!" Su Rui glared at Liang Zhi, "Those are just destroyers, but the 1st Air Division and the 2nd Air Division are equipped with Stuka dive bombers, and they all perform ground attack missions.
The second time was that the Japanese did not expect that we would attack their fleet with anti-aircraft fire rifles, so the Stuka could also make a guest appearance on the ship attack mission. However, this time the Japanese have obviously strengthened their air defense forces, protected by more than 20 destroyers.
If you let a bomber as heavy as the Stuka carry out an attack mission against a ship, wouldn't it mean that they would die?"
Liang Zhi's face turned red and his tone was choked. He paused for a while and then said: "Sir, why don't we let them take away the 2nd and 3rd Division? We'll keep the green hills and don't have to worry about running out of firewood."
, it won’t be too late for us to settle accounts with them after our naval division is established.”
Su Rui smiled bitterly: "No, Ziran, why don't I want to give the naval division more training, but time waits for no one. The war in Europe is already in full swing, and the Germans have beaten the British and French to pieces.
, Americans are waiting to find a time to take advantage. But what about us? We are still overwhelmed by a small Japan. If this continues, we will not be able to benefit from this war!"
"Get benefits?" Liang Zhi was dumbfounded after listening to Su Rui's words. He really didn't know what he, Commander Su, was like. Now that they themselves are in danger, he still wants to get benefits from this war. This
This kind of thinking is really too powerful.
Liang Zhi let out a long breath, "Okay, now that the commander has made up his mind, it's hard for the staff to stop him, but I still suggest that one or two squadrons of fighters from the Second Air Division can be deployed to protect the Hainan Division to avoid
The inexperienced navy division suffered excessive losses."
"Well, that's okay." Su Rui nodded, "I would do it even if you didn't say it, but the eagle always has to spread its wings and fly high, so I have no choice but to do this. As the saying goes,
It would be better to cut off one of his ten fingers. If the Second and Third Divisions were allowed to escape back to Japan, with their complete reserve system, they would be able to raise two more elite divisions within a few months, so this
I must keep these two divisions!" After saying that, Suri hit the table hard with his hand.
Following Su Rui's order, the Marine Division Air Force Base stationed in Shantou immediately sounded a series of shrill alarms. Pilots who were either training, attending class, or resting walked toward each other from their respective positions.
The runway was rushed out, and the ground crews were also busy refueling or loading the aircraft on the runway.
On the control tower to the west of the runway, Cheng Sheng, who was wearing the rank of rear admiral on the ship, looked at the numerous fighter planes wearing the orange-red flight survival suits unique to the naval aviation and flocking to the runway. A trace of worry flashed in his eyes.
"Well, it would be great if we could give these young men a few more months. It's too early to let them go through the baptism of war now."
A colonel on the side consoled him: "Sir, we want to give them a little more time, but the Japanese don't give us this time. We can only hope that God can bless them and come back safely."
Cheng Sheng ignored the officer's words and just muttered one sentence: "Snow Jiawu Shame..."
In Cheng Sheng's soft words, planes took off one after another, spreading their wings towards the northwest... (To be continued...)
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