The sea area of Pearl Harbor is about 33 square kilometers. Shortly after the Japanese sneak attack began, many American warships in the harbor immediately launched and broke out to the deep water area. During the breakout process, the warships had to avoid torpedoes and bombs and galloped left and right in the harbor.
Therefore, at this time, the seawater in Pearl Harbor, under the dual action of ships and bombs, set off huge waves of different shapes. Some were in the shape of whirlpools, and some were in the shape of waves, with flames burning on the top of the waves and black waves rising. The smoke is like hell fire.
Among the nine battleships of the Pacific Fleet, except for Kimmel's flagship USS Pennsylvania, which is moored in the dock of the Navy Yard, the other eight are all moored side by side on Battleship Avenue. The outer four can use fish. After being sunk by lightning, the remaining four ships could only be solved by using dive and horizontal bombers.
Lieutenant Commander Mitsuo Fuchida aimed at the battleship USS Maryland. This giant ship had already been launched, but was blocked inside and could not escape. The anti-aircraft weapons on the ship had been deployed, weaving streaks of flames into the air to counter the Japanese dive. Bombers and level bombers, posed a great threat.
[USS Maryland] The battleship is 190.3 meters long, has a displacement of tons, a side width of 29.7 meters, a maximum speed of 21 knots, a draft of 12 meters, and a cruising range of 8,000 nautical miles. It is a Colorado-class strategic ship. It inherits the standard style of American battleships, including the cage type. The mainmast, scissor-type bow, and secondary guns are installed on the ship deck. It uses an electric propulsion power system. The only drawback is that its sailing speed is slow. Like all American battleships at that time, it did not receive corresponding attention. The maximum speed was only 21 Festival, anti-aircraft weapons are very fierce.
It was obvious that the Maryland was a great threat to the empire's fighter planes, so Mizuo Fuchida ordered: "The third bombing team, follow me and kill the battleship Maryland first."
"Hai:"
Immediately, two horizontal bombers followed.
"Steady...prepare...prepare...drop the bombs." Mizuo Fuchida calculated the lead time, first dropped four bombs, and then immediately pressed the lever, and the bomber flew sideways and turned to avoid the dense artillery fire coming from the ship.
Mizuo Fuchida was the chief instructor of the Japanese aircraft that attacked Pearl Harbor. His bomb-dropping accuracy was unparalleled in the entire bomber group. The four bombs he dropped were as steady, accurate, and ruthless as a textbook. The two bombers gave a perfect demonstration.
The four bombs were like eyes, falling one after another in a parabola shape. Looking at the US military on the ship, their hearts twitched. They knew that the end of this giant ship was coming, and some sailors were forced to jump off the ship. .
Mizuo Fuchida's signal soldier Mizuki stuck his head out of the engine room and looked at the four falling bombs, which gradually became smaller than peas until they were finally invisible. Then, from the deck of the battleship "Maryland", which seemed to be only the size of a washbasin, Two plumes of white smoke rose.
"Sir, two bullets hit!"
Mizuki was very excited and shouted loudly.
Immediately afterwards, he saw the bombs dropped by two other bombers hitting the Maryland one after another. Looking down from the air, it was like a handful of sparks splashing into the gasoline basin. The Maryland shook slightly. Then black smoke came out and flames flew wildly.
"boom……"
In an instant, the Maryland was filled with smoke and flames, and the ship's anti-aircraft fire suddenly cut off and stopped altogether.
Two 800-kilogram armor-piercing bombs equipped with delayed explosion fuses smashed through the bow deck of the USS Maryland, and exploded inside the ship a few seconds later.
The shock wave generated by the explosion was visible to the naked eye, emitting astonishing energy that could destroy everything, spreading around like fireballs, and setting off huge fish scale-like ripples on the sea surface.
Then, several other bombs also exploded. The continuous explosions made the battleship like a deep-sea steel behemoth that was severely damaged and on the verge of death. It was struggling in the shallow bay. The hull tilted to 1.8 meters, and it took just two breaths. In an instant, the entire giant ship burst into flames, causing the hull to crackle like exploding beans, the keel to crack and groan, and explosions continued one after another.
Sure enough, as the Japanese had repeatedly deduced before the sneak attack, due to the shallow water in Pearl Harbor, when the battleship USS Maryland was hit hard, the hull rolled over, and the bottom of the ship, which was hidden underwater without a protective deck, rose out of the water. Immediately, some medium-sized bombs easily penetrated the soft belly and continued to explode inside the hull.
In less than three minutes, this steel behemoth was completely paralyzed in the shallow water, like a severely injured lion that could not stand, lying on its territory, lying on its beloved and majestic lion. In the territory above, it was bullied by a group of despicable and shameless hyenas. These despicable people tore its belly and bitten its dignity. It bled endlessly. It struggled and roared, but these were in vain and only proved that it had been here. This world is about to leave.
Just as the battleship USS Maryland was wailing in the shallow water, Kimmel, who was standing in front of the windows with scattered glass, felt as if he had been hit hard again in the chest, and his face was pale.
The tragic situation of the warship made him sad and angry, but what worried him even more was the officers and soldiers on the ship. To him, these people were not a group of abstract numbers, these young people were more like his children.
He knew many of them, perhaps thousands, and he could name most of them accurately. All of them, from captains to common soldiers, were his subordinates, his children, and he was expected to serve them. They are responsible.
He regretted that it was because of his carelessness that these people were swallowed up by fire and hit by bombs in front of him. He secretly swore that he would never forgive himself.
To be fair, Kimmel is not mediocre. Although his leadership charisma and creative imagination may not be as good as his biggest enemy Yamamoto Isoroku at this time, this does not prevent him from becoming an outstanding general.
In terms of personality, he is also quite similar to Yamamoto. During his military career, he always showed extraordinary intelligence and was promoted faster than Yamamoto.
He is frank, diligent, rigorous and intelligent, and his superiors are optimistic about his bright future.
He was selected to study at the Naval Staff College, and was promoted to captain shortly after graduation. He then commanded the 12th Destroyer Squadron, and then served as the ship operations commander in Washington for two years. With outstanding work experience, he was selected in the highly competitive navy for talents. He was promoted to rear admiral. Eight months later, he took charge of the Seventh Cruiser Fleet. A year later, he was promoted to commander of the cruise fleet. His resume is rare among U.S. naval generals. Every promotion he received was based on It's due to his strength.
Now, fame, status, money and power, everything will be burned to ashes with the raging fire in Pearl Harbor, leaving him only with endless shame, regret and shame.
If time could go back, he would be willing to spend his whole life as a soldier in exchange for the lives of all the soldiers at Pearl Harbor, and then quietly find a place that no one cares about and end his remaining days.
Just when Kimmel was feeling infinite regret, suddenly, a scene appeared that made him feel as if he was falling into the ice. It can also be said that from the time he saw the attack on Pearl Harbor to now, the thing he had been worried about happened.
The two Type 99 bombers suddenly abandoned the big cake they had at hand and flew towards the huge oil depot located directly south of Ford Island and 24 kilometers southwest of the Navy Headquarters.
These two despicable hyenas discovered the lions' biggest weakness.
