On the vast sea, a reconnaissance plane flew past the sky. As the eyes of the 38th Task Force, reconnaissance pilot Sam has been doing this for several years, but it is not easy to catch the traces of the Little Japanese fleet in the vast sea.
After all, the current progress of radar technology is not satisfactory, and everything must be seen through the eyes. This greatly reduces the reconnaissance efficiency of the reconnaissance aircraft.
After all, the distance a person's eyes can see is limited.
For Sam, his mission is to find the movements of the main force of the Ozawa fleet of the Little Japanese fifth fleet.
The Ozawa fleet is now the absolute main force of the Little Japanese Combined Fleet. It has four aircraft carriers and more than a hundred fighters. In terms of combat effectiveness, he is now the main force of the Little Japanese Combined Fleet.
The effective range of the reconnaissance plane driven by Sam is as high as more than two thousand kilometers. He adopted a zigzag reconnaissance trajectory, with an east-west length of nearly 300km, and a north-south length of only about 10km each time. This ensured that there were no missed targets on the sea. In this way, every time he took off, his reconnaissance range was as high as about 18,000 square kilometers.
Although this area is nothing compared to the sea, it can support a forward warning network of about two hundred kilometers for the entire fleet through four or five reconnaissance aircraft. For the current fleet, this distance is already considered good.
The naval aviation still has time to carry out reactive take-off operations. This is also the meaning of Sam's existence, even if they are likely to conduct reconnaissance in the air every day.
But every reconnaissance aircraft pilot will complete his combat mission meticulously. No one knows better than them. If there is no warning, what will happen when an enemy aircraft group appears over the aircraft carrier?
The tragedy of Pearl Harbor is still vivid in our minds. For Sam and the others, the goal is to avoid a recurrence of the tragedy of Pearl Harbor.
Compared with the navy that sails on the sea all year round, it is easier said than done to catch their traces. Many times the two fleets are in a hide-and-seek state on the ocean, and they pass by each other accidentally without even knowing it.
If the Ozawa fleet is allowed to enter the sky above the landing transport group in Laite Bay, there is no doubt that it will be a great tragedy for the Allies.
For a transport ship that lacks self-defense capabilities, it has no ability to fight back against the attack group of the Xiaogui aircraft carrier.
This is why General Mike placed Task Force 38 and Task Force 34 in the north to stop them. The Ozawa fleet must be kept away from the landing force transport group in Leite Bay.
But three days after the launch of S-Day, a large-scale Allied transport fleet had begun to assemble in Lyte Bay.
Of course, their movements did not escape the detection of the Little Japanese aerial reconnaissance plane.
After receiving the exact information, Admiral Toyoda, the commander of the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Navy, issued the combat order No. 1. The Navy assembled 4 aircraft carriers, 9 battleships, 19 cruisers, 34 destroyers and 200 aircraft into the Lyte Gulf. , preparing to crush the Allied landing plan in one fell swoop.
As the U.S. Navy was well prepared for this battle, it dispatched up to 12 aircraft carriers, 18 escort carriers, 12 battleships, 24 cruisers, 141 destroyers, and 1,500 aircraft into the battle of Leite Gulf.
Faced with such an overwhelming force, Admiral Toyoda had no choice but to use tactics and ordered Kurita Takeo's center fleet to enter the San Bernardino Strait with 5 battleships and 7 cruisers, and rush directly into the Lyte Gulf to eliminate them. The landing force of the beautiful country.
Ozawa Jisaburo's North Fleet used four aircraft carriers as bait to attract the 3rd Fleet of General Hal, the main force of the Beautiful Country, away from Leite Bay and pin it to the north, creating conditions for Awada's Middle Fleet;
At the same time, the southern fleet of Nishimura Shoji and Shima Kiyohide entered the Surigao Strait as a surprise force, preparing to attack the beautiful country landing force from both sides with Kurita Takeo's middle fleet!
The little devil's plan was good, but there were many mistakes during its implementation. The middle fleet, under the command of Takeo Kurita, quickly entered Laite Bay.
Unfortunately, the Ozawa fleet as a suspect has not been discovered yet. As soon as the Awata fleet arrived in the waters west of Cape Palawan, it was discovered by the Allied submarine Archerfish!
The submarine Archer Fish quickly reported to its superiors the discovery of the Japanese middle fleet, and immediately launched an attack.
Four torpedoes from the Archerfish submarine sank Kurita Takeo's flagship Atago heavy cruiser in one fell swoop. Kurita Takeo jumped into the sea and escaped before the flagship sank. Fortunately, this little devil was lucky and was not sucked away by the sinking whirlpool, so he was lucky. Escaped to the battleship Yamato, Awata continued to command the battle using Yamato as his flagship, but this tragic experience cast a shadow for Awata.
With the success of the Allied submarine ambush of the Archerfish, the Great Battle of Lite Bay officially began.
From the very beginning of the battle, it went against the plan of the commander of the Combined Fleet. Ozawa's aircraft carrier formation was originally discovered as a decoy for suspected soldiers. So far, the Allies have found nothing.
However, the Kurita Middle Fleet, which was originally the main assault landing force, was discovered by an Allied submarine due to a strange combination of circumstances.
General Hal, commander of the Allied Third Fleet, did not take the Kurita fleet's attack lightly. He ordered naval reconnaissance aircraft to report the details again.
Sam took on this new mission, and he flew over the sea area target provided by the Archerfish. Not long after, he discovered that a huge battleship fleet from Little Book had entered the Lyte Bay!
After Sam confirmed the number and type of battleships in the notebook, he turned around and flew back!
In an aerial report over the fleet, a small battleship fleet was discovered, including a super battleship with a 460mm main gun!
This discovery surprised and delighted General Hal, but he only discovered Xiaobenzi's battleship fleet, which made him very hesitant. After studying the chart for a while, General Hal judged that Xiaojie's Ozawa fleet should also be nearby. .
At this time, General Hal did not know that the small Ozawa fleet was just a suspect, so he ordered all carrier-based aircraft to take off.
On a total of 12 aircraft carriers, the Allies took off more than 1,000 fighter planes. General Hal divided these fighter planes into two attack groups, one group went to find Ozawa Jisaburo's aircraft carrier fleet to avoid being attacked by Ozawa's fleet; the other group pounced directly on it. The Kurita Middle Battle Fleet has been discovered.
Awada's center fleet was quickly bombarded by more than 500 Allied aircraft. The battleship Yamato was severely damaged, the battleship Musashi was sunk, and other ships were damaged. Almost all the Awada fleet was injured, but it did not lose its combat capability. General Hal obviously did not fully estimate the situation in his assessment of the battle. at this point.
When General Hal violently attacked the Awata fleet, the air force on Luzon Island was not idle either.
One of a group of bombers that the Little Devils took off from Luzon Island broke through the interception of the Allied Air Force, flew over the light aircraft carrier USS Princeton, and dropped a heavy aerial bomb on the USS Princeton aircraft carrier. Princeton was hit critically. The ship was immediately seriously injured and sank shortly afterwards!
This loss made General Hal feel a little imperfect. Therefore, after the Awada Middle Fleet was severely damaged, he withdrew from the San Bernardino Strait and did not continue the pursuit. Of course, time did not allow, and more than 500 fighter planes were idle in the air. After turning around for more than 2 hours, I caught nothing and had to land back to the aircraft carrier.
Awata reported the latest battle situation to the Combined Fleet Headquarters, saying that General Hal intercepted him in the San Bernardino Strait with the main force of the Third Fleet and suffered heavy losses. The Ozawa fleet, which was responsible for the suspicious troops in the north, did not know that he This suspect was so successful that General Hal didn't even notice it.
In order to attract General Hal's Third Fleet to come out of the San Bernardino Strait, Ozawa Jisaburo resolutely used explicit code to generate electricity, directly exposing his position in the sea!
Sure enough, General Hal, who had a glorious record of destroying aircraft carriers, was attracted by Ozawa's explicit power generation. He thought that the main force of the Awada fleet could no longer fight. After seizing the position of Ozawa's fleet this time, he immediately dispatched the main force of 12 An aircraft carrier and more than 1,000 carrier-based aircraft went north to chase and annihilate Ozawa!
General Hal had forgotten that his ultimate mission was to defend the Landing Site at Lyt Bay.
But after General Hal's main force of the Third Fleet left, Kurita received a report from a reconnaissance plane. At night, the scarred Kurita fleet quickly returned to Leite Bay.
It's just that this time Kurita Takeo was very cautious and sent destroyers to explore the way ahead, fearing that he would be ambushed by another Allied submarine. However, he guessed wrong this time. The entire fleet successfully passed through the San Bernardino Strait without danger. , the fleet arrived in the waters east of Samar Island, but they did not see the Allied main fleet.
Only then did Kurita Keno believe that Ozawa's ignition had worked. The scarred Yamato and other battleships' rotating cannons began to turn their muzzles and bombard the Allied landing forces.
Kinkaid's 7th Fleet was all escort carriers and destroyers. How could it resist the cannons of the Japanese battleships?
When Kincaid saw Awada's center fleet battleships entering Leite Bay, his heart collapsed. The landing Allied forces suffered heavy casualties under the bombardment of the battleships' cannon.
General Kincaid had to order the fleet to resist desperately, and at the same time sent an urgent message to General Hal, requiring the main force of the Third Fleet to withdraw to Leite Bay to support the Seventh Fleet and the landing force.
After all, the 7th Fleet was too weak and had almost no ability to resist against the small battleships. However, General Kincaid still commanded the Allied 7th Fleet to resist desperately. Even if they were defeated by their opponents, the Allies also exerted a desperate momentum.
Soon the destroyer Birmingham was hit by the battleship's shells and sank soon after. The escort aircraft carriers Gambia Bay and White Plains launched a counterattack against the enemy's giant ship with their flesh and blood, and a few carrier-based aircraft rushed towards the enemy ship. , the destroyer formation even carried out a suicidal charge, and other impacts disrupted the enemy's formation, leaving little chance for a torpedo attack.
But it was of no use. The destroyer's body was too fragile against the battleship's cannon, and one destroyer after another was sunk by Awata's battleship.
The unprecedented crisis in the Leite Gulf battle shocked the top Allied forces. General Niemi, commander of the Pacific Naval Command, directly sent a telegram - The whole world wants to know where the 34th Task Force is?
At that time, General Hal had received Kincaid's urgent request for help. He had realized that his misjudgment had caused a huge crisis to the landing force and the Seventh Fleet.
Therefore, after leaving two aircraft carrier battle groups to continue heading north to eliminate the Ozawa aircraft carrier fleet, they have already led most of the aircraft carriers and 6 fast battleships to rush to Laite Bay in an emergency. On the way back, he received this telegram that the whole world wanted to know. Facing this telegram from the headquarters, General Hal was so angry that he roared like thunder.
In fact, General Niemi's original message did not include "The whole world wants to know", but in order to increase the level of confidentiality, the translator who sent the Allied message took it upon himself to add "The whole world wants to know" before the message, which was irrelevant to the content of the message. "These few words.
Obviously this became a stain on General Hal's life. However, the military situation was so fierce that General Hal could not care about it anymore. He led the main force of the fleet to rush to Laite Bay at full speed. The two remaining aircraft carrier task groups under the command of General Mitchell caught up with Ozawa's fleet, and took off fighter planes to launch a fierce air attack on Ozawa's aircraft carrier formation. After a fierce aerial battle, the little Japanese rookie The pilots were all killed this time.
In the end, under the bomber torpedo attack launched by General Mitchell, all four aircraft carriers of Ozawa's fleet, Zuikaku, Zuiho, Chitose, and Chiyoda, were sunk. The little devil's attempt to use the aircraft carriers as bait finally succeeded this time. Be benevolent.
If Kurita Takeo's suspicion hadn't happened, the little devil's tactical arrangement would eventually be back on track.
The Nishimura fleet responsible for outflanking is almost in place. If the fight continues according to the current process, General Kincaid's Seventh Fleet and most of the landing force will face annihilation!
However, when the fleet was still fighting vigorously, Awata suddenly ordered the fleet to withdraw across the board.
Although the subordinates of the Awada fleet did not understand it, Awada observed a large number of fighter planes landing on Laite Island.
Awata thought it was the carrier-based aircraft from the Allied main aircraft carrier that began to land on Laite Island. In fact, those fighter planes were only fighter planes on the Allied escort aircraft carrier of the Seventh Fleet. The escort aircraft carrier had to land at Leite Island Airport after being severely damaged.
But Awata didn't know this. Awata, who had been shadowed by General Hal's fighter plane, chose to retreat!
Kurita's retreat left the Japanese Navy no longer able to find a chance to turn around.
With Kurita's withdrawal, General Hal bought the most precious time, and he led the main force of the aircraft carrier formation back to Laite Bay.
After General Hal found the location of the Kurita fleet, he quickly dispatched the main force to launch a fierce air attack on Kurita. This time General Hal really severely damaged the Kurita fleet, sinking most of the ships to the bottom of the sea. In the end, only 5 Kurita fleet remained. Three ships were able to withdraw to the mainland, and among the battleships, only the Yamato still had some combat effectiveness.
The decoy Ozawa fleet was almost completely wiped out. With the entire Ozawa fleet wiped out, the small navy lost its last aircraft carrier mobile force, and the arrogant combined fleet no longer existed.
