The Rise of the Third Reich

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

All the 20 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns on the USS Iowa were roaring, and expensive anti-aircraft shells with radio proximity fuzes were launched into the sky for free. At the same time, 15 four-mounted 40mm caliber Bofors anti-aircraft guns were also firing hard. Tracer bullets were sprayed into the air in rows, weaving fire nets to protect the Essex aircraft carrier around them. stand up.

Unlike the previous two attack waves, which did not dare to choose the most valuable and best-protected Essex-class aircraft carrier, the attack group dispatched by Japan's First Mobile Fleet was very brave and directly chose Iowa. The Essex aircraft carrier and three other Essex-class aircraft carriers were nearby.

However, the four Essex-class ships are not easy targets to deal with. They are surrounded by a battleship. The Essex is surrounded by the Iowa, the Valiant is near the New Jersey, the Hornet is near the Washington, and the Franklin. Next to the USS New York is the battleship USS New York.

The four battleships serving as "gun escorts" have very strong anti-aircraft firepower. Even the old USS New York has been modified for the purpose of strengthening air defense and installed a large number of 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns, 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns and 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun. The Essex-class aircraft carrier itself also has very powerful anti-aircraft firepower.

In addition, there is a circular air defense array composed of destroyers surrounding the four Essex-class ships and the battleships that escort them.

It can be said responsibly that around the four precious Essex aircraft carriers, there is the largest concentration of anti-aircraft artillery in the world.

However, the Japanese "Comet" dive bombers and bomb-mounted "Meteor" torpedo bombers continued to attack these four large fleet aircraft carriers one after another.

The first to launch a desperate assault was the "Comet" dive bomber, an aerial killer that was difficult to guard against. The "Comet" aircraft has a relatively fast speed, with a theoretical maximum speed of 580 kilometers per hour. Although the speed when mounting bombs cannot reach this level, it is still a difficult target to intercept. Once the "Comet" starts to dive, its speed will be even more astonishing. Even if a large number of 40mm anti-aircraft guns are installed on surface ships, the rate of successfully intercepting the "Comet" will be difficult to exceed 50%.

In other words, at least half of the "Comet" dive bombers successfully broke through the 40mm cannon and dropped terrible bombs!

However, precisely because of its high speed, the bomb delivery accuracy also decreased. Compared with the 80% hit rate of the earlier Type 99 warship bomber (during training), the hit rate of the "Comet" dive bomber dropped by about half, leaving less than 50%. In actual combat, under the interference of intensive anti-aircraft firepower, the hit rate will further drop significantly.

However, the Japanese dive bombers' successive attacks like moths throwing fire quickly achieved results. At 6:12 p.m., the USS Franklin aircraft carrier, which was "personally protected" by the New York, was hit by a 500-kilogram bomb near the stern elevator. The bomb directly penetrated the deck, penetrated into the hangar and exploded. The violent explosion destroyed the spare aircraft in the hangar, and also triggered a series of explosions and fires. The stern elevator was damaged, all hangar personnel were killed, and the smoke column reached hundreds. rice.

The flaming Franklin quickly became a target for enemy aircraft. All dive bombers and torpedo planes that had not yet dropped their bombs pounced on the Franklin and the nearby New York. Bombs and torpedoes fell like raindrops.

The Franklin and the battleship New York next to it were hit one after another. In less than 10 minutes, two armor-piercing bombs were hit on the bow and amidships decks of the aircraft carrier. Huge explosions hit the flight deck of the Franklin. Two large holes were opened, causing this large fleet aircraft carrier with a standard displacement of more than 30,000 tons to completely lose the ability to take off and land aircraft.

But this huge aircraft carrier did not look like it was about to sink. It floated steadily on the sea, and its power was not lost. The anti-aircraft artillery on the ship was still spraying bullets into the sky like crazy.

The New York was hit by three 500-kilogram bombs. One of the 500-kilogram armor-piercing bombs penetrated the top of the main gun turret amidships of the New York (the New York had five turrets) and exploded inside the turret. Fortunately, this was an air defense operation, so there were no shells or guns inside the turret to explode, and all fire hatches were firmly closed. Therefore, this bomb only destroyed one turret and did not cause any fatal damage. Another 500-kilogram bomb penetrated the bow deck of the battleship and exploded in the sailor's cabin, causing a fire, but it was also not fatal. Another bomb exploded on the starboard deck of the battleship, directly destroying several anti-aircraft guns, exploding some ammunition and causing a fire.

The heavy cruiser USS Baltimore guarding the other side of the USS Franklin (it is also part of the circular air defense formation) has also become the focus of Japanese fighter plane attacks - this heavy cruiser is huge, with a full load displacement of more than 17,000 tons, and it is also The so-called "air defense type" has 12 127mm guns, 48 ​​40mm guns, and 24 20mm machine guns. The anti-aircraft firepower is almost similar to that of an Iowa-class battleship, so it is also mistaken for a battleship.

For the current Japanese naval aviation, battleships are also very valuable targets, so they have attracted many "comets" and "meteors" that dive and drop bombs. However, the anti-aircraft artillery on the heavy cruiser Baltimore is not a vegetarian. The rain created a deadly net of fire in the sky, causing the attacking Japanese fighter planes to swoop in at a heavy cost. In the end, only two 250-kilogram bombs (dropped by a Comet dive bomber) hit the bow of the Baltimore, destroying one 203mm main gun turret and causing mechanical failure in another.

At 6:30 in the afternoon, an even greater disaster befell the New York and Franklin. The second attack wave launched by the Japanese mobile fleet and the third attack wave taking off from Christmas Island arrived at the battlefield almost at the same time, taking advantage of the dim sky.

At this time, the visibility at sea had dropped to a level that was not enough to support normal torpedo attacks and dive bombing. Therefore, the New York, Franklin and more than 30 other ships that caught fire became living targets for attracting Japanese firepower.

And because of poor visibility, the hundreds of American aircraft in the sky were unable to effectively block the Japanese attack fleet as before. They had to choose the "One Type Land Attack" with a larger target and less flexibility to attack, but let go of the fast and agile carrier-based aircraft - such a choice would of course be a disaster for the "One Type Land Attack" departing from Christmas Island. In the end There are 60 "One-Type Land Attackers" turned into "One-Type Lighters", with a "god rate" as high as 60%.

However, the disaster of "one-type lighter" also brought fruitful results. At 6:40 pm, the battleship New York was hit by a torpedo in the stern. The explosion destroyed the rudder of the battleship, making it impossible for the huge battleship to use S-type evasive navigation to avoid bomb torpedoes. In just five minutes, the New York was hit by two bombs and three torpedoes one after another. The entire ship was on fire and tilted severely to the left. At 6:50 p.m., the captain of the New York gave the order to abandon the battleship.

At the same time that the "New York" was abandoned, the "Franklin" had also been beaten black and blue, and two more bombs and two torpedoes hit the aircraft carrier that had lost the ability to take off and land aircraft. One bomb destroyed the elevator amidships, and the other penetrated into the sailor's cabin of the aircraft carrier and exploded. By the way, it damaged some pipes and lines, causing the aircraft carrier to temporarily lose most of its power, and its speed suddenly dropped to less than 10 knots. . This created conditions for torpedo planes to attack. At 6:55 and 6:58, two aviation torpedoes hit the port side of the aircraft carrier. Seawater instantly flooded several cabins. The captain of the Franklin had to order water injection to restore balance. . At 7:05, the captain of the Franklin issued another order for non-damage control personnel to abandon the ship.

The USS New York and the USS Franklin were not the only ones to suffer in this round of attacks by Japanese aircraft. The three escort aircraft carriers that had been damaged by Japanese aircraft before but did not sink were also hit again. Around 7 p.m., they were all abandoned by the US military. ——By the way, in the previous waves of attacks, 6 escort carriers were hit, but only 3 sank. Including the 3 escort carriers sunk now, the US military lost a total of 6 escort carriers.

In addition, many burning landing ships and transport ships were sunk by Japanese aircraft!

However, compared with the huge size of the U.S. Task Force 58, the results achieved by the Japanese on the first day of the Battle of Christmas Island were not enough for Spruance to admit defeat and retreat.

"Let the artillery formation set off!"

At 7:15 p.m., Admiral Spruance, who had transferred his headquarters to the USS Essex, looked at the burning USS Franklin aircraft carrier and issued the order to dispatch the artillery formation.

Then he asked the chief of staff, Major General Browning: "Have the statistical results of the air battle come out? How many Japanese aircraft were destroyed? How much did we lose?"

"Preliminary statistics show that a total of more than 800 Japanese fighter planes (actually only 533) were shot down by our aircraft and surface ships, and our losses reached 205 aircraft, of which 89 pilots were killed, seriously injured, and missing. "

"Well done!" Spruance nodded with satisfaction, "It seems we have found the right way to deal with Japan!"

"Yes!" Major General Browning said, "As long as we fight like this a few more times, we can win the Pacific War."