The Rise of the Third Reich

On the starry sea, the aircraft carrier "Hornet" of the 1st Task Force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet seemed to have been kicked to pieces by something. The rear half of the hull was charred and black, especially the stern part, which was full of twisted metal and There were traces of the fire, and there was a big hole in the bottom of the stern cabin. Seawater surged in and flooded several cabins.

If you look at it from a distance, you will find that the waterline of the "Hornet" aircraft carrier is high in front and low in back, which is obviously caused by a large amount of water in the stern of the ship. If you look closely, you will find that the waterline is still slowly tilting, which shows that there is still a large amount of seawater pouring in.

Captain Hardison, the captain of the Hornet, and Captain Thomas White, the damage control leader, stood in knee-deep water in the boiler room. Colonel Hardison asked anxiously: "Thomas, how are you?"

"very bad."

White wiped the sweat from his forehead, spread his hands and smiled bitterly: "That damn suicide plane crashed through several decks in a row, and penetrated all the way to the lowest cabin before exploding. Not only did it cause a fire, but it also shattered The worst thing about the steam pipeline is that it has a big hole in the bottom of the ship, which cannot be blocked at all. Although the pipeline can be repaired and some power can be restored, and the water pump can also work, several waterproof hatches were damaged in the big explosion. , there is no way to prevent the influx of seawater into the boiler room and engine room, and the pump can only slow down the speed of seawater flooding the boiler room and engine room. Once the seawater floods one of the two compartments, the Captain Hornet is finished. , it’s better to prepare to abandon the ship.”

"Damn it!"

Hearing that the Hornet was about to be destroyed, Colonel Hardison cursed fiercely. The sinking of the Hornet meant that the 1st Task Force suddenly lost 20% of its combat capabilities, and it was at such a critical time. time. The Hornet is so unlucky!

However, if Nagumo Chuichi knew the current situation of the "Hornet", he would definitely think that God was blessing the officers and soldiers on the "Hornet". Because 4 of the 10 V3 man-operated flying bombs fired by the "Kaiser Friedrich III" crashed due to malfunctions during the "long" flight. One of the remaining six was shot down by an American F4F, another was shot down by the anti-aircraft firepower of the U.S. fleet, and two fell into the water for unknown reasons during horizontal flight. In the end, only one remained. Two V3s in dive attack mode broke through the Hornet's anti-aircraft fire network, but one of them changed its flight direction at the last moment (I don't know if the pilot was afraid of death or for some other reason) and fell into it. In the water, only one missile hit accurately.

However, this V3 missile that hit accurately had the problem of "excess penetration kinetic energy". Not only did it easily penetrate the unarmored wooden flight deck of the Hornet, but it also smashed through the hangar, and then penetrated again. It entered the sailor's cabin under the hangar, and then passed all the way to the bottom cabin of the Hornet (a warehouse for storing sundries) before exploding. Although the explosion of 800 kilograms of explosives was extremely powerful, it did not break the Hornet's keel, but only blew a fatal hole in the bottom of the ship.

Therefore, although the aircraft carrier "Hornet" was severely damaged and difficult to save, it will not sink immediately. The personnel on the ship still have time to evacuate, and the casualties will not be too heavy.

The reason why this situation occurs is because the V3 missile is a secret weapon designed for fleet decisive battles. Its armor-piercing warhead is used to penetrate the side armor of battleships, and the fuze used is also long-delayed. Now it is used to attack the unarmored aircraft carrier deck, of course it has excess kinetic energy, and it ends up breaking through all the way and rushing to the bottom of the ship.

However, this V3 still caused huge damage. The internal fire and huge vibration caused the Hornet's control to completely fail, and it could only spin in place. Lieutenant General Halsey had to abandon the Hornet and take the remaining The aircraft carrier quickly moved. If there were several Type 97 torpedo attack aircraft at that time to hit the target, perhaps only 2 torpedoes could sink the Hornet. However, Nagumo Chuichi's First Mobile Fleet chased for most of the day but failed to close the distance (because the speeds of the two fleets were about the same). As a result, the attack fleet sent did not have enough time to find the American fleet, and therefore missed the attack on the Halsey fleet. Opportunity.

However, the results of the USS Hornet aircraft carrier fully proved the value of the V3 missile, and also attracted sufficient attention from the highest level of the Japanese Navy. It is only a matter of time before improvement and large-scale installation.

…

"What do you think about the Hornet?"

"This is a fearless attack. The Japanese have obviously learned the desperate tactics of the British." In the Pennsylvania, looking at Kimmel who asked questions, Major General Fletcher frowned and said: "I think such an attack will not only Once, there will be more attacks."

"Damn Japanese devils!" Kimmel gritted his teeth and cursed, "We must not let them succeed in Hawaii, otherwise they will definitely deploy a large number of fearless aircraft on Hawaii Island... We are still far away from Hawaii Island. How far?"

"There are about 20 nautical miles... we will arrive in one and a half hours." Rear Admiral Fletcher said, "The fort at Hilo Port will be able to cover us by then."

Hilo Port on Hawaii Island is also a relatively important place in the Hawaiian Islands, so the port is guarded by forts. Although it is only equipped with an outdated 12-inch cannon, it is still a big threat to surface ships.

"In addition, the weather will be good tomorrow morning. There will be thunderstorms in the Hawaiian Islands, and the Japanese planes will not be able to dispatch." Major General Fletcher then reported another good news, "We can at least unload dozens of P51s, so that by tomorrow In the afternoon, we have nothing to fear."

The Hawaiian Islands are tropical and prone to thunderstorms. According to the weather forecast, there will be a heavy rain tomorrow morning.

"Great!" Kimmel smiled with satisfaction, "It seems God is still on our side..."

"Sir, the destroyer Semmes' radar has detected an unknown ship!" At this time, the communications officer of the Pennsylvania suddenly shouted. "The number exceeds 10 ships, heading 280 degrees!"

The United States' radar research work was carried out very early, but it lags behind Britain and Germany in terms of equipping radars. Currently, only large surface ships are equipped with CXAM air search radars, while the equipment of sea search radars is even lagging behind. Although the SG radar with superior performance has been developed, it has not yet been put into production. Only the destroyer Semmes has A prototype is equipped on it. Now this radar-equipped destroyer is under the Pacific Fleet and has become the sentry of the fleet's night operations.

"It's the Japanese fleet!" Kimmel glanced at Fletcher, "Sending power to Oahu and asking about the situation."

What Kimmel wanted to ask was how many Japanese battleships were bombarding Oahu? The Pennsylvania made an inquiry two hours ago. At that time, the report from Oahu was that at least three Japanese battleships were conducting bombardment, two of which were identified as Nagato-class.

"There are still three Japanese battleships, two of which are determined to be Nagato-class."

The telegram from Oahu came quickly, and the news was a huge relief. According to the information the Americans have, there are 4-5 Japanese battleships in Hawaii, two of which are the terrifying Nagato class!

Now that the Nagato class is still on Oahu, there is nothing to be afraid of. Because according to the information available to the United States, only the Nagato-class battleships of Japan have 410mm-caliber guns, and the remaining eight battleships all have 356mm-caliber main guns, the same as the Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Nevada.

Moreover, the three ships, the Pennsylvania, the Tennessee, and the Nevada, are all of the "Iron King Eight" type. Although they are slow but have strong armor, they are very suitable for artillery battles. In addition, before the Pearl Harbor incident, the Pacific Fleet also conducted targeted training for night combat.

"Let the 3rd, 4th, and 5th destroyer squadrons cover the transport ships and continue sailing to Hilo Port. The remaining ships will follow the battleship force to confront the Japanese fleet!"

After confirming that the two Nagato-class ships had not left Oahu, Kimmel immediately issued an order to fight. But at this moment, he would never have dreamed that the world's most powerful battleship, even more terrifying than the Nagato battleship, was on the northwest sea less than 20 nautical miles away from the Pennsylvania.

"Sir, the electrical detective found a suspicious target!"

In the command tower of the Yamato battleship, the most powerful battleship in the world, everyone became nervous as the electronic detective Captain Uehara Isamu shouted.

At this time, the Yamato battleship was already equipped with an "electric detector", but it was not Japan's own equipment, but the FuMo23 radar provided by Germany after Yamamoto Isoroku's visit to Europe in the first half of the year (not "Emperor Frederick III") FuMo23-B type on the next level, but a basic model with poorer performance). Since there is no PPI display (this display is already available on the FuMo23-B type) and the radar power is insufficient, it is difficult for the FuMo23 radar to detect more than one target at the same time, and the accuracy is not high. Therefore, this kind of radar can only be used to detect targets and cannot be used for fire control.

But Yamamoto Isoroku has another night fighting ace in his hand - the cat-eye warrior!

This is a unique branch of the Japanese Navy. They are all carefully selected for hyperopia and night vision. After joining the army, they eat eels, drink cod liver oil, and take special vitamin A every day, in order to maintain a pair of night vision hyperopia. Before tonight's battle began, they had already climbed up to the tall watchtower and used a pair of "cat's eyes" to search for traces of American ships on the vast sea.

In addition to the "cat-eye warriors" on the lookout posts, the Japanese Navy also sent "cat-eye warriors" into the sky. After Yamato's "electrical reconnaissance" discovered the enemy ship, three seaplanes were immediately ejected into the sky. There is a "cat-eye warrior" on each seaplane. They will use their naked eyes to find American battleships on the dark water, and then the seaplane will drop flares.