The Rise of the Empire

Chapter 2717: Attack begins



It seems that this time God is on our side. The weather is fine tonight and the moon is shining brightly. According to the order, according to the predetermined plan, the First Armored Cruiser Squadron and the First Battleship Squadron and the subsidiary fleet set off immediately, and other warships covered the aircraft carrier squadron to enter the scheduled reception waters and wait for our return. "Looking at the darkening sky, Sims said.

"Follow your orders," Magifen said, and he also brought Sims photos of the last long-distance voyage reconnaissance. "The Japanese finally noticed our actions. They took about a day to evacuate the fleet of Tarragon Island, which made our revenue decline. Moreover, they seem to have strengthened the air defense force in the port area. We have 4 reconnaissance planes shot down by the Japanese Air Force."

"Well, let’s not talk about it. The Japanese ships that ran away are indeed a pity, but this is just a trivial matter. It doesn’t matter if there are more aircraft intercepted. They can't pose a threat to us at night, but during the day, we evacuated. Let's talk about the key points, such as the firepower arrangements of our attack targets and the response to possible threats." Sims said.

"The Japanese almost inherited the oil industry of the Dutch on Tarakan Island back then, and expanded on the original basis. The main oil producing area of ​​Tarakan Island is in the southwest of the island, and then the Japanese are here again. An oil refinery and an oil depot have been built nearby. Among them, the oil refinery is close to the inland area and is at the edge of the range of our naval guns. In order to destroy this place as much as possible, we need to use special long-range artillery shells. The oil depot is on the seaside and can be handed over to the cruiser. Now." Ma Jifen said.

"The oil refinery is not far from the sea. If our fleet can be further advanced, we can use ordinary high-explosive bombs." Sims said.

"There will be a certain risk. Look here. Actually, the place where our fleet is deployed is the Qianhai area between Taragen Island and Kalimantan Island. There are many shallows here that are not suitable for large fleet operations, and our The plane found that the Japanese were deploying mines and there were a large number of torpedo boats. If they are too close, both mines and torpedo boats will pose a certain threat to us. So we must be outside this line. In addition, my staff and I After studying the hydrological data provided by the Dutch, I also think that it is reasonable to be farther than appropriate.” Majifen said.

"Some areas of the oil field are also far away, so we also need to use the ultra-long-range artillery shells attached to it, so we allocated all the long-range targets. The port is the nearest to us, and it is not too expensive except for the oil depot, some pipelines, and shore facilities. Therefore, we can assign the strike mission to the heavy cruiser squadron and destroyer squadron of General Fletcher. In this way, we can save part of the ammunition." Sims said.

"Also, are our seaplanes ready? Divide the seaplanes into two groups, one group is used to assist the battleship to correct shooting, and the other group is used to assist in the search of the Japanese torpedo boats. These little guys are very people in the narrow waters. Annoyed." Sims thought for a while to add.

It takes at least 6 hours to sail from the starting position of the final attack to the place where the naval gun can fire. In the calculation of time, the Americans still have some deviations. The prolonged high-speed navigation caused the power system of some warships to overheat. So in the second half of the trip, the speed of the US Navy was actually slower than the scheduled speed. In the end, this directly squeezed the time that the U.S. Navy can use for offensive purposes. After all, Americans must leave before dawn. Otherwise, once dawn is not able to escape the attack range of Japanese land-based aviation forces, then one A sea-air battle will be inevitable.

Therefore, in the last period of time, the Americans optimized their attack plan as much as possible and assigned tasks to each capital ship. When it was approaching the wee hours, the American fleet led by Sims finally saw the moonlight. The undulating island of Taragen Island, and with an order, dozens of various seaplanes took off from the aircraft carrier, and the destroyers that arrived first began to cover the minesweepers to clear the channel ahead. The U.S. fleet decided to get closer. . And before the American battleship's large-caliber guns fell on Tarragon Island, the battle at sea suddenly broke out!

The 10 destroyers were divided into 5 teams and lined up to sweep the mines in the designated waters. There are two main types of Japanese mines. One is floating mines, which are just thrown directly. The mines are easy to float on the water. The deployment is also easy to sweep away. After you find it with a searchlight, you can shoot with light weapons.

The other is an anchor mine. The mine is fixed on the seabed with an anchor. Some mines are completely under the sea. When the ship attacks from above, it will cause changes in the current, and this change will stimulate the mines. The electro-hydraulic pressure fuze detonates the mine. The latter is difficult to deploy, generally for the defense of submarines. The previous deployment was not large, but it was more difficult to remove. It was necessary to use a formation destroyer with a minesweeper to cut the anchor chain of the mine and wait for the mine to float before destroying it.

And because it is minesweeping, the route must be fixed, and at the same time, in order to find the mines floating on the water, the destroyers that perform the minesweeping mission must also have their lights on. Therefore, in this night, the minesweeping destroyers are as conspicuous as huge light bulbs. Now the question is, in this case, who will the Japanese not hit you?

A small group of torpedo boats sneaked in quietly along the edge of the coastline~www.novelhall.com~ They took full advantage of the cover of the island background and the advantage of their own ship's very shallow draft, and came quietly, about 3000 meters away from the US minesweeping destroyer detachment. The place. They waited quietly, like a killer hidden in the dark, or they didn't make a move. Once they made a move, they would be fatal!

"Okay, we have reached the edge, it's time to turn." With the light on the leading destroyer, the minesweeper squads began to turn their bows. However, at this moment, when the destroyer squad appeared some confusion due to the changes, At the same time, when the wide side of the destroyer was exposed to the attack of the torpedo boat, the Japanese decisively launched an attack!

The torpedo boat, which has been running at idle speed, began to accelerate and rushed to the distant US destroyer. At this time, the speed of the destroyer performing minesweeping mission was not fast, and the Japanese penetration was very good. The nearest torpedo boat was only 2100 meters away from the US Navy. ! In other words, this torpedo boat can mainly save 1500 meters up and down, and 1500 meters is only a minute for a torpedo boat with a maximum speed of more than 35 knots!

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