Chapter 73 non-luminous gunpowder

The "Gaobo" was the only one of the Japanese ships that was recruited. The five U.S. cruisers fired fiercely, and the shells fell like dense fireballs on the front, back, left, and right of the Japanese ships, but none of the Japanese ships were injured as they went through. What puzzled Wright was that, except for the "Gaobo", which fought back desperately, the rest of the Japanese ships remained silent and did not use artillery fire to fight back. It was not only Wright who was puzzled by this. A destroyer captain saw the cruiser's cannons firing in unison through the binoculars, but there was no trace of the enemy ship. He hesitated and could not give the order to fire.The officer on duty confirmed the location of the target, and he asked suspiciously, "If it's an enemy ship, why didn't it fight back?"

The officer on duty replied nonsensically: "The Japanese may have invented a gunpowder that does not emit light!" Wright didn't believe in the saying of "non-luminous gunpowder", but the scene in front of him really couldn't be explained.What's going on here? Could it be that the opponent is a transport fleet, most of which are transport ships that are helpless? Wright ordered the destroyer to plug in, capture and kill these "transport ships" nearby, and at the same time screen the cruiser. He was wrong, and his fault was that he didn't master the knack of night combat, and he didn't have enough understanding of the long-range power of the Japanese "spear" torpedo.Tanaka was overjoyed to see the U.S. ships advancing instead of retreating, and again ordered the ships to retreat while continuing to launch torpedoes.

In the process of turning to retreat, Tanaka's flagship "Nagaba" fired all the torpedoes in one go, and other Japanese ships also quickly threw off their floating buckets and fired at the US ship. The Japanese ships did not have new radars, but the officers and soldiers were well-trained for night battles, and their torpedo shooting skills were superb, while the American cruisers still maintained their original course and speed, and precise aiming was not difficult. The U.S. flagship "Minneapolis" was the first to be shot. In a landslide-like explosion, the bow of the ship was completely blown up by two torpedoes. Wright, who was commanding the battle on the bridge, was also injured. "Killer" once again showed its strong lethality.

The "New Orleans" following the flagship was also unlucky. The torpedo drilled into the port bow, the front ammunition compartment was detonated, the bow and the No. 1 turret were completely destroyed, and the cruiser completely lost its combat effectiveness in an instant. The U.S. fleet is completely in disarray.Except for the "Honolulu", all other cruisers were hit by at least one torpedo.The most seriously injured was the heavy cruiser "Northampton". Its stern deck was full of burning diesel oil, and the captain had to announce that the flag was lowered and the ship was abandoned.

After the bow of the "Minneapolis" was knocked out by a torpedo, it became such a bad look. Tanaka originally wanted to take advantage of the fire and bombard the injured American ship, but at this time he saw several American seaplanes flying over the Japanese ship. Fearing that there would be mistakes, he gave up the idea, led his troops to leave the battlefield, and fled along the "narrow road". escape. The Japanese ship had gone, but the U.S. military didn't know it. Several wounded and unsinkable cruisers chased after the Japanese ship in the direction where the Japanese ship was fleeing.

Those two were the destroyers "Ramson" and "Radson" which were advancing ahead.Noticing the continuous shells behind him, the captain of the "Lamson" quickly called on the wireless phone: "Don't kill each other!" As soon as the words fell, the "Lamson" had already been hit by a bomb.The captain suddenly understood that the flagship "Minneapolis" could no longer receive radio waves after being damaged, even if you shouted a thousand or ten thousand times on the wireless phone, it would be useless. The communication channel has been blocked, and the US cruisers who are eager for revenge and have a black eye, don't care about their relatives and friends in winter and summer, they are just bombarding.Under such circumstances, it is useless to be sunk by one's own people. The "Lamson" and "Radson" hurriedly turned on the combat identification lights, and at the same time drove out of the cruiser's fire range with full horsepower.

Running to a corner, the two brothers comforted each other while panting heavily, and suddenly the lookout post on the "Lamson" reported: "A large number of floating mines set by the enemy are found ahead!" The captain of the "Ramson" was greatly puzzled after hearing this.How big is Tiedi Bay? No matter how many Japanese mines there are, how much area can they cover?Relying on this method to catch the US warship is nothing more than a sea version of waiting for a rabbit. Thinking about it again, now that the lights are in the dark, the friendly ships behind don't know yet, and if they really run into Fulei, it's no small matter, so they ordered to clear the mines.

The deminers went down in a small boat and picked up a "mine" tremblingly.At first glance, it was not a mine, but an iron barrel, and it was an iron barrel containing grain. The captain of the "Lamson" suddenly realized that he knew what the Japanese were doing, and these iron barrels floating on the sea were immediately destroyed. Because this naval battle took place in the waters of Cape Tasafaranga where the buoys were dropped, the Japanese called it the Battle of Cape Tasafaranga.Judging from the performance of the two sides in the naval battle, the Japanese army sank one American cruiser and severely damaged three at the cost of self-damaged one destroyer. The field has not lost its edge.

Conversely, the shortcomings of the U.S. Navy’s tactical command, especially its weak night combat capability, were once again exposed. For this reason, Nimitz put forward the slogan of "training, training, and training". "Capable, patient and courageous".