Chapter 70 "The Woman Who Persevered"

At 12:45, Captain Sherman of the "Lexington" received a call from the loss control center. The other party still seemed very optimistic: "We have held on to the place damaged by the torpedo, but, sir, I want to suggest , if you want to be torpedoed again, do so on the starboard side." Two minutes later, Sherman felt the "old girl" twist suddenly, apparently an explosion occurred in the belly of the hull.At first he thought he had been hit by a torpedo launched by a submarine, but after inspection he found out that it was a generator that he forgot to turn off to cause trouble.

During the air raid, the oil tank at the bottom of the ship was damaged by torpedoes, and the oil mist leaked from the oil pipe, which was ignited by the sparks from the generator. The crew rushed to put out the fire, but the fire mainly came from the oil tank, and they could not water it, so they could only let the fire spread. "Lexington" was able to maintain its formation at first, but soon the bow of the ship began to swing its head from side to side, and it became more and more powerful, finally posing a threat to other ships around. Fletcher issued an order to the task force: "The formation leaves 'Lexington', let it move on its own."

The crew was still making every effort to rescue, but at 2:30 pm, a more serious explosion occurred on the hull, the hull shook violently, and an officer wrote the word "doom" in his notebook. The speed of "Lexington" is getting slower and slower. What's more serious is that there are still a batch of bombs and torpedoes stored in the ship, and the temperature in the cabin has already exceeded the theoretical explosion point, which means that a devastating explosion may occur at any time . There was no way to save "Lexington" anymore.At 5:00 p.m., Sherman received the order to abandon ship.

Fletcher sent cruisers and destroyers to pick up the survivors on the "Lexington". The crew of the "Lexington" have deep feelings for their warship. Some of them have served on the ship since it was launched in 1927. Therefore, although they know that staying on the ship for one minute is more dangerous, but No one is in a hurry to leave. The crew lined up on the flight deck in an orderly manner and slid down the rope one by one. When it was their turn to go down, everyone's expressions were still reluctant to part. They really didn't want to leave this good friend who was about to sink.

Sherman was the last to leave, and he circled the ship to see if there were any survivors left aboard.Before leaving, he stopped suddenly, ran into the combat compartment, and put his gold-rimmed hat on his head. At the moment of life and death, what hat are you still thinking about!Talking about this incident, Sherman laughed: "I heard that after the war, such gold-brimmed hats will not be issued. I think we should keep the best things." When he came to the stern of the ship, the people below urged him to slide along the rope quickly.Sherman still hesitated, he said slowly: "Now that I have left the warship, if the fire goes out, don't I look too stupid?"

When Sherman was sliding down, another explosion occurred on the ship, and he was so shocked that he let go of his hands and fell into the sea. Finally, the captain wearing a gold-rimmed hat was scooped up by the boys on the motorboat with their pants up. This is probably the only way to drag a person out of the sea.But Sherman still felt a little embarrassed. He smiled and said, "I think there should be a more decent way to get a captain on board." Everyone is reluctant to part with the "old girl", but its "life" is irretrievable. At 6:30 in the afternoon, the fire finally ignited the bombs and torpedoes in the ship. The most powerful explosion occurred in "Lexington". The huge pillar of fire shot straight into the sky with thick smoke, and the entire aircraft on the deck, as well as the large steel components, all flew tens of meters into the air. Debris splashed on the surrounding sea several hundred meters away.

In the boundless twilight, this scene was not unspectacular, but it deeply hurt people's hearts.The crew couldn't hold back any longer, and they either cried loudly or shed tears silently. The "Lexington" did not sink immediately, and even before it sank, the fire would have to burn for several hours, and this would bring danger to the entire task force, because it was like a signaling mark in the dark, and the Japanese Submarines or reconnaissance planes, which could be seen from a hundred nautical miles or more, would have no trouble marking the location of the task force on a map.

Fletcher ordered the sinking of the "Lexington", and the destroyer was ordered to fire four torpedoes at the burning warship. At 8 p.m., "Lexington" disappeared into the rolling waves.Witnessing this scene, a naval officer withdrawn from the ship whispered: "It sank, but it didn't turn over. It went down with its head held high. Dear Mrs. Lex Dun', another nickname), a woman who fought her way through!" When the news reached the Pacific Fleet Command, the original atmosphere of joy and optimism was swept away, and a thick shadow was cast over everyone's hearts.After experiencing a psychological reversal like diving from a high platform, Nimitz couldn't bear such a heavy blow, and tears welled up in his eyes.He kept walking back and forth in the small space of the office, talking to himself while walking: "'Lexington' should not be lost!"

In this situation, no one will feel better.Sensing that all his staff members were also downcast, Nimitz said hastily: "Please keep this in mind. We don't know much about the damage to the Japanese army. They have obviously paid a heavy price, and they will definitely not be satisfied. I can be sure Say, the enemy has also been hit." Nimitz said these words, but to stabilize the morale of the army.After all, "Xianghe" was only severely damaged, and it would be almost the same if it was sunk. The officer on duty learned from the Japanese military radio station that "Xianghe" fled northward with injuries and was on his way back to Japan.The vengeful Nimitz immediately ordered: "Send the submarine to chase immediately, as long as the target is found, it will be completely sunk!"

In the vast Pacific Ocean, an aircraft carrier is like a fallen leaf in the forest. If you cannot determine its exact position, it is really difficult to find it. However, the "Poseidon" submarine that was ordered to attack still did its best, Finally, in the waters south of Shikoku Island, Japan, "Shokaku" and its two escorting destroyers were discovered. It is a pity that the speed of the submarine was not as fast as that of the warship, and the "Poseidon" failed to catch up with the "Xianghe", so it had to return without success. When returning, almost all the fuel of the submarine was exhausted.

The loss of "Lexington" forced Fletcher to abandon his plan to continue the night battle, and it also changed Nimitz's determination. Nimitz had considered letting the task force stay in the Coral Sea and continue to search for fighters after the Halsey fleet arrived, but he later thought that Yamamoto was about to attack Midway Island, and his side could not make any mistakes at this time, so he ordered The task force retreated immediately to Pearl Harbor. If you want to withdraw, you may not be able to withdraw.The two aircraft carriers of the US military, "Lexington" sank, "Yorktown" was injured, only 20% of the carrier aircraft on "Lexington" were taken over by "Yorktown", and their strength has been greatly reduced . Although Takagi scrapped a "Shokaku", the "Shokaku" was intact and received most of the "Shokaku" carrier aircraft.The situation of the battle is now obviously more favorable to the Japanese army. If Takagi bites Fletcher tightly, the task force is very likely to be in danger of being completely wiped out.But the problem is that after this life-and-death battle, Takagi was exhausted and lost the energy to howl before.He led the fleet to sail in the northern part of the Solomon Islands for a night, and as he got more and more sleepy, he decided to stop the second attack, leave the battlefield temporarily, and go to a corner where no one was around to rest, such as refueling, repairing the plane and so on. You ask me for any reason to lie down and "sink two US aircraft carriers", what more? Inoue believed in the results of Takagi's report, and felt that Takagi had such an achievement that it was really not easy to urge him anymore.After the Japanese light aircraft carrier "Xiangfeng" was sunk, both the Goto formation and the transport fleet lost their air cover at the same time. land. Inoue believed that the aviation force preserved by the Takagi formation was limited and not enough to cover the landing of the troops, so he ordered the postponement of the attack on Port Moresby, and all the transport fleet returned to the starting point. Taking advantage of Takagi's release, Fletcher led the task force to withdraw from the dangerous sea area. The cowardice of Inoue and Takagi angered the Combined Fleet Command. Yamamoto and his staff were very annoyed. Their thinking was just the opposite of that of the forward commander: Since you have already sunk two US aircraft carriers, why don't you take advantage of the victory and pursue it in one go? Smash all the pots and pans of the US military? Inoue explained that it was because of insufficient fuel, and one of Yamamoto's aides said: "If the fuel runs out, put all combustibles into the boiler..." After receiving such a sharp order, Inoue didn't dare to be negligent, and quickly picked up the attendance sheet, and let Takagi get tired before going out for a lap. On May 9, 1942, Takagi sailed south for the second time, looking for Fletcher to fight, but after two consecutive days of searching, no trace of the task force was found. After Fletcher withdrew safely, Nimitz followed suit. According to his deployment, Halsey, who had already arrived in the Coral Sea, opened up the battle, and "Enterprise" and "Bumblebee" lined up. This trick really frightened Takagi. He thought that all the aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet had arrived in the South Pacific, so he hurriedly withdrew from the original area on the evening of May 10 and switched from offensive to defensive. It is difficult to say who will win and who will lose in the Coral Sea naval battle.Tactically, the Japanese army undoubtedly had the upper hand. They sank a large aircraft carrier, a super-large oil tanker, and a destroyer, but sinking more ships did not necessarily mean a strategic victory. The two major combat operations of the Japanese Navy, the "Southward Advance" has been thwarted, and the "East Advance" has also been greatly affected.In short, this is a delicate moment when the balance of power is about to undergo a major change, and Nimitz is about to have a showdown with his opponent.