Chapter 16 inexplicably sank

On August 6, Moosbrugger led the destroyer group to set sail from the port of Tulagi.At sunset, he received a report from a reconnaissance plane and learned that four Japanese destroyers were sailing south at high speed, which was the new round of "Tokyo Express". Moosbrugger calculated that at the speed of the Japanese ship, it would enter Weila Bay in the northwest of Kolombangara Island around midnight. At 10:30 in the evening, the US ship sailed into Weila Bay.According to the weapons and equipment of each ship, Moosbrugge divided the 6 destroyers into two teams. The 3 destroyers with stronger torpedoes were the first team, which he personally commanded, and the other 3 destroyers with stronger artillery were the second. Team.The first team is equipped with 3 to 4 533mm torpedo tubes, and the second team has only 2 torpedo tubes, but four 40mm guns are added.

In order to give full play to the respective advantages of the two teams, Moosbrugg made an agreement with the captains of the ships in advance that if the Japanese formation consisted entirely of destroyers, the first team would attack first. They are all small boats, so the second team will attack first.The reconnaissance report showed that the incoming ship was a destroyer. When Moosbrugge arranged the battle formation, the first team was in the front and the second team was in the right rear. The distance between the two teams was about 3,700 meters, and they all sailed in parallel in a single column.

Just after midnight, four Japanese destroyers entered Wera Bay, and soon appeared on the radar screen of Moosbrugge's flagship "Dunlap". When the Japanese ship was discovered, the two sides were still separated by nearly 20 kilometers.Mussbrugge immediately notified the ships with an announcement machine, and led the first team to approach the Japanese ship quietly in the dark, and the second team followed closely behind. Since the U.S. warships had not frequently appeared in the Weila Bay waters before, the Japanese navy was relatively careless. At this time, it neither entered a state of combat readiness nor strengthened its lookout and observation.Of course, it is also difficult to observe. There was no moonlight in the night sky that day, and it was so dark that you couldn't see your fingers.

At 5,700 meters, the Japanese ship was still unaware, Moosbrugg ordered to launch torpedoes, and the three destroyers each sent eight torpedoes. Moosbrugger not only pursues the overall tactics, but also pays attention to technical details.He installed a flash blocking device (that is, a flame arrester) at the nozzle of the torpedo tube. When the torpedo was launched, there was no flame, and the Japanese lookout post could not find it, so the Japanese ship was still moving towards the torpedo stupidly. One minute after the torpedo was launched, the Japanese ship finally spotted the American ship, but it was not because of the torpedo, but because the Japanese lookout post saw a dark shadow moving in the distance. After careful identification, it was judged to be a US destroyer, and the sailors rushed to move the torpedo. ——No need to move, the free torpedoes given by the Americans are here.

U.S. Navy torpedoes used to be ridiculed as a pile of useless "scrap iron."Another important improvement of Moosbrugger's torpedo technology is that it no longer installs unreliable magnetic detonators on the warheads, but rather uses old-fashioned and stable trigger devices, which makes the US torpedoes also have the conditions to compete.The three Japanese ships in the front were all hit by torpedoes, and only the "Shigure" in the rear was spared.In a panic, the "Shigure" fired all eight "spear" torpedoes in the launch tube, and then left the battlefield with the help of the smoke screen.

Mussbrugge had already guarded against this move.After the first team fired the torpedoes, they turned around at high speed and withdrew in a single line. None of the eight torpedoes of the "Shigure" hit the target. According to Burke's plan, after the first team succeeded, the second team would suddenly fire from another direction.In actual combat, Moosbrugger improved this plan again. When the torpedoes of the first team fired at the unsuspecting Japanese ships, the second team had been ordered to seize the "T" horizontal head position. As soon as the first team withdrew to the northeast, the second team launched a fierce attack from the southwest with main guns and torpedoes, sinking an already injured Japanese ship.

Seeing that the helper had arrived, the first team also turned around and bombarded the Japanese ship.Under the attack of crossfire, the remaining two Japanese ships on the battlefield were beaten dizzy, not knowing where to go, and only knew to shoot blindly in all directions. This is already a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, so there is nothing to worry about. The only thing to worry about is the Japanese ship "Shigure" that has slipped out. Past experience shows that it is likely to return to the carbine.Moosbrugger let the second team continue to bombard, and he led the first team to intercept the "Shigure".

After reloading the torpedo, the "Shigure" really came back.Just as it was preparing to attack again, the ammunition bay of a Japanese ship that was besieged was shot and a big explosion occurred. The captain of the "Shigure" heard it wrong, thinking that the US plane was also coming to help out and was conducting an air strike on his friendly ship, so he didn't dare to go forward, turned around and drove back to Rabaul. Auditory hallucinations saved the life of the "Shigure".In the naval battle that night, of the four Japanese destroyers, only one "Shigure" escaped.Under Moosbrugge's precise calculation of the triple blow, three Japanese destroyers that had just entered service exploded and sank one after another, while the US formation remained unscathed.When the Japanese ship exploded, the fireworks were so spectacular that when the crew of the American torpedo boat 30 nautical miles away saw it, they thought it was the volcano on Kolombangara Island that was erupting.

The three Japanese ships that were sunk were all fully loaded with ground troops, and most of the army soldiers and crew members on them died on the seabed with the ship. It was the first time that the Japanese army's transportation operation on the new route suffered such a clean and complete failure. In previous naval battles between the United States and Japan, both sides suffered mutual damage. Even if the U.S. military wins, it will have to pay a certain price.The Weila Bay naval battle was the first precedent for the U.S. military to win without loss. This also marks that after continuous exploration, the U.S. military has finally found effective night combat tactics. In the field of night combat that the Japanese army is good at, they will no longer be stage fright.

This change is enough to make the Japanese tremble.A classmate of Masaobu Okumiya, the aviation staff officer of the United Fleet, served as the captain of the sunk destroyer, and he survived.After being rescued and returned to the Buin base, Okumiya expressed his apologies to him, saying that a support plane had been dispatched that night, but due to the storm, they could not cooperate effectively. Okumiya originally wanted to comfort the other party, but the captain acted as if he didn't hear it, his face still had a terrified expression, and he muttered to himself: "For some reason, the ship sank inexplicably. gone."

Okumiya couldn't speak anymore. Without reinforcements in place, the counterattack would be hopeless. The remnants of Sasaki withdrew from New Georgia and quietly retreated from the sea to the nearby Kolombangara Island.