Chapter 103 put all one's eggs in one basket

The U.S. troops on the "Flying Fish" were even more energetic, and they hit the side of the "Atago" with torpedoes, and the "Atago" was immediately submerged in a sea of ​​​​fire. In order to save their lives, Kurita and his staff on the "Atago" had to jump into the sea.A staff officer said angrily while paddling on the sea: "We were killed by the enemy submarine, but we didn't notice it at all beforehand!" Obviously, he thought of the search machine—who can say that this unforeseen disaster had nothing to do with the transfer of all the search machines?

Twenty minutes after being hit by a torpedo, the "Atago" sank to the bottom of the sea. The "Flying Fish" did not give up, and it fired a torpedo into the tail of the heavy cruiser "Kaohsiung". The "Kaohsiung" soon sank into a semi-sinking state in the billowing smoke, and had to return to Brunei under the escort of two destroyers. Kurita's troops were really in a hurry, throwing depth charges like crazy, and frightened everyone on the US submarine.Fortunately, although the Japanese army was fierce, they did not know the exact location of the submarine. After shaking violently a few times, the "Flying Fish" and "Minnow" finally escaped from the depth bomb attack area.

Resurfacing, they saw the wounded "Kaohsiung".Just when the "Flying Fish" and the "Minnow" were about to join forces to pursue and kill them, the "Flying Fish" ran aground in the reef area of ​​Palawan. The horse stumbled. If the rescue was not carried out quickly, the crew of the "Flying Fish" lying on the reef could only be attacked by Japanese planes. The "minnow" resolutely gave up the pursuit plan, and rescued and accommodated the crew of the "flying fish". The first round of the Battle of Wright Gulf came to an end.This round the Americans made a lot of money. At the cost of only one submarine, they destroyed two Japanese heavy cruisers and forced one heavy cruiser to withdraw from the battlefield early.

The performance of the U.S. submarine force in this round was amazing. The "Atago" was sent to the bottom of the sea by five torpedoes of the "Flying Fish" without finding any torpedo tracks. When it was about to perish, the "Atago" issued a warning that "the sensitivity of the enemy submarine is quite good". Signal.When Kurita's staff recalled the attack on the "Maya" and "Kaohsiung", they couldn't help but praise the combat technology of the Japanese submarine: "Although it is an enemy, it cannot but be admired. Such a superb attack Technology is rare in the Japanese Navy."

Kurita himself felt the same way.He was rescued by a destroyer after jumping into the sea. Kurita was recovering from dengue fever, an epidemic epidemic in Southeast Asia, but the overboard made his condition worse. Kurita, who had been admonishing his subordinates, finally felt scared.When his fleet was attacked by U.S. submarines, the Combined Fleet Command sent a telegram stating: "It is likely that the enemy has information that our forces are concentrated." Even if this is not true, being attacked by a submarine now proves that the main offensive force of the Japanese army has been exposed.If that's the case, why don't you go back?Toyota didn't mean that, and his blunt order was attached to the telegram: "Execute the scheduled plan."

Toyota's ruthlessness towards its subordinates was fully exposed at this time.Whether you have air cover, whether there will be any more danger, is none of his business, all he wants is desperate. At dawn on October 24, Kurita moved his headquarters to the battleship Yamato and continued his cautious northward movement.According to the original plan, after passing through the Palawan Strait, the fleet will enter the Sibuyan Sea.In order to guard against continued attacks by U.S. submarines, Kurita divided the fleet into two, one centered on the battleship Yamato and the other centered on the battleship Kongo. The two fleets were separated by 12 nautical miles and surrounded by Surrounded by destroyers, the core battleships are protected and mutually supported in a ring formation.

But this time, those who want to eat meat are no longer limited to submarines.After receiving the "Flying Fish" telegram, Halsey immediately ordered the 38th Task Force under his command to move closer to the Philippines. With the amphibious forces seconded to Kincaid's Seventh Fleet, Halsey was left with only Task Force 38 under direct command.Halsey hadn't fought for a long time, and his heart and hands were itchy, so he took over as soon as he came up, bypassing Mitchell, and directly exercised tactical command over the 38th Task Force, but the original commander Mitchell became I have nothing to do, and I don't know what my authority and responsibilities are.

The 38th Task Force has four aircraft carrier task forces, and McCain's force went to refuel, and the remaining three task forces were placed by Halsey at the exit of the eastern end of the San Bernardino Strait. To enter Wright Bay, one must enter the San Bernardino Strait from the Sibuyan Sea. At 8:12 in the morning, when the US carrier-based aircraft in charge of reconnaissance and search flew over the Sibuyan Sea, it found a suspicious target appeared on the radar screen, so it immediately approached for observation.A few minutes later, the pilot saw Kurita's troops. Under the sun, the warships with tower-like masts looked like model ships scattered in the picture.

This is really a beautiful picture.After receiving the report from the search plane, Halsey was both excited and nervous. While turning McCain's brigade to join the battle, he ordered the existing three task force brigades to prepare for an air strike. Halsey's roar came from the loudspeaker of the US warship: "Attack! I repeat, attack! Good luck!"