Chapter 105 "Elephants" and "Wasps"

The "Kamikaze" sank the "Princeton" and severely damaged the "Birmingham", which forced the 38th Task Force to delay the attack time. In this sense, Onishi did support Kurita, but Kurita himself did not I don't know, and this kind of blow that seems to be scratching the surface of the boot can't hold back the opponent at all. At 10:30 am on October 24, the radar soldiers of the "Yamato" finally discovered the arrival of a large number of US carrier-based aircraft. Kurita immediately called out to the ships: "The enemy's air strike is approaching, everyone take their positions!" At this time, the breakfast time postponed due to the deployment of the guard had not yet ended, and the crew members who had not finished their breakfast threw away their rice bowls and stuffed them with random rice balls. , and hurried to the combat position.

In a short period of time, the anti-aircraft guns and machine guns on the "Yamato" were all pointed at the sky like hedgehogs, and other guard ships were also on standby, and a strong murderous aura enveloped the entire fleet. The arrivals were the first attack fleet dispatched by the U.S. military, including a total of 25 "Avenger" torpedo aircraft.They formed into three teams outside the anti-aircraft range and attacked with their backs to the sun. At 10:40 in the morning, a fierce sea and air battle broke out in the Sibuyan Sea.In the vast sky, the pilots did not see a Japanese plane escorting Kurita's troops, but the anti-aircraft artillery fire of the Japanese fleet was extremely fierce.All the Japanese ships swayed from side to side to avoid the attack of the US planes, while firing fiercely into the air. The flames spewed out by the anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns weaved dense bullet nets over the fleet.

With their elephant-like size, the "Yamato" and "Musashi" have naturally become the main targets of US aircraft attacks. Among them, the "Yamato" with a general flag hanging on its mast has become the focus of concentrated attacks.It was the first time for U.S. pilots to see such a huge battleship, which further aroused everyone's fighting spirit and ignited everyone's excitement. Regardless of the obstruction of the bullet net, the torpedo planes broke into the center of the fleet like wasps, and continuously fired shells and torpedoes at the "Yamato" and "Musashi". Both "Yamato" and "Musashi" are known as "unsinkable warships". Most of the hit shells and torpedoes were rebounded into the sea by the thick deck of the ship. The hull was hardly damaged and the speed was not affected. .

The "Elephant" and the "Wasp" are together, and the "Elephant" is not afraid of the "Wasp" sting. The fleet directly escorted is simply unable to compete with the opponent. The warships of Kurita's army did not mean to sit there motionless and shoot at the air. In order to avoid torpedoes and shells, they had to dodge constantly. Over time, the artillery fire would gradually lose its power due to dispersion. Look for it, as long as a large number of torpedoes and bombs are poured from the sky without hesitation, even "unsinkable warships" will not escape the fate of destruction.

Sure enough, the good times didn't last long. Affected by the vibration caused by the torpedo explosion, the "Musashi"'s cannon azimuth was completely stuck, and it lost its ability to fire salvos. Although it was still advancing through the waves, the confidence of Kurita's troops had been greatly dampened. The first wave of air strikes lasted about 20 minutes. Although two US planes were shot down, Kurita's troops suffered even greater losses. In addition to the damage to the "Musashi", the heavy cruiser "Myoko" also lost its combat capability and had to leave. Formation, go home first.

At 12 noon, before Kurita's troops could reorganize their formation and have lunch, the second batch of 24 torpedo planes flew over the fleet again. Those who didn't have enough breakfast can only put down their lunch now.Compared with the first batch, the targets of the second batch of attack aircraft groups are clearer. They are divided into two groups, one of which is dedicated to dealing with the "Yamato" and "Musashi". The ship was put to death. The skies over the battleships were once again filled with pink and mauve flak smoke.It seems to be a reappearance of the Malay naval battle back then, except that the giant ship holding its head and being beaten was replaced by the "Yamato" and "Musashi" from the "Prince of Wales", and the highly skilled and brave pilots became American.During the air raid, they dive-bombed under heavy anti-aircraft fire, and flew away from the battlefield after throwing away all the bombs and torpedoes, without wasting any ammunition.

After the U.S. plane left, the officers and soldiers on the Japanese ship still had lingering fears: "I didn't expect the enemy plane to do such a good job!" This time the "Musashi" was hit by three torpedoes again. Although it did not cause major trauma, Kurita was already fidgeting. He didn't know how long his "elephant" could withstand continuous bites, so he Anxiously, he sent a telegram to Onishi asking for help: "We are attacked by enemy carrier-based aircraft, please dispatch the aircraft to attack the enemy ship immediately." Onishi had already sent out all his "Kamikaze Squadrons", but this did not help relieve Kurita's pressure at all, and Kurita's hope that the US aircraft carrier would lose its combat effectiveness due to this was quickly shattered.At 1:25 p.m., the third attack began. Relying on the hunter's instinctive sense, all the incoming carrier-based aircraft concentrated their spearheads on the "Musashi", and nearly half of the 29 US aircraft rushed towards the ship. More than a dozen bombs exploded near the "Musashi", and water columns more than 100 feet high were set off from the front, back, left, and right sides of the "Musashi".

The "Musashi" rushed left and right like crazy, and the surrounding ships felt that it would not be able to survive: "This is the end!" The "Musashi" was not finished immediately, but it was bouncing and bouncing, and the extremely tough deck ejected bombs one after another.After the water column disappeared, this battleship, known as the "Palace" and whose hull was stronger than the "Yamato", still stood on the sea like a towering hill, looking like an invincible King Kong. But this is just an illusion.In a short while, three torpedoes flew in and hit the starboard bow of the "Musashi" almost at the same time. The huge explosion tore and rolled up the outer steel plate of the bow, causing the speed of the "Musashi" to drop significantly.