The first Japanese bomber was shot down as soon as it entered range. I saw artillery shells bursting on the left and right of the plane first, sending up clouds of black smoke. Then, the shell exploded in front of the plane, and the bomber fell like a stone. The second bomber came closer and dived straight down. Under the fierce fire, it was beaten to pieces and no armor was left. But the bomb it dropped fell on the deck of the "Cai Feng". As soon as the third bomber dived, it was hit and exploded into several large fragments, scattered in the aircraft carrier's track. The bomb of this plane exploded underwater, causing a strange large bubble to form below. A tumbling vortex. Then three more bombers pounced from the starboard side of the aircraft carrier. Two bombs missed, and the third bomb blew open the port deck, and a bomber fell into the sea right next to the Caifeng. The bombers still flying in the air were all surrounded by artillery fire. The seventh bomber circled in the air and dived head-on towards the aircraft carrier. I saw it was shot down as soon as it threw the bomb. The bomb fell on the lift at the front of the ship, which caught fire. The eighth bomber dropped a bomb and missed. The "Cai Feng" was hit in three places. At 12:15, the battle ended, and all attacking Japanese aircraft were shot down.
"Cai Feng" is parked at sea. A long column of black smoke rose from the ship and shot straight into the sky. Looking from the escort ship, the situation of the "Cai Feng" was already precarious. But it was tense and busy on the aircraft carrier. The first aid team and the repair team were busy on the flight deck, in the hangar cabin and in the engine room. The fire in the hangar cabin was still burning, the chimney was damaged, and several boilers went out. At 13:15, the hole on the flight deck was temporarily repaired; at 13:50, the aircraft carrier could travel at a speed of 20 knots. The fire on the ship was extinguished. Some places were still burning, but the fire was basically controlled. Living. At this time, the "Cai Feng" aircraft was ready to land and refuel on the deck. After the first batch of aircraft were prepared, they immediately took off to attack Japan's "Aso" aircraft carrier.
"Cai Feng", as the northern wing of the Chinese fleet, continues to move southwest. At 14:26, the radar on the aircraft carrier detected a Japanese aircraft flying from the north and approaching the fleet. All Chinese ships have entered combat status. Refueling was immediately stopped on the deck of the "Cai Feng".
The second assault echelon of the "Aso" came: 16 torpedo aircraft escorted by fighter jets, like the first echelon, were first intercepted by the escort fighter jets of the Chinese aircraft carrier. As a result, only 8 torpedo aircraft were able to escape. I saw these 8 planes climbing high into the sky. The fragments of the explosion were flying like black snow, and the torpedo plane flew forward slowly in the smoke. Only 4 of the 8 torpedo planes flew to the distance of launching torpedoes, and then they were shot down. The four torpedoes immediately drew several long tracks on the sea. The "Cai Feng" turned sharply to avoid torpedoes, and its wide deck swayed sharply from side to side. The captain successfully evaded two torpedoes. The last two torpedoes hit the port side of the aircraft carrier. The aircraft carrier's speed suddenly slowed down in the middle, but it did not stop. Everyone on the other ships stared blankly from a distance. The anti-aircraft artillery fire has stopped, and a Japanese plane has disappeared in the sky. The battle lasted only 7 minutes in total.
"Cai Feng" tilted more and more to the port side, and its speed became slower and slower. Then it began to circle on the sea, turning slower and slower, and stopped after a while. There was a puff of black smoke coming from the side of the ship, but light white smoke was blowing from the chimney. The escort ships of the "Cai Feng" began to surround it.
The cabin of the aircraft carrier sank into darkness, and the ship tilted even more. At 14:57, the captain ordered to abandon ship. Rope ladders and large rope nets were spread on the side of the ship, and the crew descended to the berthed destroyer.
The pilot who first discovered the "Aso" was Lieutenant Sa Shiyan on the "Saifeng". He flew away from the "Saifeng" before the second batch of Japanese planes attacked. At nearly 16:00, he reported the position of the enemy aircraft carrier, his own bearing, route and speed, as well as the composition of the enemy's escort fleet. Because his report was very accurate, the Chinese fleet could formulate a detailed attack plan in advance and determine the attack target of each pilot. The "Dragon King" dispatched 24 dive bombers, 14 of which belonged to the "Cai Feng". Half an hour later, "Xingkai Lake" dispatched 16 more dive bombers.
The dive bomber group of the "Dragon King" discovered the Japanese invasion at 16:50. Three disabled Japanese aircraft carriers, trailing three rising streaks of smoke, followed the intact "Aso" at a distance. A group of Gale fighters jumped in front of the Chinese aircraft, but only three Chinese bombers were shot down. Japan is about to suffer a disastrous defeat.
China's dive bombers pounced directly on the "Asu" from an altitude of 6,000 meters, and eight bombs hit the "Asu" squarely. The huge explosion force caused the flight deck of the aircraft carrier to float up like a banana peel, and then landed heavily on the bridge of the aircraft carrier. A ball of fire burst out, and the entire aircraft carrier was suddenly filled with fire from beginning to end. The bombers then attacked the battleship "Kirishima", but with little effect. ?An hour later, the bomber "Xingkai Lake" arrived. Seeing that the "Aso" was dying, they poured bombs on another battleship and a cruiser. After a while, another squadron of "Knife" bombers flew in from Guam. They dropped three heavy bombs, burying the "Katsuragi" into the sea. At the same time, they also hit a heavy cruiser and a light cruiser.
In the evening, the "Dafeng" aircraft carrier, which had been severely damaged in the morning's battle, was killed by a Chinese submarine. The submarine fired two torpedoes and sank the "Daifeng". After the incident, the "Yunlong" was also sunk by a Chinese cruiser. At dawn on August 5, a Japanese destroyer searched the sea full of wreckage, took in the remaining Japanese soldiers on the sea, and sank the Japanese "Aso", a floating big fire pot. After the torpedo exploded, Japan's last aircraft carrier in the Battle of Guam sank to the bottom of the sea.
Lieutenant Gai Guoqiang still perched on his cushion and witnessed almost the entire naval battle of Guam. Night fell, and the Japanese warship wandered away to the north in despair. Gai Guoqiang thought to himself that he could finally charge up his rubber raft. He climbed onto the rubber raft and floated for a while before he was finally rescued and taken into custody.
At 2:15 on August 5, the submarine "Anton" reported: "A group of warships of unknown nationality were discovered 90 nautical miles west of Guam." Fu Renxuan led the fleet to sail in the direction indicated by the report at a speed of 25 knots. That morning, several more reports came in, proving that the warships of unknown nationality were the fleeing Japanese fleet. The "Anton" sent another detailed report: "Two cruisers are sailing westward." Chinese bombers immediately pursued them. However, the cumulus clouds over the northwest of Guam still lingered, allowing the Japanese to remain hidden and undetected.
On August 6, visibility improved. The fleeing Japanese were discovered by the "Dragon King" plane in the early morning. The aircraft reported that there were two Japanese fleets 400 nautical miles northwest of Guam, 50 nautical miles apart from each other. Guam dispatched 16 Army "Quick Knife" bombers to pursue the Japanese fleet in the south. But they couldn't find the target. Among them, six "Quick Knife" bombers flying at an altitude of 3,000 meters saw a warship 25 nautical miles east of the predicted Japanese entry position. Six bombers dropped 12 bombs on the warship, and the Japanese cruiser was sunk within 15 seconds.
"Xingkai Lake" dispatched 36 dive bombers, escorted by 8 fighter jets. The group of aircraft spotted a battleship of the same type as the Kirishima, a cruiser and three destroyers. Although there was not a single Japanese aircraft in the past, the Japanese ship's anti-aircraft artillery firepower was very fierce. Two large Japanese warships were hit by several bombs, but the damage was not serious and their speed did not decrease. A Chinese bomber was shot down. The fighter jets scanned the Japanese destroyers back and forth. An hour later, the fleet returned to the "Xingkai Lake". While the plane was refueling, the pilot ate a piece of beef pie in a hurry, drank a cup of tea, and then took off again to pursue the fleeing Japanese, looking like a hunter.
After a large group of dive bombers took off from the "Dragon King", they quickly bit two Japanese heavy cruisers. The two cruisers moved slowly, accompanied by two destroyers. This is the "Kumano" and the already injured cruiser "Tottori". These Japanese warships were attacked by Chinese aircraft for a full hour and a half. Both cruisers suffered a lot of bombs, with the "Kumano" being the most severely bombed. The entire ship building turned into a pile of scorched red and curled scrap metal. The deck was filled with smoke and bodies were scattered everywhere. The anti-aircraft guns on the "Kumano" were still firing non-stop. The cruiser, which was already floating low on the sea, was still sailing forward. Below was the calm sea, above it was the shuttle and roaring aircraft, and behind it were its companions who could not protect themselves. There were only a few fires on the ship just now, but now it is connected from beginning to end. The speed of the "Kumano" was even slower, and the "Tottori" had broken its track. Bombs continued to splash around the "Kumano". The "Kumano" began to list, and the two destroyers moved towards it without hesitation, trying to follow the cruiser's gang to accommodate the survivors on the ship. Chinese planes swooped down and bombed the Japanese destroyers. One of the destroyers was shot in the stern. The fire spread to the middle of the deck. The hull was broken into two parts at the waist and sank into the sea. The "Kumano" tilted more and more, then suddenly rolled into the sea and disappeared. The "Tottori" has been slowly retreating despite being attacked by Chinese aircraft not far away, firing in the air while avoiding bombs. Several fires broke out on the ship. The remaining destroyer sailed towards the "Kumano". At this time, as the ammunition was exhausted, the Chinese aircraft began to return. The Tottori was eventually torpedoed and sunk by a Chinese submarine.
After the "Cai Feng" hit two torpedoes, it was all evacuated at 15:00 on August 4. However, after the ship tilted 25 degrees, it stopped at this position and was still floating on the sea. At 18:00, Rear Admiral Fu Renxuan ordered the destroyer "Chen 102" to wait beside the abandoned ship, preparing to sink the "Cai Feng" if the Japanese came to seize it. At dawn on the 5th, the captain of "Chen 102" reported: "'Caifeng' is still floating and can be saved.". "At 8 o'clock, we found a few tracer bombs flying from the aircraft carrier, and then we saw someone signaling. "Chen 102" sent a small boat and picked up two sailors. It turned out that they were in When he left the ship, he was treated as dead and was left in the infirmary on the ship. After Shen Honglie learned the news that the "Cai Feng" was in distress, he telegraphed to Fu Renxuan: "Save the Cai Feng." I send you a dredger, a tugboat and a destroyer. "The dredger was mobilized nearby, arrived first, and immediately began to pull the cable, and a rescue team boarded the aircraft carrier at the same time. Thanks to the skill of operating the water pump, the "Cai Feng" quickly stood up. "Chen 103" The destroyer followed the aircraft carrier, and other destroyers escorted the surroundings. If the Japanese had not attacked midway, the "Cai Feng" would have been saved. However, a Japanese submarine followed the convoy, evading the eyes and ears of the escorting destroyers, and boldly It came over and fired four torpedoes. The "Chen 103" was hit by two torpedoes and sank immediately. The other two torpedoes hit the "Cai Feng". The aircraft carrier did not completely sink until the early morning of the next day. .
In this battle, Japan lost 4 aircraft carriers, 2 cruisers, 3 destroyers and 4 transport ships. Several warships were severely damaged, and more than 2,700 sailors and pilots died. China lost one aircraft carrier, 112 aircraft, and 209 people died.
Despite the disastrous defeat, Japan was determined to continue the attack. Around August 20th, based on the information provided by reconnaissance aircraft, Japan assembled 4 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 12 cruisers, more than 20 destroyers, 15 large transport ships, cargo ships and oil tankers, as well as 160 aircraft Army bombers and fighter planes, their target is the Truk Islands. On the 23rd, Major General Fu Renxuan, who led the Chinese fleet to patrol the southeast of the Truk Islands, received a report that three Japanese aircraft carriers with frigates were spotted south of the Truk Islands heading southeast. After receiving the report, Fu Renxuan immediately led his team to attack the Japanese. His fleet includes two task forces, each task force is dominated by an aircraft carrier, the "Xuanyuan" class aircraft carrier "Shennong" and the "Dragon King" aircraft carrier. The "Shen Nong" is the new flagship of the entire fleet and is escorted by two heavy cruisers and destroyers. The "Dragon King" is escorted by the battleship "Republic", a heavy cruiser, a light anti-aircraft cruiser and six destroyers.
At 6:30 on the 24th, the "Dragon King" released the first patrol fleet, but no target was found. By noon, some more information came from the commander of the Chinese Air Force in the South Pacific, confirming that the previously obtained information was accurate. Fu Renxuan ordered the "Dragon King" to send a second patrol fleet to search. It was not until the afternoon that the patrol plane discovered the target and returned a report: a Japanese fleet about 200 nautical miles southwest, with 3 aircraft carriers, 8 heavy cruisers, 6 light cruisers, 16 destroyers and several large transport ships approaching. . This fleet is huge, spread out in an arc 60 to 80 nautical miles wide. This means that the Japanese army has set off to seize the Truk Islands.
The second echelon consisting of dive bombers and torpedo aircraft took off from the Chinese aircraft carrier. The "Shennong" aircraft first arrived over the Japanese fleet. After they discovered the 7,500-ton small aircraft carrier "Ryujo", they fired torpedoes first and then dropped bombs, blowing open the flight deck of the "Ryujo" in one fell swoop. The "Ryuxiang" immediately floated on the sea and became motionless, and then capsized with the ship full of fire.
At the same time, the Japanese fleet also released aircraft. As soon as the "Dragon King" and "Shen Nong" aircraft took off, the surveillance radar reported that a group of Japanese planes were coming.
China has always attached great importance to the role of radar. Therefore, large warships of the Chinese Navy are not limited to one radar, but are equipped with several radars. Each radar is responsible for special detection, including long and near air defense warning radars, artillery radars, radar interrogators, and so on. Since 1942, every battleship or aircraft carrier of the Chinese Navy has been equipped with a radar facility, including 10 to 15 radars of various types, manned by 100 to 160 full-time personnel. Intelligence obtained through radar and other means is aggregated into an "intelligence center."
The assault echelon of the Japanese Army includes 36 dive bombers and 12 torpedo aircraft, and is escorted by 24 fighter jets. This flying echelon was intercepted by the Chinese fleet escort aircraft, but after a melee, the Japanese army's 30 dive bombers and most of the fighter jets slipped past. On the "Dragon King", the alert radar monitors these incoming enemies. On the deck, everyone was looking at the direction reported by the loudspeaker. The sky is blue and looks extremely high and deep. The sun was gradually setting in the west. I don't know who shouted first: "Here they come, these bastards!" Sure enough, bright spots appeared out of nowhere.
In an instant, all the frigates opened fire at once, and the thunderous sound shook the ground. In the blue sky, thousands of flickering projectiles were densely intertwined. The "Republic" not far from the "Dragon King" was spitting dense and fierce tongues of fire, as if there was a fire on the ship. As soon as the Japanese plane flying in front entered the range of the anti-aircraft artillery, it was immediately beaten to pieces, and its wreckage was scattered in the air. Follow behindJapanese planes arrived one after another. I saw one, and another, and another. After crossing the artillery defense line, they dived along a 70-degree angle and rushed to within 500 meters before dropping bombs. The "Dragon King" below was constantly dodging. Several Japanese aircraft were shot down by the "Republic"'s anti-aircraft guns while diving. The Japanese aircraft concentrated their entire fleet to attack the "Dragon King". A plane dived very close to the aircraft carrier, making a piercing scream, and saw a bright bomb falling diagonally towards the deck.