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Leap, a stroke of genius that shakes the world Chapter 158 When Manila becomes Taranto

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    Low and thick clouds cover the sea, and a fierce sea breeze blows, just like a coastal version of "mountain rain and wind filling the building."  On the undulating sea, a fleet of seventeen ships sailed low-key and quickly towards the due west. With the gloomy dark clouds as the background, the stars and stripes on the mast were like the Big Dipper before dawn, and the solitary bird was flying.  Dazzling.  Just when everyone thought that the huge U.S. Pacific Fleet was heading north to the Aleutian Islands to face the Japanese Combined Fleet, the U.S. fleet in front of them, which was only a quarter of the main fleet but concentrated four aircraft carriers, had already sailed to the eastern part of the Philippine Islands.  , only 400 nautical miles away from Manila, the capital of the Philippines.  Although the Japanese military's defense in the Philippines cannot be compared with Japan's mainland archipelago, as a strategic stepping stone connecting the mainland and the vast occupied areas of South Asia, the Japanese military still attaches great importance to it.  In addition to expanding and strengthening the defense facilities in Manila and other ports, a large number of land-based aircraft and coastal patrol vessels have also been deployed. The normal patrol and warning radius can reach more than 500 nautical miles.  As the first specially designed light multi-purpose aircraft carrier in the United States, the "Raider" has been in service for nearly 10 years. During the pre-war period, it was equipped with anti-aircraft weapons and some communication equipment. Its speed has dropped slightly compared with when it was in service, but it can maintain  Above 28 knots.  As for the CV12 new "Lexington", it is a light aircraft carrier with a displacement of 13,000 tons. It is a modified product of the Kiel Naval Shipyard in Germany. The hull is from a captured British unfinished cruiser. The huge project has almost completely destroyed the original  Some ships were completely refitted and were not completed until the autumn of 1942. Except for the lower part of the hull and the power system, the rest of the ship was "unrecognizable".  With the total weight increased by nearly 40%, the maximum speed dropped to 29 knots, and the normal carrying capacity is 22 aircraft. When used as an aircraft transport ship, it can carry 45 aircraft.  Low-hanging clouds greatly obscured the sight of patrol aircraft, and the entire fleet strictly maintained radio silence during the voyage. The ships that had entered combat status were galloping on the sea at a high speed of 25 knots.  Until dark, no trace of Japanese patrol ships was found on the sea, but this did not seem to make the US fleet commander General Frank Fletcher relax his vigilance.  After nightfall, he ordered the escort cruisers and destroyers to turn on their radars and pay close attention to the sea and air conditions around the fleet. By midnight, the fleet's position finally entered the combat radius of German carrier-based fighters and dive bombers.  After calculating the time and position, Fletcher ordered to continue sailing to Manila, and the carrier-based aircraft units on the four aircraft carriers were ready to take off at any time.  At 0:30, there was drizzle on the sea, but the flagship still used light signals to notify the ships: the first wave of carrier-based aircraft scheduled to launch the attack was launched.  The first batch of carrier-based fighter jets were released in the wind, and Fletcher ordered the fleet to stop moving westward, maneuver on the spot in an anti-submarine alert formation, and ordered the second batch of carrier-based fighter jets to mount aerial bombs on standby.  Twenty minutes later, when the radio detected no abnormalities, Fletcher ordered the second wave of carrier-based aircraft to attack.  This time, 44 carrier-based aircraft took off from the "Raider", "Brave" and "Wasp", including 20 J7C and 7 Fi167.  At 2:40 in the morning on April 19, 1943, the increasingly clear roar woke up some Manila citizens who were not sleeping well. However, military ships also made similar mechanical roars when entering and leaving the harbor, so no one paid attention to it.  this point.  Although the day was Monday, the past day was a carnival for the Italian sailors. After receiving overseas allowances paid by Japan, they enjoyed a weekend in Manila. Some even chartered a boat to find nearby cities.  Freshness.  The beginning of this classic battle is surprisingly similar to the Battle of Taranto in the original historical time and space. As for whether there is some subtle connection between the two, I am afraid only one person in the world knows it.  Although there are certain differences in the structural capabilities and many other aspects of the US-made and German-made aerial bombs carried by each, the two war weapons with similar purposes at the same time still have many things in common - the characteristics of the two dive bombers when the bombs are flying.  The speeds are similar, and the aerial bombs mounted for attack are all about 500 kilograms. If there were not obvious differences in appearance, it might be difficult for even oneself to distinguish them in battle!  Since the flight speed when carrying torpedoes is slightly slower than that of fighters and dive bombers, it took another ten minutes after the battle started for the fi167s and "Avengers" in the first wave of attack aircraft to arrive at Manila Bay, as well as the laggard J7Cs.  Although it has lost its glory, the results left by the vanguard have become the best beacon in the darkness.  At this time, most of the ships in the harbor were still "dead fish". Only two unanchored Japanese destroyers started their main engines and began to move on the water. A set of searchlights on the east coast of the harbor had just been turned on, and the thick beams of light blindly  Search the sky for the attacker.  In this case, the low-altitude penetration of torpedo planes was almost unimpeded. They quickly dropped aviation torpedoes after entering the harbor, although some of them were farther away than the pilots had judged because of the actual distance.It failed, but the few that hit the target still made Manila Bay boil again in just two minutesa!  ~!
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