afterglow

Chapter 690: Revenge together; we still have a torpedo!
Just a quarter of an hour after the battle began, the North Carolina was hit by multiple super-heavy shells fired by the Yongle and Xuande. With her average protective capabilities, she could no longer withstand the impact. The superstructure was completely destroyed, and fires broke out in many places inside. Hundreds of officers and soldiers were killed or injured.

Only the front main turret of this mighty battleship was still operational, and it continued to fire into the deep darkness.

The Longshuo and Kaihuang worked together to focus their fire on the same target. Neither of them knew who the other was and they only attacked through radar guidance.

The ship that was hit was the USS New Jersey, the second ship of the Iowa class. She had just hit the USS Xuan De, and then she was hit by several shells in succession.

One of the shells detonated the Bofors anti-aircraft gun ammunition depot. With a loud bang, fireworks-like flames burst out and the violent impact caused the sailors to fall to the ground.

The battleship formations of both sides fired fiercely at each other at a distance of more than 20 kilometers. Electromagnetic waves penetrated the endless darkness of the night and guided the huge cannons to launch deadly orange shells at each other.

Mei Xuan, commander-in-chief of the Ming army's artillery fleet, ordered the torpedo fleet to attack. The destroyers were then divided into two columns and sailed into the dark night, heading straight into the distance.

Admiral Willis-Lee issued similar instructions almost simultaneously, ordering the destroyer formation to launch a courageous attack on the enemy.

At 3:42 in the middle of the night, when the battlecruiser Yongyuan sent a new round of salvos to the South Dakota, the half-salvo from the Washington suddenly arrived! A 406mm super-heavy shell hit the bridge, but fortunately it was a dud; the other shell was much more tricky, smashing through the top deck armor of the ammunition depot of the No. main turret, detonating a large number of propellant packs inside.

The explosion was extremely terrifying, with flames shooting up into the sky. The flash could be clearly seen by the U.S. fleet more than 20 kilometers away.

Hundreds of officers and soldiers were killed on the spot, the high-pressure boiler and steam turbine stopped working one after another, three of the four propulsion shafts were damaged, seawater quickly poured in from many broken cracks, and the Yongyuan lost power and floated on the sea with difficulty.

The ship's lieutenant, Jin Chuanquan, ordered the bow cabin to be filled with water for balance, but in the process the damaged Yongyuan was hit by another super-heavy shell.

Realizing that the water inflow could not be stopped, Jinchuanquan had to order the ship to be abandoned.

When half of the crew evacuated, the Yongyuan had already become noticeably tilted, with the stern basically submerged below the sea surface.

This slender and graceful battlecruiser had fought almost the entire war since its outbreak, and had recently carried out the mission of transporting atomic bombs. Now it had met its end in the waters west of the Queen Charlotte Islands.

The battle between the two fleets is in full swing. At least so far, the officers and soldiers of both sides have not retreated and are determined to defeat each other.

Soon, the radar operator of the Washington reported that the target echo signal was weakening, probably because the ship was damaged and sinking.

Just as the Washington turned its guns to attack the next target, more than a dozen tall water columns splashed on both sides!
The Longshuo and Kaihuang ended their concentrated fire on the New Jersey. It was not easy to confirm the results of the attack at night using radar-guided artillery fire. The Ming army's radar soldiers had previously discovered that the New Jersey's speed had dropped significantly and estimated that she had been severely damaged. Therefore, the Washington became the new target of the two, and the first round of half-salvo fire luckily formed a cross-fire.

At 4:11 in the morning, nearly an hour after the naval battle began, the USS Washington was hit by an underwater shell below the waterline in the middle of the left side of the hull - this was a 352mm armor-piercing shell fired by the Kaihuang.

Not long after, the Washington was hit again, but this time the shell landed on the sturdy conning tower and the armor-piercing shell failed to shake it.

It was obvious that Longshuo's luck was worse than Kaihuang's. Although both completed the straddle shot early, Longshuo took a long time to hit the target.

Two hits in one shot! The Longshuo took revenge for what happened in the Battle of Hawaii last year.

Two 400mm armor-piercing shells hit the Washington's twin 127mm dual-purpose turret and crane respectively. With the creaking sound of twisting steel, the crane collapsed into the sea and the transport boat broke into pieces.

Being so far away in the darkness of the night, the Washington had no idea who was attacking her. She just kept firing at the new target she had chosen, which was the Yongle.

At this moment, the North Carolina had been severely damaged, the captain was killed, even the steering platform was blown away, and the fire was rampant. It could only be turned around and withdrawn from the battle by manual steering.

After confirming that the target was escaping, the Yongle and Xuande aimed at the nearest Alaska under radar guidance.

The U.S. military's counterattack was also quite fierce. The Mk8 fire control radar manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Company demonstrated extremely superior performance. It could capture the water column splashed by the shells and cooperate with the fire control system to automatically correct the shooting parameters. The Washington fired 27 shells in a row and achieved an excellent record of 3 hits on the Yongle!

The Yongle ship's logbook recorded:
"3:58: The main gun fired the 21st and a half salvos. The radar reports that the target is moving away and appears to be escaping."

"4:05: The radio signal reports that the target is accelerating, and it is clear that the enemy ship is escaping; the captain and the gunnery officer laugh loudly."

"4:12: The ship corrected its course to 145 degrees; the gunnery officer ordered to aim at the target 17,400 meters away."

"4:15: Our ship was attacked by an unknown enemy ship. The stern was hit by a bullet. The damage is pending investigation."

"4:18: Hit on the port side, dud; main turret No. 1 damaged, ring jammed."

As time went by, the destroyers of both sides came head-on into each other.

Some destroyers broke away from the formation and fought alone like lone wolves. This might have been intentional by the captain, or they might have accidentally gotten lost in the chaos.

The heavy shells fired from the large warships and cannons of the Ming and American armies flew over the small destroyer. If by chance, the radar soldiers could even see the echo signals flashing by at a very fast speed on the display screen.

The destroyers of both sides also began to shoot at each other while sailing. Countless flashes of fire were reflected on the sea surface. Those were the muzzle flames of the dual-purpose anti-aircraft and anti-aircraft guns.

The destroyer Baokang was hit by a bullet on its bridge, causing heavy casualties. She unknowingly veered into the middle of the two sides' firing lines and was immediately attacked from both directions.

This unlucky destroyer was hit by more than twenty shells in less than half a quarter of an hour, as well as a number of near misses. She caught fire and was completely paralyzed on the sea, becoming a floating bonfire that illuminated an area of ​​hundreds of meters in radius.

Another ship that was equally unlucky was the USS Dyson (DD-572), as one of its torpedo launchers was hit directly by a shell, and several Mk15 heavy torpedoes exploded violently, almost breaking it in half!
The USS Franks, which was attacking the Ming fleet, was intercepted by powerful firepower. The destroyer, weighing more than 2,000 tons, seemed to be submerged by the tall water columns stirred up by the Ming army's artillery shells.

Shells of different calibers fell like raindrops, sometimes it even felt like the battleships could jump up, and being in it felt like riding a bumper car in an amusement park.

Water columns burst out and splashed, falling from the sky. The Franks, rushing forward at a speed of 34 knots, seemed to be passing through a waterfall. A 208mm anti-killing bomb from the Taihang Mountain hit under her bridge, and many navigation instruments in the chart room fell all over the floor due to the violent vibration.

At 4:25 in the morning, the Franks and Eaton seized a favorable position and fired nineteen torpedoes in succession at a distance of 7000 to 8000 meters from the Ming cruiser formation.

Soon after, the Nicholas, following closely behind, also fired a salvo of ten torpedoes, but this destroyer, which had only been commissioned a few months ago, was full of rookies, and under extreme tension, no one noticed that the safety of all ten torpedoes was not opened. At the other end of the battlefield, the Ming army's torpedo fleet was also boldly charging at the US fleet.

The fifth Hanjiang-class light cruiser, the USS Liujiang, suppressed the light cruiser USS Topeka with its artillery fire, and provided cover for several destroyers to break out and block it.

However, the Liujiang itself was also heavily bombarded by the American heavy cruiser Quincy, and was badly damaged in a blink of an eye.

The 6700th Jieyang-class destroyer, the Mengjin, took the lead, continuously bombarding the Quincy while firing all six 512㎜ torpedoes at a distance of m.

Five minutes later, the bow of the light cruiser USS Topeka (CL-67) was hit by a torpedo. The 350 kg Qin's explosive (passivated ladder black aluminum) created a huge water column, and the underwater shock wave directly tore off her bow, turning her into a headless knight.

Compared with the Mengjin's superb torpedo shooting skills, the Julu, a professional torpedo ship, is inferior.

The fourteenth ship of the Penglai class, the Julu, fired a salvo of 5300 torpedoes from four seven-tube torpedo launchers at the USS Baltimore heavy cruiser at a distance of 4m. Only one torpedo failed to be launched due to a malfunction of the high-pressure gas device, but none of the torpedoes fired at once hit the target.

The Julu was firing its naval guns while dodging the Baltimore's counterattack. The captain Tang Yucheng couldn't help but angrily scold the smoke and torpedo officer Yao Liang for being a good-for-nothing and a waste.

Soon, the lookout visually confirmed a large target discovered by radar, which was the North Carolina, which was slowly moving away to the southeast after being severely damaged.

Everyone on the Julu was extremely upset, and the navigation officer gritted his teeth so hard that his lips bled.

"Damn it! I'm so pissed! I shouldn't have used up all of them before!"

"There is still one mine! Repair the launcher immediately!" Smoke and mine officer Yao Liang reported loudly.

"No, there are more than one, there are two." Tang Yucheng pointed at the ground with a sharp look and said, "Two chariots move forward, the highest speed, and kill them!"

After a brief moment of surprise, everyone understood.

The two steam turbines draw hot steam from five high-pressure boilers, driving two large-diameter copper propellers to rotate rapidly.

The boilers are burning! The engines are overloaded! Go four!

The Penglai-class destroyer circled on the sea, and then rushed straight towards the USS North Carolina, which was 44 meters away, at a top speed of 7800 knots.

The Quincy hurriedly used its searchlight to mark the dangerous guy, but this also made itself conspicuous and soon attracted attacks from several super destroyers and light cruisers, forcing it to turn off the searchlight.

In this way, the Julu bravely charged towards the shells fired by the North Carolina, and was hit by multiple 127mm conventional shells in succession, but also responded to the target with more than ten 128mm anti-personnel bombs and white phosphorus incendiary bombs.

At 4:46 in the morning, the USS Giant Deer, which was on fire and in ruins, fired its last remaining 480mm torpedo, then slightly adjusted its course and rapidly crashed into the rear of the right side of the North Carolina.

Warships weighing more than 2,000 tons collided at such a high speed, and the kinetic energy of more than 500 million joules was so great that it was not an exaggeration to call it an earth-shaking earthquake. The creaking sound of steel breaking and deforming was endless, and the violent vibration made the sailors fall down.

The bow of the Julu broke off to the left and sank into the sea. Because the rear part of the battleship's hull was not part of the core area and the thick main armor belt did not extend there, a huge hole was knocked open in the hull, and the two battleships, one large and one small, were stuck together.

The Ming army sailors used several anti-aircraft guns within the range of fire to bombard fiercely, and even opened the armory to take out grenades and threw them upwards. The sound of gunfire and shouts of killing rang out one after another!
With shells flying across the night sky and torpedoes travelling across the sea, an unprecedented night battle took place in the waters west of the Queen Charlotte Islands.

By dawn, the outcome was still unclear and both sides' warships had run out of shells.

The fiery red sun jumped out of the sea level, and the vast sea was in chaos. Pools of floating gray-black heavy oil and indistinguishable debris could be seen everywhere.

The battleships of both sides were in fairly neat formation, but the screen ships were completely mixed together, still fighting hard.

A fleet of Catalina seaplanes rushed from Vancouver Island and attacked the Ming battleship formation.

Of the more than 20 aerial torpedoes they dropped, only one hit the Kaihuang, whose stern rudder was damaged, making her situation even worse.

The Kaihuang's navigator was very skilled. He made the warship turn by creating a deviation in the propeller speeds on both sides, thus drawing an arc track with a very large radius on the sparkling sea and withdrawing from the battle to the west.

Taking advantage of the chaos on both fleets, the Equinox A-3 took advantage of the situation and fired six new magnetic-fuzed electric torpedoes from the stern at the distant South Dakota (actually the Massachusetts), hitting two of them.

The Chun-class submarines have been delivered and put into service since the 1920s. They are authentic old-style ocean-going submarines. There are only a handful of old-style submarines that have survived the brutal anti-submarine hunting in the Pacific War.

Obviously, Chunfenjia No. 3 not only has a lot of luck, but also has very strong actual combat skills.

The Massachusetts was slowed down by the submarine attack, and the Longshuo hit her twice more, and then completely used up all the armor-piercing shells. The fire inside the Massachusetts gradually got out of control, and it exploded an hour later.

As the supreme commander of the fleet, Cheng Jian stayed up all night and closely followed the battle situation. It was gratifying that his side did not lose the upper hand in this night battle.

He was unwilling to waste his limited strike force to attack the enemy's non-aircraft carrier fleet, so he only let the light aircraft carrier HMS Fomalhaut separate from the main fleet under the escort of several screen ships and carry out the support mission alone.

Finally, Fomalhaut's fleet concentrated its attack on the North Carolina. By then, the Great Deer had already sunk, and the North Carolina had taken on thousands of tons of water due to the collision.

Shortly after being hit by three heavy bombs and four aerial torpedoes, the U.S. Navy's first fast battleship capsized and sank.

Seeing that the Ming army was so cautious, the US military dispatched more shore-based long-range bombers and sent out two waves of 37 PB4Y privateer heavy patrol aircraft that morning.

Several privateers took turns to besiege the Kaihuang. The latter tried its best to resist under the cover of the Beifoshimen's carrier-based aircraft, but because it could not turn flexibly, it was hit by four torpedoes and could no longer maintain its balance...

The Battle of Queen Charlotte came to an end at noon that day. The naval forces of both sides fought fiercely and bloodied. Neither side could defeat the other with their own strength. After running out of ammunition, both sides chose to retreat.

(End of this chapter)