Comrade, your ingredients are too complicated.

October 1942, 10, 23 kilometers north of Laizhou Bay.

After a day and a half of temporary rest, the legendary Captain Philip and the flagship Captain Li Yujie set sail again and led their team to the battlefield together.

The five giant steel ships of the North Sea Fleet tore through the sea surface and, like a school of sharks smelling blood, headed straight for the coastline shrouded in flames and smoke of war.

Holding the bombing assessment report sent by the Air Force and the high-definition aerial photos taken by the reconnaissance aircraft at the risk of his life, Li Yujie's eyes were fixed on the coordinates of the enemy ship wreckage for a long time.

After a moment, his throat trembled slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but his breath seemed to be choked by the countless unspoken words.

"Ah, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. From the beginning, I shouldn't have had any unrealistic fantasies about the Japanese Navy's cruisers."

"But let me be honest, Wada Sanken and Makita Kakusaburo were too decisive. They actually skipped the self-rescue stage and drove the warship directly to the center of the bay and sank it with the ship."

"After what the two old devils did, it is estimated that the Tatsuta and Kashii are no longer worth salvaging and repairing. After all, the resources needed to repair the two old ships can completely rebuild a new light cruiser."

On the eve of the operation, Li Yujie pondered for a long time looking at the nautical chart of Laizhou Bay and made a bold and reasonable hypothesis.

He believed that the Japanese Navy might sink the two seriously damaged light cruisers on the beach and transform the Tatsuta and Kashii, whose power systems were almost scrapped, into fixed artillery positions to provide fire support for the southern defense line.

This idea is not groundless.

After all, for the desperate Kwantung Army and the desperate enemy navy, the eight 140mm high-caliber naval guns are the few heavy firepower that can be used at the moment.

But no one expected that the Japanese lieutenant generals would be so decisive.

After they were sure that there was no hope of breaking out, they directly ordered most of the crew to take up their rifles and transform themselves into Marines on the spot.

After the collective farewell ceremony, the two men commanded two light cruisers to the center of the bay and performed a one-stop self-sinking operation, including opening the sea valves, detonating the ammunition depot, and adding torpedoes.

This behavior of preferring self-destruction to avoid being captured reminded Li Yujie of the North China Front Army during its heyday.

As if the scene had brought back some emotions, or as if he was thinking of his own Toulon Fleet, the legendary Captain Philip patted his comrade on the shoulder, and then spoke with emotion:
"Although we are in a hostile situation with the Japanese, as a naval commander, I can barely understand the complex choices they made under extreme circumstances."

"If it were the Toulon Fleet, my compatriots would have sunk all their ships to preserve their dignity when they were out of ammunition and food."

"Of course, I don't agree with the French way now. It's just a heavy blockade, aerial surveillance, submarines and mines. At worst, everyone will die."

"If I have the chance in the future, I will definitely command the battleship Richelieu myself and fight the Axis Navy with real weapons!"

In the original timeline, many French people believed that the self-sinking of the Toulon fleet was a tragic act full of romanticism. It was the most French way, the glory of France, and a symbol of naval resistance.

If he were to have similar thoughts about the original legendary captain, he might actually be able to empathize with him.

but!

After being baptized by new ideas and taught by the most reliable ally in history, Philip now only thinks that the commander of the Toulon fleet is a political wimp.

The glory of the French fleet should belong to those real rebels who are fighting, rather than becoming a fig leaf for the local emperors of Toulon.

The powerful influence of his comrades made Li Yujie regain his fighting spirit. He looked at the coordinates of the shipwrecks of Longtian and Kashii and said firmly:
"Okay! Let's continue to fight side by side from now on!"

"Just because we failed to capture the Japanese warships this time doesn't mean we won't have another chance in the future! After the battle in Lu Province is over, I will definitely suggest to Director Xiao that the fleet add a special training program to match this."

"Director Huang is right. Two old and shabby cruisers are not that valuable. If we want to rob them, we should rob Yamato, Musashi, and Taiho. I heard that he even prepared several names for the warships in advance."

Before the surrender of the Japanese, it seemed impossible to capture their warships. However, with the blessing of time, geography, people and technology, TG was not without a chance.

If his Ge Siyun could grab two Glorious-class ships, three Qiao Vs, five Yingzhongs and five destroyers, there is no reason for me, Huang He, to get nothing.

Just as Li and Fei were gearing up for a big fight in the future, the navigator's report suddenly sounded in the bridge.

"Commander, Captain, we have now arrived at our cruise destination, please give us your instructions!"

At the same time, the lookout's voices came one after another.

"Enemy target appears! Position 079, distance 11500 meters, confirmed to be a Japanese field hospital. No coastal defense artillery or enemy artillery has been found so far!"

After these words came out, Commander Philip first looked at the sea chart to determine the position of his fleet, and then opened the communication system of the entire fleet and ordered:
"Attention, all ships. This is the flagship. We have arrived at the starting point of the mission. The Japanese beachhead is 17500 meters to our south."

"Execute the opposite shore artillery maneuver, use formation 2, reply received!"

"Yan'an received it, Taiyuan received it, Weihai received it, Guisui received it!"

Following the legendary captain's command, the flagship Huanghe took the lead in turning left 90 degrees, adjusting the speed to 18 knots, and began to enter the first firing route. The Fletcher-class and three Benson-class ships also turned synchronously, each ship maintaining a distance of about meters, waiting for the commander's order to start shelling the opposite shore.

Seeing that the seaplane had already reached the best observation position, Philip decisively ordered:

"Target: Japanese Field Hospital in Laizhou Bay, bombardment sequence one, all ships ready!"

"Fire!"

When the fleet commander's order was transmitted to each ship via telegram, the eight main guns of the Yellow River roared at the same time, and the muzzle storm even set off a circular surge on the sea surface.

A second later, the four destroyers opened fire one after another.

The whistling sound of the 127mm shells cutting through the sky was like the whistle of death.

Soon, the first round of shells hit the coast. However, the effect of the first round of shelling was not obvious, and only the No. 1 turret of the Yan'an hit the temporary warehouse built by the Japanese.

Well, he is worthy of being the former O'Bannon.

However, the current situation was obviously within Philip's expectations. He picked up the microphone and told the Situation Center:

"After the water reconnaissance reports the bombardment point, you will immediately start formulating a new round of bombardment plan. The Japs can escape, but their wounded soldiers and supplies cannot."

"And no matter how fast a person's legs are, they can't fly as fast as a cannonball. It's just a three-minute calibration. There's nothing to worry about."

During World War II, the hit rate of naval ships using fire control radar to aim at land targets was often lower than the hit rate against enemy ships.

Even for cruisers and destroyers, the average performance in ten kilometers is only about 10%-15%.

There is no way. After all, the fire control radar was originally designed to deal with dynamic targets at sea. Its dynamic tracking, real-time correction and closed-loop feedback mechanism are more suitable for ship-to-ship combat.

Land artillery bombardment requires more reliance on external observation and correction, which means it has to rely on water reconnaissance.

Wisconsin is an exception, of course.

Even without Tomahawk missiles, this ship was incredibly accurate, and it was the most effective in the cross-shore support operations during the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

After a while, the Yellow River's underwater reconnaissance ship sent back information about the landing point of the shells, and the entire North Sea Fleet began to readjust the firing parameters of the main guns according to the coordinates.

"fire!"

A dozen seconds later, the second round of naval artillery shells hit the Kwantung Army.

The field hospital built on the beach of Laizhou Bay was blown away like a cardboard box, and several material storage points were directly hit. Hospitals and warehouses were engulfed in flames, and black smoke columns shot straight into the sky.

This is the North Sea Fleet. It does not have large fireworks like the Type 3 incendiary shotgun, otherwise the fire on the beach would definitely be even more serious.

"Fire, keep firing!"

"Follow the pre-assigned grid, all ships should fire rapidly! The ship that uses up all its ammunition first will be given free ice cream when it returns to Liugong Island!"

Before the operation officially began, the legendary captain drew a rectangular area of ​​3500 by 2000 with the field hospital temporarily built by the Japanese army on the beach as the center.

He divided the area into several grids of equal area, and each warship only needed to focus on bombarding its own grid.

Such an arrangement can not only make rational use of the firepower of the ship's guns, but also cover the entire battlefield. It is definitely the optimal shelling plan when the number of warships is insufficient.

Just when a light cruiser and four destroyers were opening fire at full power and were about to build a HE rainbow bridge between the sea and the land.

The Kwantung Army's remaining 75mm mountain and field artillery fired back sporadically, but most of the shells fell on the sea a thousand meters in front of the North Sea Fleet, stirring up futile water columns.

Seeing this, the flagship captain Li Yujie showed a mocking smile.

On the second day at the Liugong Island Naval School, he learned about the negative example of the heavy cruiser Blücher.

When a warship fires at a fortress or a target on shore, our hit rate can be lower or we can fail to achieve the desired effect, but we must not be killed by land artillery.

"Keep firing! It doesn't matter even if the barrel is damaged!"

"The naval factory in Yantai is about to be completed, and the Shandong Provincial Military Region will soon be able to produce naval guns and corresponding shells. I emphasize again that we are not bombarding the beachhead, but wiping the devils off the map with steel and fire."

"Don't forget to sum up your experience. I believe it won't be long before everyone can follow the fleet to Tokyo Bay!" (End of this chapter)