Chapter 2728 Breakthrough 2
Chapter 2728 Breakthrough 2
The Arizona's hundreds of various anti-aircraft weapons fired a funnel-shaped barrage. Countless shells flew in the air like a big hand, protecting the USS Independence aircraft carrier not far away. The Japanese were still prepared to use it to deal with the destroyer. method to deal with the battleships, but this time they are destined to have a bloody encounter!
Several long-range fighter jets responsible for covering tried to use their own machine guns and machine guns to suppress the anti-aircraft artillery array on the American battleship. However, this was tantamount to hitting an egg with a stone. The Americans equipped each twin 40MM anti-aircraft gun with thick enough protection. The shield and the motor for rotation, the sensitive response and the strong protection make these gun positions not afraid of the Japanese large-caliber machine guns and machine guns. Countless bullets shuttled between the aircraft and the gun emplacements. In the flash of lightning, the victory or defeat was decided! Two Japanese twin-engine planes were hit one after another. The first plane was hit by at least 4 rounds of 40MM cannons in the cabin. The pilot died before the plane crashed, while the other plane was hit by hundreds of rounds of various types. Use ammunition to volley and dismember!
Hundreds of U.S. Navy officers and soldiers were busy on the deck, transporting ammunition, operating anti-aircraft guns, and frantically pouring firepower on the Japanese aircraft in the sky. They dispersed waves of aircraft, and the Japanese bombers, which had lost their formation, could only give up the attack temporarily and choose to reorganize before launching an attack.
For a time, there was a loud sound of gunfire on the entire sea, and the air was filled with black smoke after the explosion of anti-aircraft guns. The roar of guns and the explosion of bombs made it difficult to hear the words nearby, and the Americans could only use gestures to convey. Order. In an instant, even the attackers were shaken.
But how do you say one sentence? If you stay too long, you will lose! There is never a fortress that cannot be breached in this world. The only reason why it cannot be breached is because it is not strong enough, or it does not last long enough! By the same token, the Arizona's firepower cannot be sustained forever. Anti-aircraft gun barrels can overheat from sustained fire. Personnel will be fatigued from intense fighting and ammunition will be consumed. After the first ten minutes of tight defense, the U.S. fleet's anti-aircraft firepower began to become sparse.
Stacks of shell casings were piled on the deck, and the personnel responsible for transporting ammunition constantly used carts to lift boxes of bullets and shells from the magazine and deliver them to the deck or the main gun turret. The Japanese strafing also brought casualties and fear to those exposed on the deck. The mutilated bodies, the deck stained red with blood, and the busy medical staff and fire-fighting teams all told everyone how bloody this battle was. . Their defense against the Japanese was not without cost! The effectiveness of American air defense continued to decline, and some artillery was forced to stop firing because it took too long to fire. In many places, the machine gun positions that lacked protection were swept away, and the replacement personnel cleaned up the bodies while reassuming the machine guns. At this time, Americans are showing signs of fatigue. The Japanese may be just one step away from breaking through the Americans' air defense net!
The moment has finally come! A twin-engine Japanese bomber made the most radical attack! It crossed over from an altitude of 3,000 meters, and then after entering the dive bombing channel, it dived directly down at an angle of more than 65 degrees. The aircraft quickly reached its safe speed limit, but it still rushed towards the target resolutely.
In this case, the plane is destined to be unable to pull up! When descending to an altitude of 1,200 meters, the bomber dropped a 500KG bomb from the belly of the aircraft!
This high-explosive bomb directly hit the left side of the Arizona, where more than 30 anti-aircraft guns and machine guns were resisting the attack of Japanese aircraft. However, more than ten seconds later, this bomb, and one of them More than 280 kilograms of explosives destroyed it all!
boom! A huge pillar of fire rose into the sky. The bomb exploded while penetrating the uppermost deck. The shock wave and flames generated by hundreds of kilograms of picric acid explosives instantly swallowed up the entire anti-aircraft gun array! Hundreds of U.S. Navy officers and soldiers were torn to pieces by the shock wave and flames before they could react! And those anti-aircraft guns that were so majestic before, spitting artillery like a hydra, were also blown to pieces by the shock wave. In an instant, the left middle side of the Arizona was blown to pieces!
Such trauma is bearable for this battleship, but it is completely irrecoverable for the anti-aircraft firepower. The loss of a large number of personnel and weapons in a short period of time left the Arizona's anti-aircraft firepower blank. After a while, another After a dive bomber once again dropped a 500KG bomb on the Arizona, the battleship had lost the ability to provide fire cover for the aircraft carrier! A huge hole was torn open in the originally dense air defense network. Then, more than a dozen bombers ignored the Arizona, which was putting out the fire, and rushed towards the USS Independence aircraft carrier at the core!
"The Independence is finished!" Mitchell looked ashen as he looked at the group of Japanese bombers that rushed towards the Independence like hungry wolves! Because countless simulated actual battles told him that the hope of the Independence's survival was very small!
This is indeed the case. To be honest, for the Independence, an aircraft carrier with a displacement of less than 20,000 tons, its life is less than half an hour!
The first to hit was still the dive bomber! The anti-aircraft firepower of an aircraft carrier is not as powerful as that of a battleship, and its gun emplacements are more vulnerable! The huge flight deck told the Japanese where to throw bombs. In order to prevent bomb explosions, all aircraft that had completed refueling and loading were either released or pushed into the sea, leaving only empty decks and scattered anti-aircraft guns on both sides. In this era, the aircraft carrier's own anti-aircraft firepower is not very strong, which also leads to the fact that when the peripheral defense is breached, the aircraft carrier is really just a lamb to be slaughtered.
The first dive bomber roared down and successfully dropped a 500KG bomb on the middle of the deck of the Independence at an altitude of 900 meters. This was a 500KG semi-armor-piercing bomb. The teak boards on the deck and more than a dozen The millimeter-thick structural steel could not stop the bomb carrying huge inertia. The bomb easily penetrated the flight deck and hit the hangar deck.
If it were an Essex-class aircraft carrier from World War II in history, the thickness of the hangar deck would be enough to withstand a 500KG bomb placed at a 45-degree angle. But unfortunately, the hangar deck as a protective deck could not block this bomb either. It penetrated the horizontal protection again, and then landed in the operating boiler room at the lower part of the Independence!
Thanks to the book friend, Brother Bridegroom, for the reward~~~! Third update today~~~! Please subscribe and reward~~~! !