How did Japan's last fleet collapse in World War II?

How did Japan's last fleet collapse in World War II?

In the early stage of the Pacific War, the mighty Japanese joint fleet was interrupted by the naval battles of Mariana and Leyte Bay at 1944. The carrier fleet has been reduced to the point of serving as bait, completely lost at Cape Ngano, and the surface ships that have lost air cover have to be dispersed. Some of them stayed in Southeast Asia, compiled as 10 Fleet, and the rest returned to the mainland for repair.

During this period, two battleships, No.1 and No.2, together with the light cruiser "Dadian" and destroyers "Xia", "Chu Shuang" and "Kamikaze", formed a formation to transport strategic materials from Nanyang to China. This action is called the "Northern War". This became the last action successfully completed by Japanese surface ships in the war.

Trapped in the city of sadness.

After returning to Japan, the big ship was mainly stationed at Wugang 1945. Wugang is an important military port established here by the garrison in the second district of the Navy after the Meiji Restoration. It belongs to Wu City, Hiroshima Prefecture. There is Wushui Factory in the city, which has strong shipbuilding and maintenance ability and is also the birthplace of Yamato. The Jiangtian Island Naval Academy, the cradle of the old Japanese navy and the holy land of spiritual inheritance, was built on Neijiang Island in Hong Kong. At that time, Wugang started from the military port and was about to usher in the corresponding consequences.

At the same time, the US Army Air Force first attacked Wugang, and in early 1945, B-29 bombers were used to carry out large-scale attacks on Wugang city and naval factories. The naval aircraft factory was bombed on May 5th, the port was mined on March 30th and May 5th respectively, and 40% of the city was bombed on July 1 day.

Although these air raids were not aimed at the fleet in the harbor, in the air raid on March 19, 2009, the air battleship Yi Shi was hit by two bombs, Sunward was hit by one bomb, and other ships were injured to varying degrees. In July, these remnants of the old Japanese navy are about to usher in their nemesis. In fact, as early as May of 1 year, Japan's United Fleet announced its dissolution and changed its name to Marine Corps.

At this time, the US Navy has begun shelling the Japanese coast and is destroying the remaining Japanese ships everywhere. In early July, the battleship Nagato, which was hiding in Yokosuga Shipyard for maintenance, was attacked by American Airlines. Nagato was slightly injured. In order to avoid subsequent attacks, he took the initiative to inject water and pretended to be seriously injured, successfully deceiving the US Navy.

In this way, the attention of the US Navy is completely focused on the dancing steel. At this time, Wugang has concentrated almost all the remaining large and medium-sized ships. This is because during the last attack in Okinawa in April, the Yamato collected all the oil it could find, including all the oil left by these ships. In other words, these ships have lost their ability to move, and even the task of patrolling the inland sea in Seto can't be completed, so they can only stop at the port pier as floating batteries. In this way, all their anti-aircraft firepower and anti-aircraft guns on land constitute a dense anti-aircraft firepower network.

Disputes before the war.

The American Third Fleet, cruising near the Japanese archipelago, also had a very serious quarrel over whether to attack Wugang. The two sides of the quarrel are Admiral halsey, Commander of the Third Fleet, and Admiral John Sidney McCain, Commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force.

Halsey has just managed to get out of the typhoon and return to the front. In order to get rid of the bad influence in front, he naturally hopes to make some eye-catching achievements. The Japanese navy was completely annihilated, and it was in a Japanese port, no less than the impact of Pearl Harbor on the United States at that time.

As a general who knows HNA best at the highest level of the US Navy, he has always hoped to win the honor of destroying the Japanese aircraft carrier. Successfully avoided famous aircraft carriers such as Coral Sea, Midway Island and Mariana. Finally, the naval battle at Cape Ngano sank the last movable carrier of the Japanese joint fleet, and he was completely humiliated by the famous telegram "The whole world wants to know". Now the last chance is in front of him. How could he miss it?

In order to successfully pass the action proposal, he put forward the following reasons: 1, the attack on Pearl Harbor in February, 194 1, in order to improve the morale and revenge of the American people; 2. In order to ensure that Japan cannot destroy the Soviet invasion of Hokkaido; 3. Prevent Japan from using its fleet as a bargaining chip to obtain better peaceful conditions; Chester william nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet, has ordered the attack.

The reason given by McCain is that these ships lost their maneuverability because of lack of fuel and became a group of dead fish. The next military action poses little threat. The tried and tested air defense firepower is very fierce, and if it is attacked, it will cause great personnel losses. Might as well attack the transport line.

At this time, the senior generals of the US Navy did not know the existence of the atomic bomb and were still planning to land in Japan. However, these ships are still a hidden danger, especially the fourth reason. No one objected again, and the natural air raid began.

Target Wugang.

The huge US military task force is rapidly moving in the direction of Wugang, and the flight personnel on the aircraft carrier are becoming familiar with the details of the mission.

For example, in the mission briefing room on the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga, the call sign codes of various warships are posted, and different radio frequencies used by various fleets, sea and air search and rescue teams and whistle destroyers are marked on the map. Marked with the specific position of the target and the proven anti-aircraft gun position. The mission release officer will introduce the specific situation, precautions and detailed regulations of route control during the return flight (to prevent Japanese aircraft from judging the position of the aircraft carrier according to the flight trajectory of the returning fleet) and so on. All these need to be clearly recorded by the flight crew and kept in mind as much as possible, which will be important information for you to survive tomorrow.

On July 23, the aircraft carrier formation was very busy, and all refueling and ammunition loading needed to be completed before tomorrow's attack. At 4 o'clock in the morning of July 24, the ship's broadcast sounded, and the aircrew entered the mission preparation room, put on their flight suits, and listened to the latest weather forecast and precautions for the last time. Only then did they know that the secret service brigade did not enter the predetermined position, 85 nautical miles away. This means longer voyage, more flight time, greater fuel consumption and greater unknown risks.

Because the water depth in Wugang is very shallow, it is impossible to use torpedoes. The main attack force will be SB2C "Hell Diver" two-seat dive bomber, and the torpedo plane will also bomb horizontally, but it will definitely not be the protagonist. There is something special about the mounting of this attack dive bomber. This time, all high-explosive bombs were used, including 1 1000 lb aerial bomb, 1 260 lb submunition on one wing and 1 680 lb jettisonable auxiliary fuel tank on the other wing.

This kind of mounting is a bit troublesome, especially when taking off. Indeed, after Ticonderoga took off the escort F6F Hellcat fighter for the first time, the first SB2C took off, and as soon as it left the deck, it swung into the sea, and the aircraft carrier immediately carried out first aid treatment. It took only 25 seconds to complete the arrangement and then continue to take off the fighter. At that time, the use and operation of American aircraft carriers were in full swing.

The flying group is not moths, but wasps and bumblebees.

After two hours' flight, the bombing formation flew over Shikoku Island at an altitude of 3,300 meters. At this time, the voice of the formation commander came from the earphone. "Well, let's go." The anti-aircraft guns ahead are clearly visible.

At this time, the Japanese HNA aircraft, including Taketo Kenichi, known as the "Musashi Miyamoto in the Air", took off and intercepted. Wu Teng Jinyi, who has a record of shooting down 28 planes, once piloted a "sub-electric reform" alone on February 17, and fought with 12 F6F to shoot down four planes and severely damaged three.

Wu Teng Jinyi fought with an F4U fighter plane over the Hou Feng waterway, and both of them fell into the sea in frontal shooting. American pilot Captain applegate was rescued and Wu Teng Jinyi disappeared. As can be seen from the ranking, applegate is a rookie. He killed the famous trump card in the first war and was extremely lucky. He also saw that Japan's combat power had reached the end of its tether.

When we arrived in Wugang, the American plane began to look for the intended target, and the Japanese warships below tried their best to shoot into the air, although they could not move. For example, Yi Shi and Sunward, two air battleships, are not only equipped with hundreds of small-caliber anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns, but also a very strange 30-unit anti-aircraft rocket launcher, which is shrouded in thick smoke and can only see the muzzle flash, just like an angry fire hedgehog. For American pilots, it is frightening to see passing projectiles flying around them like burning red baseball.

After all, the plane is still flexible and agile, and the high gunner can only see a black shadow, so it is difficult to aim accurately. It is always the attacker who takes the initiative to attack, just as some people say that the performance of the Aegis system in the United States is invincible in the world, and it needs 80 1 missile to penetrate the defense barrier, otherwise it will never be able to defend.

But doesn't he know the basic rules for two anti-aircraft guns to intercept an incoming missile? Must I tell you before you that I'm going to do it? Can't I organize various services and arms and systems to carry out tactical cooperation? Cann't you destroy your satellite first so that you can't warn, and then destroy the escort? Isn't the daily training of military schools and troops to flexibly mobilize opponents and let them make mistakes before expanding? As long as people are still manipulating the war, there will be all kinds of man-made mistakes, not an armchair assertion that everything is under control!

Soon the Japanese ship was bombed, and the Yi Shi was shot many times, killing 50 people, including the captain Mudaguchi Grant. Major General Hayakawa, the captain of the Sunward, was killed and the warship sank. The Reagan heavy cruiser was also hit and sank. Halsey's obsession with the Japanese aircraft carrier is also devastated. The new aircraft carrier "Tiancheng" was hit by a 500-pound bomb in the chimney, and the 2000-pound bomb exploded in the hangar after penetrating the flight deck. The air churned and swelled the deck, forming a 6 1 m bend, the day Tiancheng capsized.

There is also a ship with deep roots with China people, which was sunk that day, that is 1937, the armored cruiser Izumo, which caused great damage to China's soldiers and civilians in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and escaped the blow many times. At this time, as a 45-year-old ship, it can only be used as a training ship after dismantling its weapons, and it was directly overturned and sunk by three bombs.

Because Japan rejected the Potsdam Proclamation, on July 28th, the US military attacked Wugang again. This time, the US plane used semi-armor-piercing bullets, which can only have a better killing effect on large armored ships.

On this day, the key target of bombing was the battleship hazel. Finally, the 36-year-old ship finally came to an end, hitting seven aerial bombs and countless bombs that were almost lost, and sank. Although the Yi Shi had sunk before, it still seemed to float on the sea from the air, and was hit by a dozen bombs and turned into a pile of scrap iron. The heavy cruiser "Julia" was hit by four aerial bombs and sank into the riddled port. The last flagship light cruiser of the joint fleet "Dadian" capsized and sank immediately after being hit by a bomb.

On July 24th, the US military dispatched 1747 sorties, and on July 28th, it dispatched 650 sorties. The air raid in Wugang lost 126 aircraft and crew 102 people, which was more than the loss of Japanese troops in Pearl Harbor. Moreover, the arrested people were sent to Hiroshima, the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and many people were killed in the huge mushroom cloud more than ten days later.