roccoschili Chapter 282 Avukuma, 80,000 Steel (Part 2)
Chapter 282 Avukuma, 80,000 Steel (Part 2)
The Japanese sailors of the damage control team worked together to bring out the water hose. Some of them were holding wooden barrels filled with sand, ready to put out the fire on the ship at any time.
The Japanese sailors on the anti-aircraft gun positions all put on their helmets and stood ready for battle.
Although the helmets on their heads had no defensive effect when facing the 12.7mm machine guns and 20mm cannons on the planes, at least they gave the Japanese sailors enough psychological comfort.
Other sailors were holding large magazines for the 25mm Type 96 triple-barreled anti-aircraft machine guns, ready to rush from the ammunition storage point to the gun position to replace the magazines for the anti-aircraft machine guns.
These Japanese sailors looked at the black spots in the sky that were getting bigger and bigger, and heard the roar of planes that were getting clearer and clearer in their ears, and they all swallowed involuntarily.
The next moment, three P-47D fighters swooped down with a roar, and the 24 12.7mm heavy machine guns on the wings spewed out 24 deadly tongues of fire, fiercely hitting a side anti-aircraft gun.
In an instant, the four Japanese soldiers on the Type 96 3rd Company's anti-aircraft gun position were beaten into pieces of meat by tracer bullet belts. A blood mist spread, and the entire gun position seemed to be painted with a layer of red paint.
"Distance 600, course captured, air-to-air, fire!"
Amid the shouts of the gunnery officer, the Japanese gunner at the next gun position didn't care about the blood splattering on his face and half of someone's ear, and stepped hard on the trigger pedal of the anti-aircraft gun.
The three twin-mounted 25mm cannons fired in succession, making 'bang, bang, bang' sounds.
"Ahhhhhhhhh, Kasan!"
The Japanese gunner looked like a madman, shouting wildly and turning the handwheel.
However, facing the three P-47Ds that had already taken off and separated at high speed, without radar, they had to rely on visual tracking, and without VT proximity fuzes, they had to rely on the density of the barrage.
The low rate of fire makes this bulky machine even more ridiculous, and the poor Type 96 25mm cannon ultimately becomes an atmosphere enhancer.
The Japanese gunners shouted and yelled, and fired hundreds of shells from their three 25mm twin-barreled guns, emptying several magazines, but none of them hit the target.
Instead, as the anti-aircraft gun's attention was completely attracted by the three P-47Ds, another two F6F fighters equipped with Tiny Tim rockets swooped down from the other side and approached quietly.
"Enemy plane! Attention! Port side!" a lookout shouted, but it was too late.
As the pilot inside the aircraft pressed the button on the joystick, two heavy rockets immediately detached from the racks.
The next second, the rocket engine ignited successfully, and a large amount of high-speed combustion gas gushed out of the nozzle like a fire dragon, pushing the hundreds of kilograms of projectile to fly rapidly towards the anti-aircraft gun mount.
"No——" Facing the blazing rocket flying towards him, the Japanese gunner only had time to shout out one syllable.
"Boom!" Then, with a deafening explosion, the anti-aircraft gun mount was engulfed in smoke.
The sailors of the damage control team rushed desperately towards the burning gun mount.
They dragged water hoses and sprinkled sand, but the thick smoke made them cough constantly and their vision was so blurred that they could not see their feet clearly.
One of the Japanese soldiers stepped on the remains of his companion, slipped and almost fell.
"Hurry! Put out the fire!" the Japanese damage control captain roared, his voice hoarse with anxiety.
When the fire was finally suppressed, the Japanese sailors wiped the dust off their faces and looked up at the gun mount.
Instead of an anti-aircraft weapon, they saw a pile of twisted steel wreckage.
The original gun mount looked like iron wire crushed by a giant, with its edges bent like sharp teeth.
Mixed among the steel were the remains of Japanese sailors. The Japanese who had been eating the navy's special curry rice with big mouthfuls just a moment ago were now evenly distributed on the gun mounts.
The fate of these invaders was already determined when the Japanese launched this war.
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On the deck, Yosuke Futagawa and other army officers witnessed all this and their faces became even gloomier.
"See?" Futagawa Yosuke sneered, "Going down with those idiots? It's better to jump into the sea now and have a better chance of survival."
"But we..." The other officers gritted their teeth, with a hint of struggle in their eyes.
"If you don't want to die, don't hesitate!" Nigawa Yosuke said sternly, pushing one of the majors hard, "Jump!"
In the sky, the roar of planes became sharper and the bombs fell with a roar.
In an instant, a huge fireball exploded on the deck of the Abukuma again, and burning debris and corpses were thrown all around.
The battleship began to tilt violently, and the Japanese sailors around it let out heart-wrenching screams.
"Jump!" Yosuke Futagawa shouted and took the lead in jumping into the icy sea.
As soon as his figure disappeared in the water, there was another deafening explosion behind him.
At this time, on the sea, Futagawa Yosuke was struggling to float up by dog paddling. He turned his head and looked at the distance. A battleship with the Hinomaru on its flag was slowly sinking in flames.
The roar of the plane engine still rang in his ears, like the cold whisper of death.
"Help! Help!" Hearing the cry, Yosuke Futagawa looked back and saw the major who had been pushed off the boat by him struggling violently in the water.
It was obvious that the other party was a landlubber.
As an island nation, why can’t we swim?
Yosuke Futagawa took a deep breath in distress, dived into the water, and swam towards his struggling colleague.
In the sky, hundreds of Anmin Army fighter planes were still besieging several Japanese warships on the sea.
Various tracer bullets filled the entire sky like festive fireworks. However, facing the agile fighter planes, the backward anti-aircraft weapons on the Japanese warships had little success.
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In just over ten minutes of fighting, the Japanese ships, including the Abukuma, were basically cut into "ship sticks".
Several of the smallest submarine chasers and minesweepers had only wooden hulls and were the first to be sunk to feed the fish.
Abandoning the Japanese who were trying to board the ship in the port, the Japanese destroyer that urgently weighed anchor and set sail successfully relied on high speed to dodge left and right, and continued to dodge in the open sea.
However, a large number of open-air and semi-open-air anti-aircraft gun mounts were still destroyed by the strafing and bombing of aircraft. Due to the lack of cover, the mortal Japanese sailors suffered heavy losses. Only the 127mm and 140mm guns with fully enclosed turrets were still firing.
The Abukuma, the largest ship in tonnage, was given special treatment.
Even though Captain Hanada personally steered the ship and tried his best, he still couldn't avoid all the torpedoes and bombs.
The Abukuma was hit by a torpedo at the stern, and the rudder was damaged and stuck, so it circled in the sea like a dead fish.
The ship was hit by two near-miss bombs, which blew two large holes in the side of the hull and allowed seawater to pour in. Although the Japanese damage control team was desperately trying to drain the water, the ship was still inevitably tilting.
From the dreamlike beginning of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the sinking of 8 battleships to the present day when the entire squadron was lying on the sea like a dead fish, Takuo Hanada could hardly believe that time had passed so quickly.
It was clearly a dream start, and it should have been a happy time like a dream, so why did it end up like this?