Demon Beast Forbidden Area
The Battle of Leyte Gulf (2)
10th month, 18th day, Kurita Squadron set sail to execute the Jie-1 plan. On October 23rd, the Kurita Squadron was ambushed by two American submarines while passing through the Palawan waterway. Two of the three cruisers sank and one was injured. On the morning of October 24th, the Kurita Squadron entered the Sibuyan Sea.
At 10 o'clock, the first batch of US military aircraft, a total of 45 aircraft, flew over the Kurita fleet. The Japanese fleet formed two circular air defense formations. All the anti-aircraft guns on the warships opened fire at the same time to block the attacks of the US military aircraft. The US military aircraft braved the intense artillery fire to carry out the bombing attack. The Myoko was hit by a torpedoes, while the Musashi was hit by a torpedoes and two bombs on the starboard side.
At 12 o'clock, the second batch of 35 US military aircraft attacked, focusing on the two largest warships, the Yamato and the Musashi. The Yamato suffered two near-miss missiles and was not damaged. Musashi was hit by three torpedoes and two bombs. The cabin was on fire and the bow was flooded.
At 13:00, the third batch of 68 US aircrafts attacked. One of the light cruisers was hit, two were hit on the front deck of the Yamato, and five torpedoes and four bombs were hit on the Musashi. One of the bombs penetrated the deck and exploded in the engine room, causing the bow of the ship to sink heavily.
At 14:00, the fourth batch of 50 UA planes flew over. The left chain locker of the Yamato was shot, and many layers of the bow deck were blown through. The three battleships, Longgate, Titan, and Hazel, were all shot and injured.
At 15:00, the 5th batch of 71 US aircrafts concentrated on attacking the Musashi. The Musashi was hit by 20 torpedoes and 15 bombs. The bow of the ship was completely submerged in the water. Because of the continuous influx of seawater, it had a 30-degree inclination. At 19:00, it completely sank. The entire ship had a total of 2,397 officers and soldiers, of which 248 were killed and 773 were missing.
At 15:00, Kurita saw that the American planes were coming in all directions. His warships had suffered heavy losses, and there was no air force to cover them. If they continued to move forward, there would be the danger of being completely annihilated, so he ordered them to turn west and retreat. General Toyoda, the commander of the Combined Fleet, immediately called back to emphasize that Kurita's retreat would lead to the failure of the entire battle, so he mustered up the courage to continue moving forward. Kurita did not dare to disobey, and he called back to say that he would attack Wright Bay at all costs.
At 17 o'clock, Kurita knew that there would be no more air raids after nightfall, so he boldly and confidently entered the San Bernardino Strait. At this time, Kurita's fleet only had four battleships, five heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and eleven destroyer.
On October 24th, Nishimura ordered the top cruiser to launch a reconnaissance plane to Wright Gulf for reconnaissance. The reconnaissance plane reported that there were four battleships, two cruisers, and two destroyer in Wright Gulf.
At nine o'clock, the American reconnaissance planes discovered the Nishimura fleet and immediately launched an attack on the Nishimura fleet, damaging the battleship Fuso and the destroyer Shigure. Although they were discovered by the American forces, Nishimura still led the fleet straight towards Wright Bay.
At that time, the U.S. military was concentrating on attacking the Kurita fleet and could not spare any troops to attack the Japanese army in the south, so Nishimura and Shima passed the day of October 24th safely.
On the night of the 24th October, the Nishimura Squadron entered the Boho Sea. The sailing formation consisted of Full Tide and Morning Cloud as the vanguard, Mountain City and Fuso in the middle, Mountain Cloud and Shigure on both sides of the flagship Mountain City, and the topmost cruiser as the rear guard.
At 2 o'clock on the 25th, the 54th Destroyer Battalion of the US Army was the first to attack. They were divided into two groups and moved south at full speed along the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. At the same time, they launched a torpedoes attack. The radar performance of the Japanese fleet was relatively backward. They did not detect the American fleet heading south in time. The torpedoes swarmed over. The American fleet fired a total of 47 torpedoes, and five of them hit the target.
Full Tide was heavily damaged and lost its power. Morning Cloud's bow was blown up. Mountain Cloud was hit by a torpedoes and sank. Fusang was hit by a torpedoes and caught fire. Soon after, it caused a big explosion and the ship's hull was broken into two. West Village's flagship, the Mountain City, was also hit by a torpedoes and flooded. Nishimura ordered them to return fire while continuing north. Despite the fierce artillery fire of the Japanese warships, the US warships relied on their skillful mobility to safely evacuate without any losses.
At three o'clock, the 24th Destroyer Battalion of the US Army was divided into two groups to attack from the east and west sides. Full Tides hit the torpedoes once again and sank. Mountain City was hit by three torpedoes, and its injuries worsened.
At four o'clock, the Japanese warships reached 20,000 meters away from the American battleships. The cruisers opened fire first, and a minute later, the battleships began to fire as well. Five of the battleships that participated in the war were sunk and damaged by the Japanese in the Pearl Harbor incident. Now, they finally got the chance to take revenge.
The artillery fire of the US warship was very fierce. With the guidance of the radar, the shooting was very accurate. Within 18 minutes, they fired 300 300mm shells and 4,000 200mm shells.
The Japanese battleship Yamashiro was hit in many places, the bridge caught fire, and it was attacked by the third torpedoes of the American destroyer. It was hit by two torpedoes in a row and capsized and sank a few minutes later. Nishimura and all the officers and soldiers on the ship were not spared."Continue forward!"
The head of the topmost ship was blown away, the bridge was shot, the captain and many officers were killed, and many parts of the ship were on fire. They had completely lost their combat ability.
The Shima fleet entered the straits at 2 o'clock. The sailing formation was with the Tidewave and Akeshi as the left and right vanguards, the Nagi and Ashita cruisers in the middle, and the Abukuma cruiser and the Innocent Fire and Kasumi as the rear.
As soon as the warships entered the straits, they were ambushed by the American Torpedo Boats. The Abukuma was hit by a torpedoes under the bridge, and the bow of the ship was flooded, causing it to withdraw from the battle. The Shima Squadron continued to move forward and saw the burning Top. The flagship, Nazhi, was also damaged. The chain cabin was flooded. The Shima Squadron saw the tragic end of the Nishimura Squadron and thought about how the Kurita Squadron had retreated in the afternoon. The original pincer attack plan was no longer possible. If they continued to move forward, they would be repeating the same mistake as the Nishimura Squadron. Hence, they ordered the return.
After daybreak, the Seventh Fleet's escort aircraft carrier and the shore-based B24 bomber came one after another, fiercely attacking the Shima fleet, sinking the Abukuma cruiser and the Innocent Fire destroyer. The already damaged Sumoku completely lost its ability to sail under the air strikes of the American aircraft and was forced to sink.
In this battle, the Japanese had two battleships, one heavy cruiser, one light cruiser, and four destroyer sunk. Including Lieutenant General Nishimura, about 5,000 soldiers were killed. One of the American Torpedo Boats was sunk, and a destroyer was damaged. Only 41 officers and soldiers died.
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