Chapter 540: The First Battle of Hawaii 13

"Commander, the Marines have rushed to Waikiki Beach, destroyed four US artillery positions on the southern foot of the Kulau Mountains, and are currently besieging Diamond Head."

On the Yamato battleship, Isoroku Yamamoto was also listening to the battle report from Oahu. When he heard that the Marines "are besieging Diamond Head", his brows could not help but frown.

Isoroku Yamamoto murmured in a low voice: "Besieging, which means it has not been captured yet. It seems that the Marines are not fighting well..."

"Commander, the Marines attacked the enemy fortress with more than a thousand brave men. It is a great victory to destroy several key enemy artillery positions. Even if they cannot capture Diamond Head, it is only 10-12 305mm mortars."

Ugaki Matoi was quite satisfied with the performance of the naval armored forces that attacked from the submarines. The naval armored forces were originally messing around. Even the army did not have a good armored force, so what else could the navy do? Now that they can land on the beach in Honolulu and destroy several artillery positions, it is already very good. Although there are still some 305mm and 203mm mortars in the crater of Diamond Head, they are all mortars before World War I. Not only are they very inaccurate, but they also have a slow rate of fire. They can only deal with fixed targets and pose little threat to moving targets.

Yamamoto Isoroku did not comment, and did not discuss the land battle on Oahu with Ugaki again. That was a headache for Imamura Hitoshi. Yamamoto Isoroku was the commander of the Combined Fleet, and he had to worry about how to fight the naval battle in Hawaii!

Just two hours ago, the "Emperor Frederick III" (because this ship had a good radar and ran very fast, Yamamoto used it as a reconnaissance ship) sent a telegram by Yamamoto Isoroku to scout the US fleet (Spruance Fleet) with three heavy cruisers as the core. A large unidentified fleet was found 25 nautical miles east of the US heavy cruiser fleet. This fleet consisted of at least 20 ships.

Yamamoto Isoroku quickly made a judgment that this fleet must be the main fleet of the US Navy, and it is very likely to have three very powerful battleships! So he ordered the Emperor Frederick III to continue monitoring, and personally led the main force of the 1st Fleet (with Yamato, Nagato, and Mutsu) to the south from the waiting area to seek a decisive battle.

"The key to the Battle of Hawaii is still at sea!" Yamamoto Isoroku squinted his eyes and said to himself, "As long as the US Pacific Fleet can be severely damaged again, Japan will be able to run rampant in the Pacific for at least 12 months."

...

"Commander, should we send two heavy cruisers to drive away that damn Japanese ship?" Frederick, the chief of staff of the Pacific Fleet, once again made a suggestion to Nimitz.

An unidentified ship has been circling around the main force of the US Pacific Fleet, the 7th Combined Fleet, since dark, and has not approached it, keeping a distance of 25 nautical miles from the 7th Combined Fleet.

Obviously, this ship must be a Japanese cruiser or heavy cruiser, and it is also equipped with a radar with quite good performance. If it weren't for the two new battleships, the North Carolina and the Washington, which were equipped with the British 279 radar in preparation for dealing with the German fleet in the Arctic Circle during the polar night, the 7th Task Force might not have been able to discover this ghostly Japanese ship.

"No need." Nimitz frowned and said, "There is no 279 radar on our heavy cruiser, and it's night now... The Japanese devils are very good at fighting at night!"

The American heavy cruiser, which is not good at night fighting and has no radar, is looking for death when it comes to fighting the Japanese heavy cruiser with radar and good at night fighting. So Nimitz wisely rejected Frederick's suggestion, but he would never have thought that the 7th Task Force that was monitoring him was a German "missile cruiser", although this ship was flying the Japanese flag and changed to Japanese paint. But it still would not engage in face-to-face fire with American ships. Even if an American destroyer approached, the "Emperor Frederick III" would run away at full speed. In this way, Isoroku Yamamoto could not grasp the specific location of Nimitz's fleet.

"Admiral, if we don't drive this ship away, the Japanese super battleship may arrive soon." Frederick said very worriedly.

Nimitz smiled and said, "I'm afraid there will be more than one super battleship, there will be two Nagato-class ships. The battleships that bombarded the plains of Oahu tonight used 14-inch (356mm) main guns, which should be two Kongo-class ships."

"Then how can we deal with one super battleship and two Nagato-class ships? We can't deal with these three Japanese battleships. They are much stronger than us!"

Nimitz shook his head and said, "No, we just can't deal with the Japanese battleship with a 460mm caliber gun and a displacement of 80,000 tons. The two Nagatos were produced more than 20 years ago and are not our opponents."

"Then what should we do?" Frederick didn't understand what Nimitz was talking about. He also knew that the North Carolina class and the Colorado class were not afraid of the Nagato class, but the two Nagatos plus the 80,000-ton giant ship would not have any difficulty in beating the US 7th Task Force.

"Then we'll flee," Nimitz said, "We'll flee separately! The fleet will be divided into three and flee in three directions at full speed."

"This..." Frederick understood a little, "Do you think the Japanese fleet will split up to pursue us?"

If the Americans split up and flee, the Japanese may split up and chase them. Then the ship being chased by the Yamato will not necessarily be unlucky, because if the Yamato chases one of the two North Carolina-class ships, then the North Carolina-class's 28-knot speed is a guarantee of escape. The Colorado and another North Carolina class can use their 16-inch main guns to fight the Nagato class, so that both sides will lose.

Even if the Nagato class was severely damaged and the American battleship was sunk, Nimitz thought it was a good deal. Because the United States' shipbuilding capability is more than 10 times greater than Japan's!

In a word, US imperialism is full of money, steel, oil and shipyards! Even hurting someone with your own merits can make little Japan pay for it!

"Then what if the Japanese don't disperse their formation and concentrate on chasing one of our battleships?"

Nimitz smiled and said, "Don't worry about that. If there are still two battleships, go around Oahu. Maybe you will encounter those two King Kong-class ships. Even if you can't catch the King Kong-class ships, you can sink dozens of them." The Japanese transport ship anchored near Kauai is enough.”

While the two people were talking, the 279 radar on the North Carolina had already made a discovery.

"Sir, a group of unidentified ships has been spotted heading northwest at 329 degrees, with more than 20 ships in number!"

The Japanese fleet is coming!

Nimitz glanced at Frederick and said with a smile: "We are divided into three battle groups. The two North Carolina-class ships were organized into the first battle group and turned to the 50-degree direction (northeast direction); the Colorado was organized into The second battle group, retreat to the 100-degree direction (southeast direction); the third battle group, formed with the USS Minneapolis and Philadelphia as the core, retreats to the 200-degree direction (southwest direction)..."

"Admiral, the USS Minneapolis is a heavy cruiser and the USS Philadelphia is a light cruiser."

Nimitz glanced at his somewhat slow-minded chief of staff and smiled slightly: "I know, but the Japanese don't know. They have no way to distinguish battleships and cruisers from radar."

…

"Commander, the Kaiser Friedrich III reported that the American fleet split into three and fled in directions of 50 degrees, 100 degrees and 200 degrees."

In the Yamato bridge, Yamamoto Isoroku heard the report of the communications staff, and Ugaki Matoi glanced at each other.

"It's interesting," Yamamoto Isoroku smiled, "It seems that the Americans have changed to a powerful commander."

"Commander, the Americans want us to disperse in pursuit." Matoi Ugaki reminded Yamamoto. "There is only one Yamato!"

"Aren't there still Nagato and Mutsu?" Yamamoto Isoroku smiled coldly, "Before the Yamato was put into service, Nagato and Mutsu were the most powerful battleships in the world. Are we still worried that they can't defeat the United States? A human battleship?”

On paper, the two battleships Nagato and Mutsu are indeed the first of the seven battleships in the Navy's holiday era. They have the largest tonnage and fastest speed, and are equipped with the largest main gun caliber, reaching 410mm!

Yamamoto Isoroku sneered and ordered: "Now disperse the fleet and form three teams to pursue. The Yamato team is to chase the American fleet in the 50-degree direction; the Nagato and Mutsu team are to chase the 100 The American fleet in the 200-degree direction is composed of light cruisers and destroyers, pretending to pursue the enemy in the 200-degree direction. "

…

"Commander, the Japanese were fooled and they divided their forces!"

The radar on Kaiser Friedrich III could not distinguish between a battleship and a cruiser. The 279 radar on the North Carolina also did not have such high performance, and it could not distinguish between battleships and cruisers!

So at this time, Nimitz didn't know that Japan's 80,000-ton giant ship was chasing him, nor did he know that the unlucky Colorado would soon be severely beaten by two Nagato-class ships.

"Okay," Nimitz nodded proudly, "increase the speed to 26 knots. Let's see how fast the Japanese battleship can run."

By testing the opponent's speed, Nimitz thought he could roughly guess who was chasing him? Because the Nagato class is an old ship with more than 20 years of age after all, it cannot be very fast. According to the data disclosed by the Japanese themselves, it is only 23 knots. If the Japanese battleship formation can keep up with him, Nimitz is basically certain that it is the 80,000-ton giant ship...