You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you brought out a Tiger tank?

At this point in 38, the Japanese navy's air defense network had a fatal flaw.

There are huge loopholes in the firepower layering.

Long-range air defense relies entirely on those large-caliber anti-aircraft guns of 127 mm or 120 mm.

Although these cannons can fire at altitudes of up to 8,000 meters, their fire control systems are extremely primitive, relying entirely on manual visual observation and optical rangefinders to estimate lead.

Even more critically, there were no radio proximity fuses (VT fuses) at that time, and the shells were detonated entirely by mechanical timed fuses.

Against high-speed maneuvering aircraft, the hit rate of this anti-aircraft gun is almost zero; it is purely a "spectacular" weapon used for its noise.

In terms of short- and medium-range air defense, the Japanese were even more severely lacking.

They desperately lack medium-range automatic artillery with long range, high power, and high rate of fire, such as the White Eagle 40mm Bofors or the John 40mm Pom-Pom.

This resulted in a huge firepower gap between the 127mm anti-aircraft gun and the close-range machine gun.

Once the enemy planes broke through the outer perimeter, the Japanese could only fight desperately with their 25mm autocannons, which had an effective range of only 1,500 meters, as well as their 7.7mm and 13.2mm machine guns.

Take the heavy cruiser Ashigara below, which is frantically spitting out flames, as an example.

This 13,000-ton behemoth had just completed its modernization refit 36 ​​years ago.

把老式的120毫米高炮换成了8门127毫米高炮，又增加了4门双联装25毫米机炮和4挺13毫米机枪。

Now that the fighting has begun...

The shells fired by the 127mm anti-aircraft guns all exploded hundreds of meters behind or above the HE-111 aircraft group, without even scratching the aircraft's paint.

The four twin-mounted 25mm autocannons that the Japanese had high hopes for turned out to be a complete disaster.

This thing uses a 15-round magazine for feeding.

The gunner pulled the trigger and fired "rat-a-tat-tat" for a few seconds until the magazine was empty.

The loader next to him had to quickly pull out the empty magazine and then forcefully slam in a full one.

The firepower was intermittent and could not form a dense barrage.

As for the remaining machine guns, they were even weaker. When they hit the reinforced armor of the HE-111, they could only make a few holes and could not kill it with a single shot.

"Maintain course!"

The lead pilot gripped the control stick tightly, his eyes fixed on the increasingly large Ashigara heavy cruiser ahead.

Black smoke from exploding anti-aircraft shells would occasionally appear in the surrounding sky.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Several pieces of shrapnel struck the wing, producing a sickening metallic tearing sound.

The wingman's terrified screams came through the headset:

"Captain, our left wing has been punctured by shrapnel and is leaking oil."

"Never mind it, we have self-sealing fuel tanks. Keep your sights on the target!"

The lead pilot roared, veins bulging on his forehead.

He led a squadron of four aircraft, braving the intermittent anti-aircraft fire of the Japanese, and forcibly approached from the left side of the bow of the Ashigara.

Two kilometers away...

1,500 meters...

One thousand meters...

He could clearly see the massive hull of the Ashigara and the Japanese sailors scurrying about on the deck like ants.

He could even see the gunner of the twin 25mm cannon on the side of the bridge firing wildly at them.

Tracer bullets flew past the cockpit window, grazing the glass.

He glanced down at the altimeter; over 50 meters, that was enough.

"Now! Drop the bomb!"

The bombardier slammed down the release button: "Launch!"

"Click".

A mechanical release sound came from under the fuselage.

Two LT F5 aerial torpedoes detached from their pylons and plummeted toward the sea.

"Splash! Splash!"

After the torpedo entered the water, the propeller at the tail spun rapidly, leaving two straight white trails on the sea surface, and hurtled straight toward the port side of the Ashigara at a high speed of forty knots.

Upon seeing the lead aircraft drop its bombs, the other three fighter jets immediately adjusted their noses and launched their torpedoes as well.

Instantly, eight white trails appeared on the sea surface.

They formed a huge fan shape, completely blocking the Ashigara's path of advance.

After dropping the torpedoes, the four HE-111s immediately pulled up their noses, pushed the throttle valves hard, and roared over the mast of the Ashigara, quickly disengaging from the battlefield.

-----

"Torpedo observed entering the water!"

The lookout on the open deck pointed to the sea to his left, his voice trembling with extreme fear:

"Port side! Eight torpedoes! Approaching at high speed!"

In the bridge command room of the heavy cruiser Ashigara, Captain Harada Satoru suddenly rushed to the porthole and raised his binoculars.

As he watched the eight rapidly approaching white contrails on the sea, his pupils instantly contracted to the size of pinpoints.

They're too close!

"Get out of the way!"

Harada Satoru shoved aside the helmsman beside him, rushed to the helm himself, gripped the helm tightly with both hands, and used all his strength to jerk it to the left.

"Hard left turn, both vehicles full speed ahead!"

Harada Satoru roared loudly, large beads of cold sweat rolling down his forehead.

He attempted to use the classic naval comb tactic.

That is, to forcibly turn the ship towards the direction from which the torpedo is coming, so that the bow of the warship is aligned with the torpedo, thereby minimizing the area of ​​the massive ship that is hit by the torpedo, and allowing it to pass through the gaps in the torpedo like a comb.

"Spin it! Spin it faster!"

Harada Satoru screamed wildly in his heart.

At this moment, all four steam turbines on the ship were pushed to their limits, outputting a ferocious power of 130,000 horsepower.

With a top speed of 35.5 knots, the 10,000-ton behemoth writhed wildly on the sea, attempting to evade.

The Ashigara, a massive ship over two hundred meters long, drew a huge arc on the sea surface, its hull listing severely due to the rapid turn.

The unsecured ammunition boxes and debris on the deck slid to one side with a clatter, and several gunners who lost their footing were thrown directly into the sea.

The warship awkwardly twisted its body.

The first torpedo actually barely grazed the right side armor belt of the Ashigara.

The second one passes over the outer side of the middle of the ship.

Article 3...

"You dodged it?"

A sliver of hope had just begun to rise in Harada Satoru's heart.

"We dodged it! Thank goodness for Amaterasu!"

The Japanese staff officers on the bridge were trembling with excitement and were about to raise their hands in cheers.

next second.

"boom--!!!"

A deafening roar completely drowned out their cheers.

A burst of extremely bright fire suddenly erupted below the waterline on the port side of the bow of the Ashigara.

Immediately afterwards, a huge column of water, tens of meters high, shot into the sky, carrying broken steel plates and human remains, and slammed heavily onto the deck.

Two hundred kilograms of high-energy TNT exploded underwater, and the resulting terrifying shockwave directly tore apart the side of the Ashigara.

The entire ship, weighing over 10,000 tons, suddenly stopped, as if it had been hit hard in the face with a heavy hammer.

Everyone on the bridge was thrown about by the shock. Colonel Harada Satoru fell directly onto the deck, hitting his forehead on the compass base, and blood streamed down his face.

However, Harada Satoru, ignoring the blood, scrambled to his feet and yelled into the megaphone:

"Report the extent of the damage! Quickly!"