Chapter 904: The Age of Great Guns

“Firing complete!” With a loud shout, the loaders in the cramped metal space began to bustle. The massive breech was pulled open from the inside, and a wave of hot air billowed from the chamber. Machinery began to roar, engines started to turn, and chains began to wind. The entire space was filled with a cacophony of piercing sounds.

Soon, a shell rose from the steel passageway below. It had been pushed onto the transport elevator from dozens of meters below, and then, with the winding of the engine, it passed the armored splinter bulkheads and the thicker main armor of the battleship, arriving inside the main gun turret.

“Loaders!” Another shout rang out. Several men scrambled to unload the heavy shell from the hoist with a simple crane. Shouting in unison, they placed the shell on the loading tray.

Then, with the operation of the electric machinery, the shell was pushed into the chamber of the 406mm great gun by a metal rammer with a soft head. The long rammer, with the repetitive motion of the machinery, then retracted to its original position.

“Propellant!” A shell of this massive caliber was not a single, unified round, nor was it a separately loaded warhead and propellant. The propellant for this shell was basically very similar to an explosive charge. The loaders needed to, according to the range and other requirements, stack the bags of propellant charge neatly, to be pushed into the chamber again by the rammer from just now.

Soon, these propellant charges had been neatly stacked on the loading tray. The reason all large-caliber guns could not fire continuously and had to return to a fixed angle for loading was mainly because the ammunition for these huge guns had to rely on a complex auxiliary loading system, and this system could not follow the gun’s elevation and depression.

Clatter! With a series of sounds, these propellant charges were pushed into the chamber. Then, two loaders, one on each side, skillfully folded up the loading tray. After all, the gun needed a certain recoil distance when it fired. If that slide rail was not retracted, it would be smashed to pieces by the gun’s recoil.

“Gun One loaded! Ready!” an NCO among the loaders reported loudly after returning to his position.

The fire control officer on the other side also put down his phone at almost the same time and loudly repeated the firing data he had just received. “Angle unchanged! Correct left 0.2, await fire command!”

Behind him, the gun-laying crew loudly repeated his order, while at the same time fiddling with the electrically assisted instrument panel. “Firing angle unchanged, correct left 0.2… ready!”

At their shout, the breech of Gun One began to sink, bit by bit, which also indicated that the muzzle of this gun was rapidly rising. After returning to the same elevation as the last shot, this great gun waited there, motionless.

“Fire!” With a command, a huge roar came from outside the deck. The entire battleship shuddered with this earth-shaking roar, and everyone couldn’t help but squint their eyes.

The propellant exploded, forming a sky-blotting cloud of thick smoke that spewed from the 406mm-diameter muzzle. It even blew a clear wind across the nearby sea. The huge shell cut through the sky, flying towards the distant target—and then it finally landed in the sea not far from the target, exploding and forming a column of water dozens of stories high.

In the fire control director, near the ship’s command tower at the top of the ship, an NCO lowered his binoculars, picked up the phone beside him, and shouted his observation results into the mouthpiece. “Gun One! Near miss! Elevation correction 0.1!”

On the bridge, the captain of the battleship Washington frowned, staring helplessly at the distant sea. He had not expected the Japanese battleship to actively engage them. At a time like this, he could no longer get air support from his friendly planes.

It should be known that the gunnery level of the American battleships could only be considered average. The ammunition for these great killers was expensive, and the service life of their gun barrels was relatively short. Who would normally practice shooting with a weapon of this level? So the gunnery level of the U.S. Navy was also of the level that basically relied on faith. Of course, to put it another way, when you’re in a slugging match on a swaying sea, who isn’t fighting with faith?

Clearly, the Japanese had more faith. They had just hit the stern of the North Carolina. Although it had not caused any fatal damage, this was the only time either side had hit the other so far. The Americans, relying on their numerical advantage, had turned the sea near the Japanese battleship Hyūga into a sieve with their dense artillery fire, while the Japanese were desperately returning fire, trying to hold off the Americans and prevent them from reinforcing other battlefields.

BOOM! In the midst of the anxiety, Gun Two fired again. This shell also failed to achieve any merit. It flew over the funnel of the Japanese warship and landed behind it. Another huge explosion, another spectacular column of water, but the Japanese warship just floated on the sea, unscathed.

“Gun Two missed the target, it was a straddle! Maintain angle and continue firing! Maintain angle and continue firing!” In the fire control director, the spotter shouted excitedly. Generally speaking, as long as you had a straddle, you were close to hitting the target.

In the bridge, the first officer asked Halsey, who was at his wit’s end and hoping to end the battle soon, with his hands behind his back, “Sir! If it doesn’t work, maybe we should launch a spotter plane for observation…”

In the beginning, it had been the American warships plus their planes bullying the Japanese, so there had been no need to launch a spotter plane to correct the artillery fire. But now it had turned into a grinding gunnery duel. The cannons of both sides were going back and forth, all within visual range, so there was no more opportunity to delay the firing to launch a spotter plane. But now, although the American warships had a clear advantage, they had repeatedly missed, which made the first officer have to think of a better way.

BOOM! Gun Three fired at this moment. And just as the American captain was about to order a halt to the firing and, gritting his teeth, to launch a spotter plane for artillery fire correction, a miracle happened…

Gun Three of Turret A, at the bow of the Washington, had hit the bow turret of the Japanese battleship, Turret A. A shell had accurately struck the armored steel plate, completely writing off one of the Japanese gun turrets, which also reduced the density of the Japanese fire considerably.

Watching the Japanese warship erupt in flames and begin to burn, a cheer went up from the American warship. Although everyone knew that they were using two new battleships to fight one old one, and that it was not very glorious to bully the few with the many—but a hit was, after all, much better than a miss. So no one cared about the details and began to adjust their great guns with even more vigor.

“Hit! Hit! Keep firing! Keep firing!” When the spotter in the fire control director made his report, he was so excited that his voice even changed pitch. One could hear his excitement. After all, to win against the Japanese in a gunnery duel was a very morale-boosting thing for the Americans.

This jubilant atmosphere did not last long. The Americans’ cheers had not even ended when the battleship North Carolina was also hit by the main guns of the Hyūga. In an instant, the American cheers died down. It seemed that the brief joy of a moment ago had, with the North Carolina being hit, vanished without a trace.

The Hyūga was, after all, an old battleship. It was equipped with 356mm main guns, not the 406mm main guns installed on the four American battleships. So, in terms of the penetrating power of its shells, it could not be compared with the American great guns at all. Although the Japanese Navy had hit the American warships twice in a row, it had not caused any substantial damage.

After all, the American warships were new ships that had just been launched in 1939, while the Japanese Navy’s Hyūga was an old antique that had been in service since 1918. Even after a modernization refit, it could no longer meet the needs of a decisive battle. So when the Japanese warship hit the American battleship for the third time, it still did not slow the North Carolina down.

After this exchange of hits, the Americans also forgot about launching a spotter plane. Since they could hit the opponent, then to stop firing to launch a not-very-useful observation plane from the deck was no longer very necessary.

The great guns of both sides were firing at each other. The Japanese were shooting very accurately. Like their teachers, the British, they were very skilled at naval gunnery. But unfortunately, the caliber of their cannons was a little too small to inflict a fatal blow on the American warships. The power of the American cannons was sufficient, but they just couldn’t shoot very accurately…

The good show continued. Just as the American Washington had closed the distance to 20 kilometers, they finally hit each other again. The midsection of the battleship Hyūga was hit by a shot from the North Carolina, and the stern of the North Carolina was also hit again.

This time, both sides paid a heavy price. The battleship Hyūga immediately burst into flames, and the turret in its midsection also went silent in an instant. The Americans seemed to have hit a vital spot. The Japanese warship, which had been able to barely fight a moment ago, had now lost its combat effectiveness.

Of course, the new American battleship North Carolina had not gotten off easy either. Although it had hit its opponent in one fell swoop and had basically deprived it of its combat capability, it seemed that its stern had also been hit, and its speed had suddenly dropped to less than half of what it had been.

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