Yamamoto Iroku fell to the hard floor of the Yamato Commander Tower, and a big bag suddenly bulged on his head, and Venus appeared in front of him.

The reason why he was so embarrassed was that a 16-inch (406mm) armor-piercing projectile hit the side wall of the commander tower that was 500mm thick on the Yamato. Of course, there was no puncture, otherwise Yamamoto Iroji would have become a god now.

Yamato's strong armor withstood the test again. Although it was hit many times, no 16-inch armor-piercing projectile could penetrate the Yamato's key protection zone. Only the smallest bow was penetrated by a 16-inch shell, but it was not a big deal.

"Commander, the distance is close to 15,000 meters, close enough!"

Ugaki Chan fell lighter than Yamamoto, but he fell below his nose and had a lot of bleeding. So he got up first than Yamamoto Iroku. After calling the Guandao to confirm that the battleship was not seriously injured, he immediately suggested changing the course and paralleling the two Carolina-class ships. Although the Yamato is quite strong, it is best to keep a certain distance from the enemy's 16-inch cannon.

"Okay, then turn around." Yamamoto Iroku didn't want to continue taking risks with his life and the precious Yamato.

The Yamato's steering means that all 9 460mm cannons can concentrate firepower to bombard the North Carolina (Yuji Yamamoto chose the right enemy), but it also means that the Yamato's ammunition area will increase greatly. Although the Yamato's command tower and main gun turret front (the No. 1 turret was also hit once) have withstood the 16-inch (406mm) armor-piercing projectiles. However, the thickest part of its side main armor belt is only 410mm (at a 20-degree inclination) at a distance of 15,000 meters, it should be difficult to block the 16-inch (406mm) armor-piercing projectiles. As for the bow, the stern and superstructure (except the command tower) are even more difficult to resist.

It was almost time to know that the time to open the fire happily was almost over. The 18 16-inch cannons of the North Carolina and Washington began to fire wildly. In just 2 minutes, four rounds of volleys were fired, sending 72 kilograms of super-weight armor-piercing bombs, two of which hit the huge hull of Yamato.

A main armor belt that hit the ship's main armored belt, and the 410mm armored steel plate was instantly penetrated! Then the shell suddenly hit the bulkhead of the No. 1 boiler cabin, which was 90mm thick, exploded. Although the No. 1 boiler cabin did not destroy the No. 1 boiler cabin, the huge vibration caused by the explosion still broke a pipe in the boiler cabin (of course, temporary). The scorching steam ran around everywhere, turning the No. 1 boiler cabin into a hell on earth. At the same time, the explosion also caused a fire inside the Yamato hull. The flames rushed out from the breakout that was penetrated by the armor-piercing bomb, turning the Yamato into a striking target.

Another 16-inch super bomb hit the Yamato chimney and the stern, blowing the Yamato chimney into two sections!

Although neither of them was fatal injury, it also made the Yamato, the super battleship, look a little embarrassed.

However, the time when the Yamato was beaten and not fought back was over. After the distance between the two sides approached, its 460mm cannon began to show its power.

At 3:25 a.m., a 460mm caliber shell hit the front of the turret of the North Carolina's stern. The 18-inch (406mm) steel plate was instantly torn apart like a thin piece of paper. The shell exploded inside the turret, and also detonated a 16-inch shell that had just filled the barrel. The huge explosion power blew the entire turret into pieces. If the base of the turret was not strong enough, it would probably have affected the ammunition depot!

Just one minute later, another 460mm-caliber armor-piercing projectile penetrated the 12-inch (305mm) side armor belt of the North Carolina, and then the shell rushed directly into the boiler compartment, exploded in the No. 4 boiler compartment, destroying two heavy oil special-fired boilers (8 units in total, divided into 4 cabins). The two boilers were lost and several steam pipes were broken. The North Carolina's power was instantly reduced by more than half, and the speed would reach 15 knots.

At 3:30 a.m., the Yamato's 460mm shell hit the waterline again below the North Carolina ship, not only penetrated the armor belt, but also penetrated four compartments in a row and exploded outside the bulkhead of the engine compartment, directly blowing through the engine compartment. Hundreds of tons of sea water surged in, and North Carolina immediately tilted 5 degrees to the left.

In just a few minutes, just 3 460mm armor-piercing bombs caused fatal damage to the North Carolina battleship with a standard displacement of 36,600 tons.

When Nimitz learned of the damage to the warship, he already knew that the North Carolina was finished.

The question now is how long can this battleship last and how much damage can it cause to the Japanese "80,000-ton warship"?

While being hit by Yamato, North Carolina and its sister ship Washington also tried their best to counterattack. Their 16-inch shells hit Yamato twice, and once hitting the Yamato's bow below the waterline, which was not a fatal critical position. However, it caused a large amount of sea water to influx, causing the Yamato's bow to sink a little, and further slowed down to 15 knots.

Another 16-inch shell hit the main armor belt on the port side of the Yamato again. This time the shell penetrated into Yamamoto's Commander's Hall, and a big explosion came inside and ignited a fire. The fire spread in the Commander's Hall, Commander's Cabinet, Captain's Cabinet, Chief of Staff Cabinet, Staff Cabinet, etc., turning all senior officials of the Joint Fleet into "homeless".

However, the Yamato's main gun quickly avenged its commander's "hate of family destruction", and knocked off the b turret on the bow of the Carolina ship with one shot. Now 2 of the three main gun turrets of the Carolina have been destroyed, one boiler cabin was blown up, and the engine compartment has a large amount of water inflow, and the speed has dropped to 10 knots.

Navy Captain Hearst Vidert, the first captain of the North Carolina, knew that he was probably the last captain of the battleship.

"Admiral, I ask you to transfer the headquarters." Navy Colonel Hurstwidt said loudly to Nimitz.

"Okay!" Nimitz nodded and said to Frederick, "order the Washington to retreat at full speed after 3 minutes."

Then he solemnly said to Navy Colonel Hearstwidt, "I order you to return to San Diego alive, and in April I will hand you over a brand new South Dakota-class battleship to command!"

After saying that, he strode away from the Commander Tower with Chief of Staff Frederick and several staff officers. Navy Colonel Hurstwidt asked someone to summon an Atlanta-class cruiser for Nimitz to use.

While Nimitz left, the battle between the three battleships continued. Now it was the 12 16-inch (406mm) cannons of the North Carolina and Washington against the nine 460mm cannons of the Yamato. In just three minutes, Yamato hit the North Carolina twice, while North Carolina and Washington hit Yamato once each.

This is simply like three battleships poking each other with more than 400 mm gun barrels! One poking is a big hole! The main gun shooting command post in the rear of the Yamato was broken, and a triple-mounted 155mm secondary gun turret was knocked away. The North Carolina was even worse, with one bomb at the bow of the turret A and the bottom of the bridge. The turret A turned into debris on the spot, and the bottom of the bridge was penetrated, and the shells exploded inside the bridge, and the people inside the bridge were either killed or injured. Captain Navy Colonel Hearst Vidert broke his legs and became a cripple, and he barely issued an order to abandon the ship before losing consciousness.

"Commander, one North Carolina class seems to have been abandoned, and another is running away. Should you chase it?"

Yamamoto Iroji raised his telescope and looked at the Washington, which was about to disappear into the darkness. He shook his head and said, "I can't catch up... Let the destroyer use torpedo to sink the broken North Carolina class, and then let us leave too. After dawn, let Nanyun's plane sank the North Carolina class."

The power of the North Carolina-level 16-inch (406mm) main gun is not comparable to that of a 14-inch cannon. Although the Yamato won by one against two, it was also beaten to pieces and was bruised and had to be driven back to the local area for overhaul. It seems that although the Yamato is powerful, it is not really invincible!

"Commander, Nagato's battle report!" The communications officer of the joint fleet shouted at this time, "Sinking a Colorado-level ship... But the Muao broke!"

"What?" Yamamoto Iroji couldn't help frowning when he heard the news, "Namen, the two ships of Muo's dealt with a Colorado-class actually made Muo's big defeat. What's going on?"

The communications consultant replied: "Commander, Lieutenant General Takasu reported that the USS Mua was attacked by a concentrated attack by an enemy ship during the firefighting. Shortly after the firefighting began, it was penetrated through the main armor belt. A 16-inch shell exploded outside the cabin of the No. 2 boiler, causing a large amount of circuit damage. All four main steam pipes broke and the ship lost power. At the same time, the fire was ignited again, and the commander of the engine, the captain of the damage to the pipe and a large number of casualties..."

In short, the battleship of the Muao battleship was in bad luck. The two shells exploded one after another, with only 5 minutes apart. And when the second shell exploded, the commander of the Muao and the captain of the damage management team were leading people to repair and rescue. As a result, they were all killed, causing the battleship to lose most of the repair and damage management personnel. Moreover, the second shell also destroyed all the steam pipelines, causing the battleship to lose power. In the end, it caused damage and could not be repaired for a short period of time, and the fire was difficult to extinguish. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!