Battle of Barents Sea
1940, the United States handed over 50 destroyers to the British Royal Navy, which was only the beginning of the United States' involvement in World War II. 1941March, the United States promulgated the lease law, allowing more warships to be lent to the Royal Navy to alleviate the shortage of escort ships. In April, the defensive circle expanded to 26 W. Within this range, American cargo ships are escorted to Britain, regardless of whether they carry war materials or not. But in the middle of the same year, the American government was responsible for ensuring Iceland's "neutrality", so it sent American troops instead of British and Canadian troops. Before that, Britain and Canada had been stationed here for a year. When British and Canadian warships use Iceland to refuel, U-boats may mistakenly think that American destroyers are conducting hostile escort operations. Because the profile image features of flat-deck ships are unique to the navies of the two countries, the latest "DD 42 1 Benson" and "DD 453bistol" class destroyers are also similar to the "A" to "I" class destroyers designed and built by the United Kingdom.
Since 194 1 spring, the 7th, 30th and 3rd1destroyer squadrons of the United States have been on duty in the North Atlantic. The first "hostile" action took place in April, because the sonar of the destroyer Niblake touched the target and triggered an attack. 194 1 The Greer incident on July 4th, 2008 was the first serious conflict. The old flat-deck destroyer belonging to the 30 th destroyer squadron is acting independently to deliver materials and mail to Reykjavik, Iceland. When the British maritime patrol aircraft found a U-shaped submarine 8.7 nautical miles ahead (65,438+045 Greer), it sent a signal to it, Greer. This is purely a defensive measure, but it was discovered by the U-submarine and thought Greer was chasing it. The destroyer tracked the U-shaped submarine for nearly four hours, during which the British patrol plane dropped four depth charges. Finally, the captain of the U-submarine was very angry, and he thought it was not in line with the "neutral country" behavior. So the U-submarine fired a torpedo, and Greer responded with a depth charge. When it was determined that the U-submarine had escaped, Greer continued to sail for Iceland. After this incident, the U.S. government gave clear instructions to the navy: in the maritime defense of the Atlantic Ocean, American escort ships were allowed to attack German or Italian submarines, so long as they found the enemy, they could shoot.
Another incident is more serious. On June+1October 65438+1October 7, the new destroyer "DD 432 Kearny" was attacked by a U-568 submarine torpedo. Once again, the American destroyer was involuntarily involved in the escort ships of Britain, Canada and even free France. They tried to help the Canadian fleet, which was badly hit by the German submarine wolf tactics. At about two o'clock in the morning, the Chierni had just dropped a depth charge (American destroyers were allowed to drop depth charges to drive or scare off German U-boats). In the dazzling light from the burning oil tanker, the U-submarine fired three torpedoes, one of which hit the front boiler room of the Chierni, and the violent explosion destroyed the deck, causing 1 1 death and many injuries. The ship has always adhered to the combat post, so a large amount of seawater flooded into the front boiler room, but the bulkhead withstood the pressure of water inflow.
"Benson" class is the first destroyer in which steam turbines and boilers are alternately arranged according to the "unit" system, so as to reduce the danger of all steam power plants losing their functions due to one blow. The experience of "Chilny" shows how important it is for the destroyer to stand the test of war damage. Obviously, the unit system of the power plant saved the destroyer "Chilny" and enabled it to tide over the difficulties on its own under the escort of "Greer", slowly sailed to Iceland and anchored there. The repair ship "Vulcan" docked next to the "Chierni" and made simple repairs in a hurry to return to the repair shop. The destroyer's long life is a great blessing, and "Chilny" is the longest destroyer in its class. As a reserve ship, it was kept until 197 1 year before it was scrapped.
The old four-chimney destroyer "Reuben James" (DD 245 Reuben James) was not so lucky. Just two weeks after the "Chilny" was torpedoed, the ship was escorting an eastbound fleet. When approaching the meeting point at sea, the American destroyer handed over the protected fleet to the British and Canadian escort ships. 65438+1October 3 1 Before dawn, the starboard side of Ruben James was hit by a torpedo, and the whole bow disappeared in a huge explosion. Obviously, the ammunition depot of the first 102 mm (4 inches) gun was detonated, leaving the fourth chimney to the stern. After about 5 minutes, the rest also sank into the sea. When the residue sank, the explosion of the deep-water bomb killed many survivors, and more than two-thirds of the crew, including the captain, were killed or swallowed up by the waves. But even so, it is still not enough for the United States to end "isolationism." Only after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt immediately asked Congress for approval to turn the Coast Guard into a navy, and passed a further revised neutrality bill within two weeks, which finally made American citizens realize that World War II had arrived.
However, it is somewhat unusual that the confrontation between American destroyers and German U-boats was weakened in the Atlantic War. There is a simple reason. American destroyers need to go to the most critical Pacific Ocean, so the US government only agreed to provide sea planes to the Royal Logistics Fleet during the Atlantic War to escort destroyers for the Royal Navy. However, for destroyers in the Atlantic Ocean, it is more urgent to escort troop carriers to Great Britain. But in August of 1942, emmons (DD 457 emmons-importer's note) and Rodman (DD 456 Rodman-importer's note) escorted the cruiser Tuscaloosa to the north of the Soviet Union. 1942 In September, the South Atlantic formation had four old light cruisers and eight destroyers to protect Brazilian ships from U-boats. Some old destroyers are fighting in the Caribbean to cope with the attack plan of the U-submarine code-named "Tonggusheng" on American shipping.
The war between the tiger and the wolf of the destroyer in World War II
1In the last week of May, 945, the German battleship Bismarck broke through the Danish Strait, sank the British battleship Hood, and got rid of the battleship Prince of Wales and the two cruisers that followed. When the news came, the fourth detachment of the British Continental Fleet, composed of Cossacks, Maori (L24/F24/G24 Maori-the importer), Sikhs (L82/F82/G82 Sikhs-the importer) and Zulu (L), was ordered to join the British fleet on May 26th. When he received the observation report of the maritime reconnaissance plane "Katrina", he changed his course because "Bismarck" was in the active position. He slowed down to attack with a torpedo.
The cruiser Sheffield used radar to locate Bismarck. Andrew West led his destroyer across the rough sea, and occupied the launching position favorable for night attack. The conditions were so bad that his leading ship, Cossack, followed by Maori, turned right at a speed of 26 knots. Although there is not much distance between the two destroyers, they cannot see each other. Later, it was found that they changed their position on the route and did not slow down at this critical moment. At about 22 o'clock, the huge Bismarck was discovered by the Piolan, and the profile image could be seen through the flash of the artillery. Wei 'an wanted to be blocked by his destroyer before all the ships fired at the same time, but the weather conditions were extremely bad, that is, the speed of 18 knots was used, and the view was covered by splashing water. It was dark and there was no moonlight, so Andrew West decided to let his destroyer attack independently.
The range was gradually shortened from 5,486 meters (6,000 yards) to 3,658 meters (4,000 yards), and five destroyers evaded and made a detour. The tired sight of the German battleship tried to sink them at sea, and the destroyer swerved to avoid being hit by a projectile bigger than shrapnel. The destroyer tried its best to hit the battleship Bismarck. Just then, the anxious radar soldiers on the destroyer Cossack discovered the situation on the screen. After analysis, it is determined that the airborne warning radar intercepted the 907 kg (2000 lb) shells fired by Bismarck in flight.
At about 3 am, the destroyer in the artillery battle lost contact with Bismarck. Although Cossack's radio antenna was interrupted, it still provided a series of azimuth data for the commander of the British fleet. Although the British fleet finally tried to attack at 7 o'clock through Maori and Sikhs, they found their battleships "King George V" and "Rodney" nearby, so Wei 'an's destroyer changed course and retreated to the vicinity of the big ship, which lowered the final curtain of the conflict. Although these destroyers failed to damage the battleship Bismarck, they played the role of trailing and harassing the enemy's capital ship, keeping the enemy ship in constant combat alarm and ammunition consumption, and also weakened its combat activities the next morning.
No one expected that an old destroyer would be assigned to carry out torpedo attack, but an accidental opportunity happened. 1February 942 12, six destroyers led the ship "Cann" (suspected D60 Campbell "Campbell"-importer's note) (under the command of Colonel Pizel). Pizel's 2 1 detachment "Vival" (D36/I36, translated as Lively (input note) and 16 detachment's MacKay (d90 MacKay-input note), Huiqi Hurd (d77/i77 Whitshed-input note) and Worcester (D96/i77). At first, the British navy thought that concentrated bombers, shore guns and torpedo boats would prevent German ships from passing, but this day soon came, and all sporadic attacks by the enemy were repelled. Obviously, the interception will succeed. Harriet's destroyer continued to stand by in case of an emergency. It is estimated that the Germans will come at night. For a long time, people thought that even the most modern destroyers, attacking the capital ship during the day, was just a trap, let alone a 25-year-old ship in the last world war.
The destroyer is at sea. 1 1: 45, Pizel was informed that the German ship had left boulogne and asked them to attack with torpedoes as planned. They bypassed their minefield at a speed of 28 knots, and Colonel Pizel and his troops reached the interception point in the shortest distance. Walpole's machinery broke down and had to return, so five destroyers were left to face the enemy's two main ships-heavy cruisers Plinz Eugen and Genneseno (battle cruisers scharnhorst, Genneseno and heavy cruiser Plinz Eugen), six large destroyers and 65,438+05 torpedo boats. There was nothing noteworthy about the attack by German planes, but a bomber of his own Royal Air Force mistook MacKay and Worcester for German ships and tried to sink them, which put the gunner's restraint to the greatest test.
The Germans were busy dealing with the torpedo attack of the British beaufort bomber, so they didn't notice that five British destroyers were being launched for their attack. Soon, the signal of German E-boat sinking appeared on the screen, which was realized within 30 17 meters (3,300 yards) from Gneseno and prinz eugen. German ships slowly counterattacked and hit the destroyer Worcester. The Germans believed that the ship would sink because it was hit by multiple shells of 279 mm (1 1 inch) and 203 mm (8 inches), 17 people were killed and 45 people were injured. But the Germans left in a hurry before the Worcester sank completely. So the Worcester can start the turbine again after the fire is put out. When Pizel got home, he was surprised to find that the ship was moving at a speed of 8 knots. Just like the fourth detachment attacked Bismarck, it got nothing. However, this battle is a prominent example of the maneuverability of destroyers.
A group of destroyers killed each other in World War II.
The Generenault is no longer at sea, and the destroyer has a second chance to attack the sister ship scharnhorst of Generenault. Then they want to avenge themselves. It happened at 1943, nearly a year after karl doenitz took over from Admiral Lei Deer as commander-in-chief. Hitler's anger was the direct cause of the reorganization of the Supreme Command of the Navy. At that time, eight British destroyers repelled the attack of Luzov, the heavy cruiser Admiral hippel and several destroyers on the British escort fleet. This battle, known as the Barents Sea War, took place in1942 65438+February. Although a destroyer was sunk, the escort fleet avoided losses. The British destroyer fought a beautiful blocking battle, gained time, and made two cruisers carrying out long-range escort arrive in time, driving away the "Rutsov" and "Admiral hippel". Just then, the unlucky German destroyer Friedrich Eckhort (Z.16 Friedrich Eckholt-importer's note) approached the British cruisers Jamaica and Sheffield, mistaking them for friendly ships, and the British ships destroyed them with 152 mm (6 inches) shells.
Lei Deer knew very well that the damage to any warship was very dangerous, and Hitler was unwilling to do so, which would lead to his own downfall. Therefore, when the Fuehrer threatened to reduce the surface fleet, Lei Deer resigned. However, Hitler planned to use force against the allied escort fleet at 1943 because he intended to prevent the allied escort fleet from going to the northern part of the Soviet Union or arrange their heavy ships to other battlefields. At this time, "Tibbits", "scharnhorst" and destroyers were used, and everything went smoothly from then on, but in 165438+ 10, two allied convoys arrived. At that time, it was not the best time, because the Diebitz was still under repair and would not be completed until March. In this case, a modified scheme is proposed to use large destroyers alone, including scharnhorst Combat Cruiser. The British large radar with good performance is an effective means to deal with the Germans in the case of a long night in the Arctic.
1940 In the first naval battle in Narvik, German Admiral Bell, who turned the tide against the destroyer warburton Lee, commanded the destroyer fleet of the Union Army. 111when general kumaz left his post in October, he took over as commander of the northern task force. On Christmas Eve 19, his flagship set sail from Altfjord. Bell doesn't know that the plan made by his employees is wrong. In fact, there is not one escort team but two, JW.55B escort team goes to Britain and RA.55 goes to Murmansk. However, the air force reconnaissance plane only found JW.55B's fleet and three cruisers and destroyers to cover the fleet. Although it was also found that the British local fleet had left Iceland, the report of the German Air Force was vague and mentioned that there might be battleships. According to the regulations, only the real situation can be reported to the navy, so the latter speculation has been deleted. However, there is a warship, the 38,000-ton Duke of York. It is the flagship of Admiral Fraser, commander of the British fleet. Fraser knows the detailed information of scharnhorst Combat Cruiser very clearly, and the top secret analysis result is almost beyond doubt. He ordered four destroyers to be transferred from the undiscovered escort fleet to the JW.55B escort fleet. Bell entered Fraser's ambush. A British battleship, a cruiser and four destroyers advanced at high speed, cutting off its retreat. There are always 65,438+04 destroyers and three modern cruisers in the escort fleet.
Because the weather is getting worse, the destroyer and the flagship can't hold their positions. Bell allowed his destroyer to return, but Bell, as the captain of the destroyer, had doubts. The reconnaissance plane of the German Air Force can't take off on the ground now, and scharnhorst can't get any information except what he can see through the radar and the eyes of the lookout. U boats can only give them a rough estimate of the size, speed and course of the escort fleet, but they can't see the British fleet. Fraser gave a brief instruction to his scattered ships: reduce the risk of accidental injury to friendly ships. However, the German "scharnhorst" combat cruiser lost contact with its destroyer as early as the morning of February 26th, 65438, and has not been recalled.
65438+At 8: 40 on February 26th, the flagship of the British cruiser "Orfast" got a big "pointing signal" on the radar screen, showing that it was only 26 nautical miles (30 miles) away from the "scharnhorst". But it is 74 nautical miles (200 miles) away from its battleship Duke of York/KLOC-0. Cruisers must seize the target and fight skillfully. At 9: 24, flares from Orfast lit up scharnhorst in the darkness before dawn in the Arctic Ocean. It took the British Norfolk only two minutes to destroy the fire control director and its radar antenna in the front of the scharnhorst with a 203mm (8 inches) shell. "scharnhorst" was taken aback and immediately avoided. In the rough sea, it got rid of three cruisers. Special envoy Bernard, a resourceful admiral, kept his cruiser away from the convoy. He confidently predicted that the enemy would return. In less than three hours, he saw the "scharnhorst" returning from the south, which proved that his foresight was correct. At this time, the Shane Horst made great determination and threw herself at the cruiser with all her strength. The distance is shortened to 10058 m (1 1000 yards), and the 279 mm (1 1 inch) shells cross and volley accurately. The Norfolk was hit many times. However, such a time-consuming attack distracted the Germans. In the melee, the Duke of York was able to approach within 10973 meters (12000 yards) without being found.
There are also four cruisers, namely "incomparable" (G52 incomparable-importer's note), "rifleman" (G86 musketeer-importer's note), "coincidence" (G80 opportunity-importer's note) and "bitch" (R89 Temagant-importer's note). In this bad sea condition, it is difficult for them to board the Shane Horst. Although the four destroyers are close enough to use119mm (4.7 inches) and102mm (4 inches) guns on this combat cruiser, they are still too far for an effective torpedo attack.
British battleships have plenty of maneuvering time and the largest number of large-caliber naval guns. At 4: 50, a flare suddenly appeared in the sky ahead, and then 356 mm (14 inch) and 152 mm (6 inch) artillery fired together. "scharnhorst" tried to escape again, but this time its opponent was able to catch up with it. There is no difference in the maximum speed between the two ships in the storm. Two large ships attacked each other at a distance of 15545 ~ 18288 m (17000 ~ 20000 yards), and the cruiser has fallen behind. A 356 mm (14 inch) shell injured a propeller shaft of the scharnhorst, and Admiral Fraser sent a signal to four destroyers to fire torpedoes.
As mentioned earlier, the weather was so unfavorable to German destroyers that the 10,000-ton British cruiser could not keep full speed. Destroyers Somarez (G 12 Somarez-importer's note), Savage (G20 Savage), Scorpion (G72 Scorpion-importer's note) and Stouder (Norwegian Navy). Somarez and Savage slowly caught up with the Duke of York and approached the prey. Scorpion and Stolde sailed to the right, leaving another pair of destroyers to attract fire on the port side. Somarez and the barbarians were under heavy artillery fire, but the German shooting was chaotic. Scorpion and Stolde are close to 27,432 meters (30,000 yards), which is actually in the close range of torpedo attack. Finally, one of Scorpion's torpedoes hit the enemy ship, and the scharnhorst quickly turned around and entered the fire range of the other two destroyers. Once again, the underwater explosion, it was announced that three torpedoes were hit again. At this time, the destroyer had completed the task of launching torpedoes, and the Duke of York continued to pursue, so the destroyer slowed down happily. Several cruisers are now only 9509 meters (10400 yards) away from their enemy ships, so they joined the battle, and the gunfire gave off dazzling white light in the dim smoke, which anyone on the battlefield could see clearly. 1945, everything is about to pass. When the cruiser approached the sinking site of the scharnhorst, it was found that only 36 of the 2,000 crew members who set out from Altfjord a day ago survived.
The Battle of North Point was the last important battle in the European naval battle, which showed that the German navy was trying to control the end of the Atlantic dream. In this battle, there is no doubt that the contribution of the destroyer is the most important part of winning the battle. If the destroyer hadn't stopped the Shane Horst, it could have escaped the attack of the British fleet and returned to the base safely.
The midnight battle of the destroyer Ma Jiao in World War II.
Destroyers play a very important role in Mediterranean operations. Because of close combat, British destroyers are often the only ships that can compete with high-speed Italian warships. If you want to ask why British and Australian destroyers can be used so well, the main reason is the achievements of Admiral Sir andrew cunningham, commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, who is a first-class destroyer expert of the Royal Navy. 1911~1918 He was appointed to command the destroyer Scorpion (the "G" class of the basilisk-importer's note) and spent most of seven years in the Mediterranean, that is to say, he was right.
The first battle of the Mediterranean was on July 9, 1940, near Calabri, Italy. This battle established a similar basic pattern for the next three years' war. This is how the battle began. The Italian fleet was discovered from a distance by a British cruiser, and the two sides started a gun battle. When the British "Battlesweariness" hit the Italian flagship "Julio Caesar" within 22,860 meters (25,000 yards), the Italians suddenly changed course. Cunningham's three destroyer detachments, a total of 14, sailed at full speed behind the escaped Italian ship, chasing after it, but never caught up with the Italian ship. The Italian destroyer did a good job, casting a thick smoke screen and fighting back with artillery fire. At this time, the British ship detachment pressed over and entered the smoke screen. The Italian battleship took advantage of the concealment of the horizon and returned to the base smoothly. The second battle was four months later, near Cape Spathy. The battle was even more disappointing, and the destroyer didn't even get into the battle. But in March of 194 1, the third battle started, and this battle entered a decisive stage. This is the decisive battle that General Cunningham has been longing for for for a long time, which took place at Madapan Point. At this time, the Italians had begun to invade Greece and ordered a feint near the west coast of Greece, trying to stop the British reinforcements from Egypt. If the Italians achieve their goal, they will play a leading role in the important Mediterranean and bring much-needed support to the Axis forces in North Africa.
On the radar screen of the British cruiser, the Italian battleship vittorio Vinetot fired at the British cruiser at a distance of 14 nautical mile (16 mile) before the Italian ship was first spotted. Italian artillery is not very accurate. When the engine of the Italian cruiser Gloucester broke down and had to return home, this kind of thing that was difficult to deal with immediately was protected by the destroyer "H24 Hasty" with smoke screen. Knowing that Cunningham had only three battleships and one aircraft carrier 69 nautical miles (80 miles) away, British cruisers and four destroyers withdrew their ships. The torpedo bomber of the British aircraft carrier "Awesome" hit the battleship "vittorio Vinetot". If possible, Cunningham decided to cut off the enemy's retreat and launch a second attack. However, under the strong escort of cruisers and destroyers, vittorio Vinetot can still sail at the speed of 12 ~ 15 knots, so the British fleet has no chance to organize destroyers to attack again.
At night, there seems to be no hope of hitting the Italians. As the sky gradually darkened, the carrier aircraft of "Niubi" won again, and a torpedo hit the heavy cruiser "Paula". Due to the fierce anti-aircraft gun fire, the sky is getting dark, which makes pilots and observers confused about where the ship is and the torpedo attack can not be seen clearly.
Cunningham still had no hope of catching the battleship vittorio Vinetot, but he knew very well that if he waited until dawn, his warship would be within the range of the dive bomber Stuka, which took off from Sicily and southern Italian bases, so he decided to withdraw his eight destroyers. Eight destroyers of the second and 14 detachments, led by Nubian captain Philip Mark (L36/F36/G36- importer's attention), returned home. At this time, no one can know that Admiral Cicino, commander-in-chief of the Italian navy, has sent two cruisers, namely "Fium" (that is, "Mu Fu"-importer's note) and "Zara" to support the attacked "Paula". Admiral Cunningham used his superb destroyer tactics, and later parked the destroyer far north, and put the destroyer between the British cruiser and the Italian squadron, leaving an escape route to the south for the Italian ships. The actual situation proved that Cunningham was right. If the destroyer continues to drive south, it may meet the injured battleship Vinetot. They lost such a good chance, but destroyers will still have their wonderful moments.
At 22: 25, at a distance of 3,657 meters (4,000 yards), two black shadows were seen passing in front of the combat fleet. The destroyer H05 Greyhound turned on the searchlight, revealing the cruisers Fium and Zara, which came to support Bora, and the guns on board. The first volley of 38 1mm( 15 in) guns of the British battleships Tired of War, Warrior and Bahan (that is, barham-importer's note) hit two cruisers. All three British ships fought bravely in the naval battle of Jutland 25 years ago. The battle did not bring any trouble to the British destroyers, and they had nothing to do. The battleship destroyed two Italian cruisers in a short time. Throughout the battle, Cunningham was worried that his destroyer might be accidentally injured by friendly forces. At that time, he thought that the H43 Havoc had been sunk, but in fact it was only hit by a 38 1mm (15in) gun, but it was not hit.
After the Italian destroyer was discovered, Cunningham immediately ordered "D00Stuart", "Hawick", "Fast Wheel" and "Griffin" (H 31Griffin-input note) to deal with it. In the fierce melee, the British destroyer sank the Italian destroyer "vittorio Alfieri". The rest of the British destroyers were looking for the battleship vittorio Vinetot, but they couldn't find it. Then they regrouped, they didn't want to start any more fights, and then they met Paula who was mutilated. When Nubians hit the Bora, Jarvis (F00/G00 jervis-importer's note) rescued all the crew, and then left the destroyed Bora, which was still burning (at this time, Fium had sunk). Cunningham described in Night of Fury that their destroyer sank the Italian destroyer "Kadasi" (citation note), and also recorded that when all his destroyers answered the flagship signal the next morning, it seemed that he was still the commander of the destroyer detachment.
The battle at Madapan Point shows that the bad influence of jutland has been eliminated from British tactical books. Cunningham himself described the naval battle like this:
"One of the main obstacles to chasing in the sea at night is that pursuers must be alert to the attacks launched by enemy light boats. Italians also know this. They have 18 destroyers and a certain number of cruisers. They could use these ships to attack us in one night, but they didn't, mainly because the fleet was extremely dangerous when attacking at night. "
The retreat of destroyer island in World War II
The situation changed very quickly, and Madapan's victory made the Royal Navy's upcoming battle against Crete once again enter a state of extreme tension. At this time, Greece and Britain initially stopped the Italian aggression. On April 6, Hitler decided to send troops to Yugoslavia to save Mussolini's fate. Within two weeks, the Greek and British ground troops were defeated and retreated to Crete. They actually lack air cover. At this time, the Royal Air Force has been transferred to Egypt, and the protection of the island has been handed over to the Mediterranean Fleet. The Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy has two tasks: the first is to prevent