In less than six minutes after the start of the war, two US aircraft carriers, including the flagship, were sunk one after another, and the supreme commander jumped into the sea to escape. These novice pilots now finally realized that their most important task was not to engage in a dogfight with enemy fighters, but to deal with these torpedoed attack planes -- this was the real thing that killed them, and as long as they shot down the attack planes, even ten times as many German fighters in the air could not sink the capital ship. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

With this attitude, the wildcats quickly swooped down to try to salvage the situation, but the BF-219s refused to let them do so, and entangled the F4Fs with faster speed and better maneuverability, trying to create opportunities for the joint attack aircraft. To tell the truth, it was too late for the Americans to react now, and after the success of the previous waves of attack teams, the follow-up attack aircraft groups that had lowered their altitude also launched one attack after another, using the most accustomed and best three-plane formation.

The warships on the sea finally knew that the enemy was not easy to deal with, and these German planes were not panicked novices at all, they were the most experienced and bloodthirsty hungry wolves, and under the order of Rear Admiral Brown, who urgently took over the command, all the warships established such a consciousness -- they must keep the remaining two aircraft carriers, even if they used themselves to block the guns! The target of the joint attack aircraft group was the remaining two aircraft carriers, the Dreadnought and the Indomitable, but they were not as easy to deal with as the first two aircraft carriers, and they were all surrounded by layers of warships in the core, and the British and American warships that had learned to be obedient no longer tried to turn to avoid torpedoes, because they found that the traditional evasion methods did not work, and the German torpedoes did not know what new technology was adopted, not only was it super fast but also the mine trail was hidden, and the steering could not avoid but could not avoid it, but it was possible to expose the gap of the covering aircraft carrier. Therefore, in the end, it was decided to adopt a more tragic method - hard carrying!

The attack aircraft group first opened fire on the largest Indomitable, and on its starboard side, the Pennsylvania sturdily blocked three waves of attack teams for the Indomitable, shooting down only one attack aircraft, but itself hit three special mines in two minutes, even so, the 34,000-ton-displacement, 30-year-old ship still exerted its last residual heat, and only began to sink after a few minutes. These few minutes of perseverance were crucial, not only giving the heavy cruiser USS Chicago, which was closely behind, a chance to speed up to fill the position, but also ensuring that most of the officers and men on board had the opportunity to jump into the sea to escape, and Rear Admiral Brown, who commanded the Y fleet, jumped into the sea like Spruance.

The Dreadnought on the left flank was also the focus of the German group's attack, the battleship Tennessee blocked a torpedo for the Dreadnought, which flooded up to 3,500 tons in 2 minutes, and the heavy cruiser Chester helped the Dreadnought block the other 2 torpedoes, and the result was a sinking without suspense. When the new wave of attack planes rushed over, there were only 2 lone destroyers left around the Dreadnought, and they couldn't stop the huge silhouette body, and the key time was that 4-5 Wildcats rushed down directly regardless of it, and used the barbaric method of hitting with a continuous shooting belt, and forced 2 of the joint attack aircraft into the sea, and these Wildcats that lost their altitude were all shot down by the BF-219 that followed and pounced. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the battleship Howe finally pounced on it and successfully filled the position.

In the end, there were only 4 attack teams left, although Schiller did not give up and ordered to continue the attack on the aircraft carrier, but the Americans also played a high level of playing with gun holes, the battleship Idaho once again blocked a torpedo for the Indomitable, and the Tennessee, which was inmobile after being hit by the mine, ate 2 more torpedoes, and the shipwreck of the Battle of Pearl Harbor, which had just been repaired for only 10 days, sank in the Atlantic Ocean without any suspense - no one could salvage him again this time.

More than 20 minutes later, the German fleet of torpedoes and fighter fuel close to the danger line retreated, and the sea finally returned to calm. In this battle, which did not last long, the combined X and Y fleets lost a total of 2 aircraft carriers, the USS Victory and Independence, 2 battleships, the USS Pennsylvania and USS Tennessee, and 1 heavy cruiser USS Chester. The strange thing is that none of the destroyers that tried to help the capital ship resist the torpedoes did not sink this time -- only later did I realize that the German torpedoes were very deep, and the targets were all aimed at the capital ship.

The fleet suffered heavy losses, and the planes were not much better, the F4F fighters lost more than half, the number was as high as 39, plus the loss of the rest of the attack aircraft and dive bombers on the Independence and Victory, the two fleets lost more than 80 aircraft in total. The only thing to be thankful for is that under the desperate rescue of many escort warships, the two aircraft carriers of the Dreadnought and the Indomitable were miraculously unscathed, and a large number of officers and men who fell into the water were also rescued. The battleships Idaho and Howe each hit 1 torpedo, the latter barely able to say that it was not a big problem, and the former staggered and could not hold on even for 15 knots.

Schiller was exhausted after landing, but he still seized the time to count the number of people, a total of 36 joint attack aircraft during the sortie, 31 of which successfully threw torpedoes in the melee, and the remaining 5 were either hit (hit) down by fighters or hit by anti-aircraft fire of warships, and 4 of the 31 bombs that were completed unfortunately encountered by the enemy, and only 27 of them successfully broke away and landed safely, and the losses of BF-219 were not small, a total of 55 BF-219 sorties, after fierce battles with more than 60 F4F, At the same time, they also had to help cover the joint fighters and open the gap, losing 11 in one go, and to make matters worse, this time it was an offensive operation, and it was almost impossible for the lost pilots to come back, so it was a blessing in misfortune that the British could be fished out as prisoners of war.

"Sir......" he dialed Warnes's phone, and his tone was so sad that he almost cried, "I'm back, the fleet has suffered heavy losses, I've lost a quarter of the Joint Attack Aircraft and a fifth of the BF-219s, a full 20 planes, those brothers may not be able to save it." ”

"It's good to come back, it's good to come back." Warnes heard that the tone of this henchman was not quite right, and thought that such a long distance was really difficult for them, and sighed and comforted, "I have sent a telegram to the fleet, asking them to find a way to come back and clean up these bastards, you guys have a good rest." ”

"Yes!"

"Is this ......," Warnes asked cautiously, for fear of touching on the heartache of his men, "is there any result?" ”

"A little." Schiller had just counted the information gathered by the pilots and bombardiers in his hand, "probably sinking 2 battleships, sinking 2 aircraft carriers, oh, one of them is a light aircraft carrier, and 1-2 heavy cruisers......"

"What? Can you say it again, I didn't hear it clearly. Warnes felt his heart take it a little bit.

Schiller re-reported, and then gritted his teeth and said: "My fleet has suffered such heavy losses, you assigned to me all the attack planes that transferred over today, the enemy still has 2 aircraft carriers, and I will go to take revenge early tomorrow morning!" Avenge! All hung special mines! ”

"Good!" Warnes thought that the other party had no results, but when he heard such brilliance, he almost jumped up on the other end of the phone with joy, "You did a good job!" I'll send a telegram to the Führer right away, asking for credit for you! "Hoffman is also the commander of the Air Force, and what he just said is really not a tiger skin as a banner.

If this conversation just now made Spruance hear it and scold him: Lao Tzu lost so many warships without saying a word, and you lost 20 planes and were embarrassed to call it a heavy loss? Do you know that Lao Tzu even shot down 4F 39? It's a pity that he can't hear it, he can only hide to the side and silently lick his wounds: looking at such a heavy loss, on the bridge of the aircraft carrier Indomit, which was temporarily upgraded to a flagship, everyone's eyes were red.

"Sir, what now?"

"Break away in a southwesterly direction." Spruance looked at the night that had become dark, "Report truthfully to Washington, we will continue to pursue the enemy fleet before the new order is issued, and dispatch 2 destroyers to cover the wounded Idaho to return to its home port as soon as possible, beware of U-boats on the way." ”

"Sir, you really don't think about retreating?" Brown asked worriedly, "Now the main force of the fleet is only 2 George V-class battleships, 2 aircraft carriers and 3 heavy cruisers, and the Hao is still wounded, which is inferior to the German fleet, and I am afraid that there is no certainty of victory in a forced battle." ”

"No one is sure of victory." Spruance sighed, "But the German planes are so powerful, if we don't kill these two aircraft carriers, I'm afraid that the counterattack on the Azores will become our henchmen - they can hide in the shadows and attack, and give us a moment at the critical moment." ”

After a pause, he explained: "Report the detailed battle history to Commander-in-Chief Ingersoll and Admiral King, and especially emphasize that the enemy's aircraft are strong in performance, and the torpedoes are particularly excellent, and they are far above us, and they must use excellent aircraft and a sufficient number of escort aircraft carriers to deal with them. I now order the fleet to continue the pursuit of the enemy fleet, I am solely responsible for any problems in this battle, and if it is necessary to go to a court-martial in the future, please wait for my return! ”

"Sir!" Brown and Chris both watched worriedly but couldn't speak, they knew Spruance was going to fight hard. (To be continued.) )