The Germans knew that the dive bombers couldn't sink the Essex-class, and the British and Americans seemed to know it, so a bunch of warships, including 2 battleships and a few light cruisers, followed closely by the side of the flagship and prepared to block mines - as long as the torpedoes were guarded, Essex could last a long time. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Of course, it does not mean that dive bombers have no way to take the Essex class, for 500 kg or even 800 kg bombs, Essex has to kneel, but as far as the Ju-198 with a bomb load of about 800 kg is concerned, it is the best and most economical to bring 400 kg bombs. However, the American BTD bombers can directly hang two 500-kilogram aerial bombs, but unfortunately, the American aerial bombs of this level are all 1,000-pound (454 kilograms).

The tactics of attacking the core of the British fleet were the same as the tactics of the First Strike Wave against the Ticonderoga, which was still an overall attack attack, and Kleiman now had a total of 24 attack aircraft in his hands that had not attacked, and the bombs and torpedoes were split half.

But the downside is that the area anti-aircraft fire of the Hornet is still very fierce. Even so, Kleiman believes that he can't wait any longer, because the US planes will soon return home, and the enemy's take-off and landing capabilities must be paralyzed as soon as possible, otherwise it will be detrimental to the next operation for the enemy to gather more air defense fighters. Under his command, all the remaining attack planes rushed down, either attacking the deck or dropping torpedoes, and the targets were all Hornets without exception.

The Ju-198s did not hesitate to plunge into the dense anti-aircraft fire network, and the captain of the Hornet rushed left and right, trying to avoid it, but there were too many bombs and too fast to dodge. "Boom!" At once, 6 bombs exploded on the Hornet, but only 2 of the two bombs exploded in a row, and everyone in the bridge only felt a violent vibration, and then a heat wave took off and rushed to the face.

Cunningham closed his eyes helplessly, trying not to let the tears flow.

"Sir, the core of the deck has been destroyed, and the hangar has been blown up, but there is no fuel or ammunition to ......"

As soon as he said this, a violent explosion sounded, and everyone was unsteady on their feet, and several young staff officers desperately protected Cunningham's wheelchair.

"One mine on the starboard side...... Losing management. The captain's voice came over the radio, "This ship can still hold on." ”

Cunningham nodded: "Hold on!" I will take you back to Britain, and we will die on the way back to Britain. ”

"We can only wait for the third wave." Kleiman threw all the ammunition and reluctantly observed the battlefield to get out of it, and in the last round of the attack, he witnessed the destruction of the opponent's deck and the torpedo on the starboard side, in addition to the fact that the light cruiser USS Liverpool was also torpedoed, and its speed was suddenly reduced to no more than 18 knots, and the hull was tilted 11 degrees as a whole, and it trudged through the sea.

The losses of the German attack group in the second wave of the attack were still not small, losing 9 Bf-219 and 14 Ju-198s, mainly to force the attack on the core warships, and the battle loss rate was a little higher than that of the first wave, but the British air defense group also paid a heavy price, and only 15 of the 32 fighters remained.

"Let all the fighters go to Nimitzna, and all the rest of the return strike groups will land there." Cunningham glanced around and said slowly, "Although American politicians are generally not very good, American soldiers are still good, and we can help in the last battle." ”

14:59: The second German attack wave returns, and Kleiman hurries to send all the battle information to the Ozawa fleet, which is advancing at high speed in the rear, which is receiving the first attack wave of his own side that is returning one after another

After hearing that the enemy had fled in two groups, and that the second wave had already damaged the other carrier, there was a debate about who should be the target of the third wave in the Zeppelin bridge.

So far, it is an indisputable fact that our side has won a complete victory, and what is being debated is nothing more than how to maximize the value of victory. From a purely military point of view, Ozawa preferred to pursue the American fleet, but at this time he had to listen to Mashal's opinion.

"From the situation reported from the front, it can be seen that on one side is the British capital ship and on the other side is the American capital ship, and the direction of escape between the two is not the same, my opinion is that the warship can chase the fleet returning to the United States from the northwest, but the target of the third wave of attacks should still be the British fleet fleeing from the northeast." "The Führer's next important strategic disposition is to land in Iceland and force Great Britain down, and we must find a way to eliminate as much interference as possible from the Royal Navy, and we must annihilate the British fleet as much as possible, and we can continue to attack the American fleet early tomorrow morning," Marchar explained. ”

"But, sir, let the Americans go......" Kohler was a little anxious, "the British fleet can't jump any strength, but the Americans still have some strength, in case they reversely free up the fleet in two days, I'm afraid of ......"

"The Americans can't turn the sky, and in two days Rommel will go to Brazil to land, and the Americans will have a fire in their own backyard." Machar added, "And it is also useful to keep a little American warship, it can drive a wedge between Britain and the United States, this time we pretended to land in England, the Americans came very nervously, the next time they really landed in Iceland, will the Americans come?" If you come, he has only 1-2 aircraft carriers and is not an opponent at all; If it doesn't, it will be even more of a blow to the British Empire - what could be more unbearable than an ally not saving him? ”

Ito was a little anxious, he actually wanted to fight the US military, but as an observer group, others didn't ask you, and you can't open your mouth at will, he hinted at Ozawa with his eyes and motioned for the latter to come out and say a few words.

"Okay, just follow the commander's order!" I didn't expect Ozawa to come to such a sentence.

"Yes!" The staff officers replied loudly, and Machar nodded in satisfaction and said to Ozawa, "General Ozawa has worked hard this time, and I will ask the Führer for credit for you." ”

Taking advantage of the fact that everyone was not paying attention, Ito Junichi quietly pulled Ozawa and asked, "Why don't you advocate fighting the US military?" ”

Ozawa smiled and replied, "Because, I'm Japanese......"

Hearing such an unrelated answer, Ito fell into deep thought, Ozawa was obviously not messing around, the reason why he said this sentence was a profound truth, he had to think about it.

After all, Ito Junichi was the deputy head of the Military Command Department and actually commanded the task of the Military Command Department, and his political comprehension was not low, and he didn't see it clearly when he was disturbed just now, but now it is clear when he thinks about it carefully, Ozawa's sentence has to be divided into two to understand:

First, Ozawa is Japanese, and since the United States is Japan's main enemy, if he insists on fighting the American army and not the British army, he will give the Germans the impression that Ozawa may have "selfish intentions" in making decisions, which is not good for Ozawa, who has initially established a relationship of trust—but this is only the most superficial reason;

The second is the deep-seated reason: If the US military is forced to make peace with Germany due to heavy losses, it will actually be unfavorable to Japan, and Germany needs Japan to continue to bleed the United States, so why doesn't Japan want Germany to continue to drag the United States down? So to preserve a little hope for the United States, and at the same time hasten the surrender of Britain, it would be a happy thing for Japan to see - not only could the Southeast Asian colonies be eaten justifiably, but India could also stop fighting the unfinished war.

Everyone in the Observation Group muttered for a while, thinking that Chief Ozawa's approach was not without discussion, but there was one thing that everyone thought was right. Commander Machar has so much trust and authority in Chief Ozawa that it would be a great rebellion to be disobedient after a few decisions once in a while - the commander is always the commander!

At 15:37, a total of 177 planes of the third attack wave set off again after replenishing fuel, replenishing reserve planes and replacing pilots, this time Ozawa transferred a lot of new fighters to the third attack wave, leaving only more than 50 air defense fighters in the fleet - in fact, there is still a certain risk, because the US military also has an aircraft carrier, and it is completely possible to seize the opportunity to fight back, but everyone thinks that the US military has lost its courage and is in a hurry to escape, and it is impossible to attack again. Even if it comes to attack, it will be 6-70 planes in the top sky, and it will not be difficult to deal with it. So they all agreed with Ozawa's arrangement.

The members of the observation group once again learned the strength of the German tyrants - there were actually two groups of pilots hidden in the fleet, and they were both of similar level, and the replacement in turn greatly reduced the losses caused by physical exhaustion.

Ito sighed: "No wonder Admiral Tsukahara said that we can't learn this skill, because we don't have so many pilots at all, and the carrier-based pilots of several new aircraft carriers have also worked hard to meet the minimum requirements (1:1.2). ”

Ozawa asked him, "Do you know why you gave up the Battle of Kuah Island in the first place?" ”

"This ...... I don't know. ”

"At the beginning, the envoy of Cole conveyed the opinion of the Führer: to go to Kuah Island to fight, the plane can last for 5 hours, what about people? One sentence woke up the higher-ups......"

"No wonder."

"So I didn't say anything just now, and Commander Machar didn't mention it," Ozawa said, "Today's two rounds ......of attacks, the battle loss rate is more than 20%, if you fight the US army again, I'm afraid the battle loss rate will not be small, but you can sacrifice a little less when you fight the British army." The pilot is not only more important than the warship, but also more important than the result - there is no result this time, as long as there is a person, there will be a chance next time. If the people are gone, who can they rely on next time? ”

"I can understand the meaning, but why not say it?"

"Soldiers are competitive and have a sense of honor, who wants to admit that they are afraid of death? Who wants to admit that they are afraid of death in front of their superiors? But different orders give subordinates different feelings. Ozawa sighed, "For example, in Tarawa, a telegram said 'all the jade shattered, serve the emperor', and another telegram said, 'Hold on and wait for me to save you', and in the end, the actual result was similar to the whole jade shatter, why did Shibasaki Keiji only listen to Chief Hori?" ”

This sentence "boomed" and woke up Ito: until now, he still hasn't really understood from the bottom of his heart why Keiji Shibasaki chose this way, and it turns out that the ultimate reason is here.

He bent down deeply and bowed: "Taught!" ”

At 17:19, the German 3rd Strike Wave caught up with Cunningham's fleet again, and the final blow of the day finally came......