While sending a group of aircraft to bomb the opponent's aircraft carrier, both sides made the same move around their own aircraft carriers, so let the fighters take off and cooperate with the warships to form a sea and air defense circle around the aircraft carrier to resist the possible attack of the other side.

The defensive ring of the Japanese army was characterized by...... Because the Japanese army's communications equipment was relatively weak, in order to maintain good contact and cooperation between the fighters and the various warships, the Japanese army had no choice but to distribute the long-range Zero fighters to the airspace more than ten miles away from the aircraft carrier. Farther away, all the communication equipment of the Japanese fighters could hear was a bunch of noise.

Therefore, the defensive circle of the Japanese army was actually not difficult to break through.

This is a characteristic of the US-Japanese aircraft carriers, and it can also be said that it is a feature of the US-Japanese navy.

For example, the US fighters have strong defense, but their offensive performance is not as good as that of the Japanese fighters, while the Japanese fighters blindly emphasize offense and basically do not consider defense.

This may also be because the U.S. military pays more attention to the lives of soldiers, while the Japanese army has always regarded the lives of soldiers as a mustard because of their respect for the spirit of bushido.

The same is true for the defense of aircraft carriers.

The defense of the Japanese aircraft carriers was rudimentary and rigid...... In the sea and air space of more than 10 miles, if the enemy plane dives at the highest speed, it will only break through and dive into the sky above the Japanese aircraft carrier in a few minutes, so this is simply a waste of the Zero fighter's long-range and high speed.

In addition, the radar performance of the Japanese army is unreliable, and the dive performance of the Zero is very bad, so in this kind of defensive battle, the Japanese Zero often has no time to react and has no time to intercept, so they can only shoot down as many enemy planes as possible before the enemy planes launch a crazy dive bombing.

This time it was the same.

The first wave of U.S. aircraft effortlessly took advantage of the dive advantage to break through the defensive circle of the Zero fighters and launched the bombing of the Japanese "Xianghe".

With a piercing roar and fierce air fighting, the "Xianghe" was hit by at least four bombs, and the aircraft carrier "Xianghe" suffered a catastrophic blow:

One bomb hit the starboard island at the stern, while the others hit the elevator in the center and stern of the carrier. The flight deck was destroyed, as was the central elevator. Shot in the stern on the starboard side.

Fortunately, although the damage is severe, it is not fatal...... A big reason for this is that the plane of the "Xianghe" has already flown into the air. The explosion caused a small fire on the "Shozuru", which was successfully extinguished by the damage management team five hours later, and the Japanese lost 130 soldiers.

If Kincaid had not held the view of "striking the enemy first", then "Xianghe" would have been sunk in this battle.

However, the war did not have ifs, and the second wave of planes unfortunately encountered a group of Japanese planes, and the Japanese fighters could not help but launch an attack on the second wave of US planes...... Originally, according to the order, the Japanese should not have launched an attack on it, because their mission was to cover their bombers and torpedo planes to bomb US aircraft carriers, not to intercept US aircraft groups.

However, no one knows whether the Japanese army's deviation from its mission was right or wrong.

It was wrong, but the attack caused the second wave of U.S. aircraft to suffer heavy losses and deviate from their own course. In the end, it was not possible to find the injured aircraft carrier "Xianghe".

Let's call it right, the Japanese bombers and torpedo planes suffered heavy losses in the ensuing battles because they lost the cover of the Zero Battle.

So far, it should be said that the US Navy has won a complete victory, and as soon as the battle began, it severely damaged two Japanese aircraft carriers.

But the nightmare for the US Navy has only just begun......

Compared with the weak defense circle of the Japanese aircraft carriers, the defense of the US aircraft carriers should be said to be very tight.

The most important role in this should be the advanced sea-to-air radar on the aircraft carrier, which can detect targets at a distance of 80 nautical miles, so in principle, the US warship air force can extend the defensive circle to 80 nautical miles.

In this 80-nautical-mile airspace, the US military aviation can even hide behind the clouds and "wait for the rabbits...... Because the US radar can clearly detect the Japanese fighters. Even the height could be detected, but the Japanese fighters knew nothing about the US fighters, so the US troops could calmly set up ambushes one after another.

Eventually, wait until the Japanese fighters flew over the US aircraft carrier. I'm afraid there is not much left.

This is also one of the reasons why Halsey has been emphasizing the offensive and at the same time daring to drive the aircraft carrier out of the combat radius of the land-based air force on Espírito Santo Island to fight against the Japanese aircraft carriers, and he is very confident in the US radar, and he is also very confident in the anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery on the US warships.

There was also Kinkade and Major John Griffin, who was assigned as the commander of the fighter, who was very confident in the radar.

Major Griffin thinks...... Anyway, before the Japanese attack aircraft group approached the aircraft carrier. The radar system would have sounded the alarm, so they had enough reaction time to intercept the Japanese attack group.

So Major Griffin raised the fighter to an altitude of 10,000 feet, at this altitude. The fighter can save fuel and oxygen, and can increase the time spent in the air by the short-range "Wildcat" fighter as much as possible. At the same time, once an enemy aircraft is detected, the "Wildcat" fighter can also use its dive advantage to dive towards the enemy aircraft.

However, what everyone did not expect was that the Japanese attack aircraft group used a low-altitude flight to effectively avoid the detection of most of the US radars...... Yamamoto had studied in the United States and could be said to be an American expert, and he knew how to evade the radar of the Americans.

In fact, the U.S. fleet still discovered the Japanese aircraft group.

When the Japanese aircraft group was 70 miles away from the American fleet, the cruiser "Northampton" spotted the Japanese strike group on the CXAM radar, and then it reported this information to the "Hornet" in flag.

However, Kincaid believed that the radars on the two aircraft carriers, the "Enterprise" and the "Hornet", did not find targets, and this was very likely a false alarm from the radar, so he did not take it seriously.

Major Griffin, who was 10,000 feet above the fleet, did not receive this information at all.

It was not until the Japanese attack aircraft group, which was only 35 miles away from the fleet and began to climb, that the radars of the "Enterprise" and "Hornet" detected the Japanese group.

Taken aback, Kincaid hurriedly ordered Major Griffin to organize an interception, but it was too late...... When Major Griffin hurriedly turned around to meet the Japanese bomber group, he met the Japanese plane group 10 miles away from the fleet, and the same scene occurred as the US Naval Air Force broke through the Japanese defense circle, and the Japanese attack plane group broke through the US Navy's defense circle with only one dive and reached the sky above the US aircraft carrier "Hornet."

(To be continued.) )