He knows. The initiative in the battle has been handed over, and now it is the turn of the Japanese Navy to fight back......

And whether his fleet can survive this fight back will be the key to victory or defeat in this sea battle.

"The Japanese attack is coming...... If Nagumo Tadaichi wasn't a fool, he must have discovered the location of our fleet. Looking at his men, General Fletcher said depressedly.

He only had one chance to attack, and he was able to damage three Japanese aircraft carriers, which was almost a super-level performance.

The original attack plan was that the first wave of attacks was intended to sink more than one Japanese aircraft carrier.

But now, three Japanese aircraft carriers have been taken out of battle, which is indeed a small victory for the US Navy.

However, Fletcher still understands the truth that it is better to cut off one finger than to hurt ten fingers. The Japanese aircraft carrier he damaged will not be long before he can return to the combat sequence.

And if his fleet is attacked by the Japanese, eighty percent of them will be sunk here. It was a situation he had to face, and he had thought about it before the war.

"The second wave of attack planes has been sent, right? So they don't have to go back......" Standing in his place, Fletcher finally made up his mind.

He can't retreat in this battle, and retreating is also a failure! He could only sink as many Japanese warships as possible near Midway in order to earn a chance for the American army in the future.

Compared with the first batch of attack aircraft group, the second batch of US Navy attack echelons can simply be described as shabby.

They had only a pitiful 20 Avenger torpedo attack aircraft, and there was no cover from fighters.

The US Navy has done its best, since they only have two aircraft carriers to go into battle. In this case, the aircraft that the two aircraft carriers can load, in fact, are not much.

Even if there are not enough escort fighters, only so many carrier-based attack aircraft can be stuffed.

If the first batch of US naval aviation units does not land, refuel, and hang bombs, the United States will not be able to mobilize its forces to carry out a third attack.

The Japanese side is much more generous, even if there are three aircraft carriers left, the Japanese army has at least 80 attack aircraft troops.

Of course, the problem is also here - the Japanese army has many aircraft carriers, so there are also many planes taking off.

However, the second batch of more than 100 bombers and attack planes took off from six aircraft carriers.

Now the decks of three aircraft carriers have been destroyed, and the remaining aircraft can only land on three more......

But the other three carriers also have carrier-based aircraft taking off, and they will not be able to receive more carrier-based aircraft.

Counting the lost planes, there were probably 20 Japanese planes that had nowhere to land, and they could only wait honestly in the sky until some other planes took off before they could land for supplies.

In addition to the second group of carrier-based aircraft attacking Midway, there was also a second group of carrier-based Zero fighters that took off to escort the battleship fleet.

If you count the Zero fighters that took off urgently to intercept the first batch of US attack aircraft, at this moment, most of the Japanese planes are in a state of takeoff.

Therefore, the three subsequent Japanese aircraft carriers could only clear their decks to welcome the returning aircraft of each batch.

Moreover, in order to prevent the extra planes from crashing, the Japanese Navy's aircraft carrier fleet could only take off planes frequently to make room for the planes that were immediately out of fuel to land.

This undoubtedly increased the difficulty of deployment, and it was also easy to disrupt the Japanese Navy's original take-off attack plan.

"General Nagumo's carrier-based aircraft have already begun to fight back...... We'll soon get the news of the sinking of a US Navy warship! The subordinate bowed his head and bent down and reported to Yamamoto Fifty-six.

Yamamoto Fifty-six waved his hand in disbelief and interrupted the other party's report: "I'll report after the results are obtained, and before victory, everything is empty talk!" ”

He now knew that the Soryu and the Wyvern had left the battle, and the aircraft carrier Kaga had also retreated.

The confrontation had only just begun, and he lost half of his aircraft carriers. If it weren't for the fact that no battleship was sunk, he would have collapsed at this moment.

Fortunately, in addition to hundreds of casualties, the losses of the fleet were not serious. The pilots had lost some of them, but they were still within the range of being able to grit their teeth and hold on.

"Arrange for destroyers to escort the ship, cover the retreat of the wounded aircraft carrier fleet, and leave the nearby theater of operations!" Glancing at his subordinates, Yamamoto Fifty-Six commanded.

"Report! The counterattacking echelon has found the target! American aircraft carriers! They have found the American aircraft carrier! An officer hurried in and handed the message to Yamamoto Isoroku.

Yamamoto fifty-six snatched the telegram and read it, and then finally relieved himself: according to the elite level of the Japanese naval aviation, after discovering the enemy, there was no reason for the American fleet to escape.

By annihilating the U.S. fleet, the Japanese Navy completely took control of the initiative in the Pacific.

At that time, Midway could be fought in a battle, and Hawaii would be in the pocket of his Yamamoto Isoroku.

clenched his fists and gambled on the fate of the country, but after all, he won the war with him, a Japanese general!

Just as Yamamoto was confidently clenching his fists, Fletcher had already seen the Japanese bombers swooping down.

The performance of the Type 97 bomber was very good, and in 1941 it was still a very advanced naval attack aircraft.

The combat effectiveness of such an aircraft in the hands of Japanese pilots can be described as terrifying.

An American cruiser was the first to be hit by a torpedo, it was probably in the way between the carrier and the torpedo before it was hit first.

Subsequently, the aircraft carrier Assault, which was slower, was blown into scrap metal by Japanese carrier-based aircraft that surrounded it like a wasp.

The good news is not that after eating a torpedo and two bombs, the aircraft carrier USS Raider did not sink, but remained floating at sea......

This did Fletcher a big favor, because the battleship was unsinkable, and his USS Hornet was relatively safer. After all, if there is a battleship that does not move on one side, the Japanese aircraft attack will be more dispersed.

But Lady Luck could not have hung over the Americans all the time, and after eating another torpedo and a bomb, the USS Raider aircraft carrier was completely dead.

It tilted slowly, and the hull began to flood in large quantities. Losing power, it began to sink, and the Japanese gave up attacking the ship, which was about to sink.

The Japanese planes focused their attention on the only remaining American aircraft carrier, preparing to sink the only remaining threat to the Japanese fleet in one fell swoop.