Huang Xiaotian first returned those air defense fighters that urgently needed to land to the aircraft carrier. There is not much fuel on these fighters, and more than a dozen are in urgent need of maintenance. The rate of fuel consumption of fighters when performing air combat missions is quite staggering, which leads to the fact that the remaining fuel of air defense fighters is even less than that of escort fighters (those who perform escort missions do not encounter much challenge from enemy fighters and therefore do not rush to land).

After landing on the carrier, the fighters were not sent to the hangar, but were towed directly to the take-off area at the front of the flight deck, and after a simple inspection by the aviation crew, they immediately began to replenish fuel and shells (the fighters' shells could be replenished directly on the flight deck without returning to the hangar for replenishment). Then, the aircraft carrier began to recover the returning bombers.

In order to prevent the bombers from rushing to the take-off area at the front of the aircraft carrier's flight deck when landing, the aviation crew raised the barrage net on the flight deck and placed a few trailers behind the barrage net, which can be regarded as a reluctant barrier. … ap．16

One bomber after another began to land on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, four at a time, and then the four bombers were immediately sent into the aircraft storage. Because the efficiency of the use of elevators is limited (this can not be improved if you want to improve it), one elevator can transport up to two bombers at a time, and two elevators can transport up to four bombers at a time, and it takes about three minutes for each transport, plus the two minutes required for four bombers to land, that is, five minutes to accept four bombers. At that time, a total of 54 "Shooting Birds", and 26 "Sea Eagles" returned to the fleet. If you want to fully receive these bombers, it will take at least 100 minutes, which is obviously not visible. Therefore. Huang Xiaotian had to order those who were seriously damaged, but the pilot was not injured. Bombers that have already parachuted out or made a forced landing on the sea should stay away from the aircraft carrier and should not land on the aircraft carrier. As a result, more than 30 bombers flew away, and the pilots all parachuted outside the fleet. Then let the destroyers go and scoop them up.

By eleven o'clock, all the bombers that were able to land had landed on the aircraft carrier (four seriously damaged bombers also landed on the carrier, because the pilots of the four bombers were also injured and could not parachute or make a forced landing). At this time, the escort fighters hovering over the fleet were also running out of fuel, and several of them had to climb to an altitude of more than 5,000 meters, and then turn off their engines so that they could glide in the air for a while longer.

Huang Xiaotian had to make a risky decision, that is, to let those escort fighters land on the aircraft carrier when the ground fighters at the front of the flight deck began to take off!

This decision can be described as quite risky. Maybe the only thing Huang Xiaotian hoped for was that the escort fighter pilots were good enough, otherwise as long as one of the fighters could not be controlled well when landing, they would rush to the take-off area in front. That would lead to catastrophic consequences.

In fact, this is the consequence of having only two fleet aircraft carriers, and if those two small aircraft carriers had not been sunk, such a problem would not have existed at all. And this is also a direct reflection of a problem. That is, it is difficult for the straight-through flight deck to receive and take off fighters at the same time. This also became the main reason why the aircraft carrier designers of the Tang Empire later replaced the straight-through flight deck with a new ground flight deck layout.

Time was running out, Huang Xiaotian had to make this risky decision, and the result was that the pilots of the more than 30 escort fighters were walking a tightrope, and each fighter landing on the flight deck could be said to be thrilling for a moment. The aviation crew on the aircraft carrier is also doing their best to make the fighters in front of them take off at a faster speed, while trying to avoid the landing fighters rushing to the take-off area at the front of the flight deck. For this reason, the aviation service personnel even asked the officers and men of the fleet to bring a few spare steel plates, as well as an iron frame, to put them in the middle of the flight deck, and then spread asbestos fireproof clothing on them. In this way, if a fighter cannot control it when landing, it will not crash into the fighter in front of it.

Seeing that the officers and soldiers on the aircraft carrier were working hard, Huang Xiaotian was also very emotional, maybe only in the war would he see such a united team.

By 11:35 a.m., a total of 64 fighters had all taken off, and the last batch of more than 20 fighters to take off left the aircraft carrier without even filling up their fuel, because at 11:30 a.m., the radar in the fleet discovered a group of enemy bombers approaching from more than 50 nautical miles away, and these enemy planes would reach the sky over the fleet within about 15 minutes, and there was no time for these fighters to refuel before taking off, as long as there was enough fuel for air combat, as well as sufficient ammunition, They will be able to carry out the task of defending the fleet.

At this time, it was the second group of bombers sent by Halsey. The US pilot who led the group learned from the fleet commander that the air defense capability of the Fourth Task Force must have been reduced, so he was full of confidence and was ready to send both fleet aircraft carriers into the sea, but in the end, he was completely disappointed.

The air defense capability of the Fourth Task Force has not been weakened, but has been greatly enhanced. At this time, the number of air defense fighters over the fleet reached 64, moreover, the second group of bombers had returned to the fleet and was waiting for landing over the fleet, and about 18 of the 24 escort fighters returned, although there was not much fuel on these 18 fighters, but there was still a little bit of it1, and the ammunition was sufficient. In addition, the four cruisers and more than a dozen destroyers that originally escorted the two small aircraft carriers all joined the battle group of the two fleet carriers, that is, the two fleet carriers were covered by more warships. The second batch of US bombers was actually covered by only 24 fighters, which was half less than the first group of bombers. In the face of the rise and fall, if you want to tear apart the air defense network of the Fourth Task Force, it is not easier, but more difficult!

Seeing so many fighter planes flying head-on, the American pilots couldn't believe their eyes, and then they felt desperate. The 24 F4U escorting the bombers were dispersed first, and then the anti-aircraft fighters quickly inserted into the bomber formation. One bomber after another was hit and quickly fell to the surface of the sea. Seeing that the escort fighters had been driven away, the pilot of the US bomber leader immediately ordered an evacuation. 72 SBDs and 24 TBDs were dispersed into several small formations. Kill each of them towards the Fourth Task Force.

“…… The 32nd bomber has already been knocked out, which is simply too fast......"

"The 33rd. And going, well done, the 34th was shot down......"

Several staff officers in charge of liaising with air defense operations shouted loudly, they were not responsible for directing air defense operations (this was directly guided by the air defense operations officers on the cruiser), but only for counting the results of air defense operations. This is very useful for the next judgment on how many enemy aircraft are attacking the fleet.

Huang Xiaotian has been staying quietly, and by now, he actually doesn't have to command the fleet, and the commanders at all levels in the fleet know very well what they should do at this time. In less than 10 minutes of air combat, 49 US bombers were shot down by fighters, and only 47 US bombers were able to enter the battleship's antiaircraft artillery fire net. Then the cruisers and the anti-aircraft guns on the destroyers on the periphery of the two aircraft carrier formations rang out.

The intensity of the artillery fire far exceeded the imagination of the US military. Even according to the normal establishment, a fleet aircraft carrier is covered by a full ten escort warships, of which at least four are cruisers with strong air defense capabilities, and the anti-aircraft firepower on six destroyers is not comparable to that of cruisers. But it's not much worse. The escort warships that had previously been assigned to the two small aircraft carriers also joined the ranks of the air defense operations, so that each of the two fleet aircraft carriers had two large air defense cruisers nearby. Four heavy cruisers, as well as twelve destroyers to cover, a full eighteen battleships to protect an aircraft carrier, and. The anti-aircraft fire on the aircraft carriers of the fleet is not under the large air defense cruisers!

No matter which direction the breakthrough is from, the American bombers will definitely be blocked by at least two cruisers, anti-aircraft guns on four destroyers. In addition, the fighters on the air defense mission did not leave the battlefield, but followed the US bombers into the fleet's anti-aircraft artillery fire network, and the US bomber pilots had to keep an eye on their butts and heads when avoiding the shells fired from the warships.

Perhaps, it is not very appropriate to describe this battle as tragic, BD and TBD were hit continuously, most of the bombers did not even break through the first layer of air defense circle, and most of the pilots on the bombers who were shot down did not even have a chance to escape. But the US pilots did not back down because of this, and they still persistently rushed towards the aircraft carrier at the core......

Seeing this scene in the sky, Huang Xiaotian was also very emotional, and Spruance, Halsey, Turner, Mitchell and other US fleet commanders felt the same as when they watched the bombers of the Tang Imperial Navy fight to attack the aircraft carrier despite the blazing artillery fire, even if Huang Xiaotian did not think how cute the US pilots were, but he absolutely admired the courage of the US pilots and the spirit of heroic dedication, which is a shining point that can be seen in any outstanding soldier.

There are very few US bombers that can really break through the fleet's air defense fire network, and this time, most of the US bombers did not waste their ammunition on the escort warships, but bombed the aircraft carriers under blazing artillery fire. And in the end, there were only a few US bombers that came to the sky above the two aircraft carriers.

The "Taihu" aircraft carrier began to maneuver to evade, the anti-aircraft guns on the aircraft carrier, and the anti-aircraft guns on the nearby battleships were still roaring, Huang Xiaotian grabbed the handrail next to him, the aircraft carrier was turning left, and the speed did not decrease. The screeching of a dive bomber overhead, and he suddenly became nervous, and finally there was a bomber ready to drop the bomb. Time passed second by second, but there was no sound of the bomb falling, Huang Xiaotian hesitated for a moment, and then walked towards the porthole.

"General, those two American bombers were shot down and failed to drop bombs!"

Huang Xiaotian nodded at the officer who reported the situation, and then looked at the "Chaohu" aircraft carrier to the north of the fleet, and at this time, the "Chaohu" aircraft carrier was also attacked.

At least four bombs were dropped, the aircraft carrier quickly evaded the bombs, and the two SBDs were not able to pull up, and were hit when they were changed to bombing, one of which exploded into pieces before it hit the sea, and the other crashed into the heavy cruiser "Songhuajiang" in front of the left of the "Chaohu". The aircraft carrier avoided four bombs, but the heavy cruiser "Songhuajiang" was unlucky, and the SBD exploded in the anti-aircraft gun group behind the starboard side of the cruiser, although the power was not comparable to the bomb, but the leaked aviation gasoline immediately burned, and most of the anti-aircraft guns here must have been unlucky.

This was also the only "bomb" posed a threat by the US military, and during the entire attack, 90 of the 96 US bombers were shot down before the bombs were dropped, of which 62 were shot down by air defense fighters and the other 28 were shot down by warships. And the last 6 SBDs were also not able to fly away, 4 of them were shot down by anti-aircraft guns, and the other 2 were shot down by fighters. Only 5 of the 24 F4U escorting bombers escaped and 19 were shot down in air combat. The cost to Task Force 4 for this was:

The heavy cruiser "Songhuajiang" suffered minor casualties, with more than 80 officers and men killed and wounded, and several destroyers were strafed by the US forces, with several officers and men killed and wounded, and 28 fighters in charge of air defense operations were lost (11 of which were shot down by the antiaircraft guns on the battleship), and 13 pilots were killed. In addition, most of the bombers in the second batch of bombers of the fourth task force had to make a forced landing on the sea because they ran out of fuel, so they lost more than 60 bombers, five pilots died in parachuting or forced landing, and the rest were salvaged.

"Salvage the people who fell into the water as soon as possible, and let those bombers come back and land quickly!" After the end of the air defense battle, Huang Xiaotian immediately issued an order, "Send out the news that we have successfully repelled the US bombing, and in addition, let the bombers prepare for departure as soon as possible, if the first task force cannot handle the 31st task force, then we must continue to fight!" ”

The fleet was busy again, first of all, the more than a dozen fighters that had participated in the fleet's air defense operations and were about to run out of fuel landed on the aircraft carrier, and then the second batch of bombers who had not yet made a forced landing landed. The officers and men of the fleet were busy again.