When the news of Major Jiang Wenhan's interception of the second wave of Japanese bombers was delivered to the "Taizu," Rear Admiral Ji Xiaobin had already transferred to this aircraft carrier. Because the "Li Jing" was seriously wounded, although its anti-aircraft firepower did not suffer much loss, it was no longer able to accompany the fleet in combat, so it withdrew from the battle ahead of schedule. Fortunately, as the aviation flagship of the task force, the "Taizu" has a complete command system on it, and can continue to command other warships in combat.

Ji Xiaobin did not go to the cabin arranged for him by Renhao, but stayed in the aviation headquarters. However, he didn't interfere with Tan Renhao's command, he just watched from the sidelines.

"Right now, the Japanese fleet is coming at us, and we have to get the air defense fighters to land as soon as possible. Also, Colonel Luo Jinming and they are also coming back, and the time is very tight. Lei Shaoqing lowered his voice, Ji Xiaobin was present, and he felt a little awkward.

Tan Renhao frowned slightly, and said: "Let the 'Xuanzong' accept the returning bomber, immediately let the fighter with less than an hour of remaining fuel land, replenish fuel and ammunition as quickly as possible, and then take off immediately." Tell the pilots to hold on a little longer and we're going to win the final victory! ”

Lei Shaoqing nodded, and immediately called the staff officer to give an order.

When the third wave of bombers led by Major Zhang Naiding left the sky over the aircraft carrier, those air defense fighters were also on the deck of the aircraft carrier one after another. Instead of towing the fighters into the hangar, the ground crews on board the aircraft carrier refueled the fighters with fuel and ammunition on the flight deck, after which the fighters took off again for the fleet's air defense mission.

The third wave of bombers led by Zhang Naiding had 44 Kingfishers and 44 Ospreys, but only 12 escort fighters. At that time, Tan Renhao did not know that the Japanese First Air Fleet had been heavily damaged, and the three aircraft carriers had lost their combat effectiveness, so he was ready to leave a batch of fighters, and if Major Deng Zichao's group lost a large number of escort fighters, he would also send a fourth wave of bombers before dark, of course, this wave of bombers could only land on the aircraft carriers in the night. Of course, this is also a good thing, if Tan Renhao knew that the Japanese First Air Fleet had lost three aircraft carriers, he would not hesitate to let the "Sparrowhawk" hang 250 kg of bombs and go to bomb the Japanese fleet.

It took 45 minutes to recover and re-release the air defense fighters, at which point Colonel Luo Jinming returned to the fleet with nine fighters and landed on the aircraft carrier "Xuanzong". One of the pilots of one of the "Kingfishers" was seriously injured and almost crashed into the aircraft carrier's island while landing. The pilot died less than 5 minutes after being lifted out of the cabin, and with his last breath, he landed the fighter on the aircraft carrier and saved the navigator in the back seat. And when he died, he had already shed half of his blood! The second lieutenant pilot named Li Yongbing was later posthumously awarded the Royal Order of the Imperial Army, the highest medal of honor in the Imperial Army, and he was also the first pilot in the Imperial Navy to receive this medal, the first Imperial soldier to receive this medal in this war.

Subsequently, all three aircraft carriers returned to the core of the fleet, and after the "Li Jing" left the fleet and returned to Zhoushan Port in the southwest under the cover of the two destroyers, it was the heavy cruiser "Da Xia" who was responsible for the safety of the starboard direction of the "Taizu." This is a heavy cruiser that is also equipped with radar, and although its displacement and hull are smaller than that of the "Li Jing", the anti-aircraft guns on it are not much less than that of the "Li Jing".

Ten minutes later, the Japanese bomber group reached the perimeter of the fleet. The bombers had already been intercepted once, and more than half of them were either shot down or dropped their ammunition when attacked, and then returned to their fleet. Of course, there were about 30 bombers with ammunition to the periphery of the First Task Force, and the 6 "Zero Battles" that provided cover for them had already been killed by the fighters led by Jiang Wenhan.

The pilots of these Japanese bombers were not only the most skilled, but also the most deadly. When more than 40 "sparrowhawks" rushed towards them, these Japanese bombers not only did not evade, but also accelerated towards the aircraft carrier at the core of the fleet. However, more than a dozen of them were soon shot down by the "Sparrowhawks," and in the end, only six "99 Ship Bombards" and seven "97 Ship Attackers" were able to enter the inner air defense network of the fleet.

The air raid sirens in the fleet sounded again. With the experience and lessons of the last air defense operation, all the air defense warships stuck to their posts this time. At the same time, all artillery was aimed at the incoming enemy aircraft. The air defense warships in the outer city mainly dealt with torpedo bombers, while the air defense warships in the inner layer used 120 mm anti-aircraft guns to attack the "99 ship explosion" and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns and 20 good machine guns to deal with the approaching "97 ship attackers".

If there were several times more Japanese bombers attacking, then the life of the first task force would definitely be difficult. The "Li Jing", which had the most powerful anti-aircraft firepower, withdrew from the battle, and a big hole appeared in the air defense network of the fleet. However, the attack consisted only of thirteen Japanese bombers. For a fleet with powerful anti-aircraft firepower, thirteen bombers are not enough for anti-aircraft guns on battleships!

Eleven Japanese bombers were torn to pieces by anti-aircraft artillery before they could get close to the aircraft carriers at the core of the fleet. And the last two "99 ship explosions" were not able to enter the final dive channel, they were concentrated by anti-aircraft shells, and then dragged black smoke into the sea.

Tan Renhao also breathed a sigh of relief at this time, it seemed that the Japanese fleet was exhausted and could not punch hard.

"Renhao, look!"

As soon as he heard Lei Shaoqing's shout, Tan Renhao was shocked, and immediately followed Lei Shaoqing's gaze. The last downed "99 Ship Attack" dragged black smoke and crashed into the aircraft carrier "Taizong" located on the left rear side of the "Taizu". Obviously, the officers and men on the aircraft carrier began to be careless, and although they had already made the greatest evasive actions, the bomber, which was hanging with bombs and almost out of control, still crashed headlong into the anti-aircraft gun position on the left side of the stern of the aircraft carrier. Then, the 250-kilogram bomb exploded, and the unused aviation kerosene on the fighter plane was immediately ignited and splashed out.

"Damn, put out the fire immediately, let them put out the fire immediately!" Tan Renhao couldn't believe his eyes at all, the Japanese had such **** luck, and at the same time, he also admired the Japanese pilot, until he died, he had to drag a few pads.

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