While the battleships of the U.S. Navy were frantically pursuing the aircraft carrier formation of the Imperial Navy, and the battleship detachment of the Imperial Navy was miserable, the carrier-based planes that took off from the six main aircraft carriers of the Imperial Navy also caught up with the U.S. fleet, which was fleeing for its life in the south. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

At this moment, the speed of the American fleet has been increased to twenty-eight knots and is in a standard anti-aircraft formation. The USS Wasp and USS Hornet were guarded by the cruisers and destroyers. All the anti-aircraft guns, pointed at the sky.

The person in charge of directing this operation was still Brigadier General Liu Tingsheng, the commander of the 13th Carrier-based Aircraft Wing of the Imperial Navy. This time, he commanded 216 carrier-based aircraft from six capital aircraft carriers to launch attacks on two aircraft carriers of the US Navy.

"Attention squadrons, attention squadrons. The Americans' air defense formations were very tight, and a number of cruisers and destroyers escorted their aircraft carriers in the middle, and risking a direct attack on the Americans' aircraft carriers would have cost us heavy losses. Priority was given to attacking the cruisers and destroyers of the Americans, tearing through their air defenses, and then attacking their aircraft carriers. Brigadier General Liu Tingsheng ordered.

As an experienced commander of the carrier-based aircraft wing, Brigadier General Liu Tingsheng has considerable experience in sea attacks. One look at the formation of the US Navy, you can see how to launch an attack that is most effective and can also minimize the losses of carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy.

"Yes, General." On the radio, the voices of the squadron leaders were heard.

At 9:15 a.m., Brigadier General Liu Tingsheng gave the order to attack. More than two hundred carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy immediately pounced on the warships of the US Navy. Again, the tactics used before, fighters suppressed enemy anti-aircraft fire, providing cover for dive bombers and torpedo attack aircraft. Dive bombers and torpedo attack aircraft with heavy aerial bombs and torpedoes to take out the warships of the US Navy.

On the USS Wasp, the flagship of the U.S. fleet, Rear Admiral Halsey was using a telescope to look at the dense Chinese Navy's carrier-based aircraft in the distant sky. In fact, when the fleet of the Chinese Navy was a hundred kilometers away, their anti-aircraft search radar had already detected the target. It's just that now their aircraft carriers no longer have carrier-based aircraft, and the two groups of carrier-based aircraft sent out before, a total of 172 carrier-based aircraft, were all shot down by the fighters of the Chinese Navy, and none of them were able to come back. As a result, even if the U.S. Navy discovers the Chinese Navy's carrier-based aircraft fleet, it will not be able to send carrier-based aircraft to intercept them.

The only thing they can do is to form as tight an air defense formation as possible to guard against the attack of the Chinese Navy's carrier-based aircraft. The only thing they could count on was anti-aircraft fire on these ships. If these anti-aircraft guns can shoot down the Chinese Navy's carrier-based aircraft, they may be able to escape. If they can't shoot down the carrier-based aircraft of the Chinese Navy and stop them, then they will have to be sunk.

"The advantage of the Chinese is too great, they can easily send a huge fleet of more than two hundred carrier-based aircraft. If our aircraft carriers had not been sunk before, we would have such strength. If you want to fight the Chinese, you may really have to wait for the 'Essex-class' aircraft carrier to enter service. Major General Halsey thought secretly.

The 'Essex-class' aircraft carrier is an aircraft carrier built in batches by the US Navy, each aircraft carrier can carry 100 carrier-based aircraft, and has extremely strong combat power. In addition, the U.S. Navy has built a full twelve 'Essex-class' aircraft carriers at one time, which, once commissioned, will make the U.S. Navy once again extremely powerful in combat. In addition, Rear Admiral Halsey also heard that the first batch of 12 'Essex-class' aircraft carriers has not yet been able to enter service, and the US Navy Department has planned to build the second batch of 12 'Essex-class' aircraft carriers after these aircraft carriers are in service. There is no doubt that the U.S. Navy is well aware of the gap between the U.S. Navy and the Chinese Navy, and they can only build as many aircraft carriers as possible to close the gap with the Chinese Navy.

However, Rear Admiral Halsey also believes that even if the U.S. Navy is equipped with more 'Essex-class' aircraft carriers, it is still impossible to defeat the Chinese Navy in a short period of time. It's not that after having an aircraft carrier, you will be able to form combat effectiveness. The main armament of an aircraft carrier is carrier-based aircraft. If they cannot compete with the Chinese Navy in carrier-based aircraft, the US Navy's aircraft carriers will only be sunk by the Chinese Navy. Although, the US Navy is now equipped with F4F 'Wildcat' fighters. However, the gap between this fighter and the carrier-based fighters of the Chinese Navy is, undoubtedly, very noticeable at sea. There are many other factors, including the quality of the officers and men of the navy, and the tactics of naval warfare, etc. It can be said that there will be a long way to go to defeat the Chinese Navy.

Of course, for Major General Halsey, this is all for later. The most important thing in front of them now is to withstand this attack by the Chinese navy. If he is killed in this attack, then everything will be in vain.

"Whew!" Mournful anti-aircraft sirens sounded over the fleet. Countless U.S. sailors have been waiting for them in anti-aircraft gun positions. Whether it is a 127-mm high-level dual-purpose gun, a 40-mm and 20-mm anti-aircraft gun, or a 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine gun, they have all entered a state of combat readiness. American sailors knew that if they wanted to survive, they had to resist the attack of Chinese carrier-based aircraft. Otherwise, they would have to fall into the sea to feed the fish.

The US Navy's aircraft carriers USS Wasp and USS Hornet are about 20 kilometers apart at the moment. They were under the tight protection of American warships.

"Fire!" When the huge fleet of the Imperial Navy was almost ten kilometers away from the fleet of the United States Navy, the 127 mm high-level dual-purpose guns on the battleships of the United States Navy were the first to fire.

This kind of high-level dual-purpose gun, when dealing with carrier-based aircraft in the sky, has great power, and once it is hit, it will often be hit and disintegrated in the air. Pilots of carrier-based aircraft will never have a chance to escape.

However, the only flaw was that the rate of fire of this high-level dual-purpose gun was too slow, and it was far less fast than that of 40-mm anti-aircraft guns and 20-mm anti-aircraft guns. It can only be used as a weapon for long-range air defense, and as for whether it can hit the target, it depends more on luck. In addition, if the radio proximity fuse can be developed, the power of this long-range anti-aircraft gun should increase a lot, and it will truly become a sharp weapon for air defense at sea.

The shells exploded in the air, leaving trails of fire and smoke. Although, dozens of cruisers and destroyers of the US army are equipped with quite a few 127-mm high-level dual-purpose guns. However, there was still no success. At the moment when the American troops opened fire, the carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy had already dispersed and rushed towards their respective targets.

Because of the large number of carrier-based aircraft in the Imperial Navy, they launched attacks on the USS Wasp and HMS Hornet aircraft carriers of the US Navy at the same time.

A squadron of four carrier-based F9 fighters directly attacked the US Navy's Bingham-class, the destroyer Tripp, which was located on the periphery of the USS Wasp aircraft carrier battle group.

Four fighters deftly navigated the anti-aircraft fire net of the destroyer Tripp, like a light petrel. Although, the four 127-mm high-level guns and four 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine guns on the destroyer 'Tripp' were firing wildly. However, such anti-aircraft fire is still clearly too weak.

Although, the US Navy has recognized the role of aircraft carriers in naval warfare. They have also begun to build warships with strong air defense capabilities. However, it is a pity that most of the warships of the fleet led by Rear Admiral Halsey this time were built before the outbreak of the war and did not have strong air defense capabilities. In fact, the air defense capability of the US fleet is not very strong.

"Da-da-da-da." The four fighters of the Imperial Navy used the aviation machine guns on the wings to strafe the anti-aircraft machine guns of the American troops, and the dense bullets hit the hull of the ship, bursting out dense sparks.

The fragile human body was easily torn to pieces by bullets from large-caliber aviation machine guns. Blood splattered everywhere, and then the deck of the battleship.

As soon as the anti-aircraft fire of the destroyer Tripp was suppressed, the dive bombers of the Imperial Navy attacked. Four dive bombers dived from a high altitude and, at an altitude of less than five hundred meters above the sea, dropped heavy aerial bombs weighing up to 500 attacks. These aerial bombs smashed into the destroyer 'Tripp' at an almost vertical angle.

"Damn, the Chinese dropped a bomb, evade it immediately!" The captain of the destroyer Tripp yelled. He knew very well that the small body of the destroyer 'Tripp' could not withstand those heavy aerial bombs at all. A 500-kilogram aerial bomb would have been enough to sink the destroyer, which had a displacement of only 2,250 tons.

The destroyer Tripp had increased its speed to thirty knots, and was rushing left and right on the surface of the sea, trying to dodge the aerial bombs falling from the sky.

Of the four aerial bombs, three fell into the sea, and only one hit the stern of the destroyer Tripp. Heavy aerial bombs smashed through the stern deck of the destroyer Tripp, exploding inside. The tremendous force directly blew up the entire stern of the destroyer Tripp.

Suddenly, the sea water frantically poured into the battleship, causing the unlucky destroyer to sink into the sea, becoming the first battleship to be sunk in the Chinese Navy's bombing of the American aircraft carrier fleet. (To be continued.) )