In this naval battle, from the very beginning, the Americans were staring at the aircraft carriers of the Chinese Navy. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 InfoRear Admiral Halsey has fully realized that aircraft carriers are the main force in future naval warfare. Therefore, he asked the battleship detachment led by Rear Admiral Robert to give priority to attacking the aircraft carriers of the Chinese Navy after approaching the Chinese fleet.

Unfortunately, Rear Admiral Robert, a typical admirer of big ships and guns, was not able to fully grasp Rear Admiral Halsey's intentions. In other words, Rear Admiral Robert did not expect that the reinforcements of the Chinese Navy would come in such a timely manner. The appearance of four 'Donghai-class' battleships and three 'Three Emperor-class' battleships completely turned the situation on the battlefield in a direction favorable to the Chinese navy.

And the attack of the Chinese Navy's carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carriers of the US fleet has made it even more difficult for the Americans to steal chickens and rice. Not only did it not sink the aircraft carrier of the Chinese Navy, but it also put its own aircraft carrier into it. The sinking of the USS Wasp was just the beginning. The carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy are also staring at another aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet.

The USS Wasp aircraft carrier has a displacement of 20,000 tons, but because of its design, the defense of this aircraft carrier is not strong. In order to carry as many carrier-based aircraft as possible, the hangar of the USS Wasp is very large, which is why the USS Wasp can write about 100 carrier-based aircraft, while the USS Hornet, which has a displacement of 5,000 tons larger than the USS Wasp, only carries 72 carrier-based aircraft. Of course, the various attributes of the battleship are undoubtedly balanced, and the USS Wasp aircraft carrier will inevitably sacrifice other attributes in order to carry more carrier-based aircraft. Therefore, in terms of comprehensive combat power, the USS Wasp is no stronger than the USS Hornet, and is even a little weaker. As a result, the USS Wasp sank soon after being besieged by carrier-based aircraft of the Chinese Navy.

After the USS Wasp was hit by a number of aerial bombs and torpedoes, Rear Admiral Halsey decisively gave the order to abandon the ship. He himself, with the help of the adjutant, boarded a lifeboat. Before leaving, he sent a telegram to Commodore Spruance, the captain of the USS Hornet, which read: "The USS Wasp is sinking, and I am about to give the order to abandon the ship, and from now on, you will command the entire fleet in my place." The Wasp is finished, and hopefully the Hornet will survive. ”

Boarding the lifeboat to command, Rear Admiral Halsey was obviously unable to command the fleet in battle anymore. However, at least his life was saved. The carrier-based aircraft of the Chinese Navy will not be bored enough to launch an attack on lifeboats on the sea. Of course, if it is known that the commander of the 1st aircraft carrier task force of the US Navy is on a lifeboat, it is a different matter.

On the USS Hornet, Commodore Spruance was also crying after receiving a telegram from Rear Admiral Halsey. The current USS Hornet aircraft carrier has also been besieged by carrier-based aircraft of the Chinese Navy, and most of the 18 Mahan-class destroyers protecting the USS Hornet have been sunk, which has caused huge loopholes in the air defense network of the USS Hornet.

The carrier-based aircraft of the Chinese Navy have now begun to attack the heavy cruisers protecting the aircraft carrier "Hornet".

"Damn, our air defense is seriously lacking, and these cruisers and destroyers, almost all of which are old sea attack ships, are simply not able to deal with threats from the air. In this case, how can we resist the attack of the Chinese carrier-based aircraft. Brigadier General Spruance yelled. If they had known, they should not have rushed to the South Pacific to fight in such a hurry, and they could have waited until these warships had completed their air defense modifications before going to the South Pacific to fight. It won't be like now, it's clear that they are here to die.

Providing anti-aircraft protection for the USS Hornet are eighteen Mahan-class destroyers, seven Brooklyn-class light cruisers and two St. Louis-class cruisers.

The Mahan-class destroyers are destroyers with a displacement of more than 1,700 tons, armed with five 127 mm guns and four 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine guns. Coupled with the fact that it is equipped with heavy torpedo tubes, this destroyer has a strong combat power when dealing with targets on the sea. However, when dealing with air targets, only 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine guns could be relied upon. Four such anti-aircraft machine guns, apparently, it is impossible to have much air defense. So much so that during the battle, it was constantly shot down by the carrier-based aircraft of the Chinese Navy.

The Brooklyn-class cruiser, with a displacement of 12,200 tons, was armed with five triple 155 mm guns, eight 127 mm high-level guns, and eight 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine guns. This is also a typical cruiser for sea combat, although the number of 8 anti-aircraft machine guns is twice as large as that of the 'Mahan-class' destroyers. But this is clearly not enough for a cruiser with a displacement of up to 12,200 tons.

The 'St. Louis-class' cruiser is a new ship that was commissioned only last year, with a displacement of 13,500 tons, and its main guns are still five triple 155-mm guns, as well as eight 127-mm high-level dual-purpose guns. The anti-aircraft firepower of the cruisers of this class was greatly strengthened, and in addition to eight 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine guns, four quadruple 40-mm anti-aircraft guns, six twin 40-mm anti-aircraft guns and 18 single-mounted 20-mm anti-aircraft guns. Such anti-aircraft firepower is undoubtedly very strong, and it is not even much worse than the air defense cruisers of the Chinese Navy.

It's just that the number of 'St. Louis-class' cruisers is too small, only two. The two 'St. Louis-class' cruisers, one on the left and one on the right, are on the left and right sides of the USS Hornet, providing air defense protection.

"Knock knock!" Countless anti-aircraft guns fired into the air, and the shells reported in the sky, leaving behind clouds of fire and smoke.

The two 'St. Louis-class' cruisers had very ferocious firepower and dense firepower, so that the carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy did not dare to attack easily for a while. After all, if you don't seize the air defense loopholes and attack rashly, you will only be shot down.

"Boom! Rumble! "A huge explosion rang out on the cruiser USS Honolulu of the U.S. Navy, and flames and smoke rose up. These were two dive bombers of the Imperial Navy that accurately hit the cruiser. Two 500-kilogram heavy aerial bombs pierced the upper deck and exploded inside the battleship, inflicting great damage on the cruiser Honolulu.

This was not the end of the story, seizing this opportunity, a squad of torpedo attack aircraft also attacked, dropping torpedoes less than five hundred meters from the cruiser 'Honolulu'. Four 533-mm heavy torpedoes rushed towards the cruiser Honolulu at high speed. Of the four torpedoes, only one missed, and the other three hit the Honolulu, which killed him.

The hull of the ship broke into several pieces, and then quickly sank into the sea.

The sinking of the cruiser Honolulu seemed to be a signal, and the carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy began to launch an overwhelming attack on the escort warships of the USS Hornet.

The 'Brooklyn-class' cruisers, with weak anti-aircraft firepower, became the focus of the offensive. As a result, these 'Brooklyn-class' cruisers were quickly sunk.

After that, the carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy began to gnaw hard bones, divided into two directions, and launched an attack on the "St. Louis-class" cruisers.

The four fighters began to suppress the anti-aircraft fire of the cruiser "St. Louis", but when they attacked, one of the fighters was hit by an anti-aircraft gun, and in an instant it became a blazing fireball and fell into the sea.

Four dive bombers and four torpedo attack planes, in coordination with each other, launched the attack. Four dive bombers entered the dive channel from an altitude of three thousand meters and began to attack. At an altitude of 500 meters above the surface of the sea, the bomb was dropped, and then quickly pulled up and prepared to evacuate. However, when pulling up, two dive bombers were hit, dragging a long black smoke and falling to the center. None of the four aerial bombs could hit the target and were dodged by the cruiser St. Louis. After all, the pilots of carrier-based aircraft in the Imperial Navy had completely different mentalities when they were confronted with dense anti-aircraft fire and sparse anti-aircraft fire when they dropped bombs. In the face of warships with sparse anti-aircraft fire, they were able to calmly drop bombs. But if the target's anti-aircraft fire is very dense, it will make the pilot's heart feel a little nervous. Naturally, it will affect the hit rate of the bomb.

The attack of the four torpedo attack planes was not successful, and all four torpedoes were dodged by the cruiser "St. Louis". Fortunately, no torpedo planes were shot down, otherwise the losses of carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy would not have been small.

Although, the two 'St. Louis-class' cruisers of the US Navy performed very well. However, under the siege of the carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy, it must not have lasted long.

Commodore Spruance, the captain of the USS Hornet, is well aware of this. Their current counterattack is more like a trapped beast fighting, and then doing a senseless struggle. At most, it is just a little more damage to the carrier-based aircraft of the Chinese Navy.

"Damn, the next time you fight the Chinese, you must bring enough escort air defense warships." Spruance said secretly. (To be continued.) )