The sinking of the destroyer Tripp was only the beginning. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoThe sinking of a destroyer will not have much impact on this naval battle. However, this made the Americans realize that their air defense formation is even weaker than they imagined. The destroyer, with only a few anti-aircraft machine guns, was clearly unable to withstand the attack of the carrier-based aircraft of the Chinese Navy.

"Damn, the destroyer 'Trip' was sunk, and the vacancy he left behind must be filled. The destroyer USS Rand immediately went to replace the USS Tripp. "The commander of the air defense of the US army ordered.

The battle had just begun, and the US Navy lost a destroyer, which made the US air defense commander sweat constantly break out on his forehead.

"Brothers, the anti-aircraft fire of the Americans is very weak! These destroyers, in particular, have only a few anti-aircraft machine guns, and with a little care, they can easily dodge. A pilot of the Imperial Navy said with a smile.

"In that case, let's first deal with these destroyers on the periphery of the Americans. It's like peeling an onion, peeling off the anti-aircraft fire net of the Americans layer by layer, and finally exiting the aircraft carriers inside to see how they can resist our attack. A squadron leader said.

The pilots of the carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy, after discovering that the US anti-aircraft fire network was very weak, immediately seized the opportunity and launched an even more fierce attack. This is a war, a war to the death. The pilots of the empire will not be soft. They will only find a loophole and do their best to exploit it and bring down the Americans.

Dive bomber after dive bomber began to drop bombs, dropping bombs on the American destroyers with precision. Those destroyers, in the face of aerial bombs weighing five hundred kilograms, simply could not resist. It only takes one such heavy aerial bomb to be enough to inflict heavy damage or even sink one of the destroyers of the Americans.

Although, there are as many as thirty-six destroyers in the US Navy. However, these destroyers did not seem to play much role in resisting the attacks of the carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy.

In less than ten and a half minutes after the battle began, the US Navy had already lost more than a dozen destroyers. These destroyers are mainly the 'Bingham-class' destroyers, the 'Bagley-class' destroyers and the 'Mahan-class' destroyers. The displacement of these destroyers is generally about 2,000 tons, and the armament is mainly four 127-mm naval guns and four 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine guns. In fact, these destroyers cannot be called anti-aircraft destroyers at all. They are more of a mine-strike ship, carrying heavy torpedoes, which are aimed at targets on the sea. Dealing with targets in the sky, they are more powerless.

The loss of a large number of destroyers has caused the US Navy's outer anti-aircraft fire network to be dismantled. As long as you take out the cruiser that acts as the personal bodyguard of the aircraft carrier, you can directly attack the aircraft carrier located in the core of the fleet.

"General, the anti-aircraft fire of our destroyers is too weak, four 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine guns, which simply cannot stop the attack of the Chinese carrier-based aircraft. The Chinese carrier-based pilots are veterans, and they can accurately grasp every opportunity on the battlefield, use this opportunity to attack our warships, and expand the loopholes. The commander of the U.S. fleet air defense said to Rear Admiral Halsey with a worried face.

"I know. Our destroyers, all built before the outbreak of the war, belong to the old artillery destroyers or mine-strike ships. And not an anti-aircraft destroyer. When this war is over, I will give advice to the country and ask them to build more anti-aircraft destroyers. That's the mainstream destroyer of the future. Major General Halsey said.

However, will they be able to survive this catastrophe in the face of the fierce attack of the carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy this time? This seems like a very big problem. If you can't avoid it, it's all empty talk.

"Brothers, separate a part of the carrier-based aircraft and attack the cruisers of the Americans. After taking out the big guys, it's time to attack the aircraft carriers of the Americans. Be careful, though, that the anti-aircraft fire of those cruisers is much more intense than that of those destroyers. A squadron leader ordered.

Four carrier-based F9 fighters rushed to the USS Indianapolis, a 10,000-ton cruiser armed with three triple 203mm guns. The anti-aircraft fire consisted mainly of eight 127-mm high-level dual-purpose guns, two twin 40-mm anti-aircraft guns, and several anti-aircraft machine guns. Such anti-aircraft firepower is indeed much more formidable than the destroyers of the Americans. However, in front of the pilots of carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy, it was still nothing.

In particular, those 127-mm high-level dual-purpose guns responsible for long-range air defense are simply equivalent to decoration in close combat. Although the two twin 40-mm anti-aircraft guns were powerful, they were too few in number to form a dense anti-aircraft fire network. As for those anti-aircraft machine guns, although there are quite a few of them, they are too weak. Fundamentally speaking, cruisers of this class are still old artillery cruisers, not anti-aircraft cruisers. In fact, the US Navy originally intended to add anti-aircraft fire to these cruisers. For example, the cruiser "Indianapolis" plans to deploy six quadruple 40-mm anti-aircraft guns and 19 single-mounted 20-mm anti-aircraft guns. In this way, it can have strong air defense capabilities. However, before the retrofitting had time, the fleet was already at sea. And the pilots of the Imperial Navy were able to directly grasp these shortcomings and launch an attack.

Accompanying the four fighters in attacking the cruiser "Indianapolis" were four dive bombers and four torpedo attack aircraft. Fighter planes were responsible for strafing the anti-aircraft fire of the cruiser Indianapolis, while dive bombers and torpedo attack planes attacked directly.

"Da-da-da-da." The fighter plane's aviation machine guns frantically strafed the American cruiser, and tracer bullets were in the air, leaving a clear trajectory. The US Navy sailors, who were originally sticking to their posts, immediately rushed in fright when they saw the dense bullets flying towards them again. And this has made the US Navy's already weak anti-aircraft firepower even weaker.

Four dive bombers and four torpedo attack planes launched an attack on the cruiser "Indianapolis" almost simultaneously. Such an attack can make it impossible for the target to dodge the aerial bombs, but not from the heavy torpedoes coming from the sea.

Sure enough, when the dive bombers of the Imperial Navy began to attack, the cruiser "Indianapolis" rushed left and right on the sea, like a wild bull on the sea.

Four dive bombers dropped bombs at an altitude of 500 meters, and the bombs smashed almost vertically at the American cruisers. The cruiser 'Indianapolis' frantically dodged and managed to dodge four heavy aerial bombs. However, before the American sailors on the battleship could breathe a sigh of relief, they spotted four heavy torpedoes approaching them at high speed.

"A torpedo was spotted on the port side and it was urgently evaded." The sailors who found the torpedo shouted loudly at the top of their voices.

However, it was already too late. The four torpedoes were less than two hundred meters away from the cruiser Indianapolis. For a torpedo with a speed of more than 40 knots, a distance of 200 meters only takes a few seconds. This was simply not enough for the cruiser 'Indianapolis' to dodge.

Of the four torpedoes, one missed, and the other three hit the cruiser Indianapolis. Even if this is a cruiser with a displacement of up to 10,000 tons. But after being hit by three torpedoes, it still only capsized on the surface of the sea like a dead fish, sinking little by little.

After the USS Indianapolis was sunk, his sister ship, the USS Portland, was sunk, leaving only eight cruisers guarding the USS Wasp.

Although the anti-aircraft fire on these cruisers opened fire wildly, they still could not withstand the attack of the Imperial Navy.

Two minutes later, the U.S. Navy cruiser USS Pensacola was sunk and the cruiser USS Northampton was also heavily damaged. This immediately caused obvious loopholes in the air defense network around the USS Wasp.

The carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy, which had been waiting for an opportunity, immediately attacked.

Eight carrier-based F9 fighters took the lead in the attack, suppressing the anti-aircraft fire on the USS Wasp. Eight dive bombers and eight torpedo attack aircraft, followed by an attack.

Although, in order to avoid the attack of these carrier-based aircraft, the USS Wasp has increased its speed to 29.5 knots, which is already the maximum speed of this aircraft carrier. However, it still can't avoid being hit.

During the attack of the dive bombers, three heavy aerial bombs fell on the deck of the aircraft carrier, smashed through the deck and exploded inside, blowing up the cabins inside the aircraft carrier and causing a raging fire.

The torpedo attack planes also launched an attack at this time, and eight heavy torpedoes quickly rushed towards the USS Wasp. Although the USS Wasp avoided four of them, four heavy torpedoes hit him.

The USS Wasp, although heavily damaged, has not yet sunk. It's just lying on the surface of the sea like a dead dog. The carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Navy, naturally, would not let go of this opportunity and once again organized an attack.

After being hit by six aerial bombs again, the USS Wasp finally couldn't hold on and began to sink. And Rear Admiral Halsey, too, gave the order to abandon the ship at that time. (To be continued.) )