On August 7, 1944, Allied forces, mainly the United States, landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida Keys in the Solomon Islands. The landing on the islands was intended to prevent the Japanese from using them as a base to threaten supply routes between the United States and Australia, and to ensure that the islands served as a starting point for military operations that would eventually isolate Rabaul, Japan's main base, while also supporting the Allied campaign in New Guinea. The landings began the six-month-long Battle of Guadalcanal.

After the Battle of the East Solomons, the USS Enterprise was severely damaged and forced to go to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for a month-long overhaul, while three U.S. aircraft carrier task forces remained in the South Pacific. The task force consisted of the aircraft carriers USS Vespa, USS Saratoga and HMS Hornet, plus their respective air groups and support surface warships, including battleships, cruisers and destroyers, and was primarily based in the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides (Vanuatu). In this position, aircraft carriers were sent to guard the Allied supply line between New Caledonia and Espirititu Santo to support Allied ground forces against the Japanese counteroffensive on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, to escort supply ships bound for Guadalcanal, and to attack any Japanese warships, especially aircraft carriers, that came within range.

In the waters of the zone, the actions of the US aircraft carrier task force are called "the first connection point" by the US military, because the Japanese army has concentrated a large number of submarines in the area. On August 31, the "Saratoga" was damaged by the Japanese submarine "I-26" and needed to be repaired for 3 months. On 14 September, the Wasp was hit by three ** missiles fired by the Japanese submarine I-19 while it was supporting a huge reinforcement and supply fleet bound for Guadalcanal and nearly ran into two Japanese aircraft carriers, the Shozuru and the Zuizuru (which withdrew before the planes of both sides could enter the effective range of the other). Due to the destruction of the power system, the damage control team of the "Wasp" was unable to contain the ensuing fire, and she was abandoned and scuttled.

Although the United States has only one aircraft carrier (the USS Hornet) in the South Pacific, the Allies still maintain air supremacy in the southern Solomon Islands, as they can use land-based aircraft from Henderson Airport on Guadalcanal. However, at night, when the planes could not take off, the Japanese ships were still able to carry out their missions at will in the vicinity of Guadalcanal. As a result, the battle on Guadalcanal was deadlocked, with the Allies sending supplies and reinforcements to Guadalcanal during the day, while the Japanese used warships (known to the Allies as the "Tokyo Express") to deliver supplies and reinforcements at night, and neither side was able to provide enough forces to the island to gain a decisive advantage. By mid-October, the two sides had roughly equal numbers of troops on the island. The stalemate was interrupted by 2 major naval operations at one point. On the night of 11 and 12 October, an American fleet intercepted and defeated the Japanese naval fleet, which was participating in the Battle of Cape Esperance and bombarded Henderson Field. However, only two days later, the Japanese fleet, including the battleships Haruna and Kongo, successfully shelled Henderson Airfield, destroying most of the American aircraft and causing serious damage to oil storage facilities. While still operational, it took weeks to restore the damaged airfield and replenish the destroyed aircraft.

At this time, the US military conducted two operations in an attempt to break the impasse over Guadalcanal. First of all, to speed up the repair of the "Enterprise" so that she can return to the South Pacific as soon as possible. On October 10, the Enterprise received a new flight group, and on October 16, it left Pearl Harbor; It returned to the South Pacific on 23 October and was 273 northeast of Santo Island in Espiriteto on 24 October

MI (506km) rendezvous with HMS Hornet and the rest of the Allied South Pacific naval forces.

Second, on October 18, Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the Allied Pacific Theater, replaced Vice Admiral Robert Gormley as commander of the South Pacific Fleet with Vice Admiral William Halsey: a position involved in commanding Allied forces in the Solomon Islands theater. Nimitz believed that Gormley had become too short-sighted and pessimistic in leading the Allies to a successful seizure of Guadalcanal. Halsey is reportedly revered as a "warrior" of the US Navy fleet. Immediately under the expected order, Halsey began to systematically draw the Japanese naval fleet into battle, and he wrote to Nimitz: "I had to start punching hard almost immediately. ”

The Japanese Combined Fleet also hoped to attract Allied naval ships for a decisive battle. Two fleet aircraft carriers, the Flying Eagle and the Hayabusa, plus the light aircraft carrier Zuiho, arrived from the Japanese mainland in early October to join the Shozuru and Zuizuru, Japan's main naval base. Five aircraft carriers with a full number of carrier-based aircraft, plus a large number of battleships, cruisers and destroyers, the combined Japanese fleet, commanded by the commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, was confident that they could make up for their defeat at the Battle of Midway. In addition to a series of air strikes on Henderson Field in October, Japanese aircraft carriers, along with their support vessels, remained northwest of the Solomon Islands near Guadalcanal, waiting for an opportunity to attack U.S. aircraft carriers. The Japanese Navy planned its next ground offensive against Allied forces primarily on Guadalcanal on October 20, with Yamamoto's warships beginning deployment in the southern Solomon Islands to support the Army's offensive on Guadalcanal and to prepare for any Allied (primarily American) ships, especially aircraft carriers supporting Allied defenses on Guadalcanal. Japan believes the U.S. Navy fleet may be in the Solomon Island area because they got a report by United Press International on October 20 that the U.S. Navy is preparing for a large-scale naval and air operation in the South Pacific.

From October 20 to October 25, the Japanese Army, which attempted to capture Henderson Airport on Guadalcanal, launched a large-scale attack on the U.S. forces defending the airport. However, the Japanese suffered a decisive defeat in this attack at the Battle of Henderson Field due to heavy casualties.

Mistakenly believing that Japanese Army forces had succeeded in capturing Henderson Field, a Japanese fleet arrived near Guadalcanal on the morning of 25 October to provide further support for the Army offensive. Aircraft taking off from Henderson Field attacked the fleet for a full day, sinking the light cruiser Yura and damaging the destroyer Akizuki.

Despite the failure of the Japanese ground offensive and the loss of the Yura, the remaining ships of the Combined Fleet continued to maneuver around the southern Solomon Islands on 25 October to engage the Allied naval fleet. Japan's naval fleet, which includes four large aircraft carriers, was forced to return to Truk for repairs due to an accident on October 22 due to an accident on the Flying Eagle. The Japanese Navy was divided into three groups: the "offensive" fleet consisted of the "Hayabusa", plus 2 battleships, 4 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser and 10 destroyers, commanded by Vice Admiral Shintake Kondo, who was on the heavy cruiser Atago; The "main" fleet consisted of the "Shozuru", "Zuizuru" and "Zuiho", plus 1 heavy cruiser and 8 destroyers, commanded by Vice Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi on the "Shozuru"; The "Striker" fleet consisted of 2 battleships, 3 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser and 7 destroyers, commanded by Rear Admiral Hiroki Abe aboard the battleship Hiei. In addition to commanding the attacking fleet, Kondo served as the commander-in-chief of 3 fleets.

On the U.S. side, a fleet of aircraft carriers USS Hornet and USS Enterprise, under the overall command of Rear Admiral Thomas Kincaid, sailed to the sea north of the Santa Cruz Islands on 25 October in search of the Japanese naval fleet. The US warships were divided into 2 separate aircraft carrier battle groups, each centered on the USS Hornet or USS Enterprise, and at a distance of about 10 from each other

mi (19km)。 The U.S. fleet consisted of 2 aircraft carriers (USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Hornet (CV-8)), 1 battleship (USS South Dakota (BB-57)), 6 cruisers (USS Portland (CA-33), USS Northampton (CA-26), USS Pensacola (CA-24), USS San Juan (CL-54), USS San Diego (CL-53), and USS Juno ( CL-52), and 14 destroyers (USS Porter (DD-356), USS Mahan (DD-364), USS Cushing (DD-376), USS Preston (DD-379), USS Smith (DD-378, USS Morrie (DD-401), USS Cunningham (DD-371), USS Shaw (DD-373), USS Morris (DD-417), USS Anderson ( DD-411), USS Hughes (DD-410), USS Mastin (DD-413), USS Russell (DD-414), and USS Patton (DD-599). A U.S. Catalina water ship, based in the Santa Cruz Islands, found the location of the aircraft carrier of Japan's main fleet at 11:03 a.m. However, the Japanese aircraft carriers were about 355 miles away from the American fleet

mi (657km), which is beyond the flight radius of the carrier-based aircraft. Kincaid wanted to close the range so that he could launch an attack that day, and he approached the Japanese aircraft carrier at top speed, and at 2:25 p.m., he launched an attack with 23 aircraft. Although Japan knew that the US planes had spotted them, they did not know the location of the US aircraft carriers, so they turned to the northeast and sailed out of the flight radius of the US aircraft carriers. As a result, U.S. planes did not discover or attack the Japanese warship and thus returned to its own aircraft carrier.

The operation of the aircraft carrier on October 26

At 2:50 a.m. on 26 October, the Japanese Navy reversed course and the distance between the two sides continued to close until 5 a.m. the distance between the two sides was only 200 at 5 a.m

mi (370km)。 Both sides dispatched search planes and prepared to attack the remaining aircraft if the other ship's location was discovered. Although a radar-equipped Catalina airship spotted the Japanese aircraft carrier at 3:10 a.m., Kincaid did not receive the report until 5:12 a.m. Therefore, it was believed that the position of the Japanese ships might have changed in the past 2 hours, so he decided not to attack until he received more up-to-date information on the positions of the Japanese ships.

At 6:45 a.m., a US reconnaissance plane spotted the aircraft carrier of the main fleet of Nagumo. At 6:58, Japanese reconnaissance planes reported the location of the "Hornet" battle group. Both sides compete to attack each other first. The Japanese first dispatched their strike force, and a total of 64 aircraft, including 21 Type 99 carrier-based bombers, 20 Type 97 carrier-based attack planes, 21 Type 97 fighters, and 2 Type 97 command planes, flew towards the "Hornet" at 7:40 a.m. In addition, at 7:40, two US SBD dreadnought reconnaissance planes, based on previous reports of the discovery of Japanese aircraft carriers, arrived and recognized the "Zuifeng". While the Japanese air combat patrol was busy chasing other US planes, the two US planes approached and threw ** on the "Zuifeng", causing serious damage and making it impossible for the planes to land on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier.

At the same time, Kondo ordered Hiroki Abe's forward fleet to preemptively attempt to intercept and attack U.S. warships. Kondo also ordered his own forward fleet to move at maximum speed, so that the aircraft of the "Hayabusa" could attack American warships. At 8:10 a.m., the "Xianghe" dispatched the second wave of attack aircraft, including 19 dive bombers and 8 Zero fighters, and the "Zuihe" dispatched 16 ** bombers at 8:40. Thus, by 9:10, a total of 110 Japanese aircraft went to attack the American aircraft carrier.

The U.S. attack fleet struck 20 minutes later than the Japanese. Believing that a swift attack was more important than a dense attack, the US planes flew into small groups towards the Japanese ships rather than forming a formidable strike force. Group 1, consisting of 15 SBD Dreadnought dive bombers, 6 TBF Avenger** bombers, and 8 F4F Wildcat fighters, commanded by Major Eaton of the USS Hornet, took off at about 8 a.m. Group 2, consisting of 3 SBD Dreadnoughts, 7 TBF Avengers and 8 F4F Wildcats from Enterprise, took off at 8:10 a.m. Group 3, comprising nine SBD Dreadnoughts, eight TBF Avengers and seven F4F Wildcats from the USS Hornet, took off at 8:20 a.m.

At 8:40 a.m., the two planes could see each other. Nine Zeros from the "Zuifeng" suddenly attacked the "Enterprise" ship group, flying out of the sun to attack the planes taking off. During the engagement, 4 Zeros, 3 Wildcats and 2 TBF Avengers were shot down, while the other 2 TBF Avengers and 1 Wildcat were heavily damaged and forced to return to the Enterprise.

At 8:50 a.m., the US attack formation led by the USS Hornet spotted four ships of the Abe Forward fleet. Initially, U.S. planes spotted Japanese aircraft carriers and prepared to attack. Three planes from the USS Zuiho attack the Wildcat formation, diverting them away from the bombers responsible for protection. Thus, the dive bombers of the 1st group did not have fighter escort when launching the attack. A formation of 20 Zero attack SBD dreadnought dive bombers from Japanese aircraft carriers and 4 of them were shot down. The remaining 11 SBD Dreadnoughts began attacking the "Shozuru" at 9:27 a.m., and it was hit by 3 to 6 **, destroying its flight deck and causing serious damage to the interior of the hull. The last 11 SBD Dreadnoughts lost sight of the Shozuru and dropped ** on the nearby Japanese destroyer Terutsuki, causing minor damage. The 1st TBF Avenger in the 6th group, left the attack formation, missed the opportunity to find the Japanese aircraft carrier and finally return to the "Hornet". On the return trip, they attacked the Japanese heavy cruiser Tone, but none of the ** hit the target.

The TBF Avengers of the 2nd Attack Formation of the USS Enterprise were unable to locate the Japanese aircraft carriers, so they attacked the Japanese heavy cruiser Suzuya of the Abe Forward Fleet, but did no damage. At about the same time, the U.S. 3rd Strike Squadron from the USS Hornet spotted Abe's warship and attacked the Japanese heavy cruiser USS Chikuma, with two 1,000lb (450kg)** missiles hitting the target and causing serious damage. Three SBD dreadnoughts of the Enterprise also attacked the Tsukuma, with one ** hitting the target to cause more damage and the other two nearly hitting. In the end, 8 TBF Avengers of the 3rd Attack Formation arrived and attacked the smoking "Tsukuma", and 1 ** hit. Escorted by two destroyers, the Tsukuma withdrew from the battle and headed for Truk for repairs.

At 8:30 a.m., the U.S. aircraft carrier forces received information from the attack fleet outside that Japanese planes were heading towards them. At 8:52 a.m., the commander of the Japanese attack fleet discovered the task force of the "Hornet" (the task force of the "Enterprise" was hidden by the rain squall) and deployed aircraft to attack. At 8:55 a.m., the radar of the American aircraft carrier detected the approaching Japanese aircraft, which was about 35 miles away

mi (65km) and began to dispatch 37 Wildcat fighters to meet the incoming Japanese planes. However, communication problems, mistakes on the part of U.S. fighter commanders, and primitive control procedures meant that only a few U.S. fighters attacked the Japanese fighters before they could attack the Hornet. Although U.S. fighters were able to shoot down several dive bombers, most Japanese planes began their attacks without U.S. fighter interference.

At 9:09 a.m., the anti-aircraft guns of the USS Hornet and its escort ships were attacked by 20 Japanese bombers and the remaining 16 dive bombers. At 9:12 a.m., a dive bomber dropped a 551lb (250kg) half-*** at the flight deck of the USS Hornet, crossing the bridge and exploding through three decks, killing 60 people. Moments later, a 534lb (242kg) "ground" hammer** hit the flight deck, causing an explosion and creating an 11ft (3.4m) hole and killing 30 people. A minute or so later, the third ** hit the "Hornet" and its location near the site of the first **, penetrating 3 decks before exploding, causing serious damage, but there was no immediate mortal danger. At 9:14, one dive bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire from the USS Hornet. The damaged plane crashed inside the chimney of the "Hornet", and the burning aviation fuel spread over the signal deck.

When the dive bomber attacked, the ** bomber also approached the "Hornet" from two different directions. Despite heavy losses due to anti-aircraft fire, the bomber dropped 2 hits on the USS Hornet at 9:13 and 9:17, hitting its engine. As the Hornet stopped, a Japanese dive bomber approached and purposefully rammed into the side of the aircraft carrier, causing a fire in the ship's main aviation fuel tank. At 9:20 a.m., the surviving Japanese planes departed, leaving behind the Hornet parked and burning in the sea. In the first attack on the Hornet, 26 Japanese and 6 American planes were shot down.

With the help of three escort destroyers, the fire on the Hornet was under control at 10 a.m. The wounded were evacuated from the aircraft carrier, while the cruiser Northampton tried to tow the "Hornet" away from the combat zone. However, some time was wasted in order to manipulate the towing cable, and more Japanese aircraft attack waves followed.

At 9:30 a.m., a number of destroyed and fuel-depleted fighters and reconnaissance planes from two aircraft carriers were landed on the "Enterprise." However, her flight deck was full, and a second wave of Japanese planes was approaching, radar spotted them at 9:30 a.m., and the Enterprise stopped landing operations at 10 a.m. The planes, which ran out of fuel, then began to land at sea, and the destroyers, escorting the aircraft carriers, rescued the pilots. One of the planes that fell into the water was a wounded TBF dive bomber from the USS Enterprise attack fleet, which had earlier been attacked by a Zero fighter from the USS Zuifeng and crashed in the waters near the USS Porter. When the destroyer rescued the crew of the TBF, the ** on the TBF became entangled in a lifebuoy, collided with the USS Porter and exploded, causing significant damage and killing 15 crew members. After the Task Force Commander ordered the destroyer to abandon ship, the crew was rescued by the destroyer Shaw, and the Porter was sunk (08°32′S167°17′E) by artillery fire.

When the first wave of Japanese planes attacking the "Hornet" began to return to their aircraft carriers, one of them spotted the task force of the "Enterprise" and reported on the location of the aircraft carrier. Believing that the "Hornet" had sunk, the second wave of Japanese planes directly attacked the "Enterprise" at 10:08 a.m. Similarly, before the Japanese planes attacked the Enterprise, American fighters had trouble intercepting them, and only 2 of the 19 dive bombers were shot down when they began to dive to bomb the aircraft carrier. The attack was carried out through heavy anti-aircraft fire from the USS Enterprise and its escort ships, with two 551lb (250kg) bombers dropping on the USS Enterprise and one exploding in the nearby sea, causing severe damage and jamming the aircraft carrier's foredeck elevator at the top. Of the 19 bombers attacking, 12 were shot down.

20 minutes later, 16 ** bombers from the "Zuihe" arrived and dispersed to attack the "Enterprise". One of the ** bombers was attacked by 2 Wildcat fighters and shot down 3 of them and damaged 4 others. During the combustion, the fourth damaged bomber deliberately rammed the USS Smith, setting the ship on fire and killing all 57 crew members on board. The destroyer sailed into the waves caused by the battleship "South Dakota" to help extinguish the fire, and then restored her position, using her remaining anti-aircraft guns to open fire on the still attacking ** attack aircraft.

The rest of the ** bombers attacked the USS Enterprise, the USS South Dakota and the cruiser USS Portland, but all of them failed to hit the target or exploded without causing any damage. The attack ended at 10:53 a.m., with nine of the 16 ** bombers attacking. After extinguishing most of the fires on board, at 11:15 a.m. the Enterprise reopened her flight deck and began to land the American bomber fleet returning from attacking the Japanese warship. However, only a few aircraft landed before the next wave of Japanese attack aircraft arrived and began attacking the Enterprise, forcing a moratorium on landfall operations.

Between 9:05 a.m. and 9:14 a.m., the "Falcon" had reached within 280 nautical miles (520 kilometers) of the U.S. aircraft carrier and launched an attack with 17 dive bombers and 12 Zero fighters. At that time, the main Japanese fleet and attacking ships were trying to join the formation, and the "Hayabusa" was ready for subsequent attack operations. At 11:21 a.m., the "Falcon" aircraft arrived and dive-bombed the task force of the "Enterprise". One of the dive bombers dropped the ** that almost hit the "Enterprise", causing more damage, and the other two hit the "South Dakota" and the cruiser San Juan, respectively, causing moderate damage to 2 ships. During the attack, 12 of the 17 attacking dive bombers were shot down.

At 11:35, Kincaid decided to withdraw the USS Enterprise and her convoy from the battlefield, since the USS Hornet had withdrawn from the battle, the USS Enterprise had been severely damaged, and believed (correctly) that the Japanese still had 1 or 2 intact aircraft carriers in the area. He instructed the Hornet's task force to follow them if they could. At 11:39 and 13:22, the Enterprise recovered 57 of the 73 bombers, while she was far from the battlefield. The rest of the American planes crashed into the sea, and their pilots were rescued by escort ships.

At 11:40 a.m. and 2 p.m., the "Zuizuru" and "Hayabusa" recovered the few planes that had returned after attacking the "Hornet" and "Enterprise" in the morning and prepared to attack again. The Air Force staff officer of the "Falcon" described the situation when the first round of attack of the aircraft carrier returned home:

“

The Japanese reconnaissance of the air in apprehension. Compared to the number of aircraft that launched the attack a few hours ago, only a small number of aircraft are still in the air ... The planes suddenly returned and crossed landings on the deck, every 1 fighter and bomber was full of bullet holes ... As the pilots tiredly climbed out of their cramped cockpits, they told the incredible truth that the sky was full of cracked shells and ragged shells of anti-aircraft shells.

”

The only commander who could return from the first attack fleet was from the USS Falcon, "who was so excited at the time that he could not speak coherently." ”

At 1 p.m., Kondo's attacking fleet and Abe's forward fleet of warships advanced toward the reported position of the U.S. aircraft carrier task force, and increased speed, attempting to intercept with naval fire. The "Zuiho" and Nagumo's "Shozuru" withdrew from the combat area and left the aircraft carrier forces of the "Zuizuru" and "Hayabusa" under the command of Rear Admiral Kakuji Tsunoda. At 1:06 p.m., the "Hayabusa" dispatched her second wave of attack forces, including 7 ** bombers and 8 Zero fighters, and the "Zuizuru" dispatched a third wave of attack forces, including 7 ** bombers, 2 dive bombers, and 5 Zero fighters. At 3:35 p.m., the "Falcon" launched its final attack fleet of the day, including four bombers and six Zero fighters.

After resolving some technical issues, the Northampton finally began to slowly drag the Hornet away from the battlefield at 2:45 p.m. In addition, the crew of the "Hornet" has reached the edge of restoring some of the power of the ship's guns. At 3:20 p.m., the second attack fleet of the "Falcon" arrived and attacked the hull of the ship that was almost stopped on the surface. At 3:23, a ** hit the "Hornet", damaging the power system under repair, causing serious water entry and tilt of 14 degrees. With no electric pump in the water, the Hornet could not be rescued and the crew abandoned ship. The 3rd wave of attack forces from the "Zuihe" attacked the "Hornet" at this time, and a ** hit the sinking hull. All the crew of the "Hornet" separated from the ship at 4:27 p.m. At 5:20 a.m., the last Japanese attack fleet dropped the last one** on the sinking hull.

The U.S. Navy destroyers USS Mastins and USS Anderson were ordered to sink the USS Hornet with onboard gunfire and **, while the rest of the U.S. warships were heading southeast to get out of range of Kondo and Abe's upcoming warships. When the Japanese destroyers were only 20 minutes away, two American destroyers abandoned the Hornet, which had been caught in flames, at 8:40 p.m. The rest of the warships of Kondo and Abe arrived at the location of the Hornet at 10:20 p.m., deciding that the ship had been severely damaged and could not be captured, and that it was sunk at 1:35 a.m. on October 27 with a launch** (08°38′ S166°43′E). The fact that the Hayabusa and Terutsuki were attacked by radar-equipped Catarina seaplanes for several nights, that it was known that U.S. warships had withdrawn from the area, and that critical fuel conditions had led Japan to reconsider whether it should pursue the U.S. fleet further. After refueling near the North Solomon Islands, the Japanese fleet returned to their main base, Truk, on October 30. When the American fleet withdrew to the island of Espiritu Santo and New Caledonia, the "South Dakota" collided with the destroyer Mahan, which suffered serious damage.

The battle ended with the defeat of the American army, and although the Japanese army won casually, it also paid a great price。。。。。。。