The operation against the 5th Air Force continued until sunset.

In fact, after six o'clock, the second group of attack planes flew over the sea area where the Fifth Air Force was located, and the battle would be over.

Before that, two ships of the "Xianghe" class had already disappeared from the sea.

Because the sortie distance was shortened by several tens of kilometers and the return distance was even shorter, the second group of attack planes dispersed and searched the entire sea area after arriving.

No aircraft carrier was found, only two areas of the sea covered with fuel and many lifeboats and officers and soldiers overboard.

In the end, the group focused on bombing two heavy cruisers.

After repeated attacks, both the "Ligen" and the "Chikuma" were sunk.

In addition, three light cruisers were sunk by the way.

Actual combat has proved that the "Ligen" class, which is known as the "strongest air defense cruiser," is also vulnerable to the hordes of bombers and torpedo planes.

This also reflects from one side that the hull of the heavy cruiser is too small and not an ideal air defense platform.

At this point, the battle, which lasted all day, to be precise, the whole day, came to an end.

Troubles are coming, too.

By the time the leader of the second attack group sent back the battle report, the first attack group had already returned to the sky over the fleet, and dozens of fighters were landing one after another.

At this point, the sun has sunset below sea level.

If it is in the First Air Task Force, then there is no problem, and those pilots of the First Carrier Air Wing have all practiced landing at night. But what is worse is that this is the 3rd Carrier-based Air Wing, and more than half of the pilots are novices, and many of them have only landed on aircraft carriers a few times.

Even if it is an old bird who has practiced, in the dark night, completely relying on the indicator light waved in the hand of the ship guide, driving the carrier-based aircraft to land on the aircraft carrier, it is absolutely thrilling. If you have a little less guts, it's normal to pee your crotch at the moment of landing.

The key is that most carrier-based aircraft, especially torpedo planes and bombers, do not have much fuel left, and they must land on aircraft carriers as soon as possible.

Because there were not many air defense fighters, the escort fighters still had enough fuel.

Now, these rookies are flying planes that are about to run out of fuel and land on a dim evening day with fiber optics.

That's definitely dangerous!

The ground crew had already emptied the flight deck, and the captain had also gathered the officers and men on duty to form several damage management teams to be responsible for firefighting and rescue.

In addition, the order of landing has also been adjusted.

The commander lands first, then the skilled pilot, and finally the rookie novice's turn.

This is something that cannot be helped, because it takes a few minutes to clear the flight deck after a failed landing, and the planes behind may not be able to wait that long.

There are more than a dozen in front, and it is quite smooth.

There were a few small mistakes, but they were all caught in the blocking net, which did not cause major accidents, and did not affect the warplane that landed behind.

At 6:50 a.m., the thirteenth, "Wasp", piloted by a novice, had an accident.

Probably too nervous, the pilot did not retract the throttle according to the rules before landing on the ship, and his luck was very bad, and he actually hung up the seventh blocking cable.

Of the fourteen blocking cables, the middle ones are the most worn because they are the easiest to get caught on.

As a result, the "Wasp" ripped off the blocking cable, rushed headlong into the barrage net, and then collided with another "Wasp" parked at the front of the deck before it had time to move.

There was chaos on the flight deck, but luckily there was no fire after the collision.

As a result, the flight deck of the "Imperial Capital" was "paralyzed" for more than ten minutes.

Fortunately, the accident alerted the pilots behind.

Although there were several bumps after that, the problems were not big, and all of them were dealt with in a timely manner without affecting the landing of fighters.

By 7:15, the last "typhoon" fell on the "Imperial Capital".

The situation on the side of the "Companion Jing" was even worse, as a "Flying Fish" and a "Wasp" did not hang up the arresting rope when they landed on the ship, and directly ran into the blocking net. Because of the delay, the last "Wasp" was forced to land on the surface after running out of fuel.

By half past seven, the last "Typhoon" landed on the "Companion Jing".

Of course, this is only the first round.

After eight o'clock, the second group of attack aircraft will return to the skies over the fleet.

In order to save time, or there is no time for the ground crew to delay, both aircraft carriers have organized officers and men to deliver meals to the flight deck, that is, let the ground crew have dinner on the deck, and the officers and men of the fleet are responsible for helping the ground crew clean the flight deck.

It's a job that has to be done.

When a carrier-based aircraft lands on a ship, it only takes a small screw to cause a huge disaster.

At the beginning, on the "Companion Jing", the "Wasp" burst a tire on its left wheel after landing, and after hitting the blocking net, it crashed into the bomber parked in front. When I checked it afterwards, it was discovered that what caused the fighter to burst a tire was a screw that fell from other fighters.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Bai Zhizhan, Li Yunxiang, Li Mingbo, and other major commanders of the headquarters took turns to have dinner.

Although the recovery of fighters is mainly a matter for the officers and men of the aircraft carrier, according to the rules, the commander of the fleet command must be respected on the flagship.

Even if you don't have to participate, you should pay attention.

Just after eight o'clock, the fighters of the second group flew back first.

The fighters were faster and returned at night, so they didn't have to cover bombers and torpedo planes because they didn't have to worry about encountering enemy fighters.

At this time, Bai Zhizhan had already gone to the officer activity center.

In accordance with his request, the staff officers sorted out the battle reports and related materials according to the chronological order, the fleet in which they were located, the place of engagement, and other elements.

In addition, a large chart was laid out on the table that had been put together.

Several staff officers were working on the charts, to be precise, by planting flags, to mark the battles that took place during the day, as well as various related elements, on the charts.

In this way, the commander can see the big picture at a glance.

For commanders who know how to work on the map, or who have been staff officers, seeing the marked icons will produce a sense of immersion.

In fact, this is also the tradition of the Imperial Navy.

Li Yunxiang, Li Mingbo and others haven't come yet, but they are not in a hurry, anyway, there is a whole night.

Besides, it will take some time to sort out your thoughts.

Annihilated the Fifth Air Force in one fell swoop, and achieved the record of sinking two aircraft carriers, two heavy cruisers and three light cruisers, and damaging several enemy ships. To be honest, Bai Zhizhan still finds it unbelievable, mainly because this victory that is not light at all comes too easily!

Liu Xiangzhen fought fiercely for two days before sinking four aircraft carriers, and the special mixed group suffered heavy losses.

The task force with the worst combat effectiveness in the White War Zone sank two aircraft carriers at the cost of losing more than a dozen fighters, and half of them were crashed and destroyed during landing.

Could it be that God has finally found out his conscience?

Or, is there something else?

Bai Zhizhan obviously doesn't believe in the former, and if he doesn't understand this problem, he probably won't be at ease.

"Commander!"

Probably because of his distraction, Bai Zhizhan felt that Zhou Yongtao suddenly appeared in front of him.