The first to attack was not the attack group sent by Spu, but by Howl, the attack group sent by Task Force 16 Nuland.

In terms of attacking tactics, Hal can be said to be very bold.

That is, after the reconnaissance plane departed, he ordered the carrier-based aircraft carrying out the attack mission to take off and fly south after the reconnaissance plane.

If anything, this unusually decisive decision had a crucial impact.

Boldness and decisiveness are the hallmarks of Hal.

Judging from the situation at that time, it was also the most correct decision to send carrier-based aircraft to attack.

Howl's Task Force 16 has been exposed and is sure to be attacked. According to the situation on the side of the 18th Task Force, to be precise, the battle that took place over the 43rd Task Force in Liangxia, the F4F "Wildcat", which was pinned on by Hal and other generals, was not as powerful as imagined.

Compared with the new generation of carrier-based fighters of the Liangxia Navy, the F4F has a significant gap. Then the 16th Task Force will definitely be more than lucky after being attacked.

Timely dispatch of carrier-based aircraft, there is also a chance to attack.

The carrier-based planes remain on the aircraft carrier, and if they wait for the reconnaissance planes to make discoveries before they go out, I am afraid it will be too late to take off.

This is indeed the case.

Before the reconnaissance planes sent by Hal found the aircraft carrier of the 41st Task Force of Liang Xia, the attack aircraft group of the Liang Xia Fleet appeared over the 16th Task Force, and it was two successive waves, but they came from different directions, one of which came from the south.

However, Hal also avenged with an arrow, and the attack aircraft group he sent bombed the four heavy cruisers that came out of it.

By the end of the attack, two heavy cruisers had been sunk, and the other two had also been heavily damaged, and it was feared that they would sink soon.

Because the attack aircraft group of Task Force 16 was the first to kill and attack, the second attack group sent by Task Force 17 did not join the battle and continued to fly westward, and two ocean-going cruisers were spotted about half an hour later.

To say that the two ocean-going cruisers were more than 100 kilometers to the west of the four heavy cruisers.

After half an hour, the main reason was that he didn't know where the aircraft carrier of Liang Xia's 41st Task Force was hiding, so Major Dutt ordered the flight speed to be reduced to prolong the time in the air.

At first, the staff officer sent the news that the ocean-going cruiser had been discovered and attacked.

But what about aircraft carriers!?

In the telegram sent back by the lead pilot, Major Dutt, only the ocean-going cruiser and the news of the attack were mentioned, and the aircraft carrier was not mentioned!

Dozens of carrier-based aircraft, didn't they find the aircraft carrier?

Obviously, this is the key to Spu's frowning.

Because the two attack groups launched attacks at the same time, when arranging the tactics, Tian Shi specifically emphasized that the group that arrived first could not take the credit, and as long as it was necessary, it had to bomb the air defense warships in the Liang Xia fleet, especially the ocean-going cruisers with particularly ferocious air defense firepower.

That kind of battleship replaced the main guns with anti-aircraft guns, and there were only 32 130-mm large-caliber anti-aircraft guns!

This number exceeds that of all other warships.

Even the Liangxia fast battleship, known for its fierce anti-aircraft firepower, had only 24 130-mm anti-aircraft guns.

On the same 10,000-ton heavy cruiser, there are usually only 12 130-mm anti-aircraft guns, and even if anti-aircraft fire is specially strengthened, there are only 16.

It was in this way that the second group of attack aircraft, which was the first to arrive, bombed the two ocean-going cruisers after being intercepted.

At this time, the situation was already extremely dangerous.

The point is that the first group of attack planes led by Major Clark has already passed the return turning point, and those dozens of carrier-based aircraft will definitely not be able to fly back.

Even if Major Dutt's fleet were able to return, the combat effectiveness of Nuland's Task Force 17 would be cut in half.

If the 41st Task Force had not been annihilated in one fell swoop, or even the 41st Task Force had been found, what would the remaining carrier-based aircraft do?

So, should you retreat ahead of schedule?

Tian Shi hesitated.

He was not afraid of death, but felt that there was no point in continuing to fight when there was no chance of winning at all, except to add to the loss.

It was at this time that the communications staff officer rushed over again.

This time two telegrams were delivered, one for good news and one for bad news.

The bad news: Task Force 18's Sara had sunk, but more than 1,000 officers and men, including Frye, had been rescued.

The surviving officers and men had moved to the escort ships, and Frye had given the order to retreat.

Several escort warships were also bombed, and to their great loss, all of them were unharmed except for one destroyer operating near the carrier that was hit by a deflected torpedo.

The good news: the 16th Task Force group managed to annihilate Liang Xia's 21st Task Force and sink two aircraft carriers.

That's right, the telegram says "sink".

According to the pilot's description, both were of the "Longjiang" class, and the first one to be attacked had already rolled badly after being hit by bombs and torpedoes, and was in danger of capsizing and sinking at any time. After the bombing of the other ship, the flight deck caught fire, and almost the entire aircraft carrier was engulfed in flames.

Tian Shi and Spu were not yet happy, and the third telegram arrived.

Still from the 16th Task Force, issued by Hal himself.

The "York" had already sunk in battle, and a large explosion occurred before it sank, and only more than 100 wounded of the ship's more than 2,000 officers and men who had been evacuated in advance survived, and more than 2,300 officers and men, including the captain of the ship, Colonel Barker, were killed in battle, including dozens of pilots of the air force.

In addition, the "Leke" has also lost its combat effectiveness.

Although there were not many enemy planes attacking the "Lek", the quality of the pilots of the enemy planes was very good, and the bomb hit rate was frighteningly high.

In addition, the damage resistance of the "Lek" is actually not much stronger than that of the "York", which is more than 10,000 tons smaller.

Before the telegram was sent, Hal had given the order to retreat.

Although two boiler compartments were flooded, losing half of their power, the hull was able to maintain a speed of about 22 knots.

Because the flight deck had been damaged and could not be repaired, and after being shot, the captain ordered the aviation ammunition bay to be filled with water to prevent the explosion, so even if a batch of carrier-based aircraft could be recovered, it would not be possible for the carrier-based aircraft to take off, let alone continue the fight.

Hal said that there was no way to fight, so there must be no way to fight.

Perhaps, the reality is even worse.

In addition, Hal made arrangements.

Have the carrier-based aircraft of the second attack group fly east after completing the mission and land on the aircraft carrier of Task Force 17.

The telegram also mentions that the "Lek" will sail in a southeasterly direction

After leaving the waters of the war, the "Lek" will leave for the island of Wei.

Actually, this is telling Spark that he will go to the island of Wai to meet after the battle.

In the original plan, after the battle, he would sail directly to Jumbo Harbor, without stopovers, let alone a meeting with the army on the island.

Although in the telegram there was no mention of the specific damage, Hal decided to retreat, indicating that the wounds of the "Lek" must have been very serious.

Even if you can leave the battlefield and return to Nuland soil, it will take a lot of time to repair.

At this time, the only ones who remained on the battlefield and could continue to fight were the two aircraft carriers of the 17th Task Force.