If Hoffman travels through the Ticonderoga with Aegis in this era, these planes of Sedritz don't have to be taken into account at all, and they are not even enough to plug their teeth, but unfortunately, this is the Essex class more than 70 years earlier, and it is a big matter of life and death. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

This new aircraft carrier, which was only commissioned in March, is the second Essex-class aircraft carrier "gifted" to the British government by the US government after the Hornet, and the British actually paid the price -- in addition to the 100 elite pilots of the Royal Air Force, Cunningham's original flagship Unicorn followed Spruance to South Africa, but sank in the South Atlantic, and the British officers and men on it were also killed and wounded. Now, it was the turn of the Ticonderoga, which still smelled of paint, to meet the German onslaught on such a spring afternoon -- the first battle was always so unexpected.

The artillery jungle on the deck opened fire fiercely, more than 20 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns, 68 40mm Bouis anti-aircraft guns, and 55 20mm Erlikon anti-aircraft guns quickly built an impermeable steel storm, trying to build a strong enough barrier for the warship, and the surrounding circle of cruisers and destroyers were also doing their best to fire ammunition to reduce his burden, even if Seydritz had adopted the combat method of three 4-plane formations divided into three airspace in the front, middle and rear to coordinate and break in, and disperse the enemy's firepower to the greatest extent. It still feels like the shrenchnel around the plane is flying rampantly, and it seems that the plane will be destroyed and killed in the next second.

There is no way out of fear, the longer you stay, the more you will be hit, and the stage at the beginning of the dive is the moment when you are most likely to be shot - sure enough, at the beginning of the dive, there are Ju-198s in the front and middle sections that are directly turned into fireballs, but the remaining German planes resolutely pass through the fire net and start to dive and attack. The U.S. military did not bargain, a total of 9 planes successfully dropped bombs, 18 400-kilogram bombs hit 8 warships in one go, especially 4 were two groups of double bombs, and the entire deck of the Ticonderoga from the bow elevator to the tail elevator was blown up at once.

Countless parts, steel fragments, warship components, and human limbs were lifted high and fell heavily, as if the entire warship had been disemboweled from head to tail with a giant blade. Then the hangar and part of the fuel depot below also broke out, and the dull sound was one after another, and the hot steam that spewed out of the thin air steamed some of the sailors alive. The entire Ticonderoga was soon reduced to ruins, like a burning belt of smoke and fire.

Although the number of bullets was about the same as that of the Wasp in the direction of South Africa, due to the partial fuel detonation, the Ticonderoga was much more seriously injured than the Wasp, and the entire warship was paralyzed on the water, and the speed instantly dropped to less than 7 knots.

Sedritz, who had already climbed up, knew that the warship was hopeless, but he did not think it was a good idea to sink his opponent with another 400-kilogram aerial bomb, so he aimed at his next opponent, the Franklin, which was not far away.

However, the Franklin and the surrounding warships have gradually returned to the state of regional air defense after torpedo evasion, and the overall anti-aircraft fire is more fierce than that of the Ticonderoga, he thought about it, considering that the first attack wave has suffered a lot of losses today, so he did not force the attack, but let the remaining planes attack the cruiser next to it, as for the aircraft carrier, he believed that the second wave would have the opportunity and time to take them away.

"The Ticonderoga was badly damaged, and the captain is still saving!"

In fact, there was no need to listen to the report, Nimitz and Cunningham knew what it was when they looked at the situation on the battlefield, and the two looked at each other, sighed heavily, and a deep sense of powerlessness swelled up and down their bodies. But the situation on the battlefield is like this, and the two of them are powerless.

Cunningham issued an instruction: "If it is confirmed that it is not possible, abandon the ship as soon as possible, and keep the officers and men as much as possible." ”

An Essex-class has more than 3,600 officers and men, as well as very valuable reserve pilots and skilled ground crew, and at least one-third of them will be lost in the bombing just now, and the other two-thirds cannot be completely lost.

The remaining German dive bombers found 2 cruisers, one was the Marbohyde (Omaha class) and the other was the Vincennes (Cleveland class), the former was old after all and sank on the spot, the latter ate 3 bombs and barely sank and floated on the surface like a dead fish, and the captain was forced to abandon the ship.

In just one round of attack, the U.S. military not only lost one valuable Essex-class aircraft carrier, but also lost half of the total eight Omaha-class light cruisers brought out, and only 30 defensive fighters were left over the fleet.

The price paid by Seytlitz was not insignificant, as he lost a total of 13 Do-412s and 21 Ju-198s under the combined attack of enemy anti-aircraft fire and anti-aircraft fighters, and the overall number of losses was only 1 less than that of the opponent, and the loss rate was as high as 20%.

In addition to the reason for the opponent's strength, there is one point that he believes cannot be ignored -- the Do-412 is very effective as an interceptor, but it can only play the BZ effect, and the effect is not as good as the Bf-219 in the cover of medium and low-altitude dogfights.

As soon as the battle on this side ended, the German air defense battle also began, this time 250 kilometers forward to meet the enemy, and the British and American joint naval aviation formation collided headlong with the main fighter group of the Luftwaffe, which had been waiting for a long time. It is impossible to bypass, Ozawa deployed 4 destroyers on the periphery of the fleet, and used radar to indicate the direction of the enemy in advance, coupled with the slow speed of the US military, it is only a ghost to be able to bypass.

"This is the Fw-190! Fuck, where did they come from? Major Lawrence, the commander of the British escort fighters, shouted on the radio.

"Sir, it's too late to complain, you hurry up and put the auxiliary fuel tank!" His wingman reminded him, "It's too late." ”

"Fighter jet put the drop fuel tank!" Lawrence shouted on the radio, "Don't let the others go, or you won't be able to go back!" ”

"Hahahaha, a bunch of stupid birds, still refuse to put the auxiliary fuel tank, waiting to become roast chicken?" Luftwaffe commander Lieutenant Colonel Randt yelled on the radio, "Brothers, the sale is on the door, rush! Today it is the turn of the Air Force to open. ”

Anyway, led the 102 fighters (48 Fw-190, 54 Do-412) that had just released the auxiliary fuel tanks to pounce on it, unlike the naval aviation that often fights, the air force, especially the German planes deployed in the Azores, because of the continuous expansion of strength, no one dared to provoke for more than a few months, and even the British heavy bombers that used to come to harass from time to time have disappeared, except for the last Newfoundland campaign, many people have never done it with real knives and guns, and they have long been suffocated, Seeing the nearly 200 formation planes of the US military under black pressure, how can there be any reason not to rejoice? In their opinion, the frames shaking on the opposite side are all achievement points, all military exploits, and all medals.

The fighter formations of the two sides quickly rushed head-to-head, and the formation of US attack planes lagged behind. Suddenly, the Do-412 formation, which was lagging behind, began to climb.

"What kind of tactic is this? To force it over our heads? Lawrence thought so, but he didn't dare to really climb, because Do-412 he had seen, than climbing, especially the ability to climb at medium and high altitudes, it was definitely self-defeating, but today's Fw-190 is weirdly tight, don't they always play BZ, why did they put on a Bf-109 posture today and start playing hedging? It's a shame that Lawrence was transferred from the Royal Air Force, otherwise he wouldn't even know these ways.

However, after thinking about it for a long time, he still did not think of the intention and value of the other side's position -- Rand simply used the US aircraft carrier attack aircraft group as a US strategic bomber formation to fight.

Seeing that the distance between the two sides was close to less than 3 kilometers, the German aircraft group suddenly dispersed, Lawrence instinctively thought that it was not good, but it was too late.

"Put!" As soon as Rand gave the order, he took the lead in pressing the launch switch, and then his teammates did the same, and the batch of Fw-190s released all 24 R4M rockets under the wings.

He finally knew what he was going to face - this was the German air-launched R4M rocket, which they used against the B-17\29 and Lancasters, and he didn't expect it to be fulfilled on him today.

"Rockets! Climb! This was the response he could think of, and it was the only correct evasive move, and it was not a good way to force a hard push or dive - because the rocket itself had a falling trajectory, and the dive might just hit the right one.

More than 1,000 rockets were launched at the same point in time, drawing a trail with bright light, and the German officers and soldiers watching the battle below instantly thought that they were dazzled.

A large number of rockets exploded in the group of fighters, with the exception of some of the rockets that went out of control and crashed directly into the sea, and the flying shrapnel immediately tore a huge gap in the originally dense group of fighters -- more than 10 fighters almost fell straight down.

Before Lawrence could recover from the climb, he saw the group of Do-412s start to dive down towards his own attack group, those SBD\TBFs hurriedly released the auxiliary fuel tanks, and some even threw torpedoes and bombs directly into the sea, just thinking about the lightest as possible

"No ......"

But it was too late.

More than 1,000 rockets condescended and rushed into this group of attack planes with a thunderous momentum.

Explosions, burns, falls...... That's all Lawrence's eyes, and it wasn't until the sound of a burst of 20mm cannon shells flying past the cockpit that he came to his senses.