At 12:06, the German aircraft group advanced to intercept under the guidance of radar, and the air force fighter pilots who came from the transition were even more painful. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The strength of the first wave of attack groups was 260:182 on the surface, but on closer analysis, there was a big difference.

Because the German army used the Ju-198 earlier, a general-purpose attack aircraft that fuses dive attack and torpedoes, the proportion of fighters is higher than that of the United States, usually fighters, reconnaissance planes, and attack aircraft are 40%, 10%, and 50% respectively, and this time there are 2 Rhine-class companions, and the proportion of fighters carrying more than 45%, 85 fighters and 97 attack planes in the 182 German attack groups. This is also the reason why the fighters of the German attack on the Nimitz aircraft carrier group can repeatedly entangle the US air defense fighters, because the two sides are close in number, which can effectively open up gaps for the attack planes.

The proportion of fighters in the US carrier-based structure is generally about 33%, because the US military does not have a special reconnaissance aircraft (its reconnaissance aircraft can perform attack missions after recovery), so the proportion of its attack aircraft is as high as 67%, Nimitz originally brought 6 escort aircraft carriers to accompany the operation, and after the above F6F is included in the calculation, the proportion of fighters rises to about 42%, but unfortunately when passing through the submarine formation, it lost 4 escort aircraft carriers and all the planes on it in one breath, so the number of fighters in the attack aircraft group is 92, and the proportion is only slightly more than 35%. And there are as many as 168 attack aircraft.

Therefore, on the surface, the US military has 43 percent more aircraft to attack than Germany, but the number of real attack planes is 73 percent more than that of Germany, and what cannot be ignored is that there are 144 of the 168 BTD attack planes newly equipped with the US military, and these planes can carry 2 torpedoes or 4 1000-pound bombs (2 are thrown by horizontal bombing when fully loaded, and the other 2 can be bombed by dive).

In order to retain more experienced pilots, Nimitz was forced to make adjustments before the war: more experienced fighter pilots were concentrated on the main aircraft carriers for direct cover operations, and less experienced pilots were placed on escort carriers for offensive cover. The pilots lost to the submarine attack last night were relatively not the most elite group, which is also the fundamental reason why the German offensive aircraft group did not have a high exchange ratio during the attack - the American army (including more British pilots) is of a good level, and there is no performance gap after replacing the F4U, and the 2:3 exchange ratio is just right.

However, this kind of helpless guiding ideology exposed problems during the offensive, and the US cover fighter pilots were obviously not as elite as the air defense fighter pilots. The interception operation dominated by the Do-412 achieved the desired results, but looking at the American planes that rushed forward one after another in three waves of black pressure echelons, everyone did not dare to take it lightly.

The electric 128mm anti-aircraft guns on the Richelieu located in the center of the fleet defense, together with the anti-aircraft guns of other ships, desperately intercepted and fired and played a huge advantage, and the blazing barrage forced the US attack formation to disperse, which created an opportunity for the next stage of the fleet's regional air defense, and the US attack aircraft pilots who were eager to directly attack the central aircraft carriers were mercilessly killed by the Phalanx, and only 3 of the first 11 planes successfully dropped bombs and hit the German ships. Even so, the US pilots rushed to the middle like moths to a flame.

The onion-peeling tactic is conducive to preserving the lives of the pilots of the attack group to the greatest extent, but it is not conducive to the initial results, and the current situation in which the US military is desperate and attacking strong and defending weak does not allow for such a calm and unhurried style of play, so the task given to the pilots by Nimitz is very clear -- to give priority to attacking the enemy's aircraft carriers.

The BTD attack planes that pounced on the two torpedoes were the first time they appeared, and everyone was quite surprised; after the aviation staff officer explained, Crank, Hintz, and others felt that their scalps were numb -- the maneuverability of carrying the two torpedoes was even worse, but the US pilots still pounced on them without hesitation, and they knew very well that the Americans were planning to fight hard, and the situation today must not be good.

At 12:09, the King was the first to eat two 1,000-pound aerial bombs, the main deck was destroyed, but the loss of power was not large, and it was still able to evade at a speed of 23 knots.

In the next 4 minutes, more than 20 US planes dropped bombs around the King, and the ship was hit with 3 bombs again. After eating the fifth bomb, the ship's power compartment was seriously damaged, and the main structure was heavily damaged and began to sink.

In order to sink this aircraft carrier, the SBD and BTD of the US military were beaten down by 17 of the surrounding hedgehog class in one go.

At 12:11, the fate of the sinking was the turn of the Rhine-class ship No. 11, which was hit first by 2 1000-pound bombs, then by a torpedo, and began to sink slowly in less than 2 minutes.

Almost at the same time as the ship sank, two torpedoes in the hull of the light cruiser De Grasse, also built by France, which covered the aircraft carrier Jean-Bar, sank rapidly; Looking at the American torpedo grazing the stern of the Jean-Bar, a cold sweat broke out on Hintz's back.

Although the success rate and hit level of BTD bombing are not high, they can't stand the fact that people can carry two torpedoes, and Hintz never thought about what an attack plane with two torpedoes would look like. Just when he was rejoicing on his forehead, the staff officers suddenly exclaimed: "The Ise has been hit by a thunderstorm!" ”

A torpedo penetrated the cover of the German ships on the periphery and impartially hit the port side of the Ise. The ship was hit by a torpedo last time, but due to the fierce fighting, it only carried out emergency repairs in Argentina and Italy, and did not have time to completely repair it, but I did not expect to be hit by a torpedo again today. However, the foundation of the battleship Ise saved him, and he successfully plugged the leak after more than 3,000 tons of water, but the hull rolled by 7 degrees.

"No!"

Just when the Ise was busy with the damage management, 7 more SBDs carrying aerial bombs fell from the sky, smashing 1,000 pounds of aerial bombs on the deck of the ship, one bomb hit the front elevator position, quickly jamming it, and the other bomb fell at the junction of the two decks, completely paralyzing the take-off and landing function of the oblique aircraft carrier.

This was not the whole story of the Ise disaster, taking advantage of the opportunity of the ship's successive hits and greatly reduced speed, another team of 8 BTDs pounced down and dropped torpedoes, although 5 were killed by the Hedgehog-class destroyers covering at close range, but 3 of them successfully released the torpedoes, and 6 torpedoes rushed towards the starboard side of the Ise, at this time the Ise, which had a speed of only 11 knots, used all its strength to evade 3, and the other 3 all hit.

No matter how strong the hull is, it can't withstand this attack intensity, and Captain Aoki, who is doing his best, can only order to abandon the ship - this is the third aircraft carrier he has lost since Germany entered the war, if Japan has long been regarded as an ominous person, but Krinch encouraged him: "Don't worry about sinking ships, the Führer will continue to give us new aircraft carriers, we must live bravely, the enemy does not surrender for a day, we cannot stop fighting for a day......"

After giving the order to abandon the ship, he calmly put on his life jacket and jumped into the sea, struggling to swim towards the nearest hedgehog-class - they were now skilled at catching dragonflies.

At 13:08, the huge American attack group finally retreated, leaving the sea full of devastation.

"Sir, the preliminary battle report of our army's attack group has also been sent back, do you want to listen to it?" Seeing that Turner's face was better than the first telegram, Admiral King breathed a sigh of relief and handed the telegram to the adjutant, "You can read it for me, first read the results of the battle, and then read the ...... of the battle damage."

"260 attack aircraft of our army launched an attack, sinking 2 aircraft carriers, 1 light aircraft carrier, and 2 light cruisers of the German fleet;

1 battleship was heavily damaged (Scharnhorst ate 1 torpedo, but it was not fatal, it was actually a medium wound), and 1 aircraft carrier of the fleet was suspected of being heavily damaged (Jean-Barr ate a torpedo, the situation was not serious, and it did not affect normal operations);

Zhongchuang had 2 battleships (the Richelieu ate 1 torpedo and 2 bombs, which was a little higher than Zhongchuang; Gneisenau received 1 bomb, which can only be regarded as a light injury), a Zhongchuang cruiser (the Hipperer received 1 bomb, and the situation did not have much impact);

lightly damaged 1 of its light aircraft carriers (the Rhine-class No. 12 ship lost nearly 2 bullets, lost several anti-aircraft guns, and the rest were the same);

There were also 6 other uncertain results (in fact, only 2 destroyers were sunk by bombs, and all the German destroyers before Z40 were lost). ”

Admiral Kim asked in a trembling voice: "So you can say that at least three aircraft carriers of the enemy, 2 large and 1 small, have been killed?" ”

"The battle report is so, and it may have to be verified again."

He nodded: "Read the battle damage report as well." ”

“…… The USS Hancock sank after a torpedo; The battleship Wisconsin suffered extremely serious losses after two consecutive battles, with more than 12,000 tons of water entering the water, all power loss, the foredeck submerged in the water, and it is currently in a state of abandonment, temporarily floating on the surface of the sea;

The USS Bennington aircraft carrier hit 2 bombs, both of which were located in the non-core area, the rear elevator was damaged, and the take-off and landing functions were partially damaged;

The last 2 Casablanca-class ships sank, the last 1 Cleveland-class cruiser sank, and the air defense cruisers lost 2 units; Destroyers lost 3 units. ”

"We have less losses than the enemy?"

"During the day, it is, but the losses from submarine warfare are not small." Turner saw that Admiral King was in good spirits, and analyzed, "Now there are only 2 aircraft carriers, 2 air defense cruisers and a bunch of destroyers left in the fleet, and the defense is extremely weak, and it is almost impossible to form a fleet, and I knew that I would leave the New Jersey behind." ”

Admiral Kim nodded, but who knew that would happen? He asked Turner, "What's next?" ”

"I would have chosen to retreat, but Nimitz would not give up, he intended to recover the planes and launch a second attack to fight the Germans to the death - if he could not win bravely and sink gloriously!"

Admiral Kim stood up excitedly, trembling and trying to say something, but he fell headlong on his feet......