There was a loud "boom", "boom", and then a high column of water rose into the sky, and most of the torpedoes were dodged by the warships, but there were also unlucky people who were hit by mines, such as the two heavy cruisers Dukena and Tourville. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info nominally they belonged to the Free France, but everyone knew that the Free France depended on the British and American snorts, so that he would never dare to go west if he went east, and these warships were also pulled out to fight and join the aircraft carrier group. With their speed and size, it was relatively easy to dodge torpedoes, but since they served as the knife guards of the two Essex-class aircraft carriers, they had to have the courage to withstand the mines at critical moments - and now the opportunity has finally come.

The French were also unlucky, before World War II, they built a total of 7 treaty-type heavy cruisers of the 3rd class, and the performance was not particularly bad, compared to the British crispy to have a great advantage, but unfortunately they did not get the last one, the Alliance and the Axis divided the inheritance respectively, the former got 2 ships, the latter got 5 ships. As a result, four ships were lost at once today - the Axis lost the Suffron and Algeria, and the Allies lost the Dukena and Tourville.

It is very interesting to sum it up in one sentence: the Japanese commander and the British commander faced off in the Atlantic, using American and German planes to sink the warships that originally belonged to France and Italy, respectively, and asked who suffered the most losses?

Faced with the result of losing 2 light aircraft carriers and 2 heavy cruisers in one go, everyone, including Cunningham, gasped, and the German attack efficiency was too high, right? Soon they had no time to think about it, and the next wave of attacks continued to pounce, this time focusing on the adjusted course of the somewhat disorganized left flank, Frank seized the fleeting fighter and ordered 36 He-218s to pounce together, aiming at the light cruisers and light carriers on the left flank to continue the attack, focusing on the three light cruisers Santa Fe, Birmingham and Mobile (all of the Cleveland class) with intensive anti-aircraft fire. He took a closer look and found that their presence posed a great threat to subsequent group attacks, and they had to be eliminated first.

After the dive bomber attack, taking advantage of the confusion and the diversion of anti-aircraft fire, the Ju-98 also lost no time in lowering altitude and gathered to the front of the American fleet to drop torpedoes, and now, the sea is full of torpedoes, head-numbing tracks and the constant whistling of bombs.

Although the regional anti-aircraft fire formed by these three light cruisers shot down a total of 8 German aircraft, its own fate was also doomed at this moment: the Santa Fe was severely damaged by 3 bombs, and its speed was reduced to less than 8 knots; The Birmingham ate 2 bombs and 1 torpedo and struggled to get into the water and capsize; The worst was the Mobile, which suffered three torpedoes in a row, was blown into several sections and sank directly, and more than 1,200 officers and soldiers only rescued less than 100 people. After the loss of the anti-aircraft firepower group composed of these warships, the remaining anti-aircraft firepower on the left flank of the US aircraft carrier formation was greatly weakened, and now it is simple to deal with the remaining warships, and the nine He-218s finally pounced and simply sent the Cowpens light aircraft carrier to the bottom of the sea with four bombs......

Frank had used up two-thirds of his attack force by this time, and after looking around, he targeted several fleet carriers at the core of the British and American fleets, especially the most prominent and conspicuous ones, the Bunker Hill and the Valiant. However, he made some mistakes in the selection of targets, he instinctively thought that these two huge aircraft carriers were the flagships, but he turned a blind eye to the Unicorn, which actually hung the flagship logo, and failed to paralyze this command center at the first time, but allowed it to issue orders one by one, and the remaining British and American warships accelerated to form a wheel-shaped air defense formation under the command of the flagship, and the three light cruisers (all Cleveland-class) Denver, Montpellier, and Biloxi quickly formed a regional defense center according to Cunningham's requirements. The dense firepower enveloped the core airspace of several aircraft carriers, which gave Frank, who was in command in the air, a deep headache.

After thinking about it for half a minute, he didn't want to rush down and send him to death, and he didn't dare to ignore the power of these light cruisers, so he had to send out the last 20 or so He-218 dive bombers left on hand to attack the periphery, and then let the last 18 torpedo attack planes go down to assist in the attack, hoping to use torpedoes to solve the two Essex class ships in the center of the wheeled air defense array from the gap and confusion opened by the dive bombers. Although the dive bombers used bombs to blow up these light cruisers to death, but they could not sink for a while, they still blocked a few torpedoes, Frank's high hopes for the final blow only sank 2 light cruisers, heavy damage to 1, finally at the last moment let the Brave hit a torpedo, but unfortunately the special mines carried by the joint attack aircraft were all consumed, otherwise the lethality would be greater, the aviation torpedoes now used are weak for the Essex class, and they can barely be regarded as broken. The sturdiness of the Essex class was well known in the German army, and Frank considered it acceptable......

At 16:28, Frank led the attack aircraft group to sink 2 heavy cruisers, 3 Independence-class light carriers, 5 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, and severely damaged 2 light cruisers and 1 light aircraft carrier (Bataan); Zhongchuang 1 fleet aircraft carrier (Brave), but also shot down 64 enemy air defense fighters, the price paid by the side is not small, 19 fighters lost, attack aircraft lost 23, the overall casualty rate is nearly 20%. This is still the "onion peeling" tactic with a relatively low casualty rate, attacking the inner layer from the periphery circle after circle, and if he comes down, he will directly attack the Essex class in the core, maybe the casualties will be greater, which he does not want to see.

However, on the way back, he regretted it, and as soon as he sent a telegram to report the results of the battle, the mothership sent him a telegram, and he was stunned when he heard the telegraph operator report that "the Elbe has sunk, and the Aquila has been severely damaged and has lost its ability to take off and land...... Then his expression suddenly became solemn, although the result of causing three sunk and one wounded four light aircraft carriers to the US military just now, the core combat strength of the US military -- the two Essex-class class -- remained unmoved, which means that the US military can still retain the combat effectiveness of two large aircraft carriers and one medium aircraft carrier, which is still stronger than itself.

"Members of the formation note that due to the damage caused to the aircraft carriers Elbe and Aquila, all the planes that originally belonged to the ship returned to the land-based base in Newfoundland with the joint attack aircraft......"

In complete darkness, the returning German formations silently split into two groups and returned to their respective destinations. Just half an hour after they left the Cunningham fleet, the group of British and American attack planes that had returned first had begun to land on the mothership one after another.

In this round of fighting, both sides suffered heavy losses, the German army lost a total of 103 aircraft in the air defense and attack aircraft group, the overall battle loss rate was as high as 34%, and also lost an additional 71 pilots (groups), 2 aircraft carriers and 2 heavy cruisers; If the losses of Britain and the United States are accumulated, they will be even greater, including the army and Canadian air forces, a total of 489 planes have been lost, and the overall battle loss rate is as high as 60 percent, and the pilots of carrier-based aircraft alone have lost nearly 50 percent of their original establishment, and they have also built four Independence-class light aircraft carriers.

At nightfall, the top brass of the two fleets discussed countermeasures and considered the next course of action.

"Through the transfer of other warship crews and reserve aircraft, the Zeppelin and Harrier Eagle aircraft are now fully manned, and another 89 aircraft, including some carrier-based aircraft due to insufficient capacity of the mothership, have landed at the Newfoundland base for replenishment...... Hartman, the ace pilot who had been mistakenly thought to be missing in the morning, also landed successfully on the island and was in good health. The aviation staff reported on the current state of combat readiness, especially emphasizing the current situation of Hartman, who did not break the record of 17 results in one day in Marseilleu, but the news of 13 results in one day also shocked everyone, at least in the history of HNA, and Marchar instructed to search for it at all costs, only to learn later that the boy had gone to Newfoundland.

Now the embarrassing situation of the German army is that there are more planes than warships, and carrier-based aircraft cannot be arranged, so they can only take refuge on the island of Newfoundland.

On the other hand, the Cunningham fleet is now immersed in an atmosphere of mourning, and the remaining two warships can still accommodate a total of 204 aircraft, but there are only 148 planes left in the returning warships, and even if more than 20 reserve aircraft are urgently called, they have not been able to complete the formation, and it looks a little empty. What is even more uncomfortable is the loss of the pilot, many of the comrades who were still vaguely in sight in the afternoon have not been able to come back, at the last moment Cunningham ordered to take the risk of turning on the lights to attract the plane to return, but after waiting for more than half an hour, only one was recovered, as time went by, the possibility of the rest of the pilots returning safely became smaller and smaller, and the ground staff in the reservoir area were crying, holding back their tears so as not to fall.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have not failed, the losses of the fleet are of course heavy, but the enemy's losses are not minor either, and more importantly, we can make up for them relatively easily, while the enemy cannot do this......" Cunningham encouraged them in the face of the dejected staff officers, "The Joint Staff has sent us reinforcements, the task force of the Brave and the San Jacinto has set off from the east coast, they will join the fleet, we must not be afraid of sacrifice, continue to fight with the Germans, and send them all to the bottom of the sea!" ”

Hearing that reinforcements had arrived, everyone seemed to have been shot in the arm, and they began to calculate, now the fleet from two large and one medium three aircraft carriers, plus one large and one small two aircraft carriers, the overall can be restored to the scale of nearly 300 aircraft of five aircraft carriers, and the German army only has two aircraft carriers left, even if the aircraft carrier on the Anglo-Canadian route is only three, plus the side can also get land aviation cover, from the combat effectiveness can completely overpower the opponent.

The mood of revenge suddenly rose......