Unlike the US Naval Air Force, which divided its planes into small formations and launched an attack with refueling tactics because of their poor technology, the more than 120 warplanes that took off from the aircraft carriers Akagi and Kaga formed a huge group in the sky and rushed towards the 16 th Task Force Fleet commanded by Halsey.

Halsey had long been prepared for the arrival of the Japanese planes.

The two aircraft carriers, the USS Hornet and the USS Wasp, formed a standard circular cordon with five heavy cruisers, one light cruiser and nine destroyers of the task force.

More than 20 F4F Wildcat fighters also took off urgently, bravely facing the Japanese aircraft group that had an absolute superiority in numbers.

The Zero fighters accelerated out of the formation and rushed towards the US fighter group, firing the first shot of the surprise attack on the US fighter group.

The Wildcat fighters were divided into more than a dozen two-plane formations and engaged in a melee with the Zero fighters, and in less than 20 minutes, they scored an impressive 5-to-1 record, which surprised the Japanese fighter pilots.

The U.S. military used the "Thatch scissors tactic" invented by John Thatch.

In an engagement, U.S. fighter planes fly in pairs and pull apart, and once an enemy plane attracts an enemy plane and is pursued, the two parallel planes will fly away from each other at an angle and then immediately turn to each other, so that the other own plane can attack the enemy plane.

With the debut of Thatch's scissor tactics, which compensated for the lack of aircraft performance and pilot experience, the Wildcat fighters fought with the Zero fighters, but they were still entangled in a superior number of enemy aircraft, unable to prevent Japanese bombers and torpedo groups from raiding the fleet on the sea.

Relying on the advantage of speed, the Type 99 dive bomber was the first to fly over the US fleet, and then swooped down sharply, dropping piles of bombs.

Each Type 99 dive bomber could carry five bombs, and one 250-kilogram bomb was suspended from the belly. Two sixty-kilogram bombs were suspended on each of the two wings.

Unlike in the past, the dive of the Type 99 dive bomber has created a different kind of battlefield spectacle.

Intercepted by US anti-aircraft fire, the first two Type 99 dive bombers failed to hit the target.

The powerful 250-kilogram bomb lifted a column of water on the surface of the sea, which already exceeded the deck of an aircraft carrier.

However, the magnificent battlefield landscape did not attract the attention of American sailors and officers, who focused all their attention on the dense butterfly-like floating objects in the sky.

Howl's large face was also pressed against the window of the bridge, staring at the sky that fell from the sky. Hundreds of weird objects.

What is this? A new bomb developed by the Japanese?

Halsey clearly saw that a Japanese dive bomber dropped five bombs, the largest of which fell into the sea against the right side of the deck, setting off a column of water that soared into the sky.

Four smaller bombs disintegrated strangely in the air, scattering dense black dots that spread their wings in the air and fell one after another.

Almost a third of the butterfly-shaped bombs fell on the right deck of the USS Hornet, completely impossible to dodge.

Halsey's eyes moved with the rapidly falling bombs, and he soon saw the insidiousness of the bombs.

Air Explosion. It turned out to be an air explosion.

Halsey saw the gray-black smoke burst out of the air, and his heart twitched violently.

Turning his head to look at the anti-aircraft gun emplacement on the right side of the deck, Halsey saw that next to the 20-mm anti-aircraft gun that had been firing fiercely, the gunners had convulsed and collapsed into the emplacement, and the originally ferocious anti-aircraft gun was instantly silent.

There were also butterfly bombs that did not explode in the air, but only burst into flames when they hit the deck.

Before Halsey could curse the insidious weapons of the Japanese, an even greater crisis descended from the sky and the sea at the same time.

Four Type 99 dive bombers launched dives one after another, each dropping a deadly 250-kilogram aerial bomb. and four bomb droppers that will disintegrate in the air.

Two 250-kilogram bombs missed and fell on the sea on either side of the Hornet. But the butterfly bombs that fell together always set off a bloody storm on the anti-aircraft gun emplacements on both sides of the deck.

Two more 250-kilogram bombs slammed into the Hornet's deck with precision, one hit the middle of the flight deck and exploded below deck, and the other burrowed into the ventilation duct behind the bridge and exploded.

The loud explosion came from behind the bridge, causing Halsey's brain to buzz.

Before he could give a new order, he heard a butterfly-like black shadow flash outside the bulletproof glass of the bridge.

I don't know how many butterfly bombs landed near the bridge. The shrenchnel struck the steel plate of the bridge, making a dense metal impact sound, and large and small cobweb-like cracks appeared on the bulletproof glass.

The aerial bombs that did not explode also fell into the open anti-aircraft gun emplacements and the corridor outside the bridge, and Halsey's heart couldn't help but beat rapidly at the thought of those strange butterfly-shaped bombs and his own only one layer of steel plates.

More butterfly bombs landed in the middle of the flight deck. Even a hole in the hull was drilled by a 250-kilogram aerial bomb.

"It was reported that the boiler compartment was badly damaged, only the No. 1 boiler was still running, and all the other boilers were turned off."

Before Halsey could figure out how to crack it, a voice full of horror rang in his ears.

"A torpedo was found on the starboard side, a torpedo was found on the starboard side, at a distance of about six hundred meters."

Halsey hurriedly looked to the sea to the right, and saw two white sprays on the blue sea, and two torpedoes rushed to the starboard side of the Hornet, one after the other.

The Hornet hurriedly turned around, only to find that the bulky hull had lost power due to the heavy damage to the boiler compartment, and the simple turning motion was almost impossible to complete.

・・・・・・・・・・・・Two huge explosions sounded from the right side of the ship's bow, and the white spray set off by the shock wave flew up hundreds of meters high, and the bow of the ship jumped violently, and the earthquake-like shaking spread throughout the ship.

Halsey grabbed at the railing, trying to keep his body from being thrown off.

It seems that the USS Hornet, where Halsey is located, has two more Type 99 dive bombers rushing to the deck of the Hornet.

At this time, the Hornet, which had almost lost its speed, had no ability to dodge at all, and could only watch as two enemy planes rushed towards it.

An enemy plane exploded in the air without warning, and at the critical moment, the surviving anti-aircraft fire on the Hornet came into play and destroyed the enemy plane in a dive. However, before the anti-aircraft gunners could cheer for their victory, the wreckage of the bomber was wrapped in smoke and firelight, raining down on the middle and rear of the flight deck.

This was followed by a loud bang from the bow, and another Type 99 dive bomber threw a bomb that hit the lower deck of the bow, making the bow even more serious.

After Halsey stabilized his body, he keenly realized that the Hornet had died of his injuries. The bow on the right side of the ship tilted towards the sea, causing the entire hull to tilt to the right, and the bow of the ship was surrounded by thick smoke.

"General, you have to be transferred, you can't stay here any longer, it's too dangerous here."

Glancing at the flight deck, which was a mess and littered with all kinds of scraps of brass and iron, Halsey shouted, "Contact Major General Fletcher immediately and let him take command of the battle." We transfer. ”

Surrounded by adjutant and guard staff, Halsey hurriedly withdrew from the bridge, pushed open the hatch on the lowest floor, and ran to the aisle to the right of the superstructure.

The staff officers untied the escape boat suspended from the railing, and Halsey held on to the railing, sensing that the Hornet was still leaning to the right.

In the panic, no one noticed that there was a ground four or five meters away in the aisle. Quietly lay a butterfly-shaped bomb.

Two lifeboats were thrown to the surface one after another, and the officers gave full play to the tradition of "let the leader go first". Let Halsey get on board first.

One after another shouts were suddenly inserted into a dull explosion.

On the neglected butterfly bomb, the time-delay fuse came into play and detonated the explosives.

Flying shrapnel rushed into the crowd, and the officers of the Navy were covered with flesh and blood.

Halsey rushed to the right side of his neck with a sharp pain, and his eyes were instantly enveloped in darkness. Falling softly onto the deck.

By the time Halsey was carried to the lifeboat by the surviving officers and hurried away from the USS Hornet, the massive hull of the USS Hornet was already lying on its side at sea.

On the left side of the ship, exposed to the sea, there were panicked sailors, all of whom were busy jumping into the sea to escape. Want to escape the deadly vortex created by the sinking of the battleship in time.

Halsey's lifeboat was parked next to the heavy cruiser USS Portland, and an unconscious Halsey was put on deck and taken to the infirmary.

Task Force XVII, on the bridge of the USS Yorktown, Rear Admiral Fletcher soon received a battle report.

Task Force XVI was attacked by a Japanese assault group, the Hornet was sunk, and the Wasp was hit by two aerial bombs and temporarily incapacitated, and Halsey had already handed over command of the battle to him.

"Contact the surviving pilots of the Hornet and the Wasp immediately and let them land on the Yorktown. All ships are ready to turn around, and we are going to evacuate the battlefield. ”

In the western sky, the sparse black dots peeking out of the clouds were the American pilots who had attacked the Japanese fleet and returned home victoriously.

First the Yorktown's own carrier-based aircraft, then the carrier-based aircraft of Task Force XVI that hurried to make a U-turn, and as the only aircraft carrier capable of receiving these carrier-based aircraft, the Yorktown's deck was full of aircraft.

"All the fighters except for the fighters are immediately relocated to the inside of the hull, and we will retreat, notify the Task Force XVI, and all of them will retreat."

Rear Admiral Fletcher decisively gave the order to retreat, sinking one of the opposing aircraft carriers, severely damaging two, sinking one himself and lightly damaging one.

With the enemy dominating, Fletcher was quite satisfied with this result, and all he had to do now was to lead the fleet out of the battle as soon as possible and escape from the range of Japanese fighters.

However, it backfired, and Fletcher soon heard a report from the radar room.

"In the north, organic colonies were found to be close, about forty nautical miles away, and there were more than a hundred of them."

Fletcher's brow furrowed, his two eyebrows almost joined together, and he asked with a glare, "Are you sure the enemy is from the north?" Not the West? ”

After receiving an affirmative reply, the shadow in Major General Fletcher's heart instantly became larger than the Pacific Ocean.

According to the position of the fleets of both sides, the enemy's attack aircraft group will not appear in the north in any case, but only in the west or northwest.

The most important point is that the 16th Task Force has already reported that the enemy's attack aircraft group has just left, and the calculation time is less than half an hour, and in such a short time, it is impossible for the enemy to complete the operation of returning, replenishing, and making a second sortie.

So where did this fleet come from?

In the nearby seas, are there still aircraft carriers that have not been discovered by themselves?

And there is more than one.

Major General Fletcher was immediately frightened by his own inferences.

"Quick, let the fighters attack, let the fighters attack." Major General Fletcher gave the order urgently.

"The enemy's fleet stopped advancing, the enemy's group stopped advancing, about twenty nautical miles from us."

Hearing the report from the radar room, Fletcher was not happy, and he immediately guessed what the Japanese fighters were doing at this time.

"Damn, they must be attacking Task Force Sixteen, let the fighters attack and protect Task Force Sixteen."

On the deck of the Yorktown, the fighter jets, which had been hurriedly refueled, took off urgently, flew north, and were immediately drawn into a strangulation battle.

Fletcher's guess was accurate, and the second wave of attacks was launched by the aircraft carriers Shozuru and Zuizuru.

When the attack group arrived over Task Force 16, it instantly locked onto the last remaining aircraft carrier, the USS Wasp.

Losing the attention of the Japanese fighters that the Hornet shared for him, and lost most of the fighters and anti-aircraft firepower, the Hornet could only pin its hopes on the warships escorting the surrounding escort.

Unleashing a smoke screen and taking a serpentine course, the Wasp desperately tried to get away from the attacks of Japanese bombers and torpedo planes, but was surrounded by wolves.

The Yorktown fighters arrived in time, but they could not stop the Japanese fighters from besieging the Wasp, but instead got bogged down in the battle with the Zero fighters and could not get out.

250 kilograms of aerial bombs and butterfly bombs rained down, and the middle and rear of the Wasp's deck were hit by three bombs one after another, and the huge hull slowly slowed down, losing its previous agility.

The Type 97 torpedo planes from the left and right sides of the ship, seizing the precious opportunity, threw deadly torpedoes.

In less than half an hour, the wasp was hit by five torpedoes on the left and right sides, completely paralyzed in the ocean, and became a live target for Japanese fighters.

The damage management failed, and the order to abandon ship was quickly communicated to every corner of every Wasp.

The crew scrambled to get out of their respective posts to fight for the last chance of life.

Rear Admiral Fletcher soon received the news that the Wasp was sinking.

"Order the escort fleet to salvage the overboard crew and evacuate the battlefield at full speed. We must bring the Yorktown back to Pearl Harbor, it is our only hope. ”

No sooner had Fletcher given a new order than he received a new warning from the radar room.

"In the northwest direction, the organic colony was found to be close, numbering about fifteen, at a distance of about fifty nautical miles." (To be continued.) )