"Let's go back? Is there any mistake? We've only been out for half an hour......" Major Tony, who led the second attack wave of the American army, couldn't believe his eyes, what was going on in the rear?

"Sir, the order is confirmed, let's go back. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"Hey!" Tony punched the plane window so hard that he almost didn't poke the SBD out of the hole, "What a fight this is!" ”

"The estimated losses are significant." The pilot sighed, "Before leaving, I looked up at the sky, and it seemed that the German attack group had arrived. ”

"Okay, homecoming." Tony quickly ordered over the radio, "All attention, the attack aircraft will quickly return home after abandoning the auxiliary fuel tanks, bombs, and torpedoes, and the fighters will keep the auxiliary fuel tanks and return to the fleet for cover." ”

Tony was quite calm, and the order given by the fleet was to abandon the fuel tanks, bombs, and torpedoes and return, but as soon as he heard that the fleet had just experienced an air raid, he thought that the original air defense fighters would definitely not be enough, so he had to bring back all the 15 fighters full of fuel in his hand.

Now, the other two aircraft carriers are recovering the F6F fighters that have just experienced a bloody battle at full speed, and their fuel can still last for a while, but many of them have completely run out of ammunition.

However, these details are now in the hands of the staff officers, and Cunningham and Nimitz are discussing the next course of action, proposing a way to "divide the troops" and escape.

"If the forces are divided, the overall anti-aircraft firepower of the fleet will drop by one level."

"But at least half of them can be saved." "We still have a little bit of time, and if we don't split up, we'll all die together." ”

"Well, old friend, you convinced me, how to divide it?"

"You take the Franklin and the 2 Iowa to Newfoundland, and I take the Hornet to Great Britain!"

"No, I'll trade with you!"

"Forget it, at the critical moment, take care of the disabled." Cunningham patted his broken leg, "I'll take you on a trip." ”

Tears rolled in Nimitz's eyes, but in the end he didn't say anything, only held Cunningham's hand tightly: "Take care!" ”

Of course, what the two are fighting about is not the question of who should change the warship, but the Hornet has a flagship logo, and whoever stays here means that the fleet command center is here, and it must be the first priority target of the German army, and the risk will be greater.

The American and British staff officers hugged each other goodbye, full of sadness, and it was completely unknown whether they would meet again next time.

At 14:14, TF46 officially divided its forces, and Nimitz took the staff to the Franklin by transport boat, and then the overall course of the American fleet turned to the north-west, and the Hornet turned northeast with the British fleet - now the three capital ships are all British ships.

With the division of the fleet, the second attack wave that rushed back was also divided, some went to the Franklin, part went to the Hornet, and everyone's choice was very tacit: American planes went to the American fleet, and British planes went to the British fleet.

"Sir, General Nimitz has also raised his flagship."

"Well, let's keep hanging."

"This ...... Good. The staff officer who entered the speech originally wanted to say that it was unnecessary, but seeing the resolute attitude of the commander, he was embarrassed to say anything more.

"This may be the last battle of the Royal Navy, everyone cheer up."

"The last battle?" Everyone looked at each other, not knowing why.

"In the five years since the war, many warships of the Royal Navy have been killed at sea, and the officers and men have suffered heavy casualties. Among them, especially with me making the most mistakes and losing the most, I can't help but sigh every time I think about it. Cunningham bowed slightly to the crowd in his wheelchair, "It's all wrong." ”

"Sir, we can't give up, we still have 2 battleships and 2 armored aircraft carriers on the mainland, we are about to become an army, we ......"

"There's no hope." Cunningham shook his head and sighed, "Regardless of today's losses, after this battle, the Americans will no longer aid and will not be able to help us anymore, the future of the British Empire is bleak, there is no difference between those 4 capital ships and those 4 capital ships, and in the end they are all dead words." ”

The staff officers were gloomy and silent, and the youngest ones were even crying in a hurry.

"Do you know why I want to engage in British ships, I just want to preserve a little vitality and dignity for the British Empire, but now it seems that it is also in vain." Cunningham took a deep breath, "In the future, everyone should use their brains and keep their eyes open when they encounter war, and don't be as confused as I am." ”

"Sir, we still have a chance."

"The British Empire was destroyed on the article 'still had a chance.'" Cunningham lamented, "I thought we had a chance, as you did, but it was a hoax. Let's not talk about whether it can win or not, even if it can win, does the British Empire still have its former status? The Dominions and Colonies are all gone, the treasury is heavily indebted, and the people are living in misery...... Which do you think is better, a system with the United States as the world hegemon or a system with Germany as the world hegemon? I don't think there's an essential difference. If Hitler had swept Europe in '39, we would have negotiated peace with him, and the British Empire would have been in a much higher position than it is now. It is the politicians who push the whole country and the nation into the abyss for their own benefit - and of course, people like me are also indispensable. That's why I'm guilty! ”

Everyone was silent, and in fact the attitude of the chief had changed subtly since the policy of "British and British ships," and he believed that the Americans had only come to the aid of Britain for their own interests and shady purposes, and that while the British were dying for the United States, the United States was still playing all kinds of tricks, and might even betray Britain in exchange for Germany to give up Japan -- in this case, what was the need for the British Empire to be reluctant?

"In the future, if the situation in Britain is not good, there will definitely be people clamoring to go to Canada to set up another government, claiming to 'resist to the end', and maybe they will use various names to lure the soldiers to go to Canada together, I hope you will not be fooled." Cunningham took a deep breath, "The Royal Navy is a whole and can never be divided. He can be defeated, but he should never kill each other! Lost? Just come back next time, the Germans have not lost. ”

"Sir, radar reports a large swarm of planes coming up."

A staff officer nervously asked, "Can you tell the difference between friend and foe?" ”

"Don't tell, this must be an enemy army." Cunningham shook his head and said, "It will take an hour and a half for our army's first attack wave to arrive even if it is fully sprinted, and there is no doubt that it is the enemy, so inform the fleet of air defense preparations." ”

"Why is the enemy so fast?"

"I see, I see......" Cunningham finally figured out the mystery, tears welling up in his eyes, "this should be the combination of the beveled deck and the German army of the Azores, or rather, the enemy will determine reinforcements after receiving the enemy as soon as possible." Isn't it strange to you the other day why the German fleet is always circling in a small sea area, and here's why. ”

Cunningham quickly drew arrows from the three corners of the Azores, Brest, and A Coruña with red and blue pencils, and everyone was stunned to find that the distance between the three sections was actually very close.

"It's a pity that we thought we still had an advantage, but we didn't expect to live in an illusion all the time."

At 14:27, the second German attack wave arrived at the scene, and at this time the British and American fleets had already divided their forces, and it was completely impossible to gather together to attack, so they could only consider one to attack. Colonel Kleiman, who led the group, considered that a landing campaign against Britain might be launched in the future, so he directed the main attack on the Cunningham fleet.

Although the second German attack wave had only 100 planes, which was smaller than the first wave, the entire Cunningham fleet had only 20 air defense fighters in total, and the disparity in strength was even greater, and it was completely insufficient to cover the overall air defense of the fleet.

"Sir, what should I do? The enemy all rushed towards Chief Cunningham's fleet. ”

Seeing this, Nimitz's heart was like a knife, and he wanted to order all his fighters to rush over to support him several times, but when he thought of the third wave of attacks in the future, he could only hold back, and finally said: "Transfer 12 planes to support." ”

There are only 25 fighters in the sky over the US fleet, and the transfer of 12 is equivalent to only half of them, which is also very dangerous.

At 14:31, the attack officially began, and Tony's first target was the light cruiser Ajax (Leander-class) on the periphery, and eight Ju-198s quickly sent the 7,000-ton light cruiser to the sea with six bombs, avenging the Count of Spade - Ajax was the vanguard of the siege of the Count of Spade in the River de la Plata.

A minute later, the Orion, a ship of the same class, followed in the footsteps of the Ajax, and was sunk by five bombs - the ship had fought Germany and Italy many times in the Mediterranean, and it was an old acquaintance.

As soon as the two light cruisers covering the left flank went, Kleiman immediately ordered the torpedo-carrying Ju-198 to release the torpedoes, and only 1 of the 24 attack aircraft was unfortunately shot down, the rest were successfully completed. Due to the weakening of the outer firepower, this time the torpedo landed closer to the core of the fleet and penetrated directly into the inner layer, and the first target was the Hornet, where Cunningham was located.

At 14:36, the George V, which covered the flagship, was the first to hit the mine, and a large hole was torn open on the port side, but under the concerted efforts of British officers and soldiers to plug the leak, the ship was no different except for more than 2,000 tons of water and a speed of 3 knots; Another unlucky guy who was hit by a mine was the HMS Belfast, a warship that was probably in the grip of anti-aircraft fire - it had just shot down a Bf-219, forgetting that there was also a torpedo, and it was actually hit by a mine in an inexplicable state. He didn't have the thick stature of George V, and he was immediately hit hard.

Seeing that there was an opportunity, 2 groups of 8 Ju-198s immediately pounced and dived to attack, and within 3 minutes they ate 6 bombs in a row, and the captain was forced to announce that they would abandon the ship.

The exciting moment finally arrived, and the next target: Cunningham's flagship Hornet......