The interception formation of 24 BF-219s was not so easy to break through, and the F4F had lost 4 by the time they crossed the first blockade line, and the remaining 16 were in a state of full suppression in the face of German aircraft that were stronger in performance and technology than their average, but the Wildcat pilots fought very tenaciously and used all their strength to pull out the offensive window for the attack aircraft group behind them. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

At 12:19, 12 SBDs and 9 TBFs bypassed the second batch of intercepted German fighters and began to pounce on the aircraft carrier in the center of the fleet, at this time the last 3 Ju-98s did not take off, Ozawa calmly ordered: "The last group of fighters come forward to intercept, be sure to ensure that the lightning strikers complete the take-off ......"

The anti-aircraft fire on the warship has also been adjusted to the maximum, but it still can't stop the desperate American pilots, SBD with a bomb screamed down, "boom", the Europa aircraft carrier deck was impartially hit by a 500-pound bomb, the bomb penetrated several decks, and fell to the top of the power compartment before exploding, this aircraft carrier with little defense capability could not withstand this kind of attack at all, and immediately exploded a big gap.

Attracted by the results of his companions, one after another SBD pounced on the attack, in less than 2 minutes, the Europa ate 4 bombs, 3 of which were 500 pounds and 1 was 1,000 pounds, the internal structure of the 50,000-ton merchant aircraft carrier was blown to pieces, miserable, the power compartment was also destroyed, and the speed of the whole ship plummeted to the level of only 12 knots.

Seizing this opportunity, the TBFs began to drop torpedoes, and the Hippert next to it tried to block it, but it missed a mine, and the Europa ate one instead, and the hole was blown more than 4 meters below the waterline, and the sea water rushed in - this kind of civilian ship without the tight watertight storage and damage management design of warships could not resist such a degree of war damage. The order to abandon the ship was immediately issued, and in less than five minutes, everyone could only witness the slow sinking of this comprehensive aircraft carrier, which had made many meritorious contributions after it was built.

"Damn!" Marchar didn't have time to lament the fate of the Europa, the SBDs pounced on the Zeppelin again, and the last time the damage was near the first elevator and the aft deck of the ship, 1 bomb each, although the two planes after the bomb were quickly sunk by the BF-219, but the damage they caused was irreparable, the stern part of the ship was in a mess, but the front loss was not too serious - the Zeppelin was also an armored aircraft carrier, and this bomb could still be prevented.

The US carrier-based planes in the air fell one after another, and the 51 US planes were now less than 30, but there were still fish that slipped through the net and swooped down, and the targets were all aimed at the Zeppelin without exception, the heavy cruiser Admiral Schell blocked two torpedoes for the Zeppelin, and he floated on the water and was dying, and the crazy US TBF pilot had recently pounced on about 500 meters to drop torpedoes, although the plane was quickly shot down, But while the Admiral Schell was paralyzed and the other warships had not yet been able to fill their positions in time, the Zeppelin lost vital cover and was hit by a torpedo on the starboard side.

The people in the bridge only felt a heavy blow to the warship under their feet, and then there was a violent explosion, and the sea water poured in, and the warship began to tilt to the right to the extent that it was visible to the naked eye. Seeing that the two aircraft carriers had suffered bad luck one after another, the fighter pilots above the fleet had red circles in their eyes, desperately blocking the approach of the rest of the planes. However, the good fortune of the American carrier-based aircraft also ended here, and in the end, all the remaining unbombed planes were shot down

At 12:43, the American attack aircraft group retreated north, and only 14 of the 68 aircraft remained, with a loss rate of 80%, several of which were wounded. The German planes suffered little losses, except for the 12 BF-219s intercepted in the first wave, all of which were sunk, and only 6 fighters were lost in the rear, and the last one Ju-98 attack plane was damaged on the deck by the Americans because it was too late to take off - fortunately, the torpedo was not detonated, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable.

"How's it going?" Furrowed in a state of agitation, Machar asked the captain.

"The situation is not good, although the water ingress has stopped, but there are also problems with the engine room, and now the maximum speed can only reach 21 knots."

"Pay attention to the attack formation, and quickly follow the enemy aircraft to attack." Ozawa did not have time to be sentimental about the loss, and quickly gave the order to attack, "The 16 fighters with the most fuel will escort the formation. ”

"Give them a little color!" Upon learning of the loss of the fleet, Machar gasped, and in less than half an hour, the Europa sank, and the Admiral Scheer and Zeppelin were heavily damaged. Even more troublesome than Bichuang is that the Zeppelin now has problems with both take-off and landing aircraft.

"Let's restore the balance of the Zeppelin by filling it with water." Ozawa sighed, "Now that the inclination is too high to take off and land, let's see if we can repair the main part of the deck, at least save these returning planes." ”

Everyone wept and watched as more than 1,500 tons of seawater slowly poured into the port side, the Zeppelin slowly regained its balance, and the deck was full of twisted and deformed steelwork, but the only consolation was that the main armor belt position was preserved, and the Zeppelin could barely provide a safe place to land, but only one elevator could be used, and the speed was reduced to less than 18 knots.

"Hurry up and fix it." Machar sighed, "Regardless of the outcome of the planes, we can't go to South America to break diplomatic relations anymore - a fleet without air cover is too dangerous." ”

"Inform the artillery formations and prepare for a night battle." Ozawa thought for a moment, "If the planes can find and inflict heavy damage on the enemy, we still have a chance to kill them." ”

"Retreat in the direction of Spain first."

In the midst of the gloomy fog above and below the German army, everyone on the Indomitable was happy, and Chris reported: "Sir, news from the front that we have sunk an aircraft carrier, it seems that the Europa, the Zeppelin has been heavily damaged, and a heavy cruiser has been heavily damaged. ”

Spruance didn't have much joy, but asked worriedly, "The formation of nearly 70 planes has only achieved such a small result?" ”

"This ...... The interception of enemy fighters was very powerful. Brown reassured him, "When the group returns, we can launch a second attack, the enemy's two aircraft carriers are almost gone, and the second wave of attack should not be intercepted by fighters." ”

"Ask how many planes there are left...... Let's see if it's enough to launch a second wave of attacks. ”

A few minutes later, Chris came over with a gloomy face: "Sir, Lieutenant Colonel Green is dead, and there are probably only a dozen planes left in the fleet." ”

"What?" Everyone was speechless with shock: 68 planes went out and only a dozen returned?

"There's no second wave left, prepare to retreat west." Spruance looked at his watch, "There are still 5 hours until dark, and any accident will kill us." ”

"Do you want to use the battleship to bombard?"

"Don't be, we're barely enough, my biggest task now is to bring these 2 aircraft carriers back safe and sound, and after replenishing the planes and pilots, we can come back to the Germans."

But half an hour later, the top brass of the U.S. fleet knew that this was an extravagant expectation, because the radar observed a large group of planes coming - it was obviously not their own planes, and what was more deadly was that the pilots who had narrowly escaped from the battlefield were exhausted, and no one noticed that they were unwittingly following behind a huge formation of 16 BF-219 fighters, 18 HE-218 dive bombers, and 15 Ju-98 torpedo attack planes.

"Prepare for air defense." Spruance sighed, "Tell the ships to cover the aircraft carrier as much as possible......"

At 1:45 p.m., the enraged German pilots caught the American fleet, relaying the exact news to the fleet and immediately swooping down for a fierce attack.

"What? The North Sea Fleet was attacked and is now fighting back? "When the exact telegram was received, Lieutenant Colonel Schiller directed a wave of joint attack planes to blow air at the Idaho, which had retreated first the previous night, which the reconnaissance planes had discovered with great difficulty. A few minutes later, under the "care" of special mines, the battleship Idaho was sent to the bottom of the sea, along with 2 destroyers.

"Immediately sortie according to the location notified by the fleet." Schiller was glad that he had kept an eye on it, and after learning that only 1 battleship and 2 destroyers had been found, he left 33 joint attack aircraft on standby on the island, otherwise the current mission of Mashal would not have been completed at all.

Although the He-218 dropped bombs one bomb after another on it, it only blew up the decks and hangars of the two warships, and it was still far from being completely destroyed, and now the deck was no longer interesting to the Americans, and the F4F covering in the air had all been beaten down, and the more than a dozen planes that had worked so hard to rush back not only guided the enemy to the fleet, but also inevitably shot down themselves in the end -- the carrier-based planes of the US aircraft carrier formation were all wiped out.

The ju-98 torpedo did its job, the Chicago heavy cruiser ate 2 torpedoes, struggled to sink, after the gap in his cover was exposed, the aircraft carrier Dreadnought finally ate the aviation torpedo, 2 aviation torpedoes were hit on the port side, the hull was flooded a lot, the captain still stubbornly rescued the armored aircraft carrier, reluctant to abandon the ship, the battleship Anson who blocked the gun for the Indomitable also ate 2 torpedoes, the whole tilted 14 degrees to the right, and the speed fell to only 17 knots.

At 2:15 p.m., the German fleet retreated, and at the cost of the loss of 4 BF-219, 3 HE-218 and 4 Ju-98, they sank a heavy cruiser, heavily damaged 2 aircraft carriers and 1 battleship.

Although the fleet suffered heavy losses, after all, the two aircraft carriers were still there, and Spruance commanded the fleet to stagger and retreat westward. (To be continued.) )