ps: I went out today, and the second shift will be late, sorry......

Although Fleet A was closer to the Japanese artillery formation that opened fire on the Tarawa beachhead, because of the tossing and confusion during takeoff, the speed of take-off and regrouping was much slower than that of the Japanese, and when the first wave of US attack planes arrived over the target, even if Fleet A fled as fast as possible after releasing the planes, trying to desperately extend the Japanese attack distance, it would at most run several tens of kilometers, and for planes with a speed of more than 400 kilometers, it would at most delay for a few minutes. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The US attack wave flew from east to west, and the Japanese attack wave pounced in the northeast direction, and although the planes of the two sides did not meet in the middle of the way, the US flight team still flew sparsely, forcing the commander to temporarily form a formation on the battlefield on the eve of approaching the target.

The commander of the A fleet is Rear Admiral Thomson, and his character is ruthless enough, he released 146 of the 178 planes in one go, leaving only 32 to protect the fleet, in fact, this is a symbolic psychological comfort, he knows very well that once this batch of aircraft carriers is attacked by the enemy, these planes will not be enough at all, but he can't leave too much, there must be air defense fighters over the Japanese artillery fleet, and the attack aircraft group will not be able to enter if the number is too small.

But he overlooked the fact that the large formation of 146 planes was very difficult, and it was beyond the ability of his rookies to maintain a continuous formation, even if it took four minutes to temporarily form a team, the first planes to pounce on the attack were only in their early 100s, and the planes would be scattered - if Nimitz made a 600-kilometer long-distance attack, he didn't know where the rookies would fly.

"Sir, the entire A-fleet has attacked, and it is about to reach the sky above the target."

Halsey did not show the slightest sign of joy, but said irritably: "The enemy should have also attacked, hasn't the reconnaissance plane discovered the enemy aircraft carrier formation yet?" ”

"Not yet."

"Intensify the investigation!"

At 8:29, the heavy cruiser Suzuya (the most ranked), which was on guard on the perimeter, used the radar detection results to raise an alarm: "Enemy aircraft are coming, the course is 265 degrees, the speed is 240 knots, and the size of the fleet is expected to be 100 aircraft. ”

At this time, the first wave of Japanese attack planes departing from a farther position was at least 10 minutes away from Fleet A, and Mitsuo Fuchita, the leader of the group, was still searching for Fleet A.

"This should be the attack group of the Light Air Mother, sir, do you need to put up a wheel-shaped defensive formation?"

"No, the shelling fleet continues to shell, the heavy warships make a detour to the deep sea, keep maneuvering, and when the air strikes of enemy aircraft are over, the landing will begin immediately." Horikichi issued an order, "Believe that the air defense fighters will not let us down." ”

"So early? Aren't you planning to land tomorrow? ”

"The enemy situation has changed, I originally thought that Nimitz dared to send battleships to compete with us, but now he only dares to use light air carriers, indicating that the main force of the enemy fleet does not dare to come, they still have at least one aircraft carrier formation, even if I don't know its exact location, I don't know if he will join the battle, but I will use the landing to force him to come out......" Horiyoshi smiled, "It's okay if he doesn't come, if he doesn't come, we will ask for Tarawa." ”

Hori's idea was first proposed by Rear Admiral Giffin when considering the battle plan, that is, to attack in an artillery formation of battleships and heavy cruisers of the Pacific Fleet, and the A Fleet to support the formation with an air defense umbrella, but after hearing the defenders of Tarawa report on the size of the enemy's forces, Nimitz vetoed the proposal.

The Japanese fleet near Tarawa had a total of 5 battleships, Musashi, Nagato and 3 Kongo-class, plus 6-8 heavy cruisers; And the U.S. military has a total of only 3 battleships, 2 South Dakota class, 1 is New Mexico class, serious in Nimitz, South Dakota is on par with the Nagato class, and the New Mexico class is on par with the King Kong class, but the number is too small and no one can stand the super battleships of the Japanese army, at this time he complained that the country did not give the Iowa and West Virginia to himself earlier, if these two battleships also arrived with the USS Langley aircraft carrier formation, he also had at least 5 battleships in his hands, and he might not lose the battle line duel, This gives you more room to maneuver.

Unfortunately, there are not so many ifs, the formation of two battleships and a bunch of destroyers has just arrived in the waters near Brazil, they are about to go to Rio Negero to enter the port to rest and replenish, and then along the coastline of South America around Cape Horn to the Pacific Ocean, but this idea will soon be shattered, because the main force of the Axis Fleet carrying out the "Pearl of Peace" project is about to attack the Falklands, this road is doomed.

But now no one but God would know this: Nimitz didn't know, Admiral King didn't, and Machar, who commanded the German fleet, didn't know either.

At 8:34, 36 of the more than 50 fighters on defensive duty over Tarawa went to intercept the attack, and two minutes later, Giffen reported the enemy situation to Halsey and Nimitz: "Our troops have arrived over the target and plan to launch an attack on the enemy's artillery fleet......

"Let's hope they can take out that super battleship." Halsey's attitude was a little more optimistic than Nimitz's, he believed that more than 100 planes could kill at least 1-2 Japanese battleships, and if this effect was achieved, the gap between Japanese and American battleships would be greatly narrowed, and perhaps their side would have a little advantage in the end.

After 3 minutes, Giffen's face turned very bad: "Rear Admiral Thomson reports that the Japanese attack group has arrived over the fleet and is about to attack ......"

As soon as the news came out, the tension in the bridge immediately rose, and everyone's hearts rose to their throats.

Nimitz barely managed to squeeze out a stiff smile: "May God bless America." All the people bowed their heads and prayed silently.

Generally speaking, the impromptu prayers were not very effective, and the two battles were fought almost simultaneously and in a one-sided manner—all with the Japanese gaining the upper hand.

At the Tarawa beachhead, 36 Japanese fighters under the leadership of Akamatsu Sadaaki collectively threw away the auxiliary fuel tanks, and appeared on the scene with a tough attitude of head-on volley, and the first one took out 11 SB2C, 8 TBF and 6 F4F, and only lost 2 of them, playing a jaw-dropping 25:2, and the excited Akamatsu Sadaaki shouted on the radio: "Hit the enemy bomber, that one is the stupidest!" ”

SB2C is a new model launched by the US military to improve the SBD dive bomber, although the speed is not as perverted as the comet, but it is nearly 50 km / h faster than the SBD, and when the bomb is loaded with 1,000 pounds, the speed can be about 70 km / h, but the speed is raised, the shortcomings in handling are more magnified, it becomes very clumsy, and it is very difficult to maneuver -- for veterans, this is a troublesome thing, and it is not easy for novices to make mistakes, and no matter how to do the plane, it will not fly around.

But the beautiful SB2C was seen to be clumsy in a single photo - they could only fly straight forward, and the pilot did not expect him to make some agile maneuvers, so the Japanese planes just opened fire on the SB2Cs, and one sailor wrote in his diary, "These clumsy guys flew forward in a straight line to die, and then they only saw our fighters flying up and down, and then the enemy planes fell down one after another......

The F4Fs tried to provide cover for their companions, but they themselves could not protect themselves, they were not opponents in the face of zero battles, and they were almost the role of sparring in the face of Japanese fighter pilots who were all elite and tempered with aces on Socotra Island.

Only the officers led by the TBF formation were smarter, and seeing that the Japanese troops were fierce and their own dive bombers and fighter units were fighting with the enemy, they secretly lowered their altitude and prepared to rush in and throw torpedoes, but they were too happy that there were still 18 Japanese fighters waiting for them in front.

In this life-and-death battle, only 4 planes managed to release the torpedoes, but they were very lucky, and they actually plunged headlong into the amidship of the Haruna battleship, and after a loud bang, the Kongo-class battleship was blown open a large hole and began to pour a large amount of seawater.

"Sir, Haruna's name has been hit by thunder." At first, Kusaka thought that the U.S. military was not worried, but he was still a little nervous when he saw that the Haruna was still a little nervous In the early stage of the Australian and New Zealand Campaign, the Haruna had already eaten 2 bombs and was scarred, and this time he was hit by a torpedo, which was simply fatal.

Horiyoshi sighed: "It's a success, Hazuna's luck is really bad, so many fish that slipped through the net can let him catch up with ......"

When the damage management sailors blocked the gap, the Hazel was tilted to 9 degrees, and more than 2,000 tons of water were entered, and it was only restored to an inclination of about 5 degrees after emergency water injection, and the speed was reduced to only 19 knots.

This was one of the only two results of the first attack wave of the U.S. Army, the other being that a sb2C that slipped through the net and deflected when it tried to attack the Nagato, hitting a nearby LST landing craft (a trophy of the Japanese), and the Japanese Marines lost the above 2 tanks, but the plane was then shot down by the Nagato's anti-aircraft fire.

The attack of this American army was so bad that it was really impossible to see it, and the defense of the A fleet over there was also bitter.

When Mitsuo Fuchida arrived over the battlefield, he did not rush to launch a surprise attack -- he noticed that the number of fighters covering the US fleet was not large, so he first let Hiroyoshi Nishizawa break through with the fighters, and killed the opponent's air defense fighters in three strikes and five by two, and the entire A Fleet was as if it had stripped naked.

He carefully inspected the enemy's anti-aircraft fire, and then calmly ordered Tianshan to go down first and release torpedoes to disrupt the formation, and then let the comet change to attack.

At 8:58, the battle report came to the Essex: Hori Tsukichi's sword danced vigorously, Nimitz lost the first game, a complete fiasco, all 6 escort aircraft carriers were sunk, 12 destroyers were sunk 7, almost all of the 178 aircraft belonging to it were lost, and only 30 planes successfully made a forced landing or successfully parachuted on Tarawa Island.

However, Nimitz was not without opportunities, and at the same time, Giffen excitedly shouted: "Sir, the reconnaissance plane has discovered the Japanese aircraft carrier formation!" (To be continued.) )