The first wave of air attacks on his own carrier-based aircraft group was successful, and the bridge of the "Hanover", the acting flagship of the Allied fleet, was full of joy, and Natsuki, who looked calm throughout the whole process, also showed a victor's smile, and at this time he should be most grateful to the two German admirals, Beinke and Schimmert, the former led the main fleet of the Central Powers through the darkest period of the Azores campaign, and with amazing courage and courage to hold the hope of turning defeat into victory, the latter carefully commanded the Allied aircraft carrier group from the beginning of the war. Won as many victories as possible with the smallest possible losses, and honed a group of high-quality elite pilots for the Allied camp. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"There is no need to adjust the combat missions of the second wave of attack aircraft groups, and if the sinking of two enemy aircraft carriers is ensured, we will be a big step closer to the final victory in the Azores campaign." To the staff officer who came to ask for instructions, Xia Shu responded.

Following the first wave of air attack aircraft composed of 65 carrier-based aircraft, the Allied fleet soon dispatched a second wave of air attack aircraft composed of 46 carrier-based aircraft, the reason why the scale was greatly reduced compared with the previous wave, because the radar detected that the enemy aircraft group was rapidly approaching, Admiral Schimmert immediately made a decision, and transferred the fighters that took off later to block the enemy aircraft, and in the subsequent battle, this adjustment had an immediate effect, and most of the first wave of the United States and Britain carrier-based aircraft group was blocked by the air defense line of the Allied fleet. The few fighters that penetrated the defense were unable to break through the effective naval and air defenses of the Allied fleet, and the heavy price of 19 shot down and 7 damaged in the whole battle was paid, in exchange for only minor damage to two Allied ships.

When the two US and British aircraft carriers were heavily damaged, the second wave of air attack planes sent by Kim was already halfway through, and although he realized the battlefield situation in which the enemy was strong and we were weak, he was no longer able to adjust his previous operational deployment -- this wave of planes consisted of eight fighters, 17 dive bombers, and 14 torpedo bombers.

Even without Natsuki's reminder, the steady Admiral Schchermit would be enough to fight this tailwind battle. Using the long-range early warning of the shipborne radar, he put 14 He-25, 6 Me-50 and 5 IR-30 in the direction of the enemy's second wave of aircraft group, which is undoubtedly an insurmountable wall for the American and British carrier-based aircraft group that is short of escort fighters, and the only variable is that when the American and British pilots see the enemy fighter group in a neat array, everyone has already received the bad news that their aircraft carriers have been damaged, and in the depths of this vast ocean, except for those two aircraft carriers, they have no place to stay. The cowardly fall into despair and have no intention of fighting, while the brave are determined to die - rather than risk a forced landing, it is better to fight vigorously. Thus, the most tragic and tragic scene of the Battle of the Azores was staged here, when several "Guardians" launched a suicidal attack on the enemy aircraft carrier on the sea after breaking through the interception of Allied fighters. The Allied soldiers did not expect the opponent to be so crazy, and they still used conventional thinking to deduce the route of the enemy aircraft during the battle, so as to determine the advance of the shot, until the outlaws rushed in front of them, many people realized that the situation was not good, and the dense short-range fire or volley the enemy planes exploded the enemy planes, or caused the enemy planes to fall out of control and fall into the sea, but in the end, two American-made dive bombers successfully rammed the enemy ships through the fire network.

Whether the group of carrier-based aircraft that launched the suicide attack was flown by American pilots, British pilots, or both, Natsuki and his officers did not know, and many people could not believe their eyes when they looked at the "Swabian" and "Joachim I" as they watched one after another rise in smoke!

After nearly 20 minutes of fighting, the second wave of air raids by the US and British naval air forces came to an end, and judging from radar detections, only six enemy planes were able to return home, and the rest all fell. The fierce gunfire subsided, and in addition to the wreckage of the fighter planes floating on the sea, the two Allied aircraft carriers that were on fire still told the cruelty of the battle. It did not take long for the thick-skinned "Swabian" to control the fire on the ship, and after the crew's emergency repairs, the flight deck resumed its take-off and landing functions, but the starboard and middle elevators could not be used, and the landed carrier-based aircraft could only enter the hangar through the port side elevator, and due to the emergency filling of the ammunition depot, hundreds of tons of anti-aircraft guns and ammunition were scrapped, and a large number of combat equipment and living facilities were damaged, which had an extremely adverse impact on its follow-up operations.

The German aircraft carrier "Joachim I", named after the King of Ireland, belongs to the Confederate class, with a tonnage of only two-thirds of the Zeppelin class, weak protective hardware, and the part hit by the enemy aircraft with bullets is close to the waterline, the raging fire engulfs the two-story hangar, and seriously restricts the damage management of the crew, and no matter how good the damage management design encounters this situation, it will not help. With the help of accompanying light ships, the fire of the "Joachim I" was gradually extinguished until nightfall, but by this time the water at the bottom of the ship had exceeded the warning value, and the hull tilted nearly 30 degrees. Under Xia Shu's direct orders, the officers and men on the ship had no choice but to abandon the ship, but fortunately, the evacuation work was orderly, except for the 39 crew members who died in the battle, the rest of the personnel were safely transferred to the escort ship.

The second wave of attacks by the US and British carrier-based aircraft dealt a heavy blow to the Allied fleet, sinking one aircraft carrier and one wounded, and the second wave of attacks by the Allied carrier-based aircraft was not ambiguous; when they approached the US and British fleets, only five fighters came to intercept them. After easily clearing the air obstacles, the Allied pilots soon spotted two staggering American and British aircraft carriers, the hull of the "Yorktown" with the mine in the bow tilted nearly 10 degrees, the flight deck was no longer usable, the fire of the "Brilliant" was initially brought under control, several fighters were contained on the flight deck, and the service personnel were working in the open air, apparently refueling them with spare fuel barrels.

Almost all the light ships of the US and British fleets were tightly clustered around these two aircraft carriers, trying to block the attack of the Allied carrier-based aircraft with dense anti-aircraft fire, but this was useless, and the Allied pilots routinely sacrificed the tactical routine of hammering and stabbing and stabbing and hammering, that is, using dive bombers to take the lead in launching dive bombing, attracting the enemy's anti-aircraft fire, interfering with the enemy's gunners' line of sight with gunpowder smoke and water waves, and torpedo bombers taking the opportunity to approach from all directions and projecting torpedoes at medium and close ranges. Forcing the enemy ships to evade by maneuvering at sea, the air defense formation on the sea surface is scattered, and the dive bombers that remain at high altitude and stand by immediately launch a second round of bombing, at this time they can generally achieve a victory, and the damaged enemy ships naturally become the ideal targets for the second round of attacks by torpedo bombers, as long as the number of bombers invested in the attack is sufficient and the command is orderly, it is completely possible to destroy the opponent with three or four rounds of attacks.

Not surprisingly, the "Brilliant," which still had combat effectiveness, became the object of the Allies' pilots' key "attention"; in no more than a quarter of an hour, it was subjected to three heavy aerial bombs and a number of light aerial bombs one after another, and even the main battleship with the best protection capability at the moment might not be able to withstand such a ferocious attack, not to mention that a merely 30,000-ton aircraft carrier, after several violent explosions and two deflagrations, the raging fire spread from the stern to the bow, and it was useless to let the escort ships continue to spray with fire-fighting water columns. The surviving personnel on board the ship have either jumped into the sea to escape, or are trapped in the bilge, and the aircraft carrier is actually in a state of complete loss of control. King had no choice but to give up the "Brilliant" and lead the "Yorktown" and the escort ships to continue southward. Night was falling, but Kim's nightmare wasn't over. Under the command of the main fleet, the two aircraft carriers in the Allied convoy sent 29 carrier-based aircraft, which launched an attack on the American and British fleets just before dark.

Prior to the third attack, the Yorktown had corrected the tilt of the hull by filling the water into different watertight compartments, and miraculously received some of the returning planes of the first wave of air raid groups. During the battle, the escort ships were unable to resist the attack of enemy planes, with the result that the "Yorktown" was hit by three aerial bombs, the flight deck was basically damaged, and none of the landing planes were spared. In order to protect the "Yorktown" from lightning strikes, the accompanying American light cruiser "Raleigh" rushed forward to meet the incoming torpedo, and as a result, the torpedo blew through the hull of the ship and detonated the main ammunition depot, and only 10 officers and men of the ship survived.

After nightfall, the Allies continued to dispatch seaplanes and some carrier-based aircraft to carry out alert and reconnaissance, but the naval and air battles between the two sides in the eastern Atlantic basically came to an end. As the battle situation changed, the Spruance detachment, which had two main warships, "Georgia" and "Anson", had no choice but to abandon the original night attack plan, and the Cunningham fleet, which was responsible for the response, launched a night attack on the enemy's escort fleet. In a secret telegram sent to Andrew Cunningham, the Americans claimed that they would fight with him, but in fact Spruance had turned around with his detachment in the middle of the night to chase after the Golden fleet, and the two met smoothly. In order to avoid the search and pursuit of the Allied fleet, King chose a long and winding route, first detouring south to near 33 degrees north latitude, sailing through the inaccessible sea, and then turning north until he reached Pico Island, where he joined the Chatfield fleet.

When the war becomes history, and military historians look back at the battle in the light of the reports published by the belligerents, they will find that the glory of the British Empire disappeared like the setting sun after this night, and the Cunningham fleet was like the last red glow before the arrival of night, as brilliant as blood, and after a blink of an eye, there was only endless darkness.

The era that belongs to them is gradually drifting away......

(End of chapter)