In the waters northwest of Texel Island, the previously incomparably large U.S. and British fleets have been reduced by two-thirds, and many troop carriers and transport ships have unloaded their loads and embarked on their way home, and the main battle ship groups, including the British-class and South Dakota-class battleships, have rushed to the waters southeast of the Azores at full speed, leaving only the aircraft carrier fleet and some auxiliary ships. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

On the bridge verandah of the Yorktown, Admiral Claude Bullock of the United States Navy was smoking a sullen cigar, victory was within reach, and the arrival of the main German and Irish warships was a day earlier than expected, and it was this difference that made the situation on the battlefield take a sharp turn. The "Enterprise" was sunk in battle, and the "Independence" and "Wasp" were all damaged to varying degrees; the "Wasp," which was the most seriously wounded, and the "Brilliant" of the British Navy staggered back under the escort of two Lexington-class battlecruisers, while the British Navy still had three aircraft carriers, "Indomitable," "Fearful," and "Victorious," of which the "Fearful" and "Victory" miraculously evaded many air raids by the enemy, and together with the US Navy's "Yorktown," they became the three allied aircraft carriers with complete combat strength at present.

Relying on the supply strategy of "stealing the day and changing the day" by ejecting from a cargo ship and then landing on an aircraft carrier, the US and British fleets still have 219 carrier-based aircraft capable of taking off, but only 207 carrier-based aircraft pilots are still capable of participating in the battle. Because of this, the American and British forces on the Texel Island front had made contact with the German commanders trapped in Angra Sangra in an attempt to exchange certain conditions for the pilots captured by the Germans. Of course, the Germans knew the value of these American and British pilots, and now that the main forces of the Allied fleet had arrived and entered the battle, and the opportunity to turn the situation around was imminent, how could the more than 20,000 German soldiers who held on to Angra Sansseemo fall before dawn?

The enemy's air raids were one after another, completely not giving the American and British fleets a chance to breathe, and Bullock had to admit that his opponent's vision of seizing the victory point was vicious enough, but he would never admit defeat. The U.S. and British fleets, which had assembled and set sail from Boston Harbor day and night, would arrive in the waters of the Azores tonight, and the "Princeton," which had failed to participate in the battle due to mechanical problems, had been repaired, and it was on its way from Norfolk Military Harbor, and if nothing else, it would be able to rendezvous with the fleet tomorrow afternoon. In addition, the injuries of the "Independence" and "Indomitable" have been initially brought under control, and efforts are being made to transfer the carrier-based aircraft on board to the other three carriers. Taking advantage of the gap between the air raids by enemy planes, US and British fighters have redeployed air defense lines on the periphery of the fleet, and the position of the enemy fleet is now clear, and the three aircraft carriers "Yorktown," "Dreadsome," and "Victory" are organizing a second wave of attack aircraft groups, and the real showdown may have just begun.

Watching the flight crew methodically send the prepared carrier-based aircraft from the hangar to the flight deck, arranging them neatly in the waiting area like a vendor placing fruit, Bullock felt inexplicably anxious in his heart. After a while, his adjutant hurriedly walked over: "General, our early warning radar has detected an incoming enemy plane in the southeast, and the fighter jets left in the air are going to intercept it, and it is expected that the enemy plane will enter the air defense fire circle of the fleet in 10 minutes." ”

"So what are you waiting for?" Bullock said angrily, "Let our bombers take off quickly, all go to the formation over Texel Island, and attack the enemy fleet together with the planes of the Army Aviation and the British Air Force!" ”

The adjutant wanted to explain something, but when he saw that Bullock was on fire, he honestly agreed. After a few moments, the orderly scene on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier was broken, the carrier-based aircraft that were already in place were quickly activated, the aircrew quickly removed the anti-moving skids under their wheels, the elevator temporarily stopped working, and the carrier-based bombers with aerial bombs or torpedoes under the belly of the aircraft slid forward with a deafening roar and pulled up at the end of the runway......

In less than five minutes, all the carrier-based aircraft on the flight deck took off, and the elevators resumed operation, raising the five Grumman F3F carrier-based fighters to the flight deck, and after they left the ship, they took off before continuing to lift the bombers on standby in the hangar. At this time, the enemy's aircraft group has already appeared in the line of sight, and the peripheral alert ships have only begun to shoot at the air; in the case that enemy planes may be attacked at any time, it is impossible for the aircraft carrier to maintain a headwind course all the time, and the take-off of the carrier-based aircraft will face some conditions; if the carrier-based aircraft filled with fuel and carrying bombs stay on the flight deck during the battle, it will be a considerable hidden danger to the aircraft carrier's own safety. On all these issues, Admiral Bullock, as the commander of the aircraft carrier fleet, has the responsibility to make trade-offs.

So Bullock extinguished his cigar and hurried back to the bridge command room to give instructions to his officers.

"John, order all aircraft carriers to finish the takeoff of carrier-based aircraft within five minutes, clear the flight deck, and take air defense control!"

"Understood, sir!"

"Ike, count the take-off fighters of each ship in five minutes, keep in touch with the land aviation command, and make sure that the aviation units on Texel Island are in step with our carrier-based aircraft."

"Understood, sir!"

"Bohm, how's the battle on the periphery?"

"Our fighters have exchanged fire with the enemy, and at the moment our input is 3 incomplete fighter squadrons, and the size of the enemy is 6 flying squadrons, so the current situation is not very optimistic."

"General Arrborough, please be ready to engage the enemy."

"Understood, sir!"

After proper deployment, Admiral Bullock asked for a pair of binoculars and walked to the right porthole. In the line of sight, a fierce sea and air battle has begun: dozens of white war eagles and blue-gray enemy fighters are fighting at high altitudes, it is difficult to distinguish the advantages and disadvantages at a glance, the middle and low altitudes are covered with black smoke, and the warships painted in light white and gray blocks on the sea are flashing with cannon flames and gunsmoke...... Suddenly, two low-flying biplane fighters appeared in Admiral Bullock's field of vision through the drifting smoke of gunpowder, their flying attitude was like swans that had just left the water, and they should be very good targets to aim, and the nearby battleships desperately poured out their tongues of fire, but they could not knock them down.

Without the need for Admiral Bullock's reminder, Captain Arrborough duly ordered his men: "The enemy torpedo planes are coming from 2 o'clock, the starboard 5-inch secondary guns are blocking fire, and the rest of the guns are on standby." ”

The most powerful naval gun on the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier is the twin-mounted 38 times the diameter of the 5-inch high-level dual-purpose gun, which has a range of 14,000 kilometers against the sea and 12,000 kilometers against the air, adopts semi-automatic loading, and has a combat rate of fire of 12-15 rounds per minute, which is a fairly effective medium and long-range air defense weapon. Since the outbreak of the Battle of the Azores, four US aircraft carriers have shot down and damaged more than 20 enemy planes with their shipboard weapons, and a considerable part of the results were won by 5-inch guns.

The two enemy torpedo planes had already entered the firing range, and the starboard side of the "Yorktown" then resounded with the rumbling of cannons, and the shells exploded under the action of the time-delay fuse, and the smoke in the distance increased rapidly, gradually forming a wall of smoke, but the two "Super Swordfish" did not disappear, they swayed their fuselages from side to side, avoided the dense fire with an S-shaped flight line, and then pulled up slightly, and swept over a British destroyer as if provocatively.

At this time, the commander of the air defense on the bridge shouted a warning: "Enemy aircraft have entered the red zone!" ”

General Arrbrough then ordered: "Quadruple fire!" ”

Before the 40 mm caliber Bofors anti-aircraft gun conquered the world, the medium and short-range anti-aircraft artillery used by the US Navy was the MKI type 28 millimeter machine gun, which usually used a quadruple configuration, and was known as the "Zhijia piano" because of its fast rate of fire and fierce firepower, but its effective range was only 3000 meters, which was not a perfect match with the 5-inch gun, and the way the magazine was fed also limited the combat rate of fire of this machine gun.

With the entry of the close defense guns, the starboard side of the "Yorktown" became lively, the rumbling and the hissing of the bang were intertwined, the open gun emplacements were full of busy figures, and the rising smoke was quickly dispersed by the sea breeze, and during this period, the wide flight deck had been cleared, and there were neither carrier-based aircraft nor spare ammunition -- on the first day of the attack on the Azores by the US and British fleets, both the "Wasp" and the "Enterprise" were almost killed by ammunition, and the strict control of British aircraft carriers in this regard was undoubtedly a successful exampleSo from the next day, the Americans began to follow suit, but the "Enterprise" did not escape after all, as far as internal factors are concerned, its war sinking should have a lot to do with the incompleteness of ammunition fuel control and damage management system.

The two Allied torpedo planes were passing through the net of fire woven by the American and British ships, and it seemed that they could be shot down at any time, but they were like gods possessing them, and their flight trajectories were sometimes parallel to the track of the "Yorktown", and sometimes they were wrong, and it seemed that they were not coming towards the American aircraft carriers, but at the last moment, they suddenly turned and lowered their altitude, and the torpedoes in the nose and under the belly of the aircraft were pointed in front of the "Yorktown". In an instant, the torpedo leaped into the water, and the splash almost touched the fuselage.

The air defense commander, standing next to the porthole on the right, immediately raised the alarm: "At 3 o'clock, two torpedoes, estimated speed 40 knots." ”

General Arrbrough ordered in a cold tone: "Left full rudder!" ”

"Full rudder left!" The first mate repeated the command while turning the rudder. Despite its size, the capital carrier reacted at a very fast pace, and the hull was noticeably tilted with full rudders under the fast sailing, and Admiral Bullock's previous air defense control orders required the aircraft carriers to be prepared accordingly, including securing the planes parked in the hangars to avoid unnecessary trouble and losses during high-speed maneuvers.

Sufficient preparation allowed the "Yorktown" to calmly avoid the aerial torpedoes projected by enemy planes at a relatively close range, and at this moment, the port side of the aircraft carrier suddenly roared, and looking out through the portholes, the anti-aircraft weapons on both sides of the aircraft carrier were firing upward.

The commander of the air defense rushed to the bridge porch, and then urgently shouted: "The enemy's dive bombers are coming!" Fast! S-shaped evasion! ”

Although he did not observe the enemy situation with his own eyes, Admiral Yarbrough did not hesitate to accept the advice of the air defense commander and ordered the aircraft carrier to perform S-shaped evasion. At this time, Bullock stared out the window with a tense face, and the two Tejlis-class aircraft carriers of the British Navy were not far away, only to see a monoplane bomber swooping down at an angle of about 70 degrees, as fast as a bolt of lightning, it suddenly pulled up at an altitude of 100 meters, and dropped a black bomb at the same time. In the blink of an eye, a blazing fireball rose from the flight deck of a Radiance-class aircraft carrier, and a huge explosion followed......

Witnessing this astonishing scene, Admiral Bullock's eyes froze, and only a few seconds later, a terrible whistling sound came from above, another lightning bolt swept in front of his eyes, and the bomb fell into the sea next to the edge of the flight deck, and the snow-white water instantly occupied all the field of vision, and under the impact of the blast wave, the hearing appeared to be temporarily deaf. A voice echoed in Admiral Bullock's heart: Are we going to be defeated?

It felt as if a long time had passed, and the sound of people talking and shouting was heard in his ears again, and the roar of naval guns could be heard, and Admiral Bullock blinked several times in a row before he came back to his senses. He turned his head to look around, the officers were dutiful in their duties, and none of them showed a look of timidity and fear, and on the sea not far away, the Radiant-class aircraft carrier that had just been damaged did not give up resistance, and several light ships were tightly clustered around it, desperately trying to resist the repeated attacks of enemy aircraft......

Admiral Bullock clenched his fists and said to himself in his heart: We are not defeated yet! We won't be defeated easily!

The climax of the enemy's air raid was also the beginning of the ebb tide, and after a few minutes the enemy planes in sight were flying back, and after a while, the sound of artillery on the sea gradually decreased, and finally completely subsided. The preliminary damage report came out quickly, and not a single battleship was sunk in this enemy air raid, which was gratifying, but the British aircraft carrier "Indomitable" suffered a heavy bomb, the flight deck and the upper hangar were very seriously damaged, there was no hope of regaining combat effectiveness in a short time, and the carrier-based aircraft on the ship that did not take off were also "frozen", which meant that the situation of the aircraft carrier fleet commanded by Admiral Bullock continued to deteriorate, and the greatest hope at the moment was that the sortie group could bring back good news.

On the other hand, the Allied fleet, which also had radar equipment, discovered the incoming US and British aircraft groups in advance, and sent four squadrons of carrier-based fighters to intercept them, and the escort ships were waiting around the aircraft carrier formation, which was said to be comprehensive, but this was after all the first aircraft carrier war in human history, and both sides had objective deficiencies in attack and defense, and subjective flaws abounded, and these needed to be constantly corrected and improved in the war. Most of the American and British planes were in vain due to the adversary's strong blockade, but in the end more than a dozen bombers broke through the air defense circle of the Allied fleet and attacked their aircraft carriers again, this time it was the turn of the "Wichelsbach" and the "Swabia", the former avoided all the bombs with graceful dancing, and the latter unfortunately experienced the painful experience of the British aircraft carrier "Indomitable" more than half an hour ago. The bombs dropped by the US fighters directly smashed through its wooden flight deck and the armor plate on the top of the hangar, and the violent explosion destroyed most of the carrier-based aircraft parked in the hangar, and the ammunition and fuel deflagration almost destroyed the Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier. Before it docked for repairs, it had no tactical value other than sharing enemy firepower with friendly ships.

(End of chapter)