Spruance received the news of the bomber group heading to attack the 2nd Task Force before Task Force 52 was bombed, and the news of Task Force 52 bomber group arrived almost simultaneously. These two pieces of news made Spruance not know how to describe the feelings in his heart.

The news of the bomber group sent by Task Force 51 was coming back from the fighters, because the radio communication distance on the fighters was relatively short, so the fighters flew back dozens of nautical miles before sending out the telegram, and the time was half an hour late. To Spruance's surprise, all the bombers he sent were lost, and none of them flew back.

In this telegram, the captain pilot only claimed to have seen an aircraft carrier hit by a bullet, and there was thick smoke coming out of the aircraft carrier, and the fire was very large (in fact, the pilot saw the aircraft carrier being shot several nautical miles away, and at that time, the "Hulun Lake" was hit by a lot of aviation gasoline near the fuel supply point in the hangar, and there was a lot of aviation gasoline in the pipeline that transported the fuel, so it caused a fire, and at the same time ignited the rubber used for isolation on the aircraft carrier, so black smoke was produced, but the fire did not threaten the life of the aircraft carrier and was quickly controlled), The aircraft carrier was heavily damaged. And that's all this fighter pilot can offer.

Based on this information, Spruance judged that at least one aircraft carrier in Task Force 2 had been heavily damaged, and it was unclear whether this aircraft carrier had been sunk or whether the other had been hit. But here's the problem, according to the fighter pilot's report, the aircraft carrier should have been hit by a bomb, not a torpedo (after a torpedo hits an aircraft carrier, it generally does not produce smoke), and Spruance knew that the second task force was all replaced with new aircraft carriers, and the new aircraft carriers of the Tang Empire, like the "Essex" class aircraft carriers he now commanded, all used armored flight decks, maybe the armor was a little thicker. Other words. The bomb should have exploded in the hangar, not into the engine room and boiler room under the hangar, so that the power system of the aircraft carrier would not be damaged, and it would still be able to maintain and even provide power to the aircraft carrier. In other words, most of this aircraft carrier has only suffered heavy damage and temporarily lost its combat effectiveness, and it will be able to quickly restore its combat effectiveness after returning for repairs. It's a bit of a shame.

Then, the bomber group of the 52nd Task Force replied that they had severely damaged an aircraft carrier of the Tang Empire, and that it was certain that the aircraft carrier was about to sink. But the problem is that this telegram is just that, and it does not mention which aircraft carrier was seriously damaged, and it does not mention that the aircraft carrier has sunk.

Spruance was eager to tell the pilots that when they returned the telegram, they should have made the situation clear, and at least mentioned whether the carrier they had damaged had been shot before!

But Spruance thought again. Since there is no mention in the telegram that the aircraft carrier was hit before. So it should not be the aircraft carrier that the bombers of Task Force 51 hit hard, but another one. At least those pilots should know that they had to elaborate on this in the telegram.

so that the commander can make the right decision. In fact, later those pilots were also official, and when they bombed, the aircraft carrier showed no signs of heavy damage.

In fact, when the bombers sent by Task Force 52 arrived, the fire on the "Hulun Lake" aircraft carrier had already been extinguished, and the aircraft carrier was preparing to use a recovery net to recover fighters, so the damaged deck at the rear end of the flight deck was removed and thrown into the sea (the protruding flight deck would make it impossible for fighters to land). In addition, it was covered with canvas on the flight deck. In this way, when the US bombers dived and dropped bombs, they could not carefully distinguish the difference between the canvas and the flight deck, and there was no way that the aircraft carrier was actually the one that had been bombed before.

When the "Lake" class aircraft carrier was designed and built, the Tang Imperial Navy summed up the reasons for the loss of combat effectiveness of the aircraft carrier after being damaged in the previous naval battle, and among them, the flight deck was damaged, resulting in the aircraft carrier being unable to allow fighters to take off and land. As a result, the aircraft carrier loses its combat effectiveness, which is a big factor. Therefore, later the Tang Imperial Navy added one point to the performance requirements of the "Lake" class aircraft carrier, that is, it was necessary to use an easy-to-disassemble flight deck, so that the damaged deck could be quickly replaced, so that the aircraft carrier could maintain at least part of its capabilities. For this reason, the "Lake" class aircraft carrier was modified when it was built and designed, and the flight deck more than 2oo meters long was divided into more than 5o sections, each of which was 2 meters to 8 meters long. Moreover, the method of riveting to the structure of the main body of the aircraft carrier was adopted. In this way, any section of the flight deck can be quickly removed and replaced after it is damaged, so that the aircraft carrier can at least receive the returning fighters before returning for overhaul. It only takes half an hour at most to dismantle a few flight decks, and then use the cranes on the aircraft carrier to lift the damaged flight deck.

Under the blow of the bombers of the 52nd task force, the aircraft carrier "Hulun Lake" was hit by 3 more bombs and 2 torpedoes, and when the American bombers retreated, the aircraft carrier had lost power (one bomb was drilled into the position of the last bomb, and after penetrating the main deck of the hangar, it exploded in the engine room below, blowing up two steam turbines, causing the aircraft carrier to lose half of its power, and the other two steam turbines were also affected, and it took several hours to repair), In addition, the aircraft carrier has already begun to tilt to the left (both torpedoes hit the port side of the aircraft carrier). The US pilots judged that the aircraft carrier was finished, but in fact, the "Hulun Lake" was not finished, but persevered.

The report of the American pilots made Spruance make the most simple and direct judgment, the two aircraft carriers of the second task force have been severely damaged, and one of them is about to be finished, that is, the second task force has lost its combat effectiveness. But Spruance didn't fully believe in this judgment, he wasn't much sure.

Just as Spruance was hesitating whether he should carry out a supplementary bombing of the second task force after the bomber group returned, the bombers of the Tang Empire arrived. When the air defense warships on the periphery reported that there were about 7o bombers in the bomber group of the Tang Empire, Spruance had little hope for the fate of Task Force 51.

The fact that the bombers had come from the southeast at least proved his previous judgment correct, and Spruance knew very well that the bomber group he sent would be able to find Task Force 1 and destroy it. If he can destroy Task Force 1, then even if he loses Task Force 51, he will have another task force. He also has the advantage in numbers, and of course, this is only the best outcome.

The brave interception of the anti-aircraft fighters almost gave Spruance hope, but when the dive bombers burst out of the clouds, suddenly appeared over the fleet, and entered the dive channel without hesitation, Spruance's hope was completely shattered. Air defense fighters noticed only torpedo bombers approaching below the clouds, and not dive bombers approaching above the clouds. This is also due to the fact that the number of air defense fighters is too small. Of course, Spruance did not forget one thing, which was to give the news to Task Force 52, to tell Turner to pay attention to the situation above the clouds, and not to forget about the threat of dive bombers (in fact, this part saved Task Force 52).

The combat efficiency of the bombers of the Tang Empire made Spruance very envious, which almost killed him. Had it not been for Colonel Smith's quick reaction and knocking him down on the deck, I am afraid that the first two bombs to hit the "Essex" would have killed the famous American Navy general. By the time Spruance got up, Smith was lying in a pool of blood. This chief of staff, whom he had always looked down on, ended up saving his life!

Spruance was also urgently evacuated to a nearby cruiser. "Essex"

The aircraft carrier received eight bombs in just a few minutes. The hit rate of dive bombers dropped by the Tang Empire was close to fifty percent! Then two more torpedoes hit the poor aircraft carrier. On Spruance's new flagship, the "Essex" did not sink and even barely maintained 8 knots. But the fire on the aircraft carrier was no longer under control. The officers and men on the ground of the battleship had already filled the ammunition tank with water, and at the same time opened the sea valve of the aviation fuel tank, allowing seawater to mix with aviation gasoline. Officers and men are still trying to keep the heavy oil tanks and extinguish the fire near the heavy oil tanks.

The aircraft carrier struggled in the sea of fire, and the situation of the "Yorktown" to the northwest of the "Essex" was not much better. The aircraft carrier received at least five bombs, the degree was reduced to 18 knots, although it did not eat torpedoes, but the aircraft carrier definitely lost its combat effectiveness.

The survivability of the aircraft carriers of the "Essex" class is still very strong, and it is not much different from the "Lake" class, the only difference is. In order to control the displacement of aircraft carriers, the US Navy did not strictly adopt a small compartment layout, so the aircraft carrier's ability to withstand underwater strikes is still weaker. This is where the problem of the "Essex" lies, after the attack on the aircraft carrier under the waterline, the power system of the aircraft carrier was seriously damaged (this was a common problem of aircraft carriers at that time). This aircraft carrier is struggling on the line of death, but soon, even the opportunity to struggle will be lost.

The result of this loss was well within Spruance's expectations, and he let "Yorktown"

The battle group returned (and it was only 12 knots), and the "Essex" battle group was left alone.

Other than that. He also informed the captain of the "Essex" that if it could not be rescued, he could consider abandoning the ship and evacuating the officers and men on the aircraft carrier, and at the same time ordered the nearby escort warships to come to help the aircraft carrier.

By this time, Spruance still had hope that at least Task Force 52 had not yet suffered, and that he had already thought of sacrificing the carrier by keeping the Essex behind.

If the two bomber groups of the first task force were along one route, then the second batch of bombers should have arrived, and when the time came, let the "Essex" consume the ammunition of the Tang Empire's bombers, and the bombers he sent to kill the Tang Empire's first task force, then with the ability of the 52nd task force, he would still be able to maintain sea supremacy. However, that hope was soon dashed.

Not long after the Tang Empire's bomber group left, Spruance received news from the 52nd Task Force on the new flagship, and the Tang Empire's bomber group appeared and flew from the north. Spruance was surprised at first, then regretful, he still underestimated his opponent, and the two bomber groups sent by Tan Renhao did not follow the same route, but scattered forward, and attacked the second group of bombers, and now attacked the first group of bombers.

The battle reports from Task Force 52 kept coming, and the little flame of hope in Spruance's heart gradually extinguished.

At 10 a.m., the news of the bombing of the "Brave" came, and the aircraft carrier received one bomb, and two minutes later another bomb, but at the same time shot down more than a dozen dive bombers. At 9:15, the aircraft carrier received a torpedo on the port side, the degree was reduced to 18 knots, and three torpedo bombers were shot down during the air defense operation. By 9:20, when the bombers of the Tang Empire had finished their bombing of the "Brave", the aircraft carrier had received three bombs (the last one hit the front end of the aircraft carrier's flight deck, the damage was not very large), a torpedo, the aircraft carrier was still able to maintain 18 knots of degrees, and was withdrawing from the battle in a northeast direction.

At 9:12, the "Hornet" received its first bomb, and by 9:25, before the bombers of the Tang Empire withdrew, the aircraft carrier had suffered a total of two bombs and two torpedoes, one of which did not explode! The Hornet suffered a little less damage than the Valiant and was able to maintain about 22 knots, but the water ingress was severe, and the battleship was retreating to the northeast with all its might.

In other words, by 9:25 a.m., Spruance's hopes were completely dashed. Or that is only a little bit left, that is, if the bombers he sent can sink the two aircraft carriers of the First Task Force, and the battle report he received about the bombing of the Second Task Force is not wrong, then he has at least won a tactical victory, sinking three aircraft carriers of the Tang Empire at the cost of sinking one and injuring three aircraft carriers, and severely damaging one. The 6-Wake attempt may have failed, but he had a chance to fight back in the future, which was only the ideal outcome.