The damage report was quickly sent, and the "Gaoyou Lake" was hit by two bombs, and the bomb hit rate of the US bombers was only about one-fifth, which was nearly half lower than the bomb hit rate of the dive bombers of the Imperial Navy, and none of the torpedoes dropped by the six TBDs hit. That is, the aircraft carrier "Gaoyouhu" dodged most of the bombs, with all the torpedoes.

"The damage was not very serious, mainly because the bomb that fell next to the aviation gasoline depot caused more damage." Hao Dongjue's expression was not relaxed at all, "Fortunately, there is not much gasoline stored in this aviation fuel depot, and it is only a pipe rupture, the safety valve has been closed before, the fire has been controlled, and the fire can be extinguished within fifteen minutes." ”

"Will the aircraft carrier still be able to continue fighting?" Tan Renhao also felt too lucky, if there was enough gasoline in it, or if it was directly hit by a bomb, then the "Gaoyou Lake" would have to go back to repair for a few months, even if it was not finished.

"It is possible to take off fighters, but for the time being it is impossible to receive them. They're figuring out how to repair the flight deck, and if they can fix it, they should be able to restore some of the ability to recover some of the fighters. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "There is no problem with the power system of the aircraft carrier, right?"

"The powertrain was not damaged and the speed was maintained."

"Then let the aircraft carrier keep up with the speed of the fleet." Tan Renhao looked up at the navigation clock, it was already ten o'clock and five o'clock. "The second batch of bombers of the US military will definitely arrive soon, when will our fighters be deployed in place?"

"Within ten minutes!"

"Report!" At this time, a staff officer came over, "The direction of the return of the US bomber has been determined." They flew towards Necke Island. ”

Tan Renhao glanced at Hao Dongjue and said, "Obviously, this batch of bombers will not return to the Fifth Fleet. Instead, go straight to the airport in the middle of Necke Island and land. And the Fifth Fleet should be to the east of us, maybe a little south. ”

"But now. We simply didn't have time to get the bombers to take off. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, hesitated for a moment, and said: "The fleet is ready to turn, if we don't die this time, then we have to find a way to finish Spruance!" ”

Ten o'clock past 10 o'clock. Tan Renhao ordered the fleet to turn to 45 degrees, that is, to sail in the direction of due northeast.

His judgment was simple, if the Spruance Fifth Fleet was to the east of them, it should be not far north of Necker Island. And Spruance, after sending bombers, is likely to let the fleet evade to the east and try to get out of the strike range of Task Force 1.

If it wants to catch up with the Fifth Fleet, then the First Task Force should sail directly to the east, but the problem is that the US ground bombers are flying from the east, and the fleet's air defense barrier has not yet been fully formed. If the fleet sailed eastward, it would be heading in the direction where the American bombers might arrive, and as a result, it would lose a lot of preparation time. And in this case, one more minute is one more hope of survival. Therefore, Tan Renhao did not let the fleet sail directly to the east.

Instead, he took a tangential route, preparing to reach the north of Necke Island first, and if the Fifth Fleet fled eastward, he could still pursue it, and if the Fifth Fleet returned to the waters near Necke Island, then he could force it to kill the Fifth Fleet.

At this time, on the aircraft carrier "Franklin" of the Fifth Fleet, Spruance also received the first batch of carrier-based bombers to send back ground reports, and as a result, he was "overjoyed."

In this report, the escaped American bomber pilots claimed to have hit at least one enemy aircraft carrier, two bombs and one torpedo, while the other two aircraft carriers of Task Force 1 were not attacked. Judging by the visual judgment, the aircraft carrier where it was attacked was at least heavily damaged, and it was on fire, probably because the aviation gasoline depot was bombed, and the aircraft carrier was likely to be scrapped.

Of course, this report was certainly inaccurate, and the US torpedo bomber pilots judged that the bomb that hit the port side of the aircraft carrier was caused by the smoke of gunpowder from the explosion as a torpedo hit the port side of the aircraft carrier. This miscalculation is quite serious, because whether or not an aircraft carrier was hit by a torpedo in the middle of the port side is two completely different results.

For the "Lake" class and "Essex" class aircraft carriers, although aerial bombs can destroy a larger area, but the torpedo poses the greatest threat to the aircraft carrier, especially when the torpedo hits the middle of the side of the aircraft carrier, it is very likely to damage the power system of the aircraft carrier, causing the aircraft carrier to seriously enter the water and lose part of its power, so that even if the aircraft carrier is not sunk, it will be severely damaged and difficult to repair within a few months. On the contrary, if it is only hit by an aerial bomb, as long as it does not directly hit the ammunition depot and fuel depot, the aircraft carrier will not sink or even suffer heavy damage, and it can still retain a certain combat effectiveness. This is the difference between an aerial bomb and a torpedo.

If there had been a torpedo in the middle of the port side of the "Gaoyou Lake" at that time, the aircraft carrier would have lost its combat effectiveness and could not be guaranteed to sail at full speed, and Spruance could have included it in the list of targets that did not threaten. But the problem is that the aircraft carrier was not hit by a torpedo, but only received an aerial bomb here, two 120-mm anti-aircraft guns, and several 40-mm anti-aircraft guns were destroyed.

Another factor that led to the miscalculation was the aerial bomb that hit the tail end of the aircraft carrier's flight deck. The bomb did explode near the aviation gasoline depot and caused a fire, but the problem was that the fire was quickly brought under control and was quickly extinguished, and the aviation gasoline depot did not explode or even leak much gasoline. That is, the aircraft carrier was not threatened. Judging from the reports of the US pilots, it is believed that it has suffered a devastating blow.

It can be said that aviation gasoline depots are as fragile as ammunition depots. If the heavy oil depot for the boiler of the battleship was bombed, the problem was not very serious, the heavy oil was not easy to burn, and it was easy to extinguish. On the contrary, gasoline is easily ignited, and gasoline is easily volatile, as long as the gasoline vapor in the air reaches a certain percentage, it will explode, and its power is not under the bomb. In previous wars. Several aircraft carriers erupted due to the volatilization of gasoline inside the hull, causing the aircraft carrier to sink.

These are the two things. Spruance judged that the aircraft carrier, which had been intensively attacked, would have lost its combat effectiveness, even if it did not sink. There is even a high probability of a loss of speed. And in this case, Tan Renhao will definitely let the aircraft carrier withdraw from the battle and return alone under the cover of the destroyer, that is, in the first task force. At this time there were only two aircraft carriers.

This also strengthened Spruance's confidence, and in the past few tens of minutes, the distance between the Fifth Fleet and the First Task Force has been widened to about 240 nautical miles, and this distance continues to expand. If the second batch of bombers were able to destroy one more enemy aircraft carrier, then Task Force 1 would have only one aircraft carrier left at most.

Moreover, after the first batch of bomber assaults, the first task force must be preparing for the departure of bombers, and the air defense capability should be reduced, and if the second batch of bombers can successfully make a surprise attack, then it is very likely that the other two aircraft carriers will also be destroyed. At the very least, it should be possible to inflict heavy damage on both aircraft carriers.

At this point, Spruance's confidence was also more abundant. However, he did not immediately return the fleet to the battlefield, first, he wanted to return the fleet after getting the final results of the attack, and second, the Fifth Fleet had no air strike force, and he had to retreat to the vicinity of Nihua Island. to be able to obtain fighters to take off from Kauai and strengthen the fleet. Finally, and most crucially, the Fifth Fleet has sailed nearly 4,000 nautical miles on the battlefield, and most of the warships in the fleet, especially those destroyers, have not much fuel on them, so he also asked the aircraft carriers to provide some heavy fuel for the destroyers, so that the destroyers can keep up with the fleet. As a result, he had to return to the supply point near Nihua Island to prepare for the replenishment of fuel and ammunition for the fleet.

The Fifth Fleet was still sailing southeast, and Spruance didn't know that Tan Renhao had ordered the fleet to turn. At about 10:25 a.m., the second group of bombers of the Fifth Fleet arrived near the 1st Task Force. At this time, the number of fighters over Task Force 1 had recovered to 78, and except for the 31 fighters that had taken off before the last air defense operation, only half of the ammunition remained, the other 47 fighters were full of ammunition, but these fighters were only half fueled, which was only enough for them to fly over the fleet for more than an hour, but this was enough.

When the air defense siren sounded again, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue glanced at each other, and Spruance really sent out all the bombers in his hand as fast as he could.

By this time, the "Gaoyou Lake" aircraft carrier battle group was not closer to the other two aircraft carrier battle groups, but farther away. While resisting the first batch of bombers of the Fifth Fleet, the "Gaoyouhu" aircraft carrier kept maneuvering to evade, and in more than 10 minutes, it was thrown several nautical miles away by two other aircraft carrier battle groups. At the time of extinguishing the fire, the speed of the aircraft carrier was reduced to about 18 knots, and at 10:15 a.m., when the fire was under control, the aircraft carrier began to accelerate, and when the radar on the cruiser detected the US military absorption, the speed of the "Gaoyou Lake" aircraft carrier was restored to about 27 knots, and at this time the aircraft carrier was already 28 nautical miles away from the "Xingkaihu" aircraft carrier formation, and 22 nautical miles away from the "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier formation. In other words, the aircraft carrier "Gaoyou Lake" is still in front of the chase, and it is still fighting alone!

Because of the limited number of fighters left, this time only Ellsler and Yao Boyan intercepted the US bombers in two batches. Because the aircraft group commanded by Yao Boyan did not return to the aircraft carrier to replenish ammunition, it was on the periphery at this time, and the aircraft group led by An Shile was entering the inner air defense circle.

"Yao Baiyan's report shows that the U.S. military has about 30 fighters, and the rest seem to be all dive bombers, with a number of about 90."

"That's all the bombers left of the Fifth Fleet." Tan Renhao gritted his teeth, "Get ready for battle, has the fire on the 'Gaoyou Lake' aircraft carrier been extinguished?" ”

"It will be extinguished very quickly, and now it is accelerating."

"Recover to a speed of 33 knots as soon as possible, if you can escape, you have to escape, as long as it doesn't sink, even if you are seriously injured, you have to drive back!"

Hao Dongjue nodded, he had already given the relevant orders.

At this time, the First Task Force was divided into two parts, the "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier battle group and the "Xingkaihu" aircraft carrier battle group were very close to each other, sailing according to the standard formation distance, and the "Gaoyouhu" aircraft carrier battle group was the only one left alone. This is not only the factor of Tan Renhao's deliberate arrangement, but also the effect of various other factors, for example, in the previous confrontation with the bombing, the aircraft carrier had to maneuver to avoid, and could not always maintain the original route, which would naturally lead to a longer distance from other formations, and the speed must be reduced when extinguishing the fire, if the speed is fast, it is impossible to extinguish the fire on the aircraft carrier. In other words, the three bombings by the US military actually dealt with the "Gaoyouhu" aircraft carrier battle group, while the other two aircraft carrier battle groups were always outside the strike range of the US military.

Herein lies the problem, unlike the US Navy, the warships of the Tang Imperial Navy did not have a port number, only a name, and moreover, this name was not painted on both sides of the aircraft carrier's hull, but in front of the ship island, that is, under the commander's bridge, and the font was not very large. At that time, the three aircraft carriers of the First Task Force were all three-character names, and in the eyes of the American pilots, there was not much difference between these different Chinese characters!

In other words, it is difficult for US pilots to discern which aircraft carrier they are attacking!

This is already the third air defense interception mission carried out by the air defense fighters of the fleet, and most of the pilots are exhausted. If it is an ordinary flight mission, they can not rest for several hours, but in a high-intensity battle, the pilot's energy consumption rate is much faster than that of an ordinary flight mission, and a ten-minute battle is worth two hours of ordinary flight. This was a significant problem for the air defense of the fleet at that time. In addition, the number of air defense fighters, nearly half of the fighters did not have enough ammunition left, and the refilled fighters were still flying to the predetermined interception positions.

It can be said that the success of the First Task Force in blocking the two rounds of bombing by the US military is already a huge miracle, and it is too difficult to create a new miracle.

The US bombers still concentrated on bombing the "Gaoyouhu" aircraft carrier, that is, when the fire on this aircraft carrier had just been extinguished, the US bombers arrived. And Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue both know that I am afraid that the "Gaoyou Lake" aircraft carrier will be in danger of being destroyed this time.