The large air defense cruiser "Gao Shilian" was the third flagship of the 4th task force. According to the order, the No. 1 flagship is the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier, and the No. 2 flagship is the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier, both of which have perfect fleet command equipment, and the "Gao Shilian" as a backup is also like "Li Jing"

The fleet command equipment was installed during the overhaul and could be used as a flagship if necessary.

When Huang Xiaotian and Jiang Zhongmin boarded the cruiser "Gao Shilian," the rescue work on the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier was still in full swing, but there was not much hope for this aircraft carrier.

The torpedo that hit the port side of the aircraft carrier caused water to flood one-third of the carrier's port side compartment, and within five minutes, nearly 2ooo tons of seawater poured into the aircraft carrier, and the aircraft carrier had already tilted nearly 1o degrees to the left. The captain did not immediately give the order to fill the compartment on the starboard side of the aircraft carrier with water in order to restore balance. If water is injected into the starboard compartment, it will cause the water intake of the aircraft carrier to increase a lot, and the reserve buoyancy of the aircraft carrier is only about 5ooo tons, that is, if the water intake of the aircraft carrier exceeds 5ooo tons, and the seawater cannot be pumped out, then the aircraft carrier is in danger of sinking. Herein lies the problem, one of the electric engine rooms on the aircraft carrier has been flooded by seawater, and the other has been blown up. Although the two 3oo kilowatt spare motors on the aircraft carrier are still working, these two spare motors are mainly used to provide power for the radio, radar and other electronic equipment on the battleship, and they cannot drive the pumping machines on the aircraft carrier at all.

The biggest problem was not how much sea water poured into the aircraft carrier, but the fact that the fire on the aircraft carrier was out of control at that time. The high-pressure water cannon used to extinguish the fire is also driven by the pumping machine, and in order to ensure that the ammunition depot and fuel depot are not detonated, then it is necessary to use seawater to cool it, and this also requires the use of high-pressure water cannons. But the problem was that at that time, it was simply impossible to drive so many high-pressure water cannons on the aircraft carrier to work at the same time.

The cruiser "Fang Xuanling" had already approached and threw the cable onto the aircraft carrier, using the cruiser's motor to provide power to the aircraft carrier. Two more destroyers are also coming. Ready to provide power to the aircraft carrier. But the problem is that many power lines on the aircraft carrier at that time were blown up, and it was almost impossible to relay the lines and transmit this power to the inside of the aircraft carrier.

Huang Xiaotian and Jiang Zhongmin both had a blue face. When the "Genhe" ground radar showed the US military aircraft group, both of them realized that they might not be able to protect the "Yangtze River," so Jiang Zhongmin gave the order. Let the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier battle group break out of formation and avoid US bombers.

This decision allowed the "Xuanzong" to avoid the danger of being bombed, but at the same time, it also allowed the "Yangtze River" to withstand the attacks of all US bombers. It was the lesser of two evils decision, and it was the best decision in the circumstances.

"Let the captain prepare for the evacuation." Huang Xiaotian touched his chin, "They have done their best." In addition, contact the 'Xuanzong' and come over as soon as possible, we have to transfer to the 'Xuanzong'. ”

As soon as Jiang Zhongmin went to give the order, the communications staff officer ran over. "Commander. News from Task Force 1. Their reconnaissance aircraft appeared in the small American aircraft carrier formation! ”

Jiang Zhongmin immediately stopped, and then walked back. Huang Xiaotian glanced at his partner, and then entered the command cabin.

"The U.S. small aircraft carrier group is probably within 4o to 12o nautical miles southeast of its fleet aircraft carrier group." The aviation operations staff has marked an approximate range on the chart. "The telegram came from the cruiser 'Wei Chi Gong', and there was no exact information, only mentioning the number of the reconnaissance plane of the current US fleet, and its course, and its approximate location. This information is very uncertain. ”

Huang Xiaotian nodded, and then looked at the chart.

"It's too far from us between 28o and 36 nautical miles!" Jiang Zhongmin immediately asked the question, "If the US fleet is 39o nautical miles away from us, then we will not be able to attack, otherwise the bombers will not be able to come back at all." ”

"I know. But now we don't have time. Huang Xiaotian let out a sigh and said to the aviation combat staff officer next to him, "Immediately contact the 'Xuanzong', send all the bombers, advance towards this sea area, and extend the search area to the southeast, and the first task force is forced to land in the ground sea area!" ”

The aviation combat staff officer hesitated for a moment, and immediately went to pick up the microphone.

Huang Xiaotian called the communications staff officer over again. "Contact Task Force 1. Let them leave a couple of battleships ready to meet our pilots. ”

Jiang Zhongmin also understood what Huang Xiaotian meant. The bomber group will no longer return to the 4th Task Force, but will make a forced landing on the side of the 1st Task Force, so that the bomber group will not need to consider flying back for more than 3oo nautical miles, but only need to fly back for more than 1oo nautical miles, and the bombers will have enough fuel on the ground to ensure that they can return to the sea area where the 1st Task Force is located after attacking targets 35o nautical miles away.

Just as the communications staff officer was about to send out the telegram, a new telegram arrived. This was not a telegram from Task Force 1, but from the Theater Command. After Huang Xiaotian read it, he immediately gave it to Jiang Zhongmin.

"Let's go bomb the U.S. Task Force 32?"

"It's not that we are asked to consider bombing the 32nd Task Force when we have excess forces, and it seems that the shore-based bombers of the HNA have not been able to intercept the 32nd Task Force."

"So what now?" Jiang Zhongmin hesitated a little.

Huang Xiaotian thought for two minutes, and then nodded at the aviation combat staff officer who was looking at him.

"Let the bombers of the 'Xuanzong' come out and kill the US aircraft carrier first, whether we have the ability to deal with the 32nd Task Force depends on how many bombers we have returned!"

The aviation operations staff officer glanced at Jiang Zhongmin, and Jiang Zhongmin also nodded slightly, dealing with aircraft carriers is far more important than dealing with battleships. In addition, the returning bombers will arrive at the fleet at about ten o'clock, and if they can still strike the 32nd Task Force by then, it will not be too late to let these bombers out.

"In addition, let the 'Xuanzong' turn due south, shorten the distance from Kuah Island, and pay attention to the air defense of the fleet." Huang Xiaotian made a decision very quickly, "The First Task Force was defeated by the US shore-based bombers, maybe we are also among the targets of the US shore-based bombers, and now we must not let the 'Xuanzong' aircraft carrier also be defeated, we are this aircraft carrier." ”

"Xuanzong" first sailed to the southwest. In order to release 16 "water birds", 15 "sea eagles", and 17 "falcons" on the aircraft carrier, they were organized as escort fighters. After these fighters were released, the "Xuanzong" began to receive the previous air defense fighters, and 21 "Hayabusa" 6 landed on the aircraft carrier, refilled with fuel and ammunition, and then left the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. After that, the aircraft carrier began to sail south, heading towards Huang Xiaotian and them.

At this time. It was already 9:45 a.m., and the first bombers would be back over the fleet in fifteen minutes.

The rescue of the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier was declared a failure at 9:50 a.m. The fire continued to spread on the carrier, and at 9:35 the captain ordered a reverse water injection in the starboard compartment to help the carrier regain balance, which caused the carrier to sink and sink. By 9:48 a.m., the fire on the aircraft carrier was out of control. The ammunition depot and fuel depot were in danger, and in order to ensure the safety of the officers and men on board, the captain gave the order to abandon the ship two minutes later.

The evacuation proceeded in an orderly manner, starting with a number of non-combatants on board the aircraft carriers (each with dozens of medical officers on board). Teacher. and the ship's engineers), then the officers and men of the fleet who did not participate in the salvage, and then the damage management personnel on the battleship. And finally the command staff of the battleship. The three nearby warships all sent fireboats and lifeboats to assist the officers and men on the aircraft carrier in the retreat, fortunately, before that, the wounded and the bodies of the dead officers and soldiers were sent out, which greatly reduced the pressure of the retreat work.

Just after 10 o'clock, when the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier and the "Gao Shilian" cruiser were on the side, and Huang Xiaotian and Jiang Zhongmin came to the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier, the "Yangtze River" underground ammunition depot was detonated, and then the aviation gasoline depot was leaked. The fire quickly engulfed the entire aircraft carrier. The sound of the huge explosion was still so violent when it reached several nautical miles away, and the fire on the aircraft carrier was hundreds of meters high, and even the officers and men of the destroyer located on the outermost part of the fleet could see it.

At 10:08 a.m., the "Yangtze River" disappeared from the sea more than an hour after being shot. This is the seventh fleet aircraft carrier lost by the Imperial Navy in this war, and it is also the last of the "Yangtze River" class aircraft carriers, so far all four "Yangtze River" class aircraft carriers have been sunk!

There was no time for Huang Xiaotian and Jiang Zhongmin to mourn for the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier, and the returning bombers had already reached the skies over the fleet. Most of the bombers had less than ten minutes of fuel left. The aircraft carrier "Xuanzong" immediately began to refuel, and at the same time landed the first batch of bombers who arrived at the ground. Of the 93 fighters in the first group of bombers sent out by Huang Xiaotian, 77 returned. It will take at least half an hour just to receive these bombers. As a result, most of the bombers had to make a forced landing on the sea because they ran out of fuel, and in fact less than 4o bombers were able to land on the aircraft carrier "Xuanzong", and four more were damaged during landing.

At this time, on the cruiser "Wei Chigong", Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue were worried about the two newly received telegrams.

The first telegram came from the Theater Command, Yan Guozhong asked Tan Renhao to arrange bombers to attack the 32nd Task Force as soon as possible, obviously Yan Guozhong did not know that the 1st Task Force was no longer capable of sending bombers when he sent this telegram. The second telegram came from Task Force IV.

"Let's leave a few battleships?" Hao Dongjue hesitated, and the telegram did not mention the reason for leaving the battleship.

Tan Renhao glanced at Hao Dongjue. "You should know what Huang Xiaotian is going to do now!"

After thinking for a while, Hao Dongjue laughed. "This bastard, he's going to make the final attack. The Fourth Task Force is more than 3oo nautical miles away from the US small aircraft carrier formation, and the bombers he sent will definitely not be able to return to the fleet, so we want to leave the battleships here, and the returning bombers will make a forced landing in this sea area, and we will salvage the pilots! ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "I'll do the same, those three small aircraft carriers are not easy to deal with. It just so happened that we were also going to salvage the officers and soldiers who had fallen into the water, and the seaplanes that had been sent out were also looking for our pilots who had fallen into the water. Then we will stay here for the time being, hoping that the bombers sent by Huang Xiaotian can catch up with the US task force! ”

"What about this telegram from General Yan Guozhong?"

"What to do? Leave him alone, we don't have the ability to send bombers against Task Force 32. Tan Ren Haoxun thought for a moment, "The first batch of bombers sent by the Fourth Task Force has almost returned, if Huang Xiaotian can take back these bombers, then he still has the ability to send dozens of bombers to deal with the 32nd Task Force, I hope he can arrange it in time." ”

Hao Dongjue sighed, the battle had reached this point, and they didn't seem to take much advantage.

Just as the two of them were organizing forces to rescue the people who had fallen into the water, the third telegram came, and the aircraft carrier "Yangtze River" of the Fourth Task Force sank. This was a major blow to both of them, and although they had already confirmed that they had sunk two US fleet aircraft carriers, the "Xingkaihu" had been severely damaged and would take about several months to repair, and after the "Yangtze River" sank, there would only be one aircraft carrier, the "Xuanzong." Even if the aircraft carrier "Bell Lake" of the Second Task Force is counted, the Imperial Navy has only two aircraft carriers that can be put into operation in recent months, while the US Navy still has three small aircraft carriers, and the aircraft carrier strength of the two sides has not been stretched, which is another tragic victory.

At 10:58 a.m., the bombers dispatched by the "Xuanzong" flew over the northwest direction of the First Task Force and flew swiftly towards the east. Although this fleet has only 31 bombers, it is more than enough to deal with three small aircraft carriers, which may not be able to withstand even a single bomb.

At this time, Halsey had already led the escort warships that were not injured on the return voyage. Although he had telegraphed the small aircraft carrier group to arrange for the bombers to take off as soon as possible, the bombers on the "Independence" and "Blaurowwood" did not take off, and the two aircraft carriers had already turned around at 8:50 and began to flee the battlefield in a southeasterly direction. The order was given not by Halsey, but directly by Nimitz in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet. At that time, Halsey had already arrived on the cruiser and had not received the order, and he was still angry that the small carrier group had not replied to his telegram.