Soon after the bombing of the First Task Force, Huang Xiaotian received news that among the first batch of bombers he had sent out, the first to return had reached the skies over the First Task Force at 8:40 a.m., and then sent a telegram back. Huang Xiaotian had some hope at first, after all, the first few groups of American bombers that arrived were all defeated. But at 8:50 a.m., that is, when the US shore-based bombers began to bomb the First Task Force, Huang Xiaotian received a second telegram, and now he knew that the First Task Force was finished, and even if the "Xingkaihu" aircraft carrier was not sunk, it would be severely damaged and lose its combat effectiveness. About three minutes after he received the second telegram, the fleet air defense alarm sounded.

"The 'Nehe' has a group of enemy planes, 8o degrees, at a distance of about 25 nautical miles, and fighters are rushing over."

"Immediately let the other fighters take off immediately." Huang Xiaotian gave the order directly, and then, he rushed to the outside of the command cabin and looked towards the east.

"Let the 'Xuanzong' aircraft carrier battle group turn to the northeast, open up the distance, all warships enter the state of air defense, 'Gao Shilian' and 'Fang Xuanling' come over, and all warships must be vigilant in the surrounding airspace!" Jiang Zhongmin added a series of orders, and he hesitated, "Don't turn for the time being, after the enemy plane enters the visual range, let the captain take over the command." ”

The heavy cruiser "Genhe" is an escort warship in the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier battle group, located in the northeast direction of the fleet. At this time, the fleet was moving in a southeasterly direction. Unlike the other two carrier task forces, Task Force 4 has only two carrier battle groups and no additional artillery strike groups, but each carrier battle group has two additional cruisers to bolster air defense. At this time, the "Yangtze River" battle group was in the southeast of the fleet, and the "Xuanzong" battle group was in the northwest, about 8 nautical miles away from the "Yangtze River" battle group. This distance is a little too close, for example, to close the distance as soon as possible, and not to allow two aircraft carriers to be hit at the same time.

Twenty "Falcons" pounced in the direction of the incoming US bombers. At this time, the wind has weakened to level 2, and the aircraft carrier does not need to turn to sail into the wind to allow the fighter to take off into the air. Because the "Yangtze River" still uses an honest catapult, the fighters that took off in an emergency did not carry auxiliary fuel tanks, and the time spent in the air was much shorter. In the air defense of the fleet, there is no need for fighters to hang auxiliary fuel tanks, and the battle will most likely end in half an hour. And any fighter can fight in the air for more than half an hour.

When several fighters appeared under the clouds in the east, Huang Xiaotian looked at his partner who had rushed out.

"Looks like the Yankees aren't stupid." Jiang Zhongmin sneered, "However, they came a little late, so they probably searched the nearby waters for a while!" Now it's time for us to give these American bombers a little color. ”

"Then it depends on how efficient our air defense fighters are!" Huang Xiaotian returned to the command cabin, "Let the fighters pay attention to the above clouds, and don't let the US fighters sneak in." ”

These American bombers have indeed been searching for more than 20 minutes in the waters around here, and most of them have even used up spare fuel. Task Force 4 launched bombers northwest of Flinnsbury Reef, and it was in this area that the sBd was now part of Task Force 4.

But then it was because the fuel was running out. Had to go back. After sending bombers, Huang Xiaotian caused the fleet to change course and bypass Frinzbury Reef. Then continue to move all the way to the southeast to close the distance and pick up the bombers sent out earlier. In addition, Huang Xiaotian and Jiang Zhongmin both judged that the US military's small aircraft carrier formation should be in the southeast direction of the fleet's aircraft carrier formation, so if they want to attack the US military's small aircraft carrier formation, they must let the fleet sail several dozen nautical miles to the southeast to shorten the bomber's attack distance as much as possible. As a result, Task Force 4's course was actually about 2o nautical miles southwest of what it had been before, and within two hours. It has sailed about 5o nautical miles south.

The distance of 26o nautical miles was almost within the maximum strike radius of the American bombers, and it took Halsey an hour and forty minutes for the first batch of bombers to fly the 2nd Fourth Task Force. This group of 52 sBd, 3o TBd, and 27 649 bombers did not give up the search work, in order to reduce fuel consumption, most of the bombers flew above the clouds, and only a few bombers searched for the fourth task force below the clouds. They flew back and forth on Frinzbury Reef and spent 2o minutes on it. Task Force 4, which was already south of Flindsbury Reef, was finally found.

When the US bombers under the clouds saw the fleet, the air defense warships in the fleet also appeared, and then the 12o mm anti-aircraft guns rang out, and the shells shot out in a string. The two bombers were unable to dodge and were immediately hit by shells, and the other bombers quickly burrowed into the clouds.

Above the clouds, 20 "Hayabusa" fighters, guided by the warship's radar, quickly found the US bomber group, and immediately became entangled with the "pirates" escorting the escort.

The mission of the "Falcon" is not to shoot down the opponent's escort fighters, but to strike the opponent's ground bombers. When intercepted by air defense fighters, the US bomber group immediately burrowed into the clouds.

"The enemy aircraft group is still flying towards us, but ......," the staff officer in charge of air defense operations hesitated, "and they seem to be heading a lot off, flying in front of us." ”

Huang Xiaotian and Jiang Zhongmin glanced at each other, and then they both laughed.

"Let the fleet maintain the degree, notify the warships, use the radar to guide the anti-aircraft guns, fire into the clouds, don't care about the shells, when they run out, we can fill them up when we go back." Huang Xiaotian immediately issued a new order, "The Yankees probably haven't figured out our situation yet, and now I just hope that they won't find the 'Xuanzong' aircraft carrier battle group." ”

Guided anti-aircraft artillery operations with radar, a new air defense tactic. Originally used by the 6 Army Ground Air Defense Corps, mainly due to the air defense of key areas, that is, the guidance of large-caliber anti-aircraft guns against the enemy's heavy bombers. After the Navy adopted this tactic, it was first used to guide 12o mm large-caliber anti-aircraft guns against enemy aircraft at long distances. In close-range air defense operations, because the degree and turning rate of enemy aircraft are very fast, the use of radar to guide anti-aircraft guns does not seem to have much effect. - 812O78 against the US bombers in the clouds, can only use radar to provide anti-aircraft guns with shelling parameters.

It's almost blind fire. However, there is always an effect. When the VT bombs exploded in the clouds, several American bombers fell with black smoke in tow, and before they fell into the sea, 4o mm and 2o mm anti-aircraft guns also opened fire to ensure that they were completely shot down.

Soon, American bombers emerged from the clouds. Now, those pilots appeared. They had already flown directly in front of the fleet of the Don Empire, and not directly above. The group quickly turned and rushed towards the "Hailar River" cruiser at the front of the fleet, and behind this cruiser was the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier, which was turning right.

TBd quickly lowered to the altitude of the sea flight, trying to bypass the cruiser "Hailar River", while Bd flew under the clouds and quickly approached the "Yangtze River".

At this time, the cumulonimbus cloud over Task Force 4 was only 45) meters high, and it was impossible to dive and drop bombs. Only horizontal bombing can be carried out.

The cruiser "Hailar" was also turning. The port side was pointed in the direction where the American bombers were coming. 12o mm anti-aircraft guns are no longer of much use, these anti-aircraft guns are very ineffective against enemy aircraft within 2 nautical miles, but 8o mm anti-aircraft guns have lethal power at this distance. And at a distance of 1 nautical mile to 2 nautical miles, the role of 4o mm anti-aircraft guns is the most obvious, and within 1 nautical mile, it is the world of 2o mm machine guns.

The battle was extremely fierce, and one after another US bombers were hit by shells, but more US bombers were flocking to the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier.

"Damn, aren't the Yankees afraid of death? When did they learn all the bullshit spirit of the Japanese? ”

"They're also soldiers." Jiang Zhongmin made a relatively fair evaluation, "On the battlefield, as long as they are excellent soldiers, they will not perform much worse than our pilots." ”

Huang Xiaotian sighed secretly. "Contact the 'Xuanzong'. Prepare them to take over the command of the fleet, and it looks like we're going to have to get ready to move! ”

There were too many American bombers rushing over, and there were only two cruisers in front of the "Yangtze River". Eight US aircraft were shot down while crossing the cruiser "Hailar". At this time, the aircraft carrier formation had already turned around, and the large air defense cruiser "Fang Xuanling" was in front of the aircraft carrier. American bombers still did not attack the cruiser, but continued to advance. During this period, six more bombers were shot down. By the time the US bombers crossed over the cruiser "Fang Xuanling," 23 of them had already been shot down. In addition to the previous downed ones, in the end, as many as 4o bombers with bombs and torpedoes continued to press towards the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier.

The "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier is still making a sharp turn. The bombs dropped by the first four sBd all fell outside the port side of the aircraft carrier, and the advance was too small to threaten the aircraft carrier at all. And by this time, the only group of TBd, which bypassed the cruiser, had already dropped torpedoes about 8oo meters from the aircraft carrier. 12 torpedoes were fired at the course of the aircraft carrier. It was too late for the aircraft carrier to pass to the left, so it could only continue to turn right and let the ship aim at the course of the torpedo.

The anti-aircraft guns on the aircraft carrier were also firing fiercely, but at least 28 sBd broke through the air defense network of the fleet, and these bombers were divided into seven formations of four each. The second batch of sBd still dropped the bombs crookedly, this time a little too much in advance, and the bombs landed on the right front of the bow of the carrier. The third batch of sBd dropped four bombs on the ground and still missed three, but the fourth hit the anti-aircraft gun group below the flight deck at the tail of the aircraft carrier, destroying all 1o more than 2o mm machine guns and 4o 4o mm anti-aircraft guns here!

The impact was enormous, the sBd was all rushed from the tail direction of the aircraft carrier, and the anti-aircraft artillery group in the tail of the aircraft carrier played the greatest role. After the anti-aircraft guns here were destroyed, they could only rely on the anti-aircraft guns behind the two sides to continue fighting, and the effectiveness was much reduced. Two of the bombs dropped by the fourth batch of sBd landed at the stern end of the aircraft carrier's flight deck, both of which passed through the flight deck, one exploded in the hangar, and the other pierced the main deck below, exploding above the engine rooms of ships 3 and 4, and nearby was the anti-aircraft gun ammunition bay on the aircraft carrier!

At this time, the torpedoes under the sea surface were also approaching, and although the aircraft carrier had turned 75 degrees, it still could not completely avoid the torpedo attack, and two of the 18 torpedoes that came from the fan hit the aircraft carrier. One of them hit the right side of the aircraft carrier's headquarters, not only directly breaking the two propulsion shafts here, but also directly causing the propulsion module on the right side to enter the water. The other exploded about one-third of the ship's length on the port side, leaving a hole in the ulmes of the aircraft carrier with a diameter of nearly five meters, and the sea water quickly flooded three compartments.

The next three batches of sBd also dropped bombs quickly, and 6 of the 12 bombs hit the aircraft carrier, which is a bit surprisingly high. So far, the aircraft carrier "Yangtze River" has been hit by 9 bombs and 8 torpedoes. If the aircraft carrier is now in the state when it left the factory, it may be able to reluctantly return to port, but the problem is that the state of the "Yangtze River" aircraft carrier has not been restored, and the "Yangtze River" class aircraft carrier has not adopted a small compartment structure, and the layout on the battleship is not reasonable, in addition, armor partitions are not used, and armor firewalls are not set up in many important parts. This aircraft carrier will not be able to withstand so many bombs and torpedoes!

Huang Xiaotian and Jiang Zhongmin were only injured, and a bomb fell near the ship's island, but the bomb only exploded after passing through the main deck and entering the ship's hull, and did not directly harm the personnel on the ship's island. When they learned that the aircraft carrier had been hit by 9 bombs and 2 torpedoes, they all immediately despaired.

With the assistance of the 6 th Squadron members, the personnel of the fleet headquarters were quickly evacuated to the cruiser "Gao Shilian", which had already approached, and the rescue work on the battleship was still ongoing.

When Huang Xiaotian left the flagship, he gave the command to the captain, and if the aircraft carrier could not be saved, then the captain could decide to abandon the battleship and save the officers and men on the battleship. And he had to rush to the "Xuanzong" aircraft carrier as soon as possible to restore the fleet's command system.