When Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin, the search and rescue work in the fleet was being carried out intensely. During the operation, the commanders of each aircraft carrier battle group have command authority, and only when Tan Renhao becomes the commander of the fleet from the new, that is, when the battle is over, will the command be handed back.

"Arrange search and rescue work first, and try to coordinate the search and rescue forces of the three task forces to improve efficiency." The first thing Tan Renhao arranged was to rescue the pilot. "It is important to ensure that every pilot who falls into the water is rescued, and that the seriously injured must be given priority care. Now, has Ellsloth found it? ”

"...... have been rescued by the destroyer"

"How's he doing?" Without waiting for the staff officer to finish speaking, Tan Renhao hurriedly asked.

"It's serious, it's being sent to the cruiser 'Phoenix', the medical officer has prepared the operating room, and blood transfusions are needed."

"Do everything you can to rescue Ellsler, and tell the captain of the 'Phoenix' that if Andersler dies on his battleship, then he will not be the captain of the ship, and go home and farm!"

"This ......"

"Also, the other team leaders and pilots must ensure that they are rescued in the most timely manner, and when Yang Qinkai comes back, let him come to me immediately."

"Yes!"

Tan Renhao waved his hand and let the staff officer leave, and at this time, Zhu Rongzhe ran over with a telegram.

"Damage reports on two aircraft carriers, in addition, there was a cruiser that was bombed, and the situation is more serious."

Tan Renhao immediately took the message and quickly skimmed through it. The "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier was hit by two bombs, and the damage was quite serious. "Gaoyou Lake" received only one bomb, and one torpedo did not explode after hitting the aircraft carrier. Because the smoke screen was raised in time by both aircraft carriers, the US bombers were not able to drop more bombs and torpedoes on the aircraft carriers, which was a blessing in misfortune.

"Now the 'Hongze Lake' will definitely not be able to continue to use, and the 'Gaoyou Lake' should be able to restore part of its aviation combat capability after emergency repairs......

"It doesn't matter, we have lost almost all the bombers and fighters, even if the aircraft carrier is repaired. I can't continue to fight. Tan Renhao returned the telegram to Zhu Rongzhe, "Every position on the aircraft carrier must be thoroughly inspected to ensure that there are no hidden dangers before the power system can be restarted." Also, get the loss report as soon as possible. ”

"I've arranged it, now shall we turn?"

Tan Renhao hesitated. "Complete the search and rescue work first, contact the second task force, and wait to meet the second task force."

Zhu Rongzhe sighed, now the first task force and the second task force are brothers and sisters. Both fleets had two aircraft carriers bombed, but task force 1 was in much better shape, at least none of the carriers were torpedoed, and the repair should be much simpler.

"By the way, Xiao Zhu, if the reconnaissance plane has a report, come and tell me immediately, and there is still ......" Tan Renhao stopped Zhu Rongzhe, "Immediately arrange for a few bombers to take off and fly in the direction of the retreat of the US military aircraft group." Contact the nearest reconnaissance aircraft. Tell them where the enemy aircraft group is entering. Let them turn as soon as possible. ”

Zhu Rongzhe nodded immediately, if Tan Renhao didn't remind him, he would really forget such an important thing.

Wait until Zhu Rongzhe leaves. Tan Renhao called the communications staff officer over. "Have you made contact with Task Force 4?"

"We've been contacted, General Huang Xiaotian asked if we want to cover?"

"No, I'm afraid the U.S. military has already sent out all the bombers." Tan Renhao touched his chin and thought for a while, "Tell Huang Xiaotian that the 52nd Task Force of the US Army is very likely to be directly north of us, or a little east-north, but I don't know the specific distance." Task Force 4 headed north at full speed to get all the bombers ready for takeoff as soon as possible. As soon as our reconnaissance planes discover the 52nd US Task Force, the bombers of the Fourth Task Force will take off immediately. ”

The communications staff officer quickly recorded the commander's orders in a small notebook.

"That's all, if there's a call back. Tell me again. ”

In less than 10 minutes, the first bomber on a reconnaissance mission roared away from the "Longganhu" aircraft carrier. This was a bomber piloted by Qiu Gengbo himself, and Qiu Gengbo, who had been holding back on the aircraft carrier for dozens of minutes, took the initiative to stand up after receiving the mission. In less than five minutes, all six "waterfowl" that had been assigned to track the US bomber group left the aircraft carrier and quickly disappeared into the sky to the north.

The "Gaoyouhu" aircraft carrier was the first to send a safety message, and the 1,000-pound bomb hit the antiaircraft gun group behind the aircraft carrier island, blowing up the two 120-mm antiaircraft gun turrets. Thankfully, it is. The explosion only injured dozens of officers and men on the bridge, but did not directly terminate the command center of the aircraft carrier. It was also because the base of the turret blocked the bomb that it did not cause more damage to the aircraft carrier. The fire, caused by the detonation of a shell, was quickly extinguished. The biggest damage was not the two anti-aircraft guns, but the mid-end of the flight deck that was blown apart, and the repair work took a little time. In addition, some important facilities in the hangar below were also damaged, and a knocked down crane smashed a nearby bomber to pieces.

The "Hongzehu" escaped after three hours. The officers and men of the aircraft carrier on the ground made great efforts to extinguish the fire. The damage caused by the bomb that smashed between the catapults was not very great. Below the catapult was the soldier's compartment, and below it was the ammunition compartment of the anti-aircraft gun, after being shot, the ammunition compartment was already flooded, and the bomb exploded above the soldier's compartment, without endangering the ammunition compartment. The damage of the bomb that smashed on the rear end of the elevator at the rear of the aircraft carrier was much more serious, and there was a gas station below the elevator, although the valve of the oil pipeline had been closed, but the aviation gasoline remaining in the pipeline still caused a large fire, and then ignited some flammable materials around it, and also burned several bombers, and it took two hours for the damage control personnel to extinguish the fire in the hangar. After a thorough inspection of the situation inside the aircraft carrier and confirmation that there were no safety hazards, the aircraft carrier restarted the two boilers that had been shut down after being shot. At least, the speed of the aircraft carrier was not affected much, all four power systems were able to work normally, and the aircraft carrier was able to get a maximum speed of 27 knots.

The most seriously damaged was the cruiser "Yinghe" in the "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier battle group. The luck of this cruiser was also a little too back. A bomber that was hit by an anti-aircraft gun before the bomb was dropped directly hit the cruiser's armor gun, and the bomber was smashed to pieces, and the aviation gasoline leaked out of the plane, causing a large fire. Most unfortunately, the 1000-pound bomb hanging from the bomber passed through the deck next to the base of the turret. Exploded above the ammunition depot of the main turret. Although the closed ammunition depot played a role, as the fire spread, it was no longer possible to fill the ammunition depot with water. The officers and men on the battleship organized a firefighting death squad and tried to rush into the fire and open the water filling valve, but they all failed several times, and more than a dozen officers and men fell into the fire. By 12:08, less than fifteen minutes after the end of the battle. The fire got out of control, the main gun ammunition depot could explode at any moment, and the captain had to give the order to abandon the ship. Ten minutes later, the "Yinghe" sank in a big explosion. This is also the only battleship lost by the Imperial Navy in this battle!

The report of the loss of personnel arrived at half-past twelve, and it was an incomplete report. According to preliminary statistics, Task Force 1 lost at least a third of its pilots throughout the entire combat operation, of which 48 fighter pilots were killed and 31 were seriously wounded. And the first task force has a total of 111 fighter pilots, and its loss ratio is as high as more than seventy percent! The losses of the officers and men of the fleet were not small, and 329 officers and men were killed or missing on the "Yinghe". 278 people were seriously injured. There were 187 officers and men killed or missing on the "Hongze Lake". 76 were seriously injured. There were 119 officers and men killed or missing on the "Gaoyou Lake" and 28 seriously wounded. In addition, more than 20 officers and men were killed or wounded on other warships due to various reasons.

See these statistic results. Tan Renhao is also heartbroken. What he couldn't stand the most was that so many excellent pilots died in the battle to defend the fleet. The news of Colonel Yao Boyan's death has been made official, and his body has not been found. Although Ellor did not sacrifice, his situation was not optimistic at all. What seriously injured Ellsler was a piece of shrapnel that hit him in the abdomen, which was supposed to be a piece of iron that had collapsed from the cockpit wall when the fighter was hit. The shrapnel had been removed, but Ellsle remained unconscious. The medical officers aboard the Phoenix did their best and needed to observe for at least 48 hours to determine whether Ellsler was out of danger. In addition, the medical officer was not sure whether Ellsler would be able to serve in the fleet in the future, if Ellsler had to withdraw from the front-line troops. That would again "lose" a super ace.

The aftermath has been going on intensely. At 12:40 p.m., Hao Dongjue sent a telegram requesting that the four damaged aircraft carriers of the two task forces be grouped together and withdrawn from the battle, while the other two undamaged aircraft carriers should form a new fleet and continue to cooperate with the fourth task force. Tan Renhao only agreed to the first request, but did not agree to the second request. At that time, the aircraft carriers "Longganhu" and "Xingkaihu" combined had less than 90 aircraft, and most of the bombers were out of order. Even if you participate in the next battle, what role can it play?

Then, Huang Xiaotian sent a telegram. Task Force 4's bombers were ready to depart and it was suggested that Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 converge and that Task Force 4 arrange fighter planes to cover them. Tan Renhao rejected Huang Xiaotian's kindness, and emphasized in his reply that it is necessary to find the 52nd Task Force, not to let the US military slip away, and to completely destroy the last bit of capital of the US Navy, and this is the primary task of the Fourth Task Force, as for the matter of the First Task Force and the Second Task Force, that is not something that Huang Xiaotian should worry about.

Now, Tan Renhao only believes that since Task Force 52 can send bombers to attack Task Force 1, then Task Force 52 is about 300 nautical miles to the north, or even closer. The reconnaissance planes he sent will not be without gains, and the Fourth Task Force basically still has a complete strike capability, and with Huang Xiaotian's ability, it should not be a problem to take out the 52nd Task Force under the command of Turner.

Far from being the case, Tan Renhao overestimated Turner's guts a little. At the same time, the combat effectiveness of the 52nd Task Force was also overestimated. Turner did his best to launch an operation against Task Force 1, and the number of American bombers that escaped was less than 40, and these bombers consumed too much fuel over Task Force 1, and it was a question whether they could return to the aircraft carriers of Task Force 52. Therefore, when Tan Renhao arranged for the Fourth Task Force to go north for revenge, Turner was also doing one thing, that is, to escape as quickly as possible without giving the enemy a chance to return fire.

The biggest problem is that the reconnaissance route of the group of reconnaissance planes that Tan Renhao sent before the fleet was bombed was wrong. At that time, Task Force 52 was not on the northeast of Task Force 1, but to the north. None of the reconnaissance planes closest to Task Force 52 could have found Task Force 52. Herein lies the problem, if these reconnaissance planes do not turn, it will be a trip for nothing. Tan Renhao only sent people to contact these reconnaissance planes after 12 o'clock and asked them to turn around, and at this time, most of the reconnaissance planes had already reached the maximum reconnaissance radius and were even already returning home.

Luck once again changed the situation on the battlefield. Of the 18 "waterbirds," the shortest flight distance was the westernmost one, and the reconnaissance plane had a course of 15 degrees, almost heading towards the 52nd Task Force, but when it reached the maximum reconnaissance radius, the 52nd Task Force was to the north, not to the west. After flying a distance of 350 nautical miles, the pilot of the reconnaissance plane had just returned less than 120 nautical miles when he received an order to turn due north for a search flight. The pilot had no choice but to turn again. In order to maximize fuel savings, the speed of the aircraft was reduced to 120 knots, which is the most fuel-efficient speed, not the most economical speed, at which the "waterfowl" can continue to fly for about two and a half hours.

At 12:40 a.m., just when the pilots were about to lose hope and the remaining fuel was barely enough to return to the fleet, a group of planes suddenly appeared to the south of it, and this was the group of American bombers that had completed the operation of attacking the first task force and was returning home!