After Qiu Gengbo's group left, Spruance and the others moved to a nearby light cruiser, and the wounded were dealt with in a timely manner.

"General, the 'Guam' is approaching, shall we move over now?"

"Deal with the wounded first." Spruance also had a bloody cut on his neck, but fortunately the wound was not deep enough to hurt the major arteries. "Let the fleet continue to sail eastward, arranging for destroyers to cover aircraft carriers that cannot keep up."

On the sea, the "Independence" has been burning in flames for more than half an hour, and the aircraft carrier is already hopeless. At the time when Spruance moved to the cruiser, the captain of the "Independence" gave the order to abandon the ship, the officers and men on the aircraft carrier were evacuating, and two destroyers were nearby to assist.

The speed of the "Franklin" also fell to 18 knots, which is the fastest speed that can be maintained, and after being hit by three torpedoes and five bombs, the aircraft carrier has not sunk, which is already a huge miracle. However, the problem is that the fire caused by aviation fuel on the aircraft carrier cannot be effectively controlled, and the damage management personnel have done their best. In addition, the aircraft carrier has been flooded by thousands of tons, and all the power compartments on the left side have been flooded, losing half of its power. The aircraft carrier is also seriously tilted to the left, and if it does not immediately fill the starboard compartment with water, then it will be difficult to carry out rescue work on the aircraft carrier, but the problem is that if water is injected into the starboard compartment of the aircraft carrier at this time, it will definitely lose a quarter of its power, and the speed of the aircraft carrier will fall below 12 knots!

The small aircraft carriers "Princeton" and "Bellaulwood" each received a bomb, and the fire on the aircraft carrier had not been extinguished, and the damage was no longer enough for the bombers to take off. In fact, both aircraft carriers were badly damaged in their hangars, and there were simply not a few intact bombers left. Even if the flight deck were still functional, it would not be able to organize the strike force.

This is the disadvantage of small aircraft carriers. One aerial bomb is enough to paralyze the ground aviation strike capability of the entire aircraft carrier, and relatively speaking, even if the fleet aircraft carrier is hit by a bomb in the middle of the deck, it is very likely to preserve a certain amount of aviation combat capability, and the hangar designed in sections will not be completely destroyed.

It will definitely be able to save the next part of the fighter.

In addition to these four aircraft carriers, only one destroyer was accidentally torpedoed and sank within ten minutes. And this is also the first battleship sunk by the Fifth Fleet in this battle, of the more than 300 officers and men on the destroyer, only more than 50 escaped, the sinking speed was too fast, most of the officers and men were in the cabin, there was no time to escape.

As the medic bandaged his wounds, Spruance issued a series of orders, including four destroyers to cover the USS Franklin. The other warships continued to retreat with the two small carriers capable of holding 24 knots, while the other two destroyers made every effort to search for and rescue those who had fallen overboard, including the pilots of the Tang Empire. Then catch up with the retreating fleet at full speed. Spruance was not calm at this time, he only knew that the second batch of bombers of Task Force 1 had already hit the road and would arrive soon. He can only do everything possible to save more battleships, and not wait here to die.

Yang Qinkai's fleet did arrive quickly, and there were still ten minutes to two o'clock in the afternoon, when Yang Qinkai saw the US fleet in front, and the first thing he saw was the aircraft carrier protected by four destroyers, and the small aircraft carrier that was almost about to capsize.

"Don't waste ammunition, the third torpedo squad will take out the fleet carrier, the third bomber squad will take out the four destroyers, and the rest will continue to pursue the Fifth Fleet with me."

The 24 bombers immediately broke away from the formation, and Yang Qinkai's wave of bombers included 41 "water birds" and 30 "sea eagles." After separating 24 aircraft, he still has 29 "water birds" and 18 "sea eagles" in his hands, and he has to deal with two small aircraft carriers, and in addition, those cruisers are also within the scope of key strikes. According to Yang Qinkai's calculations, so many bombers are enough to take out two small aircraft carriers of the US military.

That is, when Spruance was about to transfer to the cruiser "Guam", Yang Qinkai's fleet arrived, and the fleet immediately began to accelerate, and he stayed on the light cruiser and was not able to transfer to the "Guam", which can be regarded as invisibly saving his life, because the large cruiser "Guam" was the target of Yang Qinkai's key attack!

"The first bomber squad is equipped with torpedo planes, and the large cruisers of the American army will be killed first." Yang Qinkai didn't delay a little time at all, "The second bomber team will follow me, knock out those two small aircraft carriers, don't let the Yankees slip away!" ”

At this time, there was not a single US fighter in the sky over the Fifth Fleet, and most of the air defense fighters sent by Spruance before were killed by the escort fighters led by Colonel Yao Boyan, and the remaining few had to make a forced landing near the fleet because of the lack of fuel before Yang Qinkai's group arrived. Obviously, Tan Renhao's decision not to arrange escort fighters for Yang Qinkai was completely correct, and in this round of attacks, Tan Renhao did not need to provide Yang Qinkai with fighter jets at all, and the fighters did not have any effect.

The first to be attacked was the cruiser "Guam", the target characteristics of this large cruiser are more obvious than that of a small aircraft carrier, and the hull is more than 200 meters long, which is simply an ideal target for bombing, of course, if you count the hundreds of anti-aircraft guns on the cruiser, then this is a huge hedgehog!

Six "Shooting Birds" and nine "Sea Eagles" quickly circled and coordinated under the leadership of a major squadron leader. The anti-aircraft guns on the "Guam" were indeed very fierce, and in just two minutes, they killed one "water bird" and three "sea eagles," but in the end, they still could not prevent most of the bombers from completing the bombing operation, which also proved that any warship, no matter how fierce the anti-aircraft fire, as long as it was alone, would be easily attacked by bombers, and the main point of the fleet's air defense was that each warship would maintain each other, and the battlefield at sea was by no means a battlefield of individual heroism!

When the "Guam" was hit by two bombs and two torpedoes in succession, another large cruiser to the west of it was also strangled by a combination of dive bombers and torpedo bombers.

And the fate of this cruiser was not much better than that of the "Guam", and in the face of the bomber pilots of the 1st Task Force, which were extremely well-qualified, the bulky and large cruiser had little power to parry.

It was at this time. The nine dive bombers led by Yang Qinkai had already killed the two small aircraft carriers, and they did not encounter much trouble at all.

Then. The large cruisers in the nearby shelter were besieged by bombers, and there was simply no way to take care of the small carriers they protected. And both small aircraft carriers have already been bombed. Originally, the antiaircraft guns on the small aircraft carriers were not dense enough, and the officers and men on the battleships were in a hurry to extinguish the fires, and some of the antiaircraft guns had already been blown up, so it was even more difficult to effectively resist the concentrated attacks of the bombers, especially the most powerful bombers led by Yang Qinkai.

Nine "waterbirds" were divided into two groups. Almost simultaneously attacked the small aircraft carriers "Princeton" and "Blauwood". In less than two minutes, the two small aircraft carriers were again hit by two 500-kilogram heavy aviation armor-piercing shells, and these bombs all exploded inside the aircraft carrier's hull, and the destructive power produced can be imagined.

When Yang Qinkai pulled the bomber up, the "Blaurowwood" was almost completely finished, the fire and smoke shrouded the aircraft carrier, and the speed of the aircraft carrier quickly slowed down, its power system was fatally hit, and the power equipment on the aircraft carrier must have been damaged, at least. The firefighting work that was still going on has been stopped, and most of the damage management personnel who were exposed to the field have been sacrificed. Even if the aircraft carrier has not sunk, as long as the fire gets out of control.

Then sooner or later the aircraft carrier will be finished.

The situation with the small aircraft carrier "Princeton" is no better. Although one bomb hit the front of the aircraft carrier's flight deck, blowing up almost the entire bow above the waterline, it was not fatal. However, another bomb accurately burrowed into the engine room of the aircraft carrier. Destroying the power system of the aircraft carrier, the aircraft carrier also slowed down very quickly.

"Damn, it's a pity!" Yang Qinkai was a little unwilling, he wanted to see the last two aircraft carriers sink with his own eyes, "Which brother has a bomb, go and make up for one." ”

"Colonel, we all threw the bombs away."

"Damn it, stop those bombers who bombed the cruiser!"

It was too late, and the last two "waterbirds" attacking the "Hawaii" dropped their bombs when Yang Qinkai shouted.

"Colonel, here we are, we still have four bombs!"

Yang Qinkai was startled and immediately looked to the west.

"Old Yang, that's the third squad, they definitely didn't run out of bombs."

"Very good, immediately divide into two batches, attack the 'Princeton' first, you must blow it up, damn it, it's easier than hitting a target, if anyone misses it, go back and I'll lock him up!"

The navigator in the back seat immediately laughed, perhaps the easiest battle they had ever experienced.

The two "waterbirds" immediately swooped down on the aircraft carrier "Princeton" to deal with the aircraft carrier that had stopped, this was the simplest bombing mission, both bombs were accurately smashed on the aircraft carrier, one of them directly hit the aircraft carrier's already small ship island, and the other one drilled into the middle of the aircraft carrier's flight deck, almost from the place where the first bomb in the aircraft carrier was drilled in, and this bomb fell to the bottom of the aircraft carrier's ballast tank before exploding, which was a devastating blow, "Princeton" It's completely finished.

"One more, kill the last one!" Yang Qinkai was also excited.

The last two "waterbirds" quickly flew to the sky above the "Blauwwood", in fact, the "Blauwwood" was doomed at this time, but the captain was still hesitating to give the order to abandon the ship, and these two bombers helped him make a decision, if he did not run for his life, when would he wait?

"Fuck it, these four aircraft carriers are finished!"

Hearing the navigator's voice, Yang Qinkai also laughed. "Send the news back, the four aircraft carriers of the Fifth Fleet, and two, maybe three large cruisers have been dealt with, and if there are still bombers, you can consider letting that bastard of Qiu Gengbo fly again......"

"Old Yang ......"

Yang Qinkai and the navigator suddenly thought that Qiu Gengbo had been shot down, and now his life and death were still uncertain, and both of them fell silent.

"Let's go back, contact the fleet, and if possible, organize another bombing!"

The navigator quickly contacted the fleet, and then received a telegram from the fleet.

"What?" When Yang Qinkai heard the navigator's words, he could hardly believe his ears.

"The fleet was hit, both aircraft carriers were damaged.

The chief of staff told us to delay as much time as possible when we returned home, and they were trying to restore the carrier's ability to receive fighters. ”

Yang Qinkai gritted his teeth. "Adjust your speed, don't fly too fast, and try to save fuel!"

When the group returned, Yang Qinkai looked at the sinking aircraft carrier on the sea, the "Princeton" had disappeared from the sea two minutes earlier, and the "Blaurowwood" was also sinking rapidly. And by the time he flew over the aircraft carrier of the fleet "Franklin", the aircraft carrier had already capsized.

At this time, Spruance was also looking at the distant Tang Empire bomber group, and it can be said that the calm attack of the Tang Empire bomber group this time gave him a great shock. Although the scale of the entire attack was not large, it was very organized, and the attack was carried out very "smoothly". This is that the Fifth Fleet has lost the ability to resist, and it also shows the self-confidence and ability of the pilots of the Tang Empire. If it was an American pilot, they might have rushed forward in a swarm, and a lot of ammunition would have been wasted, but the commander of the bombers of the Tang Empire arranged every bomb and torpedo very reasonably, so that the destructive power of these ammunition was brought into full play!

This is the gap, the gap between the front-line officers and men of the two sides, and the gap between the victors and the losers. Until the war has been fought so far, the soldiers of the Tang Empire have become more and more courageous, while the US army has become more and more tired. It may be that the national strength of the two sides has not yet opened up and is very close, but the quality of the military personnel that determines the outcome of the war is rapidly expanding, and this problem can be quickly resolved in a short period of time without relying on strong national strength.

"General, the bomber group sends back a report."

Spruance was slightly startled, he knew that it didn't matter anymore, the Fifth Fleet was finished, but he still took the report, maybe, he could still drag the enemy's aircraft carrier and finish it together!