When the aircraft carrier task forces of the two sides launched an offensive at dawn, in the waters between Kuah Island and Rennell Island, the shore-based air forces of both sides were also dispatched, and the fierce air battle replaced the artillery battle at night, and the battle here became more intense.

The result of a fierce battle between Task Force 3 and Task Force 32 was a defeat for both sides, and although it did not end up being one-sided, it was actually acceptable for both sides.

Task Force 32 lost two North Carolina-class battleships and four other South Dakota-class battleships were heavily damaged, but all four battleships were able to return home at 12 knots. In addition, Task Force 32 lost six cruisers, eight destroyers, only one cruiser was undamaged, and all other ships returned with wounded.

The battleship "Chengdu" in the third task force was heavily damaged, and when it returned home, it was already dying. The injuries of the "Kunming" were not light, and by the end of the battle thousands of tons of water had already entered the water, and it almost crawled back. In addition, the "Guangzhou" and "Guiyang" were also severely damaged. Of the escort ships, three cruisers were sunk ("Xiaoxue", "Shileka" and "Erguna"), five cruisers were damaged, two destroyers were sunk, and six were damaged. In other words, all the ships of Task Force 3 were either sunk or damaged. …． n

In terms of personnel, the 32nd Task Force lost more than 2,100 officers and men, including more than 860 on board the "Washington" and more than 400 on the "North Carolina". More than 1,800 officers and men of the Third Task Force were killed, of which more than 1,100 officers and men were lost on the five battleships sunk, and more than 200 officers and men were killed on the "Chengdu."

Judging from this comparison of losses, the 3rd Task Force was the tactical winner, especially the sinking of the two opposing battleships, which was too obvious (it was the Southwest Task Force that finally eliminated the two "North Carolina"-class battleships, not the 3rd Task Force). Even counting the loss of two cruisers and one destroyer by the Southwestern Task Force, the Tang Imperial Navy was still a tactical victor. It's just that the price paid for this victory is indeed too painful.

Before dawn, Kincaid and Wei Dongbei (at this time, Yan Shiqi and Gu Zhenyun were both injured and lost their command ability) sent the battle situation back. When MacArthur and Yan Guozhong learned that the battle at night had not been decided, they immediately mobilized all the shore-based aviation forces that could be mobilized. At this time, MacArthur was more anxious than Yan Guozhong, mainly because the convoy of transport ships he sent out was intercepted, and more than a dozen transport ships were destroyed, if the bombers could not be sent out before dawn. If the small fleet of the Tang Empire that intercepted the convoy was killed, then the US officers and soldiers on Kuah Island would not be able to obtain the much-needed war materials, and the reinforcements he sent would not be able to reach Kuah Island.

In fact, at this time there were very few warships operating on the battlefield on both sides. The Southwestern Task Force received an order before dawn to get out of the battle as soon as possible and leave the battlefield, and the next battle was fought by shore-based bombers of the Navy. This was a decision made by Yan Guozhong after considering that after the Third Task Force had lost its combat capability, he had to preserve a fleet in order to control the sea supremacy in the waters of Kuah Island. If even the Southwestern Task Force is defeated, then he will have no fleet to use, and the US may have a fleet of cruisers and destroyers to use. Other words. Shortly after MacArthur ordered the bombers stationed on Rennell and Marquila to take off. Northeast Wei received the order to retreat, and then the southwest task force got rid of the American transport fleet and returned to the ship at full speed. Along with the Southwest Task Force, there were two cruisers in the 34th Cruiser Formation of the Third Task Force.

Yan Guozhong ordered the Southwest Task Force to withdraw from the battlefield at full speed half an hour before he ordered it. That is, before the telegram from northeastern Wei arrived, the shore-based air forces of the sea aviation on Bougainville, Rabaul, and Kuah Island were ready to leave. After the report on the battle situation of the Southwest Task Force was sent back, Yan Guozhong did not hesitate and immediately ordered the bombers and fighters on these islands to take off as soon as possible, to provide air defense cover for the returning fleet before dawn, and to organize forces to attack the fleeing US fleet and transport fleet.

MacArthur gave the same order before six o'clock, sending a telegram to Kincaid, in addition to getting the bombers and fighters to take off as quickly as possible. Ask Kincaid to organize all the ships on the battlefield that can continue to fight, and cover the convoy to go to Kuah Island. At that time, Kincaid was able to find only three warships that could continue to carry out combat missions, including one cruiser and two destroyers. Kincaid did not disobey this order, he also knew the importance of that transport fleet, and after receiving air defense assurances, Kincaid asked the three warships to join the transport fleet as soon as possible. Then head to Kuah Island together.

At this point, the main fleets of both sides were withdrawing from the battlefield, while the ground bombers and fighters of both sides were taking off urgently and rushing to the battlefield, and the naval battle turned into an air battle!

At that time, the Tang Imperial Naval Aviation deployed about 350 tactical combat aircraft in the Solomon Islands and Rabaul, of which 150 were deployed in Rabaul, consisting of three "Falcon" fighters (the "Falcon" fighters used by the shore-based forces of the Navy and the Navy have some slight differences from the carrier-based model, mainly because some unnecessary equipment is reduced, and the structural strength is reduced, so its maximum speed, circling angular velocity and other performance are a little better, and the air combat capability is more superior, in addition, It is also possible to hang bombs for bombing missions) squadron with four squadrons of "waterfowl" bombers. Two squadrons of Waterfowl bombers and one squadron of Falcon fighters are deployed on Bougainville Island. Deployed at the Kuah Field Airfield was a squadron of Falcon fighters, a squadron of Hydrofowl bombers and a squadron of Sea Eagle bombers.

The U.S. military has nearly 400 tactical bombers deployed on the islands of Makira and Rennell. Among the three airfields on Makila Island (two are field airfields), there are four SBD squadrons (one squadron of the US army has only 24 aircraft), three TBD squadrons, and four F4U squadrons. There are three SBD squadrons, three F4U squadrons, deployed on two airfields on Rennell Island. The U.S. shore-based aviation is equipped with F4U that can carry out bombing missions (hence the fighter-bomber). In addition, the U.S. military has deployed about 150 B-17s in the New Hebrides and more than 200 tactical fighters in Port Moresby.

In fact, the number of tactical bombers that the two sides could put on the battlefield at that time was comparable, while the tactical bombers deployed by the US military on second-tier airfields, as well as heavy bombers such as B-17s, were not very useful. And the purpose of both sides is the same. Seize air supremacy with tactical aircraft, crush the enemy's bomber groups, annihilate the opponent's fleet, and complete combat operations that were not completed at night.

At 6:45 a.m., shortly after dawn, the first fighters of both sides encountered each other in the sky above the night when a naval battle broke out. The first two squadrons of the Tang Empire arrived within ten minutes, and the seven 49s of the three squadrons dispatched by the US Army also arrived within fifteen minutes. Now it's the enemy who sees each other, and they are very red-eyed. The battle immediately began. The fighters of both sides can't manage such dense clouds, and as long as they collide, they will have to come out separately. Before that, the fighters of both sides had been fighting fiercely over the Solomon Islands for several months, and for those pilots, this was actually just a continuation of the previous battle, and they did not take this combat mission to heart, anyway, they had to deal with the opposing fighters first.

While the air battle was still going on, the reconnaissance planes of the Tang Empire spotted the US convoy that was still advancing towards Kuah Island. At this time, Yan Guozhong jumped up in a hurry, he originally thought that the US transport fleet had fled south after being intercepted. I didn't think of it. MacArthur would also keep the convoy heading north. Three squadrons of ground bombers immediately took off from airfields on the islands of Kuah and Bougainville, while the fighters of the two squadrons escorting them had already left Rabaul and were approaching at full speed.

The US reconnaissance planes were five minutes late in discovering the four battleships of the 3rd Task Force that were fleeing. The message was quickly sent back to the U.S. Army Aviation Operations Center on the island of Maquira. Two squadrons of SBDs, two squadrons of TBD took off at once, and in addition from Rennell Island took off one squadron of ground SBDs, as well as two squadrons of F4U. Then, the American commander was about to send out all the bombers with the remaining liter seconds, but at this time, he received a telegram from Task Force 31 (this telegram was not actually sent to the Air Operations Center on Makila Island), and the American commander immediately changed the target, taking two squadrons of SBDs and one squadron of TBDs on Makila Island. and the last squadron of F4U were all sent to bomb Task Force 1.

At eight o'clock, the reconnaissance planes of the Tang Empire found the 32nd Task Force of the US Army, which was returning home, and found the four battleships. Although Yan Guozhong had already sent most of the bombers to deal with the US transport convoy by this time, he still ordered Rabaul's bombers to take off immediately, first go to Kuah Island to replenish fuel, and then go to bomb the US Task Force 32. The fighters who took part in the first round of air combat in the morning are also returning home, and these fighters will take on escort duty.

The last two SBD squadrons on Rennell Island took off at about nine o'clock, and their mission was to bomb the fleeing Southwestern Combined Fleet, if still capable. Go to attack Task Force 3.

At this point, both sides sent out all shore-based aviation. Over this sea area of less than 20,000 square kilometers, the warring sides sent more than 700 warplanes, which were almost jammed with warplanes. The situation on the battlefield was also extremely complicated, many bombers on both sides were inexplicably intercepted halfway, and many more bombers were separated from the formation because of this, and they were not able to find the target to strike. A lot of pilots feel like they're on an inexplicable mission. Judging from the command capabilities of both sides at that time, it was almost impossible to command more than 300 fighters at the same time, so chaos was inevitable. Of course, the chaotic situation did not change the brutality of the battle, nor did it reduce the intensity of the battle.

Task Force 3 was bombed at about 8:50 a.m. The U.S. bombers first attacked the most seriously wounded battleship "Chengdu" and then the "Kunming", while the escort fighters who did not disperse entangled the anti-aircraft guns that could still be used on the other two battleships. Within 15 minutes, the "Chengdu" received four bombs and three torpedoes, and the "Kunming" also received two bombs. Although the fleet's anti-aircraft artillery and the arriving air defense fighters shot down more than 20 US bombers, the "Chengdu" was almost hopeless, and the speed of the "Kunming" was reduced to 8 knots, which could no longer keep up with the fleet's return speed.

At 9:45 a.m., the 3rd Task Force was bombed again. This time, the US bombers first concentrated on striking the "Guangzhou," and the "Kunming" thus escaped. "Canton" was hit by five bombs, the speed of the battleship quickly decreased to less than 8 knots, and the return speed of the entire fleet was also dragged down. Less than half an hour after the US bombers left, a violent explosion occurred on the "Guangzhou", and the battleship was finished.

The bombers of the Tang Empire focused on attacking the US transport fleet, from half past seven to half past ten, the US transport fleet was bombed three times, at least more than 20 transport ships were sunk (transport ships were far less solid than the battleships), and the remaining transport ships gave up going north at half past ten and quickly fled. Because of this, the bombers of the Don Empire did not perform well in the strike against the 32nd task force. The "waterbirds" of the squadron responsible for bombing Task Force 32 at the time dropped only two bombs on the South Dakota, but lost eight bombers themselves.

The US bombers that bombed the Southwestern Task Force did not receive much success, but only damaged two cruisers, and the US bombers lost more than 10 units.

The scuffle did not end until about eleven o'clock, and Yan Guozhong asked the fleet to send bombers to deal with the 32nd Task Force during this time, because he had no more strength to deal with the escaped 32nd Task Force. By this time, the warships of both sides had basically entered the absolutely protected sea area of their own fighters, and moreover, they exceeded the strike radius of the opposing bombers. Therefore, the bombers on both sides also stopped, and in the fierce battle of more than four hours, each of the warring sides lost about 100 fighters, and the result was that they were unable to completely annihilate the opponent!