In the setting sun, the "Indiana" dragged a long shadow of the ship slowly on the sea, the fire on the ship has basically been extinguished, but the original brand new hull has become dilapidated, the four triple 406 mm main guns hang their heads in despair, they have no place to vent their powerful firepower. The remnants of aerial bombs were everywhere in the anti-aircraft gun positions in the bow and stern, and the black blood stains attracted countless disgusting flies, but the crew did not have time to clean up, the damaged equipment on the ship still needed urgent repairs, and the bodies of many dead were still lying on the deck, and the wounded were also waiting to be treated.

Next to the "Indiana", a light cruiser and two destroyers acted as faithful guardians. According to the experience gained in the South American war, the Americans focused on strengthening the air defense and anti-submarine capabilities of their light ships, and a series of air defense weapons and anti-submarine equipment were successively equipped with the navy, and the American admirals believed that the naval warfare mode that the Germans were good at was to use carrier-based aircraft and submarines to knock out the opponent's light escort ships and then carry out a decisive battleship battle, and the Germans cherished their aviation very much, and they usually did not attack those capital ships protected by a large number of anti-aircraft guns. If even destroyers were equipped with a dozen anti-aircraft guns in their fleet, the Germans' air superiority would inevitably be impossible to play.

By this time, General Robert Koontz, who had lost his ship, finally understood that it was just a deception of the Germans, a huge deception, and when he saw that the German carrier-based aircraft were the first to attack his battleship, battlecruiser and aircraft carrier after the battle began, and when he saw that one German fighter plane was shot down and two or three more would rush up, he already understood how bad his situation was.

As far as the eye can see, the sea is in shambles, the "New Mexico" and "Wyoming" are sinking, and the "Pennsylvania" and "Maryland" are the only survivors of the Pacific Fleet's capital ships except for the "Indiana".

Destroyers slowly moved back and forth on the temporarily calm sea to rescue the survivors of the sunken ships. Some of those who fell into the water were German pilots who had parachuted out or survived, and they were the direct perpetrators of the heavy damage to the US Pacific Fleet, but in the spirit of humanitarianism, the American crew rescued them one by one. The extremely unfriendly eyes of the Americans are more like a compliment to them, and if they have achieved nothing, they will probably only be mercilessly ridiculed when they are shot down!

After a day of fierce fighting, Robert Koontz's battleships were reduced from 142 to 77, but the actual losses were much worse than these figures. Because most of the sunken ships were capital ships and cruisers with large tonnage, only these light cruisers and destroyers could not confront the German main fleet at all. If nothing else, by dawn tomorrow, the Germans will continue to launch air strikes until the last battleship of the U.S. Pacific Fleet sinks, or the U.S. government compromises early.

The news of the damage to the Pacific Fleet reached the White House and the Naval Operations Department at the first time, and after saying "God" three times in a row, Warren Harding decided not to release the demoralizing news to the people and the army for the time being, and the situation was only conveyed to Admiral Edward Eberly, who was leading the fleet in the Atlantic.

With an overnight flight to Cuba, the Americans still have the opportunity to make final adjustments. Whether to continue south or return to Norfolk Military Harbor. This is both a question before General Edward Eberly. It also makes the White House nervous.

While the Americans are still looking for a way out in the dark, Germany has ushered in the dawn of a new day.

The first three waves of attacks ended successfully and the results reached Berlin in the middle of the night, and the generals and staff officers on duty at the High Command were the first to learn of the news. And the Kaiser, whom they admired, was also woken up from a deep sleep, so he woke up in the morning with a little tiredness on his face. The high-ranking generals of Bülow, Hindenburg, Ludendorff, Zecht, and Pol all arrived at the palace early in the morning, and then Chen Tian happily invited them to breakfast and share the good news of this victory by the way.

"Your Majesty, we are only one step away from victory!" At the Kaiser's table, Marshal Karl von Billo seemed to have a good appetite, although he seemed to have hastily used some refreshments before he came.

"I think we're going to be woken up again tonight! Be prepared, oh, the damn and cute jet lag! Chen Tian said happily as he enjoyed milk and tortillas. The tortillas are made with the finest Mexican corn, and the next time Chen Tian is looking forward to eating American corn tortillas, of course, free corn!

"Your Majesty, ladies and gentlemen, do you think the U.S. Atlantic Fleet will escape back to Norfolk?"

Hindenburg is said to have been forced to cut back on his diet because of his great health, and seeing that he still had half a cup of milk and barely touched bread in front of him, it seems to be true, which also shows that Mr. Hindenburg has not been troubled lately. The army at the front was under the command of Admiral Olikarn, and the main job of the German War Department was to deploy troops and supplies and load them on ships, which was really easy!

In East Africa, Algeria and Cameroon, Germany expanded the scale of the conscription of colonial troops, 30 new African colonial divisions were being intensively trained, and more than 200,000 new recruits were waiting to be reorganized. According to the plan of the German High Command, only one ordinary army of the 2nd and 3rd armies will be transferred from the mainland to the North American front next month, totaling about 100,000 men, and the German soldiers fighting in the United States will be composed of half of the native army and half of the colonial army.

"Doesn't the marshal know?" Pol smiled and said, "General Zechter's air force will lay mines on a large scale outside Norfolk Harbor, and the US Atlantic Fleet will also have no way back, unless they flee to Canada!" ”

Zekter nodded, "To be exact, our long-range bombers are dropping mines under the guidance of submarines!" ”

The reason why the mine laying outside the port of Norfolk requires a joint operation of the air and sea is that although the long-range bombers flying at night can determine the general course according to the compass and the stars, they cannot accurately find the target, so it is necessary to deploy one or more radio beacons near the target to provide them with terminal navigation, while outside the port of Norfolk, such a role is played by submarines equipped with radio beacon transmitters.

"That's more than 3,000 mines!" Zechter added.

"Will the Americans know that we have laid mines?" Hindenburg's energy was completely focused on the food in front of him, and so the problems followed.

Pol took over, "Of course! A whole 6 squadrons of Dornier DD, I think the entire Norfolk military port will be woken up! After finding out that our bombers did not drop bombs. I guess they should figure out why, too! ”

"By the way, Your Majesty, there is one more thing I don't understand very well!" Zeckert wiped his lips with a napkin and said: "Your Majesty allows Japanese officers to board our flagship to watch the battle, so presumably after the end of this war, Japan will also shift its focus of development to aircraft carriers and air forces, which does not seem to be good news for us in Germany!" ”

Chen Tian nodded, he knew that he would have to explain this question to the generals sooner or later.

"Everyone thinks that when the Japanese wake up. But suddenly they found that the battlefleet and battle cruiser that they had spent a lot of money on were all outdated, what kind of expression would they have on their faces? ”

This interesting opening made the marshals and generals stop their knives and forks and wait for the next one with anticipation.

"Let me tell you a story! On a planet like our earth, there are two superpowers and many small countries, one of these two superpowers spans the Eurasian continent, and the other dominates North America and the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

As the saying goes, there is no room for two tigers on a mountain, and these two superpowers are always looking for ways to bring each other down. However, the military forces of the two sides are too close. The outcome of the war will only be a lose-lose situation, so the two countries are locked in a long period of standoff. Economically, the economy and industry of the superpower in North America far outstripped that of the one that straddled Europe and Asia. As a result, the high-intensity arms race that has been carried out for many years has dragged down the great power that straddles Europe and Asia, and the whole world is left with only one superpower, a superpower that dominates the world! ”

After finishing speaking, Chen Tian saw a pair of contemplative eyes, perhaps these outstanding military strategists could not fully understand this kind of thing that belonged to politicians and economists, they only needed to understand one thing, and the benefits of doing so outweighed the disadvantages for Germany.

The relaxed atmosphere in Berlin did not affect the German-American naval officers and sailors located in the Atlantic and Caribbean Seas, despite a victory that would go down in history. There was no scene of great celebration in the German aircraft carrier formation, on the contrary, many pilots could not sleep at night, and some wept in their sleep, for the simple reason that many of their comrades-in-arms who had been talking and laughing with them not long ago were either martyred or life and death were uncertain, and the tragic scene during the day was unexpected.

In the command room of the German heavy aircraft carrier "Ernst", the officers on duty are on duty, and this aircraft carrier formation is in addition to the main aircraft carriers "Joachim" and "Seikendorf" and some cruisers and destroyers. The rest were speeding north—the remnants of the U.S. Pacific Fleet could be cleared by the carriers of the USS Joachim and USS Seckendorf, while the rest were rushed back to Cuban waters as quickly as possible under the leadership of Prince Heinrich.

"Do you think the U.S. Atlantic Fleet will turn around and run away?"

The issues discussed by the generals of the Supreme Command were also hot topics on the aircraft carrier, spoken by a young navigator officer.

"Fleeing is the same as not fleeing, and it is better to die in a glorious battle than to be defeated!" Brigadier General von Difeld, who served as interim commander while Prince Heinrich was resting, spoke out about his opinion.

"What if they flee back to Norfolk?" Another officer on duty asked.

Difield shrugged, "Exist as a fleet until the end of the war, and then hand it over to us Germany as one of the conditions for armistice negotiations or choose to sink itself!" ”

"That's right, if I were the commander of the US Atlantic Fleet, I would have made the decision to fight to the death! Therefore, the battle on Marshal Scheer's side will be extremely fierce and brutal! ”

Everyone followed the prestige, and it turned out to be Prince Heinrich, who was walking into the command room wearing a single coat.

"His Royal Highness the Prince...... "Everyone was a little surprised, knowing that he only went to rest three hours ago.

"I can't sleep, so I'm out for a walk!" Heinrich's tone was calm, and as usual, he walked to the porthole to look at the dotted sea, and then to the nautical chart to see the latest position of the fleet, and everything was normal.

Von Difeld followed closely beside him, "Your Highness, do you also think that the U.S. Atlantic Fleet will fight desperately to the death?" ”

"Never underestimate a country's determination to fight in a dangerous situation!" Heinrich looked up, "Everything will be revealed tomorrow!" ”

The calm night passed, and as the orange-red sun began to rise above sea level, the two mighty fleets finally met in the sea north of Cuba. Scheer's old battleships and 16 battlecruisers were matched by Edward Eberly's 10 battleships and 2 battlecruisers, the Americans also had 3 main aircraft carriers, and the Germans had crumpled escort aircraft carriers and a large number of land-class fighters stationed in Cuba.

"The fleet collectively turned 15 degrees to the right and maintained a speed of 18 knots!"

When Scheer gave this order, a large group of carrier-based aircraft flew over the fleet, which were fighters and dive bombers flying from various Cuban airfields, and their arrival made the battle between the two battleships no longer a simple duel between surface ships, because the three American aircraft carriers "Brave", "Franklin", and "Wasp" carried more than 200 of the best carrier-based aircraft of the US Navy, this kind of fleet decisive battle in the 20s was endowed with a strong modern atmosphere.

The fierce air battle was immediately launched between 75 German Junkers Henkel D fighters, 50 Messerschmitt D fighters and 102 American F4A and F4B, a large group of fighters bravely attacked the opponent's formation like an ancient hoplite knight, and the battle between the formations slowly evolved into a confrontation between squads and squads, two-plane formations and double-plane formations, single planes and single planes, more than 200 fighters made the huge airspace appear extremely crowded, and the battlefield gradually expanded to farther places. Every minute, white or silver-gray fighters fall, every minute people sacrifice their lives for the country, and every minute new trump cards are born.

Taking advantage of the fierce battle between the fighters of the two sides, German land-based dive bombers quietly crossed the US air defense line and appeared over the US fleet, while the bombers and torpedo planes sent by the US aircraft carriers were also rapidly approaching the German fleet, and the carrier-based fighters taking off from two of the three German escort aircraft carriers were waiting in the sky over their own fleet, and the battle gradually became white-hot!