Hearing that Yanel was shaking the morale of the army, Chatfield grimaced and replied angrily: "If someone hadn't vetoed our proposal and missed the opportunity to take São Miguel Island in one go, how could we be bombed here now?" ”

This is clearly a reference to Sang scolding Huai, accusing the US generals of making a big mistake of conservatism after capturing the island of Texel. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info The US admiral suddenly blew his nose and glared angrily: "We left Pico Island more than ten hours ago, if we hadn't come here in circles but killed Sao Miguel Island, we might have razed the air base on the enemy island at this time, whose fault was it to be bombed here?" ”

"Maybe?" Chatfield scoffed, "Well, I'd like to know how our fleet managed to get close to the island of São Miguel and not be attacked by the enemy?" Do you think that the enemy's fleet left the island of São Miguel, and the defenses there were in vain? On the contrary, the enemy has set a trap and is waiting for us to dive headlong! ”

"Assault on the island of São Miguel, survive the bombardment and crush the Confederate forces on the island, and here you will be bombed, and then you will have to deal with the enemy's main fleet. I wondered, which way has a better chance of winning? The more Yanel spoke, the more excited he became, and in the end, a few spittle stars flew into the other party's face.

Seeing that Yanel blushed, Chatfield did not fight him, because it would not only be useless, but would also degrade his reputation and even affect the alliance between the United States and Britain. So, he took the initiative to soften his tone: "Okay, General Yanel, anger won't help, we might as well calm down and think about it, what you just said sounds very reasonable, but I need to point out two of your mistakes. First, if we force our way to San Miguel, the number of enemy planes attacking us is estimated to be two to three times as high as it is now; Secondly, only a detachment of the enemy was shelled on Corvo this morning, and there is no conclusive evidence that the enemy's main fleet has been transferred to support the landing operation. ”

Now that Chatfield had changed his rhetoric and said that it was indeed reasonable, Admiral Yanel's mood calmed down a little, but he retorted unwillingly: "If I were the enemy commander, I would 100% deploy the main fleet in the waters near the island of Corvo, otherwise, how can I ensure the success of the landing operation?" ”

"The biggest loophole in this reasoning is that the enemy's commander is not an ordinary person, and he cannot be extrapolated by ordinary logic." Chatfield once again offered his theory of domination, "Look! As long as we hold out for another three hours and get close to Corvo after dark, we will win! ”

Yanel sighed helplessly: "Since you are so determined, I have nothing to say, I hope that there will be a miracle tonight, not a disaster that will bring our two countries to ruin!" ”

Chatfield was calm, but his heart trembled. Of course, he knew that if Britain suffered another defeat in the Azores, the confidence of the people would be shaken like never before, and many countries that had always hoped for the situation would join the camp of the Central Powers, and the United States, even if it had the best comprehensive national strength second to none, would completely lose confidence in this war over time. The truce would certainly cost them some benefits, but it would not endanger the very foundation of the country, and what awaited the British Empire was likely to fall apart.

No!

An extremely resolute voice shouted in Chatfield's heart, his fists clenched, his eyes wide with anger, the world outside the porthole was still in a man-made storm, the Allied carrier-based aircraft swooped in from all directions, the bombs that fell at high speed roared up a huge wave of water, from time to time a torpedo machine drilled out from behind the gunsmoke, the white torpedo trail was speeding on the sea, the American and British fleets were struggling to cope with the situation in front of them, and the slightest mistake could be the end of the ship's destruction and death......

Perhaps it was the determination of the US and British officers and men to fight against the odds that improved their combat efficiency, or perhaps it was because the newly replenished pilots of the Allied Navy had not yet fully entered the state, and the first wave of air raids caused only minor injuries to the "Colorado," "Mississippi," and "Queen Elizabeth," and the only US destroyer "Sarato" that was sunk took the initiative to block the torpedo of the battleship "Mississippi." The acceptable losses in the battle emboldened Charterfield, and he continued to lead the main American and British fleets northward. On Corvo Island, the defenders were completely cut off from communications under the all-round three-dimensional attack of the Allied forces, and the determination to hold out for three days was probably gone, and it was still very doubtful whether they would survive the night.

Forty minutes later, a group of nearly 100 Allied carrier-based aircraft launched a second wave of attacks on the Chatfield fleet. Following the experience of the Allied task forces in resisting air raids, the main fleets of the United States and Britain formed a tight anti-aircraft formation and adjusted the fuse delay of various types of anti-aircraft artillery shells accordingly. Judging from the scene and results of the battle, this change played a positive role, but the Allied pilots were not moths blindly fighting fires, seeing that the situation was not right, they adjusted the offensive rhythm in time and patiently looked for fighters on the battlefield, so that the ammunition consumed by the American and British ships increased a lot compared with the expected figures, and when they gritted their teeth and withstood the second round of air raids by the other side, they counted the combat consumption, and the clear figures surprised the officers: the proportion of ammunition consumption of the auxiliary guns of each capital ship was about 50 percent, The ammunition consumption of the main and auxiliary guns of the cruiser is about 60%, the ammunition consumption of the destroyer is basically more than 75%, and the air defense task is heavier or does not pay attention to control, and even only 10% of the ammunition is left!

In this way, even if they can withstand the last wave of the enemy's air attack, all ships are facing the dilemma of running out of ammunition, even if the main fleet of the Central Powers stays in the waters of São Miguel Island to set up an ambush as judged by Chatfield, and their aircraft carrier formation is deployed here, there will be at least a detachment-level escort force, and without ammunition, what will they use to fight the enemy at night at that time?

Even if the grumpy Yanel did not question Chatfield about these difficulties, the British admiral was still calculating the way back, and in the past two days, especially in the last 24 hours, there has been a sharp increase in reconnaissance reports on the whereabouts of the main fleet of the Central Powers, but none of them are conclusive and convincing, and this has brought great uncertainty to the situation on the battlefield. Chatfield prides itself on knowing enough about that particular opponent, but that genius-level commander is known for his changeable tactics, not only failed to cast the net in the previous time, but also almost suffered a big loss, how could he be so easily seen through the plan by himself?

Towards dusk, the sea was surging and a large area of dark clouds was pouring in the sky. Seeing this, the US and British officers and men could hardly cheer with joy. It is precisely because of the changeable climate in the Atlantic, the actions of aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft are often affected, and the tactical role lacks stability, Britain still puts the battleship in the first place when reorganizing the navy, followed by the battlecruiser, the development of aircraft carrier technology is already backward, and the investment of funds and energy is very limited, so the British Navy only built and served 6 aircraft carriers of three classes between 1916 and 1933, and built 1 aircraft carrier in each of the first two stages. Based on tactical considerations, the United States, which has the ability to build a large number of aircraft carriers, also focused on building battleships, and a total of 12 battleships and 6 battlecruisers were completed between the two wars, which is equivalent to the number of Germany and Italy combined.

Despite the impending heavy rain and less time to prepare for the sortie than in the previous two waves, the Allied naval air force stubbornly launched a third round of air strikes, with 19 carrier-based fighters, 33 dive bombers, and 17 torpedo bombers taking advantage of the wind. To the surprise of the US and British officers and men, the enemy planes this time actually focused on attacking the light cruisers and destroyers on the periphery of the US and British fleets; after the precise sweep by the fighters and dive bombers, four US destroyers and two British destroyers were damaged, of which the British destroyer "Scorpion" quickly capsized, and the US destroyer "Stockton" was seriously wounded and lost its ability to sail.

After the Allied fleet left, the sky really darkened in advance. Without the risk of air raids, the American and British officers and men of Chatfield's fleet could finally breathe a sigh of relief. They counted the losses and consumption again, and the main battleship suffered almost no losses in the third wave of air raids, but only consumed some ammunition accordingly, and the flagship "Indiana", which is also the most powerful main force of the fleet, still maintained more than 90% of the combat status, and could compete head-on with the strongest Deutschland-class battleships of the Allied Navy; Although the Colorado-class battleships "Colorado" and "Washington" are not in the best condition and have the inherent disadvantage of slow speed, as long as the battle schedule is properly scheduled, they are still two weapons that can be relied on; The "New Mexico" and the "Mississippi" were the capital ships in the worst condition after the second wave of air raids, the former had its bridge damaged, many senior officers were killed, and the overall combat strength was greatly weakened, while the latter's steering gear was damaged, and the tactical power was greatly reduced; The two British capital ships, HMS Elizabeth and HMS Howe, were in acceptable condition, but the biggest problem at the moment was the near-fall of Britain itself, the pessimism among the British crew, and the low morale of a fighting group affected the resilience of a fighting group, especially in the damage management links that sometimes required officers and men to risk their lives to rush to repair.

After dark, Chatfield reorganized the fleet array from an anti-aircraft formation to an anti-submarine formation, which took nearly an hour to complete, and the reduction in the efficiency of the ships was obvious. In order to prevent enemy submarine attacks, the Charterfield fleet also had to carry out Z-shaped anti-submarine maneuvers from time to time, which further slowed down the northbound speed. At 7.40 p.m., the bad news came from the Joint Operations Command that the defenders of Corvo had given up their resistance before dusk and that the island had been completely occupied by Allied forces.

Twenty minutes later, another bombshell news came from the command: After comparing the reconnaissance report of the garrison on Flores Island and deciphering some of the enemy's communication codes, it was believed that the main fleet of the Central Powers was operating in the waters east of Flores Island, and that its capital ships might number as many as 10 and that a large number of light ships were accompanying it.

(End of chapter)