Yang Shihong did not find out that the US bombers were killing the First Task Force, but he received a radio call from the First Task Force bomber group during the flight, and only then did he know that the US bomber group was killing the First Task Force. He didn't know why Task Force 1's bomber group would send this message through the group's internal communication channel, but he didn't think much of it and immediately forwarded the message to Task Force 2.

After doing these things, Yang Shihong saw the battlefield that was fighting fiercely ahead, and immediately got in touch with Zhang Naiding. Zhang Naiding's group worked hard to make the three aircraft carriers in the 53rd Task Force incapacitated, and if nothing else, the "Chishaji" and the "Philippine Sea" would have sunk, but they were still stubbornly floating on the sea. Yang Shihong did not continue to attack the 53rd Task Force, his mission was to attack another task force. Therefore, the report sent back by Shen Guangwei was not very clear, and Yang Shihong did not know that it was the 51st Task Force at that time. It wasn't until he approached the battlefield that he learned from Zhang Naiding that it was the 51st Task Force that had not been attacked and was fleeing eastward. In addition to three fleet aircraft carriers and a dozen cruisers with exceptionally strong anti-aircraft firepower, there are probably four more difficult battleships to deal with!

This news surprised Yang Shihong a little, which made him happy and headache. Happily, if those four battleships can be blown up, it will be a great credit, and the headache is that the existence of these four battleships will make the operation of attacking the aircraft carrier more difficult.

"Lao Yang, be careful, the anti-aircraft firepower raised by the son of a bitch is much stronger than before, especially those new cruisers, just like fucking hedgehogs, it's best not to get close!"

"I know, thank you for the kind reminder!" Yang Shihong didn't want to joke with Zhang Naiding, and now Zhang Naiding can return with confidence. And he still has to face the powerful American fleet. Perhaps, the only thing he should be happy about is that the US air defense fighter group has been defeated by Jiang Wenhan and them, and the fighters of the squadron that provided him with cover are all hung with rockets, so these fighters can be used to suppress the US air defense warships first.

"Okay, I won't delay you, and when we go back, we'll compare. Whoever has less is invited to drink. ”

"No problem, don't be a fool!" Yang Shihong laughed, it has been more than a year since he returned to the army, and he still does not regret his original decision, because he knows that he belongs to the sea, he belongs to the battlefield, and not to the quiet rear.

"Don't worry, someone will definitely treat you today!"

In the coming year, the group of branches staggered by, and Yang Shihong waved his hand at Zhang Naiding's landline. At the same time he noted. Zhang Naiding's landline had a few bullet holes, and the previous battle must have been fierce, otherwise Zhang Naiding, who has always been shrewd, would not have taken the risk of assault. This made Yang Shihong even more worried. Even the anti-aircraft fire of Task Force 53 is so fierce, so what will the situation of Task Force 51, the most powerful of the Fifth Fleet, look like? Thinking about it, Yang Shihong was a little distracted. A few months ago, he got some information about the new warships of the US army, including information on two new cruisers in service. These materials were all obtained by the intelligence department, and they are not very detailed, but they all emphatically mention one point: The newly commissioned cruisers of the US military have all strengthened their air defense capabilities, especially the newly built "Detroit" class cruisers, which are almost a copy of the "Li Jing" class of the Imperial Navy. And it's a little more powerful than the "Li Jing" class. All these made Yang Shihong feel worried, and in the following operations and training, Yang Shihong focused on training the way to penetrate the defense under the interception of high-density anti-aircraft artillery fire. It can be said that during those months, the main task of the carrier-based aviation of several task forces of the Imperial Navy was to find loopholes in the new warships of the US army. As for the actual situation, Yang Shihong has not personally felt it, and judging from the situation of Zhang Naiding's fleet, the strengthened US fleet is definitely not so easy to deal with.

"Colonel, look!"

Yang Shihong reacted. He looked back at the navigator, then followed the direction of the navigator's finger and looked at the sea to the left. The three aircraft carriers were all burning with raging fires, because the distance was too far for Yang Shihong to see clearly the situation on the aircraft carriers, and he could imagine that the US officers and men were rescuing the aircraft carriers, and the US military officers and men were hovering near the aircraft carriers, spraying seawater on the aircraft carriers, and the ground escort warships could also see that the US military had not given up on these three aircraft carriers, but how much effect did this effort have? Zhang Naiding is only the first round of bombing, and there are bombers from the first task force and the fourth task force behind him, and what is the final result of the fight, you don't even have to think about it, one after another attacks, not to mention the fleet, even the iron turtle will be finished!

"Colonel, we're turning, just ahead, about to catch up."

"Beckon the rest of the fleet to follow." Yang Shihong took a long breath, "Lao Zhang, they have completed the task, this time it will be up to us, it is Spruance's fleet, brothers, after we go back, let Lao Zhang invite us to drink!" ”

The laughter of many pilots came from the headphones, Jiang Wenhan, Zhang Naiding and Yang Shihong were the veterans of the Second Task Force Aviation, and even the veterans of the Imperial Navy's carrier-based aviation. Since Deng Zichao's death, Yang Shihong has taken Deng Zichao's place and become the most important leading pilot in the fleet. After more than a year, the pilots also recognized Yang Shihong's status, and two main "gangs" also appeared in the bomber unit of the Second Task Force, one of which supported Zhang Naiding, and the other supported Yang Shihong.

Task Force 51 was ahead, fleeing eastward as fast as it could. Yang Shihong first identified the three fleet aircraft carriers, the appearance of the aircraft carriers is particularly obvious, and they are protected by many warships, which is even more eye-catching. Then, Yang Shihong saw the four huge battleships, and he recognized them at a glance as the US "Iowa"-class battleships, especially the tall bridge and particularly eye-catching turrets, which were the external features of the "Iowa"-class.

"Colonel, we're almost in the range of the American anti-aircraft guns."

"Prepare to disperse, attack the aircraft carrier first." Yang Shihong knew very well in his heart that there would be many brothers who would not be able to go back this time. "In addition, let the fighters go first, if the conditions are ripe, you can also bomb the enemy battleship, act according to our plan, don't waste ammunition!"

The bomber group immediately began to disperse in squads, and Yang Shihong was a torpedo bomber pilot. His plane began to descend first, and the group of fighters roared over his head. The dive bombers followed closely behind, Yang Shihong looked up, and then looked ahead, he had to drop the torpedo as soon as possible before he could command other bomber groups. Smoke rose from the muzzles of the anti-aircraft guns on American battleships, and the roar of aircraft engines drowned out the shelling, but the shells that followed made everyone know. Now the aircraft group has entered the range of ground strikes of US anti-aircraft guns. One VT bomb after another exploded near the group, Yang Shihong's side was a little better, after all, large-caliber anti-aircraft guns are not so flexible against low-altitude targets, and for those fighters and dive bombers flying at an altitude of several thousand meters, it is a completely different matter.

The emergence of VT bombs has brought great changes to the air defense operations of the fleet, but in the same way, VT bombs are by no means omnipotent. The Imperial Tang Navy loaded an electromagnetic proximity fuse into an 80-mm shell, while the United States could only install such a fuse in a 127-mm large-caliber shell. However, the electromagnetic proximity fuse has a disadvantage, that is, the detonation time will be delayed, which is a direct result. Deal with fast targets. Or it is not very effective when it is a high-maneuverable flying target. In order to pose a threat to the combat mechanism, it is better to explode within 10 meters of the enemy aircraft, if it is too far. The spread of shrapnel is too large, and it is difficult to pose a threat to the combat mechanism. In addition, an electromagnetic proximity fuze must generate a sufficiently large electromagnetic field for the target to function. In view of these two shortcomings of VT shells, the naval aviation of the Tang Empire summed up a set of tactics, first of all, the fighters could not get too close, and often the electromagnetic field generated by one fighter plane was difficult to activate the fuse in the shell. Secondly, fly as quickly as possible, which will reduce the enemy's interception time and keep the distance as far as possible before the shells explode. It is precisely because of this that the US military also summed up a tactic when using 117 bullets. That is, not to deal with a single target, and not to shoot down the target as the first task, the main role of the VT bomb is to force the enemy aircraft group to disperse and weaken its collective penetration capability.

The bomber swayed in the strong wind, in fact, the wind speed over the sea surface was not fast, the main reason was that the air flow on the sea surface was very complicated, and the high-speed flying "sea eagle" was like a kite swaying in the wind, and the violent turbulence made Yang Shihong worry that the line might be broken at any time, and the bomber would lose control.

"Colonel. The fighter is up! ”

"See, keep an eye on the nearby air defense warships, now we don't have the energy to care about other people's business!"

The first to rush forward were escort fighters, which were hung with rockets. For heavy warships, the power of rockets is quite limited, but it is very effective against medium warships such as destroyers, at least they can knock out the guns on the destroyers. Therefore, the first fighter to rush up was the destroyer at the outermost part of the US fleet, and a few rushed towards the cruiser, but two were quickly shot down, and the other fighters did not dare to approach the cruiser easily.

"Be careful, turn left!"

Yang Shihong quickly turned the joystick, just in time to avoid the anti-aircraft shells fired from a cruiser on the right.

"Damn, we're in range of small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, Colonel, should we go bomb the cruiser?"

"No, not yet, we must first knock out the opponent's aircraft carrier!" Yang Shihong was engrossed in his attention ahead.

"Turn right, damn it!"

A few shells flew past the bomber, the plane shook violently, Yang Shihong immediately looked at the left wing, a shell passed through the tip of the wing, leaving a hole in the wing, fortunately the shell did not explode.

"Colonel, enemy fire is too dense." The navigator was looking around, ", Unit 3 was hit!" ”

A bomber following Yang Shihong was concentrated by classified shells and dragged into the sea with flames.

"We can't break through, Colonel, take out their battleships first!"

At this moment, another "sea eagle" was hit, but fortunately, the pilot jumped out in time, and there were one or two more parachutes in the air.

Yang Shihong gritted his teeth. "Change the target, assault battleship, damn it!"

Attacking a battleship is not a good idea, relatively speaking, a battleship is more difficult to sink, and the anti-aircraft guns on the battleship are no weaker than those on the carrier, but the problem is that the battleship is on the outside of the aircraft carrier, and if you want to attack the aircraft carrier, you have to bypass the battleship first, and if you attack a battleship, you don't need to worry about the anti-aircraft guns on the aircraft carrier. Thus, attacking the battleship first was able to create an opportunity for the bombers behind to attack the aircraft carrier.

Yang Shihong picked out the Zhaoyi 65 "Illinois" on the starboard side of the "Hancock". This is the fifth battleship of the "Iowa" class and the first of its second batch. At the beginning, the United States almost canceled the construction program of this battleship. It was only after the sinking of four Iowa-class battleships in the "Battle of the Coral Sea" that the US government realized that battleships still had a certain role in the war. As a result, the U.S. Navy has restarted the construction of nearly half of the battleship "Illinois" and has also revised some of the design plans, focusing on strengthening air defense capabilities and adding advanced electronic equipment. It can be said that the second batch of four "Iowa"-class battleships was the most powerful battleship in the US Navy at that time, and it was also the most powerful air defense warship.

When the dense artillery fire came head-on, Yang Shihong knew that there was a problem with his choice, why not take out the enemy's cruiser first?

"Let all the fighters be withdrawn, and the dive bombers will go first, and buy us time!"

By the time the navigator contacted the nearby dive bomber formation, Yang Shihong had already entered the flight path of the attack battleship first. The most effective weapon for attacking battleships was torpedoes, not bombs. The horizontal armor on the aircraft carrier is difficult to block aviation armor-piercing shells, but the horizontal armor on battleships is much thicker, and unless it hits the vital point, it is difficult for the bombs to pose a fatal threat to the main structure of the battleship. In fact, Yang Shihong also did not know how much of a threat an aviation torpedo could pose to a battleship. The underwater armor of the battleship, as well as the width of the anti-torpedo isolation belt, was much larger than that of the aircraft carrier, and the charge of the aviation torpedo was determined according to the defense capabilities of the aircraft carrier. In order to deal with the Japanese "Yamato", I don't know how many torpedoes and bombs were consumed, and how many bombers were lost before finally sinking it.

There is no time for Yang Shihong to think more, he must complete the task, he must drop the torpedo, even if there is little hope, it is much better than doing nothing, no hope at all!