The U.S. Task Force 16 was not very strong, and Nimitz was able to provide Spruance with only a few ordinary warships, such as light cruisers and destroyers. In particular, although there are quite a few destroyers, most of them are 20-year-old ships, and their air defense capabilities are very weak.

Zhang Naiding and the others were all targeting the three aircraft carriers at the core of the formation, and naturally, the first thing to strike at was the largest aircraft carrier, the "Saratoga".

"Saratoga" is the second aircraft carrier of the "Lexington" class, the number cV - the first is the experimental "Langley") is the second large fleet aircraft carrier of the US Navy. Like the "Lexington", the "Saratoga" was originally a battle cruiser (the "Lexington" class was originally the first type of battle cruiser in the US Navy, but after the introduction of the "Songjiang Treaty" after the war, the tonnage of the US capital ship was seriously marked, so the construction plan of the "Lexington" class battle cruiser was canceled, and the last four were not built at all, and the first two, that is, the hulls of the "Lexington" and "Saratoga" had been completed, and the US Navy changed it to an aircraft carrier) After changing to an aircraft carrier, It has become the largest aircraft carrier in the United States, with a standard displacement of 33ooo tons (the data published by the United States, in fact, 36ooo tons) and a full load displacement of 4oooo tons (in fact, 44ooo tons, close to 5oooo tons after later improvements) Other data are basically similar to the "Lexington", which can carry 9o to 12o aircraft (in general, in order to improve the operational efficiency of the flight deck, it will not exceed 1ooo) Its aviation strike force is extremely powerful.

The "Lexington" had already been killed by the 1st Task Force in the "First Battle of the Marianas", and the aircraft carrier withstood dozens of bombs and torpedoes before it was finally sunk by a returning submarine of the Don Empire (that submarine had only six torpedoes left), and now, the end of the sister ship of the "Lexington" is near.

The screeching sound of the "Kingfisher" during the dive was like a piece of death, and the officers and men of the US Navy who had participated in previous battles were extremely familiar with this kind of bomber of the Tang Empire. A 5oo kilogram bomb is almost a deadly threat to an aircraft carrier, and a single bomb can disable an aircraft carrier. A few more, no aircraft carrier can carry it!

Zhang Naiding was the first to start diving, although Qiu Gengbo belonged to Deng Zi's brigade back then, but Qiu Gengbo's technique was learned from Zhang Naiding. As the number one dive bomber pilot of the Tang Imperial Navy's aircraft carrier aircraft unit, Zhang Nai's skills have reached the point of perfection. In his bombing record, the bomb hit rate was eighty percent, and several defeats were in the first few battles, later on. He almost never missed!

When the bomber's altimeter pointed to 5oo meters, the huge body of the aircraft carrier almost filled the entire aiming frame, and almost at the same time as releasing the bomb button, Zhang Naiding pulled up the bomber, and then pulled the trigger of the machine gun. As the bomber pulled up, it fired a few shuttle machine gun rounds at the aircraft carrier's ground flight deck, and then the bomber quickly turned to the left, avoiding the string of flames that had been deposited during the explosion. The whole bomb dropping process was carried out in one go, and there was absolutely no mud and water. It's like a peerless master, after giving the enemy a deadly sword. Easily stepped aside.

"Captain. You've hit it! ”

Zhang Naiding laughed, he didn't have to look back at all, knowing that the bomb he dropped must have hit the target. And in the middle of the aircraft carrier, probably near the second elevator (the "Saratoga" has three elevators).

"Everybody keep throwing bombs, don't let the son of a son of a bit slip away!"

Under the command of Zhang Naiding, eight dive bombers of the other two groups also began to attack. Just when the anti-aircraft fire in the US fleet was all concentrated on the dive bombers overhead, the group of planes led by Deng Zi had already been killed. In Deng Zi's group, most of them were torpedo bombers, and it was precisely because the cruising degree of torpedo bombers was slower than that of dive bombers, so not long after he came out, Deng Zi was left behind by Zhang Naiding.

"Mother, Lao Zhang. Leave me some! ”

Hearing Deng Zi's voice, Zhang Naiding laughed: "Xiao Deng, you're late, if you don't start again, we're going to eat alone!" ”

"Damn!"

Deng Zi scolded in a low voice, "Come to a team, brothers, follow me and drive out that aircraft carrier!" ”

Twelve "Ospreys" immediately began to descend. The people who had the courage to attack with Deng Zi were all ace bomber pilots, and no one in the entire wing didn't know that Deng Zi was the kind of person who didn't want to die in a war!

When the anti-aircraft gunners on the American battleship were almost on the surface of the sea to kill the dozen or so torpedo bombers, Deng Zi took the lead and dropped torpedoes about 7oo meters away from the "Saratoga," and then the other eleven bombers also dropped torpedoes. The twelve torpedo bombers were divided into two teams and scattered to the left and right, and the ground anti-aircraft guns of the American battleships did not rotate by this time!

Twelve torpedoes were fired at the Saratoga in unison, just as twelve spears were fired at the heavily armed knights. The aircraft carrier is quickly turning to evade, but it is already too late, 7oo meters is only a maximum of 40 seconds for an aviation torpedo with a degree of 35 knots, and the aircraft carrier needs at least a minute and a half to turn 9o degrees, forty seconds, and half of the turn has not yet been completed.

While evading the torpedoes fired from the sea, the dive bombers overhead had already pounced. At this time, the "Saratoga" had already suffered three bombs, but the aircraft carrier had thick skin, and none of the three bombs damaged the power system of the aircraft carrier. As a result, the aircraft carrier just began to turn, and four more dive bombers6 dropped bombs one after another.

Zhang Naiding saw with his own eyes in the air that at least two bombs had landed on the deck of the aircraft carrier, and one of the bombs should have landed near the bridge of the aircraft carrier. The third bomb fell on the sea near the aircraft carrier, at a distance of absolutely fifty meters. Thick black smoke rose from the aircraft carrier, obscuring Zhang Naiding's vision.

Deng Zi was driving the plane up at this time, and he glanced back. The aircraft carrier had just turned less than 30 degrees and suddenly stopped, that is, the aircraft carrier did not aim its bow at the incoming torpedo channel, but at about two-thirds of the width of its side in the direction of the torpedo. At least eight of the twelve torpedoes went exactly the course towards the aircraft carrier, but as a result, only six torpedoes hit (one dumb mine, and one went under the belly of the aircraft carrier) which was enough, and even a battleship could not withstand the blow of six torpedoes in the same direction.

"There are still two aircraft carriers, Lao Zhang, I will deal with the one in the east, and you will deal with the one in the west!"

"No problem, pay attention to coordinated attacks!"

The two men immediately separated, and the group commanded by them quickly split into two parts. Some of them went with Deng Zi to the "Yorktown" aircraft carrier to the east of the US fleet, while the other group under the leadership of Zhang Naiding went to the "Bumblebee" aircraft carrier to the west of the US fleet. The "Saratoga" was hit by at least five bombs and six torpedoes, and even if it was not sunk, it was not far from being finished, and basically lost its attack value. Zhang Naiding and Deng Zi both knew very well that as the first batch of bombers, their task was to paralyze the three aircraft carriers in the US fleet and make them incapacitated. And the second wave of bombers that will follow behind will come to completely eliminate these three aircraft carriers. Of course, if you can blow up and sink a few. That's a good thing, of course.

At this time. Spruance, who was standing outside the bridge of the commander of the "Hornet" ship island, had a blue face and no expression. The "Hornet" was only about five nautical miles away from the "Saratoga", and he witnessed the siege of the "Saratoga" by the bombers of the Tang Empire. The skills of those bomber pilots made Spruance both envious and hateful. Just a few rounds of attacks. The Saratoga was on fire and was hit several times. The bombing accuracy of these Tang Empire bomber pilots is also a little frighteningly high! Of course, this is not only an advantage in the performance of the aircraft, but also in the quality of the pilot. Spruance had already thought of this. The pilots of the Tang Empire have been honed on the battlefield for several years, and those who have survived until now are the elite of the elite, and in the Halsidian dialect, those people were born to fly. In contrast, the pilots of the US Navy have little real combat experience, although the training ground is very intensive. But training can never replace actual combat. When the bombers that didn't drop bombs or torpedoes came at the Hornet, the only thing Spruance could count on was that the bombers he sent out to attack Task Force 2 would be a little more accurate.

"General, it's too dangerous here, go inside!"

"No, I'm right here!"

Spruance's answer was simple, "Is there any news from our bomber group?" ”

"The First Task Force is finished, the aircraft carrier 'Yangtze River' has not been sunk, but it has been abandoned, and the other aircraft carrier has been heavily damaged. I probably won't be able to struggle for long. ”

"What about the attack on Task Force 2?"

The staff officer hesitated for a moment and did not answer. That wave of aircraft has not yet reached the skies over Task Force 2.

"Alright, you go in!"

Spruance also realized that he had said the wrong thing, "Looks like we're going to get ready to slip away, and if we have news of the bomber group, come and tell me immediately!" ”

Because of the use of most of the ammunition used up to deal with the "Saratoga" and those escort warships that stood in the way (the task of bombing escort warships was generally given to novices, especially those small warships such as destroyers, which were done by novices, so that the recruits could adapt to the battlefield and gain experience), as a result, only 14 bombers besieging the "Yorktown" (6 dive bombers, 6 torpedo bombers) and only 16 bombers (8 dive bombers, 8 torpedo bombers) Zhang Naiding and Deng Zi were both commanding at high altitudes, and they mainly observed the blind spots of the enemy ships' air defense, and then told the pilots who dropped the bombs what route to choose to enter and how to avoid the enemy's ground air defense fire. This kind of remote-controlled command has a very great effect, and the pilots who enter the bomb-dropping stage must concentrate their attention on the enemy battleship, and it is very unlikely that they will see the air defense loopholes on the enemy's battleship, and some even rush forward with their heads down, regardless of whether they will be killed by the enemy, thinking that dropping bombs or torpedoes will be enough. Bombers flying at high altitudes can better judge the key direction of the enemy's defense, so that they can throw bombs on the deck of the enemy ship as much as possible and hit the body of the enemy ship with torpedoes.

Both aircraft carriers are making drastic turns to evade, but this effort has been largely futile. The participants in the first wave of bombing were the best pilots of the Second Air Wing, the elite of the elite of the Imperial Naval Aviation, plus there were two aces in the air, even if calculated by the average hit rate, these two aircraft carriers would have to eat at least a few bombs and a few torpedoes!

When the Hornet was hit, Spruance was pushed to the floor by the staff officer next to him. Fortunately, the bridge of the American aircraft carrier was protected by armor steel plates, and Spruance was not hit by shrapnel, but the staff officer who pushed him to the floor was broken by shrapnel "General, how are you, are you okay?" ”

"I'm fine, where did the bomb go?"

Spruance miraculously got up from the floor, and he didn't even have a single scrape other than the stained military uniform on his body.

"Behind, on the aft deck!"

The bomb fell on the aft end of the flight deck of the "Hornet", where several anti-aircraft guns were destroyed, and also detonated shells from a number of nearby anti-aircraft guns. Spruance's eyes were soon drawn to the Yorktown in the distance. The "Hornet" had only been hit by one bomb, and the damage was not too serious, but the "Yorktown" was unlucky, and flames had already erupted from its foredeck.

The screeching of the dive bombers rang out again, and Spruance was forced to the floor again. The bombers of the Don Empire have not yet left, and there are bombs falling!

The Yorktown is perhaps the unfortunate of the three aircraft carriers of its class. The first bomb landed on the foredeck of the carrier, which was not laid at all, and the bomb went straight through the flight deck, then through the main hangar below, and then exploded at the aviation fuel depot below. It was a deadly bomb that immediately ignited aviation gasoline, followed by a violent explosion at the fuel depot, blowing up almost the entire bow of the aircraft carrier, and the aircraft carrier was finished!