"General, the enemy plane is already approaching!"

Zheng Guanhua just nodded, in the northeast direction, the approaching US bombers, as well as those fighters who were desperately intercepting, were already entangled, and many SBDs had begun to descend in flight altitude. The air defense combat mission has been arranged a long time ago, Zheng Guanhua did not let those fighters retreat, and if one more bomber was shot down at this time, then the fleet would have more hope of survival. In addition, he knew that even if he ordered the fighters to get out of the range of the battleship's anti-aircraft guns, the pilots would not obey the order.

In the sky, Jiang Wenhan was so anxious that he had already shot down five SBDs, but those US bombers were like moths to a fire, one after another. In the sky, there are more than a dozen fewer "Falcon" fighters, several of which were shot down by the sneak attack "Corsair", while the others were hit by self-defense fire from the SBD.

"Colonel, I'm running out of shells!"

Jiang Wenhan quickly checked the number of ammunition he had in reserve. "I don't have much left, hold on and try to be as accurate as possible."

All the Falcon fighter pilots who were still fighting at this time regretted that they should not have wasted their shells on those US transport ships. When bombing the US transport fleet, many pilots used machine guns to strafe the US transport ships, and Jiang Wenhan was no exception; he consumed at least more than 200 shells on those US transport ships, and this was enough for him to shoot a few point shots in air combat, which meant that he could shoot down a few more enemy planes.

And now, most of the fighters have not much ammunition left, and even Jiang Wenhan only has three point-fire ground shells left.

The first "Falcon" crashed into the nearest SBD without hesitation. It was a fighter with more than 30 shoot-down markers. Two seconds before the two fighters collided, the pilot jumped out of the cockpit, and waited until the American pilot on the SBD reacted. And when making a quick turn, the left wing of the "Falcon" crashed into the nose of the SBD. The two warplanes seemed to stop in the air, and then there was a violent explosion.

"Colonel, I don't have any more shells."

"Wait until I'm done with my last attack!" After Jiang Wenhan finished speaking, he pulled the trigger, and the SBD that was encased in the sight immediately shot and caught fire. Jiang Wenhan immediately pulled up the fighter jet. Avoiding the fragments of the enemy planes flying on the ground, "Okay, now I don't have any more shells, are you ready for 'aerial acrobatics'?" ”

"It's been done a long time ago, on the left, two SBDs, Colonel, see you on the sea!"

"See you on the sea!" Jiang Wenhan said as he quickly loosened his seat belt and opened the cockpit canopy of the fighter jet at the same time.

"Falcon" still maintained a speed of more than 300 knots and flew towards the SBD. Jiang Wenhan stuck the flight manual at the bottom of the operating stick. The flight manual was originally intended for pilots to use in the event of a fighter plane malfunction during flight, and I am afraid that the person who designed the flight manual in the first place did not even expect that these crazy pilots would use this thick booklet for the final suicide attack. And it played a role in controlling the flight direction of the fighter. Jiang Wenhan stood up and climbed to the outside of the cockpit, the strong wind almost blew him out of the plane, and he stabilized his body. Staring intently at the SBD in front of him, he immediately jumped out when he was sure that the enemy aircraft would not be able to avoid the incoming fighter even if he maneuvered immediately.

Almost simultaneously, the pilot of the wingman on the left side also jumped out. The two quickly controlled the descent and then pulled their parachutes. When there were two more yellow umbrella flowers in the air, the two SBDs were also knocked down, and the US pilots on the bombers had no chance to escape at all, and the unused aviation gasoline in the "Falcon" fighter was immediately ignited, and there were two more fireballs in the air.

On the battleship, Zheng Guanhua and most of the officers and men of the fleet saw this thrilling scene in the sky, not a single "Falcon" left the battlefield, and none of the "Falcons" made a forced landing on the sea after running out of shells, and all the pilots made the same choice, that is, at the last moment, they used their own planes as the last shells, and used their last efforts to intercept those enemy bombers rushing to the aircraft carrier.

"Most of the pilots made the jump."

Zheng Guanhua nodded. "Salvage them as soon as possible, arrange them on the destroyers, and let them withdraw from the battle first."

"Do you need to wait for the bombers to return?"

Zheng Guanhua hesitated for a moment and said: "After the bombers return, if they can't land on the aircraft carrier, then they will make a forced landing on the sea, arrange four destroyers, and transport these pilots back to Guam first." ”

At this time, the anti-aircraft guns on those air defense battleships in the fleet rang out. After the beginning of the fierce battle, in the sky, there are probably more than 20 SBDs and 4 F4U still approaching the fleet. Instead of rushing towards the carrier, the bombers first bombed the cruisers with the heaviest anti-aircraft fire on the periphery of the carrier.

The first to be shot was the heavy cruiser "Chu Xia", when it was in front of the American bomber group, the cruiser's anti-aircraft guns quickly shot down four SBDs, but the next two SBDs flew in and dropped the bombs accurately on the cruiser. The cruiser was immediately enveloped in flames and smoke, and the antiaircraft guns on it continued to fire, and five minutes after being shot, the "Chu Xia" exploded violently, and the huge hull was blown into two parts, and it disappeared from the sea in less than 10 minutes, killing more than 300 officers and men of the ship.

Then, the large air defense cruiser "Du Ruhui" in the rear of the "Chuxia" was also bombed. The cruiser's anti-aircraft guns took out at least 7 SBDs in five minutes, and also knocked out an F4U circling 5 nautical miles away. But in the end, at least 4 SBDs dropped bombs on the cruiser, and in the violent explosion, the lookout on the aircraft carrier determined that the cruiser had received at least three bombs. The "Du Ruhui" lasted for about 20 minutes, and finally because the engine room and electric engine room were all damaged, the battleship could not control the flooding, and the captain had to give the order to abandon the ship, and all the officers and men of the ship were killed, 258 people.

The third to be shot was the heavy cruiser "Krulun River" to the north of the fleet. At least 8 SBDs attacked the heavy cruiser, 5 were shot down, and another 5 dropped bombs. As a result, after the cruiser's quick evasion, only one bomb hit the seaplane hangar behind the cruiser's C turret. The bomb exploded in the engine room below, and the speed of the cruiser decreased to less than 18 knots. Finally, under the cover of two destroyers, they sailed east separately and withdrew from the battle. Two days later.

When the "Crulen River" reached the western waters of the Marshall Islands, it was sunk by four torpedoes fired by the US submarine "Shooting Fish" and was unable to return to Guam. All officers and men of the ship lost 283 casualties.

The first wave of 48 SBDs of the US army also exhausted all their strength after eliminating all the fighters of the second task force and sinking (damaging) three cruisers, and in the end only 3 F4U and 8 SBDs flew back.

In just forty minutes of fighting, the U.S. military lost 33 F4U and 40 SBD, which is a huge loss compared to the results achieved, and the number of American pilots killed alone reached more than 50!

Seeing the withdrawal of the dozen or so US fighters, Zheng Guanhua breathed a sigh of relief, the loss of the three cruisers was not large, as long as the aircraft carrier was still there, he would be able to organize a counterattack. But. Before he could ask the staff officer to contact the returning Zhang Naiding group, the TBD of the US military arrived.

The speed of the TBD was also slower than that of the SBD (the speed of the torpedo bomber was slower than that of the dive bomber, which was a common denominator of the Don Empire with American fighters at that time. The torpedo bomber itself was much heavier than the dive bomber), and it also departed a little later, so it arrived even later. It was already 10:58 a.m. when this batch of TBDs arrived, just three minutes after the last batch of SBDs retreated.

24 TBDs also did not directly assault aircraft carriers. Instead, they quickly circled to the southeast of the fleet, and when they rushed past the destroyer group, they immediately dropped torpedoes at a distance of 500 to 800 meters from the "Bailu" and the "Qingjiang" heavy cruisers, and a total of 18 TBDs were successfully mineged, and only 15 TBDs were finally withdrawn. At that time, the aircraft carrier "Lake Bell" was about two nautical miles behind the two cruisers. Immediately after seeing the American bombers drop torpedoes, the aircraft carrier turned to the northwest, and the two attacked cruisers immediately began to turn.

The speed of the US aviation torpedoes is 35 knots, and the maximum range is 3 nautical miles (much shorter than the range of the ship's heavy torpedoes), and the threat of these torpedoes to the aircraft carrier is not very great, but it can be said to be a mortal threat to the cruisers hundreds of meters away.

The "White Dew" was torpedoed by two torpedoes, one of which exploded on the port side of the battleship about a third of the ship's bow commander, where the battleship's anti-aircraft gun ammunition depot was located. The second torpedo exploded about 20 meters from the cruiser. Both torpedoes had 450 pounds of high-explosive charge, and their destructive power was far greater than that of a 160-pound aerial bomb. The underwater defense capability of the heavy cruisers of the "Trotto" class was extremely weak, and these two torpedoes eventually killed the cruiser. The "Bailu" capsized at about half past eleven, and 182 officers and men of the ship were killed.

The heavy cruiser "Qingjiang" was hit by three torpedoes, all three of which hit the port side of the battleship and exploded near the engine room of a quarter of the bow of the ship, the middle of the battleship, and the left engine room. The battleship was flooded with more than 2,000 tons in five minutes, and two-thirds of the compartments on the port side were quickly flooded. The underwater armor of the heavy cruisers of the "River" class was a little thicker than that of the "Trotto" class, but they could not block the direct attack of the torpedoes at all. At about 11:10 the captain ordered the starboard compartment to be filled with water, hoping to save the cruiser, and the attempt was declared unsuccessful at 11:25, the captain gave the order to abandon the ship, and only more than 150 officers and men did not withdraw, and finally, the cruiser sank at about 12 o'clock.

By the time the TBD retreated, five cruisers had already sunk or been wounded, and one more was damaged (one TBD hit the hapless destroyer after dropping a torpedo). The only cruisers guarding the "Bear Lake" aircraft carrier were the "Changsun Wuji" and "Li Xiaogong".

"Rearrange the air defense queue of the fleet, let the destroyers get closer, and the wounded battleships will return to the east alone, and arrange escort destroyers!" Zheng Guanhua issued a new order in a timely manner. "Immediately salvage the people who fell into the water, rescue those pilots first, contact Zhang Naiding and them, and return to the fleet as soon as possible!"

"General, do you need to prepare for the bombers to go?"

Zheng Guanhua hesitated for a moment and said: "The aviation crew is all ready, after the bomber returns, immediately replenish the bomber's fuel and ammunition, and then let them go." After Zhang Naiding returned, he asked him to come to me immediately, and the other pilots gathered in the aviation operations center. ”

At this time, what puzzled Zheng Guanhua the most was that the bomber group of the US military arrived in batches, and even the escort fighters and bombers arrived in batches, why is this? If the US military has two, or more than two aircraft carriers, then these fighters and bombers should definitely arrive at the same time, which can only show one problem, the enemy has only one fleet aircraft carrier, and this is all the fighters on the aircraft carrier. In other words, the US military does not have more aircraft carriers, otherwise, they will send more bombers over.

Thinking of this, Zheng Guanhua immediately called the navigation staff over. "The fleet was ready to turn around and calculated the time for Zhang Naiding's group to return. In addition, contact Deng Zichao, and if the American fleet is discovered, immediately report the size of the enemy fleet. ”

As a matter of fact, at this time, Zhang Naiding's group was only 20 nautical miles away from the fleet, and after completing the bombing mission of the US transport fleet, he immediately led 33 "water birds" to return to the fleet at a maximum speed of 240 knots, hoping to return to the fleet as soon as possible, so that he could set off with bombs to attack the US fleet as soon as possible.

In the bombing of the U.S. convoy, only three "waterfowl" were shot down by U.S. escort destroyers, and two were shot down after the bombs were dropped. Of the 35 bombs, 28 accurately hit the target, setting a new record for the accuracy of bomb delivery. At least 10 U.S. escort warships were sunk, and more than a dozen freighters were shot.

Eight of the 33 "waterbirds" that returned home were injured, including Zhang Naiding's plane.

"Colonel, your landline can't take part in the operation."

"Fix it immediately, and if it doesn't work, fill the bullet hole!" After Zhang Naiding finished speaking, he glanced at the holes of the machine gun bullets near the fuel tank of the fighter fuselage.

His luck was not very good, but Zhang Naiding didn't want to stay on the aircraft carrier because of this, he had to take the group to bomb the US fleet!