After blocking the second round of bombing by Japanese bombers, Tan Renhao kept the fleet in a state of air defense for half an hour, and he was relieved only when he was sure that no Japanese bombers were moving near the fleet. Of course, the next task is to rush to rescue the injured aircraft carrier "Taizong".

In fact, the "Taizong" was taken for the "Taizu" this time. The downed "99 Ship Explosion" was originally aimed at the "Taizu", but it was hit by the anti-aircraft artillery of a heavy cruiser in front of Taizu Hao's right. As a result, the "99 Ship Explosion", which lost half of its wings, tilted its head and crashed into the "Taizong". Perhaps, the Japanese pilot on the bomber was finished before it fell, but it also deserved the bad luck of the "Taizong". At that time, "Taizong" was only about 3 nautical miles away from "Taizu", which was 2 nautical miles less than the prescribed 5 nautical miles. Obviously, if the "Taizong" had not been so close at that time, it would have been impossible for the "99 ship explosion" to collide with the "Taizong." However, the reduction of the formation was also a last resort. Originally, the number of air defense warships of the First Task Force was not large, but after the "Li Jing" withdrew from the battle, loopholes appeared in the air defense network, and the distance between the ships had to be narrowed to narrow the scope of air defense cover, thereby increasing the density of air defense firepower.

The damage of the "Taizong" was not very large, the bomb was not dropped, but fell with the fighter, so the speed was not large, and it was not able to penetrate the deck of the aircraft carrier, but only blew up the two anti-aircraft gun emplacements on the left side of the stern of the aircraft carrier, and more than a dozen gunners died, and at the same time left a huge "crater" on the stern on the left side of the aircraft carrier. The fuel on the "99 Ship Explosion" was only more than half, and the firefighters on the battleship quickly extinguished the fire. The propulsion system of the aircraft carrier did not suffer losses, and the site of the explosion and the site of the fire were far from the oil depot and ammunition depot, which was not fatal. Fifteen minutes later, the fire was extinguished, the speed of the aircraft carrier "Taizong" was still maintained at 30 knots, and the damage to the flight deck was quickly repaired and it was able to receive the returning fighters.

Probably this "99 ship explosion" can be regarded as the first "suicide plane" of the Japanese Navy in the war. Of course, this is just a coincidence, and it is not recognized. Tan Renhao would not see it that way, he did not even think that in the future, Japan's "suicide planes" would become a major threat to the warships of the Imperial Navy. Now he just felt very glad that at least the "Taizong" would not lose its combat effectiveness because of this, let alone lie in the dock for a few months. The combat effectiveness of the 1st Task Force did not suffer much loss, at least not much in the combat effectiveness of aviation. However, danger was creeping up on Task Force 1, and at the time, no one was aware of it.

Before Deng Zichao's bomber group reached the skies over the fleet, the staff officer in charge of counting the results had already submitted the first battle report. This battle report not only made the officers and men of the fleet extremely excited, but also made Tan Renhao relax his vigilance. Because in this battle report, it not only mentions the destruction of Japan's three aircraft carriers, but also mentions another point, that is, in the battle that lasted nearly 10 hours, the Japanese First Air Fleet had lost nearly 240 fighters, and the number of fighters on board was only about 280. In Tan Renhao's opinion, the Japanese fleet only had about 20 bombers left, and this was simply not enough to organize an attack.

Half an hour later, the group of planes led by Deng Zichao reached the sky above the fleet. This is because more than a dozen fighters have been damaged to varying degrees, and almost all of the "Kingfisher" tanks that have returned to the country are running out of fuel. Tan Renhao let the three aircraft carriers break away from the core of the fleet and began to sail at full speed against the wind to receive the returning fighters. In addition, more than half of the fighters responsible for the air defense of the fleet took the initiative to accompany the returning bombers and guide them to land on the carriers. This can be regarded as a kind of congratulations, as well as a celebration of Deng Zichao's achievements. Tan Renhao doesn't think there's anything wrong with this, at least it's a kind of respect for "heroes", and it's also a tradition formed in naval aviation, and it's a good way to encourage pilots to fight bravely.

No one noticed the group of more than 20 bombers that followed Deng Zichao's group about two nautical miles. The radar operators on several heavy cruisers equipped with radars mistook these planes as fighters for the returning Imperial Naval Aviation, and did not associate them with the bombers of the Japanese Navy at all. And these more than 20 bombers are the bombers of the Japanese Navy, the third wave of bombers that took off from the "Kaga"!

These bombers did not have escort fighters, and those "Zero Battles" were put into the air defense operations of the fleet, and finally landed on the aircraft carrier "Flying Dragon". And when these bombers left the "Kaga", they happened to encounter Deng Zichao's attack, and according to the plan, they should immediately kill the fleet of the Tang Empire. However, Michio Kobayashi, the captain who led the team, did not set off immediately, he wanted to wait for the "zero battle" of the escort, so he led the more than 20 bombers to circle the north of the fleet. As a result, he did not wait for the escort of the "zero battle", but waited for the returning group of bombers of the Tang Empire. This time, Michio Kobayashi did not hesitate any longer, although the remaining fuel was not enough for them to return to the aircraft carrier after completing the bombing, Michio Kobayashi immediately followed with a group of bombers. They have already lost three aircraft carriers, and if they can't inflict heavy damage on the fleet of the Tang Empire, then the future sea will be the Navy of the Tang Empire. Moreover, dozens of Japanese pilots were holding the idea of revenge, they wanted to avenge the "Kaga", "Akagi", "Soryu"!

The danger was approaching, but none of the officers and men of Task Force 1 recognized it. Deng Zichao also did not spot the Japanese bomber trailing behind his ass. The "Osprey" piloted by Deng Zichao still had about 15 minutes of fuel left, so they did not rush to land, but first arranged for other fighters to land on the aircraft carrier one after another. As the lead major officer, it is his responsibility to wait until everyone else has returned safely to the carrier. Therefore, Deng Zichao stayed at the end. Just when he aimed at the "Taizu" aircraft carrier and began to reduce the flight altitude, the first batch of "99 ship explosions" came to the good sky over "Taizu".

Click on the image link: