To cram 14o fighters into the limited space of the aircraft carrier is simply to artificially create trouble for the aviation combat staff and the ship's air service personnel, but now it is necessary to let these fighters land on the "Xingkaihu", and when the "Daihai" loses its combat capability, it can only be expected that the "Xingkaihu" will play a greater role.

Although the full load displacement of the "Lake" class aircraft carrier has reached 38ooo tons, most of the increased weight is used to strengthen the survivability of the aircraft carrier, install more anti-aircraft artillery, and increase the fuel and ammunition carried by the aircraft carrier to improve its sustained combat capability. When the Navy issued the design indicators (at the beginning of 22, that is, a few months after the outbreak of the war), it did not put forward excessively high requirements for aircraft, believing that it would be enough to carry three squadrons of combat aircraft, so it was only required to be able to accommodate 1o8 fighters. By the end of 23, the Navy revised this requirement, requiring the aircraft carrier to leave enough space to add 12 reconnaissance aircraft (at this time, the importance of the aircraft carrier reconnaissance aircraft has already emerged, and the use of bombers as reconnaissance aircraft will weaken the strike capability of the aircraft carrier), as a result, the aircraft carrier's hangar was extended by 15 meters, the personnel living compartment at the front of the hangar and the anti-aircraft ammunition compartment were moved down, and the capacity of the ammunition compartment and fuel tank was reduced. That is, when the "Lake" class aircraft carrier was in service, the standard number of carrier aircraft was 12o, which included more than thirty fighters tethered on the flight deck.

Now it is necessary to accommodate 2o more fighters, which requires adjustments to the landing order of the fighters and the placement of the fighters on the aircraft carrier. Hao Dongjue organized several aviation staff officers in charge of these affairs, and the bombers hovering over the fleet were about to run out of fuel, and there was no extra time for them to think about it in detail, and they had to make a decision as soon as possible.

At 8:25 a.m., the first bomber landed on the "Xingkai Lake," and by 8:45 a.m., more than 40 bombers had landed. The first to land were dive bombers, and they were all sent to the hangar. Then there were the fighters who had previously carried out escort missions, after more than thirty fighters landed. It was also sent to the hangar. The last batch was torpedo bombers. In total, more than fifty torpedo bombers landed on the aircraft carrier, only the first few were forcibly stuffed into the hangar, and the others were towed to the front of the flight deck. By the time all the bombers finished landing, it was already 9:20.

"Now, the bombers had to be towed to the middle of the flight deck, refueled, hung up with ammunition, and then discharged to the rear end of the flight deck." Hao Dongjue sighed. "It's a complicated job, but fortunately the quality of our aviation crew is not bad, and there will be no serious problems, but now it takes more time to prepare for takeoff."

"When will the bomber take off?" Tan Renhao doesn't care about these details, which is Hao Dongjue's responsibility.

"It's going to be after ten o'clock at the earliest, just the fastest degree!"

"Then try to arrange it as much as possible, let the bombers take off first, then the fighters, leave some air defense fighters, let them all fill up with fuel. 1. There must be enough fuel left before the bomber returns! Tan Renhao touched his forehead. Originally, two aircraft carriers were nervous enough, but now there is only one aircraft carrier left, and he even wanted to retreat several times. But now is no time to retreat.

"Contact the 'Daihai' and ask them if they can repair the catapult as soon as possible, even if it is a catapult, and when the flight deck can be repaired, if they can participate in the battle, then rush back as soon as possible and calculate the time!"

"I've already been contacted, the flight deck has been repaired and another fighter has been received, and now the problem is. They also do not guarantee that the catapult will be repaired. Hao Dongjue gritted his teeth, "Although the bomb did not penetrate the flight deck, the site of the explosion was between the two catapults, and the damage to the catapults was relatively serious. ”

"Try your best, if there is only one aircraft carrier left, then we will be in big trouble." Tan Renhao patted his partner on the shoulder, and then called the communications staff officer over. "Contact Task Force 3 and ask where they are, and what they're doing now. We can't attack immediately, and if Task Force 3 can help, we might be able to turn the tide. ”

When Tan Renhao was worried about the loss of an aircraft carrier, Yan Shiqi was also in a big rage. When the 1st Task Force was attacked by American bombers, the 3rd Task Force was also attacked, and it was a double attack from the air and the sea!

"Where the hell are the fighters of Task Force 1?" Yan Shiqi almost jumped up in anger, "Tan Renhao promised to provide us with air defense cover, where are their fighters?" ”

"Lao Yan, now the fire is useless, the American bombers are gone, and our losses are not big!"

Yan Shiqi's hands were trembling slightly, he was not afraid, but angry.

After completing the artillery bombardment mission, the Third Task Force retreated in the direction of the Georgia Strait, striving to leave the range of the US forces.

Just after seven o'clock, the first batch of US planes came over, and although they were only more than a dozen fighters that did not carry bombs, they also frightened Yan Shiqi, and at this time there was not a single air defense fighter in the sky over the third task force. The more than 10 US fighters did not get the slightest advantage, and the fleet's fierce anti-aircraft fire instantly knocked down five US planes, and the other US fighters were also scared away. Yan Shiqi didn't dare to be careless, and immediately ordered the battleship to turn on the radar, and asked where the fighters of the First Task Force were. At that time, the communications officers of Task Force 3 were using the channel of communication with the Theater Command, not the channel for communication between fleets, and as a result, the telegram was not sent to Task Force 1, but to the Theater Command in Lae!

As soon as the US bombers left, a group of fast torpedo boats came to kill them. This is a torpedo boat of the US coastal defense forces stationed on Kuah Island. Fortunately, there were several destroyers on the periphery of the fleet at that time, and as a result, none of these torpedo boats could reach the range of the attacking battleship, and then they were torn apart by the gunfire of the destroyers.

At eight o'clock, the second batch of American fighters arrived, this is a batch of bombers, the number of which is about twenty-five. These bombers were hung with bombs. The Third Task Force faced the test of air defense, and the US bombers dealt with the four battleships at the core of the fleet, but the more than 20 bombers did not concentrate on attacking from one direction, but were divided into several batches, and six continued to attack from several directions. In the face of the 3rd Task Force, whose anti-aircraft firepower was even stronger than that of the 1st Task Force. The American bombers did not reap much benefit either, and the battleship was not threatened in any way, except for the damage to a cruiser that was defending on the perimeter. But this time, Yan Shiqi could no longer hold his breath, and soon after the US bombers withdrew, he sent out a signal again to inquire about the ground air defense fighters of the First Task Force.

Tan Renhao's side received two telegrams from the theater command at 9:35, at this time. He learned that the Third Task Force had also been bombed, and although the losses were not large, it would take at least 10 hours for the Third Task Force to withdraw from the range of the US bombers, which meant that the Third Task Force was in an extremely dangerous situation.

"It seems that Yan Shiqi has greeted our ancestors for eighteen generations!" Hao Dongjue smiled bitterly after reading the telegram, the first task force itself was bombed, how could he still have the strength to support the third task force?

"Arrange for a fighter squad to go over Task Force 3 as soon as possible." Tan Renhao hesitated, "In addition, let the first batch of bombers take off pass over the third task force."

Give Yan Shiqi a reassuring pill. “

"Do you want to shake Yan Shiqi?" Hao Dongjue immediately understood what Tan Renhao meant.

"Then what else can we do? You can't let Task Force 3 withdraw from the battle because we didn't provide them with anti-aircraft fighters, right? Tan Renhao laughed, "I hope Yan Shiqi can't tell the difference between a fighter and a bomber." ”

"Then you can only let the bomber fly as high as possible, and you have to contact in advance. Faced with being beaten down by his own artillery fire. ”

"Hurry up, in addition, tell Yan Shiqi that there are still two US airfields that have not been suppressed, and the third task force cannot withdraw from the battle yet, and must return to the waters of Kuah Island and shell these two airfields as much as possible!" Tan Renhao called his partner, "At the same time, we want to suppress other airports, we don't have the ability to carry out supplementary bombing yet." ”

Hao Dongjue shrugged his shoulders helplessly, news that he would go out. But whether the commander of the 3rd Task Force will listen to the commander of the 1st Task Force will be under the command of him, he does not know. Hao Dongjue was not stupid, and when he asked the communications staff to report the telegram, he came up with an idea, that is, the order issued by Lieutenant General Tan Renhao was famous at the place where the telegram was registered, and the word "lieutenant general" was particularly emphasized. And Yan Shiqi is a rear admiral, although both of them are fleet commanders, but in terms of military rank, Tan Renhao is pressing Yan Shiqi. If Yan Shiqi didn't carry out this order, there would definitely be trouble.

One can imagine what Yan Shiqi would be like when he received this telegram signed "Lieutenant General Tan Renhao". As an admiral, he was well aware of the institutional implications of military ranks. The navy is a hierarchical society, and an officer who is one rank higher is enough to crush him to death. Even if the two of them have the same command authority, since Tan Renhao came to this telegram in the name of "lieutenant general", he was naturally giving orders, not just requests.

"Lao Yan, what now?" Even Gu Zhenyun, the gentle chief of staff, was a little angry, this kind of behavior of using military rank to oppress people was simply an insult to a high-spirited admiral who paid attention to his identity, his status, and his arrogance.

"What else can I do?" Yan Shiqi calmed down instead, "The fleet turned around and returned to the battlefield with air defense, damn, with this telegram, then all the responsibility should be borne by Tan Renhao, we are acting on orders!" ”

Gu Zhenyun sighed and went to give the order. He also knew the meaning of this telegram, although it was not an official order, but if there was any accident in the combat operation, Tan Renhao would definitely make a fuss about this telegram and shift the responsibility to the head of the Third Task Force, and neither he nor Yan Shiqi would be able to step down at that time. On the contrary, if they carried out the order, even if something went wrong, they could make a fuss about this telegram and shift the blame to Tan Renhao. Of course, Gu Zhenyun and Yan Shiqi didn't know that Tan Renhao did not instruct such a telegram, it was all made by Hao Dongjue.

More than 20 warships of the 3rd Task Force quickly turned around and returned to the battlefield. In order to be able to shell the US airfield located in the hinterland of Kuah Island, the fleet was closer to the coastline this time, and did not care about the threat of US shore defense artillery. The bombardment began at 9:50 a.m., and at this time, the bombers on the "Xingkai Lake" were still replenishing fuel and loading ammunition, and they were not even ready to take off.

"Task Force 3 is back, at least it can buy us an hour!" After Hao Dongjue received the return of the Third Task Force, his face changed a lot.

Tan Renhao frowned slightly, he originally thought that Yan Shiqi would have to bargain with him, but he didn't expect Yan Shiqi to agree so readily. Without much thought, he immediately ordered the air force to take off as soon as possible, and at the same time asked the cruiser to send seaplanes out to monitor the situation at the US airfields to determine which airfields needed supplementary bombing, so as to provide information for the next bombing operation.

Both fleets were busy, and there was varying degrees of confusion. It was not until 10:20 a.m. that the first "Sea Eagle" with a bomb left the flight deck of the "Xingkai Lake".

Ten minutes later, Tan Renhao received a piece of good news, perhaps the best news now, a catapult on the "Daihai" aircraft carrier has been repaired, although it can only output eighty percent of the power, and it cannot make the bomber take off with full fuel, but this is enough for the bomber to carry out the bombing mission.

Tan Renhao immediately ordered the aircraft carrier to return to the battlefield and send out the bombers on the aircraft carrier as soon as possible to participate in the bombing operation.

At 10:45 a.m., the seaplane replied that at least four US field airfields needed to be bombed, and according to these messages, Hao Dongjue adjusted the bombing plan and gave a new order to the bomber group that had already been dispatched. At this time, the fighters on the aircraft carrier also took off on 6 consecutive days, and except for the fighters of the squad assigned to the third task force, the other fighters remained in the sky over the fleet.

Around eleven o'clock, dive bombers with bombs were raised to the flight deck. The officers and men of the "Xingkai Lake" are stepping up to get the bombers to take off, and no one knows when the next wave of bombers from the US military will arrive.