The first to arrive were 18 SBDs. This batch of SBDs originally belonged to three squadrons, but after taking off, they were intercepted by fighters led by Yao Boyan, and on the way, they finally met together, but they did not immediately contact the other groups, and finally formed a separate group and killed the first task force. And this group of bombers entered from the southwest direction of the fleet, that is, in the direction of Nihua Island.

Ansler immediately brushed the other two groups of fighters to meet them, they had already received an order to intercept as much as possible, if they could not intercept all the bombers, then they should try to disperse the opponent's aircraft group, so that it could not effectively attack the fleet, and win the opportunity for the fleet's air defense warships to shoot them down.

"Keep up, pay attention to the accuracy of the first attack, don't miss, the enemy won't easily evade, don't let them get close to the fleet!"

Air battles broke out in the skies about 40 nautical miles away from the fleet, and facts have once again proved that bombers without fighter cover have little survivability in the face of air defense fighters, especially tactical bombers with poor self-defense firepower, when facing air defense fighters, they are either shot down or lose their ammunition and flee, and there are very few that can really break through fighter interception.

Just when Ellsler led 12 fighters to intercept the first batch of arriving US bombers, the second batch of US fighters arrived. The planes were coming in from directly south of the fleet, and radar showed about 20 to 30 of them. Hao Dongjue immediately sent all 12 fighters from the other two formations.

The radar on the battleship was able to detect air targets tens of nautical miles away, but there was a serious problem, that is, the radar at that time could only judge the size of the fleet. And the size of the enemy aircraft (tactical aircraft or large aircraft), but it is impossible to judge whether it is a fighter or a bomber! And this time the approach is not a bomber like the SBD. It was an F4U fighter, and it was a large group of fighters from all the fighters sent out by Spruance at that time!

When 12 "Falcons" flew over. Only then did I realize that it was not the US bombers that were flying in front of me, but all fighters. Moreover, the US military ground fighter pilots also discovered this batch of air defense fighters, and found that the number of opponents was very small. This time. The pilots of the US army were excited, they had been pressed and beaten by the fighters of the Tang Empire before, and now, they finally had a numerical advantage, so they naturally would not be soft.

", that's a fighter jet, get them out!" Hao Dongjue also quickly received a report from the fighter pilot, "Don't waste your strength on the enemy's fighter jets, withdraw them all." ”

The problem is, after the air bombing starts. Is it that easy to withdraw? The speed of the F4U is not much slower than that of the "Falcon", and it also has a numerical advantage, although the quality of the pilots of the Tang Empire is better.

It will not be easily shot down, but at this time, it will not be easy to get rid of those fighters.

Soon, Ansler also received the news. 15 of the 18 SBDs that he assaulted on his side had already been killed, and the remaining 3 had already fled in a hurry. In the battle, all 12 "Falcons" were safe and sound, and Ellsler alone shot down 3 SBDs, continuing to close the gap with Jiang Wenhan.

"Lao An, look over there, the son of a bitch raised her with less and more fights."

"Go over and help, take out those US fighters, and see how majestic they are!"

The 12 "Falcons" immediately rushed over and joined the battle group, and at this time, Hao Dongjue became even more anxious.

"What are they doing? Let them withdraw and don't waste their energy on fighters! ”

Tan Renhao sighed secretly and asked an officer next to him, "Is there still a group of US military planes approaching?" ”

"The radar has not yet found new targets, and the search is continuing."

Tan Renhao looked towards the south side of the south side of the fleet, Hao Dongjue was still shouting there, at this time, Tan Renhao was also a little puzzled, if Yao Boyan's group really dispersed the US bombers, maybe a large number of US bombers did not fly over at all.

"General, there is a new discovery on the radar, in the southwest direction, at a distance of about 50 nautical miles, a large number of aircraft groups are rapidly approaching, and ......," the air defense officer shouted, "and, divided into two groups, the number is more than 30, maybe close to 40!" ”

"Let them go now, don't waste your energy on the fighter jet!" At this time, Tan Renhao couldn't sit still.

The third batch of aircraft was killed by a huge fleet of SBDs and TBDs, the TBDs in this group took off from the "Franklin", and their departure time was after the SBD, but the speed was slower, and the BD took off from two small aircraft carriers, because the departure time was a little late, so it also lagged behind. When Yao Boyan's fighters appeared north of the Fifth Fleet, the bombers immediately evacuated so they were not attacked, and then formed a large group on the way. That is, there are not between 30 and 40 bombers in the group, but a full 48, of which 24 SBDs fly at an altitude of 3500 meters and 24 TBDs fly at an altitude of more than 1000 meters.

The group had received information from the bombers and fighters in front of Task Force 1 before approaching Task Force 1, and was informed of the exact location of Task Force 1, and then that Task Force 1's air defense fighters had intercepted the first SBDs to arrive and were now operating with fighters who were supposed to be working with the bombers. Therefore, the lead pilot of the group immediately ordered the group to separate, let the TBD strike at low altitude, and the SBD flew at high altitude, and, from the southwestern direction of the fleet, quickly approached the fleet.

After receiving the news, Ansler did not dare to hesitate, more than a dozen F4U have been shot down, the remaining few have also fallen behind, and the air defense "Falcon" has also been killed 7. An Shile immediately ordered the five "Falcons" of the other formation to stay behind and continue to entangle the opponent's fighters, and he himself led 12 "Falcons" towards the third group of US troops. And when they rushed over, the American bombers were only 30 nautical miles away from the fleet. And the first thing Ansler discovered was that the U.S. military had nearly 50 bombers. And it was divided into two groups, both of which were sprinting towards the fleet at the fastest speed.

"According to Colonel Ellor's report, there are about 50 U.S. bombers."

Tan Renhao frowned slightly. said: "Let the aircraft carrier 'Hongze Lake' evade, in addition. Let's all get ready for battle! ”

The "Hongze Lake" aircraft carrier battle group, located on the right rear side of the fleet, that is, in the northwest, bore the brunt of the attack and was the primary target of US bombers. However, the problem is that at this time, the "Xingkaihu" aircraft carrier battle group is about 10 nautical miles to the southeast, and the distance between the two aircraft carrier battle groups is very close. In order to strengthen the density of the fleet escort warships. Shortening the distance of the carrier battle group and allocating the main air defense warships to the outside side is a more effective method, but the problem is that enemy bombers are likely to attack two carriers at the same time, rather than focusing on one.

At 30 nautical miles, to be exact, a distance of up to 25 nautical miles, it only takes about 8 minutes for SBDs and 10 minutes for TBDs. In such a short period of time. It is impossible for 12 fighters to intercept all 48 bombers.

"Focus on attacking SBDs, remember to harass those TBDs when you dive, and don't let them enter in formation!" Ellsler was calm at this point. At least know what to do.

The 12 "Falcons" are divided into three formations, and the BD poses the greatest threat to the aircraft carrier, so any fighter will focus on hitting dive bombers. But the problem is that torpedoes are much more destructive to aircraft carriers than bombs. So the fight against torpedo bombers is also extremely important. The only disadvantage of torpedo bombers is that they must attack in formation, and if they drop mines alone, it is easy for the aircraft carrier to avoid torpedoes, and several torpedoes must be dropped at the same time to ensure that a torpedo hits. Therefore, Ansler adopted the best method, focusing on attacking the SBD and disrupting the formation of the TBD, so as to be able to protect the aircraft carrier most effectively.

When the US bombers entered the periphery of the fleet's anti-aircraft artillery firepower network, only more than 20 bombers were shot down, and most of them were SBDs, and there were still more than 20 bombers that broke through the interception of the fighters and entered the inner air defense circle of the fleet.

The fighters led by Ellsler did not withdraw from the battle at this time, but continued to rush in.

The biggest threat to the "Hongze Lake" were those six SBDs. Tan Renhao saw with his own eyes that six SBDs began to strike at the aircraft carrier, and in less than 20 seconds, three were concentrated by anti-aircraft guns, two of which were shot into fireballs. But in the end, three of them managed to reach the aircraft carrier, two dropped bombs, and escaped, but the SBD that finally began to dive did not seem to be able to drop bombs, but crashed directly into the aircraft carrier.

"Damn it, shoot down that bomber!"

When Tan Renhao shouted, the SBD was indeed hit by an anti-aircraft shell, but it did not explode immediately, but fell towards the aircraft carrier. On the sea, the aircraft carrier "Hongzehu" is already quickly evading, and the anti-aircraft guns on the aircraft carrier are almost all firing at the SBD. When the bomber crashed into the sea next to the aircraft carrier, Tan Renhao breathed a sigh of relief, but he immediately became nervous again.

At the time of the SBD assault, the TBD was also rapidly approaching the aircraft carrier. Only 5 of the 24 TBDs were knocked out by fighters, 8 by the anti-aircraft guns of four nearby cruisers, and in the end 11 still managed to break through the line of defense and rush to the aircraft carrier. Unlike previous attacks, these 11 TBDs were divided into four batches, with the largest batch having four and the few only two, and they entered from different directions and at different times, and there was simply no way to drop mines at the same time.

As soon as the "Hongze Lake" evaded the bomb attack, the US torpedo bombers arrived. The anti-aircraft guns on the aircraft carrier simply did not have time to divert direction, only the anti-aircraft guns on the two large cruisers in the vicinity played a little role. The first 3 TBDs that began to drop mines were hit by two of them from anti-aircraft guns on the cruiser, as a result of which only one dropped a torpedo. The aircraft carrier immediately began to turn, evading torpedo attacks, and at the same time the anti-aircraft guns also shifted their targets.

It was also at this time that the second batch of TBDs entered from the starboard stern side of the aircraft carrier, and all 4 TBDs evaded the interception of anti-aircraft guns and dropped torpedoes on the sea at a distance of about 800 meters from the aircraft carrier.

And the aircraft carrier was turning to the right at this time, avoiding the torpedo fired from the starboard front. That is, the aircraft carrier is pointing its wide starboard side at the four torpedoes of the second batch. In this case, the chances of a hit mine on the aircraft carrier are at least five times higher!

The aircraft carrier was still turning at full speed, and there was simply no time for the captain to make more arrangements, and only by quickly completing the steering could he avoid the two batches of torpedoes. It was at this time that the third batch of TBDs arrived, and two of the 2 TBDs successfully dropped mines, and both of them dropped torpedoes in the direction of starboard.

The torpedo dropped by the first batch of TBDs grazed the outboard side of the aircraft carrier, three of the four torpedoes dropped by the second batch of TBDs were missed, and the last one almost grazed the butt of the aircraft carrier, and exploded about 50 meters behind the port side of the aircraft carrier, maybe this torpedo hit the rudder of the aircraft carrier, or something else, but it was not able to explode immediately, so it did not inflict a fatal blow on the aircraft carrier. But the biggest threat to the aircraft carrier are the two torpedoes dropped by the third batch of TBDs.

The last TBDs also entered, and 2 TBDs dropped the last two torpedoes in the starboard direction of the carrier. "Hongzehu" continues to turn.

"It's over!" This was Tan Renhao's thoughts at the time.

One of the two torpedoes dropped by the third batch of TBDs hit the starboard stern of the carrier, about a fifth of the length of the ship's stern, which is behind the aircraft carrier's engine room. But the sea was calm and there was no explosion. Just when Tan Renhao wondered if the torpedo had not exploded, suddenly a column of water rushed up from the middle of the starboard side of the aircraft carrier, rose to a height of hundreds of meters, and then sprinkled down, and the torpedoes dropped by the fourth batch of TBDs hit the middle of the starboard side of the aircraft carrier, and it must have been somewhere near the boiler room and the engine room!

Soon, news came from the "Hongze Lake" that the No. 2 boiler compartment had been closed, but the other compartments were not affected, and the aircraft carrier had lost only a quarter of its power. But the biggest problem is that the steering gear on the left side of the aircraft carrier is damaged, and it is difficult to turn at full speed, and it is necessary to rely on the steering gear on the right side to control the aircraft carrier, which will seriously affect the maneuverability of the aircraft carrier and the speed of the aircraft carrier.

"This is not a fatal injury, the aircraft carrier will not sink, and it can maintain a speed of about 24 knots......"

"General, look, bombers!"

Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue immediately looked in the direction pointed by the staff officer, and in the southeast of the fleet, a group of bombers were rapidly climbing, and they were less than 15 nautical miles away from the "Xingkaihu" aircraft carrier, and in this direction, there was not a single air defense fighter, and the fourth batch of bombers of the US army had arrived!