The U.S. military's counterattack came faster than Tan Renhao expected, and the scale was not small.

"It's about fifty nautical miles away from us, and it's approaching high."

"Where are the air defense fighters?" Tan Renhao asked directly about the communications staff officer. … mobile station ap.bsp; "The last batch of fighters took off only five minutes ago and is expected to intercept enemy aircraft twenty nautical miles from the fleet."

Tan Renhao glanced at his partner. "It must be those American bombers that weren't destroyed, it's too fast, right?"

"It's two regular military airfields with bombers, and judging from Qiu Gengbo's report, there must be bombers parked in the hangars of those two airports, and they can't destroy the enemy planes in the hangars."

Hao Dongjue shrugged his shoulders, "There shouldn't be many escort fighters, and these US bombers took off in a hurry, there are many problems, maybe our fighters can achieve good results." ”

"I hope that's the case, pick up the channel between Ansle and Yao Baiyan, and order them to fight back as much as possible."

"And what about our bombers?" Hao Dongjue did not give the order to let the bombers land, and now the aircraft carrier is returning to the core of the formation, and it is difficult to receive the returning bombers.

"How much fuel do they have?" Tan Renhao glanced at the navigation clock, it was already eight and fifteen.

"It should last another half an hour."

"Let them continue to circle, hoping that the bombing of the US military will be over in half an hour." Tan Renhao immediately made a decision, "In addition, tell Qiu Gengbo and Yang Qinkai that if they can't hold out, they will make a forced landing on the sea, and the destroyer will go to pick them up." ”

The aircraft carrier is turning, and the escort warships that have received orders are rapidly approaching. Now there are four more heavy cruisers in the fleet, as well as six destroyers, the anti-aircraft fire has been strengthened considerably, and both aircraft carriers are equipped with more anti-aircraft warships on the outside. In addition, the anti-aircraft firepower on the two new aircraft carriers is also much stronger than that of the previous ones, and the anti-aircraft warships that were originally assigned to the first task force have also added a lot of anti-aircraft guns during the two-month maintenance, and some of the anti-aircraft cruisers have also replaced 8o mm anti-aircraft guns. This greatly increased the air defense capabilities of the warship.

Ellsler and Yao Baiyan were the first fighter pilots to take off, one of them flew to the south and the other to the southeast, which are the two directions in which the US bombers are most likely to arrive.

When the air raid sirens sounded, both of them just climbed to a height of 35oo meters. After receiving the call of the fleet, the two did not hesitate, and immediately pushed the throttle to the limit and continued to climb. And try to raise the degree. At this time, there were only three "falcons" behind Ansler's buttocks, and there were only five on Yao Baiyan's side. In other words, there are only ten anti-aircraft fighters that can rise to a favorable interception altitude in time and complete the plus flight!

"Lao Yao, I'll stop them in front, you guys go around as soon as possible and beat the ass raised by the bitch!" The U.S. fleet was flying in from the south, and Ellsroth was at the top of the pack.

"You know, we'll do it as soon as possible. Lao An. You be careful, the devils have at least fifty fighters, and maybe escort fighters. ”

Ellsle sneered. With two wings flapping, the wingman following his ass immediately pulled away, and another two-plane formation quickly dispersed. The other three pilots knew very well what the squadron leader meant, they had no support for the time being, and they could only fight alone, and it depended on how the four fighters cooperated.

There were indeed more than 50 US bombers killed, and there were not many fighters on the escort ground, probably only about a dozen. When Ellor was about ten nautical miles away from the enemy plane, a dense group of small black dots appeared, and the height of the two sides was basically the same. U.S. fighter pilots also showed up with Ellsloth, and both sides began to climb at the same time. Seize the height of advantage. "Falcon" and "Pirate"

The degree of climb is not much different, and in a short period of time, no one can get a favorable position.

"Son of a bitch, just keep up." The purpose of Ellsler is to lure the US escort fighters away, so that Yao Baiyan can attack the US bombers, "Brothers, follow closely, don't let the son of a son of a dog fly above us, and wait for the long plane to attack." Wingman cover, don't fight the enemy, hit and run! ”

When climbing to a height of 55oo meters, Ellsler pulled back the operating lever, and the "Falcon" made a beautiful bucket, and the speed increased while the height was sharply reduced, and the fighter just went around a full circle, Ellsler aimed at the "Corsair" flying head-on, and the distance was quickly shortened, and then, he pulled the trigger of the machine gun, and a beautiful short point shot, at least more than ten of the 5o shells that came out of the muzzle hit the fuselage of the "Corsair", and blood was immediately splashed in the cockpit of the enemy plane.

The entire attack was clean and neat, and it was not too much to describe the technical doubts of fighter pilots as an aerial ballet. At the same time as Ellsler's attack, his wingman also followed, and used machine shells to force a US fighter plane that was preparing to attack Ellsler. Another two-plane formation also managed to take out one of the "pirates".

"Brothers, follow me, don't scatter!"

The four "Falcons" were like warriors roaming in enemy formations, challenging the US fighters three times their number. From time to time, machine gun bullets grazed past Ansler's landline, he couldn't manage so much, after the first attack was successful, he could only withdraw from the battle as soon as possible, and he couldn't fight with enemy planes that were more numerous than himself, and the performance was not much different, that was a self-defeating way, the only way was to kill as soon as possible, and then turn around and kill back, taking advantage of the weakness of the US fighters that were difficult to coordinate, and defeat the opponent!

Below Ansler, the aircraft group led by Yao Baiyan also entered the US bomber formation. Although bombers are no match for fighters, a large number of bombers in formation is still dangerous, more than fifty bombers, there are hundreds of machine guns, each of which is deadly. Six "Falcons" faced so many bombers that many times the attack would be forced out of the way.

The battle was fierce, and within two minutes, Yao Baiyan lost three of his subordinates. At this time, Ansle also broke away from the fight with the US fighters, and began to dive towards the US bombers, intercepting the bombers is always the most important, those fighters cannot threaten the battleship, only the bomber can threaten the battleship, and the bomber must be intercepted!

Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue saw the fierce air battle in the south from the bridge of the commander of the flagship "Xingkaihu", and although it was difficult to distinguish between US fighters and air defense fighters, they would be able to penetrate them for a while. It will definitely be the air defense fighters that will enter the attack, followed by the US escort fighters, and the US ground bombers will basically maintain the same degree and course.

"There are fifteen nautical miles left, and air defense fighters will not have time to intercept it."

"Then it can only be seen whether our anti-aircraft firepower can be used to the maximum effect!" Tan Renhao sighed, "I don't know when those engineers will be able to get the new shells they boast about, look like this, we are going to be beaten today!" ”

The roar of anti-aircraft artillery broke the calm on the sea. The first to fire were large-caliber anti-aircraft guns with a caliber of more than 12o mm, and these anti-aircraft guns did not fire quickly from the ground. The firing range, however, is very long, and is even capable of dealing with air targets at a distance of five nautical miles, of course, at this distance, there is nothing to expect in terms of accuracy. Then the new anti-aircraft guns of 8o mm caliber also fired, and the sound of the guns was very dense, as if there was a regular drum beat. Then, the 4o mm anti-aircraft guns also opened fire, and finally, the 2o mm machine guns. As well as the machine guns improvised on the battleship, they also fired.

The American bombers, who broke through the interception of the air defense fighters, rushed directly towards the aircraft carrier at the core of the fleet. I have been fighting with the Tang Empire for more than half a year. No matter how bad the American pilots are, they know that when attacking the Tang Imperial fleet, they should first attack the most important aircraft carrier in the fleet. After taking out the aircraft carrier, go to deal with other ground warships. In fact, this is also the tactic of the pilots of the Tang Empire, if the aircraft carrier is not killed, even if all the other battleships are sunk, it will be a defeat, not a victory. But the American pilots ignored one point, that is, the escort warships in the Tang Imperial fleet were definitely fierce enough, especially the anti-aircraft fire on those large air defense cruisers, which was enough to make any pilot frightened.

The "Xingkaihu" was still guarded by the large air defense cruiser "Li Jing". Originally.

Gan Yongxing was ready to provide several improved "Li Jing" class ships for the First Task Force and transfer the first batch of "Li Jing" class into the Fourth Task Force, but Tan Renhao refused, "Li Jing" used to be the flagship of the First Task Force, and later he has always been the personal guard of the flagship, and he has great affection for this battleship, how can he be willing to replace it? At this time, the "Li Jing" had already undergone initial refit, although it did not extend the hull and increase the surface area of the ship like the improved version. But a large number of anti-aircraft guns were also added. Eight 8o-mm anti-aircraft guns replaced four 12o-mm twin anti-aircraft guns, all 4o-mm anti-aircraft guns were replaced by twin guns, the total number remained the same, the number of 2o machine guns was fully doubled, and some machine guns could be temporarily erected to strengthen anti-aircraft fire at close range. It can be said that the anti-aircraft firepower of the "Li Jing" at this time was not inferior to that of any other battleship, and it was not even worse than those battleships newly commissioned.

At least eight US bombers were shot down when they broke through the interception of the "Li Jing," and at the same time they were intercepted by the artillery fire of a heavy cruiser and two destroyers next to it. In the end, only four sBd broke through the air defense network and rushed to the aircraft carrier "Xingkaihu" in front.

Just when the US pilots were getting excited, the fierce artillery fire on the "Xingkai Lake" made them completely desperate. The anti-aircraft firepower of this aircraft carrier, which has a displacement of more than 10,000 tons more than the "Yangtze River", has been unprecedentedly strengthened, and it is almost equipped with anti-aircraft guns according to the standards of air defense cruisers.

Seeing the last US bomber dragging a thick black tail smoke into the sea, Tan Renhao let out a sigh, it seemed that he underestimated the fleet's anti-aircraft firepower, and he was surprised by the strong air defense capabilities displayed by those warships at the beginning.

"Commander, the 'Daihai' has been shot!"

Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue were both startled, and immediately rushed to the porthole on the left, the "Daihai" aircraft carrier was on the left side of the "Xingkaihu", and when the two looked over, a fire had already broken out on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier.

"'Daihai', this is the flagship, report the damage!" Hao Dongjue grabbed the intercom and called for a while, then glanced at Tan Renhao, and then called again.

"Flagship, this is the 'Daihai', the fire has been controlled, the bomb exploded on the flight deck, only the flight deck was damaged, there was no threat to the hangar below, the damage is not very large, we are working hard to repair it, probably we can still receive the returning fighters, but we can't catapult the fighters......"

Hao Dongjue was stunned for a moment, and immediately laughed. "The Yankees came too quickly, they certainly didn't change the ammunition, they still used high-explosive shells for ground bombing, not armor-piercing shells. Ren Hao, did you see it, none of the US bombers carried torpedoes, their torpedo bombers were all sliding to drop bombs, and the latter was horizontally dropped! ”

Tan Renhao nodded, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. The "Lake" class aircraft carrier uses an armored flight deck, and the armor steel plate after more than 6o millimeters can block 25o kg of aviation armor-piercing shells, which is naturally able to block high-explosive shells. The explosion of bombs on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier will at most destroy some surface facilities, as long as the internal facilities of the aircraft carrier are not damaged, the problem is not very big.

"Ask them when they can fix the aircraft carrier, and in addition, if there is a way to fix the catapult and if they can let the fighter take off."

The US bombers began to retreat, and the "Daihai" quickly replied. The damage to the flight deck was not serious and could be repaired quickly, because the bombs had fallen on the foredeck, the catapults had been damaged, and they were trying to find a way to repair a catapult.

After waiting for the reply of the "Daihai", Tan Renhao immediately issued a new order. "The bombers landed immediately, let the 'Daihai' formation retreat to the north, and if the catapult could be repaired, it would immediately go south to participate in combat operations, and if it could not be repaired, it would return to Naha. In addition, the bombers of the 1st Brigade were ready for takeoff. Dong Jue, can we receive more bombers? ”

"The standard capacity of the aircraft carrier is 12o, and it should also be possible to place at least 2o fighters on the flight deck."

"Then receive 2o more bombers and get the bombers ready to take off as soon as possible, we must carry out supplementary bombing and kill those two US airfields."

Hao Dongjue nodded, didn't say anything, and immediately went to deploy. Tan Renhao called the communications staff officer over and gave some more orders, but the battle was not over and was still going on.