When the 16th Task Force was attacked, the bombers of the First Air Wing led by Qiu Gengbo, Yang Qinkai and others reached the sky over the Second Task Force. Lei Shaoqing had already received the news that Hao Dongjue had come up from the "Li Jing," and he did not have time to grieve for Tan Renhao, who was seriously injured, and now he had to bring back the bombers of the First Air Wing. Not only are these bombers important, but if the first two waves of bombing do not solve the task force 16, then these bombers can be armed and formed into a third wave of bombers.

The idea was good, but the question was, how much time was left for Task Force 2 to receive these bombers?

"Commander, this is definitely inappropriate!"

Huang Xiaotian already had a premonition of danger, "We don't have the current US aircraft group of the 1st Task Force, at most, we only have the 16th Task Force, at least more than 2oo fighters, where did the other bombers go?" ”

Lei Shaoqing didn't listen at all, he couldn't watch those pilots force the plane to the sea.

"General, we must organize air defense now, the bombers of the US army are not far from us, if we receive the bombers of the First Air Wing at this time, the aircraft carrier must sail against the wind, and we must break away from the cover of the escort warships, we cannot take this risk!"

"Do you watch those planes fall?"

Chang Jianxin was also a little angry, he felt that Huang Xiaotian was too impersonal. You must know that the backbone of the First Air Wing at this time are also their comrades-in-arms back then.

"Chief of Staff, compared to three aircraft carriers, the loss of those dozens of bombers is nothing at all!"

Huang Xiaotian is still arguing with reason, "We can let the pilot parachute and let the destroyer salvage them, we can't let the aircraft carrier take the risk at this time!" ”

"Enough!"

Lei Shaoqing drank the two of them, "Immediately let the aircraft carrier turn and let Qiu Gengbo and them land." ”

Chang Jianxin glanced at Huang Xiaotian, who was still indignant, and immediately called a staff officer. This order was given.

All three carriers are separated from the core of the formation (when there are enough warships, each aircraft carrier has its own escort warship, and it is formed in separate formations to form an aircraft carrier battle group, and one, or several aircraft carrier battle groups form a task force) After sailing against the wind, the aircraft carriers begin to add. The bombers, having received the news, had already divided into three formations. Circled around three aircraft carriers, respectively. After confirming that the aircraft carrier was ready to receive the returning bombers, the aircraft guides the aircraft carrier gave the landing signal, and then the bombers aimed at the flight deck of the aircraft carrier and began to slide down.

The degree to which the carrier receives bombers is limited, the main thing is that the preparation of the arresting line takes time. Some of the bombers had already run out of fuel and began to make a forced landing on the sea, and the pilots basically climbed out of the bombers and were scooped up by the fireboats that arrived on the road. Qiu Gengbo's group landed on the "Yellow River," and he let the wounded pilot land first, but he himself dragged it to the end. There's no way around it. He's the captain. It was an unwritten rule that he had to land his men safely first, just like when he abandoned a ship. The supreme commander on the battleship had to be the last to leave.

It takes at least half an hour for the entire fleet to land, and although the escort warships are already refueling to keep up with the aircraft carriers, when the aircraft carrier receives the returning bombers, the escort warships must keep a certain distance from the aircraft carrier (mainly to avoid obstructing the landing of the fighters) and must not get too close. This actually widened the distance between the aircraft carrier and the escort warship, increased the range of the air defense circle, and weakened the density of the air defense fire. This is also the reason why Huang Xiaotian resolutely opposes allowing aircraft carriers to receive returning bombers at this juncture. If the American bombers arrived at this time, the aircraft carrier would be almost exposed in broad daylight, and it would be difficult for the escort warships to effectively cover the aircraft carrier!

"Colonel, it's our turn!"

I saw that the bomber in front had already landed on the flight deck of the "Yellow River". Qiu Geng wavelength took a breath, then lowered the altitude to 5oo meters, and the course was aimed at the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. The aviation crew needs at least half a minute for the arresting cable to be reset, and this time must be waited, and only after the arresting cable is reset can he land, otherwise if the arresting hook on the bomber's butt cannot be attached to the arresting cable, he will rush headlong into the group stacked at the front of the aircraft carrier's flight deck, and the consequences are unimaginable.

"Captain. It seems that there are still our planes over there, is it another group of returning planes? ”

Hearing the navigator's voice, Qiu Gengbo immediately looked in the southeast direction, if there was still a group of planes to return to the First Task Force first, and then follow this side, it should indeed come from that direction. But Qiu Gengbo thought about it for a long time, and also felt that all the bombers should have returned, and there would be no bomber group that had been dragging behind for so long and had not kept up. Then, he was shocked, it was not a returning bomber, but an American bomber with bombs hanging on it, coming to bomb the second task force!

The air defense alarm also sounded immediately, and Lei Shaoqing had already rushed to the outside of the bridge. In the southeast direction of the fleet, the US bombers were sprinting, and the air defense fighters patrolling nearby had also dived down, desperately intercepting the US bombers.

"At least nearly a hundred bombers!"

Chang Jianxin also ran out, "Damn, the Yankees are really fast!" ”

"Commander, we should immediately return to the formation and let the escort warships follow!"

Huang Xiaotian sighed secretly, the last thing he wanted to see was born.

Lei Shaoqing glanced at this aviation combat staff officer, and said with a pale face: "Immediately organize air defense, let the escort warships come over, and the bombers that did not have time to land are forced to land on the sea!" ”

"Colonel, it looks like we have to make a forced landing!"

"Damn, let's pull it up!"

The aircraft carrier had already begun to turn, and Qiu Gengbo didn't want to land on the aircraft carrier, so he struggled to pull back the operating stick and wanted to pull the bomber up.

"Out of gas, we're out of gas......"

The bomber shook violently a few times, and the propeller rotation slowed down a lot. Qiu Gengbo stepped on the accelerator a few times, and was about to re-ignite, but the motive had stopped working, and without aviation gasoline, no matter how hard he tried, it couldn't make any difference.

"We made a forced landing at sea, sit down!"

It is dangerous to skydive at such a low altitude, but it is safer to make a forced landing.

On the "Yellow River" aircraft carrier, the pilots who had already climbed out of the fighter plane saw their captain's plane rushing to the surface. The moment the belly touched the water, it was bounced again, and then the bomber fell again. Before the plane sank, the two pilots climbed out of the cockpit, and then the surrounding sea water was dyed yellow (the pilots had a dye bag on them, which dissolved when it was touched by water, and then released a yellow dye so that the search and rescue planes and ships could see the overboard pilots from a long distance) The pilots standing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier breathed a sigh of relief, and then they were forcibly dispersed. At the time of the air defense operation. No one must "hang out" on the flight deck, and the US bombers were also arriving quickly, and some of the air defense fighters of the Second Task Force had been guiding the ground bombers of the First Air Wing to return home, so they were not in the outer air defense circle of the fleet. When the American bomber group arrived, there were probably less than 2O air defense fighters patrolling the perimeter, and these 2O air defense fighters could not stop hundreds of American fighters!

Unlike the attack methods of the bombers of the Tang Empire, the American bomber group rushed to their intended targets after breaking through the interception of the fighters. The three aircraft carriers of the Second Task Force are similar in appearance (they are all aircraft carriers of the same level), and it is impossible to distinguish which aircraft carrier it is without looking at the port number (at this time, the Tang Empire has already revised the fleet flag, so it is not easy to judge which one is the flagship from the ground fleet flag hoisted on the aircraft carrier) This kind of dispersed attack has advantages and disadvantages compared with the concentrated bombing often used by the naval aviation of the Tang Empire.

"Commander. Go down here! ”

"I'm right here!"

Lei Shaoqing pointed to the floor under his feet. "Let the chief of staff go down there, I'll see how powerful the Yankees' bombers really are!"

"Shaoqing. Don't fight, go down! ”

Chang Jianxin was anxious.

"Now I'm still the commander of the fleet, you give me down, this is an order!"

The two of them quarreled, and then the captain of the 6th squad next to him (there is a 6th squad on every battleship, in peacetime, the 6th squad is responsible for order on the aircraft carrier, and when docking, the 6th squad is responsible for protecting the aircraft carrier, and in battle. They are the senior officers and generals' guards on the aircraft carrier) didn't care so much at all, he nodded to the soldiers of the 6th team next to him, and several people immediately rushed up, two against one, and directly "escorted" Lei Shaoqing, Chang Jianxin, and Huang Xiaotian, these senior staff officers, off the bridge and brought them to the relatively safe aviation operations under the ship island.

"Let go of me!"

Lei Shaoqing broke away from the big hands of the two 6-soldier members, "What's the situation now?" ”

"Evading the bombing!"

The staff officer in the aviation operations center answered this question.

Three aircraft carriers were bombed at the same time. The American bombers came quickly, and there were not a few escort warships in the vicinity of the three aircraft carriers at that time.

The deck began to tilt, and Lei Shaoqing immediately grabbed the handrail. When the aircraft carrier was attacked, the command of the aircraft carrier was automatically transferred to the captain, who was responsible for directing the aircraft carrier to avoid bombing.

Suddenly, the floor shook slightly, followed by more violent vibrations, followed by a dull explosion. The aircraft carrier was shot, and the aircraft carrier "Yellow River" was shot! While the sound of the explosion was still echoing in the cabin, the aircraft carrier shook violently again, and a second bomb hit the aircraft carrier. The violent shaking threw everyone up, and when Lei Shaoqing got up from the floor, the aircraft carrier shook violently again, this time from below.

"Commander, the carrier hit a torpedo on the starboard side and received two bombs."

Lei Shaoqing nodded, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his mouth, he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and then spit out the tooth that he had begun to knock out. The degree of the aircraft carrier is slowing down, and it seems that the power system of the aircraft carrier has suffered!

At this time, the other two aircraft carriers were not much better, the "Pearl River" was hit by at least one bomb, and this bomb also detonated the aviation gasoline depot behind the hangar, and the aircraft carrier was already enveloped in flames. The captain gave the order to fill the ammunition depot with water as quickly as possible, which prevented the explosion of the adjacent ammunition depot. After avoiding at least ten torpedoes, the "Huaihe" ignored the threat overhead, and both bombs fell in the middle of the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, the first exploded on the flight deck, and the huge shock wave swept all the more than 20 planes on the flight deck into the sea, and also destroyed all the external equipment on the aircraft carrier island, and the crane used to lift the aircraft was also blown into the sea. Another bomb exploded in the sailors' compartment under the hangar, but fortunately the sailors were at their posts at the time, so there were no casualties, and the bomb only completely destroyed a dozen adjacent compartments.

The bombing continued, and more than 5o dive bombers were fatal to three aircraft carriers. The average hit rate of bombs dropped by US dive bombers is only about 30% (in the early days of the war, the quality of US pilots was really not very good), which also means that at least 15 bombs will hit the aircraft carrier, and an average aircraft carrier will withstand five bombs!

Every major earthquake of the aircraft carrier made Lei Shaoqing frightened, if these bombs hit a vital part, such as the ammunition tank, or the fuel tank, it was possible to completely destroy the aircraft carrier. It's a gamble of luck with the enemy, and sometimes, if the bomb is a few meters away, the damage caused is completely different.

The air in the aviation operations center was almost frozen, and as time passed, everyone was silently calculating how many bombs and torpedoes the aircraft carrier had received, and Lei Shaoqing was also calculating. More than 20 minutes later, when the air defense alarm was lifted and the US bombers withdrew, Lei Shaoqing breathed a sigh of relief, the "Yellow River" only suffered three bombs, and at most two torpedoes, but this must have reached the limit of the aircraft carrier's bearing capacity!

When Lei Shaoqing and the others came to the flight deck outside, he and Chang Jianxin couldn't believe their eyes. In the distance, the "Pearl River" has been completely paralyzed, the fire has enveloped the entire aircraft carrier, and the officers and men are jumping into the sea to escape. The degree of the "Huaihe" is also much slower, and a large piece is missing from the buttocks. When the attention of the two of them was focused on the battleship under their feet, it also became clear that the "Yellow River" was not much worse than the other two aircraft carriers.