The second group of bombers led by Yang Qinkai arrived over the 31st Task Force 40 minutes later than the fighter group led by Ansler, and it was 12:35 a.m. when Yang Qinkai saw the two aircraft carriers in the 31st Task Force that had fallen behind, and at this time, the "Lexington" had already sailed more than 30 nautical miles to the north and was still escaping at full speed.

The size of this fleet was extremely large, in addition to 60 "water birds" (36 of which were reconnaissance planes that returned to the fleet on the first reconnaissance mission), there were also 60 "sea eagles". This is also all the remaining bombers of the first task force (there are also 12 "waterbirds" who went on the second round of reconnaissance missions, because they returned to the fleet relatively late, so they were not able to set off with Yang Qinkai).

Before rushing to the battlefield over the battlefield, Yang Qinkai received a report from Ellsler, telling them to boldly bomb the US warships, and the escort fighters would ensure that the bomber group would not be intercepted by the US fighters, and at the same time would assist the bombers in breaking through the anti-aircraft artillery fire network of the US fleet during the bombing.

"Colonel, do you want to kill those two aircraft carriers?"

"The 5th Dive Bomber Squad, and the 4th and 5th Torpedo Bomber Squads, go get rid of those two carriers, don't waste ammunition!" Yang Qinkai naturally would not let go of the two doomed US fleet aircraft carriers, "I can't run out of ammunition to deal with those escort warships, and the other squads will pursue the US fleet with me!" ”

12 "Shooting Birds" and 24 "Sea Eagles" immediately broke away from the large formation. Deal with wounded, very slow, and there is no way to maneuver to evade ground warships. The effect of torpedoes is better than that of bombs, so Yang Qinkai allocated more torpedo bombers to finish off the two US aircraft carriers.

The 12 dive bombers were mainly used against several destroyers in the vicinity of the two aircraft carriers.

A group of Ellsler's fighters also joined the attack, and the shells of the 20mm guns could easily sweep away the gun emplacements of the destroyers and carriers that were not protected by turrets. At the very least, this would weaken the anti-aircraft fire of the US ships and make it easier for bombers to drop bombs.

In less than five minutes. At least 14 torpedoes hit the aircraft carrier "Bunker Hill", which had almost stopped, and all of these torpedoes hit the left side of the carrier. Another 8 torpedoes hit the right side of the aircraft carrier "Wasp". These torpedo bomber pilots did not make the mistake of common sense, they all dropped torpedo on the already injured side of the aircraft carrier, which would speed up the capsizing of the aircraft carrier, as long as the battleship capsized at sea. Even if it didn't sink immediately, it would definitely be hopeless!

12 dive bombers concentrated on three destroyers. Against destroyers and other relatively small and fast warships, the accuracy of dive bombers is not very high. However, it also means that if a bomb hits, the destroyer will be doomed. 12 bombs against 4 destroyers, only a one-third hit rate is enough to take out these four destroyers.

The result is conceivable, for the pilots of the Tang Empire's dive bombers, whose bomb hit rate has always remained above 4 percent, three hit one. It's not too hard.

Yang Qinkai was not distracted by the doomed enemy ships, and his target was the fleeing aircraft carrier, as well as three large cruisers. Several cruisers. Blowing up these ships is the key of the keys. On the way to the 31st Task Force, he first encountered Qiu Gengbo, who was returning, and learned about the general situation of the US fleet from Qiu Gengbo, and then met with the fighter group led by Yao Boyan. Learned about the general situation over the enemy fleet. Taking advantage of this time, Yang Qinkai gave a clear task to every squad in the group, and even to the pilots of each group.

Yang Qinkai and Qiu Gengbo are two completely different pilots, if Qiu Gengbo is very similar to Deng Zichao, is the kind of enthusiastic and unrestrained, pungent style of pilot, then Yang Qinkai is the kind of relatively steady, more accurate use of power pilots. Hao Dongjue is very aware of the personalities of these two bomber captains of the First Air Wing, so when assigning tasks, Hao Dongjue will usually let Qiu Gengbo take the lead to tear through the enemy's air defense network and severely damage the enemy, and then let Yang Qinkai fight the second formation to completely destroy the enemy!

Now, Yang Qinkai wants to play the role of this "terminator", he has 48 dive bombers and 36 torpedo bombers, which means that there are 48 500-kilogram aviation armor-piercing shells and 36 aviation torpedoes. Even if the overall hit rate of these bombs and torpedoes is only 20 to 30 percent, this is enough to take out the remaining American battleships! Of course, Yang Qinkai will not be brutal, if he can cut off the escort warship first, maybe only 20 bombers can be used to solve the last aircraft carrier of the American fleet. Therefore, when assigning the mission, Yang Qinkai decided to take out the three large cruisers first to open the way for the bombers to deal with the aircraft carrier!

When the "Bunker Hill" and "Wasp" aircraft carriers were damaged, Yang Qinkai's aircraft group also caught up with the escaped "Lexington" aircraft carrier battle group. At this time, three large cruisers of the "Alaska" class were in the vicinity of the aircraft carrier "Lexington", and more than a dozen escort warships were also protecting the aircraft carrier.

"The first group follow me and knock out the big cruiser on the right first!" Yang Qinkai did not keep the bombs he was carrying to bomb the aircraft carrier, but first killed the large cruiser, so that the bombers behind could bomb the aircraft carrier smoothly.

Four "waterbirds" immediately followed, this was a group under the personal command of Yang Qinkai, and the four pilots were all veterans, and they were all "bombing aces". The four bombers first flew towards the central aircraft carrier, and the anti-aircraft artillery fire on the American battleships was immediately attracted. About 3 nautical miles from the aircraft carrier and about 1 nautical mile from the large cruiser on the right, the four bombers turned at the same time and rushed towards the unprepared cruiser, avoiding the incoming shells.

"Saipan" became the first casualty. Before that, the battleship had shot down 14 bombers, but this time, when four "waterbirds" flew in with revenge bombs.

The anti-aircraft guns on the cruiser were covering the aircraft carrier, and the shells all flew to the front of the bomber's original course. And by the time the anti-aircraft gunners on the cruiser discovered that the four dive bombers were coming towards them, they were too late to intercept them.

When the turn is not yet complete. Yang Qinkai first entered the dive bombing channel, wanting to take out the cruiser with the most heavy anti-aircraft artillery fire. The most important thing is a surprise strike, and only a sudden blow will be able to keep up with the speed of the bomber's turning from the anti-aircraft guns on the cruiser. And Ti did. Most of the shells landed behind the bombers, and all four bombers dropped their bombs in ten seconds. Yang Qinkai did not rush to pull the bomber up, but kept flying above the sea. The other three "waterbirds" all followed him, and these dive bombers, like torpedo bombers, quickly penetrated the anti-aircraft fire net of the US fleet at a height close to the sea surface.

Yang Qinkai struggled to control the bomber, and after bypassing the destroyer at the outermost point of the US fleet, he flew the bomber south for about two nautical miles before he began to climb.

"Lao Yang, that battleship is finished, damn it, now it's still up to you to see how fierce it is!"

"Did the other brothers follow?" Yang Qinkai wiped the sweat off his forehead. In just three minutes, he was already in a cold sweat.

"It's all out, and no one is missing."

On the sea. The large cruiser "Saipan" was directly hit by three bombs, two of which exploded in the middle of the area where the anti-aircraft guns were most concentrated, and all of these aerial bombs penetrated the weak horizontal armor of the battleship and exploded inside the battleship. Originally, the defense capability of the large cruisers of the "Alaska" class was only at the level of heavy cruisers. 3 500-kilogram aviation armor-piercing shells were enough for the cruiser to be scrapped.

"The other groups start to act, it's enough to cooperate, don't disperse and enter, let the enemy mess up first!" Yang Qinkai quickly gave the order, and the bombers that had already rushed into the anti-aircraft artillery fire network of the US fleet found their targets one after another, and immediately entered the bombing channel.

The second to suffer was the large cruiser "Samoa" to the left of the "Lexington".

This cruiser was originally an escort warship of the USS Wasp, and when the USS Wasp broke out of formation, Halsey incorporated it into the USS Lexington aircraft carrier battle group, and in previous battles, the USS Samoa shot down five fighters (two of which were US military's own air defense fighters).

The "waterfowl" of the two groups entered at the same time, one of them headed directly for the aircraft carrier, and the other group parted halfway and pounced on the "Samoa". And the anti-aircraft guns on the "Samoa" were all focused on dealing with the four bombers rushing towards the aircraft carrier, and they did not deal with the bombers that were coming at them. On the sea, 8 - "Sea Eagles" are also rapidly approaching the cruiser that is about to finish. In less than five minutes, the "Samoa" received two bombs and three torpedoes, the result of which is conceivable.

The third unfortunate was the large cruiser "Puerto Rico", which was previously the escort battleship of the aircraft carrier "Bunker Hill", and during the battle shot down 7 fighters (2 of which were US military's own air defense fighters), at this time in front of the right side of the aircraft carrier "Lexington". The eight "water birds" and eight "sea eagles" that attacked the cruiser ate a total of 3 bombs and 3 torpedoes, and the cruiser's end was also very bleak.

The two large cruisers that were attacked sank within an hour, and only the "Saipan" held out until the afternoon, and was finally sunk by the American officers and men when there was no hope of saving itself.

"Concentrate on attacking aircraft carriers, enter in small groups, torpedo bombers enter in squads, don't waste ammunition!"

After the three large cruisers lost their combat effectiveness, Yang Qinkai immediately ordered a concentrated bombing of the last fleet carrier of the 31st Task Force, that is, the aircraft carrier "Lexington" (board number CV-16).

Two groups of 8 "water birds" arrived first, and on the sea, 12 "Sea Eagles" had already approached, and at this time, only three destroyers in the vicinity of the "Lexington" could still provide covering force, while the other cruisers and destroyers in the US fleet were on the periphery of the air defense circle, several nautical miles away from the aircraft carrier!

Seeing the Tang Imperial bombers flying like hornets, the officers and men on the "Lexington" were almost desperate, at this time there were at least more than 20 dive bombers, and nearly 30 torpedo bombers did not use up their ammunition, and so many bombs and torpedoes were enough to drown this aircraft carrier! By this time, Halsey had left Commander Cambridge, and no one knew where he had gone.

Dive bombers were the first to succeed, and two groups of eight "waterbirds" dropped at least 3 bombs on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. The smoke and dust from the explosion enveloped the aircraft carrier, so the other dive bombers did not rush in, but this did not prevent the torpedo bombers from entering at low altitudes, after the first batch of 12 "Sea Eagles" dropped torpedoes, the last batch of 8 "Sea Eagles" also followed closely from the port side of the aircraft carrier, and quickly dropped torpedoes.

"The third and fourth teams go up, don't rush to drop bombs for the rest!" Yang Qinkai's plane was at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, so it was impossible to immediately judge how many torpedoes and how many bombs the US aircraft carrier had hit.

When the smoke gradually cleared, the other eight "water birds" immediately began to dive. At this time, the "Lexington" was almost stopped on the sea, and most of the anti-aircraft guns on the aircraft carrier had become mute, the fire was spreading on the flight deck, and many American officers and men were in a hurry to jump into the sea to escape. Eight bombs were set up and dropped, and seven of them hit the aircraft carrier, and against a large target of 270 meters long and more than 30 meters wide, it is not surprising that such a high hit rate is not a surprise.

"Lao Yang, that aircraft carrier is finished!"

"I know, there's no need to waste ammunition." Yang Qinkai sneered, "The other groups that didn't drop bombs, hunt freely, don't waste ammunition on the aircraft carrier." ”

In fact, only eight "waterbirds" still had bombs hung, and the pilots of these eight dive bombers were a little reluctant to look for the US cruisers after receiving the order, so that they could use the bombs they carried.

"Let's get ready to go home!" Yang Qinkai glanced at the enemy fleet on the sea, "Contact the fleet commander, if it is possible, then let Qiu Gengbo's bastard run again, there are still more than a dozen American warships that have not been killed!" ”