When the second batch of bombers from Task Force 4 arrived, Mitchell gave only two orders, one was to concentrate all the warships that could keep up with the "Bataan" in the vicinity of the "Bataan", and the other was to immediately send to Halsey the situation that the 32nd Task Force had been bombed by the enemy two times in a row.

In fact, at that time, the 32nd Task Force was already a bit of a chicken rib. The aviation strike capability of the six small aircraft carriers is indeed not bad, with a total of 27) carrier-based aircraft, which is almost as good as three fleet aircraft carriers. But the problem is that the survivability of the six small aircraft carriers is extremely poor, and the other problems caused by this are even more incomprehensible.

In actual combat, the Tang Imperial Navy first summed up a principle, that is, in order to ensure the safety of the aircraft carrier, at least two cruisers must provide direct air defense cover for the aircraft carrier, and these must be cruisers that focus on air defense. It would be better to have four cruisers to protect one aircraft carrier, and it would be better if several destroyers could be equipped to fill the holes in the air defense network. The aircraft carrier battle group of the Tang Imperial Navy was organized according to this principle, and in one aircraft carrier battle group there were two large air defense cruisers, two heavy cruisers, plus several destroyers. The actual combat also proved that the density of antiaircraft artillery fire of the Tang Empire's aircraft carrier battle group was quite large, and the penetration rate of US bombers was generally less than 30 percent, and many bombers that dropped bombs or torpedoes were difficult to escape, and the result was that if the US military wanted to sink an aircraft carrier of the Tang Empire, it would have to lose dozens of bombers.

The U.S. Navy is well aware of this and is trying to meet this standard, such as this time by building six large cruisers of the "Alaska" class in one go. Moreover, these six large cruisers were all assigned to the aircraft carrier task force and used as the main escort warships of the aircraft carrier. But the problem was that the number of Baltimore-class heavy cruisers of the US Navy at that time was not large. And the anti-aircraft fire of other light cruisers was even more insufficient. More seriously, the US Navy has been lacking adequate. And it is a powerful anti-aircraft warship. When arranging air defense warships, the first consideration is naturally to protect the fleet aircraft carriers, not small ones. Under the condition that the three fleet aircraft carriers of the 31st Task Force have enough escort warships, it is a question of how many escort warships the 32nd Task Force can allocate.

This is another disadvantage of small aircraft carriers, if they are equipped with escort warships according to the standards of fleet carriers. Then six small aircraft carriers need more than 40 escort warships, but the question is, the aviation strike capability of small aircraft carriers is far inferior to that of fleet aircraft carriers, is it cost-effective to have so many escort warships? If it is necessary to double the force of troops to reach the aviation strike force of the fleet aircraft carriers, this is obviously not cost-effective.

This is also an important reason why both the Tang Empire and the United States no longer developed small aircraft carriers, the combat efficiency of small aircraft carriers was too low, so low that it can be said that it is unbearable. If the number of escort warships is reduced, then there is no doubt that the survivability of small aircraft carriers on the battlefield will again be reduced considerably. Not to mention that a small aircraft carrier cannot withstand a few bomb hits, even how many bomber strikes it can cope with is a question.

This is also the problem of Task Force 32. At that time, even if all the destroyers were counted, there were only four or five escort warships for a small aircraft carrier. This was the standard at the time of the outbreak of the war, if at this time the strike capability of the Tang Imperial Navy remained at the level at the outbreak of the war.

Maybe the 32nd Task Force will be able to withstand the bombing of the Fourth Task Force, but the problem is that now the strike capability of the Tang Imperial Navy is several times that of the outbreak of the war, and there are not only more aircraft carriers.

More bombers, fighters with better performance, and pilots with better quality, aviation tactics have also been perfected, and it is obviously impossible for the US military to use the level of 21 against the 25-year-old Tang Imperial Navy.

Leading the second group of bombers was Lieutenant Colonel Chai Zhizhong, who was the captain of the torpedo bomber group of the 4th Air Wing. He was also transferred from the 1st Air Wing, and it took more than a year to go from captain to lieutenant colonel. Before that, he was a subordinate of Colonel Zhang Zhitao. After Zhang Zhitao left the First Air Wing, Tan Renhao originally wanted to recruit Chai Zhizhong back, but finally gave up, after all, the Fourth Air Wing also needed an excellent torpedo bomber pilot.

After departing from the fleet, Chai Zhizhong let the group fly at the fastest cruising speed, and the attack distance of less than 200 nautical miles was indeed very close to the carrier-based fighters, and there was no need to think about saving fuel. And halfway through, Changsun Hong sent a message, so the group flew directly towards the 32nd Task Force, without wasting time. This made Chai Zhizhong spend more than ten minutes less on the road than the first batch of bombers. Before reaching the skies over the 32nd Task Force, Chai Zhizhong's group met the returning Changsun Hong group, and Changsun Hong told Chai Zhizhong the general situation of the 32nd Task Force.

Immediately, Chai Zhizhong arranged the bombing mission and strictly ordered the pilots to waste ammunition and not to spend their efforts in vain on the aircraft carriers that were destined to sink!

The huge fleet of planes soon appeared in the sky southeast of the 32nd Task Force, and the dense crowd of hundreds of fighters made every US officer and soldier in the fleet gasp. At this time, there was not a single fighter plane over the 32nd task force, and the warships had not yet been fully concentrated, and they were scattered over the sea more than ten nautical miles long and several nautical miles wide, that is, it was impossible to form an effective anti-aircraft fire network at all.

"The 3rd Torpedo Bomber Platoon and the 4th and 5th Dive Bomber Squads are going to take out the unsunken carriers." Chai Zhizhong also made a quick and decisive decision, "The other teams will follow me and kill the aircraft carrier raised by the bitch!" ”

The five aircraft carriers that were left behind the fleet, as well as a few cruisers that did not sink, did not attract the attention of the bombers of the Tang Empire, and most of the bombers caught up, and now Mitchell was completely desperate.

On the sea, the U.S. warships put up a futile resistance, and although bombers were occasionally shot down, more often than not, the battleships were hit by bombs or torpedoes.

The first to enter is the fastest fighter, originally this batch of 24 fighters was supposed to deal with the US military ground fighter, but the problem is. Now there are no US fighter planes in the sky, so these fighters all aim at the enemy's ground warships, and use 20-mm machine guns to cover the dive bombers that follow them. Disperse the fire of the anti-aircraft guns of the US ships, or make it impossible for the anti-aircraft guns of the US ships to aim at the dive bombers.

The next arrival was a dive bomber flying at an altitude of 3,000 meters. The sky was very clear. With almost no floating clouds, dive bombers can quickly find their targets, enter the sky above the enemy ship's guns, and then begin to dive and drop bombs.

The two squads of "waterbirds" were divided into 12 pieces, two in each batch. First of all, those escort warships in the vicinity of the aircraft carrier "Bataan" were bombed. One bomber after another swooped down.

The bombing accuracy of bombing cruisers and destroyers is about the same as that of bombing aircraft carriers. Although the ships were bombed in a much smaller area, the anti-aircraft fire around them was also significantly weaker, and the bombers could enter the dive channel more easily and with less interference.

Bombs fell one after another, and before the US fleet formed an effective anti-aircraft fire network, the hit rate of the bombing was close to 50 percent, almost one out of every two bombs hit, and the other would certainly fall on the sea not far from the battleship. And whether it is a cruiser or a destroyer of the US army, it is difficult to withstand a 500-kilogram aviation armor-piercing projectile. A destroyer with a small displacement can sink a destroyer as long as it hits the key position of the battleship.

And cruisers with a larger displacement are no better, and even if they can't sink for the time being, then they will completely lose their combat effectiveness. Even the ability to sail will not be far from sinking.

"Damn, tell them to be careful when dropping bombs, we're down there!" Chai Zhizhong shouted. As he rounded several American warships, several bombs exploded in the sea not far from him.

The navigator in the back seat immediately called out, telling the dive bombers hovering overhead to pay attention to the torpedo bombers flying above the sea as they dropped their bombs, so as not to drop bombs on their own heads.

U.S. warships struggle to deal with dive bombers overhead, so how can they deal with torpedo bombers that do not attack them, but keep flying towards the aircraft carrier? The torpedo bombers of this squad led by Chai Zhizhong quickly penetrated the US fleet's outer air defense network, and then rushed towards the aircraft carrier, which was still fleeing. Another squad of torpedo bombers also rounded the starboard square of the US aircraft carrier and entered the mine-throwing channel.

"Damn, drop the torpedo with me, don't let the son of a son of a son run away!"

Eleven "Sea Eagles" successfully torpedoed their heads in front of the port side of the aircraft carrier "Bataan", and only one bomber was hit by the anti-aircraft guns on the aircraft carrier and fell into the sea. Another squad of torpedo bombers dropped ten torpedoes on the starboard side of the aircraft carrier "Bataan" almost simultaneously, and two were shot down before they could be dropped. Eighteen of the twenty-one torpedo bombers were eventually withdrawn. Twenty-one aviation torpedoes dropped were enough to completely finish off the "Bataan".

Mitchell was also completely desperate. If the carrier continues to sail forward at full speed, it will have to be hit by at least five torpedoes, and whether it turns left or right, it will certainly not be able to avoid torpedoes fired from both directions. The predecessor of the Independence-class aircraft carriers, the Cleveland-class light cruisers, was quite vulnerable to underwater defenses and did not have the same design structure as fleet aircraft carriers. In other words, even if only one torpedo is hit, there is a good chance that this aircraft carrier will be completely destroyed!

Like a monster in a trap, the small aircraft carrier "Bataan" turned right at full speed on the surface of the sea, trying to avoid the torpedoes fired from the port side, but this exposed its port side in front of the torpedoes fired from the starboard direction. Before the aircraft carrier was hit by a mine, there were already officers and men who jumped into the sea to escape. At this time, at least ten or more dive bombers reached the sky above the aircraft carrier and entered the dive glide course, ready to drop bombs on the aircraft carrier.

The "Bataan" was hit by four torpedoes in a row, and each explosion caused the aircraft carrier to "jump" from the sea, and the interval between the four explosions was very short, and when the sea water gradually spilled down, the dive bombers also dropped bombs on the aircraft carrier's head. The aircraft carrier, which has lost power, still turns to the right by inertia, and the speed is rapidly decreasing, and in this case, the aircraft carrier simply cannot avoid the blows of the dive bombers!

When Chai Zhizhong broke out of the anti-aircraft fire net of the US fleet, he looked back at the "poor" aircraft carrier. Several bombs fell on the sea near the aircraft carrier, and the water column was hundreds of meters high. Then, several bombs smashed on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier in succession, and finally exploded inside the aircraft carrier.

The aircraft carrier "Bataan" seemed to turn into a huge briquette, and the flames erupted along the gap in the aircraft carrier, and the pillar of fire flew into the air, and then quickly dissipated. Even if he didn't see the condition of the aircraft carrier clearly, Chai Zhizhong was sure that the aircraft carrier was completely finished. The "Bataan" only lasted less than five minutes on the surface of the sea after being hit by a mine, and then it was blown into three pieces and sank quickly, and among the more than 1,000 officers and men on the aircraft carrier, only the first nine people to jump into the sea to escape survived, and none of the others were spared!

"Brothers, it's time to hunt freely, kill all the American ships, and don't return with bombs and torpedoes!"

Chai Zhizhong gave the order to attack freely, and at this time, three of the six small aircraft carriers in the 32nd Task Force had sunk, and the captains of the three aircraft carriers floating on the sea had also given the order to abandon the ship and escape. More than a dozen escort warships of the US fleet were also sunk, in other words, the 32nd task force was basically completely annihilated.

The pilots who received the order to attack Freedom immediately went into action, and many bombers who had already dropped bombs or torpedoes joined the attack.

At the very least, the machine guns on these fighters can still be used! And those escort fighters are even more active, compared to the self-defense machine guns on the bombers, the 20-mm guns can be regarded as "heavy firepower" at all.

Chai Zhizhong did not forget another important thing, that is, to send the battle report back so that the fleet commander could rest assured. But what Chai Zhizhong didn't know was that when they bombed the 32nd Task Force, their lair was also hit by the enemy, and it was a fierce blow.