Before Nimitz's order reached the USS Lexington, Halsey had already made a similar decision - he set a "stop-loss point" for the maritime gamble, and if one of the two carrier squadrons was heavily damaged by the Japanese side (such as the loss of 2 carriers or 1 sunk, 1 heavy damage or all 2 heavy damage), the other squadron would immediately retreat. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info This will give a high probability of ensuring that the US Pacific Fleet will still have 2 usable large aircraft carriers after this service.

After setting up the "stoppage," Vice Admiral Halsey decided at 4:20 a.m. on November 6 to send the first attack wave of the 1st Air Force (USS Lexington, USS Saratoga).

"Sir, don't you need to scout?" Major General Browning was hesitant to hear Halsey's decision. "We don't know the composition of these six Japanese ship formations now."

Now the Halsey fleet knows the approximate location of the six Japanese ship formations, which were searched by Catalina's seaplanes with radar at night. But the current radar is not very clear about aircraft carriers, battleships, heavy cruisers and large cargo ships.

So Halsey and Browning didn't know the composition of these 6 formations at all, so they could only try their luck.

"Then try your luck!" "I've always had good luck," Halsey said, "or I wouldn't have been a lieutenant general in the navy." And...... I believe in God, those damn Japanese monkeys certainly don't believe it, so God will definitely help. ”

Major General Browning frowned and asked again: "So where do we bet the treasure?" ”

"Bet on ...... Just bet on the Japanese ship formation closest to us (that was the First Air Combat commanded by Nagumo Tadaichi himself)! Send 2 attack waves! Let Major General Fletcher's 2nd team also send 2 attack waves to fight them. ”

……

Just as Halsey was betting all his bets, Nagumo Tadaichi had just sent out an enemy plane. Since the Japanese did not have large seaplanes in the Coral Sea that could carry radars, it was not possible to spot the formations of Halsey and Fletcher at night. In terms of the ability to seek the enemy, he lost one move first!

However, Nagumo Tadaichi, who knew that he had this weakness, also had the means to make up for it, and after releasing 6 Comet dive bombers, he immediately sent 24 Zero carrier-based fighters as direct cover, and at the same time, 12 Zero carrier-based fighters were deployed on the decks of the Akagi and Kaga, all of which were placed in positions that could take off at any time.

At the same time, he also set up an anti-aircraft formation early, as if he was waiting for the American planes to come and beat him -- because he knew that his position was the furthest south, and if the American aircraft carriers were preparing to attack, the first air battle would most likely be the first target!

Nagumo's wait did not last long, and at 6:35 a.m. on the morning of November 6 (now that the autumnal equinox has passed, the night is longer in the northern hemisphere and the day is longer in the southern hemisphere), the radar officer of the Akagi suddenly shouted: "Enemy planes have been discovered, more than 10 of them, and it is suspected that the attack aircraft group ......"

"It's finally here!" Nanyun Zhong took a breath and hurriedly ordered, "Let the air superiority squadron on the deck take off immediately!" Be sure to give the Americans a little bit of power! ”

"Hay!" Minoru Genda replied loudly.

Everyone in the Akagi Command Tower was nervous, there was nothing foolproof about the battle team between the aircraft carrier and the aircraft! If you're unlucky, let an American dive bomber break through and risk crushing an aircraft carrier.

But the good news came in a few minutes.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency, our Zero and enemy aircraft have exchanged fire." Minoru Genda shouted excitedly, "They're F4F and SBD...... It should be a carrier-based aircraft! ”

Because the performance of the F4F is not satisfactory, the United States now has few F4Fs in shore-based aircraft in the South Pacific, and the Americans have deployed P4Fs on the east coast of Australia with far superior performance to F38s. If the SBD dive bomber flew out of the east coast, it would definitely be escorted by the P38 - according to the description of the Japanese front-line pilots, this twin monster was a difficult aircraft to deal with, with fast speed, fierce firepower, powerful dive ability, and good high-altitude performance. When fighting against the Zero, if the situation is not good, they will tend to increase their altitude, and if the Zero follows it, they will suffer a big loss when they reach a certain altitude. Therefore, the US military in the South Pacific theater liked to use the P-38.

Now it's F4F and SBD on duty, and then there are probably American aircraft carriers nearby.

And everyone on board the USS Akagi firmly believes that as long as the American aircraft carrier is nearby, then there is no escape!

And most of the people in the Allied South Pacific Theater Command have the same idea.

Under MacArthur's orders, American, Australian, and British warplanes stationed near Brisbane were also dispatched, and all attack planes and bombers that could be found were brought out.

In Brisbane, at 6:40, 24 B-25 bombers, 18 B-24 bombers and 18 Beaufort torpedo bombers, escorted by 36 P-38s, sorted.

Ten minutes later, 10 more B-25s, 22 Beauforts and 12 P-38s were dispatched from the Bundaberg base.

Before the 128 shore-based aircraft were dispatched, the two teams commanded by Halsey and Fletcher successively sent a total of 122 SBD dive bombers and 108 TBF torpedo bombers, and under the protection of 72 F4F fighters, they were divided into four groups to pounce on Nagumo Tadaichi's First Air Force.

This brought the total number of sorties from the Allied side to 442!

However, so many planes didn't fly to Nanyun Zhong's head at the same time, otherwise his Zero fighter would not be able to resist even if he had three heads and six arms. And just when the dozens of American planes that flew in the first wave were severely beaten by the Zeros, Japanese reconnaissance planes also discovered the location of the American aircraft carrier.

"Your Excellency, Commander, there are at least 2 American aircraft carriers!" Minoru Genda reported loudly, "About 180 nautical miles southwest of Sentai 1!" ”

"Great!"

"Now it's going to be a victory!"

There was jubilation in the command tower of the Akagi, completely ignoring the fact that there were still American bombers circling overhead.

"Your Excellency, Commander, you may order the Second Air Force and the Fifth Air Force to send attack aircraft groups."

Chief of Staff Ryunosuke Kusaka immediately made a suggestion, and Minoru Genda, an aviation staff officer, echoed: "Because this team is being attacked by enemy aircraft, we must respond with all our might. ”

Nagumo Tadaichi looked up at the chase battle that was taking place in the sky, his own Zero fighter had won a big victory, and the American plane was fleeing.

But this is only the first wave of attacks!

"Okay, that's it."

At this time, Nagumo Tadaichi, Kusaka Ryunosuke, and Minoru Genda had already anticipated the possibility that the 1st Air Force would suffer an overwhelming saturation blow from the Americans. However, the Zero's long-standing performance led them to think that the 1st Air Force would be able to withstand such a blow on its own. Moreover, they were also convinced that relying on the forces of the 2nd and 5th Air Forces, it would be enough to sink the exposed American aircraft carriers.

But something unexpected happened to them, and the anti-aircraft artillery fire on today's US warships seems to be particularly fierce, and they are also particularly accurate!

When the captain of the flight team of the aircraft carrier Soryu, who is also the commander-in-chief of the second attack wave of the 2nd Air Force of the Japanese Navy, led the group to find Halsey's aircraft carrier formation, a fierce battle was taking place over the aircraft carrier formation.

Instead of leading the plane to charge immediately, Ekusa slowly circled in the air, as if trying to find the opponent's weakness. But a little observation surprised him.

He found that although the number of American ships on the sea was not particularly large, the anti-aircraft fire fired was extremely fierce, and the 4,000-meter level was almost shrouded in strings of tracer bullets!

"I can hit 4,000 meters! This is the Bofors anti-aircraft artillery ......" Jiang Cao Shaozo immediately realized that he was likely to face a bloody battle. The firing height can cover the attack position of dive bombers, and the powerful Bofors anti-aircraft gun has long been the standard configuration of surface ships in the European theater, but it seems to be the first time it has appeared in the Pacific Ocean!

"Your Excellency, look ahead, 11 o'clock...... One of our planes was hit, above 4000 meters! ”

Asano, the bombardier behind Takashi Ekusa, suddenly shouted at this time, and Ecao hurriedly looked over and found that a plane that seemed to be a comet dive bomber was falling rapidly.

"Is it really more than 4,000 meters?" Jiang Cao asked a question, and after receiving an affirmative answer, he thought to himself: The downed plane was really unlucky, it was actually shot down by a 127mm anti-aircraft gun.

"I'm Ecao Takashi Shaozuo, the commander-in-chief of the attack." Jiang Cao didn't think much about it and began to give an order, "The enemy's firepower is a bit fierce today, you guys should be more careful, I wish you a long time in martial arts!" Now, the attack begins! Implementation of option 1. ”

The formation and sequence of attacks had been planned for a long time, and the 2nd Air Force was a place where veterans were piled up, and the cooperation between them had long been seamless.

When Jiang Cao found that the US aircraft carrier on the water was still writhing happily and showed no signs of injury, he knew that the attack that the first attack wave did not have failed. So the first case was ordered, which is the standard attack process. First, the dive bomber began to dive from a height of more than 3,000 meters, and at the same time the Type 97 torpedo bomber circled down and entered the height of the torpedo attack.

The escort Zero aircraft were responsible for covering the Type 97 torpedo bombers -- the dive bombers now used by the Japanese Combined Fleet were Comets with air-cooled engines (the same as the Fokker 100), and because they were fast and difficult to intercept, they did not need Zero cover according to the current combat mode of the Japanese naval aviation.

After Ecao Takashi gave the order, he took the lead and rushed towards a large American aircraft carrier shrouded in a net of fire.

Rumble......

As soon as he rushed into the fire net, Jiang Cao Takashi found that it was not quite right, an anti-aircraft artillery shell exploded very close to his landline, and under the impact of the heat wave, his plane shook violently a few times.

Jiang Cao is an old driver, and he knows that heavy anti-aircraft artillery is completely a matter of character. Because the rate of fire of heavy anti-aircraft guns is slow, the probability of directly hitting the aircraft is very low, and at the same time, the fixed altitude fuse used by heavy anti-aircraft guns is very unreliable, and it is difficult to measure the height and then set the high fuse on the busy battlefield. Therefore, even the highly trained Japanese anti-aircraft gunners had a hard time hitting enemy aircraft with heavy anti-aircraft guns.

And the shell that exploded near Jiang Cao's landline just now was not only accurate, but also the setting of the fixed height fuse was also accurate -- this must be a coincidence!

Jiang Cao hurriedly lowered the lever and lowered the height.

Rumble......

Two more 127mm anti-aircraft artillery shells exploded near his plane! The fuselage shook again, and it began to tremble, it must have been hit somewhere.

Baga! Got a sharpshooter?

Jiang Cao hurriedly piloted the plane to dodge the action, but after a few flashes, there was a boom in his ears.

The plane shook even more!

Did you run into a bunch of sharpshooters? Are you going to become a god? Jiang Cao Longfan's forehead was suddenly covered with beads of sweat. He knew that his plane had already taken three hits, and he didn't know how long he could hold out? When he got on the plane, he only brought a broadsword and no parachute......

Just then, he found out that his plane had reached the top of an American aircraft carrier!

"Rush!" He took his mind back, gave a loud order, and then pushed the joystick hard, pressed down the nose of the plane, and dived down almost at a right angle, trying to finish dropping the bomb before the plane disintegrated.

But his plane soon seemed to crash into a rain of bullets, first the fuselage trembled violently, and then smoke rose from where the nose engine was!

Now I'm going to become a god! Ecao knew that he was going to die, but his long-term bushido education told him that even if he died, he would have to pull a boatload of people on his back.

"Onboard!" He shouted, clutched the joystick in both hands, and piloted the plane to slam into the American aircraft carrier below.

Dozens of seconds later, the plane with the bomb impartially hit the rear deck of the USS Lexington, which suddenly turned into a ball of flames, and also ignited several F4F carrier-based fighters on the deck that were refueling and refueling ammunition......

The fire and smoke enveloped the USS Lexington, and although it did not cause heavy damage, it temporarily blocked the view of the anti-aircraft gunners, and the carrier's anti-aircraft fire suddenly weakened, which created an opportunity for the comet dive bombers following behind the river grass.

In just two or three minutes, 6 bombshells hit the Lexington, plunging the aircraft carrier into a sea of fire!

I don't know if it was encouraged by the "god of war" Jiang Cao, but 10 minutes later, another comet dive bomber also crashed into the Saratoga, although it did not cause a fire, but it also caused chaos, so that the follow-up planes successfully dropped 3 bombs.

……

"Your Excellency, the two American aircraft carriers have been heavily damaged and may sink soon!"

When the voice of Kusaka Ryunosuke came to report the victory, Nagumo Tadaichi was sweating profusely and watching the dense planes in the sky fight.

Wave after wave of American planes came, as if there was no end, although the Zero fighters on the Akagi and Kaga ships performed excellently, blocking almost all enemy planes. But losses are still inevitable!

There are fewer and fewer Zeros in the sky, and the American P38 is clearly an aircraft that can fight the Zero fighter! Moreover, the Americans also understood the performance of the Zero and found some tactics that could be effectively countered. The exchange ratio is not overwhelming......

Nagumo put down the binoculars, frowned and ordered: "Order the 5th Air Battle to continue the attack until the 2 aircraft carriers of the United States are sunk." Then let the 2nd Air Force send half of the Zeros to support us after recovering the fighters. We...... I'm afraid I'll have to fight for a few more hours! (To be continued.) )