The situation of the Pacific Fleet was very bad, and thirty minutes after the first wave of attacks began, the commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Tavos, and other senior officers braved the bombardment to return to their posts, and ordered the sailors to start their engines, leave the harbor, and take refuge in Tokyo Bay. In addition, the stop-loss work was also carried out at the same time, and the well-trained American sailors were finally effectively commanded and began to work according to their own division of duties.

It's a pity that the situation has not improved in any way, the fleet does not have any weapons that can counterattack, the battleship takes a considerable time from the start to the departure of the port, the battleship in slow motion is the best target for torpedoes, and the attack aircraft can easily throw heavy torpedoes at battleships several hundred meters long.

At 8:30 a.m., the Chinese attack finally ended, and the planes in the sky left the port one after another after dropping their ammunition, leaving only the tragic scene of incessant explosions, gunpowder smoke and the slow sinking of battleships. Vice Admiral Tavos stayed in the bridge of the battleship USS Utah and wanted to cry without tears, the original fleet flagship Delaware had sunk, and only the slightly injured USS Utah was chosen, and the flagship signal was raised.

Ten minutes after the attack, the preliminary statistics reached Vice Admiral Tavos, two of the four new battleships were sunk, one was heavily damaged and was sinking, there was no hope of salvage, and only one was slightly damaged. Three of the first five ships were sunk, and the rest of the warships were seriously injured and lightly injured and could not be counted in a short period of time, from now on, the Pacific Fleet has lost most of its combat capability, and moreover, the commander of his own fleet, has also done it!

Airplanes, airplanes! How could Huaguo's planes sink a 10,000-ton ship? The whizzing planes were like demons flying out of hell, and the armor of the battleships was as vulnerable to the bombs and torpedoes they dropped. The planes looked strange and distinctive, with metal fuselages, fast speeds, over 300 kilometers per hour, and the ability to carry heavy bombs and torpedoes. Where did they fly from? From Kagoshima? It's too far away!

Suddenly, Tavos remembered the strange warship launched in China more than a year ago, called "aircraft carrier" surface weapons, no large-caliber main guns, no heavy armor, but a long flat deck, is that the deck for aircraft to take off?

There are too many questions, but it is imperative to report the situation here to the White House in detail. It's just that the order has not yet been given to the signal corps, and another batch of planes has appeared in the sky, the same Chinese planes!

At 8:50, the second attack wave of the Combined Fleet arrived over the target, and the pilots looked down from a high altitude, and the harbor was covered in a large amount of smoke, and the attack would be affected by the smoke, which would reduce the effectiveness of the attack, but there were still many places where there was no smoke, and the planes could rush in from those gaps.

"Be the first to attack the USS Utah!" The commander used the radio intercom to give the combat order: "The first dive team is concentrating fire on the USS Utah, and it must not be allowed to escape from the port!" The 1st Torpedo Squad finds the opportunity to launch a torpedo! ”

After the order was given by Vice Admiral Tavos to depart the port, the fleet of intact or lightly damaged warships began one after another, and most of them began to move before the second wave of attacks arrived. However, the departure of the ships needed to maintain a certain order, and after seeing the second wave of attacks, Tavos gave the wrong order, he ordered the Utah to leave port first, and the rest of the ships followed.

The USS Utah emerged from the smoke of the harbor and was soon spotted by Chinese planes, and the pilots, who had already imprinted the shape of the American warship in their minds, recognized the target at a glance. The Utah gradually accelerated, slowly approaching from 5 knots to 10 knots, but the Utah was destined to sink in the port of Yokosuka.

The Dreadnought of the 1st Dive Team pointed directly at the USS Utah, the pilot accelerated the dive, and the pilot of the Dreadnought bomber in charge of the main attack pushed the control stick, and the plane began to dive down, he adjusted the control stick slightly, and aimed the nose of the plane at the bridge of the USS Utah, which he wanted to attack.

Adjusting again, on the instrument panel in the cabin in front of him, a reticle in the center of an optical sight was aimed at the target, and the huge dive made his whole body seem to be pressed against his seat, but he was still focused. At this moment, the bomber and torpedo pilots are happy, because they do not have to risk the threat of anti-aircraft fire and machine-gun bullets, they can be more prepared to hit the target, and as long as they do not go crazy, they can safely return to the aircraft carrier with the results of the battle.

Suddenly, he pressed the switch and dropped the bombshell, and the plane shuddered slightly, but it seemed to be faster, and the reaction of the joystick was suddenly more sensitive. He knew that the bomb had left the plane and was heading towards its target. So he pulled the joystick suddenly, and the speed of the whole plane suddenly slowed down, and his whole body was pushed against the seat belt by the huge inertia, and the internal organs squeezed his stomach, but this feeling was very enjoyable for him.

So he shouted and pulled up the plane, and his plane responded to him with the most sensitive sense of control, and after suddenly reducing its speed, the plane began to raise its head rapidly, and the rushing sea began to extend into the distance, and then the sky that seemed to have been invisible for a long time reappeared in front of him.

The bomb hit the bridge accurately, and the explosion instantly destroyed the heavy structure, and everyone inside was not spared, and the commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Tavos, was torn to pieces in an instant. With the explosion and collapse of this bridge, the smoke rising from the entire battleship became denser.

The crew of the USS Utah attempted to turn the rudder to avoid the planes in the sky, but to no avail, and soon the USS Utah was hit by four aerial bombs equipped with time-delay fuses. The more than 20,000-ton battleship had thick armor and the bombs did not detonate the ammunition depot, which prevented the Utah, which was in flames, from sinking immediately. It's just that the power system of the USS Utah was completely destroyed, and the battleship was still moving forward by inertia, but the speed slowly slowed down.

The fatal blow soon came, and the attack of the torpedo machine was much easier, as long as it was lowered to the drop altitude and close to the optimal distance, the carrying aviation torpedo could be released. Three torpedo planes attacked almost simultaneously, and the three torpedoes drew beautiful white lines and pounced on their prey like sharks.

This is the most beautiful art, the hard shape of steel, the relatively restrained character of bombs and torpedoes, the fire in the sky after the explosion, the thick smoke that cannot be dispersed, these are the most beautiful works of art in the world, and only these can be called art!

Three torpedoes completely hit the USS Utah, two hit the position of the ship, and one hit the starboard rear position, all exploding near the waterline. The huge amount of high explosives instantly tore through the waterline armor of the Utah, and even blew a hole more than ten meters in diameter on the starboard side, almost blowing the Utah in two.

Three minutes later, the USS Utah sank to the bottom of the sea, and this was not the end of the misfortune, as the massive hull of the sunken USS Utah blocked the narrow exit of Yokosuka Harbor and completely sealed off the escape route of the other warships inside. It's like a big fish trapped in shallow water, which can no longer escape the attack of an airplane.

In addition, the high-power radio equipment carried by the USS Utah was completely destroyed, the fleet lost its long-range communication capabilities, and the report in Tavos's hand was not transmitted back to Washington until his death. Another large communication equipment on the port was noticed and destroyed by the Air Force dive bombers for the first time because of the conspicuous signal, so it took more than two hours after the battle for Washington to receive the information from here again, and it was already about 12 noon at that time, and Taft and others in the White House suffered for more than 4 hours, but waited for the unacceptable news that the whole army was annihilated!

Twenty-five minutes after the second wave of attacks began, more than 70 percent of the Pacific Fleet warships had sunk or were sinking, four Gogatake, all the first Gogatake, nine cruisers, and 16 destroyers, and the rest were small destroyers, transports, barges, and the like, and there were not many targets of attack value.

The group began to turn its target to the land, where there were still dozens of anti-aircraft positions, and the Japanese soldiers were vainly tilting their ammunition into the sky, and half of the planes had not yet attacked, and they did not hesitate to accurately drop the remaining ammunition on the anti-aircraft positions. In addition, the oil depots, shipyards, repair yards, material storage centers, headquarters, and army garrisons in the port were all attacked by the air force.

At 9:05 a.m., the third wave of aircraft of the Combined Fleet took off, including 25 fighters and 25 dive bombers, and after the feedback from the first and second waves, it was concluded that there was no need to send torpedo planes to attack, because there was no target value to fire torpedoes. Only part of the land targets needed a third wave of aircraft to replenish the bombing.

At 9:35 a.m., the first attack wave returned to the combined fleet and landed on the aircraft carrier in batches. The exhausted ground crews cheered the pilots for their success, but in fact, the greatest credit for the operation belonged to these ground crews, who served three waves of aircraft in succession, from inspecting the aircraft, loading ammunition, taking off and landing. Relatively speaking, the pilots' job is easier than drills and training, and there is nothing more joyful than this kind of battle.

The training and high-quality officers and men of the past two years have enabled the aircraft carrier to take off and land in three waves without major mistakes, which is already a remarkable achievement, and on the other hand, it is also because the battle is not tense and there is no need to temporarily change the battle plan. After the war, Lieutenant Colonel Bai Zhai, the commander of the Bai Qi Aviation, was also commended, and his credit cannot be erased. (To be continued.) )