The dark sky was covered with dark clouds, and a cold wind blew through the rough sea, causing gusts of wind and rain. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info On the dark sea, the warships flashed with night lights, and from the sky, they looked like stars in the night.

On the heavy cruiser Ganzhou, the temporary flagship flying the flag of the commander of the fleet. Tong Haifeng, whose head was wrapped in white gauze and whose left hand was hanging from his chest, was leaning against the railing outside the bridge and smoking silently.

Feeling the icy drizzle and the cold wind blowing on his face, Tong Haifeng, who was burning with a boiling fire in his heart, turned a little pale at the moment. Not only was it because of the blood loss caused by the injury, but more importantly, the First Air Fleet under his command had been hit with unprecedented strength a few hours earlier, and the losses were extremely heavy.

Eight aircraft carriers, including Tong Haifeng's flagship and a cutting-edge sea-class aircraft carrier, were destroyed one after another under the constant siege of US locust-like fighters. After announcing the abandonment of the ships, in order to prevent these battleships from falling into the hands of the enemy, the Ming army had to sink these eight battleships themselves.

The First Air Fleet, which once had nine large fleet aircraft carriers, was the most powerful fleet in the entire Ming Dynasty. Their strength is superior to that of the Navy, and their officers and men and pilots are all carefully selected elites worthy of the name of the First Fleet. Just a few hours ago, Tong Haifeng was proud of this!

And now, this powerful fleet, which once terrified the Allied navies and kept them awake at night, is now left with only one lucky Red Sea.

Thinking of the Red Sea, Tong Haifeng, whose hair was already wet, couldn't help but show a wry smile on the corner of his mouth. This cutting-edge aircraft carrier, which was placed at the northernmost point of the fleet because more than half of the carrier-based aircraft force was novices, happened to hide in a nearby rain cloud when it was attacked, and was able to escape under the attack of hundreds of US fighters.

Not only did the Red Sea escape with its own life, but when the rain clouds began to gradually cover the entire sea, the cutting-edge aircraft carrier bravely took on the task of recovering the fighters. Because of the Red Sea, the Ming fighters who returned after the Spruance fleet had a platform to land. Even landing in the wind and rain and darkness is much better than making a forced landing on the sea.

In order to receive the returning fighters as much as possible, the crew of the Red Sea would immediately push the scarred fighter into the sea after taking the pilot out of the plane and into the cabin to rest, clearing the space for the next fighter plane, which had already taxied at low speed and was about to run out of the last drop of fuel in the tank. In total, the Red Sea saved more than two hundred warplanes and saved a large number of pilots. In this naval battle, it was also an unusual outstanding.

Tong Haifeng was in a very bad mood, looking at the battleships around him, he didn't know what to say. If it weren't for a huge rain cloud that suddenly covered the entire battlefield before dark, he would never have brought back so many warships at this moment.

In addition to the aircraft carrier, Tong Haifeng also lost a large number of other warships. From large air defense cruisers to light heavy cruisers, as well as destroyers, all suffered heavy losses. And there were also many warships that were damaged, leading to various conditions.

At this time, there were still a number of wounded warships still behind, far away. If the weather is good tomorrow, these ships that have been wounded and have reduced their speed will be hit.

Compared with the large number of warship losses, the losses of hundreds or thousands of fighters in the First Air Fleet are not so conspicuous. Although this is also a relatively large number, it is not very conspicuous compared to the strong industrial production capacity of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that the loss of the plane can be said to be a small thing, but the loss of those pilots is going to die.

The First Air Fleet, just by name, knows that most of the officers and soldiers who can enter here are elite officers and soldiers.

Whether it is the officers and men on the warship or the pilots of the warplane. Many of them were veterans who had served in the army before the war began and had experienced more than two years of brutal warfare. The losses of these people were far more serious for the Ming Navy than those planes.

The battle damage of more than 1,000 outstanding pilots is absolutely nerve-wracking for a small country like Japan, and it is not an easy thing even for the Ming Dynasty.

Tong Haifeng didn't feel sorry for those planes, and he didn't even care much about those warships. He was distressed by the loss of those pilots. It's not easy to re-cultivate these elites! Not to mention anything else, just more than two years of war experience made Tong Haifeng's head explode.

Losing on the battlefield is losing. None of the reasons for the enemy's strength to be large, the surprise attack that was concealed from the sky, the disparity in strength, and so on. If you lose, you lose.

As the commander of the First Air Fleet, he Tong Haifeng bears unshirkable responsibility for this defeat. There is a high probability that they will be sent to a military court. As for the exploits he had obtained before, they did not help anything now.

"Alas~~~" Tong Haifeng looked down at the cigarette that had been soaked in rain, shook his head helplessly, and took the cigarette out casually. After glancing at the dim sea around him again, Tong Haifeng turned around and returned to the bridge.

"Send a telegram with a detailed report of today's battle to the Pacific Fleet Command and the Admiralty." Tong Haifeng, whose face was a little pale, spoke out and ordered the chief of staff to start reporting on the battle situation. Although it has been reported before, it has been reported one after another, and now that the battle is temporarily over, a summary report is needed.

After a pause, Tong Haifeng glanced at the chief of staff who also looked ugly, and then said, "Help me personally send a telegram to His Excellency the Supreme Commander." Let's just say that I am ashamed of his importance and have failed his hopes. Be as sincere as possible. ”

Tong Haifeng is not an old-fashioned person. He didn't want to retire right now, or be transferred to the logistics department to manage documents, or even go to some island to be an idle garrison commander.

He knew very well in his heart that although he was defeated this time, it was not caused by some mistake in command. He himself did not make any obvious mistakes in the battle, and he also inflicted heavy losses on the enemy in the counterattack, recovering some losses.

Tong Haifeng clearly knew that he had many opponents in the navy, and they would inevitably take this opportunity to attack him wantonly. Although he can also use some connections to speak for himself, he is defeated after all. In this case, Tong Haifeng could only put his hope on Zhang Cheng.

A commander of Tong Haifeng's level is no longer something that the Admiralty can remove. The commander of such a main fleet was as important a senior general as the commander of the army group.

Out of consideration for the control of the army, this degree of command change power is in Zhang Cheng's hands. As long as Zhang Cheng is willing to protect him, no matter who attacks Tong Haifeng, he will not be able to kick him from his current position.

And the premise of all this is that although Tong Haifeng was defeated and suffered heavy losses, he also achieved great results.

In this large-scale naval battle, in which the two sides mobilized three fleets, hundreds of warships of various types, and thousands of fighters of various types. Tong Haifeng's fleet was undoubtedly the heaviest loss, and his fleet was almost disabled.

The 57th Task Force under the command of Halsey suffered the least losses. The Halsey fleet warships, which had not been attacked from beginning to end, were all intact, and the only losses were the fighters and pilots who launched the attack, and the number was very small compared to the other two participating fleets.

In the face of a crisis, Tong Haifeng chose to concentrate on attacking a US fleet, rather than dispersing forces to attack at both ends. This choice is still very appropriate in hindsight.

Because of the concentration of forces, they successfully broke through the defense and attacked the 58th task force commanded by Spruance. If the forces were dispersed at that time, it was very likely that the forces would be dispersed and both sides would not be able to achieve important results.

The 58th Task Force under Spruance's command was fiercely attacked by hundreds of Ming fighters during the naval battle. Each of these elite pilots was very brave, fighting to the death even in the face of desperate situations, bringing huge losses to the US Navy.

The three Yorktown-class aircraft carriers belonging to Task Force 58, HMS Yorktown, USS Enterprise and HMS Hornet, were severely damaged in the fierce naval battle because their survivability was inferior to that of the Essex-class.

Among them, the aircraft carrier Yorktown was completely engulfed in the fire, and was forced to abandon after the damage management was ineffective. It was sunk by a U.S. destroyer at around 5:50 p.m.

The USS Enterprise was besieged by a large number of Ming fighters because it was on the periphery of the aircraft carrier group, and ate three bombs and five torpedoes in one go!

Not to mention an ordinary aircraft carrier with a blow of this magnitude, even a battleship cannot withstand it. The massive flooding of the armor of the waterline on one side made it impossible for the battleship to be rescued. The pumping machine could not pump water at a rate that could keep up with the intake of water, and the aircraft carrier was forced to abandon before dark. Then there was no need for the U.S. destroyer to reshoot, and the Enterprise itself quickly capsized and sank.

As for the last Hornet in the Yorktown class, two aerial bombs were hit in the fierce attack, and the flight deck and hangar were completely destroyed, making it impossible to take off and land aircraft. Moreover, the flames ignited by the bombs also brought a lot of trauma to the aircraft carrier.

After consulting Spruance, the USS Hornet, whose power system and hull structure had not been seriously damaged, broke away from the battlefield and headed for the west coast, escorted by two destroyers. Ready to return to the dock for overhaul.

Three days later, on the night, the barely repaired USS Hornet was attacked by a Ming ocean-going submarine about 750 nautical miles west of San Diego.

The Daming submarine lurked on the route of the Hornet formation, which was somewhat careless and did not use anti-submarine navigation because of its proximity to the west coast. After getting close to the target, six torpedoes were fired in one go, and four hits. After more than two hours of hard work, the captain of the Hornet finally gave the order to abandon the ship.

The U.S. Navy's Yorktown-class aircraft carriers were all sunk at this point. And that's not all Spruance's losses. (To be continued.) )