It's hard to describe how Fletcher felt when he heard reports that a large number of Ming fighters were approaching his fleet. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 To put it simply, his mood at the moment is very complicated.

No matter who is being trampled to the bottom, the moment of despair that I thought I was dead saw a rope falling from the sky. When he was ecstatic and ready to escape, he saw someone in mid-air wielding a large blade cutting the rope. That sadness and despair is probably Fletcher's mood at the moment.

Fletcher didn't even ask if the radar report was confirmed, he just chose to remain silent.

At this time, Fletcher was already crying without tears. Halsey's air support didn't even have a shadow. Those fighters were either bombing targets on the islands or chasing the Ming fleet. There was nothing in the sky except some school-fired seaplanes ejected by their own fleet.

In order to provide support to the landing force, Fletcher had dispersed the remnants of Task Force 59 and the warships of the escort fleet.

A part of the battleships divided into several waves and fired at the defenders of the island close to the coast. Some of the warships sailed in other directions on the island to attack Ming targets along the coast. There were also a number of warships guarding the large convoy of transports. Even the remaining warships were scattered very widely, and they could not assemble into a powerful air defense formation in a short period of time.

In this case, even if there were not many Ming fighters coming, it would be enough to inflict huge damage on the transport fleet, which had little defense.

And those transports were not only full of marines, but also a huge amount of supplies! These supplies were the motivation to keep the American troops on the island as long as possible, and once they were lost, Fletcher felt the need to return home with the fleet to be investigated.

"Send a telegram to Halsey." After a moment of silence, Fletcher, who suddenly felt very tired, shook his head slightly and sighed softly, looking at the sky outside the ship's side that was shrouded in gunsmoke and artillery fire. Indifferently said: "Tell him that the Ming fighters are attacking the transport convoy." These fighters flew from the waters in the northwest, and they must have been the Ming aircraft carriers that slipped through the net. ”

After a pause, Fletcher raised his hand and rubbed his eyebrows, then said, "Send another telegram to the seaplanes, ordering them to conduct a large-scale reconnaissance in the northwest sea." Be sure to find the location of the Ming aircraft carrier. ”

"But sir." The staff officer who was silently recording the order on the side raised his head in surprise: "Most of those seaplanes have been flying for several hours, and it is impossible for them to hold out on to their fuel until they return home." ”

It was impossible for the Ming aircraft carriers to be very close, because Fletcher had already sent seaplanes to reconnoiter in all directions before dawn in the early morning. Fletcher's reconnaissance area was 300 nautical miles.

At that time, no reports of Ming aircraft carriers were found, which means that this Ming fleet drove over a few hours later. The distance between the two sides is more than two or three hundred nautical miles, to say the least. It is impossible for US seaplanes, which have been on missions for a long time, to fly so far to reconnoiter and then return.

"It's an order." Fletcher's voice was cold, without a hint of emotion.

There are always sacrifices to be made in war, and now that we have reached a critical stage, any sacrifice is acceptable.

Tong Haifeng flew his fighter formation about 270 nautical miles away from Fletcher's fleet.

Because there is only one aircraft carrier, even if it is at the maximum speed of two or three aircraft per minute, plus the air formation, it will take at least nearly an hour. This is unacceptable for Tong Haifeng.

Tong Haifeng's method is very simple, that is, to marshalling during the flight. As long as they have received good skill training and the quality of the pilot, coupled with accurate calculations and deductions. Elite pilots can use their speed to marshalling mid-flight.

Tong Haifeng, who had never thought about defense at all, almost sent out all the power in his hands. Eighteen escort fighters, escorted by 36 dive bombers and 36 torpedo planes, formed a huge formation and arrived over the US landing fleet at about one o'clock in the afternoon. Except for some reconnaissance planes and spare planes, Tong Haifeng has already released all the fighters.

After this wave of attack planes flew over the US fleet, they were surprised to find that this fleet did not have the protection of air power!

Overjoyed, the Ming pilots roared and drove their fighters towards the large transport ships that had almost no resistance. It's as simple as shooting a target.

Because a huge fleet has been formed, and a landing operation is now underway. The landing craft are being released, the barges are ready to come to shore, and the transport ships are surrounding each other and ready to carry out their work. The escort warships, scattered all over the place, opened fire and tried to rush to the outskirts of the fleet. The sound of sirens and the smoke that filled the sky threw hundreds of ships across the sea into chaos.

The vast majority of the ships in the U.S. fleet did not raise their speeds. In the eyes of the Ming pilots, it is better than those moving target ships towed by tugboats.

The Ming pilots took the anti-aircraft fire, which seemed to be not small in scale but was actually too scattered to form an effective barrage, as air, and formed a group of fighters to pounce on the convoy of transport ships on the sea.

In this attack, which lasted less than half an hour, the pilots of Daming Hainan Airlines gave full play to their skills. In the absence of anti-aircraft interference, the anti-aircraft fire on the sea surface was sparse and Fletcher's landing fleet was severely damaged.

More than two dozen large US military transport ships, including two large oil tankers, were attacked. Tens of thousands of tons of artillery, vehicles, ammunition, food, generators, tents, clothing, etc., sank to the bottom of the sea in the fire.

Thousands of Marines had to jump off the burning, tilting sunken troop carrier and struggle in the water. The losses of the Americans are simply incalculable.

“...... This time it's over. Looking at the Ming fighters who were swaggering and shaking their wings and Shi Shiran flying away, Fletcher wanted to cry without tears.

After losing a large amount of supplies, the Marines lost the ability to continue holding on even after landing. There is no food and no use, how long can these tens of thousands of marines hold out on the island?

"Send a report to the command of the Pacific Fleet." After sighing, Fletcher shook his head and ordered, "Report our losses to the command, just say." At this point, Fletcher was silent for a moment, and then said, "Just say that I propose to cancel this landing operation." ”

The communications staff officer looked up at Fletcher in some surprise, saluted, and turned away to deliver the news.

If nothing else, at least Fletcher was able to think about the soldiers in such a difficult situation, and he could be regarded as a conscientious commander.

"What now?" On the bridge of the USS Franklin, Halsey's chief of staff, Kim Riley, looked at him with a complicated expression and asked, "The landing force has suffered heavy losses this time, and I'm afraid they can't continue any longer." The ...... of this landing operation"

Kim Riley's words were not finished, but the meaning was clear. The landing operation, which was originally launched in a hurry, was even worse after the loss of material support.

"It's not important." Halsey, who had been staring at the charts, shook his head slightly, and said, "I didn't think about putting my hope in the Marines. Even if they take the big island, it won't do anything. Unless it's the capture of Oahu. After a pause, Halsey waved his hand, "But it's impossible." ”

Throwing down the pencil in his hand, Halsey stood up and looked at his chief of staff, and said, "This battle, the battle on land is not important. It's at sea that can really decide success or failure. As long as we can crush the main fleet of the Ming army and seize sea supremacy. Then we can send a steady stream of landing troops from the west coast. As long as we cut off the Hawaiian islands from the Ming army, even the supposedly impregnable island of Oahu will eventually fall. There is no fortress in this world that cannot be breached. ”

"So what do we do now?" Jin Laili raised his hand and pushed his gold-rimmed glasses, and asked in a loud voice, "The fleet went north to pursue that Ming aircraft carrier?" Or order the 2nd and 3rd Squadrons to stop attacking the islands to join us? ”

Halsey turned to look at the clear sky outside the ship, and shook his head slightly, "It's too late now." The commander of the Ming aircraft carrier was very smart, he must have launched the attack at the very edge of the attack radius of the carrier-based aircraft in the northern sea. By the time we get over now, he'll be gone. We can't follow in the footsteps of the Ming army. And. ”

Speaking of this, Halsey suddenly smiled, and an inexplicable smile appeared in his eyes, "If I don't make a mistake, the mission of that Ming aircraft carrier is to contain us, so as to buy time for the main force of the Ming navy that is rushing back at high speed." ”

"The main fleet of the Ming army?" The chief of staff looked up in surprise: "Are they so fast?" ”

"Don't take any opponent lightly, especially if this opponent is the most powerful navy in the world." Halsey said with a serious expression, "Spruance is actually unable to contain the main fleet of the Ming army at all. If he gets too close, he'll be eaten. And if you are too far away, you will lose the trace of the Ming fleet. I'm sure the Ming fleet was ordered to do it as soon as they had the chance to eat Spruance! Although our side has a lot of momentum, it can't actually affect the direction of the entire battle. ”

A good commander, Halsey has always kept a clear head. He knew what was the most important point in this campaign, which was the whole course of the war.

This is a large-scale naval battle, and the real focus is on the fleets between the two sides, not on the island of Hawaii after it has already been violently attacked!

Those islands don't mean anything until the fleet decides the winner. Halsey's raid and destruction of the island's airfield would render the archipelago useless entirely.

Moreover, Halsey could also use the archipelago to mobilize the Ming naval fleet. That's what he really thinks. (To be continued.) )