Nanyun Zhongyi felt that his head was hurting, and even cold sweat had begun to break out on his head. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info looked at the surrounding large group of officers of the First Air Fleet wearing black military uniforms, and Nanyun Zhongyi couldn't help but clench his fists hard.

A day earlier, the submarine force had reported a suspected sighting of the Ming Task Force 11 off the coast of Palembang, which made Nagumo feel that he could devote his main energy to supporting the Bali landing force. Subsequently, however, the submarine unit reported that it could not be confirmed.

When it was dark in the morning, the First Air Fleet was busy releasing reconnaissance planes and at the same time equipping the ship's fleet with bombs and preparing to go to Bali to support the landing force. However, the air defense fighters found a Ming Navy water reconnaissance plane in the clouds near the fleet, and after shooting it down, the matter became more delicate.

At the beginning, the Daming water reconnaissance plane shot down in the morning was judged by the staff officers to be a shore-based plane taking off from Bali. However, when a Caiyun reconnaissance plane that took off from the Canglong discovered the traces of the Daming aircraft carrier fleet in the waters northwest of Bali, Nagumo Zhongyi felt that his head hurt terribly.

At this time, he was very helpless about Yamamoto Fifty-six transferring the Zuizuru and Xianghe. The Ming Australian fleet is not equipped with aircraft carriers at all, and it has been basically a night battle, and at this time the Yamato and Musashi should be transferred to the Coral Sea, instead of Zuihe and Xianghe!

Most of the four aircraft carriers on Nagumo's hand have either been released to Bali to bomb, or they have already equipped their bombs to prepare for a second wave of sorties. At this time, the reconnaissance planes on the Canglong found that the extremely threatening Daming aircraft carrier formation was within the attack range, and reported that the deck of the Daming fleet aircraft carrier was empty!

It is clear that the First Air Fleet has already been discovered, and the Daming aircraft carrier has already sent a group of attack aircraft. Nagumo had no other choice, he could only order the ground crew to replace the high-explosive bombs that bombed the ground targets with armor-piercing shells and torpedoes for attacking warships as soon as possible. Then he waited worriedly for the group of Ming attack planes that did not know when it would come.

Rear Admiral Tabun Yamaguchi of the Second Air Force strongly recommended that the planes be lifted into the air as soon as possible to attack the Daming aircraft carrier, even high-explosive bombs could destroy the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, thus making the Daming aircraft carrier incapacitated. At the same time, the group of attack planes heading to Bali was recalled, and they were asked to drop the bombs and change their ammunition after landing.

Nagumo accepted the suggestion to recall the attack group, but refused to take off the fighters immediately. Because he believes that relying on high-explosive bombs alone cannot destroy the Ming warship, this is just a waste of combat effectiveness.

Subsequently, when the local crew was sweating profusely and unloading the bombs and stacking them aside, and bringing in armor-piercing shells and torpedoes to refuel the fighters, the air defense fighters on the periphery reported that the attack aircraft group of the Ming Dynasty had arrived.

......

The first wave of bombers arranged by Tong Haifeng included 36 dive bombers and 36 torpedo planes, and 12 Fighting Falcon were escorted.

He only has two aircraft carriers in his hands, and even if he uses deck rope fighters, the total number of aircraft carried is less than 190. The second attack wave was slightly weaker, with only 32 dive bombers and 32 torpedo planes, and the escort force was also 12 Fighting Falcons. In addition to the reconnaissance planes that had already taken off and the necessary air defense forces, Tong Haifeng had already played all the cards in his hand.

After releasing all the fighters, Tong Haifeng quickly ordered the fleet to be dispersed into two parts, with Poyang Lake and Taihu Lake as the core to retreat with all their might. The aircraft carrier formation, which had been silent, began to quickly withdraw from the battlefield. By the time the fleet had dispersed, the radio listening department suddenly reported that unidentified radio waves had been spotted in the nearby airspace.

Tong Haifeng, who was frightened, hurriedly ordered the surrounding air defense fighters to quickly attack to look for the enemy planes. It didn't take long for several Fighting Falcon to force out a Nakajima Saiyun carrier-based reconnaissance plane from the clouds near the fleet.

As a reconnaissance aircraft, Caiyun, no matter how good the pilot's skills are, cannot escape under the siege of several Fighting Falcons. Soon, this brave and cunning Japanese reconnaissance plane plunged into the sea with black smoke.

"Poor vigilance!" Tong Haifeng, who had a black face, clenched his fists tightly and slammed the table hard. Because radio silence has been maintained, the first-generation radars equipped on various large warships have not been turned on to warn. However, the air defense fighters, which were the main air defense force, did not discover the Japanese reconnaissance plane, allowing them to calmly send a deadly telegram. Tong Haifeng could already imagine that at this moment, Nagumo Zhongyi was ordering his group to take off!

How could this completely unnecessary loss not make Tong Haifeng angry?

"It's still a lack of experience and rigorous training." Han Dongwen stepped forward and explained softly, "All the elite pilots on the Poyang Lake have been sent to carry out attack missions, and now it is the fighters on the Taihu Lake who are serving as the air defense of the fleet. They had just officially formed the army for a short time and lacked experience. ”

"Now is not the time to say this!" Tong Haifeng waved his hand vigorously in annoyance, "There is no need to keep the radio silent anymore, the radar will be turned on immediately, and the radio will start to send a message asking when the shore-based air force in Surabaya will arrive?" Then send a telegram to the Navy Command and the Western Pacific Command to explain the current situation. ”

"Yes!" Han Dongwen nodded vigorously.

During the night voyage yesterday, Tong Haifeng had already ordered a destroyer to turn and sail along the coastline in the direction of Coconut City, and sent a telegram to the defenders on the island of Java before dawn, ordering the naval shore-based air force at the airfield near Surabaya to come to the skies over Task Force 11 to serve as an air defense force.

In fact, the distance between the 11th Task Force and the Japanese Navy's First Air Fleet was very close, and the distance between the two sides was only about 180 nautical miles, and they were both within the absolute strike range of the other side. At this time, it will be up to who will strike faster.

After flying for nearly 40 minutes, the first attack wave, led by Colonel Yang Jing, received a report on the battle situation from several other reconnaissance planes rushing to the location of the Japanese fleet. Later, after fine-tuning the route, he went straight to the past. It was not until it came into contact with Japanese air defense fighters less than 20 nautical miles from the 1st Air Fleet of the Japanese Navy.

The number of Japanese anti-aircraft fighters was not large, because he had already risen into the air after dawn and had never been given the opportunity to rotate. And at this moment, the deck was already crowded with planes waiting to take off, and there was no place for them to land.

Coupled with the dispersion of forces caused by the reconnaissance planes that chased the Daming Naval Airlines before, this reduced the pressure on the Daming Aviation, after all, they only had 12 Fighting Falcon escorts. I originally thought that I would encounter at least dozens of Zero Battles, but I didn't expect that the total number of Zero Battles rushing from all directions was less than twenty. This allowed the fighters of the first wave to break through the defenses with very little loss.

Twenty nautical miles is only a few minutes for a fighter with a cruising speed of more than 250 knots. While fighting fiercely with the Japanese air defense fighters, the fighters of the first attack wave soon discovered the Japanese battleships on the sea!

"Good." Colonel Yang Jing looked at the more than 30 Japanese Navy warships flying the Rising Sun Flag under the light clouds with a shocked face, and swallowed hard.

At this time, the Japanese Navy's First Air Fleet was forming a neat queue and moving forward at maximum speed. And fighters on four of the aircraft carriers in the core are constantly rising into the air.

"Attention all!" Colonel Yang Jing picked up the microphone and shouted loudly, "Target enemy aircraft carrier, all attack!" ”

......

On the bridge of the Akagi ship, Nan Yunzhong, who was sweating profusely, clutched the telescope in his hand, looking at the approaching group of Daming aircraft in the distant sky, and his heart was cold.

This was the time when the First Air Fleet was at its most vulnerable, and the decks and hangars were littered with bombs and torpedoes piled haphazardly. The densely packed fighter planes are simply the best target! Once shot, the consequences are unimaginable.

"Your Excellency!" The chief of staff shouted, "Your Excellency Yamaguchi has sent a signal to immediately give priority to the take-off of fighters for air defense operations, and at the same time the fleet will be transferred to the air defense formation!" ”

"Oh?" Nanyun Zhongyi, who was a little confused by the sudden huge crisis, suddenly came back to his senses, and hurriedly nodded in response, "Okay!" Good! Immediately take off fighters, and the fleet conducts air defense operations! ”

In fact, it will only take another 10 minutes at most, and the elite air forces of the Japanese Navy, which have reloaded the bombs, will launch a big attack and send the 11th Ming Task Force to the bottom of the sea. Unfortunately, it's too late now.

The Wyvern is the most responsive aircraft carrier, and under the strict training of Yamaguchi Wenta, the Wyvern quickly released a number of Zeros, but it was too late at this time. Taking advantage of the weak Japanese defense force and the unorganized formation, the Ming attack aircraft group has broken into the defensive circle of the Japanese fleet and has entered the attack position.

Colonel Yang Jing led several Fighting Falcon to quickly approach the huge Akagi, and used high-speed dives to shoot down three Zero Battles, which were still slowly climbing. Then he raised again and moved away from the artillery fire in the sky.

After Zhang Cheng gave advice on how to deal with Zero, the fighter pilots of Daming HNA quickly learned to adopt hit-and-run tactics. They will never fight the Zero, and take full advantage of the Fighting Falcon's good dive performance and stronger fuselage to deal with the more agile and faster Zero.

More than a dozen Zero Zhan, who took off urgently, went crazy and launched a frantic attack on the Raptor dive bombers that began to dive high in the air and the Sea Hawk torpedo planes that skimmed the sea. As for the Fighting Falcons, which were no threat to the battleships, even the anti-aircraft guns on the Japanese battleships did not chase them.

After a round of hedging, two Raptors and three Sea Hawks were shot down by the Japanese Zero. Subsequently, when entering the attack route, four more fighters were shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire. But that was the end of the Akagi's resistance.

The Type 96 25 mm 60 body barrel triple anti-aircraft gun equipped by the Japanese army can be called the worst representative of the anti-aircraft firepower of the navies of various countries. Because the transmission design was too bad, the rotation and lifting of this gun were too sluggish.

In addition, due to the design, the vibrations of this gun when firing are too vibrating, and the accuracy is very poor. Since 15 fixed ammunition racks were used for feeding, firing had to be stopped every time the ammunition was changed, which greatly reduced the efficiency of air defense. This directly led to the fact that in the case of medium and close air defense, the firepower of the Japanese army was far lower than expected.

At 8:27 a.m., a Raptor dive bomber piloted by Captain Wu Hao was the first to drop a heavy armor-piercing bomb weighing 500 kg on the Akagi! (To be continued.) )