Once again, there was a dazzling aerial scuffle in the sky. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Fighters from both sides fought all the way to the air defense circle of the fleet from the sky more than 30 kilometers away. The two sides fought until anti-aircraft shells began to fly in the sky, and then the fighter group withdrew as they struggled. And the remaining Japanese attack aircraft rushed into the anti-aircraft fire.

The proximity fuse shells that Zhang Cheng used as a sharp weapon to fight planes were full of power, but they were far from reaching the level that Zhang Cheng expected.

On the one hand, the officers and men of the 12th Task Force were not proficient in operation, and on the other hand, the technology that was constantly urged by Zhang Cheng to work was not yet fully mature, and when it reached the sky, there were actually many unexploded bombs!

Even so, the proximity fuse shell showed its might. The Japanese 1st Attack Wave, which consisted almost entirely of elite pilots, had lost nearly half of its actual flight over the aircraft carriers of Task Force 12. Coupled with the fact that they were beaten by the Fighting Falcon before, there are not many fighters that can really attack the Daming aircraft carrier.

But an elite is an elite. Even if there are not many of them, these soldiers, who basically have actual combat experience, do not care about personal life or death at all. In order for their nation to have a bright future, these pilots sacrificed their lives to launch a decisive attack on the Ming fleet.

It was also Mitsuo Fuchida who took the lead in attacking the largest Taihu Lake, and hit the first shot. Subsequently, a number of Japanese fighters launched an attack on the Taihu Lake, which was flying the fleet commander's flag. The Taihu was hit by two bombs and burst into flames. However, it dodged all the torpedoes.

The other three escort aircraft carriers in the fleet were destroyed. Because of the slow speed, poor turning maneuverability, and its own lack of armored defenses. Soon under the siege of Japanese fighters, a raging flame ignited, and the huge black smoke column was hundreds of meters high.

Fuchida Mitsuo, who escaped again, excitedly sent to the Flying Dragon: "The four aircraft carriers of the Ming Army are all on fire and broken. ". After receiving this telegram, the entire bridge of the Wyvern instantly boiled. Even Yamaguchi Wenta, who has never been smiling, couldn't help but smile.

"Order the second attack wave to continue to attack, and be sure to destroy the living force of the Ming Navy as much as possible!" As if he saw the goddess of victory beckoning to him, Yamaguchi heard how loudly he gave the order to kill everything.

In the eyes of the Japanese, they had already won this naval battle.

The few aircraft carriers of the Ming Navy in the western Pacific were all sunk, and the Ming Dynasty had lost the ability to stop the Japanese at sea. Unless they abandon overseas battlefields and send the main forces of the Navy home.

But that's basically not going to happen. Because once the Ming Dynasty abandons such as Hawaii and Egypt, which are extremely important overseas support points, the entire strategic posture of the Ming Dynasty will be broken in an instant. This is not allowed by the top management of the Ming Dynasty, and the Japanese believe that Zhang Cheng will not be without this kind of vision. And this is Japan's only chance to sue for peace.

Three escort aircraft carriers are really not going to work. After being hit by bombs and torpedoes, these were originally just converted from freighters, but this time they were just pulled over to make up the number, and the escort aircraft carriers soon abandoned the rescue due to the fire and excessive water ingress. The people on board jumped into the sea one after another to escape. However, the Taihu's injuries were far less optimistic than the Japanese had estimated.

The Taihu did hit two armor-piercing shells and caused a fire. But the Taihu is a well-built aircraft carrier, and its anti-sinking ability, strong armor, and reasonable internal design are enough to give it strong survivability.

Not to mention the fact that the Japanese used light armor-piercing shells of the 250 kg class. Moreover, the fuse of this armor-piercing projectile is relatively sensitive, and regular aircraft carriers such as Taihu are equipped with a solid armored flight deck. Therefore, the two bombs only opened two huge holes in the flight deck, at most destroying the hangar and causing a fire, but the impact on the battleship itself was not great.

After the dozens of remaining Japanese warships were sent off by the Shofalcons, the fire on the Taihu Lake was quickly brought under control.

Mitsuo Fuchida didn't expect that not long after he escaped, the Taihu Lake had already extinguished the fire, and even the speed was not affected much. The Japanese attack only made two large openings in the armored flight deck of the Taihu Lake, which made it impossible for the Taihu to take off and land.

Although it sank three Ming escort aircraft carriers and damaged the regular aircraft carrier Taihu. But the Japanese also paid a heavy price. The more than 180 planes of the first attack wave were basically composed of elite Japanese air forces. They suffered heavy losses under the combined blows of Ming anti-aircraft fire and new close-fire fuse shells.

In the end, less than 60 of these elites survived. The loss of a large number of elite pilots was an incomparably heavy blow to the Japanese naval aviation.

If the plane is shot down, it can be rebuilt, and if the battleship is sunk, it can be rebuilt. But when people are gone, they need a lot of time to retrain. And the most precious thing in times of war is time. In the midst of a fierce battle, where will you have time to slowly train elite troops?

Yamaguchi Bunta didn't care about that. In his opinion, as long as the living force of the Ming Navy can be defeated, then the Japanese Navy will have time to train the army and build warships. Especially with the support of the Americans.

In fact, what kind of wishful thinking the Americans are making at the moment, not to mention that Daming knows, even his allies are also clear in their hearts. It's just that Americans' unique geographical location means that they are fully qualified to do so. Donated money and materials to sponsor countries to fight to the death with the Ming Dynasty, and the Americans sat in the back waiting to clean up the mess.

For Americans at this time, the only trouble was the Hawaiian Islands. This is the starting point for the march towards the American continent.

"The battleship is fine, but the flight deck is useless. The three escort aircraft carriers were all damaged in battle, and there was no longer any salvage value. Li Ru hurriedly came to Lin Luo, who was pale, and spoke in a deep voice.

Lin Luo, who had a gloomy face, clenched his fists and didn't say anything for a while. Before the war, he was ambitious, but the harsh reality told him that the strength between the two sides and the holding on to the fleeting fighter plane in actual combat were the decisive factors.

He made a mistake in judgment at the beginning and did not spot the Japanese fleet in the first place. Yamaguchi Wenta's choice of an unexpected appearance caught him off guard and lost his first move. If it weren't for the fact that the submarine had not found the traces of the Japanese army, he wouldn't even have a chance to fight back.

Subsequently, the fierce and tenacious battle of the Japanese soldiers dealt a heavy blow to the 12th Task Force, which was not very powerful.

The losses of the three escort aircraft carriers are nothing, but the losses of those crews above are serious. Not to mention anything else, although the order to abandon the ship was early, at least more than 1,000 crew members died in the belly of the fish. In addition, a large anti-aircraft cruiser was hit by a bomb and caught fire, and the losses were no less.

Although Gao Lan said that the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet was severely damaged, at least two aircraft carriers caught fire. But Lin Luo had no attack force in his hands at this time, and even the returning fighter plane had nowhere to land. And in the distance, Yamaguchi Wendo still has at least four large aircraft carriers that can be used in his hands.

"Alas~~~" Lin Luo raised his head and sighed, he had no other choice at this time. can only put hope on Tong Haifeng: "Don't let me down." Lin Luo, who had already done his bait duty, whispered to himself.

Where is Tong Haifeng, who has high hopes at this moment?

In fact, Tong Haifeng, who had always maintained radio silence, was not far away at all, and he was about a hundred nautical miles southeast of Lin Luo at this time. From the map, the three fleets form a triangle, and the distance between them is not far.

Task Force 11 was flying in the sea area at this time. This is not the first wave, but the second wave of attack aircraft groups!

"Did the radar find anything?" Tong Haifeng put down the binoculars in his hand and turned his head sideways to ask Han Dongwen beside him.

Han Dongwen shook his head, "There is no special report, we have not been found." ”

"Don't be careless, keep monitoring." Tong Haifeng nodded and commanded.

"Yes."

Tong Haifeng did not follow behind Lin Luo, but chose to move forward boldly and get closer to the Japanese naval fleet.

The four regular aircraft carriers in his hands have nearly 400 combat aircraft, and all but a small part of the air defense force have been dispatched at this moment. They will deal a heavy blow to the Japanese naval fleet.

The Japanese naval fleet, on the bridge of the Flying Dragon, was listening carefully to the report from the second attack wave at this time.

The second attack wave confirmed that three Ming escort aircraft carriers were incapacitated and were sinking. However, another regular aircraft carrier did not suffer losses and was fleeing at high speed in the direction of the mainland. Moreover, the enemy fleet has a large number of escort forces, and the air defense is not weak at all.

"Order the fleet to launch a third attack wave." After a moment of silence, Yamaguchi said in a deep voice, "No matter what, we can't let them escape!" Every Ming warship has to be sunk! ”

"Sir." Onishi Takijiro stepped forward and said, "The air defense fighter unit needs to land to replenish fuel and ammunition. They've been flying in the sky for too long. ”

"Hmm." After thinking for a moment, Yamaguchi, who felt that he would no longer encounter danger, nodded, "Yes." ”

No one would have imagined that this order of Yamaguchi Wenta would bring what kind of catastrophe it would bring to the Japanese naval air fleet!

In fact, his decision was not wrong, the enemy no longer had the strength to fight back, and his operation steps were completely correct.

It's a pity that the mistakes of the Japanese naval intelligence department and the misjudgment of the Japanese navy's top brass on the industrial strength of the Ming Dynasty caused the front-line commanders to not know that there was still a decisive force on the battlefield at this time! (To be continued.) )