What else could save the British fleet?

First, the British Air Force in Ceylon.

Sixteen fighters on board the second Athletic Light Aircraft Carrier.

Thirdly, the fighters of the Naval Resistance Army in Tang Port.

But can these chips turn the tide of battle?

The answer is obvious – no. No naval officer can count on land-based fighters to make contributions, and even a dozen or so fighters on the Athletic God will hardly have any effect. As for the fighters of the Maritime Resistance Army in Tanggang, no one thought of it.

But is the British fleet really in a desperate situation? No, Somerville has a final straw – nightfall.

When the Japanese bombing of the aircraft carrier Indomitable was over, it was already nine o'clock in the evening. It's April in the Indian Ocean, and it's getting dark late, and the visibility is pretty good at nine o'clock. But this is the time when the sky changes the fastest, maybe in a few minutes, and the sky can completely turn into darkness. The British naval officers began to pray that God would help them to darken the Indian Ocean sooner.

As early as eight o'clock in the evening, a total of 15 British fighters in Ceylon arrived over the battlefield, and this time the British pilots were very lucky, and they found the Japanese aircraft carrier Soryu at once.

You must know that at this moment, the Japanese aircraft carriers Canglong and Feilong have just recovered their fighters (bombed Tanggang), refueled and reloaded, and they have been busy for a while, and there are only two or three fighters in the sky around the Canglong in charge of guarding. This is the time when the combat effectiveness of aircraft carriers is the weakest, and it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Nine Brenham bombers bombed Japanese ships at high altitude without fighter interception (the Japanese had no radar), and as a result, like most high-altitude bombing moving ships--- none of them hit.

The level of the British bombers was not at all comparable to that of the Japanese army, which had a trained stunt - the bomb dropper was in the cabin, using a sight, to drop bombs on the map moving under the fuselage. After a lot of hard work, a horizontal bomber can achieve an extremely high hit rate.

If you look for a master of this level of bombers among the tens of thousands of pilots in Japan. There is no need to look for other units at all, only these three air teams have them, and there are not many of them, just a hundred and ten.

The Navy's anti-Japanese forces also did not have bombardiers of this level, so Li Guang could only use clever bombs to make up for the lack of personnel training.

Due to the quality of the pilots, the British once again missed an opportunity to sink the Japanese aircraft carrier.

When the British bombers withdrew, an angry Yamaguchi Tawen urgently dispatched twelve Zeros. Yamaguchi was depressed enough, and his team suffered the most losses in today's battle. The results are also the least. Moreover, the Canglong was attacked by the British army twice, although it did not suffer much damage, but it seemed to be a slap in the face.

You must know that at this moment, Major General Tadaichi Hara of the Fifth Air Force has sunk a British aircraft carrier, and his Second Air Fleet has only damaged a British aircraft carrier.

Yamaguchi was furious. The Japanese pilots were also outraged. In this way, three Zeros on combat air patrol during the chase shot down three British bombers. And the six remaining Brenhan bombers did not get any favors. It was surrounded and suppressed by twelve Zero fighters. The result was tragic, and in the end only one was able to return to Ceylon. And it's traumatized. If it weren't for the fact that it was getting late and the line of sight was not good, I am afraid that even this one would be difficult to return.

At 8:30, the hapless Canglong was again attacked by a group of British fighters. There were not many British fighters in this group, only a dozen.

Four of them were American-made Wildcat fighters. Eight Swordfish torpedo machines. But the combat effectiveness of these twelve fighters was extraordinary.

This is the fighter on the British Athletic light aircraft carrier, although these pilots are not elite, but the Athletic aircraft carrier is the first British aircraft carrier, and there are many veterans among the pilots.

And the time period for the arrival of these twelve fighters is good. Yamaguchi had just released twelve Zeros. The deck of the Soryu was full of bombers and torpedo planes ready to take off.

The British pilots had shown considerable courage at this time, and they had already received reports that the Dreadnought had been sunk and the Indomitable had been damaged. If the Japanese aircraft carriers could not be contained, the British fleet would suffer even greater losses.

Note: At this time, Somerville still only knew that the Japanese had two aircraft carriers.

Therefore, the offensive of the British pilots was very resolute. The four Wildcat fighters continued to dive and strafe at the Canglong aircraft carrier, intending to interfere with the aircraft carrier's air defense.

And eight Swordfish torpedo bombers dropped torpedoes in turn.

The aircraft carrier Canglong has done its best to avoid torpedo strikes. The anti-aircraft artillery pulled out tongues of fire on the sea in the evening. British torpedo planes and bombers were constantly hit, but the British pilots fought to the death.

In times of crisis, the British pilots still showed their brave side.

The British pilots were brave and brave, but the means of attack and the level of attack were seriously insufficient. British pilots, especially torpedo pilots, took a single column attack formation. That is, one torpedo machine is piloted by a master, and after dropping bombs in front, the other one starts dropping bombs.

This was determined by the level of training of the British army, there were no elite pilots to lead the team to throw the first bomb, and the pilots behind did not even know when to press the bomb button.

Eight torpedo planes, four fighters, seven were shot down by anti-aircraft artillery during the battle of more than ten minutes. Finally, the British torpedo planes achieved the results of their first hit.

An aviation torpedo hit the side of the aircraft carrier Soryu. After the violent explosion, the Canglong began to emit billowing wolf smoke.

This is the first time that the aircraft carrier Canglong has been damaged. But just one aviation torpedo could not sink this behemoth.

But the results of the battle could only stop there, the five remaining fighters of the British army were no longer torpedoes and bombs at this time. can only flee for their lives.

The aircraft carrier Flying Dragon quickly adjusted its course, and Japanese fighters took off again in large numbers. Whether these British fighters can escape ascension is still unknown.

The pace of the battle was so fast that even Yamaguchi Tawen, who was in the bridge of the Wyvern, was in a hurry at the moment.

Looking at the injured Soryu, Yamaguchi was depressed. It had been several hours since the start of the war, and the Shohe and Zuihe had not even been hit by a single British warplane. And the aircraft carrier Canglong has been attacked several times. What made Rear Admiral Yamaguchi even more depressed was that Major General Tadaichi Hara, whom he had always looked down on, had steadily sunk a British aircraft carrier, and his battle achievements had already been obtained.

Now the two aircraft carriers of Rear Admiral Tadaichi Hara, Zuizuru and Xianghe, are happily recovering fighters. Looking at the sky, it is difficult to strike again in terms of time.

Does Yamaguchi know a word: "The heart is higher than the sky, and life is thinner than paper." ”？ That's how he characterizes.

Let Yamaguchi continue to be depressed. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the reward from Fujian, Macao and Shanghai