The crazy Yamaguchi Tawen showed his madness, and despite the fact that the sky was already dark, he ordered a large number of fighters to continue to pounce on the south.

At nine o'clock, the Japanese fighters again found the British fleet, and it was another full hour of frantic strikes. However, the target of this attack was the British light aircraft carrier Athletic.

Previously, Yamaguchi still maintained a little shrewdness under the anger of Tashi, he already knew that the two British aircraft carriers were bombed, but there were still fighters constantly attacking the Soryu, and he estimated that the British army should still have aircraft carriers. Therefore, he ordered the Japanese pilots who were pursuing the five fighters of the British Athletic to follow carefully until they found the British aircraft carrier.

The light was fading, the line of sight was restricted, and the Japanese were not equipped with radar, so the idea of Yamaguchi was still very insightful. It's not easy to think of this solution in the midst of a chaotic battle.

Yamaguchi's correct thinking paid off, and the Japanese found not only the aircraft carrier Athletic, but also several old battleships and cruisers. This is the British Fleet B.

At nine o'clock, the Japanese fighters found the British Fleet B, and it was another full hour of frantic strikes. This time, the main target of the attack was the British light aircraft carrier Athletic.

And for Zheng Xuechang, the most unfortunate thing is that the battleship Atlantic was at least 100 kilometers away from Fleet B, but it was also discovered by Japanese fighters.

In this hour, the British aircraft carrier Athletic suffered more than five torpedoes and twenty bombs. Like the Japanese army's Soryu, it sank into the sea before it survived ten o'clock.

The two old British battleships were also unable to escape this frenzied blow, and both were wounded.

And the battleship Atlantic, protected by two pickup-class air defense destroyers, also withstood a full hour of air strikes.

Fortunately, although Yamaguchi Tawen dispatched more than 70 fighters from the Flying Dragon aircraft carrier, the strike area was so large that the number of fighters that directly attacked the Atlantic battleship was not large. There are only a dozen or so.

But more than a dozen advanced fighters, coupled with elite pilots, are also an absolute mortal threat.

Under the blow of this storm. The survival of the Atlantic is inseparable from the naval defense tactical training that the Naval Resistance Force has been doing.

First of all, it was the desperate interception of twelve water reconnaissance planes, and fortunately, it was the gray bird that had just been reequipped, and its performance was quite superior, and it barely had the strength to fight. At the cost of six of its own falls, three Japanese torpedo planes were shot down.

Moreover, the pickup-class air defense destroyers are the two most elite ships of the Maritime Resistance Force, and the bodyguard tactics that follow them have been perfected.

Two Pickup-class destroyers were the most effective against torpedo engines. In the whole hour of fighting, the Japanese lost more than ten torpedo planes, but not a single torpedo was able to break through the defenses of the naval resistance.

And the horizontal bombing technology that the Japanese army is proud of. Under the anti-aircraft searchlight, nothing was accomplished.

Only one dive bomber broke through the anti-aircraft fire network of the Naval Resistance Army, and a 250-kilogram bomb hit the battleship Atlantic. However, two hundred and fifty kilograms of bombs, even armor-piercing shells, were not a great threat to most of the Atlantic's armor that was more than ten inches thick. The damage to the Atlantic was not too serious.

The three warships of the Naval Resistance Army were integrated, and nearly 300 antiaircraft guns fired tens of thousands of shells in an hour. The dense network of fire overtook all battleships. All aircraft carriers.

It was extremely difficult for the elite Japanese pilots to tear apart the defense line of the Naval Resistance Army under such a dense firepower.

However, the officers and men of the Naval Resistance Army also saw the madness of the Japanese pilots, and in the end, the Japanese fighters frantically strafed the Atlantic with machine guns even if there were no bombs. But. For the rough-skinned battleship Atlantic, the machine gun was just tickling.

In this battle, the naval resistance army shot down and damaged at least 15 Japanese fighters.

In the end, thank God. If it weren't for the complete darkness, the battleship Atlantic would have been difficult to secure.

The battleship Atlantic took advantage of the nightfall. It's safe for now.

But the battle on the sea of Ceylon was not over, and the Japanese fleet had already begun to pursue it with all its forces.

After more than 20 hours of pursuit and escape.

On the afternoon of 6 April, the Japanese fleet caught up with the sluggish B fleet, and under the frantic attack of hundreds of fighters, the two old British battleships, which had already been wounded, were now doomed, and both were sunk.

At this time, Yamaguchi was even more depressed, and the exploits of these two battleships should be recorded in the name of Major General Tadaichi Hara of the Fifth Air Force.

However, the battleship Atlantic and the surviving aircraft carrier Dreadnought escaped the Japanese pursuit. Another British battleship, the Prestige, survived due to its early departure from the B Fleet.

In the days that followed, the Japanese army, believing that they had suffered a heavy loss, carried out more than a dozen indiscriminate bombardments of Ceylon like mad dogs.

The air force of the Naval Resistance Army was again severely damaged, losing six pilots and six fighters. At this point, the air power of the Naval Resistance Army in Tang Port was only four bombers and four fighters, two water reconnaissance planes, a total of ten aircraft.

The madness of the Japanese army continued until the eleventh, and all the ports and cities of Ceylon were under the air fire of Nagumo's fleet. British warplanes were also destroyed.

The Nagumo fleet only withdrew from the Indian Ocean with almost exhausted ammunition and gasoline. Ozawa's southern fleet remained in the Andaman Sea, which became under the control of the Japanese army.

In the sea south of Ceylon, the curtain came down on the first major battle between aircraft carriers in the history of human warfare.

The British lost four old battleships, two cruisers, two destroyers, one light aircraft carrier USS Athletic, and one INDOMITABLE heavy aircraft carrier. In addition, the aircraft carrier Dreadnought was badly damaged.

The losses of the British fighters were about one hundred and eighty aircraft. Personnel losses were in the range of four thousand people.

On the other hand, the Japanese army only lost one aircraft carrier, and the other warships were only slightly damaged. And the loss of personnel did not exceed a thousand. The loss of fighters was also around one hundred and thirty aircraft.

It should be said that in this battle, the British army suffered a crushing defeat, and the Japanese army was not completely victorious.

The British army suffered heavy losses after this battle. The British army had many aircraft carriers, and by 42 years, the number of aircraft carriers it once had was around 30. However, most of these thirty ships were converted from merchant ships. There are not many thoroughbred aircraft carriers or aircraft carriers converted with battleships, only a dozen. Why do you say you once had it? Because several ships have been sunk.

Looking at the fate of the large and medium-sized aircraft carriers that Britain had already put into the battlefield before and after the war, you can see how badly Britain suffered in this naval battle. Britain has lost four aircraft carriers since the start of the war, three of which are large and medium-sized aircraft carriers.

The first large and medium-sized aircraft carrier lost by Britain was the Glory, which was sent into the sea by German submarines within a few days of the outbreak of the European war.

The second aircraft carrier lost by Britain was the Brave, the aircraft carrier that Yuan Zi served, and was killed by German battleships in the Battle of Norway in 40.

The third British carrier, the Ark Royal, was again killed by German submarines on an escort mission in November 41.

In Ceylon, two ships sank at once, and one was wounded. You must know that except for the small aircraft carrier Athletic, which is old and old, the British are probably not very distressed, but the Indomitable and Fearful are all the main aircraft carriers of the British Empire.

At this point, the ten main forces became five, and only five large and medium-sized British aircraft carriers capable of continuing operations remained. The vast Atlantic Ocean and the brutal Mediterranean, can the British Empire take care of it?

Therefore, although the British army did not completely withdraw from the Indian Ocean, it had completely lost the capital to confront the Japanese army in the Bay of Bengal. As a result, the situation in Burma deteriorated further, and large quantities of Japanese supplies began to pass through the Strait of Malacca into the Andaman Sea and be sent to Yangon.

In this naval battle, Japan lost its first large and medium-sized aircraft carrier, and the Japanese Navy, which had six large and medium-sized aircraft carriers, also became five. And the large and medium-sized aircraft carriers of the United States are now also five.

It's a good thing for the entire Pacific theater.

The great British strategists, due to the withdrawal of the Nagumo fleet, came to the conclusion that --- Japanese had no interest in the Indian Ocean, which was still a bathtub for the British Empire.

I don't know if this conclusion is correct. Li Guang was very worried about this. (To be continued......)

PS: Today's three watches, if there is any one, please give a point. Thank you.