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Chapter 443 Aircraft Carrier Duel 2

In the first battle, he suffered a big loss, and the top brass of the US military was furious and scolded Fletcher. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Fletcher had enough strength from the U.S. Navy to support him, so he sent a large number of reconnaissance planes, warships, and submarines to search for the carrier battle group of the Caribbean Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

Towards evening, Fletcher received information that the aircraft carrier of the Chinese Emperor was still operating near the original sea area, but it was outside the range of the US carrier-based fighters. The carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Chinese Naval Air Force had a longer range than those of the US Air Force, and Cai Wei took advantage of this advantage to maneuver with the US military, with a view to harassing the US military as much as possible and containing the US attack on Bermuda.

Fletcher thought that the Chinese Emperor was afraid of the American army and therefore did not dare to approach, so he judged that there would be no large-scale fighting in the next few days, so he ordered the 1st Task Force to return to the mainland to refuel, while the other two groups continued to operate east of Bermuda. This decision caused him to lose a strong team in the later battles, and he seemed a little alone.

On the morning of the 4th, two US military groups were in the waters southeast of Bermuda, and most of the tactical groups of the Chinese Emperor also reached the waters northeast of Bermuda, and the two sides were more than 300 nautical miles apart.

But what Fletcher can be sure of is that after a whole day of fierce fighting yesterday, the US Navy gathered a number of warships to carry out a fierce bombardment of the Bermuda Islands, and two US Marine divisions carried out beach-grabbing landings in Gretel Bay and Harrington Bay, and once captured four beachheads, but they were finally desperately recaptured by the defenders of the Chinese Empire. For this, the Chinese Emperor paid a huge price of more than 2,000 deaths.

However, the U.S. military was not able to bargain, as an attacker, and an attack on the powerful Chinese Emperor, the U.S. army suffered more than 9,000 casualties, lost two cruisers, four destroyers, and seventeen submarines, as well as 100 artillery pieces and 40 tanks.

The US military paid such a huge price and occupied the beachhead for only two hours. Among them, at the No. 3 beachhead, the US troops suffered the most casualties. From the beginning of the landing battle, the US military dispatched more than 70 troop carriers and more than 200 landing craft to transport 4,000 US troops to the No. 3 beachhead. As a result, it was attacked by remote-controlled mines placed here by the Chinese Emperor at Gretel Bay. This kind of remote-controlled mine is buried at the bottom of the sea, and it is not easy to be detected by the US minesweepers, and when the US minesweeper finishes and begins to land, these mines suddenly float and hit the US ships under the control of the Chinese emperor hidden on the shore.

In the first wave of the attack, in just 20 minutes, the US forces lost several cruisers, destroyers, and more than 60 landing craft, and more than 2,000 US troops died before they could reach the shore, and many tanks, artillery, and other heavy equipment were also sunk into the sea. As a result, the landing of the US troops went very poorly.

Before the Harrington Bay landing, the U.S. military sent a large number of submarines to infiltrate and try to attack the warships of the Imperial Chinese Navy in shallow waters to clear the way for the landing operation. Due to the shallow waters around Bermuda, the light cruisers and safarirs of the Imperial Chinese Navy remained in the bay to prevent the US landing craft from approaching. Therefore, the US military sent submarines to infiltrate it. However, to the frustration of the US military, the anti-submarine capability of the Chinese Imperial Navy's hunting ships was very powerful, and the US submariners were locked in less than a few minutes after hearing the ticking sound and were quickly sunk. The US submarines suffered heavy losses and were forced to abandon the use of submarines to participate in the landing operation.

The main fleet of the U.S. Navy quickly adjusted its artillery fire to strike at the warships of the Imperial Chinese Navy. After a day of fierce fighting, the US Navy, after losing a large number of ships, finally cleared the mine threat from the periphery of Harrington Bay and approached the mouth of the bay.

The powerful firepower of the U.S. capital ships suddenly inflicted heavy damage on the warships of the Imperial Chinese Navy in the bay. In order to save the warships and carry out a sustainable anti-landing battle, the Chinese Emperor transferred all the warships in Harrington Bay to the shallows and ran aground after paying the price of sinking three hunting ships, and used them as coastal batteries.

By the afternoon, the US military had finally cleared a safe area in the bay and then launched a beach-rushing landing operation. However, the landing was met with resolute resistance from the Chinese Imperial defenders at Harrington Bay. Because the Chinese Emperor built a large number of coastal fortifications in Harrington Bay, a large number of artillery and light and heavy machine gun fire points were arranged on the surface, forming a powerful cross-fire network, and the powerful firepower caused heavy casualties to the American troops who rushed to the beach, and they were blocked on the beach and could not move forward.

After an afternoon of fierce fighting, six U.S. attacks were repulsed. When night fell, the submarines of the Imperial Chinese Navy quickly dispatched to attack American warships in all directions.

At 7:10 p.m., a U.S. escort light cruiser was sunk by a submarine of the Chinese Empire, and the U.S. military did not dare to stay at night and quickly stopped the attack.

That night, after the withdrawal of the American troops, the defenders of the Chinese Empire quickly repaired the shore defense positions, arranged anti-landing obstacles, and re-laid mines around the bay in preparation for tomorrow's American attack.

At 11 o'clock on the 5th, a US water plane discovered the Chinese Emperor's containment group, but Fletcher did not believe it and did not take action to attack.

At about 13 o'clock, the "Helan Mountain" aircraft carrier of the Chinese Emperor's containment group took off five bombers and 15 fighters to attack the US fleet that was attacking Gretel Bay.

The planes encountered the US 19th Air Force, which was taking off from the USS Enterprise, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides, with nine US fighters shot down. The Chinese Emperor's surprise operation was exposed, and the U.S. military soon sent a large number of fighters to the airspace of the engagement, forcing the Chinese Emperor to abandon the raid and leave the battle in time.

Although the Chinese Emperor did not succeed in raiding the American fleet, it played a role in luring the enemy. Fletcher discovered this situation from the direction of the return of the fighters and bombers of the Chinese Emperor, believing that this was the aircraft carrier formation of the main force of the Chinese Emperor, and immediately ordered the aircraft carrier "Hornet" to dispatch 30 bombers and 5 torpedo-mounted fighters to attack.

Soon after, however, a US sailor reported the discovery of an aircraft carrier, five cruisers, and five destroyers of the Chinese Emperor 60 nautical miles northeast of the known target, the Japanese pinning group.

At 14:30 a.m., the reconnaissance planes of the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier discovered the Chinese Emperor's aircraft carrier battle group with the Lianhuashan aircraft carrier as the core, which is also the main force group of the Chinese Emperor.

Only then did Fletcher feel that the situation was a little bad, and Ma ordered the group of planes attacking the Chinese Emperor's containment group to turn to attacking the main force of the Chinese Emperor, but due to poor communication between the aircraft carrier and the sortie group, the aircraft group did not receive this order and arrived at the air group of the "Helan Mountain" aircraft carrier at 15:50 a.m.

At this time, the aircraft carrier "Helan Mountain" was sailing against the wind and was recovering the group of attack planes returning home. Since the Helan Mountain aircraft carrier is a modified straight-through flight deck, it is difficult to take off fighters unless all the fighters are recovered.

As the air defense sirens sounded, the Chinese Imperial Navy combat ships quickly prepared anti-aircraft fire. Since the Imperial Chinese Navy has long been more vigilant about air defense awareness, both the capital ship and the escort warship are equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns, especially the Chinese Aegis air defense cruisers, and the Vulcan Dense Array on the face is even more powerful.

The US attack aircraft group itself did not have much experience, and the US military's own neglect of the air defense of the fleet caused the US pilots to compare the air defense capability of the Chinese Imperial Navy with that of the US Navy.

Thirty US bombers carried out dive bombing from an altitude of 2,200 meters, and five torpedo planes were divided into two teams to drop mines from the left and right sides at an altitude of 60 meters and 270 meters at close range.

The US pilots were shocked, but the long plane still held its own opinion, did not cancel the attack order, and continued to order the remaining planes to continue the attack.

However, in less than two minutes, the US attack aircraft group lost three-quarters, dropping only seven torpedoes and four bombs, hitting one light cruiser and two destroyers of the Chinese Emperor. Although the Helan Mountain was the object of the US military's key care, the two Aegis air defense cruisers of the Chinese Emperor focused on protecting the safety of the aircraft carrier, and the dense air defense fire network intercepted the US fighters.

The attack of the US attack group lasted for five minutes, and after losing most of the fighters, the remaining US fighters hurriedly dropped their bombs and turned around and fled. But at this time, the Helan Mountain aircraft carrier had completed the task of recovering the fighters, and 10 Thunderbolt fighters took the lead in taking to the air.

Nine U.S. fighters were shot down in a hurry, and in the end, only one U.S. fighter was the first to slip away and was not intercepted by the fighters of the Chinese Empire.

When Fletcher learned that the group of attack planes he had sent had been hit by the anti-aircraft fire of the powerful fleet of the Chinese Emperor, and that only one fighter had escaped by chance, his bowels were blue.

At the same time, two reconnaissance planes of the Chinese Emperor flew to the US aircraft carrier formation, and although they were shot down by the US troops, Fletcher believed that the Chinese Emperor reconnaissance plane must have issued a report before it was shot down, and that its position must have been exposed, so he ordered to make good preparations for air defense combat, increased the number of fighters patrolling in the air and on deck, and changed the formation into an air defense formation. In view of the lessons of the previous failures, in order to disperse the attack force of the Chinese Emperor, the two groups opened a distance of more than ten nautical miles, and considering that the "Enterprise" was close to the enemy, Fletcher ordered the "Enterprise" to be responsible for the unified command of the fighters of the two aircraft carriers.

Considering that the other six aircraft carriers failed to achieve results in the air battle in the Bermuda Islands, he immediately ordered the transfer of six aircraft carriers in the direction of Bermuda, supplemented with fighters and bombers, and prepared for a decisive battle with Cai Wei's fleet.

But it would take an hour for the other six U.S. aircraft carriers to prepare the attack group and rush to the intended attack area, during which Fletche would have to prepare for a possible attack by the Chinese Emperor. He only had three aircraft carriers left in his hand, and half of the carrier-based aircraft had been lost, and he wanted to avoid the air attack of the Chinese Emperor, but he knew that he was reluctant to let the child trap the wolf, and in order to drag Cai Wei's aircraft carrier battle group, he had to lead the other party to continuous air attacks. Because as long as Cai Wei's fleet keeps dispatching planes, its aircraft carriers will have to stay on the predetermined route and wait for the fighters to be recovered, and only in this way can they gain time for the other six US aircraft carriers to attack.

At about five o'clock in the evening, two aircraft carriers, the Helanshan and Lianhuashan, the Cai Wei aircraft carrier battle group, flew carrier-based fighters and bombers to attack Fletcher's aircraft carrier fleet. Cai Wei's tactic was to attack the US aircraft carrier fleet before dark, and strive to inflict heavy damage on the US aircraft carriers. He believed that as long as the attack was successful, by the time the U.S. troops recovered and prepared to counterattack, it would already be dark, and he judged that the U.S. forces would not attack in the dark, so this was an excellent opportunity to attack.

To this end, Cai Wei dispatched all the fighters and bombers, loaded with torpedoes and aerial bombs, in order to inflict heavy damage on the US military. At the same time, Cai Wei got in touch with the Bermuda Base Air Wing and requested a joint operation. To this end, the Bermuda Air Wing coordinated the dispatch of 400 Cat Demon fighters and 120 bombers to attack the Fletcher aircraft carrier fleet according to the coordinates given by Cai Wei.

A few minutes later, the U.S. submarine spotted a group of Chinese emperors flying in and out of the sea, and Fletcher immediately ordered all 13 bombers and 12 torpedo planes from the two aircraft carriers to take off and attack the Chinese emperor's aircraft carriers. Fletcher knew that the planes might not return, but he didn't want to see the bombers destroyed on his carrier.

All the fighters on standby on deck were also lifted into the air, so that the number of fighters on air alert had increased to 9 The fighter guides of the "Wasp" originally planned to intercept the fighters of the Chinese Emperor before they were deployed, but due to the large number of planes in the air, frequent communications between aircraft carriers and planes, and between planes, and the obstruction of the backward US military communications system, the order to guide the interception could not be issued in time.

At 6:23 a.m., 70 Thunderbolt fighters and 5 bombers of Cai Wei's aircraft carrier battle group arrived first, and a fierce air battle broke out between the two sides because Fletcher was ready for engagement.

The "Enterprise" could not evade it, it was hit by a torpedo and two bombs, the hull tilted 20 degrees to the left, and a large amount of water entered the hull. Although the U.S. military was able to avoid the sinking of the aircraft carrier in time, it was unable to evacuate the influx of seawater in a short period of time, resulting in a serious tilt of the ship's hull and the inability of fighters to take off, land, and recover.

The US fighters fought fiercely with the Chinese Emperor fighters, and although the US military had lost half of its fighters, it still surpassed the Chinese Emperor in numbers. The advanced Thunderbolt fighters of the Chinese Emperor relied on their superiority to shoot down US fighters every time and occupy an advantage in air combat. However, the number of warships in the US Navy is too large, and although the anti-aircraft firepower of a single ship is relatively weak, it cannot withstand a large number, and the anti-aircraft firepower of the overall fleet has also increased.

After five minutes of fierce fighting, the US military lost two fighters, and none of the fighters of the Chinese Emperor were shot down by US planes, but five were shot down by the anti-aircraft fire of the US fleet.

At 6:27 a.m., a group of Chinese Imperial attack planes from St. David's Air Force Base in Bermuda arrived in the airspace of the US fleet and joined the attack.

400 Cat Demon fighters swooped down from the sky, and in less than five minutes, they wiped out the remaining US fighters and seized air supremacy. Subsequently, a group of 120 bombers arrived and launched a dive bombing.

At 6:29 a.m., the USS Wasp was hit by six aerial bombs, and the violent explosion caused the aircraft carrier to be severely damaged in an instant, with blazing flames and thick smoke billowing into the sky.