Chapter 383: The Retreat of the Task Force

"The 'Guying' loses power, attack, attack immediately!"

The 'Avengers' in the sky immediately pounced on them like sharks that smelled blood.

"Enter the attack channel and attack immediately before the Japanese army has time to react!"

"Boom"

The sound of several more torpedoes entering the water sounded, and they pounced fiercely on their prey, and the pilots' eyes seemed to see the desperate gaze of the sailors of the 'Guying'.

At this time, in the vicinity of the 'Furutaka', two Japanese destroyers also rushed towards the 'Furutaka' as if they were crazy, and the anti-aircraft fire on the warships swept desperately around the 'Furutaka', not caring for the close proximity of several torpedo planes around.

The two destroyers stopped in front of the 'Furutaka' one after the other and resolutely acted as shields, but history tells us that the end of the shield is often tragic, and the two destroyers were each torpedoed twice at once.

"Boom Boom"

A few thick puffs of black smoke rose from the sea, and the power of the 907-kilogram heavy torpedo was not covered, and even the battleships with thick skin did not dare to harden their heads, and the two destroyers that had been hit by two torpedoes did not even have time to struggle before they broke into four pieces, and sank to the bottom of the sea with hundreds of officers and men on board without even a bubble.

"Yaga, stupid! Hurry up and order them not to make such senseless sacrifices! "Isoroku Yamamoto, who was in the command room, was furious when he saw the 'tragic' fate of the two destroyers, and ordered that this senseless sacrifice be stopped immediately, the heavy cruiser 'Furutaka' was important, but it was not precious enough to be protected at all costs.

"Order, 'Gagu' immediately fill the vacancy of the 'Guying', and must protect the two aircraft carriers, the aircraft carrier is the core of the fleet, and there must be no loss. Then order the remaining carrier-based planes to entangle the fighters of the Shina people, and never let the Shina fighters act recklessly," Yamamoto said coldly.

"Hello!"

The Japanese 96-Mitsubishi carrier-based planes and the Huaxia 'Wildcat' fighters, which were gradually thinning out, were fighting each other in the skies above the fleet, and countless fighters of various styles were fighting together. In that airspace, which is only five or six kilometers in radius, at least about a hundred planes from both sides are concentrated. They flew up and down and strangled together, and there were planes that continued to fall with black smoke or explode into a fireball in the air, tragic and gorgeous, cruel and elegant, bloody and spectacular would appear in a space so harmoniously, which left a deep impression on all the people who witnessed this air battle.

At this time, the 'Furutaka', which had lost power, was tilting on the sea like a dead fish with black smoke, and the captain of the ship, Masahiro Takayama, was desperately organizing the officers and men to extinguish the fire. Although only two destroyers rushed over and stopped four torpedoes and saved their lives, one torpedo hit the port side of the 'Guying', causing a large amount of fuel to come out and float on the surface of the ocean like a big whale about to die, but even so, the ship's artillery fire continued unabated, and it was still desperately blocking the passage in the sky.

But losing momentum is losing power, and no amount of intense artillery fire can stop a blow from all directions. "Boom"

Four more torpedoes hit it, "boom"

This time, the ship was hit in the middle of the warship, and one of the heavy torpedoes exploded after it rushed into the bomb bay below the waterline of the warship. The entire warship was shaken by the tremendous kinetic energy of the explosion, and the heavy cruiser, which was more than 10,000 tons, seemed to be dragged out of the water by a huge giant hand.

When the warship fell back into the water, the tail fell heavily into the water, and the head of the warship was raised high, and the sailors on the deck fell into the water like dumplings. After falling into the water, the sailors swam desperately outside, knowing that if they did not swim a certain distance in a few minutes, they would not be long before they were swallowed by the whirlpool created by the sinking of the Furutaka.

"Boom!"

When the Furutaka sank, the boiler that had been flooded with water exploded, and there was a loud scream that was so loud that it stunned both sides of the battle.

Suddenly, Yamamoto Fifty-six, who was on the bridge, suddenly heard a loud noise coming from nearby, Yamamoto Fifty-Six's face changed, and asked loudly: "Go and see if our aircraft carrier was shot?" ”

After a while, the combat staff officer returned and informed, "Your Excellency, the 'Kaga' has been hit by a torpedo!" ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six hurriedly asked, "Nani?" "Kaga" hit a torpedo? Where is the injury severe? ”

"Your Excellency Commander, please rest assured that the 'Kaga' was hit by a shot on the starboard side, and this torpedo hit the 'Kaga' in the parking garage, but fortunately there were no bombs in it, only a few spare ship-explosive aircraft, and we have filled the 'Kaga' hangar with water, and the situation is still under our control. The combat staff officer's face was also full of frustration at this time, he didn't expect that what he thought was an easy task would now pay such a heavy price.

Yamamoto Fifty-six sighed softly and shook his head and said nothing, but Rear Admiral Ugaki said anxiously beside him: "Your Excellency Commander, we can't go on like this, if we continue like this, our fleet will lose too much." ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six looked at the few carrier-based aircraft left in the sky, then turned his head and said to Major General Ugaki, "Ugaki-kun, how do you estimate the loss of the fighter planes of the Shina people this time?" ”

Ugaki pondered for a moment and said, "According to the results of our observation just now, such a branch of people has lost at least more than two hundred fighters, and if they continue to fight hard, it is not impossible for the entire army to be annihilated." ”

"Yes, more than two hundred warplanes!" Yamamoto Fifty-six closed his eyes and was silent for a while: "Do you think they will fight to the last man?" ”

Ugaki smiled bitterly after hearing this: "Your Excellency, Commander, although I don't want to admit it, judging from the degree of attack on the scene and their ferocity, it is very likely that we will fight to the last man." ”

"Then have you ever thought about why these people are working so hard?" Yamamoto Fifty-six continued to ask.

"This" Ugaki hesitated for a moment but shook his head: "My subordinates don't know. ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six smiled bitterly: "Ugaki-kun, it's not that you don't know, you know but don't dare to say it, right?" Well, if you don't say I'll do it for you. After a pause: "There is nothing more than one reason why the people of China are so desperate, that is, we are going to cut off their roots, we are going to Vladivostok, although His Majesty's original intention is to deter Chahar and let their troops in Vladivostok stay where they are, but in their opinion, it is to destroy their infant navy and their port under construction, and this is their lifeline, so they can't help but fight with us!" ”

"Commander, are we doing something wrong?" Ugaki asked sadly.

Yamamoto let go of the command knife that he had been holding tightly and took a few steps, "As courtiers, we can't comment on His Majesty's decision. But as soldiers, we have to do something, Ugaki-kun, order the troops to start turning, let's retreat! ”

"Your Excellency, Commander, aren't you going to wait until it gets dark?" Ugaki asked puzzledly, "Besides, how can we retreat like this to His Majesty the Emperor and the countrymen?" ”

Escaping from the battle and retreating after the war are two different things, and if someone asks about this crime in the future, it will not be a trivial matter.

"That's my business, you just have to carry out the order!" Yamamoto Fifty-six said decisively.

Ugaki knew that Yamamoto Fifty-six was going to prepare himself to take all the blame off, Ugaki sighed, and then issued the order to retreat.

At this time, Li Guidan, who had been circling in the sky and commanding, and many pilots suddenly found that the Japanese task force began to turn slowly, and let out bursts of cheers.

"Sir Li, the devil has retreated! The little devil has retreated! The various commanders who were excited forgot to even say their code names, and directly called their surnames.

"Okay, the warriors told us to hurry over and prepare to rescue our pilot who fell overboard." Li Guidan, who knew that he had little fuel left, also accepted it as soon as he saw it, and hurriedly ordered all units to return to the ship.

"Yes!"

Although he had been mentally prepared for a long time, he was still taken aback when Li Guidan gathered the remaining fighters and counted the results of the battle, and a total of 560 fighters were dispatched from the Japanese task force for this attack, including 360 'Wildcat' fighters and 200 BF 'Avenger' torpedo attack planes. However, in less than two hours of fierce air fighting, the "Wildcat" fighters lost 138 planes, and the BF "Avenger" torpedo attack planes lost 114 planes. The loss of 45 percent made Li Guidan tremble in distress, and in the end, he endured the distress and took the team on the journey home.

Yamamoto Isoroku, who was directing the task force to return home, also sat in a chair and closed his eyes to listen to the report of his staff officers. In this battle, one battleship troma, one cruiser Furutaka, three destroyers, and five frigates were lost, and many ships were damaged, and the hangar of the heavy aircraft carrier Kaga was also blown up into a hole, and all the carrier-based aircraft were almost completely lost.

Yamamoto Fifty-six held the command knife, looked at the sky that seemed to have become yīn puffy again, and said with some bitterness, "If it weren't for the fact that the people of China were not familiar with naval warfare this time, and the configuration of the aircraft was not reasonable, our losses would have been even greater. Your Majesty, is the road to the rise of the Great Japanese Empire so difficult? ”R