The three "Eagle" attack squadrons did not form a large formation in the air in the air, as before.

In the latest naval combat regulations, the maximum battle formation of carrier-based aircraft is not allowed to exceed sixteen aircraft. And this time, because it was a night operation, the J-15 was divided into more than a dozen four-plane formations to fly.

Their combat objectives are not complicated, find the British fleet, will carry the Hong's Penguin-3 anti-ship missile launch, to maximize the impact on the aircraft carriers in the C fleet, to prevent the British from taking off more carrier-based aircraft at dawn.

As for the C fleet, the veteran admiral Cunningham really doesn't have much experience in night combat with carrier-based aircraft. The most proud sneak attack on Talan Bay in my life was completed by using an old-fashioned Swordfish carrier-based aircraft.

For several years, the renewal of carrier-based aircraft was simply dazzling. To be honest, as a fleet commander, Cunningham only has a basic understanding of the performance of more than a dozen carrier-based aircraft in the fleet.

For example, the "Sea Fox" heavy carrier-based fighters and NAs that were dispatched immediately after the discovery of the Allied fleet. 39 "Marauder" heavy low-altitude attack aircraft, which is also the only two "all-weather" fighters in the fleet.

Other carrier-based aircraft, such as the "Sea Hawk," which were launched a year ago, have only installed simple ranging radars and do not have the capability to fight at night.

And, of course, the "Sea Harrier". As the watchman of the British Royal Navy, the Sea Harrier will be the biggest reliance on the defense of the entire fleet. Canning knew with peace of mind that since the Allied fleet had appeared in this area, the direction of his own side was no longer a secret, although he still did not know when the Allied aircraft carrier formation came to the western Mediterranean.

At 3:20 a.m., the Allied "Eagle" attack squadron was the first to spot the British fleet 60 kilometers away in radar. But the short legs of the air-launched Hong's Penguin missiles mean that they must be closer to the fleet in order to satisfy the Hong's Penguin-3, which has a maximum range of only 25 kilometers.

This makes it necessary for the "Eagle" to face the volley of the "Sea Harrier".

Since the J-15 did not carry the Sparrow-7, even if the pilot had already spotted the Sea Harrier in the radar, it was still unable to attack beyond the visual range in advance, but fortunately, the Fire Light air-to-air missile equipped with the Sea Harrier was also a close-range missile.

Lieutenant Colonel Yu Hao, commander of the "Eagle" attack squadron, gave the order to block the attack in turn and launch Hong's attacks in turn.

A squadron went out and used the ...... it carried. Two Sparrow-3s and cannons circled the Sea Harriers, and the 2nd and 3rd squadrons selected large targets on the sea surface and launched Hong's Penguin-3s.

In an out-of-sight attack, the radar does not clearly show which target is an aircraft carrier and which is a battleship, and the pilots pick and choose the big ones according to their size.

In two rounds of launches, 48 "Eagle" planes of the 2nd and 3rd squadrons fired a total of 184 Hong's Penguin-3 anti-ship missiles at the C fleet.

Launch missiles like cannonballs, and those who dare to do this, I'm afraid that in this world, there is only the Han Empire.

However, Lieutenant Colonel Yu Hao made a rather fatal mistake, the target chosen by the two squadrons in the "Eagle" type was only the advance detachment of the C fleet, and the main force of the C fleet was still more than ten nautical miles away in the Jatri Strait.

It wasn't until the J-15s, the two squadrons of the Hong's 3, joined the fight with the Sea Harriers and replaced the next squadron that Yu Hao lowered his altitude and found that the number of targets of the so-called C Fleet was too small in the radar, and he realized this mistake. Adjusting the downward viewing angle of the radar and continuing to search in the distance, Yu Hao, who finally found a larger number of sea surface targets, shouted in annoyance, "The first squadron follows me, and the second and third squadrons can return." ”

The Hong's Penguin-3 is not a qualified anti-ship missile, and strictly speaking, its ammunition part is too small to even be called an anti-ship missile. Therefore, when using the Hong's Penguin-3 to attack enemy ships, the tactics of intensive attack had to be adopted.

Obviously, one squadron of "Eagle" type, dozens of Hong's Penguin-3 can not cause much trouble to the main warships of Fleet C.

The Light Voyage Majlis, led by Rear Admiral Peterson of the Assault Detachment, and the Warweary, another sister ship of the Elizabeth-class battleship, were severely damaged.

The more than 10,000-ton Majestic, six Hong's penguins were hit, and its weak side-chord armor was torn open several times, and the entire right chord was almost a hole, and within a few minutes the Majestine had fallen to the sea.

The effect of Hong's penguins on battleships is significantly weakened. Hit by more than ten missiles, the War Weary was still floating on the surface, but the fire on the ship and the explosion in the boiler compartment were out of control, and an even more dangerous explosion could occur at any time. Pittling had to give the order to abandon the ship and lead the surviving sailors on board to move to the destroyer Alnwick. Because although the battle cruiser Glasgow, another capital ship in the forward detachment, was only hit by two missiles, unfortunately one of them hit the rear chord, causing damage to the rudder.

In battle, the loss of power of the battleship is undoubtedly the saddest.

Peterson didn't even arrange a tug for the Glasgow, and perhaps towing it would only put another ship in danger.

But the results of the three "Eagle" attack squadrons are limited to this, well, and to add another escort aircraft carrier, the Archer, which is the lead ship of the four Archer class escort aircraft carriers that the United States has helped build Britain.

The dozens of Hong's penguins launched by a squadron led by Yu Hao were the biggest result of breaking through the flight deck of the Archer. Not all the other missiles were launched, not all of them, but the dozen or so that were shot down by the British fleet's close-fire force, the hit rate of other Hong's penguins also reached more than 60%.

The missiles fired at other battleships and large aircraft carriers did not cause much damage, and even if two Hongs were hit on the thick armored deck of the Glorious Voyage, they still did not affect the take-off and landing of the fighters after rushing to repair them.

The attack aircraft group concentrated the fire of a large force on the advance detachment, although it sank the Solemn and incapacitated the two capital ships, the battle-weariness and the Glasgow armored cruiser, which was ...... for the huge C Fleet Far from enough.

What's more, the attack of the C fleet was no less sharp.

The British army's "Sea Fox" carrier-based fighters and "Marauder" attack planes formed a group of high- and low-altitude attack planes, and found that the aircraft carrier formation headed by the Gongjin was only 10 minutes behind the "Eagle" group.

Compared with the "Hong's Penguin", compared with the "Eagle" type launched an over-the-horizon attack 20 kilometers away, the British army's attack was more brutal and bloody.

Zeng Baojian's reserved "Eagle" squadron in charge of vigilance shot down nearly half of the "sea female foxes" dozens of kilometers away, and the strength of the Sparrow-7 and the Dolphin-6 radar complemented each other, which was enough to make most fighters in this era incomprehensible.

But the number of vigilant "Eagle" squadrons was not enough to stop the entire attack of the British carrier-based air group. Most of the Marauders still broke through the "Eagle" defense, and the Marauder attack, nicknamed the "Soil Eater", showed its excellent low-altitude performance, and although several Marauders smashed headlong into the sea while advancing at low altitude, many more pilots still pressed the launch button of the "Martel" air-to-surface missile from a distance of 10 kilometers.

Although the British are old-fashioned, they have never lacked creativity when it comes to inventions. The catapult and beveled deck on the aircraft carrier are actually inventions of the British, as well as the ejection seats of airplanes, tanks, and radars......

In terms of missiles, while the Germans were more technologically bold and the Americans more innovative, the British did not lag far behind. The sea-based flight attack mode is the greatest contribution of the British in terms of missiles.

Unfortunately, the "Martel" air-to-surface missile is the world's first missile with this attack mode.

Under the cover of night, the Allied fleet's close defense forces did not realize that dozens of missiles were flying towards the fleet until the bright light from the tail of the Martel missile appeared within visual range.

It was certainly too late to turn the bow of the ship, and the Martel air-to-surface missile was nearly 1. The flight speed of Mach 5 did not even give the sailors time to report. Hurriedly lowered the angle of view of the anti-aircraft weapon pointed in the air, and fired at the bright light indiscriminately.

Fortunately, it is not cumbersome to adjust the firing angle of the Vulcan Dense Array, the main firepower of the close defense, but for this kind of saturated missile attack, even if there is an advanced anti-missile system in later generations, it is still a difficult problem, or even an unsolvable solution.

A series of explosions resounded in the fleet, and the attack of Martel missiles on the angle of the waterline of the battleship was difficult for any ship, including the battleship, to withstand.

The first wave of attack of the "Marauders" sank the two captain-class frigates and the light patrol of the Gongyi, and what was even more terrifying was that the Gongjin, the flag ship of the formation in the front, was also hit twice, and the sea water rushed in like a fierce beast, causing the Gongjin to roll sideways, and several fighters on the deck that were waiting to fly collided and were damaged.

The damage management force had to fill the two sealed chambers on the other side with water to keep the aircraft carrier balanced. The red vests on the deck also quickly pushed the crashed fighter into the sea to free up the deck and bring in other fighters.

Seeing the tremendous power of the British army's low-altitude attack aircraft, Zeng Baojian had already realized that it was a mistake for him to only send "Eagles" and not add a single-seat Brute Dragon to the attack aircraft group.

As the intersection of the sea and the sky gradually whitens, more and more fighters take off, and the close fire resistance of the escort ships becomes more and more targeted, it is not very easy for the "Marauder" attack planes to assemble and launch a second round of saturated low-altitude strikes.

The He-181 Viking single-seat, single-engine light carrier-based fighter jets on the Aquila and Harrier also began to take off, carrying V-7 air-to-air missiles and the Hawk Sparrow-3, once again weaving a tight line of defense for the aircraft carrier formation.

The British army's "sea fox" carries the same firelight passive infrared guided air-to-air missile as the Sea Harrier, and in this kind of large-scale air battle, the performance of the "firelight" is not enough to ensure that the sea fox seizes air supremacy.

Compared to the German X-8 and the Sparrows armed with the Dahan Royal Navy, the British air-to-air missiles were significantly a generation behind. Although in times of war, this generation difference may only be a year or even half a year.

With the "sea foxes" being shot down one after another, the "Vikings" and "Eagles" have already gained considerable superiority in the struggle for air supremacy. The Marauders hastily organized an unsuccessful attack, firing the remaining Mart missiles, and before more Brute Dragons and Attack Eagles could take off, they were able to exit the combat airspace and return home.

Before 4 a.m., the "Eagle" type of the attack aircraft group began to return to the ship one after another and landed on the mothership.

Of the seventy-two "Eagles" of the three squadrons, sixty-four returned, joining the fighters that were shot down in the defensive battle and crashed on the Gongjin, and the entire formation lost a total of thirty-seven carrier-based aircraft.

For a formation with six large aircraft carriers, it does not affect much combat effectiveness.

In the British army, only one light aircraft carrier and one escort aircraft carrier were damaged, and the main combat strength was still there.

What's more, the day ...... It's lit up! All carrier-based aircraft can take off, as can land-based fighters from both sides of the Tunisian Strait.

Perhaps, this battle is not about who can win, but about one by one...... Who will perish first!