Artillery fire rang out, bullets rained down like a torrent of bullets, and countless dark red points of light and hundreds of warplanes flew in the air, forming a dazzling and complex scene. The whistling of paddles, the roar of guns, the sound of explosions, the roar of sailors...... All kinds of sounds overlapped in the same sea and air, stimulating the nerves of every soldier participating in the battle.

After a few minutes of fighting, the US officers and men were completely shocked by the surprise capability of the opposing air force: the single-engine bomber with inverted gull wings was able to dive at a near-vertical angle, and its bombing accuracy was undoubtedly far superior to that of its own FBD. When these black Grim Reapers' screams were terrible in the rapid fall, the American officers and soldiers could hardly count on their own anti-aircraft fire to successfully shoot them down; If they were allowed to drop the bomb, it would mean catastrophic damage to the target warship, and there were few cases of bomb misses. And those German torpedo planes are also dangerous and abnormal, their speed is obviously several notches faster than their own TBD; As long as there is a slight gap, they will quickly rush to a low altitude less than 2,000 meters away from the target, making it difficult for the target warship to gain space to evade. To the consternation of the American sailors, some of the torpedoes they dropped turned automatically; Compared with the previous missile air strikes, this wire-guided torpedo is even more desperate!

In less than a quarter of an hour, the aircraft carrier Courage, which had previously been hit hard, was hit by 3 more bombs and 2 torpedoes. Under the impact of the hot air waves like a landslide and tsunami, the anti-aircraft gunners and damaged soldiers near the explosion site instantly severed their limbs and sprayed flesh and blood, staining the twisted and cracked scorched deck into a crimson scene. Flames swept into the sky, violent waves hit the sky, and thousands of tons of seawater roared into one compartment after another under the aircraft carrier. The main generator, which was running at high speed, was flooded. Nearly a thousand cabins were plunged into darkness; More than a dozen pumps suddenly stopped. The aircraft carrier also began to have a stern roll during the stall. The screams of American sailors could be heard everywhere on the ship.

"The ships released the smoke screen and retreated at full speed due north!" Seeing that the Spirit had been severely damaged in a very short period of time, Admiral King, who was in charge of the Essex, could no longer maintain his calm, and immediately ordered loudly to the adjutant beside him. Although according to the "torch" plan developed by himself, the aircraft carrier formations of several sides had to attract the opposing fleet for a sufficient amount of time, the intensity of the German air raids had greatly exceeded his original expectations, and the risks and benefits of continuing the battle would not be proportional at all. If you continue to fight with the other side in such a step-by-step manner, the goal of attracting the attention of the Germans has been perfectly achieved. But his own fleet will also sink to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish!

Although the United States is the world's largest economic and industrial power, and has maintained its position as the world's largest despite the devastating economic crisis of the late 20s, the Navy's capital ships, which have been equipped with a large amount of cutting-edge technology, cannot be completed in a short period of time. Even an aircraft carrier lacking superstructure and outfitting facilities will not be able to complete it in about a year and a half, let alone several months of equipment commissioning and personnel run-in after the new ship enters service. Admiral King, who had been in charge of equipment production, knew more than any of his colleagues the intricacies of the construction of large warships that were completely different from ordinary ships. The current lineup of the US Atlantic Fleet is already much inferior to that of the other side, and every large warship is precious. In view of the future war situation, they must not be thrown lightly in this sea area.

With the constant transformation of the flagship signal flag. The attacked U.S. aircraft carriers began to release a large amount of heavy smoke when they boarded. Long before the fleet departed, Admiral Kim had already made all ships carry three cardinal smoke canisters, ready to retreat quickly in the event of an unfavorable situation, and now it was time to use them. The American sailors, who had long been overwhelmed by the ferocious assault of the German attack aircraft, immediately put this life-saving weapon into use; For a while, yellow smoke billowed from all sides of the US aircraft carrier, and its huge steel body gradually hid in it. Although smoke canisters are no longer as useful as traditional two-dimensional naval battlefields in the face of aircraft that can move at high speed in three-dimensional three-dimensional sea and air, if a large number of smoke canisters are used intensively, they can still create a "cloud" around the battleship to interfere with the normal bombing of the opponent's attack aircraft pilots. Seeing that the American aircraft carriers showed signs of retreating, the German pilots, who had not yet dropped their bombs, stepped up their offensive rhythm; When the enemy ship releases smoke, its own anti-aircraft firepower will also be greatly reduced as the line of sight is blocked, in this case, the attacker can have a short moment, and can still discern the opponent's position to obtain the weakest blocking and resistance!

On a Stuka bomber numbered 911, Captain Cole, whose face was flushed, was trying to maneuver the plane to dive and pull up; Not far away, an F6F fighter jet followed closely behind with its speed advantage, and repeatedly fired heavily at him with six 12.7mm machine guns. Shortly after Cole's bomber broke up in the skies over the U.S. fleet, the U.S. fighter took sights of itself and pursued it for more than twenty minutes. If it were for the other pilots in his squadron, it is estimated that he would have thrown the 800kg armor-piercing bomb under the belly and fled, but as a backbone veteran with more than 1,000 hours of flight time, Cole never gave up his offensive mission this time, but relied on the excellent dive performance of his landline to maneuver with the opponent, looking for any opportunity to drop the bomb. At this moment, seeing the yellow smoke emerging from the sea below, Cole, who was nervous in his heart, did not hesitate any longer, and immediately steered the plane to dive down sharply.

The blades roared, the ocean crashed, and the smoke below grew louder and louder in Cole's eyes. The U.S. fighter jet followed closely like a maggot on the tarsal bone, and kept closing the distance between the two sides: because Cole had used too many dive maneuvers to get away from the pursuit before, the U.S. pilot, who was obviously a novice, had also learned from being teased many times, and there was no more such a situation as he was caught off guard at the beginning, and he was suddenly a kilometer off target. According to the normal tactical strategy, at this time, Cole had to quickly pull up the nose of the aircraft and roll on its side to avoid the attack of the rear fighters; However, seeing that the flaming aircraft carrier was about to be shrouded in smoke, Cole no longer had any careful consideration for his safety, and his only thought was to drop the bomb on the other party's head!

"Bang!" The machine guns neighed, the bullets roared like lightning, and the F6F fighter that had been hunting for dozens of minutes without success finally obtained an ideal attack position in this pursuit, and six 12.7mm machine guns instantly poured out hundreds of ammunition. The No. 911 bomber in the scope suddenly burst into flames, its tail shattered, and the signal soldier sitting in the cockpit behind him hissed and screamed, and then there was no more movement, and its blood splattered Cole's face. Perhaps because of the accumulation of too much anger in the previous maneuver, the F6F fighter in the rear actually accelerated all the way over; The heavy machine gun steel bullet fired at close range broke through the bulletproof glass above the cockpit without any suspense, and Colden felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder and neck!

Cole, who had lost his comrades, roared in mourning, and his heart was full of hatred; With the help of the fall, he adjusted the angle of his landline for the last time, and pressed his right hand tightly on the bomb control machine. Thankfully, the bullet that hit his neck was grazing his flesh and did not suffer a fatal wound. And because the American fighter rushed too hard just now, he was still in the process of turning around and maneuvering at the moment, and these few seconds of idle time could allow him to dive more than 500 meters away, and this undoubtedly greatly improved his hit rate!

When he was less than 800 meters away from the smoke on the surface of the sea, Cole pulled the bomb-throwing machinery hard; The whole body shook suddenly, and the weight was greatly reduced as the cumbersome was thrown away. However, the fighter, which was already riddled with holes, had no chance to pull it up. Cole's body moved slightly, and he pressed the switch next to the seat with his still conscious right hand, and in an instant, the whole person was ejected out of the cabin like a cloud, and the falling momentum of the free fall also slowed down with the opening of the parachute. He didn't have the slightest idea of escaping when he made this move, he just wanted to be able to see the results of his attack with his own eyes.

The bomb screeched, rushing into the smoke below like a meteor. Cole endured the dizziness caused by the blood loss on his left shoulder, and forced his spirit to look down, but after more than a minute, there was no movement on the sea. During this time, the U.S. fighter that shot down Cole circled around him demonstratively, as if to mock his clumsy efforts. Cole closed his eyes in despair, his heart filled with bitter desolation. After a while, however, Cole suddenly felt a wave of scorching heat coming from below, blowing as if he were in a furnace; A moment later, an earth-shattering explosion suddenly sounded in his ears, which shocked Cole's dizzy spirit!

He looked down and saw that the thick man-made smoke on the sea below had been blown away at some point, and was replaced by a roaring sea of fire; Even at a height of hundreds of meters, Cole felt the blazing heat it contained. Approaching the surface of the sea, Cole could clearly see the scene in front of him: the American aircraft carrier had broken into three pieces and was sinking sharply into the sea in the flames of destruction!

Cole's lips twitched, tears already welling up in the corners of his eyes. (To be continued......)

ps: Thank you for the support of the book friend Angel Ai Dye his monthly pass, and the reward of Golden Crab and Zhouyu1976~~~