"Captain! Enemy aircraft were spotted, 7 degrees to starboard direction, number 22 units. "When the Akagi was bombed, the radar of the destroyer Taishan, which was in charge of guarding the perimeter of the 213 Battleship Battle Group of the Chinese Navy, detected the bomber group arriving from Saipan. After the chief navigator on duty picked up the phone and urgently reported the number, Bingwen and Chen Shiying also walked into the command tower of the Taiwan Island.

"Are the escort fighters still on top of us?"

"There are eight, and the rest will be there in twenty minutes." After the captain's debriefing, the deployment of air defense began immediately. The Taiwan Island-class heavy cruiser delivered in 1922 once became the target of treaty heavy cruisers in various countries around the world by virtue of its super-treaty tonnage. But after all, it has been in service for more than ten years, so three years ago, the Navy upgraded and overhauled the four Taiwan islands. The standard displacement was increased from 13,000 tons to 14,000 tons, and the full load was 17,500 tons. The main guns were also replaced with L56/210 mm naval guns (a lightened version of the Xi'an class, without complex and heavy automatic loaders), four radars (air, sea and two fire control) were installed, and anti-aircraft fire was also strengthened to six 120 mm guns, twelve twin 40 mm and twenty-four single-barreled 25 mm guns.

As soon as the air defense alert was issued, the sailors who had been on standby for a long time immediately entered their posts, and the captain of the ship was extremely cautious. Although the main targets of the Japanese army were certainly two battleships, as the flagship, he needed to ensure the safety of the commander. However, before he had time to show his hard-working air defense skills in front of the commander, the eight "Lightnings" that had been hiding in the clouds high in the sky swooped down towards the Japanese bombers. All the bombers who attacked this time were Mitsubishi and 97 Army bombers, but what puzzled the "Lightning" was that there was not a single escort fighter. It wasn't until later that everyone learned that because of the bombing attack at dawn and Yu Xiaoning's bravery, coupled with the big bait of the Baiqi, the Japanese army aviation in Saipan threw all the remaining fighters into Guam and the direction of the Baiqi.

The self-defense firepower of the Japanese Army bombers was weak. There are also no safety measures such as self-sealing fuel tanks, and there is basically no armor in order to pursue the range. In the face of the "Lightning" of six 12.7 mm machine guns, no different from the stupid goose, more than a dozen were quickly swept down. Even the remaining few were either beaten down by anti-aircraft guns, or dropped bombs completely inaccurately, and were finally chased and shot down by fighters when they fled.

"The Xi'an reported that the Japanese bombing had ended. The White Rose was shot four times, and the deck was tilted an octave. The power is seriously insufficient, and now we are making every effort to rescue it. The Wuhan was badly damaged in the bow, the Fuchunjiang lost two turrets, the Minjiang was torpedoed on the port side of the stern, and the destroyer is now sailing towards the port of Apra. "After shooting down the first wave of Japanese planes, Bingwen also received a report from Bai Fuan. After listening to the debriefing. Half of his hanging heart finally fell. In the face of more than 70 enemy planes and the Japanese Fifth Fleet, only one aircraft carrier, one heavy cruiser, and two light cruisers were wounded, four destroyers were damaged, and two were sunk. And judging from the preliminary report, except for the Bai Qi, which is difficult to say, the rest still maintain self-propelled capabilities. This means that it can be fixed.

Chen Shiying counted the number of fighters and handed it to Bingwen: "There should be another wave, the number is between 50 and 70, and if it is fast, it will be seen by our radar in twenty minutes." And also. The 30 dive bombers on the Guam side are ready, which direction do you think is better to put into them? ”

"Which direction to invest?" Bingwen looked out the window and thought quickly. Thirty dive bombers, deliberately placed on Guam, were the main force of the second wave of the attack, but it depended on the specifics of the situation. Look at it from now. It is most suitable to put it in the direction of Akagi. Because the two Kongo-class battleships must be nearby, but this is likely to allow the two light aircraft carriers of the Japanese Fourth Fleet to escape. The fighter plane was fleeting. Now that the attack aircraft group of Long Xiang and Xiangfeng have returned, if they do not organize an attack as soon as possible, when they reload and come back, the Bai Qi and the heavy patrol formation will definitely be wiped out! But what if you let Akagi, Kaga, and the two Kongo-class ships escape because of their lack of attack power?

Just as he hesitated, the most important telegram finally arrived. "Commander! Good news, good news. The 5th Air Group reported that their first wave of attack had already hit the Akagi and Kaga! The news sent back by Yan Shaobai in time suddenly revitalized the whole situation.

"Let Guam's dive squadron set off to attack the Dragon and the Lucky Phoenix."

Chen Shiying nodded, and as soon as he turned his head to convey the order, a shout rang out on the bridge. "Enemy planes spotted, enemy planes spotted! Starboard, 90 nautical miles southeast! Level 1 alarm, call fighter support, all enter combat positions. "The third wave of Japanese attack aircraft led by Mishio Fuchizu has finally arrived.

"How many?!"

"Between sixty and seventy, there will be twenty minutes to see the commander."

Knowing that the third wave of Japanese planes appeared, Pan Duheng, who was fifty nautical miles away, also became nervous: "Can the Baiqi still take off and land?" Tan Zhen shook his head, knowing what he was worried about, his voice was a little low: "No, the deck has been blown up, and the hull is still tilting." I have already asked Yu Xiaoning and them to go to Guam, and after the dive leaves, they will land in Agana. However, he now only has 25 aircraft left, and he has run out of fuel, and it is expected that it will take an hour to arrive at the earliest. Sir, I suggest that you don't lean over, because Yan Shaobai and they will come back in a while, and if we move closer to the commander, once we are found to be attacked, we will not be able to recover the plane. "Pan Duheng did intend to order the formation to move closer to the battleship, not only because the commander was there, but also because the two Beijing-class battleships also needed protection. But Tan Zhen's words reminded him that the plane was fine in the past, because the plane could hold out until the end of the Japanese attack, but if the warship approached, it would be found and attacked, and at worst it would be the Second Ryukyu Naval Battle.

Pan Duheng nodded, gritted his teeth and said, "Tell Liu Zhesheng that even if he uses a collision, he must ensure the safety of the commander and the battleship!" When the plane comes back, don't go into the hangar, just refuel and hang up the bombs on the deck. By the way, if there are fighters coming back, let them go to protect the commander first. ”

"Don't worry, sir, I'll do my best to send planes to support the commander." After Tan Zhen nodded, he quickly returned to the aviation control tower and called Liu Zhesheng, the captain of the escort fighter.

"Vultures understand, vultures understand." Liu Zhesheng received the order and immediately led 26 lightning bolts to climb towards a white cloud.

Although the Chinese naval aviation is not as harsh as the Japanese army in the selection of materials, it is not easy to pass the selection. Although the Air Force has always been unconvinced, most people know that the HNA is stronger than the Air Force in terms of overall quality and capabilities. I want to get ahead in such an elite army. Very difficult. And Liu Zhesheng, who is only 26 years old this year, can break through and become the leader of the fighter squadron of the 12th Air Group in one fell swoop, which is enough to prove that his ability is extraordinary.

"Captain, I see it, on our left." Shortly after burrowing into the clouds, one of the pilots saw a group of Japanese attack planes flying west in the distance. Judging from the azimuth, the two sides are passing by.

"Got it, keep flying forward and go around behind them." Liu Zhesheng did not give the order to attack immediately. Because of Tan Zhen's words, he decided to change his usual tactics of attacking directly from a high altitude. Because he believes that the Japanese aircraft must have thought that the aircraft carrier was in the battleship formation, and as soon as they met, the escort zero battle would definitely swarm up to separate the "lightning". If intercepted in the front. In the case of the same amount, even if the technology is better, it will take enough time to get rid of it. So he was ready to let the 8 lightning planes escorted take Zero Zhan away and attack from behind himself.

He guessed correctly, and almost as soon as he saw the thick black smoke on the sea level, the Japanese pilots rushed towards the fleet at full speed like sharks smelling blood. When they saw the 8 "Lightnings" that had been protecting over the battleship, the 26 Zero Fighters immediately divided into most of the circle to chase and intercept them. They want to take advantage of their numerical superiority to gain air supremacy. Mishio Fuchizu also thought that the aircraft of the aircraft carrier had been sent, so he immediately ordered an attack. However, whether it is a 99 ship explosion or a 97 ship attack, the maximum speed when hanging a bomb cannot exceed 300 kilometers. On the contrary, the "Lightning" can easily exceed 630 kilometers even without methane afterburner. So wait until you know that there is a battle ahead. Liu Zhesheng ordered to speed up, and at the same time let 8 "Lightning" pretend to be defeated and lead Zero to the east.

"Yaga! That's mine! "Mi Zhixiong Fuchizu drove the Ninety-Nine Ship Explosion, and when he saw the huge reflection of the Nanjing battleship, his eyes were bloodshot and excited. But not yet to get close to the air defense circle of the fleet. The explosion of the ninety-nine ships around him suddenly turned into a ball of fireball. "Shina Lightning, in the back. They're behind us! There was a scream of horror coming from the headphones. Mishio Fuchizu turned his head to look, only to find that more than 20 "lightning" planes were like wild horses that had escaped from the reins, rushing into his attack aircraft group at high speed. Since most of the Zero was brought to the east by the escorted 8 "Lightnings", more than two dozen were quickly shot down.

Mishio Fuchizu's attack aircraft group totaled only 26 Zero Combat and 50 attack aircraft, which was reduced by half in a few minutes, so anxious that he hurriedly shouted: "Cover each other, don't mess around, seize the attack channel!" Worthy of being a rare genius pilot in the Japanese army, Mishio Fuchizu commanded while avoiding two attacks of "Lightning" in a row. However, his comrades-in-arms were not as lucky as him, and they were constantly hit by "lightning" and fell into the sea.

"Zero Fight! Be careful. "After Ryu Zhesheng shot down the third attack plane, he was about to chase Fuchizo Tsumi Shio, when a Zero Fight rushed over from the side and entangled him, so that he had to deal with the fighter in front of him with all his strength first. As the Zero War returned, the remaining dozen or so Japanese attack planes finally got a respite and rushed towards the fleet. But as soon as they entered the air defense circle of the fleet, the Japanese pilots felt that the anti-aircraft firepower of this fleet was very unusual, no, it should be said that it was too strong!

They were right, not only did the two Taiwan Island-class heavy cruisers focus on strengthening air defense during the major overhaul, but the Beijing-class battleships and the Yangtze River-class light cruisers also strengthened their anti-aircraft firepower in the course of improvement. The former had ten 120-mm anti-aircraft guns, twenty twin 40-mm anti-aircraft guns, and twenty-four single-barreled 25-mm guns. The Yangtze River class light patrol is also being improved one after another, changing the original six quadruple 40-mm anti-aircraft guns into twelve twin-linked 40-mm and 20 single-barreled 25-mm anti-aircraft guns with higher efficiency. Even if you don't count the eight destroyers escorted, the anti-aircraft firepower of the six capital ships was three times that of the White Rising formation.

The Japanese pilots were obviously not accustomed to such strong anti-aircraft firepower, and as soon as they rushed in, they felt that they were surrounded by artillery fire, and clouds of gunpowder smoke exploded around them, especially large and medium-caliber radio close-in shells, which easily rolled up a metal storm in the air. The exploding shrapnel shredded the aluminum shell, pierced through the glass, pierced the body, and turned the cabin into a bloody blur. Some even damaged the wings and fuselage girders, causing the plane to break off from the middle. The worst thing was that the planes that were hit by shrapnel with mounted bombs and torpedoes did not have the opportunity to parachute at all. In just one or two minutes, seven or eight Japanese attack planes were shot down. To make matters worse, Mishio Fuchizu and the Japanese pilots were given the order to attack the aircraft carrier, and at this time there were no flat-deck warships in front of them at all.

Mishio Fuchizu knows that he has been tricked again! And now that most of his attack aircraft have been killed or wounded, it is impossible to turn around. "Yaga! These despicable Chinese pigs! Kill them! After being teased again and again, he was so angry that his face turned hideous. Shouting frantically, he grabbed the control stick and rushed towards the battleship Nanjing.

Liu Zhesheng, who had been paying attention to the explosion of this very tenacious 99 ship, shouted that it was not good, and immediately sprayed methane into the engine regardless of the danger, rushing into the air defense circle of the fleet at a speed close to 700 kilometers. This was very dangerous, because the anti-aircraft guns did not have long eyes, and the gunners did not have time to tell whose plane it was in the heat of battle.

But he didn't think much about it, and his only thought was to shoot down the ninety-nine ship explosion that threatened the battleship. After using the speed to quickly close in, he pulled the trigger hard without waiting for the optimal distance. "Da-da-da-da." Six lines of fire. Staggered behind Mishio Fuchizu, when he saw that he was approaching the battleship Nanjing, the fuselage trembled suddenly, and the left wing was suddenly hit and caught fire. Liu Zhesheng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this, in his opinion, this 99 ship explosion must be recovered. So immediately prepare to leave the anti-aircraft artillery circle and be injured by mistake for free. But as he turned, his eyes widened suddenly. Because he saw that the 99 ship, which was obviously hit by himself, was actually forcibly pulled up with a bomb before it was about to crash into the sea, and crashed headlong into the No. 1 turret of the bow of the Nanjing. "Boom!" In the midst of the earth-shattering loud noise, a huge fireball rushed from the No. 1 turret of the battleship Nanjing. The cannon barrel on the right, which was tens of tons long, was directly blown into two, and the deck was full of flames.

Liu Zhesheng and the sailors, who witnessed the first suicide attack of the Japanese aircraft, gasped one after another, not expecting their opponents to be so crazy. Thankfully, Mishio Fuchizu's suicidal attack didn't do much damage to the thick-skinned battleship. Although it appeared that the No. 1 turret was badly damaged and had a broken barrel, it was not serious, and the two remaining main guns of the No. 1 turret later participated in the shelling of Saipan a few days later.

This suicide attack became the last spark of the entire campaign. Only seven of the Japanese attack aircraft in the third wave of attack aircraft completed the attack, and all the rest were shot down before the attack. Before the start of the war, the elite pilots of the Japanese army, who claimed to have a hit rate of more than 80 percent, were interfered with by dense anti-aircraft fire. Only three bombs hit the target, and the rest all deviated. Even in the last wave of 20 attack planes that took off after discovering that they had been deceived, only 6 completed bombing, and only 15 Japanese planes took advantage of the chaos to escape back to Saipan. But two days later the retreat continued, heading to Truk and Iwo Jima.

After the last wave of Japanese aircraft was defeated, the good news finally came.

Following the sinking of the Akagi and Kaga one after another, 30 dive bombers that took off from Guam's Agania airfield also took advantage of the landing of Japanese planes to launch an attack. In the end, the Longxiang ate six bombs and overturned, and was torpedoed and sunk by its own destroyer Shiyu, and the Xiangfeng was also hit by three bombs and caught fire. Upon hearing the news, Pan Duheng immediately asked Bingwen to launch a third wave of attacks and continue to attack the two top-class heavy cruisers, the aircraft carrier Xiangfeng, and the Japanese Fifth Fleet in Saipan.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the returning group of attack planes took off again, and at twelve o'clock caught up with the Mogami and Mikuma heavy cruisers who had fled north. Although the escort warships resisted desperately, the heavy cruisers that went to the fighter protection could not stop so many attack planes at all, and they were sunk after only half an hour. But the other three waves of attack aircraft did not go well.

Although the aircraft carrier Xiangfeng was hit by three bombs, because Kondo Nobutake ran to join the Fourth Fleet after giving up the attack on Bai Fuan, he relied on his command to escape under the cover of clouds. However, the Xiangfeng did not last long, and when it was about to reach the Truk anchorage, the Jiao 229 submarine spotted the light aircraft carrier towed by the destroyer Shiyu with a speed of less than 10 knots, and sent it into the sea with two torpedoes.

What really made Pan Duheng angry was that the two Kongo-class battleships that were supposed to be operating with the Akagi had completely disappeared. Although he had the intention to continue to expand the results of the battle and lead the aircraft carrier to pursue northward, Bingwen terminated the search order and ordered the fleet to be retracted and concentrated on the port of Apra.

At this point, the Battle of Guam ended.

In the face of the unfavorable headwinds of the first battle, the XN21 battle group of the Chinese Navy completed a beautiful turnaround in the Mariana Islands, covered by an escort aircraft carrier and two battleships. In the end, only one escort aircraft carrier was lost (after the Bai Qi returned to the port of Apra, it was abandoned by the Navy due to serious injuries), one battleship was slightly damaged, one heavy cruiser, three light cruisers and seven destroyers were injured, four destroyers and three submarines were sunk, and a total of 1,400 officers and men were killed. In one fell swoop, they sank four Japanese aircraft carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Ryusho, and Shoho, sank three heavy cruisers, Mogami, Mikuma, and Suzuya, sank the light cruisers Tatsuda and Yura, eight destroyers, and five special gunboats/cruisers, and shot down 233 warplanes of various types, and more than 5,000 Japanese naval personnel died along with the ships and planes.

At this point, the Japanese mobile fleet, which once roamed the southwest Pacific, was wiped out only half a month after the start of the war, and the Japanese Navy, which was known as the third largest in the world before the start of the war, had only four aircraft carriers, six battleships, and 13 heavy cruisers left, and its total tonnage dropped by half. As far as the Chinese Navy is concerned, this battle not only laid a solid foundation for the complete seizure of Guam and the Mariana Islands and successfully cut off the main channel connecting the north and south of the Japanese army, but also announced to the world that they are no longer a coastal navy and already have the ability to fight and win victory in the far seas.

Just as the Battle of Tsushima established Japan's position as a world navy, the Battle of Guam also made the Chinese Navy one of the world's naval powers.