Twisted steel, charred shards, the three damaged German aircraft carriers no longer have the usual imposing majesty, but have become as dilapidated and damaged as buildings in the center of war. √∟, however, due to the strong support of the whole structure by the thick steel bars, this war-torn "house" shows no signs of collapse. Thanks to the efforts of the German soldiers, the most critical water intake of the ships was effectively controlled, and although there was a certain amount of rolling, this did not hinder their normal navigation.

Kars slowly walked out of the conning tower on the right side of the deck, a mixed look of guilt and shame on his face. According to the reports sent back by the first wave of attack planes, the opposing fleet accelerated towards a stormy area to the northeast before the battle began, and the frigates pulled up an unprecedented thick smoke - it was obvious that the American fleet, with its four large aircraft carriers, had no intention of fighting at all. They had already made up their minds to smear oil on the soles of their feet, and were ready to turn the rudder and evacuate when enemy planes attacked: the fact that the mobile ** area so close to them was the best proof that the opponent was deliberately executing this tactic!

When the German attack aircraft group faced such a position, it was naturally impossible to achieve very effective results. The pilots reported the possibility of sinking a large aircraft carrier, far from satisfying Kars, who had high expectations, in tone and in number. But now he has no way to change the status quo. In the two days of several rounds of fighting, the fleet's aviation fuel and bomb torpedoes were extremely expensive, and even if the US fleet was sailing out of the ** area in the open now, it would be difficult for him to organize a wave of powerful attacks.

"Herald. Let the 11th Cruiser and the 24th and 25th destroyer fleets together. Escort the evacuation of 3 injured aircraft carriers, including the Richthofen. After a moment of silence. Kars slowly ordered the adjutant beside him. It was no longer useful for these ships to remain on the battlefield, and their only destination was to cross the Atlantic and return to the ports of the German mainland for repair. Considering the more than 14,000 kilometers of round-trip, it will be difficult for these big guys to see them cleaving the waves in the western Atlantic before the end of the year. Of the three Bavarian-class battleships that had also been damaged in naval battles six months earlier, only the Baden, which had been relatively lightly wounded, returned to the front line, and this was the result of the shipyard's strict implementation of wartime production procedures and the implementation of three shifts for workers.

Half an hour later, the German fleet's anti-aircraft radar detected another group of planes coming at it. However, due to Kars's timely order to return the fighters escorting the second wave of attacks to the skies over the fleet. This wave of attacks by the US military did not achieve the same impressive results as before; The TA-152 carrier-based fighters have a normal range of up to 1,600 kilometers, so that they still have enough internal fuel to engage in fierce firefights with their opponents after nearly two hours in the air. Under the joint resistance of the German naval and air forces, the US aircraft group consisting of 132 fighters caused damage to only 3 bombs and 1 torpedo to the German aircraft carrier; Three of the damaged ships were heavily protected, with only two bombs hitting them, and this was far from being the final blow to break them.

"Our test is over." When the surviving U.S. fighter planes disappeared into the sky, Kars's expression was complicated, and he didn't know whether to be happy or unwilling. He confidently led the most elite aircraft carrier squadron in the entire high seas fleet to attack the ocean, but reaped such a dismal ending: 3 main aircraft carriers suffered heavy losses, and 76 carrier-based aircraft crashed into the sky. Although the US fighters were shot down in large numbers under the rapid improvement of the air defense efficiency of their own 128-mm guns. In total, nearly 200 aircraft were lost, but the damage to its carriers was not satisfactory. Until now. They were running naked in the hangar, and there was no sure news that they had been sunk. The early release of the smoke screen still proved to be an effective tactic in aviation combat, and in the dense smoke with visibility of only a few tens of meters, the pilots could hardly lock on to the targets lurking in them, and the effectiveness of the attack was greatly limited. If this were not the case, even if nearly half of the German HS-293 guided bombs were jammed, the US aircraft carrier would also explode and sink under the intensive bombardment of armor-piercing bombs!

"But general, after all, we have shot down almost three times as many enemy planes as we have lost. A considerable number of them were wiped out by our anti-aircraft fire, and even a small number of parachute survivors were captured alive by us, and without these pilots with combat experience, the American fleet, even with its aircraft carriers, would not be able to match the German air fleet. Seeing Kars standing outside the command tower for a long time, silent in the face of the whistling sea breeze, Captain Rencent of the Hindenburg, who had known and worked with him for more than ten years, couldn't help but say comfort. From the other side's point of view, the current situation is indeed difficult to accept: the US commander Tong Guò reorganized his combat strength at night, and his combat consciousness was completely destroyed. If it weren't for the fact that the design of its own aircraft carriers was so good that it would be difficult for conventional bombs and torpedoes to cause fatal damage to them, at least two aircraft carriers would have been lying in the mud of the depths of the ocean, forever accompanied by darkness and dead silence.

Kars let out a low wry smile and did not take the words of comfort from his old subordinate. Experienced pilots are indeed precious, but after all, the aircraft carrier is the offshore platform that carries this qiē; If there were no aircraft carriers, even if they shot down more than five enemy planes, they would only be able to use the mainland as a base for coastal defense missions, and they could no longer pose any threat to Germany's Atlantic routes. For Germany, this was the central reason for naval warfare. On the contrary, even if the opposing aircraft carrier is loaded with a group of novice pilots, its threat to German maritime shipping is definitely not negligible, and there is undoubtedly a fundamental difference between the two.

"Now it's up to us to see our friendly forces. If they can successfully capture these two American fleets, which have already lost most of their carrier-based aircraft, they will be able to make up for the regret that we have not been able to achieve. Kars finally spoke. He moved slightly, preparing to go to the chart room to determine the exact position of the current fleet, but out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw the Richthofen in the distance begin to make a violent right turn!

"It's ...... Submarine lightning strike! After a moment of pause, Kars suddenly reacted and couldn't help but cry out. When a battleship has a sudden deviation in course during normal navigation, the only way to avoid submarine-launched torpedoes is to avoid mines ahead. He couldn't help but grasp the railing with his right hand, and a fine cold sweat oozed from his palm: this aircraft carrier had already been hit by 4 mines and 7 bullets in battle, and its injuries were not optimistic. This time, however, God ignored Kars's heartfelt prayers: just a minute later, a column of four towering clouds burst through the starboard side of the Richthofen in the bright sunshine!

In the Pacific War on another plane, the surface ships of the U.S. Navy were undoubtedly the absolute protagonists of this vast sea: Midway, Kuah Island, the Philippines ......, and the fleet under the Stars and Stripes was brilliant, destroying the Combined Fleet, the former hegemon of the Western Pacific, and completely losing the victory it had achieved since half a century ago. However, the U.S. submarine force also achieved good results in the war. They were active in the South China Sea and the western Pacific region, turning the shipping routes between Dutch Indochina and mainland Japan upside down; It can be said that most of the credit for the fuel crisis that Japan faced in the later stages of the war went to their disconnection of this route.

In addition to the attacks on merchant ships, the enemy warships sunk by US submarines were also fruitful: the high-speed battleship King Kong (Dasha), the best aircraft carrier in World War II, and the giant Shinano with a displacement of more than 70,000 tons, all died at the hands of US submarines, and their record against large warships was even better than that of the German Seawolves who made waves in the Atlantic. In addition, the Kaohsiung-class heavy cruisers Atago and Maya were also sunk by U.S. submarines in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and Vice Admiral Keno Kurita almost became the commander of the fleet who was loyal to the emperor shortly after leaving the division. It was only because of the greater success of the American surface fleet that the fame of these underwater hunters carried out the essence of making a fortune in silence and was not known to the world.

At this moment, an American submarine named Big Mackerel accidentally appeared less than 1,200 meters away from the return course of the Richthofen during an aimless cruise across the sea, and the ecstatic American captain immediately ordered all four torpedoes in the bow to be fired. The pain of the sinking of the US battleship Texas by the U-47 submarine half a year ago has now befallen the German aircraft carrier like a wheel. The fierce high-pressure shock wave instantly tore through a large area of the surrounding structural steel wall, and the sea water roared and swept into the cabin like a long causeway. As one of the torpedoes hit the carrier near the damaged part of the aircraft carrier that had been hit by an aerial torpedo in the previous battle, the seemingly indestructible mine-resistant armor was finally broken through a gap, and seawater began to roar into the bow motor room. The pump stopped, the cabins darkened, the Richthofen's pipe damage deteriorated dramatically, and for the first time, the hull tilted with difficulty in righting.

"Boom! Rumble! The thunderous roar of the depth charges echoed in his ears, and the white waves exploded into the sky, but Kars had no intention of breaking the perpetrators to pieces, and only fixed his eyes on the inclined hull of the Richthofen. After a while, the sound of hurried footsteps sounded behind him, and Karls was shocked, and said, "Is it the signal from the Richthofen?" ”

"No, General, it's a telegram from the Kaiser Wilhelm!" The adjutant replied. (To be continued......)

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