However, although the two giant aircraft carriers are sturdy and durable, the other Japanese aircraft carriers are far behind, especially the Japanese light aircraft carriers (the Japanese call them medium aircraft carriers), which are much more fragile than the American Independence-class. Nine dreadnought dive bombers, protected by their own fighters, broke through the interception of Japanese fighters, braved the dense rain of bullets fired by Japanese small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, and dropped black high-explosive bombs one after another.

The Soryu was hit by three bombs weighing more than 700 kilograms, causing extremely serious damage to the hull and causing a fire that spread throughout the ship, and finally sank into the sea after 7 minutes in the continuous explosions, including the captain, a total of 863 people were killed on the ship, the only thing that the Japanese were fortunate enough for was that the carrier-based aircraft on the Soryu were basically in the air at that time, so there was no loss.

After discovering the vulnerability of the Japanese light aircraft carrier, the US military aircraft quickly adjusted their strategy and began to concentrate on bombing these more haode prey with thin skin and big stuffing. It didn't take long for the Yunlong "medium aircraft carrier", which had a larger displacement than the Canglong, to follow in its footsteps, and although the Yunlong successfully avoided 9 bombs and 4 torpedoes, it was still hit by 2 bombs and 1 torpedo, and could only reluctantly sink into the Pacific Ocean.

The Amagi, also of the Yunryu-class, was perhaps the most unlucky of the Japanese aircraft carriers, although it was only hit by a bombshell, but the fire spread to the main ammunition depot, and with an earth-shattering loud noise, the aircraft carrier with a standard displacement of more than 20,000 tons sank to the bottom of the sea in pieces, and 1,278 people below the captain sank with the ship

By this time. The Yunryu-class Zuihou Katsuragi has become the only remaining light aircraft carrier, or "medium aircraft carrier" of the Japanese Navy, but the Americans clearly do not want to let it go. After being besieged by more than 30 sorties of American aircraft, the aircraft carrier was lucky not to be hit once, and avoided all the torpedoes, but the six bombs that hit it one after another cut off all its life, and finally sank completely in the 35th minute after the battle began, the captain was unwilling to leave his beloved ship, refused the persuasion of his subordinates, and died in the waves of the sea with the Katsuragi, along with 1,084 people

Due to the desperate interception of Japanese anti-aircraft artillery fire and carrier-based fighters. When the U.S. aircraft group sank all four light aircraft carriers of the Japanese army. They themselves were exhausted, but the few dozen US planes that remained continued to attack, and some of them even learned from the Japanese suicide attacks, because since the Battle of Midway was no longer possible. Even if they parachuted, it would be difficult for them to be rescued. It is better to desperately sink one more Japanese aircraft carrier. After hearing the decisive words of these lads on the radio. Even Nimitz, the commander of the Pacific Fleet, had tears in his eyes, for not at once since the beginning of the war had he been so convinced of America's inevitability of victory. Because "the United States not only has the best industrial production capacity, but also has an unyielding national will." ”

Under the desperate attack of the US planes, the US aircraft carrier "Hornet", which was picked up and repaired by the Japanese and renamed the "Hyuga", suffered many injuries, and was hit by three US planes one after another, making the injuries more and more serious, and finally sank 12 minutes later, and as many as 974 people were killed and missing among the crew on board. It is worth mentioning that 11 US troops in Zuihou once launched a decisive attack on the US aircraft carrier "Enterprise", which was also repaired by the Japanese, but because there were too few planes, they were all shot down quickly, and only one torpedo hit, which caused some trauma to its side, but because the warship had good anti-sinking ability, and the officers and men on the ship were damaged in time, it did not cause any casualties, and the planes could still take off and land

As early as after the attack aircraft group sent back the telegram, Nimitz, who knew that it was impossible to capture Midway, sensibly gave the order to return home, so as to avoid another wave of attacks after the remnants of the Japanese planes had completed their resupply. But what Nimitz didn't know was that the two AWACS planes that the Japanese army took off from Midway Island had been staring at this fleet from a distance, although they were only early models of Jishu level, but the condescending advantage had already allowed them to have a sea detection range of more than 120 kilometers, so it was not easy for the Nimitz fleet to get rid of their tracking, especially when the Americans did not know that there was a new thing called AWACS

However, even so, with the remaining 300 carrier-based aircraft of the Japanese army, it may still be difficult to leave all the US aircraft carriers behind, and at this time, a strange plan devised by Yamaguchi Tawen before the war showed its value. As early as when the Midway ambush was formulated, Yamaguchi realized that with the increasingly powerful carrier-based aircraft force of the US military and its unparalleled close-range fire resistance, even if the US large-caliber anti-aircraft guns were successfully abolished, the losses of their own attack aircraft would still be considerable, and it would be difficult to completely destroy the 12 US aircraft carriers by relying only on carrier-based aircraft and 150 planes at Midway. For this reason, Yamaguchi Tawen racked his brains and came up with an unexpected contingency

That was when the planes at Midway took off to bomb the U.S. aircraft carrier group (in fact, they were dispatched before that), and the planes on the airfields on Oahu and nearby islands immediately moved to Midway as a reserve. This is not difficult for the Zero fighter with a maximum range of more than 3,000 kilometers, but the Zero heavy dive bomber improved by Stuka wants to fly more than 2,000 kilometers continuously, but it is inevitable that it will not be able to do so, but it does not need to carry a bomb when transitioning, the load is relatively light, and it can be hung with auxiliary fuel tanks, so this problem is not difficult to solve. In this way, when all 150 Japanese planes at the Midway airfield took to the air to participate in the attack on the US aircraft carrier group, it was not long before 150 new planes from Oahu and other major Hawaiian islands were stationed at Midway airfield. Then, in a race against time, the planes were quickly replenished with fuel and ammunition, and then took to the air as fast as they could, forming the second wave of Yamaguchi's attack planes, followed by a third wave of Midway attack planes

This tactic allowed the Japanese to make the most of the Midway airfield, which had a capacity of only 150 aircraft, but it also inevitably brought a problem: what if the time was not stuck, and the plane returning from the mission found that the Midway airfield was still occupied by fighters who had not had time to take off and could not land? If it causes a crash, it will be an international joke (to be continued......