At 6:20 a.m. on 4 July, the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet raided the first wave of mixed fighter and bomber groups of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet, with more than 200 planes, having already reached a distance of less than 40 nautical miles from the US Pacific Fleet.

At 6:23, Hashimoto reported to the commander of the formation, "Your Excellency Commander, the avant-garde brigade has arrived at the predetermined attack position and has not been discovered by the US fleet, and the main force of the formation can continue to covertly engage the enemy!" ”

At 6:25 a.m., Admiral Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, was listening to the chief of staff, Vice Admiral Matsuda, at the control tower, reading a telegram, "The mixed formation of fighters and bombers has entered the optimal attack distance, and so far, it has not been discovered by the US Pacific Fleet!" ”

General Yamamoto raised his eyebrows and asked in disbelief: "Oh, didn't the Americans send reconnaissance planes?" This surprise attack was surprising, more than 200 fighters had already arrived at the attack position, and the target of the attack was not even aware of it, isn't it a little strange? ”

Chief of Staff Matsuda explained: "In the airspace about 100 nautical miles away from the US Pacific Fleet, the advance guard group of the aircraft group once shot down an American reconnaissance plane. ”

General Yamamoto said with some sighs: "What kind of opponent is this, it is so unbearable, it seems that today's battle, the harvest is much greater than I imagined, Matsuda-kun, let's start!" ”

At 6:32 a.m., the submarine "Kasaki" of the submarine squadron of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet quietly surfaced on the surface with four torpedoes in the bow. It was aimed at the heavy cruiser "Constance Vistin" of the Pacific Fleet, and the first shot of the attack on the US Pacific Fleet was given to the submarine "Kasaki".

The captain of the submarine "Kasaki", Zoe Toga, ordered: "The bow torpedo is ready for firing in one minute. Target. Heavy cruiser ahead, fifteen chains away, launch! "On the calm sea, four torpedoes. Dragging the white waves, he rushed towards the heavy cruiser "Consvecin", and completely unaware of the mortal danger, the approaching heavy cruiser "Consvein" was still sailing in its normal course and speed.

"Boom, boom!" Three loud bangs. Of the four torpedoes, three hit the target, the heavy cruiser "Constance", which was in flames and thick smoke at that time, and below the waterline of the warship, three black holes opened hideously, and the sea water poured into it, and then. The heavy cruiser "Consvein" had a chain explosion and was broken in two.

Immediately, the warships of the Pacific Fleet, the sirens sounded. Lieutenant General Fallwood picked up the non-stop phone, "What? Attacked by a Japanese submarine, a warship was heavily damaged and was sinking. Command, all submarine hunters and submarine hunters. Immediately go out and clear the Japanese submarines! The action should be fast, all carrier-based aircraft, immediately ready to take off on alert, all warships, do first-level combat preparations, anti-aircraft fire network, enter the combat state! ”

Putting down the phone, Vice Admiral Folwood's mind had not yet digested this depressing news, and a staff officer beside him suddenly shouted loudly and frightenedly: "Commander, planes, Japanese planes, are over our fleet!" ”

Vice Admiral Fallwood, following the direction pointed by the staff officer, picked up the telescope and looked at it, and his face was pale, and the sweat on his face came out, my God, the overwhelming Japanese planes were swooping down, and in the southwest corner of the fleet's defense circle, there were continuous explosions, one after another, and from time to time there were warships, bursting into flames and thick smoke!

It was attacked by the Japanese naval fleet, but how did the Japanese plane touch it? Reconnaissance planes have already been sent, why hasn't there been any news coming back, and when was the fleet tracked by Japanese submarines? What is the strength of the fleet that attacked its own fleet, which was the Japanese Navy? All the questions, like a mess, were entangled in his mind.

The attack came too suddenly, the fleet was not prepared at all, the carrier-based aircraft had just pushed onto the take-off deck, Vice Admiral Folwood, realizing the severity of the problem, he picked up the phone and ordered loudly: "The second aircraft carrier formation, escort the troop carrier formation, immediately break away from the fleet and move closer to the direction of Hawaii Island, be fast, all ships form cross-air defense fire, mobile defense, cover the detachment of troop carrier formations!" ”

"Communications officer, immediately send an urgent telegram to the land-based air forces, our fleet is 400 nautical miles east of Hawaii Island, and has been suddenly attacked by a Japanese naval fleet with an unknown number, and is in a very dangerous situation, please support immediately!"

An unprecedentedly fierce naval battle began, and as soon as the battle began, it developed in the direction favorable to the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy, and Admiral Yamamoto's strategy worked completely, and the surprise attack reached the best concealment effect, and when the carrier-based aircraft of the Japanese Navy reached the sky over the US Pacific Fleet, most of the US warships did not even react.

The tactics formulated by Admiral Yamamoto were fierce and effective, concentrating all the submarines and tearing a hole in a corner of the fleet's defense circle, and with a violent explosion, the destroyers, cruisers, and battleships of the US Pacific Fleet burst into smoke and fire from time to time, and even if they were not sunk immediately, they basically lost their combat effectiveness, and moreover, the sailing speed of the warships that had been severely damaged immediately slowed down.

At the same time, more than 200 Japanese fighters and bombers slammed into the inner circle of the Pacific Fleet's air defense fire network along the hole torn in the submarine, and the main targets of the attack were the two aircraft carriers left behind.

The US carrier-based planes were on the deck of the aircraft carrier, and before they had time to taxi, the Japanese fighters and bombers had already pounced in front of them, and one after another heavy aerial bombs were accurately dropped on the deck of the aircraft carrier, thick smoke rose everywhere, and the flames were splashed, and the US carrier-based planes exposed on the deck of the aircraft carrier were blown into pieces, and the burning fire, wrapped in the aviation fuel with blue flames, drilled into all the gaps!

Immediately on the second floor of the aircraft carrier, the catastrophic consequences were triggered, the carrier-based aircraft in the hangar became accomplices of the secondary explosion and burning, and the huge impact force lifted the upper deck of the aircraft carrier, and the broken limbs of the American sailors, mixed with the steel and building fragments on the aircraft carrier, flew up in mid-air, and then fell back to the surface of the sea again.

Less than 30 minutes after the Japanese attack began, the two aircraft carriers of the US Pacific Fleet, besieged by more than 200 Japanese fighters and bombers, became live targets emitting smoke and flames.

However, for the huge aircraft carrier, this is not fatal, and the Japanese torpedo bombers that then launched the attack became deadly killers, and dozens of torpedoes pounced on the two burning aircraft carriers fiercely, and the aircraft carriers were completely engulfed by thick smoke and flames, and the two behemoths on the sea gradually sank to the bottom of the sea.

Sadly, not one of the more than 100 carrier-based aircraft on the two US Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers had a chance to sink together, and the carrier-based aircraft formation of the first attack wave of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet resolutely carried out Commander Yamamoto's order to sink the American aircraft carrier first at any cost.

The crazy Japanese carrier-based aircraft pilots really did this, ignoring the anti-aircraft fire of the US warships, frantically besieging the two aircraft carriers, Admiral Yamamoto's goal was achieved, and at the first moment of the battle, he killed the core force of the US Pacific Fleet, aircraft carriers, and the fleet without aircraft carriers was a tiger with its sharp teeth pulled out, and it could only be slaughtered by others!

The second aircraft carrier group, which had already broken away from the Pacific Fleet, had only one aircraft carrier and more than a dozen warships, and the strange thing was that they were not attacked; in this case, the carrier-based planes on that aircraft carrier, regardless of the situation, all took off to meet the Japanese carrier-based planes, more than 70 US carrier-based planes, and more than 200 Japanese carrier-based planes, and immediately became a mass.

Below the battlefield of air combat, there are two sinking US aircraft carriers, and the US Navy warships emitting smoke and flames, from the beginning, the battlefield is chaotic, this kind of confusion comes from the US ** ship that was suddenly attacked, the battle has been going on for dozens of minutes, some US warships, have not yet found the Japanese plane, specifically in that direction.

It can be seen from this that the US Pacific Fleet, which had fought fiercely with German submarines in the Atlantic Ocean, was beaten to the head by Japanese carrier-based planes and was half-unconscious, and it was not until the two aircraft carriers of its own were beaten to the point that they were on fire, and they reacted and went crazy, and they were about to rain down anti-aircraft machine gun bullets and anti-aircraft artillery shells into the air.

This was the beginning of another disaster, and many of the US carrier-based planes that were fighting hard with several times their own Japanese carrier-based planes were not shot down by Japanese fighters, but were shot down by their own anti-aircraft fire, and the battlefield was completely chaotic, but only the US Pacific Fleet, and the targets of the Japanese carrier-based planes were very clear and effective.

Vice Admiral Fallwood, looking at the two aircraft carriers of his fleet, sunk at the bottom of the sea, more than a dozen warships, either sunk or hit hard, his eyes were blood-red, the blood vessels on his temples were "suddenly" jumping, his heart was as uncomfortable as a fire, and an ominous thought suddenly came up, "Could it be that today is the Pacific Fleet, and it is difficult to escape the fate?" ”

Vice Admiral Fallwood understands very well that this is only the beginning, the Japanese fleet, absolutely not only one attack, a more fierce attack, is still behind, and his own fleet, having lost two aircraft carriers and all carrier-based aircraft, what to take to fight with the Japanese fleet?

(To be continued)

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