Now it's the turn of the Japanese to fight back, so can the US Navy and the Red Navy withstand the Japanese attack? Judging from the following results, the endings of the two sides are very different:

Kobayashi led the Wyvern's attack formation at 11:40 a.m. to discover the traces of the American fleet, so he sent back a telegram in which he confirmed: "The enemy has three aircraft carriers, and 22 destroyers are escorting them......"

It should be said that the Japanese also had an average look and failed to accurately distinguish between destroyers and cruisers, but what was stronger than the Americans was that the total number of enemy ships they reported was still accurate.

It's just that it took Nagumo Tadaichi 50 minutes to receive this crucial information, which undoubtedly delayed a lot of time. At the same time, the Yorktown's radar also spotted the enemy planes approaching from 250 directions from a distance of 45 nautical miles.

Fletcher immediately ordered the ships to form an anti-aircraft formation, with the cruisers Astoria and Portland accelerating to 30 knots and occupying the bow of the flagship, respectively, and the destroyers forming an outer defensive circle.

Myers, a mechanic in charge of aviation fuel management at the time, quickly set about removing high-octane jet gasoline from the pipeline and injecting carbon dioxide. This is a new type of fire protection technology that he invented. Before the discovery of the Kobayashi fleet, the residual gasoline from the pipeline was sucked back into the storage tank, and it was also covered with a layer of carbon dioxide, which theoretically prevented the spillage of flammable and explosive gasoline. In addition, an auxiliary tank containing about 800 gallons of gasoline was thrown directly into the sea to eliminate the risk.

Major Pedersen, the acting commander of the fighter squadron, sent the remaining 12 Wildcats into the sky while requesting reinforcements from the fighter commander of Task Force 16. Spruance immediately responded to the request, sending six of his 16 patrolling fighters to reinforcements.

At that time, the Japanese aircraft formation was still about 15 nautical miles away from the Yorktown. Swarms of Wildcat fighters pounced. Then the Zero Battle, which had the upper hand in performance, and the Wildcat, which had the advantage in numbers, engaged in an air battle. The spectacle is spectacular, intense, and breathtaking.

The aerial dogfight lasted from a distance of 15 nautical miles to the skies over the Yorktown. During this period, about ten Japanese aircraft were shot down. But this is not enough, because the Japanese are now playing with their lives!

Brasfield, the American fighter pilot who was a middle school teacher in Missouri before the war, shot down three enemy planes (a fighter, a bomber, and a four-engine patrol plane) during the Battle of the Coral Sea. When he took off from the aircraft carrier on the morning of June 4, he led six Wildcats, but after a fierce battle with the Zero War, he was the only one left in the entire formation.

Brasfield aimed at the long plane that was entangled in his three 99 explosions, pulling the trigger at a distance of 300 yards. The enemy plane was immediately shot, and then fell in flames with a spiral. Then he dodged to the left, and at a distance of 150 yards fired a heavy fire on the second 99 ship, which exploded almost before his eyes, and the waves of air nearly blew his wildcat away. The third Japanese plane saw that it was not good, and hurriedly took its way to the clouds, but before he could escape, it was shot down by Brasfield.

It's just that Brasfield's efforts are of little significance, and more Japanese pilots turn a blind eye to the fighter attacks like madmen, and one by one they begin to dive downward, and they don't even intend to return alive.

The gunners of the Yorktown are the last guardians, and whether they live or die depends on their efforts. But the Japanese pilots were good players. Before entering the dive, they all walked in beautiful curves, which made it difficult for the gunner to catch them. It is often the case that these demons have entered the dive before they can start shooting.

The guns on the starboard side of Yorktown opened fire on the first 99 ship that swooped down with a scream, and the heavy rain of bullets cut it into at least three pieces, and it fell into the sea not far from the starboard rear of Yorktown with its pilot. However, before being shot down, the Japanese pilots had already dropped bombs near the No. 4 gun mount, killing 17 people and wounding 18 on the spot. However, the Americans did not perform badly, and the substitute gunners immediately took over the dead and wounded and continued to shoot.

The bomb blew a ten-foot hole in the middle of the Yorktown's flight deck, and then stormed the hangar and set fire to three warplanes. Two of them were damaged fighters on the Enterprise, and these two were inconsequential and did not cause collateral damage. What is more dangerous is another SBD that is filled with gasoline and installed with a 1000-pound bomb, once the gasoline causes a fire, or the bomb explodes, the consequences will be unimaginable!

Fortunately, the damage management of the Yorktown was good enough, and Captain Emerson, who was in charge of the hangar, immediately turned on the fire sprinkler and extinguished the flames with relative ease.

The second 99 ship also dropped bombs, but almost at the same moment they were torn to pieces by the guns, and the bomb whizzed across the stern and rushed into the water. At this time, the fragments of the 99 ship's explosion also splashed on the wake of the aircraft carrier, and the shrapnel from the bomb explosion killed several gunners in the stern gun position and caused several small fires on the aft deck, but the fire was quickly extinguished.

Just as Fletcher was breathing a sigh of relief, another Japanese plane rushed down and crashed not far from the port side of the Yorktown shortly after dropping the bomb. The dropped bomb accurately hit the Yorktown, but it was equipped with a delayed fuse and did not explode on the spot.

At that time, the bomb penetrated the flight deck and rumbled inward, through the vice-captain's office, and into the VS-5's standby room. Second Lieutenant Knass, the flight planning staff officer, was busy in the waiting room at the time, and then the bomb broke in so "brutally" and "rudely", smashing the coffee pot on the desk, and the coffee spilled the stunned second lieutenant in the face. After this little hello, the bomb continued on its way, and finally burst into the chimney of the Yorktown before exploding.

The blast caused the Yorktown's boilers to shut down and blew up the flues of the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 boilers. This caused the Yorktown to drop its speed immediately (around 6 knots) and then slow down until it could no longer move.

At the same time, the third and final bomb hit the No. 1 lift shaft in Yorktown, exploding on the fourth deck, causing a fire in a compartment next to the former petrol depot and ammunition hold.

Lieutenant Colonel Aldrich immediately led the firefighters to put out the fire. If the fire ignited the ammunition depot. The Yorktown was blown up into the sky. After timely and tenacious efforts. Aldrich and his boys managed to contain the fire and keep the ammunition depot.

I have to say that the Americans' damage management work is still quite effective, and compared with their Japanese counterparts, the two sides do not seem to be in the same plane. However, there is one thing to say, the reason why the Japanese aircraft carrier ended so quickly has to be praised for Nagumo Tadaichi, not this repeated toss. Let bombs, torpedoes and all sorts of oil pipes fill the decks and hangars, and the fire will definitely not develop so quickly after being shot.

However, the Americans did a good job, and just over two hours after being hit three times, Yorktown miraculously regained its combat effectiveness! Thinking about the miraculous overhaul at Pearl Harbor before, I have to say that the lads on the Yorktown are amazing.

The train's fast running depends on the headband, and the ship's captain, Colonel Buckmaster, is very commendable for his work, and in peacetime he places great emphasis on damage management training and regularly conducts emergency repair exercises. So when it's time to get serious, the lads know what to do. The carpenters carried heavy timbers and hurried to the flight deck, relying on their exquisite and skilled skills. It took only 25 minutes to fill the hole in the deck (don't be surprised, the American aircraft carriers, including the Essex class later, have wooden flight decks. It was not until the Midway class that it was changed to an armored flight deck).

Not only on deck, but also in the engine room, Rear Admiral Delaney also performed miracles, under his leadership of First Class Weapons Technical Non-Commissioned Officer Charles Brown. Slansmith and the soldiers in the No. 1 boiler room braved the suffocating heat, choking smoke, and the danger that the boiler might explode at any moment, and the boiler was troubleshooting.

An hour and ten minutes after the chimney had been hit by a bomb, the Yorktown lowered the fault flag and raised the signal flag "Our ship is 5 knots", which erupted in cheers and whistles from every warship escorting it. Then the steam pressure continued to rise, and as the repair work continued, the speed of the Yorktown was quickly restored, and by half past two in the afternoon, she was miraculously back to 19 knots!

At the same time, Fletcher was much more decisive than Nagumo Tadaichi, and instead of wiping her tears on the Yorktown, she immediately transferred to the cruiser Astoria to continue directing the battle. It was a wise and pragmatic decision, and it was an example of American-style efficiency.

At 13:13, Fletcher's staff began to descend down the rope ladder from the starboard side of the Yorktown, and just as Fletcher had just stepped a leg, he suddenly stopped and said to the boatswain: ", I. . . He. Mom is a little old, so it's better to hang me down with a rope. So the two sailors tied him to the rope like a big fish and slowly lowered him.

Eleven minutes later, Fletcher and his party boarded the Astoria, and the lifeboat returned to York Town to pick up the rest of the men, and just as the last staff officer had just climbed the rope ladder of the cruiser, the two SBDs landed almost next to each other. This was Leslie and Holmberg, who had run out of fuel after attacking the Soryu, and the two of them, along with their machine gunners, jumped into the lifeboat with agility and skillfully climbed up the rope ladder, as if the Astoria had been waiting to meet them.

It was at this time that the American pilots who had previously made sorties began to land one after another, because the Yorktown was seriously damaged and had to suspend the acceptance of aircraft. Originally, the pilot of the Yorktown instead landed on the Hornet.

Speaking of which, the bumblebee has been unlucky on this day, which can be regarded as a miserable and miserable relative. Its torpedo planes were lost, the dive bombers failed to find the enemy ship, and the fighters had to make a forced landing on the sea because they ran out of fuel. However, this was good news for the pilots of the Yorktown, which meant that there was a spare "parking space" on the Hornet.

However, these swarming "refugees" brought a lot of trouble to the Hornet, such as a wild cat, because the pilot forgot to close the machine gun safety when landing, the huge impact triggered the machine gun, and the bullet hit the bridge of the Hornet, killing five people and wounding more than 20 people on the spot. Among them was the son of the commander of the Atlantic Fleet at the time, Royal. Ingersoll.

The news hit Admiral Ingersoll hard and made the man, who was not burly but very big, painful. Because it was the Admiral who asked Ingersoll Jr. to go to work at sea after Pearl Harbor, and his exact words were: "A true naval officer should not think of staying on land, but should go to serve at sea!" ”

When the news of the Yorktown's heavy damage reached the Enterprise, Spruance and his staff were discussing the significance of this wave of Japanese attacks. and discuss countermeasures. At that time, the old turtle Browning analyzed: "It should be the undamaged Japanese aircraft carrier mentioned in McCluskey's report that attacked us. We must strike immediately and resolutely to sink it! ”

The impatient Browning didn't think there was anything to discuss at the moment. Strike first. Kill the enemy. It's just that at this time, Spruance's grinding and chirping problem came up again, and he felt that there was still too little information worth believing in to jump to conclusions.

"Now our attack aircraft formation is not ready to take off, and we must first find out the specific location of the enemy, and it is more appropriate to conduct reconnaissance first!"

So what was the situation on the Japanese side at this time? Yamaguchi Tawen was led by the Nagara, and the Wyvern was guarded by battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. By 13:20, the Wyvern and its escorts were heading north, during which time Yamaguchi pieced together a second wave of attacks on Yorktown. Then immediately change course and sail northeast.

On the bridge of the Wyvern, Yamaguchi gave the final instructions to the second wave of attack aircraft, Captains Tomanaga, Hashimoto, and Mori Shigeru: "Don't attack the aircraft carrier that was hit by the Kobayashi group and caught fire, go attack the other aircraft carriers!" Yamaguchi then saw off the pilots in turn and said, "Fight bravely!" ”

Before taking off, the Captain ordered the herald to display a small blackboard indicating the latest position of the American fleet. Hashimoto marked the location on his map, and he suddenly remembered that he was not sure if Tokunaga knew about the situation, and was about to inform the other party when he was interrupted by the busyness of takeoff.

According to Hashimoto's recollection, the pilots who participated in the attack knew that they would probably die. But these militaristic demons all smiled when they climbed into the cabin (similar to today's people. Meat. bombs and terrorists a virtue). The only thing that made Hashimoto feel sad was that this sortie was simply shabby compared to the air raid on Midway in the morning.

Ten torpedo planes were divided into two groups, led by Tomoaga and Hashimoto, while Shigeru Mori led six Zeros. Four of them belonged to the original Wyvern, and two came from the burning Kaga. It is worth mentioning that the Toonaga attacked the leaky fuel tank and did not have time to repair it. No matter how you look at it, it's like a journey of death with no return.

In fact, he didn't plan to let Tokunaga attack at that time, but he insisted that he must go, and flatly rejected the suggestion to exchange fighters with others. One pilot later recalled: "Yu Yongjun has a withdrawn temperament and never confides in anyone. At that time, he was afraid that he felt deeply remorseful, and if he had not suggested another attack on Midway, there would have been no subsequent disaster. Tomanaga-kun believed that he was responsible, and he told me at the time, 'Determined to sink an enemy ship, even if you go to ram it!' ’”

However, it is likely that this was the imagination of the Japanese pilots based on the so-called spirit of bushido, because Hashimoto, who was attacking at the same time, did not think that Tomanaga had such thoughts. He thinks that the reason why Tomanaga wants to go is very simple, one is that there are very few fighters that can be used on the Wyvern now, and one more attack aircraft is better than one less. As for the problem of fuel tanks, Hashimoto believes that the attack distance is actually not long, it should only be about 100 nautical miles, and it can fly back with the ability of the 97 ship to attack. At that time, Hashimoto was about to give up his plane to Tokunaga, but he refused, saying, "The enemy is very close, and I can return after my attack." ”

At that time, Yamaguchi's order was to attack the other two American aircraft carriers in addition to Yorktown, but Togunaga went directly to Yorktown when he attacked, for the simple reason that he did not see the small blackboard and did not know the latest position of the American fleet.

During the flight, Hashimoto also realized the problem, and he found that Tohonaga was "flying towards the original position of the enemy ship", and he wanted to get closer to Tokunaga to tell him the latest situation, but he didn't do it.

The ensuing battle was similar to the morning, when the Yorktown took off a group of Wildcats to intercept it, and it was another battle between sea and air, but the Wildcats did not completely intercept the attack group, and many Japanese pilots, including Hashimoto, dropped torpedoes.

At this time, the Yorktown was only 19 knots, and it staggered past two torpedoes, but still two hit the middle of its hull. One hit the middle of the port side, the second slightly ahead. The port fuel tank was blown up, and water ingress into three boiler rooms and the forward generator room, causing a power outage. Immediately after that, the console failed again, and the power from the backup generator could not be sent. Then the steering wheel failed again, causing the Yorktown to fail for the second time that day, and it tilted 17 degrees to port side. To make matters worse, the tilt continued to increase, and only about ten minutes after the first torpedo hit, the Yorktown had tilted 26 degrees, so much so that even people could not stand on their feet, thanks to the calm sea, otherwise Yorktown would have been a pill at that time!

In view of the power outage and the fact that the tilt was too high, both Aldrich and Delany agreed that Yorktown was over, and it was only right to abandon ship and save people. Soon Captain Buckmaster agreed to the request, and at three o'clock and five o'clock, he ordered the blue and white signal flag to be hoisted - abandon the ship! (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you to the sweet potatoes in the melon field, the king of mending knives and Comrade Juventus!