On the side of the Ming army, after receiving a telegram from the dive bomber that was being pursued, the captain Zhu Yuanwei asked for an attack again.

After a little thought, Liu Zaiyao agreed.

The hangar of the Celestial City Zuoyuan suddenly became busy, and people in high spirits shuttled back and forth.

The battle mount order came over the radio: "The Yan team is mounted with aerial bombs, Class A Type 1; The South Sea team mounts torpedoes, and it's over!"

Category A refers to the payload weight scheme, and Type A refers to the type of bomb and fuse selected.

The ground crew members pushed the heavy four-wheeled cart hard, and there were 500 pounds of aviation armor-piercing blasting bombs on it; And the eight-wheeled trolley that transports torpedoes is heavier, because the Type 33 aviation torpedo is 1,800 pounds.

After the mounted aircraft can be ready to start the engine to warm up, the Tianshiyuan class adopts an open hangar design, and the hangar is transparent all around, so there is no need to worry about the problem of engine exhaust.

Warming up in the hangar can significantly increase take-off efficiency, as there is no need to wait for the warm-up to be raised to the deck, which greatly saves preparation time.

The elevator operated repeatedly, lifting one after another carrier-based aircraft that were ready to go.

In a short time, more than a dozen torpedo bombers had been assembled in the middle and rear sections of the flight deck of the Tenshi Zuoyuan.

Subsequently, Zhu Yuanwei ordered the ship to break away from the fleet, turn to the headwind direction, and increase to the maximum speed; The two destroyers followed the aircraft carrier and left the fleet heading east.

A few minutes later, with the order of the take-off and landing controller, the ground crew on the deck began to wave their batons and instruct the carrier-based aircraft to speed up takeoff.

From 16:17 to 16:30, the Amaichi Sagaki released a total of seven fighters, eighteen dive bombers, and nine torpedo planes.

Because the sun was about to set in almost an hour, Zhu Yuanwei decided not to organize a second wave of strikes after discussing with the staff officers, so as not to go wrong at that time.

It was already dark when the first wave returned, and landing at night was difficult and inefficient, taking more time. If they haven't landed yet, the second wave will have to wait in the sky and will probably run out of fuel and crash into the sea.

More than thirty carrier-based aircraft soon formed a formation and flew towards the east with great momentum.

The commander of the formation was Major Zhou Qi of the dive bomber team - this was the first official aircraft carrier duel in human history, and he didn't want to miss this opportunity to leave a name in history!

According to the information sent back by the reconnaissance planes before, it can be guessed the approximate position of the US fleet, and the aircraft group flew straight there, and then turned to a zigzag path to search back and forth.

The USS Lexington is not radar-mounted today, but the USS Maryland was undergoing maintenance at the San Francisco Navy Yard a few months ago and was fitted with the XAF Experimental Radar, the predecessor of the famous CXAM radar.

This is a meter-wave radar with an operating frequency of 200 GHz, a power of 15 kW, a grid plate antenna length of 5.2 m, and a detection range of 77 km for medium-sized aircraft.

Spotting that the unidentified aircraft group was approaching from west to east, the Maryland immediately sent a message to the TF-12.1 fleet, which was nearly 100 kilometers away.

Soon, the alarm bell sounded on the Lexington, which was informed of the situation, and the battle alarm sounded throughout the ship, and the order for "general quarters" was also heard on the radio.

17:21, sea south of the Gulf of Papua.

As the sun sets, the western sky is soaked in the sunset, and the eastern sky is visibly darkened.

Zhou Qi became more and more nervous and anxious, and there were only about twenty minutes left before sunset, and the visibility was rapidly decreasing.

Suddenly, a surprise voice came from the onboard radio headset.

"See! At four o'clock, the angle of sight is thirty or forty degrees. ”

Everyone in the group looked in that direction in unison, and saw six or seven blurred shadows of ships slowly moving on the dim sea.

It was the USS Lexington, the USS Northampton, and the accompanying Screens.

Although the carrier-based aircraft coordinated attack tactics have been explored for many years, they have not been tested in actual combat, and the jury is still still on how dive bombers and torpedo bombers should cooperate.

The attack tactics currently adopted by the Ming Navy are quite unique, and the two types of aircraft are in no particular order, but in essence they still have torpedo aircraft as the core.

During the long period from the time the torpedo formation entered the attack course to the time it was launched, the dive bomber formation attacked in groups of two, with each group separated by a few moments, in order to continuously distract the enemy ships and relieve the pressure on the slow torpedo planes.

"At ten o'clock, enemy planes!"

"Captain! They came and intercepted! ”

"The escort detachment will meet and block, and each team will pay attention to the order and attack with me." Zhou Qi gave the order, and then gently shook the wings and turned the plane around.

This is how the benefits of having radar for early warning were realized, and the Lexington took the opportunity to release five F4F fighters and three SB2U dive bombers. The former is responsible for direct interception, while the latter can also cooperate with the attack and interference.

In addition, the four F4Fs that were already circling over the fleet on alert, the US planes that came to intercept clearly had a numerical advantage.

The seven Type 37 carrier-based fighters quickly broke away from the group, formed two two-plane formations and one three-plane formation, and then climbed to seize the altitude advantage while meeting them.

The wildcats were bent on dispersing the Ming bomber formation, and did not want to entangle with the Ming fighters, but the other party did not think so.

So the two sides still fought together, flying up and down, rolling left and right, and engaged in fierce close-quarters combat at an altitude of 2,000 to 3,000 meters.

In the vicinity of the fleet, as the Ming fleet approached, all the battleships of the TF-12.1 fleet opened fire at once.

Both the twin Mk12 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns on the capital ship and the single-mount models on the screen ships were firing at the highest rate of fire.

The wedge-type semi-automatic bolt and electric ram lever give this 5-inch naval gun an astonishing rate of fire of up to 20 rounds per minute.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! ”

Clouds of black smoke continued to bloom behind the group, and occasionally artillery shells got closer, and the shock wave of the explosion made the planes tremble violently.

Nine torpedo planes, in a right trapezoidal formation in the shape of "\", flew forward from the right rear of the Lexington, and then made a large circle as they descended altitude, and came to the front of her.

A 127mm shell, usually exploded less than ten meters behind the torpedo machine numbered YH-TSZ-4-8, instantly tearing off the vertical tail and the horizontal tail on one side.

Metal shards scattered in all directions, and the plane spiraled out of control, igniting a fire that dragged black smoke into the sea.

At this moment, the torpedo formation suddenly split into two, with five on the left and three on the right, attacking from the left and right......

Higher in the air, the dive bomber formations did not go around in circles, they kept their level flight and came to the skies over the fleet.

In fact, the dive bomber formation attracted more anti-aircraft fire, losing three in the process of leveling approach.

Subsequently, the commander of the formation, Zhou Qi, took the lead and began to dive towards the Lexington, which was undergoing an S-shaped maneuver, at an altitude of 4,000 meters.

From now on, the high-performance 5-inch high-level dual-purpose gun will no longer be effective - the shooting director and fuze detector will not be able to solve and bind in real time.

The Type 37 carrier-based dive bomber he piloted maintained a 75° angle and dived at high speed, like a falcon pounced on its prey.

In his eyes, the rectangular flight deck of the Lexington was getting bigger and bigger.

Countless 28mm high-explosive and tracer shells passed by near the plane, as if driving through a tunnel quickly, and the trails of light passed in front of you.

The sun is about to set, and the sky is darkening at a rate visible to the naked eye.

These tracer bullets flew continuously, seemingly piercing the dim sky one by one.

The huge acceleration made Zhou Qi's eyes slightly black, he tried his best to maintain a correct posture to fight the acceleration, and reached out to pull the speed brake switch, and the air brake speed brake speed brake on both sides of the fuselage was immediately deployed.

The steep increase in drag causes the aircraft to immediately reduce its speed, otherwise uncontrolled ultra-high speed may cause the aircraft to disintegrate in the air.

The performance of the 1.1-inch Chicago piano anti-aircraft gun now equipped by the US military is worrying, and the range, rate of fire, and power of this quadruple 28mm anti-aircraft gun are all at the third-rate level.

In the eyes of the Ming pilots, this thing was not as threatening as the British army's quadruple bang cannon - at least the 40mm high-explosive bomb of the bang cannon was so powerful that it would be over if it was hit.

[Picture]

The backseat heavy stared at the altimeter and shouted, "A thousand meters!" ”

From this moment on, Zhou Qi saw that the battleships below suddenly appeared with dense points of light, and the traces of light continued one after another like beads strung together.

These denser and smaller tracer rounds came from twin and quadruple M2 anti-aircraft machine guns, which had a limited effective fire height and had not been fired until now.

"Six hundred meters!"

"Five hundred meters, five hundred meters!"

The wingman next to him dropped the bomb and immediately changed to a dive attitude.

"Four hundred...... Captain!!! ”

The partner in the back seat was very surprised, and he hadn't felt the sudden feeling of the bomb dropping?! The captain's brain pumped?!

Zhou Qi's eyes were stunned, staring at the aircraft carrier that had already occupied most of his field of vision.

He didn't pull the bomb stick until now, and then he slammed the lever with both hands, and the plane turned to the upper left.

The powerful overload caused him and his partner to almost go into shock on the spot, and the structure of the airframe seemed to have been explored to the limit.

In this way, the plane, piloted by the commander himself, dropped a 250kg aviation armor-piercing blaster bomb at a speed of 470 km/h, and the plane almost hit the chimney of the Lexington.

The bombs dropped by the wingman were the first to hit the sea and exploded into a column of water tens of meters high.

And the bombshell dropped by Zhou Qi's plane easily smashed through the Lexington's weak wooden flight deck and supporting steel frame!

But her hangar's powerful deck armor is 50mm thick, which is a measure of protection against 500-pound bombs.

"Knock !!"

The 250kg armor-piercing blaster uses a 0.08s delay fuse, and although it is unable to penetrate the power deck, it also explodes violently in the hangar.

The flames of the explosion engulfed more than a dozen sailors in the hangar in an instant, and four TBD torpedo planes that had been refueled were reduced to metal fragments on the spot.

The leaking aviation gasoline caused an even bigger fire, filling half of the hangar with flames, and a large hole in the rear flight deck, from which flames and smoke billowed out and soared into the sky.

The captain's personal opening was undoubtedly a good start, and the radio band was full of cheers and cheers.

The high-spirited pilots were even more excited, and many of them used bomb drops at altitudes lower than normal training, and the Ming bombers swooped down in pairs to complete the attack in about four minutes.

In addition to the three previously shot down, fifteen Type 37 carrier-based dive bombers successfully hit the Lexington three times, and this was done in the setting sun and low visibility.

However, two of them were shot down by anti-aircraft fire, and it is also possible that they fell into the sea because the altitude was too low to pull up.

During this period, the dive bombers that attacked in turn attracted half of the firepower, and the clumsy torpedo formations were able to smoothly enter the attack route and drop torpedoes.

The torpedoes flanked from the front left and front right meant that the Lexington would have to be hit by at least one of the torpedoes no matter how well it dodged.

The lesser of the two powers, Colonel Frederick decisively ordered the left full rudder.

The Lexington made a left turn and passed the path of four torpedoes, but was immediately hit by two torpedoes coming from the right.

"Torpedo is coming! 100 yards! ”

"Preparing for ......"

"Boom! Boom! ”

Two columns of water tens of meters high were stirred up one after another, as if they were fighting, one higher than the island and the other shorter than the island.

The elegant aircraft carrier was now unrecognizable, covered in smoke from beginning to end, with a few flames rising from time to time.

The strong impact caused a steam turbine on the Lexington to fail, and the power supply of the whole ship was also interrupted for a time.

Hundreds of tons of seawater quickly poured into the two breaches of the hull that had been torn open on the right side, and the hull quickly tilted to the right by as much as 8 degrees.

A short circuit occurred in some of the electrical cables, causing small fires in some compartments, and the strong impact of the torpedo explosion caused the flames in the hangar to spread to the vicinity of the ammunition depot for the 127mm high-level dual-purpose gun......

The sun had completely sunk below sea level, leaving only a faint glow and bright stars twinkling in the night sky.

The Lexington was severely damaged with one blow, and the so-called US Navy is nothing more than that!

The group of Ming planes that had succeeded in the air raid returned to the west in the dark, and everyone was extremely excited, looking back on the previous situation.

Zhou Qi waved his fist with satisfaction, only to feel extremely happy, and couldn't help but look back at the "fireboat" that was conspicuous in the vast night.

But at this moment, the heavys in the back seat said in a deep voice: "Hiss...... Team Zhou, this is not good, the fleet sent a message that it had also been attacked by the enemy just now, and they were all single-engine planes, and it was estimated that the Lexington had put them. ”

At this time, at the landing detachment of the Ming army......

There were several fires floating on the dark sea, which were burning aviation gasoline leaked from the destroyed enemy plane that crashed into the sea.

The Amagichi Sagaki was attacked by twenty-one SB2U dive bombers, but the Lexington's fleet was greatly disrupted by the bravery of the fighters.

At the same time, the anti-aircraft firepower of the Ming fleet was much more ferocious than that of the US military, and for the US pilots who had only seen the Chicago piano and the old godmother, it was really shocking to face such firepower for the first time, and many planes hastily dropped bombs before they reached 2,000 feet.

Eventually, however, a 500-pound bomb hit the mid-flight deck of the Amaichi Sagaki and set the site ablaze.

"Tsk..."Zhou Changfeng, who was on the bridge of the Yuanfeng, felt that his state of mind had not calmed down, and he twisted his hair and asked, "What's the matter?" How will the plane land later? ”

(End of chapter)