"The aircraft carrier attacking the TF-31 fleet came from the southwest, which, according to radio direction finding, should have been between 240 and 250 degrees."

"Yesterday's results have proven that attacks by determined dive bombers are always successful. So, we still have a chance. ”

In a wood-paneled room next to the airport in Makkin Atoll, Major Hall and a dozen pilots were nervously discussing.

"But... "Sir," said one of the pilots, hesitatingly, "the apologists cannot effectively destroy the ships of the Chinese. ”

The SB2U Defender dive bomber is less powerful than the SBD Dreadnought, and although it can carry a 1,000-pound bomb, it needs to glide longer distances and its flight performance can become very clumsy and sluggish.

Taking off from land didn't have to worry about gliding distance, but clumsiness meant it was harder to break through the dense net of fire of the Ming fleet.

"We also have B-17s," Hall said, holding chalk, calmly, "they are the most powerful bombers." ”

Hearing this, the dive bomber pilots present were a little puzzled.

As a four-engine heavy bomber, the B-17 is indeed powerful and capable of throwing a lot of bombs, but what is the use of the low hit rate of horizontal bombing, which misses the target?

As the commander of the 49th Bomber Squadron, Major Hall should be well aware of this.

Facing everyone's puzzled gazes, Hall said lightly: "This time, we will use low-altitude raids to attack them." ”

His voice wasn't loud, but it sounded very determined.

The pilots of the Marine Corps Air Corps were stunned for a moment, these words were too shocking.

It is normal for twin-engine medium bombers to bomb at low altitudes, but wouldn't it be self-defeating for a large plane as heavy as the B-17 to play with plunder bombing?

Following.

The sun rises over the eastern sea as it has done for billions of years, and the wind and waves are calm, which is a good picture of the sea sunrise.

The Ming army could not yet determine whether the American troops had retreated, so they were still very cautious at sunrise, and many people had not yet recovered from the shocking fierce battle of yesterday.

The Ziwei Zuoyuan suffered minor damage, and even the 1,000-pound semi-armor-piercing bomb that exploded in the hangar only blew up a few planes and some equipment, and caused more than 20 casualties, which can only be regarded as flesh wounds for the solid armored aircraft carrier itself.

However, Zhou who fell down the stairs at that time was more unlucky, and it was uncomfortable to roll up the stairs to the hard steel floor of Nabang, and almost broke his left hand.

After taking painkillers, the pain gradually subsided, and then he was sent to the medical cabin, and as soon as the X-ray was revealed, the bearded old military doctor gave a diagnosis of "fractured left forearm".

This colonel, who is over 60 years old, has higher qualifications than Ouyang Zhanghua, and when he saw a doctor in the army, he grabbed medicine and used a knife to perform surgery, and the Ming Dynasty had not yet established a constitution, and the military rank was only colonel, purely because the Ming military regulations stipulated that the rank of non-combat arms was colonel at the top.

The admiral of the dignified fleet has to be humbly called a junior, and as for Zhou, it is not enough to see it.

He first beckoned someone to help put on the plaster cast for Zhou, and then opened two boxes of elderberry pills and a strange eight lisan.

Elderberry is a round pill made from the roots of the red fire rope tree ground into powder, which is an industrially produced medicine.

Ba Li San is a prescription, used for bone dispersion, the main treatment of bruises, the reason why it is strange is because the old military doctor also added borneol and strychnine to it according to his own experience, it is said that this effect is better?

"Hum—"

The morning in the southwest Pacific was peaceful and picturesque, and when Zhou Changfeng boarded the bridge from his cabin, a Type 37 scout happened to be roaring and sliding off to carry out a reconnaissance mission on Majin Atoll.

"Multiple radio direction findings can confirm that the enemy fleet is moving away, and presumably that they are retreating towards Hawaii."

"Okay, good, for the New Year, send the good news back."

"It's reasonable, two ships were sunk, and the other ship was heavily damaged, and if you don't retreat, you will all have to fold here."

A celebratory atmosphere hung over the bridge, and the admirals were smiling as if it had been a New Year.

Those who were injured were equally happy, and Zhou Changfeng, who had a plaster cast on his left hand, felt a little strange for some reason, and he felt that it was a bit arrogant to open champagne in half like this.

He walked to Ouyang Zhanghua's side, lowered his voice and asked, "Is the enemy sure to withdraw?" Will it kill a horse pistol? ”

The latter muttered: "It is possible, but the risk is very high, if it were me, I would not take such a risk." ”

"Before the newly built ships are put into service, those two aircraft carriers are the most expensive bargaining chips, as long as they can be delayed for two years, there is still a chance, but ...... Even if one more is lost, there will be no more suspense in this battle. ”

Zhou Changfeng said "um", "Indeed, the aircraft carrier will be built in twenty months at the earliest." ”

Ouyang Zhanghua's face was still covered with gauze, and he smiled, "The shipbuilding cycle is too long, in fact, the capital ship is more about the stock before the war, and it is too late to start rebuilding." In this naval battle, I estimated yesterday that we would have to pay the price of three or four aircraft carriers, but in the end, it was the national fortune that was added. ”

"After that, we can put the plan of attacking Hawaii on the agenda."

"That's how it should be. How much does Zhou Zhizhao grasp? ”

"If you're all prepared, sixty percent... Seventy percent. ”

Through the reconnaissance planes released in the early morning and the feedback from continuous radio detection, the Ming army could basically conclude that the two task forces of the US army were retreating and showed no signs of returning.

Despite this, Song Zhongkai, who was in charge of the Yongle, still ordered all ships to be vigilant and beware of the enemy taking advantage of his unpreparedness to kill a horse gun.

From dawn, the sea artillery off Tarawa Atoll rumbled, and the first formation's 9 battleships, 2 battle cruisers, and 6 heavy cruisers began to rain shells on American positions on the island.

Tons of steel and explosives were smashed onto the heads of the U.S. officers and soldiers stationed in Tarawa, and the narrow and curved atoll, which was shaped in a ">", was shrouded in billowing smoke and dust......

[Picture]

The unexpected looms in this context.

The Taiwei Left Wall and the Taiwei Right Wall, which had separated from the second formation yesterday, received the order to return to the group, and they turned around and headed for Tarawa at cruising speed.

Yesterday evening, only a dozen Type 37 ships returned to the fleet, most of which ran out of fuel, and finally abandoned their planes and parachuted 25 km south of Tarawa in Mayana Atoll, 25 km south of Tarawa.

There is no formed US military garrison in the area, there is only one air defense observation post with a total of more than a dozen people, and there are not many pilots who have not yet parachuted.

At night, the US officers and soldiers who noticed the appearance of dozens of umbrella flowers in the sky thought that they had encountered an airborne raid, and reported to the Tarawa side while shooting, but the latter himself could not guarantee that he could still take care of the situation here.

After the two sides landed, they continued to shoot at each other, and the sporadic gunfire continued throughout the night, the American soldiers cowered at their sentry posts, and the Ming pilots were also scattered and lurking in hidden positions and did not dare to move.

It was not until dawn that everyone figured out the situation, and finally shouted at each other to ask each other to lay down their arms, but both sides were reluctant.

Although he did not surrender, at least he did not shoot again, so it became a strange state - who was the prisoner?

The two Taiweiyuan-class aircraft carriers did not know the situation of the pilots of the carrier-based aircraft detachment, but everyone was very optimistic that it would definitely not be a big problem.

"It's over!"

"Ready—go!"

The two Type 37 ships accelerated from the flight deck of the Taiwei Youyuan and flew in the direction of the Mayana Atoll, where they were ordered to check the situation and see how their pilots were doing.

The two planes and the aircraft carrier sailed in the same direction and gradually disappeared from view.

At the same time, nine SB2U and three B-17s were flying at cloud heights.

They first circled to the southeast, intending to surprise the Ming fleet from the back side when the time came.

Now anchored in the sea off Tarawa Atoll is the Ming battleship formation, but the exact location of the aircraft carrier formation is unknown.

Major Hall had four of the Marine Corps Air Corps' eleven SB2Us split up and search in four directions, while the remaining five flew in tandem with the B-17s.

Their target was the second formation, but at 8:33 a.m. one of the SB2Us reported spotting an aircraft carrier detachment heading southwest toward Tarawa, visually with 2 carriers and 5 destroyers.

Hall immediately changed the initial plan and decided to attack the fleet nearby - the small number of screen ships made it easier to penetrate the defense.

In order to be able to successfully attack the Ming aircraft carrier, the pilots carefully discussed for half a night, and finally made as many preparations as possible.

SB2U defenders were responsible for attracting the attention of the Ming army from the front, and the 100-pound bomb was like a tickle for the battleship.

The B-17 was loaded with three 1,000-pound semi-armor-piercing bombs, and in fact it was possible to carry four, but everyone thought that that would weaken the handling and not be conducive to low-altitude penetration, so the only small amount of No. 100 high-octane gasoline left in the oil depot at the Makin base was also filled with these three B-17s.

At 9:26 a.m. on 18 February, the air defense observation post of the Taiwei Youyuan spotted an enemy aircraft approaching at 11 o'clock.

The battle alarm immediately sounded throughout the ship, and several direct cover planes parked at the back of the deck quickly rose into the air to meet the small group.

Three minutes later, the 128mm high-level dual-purpose gun began to roar.

"Where did these planes come from?!"

"Strange, didn't the enemy fleet slip away last night?"

"I'm afraid it flew from that reef to the north."

The dive bomber, dragging black smoke, fell as it disintegrated and fell, crashing into the sea and falling apart.

The sailors of the Ming army were very surprised by this, the size of the aircraft group is small, the key is that there is not even an escort of fighters, isn't this self-defeating?

No one noticed that a deadly threat was rapidly approaching from the right side of the fleet.

The B-17, piloted by Major Hall, led the other two and flew quickly at an altitude of about 400 meters.

Behind them was the glowing morning sun, which obscured the zigzag B-17s in the glow of the rising sun.

The first person to spot the B-17 coming from the backlit side was not even a lookout post, but an anti-aircraft gun loader of the destroyer Cheongjiang.

"Aircraft !!"

He shouted loudly and pointed in the direction of the sun, and the astonished bystanders looked sideways, raising their hands and squinting in the direction of the rising sun.

By this time, it was already late, and the heavy bombers approaching at a top speed of 400 km/h did not give much time for the fleet to react.

The Qingjiang destroyer's twin 38.4mm anti-aircraft guns were the first to fire, followed by the neighboring Fenhe light cruiser.

The Bofors anti-aircraft gun proved to be superior in performance, and the B-17 on the left was hit by multiple 38.4mm tracer anti-personnel shells, followed by another shell hitting the wing fuel tank and causing a deflagration.

[Picture]

A large burst of flames burst out in an instant, and the violent deflagration tore the entire wing, and the $301,200 heavy bomber slammed into the sea like a meteorite.

Major Hall lowered his flight altitude to less than 100 meters above sea level, and the tremor of the plane being hit was nothing, and his eyes were fixed on the growing Taiwei Youyuan.

More than ten seconds later, two bruised B-17s flew past the right side of the Taiwei Youyuan.

The bombshell kicked off a column of water far above the height of the bridge, almost drenching the flight deck of the aircraft carrier from front to back.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

The deviation of the landing point of the six 1,000-pound aerial bombs is not large, and the accuracy of low-altitude raid and bombing is indeed much higher.

The third exploded after smashing through the flight deck and hangar deck in succession; The fifth flew diagonally into the hangar and slipped on the hangar deck for more than twenty meters before exploding; The sixth hit the main armor belt on the side diagonally and did not penetrate, but exploded several holes.

The remaining three missed, and the deviation of the landing point ranged from a few meters to tens of meters.

The Ming pilots who wantonly hunted those decoys were furious, and several Type 37 ships immediately accelerated to catch up.

The two B-17s were already battered by the fleet's anti-aircraft fire, but the 7.36mm and 12.8mm aviation machine guns were still too weak against them.

After a full hour of pursuit, the four Type 37 ships ran out of ammunition and finally shot them down.

When the culprit fell, the attacked Taiwei Youyuan was already hovering on the verge of life and death.

The explosion of a bomb in the hangar caused a fire, but it was successfully stopped by a sprinkler and carbon dioxide extinguishing system.

The lethal threat came from the 1,000-pound semi-armor-piercing bomb that had penetrated the hangar deck and exploded underneath, destroying the aviation gasoline pipeline, causing a violent fire that stretched across several compartments.

The officers and men in the boiler room below could feel the looming crisis - the already hot boiler room was even hotter.

"Good boy! Look, look overhead......"

The sailors noticed that the paint on the top of the boiler room was gradually darkening, and small pieces of paint were peeling off one after another, falling one after another.

The exhaust system seems to be functioning normally, but a faint smell of burnt and smoke can be heard.

Upon learning of the attack on the Taiwei Right Wall, the admirals immediately exploded.

Who could have predicted that the Americans, whose defeat was already assured, would carry out such a surprise attack?

Zhou Changfeng's evaluation of this is that he is happy and sad, and the bullets fired by the dying enemy are as deadly.

Ouyang Zhanghua glanced at them and said calmly, "Quiet." ”

"Taiyou shouldn't be over yet, just see if the fire can be stopped." Someone muttered quietly.

Ouyang Zhanghua, who had a complicated gaze, wanted to speak and stopped, and only after a few seconds did he speak:

"Whether you admit it or not, the atmosphere of arrogance has spread."

"When I was in Hangzhou Martial Arts, the gentleman who taught the history of war gave a speech at the beginning of the semester, I don't know if you have heard of it."

"Victory is not just a word in the history books, but one of thousands of drills and countless sacrifices. What is 'one of them'? Because even then you may not win. ”

"Why? Because I am like this, so is the enemy, and the enemy may even do better, and has been doing so for hundreds of years. ”

(End of chapter)