ps: I'm sorry that my throat hurts so badly these days.

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This time it was the USS Colorado and the USS Maryland that were recruited.

The California-class battleship is the most powerful battleship in service in the United States, with 12 390mm guns, two in the front and two in the rear, and a piggyback layout. The standard displacement is 43,000 tons, and the full load displacement is 48,600 tons. The maximum speed is 22 knots, and the cruising range is 11,000 nautical miles / 12 knots. This is also a typical American "Iron Turtle" style battleship, although slow, but really has a defense comparable to a turtle, with a 343 mm main armor belt and 102 mm deck armor.

The superstructure on the port side of the Maryland hull was hit by a 300-kilogram bomb that penetrated two decks and exploded in the seaplane's hangar, destroying the entire hangar along with the four seaplanes inside, and igniting the aviation gasoline container near the hangar, causing a fire.

The USS Colorado was unfortunate enough to receive four bombs, one of which landed on the stern of the ship, blowing up the bathrooms below deck. The second shot hit the rear bridge and blew up the rear firing commander. The third shot fell into the dinghy parking area on the starboard side, blowing up several transport boats and lifeboats into garbage. The last shot smashed next to the front chimney, blasting the chimney into a large hole more than two meters in diameter.

The American soldiers saw that their battleship was wounded, and they fought even more crazy. Especially on those battleships, some sailors in other posts even brought out light weapons such as machine guns and rifles and fired desperately at the German planes. The entire sky near the battleship seemed to be filled with shells and bullets.

So the 24 dive bombers of the two squadrons of the second round of attack were unlucky, they were knocked out by the crazy anti-aircraft fire below during the dive stage, 19 planes were knocked out, and the remaining five bombers were all shot down as soon as they dropped their bombs and just pulled up.

Two squadrons of 24 dive bombers were not spared!

And they only achieved a single bomb hit, and a 127-mm secondary turret on the port side of the battleship USS California was damaged, along with the two anti-aircraft guns next to it. In addition, a downed plane fell on top of a cruiser, smashing several anti-aircraft gun emplacements.

The German planes behind saw that the Yankees' anti-aircraft fire was so crazy, and they didn't dare to rush down and send them to death, so they changed their targets. So the remaining 24 dive bombers adjusted their targets to the group of aircraft carriers that were huddled behind the fleet.

To be honest, the United States still has quite tight protection for aircraft carriers, which are also surrounded by cruisers and destroyers, and the anti-aircraft fire is also very powerful. But we all know that happiness is all about comparison. Compared to the dense enough anti-aircraft fire network on the side of the battleship, the air defense fire network on the side of the aircraft carrier is much gentle. To use a figurative analogy, the anti-aircraft fire on the battleship's side is a downpour and hail, and the aircraft carrier's side can only be counted as moderate to heavy rain.

The reason for this is that, in addition to the fact that the United States still regards battleships as the highest priority "first-class protected animals," the aircraft carrier itself is inferior to the battleships in terms of anti-aircraft firepower. After all, aircraft carriers are used to put planes, and it is impossible to desperately pile up weapons on the deck like battleships, especially those eight "temporary aircraft carriers", and the firepower is even weaker.

The two squadrons of dive bombers in the third round were surprised to find that the anti-aircraft fire around the seemingly largest aircraft carriers was weak. The German pilots did not know at this time that these were temporary aircraft carriers, and they thought that they had picked up a bargain, and they were overjoyed, so they set the target of the four largest aircraft carriers.

This attack was much more effective than the previous two. The Germans lost only 5 aircraft, hit 9 aerial bombs, and 3 near-misses.

The USS Norton Bay and the USS St. Lawrence Island were each hit by three bombs, the Cape San Blas was hit by two bombs, and the USS Everglades was hit by one bomb and three near-misses.

The bridge of the Norton Bay was half blown away, and a bomb penetrated several decks and exploded near the starboard waterline, especially on the side, and the force of the explosion blew a large hole three meters in diameter on the starboard side, and a large amount of seawater swarmed in.

Because of the armor-piercing incendiary bombs used by Germany, the wooden flight deck of the temporary aircraft carrier was not enough to trigger the fuse, so although the St. Lawrence Island swallowed all the eggs, its flight deck still looked intact, except for three more bucket-sized holes. But the hangar and the lower compartment where the bomb exploded turned into hell, and it was blown up in a mess, and it ignited a fire.

Although the Everglades was only hit by a bomb from the No. 2 elevator, only the elevator was blown up, and the nearby hull was somewhat damaged, and it seemed that the damage was not great. However, the three near-miss bombs were very fatal, and the powerful shock wave they generated blew the hull of the Everglades, and the seams of the underwater part of the ship's planks cracked in many places, causing a large amount of water to enter.

The smallest damage was lost to the Cape San Blas, where a bomb hit the edge of its flight deck, pierced the deck and then fell into the sea and exploded, breaking only a few holes in the hull. The other bomb that hit the hangar was a dud.

The fragile survivability of the "temporary aircraft carrier" was fully demonstrated under this attack. If it was a regular aircraft carrier, it would not be so miserable anyway, and it is impossible to cause much damage if a close miss.

Before the dive bomber attack was over, 60 torpedo planes in the German fleet took advantage of the fact that the US anti-aircraft fire was attracted by the dive bombers, and broke through from a low altitude and launched lightning strikes from the left and right flanks at the same time.

Although they chose a better time, the torpedo planes flew too slowly, and 11 of them were bombarded by the reflexed anti-aircraft fire before the mines were dropped. The remaining 49 torpedo planes all managed to drop torpedoes, and 9 more of these planes were shot down when they broke away.

The German torpedo planes, despite the loss of a third, also fired 17 torpedoes that hit the target.

Seven of these torpedoes hit the cruisers guarding the capital ship, sinking four and damaging one. The battleships South Carolina, Michigan, and Delaware were each hit by two torpedoes, and the USS Tennessee was hit by one. Due to the severe flooding, the temporary aircraft carrier Everglades greatly reduced its mobility, and unfortunately suffered three torpedoes in succession, and the underwater part of the entire starboard side was opened with three large holes, and soon it was tilted.

Fortunately, this is an aviation torpedo, which is relatively less powerful. The damage to the four battleships was not too great, but the speed was also affected. The Michigan, in particular, hit its right stern, blowing up two propellers on the right side and could only move at a speed of 8 knots.

"The attack is complete, all retreat...... "After seeing that the lightning strike was completed, Fafnir immediately ordered a retreat. He ordered the group of attack aircraft to retreat first, and he himself broke off in the rear with fighters.

Of course, the American planes would not let them go so lightly, but the appearance of the German fighters was too good, and after entangled with these broken fighters for a while, the Yankees found that it was difficult to catch up with the fleeing German attack planes, so they had to give up the pursuit in a daze.

In this air raid, the German Navy lost a total of 31 fighters, 21 torpedo planes, and 45 dive bombers, several of which were so badly injured that they parachuted back to the Faroe Islands. After returning to the base, after inspection, 9 more planes were scrapped, a total of 106 were damaged, and more than 20 were seriously injured, basically nearly half of the losses.

But they also succeeded in weakening the American fleet.

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Flagship of the American fleet, battleship USS California.

"Damn the Germans, you actually inflicted such a big loss on me!" Seeing the loss report sent by the staff officer, Lieutenant General Sims only felt a cramp in the corner of his eye.

The Everglades was already leaking from a near-miss, and it ate three torpedoes in a row, and the damage pipe could not control the swarming seawater, which was tilted 15 degrees at this time, and it was basically hopeless, and the captain had already ordered the ship to be abandoned.

The fire on the St. Lawrence Island has also lost control, the hangar and the planes inside have all been reimbursed, and the entire hull has been turned into a floating flare. The captain was also forced to abandon the ship after giving the order to fill the ammunition depot with water.

Although the Norton Bay's intake was temporarily controlled, its speed dropped to 10 knots. Moreover, the bridge was destroyed, the captain and a group of officers inside were dead anymore, the command system was completely destroyed, and the ship was scrapped.

These three temporary aircraft carriers are considered reimbursement. Six battleships also suffered damage ranging from light to severe, and light cruisers were sunk and one was damaged, plus the loss of 187 aircraft, which was not a small loss. Before he saw the German fleet, he was disgraced and made Vice Admiral Sims angry.

Although the injuries of the battleships were not too severe, the speed of several torpedoes that were hit by them had decreased, especially the battleship Michigan, which could only move at a turtle speed of 8 knots, and could no longer keep up with the fleet. Vice Admiral Sims had to order the remaining planes on the Norton Bay, which had lost its command structure, to evacuate to other carriers, and let it break away from the Michigan, which could not keep up with the fleet, and the light cruiser Sailen, which had been torpedoed and flooded, was left behind.

Vice Admiral Sims ordered the light cruiser Birmingham and three destroyers to stay behind to protect the wounded and return them to Iceland.

Of course, the Yankees are not the saints who can just take a beating, and the enraged cowboys immediately begin to retaliate. Come and don't be rude, since Erdezi bombed us with a plane, of course he has to retaliate back.

If you have planes, I won't have them? You will attack in the air, and so will I! Vice Admiral Sims immediately ordered the remaining seven aircraft carriers to take off their fighters and go to attack the German fleet.

At 10:44, 321 planes assembled over the U.S. fleet and viciously slaughtered the German fleet.

However, the American plane group had just flown less than 100 kilometers when it was surprised to find that a group of German planes flying in black pressure flew opposite......

Damn, what's going on?