Chapter 1086 Dive, Attack

If viewed from a distance from the sky, oil tankers and aircraft carriers are very similar, both are huge, and the upper decks are flat.

In this era, ocean voyages must be accompanied by oil tankers. After all, the fuel capacity of aircraft carriers is limited. The carrier-based aircraft above fly for a few days, and the fuel is in a hurry. In combat situations, almost three It needs to be replenished once a day.

After Captain Masao Sato discovered the two ships, he didn't immediately fly close to observe them, for fear of being discovered by the other party. In this way, they made a mistake.

A large number of carrier-based aircraft took off, and they found an oil tanker, and the other one was not a cruiser, but a destroyer of several thousand tons!

After pulling up his plane, Captain Akira Sakamoto shouted in the radio: "Squad, mock attack, other squads, search for the American aircraft carrier formation on the sea!"

Since this is an American oil tanker, maybe the aircraft carrier is nearby. Now, they are attacking two ships, and the other party will definitely call for help and call their aircraft carrier. s attack!

Captain Akira Sakamoto guessed half right.

What they found were the oil tanker Neosho and the destroyer Sims. These two ships were still with the fleet yesterday, but they were separated after that. They have to return to their home port and refuel after refueling. Find formations.

In this way, they and the US aircraft carrier formation were separated by more than 200 nautical miles. They did use the radio to call the aircraft carrier formation in the rear, but the formation did not send aircraft over.

Because at this time, the US aircraft carrier formation is making the same mistake as the island nation's aircraft carrier formation!

An hour passed, and the attacking formation had not found the American carrier, and they finally gave up.

"Squad, dive attack!" Captain Akira Sakamoto gave the order.

The range of the Stuka bombers is not long, and the fuel they have left now is only enough for them to return to the mothership, and they cannot be delayed any longer.

So the two Stukas swooped down and dropped a bomb on each of the targets. Although the two ships had already spotted them and were ready to fight, their anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns attacked the aircraft that swooped down from overhead. The field of view is rather small.

These two types of ships did not have much anti-air protection. Soon, two black smoke rose from the sea. The oil tanker Neosho and the destroyer Sims were already burning on the sea.

The empty carrier-based aircraft formation returned to the mothership one after another.

Just as the formation's carrier aircraft returned, Vice Admiral Takagi Takeo received news that made him angry, and the aircraft carrier Xiangho was sunk!

Dive, attack!

93 fighters and bombers, torpedo planes, found the enemy's naval formations according to the targets found by their own maritime patrol planes.

According to the report of the patrol aircraft: "Two aircraft carriers and four heavy cruisers were found". Fletcher, the U.S. Navy commander, thought it was a Japanese aircraft carrier, so he launched an all-out attack.

After they flew there, they discovered that it was two light cruisers and two gunboats. This was the cover force for the Japanese landing. However, they were more fortunate. After continuing to search at sea, they finally found that the exaggerated fleet was worthwhile. Attack target: Xiangfeng aircraft carrier.

This aircraft carrier is not a fleet aircraft carrier in the formal sense. It was originally built for the mission of a submarine carrier, and was later transformed into an aircraft carrier. This aircraft carrier with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons is just a kind of similar The role of the escort carrier.

After discovering that the U.S. carrier-based aircraft was flying, the aircraft carrier immediately turned against the wind and prepared to take off and land the carrier-based aircraft. Unfortunately, the carrier-based aircraft was bombed by the U.S. Navy before it took off.

Almost within a few minutes, the Xiangfeng sank. Although it is not a main aircraft carrier, the sinking of this ship is of practical significance. For the first time, the US Navy destroyed an aircraft carrier in an island country in battle!

"We must continue to take off carrier-based aircraft and attack the American aircraft carrier formation!" On the Zuikaku, Lieutenant General Takagi Takeo's face was cold.

The Imperial Navy lost an aircraft carrier, and this loss must be recovered from the US Navy!

Yuan Zhongyi frowned, but now it has been determined that the two sides are just on the edge of the other's attack range, and they can already know the correct position of the target, which is 90 degrees worse than previously expected!

But now, they face another problem.

If they take off to attack the US aircraft carrier now, it will be dark when the carrier plane returns!

In this era, the night takeoff of carrier-based aircraft is full of risks, and the night landing is absolutely terrible.

They could take the risk of taking off in the early hours of the morning and it would be brighter when they returned, but if they took off in the afternoon and landed at night, if the landing failed, it would have dire consequences.

"Only take off the attack formation, 20 Stukas." Yuan Zhongyi still made a decision: "Select the pilots with the most flying experience to carry out this mission, the empire needs their dedication!"

After landing, after eating and resting for an hour, Captain Akira Sakamoto received an order to attack again.

Stepping into his cockpit without hesitation, Captain Akira Sakamoto looked at a photo in front of the cockpit. It was his own woman. At this time, did she know that she was about to sacrifice herself for the empire?

Even a veteran like Captain Akira Sakamoto knows what it means to attack at such a time. He may not be able to come back, but he will never be timid!

The Stuka bomber with inverted seagull wings rolled on the aircraft carrier, took off, and still carried the advanced one-ton bomb under the belly.

This attack was almost on the edge of the combat radius, so no matter whether the target was found or not, the bombs would be thrown away when returning home, in order to avoid the terrible consequences of a collision accident when landing at night.

Thirty Stukas, taking off from two carriers, headed in a new direction.

When flying at sea, you must completely rely on your own instruments. Many times, you will have the illusion of flight, and even think of the sea as the sky, and then plunge into it all at once.

Especially after flying for more than an hour, misty water vapor appeared on the sea, which made Captain Akira Sakamoto more cautious.

As the water vapor continued to spread, the field of vision gradually narrowed.

"Lower the altitude and observe the sea surface." Captain Akira Sakamoto shouted in the radio. The machine gunner behind him also tried his best to look down to find the target on the sea surface. Unfortunately, the sea surface was foggy and could not see anything clearly.