Chapter 404: Breaking the Atlantic Ocean (9)

Fate teased Spruance once, causing his fleet to suffer a major blow yesterday when it was discovered by a transfer plane. However, no one expected that the compensation given to him by fate would come so quickly.

At 9:47, the German North Sea Fleet, which had been heading northeast, was about 530 kilometers southwest of the Madeira Islands. A cargo ship flying the Portuguese flag sailed less than 20 nautical miles away from the fleet. After discovering the fleet, it looked like a rabbit. He left in fright like a wolf. This was a merchant ship returning to Portugal from Brazil. The destroyers on guard duty on the periphery did not take it seriously when they saw it, and raised a flag to signal the enemy to leave as soon as possible.

This was a very common way to deal with it. Unexpectedly, the captain of the ship, Jo Pinto, was actually a fiery patriot. After learning that the Azores Islands were suddenly occupied by Germany and forced to be rented out, he has been indignant and deliberately wanted to find a way for the Germans. To make matters worse, less than half an hour after leaving the scene, a telegram was actually sent in Morse code: "There is a German fleet 300 nautical miles southwest of the Madeira Islands. Each ship should be careful to avoid being accidentally damaged..."

On the surface, there is nothing wrong with this telegram. It seems to be a "well-intentioned" reminder to other merchant ships to avoid it in advance, but it completely exposed the fleet's position. Jo-Pinto didn't know that the two fleets were preparing to fight. In his opinion, this telegram was enough to remind other ships not to be discovered by the German fleet that was on a mission to break the handover. He just wanted to see the Germans' dejection of getting nothing. As for For himself, he believed that he was driving a Portuguese neutral ship, and the Germans would not do anything to him. At most, they would just fire cannons to scare him.

"Asshole!" After receiving the warning, Krank became furious and exploded on the spot, "The order was given to Lieutenant General Bayi to sink the ship..."

A staff officer reminded: "This is a neutral ship."

"He has exposed the position of the fleet. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is an enemy spy. Sink him immediately!" Ozawa immediately agreed and strengthened his tone.

The staff officer turned to look at Machar, who waved his hands angrily: "What are you still doing? Tell Lieutenant General Bei to send a warship to sink it immediately."

In fact, without waiting for the flagship to give the order, Vice Admiral Bei, who was in charge of the Tirpitz, got angry early and ordered the destroyer and Oi to attack and sink the opponent. After 25 minutes of chasing, Jo-Pinto became the first person to enjoy the G9a since the war began. The captain of the merchant ship was guarded by the oxygen torpedo. The extremely angry German officers and soldiers did not even bother to use the naval gun. They used four 610mm torpedoes with a fan-shaped attack surface to directly declare the death of the ship - let alone a mere merchant ship. Even the Erpitz itself could not say that it could withstand such firepower. The freighter was torn into several sections on the spot, and Jo-Pinto took the entire crew on board for his stupidity.

The U.S. fleet received the news simultaneously. Spruance, who was having a headache about not being able to find the German fleet, suddenly looked at the chart and found that the distance from the German fleet mentioned in the telegram was about 400 kilometers, completely within reach. The attack range of carrier-based aircraft.

"Sir, should we send a reconnaissance plane to verify this kind of information with unknown origin and no content first?"

"No, leave 12 covering fighters, and all the rest will attack." Spruance explained, "The telegram only provides vague directions. If we send reconnaissance planes to find and pinpoint the position before attacking, it will delay too much opportunity. The enemy will also find us or simply sneak away, and we have to take a little risk."

"What if the information is wrong?"

"Then we have no choice but to come back." Spruance shrugged, "This shows that we really have no luck, so we should just return home quickly."

After yesterday's battle, there were only 26 US F4F fighter jets left. After calling in and assembling spare aircraft overnight, the number of fighter jets carried by the two aircraft carriers returned to 32 (most of the downed pilots were rescued, and there was no shortage of pilots. ), the number of SBD dive bombers and TBF torpedo attack aircraft has not changed, still 24 each. At 11 o'clock sharp, all American carrier-based aircraft took off and rushed toward the sea where the German fleet might exist.

The German reconnaissance plane still failed to find the position of the American fleet. In order to avoid the adverse impact of the incident that revealed its position just now, the entire fleet accelerated to 26 knots and headed east at the fastest speed. However, the atmosphere in the Zeppelin command tower was extremely depressing. It's almost suffocating.

"If the enemy fleet receives this message, we will soon be attacked by the air." Ozawa sighed, "We don't have much time left."

"What should we do now?" Machar was also confused. "All reconnaissance planes, whether ours, the Azores or the Madeira Islands, reported that they had not found the enemy fleet and were still searching..."

"Is it possible that although the enemy has received the telegram, they are far away and cannot hit us at all?" Krank asked.

"It's possible, but we can't take chances." Ozawa thought for a while, "Be prepared to sacrifice 2-3 destroyers first."

"How to say?"

"The No. 1 destroyer stayed put, the No. 2 destroyer advanced 20 nautical miles to the northeast, and the No. 3 destroyer advanced 30 nautical miles to the northwest. Use them to provide early warning..."

"Is this...useful?"

"If the enemy sends carrier-based aircraft, they will definitely search the sea area where the fleet was just now. These warships can confuse the sight. I don't know whether it will work, but for every hour of delay, the warning distance can be increased by 25 nautical miles."

"Okay." Mashar immediately arranged the arrangements vigorously and resolutely.

"Take off 12 fighters, mount auxiliary fuel tanks, stay over the original sea area, prepare to intercept the enemy aircraft formation, and delay time for the mother ship as much as possible." At the critical moment, Ozawa used his experience to stabilize the morale of the army, and the staff immediately passed on this order.

"All fighters on the deck of Europa will be retained, and the cover fighters that took off in the early morning will go to the ship for replenishment and replacement operations; the remaining fighters of Zeppelin will take off after completing the auxiliary fuel tank mounting to provide air cover for the fleet; bombers and torpedo planes will complete refueling and bombing, and gather on the deck as much as possible to take off in the shortest time."

"This..."

"Our aircraft carrier may be sunk, or it may be hit and unable to take off and land, but this batch of strike forces must be retained-this is our last hope for counterattack."

"Counterattack?" Marshal and Crank looked at each other: How to counterattack when we don't know the enemy's position?

"Let the attack aircraft hide, and wait until the enemy aircraft completes the attack before following and attacking." Ozawa said viciously, "They must be returning to the mother ship. Our aircraft is faster than theirs, and we have an advantage in range, so we are not afraid of losing them."

Five minutes short of 12 o'clock, the Z4 destroyer lookout, which brought good luck many times, issued an emergency warning: "The total number of enemy aircraft is more than 70, coming from the north, about 60 nautical miles away from our ship..." Half a minute later, the other two destroyers reported the same situation.

"Sir, we found the enemy fleet, but there are only three destroyers, and they are separated." Chris told Spruance excitedly.

"Don't worry about them, don't waste bombs on them, and increase the search intensity in the surrounding waters." Spruance said after a pause, "This is a German trick. Sending three destroyers to disrupt the trade? You must be kidding..." "Quick! Quick!" The Europa and Zeppelin, which received the emergency warning, quickly launched various aircraft. If Ozawa hadn't made a quick decision to refuel and refuel the aircraft as much as possible and keep them on the deck as soon as the position was exposed, it would be too late now. Including Marshal, Crank and other senior executives, they all stared at the movements on the deck nervously. Every time a plane took off successfully, their nervous mood eased a little. "Okay... one more."

At 12:08, the American fleet approaching the sea and searching in a scattered manner finally found the German aircraft carrier formation in the distance, but they were first intercepted by 12 Bf-219s. These fighters dropped their auxiliary fuel tanks and rushed over at maximum speed - they did not choose to fight with the escorting F4F today, and all their targets were aimed at SBD and TBF, especially the TBF carrying torpedoes, which received special attention. The scattered American formations desperately gathered together, ready to rely on the group advantage to break through the blocking line.

At 12:09, the remaining fighters of the German aircraft carrier formation all took off. They had seen the battle scene in front, but still adhered to tactical discipline, covering the takeoff of other aircraft in the fleet, and did not blindly rush over to intercept. The He-218s on the Zeppelin were released one after another, leaving only the last Ju-98 formation.

The first wave of Bf-219s that undertook the interception mission played their best role. They not only bought a few minutes of precious time for the subsequent formation to take off, but also completely dispersed the US aircraft group. Facing enemy aircraft that were more than five times their own, they used their experience to the extreme and shot down 4 F4Fs, 7 SBDs and 6 TBFs.

At 12:11, 18 He-218s took off, and the Ju-98 group was released one after another.

At 12:14, all the Bf-219s that intercepted the first wave were shot down. The remaining 51 enemy planes broke free and continued to pounce on the aircraft carrier formation. At this time, there were still 36 Bf-219s over the fleet. Ozawa looked at the situation on the deck and continued to order: "Send 24 fighters to intercept the enemy aircraft group, and the remaining fighters continue to cover the takeoff of the torpedo planes." Seeing more than 20 fighters rushing towards him, Lieutenant Colonel Green, who led the US carrier-based aircraft formation, also secretly complained: the 12 fighters just now were so difficult to deal with, and now there are twice as many enemy planes, I am afraid that the formation will be in greater trouble, but retreat is not a solution. He gritted his teeth and continued to command the fleet to kill in a dense formation, hoping to tear a gap for the attack team behind him. At 12:17, German and American carrier-based aircraft collided again. Everyone watched the fierce battle in the air with anxiety, and then did not forget to pay attention to the situation on the deck of the Zeppelin. Seven of the 16 Ju-98s had not taken off yet - the impact of one less elevator was fully exposed at this time.