Chapter 471 Caribbean Sea (13)

"What?" Kusaka Ryunosuke's eyes widened, and he immediately rushed to the sea chart to look at it. After looking at it for a while, he shook his head - the distance was nearly 950 kilometers, which was really too far. But he was unwilling to give up just like that, and turned to Tsukahara for help, "Sir, what should I do?"

Tsukahara knew what he was thinking: "Report to the commander, ask the bombardment formation and the bait formation to move east as soon as possible, and the mobile fleet is responsible for attracting the enemy's attention..."

"Is that it?" Kusaka Ryunosuke thought that Tsukahara, who had many clever tricks, would come up with some way to deal with the battleship formation.

"It's over!" Tsukahara sighed, "If we hadn't beaten the US aircraft carrier formation so badly, the enemy might have come to attack us. Now that they have received the intelligence, they must have turned around and fled immediately - would you run away if it were you?"

Kusaka Ryunosuke nodded repeatedly: Japan lost all its aircraft carriers in the Battle of Midway, and Admiral Yamamoto led the battleship troops back without hesitation, and did not listen to the advice of any stupid staff officer to continue the desperate bombardment.

"At this distance, we can't catch up with the enemy if they want to run away... Besides, there is another aircraft carrier that must be dealt with." Tsukahara instructed, "We must act quickly. In addition, Puerto Rico is also a threat that cannot be underestimated. I bet that he will continue to send out attack groups in the afternoon."

Just as the Axis attack aircraft group returned at the fastest speed, the US destroyers were struggling to rescue people in the sea. Speaking of it, these destroyers can be called professional rescuers. They just rescued a large number of people with Spruance some time ago, and now they are following Fletcher to rescue a group of people. What's more despairing is that many of the people rescued in the two times are repeated.

Poor Fletcher was rescued by the Glorious and brought aboard. His spirit was completely crushed, and there was no blood on his face. Even the news that the Japanese aircraft carrier Hayabusa was severely damaged did not make him feel relieved. Cox also sighed and was at a loss.

"How many spare planes are there now?"

"Seven, four fighters, three attack planes, and they are being assembled as quickly as possible." British Rear Admiral Daniel answered bitterly. In the past, people always complained that the hangar of the Glorious was too small to accommodate the planes, but now the hangar is so empty that you can run a horse.

"I don't know how many attack planes returned safely."

"Puerto Rico reported that the first attack wave and the Army Air Force successfully returned a total of 17 P-47s, 6 F6Fs, 4 F4Fs, 27 SBDs, and 18 A20s. There were slightly more pilots who successfully returned because several planes were found to be severely damaged after landing and could no longer be used. Several planes parachuted near the airport because they ran out of fuel - the pilots have all been successfully rescued."

Fletcher looked gloomy when he thought that the total number of planes was as high as 210, but only 72 planes returned from the first round of strike echelons. Of course, he understood that the other planes might not be completely lost. Maybe some pilots successfully parachuted to Venezuela. He just hoped not to lose too many pilots now.

"I wonder how many planes are left in the second attack wave?" He began to think. If more planes escaped, there would be a chance to continue the attack. When he thought of this, he became excited as if a gambler had found the last chance to make a comeback. His brain was working fast.

"Let these backup planes fly to Puerto Rico later, and then we will retreat immediately." Fletcher said, "This aircraft carrier cannot sink again, otherwise there will be no fleet aircraft carriers available in the Atlantic, which will affect the next war."

Daniel nodded repeatedly. To be honest, he didn't want to waste the only remaining fleet aircraft carrier of the British Empire in the Caribbean Sea. Although Admiral King agreed to add two aircraft carriers to Britain, the delivery was postponed last time due to combat needs. This time, the US Navy suffered heavy losses. He was not optimistic about the delivery on schedule, and it might be postponed again.

Before making the decision to continue the attack, Fletcher had considered the issue of pilots: these were the only remaining skilled pilots. If they were lost, it would be very troublesome even if there were aircraft carriers to replenish them in the future. However, when he thought of the Axis forces turning the Caribbean upside down, he felt that he could not swallow this breath and had to give the enemy a fierce counterattack. If there were not enough carrier-based pilots in the future, he would train more. In the short term, he could transfer the pilots arranged on the escort aircraft carriers in Turner's "A+" plan. Anyway, the "A+" plan was probably impossible to implement at this time.

Cox pointed to the paralyzed Yorktown and Columbia and asked softly, "How do we deal with them?"

"Learn from Spruance..." Fletcher closed his eyes in pain, "The key is to rescue the personnel and transfer them smoothly."

Just as Fletcher's fleet suffered a devastating blow, the second wave of water reconnaissance sent by the Axis fleet found the bombardment fleet led by Admiral Ingersoll. Looking at the Japanese naval reconnaissance hovering overhead, Ingersoll was happy at first, thinking that he had finally been discovered by the Japanese, which would be a good start for the next war.

The tactics used by Hori Teikichi in the South Pacific have been repeatedly studied by the US Navy countless times, and the final conclusion is very simple: use battleships to attract the attention of enemy aircraft carriers, and then use our own aircraft carriers to give a fatal blow. If you think clearly about the tricks, you can deeply understand the significance of this tactic. In order to have the opportunity to use this innovative combat method, and also to compete with the Japanese super battleships, the US Navy resolutely decided to build the Montana-class battleships.

Ingersoll quickly accepted this point. He was happy to be a target himself, as long as Fletcher could destroy the enemy's aircraft carriers. As for the enemy battleships, after the aircraft carrier group was cleared, couldn't they fight as they wanted?

But the dream was shattered before it even began. The staff officer reported to him in a trembling voice: "Sir... Sir, General Fletcher sent an urgent telegram. His aircraft carrier formation is finished..."

"Ah!" Ingersoll and Turner were so scared that they rushed to grab the telegram. Seeing the news that 4 aircraft carriers were either sunk or severely damaged, and 5 cruisers were either sunk or severely damaged, Ingersoll, who was already 60 years old, felt his blood pressure rise sharply. He staggered and almost fell directly into the command tower. Turner was quick to help him steady himself: "Sir, it's too late to do anything now. I Let's retreat quickly and report to Admiral King and Washington."

"Then...what about Fletcher's plan to continue the attack?"

"I suggest you don't make any decisions, let Admiral King and the president decide." Turner whispered, "Someone must be responsible for this matter in the end. The commander has reminded him many times not to run too fast, but unfortunately he didn't listen to us, so..."

Ingersoll said quickly: "Yes, yes! I have fully fulfilled my responsibilities. My biggest responsibility now is to bring the battleship formation back safely. The United States can't afford the consequences of losing warships again."