Chapter 475 Caribbean Sea (End)

Ps: Congratulations to readers "Power of Alsace" for becoming the leader of this book. The relevant updates will be made up in a few days. I just returned to Hangzhou today and the update is late. Please forgive me.

Fletcher tried his best to save the Glorious, so he not only ordered the remaining formation to be divided into two parts, one part to retreat to the northwest to distract the enemy and confuse the line of sight, and the other to retreat towards Puerto Rico, but also requested Cohen sent cover fighters to escort him.

But this measure did not have much effect. After the northwest cruiser formation was eaten by the Axis aircraft group, the aircraft that completed the bombing automatically turned into a reconnaissance aircraft. After 11 minutes of search, the traces of the Glorious were found. Although The remaining 4 carrier-based fighters of the fleet and the 6 F4Fs and 4 F6Fs sent by Puerto Rico (all former carrier-based aircraft) tried their best to provide cover, but they still could not escape the fate of all being shot down. In the end, the Axis Group lost 2 Bf-21218s. At the cost of one Ju-98, the formation was completely wiped out within 5 minutes.

At 15:35, Admiral King received a telegram: The aircraft carrier Glorious, the Oakland anti-aircraft cruiser and four destroyers were sunk, and Lieutenant General Fletcher was martyred... After receiving such bad news, even if he usually has a big opinion against Fletcher , General Kim couldn't help but burst into tears. After feeling uncomfortable for a long time, he told the people around him: "Report the intelligence to the president and ask for compensation."

As soon as he finished speaking, Cohen sent a telegram: In view of the insufficient number of aircraft currently available in Puerto Rico, with a total of only 19 P-47s, 21 SBDs and 18 A20s, it is recommended to only attack the enemy's light aircraft carrier forces. Admiral Jin hesitated and agreed, and indicated that the news would be reported to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

These two pieces of news caused violent shocks in the headquarters, and everyone felt very heavy. The Panama battle seemed to have been completely lost. Roosevelt finally made a decision and agreed to the request of the frontline commander. At the same time, he asked Ingersoll to You will try to preserve the battleship force as much as possible.

After completing the attack, Mitsuo Fuchida did not stay, but returned to the mothership at maximum speed. He still remembered Tsukahara's instructions before departure: "If there is an opportunity, we will consider attacking the US battleship formation..."

On the Shokaku, Ryunosuke Kusaka was reporting the results of the battle ahead to Tsukahara 243, and told him that Ingersoll's battleship formation was fleeing towards the Cayman Islands. The distance between the two sides was currently about 850 kilometers, and every Hours are approaching at a speed of 15-20 kilometers.

"Can't catch up..."

"I can't catch up before dark today, but I can still do it tomorrow!" Ryunosuke Kusaka said reluctantly.

Tsukahara shook his head: "Our victory is enough. If we continue to pursue it, we will not be able to bring it into the attack range until at least tomorrow morning. But by then we will re-enter the triple attack of the United States, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico. Who knows that the United States How many more planes can people send?”

"Sir, the Yukikaze sent a telegram, and the U.S. military sank the Hayabusa."

"Where's Xuefeng himself?"

"One near-missile bullet was hit, but the rest were unscathed. The surviving personnel are currently being salvaged."

"Let it quickly rush out of the Caribbean Sea after completing the rescue, and wait to join the main force."

The bombing performance against Yukikaze and Hayabusa was seen as a direct example of the poor technical level of American aircraft: 9 of 16 SBDs achieved only one hit without any interference from enemy aircraft and the main target could only be evaded at 13 knots. It took a bomb from the Falcon to finally sink it, and the other seven SBDs were assigned to attack the Yukikaze. As a result, when the target was maneuvering at a high speed of more than 30 knots, only one near-miss bomb was hit, and it was destroyed instead. Anti-aircraft fire brought down two aircraft, and finally the entire formation withdrew in frustration after the fighter jets launched a ground-to-sea strafing attack. However, this strafing attack on the sea caused considerable damage to the Falcon, with more than 100 casualties, and the damage caused was greater than the bomb.

At a quarter past 16:00, Mitsuo Fuchida led the attack fleet back to the mothership. As soon as he landed on the ship, he anxiously asked Minoru Genda: "Shall we go fight the battleship later?"

"No fight." The latter shook his head and said, "The commander said that the distance to fight today is too far and the risk of fighting tomorrow is too high, so he gave up the plan."

"Ah!" Fuchida Mizuo said with a face full of reluctance, and begged for a plan, "Can I lead the lightning strike aircraft to attack? When we return, let some destroyers come forward for rescue, and we can just jump into the sea! We don't need the plane."

Minoru Genda smiled: Now that the German tycoons are backing us, Mizuo Fuchida has also become extravagant. He will give up the more than 60 Ju-98 aircraft worth more than 15 million yuan at any time.

"The plane doesn't matter, but the action is too dangerous! It will be completely dark when we come back, and rescue at night will not work." Tsukahara flatly rejected this attack plan with no return, "Have a good rest, and we will go to Puerto Rico after dark , those planes are still useful.”

"Puerto Rico?"

The importance of attacking Puerto Rico was confirmed at 18:00. The decoy fleet sent a telegram and the US military attack fleet attacked them. Although the escort fighters provided cover and shot down a large number of enemy planes, the German Commander Tester was The two bombs were later sunk, and the captured Brazilian oil tanker was also sunk, but the rest was unharmed.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief: This was basically the last attack of the US military today. Although two warships were sunk, the losses were completely bearable. More importantly, the artillery formation and decoy formation were able to use the darkness to escape completely.

At nightfall, Horikichi asked Kusuka Renichi: "Where is the mobile fleet now? Where are you going to meet us?"

Kusaru Renyi smiled awkwardly: "He is more than 400 kilometers north of Caracas, and is currently heading 15 degrees. He said he would attack Puerto Rico at night and then meet us in the Azores."

Hori Teikichi looked at the nautical chart and sighed: "I didn't expect him to be more persistent than me. Let him go. We will go due east and take a northeasterly course in 3 hours to Martinique."

"Where are we going?" Kusaru Renyi was a little puzzled.

"Before we set off, the head of state's special envoy said that if there is a chance, he would send us a ship similar to the Commander Teste that can serve as a supplementary aircraft carrier, but we have to take it ourselves."

"In Martinique? A German ship?"

"No, a French ship, the 22,000-ton Béarn."

"So big? As a supplementary aircraft carrier?" Kusaka Renyi was very surprised. This tonnage is much larger than the Soryu class. How could it be a supplementary aircraft carrier? After opening the Jane's Yearbook and taking a closer look, he sighed. Although this aircraft carrier has a large displacement, its deck is only 180 meters long and its speed is only 21 knots.

"I really don't understand the French shipbuilding ideas. The Commander Teste is like this, and the Béarn is still like this. However, it's not bad to have such a supplementary aircraft carrier. Maybe it can be used as a falcon after it is modified back."