Chapter 738 Atlantic Strangulation War (47)

After the loud noises of "boom" and "boom", a high column of water rushed up into the sky. Most of the torpedoes were avoided by the warships, but there were also unlucky ones who were hit by torpedoes, such as the two heavy cruisers Duquesne and Tourville. In name, they all belonged to Free France, but Free France relied on the British and American influence for everything, so it would never dare to go west if it went east. These warships were also pulled out to fight and joined the aircraft carrier formation. It is actually relatively easy to avoid torpedoes with their speed and size, but since they serve as the sword-carrying guards of two Essex-class aircraft carriers, they must have the courage to withstand torpedoes at critical moments - now the opportunity has finally come.

The French were unlucky enough. Before World War II, they built a total of 7 treaty-type heavy cruisers of 3 levels, and their performance was not particularly bad. They had great advantages over those fragile British ones. Unfortunately, they did not use the last one. The Alliance and the Axis divided the legacy separately, with the former getting 2 ships and the latter getting 5 ships. As a result, four ships were lost today at once - the Axis lost the Suffren and Algeria, and the Allies lost the Duquesne and Tourville.

It is very interesting to summarize it in one sentence: The Japanese commander and the British commander faced off in the Atlantic, using American and German aircraft to sink warships originally belonging to France and Italy respectively. Who suffered the greater loss in the end?

Faced with the result of losing two light aircraft carriers and two heavy cruisers in one breath, everyone, including Cunningham, took a breath of cold air. Isn't the German attack efficiency too high? However, they soon had no time to think about it. The next round of attack waves continued to rush down. This time the focus of the attack was on the left wing, which was somewhat confused after the adjustment of the course. Frank seized the fleeting opportunity and ordered 36 He-218s to rush down together, aiming at the light cruisers and light aircraft carriers on the left wing to continue the attack, focusing on the three light cruisers Santa Fe, Birmingham and Mobile (all Cleveland class) with dense anti-aircraft firepower. After careful observation, he found that their presence posed a great threat to the subsequent aircraft group attack and must be killed first.

After the dive bombers attacked, taking advantage of the chaos of the anti-aircraft firepower transfer, the Ju-98 also lost no time to descend in altitude and approached the front of the US fleet to drop torpedoes. Now, the sea surface is full of numbing torpedo tracks and the continuous whistling of bombs.

Although the regional anti-aircraft firepower formed by these three light cruisers shot down a total of 8 German aircraft, their own fate was also doomed at this moment: the Santa Fe was hit by 3 bombs and was severely damaged, and its speed was reduced to less than 8 knots; the Birmingham was hit by 2 bombs and 1 torpedo, struggling to take on water and capsized; the worst was the Mobile, which was hit by 3 torpedoes in a row and was blown into several sections and sank directly. More than 1,200 officers and soldiers were rescued, but less than 100 people. After losing the anti-aircraft firepower group composed of these warships, the remaining anti-aircraft firepower on the left wing of the US aircraft carrier formation was greatly weakened. Now it was easy to deal with the remaining warships. The 9 He-218s finally swooped down and used 4 bombs to send the light aircraft carrier USS Cowpens to the bottom of the sea.

Frank had used up two-thirds of his attack power at this time. After looking around, he aimed at several fleet carriers at the core of the British and American fleets, especially the most prominent and prominent Bunker Hill and Intrepid. However, he made a mistake in selecting the target. He instinctively thought that the two huge aircraft carriers were the flagships, but ignored the Unicorn, which was actually carrying the flagship logo. He failed to paralyze the command center in the first place, but allowed it to issue orders one by one. The remaining British and American warships accelerated to form a wheel-shaped air defense formation under the command of the flagship. The three light cruisers Denver, Montpelier, and Biloxi (all Cleveland-class) quickly formed a regional defense center according to Cunningham's requirements, and used intensive firepower to cover the core airspace of several aircraft carriers, which gave Frank, who was commanding in the air, a headache.

After thinking for a full half minute, he didn't want his men to rush down and die, but he didn't dare to ignore the power of these light cruisers. He had to send all the last 20 or so He-218 dive bombers to attack the surrounding areas, and then sent the last 18 torpedo attack planes to assist in the attack, hoping to use torpedoes to solve the two Essex-class ships in the center of the wheel-shaped air defense array from the gaps and chaos opened by the dive bombers. Although the dive bombers used bombs to blow these light cruisers to death, they could not sink them for a while and still blocked several torpedoes. Frank's last attack, which he had high hopes for, only achieved the results of sinking two light cruisers and severely damaging one. At least the Brave was hit by a torpedo at the last moment. Unfortunately, all the special mines carried by the joint attack aircraft were consumed, otherwise the lethality would be greater. The aviation torpedoes currently used were weak in lethality to the Essex class, and barely counted as a medium damage. The Essex class was well-known in the German army for its solidity, and Frank thought it was acceptable...

At 16:28, Frank led the attack group and sank 2 heavy cruisers, 3 Independence-class light aircraft carriers, 5 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, severely damaged 2 light cruisers, 1 light aircraft carrier (Bataan), and destroyed 1 fleet aircraft carrier (Intrepid). During the attack, 64 enemy air defense fighters were shot down. The price paid was not small, with 19 fighters and 23 attack aircraft lost, and the overall casualty rate was nearly 20%. This was because he chose the "peeling onion" tactic with a relatively low casualty rate, attacking from the outer circle to the inner layer. If he directly attacked the Essex class at the core, the casualties would only be greater, which he did not want to see.

But he regretted it on the way back. Just after he sent the telegram to report the result of the battle, the mothership sent him a telegram. After hearing the telegraph operator's report that "the Elbe sank and the Skyhawk was severely damaged and lost its ability to take off and land", he He was stunned, and his expression suddenly became solemn: Although he caused 4 light aircraft carriers to the US military, 3 were sunk and 1 was damaged, the core combat power of the US military - the 2 Essex-class aircraft carriers - remained unchanged. , which means that the US military can still retain the combat effectiveness of its two major and one medium-sized aircraft carriers, which is still stronger than its own.

"Form members, please note that due to the damage to the Elbe and Skyhawk aircraft carriers, all aircraft originally belonging to the ships will accompany the joint strike aircraft back to the Newfoundland land base to land..."

Under the completely dark sky, the returning German formation silently divided into two groups and returned to their destination. Half an hour after they left Cunningham's fleet, the British and American attack aircraft groups that had returned first had landed on the mothership one after another.

Both sides suffered heavy losses in this round of fighting. The German air defense and attack aircraft groups lost a total of 103 aircraft, with an overall battle loss rate of 34%. They also lost an additional 71 pilots (groups), 2 aircraft carriers and 2 heavy cruisers. The British and American losses were even greater when accumulated. Including the Army Air Force and the Canadian Air Force, a total of 489 aircraft were lost. The overall battle loss rate was as high as 60%. The carrier-based aircraft pilots alone lost 50% of the original establishment. Four independent-class light aircraft carriers were also included. If the losses on the heavy cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers were added to it, it would be too serious to look at.

As night fell, the top leaders of the two fleets unanimously discussed countermeasures and considered the next course of action.

"By calling on other warship crews and backup aircraft, the aircraft establishments of the Zeppelin and the Harrier are now fully staffed. There are also 89 aircraft, including some carrier-based aircraft due to insufficient mothership capacity, landing at the Newfoundland base for supplies... At one point in the morning The ace pilot Hartmann who was mistakenly thought to be missing also successfully landed on the island and is in good physical condition. "The aviation staff reported on the combat readiness and emphasized the current situation of Hartmann. Although the latter did not break Marseille's 17 in one day. The record of battle results, but the news of 13 battle results in one day also shocked everyone. At least it was unique in the history of Hainan Airlines. Marshal ordered to search for him at all costs. Only later did he learn that this kid had gone to Newfoundland.

The embarrassing situation of the German army now is that there are more aircraft than warships, and the carrier-based aircraft cannot be arranged and they have to take refuge in Newfoundland.

On the other hand, the Cunningham Fleet was immersed in an atmosphere of mourning. The remaining two large and one medium warships could still accommodate a total of 204 aircraft, but there were only 148 aircraft left to return to the warships, even though more than 20 backup aircraft were urgently called. , failed to complete the organizational structure, and looked empty. What is even more uncomfortable is the loss of the pilots. Many of the comrades who were still vaguely in sight in the afternoon failed to come back. At the last moment, Cunningham ordered to risk turning on the lights to attract the aircraft to return, but after waiting for more than half an hour, only one was recovered. As time went by, As time went by, the possibility of the remaining pilots returning safely became less and less likely. The ground crew in the Kurdish area burst into tears, trying not to let their tears fall.

"Everyone, we have not failed. Although the losses of the fleet are heavy, the losses of the enemy are also not slight. What's more important is that we can make up for these losses relatively easily, but the enemy cannot do this..." Facing the dejected staff officer Cunningham encouraged them, "The Joint Chiefs of Staff has sent us reinforcements. The task force composed of the Valiant and San Jacinto has set off from the east coast. They will join the fleet. We must not be afraid of sacrifices." , continue to fight the Germans, and send them all to the bottom of the sea! "

The news of the arrival of reinforcements seemed to give everyone a shot in the arm, and the staff began to make calculations: the fleet now consists of three aircraft carriers, two large and one medium, plus two aircraft carriers, one large and one small, returning the overall number to five aircraft carriers. With a fleet of nearly 300 aircraft, the German army only has 2 aircraft carriers left. Even if you add the aircraft carrier on the British-Canada route, there are only 3 aircraft carriers. In addition, we can also get cover from the army and aviation, which completely overwhelms them in terms of combat effectiveness. opponent.

Everyone's mood for revenge suddenly rose!