Chapter 855: Meeting on a Narrow Road (Part 2, Additional Chapters for 300 Votes This Month)

At 11:25, the German reconnaissance plane arrived at the TF44 formation for its third forced reconnaissance. Not only did it determine the specific position of the formation to guide the attack wave for the last time, it also confirmed that the US attack wave had not yet taken off. However, many anti-aircraft fighters had taken off. , and was soon forced back by the F6F. Spruance put aside his thoughts on the pilot's problem and simply ordered the fleet to turn its course 180 degrees. He was now 100% sure that the enemy was in the north.

"Sir!" Roddick suddenly shouted excitedly, "The reconnaissance plane discovered the enemy fleet. There are two fleet aircraft carriers about 580 kilometers north-east of our fleet. However, the rest of the situation is unknown - halfway through the telegram It’s broken.”

Spruance nodded, guessing that the plane had been shot down. Compared to the German Ar-352, which was incredibly fast, the SBD was really not that fast. It was understandable that it would not be able to escape pursuit, but at least the position was sent back. He nodded and said: "Let's arrange for the attack group to take off... It is estimated that all the enemy attack groups have been released. We must hurry up and release the attack aircraft to try to kill the opponent at once!"

"Take off at full speed!"

Half a minute after the order was issued, the first F6F left the deck and took off, and then the four aircraft carriers released the SBD and TBF at the fastest speed.

Looking at the fleet of aircraft that were constantly taking off and forming a fleet, Spruance thought for a moment and then added: "Leave 12 more fighter jets to participate in fleet air defense!"

As a result, the number of air defense fighters in the TF44 formation reached 72.

At the same time, on the Ise aircraft carrier, Simon looked at Krank very nervously: "Sir, what should we do? We have also been discovered!"

Krank's face was solemn, but he was still calm and asked: "Do you remember when Tsukahara and General Ozawa talked about what to do when encountering this kind of situation?"

Simon blurted out: "I know that when you are weaker than your opponent and far away, once you are discovered by enemy aircraft, there are two better response strategies: First, the fleet disperses and escapes, without considering recovering the aircraft, and the attack group launches a desperate attack , protect the ship with all your strength! Second, take the initiative to divide your troops, abandon some ships as bait, and reserve your strength to wait for the second counterattack!"

"Judging from the current situation, since the US military attack group has not taken off and is far away, plus the time it takes for them to take off, form the team, and fly, it is expected that it will take at least 2-2.5 hours to arrive. These two methods are possible. "Yes, but I plan to use the second one," Krank said with emphasis, "Ships are not the scarcest thing for us. There are more than 10 aircraft carriers lying on the docks of Germany and Italy, and they will be built in the future Axis class. In the future, European countries can start building 20 warships a year. We will not be short of warships in the future, but pilots are the most precious. The reason why we still have a slight advantage in fighting against Britain and the United States in the early stage is because the pilots are better than them. These elite fighters must not be able to do so. Give up. So I decided to choose the second option!”

The dilemma of British and American carrier-based aircraft pilots can be quickly understood through interrogation of captured personnel. Therefore, Japan and Germany are now very precious to pilots, especially outstanding pilots. How can they dare to give up casually?

At 11:29, Krank issued an order to formally divide the fleet, and the entire fleet was divided into two: the heavy cruiser Savoy and Seydlitz continued to advance south, but the speed was reduced to 16 knots, attracting the enemy. Line of sight, Ise and Gneisenau turned course to the east-north, increasing their speed to 26 knots. The few destroyers were also divided. Krank gritted his teeth and assigned 6 destroyers, including 4 Hedgehogs, to the Savoy. He only brought 2 destroyers to accompany him, and then divided 23 anti-aircraft fighters. 16 for the Savoy formation.

His logic is very clear. He uses the Savoy formation as a decoy to attract the enemy's attention. Since the two sides are far apart, the situation will be easier to deal with once the US attack fleet has been entangled for a long time - if the US aircraft still wants to return, they can only Able to give up the pursuit and attack on the Ise formation. Of course, this strategy is also very risky. It will be troublesome if the enemy bites the Ise first, but in this case, the probability of the Savoy's decoy formation being preserved will increase a lot.

At 11:49, the radar room informed Spruance: "Sir, enemy planes are coming. The distance is about 140 kilometers, and the number is more than 80..."

He turned around and asked Roddick: "How long will it take for our military planes to take off?"

"Maybe another 8-10 minutes."

"Let the fighter jets move forward to intercept as much as possible."

Unexpectedly, Roddick looked embarrassed: "I'm afraid, this is difficult..."

"Why?" Spruance asked in surprise, "The enemy is very fast?"

"No, it's very high!" Roddick said with a wry smile. "The radar shows that enemy planes are coming from an altitude of 9,000 meters. However, our F6F is very slow above 7,000 meters. Although it can reach 9,000 meters (the maximum ceiling is 11,000 meters) meters), but it basically has no maneuverability and is extremely heavy!”

"Damn it!" Spruance's heart suddenly sank - the enemy has new equipment!

Rodick's worries soon became a reality. After discovering that the German attack group was approaching from high altitude, several F6Fs on the periphery did not admit defeat and directly chose to climb and intercept. However, at an altitude of 9,000 meters, these F6Fs were simply a weight. As soon as they fought, 8 F412s were shot down. The starting point of the design of Do-412 itself is high-altitude interception. It can be used to fight heavy bombers like B-17\B-29. Not to mention 9,000 meters, its performance at an altitude of 10,000 meters is still basically normal. Of course, it is definitely not as good as the horizontal dogfighting of Bf-219 at low altitude. However, now the German pilots only want to play high altitude and high speed. Who will play dogfight with you?

The F6F's strategy of climbing first and then luring the enemy planes down did not work. The Germans ignored the American planes that dived away and rushed straight towards the US fleet. There were no torpedo planes in the German attack formation today, so the most commonly used onion peeling tactics were difficult to work, but the advantages brought by high altitude and high speed were also obvious, and they directly occupied the attack position in the middle of the fleet.

The 76mm anti-aircraft guns installed on the US aircraft carriers and destroyers that entered service in late 1943 all had VT proximity fuses, but at an altitude of about 9,000 meters, the lethality of the 76mm anti-aircraft guns was not strong. The German attack aircraft group circled over the US fleet wantonly, as if strolling in the garden, and the US officers and soldiers below were angry but helpless.

Although Lieutenant Colonel ******, who led the team, wanted to attack the two Essex-class ships with more obvious targets directly, judging from the density of anti-aircraft firepower, these two were by no means easy targets, and there were dozens of fighters below, who were eyeing them covetously, and they might be covered in wounds if they attacked. He circled the fleet and said on the radio: "Cohen, take the fighter planes down to tease the Americans later, I'm going to use Plan 3!"

"Understood!"

"Attention, all members, Plan 3!"

"Understood!"

"Hualala", the large formation of 84 aircraft was divided into more than 10 small formations, and then began to dive, and the altitude dropped sharply, 8,000 meters, 7,000 meters, 6,000 meters...

Seeing that the enemy began to attack and entered the predetermined altitude where the F6F was stationed, the American pilots around immediately flew over to prepare for interception, but at this moment, the originally diving attack aircraft suddenly quickly changed to level and climb, and the Do-412s swooped down and used the BZ tactics. One after another, the F6Fs were originally aimed at attack aircraft, and they followed the German aircraft and wanted to climb without warning, but they were hit by the Do-412s. In less than 90 seconds, Captain Cohen led the fighter formation to kill 17 F6Fs that intended to intercept, and only 3 were lost, which made the American pilots scream.

The attack group climbed to an altitude of about 8,000 meters again, then reorganized, dispersed, and dived... Diving to an altitude of about 5,500 meters, they quickly leveled off. This time, the F6Fs who had learned their lesson did not fall for it, and continued to stay in the air to monitor the upper part to prevent being hit by enemy fighters again, but they never expected that they would be fooled again this time. Not long after leveling off, the attack group did not choose to climb but continued to dive directly, aiming at the Unicorn and San Jacinto in the middle of the formation.

"Oops!" Spruance and Roddick, who were watching the battle below, could not know that they were fooled?

The fighter pilots also found that they were fooled, and hurriedly flew over to remedy it, but it was too late.

More than 20 Ju-198s began to attack around two smaller American aircraft carriers. The skilled and daring German pilots even used the combo tactics they had practiced for a long time - dropping two 400 kg bombs in the bomb bay at a speed of 0.2 seconds. They had verified this tactic during domestic training. If they were fully confident in the bombing accuracy and the judgment of the landing point, the trajectory and landing point of the bombs in the two consecutive attacks would be very close, which could maximize the collateral damage effect. When they were lucky, there would even be incredible results - the big hole formed by the explosion of the first bomb just allowed the second bomb to pass through, and then the second bomb could fly down along the exploded hole to attack the deep structure and cabin of the ship.

Knowing that the attack opportunity was precious, the German pilots now used combos directly, instead of dropping bombs first, pulling up to observe the effect, and then performing the standard action of dropping bombs in the second round.

The sailors of the Unicorn and San Jacinto below tried their best to avoid the bombs falling from the sky. The 40mm and 20mm anti-aircraft guns fired fiercely, pulling up a fire net composed of bullets in the air, trying to cover the attacking German attack planes. Two Ju-198s failed to avoid it and were hit by the dense firepower and turned into a ball of fire in the air and fell.

But there were too many German planes swooping down. They ignored the casualties of their companions and continued to rush down with gritted teeth, attacking the two warships one after another!