Chapter 880 Accident (9)

If it was the Ticonderoga with Aegis that Hoffman traveled through this era, Seydlitz's planes would not be taken seriously at all, not even enough to fill the gaps between his teeth. Unfortunately, this was only the Essex class, which was more than 70 years earlier, and it was a matter of life and death.

This new aircraft carrier, which was only put into service in March, is the second Essex class aircraft carrier "gifted" to the British government by the US government after the Hornet. Although it is called a gift, the British actually paid a considerable price - in addition to 100 elite pilots of the Royal Air Force, Cunningham's original flagship Unicorn followed Spruance to South Africa, but sank in the South Atlantic, and many British officers and soldiers on it were killed and wounded. Now, it is the turn of this new aircraft carrier, which still smells of paint, to face the fierce attack of the German army on a sunny spring afternoon - the first battle is always so unexpected.

The artillery jungle on the aircraft carrier opened fire fiercely. More than 20 127mm dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns, Bofus anti-aircraft guns, and 55 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns quickly built an impenetrable steel storm, trying to create a strong enough barrier for the warship. The surrounding cruisers and destroyers were also doing their best to fire artillery to help share the burden. Even though Seydlitz had adopted a combat method of three 4-plane formations divided into three airspaces in the front, middle and back to coordinate and disperse the enemy's firepower to the maximum extent, it still felt that the shrapnel around the aircraft was flying wantonly, and it seemed that the aircraft would be destroyed and killed in the next second.

Fear of no way out, the more afraid the longer you stay in the air, the more likely you will be hit, and the beginning of the dive stage is the most likely time to be hit. Sure enough, at the beginning of the dive, the front and middle sections of the Ju-198 were hit and directly turned into fireballs, but the remaining German aircraft resolutely passed through the fire net and began to dive and attack. The U.S. military did not get any advantage. A total of 9 planes successfully dropped bombs, and 18 400 kg bombs hit the ship 8 at once. In particular, 4 of them were double bombs, which instantly destroyed the entire deck of the Ticonderoga from the front elevator to the rear elevator.

Air waves were emptied, shrapnel flew, limbs danced, countless parts, steel fragments, warship components and human limbs were lifted high and fell heavily, and the whole warship seemed to be cut open from head to tail with a giant blade. It was horrible. The hangar and part of the fuel depot under the deck also caused a sympathetic explosion, and the dull sound continued. The gushing high-temperature steam steamed some sailors alive. The entire warship soon became a ruin, like a burning belt with thick smoke and flames.

Although the number of bullets was similar to that of the Wasp in South Africa, the Ticonderoga was much more seriously injured than the Wasp due to the explosion of some fuel. The entire warship was paralyzed on the water, and the speed dropped to less than 7 knots in an instant.

Seidlitz, who had already climbed up, knew that the warship was doomed, but he felt it was not cost-effective to use aircraft to sink the opponent with 400 kg aerial bombs, so he aimed at the next opponent-the Franklin not far away.

However, after the torpedo evasion, the Franklin and the surrounding warships had gradually returned to the regional air defense state, and the overall air defense firepower was stronger than that of the Ticonderoga. Considering that the losses in the first wave of attacks today were already great, he did not force it, but let the remaining aircraft attack the lone cruiser next to him. As for the aircraft carrier, he believed that the second wave would have the opportunity and time to take them away.

"The Ticonderoga was badly damaged, but the captain is still trying to save it!"

In fact, Nimitz and Cunningham didn't need to listen to the report. They knew what happened just by looking at the situation on the battlefield. They looked at each other, sighed heavily, and felt a deep sense of powerlessness. But the situation on the battlefield was like this, and they were quite helpless.

Cunningham issued instructions: "If it is confirmed that it is not possible, abandon the ship as soon as possible and keep the officers and soldiers as much as possible."

An Essex-class ship has more than 3,600 officers and soldiers, as well as very valuable reserve pilots and skilled ground staff. At least one-third of them will be lost in the bombing just now, and the other two-thirds cannot be lost.

The remaining German dive bombers found two cruisers, one is the Marblehead (Omaha class) and the other is the Vincennes (Cleveland class). The former was old after all and sank on the spot, and the latter was hit by three bombs and barely survived. It floated on the sea like a dead fish. The captain reluctantly abandoned the ship.

In just one round of attack, the US military not only lost a valuable Essex-class aircraft carrier, but also lost half of the total of 8 Omaha-class light cruisers, and only 30 defensive fighters were left over the fleet.

The price paid by Seidritz was not light. Under the joint blockade of the enemy's anti-aircraft firepower and anti-aircraft fighters, a total of 13 Do-412s and 21 Ju-198s were lost. The overall number of losses was only 2 less than that of the opponent, and the loss rate was as high as 20%.

In addition to the stronger opponent, there is one thing he thinks cannot be ignored-the Do-412 is very powerful as an interceptor, but it can only play the BZ effect. It is not as effective as the Bf-219 in medium and low-altitude dogfighting and cover. He knows that the country is still demonstrating the Bf-319, and he really wants to know whether the latter can improve this situation.

The battle here has just ended, and the German air defense war has also begun. This time, it went forward 250 kilometers to meet the enemy. The British and American joint naval aviation formation ran into the main fighter group of the German Air Force that had been waiting for a long time. There was no way to get around it. Ozawa deployed four destroyers outside the fleet and used radar to indicate the direction of the enemy in advance. Coupled with the slow speed of the US aircraft fleet, it was impossible to get around it.

"This is Fw-190! ******, where did they come from?" Major Lawrence, commander of the British escort fighter, yelled on the radio.

"Sir, it's too late to complain, hurry up and release the auxiliary fuel tank!" His wingman reminded him, "It will be too late if you are slow."

"Fighters, release the auxiliary fuel tanks!" Lawrence shouted on the radio, "Others, don't release them first, otherwise you can't go back!"

"Hahaha, a bunch of stupid birds, you still don't want to release the auxiliary fuel tanks now, are you waiting to be roasted chicken?" Lieutenant Colonel Lant, commander of the German Air Force, yelled on the radio, "Brothers, business is coming, go! Today is the turn of the Air Force to open."

After that, he led the fighters who had just released the auxiliary fuel tanks The 102 fighters (48 Fw-1412) rushed over. Unlike the naval aviation, which often had to fight, the air force, especially the German aircraft deployed in the Azores, had continued to expand in strength, and no one dared to provoke them for more than a few months. The British heavy bombers that used to come to harass from time to time also disappeared. Except for the deployment of some troops in the last Newfoundland battle, many people had never fought with real swords and guns, and had been pent up for a long time. Seeing the nearly 200 black formations of the US military, how could they not be excited? In their view, the shaking planes on the opposite side were achievement points, military exploits, and even medals.

The fighter teams of both sides rushed head-on, and the US attack aircraft formation fell behind. Suddenly, the Fw-1412 formation began to climb.

"What kind of tactics is this? Are they going to force their way over our heads?" Lawrence thought so, but he didn't dare to really climb, because he had seen the Do-412 before, and it was absolutely a dead end to compete with the climbing ability, especially the medium and high altitude ability. But today, the Fw-190 was very strange. Didn't they always play BZ? Why did they put on the posture of Bf-109 and start hedging? Fortunately, Lawrence changed his career from the Royal Air Force, otherwise he wouldn't even know these tricks.

But he didn't expect the intention and value of the opponent's formation: Lant was basically using the US aircraft carrier attack aircraft group as the US strategic bomber formation.

The distance between the two sides quickly approached less than 3 kilometers, and the German aircraft group suddenly dispersed. Lawrence instinctively thought it was not good, but it was too late.

"Fire!" Lant pressed the launch switch first after giving the order, and his teammates followed suit. This batch of Fw-190s fired all 24 R4M rockets carried under the wings. Lawrence felt a light in front of his eyes, and bright things rushed over at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He finally knew what he was facing - this was the German air-launched R4M rocket, which they used to deal with B-17\29 and Lancaster. He didn't expect that it would happen to him today. .

"Rockets! Climb!" This was the response he thought of, and it was also the only correct evasive action. Forcing it to stand firm and diving were not good methods - because the rocket itself has a falling trajectory, and diving might hit it directly.

More than 1,000 rockets were launched at the same time, drawing bright tracks in the air. The German officers and soldiers watching the battle below thought they were dazzled for a moment - someone actually set off fireworks in broad daylight?

Except for some rockets that lost control and fell directly into the sea, the rest of the rockets exploded in the fighter group. The flying shrapnel immediately tore a huge gap in the originally dense fighter group - more than 10 fighters almost fell directly down.

Before Lawrence, who had climbed and leveled off, came to his senses, he saw the group of Do-412s just now dived towards his own attack group. Those SBD\TBFs were in a hurry to throw away the auxiliary fuel tanks, and some even threw torpedoes and bombs directly into the sea, just wanting to be as light as possible.

"No..."

But it was completely too late - more than 1,000 rockets rushed into the attack group from a high altitude with a thunderous momentum, hitting the opponent with ghosts and wolves howling, and TBFs and SBDs fell into the sea one after another.

Explosion, burning, falling... These were all the scenes that appeared in Lawrence's eyes, until the sound of a 20mm cannon shell flying past the cockpit made him sober up.