Time passed slowly, and the sun lengthened the shadows of the battleship and people little by little. Standing on the bridge, Kiichi Endo's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. Chief of Staff Yu Huanmao stood aside and remained silent.
Just today, his fleet has been attacked by two waves from the bottom of the sea. This attack was sudden and without warning. No one knows when a torrent with white foam will rush over from a distance, and then this torrent will be loaded onto a certain ship in the fleet. This feeling is like what Westerners often say is hanging overhead. It is as terrifying as the Sword of Damocles, because no one knows when the disaster will come, and a torpedo with destruction may kiss the ship you are on intimately while you are going to the toilet. Then the entire ship will be buried in the belly of the fish in the explosion.
As the saying goes, the courage of a soldier is the courage of a soldier. Endo Kiichi's mood infected the atmosphere in the command room, and all the officers became nervous. Although they also sank one of the opponent's submarines in the battle two hours ago, no one was happy because in their opinion they really suffered a big loss this time.
Those hateful Chinese sank one of their destroyers and two troop carriers at the cost of one submarine, severely damaged one of their light cruisers, and caused the casualties of more than 500 sailors. This price is not unbearable. What makes them particularly uneasy is that they don't know when such an attack will end. Is this the same Chinese navy that they usually ignore?
He turned his head to a destroyer next to him and watched the snow-white foamy water pouring out of the scuppers on the side of the destroyer. Endoki asked without looking back: "What time is it now?"
Yu Huanchang behind him was stunned for a moment, looked up at the clock on the wall and immediately replied: "Report to your Excellency, General. It is now 1730 hours."
"1730 hours!" Endo Kiichi looked at the setting sun that had begun to tilt, and the wrinkles between his brows deepened a little deeper. "Order the planes in the sky to prepare to return. It will be dangerous if you wait until dark before returning."
Yu Huan hesitated for a moment, "Your Excellency, Commander, what if the Chinese submarine appears again if we call back all the planes? Destroyers alone may not be able to react that quickly, and it's not completely dark yet."
Endo Kiichi raised his head and looked at the orange fish-scale clouds in the sky. Feeling the slightly humid sea breeze again, he shook his head and said: "Judging from the sky, it is very likely that there will be heavy rain tonight. It is better to let the plane land as soon as possible, otherwise the logistics personnel will have to wait until dark before landing." There was no time to haul the plane into the hangar and secure it.¡±
"This" Yu Huancuan was stunned for a moment, and had no choice but to nod. Storms on the sea are a joke from time to time. Even aircraft carriers that look huge and majestic to ordinary people are no different from ordinary leaves in front of nature. Not to mention those aircraft. If the aircraft are not towed into the hangar and fixed before the storm comes, unnecessary non-combat losses will most likely be caused after the storm arrives.
Just when Yu Huanmao was about to walk to the command room, suddenly the alarm above the mast rang wildly. The shrill siren shook the ears of Endo Kiichi and Yu Huanmao who were not far away from them. .
"No, it's an air raid siren!" Endo Kiichi and Yu Huanmao looked at each other and shouted in unison. Then he turned around and ran towards the command room almost at the same time
A huge aircraft formation flew in from the southwest. This formation was divided into three levels, upper and lower, with dozens of aircraft on each level, roughly counting nearly two hundred aircraft.
Zhang Yang flew his beloved P-51 Mustang fighter on the left wing of the formation. He turned to look at the SBD-5 dive bomber flying in formation on the right. He looked at them with great interest.
Suddenly, a green signal light on the left indicating internal communication lit up. He pressed it casually and asked lazily: "What's wrong with Lao Tuo?"
A very young voice rang in my ears: "Yoko, have you seen the flight formation next to us?"
Zhang Yang said impatiently: "Nonsense, I'm not blind, of course I saw it."
"Have you noticed how ugly they are? They are almost as ugly as those Stukas in the bombing squadron."
Zhang Yang laughed after hearing this: "Damn, Lao Tuo, you are still so ungrateful with your foul mouth. Be careful if the people in the bombing squadron hear this and they will fight you tooth and nail. They treat Stuka as their own son."
Lao Tuo is Zhang Yang¡¯s new wingman, a young man from Anhui. Everything else is good, but he is a bit too wordy. After listening to Zhang Yang's words, he curled his lips and said, "Originally, look at these bombers of the Hainan Division. The speed brakes under the wings are full of holes. They are so ugly. They are not as good-looking as the Stukas of our Second Division. ???I said, if Hainan Airlines wants to equip bombers, why don't they use Stukas? Not to mention the large bomb load, and the bombing accuracy is also high. Isn't it better than this thing with holes all over the wings? "
"Shut up!" Zhang Yang scolded angrily and amusingly: "You know what the hell, HNA's aircraft are different from ours, haven't you noticed that all the metals used in HNA's aircraft have been double treated to prevent seawater corrosion? This is to prevent them from rusting and aging prematurely, and they focus more on training for takeoff and landing. Also, when they conduct bombing training, they focus on bombing moving targets, etc. The difference here is huge. You kid doesn¡¯t understand anything, so you just talk nonsense, and I heard it. If others heard it, you wouldn¡¯t be able to laugh at us. You kid, please don¡¯t say such stupid things in the future, do you understand?¡±
"Oh" Lao Tuo agreed a little aggrievedly, but still muttered unconvincedly, "No matter how proud they are, they still don't want us to help."
"What did you say?" Zhang Yang, who was on the other end of the communicator, asked with a frown.
"Ahit's nothing. I mean, pay attention to the front. There may be something going on."
Just as the hunchback was busy making excuses, the commander's voice came from the headset, "Everyone pay attention! Everyone pay attention! We are approaching the Japanese aircraft carrier formation, and all bombers and torpedo planes will climb up immediately. The air group of the Navy Division and The 2nd Air Force Regiment climbed to an altitude of 6,000 meters on the left and right sides respectively, and the fighters of the 2nd Air Force Division moved forward to make contact with the enemy aircraft!"
"yes!"
After hearing the order, the two squadrons of the Second Air Division quickly increased their throttle and flew forward. As they approached, over the Japanese aircraft carrier formation more than ten kilometers away from them, shrill sirens had already sounded. Zero fighter jets took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier and flew towards Zhang Yang and the others. Come over, on the decks of destroyers and cruisers on the periphery of the fleet, Japanese sailors have been waiting for a long time.
Seeing the Zero fighter jets flying towards us, the captain of Zhang Yang's squadron said loudly in the communicator: "Brothers, we have always listened to others bragging to us about how elite the Hainan Airlines pilots of the Japs are. Some people also laugh that our Third Squadron, like the pacifier painted on the chicken tail, can only bully those weak Japanese Army Air Force planes, but now the little devil¡¯s Hainan Airlines plane is right in front of us, do we want to fight him?¡±
¡°Fuck, fuck me!¡±
"I have long heard that the Hainan Airlines of the little devils are all elites. Now let's collide with them. Our squadron is fighting elites!"
The pilots of the Pacifier Squadron were so irritated by the squadron leader that they couldn't hold it back any longer and started to scream one by one.
"Baga Yalu, let all the fighter planes take off immediatelytake off to meet the enemy" On the Akamai aircraft carrier, which was protected by many destroyers and cruisers on the sea, the excited Kiichi Endo waved his command sword and shouted loudly to the surrounding officers. roared wildly.
No one blamed Endo Kiichi for his temporary loss of composure. At this time, everyone's eyes were attracted by the overwhelming number of fighter planes. The Japanese fleet had already discovered the Chinese fighter jets when they were still more than 20 kilometers away from the Japanese fleet, which gave them valuable time to take off to meet the enemy. However, no one, including Endo Kiichi, paid any attention to it. Congratulations, because now even the stupidest people can see their own disadvantages.
Although the three aircraft carriers of the aircraft carrier fleet carry a total of more than 150 Zero fighters to provide them with protection, no one of them is sure to escape the overwhelming Chinese fighters.
The air battle over the fleet entered a fierce stage from the beginning. Hundreds of fighter planes were entangled with each other in the sky. Fire snakes streaked across the sky. Rumbling gunshots filled the entire sky. Fighters continued to appear. Black smoke fell toward the sea, and fighter planes continued to catch fire or even explode in the air.
¡°Both the Chinese and Japanese pilots were all furious at this moment, and they all understood that they had no way out. If the Chinese side loses, it means that the Japanese can drive the fleet to the coastline, use their powerful naval guns to bombard and cover their ground troops to retreat under the cover of night. And if the Japanese side loses, it means that their two most elite divisions will be annexed and eaten by the Chinese. This will definitely be a heavy blow to Japan. Even the most elite second and third divisions will They were all wiped out by the Chinese, and their boast of a greater East Asian community was nothing more than a joke.