Chapter 919: Still Defeat XI

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

All 20 127mm dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns on the Iowa battleship were roaring, and expensive radio proximity fuze anti-aircraft shells were fired into the sky as if they were free. At the same time, 15 quadruple 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns were also firing vigorously, and tracer bullets were sprayed into the air in rows and rows, weaving a fire net to protect the Essex aircraft carrier around it.

Unlike the previous two attack waves that did not dare to choose the most valuable and best protected Essex-class aircraft carrier, the attack aircraft group sent by the Japanese First Mobile Fleet was very brave and directly chose the Essex aircraft carrier near the Iowa and the other three Essex-class aircraft carriers.

However, the four Essex-class aircraft carriers are not easy targets to deal with. They are all protected by a battleship. The Essex is near the Iowa, the Intrepid is near the New Jersey, the Hornet is near the Washington, and the Franklin is near the New York.

The anti-aircraft firepower of the four battleships that serve as "gun escorts" is very strong. Even the old New York has been modified for the purpose of strengthening air defense, and a large number of 127mm dual-purpose anti-aircraft guns, 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns and 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns have been installed. The Essex-class aircraft carrier itself also has very strong anti-aircraft firepower.

In addition, there is a circular air defense array composed of destroyers around the four Essex-class aircraft carriers and their close escort battleships.

It can be said responsibly that around the four precious Essex aircraft carriers is the most concentrated place for anti-aircraft artillery in the world.

However, the Japanese "Comet" dive bombers and "Meteor" torpedo bombers carrying bombs continued to rush towards the four large fleet aircraft carriers.

The first to launch a desperate assault was the "Comet" dive bomber, an air killer that is hard to defend against. The "Comet" aircraft has a fast speed, with a theoretical maximum speed of 580 kilometers per hour. Although the speed when carrying bombs cannot reach this level, it is still a difficult target to intercept. Once the "Comet" starts to dive, the speed is even more amazing. Even if a large number of 40mm anti-aircraft guns are installed on surface ships, the proportion of successful interception of the "Comet" is difficult to exceed 50%.

In other words, at least half of the "Comet" dive bombers successfully broke through the 40mm guns and dropped terrible bombs!

However, it is precisely because of its high speed that the accuracy of bombing has decreased. Compared with the 80% hit rate of the earlier Type 99 carrier-based bomber (during training), the hit rate of the "Comet" dive bomber has dropped by about half, leaving less than 50%. In actual combat, under the interference of dense anti-aircraft firepower, the hit rate will further drop significantly.

However, the Japanese dive bombers' successive attacks, like moths to a flame, quickly achieved results. At 6:12 pm, the USS Franklin, which was "closely protected" by the USS New York, was hit by a 500-kilogram bomb near the stern elevator. The bomb directly penetrated the deck, drilled into the hangar and exploded. The violent explosion destroyed the spare aircraft in the hangar and triggered a series of explosions and fires. The stern elevator was damaged, all the hangar personnel were killed, and the smoke column was hundreds of meters high.

The fire on the USS Franklin quickly became a target to attract enemy aircraft. All dive bombers and torpedo planes that had not yet dropped bombs rushed to the USS Franklin and the nearby USS New York, and bombs and torpedoes fell like raindrops.

The Franklin and the battleship New York next to it were hit in succession. In less than 10 minutes, the bow and midship decks of the Franklin aircraft carrier were hit by two armor-piercing bombs each. The huge explosion opened two large holes on the flight deck of the Franklin, making this large fleet aircraft carrier with a standard displacement of more than 30,000 tons completely lose the ability to take off and land aircraft.

However, this huge aircraft carrier did not seem to be sinking at all. It floated steadily on the sea, and the power was not lost. The anti-aircraft guns on the ship were still madly spraying bullets into the sky.

The New York was hit by three 500-kilogram bombs, one of which was a 500-kilogram armor-piercing shell that penetrated the top of the main gun turret in the midship of the New York (the New York had 5 turrets) and exploded inside the turret. Fortunately, it was an air defense operation at this time, and there were no shells and bullets inside the turret that could explode, and all the fire doors were firmly closed. So this bomb only destroyed a turret and did not cause any fatal damage. Another 500 kg bomb penetrated the deck of the bow of the battleship and exploded in the sailor's cabin, causing a fire, but it was not fatal. Another bomb exploded on the starboard deck of the battleship, directly destroying several anti-aircraft guns, exploding some ammunition and causing a fire.

The USS Baltimore, which was guarding the other side of the USS Franklin (it was also part of the circular anti-aircraft formation), also became the focus of the Japanese fighter planes' attack - this heavy cruiser was huge, with a full load displacement of more than 17,000 tons, and it was also a so-called "anti-aircraft type", with 12 127mm guns, 48 ​​40mm guns, and 24 20mm machine guns. The anti-aircraft firepower was almost the same as that of an Iowa-class battleship, so it was also mistaken for a battleship.

For the Japanese naval aviation, battleships are also extremely valuable targets, so they attracted many dive-bombing "Comets" and "Meteors", but the anti-aircraft guns on the Baltimore heavy cruiser were not vegetarians. The rain of bullets sprayed formed a deadly fire net in the air, causing the attacking Japanese fighters to dive at a heavy price. In the end, only two 250 kg bombs (dropped by a Comet dive bomber) hit the bow of the Baltimore, destroying a 203mm main gun turret and causing another mechanical failure.

At 6:30 pm, a greater disaster befell the New York and Franklin. The second attack wave launched by the Japanese mobile fleet and the third attack wave launched from Christmas Island arrived at the battlefield almost at the same time in the dim sky.

At this time, the visibility at sea had dropped to a level that was not enough to support normal torpedo attacks and dive bombing. Therefore, the burning New York, Franklin and more than 30 other ships became live targets to attract Japanese firepower.

And because of the poor visibility, the hundreds of American planes in the sky could not effectively block the Japanese attack aircraft group as before. They had to choose the "Type 1 Land Attack" with a larger target and less flexibility to attack, and let go of the fast and agile carrier-based aircraft - such a choice was of course a disaster for the "Type 1 Land Attack" departing from Christmas Island. In the end, 60 "Type 1 Land Attack" became "Type 1 Lighters", and the "God-making Rate" was as high as 60%.

However, the disaster of the "Type 1 Lighter" also brought fruitful results. At 6:40 pm, the stern of the battleship New York was hit by a torpedo, and the explosion destroyed the battleship's rudder, making it impossible for this huge battleship to use S-shaped evasive navigation to avoid bombs and torpedoes. In the next short 5 minutes, the New York was hit by 2 bombs and 3 torpedoes in succession, the whole ship was on fire and tilted seriously to the left. At 6:50 p.m., the captain of the New York issued an order to abandon the battleship.

At the same time that the New York was abandoned, the Franklin was also badly damaged. Two more bombs and two torpedoes hit the aircraft carrier, which had lost the ability to take off and land aircraft. One bomb destroyed the elevator in the middle of the ship, and the other penetrated into the sailor's cabin of the aircraft carrier and exploded, damaging some pipes and lines, causing the aircraft carrier to temporarily lose most of its power, and the speed suddenly dropped to less than 10 knots. This created conditions for the torpedo planes to attack. At 6:55 and 6:58, two aerial torpedoes hit the port side of the aircraft carrier successively, and the seawater instantly flooded several cabins. The captain of the Franklin had to order water injection to restore balance. At 7:05, the captain of the Franklin issued another order for non-damage control personnel to abandon the ship.

In this round of Japanese aircraft attacks, it was not only the New York and Franklin that suffered. The three escort aircraft carriers that were previously damaged by Japanese aircraft but not sunk were also hit again. Around 7 o'clock in the evening, they were all abandoned by the US military. By the way, in the previous waves of attacks, six escort aircraft carriers were hit, but only three sank. With the three escort aircraft carriers that sank now, the US military lost a total of six escort aircraft carriers.

In addition, many burning landing ships and transport ships were sunk by Japanese aircraft!

However, compared with the huge scale of the US 58th Task Force, the results achieved by the Japanese on the first day of the Christmas Island Battle were not enough for Spruance to admit defeat and retreat.

"Let the bombardment formation go!"

At 7:15 p.m., Admiral Spruance, who had transferred his headquarters to the Essex aircraft carrier, looked at the burning Franklin aircraft carrier and issued an order to dispatch the bombardment formation.

Then he asked the Chief of Staff, Major General Browning: "Have the statistics of the air battle come out? How many Japanese planes were shot down? How much did we lose?"

"According to preliminary statistics, a total of more than 800 Japanese fighter planes (actually only 533) were shot down by our planes and surface ships, and our planes lost reached 205, of which 89 pilots were killed, seriously injured or missing."

"Well done!" Spruance nodded with satisfaction, "It seems that we have found the right way to deal with Japan!"

"Yes!" Major General Browning said, "As long as there are a few more battles like this, we can win the Pacific War."