Chapter 971: What a Melee

"Sir, Japanese planes have penetrated our anti-aircraft firepower circle!"

"Sir, the Japanese bombers are at an altitude of 3,000-4,000 meters, so they are not torpedo planes."

"Sir, the destroyer Amen reported that the bow was hit, and the bomb caused a fire!"

"Sir, the destroyer Bush reported that the stern was hit by an armor-piercing bomb, and the bomb exploded in the engine room, and the entire ship lost power."

"Sir, the destroyer Callaghan exploded, probably because the bomb hit the ammunition depot... Oh, God, it's going to sink!"

"Sir, the stern of the destroyer Colehang was hit by a Japanese plane, it's over..."

Vice Admiral Fletcher, commander of the 51st Task Force of the United States, heard all kinds of bad news. The two new Japanese fighters are unexpectedly sharp!

The fighters have strong firepower and a sturdy body, and can "face the nose" with the F4U. At the same time, its flexibility is not inferior to that of the F6F, and it is enough to fight with the F6F at an altitude below 6,000 meters without losing.

The new Japanese bombers are also very strong, and the F4U and F machine guns are almost ineffective against them! Even the 40mm anti-aircraft guns on the "Fletcher" class destroyers can hardly kill them at once. Even if they are hit by a few 40mm shells, as long as they are not vital, the aircraft can still barely complete the bombing or collision!

So several Fletcher class destroyers on the outer defense line of the 51st Task Force soon suffered. Two were sunk and two were severely damaged in a very short time.

At the same time, the number of Japanese planes shot down was far less than expected. So far, the loss of the first wave of the Japanese attack is probably less than 20%. The American F4U and F6F fighters that intercepted them lost no less than 30! The two sides were almost exchanging 1:1.

And because the firepower of the new Japanese fighters is very powerful, the survival rate of the pilots on the F4U and F6F that were hit has also decreased compared with the previous battles.

Lieutenant General Fletcher, holding a telescope, frowned and watched the fierce battle in the northern sky and on the sea. It was a spectacular scene. Thick smoke columns streaked across the sky from time to time and rushed into the sea. Four or five blue-black smoke columns had appeared on the sea, and water columns and fireballs were rising from time to time. It seemed that several more destroyers were hit by Japanese bombs!

However, compared with the huge 51st Task Force, the losses suffered now were just superficial injuries.

"Where is the second wave of the Japanese attack?" Lieutenant General Fletcher put down the telescope and asked the staff officer beside him.

"Three interception lines have been broken through, and they will arrive in about 20 minutes."

"Arriving in succession?" Fletcher asked, "Are they scattered?"

"Yes, sir." The staff officer replied, "The Japanese second attack wave was poorly organized and was dispersed by our F4U. Now it has formed several clusters."

The second attack wave from Oahu was the aircraft of the Japanese Army. The Japanese Army Air Force was actually not bad, but there was no army in the world that was good at naval battles - the professions were not right!

The main business of the Japanese Navy Air Force was anti-ship in addition to air supremacy, while the main business of the Japanese Army Air Force was tactical ground bombing in addition to air combat. The enemy's ground forces, armored clusters, artillery positions, logistics transportation lines, etc. were the targets that the Japanese Army Air Force had to deal with during daily training.

And the execution of such tasks was carried out in small and medium-sized formations, and there would be no super-large formations of 700 aircraft at all - the US Army Air Force might do this, sending 700 B-17s and B-24s to bomb somewhere. But how could the Japanese Army afford strategic bombing?

Therefore, the Japanese Army's aircraft were not good at maintaining a large formation, and were easily dispersed by the American F4U.

"It's not easy to deal with them if they are divided into several groups..." Lieutenant General Fletcher frowned and said nothing more.

Obviously, the "turkey shooting" in the Battle of Christmas Island will not be repeated today. But what can we do? It's nothing more than losing a few more planes and warships. Hawaii... will be taken down sooner or later!

...

"Emperor, on board!"

The God of Explosive Attack, Shigetaka Egusa, aimed the nose of the plane at a Fletcher-class destroyer on the sea that was frantically firing anti-aircraft shells into the sky, and shouted loudly.

The plane dived down at an angle of 60 degrees, with a speed of more than 650 kilometers. The destroyer on the sea became larger and larger, and countless orange-red lights passed from both sides of the nacelle at a very fast speed.

"Ready... Release!"

As the bombardier Yamada came from the headset, the fuselage suddenly became lighter, as if it jumped up dozens of meters at once. Jiang Cao, who had a black vision in front of his eyes, knew that four 250-kilogram bombs had been dropped. He quickly pulled up the joystick and pulled up the nose of the plane he was driving.

"Boom..."

A loud noise came from behind him, followed by the cheer of the bombardier Yamada: "Hit, on board!"

Another American destroyer is finished!

Jiang Cao Fanlong calculated: The first attack wave sank or severely damaged at least 7 American destroyers. For the huge American fleet, this loss is certainly nothing. But as long as they persist in fighting for a few or even dozens of rounds, they can still cause heavy damage to the American fleet.

As long as the shore-based aircraft in the Hawaiian Islands can seriously weaken the American fleet, then the combined fleet will have a chance to deal a fatal blow to the Americans.

After all, the Hawaiian Islands are only used to consume the US military, and the real decisive battle still depends on the powerful combined fleet!

……

"Sir, another group of Japanese planes are approaching!"

The radar officer's report rang in Lieutenant General Fletcher's ears: "Azimuth 300, number over 100, altitude 6000, distance 150!"

Fletcher quickly raised his telescope to search in the air, and soon saw hundreds of small black dots getting bigger and bigger from far to near. At this time, a similar number of blue American small planes suddenly appeared in Fletcher's telescope, and collided with the dark green Japanese fighter planes.

However, not all Japanese planes were blocked. About 30 or 40 twin-engine bombers ignored the firepower of the F6F and rushed over - of course, they also paid the price of being shot down, but 2 American F6Fs were also shot down.

"Sir, the enemy planes are rushing towards us!"

I don't know what happened. This wave of Japanese planes did not attack the periphery of the 51st Task Force, but went straight to the core of the 51st Task Force from an altitude of 6,100 meters.

"Altitude, what is their altitude?" Fletcher suddenly found something wrong and asked loudly.

"6100..."

"So high?" Fletcher was stunned for a moment, and the sound of anti-aircraft guns roared.

This is the 127mm anti-aircraft guns on the "Iowa" and several nearby large surface ships firing - 40mm anti-aircraft guns and 20mm machine guns cannot reach the enemy planes at 6100 meters, so now it is the 127mm anti-aircraft guns that are firing radio proximity fuze shells. Because of radar fire control, the shooting is quite accurate. After a while, several Japanese planes fell down with smoke. But at the same time, Japanese bombs also whistled down from the sky in piles.

"High-altitude horizontal bombing?" Fletcher was stunned again and again. What's wrong with the Japanese? Didn't they fight well just now? Now they are confused again?

"Sir, the 51.6th Patrol Squadron reported that it was attacked by Japanese heavy torpedo attack aircraft!"

At this time, the staff reported another incredible news.

"Heavy torpedo plane?" Fletcher asked, "Is it a Type 1 lighter?"

"No, no, I haven't seen it before. It's a new type of aircraft, but it weighs more than ten tons!"

"What?"

Torpedo planes weighing more than ten tons were already antiques in 1944. They were used to deal with merchant fleets with little anti-aircraft firepower - it was best to attack at night. At this time, Europe and the United States had radio altimeters. Large torpedo planes were generally used for night battles and were basically useless during the day.

The 51.6th US Destroyer Squadron was located at the northernmost part of the anti-aircraft formation of the 51st Task Force. It was a unit that was severely damaged by the Japanese naval aviation just now. Five destroyers were sunk and two were severely damaged. If it encountered another round of attacks mainly by "Galaxy" bombers, the entire squadron would not be wiped out, and it would also be very likely to lose its combat effectiveness.

But at this moment, a group of large planes weighing more than ten tons came to throw torpedoes into the water.

To be honest, the torpedoes dropped by these Japanese planes were quite good, and they also slowed down their flight speed and lowered their altitude to meet the requirements. The only difference was that the place where the torpedoes were dropped was a little far from the American warships, all of which were 4,000 meters away.

However, the "Tunlong" and "Flying Dragon" fighters driven by these Japanese Army idiots were still severely damaged. 18 of them were shot down by American destroyers and anti-aircraft cruisers on the water, but only 6 torpedoes were fired, and only 2 American destroyers were damaged.

The "strange attack" suffered by the 51.0 Battleship Squadron (the brigade where Vice Admiral Fletcher was) and the 51.6 Destroyer Squadron was just the beginning.

Just 5 minutes later, the 51.5th Carrier Group was hit by a bomb dropped by a "Tunlong" bomber from an altitude of 5,000 meters. This time, a 250-kilogram bomb hit an escort aircraft carrier, and the Japanese paid the price of 16 "Tunlongs" being shot down.

Less than 3 minutes later, the 51.3th Heavy Cruiser Group was also attacked by a group of confused Japanese "Hiryu" heavy bombers with torpedoes. As a result, in the face of fierce anti-aircraft firepower, the Japanese lost 28 "Hiryus", and only 8 torpedoes hit. The US side had 2 destroyers severely damaged and 1 heavy cruiser broken.

A few minutes later, the 50th Task Force, which was close to the 51st Task Force, also encountered a joint attack by Japanese torpedo attacks and horizontal bombers. However, their fate was not much better. 38 "Swallows" and "Flying Dragons" were shot down by the elite carrier-based aircraft fleet of the 50th Task Force, and another 11 "Spurs" were shot down by the American F6F. An Essex-class aircraft carrier of the 50th Task Force was hit by a torpedo, two destroyers were severely damaged, and 12 F6F fighters were lost.