Over the East China Sea, hundreds of aircraft from the Imperial Chinese Navy aircraft carrier battle group hovered and rushed to the Japanese ships on the sea at high speed from all directions.

In the moment of being in the air, the padlock under the belly of the machine bounced open instantly, and the bomb roared and landed, exploding on the sea near the Japanese ship, stirring up water columns hundreds of meters high.

The sea water splashed, huge waves rolled, and the sea of ​​hundreds of square kilometers boiled in an instant, like a storm on the sea. The Japanese ship was shaking in the huge waves, and occasionally hit by a bomb, and fiery red mushroom clouds suddenly rose on the hull.

At 4:33, after the Japanese Joint Fleet flagship Fusang battleship sank for death, as the Fusang-class ship No. 3, the 30,000-ton super-divine bow-type battleship Ise was bombed by 7 500 kilograms of bombs, and the 17-story giant island was instantly razed to the ground in a violent explosion. Immediately afterwards, the ship was dived by 10 Cat Demon fighters carrying torpedoes. Two red-headed torpedoes were hit by the waterline belt of the starboard ship of the Ise, and exploded at the middle junction of the main gun turrets of No. 3 and No. 4.

The violent explosion instantly tore open the armor belt on the starboard ship of the Ise ship and detonated the ammunition depot under the No. 4 main gun, which then affected the ammunition depot under the turret of the No. 3 main gun.

"Bang! Bang!"

The ammunition depots of two 356mm main guns exploded one after another, and the violent explosion was like a volcano erupting. The smoke rose by thousands of meters and went straight into the sky. The 30,000-ton hull was instantly blown into two pieces, and the debris splashed a few kilometers away.

The battleship Ise sinks rapidly at a visible speed. Four minutes later, the 30,000-ton hull sinks into the seabed more than 1,000 meters deep.

At the same time, more than 40 main warships of the Japanese Combined Fleet were successively hit hard by hundreds of aircraft from the Chinese Empire aircraft carrier battle group.

At 4:36, the two battleships, Anyi and Hanoi, of the second team of the Japanese Combined Fleet, were sunk by 6 torpedoes and 4 torpedoes. The two battleships, Satsuma and Setsu, were severely damaged. One torpedo was each hit, and the hull was severely flooded. The Japanese army closed the watertight gate so that the two ships did not sink. However, as the main battleships, the two ships were targeted by key bombings. They were bombed by 13 bombs and 7 bombs one after another. The superstructure was seriously damaged, and fires were lit in many places, and smoke was covered with air.

At the same time, the flagship Kasuga battleship of the third detachment of the Japanese Joint Fleet, after hitting two torpedoes in a row, was hit by the Kashima, which was hiding from the rushing Kashima who was hiding from the east. When Kashima was reversing, it was hit by two bombs dropped by the five J-5 fighters who followed him and caught up. It dropped its servo and oars, lost its maneuverability, and was then sunk by three torpedoes.

At 4:39, the remaining two super-divine bow-type battleships of the first battleship detachment of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Yama Castle and Hinata, were successively besieged by more than 70 bombers and fighters. They were hit by more than a dozen bombs and more than a dozen torpedoes, and were eventually severely flooded by the hull and sank 12 minutes later.

As another target of the Chinese Empire's Naval Air Force's focus on attacks, the four King Kong-class battlecruisers of the Battlecruiser Detachment of the Japanese Combined Fleet failed to escape the bad luck.

Although these four battlecruisers avoided the beginning bombing at a high speed of 27 knots, the four King Kong-class battlecruisers had a bunch of 356mm cannons, but they had no choice but to use the Chinese Empire fighter jets in the air. After half an hour of hiding east, these four battlecruisers finally exposed their fatal weakness, that is, their armor was too thin.

The side armor of the King Kong-class battlecruiser was originally only about 228 mm. Although its powerful carrier-based rapid-fire gun could block the torpedo attacks fired from the water, its horizontal armor was thinner. Each layer was only 30 mm, and there were only 3 layers in total. As a large number of bombers dropped bombs, these four battlecruisers were severely damaged one after another.

At 4:40, the island of the Battlecruiser of the King Kong battlecruiser was already a sea of ​​fire. With a rapid buzzing sound, five J-3 fighters formed a bombing formation and suddenly came to the air, dropping the last seven 200 kilograms of bombs onto the King Kong.

After a harsh whistle, a bomb hit the deck at the rear of the main gun turret of the King Kong ship No. 3. The huge inertia of the bomb instantly penetrated the deck and broke through the four layers of protective plates in succession, exploding in the boiler compartment.

The violent explosion instantly swept across the entire No. 4 boiler cabin and detonated a violent explosion in the steam boiler. At the moment of the explosion, 200 tons of hot steam and boiling water splattered everywhere. More than 100 Japanese engineers working in the boiler cabin were scalded to death and scalded, screaming and ringing.

The big explosion of the steam boiler destroyed the power system of the King Kong, and its speed quickly dropped from 27 knots to 10 knots. At this time, four cat demon ships flying from the upper left quickly grabbed the fighter plane and dropped torpedoes on the port side of the King Kong.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Three violent explosions came out one after another. The port side ship of the King Kong was blown up three more than one meter wide holes, and fire and thick smoke rolled out from the explosion gap. Then the sea water flew backwards, and the entire 30,000-ton giant ship quickly leaned left.

Lieutenant General Yan Zhicheng of Uemura immediately ordered the damage to the management, but he was too late to make a decision and had to order the ship to abandon it. However, the Chinese Navy Air Force did not give them the chance to abandon the ship and escape.

At 4:44, three high-speed J-5 fighter jets were chasing the flagship Asama, the 6th Detachment of the Japanese Navy. At this time, thick smoke was everywhere on the sea surface of more than 200 kilometers. Asama was hiding eastward and had no sense of direction, and he unknowingly approached the Japanese ship King Kong.

Three J-5 fighter jets were preparing to drop the only 300-kilogram bomb they carried onto the shallow Mid-bar, but the long plane flew over and threw the bombs they carried on the Kwangon. After piercing through the third deck of the Kwangon, it exploded, detonating the Kwangon's ammunition depot, causing the Kwangon to explode, and all more than 2,000 Japanese officers and soldiers on the ship were killed.

The Qianji Ship also failed to find the King Kong on the front in time because thick smoke blocked his sight, and plunged in. As a result, because the King Kong exploded, the 70-meter-long hull from the bow to the ship was instantly blown to pieces. The ammunition depot under the main gun on the bow also exploded, causing the Qianji Ship and the King Kong to die together. Only 3 people survived the ship's 780 people.

While the Kwangmeng was sunk, the other three battlecruisers, Hiei, Hatsune and Kirishima, also failed to escape the misfortune and were besieged by more than 100 bombers one after another. They were attacked by an average of 17 torpedoes and received more than 130 bombs. They were eventually sunk around 4:52.

At 4:55, the first wave of bombing that lasted for more than 40 minutes ended. 12 main battleships of the Japanese Combined Fleet were sunk, including four super-divine bow battleships that the only Japanese Navy served and four only battlecruisers. In addition, 19 main battleships were severely damaged to varying degrees.

Since the Chinese Empire aircraft carrier battle group focused on attacking the essence of the main ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet, most of the advanced main ships were sunk at the end of the attack. On the contrary, some old-fashioned warships with relatively slow speeds in the Japanese fleet survived, but they were also severely damaged to varying degrees.

The main force of the Chinese Empire's Pacific Fleet who was heading south along the Ryukyu Islands was pursuing. When the fleet commander Lin Jianzhang learned through a carrier-based reconnaissance plane that Ye Zugui had commanded an aircraft carrier battle group to attack the Japanese joint fleet, he was furious.

"It's so unreasonable. Go to the battle without orders."

After Li Dingxin, the chief of staff of the fleet, confirmed the results of the aircraft carrier battle group and the telecommunications room, he told Lin Jianzhang: "I didn't expect that the attack power of the aircraft carrier battle group was so strong. This is the results of their achievements. Look!"

Li Dingxin handed the battle report to Lin Jianzhang. Lin Jianzhang didn't even look at it, and was still on the table, saying, "I'm telling you that Ye Zugui and the others are disobedient, so I don't care about the others."

Li Dingxin smiled, picked up the battle report and handed it to Lin Jianzhang, and said, "Let's take a look first! It's not too late to deal with it after reading it!"

"How much success can there be? It's just trivial!" Lin Jianzhang couldn't resist Li Dingxin. He muttered and took over the battle report.

After reading the battle report, Lin Jianzhang was stunned. He thought that the aircraft carrier battle group could only sink several Japanese cruisers or destroyers with weak armor and small tonnage warships. However, he did not expect that all eight super-divine bow-type main battleships of the Japanese Combined Fleet were sunk. This battle fruit surprised him very much.

"How is it? Have you changed your mind?" Li Dingxin smiled and said, "This is a great contribution, and there is no loss of a plane."

Lin Jianzhang put down the battle report, and his anger just now had been replaced by joy, but this does not mean that he would not pursue Ye Zugui and the others' actions without authorization.

"Music is merit, fault is fault. Don't confuse two things."

Li Dingxin smiled and said, "I have underestimated the role of the aircraft carrier battle group. I have to say that this battle has revolutionized the way of future naval battles. The aircraft carrier battle group will become a part of the fleet's decisive battle. No wonder Your Majesty has always emphasized that the aircraft carrier battle group will become the main combat weapon of the navy in the future. Now it seems that Your Majesty is really the wise ruler, and this vision has foreseeed it many years ago."

Lin Jianzhang said: "Don't interrupt, tell you that Ye Zugui's matter is not over yet?"

Li Dingxin smiled and said, "What else can I do? Strictly speaking, Ye Zugui and others are not acting without authorization. The order they received was to attack the reconnaissance aircraft of the Japanese Joint Fleet. I had asked just now, guess what they said? They said, 'There are many Japanese reconnaissance aircraft. We knocked down the ones flying from the sky, but there are still a lot of inventory on the Japanese warships. In order to strictly implement the orders of the Fleet Command and resolutely eliminate all Japanese naval reconnaissance aircraft, we sent a group of bombers to bomb the carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft on the Japanese warships. As a result, we accidentally exploded and sank the Japanese ship.'"

"This is taking advantage of loopholes!" Lin Jianzhang was suddenly angry and amused.

Li Dingxin smiled and said, "So, this time I have to admit that Ye Zugui and others are good at exploiting this loophole. That is, we can see the huge combat power of the aircraft carrier battle group, and helped the fleet sink more than a dozen Japanese naval main warships, saving the fleet a lot of trouble. At the same time, I think they are also trying to prove the value of their aircraft carrier battle group, so that we will not pay attention to them in the future and put them at home as vases."

Lin Jianzhang sighed and said, "Actually, I don't know the power of the aircraft carrier battle group. I have always attached great importance to Your Majesty's words. Even if Your Majesty mentions the size of sesame seeds, I will remember it in my heart. Your Majesty has said more than once about the use of the aircraft carrier battle group as the main combat weapon. How can I not worry about it?"

Li Dingxin asked: "Then why do you keep the aircraft carrier battle group at home without using it?"

Lin Jianzhang explained: "You don't know anything. We take the Japanese joint fleet seriously. We keep the aircraft carrier battle group at home because they have greater uses."

Li Dingxin immediately said, "What are you planning to use them?"

Lin Jianzhang explained: "Our biggest enemy at present is the US Navy. I once thought of using an aircraft carrier battle group to sneak attack Pearl Harbor, the largest naval base in the Pacific Ocean, and planned to use an aircraft carrier battle group to sink all the US Pacific Fleet into Pearl Harbor in one fell swoop."

Li Dingxin said in surprise: "This is a very good plan! I agree!"

Lin Jianzhang sighed: "But now Ye Zugui and his team have used aircraft carrier battle groups to attack the Japanese joint fleet. In a few days, the whole world will know our aircraft carrier battle groups. This thing is the most effective when used for the first time. The US Navy will definitely be prepared. If we want to attack Pearl Harbor again, we may not be able to achieve the expected combat effect."

Only then did Li Dingxin realize that Lin Jianzhang was thinking about this kind of strategic considerations in his heart. So he said: "If this is true, then our aircraft carrier battle group will be exposed too early."

Then Li Dingxin said again: "But this cannot be blamed on Ye Zugui and the others. After all, we despise them too much on weekdays, and it will inevitably not cause dissatisfaction in their hearts. This action was caused by long-term dissatisfaction, and we were also wrong."

Lin Jianzhang nodded, and from his heart he did prefer the idea of ​​giant ships and cannons too much, ignoring the feelings of the officers of the aircraft carrier battle group.

"Not mentioning this!" Lin Jianzhang suddenly said: "Since the elite main battleships of the Japanese Navy have been sunk, let them do it! If the entire Japanese joint fleet can be wiped out, I will not bury their contributions."

Li Dingxin immediately sent a telegram to the commander of the Sixth Fleet Ye Zugui and conveyed Lin Jianzhang's order.

Ye Zugui and others were also worried, afraid that the Fleet Command would blame him. After learning that Lin Jianzhang allowed them to continue dispatching planes to bomb the Japanese Navy, everyone was relieved.

After the first wave of bombing, the second wave of attack aircraft group of the Imperial Chinese Navy aircraft carrier battle group in the southwest waters of Kume Island had been prepared.

Considering that the first wave has achieved major results and the essence of the main battleship of the Japanese Combined Fleet has been lost, the second wave of attack seems very relaxed.

At 5:13, all 100 Cat Demon carrier-based fighters of the second wave of attack aircraft were deployed with torpedoes. Their goal was to sink more than a dozen old-fashioned battleships left by the Japanese Combined Fleet.

At 5:50, the second wave of attack aircraft flew over the combat waters.

At this time, the sun was setting in the west, and the setting sun was as bloody as the entire naval battlefield. Many Japanese warships were already severely damaged when they were bombed. Some struggled for an hour and were unable to stop the warship from sinking and were forced to abandon the ship. Some Japanese ships were stopping ships to repair the injured parts, and the Japanese ships, which were slightly injured and uninjured, did not go south again, but searched and rescued Japanese naval officers and soldiers who fell into the sea nearby.

Perhaps they thought that the Chinese Empire's bomber group had only this wave, or perhaps their backbone, fleet commander, fleet flagship and fleet battleship had already sunk, and they had no backbone, and they didn't know what to do next.

Seeing that the remaining ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet were still in the previous bombing waters, it saved the trouble of searching for Japanese ships in the second wave of attack aircraft.

The high-speed approaching Mao Yao carrier-based fighter immediately aroused the alert of the Japanese ship below. Unlike the first wave of attacks just now, all the officers and soldiers of the Japanese Navy from top to bottom were not prepared. It can be said that most people did not know that the bombers of the Chinese Empire could cause such a severe damage to the Japanese naval warships.

After the first wave of attacks, the Japanese naval officers and soldiers on the remaining ships were already frightened like frightened birds, immediately running for all speed and fleeing in all directions.

In the second wave of attacking aircraft group, their main target was on the old-fashioned main battleships of the Japanese Combined Fleet, so the destroyers ignored the faster Japanese cruisers.

At this time, the largest and most advanced battleships left by the Japanese Combined Fleet were the Satsuma-class battleship No. 1 Satsuma-class battleship No. 1 Satsuma-class battleship No. 2, and the second ship of the Hanoi-class battleship. The second ship was severely damaged in the first wave of air strikes. At this time, the Satsuma-class speed had dropped to 10 knots, and one-third of the stern part had sunk into the sea. In addition, although the Satsuma-class battleship was successfully repaired and stopped sinking, it could not run fast.

Facing the approaching Chinese Empire plane in the air, the Japanese officers and soldiers on the second ship closed their eyes sadly. They had no power to resist. They could only pray.

Amid the buzzing sound, five Cat Demon carrier-based fighters flew over the sea at low altitude. After judging the course and speed of the Satsuma, the pilots calculated the advance amount of torpedoes in their minds and dropped their respective torpedoes.

Five torpedoes plunged into the sea and floated to the sea a few seconds later. The high-speed torpedo engine pushed the torpedo weighing 300 kilograms toward the Japanese ships Satsuma and Sezu respectively at a speed of 36 knots.

"Right 35, avoid it now!"

Although the second ship had already staggered and the movement of turning and avoiding became slow, the Japanese commander above still did not want to sit and wait for death, and they had to struggle to the end.

A miracle happened. During the voyage of the second ship, the rudder was urgently turned around and avoided the first, third and fifth torpedoes, passing through the bow of the Satsuma, the stern of the Shejin ship, and the gap between the two ships. It failed to hit. The second and fourth torpedoes were too close to each other, passing through the bottom of the second ship.

The five torpedoes failed to hit, and the officers and soldiers on the two Japanese ships immediately cheered, glad that they could survive the disaster. However, their luck was only temporary. The five fighter jets that had just dropped the torpedoes suddenly pulled up and flew over the heads of the two ships. Then, five more cat demon fighters came in formation and dropped five torpedoes again.

Amid the hissing sound, the torpedo dragged long bubbles and rushed towards the Japanese ship at high speed. The first torpedo shot at the Satsuma did not explode due to angle problems. Instead, it was bounced away. However, the second torpedo hit the port side waterline belt of the Satsuma.

A loud "bang" sound was like thousands of thunder and hundreds of lightnings colliding with each other. The port side of the Samoan sparked huge waves hundreds of meters high, and quickly poured backwards from a large hole more than one meter wide exploded. Originally, Samoan had been hit by two torpedoes miraculously survived the first wave of bombing. This time, another torpedo was hit, and there was no watertight cabin to balance the sea water that was poured in. So the battleship of more than 20,000 tons quickly sinks at a speed of sight.

At the same time, the battleship of the Shejin battleship behind became even more miserable. Among the five torpedoes in the second wave, three other shot at her all hits.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Amid a series of violent explosions, the hull of the Shejin was blown up three large holes, and the sea water poured fiercely backwards. Because the design of the Hanoi-class battleship was not reasonable enough, the lateral strength of the hull was seriously insufficient. As the weight of the sea water at both ends of the hull was too large, the entire hull quickly broke into three sections after one minute and sank in less than two minutes.

Like the fate of the Satsuma and Setsu, the Japanese ships, which had been severely damaged in the first round of bombing, were sunk one after another in the first twenty minutes of the second round of bombing.

At 5:25, all 100 torpedoes from the second wave of bombers were dropped. The battleships of the Japanese joint fleet, Satsuma, Kashima, Kashima, Fuji, Asahi, Hachise, Mikasa, and other cruisers were sunk. In addition, the armored cruisers Izumo, Ironto, Yagum, and Shin Takashi, Kasumi, Takasa, Akashi, Takama, Tomoma, and Yoshima were sunk.

After the second wave of bombing, the Japanese combined fleet was left with only the scarred Takatan ship, the two armored cruisers of the Yomashi, as well as the Kashikashi, Chitose, Tsumashi, Asukashi, Soyashi, and Zishi. The 20 Peak-class destroyers that had been following the fleet lost only 4, and the other 16 were basically intact. Their high maneuverability was difficult to capture by the Chinese Empire aircraft, so they survived. The four lost destroyers were not directly sunk, three of which were sunk by torpedoes with no targets, and the fourth destroyer was also sunk by the Japanese ship in chaos.

When the second wave of bombing ended, it was already very late and the sun was about to sink to the sea. Since the aircraft carrier-based aircraft could not take off and land at night, the commander of the Sixth Squadron, Ye Zugui, ordered all aircraft carrier combat groups to stop taking off the fighter and contact the released carrier-based aircraft as soon as possible, and ordered them to return to the nest as soon as possible.

Although Ye Zugui's aircraft carrier battle group failed to completely eliminate all the warships of the Japanese Combined Fleet, its huge success was self-evident. The main battleships of the Japanese Combined Fleet were basically eliminated, especially the most elite Fuso-class battleships and King Kong-class battlecruisers were sunk, which made the Japanese Navy no longer able to threaten the main battleships of the Imperial Chinese Navy in a short period of time.

At around 7 o'clock in the evening, the main force of the Pacific Fleet arrived and met with Ye Zugui's aircraft carrier battle group.


Chapter completed!