Li Danyang led the team back to the fleet. Regardless of fatigue, the pilots replenished fuel and ammunition for the fighter planes, and the fighter planes participating in the third wave of attacks began to take off from the aircraft carriers again.
In the first wave of attacks, the Air Force lost a total of 56 aircraft, and another 47 aircraft were seriously damaged. Although they barely returned to the warships, they were no longer able to participate in the battle. Although the Air Force added three squadrons of torpedo aircraft,
But the number of aircraft is only over 240.
After the formation was completed, the aircraft fleet participating in the third wave of attacks immediately flew towards the direction of the enemy fleet, leaving behind three aviation fleets that were still busy on the sea. On the sea behind them, the "Hunan" and "Hubei" were on board
Still billowing black smoke, the two warships were hit by several aerial bombs. The flight deck of the "Hunan" was no longer usable, and fighter planes could only take off and land on other warships.
The two "Tianjin-class" aviation battleships "Shandong" and "Chongqing" in the fleet were also hit by two torpedoes. However, the protection and watertight compartment design of this class of heavy fleet aviation battleships with a displacement of 35,000 tons are quite excellent.
Although the hull suffered heavy damage and about 2,000 tons of water was taken in, it was still able to continue fighting.
As the aviation commander-in-chief of the Nanyang Fleet, Major General Li Danyang continued to lead the team and participated in the third wave of attacks with the aviation fleet. This time they were prepared to deal a fatal blow to Halsey's fleet.
After two waves of attacks, Halsey had less than 100 usable fighter jets left, and it was already difficult to prevent the Republic Navy's air fleet from launching an air strike against it.
Halsey's fleet was retreating south, and Chen Shiying ordered a southward pursuit. The distance between the two fleets was not widened and remained at about 200 nautical miles. The fifteen squadrons of carrier-based aircraft did not move at all this time.
The air was disturbed and flew rapidly to the southeast over the sea and sky covered with clouds. The weather on the sea began to deteriorate, and it started to rain in some sea areas.
An hour later, as fighter planes flew over the sea area where the fierce battle had just been fought, Halsey led the main force to hide in the rainy sea. The unpredictable weather in the Solomon Sea saved the fate of the American fleet.
The two heavily damaged aircraft carriers "Brave" and "Raider" were abandoned on the sea, burning on the gray sea, and there was also a heavy cruiser that was almost capsized.
Li Danyang ordered eight torpedo planes to continue firing torpedoes at the two American warships floating slowly on the sea. Several fighter planes did not receive any counterattack at all. They easily completed the short-range attack just like in normal training.
With several loud noises, the "Raider" disappeared on the sea within a few minutes. However, the "Courage" was still stubbornly floating on the water, but it seemed that it would capsize soon.
"Commander in Chief, it is raining in a large area of the sea ahead, and we cannot find the enemy's fleet!" At this time, the fighter squadron responsible for the search mission reported to him.
"Damn it, what a damn weather!" Li Danyang cursed, "Return, we will search along the Trobriand Islands. There is also an air fleet there, let's see if we can find them!"
In fact, the Republic Fleet had already found the location of Task Force 17, but had no time to attack Fletcher. Halsey escaped with the bad weather, but bad luck befell Fletcher.
superior.
Twenty minutes later, fighter jets searching along the Trobriand Islands found the location of Fletcher's fleet. Task Force 17, which had lost nearly one-third of its fighter jets, could not withstand hundreds of fighter jets.
Onslaught. The "Yorktown" and "Saratoga" carried few carrier-based aircraft. Each "Beiyang Tianxia 61, New Guinea (nine)" warship only had two squadrons of 38 fighters. Frye
Tohru ordered the remaining 52 fighter jets on the two aircraft carriers to take off urgently, but within ten minutes, all these fighter jets were shot down by the "Saker Falcon", which had more than twice their number and had superior performance.
Now Fletcher's fleet is a lamb to the slaughter.
About one hundred and fifty attack planes and torpedo planes launched continuous attacks on Fletcher's fleet. The 17th Task Force's anti-aircraft firepower itself was weak, and coupled with the cover of the clouds, the attack planes dived to 1,000
It can only be discovered under a cloud layer of 1.3 meters. It is difficult for the anti-aircraft artillery on the warship to capture the target.
A series of armored "Sea Harriers" swooped down from the sky towards the enemy ships, and black aerial bombs staggered down from the sky, hitting the American warships scurrying around on the sea.
Nearly fifty torpedo planes from three squadrons were divided into two batches and dropped torpedoes on the sea, drawing frightening white tracks on the sea. Within a few minutes, two aviation warships and two heavyweights in the fleet were
The cruisers were hit by several aerial bombs and torpedoes, and the sea was shrouded in clouds of black smoke. The battleships were burning fiercely like balls of fire.
As the fire in "Beiyang Tianxia" spread and became uncontrollable, Fletcher ordered the abandonment of the ship and the crew transferred to the destroyer. Since the Republic Navy regarded large battleships as the main target, most of the destroyers of the Seventeenth Task Force
They were all lucky enough to escape the air raid and were able to carry out rescue operations.
Because the weather was not very good, the Republican fighter planes finally left after half an hour of indiscriminate bombing.
At this time, it was almost dark, and Task Force 17 was almost destroyed. The "Saratoga" had begun to capsize, the heavy cruiser "Astoria", the light cruiser "Juno"
The crew on board began to evacuate, and the "Quincy" sank to the bottom of the sea with more than 350 crew members.
The U.S. warships have done very well in terms of anti-sinkability. Each ship has not suffered a catastrophic explosion, and they all have considerable reserve buoyancy, which allows each warship to have sufficient time to evacuate after abandoning the ship.
member.
The U.S. sailors tried their best to save the heavily damaged aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and cruiser USS Atlanta, but in the end they decided to abandon the two battleships due to severe damage.
The day's fierce battle at sea has ended. At this time, it was half afternoon in the capital of the Republic. In the war room of the Navy Department, the face of General Chen Shaokuan, who had been sitting in the war room for several days and never left, finally showed his face.
He smiled slightly tiredly. "We won! We finally won!" The navy commander stood up excitedly, "Prepare your car immediately and go to the Presidential Palace!"
"...So far, we have sunk three American aviation battleships, severely damaged four, sunk one battleship, severely damaged three, three heavy cruisers, three light cruisers and seven destroyers, and also sunk
Seven supply ships were lost. The U.S. Pacific Fleet lost half of its main combat ships... It is a little regrettable that the aviation battleship "Guangxi" was sunk by the enemy's Army Air Force. In addition, we also lost two cruisers and four
During the naval battle, the aircraft ships 'Shandong' and 'Hunan' were severely damaged, the 'Hubei' was slightly injured, and the 'Jiangsu' was severely damaged by the enemy's Army Air Force." In the Presidential Palace, Chen Shaokuan said.
He will report the situation of the Solomon Sea Battle to President Lin Shuo with some regret. If it were not for the U.S. and Australian Army Air Forces sinking the "Guangxi" aircraft carrier, the outcome of the entire Solomon Sea Battle would have been a perfect victory.