Although the U.S. military's fighter jets tried their best, they still could not prevent a large number of Japanese aircraft from rushing over the own fleet. Soon there were groups of Japanese Type 1 dive bombers and even Type Zero heavy dive bombers flying from 3,000 meters or even higher.
Screaming from a high altitude, they dived down and pounced on the US aircraft carriers one after another. Due to the complete failure of the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, the US fleet's air defense
They failed to shoot down even one of them in the level flight phase where they are most easily shot down. Now they have entered the dive phase, which is the most difficult to hit. Even though the Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft cannon and the Oerlikon 20mm anti-aircraft cannon equipped on the US warships have powerful
Anti-aircraft firepower, the faces of the US officers and soldiers who found that their warships were targets of attack still showed signs of despair unconsciously...
The second ship "Yorktown" of the Essex-class aircraft carrier was first targeted by a group of dive bombers. Although it flexibly avoided the first three heavy bombs, it was still hit by 800 bombs dropped by the fourth enemy plane.
The high-explosive bomb accurately hit the target, and the violent explosion caused great damage to the flight deck of the "Yorktown", making it impossible for it to take off and land even a single plane, at least during this battle.
And this was just the beginning. Two more bombs dropped by the four dive bombers behind hit the target. The continuous violent explosions almost completely destroyed the hull of the "Yorktown". Although it relied on the excellent performance of the Essex-class aircraft carrier,
It has strong resistance to sinking and continues to float on the sea tenaciously, but this battle has
It has nothing to do with it anymore, and unless a miracle happens and the U.S. military wins the final victory in this battle, even if the Japanese don't blow it up and sink it, the U.S. fleet will destroy this ship without both combat effectiveness and mobility before retreating.
The giant ship was sunk to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Japanese...
Compared with the "Yorktown", the fifth "Franklin" was even more unfortunate because it was attacked by a Zero heavy dive bomber that could carry 1.6 tons of super-heavy bombs, a 1.6-ton semi-armor-piercing aerial bomb and
The terrifying huge kinetic energy suddenly smashed through the horizontal deck of the "Franklin", penetrated deep into the hull, and detonated the main ammunition depot on the ship. The terrifying explosion that resounded for hundreds of miles almost reached the full displacement of the ship.
The 35,000-ton giant ship was torn into several pieces. Because the warship sank too fast, almost all the 3,442 people on the "Franklin" aircraft carrier were killed. In the end, less than 50 people were rescued. But it is worth mentioning that the "Franklin"
The USS USS was also the only Essex-class aircraft carrier to be directly sunk by Japanese aircraft bombs in this battle. This fully demonstrated the Americans' increasingly excellent warship design and construction capabilities.
However, for the Independence-class light aircraft carrier with a full load displacement of only 15,000 tons, no matter how well it is designed and built, it is difficult to enhance its defense. Among them, the first ship "Independence" was the most miserable, with two 1.6-ton semi-armor-piercing aerial bombs hitting it.
The parts are almost the same
A few. As a result, the second bomb drilled directly through the channel opened by the first one. Finally, the keel of the "Independence" aircraft carrier was blown off. The two ends were raised and broken into two pieces, and it quickly sank into the sea.
Also killed were 1,375 people on the ship.
In a short time, a heavy aircraft carrier and a light aircraft carrier were sunk. There was not much difference between another heavy aircraft carrier and being bombed and sunk. Nimitz clearly realized that he had no hope of winning this battle, but as long as
The reconnaissance plane can find the Japanese aircraft carrier formation as soon as possible, and this battle will be
There is also the possibility of reversal, because he believes that Japan's aircraft carriers cannot stop its own carrier-based bombers, and to do this, it does not even need to play tricks like the Japanese. The reason is very simple. Not only does Japan's fleet air defense capability be better than that of the United States,
It is weaker, and the aircraft carrier's defense is even worse.
However, before the US military reconnaissance planes returned good news, the Japanese bombers did not stop expanding their results. Less than 3 minutes after the "Independence" light aircraft carrier sank, a group of Type 1 carrier-based dive bombers dropped an 800-kilogram high-explosive bomb.
Bully general
The USS "Hornet" heavy aircraft carrier was seriously injured. At almost the same time, the "Princeton" light aircraft carrier was also severely damaged by four 800 kilogram high-explosive bombs and sank into the sea ten minutes later. Only the personnel on the ship were
452 people were rescued.
At this time, some people in the US military have already thought that the Japanese army should have used electronic jamming methods to cause the proximity fuze to suddenly fail. The power of the electronic jammer is not small, so it must be installed on a large aircraft. It should not be difficult to find.
Out. However, the Japanese sent more than one this time.
Electronic jamming aircraft are hovering at high altitudes far away, and there are fighter jets following and protecting them. It is not easy for the US military to kill them all. In addition, the US military's fighter jets have to intercept enemy bombers to protect the aircraft carrier as much as possible.
We cannot find enough power to solve this serious problem.
Since large-caliber anti-aircraft guns are now ineffective and small-caliber anti-aircraft guns have a short range, friendly ships that are slightly farther away cannot be protected. In order to enhance anti-aircraft firepower, US warships have to close the distance to protect each other. But in this way, the Japanese bombers
The hit rate of the bombs became higher, and what was even more deadly was that the Japanese torpedo bombers also began to become active...
Small-caliber anti-aircraft guns were originally the enemy of torpedo aircraft, but now their firepower is basically attracted by the groups of dive bombers rushing down from overhead. Therefore, it is relatively safer for torpedo bombers to launch torpedoes. At the same time, because US warships are more
Because of the density, the hit rate of aviation torpedoes has greatly increased, so the torpedo bombardment
Bombing planes can also launch torpedoes at a relatively long distance, thus further reducing the risk. But despite this, the Japanese pilots and crew members flying torpedo planes are still fighting with their heads high. In every attack,
The loss rate of Japanese torpedo aircraft exceeded 30%, which is really an astonishing figure.
However, the sacrifices of the pilots and crew members of these Japanese torpedo planes were not in vain. Since their emergence, torpedoes have almost always been the most effective weapon for attacking ships. Even aviation torpedoes with relatively small charges are, especially for U.S. warships,
Even the damage effect of large ships is far greater than that of aerial bombs. Under the torpedo attack by Japanese aircraft, the USS Langley, a light aircraft carrier with a full load displacement of more than 15,000 tons, was hit by an aerial torpedo.
It immediately suffered extremely severe trauma, and when it was hit by another torpedo a minute later, it quickly sank into the sea without any suspense, making Nimitz even more heartbroken, and the huge power of the torpedo also increased.
It has been proven once again. As for sinking the two heavy aircraft carriers "Yorktown" and "Hornet", which had greatly reduced or even completely lost power and were difficult to evade, it was even more effortless. (To be continued.