Chapter 66 meat on cutting board

After recovering the aircraft, with the consent of Spruance, Mitchell left an aircraft carrier brigade to continue to blockade Saipan and Guam, and personally led the other three aircraft carrier brigades to chase the enemy overnight.Due to the wrong direction, the distance between the two sides did not decrease much, although the speed of the US army was five knots faster than that of the Japanese army. On June 20, Mitchell sent a reconnaissance plane to search, but found nothing. It was not until 3:40 pm that a reconnaissance plane discovered Ozawa's troops. The take-off and landing time of the aircraft on the flight deck and the round-trip flight time are the key to aircraft carrier operations.Ozawa's troops are still 220 nautical miles away. According to the sailing speed of the US ships, although they can barely approach the maximum combat radius of the US carrier-based aircraft, it will be dark in a few hours. If the carrier-based aircraft is ordered to attack Ozawa's troops , the pilots will only be able to return in the dark, and they have not yet undergone such difficult training in night combat subjects.

Mitchell, like other US aircraft carrier commanders, usually pays great attention to protecting the pilots, but at this moment, he has no choice but to attack. At 4:30 in the afternoon, the 58th task force changed to sail against the wind, and the first batch of assault aircraft parked on the flight deck took off.Then the fleet resumed its approach to the enemy and accelerated its advance to reduce the flight distance of the returning aircraft. At this moment, Mitchell suddenly realized that the pilot of the reconnaissance plane reported the wrong location of Ozawa's troops. Judging from the corrected data, the actual location of Ozawa's troops should be 300 nautical miles away. This means that some aircraft It may not be possible to return due to running out of fuel.

Mitchell once considered recalling the first batch of assault groups, but he knew that this was the last chance to attack Ozawa's troops, and the time would never come again.After re-studying the charts, he still gave up the idea of ​​recalling, and only canceled the take-off preparations of the second commando group. What the 58th Task Force can do now is to sail to the Ozawa Force at the maximum speed to shorten the return voyage of the carrier-based aircraft, and at the same time pray for the good luck of the boys in the assault fleet. The information Ozawa got from Kakuda was that the U.S. military was also hurt.That being the case, of course he will retreat and adjust like him. What I never expected is that Mitchell is still fierce, not only catching up quickly, but also bringing him what he needs: hanging to the rope, Drink the medicine and give the bottle, and give what you want.

Through the search of the patrol plane, Ozawa learned that the 58th Task Force was approaching, and in a panic, he ordered to stop fuel replenishment, and quickly retreated in the easiest way to stay away from the US military. At this time, even if the Japanese ships were given wings, they would not be able to fly out of the control of the American planes.Before the sun was about to set, the US First Assault Group, consisting of 216 fighter planes, appeared over Ozawa's troops. Anti-aircraft guns and machine guns aimed at the sky. Okumiya stood on the bridge of the "Hayato" aircraft carrier and observed that the U.S. plane had descended and was preparing for a dive.

Before being bombed by aircraft, the aircraft carrier must choose an appropriate maneuvering time. If the maneuver is too early, it will be caught by the opposing pilot, and if the maneuver is too late, there will be no time to avoid it.Okumiya was extremely nervous because he was not sure which warship the U.S. plane was going to attack and at which point to launch the attack. The status quo of the US aircraft at this time is that the fuel consumption has reached the limit, and the pilots have no time to coordinate the attack. Most of them are directly attacking the ships they can see. Anti-aircraft guns and machine guns opened fire hastily, and the "Falcon Eagle" maneuvered to evade. Just when Okumiya helped the captain and shouted the order to evade, with the terrifying sound of "dong dong dong", the aircraft carrier was hit.

The hull shook violently, and the bridge more than 20 meters above the sea was suddenly surrounded by water jets. People behind the bridge were either killed or injured. Luckily, Okumiya squatted quickly and no shrapnel fell on him. When Okumiya straightened up, he saw that the battleship "Nagato" in front of the right had destroyed two incoming torpedo planes.It was found that the firepower network here was more difficult to pass, and most of the American planes were transferred to other Japanese ships. With the help of the "Nagato", the "Falcon Eagle" finally survived the catastrophe.Although the U.S. plane was no longer visible in the sky, just to be cautious, Okunomiya still asked the signalmen at the observatory to confirm.

No one answered. "What's going on here?" Akumiya turned his gaze to the observation deck, and the scene in front of him made him feel like he was being shocked by electric shock: signal soldiers were lying in a pool of blood, some had half of their heads knocked off, and some were covered in blood and flesh. unrecognizable. All dead, no wonder no one answered. The real battlefield is far more cruel than the impression given by words and words.Augumiya was stunned for a moment, what he felt was not misery, but as if he was experiencing a nightmare. The one who was really patronized by the nightmare was actually the entire Ozawa army.There were only 80 planes that Ozawa could fly into the air to face. With the cooperation of anti-aircraft artillery fire, although they shot down 20 American planes, they also lost 65 planes. More importantly, the air defense network became riddled with holes.

Fleets that have lost the necessary protection are like meat on a chopping board and can only be slaughtered.In addition to the "Falcon Eagle", Ozawa's new flagship "Zuihe" aircraft carrier was also severely damaged. "Zuihe" is the sister ship of "Xianghe", but the two ships have the same fate. "Zuihe" has participated in all naval battles except the Midway Island battle, but has never been hit by a torpedo or bomb.In the past, the "Suihe" and "Xianghe" fought side by side, and were basically inseparable from the "Xianghe". Only the "Xianghe" was unlucky, and the "Zuihe" was never damaged.This time the bad luck is too heavy, even it can't escape.

Not long after, four "Avenger" torpedo planes led by Lieutenant Brown emerged from the clouds and swept towards another aircraft carrier "Flying Eagle" at low altitude.