Chapter 67 terrible sigh

As early as take-off, Brown made up his mind that he must hit a Japanese aircraft carrier no matter what. Although his plane was shot and caught fire during a low-sweep, he still threw torpedoes on the "Flying Eagle". Just like the relationship between "Ruihe" and "Xianghe", "Falcon Eagle" and "Flying Eagle" are also sisters. Both "Eagle" are aircraft carriers converted from merchant ships, and their damage resistance is stronger than that of ordinary warships. Be small.When the U.S. plane left the "Falcon Eagle", Okumiya was worried that the "Flying Eagle" would become a scapegoat. At the same time, the U.S. torpedo plane flew low to the sea, which made him exclaim: Americans are also very brave!

One of the soldiers of the "Flying Eagle", Oshita Guangguo, was on standby at the position of the machine gun at the stern of the ship. When he heard someone shouting "torpedoes are coming", he began to count in fear.Counting from 1 to 12, nothing happened. It seemed that the torpedo did not hit the "Flying Eagle", and he was relieved. But Oshida counted too fast, 12 was followed by 13. There was only an explosion, and the whole body of the "Flying Eagle" shook. After being hit by two torpedoes in succession, a fire broke out on the ship. The fire burned from one deck to another deck, and the "Flying Eagle" quickly lost its ability to sail. , motionless as if dead.

Okumiya saw from the "Falcon Eagle" that due to the tilt, the red hull of the "Flying Eagle" was exposed, and he immediately realized that the aircraft carrier could not be saved. Although the "Falcon Eagle" was so seriously injured that the plane could not take off and land, it was still sailable. Okumiya asked Jojima: "Commander, what should I do about the 'Flying Eagle'?" What Okumiya meant was to rescue the "Flying Eagle". Doing so would be very risky, and if it didn't work out, it would get burned. Some people already showed displeasure, but Jojima nodded at Okumiya: "Okay, we Take a look."

At dusk, the "Falcon Eagle", which turned its course, approached the "Flying Eagle".Jojima is an expert in aviation warfare with a professional background in navigation. He knew at a glance that the "Flying Eagle" had nothing to do with it.Although the air strikes had stopped at this time, the possibility of a second wave of attacks by US planes still existed, so Ozawa issued an order to him from the "Zuihe" through a light signal: "The troops quickly retreat to the northwest." Jojima then ordered the destroyer to guard the "Flying Eagle" and rescue the crew. The "Falcon Eagle" changed its course according to the order and headed northwest.

On the "Flying Eagle", the captain had already given the order to abandon the ship, but the 13 crew members including Oshida at the stern of the ship did not receive clear instructions. Seeing that the ship was sinking rapidly, and the sea water submerged the position of the machine gun, Oshida The people who waited hurriedly ran to the railing. But their commander, a young second lieutenant, blocked the way: "Wait a minute, let's sing "Conquer the Sea" first!" Bitch is hypocritical!At a time like this, running for your life is the most important thing, so what song should you sing?But seeing the second lieutenant pull out his saber, the crowd had no choice but to give in. They hummed and chattered until the seawater soaked their knees.

Finally, when it was over, Oshida and the others scattered and jumped from the side of the boat into the sea. Oshida looked back and saw that the fire had been ejected from the aircraft carrier. Under the light of the fire, the second lieutenant with too low IQ was holding a saber, leaning on the railing of the ship's stern, and was still singing. The sailors who jumped into the sea were easily sucked in by the vortex when the ship sank, and Oshida swam desperately.When he looked back again, he saw the "Flying Eagle" pointed to the sky like a giant's finger, and then sank forever in the sea with "a terrible sigh".

The "Flying Eagle" sank, and the "Falcon Eagle" was injured. Some of the carrier-based aircraft barely squeezed onto other aircraft carriers, and more aircraft had to make an emergency landing near the warship.Hookah smoke rose from the twilight sea, and the "plop plop" was full of the sound of falling planes. Destroyers and submarines risked stopping their voyages to rescue those who fell into the water. Ozawa was most afraid that the 58th Task Force would attack again, but this situation did not appear. Mitchell had no intention of pursuing it, because his own pilots were also mired in the mud.

When the U.S. planes returned, their battery life had reached the limit, and the pointers of the fuel gauges of individual planes were even close to zero. Before reaching the position of the U.S. aircraft carrier, some seriously damaged and fuel-exhausted planes fell into the sea. The 58th Task Force has been advancing at full speed in order to shorten the return distance of the surviving aircraft, but looking out at the sea and sky where you can't see your fingers, Mitchell is still worried about the fate of the pilots. , he paced back and forth between the chart room and the bridge, feeling extremely uneasy.

At 10:30 in the evening, the returning aircraft entered the navigation range of the aircraft carrier one after another. However, in the dark night sky, except for a few skilled or lucky pilots who were able to land smoothly, most people could only distinguish the track of the warship. But they couldn't recognize which ones were aircraft carriers and which ones were other large warships.So they had no choice but to circle in the sky chaotically. Some planes had begun to pant heavily, making the crackling sound when the fuel was exhausted; some planes panicked and accidentally collided with friendly planes; It made an emergency landing and landed on the vast sea, splashing a large amount of seawater.

Hearing the "groans of pain" from the pilots, Mitchell decisively gave the order: "Turn on the lights!" Mitchell's decision carried a huge risk because it would expose the fleet's position to possible attack by Japanese submarines and aircraft. In the words of one officer, it was "audacious and reckless to open your mouth and tell the Japanese to come and attack us." ". But in Mitchell's view, it's totally worth it.Rescuing the pilots who fell into the water at all costs is not only out of humanitarian considerations, but also because the commanders of US aircraft carriers know a truth: if the aircraft carrier loses the pilots of the carrier-based aircraft, it is no longer capital, but only a burden.

After Mitchell lifted the blackout, there was a spontaneous cheer on the warship: "Let the Japanese around us go to hell, we can't sacrifice our pilots casually." The aircraft carrier all turned on the red masthead lights, the navigation lights, anchor lights, and flares fully displayed the flight deck, and the searchlights shot bright beams into the night sky.The sea area where the 58th Task Force is located has thus become brightly lit, just like a carnival.The pilot who survived a desperate situation described this scene as if "Hollywood rehearsal, Chinese New Year and American Independence Day came together." Under the guidance of the lights, the aircraft rushed to land on the aircraft carrier as if attracted by a magnet, which even gave the ground crew on the aircraft carrier an illusion, as if there were swarms of bees buzzing above and around the warship.A "Hellcat" landed safely on the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier, and the pilot was sweating profusely: "My gasoline is all gone, and I almost went to hell." Fortunately, there are no Japanese submarines in the sea area where the 58th Task Force is located. As for the Kakuda and Ozawa troops that have been beaten into empty shells, they are even more unable to send planes to attack. Due to time constraints, Mitchell allowed the returning aircraft to land on either carrier.After the process of receiving the aircraft and rescuing the pilots who made an emergency landing on the surface, the 58th Task Force continued to sail towards the sea area where the air battle took place before dark. The next day, Spruance and Mitchell voluntarily gave up the opportunity to pursue and sailed along the pilot's return route in order to rescue as many people who fell into the water as possible.With the efforts of everyone, although the US military lost nearly 100 aircraft during the return and landing process, nearly 90% of the pilots were saved. The Battle of the Marianas was the last and largest carrier battle of World War II.This battle swept away the main force of the United Fleet. Three heavy aircraft carriers and 92% of the carrier-based aircraft of Ozawa's army were destroyed. By the end of the battle, only 35 of Ozawa's carrier-based aircraft remained. The loss of trained pilots was exhausted, and Ozawa's forces could no longer find highly trained pilots. Theoretically speaking, Ozawa's army still has enough warships, but the theory is just a theory. This severely weakened fleet has since been far away from youth, wealth and handsomeness, and can no longer cause any big waves in the Pacific Ocean. At this point in the play, everyone on the "Dadian" was convinced that the "Operation Adai" had gone bankrupt, and the next step was whether Ozawa's troops would leave the scene.Some aides believe that it is up to the frontline commanders to decide whether Ozawa's troops will retreat or not, but Cao Lu, as the defeated general at the Battle of Midway, has personal experience of this, and he knows that it is very difficult for Ozawa to propose a retreat. thing. After obtaining Toyota's consent, he issued a retreat order to Ozawa. Of course, the words he used were very particular and subtle: "The melee combat is suspended, and then it will be restarted according to the combat situation." On June 21, Ozawa's troops returned to Okinawa according to the order.When setting off from Tawi Tawi Island, Ozawa once issued instructions to his subordinates: "If this operation fails to achieve the expected purpose, the surface ships will lose their meaning of existence." The words are still in my ears, and Ozawa's troops have indeed lost their value. Ozawa himself admitted that the naval battle in the Pacific has actually ended, and "restarting according to the battle situation" is just deceiving himself and others. In the evening, Ozawa dictated a resignation letter to Toyota, but was rejected by Toyota: "For this defeat, I am more responsible than General Ozawa, and I will not accept his resignation." Toyota has always been strict with people, but at this stage, there are not many naval admirals who can really come in handy. The important thing now is not who to punish, but who to rely on to continue the mess.Also defeated at Midway Island, Yamamoto's old chief of staff, Ugaki Masamune, had the sadness of repeatedly falling into a pit and never getting up again. He wrote a small haiku poem about it: "Although the battle is over, the rainy season is over." Depressed sky, still overhead."