Chapter 1649: withdrawal
"Boom!"
A destroyer was hit by a torpedo, and the warhead of the heavy aviation torpedo exploded with amazing power, almost blowing the destroyer in two. Sea water poured into the destroyer\'s hull frantically, and soon the destroyer with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons sank into the sea.
After three aircraft carriers were sunk in succession, the remaining carrier-based aircraft of the German Navy, which still had bombs and torpedoes, began to attack the aircraft carrier battle group "Bunker Hill" and the aircraft carrier battle group "Franklin".
Destroyers and cruisers one after another sank under the attack of the German carrier-based aircraft group. This has caused the air defense firepower of these two aircraft carrier battle groups to be rapidly weakened. It is foreseeable that their air defense firepower network will be torn to pieces in a short time. At that time, the two aircraft carriers at the core of the aircraft carrier battle group will also suffer.
"General, the Germans are besieging the \'Bunker Hill\' and the \'Franklin\'. They obviously want to sink our large aircraft carrier first." Lieutenant General Halsey said.
Admiral Ernest King nodded. In fact, Lieutenant General Halsey did not need to say, he could see it. The German\'s attack goal is very clear, that is to kill these large aircraft carriers first, and then deal with other aircraft carriers, and eliminate the aircraft carrier formations of the US and British fleets, or try their best to weaken them. In this case, the US and British fleets will suffer heavy losses and will no longer be able to pose a threat to the German navy.
Soon, the **** warships of the USS "Bunker Hill" aircraft carrier battle group and the "Franklin" aircraft carrier battle group suffered heavy losses. Their tight air defense network was also completely torn apart. Although their counterattack also caused a lot of losses to the German Navy\'s carrier-based aircraft. But compared to the results they achieved, such a small loss is completely insignificant.
"Boom! Boom!"
Aerial bombs hit the aircraft carriers \'Bunker Hill\' and \'Franklin\'. The large flight decks of these two aircraft carriers became the best targets for the German Navy\'s carrier-based aircraft. The flight deck was penetrated and the bomb exploded inside the hull, causing massive damage to both aircraft carriers.
How long has it been in the United States, the USS "Bunker Hill" and the USS "Franklin" have become scarred. Fortunately, by this time, the carrier-based fleet of the German Navy had finished dropping bombs and torpedoes and had to return. This leaves some time for the U.S. Navy to repair the damaged warship.
"General, the German carrier-based aircraft have retreated, and they have no ammunition." Lieutenant General Halsey said.
Admiral Ernest Jin couldn\'t see a trace of joy on his face. So far, they have had three aircraft carriers sunk and two more severely damaged. Moreover, these aircraft carriers are all large fleet aircraft carriers! Such a loss seems to have been greater than the loss of the German Navy. What\'s more deadly is that no one knows whether the German navy will launch a second round of attacks. In that case, the U.S. Navy will definitely lose more aircraft carriers. This will undoubtedly make their losses worse.
"Order the fleet to speed up the evacuation! It doesn\'t matter whether the Germans will launch a second round of attacks. But we have no ability to launch a counterattack against them." Admiral Ernest King ordered.
The second wave of returning fleets of the US and British fleets also began to land. However, the second wave of fleet also suffered a lot of losses. The two wave fleet originally had more than 1,200 carrier-based aircraft. But now the total number of carrier-based aircraft returning to the voyage is only more than three hundred and less than four hundred. If the aircraft carrier formation of the German Navy can be found and another round of attacks can be launched, it may be able to give the German Navy a little color. However, so far they still don\'t know where the German Navy\'s aircraft carrier formation is. Even if they searched in the direction of the attack of the German Navy\'s carrier-based aircraft, nothing was found. This made the generals of the US and British fleets very clear that the German Navy\'s aircraft carrier formation must be in another direction.
In addition, if the US and British fleets attempt to launch a third wave of attacks, more preparation time will be required. And this, I am afraid, will also create opportunities for the German navy to continue to launch attacks. At that time, their losses may be even greater.
Another reason is that the loss of carrier-based fighter jets of the US and British fleets is too great, so that they simply do not have enough strength to **** dive bombers and torpedo attack aircraft. Once intercepted by the German Navy\'s carrier-based fighter jets again, their carrier-based aircraft fleet will inevitably encounter a massacre.
The US and British fleets began to turn in an attempt to withdraw from this sea area. But unfortunately, as soon as the order was issued, their air search radar discovered the second wave of the German Navy\'s carrier-based aircraft group.
The second wave of the German Navy\'s carrier-based aircraft fleet consists of 96 carrier-based FW-190 fighter jets, 144 dive bombers and 120 torpedo attack aircraft. Compared with the first wave of fleet, although there are nearly 50 fewer **** fighters. However, the carrier-based fighter jets of the US and British fleets also suffered heavy losses, and there were not many left. So, they are already more than enough to provide air defense protection for the fleet.
Although, in order to intercept the German Navy\'s carrier-based aircraft fleet, the US and British fleets once again took off with a small number of F4U fighter jets to intercept. However, before they had time to launch an attack on the German Navy\'s dive bombers and torpedo attack aircraft, they were attacked by the **** fighter jets of the German Navy\'s carrier-based fleet. Not only did they suffer heavy losses, but they were also dispersed.
After the carrier-based aircraft fleet of the German Navy caught up with the US and British fleets, the huge carrier-based aircraft fleet immediately launched an attack. The USS \'Bunker Hill\' aircraft carrier, which was on fire and emitting thick smoke, was the first target of the attack by the USS \'Franklin\' aircraft carrier.
As aerial bombs and torpedoes hit the two aircraft carriers one after another, the two aircraft carriers were quickly sent to the bottom of the sea.
When the "Bunker Hill" aircraft carrier and the "Franklin" aircraft carrier were sunk, the German Navy\'s carrier fleet began to attack the aircraft carrier battle group where several other large aircraft carriers were located.
The \'Essex\' aircraft carrier battle group, the \'Brave\' aircraft carrier battle group, the \'Bennington\' aircraft carrier battle group and the \'Boxer\' aircraft carrier battle group have all become targets of attack.