However, Yamaguchi Takan no longer has time to worry about this, because not long after his first batch of attack formations were released, the next round of attacks from the US military followed. This time, the ones who appeared were from the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier.

18 dive bombers and 8 F4F fighters, led by Lieutenant Commander Maxwell Leslie. At this time, Zero War, who was originally responsible for fleet air defense, suffered another loss in the battle just now. Although they have climbed

When they reached a higher altitude, their number was only 6. And the 6 Zero Fighters that had just taken off from the Flying Dragon were all sent to escort the dive bombers. Although they ignored the F4F's obstruction, they sacrificed their lives.

Deadly launched an attack on Leslie's bomber group and shot down two of them, but obviously they could not stop the attack of the bomber group.

This time the Hiryu never had the same good luck as before. Compared with the Enterprise and the Hornet, the bombers on the Yorktown aircraft carrier, which had experience attacking warships in the Coral Sea, performed better. 16 bombers dropped

Of the bombs, 6 successfully hit.

The first bomb hit the flight deck, blowing a big hole in it. The second bomb hit the torpedo planes lined up at the rear of the flight deck preparing to take off and started a fire. The third bomb passed through the deck and destroyed a building.

The boiler (which caused the warship to slow down all of a sudden), then the fourth, fifth, and sixth. The entire mothership was completely paralyzed.

In "The Sinking Empire" he wrote:

"The strike came and went quickly. When the first bomb missed, I was still thinking, 'Ah, they can't hit us.' But then, a bomb was not far away from me.

It exploded. At that time, I was assisting the damage control personnel to put out the remaining fire in the elevator. The huge shock wave generated by the explosion pushed me directly to the ground. My ears were buzzing, and I didn't understand it for a long time. After a while,

I woke up and found a person on top of me. I pushed him away and got up. I felt that my hands were full of sticky things. When I looked carefully, I saw that the person on top of me was the damage control officer Komatsu.

Ying, half of his head was cut off by shrapnel, and what was stuck to my hand was his brain..."

However, Yamaguchi and Kaku Shizuo still did not give up. The damage control personnel of the entire ship were working hard to save the warship. In order to prevent the fire from spreading to the ammunition depot and fuel depot, Kaku Shizuo ordered water to be released into these two compartments. The ammunition depot

The ship was successfully submerged by seawater, but the pipeline leading to the fuel tank was damaged by a bomb, making it impossible to inject seawater. This became the ship's biggest weakness. Three hours later, the heat from the fire triggered an explosion.

The internal facilities of the aircraft carrier were blown up. The Hiryu tilted more than 15 degrees, and Captain Kaku Shizuo was forced to give the order to abandon the ship. It was 14:00 in the afternoon.

Amid the blazing fire on the deck, Commander Yamaguchi Tamon said to the more than 800 people who were about to leave the destroyed "Hiryu" aircraft carrier: "I will personally bear full responsibility for the loss of the two aircraft carriers 'Hiryu' and 'Soryu'.

He told them: "I will stay on the ship until the end." Although his subordinates firmly requested that the leader go first, he calmly and firmly refused their request. He handed his black hat to the adjutant.

He kept it as a souvenir and sent a telegram to the fleet commander, Admiral Nagumo, to express his apology. Then he raised a large glass of water and said goodbye to his comrades. The sun flag flying high on the mast was lowered, carefully folded and taken away.

Bugles played "Kiminoyo" and the emperor's portrait was reverently transferred to a nearby destroyer. As the crew left the warship, Yamaguchi released his message to the escorting destroyer Nowaki.

The last order: "Fire torpedoes and sink the Hiryu." As the flames gradually surrounded the bridge, the general turned to Captain Kakuzuo and said calmly: "This sea is so beautiful, let's

Let's enjoy this beautiful sea together." Afterwards, people had a lot of speculation about the short-term behavior of this general who was recognized as the most talented in the combined fleet and most likely to take over Yamamoto Isoroku's class. Some people thought that General Yamaguchi

At this time, he already understood that Japan's fate could not be changed, and he was unwilling to live to see that day with his own eyes.

The destroyer Nowaki launched a powerful 93 acid torpedo at Hiryu, sinking the aircraft carrier that persisted until the end. The destroyer Nowaki would not have thought that in the days to come, it would become a hit for the entire fleet.

It is the warship with the highest tonnage sunk, and the vast majority of those it sunk were its own warships.

The bomber group that took off from the Hiryu failed to find the US military formation at the location mentioned by the reconnaissance plane. So they began to search nearby. Previously, they had learned through the radio that the Hiryu had been severely damaged. They knew that they would not be able to find it if they returned.

The deck is ready for landing.

Time passed, and soon it was 12 noon. If the bomber group did not return, they would not have the fuel to go back. Yamaguchi gave them an order to go back and parachute over the fleet. But this order was rejected by the commander of the bomber group.

Captain Kobayashi refused. He informed the formation that if they needed to go back, they would go back on their own, and he was determined to avenge the Hiryu no matter what.

At 12:13 noon, the Kobayashi aircraft group discovered the track left by the ship on the sea, followed the track, and soon after, they found the US aircraft carrier Yorktown.

Thirty miles away from Yorktown, the bomber formation was attacked by 12 "Wildcat" fighter jets patrolling the "Yorktown". Although the escorting Zero Fighter tried its best, the weaknesses of the Zero Fighter were once again exposed.

.When the Wildcats, who had a high altitude advantage, rushed towards the bombers under the guidance of radar, the shortcomings of the escorting Zero Battle's insufficient firepower were fully exposed. When the Wildcats broke through the Zero Battle's interception in a head-on confrontation, they only

One aircraft was lost. Once they passed the first round of interception, with the high speed brought by the dive, they could even safely and boldly let Zero War occupy the most deadly 6 o'clock direction - Zero War could not catch up anyway.

——And focused on attacking the Japanese bombers. It was not until they completed the first round of attacks and pulled up again that the escorting Zero Battle caught up again and struggled to tangle with the Wildcats. But in the first round

In the raid, those dive bombers that were as clumsy as ducks because they were loaded with bombs were shot down as many as 4, and more bombers were injured in the attack. Of course, such results were not achieved by ri

This bomber would rather die than drop bombs to enhance flight maneuverability.

"Don't get entangled with the enemy fighter jets, attack the bombers with all your strength!" the US military formation commander issued such an instruction. The wildcats braved the zero-fight artillery fire and launched round after round of attacks on the Japanese bombers wholeheartedly. The formation commander Sith

The captain's Wildcat was hit, and his fuel tank began to leak. The leaked fuel atomized in the air and dragged a long path. Under normal circumstances, he should have withdrawn from the battle. And he was at this time

Choosing to retreat, the Japanese would never pursue them because they wanted to stay to protect the bombers. But Captain Sith did not choose to retreat. He drove the injured fighter plane and continued to attack the Japanese bombers. One after another, the fighter planes began to catch fire and burn.

Falling. Some are American fighter jets, and some are Japanese bombers. Sometimes a fireball suddenly appears in the sky. Some of those fireballs are caused by a fighter jet being hit and then exploding in the air, or some Japanese fighter jets initiate an active collision in order to defend the bomber.

caused by.

When the last Wildcat withdrew from the battle with thick smoke, 12 Japanese bombers had been shot down, and two of the escorting Zero Fighters were damaged (all the Zero Fighters lost were due to active collisions). Captain Kobayashi and

His comrades, flying the remaining six bombers, were attacked by intensive anti-aircraft fire from the US ship formation. In the process of rushing towards the aircraft carrier Yorktown, the formation lost two more bombers. Now the formation only has

There are only 4 bombers left. Without special attack methods, it is absolutely impossible to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy.

"Gentlemen, see you at Kudanzaka!" Kobayashi said these last words to his loyal subordinates through the radio, then drove the bomber straight down, and dived to a height of less than 200 meters before dropping the bomb. When the bomb fell,

At the same time as the explosion on the deck of the Yorktown, his plane also hit the flight deck of the Yorktown, damaging several planes parked on it. The Japanese planes behind (including those without bombs)

War) also followed their commander's lead and launched a suicidal attack on the Yorktown. Although the fleet's anti-aircraft firepower tried their best to intercept it, another plane still hit the Yorktown with a bomb. The warship was ablaze.

of fire.

At 1 o'clock, Fletcher transferred his flag to the cruiser "Astoria" and sent a wireless telegram to General Nimitz, requesting that Task Force 17 be stopped for protection.

The aircraft carrier "Yorktown" gave up tactical reinforcements to Spruance.

After General Fletcher left, the fire on York City was gradually brought under control. The damage control department performed very well. The fuel depot and ammunition depot were well protected, and the warships were able to sail on their own.

Power, although the maximum speed was only a pitiful 12 knots. Under the protection of other ships of Task Force 17, she began to turn towards Pearl Harbor.

The historical Yorktown was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine during its retreat. But this time, the Yorktown was lucky enough to escape. She eventually returned to Pearl Harbor, but was diagnosed as being too seriously damaged.

, it will take at least a year and a half to repair. And a year and a half later, with the continuous addition of new fleet aircraft carriers, this meritorious battleship began to take a back seat until after the war, it was converted into a naval memorial.

After Yamamoto learned the sad news that all four aircraft carriers had been lost, he was speechless. After painful thinking, he decided to admit defeat. He ordered: "Cancel the order to occupy Midway Island." He led his fleet to start returning.

General Spruance commanded the USS Enterprise and the USS Hornet to conduct a limited pursuit, sinking the cruiser Mogami of the Nagumo Fleet, and then retreated to the west before nightfall. In this way, a decisive battle ended

.

Compared with the original history, the results of the war are not much different at first glance. Japan also lost 4 aircraft carriers. Although the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier of the US military was not sunk as in history, the result was the same as that of being sunk.

There is not much difference. But if the loss of pilots is taken into account, it is quite different. The losses of Japanese pilots are slightly larger than the original history, while the losses of the US military are much smaller than the original history, and they have experienced more
Chapter completed!