Hawaiian time, September 26, 1943, 2:00 pm.

The atmosphere inside the bridge of the US 58th Special Mixed Fleet flagship, the USS Iowa battleship, was extremely solemn. Everyone, including Commander General Spruins, did not hold back their breath and kept watching the cloudlessness of the sky every day. It was a good weather for bombing. Moreover, the sky was still very bright, and now there were at least 4 hours before the sunset.

This is a 4 hours of life!

Everyone knows that in the next 4 hours, their fleet will inevitably encounter the most violent aerial strike in human history! 1,000, or even 2,000 terrible Japanese planes will come with bombs to cover the sky and the sun.

The only ones that Admiral Spruins can use to fight are only 1,364 f4u and f6f... The immortal staff member Black Island Turtle Man guessed halfway. This time, Spruins did not bring a bomb, but did not bring a dive bomber and a torpedo attack aircraft!

All of his 41 aircraft carriers are f4u and f6f, and there is no bomber or torpedo.

This strange method of configuration of fighter aircraft was first adopted by the Germans on the aircraft carrier, because the target of the aircraft carrier is a merchant ship, and there is no need for torpedoes and dive bombers with strong anti-ship capabilities. Moreover, the operation of the aircraft carrier behind enemy lines is far more important than the significance of combat. As long as they exist, the Japanese navy will not be at peace. They have to send aircraft carriers to escort and also have to send fleets to search the ocean.

Therefore, the US aircraft carrier has always been equipped with a full fighter aircraft, and usually it will carry a Cleveland-class light patrol and an Oakland-class light patrol, both of which are ships that strengthen air defense firepower.

Therefore, the US breaking formations entering the Western Pacific often have strong survivability. They may not be able to sink many Japanese transport ships, but the Japanese often have to pay a huge price to sink one.

The experience accumulated by breaking the traffic aircraft carrier has also attracted the attention of senior executives of the Pacific Fleet, including Nimitz and Spruins.

In their opinion, having 2 air defense cruisers (Cleveland class can also be considered an air defense ship), 1 independent aircraft carrier with enhanced air defense (24 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns and 16 20mm Eritrean anti-aircraft guns), and 30 f4u and f6f breaking formations can survive the attacks of dozens or even more Japanese aircraft (mainly a one-type land attack). Then when the fleet's scale has expanded dozens of times, it is entirely possible to block the successive attacks of 2,000 Japanese aircraft.

Of course, Nimitz and Sprounz dare not think about whether a ship will not sink. In a large formation of more than 400 ships, it is still completely affordable to lose dozens of ships. As long as there are no precious Iowa-class, South Dakota-class battleships and Essex-class aircraft carriers among the sunken ships.

At 2:11, the air defense alarm on the battleship Iahua suddenly sounded, followed by the report of the fleet's staff.

"Radar discovers enemy aircraft! The azimuth degree is 252, the distance is 100, the height is 5,000, and the number exceeds 200!... It should be a large group of aircraft sent from Christmas Island!"

"It should be their first attack wave!" Major General Miles Browning's face turned pale, "There are 200 or 300 aircraft in one attack wave, which means that the Japanese have transferred all the planes from the Hawaiian Islands to Christmas Island!"

"Send fighter jets!" Spruins gritted his teeth, "Each aircraft carrier is cascading a squadron of fighter jets into the sky, blocking the Japanese at all costs!"

"Yes, sir!"

Unlike most Japanese aircraft carriers where there are no catapults (now only five aircraft carriers such as "Dafeng", "Kaga", "Akagi", "Shoka" and "Ruizu", there are at least two catapults on the US aircraft carriers now, including escort aircraft carriers and independent-class aircraft carriers, flywheel catapults installed on the Assault-class aircraft carriers and Husband-class aircraft carriers, and hydraulic catapults installed on the other large fleet aircraft carriers.

Therefore, when an emergency occurs in the United States, there is no need to rush in the wind. It only needs to use a catapult to eject at least 18 aircraft into the sky (one flywheel catapult can launch 18 aircraft at a time, and the hydraulic catapults on large aircraft carriers do not have the number of catapult aircraft limit). Therefore, less than a quarter of an hour after Spruenz's order was issued, 492 f4u and f6f of 41 fighter squadrons (all 12) had been launched into the sky. Together with the three fighter squadrons who were originally responsible for direct cover in the air, they rushed to the sky.

At the same time, American ships that were originally sailing slowly on the sea also accelerated and began to form dozens of air defense teams with aircraft carriers as the core at sea.

...

"Takahashi Nakasa, I discovered the American fleet... Oh my God, there are so many ships covering the entire ocean, I'm afraid there are hundreds!"

Hiroichi Takahashi, who participated in the Pearl Harbor sneak attack, was the commander-in-chief of the first attack wave sent by Christmas Island today. He was flying a shore-based "Meteor" torpedo bomber, but the plane carried not torpedoes but two 250 kilogram armor-piercing bombs.

Unlike the Type 97 ship attack and the "Tianshan" ship attack, the "Meteor" torpedo bomber is a torpedo bomber that can be used as a dive bomber. For Japan, this is a "secret weapon".

Moreover, the "Meteor" torpedo bomber also has a very fast speed. After dropping bombs or torpedoes, it can fly up to 566 kilometers per hour, almost as fast as a Zero fighter.

So sitting in the cockpit of the "Meteor" torpedo bomber, Takahashi Yokoichi was very confident. He himself estimated that the first attack wave he commanded could sink at least 5 US aircraft carriers!

"Haha," Takahashi Hiroichi not only felt scared, but also laughed. He turned on the Siemens radio station on the plane and said loudly: "Look at your bottom, the American fleet has arrived. Today is the time for us to establish our achievements! Don't let one go! The Great Japanese Empire is on board! The Emperor..."

Takahashi's words ended here because he had seen the densely packed American fighter jets in the sky.

There are more than 500 f4u and f6f, covering the sky and the sun, and it is like swarming bees. This is too many, right? How could it be so many? So many fighter jets... How many aircraft carriers should there be? 20? Or 30?

"Baga!" Takahashi Hiro shouted, "Hurry up and generate electricity to the headquarters: the US fleet is unprecedented in size, with at least hundreds of ships, and there are a large number of aircraft carriers and countless fighter jets. Our troops are in a tough battle!"

This Takahashi is a veteran who has fought Pearl Harbor. When he sees the number of American fighter jets, he knows that he will fight hard.

Because Takahashi has 55 Fresh Winds and 58 Type Zero, a total of 113 fighters, and at least 500 opponents... One fights 5, even if every Japanese pilot is a trump card, it is certain that the fighter troops have suffered heavy losses.

The question now is whether these Japanese Empire fighter pilots died valuable enough.

"I am the commander of Takahashi Hiroichi, the commander-in-chief of the air strike!" Takahashi Hiroichi spoke solemnly and issued an order through the radio station, "I order to disperse the formation in squadrons... All fighters block enemy planes at all costs, and all bombers attack bravely! The target is the escort formation of the United States! First attack the escort aircraft carrier, then the landing ship and oil tanker. Kill and give it to! The Great Japanese Empire is on board! The Emperor is on board!"

Not to mention, this Takahashi Hiroichi Nakasa still has real skills. When facing the US "Sea of ​​Warships" and "Sea of ​​Airplanes", he calmly chose the secondary target and the US escort formation to launch an attack.

Because he knew very well that the Americans' main air defense firepower must be concentrated in the main formation, especially around the Essex-class aircraft carrier. If he wanted to lead to torpedo planes and bombers to break through, it would definitely be a life-threatening death.

And even if they exchanged their lives for several American aircraft carriers, most Americans would rush to Christmas Island to launch a landing war.

To prevent landing, you must attack the landing ship and oil tanker... However, the opponent he met today was a super rich man.

"Sir, the Japanese plane seems to be rushing towards our landing ship formation and transportation formation."

Major General Browning, chief of staff of the US 58 Special Mixed Fleet, soon noticed changes on the battlefield. Japanese fighters rushed towards American aircraft several times more than they were like moths to a flame. Japanese torpedo planes and dive bombers dispersed, and did not rush to the tightly guarded aircraft carriers as the Americans expected, but flew towards the sea where landing ship formations and transport ships/tanker formations were concentrated.

"It doesn't matter. Spread out some fighter jets to chase them and destroy as much as possible." Admiral Spruins was not panicked at all, as if he didn't care about the expensive American lives on the landing ships, in fact, there were not many American lives on the landing ships! Those were "air-defense landing ships", and there were no landing troops on it, only 40 anti-aircraft guns and 20mm machine guns!

Because Nimitz and Sprounz didn't plan to land on Christmas Island at all!

This combat operation code-named "Hunter" is simply a feint attack of a rich man!

The dispatch of 404 ships and more than 1,300 combat aircraft to burn more than one million tons of fuel was to create the illusion that the US military wanted to seize Christmas Island.

There are two purposes for creating this illusion: one is to mobilize the main force of the Japanese fleet to consume the Japanese fuel; the other is to consume the lives of Japanese pilots!

At 2:33 pm on September 26, 1943, Hawaiian time, the fierce sea-air war officially kicked off at the Pacific Ocean, about 280 nautical miles from Christmas Island...
Chapter completed!