PS: I have had a severe sore throat these days, I’m sorry.

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This time the attacks were the Colorado and Maryland.

The California-class battleship is the most powerful battleship in the United States, with 12 390mm main guns, two in front and two in back, and a load-type layout. The standard displacement is 43,000 tons, and the full load displacement is 48,600 tons. The maximum speed is 22 knots and the endurance is 11,000 nautical miles/12 knots. This is also a typical American "Iron Turtle" style battleship. Although it is slow, it really has defense power comparable to a turtle, with a 343 mm main armor belt and 102 mm deck armor.

A 300 kilogram bomb was hit by a superstructure on the port side of the Maryland hull. The bomb penetrated the two decks and exploded in the hangar of the seaplane. The entire hangar, along with the four seaplanes inside, was destroyed, and at the same time, the aviation gasoline container near the hangar was ignited, causing a fire.

The Colorado was unfortunately hit by four bombs. One bomb fell on the stern of the ship and blew up the bathroom under the deck. The second shot hit the rear bridge and blew away the shooting commander in the rear. The third shot fell into the small boat parking area on the starboard side, blowing several traffic boats and lifeboats into garbage. The last shot hit the front chimney next to the chimney, blowing out a large hole with a diameter of more than two meters.

When the US military saw that its battleship was injured, it was even more crazy. Especially on those battleships, some sailors from other positions even brought out light weapons such as machine guns and rifles, and desperately shot at German aircraft. The entire sky near the battleship seemed to be filled with shells of all sizes, and the guns were filled with bullets.

So the two squadrons of the second round of attacks were in trouble. During the dive stage, they were killed by the crazy anti-aircraft firepower below. The remaining five bombers had just dropped the bombs and were shot down as soon as they were pulled up.

None of the two squadrons were spared!

Their results were just a bomb hit. A 127mm secondary turret on the port side of the USS California battleship was blown up, and the two anti-aircraft guns next to them were also blown up. In addition, a shot down plane fell on a cruiser, smashing several anti-aircraft gun positions.

The German aircraft behind saw that the Americans' air defense firepower was so crazy, they did not dare to rush down to die, so they changed their targets. So the remaining 24 dive bombers adjusted the targets to the group of aircraft carriers huddled behind the fleet.

To be honest, the United States has a very strict protection for aircraft carriers. These aircraft carriers are also surrounded by cruisers and destroyers, and their air defense firepower is also very powerful. But we all know that happiness is relatively good. Compared with the air defense firepower network on the battleship that is dense enough to suffocate, the air defense firepower network on the aircraft carrier is much gentler. To use a vivid metaphor, the air defense firepower on the battleship is torrential rain and hail, and the aircraft carrier can only be considered moderate to heavy rain.

The reason for this situation is that in addition to the United States still regarding battleships as the most priority "class protection animals", the aircraft carriers themselves have air defense firepower that is not as good as battleships. After all, aircraft carriers are used to release aircraft, so it is impossible to stack weapons on the deck like battleships, especially the eight "temporary aircraft carriers", which have even weaker firepower.

The two dive bomber squadrons of the third round of attack were surprised to find that the air defense firepower around the largest aircraft carriers was very weak. The German pilots did not know that these were temporary aircraft carriers at this time. They thought they had found a bargain, and they were overjoyed and set their targets as the four largest aircraft carriers.

The effect of this attack was much better than the previous two times. The Germans lost only 5 aircraft, hit 9 bombs, and 3 near-missile bombs.

Norton Bay and St. Lawrence Island each received three bombs, St. Brass Horn was hit with two bombs, Everglades was hit with one bomb and three near-missile bombs, and these temporary aircraft carriers were immediately severely damaged.

The Norton Bay bridge was actually half blown away, and a bomb penetrated several layers of decks and exploded near the starboard waterline. It was especially close to the side. The power of the explosion exploded a three-meter-diameter hole in the starboard side, and a large amount of sea water flocked in.

Because the armor-piercing incendiary bombs used by Germany and the wooden flight deck of the temporary aircraft carrier were not enough to trigger the fuse, so although the St. Lawrence Island swallowed three eggs, its flight deck looked very complete, with only three more holes as thick as a bucket. However, the hangar and lower cabin that exploded at the bomb became hell, not only was it blown up in a mess, but it also ignited a fire.

Although the Everglades had only one bomb that was hit by a lift No. 2, only the elevator was blown up, and the nearby hull was damaged and it seemed that the damage was not great. However, the three near-lost bombs were very fatal. The powerful shock waves they generated exploded the Everglades' hull, and the seams of the underwater part of the shipboard cracked in many places, causing a large amount of water inlet.

The smallest loss was the Horn of St. Bras. A bomb hit the edge of its flight deck, and after it penetrated the deck, it fell into the sea and exploded, breaking the hull out of several holes. The other bomb that hit the hangar was a dud.

The fragile survivability of the "temporary aircraft carrier" was fully demonstrated under this attack. If it were a regular aircraft carrier, it would not be so miserable in any case, and it would be impossible to cause too much damage when the near-combustion was lost.

Before the dive bomber attack was over, 60 torpedoes in the German fleet broke into low altitude while the US air defense firepower was attracted by dive bombers, and launched lightning strikes from the left and right wings.

Although they chose a better time, the torpedo planes were still too slow to fly. Before they threw lightning, 11 were knocked down by the anti-aircraft firepower that was reacted. The remaining 49 torpedo planes successfully dropped torpedoes, and nine more were shot down when they left.

Although German torpedoes lost one-third of their losses, they also launched 17 torpedoes.

Seven of the torpedoes hit the cruiser guarding around the main battleship, sinking four and injuring one. The three battleships, South Carolina, Michigan and Delaware, each hit two torpedoes, and one hit Tennessee. Due to the severe water inlet, the temporary aircraft carrier of the Everglades was greatly reduced, and unfortunately it was hit by three torpedoes in a row. Three large holes were opened on the entire starboard side, and it soon became tilted.

Fortunately, this is an aviation torpedo, which is relatively small. The damage suffered by the four battleships is not too great, but the speed is also affected. Especially the Michigan, one hit the tail of its right ship, blowing up the two propellers on the right, and it can only advance at a speed of 8 knots.

"The attack is completed, all retreat..." After seeing that the lightning strike was completed, Favnier immediately ordered the retreat. He ordered the attack aircraft group to retreat first, and he took the fighter plane to break the rear.

Of course, American aircraft would not let them go so easily, but the German fighter jets performed too well. After a while of entanglement with these fighter jets, the Americans found it was difficult to catch up with the fleeing German attack aircraft group, so they had to give up the pursuit.

In this air strike, HNA Germany lost a total of 31 fighter jets, 21 torpedo aircraft, and 45 dive bombers. Several of them were injured too seriously and parachuted without support until they returned to the Faroe Islands. After returning to the base, nine aircraft were scrapped after inspection, and a total of 106 were lost. More than 20 were seriously injured, basically nearly half of them were lost.

But they also succeeded in weakening the strength of the US fleet.

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USS California battleship flagship.

"Damn German, I actually caused such a big loss to me!" Seeing the loss report sent by the staff, Lieutenant General Sims felt cramps in his eyes.

The Everglades had been leaked by the bomb near the nearest bomb, and they ate three torpedoes in a row. The damage tube could not control the influx of the sea. It was tilted 15 degrees now, and it was basically out of rescue. The captain had ordered the abandonment of the ship.

The fire on the St. Lawrence Island was also out of control, the hangar and the planes inside had been reimbursed, and the entire hull had become a floating torch. After ordering to inject water into the ammunition tent, the captain was forced to order the ship to abandon.

Although the water intake of Norton Bay was temporarily controlled, its speed dropped to 10 knots. Moreover, the bridge was destroyed, the captain and a group of officers inside were dead and could not die anymore, and the command system was completely destroyed, and the ship was also considered abolished.

These three temporary aircraft carriers were reimbursed. Six battleships were injured in varying degrees of weight, and light cruisers were injured in four or one injury. In addition, they also lost 187 aircraft, which was really a great loss. Before they saw the German fleet, they were ruined and made Lieutenant General Sims so angry.

Although the injuries of the battleships were not very serious, the speed of several of the torpedoes had decreased. In particular, the USS Michigan battleship was greatly reduced and could only advance at a speed of 8 knots, and could no longer keep up with the fleet. Lieutenant General Sims had to order the remaining aircraft on the Norton Bay that had lost its command system to evacuate it to other aircraft carriers, allowing it to escape from the Michigan, which could not keep up with the fleet. The USS Sailun light cruiser, which had been severely flooded by torpedoes, was also left behind.

Lieutenant General Sims ordered the Birmingham light cruiser and three destroyers to stay to protect the wounded soldiers and send them back to Iceland.

Of course, Yankees are not those saints who just get beaten up. The crazy cowboys immediately started to take revenge. It is impolite to come but not to go. Since Er Dezi bombed us with a plane, of course he had to take revenge.

If you have a plane, do I have no one? If you can attack air, I will do it! Lieutenant General Sims immediately ordered the remaining seven aircraft carriers to take off the fighter planes and go to air strike the German fleet.

At 10:44, 321 planes assembled over the US fleet and rushed towards the German fleet fiercely.

However, the American aircraft fleet had just flew out less than 100 kilometers and was surprised to find that another group of German aircraft flew over the opposite...
Chapter completed!