"Commander, Hotaka has been sunk!" Major General Ryunosuke Kusaka reported.
"I know!" Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo clenched both hands into tight fists. His knuckles had turned white from the force, and his nails had dug into his palms, drawing blood. Yet Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo seemed not to feel any pain at all.
In the sky, the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft continued their attacks, while some of the Island Nation Navy's escort warships were burning or sinking. This time, the Island Nation Navy task force had suffered catastrophic losses. The Capital Ship Squadron had lost three Capital Ships sunk and another heavily damaged. On the carrier squadron's side, two aircraft carriers had already been sunk. Whether the remaining two aircraft carriers could safely escape was still very much in doubt. No one knew how great a price the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft would make them pay in the battles to come.
Boom!
A destroyer was hit, its entire bow swallowed by smoke and flames.
Without question, that destroyer had been heavily damaged. It might be sunk very soon.
Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's heart rose into his throat. That destroyer was one of the outer escort warships for the aircraft carrier Ibuki. Once the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft sank Ibuki's outer escort warships, they would surely turn their hands against Ibuki. When that happened, could Ibuki withstand the attack? Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo had no confidence whatsoever. The sinking of the aircraft carriers Togakushi and Hotaka had already cast a vast shadow over his heart.
"What about our carrier-based aircraft? Have they still not found the German aircraft carriers?" Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo asked.
With the Island Nation Navy's 1st Carrier Squadron suffering such grievous losses, Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo desperately hoped that their carrier-based aircraft could succeed. Perhaps that could