Boom! Boom! Boom!
On the American warships, anti-aircraft guns were still firing madly. Shells exploded in the sky, sending shrapnel flying in all directions.
Radio proximity fuzes had not yet been invented, so the shells fired by these anti-aircraft guns used either timed fuzes or impact fuzes. The former detonated at a predetermined altitude, while the latter exploded only after striking an aircraft. This made it extremely difficult to hit enemy aircraft through shipborne anti-aircraft fire alone.
German aircraft weaved through the rain of shells from anti-aircraft guns and bullets from anti-aircraft machine guns. Though it looked perilous, they were actually relatively safe. This was especially true for the nimble fighters, which darted through the anti-aircraft fire net with heroic flair. American anti-aircraft shells chased after them, yet could do nothing to them.
At times, these fighters used their aircraft machine guns or autocannons to attack exposed anti-aircraft positions, suppressing the anti-aircraft fire aboard the American warships and creating favorable conditions for the Dive Bombers and Torpedo Bombers to attack.
Boom!
A violent explosion rang out. A Cleveland-class Light Cruiser erupted violently, its enormous hull breaking into two pieces amid the blast before quickly sinking beneath the sea. A Dive Bomber had dropped a heavy armor-piercing aerial bomb, which penetrated the deck armor before exploding inside the warship. It had also triggered an ammunition magazine explosion, blasting the Cleveland-class Light Cruiser's hull apart.
Although the German aircraft had not attacked the Capital Ships of the American fleet, the mounting losses among the cruisers and destroyers had already torn the anti-aircraft net around the American Capital Ships to tatters. Once that outer defensive net was completely ripped open, the German aircraft would inevitably attack the Battleships at the core.
"General, the German aircraft are too formidable. We've already lost quite a