"Commander, our air-defense fighters have suffered heavy losses. But they've also shot down a great many German aircraft. Right now, they're still desperately intercepting the German aircraft group," Lieutenant General Halsey reported to Admiral Nimitz.
"Mm! They are all valiant warriors of the United States of America," Admiral Nimitz said.
For the American air-defense fighters to hold back the German Navy's massive carrier-based aircraft group despite their outdated performance was undoubtedly no easy feat. Of course, they had also paid an unimaginable price for it.
What worried Admiral Nimitz, however, was that this was merely the German Navy's first wave of aircraft. One could imagine that several more waves of German military aircraft groups would certainly launch attacks against them afterward. After all, the German Navy had twenty aircraft carriers, and nearly all of them were large carriers. The number of carrier-based aircraft carried by those carriers far exceeded that of the American Navy's twenty-four aircraft carriers.
They had already suffered grievous losses against the German Navy's first aircraft group. What would they use to intercept the German Navy's other aircraft groups next? When the time came, they would probably have to rely on their fleet's own anti-aircraft firepower.
Boom boom boom! Rat-a-tat-tat!
The fierce battle between the carrier-based aircraft of both sides continued in the sky. However, as time passed, the airspace of the battle drew ever closer to the waters where the American fleet's Aircraft Carrier Formation was located. Although the German Navy's Dive Bombers and Torpedo Bombers were constantly being shot down, they continued flying in that direction all the same.
"Damn it, the Germans are about to break through above our fleet. They still have so many Dive Bombers and Torpedo Bombers. We must shoot down more of the German Bombers!" the American air-defense fighter Commander