Although among the American Navy's many aircraft carriers, the Lexington-class aircraft carriers had the greatest displacement and flight decks, larger even than the Essex-class aircraft carriers, there were only two Lexington-class carriers converted from Capital Ships hulls. Moreover, the American Navy's 4th Carrier Fleet was positioned at the northeastern corner of the entire American Navy Aircraft Carrier Formation, making it somewhat farther away.
That was why the German carrier-based aircraft group had chosen the four Essex-class aircraft carriers of the American Navy's 2nd Carrier Fleet as its first targets.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The anti-aircraft fire from the escort warships of the American Navy's 2nd Carrier Fleet, as well as from the four Essex-class aircraft carriers, began firing madly. It was not only the cruisers and destroyers that opened fire; the Essex-class aircraft carriers themselves were fitted with considerable anti-aircraft armament. Every Essex-class aircraft carrier was equipped with six twin-mounted 127mm Anti-aircraft Guns, eight quadruple-mounted 40mm Anti-aircraft Guns, and forty-six single-barreled 20mm Anti-aircraft Guns.
Such anti-aircraft firepower could be called exceptionally formidable. However, the enormous flight decks of the Essex-class aircraft carriers were extremely easy targets for enemy aircraft. Thus, even with their vast number of anti-aircraft weapons, their defenses still seemed somewhat weak. They had to be protected by escort warships. Even so, it was still far from foolproof. Once attacked, they were very easily hit.
Every American Navy aircraft carrier was protected by a considerable number of cruisers and destroyers. It was simply not as extravagant as the German Navy's carrier formations. Each American Navy aircraft carrier was protected by one Heavy Cruiser, two Light Cruisers, and six destroyers. Compared with the German Navy, that was only a little more than half the scale. In addition, the American Navy had yet to build specialized large anti-aircraft cruisers. Perhaps they