"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Carrier-based aircraft took off one after another from the aircraft carriers of the American Navy and British Navy. In this time and space, after retreating to Canada, Britain had shared its military technology extensively with the United States. Thus, the two nations were exactly the same when it came to carrier-based aircraft. After the Battle of the Azores, both navies had replaced their carrier-based fighters with F4U fighter planes.
The nine Essex-class aircraft carriers undoubtedly carried the largest number of carrier-based aircraft. In the first wave, each Essex-class aircraft carrier launched 18 F4U fighter planes, 18 SBD2 dive bombers, and 9 TBD torpedo bombers. As for the four Independence-class light aircraft carriers, each carried only 24 F4U fighter planes and 9 TBD torpedo bombers. In this operation, those Independence-class light aircraft carriers launched only nine TBD torpedo bombers each. All their fighters remained behind, and they would serve as the backbone of the fleet's air defense.
In the coming attack, Admiral Ernest King would launch all the carrier-based aircraft from the nine Essex-class aircraft carriers in two waves. That meant the fleet's subsequent air defense could only rely on the F4U fighter planes aboard the four Independence-class aircraft carriers.
As the American Navy's aircraft carriers continuously launched carrier-based aircraft, the British Navy's eight medium aircraft carriers were doing the same. They would also take part in this attack.
The British Navy's eight medium aircraft carriers consisted of three Glorious-class aircraft carriers, each carrying 48 carrier-based aircraft; one Ark Royal-class aircraft carrier and four Illustrious-class aircraft carriers, each carrying 54 carrier-based aircraft. In this attack, the British Navy's eight medium aircraft carriers could launch a total of 69 F4U fighter planes, 69 SBD2 dive bombers, and 69 TBD torpedo bombers.
An hour later, they could launch the same