The anti-aircraft fire from the escort warships of the Bunker Hill aircraft carrier was firing madly into the sky, dense barrages screaming upward as they chased the German carrier-based aircraft group.
Yet those carrier-based aircraft moved like seagulls, nimbly weaving through the barrage. It looked perilous, but each time they narrowly evaded the anti-aircraft fire. Very few carrier-based aircraft were actually hit.
Boom!
A destroyer was struck by a torpedo. The warhead of the heavy aerial torpedo exploded with astonishing force, nearly blowing the destroyer in two. Seawater flooded wildly into the hull, quickly sending the more-than-two-thousand-ton destroyer beneath the waves.
After three aircraft carriers were sunk in succession, the remaining German Navy carrier-based aircraft still carrying bombs and torpedoes began attacking the Bunker Hill carrier battle group and the Franklin carrier battle group.
Destroyers and cruisers sank one after another under the attacks of the German carrier-based aircraft group. The anti-aircraft firepower of these two carrier battle groups was being rapidly weakened. It was foreseeable that before long, their anti-aircraft defense network would be torn to pieces. When that happened, the two aircraft carriers at the heart of the carrier battle groups would suffer as well.
"General, the Germans are launching an encirclement offensive against the Bunker Hill and the Franklin. They clearly intend to sink our large aircraft carriers first," Lieutenant General Halsey said.
Admiral Ernest King nodded. In truth, even without Lieutenant General Halsey telling him, he could see it clearly. The Germans' targets were very clear: first eliminate these large aircraft carriers, then deal with the other carriers, wiping out the carrier formations of the American and British fleets, or weakening them as much as possible. If that happened, the American and British fleets would suffer grievous losses and would no longer be able to threaten