"General, the 'Ticonderoga' is finished! The oil tank was detonated." Lieutenant General Halsey looked frustrated.
You know, the USS Ticonderoga also belongs to the aircraft carrier Essex-class. It is the main aircraft carrier of American Navy. But now, it is still sunk by German Navy.
Admiral Nimitz's face was expressionless, but his heart seemed to be bleeding. Watching his aircraft carrier being sunk by the enemy was undoubtedly a huge blow to him.
Although, American Navy has a total of 24 aircraft carriers. However, the loss of two 'Essex-class' aircraft carriers in succession was undoubtedly a heavy blow to American Navy. What's even more terrible is that German carrier-based aircraft group's attack has just begun. Next, they will definitely lose more aircraft carriers under the attack of German carrier-based aircraft group.
"May God bless Republic of America!" Admiral Nimitz said secretly.
Even though he is Commander of the fleet, now he has no other choice but to pray to God. In such a fierce battle, the role he can play is even worse than that of an ordinary sailor. After all, even ordinary sailors can control anti-aircraft firepower to attack German carrier-based aircraft group and protect their warships. But Admiral Nimitz could only watch from the sidelines.
It was the first batch of Carrier-based aircraft from German Navy Mediterranean Fleet that killed the USS Ticonderoga of American Navy. The first batch of Atlantic Fleet, Carrier-based aircraft, had dropped all their bombs and had to return.
However, they suffered heavy losses to the escort fleet of the USS Ticonderoga before returning. Only the first batch of Mediterranean Fleet, Carrier-based aircraft, were able to deal a fatal blow to the USS Ticonderoga in one fell swoop.
At the same time, the first batch of Carrier-based aircraft from Home Fleet also arrived on the battlefield. A huge Carrier-based aircraft group consisting of 96 fighter jets, 144 Dive Bomber and 120 Torpedo Bomber, directly launched an attack on American Navy's Aircraft Carrier Formation. The direction of their attack was northeast of the US military's Aircraft Carrier Formation. And the one closest to them is American Navy 4th Carrier Fleet. This Aircraft Carrier Formation, in addition to the two 'Lexington-class' aircraft carriers, are three 'independence-class' aircraft carriers.
Under the attack of German military's huge Carrier-based aircraft group, the entire American Navy 4th Carrier Fleet was in crisis. Although, the escorting warships were also firing wildly. But under the overwhelming bombs of German carrier-based aircraft group and the blows of Torpedo, these escort warships were being sunk one after another. When these escort warships were almost lost and US fleet's air defense firepower network was completely torn apart, it was the turn of the aircraft carrier located at the core.
Obviously, under the tactics of German military's huge Carrier-based aircraft group, the US military's Aircraft Carrier Formation simply cannot resist it.
At the same time, the huge Carrier-based aircraft group of the US military 2nd Carrier Fleet and 3rd Carrier Fleet took off, and also began to attack Aircraft Carrier Formation of German military Home Fleet.
However, these Carrier-based aircraft were also intercepted by a large number of German military air defense fighters. 124 carrier-based FW-190 fighter jets and carrier-based BF-109 fighter jets launched a fierce attack on the US carrier-based aircraft group. This caused the US carrier-based aircraft group and the Aircraft Carrier Formation that had not yet discovered German military to suffer heavy losses under the attack of these air defense fighters.
Even for those Carrier-based aircraft who finally succeeded in breaking through the defense, facing German military's powerful fleet air defense firepower, it is not that difficult to destroy German military's aircraft carrier.
However, German Home Fleet did not receive support from the shore-based aircraft on Azores, so when the second batch of Carrier-based aircraft from the US military arrived, the anti-aircraft fighters did not cause much damage to this batch of Carrier-based aircraft because their ammunition was exhausted. So much so that Home Fleet also suffered a lot of losses under the attack of US carrier-based aircraft.
"Boom! Boom!"
A German military destroyer was hit by Aerial Bomb. For the German military destroyer with a displacement of nearly three thousand tons, two heavy Aerial Bombs weighing one thousand pounds were enough to cause fatal trauma to them.
Not to mention, then a Heavy Torpedo also hit the side of the destroyer, directly breaking the keel of the destroyer.
Soon, the destroyer sank into the sea.
"Dong dong dong!"
German military's Anti-aircraft Gun fired wildly, and the intensive firepower tore US carrier-based aircraft into pieces. However, it still couldn't resist the onslaught of US carrier-based aircraft.
In order to sink the German military aircraft carrier, these Carrier-based aircrafts of the US military also worked hard. Those pilots launched attacks as if they were dead until their planes were shot down.
"Boom!"
A violent explosion occurred on the Light Cruiser of the German military, although the displacement of the Light Cruiser of the German military exceeded 10,000 tons. However, after being hit by several Aerial Bomb and several Torpedo in succession, there was no way to escape the fate of being sunk.
It's just, German military's aircraft carrier's escort battleship. They tend to have larger displacements and stronger defenses, making it more difficult for the Carrier-based aircraft group of American Navy to sink these escort warships and have to use more ammunition. This makes the US carrier-based aircraft group consume a lot of ammunition, while Dive Bomber and Torpedo Bomber carry limited ammunition. Dive Bomber can carry two Aerial Bomb, but Torpedo Bomber can only carry one Torpedo. They consumed too much ammunition on the German military escort warships, which reduced their threat to the German military aircraft carriers a lot.
However, German military Home Fleet still suffered a lot of losses under the fierce attack of US carrier-based aircraft.
The aircraft carrier "Apollo" was hit by 28 Aerial Bomb and 17 Heavy Torpedo, causing the aircraft carrier to capsize on the sea and slowly sink. Except for an anti-aircraft cruiser and a heavy cruiser, the remaining battleships that it escorted were either sunk or suffered heavy damage. It can be seen how fierce the battle is.
In addition, the flight deck of German Home Fleet's aircraft carrier 'Aphrodite' was also hit by several Aerial Bombs and could no longer take off and land Carrier-based aircrafts.
Other aircraft carriers were not hit. Moreover, the anti-aircraft firepower of German military Home Fleet made the US carrier-based aircraft group pay an extremely heavy price.
Two batches of 258 F4F fighter plane, 288 Dive Bomber and 144 Torpedo Bomber suffered losses of more than 70%.