Iron Cross

At 7:25, the first wave of attack teams led by Lieutenant Commander Mizuo Fuchida (38 attack aircraft by the 97th ship, 42 attack aircraft by the 99th ship, and 40 zero fighters) totaled 120 aircraft. They were launched from 5 aircraft carriers. Take off. Fuchida, the hero of Pearl Harbor, contracted appendicitis during the Battle of Midway and was unable to take off for combat. He only stayed on the Akagi to recuperate. As a result, he witnessed an unprecedented failure. All four aircraft carriers were sunk by American aircraft. He escaped from Akagi. Both of his feet were broken when he was injured. Fortunately, he was rescued and survived. After returning home, he hid in the naval hospital to recuperate. It was not until the German special envoy Cole revealed the failure of the Battle of Midway that he came out again and fully recovered. It took 5 months for the injury to heal.

Tsukahara 243 valued him very much and asked him to be responsible for coordinating the carrier-based aircraft of the entire mobile fleet. Since the First Air War and the Fifth Air War were actually merged, he had much greater authority than when Nagumo Chuichi was in power, and In his opinion, Lieutenant General Tsukahara, who graduated from the 36th class of the navy with Nagumo, was much better at commanding aircraft carrier operations than Nagumo's indecisive character. This conclusion was also recognized by the mobile fleet aviation staff Minoru Genda. For example, in the last battle, Tsukahara decisively abandoned the Eagle whose engine was severely damaged. Although one aircraft carrier was lost for this, the other aircraft carriers of the mobile fleet were saved.

On the one hand, Mizuo Fuchida was grateful for Tsukahara's trust, but on the other hand, he also wanted to avenge Midway Island. Although a large number of them were British warships, at least the aircraft carrier belonged to the Americans. Not only did he personally take action, but he also requested Lead the first wave of attacks.

The USS Raider is a small multi-functional verification aircraft carrier originally developed by the United States, with a displacement of only 15,000 tons. Although it carries 81 aircraft (72 regular aircraft + 9 reserve aircraft), it is slow and has a small hangar, and most combat aircraft It can only be tethered to the deck, so it has actually been relegated to the second line, and is more responsible for training and aircraft transport functions. There are only a group of rookie pilots on the ship, and there are only a few veterans, and they are not mentally prepared for combat. Now the situation is forcing Being forced to take on combat missions was really unavoidable.

After Cunningham's combat order was issued, the entire warship was in chaos, and the reaction speed was appalling. It took a full 25 minutes to take off the first plane, and then successively released the subsequent fleet at a rate of one plane every 2 minutes until the 45th. The flight speed reached 3 aircraft in 4 minutes. The warning time that the Socotra patrol aircraft bought them was in vain.

Looking at this heart-wrenching scene, Cunningham and Peters both shook their heads. Fortunately, the Japanese plane had not yet appeared and they still had some time. However, although the Raider's technology and reaction capabilities are a little inferior, its courage is not small. With only 54 F4F fighters and 18 SBD dive bombers on the ship that can be immediately put into combat (the spare aircraft needs to be assembled), Based on the intelligence on Socotra Island and considering the air defense needs of the fleet, the commander gritted his teeth and sent out 18 F4Fs and 18 SBDs to form an attack team and attack the Japanese fleet. The remaining fighter jets took off one after another to provide air defense cover for the fleet.

Almost at the same time, the Royal Naval Air Force on Socotra Island dispatched all the aircraft from the base to launch an attack, but they had too few trump cards. There were only 6 Sea Hurricanes, 8 Fulmars, and 8 old-fashioned The Swordfish attack aircraft finally let the Swordfish hang on torpedoes and sway around to attack.

At 8:05, the Japanese and American attack aircraft groups met in the air not far from the fast column. Seeing the huge Japanese aircraft group, the American pilots took a breath of air. Mizuo Fuchida saw that the American aircraft group also had a large number, so he ordered Shigeru Sakatani. Major commanded 16 Zero Fighters to intercept the Americans. The two sides soon started fighting in the air. The experience and level of the American carrier-based aircraft pilots were not as good as their Japanese counterparts, and the performance of the F4F fighter jets was also slightly weaker than that of the Zero Fighters. Therefore, in the air battle that lasted 6 minutes, 16 Zero Fighters shot down 9. SBD, 7 F4Fs, only lost 3 of them. Shigeru Sakatani thought that the remaining enemy rear fleet cover aircraft groups were enough to cope with it, so he quickly left and continued to pursue Fuchida Mizuo's group.

At 8:24, Mitsuo Fuchida effortlessly found the fast column that had been divided into east and west teams. He ignored the transport ships that were scattered and fled, and only fixed his eyes firmly on the Raider aircraft carrier in the center of the team. After all, the American carrier-based aircraft pilots who had finally finished taking off discovered that the huge Japanese fleet was approaching and immediately rushed to fight. The intensive anti-aircraft fire from each ship continued to explode in the air.

More than 30 Zero Fighters immediately started fighting with 36 F4F fighters. The 99-ship bombers seized the opportunity to attack. The Raider was the first to become the target of concentrated fire. Within 3 minutes, it ate two 250-kilogram aerial bombs in a row. The elevator was on the spot. After being blown up, another one penetrated the deck and exploded inside, which immediately caused the aviation fuel in the inventory to leak and explode. The entire warship quickly rose into clouds of black smoke and fire. The damage control team members tried their best to prepare to put out the fire on the deck. The fire started, but the fire was too great and the Raider was indeed unstoppable. Eight minutes later, the captain reluctantly announced the abandonment of the ship.

The Massachusetts battleship was the largest and newest battleship in the fleet. A circle of destroyers gathered around it, and the anti-aircraft firepower was also the most intensive, attracting a large number of aircraft to attack. Within 2 minutes, two groups of Type 99 bombers attacked it. The bomb dropped by the first bomber exploded between the No. 1 and No. 2 turrets, penetrating the first deck and killing more than 30 sailors on the spot; another bomb exploded near the bridge. The heavy defensive armor protected the officers and soldiers in the command tower, but the anti-aircraft guns around it suffered. The third bomber was about to dive along the successful path of the first two people, but was fiercely fired by the 20mm anti-aircraft gun group that had reacted and adjusted to the right position. As a result, it was directly blown up in the air. The fourth plane saw that the situation was not right and immediately changed its angle to dive. The anti-aircraft gunners who did not have time to adjust the angle watched the plane drop the bomb at the stern of the ship, causing a huge explosion.

Although the second batch of attacking bombers had two more bombs than the first batch, their luck was slightly worse than the previous batch - Massachusetts was hit by three more bombs, two of which were near misses and did not cause major damage to the warship, but the flying shrapnel swept across the rear deck, leaving a mess on it, with sailors' broken limbs and screams everywhere. The seventh bomb was an 800-kilogram bomb dropped by the 97th carrier attack ship, which accurately hit the front of the starboard side and penetrated all the way to the power cabin before exploding. A moment later, four boilers were damaged and the maximum speed dropped by 3 knots. Other core parts were not significantly affected.

But the Augusta heavy cruiser behind him (Northampton class) could not hold on. It was attacked by 6 ship bombers and ship attack aircraft within 2 minutes, and was hit by 3 bombs. The ship's defense had been a big problem since it was built, and it could only withstand destroyer-level attacks. The bomb penetrated the deck and blew a big hole on the starboard side. Countless seawater rushed in frantically. After 5 minutes, this 9,000-ton treaty-type heavy cruiser finally couldn't hold on and began to tilt to the right. Then the water intake speed accelerated. It capsized completely after just over 1 minute. Only 38 of the 671 officers and soldiers on the ship survived.

At the same time as the dive bombers attacked, the torpedo planes commanded by Mitsuo Fuchida also began to attack. The 97th attack ships braved the hot artillery fire and dropped dozens of torpedoes on the left and right wings of the fast column. Although the destroyers and light cruisers tried their best to fire and interfere with the torpedo planes, and tried their best to block the guns for the main battleships, the number of torpedoes was too large and the angle of release was too tricky, making it difficult to defend.

The old battleship of the Sovereign class, the battleship Resolution, which had been built for nearly 30 years, was shot first. Two torpedoes were hit on the port side. After two loud noises, two huge holes were blown open. More than 4,000 tons of seawater entered in less than 2 minutes. The overall tilt of the whole ship exceeded 15 degrees. The captain had no choice but to order the ship to be abandoned. Under his order, the surviving officers and soldiers jumped into the water to escape. Fortunately, the order was given early and saved half of the officers and soldiers. A few minutes later, the ship began to sink rapidly and caused a huge whirlpool.

At the same time as the Resolution sank, the Revenge, a ship of the same class, could not hold on. After being hit by three bombs and two torpedoes, the old ship broke into two pieces and sank rapidly. The sailors did not even have much chance to escape. Speaking of which, these two escort battleships have been unlucky recently: some time ago, they escorted a large number of transport fleets to Alexandria for supplies, but all of these fleets became spoils of war for the German and Italian fleets; after returning, they were summoned by Cunningham to join the battle before they had rested for a few days, and they sank together in the Horn of Africa.

Massachusetts is a new South Dakota-class battleship. Under the siege of more than 30 aircraft, it was hit by 7 bombs and 3 torpedoes, but it only took in more than 5,000 tons of water and tilted 9 degrees to the right. After the captain ordered water injection again, it regained some balance and the maximum speed remained at 20 knots. The ship dodged bombs and torpedoes from all directions while fighting back. It shot down a total of 5 enemy planes, accounting for more than a quarter of the overall record of the fast column. The 36 F4Fs that stayed over the fleet for cover only shot down a mere 7 planes, but their own losses reached an astonishing 24.

The two Elizabeth-class battleships were very lucky. The Warspite, where Cunningham was, was hit by only two near misses, and there was no particularly large loss except for the loss of four anti-aircraft guns and more than 50 sailors. The bow of the Malaya was hit by a bomb, and more than 2,000 tons of seawater poured in, flooding three boilers, but it was controlled by the damage control team, and the maximum speed only dropped by 2 knots. There were originally two torpedoes aimed at the Malaya, but the light cruiser Philadelphia (Brooklyn-class, called a light cruiser, but with a displacement of more than 12,000 tons) not far away blocked them all for him. The Malaya was safe and sound, but the Philadelphia was severely damaged. Although it was still barely floating on the sea like a dead dog, it had lost all power and all the officers and soldiers on the ship were forced to abandon the ship.