Iron Cross

Eight minutes after the Enterprise carrier strike group retreated, the Japanese anti-sea attack wave from Munda Island arrived over the battlefield. A total of 24 attack aircraft consisting of Type 1 land attack aircraft and Type 97 carrier attack aircraft flew to the top of the remaining cruisers of the TF64 formation to drop bombs. Without fighters in the air and a tight wheel-shaped defense formation, the three American ships naturally would not have such good luck. Even if the three ships had exerted their anti-aircraft guns to the maximum, they still could not stop the attack of the aircraft. Their fate was much more tragic than that of the Japanese bombardment fleet: Salt Lake City was hit by 3 bombs and 2 torpedoes, and sank after struggling for 2 minutes. San Francisco was hit by 4 bombs and 1 torpedo. Although it did not sink, it could only survive at a speed of 7 knots. Only Atlanta had the best luck. After being hit by a near miss, it did not lose speed and fled quickly. At 6:25, the Japanese heavy cruiser group that arrived at the scene fired a salvo and sent San Francisco to the bottom of the sea.

At this point, only one Atlanta light cruiser in the entire TF64 formation successfully broke away. He was originally facing pursuit by the Japanese fleet, but it was the telegram sent by the Japanese reconnaissance plane that saved him.

"Sir, reconnaissance plane No. 7 has spotted an enemy aircraft carrier formation!" Kusaka Rengen suddenly cheered in the Yamato command tower, "About 210 nautical miles southwest of us, there are 2 large aircraft carriers, 1 battleship, 4 cruisers, and 8 destroyers. The center of the enemy fleet is located at 11 degrees 80 minutes south latitude, 158 degrees 62 minutes east longitude, heading southeast, speed 24 knots..."

"Good!" Hori Teikichi stood up excitedly, overjoyed, "Report the position, let the mobile fleet send out carrier-based aircraft to attack, and my bombardment fleet will attack with all its forces..."

"Sir!..."

"Sir!" Kondo Nobutake and Kusaka Rengen both spoke out against the bombardment fleet continuing to move forward, the reason was obvious: although the enemy aircraft carrier formation had been discovered, discovery did not mean destruction, and the US fleet was still a man-eating tiger, and the position of the bombardment fleet had been exposed, and forcing a chase would easily lead to another attack by the enemy.

Hori Teikichi pointed to the Zero fighter above his head: "We have planes to protect us, don't be afraid! You have seen the battle just now, the Yamato is not as fragile as you think."

"But you are in danger."

"If we are in danger, the mobile fleet will be completely out of danger. I am a bait, and I must understand my own situation and value."

"But... the Americans may be preparing for a second attack wave now."

"I have not been afraid of danger since the day I joined the navy." Hori Teikichi comforted the two, "200 nautical miles is less than 10 hours away. If we arrive earlier, we may have a chance to send all the damaged American warships to the bottom of the sea..."

"This..." The two really don't understand why Hori Teikichi is so stubborn to bombard the fleet and continue to advance.

"The speed at which Americans build warships is terrible, but the speed at which Americans train qualified sailors is definitely not that fast. Sinking and capturing them is much more urgent than injuring them." Hori Teikichi's voice was not loud, but it sounded like a thunderclap in everyone's ears.

While they were arguing, the lookout reported that another group of aircraft had arrived. After observation, it was found that it was a Zero fighter group flying from Rabaul - a total of 45 aircraft, plus the remaining 27 fighters just now, there are now 72 fighter cover groups above the bombardment fleet.

Hori Teikichi smiled: "Look, our guardian angel is here, don't be afraid... I order the entire army to advance to the southwest!"

"Yes! Direction 220°, speed 23 knots..."

In the command tower of the mobile fleet flagship Shokaku, Kusaka Ryunosuke danced and said to Tsukahara Jishisan: "The bombardment fleet called and found the traces of the enemy aircraft carrier formation. The center is located about 300 nautical miles south-west of our fleet..."

"Very good!" Tsukahara Jishisan, who had been waiting bitterly, pounded the wall of the command tower, "Finally found these guys! When will the cover aircraft group of Bougainville arrive?"

"They have been notified to set off and will arrive over the fleet in 20 minutes. There are about 40 fighters - they have sent all the fighters they can. Sent out. "

"Leave 16 direct-cover aircraft in this fleet, and the rest will attack."

"But there will be too few fleet cover aircraft. What if the enemy aircraft carrier attack group is heading for us?"

"No, the US aircraft carrier formation has launched an attack wave against my bombardment fleet. If they want to attack us, it will be another aircraft carrier attack wave. There are 56 fighters that are enough to cover them. In addition, they first discovered my bombardment fleet. I think they will give priority to attacking the Yamato..." Tsukahara Jishisan thought for a while, "If they are heading for us, the current distance will take the US aircraft nearly an hour and a half to fly, plus the waste of time halfway, it may take 2 hours. After the aircraft takes off, the entire fleet will move westward to reduce the distance from Rabaul."

At 6:17, when the Japanese mobile fleet was busy arranging its aircraft carriers to launch aircraft groups, Gunichi Mikawa led the 8th Fleet to retreat westward with the army troops withdrawn from Guadalcanal. He thought he was the least noticeable little character in the whole battle, but he didn't expect that the Americans still took a fancy to him. According to Kinkaid's revised instructions, the 16 SBDs launched by the Hornet in the early morning gave up searching for the enemy and resolutely attacked the Japanese "landing fleet". The targets they found were without exception the Fuso and Yamashiro that Hori Teikichi temporarily assigned to the 8th Fleet early this morning. As a result, Fuso was hit by 3 bombs and Yamashiro was hit by 2 bombs, while the transport ships full of army officers and soldiers were ignored by American planes - they thought these were empty transport ships returning after the landing.

Earlier, Halsey, who had received a series of unfavorable news, such as the heavy casualties of the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal, the complete destruction of the TF64 formation, the Japanese "landing" on Guadalcanal, and the unprecedentedly powerful Japanese bombardment fleet with super battleships, could not sit still. According to Kinkaid's request, he ordered the US B-17 bomber group deployed on Vanuatu Island to go and bomb the Japanese "landing fleet" and the Japanese "landing site" on Guadalcanal 1,000 kilometers away. At the same time, he sent a telegram to Kinkaid, asking him to find the enemy aircraft carrier formation as soon as possible, and if he could not find it, he should also attack the enemy bombardment fleet as much as possible.

Faced with Halsey's order that caused great controversy in later generations, Kinkaid was in a dilemma: the first wave of attack aircraft of the Enterprise had completed the attack and was on the way back. The pilots reported that the air strike was very ineffective, and the enemy fleet had strong firepower and was covered by fighter groups. Now he was faced with a new choice - first, wait until all the aircraft of the Enterprise and the 16 SBDs sent by the Hornet returned before launching the second wave of attack; second, immediately release the remaining mission-capable aircraft group of the Hornet to carry out the second wave of attack, and treat all other aircraft that have not returned as the third wave of attack. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages. Retrieving all aircraft before attacking can maximize the strike force, but the disadvantage is that it takes a long time to wait; dispatching the Hornet's strike aircraft group has a faster response, but because of its own small strength, it is easy to become a refueling tactic. After thinking for 5 minutes, in view of the fact that the Japanese aircraft carrier has not been found, he decided to choose the second option - leaving some forces to deal with emergencies.

At 6:32, after anxiously waiting for nearly 2 hours, the Hornet's air force finally received the order to attack - the priority target was the super battleship in the enemy's bombardment fleet. Kinkaid originally had the opportunity to change the order, but after receiving the report that the Hornet's 16 SBDs successfully attacked the landing fleet (losing 1 of its own) and had returned, he quickly made up his mind.

At 6:39, the 12 SBD dive bombers that were separated from the Enterprise's first attack wave and undertook the deep search mission alone according to Kinkaid's order reached the limit of their return fuel. They still did not find the Japanese aircraft carrier (of course they could not find it, their search focus was in the northeast, and the Japanese mobile fleet was in the northwest at this time). According to the original order, they returned to the mother ship and completed the attack on the Japanese bombardment fleet along the way.

Only 8 SBDs successfully found the attack target, and the other 4 flew directly back to the Enterprise because they did not find the Japanese fleet. As a result, the 8 SBDs that attacked along the way were torn to pieces by the 72 Zero fighters that were responsible for the cover mission over the bombardment fleet. In addition to hitting Mutsu with a near miss again (Mutsu: Please call me the king of near misses), they also shot down an unlucky Zero fighter, and then all 8 planes were shot down in the rough Solomon Sea.

At 6:43, all the aircraft carriers of the mobile fleet went against the wind and launched carrier-based aircraft. For this attack, Tsukahara Jishisan took out 264 aircraft at once (the mobile fleet had two large and three small aircraft carriers with a total of 280 carrier-based aircraft, leaving 16 direct-cover aircraft). Shokaku, Zuikaku, Hiyo, Hayate, and Mizukaze were lined up in a row. The scene was spectacular, and it could be called the third large-scale assembly of carrier-based aircraft comparable to Pearl Harbor and Midway Island.

Considering the large number of aircraft, the entire fleet was divided into three waves. The first wave included 36 Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft (carrying torpedoes) and 29 Type 99 carrier-based bombers (bombs). They were escorted by 33 Zero fighters. A total of 95 fighters formed the First Attack Squadron. The highest commander was Major Shigeharu Murata, the captain of the Shokaku torpedo squadron, an outstanding pilot who had participated in the operations of Pearl Harbor and Midway and was known as the "King of Thunderstrike". The bomber commander was Captain Takahashi Sadaka, the captain of the Shokaku bomber squadron, and the fighter commander was Captain Shirane Hiroo, an ace pilot. At 7 o'clock, 89 aircraft of the Second Attack Squadron took over. At 7:15, the remaining 80 aircraft formed the third attack wave, with Captain Hidaka Moriyasu, the squadron leader of the Zuikaze fighter, as the commander-in-chief, and Captain Yamaguchi Masao, the squadron leader of the bomber. Since there were not many torpedo planes left, the squadron leader fell to the young Lieutenant Ichiro Tanaka.

The attack aircraft group covered the sky and flew south to attack the US TF16\\17 formation 300 nautical miles away. Now, except for God, no one can save Kincaid...