Iron Cross

A total of 28 dive bombers began to drop bombs on the Hornet. Violent explosions occurred one after another on the aircraft carrier's deck. One bomb almost blew away the ship's captain, Colonel Gach, and the light cruiser USS San Juan that was escorting next to it. It also suffered a disaster. It was hit by four bombs in three minutes. The ammunition depot was hit, causing a big explosion and then sank. A bombed Ninety-Nine exploded because the pilot lost control and directly hit the Hornet's funnel with the bomb, causing a violent fire. Another 97-ship that was on fire hit the high platform at the front of the port side, but the pilot barely managed to parachute before the impact.

Subsequently, the 97th Ship Attack began to release torpedoes under the cover of zero combat. The fighting spirit of the Japanese pilots was not inferior to that of the American pilots. Commander Shigeharu Murata is a veteran who has experienced Pearl Harbor and Midway. He directed the 97th ship attackers to take advantage of the gap between the US F4F's attack on the 99th ship to launch attacks from both sides of the Hornet and launch torpedoes at the same time. The Hornet was hit by seven 250-kilogram bombs and four torpedoes in a short period of time. The entire ship burst into flames and began to tilt to the right. The light cruiser USS Juneau on its side and rear blocked two torpedoes for the flagship, but sank quickly. Only 10 people on the ship survived. Among the dead were the famous five Sullivan brothers. From then on, the United States no longer allowed members of the same family to sail Serving on a warship.

A few minutes later, Major Guan Wei's second attack team arrived over the battlefield. He first discovered the burning Hornet, but he judged that the number of aircraft attacking the Hornet formation was enough, and judging from the US military's attack on the artillery fleet today, Judging from the frequency and speed of attacks, the opponent must have another aircraft carrier. Following this idea, the attack team quickly found the Enterprise and South Dakota 10 nautical miles away.

What greeted the second attack team was the ferocious anti-aircraft fire from the battleship USS South Dakota. This battleship was equipped with hundreds of 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns, and the anti-aircraft firepower was as terrifying as hell. A Type 99 bomb hit the right wing before the dive and caught fire. The pilot failed to eject, and the aircraft and crew crashed into the front deck of the South Dakota. The rest of the Japanese aircraft continued their fierce attack, focusing their main firepower on the Enterprise. The South Dakota struggled to block the gunfire and was hit by four bombs. The center turret was damaged and could not be used. Immediately, the 97th ship attackers began to drop mines. The South Dakota hit 2 mines in a row, but it only took in more than 4,000 tons of water before it was controlled. The whole body tilted slightly at 5 degrees. The Enterprise hit one mine, and its speed was reduced to only 13 knots. Another torpedo was originally aimed at the Enterprise. The destroyer USS Smith beside him fought hard to block it, and sank itself to take out a torpedo for the Enterprise.

Beginning at 9:19, the Enterprise was directly hit by five bombs in 2 minutes. One bomb hit the flight deck behind the forward elevator. The forward elevator was stuck at half height due to a power outage. The other two bombs It hit the starboard side and blew out a large hole with a diameter of 2 meters square. Two more bombs exploded at the stern of the ship. A hole was blown in the stern operation room and the secondary rudder was also blown up. At 9:27, the Enterprise was hit by three more bombs in succession. The first one passed through the flight deck and landed on the bomber's ammunition bay, detonating the hangar on the spot. The second hit the front of the bow flight deck, passed through the flight deck and the hull and fell into the water. The third blasted a hole in the anchor chain locker on the right side. At this time, the Enterprise was tilting quite severely, but it was still able to maneuver left and right flexibly to avoid other bombs. The damage control personnel seized the time to make repairs and tried their best to maintain its basic take-off and landing capabilities.

At this time, the third attack team arrived on the battlefield, changed its strategy in the face of the two aircraft carriers that were already on fire, and fired torpedoes first to weaken the surviving warships. The Hornet was hit by two torpedoes again and struggled to sink slowly. The Enterprise was surrounded by gun blockers. The heavy cruiser Portland was hit by 5 torpedoes in a row, plus the 2 bombs it had eaten earlier. Less than It was declared sunk in half a minute, and only 27 people escaped from the ship. The destroyer USS Porter approached the USS Enterprise and suffered 2 aerial bombs. It could only accept the fate of sinking. However, it shot down a 99-ship bomber before it sank. . The heavy cruiser USS Pensacola and the light cruiser USS San Diego stepped forward to block the gunfire, each hit 3 bombs and a torpedo, and sank within 4 minutes.

South Dakota was worthy of being thick and hard. It continued to eat 1 torpedo and 2 bombs, and the tilt trend further intensified. After filling with water, it barely regained balance. However, by this time, it had swallowed more than 6,000 tons of seawater, and its speed was reduced to 11 knots, while Enterprise The ship's speed was only 9 knots. Now the remaining large ship in TF16\\17 that is relatively intact is the heavy cruiser Northampton. He speeds up and once again protects the Enterprise with South Dakota on the left and right. There are a total of 14 destroyers in TF16\\17, except for In addition to the sunken warship, the remaining five destroyers including the USS Mahan, USS Cushing, USS Preston, USS Maury and USS Patton were on the periphery. They were injured to varying degrees, but they still tenaciously built the last one. The circular defense formation fought against more than 200 aircraft in the air.

There were originally 20 escort fighter jets in the sky. They fought hard with the Zeros. The last few saw that their momentum was not right. They took advantage of the gap and used the ramming method to deal with the Japanese aircraft that were about to drop bombs or mines. Three of them exploded. and 2 warships crashed into the sea. Ten minutes later, there were only Japanese planes in the sky and no American planes.

More than 80% of the anti-ship attack aircraft in the mobile fleet have dropped their ammunition and are ready to return. There are still 17 ship-to-ship bombers and 13 ship-to-attack aircraft that have not dropped bombs. They spontaneously gathered together and under the cover of more than 40 zero-fighters (actually cover It doesn't matter whether it was done or not) formed the last temporary attack wave and launched an attack on the remaining American fleet. The Northampton was hit by 3 mines and sank, the South Dakota was hit by 2 more bombs, all the front and rear turrets were damaged, and the Enterprise was hit again. 2 bombs, but after all, it was a regular large-scale aircraft carrier with stronger vitality than the Flying Eagle. Although its take-off and landing capabilities were completely lost and the overall tilt was as high as 15 degrees, it was still staggering and moving. Four of the five destroyers were sunk.

By 9:48, this naval and air battle finally came to an end. The once majestic twin aircraft carrier TF16\\17 formation only had three warships with heavy casualties left. The top speed was 9 knots of the USS Patton destroyer, and the South Dakota only had 6 knots. On the 7th of the Enterprise, except for the last 46 offensive aircraft groups released, the entire formation of carrier-based aircraft was almost completely destroyed.

Kincaid asked Halsey for his opinion on the use of the last 46 aircraft - it is obviously unrealistic to attack the Japanese aircraft carrier force. They have only two options. One is to fly back to New Guinea Island and fly as close as they can. , and then parachuted to be rescued. Another option was to continue attacking the Japanese artillery fleet. Halsey thought painfully for three minutes and decided to delegate power to the commander.

Hearing that the fleet behind them was nearly wiped out, all the pilots of the third attack wave fell silent. Finally, they unanimously decided to continue attacking the Japanese fleet and die on the way to the charge. At 10:27, the bombardment fleet ushered in the last wave of US military attacks. They were attacking almost with a life-and-death approach. Yamato ate two more bombs and a torpedo, and the water intake reached 4,800 tons. Haguro was hit by a torpedo, Nagato and Mutsu each received two bombs, and the Harusame and Maysame destroyers were sunk. 23 Zero fighter jets were lost in the role of cover. In addition to the 7 aircraft that basically ran out of fuel after the battle and the pilots could only parachute, there were only 35 Zero fighters left in the role of cover. And these 46 American planes were almost wiped out, and only 14 planes left the scene and flew to New Guinea.

Although the battle was coming to an end, Horikichi's fighting spirit was getting higher and higher. He already knew the current situation of TF16\\17, and also knew that there were still three warships struggling on the water. He issued new combat instructions: " All high-speed heavy cruisers in good condition rushed to the scene at full speed to rescue the drowned people (regardless of whether they were friendly or enemy) and sink the enemy ships as much as possible. The main force arrived later, and the mobile fleet did not need to attack anymore. The finishing work of the battlefield was completed by the artillery fleet. "

At this time, the U.S. fleet tried its best to retreat. The scarred South Dakota said that the destroyer would protect the Enterprise's retreat, and he would cover the retreat. Kincaid knew that time was running out and could not continue to explain. He could only bid farewell to the South Dakota with tears and hurriedly walked with a faltering step. retreat. When the Japanese heavy cruiser group arrived at the scene at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, they only saw the severely damaged South Dakota, with its front deck almost at sea level and all three turrets disabled. The Kaohsiung signaled for surrender, but the Americans resolutely refused. Under the organization of the Myoko, four destroyers approached and launched powerful 93 oxygen torpedoes. In a moment, the cutting-edge warship, which had a displacement of up to 35,000 tons and had been in service for less than half a year, was sent to the bottom of the sea.

At 3:15 pm, the Japanese fast battle group found the Enterprise, but it was in a rolling state due to too much water and weak damage control. It slowly sank to the bottom of the sea before the Japanese warships could take action. The last remaining person on the ship was It was Rear Admiral Kincaid who sank with the ship. The fast battle group gave up the pursuit of the last destroyer because it wanted to salvage overboard and missing personnel. The destroyer USS Patton, together with the USS Atlanta that escaped in the morning, became the survivors of the entire South Pacific War on the US side.

On the evening of November 5, 1942, in the "March of Warships", the Tokyo base camp issued a battle report on the South Pacific naval battle: "The Imperial Navy engaged the enemy's powerful fleet in the Solomon Sea from dawn to afternoon on November 5, sinking 2 aircraft carriers and a new fleet. We lost 2 battleships, 8 cruisers, 17 destroyers, and more than 200 enemy aircraft due to shooting down or other reasons. We lost 1 light aircraft carrier and 1 old battleship, 4 destroyers, 2 cruisers and 3 destroyers. , none of them hindered combat navigation, and more than 50 aircraft did not return.”

In fact, Japan lost nearly 50 aircraft carrier-based aircraft fleet alone, the HNA land-based air force lost more than 100 fighter jets used to cover the artillery fleet, and the South Pacific fighter group was wiped out...