Empire Conquest
Chapter 128 - 124: The Last "Feilong

Chapter 128: Chapter 124: The Last "Feilong

"The ’Feilong’ was attacked just minutes after the ’Jiahe’.

Of course, thanks to those 97 ship-borne aircraft that flew past and landed,

without the 97 leading the way, specifying the direction of the ’Feilong’, the attacking aircraft would have needed more time to search.

At 11:20, the first batch of eight ’Typhoon’ fighters swooped over the ’Feilong’.

This time, it wasn’t so smooth.

It’s not that they received notice a few minutes in advance but that the Zero Fighters preparing to land on the ’Feilong’ were standing by nearby, still flying at high altitudes.

The key point is, high-altitude flight is more fuel-efficient.

Don’t forget, the ’Feilong’ had launched more ship-borne aircraft, so more time was needed for recovery, and the last fighters to land had to fly a bit longer.

However, this changed nothing.

In the first attack group, only eight Zero Fighters that took off from the ’Feilong’ were returning to land there.

These eight Zero Fighters could only keep an eye on the eight ’Typhoons’, covering the 97 ship-attacked below.

But, what was the point?

At 11:30, which was after the ’Jiahe’ had exploded, the first group of attackers arrived—both squadrons at the same time.

To make matters worse, it was both the ’Wasp’ Squadron and the ’Flying Fish’ Squadron.

As the eight ’Wasp’ dived from high altitude, the eight ’Flying Fish’ struck from low altitude.

At this moment, the Empire Navy Air Force’s decade-plus of coordinated attack training was perfectly displayed.

Sixteen ship-borne aircraft, like sixteen Heavenly Gods swooping down, their feet on thunderclouds and hands brandishing thunderbolts!

Now, even if the ’Feilong’ had been the legendary nine-headed sea monster, it was certainly doomed.

Moreover, the ’Feilong’s’ Anti-Air firepower was even worse than that of the ’Jiahe’, making it the worst among the four main carriers of the Saiyi Navy Fleet.

When it was built, this carrier had only about a dozen high-altitude guns. After several reinforcements, this number increased to just over forty, mainly consisting of 25 millimeter machine guns. Yesterday’s battle had already proven the poor performance of these small-caliber machine guns.

Within five minutes, the ’Feilong’ had been hit by three bombs and four torpedoes.

Though it did not explode massively like the ’Jiahe’, after being severely damaged, the ’Feilong’ completely lost its ability to navigate.

Before the attacking aircraft group flew away, the ’Feilong’ was already paralyzed on the sea surface.

After several attempts, the officers and crew aboard the ’Feilong’ could not plug the leak on the left side of the ship, failing to keep more seawater from entering additional compartments.

At 11:50, the Captain of the ’Feilong’ issued an evacuation order, forcibly transferring Major General Yamaguchi and other staff from the second Air Corps headquarters. Following this, hundreds of wounded officers and crew were evacuated to several battleships that arrived in response.

An hour later, as there was no hope for repairs and fearing a second round of attacks, with the approval of Lan Yun, the Second Air Corps Commander, Major General Yamaguchi ordered the ’Feilong’ to be sunk, directing two accompanying destroyers to fire four heavy torpedoes at it.

Minutes later, the ’Feilong’ capsized due to severe water ingress on the port side.

With this, all four carriers of the Mobile Fleet were sunk.

Relatively speaking, the officers and sailors of the ’Feilong’ were the luckiest; apart from the more than three hundred who died in battle, most others lived to return to Saiyi homeland. A few even survived post-war, with the last sailor from the ’Feilong’ passing away in the year 183 of the New Calendar at the age of 103."

Worried about being attacked again, Lan Yun, who had boarded the Jingang, issued a retreat order before twelve-thirty.

However, the great naval battle didn’t end there.

Due to a large number of pilots forced to ditch into the sea, after issuing the retreat order, Lan Yun had two destroyers stay behind to search and rescue the pilots. The rescue operation lasted until the afternoon, successfully saving dozens of pilots. At dawn the next day, these two destroyers were ambushed by submarines in the Two-car Strait; one was hit by a torpedo, taking more than three hundred officers and enlisted men, along with the rescued pilots, to the bottom of the sea.

The destroyer that escaped returned to the Saiyi homeland several days later and managed to avoid several disasters, surviving until the end of the great war.

Among the pilots who returned with the ship was Colonel Genda, who had injured his head during the forced landing.

Genda thus became the sole surviving flight officer who had participated in the surprise attack on Chengjiang Port on the 25th and took part in the first round of the strike.

The other warships of the Mobile Fleet turned south at twelve-thirty.

After losing four carriers, Lan Yun had completely lost his fighting spirit. He now thought about how to bring the remaining warships back to the Saiyi homeland.

Takano?

The Main Battle Corps was about to enter the Two-car Strait and was not within the strike range of the western Special Mixed Fleet. What was there for Lan Yun to worry about?

Moreover, after focusing on attacking the Mobile Fleet, the Special Mixed Fleet lacked the strength to contend with the Main Battle Corps.

Although it couldn’t be said that he had exerted himself to the utmost, Lan Yun had made every possible effort; now it was time to consider himself and his loyal officers and men.

Of course, all these were thoughts for later.

At eleven-forty, just after the Feilong was continuously hit by bombs and torpedoes, Zhu Huasheng, who had already arrived by plane, sent a telegram.

He used the special code given to him by Li Hengjia.

The attack operation went so smoothly that Zhu Huasheng didn’t know what to say, so he simply used the special code to avoid nonsense in the telegram.

Liu Xiangzhen did not break radio silence, so he didn’t recall the second Attack Aircraft Group, instead letting Shen Pu proceed with the attack as planned.

The Plane Group struck after one o’clock.

Since it was unexpected that the Mobile Fleet would move south, the two destroyers that had sunk the Feilong were traveling full speed eastward, so Shen Pu’s Plane Group was led to the east. In the chase to catch the fleeing Mobile Fleet, Shen Pu didn’t order an attack on the destroyers, and as a result found nothing; he even lost his bombs and torpedoes while turning to return. Thus, those two destroyers were lucky to escape disaster.

There’s nothing to regret, in this great naval battle, two destroyers were at most two small shrimp.

Even at this point, Liu did not break radio silence, instead arranging for a staff officer to fly back to Foot Island in a torpedo bomber.

Later, many people believed that Liu did it on purpose.

Because of his arrangement, Bai Zhizhan didn’t receive the news of the Mobile Fleet’s destruction in time, nor could he adjust accordingly based on the change in the situation.

Only at dusk did Bai Zhizhan receive reliable news.

Strictly speaking, it was just confirmation of earlier conjectures.

At noon, Navy headquarters had sent a telegram stating that listening posts had intercepted a large number of Saiyi naval telegrams, and the transmission was from the northern part of the Flame Sea. From this, Bai Zhizhan determined that the Mobile Fleet had been struck, likely having ships damaged or even carriers sunk.

But this was just Bai Zhizhan’s speculation!

Don’t forget, annihilating the Mobile Fleet was a top priority. Before this task was completed, everything else had to be set aside. According to the original plan, Liu Xiangzhen’s Special Mixed Group would act as the main force, while Bai Zhizhan’s Third Aviation Mixed Fleet would be a backup, or rather, a second line of defense.

After Liu’s all-out effort, if the Mobile Fleet, especially those carriers, were to slip away, Bai Zhizhan would bear the primary responsibility.

Although there was no formal military order, bearing responsibility in battle was no joking matter!

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