Empire Conquest
Chapter 352 - 348: The First Drop of Blood

Chapter 352: Chapter 348: The First Drop of Blood

At 10:15, Bai Zhizhan finally received a message from Liu Xiangzhen aboard the "Longjiang."

The battle over the airspace of the 21st Special Mixed Fleet had ended before 10 o’clock, but it took another ten minutes or so to clarify the situation.

The "Mo River" had been the focus of enemy aircraft attacks, suffering very severe damage.

In addition to the 500-pound bomb that directly hit the flight deck, it also took two air torpedoes, both hitting the right side of the hull. One of them struck the rear part of the midsection, blasting through the hull and the anti-torpedo bulkhead, causing more than a dozen compartments including Boiler Room 2 to flood.

In just over ten minutes, the "Mo River" had taken on more than 3,000 tons of water.

The bomb that hit the flight deck exploded in the hangar. Although it did not damage the parts below the waterline of the hull, the resulting fire had a very serious negative impact on damage control work. The toxic smoke from the fire turned the inside of the vessel into a no-go zone for life.

Just after 10 o’clock, to counteract the serious list to starboard, the captain of the "Mo River" ordered water to be pumped into the corresponding compartments on the port side.

Even so, the list to starboard on the "Mo River" exceeded 10 degrees.

This carrier was definitely incapable of combat anymore; even if it could struggle back to port, it would take months, or even half a year to repair.

The situation on the "Longjiang" was slightly better, having only been hit by an SBD at the stern.

However, it too had lost its operational capability for air combat.

The critical issue was that the SBD when it crashed onto the flight deck, spilled fuel that burned up all the arresting wires and barriers at the rear part of the deck.

Carriers are equipped with spare arresting wires and barriers that can be changed mid-voyage.

However, the burned flight deck’s armored plating could not be completely replaced.

The "Longjiang"-class had added armored plating during renovations, with a focus on covering the rear end of the deck to protect the boiler room and engine room below.

Armored steel plates, being very hard, also had to consider anti-rust issues. If armored plates were to be riveted together, the problem of rivets falling out had to be addressed. Even with welding techniques, the weld seams required special treatment. Normally, over the armored deck, there would be a layer of wooden plating. This approach is adopted by all carriers, differing only in the material and thickness of the wood.

The critical point is that wood can be easily replaced when damaged.

Typically, carriers carry some spare wood for replacement during combat training, but no carrier would carry too many spares.

These wood planks are also often used to patch leaks.

Because the fire was too fierce and was not immediately extinguished, more than half of the flight deck plating was burned away.

Just cleaning the flight deck would take half a day; after clearing, it would take one to two days to reinstall all the arresting wires and barriers.

This battle, evidently, would not last that long.

Nevertheless, there was one piece of good news.

The Attack Aircraft Group dispatched by the 21st Special Mixed Fleet had sunk the "Sara."

Before the last ship-borne aircraft returned, pilots visually confirmed that the stern of the "Sara," or precisely the end of the flight deck, had already sunk below the sea surface.

This carrier took at least 11 250-kilogram air bombs and 7 air torpedoes.

It must be acknowledged that when dealing with carriers with armored decks, the power of 250-kilogram air bombs was clearly insufficient, or rather, their penetration power was not enough.

Due to their small mass or inertia, it was difficult for them to penetrate the armored deck, even when dropped from high altitude.

After being hit by more than ten bombs in succession, with the flight deck blasted to tatters, the "Sara" was still stubbornly afloat.

In contrast, the striking power of torpedoes was much greater.

The two squadrons of "Flying Fish" both launched their attack from the port side of the "Sara," and all seven torpedoes hit the port side of the ship.

Five of them hit the rear half of the hull.

Had the Captain not ordered ballasting the starboard compartments in time, the "Sara" might have capsized before the bombing even finished.

However, this didn’t save the "Sara"; it merely slowed down the sinking, buying time for more than a thousand officers and soldiers to escape.

Because the stern suffered the most damage, it was the first to go under.

After the stern had completely sunk, the "Sara" broke in half from its mid-section, and as the bow rose out of the water, the massive weight caused the hull to break apart.

At 10:23, the "Sara" had completely sunk.

Subsequently, during the sinking process, the "Sara" broke into two pieces.

Out of the more than 2000 officers and crew aboard the ship, over 1300 were spared.

In addition, two light cruisers were sunk, and one light cruiser was damaged.

On the way back, the escort fighters even intercepted a bunch of F4Fs that had turned back to attack.

Thus, the "Sara" became the first carrier to be sunk in this naval battle, and also the first major warship lost by the Newland Federation since entering the war.

The Newland Navy shed its first blood!

Moreover, another group of attack aircraft dispatched by the 21st Special Mixed Fleet arrived near the Newland 16th Special Mixed Fleet around 10:10.

However, the attack did not go smoothly.

The reason was simple: soon after the attack group from the 21st Special Mixed Fleet left, they were spotted by the escort fighters of the 16th Special Mixed Fleet.

As they had to form up during the flight, the torpedo bombers and bombers that left first were flying at mid to low altitudes, while the Newland forces escorting the 21st Special Mixed Fleet flew at high altitudes.

At the time, the Newland forces were already closing in on the 21st Special Mixed Fleet, and there were anti-aircraft fighters nearby, so the escorting F4Fs didn’t attack the torpedo bombers and bombers below; instead, they contacted the lead plane and timely reported the situation to the fleet to prepare for air defense.

It was precisely because of this that Hal managed to dispatch anti-aircraft fighters in time, which were concentrated to the northwest.

In order to more effectively intercept the incoming enemy planes, over a dozen F4Fs of the Newland 16th Special Mixed Fleet advanced more than a hundred kilometers for long-range interception of the attack aircraft group.

The results were quite satisfactory.

An intercepted "Wasp" squadron and three "Flying Fish" squadrons had seventeen planes shot down, and the rest were all scattered.

In the end, just five bombers and torpedo bombers found the 16th Special Mixed Fleet, none of which broke through the anti-aircraft net; all were shot down by high-altitude guns during their assault. The remaining aircraft, due to using too much fuel during the search, were forced to jettison their bombs and torpedoes.

Seven of them even followed the attack aircraft group from the 41st Special Mixed Fleet that arrived later, and flew to the 41st Special Mixed Fleet.

After that, another "Wasp" squadron and a "Flying Fish" squadron arrived.

Since the escort fighters were already on their trail, those F4Fs that had ventured forward were already dispersed during the previous battle, and there were no more anti-aircraft fighters in the northwest direction of the fleet. Therefore, both squadrons successfully breached the outer air defense net and approached the Newland carriers under the cover of escort fighters.

However, they encountered urgently launched anti-aircraft fighters.

While the F4Fs were fully engaged in intercepting the attack aircraft group from the 21st Special Mixed Fleet, another attack group was rapidly advancing from the south.

Yes, it was the attack group deployed by the 41st Special Mixed Fleet.

In fact, the attack aircraft groups sent by Liu Xiangzhen and Bai Zhizhan differed by only about 15 minutes.

And it was this 15-minute difference that, when the attack group led by Shen Pu arrived, the Newland 16th Special Mixed Fleet was virtually undefended.

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