Cash-Loaded Fleet

Chapter 39 - Force Distribution

'While acknowledging the defeat in the Battle of the Marshall Islands, it seems that there is still a lot of room for improvement.'

Lieutenant Commander Kusumi, the commander of the first attack group and the Hiryū carrier attack squadron aiming for an American task force designated as A-1, chuckled to himself.

In the Battle of the Marshall Islands, the American aircraft carriers had only about ten fighter planes left for direct cover. However, this time, there were almost twice that number. About 40 F4F Wildcat fighter planes stood in front of the 2nd Air Fleet's attackers. However, they couldn't break through the defensive line of 45 Zero fighters. With inferior aircraft performance and less skilled pilots, they couldn't even attack the Type 0 attackers. The F4Fs were struggling to protect themselves from the relentless attacks of the Zeros.

'Even so, it's as expected from the wealthy United States. Quite a luxurious setup.'

Looking down below, Kusumi feels a mixture of admiration and astonishment. With only two aircraft carriers, there are four large ships and twelve small ships surrounding them. This is despite the fact that the entire Pacific Fleet was annihilated just two months ago. The large ships are likely heavy cruisers or Brooklyn-class light cruisers, and the small ships are destroyers, without a doubt.

"The bombers except for the Sōryū should target the destroyers by section. Each section leader, ensure that your targets do not overlap. Sōryū bombing group, Hiryū torpedo group, and Sōryū torpedo group, target the carriers at the front. Unryū, Hakuryū, and Sekiryū torpedo units, target the carrier at the rear."

A section is assigned to each destroyer, and three squadrons are assigned to each aircraft carrier for attack. There's no way to deal with the cruisers, but they had no other choice.

First, 36 bomb-carrying attackers from Hiryū, Unryū, Hakuryū, and Sekiryū divided themselves into groups of three and started their descent towards the twelve destroyers positioned on the outer perimeter of the circular formation.

These Type 0 attackers each carry four 250 kg bombs under their bellies. If all bombs hit, it would be overkill, but such a scenario is unlikely. The American destroyers were deployed on the outer perimeter of the circular formation and were less likely to receive support from other ships. Nevertheless, four out of the 36 Type 0s were shot down before they could release their bombs. Despite the expectation that the Type 0s should be much more resilient compared to the Type 96 and Type 97 carrier attack bombers, shooting down over 10% of them proved the formidable anti-aircraft capabilities of the American destroyers. However, the remaining 32 aircraft maintained a shallow descent angle and released a total of 128 rounds of 250 kg bombs onto the American destroyers. Of these, less than 10% find their mark. Considering the accuracy of dive-bombing, this was a dismal performance.

However, the effects were dramatic. Out of the ten destroyers that took direct hits, two of them, hit by two bombs each, belched out thick smoke and came to a halt on the open sea. The remaining eight destroyers also significantly reduced their speed and could only crawl across the surface of the water. Only two destroyers managed to avoid direct hits. However, one of them had its hull breached below the waterline by a near miss and was forced to slow down. The four undamaged cruisers also had to change their course to avoid the damaged destroyers that had become obstacles at sea, pulling them away from their optimal positions for protecting the aircraft carriers.

The experienced crew members did not miss this opportunity. The Hiryū torpedo squadron and the Sōryū torpedo and bombing squadrons worked together to carry out a simultaneous torpedo and bombing attack from three directions, converging on the frontmost aircraft carrier.

The attack began, with the Sōryū bombing squadron being slightly ahead. Led by Lieutenant Commander Egusa, who had transitioned from being the god of dive-bombing to the god of shallow dive-bombing, nine Type 0 attackers flew at a challenging angle from behind the American aircraft carrier to the front before releasing their torpedoes. Before they could release their torpedoes, one of the aircraft was shot down by a near miss from high-explosive anti-aircraft shells, and another was shredded by machine gun fire while trying to escape.

Six out of the thirty-two 250 kg bombs launched consecutively found their mark on the flight deck of the American aircraft carrier. The higher hit rate of the Sōryū bombing squadron compared to the units targeting the destroyers was due to the squadron's superior skills, but the larger target played a significant role as well. The aircraft carrier was over twice the width and length of the destroyers, making it naturally more susceptible to hits.

Receiving more than twice the weight of shells as the heavy cruisers, and especially six hits at once, was too much for the American aircraft carrier to bear. The bullets it launched were visibly weaker, and its speed decreased. One of the hits may have damaged the propulsion system or the smokestack, causing a reduction in speed.

However, the enemy's crisis was an opportunity for their allies. The Hiryū torpedo squadron and the Sōryū torpedo squadron were not complacent and took swift action to support the heavily wounded American aircraft carrier. Despite the four undamaged American cruisers putting up a fierce anti-aircraft defense to protect their distressed aircraft carrier, the positioning was too unfavorable to be effective.