Chapter 206 The aftermath is not over

The US shore-based fighter jets began to take off before 6:50, and the bombers also began to take off before 7:00.

From a time perspective, the US military fleet can attack Jing Wenhui's fleet at around 7:30, and Jing Wenhui cannot use ordinary shells until 8:30.

Obviously, Jing Wenhui had no chance to use ordinary shells.

How much success can you achieve with 16,000 range-extended bombs?

You should know that each time the fleet fires, it consumes 432 shells. After the six anti-submarine warships use up all the large-caliber electromagnetic cannon shells, it consumes 288 shells. Therefore, in theory, Jing Wenhui's fleet can only attack at most fifty US warships.

Fortunately, Jing Wenhui had long expected that there would be insufficient ammunition.

To this end, Jing Wenhui changed the artillery tactics from the second round of concentrated volleys, and focused on attacking the gathered warships, reducing the ammunition consumption. In addition, it is to avoid repeated strikes as much as possible. In this way, at least 80 US warships can be guaranteed to be bombarded.

There is no doubt that it is almost impossible to sink a US warship.

In fact, during the shelling, except for the two sunken warships, none of the US warships were directly sunk by shells. Later, seven US warships sank on their way back, and five stranded warships lost their repair value and were blown up by the US military themselves.

All Jing Wenhui could do was to damage as much as possible US warships.

At least, in the next few months, those damaged U.S. warships will have to withdraw from the battle sequence, which is equivalent to leaving the U.S. Navy no fleet available for several months.

After being discovered by a US reconnaissance plane, Jing Wenhui did not order a return flight.

It was obviously too late to return at this time.

At that time, he just ordered all officers and soldiers to wear life jackets and prepare to abandon the ship in advance. He also issued an order to each captain. After confirming that the warships could not be spared, he must focus on preserving the lives of officers and soldiers, that is, he can give up repairs after being attacked.

More importantly, Jing Wenhui asked the two fast combat support ships to sail south at full speed.

This order saved the lives of thousands of officers and soldiers.

Obviously, Jing Wenhui had realized at that time that the fleet he commanded was already doomed.

The reality is the same. The US military dispatched 800 shore-based fighter jets and 200 bombers, and the strike power was no longer as good as the time difference between the Second Fleet.

You should know that among the 800 shore-based fighters, only one hundred are air-control fighters, and the rest are all attack aircraft.

At half past seven, the squadron commanded by Jing Wenhui carried out the final struggle.

In air defense operations, the twelve warships went all out, not only intercepting thousands of heavy anti-ship missiles and thousands of tactical anti-ship missiles, but also shooting down more than 30 US fighter jets.

However, this fleet could not escape in the end.

In fact, when the US military aircraft group launched an attack, the squadron had stopped shelling because at 7:15, all extended range bombs were used up.

Fortunately, the US military did not attack the fleet officers and soldiers who jumped into the sea to escape.

Because of the sufficient preparation, most of the officers and soldiers on the twelve warships boarded lifeboats before the warships sank, and most of the officers and soldiers persisted until the moment of rescue.

In the afternoon of the same day, two fast combat support ships ventured back to the battlefield and rescued more than 2,000 officers and soldiers.

However, affected by a false air defense alarm, the two rapid combat support ships did not rescue all the officers and soldiers. It was not until the early morning of the 18th that the search and rescue planes sent by the First Fleet rescued the last group of officers and soldiers, including Colonel Jing Wenhui who was injured in the battle.

Later, Jing Wenhui won the rank of Rear General on a naval medical ship.

It must be admitted that Jing Wenhui's life is indeed very hard. At that time, the shrapnel that hit his neck could be cut off as long as he deviated five millimeters inward.

At this point, the battle is still not over.

At around 10 o'clock on the morning of the 17th, Gong Jifei concentrated the fighter jets of the First Fleet and attacked the US fleet, but did not receive decisive results. Because before 8 o'clock, Jing Wenhui's squadron was finished, French ordered the shore-based aviation force to cover the US fleet with all his strength and let one hundred bombers perform reconnaissance missions, and the other three hundred bombers were ready to attack the approaching First Fleet at any time. The result was that under the threat of US bombers,

Gong Jifei did not dare to approach the US fleet, and launched kilometers in almost the maximum combat radius of fighter jets. In addition, the first fleet only had about 450 fighter jets, and the US shore-based fighter jets they had to face were more than 1,000. More importantly, the US shore-based fighter jets could be launched urgently after the early warning aircraft issued an alarm, and arrived before the Chinese Navy's fighter jets attacked the US fleet, and could invest enough fighter jets in air defense operations.

During this attack, the First Fleet lost more than one hundred fighter jets.

After the attack was hopeless, Gong Jifei chose to give up, and in the afternoon of the same day, he dispatched a tilted rotary wing aircraft to search and rescue the officers and soldiers who fell into the water.

The search and rescue work was not over until early morning of the 18th.

On the morning of the 18th, the First Fleet turned to sail northeast and took the initiative to evacuate the battlefield.

At this point, this significant naval battle came to an end.

In this naval battle, the second fleet of the Chinese Navy's Pacific Fleet was almost wiped out. In addition to two rapid support ships and thirty warships, more than 400 aircraft were lost, including 364 carrier-based fighters, more than 100 inclined rotary wing aircraft, more than 5,000 casualties, including more than 500 pilots (one third of them were crew crew members of the inclined rotary wing aircraft).

Judging from the losses alone, the U.S. fleet is much smaller.

Including the warships that were sunk and abandoned by the US military later, the US military lost only fifteen, with less than 3,000 casualties and more than 100 flights. Two-thirds of the fighter jets were destroyed by artillery shells on the aircraft carriers, and about 700 pilots were killed or disappeared.

Obviously, no one is the winner of this naval battle.

The Chinese Navy lost half of the large warships except aircraft carriers, and were sunk. Although the US Navy had much fewer warships sunk, except for two aircraft carriers, four cruisers, fourteen destroyers and two rapid combat support ships, the rest of the warships were all damaged, and seven aircraft carriers were severely damaged. The USS America, which had the lightest damage, would take at least five months to repair, and the USS Spruins, which had the worst damage, was almost the same as scrapped. In other words, the US military had only two aircraft carrier battle groups left to fight.

There is no doubt that strategically, the Chinese Navy is the winner.

The reason is very simple. Even without the second fleet, the first fleet can fight, and after replenishing fighter jets, its combat effectiveness has not decreased.

On the contrary, after the US fleet was severely damaged, even if there were enough warships, they would lose the ability to compete for sea control.

Of course, then both sides declared that they were the winners of this naval battle.

The reason for the United States is that the US military was sunk only half of the warships that were sunk by the Chinese Navy, and the officers and soldiers were lost only 60% of the Chinese Navy. The fighter jets were lost in air combat than the Chinese Navy, and they also wiped out the Second Fleet of the Chinese Navy's Pacific Fleet.

China's reason is more direct: the sea control power of the Coral Sea is still in the hands of the Chinese Navy.

The most direct result of this naval battle is to make the battle for the Solomon Islands no longer suspense.

Although the US military on Guadalcanal persisted until the end of September, the US Navy was unable to compete with the Chinese Navy for maritime control during the year. In other words, the Chinese Marine Corps' attack on Guadalcanal had no effect, and it took half a year to occupy the island.

In fact, after the end of the naval war, the US military basically gave up Guadalcanal.

The reason is very simple. Even if the Chinese Marine Corps does nothing and only needs the fleet to completely block the island, the US military on the island will be out of ammunition and food before the end of the year.

At that time, Mu Haoyang was also very aware of this situation.

After the naval battle, he did not punish Tong Shaoyun because during the entire battle, Tong Shaoyun's judgment was very accurate and he did not make any big mistakes. If he really said what he did wrong, he would have to wait for the First Fleet. In fact, the responsibility was not on Tong Shaoyun. It was mainly because Gong Jifei did not accurately judge the situation of the battle, which caused the First Fleet to enter the Coral Sea about four hours late. If the First Fleet entered the Coral Sea four hours ahead of schedule, that is, turn at 2:00 p.m. on the 16th, the result of this naval battle would definitely be very different.

In fact, Mu Haoyang did not severely punish Gong Jifei.

It is a common occurrence for the commander to misjudgment of the situation of war, and after making accurate judgments, Gong Jifei has done everything he can do.

Of course, Gong Jifei is not without taking responsibility.

Later, Mu Haoyang obeyed Tong Shaoyun's command because Gong Jifei did not obey the order, that is, when the Second Fleet had already fought with the US fleet, he obeyed Tong Shaoyun's command and allowed Gong Jifei to stay in Naba for more than a year. The one who replaced Gong Jifei as the commander of the fleet was Tong Shaoyun, who was lucky enough to succeed.

Jing Wenhui was also promoted with Tong Shaoyun.

After staying in the hospital's special care unit for three months, Jing Wenhui returned to the fleet at the end of September and continued to serve as Tong Shaoyun's chief of staff. Later, after the fleet size expanded, Jing Wenhui became the commander of the Second Fleet, while Tong Shaoyun served as the commander of the First Fleet as the commander of the Pacific Fleet. It was not until the end of 2055 that Gong Jifei became the commander of the fleet again after the establishment of the Third Fleet.

It can be said that Mu Haoyang was quite satisfied with the result of this naval battle.

Although the Second Fleet was lost, the main force of the navy was still there, and the sea-making combat capability was not greatly reduced. More importantly, there was no suspense about capturing the Solomon Islands. Under the circumstances at that time, Mu Haoyang could even withdraw the fleet in early July, after all airports on the Solomon Islands were restored, and there was no need to worry about the two US aircraft carrier battle groups left in Australia.

In October, Mu Haoyang withdrew his fleet back to Naha.

Of course, by the end of June, the overall strategic situation on the battlefield was already very clear.

Chapter 206 The aftermath is not over
Chapter completed!