"Your Excellency, an urgent telegram from the capital ship formation!" A staff officer rushed into Admiral Nimitz's office with a look of panic. He even forgot to knock on the door and rushed in.

   "What happened?" Admiral Nimitz asked.

"Your Excellency, Commander, General Kimmel and the others failed. The fleet was first ambushed by the German high-speed torpedo boats and submarines, and then the fleet that dispersed its mission was besieged by the German main fleet. The fleet suffered heavy losses. Seven One battleship was sunk, and the remaining eight battleships were also wounded," the staff officer reported.

   "What? Such a big loss?" Admiral Nimitz exclaimed.

   Lieutenant General Halsey on the side also had a look of disbelief. In any case, they believed that the U.S. Navy's capital ship formation was very powerful. But now, the result of the naval battle gave them a resounding slap in the face.

   "What about the German losses?" Lieutenant General Halsey asked quickly.

   "According to the telegram sent back by the capital ship formation, they only sank one German capital ship during the naval battle. They also damaged three German capital ships." The officer reported.

   "Damn, how could this happen?" Lieutenant General Halsey was very annoyed. The capital ship formation not only failed to complete the task, but also paid heavy losses. This will undoubtedly put the US fleet in a more disadvantageous position in the next battle!

"Your Excellency, Commander, General Kimmel has ordered the capital ship formation to retreat. However, he hopes that we can send fighter jets to **** them after dawn. The Germans will definitely not let them go, and will take off a large number of aircraft to besiege them. Theirs," the officer continued.

  Admiral Nimitz nodded, although the fiasco of the capital ship formation is undoubtedly a bad news for the entire US fleet. However, since things have already happened, it is necessary to accept the result. What they need to consider now is how to minimize the loss of the capital ship formation. The remaining capital ships must be safely withdrawn. Otherwise, once these capital ships are also lost, the loss of the US Navy this time will be too great. This will put them at a complete disadvantage in the next confrontation with the German Navy. Even, it will have the most fundamental impact on this naval battle.

   "Your Excellency, Commander, I will prepare immediately. After dawn, we will take off a batch of fighter planes to **** the battleship formation!" Lieutenant General Halsey said. Obviously, it is now an emergency, and the US fleet must go all out.

   "Well, General Halsey, we must do our best to ensure the safety of the remaining battleships in the capital ship formation. In addition, the air defense of the aircraft carrier formation must also be done well." Admiral Nimitz urged.

   "Yes, Your Excellency, Commander." Lieutenant General Halsey replied, and then he left the office to prepare to go.

  The staff officer put down the telegram and left, leaving Admiral Nimitz alone in the office.

"It seems that the Germans are still underestimated! They were able to defeat our battleship formation, and they also made our battleship formation pay a heavy price. If we want to defeat the Germans in this battle, it will become more and more difficult Already!" Admiral Nimitz said secretly.

Before, they had strong confidence in the U.S. Navy's capital ship formation, believing that the strength of the capital ship formation was enough to confront the German Navy's capital ship formation, and they could even defeat the German Navy in one fell swoop by virtue of its advanced performance. capital ship formation. But now, the result is completely different from what they imagined.

   What's more terrible is that although the U.S. Navy's capital ship formation has begun to evacuate. However, at the current speed, it is certainly impossible for them to escape the strike radius of the German Navy's shore-based aircraft and carrier-based aircraft after dawn. This also means that after dawn, the German Navy will dispatch a large number of aircraft to besiege the US Navy's capital ship formation. At that time, will those capital ships survive the overwhelming blow? That's obviously very difficult. Even if the U.S. Navy dispatches carrier-based aircraft to carry out rescue, it is still very difficult to say how much can be rescued in the end. In addition, if the U.S. Navy's carrier-based aircraft loses too much, it will directly have a very adverse impact on the U.S. Navy's subsequent operations.

  It can be said that the situation of the U.S. Navy in this naval battle is already very unfavorable.

   On the island of the "Essex" aircraft carrier, Lieutenant General Halsey issued an order to prepare for combat. Each of the four aircraft carriers of the 1st aircraft carrier formation is equipped with 36 F4U fighters. These fighter jets are all ready to take off. However, in order to leave enough air defense combat power for the fleet, Lieutenant General Halsey will only require half of the fighters to be dispatched. That is, each "Essex-class" aircraft carrier took off 18 fighter jets, and the four aircraft carriers took off a total of 72 fighter jets.

  As for the F4F fighter jets carried on other aircraft carriers, they will not be dispatched for the time being. If the F4U fighter group cannot withstand the German attack, the F4F fighter will only become the target of the German massacre.

  The airports of the German Navy located in the Azores are now brightly lit. Ground crews are refueling and ammunitioning the planes. Once dawn, these planes will set off to attack the US Navy capital ship formation.

  The airports on Flores Island and Corvo Island were severely damaged by the previous shelling of the US Navy's capital ship formation. The runway, in particular, was riddled with holes.

  When the main fleet of the German Navy stopped shelling, the ground crew at the airport immediately began to repair the shells. They drove various machines, poured mud and gravel into the crater, and then compacted it. Try to fix those runways before dawn if possible. Although a lot of fighter planes at the airport were also destroyed, those fighter planes hiding in the underground hangars and caves were still safe and sound. As long as the runway is repaired, they will be able to take off smoothly.

  The three major fleets of the German Navy distributed in the waters surrounding the Azores are also preparing to attack. With the help of the ground crew, the carrier-based aircraft is ready for take-off. At the same time, these three major fleets are also sailing westward. They not only want to kill the US Navy's capital ship formation, but also want to kill the US Navy's aircraft carrier formation in one fell swoop. In particular, several aircraft carrier battle groups of the Atlantic Fleet have already searched a lot westward.

  Time passed little by little, when the sun appeared on the horizon, the planes of the German Navy began to take off from the airport.