''Big E'' är naturligtvis USS Enterprise. Lt. Kazuo Nakai var uppenbart en mycket offervillig officer - och när det gällde ett så oerhört viktigt skepp som ett hangarfartyg - berättigat!Four VF-6 Wildcats made contact with the bombers 15 miles from the Big E, but jammed guns and cloud cover allowed the Nells to elude the CAP. Approaching in a shallow dive, the bombers burst from the clouds 3500 yards off Enterprise's starboard bow, hurtling towards their target at 250 knots. Every five inch gun that could be brought to bear opened fire, but the gunners' inexperience, the stress of battle and the high speed of the approaching planes led to the shells trailing their target, where they were of more danger to the CAP than to the enemy. Captain George Murray ordered hard left rudder quickly followed by hard right; the ship responded with reassuring nimbleness and neatly "stepped aside" from the approaching bombers. As the 1.1" gun mounts began their deafening fire, the five planes let fall a loose "stick" of three 60 kg bombs each. Most fell harmlessly to port, the concussions pounding the ship's hull and lifting her in the water. One bomb exploded close enough to severe a gasoline line, starting a small fire and mortally wounding BM 2/c George Smith.
Recovering from their dive a scant 1500 feet above the Big E's flight deck, four of the five bombers sped away, but the fifth plane - piloted by the flight leader LT Kazuo Nakai - turned sharply to the left and circled back towards the carrier as if to land. Despite the combined fire of every gun that could bear, the plane kept coming on, clearly intending to crash into the ship. At the last moment, Enterprise veered hard to the right, and the plane - whether due to mechanical damage or an incapacitated pilot - failed to match her turn. Hurtling mere feet over the aft flight deck, the bomber's right wing clipped the tail of parked Scouting Six Dauntless (whose rear gun had been manned by AMM 2/c Bruno Gaido), and snapped off, drenching the island and flight deck forward with gasoline, before coming to rest in a port catwalk. The Nell, Nakai, and his crew plunged into the sea off Enterprise's port quarter and were quickly left behind.
Varjag
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