Chapter 595 Collision 5

How long will it take to complete the login?

"At least until tomorrow morning."

West of the Cologne Islands, in the central bay of Isabella Island, the largest island, more than a dozen warships are quietly lurking in the dark. On the majestic bridge of the USS Delaware in the center, Clarkston turned a deaf ear to the sound of the cannons 30 nautical miles away. He only cares about when the landing troops can be completed and when he will be Don't be stupid here anymore!

Around him, huge cargo ships continue to release dense boats, sending a total of 30,000 troops at a time. This is the largest maritime landing military operation in the history of the United States so far, and it is not enough to complete the landing. The troops are fully deployed to form a defensive posture, at least two days later. Between.

Two days!

This will be the most difficult 48 hours, because the last naval battle and the final defeat made him understand that the United States is facing an unprecedented opponent. Its industrial capacity is not as good as that of the United States, and the total number of ships is not as good as that of Britain, but its technical ability is beyond imagination.

So at the beginning of the plan, he resolutely rejected the decision of the Admiralty to send troops only to land on San Cristobal, and suggested that Edward's fleet be used as bait to complete the landing on the largest island of Isabella.

Although the intelligence said that there was only one small patrol fleet in the Cologne Islands. Although he had two fleets, a full range of seven battleships and more than a dozen cruisers, he was still worried and insisted that one landing arrow alone could not ensure control of the Cologne Islands, because only control of Isabella Island, which was deep enough. Only then could he avoid holding on for a long time once the navy could not provide support, and from the beginning, he did not expect Edward's fleet to take San Cristobal Island unscathed.

Fortunately, his persistence was recognized by the Ministry of the Navy and used support for Australia as a cover. The fleet successfully detoured back to Isabella Island and began to release up to 30,000 army soldiers. Because the island lacked fresh water, it specially carried several small boilers dedicated to desalination.

In order to cover up the real purpose, it not only let Edward's fleet set out with the South American convoy, but also disguised three battleships and two armored cruisers, but when he rushed out of the Gulf of Panama, the exposure of the Maine still worried him.

He can be sure that the Pacific Fleet of the Xinhua Empire is coming at full speed. Although it will take a few days for them to arrive here, if he is dragged by that small fleet, he can't guarantee whether he can escape again, because the opponent's speed is really terrible.

It should be said that Gu Junhuo's comment on Clarkston's "too careful" was simply to the point. After the loss of the mobile fleet, the situation was even more serious. If the Cologne Islands were not too important to the United States, he wouldn't even want to delay here for a minute.

As bait, Edward's fleet has landed in Black Bucksouri Port. They have lured all the eyes of the Xinhua army stationed here, but the small fleet that has not appeared for a long time makes him particularly worried.

"sir, they have appeared!"

The staff finally brought good news: "Three destroyers are attacking south from the east of San Cristobal Island. Maryland and South Dakota have stopped them and hit one of them."

"Where's the light cruiser?" Clarkston didn't seem to be interested in the three destroyers. He only cared about the light cruiser.

"It hasn't appeared yet."

"Damn it!" Clarkston clenched his fist. If he was not afraid of exposing the real purpose, he would definitely order all of them to encircle and suppress the small fleet, but in that way, the attack plan would be exposed. The Xinhua Pacific Fleet brought not only warships, but tens of thousands of Marines. If they take advantage of their own troops The team launched an attack immediately if it was not stable, so no one could guarantee that it could control this important archipelago.

At this time, the only thing Clarkston could do was to wait, but he would never think that because he was too cautious and because of his waiting, Edward's fleet suffered the deadliest blow!

In the periscope, six spear three-type torpedoes were completely integrated into the night after sending out a white track of just 300 meters after coming out of the water, and even Dai Jintang himself could not see it.

This is an epoch-making torpedo!

When Dai Jintang took all the information about the spear type 3 torpedo from the technicians of the equipment department, he was stunned like everyone else!

Because this thing is simply a pervert!

As a BB party, avid giant ship cannon enthusiast, if Li Mo chooses the two weapons that make the battleships tremble the most, then the first is the dive bomber, and the second is the famous 93 acid torpedo that once beat the U.S. Navy in World War II!

Prine acid is oxygen in the Japanese language.

In Falls Bay, although the torpedo machine shows unparalleled ability to the world, it is not terrible in Li Mo's eyes, because even the 450 mm developed by Xinhua itself, weighing 780 kg, and the "fish bone" with a load of 150 kg has fatal shortcomings.

The first is that the range is insufficient, with a range of 42 knots/2,000 meters, which will make the torpedo plane encounter the most fierce gunfire in the unmobilized time before the torpedo is released, and the loading is not enough. It can be used to deal with old battleships or new battleships that lack anti-aircraft guns, and the "fish bone" can also jam the opponent's Throat, but it is not enough to face the new battleships, and with the exposure of the power of the torpedo aircraft in the Battle of Falls, countries will certainly greatly increase the air defense force on the warships.

The storm has been infinitely close to the dive bomber, but it is only close. The bomber that can really dive at an angle of 45 degrees or even 80 degrees can not only be equipped with an all-metal fuselage and engine horsepower. The overload of the large-angle high-speed dive is very large, which needs to be done again. To strengthen the structural strength of the fuselage, it is also necessary to be equipped with a deceleration plate, help to pull up the auxiliary, etc. It is almost necessary to modify the pneumatic structure in an all-round way. This requires Li Mo, an aviation novice and the aviation research institute that has just developed a metal aircraft, are too high.

As for the engine oil leakage and the atomization of fuel in the cylinder during the dive, the oil pipeline will be interrupted due to the subduction, so that the problems such as not keeping up with the flameout are even more difficult.

But it is difficult. He did not give up the development of the dive bomber, but the fact that the three test pilots have died so far made him understand that there is still a long way to wait for the first big killer to appear.

Compared with the difficulty of dive bombers, oxygen torpedoes are also full of twists and turns. First, the small oxygen generator found more than a dozen German experts to deal with it. Later, there were several large-scale accidents, which almost led to the interruption of the project. Although it recovered later, it still did not catch up with the start of the war until It was only finalized a month ago.

Despite the twists and turns, after more than six years of efforts, it finally appeared and appeared in the Xinhua Navy's weapon series with the number of Spear Type 3.

In fact, many people who know the inside story have suggested to renumber the spear type 3 torpedo, because this thing is fundamentally different from the previous spear, but Li Mo insisted on using the name of the spear to commemorate the famous name of later generations.

There is a slight gap between the spear type 3 oxygen torpedo and the later model. First of all, in order to use the current caliber system as much as possible, the diameter is only 550 mm, and the loading is reduced from 500 kg of the spear type 2 to 450 kg, because according to the test, 450 kg is enough to hit any current Or the capital ship under construction.

The weight saved is mainly used to increase the range. According to the styling data, the spear three-type torpedo has a super-long range of 47 knots/15,000 meters, or 42 knots/20,000 meters, regardless of the target maneuverability and other factors. Looking purely on the range, its appearance makes light warships and submarines for the first time It has the ability to deal with capital ships.

Of course, oxygen torpedoes are also dangerous. In addition to the strict requirements for the water depth of the launch, the structure is complex and the stable surname is low, the most serious thing is that once oxygen is mixed with oil and gas, it will become very unstable. Therefore, the warship is usually empty after equipment, and only when it enters the war zone will the oxygenation enter the standby state. This means that if there is an emergency situation, it is likely that it will not be available.

But these unfavorable factors are not a problem at all before the ability of abnormality, especially oxygen is soluble in water, so except for the dazzling white line that can be seen within a few hundred meters of air at the time of launch, there is basically no track, especially at night, which is simply a must for going out to rob and sneak attack. Product.

It was also because of this that Li Mo and the Admiralty gritted their teeth and changed almost all the tiger sharks when they needed submarines most, which made Xinhua's proud submarine troops do nothing but sink some merchant ships at the beginning of the war.

But today is different!

At a distance of 8,000 meters, the Spear Type 3 torpedo can soar at a full speed of 47 knots, that is to say, it only takes 6 minutes to hit the target!

Dai Jintang pinched his watch and counted the hands almost every second. In the distance, the South Dakota was slowly turning around because of the serious damage. The Maryland also slowed down to its side with two protective cruisers. It can be clearly seen in the fire that the three intact cruisers were transferring the sailors on the South Dakota. No one noticed that Death was approaching.

In order to ensure the hit, the torpedoes of this era will never be used one by one. Twelve three-type oxygen torpedoes with sharp hats on the head shuttle through the water in a fan-shaped hiss, but this hissing is almost inaudible under the cover of the sea.

In the two submarines, all the sailors held their breath. In front of the periscope, the two captains claped their armrests. When the anxiety had turned into upset, the most beautiful picture suddenly appeared!

Dai Jintang only saw that the body of the South Dakota, which had just been severely damaged, suddenly picked up a huge column of water. The water spray covered almost all the sight. Before the water mist dissipated, it also happened one after another on the Maryland and a 2,300-ton protected cruiser next to it. Big Bang.

Although the Spear Type 3 oxygen torpedo reduced its charge by 50 kg compared with the Spear Type 2, it did not lose its unparalleled destructive power. When four consecutive groups of water mist began to fall, when the rumbling explosion finally rushed into the periscope and was heard by everyone, each sailor pinched his fist fiercely.

On the battleship Ohio, because of the sudden appearance before, the shells that had ravaged the coastal port for more than 40 minutes had almost driven Captain Edward crazy, but at this time, the scene in front of him almost made his eyes explode.

Behind him, the news that the Maine and Missouri finally sank the Anhai 10 nautical miles away from the east coast, and the staff officer who wanted to take this opportunity to show himself was also stiff, allowing the telegram in his hand to fall with the wind.

The water mist gradually dissipated, leaving a mess. The 13,680-ton South Dakota had broken into two pieces. The originally intact Maryland deck tilted to 30 degrees. As for the protective cruiser, the deck had even disappeared from the sea level.

"Submarine!"

"The searchlight scans all the waters within five kilometers!"

"The destroyer set out and search nearby!"

"Left rudder, order Maine and Missouri to come back immediately!"

After half an hour, Edward, who finally recovered, immediately issued a series of orders. The searchlights began to search the sea again and again. Any suspected target would be bombarded by naval guns, and the remaining destroyers began to search around like hounds.

After Dai Jintang sent a short telegram to S25, he quickly withdrew the buoy and periscope. When the water cabinet was full, S19 quickly dived into the seabed 80 meters deep and maneuvered south at a speed of 4 knots driven by the battery.

No signal to contact the underwater maneuver, relying purely on the tacit understanding of the two captains. The explosions kept ringing from the sea, making everyone's hearts hanging to their throats, and the previous excitement began to disappear little by little.

Dai Jintang looked at his watch. The 30-minute maneuver time was as long as a year. He stood at the door of the listening cabin. It was not until the two listeners reported that the explosion had weakened that he ordered it to float to the depth of the periscope.

On the sea of Hesse, two short periscopes, more than 1,500 meters apart, almost poked out of the sea at the same time. When the communication buoy also floated closely, Dai Jintang was dumbfounded.

I only saw that the Ohio was 10,000 meters away under the protection of two destroyers, and in the darkness in the distance, the two flashing mast lights were particularly obvious.

There was almost no contact. The two bold captains tacitly hit the second round of 12 torpedoes again. When the water fog had just recededed, the third wave of 12 torpedoes were also shot out of the torpedo launch tube again.

At this time, Dai Jintang was not even interested in taking a look, because he and Sima Lin knew that whether they could continue to expand the results or not, they must leave, otherwise the power in the battery could not guarantee that they would escape from the search range of the destroyer, but they did not worry about the statistics of the results, because it was dark in the distance at this time. There are also two of its own destroyers and scouts on the island.

When the two tiger sharks disappeared from the sea again, Edward's fleet fell into despair again. The Ohio was the first one. The old battleship, with a displacement of 12,846 tons and a speed of only 18 knots, was hit by three consecutive torpedoes without even sending a distress telegram. There were 581 people on the ship, and only 13 people were rescued. Major General Edward Abel was killed in the battle.

What's more incredible to the sailors on the American destroyer was that it was 10,000 meters away from the Ohio, and the two sister ships that were urgently returning to meet were also severely damaged a few minutes later.

It was later confirmed that Maine was hit by two torpedoes in a row. After only five hours, the captain had to order to abandon the ship and was finally sunk by an American destroyer 25 nautical miles south of San Cristobal Island, and Missouri was also hit by a torpedo. Although it did not sink at that time, it returned to San. On the way, Diego was attacked by Xinhua submarine again and sank overseas in Costa Rica.

The tyranny and abnormality of the spear type 3 torpedo can be seen.

36 spear three-type torpedoes, in just over an hour, three Maine-class battleships, two old Pennsylvania-class armored cruisers, were almost all destroyed by fierce underwater attacks while seeing the victory. This fact is that both the four American destroyers on the scene and the remaining protective cruisers The upper sailors, the Clarkston fleet, which is still lurking in Isabella Bay to escort the transport fleet, is as dull as a wooden chicken, and cold to the bone.

At the same time, five capital ships were sunk or severely damaged. Let them be cautious and focus on ensuring the safety of the remaining capital ships. Clarkston mistakenly believed that there were at least six Xinhua submarines nearby, so he didn't care that the army was still landing. After handing over the remaining protection tasks to several destroyers, he immediately took the main fleet and The remaining cargo ships were evacuated to Australia at a high speed of 18 knots.

In fact, he did not know that there were only the last four torpedoes left in the S19 and S25 at that time. In order to return safely, he could not attack the fleet at all. Even if he dared to attack, it was impossible to cause fatal injury.

Even Li Mo couldn't laugh or cry after learning about this accident, because Ji Rushan, who guessed that the United States was going to take action against the Cologne Islands, had personally led the First Fleet to leave five days early. However, in order to hide their whereabouts, they sent a telegram late without leaking information. At that time, they had only two days left to go to the Cologne Islands. If it is normal, it will definitely encounter Clarkston, which can only leave after the army is protected and the army is built!

The spear type 3 oxygen torpedo showed great power. When it first appeared, it caught the United States off guard at close range, but also because it was too strong, it added a bit of drama to the first battle for the Cologne Islands.

Because of too much power, Clarkston made a wrong judgment, which eventually led to the fact that the Cologne Sea Battle did not appear, but also because of the terrible power, it destroyed the Edwardian fleet, which not only made the U.S. military fail to make full work, but also made the U.S. Army have no permanent protection of the fleet after occupying the Cologne Islands.

Two days later, after Ji Rushan led four Hebei-class battleships to the Cologne Islands, they faced 30,000 U.S. troops who had completed landing and built fortifications. In the absence of sufficient army strength, the fleet had no choice but to temporarily take 30 nautical miles away from San Cristobal Island and was ready to die. The land camp and electronic reconnaissance battalion were waiting for support, but in order to vent their depression and anger, the four Hebei-class battleships showed the power of the new battleships to the U.S. military stationed on Isabella Island and dropped about a thousand mines nearby before leaving.

It was later learned that a total of 5337 American soldiers were killed and more than 5,000 injured in a five-hour shelling. It can be said that although it was forced to temporarily give up the Cologne Islands, it also made the long-awaited attack that the United States have been extremely bleak. Two months later, the second battle for the Cologne Islands laid the foundation.

On November 20, the United States and Xinhua simultaneously announced the victory of the Cologne Islands.

For the United States, the capture of the Cologne Islands ensures that the largest nail on the Australian route is removed, sinking a cruiser and destroyer, and capturing the Cologne Islands, which slightly boosts the morale of the coalition forces.

For Xinhua, although the Cologne Islands were temporarily lost, this underwater collision showed the power of the new torpedo, which also made it impossible for the United States to send enough capital ships to protect the army after losing Edward's fleet, which not only laid the physiological foundation for the second battle for the Cologne Islands, but also opened up. The prelude to the cruel island battle in the Pacific battlefield.

Most importantly, after the United States forcibly occupied the Cologne Islands, it aroused panic and anger among South American countries along the Pacific coast. The most direct thing was that the second battle for the Cologne Islands broke out on the same day that Ecuador and Peru announced that they had joined the Allies.

(to be continued)