Chapter 726 Login 3

In the dark, the battleships began to be formed one by one, the cruisers were scattered on both sides, the destroyers were protected like hounds, and even the coast guard frigates began to accelerate towards the shelling formation.

Look at the more than 100 tons of wooden machine boats under his feet. Shangguan Liang is very jealous.

He is also an old navy, but the largest warship in service is the retired Vladivostok-class armored cruiser. Although he has also boarded the battleships, he has not served on it for a day, which may be his biggest regret.

However, the work he is doing now is to respect even the captain of the battleship. Although there is a wooden boat that looks like a fishing boat under his feet, when it passes by the side of the battleship or aircraft carrier, all the sailors will salute and whistle when entering and leaving the harbor.

It's very simple, because he is now engaged in the most dangerous job in the navy, which is a hundred times more dangerous than submarines.

Minesweeping!

"Captain, the towing net has been checked, and it's all ready." The first mate glanced at the battleships and said enviously, "I hope to suppress the cannons and quick-fire guns on the shore, or I will die again."

"Ha ha, we are this life." Shangguan Liang patted the first mate on the shoulder and walked to the stern deck of the minesweeper.

In the Imperial Royal Navy, the minesweeper is the most special warship. The shell is all made of wood, and the interior is equipped with a gasoline internal combustion engine, with a displacement of only about 100 tons.

In terms of the difficulty of construction, the minesweeper is the simplest. Anyone who can build a wooden boat can build it, but it is also the most complicated, and it also requires extraordinary courage, because it has to shuttle through the dense minefields. Most of the time, it relies on technology but luck, because you never know if there is a hundreds of kilograms in front of it. The mine of medicine is waiting for you.

This kind of tonnage and displacement, not to mention mines that are enough to sink battleships, even a light shell is extremely dangerous, but this is the most important task in the navy.

Opening up shipping lanes, landing and driving, etc. are inseparable from minesweepers. Without minesweepers, even powerful battleships do not dare to let the enemy drill in the sea or waterways, so the status of minesweepers in the navy is almost supreme. Even the currently hot dragon wings dare not neglect when encountering minesweepers.

To put it bluntly, this is the Navy's highest tribute to a group of death squad members who are playing with their heads!

The minesweeper force of the Imperial Royal Navy was born very early. After encountering the problem of the mine array of the Uraga waterway during the war against Japan, the special mine clearance force was put on the schedule.

But whenever and wherever, mine clearance is a deadly job.

Limited by technology and means, the main means of the minesweeper is to t the trawler through the stern of the ship, similar to the trawl of the fishing boat, and tow the net through the area where there are mines. Because the waterfront is very shallow, the anchor mines generally cannot touch the minesweeper, but it does not rule out that there are several fish that leak the net, so it must also be equipped with a machine gun.

Even so, the sacrifice of the minesweeper is like a casual meal. In Singapore, three minesweepers were sacrificed, and eight minesweepers in the Strait of Hormuz in a month [***] were destroyed by the aftermath of the mine explosion.

The biggest loss was the recent mine clearance operation in the Gulf of Panama. Due to the frequent presence of remaining U.S. destroyers and torpedo boats in the Gulf, although the supporting destroyers and cruisers were desperately protected, a total of 19 minesweepers were sunk or killed by mines.

Of course, the biggest threat is the mine clearance operation in front of us. According to intelligence, the United States has laid no less than 50,000 mines in California and other west coast areas, and the United States has deliberately adjusted the depth of anchor mines to disorderly, and many small anchor mines are extremely connected. Near the water, it is specially designed to deal with minesweepers with shallow water.

Shangguan Liang carefully checked the tow nets. Although many countries directly use ordinary fishing nets, the nets are very heavy after being put into the sea, and it is even more troublesome to encounter fish. Therefore, at present, they are equipped with special large screen trawl nets, which are not only lighter, but also wider than ordinary fishing boats.

After checking the trawl net, he carefully inspected the two machine guns. This is the largest arm on the minesweeper and also a tool to deal with torpedoes. Because the trawl is relatively soft, it generally does not directly trigger the mines, so he needs to rely on the machine gun to destroy the mines, but the trawl will also be blown up, so on a minesweeper. There are at least 10 pairs of trawls.

"Captain, here comes the order."

"Let's go."

Hearing the order, Shangguan Liang immediately rushed to the cockpit in front of him and held the rudder with his own hands: "Send the signal, let's go!"

The slightly self-deprecating "fishing boat" Ya is the symbol of the minesweeper unit, because every time they see the trawl, they feel that they are fishing, but unlike ordinary fishermen, the "big fish" they deal with is really a little dangerous.

"Fishing boats" have no masts, which is a burden for them to increase weight and water, so the communication lights are installed on the top of the low cockpit. The flashing light signal is particularly obvious at the moment before dawn, when 30 minesweepers are lined up and pass by the majestic battleships. Every sailor on the deck stood upright to salute.

"This is an honor and belongs to us." Shangguan Liang straightened his chest, looked at his comrades-in-arms who lined up to salute, and said with a smile, "There are no cannons, no torpedoes, but we are the pioneers of the navy and the guarantee of victory!"

"We are."

"Fishing boat." Eight comrades-in-arms answered his questions with a smile.

===== "They are real warriors."

On the deck, it was not until the last minesweeper left sight that Li Zhen put down his right arm and sighed.

"Yes." Li Xiuyan patted him on the shoulder. Although there were not many mines in Santa Barbara, there were at least a thousand, and this time it was enough to clean up the mines with gunfire. Any shore cannon was enough to destroy the ship and kill people! However, more than a year's experience made the guard calmer a lot, saying, "Let's go, the shelling plan should come. This is a spectacle that many people will never see in their lives. Your camera is useful this time."

Li Zhen also laughed and walked to the bridge with him.

On the bridge chart table, a landing area map is divided into dozens of parts by black lines, each of which is represented by numbers. It looks like a chessboard. The staff are calculating the final shelling order of the 21 and 22 areas obtained.

Unlike the previous shelling of the port of San Diego, the Santa Barbara landing area is equivalent, and the firepower distribution is weak, but the dispersion is serious, especially some small targets in the rear woods are difficult to find. Therefore, in order to destroy as many targets as possible, the naval guns must change a coordinate after every three rounds of sipation, and try to cover them indiscriminately. .

As the range of the naval gun gets farther and farther, the requirements for onshore support are getting larger and larger, so this kind of calculation is very difficult to rely on manpower alone. It is necessary to divide the area and use mechanical computers to help calculate.

Seeing Li Xiuyan walking into the bridge, the gunner immediately took the shelling schedule: "Our goal is zones 21 and 22, a total of 84 rounds, and zone 21 is the focus, because there is a large area of forest here. After all, the target is hidden. It is recommended that all the first 45 rounds be aimed there."

"Very good, just follow this plan." Li Xiuyan returned the schedule to the gun chief.

"20 minutes to prepare." The correspondent took the phone, raised his left hand high, and raised two fingers.

The gun commander quickly ran to the gun command tower on the head, and the captain began to check the posture of the ship. The gunners in the three turrets stuffed 900 kg high-explosive bombs into the shells at the same time, and then raised nine L45/406 mm guns to the maximum.

"15 minutes."

Li Zhen took the camera and walked to the anti-aircraft gun platform outside the bridge. Lao Jiu and Dongzi, who had been waiting there, immediately helped set it up. He was an electronic officer. On this occasion, there were cruisers and destroyers on the periphery. There was no need to turn on the radar, so he had the opportunity to record everything with the camera.

He took the lead in aimed at the four Hebei-class battleships led by General Fang Jin. Looking at their majestic posture, he felt a little sorry, because the last time he returned to Yanjing, he happened to meet his father and the chief of staff to discuss the future of the post-war navy, so he knew a secret.

That is, the powerful battleships in front of us have actually been quietly included in the post-war elimination sequence. In addition to the actual pressure that the navy must save money and reduce expenses significantly after the war, it is also because not long ago, the ship design department found that if the Hebei class is replaced with a new double 406mm gun, the hull will be greatly changed. They are expensive, so they will be sealed after the war to reduce the pressure of naval military spending.

However, compared with the three Dalian-class and six fire support ships on the other side, the sealed treatment is already good, because the previous ones, together with the three Jilin-class battleships, will be retired immediately after the war.

So he cherishes this shooting opportunity, because it may be one of the few roaring opportunities for this class of battleships.

"10 minutes to prepare."

The deck was full of unmissioned sailors, and even the chefs who were preparing breakfast took a big spoon and squeezed into the crowd with a smile, saying that they would not go back after watching the first round of slaughter.

"5 minutes to prepare."

The communication officer raised his left hand again. This time, he did not put it down immediately. Looking at the five-digit fingers, the noise and noise calmed down in an instant. The waves slapped the steel ship, and his heartbeat began to accelerate.

A finger bent down.

Two fingers bent down.

"3 minutes!"

"Rip the trawl net and prepare the machine gun." On the minesweeper, with the shouts of Shangguan Liang, a rope head was thrown onto the nearby minesweeper, and the two groups of minesweepers quickly opened the wide minesweeper net.

"2 minutes."

The minesweeping nets were quickly lowered, and 15 groups of minesweeping ships formed a barrier up to 5 kilometers wide, dragging the "fishing nets" to the offshore minefield without hesitation.

"1 minute."

"click."

A minesweeper, wearing a thick orange life-saving vest, tightened the helmet strap, walked to the machine gun, and suddenly pulled off the bolt. His eyes were like an eagle locking the buoy on the dragging net, and every slight ups and down did not dare to let go easily.

"10, 9, 8." Shangguan Liang looked at the watch with a smile on the corners of his mouth: "2, 1!"

"Thunder!"

"At 2 o'clock, fire quickly!"

In the nervous shouting, there were bursts of thunder in the sky at the same time.

At 5:00 a.m. on December 28, six Guam-class battleships, four Hebei-class battleships, six fire support ships and 12 light cruisers roared at Santa Barbara at the same time.

(to be continued)