Chapter 762 West Wind 8
The sun quickly disappeared below the horizon, thick clouds covered the stars and the moon, and the sky and the earth were dark.
No sailor likes the Indian Ocean at night. If the night in the Pacific Ocean is gentle wind and drizzle, and the night in the North Sea of the Atlantic Ocean is cold, then there is only a tropical monsoon in the night in the Indian Ocean.
Such a sea condition is simply a nightmare for more than a thousand tons of submarines. The waves of the strong wind keep brushing through the slender deck. Every officer and soldier feels that his feet are floating, tilting with the waves.
Standing in the shell, Dai Jintang looked pale, because during the day he learned that Smarin, who had fought side by side with him in the Cologne Islands, had lost contact with his S25 tiger shark. In the vast sea, the loss of contact with the submarine meant that the 48 sailors above had no hope of life.
From the first day of service, they were ready to sacrifice at any time, but when it really happened, it still made people feel sad.
Since the beginning of the war, although the submarine force has not been as beautiful as the surface troops, it has also contributed a total sinking tonnage of more than 1.1 million tons, 4,300 mines, and a total of 1,213 waterways and ports have been blocked. In addition, the main fleet has cooperated with patrol ships to effectively protect the safety of the waterway.
As of Smarin's S25, 11 have also been destroyed or missing!
Many people like to compare the imperial submarine forces with their German counterparts. They always feel that it is very majestic for the British, American and French to be panicked by German submarines in the Atlantic Ocean. However, in the eyes of the Imperial Navy, in addition to the fact that the Atlantic Ocean cannot be compared with the needs of the entire Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, the glory of the German submarine forces is also because of its sea. The incompetence of the main force on the surface of the army.
The submarine under his feet trembles slightly, which is a unique performance when the engine is working. Tiger sharks are rarely seen floating out of the water during the day. Even if they need ventilation, they are most of them sail with ventilation. Only at night will these terrible killers lurking underwater come out to breathe and charge the battery at the same time.
Tiger shark is currently the largest attack submarine in various countries, but only three people can stand in the shell. Due to the strong wind and waves, the watertight hatches before and back of the deck cannot be opened, so the sailors can only take turns to smoke on the shell to breathe.
So after Dai Jintang looked at it for a while, he returned the telescope to the lookout, leaving the space for the sailors below who were eager to breathe.
"Captain, I just received the telegram that the main force of the Indian Grand Fleet is coming at a cruising speed of 16 knots at 47 nautical miles northeast of us!" Seeing Dai Jintang coming down, the first mate rubbed his hands with a red face.
Dai Jintang quickly walked to the front of the chart.
Now S25 is moving north along the African coastline, 47 nautical miles to the northeast, which means that the enemy also wants to go south on the African coastline. The maximum sea speed of the tiger shark is only 16 knots. This has to be in good condition. Now the S19 has been soaked in the sea for 2 months, and the speed can reach 14 knots. But even so, I will be the first submarine to arrive at the interception.
"I've calculated that if we turn left and thrust the rudder, we can hit them as soon as 2 hours!" The first mate pointed to the map and licked his lips endlessly and said, "Captain, the telegram said that there were at least four capital ships and many cruisers there, weren't we?"
Dai Jintang didn't know what the first mate was thinking. To put it bluntly, it was to pick up the leak.
Picking up leaks is the biggest hobby of submarine troops. Think about it, how dangerous and difficult is it for a frontal submarine to fight against a main battleship protected by a destroyer? But it's different on the battlefield. If the battleship is injured by the surface troops, as long as the submarine touches it easily, a torpedo can let you enjoy the pleasure of sinking the battleship. How cool!
At present, four patrol squadrons are rapidly pursuing from the Arabian Sea to the south. The idea of the headquarters is to force the other party to travel the African coastline, and then use day planes and destroyers to harass at night, delaying them until the arrival of the four Hebei class.
There is another intention to do this, because the British support fleet from the north of South Africa will certainly follow the African coastline, so that after the arrival of the four Hebei-class ships, all the two fleets can be surrounded and eaten with the heavy aircraft carrier Nanchu!
So, no matter what, you must launch an attack and delay the other party's footsteps!
"Turn the rudder, go!"
"Good."
Hearing the order, everyone was busy. The helmsman immediately began to turn the rudder wheel according to the calculated angle, but as soon as he finished turning the rudder, there was a shout in the direction of the shell: "Captain, Zhengbei, there is a situation!"
The lookout's figure soon appeared on the ladder and shouted, "I can't see it clearly, but it's very big, and it seems that there is something similar to a barrel."
Is it big? The barrel!
Dai Jintang and the first mate looked at each other and were a little confused. Didn't the telegram say that it was 47 nautical miles away? Is it a cruiser that opens the way? It's not right. It's very big. First of all, it excludes the possibility of small tonnage cruisers.
"C close the hatch!"
"Take back the ventilation duct and prepare the communication buoy."
"The water cabinet is ready to be filled with water!"
"Ready the periscope."
"Urpedo preparation."
"Listen, I need direction!"
Between the waves, a large number of bubbles gushed out of the water injection holes on both sides. The submarine slowly disappeared on the sea like a deep-sea beast that occasionally came to play on the surface of the water, leaving only a thin periscope, turning left and right.
The depth of the periscope does not allow the submarine to avoid the wind and waves. Instead, it looks more and more bumpy. The waves keep hitting the camera, making the outside world look a little fuzzy.
"Captain, a lot of noise, one o'clock."
20 minutes later, the listener began to provide information first. Dai Jintang quickly turned the periscope to a little bit. When a wave of waves passed, a huge shadow made him shiver.
"Captain, what is it?" When the first mate saw his appearance, he wished to grab the periscope to have a look.
"Battleship, fuck, it must be a battleship! A big guy!" After a while, Dai Jintang, who held the periscope and finally saw the dark shadow clearly. The double heavy artillery of the bow under the gray starlight was particularly obvious!
In addition to the bow heavy artillery, several barrel-like things were poked out on both sides of the hull, and there were two destroyers next to this big guy, which told him that it was a battleship!
Dai Jintang quickly handed the periscope to the first officer, and then took out a thick photo of the battleship from the drawer of the nautical table. One by one, he stopped when he turned to the photo of Edward VII, the last British old-fashioned battleship.
The Indian Grand Fleet once had four old-fashioned battleships. Both the old star and the French Camarang class were destroyed in the first bombing of Ceylon, and then three more were sunk during the capture of the port of Salalah. At present, there are only four Duncan and Edwardian class.
A Duncan class in the Octave was sunk, and then an Edwardian class was sunk in the Arabian Sea. More importantly, the Edwardian class has four 233mm secondary main guns, which matches the appearance of large-caliber heavy guns on both sides as seen just now.
Of course, it may also be a new Nelson-class battleship, but the Nelson-class is one of the first battleships after the British dreadnought, with double-loaded main guns on both sides. What you just saw is a single tube, and the tonnage is also very different.
"Unfortunately, it's an old guy."
The first mate also recognized Edward VII, and his mouth seemed to be a little depressed.
"What the matter, it's a battleship!"
Dai Jintang doesn't care what era the battleship is. Anyway, the military achievements are calculated according to the battleship. What's more, in his opinion, if he opens the way with an old-fashioned battleship, it must be the main fleet later. Besides, if this ship can be sunk, it will be regarded as revenge for Simalin!
"Urpedo preparation."
"The distance is 8,000 meters!"
"7000 meters."
As time went by, the Indian on the sea did not know that Death had raised his sickle in front of him and drove forward at a speed of 16 knots.
"5000 meters!"
In fact, the abnormal range and charge of the spear three-type torpedo were enough to complete the extermination. Even several officers thought that they should be able to launch, but Dai Jintang was still unmoved and locked the Indian.
"4000, kata 010, 3000 meters, launch, hit all!"
With a few tremblings, the compressed air in the torpedo launch tube pushed out the spear type 3 torpedo almost at the same time. After the bow flashed, the six torpedoes quickly melted into the night.
" Put away the periscope, the left rudder! Urgent dive!"
Before waiting to check whether it was hit, S19 immediately dived. You should know that there are still several destroyers around the other side. If you stay on the water for a long time to confirm the results, you will definitely not be escaping the pursuit of the destroyer.
The depth watch hand kept going down, and everyone subconsciously looked at the top of their heads.
The wait was not long. After the 47-speed after the spear three-type torpedo came out of the water, 3,000 meters did not need even take 2 minutes. When the submarine only dived to 30 meters, the violent explosion suddenly exploded above everyone's heads like thunder.
"I hit it! I hit it!"
"Haha, kill it!"
Two spear three-type torpedoes hit the undetected battleship USS Indian almost at the same time, with a total of 900 kilograms of standard TNT explosives, not to mention an old-fashioned battleship. Even the Guam class or the empire's latest Taiwan class will definitely die in this unprepared situation.
Because it was hit in the bow position, the front of the battleship seemed to have been dragged up by a big hand. It was raised a few meters high before it was smashed into the water, and then suddenly sank down and almost inserted directly into the sea.
All the glass broke in an instant, the steel was violently twisted, and the unprepared sailors in the cabin were also thrown one after another, and then smashed all over the deck. Unlucky, they were directly stabbed to death by blunt objects. Fortunately, they were also in pain all over.
In the blink of an eye, the whole bow disappeared, and the 16,350-ton hull, which had been hit by less than 20 305mm training bombs since it was in service, began to sink rapidly.
On the sea, it was like an explosion. Unfortunately, Dai Jintang had dived in advance at this time, otherwise he would definitely regretted his attack, because behind dozens of snow-white searchlight columns, they were all destroyers and armed ships modified with cargo ships.
This is not the main force of the Grand Fleet!
Four torpedoes that did not hit the target were still racing underwater. A cruiser preparing for rescue became the second victim before it could approach. Compared with the Indian, the protective cruiser, which was only 3,000 tons, broke straight into several pieces and quickly disappeared.
"Enemy attack, inform General Campbell that we have been ambushed by a submarine!"
=======40 nautical miles away, the fleet that had just been attacked and suffered heavy losses turned off all light sources. Except for the mast and the burgundy anti-collision lights on both sides of the side of the ship, no scene could be seen.
The sailors on duty sat quietly in the corner, snuggled up and chatted in a low voice. When they passed by them, they were dressed in a straight British Royal Navy uniform, and Cameron, who looked a little depressed on his temples, seemed to return to more than a decade ago in a trance. The magnificent Indian fleet seemed to have become the Japanese fleet that departed from Britain, bypassed half of the earth and finally failed to return home.
In the bridge, there is also only a small milky yellow light, and the surrounding portholes have also been blocked with thick cloth, leaving only a few small observation windows to prevent the light source from being exposed by the enemy.
"How's it going?"
"It's not good." Cameron walked into the bridge and sat next to Campbell, who was looking at the chart.
"The American Pennsylvania was hit by a torpedo, and the hull was flooded, losing a boiler chamber and three rapid-fire guns. At present, the deck has regained its balance, but the speed has dropped to 17 knots.
Arizona was hit by 2 shots, the left bow and raft were flooded, and the speed dropped to 16 knots.
The Chester was hit by the stern, and a rudder failed. It needs to be understood that divers can't be sent to check and repair it during the day.
The Brooklyn-class light cruiser Nashville caught fire, and its personnel have been transferred to other warships. It can no longer leave.
The protected cruiser Birmingham was hit by a torpedo while protecting the heavy cruiser Northampton and has sunk. Cameron sighed and continued: "The Americans are terrible this time. Maybe the Chinese are attacking them and eager to destroy their last power outside the Atlantic, so all the power invested at the last moment is very harmful to them.
Just now, Major General Robley D. Evans has evacuated its flagship headquarters from Arizona to Northampton, and I have asked Lieutenant General Riquel Mellon of France to lead his cruiser formation to protect Evans and them.
"What about us?"
"Slightly luckier than the Americans. Only Lord Clyde was hit by one of the main battleships and lost 2 knots of speed, and the others were basically unharmed, but the deck of the USS Blake's armored cruiser tilted. After the captain Santos water was injected to maintain balance, the speed dropped to 12 knots. I have asked him to abandon the ship, but, He refused."
"I know that old guy. He won't leave his warship." Campbell gently scratched the table with his fingers and sighed.
"The Royalist and the Goddess of Justice have been hit hard. At present, I have dragged them behind with Blake, and the Good Luck and three destroyers have sunk."
"In addition, the Y2 formation has been confirmed to be besieged, and Brigadier General Carlo and his battleship Albertmar (old Duncan-class) have been out of contact for 10 hours." Cameron continued: "The Y1 formation was also besieged by Chinese cruisers and destroyers. Three hours ago, the battleship Republic (the old Edward VII class) was ambushed by a submarine and has sunk."
He pointed to the chart and continued: "Brigadier General Thornton of the Y3 formation led the Indians to the south of us, 40 nautical miles southwest of us along the African coastline. If the enemy pursues south from Socotra Island, they will definitely encounter it first."
"From the location where the Y1 and Y2 formations were attacked, the enemy should still be behind us now. The only one round of bombing in the afternoon also shows that they are at least 150 nautical miles away from us, and the battleship formation from Singapore must be chasing us." Cameron drew two southward arrows on the Maldivian and African coastline at the same time: "The fleet from Singapore will definitely go to the Maldives, and the troops chasing from the Arabian Sea will also go south along the African coastline. If we are right, they will definitely carry out a night raid on us tonight. Da is delaying us."
"We must choose a road now, whether to go along the African coastline or the Maldives!"
Campbell understands what Cameron means, which is indeed a dilemma.
From Hill's point of view, he must be willing to take the South African route and meet him as soon as possible. At that time, relying on 16 capital ships, including the Reiki class, it may not be afraid of four Hebei class and one large aircraft carrier.
But this route is not easy to take. The Chinese destroyers and cruisers are very fast. They can take the lead in defeating the Indian Grand Fleet before Hill arrives. Once they are defeated, Hill will face four Hebei-class battleships alone.
It is not good for you to go to the Maldives. First of all, the four chasing Hebei-levels need to be faced alone. At the same time, there must be aircraft stationed in Gan Island, but the advantage of going here is that Hill will be temporarily let go. If it doesn't go well, at least the South African fleet will not be completely annihilated by the enemy!
And there is another advantage of going to the Maldives, that is, the enemy may not think of where to go, so as long as they can withstand a wave of aircraft bombing, they can completely cross the Chagos Islands across the Indian Ocean to Seychelles to meet Hill, and then go south to Madagascar at the same time, away from the pursuit of the Xinhua Navy!
Where should I go?
Just as Campbell and Cameron were hesitating, a telegram changed the whole situation, or let Hill's South African fleet temporarily avoid danger.
"General, the Indian was ambushed by submarines, Brigadier General Thornton and warships, all." Campbell stood up in surprise and turned his head to look at the two lines. After a long time, he suddenly gritted his teeth and made up his mind.
"Left full rudder!"
(to be continued)