The ship that appeared on the surface of the sea was undoubtedly a Japanese warship, and as the ship got closer, even without binoculars, it was now possible to see the 16 glowing sunburst flags waving on the mast. Apparently the boat had also spotted them, and it had Caucasians on them. So as it approached them, the ship slowed down significantly. And began to put the dinghy from the side of the ship.

It was an old warship with four chimneys, and it was now very close, and the seven single-mounted cannons on it, as well as the eight torpedo tubes, were clearly visible. When Ron was fine, he flipped through the Japanese Ship Yearbook and recognized it as a Kawauchi-class light cruiser with a displacement of 7,100 tons. But I don't know which one it is.

Due to the need to put the dinghy, the speed of the warship slowed down. Several Japanese sailors with guns got into the dinghy, and then the dinghy was lowered to the surface of the sea to the sound of the lift's motor. Although now several Caucasians have taken refuge in the cabin, this is certainly useless, the Japanese must have discovered something. If nothing else, there shouldn't be sailboats in this area.

The dinghy rowed towards the boat, and a Japanese soldier on the boat shouted in non-standard English: "Everyone in the cabin come out - we see you!" Put your hands on your head! ”

In the cabin, everyone you look at me, I look at you. Obviously, there is no way out for stubborn resistance, and when it comes to being a martyr, everyone's interest is not high. So, everyone put their hands on their heads and honestly fished out.

Tom shouted, one, Ben, read #novelxstxt: "We are Americans, and we demand to be treated in accordance with international treaties." ”

The Japanese soldier on the dinghy apparently understood, and his face showed some disdain, and he turned his head to say something to the sailors who were operating the boat, and all the sailors burst into a wild laugh. In the midst of this laughter, the dinghy got closer and closer.

The fate of the captives was inevitable, almost everyone thought so.

At that moment, the whole boat suddenly shook violently, and then Ron saw a huge red and black fireball rising from the Japanese cruiser opposite, followed by a deafening loud noise, and then another loud bang.

Not far under the water, the USS Fisher submarine has just fired six torpedoes at the target in one go. Half an hour ago, under the cover of heavy rain, the submarine quietly surfaced so that the sailors could also take a bath, and there would be no enemy planes in the heavy rain, and as for the enemy ships, they were much more conspicuous than the gray-blue submarines, and the captain was completely sure that he would be able to spot them first.

As it was, just as the heavy rain was about to end, the submarine spotted a target - a Japanese cruiser, and the submarine urgently dived and prepared for an attack. However, this ship was not an easy target, she was too fast, twenty-five knots, and the Shooting Fish was only a little over ten knots underwater, and it was certainly too late to seize a suitable ambush position. The captain, Lieutenant Commander Juno, almost gave the order to give up.

At that moment the ship slowed down, turned its rudder, and came straight ahead of them—a small boat attracted her and led her to the point of no return.

"Oh God! Madonna! Thank you! Juno quickly drew a cross on his chest, then clasped his hands on the periscope handles, "Are the torpedoes ready?" ”

"Torpedo No. 1 is ready"

"Number 2 is ready"

……

"Excellent! Little baby, that's it, slow down," in front of Juno's eyes, the Japanese cruiser was getting bigger and bigger, and Juno felt confident that he could hit all six torpedoes in front of him, "Torpedoes one to six are fired in turn!" ”

The distance is so close, and the enemy ships are so slow that they don't need to use the usual fan fire in order to improve the hit rate. Juno looked through the periscope and saw one torpedo after another dragging a white trail towards the prey. Since there were no escort ships, he didn't have to drill into the deep sea as soon as he fired a torpedo, as usual. He can have a good time in the periscope, and there are not many opportunities like this.

The first torpedo hit the bow of the enemy ship, however, the torpedo did not explode. The second one also hit - and still didn't blow up!

"Damn it! Those arms dealers should be hanged! …… Oh my God! Jesus! ”

Perhaps the prayer had an effect, and the third torpedo that hit the amidship finally exploded, then the fourth, which still didn't explode, then the fifth, which hit the amidship again and exploded, and the sixth, which also lived up to expectations, hit the enemy ship in two parts, the first half sank, but the second half was still floating on the water - it still didn't explode! (Historically, at the beginning of the war, the explosion rate of American torpedoes was only about twenty percent.) ）

All six torpedoes hit, and only two managed to detonate. But these two heavy torpedoes not only tore a huge wound in the hull, but also, perhaps, damaged the keel of the enemy ship. The boat caught fire and began to tilt to the left. In the periscope, you can clearly see the chaos on the enemy ship, and countless ant-like sailors are running around in vain panic. The Japanese may have wanted to save the warship, but apparently, the ship was not saved.

"Sir, do you want to turn the stern of the boat, there are still two torpedoes there." It was the first mate who spoke.

"No need, the ship is settled!" Juno left the periscope and said, "I'm going to bring two of these damn torpedoes back to those bastards!" ”

Seeing that the captain left the periscope, the first mate immediately took over, and while watching, he still sighed: "Haha, it's over, little Japan is finished!" ”

"Let me see too," the boatswain also came.

"Sir, let's go up and let everyone take a look."

Although the enemy ship was already heavily tilted and certainly had no ability to return fire, out of caution, Juno decided to let the submarine surface a little later.

The sudden change not only surprised the people who were already preparing to live in the prisoner camp, but also stunned the Japanese sailors in the dinghy. It took a while for the fellows to react, and they frantically turned the bow of the boat and rowed back, as if trying to help.

But the current situation is not something that a few people in a dinghy can do. The cruiser was leaning more and more, and the side of the ship was already touching the sea, and the deck was almost perpendicular to the sea. From Ron's side, you can see that the bottom of the ship, painted yellow-brown anti-rust paint, is all exposed to the water, reflecting a special reddish-brown halo in the setting sun, and the bottom of the boat is covered with large black spots, which are parasitic blue-black barnacles on it.

The ship's tilt seemed to pause, but everyone understood - she was hopeless. The order to abandon the ship had been given, and in addition to the captain (who had tied himself to the rudder and was ready to be martyred), the deputy captain and several other officers also decided to sink with the ship. A large number of sailors clinging to lifebuoys, or wearing life jackets, or nothing, scrambled to jump into the sea and swam away from the warship. Now the farther away from the warship, the better, otherwise in a while, the huge whirlpool formed by the sinking of the warship will suck the people who are still nearby to the bottom of the sea.

The warship shook, then began to flip over, a process that was slow at first, but once it started, it became faster and faster, until finally the whole ship fell upside down on the surface of the sea, stirring up waves tens of meters high. Even the small fishing boat with Ron and them swayed. Then from the bow of the ship began to descend, and from the ship came a crackling and crackling sound and a whistle like a train whistle - the former as some of the structures in the ship began to break, and the latter as the air rushed out of some of the voids of the ship when it was pressed by the sea. At this ominous sound, the stern of the ship was raised high, and two huge copper propellers were lifted high, glittering in the setting sun. Then, with a loud bang, the ship broke in two from the middle, and the keel, which had been damaged long in the torpedo, was finally overwhelmed. The stern of the boat slammed against the water, causing a huge splash again, and then, almost instantly, the ship disappeared from the sea, leaving only a huge whirlpool in her place.

When the ship sank completely, Ron saw that in the direction she had just blocked, a submarine was sailing at a low speed on the water.

"God, how I love you! That's our ship! Pato shouted.

"Quick! Get the flag out! Tom added.

Marcos climbed onto the mast and waved a Star-Spangled Banner at the submarine. The submarine also noticed this and began to approach them.

At that moment, a gunshot was suddenly heard, and then, Marcos shook and fell off the mast.

Marcos fell on the deck, but fortunately the boat was small and the mast was not high, so he would not be too seriously injured this time. Marcos covered his shoulders with his hands, and bright red blood flowed from them.

The gunfire was still ringing, and the Japanese dinghy that had rowed away was firing at them. Everyone was lying on the board at once.

"Quick, Cordis get him into the pod! Others immediately took up arms! Ron shouted.

Cordis crawled on the board, dragging his brother with one hand toward the cabin.

The hatch on the deck was flipped open, and first a few Springfield rifles, and a moment later, a Browning automatic rifle (as the American military called it, actually a light machine gun) was handed over to a few men who were already lying on the deck.

The distance between the two sides is actually very long, and coupled with the shaking of the boat, in fact, the bullets fired by everyone are basically flying wildly. But the flag just now and the current skirmish have attracted the attention of the US military on the submarine.

"Sir, look there!" A sailor said with a gesture in the direction of the boat.

Over there, less than a kilometer away, a small fishing boat and a Japanese sampan were battling hard.

The Japanese did not have machine guns, and Ron, who originally had light machine guns, should be able to easily suppress their opponents, but they lacked people who were really good at using machine guns. The light machine gun was constantly spewing tongues of fire, but only God really knows where the bullets flew.

But now, they don't need to be very accurate. The submarine has already spotted them. Coming this way, the 75 gun on the deck of the submarine also turned towards the small sampan of the Japanese army. With a "boom", a large column of water rose up on the side of the sampan.

"Damn, it didn't hit!" The gunner was not satisfied. However, he had no chance of remedy. The Japanese sailors who were shelled jumped off. To stay there is obviously to die.

"Get up in and see what's going on with that boat." Juno ordered.

……

A couple of jubilant Yankees were disarmed and brought on the submarine. Then, under supervision, various documents were presented to identify himself to the captain. They were then locked up in a small compartment and waited for the submarine to verify their identity.

As Ron was climbing down from the hatch, he heard a man say to Juno, "Sir, what are these Japanese people going to do?" ”

"The old way!"

What the "old way" was, Ron didn't see with his own eyes, because there were still people coming down, and he had to climb down. But immediately, from the hatch that had not yet been closed came the dull and rhythmic sound of the M2 machine gun.

At about 8 o'clock, the people, who had been temporarily confined to several compartments, noticed that the submarine was beginning to tilt and rumble at the same time - the sound of compressed air expelling seawater. The submarine surfaced again, on the one hand, to use the radio to report the situation and receive orders, on the other hand, to start the diesel engine and charge the battery, and at the same time to change the air in the cabin. Day and night, this is also the characteristic of submarines.

In the days since, the submarine has been heading east. Every night, it surfaces for a breath. But the message confirming Ron's identity never came. This is actually normal, and now it is busy, who can take care of this.

That night, the submarine received an order to search the nearby waters and rescue Navy pilots who might have parachuted or made a forced landing in the area. Because just today, the Navy and the Japanese fought a decisive battle - the Battle of the Coral Sea.

The sea was dark at night, and of course the search could not be carried out, so we had to wait until dawn, when the submarine dived into the water and searched the surface of the sea with a periscope.

The early morning search went very smoothly. In less than two hours, the submarine rescued three pilots. They came from two dreadnought dive bombers. The search for the remaining pilot was much more difficult. Until the evening, Ren Ran gained nothing. Maybe he'd been rescued by another submarine or seaplane, or maybe something had happened to him.

In the early hours of the next morning, Ron was suddenly woken up and told by a sailor. They can go to the fleet of the US Navy by seaplane. The conditions there are better than here.

Ascending to the deck, Ron found that the sky had just dawned, the morning star was low, the sea was still covered with a thin layer of pale cyan mist, and there was silence all around, except for the gentle lapping of the waves against the submarine. After a while, the sound of an engine could be heard faintly in the sky. Immediately after, two bright golden stars suddenly appeared in the sky. Ron knew it was the plane—and now high in the sky, the sun had come out, and the golden sun was shining on them. Although the sea is still dark for the time being.

The engine was getting louder and louder, but the golden light that hung over the plane had disappeared, and the plane lowered its altitude and flew into the darkness again. Soon, the sound of pontoons cutting through the water was heard not far away. The two planes landed on the sea, one after the other.

On the rubber raft, several people rowed over......

At about 9 o'clock in the morning, the plane approached General Fletcher's fleet. Looking down from the plane, the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown can be seen, which was hit by a bomb and is still smoking in some places. As the plane lowered altitude and landed next to a cruiser, Ron could clearly see her C-turret blown up. From here, it is not difficult to see the fierceness of this battle.

Ron: They were placed on this cruiser. Once on board, he and Ram - the pilot of the dive bomber who had been rescued yesterday waved goodbye - and the guy was going back to the carrier to meet his comrades. Although they have only known each other for a day, they have already formed a friendship with the fellow shipwrecked pilots through discussions about flying in the narrow and boring cabin of the submarine. Although Ron's identity has not yet been confirmed, Ram is absolutely convinced that he is not lying, and this guy is definitely an ace, as can be known from his analysis of Japanese fighters and tactics.

The fleet was sailing northwest, and Ron knew they were going to Pearl Harbor. Two days later, he received the news that their identities had been confirmed, and that as soon as the fleet returned to Pearl Harbor, they could report to the island's army aviation unit and be assigned. Perhaps, given their legendary experience along the way, the Army will give them a vacation and let them go back to the North American continent to relax.

At the same time, Ron also gets the news that the commander of the fleet, Admiral Fletcher, wants to meet him.