In the southern waters of the Barents Sea, two ships with the same outline, livery and flag sailed against the waves with majestic momentum: the Red Dragon-class destroyers "Cardiff" and "Galway" of the new British Navy. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoUnder normal circumstances, combat ships are designed and built later to become more advanced, and the Red Dragon-class destroyer finalized in 1942 is another classic contribution of the Irish shipbuilding industry, which has been equipped with the navies of six countries so far, and can be called the third generation of standard destroyers of the Western Allies. Its standard displacement reached 2,050 tons, and its full load displacement exceeded 3,000 tons, and its size and weight increased a lot compared with the destroyers of the twenties and thirties, so it was possible to use twin 127 mm guns instead of single naval guns of the same model. In addition to the six single-barreled 20-mm Erlikon guns and two quadruple 533-mm torpedo tubes, the Irish are also equipped with the Irish's unique secret weapons - quadruple anti-aircraft rocket launchers and quadruple rocket-type depth charge launchers, and the anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capabilities are enough to eclipse the destroyers in service in various countries......

The Cardiff was named after the capital of Wales and was indeed a "Welsh destroyer". In 1943, the Welsh Government, whose finances had improved, decided to restructure its defence, and with the support of His Majesty King Joachim I, the Welsh Navy was able to acquire two modern destroyers. Both ships use the standard construction scheme of the Red Dragon-class destroyers, with the lead ship "Cardiff" and the second ship "Swansea" sailing to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, for later outfitting after the main construction and power system were completed in Limerick. "Cardiff" officially joined the Welsh Navy in June 1945, becoming the strongest warship equipped by Wales after independence, and the "Swansea" was built in November 1945 - the autumn of 1945, with the merger of Wales and Ireland to form the new United Kingdom, the military forces of Ireland and Wales were officially merged, that is to say, when the "Swansea" was put into service, the Welsh Navy that had existed for 11 years had become history, and it was replaced by the sixth largest in the world. The new United Kingdom Navy, whose technological prowess is second to none.

In the combat command room of the Cardiff, Rear Admiral Paul Davis and his colleagues of the new United Kingdom Navy were fully engaged in the joint confrontation exercise. Soon after the exercise began, they obtained accurate information on the enemy's submarine tracks from the IA-40 carrier-based radar early warning plane, which was as keen as an eagle's eye, and then they joined forces with the "Galway," a ship of the same class.

Seeing that he was about to enter the target area, Major Davis Ling instructed the adjutant to turn on the ship-wide radio, and then walked to the microphone very seriously: "All attention! Attention all! The battle is about to begin, all posts check the equipment for the last time, everyone keep in mind the operating procedures, and must not drop the chain at a critical time, let alone any form of operation error! It's a matter of honour for us Welsh, and if you don't want to be laughed at by the Irish, do your best! ”

With that, Major Davis took a deep breath and motioned for the adjutant to turn off the ship-wide radio. Moments later, the Galway, which was in front of the Cardiff, signaled a light signal to the friendly ships to reduce their speed to 16 knots, search for underwater targets, and be ready to attack at any time.

Although they were both active ships of the New United Kingdom Navy, the crew of the "Galway" had a great sense of superiority in front of the brothers of Major Davis. It is true that they did better than the Cardiff in their daily technical exercises, but in the final analysis, this psychological advantage stemmed from the fact that they were Irish, the "personal guards", the "descendants" who fought with His Majesty King Joachim I, and even the administrators and protectors of Wales - in both the military and political circles of Wales, the important power was still in the hands of the Irish or pro-Irish Welsh.

The 44-year-old Davies, a pure Welshman and a pure soldier without any political opinions, served in the Royal Navy until 1934 and was one of the few professional soldiers to have served in three navies - in the autumn of 1933, he was wounded and captured in the Battle of the Azores, and before he could recover from his injuries, he waited for news of the independence of the Kingdom of Wales, and after a difficult decision, he chose to retire and return to Wales. In the summer of 1934, on the recommendation of his former colleagues, he joined the Welsh Navy and served for five years at the naval base in Anglesey with the rank of second lieutenant before returning to sea in 1939 as commander of the Welsh Navy's 2nd Patrol Fleet, in charge of four gunboats and two torpedo boats. In the summer of 1945, he had the honour of becoming the first captain of the Cardiff and subsequently joined the new United Kingdom Navy.

In the new British Navy, Welsh and Irish majors have exactly the same salary and nominal room for promotion, but Davis does not expect to be able to enter the upper echelons of the Navy one day, and his life plan is to work diligently until retirement, and then receive a pension sufficient to live on the seaside of his hometown. This pragmatic and low-key thinking made Davis not like his Irish colleagues who tried every means to improve his attainments in a certain military field, he focused his work on maintaining the stability of the team, was very concerned about the work and life of the crew, and treated his subordinates very leniently, so he was loved and supported by the officers and men of the whole ship -- the personnel of the Red Dragon-class destroyer was 300-320 people when it was designed, and the current staffing of the "Cardiff" is 11 officers and 298 soldiers, except for 1 communications corps. With the exception of the two technical non-commissioned officers and one exchange officer, the rest were all Welsh. Hearing the captain's solemn tone, which was completely different from his usual on the radio, the crew couldn't help but be a little nervous, and everyone seriously cheered up and carefully checked the weapons and equipment they were already familiar with.

When the two destroyers playing the role of the "invaders" appeared in this area, eight of the nine Soviet and Russian submarines participating in the exercise had already dived into the water, and only one submarine with its deck and control tower dyed red by bombs during the exercise was honestly floating on the surface of the sea, and a bright yellow flag symbolizing "sunk during the exercise" was hung on the bow of the court. Some of the submarines that dived were indeed not attacked by the opponent's carrier-based aircraft, while others thought that they were "damaged in battle but could be repaired urgently". Due to the large difference in underwater speed, they gradually widened the distance, and the two K-class submarines were already far ahead......

"Report, there's a mechanical noise in the northwest, it seems to be a high-speed propeller!"

In the cockpit of the K-1, vigilant sonar crews promptly reported to Captain Berezutsky the anomalies detected by the equipment.

Captain Berezutsky looked down at his watch and said in surprise and melancholy: "The enemy's destroyers came so quickly? ”

Suddenly, the sonar soldier calmly reported: "It is confirmed that it is a noise from a high-speed propeller, and the target is about 40 chains northwest of us." ”

Captain Berezutsky suddenly frowned, and quickly ordered: "The speed of the flight is 1, and the compartment is absolutely quiet!" ”

The first mate immediately took control of the vehicle, notified the engine room to reduce its speed accordingly, and several other officers and non-commissioned officers separately sent silencing commands to each cabin.

With the drastic reduction in the underwater speed of the submarine, the noise generated by the mechanical operation was correspondingly reduced, and the crew remained silent collectively, and the interior of the submarine was almost to the point that someone at the stern could hear a nail drop from the bow. However, at this time, the ears alone were not enough to hear the sound of the high-speed propeller that the sonar soldier was talking about, and after a while, the sonar soldier reported softly: "The sound of the high-speed propeller has two sources, and they are not coming directly at us, but going behind us." ”

Berezutsky glanced at the depth gauge, then lowered his voice and ordered: "Stop!" Ascend periscope! ”

After a while, the draining periscope tube was lowered, and the captain hurriedly turned the periscope tube slowly and evenly, and his brows suddenly furrowed even tighter.

"Bad weather!" He muttered depressedly, "I can't see the ships beyond 20 chains at all!" ”

The deputy captain, Lieutenant Kiyanov, took his place and continued to observe, but the only sight in sight was the waves and snow, and there was no shadow of the opposing ship at all.

At this time, the sonar soldier cautiously reminded: "The target is due north of us, about 30 chains away, and so ......on."

As he spoke, the sonarman's eyes widened, and then he hurriedly took off his headphones: "The enemy dropped multiple depth charges on us!" ”

Captain Berezutsky looked incredulous, and he and his partner looked at each other: "Are you sure?" ”

The sonar soldier risked being deafened by the explosion and put the headphones close to them: "Sure, it was the sound of heavy objects entering the water, and they sank to the bottom of the sea without an explosion." ”

Out of great curiosity and the fact that he was in an exercise rather than a real battle, Berezutsky did not give the order to put away the periscope, but observed the situation on the surface of the sea with the periscope tube attached to it, and said the words: "This is a non-live-fire exercise, it is impossible for them to use depth charges with explosives, but the question is how can they drop depth charges on us from 30 chains away?" How can it be? Yes! I see it! I saw spindle-shaped depth charges, they fell from the sky......"

Before Berezutsky could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a muffled "thump" coming from the hull of the submarine, and like an ostrich with an attack on the buttocks, he quickly pulled his head out of the sand and looked at his colleagues, who were also full of shock.

"We ...... Don't...... By...... Depth Charge...... Hit? That's it...... Hit? ”

(End of chapter)