The attack of a submarine can be described as a "sneak attack", because no submarine will fight the enemy in the open, and the most effective way for a submarine to attack is to launch a torpedo under the surface of the sea, and then leave the battlefield without showing up from the beginning to the end of the battle. If exposed, the submarine would be vulnerable to any enemy warship, even those equipped with only machine guns.

After retracting the periscope again, Wen Haomao told everyone about the situation.

"We have only three cruisers, and it looks like they are fighting hard, and one of them has already been shot. In addition, there should be several more of our destroyers nearby, which, if our guess is correct, are ready to torpedo the American aircraft carriers, and now the cruisers are clearing their way and attracting the American escort warships. Wen Haomao took out another cigarette, but he didn't light it. This is supposed to be a battleship of Task Force 4, and as for how it got there, I don't know, and we don't need to know. And we must know that just above our heads, there are several ships of the Imperial Navy officers and men fighting against the Fifth Fleet, and if we withdraw now, I don't know how to write this battle report when I get back, and I don't know how to tell others about this encounter in the future. Perhaps, you can give me this answer. ”

"Major, don't hesitate, let's catch up and take out the American aircraft carrier!" The gunslinger shouted.

The second officer nodded. "If the officers and men on the battleship laugh at us for being cowardly and afraid of death, then are we still submariners?"

Wen Haomao looked at the chief engineer, who valued the chief engineer's opinion the most.

"Maybe we'll regret the decision we've made in the future, but I think that if we can succeed in the attack, then we should think about how to get out of the fight, instead of worrying about whether we should regret it in the future."

"Okay, then let's figure out how to take out those aircraft carriers!" Wen Haomao smiled and nodded to the chief engineer.

Seeing that the captain had already made a decision, the others no longer hesitated.

"Now the question is. We are too far away from the US fleet, and judging from the speed of our warships, the speed of the US fleet is still below 15 knots and has not increased its speed, which proves that the US aircraft carriers cannot increase their speed. Wen Haomao walked to the chart table and drew the direction of the retreat of the American fleet on the chart, "The battle will continue for a while, and during this period. The U.S. fleet would retreat all the way to the southwest, and the U.S. escort warships would concentrate on our cruisers and destroyers without noticing us, which would be the best outcome for us. ”

"Then we'll have to catch up."

"If we were to sneak, we wouldn't be able to reach the optimal attack distance in four hours, and we would have to take into account the retreat after completing the attack."

"It's also a problem, if we keep chasing it, we won't have a good range."

After listening to the opinions of the three people, Wen Haomao nodded. "Therefore, we have to try to go around to the southeast of the American fleet. etc. in its fairway. ”

"Then we'll have to sail on the surface." The chief engineer sighed secretly.

The other two fell silent. There are now at least a dozen U.S. destroyers nearby, and even if these destroyers are dealing with threats from the sea, only one destroyer has spotted the submarine. Then they don't even have a chance to circumvent it.

"Dive to the east first, move as fast as possible, and wait until the American destroyers with the outer anti-submarine net pass over our heads, and then we will float to the surface of the sea and sail in a straight line to the south!" Wen Haomao drew a broken line on the chart, "If it goes well, at dawn, we will seize the advantageous position, I only hope that those cruisers and destroyers can be dragged until dawn, so that the American troops will not be able to notice us in these few hours!" ”

"That's all I can do!" The chief engineer nodded. "And we have to hurry!"

The submarine immediately changed course and, after diving to a depth of 120 meters, accelerated to a maximum speed of 18 knots. In a short time, the listener spotted a destroyer passing over the submarine's head, and five minutes later, a second destroyer passed over the submarine's head. Neither of the two U.S. destroyers activated sonar, and they were so fast that they did not detect the Project 542 submarine diving under their belly.

Wen Haomao did not rush to let the submarine surface in the sea, but continued to dive. It was only after an hour of sailing that he got the submarine to float. By this time, he had already left the battlefield. Immediately after the submarine rushed out of the sea, it turned south, and the diesel engine roared. Because most of the fuel, food, and fresh water on the ground of the submarine have been consumed, and the displacement is several hundred tons lighter than when it set off, the maximum speed on the surface of the submarine is a little faster than 18 knots. Wen Haomao also came to the command platform, and he looked towards the night sky to the west.

From time to time, there were flashes of light in the night sky, and the sound of cannons could not be transmitted so far, and from a distance, those flashes were like lightning in the night sky, but the flashes were yellow, not white. Although it is impossible to see the scene of the battleship's artillery battle, judging by the frequency of flashes, the artillery battle is quite intense, and the distance between the two sides is definitely getting closer.

Wen Haomao had been silently observing the western sky. He hoped that the valiant ships would be able to defeat the enemy, but he knew that the hope was too high. Judging from what he observed, there were more than ten destroyers in the US fleet, and there were several cruisers, but because the distance was too far, he could not judge the type of US cruisers, nor could he accurately judge the number. But there are only three cruisers in the Imperial Warship, and the number of destroyers is not too many. In artillery battles, quantity is often more important than quality, even if the performance of those imperial warships is better, and the officers and men are better, it is difficult to achieve victory in front of many American warships.

Suddenly, a bright flash of light appeared in the night sky to the west, and it lasted for more than ten seconds, and after a while, a dull explosion was heard. Although the sound of the explosion was quite faint after more than a dozen nautical miles, it was very powerful. Wen Haomao was secretly shocked in his heart, it must be which battleship's main ammunition depot was hit, and there was a big explosion, only when hundreds of shells exploded together would such a strong flash be produced, and the explosion would spread more than ten nautical miles away, even the huge bombs on the battleship could not produce such a huge explosion!

Is that when our battleship was hit? Or was the American warship hit? Wen Haomao could only count on those few battleships to hold out for a few more hours, maybe just a few hours. Only if he maneuvers in place, then he will be able to take out the American aircraft carrier with torpedoes. Complete tasks that those ships can't.

The artillery battle in the west was going on all the time, and the submarines were also sailing quickly on the sea, up and down from time to time, and the artillery battle was also tight from time to time, and sparse from time to time. Obviously, both sides of the battle are adjusting their positions. Wen Haomao didn't dare to think about the battle that took place in the west, all he needed was time, a little time.

"Major. We've been sailing for two hours now, do you turn now? ”

Wen Haomao was startled, and then realized that he had been standing outside for two hours. "I'll get down right now and get ready to dive!"

When Wen Haomao returned to the command cabin, a non-commissioned officer was marking the route of the submarine and its current location on the chart, and another blue line indicated the route of the U.S. fleet in the past three hours, as well as the distance it sailed.

"Now we are directly south of the American fleet, and if we want to intercept the American fleet, we should turn to the southwest. The ambush will be available in about an hour. "The second officer marked the ambush point on the chart." In only half an hour, the American fleet will be able to rush over, and by then it will be dawn. ”

"That's about the same amount of time we can calculate." Wen Haomao glanced at the voyage. It's almost half-past five. "The submarine turns, and in half an hour it dives!"

Time is very important to both sides, Wen Haomao is very clear, the US fleet is also waiting for dawn, in the night battle, they can not take much advantage, as long as the cruisers and destroyers of the Imperial Navy do not want to fight a decisive battle with the US fleet, they can completely use the advantage of radar to open up the distance to fight, without getting too close, to give the US warships a chance to counterattack. So. The battle around dawn will definitely be quite fierce, and when the time comes, the US escort warships will definitely frantically counterattack the imperial warships, and the aircraft carrier escort force will be reduced to the limit, this is the opportunity that Wen Haomao is waiting for. Of course, the premise is that those few Imperial warships can hold out until dawn.

"Major, it's been half an hour."

"Let's go down to the surface!" Wen Haomao touched his forehead, "Set the depth of 80 meters." Check the torpedo! ”

"Set the depth of 80 meters, check the torpedo!"

"The first ten, the last five, keep the speed!"

"The torpedo inspection is complete, everything is normal!"

The submarine quickly burrowed into the sea, and after the sound of the empty cannon died down, the premise fell silent, and Wen Haomao even heard the regular beat of the propeller as it rotated at high speed. If there is a destroyer nearby at this time, the sound of the propeller beats will expose the submarine, which is also the most annoying sound on the submarine, and any captain wants his submarine to make no noise.

"80 meters!"

Wen Haomao nodded at the chief engineer.

"Restore your balance and keep your speed!" The chief engineer again adjusted the state of the submarine. "We arrived at the ambush in half an hour."

"I hope that the US aircraft carrier will not change course, otherwise we will run away in vain!" Wen Haomao sneered, and then looked at the listener.

Waiting, waiting painfully again. Everyone paid attention to the listener, fortunately, this time the wait would not be too long, in less than an hour, the listener raised his left hand, and Wen Haomao immediately walked over quickly.

"Listen, Major!" The listener showed a rare smile, "The sound of the propeller is exactly the same as the sound we had when we last made contact, this must be a US warship!" ”

Wen Haomao also heard it, and he suddenly realized that he had never thought that the noise emitted by those warships would be so beautiful. At all times, this noise made by the propellers of a battleship as they turned would only make any submariner spooky and frightened, and would never have taken it as good music. But at this time, Wen Haomao felt that this was beautiful music, one of the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard in his life, but this was only for half an hour at most.

"It's about 7 nautical miles away, it's still close, and it's going to pass southwest of us!"

"Rise to the periscope level, torpedo tubes No. 2, 4, 6 open the outer cover!" Wen Haomao said as he walked up to the periscope, "Obediently, let's see you off!" ”

The periscope was raised, and before Wen Haomao put his eyes on the eyepiece, the gunner nodded to him, indicating that the outer cover of the submarine's torpedo tube had been opened, and the torpedo could be fired at any time with high-pressure air.

On the sea, several warships came from far and near, and Wen Haomao clearly judged that there were at least two "flat-topped ships" among them, and their speed was not very fast. In addition, there are only three destroyers sailing near these two aircraft carriers, and perhaps one on the other side of the aircraft carrier, but relatively speaking, the two aircraft carriers are escorted by only four destroyers, which is really too few, and this is an attack opportunity that is difficult for any submarine to obtain.

"Target distance 3, course 210, speed 14." Wen Haomao changed to an attack periscope, and quickly reported the attack parameters, "Torpedo top depth 6, maximum speed, ready...... Launch! ”

"Launch!"

After the gunners shouted, the three 650 torpedoes quickly left the torpedo tubes and rushed towards the aircraft carrier at the front.

"Target distance 36, course 210, speed 15." Wen Haospear did not give up another chance to attack, "No. 1, 3, 5 torpedoes ready, top depth 6, maximum speed, ready...... Launch! ”

The other three torpedoes were quickly pushed out of the torpedo tubes by the high-pressure air, and then the engines on the torpedoes started and began to accelerate, while rising to a depth of 6 meters above the surface.

"Take back the periscope!" Wen Haomao quickly closed the handle on the periscope, "Dive down to 180 meters immediately, hurry up!" ”

"The first fifteen, the last ten, full speed ahead!"

The submarine quickly cocked its ass and plunged headlong. Everyone was holding their breath at this point, and the only thing in the cabin was that kind of noise that could not be dispersed. The gunners were looking at the stopwatch, counting the time when the torpedo hit the target. Wen Haomao looked at the listener, and what he was most concerned about was not whether the torpedo could hit the target, but whether the American destroyers had spotted them and whether they were heading in their direction.

The 55 officers and men on board the submarine pricked up their ears, and the torpedo would hit the aircraft carrier in less than 4 minutes, maybe they could really do a miracle.