The distress telegram of the "Spain" soon reached the port of Gibraltar. The area has long been taken over by Spain and is garrisoned by the Spanish Navy. Compared with the British Empire at its peak, Spain's naval power was nothing to mention, and the Spaniards also had a clear understanding of their own strength, and they wisely used 6-base aircraft, fortress heavy artillery, and lightning ships to form a three-dimensional Gibraltar cordon.

Interestingly, due to the Spanish diplomatic strategy of the wind and the long sleeves during this period, the Spanish army never carried out the mission of blockading the Strait of Gibraltar.

Knowing that his country's class-class tanker was attacked by a submarine right under his nose, General Resio, who served as the commander of the Gibraltar fleet of the Spanish Navy, hurriedly ordered the ships on duty to go to the rescue. In less than a quarter of an hour, the destroyer "Castillejo" and the torpedo boats S-115, S-121 and S-129 were the first to leave the military port. Immediately afterwards, General Resio boarded the light cruiser "Valencia", which hurriedly set fire to anchor, and followed by the destroyer "Alberto" and the minesweeper "Holcas".

The location of the "España" was only 3o nautical miles from the port of Gibraltar, and the Spanish warship could see the black plume of smoke at the end of the sea as it sailed past Cape Carneiro. By the time the destroyer Castillejo and three high torpedo boats approached, the hull of the massive tanker had tilted past 3o degrees, smoke billowed from the amidships deck, and red flames occasionally erupted from the hatches. Stimulated by smoke and fire, the deck was in disarray.

The lifeboat hanging on the side of the ship is a lifesaver in the eyes of people, but the untrained crew members are inevitably busy making mistakes in the seemingly simple procedure of putting down the lifeboat, so that many lifeboats have been planted headlong into the water before and after, and the order to abandon the ship was not issued in time enough, and the crew evacuated from the bottom cabin also joined the ranks of releasing the lifeboat to escape from the ship. Stimulated by the flames and smoke, some sailors were already so frightened that they jumped into the sea with a lifebuoy or wearing a life jacket.

"There is a torpedo in the sea in front of starboard...... It's coming towards us! ”

The alarm from the lookout post of the "Castillejo" pulled the crew back to reality from their stunned state. Sure enough, an object that looked like a fish swimming from behind the capsized tanker was swimming in the back direction, and the refraction of the sea water and the influence of sunlight made it difficult to determine the precise location of the thing.

The captain with a neat beard hurriedly ordered: "Turn to evade!" Intercept the shot! ”

Under the control of the helmsman, the destroyer flying the Spanish flag quickly turned to the left, and in the blink of an eye, the rain of bullets from the guns on the ship caused a chaotic splash on the vast sea, and the shells with time-delay fuses exploded in the sea water at different depths, but the violent explosion caused by the detonation of the torpedo did not come.

"Right full rudder! Right full rudder! ”

With the captain's high-decibel shouts, the destroyer's sharp bow was deflected sideways with unimaginable degrees, and the towering mast in particular reflected this inclination. With this polar turn similar to that of a racing boat, the destroyer completely reversed its previous course in less than half a minute. A 3o knot voyage means a displacement of 15 meters per second, that is, this 18o meter long battleship only needs 11 seconds to complete a full body displacement, which is more than enough time for half a minute to avoid the torpedo coming in the forward direction.

Watching the terrible black explosive pass past the stern of the destroyer itself, the officers and men on board couldn't help but gasp.

Death is at hand!

Having determined how many torpedoes the attackers fired from front and rear, the officers on board did not dare to be careless. Deterred by unidentified submarines, they did not immediately approach the wreckage of the oil tanker to carry out rescue, but took a Z-shaped route on the sea surface that could more effectively avoid torpedo attacks. By the time the light cruiser Valencia arrived at the scene, the huge tanker had completely capsized, and the bottom of the ship with full lines and marine life was unobstructed. If there were still people trapped in the upside-down cabin, then the Spanish Navy had clearly missed the best opportunity to salvage.

Having not observed the terrible torpedoes on the sea, the officers and men of several Spanish warships were vigilantly watching the surrounding waters while looking at the hopeless tanker with different attitudes.

"There is a torpedo on the starboard side of the sea, two thousand yards away......"

The alarm came from the lookout of the light cruiser "Valencia". In this position, which is gradually being replaced by radar and sonar, lookouts are usually assigned to people with excellent natural eyesight, sufficient concentration, and high-magnification binoculars.

Almost at the same time, the "Castillejo" and "Alberto", equipped with sonar, also detected the speeding torpedo. The officers hurriedly looked at the corresponding direction and distance, and saw two looming white lines appear northwest of the "Spain". It is clear that the attackers had been ambushed on the north side of the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, and this was a long-planned attack!

Torpedoes are different from artillery shells, they usually sail underwater at about 4o knots, which means that it takes about a minute to travel a distance of a thousand meters (the shells are a little more than a second), and a maneuverable ship often has enough time to avoid by turning in the case of early warning, which is the main reason why it is difficult for submarines to sink light ships in broad daylight.

The closest to the torpedo, the Castillejo, remained at about 3o knots, and it made a quick right turn in a graceful attitude that almost flicked its tail, and avoided the two torpedoes very easily. Not far away, on the sea, the "Valencia", which was more than twice the size of the destroyer, was also hurriedly evading.

Having successfully avoided the torpedo, the Castillejo turned again, and like a provocative bull, it headed towards the northwest of the España. Just as they got close to the suspected location of the attacker, the hedgehog on the ship fired deep bullets one after another, and a dull explosion sounded on the sea.

In the process, another destroyer, the "Alberto", kept an inch on the "Valencia", three torpedo boats and the belated minesweeper went around in circles, and not a single warship ventured to approach the capsized "Spain".

The mustachioed captain of the "Castillejo" was still heavy at this time, but his thinking did not become sluggish and clumsy, he picked up the telescope and observed the surrounding sea surface, and ordered with an iron face: "Lower the course, approach the tanker from the west, keep all on combat alert, and keep the sonar equipment running!" ”

The staff officer felt that he had guessed the captain's intentions, and he reminded him: "The enemy did not use a periscope during the attack, but must have used a sonar system with sensitive accuracy, and they must have been able to detect our presence, presumably just cruising around and not surfacing to the surface." ”

Captain Mustache looked at the sea with an unchanged expression, and after a while answered the words of the staff officer: "We will not be able to determine its identity unless we force it to come to the surface of the sea, or sink it here." ”

The staff officer, who was much younger than the captain, pondered for a long time and sighed: "I am afraid that the enemy has nothing to fear." ”

The captain did not say no, but stood quietly on the edge of the railing, exposing himself to the direct sunlight. At this time, the sky was still blue, the sun was still so clean, there were no guns and explosions, and the sea seemed to be calm and peaceful again. The breeze blows the waves, the waves crash against the hull of the ship, and at a certain time, the tendency of the huge mountain tanker to sink becomes less obvious, and even makes people feel that it will float away.

Without waiting for the "Castillejo" to approach the tanker, an alarm suddenly sounded in the sonar room: "A torpedo has appeared on the port side!" 15oo yards away! ”

On the bridge, several officers scanned the sea with binoculars, but there was still no periscope. It seems that the attackers were able to determine the exact orientation of the target by means of sonar equipment, and then fire a torpedo - a closer look at the trajectory of the torpedo makes it easy to judge that this is a conventional direct-sailing torpedo.

Finally returning to his normal demeanor, the captain couldn't help but frown slightly. Although he had not personally experienced the fierce confrontation between the two world wars, he still had a deep understanding of the real attack and destructive power of the seemingly inconspicuous weapon of submarines. Don't look at the sea in front of you, it is quite calm, but there is a sinister murderous motive hidden under the sea. If the destroyer is commanded to force the rescue to carry out the rescue, even if the flight is not slowed down and the vigilance is not relaxed, it may run into the enemy's gun, and at a distance of a thousand yards or less, which is barely enough to avoid the attack, and be torpedoed by the enemy.

"Look, Major, the Valencia ordered us to retreat and be on alert, presumably to have torpedo boats and minesweepers go up to pick up the crews of the evacuated tankers!"

Hearing the report of the subordinate officer, the bearded captain hurriedly picked up the binoculars. After the torpedo attack, the Spanish light cruiser went around in circles and then stayed five or six kilometers away from the tanker. It is true that the current condition of the "Spain" has lost the possibility of rushing to repair the tow, and rationally speaking, there is really no need to take any Spanish warship. However, warships are Spain's wealth, and sailors are also Spain's wealth, in order to protect the warship's completeness, give up emergency rescue of the sailors on the oil tanker, how can there be the domineering power of the Spanish phalanx to shock Europe? How can there be the heroism of the Spanish Armada across the oceans? Is it true that the blood of the Spaniards has sunk in those shining silver eras?

(End of chapter)

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