At this time, the seriously injured "Settsu" began to sink slowly again, and leaned again, and Yuzaburo Kato was unsteady on his feet and almost fell, but an officer stepped forward to help him.

Realizing that his flagship was still dangerous, Yuzaburo Kato did not bother to send someone to search for the whereabouts of the two Chinese captives, but instead focused on saving the flagship.

Dagu, Headquarters of the First Fleet of the Chinese Navy.

"Are all the submarines back?" Lan Jianshu asked.

"So far, four of the six submarines have returned." An officer replied, "There has been no news from boats 2 and 3. ”

"How's it going?" Li Dingxin asked.

"It is certain that two large enemy ships were hit." The officer replied, "Boat No. 5 reported blowing up one, boats No. 1 and No. 6 had mechanical problems and failed to approach the enemy ship to attack, but they both reported hearing two violent explosions, and one more large ship should have been hit." ”

"If it is really such a result, it can be called a big victory." Li He said.

"The outcome of the battle must be determined." Li Dingxin thought about it and said.

"Caofeidian is not far from here, send a plane over to take a look." Lan Jianshu nodded and said. "The plane sent from Jiangxi is very useful, and it can take off and land on the water with a pontoon, so let them work hard."

"After this battle, these planes must be equipped with more." Li He said.

"Of course, if it weren't for the Yang Zhen Guard's charcoal in the snow this time, we wouldn't be able to fight this battle at all. I have to borrow him more in the future. Lan Jianshu said, turning around and giving an order to an officer for the reconnaissance plane to be dispatched.

On the shore, a man who had just installed a pontoon and a two-seat reconnaissance fighter of the company's "Blue Bird" type were slowly sent into the water, with a pilot sent by a man and the company in the front seat of the plane and a Chinese naval officer sitting in the back seat.

As the engine started, the modified seaplane flew off the surface of the sea little by little and flew towards the blue sky.

Watching this Jiangxi pilot skillfully steer the plane, Lin Gaoyi, a Chinese Navy captain sitting in the back seat, couldn't help but admire it greatly.

"Who did you Brother Liu learn this with? The plane is so skillfully driven. Lin Gaoyi observed the situation on the sea surface while chatting with the pilot Liu Zhaowei.

"An American." Liu Zhaowei turned his head and smiled, and said, "Many of our pilots were brought out by him. ”

"Do you have any foreigners there?" Lin Gaoyi looked at him with an incredulous gaze and asked.

"Quite a few." Liu Zhaowei said, "Half of the technicians in the machinery processing factory of Xiang Company are foreigners. Most of the Americans are hired by companies with high salaries to teach us everything they know for a certain period of time. Many of them are working in the staff school. ”

"Staff school?" When Lin Gaoyi heard this term, he was taken aback again.

"That's right. We are now in Ganxi, and there are many schools. New schools for elementary and middle school students are everywhere, and there are many staff schools. Liu Zhaowei said, "Many of the teachers in the staff school are hired from other provinces, and many of them are foreigners, and the students of the school are not only young people and children, but also older people." ”

"Are there older people in the school as students?" Lin Gaoyi asked curiously.

"yes." Liu Zhaowei said, "Because as long as you graduate from the staff school, you can basically learn a skill, and your future life will be a little guaranteed." ”

Lin Gaoyi understood what was going on, and couldn't help but nod again and again.

"No wonder you Ganxi can get such good planes and submarines."

Listening to Lin Gaoyi's praise, Liu Zhaowei smiled and nodded. At this time, the plane had already flown into the air, and he drove the plane forward, Lin Gaoyi carefully checked the direction while observing the situation on the sea.

After a long flight, the reconnaissance plane finally came to the sky over Caofeidian, and Liu Zhaowei and Lin Gaoyi immediately spotted the warship anchored on the shore, and their eyes flashed with surprise and excitement.

"It looks like the submarine force has really succeeded!" Liu Zhaowei shouted.

"Fly a little lower, Lao Liu." Lin Gaoyi, who was looking down, suppressed the excitement in his heart and said to Liu Zhaowei.

Liu Zhaowei agreed, pressed the longitudinal rod, the reconnaissance plane lowered its altitude, and Lin Gaoyi raised the telescope and began to carefully observe the warship below.

Through the binoculars, Lin Gaoyi clearly saw that a huge battleship capsized there, revealing the rough bottom of the ship covered with barnacles and seaweed, like a whale that had rushed to the shore and ran aground and died. The surrounding sea was covered with oil and debris, and some sailors were busy around it like ants.

Lin Gaoyi carefully identified the finished warship and recognized its true identity.

"The man-made boat is so big!" Liu Zhaowei, who saw the battleship for the first time, exclaimed.

"This is the 'Hanoi' battleship, a 20,000-ton ship, and none of our Chinese Navy warships can confront it." There was a hint of gloom in Lin Gaoyi's voice.

"We in China should also have such a big ship, so that I don't dare to bully us so blatantly." Liu Zhaowei said.

Lin Gaoyi sighed and did not speak again, but carefully observed the injuries of the "Hanoi".

"This warship must be finished." Liu Zhaowei said, "There seems to be another ship over there, and it seems to be injured." ”

Lin Gaoyi held the binoculars and looked at it, and nodded, "That's its sister ship 'Settsu', let's fly over and take a look!" Lao Liu. ”

Liu Zhaowei agreed, shook the longitudinal pole, and flew the plane toward the injured battleship "Settsu."

"Discover the planes of the Chinese! Sir! An officer reported to Yuzaburo Kato.

Yuzaburo Kato got up and walked to the bridge, looked up into the sky, and sure enough, he saw the figure of a hovering seaplane.

"Chinese submarines will still come. Sir. Captain Gao Ji said with some concern, "And the 'Settsu' has no way to move now." ”

Because the night attack of the Chinese submarine force caused heavy losses and casualties to the Yueben fleet, the officers and men of the Yueben Navy suddenly turned from extreme contempt for the Chinese to worry and fear.

Yuzaburo Kato stared at the Chinese plane in the sky for a while, then turned around and returned to the command tower with an expressionless face.

"How's the repair?" Yuzaburo Kato glanced at Captain Takayoshi, who came in with him, "How long will it take for the 'Settsu' to regain power?" ”

"It's hard to say right now, sir." Captain Goji replied with a sad face, "The damage to the ship's hull is much worse than we thought. ”

"Isn't the flooded area under control?" Yuzaburo Kato asked.

"Yes, sir, our valiant sailors sealed the watertight door in time." "But the explosion shattered many of the cables, and one of the main engines was so badly damaged that it couldn't be repaired in this situation." ”

"I see, you try to hurry up." Yuzaburo Kato sighed and didn't speak, Captain Takayoshi bowed to him, turned around and left the command tower, to urge his subordinates to rush to repair.

Because the Chinese submarine attacking the battleship "Settsu" did not completely succeed in planting time bombs, the bombs fell into the mud and sand at the bottom of the "Settsu", so that the "Settsu" finally dodged the fatal blow of the Chinese bombs, but the huge water pressure generated by the explosion of these bombs hit the hull of the "Settsu" and still caused serious damage to the "Settsu".

Two bombs exploded near the main engine room of the "Settsu", which not only completely damaged the main engine, but also cracked the bottom of the ship, and a large amount of seawater seeped into the hull. And the most serious damage is done to the power system and fire control system. Most of the fragile optical and electronic components were shattered. A 152-mm secondary gun on the port side was completely destroyed; The axes of rotation of the two main turrets were bent and the turrets could not rotate; Almost all the cables were damaged, and all the light fixtures, from the mast lights, searchlights, signal lights, to the lights in the room, were shattered.

The detailed investigation report had been compiled by Captain Takayoshi and sent to Yuzaburo Kato for review, and after reading it, Yuzaburo Kato was able to determine that the "Settsu" had to be sailed to a port with special maintenance equipment for overhaul. It can be said that it is extremely dangerous for the "Settsu" to stay here. Although the officers and men of the Navy have stepped up their precautions, because of this terrible blow, the current fleet has great doubts about the safety of its own fleet, and the breeding of such bad feelings will have a great impact on the morale of the officers and men.

Because so far, Yuzaburo Kato can be said to know nothing about the Chinese submarine forces that inflicted such serious damage on the Samoto fleet.

Although he knew that his military career was likely to end because of this, in order to let the country know the real situation on the battlefield in China and avoid greater losses, Yuzaburo Kato calmly sat down and drafted a detailed report.

In this report, Yuzaburo Kato explained the circumstances of the fleet's attack by Chinese submarines and the loss of the fleet, and stressed in the report that it was necessary to return the battleship to the homeland so that the damaged "Settsu" could be completely repaired.

At the end of the report, Yuzaburo Kato frankly stated that "I am deeply responsible for such a heavy loss to the fleet." He asked for his resignation and was willing to be tried by a military tribunal after a full investigation by the Naval Investigation Team.

After writing the report, Yuzaburo Kato sent someone to find Captain Takayoshi and asked him to send the report as soon as possible.

(To be continued)