The Yancheng is finished. This was Zhang Cheng's first reaction after rushing to the dock.

Two heavy torpedoes accurately hit the port side of the Yancheng, and hundreds of kilograms of high military explosives sent the old ship, which had been in service for more than 15 years, to the point of no return.

The violent explosion tore two huge openings on the port side of the Yancheng, and tons of seawater rushed in, quickly flooding the cabins on the ground floor. Because the incident happened so suddenly, most of the sailors on the warship were resting. When the explosion occurred, there was no time to close the watertight door.

The violent explosion also knocked over the two twin secondary guns on the port side and caused a fire on the port side. The blazing flames stand out in the night!

In just a few minutes, the huge Yancheng lost hope of survival.

When the attempt to forcibly close the watertight door of the bilge failed, dozens of brave sailors went into the water to plug the leak and never came out. When the battleship began to tilt to the left obviously, Yan Haiyang immediately gave the order to abandon the ship.

Abandoning a ship is a devastating thing for a ship captain. He represents the biggest stain on a captain's life. Nothing could have made the captain more desperate than abandoning his ship. But Yan Haiyang's decisive order saved the lives of hundreds of sailors.

No matter what the situation the ship is in, even if the sea water has reached the deck. As long as the officer does not give the order to abandon the ship, then the sailors who leave the ship and escape are deserters!

Of the 872 sailors and officers on board the Yancheng, more than 600 survived in the end. Yan Haiyang, who insisted on sinking with the ship and was about to tie himself to the rudder, was forcibly taken off the warship after being knocked unconscious by the marines.

The 10,000-ton heavy cruiser Yancheng finally capsized on the seabed near the civilian dock of the port of Savona more than 10 minutes after being attacked. This is also the largest tonnage warship lost in the war in the hundreds of years since the establishment of the Royal Navy of the Ming Empire!

"Save people first!" After coming to the dock, Zhang Cheng immediately understood that the Yancheng with a large angle was no longer saved. shouted loudly and ordered the soldiers to rescue the sailors first.

Fortunately, this is the shore, and the battleships do not make maneuvering sails, so the sailors can jump directly to the shore, or jump into the sea and swim to the shore on their own. The casualties were not too great.

"Where's your captain?!" Zhang Cheng picked up a sailor who had broken his leg because he jumped directly from the side of the ship to the dock, and asked loudly.

"No, I don't know." The pale sailor was obviously frightened, and his speech was a little inarticulate.

"Carry him to the infirmary!" Zhang Cheng commanded with a frown.

Zhang Cheng was very anxious now, and had just learned from the mouths of those sailors that the Yancheng had been torpedoed. Zhang Cheng had already confirmed that it was a submarine.

With the port already blocked, it is impossible for the surface ships of the Sardinians to sneak in and attack without being detected. The only possibility can only be a submarine-launched attack from a submarine. Zhang Cheng urgently needs to find Yan Haiyang now, and ask him to order several other destroyers moored on the military dock as soon as possible to light a fire and leave!

The ships in the dock are all the best targets!

Fortunately, it didn't take long for Yan Haiyang, who was knocked out, to be carried down by the marines.

Among the people who pinched Yan Haiyang hard, and finally woke him up, Zhang Cheng immediately shouted in a deep voice, "An enemy submarine has slipped in!" Get your boat to go quickly! To stay on the dock is to be a target and wait to die. ”

Zhang Cheng's words saved several other destroyers docked at the military dock. The small Sardinian submarine that had launched the attack had already begun to reload its torpedoes on the orders of the brave captain, and would be able to attack again in a maximum of an hour or two.

"Submarines?" Yan Haiyang, who was still dizzy, shook his head vigorously. He didn't expect to be attacked by a submarine at all!

Submarines of this era were actually invented decades ago. After the defeat of the Second Global War, England, as the leader of the resistance, was severely suppressed by the Ming Empire, which severely limited the size and level of the navy. Under these circumstances, the English, unwilling to sink into existence, chose to develop groundbreaking weapons to gain the ability to fight the Ming Empire. It was against this background that the submarine appeared in the hands of the English.

After decades of development, submarine technology has come a long way. It's just that because of the general environment, there are very few opportunities to really participate in the war. And tonight, the Sardinians made history.

A small submarine with a displacement of no more than 200 tons and only two torpedo tubes was unwilling to go to neutral countries to disarm on its way to the port of Savona for Marseille during the day. Under the command of the brave captain, he quietly returned to the port of Savona to 'defend the honour of the Sardinian navy'. I didn't expect them to make history!

The submarine has been stationed in the port of Savona for a long time and is unusually familiar with the hydrological conditions here. After diving outside the harbor, quietly avoiding two patrolling destroyers. The submarine entered the harbor along a familiar channel.

The captain who raised the periscope was surprised to find that a warship with an unusually large body and flying the golden dragon flag of the sun and moon was actually moored on the brightly lit civilian dock. The huge body was so conspicuous in the night.

The huge Yancheng on the side of the ship made the captain extremely excited. The main target of the Sardinian Navy's perennial simulation warfare was the Italian local fleet of the Ming Royal Navy. And this 10,000-ton flagship Yancheng is their number one target!

Now, the goal is there.

After approaching a distance of about 800 meters, the brave captain ordered both torpedoes to be fired. And hit the target all of them!

The excited Sardinians began to reload the torpedo. Because the captain had already seen that there were several warships of the Ming Royal Navy moored on the military dock in the distance.

If it weren't for Zhang Cheng's reminder, this fleet, which didn't know what enemy it had encountered, would have sunk a few more ships.

"Now the headlines are here." The Qi soldiers on the dock fanatically held the camera in their hands and lit a raging fire, and the battleship began to take pictures desperately towards the Yancheng that was obviously tilted to the left. I was very excited to think of "promotion, salary increase, and being editor-in-chief." It's all up to you! ”

Early the next morning, the Times newspaper, which ranked first in sales in the whole of Europa, published a front-page column with the headline "The 10,000-ton giant ship Yancheng has not been fought!" ”

As soon as the news came out, the world was shocked!

This is the first 10,000-ton giant ship in the history of world naval warfare to be destroyed in wartime, and it is also the largest warship in terms of tonnage! This is enough to attract the attention of the whole world!

The people of Sardinia are crazy with joy.

The submarine, which had escaped the frenzied pursuit of several destroyers lacking anti-submarine equipment, and finally escaped to the port of Marseille under the cover of night, became a national hero of the Sardinians. Emmanuel III personally sent a telegram commending all twenty-one crew members and conferred the title of baron on the captain!

Spurred on by this explosive news, the army of the originally worried Sardinians also broke out into a powerful battle**. Frequently launched attacks on the army of the Ming Empire, and the fear in his heart was rapidly subsiding.

The people of the countries of Europa launched a mountain of celebrations. Celebrate the evil, oppressive Ming Empire was punished. And the politics of various countries. The government and the military are highly concerned about the great power of submarines. Among them, England and Germany are the most concerned.

Contrary to all parts of Europa, the Ming Empire has a different atmosphere.

At first, the Royal Navy was not convinced, thinking it was a bad joke. How could a 10,000-ton giant ship be sunk by a tiny submarine? The Navy Command even called Yan Haiyang back, ordering him not to make jokes about the Navy warships.

And after the news was confirmed many times, the Royal Navy command was instantly furious.

First of all, orders were sent to fleets, sub-fleets, and local fleets around the world. They were ordered to fire out of the harbor immediately to avoid a possible attack by a Sardinian submarine. This was clearly a frightened reaction. This order was lifted a day later.

Yan Haiyang, who lost the largest tonnage ship in hundreds of years and lost a battleship on the battlefield, was dismissed and imprisoned on the spot, and what awaits him will be a military court. No matter how powerful the Yan family's connections in the navy were, they couldn't offset such a heavy responsibility. Too much attention!

With the protection of the Yan family, Yan Haiyang can protect himself at most. But as a young Zhuang naval officer with a bright future, Yan Haiyang's future is over. This was even more tragic for him than being shot.

After dealing with the accident, the enraged Royal Navy began to mobilize its fleet and prepare to wipe Sardinia off the map! However, the Royal Navy rummaged through its arsenal and was horrified to find that it had no effective weapons against submarines!

The Royal Navy of the Ming Empire also has its own submarine force, and there are even quite a few of them. But the Royal Navy never paid attention to them, because the Ming Navy was an outward-looking navy that needed to be stationed all over the world. A conventional warship is enough to deal with any enemy, but what else can a super-slow submarine do?

When they really saw the terrifying power of submarines on the battlefield, the Royal Navy was dumbfounded. They can't even come up with weapons against submarines? The naval guns of the Navy do little to do anything against submarines lurking underwater. And what else can the Royal Navy use, besides naval guns? Is it impossible to use a battleship to collide?

The Royal Navy of the Ming Empire, which had a total tonnage of combat ships hundreds of times that of the Sardinian Navy, was stumped by two small submarines. Although one has been disarmed in France, there is another in the port of Cagliari.

At this time when people were scratching their heads, Zhang Cheng found the chief of staff of the Mediterranean Fleet, Rear Admiral Yunmo, who was sent by the Navy from Alexandria to escort Yan Haiyang and other officers to the mainland for trial.

The self-confident Zhang Cheng brought an important weapon to the navy!