Boom......

The loud noise coming from inside the hull caused the deck to shake violently like an earthquake, and the faces of the three people on the bridge of the "Boston" suddenly stiffened.

Amid all the chaotic shouts, Captain Anglo was the first to speak, "I'll take care of the ship's special cargo, General, you and Dr. Mante will get into the lifeboat first!" ”

In just over twenty minutes from the beginning to now, Jetlika, a calm, capable, and intelligent naval commander, seemed to have been crushed by the bleak scene in front of him, and he looked at Angelo with a dead face, and neither rejected nor accepted his proposal, but just stood there silently, one hand firmly grasping the railing next to the bridge of the battleship. This situation is reminiscent of the captains and generals of the Japanese Navy who sank with their ships in the Pacific War, and there is much debate about whether this tradition originated in the British Navy was fearless or ignorant, and at least in the United States Navy, the cost of training a good naval commander was far greater than building a warship.

"I can't leave yet!" "I will have to personally direct the technical team to transport those two powerful weapons, and if possible, Colonel, arrange for ten able-bodied sailors to help us." ”

The colonel looked at the doctor, then at Jetlika with a determined face, sighed heavily, turned to the gangway to the lower armored command room, and shouted, "Bertie! Birdie! ”

Suddenly, an embarrassed lieutenant burst out of the armored command room. He didn't look very old, and he didn't forget to look up and salute his captain in such a bad situation. Before the lieutenant could speak, Angelo commanded in a loud voice: "Quick, give the ...... The Gatling gave orders for it to come over carefully, we had extremely important heavy cargo that had to be transferred to the past. Gather some more sailors and help Dr. Mante's technical team dismantle and carry the two big guys fixed to the lifeboat slots, and move quickly! ”

With a vague judgment of the port number, Angelo basically confirmed that it was the Fletcher-class destroyer "Gatling" in the escort ship that caught up from the rear side of the port side. After all that is said. He hesitated for a moment, then ordered, "Send someone to inform the envoy of Legerhall and ask him to wait on the lifeboat first." ”

"Yes, understood!" The lieutenant's decisive acceptance soothed Angelo's mood a little. But before he could get back to Jetlika, the first mate rushed out of the hatch of the armored command room, gasped and said, "The situation is out of control...... Sir! The No. 4 ammunition depot is finished, and the No. 3 ammunition depot is now difficult to protect, the left and right engine rooms are completely flooded, and the boiler room is also flooded with most of the seawater, and the power ......is completely lost."

The report is not finished. There was a sudden chilling gurgling sound from the hull, which meant that the steel hull was twisting violently, and not only that, but the deck, which had just been a little low in front and high in the back, had become noticeably higher in front and lower in the back. The ship's tilt to the left has also become more and more serious. What is even more desperate is that the seawater, which was originally more than three meters high from the freeboard deck, has risen to less than 40 centimeters below the deck, and the undulating waves can easily splash on the deck.

Angelo gritted his teeth and said: "Close all the waterproof compartments, notify all the personnel on the ship except for the damage management team to withdraw to the deck, and put down the lifeboat!" ”

Such an order was only one step away from abandoning the ship, and the first mate was stunned for two seconds and saluted with a sad face.

"Henry!" Angelo's gentle tone seemed to be saying goodbye to his comrades for many years, and the sadness was enough to make people cry.

"Sir?" The first mate retracted the steps he had taken.

"As long as there is a glimmer of hope...... Don't give up! Angelo said.

Under the flickering light. There seemed to be a glint of hope in the eyes of the first mate: "Understood! ”…,

At this moment, he couldn't afford to delay, and after he finished speaking, he quickly went back to the armored command room.

Angelo turned blankly. Dr. Mante had already arrived at his side, preparing to descend the gangway to the deck to direct the transfer of the two atomic bomb bodies sealed in large lead cylinders. The emotions of fear, anxiety and despair on his face are very different from those of these professional soldiers who have lived by the sea for many years and have been baptized by war—this is the difference between powerlessness and exhaustion, and it is the difference between helplessness and annihilation.

Angelo opened his mouth to say something please, a blessing, but the words suddenly ran out - Dr. Mante was in the same state of mind, and the two men only nodded to each other with gloomy expressions, and staggered shoulders.

When Angelo returned to the battle bridge that could face the catastrophe, Jetlica returned to her previous blank look of looking around. At this moment, the "Oriscany", waltzing at sea, was already far away, and the Fletcher-class destroyers, which had bypassed from the left side of the fleet, were desperately chasing after their flagship. The light cruiser "Vincennes", which was directly torpedoed, was like a swimmer overboard, exhausted in the struggle and could only sink hopelessly into the water, the sea had already flooded to the middle of its bridge, and there was no moving figure on the ship, but the incident happened so suddenly, it is likely that there are still people trapped in the dark, cold, closed lower cabin, enduring the most miserable and desperate situation in the world. There were three other ships that had been mineralized in less than five minutes apart, and the light cruiser escorting the "Oriscani" had disintegrated in an incomparably violent explosion, and the main part of the steel body disappeared from the water, leaving only some barely escaped crew and large and small floating objects; The escort destroyer Conlink is like a long reef, and when the night sky is lit up, you can barely distinguish the difference between its dark shell and the surrounding water; The "Sigsby", which escorted the "Boston", was wiped out at the tail of the fleet, and its not strong body was hit by three torpedoes one after another, and the most violent explosion broke out on it, and the raging flames that engulfed the whole ship were so terrible that the more than 300 crew members had almost no hope of survival......

Dragging his heavy legs over to the admiral, Angelo realized what he was muttering, and as he listened carefully, the desperate fleet commander muttered, "It's too late. It's too late for anything, unheard-of lightning strikes, lightning strikes ......"

"Indeed, we have encountered an irresistible catastrophe, and perhaps from the moment we leave the port, the ultimate fate is already sealed." Angelo tried to comfort poor Jetlica, but even he felt that this was a self-deception: if the enemy had submarines all over the Atlantic, why would he have been able to cut off the sea routes of the Western Allies long ago. Armaments from the United States were cut off. The Allied forces deployed on the European continent may have no choice but to fight back.

Jetlica shook his head, his judgment had not led the fleet away from mortal danger, but he was right on one thing, the ships that accompanied him were sinking and wounded. Nelson's reincarnation was powerless to organize a counterattack. Although the telegram for help had been sent, the nearest of its own ships was hundreds of nautical miles away, and the torpedoes that once flew on the surface of the sea seemed to come from the tacit attack of multiple torpedoes, and the unexpected accuracy of the hit was beyond the traditional thinking of the World War II era.

What else can be done now?

Angelo felt like a knife in his heart, and he turned his back to stop crying, and it was ridiculous that the air chase that was destined to be fruitless was still going on. More than a dozen "hellcats" that rose into the air at night tried their best, but their opponents were like invisible ghosts, allowing them to chase and intercept them and still be at large. …,

"My God......"

Jetlika clung to Angelo's sleeve and pointed to the port side with her trembling right hand.

Near the remnants of the hull of the "Vincennes". Several white lifeboats were drifting on the sea, some of them were crowded with escape crews, some of them were still in most of the position, the churning waves made the dinghy extremely maneuverable, and the crew was trying to stabilize their direction, and Jetlika was not referring to these boats, but two vague, eerie, scratches that appeared beneath the surface of the water, which looked much lighter than the trajectory of a traditional thermodynamic torpedo full of white blisters. It seems difficult to spot in an environment where there is only moonlight. At this time, a small number of sailors who stayed in the lifeboats also noticed this strange sight. Realizing that it was an enemy torpedo, they waved and shouted in great horror at the battered "Boston" and the destroyer "Gatling", which was gradually approaching.

With the position where the torpedo appeared and at normal speed. It was too late for the "Gatling", which had already slowed down, to evade urgently, and Jetlica reluctantly shouted: "Fire!" Let them fire! ”

Although there is little hope, there is only a chance to give it a go. Angelo rushed to the left side of the battle bridge, ignoring the danger of a torpedo hitting the side of the ship and causing an explosion, and shouted to the side and stern: "Port torpedo, fifty meters of concentrated strafing!" ”

This is the simplest warning and instruction, the ship has been hit repeatedly, the fleet is in a desperate situation, many crew members have lost their way, fortunately there are still people holding on to the gun position, this cruiser has 3 twin 127 mm secondary guns, 3 quadruple 40 mm guns and 13 20 mm guns on the single side, and the configuration is quite ample in medium and short range interception firepower. After Angelo shouted just now, the chaotic gunfire on the ship's side deck quickly responded with a clattering cannon sound -- although it was too far behind the dense artillery fire that seemed to be a rolling thunderstorm during the exercise, the sparse machine artillery shells still fell on the sea dozens of meters away according to the order, and the water column stirred up was several feet high, while in theory, the 40 mm caliber machine artillery shells could cause damage to objects seven or eight meters deep underwater, and the 20 mm attack depth was slightly inferior, and under normal circumstances, it could reach four or five meters.

Due to the angle of view and the light, Angelo could not see any trace of the torpedoes at this time, judging by the direction of the extension of the wake marks just now, they were roughly towards the port rear of the "Boston", and the destroyer "Gatling" was now in the left rear position of the heavy cruiser, and the distance between the two ships was less than thirty meters—roughly equivalent to the distance between two buildings in a residential area. With a professional naval vision, Angelo knew very well that his heavy cruiser, which had been hit by two torpedoes, was only fighting against fate with the efforts of its crew, and that if it was no longer affected by external forces, it might be able to survive or even miraculously reach the port, or perhaps the ship's condition would deteriorate to the point where it had to abandon the ship after half an hour, and only the heavens and the warship themselves knew.

The sky will not speak, and warships will not.

"God forbid......" Angelo trembled his lips and instinctively grasped the railing with both hands, if the torpedo suddenly hit the side of the ship in the next second, the "Boston", along with the two main bodies of the atomic bomb on board and the thousands of crew members, could be swallowed by death in an instant. Seconds passed, and the number of cannons added to the fire defense increased even more. Countless dark red points of light left the ship, forming an active defense zone slightly shorter than the length of the ship on the sea surface dozens of meters away. Although the scene was lively, but the torpedo was not detonated for a moment, the great crisis still existed, and Angelo subconsciously glanced at the sea to the left of the "Gatling" - this may be attributed to the intuition of a battleship commander, and suddenly, he once again saw the shallow wake marks under the surface of the sea, which were quietly and straight forward, and the distance to the port side of the destroyer was rapidly closing...... until it reaches zero. …,

In a split second. Angelo's eyes were almost pierced by the bright red flames. They are like flowers that bloom one after the other in just one second. With extremely full buds and extremely vivid colors, they rise from the surface of the sea to form a spectacle of fire born in water, and they expand at a speed that is difficult to discern with the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, they swallowed the hull, deck, and even the trembling bridge they touched, and they flew up above the top of the mast, gradually fading in color, but the associated smoke was becoming more and more thick, and finally reached a point, the fireball turned into scattered sparks, and the thick black smoke continued to rise and spread.

Boom ...... Boom ......

The flames haven't dissipated yet. The deafening roar dispersed with the incomparably strong impact. The energy wave generated by the explosion urged the normally formless and colorless air, and even though he was standing on the bridge of the battle ship nearly two hundred meters away from the explosion point, Angelo was staggered and almost unbalanced by the sweeping air wave, and he leaned down with difficulty. Closing his eyes, stinged by the intense flames, the music lingered for three days, and the concussion of the explosion caused a continuing disturbance to his hearing, and for a while, the buzzing in his ears drowned everything out. Angelo's mouth opened wide in pain, but as Jetlica said, it was too late.

By the time his hearing had regained, Angelo felt like a long, long time had passed. He had long wished the nightmare was over, but the sound of machine guns was a cruel reminder that the catastrophe was still ongoing. He lifted his heavy eyelids. The light in his vision had dimmed a lot, and he stood up. Turning its face, the "Gatling" still looked intact on the water, and it was even approaching as instructed by the flagship, but these were just illusions! Angelo saw the smoke rising from the deck and the bridge, saw a mess of the deck strewn with corpses, and even the mast that was quietly tilting could not escape his eyes, but it was still moving forward after all, second after second, no new explosion occurred, and the bow of the destroyer, which had lost its soul, finally surpassed the stern of the "Boston", which had lost its speed, and the distance between the two ships was constantly narrowing, and Angelo could clearly see its bridge shaking again. Someone was seen rolling out of the hatch onto the ship's side deck, and smoke was seen pouring out of open hatches, broken portholes, and cracks in the explosion. It doesn't burn with an open flame, but it's more worrying than burning.

"Torpedo! It's a torpedo! ”

Jetlika's always calm tone turned into a lifeless pleading, and her voice was hoarse. When the worried state of mind is hit by lightning and thunder, collapse is inevitable, Angelo's heart is painful but there is nowhere to vent - the torpedo has hit, let it all end happily in the gorgeous flames of war!

According to the naval combat standards, the "Gatling" carrying ammunition is probably not an explosive box, its 5-inch naval gun ammunition is mainly stored in two ammunition depots, plus the ammunition reserve of anti-aircraft guns and depth charges, adding up to nearly 100 tons, although the first two torpedoes did not detonate the ammunition depot, but its main structure has been almost disintegrated in the violent explosion, the broken ship wall can no longer provide direct defense, when the third and fourth torpedoes hit, there is no one on the ship to try to make any form of resistance or evasionIf this is a rigorous torpedo drill, there is no doubt that the attackers will not get a high score, because they fired 12 torpedoes at a destroyer in a row from a distance of only a few hundred meters, and the 33.33% hit rate is not to mention, and it seems too extravagant to spend so many precious torpedoes on a 2000-ton light ship, but the real ace is good at judging the situation in actual combat. The American destroyer was completely set off in the second round of torpedo strikes - the most tragic situation in the naval battle was the explosion of the whole ship caused by internal and external actions, several tons, dozens of tons of metal parts twisted and deformed like thin iron boxes and flew up, flesh and blood often completely changed the structure in an instant, tearing, carbonizing and even becoming invisible fine particles scattered with the air current, those hard metal or non-metal fragments gained almost bullet speed, they ignorantly and ruthlessly mined, smelted, cast, The welding companion attacked, which did not play an essential destructive effect on the solid armor, but was an extremely fatal blow to the crew who were exposed to the deck and anti-aircraft positions, and a large area from the stern to the amidship of the "Boston" was swept by this high-speed debris, where blood flowed everywhere and wailed in an instant!

Angelo had finally followed in the footsteps of General Jetlika—his body was alive, but his soul had collapsed. He staggered back from the railing, and suddenly turned around, and saw the fire in the distance, reflecting the shadow of the fallen ship with its wide deck, and the lonely guardian had only a thin body and an unwilling will. When submarine technology and tactics are once again sublimated, even if it is just a desperate gamble of the sword, it is enough to make these former victors lose and have no power to fight back