On 1 September, the CIA of the Chinese Empire again alerted the Admiralty that the Russian Far East Fleet was about to enter the Arafura Sea, and that it was expected to enter the Coral Sea through the Torres Strait on 4 September, and then to the port of Moresby in German Papua for resupply.

On the same day, at the Guam Naval Base and the Pacific Fleet Headquarters, Fleet Commander Lin Jianzhang held an extraordinary meeting to divide the labor on further deployment for naval warfare against the Russian fleet.

According to the plan, the Pacific Fleet of the Chinese Imperial Navy will completely annihilate the main force of the Russian Far East Second Fleet in the Toras Strait.

The Strait of Trust was chosen because of its geographical location and the fact that it is the only shipping route from the Sea of Arafura to the Coral Sea.

The Torres Strait is located between Australia and the island of Papua Guinea. It is connected to the Coral Sea to the east and the Arafura Sea to the west. It is about 130 kilometers long and 59-170 kilometers wide. The strait is shallow in the south and deep in the north, with an average water depth of 50 meters and only 14 meters at its shallowest point.

The strait is an important shipping route for the maritime links between Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean region and Australia, New Zealand and the islands of the South Pacific. The Torres Strait is located on a wide continental shelf, and was still land two or three million years ago, but then due to neotectonic movements, it fell relatively and the sea water submerged to form a strait. There is an array of islands in the Torres Strait, known as the Torres Strait Islands. Of the minimum 274 islands, 17 are permanently inhabited by humans. The islands have different topography, ecosystems, and history of formation. Several of these islands, which are deposited from alluvial soil off the coast of New Guinea, are low-lying and consist of river effluents. The islands in the western part of the Channel are more mountainous, steeper, granite and are the northernmost peaks of the Great Dividing Range, which became islands when sea levels rose after the last ice age.

The strait is located at a low latitude, with high temperature and humidity all year round, and has developed various types of coral reefs, as well as a large number of pearls, sea cucumbers, crayfish, etc., resulting in a large number of coral reefs around the strait.

Although the strait is wide, there is only one channel suitable for warships to navigate, with an average water depth of about 50 meters. Although the surrounding reefs and islands make navigation risky for vessels, it remains an important international sea lane.

The Fleet Command of the Imperial Chinese Navy chose to ambush the Russian fleet in the Torres Strait, mainly thanks to ten Han-class submarines.

These 10 Han-class submarines have the capability of fighting at sea, and they can ambush in the shallow waters on both sides of the channel and unexpectedly launch torpedoes at the Russian [***] ships traveling on the channel, so as to achieve a surprise attack effect.

According to the commander's plan, ten Han-class submarines were equipped with 120 torpedoes, which in the event of a sudden attack was enough to inflict heavy damage and panic on the Russian fleet. After being attacked by submarines, the Russian fleet will be divided into two parts, and then the Pacific Fleet will concentrate its main forces to annihilate them separately, and the final strategic goal has been reached.

After the survey of the Navy survey ship, the Pacific Fleet has mastered the water pattern situation of the strait, and the islands around the strait are under the jurisdiction of Queensland, Australia, and the British Navy will provide more detailed water pattern information to the Chinese Imperial Navy, so the Pacific Fleet can easily carry out military combat operations here.

On the afternoon of 2 July, 10 Han-class submarines entered the Torres Strait and lurked on both sides of the 100-kilometer-long channel.

On the morning of the 3rd, the main forces of the Pacific Fleet entered the Coral Sea and blockaded Port Moresby in German Papua. The authorities of the Governor-General of German Papua strongly protested and demanded that the Imperial Chinese Navy leave the Coral Sea. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire immediately made solemn representations to the German political axe, saying that if Germany provided supply and repair services for the Second Fleet of the Russian Far East, it would be regarded as a serious military provocation against the Chinese Empire, and all the consequences would be borne by the German political axe.

The German political axe was silent for a moment, the military strength of the Chinese Empire at this time was extremely strong, the army won a decisive victory in the Far East, and the total tonnage of the navy far exceeded that of Germany, so it can be said that Germany has completely lagged behind the Chinese Empire militarily. Strategically, if the Chinese Empire is offended, I am afraid that the German Jeju Island naval base and the Far Eastern islands may fall, and the German ocean-going fleet will be even more vulnerable and unable to reinforce it.

Based on these circumstances, the German political axe immediately stated that it would not provide supply and ship repair services to the Russian Second Fleet in the Far East.

Germany gave up supplying the Tsarist navy, which made the Tsarist government very dissatisfied. The reason was that the Russian Far East Fleet had been clearly informed three months earlier that the Russian Far East Fleet, which was then anchored in Madagascar, to go to Port Moresby to resupply and maintain ships. Now that the Russian Navy was about to reach its destination, Germany suddenly changed its mind, and the Russian political axe could not inform the Navy on the voyage that it knew.

What is even more tragic is that the German Papuan Governor's Office sent a telegram to Russia, informing Russia that the sudden appearance of the main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy in the Coral Sea may be unfavorable to the Russian Navy, and that the Russian Navy should be careful. Although the Tsarist Russian Navy is equipped with a radio system, it is a pity that they are all second-hand obsolete goods resold by the Chinese Empire, and the surname can be unstable and the transmission distance is short. In the Oceania region, the surrounding countries did not have radio stations except for the British in Singapore, so the Russian political axe could not inform the Tsarist Navy in time. Prince Alexandrovich, the Minister of the Admiralty, had already guessed the possibility of ambushing the Russian fleet in the straits of the Coral Sea, the Arafura Sea, and the Strait of the Trust after seeing the topography of the Coral Sea, the Arafura Sea, and the Strait of Trusts.

On September 4, 1902, August 4 of the second year of Guanghua, and on Thursday, the 18th day of July in the Julian calendar, the weather was cloudy, the wind was three, and the wave was two meters high.

At 8:10 a.m., the Second Fleet of the Russian Far East entered and arrived at the entrance to the Torres Strait. The British Naval Observatory on Prince Wales Island, on the south side of the entrance, spotted the Russian Far East Fleet and immediately telegraphed to the Imperial Chinese Consulate in Australia, and an hour later, the news reached the Navy's Pacific Fleet flagship, the Dengyun.

After Lin Jianzhang learned the information, he knew that a major war was about to break out, so he immediately ordered the submarine fleet to prepare for battle, and clearly demanded that the main goal be to attack the capital ships of the Russian fleet and the flagships of each sub-fleet. At the same time, a combat alert was ordered.

"Battle Alert!"

"Yes! Battle Alert! ”

Immediately, the communications staff officer sounded the battle alarm.

"Woo woo woo~"

When the rapid battle siren sounded, the officers and men of the whole fleet quickly completed their preparations and set off from each cabin and trotted all the way into their respective combat posts.

"Attention everyone! Attention everyone! Immediately enter the combat position, one level of combat readiness! Repeat, immediately enter the combat position, combat readiness of the first level! This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill. ”

The battle alarm sounded one after another over the ships, and it was transmitted to the ears of every officer and soldier, and everyone immediately took action. All types of naval guns were torn off their armor, and the rangefinder, sight, and fire control command instrument also worked subsequently. Inside the battleship, the transverse passage was locked, and the longitudinal aisle of the cabin was arranged with pumping machines and strong ventilation equipment. On the conveyor belt of the central ammunition depot, shells were sent to the positions of the guns of all levels until the first shells were loaded.

Outside the battleship, important but fragile facilities such as masts, radio poles, and rudders have been tightly protected by sandbags, and fire extinguishing equipment such as sand and buckets have been stacked near the deck, aisles, and spiral ladders.

After many naval battles, the officers and men of the Imperial Chinese Navy were already familiar with this, and they did not fight unprepared battles, and everything was carried out in an orderly manner.

"Raise the Fleet Command Flag!"

"Raise the Command Flag!"

"Raise the battleship battle flag!"

…… When the flags of each ship representing their respective combat caste are raised, it means that each ship has completed its combat readiness and warmed up.

"The commander of the fleet has a lecture, all of them have it, and they are upright."

In the communication room of the Dengyun, the communications staff officer turned on the fleet channel and handed the walkie-talkie to Lin Jianzhang, the commander of the fleet.

At this time, every soldier in the fleet looked at the ship's flagship, Dengyun, while the invisible officers and men listened to the sound of the horn in the room.

"All the ministers, all the soldiers! The big war is coming, and I don't want to say anything more! The time has come to test you, to be loyal to the Empire. No matter how dangerous the next battle is, I, the commander of the fleet, Lin Jianzhang, will always stand on the bridge and share life and death with you! I will always watch you and watch you defeat your enemies! Watch as you do your best for the Imperial Navy! ”

Lin Jianzhang would stand on the bridge every time he fought, never entering the command tower, he was like a god of war who could never be defeated, and became the respected commander of all the officers and men of the Pacific Fleet. As the supreme commander, it was precisely because Lin Jianzhang had been standing there that when the officers and men of the whole fleet encountered any danger, as long as they saw that the commander was still standing there, they summoned up the courage to overcome the danger and fear and fight hard.

The officers and men of the whole fleet seemed to be accustomed to Lin Jianzhang's pre-war mobilization speech, and they all waited for him to shout the last slogan very tacitly.

"Great Chinese Empire, long live!"

"Hooray!"

"Your Majesty the Emperor of the Great Chinese Empire, long live!"

"Hooray!!"

"Royal Navy of the Great China Empire, long live!"

"Long live !!"

Every time Lin Jianzhang shouted the same slogan at the end, but every time the soldiers couldn't help but boil their blood, and they shouted in unison.

"Action!"

Under Lin Jianzhang's order, the horns of each ship sounded for a long time, the boilers were coaled and pressurized, and billowing black smoke came out of the chimneys.

At the same time, the Russian Far Eastern Fleet also began to regroup, organizing the huge fleet into a single column, and the third squadron of Pobedonosets, Admiral Apraksin, Admiral Xeniavin, Admiral Ushakov, Admiral Tmysk and Admiral Revere, as well as the cruiser detachment of the Bright, Diamond, Pearl, Emerald, plus five destroyers entered the Torres Strait first, and they served as the lead fleet, fast, Therefore, in the event of an ambush, you can quickly evacuate. If there is no ambush, then the main Russian fleet will enter the strait.

Three hours later, the sergeant came in and reported, "The pilot fleet has just sent a telegram saying that they have passed through the strait, and everything in the Coral Sea is safe, so please rest assured that the main force of the fleet will pass through." ”

Lieutenant General Rozed Stfansky nodded, looked at the chief of staff next to him, Major General Gilavsky, who also agreed, and immediately ordered the whole fleet to enter the strait.

At about one o'clock in the afternoon, twelve battleships of the main Russian fleet entered the strait in turn, the cruiser divided into three battleships to explore the way, and the other battleships were cut off. It will take them more than four hours for the capital ships whose speed has seriously decreased to pass through the strait, which is more than 100 kilometers long.

A few reconnaissance cruisers and gunboats had just passed, and in the shallow reef area a thousand meters away from the channel, the periscope of a submarine drew a long waterline on the sea surface, slowly approaching the main channel, and watching from a distance the Russian capital ships that followed one after another.

"Sir, when are we going to attack?"

The officers and men who couldn't wait couldn't help but look at Captain Wang Zhigang, the captain of the Huanghuahua submarine.

"Wait!" Wang Zhigang replied without raising his head.

"Sir, this is the Duke Suvorov, the flagship of the commander of the Russian fleet."

The observer looked at the photo album in his hand and saw that the first ship to pass was the flagship of the Russian fleet, and couldn't help but look at the captain. If the flagship of the Russian fleet could be sunk, it would be a great achievement, and all the officers and men were excited.

Wang Zhigang said with a smile: "Let's be quiet, count carefully, we are responsible for attacking the twelfth battleship." ”

"Who's in charge of the flagship?"

"Of course it's the bighead carp, and they're at the top."

"It's so unfair, why is the bighead carp responsible for this great credit?"

"You know the!" Wang Zhigang immediately scolded them and said: "Who knew from the beginning that the Russian flagship was the first to pass? The bighead carp just took shit luck. ”

"Then we beat her, this is the first work?" Someone suddenly agitated.

"Fart!" Wang Zhigang suddenly scolded: "What do you kid know? If we do it now, it will ruin the fleet's plans, and what if the Russian ship runs away? When the time comes, it's not enough to shoot you a hundred times. ”

Everyone sighed suddenly, watching the Russian flagship bow their eyelids, and secretly begged the bighead carp to take shit luck this time.

Soon, the Russian battleships passed one by one, and the Yellow Croaker did not move, only waiting for the last battleship to come before acting.

"How many?" Wang Zhigang asked.

"And two more chiefs!" The staff officer on the side replied.

"Almost!" Wang Zhigang suddenly got up and ordered: "Prepare for battle!" ”

"Yes! Ready for battle! All the personnel in the boat entered their respective combat positions, and one by one they suddenly became excited.

"Ready for battle, speed 2 chains!"

"Search for enemy ships!" The observers immediately searched for the twelfth Russian battleship that was about to pass.

Wang Zhigang asked: "Report on the sea ”

The observer reported: "The azimuth is 190, the distance is 1200 meters, the speed is 9 knots and 2 chains, and the target is judged to be the Chesma." ”

"Damn, it's an old ship from 1886!"

Wang Zhigang took a sip and secretly begged for bad luck and ran into an old-fashioned enemy ship. But as a commander, he collapsed that ship and did that. He quickly sketched and calculated the position of the attack with the pencil and triangulation in his hand, and then ordered: "Ten on the left side, combat speed!" ”

"Yes! Left rudder ten, combat speed! ”

The Seawolf 1 quickly approached the course of the enemy ships, while the course of the enemy ship Chesma remained unchanged, and the Russian sailors on it did not have any alertness, because all the ships in front passed safely.

Wang Zhigang ordered: "No. 1 to No. 4 bow torpedoes are prepared, set to a depth of three meters!" ”

The lightning strike chief repeated the order: "Set the depth to 3 meters!" Torpedoes No. 1 to No. 4 are ready for launch! ”

The order was given, and the crew quickly opened the torpedo compartment and took out the torpedo.

The 450-mm torpedo was massive, weighing 700 kilograms, and could not be carried by humans.

I saw the crew spinning the roulette wheel vigorously, and the torpedo slowly moved towards the torpedo tube with the sound of creaking metal track sliding.

Submarine torpedoes before World War II did not have torpedo loaders, so the process of loading torpedoes alone took 10 minutes.

Several torpedo crews quickly attached fuses to the torpedoes, and after calibrating the depths, they sent the four torpedoes into the launch bays of torpedoes No. 1 to No. 4.

Click! The torpedo compartment is locked.

"Number one is ready!" Torpedo Corpsman No. 1 reports.

"Number Two is ready!" Torpedo No. 2 reports.

"Three ready!" Torpedo No. 3 report.

"Ready for Four!" Torpedo No. 4 report.

"Four torpedoes are ready!" The lightning strike chief reported to Commander Wang Zhigang.

Wang Zhigang looked at his pocket watch, and five minutes passed. Asked: "Target Chesma, inform the search results!" ”

Observer report: "Azimuth 265, distance 800 meters, speed 8 knots"

After calculation, Wang Zhigang immediately ordered: "Keep the direction, the speed is reduced to 8 knots." ”

Soon, the Yellow Croaker maintained the same vertical direction and speed as the Chesma, and Wang Zhigang quickly calculated the speed of the current, used a ruler to mark the advance of the enemy ship, and then circled the ambush position with a compass.

The last correction of the observer before firing, "azimuth 358, distance 550 meters, speed 8 knots"

Wang Zhigang shouted, "Target Chesma, four simultaneous shots!" ”

"Torpedoes fired four rounds in parallel! Preparation! Launch! "The lightning strike chief ordered.

The two torpedo crews quickly pressed the trigger in the shape of a handle.

"Tom! Tong! ”

Two torpedoes were fired in sequence, heading straight for the target.

"Torpedo No. 1 fired!" Torpedo Corpsman No. 1 reports.

"Torpedo No. 2 fired!" Torpedo No. 2 reports.

Wang Zhigang suddenly pressed the pocket watch in his hand to measure the seconds, and there was silence in the submarine, only the sound of the stopwatch ticking and ticking was heard.

After more than ten seconds, two loud roars sounded, and the observer saw from the periscope that the Chesma's amidships and stern had exploded violently, and immediately reported: "Both shots have hit!" ”

All the crew members immediately roared with joy.

Wang Zhigang hurriedly snatched the periscope to observe. Sure enough, the stern of the Chesma was blown to pieces, and a hole five or six meters wide was blown open, and the thick flames soared into the sky, covering the sky.

The Chesma was sinking rapidly, and several Russian cruisers and gunboats behind it immediately slowed down to avoid colliding with the Chesma.

Wang Zhigang hurriedly ordered to put away the periscopes, and at the same time, the scouts on the Russian cruisers and gunboats also quickly looked here, but unfortunately they never dreamed that the attacker was on the submarine under the water, and the other party's attention was only on the water, and no enemy ships appeared, so they were immediately puzzled.

The submarine was operating for the first time, and the Russian Navy did not know about this new weapon, so it was not mentally prepared.

Soon, Wang Zhigang raised the periscope again. I saw that the sea was covered with thick smoke, the Chesma was sinking rapidly, and the Russian sailors on it jumped into the sea one after another.

Several nearby cruisers and gunboats, rushing to rescue the drowning people, did not search the perimeter.

Several Russian cruisers thought that the Chesma had hit a mine, and they were busy organizing manpower rescue, and Wang Zhigang saw that the Oleg stopped the ship to save people and immediately ordered to lock on the Oleg.

The smoke had begun to sink, and with the sea breeze blowing eastward, the sea surface was basically thick smoke for about five meters, and the Yellow Croaker quietly approached the anchored Oleg cruiser, and under the cover of the thick smoke, when the distance was less than 200 meters, Wang Zhigang ordered the No. 3 and No. 4 torpedoes to be fired.

The two torpedoes crashed straight into the waterline of the starboard side of the Oleg and exploded violently, and only the waterline belt protected by less than 30 mm of iron armor was instantly blown open more than 20 meters, and more than half of the facilities of the Oleg were blown to pieces.

I saw the Oleg ship rise from flames and smoke several hundred meters high, and the debris flew thousands of meters away. Then the ship's amidship ammunition depot was fired and exploded, and the entire warship was instantly blown into two, and the sea water poured violently, and the hull sank at a speed that could be seen.

The Russian sailors who had escaped from the Chesma had just climbed onto the Oleg and were killed again, and together with the sailors on the Oleg, they were swallowed up by the fire and sea before they had time to react.

The cruiser Oleg sank faster than the battleship Chesma, sinking into the sea in less than thirty seconds.

The flagship cruiser of the Russian fleet, Oleg, Rear Admiral Enkvest, together with two warships, totaled more than 700 people who died at sea.

Of course, a dozen Russian sailors were alive, fluttering in the sea.

"Sir, do you want to shoot them with a rapid-fire cannon?"

Wang Zhigang shook his head and looked at the several Russian cruisers and gunboats around him that had already sailed over quickly, and it was estimated that they had guessed that it was an underwater attack.

"Our submarines can only attack by sneak, not engage the enemy head-on, dive immediately, we have completed the task, now retreat."

The Yellow Croaker retreated quickly one after another according to the retreat.

At the same time, nine other submarines of the submarine fleet also launched attacks one after another, among which the bighead carp hit the Russian flagship Duke Suvorov with two torpedoes, sinking it. The commander of the flagship of the Russian fleet, Vice Admiral Rozed Stfansky, was seriously wounded, and the chief of staff, Rear Admiral Giravsky, fled with him to a gunboat that was escorted.

In addition, eight submarines, the Tuantou bream, the tilapia, the widower, the yellow mackerel, the eagle fish, the red fish, and the yellow mackerel, succeeded in attacking one after another, and launched 24 torpedoes in the first raid, sinking the three ships Catherine II, Sinop, and Navarin on the spot, and severely damaging six Russian ships, the Alexander III, the Borodino, the Oriel, the Crown Prince, the Georgi, and the Glorious, forcing these five Russian ships to rush to the nearby shoals and run aground.

The twelve battleships of the Russian fleet lost eleven in an instant, and only the battleship Nicholas I was left to avoid the attack of the submarine Tilapia. and opened fire to sink the Eagle Fish, which was about to carry out a second attack on the Glory.

After the Chinese Imperial Submarines lost the submarine Ji Yingyu, more than a dozen cruisers and gunboats of the Russian Navy began to frantically shell the surrounding waters, and the Tuantou bream, which was in emergency diving, was also sunk, the Red Fish and the Yellow Fish were heavily damaged, and several other submarines were also damaged to varying degrees.

However, soon the sea surface of the entire ambush area was covered in thick smoke, and the Russian ships could not see the Chinese submarine targets that surfaced, and finally allowed the heavily damaged Redfish and Yellow Fish to escape.

(To be continued)