"Oh my God, it's going to crash!"

Colonel Angelo would not have been surprised if this panicked shout came from a recruit with little combat experience or a political officer who happened to be on a warship, but the voice was that of the gun commander, Lieutenant Admiral Mordson, who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1929, and Admiral Jetlika, who was the commander of the special fleet this time, also graduated from this military academy that had trained countless outstanding officers and even prominent generals for the US Navy, but now it seems that this coincidence made him feel even more embarrassed.

Annoyed, the colonel finally roared: "Shut up, stupid, get out of the lifeboat for fear of death!" ”

In the past three months, only 17 Allied ships between the continent and Europe have been attacked by enemy submarines, nine have sunk and eight have escaped, accounting for only 1 in 200 of the total number of ships, and the safe navigation rate is comparable to that of 1944-1945, when the German Navy was at its most depressing, and the atmosphere of "seamen's panic" similar to that of the early days of World War II was avoided. Nevertheless, the necessary emergency rescue measures must be preserved, such as the "Boston" heavy cruiser, although the two special cargo occupy a lot of space amidships, and the number of life-saving equipment, including lifeboats, has not been reduced, and their presence will give most crew members hope to be rescued in times of crisis.

Major Mordson, who was tall, well-looking, and looked younger than his real age, apparently aware of the stupid mistake he had just made, blushed and did not dare to make eye contact with Colonel Angelo. A word can boost morale, a word can also shake the morale of the army, the speed of the fleet is approaching 30 knots, and the mechanical noise on the warship is also increasing, but the screams from the bridge still make the nearby sailors very frightened, and the shouts related to "impact" and "dodge" are like continuous gunpowder spreading rapidly from front to back, and then, without the bridge giving the order to fire, some anti-aircraft gun commanders once again exercised the right to make wartime decisions, and several 20 mm caliber machine guns roared with a bang, Strings of cannonballs formed an arc composed of dark red points of light in the night sky, they were like long whips in the hands of the punishers of the ancient army, cutting through the air and fiercely attacking the target, but the bright fireball moved faster, it swooped down lightly, and suddenly pulled up when it was about to hit the mast or even the hull of the ship in the next second, and climbed high in an instant, looking up from the sea, it was like a luminous body that could change its size at will, and the magic of magic was amazing!

"These stupid fools!" Colonel Angelo cursed with pain on his face, and he quickly rushed down the bridge of the battle ship and shouted at the officers in the armored command room: "Ceasefire, let them stop firing!" This will not help at all, it will only create more chaos and even injure your own people by mistake! ”

The gun commander, who had already made a mistake, did not dare to slack off, he hurriedly ascertained which gun position was firing through the ship's communication telephone, and ordered them in a stern tone not to assert any more, and after a full minute, the once lively anti-aircraft fire on the ship finally faded until it subsided, but by this time the night was already full of smoke clouds, and the tracer bullets from the machine guns gradually slipped to the far end of the line of sight. The air outside the cabin was already filled with the smell of gunsmoke, and it was conceivable that large shells had rolled off around the continuously firing artillery positions.

Due to the flagship's fierce anti-aircraft artillery fire at one point, the other four escort ships in the fleet also opened fire one after another without seeing the firing instructions, especially the two Fletcher-class destroyers with extremely dense gunfire, and the crews, who had been frightened to the point of nervous exhaustion all day, were eager to beat the guy down with a random cannon, but their hopes were quickly dashed - 17 months ago in Las Amos, dozens of army anti-aircraft artillery batteries had not completed the task, and the naval gunners were equally powerless to do it.

In the armored command room of the "Boston", Colonel Angelo's face did not ease because the sound of gunfire gradually calmed down. In order to prevent this from happening again, Major Morderson immediately went on to advise the other gunnery positions, and the brief instructions finally gave a glimpse of what a mid-level officer of a battleship should be.

Unfortunately, Colonel Angelo had no time to pay attention to the merits of his officers' redress at this time, and he quickly returned to the battle bridge, where he at once followed Admiral Jetlica to the luminous bodies hovering over the fleet and still did not depart, and at once anxiously observed the situation on the deck and gun emplacements from the bridge. After thinking about it, he always felt that the situation was worrying, so he reported his thoughts to General Jetlika, and after getting the agreement, he got off the battle bridge again, walked into the armored command room with a blushing face, and walked to the microphone position with the stunned officers lined up. …,

"Give you ten seconds to tune in to the ship's announcement." He said bluntly to the communications officer.

The innocent communications officer, though surprised, was able to adjust the ship's radio before he got angry.

"Attention all the officers and sailors of the Boston, I am your captain Philip. Angelo, there have been some cowardly and reckless behaviors on the ship just now, this is not like an elite team that participated in the Normandy landing operation and kicked the ass of the Japanese devils in the Pacific Ocean, but I think it is understandable that from ancient times to the present, human beings have always been in awe of the unknown, and what I want to tell you is that the glowing plate is 99% likely to be the aircraft we despised during the day, and it can't do anything but juggle flight, even if it has a certain attack power, If we mess with ourselves, it doesn't need to use this ability to pick up the ...... of victory."

The calm voice on the radio gradually calmed down the commotion among the crew, but Angelo's words said "victorious" here, and a stunned voice close to the broadcast instantly made everyone's hearts tighten.

In wartime, the "torpedo" alone as a sentence should be the last thing the sailors and crews want to hear, especially in a warning tone, this time it was transmitted to the closed turrets, open gun emplacements, ammunition compartments, and engine rooms through the radio...... From every position on the ship, the shouts of the gun commander, Major Mordson, could be clearly heard. To use the buzzword more than half a century later, this naval lieutenant is lit up, and he shines brightly!

In the presence of a torpedo attack, or so it should be understood, at least so should it be understood, Colonel Angelo had no time to tell everyone to calm down on the radio. Since the microphone was not turned off, the situation in the armored command room was broadcast live to the officers and men of the ship, and in the midst of the chaos, some people eagerly asked "where", and if they pricked up their ears to listen, they could vaguely hear someone replying, "on the port side," "at most two hundred yards," and "you have to turn the rudder," and then someone retorted, "It doesn't seem to be a torpedo," and at the same time, someone said, "It should be about five hundred yards," and after a moment of silence, the number of people who said, "It's not a torpedo at all," changed from one to three or four. Of course, at this moment of life, perhaps only the crew below deck, who had no way to observe the sea, would be engrossed in the arguments in the armored command room, and those in the open gun position or near the portholes would try to judge the sudden crisis from the first perspective.

"Mordson, you son of a bitch, bastard, you can't even ...... the reflection of flares and torpedo tracks" The voice on the radio ended with this furious scolding, apparently the communications officer remembered the live broadcast, and the angry voice was still coming from Captain Colonel Angelo. By this time, some experienced crew members on the port side had actually seen the clues, and the white marks that appeared on the surface of the sea were not torpedoes approaching at high speed, but waves caused by flares rising in the distance, but the waves raised by the fleet at high speed were somewhat unusual, and the poor vision and mental tension at night led to this not outrageous judgment - but it happened at a bad time!

The flares that appeared at the sea-sky interface in the rear direction of the port side of the fleet were not one or two, since the circular luminous body flew over the fleet, those flares rose up one after another, and there were many floating clouds floating in the night sky tonight, and the dazzling light of the flares was just weakened by a thin cloud band, and more importantly, the attention of the personnel on the ship was firmly attracted by the magical luminous body nearby, how many people would care and figure out the meaning of the appearance of those flares?

A graduate of the Naval Academy in 1915, Admiral Jetlica was the senior of Colonel Angelo and Major Mordson, who fought in World War I and served in almost every type of ship in the U.S. Navy - minesweepers, destroyers, cruisers, battleships and even briefly acting as captain of an aircraft carrier, except for a cramped submarine, which did not prevent him from becoming the most comprehensive commander in the Navy, naval guns, torpedoes, defensive structures, anti-aircraft operations, Jetlica has studied these important areas related to surface combat ships, and the phrase "cool-headed" appears the most in the evaluation of him at different times and by different commanders. While this special fleet was gradually accelerating to a speed of 30 knots in a broken combination, Jetlica remained on the open battle bridge above the armored command room, where the slight smell of smoke mixed with the sea breeze and a good viewing angle were there, and he looked for a long time in the direction where the flares were raised, where the battle began, and from where disaster struck, the fast minesweeper "Emmons", which was hit by two torpedoes, was probably completely disappeared from the sea by this time, and the flares were probably "Anthony" A special way to assist people overboard, it may also be used to attack an adversary or to coordinate the actions of friendly ships. Unable to know the actual situation on the battlefield, Jetlica could only place his command of the battle with his trust in the three destroyers who were fighting independently from the fleet. …,

After a while, Colonel Angelo climbed onto the bridge of the battle ship with a look of chagrin on his face, and before he could speak, General Jetlica looked up at the ghostly luminous object and said, "It is directing the submarine to track us and wait for an opportunity to attack, it may be that there are enemy submarines lurking in front of our route." ”

The Colonel stood two paces away and stopped, his eyes showing a kind of despondency that almost gave up.

"What is the depth of the ocean floor in this area?" Jetlika suddenly asked this question, which seemed to have nothing to do with the war situation but made people faintly feel that there was a deep meaning in it, Colonel Angelo was stunned for a moment, he thought about it with difficulty, and replied:

"I think it's above 500 meters, average."

Jetlika nodded, "Then they shouldn't sink us here." ”

"All they want is the main body of these two atomic bombs?" Angelo reluctantly uttered the speculation.

"I've been thinking about it for a long time, and while I'm not sure of the true intentions of the adversary in this bizarre series of moves, I don't think there's much point in simply preventing these two from reaching Europe, when there are already several atomic bombs deployed to Europe," Jetlica said. Now that we've been in a situation we've never encountered before, and they're using at least two secret weapons at the same time......"

"I see what you mean, but what do we do now?" Colonel Angelo asked in a tangled manner, "Do you want me to go and ask Envoy Legerhall and Dr. Mante to discuss?" ”

Jetlica turned his back and said, "The doctor is an expert in atomic bomb technology, and he can't help at all in terms of combat, as for Leghol's envoy...... It suddenly seemed to me that we had relied too much on the information he had provided. ”

Angelo's eyes widened: "Hearing you say this, I have similar feelings, but I can't find the crux of the problem, is he ......"

Jetlika didn't answer directly: "Envoy Legerhol's luggage was strictly inspected before it boarded the ship, wasn't it?" ”

Angelo didn't understand what the fleet commander meant by this rhetorical question.

Jetlika said in a deep voice, "Whatever is wrong with him, or what is wrong with Dr. Mante and his technical team, we will have to wait until we reach our destination to find out." For now, I'd rather put my trust in you and your crew, and of course the other loyal and reliable beauties in this fleet, and we have to find a way out of the current predicament immediately, otherwise everyone's spirit will collapse in the continuous suppression. ”

Angelo immediately puffed out his chest: "All the officers and men of the Boston are absolutely obedient to your command!" ”

Jetlica took a step forward, leaned closer to Angelo, and explained, "Then ...... next?"

Angelo didn't say a word, just nodded.

At the almost extreme high speed, the five large and small ships slightly adjusted their formation, turning into a column with the light cruiser "Vincennes" in front, the heavy cruiser "Boston" in the center, two destroyers and a fast minelayer behind. However, no matter how fast the ship was, it was still as fast as the contemporaries, and this time the uninvited luminous body hung over the fleet like the moon, and was more active than the moon, which changed its position slowly—it would dive down from a high altitude without warning, until it suddenly turned when it was still a few dozen meters from the top of the mast; It would follow the fleet column from above the Vincennes, its dazzling light shining on the Star-Spangled Banner on each ship's mast in turn, and when it reached the last ship, it would climb as quickly as if it were under fire from a gunfire attack; It would also fly to an altitude almost level with the deck of the Boston, circumnavigating horizontally several hundred meters from the ships. Knowing that the speed of the guns can reach hundreds of meters per second, it is easy for people to have the intuitive judgment that they can hit the opponent by firing, and the nervousness makes the light cruisers in the front of the fleet and the destroyers in the rear have "misfired" their guns, but the officers and crews soon realize that they are facing an opponent that can be measured by conventional thinking, and that the dexterity of the luminous body is ashamed of even the most cunning loach. It is like a naughty child, the more desperate its opponent tries to catch it, the happier and more active it becomes, and in turn when people ignore it, it will try to get the attention of its opponent. Feeling bored, it flew into the distance in a depressed way, and disappeared as hard to find as it had come -- the precision radar of the heavy cruiser "Boston" had only detected a few points of light in a straight line, and the speed of the target calculated by the instrument easily exceeded 1,000 kilometers per hour. …,

The prank was finally over, and the dazzling flares were left far away. In order to avoid exposing the fleet's precise position when emitting radio waves, Jetlika ordered radio silence to be maintained, and the special fleet was still racing at full speed at sea, and their column also danced a "waltz", this precautionary maneuver was not a conventional Z-shaped anti-submarine route, but an S-shaped maneuver to evade torpedo attacks, and this irregular turn made it difficult for potential torpedo attackers to accurately attack at medium and long distances, without slowing down the voyage too much. Over the next hour, Captain Anglo made a tour of his cruiser, and he reported to Jetlica about the boiler room, engine room, and anti-aircraft gun emplacements: the boilers and turbines were suffering from high wear and tear due to the continuous high-speed sailing, but fortunately, in this era when coal-fired boilers and steam turbines were no longer traditional, no one was dehydrated and exhausted by the harsh high-temperature working environment; The ammunition consumed by the previous bombardment of the anti-aircraft guns was only a small percentage of the overall stockpile, but it also led to the appearance of two wounded, these unlucky people were hit by the hot shells of the discharged guns, and they were not in good spirits.

From the perspective of a veteran admiral, these situations are all in common sense, and Jetlica silently waits for news of the two departing destroyers. Not long afterward, the "Patton," which went to the rescue of the sunken warship, sent a telegram saying that the "Anthony" had been torpedoed and damaged half an hour earlier, and the good news was that the damage was not too serious, and there was no danger of sinking after emergency repairs, and most of the crew members of the "Emmons" who had fallen overboard had been rescued, and the bad news was that many of the sophisticated equipment, including the fire control radar, had been damaged to varying degrees and had basically lost its combat effectiveness as a destroyer.

Calculating the time distance, Jetlika made a decisive decision to let the "Patton" escort the "Anthony" back to the continental United States, which of course means that the fleet's escort force is weakened, but as long as it lasts for a few hours, the battle fleet composed of the Essex-class aircraft carrier "Oliscany", another cruiser, and two destroyers can multiply the self-defense force of this special fleet, and the addition of dozens of carrier-based aircraft also gives them the first opportunity to get out of the passive situation.