"We are close enough, the range of the Mk48 is enough to attack the enemy, if we get closer, it may be discovered by the Chinese Navy, and their anti-submarine strength cannot be ignored!" XO (executive officer, chief staff officer, equivalent to the political commissar of the Chinese ship) on the USS North Dakota, a Seawolf-class nuclear submarine, said to the captain of the attacking nuclear submarine, a dense layer of sweat had oozed from his head, and the obvious pressure had made him afraid.

"No, we can't be sure how thick the armor of the Chinese battleship-like battleship is, one or two Mk48s may not be able to hit this big guy at long range, we need to hit her as much as possible, even if we can't sink her, we need to get as much intelligence as possible, and at least hit her hard." The captain said categorically, in fact, he was also very nervous, their submarine had entered within 25 nautical miles of the Chinese fleet's defensive circle, and they were very fortunate that the Chinese navy did not detect their approach, which also gave them a relatively large advantage to launch a sneak attack on the Chinese navy.

The North Dakota attack nuclear submarine is the third batch of attack nuclear submarines produced by the U.S. Seawolf class, although it is impossible to compare with China's Type 095 in terms of function, long-range attack and air defense can do everything, but in terms of submersible silent performance, it is more than the Type 095, which is very powerful.

The Chinese Navy ship formation they are eyeing is a small surface ship formation composed of an arsenal ship and a number of destroyers, the main combat mission of this surface ship formation is to provide air defense shelter for the Chinese air and ground forces in the airspace around Shuwasel Island, in fact, this arsenal ship has indeed completed this task very well, the US military has found that it is not a group of warships that continue to shoot down their fighters, but a giant warship, and the US military knows nothing about this, and does not understand how to deal with her, Fortunately, this surface ship formation did not follow a large number of anti-submarine ships, although there are many Type 054B general-purpose frigates, but the silence of the Seawolf class still makes it difficult for these anti-submarine ships to catch their tracks.

At this time, if the North Dakota launches an attack, the 5,000-ton 054B has almost no chance of surviving, and the possibility of being sunk is particularly high, and the 8,000-ton 052D destroyer may also be seriously injured or even sunk, but if the target of the attack is the 50,000-ton displacement arsenal ship, the crew of the North Dakota cannot guarantee it.

The weapons officer's voice trembled a little because of the nervousness, and he said, "To sink such a big guy, I'm afraid we have to launch all the Mk48s we are equipped with, she is too big!" ”

The captain also nodded in agreement: "The ghost knows how the Chinese began to build such things as battleships again, and such a big thing, how did they hide until now?" ”

XO has some understanding of the situation inside, he said: "Our naval academy has actually been arguing about something like that big guy since the nineties, they call this kind of thing an arsenal ship, with a huge hull and hundreds of missiles, and the main role is to resist saturation attacks and provide the fleet with almost absolute air defense. However, this concept has not been implemented by us, because not only is there a lot of technical difficulties, but the concept itself is also very problematic, the arsenal ship is basically an arsenal at sea, in other words, it is a big firework tube, a spark may detonate it, the consequences are unimaginable, and at the same time, it is not easy to maintain hundreds of missiles and systems capable of attacking a large number of targets at the same time......"

The captain waved his hand, his face was not good, he said: "But what they think is impossible, the Chinese have already come up with it, and they are using it well, we don't know how many fighters have been shot down by this battleship, and her air defense dominance at sea is unparalleled." ”

XO nodded, but still argued: "Yes, in terms of battle results, this thing is good, but such a complex system, stability and reliability are very doubtful, the Chinese have always had a radical reputation in weapon development, maybe they will suffer from unreliable weapons on arsenal ships." On the other hand, there is no doubt about the dominance of arsenal ships over air and even sea targets, but fortunately we are not aircraft or surface ships, we are nuclear submarines! ”

The captain smiled and said, "If we hadn't piloted this big baby, I wouldn't have dared to drive so close to her." ”

The weapons officer said: "The torpedo tubes are filled with water and ready for launch." ”

The captain froze: "All torpedoes, fire!" ”

The torpedo tubes of the North Dakota fired the main heavy torpedo Mk48 of the US military, which is better in performance than the Yu-6 that China was equipped with before, with a range of more than 40 kilometers, a speed of 55 knots, and a diving depth of 1,200 meters.

The sound of the torpedo speeding under the water was immediately captured by the Chinese surface ships in this water, in fact, they were still a little slack and loose before, which made the North Dakota so close to their ships. And another frustrating fact is that although these surface ships are particularly advanced, they are not equipped with torpedo defense weapons similar to the torpedo decoys used in 095, in fact, they are too hasty and poorly prepared during the operation.

"Urgently evade, prepare to collide!" The Red Alert Captain of the Tenryu Arsenal issued an order for the massive ship to continue to dodge these deadly weapons in the same ancient way as it faced the high-speed approaching torpedoes. Obviously, the captain of the ship has already identified through the guò signal that the other side is attacking only one US nuclear submarine, which is not worth activating the Iron Curtain for defense, and he thinks that the damage that an Mk48 torpedo can bring to the ultra-thickly armored arsenal ship can be afforded.

Naturally, in order to avoid the important arsenal ships being hit, the other frigates in the fleet did not hesitate to block the arsenal ships in a conspicuous way to block this wave of torpedo attacks. A 054A frigate immediately hit the hull of the ship, with its body of more than 4,000 tons, it ate three US Mk48 torpedoes alive, and the frigate was also directly damaged, killing and wounding a quarter of the officers and men on board, and only half an hour later, the frigate sank in the Solomon Sea, becoming the first Chinese warship to be sunk since the Great War.

Of the other three heavy torpedoes, two missed their target and missed, and one hit the stern of the Tenryu, damaging the tail rudder of the Tenryu, causing it to temporarily lose its high speed of more than 30 knots.

In fact, there are many small mistakes in this attack, and the war always repeats the story repeatedly, although a horseshoe guides a war defeat is a bit exaggerated, but these small mistakes can sometimes be really fatal.

The surface ship formations of the Chinese Navy themselves set off a little late due to the replenishment of weapons and the commissioning of systems, and in the hurry, not a single ship carried such a thing as torpedo decoys, since the Rabaul base was not mainly used for submarine activities, so the reserves were insufficient.

Secondly, the Navy has become very accustomed to using the Red Alert Dolphin as a good anti-submarine partner of the fleet, but this fleet does not cooperate with the dolphin operation, and in fact, the number of dolphins deployed in the entire Southwest Pacific theater is not large, which is another mistake.

There are no dolphins, traditional submarines are good, but obviously the submarines are busier, in addition to escorting the more important aircraft carrier battle group, the submarines are also involved in breaking the engagement, reconnaissance, sneak attack on the US fleet and other work, before the departure of the surface ship formation, the remaining two Type 039D AIP submarines are also unable to sail because the crew is not suitable for the local climate, which reduces their chances of discovering the US military attack nuclear submarine.

Almost all the ships in this formation had anti-submarine capabilities and carried Z-20 anti-submarine helicopters, but at the time of the attack, only two anti-submarine helicopters were searching in the wrong direction. And the sailors who stared at the towed sonar on the ship were also a little impetuous, did not fulfill their duties, did not notice some faint and specific hydroacoustic signals, but filtered them out.

Even, when the attack occurred, the captain of the Red Alert directly made the decision not to use the Iron Curtain, even if the chance of using the Iron Curtain in the foreseeable battle would not be very large, so that the giant battleship could resist the attack of torpedoes. However, the captain of another frigate made the blind heroic decision of sacrificing his life to block the eye-catching, and directly led to the sinking of the Type 054A frigate and the casualties of dozens of naval officers and men.

The only torpedo that hit accidentally injured the tail rudder, making it difficult for the arsenal ship to maneuver, and if the U.S. forces were to attack the ship at this time, the navy would probably lose this giant battleship.

However, the good fortune of the North Dakota was also over, and the attack made the location of the North Dakota directly exposed to the Chinese fleet, although the North Dakota wanted to dodge as much as possible, but a 054B anti-submarine frigate immediately launched a number of long-tasseled anti-submarine missiles, chasing the North Dakota.

In the end, two long-tasseled missiles hit the submarine attack nuclear submarine, so that the nuclear submarine and all the officers and men of the US military in it were laid to rest in the southwest Pacific Ocean, and at the moment before sinking, the North Dakota had sent all the information that could be sent back to the NATO Asia-Pacific Theater Command.

One of the most important pieces of information is that the power of the Chinese arsenal ship is damaged and trapped in the Solomon Sea, and if it is attacked with all its might, it may be able to take out this iconic warship. The arsenal is a floating arsenal that may be able to cause a violent detonation if it breaks through its armor, and the U.S. military can watch her sink into the depths.

Fargo was excited, the sinking of an arsenal ship can be equated with the sinking of an aircraft carrier, and the US military needs such a result too much to comfort the wounded hearts of the United States and its allies. So he made a decision to sink the Celestial Dragon regardless of the price!