Qi Yiming was also heavily relieved after learning that Britain did not plan to withdraw. He felt that Margaret Thatcher was ruthless and tough, but in fact she still had the indecision and foresight of a female politician. From the very beginning of the punishment war being characterized, Qi Yiming knew that Britain would be unlucky this time.

Wanting to show muscles to make others fearful, but not wanting to lose too much, this tangled mood can be described as a taboo in military operations. Now that the Southern Liberation and the British are mainly concentrating on sea and air battles, Yu Qi Yiming is not at all broken. In the end, Britain chose the wrong opponent.

Of course, all this is what Qi Yiming wants to see.

After many twists and turns, the Royal Navy task force has finally arrived in the Indian Ocean, and the vanguard detachment has been stationed at Diego Garcia Base. The port is in good condition, the island itself is small, and there is a V-shaped lagoon, which is suitable for ships to take shelter from the wind. However, despite the many construction activities carried out by Britain and the United States, it was still somewhat difficult to station dozens of British warships at one time.

Britain had hoped to use the ports of India or Sri Lanka for docking and replenishment, but both countries rejected the British request on the pretext of maintaining neutrality in the war, forcing Britain to concentrate all its ships on the narrow Indian Ocean islands.

The singleness of the staging areas also posed a threat to the British army.

After arriving at the Diego Garcia base, the Type 82 destroyer Bristol and three British Type 21 frigates began to patrol and alert in the waters near Diego Garcia in order to meet the aircraft carrier battle group formation that arrived later.

Hugo, the captain of the Bristol? White did not pay much attention to this task, in his opinion, more than 3,000 kilometers from Malaya, the endless sea surface, and the radar system on the island were enough to help the British army monitor any enemy, not to mention that he did not think that the PLA Navy was capable of fighting at such a distance.

The Bristol, which he commanded, was the only Type 82 destroyer in the British fleet, with an experimental destroyer, and the largest destroyer in the British army. After the Falklands War, the ship dismantled the Ikara anti-submarine missile and Limpo deep bomb launchers, added one twin 20-mm GAM-B01 anti-aircraft gun and two twin 30-mm GCM-A02 anti-aircraft guns, and replaced it with a new 1022 anti-aircraft search radar and SCOT satellite communication system. Overall, the ship's anti-aircraft capability has been greatly enhanced, and this is also the choice made by the British military in response to the strong air force strength of the Yugoslav Liberation -- the Type 82 destroyer with strong air defense leads three Type 21 frigates with better versatility to carry out air defense alert missions.

"The weather in the southern Indian Ocean is much better than London and Portsmouth are now, and it would have been a good trip if there had been no war!" Captain White said gleefully.

Perhaps infected by the captain, the rest of the crew on board the Bristol also appeared relaxed, as if the planes that had been killed more than a week ago did not belong to their British Royal Air Force. In general, the stronger the military, the stronger the imbalance in development and exclusion between the branches of the military, and the people in the navy are naturally a little dissatisfied with the people in the air force, and there is actually schadenfreude when they see that they have been beaten by the South Liberation Army.

It's just that just as everyone was wandering on the sea like a garden party, the British sailors on duty suddenly shouted: "Incoming! incoming！ There are anti-ship missiles coming! ”

Captain White was shocked, "How is it possible, there are no ships or planes in our radar range at all!" ”

During the Falklands War, due to poor electromagnetic compatibility, the Type 42 destroyer had to turn off the long-range air warning radar to reduce electromagnetic interference when communicating with the London command department by satellite communication. But it was such a small oversight that eventually led to the sinking of the Sheffield, and the super flag with Exocet missiles sank the British destroyer that was known as the strongest destroyer at the time.

Learning from the lessons of the Falklands War, the British army later made more improvements to the existing ships, and installed the SCOT satellite communication system for the Type 82 and other dry ships in order to prevent the recurrence of the tragedy.

Although the captain of the Bristol, White, was relaxed, he did not relax to the point of seeking death, and the air warning radar on his ship was turned on throughout the whole process, and if the plane of the Southern Liberation entered within 200 kilometers, it was impossible for him not to search for it, and even if it carried out ultra-low-altitude penetration, it was impossible for him to have such an elusive missile launch method.

What is even more tragic is that as an old ship in service in the 70s, the Sea Javelin carried on the Bristol has no way to deal with ultra-low-altitude cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles. This is also the reason why she was later equipped with more anti-aircraft guns for Lu He. It's just that whether it is a 20mm or 30mm anti-aircraft gun, the British army uses a relatively primitive manual control, which cannot automatically track the incoming target like a real close-in defense gun, and the rate of fire is also limited, so the effect is naturally doubtful.

This anti-ship missile immediately increased its speed after entering the final stage, entered the supersonic penetration, and the penetration trajectory also became a strange snake, which made it difficult for the British gunners, who were already a little too relaxed, to grasp.

The anti-ship missile pierced the Bristol's amidship waterline and waited for more than a second before causing a violent explosion. The strong shock caused by the explosion directly overturned many of the ship's crew, including White, and what was even more unfortunate was that the missile directly penetrated the power compartment of the destroyer, blew up the two gas turbines, and the oil exploded with the explosion, causing a fire, and directly killed several British sailors who were responsible for power, although one missile could not directly sink this large destroyer with a displacement of 7,000 tons, but it also basically made it lose its maneuverability and attack capability.

White shook his somewhat groggy head and shouted, "It's a submarine!" ”

It is not a surface ship or a low-altitude penetrating attack aircraft, so there is no doubt that it came from a submarine that launched a submarine-launched anti-ship missile. White naturally knew that during last year's RIMPAC joint military exercise, a Chinese submarine killed all sides, which attracted the attention of the navies of various countries, and later Japan, Australia, Canada, and other countries were very interested in China's submarine and proposed to purchase it.

The Southern Liberation was supported by China, so it should be normal to have a few Chinese submarines.

"At such a close distance, she was not found, is the Chinese submarine really so quiet?" White felt a great pain in his heart, the anti-ship missile just now was estimated to have hit within 80 kilometers, and even the submarine may have been ambushed around the patrol fleet. Both the destroyer and the frigate had some anti-submarine equipment, including medium-range search sonar and hull sonar, but the enemy was not found at all.

"The bold Chinese actually dare to send a submarine to attack us!" White was furious, but there was nothing he could do, and he could only mobilize the entire ship's soldiers to deal with the damage, hoping that the Bristol would not follow in the footsteps of the Sheffield and sink in the sea.

"Order other ships to intensify the search for submarines in the surrounding waters!"

As soon as he finished giving the order, he heard exclamations from several frigates almost simultaneously: "We are under attack!" ”

In the same mode, in different directions, more submarine-launched anti-ship missiles were shot out of the water, and then directly attacked these British frigates. Compared with the huge Bristol, the 3,000-ton Type 21 frigate is more vulnerable, and after the Arrow frigate was hit by an anti-ship missile, it directly triggered the detonation of other weapons on board, the bow of the front ship was blown off, and the whole ship slowly sank, and the captain had to immediately organize an abandonment and retreat.

The other two frigates were not much better, they were both hit by an anti-ship missile, although they were not unlucky enough to be sunk directly like the Arrow, but they were already crumbling and had no counterattack capability, especially the anti-submarine equipment on the ship was basically destroyed, and it was impossible to organize anti-submarine warfare.

White was disheartened, knowing that their four ships were basically playing, but he would not admit defeat so easily, with the help of the communication system that could still work normally, White connected with Diego Garcia's friendly forces, and shouted: "Please send large anti-submarine aircraft and anti-submarine helicopters to join the operation, we are facing more than two enemy submarines attack!" ……”

His choice is undoubtedly very correct, although he was captured by Qi Yiming before and took away two hunting fans, but the British still have several large anti-submarine patrol aircraft that can bear a variety of tasks here, plus helicopters such as Bobcats that can also perform this kind of tasks, which can form a good suppression for arrogantly dissolving submarines in the south.

Submarines are unable to carry out air defense, and anti-submarine planes that drop anti-submarine buoys have weapons such as torpedoes and anti-ship missiles. So it is generally believed that surface ships are weak against submarines, and submarines are also weak against anti-submarine aircraft.

White's opponents were not just two, but six. Qi Yiming recently received 10 foreign trade versions of S20 submarines from domestic base shipyards. Although these submarines are smaller than the 039A, they use the AIP system of fuel cells, which will not be exported to the world, and the performance is better. It can carry 18 heavy torpedoes or anti-submarine missiles, especially the submarine-launched YJ-83 missile, which is an excellent weapon against surface ships, and even has the combat strength to deal with underwater submarines.

Passively waiting for the arrival of the British fleet, and then opening up the frame to fight, has never been Qi Yiming's style, carry forward Taizu's guerrilla warfare spirit, in the wide and warm Indian Ocean, the 12 S20 submarines he scattered will greatly weaken the British army, and squeeze out their range of activities.

Before the British anti-submarine aircraft took off to support, several submarines fired 533mm torpedoes and anti-ship missiles, and finally sank all four British warships, and when a hunter finally felt the sea, all he could see was the stern of the Bristol exposed to the sea, and the British soldiers who fell into the water crying and waiting for rescue.