Episode 119 Tragic air raid

Just when Xiang Xiaoqiang was making great plans in the zero office, on the distant sea 4,500 kilometers away in the east.

On the sea 400 kilometers southeast of Tokyo Bay, a 700-ton medium-sized submarine of the Ming Navy, the "Blackfish," is sailing southward on the sea, following a Japanese cargo ship of several thousand tons. The cargo ship probably had just come out of Tokyo Bay and was heading south, either to Australia or Europe. This was just discovered by the lookout half an hour ago, and now it is still more than 7,000 meters away. The Japanese cargo ship must have spotted the Blackfish, and seemed to understand what it was going to do, and was running away at full speed. And the Blackfish is also cleaving the waves, chasing fiercely with two white waves.

Shi Juanzi, the captain of the Blackfish, planned to catch up with it from the side and hit it on the flank with a torpedo to finish it off. For such a large cargo ship, a torpedo is almost enough. If it doesn't work, add a few more shells, and it's about the same. A medium submarine like the Blackfish already had a 75-mm anti-aircraft gun on the foredeck.

From the captain to the sailors below, the Blackfish was thrilled that it would be the first Japanese ship they had sunk. The maximum speed of the Japanese cargo ship is about 11 knots, and the maximum speed of the Blackfish can reach 16.5 knots. At such a close distance, it is only a matter of minutes to catch up with it. And now the weather is clear, the sea is calm, like a large lake, just right for small boats like submarines to take advantage of their speed. Moreover, as far as the eye could see, a few nautical miles away, all the way to the farthest point of the sea, not a single mast was exposed, nor a single black smoke was to be seen. The Japanese freighter is now simply called the heavens and the earth, and no one can protect it. Even if a Japanese warship had already received a call for help, it would have been too late to get here.

Captain Shi Juanzi stood on the bridge and looked at the Japanese cargo ship in front of her with a telescope. The sailors next to him held the signal lights and kept signaling, giving the Japanese cargo ship a final warning, ordering it to stop and be inspected, otherwise it would be fired.

Until now, everything has been done in accordance with international conventions. But everyone understands that the Japanese freighter will not stop. The artillery crew on the foredeck of the Blackfish was also ready, the shells were loaded, and as long as Shi Juanzi gave the order, they would open fire.

……

Suddenly, the observer behind him shouted:

"At five o'clock, the plane !!"

With a bang, several people on the bridge turned around and looked up at the small black dot in the sky behind right. The observer continues:

"Distance: 1000 meters, Height: Medium! Dive bomber!! ”

According to the regulations, it is necessary to dive urgently at this time. In recent days, Xiang Xiaoqiang has also repeatedly warned the submarine force through the General Staff of the Navy: Once a plane is discovered, there is no need to determine what kind of plane it is, and it must immediately and urgently dive without delay or attempt to shoot down enemy planes. Unless it's too close, it's too late to dive. Because the era of naval and air warfare has arrived.

But not everyone heeded the warning. In the more than ten years since the establishment of the Daming submarine force, it has not suffered much from the actual threat from the air. When fighting with the Northern Qing Dynasty, the Daming submarine was also harassed by the Northern Qing aircraft, but the submarine always had the upper hand. The Qing planes either fired two symbolic strafing shots or dropped a bomb from a distance, posing no real threat to the submarine at all. Submarines, on the other hand, have several records of shooting down and damaging Qing military planes. And the more this is the case, the more the Qing planes dare not approach the submarine to attack.

Now, the girls of the Daming Submarine Force have long taken the warning above as a deaf ear. In their hearts, the fear of airplanes has not yet been established. What really scared them was the destroyer.

However, because it was a Japanese plane this time, Shi Juanzi had also heard of the huge difference between the Japanese army and the Qing army. She hesitated: if she dived, the thousands of tons of cargo ship that had been tracking for half a day would be let go in vain. She was very unwilling. With such a hesitation, a few seconds passed. The best time to dive has passed. If you dive down now, you will be vulnerable to attack. The submarine is at its most vulnerable in the process of diving. Because most of the submarine's body is still exposed, but all the deck weapons are no longer in use. In this process, the submarine is a living target that cannot be resisted.

Shi Juanzi immediately ordered: shoot down the enemy plane.

A twin 20-mm cannon at the rear of the bridge opened fire, and with a loud ping-pong sound, two lines of fire flew past the plane. Copper shells clanged against the deck and tumbled into the water, white smoke sizzling.

The Japanese bomber turned to the right and quickly made a big circle and flew in front of the submarine. This flew out of the firing radius of the machine gun in the rear of the submarine, and the rapid-fire machine gun could not hit it. The 75-mm gun on the foredeck shook the barrel, and "dang" was a shot. A black cloud exploded in the sky in the distance, but it was still far from the Japanese planes. Against such a single aircraft, such a single-shot anti-aircraft gun is basically useless.

The sweat on Shi Juanzi's face fell. She ordered the submarine to reverse at full speed while the left rudder was full, slowly turning the rear so that the machine guns could fire at the plane again. But after all, one is a submarine and the other is an airplane. The maneuverability of the two sides is very different. No matter how the submarine turns, the aircraft is always firmly within the radius of the nose of the submarine.

It seems that the Japanese pilot on the other side is also a novice, and his heart is relatively bottomless, otherwise he would have dived and dropped the bomb a long time ago. He probably wanted to take the least risky approach: constantly put pressure on the submarine, force it to dive, and then dive and drop the bomb when the submarine was defenseless.

A few minutes later, another Japanese bomber broke through the clouds. Shi Juanzi's heart suddenly cooled by half.

After each of the two Japanese planes occupied a favorable position, they simultaneously dived down from both sides at a 45-degree angle and fired fiercely at the same time. The Blackfish also fought back fiercely, with 20mm guns against enemy aircraft on the port side and 75mm guns against enemy aircraft on the starboard side. The port side enemy aircraft avoided the heavy fire of the machine guns and dropped four bombs in quick succession at a distance of 30 meters from the stern.

Four huge columns of water rose into the air, almost overturning the submarine. If it weren't for the gunners wearing seat belts, they would all have to fall into the sea.

The bomb of another enemy plane exploded almost close to the starboard side, and the foredeck was filled with smoke in the violent tremor. The smoke cleared, and the 75-mm gun was covered with blood. And the four members of the artillery crew were gone. Only large patches of blood and charred black remained on the foredeck.

Tears rolled down Shi Juanzi's face in one fell swoop. Her face turned pale, she stared at the foredeck, looked around, and saw a corpse floating in the sea more than ten meters away. Shi Juanzi bit her fist and forced herself to stay awake without screaming. She trembled and ordered:

"Quick! For...... Replace the gun crew, continue to shoot ......"

Several substitute gunners hurriedly slipped out of the side hatch of the bridge and ran to the foredeck, where they were immediately stunned by the sight. Shi Juanzi scolded on the bridge:

"What a lot! Look for death! ”

Several female soldiers were so frightened that they cried all at once, but while crying, their hands and feet immediately moved, buckled their safety belts, shook the barrels, and began to perform their duties. Immediately, another black cloud exploded near the enemy aircraft.

……

The bridge hatch opened, and a female soldier shouted upward:

"Captain, the left switchboard of the motor was shaken off, a fire broke out in the engine room, and the starboard diesel engine stopped! Now the boat is full of smoke, and the sea water is coming in!! ”

Hearing this bad news, Shi Juanzi's mind buzzed, and her eyes turned black for a while.

And in the sky, the two enemy planes had already climbed up, and now they began to do a second dive, spewing tongues of fire and rushing straight down.