Episode 63 Hunt down the pirate ship

The captain attached himself to the microphone, and the sharp whistle spread throughout the ship, and the sailors in the sailor cabin woke up in their sleep when they heard the familiar whistle. But this was only a wake-up post, not a battle alarm, so the sailors were still sleepy-eyed. The dim red light that filled the cabin meant that it was still night. They looked at the electronic clock on the bulkhead, and it was only less than four o'clock. The sailors looked at each other depressedly, and no one understood what was going on.

Immediately after that, the captain's voice came from the overhead radio system:

"I'm the captain, brothers, listen up, we were scheduled to meet the cruise ship Princess Yongan at five o'clock, but the Princess Yongan lost its signal an hour ago. This is the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca, which is the most frequented area by pirates, and it is the second half of the night, which is also the peak time of pirate hijacking, so we suspect that the Yongan Princess may have been hijacked by pirates. At present, the whole ship is on secondary alert, and all observation posts are guarded to closely observe the surrounding sea surface. ”

Without saying a word, the sailors immediately got dressed and rushed out of bed and went to their respective posts to take their places. The observation posts on the bridge and on the deck were also full of sailors, with at least two observers in each direction, setting up high-powered telescopes, and looking vigorously at the surrounding black sea.

All the lights that could be seen from the outside were extinguished. The destroyer, which was not tall in the first place, suddenly disappeared into the black sea.

The destroyer Kuimu Wolf has a standard displacement of 1,210 tons, four 102 mm guns, two 40 mm table tennis guns, six 20 mm machine guns, four 12.7 mm machine guns, a maximum speed of 36.5 knots, a range of 2,400 nautical miles / 14 knots, and a crew of 204.

Now in addition to the four main guns and two 40-mm ping-pong guns, the remaining six 20-mm machine guns and four 12.7-mm machine guns, gun crews and several gun groups are all in place.

The entire destroyer's fangs and claws were all open, and they turned into vigilant hunters again.

The captain's voice continued:

"Listen, brethren of the ship, if any of you know more about the situation of the pirates in Malacca, report it to me at once...... Again, if anyone knows more about the situation of the Malacca pirates, report it to me immediately...... The situation is urgent, and I hope everyone understands the seriousness......"

In the bridge command room, three old advisors have also arrived, and they have already heard about the situation. Now Xiang Xiaoqiang's delegation is all in the command room.

The captain broadcast for a long time, and there were really a few sailors who claimed to know the situation, but when they called in, it was nothing more than what the captain knew.

Xiang Xiaoqiang was extremely bored, and took out a cigarette to share with everyone. For a moment, there were only a few dark red cigarette butts flickering in the command room.

The bell rang again. Eighty percent of them were sailors who said they knew the situation. The captain grabbed the earpiece:

"I'm the captain."

"Captain, sonar hears the sound of a small diesel engine at 210 directions, about 5 nautical miles."

The captain suddenly became energetic, grabbed the microphone and asked:

"Movement speed? Course? ”

The sonar soldier paused for a moment and said:

"The heading is about 240 and the speed is ...... It is estimated to be around 15 knots. …… Probably a small ship...... It could also be a submarine. ”

In the 210 direction, that is, in the south-southwest direction of the ship, there is a small ship heading in the direction of 240 5 nautical miles away. That is, it is heading in a west-southwesterly direction.

Since this is near the entrance to the Straits of Malacca, the channel is busy even in the middle of the night. But those are all large ships, mainly tens of thousands of tons of freighters, oil tankers, in the sonar heard the sound of heavy boilers, so in the middle of the night, the kind of small boats with diesel engines are not normal to move around here.

Submarine? The British fleet at Singapore Naval Port did not have submarines. There are several submarines at the Daming naval base in Songkhla, Siam.

"Qiu Yu," Xiang Xiaoqiang asked in the darkness, taking a puff of his cigarette and in the darkness, "You say, could it be our submarine?" ”

In the dark, Qiu Yu was quiet for a while and said:

"It's unlikely. If it was a submarine, they should have heard us first, and they would have been able to tell that it was a destroyer, and they should have avoided it a long time ago, or dived to sail quietly. It's not going to be so swaggering. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang questioned:

"Why do you have to dodge a destroyer when you find it? They should know that we have a truce with the Netherlands, and the destroyers in the vicinity are either ours or British, so why should they hide? ”

"It's not a question of whether it's necessary or not," Qiu said, "It's the principle of submarine survival, and if you find a destroyer, you must dodge it." Unless it is broad daylight, the sight is good, and the destroyer can clearly distinguish that it is your own country, and you must make sure that the destroyer can also see itself clearly and will not be injured by mistake, you must take shelter as soon as possible. ”

Qiu Yu paused and said:

"Besides, it's not on the right course. Its course is southwest, heading straight for the coast of Sumatra. It is impossible for our submarines to dock on the island of Pazia. There is not a single port in this area except Singapore. The coast of Pazia is very wild in this section, full of mangroves, and there is not even a small city. …… No, it is impossible for our submarines to go in that direction. ”

The captain immediately affirmed Qiu Yu's opinion.

Xiang Xiaoqiang asked again: "Could it be a British patrol boat or something?" ”

Qiu Yu said: "The British Navy ships will not come here. It has penetrated dozens of nautical miles into the Dutch East Indies. ”

Then there is only one possibility, some kind of "fishing boat". Fishermen off the coast of Sumatra are poor and their boats are motorless.

In the 30s, on this poor coast, a fishing boat with a diesel motor was installed......

The captain asked, "My lord, what shall we do?" ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang smacked his lips and said directly:

"Let's go and see! No matter what the ship is, intercept it and check it! …… If it's a pirate ship, we're in luck. ”

……

"Wow wow" screamed twice from the tweeter, followed by the captain's voice:

"I'm the captain, brethren, attention, now it's in combat mode, it's in combat mode...... Five nautical miles to the southwest, a suspicious vessel was spotted, possibly a pirate ship...... Now let's stop it...... Units ready to open fire......"

All the sailors on the ship were cheered up, full of energy, full of anticipation, hoping that it would be a pirate ship. These young men followed the aircraft carrier south from the East China Sea Fleet and had not yet experienced a naval battle. Now they heard that they might have to capture the pirate ship, and they were very excited. This kind of task, which is both exciting and not dangerous, drove many sailors away from their sleepiness.

The destroyer suddenly increased its speed, made a sharp turn, and the hull of the ship came almost halfway to the side, and the speed soared to 25 knots, and the white waves pierced southwest.

These warships fought in the East Indies, and each ship was equipped with Dutch and Malay interpreters to shout to the enemy or to accept his surrender. Now the captain called the two translators to the bridge again.

After the destroyer accelerated, there was a noticeable jolt in the command room. The captain and Qiu Yu stood firmly, the three old advisors were sitting, and they were better, but Xiang Xiaoqiang couldn't sit still, pacing around smoking a cigarette in the dark, and almost fell down several times.

Every once in a while, sonar crews report the distance between the two sides. The "fishing boat" in front of it has not changed its course or accelerated, and it should not have found itself targeted by the destroyer.

After waiting anxiously for about twenty minutes, the distance between the two sides was less than a kilometer. The boat ahead was still at its original speed, unaware.

Xiang Xiaoqiang stretched out his head and looked hard through the porthole, but it was still pitch black and he couldn't see anything. In such a dark sea, both sides do not turn on the lights, and they are not very close, so it is difficult to see each other directly. And a distance of 1,000 meters is not enough to hear each other's voices.

Sailing at night at sea, not even a buoy light is turned on, which is more and more indicative of the suspicious identity of the boat ahead.

Suddenly, the electric bell rang, and the sonar soldier reported:

"Captain, the target has accelerated and changed course!"

The other party found himself. The captain immediately asked:

"Where to go? How far is it going? ”

"There are still about 700 meters! The goal is shifting...... Okay, fixed, target new heading 310! Speed...... 20 knots! ”

The other party had originally driven towards the southwest coast, but now it turned north-northwest and fled towards the entrance to the Strait of Malacca.

The captain immediately told Xiang Xiaoqiang about these situations, and then ordered:

"Speed 30 knots! New Heading 310! Turn on the searchlights! ”

The dynamic noise increased, and the hull of the ship immediately turned sharply to the right, and the speed of the ship increased significantly. The pencil on the chart table rolls to the right, blocked by the edge of the table.

Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly felt that this was very enjoyable, chasing prey in the vast darkness, and he was absolutely powerful......

"Bang! Boom! ”

The two large searchlights were turned on, and the sea in front of them suddenly became snowy. The pillar of light swept slightly twice, and it covered a twenty or thirty-ton wooden fishing boat a few hundred meters ahead.

The people in the command room immediately ran out and stood on the open bridge, looking at it with large binoculars.

The wooden boat was shabby and had a cabin with a distinctly local fishing boat style. However, what is quite inconsistent with the identity of the wooden fishing boat is that the "fishing boat" actually drove to more than 20 knots, and white waves of dozens of meters came out behind it, and the bow of the boat jumped and jumped with the undulations of the waves, which was very much like a military speedboat.

The captain ordered to shout. The interpreter took the microphone and shouted in Malay:

"Attention to the ships ahead, we are the Ming Navy...... I order you to stop the ship immediately for inspection...... Again, we are the Ming Navy, and we order you to stop the ship immediately for inspection......"

After shouting several times, the "fishing boat" in front ignored it, and actually turned around again and fled to the left. However, the speed has not changed, and it is estimated that 20 knots is their maximum speed.

The destroyer immediately turned around, still biting at the back, and the distance was still shortening meter by meter. Now it's just over a hundred meters.

Suddenly, a figure appeared in the hatch of the small ship, and threw something at the destroyer with all his might. The thing hit the bow of the destroyer and fell into the water.

"Boom !!"

A large column of water was lifted from the surface of the water, clinging to the side of the destroyer.

"***, grenades!" The captain scolded, and ordered fiercely, "Brothers, fire!" ”

The two 20-mm machine guns and two 12.7-mm machine guns on the port side of the destroyer spewed out tongues of fire at the same time, and the fire flashed wildly on the sea surface for a while, which was deafening.

The poor little wooden boat was shattered and burned in an instant, and then the bow of the destroyer turned to the left, and rushed quickly towards the small wooden boat, rolling over it like a locomotive.

"All ceasefire! Twin-engine parking. ”

The captain gave the order, all the guns ceased fire at the same time, and the destroyer also turned off its engines, and by inertia it went around the water for half a circle, and the white waves in the stern slowly faded and dissipated.

Dead silence returned to the sea.

Two searchlights searched the sea, and in between they were all wood wreckage, large patches of oil, and a few corpses, floating face down, blood bubbling from their bodies, slowly staining the surrounding sea red.

Farther away, there were two places in the water that were splashing desperately. The snowy searchlight shone through, and it was two people holding a wooden plank and calling for help.

……

The captain was to order the dinghy to be lowered and brought up. Xiang Xiaoqiang stopped him and said:

"Wait, let's not send someone. These people are more brutal than we thought, and God knows what they're going to do. Hang the rope net on the hull of the boat, let the interpreter shout, and if they want to live, they will swim over themselves. ”

The captain thought it was so, and ordered the interpreter to shout.

The interpreter shouted into the microphone several times, but dozens of meters away on the water, the two pirates were still holding the planks and shouting loudly, as if they didn't hear them.

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the binoculars for a while, got impatient, and said to the translator:

"I told them, you translate."

He continued to observe the expressions of the two pirates with a telescope, and said in a grim voice:

"Now you have a minute, throw away the plank, swim over, and climb into the boat yourself. A minute later we'll turn around and leave, leaving you here. …… Hey, there's a couple of bloody corpses around you, and the sharks will be here in a little while...... If you want to play with the sharks, just stay there...... Let's take a look at the excitement here...... Hey? Did you really throw away the board? Hmm, don't swim too fast......"

As Xiang Xiaoqiang said a word, translated a sentence, and before Xiang Xiaoqiang finished speaking, the two pirates' faces had changed greatly, threw away the plank, and swam over desperately as fast as they could.

Several sailors stood guard on the deck with guns, and two pirates climbed up with rope nets, and were immediately knocked down and handcuffed.

Xiang Xiaoqiang went down to the deck and looked at the two captives with excitement. The first mate and the interpreter hurriedly followed.

The sailors behind them tugged at their hair and made them lift their faces fiercely. Xiang Xiaoqiang took a flashlight and shone it directly on their faces.

- Yes, dark-skinned, shirtless, and hideous-looking. Typical Malacca pirates, one of the most ferocious of the indigenous people of the East Indies.

"Welcome to the Kui Wood Wolf," Xiang Xiaoqiang stared at them with a sympathetic smile and smiled, "Now, I have a few questions to ask you, I hope you will give me face." ”