Episode 134 Advancing East

The Qingyu and the Yitian shot down a Japanese bomber and two Japanese fighters in succession in one day, and since then, the morale of the two submarines has soared, and their self-confidence has quickly swelled, and the original anxiety about this voyage has now been swept away. For a while, it seemed as if no matter how many Japanese planes came, they could easily shoot down. The girls in the boat sang in unison as they worked, and the two submarines cleaved the waves and rushed forward on the calm sea, like two light dolphins.

But both captains knew they couldn't be overly optimistic. Three Japanese planes were shot down, and one of them had to be in contact with the rear. Now, the Japanese base camp is likely to have learned that there are two such a pair of submarines in the East China Sea. And most of them will also know that these two submarines have powerful anti-aircraft fire, which can easily shoot down Japanese planes.

In other words, the next time I see a Japanese plane, it will probably not be one or two. If it still encounters a Japanese plane cruising alone, then it is better to say that it can still be shot down with relative ease. But if there is a plane sent to search for them, it must be a small group. At that time, the submarine will probably have to dive urgently.

The reason why Xiang Xiaoqiang dared to engage in air defense submarines was because of such a concept: When a submarine encounters an airplane, it can hit it if it can hit it, and it can dodge if it can't hit it. And no matter how powerful the firepower of a surface ship is, once it is entangled by the enemy's swarm, it is equivalent to a black bear encountering a swarm of bees, and it can only be beaten and unable to escape, such as the Bismarck and the Yamato. Submarines, on the other hand, are fighting or leaving, and the initiative is in their own hands. You can drill down into the water at any time, and no matter how many planes there are, you can't find it.

Of course, when diving, you will definitely face a ghost gate, that is, the plane drops depth charges. But because it is facing the plane, it is just a "ghost gate", and the past has passed. Several planes dropped a maximum of a few depth charges, which were blown up when they hit it, and they couldn't be blown up if they couldn't. Unlike facing a destroyer, it takes a long time to be bombed after diving, and you have to fight bravely, and the Grim Reaper always hovers overhead. And the endurance of the aircraft is very limited, it is impossible to stay on it like a destroyer and wait for the submarine to come out of the water. The submarine hid underwater for two hours, and the plane had to turn back.

It's already past five o'clock in the afternoon, and it's close to dusk. Both submarines understood that after the hour in front of them, there would be no air threat.

However, at six o'clock, as the twilight was falling, the Blue Ray noticed two more planes flying from the south. Both are all fighters. The distance between the two sides was shortened to about 6,000 meters, and the Qingyu recognized that it was a Japanese fighter. It had just reminded the Etienne to prepare for battle, but the two Japanese planes suddenly changed course and separated, forming a large circle from a long distance. It seems that he does not intend to close the distance, but just observes the Ming submarine.

This distance was beyond the range of the submarine's weapons, and the two submarines did not dive, but kept their course and continued to sail eastward, while always aiming many guns at the enemy planes.

Just as the Japanese machine was observing in a circle around the periphery, the captain of the Qingyu climbed up to the conning tower, held up the binoculars and observed for a moment, and said:

"They must have heard of our existence, or they would have pounced on us. Now they are definitely reporting to the base. We also want to report to the base. After all, this is still the air supremacy zone of our army. ”

Immediately afterward, she gave the order. The communications officer of the Qingyu began to send a report to the East China Sea Fleet base. At the same time that the Japanese aircraft reported the position of the Ming submarine, the Ming submarine was also reporting the position of the Japanese aircraft.

Just a few minutes later, two Japanese fighters suddenly rolled on their sides at the same time and dived down.

"The Japanese seem to have finished their report," said the captain of the Aotsu, staring at them nervously, "to try their skills." Okay, let's practice with him. …… Girls, knock them down!! ”

With that, she slipped into the conning tower. Only a few artillery groups remained outside the submarine.

"Bang Bang ——!!!"

The 40-mm Bofors fired first. But the two Japanese fighters did not dodge either, and dived at great speed, while flames were spewed from the sides of the fuselage. Two rows of small snow-white water columns suddenly exploded on the sea in front of the submarine, all the way to the deck of the submarine.

There was a "clanging" sound on the deck of the submarine, and sparks flew from the lightly armored steel plates. There was also a burst of sparks on the armor baffle of the Bofors electric gun mount on the foredeck. The three female soldiers of the artillery crew were huddled behind the baffle and were not injured.

As soon as the fighter flew over the submarine, it immediately climbed with full power. The Japanese pilot also saw the powerful firepower of the submarine, which was beyond his mental preparation. Moreover, when he dived just now, he also knew in his heart that his plane had been hit by several bullets, and at this time he could only get out of the battle as soon as possible and could not fight again. The fuselage was hit by at least two or three machine-gun bullets, and the vertical tail was not very flexible, and it was estimated that it was also cut by 20-mm shells.

However, it is no longer up to him. The fighter could not fire from the back, and now was the perfect time for the submarine guns to "pursue" him. Rao is he stepped up the throttle, and immediately felt a few strong vibrations of "ping pong" - and then, he felt that the plane did not obey the call.

The Japanese pilot, sweating profusely, turned his head to look out, and saw that a bowl-sized hole had appeared in the right wing, and black smoke was spewing out. Then, with a bang, a fire burst out of the wound. - It is clear that not only the wing was badly damaged, but also the fuel pipes in the wing were damaged.

Before he could think of what to do, the right wing flew out at once, and suddenly the sky and the sea spun rapidly. The pilot's eyes were black, and he let out a miserable howl, and shouted out with the only consciousness he had:

"Long live His Majesty the Emperor!!"

On the Qingyu, the crew members watched as the right side of the fighter jet erupted fire, dragging black smoke and turning into the sea. This time, they all had experience, and instead of meaninglessly "shooting the water dogs", they quickly turned the muzzle of the gun and coordinated with the Etian to attack another fighter.

The first Japanese fighter dragged a long smoke and rushed into the sea fiercely, shattering and splashing a long string of white waves. The other Japanese fighter made a smart choice, and instead of diving down, he turned around and climbed as hard as he could, tried his best to extend the distance, and gradually, flew out of Bofors' range.

The fighter circled the area and flew away far to the south.

This time, on the decks of both submarines, cheers of joy rang out. The girls were sweating profusely, their cheeks were red, they all took off their steel helmets, shook them desperately, jumped on their feet, shouted loudly, laughed and jumped, and frantically vented their nervousness.

They were completely aware of their own power, and they were completely free from fear. From the nervousness and fear when he first set sail, to the sudden discovery that he is the strongest, this psychological impact is huge. It's like bungee jumping, the first time you get scared, but once you jump, you get hooked, and you can't wait to jump a second or third time.

By this time, the two submarines had already shot down four aircraft, one of which was a twin-engine bomber. This is only the first day, and it can be described as fruitful. If it comes back for a few more days - according to Xiang Xiaoqiang, it will "recover the cost".

Twenty minutes later, at nearly half past six, four black dots appeared in the south in the afterglow of the setting sun. Soon, four more appeared.

Visibility is not very good at this point. The submarine could barely tell that it was four dive bombers, followed by four fighters.

In this case, the two submarines can be regarded as a strong enemy. The captain of the Aoi was not about to take risks. She ordered an emergency dive. At the same time, the order was also transmitted to the Eternity to the north by signal light.

Two submarines began to drill down quickly to the surface. At the last moment when the sea flooded the conning tower, the 20-mm Ericon cannon at the top was aimed at the enemy aircraft, ready to open fire at any moment. However, the enemy planes in the distance did not accelerate and pounced. It seems that two submarines have not yet been discovered.

Visibility is already poor, it is more difficult to see the sea from the air, and the dark gray shell of the submarine blends well with the surface. On the contrary, the sky is still very bright, especially in the south, the rainbow is still a sunset afterglow, the sun is not dazzling, and the black dots of several planes are dotted in the sky, which is still very conspicuous.

Just as the Qingyu had completely penetrated into the water and the Etienne was about to dive into the water, the last gunner of the Etienne, who was drilling into the hatch, inadvertently glanced to the west, and immediately shouted:

"Aircraft !!"

Immediately, the surrounding sea water rushed over and quickly flooded the top of the conning tower. She didn't care about anything, and immediately drilled down, wring the hatch to death.

"Wow!"

Sandwiched by the last big splash of seawater, the gunner jumped down with a ladder, like a chicken in soup. But she didn't care, and immediately pointed to the top and shouted:

"Airplanes! Another plane is coming! Probably ours! ”

"Run your!"

Without saying a word, the captain slapped her in the back of the head, and the gunner, knowing that now was not the time, quickly pulled out his legs and ran towards the torpedo compartment to increase the weight of the front...... After all, now that the submarine has been urgently dived, what happens on the surface has nothing to do with the submarine. The only thing to do now is to speed up the dive and increase the chance of breaking through the "ghost gate".

Besides, it's hard to say whether the new plane above is from the Ming army!

Airplanes really appeared to the west. There were a total of four four-plane formations and sixteen planes in front and rear, exactly one squadron. Moreover, it was the Ming fighter jets that flew from the land-based airfields of the East China Sea Fleet in the west. At this time, the Ming army's naval aviation was generally still a kingfisher fighter, because at present, the new Goshawk fighter should give priority to ensuring land aviation and ensuring air superiority in the two land battlefields in the northeast and northwest.

But even with the Kingfisher, performance has the upper hand. Moreover, after all, it is less than two hundred kilometers from the Zhoushan Islands, and it is far from the combat radius of land-based fighters. The only "airfield" of the Japanese army in this sea area is the aircraft carrier Akagi. The Ming army had its back to the mainland and had many land-based airfields, so it sent planes to "have a lot of money". After receiving the report from the Qingyu just now, a squadron of fighters was immediately dispatched to search for Japanese planes in the waters around the area.

Now, tomorrow the two armies will meet in a narrow way.

The four Japanese fighters and four bombers were at an absolute disadvantage, as soon as they spotted the Ming aircraft group in the distance, the four bombers immediately turned around and fled, and the four fighters bravely met the fight, trying to block the pursuit of the Ming fighters.

But this is simply in vain. The Ming army left twelve fighters to deal with the four Japanese fighters, and the remaining four fighters increased the throttle and chased after the four Japanese bombers.

So, in less than ten minutes, the battle ended without suspense.

Eight Japanese planes dragged long smoke into the sea. Two of the Ming planes were damaged and barely able to return; One was shot down, and the pilot parachuted. The remaining Ming planes also returned after dropping smoke markers and glowing markers.

Half an hour later, a seaplane arrived, and in the last rays of the setting sun, it found the pilot who had parachuted with the help of smoke markers and glowing markers, and rescued him.

At seven o'clock, it was completely dark.

On the black sea, two submarines came out one after another, pulled open the throttle, and sailed eastward at high speed.