Episode 132 Target, Airplane!!

The two ships that were converted into anti-aircraft submarines were named "Yitian" and "Qingyu". The name of the boat is derived from Cao Cao's two swords during the Three Kingdoms period: the Heavenly Sword and the Qingyu Sword. It is said that the Qingyu Sword later fell into the hands of Zhao Zilong and became Zhao Zilong's sword.

The two anti-aircraft submarines traveled in tandem, rounding the southern tip of Zhoushan Island and then passing east through the waterway between Putuo Mountain and Zhujiajian. Ahead of us is already the boundless East China Sea, and only in the north can I still see small islands emerging from time to time - that is the Zhongjieshan Islands, which is the easternmost sub-archipelago of the Zhoushan Islands. There are many small islands like this in the Zhoushan archipelago, and most of them are uninhabited, except for the slightly larger islands, which have fishing villages. On many of these uninhabited islands, the East China Sea Fleet built batteries or observation posts, stationed a small number of marines to garrison them, and relied on speedboats for daily supplies.

Three hours later, at nine o'clock in the morning, about 8,000 meters to the north, the Four Sisters Island was vaguely seen. These are four small islands that come together and are the easternmost group of islands in the Zhongjieshan Islands. It can also be said that it is the deepest island in the East China Sea in the entire Zhoushan archipelago. Sail past the Four Sisters Island, and then to the east, there is the endless East China Sea.

The fort defenders of the Four Sisters saw the Etienne and the Celestial. The battery flashed its signal lights:

"Take care! Peaceful! ”

The Yitian and Qingyu dragged the white waves eastward, and at the same time returned to the signal light:

"Thank you!"

The northern fort faded away and landed on the west side behind it. Gradually, there was nothing to be seen around except seawater. And, of course, the dazzling sun in the southeastern sky.

Now, it has completely sailed out of the range of the Zhoushan Islands, and is completely surrounded by the ocean. The two submarines were like two small ants, crawling forward inch by inch on the great plains, looking unusually small.

If the submarines in normal times sail, at this time, they should go their separate ways, sail to their respective "hunting ranges" to carry out cruises, and search for enemy ships separately. But now, the Yitian and the Qingyu have no intention of separating at all, and they are still walking together. In view of the fact that this is the first time that an air defense submarine has sailed for hunting, it is of great significance, and only victory and defeat are allowed. Two submarines traveling in tandem can multiply the anti-aircraft firepower. Therefore, in the battle plan, the two submarines must be closely accompanied from beginning to end.

On the conning tower, the positions of the four machine guns are also the four observation positions. The four Heavy are also observers. In addition to these four observers, two more observers were added to the conning tower of each submarine, six each. Three of them were responsible for the observation at 12 o'clock, 9 o'clock, and 6 o'clock, according to the current course, that is, due east, due north, and due west. These three observers also have to take care of the direction between the three directions, that is, northeast, northwest, and southwest.

In other words, the three people in the north are responsible for the observation in six directions.

However, the other three are responsible for much smaller observation ranges, namely southeast and due south. Observing the southeast at the same time are two people. Because the southeast is exactly the direction of the sun. Enemy planes, on the other hand, always like to take advantage of the sun's cover until they are very close before diving down to attack. In a word, now the southeast direction is a high-risk direction. In the afternoon, it's southwest.

The two telescope lenses in the southeast and due south are both dark-coated and can look directly at the sun. When the angle of the sun changes, or when the submarine turns, the two coated telescopes also change position, always facing the direction of the sun.

"Target - Bomber Group !!" The communications officer and observer directly south of the Qingyu suddenly screamed, "Distance—5,000 meters!! ”

A junior officer next to him didn't say a word, and shouted at the hatch:

"Emergency Dive !!"

Immediately, the sharp alarm bell rang inside and outside the submarine, and the observers on the conning tower quickly rushed into the hatch, and the gun crews on the front and rear decks also quickly unfastened their safety belts and drilled into the side hatches of the conning tower.

The foredeck of the Twinkle has been swallowed up by the sea. The Communications Officer was the last to go down. She went down, waved the signal flag twice at the Yitian, signaled it to dive urgently, and then also drilled into the control tower and screwed the watertight door. By this time, the sea had reached the top of the conning tower.

A few hundred meters away, the Etienne was also making an emergency dive, and the foredeck had already been drilled into the sea.

Moments later, both submarines were completely underwater, leaving only a large patch of white foam churning on the surface. Soon, even the bubble was gone. The entire sea returned to calm, as if the two submarines had never existed.

Inside the Qingyu submarine, the red police lights flashed rapidly, the alarm bell sounded, and all the crew ran to the torpedo compartment at the front of the submarine without their lives, and the whole submarine was filled with the sound of chaotic footsteps, screams, and the sound of cups, plates, and tea jars falling on the floor...... Ping Pong, sparse and noisy.

The boatswain cowered beside the aisle and shouted:

"Quick! Fast! Fast! Just run fast! Otherwise, you'll die! Run, run!! ”

The girls skillfully sprint through the narrow aisles. A person in front slipped and fell, and the person behind him propped up the bed on both sides with his hands and jumped over her head with extraordinary vigor like a vaulting horse. Then the one who fell also rolled to the side and got up, and continued to rush forward......

The torpedo compartment at the front was already crowded with thirty or forty people, all lying on the ground, snuggling up to each other, piled up into a "mountain of people". There were still people rushing in the back, rushing directly to the "mountain of people", joining in, splashing a "ouch" sound.

Soon, all the crew members of non-important posts were crammed into the torpedo compartment. Dozens of people greatly increased the weight of the front part of the submarine, greatly accelerated the submarine's diving angle, and also accelerated the speed at which the submarine drilled to depth.

The boatswain was the last to come in, scanned the dozens of little girls who were piled up in a mountain of people, and his face was pale, and he put his index finger to his mouth, glared at him, and whispered:

"Shh......h

At the same time, point upward.

Everyone kept their mouths shut, no one said a word, and dozens of people huddled together turned out to be so quiet. Everyone stared nervously upwards, staring at the steel plates and pipelines above, holding their breath, praying and waiting for the explosion.

In the command compartment in the middle of the submarine, several officers crept to their posts, nervously busy with their own business. The captain held the chart table, grabbed the hair of **, and picked up a towel to wipe the sea water on his face. The remnants of the water that poured in during the dive still trickled down the hatch of the control tower overhead.

Although this time it was an airplane, not a destroyer, it was impossible to look for submarines with sonar, but everyone still habitually remained quiet. In the silence, the engineer gave the order in a soft voice:

"8 degrees in the bow and 6 degrees in the stern. …… Okay, hold it down, take your time......"

Following her command, the two operators on the opposite side of the chart table steered the front and rear diving wings steadily, and the submarine slowly adjusted the angle of the lower front. The two small columns of water in the angle gauge rise and fall, and the hands on the depth gauge move little by little: 45 m...... 50m…… 55m…… 60m……

Everyone's hearts were gradually filled with doubts: they had been diving for so long, and they had not heard an explosion. This is not normal, could it be that enemy planes flew past us and dropped bombs from a great distance?

The sonar soldier in the next cabin wore headphones, closed his eyes slightly, and slowly turned the steering handle, carefully recognizing the sound coming from every angle. If there is a faint explosion in the distance, that's right.

The chief engineer kept the submarine down to a depth of about 80 meters, and the captain said:

"Alright, first at this depth."

The chief engineer then instructed the operator to adjust the bow and tail diving wings and slowly "flatten the submarine".

This "submarine detachment", the Qingyu is the flagship. The captain of the Blue Ray is also known as the "Fleet Commander". At this time, the captain ordered the communications officer to contact the Etienne, and the two sides maintained a common course, speed, and depth.

Although once the submarine dives underwater, it is basically cut off from communication with the outside world, but now the two submarines are very close to each other, and it is completely possible to use sound waves instead of radio waves to communicate. Both submarines are equipped with special underwater sound systems that send sound waves into the sea like telegraphs. Using seawater as a medium, sound waves can travel a considerable distance.

"Ding...... Ding Ding ...... Dingdingding...... Ding Ding ...... Dingding......ding"

"Melodious" high-frequency sound waves spread in the surrounding seawater, transmitting the code. If there were destroyers, submarines couldn't do that. That will only help the destroyer locate the submarine.

Soon, the Qingyu received an echo from the Yitian a few hundred meters away. According to the sound waves, the "underwater telegraph" automatically punches the signal on a paper tape and transmits it.

The communications officer tore off the tape and glanced at the brief signal, saying:

"Captain, the Etienne understands that it will be on the same course, at the same speed and at the same depth as us."

The captain nodded:

"Good."

In the silence, everyone was making a mistake. …… Bomber swarms? It's not very common! Enemy planes cruising the sea, always one or two, how can it be a group? Besides, this is just outside the Zhoushan Islands, or is it within the air supremacy of the Ming Dynasty, how dare Japanese bombers run so close? Could it be that they are here to attack the Daming Military Port? Just like the surprise attack on the Japanese military port by the Tianshu detachment?

The engineer officer stared at the communications officer, and finally spoke: "A-Ying, did you really see the bomber group?"

A-Ying, the communications manager, and the captain glanced at each other, both smiled mysteriously, and did not speak.

The engineer couldn't help but ask, "How many are there?" …… Don't think of our army's own fleet as enemy aircraft, right? ”

The captain was a captain in his thirties. She looked at the two of them and smiled, "A-Ying did the right thing. I'd rather observe a hand misreport a hundred times than miss a single one. Misreporting, we just urgently dived, missing the negative, that would be fatal. ”

Then the captain turned around and picked up the radio microphone and said to the whole boat: "Okay, little girls, don't be afraid. I'm the captain of the boat, and this is just a drill to test whether everyone's skills are unfamiliar. All right, let's all get up and get to work. ”

After saying this, the girls in the whole boat let out a sigh of relief, and sweating profusely came out. Several officers in the command cabin also closed their eyes and leaned lightly against the bulkhead, their faces flushed again. Only A-Ying was smiling and proud.

Then, the captain ordered the submarine to continue diving to fully test the submarine's deep-diving performance after modification. This step is very important, and it cannot be tested in the harbor, including in the Zhoushan Islands. The water there is too shallow, only a dozen meters, twenty or thirty meters. Now the submarine is facing tests at a depth of more than a hundred meters.

If there is any problem, it is best to expose it at this time. Even if there is a serious water leak, there is still time to urgently discharge the water and return to Hong Kong to repair it. At best, the mission is in vain. If you really have a problem when you face an enemy and need to dive deep to save your life, then it's over. At that time, not only would there be the additional pressure of depth charges, but as soon as you came out of the water, you would be captured.

The Celestial gave the Etisky command to dive further, and then began to dive itself.

100 m ...... 110 m ...... 120 m ......

The pointer on the depth gauge slowly moves from the green field to the yellow field and from the yellow field to the orange field.

"Squeaks" began to echo inside the submarine...... Chirping...... Ga...... Quack ......" moaned from the steel plates. Under the pressure of the huge water pressure around it, the pressure-resistant hull constantly emitted all kinds of terrifying strange sounds, as if it was about to break. Thin sprays of water began at some pipe joints. The engineer hurried over and tightened it with a wrench.

Now, the depth hand is slowly approaching the red zone, approaching a depth of 150 meters – a dangerous depth for the submarine's design. Dive any further and safety is not guaranteed.

The moaning of the steel plates in the boat gradually turned into a loud noise, and the "clang" was not scary. The faces of the officers and men in the boat began to slowly turn white again. They didn't know what the captain was trying to do.

"Alright," the captain smiled, grabbing the sea water from his hair, and nodded, "That's it." Let's get out of the water. ”

Several of the officers around him let out a sigh of relief, and their faces were bloody again.

The engineer officer was busy directing the operator to change the diving wing and inject compressed air into the tank to drain the water, and the communications officer was busy sending an "underwater telegram" to Etienne to get it out of the water......

On the sunny sea, a gray steel beast jumped out, and in an instant, the piercing sound of diesel engines resounded across the sea. The submarine drenched out of the sea and began to move forward with white marks and chopping waves.

Soon, another "giant beast" came out from a few hundred meters away, cleaving the waves with the Qingyu.

The canopy of the Qingyu's conning tower was lifted, and several observers and machine guns were the first to drill out and carry out alert observations. Then, the crews of the three cannons also drilled out and took their places.

At this moment, the communications officer shouted again:

"Target - Aircraft!! Bearing - 105 !! Distance – 6000 meters!! ”

A group of girls were startled, and their hearts said: Sister, you won't be able to?!

But no one dared to take it seriously, and still nervously turned the muzzle and muzzle of the gun to the southeast 105 direction, that is, the direction of the sun.

Under the sun's flare, a small black dot appeared. If you don't look closely, you really can't see it. The little black dot skillfully took advantage of the bright light and approached the two submarines.

The communications officer fluttered the signal flag at high speed, and the Etian to the north understood.

Now, both anti-aircraft submarines are raising their guns and cannons, opening their bloody mouths and waiting for battle.