Attack?! The bearded captain's words suddenly made everyone break out in a cold sweat, and there were Chinese ships everywhere, wouldn't it be a life to exchange life for a torpedo attack at this time? The anxious first mate didn't expect his chief to play such a game at this juncture, so he hurriedly asked, "Sir?" ”

"Execute the order, XO (first mate)." The bearded man had a calm expression, but he had no intention of explaining.

"No, sir, I need an explanation." The first mate looked at the bearded commander sternly, he did not carry out the order, and as the first officer, he had the right to question the captain's order, especially if he thought that the captain's order was most likely wrong.

Although the U.S. military has the same emphasis on command and discipline, it has a high degree of freedom for officers and soldiers relative to other countries, especially those that enforce the laws of the continent. It is difficult to imagine that in the Chinese military, there will be a situation where subordinates directly question the orders of their superiors and refuse to carry them out, but in the American military, once the orders issued cannot be understood and are questioned, even the generals must explain and explain the orders, otherwise his subordinates have the right to refuse to carry them out. Although the consequences are similar at home, the military cannot punish a soldier or officer who refuses to carry out an order if the court-martials ultimately find that the subordinate is not at fault.

The situation is similar today, and if the bearded captain's prestige is enough to convince everyone, the first mate may not question his orders. However, it is clear that the bearded captain, despite being the supreme commander of the ship, is not prestige enough to make people unconditionally accept this order that may lead to his death.

Looking at his first mate, the captain felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart. He had only been in this submarine for three months, and although he had not been estranged from the officers and men of the submarine, his prestige was not enough to convince everyone, and after a little thought, the bearded captain had no choice but to compromise and said: "I want you to launch an attack on those two targets, just to divert the attention of the other party." We have now been discovered, and we can't escape if we continue like this, we can only find a way to get out of the other side's sight again, and the torpedo attack can divert their attention so that we have a chance to get out of their sight, and there is nothing else we can do. ”

"But it will undoubtedly irritate the other side." The first mate looked at his captain and said righteously: "If we still can't escape after attacking the other side, then the angry Chinese can kill us all in the sea without any responsibility, because we attacked first, sir." ”

"We don't need to sink each other." The bearded captain said: "I just need the torpedo to attract the attention of the Chinese, and then we will be able to break away." Before the torpedo hits the opponent's submarine, I will order the torpedo to be actively detonated, and then use the chaotic battlefield to stealthily dislodge. ”

"We were so close to them that even if the torpedo could attract attention, it wouldn't buy us enough time." The first mate disagreed with the captain and said: "On the contrary, it is very likely that the other side will initiate countermeasures, and what if the other side fires torpedoes at us at that time?" ”

"They won't have that time." The bearded captain said: "You also said that we are too close, so I can only take risks, and the current situation is that once the other party turns on the active radar again, we will definitely be discovered, surrounded, and then captured, do you want to be prisoners?" ”

The first mate was silent, and he still had doubts about whether to trust these commanders who had only been in charge of the submarine for three months, but the bearded captain didn't give him more time to think, and said directly: "We are not too far from the guard circle of the USS George Washington, as long as we can get out of the sight of these two Chinese ships, we will definitely be able to hide and see here?" ”

The bearded captain pointed to a topographic map of the bottom of the sea and said: "This recess is just enough to accommodate our submarine, as long as we hide in it when the torpedo explodes, turn off the engine and hide, it is impossible for the Chinese to find us, as long as they avoid this wave of search, they will no longer have the possibility of continuing to find us, because then we will be a ghost under the sea, the terrain will become our best cover, even if it is active sonar, no one can find us, once the search team leaves, We'll be able to hide right inside the George Washington's escort, you see? My XO. ”

The bearded plan does have a chance of success, and the first mate can't help but nod in agreement, but there is still a doubt that if it can't be solved, the first mate will not agree to carry out the captain's order, raised his head and glanced at the solemn bearded captain, the first mate said: "This method does have the possibility of success, but there is also the most important requirement, that is, absolute silence, sir, we can't forget the two people in cabin 7, if they make something when they are hidden, we will be all finished." ”

"Yes, I know." The bearded captain nodded in agreement, and then said, "So I'm going to stop the oxygen supply to compartment 7, without oxygen, they can't do anything." My plan takes time, so I need you to execute my orders immediately, are you still willing to support me? My first mate? ”

"Yes, I see." The first mate only thought for a moment, and then said, "I'm sorry, sir, I'll carry out your order immediately. ”

Cabin No. 7, that is, the monitoring room of the nuclear reactor, Xia Yu was originally looking at the mechanical equipment in the control room, thinking about what can be moved, what cannot be moved, and what effect it will produce if it is moved, when he was thinking about what to do, suddenly the entire cabin was dark, and almost nothing could be seen, but soon it was bright again.

After the lights were restored, Xia Yu immediately realized that something was wrong, on the monitoring panel in the control room, some values were declining rapidly, although he didn't know much about nuclear physics, but the basic things Xia Yu could still see clearly, on the monitoring panel, Xia Yu found that the neutron activity of the nuclear reactor was decreasing sharply, and the work efficiency of the reactor was decreasing wildly. Soon there was only about 1.5 percent of work left, Xia Yu was stunned, this is an emergency thermal shutdown, that is to say, the fission reaction of the reactor has stopped, what is this going to do? Xia Yu couldn't figure it out.

The nuclear reactor stopped working, which means that the equipment that is still working on the submarine is basically relying on the remaining heat capacity of the core to work, except for some related main equipment, many equipment can no longer be used, if the reactor can not be restarted within an hour, so that the reactor of the submarine is completely stopped, it is almost suicidal, because after the cold shutdown wants to start the nuclear reactor again, the time required is at least more than 12 hours, which is a fatal thing.

So Xia Yu didn't understand why the nuclear reactor of this submarine suddenly stopped working, this is in the sea, not on land, if the nuclear reactor is completely stopped, in addition to the backup power supply can also power the last oxygen exchange equipment, all the instruments of this submarine will be stopped, even so, this submarine will not be able to hold on for more than 5 hours.