762 West Wind Flame (8)

The sun quickly disappeared below the horizon, thick clouds obscured the stars and moon, and the sky and the earth were pitch black. ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

No sailor likes the Indian Ocean at night, if the night in the Pacific Ocean is gentle and drizzling, the night in the Atlantic North Sea is cold, then the night in the Indian Ocean is only the tropical monsoon.

Such sea conditions are a nightmare for a submarine of more than 1,000 tons, and the waves raised by the strong wind continue to wash over the slender deck, and every officer and soldier feels that they are floating under their feet, and they are staggering with the waves.

Standing inside the enclosure, Dai Jintang's expression turned pale, because during the day he learned that Sima Lin, who had fought alongside him in the Coron Islands, had lost contact with his No. 25 tiger shark, and in the vast sea, the loss of contact with the submarine meant that the 48 sailors above had no hope of survival.

From the first day of service, they were ready to die at any time, but when it actually happened, it was sad.

Since the beginning of the war, although the submarine force is not as glamorous as the surface force, it has also made great contributions, with a total sunk tonnage of more than 1.1 million tons, 4,300 mines, and a total of 1,213 waterways and ports.

As of Sima Lin's No. 25 boat, 11 have been destroyed or missing!

Many people like to compare the Reich submarine force with their German counterparts, and always feel that the German submarine slaughter in the Atlantic Ocean makes Britain, the United States and France panic and is very majestic, but in the eyes of the Reich Navy, in addition to the fact that the Atlantic Ocean cannot be compared with the needs of the entire Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, the glory of the German submarine force is also due to the incompetence of its main surface forces of the navy.

Tiger sharks are rarely seen surfacing during the day, and even if they need to be ventilated, they mostly use snorkels to sail, and only at night these terrible killers lurking underwater will come out to breathe and recharge their batteries.

The Tiger Shark is currently the largest attack submarine in various submarines, but only three people can stand in the enclosure, and due to the strong wind and waves, the watertight hatches in front and behind the deck cannot be opened, so the sailors can only take turns to smoke in the enclosure to breathe.

So after Dai Jintang watched the meeting, he returned the telescope to the lookout, and left a vacant place for the sailors below who were waiting for their breath.

"Captain, I just received a telegram that the main force of the Indian Grand Fleet is coming at a cruising speed of 16 knots 47 nautical miles northeast of us!" Seeing Dai Jintang coming down, the first mate rubbed his hands with a red face.

Dai Jintang quickly walked to the chart.

Now 25 is going north along the African coastline, 47 nautical miles to the northeast, which means that the enemy also wants to go south along the African coastline, the sea surface speed of the tiger shark is only 16 knots, this has to be in good condition, now 19 has been soaked in the sea for 2 months, and the speed can reach 14 knots has burned high incense, but even so, he will be the first submarine to arrive at interception.

"I did the math, if we turn the rudder to the left and go sideways, we can hit them in 2 hours!" The first mate pointed to the map, licked his lips as if he couldn't get enough of it, and said: "Captain, the telegram says that at least 4 capital ships and many cruisers have been damaged there, are we ......?" ”

Dai Jintang didn't know what the first mate was thinking, to put it bluntly, it was to pick up the leaks.

Picking up leaks is a big hobby of the submarine forces. Think about how dangerous and difficult it is for a submarine to fight a main battleship protected by a destroyer head-on? But on the battlefield, it's different, if the battleship is damaged by surface forces, the submarine just needs to touch it easily, and a torpedo can let you enjoy the feeling of sinking the battleship, how cool!

At present, four destroyer patrol squadrons are pursuing them southward from the Arabian Sea, and the command's idea is to force them to take the African coastline, and then use daytime aircraft and night destroyers to constantly harass them and delay them until the arrival of the four Hebei-class ships.

This also has another intention, because the British support fleet from South Africa to the north will definitely go along the African coastline, so that after the arrival of the four Hebei-class ships, with the heavy aircraft carrier Nanchu, the two fleets can be surrounded and eaten!

Therefore, you must launch an attack no matter what, and delay the opponent's footsteps!

"Turn the rudder, go!"

"Okay. (Full text reading, all in. (.i. Want. Wen. Learning Network)"

Hearing the order, everyone got busy, and the helmsman immediately began to turn the steering wheel according to the calculated angle, but as soon as the rudder rotation was completed, a shout sounded in the direction of the enclosure: "Captain, due north, there is a situation!" ”

The lookout's figure appeared on the ladder and shouted, "I can't see it clearly, but it's large, and it's ......, and it looks like there's something like a cannon barrel." ”

Big? Barrel!

Dai Jintang and the first mate looked at each other, both of them were a little puzzled, the telegram said that it was not 47 nautical miles away? Could it be a cruiser that opens the way? It's not right either, it's big, which excludes the possibility of a small-tonnage cruiser in the first place.

"Close the hatch!"

"Retract the snorkel and prepare the communication buoy."

"The tank is ready to be filled!"

"Periscope ready."

"Torpedo preparation."

"Listen, I need directions!"

Between the waves, a large number of bubbles poured out from the water injection holes on both sides, and the submarine slowly disappeared into the sea like a deep-sea monster that occasionally came to the surface to play, leaving only a thin periscope, turning left and right.

The periscope depth does not allow the submarine to avoid the wind and waves, but rather it looks more and more bumpy, and the waves constantly crash on the camera, making the outside world look a little blurry.

"Captain, lots of noise, one o'clock position."

20 minutes later, the listener first began to provide information, Dai Jintang quickly turned the periscope to a little position, and when a wave crashed in his face, a huge black shadow made him tremble.

"Captain, what is it?" When the first mate saw his appearance, he couldn't wait to snatch the periscope to take a look.

"Battleship......, fuck, battleship for sure! A big dick! After a while, Dai Jintang, who was holding the periscope and not letting go, finally saw the black shadow clearly, and the twin heavy guns in the bow of the ship were particularly obvious under the gray starlight!

In addition to the heavy guns in the bow, there were several things similar to gun barrels poking out from the sides of the hull, and there were 2 destroyers next to this big guy to protect, which told him that this was a battleship!

Dai Jintang hurriedly handed the periscope to the first mate, and then took out a stack of thick battleship photos from the drawer of the navigation table, and one by one he could tell which one was on top of his head, and stopped when he turned to the photo of Edward VII, an old battleship of the British last class.

The Indian Grand Fleet once had 4 old battleships, both the Old Man and the French Camarang-class were destroyed in the first bombardment of Ceylon, and then three more were sunk during the capture of Salalah Port, and there are only 4 Duncan and Edward VII classes left.

A Duncan-class was sunk in the Eighths Strait, and then an Edwardian VII-class was sunk in the Arabian Sea, and importantly, the Edwardian VII class had four 233mm secondary guns, which matched the appearance of the large-caliber heavy guns on the sides just seen.

Of course, it could also be a Nelson-class battleship, but the Nelson-class belonged to the first batch of battleships after the old British dreadnoughts, flanked by twin main guns, and what I just saw was only a single barrel, and the tonnage also varied greatly.

"It's a pity, it's an old fellow."

The first mate also recognized the Edward VII, and his mouth seemed a little depressed.

"Whatever, it's a battleship!"

No matter what era Dai Jintang is a battleship, anyway, his military exploits are calculated according to battleships, not to mention that in his opinion, if he uses an old-fashioned battleship to open the way, it will definitely be the main fleet behind. Besides, if you can sink this ship, it can be regarded as avenging Sima Lin!

"Torpedo preparation."

"8000 meters away!"

"7000 meters."

As the minutes ticked by, the Indians on the sea did not know that the Grim Reaper had raised its scythe in front of it, and was still moving forward at a speed of 16 knots.

"5000 meters!"

In fact, with the range and charge of the perverted Torpedo of the Lance-3 torpedo, this distance was enough to complete the lore, and even several officers felt that it should be able to be launched, but Dai Jintang was still unmoved, and his eyes locked on the Indian.

"4000, azimuth 010, 3000 meters......, launch, all out!"

With a few soft thuds, the compressed air in the torpedo tube pushed the Lance-3 torpedo out almost simultaneously, and after a splash in the bow, the six torpedoes quickly dissolved into the night.

"Put away the periscope, the left full rudder! Urgent dive! ”

Without waiting to see if it hit, the 19th immediately dived, knowing that there were several destroyers around the opponent, and if they stayed on the surface for a long time to confirm the results of the battle, they would definitely not be able to escape the pursuit of the destroyers.

The depth gauge hand kept going down, and everyone subconsciously looked overhead.

The wait was not long, with the 47-knot high speed after the Lance-3 torpedo came out of the water, 3,000 meters did not even need 2 minutes, and when the submarine dived to 30 meters, the violent explosion sound was like thunder, and suddenly exploded above everyone's heads.

"Hit! Hit! ”

"Haha, it's done!"

Two spear-type torpedoes, almost simultaneously hit the unsuspecting battleship Indian, a total of 900 kg standard n** Not to mention an old-fashioned battleship, even if it is the Guam-class or the Imperial Taiwan-class, in this unprepared situation, it is certain to die.

Because it hit the bow position, the front of the battleship seemed to be dragged up by a big hand, and it was lifted several meters high and smashed into the water, and then it suddenly sank down and almost stood up to the sea.

All the glass shattered in an instant, the steel twisted violently, and the unprepared sailors in the cabin were also thrown up one after another, and then smashed all over the deck, and the unlucky ones were directly stabbed to death by blunt objects, and the lucky ones were also in pain.

In the blink of an eye, the entire bow disappeared, and the 16,350-ton hull, which had only fired less than twenty 305-mm training shells since its service, began to sink rapidly.

On the sea, it was as if a pot had exploded, but it was a pity that Dai Jintang had already dived in advance at this time, otherwise he would definitely regret his attack, because behind dozens of snow-white searchlight posts, there were all destroyers and armed ships converted from cargo ships.

This is not the main force of the Grand Fleet!

The four torpedoes that missed the target were still racing underwater, and a cruiser that was preparing to rush to the rescue became a second victim before it could get closer, and compared to the Indian, the 3,000-ton protective cruiser simply broke into several pieces and quickly disappeared.

"Enemy attack, inform General Campbell that we have been ambushed by a submarine!"

Forty nautical miles away, having just been attacked, the fleet, which had suffered heavy losses, turned off all light sources and could not see anything except the burgundy crash lights on the mast and sides of the ship's side.

The sailors on duty sat quietly in the corner, snuggled up to each other, and chatted quietly. When he walked past them, Cameron, dressed in a straight British Royal Navy uniform, with gray temples and a somewhat depressed expression, seemed to have returned to more than ten years ago, and the dignified Indian Fleet seemed to have become the Japanese fleet that set off from Britain and bypassed half the world and never returned home.

In the bridge, there is also only a small milky yellow lamp, and the portholes around it have also been blocked with thick cloths, leaving only a few small observation windows to prevent the light source from being seen by the enemy and exposing itself.

"How's it going?"

"It's bad." Cameron stepped onto the bridge and sat next to Campbell, who was looking at the charts.

"The American Pennsylvania was hit by a torpedo, the hull was flooded, a boiler room and three rapid-fire guns were lost, and the deck was now balanced, only the speed dropped to 17 knots.

The Arizona was hit by 2 hits, the left bow and amidships were flooded, and the speed dropped to 16 knots.

The Chester was hit in the stern, and one of the rudders had failed, and it was necessary to wait until it became clear that divers could be sent to inspect and repair it during the day.

The Brooklyn-class light cruiser USS Nashville caught fire, and the crew had been transferred to other warships, and it was no longer able to leave.

The USS Birmingham Protective Cruiser was torpedoed while protecting the Heavy Cruiser USS Northampton and had sunk. Cameron sighed and continued: "The Americans are terrible this time, maybe the Chinese are attacking them and are eager to destroy their rear forces outside the Atlantic, so all the forces invested in the latter moment hurt them a lot."

Just now, Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans has evacuated its flagship command from the Arizona to the USS Northampton, and I have had Vice Admiral Rickel Mellon of France lead his cruiser formation to protect Evans them. ”

"What about us?"

"Slightly luckier than the Americans, only the Lord Clyde of the main battleship was hit and lost 2 knots, and the others were basically unharmed, but the deck of the armored cruiser Blake tilted, and the speed dropped to 12 knots after Captain Santos kept his balance on water, and I had asked him to abandon the ship, but ......, he refused."

"I know the old guy, and he's not going to leave his warship." Campbell sighed as he swiped his fingers lightly across the tabletop.

"Both the Loyalist and the Lady Justice have been badly damaged, and I've left them behind with the Blake, and the Good Luck and three destroyers have sunk."

"In addition, the Y2 formation has been confirmed to be under siege, and Commodore Carlo and his battleship USS Albemarle (old Duncan-class) have been out of contact for 10 hours." Cameron continued: "The Y1 formation was also under siege by Chinese cruisers and destroyers, and 3 hours ago the battleship USS Republic (old Edward VII class) was hit by an ambush by a submarine and is now sunk. ”

He pointed to the charts and continued: "Brigadier General Thornton of the Y3 formation is leading the Indians 40 nautical miles southwest of our front, south along the African coastline, and if the enemy pursues south from Socotra, then they will definitely encounter it first. ”

"Judging from the location of the Y1 and Y2 formations, the enemy should still be behind us, and the fact that the plane bombardment in the afternoon showed that they were at least 150 nautical miles away from us, and the battleship formation from Gapo must have been in hot pursuit." Cameron drew two southward arrows on the Maldives and the African coastline at the same time: "The fleet from Gapo will definitely go to the Maldives, and the troops pursuing from the Arabian Sea will also go south along the African coastline, and if our judgment is correct, they will definitely carry out a night raid on us tonight to delay us for the arrival of the main force." ”

"We have to choose a path now, whether to follow the African coastline or the Maldives!"

Campbell understood what Cameron meant, and it was a dilemma.

From Hill's point of view, he would definitely like the Indian Grand Fleet to join him early on the South African route, relying on 16 capital ships at that time, including such a sharp as the prestige class, he may not be afraid of four Hebei-class and one large aircraft carrier.

But this route is not easy to follow, the Chinese destroyers and cruisers are very fast, and they can completely break the Indian Grand Fleet before Hill arrives, and once he is defeated, Hill will have to face four Hebei-class battleships alone.

Taking the Maldives is not good for itself, first of all, the four Hebei class ships that are being pursued need to be faced alone, and at the same time, there must be planes stationed there on Gan Island, but the advantage of going here is that Hill will be temporarily let go, if it doesn't go well, at least the South African fleet will not be completely wiped out by the enemy!

And there is another advantage of going to the Maldives, that is, the enemy may not think about where he is going, so as long as he can withstand a wave of aircraft bombing, he can cross the Indian Ocean from the Chagos Archipelago to the Seychelles to meet Hill, and then go south to the island of Madagascar at the same time, away from the pursuit of the Chinese Navy!

Where should I go?

While Campbell and Cameron were hesitating, a telegram changed the tide of the battle, or rather saved Hill's South African fleet from danger for the time being.

"General, the Indian was ambushed by a submarine, Commodore Thornton and the battleship, all ......." Campbell stood up in surprise, turned his head to look at the two lines, and after a long time, suddenly gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

"Left full rudder!"

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