In the dimly lit interior of the battleship, in a narrow corridor, two welders are welding a broken steel bar in waist-high seawater, as long as this place is repaired to the point that it can isolate the seawater, then the pumping machine behind can pump the water out here, so that the battleship can at least drag the serious wounded back to the port.

Damage managers, that is, maintenance workers who are responsible for rescue and disaster relief for warships, are like the ship's personal doctors, and they are an indispensable part of a battleship. However, it can be said that these damage managers are one of the most dangerous professions, as they tend to be found in the underwater part of the battleship and work on the damaged area.

"Hey, George, I heard we didn't even see the shadow of the enemy, and we were hit!" shouted a damage control officer with a tool in his hand, and from time to time sparks from power lines burst out around him, looking terrifying.

"Shut up, Frank, don't you think we're in a bad situation enough? The damn sealed door is leaking! it's leaking!" George complained loudly as he pounded the twisted door, "All I know is that something just now broke through two decks in one go and exploded about twenty meters ahead." If you have time to be curious, you might as well think about how to close this damn door!"

"Here comes the rebar! We're getting the rebar!" Two damage managers in steel helmets and life jackets came over carrying a steel bar and wading through waist-high water, and then said loudly: "It was the German plane that hit us, I really didn't expect their plane to carry such a big bomb." ”

"Frank, hurry up and put this steel bar on the door, you and I, the two of us flatten the door with tools! you use these things to plug the remaining gaps!" George began to assign tasks, and several damage managers began to get busy.

"George!" a non-commissioned officer shouted in the distance, "The gap has been blocked on the floor below......!" The captain asked about the damage, do you have a problem here?"

There was a burst of cheers from the cabin, and it was indeed a very exciting thing to know that your warship could continue to float on the sea, and although everyone was still soaked in the icy water, they suddenly felt much warmer.

"It's a small thing, we can block this door in about 20 minutes...... As for the damage, we had to contact the people on the stern side to find out how many cabins had been destroyed. George looked at his cheering subordinates and replied loudly: "There is only one boiler room left, and if the damage on the outside is not severe, we can probably estimate that it can still be opened for 7 knots." ”

"Can't it be any faster?...... The Germans are bombing us, we need to increase our speed, otherwise we will be hit again. The non-commissioned officer asked anxiously again.

George shook his head, "Tell the captain what I said! Tell him that if he is hit by such a bomb again, the battleship will sink!"

"I see, please be sure to put the battleship in the water, and we will go home together!" the non-commissioned officer nodded and said. With that, he turned around and climbed up the hollowed-out iron staircase and walked to the upper deck.

As a veteran damage manager who had participated in the repair of the Lion battlecruiser, George was not as excited as these recruits, he tapped the pipe next to him with the wrench in his hand, and gave a loud order: "Follow my arrangement!

The speed of the influx of sea water is getting slower and slower, and the somewhat frightening tilt of the whole battleship has gradually recovered, and it seems that the battleship is saved. George let out a long breath, then took a sip of the oil on it, and washed his face haphazardly.

He leaned against the cold wall and felt the pain in his knees. Having served on warships for many years, and most of them in the company of icy waters, he had severe rheumatism in both legs, and now he may have committed it again.

"Sir, there's no danger here! Frank said with a smile as he started the pump, "If there's any problem, I'll go up and call you." After a while, the drainage will start and the problem will not be too big. ”

George nodded, got up from the wall he was leaning on, waded through the icy waters, and walked to the hollowed-out iron staircase. As he walked up, he stretched out his oil-stained palm and grasped the handrail of the staircase. He has been serving on this battleship for 9 years, and at the age of 50 this year, he has experienced World War I, and he is one of the few old guys on this battleship.

He walked up the stairs, looking at the twisted walls and bomb-pierced ceilings, listening to the loud explosions outside. Removed the hanging overalls from the wall, then took a cigarette from the pocket of the overalls and pulled out a cigarette and put it to his mouth.

"George, Captain told you to go up when you had time. He wanted to know the details of the damage to the ship's hull this time!" said a sailor running over to George.

George nodded, and followed the sailor upwards, and when they had just reached the gate of the bridge, they suddenly heard the desperate shouts of the lookout post on the mast overhead: "Torpedo, port side, torpedo, torpedo on port side, torpedo on port side, torpedo coming towards us." ”

A huge explosion followed, and George gripped the railing on the stairs of the battleship with his hand, and finally stabilized his body, and when he turned back, he found that the sailor who had sent him up had fallen from the bridge more than ten meters high to the deck.

The thought crossed George's mind as he hurriedly opened the bridge door and saw the captain with a bloody face being bandaged by the medics. And on the messy command bridge, it can be described as a mess, these officers have just gotten up from the ground, and the explosion just now paralyzed the newly restored command again.

"Captain, this ship is sinking! You must evacuate the personnel immediately! Organize the soldiers to board the lifeboats, or it will be too late!" said George loudly as he entered. He didn't want to die, he wanted to go back to the island of Britain to see his little grandson, whom he hadn't seen in years.

As he spoke, dozens of meters away from his feet, the sea water poured into one cabin after another, and the soldiers inside were submerged in the icy sea before they could escape, and the desperate soldiers knocked on the twisted sealed doors, they could not open these iron doors that were damaged by the vibration, they could only watch the sea water rush in and slowly wait for death.

The sea water with blood and broken parts rampaged through the battleship's body, flooding everywhere it passed, and the damage crew had no time to plug the cracks and gaps, and was poured into the new cabin by the sea, and some soldiers and damage managers were directly submerged in the sea, and there was no time to escape.

Frank, who was talking and laughing with George just now, was directly smashed in the head by the collapsed steel bar, and the other two damage managers around him also collapsed again because of the place they had just blocked, and the sudden influx of sea water was too much and they were drowned in the cabin, and they didn't even have time to run to the stairs less than 5 meters away from them.

"Immediately, immediately, abandoning ship!" said George, staring at the stunned captain of the battleship Malaya, "If you hesitate a little longer, hundreds of people will die in vain!"

"The explosion just now may have been a martyrdom! It doesn't have to be underwater! I have no right to order the abandonment of such an important battleship in such an unknown situation!" said the captain, pushing the doctor away.

"Whatever the explosion was! The ship was damaged enough to sink it! I just came up from below! It hasn't been repaired yet, and now there's such a big tremor, it should be completely finished!" George shouted hysterically, "Count me on! Give ...... to the soldiers below."

Before he could finish his sentence, a pen placed on the chart table rolled to the ground, and everyone looked at the tube of pens and was speechless in shock. This battleship had just released water to the other side a few minutes ago, and it had stabilized the battleship's roll, but now the rollover had reappeared, indicating that the efforts just now were in vain, and the entire battleship was indeed in danger of sinking.

"Send a message to all the posts! Get them out! Order the boiler room to turn off the power, all personnel to go to the deck! Anti-aircraft weapons continue to return fire, and everyone must put on life jackets. The captain finally glanced at George: "You lead the damage management personnel to go down and take a look at the damage, if ...... I mean, if there is still a chance of rescue, please try your best. ”

Then he turned to his first mate: "Send a signal to the aircraft carrier Eagle, just say that our ship is sinking, please organize rescue work." ”

"Captain! The middle of the hull has been shot, and the sound pipes and telephone lines in many cabins have been damaged! The people in many cabins may not get the order to abandon the ship and escape. George didn't leave, but reminded his captain loudly.

"Send someone to each compartment immediately to inform you! If there is water, shout loudly for three minutes! Make sure most people are rescued. The captain closed his eyes helplessly, for he had seen that his command bridge had tilted to the point of being quite tight.

Several officers frantically ran out of the bridge, they were ordered to find the unreachable personnel, and lead them to escape together, George also hurried downstairs, and when he returned to the main deck, he saw a sea of sailors abandoning ship and jumping into the sea. More people crowded around the lifeboats, and from time to time gunshots and warnings from the gendarmerie were heard.

George wanted to go down to the inside of the hull to find Frank and the others, but found that the stairs he had come up were already full of seawater. He looked around, trying to find his colleague in the crowd, but he found that this qiē was all in vain, because there was a pot of porridge around him, and it was not the time to look for someone at all.

He was pushed by the crowd to the side railing, and he saw that the side that had once been very far from the sea was now less than three meters away, and there was floating on the surface of the sea with leaking engine oil and dense British sailors. As soon as he tried to turn back, he was pushed off the boat by the crowd and smashed on the heads of the people below. He choked on the salty, astringent water, and struggled desperately to surface, when he suddenly saw the British navy flag fluttering down at the top of a high mast.