After giving this order, Luo Zhangming glanced at Yang Shuyu, who was sitting next to him, with a little worry.

Take-off with live ammunition, and in a non-territorial sea area.

In fact, there are still certain risks.

I saw that the latter was looking at the chart in front of him with his eyes down, and did not stop the staff officer next to him from sending the order, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

It wasn't until a series of instructions and replies, that Yang Shuyu asked:

"Will the time of the mission be affected if two rounds are hung at the same time?"

"Also, if you can finally catch the other party, what are you going to do?"

As a senior commander who has been out of the front-line command post for some years, he needs to be very accurate in the command of the ship.

Neither can we interfere too much with the command and dispatch of the captain as a professional, nor can we interfere too violently and affect the authority of the captain in the hearts of the commanders and fighters on the ship.

But at the same time, it must be used as a pinnacle to ensure that the situation is under control.

In the face of the question of the deputy commander of the Navy and the pressure from unidentified foreign submarines, it is impossible to say that he is not nervous.

Luo Zhangming took a deep breath:

"According to the previous experience given by the aviation department, the new helicopter will not have an impact on the basic flight performance on the manual under the standard mount of two thunder plus hoisting sonar, and it can also ensure that a standard submarine search-attack process can be completed under a combat radius of 50 nautical miles."

In fact, he had heard about these figures from the aviation department before.

However, in the past, the actual performance of the equipment of the Chinese Navy was always discounted compared with that on paper.

So I have never dared to squeeze the performance too far.

It wasn't until that moment just now that he suddenly gained confidence.

Therefore, according to the standards of the technical manual, one more live ammunition was chosen to deal with various possible emergencies.

"As for what to do if you find the other party......

Luo Zhangming hesitated slightly, and then replied firmly:

"Although this is not territorial waters, it is also our exclusive economic zone, and in any case, it is a naked provocation for a submarine to run into our pre-designated exercise area in a state of submersion, so I think it is necessary to at least force the other side out of the water!"

On the flight deck, after the first helicopter had just taken off, the second 9696 had already begun preparations for takeoff, just in case.

Now, after receiving the new order from the captain, it is only necessary to hang another A224 torpedo with live ammunition.

This torpedo was imported from Italy at the end of the 80s to fill the gap before the entry into service of the Syu-7 torpedo, and there were only 40 in total, which was very valuable.

"The friendly plane is in the direction of the ship's advance, 20 nautical miles away, and you need your plane to quickly go to support."

The voice of the flight commander was heard from the radio equipment of the three crew members:

"I emphasize again, this is not a drill, there is no plan, and there is no predetermined sea area, take out your housekeeping skills, and you can't let the target run anyway!"

"Yes!"

The three of them replied in unison.

A few minutes later, the helicopter took off and flew in the direction of the two warships.

……

At the same time, about 20 nautical miles below the surface of the water.

The captain of the SS588 Winter Tide submarine, the second-class Usa Hayakawa Yoji, was in the command cabin, his eyes fixed on the display and control screen of the ZQQ-5B digital sonar system in front of him.

Compared to the old-fashioned sonar, where targets can only be discovered and analyzed by the sonar operator's ear, the latest digital sonar can be used as a radar to provide a more intuitive representation of the environmental data captured by underwater acoustic equipment.

Now, however, Captain Hayakawa doesn't really need this advanced equipment, because even by ear, he can hear the sound waves from active sonar hitting the submarine's hull.

For submarine officers, the sound was almost close to the death knell.

According to the results of sonar analysis, the location of the sound source should be about 15 nautical miles away.

The surface of the Winter Tide is covered with fairly advanced silocating tiles, and at this distance, the hoisting sonar used by ordinary helicopters is not enough to accurately detect the submarine in a silent state.

But if it continues like this, it will only be a matter of time before it is discovered as the other party's search range extends.

Another troubling thing is that in order to better collect hydroacoustic data, the Winter Tide was facing two destroyers with its bow head-on, but now this awkward position makes it difficult for it to retreat.

"Captain, sonar has spotted a surface target with a medium-speed diesel engine about 40 nautical miles away, which is approaching us at a speed of 25 knots."

"In addition, about 55 nautical miles away, there is a louder underwater target, like a train, but it is not fast, and there should be no threat to us in the short term."

Kenjiro Hayashihara, the first mate on the boat, reported not far away.

"The diesel surface target should be that destroyer of the French Navy."

Hayakawa's face was gloomy, but his tone was quite calm:

"This target itself is not very threatening, but unfortunately, the noise of the diesel engine completely drowns out the sound of the gas turbine of the other destroyer that is with it......"

The purpose of the Winter Tide is to lurk on the edge of the sea area demarcated by China for the exercise, waiting for an opportunity to collect as much target information as possible about the target information characteristics of the destroyer Daocheng.

This is actually a directive from the Seventh Fleet.

However, it is difficult to deploy huge nuclear submarines in the East China Sea, where the water depth is relatively shallow.

Naturally, the task fell on Haizi's head.

"Captain, are we going to sit on the bottom, or are we going to ......?"

Compared with the experienced Hayakawa, the first mate Hayashi Harahara was already in 1992 when he joined Haizi, and he had not experienced the battle of wits and courage with the Red Navy, so he was naturally a little panicked when he encountered this situation.

The former shook his head slightly:

"Don't rush to sit at the bottom, those two destroyers still have about an hour to get to the vicinity, and we have to maintain our ability to maneuver."

"Calculating the time, this helicopter that is now above us should be about to run out of fuel and return home, and there may be another one to replace it, but I studied the kind of French-made helicopter before I left, and it can't last too long in the state of submarine search."

"When the two helicopters hand over the mission, we will first turn the bow direction by 90 degrees, and then wait until the second helicopter returns, and they will have a window period for searching for submarines, and we can leave at full speed at that time."

The Winter Tide's battery can support the submarine at an underwater speed of 22 knots for more than an hour, and thanks to its excellent shape design and low-noise propellers, the submarine can guarantee a high level of quietness when using batteries.

Enough to get out of this relatively dangerous sea area.

Hayakawa's calm speech restored a calm and orderly atmosphere to the entire command cabin.

Although in general, submarines have little ability to resist in the face of the anti-submarine mode of ship-aircraft cooperation, but in the 90s, the Sea of Japan surpassed the Chinese Navy in terms of technical level too much, and it seems that a tie would be ......

Not unthinkable.

What makes the crew of the Winter Tide even more exciting is that Hayakawa is very accurate in his timing.

In a significantly longer sonar detection interval than before, the submarine finally completed a difficult 90° turn.

Next, just wait until the second helicopter runs out of fuel and the next window of time appears.

……

It should be said that Yoji Hayakawa's plan was not a problem on paper.

It's just that he didn't know that the first helicopter that had just left had been conducting a submarine search operation for a period of time before it started tracking him.

So, something went wrong with the rhythm......

"Captain, it's been 20 minutes, what's going on with that helicopter...... No point in retreating at all? ”

As the minutes and seconds passed, the command module, which had just regained its composure, became tense again.

In the submarine-searching mode of the extended spiral, the position of the helicopter is now only about 10 nautical miles away from them.

If there is only one helicopter to search for submarines, even if the distance of the target is found in active mode, it often takes many measurements to finally determine the specific location.

But 10 nautical miles, it's a bit too close.

Even Hayakawa himself gradually began to doubt the judgment he had just made.

"Captain, if this continues, the destroyers of the other side will get closer and closer......"

The first mate's voice sounded beside him again.

Compared with carrier-based helicopters, which have limited time to stay in the air, conventional submarines are bound to lose if they are entangled by surface ships.

There is little other way than to float and throw in the towel.

Hayakawa wanted to find the safest way to leave, but the helicopter stayed in the air far longer than expected, and all previous plans were in vain.

Under intense pressure, he eventually changed his mind:

"Start the battery and maintain a speed of 4 knots."

However, this decision was made a little too late......

On the water, the French AS565 helicopter, which was the first to return to replenish the consumption, returned to the mission area.

Although there is no data link, pilots from both countries can still communicate in awkward English through the most basic radios.

In fact, the 9696 aircraft had detected the presence of a target about 8-10 nautical miles away, but it had never been difficult to determine the direction.

Therefore, after lingering for 20 minutes, the Chinese sonar operator who finally waited for support asked the French helicopter to drop another wave of sonar buoys.

The latter was completely unaware of what was going on, and still thought that this was part of the normal exercise, so he naturally did as he was told.

Even this take-off, they specially brought a few more buoys to try to save face for some of the people who had just returned ahead of schedule.

"Look at these Chinese people, although their naval equipment is not advanced, the content of the exercise is so realistic......

The pilot of the AS565 helicopter said in a slightly emotional tone while dropping the buoy on the circular course.

The co-pilot next to him agreed:

"yes, it's even more like a real combat than a joint NATO exercise, and when I talked to them on the radio just now, I felt a little nervous."

"It seems that after the end of the Cold War, our navy was too relaxed, and many exercises were just formalities......

"It must be admitted that at least in terms of exercises, we completely underestimated the seriousness of the Chinese people before......"

“……”

Although the accuracy and sensitivity of the active and passive sonar buoy arrays are insufficient, they are far more efficient than hanging sonar because they can be thrown out many at once.

Soon, the French sonar operator spotted an accelerating target at a depth of about 60 meters.

The two helicopters quickly pounced in that direction......

And on the underwater Winter Tide, when he heard that a total of 8 things had entered the water, Captain Yoji Hayakawa knew that something was going to be bad.

Sure enough, within a few seconds, sound waves from several directions hit the surface of the submarine.

Now, I can't hide it anyway:

"Quick, go forward at maximum speed!"

"The ballast water tank is flooded, and the diving depth is increased to 100 meters!"

"Also, release the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) in decoy mode!"

With his command, a small unmanned underwater vehicle fixed behind the Winter Tide's enclosure detached from the mothership and headed in the other direction.

Because the decoy mode is turned on, its propeller leaves a long series of empty bubbles in the back.

While attracting the attention of sonar, it can also have a certain masking effect on the mother boat itself.

Sure enough, the sonar operator on the French helicopter quickly lost his initial target.

"The Huaxia people also arranged submarine bait in the exercise?"

The three French soldiers in the helicopter were already a little suspicious.

But in any case, they are here today, and the dignity and face of the soldiers make them have to fight this "imaginary enemy" to the end.

After a brief radio communication, the two helicopters began to use the hoisting sonar to search for submarines in a circular search mode coordinated by two aircraft.

Not long after, a third helicopter, the 9686 that returned, joined the search team.

In this case, the bait, which does not last long, will not be able to keep the Winter Tide safe all the time.

The sound waves emitted by the active sonar resounded in the ears of the entire crew of the submarine like a gong and a drum.

100 meters underwater, this scene is absolutely like a horror story.

Hayakawa still wanted to struggle with the last bit of battery power.

But he soon heard the payoff of a cardiac arrest.

"3 nautical miles, projectile into the water, speed 30 knots!"

Everyone knows that this is an anti-submarine torpedo.

"Boom-"

Before everyone could react, they heard a sound that was far louder than all the previous sounds, as if a gong was striking in their ears.

Captain Hayakawa shuddered, and it took a while to realize the source of the voice—

The torpedo hit, but did not explode.

It's supposed to be a mine.

Despite this, the moment that voice sounded just now, there were already people with poor psychological quality in the command cabin of the Winter Tide who fainted directly.

Hayakawa didn't dare to guarantee that if he didn't stick to the float, then the next time he dropped it would be a live bullet.

Moreover, the power of the battery is no longer optimistic.

"What a bunch of crazy people......"

Hayakawa sat in front of the command platform in a dejected manner:

"Float, float immediately!"

(End of chapter)

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