"Set 5 meters and put it!"

With a whistle, a black whirring iron lump fell into the water along the slide. The bottom of the anchor was separated from the spherical part, and when the black bumps with several short tentacles rose to a distance of 5 meters from the sea, they slammed down, and the large iron balls that were pulled by the iron cables were fixed in the icy water, and there were several identical black bumps not far away.

"Alexander Vasilyevich, do these things really work?"

Major Stepankov, the deputy commander of the ship, muttered quietly, as an old major in his 50s, his head, like that of most naval officers, stiff, sluggish, and almost instinctively distrustful of new weapons and machinery. In particular, this kind of thing is still bought from foreign companies at a high price, and his patriotism makes it difficult for him to accept this.

Damn bureaucrats, damn naval ordnance, the Principality's navy should be able to make any weapon needed, but because of those damned bureaucrats, they now have to rely on the arms companies of the human camp to do it......

"Believe me, Boris Konstantinovich, as long as you have seen that thing explode, you will never doubt the decision of the naval headquarters again. ”

Captain Kolchak's tone was flat, he glanced at the blue cross St. Andrew's flag flying on a white background at the stern of the ship, and continued to search the sea as best he could.

Although he also did not like foreign companies to produce all kinds of equipment in place of his country's unsuccessful military industry, Kolchak dealt with V.E more often and was fully aware of the power and quality of the various weapons they manufactured. Objectively speaking, they are the most capable military enterprises in the world that can meet the needs of customers. As long as a customer asks for something, even if it's a very bizarre request, they can always meet it with an unbelievable product.

It's like an underwater bomb that has just been dropped, called an "anchor mine".

Affected by various constraints, the road to industrialization of the Principality has not been carried out for a long time, and when the human beings began to compete with the Tyrannical Warships, the Principality's navy was still in a half-dead state, even if it relied on the import of artillery and muskets from V.E Company to equip the navy and army, the gap between the naval power and the human camp was still widening.

In this case, the Principality's navy no longer considered going to sea for a decisive battle with the enemy. It's how to prevent the enemy from attacking the principality from the sea. According to the current strength comparison. The Principality's navy would not be able to accomplish this task even with the support of shore artillery. Once the human coalition attacks from the sea, the once-glorious Duchy Navy may have no way out but to scuttle ships to block the harbor and let sailors ashore as infantry.

The future is so bleak. The Duchy Navy had to bow their noble heads again. Seek technical support from V.E.

Old friends did not disappoint them. A batch of anchor mines was quickly provided, and the scene was explained and realized. Anchor mines proved to be exactly what the Principality's navy desperately needed - powerful. It is suitable for coastal defense and blockade, and the number is sufficient. As long as these black bumps are thrown on the fairway, after the guys who don't know anything about it break into the dangerous waters, these invisible underwater bombs will naturally send them back to their hometown. Although the price is a little more expensive, and the new toy can only be loaded and released after the current ship has been modified. But compared to the cost of building a new large artillery battleship, these are just a small amount of money.

The destroyer "Forget Me" is one of the first ships to be renovated and ready for service. The 53-meter-long, less than 300-ton boat was equipped with 10 16-pounder guns and eight anchor mines. Compared to the large warships of the human naval powers, this is nothing more than an inconspicuous ugly duckling, but it still has a chance to make the behemoths who despise him pay a heavy price.

That being said, the co-captain did not want to try such an opportunity at all. The voyage in front of him alone made him nervous.

Sailing in the Arctic Sea is never easy, and if you are not careful, large chunks of ice floe will come up. If it's just scratching and damaging the hull, you're lucky. If a hole is made under the waterline, a small boat like the "Forget Me" will not even have time to put a lifeboat, and it will sink to the bottom of the sea in three or two blows.

Sailing during the day, they can also detect ice floes early and respond to them. However, in order to improve the secrecy of mine laying, they had to be like a thief, sneakily laying mines on night flights, which was called "training to strengthen the ability to fly at night......

It's crazy. The vice-captain muttered in his stomach that it was a good thing that Vice Admiral Makarov and Kolchak were enthusiastic about improving the combat effectiveness of their troops, but should they risk losing what little good blood the Navy had left?

"What's that?"

Kolchak, who had been silent, asked suddenly, and at the same time walked quickly to the bow of the ship, and the first mate was stunned for a moment before following closely.

Leaning on the bulwark, they saw two points of light drifting in the distance, and as time passed, the faint light source became clearer and clearer, turning into two lights and a blurred outline of the ship in the monoculars.

"That's not our ship. ”

Kolchak asserted. There are no other plans for night training of warships in the vicinity today, and the Principality's navy does not have such large warships.

"It's from Albian, the royal navy's first-class cruiser 'York' and second-class cruiser 'Karen', and these guys have been training nearby lately. ”

Seeing the red and white rose flag and the name of the ship in the light from the binoculars, the deputy captain sighed and said with a numb expression.

Since the decline of the Principality's navy, its control over its own territorial waters has become weaker and weaker, and the Albiang Navy, which prides itself as the leader of the sea, has expanded in strength in recent years, and incidentally expanded its scope of activities to the territorial waters of the principality. In addition to cultivating the ability of naval cadets to operate ships, sail in formation, and combat at sea in these waters, they also conduct surveys and mapping of maps, sea conditions, and hydrographies in preparation for possible use one day.

In the face of such blatant aggression, the Principality, although annoyed, also knew that its navy was inferior to others. In order to prevent Albion from doing anything worse during this sensitive time, the elders, who had always been stingy with naval allocations, were generous and purchased a large number of anchor mines, intending to use the tactics of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" to survive this time.

The grandfathers of St. Petersburg never imagined that sometimes if you don't look for trouble, things will find you.

The two cruisers turned their bows and headed towards the "Forget Me", and it seemed that they had also discovered this side.

"Hell, this is the territorial waters of the Principality! All the personnel are in combat positions, ready to be sized! Contact the base and tell them that we have encountered a foreign warship during the minelaying mission!"

"Alexander Vasilyevich, what do you want to do? The order from above is to let us lay mines and try to avoid conflicts!"

"I know what I'm doing, Boris Konstantinovich, don't worry, I'm not going to provoke those hairless monkeys. But you know, we can't just go back. ”

Kolchak thought about "defending the last bit of face and honor of the principality" and "the duty of a soldier", while the deputy captain thought about the poor interpersonal relationship of the captain.

That's right, they can't just go back like that. It may not be a problem for others to allow the Albiang warship to act recklessly in the territorial waters of the principality, but Kolchak is a problem person, and there are many enemies and jealous people who are always looking for opportunities, but such opportunities are not common, and when they receive the news that "Kolchak has fled without a fight in front of the enemy who has intruded into the territorial waters", these bad guys will definitely laugh until they breathe because of the godsend.

Since Kolchak is at fault, he, the deputy captain, cannot escape joint and several responsibility. Although he may not be sent to the gallows, his career will be over, and if he is unlucky, he will be sent to the permafrost at the other end of the Ural Mountains to be reunited with his family in the "Gulag Archipelago" forced labor camp......

The vice captain couldn't help but shudder, he still had many plans for life, and the "Gulag Archipelago" was not one of them. But it's obviously not a good choice to go up and fight two heavyweight opponents like this.

The vice-captain's head was running faster than ever, he was thinking of a way to get the best of both worlds, for the sake of his life and his family, his wife and children, he tried his best to explore and think, give him a little time, he will definitely find a way to get through this crisis safely.

Unfortunately, time is not infinite. And at this moment, another factor that contributed to the aggravation of the situation came.

"Sir. ”

The sacrificial non-commissioned officer in charge of controlling the communication gem saluted and said something that made the co-captain's scalp tingle.

"The base instructed us to drive away foreign warships. ”

Looking at the huge ship opposite, and at the boat on which he was standing, and at Kolchak, who was full of determination, the deputy captain pressed the pocket of his jacket with the portrait of his wife, and quickly made a cross. (To be continued......)