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Chapter 93 Take risks

In Japanese, "Seto" means "narrow strait".

Seto Inland Sea is surrounded by Kyushu and Shikoku this week, 440 kilometers long from east to west, 5 to 55 kilometers wide from north to south, and 9,500 kilometers in area; there are many harbors, along the coast, port cities such as Hiroshima, Wu, Shigashiguchi, Okayama, Matsuyama and Takamatsu; there are more than 500 islands such as Awaji, Xiǎobe and Eda.

Since ancient times, shipping in the Seto Inland Sea has been very developed. It is a cultural center on the routes related to the region and the Asian continent. It was once the main salt-producing area. After World War II, emerging industrial areas along the coast were mainly steel, chemistry, automobiles, shipbuilding, oil and petrochemicals, and were called Japan's "industrial canal".

Now, the Seto Inland Sea is one of the most densely routed and busiest waterways in the world.

Hundreds of ships sail in this sea every day, mainly large ocean freighters.

For submarines, these freighters provide good cover. As long as they follow the freighter, they can avoid the anti-submarine system of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.

The problem is that following the freighter is not necessarily safe.

Except for the water depth of the Naruto Strait between Awaji Island and Shikoku Island, which exceeds 200 meters, the maximum water depth in other sea areas is no more than 40 meters, and the average water depth of most waterways is only 20 meters. At the Honeyoeu Waterway and Zhoubiao Beach at the western end of the Seto Inland Sea, the water depth of some waterways is less than 15 meters.

Although this depth is enough for the freighter, it is very cramped for the submarine.

Take the Type 041 submarine as an example. The vertical height from the top of the periscope to the bottom of the boat is eleven meters, the sensitivity of the sounding sonar is two meters, and the maximum depth of the submarine is thirteen meters. Because the sea water is translucent, it rarely enters sea areas with a water depth below fifteen meters in actual operations.

Under the cover of night, entering the Seto Inland Sea is not a problem.

But following the freighter is too risky.

"This is simply a death sentence." First mate Tetsuyoshi Yoon was even more moved than Safimo. "Although Old Xu entered the Seto Inland Sea, it was a peaceful time and he almost couldn't get out. Now let's go to the Seto Inland Sea and enter the Sea of ​​Japan from the Guanmén Strait, which is simply a trap for us."

"No matter what, Japan did not participate in the war."

"But Japan is an ally of the United States."

Safimo smiled and said, "It's useless to move. The order is very clear. Let's enter the Sea of ​​Japan from the Seto Inland Sea and must arrive in two days."

"But……"

“Instead of complaining, think about what to do.”

Wen Xiangyong sighed and said, "If we sail at full speed, we can bypass Kyushu Island and enter the Sea of ​​Japan from Tsushima Strait."

"In this case, you have to float four times a day and use a snorkel to charge the battery." Safimo glanced at his partner, "The coalition forces set up a net of heaven and earth in the Strait of Korea, and walking on the Strait of Tsubasa is a self-invested net."

"Even so, the Seto Inland Sea is not necessarily unobstructed."

Safimo nodded and said, "That's true. Although Japan did not participate in the war, as an allies, it must be secretly assisting the coalition forces."

“Just deploying a few trawlers in the Fenghou Waterway will leave us nowhere.”

"Can we think of it, can't we think of it?"

Wen Xiangyong frowned and didn't complain anymore.

"In order to draw Japan's attention, several submarines will definitely be sent to the Soya Strait, and then several cargo ships will be arranged to enter the Seto Inland Sea from the Toyogo waterway."

"What should we do?"

"Wait patiently." Safimo said, "Go to the south of Fenghou Waterway to find a place to hide and wait for the next instructions."

"If this is true, it should be mentioned in the order, but..."

"If there is no cover, it's all up to luck."

Safimo was also worried, but he didn't show it.

After Wen Xiangyong reset the route, the "Sealong" headed south to the Fenghou Waterway with a maximum cruise speed of six knots. Because it was less than ten days after leaving the port, it charged the battery in the Philippine Sea far away from the land six days ago, so the "Sealong" can submersible 1,500 nautical miles at this speed, without floating charging within ten days.

The key to whether it can reach the Sea of ​​Japan smoothly is not how quiet the "Hailong" is, but whether it can enter the Seto Inland Sea smoothly.

At this time, a large oil tanker that unloaded 300,000 tons of crude oil in Songshan Port was slowly leaving the dock and set off for Rastannura, Saudi Arabia.

As the world's third largest crude oil importer, Japan purchases 300 million tons of crude oil from overseas every year, of which 80% come from the Middle East. On the route from Japan to the Middle East, there are hundreds of oil tankers, of which more than 30 are supertankers with cargo capacity of more than 300,000 tons.

A few years ago, these tankers did not carry cargo when they returned.

In recent years, due to the global economic downturn and the shipping industry is very bleak, tankers will try to carry some liquid cargo, such as petrochemical products when returning.

Because Japan is the main consumer of petrochemical products, not exporting countries, tankers returning to the Middle East from Japan can bring goods every time.

This time, the "Hinomaru" returned on an empty flight.

According to the plan, when you arrive in Singapore, the Rinomaru will only load tens of thousands of tons of liquid cargo, and will stay in the port of Mumbai in India for two days.

None of these matters, because the main task of the Hinomaru is not to carry cargo.

After leaving the port, the Hinomaru sails at the best economic speed of 12 knots. It will reach the northern end of the Fenghou waterway after four hours, and then pass through the Fenghou waterway with a Japanese patrol boat and enter the Philippine Sea. If everything goes well, the tanker will leave the Japanese territorial waters after six hours.

This is a special arrangement. Usually, freighters do not need patrol boats to accompany them when entering and leaving the Fenghou waterway.

The reason is very simple. The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force has set up three anti-submarine isolation networks on the Fenghou waterway, and the outermost anti-submarine patrol network consists of five trawlers.

Submarines can detect fishing boats, but it is difficult to find the trawling net behind the fishing boats.

As long as it is caught by a trawl, the submarine will be in its original form.

If a submarine wants to enter the Seto Inland Sea, it must first break through this line of defense.

The volunteer army will definitely not be able to do it, so they can only ask the intelligence department for assistance.

When making the plan, Li Mingyang first thought of letting the submarine follow the freighter controlled by the Military Intelligence Agency. However, this idea was quickly rejected because the Japanese intelligence agency would definitely closely monitor all ships entering the Seto Inland Sea and make the ships turn during the sailing. The submarine's submarine will not be too fast, and even if it can keep up with the freighter, it will be difficult to follow the freighter's course in time.

The whereabouts of submarines are threatened, not only the officers and soldiers on the submarines, but also the intelligence personnel on the freighter.

It doesn't work right away, so you can only do the opposite.

According to Li Mingyang's arrangement, six cargo ships will be divided into three batches from the Toyogo waterway to leave the Seto Inland Sea. The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force will not closely monitor the departing cargo ships, and will withdraw the trawlers when the cargo ship passes to prevent the trawler from being involved in the cargo ship's propeller.

The noise generated by the freighter will also interfere with the underwater listening equipment of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and cover the noise of the submarine.

As long as the timing is right, the submarine can take advantage of this opportunity to break through the three anti-submarine networks of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and enter the Seto Inland Sea.

Relatively speaking, it is easier to leave the Seto Inland Sea from the Kan Mén Strait.

Even without the cover of the freighter, the submarine can pass through the Guanmén Bridge from a relatively remote waterway under the cover of the night.

The key is that the submarine must arrive at the exact time.

After the "Hinomaru" left the port, two more cargo ships left the port from Shimomatsu and Ube, and headed to the Fenggo Waterway.

After half an hour, Li Mingyang received the news that the first freighter would leave the Fenghou Waterway after five hours.

Everything is within the plan, and the relevant news was sent out by the Navy Command.

The four submarines heading to the Seto Inland Sea must reach the southern end of the Fongou Waterway within five hours, and take advantage of the opportunity of the freighter passing through to break through the first line of defense of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force.

The "Sea Dragon" is in the front and closest to the destination.

After receiving the news, Safimo and Wen Xiangyong both breathed a sigh of relief.

At a speed of six knots, the "Sea Dragon" will arrive at the pre-determined waters after four hours, have enough time to adjust the channel, and then find the oil tanker that is covering it.

Behind the "Sea Snake", two Type 039 ships are accelerating their navigation.

Because there is no AIP system, the two Type 039 submarines must accurately calculate the route and speed, and use the electric energy in the battery to allow the submarine to pass through the Seto Inland Sea.

The closest to the "Sea Snake" is a Type 040 submarine.

Like the two Type 039 submarines, the Type 040 submarine has also begun to accelerate.

Although as the first AIP conventional submarine of the Chinese Navy, the submarine capacity of the Type 040 is far greater than that of the usual submarine, it is still much worse than the "Sea Snake". In order to arrive at the destination in time, this Type 040 submarine had to use batteries in advance.

Everything is in the plan, and no unexpected situations have occurred yet.

The Hinomaru arrived at the northern end of the Fenggo waterway and was renowned with the Japanese patrol boat, Maki Haoyang came to Shinura and met the military adviser who came to pick him up.

Before the United States and South Korea officially declared war, China sent a military advisory group to North Korea.

After the war broke out, the military advisory group was strengthened and took on some command tasks. Until now, when Pyongyang has been surrounded on three sides and Yuanshan was captured by the coalition forces, the People's Army has not given up on resistance, and the military advisory group has played a crucial role.

Because it is only forty kilometers away from the front line, the military advisory group took on the heavy responsibility of Xinpu's defense command.

Accompanied by military advisers, Mu Haoyang took a walk around Xinpu.

The situation was not ideal, the People's Army did not collapse, but the morale was very low. Neither of the two infantry divisions were full, and one of them had a staffing rate of less than 60%. Because the coalition forces had two regiments in Hamhung, the People's Army focused on the defense line, and there were less than 2,000 defenders in Xinpu City.

Zhou Yusheng said nothing wrong, and he really can't count on the People's Army.

When Mu Haoyang returned to the command center, the special forces led by Cao Anguo had arrived.

The amphibious special forces arrived, and only about 400 people were around. This manpower seemed to be short of people in areas that needed defense, especially engineering personnel who needed protection.

But before making defense deployment, Mu Haoyang still has to solve a big problem.
Chapter completed!