.Chapter 111: A hit

About fifteen minutes after being hit by the lightning, the hull of the USS Washington broke.

Before this, the captain had issued an order to abandon the ship, allowing the officers and soldiers to board the lifeboat. Because the hull suddenly broke, many officers and soldiers did not board the lifeboat in time. Some officers and soldiers who had already boarded the open deck jumped directly to the sea to escape, while some officers and soldiers who stayed in the cabin were not so lucky.

Fortunately, even though it was broken into two parts, the Washington did not sink immediately.

Within the next two hours, about a thousand officers and soldiers escaped from the broken front hull, most of whom were spared. In the end, there were about three hundred people who followed the front hull and sank into the sea, most of them were officers and soldiers in the front hull.

Because the reserve buoyancy of the rear hull is much greater than that of the front hull, it has not sunk.

It was not until more than ten hours later that the destroyer belonging to the 71st Fleet arrived and rescued the trapped officers and soldiers, and then sank the rear hull with a ship cannon.

The tenacious performance of the "Washington" fully proves the strong survival of the US super aircraft carrier.

Of the more than 5,000 officers and soldiers on this warship, only more than 600 were killed, and more than 100 were killed by torpedoes, and most of the officers and soldiers survived.

Of course, these are all later stories.

After the Washington was torpedoed, the California did not float in the Shanghai area, but turned east to search for the Chinese submarines that attacked the Washington area.

At this time, the US captain firmly believed that it was the attack nuclear submarine of the Chinese Navy that attacked the "Washington".

Before this, the US captain had received information that several conventional submarines of the Chinese Navy entered the Sea of ​​Japan from the Sogou Strait. However, the speed of these submarines was very low, and it was unlikely that they could arrive near Yuling Island at this time, and it was unlikely that they could pose a threat to the aircraft carrier battle group.

The question is, is the Chinese Navy only dispatched conventional submarines?

The captain of the US military did not doubt the undersea anti-submarine reconnaissance network laid in the Sogo Strait, but he felt that the Chinese Navy's attack nuclear submarine was likely to follow behind conventional submarines, quietly enter the Sea of ​​Japan, accelerate his navigation in the distant sea, and arrive in the war waters in time.

If this is true, it is not one submarine that attacked the Washington, but two submarines.

The reason is simple: two batches of torpedoes come from the east and northeast respectively, so they are torpedoes launched by two submarines.

According to this judgment, the US captain made the "California" turn to the northeast, using the noise generated when the warships in the battle group sink as cover, and quietly approached the waters where the Chinese submarines were located.

As it turns out, the US military craft has grown up very wrong.

He ignored the problem that the attack on the Washington was definitely not direct flight torpedo.

These five torpedoes were not fired by attacking nuclear submarines, but from the "Sea Dragon".

When he took action, Safimo was a little clever, and it turned out that he did it just right.

Because he had not discovered the "Virginia" class attack nuclear submarine for a long time, Safimo was very hesitant about when to take action and how to launch an attack. The opportunity was right in front of him, but when he could escape unscathed, he had to consider the potential threat.

If the Virginia-class submarine is nearby and launches a reckless attack, it will cause death.

After careful consideration, Safimo decided to use an attack method that no one had ever used in actual combat.

Taking advantage of the noise generated when the US warship was hit by missiles and made sounds and exploded one after another, Safimo first asked the weapon officer to inject water into the torpedo tube, and then opened the front cover of the tube.

Because not all warships are hit by missiles at the same time, the noise generated is intermittent, so under normal circumstances, it took more than ten minutes to complete the preparation work within one minute.

The advantage of spending more time is that the "Sea Dragon" was not discovered by a US submarine more than ten kilometers away.

After making preparations, Safimo first launched two 650 mm heavy torpedoes.

Because the US submarine is likely to be nearby, he asked the two torpedoes to sail out of the pipe at the lowest speed. However, the two torpedoes did not run directly towards the Washington, but sailed northeast first, and cut off the conductor after reaching the turning point fifteen kilometers away, turning to the Washington line.

By the same method, the "Sea Dragon" launched three more 533mm torpedoes.

In order to allow two batches of torpedoes to hit the target at the same time, three 533 mm torpedoes turned about 12 kilometers away from the Sea Dragon, which is the east of the Washington.

Because the torpedo online navigation phase is sailing at the lowest speed, the range that can be completed in just ten minutes at the highest speed took nearly half an hour.

The benefits are still obvious. Before the torpedo enters the self-guided stage, that is, before the accelerated navigation, it is still not discovered by the US submarine.

No one has ever used this attack tactic in actual combat.

But it wasn't no one expected it.

During World War II, both sides used direct torpedoes and did not have the ability to turn attack. After World War II, submarines had very few opportunities to use torpedoes to attack surface warships. The most famous one was that in the 1982 Cavaliers War, the attack nuclear submarine of the British Royal Navy used to torpedoes to sink the cruiser "General Belgrano" of the Argentine Navy. In addition, submarines of both sides also attacked surface warships during the India-Pakistan War.

Strictly speaking, using line-guided torpedoes to conduct line attacks is not a very clever tactic.

In previous years' exercises, the Chinese Navy's conventional submarines adopted this tactic. Two years ago, when the aircraft carrier was launched for combat tests, Safimo, who served as the Blue Army, commanded a conventional submarine and successfully attacked the aircraft carrier battle group covered by attack nuclear submarines. Although the Navy did not disclose the results of the exercise, Safimo became a naval celebrity through this exercise and obtained the opportunity to command the "Sea Dragon".

At that time, he used this ambush tactic, which led the escort attack nuclear submarine to the wrong direction, and then left the battlefield while luàn.

The same trick repeats itself, so it is natural that you are familiar with it.

Before the torpedo hit the Washington, Safimo let the Sea Dragon dive to 450 meters, but he was not in a hurry to reload the torpedo.

As long as there is no absolute necessity, any submarine captain will leave a torpedo in the torpedo tube.

Reloading a torpedo is not as easy as reloading a rifle. It takes at least two minutes and makes a very loud noise.

If all torpedoes are used up and they are attacked suddenly, the submarine will not be able to counterattack.

This time, the torpedo officers and soldiers of the "Sea Dragon" still adopted the old method, carrying out reloading operations when the lightning in the "Washington" exploded, and using the explosion to cover up the sounds made during loading.

Then, Safimo ordered a turn and retreat from the southwest direction.

If possible, the "Sea Dragon" had to attack the US submarines in the south and cover the retreat of the friendly boats.

Just as the "Sea Dragon" turned, the passive sonar on the side was discovered.

It is not that the silent xing of the "California" is not ideal, nor that the sonar of the "Sea Dragon" is very advanced, but before that, the "Sea Dragon" headed towards the "Washington", almost exactly towards the "California", so the side sonar did not detect the noise emitted by the "California". As the "Sea Dragon" turned, the side side was facing the direction of the US submarine. In addition, the distance between the two boats was only more than ten kilometers, and the "California" was sailing eastward at a speed of 12 knots, so the "Sea Dragon" made a new discovery.

The California did not discover the Sea Dragon. It was not that the sonar was not advanced enough, but that the Sea Dragon kept facing the stern to the south and was closer to the aircraft carrier battle group. The huge noise from the warships covered up the sound of the Sea Dragon, preventing the US submarine from discovering the enemy first.

Safimo did not hesitate and immediately ordered to stop steering and reduce the speed to two knots at the same time.

At this time, Safimo encountered a problem.

Because the course was set to 210 degrees, the Sea Dragon made a left turn instead of a right turn. When Safimo ordered the steering to stop, the starboard side was aimed at the California. That is to say, the two submarines headed exactly the opposite, not the same.

The problem is that in order to bite the California, the Sea Dragon must turn to 180 degrees again.

At a speed of two knots, the "Sea Dragon" turned 180 degrees, which would take at least two minutes.

Although the voyage distance of US submarines was negligible during this period, the noise caused by the deformation of the hull of the USS Washington was enough to cover up the sound of the submarine.

If you lose your goal, no one can guarantee that you can seize it again.

In fact, the Sea Dragon has no chance to bite the California. Don't forget that the Sea Dragon is just a conventional submarine equipped with the AIP system, while the California is an attack nuclear submarine with a maximum speed of 35 knots.

After completing the steering, even if the "Sea Dragon" is in a favorable position, it will raise the aircraft carrier to the twelve joints.

Using the AIP system, the "Sea Dragon" can reach eight knots at the fastest time and cannot sail for a long time. Only by using batteries can you keep up with the US submarine.

After entering the Seto Inland Sea, the "Hailong" did not float up and charge, and the electricity in the battery was only 80% of the normal situation. Due to long-term underwater navigation, the "Hailong" AIP system only had less than 30% of the fuel left, which was only enough to complete the task and head to the port in Northeastern North Korea.

To pursue the US submarine, the "Sea Dragon" must float up and charge when it returns.

This is the Sea of ​​Japan, not the Yellow Sea. Floating in the Shanghai under the surveillance of US anti-submarine patrol aircraft is no different from suicide.

However, the confusion in pursuing US submarines is too great.

If we can catch up with that American submarine, Safimo is not only the first submarine captain to sink an aircraft carrier after World War II, but also the first captain in the world to use a conventional submarine to sink a nuclear submarine. For conventional submarine captains, the latter is more attractive, because this proves that conventional submarines are not worse than nuclear submarines at specific times.

When Safimo was itchy, what happened suddenly caught his attention and made his decision.
Chapter completed!