When the Second Fleet was discovered by US reconnaissance planes, the First Fleet was also discovered, but it was discovered that the First Fleet was an attack nuclear submarine.

The US submarine arrived in Micronesia on August 31. Its main task was to search for the Chinese fleet and, if necessary, attack the Chinese fleet heading to the war zone. Because before that, the submarine was operating in the waters west of the Mariana Islands to deal with the Chinese transport fleet from Naha to Guam, when it arrived in Micronesia, it happened not far north of the First Fleet.

As early as September 1, the boat detected the noise from the First Fleet.[]

According to the combat records of the boat, on September 1, the noise emitted by large warships during high-speed navigation was detected intermittently.

As a result, the boat did not immediately confirm that what was discovered was the main fleet of the Chinese Navy.

This is understandable. First of all, the distance is too far, and the distance cannot be measured or direction-finding cannot be measured; secondly, the intermittent noise increases the difficulty of detection; thirdly, there are dozens of islands and atolls nearby, which interfere with the noise; finally, there are not only the first fleet, but also many transport ships. Don’t forget that the Chinese army has just entered Micronesia and needs to transport supplies to the islands where the troops are stationed.

On the night of September 1, the US submarine named Sophie sank a 10,000-ton transport ship.

This submarine has such a strange name, mainly because of the first captain of the boat, or the construction chief's casualties during his tenure. At the request of other officers and soldiers, the US Department of Defense agreed to name the officer, but the construction chief's name was too difficult to pronounce. After soliciting the opinions of the family, it was finally named after the construction chief's favorite little daughter, which also created a new way to naming the US Navy submarine.

During the entire war, nearly 100 submarines in the United States were named after ordinary people.

The US Department of Defense did this, more or less to convince the people that this war was defending the interests of all American citizens.

At that time, the Sophie sinks not a Chinese transport ship, but a Micronesian ferry.

When it was sunk, there were more than a thousand passengers on the ferry, more than 700 of whom were women and children, and all civilians who came out of Palikir.

At that time, China and the United States fought for several years on who sank the ferry.

The reason is very simple. The waters where the ferry was sunk are overlapping areas for the Sino-US naval naval battles, and both submarines of the two countries are active here.

It was not until after the war that after salvaging the mission computer of the "Sophie" that it was confirmed that it was the "result" of the US military.

However, at that time, the captain of the Sophie did not know that he was sinking a ferry because the noise of the ferry was more like a fast cargo ship.

In fact, this ferry was built by China for Micronesia in 2042. It uses the power system and propulsion system provided by China. The ship type is similar to that of the fast cargo ship. The same power system and propulsion system are widely used on the 10,000-ton fast cargo ship. The result is that in the "ears" of the submarine, this ferry is a Chinese fast cargo ship.

Of course, this is just a small episode.

After sinking the ferry, the captain of the "Sophie" believed that the Chinese main fleet should be somewhere south of Micronesia, because the Chinese Navy had captured Ponape Island, and the fleet did not need to stay in the north, but would go south to attack the Solomon Islands.

In addition, the fleet noise that was intercepted before was also in the south.

It is precisely so that the Sophie went south on the night of September 1st, and on the morning of September 2nd, he discovered the First Fleet not far ahead.

However, the Sophie failed to send a telegram immediately.

The reason is that the submarine unknowingly drilled into the anti-submarine network of the First Fleet, with at least two anti-submarine warships nearby and several anti-submarine patrol aircraft.

What made the US captain even more frightened was that there were still many anti-submarine patrol aircraft patrolling back and forth.

Of course, this is just a conclusion drawn through noise.

In fact, the anti-submarine network of the First Fleet was not tight at that time. The one judged by Captain Sufi as an anti-submarine patrol aircraft was actually an inclined rotary wing aircraft that was responsible for transportation tasks, because the First Fleet was using an inclined rotary wing aircraft to transport Marine officers and soldiers to nearby islands, or to transport combat supplies to islands that were already controlled by the Marine Corps. Of course, this mission should have been completed by the landing fleet, but the landing fleet was busy transporting engineering equipment and engineering supplies to Pornpei Island near Pornpei Island.

Of course, this is also related to the lower battlefield alertness.

You should know that at that time, the First Fleet was more than 2,000 kilometers away from the Solomon Islands, and the Second Fleet was in charge of combat surveillance missions in the front, so Gong Jifei didn't have to worry about anything. All he had to do was to let the aircraft carrier's flight deck empty and dispatch fighters to cover the Second Fleet when necessary.

The result was that he asked some escort warships to deliver combat troops and combat supplies.

Coincidentally, in the direction where the Sophie entered, there were two anti-submarine warships carrying out the mission arranged by the commander.

This is understandable, because when the Sophie was looking for noise to move south, it tried its best to make use of nearby islands and did not move in the deep sea. Among the few nearby islands, four of them were the established occupation targets of the Chinese Marine Corps, and they had occupied them before that.

As a result, the Sophie had to immediately reduce its speed to below twelve knots and swallow its anger underwater.

You should know that the two anti-submarine warships near the Sophie are very slow. As long as the passive sonar on the warship is in working state, you can find fast-savvy submarines.

After slowing down, the captain of the Sophie discovered that the Chinese aircraft carrier was still more than 100 kilometers away, exceeding the range of the torpedo.

Obviously, the US captain would not be stupid enough to attack anti-submarine warships. Even if the sneak attack succeeds, it means that it will be immediately surrounded by a large number of anti-submarine patrol aircraft. If a Chinese Navy's fully electric submarine lurks nearby, the "Sophie" will be done before the anti-submarine patrol aircraft arrives.

What the captain of the US military can do is to quietly approach the main target.

If we can ambush Chinese aircraft carriers, even if there is a danger of burying the sea, it will be worth it.

But before this, you must not expose your whereabouts.

As a result, the Sophie took several hours until around 1:30 pm to arrive at the closest Chinese aircraft carrier about 40 kilometers away.

This distance can ensure that the heavy torpedo runs at full speed.

In fact, the First Fleet dispatched carrier-based fighter jets around 11 o'clock, which helped the Sophie, because both aircraft carriers released the fighter jets while sailing in the wind, and the windward direction was facing the Sophie. If that was not the case, the Sophie would not approach the target until about 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

Of course, this also brings a problem, that is, the two aircraft carriers are further separated.

Unless the captain of the Sophie was confident enough to get closer, he would have to attack one of the aircraft carriers.

Obviously, the American captain was not sure enough.

You should know that it is already a great thing to be able to shorten the distance to forty kilometers. Moreover, around the Sophie, there are at least six escort warships and more than a dozen anti-submarine patrol aircraft, and at least two of them are anti-submarine warships dedicated to submarines.

The American captain did not hesitate anymore and made an attack decision.

At the same time, the decision to send a telegram was also made.

At 1:35, the Sophie first threw out the communication buoy and then fired four heavy torpedoes at the nearest aircraft carrier, the Tarzan.

At that time, the speed of these four torpedoes was set to forty-five knots, and they were in line guide mode.

Four minutes later, the torpedo launched by the Sophie was discovered. The direct sign was that at least four anti-submarine patrol planes flew over and threw sonar buoys all the way.

At 1:41, the Sophie cut off the torpedo wires, let the torpedo sprint at a maximum speed of 75 knots, and threw out the second sonar buoy, claiming to injure at least one Chinese Navy super aircraft carrier. This was also the last telegram from the Sophie. Four minutes later, the anti-submarine patrol aircraft discovered the Sophie and sank the American submarine with an anti-submarine torpedo before 1:50.

The two telegrams were sent to French and immediately played a role.

Strictly speaking, the report of the Sophie is indeed correct. With the performance of the US military torpedo, at least one torpedo will hit the target when it is four-on-one.

At about 1:47, when the Sophie was avoiding anti-submarine torpedoes, the Taishan was hit by a heavy torpedo. The officers and soldiers on the Sophie must have heard the loud noise of the torpedo explosion, because this was the last message in its mission computer.

Unfortunately, it was not until the third year after the war that this submarine, which changed history, once again surfaced.

At that time, the left balance hull of the "Taishan" was hit by torpedo, and more than ten cabins near the explosion point were flooded, with the inlet volume exceeding 5,000 tons. However, the "Taishan" did not lose its combat capability. After controlling the inlet water, Gong Jifei asked the captain to inject equal amount of sea water into the right balance hull, and closed the auxiliary thrusters on the balance hull on both sides, using only four thrusters on the main hull.

The result was that the "Taishan" with a water inlet volume of up to 10,000 tons could still continue to fight, but the maximum speed was reduced from forty-five knots to forty knots.

For aviation operations, this has little effect.

You should know that the design standard of the "Tarzan" is that even at zero wind speed on the deck, carrier-based fighter jets can be ejected at maximum weight. Letting the aircraft carriers launch fighter jets when sailing in full speed is mainly to reduce the output power of the electromagnetic catapult and increase the service life of the catapult.

For French, this is obviously not the case.

These two telegrams gave him two extremely important battlefield information. One is that the Chinese main fleet is still very far from the Solomon Islands, and the other is that there is a very likely one of the Chinese main fleet that has lost its combat capability, that is, the aviation combat capability of the Chinese main fleet has been reduced by half.
Chapter completed!