Communications were suppressed, resulting in poor communication that affected the entire Lions Empire's fleet. If they could receive the telegram, they would probably have heard about the severe damage to the combined fleets of Dorne and the Great Qin Empire by now.
Of course, Dorne and Qin had bad intentions. They did not inform Lions of the news that their fleet had been severely damaged or that the entire army was annihilated. They even kept it secret.
At least they didn't send the news to the Lions Empire's embassy immediately because they were busy rescuing the soldiers who fell into the water.
The fleet of the Lions Empire is too large and too scattered. Dozens or even hundreds of squadrons are stretched into a long snake formation, spanning hundreds of nautical miles. Coordination completely relies on light signals and
telegraph.
The problem is that radio silence is actually impossible to enforce: light signals and command flags can be used on warships, but who of the sailors on civilian ships have ever practiced this?
Therefore, in order to maintain the fleet, these ships still have to send telegrams most of the time, but before taking action, Lyons strictly limits the content of the telegrams and the number of telegrams.
Now that the war has broken out and their fleet has been attacked, radio silence has naturally been broken, and sending telegrams to report the situation has become a matter of course.
As the flagship of the escort squadron, the destroyer USS Lynes Empire's Stickleback took the lead and rushed towards the sea area where the Tang Army's submarine might exist. The destroyer USS Thunder followed closely behind and pounced on the target aggressively, trying to regain the ground.
They wanted to sink the enemy submarine that fired torpedoes at the transport convoy they were escorting, and avenge the sinking of the transport ships.
In fact, what they don't know is that the prey is carefully setting a trap, waiting for them, the so-called hunters, to take the bait.
In the quietly moving submarine, the crew is loading torpedoes. In the torpedo room with a full set of semi-automatic loading slides, everyone is busy.
Even with a pretty perfect design, loading torpedoes is still a very troublesome thing, and replenishing four wire-guided torpedoes at once is even more troublesome.
They need to disable the torpedo's fuze safety device and check whether the various devices inside the torpedo are normal. After all, this thing needs to be connected to the submarine through cables and controlled by the submarine, so that it can accurately hit the target.
To be on the safe side, they did not skimp on the expensive wire-guided torpedoes this time, and the submarine had already dived to a relatively safer depth of 60 meters.
At this depth, they can no longer lock onto their opponents through periscopes and can only rely on sonar equipment.
But correspondingly, they also gained benefits: without the periscope, they would not reveal their exact position. If the opponent wanted to target them, they would have to rely on sonar.
This is equivalent to bringing both sides into an environment where they use sonar to detect each other. What is competing is the accuracy of the sonar equipment and the experience of the operators.
"The enemy ship has entered the attack range! The angle is right!" The sonar soldier determined the opponent's position and gave the shooting parameters. The first officer marked the opponent's trajectory and then handed the calculation results to the captain.
"Launch torpedoes!" Of course the captain was not polite and directly ordered to launch torpedoes and launched the first round of attacks. Compared with the past when submarines had to hide when encountering destroyers, their current counterattack methods are much sharper.
With the orders issued one after another, the torpedo launch tube in front of the submarine was opened, and seawater filled the torpedo launch tube with the rolling of tiny bubbles.
Immediately afterwards, the compressed air pushed the heavy torpedo out of the launch tube, and the thick torpedo quickly headed towards its target.
As time goes by, the torpedo moves away from the submarine and quickly restores its depth: it is set at a cruising depth and will naturally rise to the set depth, ensuring that it can hit the ship at the most reasonable position.
underwater part.
They maneuvered to a position suitable for attack early, but the opponent's destroyer guessed the wrong position and exposed its broadside.
The torpedo entered the shallow water area and drew a white track on the sea surface. Then the second torpedo also came close to the sea surface. Following the first torpedo, it rushed towards the high-speed target.
The sentry on the mast of the Lions Imperial Navy destroyer HMS Stickleback, who had been watching the sea, immediately saw the abnormal situation. He pointed at the sea and loudly reminded the people at his feet to pay attention: "Torpedo! Torpedo is coming!"
The first mate on the Stickleback heard the shouting and quickly walked to the lookout position outside the bridge. He picked up the telescope and saw the white track rushing from the side and front.
He put down the telescope and turned around, just in time to see the captain also put down the telescope, so he said: "We guessed the wrong location! Or the enemy has two submarines!"
"Right full rudder! Bow to the enemy!" The captain did not think about other things, but concentrated on giving orders to avoid incoming torpedoes.
After hearing the order, the helmsman began to turn the steering wheel desperately, and the destroyer began to tilt due to the rapid steering. Their ship was not large in tonnage, with a full load displacement of only more than 3,000 tons, so it had good maneuverability and could theoretically easily avoid torpedoes.
attack.
The captain of the Stickleback actually didn't take this submarine opponent seriously. He even thought that the opponent was crazy when he saw the torpedo. It stands to reason that the commander of the submarine was confirming that the destroyer of the Lions Empire was guessing.
Once you get the wrong direction, immediately leave silently.
Now the other party actually launches an attack with great force... In the eyes of the captain of the Lions Empire, this is asking for death.
"Notify the Thunderbolt! The coordinates of the enemy submarine have been corrected...Give them these coordinates!" The captain of the destroyer USS Stickleback stared at the turn of his destroyer, watching as his bow gradually aligned with the torpedo track in the distance.
Soon, two torpedoes will pass by his destroyer, and the submarine whose position has been exposed will be sunk in this sea area like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered!
"They have fired all the torpedoes! Even the last struggle is no longer possible." The captain of the Stickleback said confidently.
The submarine sold to them by the Tang Empire to the Lions Empire only had 4 torpedo tubes on the bow. Even counting the two tubes at the tail, it could only launch 6 torpedoes in total!
It takes a long time to load submarine torpedoes. Now that the Tang Dynasty's submarine has fired all its torpedoes, it is in a state where it is unable to fight back after being beaten. The advantage is obviously on the side of their Lions Empire!