A tropical storm swept across the southeastern coast. After the center of the storm, there was a mess everywhere.
The heavy rain was pouring down, and a huge Republican Navy fleet including 4 "Jiangsu" class heavy aviation combat ships, 6 battleships, and 4 large cruisers left the military port in the wind and rain.
In the South China Sea, it rains non-stop and is covered with dark clouds. Even during the day, the visibility does not exceed 1,000 meters. The wind-swept sea surface stirs up rows of huge waves more than ten meters high, even for the "Kunlun Mountain".
Under such harsh sea conditions, the heavy battleship was like a drunkard, stumbling on the sea.
At this moment, in the south of Natuna Island, on the rough sea, a battle group composed of five submarines of the Nanyang Fleet is fighting against the wind and waves on the sea.
Yang Jingwen and three sailors stood on the small bridge of submarine No. 221. He was wrapped in thick coats and raincoats. He was still shivering from the cold. The sea water rushing towards him had already drenched him all over. The sailor
They abide by their duties and watch the sea with vigilance. The telescopes hanging on their bodies are of no use. In such terrible weather, the distance that these surveillance posts sent outside the boat can see is no more than 800 meters, even those not far away.
The companions could only see a blurry gray shadow on the water.
Standing on the swaying bridge of the ship that was constantly being filled with seawater, the sea was so dull that I couldn't see anything clearly. The sea looked misty and gray in the rain. Days like this were particularly difficult to endure.
The submarine No. 221 kept struggling in the waves, heading towards Malacca at a speed of 15 knots. The black bow was sometimes buried in the water, and sometimes it was lifted up to the top of the waves.
Just when even the Americans believed that the Republican Navy's next goal was to land in Taiwan, the Republican Navy turned its guns and pointed its target at the British "fortress" in Southeast Asia - Star Island. The angry British wanted to
They declared war on the face of the Republic of China, but Britain and France were not ready for war, and their military power in Southeast Asia was really limited.
The French have approximately 36,000 colonial troops throughout French Indochina. These colonial troops, which are only equipped with rifles and a small number of artillery, are far from the French army in terms of equipment. The British have approximately 40,000 troops throughout the Malay Peninsula.
After the war was declared, two Indian divisions and an Australian infantry brigade were hastily transferred from South Asia.
The "100,000 Expeditionary Force" cobbled together by Britain and France did not begin to arrive in Southeast Asia until October.
On November 2, 1937, the Republican Navy's Southern Task Force left the base and entered the South China Sea due to bad weather. The Republican Fleet stayed away from the normal waterway and entered the crisis-ridden and rocky Nansha waters east of the Zhongsha Islands.
There is a narrow waterway here that has been confirmed by the Navy through repeated surveys.
On the evening of November 5, the weather gradually eased. Although it had been raining in the sky, the wind and waves on the sea gradually decreased. The Southern Task Force commanded by Cheng Yaoheng had entered the waters west of the Alambas Islands, less than 200 nautical miles away from Star Island.
The operation room of the Southern Task Force's flagship "Kunlun Mountain" was extremely busy. The task force commander in charge of this operation, Cheng Yaoheng, was anxiously waiting on the command tower for a telegram from the naval base in Shantou.
The British were not alert at all. Perhaps they were accustomed to the fact that the British Empire's navy had never been actively attacked by its opponents for more than a hundred years. The Far East fleet sent by the British was very arrogant, as if their trip to the Far East was not on a combat mission.
, and it was just a demonstration of force. British newspapers reported in detail the route of action of the Far East Fleet, and even the exact time of arrival at Star Island.
The intelligence agents sent by the Republic Navy could even find out the specific situation of this ship by buying a few newspapers.
The British arbitrarily believed that the Republican Navy would not launch an attack on Southeast Asia until the Japanese were completely eliminated.
It took the British and French four months to piece together an expeditionary force and a fleet composed of old battleships from World War I and arrived in the Far East. The new commander of the British Far East Fleet was Samuel.
The fleet included the Queen Elizabeth class battleships HMS Warrior and HMS Malaya, the Revenge class battleships HMS Ramillies and HMS Royal Oak, as well as the battlecruiser HMS Repulse and the aviation battleship HMS Fury.
From the above list, you can see how ridiculous the British Royal Navy is. They also regard the Republic Navy, which has 9 new battleships, as the Beiyang Navy in the pre-Qing Dynasty.
This is not surprising. If they could face up to the strength of the Republican Army, they would not choose to declare war on the Republic easily.
Soon they will pay a heavy price for their prejudice.
The cash-strapped French finally managed to collect three old battleships: Kolbe, Provence and Brittany.
At 1:40 a.m. on November 6, the 5th and 6th Submarine Groups of the Republican Navy, which had been ambushing the entrance to the Strait of Malacca, received a message from the battleship "Kunlun Mountain": "A thunderbolt from the clear sky."
This means that the entire Nanyang Operation "Operation Thunderbolt" has officially begun.
Submarine commander Cheng Keming led submarines No. 221 and No. 109 of the 5th Submarine Group to sneak into the Changi Naval Base in Singapore while the night was dark and windy.
As the capital of the Straits Settlements, Singapore is the base point for the British to control the entire Far East. The British have long been aware of the importance of this place for the British Empire to control Malaya and the Far East. In 1931, they began to spend more than 80 million pounds on construction.
Changi Naval Base aims to build this fortress-like military port into the "Gibraltar of the East."
Now more than half of this fortress-like military port has been completed, and at least on the surface it seems difficult to conquer.
In fact, the British are very lax in their vigilance here. The military port is brightly lit, and the lighthouses on both sides of the main channel indicate the direction for the Republican Navy submarines. The British destroyers responsible for patrol will come out to check every 50 minutes. Every ten minutes
With such precision, these warships turned on their tracking lights, rumbled across the sea, and returned to the harbor from overhead like trains.
The huge Far East Fleet in Changi Port only arrived in Singapore on November 3 after traveling thousands of nautical miles. The unsuspecting Lieutenant General Samuel announced that all sailors would have a five-day holiday, leaving only a few on each ship.
of left-behind personnel.
At 4:45 in the morning on November 6, the submarine surfaced. Due to the moderate rain in the sky, the harbor was pitch black. However, since the British did not implement a light control, it was still possible to distinguish the submarine through the lights emitted from the ship.
The location of those ships and the specific types of warships are unknown.
After stopping for a while, the voice of Captain Cheng Keming came from the loudspeaker inside the boat: "The fleet will launch an attack in ten minutes. Let's take action in advance! Okay, distance 3200, bearing 18, are you ready?"
"Ready, sir!" came the voice from the torpedo room inside.
Yang Jingwen focused his attention on the launch button in his hand. The fixed depth of the torpedo was 6 meters. They did not want their target to be some little guy with a very shallow draft.
"Launch!" As the order was given, Yang Jingwen pressed the launch button one after another, and high-pressure air came out of the launch tube and was released with a loud bang like an explosion.
After hearing Yang Jingwen's report, Cheng Keming's voice came out: "Full left rudder, reverse at one-third speed. Brothers, we have to turn around. How is boat No. 19? Damn, it's on the sea.
Can't see anything clearly."
The submarine was retreating slowly, and the active sonar equipped on the boat was able to capture the position of its teammates. "They are about 700 yards away from us. I heard the sound of them launching torpedoes, sir!" the officer in the sonar room replied.
More than three minutes later, as soon as the submarine finished turning its head, the sonar room heard two loud noises coming from the sea in the distance. About 5 seconds later, there were two loud noises again. I don’t know what the last two loud noises were.
It hit the ship inside but still hit the shore.
Then there was the sound of the torpedo exploded by No. 019.
"Direction 330, distance 3300, throw out the torpedoes in the rear launch tube!"
"Ready, sir!"
"beat!"
The hull of the boat trembled twice in succession, "Launch on No. 5, launch on No. 6!"
"Okay, put away the periscope! Dive to 25 meters and let's return!" The submarine returned along the original path like a snail under the water. The main channel of Changi Naval Port is 8 nautical miles long. At this speed, it will take 2 hours to complete.
Run outside.
Gudong, gudong, it was like a long train passing by at high speed on the sea.
"It's our destroyers. There are four of them. They have also begun to attack the harbor!" The crew silently counted the numbers above their heads, and there was cheering inside.
"Increase the speed to three-quarters, we have to leave as soon as possible!" Cheng Keming ordered loudly. Now is not the time to be happy. If a large-caliber shell falls, he will not be able to bear it. Luo Guibo led 4 destroyers
After rushing into the Changi Military Port, the harbor was already in chaos. The British quickly realized that they were under attack, but the battleships had no fire and could not move, and there were less than half of the sailors on board.
The sea was covered with rain and fog, making it impossible to see what was going on.
The British fired small-caliber artillery shells at random into the sea, giving Luo Guibo the direction.
The four Republic destroyers threw the torpedoes from the torpedo launchers on both sides at those places indiscriminately, without any clear target, and hurriedly began to retreat. At this time, the British large-caliber coastal defense guns also began to fire, but because
I couldn't see clearly what was going on, but they were just sparsely conducting some aimless bombardments near the channel.
In the chaos, the destroyer Yichang ran into the side and rear of the Fuzhou. The hull of the Fuzhou was cracked and more than 200 tons of water entered. It became the most serious loss of the Republican Navy in this battle.
On the sea 20 nautical miles east of Changi, the main fleet of the Republic of China Navy was cruising on the water at a speed of 15 knots. Fleet Commander Cheng Yaoheng looked calm and ordered the submarine force to lay mines at the exit of the Johor Strait to blockade the British and French Far East fleets in the port.
.I don’t know whether the sneak attack on Changi Port will have any specific effect.
In fact, the raid plan formulated by the Republic Navy was to use aircraft carrier-based aircraft to raid Changi Base in the early morning. This has proven to be a very effective tactic in exercises conducted by the Navy. However, due to weather reasons, the carrier-based aircraft
Unable to take off at all, destroyers were ultimately dispatched to launch a wave of raids into the harbor.
The goal set by the Admiralty is to seize control of this water area by itself. Judging from the current situation, this goal has definitely been achieved. The British and French Far East fleets have been trapped in the harbor by the mines they laid.
Samuel, commander of the British Far East Fleet, hurried back to Changi from the Governor's Palace in Corning Hill. The rain had lightened up, and the entire naval port was a miserable scene. There was a layer of black heavy oil floating on the water in the harbor. Even though it was raining,
Black smoke was still rising in some places. The Royal Oak was hit by three torpedoes, and the bow deck sank into the water. If it weren't for the mud on the seabed, the warship would have disappeared from the water. The Warrior was hit by a torpedo.
, the French Brittany was also hit by two torpedoes, and is now on the bottom of the sea. However, due to the shallow draft where it was parked, it seemed that the draft was just too deep. The Kolbe was hit by one
The torpedo hit amidships and appeared to be rolling over.
The heavy cruiser Shropshire ran aground on the northern shore, and the Sussex lay sideways in the mud on the shore, exposing the red bottom. The transport ships "Souillac" and "Gallinier"
It was sunk. Fortunately, the personnel on it had landed, but the expeditionary force lost all the equipment of an infantry brigade.
General Perival, the commander of the expeditionary force who came after hearing the news, looked ashen, as if a disaster was imminent.
The Far East Fleet he relied on had already lost half of its main force before it even went into battle.
"General, I just received an urgent message that the Chinese have begun landing from the Kuantan area!" At this time, a staff officer hurried over and reported to him the latest battle situation.