Just as Xiang Xiaoqiang was showing off his grand ambitions in Office Zero, a battle had begun on the distant sea 4,500 kilometers away to the east that would change the fate of submarine warfare.
On the sea 400 kilometers southeast of Tokyo Bay, a 700-ton medium-sized submarine "Blackfish" of the Ming Dynasty Navy is sailing south on the sea, following a Japanese cargo ship of several thousand tons. This cargo ship probably just arrived from Tokyo Bay
I came out of the house and was about to go south, maybe to Australia or maybe to
Europe. This was just discovered by a lookout half an hour ago, and it is still more than 7,000 meters away. The Japanese cargo ship must have discovered the Black Fish, and seems to understand what it is planning to do. It is running at full speed. It is fatal.
He ran away. The Black Fish also cut through the waves and pursued fiercely with two white waves.
The captain of the Black Fish, Shi Juanzi, plans to catch up with it from the side and hit it with a torpedo on its flank. For such a large cargo ship, one torpedo is enough. If it still doesn't work, add a few more rounds.
The artillery shells are almost there. Medium-sized submarines like the Blackfish already have a 75mm anti-aircraft gun on the front deck.
From the captain to the sailors below, everyone on the Black Fish was very excited. This would be the first Japanese ship they had sunk. The maximum speed of the Japanese cargo ship was about 11 knots, while the Black Fish could reach a maximum speed of 16.5 knots.
At such a close distance, it only takes a matter of minutes to catch up with it. But now the weather is clear and the sea is calm, just like a big lake, which is perfect for submarines.
Small ships take advantage of their speed. Moreover, looking around, there is not a mast exposed or a line of black smoke coming out from a few nautical miles away, all the way to the farthest sea level. The Japanese freighter is now basically
The sky is not responding to calls, the earth and the earth are not working, and no one can protect it. Even if a Japanese warship has received the call for help, it will be too late to get here.
Captain Shi Juanzi stood on the bridge, looking at the Japanese cargo ship ahead with a telescope. The sailor next to him held a signal light and kept sending signals, issuing a final warning to the Japanese cargo ship, ordering it to stop and undergo inspection, otherwise
The gunfire is about to begin.
Until now, everything has been done in accordance with international conventions. But everyone knows that the Japanese freighter will not stop. The gun crew on the front deck of the Black Fish is also ready, and the shells are loaded into the chamber. As long as Shi Juanzi
As soon as the order was given, the artillery bombardment was launched.
…
Suddenly, the observer behind him shouted:
"Five o'clock, plane!!!"
With a "swish" sound, several people on the bridge turned around and looked up at the small black spot in the sky behind and to the right. The observer continued to report:
According to regulations, an emergency dive must be carried out at this time. In recent days, Xiang Xiaoqiang has also repeatedly warned the submarine force through the General Naval Staff: Once an aircraft is discovered, it does not need to be identified what aircraft it is, and an emergency dive must be made immediately without delay.
You are also not allowed to try to shoot down enemy aircraft. Unless the distance is too close and it is too late to dive. Because the era of sea and air combat has arrived.
But not everyone listened to this warning. In the more than ten years since its establishment, the Ming Dynasty submarine force has not encountered many actual threats from the air. During the war with the Beiqing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty submarines were also attacked by Beiqing aircraft.
Harassment, but submarines always have the upper hand
Qing aircraft either fired twice symbolically or dropped a bomb from a distance, which posed no real threat to submarines. However, submarines had several records of shooting down and damaging Qing aircraft. And the more this happens,
, the more Qing aircraft did not dare to approach the submarine to attack.
Now, the girls in the Ming Dynasty's submarine force have long turned a deaf ear to the warnings from above. In their hearts, they have not yet developed a fear of airplanes. What really scares them is destroyers.
But because this time it was a Japanese plane, Shi Juanzi had also heard about the huge difference between the Japanese army and the Qing army. She hesitated: If we dive, the thousands of tons of cargo ships that have been tracking so hard for so long will be in vain.
She ran away. She was very unwilling to do so. With just such a hesitation, a few seconds passed. The best time to dive was
The plane has passed. Now if we dive again, we will be vulnerable to attack. The submarine is at its most vulnerable during the dive, because most of the submarine's body is still exposed on the water, but no one is operating all the deck weapons.
In this process, the submarine becomes a living target that cannot resist.
Shi Juanzi immediately ordered: shoot down the enemy plane.
A twin-mounted 20mm machine gun behind the bridge opened fire immediately. With a loud ping-pong noise, the two lines of fire flew towards the aircraft. The copper bullet casings clinked on the deck and rolled into the water.
White smoke sizzled.
The Japanese bomber turned right, quickly made a big circle, and flew in front of the submarine. Now it flew out of the shooting radius of the submarine's rear machine gun, and the rapid-fire machine gun could not hit it. The 75 on the front deck
The millimeter gun rolled up its barrel and fired a shot. A black cloud exploded in the sky in the distance, but it was still far away from the Japanese aircraft. Against such a single aircraft, this single-shot anti-aircraft gun had basically no power.
use.
The sweat on Shi Juanzi's face fell. She ordered the submarine to reverse at full speed, and at the same time full left rudder, slowly turned the rear so that the cannon could fire at the aircraft again. But after all, one was a submarine and the other was an aircraft. Both sides
The maneuverability of the aircraft is completely different. No matter how the submarine turns, the aircraft is always firmly within the radius of the submarine's front end.
It seems that the opponent's Japanese pilot is also a novice, and he is relatively unsure, otherwise he would have dived and dropped the bomb. He probably wanted to take the method with the least risk: constantly put pressure on the submarine, force the submarine to dive, and then make the submarine dive without warning.
Dive and drop bombs when there is no resistance.
A few minutes later, another Japanese bomber broke through the clouds. Shi Juanzi's heart suddenly went cold.
After the two Japanese aircraft each occupied a favorable position, they dived down from both sides at a 45-degree angle and fired violently at the same time. The Blackfish also counterattacked violently, using its 20mm cannon to deal with the enemy aircraft on the port side and its 75mm cannon against the enemy aircraft on the starboard side.
The enemy plane on the port side slightly avoided the fierce fire from the machine gun and dropped four bombs in succession 30 meters away from the stern of the boat.
Four huge water columns rose into the sky, almost overturning the submarine. If the gunners hadn't been wearing safety belts, they would all have fallen into the sea.
The bomb of another enemy plane exploded almost close to the starboard side. In the violent tremor, the front deck was filled with thick smoke. The thick smoke dissipated, and the 75mm gun was covered with blood. The four gun crew members were nowhere to be seen.
Only large areas of blood and charred blackness were left on the front deck.
Tears rolled down Shi Juanzi's face. Her face was pale, and she stared at the front deck. Looking around, she saw a body floating in the sea more than ten meters away. Shi Juanzi bit her fist and forced herself to stay awake.
Screaming. She ordered tremblingly:
"Quick! Replace the gun crew for... and continue shooting..."
Several substitute gunners hurriedly got out of the side hatch of the bridge and ran to the front deck. They were immediately stunned by this tragic scene. Shi Juanzi cursed on the bridge:
"What are you talking about! You are looking for death!"
Several female soldiers were so frightened that they burst into tears. But while they were crying, their hands and feet immediately started to move. They fastened their safety belts, shook the gun barrel, and began to perform their duties. Immediately, another black cloud appeared near the enemy plane.
It exploded.
…
The bridge door opened, and a female soldier shouted upward:
"Captain, the left switchboard of the motor was knocked off, a fire broke out in the engine room, and the starboard diesel engine stalled! There is smoke inside the boat now, and sea water has come in!!!"
Hearing the bad news, Shi Juanzi's mind buzzed and her eyesight went dark.
In the sky, the two enemy planes had already climbed up, and now they began to dive for the second time, shooting down with tongues of fire.