Episode 121 Archerfish Class Anti-Aircraft Submarine
Episode 121 Archer-class anti-aircraft submarine
Nanjing Headquarters, General Maritime Staff.
Xiang Xiaoqiang has just had a meeting with the main military commanders in Office Zero, assigned a lot of tasks, and ordered them to do it individually. Now he is coming out, preparing to go to the canteen to get something to eat. It is already five o'clock in the afternoon, and he can eat at noon.
Very little, and now my stomach has started to growl.
When he came back from the extra meal and passed the central command hall, he saw a group of senior naval officers gathered around the chart table, still muttering about something, and they seemed a little nervous. Several of them were from Office Zero.
Xiang Xiaoqiang smelled the smell immediately and walked over to the chart table.
When the officers saw Xiang Xiaoqiang, they all looked strange, and then moved away unnaturally. Xiang Xiaoqiang squeezed to the chart table and saw a figure drawn on the chart several hundred kilometers southeast of Tokyo Bay, Japan.
A small red cross, next to it is marked: The place where the submarine Blackfish sank.
Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded: Oh, a submarine was sunk. Of course this is unfortunate, but...it's not like these senior officers have such faces, right? After all, this is just a submarine, not a cruiser.
Ah! When there is a large-scale submarine battle later, many more will be sunk.
He looked at the label carefully again and asked:
"Blackfish? Well, it's 'fish' class. It's a medium-sized submarine. When did it happen?"
An officer replied:
"Sir, let's talk about what happened just now. Five minutes ago, the telegram was just transmitted from the East China Sea Fleet to the General Naval Staff. They received the distress telegram, which was half an hour ago."
"What's going on? Why did it sink?" Xiang Xiaoqiang asked while drinking tea after dinner and looking at the chart, "Did you take the initiative to tease the Japanese warship?"
"No, sir," said the officer, "the Blackfish was sunk by a plane."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned, swallowed a sip of tea, put down the cup and exclaimed:
"Sinked by plane? Bomber?"
"Yes, a dive bomber. It was sunk by bombs."
"What bomb? Depth charge or regular bomb?"
Another officer took over and sighed:
"Although the telegram did not mention the type of bomb, since the telegram was sent, it means it is still on the water. It is an ordinary bomb."
Although Xiang Xiaoqiang had been mentally prepared before, he was still shocked when he heard the news, as if it shouldn't have happened.
"Oh, most of those who were sunk on the water can still survive..." He touched his forehead and asked, "Has rescue been sent?"
"Power generation has been given to all submarines in the nearby waters. The detailed coordinates have been informed to them, asking them to put aside all tasks and rush to the coordinates for rescue."
Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. After a while, he murmured:
"Our submarine was sunk by an aircraft. This is no small matter."
After saying that, he stood up and left, leaving behind a bunch of confused officers. After a while, Qiu Qiu ran over and informed the members of Office Zero to go to a meeting quickly.
So, a large number of people who had just come out of the conference room were now sitting back in the conference room again.
…
Xiang Xiaoqiang had a sullen face and said coldly:
"Who is responsible for communicating with the submarine force?"
Xiuxiu's face turned pale, she stood up and whispered:
"Sir, it's me..."
Everyone's eyes suddenly focused on this "Princess of Ryukyu".
He nodded to Xiaoqiang and said in a deep voice:
"Okay, I have repeatedly emphasized these days that submarines must be on high alert for aircraft when operating in waters where the enemy has air supremacy. Once an aircraft is discovered, it must dive immediately unless it is too close and it is too late. No matter how big you are chasing
No matter how confident you are about your anti-aircraft guns. Shangxiu, I have repeatedly emphasized that you must communicate with the submarine force and let them understand that every word is not a joke. Let me ask you, how do you communicate with others?
To communicate?”
Xiuxiu lowered her head and said softly:
"Back to my lord... my subordinates... I went to the Submarine Force Headquarters and discussed this issue with Lord Qi... After that, my subordinates also sent a telegram to the East China Sea Fleet, asking them to pay attention to this issue... Your Excellency, it may be that my subordinates
My subordinates did not communicate well and did not express themselves clearly, which resulted in the submarine force not paying sufficient attention to this issue... This... responsibility lies with me."
After Xiuxiu finished speaking, she stood with her head lowered and did not make any unnecessary defense. Everyone here looked at Xiuxiu and then at Xiang Xiaoqiang, feeling that according to Xiuxiu's words, the responsibility does not lie with her at all.
. This is all we can do, what else can we do? Your submarine force has turned a deaf ear to people’s repeated warnings. This responsibility is very clear.
Of course, everyone knows that there are representatives from the submarine force here. The adjutant of Qi Xiaofeng, commander-in-chief of the submarine force, is sitting here. Xiang Xiaoqiang cannot accuse others in front of others. After all, Xiang Xiaoqiang cannot directly command the navy, and the losses
He is also one of his subordinates in the submarine force. If you want to jump up, he must jump up first. Anyway, it is not your turn to blame others.
So, Xiang Xiaoqiang loudly scolded the people in his office zero, scolded Xiuxiu, and asked her what she did and how she told them. She must not have said it properly. If she had said it properly, the submarine force was not stupid and might have turned a deaf ear.
Is it? You must have been perfunctory when you said it, and you didn't understand it rationally or emotionally. Fortunately, you worked in the submarine force! Now that you are sitting in the office, you don't take those officers and soldiers who are working hard at sea seriously.
Already?
Amidst the storm of reprimands, Xiu Xiu just stood there, lowering her head, biting her lip, expressionless. She knew it in her heart, and knew that at this time, she could only be an unlucky target. In fact, she was teaching herself to adults.
These words were all addressed to Commander Qi's adjutant. Especially the last sentence, "Now that I sit in the office, I don't take seriously the officers and soldiers who are working hard at sea." It is a direct reference to the "sitting in the submarine headquarters"
"Office" people.
Commander Qi's adjutant sat there and felt more and more eyes gathering on him. He also felt that he couldn't sit down any longer, so he smiled dryly and said in a smoothing manner:
"Haha, Mr. Xiang, please don't be angry... I can't blame Your Highness for this... Alas, Mr. Qi has always taken it very seriously after talking to Your Highness, and issued orders to the submarine bases of each fleet to alert them to enemy aircraft.
After encountering an enemy plane, the priority is to dive... Alas, the captains below are all too confident. I always feel that the Japanese aircraft are similar to the Qing army's aircraft, so there is no difference... This time it can be regarded as a gift to the entire army.
It’s a painful lesson.”
…
Seeing that the people from the Submarine Command also expressed their stance, Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded, stopped scolding Xiuxiu, and asked her to sit down. Then, he glanced at everyone present and said word by word:
"Therefore, it is time to begin a new era of submarine warfare!"
After speaking, he clapped his palms twice.
Immediately, a door next to it opened, and two little female soldiers came in carrying something and carefully placed it on the conference table. Then, they lifted the cloth covering it.
Everyone immediately sat forward and stared at this thing.
This is a model of a submarine. It is made of wood and has not been painted. However, the details of the various components on it are very exquisite. At first glance, it is clear that this is a professional model made by a research and development unit such as the General Administration of Military Industry.
Several people from the General Administration of Military Industry present also seemed confident and calm. Others understood that this was indeed something created by their R&D department. They probably wanted to keep it secret originally, but now they have taken out the model in advance.
Haven't even had time to apply paint yet.
Judging from the length of this model, it should be an ocean-going submarine of more than a thousand tons. But if you look closely, it seems that there is something different. But this is Office Zero after all, and even if the people sitting here are not R&D personnel, they are all
People who are familiar with submarines will immediately see the clue.
There are several extra cannons on the front and rear decks of the submarine, as well as on the command tower.
After signaling to Xiaoqiang with his eyes, Qiu Qiu stood up and said:
"My lords, please see, this is the 'Archer' class anti-aircraft submarine. The 75mm gun usually installed on the front deck has been removed from the 'Archer' class and replaced with a twin 40mm 'Bofors' cannon.
The twin-mounted 20mm cannon on the rear deck has also been removed and replaced with a quadruple-mounted 20mm 'Ericon' cannon. Here, the length of the command tower has been lengthened.
An area was added to the front as a gun emplacement to install a quadruple 20mm 'Ericon' cannon. On the front command tower, where the lookout is usually on duty, there are four twin 12.7mm cannons.
M2 heavy machine gun. Once an enemy aircraft is discovered, it will be directly operated by the lookout on duty. In other words, on this kind of anti-aircraft submarine, the machine gunner serves as the lookout.
"Each anti-aircraft gun and machine gun is equipped with light armor baffles to maximize protection without hindering flexible rotation, and can completely withstand bullet strafing and shrapnel impact. The 'Archerfish' class anti-aircraft submarine can be specially built
, can also be modified with other submarines.
If it is specially built, there will be no torpedo launch tubes and no torpedoes. The weight saved will be used to enhance the armor of the command tower and deck, as well as to enhance the shock wave resistance of the pressure hull. This ensures that as long as it is not directly hit by a bomb, it will
There will be no major damage and it will not hinder the dive.
"The problem with ordinary submarines is that after discovering an aircraft, the captain will be in a dilemma. Resist the aircraft, the submarine will obviously suffer a disadvantage. Let's dive, but I don't know if it will be too late. Because the submarine starts to dive until it is completely submerged in the water.
, during this period of time, there is no resistance at all. Why? Because anti-aircraft weapons
They are all on the front and rear decks, and the lowest deck is the first place to be submerged. Once an emergency dive order is issued, the gunners on the front and rear decks must immediately enter the submarine without delaying even a second. During this period, the submarine is completely
Once the target is hit, as long as the plane can catch up, it can attack as much as it wants without worrying about a counterattack.
"Now this 'Archerfish' has no such problem at all. First of all, it is designed to hunt and kill aircraft. When encountering an enemy aircraft patrolling alone, you don't have to dive down at all and you can fight it directly. Secondly, if the enemy aircraft
It really has the upper hand. The Archerfish can continue to shoot when diving without being overwhelmed at all.
It has no anti-resistance capabilities. As you can see, the Archer-class has a quadruple 20mm machine gun mounted on the conning tower, and four twin 12.7mm machine guns also mounted on the conning tower. These weapons are all mounted on the highest level of the entire boat.
Everywhere, you can continue shooting during the dive, and will not stop until the last moment when the sea water submerges the control tower.
"Also, there are smoke canisters installed on both sides of the Archerfish's deck and around the control tower. If you find it difficult to support when fighting aircraft, you can use smoke screens when diving. With so many smoke canisters,
It can release a large amount of smoke screen in a very short period of time, completely wrapping the submarine and blocking the aircraft's sight. It can make the submarine as safe as possible during the dive."
…
After Qiu Qiu made such a comprehensive statement, everyone present still looked at each other in confusion.
An officer hesitantly turned to Xiang Xiaoqiang and asked:
"Sir Xiang, this anti-aircraft submarine...since it has no torpedoes, what is the purpose of designing it?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang had known that this question would be raised. He smiled and said:
"The main weapon of ordinary submarines is torpedoes, which mainly target ships. However, the Archer-class air defense submarine is different. Its main weapon is anti-aircraft guns, which mainly target aircraft. It mainly hunts those with anti-submarine weapons as its main target.
The purpose is to patrol enemy aircraft alone. With the air defense equipment of the Archer-class, it is not a problem to shoot down one or two enemy aircraft without causing major damage. Moreover, this kind of submarine looks basically the same as our ordinary submarines from a high altitude.
There is no difference. But when the enemy plane dives down and prepares to attack, you will find that you have been fooled - it is greeted by extremely powerful anti-aircraft firepower. This kind of close-range anti-aircraft firepower has surpassed most destroyers today, and is even comparable to
Some light cruisers. The Bofors and Oerricon machine guns are currently the world's top small-caliber anti-aircraft guns. They have high rates of fire, good performance, and electric drive. They are incomparable to the old-fashioned ones we used to have.
.
"It is certain that within a period of time after our anti-aircraft submarines enter service, the Japanese army will shoot down a large number of these single or double patrol bombers. The problem is that from high altitude, it is impossible to tell whether the following are anti-aircraft submarines or not.
Ordinary submarines. This will cause the Japanese naval aviation troops to have a fearful mentality towards the Ming army submarines as a whole, so that they must be prepared to die every time they go out for anti-submarine warfare. This will lead to three possibilities:
"First, the top brass of the Japanese military determined that aircraft anti-submarine warfare was not feasible, so they resumed destroyer-based anti-submarine patrols. This is what we want most. Because of this, the chance of our submarines being discovered on the surface during the day is greatly reduced, and it also interacts with
The situation before the sea and air era is almost the same.
"Secondly, the Japanese pilots have been afraid of our submarines since then, and always intentionally or unintentionally avoid close encounters with our submarines. This result is of course also good. However, the Japanese's desperate spirit in fighting will
Won't we back down just because we're afraid? We can't be too optimistic.
"Third, the Japanese army still insists on aircraft anti-submarine patrols, but changes the patrol method, from the original one and two aircraft patrolling together, to a larger fleet of aircraft patrolling together, such as a group of four. Or once a submarine is discovered, a single aircraft cannot deploy
To attack, it is necessary to hover above and call for reinforcements from friendly aircraft. This of course regains the advantage over the submarine. But in this way, the aircraft that were originally dispersed on patrol have to concentrate.
"For example, a squadron of 16 aircraft used to be able to patrol 100,000 square kilometers of sea area when cruising alone. Now with four aircraft cruising together, they can only patrol 25,000 square kilometers of sea area. Of course, Hainan Airlines can also deploy them
More aircraft are used for anti-submarine warfare, but aircraft for other purposes are
Less. Then although the pressure on the submarine force will be greater, the pressure on our surface ship forces will be less on the frontal battlefield, and we can gain greater advantages in sea and air combat. Either we can defeat the Japanese navy even more, or we have to force the Japanese army to use sea and air combat.
The plane was transferred back. In short, it was to make them focus on one thing and not the other."