On July 6, 2015, the Indian Navy once again created a "world first".

At 1:34 a.m., the aircraft carrier "Vikrant" was attacked by a submarine in the waters east of the Badu Strait at 75°12' east longitude and 7°34' north latitude, and was hit by three heavy torpedoes in succession and sank at 2.19 a.m. The Indian Navy's first aircraft carrier built on its own thus became the first aircraft carrier to be sunk in a naval battle after World War II.

The disgraceful "world first".

It's just that the disaster has just begun.

About thirty kilometers north of the "Vikrant", on the aircraft carrier "Vikramaditya".

When he was woken up from bed by the staff officer, Patel was still very angry. Hearing that the "Vikrant" had been attacked suddenly and was sinking in the fire, the rear admiral was dumbfounded.

At 1:42, Patel came to the aircraft carrier command center.

The night sky to the south was lit up by a raging fire aboard the Vikrant, and the sound in the communication channel was very noisy.

Instinctively, Patel first inquired about the enemy's situation.

There were no enemy warships in the nearby sea, no enemy planes in the air, it was definitely a submarine, and only a submarine could sneak attack the "Vikrant".

After learning that it was a torpedo and not a missile that hit the "Vikrant", Patel immediately ordered to focus on searching the sea area 10 to 25 kilometers away from the "Vikrant". Immediately, he adjusted his order and sent all his anti-submarine search forces to the waters south of the "Vikrant."

Pateldi is not slow to react. The deployment is also very good.

If the submarine attacks the aircraft carrier with anti-ship missiles. Although it can be on the hundreds of kilometers. Even missiles are launched hundreds of kilometers away. However, it is difficult to achieve the effect of a surprise attack. Anti-ship missiles are easy to detect. It was even shot down by anti-aircraft missiles and rapid-fire machine guns. Missile-to-ground "lethality" is also inferior to torpedoes. It is also possible to expose the whereabouts of the submarine when it breaks through the water.

Brave submarine captains will use torpedoes as their main combat weapon.

Torpedoes have a much shorter range than missiles. The maximum firing range of the US Navy's Mk48ADCAP torpedo is only 50 kilometers. Most of the 533-mm torpedoes have a maximum range of between 20 and 40 kilometers. Because the torpedo ground speed is slower. Therefore, the ideal range of heavy anti-ship torpedoes is 10 to 25 kilometers. Too close. Submarines are easily detected by anti-submarine warfare ships. Too far away. The torpedo could not reach the battleship at high speed.

The theoretical analysis is simple. In practice, it's complicated.

Before entering high-speed attack mode. Two wake self-guided torpedoes have already changed course twice. There was no way to tell from which direction the torpedo was fired. The third acoustic homing torpedo was chosen to be the shortest course. It is also impossible to determine the location of the submarine from its course.

Patel could only preliminarily conclude that the submarine was south of the "Vikrant", otherwise it would certainly not only be the "Vikrant" but also the "Vikramaditya" that would suffer.

However, this judgment is too "rough".

Even if the search area is narrowed to the south of the "Vikrant", the sea area from 10 to 25 kilometers away is 1,650 square kilometers, and the search area will increase at a rate proportional to the square of time. If you can't get it in an hour, you'll never find the submarine. Even according to the most ideal situation, that is, the submarine is lurking and not moving, the antisubmarine forces are deployed in place in an instant, and the search is divided into different areas, five antisubmarine patrol planes, or 21 antisubmarine helicopters, or 13 antisubmarine warships are needed to accomplish this task, which far exceeds the antisubmarine strength of the "Vikrant" aircraft carrier battle group and even the two aircraft carrier battle groups.

In his desperation, Patel not only did not carefully consider anti-submarine tactics, but also made even more serious mistakes.

At that time, he first thought of Pakistan's "Agosta-90B" type AIP conventional submarines.

The Pakistan Navy's submarines have always made it a priority to sneak up on Indian aircraft carriers. During the last Kashmir crisis, a Pakistani submarine quietly infiltrated the Indian aircraft carrier battle group and used active sonar to "attack" the aircraft carrier "Virat", causing chickens and dogs to jump in the battle group.

At 1:48, Patel sent anti-submarine helicopters from the USS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier battle group.

Subsequently, he ordered the two "Bangalore"-class air defense destroyers in the "Vikramaditya" aircraft carrier battle group to rescue the "Vikrant" and brought the four anti-submarine warships in the formation into combat condition. Finding the "Pakistani submarine", he did not dare to be careless until the safety of the "Vikramaditya" was ensured.

Patel did not realize that it was not a Pakistani submarine that attacked the Vikrant.

The "Swordfish" did not leave, let alone give up the opportunity to expand the results of the battle.

Under the cover of the sound of the Vikrant's hull breaking, the torpedo crew reloaded the three torpedo tubes and injected them with seawater. However, the sound of the "Vikrant" also interfered with the sonar on the "Swordfish".

"Only a few targets can be identified in the north." The sonar chief became a key figure on the submarine, and he circled several bright spots on the screen with a watercolor pen, "These two are approaching us are destroyers, most likely 'Bangalore'-class destroyers." Several targets to the south are escort warships in the USS Vikrant aircraft carrier battle group, which is searching the periphery. These less obvious targets to the north are definitely the warships in the 'Vikramaditya' aircraft carrier battle group. Before the Vikrant was hit, sonar detected the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya, but it was later jammed and lost its target. ”

"Did you spot the submarine?"

The sonar chief shook his head. "The performance of those submarines in India is at that level, and if we were in the vicinity, we would definitely be able to find it. It's just that the possibility of an American submarine nearby is not ruled out. ”

Hua Jianfeng nodded, what he wanted to ask was whether the American submarine had been found.

The opportunity to expand the gains is imminent, but the danger is also growing.

Attacking the "Vikramaditya" under the noses of more than 10 Indian escort warships and more than 10 antisubmarine helicopters will certainly involve a great risk. However, what is even more threatening is the "New Hampshire", which has not yet appeared.

To fight, or not to fight?

Hua Jianfeng looked at the deputy next to him.

"When it comes to the fat in your mouth, there is no reason not to eat it, but how can you eat this piece of fat?"

"In the wire-guided anti-submarine mode, the torpedo approaches the target at a great depth and then switches to acoustic self-guidance and wake self-guidance modes." The Ordnance Chief made a proposal. "The success rate of the attack will not be much higher, after all, we can't be sure which target is the Vikramaditya."

"Passive acoustic self-guidance is used, and the primary target is selected to be attacked in wake self-guidance mode."

When the sonar chief said this, several officers cast surprised glances at him.

"It's mentioned in the playbook, it's just that we haven't practiced it before." The sonar shrugged his shoulders, making the others feel ignorant.

"That's it." Hua Jianfeng didn't hesitate any longer, "Set the parameters for the No. 1 and No. 2 torpedoes, and set them to low-speed navigation mode." Torpedoes No. 3 and Torpedo No. 4 are set to anti-submarine self-guidance mode, and fire control data is installed in advance. If we want to do it, we will do a big vote and solve the problem once and for all. ”

The outer caps of torpedo tubes No. 1 and No. 2 were opened again.

With the high-pressure water pump activated, two heavy torpedoes were pushed out of the launch tubes.

The speed of the two Bengaluru-class destroyers arriving from the aircraft carrier battle group "Vikramaditya" was twenty-eight knots, the loud self-noise masked the sound of the torpedoes, and the shell sonar on the destroyers became deaf ears.

Danger is quietly approaching the aircraft carrier "Vikramaditya".

Fourteen minutes later, the two torpedoes will lose contact with the submarine and move on under the control of the inertial navigation system. In another six minutes, the self-guidance system on the torpedo will be able to spot the aircraft carrier "Vikramaditya" and launch a final sprint.

There was a dense explosion in the distance, and it must have been an anti-submarine warship firing a rocket-deep bomb.

Hua Jianfeng's brows jumped slightly, and an ominous premonition rose from the bottom of his heart.

The explosion of deep bombs creates noise that interferes with the sonar on the battleship, and the Indian battleship will not litter with depth charges.

Could it be that the Indian warship is making a cameo appearance as a "whaling ship" again?

Hua Jianfeng was thinking about it when a sound that made him all too familiar came into the boat.

"Attack sonar slap!" Hua Jianfeng was startled, and immediately said, "Cut off the torpedo wire, fifteen at the head and fifteen at the tail, and advance at full power." ”

Like a frightened beast, the Swordfish plunged headlong into the depths of the ocean.

"MK48ADCAP torpedo." Le Jiacheng reacted faster, "Damn, the American submarine, it must have been discovered by the American submarine when we fired the torpedo." ”

Hua Jianfeng nodded. "Calculate the torpedo hit time."

"One minute and twenty-seven seconds." Le Jiacheng took out a stopwatch. Although the time was displayed on the computer screen, he still believed in the mechanical devices.

"Left full rudder, interfere with the preparation of the bomb."

"Interfering with bomb preparation." The Armorer quickly rushed to the side of the control platform and placed his finger on the button that fired the jamming projectile. "The jamming bomb is ready."

"Listen to my orders. Torpedo hit time. ”

"One minute and five seconds."

Hua Jianfeng's slight squirming seemed to be whispering something.

"Fifty seconds!" Le Jiacheng looked at Hua Jianfeng.

"A third of the left rudder. Depth? ”

"Thirty-five seconds!" Le Jiacheng wiped the sweat off his forehead. "The depth is 488, and it continues to increase."

"Finish flat and keep the speed!"

"Twenty seconds!" Le Jiacheng's voice began to tremble.

"Keep going, keep the pace." Hua Jianfeng glanced at the ordnance chief with a stern face, "Don't worry, listen to my orders." ”

"Fifteen seconds!" Le Jiacheng's hands trembled.

The officers in the command center all looked at Hua Jianfeng, their lives in the hands of the captain.

"Ten seconds!" Lejiacheng almost screamed loudly.

"Jamming ......"

"Eight seconds ......" Le Jiacheng closed his eyes, and there were only eight seconds left in his life.

"Launch!"

When he pressed the button to fire the jamming projectile, the armorer used almost all his strength.

"Right full rudder," Hua Jianfeng stood up, "Twenty under the head and tail, the tail compartment is empty, keep quiet!" ”

In the "wall" formed by bubbles, the "Swordfish" dived at extreme speed. The jamming projectile, which has a characteristic noise very similar to that of the Swordfish, creates a large number of bubbles and floats towards the surface of the sea at a rapid speed.

"Five hundred and twenty meters...... 580 meters...... Six hundred and forty meters ......" Looking at the numbers on the depth table, Le Jiacheng felt that one foot had stepped into the ghost gate.

The hull made a "crunch" sound, which is the sound of the pressure-resistant hull when it deforms under the pressure of the seawater.

"Head to tail level, one-tenth of the power!" Hua Jianfeng glanced at everyone, "Quiet, everyone stay quiet." ”

The slapping of the torpedoes was gone, but the danger was not over. The MK48ACDAP is one of the most advanced torpedoes in the world, and after losing the target, it automatically switches to passive mode of operation and searches for the target again. As long as the fuel on the torpedo is not used up, it will not stop.

There was a dead silence inside the submarine, and the officers and men did not even dare to come out of the atmosphere.

The "Swordfish" stood on the gate of the ghost, and in front of it was the bottomless abyss