Chapter 637: Beneath the Sea (Part II)

This is a 'well-made' thermodynamic torpedo. With a diameter of 18 inches and a weight of 1,000 kilograms, the range of the torpedo can reach 4,000 meters when fired at a speed of 28 knots, and when fired at a speed of up to 40 knots, the range of this torpedo can also reach 1,000 meters, and the warhead weighing 100 kilograms can easily destroy the underwater structure of any warship.

The technology of this torpedo comes from the Schützkow Naval Factory in Germany, which is a direct descendant of the famous "black-headed torpedo", but the factory that really made this torpedo is located in Hanyang, which is a dazzling pearl in China's arsenal industry, although the core components of this torpedo such as gyroscopes and thermal power engines are imported from Germany, but it is undeniable that this torpedo is indeed very good.

Now, the torpedo is moving rapidly in the sea water five meters below the surface of the water at a maximum speed of 40 knots, the two coaxial inverted propeller blades are rotating rapidly, providing a strong impetus for the torpedo's advance, the same high-speed rotating gyroscope guides the torpedo in the right direction, the engine combustion chamber maintains a high temperature, and leaves a long string of bubbles at the tail of the torpedo.

Soon, the torpedo hit the hard hull. Under the effect of inertia, the firing pin, which had long been released from the insurance state, immediately detonated the detonator, and in an instant, the fierce explosive charge in the warhead quickly released energy, and the violent explosion almost immediately decided the fate of the warship.

This warship is the Japanese Navy's armored cruiser "Asami", this heavy warship completed in 1899 has a standard displacement of 9,700 tons, a length of 134 meters, a width of 20 meters, equipped with four 'guns' of 203 mm heavy guns, 14 'guns' of 152 mm guns, and five torpedo 'firing' tubes, with a total of 726 officers and men.

The data of this armored cruiser looks so amazing, such a warship, if in an ordinary naval battle, relying on the large-caliber naval guns and the heavy armor, can completely fight with opponents of the same level, and will never be easily defeated, but now, a near-shore submarine with an underwater displacement of only more than 400 tons only 'fired' a torpedo, which ended the combat course of this armored cruiser, and the subsequent 'shot' of the torpedo can be regarded as the end of the service history of this warship.

The first eighteen-inch torpedo hit the starboard side of the armored cruiser "Asami", and the violent explosion immediately tore a huge breach in the waterline, spanning four watertight compartments, which were filled with a large amount of seawater, and the warship quickly slowed down and quickly tilted to starboard.

But that's not the most catastrophic 'sexual' destruction. Just when the sailors on the warship were busy controlling the damage of the damaged parts of the warship, another 18-inch torpedo quietly pounced from the starboard side, and the ghost made a fool of himself directly from the damaged part that was torn open by the torpedo just now, and another violent explosion caused the underwater structure of the warship to be completely destroyed, and most of the watertight compartments on the starboard side instantly lost their effect, and the capsizing of the entire warship was inevitable.

Seeing that the warship could not be saved, the captain of the "Asami" had to give the order to abandon the ship, and a group of Japanese sailors jumped into the sea from the sloping deck of the warship, and only a few sailors managed to untie the lifeboats, and at this time, the warship had completely stopped moving forward, and continued to capsize rapidly in the direction of starboard, and finally slapped heavily to the sea because of the loss of its center of gravity.

With a loud bang, the "Asami" flipped over on its side, and the huge sea "waves" that were "stirred up" pushed some sailors far away into deep water, and a large number of sailors who had not escaped were stuffed in the cabin, and hundreds of exhausted Japanese sailors were floating on the sea, shouting and crying, and they simply did not understand what was going on. It is also not known where the attack came from.

……

Through the eyepiece of the periscope, Rao Guoliang quietly observed the armored cruiser on the sea, he was sure that this heavy warship of the Japanese Navy was finished, maybe it could be fished up for repairs, but at least until the end of the war, this warship probably had to stay in Port Arthur, and this warship was lying on the exit of the connecting internal and external waterways, blocking the exit by a small half, so that other warships would have to slow down further if they wanted to sail out of the military port.

Looking at the rapidly sinking armored cruiser, Rao Guoliang sighed, his eyes left the eyepiece of the periscope, glanced at the crew members standing beside him, and then smiled faintly and said: "The logbook records that at 7:50 a.m. on July 4, 1914, our boat sank the Japanese Navy's armored cruiser 'Asami', with exact coordinates, ××× north latitude and ××× east longitude. ”

There was a burst of cheers in the submarine, and the submariners happily waited for their captain to give the next order to attack.

Rao Guoliang took the navy soft hat thrown to him by the sailors, and then gave a new order to attack.

"The submarine is maintained at periscope depth, the rudder is ×××, and the speed is five knots."

This "Seawolf-class" coastal defense submarine quickly turned its bow and dived to the northernmost part of Port Arthur, where the soul was 'chaotic', and on the way, Rao Guoliang 'finely' selected the next prey. And soon the target was fixed on a battleship.

The battleship had already been attacked in the air raid just now, and the hull of the ship had tilted to the side, but Rao Guoliang felt that he still couldn't let the other side have a chance to breathe, his submarine still had two spare torpedoes, he planned to use up the torpedoes before retreating, and there was not much time left, and he had to evacuate Lushun before his mine-laying submarine operation.

"Attention all, get ready to fight! Torpedo crews load torpedoes! The azimuth is ×××, the rotation angle is ×××! Load the torpedo! ”

Rao Guoliang's order was quickly carried out, and a torpedo was 'fired' out within two minutes, and because of the close distance, a few seconds later, everyone in the submarine heard a dull roar, and the torpedo hit the target and exploded, and the shock 'wave' even 'wave' reached the submarine.

Through the periscope, admiring the masterpiece of this submarine, Rao Guoliang has a slight smile on the corner of his mouth, for soldiers, there is nothing more exciting than watching the enemy on the battlefield be eliminated, how many years, the country's naval soldiers can't raise their heads in front of the people, isn't it because of the fiasco that year. Now, the navy can finally raise its eyebrows, although the main credit goes to the air force, but if the navy does not come to replenish the guns, who can guarantee that the Japanese capital ships in these military ports will not be able to stagger back to Japan?

Of course, the most important thing is that the central authorities make wise decisions, the General Staff Headquarters makes proper arrangements, and the officers and men work with their lives and work together to achieve victory in this naval and air war, although this is only the prelude to this war. But as far as the current battle situation is concerned, it is already impressive.

Rao Guoliang recalled the scene when he first met Zhao Bei in Wuhan, at that time, he sat at the same table with Zhao Bei, eating the New Year's dinner, and listening to the details of the Anqing Uprising told by the commander-in-chief at the table, at that time, Rao Guoliang and his comrades in the League thought that Zhao Bei was just a young ** general who took advantage of the time, if it was not Zhao Bei who led the uprising in Anqing at that time, but other cadres of the League, then, maybe they could also be the commander-in-chief of the Republican Army, but now that I think about it, The idea of the members of the alliance at that time was too shallow, through the implementation of policies in the past few years, Rao Guoliang has understood, even if the other cadres of the alliance are replaced by Zhao Bei's position as the commander-in-chief, they are at most a group of ** young people who have been 'played' by politicians, if you want to settle those politicians and warlords in this era, maybe only Zhao Bei has enough skills and flexible strategies, except for Zhao Bei, others do not have this ability, I'm afraid that even Mr. Sun of the League will not be able to make this country look new in such a short period of time.

Perhaps the propaganda of the newspapers in the south may not be unreasonable, and China in this era really needs a strong man to lead it, first restore order in the country, and establish the authority of the central government, only in this way, can we get out of the current strategic dilemma.

Of course, those are all political matters, soldiers, should be pure, this political matter is still 'handed over' to the politicians to deal with, as a soldier, the most important thing now is to fight this battle well, only after this battle is fought, the central government can be more prestigious, and the central policy can be better implemented.

Rao Guoliang took a closer look at the battleship with a periscope. He didn't bother to check the ship identification manual, he thought that the battleship he attacked was the Japanese capital ship "Satsuma" battleship, and now, it was impossible for this huge battleship to continue sailing, and the severely tilted hull showed that there seemed to be no need for the Japanese battleship to 'fire' torpedoes, and the remaining torpedo of the submarine should be of better use.

So, Rao Guoliang quickly shifted his gaze and quickly chose his next target: the Japanese Navy armored cruiser "Tokiwa".

At this moment, Rao Guoliang and his crew heard several muffled noises from the hull, which was the shock 'wave' of the torpedo exploding underwater, and it was obvious that other submarines could not wait to enter the military port and began to hunt these dying prey unscrupulously.

"Good fellows! Grab a deal with me. Who is this? With such a big heart, it was two torpedoes as soon as it was shot. ”

Rao Guoliang watched the armored cruiser "Changpan" eat two torpedoes, and they hit them almost at the same time, which seems to indicate that the captain of the submarine 'fired' with two thunders, which was indeed more generous than Rao Guoliang's shot.

Rao Guoliang had no choice but to give up the attack, looked at the time, it was almost time to retreat, anyway, there was only one spare torpedo left, or go to the outer mooring yard to try his luck, or simply go to the port to wait for the rabbit, otherwise, when the minelaying submarine moves, even he will have to be trapped in the military port.

"Alright, almost, let's call it a day."

Rao Guoliang ordered the submarine to turn the rudder and prepare to leave the mooring ground in the military port, although no obstacles were found on the side of the entrance and exit waterways, but out of caution, Rao Guoliang still ordered the submarine to dive, and prepared to put away the periscope and sneak out of the port.

But he was still a little slow, and just as the inshore submarine began to fill the tank with seawater, a Japanese destroyer came at high speed towards the submarine's course.

This destroyer is the "First Frost", and the captain is Fifty-Six Takano, who came to check it out.

In fact, when the armored cruiser "Asami" was attacked by a sudden torpedo just now, Takano 56 realized that the attacker might be from under the water, and when the battleship "Satsuma" was attacked, Takano 56 locked on the target with a telescope, he saw the "waves" drawn by the periscope on the sea, and then traced Rao Guoliang's submarine, and when he found that the sneak attacker was about to retreat, he decided to take action.

"Keep course! All naval guns lower their muzzles, load high-explosive and solid armor-piercing shells, aim at the target, and fire freely. ”

Takano Isoroku gave the order to attack, and in order to keep all the artillery on the warship out of the dead end, he had to distance himself from the submarine, and in the current situation of lack of special anti-submarine equipment, in the face of submarine attacks, direct 'shooting' with naval guns was probably the only effective countermeasure.