Chapter 544: North Carolina (2)

Soon, a report from a sailor came from the torpedo compartment. "All torpedoes are ready!"

At this time, the fleet had entered the optimal range of the torpedoes.

"These idiots!" Krezimer couldn't help but sneer. He didn't know whether it was because they were close to their own coastline and relaxed their vigilance, or because the German submarines of Zhuxin could not break through the outer defense circle. In short, this fleet did not adopt the standard anti-submarine formation, but just lined up in a row, which was simply a live target; even in the previous training, there was no such easy target. "Launch No. 1 and No. 2 torpedoes!!"

The two torpedoes that rushed out of the torpedo tube rushed forward for a minute, and the sound induction mechanism on the head was activated. The density of seawater is greater than that of air, so the propagation of radio waves in seawater will be affected to a certain extent, unlike in the air where radio waves can propagate very far. But seawater also has a characteristic that the speed of sound propagation in water is faster than the speed of sound propagation in air, about 4 times faster! This characteristic allowed the sound induction mechanism to discover the fleet in the distance at the first time and pounced on it without hesitation!

After a few seconds, Kretschmer gave the order again. "Launch torpedoes 3 and 4!!"

Torpedoes 1 and 2 are acoustic homing torpedoes that can track the target by themselves after being fired, but torpedoes 3 and 4 are ordinary torpedoes. Hitting a moving target several kilometers away requires extremely precise calculations.

Friends who have played the full-scale mode of the Hunter Sub series basically understand this process. First, the type of the opponent's ship is determined by comparing the atlas to further determine the mast height of the target. (Although Kretschmer does not know the specific data of this new battleship, other countries have also built Washington Treaty-type battleships, so he used those battleship data as a reference.)

The image size of the target obtained by sextant range measurement in the sight can be converted proportionally to the mast height to obtain the distance of the target. After multiple distance measurements, the target's course and speed can be measured on the nautical chart. These data are input into the aiming computer (although there is no electronic computer, there is a purely mechanical computer), so that when the target is aimed at in the sight, the torpedo will set the launch angle of the torpedo according to the calculated premise to make it hit the target.

But there is another problem here, that is, the target must maintain a constant speed and unchanged direction for several minutes, so the submarine must remain hidden, otherwise the enemy will be alert and adopt a zigzag evasive navigation, which will be difficult to hit. This is why submarines rather than destroyers used torpedoes to achieve the most results at that time.

After launching four torpedoes, Krezimer did not stay in place to watch the show, but ordered the submarine to turn 90 degrees to leave here. He said while looking at the stopwatch. "Your Highness asked us to sink at least 20,000 tons of warships. Sinking this battleship is considered to have completed the mission." He estimated that the tonnage of this battleship was at least 30,000 tons, which was considered to have successfully completed the mission.

The first mate on the side asked in confusion. "What do you want?"

"I think the remaining two cruisers and four destroyers can all be eaten. Together with the supply ship, at most 10 torpedoes can sink them all."

The first mate shrugged. "You are the captain, you have the final say."

At this time, the No. 1 and No. 2 torpedoes were approaching the fleet. The characteristics of electric torpedoes are low noise and no track. Even ships equipped with good sonar equipment find it difficult to detect torpedoes in time and avoid them. The sound induction mechanism on the head of the torpedo firmly locked the North Carolina, which was the most noisy in the formation, and hit the tail of the battleship fiercely.

"Boom! Boom!"

The first torpedo hit the fast-rotating propeller and exploded violently!

A second later, the second torpedo also hit it, directly blowing off the propulsion system and the stern rudder.

The huge impact force almost knocked the captain Colonel Hurstvedt on the bridge. He subconsciously held the handrail next to him and shouted. "What's going on?!" As soon as he finished speaking, he keenly felt that the speed of the ship suddenly slowed down. It was obvious that the power system was severely damaged.

Attacked!

The most likely possibility is that it was attacked by a torpedo! !

But how could there be a torpedo here?

It's a submarine!

Colonel Hurstvedt immediately thought of the German submarine. It must be a German submarine that sneaked in and fired a torpedo without anyone noticing!

Damn, what is the outer defense line for? ! This is more than 1,200 kilometers of the inner and outer defense lines! How could a German submarine come to ambush? !

Just as he was about to give an order to the destroyer to search for the enemy submarine, a dull explosion suddenly came from under his feet. Colonel Hurstvedt was thrown down by the violent shaking, and his face hit the hard floor hard. Streams of hot liquid flowed from his forehead and nostrils. The entire bridge was instantly in a mess, and there were painful groans everywhere.

Colonel Hurstvedt was about to struggle to get up, and another explosion came. The huge impact threw him up more than a meter high and fell to the ground again.

"Wow!" A bloody smell rushed up his throat, and a mouthful of blood came out, and his eyes gradually blurred.

The huge energy generated by the explosion tore apart the battleship's not-so-thick bottom armor, and the keel structure supporting the ship was twisted and deformed.

Tons and tons of seawater rushed in through the cracks, pushing down the already distorted walls, passing through the gaps and all the holes that could be found, and frantically occupying one territory after another that originally belonged to the air. Most of the damage control personnel inside the hull were swept away by the influx of seawater. With the harsh sound of steel bars twisting, this newest battleship that had just been commissioned began to slowly tilt.

When the seawater squeezed a large amount of air out of the hull, the entire battleship would be overwhelmed and pull more cabins into the water, repeating over and over again, in a vicious cycle, until the entire ship sank to the bottom of the sea. After only two minutes, the hull's tilt had exceeded 30 degrees.

The cruiser following closely behind witnessed all this, and the captain of the cruiser held the radio and kept calling the North Carolina in shock. "North Carolina! North Carolina! Your ship has been severely tilted! It is recommended to abandon the ship! Did you hear it?! It is recommended to abandon the ship immediately!!"

After calling a few times, he suddenly thought of something and hurriedly ordered. "There is a German submarine nearby. Let the destroyers search the entire sea area! Sink it!" Rescue is necessary. There are more than 2,000 officers and soldiers on the North Carolina. Even if half of them are killed, there are still 1,000 people. They can't just stand by and watch them die. But if the surrounding submarines are not dealt with, the rescue work cannot be carried out normally.

Because of the secrecy of electric torpedoes, no one noticed which direction these torpedoes were fired from. The four submarines could only circle around the surrounding sea like four headless flies, trying to find the damn submarine and throwing depth charges randomly.