Chapter 545: North Carolina (3)

Four destroyers dropped depth charges in the surrounding waters, and two cruisers began to rescue the sailors who fell into the water on the battleship North Carolina.

Hearing the sonar operator report that the two cruisers stopped to rescue people, Kretschmer curled his lips in disdain. "What a bunch of rookies." They stopped without confirming that they had sunk the enemy submarine. Isn't this obviously courting death? "You want to fight us with this little ability? Where does your confidence come from?"

The first mate smiled. "Since the last war, the United States has not fought any wars for 20 years. Even a precious sword will rust. It seems that they have to learn how to fight well." However, it is hard to say how many lives will be used to pay the tuition.

Based on the position of the two cruisers, Kretschmer found the best launch position to attack the two battleships at the same time. After confirming that there were no destroyers nearby, the submarine rose to the height of the periscope. Although this submarine can use sonar to calculate the distance and direction of the target and launch torpedoes, the accuracy is far less than that of using a periscope to observe the target before launching, so Kretschmer does not like this new thing.

The battleship North Carolina has been seriously tilted, and sailors are constantly jumping into the sea.

"That's the Brooklyn-class light cruiser." Compared with the new battleships, these two cruisers can be said to be "old men".

The Brooklyn-class light cruiser is a large light cruiser born under the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty. After the completion of the New Orleans-class heavy cruiser, the US Navy's heavy cruiser tonnage under the treaty was almost gone. After the Japanese Navy, which was facing the same situation, launched the shocking Mogami-class light cruiser (later converted into a heavy cruiser), Britain and the United States decided to build a similar ship. Britain built the Edinburgh class, while the United States built the Brooklyn class.

The firepower of the Brooklyn class imitated the configuration of the top class, equipped with a total of 5 triple 152mm guns, supplemented by 8 127mm dual-purpose guns and a large number of small-caliber anti-aircraft weapons. The Brooklyn class has a full load displacement of more than 12,000 tons, is about 185 meters long and 19 meters wide, and its size is not inferior to that of contemporary heavy cruisers.

"Torpedo No. 3 and No. 6 are launched, turn left three degrees, and torpedo No. 4 and No. 5 are launched." According to his habit, the No. 1 and No. 2 torpedo tubes are equipped with acoustic-guided torpedoes, No. 3 and No. 4 are electric torpedoes, and No. 5 and No. 6 are ordinary thermal-powered torpedoes. The advantages of thermal-powered torpedoes are long range and high speed; the disadvantages are high noise, which will produce obvious tracks and are not conducive to concealment.

However, the two cruisers just stopped there stupidly, and even if they found the torpedoes and accelerated to evade them, it was too late.

Everyone on the two cruisers was busy with the rescue work, and no one noticed that two white tracks were approaching rapidly on the sea in the distance.

It was not until 300 meters away that a sailor on a cruiser accidentally discovered it. Seeing the white track rushing straight over, the sailor's face suddenly turned pale.

"Fish...fish..." He pointed at the track and wanted to warn, but the huge fear and despair almost suffocated him, and the sound was stuck in his throat and he couldn't spit it out. At this time, another sailor who hurried by noticed his abnormality and looked in the direction he pointed.

Then, he saw a white track that was about to rush to their feet.

"Torpedo!!" As soon as this sentence was shouted, the torpedo had already hit the hull fiercely. The tonnage of the cruiser was far less than that of the battleship. The huge explosion shook everyone on the ship to the ground, and the water column directly knocked the two people away. Before the seawater rushed into the blasted gap, the second explosion suddenly sounded.

"Oh my God..." The captain of another cruiser was directing the rescue work. When he saw the cruiser on the other side being submerged by the rising water column, he hurried to the side of the ship on the other side and saw a white trail heading towards the cruiser.

It's over!

The captain's mind flashed with this word, and he closed his eyes in despair.

Boom!

Boom!

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" The four destroyers that were searching for submarines in the distance turned around in a hurry, but before they got close, a huge water column was stirred up from the side of the supply ship. The supply ship didn't have the heavy armor of a battleship. It was just a thin-skinned thing with a lot of fillings. It was hit hard and broke into two pieces. The bow began to rise and sank at a speed visible to the naked eye. The whole scene was in a panic.

The destroyer captains were in a dilemma.

Should they find the damn submarine first, or go to rescue people first?

If they went to rescue people, they would probably repeat the mistakes of the two cruisers and be attacked by submarines hiding in the dark. But if they went to search for submarines, what would happen to the sailors who fell into the water? Even in the navy, not everyone can swim. If they are not salvaged in time, I don’t know how many people will drown.

Just as they were hesitant, the sailors who fell into the water fell into an unprecedented crisis. They saw a silver-gray half-moon-shaped fish fin appear on the sea surface in the distance, quickly cutting through the water like a knife and swimming towards here. As sailors, they naturally knew what it was, and they were immediately scared to death.

"Shark!"

"Help!!"

The sailors shouted in panic and swam away. Unfortunately, no matter how fast they swam, they could not be faster than the shark. The shark opened its bloody mouth and pounced on the nearest sailor. Before the sailor could flutter a few times, he felt his thigh bitten by the shark!

"Ah!" He let out a painful roar that was not human! The whole person was almost split into two pieces, and large pieces of blood burst out from under him!

Sharks have a very sensitive sense of smell, especially for the smell of blood. They can smell the smell of blood and flesh in the water at a concentration of 1ppm (one part per million). The low-frequency vibration or small amount of bleeding emitted by the irregular cruising of injured fish can attract them from a distance, even exceeding the sense of smell of land dogs.

In a short while, dozens of sharks have gathered in this sea area, as if they were having a party and enjoying this rare feast to their heart's content.

At this time, the captains of the four destroyers finally reached a consensus. Two destroyers went to search for the submarine, and two went to rescue the sailors who fell into the water.

This time, based on the water column stirred up by the side of the attacked ship, they determined the approximate position of the submarine. "Full speed ahead! Prepare depth charges!" The captain of the destroyer held up a telescope and looked at the possible location of the submarine. Although the sea surface was calm, there must be a submarine speeding away in the opposite direction beneath the calm water. With a submarine's underwater speed of five or six knots, it certainly couldn't get far.