Australian Storm 1876

   Chapter 890 The hapless "Montana"

   After a busy night

The crew of the   T101 boat did not stop until more than six in the morning, docked the submarine in a headland about 6 kilometers away from the enemy fleet, and sat on the bottom of the sea.

   Colonel Chen Mantun was awakened by a loud noise. When he got up, Captain Zheng Rongbai, the captain, rushed over and said in a low voice, "Sir, the enemy fleet has moved and is starting to lift anchor."

In fact, there is no need for him to say that the sound of the "rumble" anchor chain in the distance echoes in the cavity of the submarine along the sea water, which can be heard very clearly. There is also the sound of the propeller churning, and the rhythmic sound of the steam engine running heavily. The mixture came together, and the pencils on the vibrating small table shuddered.

   "What time is it now?"

   "Report sir, it is 10:20 am."

   "Well, it takes two hours for the steam turbine to boost the pressure. It seems that the enemy is preparing to break through tonight. Is there any news on 103?"

   "No, sir, we also dare not use radio communication."

"You're right, the role of a submarine is an assassin positioned in the deep sea. Even if it is death, it will rot quietly in a place no one knows about. The empire will remember these unknown warriors, and one day they will meet in the Martyrs' Shrine. With this enough."

   Colonel Chen Mantun rolled over and sat up, picked up a soft hat and put it on his head, then put on his shoes and walked out of the narrow captain's room. By this time, most of the crew members had already taken their places.

   He nodded with satisfaction and commanded; "The hydrophone continues to monitor, and the others stand by."

   "As you order, sir."

   On the sea at this moment

  Because of the cold climate, there is a thin layer of cool mist, and the mountains in the distance are covered with a thin layer of white. Against the background of the blue sea, it looks like a landscape painting.

   The sleet has stopped, the cold wind is still blowing, the sky is covered with thick clouds, the weak sunlight penetrates through the clouds, and the sky and the earth are still gloomy.

  It was a cloudy, bad weather. The wind was so strong on the sea that it shouldn't snow in the afternoon, but it's hard to say at night.

  In the wide "T" shaped headland

  The white mist blew out of the sailors' mouths. They shrunk their heads and pulled the anchors on the deck. They could see the redness of their noses and cheeks. They were still busy under the orders of the officers, getting ready for the voyage.

   There are also many sailors pushing four-wheeled vehicles with heavy ammunition boxes on them. They send the ammunition boxes used by these 152mm secondary guns to various gun positions and stack them layer by layer.

Rear Admiral Charles Sperry stood in the commanding tower and looked at his fleet through the porthole where a thick layer of frost had condensed. Not optimistic about this adventure.

yesterday afternoon

   Lieutenant General Doug ordered anchor in the bay because the weather was too bad, and Major General Charles Sperry actually objected;

   He believed that the large fleet should be broken down into small fleets of 2 to 3 ships, keeping a distance from each other, risking night travel in the straits with harsh weather, taking advantage of the bad weather to highlight minefields and escape into the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

  Compared with bad weather, the enemy fleet wandering outside the bay is even more terrifying.

   Even if some collisions are caused, or even the mine-struck ships are destroyed, as long as most of the ships escape, these costs are bearable.

   We set sail yesterday morning. There was such a big commotion in the Port of Seattle. It was impossible not to get the news out. We must seize all the time and stand out before the other party reacts, so as to increase the hope of survival.

  Unfortunately, his proposal was rejected.

   Losing a battleship in battle or losing a battleship in voyage is very different.

  As the supreme commander, Lieutenant General Doug must be responsible for the entire fleet. If his negligence causes unnecessary damage to the fleet, he will not only go to court-martial, but also be questioned by Congress, and his reputation will stink on the streets.

   Don’t look at the fact that the Battle of Hawaii destroyed 6 battleships of the US Navy at one time, and Citigroup started the construction of 13 battleships at one time. I feel that the battleships seem to be worthless. In fact, this is an extreme mistake.

  Each battleship is the culmination of human industry. It can be called the mainstay of naval strength.

   Exhausted the naval power that has been cultivated with painstaking efforts, how difficult is it to rebuild after the loss?

  The Qing Dynasty lost two giant ships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" in the Sino-Japanese War. The Beiyang Navy, which was known as the No. 1 in East Asia, was removed from the list. After a hundred years, the Chinese mainland gradually recovered and rebuilt a powerful modern naval force.

  The Tsarist Russian Empire experienced a fiasco in the Great Battle of Vladivostok, the sea power sank for half a century, until the rise of the Red Navy...

  The German Empire's High Seas Fleet was wiped out. It did not recover until World War II. It was firmly suppressed by the Royal Navy of the British Empire in the North Sea, and there was no wonderful performance from beginning to end.

  The Fusang Kingdom experienced the failure of the pastoral naval battle. It took the whole country and worked hard for ten years to take a sigh of relief and regain its position in the Russian Baltic Fleet (Second Pacific Fleet).

  Otherwise, why would Li Jie be able to directly lock up the title of earl after the Hawaiian sea battle?

  Different countries have different ability to withstand war damage.

   But no matter from which point of view, if the Great White Fleet in the Seattle Strait is completely killed, the U.S. Navy will not be able to keep up with the world war in a few years.

   Major General Charles Sperry didn't know a lot of this, but with his years of experience as a professional soldier, he was able to perceive that this attack was more ominous than good.

   After contemplating it for a while, his eyes became firm, and he commanded: "Prepare the transport boat, I want to meet with Vice Admiral Doug to talk about it, this issue is very important."

   "As ordered, Your Excellency."

   After more than ten hours, around midnight

  Seattle Sound Exit

The Great White Fleet that broke through opened a long distance one by one, carefully driving outward along the passage of the minefield, and the top of the protective cruiser "Montgomery", which was anchored at the turning point of the minefield in the distance, lit up. A masthead light shone into the strait to guide the fleet that broke through late at night.

  At this time, invisible radio waves in the dark night sky sent out an extremely important military information...

   Even if this secret telegram is intercepted, the Great White Fleet, which is carefully breaking through the minefield, has no time to take care of it. Now is an extremely critical moment, and there is no turning back when the bow is opened.

On the sea about 60 kilometers away from the mouth of the Seattle Strait, the huge hull of the "New South Wales" is brightly lit. In the middle of the night, like a giant dragon formed by bright lights, its head and tail are more than 20 kilometers long, as bright as a galaxy.

  In the warm war room

  Admiral Zhang Daoru held a telegram in his hand, he laughed up to the sky, and said loudly with a very pleasant expression; "Okay, okay, okay... Boat 101 has done a good job, I want to thank you for it!"

   Then his smile quickly subsided, and his eyes showed extremely sharp and attractive eyes, and he ordered word by word; "Send all combat alerts and prepare for battle."

   A shrill siren pierced the night sky, and the slow-swimming light dragon became agile in an instant, and swooped in a certain direction...

  …

  Seattle Sound Exit

It was a cloudy and dark moon night. After leaving the minefield of the strait, the wind and waves in the open sea obviously increased. The submarine T101 was closely attached to the back of the US fleet in a state of surface navigation, like a ghost. Shadows follow.

   But it didn't take long for him to be dumbfounded.

   The Great White Fleet of the U.S. Navy, which was freed from the minefield, immediately began to speed up. The huge black shadows on the sea maintained strict light control, but they were clearly divided into two fleets and began to flee.

   One heading northwest and one heading southwest.

  The captain, Captain Zheng Rongbai, was so cold that his face was blue and purple, and he slid wetly from the command platform of the submarine enclosure. He reported the bad news to Colonel Chen Mantun, which immediately made everyone's heart cool.

   The enemy is too cunning, he wants to escape separately!

  Colonel Chen Mantun didn't say a word, and immediately climbed to the command platform of the submarine enclosure. After careful observation, he recorded the enemy's direction and speed one by one, and immediately sent a report through the radio to convey this important news.

   "Sir, what should we do?"

   "Heading 17 degrees west-northwest, sailing at full speed, we will catch up."

   "Understood, heading 17 degrees west-northwest, at full speed."

Colonel Chen Mantun stood on the open podium, and the icy seawater slammed up wave after wave, soaking him all over, and the cold wind whistled and slashed on his face like a knife. It was only twenty. For a few minutes, his hands and feet were numb from the cold.

   While the submarine was floating at high speed, waves of more than 8 meters high crashed one after another and shattered the steel boat.

   He was about to go down to warm up, drink a cup of **** tea slowly, his eyes suddenly narrowed, and he almost scolded the edge of the cold podium with both hands.

   Not far from his line of sight, more than a dozen black shadows in the dark moonlight split into two again, and the enemy split up again...

   more than ten minutes later

  Chen Mantun's face was blue and purple, his hands were so stiff that he couldn't stretch it out, his whole body trembled uncontrollably, and his mouth opened and closed to say something, but he couldn't make a sound except "Aah..."

  The officers and soldiers in the submarine swarmed up, took off his soaked clothes and military uniforms, wiped his body with a dry towel, and poured him a cup of warm **** tea. It took a few minutes before he recovered.

"Quick, quick telegram... The enemy has divided their forces again, the situation is very clear, the American Great White Fleet plans to break into pieces and break through. My boat is chasing the enemy heading northwest at full speed. The current position is east longitude... north latitude... course..., speed..., , again, this is the northernmost enemy squadron."

Colonel Chen Mantun, who had calmed down, hurriedly dictated the telegram. After drinking a sip of hot **** tea, he immediately walked to the periscope, held the periscope with both hands to observe carefully, and issued an order in a series of voices: "Left car into five, right car into five, full speed Go ahead, heading 7 degrees north-northwest."

   "Torpedo bay ready."

   "Hyperbaric air chamber preparation."

   "Torpedoes electrified, ready for battle."

   "Report readiness?"

   "Report sir, the pressure of the high-pressure air chamber continues to increase, everything is normal, and it is expected to reach the launch high pressure in 20 minutes."

   "Report sir, the No. 2 torpedo tube is ready, powered up, everything is normal and ready to launch."

   "Report sir, the No. 3 torpedo tube is ready, powered up, everything is normal and ready to launch."

   "Report sir..."

The passwords in the submarine came one after another, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense. Colonel Chen Mantun straightened up with a dignified face, walked away from the periscope command station, and left this position to the captain, Captain Zheng Rongbai, and commanded in a stern tone; "Now let's chase from the side. Go up and leave the biggest guy in the enemy squadron behind, I want to see... what kind of big fish I can catch."

   "Don't worry, detachment captain, it's better to cut off one of his fingers than to hurt his ten fingers. I understand the humble position."

"That's good."

The T101 submarine running in rough seas ran out of the top speed of 13 knots, which was much faster than the slowly accelerating enemy squadron. After chasing for more than an hour, it was about 2 kilometers to the right front, and suddenly A sharp turn quickly formed a T-shape with the dazed ship behind, slowing down the speed of the ship and entering the attacking position.

A few minutes later

  The huge dark silhouette of the enemy ship appeared in the line of sight, one by one passing by, like a ghost on the sea, the submarine T101 waited patiently, and has been holding back.

   Until ten minutes later

   An extraordinarily large shadow appeared in front of him. The long-awaited submarine T101 fired three torpedoes at a distance of about 870 meters from the opponent, and then immediately dived at full speed without looking at the results of the battle, spreading its feet and running wildly.

   There were two earth-shattering explosions of "Boom, Boom..." on the dark sea, and two huge orange fire groups illuminated half of the dark sky, igniting the prelude to the far-reaching Seattle Sea Battle...

The boat T101 caught is indeed a big guy. Although it is not a battleship, it is one of the largest armored cruisers in the Great White Fleet. It is as high as 14,500 tons, which is larger than the tonnage of many battleships. The hull is slender. Isn't it a giant in the night?

  The cruiser "Montana" is equipped with a new 23,000-horsepower steam turbine with a speed of 22 knots. The front and rear are equipped with two twin-mounted 203mm main guns and 16 152mm secondary guns.

This is one of the large cruisers approved by President Roosevelt after taking office. There are 4 ships of the same class, namely "Tennessee", "Washington", "North Carolina" and "Montana". The "Montana" is also one of the capital ships of the Great White Fleet.

  Who would have thought that they could still be attacked in this dark night?

The officers and men of the USS Montana never thought of this at all. After breaking through the minefield in a frightening manner, everyone scattered. The officers and men of the USS Montana were tired and hungry after a hard day. Save the spirit for possible future battles.

The same goes for Captain Ahmed. He fell from the bed by the violent turbulence. He hit his head on the steel hatch and fainted. When the other officers on the ship found him, his face was covered with blood, and he fell into a coma. not awake.

The two torpedoes hit by the T101 boat were really fatal. One torpedo hit the middle and lower part of the hull, located at the lower edge of the armored belt. The violent explosion transmitted huge water pressure and tore a 7.3-meter-long torpedo from the bottom of the midship. The big rift, the sea water poured in turbulently.

   Since it was about 3:00 in the morning, most of the crew were in a deep sleep, and it was too late to take damage control measures until they were woken up by the violent explosion.

The turbulent sea water poured into the cabin along the open horizontal watertight hatch, and in just a few minutes, thousands of tons of icy seawater poured into it, and the water level had exceeded the chest. struggling in vain...

Another torpedo hit the stern of the ship, directly blowing up a huge steam turbine and collapsing. The debris generated by the explosion swept across the engine room, burying more than two dozen soldiers in the **** wind. The high-pressure steam filled the ship. Momentum suddenly lost more than half.

   The third torpedo missed its target and disappeared without a trace in the vast sea.

   This is also easy to understand. Torpedoes are not very reliable these days. Even if they hit, they don’t explode. It’s a miracle that three shots can hit two.

  If it weren't for the cover of the night, who would dare to go to the position of 800 meters from the armored cruiser and release the torpedo?

   That is really Shouxing Gong eating arsenic ~ I think I have a long life.

   After receiving the accurate information on the submarine T101, the task force led by Admiral Zhang Daoru immediately responded. The destroyers and cruisers were disbanded into more than ten small teams and spread out, forming a large net cover.

  7 battleships and 4 heavy cruisers, totaling 11 battleships, are divided into 4 small teams to search and destroy the enemy on the vast sea.

   From 4:40 am to 6:20 am after the first sighting of the enemy was discovered, three groups of enemies were captured one after another, one battleship was severely damaged and captured, two cruisers were sunk, one cruiser was captured, and several military auxiliary ships were sunk.

The real battle starts after dawn, and the vast sea is densely packed with search ships, cruisers or destroyers as long as they find enemy ships, and they will call the nearby battleships to strike the formation to chase and shell on the sea. , chase again, and shell again.

  The battle area expanded to hundreds of square kilometers northwest of Seattle. The Hawaiian Island fleet, which had arrived day and night, stopped moving forward, and set up a second large and deep line of defense in the rear to search for caught fish.

The intermittent naval battles lasted for a day and a night. By 5:00 pm, more than a dozen short and intense naval battles had ended. Only the "Samalinda" formation was still chasing the enemy ship formation in front. High-speed galloping between the peaks and valleys.

   (end of this chapter)