Chapter 1532 Binding the Azure Dragon

When Kenji Sato heard the report, he would rather be hit by a 324mm anti-submarine torpedo.

After all, the Soryu is not designed with vertical launch tubes, and all torpedoes and missiles are stored in the bow weapon compartment.

Although the Type 89 torpedoes equipped by the Maritime Self-Defense Force are not as dangerous as their oxygen-type predecessors or the Red Navy's Type 65-73 series torpedoes, the damage and water ingress in this area inevitably reminds people of the Kursk in its early years.

Whether from historical experience or training, the Self-Defense Forces are not good at damage control operations.

Sato's face turned pale, and he barely suppressed the trembling in his voice:

"What is the damage?"

“Can the water inflow be controlled?”

“Is there any risk with the ammunition?”

"Are there any casualties?"

A series of questions came out of my mouth almost instinctively.

However, there was no response.

For the crew members whose lives were hanging by a thread in the weapons bay, such a series of life-threatening questions were obviously beyond their brain's ability to process.

Besides, Sato's usual volume was not very audible over the alarm in the cabin.

After all, the Maritime Self-Defense Force Officer Candidate School is not as good as Etajima. Even if the noise is a little quieter, it will not prevent you from graduating successfully and joining the navy.

It's only at times like this that it becomes more fatal.

After more than ten seconds, Vice Captain Onodera could no longer bear it and pushed the other person away. He went to the intercom in the boat and shouted:

"Cabin One, Cabin One, reporting damage control!"

After he finished speaking, he immediately turned around and looked behind him: "Nakamura, quickly take people to the weapons bay for support. If the conditions are really bad, you can consider closing the watertight door and abandoning the cabin."

On submarines of many countries, who is more senior, the deputy chief or the chief engineer and engineer, is actually a somewhat controversial topic.

But at least as far as damage control operations are concerned, the deputy captain is clearly in charge of directing specific tasks.

Nakamura, whose name was called, woke up as if from a dream. He quickly called out a few names and hurried forward to the bow weapons compartment.

Normally, his relationship with Onodera was average, but at this critical moment, everyone on the boat, from the captain to the sailors, were literally on the same boat.

Just as the chief engineer left, the fish and electrician squad leader's wheezing voice came, and in the background of the call, he could hear obvious shouting and the sound of metal tearing:

"We are reinforcing the pipeline valves and need additional leak-proofing equipment support!"

It is naturally impossible for underwater damage control to carry out plugging from the "outside to the inside" by relying on seawater pressure like a warship, and the pressure at a depth of 200 meters is definitely not something that can be resisted by manpower, so the demand for equipment is extremely high.

It just so happens that submarines are the unit with the smallest number of personnel and the most limited space in the navy.

Just as Onodera was about to send a few more people with pressure equipment, the fish and electric squad leader's frightened voice came again:

"No, we just found a new leak, and the situation is getting worse, worse!"

The last few syllables are even a little distorted because they are too sharp.

Onodera was stunned, and Sato, who had almost gone offline, came back to his senses at this time, and went to the intercom in the cabin and ordered:

"Cut off the power, cut off the power!"

Due to a series of accidents and confusion, in the past few minutes, no one remembered that the entire submarine was still moving slowly at a speed of 2 knots.

It was obvious that Onodera, who had just given the order, was just pretending to be calm, otherwise he would not have ignored such a fatal detail.

"Duty officer, drain the ballast tanks and prepare to ascend to a depth of 50 meters."

Thanks to the relatively complete watertight design and multiple ballast tanks arranged separately, even if the bow of the submarine is damaged, as long as the ammunition inside is not detonated, the Soryu can still maintain a certain underwater navigation capability.

Therefore, Sato still hopes to struggle.

On the other hand, just as the Soryu had just begun to struggle to save itself, the huge noise generated by the collision between the submarine and the seabed terrain had already been transmitted to the sea surface through sonar.

"What's this noise?"

In the hydroacoustic laboratory of the Zhu Kezhen, Tao Xiuyun looked at the chaotic and sharp waveforms on the screen with a blank look on her face.

The gap between the peaks and troughs was so large that she needed to adjust the scale of the vertical axis to fully accommodate the detection results.

In other words, modern sonar no longer requires sonar operators to rely on their ears for identification, otherwise they will suffer from dizziness and tinnitus.

"Maybe... they fired a supercavitating decoy?"

Captain Zhou Yi guessed.

The idea of ​​bringing the Zhu Kezhen over to carry out the interference mission was only proposed by Chang Haonan this morning. It was a complete rush to do something, so much so that there was not enough time for a complete pre-job training before departure.

According to the mission plan, the Canglong should find that the underwater terrain is a mess and constantly changing, and finally be forced to surface due to a dilemma.

Anyway, we are on the international waterway and they can't really do anything to you. Just admit defeat to Uncle Zhong like the Dongchao did a few years ago, and the matter will be over.

Therefore, there was no one on the entire ship who specialized in anti-submarine warfare.

Faced with such an unexpected situation, I was a little at a loss at first.

"How can an air curtain bait last so long?" Tao Xiuyun rolled her eyes and pointed at the chaotic spectrum that was still continuing on the screen. "It's been more than a minute, and it's still calling..."

"So that's... a self-propelled decoy?" Zhou Yi thought for a moment and made another judgment. "On the way here, I specifically looked at the document records of the previous exercise in which the Dongchao was discovered. At that time, the Dongchao was carrying an unmanned submersible that could be used as a decoy. After so many years, it's normal for its functions to be improved."

This guess is much more reasonable.

The submarine below was already at the end of its rope, so releasing a UUV to explore the way was a normal reaction.

And if that's the case, then as long as a submarine follows the UUV, it might actually succeed.

After all, the terrain under this sea area is not complicated. Even if you keep driving forward stubbornly, you can get far away.

"Then... do you want to strengthen the sound wave interference effect?"

An operator at the back asked.

“If it is really a UUV, it is usually wire-guided, and enhanced interference probably won’t work…” Zhou Yi’s face became serious.

Although the Zhu Kezhen was not a professional anti-submarine ship, it was still a member of the People's Navy after all, and it would never accept the result of the cooked duck flying out of its mouth.

But at this time, Tao Xiuyun shook her head again: "The location of the sound source has hardly changed. It's a stretch to say it's a self-propelled decoy..."

"..."

At this moment, everyone in the cabin fell silent.

"Forget it, let's report the situation to Star City first..."

But in fact, while the Zhu Kezhen was carrying out the jamming operation, several other ships around it also released towed sonars at the same time, but they did not use the active mode.

Therefore, the strange and loud noise was also captured at the first moment.

The officers and soldiers on destroyers and frigates are much more capable in anti-submarine operations.

When the first muffled sound was captured, some people thought that the other party had launched a torpedo or a self-propelled submersible using an air catapult.

But as large areas of sound waves appeared on the screen later, experienced sonar operators realized almost instantly what was happening underwater.

In the CIC of the Xingcheng destroyer, Wang Haifeng, the sonar team leader, turned his head with a sharp look in his eyes: "Report! Detected violent metal noise underwater, bearing 273, horizontal distance about 8 chains, depth 230!" His voice was much higher than usual due to excitement, "From the waveform characteristics, it seems that a large object hit the seabed mountain!"

This shout immediately attracted the attention of almost the entire CIC.

Formation commander Yang Yuelun rushed to the sonar screen in two steps:

"Are you sure it was a collision? Not an explosion or an active sonar attack?"

"The characteristics match the sound produced by an impact, Commander." Wang Haifeng quickly called up the audio waveform for analysis. "First, there was a low-frequency oscillation, followed by the sound of metal deformation, and then the vortex of seawater pouring into the crack..." Halfway through his speech, he suddenly looked up, "Wait, there is a new signal..."

This time, he took a few extra seconds to confirm, and then his tone became less certain:

"It seems... the collision process is continuing?"

According to common sense, whether it is a surface ship or a submarine, the first reaction after a collision should be to cut off power.

But the Soryu seemed to have no reaction to this and allowed the metal tearing of the outer wall of the hull to continue.

The atmosphere in CIC suddenly became tense.

Until a minute ago, everyone present thought that this was just an interception operation where someone happened to be there to practice with them.

As for the anti-submarine part, it is more inclined to drills.

But now, it seems that the other party might really have played me to death...

"Can this... be considered a victory?"

The first thought flashed through Captain Zhao Gang’s mind.

If possible, the first anti-submarine victory in the history of the People's Navy will be achieved by a non-combat ship, which will be a bolt from the blue for the destroyer and frigate commanders.

Of course, now is not the time to dwell on such minutiae.

"Will the other party choose to float up?"

Zhao Gang came behind Yang Yuelun, half reminding and half asking, while the political commissar behind him had already begun to draw the possible area where the other party would eventually surface on the electronic nautical chart to avoid a second collision.

"There is still little detailed information about the Soryu class, but based on the experience of other types of submarines, if only a single compartment is flooded, then in theory it still has the ability to submerge..."

Before he finished speaking, Wang Haifeng spoke again: "The sound of metal twisting is still continuing, but the sound signal is very confusing, and it is impossible to judge the subsequent damage."

"..."

At this moment, Yang Yuelun only felt his scalp tingling.

He had never imagined in his life that in the middle of a confrontation, his opponent would suddenly choose to commit suicide.

If it really sinks, you won’t put the blame on China, right?

After thinking for a moment, he decided to be cautious: "Send..."

He wanted to follow the standard maritime rescue procedures and send a signal to ask if help was needed, but the other party was a submarine and the Star City did not have any hydroacoustic communication equipment.

Moreover, underwater acoustic communications cannot penetrate the thermocline to reach targets below 200 meters.

"Forget it, report the situation to the fleet and request the dispatch of the Nantuo 195 tugboat and the 865 submarine support ship for emergency support..."

After finishing speaking, Yang Yuelun banged his fist on the back of the chair next to him: "Damn it, I never thought in my life that there would be a day when I would hope that the little... Japanese would not get into trouble."