Chapter 1533 Captured and returned to Hong Kong (New January, asking for 1 wave of monthly tickets~)

At the same time, the situation inside the Canglong had rapidly deteriorated to a point where it was almost irreversible.

The consequence of failing to cut off the power immediately was that the rupture area quickly extended from the weapons bay to the second bay at the rear.

In fact, considering the buoyancy reserve alone, water entering two compartments may not necessarily mean a fatal situation. As long as damage control operations can be maintained to slow down the water ingress, it is still possible to save the situation.

however……

Compartment No. 2 happens to be the battery compartment.

"Captain, there's a short circuit in the front battery compartment. The entire boat's power system is in emergency!" Onodera stared at the sensor data on the screen that quickly turned gray, his whole body almost stiff.

Almost immediately afterwards, Chief Engineer Nakamura's panicked voice came: "Part of the power supply to Cabin 1 has been lost..."

The only good news at the moment is that the pumps and valves that control the ballast water tanks are still functioning normally, and the entire boat is gradually rising as the positive buoyancy increases, and has reached a position above 200 meters.

Cold sweat oozed from Kenji Sato's forehead as he faced a painful choice - if he insisted on not surfacing and relied on damage control operations to barely maintain the status quo, the entire boat might sink at any time.

Floating up means complete mission failure and surrender to the enemy.

Just as he hesitated, another violent metallic groan came from the hull, as if it was the last wail of this steel giant.

It seemed to be the last straw that broke Sato's heart.

He had no intention of dying underwater because of an inexplicable accident.

Especially when a submarine accident occurs, the deaths of the victims are usually not very pretty.

"Drain all ballast water! Surface immediately!" Sato finally gave the order, his voice so hoarse that he could hardly hear it himself.

Fortunately, at this point, everyone can guess what he is going to say.

In fact, if Sato really lost his mind and made a stubborn decision, then others would not mind taking advantage of him.

The duty officer reached out to the BCP ballast tank control panel at a speed never seen before and slammed the emergency surfacing button hard. At the same time, the engine was reconnected to the power, and the horizontal rudder next to him also deflected the horizontal rudders on both sides of the hull to the maximum angle.

"150 meters..." The diving officer sitting behind the duty officer held his breath.

"100 meters..."

"70 meters..."

"..."

Suddenly, with a creaky sound, everyone in the command cabin realized that the floor was gradually returning to its horizontal position.

"The forward ballast tank valve is damaged." The duty officer's eyes were almost bloodshot. "The ascent speed is slowing down, and the boat's attitude will tend to tilt forward."

Under normal circumstances, emergency ascent is the result of the combined effect of positive buoyancy and power, so the submarine will jump out of the water in a posture similar to a dolphin jump.

Now that the upward propulsion has been lost, the ascent speed has slowed down on the one hand, but the more troublesome thing is that the position and posture out of the water are almost impossible to control.

After losing the bow sonar and the port side sonar, the Canglong had no way of knowing the location of the Chinese warships on the water.

"Is it possible that we...will collide with the enemy's surface ships?"

When the depth reached 50 meters, Onodera finally proposed this possibility.

The 3000 tons of the Soryu is its underwater displacement, which is actually smaller than the 4500-ton 054A, not to mention that it has already suffered heavy damage.

If we really collide with a destroyer or frigate, there will definitely be no good outcome.

"Release the emergency buoy! Tell the people on the surface our location!" Sato ordered almost without thinking.

People are like this sometimes. Once they take the first step of giving up, the rest will follow naturally.

Two orange-red emergency buoys shot out from the tail of the submarine, dragging long cables as they rushed toward the sea surface. Then the high-frequency transmitter inside began to send radio signals continuously.

Of course, positioning signals are completely redundant at this moment.

The Jiangcheng's lookout almost immediately saw the orange buoy emerging from the water.

Yang Yuelun immediately ordered: "The helicopter will take off immediately and rush to the buoy at full speed. Also notify the Huangshan and Taocheng to load anti-submarine torpedoes, turn on active sonar, and continue to monitor the underwater situation!"

Although there is a 99% chance that the enemy will leak water and lose its combat effectiveness, as a commander, he still has to be prepared to deal with any possible emergencies.

A few minutes later, an unusual whirlpool finally appeared on the sea surface.

Then, a huge black shadow slowly emerged from the foam and waves.

First it was the periscope, then the command tower whose anechoic tiles were wrinkled and damaged, and finally the scarred hull.

The submarine surfaced in an extremely unnatural posture, with the front deck almost completely submerged in water and the stern raised high, revealing the bright red anti-fouling paint below the waterline.

The Soryu-class's X-shaped tail rudder and single-axis seven-blade propeller were kept extremely secret when they were in service, and even close-up photos were rare. But now they are almost completely above the waterline, exposed to the field of vision of the five surrounding Chinese ships.

"501... is the Canglong." Zhao Gang, who came to the bridge, muttered while holding up a telescope, "If it's any slower, I'm afraid it won't be able to surface..."

The ships of the South China Sea Fleet rarely face the Self-Defense Forces on weekdays. After a while, they found a soldier who was good at Japanese and shouted into the loudspeaker: "Attention, unidentified submarine, this is the Chinese Navy, please indicate the type of assistance you need, we are ready for rescue..."

They have already shouted in Japanese, and it is obvious that everyone knows the identity of this submarine, but they just have to act it out out of convention.

Soon, the hatch of the submarine's command tower opened with difficulty, and a sailor struggled to expose his upper body and began to signal with flags.

"They said the water ingress has stabilized, but there are four seriously injured people who need urgent treatment. The remaining 59 people can be transferred later." Zhao Gang reported to Yang Yuelun who was contacting the fleet.

Opponents are opponents, but not to mention in peacetime, even in wartime, the victorious side will usually provide rescue to those who fall into the water.

"Transfer the seriously injured to the Jiangcheng, and the rest..." The latter looked up at the submarine with its butt raised on the sea in the distance, and suddenly his tone was a little gloating, "Let's talk about it after the tugboat arrives."

The propeller and tail rudder of the Canglong have left the water. Now even if the Chinese fleet releases the people, the submarine that has lost power will not be able to return home on its own.

It can only be taken back to Yazhou Base by Nantuo No. 195 and then wait for the negotiation results of both parties.

Of course, legally speaking, the Soryu was "accidentally damaged", while the Chinese side was carrying out "humanitarian rescue", so the dispute should not last too long.

In the early hours of the next day, tugboat No. Nantuo 195 and submarine support ship No. 865 finally arrived at the scene. At this time, the front of the command tower of the Canglong was almost submerged in the water, and most of the crew members had been transferred to the helicopter decks of the Huangshan and Taocheng.

"All ships, turn on searchlights, take off helicopters, and transfer the distressed crew members to 865." Yang Yuelun ordered, "Nantuo 195, determine whether it can be towed directly."

Then, he put down the intercom and turned to Zhao Gang next to him: "I didn't expect that the first actual mission of the 865 ship would be to rescue the submarine of the Self-Defense Force..."

His tone was full of emotion.

"That's perfect..." The latter also laughed, "Let's just let our ancestors see the Chinese Navy today."

This is actually a complete coincidence.

Because the name of the No. 865 submarine rescue ship is just——

Liugong Island.

……

About half an hour later, the captain of Nantuo 195 finally gave a conclusion:

"The target boat is still leaking slowly. If it is towed directly, it may sink or capsize midway, but the buoys can be used to temporarily adjust its posture... Yazhou Base is not far away, and the sea conditions in the past two days have been good. It should be enough to hold on and return."

"Let's do it this way..."

When the Soryu finally surfaced completely, Kenji Sato and his crew members stood on the deck of No. 865, silently watching the once proud submarine now firmly fixed by cables next to Nantuo 195, like a tamed beast.

As the fleet sailed towards its home port, the rising sun stretched the shadow of the entire formation very long.

In the medical room of Liugong Island, Kenji Sato finally had the opportunity to be alone.

He took out a hard drive from his waterproof bag - this was the last record of the seabed topography data recorded by the Canglong before the impact.

The Chinese side adhered to strict discipline requirements and did not search his personal belongings.

Looking at the working area getting farther and farther away outside the window, he silently placed the hard drive on the bedside table.

At the same time, in the Combat Command Center of the Formation, Yang Yuelun was listening to the report from the technical department:

"According to preliminary inspections, the impact of the Canglong did cause abnormal data in the sonar system, but the command cabin remained intact overall, and most of the seabed topography data they collected earlier should still be intact..."