LRAB Chapter 40 My trump cards aren't just the fortress and coastal defense guns!
Chapter 40 My trump cards aren't just the fortress and coastal defense guns!
At 4:20 a.m., off the coast of Wusongkou.
There was no moon over the sea; thick clouds swallowed all the starlight.
The four torpedo boats, like four black snakes skimming the surface of the water, glided silently northeastward at a speed of less than three knots. The engines were at their lowest power, and the spray from the propellers was barely visible.
The captain of the lead speedboat was Zhou Dehai. He was thirty-two years old, from Fujian, and had studied at the Portsmouth Naval College in England for two years. When Chen Zijun bought these four speedboats from the British, he was the only person in the entire Chen family army who had ever piloted a torpedo boat.
He was lying face down in the cockpit, one eye pressed against the periscope night vision goggle, the other hand gripping the throttle valve tightly.
Two kilometers ahead, a huge black outline stretched across the sea.
Izumo.
The ship, over a hundred meters long, resembled a floating steel island in the night. The outlines of its four twin-gun turrets were faintly visible, and dim yellow light shone from the portholes on both sides of the ship. Grayish-white smoke was still billowing from the funnels.
It was slowly moving south, firing a salvo every thirty seconds. With each shot, the entire sea surface was illuminated by the orange-red flames. The cannon fire was like muffled thunder, making the speedboat's metal hull hum and vibrate.
Zhou Dehai glanced to his left.
The Izumo's escort formation was exactly as depicted in the map Moran's brought back. The right flank and directly ahead were filled with destroyers and torpedo boats. But the left flank—
There is a blank space on the left wing that is nearly 600 meters wide.
It was an extremely shallow body of water, less than three meters deep. Destroyers, with their deeper drafts, couldn't get in, and torpedo boats also avoided the area on their patrol routes.
The Japanese never imagined that someone would sneak up from that direction.
In their minds, this shallow area was barely big enough to accommodate even a small gunboat, let alone pose any threat.
But what they didn't know was that Chen Zijun's four torpedo boats had a draft of only 1.5 meters.
Zhou Dehai took a deep breath, raised his right hand, and gestured to the three speedboats behind him.
Four fingers.
— Enter attack position.
Bridge of the Izumo-class destroyer.
After the ninth salvo, Nanyang Shiro finally ordered a halt to the shelling.
"Ammunition consumption report." He sat in the captain's seat and opened a leather-bound notebook.
"Reporting, Captain."
The artillery staff officer approached. "Thirty-six 203mm high-explosive shells have been used. Sufficient ammunition remains, enough to sustain at least twenty salvos."
That's enough.
Nanyang Shiro closed his notebook. "We'll fight again at dawn. I want the Chinese to see clearly in the sunlight how their fortresses are blown to pieces."
The first mate hesitated for a moment. "Captain, the hydrophone reports a faint propeller sound from the port flank. But the sound signature suggests it might be a fishing boat."
"Fishing boat?"
Nanyang Silang didn't even raise an eyebrow. "What fishing boats would there be at a time like this? It's just the sound of the tide crashing against the rocks. The left flank is shallow water; even a few fishing boats can't get in. Ignore it."
"yes!"
The vice-captain turned and left.
Nanyang Silang took out a silver pocket watch from his pocket and glanced at the time.
4:25 a.m.
Two more hours until dawn. After dawn, he plans to first destroy those concrete fortresses, and then slowly approach with the escort fleet, using naval guns to blast the entire Wusongkou into flat ground.
Thinking of this, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
Then he heard a scream.
"Torpedo!!! Torpedo spotted on port!!!"
The scream was like a knife, shattering all the tranquility on the bridge of the Izumo.
Nanyang Shiro dropped his pocket watch. He jumped up and rushed to the observation window on the left.
In the darkness of night, he saw a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.
On the sea. Five hundred meters away.
Six straight white trails were sweeping toward the port side of the Izumo at a terrifying speed.
That's a torpedo.
A heavy torpedo with a caliber of 533 mm.
Each round contains more than 200 kilograms of TNT.
Six white lines stood out clearly against the dark sea, as if drawn with white powder. They were almost parallel, less than thirty meters apart, and covered a range of nearly eighty meters from bow to midships of the Izumo.
"All ships, hard to port! Emergency evasive maneuver!" Nanyo Shiro's voice had changed.
However, the Izumo was an armored cruiser with a full-load displacement of nearly 10,000 tons. Its turning radius exceeded 600 meters. From the time the rudder command was given to the time the ship began to turn, it took at least 40 seconds.
Forty seconds.
A torpedo can travel 500 meters in just 20 seconds.
Nanyang Silang's face turned ashen at that moment.
The first two torpedoes missed the Izumo.
They grazed past less than ten meters in front of the bow, kicking up two huge columns of water.
But the third and fourth ones were not missed.
boom!!!
The first explosion occurred below the waterline on the port side of the Izumo. Two hundred kilograms of TNT detonated three meters below the waterline. The shockwave instantly tore through nearly five meters of the hull's steel plating. Seawater poured into the forward compartments like a waterfall.
boom!!!
A second explosion followed immediately, striking the port side amidships. This one was even more deadly—it hit the outer shell of the No. 2 boiler room. The high-temperature, high-pressure steam pipes were severed instantly. Scalding steam shot out, and the dozen or so sailors inside the boiler room didn't even have time to scream.
The Izumo tilted violently to the right by nearly ten degrees.
Everyone on the bridge who hadn't grabbed onto anything was thrown out, scattering documents, compasses, and protractors from the chart table all over the place. Nanyo Shiro crashed into the armored wall, scraping off a piece of his epaulettes.
"Damage control report!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.
"One shell hit the front waterline! The water inflow exceeds two hundred tons per minute! One shell hit the No. 2 boiler room, the steam pipeline is completely destroyed, and the boiler room is no longer functional!"
Nanyang Silang's eyes were bloodshot.
Two shots hit. One of the two boiler rooms was destroyed. This means that the Izumo's top speed will be reduced by at least 60%.
But that's not the worst of it.
"Report! The right-wing escort fleet has been attacked by torpedoes!"
Another scream came from the communications room.
"The Hayate has been hit by two torpedoes and is sinking! The Isokaze has been hit by one torpedo below the waterline on its starboard side and has lost power!"
Two destroyers.
One ship is sinking. Another is already disabled.
The defensive line has been torn open with a large gap.
The underground command post of Wusongkou No. 1 Fortress.
Chen Zijun heard the explosion.
Everyone in the command post heard it. Even from nearly 20,000 meters away, the explosions were still clearly audible. They were muffled and heavy, like giant firecrackers set off in the distance.
"Report!"
The communications officer rushed in, holding a telegram in both hands. "Telegram from Captain Zhou Dehai: First salvo completed! Two hits on the Izumo, three hits on the enemy destroyer! The fast attack craft are disengaging from the battlefield, preparing for the second salvo!"
An uncontrollable cheer erupted from the command post.
"Got it! Got it!"
Yang Yanzhao's eyes widened like saucers. "Young Marshal! The torpedo has hit the Izumo!"
Chen Zijun did not laugh.
He walked to the chart table and looked at the enemy ship's location that the communications officer had just marked.
After being hit by two torpedoes, the Izumo was desperately trying to evade to starboard. Its massive hull drew an arc on the sea surface.
An arc is curving towards Wusongkou.
"It's turning."
Chen Zijun's finger traced the arc. "It's dodging a torpedo."
Shen Li leaned closer. "Which way is it turning?"
"Southwest." Chen Zijun's finger stopped.
His finger stopped on an arc-shaped area drawn with a red dotted line on the nautical chart.
That is the effective firing sector of the 280mm coastal artillery.
"It's charging at our guns with its side." Chen Zijun looked up, and a hint of a smile finally appeared in the depths of his eyes.
18,000 meters.
17,000 meters.
While the Izumo was frantically dodging torpedoes in a panic, its massive and cumbersome hull was slowly sliding meter by meter into the optimal effective range of the 280mm Krupp coastal defense cannons.
"16,800 meters away." The staff officer marked the latest position on the nautical chart. "The Izumo is moving south-southwest at a speed of about ten knots. At its current course, it will be fully within the effective firing sector of our 280mm coastal artillery in three minutes."
"And," another staff officer added, "it's now facing us sideways. The entire port side, over a hundred meters long, is completely exposed."
There was a moment of silence in the command post.
Everyone looked at Chen Zijun.
Chen Zijun stubbed out his cigarette.
He turned to look at Yang Yanzhao.
Yang Yanzhao's eyes were already red, and his hands were trembling slightly, not because of fear—but because he had waited too long.
From the moment the first shell from the Izumo landed on the mudflats, he had been waiting for this second.
"Uncle Yang."
"Here!" Yang Yanzhao's voice was hoarse, as if it were being squeezed out of his throat.
Chen Zijun looked at him and softly uttered four words.
"Fire! Send it to hell!"