lerbook Chapter 105 The Hunt Has Begun...
Chapter 105 The Hunt Has Begun...
East China Sea, night.
Two G7 torpedoes were ejected from the bow launch tubes of the U-07 boat, leaving behind a trail of fine bubbles as they sped toward the battleship Yamashiro, 1,400 meters away, at a speed of 44 knots.
At the same time, U-01 and U-03 each launched two torpedoes.
Six white trails of death spread silently across the dark sea, like six fingers of death reaching out from the abyss.
The lookout on the starboard side of the battleship Yamashiro was the first to spot it.
But he didn't even have time to finish shouting the alarm.
"fish--"
boom!!!
The first torpedo hit the Yamashiro in the area below the waterline on the starboard side, striking the outer wall of the No. 3 boiler room.
The 270-kilogram TNT warhead detonated in less than 0.03 seconds.
The shockwave from the explosion tore the 12-millimeter-thick steel hull plate apart like paper, and seawater rushed into the ship's interior at a rate of thousands of tons per second.
Immediately afterwards, the second torpedo arrived.
This one is more deadly than the first one.
It hit directly below the No. 3 ammunition depot.
Psychotic explosion.
A massive, suffocating fireball shot into the sky from the belly of the Yamashiro!
Orange-red flames, mixed with shattered steel plates, turret parts, and human fragments, shot into the air more than two hundred meters high!
The entire night sky over the East China Sea was illuminated as if it were daytime in that instant!
The shockwave from the explosion spread outwards at supersonic speeds, creating a 15-meter-high wave. A Fubuki-class destroyer anchored next to the Yamashiro was capsized by the wave, lying on its side like a fallen leaf on the sea.
As for the Yamashiro itself.
The steel behemoth, weighing over 30,000 tons, had its keel snap in half the instant the ammunition depot exploded.
The bow and stern of the giant ship, like two broken iron doors, slowly rose up, forming a terrifying V-shape.
Then, to everyone's horrified gaze, the V-shaped gap grew larger and larger.
The midsection of the ship completely disintegrated in a series of explosions.
Flames, thick smoke, debris, and seawater.
Everything was churning, roaring, and collapsing.
Most of the 2,300 officers and soldiers on the Shancheng did not even have time to let out a scream.
Some people were still lying in hammocks. Some were still wearing pajamas. Some were still clutching half-finished letters home.
They were torn apart by the shockwave of the explosion, submerged by the seawater that flooded the cabin, and burned alive by the burning heavy oil.
From the first torpedo hit to the complete sinking of the Yamashiro.
It took less than four minutes in total.
The Fusō-class battleships, weighing over 30,000 tons.
Four minutes.
Gone.
……
at the same time.
Of the other two torpedoes launched by U-01, one veered off course and disappeared into the vast ocean.
But another shot hit the bow of a Furutaka-class heavy cruiser with pinpoint accuracy.
boom!
Although the explosion was not as terrifying as that of the Yamashiro, it still directly severed the forward section of the keel of the heavy cruiser.
The bow bent downwards at an odd angle, and seawater rushed into the breach.
The heavy cruiser began to list and sink at a visible rate.
The officers and soldiers on the ship scattered and fled like ants; some jumped into the sea, while others clung to life rings and wailed.
……
Battleship Hyuga. Bridge.
Yamaguchi Tamon dropped the sake cup in his hand and shattered it on the ground.
He was jolted by the shockwave of the explosion and stumbled against the corner of the chart table, scraping his temple and drawing blood.
But he couldn't care less about the pain.
He gripped the railing tightly, staring out the porthole at the sea engulfed in flames and thick smoke.
The Yamashiro—gone.
His most loyal wingman, his right-wing pillar, a steel behemoth weighing over 30,000 tons, broke in two right before his eyes and sank to the bottom of the sea.
"How is that possible..."
His lips were trembling violently.
"Impossible! How could the Chinese still have torpedoes! How dare their submarines come out! Where did they come from!"
The chief of staff scrambled over, his face as pale as a sheet of paper.
"Sir, General! The Yamashiro has... has lost all communication signals! The heavy cruiser Furutaka is also sinking rapidly!"
"I saw it!"
Yamaguchi Tamon grabbed the chief of staff by the collar, his voice sharp and shrill from extreme anger and fear.
"What did you just say? Even if the Chinese have submarines, how many can they have? You're saying they don't have enough torpedoes for combat? You're telling me this is the result?!"
The chief of staff's teeth were chattering, and he couldn't utter a single word.
Yamaguchi Tamon shoved him away and rushed toward the communications station.
"Emergency communication for the entire fleet! All destroyers, immediately initiate anti-submarine search operations! Continuously drop depth charges within a three-nautical-mile radius of the Yamashiro's wreck location!"
"I'm going to find those damn submarines! Find them! Sink them!"
Less than two minutes after the order was given, six destroyers rushed at full speed toward the area where the Yamashiro had sunk.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
One depth charge after another was rolled into the sea and detonated at different depths.
Huge white columns of water shot into the sky one after another, turning the entire sea upside down.
But all of this was in vain.
Because they bombed the wrong spot.
……
Sixty meters underwater. Three kilometers from the location where the Yamashiro sank.
U-07 is silently retreating southwest at a speed of five knots.
Hans stood in front of the periscope, the eyepiece of his right eye still warm.
He doesn't need to look anymore.
The soprano had already told him everything.
"Two sounds of the hull breaking apart. One sound of massive flooding. Target One—sinking confirmed."
"Target Two - Sound of keel breaking, sinking."
A slow smile crept across Hans's lips.
That wasn't a laugh.
That was the expression of a veteran who had almost been buried alive at the bottom of the sea during the Battle of Jutland, and who, seven years later, had regained the dignity of a hunter.
"Notify Captain Heinrich."
His voice was as calm as if he were giving a weather forecast.
"Hunting complete. Two targets. One sunk, one severely wounded. Four rounds of ammunition used. Recommend the entire squad descend to a safe depth and regroup at the designated withdrawal point."
Heinrich's steady voice came through the communication tube.
"Very good. All personnel, descend to eighty meters. Cut off all active sonar. Speed three knots."
"The hunt is over for tonight. Let those Japanese go crazy staring at the empty sea."
The seven submarines, like seven silent black phantoms, slowly sank into the deeper seabed.
There was no sound. There was no trace.
It was as if they had never existed.
……
Meanwhile, the hellish scenes on the sea continued.
The wreckage of the Yamashiro has completely sunk into the water, leaving behind only a large amount of oil, debris, and people struggling in the icy seawater.
Their screams and cries for help, mixed with the sounds of depth charges exploding, created a chilling requiem for the East China Sea.
The bow of the heavy cruiser Furutaka was completely submerged in the water, and the ship was listing at a 35-degree angle, threatening to capsize at any moment.
Meanwhile, the six destroyers were frantically shuttling back and forth on the sea, dropping depth charges one after another.
It blew for a full forty minutes.
Nothing was blown up.
Not even a single piece of submarine debris was recovered.
Standing on the bridge, Yamaguchi Tamon looked at the burning sea filled with floating corpses and wreckage, feeling as if all the blood had been drained from his body.
Yamashiro number.
Two thousand three hundred officers and soldiers.
Gone.
Furutaka.
Seriously injured.
A destroyer was capsized by the shockwave.
And the enemy.
They came like ghosts, and they disappeared like ghosts.
They didn't even leave a trace.
Yamaguchi Tamon slowly closed his eyes, the veins bulging on his clenched fists.
"The entire fleet..."
His voice was hoarse, as if it were being squeezed out of his throat.
"Heading towards Wusongkou, full speed ahead."
The chief of staff was stunned.
"General? Shouldn't we search for the submarine first?"
"Search my ass!"
Yamaguchi Tamon suddenly opened his eyes, his eyeballs bloodshot.
"Are they trying to intimidate me with submarines? Are they trying to force the Imperial Japanese Navy to back down?"
He pointed to the dark horizon ahead.
"dream!"
"Pass down the order: the entire fleet must accelerate. I want to see the coastline of Wusongkou before dawn tomorrow!"
"I'm going to use the Hyuga's 356mm main guns to blast that damned Chinese warlord's gun emplacements to smithereens!"
Under the almost insane orders of Yamaguchi Tamon, the remaining eighteen warships of the First Japanese Expeditionary Fleet turned on all their navigation lights and sped toward Wusongkou at a maximum formation speed of eighteen knots, like a pack of mad dogs with bloodshot eyes.
On the other side of Wusongkou.
A dozen or so massive coastal defense cannons, each with a caliber exceeding 300 millimeters, were slowly raising their barrels in the morning light.
The gunners have finished loading.
The fuse has been tightened.
The firing parameters have been set.
They are waiting.
When those arrogant steel behemoths break into their firing range.