"Sir!" The officer who had been staring at the closer torpedo warned at this time: "We may not be able to escape!"
He saw that the white track was quite close, and their huge hull was almost at a ninety-degree angle to the white track. No matter how they turned now, they could no longer avoid the torpedo's attack.
The navies of various countries basically learn from the construction standards of the Tang Dynasty navy, so the title is mainly chief, and the title "adult" is rarely used.
This is completely different from the armies of many countries. In some countries, it is actually very common for the army to call commanders "sir."
"Damn..." He picked up the telescope again and saw that the white track was very close. The officer on duty cursed secretly, but he could not give any more orders.
They had lost the best opportunity to dodge, and it was a certainty that the torpedo would hit the warship.
"Be prepared for the impact! Hold on to things around you!" When there was no way to avoid it, the officer on duty could only give the order.
"Be prepared for impact! The torpedo is about to collide with our ship! The torpedo is about to collide with our ship!" Picking up the microphone, the officer in charge of delivering the message kept repeating the orders of the officer on duty.
Time passed by, and as the white track connected with the side of the battleship, a huge explosion suddenly raised waves, directly cutting off the huge battleship.
Suddenly, everyone felt a huge vibration under their feet. The entire ground seemed to be lifted up by a giant, and then fell heavily to the sea.
Everyone fell to the ground and was blown to pieces by the explosion. Even though they were well prepared to withstand the impact, when the violent tremor arrived, everyone still found that they had underestimated the power of the torpedo.
The thick side steel plate had no way to withstand the tearing force coming from underwater, which was increased several times, twisted and deformed, and was completely penetrated and destroyed.
Cold seawater poured into the damaged cabin from under the battleship's waterline, swallowing everything inside in an instant.
The sailors still in these cabins did not even utter a cry for help, because most of them had died in the explosion.
There may still be living people in the surrounding cabins, but they were swept into darkness by the water that poured into them while they were unconscious, and they also died cleanly.
The cabins that were torn apart by the shock wave began to leak. The sailors who had just climbed up from the ground staggered and began to struggle in the waist-deep cold water, trying to find a way to escape to a safer place.
"It's flooded! It's flooded!" Someone helped close the waterproof gate in the corridor and loudly reminded his companions: "This side is closed! This side is closed!"
With his shout, the gate that was deliberately designed to be unable to be opened on one side was pushed open, and everything on the other side was isolated.
Of course, there are other exits to escape, but you have to escape there before the seawater fills all the space.
As soon as he got up from the ground, the officer on duty began to order the damage control personnel to check the water leakage. Such a violent explosion must have severely damaged the battleship. He had to quickly stop the water from entering so that the battleship would continue to float on the sea. .
"Quick! Go check the leakage! Quick!" He continued to shout while giving orders to the officer in charge of damage control: "Keep the battleship at speed! Keep turning!"
He learned all this stuff from the Tang Military Academy. He was a promising trainee, a talent that every imperial navy was in urgent need of.
Although he, who had been to the Tang Dynasty for further study, would not be able to serve as a chief officer, being an adjutant was also very promising, and everyone knew this.
"Determine the extent of the damage! Check the ammunition depot! If it is dangerous, fill the ammunition depot with water immediately!" He walked to the chart table and asked someone to bring over the structural diagram of the battleship: "Quick! Bring the battleship drawings! Calculate the warship's reserves Buoyancy! Calculate the total amount of water entering as soon as possible!"
Just as he was speaking, a captain who was probably in his fifties walked into the bridge. His navy uniform was a little dirty, and he obviously fell down on the way here.
As soon as he walked in, he asked about everything that had just happened and took over the subsequent command. It's just that the officer on duty made good arrangements and didn't change any orders.
】
The cruiser that had just opened the way on the side was hit by a torpedo and was rolling sideways at this moment, looking very embarrassed.
Obviously, the opponent's torpedo attack was not just one. At least two torpedoes hit the target so far, causing huge losses to the Alliance fleet.
"Neverwinter 1 called back, saying that they had avoided a torpedo and were accelerating away from this sea area... They wish... wish us good luck." The communications officer reported to the captain who had just settled down with a message. .
"Thank you for their blessings... Also, please ask the fleet commander... we need help." The captain looked at the sinking cruiser on the side and ordered the communications officer.
"Too much water has entered, and the speed has dropped to 20 kilometers... We can't keep up with the speed of the fleet." An officer said in an angry voice that the bridge of his nose might have been hit, and it was bruised.
"Boom!" Just after he said this, a cruiser in the distance was also hit. The torpedo explosion shot into the sky and almost broke the cruiser in half.
"Is there water in the boiler room?" After just one glance at the explosion, the captain no longer cared about the life and death of the people on the battleship. He turned his head and asked the officer on duty.
"The damage control commander just went down, and no news has come back. Sorry, I can't confirm the situation." The young officer on duty immediately replied.
"No need to apologize, you have done a good job." The captain comforted his adjutant who was just on duty, and then continued to ask: "What do you think the situation is now?"
"The torpedo is approaching from the starboard side, which means that the enemy submarine is on the starboard side... We are moving at full speed to the port side and are moving away from the enemy ship." The adjutant answered the captain's question with almost no thought: "According to what we obtained According to the intelligence, the enemy submarine should not be able to catch up with us... We only need to see the sea behind us and don't let the torpedoes chase us and blow up our rudder and propeller, and we can get away."
"Well, this is a good idea! His Majesty the Emperor gave this battleship to me in the hope that I would take it back. Although it is damaged, it is better than sinking here." The old captain nodded and agreed. judged by his adjutant.
Even if their warship is damaged and the speed slows down, it is impossible for the submarine to catch up with them. So even if they are injured and damaged, there is still no big problem.
After all, they are battleships, and their ability to withstand damage is much better than those fragile cruisers.
The two cruisers that were hit were basically about to capsize now. This is the price of insufficient tonnage and insufficient protection!
"A telegram was sent from Nanwan No. 1. They asked what happened to the submarine?" The communications officer came back again. Warships from many countries were sending telegrams to ask each other about the attacks.
There are dozens of warships here, and the farthest warship didn't even see the explosion. Of course, it is still in a confused state at this moment.
But then these unknown battleships also understood the situation, because soon the battleship Yongdong No. 1, which was at the core of the fleet, was hit by a torpedo and ignited a raging fire.
It's no exaggeration at all. Even from a distance of two or three kilometers, this huge battleship of the Ice Empire can still be seen billowing smoke.
It was turning with difficulty, in order to avoid possible subsequent attacks. After all, with the size of the battleship, it was still difficult for a torpedo to cause substantial damage to the entire battleship.
This is completely different from the principle of artillery shells or aerial bombs, because torpedoes do not cause penetrating damage. The main damage of a torpedo comes from repeated shocks in the liquid caused by the explosion. Penetrating the hull mainly relies on detonating itself in the sea water, rather than crashing through the hull and exploding again.
This principle is doomed. A torpedo attack causes water intrusion, not explosion. A large amount of water intrusion can even immediately suppress the explosion. Even if the compartment hit by the torpedo is an ammunition depot, it actually cannot cause the ammunition depot to explode. .
Given the size of the battleship, as long as it doesn't explode, it is unlikely that a ship of this size will sink at once due to water intrusion.
Therefore, a torpedo can seriously damage a battleship, but it will most likely not sink the battleship. These damaged battleships would immediately escape and return for repairs.
This is the case with the Ice Empire's Neverwinter 1 battleship, and the same is true with the Dornish battleship Neverwinter 2 that was just hit.
Just as everyone was nervously searching the sea, fearing that another attack would fall on them, a transport ship loaded with food and oil suffered a disaster.
A torpedo that a cruiser narrowly avoided hit the unlucky supply ship, blowing the civilian vessel into two pieces.
The ship without armor protection was not as strong as a battleship. It was directly broken into two pieces by the water column raised by the explosion, and then fell back to the sea and suffered secondary damage.
It sank faster than the two cruisers that were hit before. In just a few minutes, only the mast of the supply ship remained on the sea.
Afterwards, this so-called combined fleet fled into the distance in embarrassment. In the panic, two cruisers even collided with each other, and one of them sank the other...
The remaining battleship was damaged by a torpedo, and it was a Gobel battleship. But each father and mother took care of their own affairs, and the warship that ran away did not look back. It just left its injured teammates behind and ran away completely.
Because the combined fleet was attacked and suffered heavy losses, various countries immediately sent telegrams to the special envoys who were far away in the peace talks with Tang, ordering them to sign a contract with Tang as soon as possible to avoid further irreparable losses to their fleets.
----------
Sorry, two updates are provided. Xiaonian Longling cannot make up for the update today, so it will be postponed to tomorrow.
