"Warning! Warning! Bearing 75, distance 0.5 nautical miles, 6 torpedoes approaching!!"
"Oh my god! We're too close!!!"
"Impact in 32 seconds! Time to intercept has been lost!!"
Inside the command center of the USS Lyleda, the sonar operator shouted at the top of his lungs.
The huge command center was filled with screams of terror.
"Quickly, hard to starboard, launch torpedo decoys!!"
"Captain Jesford of the USS Lelda shouted, his handsome face already deathly pale."
The enemy's audacity was undeniable, launching six heavy torpedoes from a distance of less than one kilometer.
But precisely because of this, the Lelda only had half a minute to react.
In half a minute, there's simply not enough time to implement effective methods to intercept torpedoes.
All it can do is launch all the torpedo decoys it can fire at once.
The ship should be steered fully to starboard to minimize the area vulnerable to torpedo strikes...
"Sound the alarm! Everyone, prepare for collision and explosion prevention!"
"All personnel, be prepared to abandon ship at any time..."
Jesford issued his final command, his tense body suddenly feeling completely drained, utterly devoid of strength.
"Captain, are you... alright?" A crew member next to him quickly helped him up. "Why don't you board the lifeboat first?"
Jesford shook his head, his heart filled with sorrow.
The excitement of hunting prey a minute ago had vanished without a trace.
The alarm that had just sounded on the ship was sharp and piercing.
The faces of the more than 300 crew members all changed color.
In less than 20 seconds, their advanced frigate will be hit by the first volley of torpedoes.
There is nowhere to escape in the vast ocean.
Their fate was either to be killed instantly by torpedoes or to sink with their ships.
Fortunately, the carrier strike group was not far away, and the crew still had a chance to be rescued during the sinking of the HMS Lelda...
"The decoy missile interception failed. There are 8 seconds left before the torpedo strikes the port side of our vessel!"
The sonar operator's voice, like a death knell, strikes at people's hearts, word by word.
Jesford gripped the guardrail tightly with both hands, praying to Almighty God.
Unfortunately, even God couldn't protect him.
Because, that wretched sonar soldier screamed again:
"Oh my god! Oh my god! There are six more torpedoes coming!!!"
"Captain, what do we do? We're... doomed!"
The young sonar operator was almost in tears, his voice trembling with sobs.
"12 heavy torpedoes? Hah... They've really gone all out..."
Jesford sighed, gave a self-deprecating laugh, and closed his eyes in despair.
"boom!"
The next second, the ship shook violently, and the hull was thrown half a meter high by the shockwave from the explosion.
Objects in the command room bounced up and fell down, scattering across the deck.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The next five torpedoes exploded almost simultaneously.
The huge blast wave lifted the HMS Lelda more than two meters into the air.
The waves rolled, and the ship's interior made a series of creaking and cracking sounds.
"Boom! Boom!"
Another loud bang.
The ammunition compartment exploded.
The fire began to rage in the ship's cabins and decks, and black smoke billowed into the sky, reaching hundreds of meters high.
Two P-3C anti-submarine aircraft circled in the distance, seemingly unsure of what to do.
"Boom! Boom! Boom..."
Twenty-five seconds later, a second wave of six torpedoes struck the wrecked Lelda without mercy.
With one-third of its length submerged, the massive Lelda rocked violently a few times and tilted rapidly to the right.
With the encryption compartment flooded and the keel broken, the Lyleda's sinking to the bottom of the sea is inevitable; it won't last much longer.
......
....................................
The Roselle, located 4 kilometers away, had already received the Lelda's distress signal.
It is changing course and speeding towards the accident scene.
The Roselle has now abandoned its mission to hunt down the underwater ghost and has instead turned back to rescue the Lyleda.
At the speed of the Roselle, it would take at least 10 minutes to reach the scene of the accident.
The Lelda, wrecked beyond recognition by a torpedo, is probably long gone and sunk to the bottom of the sea.
Of those sailors who fell into the water, only a few survived.
......
"Captain Nathan, the rescue helicopter dispatched by the carrier strike group will not arrive for another 15 minutes."
On the HMS Roselle, the first mate informed Captain Nathan of the latest telegram he had just received.
"15 minutes? Humph! Everyone would be dead by now! What's the point of trying to save them?"
Nathan, frustrated, slammed his fist on the table.
"These officers, God, are always faster than everyone else when it comes to claiming credit, but when something goes wrong? They're slower than tortoises!"
The first mate frowned: "Should I urge them again?"
"Will it be of any use? Heh... You have to rely on yourself for everything, don't you understand?"
Nathan touched his balding head, picked up the military cap on the table, and put it on dejectedly.
"Order the ship's medics to prepare for a full-scale rescue effort..."
"Yes, sir!" the first mate replied, then, as if remembering something, asked worriedly, "Captain, aren't there three enemy ghost submarines?"
"Why is there only one? Could there be two more lurking nearby?"
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