Chapter 367: Attack from the bottom of the sea (3rd update, please subscribe)
While the battle on the La Plata River was going on, in the middle of the La Plata River, the yellow water sparkled brightly under the sunlight, a white wave trail split the river, a vaguely visible tower-like bow was vaguely visible in the agitated river water, and waves mixed with countless foams were flying in the air beside the ship.
Holding a telescope, standing on the bridge that could only accommodate one person, Liu Tiannian looked at the situation in the distance.
Although the submarine is now sailing on the La Plata River, the wide river surface is so wide that it seems as if the end is nowhere in sight.
The estuary of the Rio de la Plata is the widest estuary in the world, with a width of 200 kilometers. Even this generation is more than 100 kilometers wide. Such a vast river surface always makes people mistakenly think that this is the sea. But in fact, it is just a river.
Precisely because they were sailing on the river, Liu Tiannian would remind the helmsman to maintain course from time to time through the megaphone.
After all, the water depth here is only about 30 meters. Although there is no problem in sailing in such shallow waters, there are indeed certain risks for submarines.
"I hope I can complete the task successfully."
Liu Tiannian said to himself.
In the past six months, Liu Tiannian has been leading submarine No. 001 in sea training. Although he was eager to play a role in the war after the outbreak of the war, he knew very well that what the troops needed most now was training.
They received a mission three days ago, and he led the crew, left the base and headed all the way to the mouth of the La Plata River.
Where is the goal?
As he was standing on the command tower searching the river surface, suddenly, several columns of smoke rising from the distant skyline caught his attention. After picking up the telescope and observing for a while, he immediately went down from the bridge to the bottom cabin.
As soon as he entered the hold, he gave the order.
"Close the hatch!"
The sailors who received the order immediately worked to close the hatch and turn off the microphone. After working for about thirty seconds, the sailors finally responded loudly.
"Hatch closed!"
"Megaphone off."
After hearing the sailors' report, Liu Tiannian, who had already walked to the command desk, gave the order.
"Dive!"
The small submarine dived very quickly and disappeared from the river surface in the blink of an eye.
After diving into the depths of the periscope, Liu Tiannian put his general's cap back on and lifted the periscope with both hands. Then he put his eyes on the periscope and carefully directed the submarine to approach the target.
About half an hour later, a fleet appeared in his sight.
"Yes, the leading British warship, the Minotaur in front and the Hector behind..."
He was not unfamiliar with the "Hector". When he was studying in the UK, he once visited the "Hector" under construction in the shipyard. At that time, he never thought that one day he would meet this warship again in this way.
"It's a pity that you are no longer within the scope of the mission this time, otherwise..."
While aiming at the "Hector" through the periscope, Liu Tiannian silently issued an attack order in his heart.
At this moment, he seemed to see a torpedo flying out of the submarine, splashing waves of joy and flying towards the warship.
With a loud bang, the ironclad ship "Hector" was sunk!
What a brilliant achievement this would be for the world's first submarine!
Of course, it would be even better if the target could be changed to the Minotaur ironclad ship.
You have to know that it was an ironclad ship weighing more than 10,000 tons.
But even if the tonnage is so huge, so what?
Only two torpedoes, three at most, would be enough to send him to the cold seabed!
Unfortunately, he had a more important mission! This idea was just something he thought about in his mind.
"Where the hell are you?"
Operating the periscope, Liu Tiannian continued to search for the target of his trip - the ironclad ship "May 25th". That was the ironclad ship purchased from Britain by the Argentine Navy in order to deal with the ironclad ships of Nanhua. This ironclad ship with a displacement of nearly 4,000 tons was also the flagship of the Argentine Navy.
Although his tonnage is not as large as that of the "Hector" ironclad ship, it is also a very good target. At least it can be used to prove the combat effectiveness of submarines.
Staring at the target through the periscope, Liu Tiannian's eyes were cold, and occasionally he would lick his lips with his tongue.
"Torpedo room!"
"Set the depth at 3 meters!"
A moment after Liu Tiannian gave the order, the sailors' reply came from the torpedo temple. In this era, they could only pass orders in this most primitive way within the boat.
"Deep 3 meters! Done!"
As the commands were given and repeated, finally a shout of "Ready!" was heard from the torpedo room. In the small submarine, the voice was very clear.
500 meters away!
Although the distance was very close, Liu Tiannian still did not fire, as he knew he only had one chance to attack.
With the help of the periscope's ranging, when the distance was only about 200 meters, Liu Tiannian shouted loudly.
"Torpedo launch!"
As the world's first submarine equipped with torpedo tubes, with Liu Tiannian's order, the torpedo captain pulled down the launching rod in the torpedo room at the bow of No. 001.
"Bang..." The compressed air directly pushed the torpedo in the launch tube. Under the push of the air, the torpedo rushed out of the launch tube and then rushed towards the target. The speed of the torpedo was neither fast nor slow. Although the compressed air-driven engine left clear boiling bubbles on the sea surface, it was still rushing.
What is that?
No one even noticed its existence! After all, for the navy of this era, the threats they could see were all from the sea, from the bombardment of the fleet.
An attack from under the sea?
Is it the legendary giant octopus?
So no one noticed anything unusual on the sea. Even if they found the wake of a torpedo, they might have thought they had encountered a big dolphin spraying water.
After the launch from launch tube No. 1, launch tube No. 2 was also launched, and two boiling white waves rushed straight into the distance.
Perhaps, these are really the waves created by dolphins swimming in the sea.
When the two torpedoes flew towards the ironclad "May 25th" one after another, no one on the crowded ironclad ship noticed the torpedo wakes on the water at all.
The Argentine soldiers who had managed to escape were just crowded on the deck, smoking and talking. No one noticed anything unusual on the sea.
Even when the torpedoes sailed close to the warships, no one noticed them.
But in just a moment, Liu Tiansheng saw through the periscope a huge column of water exploding on the starboard side of the "May 25th" ironclad ship. The violent explosion created a water column as high as a hundred meters.
"Torpedo number one hits!"
When Liu Tiansheng's excited shout rang out in the submarine, the crew had already heard the explosion coming from a distance. Although the submarine was hovering in the sea, the sound of the explosion was still clearly heard by everyone.
"Long live!"
Amid the excited shouts, there was another loud bang, and the No. 2 torpedo hit the "May 25th" ironclad again. When the shock wave of the explosion hit, because the distance was too close, even the submarine was shaken, and the submarine fell directly into the cabin because it could not stand firmly.
"Full dive!"
When Liu Tiansheng ordered to dive into the deep sea, the sea surface was already in chaos. The ironclad ship "May 25th", which was hit by two torpedoes in succession, was already taking on serious water.
As the ship tilted, the frightened and confused sailors jumped into the sea without even waiting to lower the lifeboat.
None of them knew what was going on, but now facing the rapidly sinking warship, jumping into the water was the best option.
"Quick, slow down, there are mines!"
The British sailors on the ironclad ship "Minotaur" were also frightened by the violent explosion, and they all looked at the wide river surface nervously.
What exactly happened?
It must be a mine.
It must have hit a mine while sailing.
There are mines in the river!
The sailors looked at the river in horror. The thick water covered everything. No one could see the small submarine at the bottom of the river.
At this time, it was just floating quietly in the river. The submarine, which had completed its mission, left quietly like a ghost on the seabed.
It left a trail of death and terror in its wake.
"Pay attention to the sea surface, there may be mines."
When the deputy captain gave the order, Henrys had already come to the deck nervously.
"What's going on?"
He was originally chatting with Edward in the captain's room, but who would have thought that he was interrupted by the explosion.
For a moment, he even wondered if he was attacked by the South China Navy?
But he quickly gave up the idea, as he believed that no fleet in the world dared to challenge the British Royal Navy.
"General, mines! The "May 25th" may have hit a mine, and two mines!"
Two mines!
Major General Henrys opened his eyes wide, simply unable to believe what he heard.
"How is this possible?"
"Two explosions, less than a second apart. Perhaps the Paraguayans dropped anchor mines that drifted here. General, we must be careful."
Mines are not new. During the Civil War, mines produced in South China were widely used by the South to break the blockade of the North. Although they failed to achieve their goal, they still sank dozens of Northern ships in areas such as Hampton Roads. Mines were also used in the Paraguayan War.
Almost as a matter of course, everyone thought that the "May 25th" had encountered a mine laid by Paraguay during the war. As for torpedoes...they had never heard of that thing.
"This is really Lopez's revenge!"
Standing in the command tower, watching the slowly sinking "May 25th", Major General Henrys said.
Even when Lopez released these mines, he never thought that one day he would teach the Argentines such a painful lesson.
Or maybe this is God's arrangement.
"Ask President Sarnto if he has been evacuated safely, and ask them if there is anything we can help them with!"
Help was definitely needed. On the ironclad ship "May 25th" there were not only hundreds of sailors, but also thousands of army soldiers who had retreated to the warship.
And now they are all struggling on the water. Of course, many people have no chance to struggle and call for help. They have already sunk into the La Plata River with the warship.
When the Minotaur lowered the lifeboat and joined the Argentine Navy in seeking help for the people who fell into the water, Sarnto, who had already retreated to the lifeboat, turned pale. His eyes were fixed on the sinking ironclad ship "May 25th". There was only one thought left in his mind - it's over!
It's all over!
"First, sir, our...treasury is finished!"
The central bank governor, who had just been rescued from the river like a drowned chicken, was completely stunned. He looked at the flagship of the Argentine Navy in horror. He was about to be submerged by the river.
Oh my God!
What exactly happened?
Treasury!
The national treasury is on the ironclad ship "May 25th"!
In order to continue the resistance, when withdrawing from Buenos Aires, according to the president's order, all the gold, gold and silver coins, bonds and other valuables in the treasury and the central bank were secretly transported out of the vault, packed into boxes and sent to the ironclad ship "May 25th".
Originally, the gold and silver in the ironclad ship "May 25th" was Argentina's hope to continue fighting, but what about now?
With the sinking of the warship, everything was gone!
All gone!
Sarnto's face looked as ugly as if his father had died. He just stared at the "May 25th" with a blank mind and unable to utter a word.
There is no gold.
He had nothing left. Even if he led his army to withdraw to Uruguay, what could he do? When he had no money to pay the soldiers and no money to buy food, the anger of the officers and soldiers would be vented on him.
What will happen then?
Sarnto didn't even dare to think. He just sat in the lifeboat with a desperate look on his face, with only one thought in his mind.
“Is this really God’s will?”
Mine!
Who could have imagined that a fleet would encounter mines while sailing?
And no one knows when those two mines were placed by that guy Lopez.
What is even more unimaginable is that the mine actually hit the ironclad ship "May 25th"!
Sarnto could not imagine any other possibility except God's arrangement.
"My God, have you really abandoned your people and Argentina?"
Sarnto watched the slowly sinking ironclad ship "May 25th" with a look of despair. Now the ironclad ship sinking in the La Plata River was no longer a warship, but their hope!
But hope sank to the bottom of the river...
(End of this chapter)
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