Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 470: Jean Barr (below)

Captain Jean Ronak’s inference was not wrong, the battleship Jean Barr did land on the rock at the bottom of the river, and the current situation of this battleship was much worse than he thought. 81

The river engineering technology in the 1940s was still very primitive. Usually, the removal of this kind of rock base can only be done by hard chiseling with excavators or underwater blasting. The former will seriously damage the life of the dredger equipment, and the latter requires professional employment. Of divers and blasting experts, the price is expensive, the construction is difficult and the degree of danger is high.

What made Barr hit was a huge sedimentary rock protruding about half a meter from the bottom of the channel. According to the original draft data, it could barely be wiped from above. Obviously the French contracting company responsible for this channel took advantage of the original draft data. A false engineering report was submitted to the shipyard due to the chaos of the war.

At this time, it doesn't make sense to investigate who is responsible. The question before the naval officers and soldiers is how to get rid of this 32,000-ton behemoth from its stranded state.

The double bottom of the battleship was not broken, but the outer hull was obviously squashed. This underwater rock plate was high in the south and low in the north with a certain slope. The port side of the battleship was forcibly raised, causing the battleship to face starboard. tilt.

The unfixed materials in the lower tank were displaced, and the seawater poured into the broken outer shell caused a change in the center of gravity. The bottom of the starboard side of the battleship has been pressed into the mud at the bottom of the river by the weight of the hull itself. What's more troublesome is that as the river ebbs, the tilt is slowly increasing.

The two tugboats drove at full power, the steel towline creaked under the tremendous tension, but the huge hull did not move, as if cast on the bottom of the Loire.

It is obvious that relying on two tugboats can not tow the battleship out of the trap. The experienced tugboat shipyard judged that it would take at least ten times the current power to drag this huge ship off the reef, and also wait for the tide to rise. The body can only be towed after it is raised again.

The next astronomical tide on the Loire will be around two o'clock in the middle of the night, and the Germans who are flying towards Saint-Nazaire will not give them this time.

The original draft of the battleship has been reduced to the shallowest level. It can be said that all possible reserve buoyancy has been squeezed out, which means that the ship cannot move half a minute before the tide rises.

It took more than ten minutes for Captain Jean Ronach to understand the current situation. His Jean Barr has become a lion trapped in a trap. If he does not want to become a captive of the Germans, he It must be done quickly.

He is responsible for the remaining 260 crew members on this battleship, including engineers and technicians from the shipyard, base sailors, and the entire 38th and 39th grade students of the Burmick Naval Academy.

A week ago, these young men drove a broken brig under the leadership of the instructor and fled the Port of Brest. After arriving in Saint-Nazaire, they were regarded as a burden by the commander of the base. They were packed and thrown to Jean Ronach. Colonel.

Most of the sailors originally pre-trained on the Jean Barr were assigned to the Richelieu, leaving only the engine and fire-setters of the power system. Obviously, the Navy did not have much hope for the escape of this warship. It was only in the face of Colonel Jean Ronach that he did not order this warship to be abandoned.

The engineers at the original shipyard worked out a blasting plan. They specifically drew the location of the explosives on the drawings, and even calculated the charge to ensure that this warship of more than 30,000 tons could be installed. Along with the shipyard, they blasted into a pile of rotten iron. The plan of this group of engineers made the navy colonel frightened, and lamented that these technicians were even wilder than the sailors.

Fortunately, as the progress of the project accelerated, the warship had hope of a normal escape, and these engineers put this violent plan aside.

Previously, the shipbuilding technical director and chief mate proposed to restart this plan, but out of personal feelings, it was rejected by Captain Jean Ronak. Up to this moment, the navy colonel still did not regret the decision at that time. He was a navy captain and would never tolerate his warship being blown up in the dock. Of course, the destination of a warship should be the boundless sea, if it cannot sink into the sea. It is also a good choice to sink to the bottom of the river, besides, it is also a French river and French land.

Let Ronak walk to his captain's seat and take off the microphone hung on the communication station.

"Attention all crew members, attention all crew members, I am Captain Pierre Jean Ronach." The navy colonel said loudly.

"I believe everyone already knows that we are in big trouble. The stranding of the Barr is very serious. We have exhausted all the means to try to get rid of this predicament, but unfortunately, there is no To any effect.

As the captain, with the power granted to me by the French Republic, I order everyone to evacuate the ship immediately. I hope that at this critical moment, everyone will maintain the honor and quality of a French navy soldier, obey the command of the officer beside him, and evacuate in batches in an orderly manner.

Although the time is short, I am still very happy to be able to serve on this battleship with you. The Jean Barr is a great battleship, and I am sorry..." Captain Jean Ronach The voice was a little choked, he raised his hand and rubbed his eyes.

"I regret that I did not have the opportunity to drive her to fight the enemy. If I had the opportunity, I believe she would be able to beat the Germans’ broken boats. But unfortunately, we have to give up her now, but I Still proud to be her last and last captain. Although we lost Jean Barr, France has not yet failed. We can continue to fight, for Jean Barr, for France, for the honor of the French Navy. , We will fight the enemy to the last breath, and the final victory must belong to us. Good luck to everyone and long live France."

Jean Ronach turned off the microphone switch, and the bridge was silent, and the slogan of Long Live France could be heard from all over the battleship.

"Let the captain lead the damage control squad to the engine room of the first round to stand by, and prepare to open the sea valve." Jean Ronak showed no expression on his face, he turned his head and gave an order to Lieutenant Colonel Berdychick.

"Understood, leave it to me, Captain, I will take care of this myself." The deputy captain took a deep breath and then saluted the captain.

"Thank you, Berdychick, I owe you a favor." Jean Ronach solemnly returned a military salute, then stepped into the commander’s lounge at the back of the bridge and turned and locked the door. .

The French navy officers and soldiers gathered on the deck in a neat line. Not knowing who was the leader, they began to sing Marseilles in unison. The sailors put down the four lifeboats carried on the battleship. Each lifeboat can carry forty-five people when it is full. Obviously, it is impossible to take all the crew at one time. The officers decided to take half of the crew away first, send them ashore and then come back to meet them. The other half.

The sailors all knew that the captain had decided to sink the warship into the Loire River. Although they felt sorry, there was no way. They were convinced that the captain made the right decision. This powerful warship was left intact by the German invading army.

Some officers regretted that the warship did not carry the main artillery ammunition, otherwise they could still rely on the heavy artillery on this warship to deal with the Germans on the shore. Even if they were doomed to fail, they could finally detonate the ammunition depot. This warship is completely finished.

The first wave of lifeboats took away 130 officers and soldiers. The students and engineers of the Naval Academy were left in the second batch of evacuated. They watched the sailors rowing their lifeboats slowly around the square St. Nicholas Island. , And then disappeared from sight.

But then the cadets and engineers stood on the deck and waited for a long time. After half an hour passed, none of the four lifeboats were returned. Obviously something was wrong with this situation, and the rest of the crew on the battleship became nervous.

Let Barr’s huge hull still slanted in the center of the river. It is not apparent from the outside that the warship has sunk. The sailors on the deck believe that the captain has ordered someone to open the sea valve. The lower compartment should be at this moment. The muddy water of the Loire has been filled.

But these people all guessed wrong, so that the Barr didn't sink at all, Berdychick was centered in the bottom cabin for the ridiculous scene of thunder.

Whether it is a civil ship or a warship, there will be a submarine valve, which refers to the main valve on the ship’s seawater main pipe. When the ship is sailing, a large amount of seawater needs to be pumped to adjust the ballast tank, cool the boiler, and fire and clean. .

Sea water is poured into the sea water main pipe from the submarine door located under the ship's side near the side of the power cabin, and then distributed to the required branch pipelines. The valve set on the sea water main is the so-called Submarine valve.

In the traditional sense, opening a submarine valve to self-sink is not just turning on the switch on the valve as you think, but using a tool to unscrew the sealing bolt that fixes the valve, allowing seawater to flow directly into the cabin through the main pipe, because the seabed The door is at the bottom of the ship deep underwater, so the water intake and water pressure are so huge that once opened, it cannot be closed again.

In order to avoid the inhalation of mud and sand at the bottom of the river in shallow waters, civil ships will also set up a high submarine gate. However, the situation of battleships at that time was special, and armor belts and lightning barriers were generally installed near the surface of the ship. And other devices, and rarely enter the shallow waters to sail, so usually only the bottom submarine gate is set.

The problem lies in the bottom door. Let Barr's bottom door be located on the starboard amidships of the battleship. Because of the hull's roll, it has been pressed into the silt at the bottom of the river. All water inlets have been The mud of the river was blocked.

Lieutenant Colonel Berdychick didn't know this at all. He directed the sailors to remove the bolts of the sea valve. As he saw in the data, the river gushed from the gap in the valve. , The huge water pressure even flew the entire valve from the top of the pipeline.

The deputy captain immediately led the sailors to retreat, but while they were still struggling to climb the gangway, the water jet from the pipe became smaller and smaller, and finally stopped and filled the cabin. The indoor river water can't even reach people's knees.

The lieutenant colonel and under his hands looked at each other and didn't understand what was going on. They could only turn their heads back to the bottom of the bilge, dripping knee-high sewage to the sea valve, wondering what was wrong.

"This is the remaining river water in the pipes and compartments. It seems that the sea water pipe is blocked by something. I have nothing to do about it." The shipyard's engineer stood in the water, showing his helplessness.

"We have to find a way to pour water in. You don't want to see this battleship fall into German hands." The lieutenant colonel said loudly.

"The hull is five centimeters thick steel plate, and there is a waterproof compartment outside. What we need is explosives." The engineer shook his head and said.

"But we did not, because the wise Captain Jean Ronak did not agree with our proposal."

"There should be other ways. You are an engineer, or you should discuss it with your colleagues." the lieutenant colonel asked.

"If I can't think of it, they can't help it either." Engineers are confident of their professionalism.

At this moment, the lights on the top of the cabin began to flicker intermittently, and after a violent flash ~IndoMTL.com~ all the lights went out, and the bottom compartment was plunged into darkness.

"What happened!"

"Don't panic, it should have tripped."

"Stay where you are."

"Can't this thing work properly once?"

"Who is carrying a flashlight?"

"I have matches."

Several sailors turned on the flashlights hung around their necks amidst the chaotic shouts.

"All follow me to the deck and come back when the circuit is repaired." The deputy captain ordered.

"Head, don't you need to be guarded?" A sailor asked his monitor in a low voice.

"What the guard? Just this pond of dirty water?" So this talkative guy got a brainstorm.

Lieutenant Colonel Berdychick returned to the bridge from the officer’s passage. He was going to give a detailed report to the captain on the current situation, but he knocked on the captain’s lounge for a long time, but there was no response.

The deputy captain who felt that the situation was not good hurriedly greeted several sailors and used a crowbar to pry open the door of the house. As expected, the captain's body that had begun to stiff appeared in front of everyone.

Jean Ronak did not choose a pistol, but pierced his throat with a short sword, like a medieval French knight, using his life to confirm his vow.

It can be seen that he died very painfully and very slowly. Perhaps this was a punishment for himself. The navy colonel did not leave a suicide note or the like. On the desk there are his and his wife and daughter’s In the group photo, the smiling family in the photo has been soaked in blood.

Regardless of the final result, history will record his name. Colonel Jean Ronach and the battleship Jean Barr are inseparable.

ps: I finally caught up with the four thousand-word chapter, thank you for your understanding. (To be continued.)

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