Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 534: Fight against the Gulf of Siam (middle)

The trajectory of a whole row of torpedoes showed a beautiful fan shape. What made Man Peng more terrified was that he saw the same torpedo trajectory under the water in another direction. The Siamese water reconnaissance aircraft was equipped with a Japanese-made radio, but no matter how loudly Ensign Manpeng called, the fleet did not hear any response.

Lieutenant Colonel Wei Feng An stood on the open-air bridge of the [Thon Buri] and watched the seaplane take off with a group of subordinates. In my heart, he was proud of his quick thinking. Who would think of borrowing the transport ship? The plane.

Suddenly there was an exclamation on the bridge, and the seaplane suddenly rolled inexplicably, turning its nose and dived toward the sea.

"Did it break down?" Thinking of this, Lieutenant Colonel Weifeng'an couldn't help holding the fence beside him nervously.

Immediately, he found that the plane seemed to be shooting at the sea, because he saw water splashing on the water, and then heard the crisp sound of machine guns.

"What target is he hitting?" Wei Fengan was a little confused, and then he suddenly thought of something, and suddenly a cold sweat came out of his back.

"Set sail now, go ahead at full speed!" the captain said loudly.

"Order the fleet to set sail immediately, pay attention to the surface, the reconnaissance aircraft may have found the trace of the submarine!" Pointing to the signal soldier and shouting loudly, Wei Fengan's forehead had burst into blue veins.

The Italian lightning strikes on the two wings of the formation are equipped with the latest steam turbine power. Because it is a temporary stop, the pipeline still maintains sufficient steam pressure, so when the flagship's command is transmitted through the flag and light signal, The ships immediately turned on their power, the white water splashes on the stern, and the propellers began to spin at high speed.

But at this time, for the outer lightning ship, the flagship's order is obviously a bit late. Because of the Mediterranean ship type, the freeboards of these lightning ships are relatively low. In order to maintain stability, the superstructure of the hull is not very high. Therefore, when the watchmen standing on the open-air observation deck on the top of the bridge find the torpedo tracks, the two sides The distance was already very close, and the Siamese sailors did not even have time to warn their superiors, and the torpedo had already hit the ship's side.

The two small lightning strike ships of the [Daku] class on the left, [Chun Peng] and [Patani] each hit a torpedo, and the [Surat] was hit twice in a row. The former soon began to tilt and sink, while the latter was exploded into parts on the spot because the ammunition depot was detonated.

A torpedo that slipped from the stern of the "Patani", fortunately hit the inner carrier "Gechang Island", and hit the side wall of the front cabin of the old freighter made in 1898. A five-meter-wide hole was formed. The freighter, which was in disrepair, had damaged most of the watertight doors long ago, and soon the bow of the ship sank rapidly at a speed discernible to the naked eye.

Because the drafts of these target ships are very shallow, the torpedoes are only set to a depth of about two meters, but because they are all electric powered, this does not reveal a very obvious wake.

Just as the lightning ship on the left was annihilated, the three lightning ships on the right were also attacked, but because of the angle of attack, only one [Chunburi] bow was hit. Torpedo, the remaining torpedoes all missed the target.

Under the horrified gaze of a group of Siamese naval officers and soldiers, torpedoes passed through the ship at high speed, and finally one of them hit the stern of the Ayutthaya Ayutthaya at the front of the queue. , The remaining torpedoes disappeared into people's sight as quickly as they appeared. After ten seconds, a drainage column blew up on the distant sea.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the ships of the [Thonburi] formation lost half of their gross tonnage. At this time, only two [Daku]-class lightning strike ships and the flagship [Thonburi] remained combat effective, and the remaining ships were either severely damaged or already sinking.

Regardless of rescuing the colleague who fell into the water, [Thonburi] increased its horsepower and started to move forward. Weifengan couldn't guarantee whether there would be a second wave of torpedoes. Judging from the number just now, there are at least two submarines under the sea nearby, which is not a good thing for this shallow-water heavy gunboat.

Although she has a 203mm large-caliber main gun, the firepower is comparable to that of a Japanese heavy cruiser, but in the face of opponents lurking under the sea, she does not even have the basic ability to fight back.

[Songkhla] and [Rayong] could not sit back and watch their compatriots in the same squadron. These Italian lightning ships are full of horsepower. The two warships quickly cruised around the injured ship while constantly throwing at the fallen compatriots. Life-saving appliances.

The [Thonburi] maneuvered towards the northeast in a serpentine shape for almost five minutes, and did not wait for the second wave of attacks as expected. Lieutenant Colonel Wei Feng An was not sure that the opponent had left, because there had been problems in naval battle history. With few similar battles, the submarine will launch a second and third attack when the opponent rescues the attacked ship.

At this time, the formation commander has also calmed down, knowing that he can't just abandon other teammates like this. If he returns to the base alone with a warship, he will definitely be sent to the military court by his angry boss.

In particular, he could not sit and watch the sinking of the [Ayutthaya Ayutthaya]. This gunboat and [Thonburi] were regarded by the navy as double walls of the kingdom. Losing any of them is unforgivable.

So the [Thon Buri] began to turn its course and return to the scene of the accident. At the same time, [Thonburi] reported in detail what happened to the formation to the Naval Command in Bangkok via radio, but in the report, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel avoided the heavyweights and did not mention that he parked the ship and plane.

Of course, it is absolutely impossible to avoid this incident during the post-war investigation, but if the formation recovers part of the loss due to his efforts in the end, there may be a chance to take a lighter shot.

If Lieutenant Colonel Weifeng'an reports truthfully now, he will definitely end up being deprived of his command on the spot by his superiors, and he will not be given any chance to argue.

The damage suffered by the [Ayutthaya Ayutthaya] was more serious than Weifeng’an imagined. The torpedo hit the steering gear room on the stern and at the same time blasted through the waterproof next wall of the power cabin. In addition to causing a lot of damage In addition to the water intake, the fire caused by the leaked fuel also burned the generator room and adjacent power distribution room. So at this time, the shallow-water heavy gunboat not only lost its power, but also lost all its electricity. Although the crew tried their best to prevent the ship from sinking on the spot, the warship has become a dead fish without combat effectiveness. Can only be at the mercy of others.

In just a few minutes, four [Daku]-class lightning strike ships had disappeared from the sea, with a thick layer of fuel and debris floating on the water, and a group of oily sailors were sinking and floating in the sea.

The transport ship [Pagan Island] put down all her deck dinghies, struggling to save the Siamese sailors who fell into the water. The remaining two lightning ships circled the wreck area, vigilantly monitoring the nearby water surface, but it seems that the attackers were not in a hurry to show up, or they had already left, waiting until the rescue was nearing the end, those so-called submarines remained Did not appear.

At this time, a full forty minutes have passed since the first torpedo exploded. The Bangkok Headquarters has sent back a reply, ordering Wei Feng An to immediately lead the remaining ships back to Sattahip, and then wait there for the senior officers’ Inquiry.

The superior ordered him to find a way to bring the [Ayutthaya] back to Sattahip. They have ordered the Sattahip side to send a naval tugboat team to assist them, and they have also deployed some naval reconnaissance bombers. Came to **** the [Thonburi] formation. Seeing this belated support, Wei Feng An really felt like crying.

The Siamese seaplane carried insufficient fuel. After hovering over the fleet for more than forty minutes, it finally ran out of fuel and landed on the sea near Thonburi.

At this time, the deck of the [Pagan Island] is already full of rescued wounded. There is no place to park the plane, and the transport ship is towing the [Ayutthaya] , It is impossible to stop and recycle it. So in the end, Weifeng An assigned a motorized boat on the Thonburi to pick up the pilot, and then ordered the lightning ship to use the 76mm main gun to destroy the seaplane on the spot.

The [Songkhla] fired four or five rounds at the small seaplane, but it didn’t even hit a single shot. This made the captain of this lightning ship feel a great loss of face. After the scolding gunner, the lightning ship could only turn at a high speed to approach the Siamese style, and finally used the 20mm single-barrel gun on the back of the bridge to completely destroy the small seaplane.

Just as everyone was paying attention to the terrible artillery performance of the [Songkhla], a few faint plumes of smoke appeared on the sea horizon to the northwest of the fleet.

"To the northwest, there is a ship found." The watcher standing in the fence of the 4.5-meter rangefinder at the top of the [Thonburi] bridge shouted to the captain on the open-air bridge.

"It may be the tugboat team transferred from Sattahip." The chief officer said to Weifeng'an.

"They arrived fairly in time, so we might be able to increase the speed a little bit." The lieutenant colonel nodded in agreement.

Because the towing completely lost power, the deck of the [Ayutthaya] was almost close to the sea. The [Pagan Island] had used every inch of steam, and its speed dropped to a pitiful six knots again. In order to prevent being attacked by submarines, they had to change their course almost every few minutes, so that the speed of the entire formation became slower.

"Be very careful at this kind of time. The enemy has not left. I must still be staring at us somewhere. I can feel it." Weifengan held a binoculars and looked at the sea on the side of the ship, hoping to find some Clues to prove his judgment.

"Left full rudder." The captain patted his sleeve and ordered.

"Left full rudder, sir." In the brass communication tube, the helmsman in the steering room replied loudly, and the formation started another turn.

Continued to sail for about a quarter of an hour, and it was possible to see the ship coming forward from the high-powered telescope. Judging from the gray-white hull painting and the high-up main gun, it would obviously not be a shuttle. Tugboat sent by Taoyi.

"It's the French navy flag!" Through the high magnification lens of the 4.5-meter rangefinder, the operator finally saw the huge three-color flag flying on the opponent's mast.

"Raise the battle alert! Order the [Pagan Island] to drive to the northeast shore. If it fails, I will take the [Ayutthaya] to ground." Wei Fengan decisively issued a combat order.

The [Ayutthaya Ayutthaya] has become a burden at this time. In order to keep this warship, letting it run aground is a correct way to deal with it~IndoMTL.com~ As for the [Pagan Island], although it is a problem A cargo ship bought from Italy, but the age of the ship is more than 30 years, even if the loss can be withstood, the key is that she still carries the soldiers who survived on the four lightning strike ships, so they can’t be plunged into war again. Up.

[Thonburi] Although it was a new ship, the sailors received rigorous training in the hands of Japanese instructors. The preparations for combat were carried out quickly and skillfully, and soon everyone entered their respective combat positions.

The two lightning ships increased their speed, surpassed the [Thonburi] and launched an assault in the direction of the enemy. They were preparing to carry out a wave of preemptive attacks relying on the speed of up to 30 knots.

"The enemy ship is also followed by two warships, which are being identified." The bearing operator reported.

"Three on three? Let's see who can have the last laugh. How much time is left to get into range?" Wei Fengan asked, raising his head.

"It will take about five minutes to calculate." The operator reported.

"The main gun began to load, everyone was ready for battle, and the officers entered the control tower." The navy lieutenant colonel ordered.

The officer followed the captain down the rear spiral staircase and entered the armored control tower under the navigation bridge. Only a few watchmen and navigator officers remained on the open-air bridge.

"The main gun is loaded, Captain." The gunner picked up the phone on one side and listened to the report from the shooting command post.

"It has been identified that the first two ships are French Storm class destroyers. The other warship is too far away to distinguish the model." The chief officer reported to the captain.

"Very well, when the enemy ship enters range, immediately fire on the first enemy ship to cover the attack of the lightning strike." Wei Feng'an nodded, holding the binoculars, and looking far away from the narrow observation window of the armored control tower Looked at the enemy ship.

ps: The second chapter is here, thank you for your support. (To be continued.)