afterglow

Chapter 336 Weird torpedo; counterattack!Fight back!

Since the straight-line distance between U-44 and Repulse was less than 5000 meters, Captain Wolfe adopted a high-speed, narrow-sector attack strategy.

The G7a torpedo is 7.2m long and weighs 1530kg. It is a common thermal-powered torpedo. Although the new electric torpedo has begun mass production, it has not yet been distributed to combat units.

The G7a torpedo has three speed gears. The faster the speed, the closer the range. When launched at the fastest gear of 44 knots, its range is about 6000 meters.

"Our battlecruiser is sinking, the British must have hit the ammunition depot..." Captain Wolf said angrily: "Damn it, the British must be buried with them!"

The four torpedoes rushed to the front of the Counterattack according to the set sailing depth of ten meters.

The routes of the two sides intersect. If nothing else happens, the Repulse will be buried with the Albert in 220 seconds.

U-44 put away the periscope, kept a few meters underwater, and waited quietly.

However, the German submariners did not know that due to flaws in the torpedo's depth setting device, the launched torpedo actually sailed at a depth much higher than the set depth.

Another objective factor is geographical - the geomagnetic interference in the Norwegian sea is relatively large, which seriously affects the function of the magnetic fuze.

Captain Wolfe and all the sailors were quietly waiting for the explosion, and everyone could not conceal their excitement.

Everyone knows how terrifying the attack by the U-44 submarine is. The magnetic fuse makes the "edge ball" situation no longer exist, and also brings a more effective method.

Set the torpedo's sailing depth deeper, about ten meters, slightly lower than the draft of the enemy ship, and the magnetic fuse torpedo will eventually detonate directly under the enemy ship.

As a result, the underwater protection system that the ship designers have worked hard to design will be ineffective, and the attack will be more deadly.

As time passed, the fierce artillery battle above the water continued.

The Albert, whose No. [-] main turret ammunition depot exploded, emitted a huge column of black smoke. Her rear half was submerged in the water, and her front half was tilted up.

One after another, rubber lifeboats were lowered, thrown, and thrown into the sea. The densely packed sailors jumped into the water to escape, and then struggled to swim to the lifeboats in the biting ice water...

Soon, three and a half minutes arrived as scheduled.

The submariners of U-44 had their hearts in their throats, but something strange happened - the expected explosion did not come.

Wolfe was deeply confused and surprised, thinking it was a miscalculation, but now he had no time to complain and blame, "Reload and prepare to attack again."

Heavy torpedoes still rely on manual loading, a process that takes about 10 minutes.

The deputy captain also felt puzzled, so he took advantage of the reloading time to recalculate the attack on Zhuyuan.

At this time, the Repulse and the Hood had changed their targets and began to focus on the Franz.

[In the previous chapter, reputation and counterattack were mixed up, and 'Franz' was incorrectly typed as 'Franz'. All have been corrected. 】

However, they only fired one salvo when they noticed a series of torpedoes launched by the German destroyers and had to give up the attack and start to evade.

"Torpedo track found a thousand yards to starboard! Captain!"

"Right rudder."

Lieutenant General Walter, who was on the bridge of the Franz, was in a complicated mood at the moment. He could not guarantee that he would be able to deal a fatal blow to the British. This was partly due to luck.

Maybe you can kill the opponent instantly with a single salvo, or maybe your own side will be killed instantly. It's even more likely that both sides will be injured, and they will run away in frustration after running out of shells.

Under the expectant gazes of others, Walter mused: "We can't be gamblers, now, retreat."

The slender hull began to turn, drawing an arc-shaped wake filled with white spray in the waves.

After receiving the order, the German destroyers also dispersed, using smoke generators to lay out smoke walls, while continuing to fire torpedoes at the British fleet.

Even though he was harassed and blocked by destroyers, Lieutenant General William still decided to pursue.

Now with two against one, even if you have to pay the price of sinking one ship, as long as the Franz is sunk, the naval power of the German Society will be significantly weakened, which is a good deal.

The British fleet was basically focused on the fleeing German fleet in the distance, while a few people were trying to help rescue the sailors of the destroyer HMS Hunter.

But at this moment, the lookout post of the Repulse reported that multiple signs of unknown bubbles were found on the port side, which were probably torpedoes.

"Right full rudder!"

"too close!!!"

The rudder of the Repulse had been deflected to the maximum angle, and the rudder effect was good. Her turn was so sharp that the entire battleship almost tilted by as much as thirty degrees.

The sailors clung to anything around them, including railings, gun barrels, hatch handrails... trying their best to stabilize their bodies.

It was too late, the British sailors on the port side watched the four tracks quickly approaching them, and hit them after a few seconds.

One of the torpedoes passed through the front of the bow of the Repulse only four meters away, and it could be said that it passed by.

The other three torpedoes all hit the hull, hitting the bow, midship, and stern respectively.

"Boom!!!"

"Wow—"

The warhead of the G7a torpedo is loaded with 280kg of mixed explosives. This is a high-energy explosive mixed with TNT, hexamethylene aniline, and aluminum powder. It is much more powerful than pure TNT.

The violent explosion caused the water column to reach tens of meters high, and the [-]-ton Counterattack visibly shook.

In order to observe the effect of the attack, Captain Wolfe consulted other officers and soldiers for their opinions, and finally let U-44 take the risk of observing the whole process with a periscope.

Fortunately, the British did not pay attention to the periscope on the sea several kilometers away, which allowed Wolfe, who could not turn his eyes, to see the actual results clearly.

Why did only one torpedo explode?

"Huh?" He became more and more confused, but still ordered: "Dive to 50 meters, stop moving, and keep quiet."

The order was executed immediately, the ballast water tank quickly poured into sea water, and the entire submarine began to slowly dive.

The nearby deputy captain, navigator, and bosun all looked at the calm and calm captain.

"I observed that at least three torpedoes hit the target, but only the middle one exploded." He stated with great certainty.

"This is very strange. What is the reason?" The deputy captain was also puzzled.

In the first salvo, they used the theoretically best mode - a magnetic fuse torpedo with a fixed depth of ten meters.

After the attack was ineffective, they worried that the magnetic fuze was unreliable, so they switched to the traditional collision fuze in the second round of attack just now, with a set depth of four meters.

Even so, two out of three are dumb?It’s so unreasonable!

"This is likely to be a quality problem with the torpedo itself, and it must be reported to the superior." Wolff scanned the officers and soldiers from left to right, and ordered: "Return." However, the bosun seemed a little unwilling, "We can temporarily hide for a while, and then wait for the right opportunity to strike again."

Someone objected on the spot, "This is too dangerous, the British destroyer will definitely start searching, we have to get away from here as soon as possible."

Everyone knows that unless you are lucky, it is impossible to sink a battleship with a single torpedo.

It would have been a good thing to launch a sneak attack when encountering such troubled waters. It can be said that the Repulse should have been in the bag, but it ended up encountering such a bad thing. You can imagine how depressed the submariners were.

The navigator relieved: "We are not fighting alone. The war is national and collective. Now that it is dawn, our planes will definitely sink them."

After weighing the situation, the U-44 submarine did not return directly, but took advantage of the chaos and arrived more than ten nautical miles away.

The submarine floated to the surface and followed the British fleet from a distance. While charging, it used radio communication to report its current course and situation.

The attack from an "unidentified submarine" caused the No. [-] and No. [-] boilers of the Repulse to malfunction and shut down, and some steam pipes also leaked.

In addition, hundreds of tons of heavy oil leaked and a large amount of water entered.

Fortunately, the underwater protection system and watertight compartments have played a satisfactory role. Although the maximum speed of the Repulse has dropped to 21 knots, there is currently no risk of sinking.

According to the order of the commander, Lieutenant General William, the Repulse turned around and returned home under the escort of two destroyers.

William Whitworth was very torn at this time. On the one hand, he did not want to let the retreating German fleet go, but on the other hand, he was worried that the Hood alone would not make him happy.

Do you want to accept it as soon as you see it?
The Hood and several other destroyers continued to pursue southward for more than ten nautical miles, during which they continued to exchange fire with the German fleet, but with little effect.

So Lieutenant General William ordered to return to avoid encountering possible reinforcements from the other side.

But at this moment, the air defense observation post noticed something strange.

"Report, Your Excellency, a German aircraft formation was spotted from direction 120, approximately twenty bombers."

The jingling battle sirens and shrill air defense sirens resounded throughout the fleet. The British sailors who had just relaxed were exhausted, but now they could only muster up their energy and rush to their respective battle positions.

However, the target of these German aircraft did not seem to be the Hood. They quickly passed by at an altitude of 2000 meters and flew straight to the northwest.

Now, the British finally understood that the target of these bombers was just the Repulse, which was seriously injured and had its legs broken!

For some reason, Lieutenant General William suddenly thought of an Eastern proverb - it is better to break one of the ten fingers than to injure them.

Ten minutes later, when the first wave of attack formations arrived, Repulse and the two destroyers escorting her began useless resistance.

Today, the air defense systems of various countries are still not perfect, and effective firepower level matching is still just a concept. The current Royal Navy can only rely on 40mm Bang Bang cannon and Vickers MkIII 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun to fight against incoming German bombers.

Amidst the sounds of "bang bang" and "da da da", rounds of 40mm high-explosive bombs and 12.7×81mm machine gun rounds were fired into the sky.

空军第7轰炸机联队的15架Ju-88轰炸机与8架Bf-110战斗机从刚占领不久的福尼布机场起飞，飞越了挪威西部后赶到了这片海域。

The seemingly ferocious firepower is actually of little use, and the effect is extremely poor - although the bang-bang cannon is powerful, it has a slow rate of fire and a curved trajectory; the effect of the anti-aircraft machine gun is even worse, and it can only make a sound. Not an exaggeration.

何况同为.50口径，英制12.7×81㎜弹的威力还比美制12.7×99㎜弹逊色一些。

"They're here!"

"Beware!"

"Boo-boo-boo!!!"

最先实施攻击的6架Ju-88进行了常规的水平轰炸，向反击号投下了12枚SD500型500㎏半穿甲航弹。

Unless bombs are dropped at ultra-low altitude, the hit rate of horizontal bombing is really impressive.

More than a dozen aerial bombs missed Repulse, but some near-misses also caused some damage to her, making her condition even worse.

The next second round of attacks still all missed.

Seeing that the second round of bombing failed to achieve a hit, Major Friedrich, who led the team, chose to change his mind and instead used dive bombing to attack the Repulse, which he thought was dying.

The Ju-88 bomber has good structural strength and can easily carry out dive attacks.

The Repulse was constantly maneuvering to evade, sometimes turning left and sometimes right, leaving a snake-like curved track on the North Sea.

"Your Excellency, it will take half an hour for the air force to arrive, we..."

"boom!"

The last three bombers attacked the Repulse at an angle of about 3 degrees and successfully scored a hit.

Two 500kg semi-armor-piercing aircraft bombs hit her, which had already suffered heavy damage. One hit the middle of the hull and the other hit the mizzen mast.

The dive bombing greatly increased the hit rate. Although the other aerial bombs did not hit directly, they landed very close and also caused effective damage.

"Crack!" With the sound of cables breaking and steel twisting, the mizzen mast tipped to the left, broke completely, and then fell into the sea.

Friedrich said to himself: "These British people must pay the price, and they will never return to the UK."

The first wave of attack formations exhausted their aerial bombs and returned the same way.

It seemed that the intensive anti-aircraft fire only caused minor damage to a few aircraft. Only one suffered serious damage - the left engine caught fire and had to cut off the fuel supply.

About 10 minutes later, the second wave of attack formations arrived again.

The scarred Repulse was still trying its best to resist, even though there was black smoke everywhere, the speed was only fourteen knots left.

The current lower speed caused her rudder effect to drop significantly, and she could no longer make agile and large-scale evasive actions.

After throwing away the bombs, the German fleet left leisurely.

But this time it was actually a bit unlucky, because a Bf-110 stumbled while diving and strafing the destroyer next to it - the right wing was broken off by a 40mm high-explosive bomb.

"...the C3 cabin has been completely submerged, and the backup generator can run. There may be one thousand tons of water on the port side, and four hundred tons of water on the stern. The pumping rate is lower than the water... The most we can do is hold on. A few hours, Captain."

In the second wave of air strikes, Repulse suffered three direct hits from aerial bombs and five near-misses from aerial bombs. Colonel John, whose face was covered in blood, reluctantly ordered to abandon the ship while being bandaged.

That day, at 13:49 Oslo time, the Repulse sank.

这艘在23年前进入皇家海军服役的老舰迎来了她的终点，墓地是北纬57°1'、东经3°7'处寂静而冰冷的海底。

A little later, a Bf-110 fighter jet on a reconnaissance mission flew over here. While taking pictures, it also sent a telegram back to the Workers' Navy General Staff:
"... A large amount of oil stains and floating debris were observed, confirming that the Repulse has sunk. The Royal Navy fleet's operation to rescue the drowned crew has ended, and they are sailing in the 330 direction. After the report, I would like to express my gratitude to the brave navy and airmen who participated in the battle. pay tribute."

(End of this chapter)