I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 546 Undefended

Compared with the Russo-Japanese War, the performance of the Russian Empire's submarines has improved again. Their endurance and the number of torpedoes they carry have been greatly improved, and the number of torpedo tubes in the front has also increased from 2 to 4.

In view of the outstanding performance of Russian submarines in the Russo-Japanese War, the Ottoman Empire strengthened its defenses against submarines and deployed anti-mine nets at the narrowest parts of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus to prevent Russian submarines from infiltrating.

Metal anti-torpedo nets were also installed on both sides of the Ottoman Empire's battleships. However, these anti-torpedo nets could only be deployed when the warships were anchored. If used during action, not only would the speed of the warships be affected, but the detached anti-torpedo nets might also be drawn under the ship and entangled with the propellers.

Therefore, when a warship is moving, it can only rely on speed and maneuverability to avoid torpedo attacks.

Since the Ottoman Empire's warships did not have submarine detection equipment, the Ottomans arranged many observers on the warships to observe with the naked eye whether the warships were attacked by torpedoes.

Early torpedoes would produce very obvious splashes and ripples as they moved, which were indeed easy to observe with the naked eye.

Like the torpedoes and submarines of the Russian Empire, the performance of the torpedoes has improved significantly compared to the Russo-Japanese War period, and the range and power have also been greatly improved. The most notable point is that due to the improved appearance of the torpedoes, the splash during the launch is significantly reduced, the speed is faster, more concealed, and less likely to be discovered.

Because the Ottoman Empire laid mines at the entrance of the Bosphorus, the battleships were not moving very fast when they sailed out of the strait along a safe channel.

Submarine No. 303, which had been waiting at the exit, fired four torpedoes in succession at the "Ottoman Sultan" as soon as the "Ottoman Sultan" sailed out of the strait.

Although only one of the four torpedoes hit the target, the huge power of the torpedo still caused the all-heavy artillery battleship with a displacement of up to 4 tons to take on serious water and lose its combat capability.

Surprisingly, other battleships of the Ottoman Empire were not affected by the "Ottoman Sultan" and sailed out of the Bosphorus one after another.

This serious abnormal behavior brought irreparable disaster to the Ottoman fleet.

After the war, George learned that because the observer on the "Ottoman Sultan" did not observe any torpedo attack on the "Ottoman Sultan", the captains of other battleships mistakenly believed that the "Ottoman Sultan" was seriously injured by a mine that drifted into a safe channel, so they did not stop the action.

Generally speaking, mines equipped with fixed devices will not move.

Occasionally, a mine will fall off its fixings and move away from its original location. Although this situation is rare, it has happened. During the Russo-Japanese War, the Pacific Fleet's minelayer "Yenisei" was sunk by the mines it had laid.

The Ottoman Empire's all-heavy artillery battleships used traditional power plants and had a maximum speed of only 21 knots, which was completely unable to keep up with the Black Sea Fleet cruisers, which had a maximum speed of 27 knots.

Moreover, when the Ottoman Empire designed its battleships, it did not take into account the needs of ocean sailing, which resulted in the Ottoman Empire's battleships having a cruising range of only a pitiful 1500 nautical miles when traveling at high speed.

After leaving the Bosphorus, the Ottoman battleships pushed their speed to the extreme, but unfortunately, not only did they fail to catch up with the Black Sea Fleet's cruisers, but the distance between them was getting farther and farther.

At 11 a.m., the Ottoman battleship returned and was attacked by Russian naval aviation about 80 kilometers from the Bosphorus.

This was another serious strategic mistake.

The Black Sea Fleet's naval aviation was deployed in Sevastopol before the outbreak of the war and moved to Varna after the outbreak of the war.

The Ottoman Empire did not grasp this situation, so it made a serious mistake in judging the time for the naval aviation to arrive at the battlefield.

What's more, the Ottoman Empire's battleships were not equipped with anti-aircraft weapons, and they had no ability to fight back against the torpedo planes of the naval aviation. This allowed the torpedo planes of the naval aviation to calmly find the best position to attack the Ottoman Empire's battleships. The first wave of torpedo planes that arrived totaled 12, and they were divided into four teams, dropping torpedoes on the three battleships of the Ottoman Empire.

The "Sultan Suleiman" luckily escaped the attack.

The other two battleships were not so lucky.

The "Sultan Murad" was hit by three torpedoes in a row. The violent explosion caused a fire, which then caused the ammunition depot to explode. It sank in just five minutes and all 1537 officers and soldiers on board were killed.

The stern of the "Sultan Ahmed" was hit and its speed was seriously affected, but it still struggled to sail towards the Bosphorus.

The "Sultan Suleiman" fled frantically all the way, and at the entrance of the strait, it was besieged by submarines of the Black Sea Fleet.

Four Black Sea Fleet submarines fired at least 20 torpedoes at the Suleiman Sultan.

The "Sultan Suleiman" risked setting up a torpedo net, hoping to use it to resist the torpedo attack.

The anti-torpedo net is not omnipotent. It was first destroyed by a torpedo fired by the submarine No. 307. Then the "Suleiman Sultan" was hit by six torpedoes in a row and sank only one kilometer away from the entrance of the Bosphorus Strait.

The submarine battle is not over yet.

The submarine No. 303, which first sank the "Ottoman Sultan", was fortunately met with the "Sultan Ahmed" which was struggling forward on its return voyage.

Submarine No. 303 would naturally not miss such a gift that was delivered to its doorstep, so the "Sultan Ahmed" also became the prey of Submarine No. 303.

After all four heavy artillery battleships were sunk, Constantinople, the noble lady that all Russians dreamed of, finally opened its arms to the Russian Empire.

On October 10, under the cover of bombers and naval guns, the 7st Marine Division of the Navy, which was just established last year, landed in Marsa in the north of the Bosphorus Strait.

Marsa was a fishing village, not defended by the Ottoman army, and only 40 kilometers from Constantinople.

George did not rush to launch an attack on Constantinople, but instead cooperated with the Balkan coalition to attack the last line of defense of the Ottoman army from behind.

On the 8th, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V admitted defeat and sought peace through Britain and Germany, while at the same time seeking peace from the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Balkan League.

George ignored it completely and ordered his troops to continue attacking the Ottoman army.

It is not impossible to negotiate peace, but it must be done after the Russian army occupies Constantinople.

Until then, the Russian Empire would not accept any mediation.

On the 11th, the Ottoman army, attacked from all sides, collapsed and retreated to the Garibaldi Peninsula. Mehmed V declared Constantinople an undefended city.

(End of this chapter)