Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 245 Scheduling Out of Control
Abbas and the Sea Harrier were hit almost simultaneously.The thunder and lightning fell to the sea surface with black smoke. He did not choose to parachute, but struggled to pull up the plane. He hoped to witness the missile hit the target with his own eyes.

In the bridge command cabin of the Villant, Zaara had just seen a missile flying towards him. He urgently ordered full starboard rudder to evade and use the anti-aircraft fire on the port side—of course, if he couldn’t avoid it, he hoped The power part should not be damaged. The colonel has already prepared for the worst. This 24000-ton ship can withstand one or two attacks above the waterline.

Contrary to expectations, the short-range cannon on the port side of the Villant never fired for some reason.

The first C803 missile accurately hit the midship of the Verrant aircraft carrier, and the huge explosion destroyed the entire runway. A Sea Harrier staying at the No. 1 takeoff point was overturned into the sea along with the pilot.The second that followed went into the outboard elevator and detonated the hangar below the deck, where five Sea King helicopters were parked, and was reimbursed in one go.What is even more frightening is that the explosion triggered a chain explosion of bombs and fuel, and then formed a medium-scale fire.

Abbas's lightning fell into the sea, and he saw the missile explosion with his own eyes and died without regret; the squadron leader of the Black Spider Squadron once lamented: Only a pilot who lacks talent like Abbas could survive the war; In the colonel's opinion, fate would always give some compensation to those second-rate guys; but for Captain Abbas, such a prophecy was almost shameful, and now he proved with his own life that old Sammy's prejudices were unreasonable.

The Villant was still driving on the sea, even reducing its speed by 5 knots. The damage control department desperately controlled the spread of the fire to the main engine area. She dragged the thick smoke and tried her best to fly south.

If you count the six fighter jets that were stuck in the air and were bound to crash because they couldn’t land, the direct results of Abbas’s attack will hopefully surpass that of the 6 Argentine Super Emblem aircraft against the Atlantic Transporter. The results of this attack (for that attack, 1982 Sea Harriers and 14 helicopters were reimbursed at one time, as well as a large number of other equipment).But this attack failed to stop the aircraft carrier's actions. As Zaara and Marin expected, the precise but sporadic attacks on the waterline would hardly cause fatal damage to this 17-ton giant ship. .

The slight deceleration of the Villant was quickly caught by the fast-moving No. 35 411 nautical miles away.The noise of the warship suddenly increased a lot, but the speed decreased. This is an abnormal phenomenon.

Although he couldn't raise the periscope to see what happened, Marin could somewhat guess some reasons. He knew that his opportunity was coming, and he hoped that the enemy ship would not sink in advance.From the perspective of the enemy's route, compared to No. 12, which is at a speed of 411 knots, it is already in a "backward" position. That is to say, if she cannot effectively speed up or change her course substantially, it will be difficult for her to slip past No. 411's route. up.

"Engine attention, slow down to 6 knots."

He quickly made a mark on the electronic chart, roughly 90 minutes later, the approximate position of the two sides, where he can use the torpedo to attack the target.

"It is not ruled out that their formation will be more complete later, and that Derry-class ship will catch up." Sun Xiangdong on the side poured cold water on the commander in due course; under the circumstances that the political commissar and the captain are as belligerent, of course he has Duty stood up and expressed some negative opinions to remind the commander, although his heart also longed for this attack.

"What would happen if the carrier had already been attacked from the air?" Marin said.

"I predict that half of the Sea King helicopters in the entire fleet cannot take off and land. Of course it is beneficial to us." The political commissar said.

"However, this is just a guess, or the enemy slowed down, just to wait for the rest of the fleet to complete the formation." Sun Xiangdong continued to express negative opinions.

"Sun Xiangdong's opinion cannot be ruled out." Marin nodded.He felt that the noise in the command module had begun to decrease, and turned to look at the data sent by the sensors on the floating raft.Now unless the enemy uses active sonar, it is very difficult to find him. He is very clear that the Indian fleet will not use active sonar rashly. This fleet has been sailing in stealth, and may still control radio communications. means of detection.

"We can wait for them to get close to 120 chains. That would be ideal," said the commissar.

"Well, it's a good plan, but there is still some time. We can patiently collect it and the ship's whereabouts." Marin said.He is now starting to think more about how to get out of the attack after the attack. He is mainly worried about the destroyer suspected of being the third Delhi-class ship (Mumbai).If he fires a torpedo, the enemy will pick up the sub's bearing and depth about 10 seconds later, no doubt about it, but will they be able to react immediately?It was an unsolvable conundrum, depending on how many helicopters were still on duty in the air, but he couldn't get out of the water to take a look.If there is no helicopter, Marin is sure to use several means to get rid of the Indian fleet in the next round of dealings.This is a nuclear-powered submarine with incomparable advantages over conventional submarines. When necessary, she can travel faster underwater than those Talwar-class frigates. Of course, competing for speed is definitely a bad idea.

"What about the torpedoes? Don't be too careless." Marin suddenly changed the subject. He had been worried about the torpedoes that had been defused.

"I just checked, and it's normal." Sun Xiangdong said.

"The task of controlling the torpedo will be handed over to you later." Marin walked behind Sun Xiangdong and said. "Remember, this time is different from any previous exercise requirements. We must hit the keel directly, preferably near the middle." Marin said.

"Keel depth is up to me, but hitting the middle is beyond my control. You can't do that just from the sound signature."

"That's why I entrust this task to you," Marin said.The tone seemed to be full of ardent hope, but there were some things that were difficult for others.

over the aircraft carrier.The six Sea Harriers of the 300th Squadron (five first attack wave fighters, plus one interceptor fighter that took off later) were trying to approach Verrant from different angles.The chaos on the deck made Captain Gould almost desperate. Two large holes billowing in thick smoke on the runway indicated that the conventional way of landing was no longer feasible, but there was still a lot of space on the deck for vertical landing. It could be seen from the air that such a space might be freed simply by pushing a few of the obstructing helicopters out to sea on the starboard side.But the damn communication could not be restored. He called for a few minutes, but there was no response at all. He didn't know if the commander on board was still rigidly implementing the radio silence regulations, or everyone was busy putting out the fire.The smoky deck was full of people running around in a panic, and almost no one looked up at these planes. Maybe they forgot that the fuel of the first attack wave was running low.The captain decided to make a low pass over the deck to draw attention to himself from those below.

Captain Zaara has been concerned about the fire below the deck, and he also knows the pilot's eagerness to land, but the power on the deck has been cut off, and the VHF communication has also been damaged by the missile, so he cannot communicate with the pilot.If he can look down at the chaotic deck like Zayara, it is not difficult to find a temporary landing area behind the bridge.But after being attacked, he was already in a state of disarray and gradually lost control of the overall situation.

"Maybe we can get the helicopter out of the starboard elevator area, so that Captain Zaara can land in time, and they have very little fuel left." The first officer reminded.

"Let me think...let me think." The captain hesitated.

For this small aircraft carrier, vertical take-off and landing is not allowed in the area behind the bridge in principle. Of course, whether it should be considered in the long run now, the colonel's brain temporarily paused.

A Sea Harrier whizzed past Zaara, making his eardrums hurt. It was obvious that the pilot was impatient.

"No time, clean the deck, slow down, let them land." The colonel finally made a decision.

"clear."

The Virant's further deceleration on the sea was once again captured by the 411's bow sonar.Marin also fell into heart-wrenching calculations again. As the teacher warned back then, the submarine commander is not an enviable position. In the era when the entire naval battle is becoming highly informationized, the submarine cannot even become a member of the system. A node; the submarine is the lone hunter, the data connection is an unrealistic dream, and guesswork is the main thing to do in most situations around you.

"The aircraft carrier has slowed down to 5 knots, and the main engine has stopped?"

Sun Xiangdong walked over from behind the sonar sergeant: "It is certain that the main engine of the Villant has stopped, and now only the auxiliary engine is running."

"Maybe it's another wave of attacks," said the political commissar.

"It's not like, it's likely to be receiving the plane." Marin said. "It doesn't matter anyway, the important thing is that the enemy did not change course."

The sonar sergeant turned and waved to the first officer, who was back there immediately.This time the side array sonar has collected new information, and it seems that the broken Derry-class destroyer is returning quickly.

"Their destroyer may be ahead of us. Now at bearing 205, speed 29."

Marin glanced up at the chart, and the new trajectory was rising. Judging from the sound characteristics, the No. [-] Derry-class ship was like driving a train on the sea, which was obviously caused by the aging of the main engine and lack of maintenance.

"It seems that the plan has to be changed, and he must be counted in the 3+1 attack method."

"The console can't control the torpedo attack in two directions at the same time." Sun Xiangdong said.

"Destroyer can hand over torpedo passive sonar. You just worry about the carrier."

"understood."

"Has the new passage time been calculated?"

"Delayed to 0950, 75 minutes to go."

On the surface of the sea, the first Sea Harrier is staggering and preparing to land.Due to the thick smoke billowing on the aircraft carrier, and still maintaining a speed of 5 knots, this brought great difficulties to landing.Captain Zaara watched his pilot land from the air, warning him that he was too close to the island structure.

The pilot who was landing was a little anxious. First, he had to try to counteract the speed of the aircraft carrier. Second, he had to succeed once, because there were other comrades behind him anxiously waiting to land.However, all this is easier said than done, not only is the smoke blocking the line of sight, communication with the aircraft carrier has not been restored.

The nozzle of the Sea Harrier turned slowly, and he lowered the altitude carefully, while controlling the landing speed.Through the thick smoke, he could already see the people on the superstructure waving to him.Seeing that this emergency landing was about to succeed.

Below the deck, the fire caused by the missile has spread to the vicinity of the auxiliary engine operating room. Due to the aging of the fire protection pipeline, the damage control department has been unable to extinguish the numerous fires below the deck one by one.The fire triggered a new round of explosions, which cut off the fuel pipeline leading to the auxiliary engine. The aircraft carrier lost power instantly and began to slow down by itself.

Black smoke rising from under the elevators blocked the pilot's view, preventing him from noticing that the carrier was slowing down.The Sea Harrier that was landing still maintained a landing speed of 5 knots to offset the speed of the aircraft carrier itself; inevitably, the aircraft crashed into the bridge.

2 nautical miles away, Colonel Kirish, the captain of the Mumbai (that is, the Delhi-class destroyer), watched the fourth explosion on the aircraft carrier.He felt that things were becoming absurd. A mere Pakistani plane broke through the air defense circle and caused a mess to the entire fleet. He couldn't imagine whether it could get worse.

(End of this chapter)