Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 95 The Hidden Veteran
Marin realized that his deputy captain planned to use speed to drag down the opponent. He quickly weighed this method, and it was not a bad idea. After a short acceleration, the trailing Indian nuclear submarine exposed several weaknesses. Among them The most serious problem is that its circulating cooling pump has reached its limit. This is a very terrible flaw. If it is not properly dealt with, it can become very fatal. Once the cooling pump fails, it will often make the situation worse in seconds. It is very difficult to remedy , even an immediate shutdown would hardly work because the core would melt down very quickly, and that's just the start of a whole vicious cycle.Right now, the opponent is still ignoring this potential threat and continuing to pursue, so it is necessary for him to experience the submarine speed of 411. Although Marin is also worried about the political consequences, since the opponent is not prepared to show mercy on the high seas, then he himself Don't worry too much about their reactor blowing up.

"Air bombs, 2 shots, maximum delay, launch." Marin issued a new order.

The two air curtain bombs at the tail of No. 411 were fired. They rolled and blocked the trailing torpedo path, and would explode in a few seconds. At that time, the huge sound wave would completely cover the active sonar pulse of the torpedo; of course , Marin also knows another function of gas curtain bombs. After they explode, it is likely that other passive sonar monitors lurking nearby will be deaf for a short time. For more than ten hours, he has tried to All kinds of clues were pieced together, and an astonishing conclusion was drawn-it was not just me and the trailing Indian submarine in this area.There is a cunning shadow hiding on his side.

Launching air curtain bombs is not all actions to evade torpedoes. Now the speed of the No. 411 nuclear submarine has increased to nearly 17 knots, which is just right to effectively maneuver on the vertical plane. Marin now wants to go out of the trench and let the enemy clearly see Thinking of himself, he wanted to make the Indian captain fall into a dilemma between impulsiveness and rationality, whether to widen the distance or forcefully chase?
"The main ballast water tank is drained and maneuvered at a high elevation angle of 30 degrees. Keep the original course unchanged." After Marin finished speaking, he immediately held the periscope with one hand and waited for the submarine to look up and maneuver.

"Keep heading, level rudder 30 degrees up."

While repeating the captain's instructions, Xin helmsman pulled up the submarine vigorously. The 6000-ton submarine was pulled up rapidly, and everyone in the command cabin immediately felt the angle change of the floor; at such a large elevation angle, those on board who were not prepared in time would inevitably fall backwards, but this is not a horse. I'm thinking about things now.

At the same time, two air curtain bombs exploded violently in front of the torpedo's channel, and the huge explosion air curtain completely covered the eyes and ears of the torpedo.When the 6-meter-long torpedo drilled through the large air bubbles, it found that the target in front of it had disappeared, and its screaming search cone could no longer find the missing No. 411.

The signal was transmitted to the command module of the 'Enemy' through wires. Colonel Manush was also surprised. Before he could give an order, the wires of this torpedo were exhausted and torn off.Immediately, the torpedo lost control, and started an unguided S-shaped autonomous search in the 60-meter-wide trench. This mode will keep the depth of the torpedo unchanged by default, so this torpedo no longer poses any threat to No. 411. up.

"We found her again, above the trench, heading 175, the distance is unknown." The monitor immediately reported.Now there is only one torpedo left on the Annihilator, and the situation is changing rapidly. It is very different from the situation that is sure to win. Colonel Manush dare not launch the last torpedo when the distance information is incomplete. go out.It was time, he thought, to make a bold decision.

"Turn on active sonar." Manoush ordered active sonar, which made his co-captain break out in a cold sweat. Most submarine commanders rarely use active search methods throughout their command careers, because doing so Undoubtedly, you will reveal your whereabouts first (the enemy will know your position first in half the time you find him.) But the colonel is not stupid, he has his own unique considerations; The location of the decibel pursuit has long been exposed. On the other hand, he is confident that he has estimated the opponent's bottom line, and the Chinese submarine will not really fight back.

When the first wave of active sonar pulses hit No. 411, the submarine had already accelerated to 20 knots. Marin knew that the sonar of the Annihilator would receive the reflected mechanical wave about ten seconds later. If its fire control If the calculation efficiency is not bad, about 20 to 30 seconds later, the second torpedo can be launched at the edge of the maximum range. He took out the stopwatch and prepared to calculate the time.

"The turbine continues to increase the turbine speed, and I request an increase to 22 knots."

"Captain, continue to accelerate, we are about to enter a cavitation state, which will destroy the information collection of passive sonar." A non-commissioned officer in the command cabin reminded.

"It's okay, do as I say." Marin said.

"The maneuver at a high elevation angle stopped, the ballast water tank stopped draining, and continued to maintain its heading." Marin stopped the upward impact when he was 50 meters away from the sea.

"Report, a new discovery. There is a suspicious target in the direction of 10 o'clock, and the distance is very large."

No one could have guessed that at this critical moment, the passive sonar discovered an inexplicable message, which caused a pause of about a second in the tensely operating command module.

"what?"

Marin was so dazed with the deputy captain Sun Xiangdong and the political commissar Su Changjin that he forgot to press the stopwatch.

The "Annihilator" did not play its cards according to common sense, and used active sonar search against common sense. The active pulse emitted by the bow of the boat rammed forward at an angle of about 120 degrees. Not only did it accurately measure the position of No. 411, but also Hitting crookedly, an unidentified submarine hiding in a far corner of the battlefield was exposed, and due to the speed of underwater sound transmission, No. 411 even discovered this amazing scene ten seconds earlier than Arihant.

"what's the situation?"

"A distance of 90 chains, at 10 o'clock, there is a submarine. Really." The listener said in surprise.

"Damn it! I knew it had been hiding there all along." Marin suddenly shouted, he wanted to understand one thing before anyone else on the boat, why there was such an unexplained explosion 20 hours ago , making submarine No. 411 exposed to anti-submarine helicopters?Now the answer is obvious.

Colonel Manush's reckless behavior made the nuclear submarine, which was at an extremely high level in terms of silence technology or commander's tactics, invisible. Now its characteristics have been fully grasped by No. 411, which is slightly different from Marin's earlier guess. Come in and out, it's not a Los Angeles-class attack nuclear submarine, but a new Virginia-class submarine.This can be clearly distinguished from the way it propels.

"I see. This ghost thing has been following us. He must have remotely controlled the AUV and detonated an explosive device next to our channel to expose us on purpose."

"What should I do?" Sun Xiangdong, the deputy captain, clenched his fists and asked anxiously, as if his emotions were a little out of control.

"What else can I do, mark the location and features, ignore it for the time being, and continue to accelerate."

"Will he open fire on us?"

"Hehe, I don't think so," Marin sneered, "It's just sinister and vicious, but now that it has exposed itself, it is bound to escape from here." He continued.Marin has analyzed all the situations. Only in this sea area, the Annihilator is the only submarine that dares to fire at any target. No one can resist him except itself.

The information reflected by the active sonar also startled the Indian colonel on the "Anihist". He never expected that the situation on the battlefield would change drastically in an instant. He never thought that there would be another submarine nearby. And the new submarine that appeared in the southeast seems to be extremely advanced. It has always been there, but it has never leaked any leaks.

"Engineer, I want to continue to increase the speed, more power." He shouted, and now the noise in the command cabin has become very loud, and it is difficult to hear the whispered words.

"Colonel, our reactor has been overloaded, and the pressure on the primary circuit has reached a terrifying level."

"Ten minutes, give me another 10 minutes. Trust me, it will work."

Under the pressure of the captain, the reactor control room had to raise all the remaining control rods according to the order, and the chain reaction between the neutrons became unfettered. Now this 100 million megawatt reactor is operating at full power like never before.Even on land, the reactor has never been tested like this.The entire power system is now operating far beyond the actual safety boundary.

"Continue to launch active pulses, I want to turn this place upside down." Manoush shouted, he is very clear about his advantages, not in technology, but in politics, the so-called barefoot is not afraid of wearing shoes, the two ships in front of us Foreign submarines are all on the run.

After the speed of the Annihilator rapidly increased to 18 knots, it was almost close to the speed of the 411, but the overload operation finally caused an error, and the weakest link in the entire system suddenly collapsed.

A dull sound suddenly came from the rear of the submarine, and the speed of the nuclear submarine dropped rapidly.

"What's the matter?" asked the colonel, in fact, he already had a premonition that something was wrong.

"Steam leak from cooling system."

"Fix it quickly! I order you to troubleshoot it." He yelled into the intercom, but there was no response from the intercom.

In just a few seconds, the scalding steam gushing out of the damaged cooling pump pipe quickly diffused into several important compartments at the rear, and the human reaction was too late to stop such powerful damage. High pressure steam kills.Immediately, like dominoes, the core without cooling became like a wild horse. Even though the deputy captain in the command module pulled down the emergency shutdown hand brake in time, the meltdown of the reactor was irreversible.Manush realized that his death was imminent, and quickly issued the last command to float the submarine, but the submarine that lost its speed also lost its rudder effect.Instead of rising quickly, the Annihilator sank to the bottom of the sea. When the keel hit the bottom of the sea, it made a huge sound. Amidst the sound of pipes bursting one after another, a large amount of sea water poured into the submarine.

(End of this chapter)