Narrowly escaped death nine times

  In the dim cabin, everyone stayed in place, trying to relax and avoid unnecessary movements.

  With a faint sound of footsteps, the oil-covered chief engineer drilled into the command center, and Hua Jianfeng immediately went to meet him.

  "The anti-radiation shield has not been damaged, I have checked with instruments and there is no radioactive contamination. In addition, one of the reactor's circuits is intact and undamaged, only the main circulating pump was damaged by the shock and can only work in natural circulation mode."

  "What does it mean?" asked Lu Cheng who was standing beside him.

  "The reactor can only output a very small power, and the submerged speed cannot exceed four knots." Hua Jianfeng explained briefly, then asked the chief engineer, "Can the reactor be restarted?"

  "There shouldn't be a problem, but at least twenty percent of the power has to be reserved, otherwise we'll have to float on the surface and use diesel generators to help start up the reactor."

  Hua Jianfeng nodded slightly. "You go rest now, I'll send someone to call you later."

  Lunji Zhang had just left when Le Jia Cheng hurried over.

  "How's the situation?" Hua Jianfeng immediately asked.

  "The main cabin is intact and undamaged, only two aft ballast tanks have abnormal pressure, they should be penetrated."

  "Can we float up?" Lu Chengwen asked anxiously again.

  "Move all personnel and portable items to the forward cabin, lighten the weight of the aft cabin, then empty the forepeak tank and main ballast tank of seawater, and we can float back up to the surface. Don't worry, we won't sink." Having said that, Huajian let out a breath and relaxed a lot.

  "When are we leaving?" Lu Cheng also secretly let out a sigh of relief.

  "Not now." Hua Jianfeng nodded towards Le Jia Cheng and then walked to the side of Sheng Nalang, "How is it, any contact?"

  Shinao slightly shook his head. "Very weak, position is not fixed, unable to determine the opponent's identity."

  "It looks like we've encountered 'Sea Wolves'."

  "Sea wolf?" Lu Cheng asked again.

  "US 'Seawolf' class attack nuclear submarine." Hua Jianfeng leaned against the sonar operation console's beam, his hands rubbing his face vigorously, as if to refresh himself. "Do you remember that incident that happened in the eastern waters of the Ryukyu Islands two years ago?"

  Lu Cheng thought for a moment and said: "You're referring to that incident where our submarine was tracking the US aircraft carrier?"

  "Right behind the USS Washington is us."

  "You!?" Lu Chengwen immediately cast a gaze of admiration at Hua Jianfeng.

  "After following them for three days and nights without being discovered, we also took advantage of the US aircraft carrier's escort submarine and anti-submarine planes to test the 'Gun Octopus' stealth performance. In addition, we found several Japanese submarines participating in the exercise and collected valuable information. As a result... "Hua Jianfeng smiled wryly and said, "Probably the US military commander sensed danger and called in a 'Seawolf'-class attack nuclear submarine. Within less than a day, our trail was exposed, and we were pursued by that US submarine, forcing me to almost sink. If it weren't for several other submarines arriving on time, as well as the naval aviation's long-range anti-submarine patrol aircraft dropping hundreds of sonobuoys in the incident area, interfering with the 'Seawolf's passive sonar, I'm afraid the 'Gun Octopus' would have really sunk into the muddy seabed."

  "Is it that powerful?" Lu Chengwen was also very surprised. In his view, the "Gun Octopus" that had just destroyed the "Houston" was already the most advanced attack nuclear submarine in the world.

  Hua Jianfeng sighed and didn't say anything more.

  "Captain..."

  Upon hearing the long cry of the voice, Hua Jianfeng immediately turned around, and Lu Chengwen also looked over at him.

  "Approaching, bearing three hundred thirty degrees."

  Hua Jianfeng picked up the spare headphones on the sonar control panel and listened carefully for a while. There was indeed a very unique, yet very faint noise, and the direction of the noise was slowly moving to the left side.

  "We've turned around now and it's behind us."

  Upon hearing this, Lu Chengwen immediately looked at Hua Jianfeng. Although he was not a submariner and did not understand submarine warfare, through the previous battles, Lu Chengwen knew that the "Gun Octopus" was now in the most advantageous attacking position.

  "Continue to monitor and report immediately if there is any situation."

  "Lao Hua..." Just as Hua Jianfeng was about to leave the command center, Lu Cheng hurried after him, "Why didn't you make a move?"

  "Attack that American submarine?" Hua Jianfeng smiled faintly and entered the captain's quarters. After Lu Cheng heard him come in, he gently closed the door. "Do you think our opponent is an idiot?"

  "This..."

  "We were able to take down the 'Houston' because we had a performance advantage and could catch up with the 'Houston'. As soon as he sat down, Hua Jianfeng immediately pulled out a cigarette. After hesitating for a moment, he put the cigarette down. At this time, the submarine's nuclear reactor had stopped working, and the equipment that produced oxygen was not operating normally. In order to reduce the rate of oxygen consumption, most of the officers and soldiers had stopped moving. Even if Hua Jianfeng had privileges, he shouldn't be smoking at a time like this."

  "Haven't we taken up advantageous positions?"

  "Who can be certain?" Huajian Feng sighed, having to explain in detail. "Firstly, our power supply is insufficient, the sonar cannot work, and we cannot determine the distance of the opponent, nor can we set the shooting data for the torpedo. Secondly, if the opponent is a 'Sea Wolf', its maximum speed has reached thirty-nine knots, while the torpedo we use has a maximum speed of fifty-five knots in the case, but the range is less than twenty kilometers. In other words, if the opponent is six kilometers away, our torpedo cannot hit the opponent. Thirdly, if we set the speed of the torpedo to fifty-five knots, it will immediately expose itself after launch. On the contrary, if we set the speed of the torpedo to thirty-five knots, although we can avoid early exposure, this speed simply cannot catch up with the opponent. Finally, we have lost our main power source, even if we repair the reactor, we can only sail at a very slow speed. If we are caught by the opponent, we will not be able to escape when the time comes."

  "Are we just going to wait like this?" Lu Chengwen also became anxious.

  "We can only wait, and we must wait," said Hua Jianfeng with a sigh. "Waiting is the best approach. The enemy didn't hear the sound of our sinking, so they know we weren't sunk, or else they wouldn't be continuing to search in this area. Now that the enemy isn't using active sonar, it means they still don't know if the 'Gun Octopus' was heavily damaged, and therefore won't dare to move, exposing their position. In this situation, the enemy will think we escaped from the battlefield at a quiet speed. More than ten hours later, if they still can't find us, that American submarine will leave on its own initiative. The oxygen candles on our submarine can provide enough oxygen for all crew members for 24 hours, and then we can use battery-powered oxygen generators, which can probably last another 24 hours. Don't worry, half an hour ago, we weren't finished, so we won't be finished."

  Lu Chengwen didn't say much more when he saw Hua Jianfeng's confident appearance.

  Half an hour ago, when the torpedo exploded above the stern of "Gun Octopus", almost everyone thought it was over. Fortunately, the torpedo used a proximity fuse rather than a contact fuse, and the double hull at the rear of the "Gun Octopus" absorbed most of the destructive force, preventing the submarine from suffering catastrophic damage.

  After sitting for about ten minutes, Hua Jianfeng went to the command center again.

  Lu Xiang didn't look back but instead thought about a more important issue.

  Time had passed unnoticed when the lights in the captain's cabin suddenly brightened, and Lu Chengwen was shocked awake, then immediately went to the command center.

  "Sonar long, closely monitoring the surrounding situation." Hua Jianfeng was already standing at the command position, "Prepare to connect the main thruster, forward ballast tank preparing to drain water."

  "Prepare for main thruster connection!"

  As the musician finished conveying the order, the submarine shook violently for a moment before returning to calm.

  "The main thruster has been successfully activated." The chief engineer then revealed a hint of a relieved smile.

  Hua Jianfeng cast a grateful glance at the captain. "Empty the ballast tanks and prepare to surface."

  "Wait..." Lu Chengwen immediately rushed out, "We can't surface now, let's leave this sea area first."

  Hua Jianfeng was slightly stunned and immediately nodded, letting Yue Jia Cheng not pass on the order.

  "Lao Hua, we must find a way to send out a message."

  "Send a message?" Hua Jianfeng pulled Lu Chengwen over to the chart table. "Isn't it too early?"

  "I'm not saying it's happening now." Lu Cheng turned out a global sea chart. "I've thought about it carefully, whether the US knows our true identity or not, they will definitely set up ambushes at several major straits around the Indian Ocean to prevent us from leaving the Indian Ocean. As time goes by, the US military will even lay down a net in the southern waters of Australia. We can't return along the usual route and must use a backup plan."

  "Contingency plan?" Now, Hua Jianfeng was a bit puzzled.

  "Enter the Atlantic from the south of Africa, then enter the Pacific through the Drake Strait, and sail underwater all the way." Lu Chengwen drew a route on the map. "After entering the Pacific, head northeast to the Line Islands, near the equatorial waters, where we will rendezvous with a large oceangoing freighter. We must send out a message in advance to let the General Staff know that we are adopting the backup plan for our return journey, so they can dispatch a ship to meet us in time."

  After a moment of contemplation, Hua Jianfeng nodded slightly. "This route is fine, and we can continue to dive. However, for now, we cannot send out any messages, and it will take at least 48 hours."

  "With communication buoys, no need..."

  "I know that even with a communication buoy, we have to first leave the search area of the US Navy's shore-based anti-submarine patrol aircraft before sending out a message, right?"

  Lu Chengwen no longer argued, he had already understood Hua Jianfeng's skills.

  "Don't worry, I'll ensure you're safely delivered to your destination." Hua Jianfeng patted Lu Chengwen's shoulder. "Now, go take a bath, then drink a cup of hot tea, eat something, and get some more sleep."

  "Never mind, I'll just stay here."

  Hua Jianfeng smiled and shook his head, no longer paying attention to Lu Chengwen.

  About fifty-four hours later, the attack submarine "Gunboat" entered the Mozambique Channel and released a communication buoy.

  A brief telegram was relayed through two military communications satellites and quickly transmitted to a large military base thousands of miles away. About half an hour later, a red-headed document marked "Top Secret" and "Urgent" was delivered to the desk of General Peng Maobang. Just after changing into casual clothes, preparing to go home for dinner with his wife and children, General Peng saw the file and immediately asked his secretary to prepare his car and contact the Presidential Palace of the Republic.