Chapter Thirty-Four: A Successful Ambush

  The red light began to flash, triggering a silent battle alert.

  He stepped aside to let a sailor pass by who was heading for the engine room, climbed up three steps and entered the command center.

  "Steady on five, slow down a bit, control the speed." He patted the helmsman's shoulder, and Le Jia Cheng Ahua Jianfeng nodded and said, "Just confirmed the target identity, it's the 'Vikrant' aircraft carrier."

  Hua Jianfeng walked over to the side of the sonar control console after handing the hat to the helmsman standing by the door.

  "Bearing 315, range 35, target course 105, speed 24." The sonar operator sounded excited. "Captain, we've got a big fish on the hook."

  "Not bad. Have you found 'Vikramaditya'?"

  "Only the 'Vikrant' has been detected," Sonar said, shaking his head. "There are also a large number of noise sources in the 345 direction, more than sixty kilometers away, and their identities cannot be determined."

  "It's very likely to be the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier battle group." Le Jia Cheng added.

  Hua Jianfeng nodded and signaled Sheng Nalong to display the information on the large screen of the fire control computer.

  Because the submarine was in a state of combat readiness and might encounter an Indian aircraft carrier battle group at any time, before reaching the ambush area, "Swordfish" had already recovered its towed sonar and only used hull-mounted sonar and spherical sonar to search for targets. In this case, the passive detection capability of "Swordfish" was greatly reduced.

  A dense array of light points appeared on the large LCD display screen on the fire control console.

  The slow-moving green light points are surface warships, the fast-moving yellow light points are anti-submarine aircraft, and there is no red light point representing submarines. The noise source in the 345-degree direction is represented by a large green light point, indicating that it is impossible to accurately calculate the number and nature of the noise sources.

  The "Vikrant" aircraft carrier battle group adopted a loose anti-submarine formation, with twelve anti-submarine planes in the air.

  "We are in the best attack position now, launch torpedoes, and the chance of escape is over 80%."

  Le Jia Cheng's voice was very low, but the command center was just a small place, and the surrounding officers all heard it.

  Is it too hasty to take action now?

  Hua Jianfeng glanced at everyone and then his gaze returned to the big screen.

  The "Swordfish" is due east-southeast of the "Vigilant", thirty-five kilometers away.

  The minimum range of the 533mm heavy torpedo is forty-five kilometers. Two torpedoes can severely damage "Vikrant", and three torpedoes may be able to sink "Vikrant". Can a distance of thirty-five kilometers allow "Swordfish" to retreat intact?

  "Torpedoes one, two and three input fire control data, preparing..."

  "Captain, we have contact."

  Hua Jianfeng was shocked and immediately waved his hand to stop Le Jia from passing on the order.

  "Anti-submarine patrol aircraft, bearing 305, distance 7, is moving at high speed towards my front."

  When the sonar reported related data, a fast-moving red light spot appeared on the screen. The computer analysis result was: P-8I anti-submarine patrol aircraft.

  The old Chinese man's words made the musician suddenly tense up.

  Hua Jian pressed down on his hand and didn't let Yue Jia Cheng continue speaking.

  A very non-standard anti-submarine warfare tactic, the anti-submarine patrol aircraft patrolled only thirty-five kilometers ahead of the carrier battle group. According to standard tactics, the anti-submarine patrol aircraft should expand its search range to more than one hundred and fifty kilometers to prevent submarines from attacking the carrier battle group with anti-ship missiles.

  It's not India Navy's fault either, there are only a few P-8Is and the Strait of Malacca is not that wide.

  In less than five minutes, the P-8I flew away from about 8 kilometers northeast of the "Swordfish" number. Probably wasted too many sonobuoys in the Bay of Bengal before, or just came to pretend, the anti-submarine patrol aircraft did not strictly follow the tactical specifications, and at most dropped a sonobuoy every 20 kilometers.

  As the red dot disappeared from the bottom right corner of the screen, everyone let out a sigh of relief, and Le Jia Cheng secretly wiped away the sweat on his forehead.

  What Hua Jianfeng saw was not danger, but opportunity.

  The anti-submarine emphasis of the Indian carrier battle group is on the periphery, not inside the formation. If it can get inside the formation, INS Shishumar can launch an attack by surprise and also avoid enemy anti-submarine forces. The premise is that INS Shishumar must sneak in without being detected.

  "Dive to 5 meters below, tail down 5 meters, depth 540, heading 45, speed 6." Huajianfeng didn't hesitate any longer, "I'm going to learn from Sun Wukong and stir up trouble inside Baigujing's belly."

  "Enter the inner circle of the battle group?" Le Jia Cheng was shocked, Hua Jianfeng's guts were too big.

  "The most dangerous place is the safest place." Huajianfeng knocked on the panel of the LCD screen. "The Indian aircraft carrier battle group uses a conventional anti-submarine formation, with six escort warships scattered in front and to the left and right sides of the aircraft carrier, and all 12 anti-submarine helicopters concentrated within a 45-degree sector directly ahead of the route, unable to monitor other directions. We break through from the side at the closest distance and attack the 'Vikrant'."

  "Then came under attack by six escort carriers."

  Hua Jianfeng smiled and shook his head. "After being attacked, the anti-submarine warship and anti-submarine helicopter will first search the sea area within 10 to 25 kilometers nearby, and the originally loose anti-submarine net will become even more sparse."

  Leijia Cheng thought for a moment and said: "After the attack is successful, hide under the 'Vikrant'?"

  "He who knows me will make a home for me." Hua Jianfeng smiled.

  Le Jia Cheng didn't say anything else and personally took up the leading position.

  Hua Jianfeng is playing with fire, but this flame is worth playing with.

  After reaching a depth of 540 meters, the "Swordfish" increased its speed to six knots.

  Provided that "Vikrant" does not make any sudden turn or change of speed, in fifty-four minutes the distance between "Swordfish" and "Vikrant" will be reduced to about 10 km and bear due west-south-west from "Vikrant".

  A distance of ten thousand meters is absolutely a fatal distance.

  Forty minutes later, Hua Jianfeng ordered the armorer to fill all four torpedo tubes with seawater.

  Attacking an aircraft carrier is different from attacking a submarine. A single heavy torpedo can sink a submarine, but to sink a medium-sized aircraft carrier with a displacement of over 40,000 tons, at least three heavy torpedoes are needed.

  "Pull up at five, pull down at five, climb to attack depth, control your speed!"

  Because it used a high-pressure water pump to launch torpedoes, the maximum torpedo launching depth of "Swordfish" was 240 meters, so it could not use torpedoes at full cruising depth.

  "Depth 240." As soon as he finished speaking, Yue Jia Cheng looked over with a sharp gaze.

  "Torpedoes one and two are set to tail flow self-guided attack mode, torpedo three is set to wire-guided attack mode." Hua Jianfeng gave the order in a very calm tone.

  "Attack parameters set."

  "Open outer doors of torpedo tubes one and two, fire torpedoes!"

  "Bang bang", two torpedoes shot out of the torpedo tubes.

  "Torpedo number three, fire!"

  With a loud "bang", the third torpedo was also launched.

  Hua Jianfeng's gaze fell on the screen of the fire control computer.

  Torpedoes No. 1 and No. 2 used autonomous attack mode, not occupying the submarine's fire control channel. Torpedo No. 3 used wire-guided attack mode, occupying one of the fire control channels. The other fire control channel was left for Torpedo No. 4, which remained in the torpedo tube.

  Two homing torpedoes leave the submarine and first advance at low speed under the control of the inertial guidance system.

  The principle of wake homing is not complicated. Any vessel traveling will form a trail, similar to human fingerprints, several thousand meters to tens of thousands of meters long, composed of physical fields such as force fields and electromagnetic fields, with unique properties. Relying on related detection equipment and automatic control equipment, torpedoes can track and attack vessels along the wake field. Because the wake field left by surface vessels is more obvious, wake-homing torpedoes are generally used to attack surface vessels.

  About six minutes later, two torpedoes detected the wake of "Vikrant", automatically switching to high-speed attack mode.

  Two torpedoes were running hot and fast, and the sonar on Vikrant immediately picked up the noise of the torpedoes. At this time, a third torpedo was also closing in on the aircraft carrier under the control of the submarine.

  "Captain, target is turning right."

  Hua Jianfeng and Le Jia Chengdu were taken aback for a moment, then revealed a hint of a smile.

  It was a godsend that when avoiding the torpedo, Vikrant turned right instead of left. Probably to avoid the northern Vikramaditya carrier battle group, Vikrant chose to turn southward.

  "Torpedo number three switched to acoustic homing mode, cut guidance wire, turn right, speed 12, calculate torpedo hit time."

  Two minutes twenty seconds.

  "Speed 18, turn right two-thirds rudder." Hua Jianfeng did not rely on the fire control computer and completely relied on his brain to calculate the best evasive route.

  "Captain, target is starting to accelerate."

  "Torpedo hit in two minutes and thirty seconds." Le Jia Cheng glanced at Hua Jianfeng and started timing again.

  "Maintain speed, right full rudder." Hua Jianfeng calculated while rhythmically tapping on the surface of the fire control console.

  Must take advantage of proximity to "Vikrant". If "Vikrant" does not sink immediately, "Swordfish" can hide under the aircraft carrier's belly. If "Vikrant" sinks quickly, Indian warships will first rescue personnel in the water and will not immediately search the sea area around where "Vikrant" sank.

  The most dangerous place is also the safest place.

  Suddenly, several violent explosions were heard, and without needing a long report, all the officers and soldiers on board heard them.

  "Depth charge!" Lè Jiā Chéng's face revealed a look of surprise.

  "Depth 15 feet below, 10 feet above the tail, speed 27, turn right one-third rudder." Huajian Feng quickly gave a new order and then said, "The Indian ASW plane is jumping over the wall, they are using depth charges to intercept torpedoes."

  Le Jia Cheng smiled and shook his head, he had just thought of this situation.

  Indian warships are equipped with rocket-powered depth charge launchers, and even aircraft carriers are no exception. However, the display significance of such weapons far outweighs their actual combat significance.

  The explosions grew more frequent, indicating that the Indian warship's crew was now in a state of panic.

  A dull explosion sound came, followed by another one. After a while, the third violent explosion sound came. Soon, the explosion sound of the depth charge also dissipated.

  "Captain, the Vikrant is right above us."

  "Five up on the bow, five up on the stern, speed six." After finishing speaking, Hua Jianfeng glanced at the depth gauge. "540", just reaching the maximum safe navigation depth of the "Swordfish".

  A loud cracking sound came from above, the sound of a ship's hull breaking and its keel snapping.

  The torpedoes struck the warship below the waterline and all three exploded under the keel.

  Hit by three heavy torpedoes in a row, not to mention the Indian Navy's medium-sized aircraft carrier, even the US Navy's super aircraft carrier may not be able to withstand it.