Chapter 39: Nothing Suspicious at Sea

  Just as the six-nation naval fleet set sail from Hong Kong, Taiwan received news of this and along the way from Hong Kong to Taiwan, Taiwanese submarines underwater occasionally sent the whereabouts of the six-nation joint fleet to the General Staff. The joint fleet changed direction three times during its journey, first heading northeast, then turning due east, and finally, not far from the 30 nautical miles of territorial waters declared by Taiwan, turned northeast again, directly piercing central Taiwan. The six-nation fleet did not choose a closer Tainan area as a landing point, also in order to create opportunities for the Japanese army, drawing most of Taiwan's garrison troops to central Taiwan, so that the Japanese military landing in Tainan would be even more convenient.

  Thanks to the submarine surveillance of the 6-country joint fleet, Taiwan's army did not move as frequently as the 6 countries imagined, but instead stayed in their respective garrisons without moving. On the other hand, Taiwan's navy, especially the submarine force, was much busier than the army. They had to adjust their position at any time according to the navigation of the 6-country fleet. Fortunately, the underwater speed of Taiwan's submarines was much faster than that of the 6-country fleet. Through wireless communication, they were basically in place when the 6-country fleet approached Taiwan's territorial waters. Since the 6-country joint fleet came out in full force this time, the Taiwanese navy did not reserve too many backup forces. Except for a few submarines patrolling at the main ports of Keelung and Tainan, most of the main force submarines were concentrated in the sea area near Taichung.

  At 6:00 am on March 18, the six-nation fleet crossed Taiwan's 30-mile territorial waters and headed towards Lukang in Changhua County. The Kee Lung-class destroyer "Tamsui" patrolling nearby discovered the invasion of the six-nation fleet and immediately fired a warning shot at the front of the six-nation fleet, but was countered by the battleships of the six-nation fleet, however neither side hit each other, thus opening the curtain on the first Taiwan Defense War.

  The "Tatung" destroyer, although its main gun and armor were not enough to counter the battleships of the Six Nations Fleet, the Taiwanese Navy still utilized the high speed of the Kee Lung-class destroyers to escape the attack range of the enemy's battleships while firing at the outer destroyers of the Six Nations Fleet with their onboard 120mm rapid-fire guns, hitting one of them.

  The six-nation fleet saw that their own destroyers were no match for the Taiwanese ship, which had a large hull and was very fast, dubbed "cruiser". However, they did not change formation to attack the "Tamkang", but instead sent out 1 light cruiser to assist the destroyer in countering, while the main force continued to maintain its formation, advancing at full speed towards Lukang.

  "The Tansui" and the Six Nations Fleet's exchange of fire was just a diversionary tactic. Before opening fire, "Tansui" had already received a telegram from the submarine fleet, which had assembled over 30 Taiwanese submarines about 10 nautical miles ahead of the Six Nations Fleet, with even more submarines on their way to the location. The daring attack by "Tansui" was merely setting up the trap in an even more perfect and rational manner.

  At 7:15, the Taiwanese submarine launched a torpedo attack on the six-nation fleet that had already entered the ambush circle. Within tens of seconds after the attack began, nearly 40 submarines fired more than 100 533mm and 450MM torpedoes in one breath. Suddenly, countless white trails appeared in front of and to the right of the six-nation fleet, these trails were parallel and intersecting, like a large net, speeding towards the dozens of ships of various sizes of the six-nation fleet.

  Although the navies of various countries had already heard that Taiwan might have such a mysterious underwater warship, they did not believe it until they saw it with their own eyes. The high-speed and powerful torpedoes made the navies witness the submarine's strong surprise attack capability for the first time. In just the first wave of torpedo attacks, three battleships, two heavy cruisers, and three cruisers from the six countries were hit in the hull, including one battleship and two heavy cruisers that broke their keels due to being hit by too many torpedoes and sank into the Taiwan Strait on a spring day.

  The remaining six national fleets, except for the wounded ships, unanimously chose to turn around, change direction, and accelerate in a series of actions, abandoning the transport ships behind them and fleeing desperately in the direction they came from. However, it was already very difficult for most of the six national warships to escape at this time. Although the submarines had launched their first wave of attacks and were busy reloading underwater, more than 40 Sea Swallow-class torpedo boats from two nearby torpedo boat squadrons arrived on the battlefield outside, but due to a lack of coordination in timing, the torpedo boats arrived more than 10 minutes later than expected.

  Originally, the torpedo boats were responsible for supplementing a second wave of attacks after the submarines launched their attack. However, due to various reasons, the torpedo boats arrived late, resulting in the ships of the Six Nations Fleet having already turned around or changed direction and begun dispersing and escaping, making it impossible to launch a collective second wave of torpedo attacks.

  However, the commander of the torpedo boats did not hesitate for long and soon issued an order to pursue enemy ships in pairs. Thus, pair after pair of Sea Swallows, accompanied by the rumble of engines, flew close to the sea surface towards the accelerating six-country fleet.

  The six-nation fleet can now only run with the destroyers patrolling on the periphery and a few cruisers that were lucky enough to survive. The captains and sailors of each ship have been stunned by the shocking scene just now. In less than 1 minute, the main force of the six-nation fleet, which was still majestic just now, has been blown up beyond recognition. Except for those that directly disintegrated and sank, the battleships and heavy cruisers that are still floating on the sea surface are tilting at a speed visible to the naked eye. There were also several unlucky destroyers and light cruisers that faithfully fulfilled their duties, whether actively or not, blocking torpedo attacks for the main force ships behind them, but at the cost of being blown in two, spewing thick smoke as they plunged into the sea floor.

  In the fleet of six nations, there was not only Britain, the overlord of the sea, but also France and Germany, a late starter. However, no naval officer or soldier from any country had ever seen such a collective massacre of warships before, nor did they know when it would happen, and suddenly find that damned white trail on both sides of their own warship.

  Run... run far, far away... hurry back... This is the inner voice of all the captains of the remaining six national fleets. What rescue compatriots? Wait for an opportunity to counterattack? None of these can stop their longing for life. This kind of sea battle is unfamiliar to them, and this massacre is something they never want to see again. Even the most experienced British captains have no way to think of any means of counterattack. Rather than waiting here to be bombed, it's better to hurry back to base and do what you want.

  But their wishes were good, the reality was cruel. Although there was no longer a torpedo boat track, a small boat with an incredible speed rushed over from the northeast of the battlefield. The bottom of these boats seemed to have something like a wing supporting the hull, making more than half of the hull flying in the air above the sea surface, and only when passing through the wave head, it would splash out pieces of white water flowers on the sea surface.

  These small boats, at a speed of nearly 40 knots, came rushing towards the fleeing warships of the six nations in pairs. At first, the warships of the six nations still drew on their manpower and used some of the cannons that could fire backwards to intercept these small boats. However, due to the high speed and extreme agility of these small boats, they would appear on the left side one moment and float to the right side the next, making it impossible for the sparse cannonballs to hit them. As these small boats gradually approached, some naval officers on the warships of the six nations recognized their true identity. Although they were not similar in shape or size to the torpedo boats of various countries, the two thick and long torpedo tubes could not be hidden from these veterans who had been dealing with all kinds of warships for a long time.

  Torpedo boat!!!! This is Taiwan's torpedo boat, which also carries that kind of powerful and fast torpedo. Due to the small size and high speed of Taiwan's torpedo boats, they appear on the wave crest for a moment and then disappear into the trough, making it difficult for various caliber naval guns to hit them.

  As the distance drew closer, some of the torpedo boats had already caught up with their targets. However, under the command of experienced Taiwanese torpedo boat captains, they did not hastily launch torpedoes but instead continued to accelerate and charged towards both sides of the target warship before turning sideways and firing two torpedoes at the target warship from a very close distance on its flank.

  Due to the high speed of the torpedo boat, the torpedoes launched from it gained even higher speeds due to the ship's speed. The distance of several hundred meters was covered in an instant, and since the torpedoes were not fired simultaneously but rather one after another, their angles were slightly different. The two torpedo boats launched a total of four high-speed torpedoes with different angles, which basically sealed off all possible evasive directions for the target ship.

  The commanding officers on board the target warships had only a few seconds to complete calculations, issue orders, and turn the ships around. Most captains' orders to turn were barely given when the torpedoes had already struck the ships from the side and hit their bottoms. After that, there was basically no chance for survival.

  The torpedoes launched by the torpedo boats were all 533mm heavy magnetic exploders. For warships like destroyers and light cruisers weighing less than 3,000 tons, a single hit would cause severe damage, almost crippling the ship. Although these magnetic exploder torpedoes did not create a large hole in the ship's hull like contact exploder torpedoes, they could utilize the powerful pressure of water to inflict more serious damage on the ship's body and keel.

  It was similar to the human body: if it wasn't hit in a vital spot by a bullet that created a hole, it wouldn't immediately lose all combat capability. Moreover, with timely medical treatment, there was still a good chance of survival. However, if the spine or main bones were broken or severely injured, the person would basically be unable to fight back. Even with timely medical treatment, it would be difficult to recover to their pre-injury state, and not being left disabled would already be a huge stroke of luck.

  As the torpedo boats pursued wave after wave, fewer than 5 of the six warships managed to escape the ambush and return to Hong Kong safely. Even these five destroyers that escaped into the Hong Kong naval base did not know if they could avoid another attack: the submarines that had reloaded their torpedoes followed the fleeing warships' course, pursuing them all the way to near Hong Kong. This British Far East's largest naval base would face its first submarine sneak attack in history.