I asked you to escape, but you became a soldier in World War II

Chapter 77 Fierce Fight

Lin Chen had no way to change anything. He could only pray that the Japanese torpedoes would not target the escort carrier he was on, otherwise he would be in big trouble.

Because the formation was turning collectively, the carrier-based aircraft could not take off temporarily. There was only one amphibious aircraft running around in the air. The disadvantage of this aircraft is that it has a small bomb load and can only carry one bomb of about 300 kilograms.

The F4F "Wildcat" fighters on the deck were all ready for takeoff, and they would launch into the air for patrol as soon as the route returned to a straight line. Although this type of fighter was not good at patrolling and reconnaissance, it was the only desperate measure now.

Lin Chen was helpless about Colonel York's "magic operation" and hoped that the Japanese commander was not that smart.

But as the saying goes, "what you fear will come to you", when the formation completed its turn, the second wave of torpedo attacks from the Japanese submarines came again. The wide sides of the formation gave the Japanese submarines an excellent attack vision.

Many merchant ships saw the tracks of torpedoes speeding across the sea and tried desperately to turn their rudders to evade them, but how could merchant ships have such strong maneuverability?
The continuous violent explosions produced shock waves that caused a lot of cargo to fly into the air. A Sherman tank was blown away by the huge air wave and flew a long distance before it crashed heavily into the sea, causing a towering column of water, which was a spectacular sight.

The most worrying thing is that an oil tanker was also hit. After the huge explosion, there was a huge flame. The surviving crew members struggled desperately and called for help on the sea, but at this time everyone was busy with their own affairs, so how could they stop to rescue? The passing ships threw down a few life buoys and life jackets and quickly evaded the rules in a zigzag shape.

The amphibious aircraft had dropped all its bombs by this time and did not continue patrolling and reconnaissance for the formation. Instead, it landed on the sea to rescue those who fell into the water.

The people who fell into the water saw the plane landing and swam forward frantically. Although it was absolutely impossible for the submarine to use its precious torpedoes to attack them, everyone was so scared that they would definitely want to leave this damn sea if they could get on top.

The plane was soon almost full. In order to carry more wounded and sick people, it had to keep dropping heavy objects. Finally, when there was nothing left to drop, it took off slowly and prepared to land on the escort carrier.

Lin Chen couldn't help shaking his head when he saw this scene. He couldn't say that the pilot was wrong to do this, but Lin Chen felt that at this moment the plane was equivalent to the eyes of the formation, and his primary task was to guide the destroyer to attack the target so that more people could be saved.

The aircraft carrier's course finally straightened out, and amphibious aircraft and fighter jets quickly took off.

But during the takeoff, the following Japanese submarine fired three more torpedoes.

"torpedo!"

The sharp-eyed crew members let out heart-wrenching roars. Everyone was in chaos. Orders were quickly given on the island and the aircraft carrier began emergency evasive maneuvers. The huge hull tilted significantly due to the centrifugal force.

Several F4F "Wildcat" fighters that had not yet taken off collided with each other and suffered obvious damage. One fighter even fell into the sea while taking off, leaving the scene in a mess.

But now we can't worry about these. Avoiding the incoming torpedoes is the top priority. The damage control of this kind of escort aircraft carrier is very poor, and it can usually be sunk directly by one or two torpedoes.

At this critical moment, a fleeing merchant ship saved the aircraft carrier and used its hull to block two incoming torpedoes. The remaining torpedo just passed by the boat, which was extremely dangerous.

The merchant ship that was "blocking the bullets" was in a miserable state. Two torpedoes hit the weak point of its keel. The explosion quickly tore the hull apart, and it sank rapidly in an extremely tragic way. The huge vortex generated sucked in many crew members who fell into the water, and the sea was filled with desperate screams.

The people on the escort aircraft carrier were so angry that their eyes were red with anger. These were all their compatriots! Now they could only watch helplessly without any way to do anything. "Lin Chen, I finally found you. Colonel York asked you to pass! Hurry!" John shouted breathlessly while running with sweat all over his forehead.

Without saying anything, he grabbed Lin Chen and dragged him to the command room.

"I just told the colonel about your idea, but he didn't listen at all. Now that such a tragedy has happened, he suddenly realized it and asked me to find you and ask you to help him analyze it!"

John explained at a very fast pace.

The two rushed to the command room as quickly as possible. Colonel York no longer had the arrogance he had before. He forced out a smile that was uglier than crying and asked Lin Chen, "Mr. Lin, what should we do next?"

Lin Chen knew that now was not the time to be angry. Facing a powerful enemy, they should unite to face the enemy!
He quickly walked to the nautical chart and looked at the current enemy and friendly situation map.
"We can't run around any more. The Japanese submarines are in the north. There were at least two Japanese submarines in this location in the previous wave of attacks. They must be reloading in order to launch the next wave of attacks. The anti-submarine aircraft may have seen them! Send the anti-submarine aircraft to quickly investigate. Once the location is found, dispatch two destroyers to drop depth charges!"

York glanced at Lieutenant John beside him and said, "Pass it on immediately! Quickly!"

"There is another submarine following us. That submarine must have dived, otherwise the destroyers behind us would have spotted it long ago. We don't need to worry about it for now. I suggest the fleet turn south!"

"That puts us within the attack range of the Japanese land-based aviation force! Our escort aircraft have suffered heavy losses, how can we resist?" Colonel York was speechless.

"It takes at least two hours to fly here from Hokkaido, Japan. We are just making a simple feint to get out of the range of the Japanese torpedoes, and then turn back to the north again! When the Japanese planes arrive, we will be out of their attack range! Unless they are willing to use their precious attack planes to launch a desperate attack on us."

Lin Chen knew that Japan's national strength was weak, the production of aircraft was not high, and those elite pilots who were carefully selected were even more precious. At this stage, they would never be willing to let the pilots carry out a "one-way suicide attack".

After a moment's thought, Colonel York could only agree and ordered his adjutant to convey the order quickly.

The U.S. military's communications were very efficient. The patrol planes in the air rushed to the marked coordinates and indeed discovered two Japanese I-class submarines that were still at periscope depth.

The dark figure is particularly eye-catching in the blue sea.

It dived towards one of the submarines, and the depth charge accurately hit the tail of the submarine. A large amount of seawater poured in. It could be clearly seen from the plane that the enemy ship quickly sank into the deep sea, and a large pile of ship wreckage floated on the sea surface.

The sailors on the merchant ship not far away raised their arms and shouted excitedly!

They really need a counterattack victory!

(End of this chapter)