50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 830 Raising the Red Flag
When Captain Ji Yongjia reported on the wartime communication channel that the enemy's altitude had reached 5000 meters, Commander Hao Yongze of the 003 submarine had already issued the order to launch the first wave of cruise missiles from the H submarine.

Immediately, 12 submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched simultaneously from the 12 launch ports of the H submarine, then quickly turned on the surface and rushed toward Lauter Island.

North of Lauter Island, submarine 004 still hadn't submerged; it was speeding towards Lauter Island, a few kilometers away.

In order to bring the enemy's MiG-21s down as low as possible, Ji Yongjia had no intention of diving.

When the formation of 12 MiG fighters descended to an altitude of 2000 meters, an unexpected event occurred. The speed of all 12 MiG fighters decreased, but half of them began to fly level, while only 6 of them continued to dive.

Upon seeing this, Ji Yongjia immediately reported the latest situation to the other captains. Then, he issued the latest order to his subordinates: "I order that the top hatch be opened and the red flag be raised."

He did not turn off the intercom when issuing the order to the crew, so the order was also received by the captains of the other three ships at the same time.

Any fighter who has participated in the jungle wars will understand what this means; it's definitely inviting hatred.

Those MiG-21 pilots went to bomb Big Natuna Island just to complete their mission, but when they saw the red flag, Big Natuna no longer mattered.

The other three captains were going crazy when they heard Ji Yongjia's order over the channel: "Old Ji, are you crazy?"

Ke Ji Yongjia ignored the shouts of the other captains in the channel.

Soon, the hatch of the 004 submarine, which was sailing at high speed, was opened, and a bright red flag was raised by the sailors from the hatch.

On the deep blue sea, a black figure is cutting through the water, leaving two white splashes behind it.

At this moment, a red glow shot into the sky from the center of the black figure, looking dazzling from afar.

Less than a minute after the red flag was raised, the six MiG-21s that were turning level suddenly nosedive and dived down, while the six fighters in front of them that were diving were even faster.

Seeing that the enemy planes were about to approach, Ji Yongjia quickly instructed his crew to take precautions against strafing.

As soon as he finished speaking, the roar of an airplane came from the cabin door into the ship's cabin, followed by the sound of bullets hitting the submarine's hull one after another.

Although the Type 004 submarine is a conventional submarine and does not use a double hull, it can dive to a depth of more than 200 meters. It uses high-quality HY-80 high-strength steel, and its hull is exceptionally sturdy.

The MiG-21's cannon bullets are 23mm in caliber, which have good penetration, but it is still very difficult to penetrate them unless the same spot is hit repeatedly.

Thus, in the eyes of these 12 MiG fighters, the submarine flying the national flag showed no signs of slowing down or diving, and this disregard only fueled their anger.

Soon, the MiG squadron seemed to have agreed on tactics and began to form a circle, taking turns using machine guns to continuously bombard the hull of the 004 submarine's conning tower.

Inside the submarine, Ji Yongjia had already evacuated all personnel from the command platform to the lower compartments.

Ji Yongjia's preventative measures were quickly proven effective, as the outer shell of the command platform began to break under the continuous bombardment of the machine gun.

Every now and then, machine gun bullets would pierce the outer shell and enter the cabin, the bullets bouncing wildly inside. If there were still people inside, they would definitely be injured by stray bullets.

Not long after, although the Type 004 submarine continued to sail, its conning tower hull was completely damaged, and it was no longer possible for it to submerge again. Danger gradually approached the Type 004 submarine. Five minutes later, the hull, which had been breached, was riddled with holes, and the interior of the submarine's conning tower could be seen from aircraft outside.

The MiG squadron became even more arrogant, continuing to fire machine guns into the submarine.

Damage control reports came in from the lower compartments of the submarine soon after, indicating that water had begun to enter the cabin. Ji Yongjia calmly arranged for the crew to take turns going in to drain the water.

It is unknown how much time has passed, but the water inside the submarine has reached the crew's waists. Due to the flooding, the 004 submarine can no longer maintain its maximum speed, and the hull is gradually sinking.

The crew continued to pump water while anxiously awaiting Ji Yongjia's order to abandon ship.

But Ji Yongjia didn't seem to have any intention of issuing an order to abandon ship; he just kept raising his hand to look at the watch on his wrist.

Suddenly, the entire submarine jerked up, throwing all the crew members into the water, before rapidly sinking back down.

Then, everyone heard a muffled thud. The submarine seemed to have hit something and then suddenly stopped. Even the MiG machine guns that had been firing continuously in the sky stopped firing.

Just when everyone thought the submarine had run aground and was bracing for a massive influx of seawater from above, the submarine suddenly fell silent. Only the sound of the wind could be heard outside, but no more seawater rushed into the cabin.

While everyone was puzzled, only Ji Yongjia, swaying and holding onto the cabin, climbed out of the water and then burst into maniacal laughter.

It turned out that the 004 submarine had already successfully landed on the beach north of Lauter Island.

Ji Yongjia had been constantly checking his watch, calculating the submarine's distance and estimating the time needed to land on the beach. His calculations were correct; submarine 004 successfully landed before sinking.

Above the submarine, 12 MiG-21s were circling at low speed over 100 meters, seemingly observing the situation of the stranded submarine.

Just then, twelve white streaks flew rapidly from the southern sea off Lauter Island.

In a matter of seconds, they crossed the southern coastline of Lauter Island from a distance and rushed toward the MiG formations over the northern beach of Lauter Island.

These are the submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles that were previously launched from the 003H submarine.

At that moment, all 18 Seacat surface-to-air missiles on 001 and 002 were launched simultaneously, closely following the Tomahawk missiles as they flew north towards Lauter Island.

Because the Tomahawks maintained extremely low altitude flight, the MiG squadron's radar never detected their approach.

MiG's radar finally detected their presence when the missiles reached the airspace above Lauter Island.

Instantly, the radars of all the MiG fighters began to sound alarms frantically. But by then, 12 Tomahawk missiles had already struck the center of the MiG formation.

Although the Tomahawk missile has a flight speed of only Mach 0.72, it can still travel 245 meters per second at that speed.

Lauter Island is a long and narrow island, only 3 kilometers wide from north to south. A Tomahawk missile flying at a speed of 245 meters per second can pass through Lauter Island in just 13 seconds.

(End of this chapter)