What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 32 Depth Charge
Tang Wen was also shocked when he learned this information, especially the familiar name of the Nanchang ship.

More than 055 years later, when people learned about the Nanchang ship, they thought of the -ton destroyer , but that was actually the third-generation Nanchang ship.

The first generation of Nanchang ship was the second ship of the "Hashidate" class gunboat, "Uji", with a displacement of 1350 tons. After being salvaged and repaired in 1950, it served as the flagship of the Sixth Fleet of the East China Navy and belonged to the East China Sea Fleet.

The second-generation Nanchang is a Type 051B missile destroyer with a full load displacement of more than 6000 tons. Construction began at the Yangcheng Shipyard in 1977 and it entered service in 1982. It currently belongs to the South China Sea Fleet with the hull number 163.

Then came the third-generation Nanchang, the first ship of the Type 055 12500-ton destroyer, with a full load tonnage of 2020 tons. It entered service in the North Sea Fleet in 101 with the hull number .

A name passed down through three generations and used in turn in the three major fleets can be considered a legend.

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the impoverished navy salvaged sunken ships everywhere. As long as they could not build them themselves, they would consider them valuable, even if they could not be repaired and melted down to make steel.

In fact, the ships with the most detailed records and the easiest to salvage are small boats such as coastal defense ships, river defense ships, and destroyers that sank in large and small battles. Unfortunately, they were salvaged too hard.

After all, after looking at the naval history in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was even a move to convert cargo ships into frigates, which is really worrying.

So Tang Yi even began to doubt whether this trip would be in vain, and was already thinking about other targets.

But Tang Wen was not that worried. The Dongsha Islands have always been under the actual control of the Formosa Water Police, and it is unlikely that the "Hashidate" and "Oak" can be salvaged.

However, it would be interesting if the "Hashidate" was found. Using the steel salvaged from the Hashidate to melt and build a new Hashidate would seem a bit strange no matter how you look at it.

"Can you find the Hashidate?"

Tang Yi shook his head:
"There's not much information about the Hashidate. The only description of it being sunk is this paragraph, which only says it was near the Dongsha Islands, but there's no clear location."

Tang Wen secretly thought it was a pity. Although there wasn't much steel left on the Hashidate, it was still quite interesting to be able to salvage it.

After comforting Tang Yi with a few words, Tang Wen checked his current location in the system and found that he had already driven more than half the distance and crossed the waters off the Hong Kong River.

Now no matter which direction you look, it is all pitch black, and you can no longer distinguish land with the naked eye.

Even turning on the searchlight had almost no effect. Not only did it illuminate a weak area, but it made the surrounding environment appear even darker.

Tang Wen thought of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. At this distance, he might encounter a shark.

But he is not Hemingway, so fighting sharks is a piece of cake for him.

The night passed quickly in my wild thoughts. About an hour later, Tang and his men walked out of the cabin and began to make preparations.

The target location is less than 10 nautical miles away and can be reached in half an hour.

At this time, they had entered the outskirts of the Dongsha Islands. The route planned by Tang Wen was basically a detour of 15 nautical miles around the islands and reefs. At least nothing abnormal had been found so far.

Tang Yi speculated that there were only a few hundred people stationed on the island, and there should not be many police boats, so it should be safe throughout the second half of the night.

However, to be on the safe side, Tang Wen quickly turned off the three engines and approached at a low speed of 10 knots to reduce noise.

When the automatic cruise control indicated that they had arrived at the destination, Tang Yi turned on the fixed searchlights on both sides.

High-powered incandescent bulbs generate so much heat that they can even be used as ovens for heating.

"Reduce the speed to 5 knots and start deploying the sonar!"

Two temporary sailors pushed the buoy sonars connected by ropes into the sea, and then released one in intervals of sea until all three sonars were released.

"Shut down the engine!"

Due to backward technology, monitoring sonar requires an environment that is as quiet as possible.

All the engines of the yacht were shut down, all the lights were turned off, and the yacht slowly rose and fell on the sea level without power.

The monitor wore his headphones expressionlessly, hanging them backwards around his neck, listening carefully to the echo of the ultrasonic wave. Seeing this, Tang Wen also picked up a monitor and put it to his ear. He closed his eyes and soon heard the voice coming from inside:
First there was a burst of dense clicking sounds, mixed with many bird-like sounds, and like the ratchet of a watch turning.

From time to time, a sharp sound similar to the call of a whale would be heard, which would last for a few seconds and then disappear, only to reappear after a while.

After listening for two minutes, Tang Wen gently put down his headphones.

He didn't hear anything.

"It's no use just listening."

Tang Yi whispered:
"It also requires the use of a metal detector. The echoes detected by the sonar from different objects are obviously different. We record the one closest to the metal and verify it with the detector. Then we put down the metal hook and try again.

Even if you find the right place, it will take at least seven or eight tries before you can catch it.

This area of ​​sea needs to be searched at least three times with the sonar, and it will take at least ten hours to search the entire area.

Of course, if we are luckier, we might be able to do that.”

In any case, this is a long and boring job. The sonar is not white noise that helps you sleep. Tang Wen felt upset after listening to it for a while.

He actually mentioned buying a sonar from this era, and there are very good fish finders available on the market now.

However, Tang Yi said that the technology in the 40s was sufficient for detecting shipwrecks, and many parts of civilian sonar had been castrated.

Of course, this was also because electronic technology was not yet developed at that time. If it was before the time travel, the ship's sonar could be directly connected to the display screen.

You can clearly see the conditions on the seabed and where the fish are on the display screen. That is a real artifact.

After waiting for an hour, Tang Yi's originally relaxed expression finally became more solemn.

He approached the monitor and whispered:
"Haven't found it yet?"

Monitor: "This is the boundary between the high and low seabeds. The echo from the sonar alone is too weak to be discerned."

"Then use Plan B."

"What plan B?"

Tang Wen, who had been listening on the side, looked confused, and then he saw Tang Yi directing people to move out... a quadruple bracket?

Under Tang Wen's surprised gaze, a quadruple-mounted bracket about the height of a person was fixed to the stern of the ship, and then four things that looked like large mortar shells were moved in.

Although the tail fins and the single body can still be seen, it is obviously several times larger than the mortar, and it is a bit difficult for one person to hold it.

Looking at the two sailors struggling to install it, Tang Yi explained:
"If we fire an anti-submarine depth charge into the sea, the echo produced by the explosion will be very strong, and then it will be much easier for us to monitor the echo."

"Will this attract the water police?"

Tang Wen was a little worried.

"No, underwater explosions aren't very loud. The marine police can't monitor them with sonar... Release!"

The last two words were said to the sailor at the controls, who ignited the anti-submarine depth charge with a dry battery and then quickly moved aside.

This anti-submarine depth bomb uses a rocket-assisted ejection method. After ignition, a bright flame immediately emerges, and with a sharp sound of breaking through the air, it flies into the air and draws a parabola to fly into the distance.

About ten seconds later, Tang Wen felt an abnormal vibration coming from the bottom of the boat.

(End of this chapter)