pappabearbooks Chapter 211 Sinking of a Japanese Troop Transport Ship, the Demise of the Special Marine Corps
Chapter 211 Sinking of a Japanese Troop Transport Ship, the Demise of the Special Marine Corps
But before his orders could be fully carried out, another deafening explosion rang out.
The third magnetic mine detonated on the hull, creating another gruesome gash in the bottom of the Baojin.
Multiple watertight compartments were simultaneously torn open by the explosion, and icy river water rushed in, causing the ship to sink rapidly at a visible speed.
As the captain of the Baojin looked at the tilting ship and felt the increasingly violent shaking beneath his feet, his heart sank to the bottom.
He knew in his heart that this gunboat was finished, completely beyond saving.
Just as he gritted his teeth, preparing to give the order to abandon ship, another earth-shattering explosion came from not far beside him.
Another Japanese gunboat, the Saga, on the flank of the formation, was also accurately hit by a magnetic mine at the bottom of the river.
The terrifying shockwave from the explosion sent a massive column of water, more than ten meters high, billowing across the river and completely obscuring the moonlight.
The entire hull of the Saga was violently shaking like a leaf in a storm amidst the shockwave of the explosion.
Its hull was also torn open with several huge gaps, and river water was pouring into the cabins.
These successive violent explosions naturally alerted the flagship, Atake, at the rear of the formation.
Yoshida Meiichi was standing in front of the porthole on the bridge, looking at the waterway ahead with a confident smile on his face.
A violent explosion rang out, causing the entire bridge to sway slightly. The smile on his face froze instantly, and his pupils contracted sharply.
He rushed to the porthole, grabbed the binoculars, and looked ahead.
Through the telescope, two gunboats ahead had exploded and caught fire, the raging flames turning the river surface red.
The Baojin, for example, had its bow submerged in the water, with its stern raised high. It is sinking at an alarming rate.
"Slow down!!! The entire fleet must slow down immediately!!! Prepare to turn around!!!" Yoshida Akiichi turned around abruptly and roared at the messenger in the bridge.
His face turned deathly pale instantly, the veins on his forehead throbbed, and his hand holding the binoculars began to tremble slightly.
He knew better than anyone that the fleet had plunged headlong into the Chinese army's mine ambush zone.
If we take another step forward, who knows how many more ships will be sunk by these invisible mines.
But reality dealt him the cruelest blow. Just minutes before, he had ordered the entire fleet to speed through the waterway.
At this moment, the speed of the entire fleet had soared to twenty-five knots, and the massive steel hulls carried enormous inertia.
Slowing down and turning around in such a narrow waterway is not something that can be done simply by stepping on the brakes.
They had to drive a long distance before they could slow down and have room to turn around.
But no one knows how many deadly magnetic mines are hidden in this inevitable deceleration distance.
Just as Yoshida Meiichi's heart was filled with despair, another deafening roar came.
Another Japanese gunboat, while slowing down, triggered a magnetic mine on the riverbed, resulting in a violent explosion and a burst of flames shooting into the sky.
This was the third Japanese gunboat to be damaged or sunk in just a few minutes.
As Yoshida Meiichi watched the continuous explosions and flames on the river, he froze on the spot, his heart filled with turmoil.
One question kept swirling in his mind.
"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! The minesweepers clearly cleared the entire waterway!"
"Why are there still so many mines? Why didn't the minesweepers detect any?"
He had seen countless sea mines.
I've never seen such a strange mine before.
In the past, anchor chain mines would explode close to the side of the ship.
But today, all of these mines exploded from the ship's most vulnerable spot, the hull, causing fatal damage with each explosion.
The damage control team had absolutely no chance of rescue and could only watch helplessly as the ship sank rapidly.
"What exactly happened? Did the Chinese use some new type of naval mine?"
Yoshida Meiichi gritted his teeth so hard they almost broke, his mind filled with disbelief and confusion.
He just couldn't understand how a country without even a decent heavy industry could produce such advanced naval mines.
Even looking at the whole world, he had never heard of any country that had developed such a new type of mine that could evade mine-clearing equipment.
Just as Yoshida Meiichi was caught in a frenzy of self-doubt, several more deafening explosions echoed across the river.
The Japanese fleet, which was slowing down and turning, triggered several magnetic mines in succession, and the explosions continued without stopping.
One of the Japanese gunboats was even blown apart by the terrifying power of a mine, its entire keel snapped off.
The massive steel hull was snapped in two amidst a deafening explosion.
The front half of the ship, engulfed in flames, sank rapidly to the bottom of the river, while the rear half tilted on the surface of the water, engulfed in towering flames.
The Japanese sailors on the ship were instantly plunged into annihilation.
Some people were torn apart by the shockwave of the explosion, leaving no intact bodies behind.
Someone was struck by a broken steel plate and died instantly; blood flowed into the murky river water through the gaps in the deck.
Many more people fell from the tilting ship into the icy Yangtze River, letting out heart-wrenching screams and cries for help.
But the icy river water quickly swallowed their voices and dragged them into the abyss at the bottom of the river.
The entire Japanese fleet was now in complete chaos, unlike anything they had ever seen before.
The ships in front wanted to turn around and retreat, but the ships behind were still rushing forward, and the entire formation instantly turned into chaos.
Two ships were unable to dodge and collided violently, the impact producing a piercing metallic scraping sound and sending up a shower of sparks.
The captains' roars, the sailors' screams, the wailing of alarms, and the continuous explosions intertwined to create a tragic symphony of hell.
Just as Yoshida Meiichi was staring at the chaos before him, his mind blank and almost numb, the ship beneath his feet suddenly shook violently, making the world spin.
A deafening explosion, louder than any of the previous ones, resounded from the hull of the Ataka.
"BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!"
His flagship, the Atake, was also accurately hit by a magnetic mine at the bottom of the river!
With a deafening roar, the entire ship was violently lifted up by the shockwave of the explosion and slammed back onto the water, instantly tilting severely to one side.
The ship's hull was simultaneously blasted open with huge breaches, and the river water poured into the compartments like a ferocious beast.
Many of the Japanese soldiers on the deck didn't even have time to react before being thrown into the river by the shockwave of the explosion.
The explosion of the Atake was not the end of this disaster.
Japanese troop transport ships behind the fleet also triggered magnetic mines on the riverbed one after another, with explosions occurring one after another.
The hold of these troop transport ships was packed with Special Marines, like sardine cans.
Most of them were still asleep, unaware of what had happened.
The shockwave from the magnetic mine explosion tore apart the ship's bottom compartments and ripped the Japanese soldiers inside, along with the steel deck, to shreds.
They didn't even have time to feel pain, to feel fear, or to utter a cry.
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