371: Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty-Nine: This is Just the Beginning 371: Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty-Nine: This is Just the Beginning Arctic Sunrise approached Nisshin Maru, and two whaling ships, one on the left and the other on the right, sandwiched Nisshin Maru and Arctic Sunrise in the middle, while No.
3 Yongshin Maru now blocked the path of the protesting ship.
A total of five ships were squeezed into a narrow area, with the distance between them at most only forty to fifty meters, a rather dangerous closeness.
A protest ship named Arctic Sunrise had been following the whaling fleet centered around Nisshin Maru.
Unable to keep up with the three faster whaling vessels, Arctic Sunrise adopted a strategy of encircling Wei to rescue Zhao.
When the three whaling ships left Nisshin Maru to hunt, Arctic Sunrise began to harass Nisshin Maru, forcing the three whaling ships to cease their hunting, return to Nisshin Maru’s side, and attack Arctic Sunrise with high-pressure water cannons in an attempt to make it leave.
The tangle between Arctic Sunrise and Nisshin Maru created perfect attacking conditions for Avenger, and now the only thing Avenger needed to consider was to make sure not to mistakenly harm Arctic Sunrise.
After Gao Yang said to attack immediately, Uriyangko clapped his hands with an excited expression, “Guys, guys, let’s get moving; let’s use what we’ve prepared.”
Everyone made the same move, pulling a balaclava out of their pockets and putting it over their head, revealing only their eyes and mouth, then they had to put on sunglasses as well.
From before they set out, Uriyangko knew there was a considerable chance that Nisshin Maru would be accompanied by protest vessels, and no matter which organization’s protest vessel it was, they’d surely have cameras, even helicopters scouting and filming from the air, so covering up with a balaclava was essential.
Pavlovich also donned a balaclava, and at his command, the attack on Nisshin Maru began immediately.
Four crew members ran up to the foredeck and, like uncovering a cannon with a tarpaulin, they flipped the fishing net covering the torpedo tubes to one side.
The driving cab of the fishing boat had now become the command center of a warship, with orders issuing from Pavlovich’s mouth.
Those receiving commands would loudly repeat them before fully executing Pavlovich’s orders.
“Torpedo power check, ready to launch.”
“Torpedo power check, torpedo status good, ready to launch.”
“Maintain course, reduce speed to three knots.”
“Yes, maintain course, current speed nine knots.”
Avenger approached from the right side of Nisshin Maru, growing slower and closer by the moment.
The sudden appearance of Avenger drew everyone’s attention, but no response was given to Avenger’s approach, especially as Avenger considerably slowed down, and No.
2 Shonan Maru, stationed at the starboard side of Nisshin Maru, didn’t make any moves.
The struggle between the whaling fleet and the protest ship had gone on for decades.
Both sides were very familiar with each other, understanding one another’s methods clearly.
They just continued doing what they had to do, using every trick in the book to force the other side to retreat.
Gao Yang’s heart pounded faster and faster as he stared fixedly at the vessel obstructing Nisshin Maru.
As long as the whaling ship on Nisshin Maru’s starboard side was dealt with, they could directly fire the torpedoes at Nisshin Maru.
When the distance from No.
2 Shonan Maru was roughly six or seven hundred meters, Avenger reduced her own speed to three knots.
To keep her bow ready to aim at the target, Avenger couldn’t come to a complete stop.
Finally, Pavlovich issued the attack order.
“Port One torpedo, launch!”
A total of six torpedoes were symmetrically placed, with the one on the far left at the bow designated as Port One, a 53-39 straight-running torpedo; Port Two was a 53-65 homing torpedo; and Port Three was a lightweight Whitehead A-244 torpedo, with the starboard side corresponding.
With a soft ‘whoosh,’ a 53-39 torpedo suddenly shot from the launch tube on the bow’s left side into the sea.
Then, the torpedo’s engine started up, drawing a straight white line on the water at a speed of forty knots, charging like an arrow directly towards No.
2 Shonan Maru.
In modern naval warfare, hitting a warship with a straight-running torpedo is very difficult, because warships will dodge and perform substantial serpentine maneuvers, and they also have short-range defense measures.
Therefore, the combat method using straight-running torpedoes usually involves launching several torpedoes at once in a spread pattern, making it unavoidable for the enemy ship and thus increasing the hit probability.
However, a whaling ship is not a warship, and the Avenger could approach it closely enough to launch torpedoes almost face to face, just like putting a gun to someone’s forehead and pulling the trigger.
The whaling ships locked in confrontation with the Arctic Sunrise had long noticed the Avenger, but they had paid it no mind—a shrimp fishing boat coming close to watch the excitement was nothing unusual.
After all, confrontations between whaling ships and anti-whaling ships weren’t easily witnessed.
In the vast expanse of the Southern Ocean, such spectacles drew the gaze of anyone who encountered them, and the whaling ships were quite accustomed to this attention.
However, to the crew aboard the No.
2 Shonan Maru, this time seemed a bit off.
A Japanese crewman leaning on the deck and holding onto the railing was watching the Avenger when he noticed something thick, black, and long leap into the sea nearby, followed by a white line rapidly approaching him.
The crewman was quite curious.
“Hey, come take a look, what’s this thing?
So strange, it’s moving so fast.”
The curious Japanese crewman hadn’t thought of a torpedo at all; since the Arctic Sunrise was on the other side, they had nothing to worry about for the moment.
So he called over the crew members who were at their battle stations on deck to look at the white trail.
Seven or eight crew members crowded to the starboard side, where the white froth trail left by the fast-advancing torpedo had become very clear.
Looking at the quickly moving white trail, a crew member crowded beside the rail voiced, “Guys, what’s this thing?
Why do I have a bad feeling about it?
It looks like a torpedo, but how could there be a torpedo here?
Watanabe, you served in the navy, what the hell is this?”
“Ah, it really looks like a torpedo, but it can’t be a torpedo, right?”
Several crew members turned their gaze towards the leading Japanese man, who was slowly making his way towards the ship’s side from beside the high-pressure water cannon.
“Are you all idiots?
How could there possibly be a torpedo here?
That’s just a fishing boat, a shrimp fishing boat, you morons.
Or do you think there’s a submarine on the surface?
Let me see what the hell this thing is, huh?
Ah?
Ah!
A torpedo, it’s a torpedo!”
At a distance of only about seven hundred meters, with a torpedo traveling at forty knots, it only needed thirty-five seconds to arrive, and yet the No.
2 Shonan Maru was basically at a standstill.
Even if they had spotted the torpedo from the beginning, they couldn’t have escaped the fate of being sunk.
Watanabe’s screamed till his voice broke, alerting his crewmates to the dire situation.
Those who reacted quickly immediately turned tail and ran, although they had no idea where to run to, or indeed if there was anywhere to run to.
The man named Watanabe didn’t move, not because he didn’t want to; although his instinct was to run, regrettably his legs failed him at that moment.
He wanted to sprint but his legs wouldn’t respond.
He watched in horror as the white trail rushed right beneath his feet and then—without a huge bang—Watanabe felt as though he was flying, and then, he knew nothing more because he had already been killed by the tremendous shockwave before he realized the explosion had occurred.
Gao Yang watched as the torpedo was launched, observing it swiftly heading towards the No.
2 Shonan Maru, striking the ship’s body at the front third.
Then, he saw a water column shoot skywards, which, along with the rising sea water, carried the No.
2 Shonan Maru with it.
The high-explosive warhead, packed with four hundred kilograms of explosives, detonated upon contact with the ship’s hull.
The tremendous force first arched the bow upward and then lifted the entire 1,500-ton vessel off the sea surface, hurling it five or six meters into the air before it snapped in two.
The explosion-induced water column was at least two hundred meters high.
As the water column settled, the No.
2 Shonan Maru had basically sunk into the depths, vanishing except for a whirlpool on the water’s surface, leaving no other trace behind.
Just one torpedo and the No.
2 Shonan Maru vanished with such swift finality.
Too fast.
Gao Yang, who had witnessed the whole process, was completely stunned.
If the attacker Gao Yang was shocked, what more could be said for the crew of the Nisshin Maru, still engaged in whaling?
Therefore, after an ear-deafening explosion, although everyone saw the towering water spout, they still had no idea what had happened.
The No.
2 Shonan Maru sent no warning, no message, before sinking to the seabed.
Meanwhile, the crew on the Nisshin Maru’s deck, looking at where a ship had just been, only to see the now empty sea and the nearby Avenger, couldn’t fathom what had just happened.
Gao Yang had not expected the No.
2 Shonan Maru to sink so swiftly, but as Glolov by his side suddenly let out a cheer, Gao Yang snapped out of his stupor.
He waved his fist vigorously and bellowed, “Little devils, die!”
After giving Gao Yang and the others a furious look, Pavlovich barked, “Shut up, or get out if you’re going to keep screaming.”
Having roared at them, Pavlovich immediately ordered loudly, “Torpedo at starboard one, launch!”
They could directly attack the Nisshin Maru now, since the obstacle in front of it had been cleared.
This process had taken less than a minute, utterly exceeding Gao Yang’s expectations.
However, Pavlovich, who was familiar with torpedoes and knew their power, seemed well prepared for this, so he immediately commanded the launch of the second torpedo.
(To be continued.
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