Chapter 32: Depth Charge

Learning this information, Tang Wen was also deeply shaken, especially by that familiar name, Nanchang.

Over twenty years later, when people think of Nanchang, they picture the ten-thousand-ton Type 055 large destroyer, but that is actually already the third-generation Nanchang.

The first-generation Nanchang was the Shiratsuyu-class gunboat's second ship, the "Uji," with a displacement of 1,350 tons. After being salvaged and repaired in 1950, she was commissioned into the East Sea Fleet's Sixth Fleet as flagship, belonging to the East Sea Fleet.

The second-generation Nanchang was a Type 051B missile destroyer, with a full-load displacement of over 6,000 tons. Construction began at the Yangcheng Shipyard in 1977, she was commissioned in 1982, currently belongs to the South Sea Fleet, with hull number 163.

By the time of the third-generation Nanchang, as the lead ship of the Type 055 ten-thousand-ton large destroyer, her full-load tonnage reached 12,500 tons. She was commissioned into the North Sea Fleet in 2020, with hull number 101.

One name passed down through three generations, and used in rotation among the three major fleets — that can be considered legendary.

At the beginning of the nation's founding, the broke-as-hell Navy salvaged sunken ships everywhere. Anything they couldn't build themselves was considered valuable — even if it couldn't be repaired, melting it down for steel wasn't a waste.

Actually, the ships with the most detailed records, and also the easiest to salvage, were the small vessels like coastal defense ships, river defense ships, and destroyers sunk in various battles. Unfortunately, they were salvaged too thoroughly.

After all, looking at the early founding-era Navy history, there was even an instance of converting a cargo ship into a frigate for use — truly worrying.

So Tang Yi even began to suspect this trip might be a bust, and was already mulling over other targets.

Only Tang Wen wasn't so worried. The Dongshaqundao have always been under the actual control of the Treasure Island's Coast Guard, so the Shiratsuyu and the Oak were both unlikely to have been salvaged.

But if the Shiratsuyu were found, that would be interesting — using steel salvaged from the Shiratsuyu, melting and casting it to build a new Shiratsuyu. No matter how you look at it, there's something strange about that.

"Can we find the Shiratsuyu?"

Tang Yi shook his head:

"There's not much information on the Shiratsuyu. The description of her sinking is just this one passage — it only says near the Dongshaqundao, with no clear indication at all."

Tang Wen inwardly felt it was a bit of a pity. Although there wasn't much steel in the Shiratsuyu, being able to salvage her would still be quite interesting.

After offering Tang Yi a few words of comfort, Tang Wen checked their current position in the system, only to discover they had already covered more than half the distance, having passed the open sea beyond Xiangjiang.

Now, no matter which direction he looked, it was pitch black; he could no longer distinguish land with the naked eye.

Even turning on the searchlights was almost useless — not only was the illuminated range weak, it actually made the surrounding environment seem even darker.

Tang Wen thought of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. At this distance, they might just run into sharks.

Only he wasn't Hemingway — fighting a shark was still a piece of cake.

The night passed quickly amid wild thoughts. About an hour later, Tang Yi led people out of the cabin to begin preparations.

There were less than 10 nautical miles left to the target location — half an hour to arrival.

By now they had entered the outer perimeter of the Dongshaqundao. The route Tang Wen had plotted basically skirted around at 15 nautical miles from the reefs as center. At least for now, nothing abnormal had been spotted.

Tang Yi estimated that at most a few hundred people were stationed on the islands, and there probably weren't many coast guard boats either. The entire second half of the night should be safe.

But to be on the safe side, Tang Wen quickly shut down three engines, approaching at a low speed of 10 knots to reduce noise.

When the automatic cruise showed they had reached the destination, Tang Yi switched on the fixed searchlights on both sides.

The high-wattage incandescent bulbs gave off tremendous heat — they could even be used as a stove for warmth.

"Reduce speed to 5 knots, begin deploying sonar!"

Two temporary sailors pushed the buoy sonars, linked by ropes, into the sea, then released one at intervals across different stretches of water until all three sonars had been deployed.

"Cut the engines!"

Due to the backward technology, listening on sonar required as quiet an environment as possible.

All the yacht's engines were shut down, and all lights were switched off. She drifted powerlessly, rising and falling gently on the surface of the sea.

The listening operator wore his headphones expressionlessly around his neck, carefully listening to the echoes of ultrasonic reflections.

Seeing this, Tang Wen also picked up a listening device and held it to his ear. Closing his eyes, he soon heard the sounds coming from inside:

First came a burst of dense rat-a-tat sounds, mixed in with many bird-like calls, and also like the click-click of a watch ratchet turning.

Every now and then, a sharp sound resembling a whale's cry would ring out, lasting a few beats before vanishing, then reappearing again after a while.

After listening for a full two minutes, Tang Wen gently set down the earpiece.

He hadn't made out a thing.

"Just listening is useless."

Tang Yi said quietly:

"We still need to coordinate with metal detectors. The echoes from sonar hitting different objects are clearly different. After recording the ones closest to metal, we use the detector to double-check, then we lower a metal hook to try.

Even if we've found the right spot, it takes at least seven or eight attempts to grab hold of something once.

This stretch of sea requires deploying and retrieving sonar at least three times. A full sweep takes at least ten hours at the fastest.

Of course, if we're a bit luckier, who knows."

Regardless, this was a long and tedious job. What came through the sonar wasn't soothing white noise — after listening for a while, Tang Wen already felt restless and irritable.

In fact, he had mentioned buying sonar from this era; you could already buy quite decent fish finders on the market now.

But Tang Yi said that for detecting shipwrecks, 1940s technology was already sufficient, and civilian sonar had been cut down in many areas.

Of course, this was also because electronic technology wasn't yet advanced at this time. If it were the era before his transmigration, marine sonar could connect directly to a display screen.

What the seabed looked like, where the fish schools were — everything would be crystal clear on the display. That would be the real divine instrument.

After waiting like this for an hour, Tang Yi's originally relaxed expression finally gained a touch of solemnity.

He walked over to the listening operator and asked in a low voice:

"Still haven't found it?"

Listening operator: "This is the boundary line where the seabed elevation changes sharply. The echoes from the sonar alone are too weak — very hard to identify."

"Then we'll use Plan B."

"What Plan B?"

Tang Wen, who had been listening nearby, looked puzzled — then watched Tang Yi direct people to haul out... a quadruple launcher rack?

Under Tang Wen's astonished gaze, the roughly man-height quadruple launcher rack was fixed to the stern, and then four objects resembling oversized mortar shells were brought over.

Although fins and a single body could be made out, they were clearly several times larger than mortar shells — even one person carrying them found it somewhat strenuous.

Watching the two sailors struggling with the installation, Tang Yi explained:

"Anti-submarine depth charges. We fire one into the sea; the explosion will produce a strong echo, making it much easier for us to monitor the return sound."

"Will this attract the water police?"

Tang Wen was somewhat worried.

"No, the underwater explosion won't make much noise; the water police won't use sonar for real-time monitoring... Release!"

The last two words were directed at the helmsman, who ignited the anti-submarine depth charge with a dry battery and then quickly dodged to the side.

This anti-submarine depth charge uses rocket-assisted projection; the moment it ignited, bright flames erupted, and with a sharp sound of tearing the air "Whoosh," it flew into the half-sky, tracing a parabolic arc toward the distance.

About ten-plus seconds later, Tang Wen felt an abnormal vibration transmitted from the bottom of the ship.