Chapter 194 Explosion

"Enemy attack!" In the chaos, no one knew who, but a desperate and shrill scream pierced the air.

Enemy attack?!

Where is the enemy coming from?

From the sky? From the sea?

But why is there no alarm?!

Before anyone could react, the steel behemoth emitted a series of painfully eerie groans.

"Run!!" Although none had experienced a warship sinking firsthand, everyone wasn't foolish; this was undoubtedly an ominous sign.

People rushed towards the exit in a frenzy. However, before they could take a few steps, the massive hull suddenly shook, causing the sailors, who hadn't run far, to fall to the ground. Anything that could move inside the mess hall clattered and crashed toward them.

Curses, screams, and groans echoed in succession. No one noticed another muffled explosion outside; they just wanted to get out of here. Otherwise, this steel behemoth would turn into an iron coffin, trapping them alive.

Before they could stand up again, the ship's hull tilted at an unbelievable speed. Soon, the floor of the mess hall had inverted, turning into the ceiling.

As the terrified sailors, in disarray from the fall, looked helplessly at the surging seawater pouring in from various hatches, desperate screams filled the air.

"Oh God!"

"Help!"

Just as these poor sailors floundered helplessly in the icy water, Rear Admiral Hebrew Jones, the commander of the Scapa Flow Naval Base, had already fainted from the sudden shock.

When the first explosion sounded, Commander Hebrew was leisurely enjoying his breakfast in his command post.

The unexpected explosion furrowed his brow; the direction of the explosion seemed to be from the harbor? Just as he was about to have the adjutant call the harbor to inquire about what happened, a panicking adjutant rushed in, shouting loudly, "Commander, something's wrong. The HMS Royal Oak exploded!"

The unfortunate HMS Royal Oak battleship, in the end, couldn't escape its fate; it was the first to explode.

"What's going on?!" Commander Hebrew was suddenly astonished, abruptly standing up. "Is it an enemy attack?!" If it were an enemy attack, why hadn't the alarm sounded?

The adjutant shook his head in haste. "It shouldn't be; the lookouts didn't spot any signs of an enemy."

"Damn!" Relieved to hear it wasn't an enemy attack, Commander Hebrew first breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed like a mishap had occurred to the warship. "Prepare the car; let's go to the harbor." Why did this accident have to happen at this time? Hopefully, the HMS Royal Oak had no major issues.

Commander Hebrew boarded his car, which had just reached halfway, when another enormous explosion resounded from the harbor.

"What the hell!" A bad premonition arose suddenly in his heart. "What's happening again?!"

The adjutant shook his head in bewilderment. After all, at this moment, assuming a phone had been used was a stretch; they didn't even have old-fashioned mobile phones, let alone call the harbor immediately. The only option was to keep urging the driver. "Faster! Even faster!"

The driver stepped on the gas, careening toward the harbor.

In no time, the car rushed to the entrance of the harbor control tower. Without waiting for the adjutant to open the car door, the anxious Commander Hebrew got out of the car and ran into the control tower, looking down from the window at the entire harbor.

"Oh God!" Upon seeing the scene, Commander Hebrew was almost stunned. Where the HMS Royal Oak had been anchored, only the upside-down propellers remained, and the entire hull had submerged into the water. The Iron Duke-class battleship, Iron Duke, anchored beside it, was also tilting.

"What on earth is going on?!" Two accidents in a row?! This was too suspicious!

"Boom! Boom!" Just then, two consecutive enormous explosions occurred. The Nelson-class battleship and the aircraft carrier HMS Colossus were forcefully lifted from below the water's surface by the explosion, and one could even see the flight deck of the HMS Colossus splitting in half. The Nelson-class battleship, falling heavily back down, also suffered a tragic fate.

Seeing this, Commander Hebrew's legs went weak, almost falling to the ground. "Enemy, enemy attack! Sound the alarm! Destroyers, search for submarines underwater! Sink them!!" This commander was not in his position for nothing; he was quite experienced. Immediately, he ordered the destroyers responsible for patrol to find the submarines lurking underwater.

"Damn it, how did this bastard slip in?" Listening to the piercing alarm echoing over the base, Commander Hebrew muttered through gritted teeth. He was confident in the tight security of Scapa Flow, so how did this guy manage to infiltrate?

Regardless, his military career was practically over. After this incident, even if he didn't end up in a military court, he would have to resign due to responsibility. Now, he just hoped to prevent further losses as much as possible.

Unfortunately, in his panic, he didn't notice that the active destroyers had already rushed in for rescue after the explosion of the HMS Royal Oak. If there were submarines nearby, they wouldn't go unnoticed.

The ordered destroyers began searching for submarines underwater.

Boom!

Just two minutes later, the fifth explosion resounded.

"Oh God! It's the HMS Ark Royal aircraft carrier!"

Commander Hebrew was almost going mad. "What are they dawdling for? Quickly, sink the damn submarine!"

The destroyer captains were frustrated. They also wanted to find this damn troublemaker as soon as possible!

But no matter how they urged their sonar operators, there was no response. Faced with Commander Hebrew's hysterical urging and reprimands, they could only instruct their sailors to start dropping depth charges. They didn't know what they could hit, but scaring off the enemy submarine would be good enough.

Depth charges were traditional and effective anti-submarine weapons. Before the end of World War II, depth charge anti-submarine warfare had always been the primary means of anti-submarine warfare, leading ahead of mines, depth bombs, and naval guns in terms of effectiveness.

A 200-pound depth charge typically carried around 150 pounds of high explosive. Although this was equivalent to a medium-caliber shell, its explosion in seawater could cause a considerable shock. Within a range of 30 meters, it could damage the hull of a submarine. If the explosion point was less than 10 meters from the submarine, it could potentially cause devastating destruction.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

British sailors successively dropped depth charges into the frigid seawater. Then, in one enormous muffled explosion after another, they watched as white water columns rose from the sea surface. This kind of attack continued for about fifteen minutes, and the churning waves on the sea looked like a boiling pot, constantly throwing up black mud and sand, but there was no sign of the submarine being damaged.

"Escaped?" Commander Hebrew, covering his slightly aching chest, murmured to himself as if self-consoling. Still not at ease, he ordered, "Destroyer First Fleet, continue the search; other fleets, hurry to the rescue!"

Boom!

Another explosion, and this time, the HMS Repulse battleship took the hit.

Commander Hebrew felt a sudden heartache, and his vision went black as he collapsed straight to the ground.