Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 213



Only Noblemtl

#213. Glorious Days of the Navy (6)

“The wounded, get back! And don’t just sit there and do nothing, keep firing from both the main and secondary guns!”

“Yes, four!”

The rapid-fire gunners, who had barely caught their breath thanks to the gunnery, quickly moved the wounded and then resumed their artillery fire on the enemy as before.

After firing shells for a long time, to the point where my shoulders were starting to ache, the ammunition loader made an X with his hand. A gesture indicating that he had no ammunition left.

“Go get the ammo, quick!”

“Yes, yes!”

He fired the last of his loaded rounds, shouting at the ammunition man. Several of the enemies were seen literally disintegrating under the pressure and shrapnel, accompanied by a shrill scream.

Until the ammunition arrived, he was a bystander to the battle for a while. The hull was so damaged that he thought there was nowhere left to shoot.

And now I realize that the enemy transport ship was now drifting on the sea with almost no speed.

Still, enemy infantry crawled out and fired their rifles, and amid the acrid black smoke, the crew fought hard to save the ship.

“You fucking retards.”

In the first place, I wondered why they came here and put us through such suffering.

Just as he was about to tell the loader to retrieve the pile of cartridges on the floor.

A voice was heard as the gunner rode the gunboat, and immediately the gunner ran madly towards the torpedo launcher located in the center of the ship.

“what?”

“···Now they’re launching a torpedo.”

Although his military career was not long, he had only seen one live-fired torpedo, right after serving on the destroyer Baekdu.

The sight of two torpedoes the size of a telephone pole or the rafters of a grand tile-roofed house, often seen at ports, blowing up a decommissioned ship was something I could never forget.

And now, with the enemy transport ship completely out of power, the ship began to maneuver again, trying to find an angle at which to fire her torpedoes, in an attempt to completely cut off the enemy transport ship’s lifeline.

“What, what is it?”

The ammunition man who had brought the ammunition late stuttered, but he could not answer. In a situation as if on thin ice, he could not say anything wrong and end up being dishonest.

Whether he knew the feelings of these sailors or not, the gunnery chief and the officer in charge of launching the torpedoes looked at the launcher with tense expressions.

Finally, as soon as I heard from them that they were ready, I gave the very familiar command, ‘Aim, fire!’

Along with that, two huge torpedoes from the launcher landed in the cold South Sea with a ‘pop!’ sound.

The image of the torpedo moving forward powerfully, carrying everyone’s wishes but conflicting conclusions, flashed before my eyes.

“Please be right.”

It was the first time I saw a gunner so desperate.

It was that difficult to hit a torpedo, so the discipline of the torpedo tube operators was quite strict, just like that of the main gun or secondary gunners.

For a brief moment, there seemed to be silence. Both we who had fired the torpedo and the enemy transport ship that was watching it seemed as if they had given up.

“9 seconds··· 10 seconds···.”

As soon as the manager, who was anxiously checking the time while looking at his watch, finished speaking.

Kwaaaaang!!!

A loud noise rang out that was incomparable to the cannon fire that had been taking place earlier.

Almost simultaneously, a shock wave hit the small destroyer as if it were going to capsize.

I had to hold on to something nearby to barely keep myself from falling.

I looked up again at the transport ship and saw a large column of water shooting up into the air from where the torpedo had hit.

“Oh, you’re right!”

Someone’s shout was heard. And the transport ship that had been floating on the sea until just a moment ago seemed to float slightly in the air, then slowly began to sink into the sea with a huge splash of water.

As they sank, they had to turn over the seawater again. The salty taste of seawater lingered in their mouths, and their uniforms felt like they were freezing, but no one said anything about being cold.

He just watched as the enemy slowly sank into the depths of the South Sea along with the numerous ‘cargoes’ they were carrying, and soon began to shout.

“Hit, hit! Torpedo hit!”

“Fuck, this is it!”

“Wow!!”

My ears were so stuffy. The gunner who had been yelling at the gunners, loaders, and ammunition loaders who had been rejoicing over the first hit was nowhere to be found, but he was embracing the officer and cheering, and the captain and commander also raised their fists.

The captain’s forehead was bleeding, as if he had been hit by the shockwave earlier and had hit something.

Still, he paid no attention and cheered along with the others on the bridge.

“Good!”

BAM! BUZZ! KWAAAAHHH!!!

And similar loud noises as before could be heard from various places. One of them was making a much louder noise than the one I had just caught, and it seemed like it wasn’t an ordinary one.

“I caught Myohyang and Jirisan too!”

“Hurrah! Hurrah!”

Now, destroyers fighting scattered, ignoring formations and everything else, were achieving results here and there.

Actually, the gunfire had started to sound strangely out of sync from a while ago. Perhaps it was at that time that the ranks of the destroyer squadron completely scattered.

“What was that huge noise just now?”

“Please wait a moment, we are checking… Ah, here we are. We have reported from Myohyang that the enemy ship we have sunk is an ammunition transport ship. We have hit the jackpot.”

“You little bastards, you dare set your dirty feet on ‘our seas’ and you’ll get what you pay for. Keep hunting enemy transports. The battle’s not over yet.”

On the bridge, the excitement over the success of the first hunt was quickly quelled, and the order was given to move again to bite the next prey. There were still plenty of prey to be found nearby.

“Let’s sink all the remaining enemy ships into the sea! Today will be the most glorious day for our Korean Navy!”

As the Commander said, today was the most glorious day since becoming a Navy member.

“You’re not going to be satisfied with just one ship, are you?! I swear by the Taegeukgi and the naval flag on the mast, I won’t leave this place until I’ve annihilated all of the enemies!”

The gunner’s voice, half excited and half furious, was heard through the waves. Then the wreckage of the transport ship rose, and beside it another transport ship was running away.

Perhaps, that too will meet the same fate.

Once again, orders were heard from the main battlefield, and with the roar of the gunners, a chaotic battle ensued.

***

“The transport fleet is urgently requesting help! The Hitachi Maru was severely damaged by the destroyers, and the Sadomaru is sinking immediately after a torpedo attack! The ammunition on the Sadomaru exploded and….”

“This can’t be happening···.”

As they were about to finish preparing for departure, the captains of the Jewon and Pyeongwon, Lieutenant Commander Asaba and Lieutenant Commander Tajima, were taken aback.

The enemy’s destruction of trade was faster than expected, and the damage to the transport fleet was accumulating.

“Tell them to hold out a little longer, and if possible, to gather off the coast of Busan. We’ll be there to intercept them soon.”

“We have set our course this way for now. The problem is that the enemy destroyer squadron is already fast, and they are focusing their attacks on the leading ships, so the entire formation has completely collapsed, and they are screaming that they are being completely hunted.”

“Those pirate bastards.”

Lieutenant Asaba was anxious to run over there and hunt down the destroyers like he was killing mosquitoes.

Even if it was an old-fashioned protected cruiser, a destroyer was nothing. A destroyer had to get close to attack with a torpedo, and at that time, it could be taken down with a formidable 210mm or 150mm cannon.

“But it seems like there are too many enemy ships operating so brazenly. Shouldn’t we be a little more careful?”

At Lieutenant Colonel Tajima Yukata’s words, Lieutenant Colonel Asada shook his head.

“Now is not the time for that. If our transport fleet remains intact, wouldn’t our army be able to advance beyond Gyeongseong to Pyongyang and Uiju?”

Clearly, the Imperial Headquarters and Sasebo had provided information that there would be no immediate movement by the Roske fleet, so this was clearly an independent action by the Joseon bastards.

“Besides, if we delay, the damage to the transport fleet will increase. One ship has already been sunk. We must go immediately to drive out the enemy and rescue the survivors. You know how harsh the winter sea is, don’t you?”

“Well, that’s true. Well, it’s much colder this year than usual.”

The captains were well aware of the importance of these transport ships. For the Japanese Empire, which was surrounded by sea on all sides, protecting the shipping lanes was more important than life.

If the routes were blood vessels, then the transport ships were like blood that delivered nutrients and oxygen to every corner of the body.

The enemy ships’ attempt to destroy their trade routes now was an obvious attempt to render them helpless, and of course they had to reject it.

Lieutenant Colonel Asada vaguely remembered the story behind the destruction of trade during the American Civil War.

In response to the overwhelming power of the Union fleet, the Confederates operated a fleet of commercial raiders, which not only threatened the supply of goods coming from overseas, but also caused a double whammy as insurance premiums for ships traveling along the American coast skyrocketed.

The fact that ships were destroyed and sunk, or that insurance premiums were so high that they did not even approach the coast, all of this was directly connected to the enemy’s desired goal of ‘destroying the maritime supply route.’

Could it be that the Joseon bastards are after this and trying to destroy trade with us?

Lieutenant Asada felt goosebumps for a moment.

“Ready to set sail.”

“Okay. Jewon will take the lead, our Pyeong will take the back, and the rest of the torpedo squadron will sail with the cruisers.”

Finally, preparations for departure were completed, and the ships’ steam engines began to belch smoke powerfully.

As they began to head out to sea, they discovered a fleet of ships sailing closer than they had expected. Judging by the exhaust marks from the smokestacks, there were clearly at least two ships.

“Are there any transport ships that have already escaped?”

“It’s still unclear, but I think the captain’s judgment is correct.”

I was a little puzzled. I didn’t know that the transport fleet that had been screaming that it was under attack earlier would have already reached the sea off Busan, no matter how much its formation had collapsed.

These are slow-moving behemoths that can only travel at 10 to 11 knots at most.

“Aren’t the latest transport ships like the American Maru and Shinanomaru that were recently requisitioned by the Navy quite fast? It’s highly likely that such ships would have been able to shake off the attacks of the destroyers.”

“Hmm, if that’s the case, then that’s good….”

Something didn’t feel right, but it was not like we could just turn the ship back to port now.

The leader of the fleet told the plains that they would sail towards the open sea as usual, preparing for any possible attack. In fact, the target of the attack was also obvious, if you really had to be specific.

Considering the entire Joseon Navy, aside from the six destroyers reported so far, the only ship that could be called a cruiser was the Yangmu.

Even though it was a converted coal carrier used in their own country, it was evaluated as having firepower closer to an armed merchant ship than a cruiser, so if there was one thing that was definitely ambush, it would be that one.

“Surely that piece of scrap metal, the most luxurious cruiser, wasn’t brought here by Joseon guys?”

“Isn’t it a shame to call such a ship a ‘cruiser’?”

Everyone laughed at it, and they slowly began to appear out at sea. And it didn’t take long for them to realize that what awaited them were neither transport ships nor the most powerful cruisers of the Joseon bastards.

“Ro, Rosqueda!”

With the new shout of the watchman, they felt their hands tremble without realizing it.

Death, known as the Imperial Russian Navy, lurked beside them.

The smell of death, which had only been felt from afar, wafted in the air.