Jokes were usually only made at the crew's celebratory banquet at the end of a mission.
During a mission, there was no room for jokes.
Lassiter immediately had the sonar crew turn on the SQR-20 active and passive towing sonar system at the stern of the destroyer. This system could change the trajectory of the underwater towing to carry out large-scale and long-distance initial detection.
After some adjustments, the active and passive towing sonar system formed a U-shape and aimed in the direction of the abnormal sound source.
Sure enough, it wasn't a joke.
The active and passive sonar also monitored the abnormal sound pattern, and compared to the blurry sound half an hour ago, the sound pattern was clearer this time.
Lassiter's eyes gradually became serious. "Does this mean that the abnormal sound source is closer to us?"
The sonar crew wasn't sure. "Sir, the sound source is too far away from us. We can't use the sound source to track the other party's exact location and speed."
"If it wasn't for the fact that the other party's sound source is so special and different from the ship's mechanical sound source, we wouldn't have been able to detect it at this distance."
"But …"
"I personally think that this shouldn't be a ship. It might be a new sound source that we haven't collected yet."
In the vast sea, not all of the repeated mechanical sounds were from ships, or rather, normal ships.
At least the sonar crew had encountered some special situations.
For example, a few years ago, when pirates were rampant in the Red Sea, various countries sent warships to carry out escort missions. They quietly placed sonar buoys in the sea to collect the sound pattern information of the warships' propellers.
Then they heard an extremely special mechanical sound source that they had never encountered before.
The sound was like someone playing a drum in the sea. Thump, thump, thump ~
They were shocked and thought that it was a new warship from some country.
The result?
They rushed over in a hurry, wanting to get closer and collect more information.
Only then did they realize that it was an old bulk freighter that had a burst cylinder and dyed the surrounding sea black. When the crew on the freighter saw a warship approaching, they were immediately surprised and excited like lost tourists who saw a rescue team. They kept calling for help.
There was one time when they laughed even louder.
When they were carrying out a mission at sea, they also detected an abnormal non-ship mechanical sound source.
When they rushed over to intercept it, they found that it was a huge mining ship that was wantonly mining in the shallow sea.
"No matter what it is, we have to figure it out. We can't let it become a source of influence that interferes with our battle."
"We are not allowed to fail this mission, and we cannot afford to fail." Lassiter turned around and ordered the others in the command room, "Suspend radio silence for one minute. Order Ship No.3 to head to the source of the sound and investigate the situation."
"Yes!"
…
The third ship was a frigate. Based on its speed of 30 nautical miles per hour, it was roughly 500 to 700 nautical miles away from the source of the abnormal sound.
This frigate would take about ten hours of travel before it could get within three hundred nautical miles of the source of the abnormal sound and conduct an effective detection.
In fact, there was no need for a frigate.
In the two hours after receiving the exploration order, on the Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, whether it was the large sonar base or the active and passive towing sonar system at the tail, they had clearly captured the characteristics of the abnormal mechanical sound source that was gradually approaching them.
From the initial 500 to 700 nautical miles, a vague prediction.
To 400 nautical miles, to 300 nautical miles.
When they approached the anti-submarine blockade line, all the passive sonar in the entire blockade line was frantically warning them.
This wasn't a mechanical noise. It was clearly someone driving a supercar and blowing up the street beside them. The voice recorders in the various monitoring posts could no longer hear anything else in their ears. There was only the roar of the surging engine that was getting closer and closer, and the roar of the propellers rapidly breaking through the waves under the water.
At this time, the frigate had only run less than a hundred nautical miles away, and it hadn't even run out of the anti-submarine blockade line's sonar detection network.
The command ship was in chaos.
It had only been two hours since the source of the abnormal sound was discovered.
Even if it was a ship, ships sailing at sea were as slow as a tortoise. When did it become an F1 rally race?
He had never encountered such a situation before, so it was natural for Lassiter to suspect the Monster Industry. Didn't they set up an anti-submarine blockade here to intercept Monster Industries' strange submarine?
Judging from the frequency of the sound print, it was a giant ship of more than ten thousand tons.
It was similar in size to the strange submarine in the satellite photo.
If the sonar detected the approaching terrifying speed, then the submarine of Monster Industries definitely had the strength to leave the port of Nigeria in the morning and rush to the vicinity of this sea.
So Lassiter could no longer keep it a secret. He immediately lifted the radio silence and ordered the entire ship to enter a state of combat.
He also asked the three ships of the first blockade line to rush to the second blockade line at full speed.
With the Burke-class guided-missile destroyer as the core, the two frigates immediately released anti-submarine helicopters and headed to the sea to search.
Assume ~
It was really a submarine. With its rough appearance, if it was racing under the sea, it would have been very dangerous.
Even if they didn't use sonar positioning, the helicopter pilot could catch a boiling white wave in the sea with the naked eye.
Of course, by now, no one was willing to believe that it was a submarine.
After flying for a while, the pilots and weapon operators of the two anti-submarine helicopters saw an unforgettable scene.
They saw a huge black ship with a bow section like an aircraft carrier, racing on the blue sea.
The sea where the huge black ship passed was originally calm, but when it passed, it seemed to set off a level 12 storm.
The height of the huge black ship was also close to the size of an aircraft carrier. It didn't seem to have the waterline of an ordinary ship. It was as if it was flying close to the sea.
Even at a height of thousands of meters, the two anti-submarine helicopters could hear a roar through the porthole that sounded like a giant beast roaring.
They forgot all the reaction measures that should have been engraved into their bodies. They just looked at the black "behemoth" in the distance.
In the process of staring at the "behemoth," the "behemoth" may have also discovered the two "birds" hovering in the distant air.
The huge black ship, which was originally galloping in a straight line on the sea, actually drew a circular trajectory on the sea in an impossible posture.
"It … it changed course." The two anti-submarine helicopter pilots communicated through the radio with trepidation.
Then, as if waking up from a dream, they quickly turned on the long-distance radio and shouted to the mothership's liaison, "Dock, dock, this is Seagull."
"You … did you see it?"
The two anti-submarine helicopters were attached to the camera pod.
After all, they were carrying out a tracking and reconnaissance mission. Of course, it was necessary to send the flying image back to the mothership.
Including Commander Lassiter, who was stationed in the command room, of course, saw this scene on the screen.
The correspondent in the command room grabbed the communicator with his hand. He wanted to respond to the call of the two anti-submarine helicopters, but when the words reached his mouth, they became gibberish.
Commander Lassiter slumped in the chair, cold sweat flowing down.
The huge black ship was exactly the same as the "submarine" in the port captured by the reconnaissance satellite.
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