Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 409 Enterprise's Sluggishness Test

Inside the bar.

When the sharp whistling sound rang out, someone looked up and looked outside, their eyes revealing tension.

What's that sound? Could it be...?

"Come on, let's drink, let's keep drinking!" The American sailors picked up their glasses and continued to gulp down their drinks.

"James, what's that noise outside..."

“What’s that noise outside? There’s absolutely nothing there!” James picked at his ear. “You guys must be drunk, right? Hallucinating? Come on, drink, keep drinking! It’s perfectly safe here!”

The others were stunned for a moment, but said nothing. Perhaps it really was just tinnitus? How could they possibly be attacked here!
The singing continued inside the karaoke room.

"That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday..."

Amidst the festive atmosphere, on the USS Wainwright, Sykes's gaze was fixed on the radar screen.

"Why do I see more bright spots on the radar screen? I must be seeing things, I must be seeing things..."

"Yes, I also saw a lot of lights. Should we... sound the battle alarm?"

"Of course not! That damn captain would kill us if he saw us like this. We can't let him know..."

As the two were talking, the whistling of the bomb grew closer and closer, irritating their eardrums. Sykes picked at her ears with her fingers, and the whistling sound flew over their heads and headed toward the Enterprise across the dock.

The first bomb has already fallen!

boom!
A 908-kilogram bomb slammed into the deck, and the next moment, brilliant fireworks burst forth on the deck!
This explosion shattered everyone's illusions!
Inside the bar, in the KTV, and even among those who had already begun intimate contact, everyone shuddered in shock.

what happened?

"Air raid! Air raid siren!" someone shouted.

The entire port was in complete chaos!

By the time they discovered it, it was too late!
The steel plates on an aircraft carrier deck cannot be too thick, otherwise the center of gravity will rise and the ship will be prone to capsizing. Generally speaking, the thickness of the deck steel is only 50 millimeters. However, the aircraft carrier has to withstand the landing of 20 to 30 tons of carrier-based aircraft. In particular, the hangar below cannot have additional support columns. The deck steel has to support a width of 70 to 80 meters on its own. Therefore, the deck steel needs to have very high strength!

The sheer strength of this flight deck alone is enough to stump many countries attempting to build aircraft carriers.

In the 1960s, the United States used high-strength steels such as HY-80 and HY-100 for the deck steel of its aircraft carriers. These steels are high in strength, corrosion-resistant, and have excellent performance in various aspects!

So, how much bomb impact can it withstand?

In later experiments, the USS Midway was able to withstand a 227-kilogram bomb dropped from a height of 1067 meters at a 60-degree angle. This dive was impressive, as it meant that it could continuously accelerate downwards!
What if we don't dive?

It could only withstand a 500-kilogram bomb at most, but now, a 908-kilogram bomb is falling from the sky! And it's falling from a height of 3,000 meters!

When the bombs fell, the powerful impact caused the entire deck to vibrate, and the hit areas even dented slightly. Then, flames burst and a huge explosion ripped a large hole in the aircraft carrier's deck!

If it were an aircraft carrier from World War II, there would be an additional layer of armor protection below the flight deck. This meant that even if a bomb exploded on the flight deck, it might not be able to penetrate the armor layer below, thus protecting the hangar area.

However, this was only because the flight deck at that time was made of wood, so there was an armor layer underneath. Modern aircraft carriers have been converted to steel flight decks to take off and land jet aircraft, so there is no need to lay another layer of armor protection underneath, otherwise the center of gravity would shift too high!

However, aircraft carriers have multiple decks and countless compartments. It's easy to make a hole in the deck, but it's very difficult to sink an aircraft carrier completely. It would require multiple bombs to be dropped at the same time!
Boom!
The second bomb slammed down, then exploded and burned again, followed by the third...

On the deck, it was like a bonfire party, with flames spreading in all directions and soon reaching the aircraft parking area on the deck!

If the aircraft carrier were to return to its home port, it would take off in advance to the shore base. However, since it is currently deployed overseas and making a temporary stop, the aircraft carrier is still fully loaded with carrier-based aircraft!

American aircraft carriers are already very powerful, with a displacement of over 80,000 tons. Even so, the hangar below the deck can only hold 30 to 40 carrier-based aircraft. Therefore, more than half of the carrier-based aircraft are destined to be parked on the deck.

In fact, only aircraft that require maintenance are sent to the hangar; the carrier-based aircraft that are normally on the deck are the kind that can be deployed at any time.

This means that these carrier-based aircraft have a certain amount of fuel inside their fuselages, and may even be carrying bombs!

The six Tomcat fighters of VF-14 High Hat Squadron were parked in the parking area on the right side forward of the island superstructure. After the third bomb exploded at the takeoff area at the bow, the raging flames quickly spread to the parking area!

One, two, three...

Soon, flames roared up on the deck!

Although most of the sailors had gone ashore, there were still some sailors left on the aircraft carrier. When they were awakened by the first explosion, they immediately sat up in bed and rushed to their damage control positions.

The American soldiers were indeed well-trained; even under these circumstances, they were still trying to save the warship!

Although the deck was engulfed in flames, they bravely rushed down into the fire. If only those three bombs had exploded, they might have been saved!

However, this is still just the beginning!
The howling sound continued in the sky.

The American soldiers on the shore looked at the burning deck of the USS Enterprise with extremely grim expressions, and some were even trembling.

Oh no, oh no, this is totally a second Pearl Harbor attack!

During the Pearl Harbor attack, the US Navy's carrier strike group happened to be out of port and unexpectedly escaped the attack, which laid a solid foundation for their later revenge. But what about now?

Our main warships are in port right now!
On the shore, inside the most luxurious hotel.

Swift hurriedly threw on her clothes, then rushed out of the hotel and got into a car.

"Quickly, to the port immediately!"

After he finished speaking, he stood up and showed half of his body through the sunroof of the car.

The sea breeze caressed his body and carried his voice far and wide.

"Children, follow me immediately back to the warship! We must save our warship!"

He wasn't the captain, but the fleet commander. But now, if the Enterprise sank, his career would be over. After all, since the start of the Cold War, no US Navy aircraft carrier had been sunk, not counting the British one!

If the Enterprise sinks, he will definitely be the first one held accountable!
Therefore, the warship must be saved!
Modern aircraft carriers are very resistant to sinking, so as long as the rescue is timely, the Enterprise can survive. Even if it is completely unusable, as long as it can still float, it is not considered to have been sunk!
Just like with US soldiers, unless they are killed on the spot and die in a rear hospital, they are not considered to have died in battle! The biggest advantage of this regulation is that insurance companies can pay out much less money! So a strange phenomenon has emerged: when US soldiers are on the verge of death on the battlefield, knowing they are doomed, they will refuse rescue from their comrades and let themselves die on the battlefield, thus providing their families with more insurance money! At this moment, Swift had only one thought in her mind: no matter the cost, she had to save the Enterprise!

Unfortunately, it was too late!

The fourth bomb fell, and this one was very lucky; it landed right in the opening created by the second bomb and into the hangar area below!
With its immense impact, it smashed open the hangar deck and then exploded!
boom!
The flames finally broke out inside the Enterprise's third deck, from top to bottom!

The best weapon to deal with an aircraft carrier is a hypersonic weapon, which is essentially an anti-ship ballistic missile. With its speed advantage, it can easily penetrate the aircraft carrier from top to bottom and then explode. Under the huge impact, the entire warship will be split in two, and there will be no way to save it!

However, such a powerful weapon does not exist yet, so we can only use bombs to keep dropping them!
At this moment, flames had also broken out in the hangar area. With nowhere to escape in the enclosed space, the flames quickly burst out from the gap in the elevator, much like the stir-frying technique unique to Eastern cuisine.

On the island superstructure.

The aircraft carrier's captain, Itville, was jolted awake from his sleep. Looking outside, he saw a scene of raging flames, and his island superstructure looked as if it were on a barbecue grill.

"Damn it, can someone tell me what's going on?!"

boom!
The fifth bomb fell, landing in the large hole at the bow, penetrating three decks downwards before exploding. This explosion was even more terrifying, as it struck the damage control room!
Boom, boom, boom!
The sixth, the seventh, and the eighth bombs kept falling! Flames also surged into the fifth deck below the aircraft carrier!

At this moment, the entire aircraft carrier began to burn fiercely. In the darkness, the deck at the ship's side could be faintly seen to be glowing red. This steel behemoth had been heated to a red-hot state!
Below, on the seventh deck, is the engine room.

Aircraft carriers are enormous. The island superstructure consists of seven layers, and below the flight deck, there are eleven layers. The seventh to tenth layers are the power plant, where eight nuclear reactors are located.

As one of the early nuclear-powered aircraft carriers of the U.S. Navy, the AW2 reactor it used was developed for aircraft carriers, but it was based on the S5W nuclear reactor used on U.S. Navy submarines. Due to insufficient power, eight nuclear reactors were needed to meet the 30-knot speed requirement of the entire aircraft carrier.

These eight nuclear reactors drive four steam turbines, which in turn drive four propellers at the rear. This results in the entire power compartment occupying a very large volume, with almost the entire midsection of the ship filled with densely packed nuclear reactors and steam turbines.

The flames have now reached the fifth floor and will soon surge down!

“We need to shut down the nuclear reactor!” shouted a marine engineer.

"No, we can't shut down the nuclear reactor without the captain's orders! Besides, the damage control up there also needs power!" another engineer retorted. "George, what are you thinking?"

"The flames are about to come down. If we don't turn them off now, there will be no way to turn them off at all. If they get completely out of control, it could have catastrophic consequences!"

If it's a gas turbine or diesel engine, the main engine will be shut down after arriving at the port. If the shore cannot provide suitable power, then an auxiliary engine will be turned on. If it's a boiler, then it depends on the length of the stay. If it's short, there's no need to shut down the fire, and it will continue to burn.

As for nuclear reactors...

Once nuclear fuel is installed, the consumption is roughly the same whether it operates at full power or low power. After all, the difference between the two is only the amount of neutrons absorbed by the cadmium rods. The nuclear materials will still undergo fission as usual.

Therefore, once a nuclear reactor starts operating, it almost never shuts down, since its lifespan is fixed and the fuel rods should be replaced when it reaches the end of its lifespan.

Some nuclear-powered warships can even connect to the power grid when they reach the shore, exporting electricity to make money... cough cough, that sounds like a joke.

In short, the nuclear reactor has been operating continuously. Now, without orders from higher authorities, they are shutting it down on their own, which will come at a huge cost!
"Moreover, our work can only be completed when the reactor is shut down! We have to get out of here quickly, otherwise... we might also be burned to death here!"

"it is good!"

Those companions who had previously objected immediately agreed.

The chief engineer had already gone ashore, as had the other engineers, leaving only the two of them. Although they didn't know the situation up there, they were certain it wasn't optimistic!

The only advantage is that their engine room is prone to fire, so they are equipped with fireproof suits and oxygen tanks!

Nuclear reactor number one, shut down. Nuclear reactor number two, shut down!

Finally, all eight nuclear reactors were shut down. At this time, cadmium rods were still being slowly inserted into the reactors, and the crew had already begun to quickly change into fireproof suits. After putting on oxygen tanks, they opened the engine room door and were stunned.

The flames have already leaped over!
How to do?
If they rush in now, are they confident they can climb onto the deck through the flames? Even if they do, what then? It'll definitely be engulfed in flames up there!
Even though they were breathing oxygen from the oxygen tanks, they could still smell the burning smell in the air, and even the smell of barbecue!
Is this... the entire warship ablaze?
boom!
Just then, another explosion rang out. They no longer needed to hesitate; shrapnel flew, piercing their fireproof suits and embedding itself in their bodies. They felt intense pain, and then...

It looks like a deceased loved one waving to them from heaven!

The explosion has already begun on the seventh deck! Once it reaches the tenth deck, it will ignite the fuel, and then the Enterprise will be completely destroyed.

Boom, boom boom!

Suddenly, an even more terrifying explosion rang out.

The warship's ammunition depot exploded!
This was the last straw that broke the camel's back!
The fire doors to the ammunition depot had actually been closed, but once the entire bulkhead turned red-hot, the ammunition inside could no longer withstand the high temperatures.

With that terrifying explosion, the shockwave began to surge, tearing apart all the bulkheads along its path. Flames spread to both sides, passing through the side armor and bursting outwards in a fiery outward burst!

Before Swift even reached the port, she saw flames shooting into the sky! The aircraft carrier deck was also blown open, and things kept flying out like fireworks during a festival.

Chirp! It's a phoenix!

boom!
This is an MK82 bomb...

Boom boom!
These are shells from the M60 cannon!
Amidst the dazzling fireworks, the hull of the USS Enterprise creaked and groaned as it broke in half! Seawater surged in, and there was no hope of saving the carrier.

In later generations, the Americans used the decommissioned USS America aircraft carrier for experiments, using various weapons in turn, and it didn't sink even after 25 days of turmoil.

Then the Americans declared that their aircraft carriers were invincible.

In reality, this is certainly exaggerated. The sinking of any super battleship is not determined by external factors, but by the detonation of its own ammunition! Even the behemoths of the seas back then could sink. How could an aircraft carrier, whose armor protection is much thinner than that of a battleship, never sink?
Of course, it is indeed very difficult to sink an aircraft carrier on the battlefield, because the enemy's defense perimeter is as long as 500 kilometers, and ordinary attacks simply cannot get close. Now, in the port, the Enterprise has been attacked, and the entire carrier strike group cannot exert its full power; it is just a sitting duck!
As it turns out, only twelve 908-kilogram bombs are needed to sink a fully loaded supercarrier! This attack was a test of the American aircraft carrier's resilience!
On the island superstructure.

"Captain, jump! Jump into the sea now, there's still hope!"

Ittville's expression was complicated.

What a joke! Jumping in doesn't guarantee survival; the blast wave might send him flying into the sky! Right now, the warship is sinking. Perhaps he's waiting here until it sinks, and the fire will be extinguished by the seawater, then he'll be safe.

"No, I will perish with the warship!" Ittville said. At this moment, he regretted not going ashore.
The air wing commander, Milgate, went up there; he'll definitely survive. I... I was so stupid!

"Ah..." the subordinate screamed in pain. His hand had just touched the doorknob when it was scalded and started smoking! This meant that the flames had spread outside!
How can they run? They'll be roasted alive here!

(End of this chapter)