At that time, the Third Fleet also intercepted the telegram from the "Spirit Sting" and accurately judged that it was a telegram from a fully electric submarine of the Chinese Navy.

However, this telegram made Nixon make a completely different judgment.

There is only one reason: the sea area reported by the "Spirit Sting" is about 70 kilometers away from the Third Fleet, almost outside the maximum range of the most advanced heavy torpedoes. This made Nixon feel that it was not a submarine that was moving alone, but a "head wolf" among the "wolf pack". In other words, a large number of Chinese Navy submarines were moving near the Third Fleet, and these submarines would soon arrive after receiving the news.

Among the many factors that need to be considered, the most important one is the submarines on the cordon of the two submarines.

From the afternoon of the 26th, these submarines have sailed about 800 nautical miles westward, not more than one thousand kilometers from the Third Fleet.

More importantly, Nixon was not aware of the deployment of Chinese naval submarines.

In his opinion, there should be several submarines in the Chinese fleet, and they are all Type 099 attack nuclear submarines with advanced performance and maximum submarine speed of 40 knots. If these submarines head south on the night of the 26th, then they have sailed south by more than 800 nautical miles and are about 1,000 kilometers away from the Third Fleet.

In other words, he felt that the Chinese Navy's submarine hunting net had been opened and was about to catch the Third Fleet.

Obviously, it is certainly not a wise move to continue sailing south.

After weighing the trade-offs, Nixon found that only by continuing to sail westwards and not going to Digo Garcia, but directly rushing to the Gulf of Aden, can we avoid the encirclement of Chinese submarines. You must know that as long as the Third Fleet enters the Gulf of Aden, it can be covered by shore-based anti-submarine patrol aircraft.

Of course, this also has certain risks, because the Chinese fleet is northwest of the Third Fleet. If it is found that the Third Fleet is rushing to the Gulf of Aden, the Chinese fleet will also sail westward. Because the Chinese fleet's speed can reach forty-five knots, and it occupies a favorable position, and can also obtain additional carrier-based fighter jets from Pakistan, it is entirely possible for the Chinese fleet to grab a battle position and ambush the Third Fleet in the Gulf of Aden.

Just when Nixon was hesitating, something very serious happened.

At 7:35, the air defense cruiser "Brisbane" located in front of the right side of the flagship suddenly exploded violently. The captain immediately reported being attacked by torpedoes and his keel was seriously damaged. Five large cabins had been flooded by sea water, and the adjacent cabins were about to be flooded.

Now, Nixon was completely panicked.

Two minutes later, another destroyer reported being torpedoed, but not being hit by torpedoes.

Nixon no longer dared to hesitate, leaving a destroyer to assist the "Brisbane", and then brought the fleet into an anti-submarine combat state.

In this way, the speed of the Third Fleet dropped from 33 knots to within 24 knots.

The reason is very simple. Anti-submarine warships can only effectively utilize anti-submarine detection equipment below twenty-four knots. If more than twenty-four knots, the detection efficiency will be greatly reduced.

The situation at that time made Nixon feel that there were several Chinese submarines nearby.

This is understandable, because the Fourth Fleet was attacked by a submarine in the morning and two super aircraft carriers were sunk. At that time, the anti-submarine destroyers reported that there were several Chinese submarines. If these submarines gave up the Fourth Fleet and bit the Third Fleet, then they would be near the Third Fleet at this time.

Obviously, the Third Fleet must first consider the threat from under the sea.

In fact, Nixon realized at that time that the Chinese fleet had probably lost its air strike capability, because it was the Chinese Air Force fighter jets that attacked the Kitty Hawk.

That's why Nixon firmly decided to go to the southern waters of Digo Garcia and then turn to the Gulf of Aden.

If we cannot get rid of those Chinese submarines, even if we get rid of the Chinese fleet, the third fleet will not be able to escape and will definitely be finished before we reach our destination.

After making these deployments, all Mu Haoyang could do was wait patiently.

Now, he not only played all the aces, but even the small cards that were not the aces. Whether he could annihilate the Third Fleet was no longer determined by his command and deployment, but by the combat performance of the frontline officers and soldiers and the choice of the commander of the US fleet.
Chapter completed!