Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 37: Hunting
"Report the situation." As soon as Giselle got into the command module, he asked the deputy captain loudly.
"Captain, the listening room reported that there was a ship approaching us right in front. They were all high-speed spiral awards. They should be warships. According to our current position and speed, I calculated that we will definitely be with them. Contact." Katherine replied solemnly while holding a route map: "Captain. Our current position is very passive."
Giselle took the route chart and walked to the chart table in his command seat and spread it out. At this time, Xu Jun also drilled through the pressure cabin hole and entered the command cabin.
"Marshal has entered the command cabin." The captain called out loudly aside. All the officers and soldiers in the command cabin nodded to Xu Jun.
"Everyone, please continue their work." Xu Jun waved to the officers and soldiers, motioning them to continue their duties, and then he walked to Gisele's side.
"How is the situation, Mr. Captain." Xu Jun asked, looking at Giselle's frowning brow.
"It’s not good. Now we are in the gap between two restricted areas. One side is the combat patrol area of the Luftwaffe. If we enter, we may be spotted because we don’t have enough power to keep submerging for that long. . On the other side is the Norwegian minefield, we entered in the hope of death. I chose the most concealed route, which is a narrow blind spot. I can’t figure out how I would encounter enemies here.” Gisell was puzzled. Speaking of.
"Have you confirmed that you are the enemy?"
"Yes, Your Excellency Marshal, now the German Navy does not have a few warships patrolling at sea, at most large patrol boats or torpedo boats, and they never choose this route to patrol."
"You mean this is a hidden route?" Xu Jun asked.
"Yes. Your Excellency Marshal. Now I want to raise the submarine to the depth of the periscope, use the periscope to determine the target type, and then consider the countermeasures." Giselle respectfully said to Xu Jun.
"You are the captain, and you are in charge. Don't ask for my opinion, I am still a layman on submarine warfare."
"You are too humble." Gisell nodded in greeting, then turned around and gave an order: "The engine began to slow down, the vehicle moved forward halfway, and the submarine rose to the depth of the periscope. Mr. Catherine, order everyone to enter the combat position."
"Yes, Mr. Captain. The engine decelerates and moves forward at half speed. Start to ascend, 30 meters. 25 meters. 20 meters. 15 meters. 12 meters. Stop ascending, the elevator returns to its original position and remains stable. Captain! We It has reached the depth of the periscope." Catherine reported loudly.
"Raise the periscope, and the listening room reports the distance." Giselle then ordered.
"Yes. Mr. Captain. Raise the periscope." Catherine walked to a control panel on the wall and pressed a button.
"The periscope has risen, Mr. Captain." With the sound of an electric motor, the periscope slowly rose from the algae in the middle of the command cabin, and the stainless steel observation mirror shell shone.
"This is the listening room, the enemy fleet is in front of us, bearing 012, speed 15 knots, direction 070." Wolfgen reported in the intercom.
"Okay, let me see what we met." Giselle turned the brim of his soft combat hat back, and then moved to the eyepiece of the periscope to observe carefully.
"It's a small fleet." Giselle turned the magnification dial on the handle.
"A large battleship should be of the cruiser type. The four destroyers are still not able to distinguish the ship class, but from the appearance it should be a British battleship. The distance is 10,000 meters and the speed is about 15 knots. They are making steering maneuvers. It should be transferred back again, we are in trouble." Gissel said seriously.
"They are doing S maneuvering forward. We are too slow to leave their course. They will definitely find us. Captain, what should we do now." Katherine recorded the display on the periscope. The scale reading asked nervously.
"Mark the enemy's position and calculate the time of contact." Gissel gave a cold command.
"Yes, captain." The captain on the side hurriedly marked the enemy's approximate position on the chart, and then took out a slide rule and calculated it on a piece of scratch paper. Gisell turned the periscope around in a circle and looked behind the submarine.
"They also found the fleet, and the U38 and U43 periscopes also rose."
"Captain, we will enter the effective attack range in ten minutes. Do we want to launch an attack?" Catherine asked from the side.
"We will enter the enemy's anti-submarine patrol circle in eighteen minutes. Captain." The captain also got the data.
Gisele didn't answer them, he walked up to Xu Jun. "My marshal, we are now in a very big trouble. I'm very sorry that the route I chose put you in danger."
Without waiting for Giselle to finish, Xu Jun interrupted Giselle with a smile.
"Captain Gisell, I know what you want to say. Can we not avoid the conflict with each other now? Can we take covert measures."
"I’m very sorry, we are now on the other party’s course. At our current speed, it is impossible to get out of their detection range before the other party finds us. The depth of the sea here also exceeds our maximum Deep dive, the tactics of sitting and hiding cannot be used." Gisell replied.
"Then go to war with them." Xu Jun continued with a smile and said: "Since the battle is unavoidable, then we should fight bravely. There is no other way to go."
"But General, they have four destroyers and one cruiser. Our chances of winning are really not high, and we may be..."
"Captain Gisele, why are you suddenly becoming weak. Haha. Please don't worry about me. Since the enemy is already in front of us, no matter how strong he is, even if we will lose our lives for it, We should all face him bravely. We are soldiers, and dying while fighting the enemy is the best place for soldiers. Fight, my captain, if God is destined to die today, I will also smile. In the face of death, because I died on the battlefield, a German marshal should be at the forefront of the battle, not on the way to escape. So, my captain, go to the fight with confidence, maybe you It can also work miracles, because I have not received the notice of God calling me, how could I die in the hands of those little warships. Want to kill me has to pay a high price. Like this one The miser who is willing to take out a few small boats can't hurt me. At least they need their entire navy to kill me, hahahaha."
Xu Jun's words made the entire command module relax, and everybody showed a knowing smile. Yes, there is nothing to worry about with the apostle of God, luck and miracles have always been with the German military god, and this time it will certainly be no exception. Maybe it can really create a miracle again.
"I heard the marshal's words, we are going to fight for the honor of the soldiers. Although I am not as great as the marshal, there are still too few warships to kill my submarine, hahaha." He first paid a respectful military salute to Xu Jun, then turned around vigorously and called to the subordinates in the command cabin.
"Yes, I should be worth a battleship." Catherine also said jokingly.
"I want to use these small destroyers to deal with our U37. It's almost the same to drag out their home fleet." The captain also raised his head from the chart and said with a smile.
"Okay, everyone is ready. We are going to give them a surprise." Giselle threw himself on the periscope again and observed.
"They are about to start the next turn now. When they finish turning, there will be a straight line of about three kilometers, which is enough for us."
"Captain Gisell, can you contact the other two submarines?" Xu Jun suddenly said from the side.
"Ah, what, oh, yes, I can contact them with the light signal." Gissel was asked by Xu Jun, but he immediately responded and replied.
"Then send them a signal. I order that the entire fleet will go to war with the enemy, and the actions of the boat will be ignored during the battle. They can attack according to their own judgment. This is a hunting, free action, free shooting , I will personally award the medal to the submarine with the highest record in this battle. Also, their torpedoes should have the same problems as ours. Remember to remind them to turn off the magnetic fuze at the fixed depth. Just send it to them, yes. Right?"
"Hunting? Haha, it will be a tough hunting, your marshal. You are right. If they still follow us like this, then they won't be able to use their full strength."
"Can you send it to them then?"
"Oh, of course. Yes, my marshal."
Gissel quickly turned the periscope and then pressed the signal light switch on the handle to pass Xu Jun's words to the other two submarines.
"Okay, they received it. U38 is leaving its current course and it is now putting away the periscope. Erich is really a cunning guy, I don’t know what he wants to do this time. U43 also started to turn. Okay. , Now it’s our turn to take action. Lieutenant Katherine, put away the periscope, we turn the rudder 30 degrees, and move forward at full speed. Hope to get a good position. Order the first torpedo compartment to prepare, and the No. 1 and No. 2 launch tubes are replaced with T1 The torpedo shifted the torpedo to high gear. What we are dealing with is that the warships are not those crawling-like merchant ships." Giselle ordered loudly.
"Yes, captain." Catherine walked to the periscope control panel.
"Wait a minute." Xu Jun said embarrassedly on the side, "Can I see how the enemy ship is? You know I have never observed an enemy ship with a periscope."
"Ah, my marshal, of course you can. Why didn't you say it earlier. But your time for observation is running out. If we get closer, the enemy's lookout hand may find the trail of the periscope." Ji Searle quickly stepped aside.
"Soon, I just want to take a look." Xu Jun quickly walked to the periscope. He also wore a hat like Gisele, and put his eyes on the eyepiece and looked out.
"Marshal, the enemy is now in this position." Gisell turned the periscope to the position of the British fleet.
"It's still far away, so you can magnify the lens several times." Xu Jun quickly learned to turn the magnification conversion dial. The small black smoke dots in the eyepieces suddenly transformed into an imposing fleet in front of Xu Jun's eyes.
Two large destroyers are one or two kilometers apart, one on the left and one on the right, clearing the road in front, and in the middle behind is a huge battleship with high strings, painted in black and gray camouflage. There are tall one-legged cross masts front and rear, and the mast walls are high. The superstructure does not seem to be streamlined at all. There is a large square bridge with two huge main turrets on the front and the back. Three tall chimneys sit in the middle of the battleship. Behind the chimneys there is an impressive one. Seaplane. There are also two destroyers behind this battleship, one on the left and one on the right. This small fleet swaggered forward on the sea.
Xu Jun left the periscope, and then Catherine pressed the control button to lower the periscope from the sea.
"What do you think. My marshal." Giselle asked from the side.
"It's wonderful, I didn't recognize what level of warship it was, but I know it is qualified enough to be our prey, hahaha."
"Yes, my marshal, it is a London-class heavy cruiser. It seems that his livery should be the Devonshire, a 13,000-ton big guy. Those destroyers are not very good In this way, either the S-level or the V-level, they are all old-fashioned goods. It is no wonder that their most advanced tribal level was carved by you in Dunkel, and now they only have to send these things out." Gisell picked up the phone in the cabin. "Wolfgen, notify me immediately if the other party turns."
"Yes, Mr. Captain."
"Be sure to pay close attention to the opponent's movements."
"Understood, Mr. Captain."
Giselle put down the microphone of the intercom, and then ran to the chart table and took a ruler to plot the offensive course on the chart.
"From the current reaction of the enemy, we can carry out a sneak attack. They did not turn on their active sonar, indicating that they have not found us yet. According to our current line, we can enter the launch before them The location is in ambush. If nothing happens, I believe we can kill the cruiser." Catherine said excitedly.
"No, the first one we have to deal with is those destroyers. The armor of that heavy cruiser is about one hundred and eleven millimeters. Although our torpedo can tear such thick armor, it must be sunk. It takes more than three shots. We have to fire all four torpedoes in the first torpedo bay to achieve this effect. Then we will have no torpedoes to deal with the counterattacks of the destroyers. I think we will kill them first. The destroyer, for the cruiser, as long as she is wounded. After the destroyer is killed, we can slowly kill her." The captain said aside.
"No matter what the target is, I will only attack the one that is the easiest to attack at the time. The water surface is changing a lot, and it is a fantasy to mention what plan is now." A word of Gisell prevented the two subordinates from discussing.
"Captain, the torpedo is ready. We will enter the attack position in three minutes."
"Very well, how are the other two submarines."
"It's still not clear, they seem to have disappeared."
"Well, it seems that they have also found their attack positions. My marshal, we can only wait patiently for the enemy to enter our guns." Giselle smiled and said to Xu Jun.
"Haha~IndoMTL.com~ I have patience. You must remember the problem of torpedo set depth. Don't hit the bottom of the sea again." Xu Jun said with a smile: "I hope we can succeed, otherwise a few minutes later Hundreds of depth charges will fall on our heads."
"Don't worry, my marshal."
U37 was advancing towards the scheduled launch position at a maximum speed of 7 knots in 15 meters of water. She drew a beautiful arc on the chart. When she reached the launch position, she turned off the engine , This large ocean-going submarine glided forward several hundred meters before slowly stopping.
Now U37 is floating just a few meters from the sea, waiting for her prey. She floats there silently, except for a few bubbles from the open torpedo launch ports. Nothing happened. The rumble of the warship's engine in the distance was clear and discernible, and the rhythmic screaming sound of the sea when the warship was spiraling down at a high speed beat the hard shell of the submarine.
Suddenly, a large group of high-pressure bubbles ejected from the torpedo launch port, and then two shiny silver torpedoes left the launch tube one by one. They paused in the sea, as if they were not used to it. This kind of icy temperature, and then with the screaming of a propeller, two torpedoes slammed forward, and began to scramble to cheer and gallop towards their goal. Before the first two shots left the submarine's field of view, two more torpedoes were launched.
After launching all the first torpedoes, U37 came back from the dead, she began to slowly leave her current position, and two 1000-horsepower electric motors began to propel the large submarine toward the next attack position.