On the fifth day of leaving Port Bora, the 21st finally arrived in the waters near the island of Malta, but Hessen did not rush into the Malta Strait to search for prey, but waited quietly away from the shipping lane.

It was not until the sun was setting west that he directed 21 cautiously towards Valletta, the most important port on the island of Malta。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

By the time the black silhouette of Malta appeared at the end of the sea, it was already getting dark.

At this time, Hussen, who was standing on the submarine's control tower, ordered: "All return to the capsule, make sure that all watertight doors are closed, and be ready to dive at any time!" ”

After a while, there was no one on the deck of the submarine, and even the first mate Wolf returned to the boat along the passage, and at this time only Zhang Hainuo and Hessen were left on the submarine's control tower, both of them wearing the kind of cloak-style black poncho, and one of them held a pair of high-powered binoculars, constantly patrolling the sea.

Li Ming's impression of Malta mostly comes from the series of naval and air battles that broke out between the Axis powers and allies around the island in World War II, and like many military fans, Zhang Hainuo also felt that it was a mistake for Germany and Italy not to capture Malta at that time, because it was an important transit point on the Mediterranean route, and it was only a sea away from Sicily in Italy.

The defeat of the North African Army under Rommel's command was largely due to poor supplies, and the biggest factor in the disadvantage of German and Italian supplies to North Africa was that their ships were always intercepted by British planes, submarines and warships, and most of those British bombers and submarines came from bases in Malta!

When a small gray ** appeared in the telescope, Zhang Hainuo stabbed Hessen with his elbow。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

"Captain, there's a ship over there, but I can't tell if it's a cargo ship or a warship!"

Hesson glanced over there, "Don't worry, it's a British gunboat, it's a patrol near the harbor, it doesn't usually go that far, and we're out of its range now!" ”

According to Li Ming's inaccurate visual inspection, it is indeed at least 15 nautical miles from the port of Valletta, and according to the ship, it is also nearly 10 nautical miles, but how can Hesson determine that it is a gunboat based on the gray ** in that telescope?

The magnification of the telescope in his hand is not higher than his own!

This may be the difference between a novice and an old bird!

Li Ming thought so in his heart, hoping that he could reach that level as soon as possible.

"Fifty speed forward!"

Hesson shouted into the microphone, seemingly unafraid that his voice would reach the British on the island.

From full forward to one-third of the course, it is not only the degree of the submarine that has changed on the surface, but also the noise of the two diesel engines has also been reduced a lot。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

In an era with radar and advanced sonar equipment, it is difficult for Zhang Hainuo to imagine that a submarine like the 21 could approach the enemy's port in a unhurried way on the surface, but now it is 1917, an era when anti-submarine technology is still far from reaching.

Ten minutes later, Li Ming and Hesson appeared almost at the same time as a ship coming from the east.

"A freighter, a freighter with a displacement of about 2,000 to 3,000 tons!"

Once again, Hessen showed Zhang Hainuo his rich experience at sea, because in Zhang Hainuo's eyes, it was nothing more than a white "small boat"

！

"Turn 380 at 5 degrees, all forward!"

Hesson commanded through the microphone.

Ready to attack?

Li Ming was secretly excited in his heart, this would be his first time attacking the target with a submarine, without any escort ships, that unlucky freighter should not be able to escape Hesson's palm!

The winter night came early, and it didn't take long for the sea to be completely dark, which reminded Zhang Hainuo of Zhou Xingxing's classic line: "The moon is dark and the wind is high and the night kills"

。

At this time, the **** lights were lit up on the island of Malta, especially the tall lighthouse in the port of Valletta, which made people see clearly from a long distance.

Could it be that the British are so arrogant that they don't need to control it during the war?

Li Ming thought it was very strange, didn't he blatantly turn on the lights to show the way for the other party's submarine?

Hesson seemed to see Li Ming's doubts, and he told Zhang Hainuo, don't look at the port of Valletta, but there is a tight ** array and anti-submarine net outside the port, and every freighter entering the port needs to be piloted by the barges in the port, not to mention the submarine breaking into the port, even if it is close to it, it is very dangerous!

Add to this the fact that there were a number of British cruisers and a whole squadron of British destroyers stationed in the harbor, and it was not easy to attack the British ships outside the harbor and then retreat in one fell swoop.

As a result, German submarines deployed in the Mediterranean were largely only stationed in ambush near the shipping lanes outside the Strait of Malta, and rarely infiltrated the straits.

In the final analysis, the battery, which can only be used for submarines for more than one hour, has created this tactical "bottleneck"

！

"Then we're ...... today"

Li Ming looked at the steamer with navigation lights on the sea in front of the submarine, if he attacked it in this strait, wouldn't he have to be chased by a squadron of British destroyers?

Hesson gave him a meaningful look and didn't answer.

After turning, the 21st quickly drove to the position between the freighter and the port, which Zhang Hainuo learned in the naval school, this is called preempting the attack position - in the case of not being able to sail those surface ships, the submarine can only lie in ambush in front of the ship's course in advance, and then attack when they approach.

It wasn't long before the steamer turned on a searchlight, and a small boat appeared on the other side of the harbor, which was supposed to be the pilot barge that Hesson had mentioned.

"Dive!"

Without warning, Hesson suddenly gave the order to dive。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

Since that time he was "played" by Hexen

After that, Li Ming silently practiced every day how to get down from the control tower to the boat and close the watertight hatch cover as quickly as possible, and he even consulted Otis for this, although he didn't dare to say that he could do better than the other crew members now, but at least he was no longer as careless as he was at the beginning.

However, this time, Hessen did not let Zhang Hainuo be behind, but personally "pressed the formation"

。

Li Ming hadn't taken two steps down from the vertical ladder, and Hessen "bang"

It came down with a thud, and it was clearly sliding down the ladder.

"It's fast!"

Li Ming thought to himself, if it was himself, I am afraid that the watertight hatch cover had not been closed at this time!

"Dive to periscope depth! All forward! ”

Hesson walked briskly to his podium。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

Hesson rarely looked at his watch, and he seemed to have an innate sensitivity to time.

After 5 minutes, he ordered: "Raise the periscope!" ”

A cylindrical object slowly descended from the upper part of the podium, and in order to keep up with the outside light, all wall lamps in the cabin had been changed to dark red.

Li Ming seems to be in the world of the movie, but everything here is extremely real.

Hesson held the handle of the periscope with both hands, his eyes pressed against the scope, and his body moved as the periscope turned.

Li Ming stood across from him, his eyes fixed on the scale on the periscope indicating the angle.

Soon, the periscope stopped rotating, and Hessen asked Zhang Hainuo simply and clearly: "Angle!" ”

“428！”

"Target No. 1, angle 328, distance 10800!"

With that, Hesson turned the periscope a little clockwise, "Angle!" ”

“057！”

"Target No. 2, angle 077, distance 15200!"

After reporting this string of data, Hesson closed the periscope's rotating handle, "Put away the periscope!" ”

Hesson walked briskly to the navigation platform, where Chief Rocky had prepared a chart with only lines and no colors.

Li Ming leaned over to see that there were all corners of Malta and Sicily, but apart from the lines depicting the outlines of the islands and a few ports represented by small circles, there were no data on enemy ships, troop allocation, and no topographic maps of the seabed.

This is a far cry from the military map that people imagine, which is actually a two-dimensional map that is not much different from a hand-drawn scroll。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

It seems that the lack of reliable charts and intelligence was also the reason why the German captains were reluctant to "hunt" near Malta

One reason!

On the fifth day of leaving Port Bora, the 21st finally arrived in the waters near the island of Malta, but Hessen did not rush into the Malta Strait to search for prey, but waited quietly away from the shipping lane.

It was not until the sun was set in the west that he commanded 21 to sail cautiously towards Valletta, the most important port on the island of Malta.

By the time the black silhouette of Malta appeared at the end of the sea, it was already getting dark.

At this time, Hussen, who was standing on the submarine's control tower, ordered: "All return to the capsule, make sure that all watertight doors are closed, and be ready to dive at any time!" ”

After a while, there was no one on the deck of the submarine, and even the first mate Wolf returned to the boat along the passage, and at this time only Zhang Hainuo and Hessen were left on the submarine's control tower, both of them wearing the kind of cloak-style black poncho, and one of them held a pair of high-powered binoculars, constantly patrolling the sea.

Like many military fans, Li Ming also felt that it was a mistake for Germany and Italy not to capture Malta at that time, because it was an important transit point on the Mediterranean route, and it was only a sea away from Sicily, Italy.

The defeat of the North African Army under Rommel's command was largely due to poor supplies, and the biggest factor in the disadvantage of German and Italian supplies to North Africa was that their ships were always intercepted by British planes, submarines and warships, and most of those British bombers and submarines came from bases in Malta!

When a small gray ** appeared in the telescope, Zhang Hainuo poked Hessen with his elbow.

"Captain, there's a ship over there, but I can't tell if it's a cargo ship or a warship!"

Hesson glanced over there, "Don't worry, it's a British gunboat, it's a patrol near the harbor, it doesn't usually go that far, and we're out of its range now!" ”

According to Li Ming's inaccurate visual inspection, it is indeed at least 15 nautical miles from the port of Valletta, and according to the ship, it is also nearly 10 nautical miles, but how can Hesson determine that it is a gunboat based on the gray ** in that telescope?