In the ticking of the navigation clock, the minutes and seconds passed, and people on both sides were nervously waiting for the other to lose their breath first.

In the bilge of the K11 frigate, more than 300 soldiers of the 31st Infantry Division carried out their silent request without saying a word, according to the knowledge of the naval officers on the spot, and they were also nervously waiting for a result.

They were all foot soldiers, and they didn't know how horrible it was to be ambushed by a submarine, but most of them understood how serious the situation was from Captain Finch's serious tone that had changed from his previous playful style.

However, none of the nervous soldiers noticed that there was something wrong with the behavior of a soldier whom they regarded as a madman, and he was trembling all over his body, as if he had seen some kind of devil who would eat people.

It wasn't until the "madman" began to murmur that one of the soldiers next to him realized that something was wrong.

"Here they are, here they are...... Here it ......."

A sudden sentence that appeared in the quiet environment startled one of the soldiers closest to the madman, and he looked at the madman angrily and whispered, "What's coming? Are you insane again? Didn't you hear the words of the Navy brothers? Be quiet for Lao Tzu! ”

"Heh... Oh, U... U-boats, they're going to send us all into the sea......" the madman laughed weirdly.

"Alas, ignore him, that's how he is." Another soldier patted the previous soldier on the shoulder, "If he wants to speak, let him say, if you ignore him, he will stop later." Let's just take care of ourselves! ”

"What a madman...... "The man shook his head and said no more.

But to everyone's surprise, the madman, instead of "stopping after a while" as the soldier had said, intensified his efforts, not only raising his voice, but also writhing violently in the crowd, and then tripped on one of the soldier's feet and fell to the ground with a muffled "thump".

This muffled sound would never attract anyone's attention in normal times, but now that the whole ship is in a state of silence, this muffled sound is like a thunderbolt, attracting the attention of a large number of people.

This also includes several naval officers who are responsible for maintaining order in the bilge.

Several of them were startled by this sound, and hurriedly pushed away the crowd and squeezed over, and reprimanded the army soldiers in a low voice: "What are you doing? Don't you know what's going on now?! If the Germans had heard, a single torpedo would have sent us all into the sky! ”

"It's not our fault." An army soldier said aggrievedly.

Another soldier also pointed to the "madman" who was writhing on the ground and said, "He went crazy himself, hit someone and fell to the ground, don't care about our business, sir." ”

"Then hold him down for me! Don't make a fuss, or we'll all be finished! The naval officer said.

"Understood!" Hearing this, the soldiers pounced directly and pressed him firmly under them with their bodies.

But they didn't expect that this madman usually looked soft and weak, but his strength was so great that three or four people couldn't hold him down, and several people scuffled together like this.

There was a constant banging on the floor, and several soldiers who were not afraid of the problem were heckling despite the officers of the navy, while some officers of the army were scattered everywhere and could not rush to maintain order for a while.

In the end, even Finch, who was far away on the bridge, heard the movement of the bilge.

"What's going on down there?" Finch was half killed by a group of pig teammates and had to rush to the bilge with several sailors with their guns.

"What are you doing?!" Finch pushed open the hatch of the bilge and yelled at the messy bilge, "Do you want to die?!" Don't think the Germans can hear where we are? If you want to die, you will commit suicide by jumping into the sea! Don't take my boat with you! ”

Finch's roar and the guns in the hands of the officers and sailors finally quieted down the messy bilge a little, but a few soldiers were still unconvinced, muttering in a low voice: "The Germans are not gods, how can they hear us talking on the water?" ”

The voice was quiet, but it was heard by Fincher.

And for Finch, who was in a fit of rage, this complaint undoubtedly added fuel to the fire, and he scolded directly at the soldier: "Are you the Navy or am I the Navy?" Do you know what sonar is when you step on a horse?! Do you understand how sound is transmitted?! ”

As if he was still angry with the scolding, he turned to the several sailors beside him and said, "Go up and catch this kid for me and throw him into the sea!" ”

The sailors were not ambiguous, and after listening to Fincher's order, they went up and tried to arrest the man who had spoken earlier.

At this time, several army officers finally squeezed through the crowd and came to Finch's side, and when they heard Finch's order, they hurriedly pulled Finch and persuaded: "Don't don't, Mr. Captain, he is not sensible." ”

"Humph!" Finch snorted coldly, softened a little, and said, "Then please take care of your own soldiers, the situation is very serious now, there is a German submarine diving under the water, and I am not a battleship, I don't want to eat a torpedo!" ”

"Definitely, definitely." Several army officers knew that they were at a loss, and they were busy laughing.

Just as Finch was about to open his mouth to reprimand something, a voice suddenly appeared in the bilge.

"Captain! Propeller sound! The sonar soldier said anxiously through the ship's announcement.

"Damn it!" As soon as Finch heard the sound of a propeller, he sensed that something was wrong.

Although he still did not know if the propeller sound was from a torpedo or a submarine, whether it was the former or the latter, it meant that they had found themselves.

In reality, just as Finch thought, Krezimmer had indeed discovered K11, and he had already discovered it when the "madman" fell to the ground with a "thump", but the U-23 torpedo had not yet been loaded, so Krezimmer did not act immediately.

There was no way, the two ships were too close to each other, and any hint of wind and grass was unusually obvious to the ears of the excellent sonar personnel of the two ships.

"Second mate! Increase your speed and turn in the direction of the enemy ship! Krezimmer sat down in the captain's seat and sternly ordered, "Fill the torpedo tubes with water!" Open the front hatch! Two salvos were fired after the steering was completed...... No, shoot one shot first. ”

"Understood, turn to 3-5-5 directions." The second officer repeated as he operated the submarine to accelerate the steering.

The stern propeller, which had been slowly rotating, began to rotate at high speed under the drive of the main shaft, and the rudder turned to the left under the control of the second officer.

And all this was clearly heard by the sonar soldiers on the K11.

"Start the engine! Full left rudder at full speed! Finch, who hurried back to the bridge, immediately said to the second officer, and then asked the sonarman, "What propeller sound?" ”

"It should be a submarine propeller, not fast but powerful!" The sonar soldier immediately reported.

Finch thought for a moment when he heard this, then slapped the table and said decisively: "Tell the stern deep-bomb slide to be ready to drop depth charges!" Turn on active sonar! ”

At the same time, inside the bridge of the U-23, Krezimmer also ordered the sonar soldiers: "Turn on the active sonar!" ”