But Finch's decision can be said to be wrong, because although K11, which turned to the southeast, avoided the encirclement formed by U-24, U-27, and U-30, it collided head-on with the head wolf of the German wolf pack, U-23!

A distance of a few nautical miles, for the U-23 and K11, which are on opposite sides, is only a few minutes.

Tonight's weather was not good for Finch and the K11 frigate, with a thick layer of clouds between the moon and the sea, and only in a few places where the clouds were thin did it rarely reveal its true form, casting a pitiful glimmer of light onto the sea.

In order to be as concealed as possible, Captain Finch had strictly controlled the lights of the entire ship as early as he left Dunkirk, and all that could glow on the deck was turned off, except for the bridge, which had to be lit.

But despite this, the K11 frigate sailing in the dark sea is very easy to expose - for example, the deck observer of the U-23 submarine was the first to spot the K11 based on the light from the K11 bridge.

At this time, the sonar of both Germany and Britain was suspended due to the overheating of the core components, so the sudden appearance of the K11 almost did not scare the deck observers standing on the top of the submarine control tower away.

"Damn! Captain! Ships are spotted ahead! He immediately picked up the microphone on the conning tower and shouted, "It's less than 1.5 nautical miles from us!" ”

"Ahead?!" Krezimmer was also taken aback, "What ship?" ”

"I don't know, I can only see a glimmer of light!" The observer held up the binoculars, but could not look down on the outline of K11.

"Is it a warship or a civilian ship?" Krezimmer had no choice but to change his question.

"Warship!" The observer replied firmly.

"Horse-stepping!" Hearing this, Krezimmer couldn't help but curse angrily, for a submarine, the sudden appearance of a surface hull less than 1.5 nautical miles is fatal, because at this distance a fool can hit a target within three rounds with a naval gun.

The pressure-resistant hull of a submarine is no better than the armor of a warship, it is not at all fighting, and if it is damaged, the submarine will not be able to dive - obviously, a submarine that cannot dive is not much different from a fishing boat for a warship.

"The people on deck are withdrawn! Urgent dive! Now he can only hope that the other party will not find out.

God, let me dive," Krezimmer prayed silently.

After the last observer climbed into the submarine and locked the hatch cover from the inside, the water intakes on the hull of U-23 were all opened, and a huge amount of seawater poured into the submarine reservoir along the water intake, and the submarine, which gradually lost its buoyancy, began to dive underwater.

Although the weather was bad tonight, it did not rain heavily, so the sound transmission on the sea surface was as good as ever, which made the "dong dong" sound of the U-23 entering and diving attracting the attention of the deck sailors of the K11 frigate.

The sailors immediately reported the situation to Captain Finch, and under the command of Captain Finch, two high-power searchlights were activated, and two thick pillars of light instantly illuminated a large area of the sea, and the U-23, which had dived halfway, was quickly discovered.

The observer holding the binoculars next to the searchlight recognized what it was the moment the searchlight hit U-23, and he immediately shouted: "U-boat! 0-0-1 directions! ”

"Hell!" Finch was also the first to discover U-23.

"What about the captain?" An officer in the bridge panicked.

"What to do? Sink it before it hid in the water, of course! Finch said as he grabbed the microphone of the ship's radio and said, "A German submarine has been spotted ahead!" The whole ship is ready for combat readiness! Each gun emplacement is ready to fire freely! ”

But it was the middle of the night, and there was no one on duty next to the twin MK X VI high-level dual-purpose guns in the bow of the K11, so the ship's strongest firepower was not put into battle after Fincher issued the shelling order, and only a quadruple "Vickers" MK VIII two-pounder gun on the bridge rained bullets on the U-23.

But it's a pity that the "Bah" cannon itself is a piece of garbage, although its firepower is very fierce, but the firing range is very close, the muzzle velocity is very slow, and what is even worse is that its trajectory is curved, and it is enough to fight a plane hundreds of meters away in normal times, if it is not for the consumption of two million rounds of two-pound shells accumulated in the ammunition depot, the navy's brain will be caught by the door to load this garbage thing on its own ship.

And now, the shells fired by this "bang bang" cannon really lived up to expectations, and all of them fell into the sea, not even a drop of water was splashed on the U-23.

“Fuck！” Watching the U-23 "swagger" into the water, Finch, who personally stood by the "bang" gun and cheered the gunner, cursed.

"I'm sorry Captain, it's me who is so useless......" The gunner said, holding the still smoking cannon, bowing his head.

"Well, I don't blame you." Finch sighed and said, "Compared to the German army, designers are our lifelong enemies......

With that, Finch shook his head as he walked to the bridge.

As the captain of the Royal Navy, Finch's psychological quality is still very good, and after he walked into the bridge, he readjusted his mentality and returned to his usual calm: "The whole ship, including the bridge, turn off all the lights!" ”

"Yes, the lights are turned off on the whole ship, including the bridge!" The electrical controller repeated the command, then cut off all lighting circuits, and the whole ship was plunged into darkness, except for the faint glow of some of the gauge indicators.

"Turn off the engine, fill the rudder on the left, and glide on power." Then he gave a second command.

"Turn off the engine and fill the rudder left." The second officer at the helm repeated as he began to maneuver as Finch commanded.

After the engine was turned off, Finch once again picked up the radio microphone in the ship and said to all the officers and men of the ship: "Ladies and gentlemen, this ship is in a little trouble, a German submarine has appeared in front of it and it has dived underwater. In order to avoid the exposure of the ship and better deal with the Germans, the whole ship is now in a state of silence, all personnel please take off their shoes and put away or fix anything that may make a noise, until the ship sinks the German submarine or escapes, unless the combat requires, everyone must remain in their current position and do not move! ”

At the same time, on the U-23.

"Whew..."Krezimer, who managed to escape, breathed a sigh of relief, and then immediately ordered: "Dive to periscope depth, fill the bow torpedo silo with water, open the front hatch and prepare for launch!" ”

With that, Krezimmer walked to the periscope and stretched it out of the sea, ready to aim at the K11 frigate and launch a torpedo. But he suddenly found that the original K11 frigate had disappeared, and he operated the periscope and turned around without finding a trace of light.