Throughout the morning, Alfred. Admiral Zaft seemed to be in a good mood.

After breakfast with the senior officers of the fleet, he took the lieutenant around the deck twice, and then stayed in the bridge of the command ship without moving.

Sitting in his personal observation seat, Captain Zaft looked out of the porthole at the view of San Francisco in a daze, and occasionally showed a strange smile that made people shudder on his face that was usually tense and always kept cold and majestic.

The captain's abnormal behavior made the atmosphere in the entire bridge stranger, and everyone was nervous.

The co-captain and the third-duty officer quickly found a high-sounding reason to slip away, and even the self-proclaimed gunnery officer, Rear Admiral Tronhoff, secretly went to the armored conning tower below to smoke, leaving only the captain and a few unlucky people on duty to stay with the captain.

Yesterday evening the German Embassy sent a shipment of domestic mail, including a personal parcel addressed to Colonel Zaft, the size of a marching backpack, which looked heavy and heavy. But at this time, no one associated the captain's strange behavior with the oversized mail bag, because it really didn't fit the captain's usual personality setting.

Captain Zaft was an excellent member of the German Navy, which was recognized by all the crew, and he showed outstanding professionalism and command skills in all the training sessions since taking office. He proved to be a qualified battleship commander, with a strong personality and a strong personality. Within a few months, he had succeeded in establishing his absolute authority on this brand-new, incomparable German battleship.

Many of the senior commanders of the German Navy General Headquarters believed that in time this officer might be able to etch his name in the history of the German Navy, as his predecessors had done.

A captain walked into the bridge with a document, and he didn't seem to notice the strange atmosphere around him, and walked directly to the captain sitting by the porthole.

"Sir." The captain saluted his superiors and handed the document to the captain: "This is the call back you are waiting for." ”

"It's finally here." Zaft returned a military salute, and then took the telegram from the other man's hand.

"Thank you, Captain Trist." Zaft waved his hand and motioned for the captain to leave.

"Yes, sir." The captain saluted the commander again, then turned and walked towards the hatch at the back of the bridge.

It was only then that the young officer noticed the relieved expressions of his colleagues around him, and with a hint of confusion, the captain scratched his head and stepped over the hatch.

"Ryan Borg." Zaft stood up from his observation seat and beckoned to the navigator who was sitting beside him.

"Yes, Captain." Major Lane Borg agreed loudly.

"Come over here." Zaft walked to the chart table behind the bridge.

The bridge of the Bismarck is equipped with a chart room, which is equipped with a track recorder driven by a mechanical computer, which will automatically mark the position and trajectory of the ship on the chart according to the navigation parameters. However, there was no need for that kind of high-level equipment at this time, and Zaft only had to consult the regular nautical charts.

"Marshal Raeder's order." Zaft took off his military hat and handed the document to the lieutenant general.

"An order from the General Headquarters?" Reinberg took the paper, and as well took off his military cap and placed it on the edge of the chart table.

"Well, order us to carry out Plan Number 2." Zaft picked up the red and blue pencils that had been placed on the table.

"No problem at all, sir. It's all ready, and we planned the route two weeks ago. Ryan Berg replied.

"Now the plans have changed a bit, we're going to go here first." Zaft pointed to a string of islands in the southern Pacific Ocean.

Seeing clearly the target pointed out by the captain, the navigator asked with some surprise: "Is it New Guinea?" ”

"Yes, the once" German "New Guinea. Zaft replied with a little emotion.

"You should take a closer look at this order, the Admiralty wants us to remap the area, and the Foreign Office wants us to bring an expedition to investigate the current state of the islands." Zaft flexed his fingers and tapped the chart with his knuckles.

"It's going to take a lot of time." Lineburg looked down at the message, scratching his chin with a ruler in his hand.

"About a week or two, no more, that's how I planned, Lineberg." Zaft replied, propped up the chart table in his hand, "The British promised to cooperate with us, and I don't believe the English very much, but at least they should not cause us any trouble." Look here..."Colonel Zaft drew a cross on the chart with a pencil.

"Mainly the Bismarck Islands, where the fleet will be anchored."

"Port Rabaul?" The navigator frowned: "I need to check the hydrological data there." ”。

The port of Rabaul was once a German colony, and the town of Rabaul was originally founded by the Germans before being taken over by the British after World War I. Although Germany retains data on naval navigation in this area, these old parameters are no longer applicable after a few decades.

"I will ask the Royal Navy to provide the required information and, if necessary, to send an experienced pilot to lead the way for us." Zaft replied, scratching the side of his nose.

The size of the Bismarck had already made the voyage difficult, and many ports could not accommodate such a large warship, because the width was too large for her to pass through the Panama Canal, and as a result, she had to circle around the South American continent, which consumed a lot of fuel and time.

However, this also played into the hands of the German government, and the German navy had a reasonable reason to make a short stay in South American countries. At that time, many Latin American countries held a pro-German position, especially Brazil, Argentina and Chile, where there were a large number of German immigrants, and most of the countries were dictatorships, and they were close to fascism from the bottom up.

However, the attitude of the Germans towards this diplomatic cruise is very low-key, after all, this is the backyard of the United States, especially when the other side has already decided "America First", or should it be said that "America First", it is really not too ostentatious to touch the nerves of this giant.

"Is there a supply there?" The navigator continued.

"It's not clear yet, but in theory it's a good harbor. I think the command will take care of everything for us, but we'll have to load as many supplies as we can when we leave San Francisco. ”

"We can fill the piggy." Ryan Borg said with a laugh.

"yes, stuff the piglets." Zaft laughed too.

The German Navy supply ship FACKEL was a 7,500-ton mixed cargo ship that used to travel between the United States and Europe before the war. After the German Navy bought the high-speed freighter, it underwent a series of modifications, which were originally intended to be used as a submarine supply ship, but the European war ended before it was completely completed.

As a result, this freighter was used as a technical test ship and was equipped with the maritime replenishment system "invented" by the Führer, which provided first-hand technical information for the development of the [Derian]-class high-speed supply ship.

The freighter, which reached a speed of twenty-six knots, could follow the regular fleet for long maneuvers, and because of its large cargo capacity and various facilities, it was unanimously welcomed by the fleet members on this long-distance voyage.

Because the design of the two parallel anchor chain holes on the left side of the bow is quite special, it looks like a pair of nostrils of a piglet, and the name of the ship "FACKEL" (FACKEL) sounds very similar to the German "little pig" (FRCKEL), so the German sailors who like to joke about her call "Little Pig".

Zaft pointed to a point on the chart with a pencil: "After leaving Rabaul, we will round the Solomon Islands for Brisbane, stopping near the island for another two days. ”。

"Solomon Islands? What's the name of that island you're talking about? Lineburg leaned down to take a closer look.

"It's a mouthful to pronounce, and the Spaniards who discovered it called Guadalcanal." Colonel Zaft replied with his hands crossed over his waist.

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