"Captain, we've reached the marker."

Lieutenant Catherine, the deputy captain, reported aloud to Giselle after recording the current position on the chart.

"Good, ready to steer, heading 240, maintaining the current depth and speed. In half an hour we will be able to leave the current patrol area, and hopefully we won't have to dive that long before we enter French waters. Giselle replied as he sat leisurely in his captain's seat with a cup of coffee.

"Yes, Captain. Ready to turn, heading 240. Catherine repeated Gissel's command aloud: "Turn in five seconds, 5." 4。 3。 2。 1. Steering ...... Report to the captain, turn over. Now head 240. ”

"Good."

Satisfied with his men's training, Gisel picked up the in-cabin phone attached to the reinforced support in the command module and turned the lever into the listening room.

"Corporal Wolfgen, I'm the captain of the boat, report on the current situation. Are they still following? "They were still following behind, on both sides of the stern, less than 1,500 meters apart, and the sound of the propeller was clear and loud. U38 and U43 are not left behind, sir. ”

"Very well, keep listening, and if you find any anomaly, you must report it to the command module immediately."

"Yes, sir."

Gisel put down the phone with satisfaction, and he turned to Catherine and said: "We have now entered the sea where the enemy's ships are very active, and we hope that we will not run into any trouble, and now the slightest mistake on our part may bring irreparable damage to Germany, and in any case send Marshal Reinhardt to France safely." ”

"I understand, Captain. We all know this, don't worry. Catherine replied with a serious expression.

"Good." Giselle smiled and nodded.

"Report to the captain."

Second Lieutenant Turk, the deputy navigator of U37, hurried into the command cabin, and before he could straighten up, he hurriedly reported loudly: "Your Excellency the Marshal asks you to go and see him at once if it is convenient for you now." ”

Gisel couldn't help frowning when he saw Turk's panicked appearance, but as soon as he heard that it was the marshal who wanted to see him, he didn't care to blame his subordinates for their abnormal reactions, and Gissell hurriedly asked Teck: "Where is the marshal now." ”

"In the first torpedo compartment."

"Okay, I'll go over right away." Giselle turned back to Catherine and said, "Catherine, I'll leave this place to you now, and let me know if there's any problem." ”

"Don't worry, Captain."

Giselle looked around for a moment, then squeezed out of the command module and walked briskly towards the first torpedo bay, with Turk quickly following.

"Turk, how did the marshal go to the first torpedo compartment, isn't he chatting with you?"

Before the two commandos went back to sleep through the command cabin, they reported to Giselle that the marshal had woken up and was walking in the boat, and then another sailor came to report that the marshal was chatting with some officers in the rest area, and now that the marshal had gone into the torpedo compartment, Giselle could not fathom what was going on in the mind of the lord.

"We were talking, but as soon as we had inadvertently mentioned those failed attacks, the marshal suddenly wanted to go to the torpedo compartment to see it, and we didn't dare stop him at all. Now the gunslinger and the mine chief are accompanying him. ”

"A failed attack? You mean the last few attacks we had on a cruise. ”

"Yes, Captain. The marshal said that he probably knew the reason for the failure of the torpedo. ”

"What, the marshal really said so." Gisell's footsteps faltered.

"Yes, that's what he said."

"Oh." Giselle groaned slightly, then quickened his pace towards the first torpedo bay.

The corridor of the forward compartment was now filled with sailors and junior officers, who were whispering to each other as they looked curiously into the first torpedo compartment. When they saw the captain approaching quickly, they hurriedly leaned against the wall to make way for Gissell.

When Gissel got into the first torpedo compartment, the first thing he saw was a T3 on the torpedo loading and unloading rack in the middle of the torpedo compartment, and now the 533 mm caliber weighing 1,600 kilograms had been disassembled, and from under the unloaded checkpoints, the parts inside the torpedo coated with lubricating and anti-rust oil shone dark golden in the bright light of the cabin.

"Your Excellency, Marshal. You're here to show me this. Gisel walked up to Xu Jun, who was standing on the side of the torpedo and carefully watched the torpedo chief's work, and asked respectfully: "My marshal, have you really discovered the reason why our torpedoes often fail?" ”

"I'll talk to you later, wait a little bit, and the results will be available soon."

Xu Jun turned his head to look at Gisel first, and then focused his attention on the current work of Second Lieutenant Sutton, the torpedo chief.

Sutton, the U37's mine chief, was holding a screwdriver to disassemble the panel on the inspection port of the torpedo balance compartment, and when the small steel plate was removed, a small air hole was exposed. Sutton hurriedly removed a pressure gauge from the tool rack next to him, and then carefully inserted the air hole.

"What is Sutton doing, measuring the pressure in the balance chamber? This will not do anything, the air pressure of the balance chamber has been tested on land without any problems. Giselle felt that the marshal was an army officer, and he was still not familiar with the torpedo weapon.

"Don't worry, my captain, keep your patience, the results will be known soon." Xu Jun said to Gisel with a smile.

"Huh? How so! At this time, Sutton, who was carefully observing the reading of the pressure gauge, exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Giselle hurriedly leaned over.

"Captain, it seems that the marshal's guess is correct. Look at this reading. The pressure in this damn balance cabin is now the same as the pressure in our boat. ”

"What, there's such a thing. That's impossible. Gisel looked carefully at the readings on the pressure gauge, then turned his head to look at the barometer readings on the wall of the boat, and he was stunned by what he saw.

"The depth of the torpedo is completely determined by the air pressure of this balance chamber, and we all set the depth of the torpedo based on the pressure of maintaining one atmosphere in the balance chamber. But now the pressure of this torpedo is the same as that inside the boat, which means that if we still set the depth of this torpedo as it is written in the Cāo manual, the actual depth will be much deeper than the depth we set, maybe three to five meters, and possibly more. Sutton said with a frown.

"That is, it is impossible for us to hit the target with this torpedo." Gisel suddenly realized: "It turns out that the torpedoes we fired did not fail, but all of them went through the bottom of the enemy's ship. ”

"Quite possibly. It seems that we are actually shooting at the bottom of the sea. Sutton shook his head and sighed.

"Could it be that you made a mistake in the test, such as the balance chamber was accidentally opened and sealed?" Gisel was frightened at the thought that his torpedoes might have this problem, which meant that he would not have a weapon to protect himself from during the voyage.

"There is absolutely no problem, I did it strictly according to the testing procedures on land." Sutton replied categorically.

"Gentlemen, let me say a few words." Xu Jun interjected lightly on the side.

It was only then that the two naval officers realized the existence of the marshal, and then they remembered that the question was all discovered by the marshal's proposal, and they now hoped to get the correct answer from the soldier who continued to perform miracles, Giselle and Sutton hurriedly stopped the discussion, and they looked at Xu Jun with bated breath, waiting for him to express his opinion.

"We now know that there is a problem with the balance compartment of this torpedo, so have you ever wondered why this is happening?" Before the two of them could answer, Xu Jun continued: "There can only be one reason for this to happen, and that is that the balance cabin has lost its seal. I think it's more likely that it was never sealed. This would explain why German torpedoes often failed in real combat during this period. In the previous period, the failure of the torpedo in the war often occurred after you had been diving for a long time, and the pressure inside the submarine would increase a lot, and because the balance compartment was not sealed, the pressure in the torpedo would increase with the air pressure inside the submarine. As a result, as Second Lieutenant Sutton said, all our torpedoes went to the bottom of the sea. And those torpedoes fired from the surface state can reliably hit the target because the air pressure is the same as that of the outside world. Including those who have been submerged for a short time or have been floated and ventilated, their torpedoes have also been maintained in an effective state due to the normal pressure in the boat. That's why sometimes torpedoes fail at all and sometimes they don't work at all. ”

"It seems that you are right, my marshal. You are truly an apostle of God. Giselle stood up and respectfully saluted Xu Jun.

"I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to you for all the personnel of the German submarine forces."

"Ah, no, I just heard your subordinates talk about it, and the idea popped into my head, I thought the problem might be the depth of the torpedo, so I took this test on my own initiative. If I want to say thank you, I have to thank the officers for mentioning this to me. Xu Jun felt a little embarrassed when he heard Gisel's thanks, in fact, he had already learned about the problem of German torpedoes from previous historical materials, and now he was obviously plagiarizing the fruits of the labor of those German scientists, and putting this credit on himself Even if Xu Jun's face was tough, there was a feeling of heat.

"Please don't say that, my marshal, if it weren't for you, I really don't know how long our submarines would have fought with such unreliable weapons, you know the efficiency of those guys in the Naval Ordnance Department." Gissell said excitedly.

"Haha, let's not talk about this, this can be regarded as my reward for taking care of us army officers for you. Well, now that we've found the problem, we can come up with a solution. This weapon is at least still capable of being used. Second Lieutenant Sutton, it's time to reassemble it now. ”

Xu Jun wanted to change the subject, but Giselle was obviously reluctant to do so, and he didn't know how to express his feelings now. Xu's discovery saved the reputation of a large number of submarine captains, including him, and now they can finally prove that the failed attacks were not a problem with their own technology, but because the damned torpedoes simply didn't work.

"My marshal, I think this reward of yours is too valuable, you must know that you have redeemed the honor of half the captain of the submarine in the navy. You've paved the way for them to regain their confidence, knowing that there are now several good submarine captains who have doubted themselves because of several failed attacks. Your discovery saved them, and to be exact, the lives of countless submarine soldiers. No one will ever lose their life to a faulty torpedo, this has happened many times, and several submarines have been attacked because the torpedo not only failed to hit the enemy ship but also exposed its position. I'm sure everyone will be happy when they know about this. My marshal. Gisel couldn't hide his joy.

"Haha, my captain, I said it was just a moment of inspiration for me. I haven't done much for you, don't say that again. Xu Jun smiled and said, "Now we know what the problem is, but we can't solve it right away." We have to continue to use the torpedo until we can improve it. So I think we have to come up with a way to use it effectively, in the end it's a matter of depth fixing, I think as long as the pressure in the cabin is tested and the depth is reduced accordingly, the magnetic fuse doesn't seem to be very reliable, and in the case of no accurate depth fixing, it doesn't work. I think I'll just turn them all off and wait until a more reliable product is finalized. You see, when we come to the surface, you can notify the other two submarines to do so first. ”

"Yes, my marshal, everything will be carried out according to your will." Giselle replied respectfully: "Please leave here and take a rest in the officer's quarters, the air here is too muddy, and it is full of grease and debris." This one...... It's ......."

"Oh, well, well, then I'll go sit in the officer's room for a while, can you get me something to eat?" I'm a little hungry. Xu Jun said to Gisel as he walked out of the cabin.

"Yes, my marshal, I will arrange it at once."

At this moment, the intercom on the torpedo bulkhead suddenly whistled. Gisel hurriedly picked up the earpiece and said: "Torpedo cabin, I'm the captain, what's the matter." What, are you sure? How many...... I'll be right over. ”

Gissell's face became more and more ugly with the report on the phone, and for the first time, a nervous look appeared on the face of the excellent submarine captain. Xu Jun stopped and looked at the captain, he sensed a hint of unease from Gissell's tone and expression, something must have happened, and this matter must be very, very troublesome.

"What's going on, Captain." Xu Jun looked at Gissell, who looked worried.

"It's not certain yet, my marshal. Let's go to the command module first, where I can get a detailed report. If I'm not mistaken, we're in real trouble right now. Your Excellency, please come with me. With that, Gissell hurried to the command module.

The soldiers and officers gathered around the door also sensed that something was happening from the captain's expression, and they all stood quietly on both sides of the aisle to make way for them. When the captain walked by, they also automatically walked to their respective posts. If there is a real fight, those positions will be in high need of manpower. Suddenly, with a few sharp battle reports, the lights in the submarine were suddenly switched to red battle lights. The crew was immediately excited, and everyone stood at their respective combat posts, their eyes firmly fixed on the speakers in their respective cabins. They were waiting for the captain's instructions to them, and they wanted to know what kind of enemy they had encountered this time.

The entire submarine was instantly enveloped in an incomparably solemn pre-battle oppressive atmosphere, and that scorching murderous aura spread to every corner of the U37 with the breathing of the crew.

The crew believed that as long as they obeyed Captain Gisell's command, they could easily overcome any difficulties. What's more, there is also a German god of war on board, an apostle of God, under the protection of this miracle worker, maybe he can make some legendary feats. So none of these sailors felt nervous or afraid, on the contrary, they began to look forward to the next battle in their hearts, and they all had a premonition that it would be a fierce battle, and it would be a wonderful battle, and more likely a battle that they would never forget, and that they could tell others about it for the rest of their lives.

In the early hours of June 26, 1940, in the open waters 80 nautical miles off the Norwegian coastline, a brutal battle at sea was about to begin. A group of elite German sailors are 30 meters deep in water, eager to prove their bravery with blood and fire, and they want to extract their medals and glory from the blood of the enemy.

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