There was an explosion on the Paris Commune and it was about to sink.

Sitting on the Red Caucasus, Gorshkov's career as a fleet commander had barely an hour before he received this report that left him speechless.

On the sea, the Paris Commune was more than 20 nautical miles away from them in the distance, and they could have used the telescope to see the navigation lights on the Paris Commune, showing its location, but now, they could not see anything.

Gorshkov's face was rather ugly: "Now we have to find out the cause of the explosion of the Paris Commune, whether it was attacked by the enemy, or whether there was a mechanical failure. ”

On the Red Caucasus, several senior commanders of the Black Sea Fleet were nervously deliberating.

"It's not like being attacked, but if it is attacked, then the Paris Commune should explode and catch fire." An officer said.

In their opinion, if they had been hit by an attack, they should have exploded and caught fire, and a ball of fire appeared on the surface of the sea, which could be seen clearly without binoculars, but now, in the distance, it was pitch black.

It's not an attack, it should be a mechanical failure, after all, the warship is too old, and it was planned to go into the dock to repair it last year, but there has been no time.

However, if this is the case, it will make Moscow angry, and Moscow will not care how much it spends on its military, it is on the verge of a big war, and it has not yet started the battle, and as a result, because of mechanical failure, it has sunk its most powerful battleship, and the entire Black Sea Fleet may be swept from top to bottom.

Gorshkov had to take this into account, and in later generations he had this nerve after being a naval commander for decades, having worked under many general secretaries.

And now, the accident of the Paris Commune will make their battle more fraught with risks, the German fleet is already very strong, 70,000 tons of battleships, that is definitely invulnerable, the 305 mm naval guns on the Paris Commune, may not be able to sink the other side, now, the Paris Commune has sunk, and the remaining heavy cruises cannot even have the confidence to fight the other side head-on.

Although in the plan formulated, surface ships are the supporting role, and naval aviation is the main force of the attack, but since Gorshkov has been appointed as the commander of the fleet, there is still hope, and after his own aviation forces take down the opponent's main battleship, it will be better for his own side to pick up the leaks!

The main force to pick up the leak is the Paris Commune, who would have thought that there would be an accident.

Moreover, Gorshkov always had a hunch that this time it would not go so well, in case it was really an attack from Germany?

"Fleet, sail at full speed, the formation maintains a high speed of 30 knots, and reaches the target sea area as soon as possible." Gorshkov said.

Originally, the Paris Commune was slow, and although it set off early, it had to be left behind, but now that the Paris Commune is gone, the remaining warships can finally speed up with confidence.

The 10 oil-fired boilers began to burn at full power, spraying heavy oil, black smoke rising from the chimney, and the high-temperature and high-pressure steam pushed the four Brown-Curtiss steam turbines, and the 55,000 horsepower power pushed the propellers, which became louder as the propellers rotated at high speeds.

Along the sea, the noise travels forward, which is clearly picked up by the submarine U-100.

"The Soviet fleet has accelerated, and it is expected that they will meet in ten minutes." The sonar officer said.

"Tubes No. 1, No. 2, loaded with T4falke torpedoes, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, launch tubes, loaded with G7E electric torpedoes." Schupke said.

A Type XXI submarine can carry a total of 23 torpedoes, four of the most powerful hydrogen peroxide torpedoes have been emptied, two of the four most advanced acoustic torpedoes remain, and the rest are electric torpedoes.

In fact, although the performance data of hydrogen peroxide torpedoes is outstanding, it will produce bubbles, so it is the electric torpedo that attacks quietly, and after years of development, the German electric torpedo is also quite advanced.

At the same time, the most popular thing about the XXI submarine is not its amazing underwater speed and sophisticated equipment, but its loading system.

The submarine uses the latest hydrostatic loading system, which can load 18 torpedoes in 20 minutes. Other ordinary submarines take 10 to 20 minutes to load a torpedo.

Only with fast reloading can it be combative, for example, now, its six launch tubes, all filled with torpedoes.

Schepke's periscope continued to look out to sea, and the biggest failure of the Soviets that night was that they didn't even know to extinguish their sailing lights!

The wave height is about half a meter, and you can clearly see the bright spots on the sea.

This is also for safety, when sailing at high speed at sea, only by turning on the navigation lights can you avoid collisions and avoid falling behind.

While Schepke was silently waiting for his fighter plane, intending to attack in the most suitable place, someone did it earlier than him.

In World War I, the German Navy was very comfortable with the operation of submarines, and in World War II, the submarine force of the German Navy has also been greatly developed, and now in the Black Sea, there are more than a dozen submarines.

Three nautical miles away from the U-100 submarine, the U-96 submarine was in a snorkeling state.

The submarine was not equipped with an AIP system, so most of the time, it was navigated by snorkel.

Just half an hour ago, it turned off its noisy diesel engine and waited for its chance.

Heinrichy Wellenbrook, who was an orphan and grew up in an orphanage, developed his unusually determined heart, and allowed him to find his place in the submarine that needs to be fought alone at sea. No matter what the situation is, he is always calm and unfazed.

Now, the warships of the Soviets appeared in his field of vision, and he was even more daring and careful.

"Right rudder, forward three." Willenbrook said.

Forward three? Hearing his words, the deputy captain looked uneasy, now, the distance between the fleet and the Soviets is less than a nautical mile, and it is already at the attack distance, what are you going to do?

However, no one could challenge his authority, and his word was a military order.

The propeller at the tail of the U-96 submarine began to spin, and the huge submarine continued to accelerate and accelerate underwater, and then, the rudder of the tail began to control the submarine's steering, and the fleet of the Soviets was about to collide!

"Right rudder one." Willenbrook continued to shout, and by this time, the deputy captain had already understood that he was actually going to burrow into the middle of the Soviet fleet!