"It is reported that we have just received information from a reconnaissance aircraft that a main British fleet consisting of 6 new battleships and a large number of destroyers has appeared in the waters of the Thames estuary, and has been attacked by our submarines, and the battle is still ongoing, and at least one British battleship has been damaged by mines. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ”

On the bridge of the King, the flagship of the German High Seas Fleet, Captain von Weix, a staff officer, reported the latest battle situation to the fleet commander Reinhardt Schell with a serious and optimistic expression. The Chief of Staff of the Fleet, Prince Joachim, happened to go to the navigation room, and with Scheer was Colonel Adolf von Trota, Chief of Fleet Operations, and Lieutenant Colonel Otto von Lefetsof, another senior staff officer.

Listening to the report, Colonel Trota immediately asked: "There are no cruisers?" ”

Wilks replied with certainty: "Yes, the reconnaissance pilots did not see the cruiser, and we have already confirmed this." ”

"That's weird!" Colonel Trota looked at Scheer, the high-spirited admiral frowning slightly, but not saying a word.

"There is no shortage of cruisers in the British Navy." "There is only one reason for this, they are sent elsewhere," said Lieutenant Colonel Lefetsov. ”

"Divide the troops in a roundabout?" Colonel Trota looked contemptuous, "That's just the right time to give us a chance to break through." ”

Lieutenant Commander Lefetsov was not as optimistic as Trota, reminding: "I think it would be better for us to be cautious now, because the British navy is generally stronger than ours, and they may be reinforced by the French navy." ”

"That's basically impossible." "According to the new treaty signed between Britain and France in early August, the French navy is tasked with fighting in the Mediterranean, and the arrogant British will not allow the French fleet to appear in the waters of Britain except in the most critical moments." ”

"Isn't the situation in Britain bad enough?" Lieutenant Colonel Lefetsov retorted without malice.

"That's just our understanding." Trota replied.

Scheer listened quietly to the arguments of the two right-hand men, and when they had stopped on their own initiative, he instructed Captain Weix: "Send a telegram to 'Bismarck,' and immediately send two reconnaissance planes to the mouth of the Thames, and tell the pilots that they must find out the types of British battleships, and send two reconnaissance planes to the north and northeast respectively, with a 50 nautical mile radius as the reconnaissance radius, and report back immediately if the enemy ships are discovered." ”

Although the German Navy's carrier-based reconnaissance planes were equipped with some radio equipment on an experimental basis at this time, the communication efficiency was far from reaching the ideal level, and there was still a delay in the transmission of reconnaissance information. By the time Schell and his staff received reports that the British fleet had sailed into the waters of the Thames estuary, the battle situation there had changed in an important way - the British super-dreadnought "Ajax" was hit by torpedoes fired by German submarines one after another.

"Start the main motor and move forward at a third of the speed."

"Yes, sir, as ordered...... A third of the speed is forward. ”

"Report the battery."

"Sixty percent of the electricity is stored, and the output is normal."

"All torpedoes are set at a depth of 5 meters, a speed of 40 knots, ready for launch!"

In the command compartment of the U-34, Navy Captain Fursterman and his crew worked calmly and orderly. Different from the power system of surface ships, the submarine is driven by a motor to drive the propeller in the submersible state, which saves a large part of the noise, but it is not quiet to the extent of silence, the operation of the gear transmission, the agitation of the propeller, these will make a more obvious sound. Fortunately, anti-submarine equipment in this era is still in its infancy, and the most advanced tracking equipment is the underwater phone, which can detect the presence of submarines and warn surface ships, but it is difficult to determine the direction and depth of submarines.

From the moment the submarine floated to periscope depth, Furstmann set his sights on a certain target on the surface. Judging by the instructions he gave and the changes in facial expressions, the U-34 was getting closer and closer to a new honor.

Almost without warning, an explosion was heard above the crew's heads.

After a few moments, Furstman calmly issued a series of instructions: "Put away the periscope, fill the tank, dive to a depth of 40 meters, fill the rudder on the left, turn 2 compass points counterclockwise, and maintain a third of the speed." ”

After the periscope was lowered, the captain said to his frightened crew: "Don't be nervous, the enemy destroyer is still far away." ”

Although submarine technology started later than Britain and France, by the time the war broke out, German submarines had surpassed other countries in terms of performance, and an uninjured German submarine could dive deeper than an ordinary British submarine to avoid the search and attack of enemy surface ships.

Furstman then left the periscope position and marked the position of his submarine and the target ship on the nautical chart, quickly calculating the course, speed, and time of the two sides. In the process, explosions from the sea disrupted the crew, but Fursterman did not appear to be affected.

The depth gauge reading on the boat slowly increased, but as soon as the pointer reached the scale of 35, the submarine seemed to be suddenly hit by an external force, and there was an unusually violent tremor, and most of the crew staggered and lost their balance, and a water valve near the bow burst and sprayed water, and the boat was suddenly busy.

Before the crew could react, Furstman shouted, "Stop!" Turn off the motor! ”

As the motors stopped, the submarine's inner compartment suddenly became unusually quiet, and the sound of the crew's talking, walking footsteps was clearly discernible and, of course, the unstoppable sound of explosions on the sea.

After closing the nearby valves, the ruptured water valves were immediately brought under control, and the damage to the hull was far less minor than feared.

After inspecting the instruments, the non-commissioned officer in charge of the submarine navigation reported: "Sir, we seem to be stranded!" ”

For seafarers, grounding is a rather bad thing, and there are many examples of ships being damaged as a result of grounding. Furstman corrected, "No, we're just standing on the seabed. ”

Most of the crew still had a look of trepidation in their eyes, and the dreary air added to the uneasiness.

Furstman then ordered a quarter of the water in the tank to be drained, and the gurgling sound from the hull of the submarine increased suddenly, and just when some of the crew were in fear, the hull of the boat trembled slightly, and the sudden ascent brought a noticeable sense of fall, and most of the crew were immediately relieved, but the non-commissioned officer in charge of the voyage gave Furstman a worried look.

Forstman understood what he meant, the submarine must have stirred up a lot of sediment and bubbles when it bottomed out and resurfaced, and the U-34 would be in danger as long as the British destroyers on the sea chased after them and dropped anti-submarine bombs.

"Dive to a depth of 25 meters, start the motor, and go full speed!" As soon as Furstman's words fell, the familiar roar of machinery sounded again in the submarine's cabin, and the crew realized the urgency of the situation and went to their posts.

Within a few minutes, a powerful explosion was heard again above the submarine, and the loudness was noticeably different from that of the shells that had previously fallen on the surface. The submarine began to shake from the impact of the explosion.

Sensing that the situation was not good, Furstman hurriedly ordered the submarine to dive to 30 meters.

The crew in charge of the tank's injection and drainage immediately adjusted it through the valve control knob, and the roaring explosions were getting closer and closer, not as dense as the dreadnought's salvo, but occurring every second or two, and the sound waves increasing in size over time, as if someone were pressing the keyboard of a particular piano in turn.

The submarine continued to dive, but the explosion approached at a faster speed, and the tremor on the boat became stronger and stronger. The constant rupture of valves and water pipes due to changes in external pressure is not fatal, but the crew seems to be stuck in a broken ship, and when the wind and waves hit, they have to scoop up the water and plug the leaks, and they are exhausted.

With a loud bang, an anti-submarine bomb exploded at close range caused the entire submarine to shake violently, and at the same time reimbursed a wall lamp and two water valves on the boat, which could be restored to normal by emergency repairs, but the crew's endurance was pushed to a limit -- they also had to pray constantly that their submarine would not "stand on the seabed" again in such a bad situation.

After a while, Furstman ordered: "Full right rudder, turn 1 compass point clockwise, and go at full speed." ”

Time passed minute by minute in a tense atmosphere, and the crew endured unprecedented suffering, while Forstmann stared at the hand-drawn lines on the chart and the hour hand on his watch, and so a quarter of an hour passed, and the sound of the explosion on the sea was like a summer storm, and the rain began to subside, and then ceased altogether.

After a few more minutes, a heavy roar of machinery could be heard faintly from outside the hull.

Fursterman's eyes were closed, and the previous situation did not erode his will to fight, but only aroused his desire to win. Suddenly, he whispered: "Drain, float, and prepare the periscope." ”

The sound of the water tank draining suddenly drowned out the roar of the turbines on the sea, and the submarine slowly floated to the surface in a slight tremor.

When the depth gauge points 12 meters underwater, the submarine stops afloat.

"Raise the periscope!"

Furstman said coldly in a slight but clear voice, as he wished, the periscope post covered with lubricating surface descended from the ceiling, he grabbed the periscope handrail and turned it to the expected angle, and then the whole person suddenly petrified and froze in place for four or five seconds, and then rushed to the side without warning, and shouted desperately at the microphone leading to the bow torpedo compartment: "Torpedo salvo No. 1, 2, 3, 4!" Salvo! ”

Since the captain was not afraid of disturbing the British on the water, the crew also cheered up, and after only a few seconds, their incomparably familiar voice came from the microphone:

"Torpedo No. 1 launched! Torpedo No. 2 launched! Torpedo No. 3 launched! Torpedo No. 4 launched! Launched! ”

"Put away the periscope, move forward a third of the speed, fill the tank, and the non-combatants immediately go to the bow of the boat!"

The captain gave a series of orders with an irrepressible excitement, and after a long period of training and actual combat, everyone on board knew the meaning of these orders very well, and they carried them out immediately without any doubt, and just as the last non-combatant also arrived in the bow compartment, three explosions were heard on the surface of the sea in succession

Furstman high-fived with a fist: "Okay, the torpedo hits the target, another big fish!" ”

(End of chapter)