.“ Tell those Brazilians that their holiday will end in 15 minutes, that the German fleet will soon pass here, that it's time for them to act, and good luck to them by the way! ”

After receiving the report of the reconnaissance plane, the captain of the American light cruiser "Buffalo" called his lieutenant and said the above words.

The news quickly reached two Brazilian submarines, and as the American captain said, the sunshine holiday for Brazilians was over. Amid the whining sirens, the crew had to put away the leisure they had been basking in the sun and burrowed into the cramped and oil-stained submarine one by one. This "Holland DV" type submarine is a small-tonnage offshore submarine, although the range can reach nearly 1,000 nautical miles when sailing on the surface, but the maximum surface speed is only 7 knots, and the seaworthiness is very poor. Therefore, after sneaking out of the harbor, they first find the American cruisers that are coming to meet them according to the plan, and then the cruisers tow them to the open sea, and when they find the target, they untie the ropes and move freely to attack.

About five minutes later, the two Brazilian submarines untied the cables tied to the back of the American cruisers and began to use their own power to move in the direction in which the reconnaissance planes had discovered the German convoy, while the two American cruisers drew a large arc on the surface of the sea and headed in the opposite direction, but they did not leave there, and when the two Brazilian submarines finished their attack, they had to tow them back to the Brazilian coast, if they were not sunk.

When the water reconnaissance plane on board the "Hausen" came to this sea area again, it only saw the two American cruisers hovering near the route, but it could not find any trace of the two submarines.

The news was quickly transmitted back to the German fleet via radio waves.

After going forward to the front of the convoy for 5 or 6 nautical miles, the captain of the ship, Lieutenant Commander Walter, ordered the speed of the "Fleicher" to be reduced to 10 knots, and when sailing at low speeds, the DD-type active sonar detector on the ship could detect the submarine at a distance of 3-4 nautical miles, which was more than twice that of the D-type sonar.

Near the tail of the destroyer, the sailors responsible for operating the two sets of depth charge droppers were already in full position. There are a total of 4 depth charge droppers in the two sets, all of which are pneumatic. That is, imitating the mortar firing principle, using high-pressure smokeless gunpowder gas as thrust for launching, it can throw a naval "stinger" type depth charge of 20 kilograms to the sea surface 200 meters away, with a destruction radius of 6-8 meters. Compared with the initial drop-off type that rolled the depth charge directly from the fleet into the water, the pneumatic depth charge made the ship do not need to cross the course of the submarine and drop the depth charge in front of it, and the sinking speed of the depth charge in the water is also faster than that of the roll-off type, but the charge is much lighter, but it is still more than enough to deal with the submarines of various countries at present.

Despite their considerable technical superiority, Walter and his deputy, Andre, did not dare to be careless. After all, there are only three escort ships in this fleet, and they are the only ones responsible for guarding the front of the fleet. This intelligence cannot be blamed entirely on the Admiralty's underestimation of the enemy, as the region has been very calm in the first few weeks after the Chilean Navy gained supremacy of South America. Although Germany and the United States were involved in the South American war, the two countries did not take direct targeted measures, and the maritime trade between the two countries continued, in addition to about ten ships carrying military supplies from Germany to Mexico every week, the German navy still needed to deploy a certain number of troops between Europe and North America, and carried out severe maritime encirclement and suppression of the British government-in-exile and Canadian ships. As a result, convoys from Germany to Chile were usually escorted by only a few ships. And this attendance was already quite high for the German Navy.

Waves beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Two American-made Brazilian submarines were quietly peeking at the German flotilla that appeared at the end of the line of sight.

On one of the submarines, the white captain muttered something to his crew in Portuguese, judging by the color of his skin. The landboat crew here is mostly white and mulatto, and there are almost no pure blacks and yellows. After a rush of footsteps, it seemed that the crew had already taken their positions, and finally a command came from the bow torpedo compartment, and it seemed that the two torpedo tubes were ready for launch.

The captain kept his eyes on the observation port of the periscope, and as the distance between the other party closed, he began to constantly adjust the periscope left and right. As the minutes ticked by, the submarine began to become extremely dull at some point, and everyone listened intently to the sound that gradually became clear from a blur.

Suddenly, a faint but regular voice appeared. But the Brazilians did not realize that this was a note that meant death. However, after seeing the opposing destroyer rapidly approaching, the captain ordered to put away the periscope and dive to a position 30 meters underwater.

On board the Fleicher, the officers and sailors were in a state of euphoria at the sight of the opposing submarine, which they had not fought in a real battle for more than three years since the end of the Battle of England. During this time, their sonar and depth charges were updated, and they were curious to see what kind of progress their enemies would make.

Although the identity of the submarine is not clear for the time being, from the perspective of fleet security, Walter did not hesitate to give the order to attack.

With a few muffled bangs. Depth charges after depth charges were dropped into the water. At this time, the depth of depth charges is usually between 10 and 15 meters, which is also the usual depth of activity of submarines of various countries. Just 5 seconds after the first depth charge fell into the water, the first huge splash rose on the calm surface of the sea, and in the continuous explosions, a huge area of the sea gradually boiled. The destroyer began to circle the surface of the water and continued to drop depth charges at that suspicious location. According to the order that came from the bridge, the sailors constantly adjusted the depth of the bomb, from 20 meters all the way to 40 meters.

In the violent shaking, the Brazilian Navy's submarine "Canomão" seeped water everywhere, and the 22 crew members had to busy plugging the leak in the compartment that gradually submerged the surface of their feet, but as the situation continued to deteriorate, they did not even have time to fire the first torpedo, and completely ended their mission in two close-range explosions.

When the oil and debris surfaced from the bottom of the sea, the Fleicher finally stopped dropping depth charges. After waiting for 2 minutes, seeing that there were no surviving crew members, the German destroyer accelerated away from this area, and according to the previous reconnaissance report, there should be another submarine in this area.

The first target of the German destroyer was the submarine "Bakabal", which was of the same class as the "Canumão", and the captain, Major Peripé, saw through the periscope the scene of the German ships indiscriminately bombing the "Canouman", although it was not clear whether the unfortunate Brazilian submarine was alive or dead. But seeing the German destroyer approaching him, Peripé, who was already frightened, hurriedly ordered the submarine to turn and flee from this sea area at top speed.

Under the surface, the maximum speed of the "Holland DV" type submarine is only a pitiful 3.5 knots, which is less than a fraction of the German destroyer, not to mention the amazing underwater speed of the latest German ocean-going submarine!

Just 15 minutes later, depth charges began to explode near the "Bakababar", and for these poor Brazilian boatmen, the Germans thankfully only sent one destroyer over. If they had been besieged by several destroyers, they would have perished at the bottom of the sea.

Considering the safety of the entire fleet, and the fact that the "Fleicher" did not run into any trouble, the "Hausen" and "Hermann" remained on the sidelines. If one more submarine were sunk, the "Fleicher" would become the ace destroyer with the largest number of sunk submarines in the German Navy after the war, after only two destroyers of the Atlantic Fleet had each sunk a submarine of the British government-in-exile.

In order to avoid the attack of the opponent's depth charges, Peripe desperately let his submarine dive into 50 meters of water, which has exceeded the maximum depth of the "Holland DV" submarine, even so, the German depth charges still exploded one after another not far away. The 15-meter-long small submarine shook violently in the shock wave. After all the efforts have been made. Perry and his crew had nothing but prayer.

After 5 minutes, the German depth charge attack stopped, but this did not mean that the "Bakabal" could escape from the ascension. The Fleicher needed a quiet environment to reorient the opposing party.

Peripe was frightened by this time, and instead of taking the opportunity to flee the sea, he ordered the petrol engine on the boat to be turned off, in an attempt to escape the detection of the Germans.

It's a pity that the German destroyers were not equipped with primitive hydrophones, and after a while the depth charges came again......

More than 10 nautical miles away, two cruisers flying the Star-Spangled Banner were spinning in a bored circle. On the flagship "Buffalo", the captain of the ship, Colonel Jim Clark, smoked a cigar leisurely. Next to him, Major Novo, a naval intelligence officer, and Major Daniel, a special observer, also had fine Brazilian cigars in their mouths.

"Two. Guess how many German ships the Brazilian submarine was able to sink? One? Two ships? Three? ”

"Mr. Captain seems to be very optimistic about the Brazilians?" Intelligence Officer Novo had a pair of legs crossed, and the leather shoes on his feet were shiny and shiny, almost enough to be used as a mirror. Major Daniel's shoes are a bit worn out by comparison, but the special observers from the White House are said to be the same, unassuming, but very deadly characters, and a single sentence in their report can often determine the future of an officer's life. Therefore, since the major boarded the ship, Colonel Jim did not dare to slack off at all, and his words to his subordinates have become much more polite.

"Well, not to mention that it is particularly optimistic, but think about the performance of the German submarine forces in the European war, plus these two submarines are our country's manufacturing place after all, their performance should not be much worse!" Colonel Jim spoke his mind.

"Wishes are always good!" Daniel said vaguely.

"Indeed, the German Navy is probably more powerful than we thought!" As an intelligence officer, Novo could not make a detailed analysis of the strength of the German navy, but in his personal sense, that sea force was already invincible.

"Why don't we make a little bet!" Jim said with a smile, but before he could make a bet, the pilot of the reconnaissance plane, who had just returned from a reconnaissance mission, brought unfortunate news: the Brazilian submarine was discovered by German destroyers five or six nautical miles away from the German fleet, and one of them was quickly sunk, as evidenced by the oil and debris left on the sea, and the other was estimated to be attacked by a German destroyer, and its fate is currently unknown.

"What?" Hearing this, Jim jumped up from his chair, and he grabbed the pilot by the shoulder, "Where is the German fleet now?" ”

"They were about 12 nautical miles northeast of us when I came back, and now they should be closer!"

Jim turned his head to look at Major Novo, then at Major Daniel, and strode towards the ship's command room.

Meanwhile. The German destroyer "Fleicher" had stopped its depth charges, and the ship's cannons and machine guns were all pointed at its starboard side, and at a distance of 100 meters, a large black creature was floating up from the water in disarray.

"I thought this guy was a nine-life cat!" Captain Walter, who was standing on the bridge, pointed to the Brazilian submarine.

Deputy Captain André agreed: "Not really! We dropped at least 40 depth charges, and it's a miracle that this guy was able to float alive! ”

Under the watchful eyes of the German sailors, the hatch of the submarine opened, and a hand holding a white handkerchief was extended from inside. While waving the white handkerchief, the owner of the hand also crawled out of it with a pale face.

"It's Brazilian!"

Walter breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the other party's shout, he was still very worried that he was attacking an American submarine. But even if they did sink the American submarine, they could only be blamed for not surfacing to identify themselves. As the commander of the escort destroyer, Walter could not have risked this with the freighters behind him.

After the Germans accepted their surrender, the Brazilian crew climbed out of the cabin one by one, and then soothed their nerves on the deck of the submarine in a variety of positions, taking a big breath of fresh air from the sea. No one was going to touch the two canvas-covered cannons on the deck of the submarine under the guns of the Germans.

However, just as the "Fleicher" approached to receive the hapless Brazilian submarine. The ship's lookout suddenly reported the appearance of two white warships in the southwestern sea. In this case. Lieutenant Colonel Walter sent a small group of sailors aboard the Brazilian submarine while returning the rest to their respective positions while sending an alarm signal to the flotilla behind.

It's only a moment. The two cruisers, with the Star-Spangled Banner flying on their masts, sailed at high speed into the range of the Fleicher's main guns, and one of them also issued a flag signal:

"We are the U.S. Navy, and that submarine has been handed over to us by the Brazilian government, please return it to us immediately!"

"When did a Brazilian submarine become an American submarine?" Andre was very surprised, at this time, the "Hausen" in the back escort fleet also sent a signal, it immediately rushed over to reinforce, but it was obvious that the American ** ships traveling in the opposite direction would sail here before it.

"I think they're just trying to save their allies!" Walter said coldly, "Reply to the flag signal and warn them not to come close!" ”

After seeing the warning signal of the German ship, the cruiser at the head just repeated the flag words just now.

"Warning shots!" Walter's face was a little gloomy and terrifying.

The destroyer's two fully enclosed front guns then turned slightly to the right. Amid the rumbling of artillery, 4 120-mm shells flew into the open sea to the right of the American cruiser.

Seeing the shells falling far away and stirring up a high column of water on the sea, Jim, the captain of the American cruiser "Buffalo", looked extremely angry, and he, ordered: "Repeat our request and let them return that submarine to the US Navy!" ”

"Captain!" At this time, Special Observer Daniel and Intelligence Officer Novo also came to the command room of the battleship.

Jim turned his head and looked at this special person in a daze.

"You're doing a great job!" Daniel nodded, "I'm sure you're a very good commander. Next, let's see how you perform! ”

Ji Demon's eyes were suddenly full of confidence, "Pass my order and fire a warning to the Germans!" ”

The rumbling sound of cannon echoed across the sea.

The two front guns of the "Fleicher" were turned again, and the speed was quietly increased to 25 knots, and this time, the four 120-mm front guns were all aimed at the American cruiser led by the leader, and the two torpedo tubes in the bow were also ready for launch.

Three nautical miles behind the "Fleicher", the "Hausen" was also rushing to the accident site at a maximum speed of 29 knots. According to Instruction No. 7 of 1919 of the German High Command, the decision on whether to fight or retreat was at this time in the hands of the captain of the "Fleicher".

6000 yards...... 5000 yards...... 4000 yards......

The rangefinder quickly reported the numbers one by one, and gradually, the two sides were able to see the guns on each other's decks. The two American cruisers rushed to the northeast at a speed of 28 knots, and the German destroyer "Fleicher" also accelerated to the fastest 30 ships, and it seemed that three cavalrymen were rushing towards each other on the sea. Although the Fleicher was one size smaller, it did not retreat in the slightest, and the proud black vulture cross flag hunted in the wind.

At this moment, the commanders of both sides tensed their faces, as long as one of them gave an order, the first direct battle between Germany and the United States would inevitably happen, and then there would be many possibilities, maybe the two sides negotiated and then calmed down, but it could also lead to the outbreak of war between Germany and the United States!

Farther away, the sailors on the German freighter were looking out over the sun-drenched area of war clouds, and everyone felt uneasy.

At 11:59 a.m. on June 2, 1919, the sound of artillery rang out......