After the lookout reported the discovery of the U.S. anti-submarine patrol plane, Wen Haomao returned to the snorkel and reduced the speed to 8. For any captain, an anti-submarine patrol aircraft is definitely the thing they hate the most, and for a submarine there is little ability to threaten those "flies" hovering overhead, even decades later. Fortunately, Wen Haomao was a more cautious captain, he did not let the submarine sail on the sea, but used a snorkel to charge the battery, otherwise, he would definitely be discovered by the US anti-submarine patrol aircraft. Before, there were still people who complained about not being able to get to the deck to breathe fresh air, and when the hum of anti-submarine patrol planes came, I am afraid that no one thought about it anymore.

Although there was no sonar on the anti-submarine patrol plane at that time, as long as the submarine dived, it would not be discovered and tracked, but everyone knew that maybe they had been discovered, and the anti-submarine patrol plane was calling other planes, if there were destroyers nearby, it would be troublesome.

Wen Haomao also felt a little nervous, in the Pacific theater, one-third of the lost submarines were sunk by anti-submarine patrol planes, and he almost capsized in the gutter several times before. For those enemies who can reach him to death, but he can't pose a threat to them, Wen Hao's method is very simple, that is, to hide far away. But the problem is that now the battery is only two-thirds charged, and if the submarine evades it quickly, it will not be long before it will have to float. If there are American destroyers nearby, then he will not be able to circumvent them. Therefore, Wen Haomao could only keep the submarine at a relatively high diving speed, trying to get out of the dangerous sea area before the enemy destroyer arrived, and he could only pray that the US destroyer would stay away and not be able to come quickly.

"Colonel, anti-submarine patrol aircraft are moving away from us. Flew north. ”

After the listener shouted, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the anti-submarine patrol plane did not drop depth charges, and the 558 submarine was not found, and the time before and after lasted was only a few minutes, maybe it was just an anti-submarine patrol plane that happened to pass by on the submarine route. The Bahamas is originally close to the United States, and there are several routes from the east coast of the United States to the Gulf of Mexico to pass through here, which is the main reason why Wen Haomao chose to hunt here, and it is not strange that there are anti-submarine patrol planes of the US military.

"Prepare to float up to snorkel depth. Continue to charge the battery. Wen Haomao wiped the sweat from his forehead, "Let the officers and soldiers continue to rest, strive to fully charge the batteries before dawn, and then we will leave here." ”

The submarine began to slowly rise from a depth of 180, and most of the officers and men who were on duty returned to the main cabin at this time, and a few of them took out playing cards. Get ready to play for a while.

"Sound contact—"

The loud shouts of the listener startled everyone, and Wen Haomao, who had just leaned on the chart table, immediately straightened up. Look towards the listener.

"The sound of the propeller, due north, seems to be a destroyer, damn it, we were discovered!"

Wen Haomao frowned slightly, he hadn't heard the noise of the ground propeller outside. "How much is the distance, the exact location of the enemy, the speed."

"12000, due north of us. Speed 18, coming towards us. "The listener has gained several important data from the new instrument.

"Don't panic, the enemy hasn't approached yet, and they don't necessarily spot us!" Chief Engineer Dai Wen Haomao said this.

At this time, Wen Haomao was also a little puzzled, if the other party really discovered himself, then he should speed up, instead of sailing at a speed of 18 knots, the captain of the US destroyer can reach the fastest underwater speed of most of the submarines of the Chinese Navy can reach 20 knots, then the speed of 18 cannot catch up with the submarine. But the problem is that if it is not discovered. So why did the enemy's destroyers rush straight over? Perhaps, it was just a fortuitous coincidence. But the enemy could not have only one destroyer operating alone. Could it be a small frigate?

"It's a destroyer, it should be a fleet destroyer, the voice is special!" As soon as the listener came into contact with Wen Haomao's puzzled gaze, he knew what the captain was going to ask.

Maybe there is a huge fleet behind, or a convoy of transport ships! Wen Haomao reacted immediately. "Dive down to 220, get ready for battle, and bring the Haven map here!"

When the chief engineer gave the order to dive, the second officer spread the chart on the chart table. This is a chart that shows the currents and the depth at which the sea warms. At that time, the Imperial Navy had realized that the sea currents and the temperature transition layer of the sea water could effectively cover the submarine, so as early as when Tan Renhao and the others entered the Atlantic, they sent several temporary hydrographic survey ships and submarines that specialized in surveying tasks to roughly survey the hydrographic situation in several major waters of the Atlantic, and then issued a set of such hydrographic maps for each submarine fighting in the Atlantic, so as to help the submarine captain let the submarine take advantage of these favorable conditions to avoid enemy attacks when necessary.

The temperature jump depth in this sea area is about 200, which is more advantageous, as long as the submarine reaches a depth of 250, it can avoid the sonar on the enemy destroyer, which is almost the limit of the submarine's diving depth. The direction of the current is from south to north, and it is about about about to go west, and the width of the current is more than 5 miles, because it is a warm current, so the depth of the current is relatively shallow, and if you dive to a depth of 250, you will not be affected by the current.

"Reach 220 depth!"

"Keep it deep." Wen Haomao already had an idea, "Get ready for battle, all the officers and soldiers have entered the post, now, let's wait here and see what big fish will take the initiative!" ”

The 558 submarine lurked beneath the surface like an experienced hunter, waiting for the enemy to come up. Fifteen minutes later, the destroyer was already very close, and when the listener reported that the sonar on the enemy destroyer was not working, Wen Haomao and the others were relieved, which at least proved that they had not been discovered, and that the anti-submarine destroyer was also using passive sonar to search for targets, and it was difficult to find the submarine hanging in the sea if it did not take the initiative to turn on the active sonar.

"Colonel...... Oh my god, we bumped into something big this time! ”

Wen Haomao walked over quickly, picked up the spare headphones, and immediately smiled when he heard the dull, noisy propeller lapping against the sea. Any experienced submarine captain is capable of cutting from enemy warships, or

The noise of the propellers made to determine the type of battleship, or the fleet spears heard it, it was not only a large fleet, but also several muffled noises in the noise were emitted by the capital battleships with a displacement of tens of thousands of tons, and no escort cruiser or destroyer would make such noise.

"Keep listening!" Wen Haomao patted the listener on the shoulder, then returned to his position, and told the chief navigator and the second mate about the general situation, at this time the gunner also came to the command cabin, and reported that the torpedo department was ready for battle, and the six torpedo tubes were loaded with torpedoes and could be fired at any time.

"We'd better see what's going on." The chief engineer was very cautious, "Although the US military has not discovered us for the time being, there should be another layer of anti-submarine net, wait until we pass through the inner anti-submarine net of the US military, and then find a suitable attack position, fire six torpedoes in one go, and then take advantage of the chaos to escape." ”

Wen Haomao nodded slightly and looked at the gunner.

"That's it, find an aircraft carrier to launch torpedoes, then the US fleet will definitely be chaotic, we will dive to the maximum depth, and then get out of the dangerous sea area at full speed, and by the time the enemy reacts, we have already run away."

Wen Haomao looked at the second mate again.

"We only received news a few days ago that the fleet has also left the Gulf of Limon and is looking for the main fleet of the US army, if we encounter the US Atlantic Fleet, then we should first send this information back, and then look for an opportunity to attack." The second mate made his comments.

"This is probably our only chance. When the sneak attack is successful, it's not too late for us to send another telegram. "The gunslinger clearly wanted to get a hand first and then think about other issues.

"But if we ......" the second mate did not continue, it is very taboo to say unlucky things on the submarine.

"Ready to turn." Wen Haomao had already made a decision at this time, "The words of the second deputy are not wrong. We should send a telegram first, and then try to ambush the American fleet. Now we still have enough batteries to go at full speed for about 30 nautical miles, so we first sail 15 miles to the southeast, and then float up to send a telegram, and at the same time seize the time to recharge the batteries, and then turn the submarine back. If the U.S. military were going to do an anti-submarine turn, we would have about two to three hours, which would be enough for us to fully charge our batteries and get back on this route before dawn. ”

The gunslinger sighed secretly. There was no objection to the captain's decision, the chief engineer just nodded and agreed with Wen Haomao's decision, and the second mate naturally supported Wen Haomao.

"So, keep the speed and go to the 120 line. Dive down to 250 at the same time. The spear sighed, "Wait until the U.S. fleet makes an anti-submarine turn." We disengage from it! ”

Wen Haomao's guess was not wrong, and half an hour later, the fleet overhead began to turn anti-submarine around, and the 558 submarine also began to accelerate its disengagement at the same time. Because the noise produced by the submarine at full speed is much louder, it quickly disengages from sound contact. At that time, Wen Haomao could only roughly judge that the U.S. military's steering cycle was more than 2 hours, and the course of the U.S. fleet was

At half past one in the morning, the 558 submarine slowed down to 4. After making contact, and there was no anti-submarine patrol plane overhead, Wen Haomao ordered the submarine to float to the periscope depth, he first used the wide-angle search periscope to determine the situation in the surrounding sea area, and then ordered the snorkel to be raised, and then sent a telegram. The 558 submarine turned to 220 at about 1:40 and was about to return to the route of the American fleet, and if Wen Haomao's judgment was correct, then in an hour and a half, he would be able to ambush the route it had to pass before the American fleet arrived. Then use a submarine to torpedo and challenge a powerful fleet, as for the final result. Wen Haomao didn't think about it so much, like all submarine captains, if he could sink an enemy aircraft carrier, even if he took a big risk, it would be worth it.

For the time being, it is not clear whether Wen Haomao can catch up with the Atlantic Fleet heading south, or whether he can successfully escape after ambushing the Atlantic Fleet, the telegram he sent at that time can be said to be crucial. If it had not been for this telegram from the 558 submarine, I am afraid that by the evening of 2 August, Tan Renhao would have continued to let his reconnaissance plane search the waters of the Bahamas and the Florida Strait, and he would not have realized that the Atlantic Fleet was making a detour to his flank!

The telegram was received simultaneously by three submarine-communicating radio stations on the Little Andres Islands, and was immediately forwarded to the Submarine Group Command in Cologne, whose commander delivered the momentous news to the Theater Command as quickly as possible. At that time, Lei Shaoqing had already gone back to sleep, and after receiving a call from the staff officer, he immediately ordered the staff officer to forward the telegram to the Combined Fleet and the two main fleets. By the time Lei Shaoqing arrived at the theater headquarters, the telegram had already been sent, Tan Renhao, Chang Zhixin, and Hao Dongjue received the telegram almost at the same time.

Tan Renhao was also woken up from bed by Du Xing, and he immediately went to the command cabin, and Yan Yulong, who was on duty at night, had already finished reading the contents of the telegram.

"The telegram was sent by the 558 submarine, the captain of which we are all familiar with." Yan Yulong gave the telegram to Tan Renhao, "It's Colonel Wen Haomao, I believe he won't make a mistake in judgment, and the credibility of this telegram is quite high." ”

Tan Renhao was stunned for a moment, and then he realized who Wen Haomao was, and then finished reading the content of the message. If it weren't for the telegram sent by Wen Haomao, he really didn't believe the content of this telegram, and would have thought that it was the captain who was overly nervous, dreaming of killing several capital ships of the US army and using the large fleet of the US army as a fleet. But Tan Renhao knows very well that Wen Hao, who once killed an aircraft carrier, will not make mistakes in his busyness, let alone judge the transport fleet as a fleet. But the problem is that the telegram only mentions the presence of the main fleet of the US military and several capital ships suspected of being aircraft carriers, but does not mention the specific number and other escort warships, which also shows that the 558 submarine has only had vocal contact with the US fleet, and has not visually determined its specific scale through a periscope. So, is the sound contact credible enough?

Tan Renhao is not a submarine commander, and he has never actually been to a submarine in his life, so he naturally doesn't know that submarines mainly rely on sound to judge the nature of the target. There was some truth to his suspicions, but he didn't hesitate for long and made a decision immediately.