Narwhals are a strange-looking sea creature that is petite among cetaceans, but compared to most fish and mammals, they are a deservedly giant giant, and the most distinctive thing about them is that their (mostly male) head sticks out of a spiral-shaped "horn" (this is actually one of their teeth, which grows over the course of their life, eventually piercing their upper lip and protruding from their head like a sharp spear about 2-3 meters). Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 It is worth mentioning that narwhals mainly live in the cold waters of the north, and the population is relatively small, and their strange appearance makes them quite mysterious in the eyes of the world.

In the early 30s of the 20th century, the US Navy also had their "narwhal" - a large submarine designed for ocean-going cruising operations. This class of submarines is an attempt by the Americans to develop large submarines, and its tonnage far exceeds any kind of submarine they have designed and built in the past, with a water displacement of nearly 3,300 tons, an underwater displacement of more than 4,000 tons, can carry more than 700 tons of fuel, and a cruising range of an astonishing 20,000 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots, and its seaworthiness is much better than that of ordinary submarines, but it also brings negative effects on tactical performance -- users generally report that this type of submarine is clumsy, and it turns and dives slowly. The two 45 times diameter 6-inch deck guns have a long range, but the observation distance and aiming accuracy provided by the submarine's own equipment are very limited, and tests close to the actual combat environment show that their effective shelling distance is about 10 kilometers, and the maximum is not more than 15 kilometers.

In order to meet the needs of ocean voyages, the narwhal class has a very spacious interior, all kinds of living facilities, and can carry sufficient ammunition and replenishment for sailing. In addition to conventional combat patrols, it is also capable of a variety of tasks such as breaking diplomatic relations at sea, coastal raids, and secret transportation, making it a super all-rounder among submarines. Before the outbreak of war, the U.S. Navy formulated a large number of plans for various operational needs, and for enemy colonial ports or transportation and supply depots hanging overseas, a narwhal-class Marine team carrying about 50 people went to attack, transporting, supporting, and responding in one step.

In the early hours of that day, when the Allied ship group "Frederick Caesar" turned around and returned from a position about 500 nautical miles east of the Azores, in addition to the "Blue Cod" on a combat cruise mission, there was also a "narwhal" hidden in the nearby sea, which was the "Nautilus" that had set off from Norfolk Harbor a week earlier, and its mission was to transport a batch of war materials to Scotland, from where it would pick up 60 important personnel designated by the British government. On the way, the commander of the "Nautilus" did not intend to take attack action at first, but planned to wait for the target to go far away before reporting the situation to his superiors, after which the torpedo fired by the "Blue Cod" hit the enemy ship, and was immediately held down by the German destroyer and beaten severely. Realizing that his submarine might be in danger, the commander of the Nautilus acted decisively, directing the submarine to surface and fire with two 152 mm deck guns at the German destroyer, which had turned on its searchlights to search for targets and continuously fired depth charges. Due to the long distance and the unsatisfactory sea conditions, the "Nautilus" fired 12 guns in succession, and all the impact points were far from the enemy ships, but even so, its move to venture up and open fire on the enemy ships still achieved the desired results -- the enemy destroyers turned off their lights, stopped pursuing underwater targets, and cautiously coped with the sudden change of battle situation with other escort ships.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the artillery bombardment, the "Nautilus" sent a telegram to its own headquarters, promptly informing it of the direction of engagement and the results of its observations on the enemy's situation; the Irish heavy cruiser "Luger," which was equipped with radio jamming equipment, immediately adopted conventional jamming means, but the probability of completely blocking the radio communication of the enemy submarine was only about 40 percent, which was far from being enough to ensure the safety of the escort fleet.

After some consideration, Rear Admiral von Heinke ordered a telegram to be sent to the German Navy Staff and the Allied Fleet Command informing them of the current position of the fleet and the current situation of the enemy. At the same time, the intelligence department of the "Luger" used radio direction finding technology to locate the enemy ship that had just taken and sent the telegram, so as to guide its escort ships to investigate. By the time they got there, the Nautilus had already dived underwater, and although there was no obvious evidence on the surface, the German destroyer's sonar equipment spotted the large submarine in the submersion, thus confirming the previous suspicions.

Since there were at least two enemy submarines in this area, the "Frederick Caesar" group, which had already completed the turn, had to sail in the direction of the European continent with all its strength, and the experienced Rear Admiral von Heinke left two newer and better German destroyers to sweep the rear of the fleet to prevent the enemy submarines from following the convoy in a floating state. Unless there were any new contingencies, this strategy would have kept the convoy out of danger with minimal cost, but less than three hours after the German tanker "Setres" was hit by a mine, a great danger arose - the radar of the "Ruger" detected a fleet approaching from the northwest at high speed.

At the beginning, the target was at the edge of the effective detection range, the radar could not judge its size and composition, and the atmosphere on the bridge of the "Ruger" was unusually heavy, so in order to avoid the spread of panic, Rear Admiral von Heinke decided not to inform his own ships of the enemy situation for the time being. Fortunately, the telegrams they sent to their superiors asking for help were quickly answered, and the instructions from the Allied fleet command were very clear: keep course and not disband the fleet unless compulsed.

Within a quarter of an hour of the enemy's movements being detected by the radar of the "Ruger", the distance between it and the "Frederick Caesar" convoy was reduced from 40 kilometers to 30 kilometers, which meant that the enemy fleet not only had an absolute advantage in speed, but also knew the exact location of this Allied ship group.

At this time, on the bridge of the "Ruger", all the officers on duty had returned to their combat posts, and their eyes were either fixed on their respective work objects or at the dark sea. A fierce battle could come at any moment, and the tense atmosphere swept away the weariness of the people, who speculated, pondered, worried, and waited......

"Sir, the radar room reports that, judging from the current detection situation, the fleet pursued from the northwest consists of two medium-sized warships, which are arranged in a single-line column, with a distance of about a thousand meters."

After receiving this valuable technical information, the commanders suddenly felt like they had seen the sun and the moon through the fog, and although they could not see the enemy's true face clearly, they could at least rule out the potential possibility of a huge disparity in the strength of the enemy and us.

Von Heinke ordered, as usual: "Inform the radar room, be sure to monitor the enemy situation closely, and report any situation immediately." ”

After speaking, the German rear admiral, who had experienced many naval battles, turned his head to look at his Irish partner: "If it were just two light cruisers, we would go up and fight for a good fight, and try to use the radar advantage to annihilate them, what do you think?" ”

Colonel Farrell replied with a grim expression: "Then it depends on whether our enemy has the courage to fight to the death!" If they had made up their minds to scout only and not fight hard, it would have been easy for them to avoid us by taking advantage of their speed and nightfall. During the day, we can still consider head-on charge, but at night, we have to be extra vigilant against the threat of torpedoes. ”

Von Heinke thought for a moment: "If we don't take the initiative to meet the attack and eliminate the threat of enemy ships as soon as possible, they are likely to break into our ship group separately, so that we can't take care of the front and rear, and then the situation will be very troublesome." ”

"What you're worried about can happen." Farrell said bluntly, "My opinion is to be prepared for battle, but until the enemy has made his intentions clear, the Ruger will not act rashly for the time being." ”

Von Heinke touched his chin and said, "Let the 'Hertha' carry out fire reconnaissance?" ”

Colonel Farrell did not reply, for his first task was to lead the "Ruger" in this escort mission, and he would only take command temporarily if the first commander was unable to perform his duties.

Before getting more information about the enemy, von Heinke did not make a hasty decision. After waiting like this for five or six minutes, a new report finally came from the radar room: the preliminary judgment was that the enemy ships were two light cruisers of similar size, with a formation speed of about 28 knots and a distance of 1,500 meters from each other.

Only a minute after this report, a new situation came from the radar room: the second enemy ship suddenly turned to the left and headed due east, as if intending to outflank the left flank of the group, while the first enemy ship kept its previous course and headed straight for the stern of the group.

Since it was difficult to get clear advice from Colonel Farrell, Rear Admiral von Heinke made a decision on his own: "The 'Ruger' turned around and attacked the enemy ship No. 1!" 'Hertha' meets the enemy's second ship! ”

Colonel Farrell accepted the order without any doubt and issued a series of tactical orders to his officers and men. The beautifully designed and well-equipped Irish heavy cruiser quickly turned around and then increased its speed to 25 knots in a very short time - with the combat performance of the "Ruger", too slow was not conducive to tactical maneuvering, too fast was not conducive to aimed shooting, and it was Colonel Farrell's responsibility as captain to select the most appropriate combat speed for the current sea conditions.

At this time, there were still more than two hours before dawn, and before the exchange of fire with the enemy, the warships on both sides were sailing with their lights off, and without radar guidance, it would be difficult to make timely adjustments to the enemy warships under such circumstances, but after the "Luger" and "Hertha" turned one after another, the two enemy warships on the radar screen quickly changed course, and the "Luger" intercepted the radio communication signals of the enemy ships one after another, which showed that at least one of the two enemy ships was equipped with radar and was effectively using it.

Before the "Ruger" entered the ideal range, the enemy's No. 1 ship quickly completed a large turn of nearly 180 degrees, and at this time, even if the Irish heavy cruiser pursued at full speed, it was impossible to catch up with this cunning loach, and the "Hertha" faced the enemy No. 2 ship made two consecutive small-angle turns, and the speed was increased to more than 32 knots, which seemed to be trying to get rid of the "Hertha" and go around in front of the Allied ship group.

"Hertha" belongs to the second generation of the German Navy's Gazelle-class light cruisers, which is an overseas garrison ship built after the war to protect commercial routes and colonial interests. Overall, the second-generation Gazelle class was designed and built successfully, well adapted to the strategic situation of the rapid expansion of the German Empire's overseas territory after the war, so since entering service, they have never undergone systematic technical modifications, and their night combat capabilities are still stuck in the traditional mode of visual lighting. When the radio communications of the "Ruger" were interfered with by enemy ships and could only be communicated through the inefficient light communication, the "Hertha" ran into a lot of trouble.

(End of chapter)