The temperature is not very high, the wind is not very strong, the waves on the sea are not big, compared to the wind and waves last night, the sea looks exceptionally calm at noon today,

A black submarine was floating on the glittering sea at the moment, and it was slowly heading northwest at a speed of five knots.

This is the Q29 submarine of the Chinese Navy, which belongs to the "Shark class" ocean-going attack submarine, which is serially subordinate to the submarine combat group of the Chinese Nanyang Detachment, and the captain Zhang Haihuan has the rank of captain.

Now, Zhang Haihuan and his Q29 are carrying out combat patrol missions, and the patrol site is in the Red Sea, which separates Africa and the Asian continent, specifically, the current Q29 submarine is sailing off the coast of the Dahlak Islands, not far from Eritrea on the northeastern edge of the African continent, and now, Eritrea is under Italian colonial rule, sailing in this sea area, you can not worry about being "harassed" by the British Royal Navy destroyers, And the Italian government is apparently happy to see the Chinese navy make trouble for the British here.

Just now, a "big household" submarine has just provided an ocean-going resupply for the Q29, and now, the Q29 is about to go to the waters closer to the Sinai Peninsula, where the ocean-going attack submarine is scheduled to hunt.

Q29 submarine is an improved model of the "shark class", equipped with a snorkel, relying on the snorkel, this submarine can sail underwater for a long time, and only need to extend the snorkel out of the sea, in this way, it greatly reduces the probability of being discovered by surface ships, which is very helpful for the submarine through the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean junction of the el-Mandeb Strait, because now, in the area of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, there are more than a dozen destroyers and submarine hunters of the British Royal Navy, and their existence makes the area around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait the most dangerous sea area, Only a submarine like the Q29 with a snorkel can dive into the Red Sea unnoticed, and hunt in the open ocean.

The prey is the British ships, whether warships or merchant ships, as long as they go to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean through the Red Sea, and now they are the targets of this group of "Chinese sharks".

Zhang Haihuan has just finished his captain's internship, and his experience is not rich enough, so he can only command old submarines like the "Shark", and now, among the submarines in service in the Chinese Navy, the performance of the "cuttlefish-class" ocean-going attack submarine is the most advanced, this kind of submarine can sail faster underwater because of the design scheme of a new concept, and its underwater self-sustaining time is also the longest when it sails entirely on batteries. The "cuttlefish-class" submarines have the largest number, while there are only five old submarines like the "shark class", and Zhang Haihuan's Q29 is one of them.

Now, Zhang Haihuan is standing in the command cabin of the Q29 submarine, holding a telegram from the Navy Command and reading it aloud to the officers and men present.

“…… Given that the Centre has officially declared war on Britain, from now on, China and Britain have officially entered a state of all-out war! For the sake of the interests of the motherland and the people, all officers and men of the Navy will resolutely complete the tasks of the Navy with absolute loyalty, absolute tenacious fighting spirit, courage to die, and confidence in victory! Let us shout in unison, the Navy will win, the Motherland will win! ”

"The navy will win! The Motherland will win! ”

"Now that China and Britain have officially started a war, we no longer have to worry about international public opinion, from now on, all ships flying the British flag are our targets, whether they are military ships or civilian ships, they will become our prey! I order, from now on, the whole boat will be brought to the first level of combat readiness! The telegraph operator listens to the radio at any time, and once he receives the call, immediately go to the target sea area to intercept the British ship! ”

The order was officially issued, and soon, the Q29 submarine entered a state of first-class combat readiness, and Zhang Haihuan also quickly issued an order for the submarine to dive, and a few minutes later, the "shark-class" ocean-going attack submarine entered the state of snorkel navigation, and only the snorkel, radio antenna, and periscope stretched out above the sea surface.

Zhang Haihuan stood in front of the periscope, monitoring the movement of the sea surface through the eyepiece, and the others also completed their work step by step, and the officers and men cooperated tacitly, waiting for the prey to be delivered to the door.

Now China and Britain have declared war on each other, the two countries have officially become belligerents, and before that, the British government has begun to increase troops to Burma and India through sea transport, and at the same time replenish military supplies, it is in this situation that the Chinese Navy's ocean-going submarine formations began to enter the Red Sea one after another, ready to intercept the British fleet here, the Red Sea is the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean, and it is also the only channel, which is the best battlefield for submarines, and at the same time, the Red Sea is also the most dangerous battlefield for submarine forces, Because the sea here is very narrow, with an average width of only two or three hundred nautical miles, it takes less than an hour for a plane to fly over the Red Sea.

Zhang Haihuan and his submarine Q29 entered the Red Sea five days ago, and during these five days, he had several opportunities to attack, but he did not launch an attack, because China had not yet declared war on Britain at that time, and according to the relevant international law, the two countries could not be regarded as belligerents.

Zhang Haihuan can completely understand the naval command's order of "no attack," and he also knows very well that the reason why the central government calls the Chinese army and air force units that have entered Burma to fight is to delay Britain's formal declaration of war on China as much as possible, so as to gain more time for strategic deployment.

But now that the British government has ignored the tricks of the "International Volunteers" and officially declared war on China this morning, the current naval command will have no scruples at all, and from this moment on, the "sharks" will pounce on their chosen prey with red eyes.

I have to admit that there is no "oil and water" in the waters near the Dalak Islands, Zhang Haihuan has not found any targets worth attacking for a whole afternoon since receiving the order of the Admiralty, except for some Arab sailing ships and fishing boats, there are some neutral ships passing by, no one knows whether these neutral ships are serving the British Navy, but even if he knows that these ships are transporting military supplies to India and Burma, Zhang Haihuan cannot launch an attack, this is also a strict order of the Admiralty, The central government did not want to involve other countries in this "war for the liberation of Asia", and the main targets of the Chinese forces were Britain and its client states.

It was not until six o'clock in the afternoon that the telegraph operator of the Q29 submarine received a brief telegram, which was sent by the submarine Q96, the "head wolf", the content of which was to gather a "wolf pack" in order to attack a British merchant fleet that had just passed through the Suez Canal in formation.

The area where the telegram was sent was almost 700 nautical miles away from Q29, and Zhang Haihuan hesitated whether to rush there, because according to the tactical arrangement on the telegram, the attack might be launched tomorrow night, and at the speed of Q29, even if he sailed on the sea, it was impossible to rush to the ambush area before the day after tomorrow, because the diesel crew was somewhat overheated, and the submarine could not sail at the highest speed.

After hesitating, Zhang Haihuan decided not to rush, but he also sent a telegram to the Q96 submarine, telling the other party his current location, and reminded the "head wolf" to pay attention to the planes in the sky, on both sides of the Red Sea, Egypt, Sudan, and the Arabian Peninsula on the other, but these two areas are British spheres of influence, and Britain has deployed a lot of air forces in this area, these planes are the number one threat to submarine forces, in fact, just yesterday, Zhang Haihuan was targeted by a British Navy water patrol plane, and the other party did not drop the bomb, but I don't know if it was also out of caution.

It must be admitted that the Red Sea is a dangerous sea, for both warring parties.

Finally, the last slanting sun on the horizon disappeared below the sea level, the sky was completely dark, the Q29 submarine floated under the cover of night, Zhang Haihuan gave an order, the submariners took turns to go to the deck to move, breathe fresh air, and also use this time to overhaul the diesel unit.

The submarine floats on the surface of the sea like a dead fish, with the undulation of the waves, the sea breeze blows, cool and comfortable, which makes people intoxicated, and the bright moon in the sky bends as if it is also intoxicated.

Standing on the top of the shell of the submarine conning tower, Zhang Haihuan held a telescope and looked around at the dark and dreary sea, but he couldn't see anything, listened attentively, and couldn't hear anything, only the sea breeze and waves reminded him that this was a dangerous sea area.

Zhang Haihuan had also been to the Red Sea several times during his previous ocean training, and this sea area was not unfamiliar to him, and he hoped to achieve his first results here.

Relying on visual vision to find the target, then the only way to rely on advanced military technology to help, Zhang Haihuan gave an order, and the sailors set up a set of radio transmitting antennas and receiving antennas for short-range sea search radars on the rotating base at the top of the snorkel.

This radar codenamed "Nightingale", is an improved model of aviation radar, one of the pride of China's electronics industry, this radar was originally intended to be installed on night fighters to search for enemy aircraft in the night, its size is much smaller than those long-range radars, can be installed on twin-engine heavy fighters, so it can also be installed on the ship's mast, and now, Q29 is installed with this radar, it can find surface targets dozens of nautical miles away.

At nine o'clock in the evening, the diesel unit was overhauled, and at this moment, a large reflected signal appeared on the radar monitoring screen, and the radar soldiers preliminarily judged that this was a large ship, but whether it was a military ship or a civilian ship, it was not yet possible to confirm, so they could only observe closely.

"Submarine diving! All crew members are ready for battle! ”

Zhang Haihuan immediately gave the battle order, and then commanded Q29 to pounce on the target, and a sea pursuit began.

At half past eleven o'clock in the evening, Zhang Haihuan finally found the lonely steamer staggering with the help of moonlight, which was a tanker with a displacement of 5,000 tons, and judging from the depth of the waterline, it should be fully loaded.

But the light was too dim to see what flag the ship was flying at all, and after hesitating for a moment, Zhang Haihuan decided to lean in and ask for clarification.

Q29 is an old submarine, there is still a naval gun on the foredeck, after two shells hit through, the tanker found the shadow of the submarine, so it accelerated, wanted to escape from this sea area, but could not escape at all, half an hour later, had to stop under the threat of shells, and then, Q29 sent an inflatable motor boat to approach, heavily armed sailors boarded the tanker, after a quick inspection, confirmed that this is the British tanker "Latonia", loaded with a ship of aviation gasoline from Malta, Preparing to travel to India.

Since it is a British ship, then there is no need to be polite, Zhang Haihuan gave an order, and the sailors drove the captain and all the crew of the tanker to a sampan, and lowered the sampan to the sea, and then installed six high-power magnetic bombs near the waterline of the tanker, set the explosion time, and then evacuated the tanker, and returned to the submarine with the sampan.

Fifteen minutes later, with a few bangs, a huge bright fireball exploded on the surface of the sea, and the tanker sank rapidly in a violent fire, and soon disappeared under the surface of the Red Sea.

The captain and crew of the sampan were stunned and then escorted into the submarine, where they were released before dawn the next day, where the captain of the Chinese submarine gave them some food and water and a compass and then paddled to the nearest coast of the Kingdom of Yemen, where the hapless British seafarers were not able to land in the Arabian Peninsula until the afternoon of the next day, where they were spotted by local nomadic troops and subsequently taken to the British consulate.

A few days later, the British newspapers finally published the news of the sinking of the "Latonia", and this was only the beginning of the nightmare of the British seamen, and in the following days, in the rough waters of the Red Sea, the "sharks" attacked frequently, turning the sea area into their hunting grounds, the name "Red Sea shark" did not go away, and the war between China and Britain entered a new stage.

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