During the two days that Pruance wandered in the Gulf of Mexico, a mysterious guest came out of the Atlantic Fleet. This was a C-class submarine of the Imperial Navy, and this submarine happened to be on a combat patrol in the northern waters of the Gulf of Mexico for more than a month, sinking only a lone small boat with a displacement of less than 1,000 tons, and in addition, when ~ the fleet went to New Orleans, it consumed almost all the torpedoes on the submarine, and it was also besieged by destroyers. If it weren't for the captain's decisive order to dive the submarine to the extreme depth, maneuver and evade it at the fastest diving speed, and get out of the sonar detection range before the destroyer catches it, I am afraid that the submarine numbered 332 would not have been able to continue to operate at sea.

By 19 June, the submarine still had supplies and fuel on board that could be consumed for nearly a month, but there were only two torpedoes left, and one of them had a problem with the depth gauge and could not be repaired on the submarine. That is, the submarine can return ahead of schedule. According to the sortie route, the submarine was supposed to first go to some small port in the Yucatan Peninsula, where it would be replenished with some necessary supplies, and then return to Cologne. That same night, the captain decided to approach the U.S. coastline one last time for one last night patrol before returning to base. It was also this patrol that made the submarine run into a big fish, and the most regrettable thing was that there was only one torpedo on the submarine that could be used at that time, and the captain was reluctant to throw out the cost of pressing the bottom of the box immediately. Anyway, let's get the most out of this torpedo!

The 332 submarine encountered the Atlantic Fleet, which was hovering in the waters of the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. On the night of the 19th, after the first encounter, the captain judged that this was the Atlantic Fleet, and he had the details of the Atlantic Fleet in his hands at that time. Knowing that there are six aircraft carriers in the fleet, four super battleships. That night, the submarine tried to enter the inner layer of the fleet several times and tried to attack the aircraft carrier or the battleship, but as a result, after tossing for several hours, the American destroyers that had been patrolling the perimeter of the fleet did not give 332 any chance. Three hours before dawn. As the Atlantic Fleet began to accelerate, the 332 submarine had to abandon night tracking, preparing to use the last bit of power in the battery to leave the most dangerous sea areas and then recharge the battery with a snorkel.

At this point, the operation is basically over. A torpedo didn't do much either, and even hitting a heavy cruiser looked a little difficult. And the American fleet has already left. If you want to run into it again, you have to be surprisingly lucky. Under normal circumstances, the captain who has decided to return will send a telegram at this time, summoning other submarines to encircle the American fleet, and return to the base himself. However, the problem was that at that time, there were only a few submarines operating in the Gulf of Mexico, and even fewer had the courage to operate in the eastern waters of the Gulf. And the captain's temper was a bit stubborn, and he really didn't want to return until he ran out of torpedoes. Outcome. During the day on the 20th, the submarine arrived in the northeast waters of Cuba in the morning, and while charging the battery with a snorkel, the captain sent a telegram, and when the battery was fully charged, the submarine sailed northeast, that is, in the direction of the continental United States, in the state of the snorkel, ready to continue to search for the American fleet!

Tan Renhao soon got the telegram sent back by the submarine, that is, on the twentieth. Tan Renhao knew that the US Atlantic Fleet did not go to a nearby port, but wandered on the sea. Then. He had already discussed with Han Shaofeng and was about to return to the fleet, after receiving this news, Tan Renhao decided to stay for another day or two, and when he had more accurate information, it would not be too late for him to return to the fleet. Of course, Tan Renhao did not know that the actions taken by the 332 submarine that sent back the telegram at that time were a bit absurd. In addition, the Submarine Brigade Command in the Port of Cologne immediately managed to contact other submarines operating in the Gulf of Mexico at that time, and asked them all to go to the eastern part of the Gulf to search for the US Atlantic Fleet. However, the nearest submarine will not arrive until the night of the 20th!

In addition to the fact that there were not enough torpedoes, the luck of the 332 submarine was indeed good at home. On the evening of the 20th, less than an hour after the submarine had retracted its snorkel, the listeners again spotted the near-ground fleet, and quickly identified it as the Atlantic Fleet of the United States and not a large convoy. What's more, at that time, the Atlantic Fleet was coming exactly towards the position where the 332 submarine was lurking. In other words, the submarine can turn off the thrusters, as long as it stays quietly in the sea, the American fleet will sail overhead, and then there will be a chance to fire torpedoes at a very close distance from the enemy battleship or aircraft carrier, and perhaps, the last torpedo can really work a miracle.

But the good luck would not last long, and just when the officers and men on the 332 submarine were excited, the US fleet made an anti-submarine turn about 5 miles away from the submarine. It was not the US destroyer that discovered the 332 submarine, it was just a normal anti-submarine maneuver turn, because soon, the US fleet returned to its original course, but the course deviated by several nautical miles, and it did not pass above the 332 submarine!

While feeling frustrated, the captain of the 332 submarine judged that the US fleet would continue to wander in this area, which also meant that they still had a chance. With this idea, the 332 submarine will not leave this sea area even more. In order to save batteries, the submarine did not sail at high speeds, and even turned off its thrusters most of the time, basically suspended in the sea, waiting for the US fleet to crash into the door by itself. It is conceivable that this probability must be surprisingly low, and that night, there were several long-range acoustic contacts with the Atlantic Fleet, which confirmed that the captain's judgment was correct, and the 332 submarine had no other gains

Because the submarine was not able to leave the dangerous sea area before dawn, unless it was willing to use up all its electrical energy and sail southwest by submarine, the submarine would have to stay under the surface of the sea during the day on the 21st. But if the submarine had been diving for a long distance, it would have been impossible to return to the sea area on the night of the 21st. After much hesitation, the captain made an extremely bold decision, which was to stay under the surface of the sea and wait until after dark to see if he could collide with the US Atlantic Fleet.

This bold decision finally caused the 332 submarine to encounter the Atlantic Fleet for the third time, but in the end, it almost killed dozens of officers and men on the submarine. On the night of the 21st, the Atlantic Fleet returned to this area again, and the destroyers escorting the escort did not depart at all