At four o'clock in the afternoon of November 30, 1939, the Red Navy C-1 submarine, a 78-meter-long, 860-ton underwater displacement, and six 533-millimeter torpedo tubes, was quietly lurking under 30 meters of water. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

A balding man entered the command compartment through the pressure-resistant hatch, and everyone heard the captain shout: "Captain enter the command cabin." ”

Those who could put down their work turned their heads and nodded to the captain.

"Let's go on, everybody."

"Comrade Captain, it's already night." Deputy Captain Alexander Marinesko reports to Captain Aksheli Ivanovich Berg.

"Well, go up to periscope depth."

The 46-year-old Berg is already a bald middle-aged man, who served as the captain of the battleship "Tsesarevich" during World War I, and apparently he commanded a submarine, which is a bit too old, in fact, he is not the official captain of this new submarine, but an "acting", he is a naval communications expert, and the collar hangs the rank of brigade commander, and the class identification symbol indicates that he is a brigade-level communications engineer.

An engineer served as the captain, but like the young Lieutenant Alexandre Marinesco, everyone on board treated the "old guy" who volunteered to be temporary captain with great respect:

At the age of 46, he was an out-and-out "old guy" in the submarine force of the Red Navy, but this "old guy" not only knew the telephone and radio, but also one of the veterans of the submarine force of the Red Navy: in 1916, he served as the captain of the British E-8 submarine that cooperated with the Russian fleet in the Baltic Sea, and in 1919, when he was the captain of the submarine "Leopard", he participated in the operation against the British armed interventionists, and also served as the captain of the submarine "Lynx" and "Wolf" in 1921Captain of the submarine "Snake".

In contrast to the "old-fashioned" comrade of the captain, the submarine operated by the crew was the most advanced submarine of the Red Navy at present: the first newly built C-class "Stalin" type, which had just been commissioned a week earlier. Officially, because of this, Berg, who supervised the training of new submarines at the naval shipyard, became its temporary captain.

The fact that the captain was scheduled to return to Leningrad at the end of his first three-day cruise after his service was in a car accident and could not leave the orthopedic ward of the naval hospital for a month, greatly annoyed the fleet command and made several commanders and engineers who were accompanying the ship's research, including Berg, anxious.

Immediately after that, the naval command, in accordance with the Kremlin's order, ordered all the submarines in combat readiness of the submarine forces of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet to go to sea to block the bay, with the result that the C-1 could not go to sea because of the lack of a captain.

Berg, who had aroused the ambition of the new submarine in the past, went to the commander of the fleet, Isakov, to ask for war, and for a very good reason: he was an expert in submarine warfare, and he had been working on the C-1 for several months, so he was very familiar with the new submarine. If the fleet commander can command the battleship formation to attack, then he, the engineer, can also command the submarine battle.

Isakov was unable to cope with the engineer, who was a year older than him, so he had to ask Orlov and Lin Jun in Leningrad for advice, and finally agreed to Berg's request to appoint him as the acting captain of the C-1 submarine to direct the submarine to participate in the blockade of the Gulf of Finland.

In fact, the first to agree with the old guy to participate in the war was Lin Jun: the danger of blockading the bay this time is not great, under the absolute strength of the Red Army and the Red Navy, the Finns' navy cannot do much, and he and the Red Navy command want to know how much advantage the new submarine has in the actual combat environment. Besides, there was no idler who knew about the "Stalin" type submarines, and the few detachment leaders who were familiar with the new submarines could not leave their posts at all, and since the senators volunteered, Lin Jun and Orlov agreed to Berg's request.

Where exactly is the "Stalin" type advanced? Because he was the Soviet Union, he was supposed to be the first submarine in the world's navy to be built with a snorkel device.

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"Yes, Comrade Captain. Started to float, 30 meters, 25 meters, 20 meters, 15 meters, 12 meters, the elevator leveling. Comrade captain, the submarine has reached periscope depth. Marinesco reported loudly.

Berg walked up to the periscope, pulled the brim of the big cap back, crouched down and pressed the periscope motor lift knob, put his eyes on the observation hole, and stood up straight as the periscope rose. After a 360-degree view, the periscope was quickly lowered to its original position.

"Float to the surface, Marinesco, start the diesel engine when you get to the surface, and charge the battery at half speed according to the original course. Comrades who do not have a task can go to the bridge in batches to let off wind and smoke. ”

Although there is a snorkel device, there is no need to be too "sneaky" in the sea area under their own control, and comrades should be comfortable and breathable.

"It's Comrade Captain. The No. 1 and No. 4 water tanks were discharged, a group of bridge searchers were ready to board the bridge, and the engine room was ready to start the diesel engine. Other comrades who wanted to go to the bridge went to the boatswain to get a number plate. ”

Marinesko methodically carried out the captain's orders.

The sound of compressed air squeezing the water tank rumbled, which made people who were in a hurry to go to the top to breathe a little impatient, and everyone could feel that the submarine was rising.

What is "venting"? This is not only to breathe, the air when the submarine is submerged is not good, it is a pleasure to be able to breathe while sailing on the water, but more importantly, it is to go to the toilet - in comparison, the crew prefers the convenience of going to the toilet above, rather than the small and complicated toilet in the boat. Of course, it is absolutely not allowed to stand on the side of the ship and sprinkle water into the sea, and there is a special toilet at the back of the bridge, which is also one of the good times for old smokers to find a chance to smoke.

And what is a boatswain's number plate? This is a magic weapon in case of an emergency dive into a submarine to avoid pulling down a certain daredevil, who is still smoking in the toilet, queue up to receive the number before going to the bridge, and return to the boatswain when he returns to the boat, so that no one is pulled down.

The swarthy submarine slowly emerged from the water like a monster, and after opening the hatch, everyone smelled a fresh sea breeze, and the four searchers boarded the bridge first.

Berg was the fifth to board the bridge, followed by the navigator Chang Andong, who was to proofread the position of the submarine.

On a rare winter day, Marinesco, who was following behind him, gave the order to start the diesel engine through the microphone, and as a puff of black smoke came out, the submarine trembled, and the blade-like bow swept across the dark blue water under the night sky, stirring up bursts of waves.

"Anton, have you measured the specific location?" Berg asked the navigator.

"Yes, captain, as we calculated, the port of Helsinki is 20 nautical miles away in the direction of 060." The navigator answered Berg's question clearly.

"Captain, please allow me to return to the boat." Anton will be laid off after measuring the position of the submarine, and the command of the voyage will be handed over to the deputy captain, who will give the newly marked charts to Marinesko for a rest.

Berg nodded: This young man hasn't had a good rest in the past two days, so it's time to go to bed.

The searchers dutifully observed the surroundings with binoculars, much to the satisfaction of the old sailor, Berg, "Well, they are all good boys. ”

He took out a silver cigarette case from his coat pocket and motioned to Marinesco to see if he had one.

"Thank you, Captain, I don't smoke."

Berg lit one for himself and took a deep breath, "Good habit, I've been around for decades, and I can't change it." ”

Seeing that two "old sailors" in their 30s also ran onto the bridge, needless to say, these two were also smokers, and they also relied on their old qualifications to get the number plate from the boatswain first and ran up to smoke.

The hierarchy within the Red Navy was strict, and there was no concept of equality between officers and men, but it was also not as clear as in some Western countries, and Berg, who had been on shore for more than a decade, diluted that line.

"Come, comrades, smoke one."

The two sailors hurriedly took the cigarettes from the captain's cigarette case, and their sensitive noses already knew from the smell of smoke that the captain was smoking good things made in Georgia, which were generally not smoked.

"Thank you, Captain, your cigarette case is so beautiful."

"Hehe, it's been more than twenty years, and their captain sent it when I was the submarine navigator of the British."

The people on the C-1 submarine already knew about the past of this kind-hearted captain, but they did not know that this "old fellow" was almost "rebellious" because of this beautiful silver cigarette case, but fortunately, because he had a good personal relationship with Marshal Budyonny, he was able to escape the catastrophe by the presence of Comrade Marshal Marshal.

Half an hour later, the boatswain boarded the bridge, and the radioman received several telegrams that needed to be decoded by Berg and Marinesco.

After a few taps on the decoder, Marinesko handed the translated message to Berg, "The air force bombed the port of Helsinki in the afternoon, and asked us and other submarines in this area to block the outer perimeter of the port and prevent the remaining Finnish naval ships from escaping. ”

"Let Comrade Cook speed up, order the engine room to move forward at full speed, and the bridge personnel to be on heightened alert."

"Yes, Comrade Captain."

With Berg's order, the spirits of everyone on board skyrocketed: the telegram meant that the C-1 might get a real fighter, not a boring cruise. (To be continued.) )