Chapter 558: Wolf's Den (II)

Nameless Bay, located north of Jiaozhou Bay. It is an open bay facing the Yellow Sea, facing the eastern ocean to the south, because it belongs to the reef dense sea area, it has been inaccessible to ships since ancient times, and the coastal area is a rock structure, which is not conducive to agricultural management, and there are almost no residents nearby, and it is for this reason that if you want to find a base for submarines to stealthily attack, Nameless Bay is a relatively good choice.

This bay was not originally called "Nameless Bay", it did not have a definite name at all, so the name of this "Nameless Bay" was actually named by the president himself.

According to the relevant treaties signed between Germany and the Qing court and the subsequent exchange of letters with Beiyang Zhengfǔ, Nameless Bay was part of the "Attached Neutral Zone" of the German Jiaozhou Bay Lease, and China's armed forces were not allowed to enter this area, including the naval fleet.

Compared with Nameless Bay, China's submarine forces have many hidden bases to choose from, but in the end, the central government is interested in Nameless Bay, which is mainly due to two considerations:

First, Nameless Bay is located in the neutral zone attached to the German lease, without the permission of the German side. Japanese and British warships could not sail here, which was tantamount to using German power to protect the base, especially the concealment of the base, and the Yellow Sea was in front of it, and if the submarine force needed to attack Japan, this was undoubtedly the best position for attack, and it was not far from the Bohai Bay, so it could coordinate the actions of the First Fleet.

Second, as a time-traveler in history, Zhao Bei knew very well that once the First World War broke out, if China had not joined the German side in waging war against the Allied powers, then Germany would have very likely taken Qingdao as it had done in history. If this is the case, then, due to the fact that it is not far from Qingdao, Nameless Bay will continue to be under the protection of Qingdao Fortress, as long as the Chinese army successfully takes over the fortress, the submarine base can be effectively protected, and once the enemy forces attack Qingdao Fortress from the sea, then Nameless Bay Base will also become a response to the defenders of the fortress.

In addition, Nameless Bay has another advantage, just southeast of the bay dozens of nautical miles of the sea, there are several nameless islands, although the area is not large, but you can set up a telegraph station, you can also use the islands and reefs to moor seaplanes. The base can use these nameless islands as reconnaissance outposts to guard the nearby sea surface at any time, which further ensures the safety of the base, not to mention, this sea area is full of reefs, which can very well cover the submarine base.

Of course, if you want to build a base in Nameless Bay, you have to negotiate with the German side, after all, this is a subordinate neutral zone of the German lease.

As a matter of fact, the Central Authority's 'negotiations' on Nameless Bay began as early as two years ago when the United Front came to power, and it was not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but the Ministry of the Navy who presided over the 'negotiations' with full powers, and the specific person who 'made the talks' was none other than Sa Zhenbing, who had some connections in foreign naval circles, and it would be much easier for him to handle many things.

On the other hand, the German Navy Staff was also very interested in this proposal from the Chinese side, although the German Navy does not currently see submarines as a magic weapon to win the war, but considering that if a concealed submarine attack position is established in the coastal areas of China, the German Navy will indeed need to deploy submarine forces in the Far East in the future. Perhaps the Nameless Bay base can come in handy.

Therefore, China and Germany hit it off and decided to jointly build a large submarine base, which was codenamed "Otter Project", and this base was also officially named "Otter Base".

In order to complete the "Otter Project", China and Germany allocated millions of German marks for this purpose, of which German investment accounted for the majority, which is a very challenging 'sex' project, Germany provides technology, China provides labor, the purpose is to dig a submarine base hidden under the rock layer in that rocky area.

After more than two years of arduous construction, so far, although it will take several years before the completion of this plan, with the joint efforts of the Chinese engineering troops and German fortress experts, the "Otter Base" has completed the construction of a submarine "cave", and now, Zhang Guangyang and Rudolph commanded the "Seawolf No. 1" to sail into this "cave", and this "cave" is named "No. 1 'cave' cave".

In order to ensure the safety of submarines entering and exiting the cave, the engineering troops blew up part of the reef, cleared a tortuous underwater channel, and cleverly used the special terrain of the local area to build a "cave" with "no exit".

"There is no exit", this is just a modifier, it is impossible for the submarine 'cave' to have no exit, but the entrance and exit of this 'cave' are not above the sea surface, and below the sea surface, there is only a time when the 'tide' recedes. The entrance and exit of the 'cave' will only be slightly 'exposed' out of the sea for a short time, and if you observe it from a distance, you can't see it clearly at all, and because it is disguised as a natural 'cave', this further increases the concealment of the base.

This 'cave' is hundreds of meters deep into the land, and the tank inside can accommodate five medium-sized submarines in a single row, or ten submarines in a double row, even for naval powers such as Germany and Britain, this 'cave' can be regarded as an engineering marvel.

After all, Nameless Bay is an open 'sex' bay, unlike Jiaozhou Bay, which is a semi-closed bay, and there is no nearby fort to rely on, which requires a good camouflage work, "no exit" is only a part of the camouflage work, as another part of the camouflage work, the area around the base of dozens of square kilometers has been declared a "military exercise area" by the German Governor of Jiaozhou, and the anti-landing exercise of the Sino-German joint military confrontation exercise was held there. This area is usually forbidden to anyone to approach.

After the completion of the "Otter Base" No. 1 'cave', the German side could not wait to test it, but because Germany did not have a single submarine operating in the Far East. Therefore, Germany asked the Chinese side to send submarines to assist in the test, so Zhang Guangyang led the "Seawolf No. 1" to the northern waters of the East Ocean, and this was a real combat "nature" exercise, in order to completely simulate the requirements of the submarine in and out of the "hole" in wartime, the German side insisted on conducting the test at night.

It is true that there are some risks in this operation, but Zhang Guangyang is not worried; after all, after more than half a year of high-intensity training, the officers and men are already familiar with the "sexual" capabilities of this German-made submarine. In order to draw up an action plan, Zhang Guangyang and his officers and men took almost every detail into account, and in addition, the submarine is actually under the command of a German naval officer who participated in the construction of the 'cave', so this test of entering and exiting the 'cave' can basically guarantee that nothing goes wrong.

However, it was not an easy task to dive in and out of the 'cave' in this light, and the German captain Rudolph was very nervous and instructed the submarine to get as close to the coast as possible, until the submarine had already passed the reef area, he ordered the searchlights to be extinguished, and everyone was allowed to enter the submarine, closing all the watertight 'doors'.

Then, the German captain very cautiously gave the order for the submarine to dive and start the electric motor, and commanded the submarine to sail towards the channel at a low speed of two knots, and everyone in the submarine held their breath nervously, for fear of hearing the sound of the hull hitting the rock, although in this low-speed navigation state, the submarine will not be so easily sunk by the rock, but no one dares to guarantee that the impact will not cause damage to the hull, the navy has just a few submarines, and the center is still hidden like a baby, which can also understand the mood of the officers and soldiers.

Unlike Zhang Guangyang's blushing face, Lu Ping's expression was calm, and like the German captain, he just held the watch and stared at the time on the watch.

"Almost, we're in the 'cave'." Lupin put away the watch and glanced at the German captain.

But the German captain was still staring at his watch, and it took a few more seconds before the order was given to drain the tank, shut down the motors, and the submarine floated.

There was jubilation in the submarine, everyone was sweating profusely, and they couldn't wait to open several watertight 'doors' connecting to the outside, and then they saw the scene in the 'cave'.

The lights in the 'cave' were bright, and there were more than a dozen people standing by the tank, both Chinese and Germans, and the closest person to the "Seawolf No. 1" was Sa Zhenbing.

"Very 'awesome' ascent!" Sa Zhenbing shouted in German. And take the lead in applauding.

The German captain took the German Navy soft hat very proudly and waved it at the group of people by the tank, he was indeed entitled to be proud, because the floating place of the "Seawolf No. 1" was located in the middle of the tank of the No. 1 'cave', which showed that his ability to grasp time was not as unreliable as Zhang Guangyang felt, perhaps, he was just clumsy before.

Zhang Guangyang was a little unconvinced, in his opinion, if Lu Ping had not transferred the command of the submarine to the Germans, then it would be the Chinese navy who now has this honor.

"Sir, when you go out in a while, can you transfer the command of the submarine back and let me command it?"

Zhang Guangyang asked Lu Ping in a whisper, but the other party just smiled faintly and did not give a positive answer, but he did not deny it, which made Zhang Guangyang a little jumpy to 'jade' the test.

Not all of them are qualified to visit this 'cave' in detail, and among all the crew members of the "Seawolf No. 1", only Zhang Guangyang was allowed to land, and the others could only continue to stay on the submarine, watching their captain follow the group of high-ranking officials to look left and right in this narrow 'cave'.

"The air is fresh." Zhang Guangyang exclaimed.

Lu Ping smiled and pointed to the top of his head, and said, "Two 'pumping' fans blow wind into the 'cave', and the air is of course fresh." Just in case, there is also an emergency exit in the west for personnel to evacuate. ”

Zhang Guangyang glanced at the west and found several unfinished tunnels, and asked Lu Ping curiously.

"It is a mechanical repair depot, which has not yet been completed, in fact, strictly speaking, this 'cave' is not completely completed, according to the drawings, another dry dock should be built in the westernmost part to repair submarines, but at present, due to financial problems, the dock has not yet been built."

"The Germans don't allocate funds?" Zhang Guangyang asked, before carrying out this mission, he had also read the mission briefing, which briefly introduced the before and after of the "otter base".

"The Germans seem to have been inspired by this base, and they decided to build several similar 'caves' in Germany mainland for wartime use. Therefore, at present, in the view of the center, the construction of the 'otter base' in the future may only rely on our own strength, fortunately, with the experience of the construction of the No. 1 'cave', there is no need to worry about not being able to continue to complete the project, the only thing to consider is whether the construction funds can be quickly in place. ”

Speaking of this, Lu Ping walked to Sa Zhenbing's side, and the two discussed a few words in a whisper, and then Lu Ping gave an order to Zhang Guangyang.

"Major Zhang Guangyang, now, I order you to take over the 'Seawolf No. 1' again, and immediately lead the submarine out of the 'cave' after replenishing fuel and provisions, and sail to the northeast, bypassing the Jiaodong Peninsula, heading to the Bohai Sea, completing your training mission, and using the ship's radio station to send a coded telegram to the center during the voyage."

Zhang Guangyang took the draft of the telegram that Lu Ping had already prepared for him, his expression was a dance of eyebrows, he stood upright, saluted, turned around and ran to the "Seawolf No. 1", and then the sailors and trainee officers on the deck of the submarine broke out into a burst of cheers.

Looking at the group of Chinese sailors who quickly returned to the inside of the submarine, Lu Ping smiled faintly, he understood that as long as the Chinese Navy had such a group of soldiers who did not admit defeat and had the courage to enter, peace would surely be restored to the country's maritime frontier.

"Stopping war with war, and stopping military force with force" is certainly the strategy of the central government, but it is also the belief of naval personnel.