The German Army slaughtered all over Europe, and French, British, and Russian soldiers were trembling at the guns of the Germans. Less than two months after the start of the real battle, the Germans were already on French soil, and the slogan of the reconquista shouted before the war seemed like a joke.

However, compared to the useless army soldiers, the coalition navy can proudly puff out its chest, proudly believing that it is the navy that maintains the face of the coalition forces. Because up to now, the German High Seas Fleet, on which Wilhelm II had high hopes, remained in Wilhelmshaven, and Britain imposed a naval blockade on Germany by virtue of its naval superiority, and the results were good, and the High Seas Fleet was closed.

According to the analysis of naval sources, the four German-class battleships of the High Seas Fleet did not enhance the confidence of the Germans in confronting the British Navy, and the passive situation at sea in the early stage of the war forced the Germans to pin their hopes of winning the war on the army, which had traditional military strength, and the navy carried out naval guerrilla warfare with a small force and attacked the Allied maritime transport ships.

The so-called "small forces" is the name given to the submarine forces by the German Navy Staff. From the very beginning, the submarine was not valued by the senior admirals, let alone the fanatical lovers of giant ship cannons, Wilhelm II. Without the support of Tirpitz and other high-level naval officials, the development of German submarines was difficult, and several experimental submarines were not equipped with troops because of their poor performance.

The turning point came when the Germans were secretly working together, and Raeder, a young naval captain in the German expedition, returned home with four German-class battleships and submitted his report to his superiors. In the report, Captain Raeder made a slight mention of the role of Chinese submarines and referred to the statement of the Chinese naval officer that "surface warships are a tool for maintaining sea power, and submarines are tools for destroying sea power." Huaguo submarines have advanced performance and mature technology, and it is proposed to cooperate with Huaguo in submarine fields.

After reading the report, Tirpitz believed that Germany needed all the tools to undermine British sea power, whether it was a battleship or a submarine, as long as it could bring victory to the German navy, it was what Germany needed.

In March 1908, Raeder returned to China, accompanied by forty German naval officers and seventy submarine engineers and skilled workers. At the end of 1908, Raeder and others returned to China, and in addition to those officers and engineers, there were also four Seawolf-class submarines of China carried by large merchant ships, which were renamed "U" submarines after being incorporated into the German Navy, numbered U1, U2, U3 and U4 respectively.

By the time the war broke out, German shipyards had produced 36 U-boats modeled on the Chinese Seawolf-class submarines, and the performance gap between the two was not large, and they could fully undertake the combat missions expected by the navy. Rather than equipment, Major Raeder believed that what he brought back from China was the tactics of submarine warfare - the use of wireless communication equipment, after finding the enemy's transport fleet, gathering more submarines scattered nearby, and launching a hunt, like a shark that finds its prey, inflicting maximum losses on the enemy.

Raeder, who was very interested in submarines, eventually became the commander of the German submarine forces, and he currently had 36 U-boats to operate, and according to the timetable given by the shipyard, in three months his U-boats would increase to 51, and six months later to 92. This growth rate would not be enough to meet Raeder's needs, and he hoped to have 150 U-boats, which, according to him, would guarantee the complete paralysis of Britain's sea lines.

Raeder's assurances were recognized by the German leadership, because at the moment Wilhelm II had a report on the results of the submarine forces. In just three months, Raeder's submarines caused 450,000 tons of damage to the Entente, including 80,000 tons in January, 130,000 tons in February, and 340,000 tons in March. On average, one out of every six British merchant ships went to sea was sunk, knowing that this was just the beginning of the war, Raeder had less than 50 U-boats in his hands, and the wolves below the surface of the sea had already caused panic among the Allies, and the shortage of supplies was gradually presented to the desk of the head of government.

For Second Lieutenant Dönitz, the captain of the U34 submarine, hunting at sea was his favorite pastime, from spotting British transports, to firing torpedoes, to watching the overboard crew turn around and leave, he felt that the British were bleeding because of themselves, and because of themselves, Germany was gaining more time and a chance to win.

At the age of 20, Dönitz was able to become a submarine captain thanks to the fact that he was a graduate of the first class of the German submarine non-commissioned officer school, where he learned enough knowledge, and after eight months on the U3 submarine, the lack of officers led Raeder to promote many young men to captains, and Dönitz was one of the lucky ones.

Raeder's assessment of Dönitz is that he is full of offensive desire, has the composure that his peers lack, and most importantly, can endure loneliness. In addition to his personal character, excellent qualities were also one of the reasons why Dönitz became a captain.

During his school years, Dönitz's grades were among the best of all cadets, interest generated momentum, and Dönitz's interest in such a new thing as a submarine surpassed all else. No matter how boring the theoretical knowledge is, he can grasp it at the first time, and in his opinion, the submarine is an assassin, hiding in the shadows to give the enemy a fatal blow, and then sneaking away, this feeling is great!

As part of the school's training content, Dönitz spends 12 hours a day focusing on physical training and general knowledge of the internal operation of submarines. He had to look intently at the multimeter and take a basic course in the submarine school about using the electric motor on the submarine. Connect one end of the wire to the battery, and the other end to the multimeter, when the wire switch is closed, the current flows from the battery to the meter, and the pointer shows the strength of the current. When the battery in the submarine is depleted, the current decreases, and the indicator pointer approaches the 0 position. By deciphering this change, Dönitz can tell when their vital batteries must be recharged.

For a submarine commander, how to judge the distance and bow angle of an enemy ship on a submarine with a poor field of view, and how to quickly determine whether the ship is moving forward or backward are very important skills, and there are special equipment in this school to train him.

In the dedicated classroom, the course practice is very close to the actual combat. The officers were ordered to stand on a raised platform arranged as a submarine conning tower and observe the target with the telescopes above. These telescopes are specially made of high-performance binoculars, exactly like the telescopes they used in actual combat.

The target is a model of a ship that can change any driving parameters with someone in the background. Backstage operators wear intercoms and headsets, and examiners randomly set the parameters of the model boat, and the submarine commanders are asked to use binoculars to estimate angles and judge the distance of enemy ships based on how much hull can be seen on the horizon

In fact, these are far from the most annoying projects for these students. The computing course here and the boring data aggregation are the most boring subjects. The teacher talks about it and then notes it down on the blackboard with chalk. This knowledge includes oil pressure calculations, nozzle pressures, the flow rate of the liquid in the pipes, as well as data such as fuel injection and temperature. At sea, submarine officers and men have to record these data on a daily basis in relevant documents. It's boring and boring, but it's one of the most important jobs.

In a one-to-one, full-scale simulation environment, Dönitz was asked to connect the operation of the control panel and control more than 210 valve switches on the submarine. It also simulates the noisy working environment inside the submarine and the sweltering temperature inside the submarine. Practice how to open and close control tower hatches, sealed doors in cabins, and repair valves and housings underwater.

Of course, while learning these things, they are exposed to many other things. For example, they will learn shooting and aiming techniques, navigational knowledge, how to distinguish charts and routes, torpedo ignition and weapon principles, and learn how to operate radios, diesel engines, electric motors, and air compressors. Of course, one of the most important training is how to quickly open and close the hatch in an emergency.

They are assigned to submarine units as observers on duty and as trainee non-commissioned officers, boarding submarines on patrol missions or participating in exercises. Then they will go back to school again to make final preparations for boarding their own submarine. At this time, they had to challenge themselves in every position, as torpedo mechanics, engineers, and radio operators, until they were able to perform almost every job on the submarine.

The new commander and his crew will be given a short vacation after graduation, which is not free, of course, and they will be sent to the submarine factory in Kiel, where they will watch their warships being built. Nurture their feelings for their own submarine equipment. When the submarine is completed, it will become their exclusive weapon. Over the next two months, they will complete various tactics on this battleship, which will be explained by the supreme commander of the submarine, Raeder, to deepen their understanding of the performance of the submarine and the tactics of the wolf pack.

The submarine will then go to sea and join the wolves to begin its combat career, simulating various combat situations in the calm waters of the Baltic Sea, dealing with various faults, including stuck steering wheels, compressed air leaks, ruptured pump valves, water leaks, and damage to the hull.

Combining school life and combat experience, coupled with Dönitz's genius combat acumen, his U34 submarine single-handedly sank a 40,000-ton Allied transport ship. Also because Dönitz was the best commander in the German submarine forces, and the crew of the U34 was the best, they were sent to carry out the most demanding tasks. (To be continued.) )