At dawn, on the ship's broadside deck on the right side of the bridge, Jetlika propped his elbows on the railing, his waist bent at an angle of nearly ninety degrees, he held the standard stainless steel cup on the warship, felt the hot temperature of the coffee with his thick palm, his thick eyebrows did not spread, and his eyes were deep and worried.

"Dude, this isn't quite right." The general whispered to his subordinates, who also graduated from the Naval Academy.

Colonel Angelo, the current captain of the heavy cruiser "Boston", also holding a cup of hot coffee brewed a few minutes earlier, stood upright, sipping in small sips, making the "Sorou" sound of a rough man drinking soup.

"Indeed, it always feels like we have fallen into a huge trap, and what happened last night is not the final end, and the real crisis seems to be ahead, maybe tonight."

"What do you think is the problem?"

"Man, plan, mentality, mentality, ...... mind," Anglo slowly listed several items, and at the end of it, he sifted through himself: "I think the key is people—someone leaked to the Russians our whereabouts and the list of the fleet's cargo, and perhaps also gave the enemy information about the senior officers of the fleet, so they made a correct prediction of our reaction." ”

"That's right, man!" Jetlika remained in a position of leaning out of the railing above her chest, her head neither up nor down, so that her gaze naturally fell on the waves raised by the hull—the current ploughed the part below the surface of the sea and exposed it to the air, and the blue water turned into a broken white spray, tumbling and boiling and rippling in reverse, and finally reintegrating into the undulating blue waves.

"We are now 120 nautical miles away from our original course, and although the charts in this area do not mark the reefs and shoals, radar and sonar do not help to avoid these traps of nature, and the long period of high-speed navigation greatly increases the wear and tear of machinery and fuel consumption, and the psychological influence and hints of the sailors, all of which are in our favor." The general expressed his analysis worriedly.

"After joining the Oliscany, we can go back to our original route, and we won't finish the voyage much later than we were scheduled to do – and we shouldn't have a problem arriving in France at the scheduled time if we increase the speed at the right time," Angelo said. ”

"The time is the same, but the range is much longer, fuel!" Jetlika said in an accentuated tone. The normal endurance of the cruiser is enough for continuous transatlantic crossing, but the destroyer will not, perhaps our enemy is trying to harass us in every possible way······ Without destroyers, we can't cope with those submarines on our own. ”

"But judging by the situation last night, the destroyer can no longer cope with the enemy's new submarines." Angelo continued to sip on his plain black coffee with no added milk or sugar.

"Sometimes we should trust professional judgment rather than some superficial appearance seen by the eyes - the advent of flying saucers has broken the traditional technology of aerodynamics, which is studied by aircraft experts, and as a professional naval officer, we only rationally analyze the technology in this field, and a submarine reaches a speed of 25 or even 30 knots?" Jetley paused, "This can't be······ At least for now! ”

"You may be right, tactical ingenuity - arrangement can create the illusion of transcendence of technology." "If that's the case," Anglo said, "I'd have to look the officers of the Soviet Navy differently." This kind of sophisticated deployment doesn't look like a Soviet submarine fighting alone, but it reminds me of the wolf pack tactics of #Henitz, but the Seawolf King was recently pardoned and had been trapped in a high-security Allied prison for more than a year. Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that his powerful subordinate officers defected to the Soviets, and maybe there were German advisers on the Soviet submarines we fought against! ”

The cold sea breeze easily cooled the coffee in the cup, and when Jetlica took the first sip, it was only slightly steaming.

"There are many ships in the sea to the northeast!"

In this era of maturing radar technology, the officers and sailors were very calm an hour or two before the lookout on the mast shouted a visual discovery, and the officers and sailors were very calm. Only one major officer on the bridge looked in that direction with a telescope, some sailors on deck stopped and looked into the distance, while many more silently went about their daily routine of washing the deck every morning. …,

About a quarter of an hour later, Jetlica and Angelo went up to the bridge. Due to the need for the integration of ships, the speed of the special fleet was temporarily reduced to about 10 knots, and the 30,000-ton aircraft carrier "Oliscany" with three escort ships drew an elegant and spectacular large arc on the sea surface and inserted into the fleet space from the right rear. In this way, Jetlika's fleet has not only recovered from last night's losses, but also greatly improved its overall defense force. The majestic fleet array has played a noticeable role in boosting the morale of the crew, and the presence of aircraft carriers has also warmed up the atmosphere of the entire fleet, and every once in a while, the blue-gray painted carrier-based aircraft will pass over the ship's mast with a crisp roar, and they will climb unhurriedly to the air, spreading a large radius of air alert around the fleet, circling until the replacement takes off from the deck of the aircraft carrier, and whenever a plane wants to land on the aircraft carrier, The crew of the other ships would always keep an eye out until they landed safely. As a result, there are fewer sad faces, replaced by confidence and eagerness.

At breakfast, the fleet received a telegram from the Naval Operations Department, and all the crew of Jetlika were praised for their composure, and the rear commander of the Navy would serve as the commander of the special fleet, and the aircraft carrier "Oliscany" and the escort ships should do everything in their power to protect this fleet with a special mission - this meant that Jetlica had no authority to command a higher-ranking aircraft carrier group, and the temporary carrier group would not command his special fleet in turn.

The commanders of both sides gladly accepted such an arrangement.

With the large-scale reconnaissance and defense provided by the aircraft carrier, the officers and men of the fleet mostly thought that the enemy would at least rein in his actions during the day, but before noon, the impulse radar waves that had repeatedly attacked and disturbed the fleet in the past two days reappeared, and this time, the aircraft carrier-based planes soon discovered an unknown submarine with a control tower floating on the surface in the waters near the fleet, and the pilots unceremoniously attacked it with machine guns and explosive shells.

Although the commotion lasted only a few minutes, Jetlika still stood in front of the navigation platform as if she were a great enemy, staring at the colored lines that marked the planned and actual routes. They have a long stretch of lines that are almost parallel, the difference is that the planned route is a complete route from North America to France, and the actual route is only half across the Atlantic, and there is still at least six or seven hundred nautical miles to be completed. The general took a ruler and compared it on the chart, if the current course remained unchanged, the fleet would pass through the waters north of the Azores in more than ten hours, and before that, the ships had just sent fuel stocks and engine overhaul as required, the "Gatling" and "Sigsby" had a better design endurance, and they were fully loaded from Norfolk Military Port as long as the next voyage did not go around in circles at high speeds, and the fast minesweeper "Davidson", which joined halfway, had already sailed 2,000 nautical miles from EuropeThe fuel stored was only enough for it to complete the voyage at a cruising speed of 14 knots, and in the aircraft carrier formation of the "Oliscany", the aircraft carriers and cruisers had no concerns about fuel, and the two destroyers consumed nearly two-thirds of the fuel in the existing voyage.

"They want us to refuel in the Azores, so that even if we don't enter the port, the speed of sailing will be slowed down and the bottom of the sea there will be relatively shallow, and if the ship sinks, the frogmen wearing heavy diving equipment will have a chance to get what they want from the wreckage." Jetlika said to Angelo that at this time the White House envoy and Dr. Mante were in the command room on the ship, and the people who could listen to their conversation were the ship's own officers.

"Then let's go back to our original course, far away from the Azores, or go slow, or contact the supply ships for refueling, or simply let the Davidson go." ”

Jetlika put her hands behind her back, hung her head, and said in a deep tone: "It and its wingmen were called in our most difficult time, the crew behaved extremely bravely, the Emmons became a victim of the enemy's night attack, the crew suffered heavy casualties, if the Davidson was left alone, it was likely to run into the enemy submarine trailing, and the tragedy might happen again, not to mention that there is only one fast minesweeper in our fleet." ”…,

"Are we really going to the Azores to refuel?" Colonel Angelo asked reluctantly.

Jetlica turned to Anglo: "Before making a decision, why not listen to Mr. Special Envoy, we may be able to gain reverse inspiration from his words, don't you think?" ”

Angelo frowned and squinted, if this White House envoy really had a problem, not only would the special fleet and special cargo be in a difficult situation, but the prospects of the United States in this war would also be worrying - the allies were able to defeat Germany and the Japanese smoothly, and the decipherment of their communication codes played a very big role, and on the other hand, if their core secrets were constantly stolen by their opponents, it would not be surprising that they would lose one after another on the battlefield.

Under the warm noon sun, more than forty meters below the sea surface, the cold sea water is dimly lit, in such an environment, a number of smooth lines, pitch black submarines are quietly suspended, a slender line extends from the antenna on the upper part of their command module to the sea surface, the ball-sized floats are like jellyfish breathable on the sea surface, and the special materials make their radar reflection area smaller than that of ordinary periscopes, which means that even the best shipborne microwave radar is difficult to detect them- Unless they do not simply receive radio waves, but emit radio signals.

Inside these "big black fish", the dim light illuminates the calm and cold faces. The bearded ones were hard to tell their age, and those with shaved beards looked young, and their attire was not entirely uniform, some wore dark blue uniforms, some wore thick pullovers and gray trousers, and some wore warm and fashionable military leather jackets. Except for a few crew members on duty in front of the instruments, most of them were silently recuperating, not all of them were lying on their beds or hammocks, many of them were in their combat positions - although there was nothing to do at this time, they were able to get into the state as soon as mobilization was needed.

Lieutenant Colonel Braun and his co-captain, Captain Dickfield, sat back-to-back in the middle of UA-'s command module near the periscope, each munching on long strips of venison jerky, a Norwegian local specialty that was as easy to preserve as compressed biscuits, and much more nutritious and tasted better than military biscuits.

"Our fish will come! The Atlantic Ocean is so big, they can avoid us with a slight change of course. Despite the small talk, Dickfield's voice was low. At this time, because the power system was turned off, the inside of the boat was very quiet, not to mention the footsteps of the crew, even the snoring of the big sergeant in the aft torpedo compartment could be heard. Speaking in a slightly louder voice is likely to wake everyone on board, which is completely unnecessary.

"Yes, this is a plan that General Bach has spent more than a year in North America planning, and the enemy will be like a dizzy perch burrowing into our nets, and all we have to do is see the actual nets." As the lieutenant colonel spoke, his manicured beard fluttered slightly with his cheeks, the captain's beard was a sign of the Nordic man's rugged, generous and resolute character, and his eyes were a beautiful cornflower blue when standing in the sun. In fact, this "Braun" and the Führer's wife, Eva Braun, do not belong to the same family lineage, but are related to the famous German rocket expert von Braun, and it is said that the IQ of the members of this family is generally higher than that of ordinary people.

"Does it sound like you have a lot of admiration for General Bach, who is even better than the tactical genius General Gargo, whom everyone admires?" The captain asked.

Lieutenant Colonel Braun grinned crookedly—this was his signature expression: "Just as Marshal Rommel is great or Marshal Manstein is powerful, there is no answer to this question." All I can say is that the raid on the U.S. atomic bomb research base was planned behind the scenes by General Bach, and at that time General Gargo was just a second lieutenant, uh, you know, in a major military operation, an officer like a second lieutenant may lead a team to do miraculous feats, but on the whole it still has to be grasped by experienced and accurate generals. ”

"If you have to deal with the British or the French, you have a good chance of success in the attack on the Europa, but the Americans are notoriously fierce horses, acting rashly and unrestrained, and maybe they will take the North Atlantic route as soon as they see that something is wrong?" The captain still didn't seem reassured. …,

The lieutenant colonel calmly replied: "This possibility is not impossible, but fortunately, our naval interception is just a plan, and even if it fails, it will not affect the overall situation." ”

The captain asked curiously, "Huh?" Sir, are you saying that we have other backup options, a direct attack by the disc or a task force to France to do it? ”

"This is the highest level of secrecy." The lieutenant colonel smiled, "Actually, I don't know, it's just hearsay and my own analysis." ”

The captain was not discouraged, but smiled wordlessly, without any scheming.

After a few moments, the communications officer with the headset turned his head and whispered, "Sir, the target is in Area 979. ”

When Captain Dickfield got up and walked to the platform, Lieutenant Colonel Braun only muttered faintly, "Sure enough, it came into our net pocket, and it was almost the middle of the night······ I love the night in the Atlantic! ”

The navigator pointed out the corresponding square of the G79 on the chart, a trick that the German Navy had used for many years, a few simple codes could replace the lengthy geographical coordinates, and there were no special charts, even if the communication code was deciphered, the corresponding position could not be known. "To the southwest of us, about 160 nautical miles, at their speed, they will arrive in eight to 10 hours," the captain said. ”

"Then let's have dinner at 5 o'clock!" Braun said in a normal volume, "Everyone try to eat as much as possible, tonight is going to be a busy night." ”

"Do you want divers to use this time to do one last drill?" The captain asked, moving back to the periscope position.

"No need, let them relax their sleeves, just show the usual training level is enough." Braun's answer is very confident, throughout World War II, Germany's surface ships from prosperity to decline, the performance of submarine forces has also experienced ups and downs, naval aviation has been full of twists and turns, but the frogman unit is a low-key and indispensable branch of the army whether it is in the Raeder era or the Dönitz era, although they do not have the outstanding explosives record of the Italian frogmen, frequent emergency maintenance of ships and even the rescue of shipwrecks have made them gain rich underwater work experience, The light and heavy diving equipment is also excellent and mature in terms of technology.

"Do you need to calibrate and load torpedoes in advance?" The captain's cautious and meticulous questioning quietly heated up the atmosphere of war.

Calm does not mean carelessness, and the lieutenant colonel quickly replied: "After lunch, the wire control device is adjusted one by one, and there is only one chance at most, and it may be regretted for life if it is missed because of equipment failure." ”

"yes!" "But judging by the UA-32's single-boat hits of two American destroyers last night, the new wire-controlled torpedo is worth looking forward to." ”

"I remember when we were first equipped with magnetic torpedoes, we were also full of ambition, but as a result, the influence of the natural magnetic field made them fail and not work, who can guarantee that the currents, temperature, and other factors will not help the Americans at a critical moment The lieutenant colonel first sighed, and then ordered, "It's better to be prepared with both hands!" The first four two wire-controlled two-triggered, the second round of four, one wire-controlled three-triggered, and the third round all triggered. ”

"Will the proportion of wire control be a little less?" The captain asked.

The lieutenant colonel grinned crookedly: "In submarine cluster operations aimed at attacking a small number of targets, it is really not necessary for a submarine to pursue an absolute hit rate, and it is far more important to cover and complement each other to ensure the success rate of the cluster than personal honor." ”。 ）