Vice Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi reluctantly left Jakarta with the Japanese mobile fleet and sailed into the Sunda Strait. When drawing up the Sumatra counterattack plan, the Navy's Command Department did not at all solicit the opinions of the two fleet commanders, Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo of the Second Fleet and Vice Admiral Tadaichi Nagumo of the First Air Fleet, who were responsible for important tasks in the campaign. Based on the comparison of forces, the two men clearly opposed the plan to send a fleet to fight in the Indian Ocean with the support of shore-based aviation.

Now that the order to fight had been given, the two had no choice but to lead the fleet to set off, despite their reluctance. According to the plan, Kondo's Second Fleet was responsible for supporting the land and attacking the enemy's landing fleet, while Vice Admiral Nagumo commanded the mobile fleet to wait for an opportunity to engage the enemy fleet in a decisive naval battle.

The Sunda Strait is a narrow waterway between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies, with a width of about 26 km to 110 km. The strait connects the Java Sea in the Pacific Ocean with the Indian Ocean, and the average water depth far exceeds that of the Strait of Malacca, making it very suitable for navigation by large ships, making the Sunda Strait one of the important strategic maritime passages from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean alongside the Strait of Malacca.

In the evening, at the entrance to the choppy Sunda Strait, it was not yet completely dark. The Chinese Navy's Project 1026 submarine, which was on duty in this area, emerged from under the surface of the water and surfaced. The submarine is moving along the western side of Panitan Island, breaking the waves in the Java Sea. The captain, Captain Qin Haiming, wearing a wet raincoat, got out of the boat and stood on the small bridge of the submarine, and behind him, several crew members on duty also drilled up in turn. The submarine was undulating with the waves, and every time the foredeck sank, a warm black splash hit the bridge.

Qin Haiming, who was standing on the conning tower, looked at Krakatoa Volcano a few nautical miles away in the distance from his telescope. Smoke still spews out from the active crater, and the fiery red magma of the pass stands out at night. The sea was dark and dreary, and at first glance, there was no movement at all.

The Project 1026 submarine is one of the eight SMU40 large ocean-going attack submarines ordered by China from Austria-Hungary after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, which is an improved version of the German VII.d/40 ocean-going attack submarine, which is powered by two Steyr 5200 horsepower diesel engines and two 4600 horsepower main propulsion motors. Its performance is superior to that of the German VII.d/40 ocean-going attack submarines. When it uses the main propulsion motor submarine, it can reach a maximum speed of 18.2 knots, and although the range is only 175 nautical miles, it is enough to evade the pursuit of surface escort ships.

Due to a significant increase in the capacity of the battery compartment, the underwater displacement of the SMU40 large ocean-going attack submarine reached 2400 tons, and its standard displacement was 1830 tons / 2420 tons. In addition, in order to increase the underwater speed, a fully enclosed bridge was adopted, which has a speed of 21.5 knots (surface) / 18.2 knots (underwater) and a cruising range of 15,300 nautical miles / 10 knots.

The SMU40 large ocean-going attack submarine continues to optimize the hull alignment. Only two small upper decks remained, and the hull was streamlined as a whole. The armament was similar to that of the German Type VII.d/40, with only six bow torpedo launchers installed, all deck guns were eliminated, only one twin 20-mm anti-aircraft gun was retained on the bridge, and two liftable six-pack box 210-mm rocket launchers were installed on the fore and aft decks.

The SMU40 submarine is a nightmare for the current anti-submarine technology of the Allies, maybe their sonar will be able to detect it, but it will be difficult to locate its exact location. And thanks to its maximum depth of 220 meters and a high underwater speed of 18 knots, it is easy to get rid of the tracking and attack of anti-submarine warships.

Qin Haiming was originally appointed as the captain of the No. 1026 submarine. It was true that he was surprised by its performance, and Germany and Austria were ahead of the whole world in submarine technology, which was a recognized fact since the time of the First World War, but he really did not expect that the submarine manufacturing technology of the two countries would be able to reach the current heights. This is simply unbelievable with the excellent performance of the SMU40 submarine, if lurking underwater. With the current state of technology of the Allies, it is difficult to find its existence.

Every submarine commander wished he could command a submarine like Captain Prien, risking his life to infiltrate the British naval base Scapavolo and quietly sink the battleship HMS Royal Oak. Then return home safely. This submarine commander became famous in one fell swoop, wrote a legendary story of submarine warfare, became a hero in the limelight, and became the target of every submarine commander.

Unfortunately, the Austrians were very different from the Germans in their use of submarines, and for most of the time they used the submarine force as the role of a fleet scout: lurking underwater, listening and monitoring the enemy's movements, and then sending a report to the fleet to report the enemy's position and course, not risking an attack lightly, not giving the submarine commanders much leeway, and only rarely allowing the submarine force to attack the enemy's transport fleet.

In the more than a year since Qin Haiming became the commander of the submarine, he has not been given the opportunity to show his skills at all, and it is only recently when he entered the waters of the South China Sea that he has been given some opportunities to sink Japanese transport ships. Unfortunately, those Japanese transport ships were sent to the bottom of the sea without the protection of escort warships, and they never had the opportunity to experience the thrilling scenes of pursuit and escape.

The voice of the deputy captain came from below to the small bridge: "The submarine that was conducting surveillance in Jakarta sent a report 1 hour ago that the enemy's fleet had left the port, and the fleet ordered us to keep an eye on the movements in the Sunda Strait!" ”

"Got it!" Qin Haiming held the earpiece and looked at the gloomy night sky, "The visibility is so low, let's just lean to the edge of the volcano!" In addition, four more surveillance posts were deployed to search the sea surface without interruption. We now turn left, leave the fairway, a third of the horsepower, slow down and move forward! Throw the bathymetric hammer out! ”

He shouted from the bridge.

The four crew members descended the bridge, stumbled along the slippery fore and aft decks to the end, and threw out the sounding hammer.

The submarine has now left the channel, the ballast water has been drained, and the draft of the "Squid" is about 4 meters.

"23 meters on the port side, note!"

"25 meters to starboard!" ……

Qin Haiming distinguished the gestures of the crew in the faint light of the evening, and then reported a group of numbers to the boat through the earpiece. The submarine tossed so badly with the ebb and flow of the waves that the crew standing on the deck to take measurements was drenched in the spray. The submarine was getting closer and closer to the Krakatoa volcano, and when it entered the shallow water of 15 meters, Qin Haiming stood on the bridge and shouted: "Okay, now turn off the engine and prepare to dive!" ”

The submarine slid forward by inertia for some distance, then turned its bow to the north of the channel with an electric motor, and the crew on deck quickly withdrew to the bridge and then slid into the compartment below.

"Okay, let's sit down for the time being and raise the periscope!"

The submarine sank to a depth of 15 meters, and the bottom of the sea, which was covered with thick volcanic ash, which would not have caused harm to the submarine, and now they were quietly monitoring the surface of the sea like a rock protruding from the bottom of the sea. Now they are located exactly at the depth of the underwater snorkel, and theoretically can float all the time under such depths.

There is still nothing on the sea. (To be continued......) R1292