British submarine technology was not without developments, on the contrary, at the end of the First World War, the anti-submarine technology of the British Royal Navy could be described as powerful. However, over time, their technology did fall behind, especially when it came to new German submarines, and this gap in technology and tactics created a gap that would be difficult to bridge.

Generally speaking, on the destroyers of the British, or more recently on the destroyers of the Americans, the sonar system has not been upgraded at all, and its detection accuracy is no longer sufficient to demarcate the specific position of the new German submarine, and therefore cannot provide accurate instructions for the next attack of the destroyer.

German submarines have not updated their technology for a long time, and even the most powerful submarine under Dönitz is only an enlarged and enhanced version of the U-boat of the First World War era. Therefore, the United States and Britain mistakenly believed that the Germans had not developed new technology, so Britain did not regard submarines as an invincible opponent.

After all, Britain lost its own homeland in a short period of time after the war, which put the British at a technological disadvantage, and many laboratories and large equipment could only be destroyed and could not be taken away. Therefore, except for a few technologies that Britain has tried to preserve, all other technologies have been dilapidated and incomplete, and they really cannot meet the needs of the war -- sonar technology is one of them.

Therefore, Britain gave up the research and development and promotion of some technologies, after all, some technologies cannot be put into combat use immediately, even if they are strengthened a lot. As a result, some technological developments were cancelled, and only the continued development of aviation and radar technology was retained as a key project.

It turned out that the British were not at fault in their approach, using old-fashioned anti-submarine technology to increase the search density on the Iceland-America route, sinking 4 German submarines in June, 9 German submarines in July, 5 in August, reaching their peak in September, sinking 12 ships, 4 ships in October, 6 ships in November, and 8 ships in December. Combined with the incalculable number of possible sunks, the Allies have sunk a total of 38 German ocean-going submarines in the past seven months, and it is not for nothing.

The data proves that according to the existing system, the Allies can still deal with German submarines, and it is precisely because of this that most of the weapons and equipment produced by the United States are concentrated on fleet cruisers and aircraft carriers, with the aim of mustering together forces as soon as possible to complete the decisive naval battle with Japan.

Against such a background, Germany's advanced submarines were born, which directly broke the balance of power between the United States and Britain in anti-submarine warfare, and forced them to face the cruel reality that the new German submarines had already been put into service.

"Sir!" a British naval officer knocked on the door of Dudley Pound, now First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy. With permission, he walked up to the 61-and-a-half-year-old head of the navy, stood upright, and saluted before he said respectfully: "The news just came that the special supply fleet numbered HH2 had just been attacked by the submarine forces of the German Navy and suffered heavy losses. ”

"What's going on? How many German submarines have been sunk?" Dudley looked up with a frown, and dropped the papers he was working on, the old general had lived through the First World War and was a very experienced admiral. But this hapless naval commander, who had taken over Churchill's squad, was struggling to sustain the most serious passive situation in the history of the British Empire.

Of course, he faced the same test as Hugh Dowding, who was tasked with taking over the British Air Force in Iceland, with only a pitiful 80 Hurricanes, 110 P-40 modifications, and 44 Meteor jet fighters with an alarming failure rate.

When the British naval officer heard Admiral Dudley's questioning, he immediately replied: "The battle report is still a bit confusing, and we are sorting out the testimonies of several destroyer captains, as well as the accounts of the situation by some merchant captains who were in the fleet at the time. However, some of the reports were very strange, such as the telegrams from several people mentioning two or more 'Phantom' submarines. ”

General Dudley Pound raised his eyebrows, his worst fear finally came to an inevitable appearance, when the first rumor of a ghost submarine came from the sea, he realized that this might be a new type of submarine of the German Navy, but he really did not have the ability to change the anti-submarine level of the British Navy, so he could only grit his teeth and choose to ignore the rumors of this ghost submarine.

He had urged the U.S. Navy to develop more accurate sonar technology and to equip U.S. East Coast escort ships and some British Navy ships with more advanced radar detection devices -- but unfortunately, the Americans did not pay much attention to Admiral Dudley's suggestion in order to switch from defense to offensive in the Pacific.

Now retribution came, and in one morning, Britain and the United States lost almost a full 30 destroyers and merchant ships, with a total tonnage of more than 90,000 tons. Countless cargoes were lost, a large part of oil and food were lost, and some munitions ships were also killed.

"More than two new German submarines?" Dudley tried in vain to cover up with any demons and monsters at this time, so he simply set a nature for this matter: there are no ghost submarines in the world, some are just new German submarines.

The British naval officer who heard this statement was stunned for a moment, then nodded and acknowledged Dudley's words: "Yes...... Yes, sir, the Germans attacked with at least three new submarines, and although our destroyers kept pushing them off, none of them were sunk until our planes and other ships arrived. ”

In January, the Allies sank a total of three German naval submarines along the route, all of them old U-boats, but this achievement did not make the British much happy, because during the month they waited for the more deadly new German U-boats.

"When will the HH2 fleet arrive here?" Dudley asked with a helpless sigh. Now that the loss has occurred, it is time to consider what the responsibility is and what else it is. He now feels that the most difficult problem is the entire energy supply problem of Iceland, which has lost a lot of fuel and is likely to be completely paralyzed in such cold weather.

The HH2 supply fleet has always been one of the more important fleets in the hands of the British government-in-exile, and together with the HH1 and HH3, it supports the main transportation of goods by the British government-in-exile in Iceland. The rest of the single or multiple transport ships are just supplements to these three large supply fleets. Now that one of these three fleets has gone wrong, what is directly affected is already very terrifying, not to mention the radiation impact.

As soon as more new German submarines appeared on the route, the HH1 and HH3 fleets would no longer be safe, and the final conclusion was that the British defensive positions in Iceland would eventually collapse due to fuel scarcity.

The reason why Iceland has not been able to develop in history is because of its own limitations. The British government-in-exile built it at all costs as an advance base for retaking its homeland, and it had to rely on supplies from the United States. Now that the Germans have come up with a trick, Dudley can only smile bitterly.

It seems that among the commanders of the German Navy, there are also powerful characters with unique strategic vision! Dönitz, Lütjens, and that Raeder...... Including Führer Accardo, there doesn't seem to be a character who is given for nothing. And this time the move is obviously the good show planned by Dönitz, the godfather of German submarines.

"It is really not possible to increase the escort fleet in the newly arrived port to the HH1 fleet, which is about to return to the United States for transportation missions, and the destroyers and cruisers that are mobilized from Canada to patrol must ensure the safety of the HH1 fleet!" Dudley thought about it and issued his own combat order. There is only a limit to what he can do now, except to increase the escort force of his own transport fleet, and he can only pray that God will run out of ammunition for the other party's submarine and leave this choke point by himself.

In fact, after such an attack, the German submarines did disperse and act alone, and the reason was actually very simple, that is, Prien's U-47 submarine battery had a little problem and had to leave early. The remaining four submarines had to fight on their own.

As for the poor supply fleet of HH2, it was devastated in the early hours of this day, and Prion achieved an impressive record of sinking 4 ships of the opponent with a U-47, which also made his personal total tonnage rise to an incredible 200,000 tons, becoming a veritable first commander of submarines in the world.

In the vast North Atlantic Sea, with the icy sea breeze and undulating waves, the Navy of the Third Reich and the British Royal Navy fought the most brutal battle, no one remembers how many battles took place in the Atlantic Sea in this war, but the soldiers who experienced these battles have imprinted them in their hearts. It's only when they're drinking in a bar that they tell these thrilling stories, many of which are legendary, and those around them can't help but feel nostalgic for this war-torn era.

But alas, the people who led this era, such as Prien, did not like everything in front of them. The icy sea water hit the shell of the submarine's conning tower, and the splash hit the leather coat, leaving a few water marks. Lighting a cigarette, Prien remembered the young SS captain on the supply ship, and the resolute expression on his still slightly immature face.

"Full speed ahead!Keep course!" Prion said to the first mate beside him, "Let's go home!"