How could the Italian government not know about the resentment of the British towards Italian East Africa? Not only did they know but they also knew what made the British so resentful, it was the Italian Indian Ocean Fleet stationed in East Africa, or more precisely, the submarine formations in the Italian Indian Ocean Fleet.

If you want to say which fleet has the most submarines at present, it is the Indian Ocean Fleet based in East Africa.

You must know that the Italian Navy currently has a total of 39 submarines, 24 of which are in the Indian Ocean Fleet. Of the 39 submarines, three were built in the early days and could only be used for teaching, seven were offshore submarines, and two were commissioned after the war. Look, it's not that the Navy has basically put submarines in the Indian Ocean.

To be fair, it makes perfect sense for the Italian Navy to place submarines in the Indian Ocean. Italy in the Mediterranean Sea has an advantage in surface ships, coupled with the factor of the Suez Canal, so the most urgent need for submarines is the Indian Ocean, because of the location of East Africa, the interception effect of the Indian Ocean is excellent, but because surface ships do not have an advantage, submarines that can navigate underwater have become the preferred choice.

And the Italian submarine is very good in performance due to the large amount of money invested. Taking the C-5, which is currently the most equipped in the Italian Navy, as an example, the boat has a total length of 71.55 meters, a width of 7.6 meters, and a displacement of 1,230 tons on the water and 1,510 tons under the water. Armed with a 76 mm deck gun, 4 torpedo tubes (three in the front and one in the back) and 16 torpedoes.

It has a maximum depth of 65 meters, two 400 hp diesel engines, and a maximum speed of 14 knots on water and 5 knots underwater. It has a maximum endurance of 7,500 nautical miles / 10 knots and a crew of 27 people.

As for the newly developed C-6 submarine, it is even more outstanding. It has a total length of 81.4 meters, a width of 8.1 meters, and a displacement of 1,590 tons above water and 1,910 tons underwater. Armed with a 76 mm deck gun, 5 torpedo tubes (three in the front and two in the rear) and 22 torpedoes.

It has a maximum depth of 55 meters, two 500 hp diesel engines, and a maximum speed of 14.5 knots above water and 6 knots underwater. The maximum endurance is 8000 nautical miles / 10 knots, and the crew is 29 people.

The Italian Navy is not only excellent at submarines, but also unique in its use of submarines.

At a time when submarines were still being used as auxiliary warships and the target was enemy warships, the Italian Navy had developed a new tactic for submarines, specifically aimed at enemy sea supply lines, which was named the Seawolf tactic. As the name suggests, it's clear that someone with afterlife memories has intervened.

The East African Fleet also had its own countermeasures against the build-up of British and French troops in Sudan and British East Africa. Its submarine formation was even more during this time, frantically attacking transport ships.

On the blue sea, the clear sky relieved the officers and men of the C-27 submarine, which had just experienced a storm.

Although the submarine can be underwater, it can only last two or three hours, after which it must surface. The reason is very simple, the submarine also needs to be ventilated, otherwise the officers and soldiers inside will be suffocated.

And the submarine of more than 1,000 tons, although short, is still so helpless in the face of strong winds.

Of course, the officers and men in the submarine were not comfortable, and the incessant shaking made people very uncomfortable, and some of them were about to vomit out bitter bile.

The storm finally subsided, and the captain of the C-27 gave a rare rest time considering everyone's hard work. So in Class A of C-27, the submarine officers and men lying in rows only wore trousers and enjoyed a rare moment of relaxation.

Some people are not satisfied with lying down and sunbathing, and take a sip of their treasured wine, which feels too comfortable. Of course, it is certainly impossible to drink the wine alone, and after sharing a circle with his comrades, only half a bottle is left when he returns. This again drew scolding, and the comrades-in-arms were laughing in films.

However, there are also people who enjoy the sun and chat at the same time.

"You said we would have had the luck of the U-9, three 12,000-ton ships on patrol and sunk in less than an hour."

"Defoe, stop daydreaming, I know you want to be a hero like Captain Weidigan. But you only see the success of the U-9, and you don't see too many fortuitous factors in it. Even if we do it all over again, the U-9 won't be able to reach that height. If you look at the effect of German submarine attack battleships now, is it a super high failure rate. ”

This young man named Defoe entered the submarine force before the outbreak of the war, and he was not bad in all other aspects, but he had serious dreams of heroism.

And the other crew members on the C-27 made this good student sober up, heroism is not necessary in the army, especially in the navy, which needs to cooperate more. As for the failure of the submarine attack, then there is a high probability that it will be sunk or captured.

Although educated by the other crew, Defoe is also a very persistent person and has no intention of changing his own ideas.

As this time, Defoe ignored the other party's words and continued. "Even if we don't target battleships, then why can't we ask to go to the 1st Submarine Group. I heard that they had good results in the Red Sea, in the Gulf of Aden. And I heard that a large part of the ships they sank were ships such as military supplies and personnel. If we can be in the first brigade, then we can fight the British better. ”

No one refuted Defoe's words this time, because most of the people present thought so.

It should be noted here that the submarine formation is now divided into two groups, of which the first group is responsible for the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the ships passing through the Suez Canal. At present, after the Italian occupation of Malta, the sea transport route through the Mediterranean to Western Europe was cut off in the north.

However, due to the importance of the Suez Canal and the threat posed by Italian East Africa to the British and French colonies, there were also many Allied ships transporting military supplies and soldiers through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. Coupled with the narrow sea area of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, this also led to the fact that even though Britain and France deployed a lot of warships here, they still could not stop the hunting of the first group.

As for their second brigade, it is responsible for the Indian Ocean region.

At present, the shipping route from India to Europe, as well as the need to detour the Cape of Good Hope. As the most dangerous part of the East African seas, transport ships departing from India will not go there at all, but will go all the way south to the Maldives archipelago, then cross the Central Indian Ocean to the Mauritius Islands, and then go to the Cape of Good Hope off the coast of Madagascar.

And the existing twelve submarines of the second group are responsible for such a large area, which is too difficult, and the results are naturally much less than that of the first group.

The sudden quiet atmosphere made Captain Claudio, who had been sitting on the sidelines looking at his wife's photo, immediately arrive in a bad way.

He walked over and patted Defoe on the shoulder. "Defoe, if everyone goes to the Red Sea, Lieutenant Colonel Barrera (commander of the second brigade) will be kicked in the ass by Lieutenant General Hilma, you don't want to see the lieutenant colonel get kicked in the ass, do you?"

Captain Claudio's words livened up the atmosphere again. For the captain of their submarine group, everyone admired Lieutenant Colonel Barrera.

So the sound of uniformity sounded. "Of course not."

At this time, a soldier said funny. "I'm sorry, I'm going to say I'm really looking forward to it."

"I'll tell the lieutenant colonel you're finished."

"Don't worry, we'll stop him from sueing, because we all have to go together."

Just as everyone was joking with each other, someone suddenly stood up and pointed to the distance.

"Look to the northwest, if there is a pillar of smoke."

This sentence immediately caused the resting crew to stand up and look at it, and Captain Claudio picked up a pair of binoculars to take a closer look.

"There is indeed a column of smoke moving in the northwest, and there are quite a few ships here, let's go over and take a look."

With Captain Claudio's words, the C-27 immediately got busy, and soon the submarine slowly disappeared into the sea.