PS: There were a lot of things yesterday, I'm sorry. Will make it up.

The number of merchant ships sunk by German submarines should have been: more than 9,000 ships with a gross tonnage of more than 35 million tons. I'm sorry.

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The flames of World War I not only swept across most of Europe, but also the Atlantic. Naval battles like Jutland, the Faroe Islands, and the Strait of Kythira, although they are exciting, are only a handful of such grand shows. You must know that the navy is a branch of the military that "can lose the entire war in one afternoon", how can it often play Armageddon, and no other power on the earth can afford to play.

Therefore, in the main battlefield of the Atlantic, the most frequent form of war is the kind of breaking and counter-breaking battles that seem inconspicuous, neither majestic, nor bloody, nor romantic, and even very obscene. However, the scope of this form of naval warfare is very wide, almost everywhere in the ocean, and the number of times is very large, almost every day. Because of its frequent occurrence, it also caused the most casualties and losses to both warring sides.

In this protracted confrontation between breaking and counter-breaking relations, at the very beginning, it was the latter who had the upper hand. Because the German submarines at that time were still very well-behaved, abiding by international law, and engaging in "limited" wars. According to the relevant provisions of the Capture Act of international law, German submarines are required to accurately identify the intended target before carrying out their mission. This requires the submarine to surface and send a crew aboard the target vessel to inspect it to determine whether the other party is a legitimate target. Only after it is fully confirmed that the target belongs to the attackable object, the submarine can sink it. Before sinking the target, it is necessary to ensure that the entire crew of the opposing party is given a chance to escape and, if necessary, some assistance. However, when the submarine fulfilled the above rules, its own tactical advantages such as concealment and suddenness were almost completely lost, so the German submarine had a mediocre record in the early stage of World War I.

In fact, at this time, the confrontation between the breaking of diplomatic relations and the anti-breaking of diplomatic relations was not intense, but at this time the British did a foolish thing that they thought they were clever. They first engaged in a camouflage submarine hunting called the "Q boat". This "Q boat" was converted from an ordinary merchant ship, and outwardly it was indistinguishable from an ordinary merchant ship, but it was equipped with large-caliber artillery and anti-submarine bombs, and some were also equipped with torpedoes. Its crew are all volunteers, from the Royal Navy Reserve or the merchant fleet. This Rausch is used to pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger, and it is specially used for fishing. In total, the British built more than 200 Q boats of various types, and fished all over the world. Many German submarines were fooled, sinking more than 20 and damaging more than 80.

With this excuse, the Germans completely lost face and engaged in unlimited submarine warfare. Once they were embarrassed, the situation suddenly changed greatly, and the results of the battle rose slowly. Of course, judging from the development of the war, Erdezi will choose this tactic sooner or later, but because of the British man's self-inflicted cleverness, they have a pretty good excuse, and this reputation is different.

The period before the United States entered the war after Erdezi was shameless became a nightmare for the British and French, and the entire Entente lost more than 24 million tons of merchant ships and more than 200 warships of various kinds. At the height of German submarine madness, the Allies sank more than 2 million tons of merchant ships every month. It was not until after the United States entered the war that the United States sent a large number of warships to participate in the escort. The situation has only improved when a large number of escort ships ordered by Japan in China and made their own have been put into anti-sabotage operations one after another.

In particular, the Americans discovered the aircraft anti-submarine weapon, which was a big killer, and after entering 1918, as a large number of temporary aircraft carriers of the United States joined the escort operation, the rampant arrogance of German submarines was gradually suppressed.

But the Germans, having lost a number of submarines, also learned wisely, and they concentrated on operating at night, hiding in the sea during the day. With the reconnaissance technology of the time, the Allied planes relied on visual sight to detect submarines on the surface of the sea, but if the submarine only extended its snorkel and hovered in the sea, it would be difficult to find it. And Britain and the United States and other countries have no sonar, and there are not many ways to deal with these German submarines that come out day and night, and they also need a large number of escort ships. In any case, thanks to the use of aircraft carriers, the Allies succeeded in halving the time of German submarine activity.

In order to confront the hateful German submarines, the United States, Britain, France and other countries have thought of many ways and opened a lot of brains. On the one hand, they introduced a large number of Chinese water bomb-1 "Lion's Head Goose" water patrol aircraft, and on this basis, developed their own long-range large seaplanes. They deployed these seaplanes on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and on the islands in between, and carried out armed patrols on the sea every day.

In addition, the Entente also exploded many small anti-submarine ships, the smallest of which was just over 100 tons, and was equipped with only a 57 mm rapid-fire gun and a few machine guns, as well as depth charges. These improvised hunting submarines are inexpensive, simple and quick to build, and can even be converted with fishing boats, and Britain, the United States and France have exploded at least a few hundred of these things. Although they can't go to the open ocean, they can play the "people's war" with numerical superiority in the coastal waters, and now the east coast of the United States and the west coast of France are full of such improvised submarine hunting submarines.

These measures taken by the Entente were still very effective, greatly reducing the space and time for the operation of German submarines, and reducing the loss of merchant ships from a maximum of more than 2 million tons per month to less than 1 million tons. By February this year, the loss had fallen to 800,000 tons, but the loss was still too large. After the Battle of the Strait of Kythira, the Chinese Navy also sent a large number of ships to join the search for German wolves.

At the beginning of April 1919, except for eight capital ships, two aircraft carriers and some light ships left by the Chinese Navy to continue to control the Mediterranean, the other four aircraft carriers and most of the light ships were dispatched to the Atlantic Ocean to participate in the operation, which was named "Wolf Hunt at Sea".

By May, the aircraft carriers Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, which had just been commissioned, also came to help with more than 40 light ships, well, mainly for actual combat training.

At present, the Chinese Navy's fleet for escort missions in the Atlantic Ocean is based on aircraft carriers, six regular aircraft carriers (Zhou Dynasty, Qin Dynasty, Han Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty), 14 temporary aircraft carriers, and four seaplane carriers are the core anti-submarine forces. In addition, there were six battleships, eight heavy cruisers, twenty-four light cruisers, forty-eight destroyers, sixty frigates and sixty submarines, which constituted an extremely large anti-submarine force.

With the addition of China's anti-submarine forces, the situation in the Atlantic immediately changed. China not only dispatched a large number of aircraft, but also installed sonar systems on all ships, which not only crushed German submarines during the day, but also did not have to worry about German submarines fishing in muddy waters at night.

According to a Chinese sonar soldier, German submarines are actually very easy to spot, they either stay still, as long as they move, they can be heard hundreds of nautical miles away. This is also not to blame the Germans for being stupid, submarines in this era have just begun to wield, how can there be any concept of "silence". The noise of the submarine was so loud that it would be spotted hundreds of nautical miles away.

Since the Chinese fleet joined, the anti-submarine efficiency has increased significantly. In April, the losses of the Allied merchant ships fell to 400,000 tons. In May, it dropped to 200,000 tons. On the contrary, German submarines suffered heavy losses, with 97 German submarines sunk or captured and more than 100 damaged in the past two months, more than in previous years combined. At present, the total number of submarines available for breaking diplomatic relations in Germany is about 400, and it can now be said that more than half of the casualties are already lost.

This is still the result of the Chinese Navy's lack of lethal force, and Wen Desi has already said hello and asked them not to work too hard, just when the meaning comes. His exact words were: If we finish all the work, what will the friendly forces do?

In line with this principle, the Chinese Navy basically turned a blind eye and regarded this operation as actual combat training. As long as those German submarines were not brainless enough to attack them, or to enter the final warning line, the Chinese navy would pretend not to see them even if they spotted them. Not to mention the pursuit, as long as the German submarines retreat with interest, the Chinese fleet will definitely not pursue one more step.

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USS Tang Dynasty.

The Tang Dynasty aircraft carrier was the fourth ship of the Han Dynasty class, which started construction on March 1, 1916, was launched on July 12, 1917, completed on October 15, 1918, and completed sea trials and adaptation training on April 10, 1919 and was incorporated into the South China Sea Fleet. He was then transferred to the Atlantic Ocean for anti-submarine warfare.

The Han Dynasty class is currently the largest regular aircraft carrier in the world, with a standard displacement of 33,200 tons, a full load displacement of 39,700 tons, a maximum speed of 32 knots, a cruising range of 15 knots/16,000 nautical miles, and a total power of 120 megawatts (16. 10,000 horsepower), with a crew of 3,050 people. Its armament is mainly based on air defense, and the whole ship is equipped with six twin 130 mm high-level dual-purpose guns, 10 quadruple 40-mm anti-aircraft guns, a total of about 50 twin and single-mounted 20-mm anti-aircraft guns, and 40-60 15-mm anti-aircraft machine guns (the number of small-caliber anti-aircraft firepower varies from ship to ship).

Of course, the main armament of the aircraft carrier is its carrier-based aircraft, and not these artillery. The Han Dynasty class carried up to 115 aircraft, and was generally configured as follows: 2 fighter squadrons (36 aircraft), 2 dive attack squadrons (36 aircraft), 2 torpedo bomber squadrons (36 aircraft), 5 reconnaissance aircraft, and 2 liaison aircraft. In addition, there were 9 disassembled spare aircraft (3 each for fighters, dive attack aircraft and torpedo aircraft).

At this time, a two-plane formation composed of H-6 "Demoiselle Crane" torpedo bombers was flying towards the Tang Dynasty aircraft carrier, and then the radio on the bridge sounded, ordering the deck to prepare for landing, and at the same time, the signal light of "preparing for landing" was also lit.

The ground crews on the deck immediately got busy, and three barricades were hung on the beveled deck, and then the conning tower gave the signal for permission to land. The long plane immediately took the lead and began the landing, slowing down and aiming at the runway on the beveled deck, with the flaps to the maximum. Then the plane lowered its landing gear and tail hook and rushed down to the deck. With a bang, the tail hook of the aircraft successfully hooked the first blocking cable, and the plane rushed forward for more than 20 meters and was forced to stop by the blocking cable, and the landing was successful.

The ground crew hurriedly ran over in the battery trailer, and some people immediately disengaged the tail hook and the blocking cable, and activated the hydraulic system of the blocking cable to restore it. Others hooked up the planes to battery trailers and towed them to the parking stands, ready for the next plane to land.

Two minutes later, another plane also descended, and the wingman pilot's technique was so bad that the first and second blocking cables were not hooked, but fortunately he quickly adjusted his position and finally hooked the last blocking cable. The plane came to a crooked stop, and the ground crew didn't have time to wipe off the cold sweat, so they hurried up to get busy.

If the three blocking cables failed to hook the plane, the pilot would have to quickly pull up the go-around and make a turn. This is the biggest difference between carrier-based aircraft and shore-based aircraft when landing, and shore-based aircraft can slowly slow down and fly flat when landing, until the engine is turned off and slowly descended. However, the carrier-based aircraft cannot turn off the engine when it lands, and it must not slow down too much, and once the tail hook fails to hang the arresting cable, it must be able to quickly pull up and escape.

Seeing that both planes had landed safely, the ground crew commander smiled at the pilot and asked, "Dafan, how is this sortie?"

"I'm sure we took out a submarine...... "The captain smiled and took out a roll of film and shook it.

"Congratulations, Dafan, you're really lucky! This is already the third ship, hahaha......" The ground crew commander gave a thumbs up. This crew was particularly lucky, plus this time it had already taken out three German submarines.

"Okay, we still have to go to the empty finger department to report, hand in the photos, and we'll talk later. I'll treat you ...... evening," the captain laughed at him again, and beckoned his crew to run to the bridge.

At this time, the ground crew was also busy towing the two aircraft to the elevator and sending them to the hangar for overhaul and maintenance. This is also the regulation, carrier-based aircraft are more delicate than shore-based aircraft, and they must be routinely overhauled and maintained after each flight. If it's in the Pacific Ocean and the Mediterranean, you can do this work on deck, but here is the Atlantic, and the sea conditions are so bad that the plane has to go into the hangar soon after landing, otherwise it may be blown out into the sea.

Well, that's actually a lesson. When it first came to the Atlantic, the Chinese Navy did not pay attention to this situation and was careless. Again, as before, the planes are neatly arranged in the parking area on the deck. As a result, a strong wind blew, and the planes were puffed and puffed, and it was later counted that the four aircraft carriers at that time had dropped a total of 28 planes, but fortunately there was no one on the plane at that time...... Later, except for take-off and landing, they no longer dared to put the plane on the deck to blow the wind.

On the Han Dynasty, the staff officer was reporting to Yue Youyuan: "Commander, the Tang Dynasty reported that the No. 61 crew sank a submarine, there are photos to confirm." ”

Yue Youyuan nodded: "Well, it seems that this tactic of letting torpedo planes and attack aircraft carry anti-submarine torpedoes to attack is not bad, and it can continue to be used......"