Chapter 142 The Fierce Big Fish In the early morning, there was a breeze, and the unmotivated submarine was like a sleeping whale, floating quietly on the black sea. Even if a bright moon hangs in the sky, it is not easy to see this dark ship lurking from a distance. On the command podium, which is more than three meters above the deck, four adults with completely normal physiques are crowded together, turning the place into an open meat can. There is no need to worry about the bumps of the light wind and small waves. The officers each held telescopes and looked at the surrounding sea very seriously, especially in the direction of due north and east. As time goes by, the black shadow appearing in that direction becomes clearer, and the outline of the fleet can gradually be seen! "Good guys, this should be the main force of the combined fleet! Have all the main ships come out? Those aircraft carriers should have sunk to the bottom of the sea to raise fish! Major, what should we do now?" Lieutenant Colonel Wiesler suppressed his inner thoughts. He was very excited, and his little eyes almost glowed green. His previous dissatisfaction with Major Ludendorff seemed to have disappeared, but cooperation between colleagues always had a defensive mentality. In this case, Ludendorff was not pretentious. There was no such pretentious word in his dictionary. Estimating the distance and speed of the fleet, he thought for a moment and said in a rational and calm manner: "If they continue to maintain this course, it is very likely that they will pass through the sea area between S-33 and S-37. As long as they The commanders of these two submarines can remain calm enough and should have the opportunity to find an attack angle. Even if the eight torpedoes cannot hit important targets, they can disrupt their formation and drive some submarines into our combat area!" Lieutenant Colonel Wisler asked in confusion: "Don't we seize the opportunity to take the initiative?" Major Ludendorff answered him word for word: "Starting the diesel engine or electric motor will increase the chance of being detected by enemy sonar. , and movement does not mean that we can find a suitable attack position. Therefore, it is a wiser choice to stay as quiet as possible before the enemy has discovered us!" "Okay!" Lieutenant Colonel Wisler, although not completely. Abandoning prejudices, but at least Ludendorff's opinions have been placed in a higher position in terms of combat. Just when they decided to continue waiting, the officer staying in the submarine cabin suddenly reported: "Captain, S33 sent a telegram. They observed the enemy's main fleet on the sea surface. There were many large ships and they did not take the Z-shaped anti-submarine route. "It is expected to enter the torpedo attack range in 30 minutes, please contact other submarines to attack!" "You are so stupid, Blake, have you forgotten the arrangements in the combat meeting?" Weisler scolded angrily! He said, as if the person who jumped into the test before was not him. "Radio silence has been broken, and we have to adopt the second option!" Although Ludendorff was a little disappointed, his overall tone was calm and objective. "Rally all the boats to besiege the Japanese fleet?" Wisler's eyes lit up, "Then I'll give the order right now!" "No!" Ludendorff said coldly, several submarines facing a surface force with dozens of large and small warships Fleet, "siege" is out of the question, "attack" is the most reasonable term. "Send the message. Except for S33, the other boats remain motionless. S33 keeps sending messages by radio, interfering with the judgment of the Japanese fleet!" "This" Wisler looked at the Germans in confusion. Ludendorff responded with amazing patience: "Although I am not 100% sure that the Japanese fleet commander will have the same reaction as the British, I personally insist on this plan, unless you have a better idea!" The implication is that we use this The British were defeated by their own tactics. The Japanese had studied under British masters for a long time. Could it be that they could still come up with any powerful tricks? After hesitating for a moment, Wiesler followed Ludendorff's suggestion and issued the order. The telegram was sent out immediately, but after that, the surface fleet on the sea did not seem to make any big moves. About a quarter of an hour later, there was a flash of fire in the distance without warning, followed by the roar of a medium-caliber single-barreled artillery fire. "They discovered S33 and launched an attack?" Wiesler asked Ludendorff nervously. Dependence is not a disease. Losing the consciousness of subjective judgment is the most terrifying thing. Ludendorff held the telescope and replied calmly: "We shouldn't need to teach them how to make an emergency dive!" Wiesler was speechless. On the sea, the frequency of flashes of fire was getting higher and higher, but it seemed that there were not many ships participating in the bombardment. After about 5 minutes, the flash of fire stopped and the sound of gunfire disappeared, replaced by the dull sound of thunder. . "It's a deep bomb attack!" Wiesler finally sighed. Ludendorff said: "This is all normal, Lieutenant Colonel, let your crew check the torpedo tubes."?Make sure they function properly when it counts! By the way, tell them to check the torpedo depth and never regret it for life because of some small negligence! " "All right! "Weisler glanced at the noisy north with hatred, "Just let them come! "This is to the point. Due to the emergence of hostile submarines, the fleet that had previously sailed directly towards the Mariana Islands quickly adopted a Z-shaped anti-submarine route. This kind of anti-submarine route became popular since World War I. Maritime maneuvering has indeed helped many ships avoid submarine attacks, but the battlefield is changing rapidly, and the best way to deal with different situations is to adopt corresponding countermeasures - when the situation is unclear, rushing through the submarine ambush position at full speed may be more effective than a cautious anti-submarine route ! After watching with astonishing calmness for a quarter of an hour, Major Ludendorff looked at the black shadow getting closer and closer on the sea: "It's time to dive! " Lieutenant Colonel Wiesler had been waiting for this sentence for a long time. He ordered the submarine to dive statically without any pause, and the low dive alarm sounded quickly. The ballast water tank began to fill with water, which could be seen from the command platform. The water on both sides of the submarine was boiling. As the captain, Wiesler deliberately showed his professional side and insisted on letting Ludendorff enter the cabin. He took one last look at the confused silhouette of the approaching ship, his eyes narrowed. It became a crack! When the war reached the spring of 1943, the performance of the U.S. Navy submarine force was still tepid. However, the submarines that entered service in the late 1930s, especially the several new models equipped near the outbreak of the war, did not perform well in terms of performance. Not inferior to German submarines. In a moment, the S-1 submarine, fully manned, fully equipped and in normal condition, dived to a depth of 18 meters. The captain immediately ordered to raise the periscope and very gentlemanly asked his accompanying German counterparts. Check it out first. Ludendorff had no intention of refusing. He grabbed the handle of the periscope and started to turn it, while constantly fine-tuning the scale. After a while, he said slowly and clearly: "Look. There were 12 to 14 large warships, 10 to 12 medium warships, and more than 20 small warships! This is a big fleet! " "Hey, let me just say that this time we encountered the main fleet of the Japanese Navy! "Weisler confidently stepped forward to take over, "Let me see what big guys are there! "Major Ludendorff took a step back, with a bit of doubt on his face - he had just adjusted the periscope to the maximum magnification. In this case, he could only barely judge the size. What special skills did the American captain have to judge the size? Is it the opponent's model? Lieutenant Colonel Wiesler looked at the periscope for a while, moved his mouth several times, and finally said: "John, bring me my ship atlas!" "The staff officer on the boat quickly ran to get a hard-cover album. "Turn to page 21, Ise-class battleship! "Weisler kept his eyes on the periscope. The green-looking officer quickly turned to the designated page. He felt that the light was too dark and turned on the flashlight he carried. "Weisler glanced at the album and then looked back at the periscope. : "It's the leader! Go back two pages and see the King Kong-class battleship! " Ludendorff stretched his head to look at it curiously. It had been almost a month since he boarded the ship, but he had never seen Lieutenant Colonel Wisler take out this booklet. In fact, in the German Navy, the staff had already prepared the booklet before the war started. A similar atlas was distributed to ship commanders. Because it included warships from various European countries and many representative large passenger ships and cargo ships, the atlas was thicker. Look at what the American military officer found in his hand. Page, Ludendorff realized that the U.S. military seemed to be more prepared in terms of intelligence. Those Japanese warships were equipped with more than one photo for each level, and their appearance characteristics were shown from all directions as much as possible. Weisler looked again. After taking a look at the album, he said: "It seems that the battleships designed and built by the British are the easiest to use. The Japanese fleet fought east and west, and no battle was without them!" Nextturn to page 27, Nagato level! " With admiration for his boss's business proficiency, the American officer turned the page and glanced at Ludendorff intentionally, as if to say: Did you see, our boss is not a vegetarian? Ludendorff didn't pay attention at all, and He was staring at the album. "Well, Nagato well, damn, the one behind that guy is the Nagato class, so it" Weisler grabbed the album, and his sudden movement shocked the surrounding officers. I was quite surprised. I saw the American captain flipping back a few pages quickly, staring at the line drawings and photos for a few seconds, then returning to the periscope and shouting a little glumly: "Ha, if We were able to torpedo that guy today and everyone here will be remembered in history! That, folks, is the stuff of Japanese naval myth ¨C the Yamato-class battleship! "Hearing the news, the officers in the command cabin did not cheer and celebrate, but many positions were occupied.The crewman in his cabin looked over. At this time, a low-ranking officer whispered: "Are ordinary torpedoes effective against that guy?" This question poked Weisler's nerves, and he immediately calmed down and looked at Ludendorff. When it comes to submarines dealing with battleships, their German counterparts are obviously more experienced. From the sneak attack at Scapa Flow in 1939 to the night battle in the North Sea in 1940, German submarine elites sank a total of three Royal Navy battleships, one aircraft carrier and six cruisers, they were enough to form a quite capable combat fleet, and the Germans eliminated this threat with only low-cost torpedoes. []