Battle of the Third Reich

"Captain! The Vermila reported that the cabin was flooded, and she had completely lost her power."

"Captain Westminster sent a distress signal, she has not been able to fight for much time."

"Captain, the Saladin sent a signal to discover the traces of the German submarine and requested the next step."

"Captain, what should we do now!"

The bridge of Devonshire was now in a mess, and everyone looked at Cassent who was standing on the captain's seat.

Everyone on the bridge was blinded by the stormy and fierce attack of the German submarine, the officers lost their usual opinions, and the soldiers prayed to God to make their captain think of leading them to escape from this torpedo Hell's way.

"Don't panic! Are you still like a glorious royal navy?" Cassin growled at the panicked men.

He stood on the captain's seat and bluffed hard. In fact, in his mind, like these men, he panicked. To say that when the first old S-class destroyer Scout was sunk by torpedoes, he still had the courage to fight in a battle, then the destruction of the other two V-class destroyers completely destroyed his confidence to continue fighting. Now he was more terrified than anyone present. He knew that even if he could lead this heavy cruiser back to Britain, he could not escape the punishment of the Admiralty, and the military court would not let go of any commander who lost the king’s precious battleship. . But no matter what he said, he was the captain of this battleship. He was also the commander of this small fleet, although there were only two battleships left in this fleet. He has to take up his responsibility. This is the education that a Royal Navy officer has received since childhood. This is the tradition of the Royal Navy. He was responsible for the surviving warships and sailors. Even if he would be held accountable, he still had to bring the two warships and sailors back to Britain safely.

"Let Vermila abandon the ship. They are like a target now. The Germans will not let her go. She is over. The same is true for Westminster. Let her crew evacuate quickly. Order their lifeboats as much as possible. Concentrate on an area and wait for our rescue."

Cassent frowned and looked toward the two destroyers slanting in the sea with smoke in the distance. These are two V-class anti-aircraft destroyers that have just been converted. The original plan considered that the greatest threat to them on this route was the bombing of the German Air Force, so they specially mobilized these two anti-aircraft destroyers to protect them. It would be attacked by a German submarine.

What Cassent couldn’t figure out the most was how he encountered German submarines here. German submarines on this route generally sailed in the Luftwaffe defense circle. How could they run outside the Air Force defense circle? Don't understand. And the current situation clearly shows that the Germans have more than one submarine, which is a nightmare for themselves. The heavy cruiser does not have any anti-submarine devices, but only one destroyer can protect her. If she leaves herself to attack one of the German submarines, Devon will be completely exposed to the other German submarine. By that time, he had no chance to fight back except to avoid it. But if the USS Saladin tightly protects the Devonshire and is fired by two submarines, Devonshire will die horribly. There is no time to think about it now. He must take these two warships out of this submarine hunting ground safely. He must also find a way to rescue the sailors who are struggling on the sea, otherwise he may never be in front of the British people. Lift your head.

Thinking of this, Carsent ordered loudly to the helmsman, the right full rudder, the speed remained unchanged. We must retreat as soon as possible. "Cassent turned his head and shouted to his first officer: "Order the Saladin, as long as the German submarine is found, it can zi induce an attack. "Cassente then whispered to herself: "I hope she can save the last face for the Royal Navy. "

Cassent’s reaction at the time was theoretically flawless. He wanted to use that old-fashioned s-class destroyer to drag one of the German submarines, and then he should be able to avoid the attack of another German submarine as long as he maintained high-speed movement. Maybe Saladin might also attract another German submarine. If the old destroyer could sink even a German submarine, it would be better to go back and explain himself. Of course, if there is still a chance to rescue some of the killed crew members, it will be more perfect. If there is no way to save it, there is no way to let thousands of people take this kind of risk for more than 300 people. The citizens should be able to understand that Cassent desperately comforted himself.

But he didn't think of a fatal mistake in his plan, a mistake that might bury his entire fleet, what would he do if the German submarine was not two but three.

"Periscope! 3000 yards on the port side. Periscope!" the watchman shouted in horror. Cassent quickly picked up the binoculars and looked towards the sea on the port side. I saw the undulating waves in the distance suddenly lifted a black periscope, which cut the green water and brought a snow-white trail, The splashing waves shone brilliantly in the sunlight.

"Germany's submarine, captain. They are traveling in parallel with us. They are not as fast as we are. 3000 yards, are you going to shoot? Captain." an officer asked aloud.

"You're crazy, may we hit such a small target in one shot? Well, she started to dive." The periscope is slowly descending from the sea.

"Watch out, they will launch torpedo attacks, watch out for torpedo trails." Cassent turned back and shouted to the helmsman: "Pay attention to speed, move forward at full speed, maneuver with snakes."

"Observe, Captain, advance at full speed, maneuver with snakes, what is the turning distance?"

"750 meters."

"Observe, Captain, 750 meters." The helmsman first moved the ship's bell to issue a command to advance at full speed to the engine room, and then began to twist the steering wheel to direct the battleship to turn.

"Captain, Captain Carsent." Army Lieutenant Colonel Sanders rushed into the bridge, and he screamed as soon as he saw Carsent: "The German submarine, we entered the ambush circle of the German submarine. "

"Calm down! Lieutenant Colonel! Calm down." Cassant couldn't bear to see Sanders' disappointment, especially during this extraordinary period, this rude army officer dared to rush into his bridge. He yelled, which was even more unforgivable.

But Carson, who inherited the honor and pride of the Royal Navy, was still reluctant to give up his courtesy, so although he was disgusted, he still said as politely as possible: "We all saw it, Mr. Colonel. We did receive two ships. The German submarine attack, but please rest assured, we will soon be able to get out of this dilemma. I will bring you back safely to the UK, so please don’t be so panicked in front of my men."

Afterwards, Carsent glanced at Sanders' crooked tie with a clear contempt and said: "Meaning, Colonel, I don't know what the Army is like, but I know a naval officer Always maintain his noble manners."

After listening to the words that revealed heavy unfriendliness, Sanders' face suddenly turned red. He straightened his military uniform and replied unwillingly after adjusting his tie: "The same is true of the Army, and No way worse than the Royal Navy, Mr. Colonel." Sanders then asked: "What do you want to do now, to know that we are still under the threat of the German submarine, you will not want to deal with the Germans in the end Well, you know that you have lost three warships." When it comes to losing two words, Sanders added a special tone.

This time it was Carson's turn to blush. He now hates the army lieutenant colonel from his heart, but he can't help answering the army bastard, otherwise he will lose his momentum.

"Yes, we did lose three excellent warships, but this does not mean anything. We encountered a sneak attack by a German submarine. But the Germans' good luck should also come to an end, they have completely exposed their Whereabouts. I could have eliminated them easily, but in order to take care of the army soldiers on our warships, in order not to threaten their precious lives, I had to adopt an emergency plan. I had to retreat, and we withdrew to the United Kingdom." Card Cent replied coldly, as if he really retreated because he wanted to save Sanders' life.

"Do you mean to give up this mission and withdraw to the UK?" Hearing that Cassant was about to retreat, Sanders was anxious at first, and he couldn't even care about the venom in Cassent's words.

"No, Lord Captain, do you know what you are doing? You are ruining the last hope of our allies."

Cassent glanced coldly at the anxious Sanders: "There is no hope anymore. This operation failed when the Scout explosion sank. All our plans are built on concealment, but now we have It was discovered that the Germans may have reported our whereabouts to their admiralty. Perhaps the German interception fleet and aircraft were already intercepting us. I cannot carry out this apparently failed plan. The Royal Navy has done its best and paid enough. I can no longer compensate both of these warships. We have only two roads now, one is to move on, and then be hit by the Germans like a target. The other way is to make a U-turn immediately and escape from this dangerous water before the Germans have concentrated their interception. I chose the latter and I want to take my children home."

"So..." Sanders still wanted to refute anything, but he found he really couldn't find any reason to object to Carsant doing so, he looked at Carsent's serious eyes and could not speak with his mouth open. .

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

At this time there was a thunderous dull explosion sound from the sea surface, and everyone turned around and looked in the direction of the explosion.

"Report the captain, that is Saladin, she is attacking the German submarine. This is the sound of a deep-water bomb exploding." A lookout reported.

"I saw it, very good, soldier." Carsent looked excitedly at the old-style destroyer circling there frantically. Saladin's attack also inspired the morale of the Devonshire sailors. They swept their heads of disappointment, shouting one by one on their respective positions, cheering their comrades in arms, and the soldiers' cheering. The sound even reached the high bridge.

"Play well, kill the German pig."

"Send them all to the bottom to feed the fish."

"The fish won't eat the Germans, they are so stinky that they don't even want to touch them."

"Since they like the potential underwater, then simply don't float up."

Now that the rude clamor of the sailors reached Cassent’s ears and became less harsh, he even appreciated the improvisation of some of the sailors. The Germans were indeed **** garbage. Take it for granted.

"Torpedo! Port 230, 1000 yards!" A voice suddenly sounded from starboard, full of fear and panic.

"Left full rudder!" Carsent gave the order to turn the rudder without thinking. Years of fighting experience made him make the right decision in an instant. Then he took the telescope and ran to the bridge to look in the direction of the torpedo attack.

"Torpedo, 240.700 yards!" The watchman is still reporting the parameters of the torpedo. From his voice, it can be heard that he has almost collapsed.

"New recruits!" Cassett shook his head.

The two torpedoes are approaching the Devonshire at a terrifying speed, but the strange thing is that they do not have the potential bottom of the water like other torpedoes, and they can only be found from the feathery tail on the water. These two torpedoes are different. They float almost entirely on the surface of the water, splitting the sea like crazy like two speedboats, passing through the waves, almost jumping up and down towards the Devonshire.

"Stupid Germans, they even forgot torpedo torpedoes." Carsent said with a sneer looking at the two torpedoes.

At this time, the Devonshire had begun to turn sharply, the huge bow turned sharply to the left, and the waves stirred by the bow even hit the deck. This giant ship was like a flexible speedboat. It made a beautiful turn in a moment, and the powerful centrifugal force caused her 10,000-ton body to tilt violently.

"Torpedo, direction 270, 200 yards."

The watchman's voice calmed down obviously, and now anyone can see that the two torpedoes will never hit the Devonshire. After a few seconds, the two torpedoes slipped not far from the stern and continued to bounce towards the depths of the sea.

"Captain, it's really beautiful," said the first officer, wiping cold sweat on one side.

"If you ordered the right full rudder at that time, we may have been shot."

"This is the experience, my major. If you turn right, my stern will be shot. Now you have learned a little." Carsent said with a smug smile.

At that time the lookout's voice rang again, this time even more anxious than the last time, almost exhausted.

"Torpedo, direction 270,600 yards. We are facing us!"

"What!" Carsent thought Gedden thought, and he was too late to give orders. Cassent rushed to the helmsman, pushed away the helmsman, and fought desperately to the right.

"The left car is moving forward at full speed, the right car is going backward at full speed! Quick!" Carsent snarled at his men.

"Captain! There are 300 yards!" The first officer took a telescope and reported the parameters of the torpedo.

"200 yards, Captain." The first officer's voice was crying.

"It's too late, Captain."

"Pull the collision report!" Carsent loosened the steering wheel and pulled the ship's clock tightly.

The sailors of Devonshire also found the two trails that were rushing towards themselves. If they were not worried about the military order, they would have been in a mess. Now the sailors can only bite their teeth and watch the two white trails representing death getting closer and bigger.

The anti-collision report in Devon shrieked, and the sailors on the deck had already grabbed all the fixed equipment around them and waited for the moment of the shot. Before the final report sounded, the two huge water columns had risen from the tall side of the battleship. With the violent explosion, the entire battleship shivered twice, and many soldiers in the anti-aircraft gun positions were thrown. Out of their battle position, the sailors standing on the deck could not control their balance and fell on the hard deck.

The speed of Devonshire dropped sharply. After struggling to arouse the last row of giant waves, she was like a whale hit by a critical whale, spinning uncontrollably, then stopped slowly. , Paralyzed on the sea.

"Report the damage! Where did we get hit?" Cassent got up from the bridge floor and asked his subordinates loudly.

"Please wait a moment, sir, I will investigate immediately." The first officer replied loudly, then ran to a row of intercoms on the bridge wall.

"How could it be, why did you find it so late. The torpedo was only found at 600 yards. How could it be." Carsent asked with a loud look at the lookout.

"I don't know, Captain, they popped out like this suddenly." The watcher looked at the angry captain in horror.

"What, do you want to tell me that the enemy attacked 600 yards away?" Cassent yelled angrily: "How is this possible, how could the Germans just fired the torpedo at 1,000 yards and then rushed to 600 yards and fired again?" ...... .” Instead of speaking, Cassent was frightened by his own assumptions.

"Unless, the Germans have more than two submarines here. Oh, God!"

"Captain, the German submarine, the German submarine floated up. They... they're right next to us!" At this time another watchman shouted at Carsent, and the entire ship was in an instant. The officers on the bridge ran to the platform beside the bridge and looked towards the side of the ship.

At first it was just a control tower. With a piercing exhaust row of jets of water jetting high, a huge German submarine floated majesticly from the water, and the gray hull shone in the sun.

What Cacte can’t believe is that this submarine is only fifteen meters from Devon, and even the small black imperial eagle emblem on the control tower can be seen clearly. The white halves on both sides of the control tower The number of tall people shows her identity.

German navy ocean-going submarine U-37.

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