Chapter 53 The final route (Part 2)

"The target has entered the g91 area...a distance of 20 nautical miles!"

The backbone of the naval forces of the Great German Empire's revival force, the Xxi-class submarine UA-055 of the 1st Submarine Corps, the full-time correspondents' report after interpreting the code was like trace ozone molecules in the air after heavy rain. They were all excited when they smelled it. Captain Lieutenant Colonel Oberste Braun served as the deputy commander of the submarine team. He immediately ordered the crew to enter the highest combat readiness state. The quiet submarine inner cabin was full of vitality again. The crew went to their respective combat positions nervously and orderly. Deputy Captain Dickfield quickly walked from the bow to the stern, and then checked all the way from the stern to the command cabin, and reported to Braun seriously:

"The battery capacity is 94, the cabin pressure is normal, the torpedo launch tube water pressure is normal, and all 68 crew members are in place, without any injuries."

"Good job." Braun replied to his deputy with his usual brief comment. He circled around the periscope. The radar, active sonar, wheel rudders were not activated, passive sonar, and radio reception were always running. Seeing the crew busy and busy, he sniffed gently, feeling that the whole team was like a shell with an overly sensitive fuse, which detonated before it had penetrated into the enemy's fortifications.

Thinking of this, Braun put his left hand on his hip and scratched his head with his right hand, looking like a young man was confused about life. Within a few minutes, the crew were all in place. Since many equipment was turned on in advance, the combat was exposed, and they had to wait until the last moment to take action, so the cabin returned to calm again.

"Guys, I feel like I've found my state when I went to sea for the first time to fight. I'm nervous, excited, and impulsive. Of course, the first time I dated a girl should be like this!" Braun said in a teasing tone, and the crew members in the command cabin quickly burst into laughter.

"Okay, how about let's relax a little and sing a song very quietly?" the stern and friendly captain suggested.

"Just sing "We Are Sailors on U-Shaped Submarines"! It's still the same, I'll lead the sing!" After using his eyes to obtain the consent of the chief, the deputy captain Dikefield paused his voice, and then the sound from his mouth was completely different from the normal speaking, as if he used a pair of magical scissors to cut off the baritone's thickness, leaving behind a nearly neutral clean tone. Following the brisk rhythm of the lead sing, the crew started singing together:

We haven't closed our eyes day and night

Hunting in the ocean, standing behind a telescope

Until the whole body is wet

Searching for enemy ships

The diesel engine rumbles, the sea is surging,

The submarine is so small, and the ocean is so big

Just rely on every waterproof suit, from the captain to the last person

Hometown, you are so far away

Hometown, we greet you

For you, we send death ambushed in the torpedo tube to the enemy

Going forward to England

We are sailors on the U-boat

...

As night fell, Major General Jetlica, commander of the US Special Fleet, recalled three destroyers operating on the periphery, allowing the combined fleet to regain the most basic anti-submarine escort force. Not only that, he ordered each ship to arrange for officers and soldiers to take turns to deal with night battles during the day, and issued combat readiness orders in the fleet as soon as they were night. Of course, the situation of the "Boston" was quite special. The combat readiness order was to reach every post and every sailor step by step through the officers, rather than alarming all unrelated people on the ship through the harsh alarm ringtones.

"Facing with a squadron of fighters, you can circle around the fleet easily and easily, and see the position and composition of the fleet clearly. It's really not easy!"

What makes me feel like this is Colonel Brad, the chief of staff of the aircraft carrier formation of the "Oliskani", who was commissioned by General Nicken to coordinate the fleet's combat affairs. It is worth mentioning that he was able to transfer ships during the fleet's voyage, but rather the HNS-1 carried by the "Oliskani", a helicopter developed and produced by Sikorsky Aircraft Company, first flight in 1942 and delivered to the US Army in the same year. The aircraft was put into mass production in 1943 and was the only helicopter used in actual combat in the Allied camp during World War II. It was numbered R-4 in the US Army and obtained the strange nickname of "Shockfly" in the British Air Force, and was named "Gadfly" in the British Navy. Its appearance

As crude as the name, it looks like a toy made by a six-year-old child with cardboard. Its maximum flight speed is only 130 kilometers per hour, which is slower than the old aircraft used by the warring countries in the early days of World War I. Its maximum load capacity is only 250 kilograms, which means that after refueling and seating a pilot and a passenger, it can hardly carry any weight. Although there are defects such as this and that, it is difficult to perform the observation and calibration function due to the threat of enemy fighters and anti-aircraft guns, their characteristics of taking off and landing by themselves only need a small piece of open space is unique - on the Boston, which is impossible to land on a fixed-wing aircraft, the front and rear decks and even the top of the main turret can become its destination.

Facing Brad's old neighbor and his long-time naval colleague, Jetlica smiled bitterly without hesitation: "Before you arrived, we had been tossed by this guy for two nights and had not had much peace during the day. Now you can experience our pain in person!"

Brad nodded in sympathy.

Jetlica lit a cigarette, and his fatigue was revealed: "If you are just provoked and unable to fight back, learn to learn the ostrich and put your head into the sand, but the real test has just begun. I hope that the officers and sailors of your fleet can be mentally prepared."

Brad replied: "With witnessing the evening scene, everyone realized that they had encountered an opponent that was more difficult than the Japanese Navy and Air Force. General Nicken had ordered night flight preparations, fighter jets were responsible for interception, and helicopters were responsible for anti-submarine--in fact, it was not a real anti-submarine, just hung a few light bombs to scare the enemy."

"Scaring the enemy..." Jetlica stopped as if wondering how practical the wording lacks power is. After a moment, he asked, "How many helicopters do you have?"

Brad gave the answer without hesitation: "Two are used for contact, one is spare, and there are 100-pound and 50-pound bomb mounts installed outside the machine. In the calm and sufficient light, their short-range anti-submarine effects are still worth looking forward to."

"But what about the evening?" Jetrick shaved his forehead with his back of his thumb. "I hope your pilots won't get lost."

Brad neither defended nor smiled bitterly, but squinted and said, "This kind of aircraft is like a fixed-wing aircraft in 1914. When a pilot meets an opponent in the air, he either shakes his hand and says hello or draws out his pistol and shoots it randomly. The only thing he can rely on in anti-submarine aspects is the professional anti-submarine equipment and well-trained personnel on the destroyer."

"Four destroyers protect one aircraft carrier and three cruisers, which is so bad!" Jetlica sighed bitterly. He almost lost three escort destroyers inexplicably the night before. If they were still there, the situation should be much more optimistic.

"As long as you persist until the second half of the night, Mike Daval's three destroyers will be included in the escort list," Brad said. "At the latest is tomorrow morning."

Jetlica suddenly felt that the world was ridiculous. When she went to the Naval Operations Department to receive the order, she saw the Atlantic navigation map in the command hall marked with numerous ships in the navigation, but when she really needed it, few of them could come to help in time. The three destroyers mentioned by Brad just hurriedly were %% from the French port. Their combat situation was unknown, and the officers and soldiers on the ship might not be able to quickly understand the bad situation reflected by the friend ship's notice. You must know that before this, Jetlica and his officers and sailors all thought that the Atlantic Ocean was in full swing, but who knew that there was a huge crisis lurking under the seemingly calm sea.

"It's time to leave, old man!" Brad put on his military cap and solemnly extended his hand to Jetlica.

Jetlica shook hands with the other party without hesitation: "Greetings to General Nicken for me. If I can arrive in Europe smoothly, I will host a banquet in Paris to entertain you."

"A word is determined." After saying that, Brad hurried toward the stern of the ship. Soon, there was a unique roar of the helicopter starting in that direction.

Watching this crude little grasshopper fly into the air to the aircraft carrier thousands of meters away, Jetlica's expression was still complicated. Before he could put away his thoughts, Angelo's staff officer hurriedly ran to report: "The high-speed aircraft was detected. The damn Russian UFO was flying towards us from eighty nautical miles north! The colonel is waiting for you on the combat bridge."

Jetlica breathed a long breath and turned around and walked towards the bridge.

On the other hand, on the flight deck of the Essex-class aircraft carrier "Oliscanny", when the small contact helicopter landed in the rear area of ​​the ship island, the first "Hellcat" flew away from the deck in a familiar roar. This carrier-based fighter that broke the Japanese Zero War has extremely excellent performance, and there are two improved models that have been equipped with radars to become night fighters, but the production is very limited. This time, the "Oliscanny" was not equipped with combat from North America to Europe. Colonel Brad left the cyclone area of ​​the helicopter propeller and slowed down to watch the takeoff scenes of the F6fs in front of them, and then looked up at the sky. It was a moonlit night, and the flight was pretty good. With aircraft carrier radar guidance, the pilots should be able to accurately find the target.

On the right front of the flight deck, the entire fleet is on the left side, the John Butler-class escort destroyer "Conlink" is maintaining a stable navigation state. It is the smallest tonnage ship in this combined fleet and the only escort ship that has been positioned anti-submarine since its inception. It has the most sensitive active passive sonar in service, as well as the anti-submarine firepower composed of 2 deep-water bomb drop troughs, 8 deep-water bomb droppers, and 1 hedgehog launcher. When the officers and soldiers of each ship focus on night air defense operations to deal with enemy aircraft, most of the officers and soldiers on this escort destroyer are committed to preventing underwater attackers. In the sonar room where sound insulation walls and thick hatch doors are used to isolate external noise, experienced sonar soldiers are working hard to eliminate the noise interference of their own ships to explore the traces of submarine activities.

Waiting wit...

A sound like a stirring of steel cables broke the calm here. The officer on duty walked over and took off the receiver of the phone: "Sonar room...yes, understand!"

Putting down the earpiece, the officer turned around and shouted to the sonar soldiers, "Guys, we can take a break! The fleet speed will be increased to 25 knots, which means that the engines on our ships are running at full speed, and the noise covers everything!"

The sailors who had been fully focused on sonar equipment took off their headphones and stood up to stretch their limbs, teasing them with a relaxed expression, or walking to the cabinet to get a cup to drink water. Only the lieutenant-ranked officer raised his hand to look at his watch with a serious look, muttering something in his mouth.

Since the sonar equipment has been suspended, a sailor soon opened the hatch door and walked to the deck of the ship to breathe. The roar of machinery outside became clear. After a few minutes, the sound of the rushing water became louder and louder. The sonar soldiers who walked out of the cabin were chattering outside, sounding enthusiastically about the naval war eagles that took off at night. The rotating officer patrolled the entire row of sonar display instruments alone, looking at the empty seats, his eyebrows that were as beautiful as willow branches, so beautiful that many women envied.

Frowning towards the center of the eyebrows. The situation of friendly ships being torpedoed on the eve of the night was undoubtedly confirmed. Submarine traces were found near the fleet at noon. Although the fleet has been traveling at a higher speed, there are many examples of this in the anti-submarine warfare that occurred in the Atlantic during World War II. As long as the fleet is discovered by a German submarine during its voyage, the next voyage may be surrounded and intercepted by multiple submarines. Once the escort system is fatal omission, the fate of this fleet will be unimaginably miserable.

"Oh wow! The fire-bright aircraft! Shake!" The awesome sounds of sailors suddenly came from outside the cabin door. After hearing a lot of rumors, the officer on duty knew that the mysterious disc-shaped aircraft had appeared again. He looked out through the porthole, his eyes turned to the sea rather than the sky. The waves aroused during the ship's sailing rolled outwards, and the speed of the escort destroyer had already increased to the maximum extent.

"Instead of slowing down the fleet, why not let us be alert on the periphery alone?" the on-duty officer muttered worriedly.

Dong...dong...dong...dong...

Slap sex... Slap sex...

The sounds of completely different from large-caliber anti-aircraft guns and air defense machine guns came one after another. Some sounded very close, and some seemed to be at the end of the fleet. The light outside the porthole jumped with the echo of these sounds. The officer on duty found a chair to sit down and tried to put on his headphones. The inside was filled with the roar of the turbines and the noise generated by the high-speed operation of the propeller.

Reluctantly putting down the headphones, the lieutenant crossed his chest and said to himself: "God bless America!"

In most cases, the big man's thinking foothold is very different from the little man's. Jetlica insists on his own judgment: the route adjustment has already allowed him to bypass those enemy submarines that are not as stunning as imagined. No matter how the damn flying saucer is rammed, no matter where the submarine radar pulse is sent, as long as the speed continues to sail quickly, the dark night that lasts for the last hour will be safely passed. Next, the new escort force will join the fleet. Before the next night arrives, the fleet will arrive at the French port. No matter how domineering those submarines are, it is impossible to quietly cross the channel and enter the port. Jetlica has even thought about it. Once arriving in Brest, the French authorities will be kept on tight guard against the incoming channel and will never allow the Soviets to replicate the miracle of the German submarine entering Scarpa Bay and sinking the Royal Oak.

As for whether the enemy in front of him was a Soviet, Jetlica's doubts always existed, but the absolute center of the moment was to lead the fleet through the battle than to explore the identity of the opponent and the real plan.

"It's too slow, that escort destroyer is too slow!"

A wonderful performance was being performed in the night sky, but Angelo had no intention of watching it. He paced irritably on the battle bridge.

In Jetleyka's eyes, this dedicated captain is excellent in all aspects, but the only thing that is sexually impulsive is more harmful than good.

"Slow down, fuel consumption is relatively less! Besides, we are walking in a straight line. If the opponent wants to intercept, we have to go to a diagonal line. 25 knots are enough!"

Angelo barely stopped: "Sir, this is correct, but I always feel that the chance of passing safely with faster speed will be higher."

Another fire shone on the sea on the left, and within a few seconds, the roar of artillery fire came one after another. Jetlica frowned. His fleet had a profound lesson and stopped firing randomly, but General Kenny's crew members did not have this awareness. The two cooperated with each other and had no command relationship. In addition to frowning, Jetlica could only shake his head and sigh-when it was not his final decision whether to leave the ship's escort destroyer of a very new age but extremely fast speed.

“How long has it been?”

Angelo raised his hand to look at the watch. Although the officer's watch had fluorescent agent, the external light here interfered with the vision. He used the light of the ship's navigation light to see the reading clearly: "It has been 46 minutes since the appearance."

Jetlica raised her head, not knowing whether it was technical or intentional. The dim and light disc aircraft during the day would burst into flame-like light at night. The carrier-based fighter jets that took off from the "Oliscanny" left a butterfly-like trajectory in the pursuit. This scene was much more exciting than the acrobatics in the circus. The circular luminous body sometimes dived to a low altitude and caused a shelling attack by the escort ships, and sometimes rushed to high altitude, leaving the "Hellcats" invincible on the Pacific battlefield helpless. It was like an unpredictable magic, constantly exerting air maneuvers in front of people that transcend the principle of aerodynamics.

"It's much longer than the previous few times!" said the fleet commander with concern.

"Yes, I don't know if it was deliberately restraining us or..." Angelo suddenly stopped when he said this. He stared at the front of the fleet in a daze. In that direction, a huge ball of fire was rising from the starboard side of the pilot light cruiser "Vincent". Everything came so suddenly that the colonel was unprepared. When the loud roar came like a bolt from the blue, General Jetlica also fell into shock with his subordinates.
Chapter completed!