Battle of the Third Reich

v4 Chapter 36: torpedo

"Captain, we have reached the sign point."

Lieutenant Captain Catherine reported the current position on the chart and reported it to Giselle aloud.

"Very good, ready to turn, heading 240, maintaining the current depth and speed. We can leave the current patrol area in half an hour, hoping that we won't need such a long dive before entering the French waters." Ji Searle casually sat on his captain's seat with a cup of coffee and answered.

"Follow the command, Captain. Ready to turn, heading 240." Katherine repeated Giselle's command aloud: "Five seconds later to turn, 5. 4.3.2.1, turn... . Report to the captain, the steering is complete. Now heading to 240."

"well."

Giselle's well-trained opponents were very satisfied, and then he picked up the in-cabin phone hanging on the reinforced support beam of the command cabin and then adjusted the dial to the listening room.

"Sergeant Wolfgang, I am the captain and report what is happening now. Are they still following?"

"They also followed behind, on both sides of the stern, less than 1500 meters apart, and the sound of propellers was clear and loud. U38 and u43 were not left behind, sir."

"Very good, continue to monitor, and you must immediately report any abnormalities to the command module."

"Observe, sir."

Giselle put down the phone with satisfaction. He turned his head and said to Catherine: "We have now entered the sea where the enemy ships are very active. We hope that we will not encounter any trouble. Now any of our mistakes may bring Germany For the irreparable loss, Marshal Reinhardt must be safely sent to France anyway."

"I understand, Captain. We all understand this, rest assured." Katherine answered solemnly.

"Very good." Giselle nodded with a smile.

"Report the captain."

U37's deputy naval commander Lieutenant Turk hurriedly got into the command module and hurriedly hurriedly reported before waiting to get up: "My Excellency Marshal wants you to see him immediately if it is convenient now."

Giselle just frowned when he saw Turke's panic, but when he heard that the marshal was going to see him, he couldn't care about blaming his subordinate for the abnormal reaction. Turk asked: "Where is the Marshal now."

"In the first torpedo compartment."

"Okay, I'll go by now." Giselle turned back and said to Katherine: "Katherine, I will hand it over to you now, and let me know if you have any questions."

"Come on, captain."

Giselle looked around for a while, and then quickly drilled out of the command module towards the first torpedo module. Turk quickly followed him.

"Turk, why did Marshal go to the first torpedo cabin, isn't he chatting with you?"

Before the two commandos crossed the command cabin and went back to bed, they reported to Giselle that the marshal was awake and were walking in the boat. Then a sailor came to report that the marshal was chatting with several officers in the rest area. The marshal actually got into the torpedo compartment again, and Giselle couldn't understand what the lord was thinking.

"We were talking, but after we accidentally mentioned the failed attacks, the marshal suddenly wanted to go to the torpedo cabin to see it, and we didn't dare to stop him at all. Now the gunner and the minemaster I'm with him."

"Failed attack? You mean the few attacks we made during the last cruise."

"Yes, the captain. The Field Marshal said he may know the reason for the torpedo failure."

"What, the Marshal really said so." Gisele's footsteps stagnated.

"Yes, he said so."

"Oh." Giselle groaned a little, then stepped up to the first torpedo compartment.

Now the corridor in the front cabin was full of sailors and junior officers. They curiously looked at the first torpedo cabin while whispering to each other. When they saw the captain walking quickly, these people quickly stood up and gave Giselle a passage.

When Gisell drilled into the first torpedo compartment, the first thing I saw was a t3 placed on the torpedo loading and unloading rack in the middle of the torpedo compartment. Now the big guy with a caliber of 533 mm and a weight of 1,600 kg has been disassembled Opening, from below the inspection ports that were removed, the parts inside the torpedo coated with lubricating anti-rust oil shone in the dark golden light under the bright lights in the cabin.

"Sir Marshal. You came to me just to let me see this." Gisele walked to Xu Jun who was standing by the torpedo and carefully looked at the work of the torpedo chief. He asked respectfully, "My marshal, don't you Have you really discovered the reason why our torpedoes often fail?"

"I will talk to you later, and after a while, there will be results immediately."

Xu Jun turned his head and glanced at Giselle first, then focused his attention on Torpedo Chief Ensign Sutton's current job.

U37's mine chief Sutton was holding a screwdriver to disassemble the panel on the inspection port of the torpedo balance cabin. After the small steel plate was removed, a small air hole was exposed. Sutton quickly removed a pressure gauge from the side tool holder, and then carefully inserted the air hole.

"What is Sutton doing, measuring the pressure in the balancing chamber? This will have no effect. The air pressure in the balancing chamber has been tested on land, and there is no problem." Giselle thinks that Marshal is an army officer. This weapon still seems unfamiliar.

"Don't worry, my captain, keep your patience, the result will be announced soon." Xu Jun said to Giselle with a smile.

"Ah? How could this happen!" Sutton exclaimed, watching the pressure gauge carefully.

"What's wrong?" Giselle hurried over.

"Captain, it seems that the Marshal's guess is correct. You see this reading. The pressure in this **** balance cabin is now the same as the pressure in our boat."

"What, there is such a thing. This is impossible." Giselle looked carefully at the reading on the pressure gauge, then turned his head to look at the reading on the barometer on the boat wall. He was stunned by the events in front of him.

"The fixed depth of the torpedo is entirely determined by the air pressure of the balance cabin. We all set the torpedo diving depth based on the pressure in the balance cabin to maintain an atmospheric pressure. But now the pressure of this torpedo is the same as that in the boat. It means that if we still set the depth for this torpedo as written in the manual, it’s actual depth will be much deeper than the depth we set, maybe it will differ by three to five meters, and maybe even more Many," Sutton said, frowning.

"That is to say, we can't hit this target with this torpedo." Giselle suddenly realized: "It turns out that the torpedoes we fired are not invalid, but all have passed through the bottom of the enemy ship."

"It's very likely this way. It seems that we are shooting under the sea." Sutton shook his head and sighed.

"Could it be that you made a mistake during the inspection, for example, the balance compartment was accidentally opened and sealed." Giselle was afraid when he thought that his torpedo might have this problem, which means that he was on this journey. There will be no effective weapon to protect yourself.

"There is absolutely no problem. I did it strictly according to the inspection procedures on land." Sutton replied firmly.

"Gentlemen, let me say a few words." Xu Jun said lightly to the side.

It was only then that the two naval officers realized the presence of the marshal. At this time, they remembered that the problem was discovered only by the marshal’s proposal. Get the correct answer, Giselle and Sutton quickly stopped discussing, they stared at Xu Jun breathlessly, waiting for him to express his views.

"We now know that there is a problem with the balance compartment of this torpedo, so have you ever wondered why this happens?" Before they were answered by two people, Xu Jun went on to say: "This situation only occurs. There may be a reason that the balance cabin has lost its seal. I think it is more likely that it has never been sealed. This can explain the reason why German torpedoes often fail during actual combat during this period. In the previous period The torpedo failure in combat often occurs after you have been diving for a long time. At that time, the pressure inside the submarine will increase a lot, and due to the unsealed balance cabin, the pressure in the torpedo will also increase with the pressure inside the submarine. Increased. As a result, as Lieutenant Sutton said, all our torpedoes were fired towards the bottom of the sea. Those torpedoes fired on the water surface can reliably hit the target due to the same air pressure as the outside world. Including those with short snorkeling time or floating After being ventilated, their torpedoes were also kept in an effective state due to the normal pressure in the boat. This is why sometimes the torpedoes are faultless and sometimes they all fail."

"It seems that you are right, my marshal. You are really an apostle of God." Gisele stood up and respected Jun Jun respectfully to Xu Jun.

"I am here to express my heartfelt thanks to all the personnel of the German submarine force."

"Ah, no need to do this, I just heard your subordinates talk about this thing, and the idea that popped up in my head suddenly, I think the problem might be due to the torpedo's depth, so I made this test by myself. . To say thanks, I have to thank the officers who mentioned this to me." Xu Jun felt a little embarrassed when he heard Giselle's thanks. The problem with the German torpedo was actually already known from previous historical data. However, now I am obviously plagiarizing the fruits of the labors of those German scientists. Even if Xu Jun's face is tough, he will feel a hot feeling if he adds this credit to his body.

"Please don't say that, my marshal, if not you, I really don't know how long our submarine will fight with this unreliable weapon. You know the efficiency of those people in the Naval Ordnance Bureau." Giselle said excitedly To.

"Haha, let's not talk about this, even if it's a reward for you to take care of us army officers. Well, now that we have found the problem, we can come up with a countermeasure. This weapon is at least still Able to use. Lieutenant Sutton can now reassemble it."

Xu Jun wanted to change the subject, but Giselle was obviously reluctant to do so, and he no longer knew how to express his mood. Xu Jun’s discovery has restored the reputation of a large number of submarine captains, including him, and now they can finally prove that the failed attacks are not a problem with their personal technology, but because the **** torpedoes simply don’t care. Results.

"My marshal, I think your return is really too expensive. You have to know that you have recovered the honor of half of the submarine captain of the Navy. You have regained confidence and opened the way for them. Know that there are already several people. The excellent submarine captain has doubted himself because of several failed attacks. Your discovery saved them, to be precise, you have also saved the lives of countless submarine soldiers. No one will be a faulty torpedo in the future. They have lost their lives. This has happened many times. Several submarines were attacked because the torpedo not only hit the enemy ship but also exposed their position. I believe that when everyone knows this problem Very happy. My marshal." Giselle couldn't hide his joy.

"Haha, my captain, I said that this was just my inspiration for a while. I didn't do much for you, don't say that again." Xu Jun said with a smile: "Now we already know the problem, But we can’t solve it right away. We have to continue to use it before improving the torpedo. So I think we have to figure out a way to use it effectively, which is a fixed depth problem in the end, I I feel that as long as the pressure in the cabin has been tested, the fixed depth is reduced accordingly. The magnetic fuze seems to be unreliable. In addition, without the accurate fixed depth, it has no effect. Turn it off, and wait until the more reliable product is finalized. Think about it. You can tell the other two submarines to do so when we get to the surface."

"Obey, my marshal, everything will be executed according to your will." Giselle replied respectfully: "Please leave here to rest in the officer's room first. The air here is too turbid, and there are greasy and debris everywhere. This... is really..."

"Oh, that's right, okay, then I'll go to the officer's room for a while. Can you get someone to prepare something for me? I'm a little hungry." Xu Jun said to Gisell as he walked outside the cabin To.

"Observe, my marshal, I will arrange it immediately."

At this moment, the speaker on the torpedo bulkhead suddenly screamed. Giselle quickly picked up the receiver and said: "The torpedo compartment, I am the captain, what's the matter. What, are you sure? How many... I'll come over immediately."

Giselle's face became more and more ugly with the report on the phone, and for the first time, the excellent submarine captain's face showed a nervous expression. Xu Jun stopped and looked at the captain. He noticed a disturbing hunch from Giselle's tone and expression. Something must have happened, and it must have been very, very troublesome.

"What happened, Captain." Xu Jun looked at Giselle, who looked worried.

"I'm not sure yet, my marshal. Let's go to the command module first. I can get a detailed report there. If we are not mistaken, we are really in serious trouble now. Your Excellency, please follow me. Right." Gisele hurried to the command pod after he finished.

The soldiers and officers around the door also felt something happened from the captain's expression, and they all stood quietly on both sides of the aisle to make way. When the captain walked by, they also automatically walked to their respective posts. If there is a real battle, those positions will require manpower. Suddenly, with several sharp battle reports, the lights in the submarine were suddenly switched to red battle lights. The crew were excited at once, and everyone stood in their respective combat positions, eyes fixed on the speakers in their cabins. They were waiting for the command given by the captain, and they also wanted to know what kind of enemies they encountered again.

The entire submarine was instantly shrouded in an extremely dignified atmosphere before the battle. The hot murderous air spread to every corner of the u37 with the breath of the crew.

The crew believe that as long as they obey Captain Gisell's command, no matter what kind of difficulties they can pass easily. What's more, there is now a German military **** on the boat, the apostle of God, under the protection of this miracle creator, maybe he can make any legendary merits. So no one of these sailors felt nervous or frightened. On the contrary, they began to look forward to the next battle in their hearts. They all foresee that it would be a fierce battle and a wonderful battle, more likely It is a battle that will make you forget for life, and let you tell your life to others.

In the early morning of June 26, 1940, in the open waters 80 nautical miles away from the Norwegian coastline, a brutal maritime fierce battle was about to begin. A group of elite German sailors are eager to prove their bravery with blood and fire under 30 meters of water. They want to extract their medals and glory from the blood of the enemy.

;