My Italian: Chapter 652 Submarine Warfare Part 2

On the vast Indian Ocean, a fleet is sailing southwest. This is the N-1 fleet. The fleet is composed of 23 merchant ships and 3 warships. They set off from Calcutta and are going to Liverpool, the homeland. The fleet is loaded with a large amount of goods needed by the homeland.

Speaking of which, there are also reasons for the formation of the fleet. Because after the outbreak of the war, due to the unusual activity of Italian submarines in the Indian Ocean, British and French ships suffered heavy losses, and the British Empire accounted for 80% of the ships lost. (Since the outbreak of the war, the East African submarine fleet has recorded a total of 970,000 tons of ships sunk)

Although the British Empire has a large number of merchant ships (the total tonnage of merchant ships is more than 20 million tons), the total tonnage of British shipbuilding is only 2.4 million tons per year at this time. 60% production capacity offset. If there were more submarine attacks, the British Empire would have to stop in a few months.

Therefore, in order to attack submarines, the Royal Navy, as the main responsible party, came up with a lot of ideas, such as sending camouflaged submarine hunters to find opportunities to kill these annoying Italian submarines. And this is only a temporary solution, not the root cause, and it is easy to be seen through several times. Of course, the most important thing is to quickly develop means that can detect and attack submarines.

But all of this takes time, and now the method of reducing the loss of merchant ships can be used immediately. Mathematicians gave the Royal Navy the answer, that is, the method of concentrating merchant ships and protecting them by warships.

According to the calculations of mathematicians, the method of concentrating merchant ships under the protection of warships has a much higher chance of surviving than merchant ships transporting themselves.

Regarding the mathematician's method, the Royal Navy formed the first **** fleet with a try and see method, which is the N-1 fleet, and the commander of the fleet is Kip, the commander of the First Destroyer Squadron of the Far East Fleet. Major Schiller.

Of course, an experienced officer is sent to command, which also shows how much the Navy attaches importance to this.

At this time, Major Kipsiller was on the flagship cruiser Narcissus, observing the surrounding movements. As the commander of the **** formation, Major Kipsiller's prudent character was the main reason why the Ministry of the Navy chose him.

At this time, after observing the surroundings, Major Kipsiller put down the binoculars and said. "Order the ships to send more watchmen. We are now in the attack range of Italian submarines. We must pay attention to carefully observe any suspicious situations. In addition, continue to implement the blackout. Except for the direction lights, other lights are not allowed to be turned on. Anyone who violates the order will be a spy." guilty punishment."

As expected of the prudent Major Kipsile, the vigilance of the fleet was raised to the highest level.

But what he didn't know was that his fleet had been targeted. At the left rear of the N-1 fleet, a submarine periscope is sticking out of the water, watching the N-1 fleet.

This is the U27 submarine that has followed them for two days. At this time, the captain Claudio is carefully observing every move of the N-1 fleet.

"It's really cautious. It seems that we really have to wait for the arrival of other people."

In the two days since he encountered the N-1 fleet, Claudio has observed it many times in a row. As a result, the opponent was very cautious. He didn't dare to get too close because he was afraid of being alarmed. He could only wait for his teammates to come.

One more thing, the current Italian submarine force has learned the simple version of sea wolf tactics. Because of the different times, it is impossible to completely reproduce Dönitz's tactics. Of course, the core idea of ​​this tactic can be learned by the Italian Navy. After all, how can a submarine fighting alone be compared with team fighting.

And Claudio followed for two days in a row just to wait for the arrival of his teammates. With such a large fleet, how could he not be able to accommodate a single submarine? Naturally, he called for friends.

"Send a telegram to the other boats and tell them to start operations tonight."

"Yes, Captain."

Claudio didn't want to wait any longer. It had been two days since he saw such a large piece of fat on his mouth, and he could bear it very much.

Of course, he didn't make this decision recklessly, but his teammates were about to arrive.

At this time, after the fleet went far away, Claudio and the others also floated to the surface, and then slowly followed the fleet.

Although the C-27 submarine only has a top speed of 14 knots, the merchant ship is slower at only 10 knots. This is because it is a submarine-infested area, and the speed has been increased. Otherwise, the speed of seven or eight knots is normal.

As for why they don't speed up, they have to cross half of the Indian Ocean, and there are only three or four ports that can be replenished along the way, so they must save fuel.

Time passed slowly on the way, the sun had already set, and a full moon appeared in the sky with twinkling stars. It was a beautiful night sky scene.

However, although the night sky is beautiful, it hides murderous intentions.

At this time, the N-1 fleet was sailing forward under the cover of night. Except for the direction lights at the stern, all the ships in the queue were useless and did not turn on their lights, but the bright moonlight still reflected the outlines of the ships.

"Order the ships to speed up and increase the speed from eight knots to ten knots."

At this time on the Narcissus, Major Kipsiller, the fleet commander, always felt that something was wrong. This must be his sixth sense. Although he didn't find anything at this time, he still planned to increase the speed for safety's sake.

It is a bit dangerous to increase the speed at night, but he still decided to do it at this time.

The night does provide cover for the fleet, but if it is detected, then this will provide cover for the enemy.

"Hey, the speed has increased."

At this time, Captain Claudio, who had been staring at the opponent, noticed that the speed of the fleet had increased.

But it was useless at this time, because the four submarines were already in place and the attack was about to start.

At this time, C-27 has moved to a position of one kilometer away from the fleet, and the other three submarines have also moved to a position of one or two kilometers away from the fleet.

"Report, the torpedo has been loaded."

At this moment, Claudio calmed down the excitement in his heart and gave an order. "Send a telegram to tell the other boats that we are about to attack."

Then he quickly calculated in the combat book with a calculation tool.

After a while, he finished his calculations and issued a combat order. "Order the torpedoes to be set at 35 knots, with a depth of four meters, and to launch sequentially."

Following Claudio's order, there were three booming sounds in the submarine in succession, which was the sound of torpedo launching.

I saw three white lines heading straight towards the three leading merchant ships, but due to the cover of night, the originally obvious traces were not conspicuous at all.

After launching three torpedoes, all officers and soldiers of C-27 were waiting.

Then three explosions sounded, and the officers and soldiers cheered in unison. This is all hits, how can this not make people happy.

As for the fleet, when there were three loud noises in a row, Major Kipsiller's heart tightened. It must have been attacked by a submarine.

"Immediately ask where they were attacked from. In addition, let the Wasp and the Reef prepare for anti-submarine immediately."

At this time, the officers and soldiers on the Narcissus were also making anti-submarine preparations. However, unlike the depth charges we are familiar with, the anti-submarine work at this time is to hang a special bomb with a rope, and after it is thrown into the water, it will be dragged by the battleship to attack the submarine by touching it.

Although this method seems a bit unbelievable, it is indeed the best method at present, and it is better than bombarding the water surface with naval guns.

At the same time, the merchant ship that was attacked also reported the location of the submarine.

Just as Major Kipsiller was about to order the Wasp and the Reef to attack the opponent's submarine, he heard three more explosions, which came from the rear of the fleet.

"No, the enemy has more than one submarine."

This result made Major Kipsiller feel completely bad. "Order the ships to sail at maximum speed, we..."

"Boom, boom."

Suddenly there were two loud explosions, which came from the front half of the fleet, which directly interrupted his words.

"Hurry up and send a report, let the transport ship leave quickly, and our three warships will stay."

Major Kipsiller, who was interrupted by the sound of the attack explosion, roared at the communication staff officer who was still in a daze. This also shows how nervous this person is.

Just as the transport ship was about to speed up and escape from the death zone, three more explosions sounded.

This time, Major Kipsiller, Major Kipsiller, couldn't sit still. The sound of the explosion alone showed that there were at least four submarines here.

"Modify the order so that the Wasp will go ahead with the transport ship, and we and the Reef will stay to deal with the enemy."

At this time, one after another ships were attacked, causing the transport ships of the fleet to panic. After all, they were civilians and had never experienced such a dire situation. Although there is an order from Major Kipsiller, there is a captain who has his own ideas. This caused chaos among the ships of the convoy that had not yet been attacked.

"Boom" This is when two merchant ships collided in a panic.

In addition, some ships turned on their lights. Although this avoided collisions, it also attracted attention like a bright light.

"Boom!"

A torpedo hit it with precision.

Seeing that the fleet was in a mess, Major Kipsile, the commander, saw it and was anxious.

"Let them retreat first and retreat to the southwest."

Perhaps Major Kipsiller's words had worked, or perhaps the merchant ship had finally recovered from its chaos. At this time, nearly half of the lost fleet finally picked up their speed, and they ran to the southwest at a speed of 14 knots.

The Italian submarine officers and soldiers ~www.mtlnovel.com~ who were planning to launch a second attack had no choice but to give up the attack.

But they are not in a hurry, because there is still a long way to go, and they still have a chance.

Three days later in Victoria Harbor in Seychelles, two warships arrived here with four merchant ships.

Reported the news of his attack to London through a major radio station in Seychelles.

Of the N-1 fleet consisting of 23 merchant ships and 3 warships, there were only six ships left, with a loss of 140,000 tons of tonnage. In addition, the cargo worth more than 3 million pounds on the ship also sank into the sea, which surprised the London side who received the news.

And this also made some people in the Navy question the role of formation escort, but with the strong support of the highly respected Marshal Fisher in the Navy, the formation **** continued.

Sorry, the chapter that should be updated yesterday is written now, thank you for your unwavering support.

(end of this chapter)

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