Chapter 550 Oil Tanker

Under the cover of darkness, two torpedoes rushed straight towards the oil tanker not far away. With the turtle-like speed of the oil tanker, it was impossible to avoid it even if it discovered the incoming torpedoes.

One minute and ten seconds later, the two torpedoes hit the unlucky oil tanker accurately. What was even more unlucky was that it was not loaded with heavy oil, but a full 50,000 tons of crude oil. With a loud bang, a huge fireball with a diameter of hundreds of meters suddenly appeared on the sea, illuminating the area of ​​several kilometers in red.

A passenger ship that happened to pass by the oil tanker was overturned by the shock wave of the explosion. If it was just overturned, the passengers inside might still be saved, but then tons of crude oil poured out from the oil tanker and covered the surrounding sea area, and the sea surface instantly turned into a sea of ​​fire.

Other nearby ships could only watch the fierce flames engulf the passenger ship. Heart-wrenching screams came from the passenger ship, but they were helpless. Even all the ships tacitly retreated a distance to avoid getting burned.

Listening to the panicked shouts of other captains on the radio, Krezimer shook his head speechlessly. "These idiots haven't realized they were attacked yet?" Some ships were calling the Coast Guard for help, but they thought that the oil tanker had just exploded due to an accident, and they didn't realize that there was a terrible sea killer lurking in this sea area.

At this time, the first mate yawned and walked into the command tower. "Captain, you go to rest. Did you sink another one just now? I seem to hear an explosion."

Krezimer nodded. "We sank an oil tanker, at least 50,000 tons."

The first mate immediately became energetic. "Great! That's more than 100,000 tons. This time when you return to the port, you can at least get the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves!"

"Ah!" Krezimer's face did not look happy, but he sighed depressedly.

Seeing this, the first mate couldn't help but look puzzled. "Why are you sighing?" Then he suddenly realized. "By the way, you won't be able to go out to sea after you go back this time." Because of the regulations issued by His Highness himself, any captain who has sunk more than 100,000 tons of tonnage cannot go out to sea again. Just like Gottprien, he was transferred to the rear to train and command a new submarine force.

And Krezimer had already accumulated more than 40,000 tons of sinking tonnage before, and this time he sank more than 100,000 tons. According to the regulations, he can only be transferred to the rear to train and command a submarine force. "You are going to be promoted."

Krezimer smiled bitterly. "Rather than being promoted, I would rather go to the battlefield and kill the enemy all the time."

But His Highness had said before that a person's power is ultimately limited. A submarine sank a hundred enemy ships, a tank destroyed a hundred enemy tanks, and a fighter shot down a hundred enemy planes; perhaps their record is amazing and unmatched by others, but it has no impact on the strategic level and cannot change the outcome of the war.

But once such talents are placed in the position of commanders, they can rely on their own experience to educate more soldiers who are familiar with war. For example, a fighter pilot can shoot down 100 enemy planes, but when he shoots down 50 enemy planes and is transferred to the rear to train new recruits, and trains 100 pilots who can shoot down 10 enemy planes, it will cause 1,000 aircraft casualties to the enemy.

In this regard, the U.S. Army Air Force did a good job in World War II. When their outstanding pilots reach a certain task, they will be replaced to the rear for new recruit training. Since October 1942, the average training time of American pilots has surpassed that of German pilots in all aspects, and has exceeded the peak level of the German army (1939-1940). Due to the rotation system, there are almost no super aces born among American pilots, but from the perspective of the technical level of pilots throughout World War II, the average training level of American pilots is the highest, and the overall level is also the highest.

On the other hand, the average level of German pilots has been declining. The German army does not implement a rotation system, and outstanding pilots fly until they die, otherwise they must participate in the war. For example: Garland flew from 1936 to 1945, and as a general, he had to personally fight in air battles (you can imagine how much flying time and combat experience this guy had, which also shows that the German Air Force lacked reserve forces). Therefore, a large number of super ace pilots emerged in Germany, but the final result was that there were fewer and fewer such excellent pilots, and the proportion of rookies was increasing, and the overall level dropped sharply.

In the end, the US air force completely broke the backbone of the German Air Force in Europe during World War II.

Kretschmer yawned. "Go find a supply ship. Since it's the last time, let's fight to our heart's content." Maybe the number of sinkings this time can exceed that of Gottprien.

President Roosevelt in the ward has woken up. The first thing he did when he woke up was to ask someone to call General Ernest in. "Why didn't the outer defense circle find that the German submarine slipped in?!"

General Ernest sighed lightly. "I'm sorry, Mr. President, the number of patrol ships in the outer defense circle is still far from enough, and there will inevitably be omissions. We can only make up for it after the ship production capacity is increased." In recent days, more than 100 outer patrol ships have been sunk by the German army. There are only more than 100 new ships that can be replenished, which means that the defense circle, which was not so tight to begin with, has not been substantially improved. However, the United States is entering a wartime system, and more and more ships will be launched. At that time, the defense circle can be considered a real iron wall.

President Roosevelt also knew that the U.S. maritime defense circle had been extended to 1,500 kilometers because of concerns about the attack of German flying bombs with a range of 1,200 kilometers. This would definitely lead to some loopholes. However, as General Ernest said, these loopholes will gradually be filled after the U.S. production capacity increases in a while.

Therefore, he did not pursue the matter to the end, but asked another question. "What about the German submarine? By the way, is it a submarine or a "wolf pack"? " He was worried that it was not just one but a "wolf pack" that slipped in. He knew the horror of the "wolf pack". After all, even the former maritime hegemon, the British Empire, suffered a great loss in front of the "wolf pack".

General Ernest was also unclear. The attacked North Carolina formation only sent a message that it was attacked by a submarine, but did not elaborate on the specific situation. "It must be a wolf pack?"

President Roosevelt asked. "Have you found its trace?"

General Ernest looked ashamed. "We have intensified our search efforts." But now, more than ten hours have passed since the attack, and no trace of the other party has been found. I'm afraid they have already escaped.