Chapter 293 Charles' Invention

Colonel Hexing calculated very accurately. When the submarine surfaced again, it had successfully passed through the outer defense circle and appeared near the enemy battleship.

The only shortcoming was that the bow of the submarine was pointing away from the target.

The submarine had prepared the torpedoes, and the torpedo compartment was flooded. It was just waiting for Colonel Hexing to find the right position and order the launch.

However...

Just as Colonel Hexing nervously commanded the submarine to turn, suddenly several water columns exploded in front of the submarine. Colonel Hexing realized that he had been discovered. These artillery fires were obviously directed at the submarine.

Colonel Hexing did not hesitate and shouted: "Emergency dive!"

Colonel Hexing chose to abandon the mission very simply. He knew that the torpedoes launched in this situation had almost no chance of hitting, and the submarine would most likely be blown up by the enemy.

"Emergency dive!"

"Emergency dive!"

...

The orders were passed down one after another.

The tense nerves of the crew were all mobilized. They knew that this was a life-or-death moment. If they were delayed by one second, the entire submarine and 35 crew members would sink to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish.

"Full rudder to the left." He Xing immediately gave a loud order.

"Full rudder to the left!"

...

The deputy captain quickly understood the meaning of this order. The battleship's hull below the waterline was seven or eight meters long, and it was like a wall blocking the submarine.

If it did not turn in time, it might crash into the battleship's heavy armored boat and be killed.

The sea water was surging in the sound of the guns, and the crew members held on to the fixed objects to ensure that they would not fall.

Gradually, the shaking amplitude became smaller and smaller, which meant that the shells had been blocked by the sea water.

The crew members breathed a sigh of relief, but Colonel He Xing felt that he seemed to have been fooled.

The submarine had only been out of the periscope for more than a minute. Generally speaking, the periscope should not be discovered by the enemy in such a short time and in the dark.

But the enemy still discovered it.

Not only that, they also opened fire in more than a minute, and the artillery fire was so intensive.

There is only one possibility for this situation: the enemy knew that the submarine would come, and they were fully prepared to wait for the submarine to appear.

...

Colonel Hexing was right. The battleship "Gaulic" was bombing V Beach on the surface, but it was actually anti-submarine.

Charles gave the task of finding submarines to Colonel Meyer, the captain of the battleship "Gaulic".

Charles did not inform him until one hour before sailing.

When Colonel Meyer heard Charles say that there would be a submarine attack, he looked at Charles in shock: "But this is impossible, Colonel. How did the Germans know that we would appear on V Beach?"

"You don't have to pay attention to these." Charles replied calmly: "You just need to know that the German submarine will come, and the mission of the "Gaulic" is to find it in time and point it out."

Then Charles asked: "You must be willing to do this, Colonel?"

Colonel Meyer rolled his eyes. How could he not be willing? The result of not being willing was that the "Gaulic" sank to the bottom of the sea!

At the same time, Colonel Meyer was still a little dissatisfied. At this time, he certainly knew that the battleship "Gaulic" was used as bait by Charles.

However, Colonel Meyer did not dare to neglect it. He immediately organized the lookouts and sailors on the ship, and deployed personnel and prepared searchlights in almost every inch of the sea surface in all directions of the battleship, especially on the west side.

This is also the reason why Charles wanted the "Gauguin" to approach five kilometers to engage in close artillery battles with the enemy on the shore.

The battleship was only five kilometers away from the coast. The sea area on this side was full of shoals and reefs, and there was almost no space for submarines to dive and sail.

The north and south were the bow and stern of the ship. There was no danger for submarines to appear in these two directions, and it was almost impossible for torpedoes to hit such a small area.

In the end, only the west side close to the sea was left.

Hundreds of sailors and lookouts stared at the sea surface, and many of them borrowed telescopes from the army, so the submarine's periscope was discovered as soon as it emerged.

Then the searchlight was fired at the position of the submarine, and the artillery fire that had been prepared long ago immediately fired at the submarine.

Then, the destroyer carrying the depth charge immediately headed for the location indicated by the searchlight.

The submarine's route was easy to predict. Everyone saw that its periscope drew a long waterline on the sea surface, turned a corner to avoid the battleship and dived into the water to the north.

Under the command of Captain Meyer, the artillery stopped firing, and the lookout then used the searchlight to illuminate the submarine's trail to indicate the direction of the destroyer.

The destroyer accelerated to catch up, and then rolled down one by one from behind like a "barrel of oil".

...

In the submarine, Colonel Hexing completely relaxed.

The submarine had already dived to eleven meters urgently, and the enemy's artillery could not pose a threat to the submarine even if it exploded directly above.

Charles was a respectable and formidable opponent. He actually set a trap with himself and the battleship... Wait, Charles might not be on that battleship at all, and this mission might be doomed to fail from the beginning.

However, Charles was still a step slower after all.

Colonel He Xing secretly rejoiced that this was the advantage of submarines: if they missed a target, they would flee immediately, leaving the enemy with only a few minutes to attack.

The originally nervous crew members now had smiles on their faces, and some even shook their heads slightly, as if they were still frightened by the danger just now.

However...

"Boom boom!"

With several huge shocks, the submarine shook violently like an earthquake, and the crew members who were not mentally prepared all fell down screaming.

"What's going on?" Colonel Hexing, who had fallen to the ground, struggled to get up from the crowd.

"Enemy artillery?" The deputy captain was horrified.

"Impossible!" Colonel Hexing replied: "What kind of artillery can reach this depth?"

Everyone was silent because no one knew what it was.

But it is certain that it can hit the submarine!

"Boom!"

There were two more explosions, and the crew fell down again.

This time they were sure that it was not a coincidence, but the enemy was consciously chasing the submarine.

Colonel Hexing's mind was blank, and he had many questions he didn't understand:

How did the enemy know their location?

What are those things that can hit submarines?

Who invented that...

Wait, Charles!

Colonel Hexing swallowed hard and said: "That may be a new equipment invented by Charles!"

The crew members turned pale in an instant. New equipment invented by Charles, new equipment that can hit submarines!

Does that mean...

Just as the thought came up, there were two more loud "booms".

Then the crew members in the rear shouted in panic: "The electromechanical compartment is flooded! The electromechanical compartment is flooded..."

Colonel He Xing realized that the battle was over.

The electromechanical compartment was flooded, and if he didn't float up, it meant he would never float to the surface!