Back to 1939 Sea Wolf

  U-47 entered Wilhelmshaven, and Kapit?nleutnant Günther Prien was startled by the thunder of applause from the dock.

  Although the dock is not as crowded as in China, it's still quite a sight. At the very front stood a German naval marshal and general, namely Raeder and D?nitz, who were the big bosses after Zhou Tianlei.

  Zhou Tianlei led his troops in a military march, stepping out in lockstep to stand before R?dell and D?nitz, shouting: "Attention! Salute!"

  They saluted: "Report, Lieutenant Commander Prien and crew reporting for duty." Raeder and D?nitz returned the salute. D?nitz said with a surprised expression: "Günter, you're getting better and better. We couldn't even get into Scapa Flow before, but you managed to sneak in this time. And you sank the Royal Oak too! Let me tell you something, according to our intelligence, the new British Prime Minister Churchill will be inspecting the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow on October 14th during the day. If he stays there until the next day, who knows, you might just hit the jackpot! This is a congratulatory telegram from the Führer. Now I will award you and your crew! (The crew received the Iron Cross Second Class, Prien's was the Iron Cross First Class)

  R?der also said: "G?tze, you and your little boys go back and take a good rest. You go back and write a detailed report about this matter, tomorrow you and your crew come to Berlin, our propaganda minister has arranged a press conference for you and your little boys. The Führer will also receive you. (Is the butterfly effect starting now? They went in the afternoon in history) You are going to be famous now! Hehe!"

  He patted Zhou Tianlei's shoulder with his hand. Zhou Tianlei turned around and shouted to his subordinates: "Take a break, brothers, you are free now, have fun. Disperse."

  Watching the sailors cheerfully rush towards their relatives and friends who came to greet them. Turning around, carrying his own computer bag, ready to leave.

  At this time, someone waved his arms and shouted to him: "Kretschmer, Kretschmer, I'm here!" Zhou Tianlei looked in the direction of the sound and found that it was also a naval officer, who looked quite familiar. He thought for a moment and remembered who he was, also one of the German Navy's ace submarine commanders, U-99 commander Otto Kretschmer.

  Prien was on good terms with him. Otto came up and punched Zhou Tianlei, "You kid usually don't show off, didn't expect you to sink the Royal Oak, really can't see through you. What's in your hand? I heard that on your way back, you were knocked unconscious by a mysterious person, are you okay? Tonight we'll go wild, I've prepared wine and some beauties too. To celebrate for you. We won't return until we're drunk."

  Zhou Tianlei smiled wryly and said to Otto, "I'd like to go too, but I'm really tired today. Let's go play another day." Otto said with an apologetic expression, "I heard that after being knocked unconscious by the mysterious person, you seemed to have a slight memory loss. It's okay, you little guy should rest well."

  "It's nothing, I'm just feeling very tired now. I want to go back to the Navy and get a place for myself to live, but I've forgotten where I lived."

  "Haha, you little guy really has a bit of amnesia. Alright, I'll take you there, your face doesn't look too good, hurry up and rest."

  After sending Otto away, Zhou Tianlei turned around and opened his laptop bag, took out the computer, plugged in the power cord. He opened the computer and started browsing through the original data stored on it and began to organize the data. After he finished organizing the data, he began to ponder how to combine future technology and tactics with the current actual situation in Germany for development.

  He first thought of it at the end of 38, his old superior Raeder submitted two combat plans for the German Navy to Hitler. One was a short-term plan based on the war being imminent, requiring most of Germany's naval forces, including submarines, raiders, minelayers and some coastal defense troops to be deployed in warfare against British merchant ships. The other was a long-term plan that assumed the war would not break out within ten years, requiring the establishment of a surface fleet stronger than the British Navy, so as to seize command of the sea from the British in wartime.

  This plan was also known as the 'Z Plan', at that time Hitler adopted a long-term plan (the preparation time for the plan was 1939-1945, but during this period the war had already ended). The German Navy began to build battleships and heavy cruisers on a large scale according to the plan. However, the war had already broken out, so many German naval vessels were unable to join the war in time. Raeder saw this situation and could only give up his original intention of fighting a fair sea battle with the British, and instead used the tactics used by Germany in World War I, using submarines and raiders to attack British convoys.

  But this tactic has a most fatal weakness, which is that the weak side does not have control of the sea. Once the opponent concentrates their forces to encircle and annihilate, the troops being surrounded are mostly doomed to a terrible fate.

  So the British Navy still needs to be attacked, but what should be done with the current state of the German Navy? Zhou Tianlei thought for a while and suddenly had an idea. He remembered the scene when Bismarck and Eugen were on patrol, and at that time, the British dispatched two King George V-class battleships, namely King George V and Prince of Wales, as well as the battlecruiser Hood, the aircraft carriers Victorious and Royal Ark, and the battleships Rodney, Ramillies, and Revenge to surround them. What if a large number of submarines suddenly appeared underwater during the naval battle? At that time, there were indeed submarines providing support, but those that arrived on the scene had basically run out of torpedoes.

  But if the Japanese Navy had consciously sent these submarines to some ambush points, what would happen? Could British warships escape when facing simultaneous attacks from both surface and underwater?

  There are also those who use the perspective of a former Chinese Navy Kilo-class submarine commander to look at this era's submarines, which is simply not up to par. The fast-boat-like design has large guns and machine guns installed on the deck, don't they know that if they encounter an enemy surface ship on the water surface, these things will not be of any use? Underwater, it's like a turtle's speed and deafening noise, are they afraid that others won't know where you are?

  There are still problems with the G7e electric torpedo ignition and depth-keeping devices currently in use. Another is the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, whose suspension of construction was a huge loss for the German Navy. Due to its suspension, the German Navy had no way to counter the Allied naval air forces' attacks and could only rely on luck to evade them.

  But they have built it, there are also problems, because Germany's resources are not rich and cannot develop comprehensively like the United States. Therefore, the number of Zeppelin aircraft carriers will be limited. And if assigned to carrier-based aircraft in general proportion, the attack and self-defense capabilities of the aircraft carrier will be greatly restricted, so there must be a trade-off.

  But which aspect to choose? He was restless, pacing back and forth in the house. For a moment, he couldn't think of a good solution. He decided to play on his computer for a while before making a decision. Just then, unintentionally, he opened an e-book version of an annual collection of a semi-professional naval magazine from his own time and space that he had downloaded earlier. Suddenly, he saw an article inside that made him jump up with excitement. He shouted: "The heavens have not forgotten me!" He decided to start writing his own book from these aspects.

  On October 18, he took his subordinates to Berlin to attend a press conference arranged by Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels. Just as the press conference was about to end, D?nitz's secretary quietly walked in and handed Zhou Tianlei a note. After reading the note, Zhou Tianlei put it into the pocket of his uniform.

  After the press conference, he rushed to D?nitz's office. D?nitz's secretary saw him open the door of D?nitz's office: "The general is waiting for you inside!" Zhou Tianlei went in and saw his old superior D?nitz sitting behind the desk, immediately stepped forward and saluted D?nitz: "U-47 submarine captain Prien reports for duty!"

  "Ah, Gotte, sit down and talk." D?nitz also returned a military salute to him. After Zhou Tianlei sat down, D?nitz asked him: "I've read your report, but there's a lot of stuff about submarines in it that I don't quite understand, so I'd like you to explain it to me."

  Deng Nuo took out Zhou Tianlei's report and said while reading: "You said in the report that we need to change the design of our current submarine, can you explain the tactics in detail?"

  Of course, many things in World War II are unreasonable to modern military personnel. Zhou Tianlei said: "Firstly, I think the biggest hidden advantage of submarines is still hiding underwater and conducting reconnaissance, observation, and attacks on enemies while submerged. We can't use them like we used to, taking advantage of nightfall to launch surprise attacks on the surface. Because the enemy will have better ways to neutralize the advantages of nightfall. To achieve this, we must change the external design of our submarines. The deck of a submarine cannot have any unnecessary things, such as deck guns or machine guns. These can only be used against unarmed ships. If the enemy uses warships to escort unarmed transport ships, these will become a burden for us. Furthermore, in order to adapt to long-term underwater operations, the external design of submarines also cannot be designed like speedboats. This way, the underwater speed won't be high."

  "Secondly, as I mentioned earlier that we need to adapt to the requirement of staying underwater for a long time, so it's unlikely that the diesel engine on the submarine can be recharged on the surface. So I came up with an idea to create an air intake pipe for the diesel engine, allowing it to be used while submerged. Additionally, we need to improve the stealth capability of the submarine by minimizing the noise it emits. My report has more details on this aspect (just kidding, you, Zhou Tianlei, commanded a Kilo-class submarine known as the 'Black Hole of the Ocean' in your original timeline). Also, during this voyage, I discovered that our G7e torpedoes have issues with their fuses and depth-keeping devices. I hope we can make improvements on this (you little thief, you're stealing ideas from people in the future again, Zhou Tianlei said: no need to be polite, I don't want to go into battle with a bunch of useless stuff)."

  "Third, we must change the tactics of our submarines now in use. Our submarines and surface vessels can't go out alone to fight separately. That would make it easy for the enemy to concentrate their forces and surround us, annihilating us. So I hope our submarines can join forces with surface vessels to launch a joint attack. Our submarines can sneak ahead to certain areas to lay an ambush, while our surface vessels lure in British large surface warships to our ambush point. Then we can join forces with the surface vessels to destroy the enemy's surface warships. Also, it is possible that our Enigma code has been compromised by the British (this was one of the important reasons for Germany's defeat in World War II)."

  Dengnitz smiled and said to Zhou Tianlei: "Your suggestion is very good, I will study it with Marshal Redel. Once there is a result, I will notify you. Didn't expect that you are so capable! Also, the Führer wants to meet you all and have dinner together!"