Chapter 30: Sharpening One's Sword on the Battlefield

  After leaving Wilhelmshaven, Zhang Haino once again carefully checked the cards in his hand: a UBIII-type submarine that had undergone major repairs, 25 crew members with varying degrees of experience, fuel that could normally supply the submarine for at least 6,000 nautical miles, 10 450mm torpedoes, 85 rounds of 100mm deck gun ammunition, two boxes of 8mm machine gun bullets, and food and fresh water supplies sufficient for all crew members to live on the sea for seven to eight weeks.

  Compared to Hersing, Zhang Haino's difficulties were not only leading a group of temporarily inexperienced and uncoordinated sailors, but also knowing that the Atlantic Ocean was more complex and changeable than the Mediterranean. The British and American escort ships executing convoy and anti-submarine tasks here were stronger than those in the Italian and French fleets in the Mediterranean, and Zhang Haino's command experience was far inferior to Hersing's. U171's situation was indeed much more severe than U21's.

  Before going out to sea, Zhang Haino specially found the chief engineer Sergei Shakhed to talk about it. This shy young man was not the "original" chief engineer of U171. He had previously served as deputy chief engineer on a 1,100-ton UD-type submarine and had only recently been transferred with other new crew members. In the previous few days, Sergei had already conducted a fairly comprehensive inspection of the boat's power system and had detailed information about the situation of this major overhaul of U171 from another old chief engineer: one diesel engine, two electric motors, and 2/3 of the oil pipes were replaced, and the damaged hull in the previous battle was also fully repaired.

  Logically, the submarine's navigation and combat capabilities have basically recovered, but Zhang Haino knew that overhauling a ship was like overhauling a car - after a major overhaul, it still needed to go through a running-in period before entering its best state.

  The only thing that makes Zhang Haino happy now is that before entering the Atlantic, U171 will be accompanied by two other submarines - U89 and U145. Among them, U89 is the UD-type submarine mentioned by Sergei, which belongs to the largest tonnage and longest-range submarine in Germany at present, but there are not many of this type. U145 is also a UBIII-type submarine, with a newer vessel age than his own. The captains of these two submarines are all old birds, with numbers on their combat records exceeding 40,000 tons, while Zhang Haino's combat record has not even been opened yet!

  The day after leaving the port, Zhang Haino commanded the sailors to conduct the first full-speed trial of U-171 after major repairs, and the situation was better than he had imagined. The newly commissioned UBIII-type submarine could reach a maximum surface speed of 16.5 knots, while this time U-171 also ran at 16.1 knots in relatively good sea conditions.

  In the next dive, they encountered some trouble. The submarine had just dived to a depth of 15 meters when the ventilation pipe on board began to leak. The newcomers were immediately flustered, but fortunately, several old hands quickly eliminated the fault. However, at Sergil's suggestion, the submarine resurfaced and thoroughly inspected the ventilation ducts.

  In the more than three hours of ventilation pipe repair, Zhang Haino standing on the submarine command tower felt a tension that had never been experienced on U21 - in the southeastern waters of the North Sea near Germany and Denmark, British cruisers and destroyers might appear at any time, and the British naval officers and men above were the most vigilant and battle-experienced among all British fleets. Despite being accompanied by U89 and U145, Zhang Haino did not dare to be slightly complacent.

  It wasn't until evening that U-171 finally dived again, this time diving smoothly to a depth of 35 meters, which was what the boat's commanders called a safe depth. Zhang Haino finally let out a small sigh of relief.

  As the submarine had just left its home port, that night's dinner was particularly sumptuous, with fresh meat, vegetables and milk all available. However, Zhang Haino felt that the atmosphere here lacked something compared to U21. He thought for a long time before suddenly realizing: although the crew members were chatting enthusiastically, they didn't make various jokes as recklessly as Hansen and his men did.

  "Everyone, let's guess riddles! I'll start first, and those who guess correctly will be rewarded!"

  As soon as Zhang Hainuo spoke up, the boatmen all quieted down and focused their attention on him.

  "The first riddle, whoever guesses correctly will have me take over their shift for an hour. If you guess incorrectly, then drink a big cup of milk. Everyone raise your hands to answer, got it?"

  "Understood!" The crew members began to rub their fists and palms, especially the young men working in the engine room - where the noise was the loudest on the entire boat and also the most tiring position. Someone took over for an hour, although it wasn't a big prize, but for them, it was still a satisfying deal.

  "There is something, it's long and round, one end has hair, everyone present has one! Its function is to poke back and forth, some people poke several times a day, some people poke once every few days, and some people have never poked before! Guess what this is?"

  Zhang Hainuo saw that many of the boatmen wanted to laugh, but didn't dare to make a sound, while several younger boatmen had their faces flushed red.

  "I know!" Seeing no one answer, Edwin raised his own right hand.

  "Alright, you answer!"

  "That's... " Edwin glanced around at the crew members present and hesitated for a while before answering:

  Toothbrush!

  "Correct!" Zhang Hainuo clapped his hands and then smiled at the other crew members, saying: "Those who thought wrong should voluntarily drink a cup of milk!"

  The boatmen at this time were all different in expression, some honestly holding up their cups and drinking the milk in one gulp, while others appeared to be calm on the surface but their eyes couldn't help glancing around awkwardly.

  "Alright, Edwin, I'll take over your watch for an hour tonight! Next, I'll ask another question. Same rules: if you guess correctly, I'll take over your watch for an hour; if not... then sing a song for everyone! Agree or disagree?" Zhang Hainuo asked loudly to the crew members.

  "Agreed!" This time everyone was unanimous.

  "Good! A healthy couple, why would they give birth to a child without eyes?" Zhang Hainuo has been fond of playing such brain teasers since he was young and can come up with a bunch of similar questions at will.

  The crew members looked at me and I looked at them. A young-looking sailor raised his hand and replied:

  "Was that couple cursed by the devil?"

  "No! The reason is not here!" Zhang Haino thought carefully, "You are Perel, Perel Domashchek, a first-class non-commissioned officer of the torpedo compartment, right?"

  The young sailor nodded.

  "How about singing a song?" Zhang Hainuo said in a negotiating tone.

  The young boatman hesitated for a moment, "Alright, I'll sing a folk song from my hometown! Cough, the cloud in the valley..."

  The singing voice is not professional, and the melody is also quite simple. However, after the young man finished singing, Zhang Hainuo still led the applause with enthusiasm.

  "Good, is there anyone else coming to try and answer? Is there?"

  This time, none of the varied answers were correct. After all, people's thinking in this era is still relatively straightforward. However, Zhang Hainuo was quite satisfied. He not only listened to many songs but also strengthened his understanding of his crew members and brought himself closer to them.

  "Let me announce the answer! The answer is... a rooster and a hen laid an egg, but the egg has no eyes!"

  As soon as the answer came out, the crew members all let out a unanimous "oh", it turned out that the answer was so simple.

  Next, Zhang Hainuo had the crew members take turns asking questions, with corresponding rewards and punishments for correct and incorrect answers. It was clear that every crew member was having a great time. At this moment, he seemed to have become the class cultural committee member, like a kindergarten teacher, but he didn't mind, the key was to relieve the tension of the crew members, especially the newbies, adjust their mentality and let them better engage in the upcoming battle.

  When will the first battle begin? Zhang Hainuo was also uncertain, maybe a week later, maybe tomorrow, or maybe tonight. Zhang Hainuo had a smile all over his face, but he knew that cruel battles and fierce hunting and counter-hunting would eventually come, and victory often belonged to those who were clever, brave, and prepared.