Chapter 10 Return to the Team

  Germany, Wilhelmshaven.

  Three months ago, when Zhang Hainuo was sent away from here as a seriously injured person, he had not had time to take a good look at Wilhelmshaven, which is known as one of the two major military ports in Germany along with Kiel. At this time, vehicles loaded with various materials were coming and going on the dock, and sailors were busy with their own tasks. The most striking thing was the giant warships moored at the berths, including King-class, Kaiser-class, Helgoland-class, Nassau-class, and several battlecruisers, which were all the elite of the German Navy. Under the foil of these giant warships, the numerous cruisers and destroyers looked so small, and the patrol boats that frequently entered and exited the port were even more insignificant.

  The car finally stopped at a dock where a large warship was berthed, and Zhang Hainuo saw Edwin standing there from afar.

  "Hey, Heino, my brother, you're finally back!"

  "Hey, Edwin!"

  Zhang Hainuo put down his luggage and gave Edwin a big hug - the two were almost the same height, with Edwin looking even more robust.

  "You're back just in time!" Edwin helped him lift the trunk, stepped aside to clear the view, and said to the warship on the dock: "Look! Our Seydlitz!"

  What stood before Zhang Hainuo was a massive warship with a deck as high as a one-story building from the dock, and a bridge and two smokestacks that rose like giants. The newly painted hull almost erased the traces of battle, five new turrets replaced those damaged old ones, and the long, thick barrels proudly pointed into the distance.

  Zhang Haino still remembers the first time he saw this warship when it came to this era, it was covered in scars and in a terrible condition, almost unbearable. However, within 100 days, it had restored its former glory. Should we praise the greatness of German shipbuilding technicians and workers or should we admire the strong vitality of this ship itself?

  "10 days ago, we just came out of the big repair dock. Now, we are still doing the final repairs and installations, but at least we can go back to our own cabins! You don't know, for the past three months, we've been living in those broken and old crew dorms, tsk tsk, it was really terrible!"

  Edwin, with a host's demeanor, led Zhang Hainuo to the ship's side and walked away. After boarding the ship, many unfamiliar faces were warmly greeting him.

  "Vidor Fleisher, the great gunner, has been promoted to be the gun commander of turret No. 3!"

  "Ratte H. Miller was wounded in one arm but is recovering rapidly and is still on duty in the chart room!"

  "Oh, Lieutenant Reiter, look! He's been promoted to Senior Lieutenant! Our new chief engineer!"

  Eddie was ostensibly introducing these colleagues to Zhang Hainuo, who had just returned from injury, but only the two of them knew that Zhang Hainuo couldn't recognize any of these people now. In order to avoid "exposing" themselves in their future work and life, they could only let Zhang Hainuo re-recognize them through this method!

  It was a relief for Zhang Hainuo to finally return to his own room, trying to remember so many names and faces at once was really a very challenging thing.

  "How is it?" After shoving that trunk under the bed, Edwin plopped himself down on the only chair in this cabin, looking at Zhang Hainuo who was curiously examining the surroundings.

  "Huh? You mean this room? It's a bit small, but it's not bad!" Zhang Hainuo put his backpack beside the bed and sat down on the half-high bed.

  "You've been living here for over two years and you still haven't forgotten?" Edvin said without finding it strange.

  Zhang Hainuo shrugged his shoulders, "I basically don't have any impression now, but I think I can adapt quickly, at least my memory is still good!"

  "Your memory has always been great!" Edwin didn't know whether it was praise or something else, he lightly tapped the toe of his shoe on the trunk, "Are these the books I helped you get? Did you understand and remember them all?"

  "It's barely passable, but it severely lacks practical operating experience!" Zhang Hainuo said frankly.

  "It's all right, I'll take you to the torpedo room after lunch. By the way, you used to be in charge of No. 1 Torpedo Room, but now you've been promoted to the Torpedo Commander of the whole ship!" Edwin's casual remark made Zhang Haino feel a little nervous, as promotion meant higher status, more opportunities and more allowances, but he was not fully prepared for it yet.

  "Torpedo commander of the entire fleet? I'm afraid I won't be able to take on that role in my current state, what about the previous commander?"

  "You're talking about Lieutenant Norbert Schürer? He's been transferred to the 7th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, I heard that flotilla lost half of its boats, so they've received a lot of new reinforcements and personnel!"

  "Oh! Right, what about our new captain, General von Lauterbach?"

  "Are you kidding me? Today, it seems like they're having a meeting at the Naval Warfare Department, and I heard that they still don't plan on deploying the fleet. For this period of time, the Von der Tann, Moltke, and Derfflinger haven't moved from their positions, so even if the Seydlitz is fully repaired, I think it won't have any combat missions!" Edwin said this with some helplessness, after the Dogger Bank Battle and the Battle of Jutland, the German High Command was no longer willing to risk these precious ships.

  Zhang Haino didn't say anything, actually when he was still in the sanatorium, he had been eager to change the status quo of the German Navy through his own efforts, otherwise these giant warships would not be able to escape the "historical fate" of self-sinking in Pascagoula Bay, including this unsinkable ship, Seydlitz.

  After Zhang Hainuo took a short rest, Edwin took him to the deck for a walk. Without being fully loaded with fuel and ammunition, the foredeck was about 5-6 meters above the sea surface. Standing here overlooking the sea would give one a sense of superiority over all things. And those nearly two-meter-high giant turrets and thick and long 280mm naval guns gave people a sense of confidence and pride. Zhang Hainuo thought that this was probably the main reason why people were so crazy about giant warships and big cannons.

  The Sedlitz was exactly 200 meters long from bow to stern, a distance an adult could run in half a minute. Yet it took Zhang Haino and Edwin three or four minutes to get from the foredeck to the afterdeck - the decks of this warship were not entirely continuous, and the afterdeck was one level lower than the foredeck.

  Arriving at the relatively spacious afterdeck, Zhang Haino suddenly remembered that during World War II many countries' navies liked to carry a few seaplanes on their main battleships. If the two main turrets here were raised, the remaining space would be enough to hold two seaplanes. The position of the ship's side could also be used to store planes or install simple catapults. If wireless telegraphy was installed on the plane, then the reconnaissance capability of this warship and even the entire fleet would be greatly enhanced.

  At the Battle of Jutland, if the German High Seas Fleet had even one seaplane on board and could dispatch it for reconnaissance missions, they would have had a complete opportunity to avoid the main force of the British Grand Fleet and not be in such a precarious situation as at the Battle of Jutland.

  Thinking of this, Zhang Hainuo almost couldn't wait to return to the living quarters to write them all down. However, in order to ensure that this idea was feasible, he still asked Edwin about the current situation of the German Navy's use of aircraft.

  "Aircraft and airships? Oh, of course! See those big houses on the mountain over there? Those are the Zeppelin hangars. There are 10 of them near Wilhelmshaven, usually used for harbor patrol duties, not like army airships that fly to England to drop bombs! As for aircraft, we have a flight school in Lüstringen with some instructors and several Halberstadt reconnaissance planes, but those are all wheeled landplanes!"

  "No seaplanes?" Zhang Haino was somewhat surprised. In terms of aircraft technology during World War I, Germany was slightly better than France and Britain, only inferior in number. If the German Navy did not equip seaplanes, it must be due to ideological rather than technical reasons.

  Edwin didn't know why his "amnesiac" friend suddenly asked this, but he still thought hard:

  "As far as I know, none! The air defense missions near Wilhelmshaven are usually carried out jointly by ground fire and army fighter squadrons, the army has two airfields near Norden and Bremerhaven, but I don't know how many planes they have!"

  It seems that it's not easy to persuade those conservative naval commanders, Zhang Haino thought to himself. Fortunately, the "Father of the German Navy" Admiral von Tirpitz should be a more open-minded person - he was instrumental in creating this powerful German High Seas Fleet, and under the circumstances where the British Navy had superior strength, he became an advocate and organizer of unrestricted submarine warfare. As long as there is an opportunity to meet with Tirpitz or let him see his own plan, his chances of success will be much greater.

  After lunch, Edwin took Zhang Hainuo to visit the four torpedo rooms, so that he could re-familiarize himself with his subordinates. Except for the 4th Torpedo Room, which had been replenished with a large number of new recruits after being wiped out in the Battle of Jutland, the other three torpedo rooms were still dominated by old sailors from before.

  Looking at their friendly and respectful eyes, Zhang Hainuo felt a lot more at ease.

  Next, Zhang Hainuo practiced the theory he had learned from books for nearly two months under the guise of inspecting equipment in the torpedo room. Edwin patiently accompanied him, occasionally pointing out a few things in a low voice. This was Zhang Hainuo's first real contact with torpedo equipment and those sleek, icy torpedoes. It took almost two hours for Zhang Hainuo to explore the practical aspects of torpedo maintenance, assembly, depth setting, angle adjustment, firing procedures, and more. This was far more complicated than playing submarine hunting games when he was younger.

  Fortunately, the hard study of the past two months has not been in vain, and with Edwin's practical guidance, Zhang Hainuo is now confident to independently command the entire launch process of a torpedo. Moreover, Edwin also quietly told him that as a torpedo officer, he usually does not need to take action himself, but rather supervises the sailors to complete the tasks assigned by their superiors, arranges the sailors' shifts and leave matters, is responsible for their daily training, and when necessary, comforts their emotions and adjusts their mental state.

  As dinner approached, an officer came to the torpedo room and told Zhang Haino that the captain wanted to see him. Zhang Haino was naturally overjoyed, as this man was not only his "uncle" but also the first person he needed to persuade in his overall plan.