Chapter 36: Summoning the Pack of Wolves

  The explosions on the top were one after another, but the shaking caused to U171 itself was far less intense than that time in the North Sea. After experiencing that life-and-death exercise, Zhang Haino and his crew members were much more calm when facing this situation. The most exaggerated ones here were Zhang Haino and Edwin, who each had a cup of coffee and savored it slowly, although some coffee would spill out of the cup when the shaking was more intense, but they didn't mind at all, and occasionally exchanged light conversations with their eyes and expressions.

  This time the British attack lasted only a little over half an hour, probably because their passive listening devices (hydrophones and simple sonar) did not hear any sounds from the submarine, or they had few depth charges to begin with, and the explosions died down.

  About an hour later, the last batch of sonar sounds also gradually faded away until they completely disappeared from people's ears. But Zhang Haino was not in a hurry to float up to the water surface at this time, but was calculating his own achievements for the day in his heart. It is clear that three of the four torpedoes hit the British warship - the possibility of the British discovering and hitting the torpedoes with guns and cannons within one minute of them traveling two or three meters underwater is extremely small!

  Zhang Haino's primary target was the cruiser, which was the flagship of this convoy fleet. As long as it was sunk, even if the command system of the convoy fleet could not be completely destroyed, it would still give a heavy blow to the British sailors psychologically. His second target was a 10,000-ton cargo ship located in the front part of the fleet. The main consideration for choosing this target was that once the torpedo missed, there was still a possibility of hitting other cargo ships on its side and rear.

  The best scenario, Zhang Haino thought, was that the first two torpedoes had hit their intended targets, while the third one had missed them and hit a third target, perhaps another 10,000-ton freighter or perhaps an unlucky destroyer. Whatever the case, as a newcomer, Zhang Haino was already very satisfied.

  At least it proves that I have the strength to "mix" in this era.

  After enduring for a whole one and a half hours, Zhang Haino finally ordered the submarine to surface. As usual, first observe the surroundings with the periscope at depth, then rise to semi-submerged state, and after confirming that there were no even seagulls around, U171 reluctantly surfaced.

  The situation on the sea surface was somewhat beyond Zhang Hainuo's expectations. Black oil pollution, white or brown wooden debris, lifebuoys and other floating objects could be seen everywhere, and it was clear that at least one ship had been sunk in this sea area!

  "Ho, Haino, we've really done it this time! Look at the size of that thing, it's at least a big one!" Edwin exclaimed as he crawled out of the cabin.

  Under the conning tower, other crew members also came out of various watertight hatches one after another. They walked onto the fore and aft decks of the submarine, quietly gazing at the floating objects on the water's surface, suddenly forgetting to talk.

  It was a strange calmness that lasted until half a minute later when Zhang Hainuo broke it with a raised eyebrow and an exhalation of breath:

  "Alright lads! We've sunk the enemy ship!"

  After a moment of silence, the air was suddenly filled with excited cheers. Perhaps most people here did not expect that victory would come in such a way, and just a few days ago, they were still worried and depressed about their defeat.

  Zhang Haino picked up the binoculars and observed carefully, there were no survivors or corpses on the surface of the sea. It seemed that the British had cleaned up the battlefield before leaving here. Therefore, U171 didn't need to stay here for a long time, Zhang Haino immediately ordered the submarine to proceed at full speed, chasing after the British fleet!

  When the order was first given, the crew were clearly surprised to be chasing a convoy that was both underway and escorted by warships; it sounded like a wild goose chase. But their commander wasn't blinded by victory, and with 3 or 4 hours still to go until nightfall, the British convoy was making 12 knots (the speed of a convoy is not measured by the speed of individual ships, as they need to maintain formation and interval, while also avoiding collisions; their speeds are often very slow, with some low-speed convoys making only around 7 knots), while U-171's top surface speed reached 16 knots. This meant that they had every chance of catching up with the convoy tonight, and as everyone knew, submarines that were forced to be stealthy during the day became unstoppable "sea wolves" at night!

  After the submarine restarted, Zhang Haino ordered the communication officer to report the previous battle to the submarine command. Since Zhang Haino did not personally witness his torpedo sinking the enemy ship and could not find effective proof of the sunken ship's identity on the surface, the only way to verify that he had sunk an enemy ship was to compare his side's report with the data disclosed by the German Navy Department regarding vessel losses. As long as the time, location, and general situation were consistent, the German Navy Department would confirm the submarine's achievements and reward the relevant personnel according to regulations.

  Normally, sinking an enemy ship would earn merits and monetary rewards. The amount of the reward varies depending on the type and tonnage of the sunk ship. As far as Zhang Haino knew, this kind of reward was generally quite generous. For example, the reward that a super ace like Hersen received could be several times higher than their usual allowance.

  About half an hour later, a confirmation telegram was received from the submarine fleet command in Wilhelmshaven, informing Zhang Hainuo that they had instructed submarines operating in nearby waters to converge on this area as soon as possible.

  Zhang Haino requested in his telegram that the command give him temporary unified command of the nearby German submarines. Somewhat unexpectedly, the command agreed to his request. In the next few hours, U93, U122 and U145 sent telegrams one after another, saying they were rushing to this area, and the last telegram was from U89. Zhang Haino did not know that this submarine was also active nearby - the action plan for each submarine was like an underground party member's name, once leaked out would likely lead to death, so even if the relationship between the captains of the submarines was good, they would keep their own submarine's location confidential before returning.

  They were able to catch up with the British convoy at 10 pm, and Zhang Haino also had to thank the two diesel engines that had been replaced during the major overhaul. Their endurance, like a mule's, allowed U171 to maintain a high speed of around 16 knots in the past few hours. However, finding a convoy on the vast ocean also required good luck. If it weren't for Ximon's sharp eyes spotting a faint smoke cloud in the night sky ahead, U171 might have missed this delicious meal!

  After re-targeting the British convoy, Zhang Haino ordered a cipher telegram to be sent to nearby U-89, U-93, U-122 and U-145. As a result, except for U-145, the other three submarines were able to arrive before 3 am. So Zhang Haino set the time of the attack at 3 am, which meant they had two to three hours of darkness to take advantage of after launching their attack!