Chapter 293 Ciel's Invention

Colonel Hexing's calculations were very accurate. When the submarine surfaced again, it had successfully passed through the outer defense circle and appeared near the enemy battleship.

The only drawback was that the bow was pointing away from the target.

The submarine had already prepared its torpedoes, and the torpedo compartment was already filled with water. It was just waiting for Colonel Hexing to find the right position and give the order to launch.

However……

Just as Colonel He Xing was nervously commanding the submarine to turn, suddenly several columns of water exploded in front of the submarine. Colonel He Xing realized that he had been discovered and the artillery fire was obviously aimed at the submarine.

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

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

"Emergency dive!"

"Emergency dive!"

…

The orders were passed down one after another.

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

"Full left rudder." He Xing immediately gave the order loudly.

"Full left!"

…

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

If you don't turn in time, you might crash into the battleship's heavy armored boat and be killed.

The sea water was stirred by the sound of cannon fire, and the crew members held on to the fixed objects tightly to ensure that they would not fall.

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

The crew members breathed a sigh of relief, but Colonel He Xing felt as if he had been fooled.

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

But the enemy still discovered it.

Not only did we discover that they had been firing for more than a minute, but the fire was so intensive.

There is only one possible reason for this situation: the enemy knew the submarine was coming, and they were fully prepared to wait for it to appear.

…

Colonel Hexing was right in his guess. The battleship Gaul was ostensibly bombing V Beach, but was actually conducting anti-submarine operations.

Charles assigned the task of finding the submarine to Colonel Meyer, captain of the battleship Gaullic.

Charles did not inform him until an hour before sailing.

When Colonel Meyer heard Charles say 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?"

"Don't worry about that." Charles replied calmly, "You just need to know that the German submarine will come, and the mission of the Gauloise is to discover it in time and point it out."

"You would be glad to do that, colonel?" Charles added.

Colonel Meyer rolled his eyes. How could he not be willing? The result of his unwillingness was that the Gauloise would sink to the bottom of the sea!

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

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

This is also the reason why Charles ordered the "Gaulic" to approach to five kilometers for close-range artillery combat with the enemy on the shore.

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

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

Eventually only the western side by the sea remained.

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

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

Afterwards, the destroyer carrying depth charges immediately headed towards the location indicated by the searchlight.

The submarine's route was easy to predict. Everyone saw it. Its periscope drew a long water line 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 a searchlight to illuminate the submarine's trail to indicate the destroyer's position.

The destroyer accelerated to catch up, and then rolled down depth charges like "oil barrels" from behind.

…

In the submarine, Captain Heshen completely relaxed.

The submarine has urgently dived to eleven meters, and even if the enemy artillery explodes directly above it, it cannot pose a threat to the submarine.

Charles is a respectable but also a formidable opponent. He actually used himself and the battleship to set a trap... Wait, maybe Charles wasn't even on that battleship. This mission might have been doomed to fail from the start.

However, Charles was still a step too slow.

Colonel Hexing secretly rejoiced that this was the advantage of a submarine: it could escape immediately if it missed a hit, leaving the enemy with only a few minutes to attack.

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

However……

“Boom boom!”

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

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

"Enemy artillery?" The deputy captain looked horrified.

"Impossible!" Colonel Hesing replied, "What kind of artillery can reach this depth?"

Everyone was silent because no one knew what it was.

But it can certainly hit submarines!

“Boom boom!”

There were two more explosions, and the crew members fell to the ground again.

This time they were sure that it was not a coincidence, but the enemy was deliberately hunting down the submarine.

Colonel Hexing's mind was blank. He had many questions that he didn't understand:

How did the enemy know their location?

What are those things that can blow up submarines?

Who invented that...

Wait, Charles!

Colonel Hexing swallowed hard and said, "That might be a new device invented by Charles!"

The crew members turned pale instantly. This was the new equipment invented by Charles, a new equipment that could blow up submarines!

Does that mean...

As soon as the thought came to mind, two loud "boom" noises were heard.

Then the crew members at the rear started to shout in panic: "The electrical and mechanical compartment is flooded! The electrical and mechanical compartment is flooded..."

Colonel Heschen realized that the battle was over.

The mechanical and electrical compartment is flooded. If we don’t float up, it means we will never surface!

(End of this chapter)