As the commander of the House, Fang Lang was well aware that the warship would face a real test in the next few days, so he also notified the crew to cancel night exercises, increase vigilance, and be ready to respond to sudden attacks by German submarines at any time.
The first day passed very peacefully. The crew members were very happy to have one less drill to do, and the soldiers who did not have to work the night shift could finally sleep well.
The next morning, the actual combat exercise had just ended. Fang Lang was eating a hearty lunch in the lounge of the navigation bridge when he heard the sonar soldier ask in confusion:
"Sir, I just heard a strange noise, but I'm not sure."
Fang Langteng stood up and strode into the sonar room along the swaying ship.
"What did you hear?"
Seeing Fang Lang coming in, the sonar soldier got a little nervous, afraid that he was just being overly sensitive and misreporting military intelligence. He said in an uncertain tone:
"Sir, I'm not sure. The boat was going very fast. I felt it was like the sound of a cup falling to the ground."
Fang Lang didn't know if it was because of his rebirth, but his sixth sense had become very sharp. When he heard the sonar soldier's report, alarm bells rang in his heart, and he immediately said to the driver:
...
...
"The boatswain sounded the battle alarm, notifying the entire ship to be on alert, reducing speed, proceeding at cruising speed, set the speed to 22 knots. Please note that this is not a drill, this is not a drill, combat situation center, this is the bridge, I'm Fang Lang, the sonar has detected a suspected German submarine, see if you can find any abnormalities on your surface radar."
Soon you hear De La Torre's voice through the communicator:
"Sir, the radar has not detected any abnormalities yet!"
The driver loudly reported:
"Sir, the speed has dropped to 22 knots, reaching the sonar speed."
Fang Lang confirmed with the sonar operator again:
"Can you determine the direction of the sound?"
Seeing the captain take it so seriously, the sonar soldier had to take it seriously, no matter if it was true or not. The most important thing was that he felt that he had not heard it wrong.
"Official position 036, two nautical miles away."
After Fang Lang calculated silently in his mind, he said:
"Left rudder 30, make a detour."
The reply came from the cab:
"Understood! Left turn 30, make a detour."
Soon after, he began to feel the warship start to turn. Fang Lang came to the cabin and picked up the radio and said:
"Callaghan, this is House, we have spotted a suspected German submarine target, bearing 036, two nautical miles away, we will proceed to confirm, over."
Immediately the radio received a reply:
"House, Callaghan received, suspected German submarine target, position 036, distance two nautical miles, attack is allowed, stay safe!"
Since the command ship allowed him to attack, he would not hesitate. However, even if the commander did not allow it, he would consider dropping two depth charges to test the waters.
"House received!"
Although the sonar operator was not sure about this target at first, Fang Lang's sixth sense told him that there were fish underwater, so he ordered the entire ship to be on alert without hesitation.
"Sonar, can you hear the propeller?"
The sonar operator was very nervous at this time, because apart from the previous strange sound, he didn't hear any other strange sound afterwards.
"Sir, the hydrophone effect is very weak and I can't hear the propeller sound. Maybe I heard it wrong!"
Seeing that the sonar soldier was a little unconfident, Fang Lang smiled and patted his shoulder and said:
"It doesn't matter. Whether it's right or not, we'll know after we give it a try! Be more confident. I believe in you and I won't blame you even if you're wrong."
He turned around and pressed the ship's communicator again:
"Combat Situation Center, this is Fang Lang. Has the surface radar detected any abnormalities?"
Soon, De La Torre's voice came from the communicator:
"Sir, nothing unusual was found on the water surface."
Fang Lang walked out of the bridge, raised his telescope and looked at the sea on the left side of the warship. The communications soldier beside him handed him a coat, but Fang Lang did not take it. Instead, he carefully observed the sea in front of his left side.
The temperature in the northern hemisphere in mid-April was only ten degrees. Today's sea breeze was at least level six, which felt a little cold on people. The waves were about four meters high and rough. Fortunately, it was not raining, so the visibility was still good. Unfortunately, the ups and downs of the waves made Fang Lang's search fruitless.
After watching for about two minutes, Fang Lang returned to the bridge and ordered:
"All lookouts focus on searching one square nautical mile to the left. Prepare depth charges at medium depth. Let's see if we can force him out."
But just as Fang Lang finished giving the order, he heard the radio operator handing him the communicator and saying:
"Sir, Harry communication request."
Fang Lang didn't think much about it and picked up the communicator:
"Harry, this is House, read on!"
Soon Fang Lang heard Reinhardt's voice coming from inside;
"House, I'm Captain Reinhardt of the Harry. We have already searched and confirmed for you. There is nothing abnormal in the target area. Please return to the team immediately and maintain the escort formation."
A thousand horses were galloping through Fang Lang's heart, and he blurted out a curse:
"Stupid...Bi!"
Fortunately, the other party did not understand the language art with a history of 5,000 years. He asked doubtfully:
"House, I am Reinhardt, the commander of the left side of the escort fleet. I order you to abandon the search, return to the team quickly, and protect the transport fleet. Please reply if you get it."
Fang Lang was too lazy to pay attention to him, picked up the communicator and said:
"What's going on? We are in combat mode now. Why is there something wrong with the communicator? Why is there so much noise? Call the mechanic to take a look."
After saying that, he hung up the communicator without paying any attention, as if nothing had happened. The officers and soldiers on the bridge all looked at him, not knowing what had happened.
At this time on the Harry, Reinhardt looked confused. What's going on? Is there something wrong with the radio? I can hear his voice! The adjutant beside him asked:
"Sir, what's wrong!"
Reinhardt also asked with a puzzled look:
"They said the radio was broken and they couldn't hear me, but it was working fine just now?"
The adjutant next to him thought about it and said weakly:
"Sir, could it be that the other party said this on purpose?"
After hearing what the adjutant said, Reinhardt also reacted, and he was so angry that he jumped up and down, cursing loudly:
"You damned yellow monkey, you Brazilian bumpkin, you actually dared to ignore me. Just wait, I will make you pay the price."
After that, he gave a loud order:
"Full left rudder, bearing 035, let's get closer, you bastard, I will definitely teach you a lesson!"
Then the Harry turned left and headed quickly, and the House sped away.
What Reinhardt didn't know was that at this moment, 90 meters underwater under the House, a German submarine was keeping all crew members silent. Everyone was holding their breath and not daring to make any sound.
Captain Schrader did not expect that the warship would be so alert. As the captain of the U441 submarine of the German Navy Submarine Force, he was a veteran of many battles. He had sunk as many as five warships and more than twenty transport ships.
Originally, he had just picked a random place on the Atlantic route to try his luck. Unexpectedly, his luck was so good that just as he was about to go to the surface to take a breath, he saw a large fleet of transport ships through the periscope.
Schrader knew he had made a fortune! He immediately followed the German Navy's wolf pack tactics and began to dive, preparing to follow the big fish and notify the wolf pack via radio to hunt ahead of the fleet's route.
Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes. More than half of the fleet had passed over their heads, and no one noticed anything unusual. As a result, a soldier accidentally knocked over the water cup of his comrade behind him when he stood up, with a loud "bang".
No one dared to move, because with this noise, a destroyer immediately turned and flew towards their heads at high speed.
All the crew members were so frightened that they dared not move, for fear that they would make any noise again and attract the other side's attention, and they would be doomed.
After all, submarines are assassins in the dark. If a destroyer finds a submarine, it will be in big trouble. Not to mention whether it can defeat the destroyer, the speed is much slower. Not to mention fighting, it can't even run away.
However, the destroyer had already begun to circle above their heads, and now they could only gamble. After all, they were in a silent state, and it was better to stay still than to move.
Just as they were waiting nervously, there was a sudden "bang, bang, bang, bang" sound of something falling into the water from the destroyer above their heads. Shredder's face changed drastically. He shouted: "Depth charge, collision alarm, everyone be careful and hold on!"
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