Chapter 1378: Fished Out
Xiao Peng was still sleeping there when there was a frantic banging on the door.
"Who is it?" Xiao Peng was quite angry when he got up. He had beaten Kasim in the game for half the night before and fell asleep in the early morning. Why did he wake himself up at such a late hour?
After he opened the door, Chen Cheng and Hua Chong both stood at the doorway with joyful expressions on their faces. Xiao Peng said with a gloomy face, "If you don't give me an explanation, I will make sure you never laugh again in your life! Disturbing my sleep is a capital crime!"
Hua Chong said directly: "Boss, the submarine has been fished out!"
"What?" Xiao Peng's eyes widened. He suspected he had misheard. He turned to look at the wall clock and muttered to himself, "Only eighty hours have passed?"
"Eighty-three hours!" Chen Cheng said, "The crew on the Calypso worked non-stop!"
"Hiss." Xiao Peng took a deep breath. The people of Daxia were indeed capable! If the crew on the ship were all foreign, they would have probably mutinied after working non-stop for so long, right?
"Are you kidding me?" Xiao Peng still didn't believe it. "How long has it been?"
Chen Cheng said, "Boss, change your clothes and come out to see!"
Xiao Peng went back to his room, changed his clothes, and rushed onto the deck, not even bothering to wash or brush his teeth. Chen Cheng had been waiting for him for quite some time and handed him the telescope. He was a bit stunned when he took it and looked through it: the submarine had actually been towed ashore, now being winched alongside the Calypso. Its front end was sunk in the sea, its rear end tilted up. Several men were crouched on the hull, carefully busying themselves. Sparks of welding could be seen from a distance.
"What are they doing?" Xiao Peng asked in confusion, "Give me the walkie-talkie!"
Chen Cheng handed Xiao Peng the walkie-talkie. Xiao Peng picked it up and asked, "Ma Xiao! Ma Xiao! Can you hear me?"
Ma Xiao said: "Boss, I'm here!"
"What are you doing?" Xiao Peng asked in confusion.
Ma Xiao said, "We're looking for the rear access hatch!"
"Isn't this too dangerous?" Xiao Peng said.
Ma Xiao replied, "Boss, don't worry! While you were sleeping, we already emptied the submarine's ballast tanks. Now it's basically guaranteed to be buoyant, and with the winch, there won't be any major problems! However, the front of the submarine is tilted forward a bit because we injected a lot of water when we opened the can."
Xiao Peng was stunned: "How did you empty the ballast tank?"
Ma Xiao said: "Air pump!"
Xiao Peng scratched his head. How could he have forgotten this?
"Huh?" Xiao Peng suddenly realized, "How long did it take you to drain the ballast tanks?"
"This old-fashioned submarine has a relatively simple structure," Ma Xiao replied. "But because it's been on the seabed for so long, it's severely corroded. Opening the lower exhaust port took quite a while, probably over two hours."
Xiao Peng whistled. "Didn't it take only eighty hours to get the submarine up there? That's incredibly efficient!"
"I'll go and take a look!" Xiao Peng said.
"Okay, boss!" Ma Xiao said.
Xiao Peng threw the intercom to Chen Cheng and said directly: "Get the 'Mini Luna' ready!"
"Boss, we're ready!" Khedira's voice came, and Xiao Peng saw that they had already prepared a speedboat waiting for him below: "We'll pick you up at the stern!"
"Not bad!" Xiao Peng nodded after hearing this, took the elevator to the lower level and then went to the stern. Khedira and Kassin were already waiting for him on the speedboat. Xiao Peng boarded the yacht by himself and went to the 'Calypso'.
"What's going on now?"
Ma Xiao was there directing Yang Zhibin to stabilize the submarine. Xiao Peng walked over to him and asked.
"Boss," Ma Xiao said, "The rubber sound-absorbing tiles on the exterior of this ship have just been removed, and the rear access hatch is open. However, the space is too small, only enough for one person to fit in. I doubt we'll be able to get anything out even if it's inside."
Xiao Peng asked, "What should we do then?"
Ma Xiao said, "It's not going to be easy right now. The tail torpedo port is only big enough for one person to get in. The situation inside is unclear right now, so rushing in like this is too dangerous."
Xiao Peng said bluntly, "No one is allowed in! The old submarines back then didn't have ammonia storage tanks. We don't know what's going on inside now."
Ma Xiao said, "I've been using an air pump to drain the air out for over half an hour. There shouldn't be any problems."
Xiao Peng smiled and said, "You've thought it through very carefully."
Ma Xiaodao was about to speak when Xiao Peng's face turned serious: "But no one can enter! Have you forgotten what happened to me in the Caribbean? This kind of small space is not a place for people to stay!"
"Boss, what should we do?" Ma Xiao asked.
Xiao Peng observed the submarine for a moment and then pointed at the front and asked, "Isn't that the anchor capstan?"
Ma Xiao said: "Boss, wait a moment!"
He then took out a PDA and said, "This is the structural diagram of the VIIC submarine."
Xiao Peng took it and asked, "How did you prepare this?"
Ma Xiao said, "We discovered quite a few World War II shipwrecks some time ago, and I did some research on the structures of battleships and submarines of various countries during World War II."
"Oh? What are the research results?" Xiao Peng asked.
Ma Xiao said succinctly, "At that time, the VIIC was a relatively advanced submarine. Compared to the British S-class and Sea Lion-class submarines, its overall performance was slightly better, but it was definitely not a generation gap. The key to their success was their tactics and the quality of their soldiers..."
"Stop, I didn't ask you to talk about this!" Xiao Peng pointed at the submarine hanging in the sea and said, "I asked you to tell me what you plan to do."
Ma Xiao asked, "Boss, what do you mean?"
Xiao Peng rolled his eyes at him: "Ma Xiao, let me ask you what you mean!"
Ma Xiao thought for a moment and said, "The VIIC submarine actually has two fatal problems. One is that every time it dives, it relies on batteries to drive the electric motor. Every time the batteries are about to run out, it needs to surface and switch to the diesel engine for power while recharging the batteries. Given the technical conditions at the time, the VIIC's batteries didn't allow the submarine to dive for very long."
Xiao Peng nodded, so he felt that when the German submarine went to Wiener Neustadt Island, it was playing with its life!
Those people are crazy!
The ship probably suffocated because it consumed too much electricity while diving, resulting in insufficient remaining power and being unable to surface.
"The second fatal question." Xiao Peng asked directly.
Ma Xiao replied, "The system inside is too complicated. After all, there weren't any computers or chips back then. All the equipment inside is what we'd call 'steampunk'. There are almost hundreds of switches and valves of all sizes in the control room alone! It's extremely inconvenient to operate!"
"I'm not asking you to comment on the U-boat. What are you talking about?" Xiao Peng said, "I'm asking if you have any ideas? Where would be the best place to start dismantling it?"
"Dismantle it?" Ma Xiao's eyes widened. "Don't you want this submarine?"
"What?"
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