Major Linton had the same doubts as Captain Blokamp. Although this anxiety could not be shown on his face, it was still tormenting his heart. After trying to calm down to no avail, he endured it. Keep calling Malta to inquire about the situation. The call back from the base came quickly, telling him that the Italian oil tanker had "absolutely and definitely" left the port, and asked him not to be anxious and wait with peace of mind. Before he could finish smoking a cigarette, a second telegram came, saying that according to the latest intercepted telegram, Guderian was also inquiring about the situation of the tanker. The Italian called back and told him that he was sure to have left the port because of problems with the port transshipment. If the time is delayed, it may be 48 hours later than the original time.
"So that's it." Captain Blaukamp cursed secretly after receiving the telegram from Colonel Linton. No wonder the oil tanker was nowhere to be seen. The Italians, who turned out to be unreliable, were habitually late. It didn't matter to him as long as the enemy was willing to wait for two more days. For a moment, he felt much more relaxed. Thinking that it was still early, he planned to go back to the cabin and take a nap first - staring at the sea all day and night made him feel I can't hold it any longer,
Suddenly, Corporal George, who had been leaning on the railing to look at the scenery, turned his head and asked: "Captain, why is there a 'buzzing' sound? Is it because the submarine equipment is not operating properly?"
"No, the engine is operating normally." Captain Blaukamp listened carefully and did not hear the "buzzing" sound the other party mentioned. The conversation between the two attracted everyone's attention. Everyone stopped chatting and listened carefully, but they all said they didn't notice anything. Corporal George himself was a little suspicious. After listening for a while and not hearing the sound again, he thought he might have heard it wrong. He forced a smile and said, "Maybe I didn't get enough rest and had a hallucination."
Unexpectedly, just as Captain Blaukamp turned around, another junior soldier also raised his hand: "Sir, I heard it too." He told everyone with a sure look that he was not hallucinating.
Everyone listened carefully again, some said yes, some said no. Captain Blokamp became cautious now, checked it carefully, and called inside from the hatch cover to inquire about the situation. The navigator's reply was "Everything is normal."
At this time, the sound became clearer and clearer, and Blaukamp himself heard it. This was definitely not a sound made by a submarine. He was wondering where the sound came from when Corporal George suddenly shouted: "In the air! The sound is in the air , it's the sound of an airplane."
"Plane?" Captain Blaukamp immediately raised the high-powered telescope on the deck and looked in the direction George pointed out. Sure enough, he saw a plane flying from the north, flying at a low altitude. Are they going to bomb Tobruk? But whether the planes take off from the Malta base or the Alexandria base, they should be heading east-west. Why does this one come from the north, and why are there so few in number? Due to the height limit of the telescope, he did not find the escort fighter jets hidden in the clouds higher up.
However, he saw clearly that these aircraft were all four-engine, which were very typical features of heavy bombers. As far as he knew, neither the Germans nor the Italians had four-engine bombers. The only ones with this feature were the Royal Air Force, so He laughed: "This is probably our air force going to bomb the Germans..."
Everyone felt relieved when he said it. Some people even suggested: "If the damn Italians haven't shown up yet, why don't we let the plane go look for them?"
Captain Blaukamp laughed while insisting on observing the aircraft to see clearly what model it was. After watching it for a long time, he felt that the incoming aircraft seemed to be quite different from the aircraft models he had observed in the past, not to mention that even a heavy bomber was not the same. It should fly this low.
"No!" He suddenly screamed, "All personnel should return to the cabin immediately, make an emergency dive, and prepare..." Before he could finish speaking, he had already taken the lead and ran towards the hatch cover like an arrow from a string.
The people around were stunned for a moment. Although their minds could not turn around, their body reflexes were not slow. They saw the captain running into the hatch cover first and climbing down the ladder using his hands and feet. Others followed him. , lest I fall behind. The navigator was confused by the captain's yelled order and subconsciously asked: "The Italians are coming?"
"No! Far more terrifying than the Italians..." Captain Blaukamp, who was still in shock, gasped and shouted while directing the soldiers to take up their positions, "I can see clearly, the German Iron Cross logo is painted on the underside of the wing. It's not a Royal Air Force bomber at all, it's the German Fw-200! I once heard the old guys who fought in the Bay of Biscay talk about it. This is a very difficult guy to deal with - he also has 4 engines. , it's really terrible!"
"Hurry up!" Captain Blaukamp yelled at the top of his lungs. The last crew member finally landed in the cabin and closed the hatch cover with a "bang". The submarine finally began to sink urgently, and the seawater surged rapidly. Entering the water tanks on both sides of the submarine, the huge body of the submarine gradually disappeared above the water.
Captain Blokamp recognized it correctly. It was the Fw-200C long-range maritime patrol bomber nicknamed "Vulture". After the launch of Operation "Rolling Stone", the aviation power on Crete has been secretly increasing. These The "Bay of Biscay Merchant Ship Killer" was also transferred to undertake patrol and anti-submarine missions in the surrounding waters. When Guderian used false telegrams to deceive the British, his serial plan was already implemented simultaneously. Several aircraft were sent to conduct reconnaissance near the oil tanker's inevitable route and destination in order to wait for opportunities to find the British ambush force. The Fw-200 searched the relevant sea areas for a whole day yesterday, but found nothing because the Furious and Voyager strictly implemented the lurking orders. Early this morning, a radio listening team on the island of Crete intercepted a telegraph signal from the southern sea. Although the content cannot be deciphered, there is no doubt that it must be the British. I just don't know whether it is a warship or a submarine. Judging from the time, Getting up happened to be the time when Major Linton was communicating with the base about the ambush situation.
Captain Blaukamp only knew that the Vulture was coming towards him. He did not know that there was another Vulture patrolling further away. Major Linton's Fury was discovered earlier than him.
The condor had swept back and forth in this sea area, lowering its altitude to only more than 100 meters above the sea level. The calm and currently inaccessible Mediterranean Sea was now extremely easy to survey. Suddenly, an observation sergeant noticed on the sea The slowly disappearing circles of ripples suddenly shouted: "Captain, look, what is that?"
The captain picked up the telescope and took a closer look. Although the ripples had gradually dissipated, he was still sure that something large had fallen nearby. There was no problem visible on the sea, but the visibility of the water under the sun was very high, which quickly betrayed the identity of the Voyager - the captain saw the dark thing sinking slowly under the water, and the corners of his mouth showed Smile: "That's a submarine."
"our?"
"No! British."
"Why are you so sure?"
"First, the base did not disclose that our submarine was nearby; second,..." the captain laughed, "If it was our submarine, why was he hiding so quickly? Only an enemy submarine would dive quickly with a guilty conscience... …"
"Hahaha! Great, I finally found this guy. I thought today would be as futile as yesterday..."
"Prepare depth charges." The captain's order was calm, "Set the depth at 30 meters, no, 35 meters."
It didn't take long for the bombardier to reply: "The hedgehog bombs are ready."
"Ready, release!" A hedgehog bomb was immediately pushed down, and within a short time, a huge water column was seen shooting out of the sea.
The average water depth in the Mediterranean Sea is only 50-60 meters, and the Furious and Voyager chose to ambush the tanker in the sea not far from the port, where the average water depth is only 45-50 meters. Captain Blaukamp originally expected to The submarine sat on the bottom - only then could he have a chance to get away from the aircraft overhead, but time was his enemy. The submarine had tried its best to dive, but it still couldn't match the speed of the aircraft dropping depth charges.
"Go on, let go." The depth charges on the Condor continued to be dropped.
"Captain! Depth charges!" The sound of the bomb entering the water was extremely clear in the sonar, and the submarine's audio listener suddenly shouted in horror, "It's coming towards us."
"Prepare for impact, and the leak-stopping team is ready to stop the leak." Captain Blaukamp had no time to think about it. He could only issue targeted orders with all his strength. He only felt that his teeth were clenching and he kept praying for the enemy's bomb. Don't throw too accurately.
"UUReading www.uukanshu.com Boom!" With a bang, the bomb exploded not far away, and the boat body shook violently, but it seemed to be unscathed. The first few hedgehog bombs allowed the submarine to escape without any risk, but the surrounding explosions caused chaos in the sea water. The Voyager was shaken left and right by the impact. When the sixth hedgehog bomb exploded, the huge pressure shook it. As a result, all the lights in the cabin went out, and a large number of pipes could not bear the pressure and began to spray water jets. The leak-stopping team members rushed forward to perform maintenance in a hurry.
"Adjust the fixed depth to 45 meters." Although the captain could no longer see the black shadow under the water, his intuition told him that the enemy was still underwater. "Continue to release, he can't escape!"
When the seventh depth bomb fell, the Voyager's good luck finally came to an end. The depth bomb exploded almost at the bow of the boat. The huge pressure generated in an instant formed a terrifying water pressure through the conduction of water. The overwhelmed submarine withstood the pressure. The shell made a heart-wrenching sound of "crunching" metal tearing, and finally it couldn't hold up and broke into pieces. Seawater suddenly poured into the cabin, and this Royal Navy submarine could never float.
After all the water jets subsided, the captain carefully observed the movement on the sea surface and found that large amounts of oil stains and the crew's personal belongings were slowly rising up. "Good job, guys, we sank a British submarine." Cheers. The sound echoed throughout the cabin!
While he was talking, the navigator received a call from another plane: "Condor 1, Condor 1, I am No. 2, I am No. 2. We just sank a submarine. Judging from the floating wreckage, it was a British submarine." Human."
On the morning of September 7, two submarines of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet sank in the waters outside Tobruk Port. All 113 people below Major Linton were killed, and no one survived.
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