"Sergeant, my name is Hainuo von Fennekschtein. What's your name?"
The sergeant responsible for escorting Zhang Hainuo onto the submarine looked slightly younger, perhaps by a year or two, with naturally curly blond hair. He was well-dressed and clean-cut, albeit a bit short, standing just over 1.6 meters.
Turning back, the sergeant looked at him kindly. "Otis, Otis Orbach, Lieutenant!"
"Nice to meet you, Sergeant Otis! May I know how long you've been on the boat? A year?"
"Two years and six months, Lieutenant!" The crew member named Otis was polite, more so than the strange Hessen.
Zhang Hainuo was slightly surprised by the answer. In a little over three years, he had risen to the rank of Navy lieutenant, yet Otis remained a mere sergeant. Was the gap between people really that significant?
"Lieutenant, did you come from Wilhelmshaven?"
"Yes! I previously served as a torpedo officer on the Seydlitz!" Zhang Hainuo replied casually, but Otis widened his eyes and his voice trembled slightly.
"The Seydlitz! My God, you're from that unsinkable battleship! That's incredible! You must have also participated in the Battle of Jutland!"
This wasn't the first time Zhang Hainuo had heard such praise for the Seydlitz. However, instead of feeling superior, he answered truthfully, "Yes, I was severely injured in that naval battle and took three months to recover!"
"My God! You're a true naval hero!" Otis looked at Zhang Hainuo with admiration.
"Lieutenant, do you know? My childhood dream was to fight on a great battleship like the Seydlitz, facing fierce enemy gunfire without flinching. Even if I die, it would be worth it!"
"Without flinching?"
In Zhang Hainuo's eyes, having witnessed the Seydlitz's dire situation, these words were far from accurate. "Beyond recognition," "limping along," "a miraculous escape"—these were the true descriptions. Yet, in German newspapers, the Seydlitz became synonymous with unsinkability, a source of pride for the German Navy and the nation as a whole. Despite this, the German Navy lost one battlecruiser, one obsolete battleship, four light cruisers, and five destroyers in that battle.
Otis didn't notice Zhang Hainuo's changing expression and continued to describe his ideals. "Lieutenant, if I hadn't joined the submarine force when I first entered the Navy but had served on the Seydlitz instead, even if you made me a torpedo man under your command, it would have been great! You don't know how boring life on a submarine is, always filled with danger!"
This reminded Zhang Hainuo of Vice Admiral von Laurenz's words. He smiled and asked the small crew member, "Then why did you continue to stay on the U21 instead of requesting a transfer?"
"A transfer?" Otis shook his head. "For low-ranking non-commissioned officers like me, it's not easy to request a transfer, especially when the submarine unit's allowances are much higher than those of other Navy units. My family has seven siblings, and only my brother and I can earn money!"
This topic weighed heavily on Zhang Hainuo's mind.
"Does your brother also serve in the military?"
"Yes, he's in the Army, the 21st Light Infantry Regiment of Mecklenburg! It's quite a coincidence that my submarine is also numbered 21!" Speaking of his brother, Otis smiled innocently.
"Oh, that's our submarine!" He pointed to a black submarine docked not far away in a dry dock.
As one of Germany's most successful submarines, U21's appearance was no different from other German submarines. It was a German Imperial UBIII-class submarine, with a surface displacement of 428 tons, a submerged displacement of 620 tons, twin shaft propulsion, a length of 53.5 meters, a width of 5.8 meters, a height of 3.6 meters, a maximum range of 6200 nautical miles, equipped with five 450mm torpedo tubes, a 100mm deck gun on the foredeck, and an 8mm machine gun on the aft deck. The standard crew complement was 26 people.
These data were already familiar to Zhang Hainuo, having memorized them during his naval school studies.
"Can you tell me what trouble you encountered earlier?" Zhang Hainuo asked as they walked.
"We were attacking a British convoy near Malta when we were damaged by a British gunboat. The injuries weren't severe at first, but when we returned to the Adriatic Sea, we ran into an Italian blockade. We almost didn't make it back!" Otis sounded a bit frustrated. The enemies in this area were simply too numerous!
"Oh! How long will it take to repair?"
"The new diesel engine and parts have just arrived. It'll probably take three to four days to be seaworthy again! As for sailing, it depends on the arrangements above!"
Instead of taking Zhang Hainuo directly to the submarine, Otis led him to a row of low buildings less than a hundred steps away from the dry dock. Following inside, Zhang Hainuo saw rows of bunk beds.
"When the submarine is in port, we don't stay on the submarine!" Otis explained, leading Zhang Hainuo to a vacant bed closer to the inside. "Can you sleep here?"
The simple conditions here couldn't compare to those on the Seydlitz, but Zhang Hainuo was prepared for this. He placed his luggage down. "Does Captain Hessen also stay here?"
"No, he sleeps in his office, where you just went!" Otis pointed to the beds nearby. "Sleeping here is the first mate, Lieutenant Wolf, and over here is the navigation officer, Ensign Seft!"
"Where are they?"
"Today is their day off, except for Sergeant Proell and some others who volunteered to stay, most of them went to the city of Pula three days ago!"
"Is Captain Hessen also on vacation?"
"No, he's been busy with submarine repairs and resupplying!"
Otis leaned against the bed frame and watched Zhang Hainuo take out towels, toothbrushes, cups, and other daily necessities from his luggage, arranging them one by one.
"In fact, Captain Hessen rarely goes to the city. Even if he does, it's only to eat at a restaurant. He never goes to bars, casinos, or spends the night with women! It's the same whether it's Wilhelmshaven or here!"
"Really? He's quite unique!" Zhang Hainuo felt that a submarine captain like him was like a good man who cooked at home every day—rare indeed!