"Torpedo 1, torpedo 2, fire!"
After issuing the command, Hessen closed the periscope handle with a snap. "Retract the periscope, one-third ahead, diving to 25 meters!"
Hessen's actions in the past few minutes confirmed Zhang Hainuo's guess. The small-tonnage freighter was just a decoy; the British destroyers in the harbor were his real targets! At this moment, the British destroyers, rushing out from the harbor with full force and preparing to "apprehend the culprit," had no idea that this German submarine was waiting for them in the position between the ship and the harbor!
What a "madman of the sea"! Regardless of the ultimate outcome of this battle, Zhang Hainuo had to admire his extraordinary courage and meticulous thinking. In this era before wolf pack tactics, Hessen was like a cunning and ferocious lone wolf, and the British naval commanders, who considered themselves gentlemen, conservative and disdainful of studying new tactics, would never be his match!
One minute and ten seconds later, two consecutive explosions sounded from the surface, resembling someone vigorously beating a drum on your head, thump... thump!
"Shut down the engines!"
While the crew members once again congratulated each other, Hessen remained as stoic as ever. After shutting down the motor driven by batteries, the entire submarine was as silent as a sleeping fish, and the crew listened quietly to the sounds from the surface - sporadic explosions, faint engine noises, and various noises.
Compared to the quietness underwater, Zhang Hainuo thought, the surface must be very lively now.
**************************
Less than 10 nautical miles from the port of Valletta, a British modern destroyer was rapidly sinking into the water. The British sailors, who had narrowly escaped from the huge explosion, were now facing the onslaught of icy seawater, while the British merchant ship hit earlier was nowhere to be seen. The few survivors were also struggling for survival...
To avoid the sinking friendly ship behind them, the British destroyer and several accompanying gunboats had to urgently change course, but the dangerous anti-submarine nets and minefields on both sides of the channel forced them to make a second sharp turn in a short time. On the bridge of this destroyer, the impeccably dressed commander appeared unusually angry.
"Damn it, didn't any of you idiots see where the torpedoes were coming from?"
"Colonel, nobody saw the trajectory of the torpedoes on the surface! Look, the sea is too dark, and every sailor of ours had their eyes wide open!" A junior officer explained.
"Colonel, perhaps they hit a mine? Look, the Peasly exploded from the bow. Could it be that the German submarine launched torpedoes from the front? I heard that Germany recently built a batch of submarines capable of laying mines underwater. Could it be..." Another officer joined in the analysis.
"No, impossible! There must be a submarine nearby, a damn German submarine!" The middle-aged British naval colonel struck his classic deep pose, pondered for a moment, and said:
"Send my orders, turn on the ship's searchlights, closely monitor the sea surface, especially the area from 500 to 1500 yards off the port side! Everyone, be careful and vigilant, those damn Germans might be watching us through periscopes, waiting for us to go rescue the survivors and then sink us, just like they did in the Dover Strait in 1914! Continue at full speed ahead, let the gunboats go to rescue the survivors!"
Just a minute later, the searchlights on the destroyer were turned on, and the intense beams of light moved back and forth on the nearby sea surface, illuminating not only the destroyer with its stern raised, its propellers churning three or four meters above the water, but also the crew members still desperately swimming driven by their will to survive.
The scene there was like a boiling pot of dumplings, but no one found it funny.
As they passed by the survivors, the British naval officers and men, known for their gentlemanly manners, could only hastily drop some lifebuoys and rubber dinghies. Once they lost speed, their destroyer's ability to withstand torpedoes was almost zero. Fortunately, the few gunboats that followed the destroyer out like hounds were small in size and draught, and the Germans would not consider them as prey - naval battles were difficult to win, and using torpedoes was both wasteful and difficult to hit the target.
They turned on the searchlights while moving closer to rescue the survivors.
***************************
During this break, the torpedo men on U-21 reloaded spare torpedoes into the tubes that had just been fired. Hessen seemed patient; he had Auste bring two cups of coffee, one for himself and one for Zhang Hainuo.
"Captain, how many do you plan to take down tonight?" By now, Zhang Hainuo had a rough idea of Hessen's strategy for today's operation. What he wanted to know now was how many British ships it would take to satisfy this German ace submarine's appetite.
"Mr. Zhang Hainuo, you seem to dislike calling others by their names?" Hessen took a small sip of coffee, seemingly veering off topic.
"Oh?" The coffee was a bit hot, and Zhang Hainuo just held the cup in his hand.
"My full name is Roderick von Hessen, like you, I come from a Prussian noble family. My ancestors were all military men; my grandfather fell in the Franco-Prussian War, and my father died in a car accident when I was ten. My mother raised me and my siblings alone! Despite being nobles, our family was not wealthy. By the time I reached adulthood, the family savings were almost gone!"
At this point, there was a muffled boom from the surface, but Hessen seemed unperturbed and continued to recount his life story to Zhang Hainuo.
"I later joined the navy, initially serving on the light cruiser Hansen. It was not until 1913 that I transferred to the submarine force. Two years ago, my brother joined the army, but last year, he unfortunately died in the battle of Verdun; I have two younger sisters, one is already an adult, and the other is only 15! Although life was not perfect, I was quite satisfied. My mother was healthy, my elder sister was preparing to marry after the war, and my younger sister went to school every day! If I were to die one day, the country would provide my family with a generous pension!"
These topics, which sounded somewhat heavy, came out of Hessen's mouth as a kind of nonchalance, perhaps this attitude allowed him to throw himself into being an excellent submarine commander, a "madman of the sea," a super ace!
Although there were sounds like drumming coming from the sea surface at intervals since the explosion earlier, resembling scenes from a movie where depth charges attacked a submarine, Hessen seemed as if he hadn't heard anything, and the other crew members were equally calm.
"Mr. Zhang Hainuo, if I may, I'd like to call you Hainuo, it would make me feel very close, just like I call the others on this boat!"
"Of course!" Zhang Hainuo replied without hesitation. "Captain Roderick von Hessen, if I may, please allow me to call you Captain Roderick!"
"Just call me Roderick, no need to make it so formal on the submarine!" Hessen said earnestly. "Actually, I really admire your character. You're honest, have a strong sense of responsibility, and are very easygoing. But I always feel like you have some reservations. These reservations seem to prevent you from opening up to others! I'm not talking about chatting but really opening up. It seems like you're not willing to engage in deeper conversations with others! Of course, this is just my personal opinion, maybe a week of interaction isn't enough to draw conclusions! I hope you don't mind me saying this, because as a submarine commander, I'm responsible for every crew member, including you! I don't want anyone aboard U21 carrying heavy psychological burdens into combat!"
Psychological burdens...
Zhang Hainuo was stunned. It had been over half a year since he arrived in this era, and he had never realized he had psychological burdens. But hearing Hessen say it just now, he suddenly realized that his interactions with others were always superficial. Even with Edwin and Anna, he had never revealed his true thoughts. It seemed like a necessary condition to protect the secret, but over time, it would make a person become introspective, even bound by psychological constraints.
Zhang Hainuo now felt that this was indeed a psychological issue that needed to be addressed. If he truly wanted to trust others and gain their trust, he needed to engage in open and honest communication, rather than observing others from the shadows.
"You're right, Roderick!" Zhang Hainuo said this time without adding any other title after the name, feeling a sense of warmth, much like talking to Edwin.
"There are indeed some knots in my heart that I can't untie, which affect my mentality when interacting with everyone! I'm very sorry for this, but forgive me, I can't talk about these things!" By now, Zhang Hainuo could see understanding in Hessen's eyes, so he didn't continue with apologies and explanations.
"U21 is the first submarine I've served on. In the future, I may serve on new submarines and make new friends, but I will always remember every day here, remember every face here, and you, Roderick, thank you! I feel like you're not just an outstanding submarine commander, but also a good person! All of you are good people!"
Hessen smiled, and this was the second time Zhang Hainuo had seen him smile. In his impression, this very casual smile had become Hessen's signature.
"Alright, now let's go up and greet those British folks. They've been making quite a racket up there just now, haven't they?"
"Yes!" The crew members responded in unison, their voices not loud but filled with confidence.
"Today, our goal..." Hessen walked up to Zhang Hainuo and winked at him, "is to make the best use of all our torpedoes!"