Chapter 292 Mobile Defense Circle

At 3:30 a.m. the next day, Colonel Heshing commanded the submarine U-21 to appear in the western waters of the Dardanelles Strait.

In principle, he didn't need to arrive so early. Colonel Hexing had already investigated the time and pattern of dawn: it would dawn around six o'clock, and the dawn time would be about ten minutes earlier every day, which meant that the attack time would be around 5:50.

But Colonel Heshing believed that getting to the attack position first would be beneficial to the mission.

In Colonel Hexing's office, he held a pencil in his hand and drew a circle on the sea area in front of V Beach on the map while analyzing the deputy captain:

"French battleships are usually equipped with 305MM caliber main guns with a range of more than ten kilometers and 138MM secondary guns with a range of eight kilometers."

"I believe that in order to provide sufficient fire reinforcement for the landing force, the battleship will enter within an eight-kilometer range to allow the secondary batteries to take effect."

"So their activity range is estimated to be in this sea area."

The deputy captain nodded in agreement: "French warships always seem to be at the forefront. It seems that the French 'Gaul' was responsible for blowing up the Ottoman ammunition depot before!"

"Yes." Colonel Hexing smiled softly, with a trace of ridicule on his lips: "They seemed eager to show off, so they did not hesitate to risk artillery fire to get close to them."

"It's understandable." The vice-captain replied: "Their warships were outclassed by the British, so they were eager to make meritorious deeds on the battlefield. This is probably why Charles came, right?"

Colonel Hesing looked at the deputy captain and smiled knowingly: "Char is not that simple, Otto, he was forced to come by the parliament."

Then Colonel Heshing brought the topic back to the topic:

"If we knew the enemy would be here, we wouldn't need to wait for them to arrive before approaching."

"We can get to the destination first, then dive down and sit on the beach to wait for them. It will be much safer this way!"

The deputy captain had no objection to this. He just joked: "Aren't you afraid that we will be hit and sunk by the enemy as soon as we surface?"

This is indeed very possible. The submarines of this period did not even have hydrophones. They were sinking at the bottom and they did not even know whether enemy warships were moving overhead.

(Note: The hydrophone was invented by a French physicist and a Russian electrical engineer at the end of 1915.)

If it is directly above or very close, the submarine will be hit in two by a passing battleship or a big hole will be hit by a destroyer before it can rise to the height of the periscope.

Either way, it is fatal to submarines.

Colonel Hexing calmly replied: "There will be rewards only when there is danger, and that's Charles!"

…

After the submarine arrived at its destination, Colonel Heshing climbed onto the island of the submarine, stretched out his upper body, and observed the sea surface with his telescope.

The sea was calm, gray and hazy under the moonlight, with only the sea breeze blowing and the waves constantly beating on the submarine, causing it to rock back and forth.

In the distance, Cape Helles of the Dardanelles stretches out from the end of the continent like a sea snake, seeming to be observing something, and V Beach is like the letter it spits out.

Colonel Hexing observed for a while, then retreated to the island and carefully looked at the map with a flashlight. Then he ordered the submarine to change its position for observation, and finally determined that his position was about ten kilometers west of V Beach.

Satisfied, Captain Hexing retracted to the island and closed the hatch cover with his backhand. The submarine slowly dived and disappeared into the sea like a ghost, as if it had never appeared in the future.

…

After the submarine submerged, Hexing lay down on his desk and took a nap.

If there is any safest place in the world, it is when the submarine dives into the water. Apart from the rocks, Hexing can't think of anything that can pose a threat to it.

When the time arrived at 5:20, the deputy captain woke Hexing up on time.

Colonel Hexing rubbed his dry eyes, took the coffee from the deputy captain, took two sips, and issued a series of orders:

"Engine start!"

"Keep course and move forward at full speed!"

"S surface to periscope height!"

…

If He Xing's estimate is correct, the submarine will appear right in front of the enemy fleet after surfacing, no more, no less.

However, when the submarine stuck out its periscope, Colonel Heshing was startled by what he saw.

The enemy fleet actually carried out close-in bombing at V beach from a distance of five kilometers. The position of the battleship was obvious. He opened fire on V beach in the middle of the fleet, and the fire and smoke from the muzzle pointed out for himself like a beacon. direction.

At the same time, the artillery fire of the Ottoman soldiers on V Beach also launched a counterattack against the fleet. The artillery shells caused water columns to rise from the sea. The sea was filled with white gas. It was unclear whether it was the smoke of the artillery shells, water vapor, or warships. Exhaust gas.

Colonel Hexing felt something was wrong.

If others were so reckless, Colonel Hexing would have no problem with it, but this was Charles!

How could he put his fleet in a passive state from the very beginning? Isn't he worried about submarine sneak attacks at all?

Taking a closer look, Colonel Hexing understood.

Against the background of the gray sky, Colonel Heshing discovered that there were nine destroyers surrounding the battleship, and they were circling around the battleship.

"A very clever method." Colonel Hexing praised: "As expected of Charles!"

This kind of mobile defense is much more useful than lightning protection nets.

The destroyers circling in a circle actually form invisible defense nets. Once the submarine gets close and sticks out its periscope, it will be easily hit by these destroyers.

Now, Hexing seems to have only two options:

Either withdraw before being discovered by the enemy, or launch torpedoes outside the "mobile defense circle" of Charles.

However, the defense circle is at least two kilometers away, and it is almost impossible to hit the target by launching torpedoes at this distance.

After thinking for a while, He Xing gave a deep order: "Keep the course, speed, and dive!"

"Keep the course, speed, and dive!"

At the same time, He Xing took out a pocket watch from his arms and wrote down the time when the submarine dived.

Colonel He Xing planned to take a risk, and he calculated the time and speed.

If the calculation is correct, the submarine will break through the enemy's "mobile defense circle" when it surfaces, and appear at a distance of about 500 meters from the target.

There are only two destroyers in the inner layer, and the time and space available for operation are much larger at that time.

What Colonel He Xing did not expect was that it was the three destroyers in the inner layer that were the most dangerous.

This was a trap that Charles carefully laid for him:

The battleships were fighting fiercely with the enemy on V Beach, which would make the enemy submarines think there was an opportunity.

The "mobile defense circle" set up by the destroyers was to force the submarines to appear in the inner circle and attack the battleships at close range.

The three destroyers in the inner layer were the modified destroyers brought by Charles from France. They had prepared depth charges and were waiting for the submarines to appear.

(From left to right in the above picture, they are Germany's U22, U20, U19, and U21 mentioned in the article)