Although the torpedo fired by the submarine hit the cruiser, the power of only two torpedoes was not enough to sink it. The torpedo chief, who received the order from Seleda, saw that the enemy ship had not sunk, and hurriedly shouted at the torpedo men: "Brothers, keep firing torpedoes, you must sink them." ”

The torpedo men loudly agreed, lifted their heavy torpedoes and began to reload again. As soon as the reload is complete, the launch is carried out without hesitation. With a jolt in the hull and the sound of water outside, two torpedoes burst out of the launch tube and headed for the German ship, which was evading in a zigzag pattern.

Although the firing range was shortened, due to the constant maneuvering of the German ships, only one torpedo hit the target. Amid the violent explosions, the speed of the German ship began to slow down. But in order to sink the cruiser, the torpedo crews in the submarine fired four more torpedoes in succession, so that the cruiser slowly sank in the raging fire.

Looking at the German sailors who escaped from the boat by jumping into the water with life jackets and lifebuoys, the deputy captain asked Seleda for instructions: "Comrade captain, do we need to surface to rescue these German sailors?" ”

"There are hundreds of German sailors in the water," said Sheleda, who was observing the situation outside through the periscope, and said without looking back when he heard the words of the deputy captain: "We can't afford to save so many people, so let's wait for them to swim back to shore by themselves." ”

Having sunk two German cruisers and a frigate, Sheleda wanted to sink the last frigate in one fell swoop. But it is a pity that just when attacking the second cruiser, the frigate saw that the situation was not good, and it had already fled.

Although the escape of a frigate made the attack imperfect, the C-11 submarine achieved far more than Fleet Commander Tributz had envisioned. When he received the telegram from Seleda, his first reaction was: "There must be a mistake, usually it is not uncommon for submarines to go out of port to carry out tasks and sink several enemy ships, but those are usually unarmed merchant ships or transport ships, and the current situation of sinking three combat ships at a time is unreliable." ”

Thinking of this, Tributz instructed the communications staff officer who sent the telegram: "Comrade staff, call Major Sheleda back and verify their results in battle, whether they sank three German combat ships, or ordinary merchant ships or transport ships. ”

The staff officer returned to the telegraph room, and less than ten minutes later, he hurried over again and excitedly reported to Tributz: "Comrade commander, it has been verified, and the results of the battle are correct, and it is true that two cruisers and one frigate have been sunk, and one frigate has fled in a hurry when it sees the details of the submarine against its companions. ”

"It's amazing, it's just amazing." After confirming the results achieved by Seleda, Tributz said excitedly: "I really didn't expect that they would achieve such a major result in such a short period of time with only one submarine. I would like to report this good news to Marshal Rokossovsky immediately. ”

As he spoke, he picked up the high-frequency phone on the table, dialed a number, and when he heard a voice coming from inside, he immediately said decisively: "Operator, I'm Tributs, give me the front command." ”

It was Bogolyubov who answered the phone, and when he heard Tributs' voice coming from the receiver, he said with some excitement: "Comrade Admiral, I was about to call you, but I didn't expect you to call first. ”

; "Comrade Chief of Staff, are you going to call me?" Bogolyubov's words aroused great curiosity in Tributs, "Is there anything important?" ”

"It is so, Comrade Admiral, that our troops attacking Tsopot, in the evening, were shelled by German ships anchored in Danzig Bay, and suffered heavy casualties. After dark, the artillery commander, General Sokolisky, sent a long-range artillery unit ready to establish artillery positions on the seashore and bombard enemy ships in order to alleviate the casualties of our attacking forces. "However, the artillery was intercepted by the guns of the German ships during the march. Just when they were at a loss, the shelling of the German ships suddenly stopped, and they were still burning in the harbor...... I would like to ask, did you send a fleet to attack the enemy's ships at night? ”

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I called you just to explain this matter." Tributz laughed on the phone and said: "I sent a submarine to Danzig Bay, originally intended to cause a little trouble to the German ships, so that they could no longer bombard our troops with naval guns. But unexpectedly, the captain's performance surprised me. I had just ordered them to stop the German shelling, but they sank three German ships in one fell swoop......"

"What, one submarine sank three German ships?" Hearing this, Bogolyubov asked with some surprise: "Comrade Admiral, is this all true?" ”

"Yes, it's all true." Tributz nodded and said, "In this way, you can concentrate all your forces and artillery fire and attack the German troops in the Tsopot area with all your might." ”

"This is really a remarkable victory, and Comrade Marshal will be very happy to hear this news." "Comrade Admiral, please represent me and express your gratitude to Major Sheleda for all this," Bogolyubov said happily. As for the award mentioned by Comrade Marshal, I think it will be honored in two or three days. ”

When Rokossovsky proposed to award medals to naval officers and men who had made meritorious contributions, Tributz also felt that this was something that could be seen and touched, but who knew that listening to Bogolyubov's tone at this moment, Rokossovsky might not be long before he planned to award them to Sheleda.

After learning the news, Tributz said with emotion: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I will definitely convey your words to all the sailors of the C-11 submarine. I'm sure they've been waiting for this good news. ”

After the call between the two, Bogolyubov felt the need to tell the good news to Sokolisky, who was a little confused. After answering the phone, he said straight to the point: "Comrade Artillery Commander, I know what happened to the fire of the German warship in Danzig Bay. ”

"What's going on?" Sokolisky, who had always been worried about the inexplicable fire of the German warship, heard Bogolyubov say this, and hurriedly asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, tell me quickly, what is going on?" ”

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