11:30 p.m. on May 24, 1940. Strait of Dover.

British Royal Navy Private Tony. Ralph stood on the bow of the boat smoking a cigarette, and it was his turn to be on duty at the bow tonight.

Although it is already summer, the humid air at night on the sea still makes people feel a little cool. Tony flicked the cigarette butt into the sea and lifted the collar of his short trench coat.

He cāo carried the searchlight on the bow of the ship to and fro on the water. Tonight, there was fog on the sea, and even the strong light of the searchlights could only shine a radius of more than ten meters around. Tony stared at the foggy water around him, afraid of missing anything out of the ordinary.

It was the English Channel, the most important barrier of the British Empire. Now that the war has begun again, will it be able to stop the enemy's invasion again? In Tony's mind, the answer was yes, and the Royal Navy would be able to hold off any enemy attack here.

Tony carefully followed the searchlight and observed the sea. I heard that German submarines have been active in the Strait of Dover in the past two days, and it is possible that the Germans are planning some major military action. Tony hoped he would be lucky enough to spot one or two of his German submarines, so he could clean up the damn Germans. But he also knew that his wish would be difficult to fulfill, and the German submarine had never dared to surface casually in the English Channel, and unless he was lucky enough to come up with a frieze, he would never find the shadow of the German submarine with this searchlight alone.

The ship began to turn again, and Tony looked back at the bridge, was it Thomson's turn or Aite to take the helm tonight? He couldn't seem to remember, I hope it wasn't the confused Aite, that guy would deviate from course one or two times every time, I really don't know why the captain would let him be the helmsman. However, I heard that the navy has recruited experienced sailors into the first-line fleet, and there are really not many good players who stay in the coastal guard fleet, and a helmsman like Aite is already good. But Tony always thought that if he knew a few more words and learned to take the helm, he would definitely be better than that stupid guy.

With a long sigh, Tony turned his gaze to the oak parapet beneath the bridge, where there was a brass sign with the ship's name, the Devil. The name sounded pretty spirited, and those who didn't know thought it was a huge battleship, at least Tony's neighbors thought so. This made Tony feel very embarrassed, so he was always reluctant to tell his neighbors the truth.

In fact, this is just an offshore trawler with a displacement of more than 90 tons, but it was requisitioned by the Navy and then simply refitted. The Navy installed her with a passive sonar that she didn't know from which decommissioned patrol boat, and it often malfunctioned. The radio was new, but the Navy's operators for it were just as new. The kid wasn't even 18 years old, and looking at his chaotic appearance on the radio station, he had to resend a normal patrol report two or three times, and if there was an emergency, Tony suspected that the guy might even send the wrong SOS.

The ship is thirty years old, older than Tony's. The original main engine was about to be scrapped, and the navy somehow got two half-new diesel engines for her to install. It turned out that the horsepower was not as large as the original one, and now the ship's maximum speed was only 17 knots to hell, and even some high-speed freighters could not catch up, but it should be enough to deal with German submarines.

The only plausible armament of this ship is a 40-mm machine gun mounted on an improvised platform behind it, which I heard was dismantled from a decommissioned destroyer of the Navy and participated in the Battle of Jutland, so I think it can be trusted. All that remained were the twenty depth charges piled up on the aft deck, which had exhausted Tony to death in order to mount them on the release slipway, believing that something that heavy could sink a German submarine.

Even when Tony was thinking about it there, he didn't forget to swing the searchlight back and forth, it was too dangerous here, in addition to the possibility of encountering German submarines, there was also the possibility of hitting mines, not only the Germans, but also his own people laid a large minefield here, Tony once saw an anti-submarine trawler like his own hit a mine, when the entire bow was blown to pieces, and the crew sank to the bottom of the sea with the ship without even having time to put on their protective suits, and it was only a matter of a minute. From then on, as long as he was on duty at the bow of the ship, he was especially careful about the situation on the water, and he was afraid of following in the footsteps of the ship.

Tony lit himself another cigarette and took a deep breath. Even if the boat is painted twice, it still can't hide the strong fishy smell, the wooden-hulled boat is like this, she can penetrate her history deeply into her body, no matter how she changes, she can never completely erase the traces of her past. She will always be a fishing boat, and even a full cannon will not allow her to exude the smell of a battleship.

Thinking of the battleship, Tony thought of the captain of the ship, and heard that he was the captain of a carrier-based torpedo boat in the past, on the battlecruiser "Indomitable". On one occasion, he got drunk the night before he sailed and beat another officer, so he was put in a confinement room at a naval base. As a result, he could only watch his battleship sail through the bars, and that was the last time he saw the Indomitable. On the same day, the "Indomitable" participated in the naval battle of "Jutland", and the ammunition depot exploded, and no one on board survived. Now that I think about it, the old guy was really lucky, and I hope his good luck is still useful to this day.

That's when Tony felt someone coming towards the bow of the boat.

"Who?"

"It's me!"

Tony took a closer look, and it turned out to be the ship's first mate, Hopkins.

"Hello sir!" Tony hurriedly saluted.

The first mate was a good man, strong, brave and approachable, and knew a lot about sailing, and sometimes even Tony felt sorry for him, and an officer of his calibre should have commanded a battleship instead of a converted fishing boat.

Hopkins walked up to Tony and returned the salute.

"Private, what's the matter?"

"Report sir! Nothing happens. Sir! ”

"yes, do you have a cigarette? Mine is out of pumping. ”

"Yes, sir!" Tony replied loudly, then quickly took out his cigarette and handed it to the first mate.

"Thank you!" Hopkins took the cigarette, pulled out one and put it in his mouth, then handed the pack back to Tony.

"No thanks, you can keep it, I still have a few packs. Sir. ”

"Haha, then I'll take it, and I'll give it back to you when I return to Hong Kong."

"It's okay. Sir! ”

Hopkins pulled a delicate lighter out of his pocket and lit a cigarette. He saw Tony's eyes staring straight at the lighter. The first mate tossed the lighter in his hand and said with a smile.

"It was given to me by my father, a gift from him by an American officer when he won the war in '18, when he was the captain of a troop carrier. My father wants this to bring me good luck, it's really good, would you like to take it and see it? The first mate handed Tony the lighter.

Tony hurriedly took the lighter, he was a little fond of this delicate little thing, but he had no choice but to return it to the first mate. The first mate took it with a smile. The two men stood at the bow of the boat and began to smoke in silence.

"Tony, I think your name is Tony." The first mate asked.

"Yes, sir!"

"Oh!" The first mate didn't continue, he looked at the fog around him and pondered.

"Sir, I have a question." Tony thought it was awkward for the two men to stand silently on the bow of the boat.

"Oh, what a problem." The first mate woke up from his contemplation, a little embarrassed to wander himself.

"Who's at the helm today? Sir. Tony wanted something to say, and he stopped looking at the searchlight and turned to look at the first mate.

"It's Aite, why are you asking this?"

"It's nothing, I'm just a little worried about this, the fog is too thick today, and our course is close to our minefield, I'm afraid Aite will deviate from the course like last time. Sir. ”

"Aite is an old helmsman and he knows what to do. Last time it was a pure accident, that compass ......" Hopkins stopped suddenly, and he turned his head to look in the direction of starboard.

Tony also sensed something, as if there was a low, strange sound coming from there, and he quickly turned his searchlight in that direction.

"Do you hear that? Private General. The first mate asked

"Yes, sir, I hear you."

"What do you think?"

"I don't know, sir, it sounds like an engine, but it doesn't."

The first mate poked his head out to carefully discern the strange sound.

"In that direction!" The first mate pointed thirty degrees to starboard. Tony hurriedly turned the searchlight around. But nothing could be seen except a white fog.

"This fog is too thick, private, you continue to observe here, I'll go to the wheelhouse."

"Yes, sir! Could it be our own ship? Tony was a little nervous.

"No, we are the only ship patrolling here now, the others have already returned to port, and the ship that changed the guard will not be here yet. Moreover, the sound was not coming from the ship's engine. ”

"That's the enemy?"

"It's not clear now, if you stick to your post, you'll figure it out." The first mate hurriedly ran towards the bridge. Tony quickly turned his head and stared in that direction.

The sound grew louder and louder, and Tony finally heard that it was not one but a mixture of many identical voices, and he could make out the sound.

"Airplane!" Tony exclaimed.

"Lots of planes!"

Just as Tony shouted in panic, a sharp sound of fine news rang out from the ship at the same time. The first mate heard that voice as well. The sailors hurried out of their cabins, and the well-trained ones entered their respective positions.

The only two Maxine machine guns on board turned in the direction from which the plane had come, but there was nothing to see but the fog, and the sailors could only blindly follow the sound and look around.

The captain was also woken up, and he walked into the bridge, which reassured the sailors that the captain's good fortune would bless the ship. At this time, the small anti-submarine trawler began to turn and pointed its bow in the direction from which the sound came.

At this time, the sound of the engines of the planes became clearer, and it sounded like there were at least hundreds of them, and the faces of the sailors became ugly. These weapons alone could not take on hundreds of planes, and now they began to hope that the fog would be as thick as possible so that they would not be detected by them.

"Turn off all the navigation lights!"

The captain seems to have the same idea, although the British Royal Navy has a tradition of never fearing any enemy, but it is still a bit far from the madness of sending people to death. By this time, the group of planes had already passed the bow of the "Devil" and flew towards the north.

"It's bombers, it seems like there are hundreds." The first mate said to the captain from the bridge.

"Yes, we have not received any reports, the planes must have been German. I don't know if those radar stations spotted them. It's strange, though we can't see them, but from the sound they sound like they're flying very low, a hundred and fifty to two hundred feet at most, and the Germans are crazy enough to fly close to the sea on a foggy day. ”

"yes, I don't know where they're going, there's just a sea in that direction." The first mate was also puzzled.

"Turn the rudder, let's follow and see where the hell those planes go."

"Our ship is ...... speed"

"I said, keep up and go full speed."

"Yes, sir."

The first mate thought that the captain might not have woken up yet, and even let a small fishing boat chase a huge fleet.

"Do you want to report our findings to the Navy Command first?"

"Don't report it yet, wait until we find out, and now those guys won't believe us, they'll say we're all drunk, and all we hear is hallucinations." The captain stubbornly dismissed the first mate's opinion.

"We have crossed the median line of the channel and are now sailing along the French coast. Sir. ”

"Keep on course! Looking at the hand, can you still hear the sound of the plane? ”

"I can see that they are right in front of us." The captain nodded in satisfaction.

"I think it is better to inform the naval command, at least so that they can inform the army in the port of Dunkirk to prepare for the air attack of the Germans."

"No, they definitely didn't go to attack Dunkerke. They flew a big arc along the coast, and I think they had another purpose. "Oh? What do you think is the purpose? ”

"Mines!!"

A poignant scream rang out from the bow of the boat, and Tony was seen rolling and crawling towards the stern. In the fog directly in front of the bow of the ship, a group of black, whirring tentacles emerged.

"Left full rudder......" the captain shouted to the helmsman. But it was too late, and the fishing boat, which was moving at full speed, crashed headlong into the mine before it had time to turn. The bow of the ship exploded with a splash of water more than ten meters high, and before the sea water could fall, the bow of the ship hit a second mine, and the whole bow was blown to pieces along with the 40mm gun, and a brilliant fireball rose from the front of the ship.

"Abandon ship!" The captain yelled at the sailors who were in a mess below. By this time, the fishing boat had tilted towards the sea, and its stern had been lifted off the water.

The first mate stared at the chaos in a daze, it was over, it was too late, he finally understood the mission of the German planes, they were laying mines, they wanted to block the Strait of Dover with mines, but why did they do it? Before the first mate could think about it, the sea water had already rushed into the bridge, and the heavy pressure of the water pressed the first mate and the people in the bridge against the wall behind him.

Five seconds later, the USS Devil disappeared from the sea, leaving only a small whirlpool and some wooden debris behind as she sank deep into the Atlantic Ocean with all her crew.

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