The Japanese never imagined that they would encounter such a problem at present, because the Germans did not make such a request as is usually the case at sea. Usually the naval vessels of the two countries encounter each other on the high seas, especially in some heavy traffic areas, which is an unavoidable thing, and under normal circumstances, the two sides only need to salute each other, and then they can continue their respective voyages, and there are few people like the Germans, who deliberately run up to talk to each other.

The Japanese officers on the bridge were immediately divided into two factions, the one led by the team staff officer Nomura represented the opposing views, and Nomura thought that Hanafang should immediately reject the other party, and the tone could be tactful, but the attitude must be resolute.

The staff officer suspected that the Germans were deceitful in their words and deeds, and he felt that the Germans were probably deliberately floating in front of their submarines, and that everything was a premeditated action of the other side. Although the I-60 did not perceive the other side in advance due to unknown technical reasons, with the technological capabilities of the Germans, it should be easy to grasp the movements of the other side. The Germans should have discovered the I-60 very early, and then deliberately blocked their way here, and it is still unknown what the other side was doing with this purpose, but it will definitely not be as simple as they say "in exchange for some supplies".

"What do you think the Germans are for purpose? Nomura-sama, do they want to find out about our army? Hanafang was analyzed by Nomura like this, and it also felt a little abnormal.

"I'm just saying it's possible, and I can't say for sure yet." Nomura Shaoza didn't dare to say it to death, he still dared to be tough on the ships of other countries, but in front of him were powerful Germans.

"I don't think it's as complicated as you think, Nomura Shaosa. You have also served on the submarine for many years, and you should be able to see that this encounter was purely an accident, the Germans could not have learned of the sailing plan of the I-60 in advance, and of course they would not have waited for us here, this is not a common route for merchant ships, and this German submarine should have been training in this area. Nakasa Kijima said, touching the stubble on his chin.

"I think this is an opportunity for the Reich Navy, and the U106 across the street is Germany's active lead submarine, and the Reich Navy has never encountered this kind of German most advanced ship at such a close distance before. The other side can collect our intelligence, can't we collect the other party's intelligence in turn?

I think it would be better to be able to take this opportunity to board the other side's submarine and even enter it, so that we can learn about the current level of technology of the independent submarine.

And as you know, there have been a number of unexpected diplomatic incidents in recent times, and the relationship between the Empire and the Independent State has become somewhat unpleasant, and if this maritime exchange can be used as an opportunity to ease the relations between the two navies, perhaps we can take the opportunity to break the impasse faced by the Imperial Navy in the South Seas. Nakasa Kijima said.

Don't look at Guidao as just a naval lieutenant, after graduating from the naval academy, he has not relaxed his requirements for himself, especially in the days when he participated in the special subject training of captain A at the Kure Port Diving School, he also studied books related to international politics and diplomatic relations in his spare time, he did not want to retire from politics after retirement, but thought that once the imperial navy went to war with the great powers, this knowledge might come in handy.

The current situation of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the South Seas, as Kijima said, has reached a stalemate that will be difficult to solve.

Now that the activities of the Fifth Fleet are under the supervision of the colonial navies of Britain, France, the Netherlands, and other countries, the scope of the warships' activities can only be limited to the small Gulf of Siam, and the Japanese Navy has tasted the enemy on all sides for the first time.

Siam's port facilities were outdated, the water level was relatively shallow, and there were only two seaports in the entire territory that could be used by Japanese battleships and aircraft carriers. Siam also lacked shipbuilding capabilities, and their largest ship canal could barely repair destroyer-class ships, so the heavy cruiser [Furuying], which had suffered heavy damage due to a torpedo self-explosion, could only be towed back to the port of Kaohsiung, Taiwan for emergency repairs.

It should be mentioned here that [Guying] almost sank at that time, and later inspection found that she was injured much more seriously than the Japanese army's initial estimate, the ribs of the damaged part were bent by the shock wave, a large area of armor plates and the outer wall of the bulkhead were cracked, most of the watertight doors on the starboard bottom were ineffective, in order to balance the hull crew on the port side of the watertight compartment poured a lot of water, and finally when the heavy cruiser was dragged into Kaohsiung Port, the height of the upper deck of the [Guying] from the water surface was only one and a half meters.

If it weren't for the good command of the temporary captain Shimura Shinroku Nakasa, and the crew's efforts to keep their ship, this warship would have sunk into the South China Sea long ago, if that were the case, the [Furutaka] would have been the largest warship lost by the Imperial Japanese Navy after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, and the accident happened in front of a foreign navy, which is definitely a huge scandal that is difficult to hide.

"But this is not in line with military regulations, and if the superiors hold them accountable, everyone here will be held responsible."

"Staff Nomura is right, we have every right to refuse such a request, which is not in line with maritime practice in the first place."

"But what the commander said is also very reasonable, this is a valuable opportunity to contact the independent submarine, and I don't think it should be wasted."

"Captain Morinaga is right, I support the commander's opinion."

"It's too reckless."

"Japan's submarine technology is world-class, don't forget that you are all Japanese, you have to have a backbone."

"You guy! Is there something wrong with the brain?! How can you understand the mood of our technical officers. "There was a lot of noise on the bridge for a while.

"Hanafang Shaozuo, you are the captain, it's up to you to decide." In the end, Guidao kicked the decision to the feet of Hanafu.

This may seem irresponsible, but in the circumstances of the time, it was the best way to quell the controversy. Although Guidao is the highest-ranking officer on the submarine, the captain is the commander who actually controls the ship.

"I agree... The opinion of the commander. After struggling in his heart, Hanafang finally leaned towards the opinion of Nakasa Kijima, not only because the other party was his immediate boss, but also because he was also very curious about the independent submarine and wanted to take the opportunity to observe it, and as Guidao said, if the relationship between the two countries was eased because of this incident, it would indeed be a great achievement.

At this time, the U106 had already passed the starboard side of the I-60, and then made a U-turn behind the Japanese submarine, maintaining the same course as the I-60, and was speeding up to catch up.

The surface speed of the Haida III is two knots faster than that of the German U-IX, but that is only a parameter on paper, and in fact, the Haida rarely runs at a rapid speed.

The I-60 is equipped with two 3,200 horsepower "Sulzer Type 3 Marine Diesel Engines" each, in this case Sulzer refers to Sulzer GmbH in Switzerland, a family-owned company that began to design and manufacture marine diesel engines in Switzerland after the First World War in cooperation with German companies, using German technology in the final analysis.

The Japanese Navy customized several engines from Sulzer and then began to copy them on its own. Before the outbreak of the world economic crisis, for a while, the Japanese liked to copy American products, but these products were often European designs copied by the United States.

The I-60 is equipped with a Japanese production engine that has been designed in Switzerland and is divided into three types: 1,300 horsepower, 3,000 horsepower, and 3,400 horsepower.

There are no major defects in the overall design of this engine, but the problem lies in the processing technology, because the Japanese metallurgical technology is not up to standard, and the machining accuracy is extremely limited, resulting in the vibration and noise of these engines during operation, and there are often major failures such as cylinder block burning and piston fragmentation.

Historically, the Japanese Navy hired technicians from Germany to engineer MAN companies, and finally at the end of 1934, they designed and manufactured a relatively reliable ship-based marine diesel engine with a single engine power of up to 5,000 horsepower. However, in actual use, the problems of processing and materials still exist, but they will not be mentioned here for the time being.

The I-60 did not maintain full speed, and the speed was roughly around twelve to thirteen knots, which was quite easy for this large submarine with 6,400 horsepower. Finding that the German submarine was chasing at full speed in the rear, Hanafang specially ordered to reduce the speed, and soon the U106 caught up and began to go hand in hand with the Yi 60, the distance between the two submarines was less than 60 meters, and the officers and men on both sides could already see each other's movements clearly without binoculars.

PS: Thank you all for your support, the author will continue to work hard.

PS2: I'm sorry, I found a mistake in the first two chapters, the twenty-eighth diving team is not a team, but a sub-team of the team, a diving team is usually composed of three such diving teams, the author has made changes, if there are any omissions, please help point out.