During the three hours on the surface, the submarine's batteries were once again fully charged. After confirming that he had reached the ambush area, Wen Haomao immediately let the submarine dive, he did not dare to have any negligence, there must be anti-submarine destroyers in front of the US fleet, and when he found those destroyers, the destroyers also discovered him, he didn't want to be sent to the bottom of the sea before using up the eight torpedoes.

The silence in the submarine was eerily quiet, and everyone was watching the listeners with headphones, who were now relied on to determine if a battleship was approaching. The listener also knew that the others were watching him, but he was not distracted, he pressed the earphone with his left hand, and adjusted the twist on the instrument from time to time with his right hand. The sound is amplified, and the direction in which the sound is coming can be roughly determined by adjusting the receiving equipment outside the boat.

Suddenly, the listener raised his left hand, and Wen Haomao immediately walked over and leaned against the bulkhead behind the listener. The listener's hand froze in the air for a moment before turning his head.

"The sound was faint and noisy, probably from the propellers of the battleship, and we were still far away, to the northwest."

Wen Haomao immediately picked up another spare pair of headphones, which was the direction in which the US fleet was coming. He listened carefully for a while, then put down his headphones and nodded to the chief engineer.

"Red light status!"

The green light in the cabin went out, the red light flashed, and the officers and men quickly entered their positions, and at the same time made some noises.

"Be quiet!" Wen Haomao was a little annoyed. "Prepare to float up to 60 meters, hopefully we're in the right place!"

"The first five, the last five." The chief engineer immediately began to adjust the submarine's sailing state, "Quiet speed, keep it steady, don't float too fast." ”

The submarine is like a ghost in the sea, slowly rising from a depth of 100 meters to a depth of 60 meters. At this time, the noise coming from outside the boat was already very obvious, and the veteran crew could even hear it directly. This is the sound of the destroyer's propellers churning the sea water as it sails, and the sound of the steam turbines on the battleship as they operate. The sounds seemed to come from overhead, which made everyone feel creepy. Thankfully, the noise is moving away, and the regular sonar impact sound is not present, which means that those American destroyers have not turned on the sonar, and it is difficult to spot the submarines quietly under the surface. Obviously, the sonar on the US destroyer does not work non-stop all the time.

Wen Haomao looked at the chief engineer. Then he laughed, and in the first round of the fight, he had already won. He had already won the first step in his gamble with 55 lives on the boat, but he was still a long way from the final victory. To be precise, the sonar on the US destroyer must be stopped periodically to cool down the equipment to avoid malfunctioning.

This was also a common defect of most electronic devices at the time, because the electronic devices of the time used vacuum tubes, not the more advanced transistors. So any kind of electronic device. Including radio, radar, sonar. When working, it will emit huge heat, and the use temperature of the electronic equipment itself is limited, after using it for a period of time, it must stop working, let the equipment cool down, otherwise reduce the service life, not to mention, it will definitely fail, if it cannot be used during the war, the consequences will be unimaginable.

This is also a serious loophole in destroyer anti-submarine warfare, as is the case with American destroyers. The same is true of the destroyers of the Tang Empire, the only difference is that the duration of continuous use is not exactly the same. Wen Haomao also knew this, so he decided to leave the US fleet first, ambush on the route of the US fleet, and use the sonar on the destroyers in the US fleet to pass through its anti-submarine net when it was turned off, and fire torpedoes at the more valuable aircraft carrier at close range, so as to maximize the value of the eight torpedoes.

"Prepare to ascend to periscope depth, and in addition, get the 2,4,6 torpedo tubes ready!"

"Ascending to periscope depth, torpedo tubes ......"

When the order was delivered, Wen Haomao walked to the perimeter, he glanced at the navigation clock, it was already 1:50 in the morning, and there were still more than four hours of dawn, which was enough for him to complete the attack, and at the same time withdraw from the battle, strive to get rid of the American destroyer before dawn, and then return to the sea. The remaining fuel on the submarine made it impossible for him to delay any longer, and perhaps he had to refuel on the way back to Minamitorishima before returning to Saipan.

"The destroyer went away." The listener sent the message, "A group of larger warships is about 10 nautical miles away from us, 300 degrees away. ”

Wen Haomao nodded, and when the pointer on the depth gauge pointed between 10 and 20, he took off his hat and hung it on the crank of the periscope, and then grabbed the handles on both sides of the periscope eyepiece.

"Prepare to raise the periscope!" The second mate walked over and looked at Wen Haomao a little nervously. God knows if there is a destroyer parked above their heads, and if there is, then raising the periscope at this time is sending them to death. Of course, luck won't be so bad, and if that's the case, then God can only blame God for being too unfair to them.

Wen Haomao let out a sigh, he was not sure if there was a destroyer nearby, after all, the ear of the listener was not omnipotent, he had encountered a similar situation before, and when he raised the periscope, he found that there was a destroyer nearby, and it had already been discovered by the destroyer. However, the sea conditions at that time were extremely bad, and the sea was calm at this time, so the noise of the wind and waves would not affect the judgment of the listener.

The hydraulic press that drove the periscope worked, making a little noise, which made Wen Haomao very worried, maybe this noise would not have any bad effects, at least it had not been exposed before.

"Wait-" Just as Wen Haomao was about to raise the periscope, the listener shouted, "80 degrees direction, new noise source, several battleships are approaching at high speed, damn it, it's less than 5 nautical miles away from us!" ”

Wen Haomao was startled, and immediately said: "Raise the periscope and prepare for emergency evasion!" ”

The officer in the command cabin immediately got busy, and at the same time, the periscope also rose, and when the red mark in front of him turned into a green mark, Wen Haomao immediately put his eyes on the eyepiece, and at the same time quickly turned it.

He first observed the fleet in the north-western direction, which was not fast. There are two huge silhouettes, which should be two aircraft carriers, and there are quite a few escort warships nearby, which seem to be mostly destroyers. This is exactly the same situation as the US fleet, with several destroyers patrolling the perimeter and others patrolling about 5 nautical miles from the aircraft carrier, forming an inner city anti-submarine defense circle. Wen Haomao wrote down the exact position of the fleet, and at the same time quickly calculated its speed. Approximate course, and then he adjusted the angle to the northwest.

There were several battleships that were close, and because it was too dark, it could only be judged that they were cruisers, not destroyers, and because they were almost frontal observations, it was difficult to judge the models of these cruisers, let alone whether they were American cruisers. But Wen Haomao did not believe that in addition to the cruisers of the United States, there would be warships of other countries in this sea area. Suddenly, a flash of fire erupted from the three gray battleships. Then the fire was extinguished. Wen Haomao only hesitated for a second. He immediately understood that this was the muzzle flame of the guns on the battleship when they opened fire!

"Urgently dive to a depth of 120 meters!" At the same time that Wen Haomao called out, he had already pulled down the periscope. "Damn, we've fallen into the trap of American warships!"

At this time, the other officers also felt this way, and suddenly the battleships from the northeast were caught in the middle, and now the submarine was in a dilemma!

"Need to adjust course?" The chief engineer's voice was a little nervous.

Wen Haomao hesitated, he looked at the officers and soldiers around him, and now he had to make a choice, whether to try to seize the one-in-10,000 chance to break through, or risk being killed by the US destroyer and approach the US aircraft carrier. Launch the torpedo before it gets killed.

As the captain of the submarine, Wen Haomao dreamed of sinking an aircraft carrier, which could give him the title of "Imperial Hero" and make him a legendary captain, maybe he would never be able to enjoy this honor, but his name would remain in the "Lingyan Pavilion" and would be remembered in the annals of the Imperial Navy. But at the same time, he also has to be responsible for the 54 officers and soldiers under his command, and the 54 officers and soldiers are 54 brothers who share life and death. It's 54 comrades-in-arms who fought together. Among the 55 officers and soldiers, including Wen Haomao, almost all of them have not yet married, and maybe there are still a few boy scouts among them. Maybe when the submarine is sunk, some people will ask God why they are finished before they even taste the taste of men, but more people will say "Mommy" in their mouths, or other close relatives. They didn't want to die, no one wanted to die, especially on a submarine, the bones of which were wrapped in an iron coffin and buried in the mud of the ocean floor thousands of meters deep.

"Steering to 70 degrees, two-thirds power." Wen Haomao only hesitated for a few seconds, "Let's try to fight for it, if there is no way, then drag a few American warships as backs!" ”

When the submarine's propellers spun faster, the submarine made a beautiful small radius turn, and the chief engineer deftly controlled the submarine warship, which was composed of more than 2,000 tons of steel, as if he were controlling a car. Now, they can only flee for their lives, and there is little hope, and if they want to escape under the attack of a destroyer, it will take more luck than the performance of the submarine and the command ability of the captain.

"Major, something seems wrong."

"What?" Wen Haomao looked at the listener.

"I heard shells exploding under the surface of the sea, but at a distance from us, not near us."

"Those battleships didn't shell us?" The second mate walked over, and at the same time looked at Wen Haomao in surprise.

"It doesn't seem to be shelling us, there are more explosions in the northwest and northeast directions, and no shells have fallen near us!"

At this point, everyone was puzzled. Wen Haomao was also puzzled, could it be that the two US fleets fought by themselves? This is impossible, the Yankees are not stupid, at least they can distinguish between friend and foe, and the US troops operating on the battlefield only have the Fifth Fleet, so can't the Fifth Fleet even judge its own people. Then, Wen Haomao thought of a key question, the enemy battleship was still about 5 nautical miles away from him, and the submarine only extended the periscope out of the sea at that time, even if the US warship had radar and could detect the periscope, it would be difficult to find a steel pipe protruding from the sea 5 nautical miles away, right? Could it be that there are warships of their own people in the vicinity?

"How far are the two fleets from us now?"

"It's about 12 nautical miles to the northwest and it's turning southwest." The listener listened for a while, "The northeast is only about 3 nautical miles away, and we are also moving southwest. ”

"Ascend to periscope depth, let's go up and see what the hell is going on!"

The submarine floated up again, and Wen Haomao returned to the periscope. He took a long breath, he wanted to determine what was going on on the sea, but he also knew that if there was an American fleet nearby, then he was now risking his own life and the lives of 54 other officers and men.

"Set the depth of 15 meters!" The chief engineer looked at Wen Haomao, "We've reached the periscope depth." ”

Wen Haomao nodded, grabbed the handle on the periscope, and then quickly raised the periscope. The first to enter his eyes was the fleet in the distance, which was supposed to be the one that had begun to move in its northwest direction. Then, Wen Haomao quickly turned the periscope, and on the sea not far away, the guns on several battleships were bursting with fire, and Wen Haomao even felt that he heard the sound of shelling. And the flickering fires made the battleship as ordered. At this time, the three battleships were all facing the submarine from the side, and Wen Haomao only looked at it for less than a minute, and judged that they were three heavy cruisers of the Imperial Navy, and they must be three heavy cruisers of the second batch of "Jianghe" class, that is, cruisers with three triple 200 mm main gun turrets instead of three twin 240 mm main gun turrets!

"Damn, it's our people!" Wen Haomao withdrew the periscope, "The three 'Jianghe' class, it seems that there are a few destroyers further away, which should also be our warships, at least there is no exchange of fire between the two sides." ”

"What now?" Chief Engineer secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

No one expected that there would be a warship of their own people to kill them, which also surprised Wen Haomao.

"Only three cruisers?"

Wen Haomao nodded, but he decided to make sure again, the second time he observed for 5 minutes, and finally came to the same conclusion, there are only three cruisers, and there must be more cruisers in the US fleet, obviously, those three cruisers are doing a desperate attack. Wen Haomao also decided at this time that he should do something, even the officers and men on the cruiser have the consciousness of death, if it is rumored in the future, he encountered two American aircraft carriers and did not attack, then can he still be mixed up in the Imperial Navy?