Berlin, Oscar's office. Oscar is summoning Dönitz. He was very interested in Dönitz's plan to sneak attack Scapa Flow. After approving Dönitz's plan, Oscar summoned Dönitz a week later.
"Lieutenant Colonel, is the performance of our new submarine pretty good?" Oscar asked.
"Your Highness, very good, very good! It's much better than the U-100 submarine we used before!" Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz looked excited.
Originally, he did not think that his plan would be approved. After all, his plan was too risky and the possibility of success was very small. However, in the end, Imperial Crown Prince personally approved his plan and provided him with sufficient support, which made him even more confident in this plan.
The new submarine Oscar talks about is the U-200 submarine built by German Shipyard. This is an improved version of the U-100 submarine. It not only has a larger displacement, but is also faster and can carry more Torpedo. The overall combat strength has been greatly improved. The U-200 submarine has just begun mass production, and the ones equipped for Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz are previously built samples.
"Lieutenant Colonel, your plan is very risky. Originally, I was not going to approve it. However, then I thought, maybe you can actually create a miracle. I have asked Naval Ministry to provide you with all the help. I hope you can succeed this time." Oscar said.
"Crown Prince, I will definitely succeed this time!" Dönitz is equally confident.
Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz and his crew prepared for ten days before leaving Wilhelmshaven and sailing into the North Sea. During these ten days, they not only had to become familiar with the new U-200 submarine, but also had to study tactics, as well as Scapa Flow's ocean currents and other hydrological conditions, etc., to ensure that this plan would be successful.
Germany's intelligence agency also started to collect detailed information on Scapa Flow for them. What excites Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz and the others is that the Britain people don't seem to be aware of the threat from the underwater, so they did not install an underwater anti-submarine net on Scapa Flow.
On the evening of March 12, Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz and his crew, driving the new submarine U-037, left Wilhelmshaven Naval Base and sailed into the North Sea. It is expected that they will not be able to arrive at Scapa Flow until tomorrow night. And it also needs to go smoothly without encountering the British Navy ship. Otherwise, you will need to spend more time on the road.
North Sea is too narrow. Now British-German battleships from both sides often encounter and fight in the North Sea. Although there are very few battles at the Capital Ships level, battles between small and medium-sized warships take place almost every day. Therefore, submarine U-037 needs to avoid the Britain battleship so that it can secretly sneak into Scapa Flow.
"Boss, this submarine is really good. It's much better than the one we had before." The first mate said to Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz.
"Of course, this is the latest type of submarine. It has not yet started to equip the troops. For this operation, Crown Prince specially handed over the built samples to us. Therefore, this time we must not live up to Crown Prince's expectations of us. We must kill a few more Britain's Capital Ships." Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz said.
"Boss, how many British battleships do you plan to kill this time?" a submariner asked.
Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz thought for a moment, and then said, "Our submarine has a total of six Torpedo launch tubes, plus the reserved Torpedo, there are a total of 18 Torpedo. This time, I plan to launch at least 12 Torpedo. At such a close distance, there will be no problem in getting hits. With 12 Torpedo, kill three Battleships of Britain, there will be no problem, right?"
"Three Battleship? No problem at all, these are all Heavy Torpedo. The warships of the Britain people have always been weak in defense. The warhead of the 533mm Heavy Torpedo is enough to tear through their weak armor."
"But, sir, it will take a lot of time for us to load the Torpedo. Once we hit the target, the entire Scapa Flow will be in chaos. Will the Britain people give us that much time by then?"
Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz couldn't help but frowned. It would take at least three minutes to reload all six Torpedo launch tubes. Once an explosion occurs, Britain people will definitely come to their senses. Therefore, it is very difficult to play 12 Torpedo in a short period of time.
"I think we can prepare for loading before launching. After Torpedo is launched, load it immediately. After completing the loading, launch immediately and then escape. In this case, it will not be easy for the Britain people to discover us." the gunnery commander suggested.
Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz nodded. "That's it. This is the only way we can launch 12 Torpedo in the shortest time. Then everyone will have to work hard. In addition, in order to ensure our hit rate, we must find a good position during the first round of salvo to ensure that all six Torpedo launched hit the target. In this case, the second round of salvo will be much easier."
"Yes, sir," everyone replied.
"God bless us! This time, we will definitely succeed!" Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz said.
"God bless us! We will win!"
Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz They were lucky. They were not hit by the Britain battleship along the way, which allowed them to arrive less than fifty kilometers away from Scapa Flow in the evening of the next day. This is already a high-risk zone, so the submarine has been staying underwater, with no more than a periscope sticking out.
"Everyone, take a rest. After dark, we will enter Scapa Flow!" Lieutenant Colonel Dönitz ordered.
The crew began to eat or sleep, knowing that there would be a fierce battle tonight. If successful, they will become heroes. But if they fail, their fate will be to be buried in Scapa Flow together with this submarine. Although, after participating in this operation, they put life and death aside. However, everyone has a desire to survive and wants to live. If you can become a hero and live, no one will choose to die.
At 8 o'clock in the evening, the sky has completely darkened.
Submarine U-037, like a ghost in the sea, slowly sailed towards Scapa Flow.
When it was still ten kilometers away from Scapa Flow, the submarine dived underwater. Next, they will sneak all the way. Fortunately, the U-200 submarine has an underwater endurance of one hundred nautical miles, allowing them to easily complete this mission.
Britain people are not aware of this. They never expected that German submarines would sneak directly into their main military port.