V4CH40: Close and Tight

　"G...G... Germans!"

　　The first officer stood beside Cartson with an incredulous look on his face and stared at the large German submarine that had surfaced beside the battleship.

　　The U-37 had completely surfaced, its wet gray hull shining with a soft glow in the sunlight, the seawater still gurgling down through the tiny narrow drainage holes, stirring up a white ripple and foam on the surface, like a beautiful pearl necklace around the hull.

　　All the British sailors stood dumbfounded at their respective stations looking at the uninvited guest in front of them. In the eyes of these Royal Navy sailors this beautiful and majestic submarine was not only gave a strong sense of intimidation but also a touch of mystery, a touch of legendary romance.

　　Not many British sailors were able to see a German submarine at such a close distance, usually they could only see it from drawings or those black and white photos of the horrible warship that was once the nightmare of all naval transport captains. In their consciousness, the German submarine should be ugly, dilapidated and dirty, a small boat full of evil that one would be disgusted by at first glance, and those evil and cowardly German sailors would stay in such cramped and dirty cabins, breathing the foul and poisonous air, searching the dark sea with their red eyes, looking forward to attacking the defenseless transports, or laughing at those who were in the sea. Or laughing and shooting at the women and children struggling to survive on the surface. This was the image of the German submarine in their minds, this was the image of the German submariner in their hearts.

　　Now, this battleship close at hand overturned their previous impression of the German submarine completely. Her beautiful lines, her slightly raised bow, her smooth clean hull, her delicate command tower, and even the periscope raised high in the air all caught the eyes of the British sailors.

　　In particular, her dramatic appearance, the kind of mythical legends will only appear in the kind of majestic appearance to all the British sailors present in the heart brought a strong shock. They all stared blankly at the enemy ship in front of them, they could not believe what they saw was real, they all forgot that they were fighting, forgot that the beautiful ship in front of them had just fired two torpedoes at themselves, they even forgot that their own battleship was slowly sinking. All of them stood motionless as if they were possessed, with their mouths open, staring blankly. (TL: smh simps)

　　"What are you doing, what are you still staring at, that's the enemy, prepare to fire! Pull the battle alarm!"

　　Cartson was the first to react, enraged that those Germans had the audacity to float up against his battleship, a clear provocation. He was angry that his men were so slow to react, a disgrace to the Royal Navy, and he was even angry that he himself had just been attracted to the German submarine, which was unbelievable, acting as if he was stil naive as a kid fresh out of military school. The submarine was that fascinating.

　　The battle alarm echoed over the heavy cruiser Devonshire as if a magic spell had been broken, and the sailors began to move about in their positions, finally remembering that they were at war and that the submarine in front of them was their enemy. The decks of the Devonshire were in chaos as everyone was busy at their respective battle stations. The British soldiers maneuvered their weapons frantically, all of them trying hard to aim their weapons at the German submarine.

　　They now finally came to their senses that that submarine was not built to be viewed, she was the real murder weapon, especially when they saw the 105mm gun on the front deck of the submarine, also painted grey, they couldn't help but speed up their movements, they wanted to smash this submarine to pieces before the Germans climbed on deck to use that dreaded gun.

　　Now in the eyes of the British sailors, the submarine was no longer as lovely as it had been a minute ago. In addition to the cannon, the two 20mm machine [guns] on the command tower with their black cold light, the horrible 37mm rapid-fire gun on the rear deck, including the sharp jagged edge of the anti-submarine net cutter at the bow of the boat, all gave the British sailors a sense of death, and probably in the next second, those cruel German sailors would swarm out of the submarine and open fire with those horrible rapid-fire weapons, and the decks of the Devonshire would become an inferno of blood and fire.

　　Those who felt this most keenly were the gunners of the 40mm ping guns, who did not think that the plain five millimeter steel plate on their turrets could stop the fire of any of the weapons on the deck of the submarine. All the gunners on the starboard side of the Devonshire were turning their guns frantically as they hoped to take out that arrogant German submarine as soon as possible.

　　But in the next moment, an embarrassing situation occurred, the British suddenly found that none of their weapons could reach the submarine, the reason was that the submarine was too close to them.

　　The Devonshire was a London class heavy cruiser, designed to operate in the North Sea and the Atlantic, and she was designed to sail in high sea conditions, with a very high bulwark, perhaps the Admiralty felt that a six to seven meter high bulwark was not high enough, and they mounted her secondary gun turrets in three meter high batteries. So although she had an incredibly powerful 102mm secondary gun, they found it impossible to use it anyway to attack a ground ship that was only 15 meters away and less than five meters high, and her pitch angle was just not that great.

　　Not to mention the 40mm and 20mm guns, which were arranged in an anti-aircraft state, with all the guns placed in a circular turret with half a man-high steel plate welded into a fence. Not to mention the fact that they were placed on a high superstructure, even on the deck they were not capable of hitting the submarine, their maximum pitch angle was only two degrees, and this was only possible after removing the steel fence.

　　There were still some small caliber anti-aircraft guns on the ship, which were open to arrangement. If those guns were still there, although they could not destroy the submarine, they could block the entrance and exit of the submarine, so that the Germans could not operate those weapons. But unfortunately, they were all dismantled, because the power is too small, and the result was to change on those ping guns.

　　Now the British could only watch the submarine parked steadily at their side 15 meters away, no weapons, no power, they now had no countermeasures except to spit at the Germans. What's more, the distance was too close for the cannons and a little too far for the spit, and all the British were in a state of extreme depression.

　　"Captain, what should we do now." The first officer had a helpless look on his face as he cautiously asked Casement.

　　He could see that Cartson was now going crazy with this embarrassing situation now. Although he didn't jump out of his skin, but from the uncontrollable trembling of Cartson's body, you can tell that the captain is now furious.

　　"What else can we do, we're going to take out this damn German submarine, by any means necessary! I have never been so humiliated as I am today!" Cartson turned his head and spoke viciously, when suddenly he seemed to think of something.

　　"The Saladin, yes, I still have the Saladin, get her over here and tell her to get rid of this damn submarine, no, take it out. Whether it's get rid of it or take it out, I don't want to see this damned thing in my face again. They're insulting me, they're picking on me. Goddamn it! Goddamn it! Goddamn Germans! Why don't you go signal! Saladin, call Saladin, don't you understand me?" Cartson yelled.

　　"Captain, I was going to report to you." The first officer now had a sad look on his face.

　　"You...You were saying." Cartson hurriedly ran to the port side of the bridge.

　　There he ended up finding the last of his destroyers, the Saladin, at a glance and it looked like she was doing a high-wire act. The Saladin was struggling to raise her stern to a height of 100 meters, and Cartson was fortunate enough to see the moment of her failure, when the broken stern slammed into the sea, causing a splash as big as a hill. Cartson could even clearly hear her last wail, the ear-splitting sound of the hull plates being twisted and snapped. Then all that was left on the surface was a group of floating and struggling sailors, various miscellaneous items and two or three snow-white lifeboats.

　　"It's over, we're done."

　　Cartson looked at the sinking of his last wingman, and he felt as if he himself had sunk into the cold sea with that wail. Everything was over for him, the Germans had succeeded in destroying him in just a quarter of an hour, ruining his life, destroying his future, taking away his honor, his courage, his pride, and now possibly his life. Cartson's mind was in turmoil as he thought back to the hardships he had gone through to get to this point, the effort he had put in. He thought of his beautiful wife, his lovely children, his beautiful warm home in London. He thought of his elderly parents, his brother, his boss, his friends, everything he had, and now it was all going to leave him and he might never see them again.

　　He wanted to know the exact time, he wanted to remember this moment forever, the moment his life was destroyed. His fingers suddenly touched something cold and hard, and he remembered, it was his pistol, very delicate, a Swiss product, small and working. Normally he was never armed with a gun, but today for some reason he ghostly tucked the toy-like pistol into his pants pocket. Casement suddenly felt that this might be providential, a sign from God that defeated soldiers should pay the price for their mistakes. Casement slowly pulled out the pistol and then pointed the muzzle at his mouth.

　　"No! Captain!"

　　The first officer, who had been watching him from the sidelines, lunged up, and he snatched the gun out of Casement's hand.

　　"You can't do this, this battleship hasn't sunk yet, we haven't lost completely."

　　The officers standing aside all came together, and they fought to hold Casement who was trying to retrieve the pistol from the first officer's hand.

　　"Give me the gun!" Cartson yelled like a madman: "Give me the gun, I'll take responsibility for my failure to do my duty. Give me the gun. That's an order!"

　　"No, Captain." The first officer shook his head firmly.

　　"Please forgive me for disobeying your orders for the first time, Captain. It is not yet time for despair, and even if it comes to that, you cannot die dishonorably in this way. You can't run away from the responsibilities you should have in this way, and besides, they are not worth your life. We were ambushed by three German submarines, it was a sneak attack. It was something no one could have foreseen, even in the military law of the Admiralty in London, I could have stood up with my chest and loudly pleaded my case that no one could have escaped from such a vicious trap. The blame is not on you, but on those who made the plans, those intelligence services there. You did everything you could, you did your best, it was not humanly possible to change it, it was God's will, and now God is on the side of the Germans. You must take your share of the responsibility now, you are responsible for all the officers and men on the Devonshire. We have not lost the power to resist, Lieutenant Colonel Sanders has gone to gather his men, they have all kinds of Army light weapons and they are able to attack that submarine. We have not lost the fight, yet, Captain!"

　　Cartson slowly stopped his struggle as he gasped and looked at his first officer, and his eyes slowly calmed down.

　　"You mean Lieutenant Commander Sanders, he's gone to rally his land soldiers?"

　　"Yes, Captain, they have machine guns, rifles, and grenades, and they even have mortars."

　　"When did he go to rally his men."

　　"When it was discovered that our weapons were unable to fire."

　　"Wow." Cartson let out a long breath as he turned his face to the officers around him who had a death grip on him and said, "Will you be able to let go of me now? Gentlemen."

　　"Are you sure you're all right?" One of the officers asked suspiciously.

　　"Of course, I'm fine, let me go." Cartson replied calmly.

　　The officers hurriedly released their captain. Cartson straightened his wrinkled uniform, and then walked up to the first officer.

　　"I am embarrassed to have acted like that, thank you for reminding me. Major Roy."

　　Although this first officer usually behaved very average, sometimes even a little slow and childish, but in the critical moment he still showed the courage and loyalty as well as wisdom that the Royal Navy should have, Cartson felt that he had been neglecting him before, and he hoped that he must make up for it if he had the chance.

　　"Captain, your pistol." The first officer respectfully handed the pistol to Casement.

　　"You keep it, I don't think I'll be using it again." Cartson smiled, then walked towards the platform by the bridge.

　　"Why aren't Sanders' men on deck yet? , what the hell are they waiting for, although it is no longer possible for us to return to England from here, we have to get a little back for our battleship and show the Germans what we are made of."

　　 Cartson felt the courage come back to him, he knew that the Germans would never let go of his battleship, which had temporarily lost power, they would not give up such a good opportunity, they would give her a filler shot. What puzzled him now was why the Germans hadn't done so yet and why this German submarine was floating beside him. He didn't think the Germans were trying to capture this battleship, not even the craziest of guys would think that way, there was no way they could capture this heavy cruiser on three submarines.

　　If they were to remain in a stalemate, they might have a chance. Cartson knew that his ship had been badly wounded but not fatally. The two German torpedoes all hit the nacelle's mine protection belt, but because the German torpedoes had more charges than expected, they still penetrated the hull. The force of the explosion, combined with the incoming seawater, destroyed the boilers on the left side of the battleship and, along with them, part of the piping and oil tanks. The reason for the ship's loss of power was the failure of the two main lines of the right boiler compartment due to the shock, which he had ordered the sailors to repair immediately.

　　Now the water intake of the ship has been controlled, although a little left tilted, but still does not affect the action of the battleship. As soon as his own battleship regained power, he could immediately pull away from this submarine and surprise the Germans with artillery before they could react. Even with half the boilers running, the Devonshire could run at 20 knots, and if she was lucky, she might be able to shake off these German submarines and return to England. The key now was what the Germans really wanted, and where the other two German submarines really were.

　　 Cartson searched the sea carefully for traces of the other two German submarines, but to his disappointment, nothing was found.

　　"Lieutenant Commander Sanders' soldiers are ready on the deck, Captain. They had only rifles and machine guns left, the rest of their weapons were in the ammunition depot, but it was now flooded. So they've been delayed a little." An officer reported to with the ship's phone.

　　"I see." Cartson looked toward the deck, only to see hundreds of army soldiers with rifles standing in three rows aiming at the German submarine, Sanders stood in front of the group with a pistol was looking in his direction, saw Cartson looking at himself, Sanders gave a dashing salute, Cartson also hastily returned a salute.

　　"The German submarine is moving!" At that moment a sailor shouted. Everyone stared nervously at the command tower of that submarine, and the Army soldiers put their hands on the board, their palms slowly beginning to sweat and their breathing beginning to grow more and more urgent.

　　"Calm down! Calm down!" Sanders ordered loudly, "No one fires without my orders, or I'll shoot him myself." Sanders shook the pistol in his hand, signaling that he was not joking.

　　"Yes, sir." The soldiers replied loudly.

　　Everyone held their breath and stared at the command tower, the whole battleship became silent for a while, people's ears only heard the waves lapping against the hull and the sound of machinery running on the German submarine.

　　Suddenly an object appeared on the command deck and everyone's heart was lifted up, and a few soldiers were so frightened that they almost pulled the trigger.

　　The crowd stirred for a moment and then calmed down, and they looked carefully toward the object that kept swaying.

　　It was a small...white flag.

　　"What's the matter, are the Germans going to surrender? Captain." An officer asked.

　　"And what reason do you see for them to surrender?"

　　"As if not, I can't think of any. Captain."

　　"I can't think of any either, they are trying to talk to us, you..." Cartson t had a hard time swallowing back the curse words, he glared at the subordinate without good grace, and then took down a large microphone on the wall.

　　Casement took the microphone to the railing, he shouted loudly to Sanders, "Lieutenant Colonel, the Germans want to talk to us, I think we should first listen to what they really want to say. I don't want to ruin any chance of us all surviving by the accidental discharge of any Army soldier, and I hope you'll have your men watch their fingers." Sanders waved a hand to Cartson to indicate that he had it under control.

　　Cartson then shouted at the German submarine, "Germans, you can come out now, we won't shoot, but I expect you to be gentlemen and not do anything that will cause my soldiers to misunderstand. Is that understood?"

　　The little white flag waved twice, and then a German naval officer stood up from the command tower. Judging by his white combat fedora, he was the captain of the submarine.

　　"This officer, I am Captain Cartson, captain of the Devonshire, and I would like you to inform me of your identity. And, what exactly do you want."

　　The German officer just stood there flabbergasted without speaking, then he disappeared from the command tower, which now confused the British completely.

　　This time in the command tower of the U37, Gilse bent down to Xu Jun who was struggling to climb out of the boat and asked: "Marshal, what is he saying in front. I can't understand a word of it."

　　"If you do not understand why you are the first to scurry out?"

　　"I am responsible for your safety, I think you should not come out, they have hundreds of rifles at us." Gilse said worriedly.

　　"What's wrong with that, I remember the last time I faced machine guns."

　　Xu Jun finally climbed out of the hatch with Gilse's help. He did not hesitate to stand up, and then viewed the huge ship in front of him in a grand manner. His appearance obviously caused a commotion among the crowd on the deck of the British battleship.

　　"A German marshal. oh God!"

　　Cartson's hands trembled so much that he could barely hold the binoculars, he calmed down and picked up the microphone again.

　　"Field Marshal, this is Lieutenant Commander Cartson, Captain of HMS Devonshire, and I would like to ask you what you would like to talk to us about. What exactly do you want to do."

　　"What do I want to do, I myself do not know what I want to do, if not this damn battery is dead, and encounter high-pressure air pump problems I am guilty of taking such a risk and you here to grind mouth?"

　　Although Xu Jun kept cursing his own back luck in his heart, but his face still had a confident smile.