V4CH35: Underwater

Xu Jun sat up from his small but soft and comfortable bed, and he fumbled around in the dark for a while before finally finding the tiny overhead light switch mounted on the wall beside him. The daylight flickered a few times, and then the bright, soft light filled the small captain's room.

Xu Jun leaned on the head of the bed, looking at the clean lines of the oak paneling on the wall at the end of the bed. A few months ago, Xu Jun was still considering whether to go to Norway to visit the U-boat museum, and now he was lying in the bed in the captain's room of a real U-boat, and this was not the kind of redecorated antique but a real killing machine full of power. Once he thought of these, Xu Jun deeply felt the wonders of fate inscrutable.

The U37 was a 9A ocean-going submarine that had just entered service less than two years ago, she was almost brand new, the feeling of filth and dilapidation on those old submarines could not be found on her at all, after three ocean cruises she still maintained that neatness and cleanliness, all the equipment was still shining like when she was first launched. From this, it was clear that Gilse was indeed a very capable captain, or at least he was a captain who took care of his equipment, and Xu Jun had a very good feeling about the young captain from the maintenance of the battleship.

Although she could be considered primitive in Xu Jun's eyes, in this era she was the crystallization of the highest German technology of the time, she represented the most advanced submarine technology and design level of the era, and she was the pride of Germany and the nightmare of all enemies at sea.

The crew of the U37 was full of energy and confidence, they believed that in their own hands this submarine could teach any enemy who offended her at any time and in any place. They all believed that in their own hands this submarine would be able to create great feats that their predecessors could only dream of and that they themselves would be praised and envied by their families and friends for these feats.

It is not that these young sailors had not thought of the dangers they might face on the road to glory, in fact only these three Type 9A ocean-going submarines had survived, the remaining five had been buried under the rough waves in the two years of battle, two of the five had been killed without a scratch.

Those who once shared their dreams are now sleeping in the deep sea, but this does not change their love for their cause. They believed that any risk and pain they took for their country was worth it, they were fighting for their country. Although they did not quite understand Hitler's strange reasons for the war, since the war had already happened, every German soldier should fight hard for the victory of the fatherland, which is the duty of a soldier and the meaning of the existence of a soldier.

Since the sailor should have been prepared of being buried in the sea. There is a saying that the sea is the best home for a brave sailor. A sailor should die in the sea and not at home in bed, to be able to sleep in the arms of the sea they love is a sailor's dream. These are the answers that those sailors gave to Xu Jun. Maybe because Xu Jun is not a sailor, he is having difficulty understanding the romantic ideas of these sailors, but Xu Jun thinks that this should be the way of thinking of the men who fought with the sea.

This is in line with the character of these brave sailors, let people think about it and feel the blood boil.

The clock on the wall showed that it was three o'clock in the morning, although it was still night, the moon was much brighter than he thought at sea. The submarine could easily be spotted by patrol planes or boats, especially on the narrow seas of Denmark and Norway. The submarine had to move with caution before entering the North Sea, this was the unanimous conclusion of a careful discussion with Gilse during the day yesterday.

The captain's room was the best room on the boat, of course, it was shabby compared to the luxurious captain's room of the huge surface ships, but the small space for the crew under the hard and cold hull of this thousand-ton ocean-going submarine was unimaginable, and to have this private space was a reflection of the captain's supreme authority on this submarine.

The captain's room was clean and tidy, and it was clear that Gilse was a very neat and disciplined person. The hard steel walls were inlaid with a layer of oak sheathing and painted with a light tan varnish. The bed took up almost half of the room, and next to the bed against the hull was a simple metal desk, covered with a wooden table top and wrapped in a velvet tablecloth. Above the desk is a row of wooden filing cabinets, which are set in wooden sheathing also painted with the same color varnish as the walls. On the other side of the table is a chair fixed to the floor. A tall storage cabinet took up half a wall, and on the side was a small wall-mounted bookshelf. Then there was a chart frame, but now it was filled with Gilse's personal photos instead of charts. Below the chart frame is a small strip sofa. In one corner of the room, there is even a small washroom area with a beautiful and delicate porcelain bucket and a faucet. There are also small shelves for toiletries on the side, and an oval-shaped mirror was set on the wall above the bucket, with a layer of cork guard behind the mirror to prevent it from being shattered in a battle. The whole room brought a warm and safe feeling, and Xu Jun felt sincere admiration for the German designer's meticulous attention to detail.

Xu Jun got up from the bed, and with one hand, he struggled to put on the shiny leather boots for himself. These leather boots were custom ordered when he was in Poland, and they were made from the best lambskin leather that was so flexible that even with one hand he could easily put his feet into these leather boots that wrapped tightly around his calves. Because of the special living environment in the submarine, so he did not change into pajamas when he slept, taking the uniform off and on is too troublesome, so he just took off the golden marshal suit, and even the military pants he did not take off on the bed, so that not only is it convenient to get up, even if there is an accident when fleeing for your life, you will not be disheveled. To be honest, Xu Jun cares a lot about his military-style and discipline, and he pays a lot of attention to his appearance and image.

Xu Jun untied the strap that fixed his arm, put on the marshal's uniform with pain, and then re-fixed the injured hand to his chest. After doing this, Xu Jun carefully checked up and down again, then put on his military cap and walked towards the narrow wooden door, he corrected his military cap and the Knight's Iron Cross in the small mirror by the door and then opened the door and walked out.

"Ah! His Excellency the Marshal."

The two commandos standing guard at the door were startled by the sudden opening of the door, and when they saw Xu Jun, they quickly stood at attention and saluted with their guns.

"Oh? Why are you here, didn't I say there was no need to stand guard on the submarine?" The aisle in the submarine was already very narrow, and stuffing two strong and tall commandos in such a narrow aisle was simply creating chaos, not to mention that the captain's room was between the officer's room and the command module, and the commandos were standing there. The captain's room was between the officer's room and the command cabin, and the raiders would have affected the normal operation of the submarine. The submarine had already caused a lot of trouble for the men themselves, and they really could not cause any more problems in their work.

"Report marshal, this is the order of Captain Gilse, he said that no matter what a marshal should have a guard standing in front of his door. The traditions of the German army should be observed wherever they are, especially on naval ships, and the difference in rank is something that must always be remembered. He could not watch a marshal on his ship without being treated as a marshal, and his inability to do that in life already made him very sorry and guilty, and it would have been unbecoming to simplify the courtesy to a marshal in other respects, so he ordered us to keep watch for you here. He said that he was the supreme commander on this ship and that nominally you still had to obey him, so we could not disobey his orders. He said that if we disobeyed the captain's orders, he had the right to throw us off the ship, and we obeyed his orders so that such a terrible thing would not happen to us. If this makes you angry, we are willing to suffer any punishment you may impose on us. Field Marshal." An SS commando staff sergeant explained with his head held up angrily.

"Haha, I see it's not just as simple as the captain's order, but you yourselves actually feel the same way in your hearts." Xu Jun smiled and looked at the two tall commandos and said.

"Yes, Marshal Sir. We believe that you should show your status and enjoy proper etiquette at all times, it is a tradition of the German Army, it is a recognition of the merits of heroes and warriors, and there should never be the slightest slackness." The staff sergeant replied without hesitation.

"Is that so? But this may have an impact on the work of others on the submarine, ah, I do not want anything to happen to this submarine because the officers are all stuffed in the aisle by my two guards, hahaha. Well, since I'm up now, you guys don't have to keep watch, go rest in your places. Don't contradict me, it's not a suggestion, it's an order." Xu Jun said with a smile.

"Ah, this... we obey the order, my marshal." The two commandos looked at each other and then turned around and walked in the direction of the command bunker after saluting Xu Jun again.

They were placed in the officers' quarters, behind the command room. The submarine officers gave up their beds for their own crew members to sleep, and they went to the enlisted cabin to squeeze in with the enlisted men, or simply went to the torpedo cabin to bunk. However, this was an ocean-going submarine and the living space had been greatly improved, so there was still some spare space.

Xu Jun looked back and found that the two commandos had already drilled through the small round pressure-resistant hatch into the command module. In the German submarine at that time, only the doors on both sides of the command module were round pressure-resistant doors, while the doors of the other compartments were ordinary rectangular waterproof doors, so it was easy for the crew to move between these compartments. Xu Jun decided not to drill the small round hole first, he put his hand in his trouser pocket and walked slowly and comfortably towards the bow of the boat.

The main color of the interior of the German submarine was the same as the interior of those tanks, a clean snow-white color, and the snow-white walls were covered with various pipes and circuits, those pipes could be said to be the veins of the submarine, and any one of them could bring the submarine to its doom.

Opposite the captain's room were the radio room, the underwater listening room and other operational units, which were narrowly separated spaces, except for the radio room, where there was a wooden door and generally only a thick curtain hung. The listener had obviously heard the conversation between Xu Jun and the commando, he pulled open the curtain and saw Xu Jun approaching he stood up and nodded to Xu Jun. Xu Jun smiled at him and nodded, then waved his hand to indicate that he should continue his current work. The soldier nodded again respectfully, then sat back in his seat and turned his joystick again to listen to the movement outside the boat.

Now the submarine was diving underwater, using the electric motor, so there was not much noise. Xu Jun had a headache when he remembered the roaring noise of the diesel engine when sailing on the surface yesterday, but he could do nothing about it, it was already the limit of the submarine technology in this era, and it was very difficult to change this according to the current technology. The noise of the submarine's surfacing did not affect her operations, so Xu Jun also gave up the idea of reducing the noise of the submarine's surface.

As the submarine has been submerged for a long time, the air inside the submarine now is really difficult for people to breathe. The pungent smell of diesel oil and various human odor's mixed together made Xu Jun feel uncomfortable, plus the gradual increase of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases made the air inside the boat become cloudy. The air pressure inside the submarine was also rising with the increase of depth and the emission of those gases, which made people's eardrums feel uncomfortable.

When Xu Jun passed by the door of the radio room, he looked in through the transparent round window on the door. It seems that the most comfortable in the submarine is the transmitter, now he is hugging a military blanket curled up in bed sleeping soundly, it seems that this young man is really tired, thinking about the daily receipt of the pile of telegrams, Xu Jun will know that this young man in the past two days is definitely busy. Xu Jun gently left the window for fear of disturbing the transmitter inside, and then walked down the aisle toward the officers' rest area.

The officers' rest area was only set up on this kind of ocean-going submarines, other submarines only had a small officers' room. The actual fact is that this is a space that is divided for the use of the officers, there is a beautiful corner sofa and a common round table, the officers can rest here when not on duty chatting and playing cards and smoking, This is also the dining room for some low-level officers, they eat at that round table, while those senior officers eat in the officers' room. The hierarchy in the German Navy team is strict, there is no special reason senior officers will not these low-level officers at a table to eat.

There are several officers sitting on the sofas in the officers' lounge, probably waiting for their shifts. A warrant officer is reading a book with great interest, while two-second lieutenants are bored playing cards, a lieutenant is holding a cigarette while writing something on a piece of letter paper, looking at his excited face, he may be writing a love letter to a girl back home.

Xu Jun gently walked over, but his leather boots on the metal floor still made a small sound. The lieutenant was startled, he lifted his head to look in the direction of Xu Jun, and the result gave him a shock. The lieutenant jumped up from the couch like a spring. As his action was so sudden that the other three people were taken aback, not understanding what was going on, they put down what they were holding and turned their heads in confusion to look in the direction the lieutenant was excitedly looking at. Then they also like, the lieutenant, jerked up, astonished and open-mouthed looking at the smiling Xu Jun who came over and could not say anything.