Chapter 600: The Distant Fleet

On August 29, 1938. Wiping the sweat from his head, a bare-chested German sailor stood on the deck, looking at the calm ocean surface, leisurely smoking a cigarette. Behind him, two soldiers sat on the 88mm anti-aircraft deck gun, idly enjoying the sea breeze, taking in the familiar scent of the ocean.

This was a German U-boat, an ocean-going type with mature technology and a very low failure rate. It was suitable for long-range surprise attack missions and could even sail submerged all the way to the East Coast of the United States to lay mines or transport spies. Of course, it had six torpedo tubes—four in the bow and two in the stern—which made its old trade of attacking merchant ships even more effective.

This fleet was the German submarine squadron sent to Australia. The ten submarines had been escorted by a German cruiser squadron on their journey, crossing the hot equator and arriving in the Northern Hemisphere. At the equator, the fleet had even held a traditional “crossing the line” ceremony.

According to the customs of the equatorial region, the old sailors had to dress up as the King and Queen of the sea. Then, these costumed characters held a ceremony on the deck of U-307. During the ceremony, the captain of U-307 wore an old pirate captain’s uniform, even carrying a medieval command sword. Much like today’s cosplay, the German sailors wore all sorts of clothes and used various things to dress themselves up.

Some dressed as a king, with a crown made of folded paper, and the sailors even used the bristles of a broom for a beard. These men dressed as Neptune, the Godfather, and even the Virgin Mary, as comical as the demons and monsters of Halloween. And the captain’s and first officer’s aides at this time also wore local grass skirts, dressing themselves up as women.

Then, amidst laughter and cheers, they forced the new recruits to swallow foul-smelling pills, then cleansed them with a cocktail of milk, salt water, and fuel oil, and then gave them a shave and a haircut, wiping away the dust of the Northern Hemisphere from head to toe. Only then were they allowed to enter the Southern Hemisphere, clean.

Even at such a relaxed moment, the officers and men did not dare to let down their guard. Only half of them participated in the ceremony; the other half remained inside the boat, ready for battle at any time. But in the South Atlantic, this was completely unnecessary. The British fleet here was no longer a significant force, and the sea was filled with American and German merchant ships. Moreover, at the equator, this German submarine flotilla was also being escorted by cruisers and destroyers, whose onboard radar could detect incoming aircraft from 100 kilometers away.

The German navy now had nearly 350 submarines, a scale that made Dönitz laugh at his peers. So many submarines had brought Germany a glorious record in commerce raiding. After a series of improvements, the German submarines, using a large amount of mature technology, had once reached an astonishing operational readiness rate. Dönitz had 200 submarines that could be put into battle. Of these, about 100 were deployed in the North Atlantic, over 70 were hunting in the Arctic Ocean, and the remaining 20 were on combat missions in the Mediterranean and at Gibraltar.

And the remaining 10, according to the plan, were to be sent to Australia to carry out attack missions against the Japanese Navy. However, everyone knew that this German fleet was just for show. But this fleet also had its own mission: to accumulate experience for Germany in carrying out long-range missions.

On each submarine, 10 technicians were assigned. These personnel replaced the original sailors, serving as onboard test and maintenance personnel. They were responsible for keeping the submarines in good working order at all times. More engineers and maintenance personnel were on the supply ships, where they would provide higher-level maintenance services for the submarines.

Along the way, they practiced long-range ocean navigation and tested some of the new equipment on the submarines, including a passive radar detector to detect incoming radar waves and provide the submarine with a passive radar warning. There was also a small radar system installed on the submarine that could detect aerial targets from 70 kilometers away. Although not very reliable, it was enough to provide the submarine with a safer diving environment.

These devices were all prepared for the expedition to the Pacific, because after all, the Japanese naval air arm had left a deep impression, and Akado did not want the submarines he sent out to be threatened by Japanese planes. Of course, one submarine was also fitted with a streamlined conning tower to test whether the reduction in underwater noise was as good as expected.

A snorkel invented by the Germans allowed the submarine to stay underwater for a considerable amount of time. Although this snorkel would emit black exhaust fumes and stir up a lot of waves, this device did indeed allow the submarine to use its more powerful diesel engines for propulsion while submerged.

The clever submarine commanders quickly mastered this new technology. They rewrote the submarine combat technical manual, changing the navigation standard to “sailing with the snorkel at night can effectively reduce the probability of the submarine being detected.”

This submarine fleet parted ways with the German guided-missile destroyer and cruiser that had been protecting them at the equator. The submarine fleet, along with a few supply ships and three Northern British destroyers, continued south, while the German cruiser and destroyer returned to the Mediterranean to participate in anti-submarine escort missions.

Of Germany’s two new guided-missile destroyers, only one was now left. The facts had proven that using liquid-fueled missiles at sea was a very dangerous matter. Although one super-long-range attack had advanced the history of human missile use to 1938, a few months later, due to an accident while refueling, a German guided-missile destroyer had exploded and was ultimately decommissioned due to severe damage.

The facts had proven that blindly increasing the technological content of a weapon for the sake of data was a completely wrong act, as it would lead to stability defects due to immature technology. The Germans returned to their old ways and began to wholeheartedly build new automatic cannon cruisers to replace the immature guided-missile destroyers.

For this long voyage, due to the lack of overseas supply bases, the Germans did not choose to detour around southern Africa, then pass through the British-controlled Indian Ocean, and finally have to bypass the Japanese-controlled Malacca region to enter the Pacific for combat. Instead, they adopted the opposite route.

The entire German submarine squadron would sail continuously south, eventually reaching the southern part of South America. There, they would receive supplies in Argentina and then sail directly to Australia from a relatively safe area. Argentina, as a South American country, had always maintained good diplomatic relations with Akado’s German Third Reich. It was extremely convenient for the German fleet to obtain supplies there. (Historically, there was a theory that Hitler had fled to Argentina, which shows just how close the relationship between Germany and Argentina was at that time.)

The German sailors, who had taken turns going ashore to have a good time in Argentina, were now cutting through the waves in the southeastern Pacific. Their target was Australia. That was the “territory” of their allies, a place that was being invaded by the enemy, Japan. They were going there to fight, to show the Third Reich’s determination to have a global presence, and also to comfort the fragile hearts of Northern Britain.

The sea breeze blew on everyone’s faces. The submarine commander, standing on the conning tower in the middle of the vessel, lowered his binoculars. A Northern British destroyer in the distance had sent a safety signal. It seemed the Americans had no intention of stopping the Germans from entering the Pacific. In fact, Roosevelt had received a report a day earlier that the German Navy had appeared in Argentina. The intelligence showed that the Germans wanted to enter the Pacific through the southern part of South America. Roosevelt immediately sent a telegram to Nimitz, ordering him not to provoke this fleet from the Third Reich.

In fact, Nimitz really had no energy to deal with this fleet from Germany. He had nearly a hundred destroyers, dozens of cruisers, a few newly repaired battleships, and the now-surviving two aircraft carriers, the USS Yorktown and the USS Ranger (if you stretched it, the Langley could barely be considered a seaplane tender). This fleet was already stretched thin dealing with Japan. He certainly wouldn’t go looking for trouble with the Germans.

Nimitz was now more interested in the light carrier USS Independence, which the United States was rushing to complete. Once the several carriers of this class entered active service, then the U.S. Navy would at least have the strength to fight a battle with the Japanese Navy. But now, Nimitz could only watch helplessly as the Japanese prepared to attack Oahu, with no countermeasures at all.

“It seems the Americans have no intention of intercepting us, and it seems they haven’t provided our intelligence to the King’s Britain either,” the German submarine commander said with a smile, lighting a cigar for himself. He had gotten a lot of good things in Argentina, and cigars were one of them. Generally speaking, for a commander on a mission in the North Atlantic, to come out and smoke after the submarine had surfaced was a great luxury. But because on this mission, the submarine was sailing on the surface most of the time, the captain did not show that kind of pent-up expression.

“I hear we’ll be arriving in Australia in another month. I wonder if the people there will welcome us,” the first officer said, leaning against the railing and enjoying the cool feeling of the sea breeze on his face. “I hear that a merchant ship we sent out earlier is about to arrive at the port there. At that time, they will send us the results of the negotiations.”

“No one is sick, right?” This was the question he had asked most recently. Every day, every crew member had to have their temperature taken and, under the supervision of an officer, eat all sorts of unpalatable dried fruits to supplement the necessary vitamins.

“Everything is normal,” the first officer replied. “It seems our luck is really good.”

Published: 2025-09-09T03:36:01.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-01-15T17:30:20.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c600-distant-138475800

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