Chapter 738: Nothing at All

While Rein and the others were joking around with each other, other people were undergoing a severe test. The main theme of war is never warmth; on the contrary, its character is very close to that of the North Atlantic seawater—ruthless, brutal, and exceptionally cold.

On a transport ship sailing from New York to Iceland, a large amount of fuel was originally loaded. If this fuel were delivered to the island, it would be enough for the main facilities there to hold out for a very, very long time.

But unfortunately, this transport ship was now exploding. It was a tragic explosion on the turbulent sea. Huge flames burst forth, churning on the water. For a moment, it seemed as if the brilliant heat could evaporate the seawater. For anything that tried to stop this fire from burning, in this instant, it was eternal.

No one wanted to be in the middle of this exploding flame, but just a few seconds ago, the middle of this flame had been a giant ship sailing on the sea. So it was inevitable that there were many people on board. Unfortunately, these people had now all disappeared, torn to dust in the instant the explosion began.

In the face of such savage power, the deaths of these people could be said to be exceptionally merciful. They probably did not even have time to realize the pain before they lost their bodies. But from this, it is enough to see that the destruction and suffering that war brings to humanity is absolutely beyond anyone’s imagination.

On the sea surface, about 1,500 meters from the explosion, a submarine with very beautiful lines was surfacing. Cold seawater flowed out of some of the submarine’s drainage ports, leaving small white waterfalls on the dark outer hull. And on the conning tower of this submarine, the grayish-white hull number, heavily corroded by the seawater, was clearly visible—U-47.

Before the submarine had fully surfaced, someone had already opened the heavy, waterproof, pressure-resistant hatch from the inside. Cold seawater dripped down, pattering on the brims of the crew’s caps inside. Leather boots stepped on the iron-welded ladder, making a clanging sound. The first soldier to emerge from the submarine walked along the passage inside the command tower to the side of the folded anti-aircraft gun.

He and the two soldiers behind him began to nimbly aim the 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun at the sky. And the man who came out after them was a man with a white officer’s cap on his head. After he came out, he leaned against the railing of the submarine’s conning tower, watching the explosion over there, his own recent masterpiece.

Just a few minutes ago, he had personally given the order to fire, to attack this exploding target. When he gave the order, he had no idea what was on this transport ship. It could have been a hundred laborers, or it could have been just a ship full of vegetables and rice. But now he could clearly tell that this ship was definitely carrying an unimaginable amount of fuel.

“Hurry up, send a telegram to headquarters. Tell them we’ve sunk a transport ship heading for Iceland, with a large amount of fuel on board,” Prien said, lighting a cigarette dangling from his lips with a lighter. He spoke indistinctly to his deputy, who had climbed out of the hull for a breath of fresh air.

The weather was very cold, so much so that even to come outside the submarine for a breath of fresh air, one had to wear a greatcoat and a thick scarf. When speaking here, one’s breath turned to mist. The temperature was low enough to make one wrap all their clothes tightly around themselves.

No one wants to have their warship sunk by the enemy in this kind of damn weather and then have to jump into the icy seawater to escape. To be honest, in such a cold and harsh environment, falling into the water or sinking with one’s own warship is just a choice of how to die.

Either sink to the bottom of the sea with your ship, which, though frustrating, is relatively quick, or jump into the sea to escape. In this temperature, the way you die is similar to that of the passengers who were in the water after the Titanic sank. In a dozen minutes, half an hour at most, you could freeze to death in the icy seawater.

Therefore, Prien felt that being a submarine crewman was better. Even if you were sunk, there was only one way to die, very simple and without having to waste your brain.

A “vacationer,” the last to emerge from the submarine’s hatch, handed a telegram to Prien, who was smoking. Several German sailors, shivering from the cold sea wind, were gathered together, talking about something and letting out hearty laughs from time to time.

Ever since they had come aboard this new type of submarine, it seemed as if all threats had ceased to exist. The depth charges dropped by the enemy ships were basically inaccurate, and they could usually easily shake off the enemy’s pursuit with just a few maneuvers. Under the heavy encirclement of enemy destroyers and cruisers, Prien had led the U-47 to come and go as it pleased, sinking one destroyer and three transport ships before leaving at its leisure.

He liked this feeling of playing with his opponent, like an assassin with unique skills, toying with his enemies with agile movements. He would disappear into a dark corner, deliver the most fatal blow, and then leave at his leisure, leaving behind deep fear and despair for those who had witnessed everything.

On the shipping lanes between the United States and Iceland, a ghost submarine had appeared. This submarine attacked American and British ships everywhere, but it was not at all afraid of depth charge attacks. Many British sailors said that this submarine did not exist, that it was just a German submarine that had already been sunk, and that it was constantly sinking enemy ships to appease its own resentment.

An even more bizarre story was that the vengeful souls in this submarine had sworn to sink every ship they saw, because they needed a full 1,000 times the number of souls to be buried with them. All sorts of similar stories circulated, and the rumors spread to every corner with the speed of gossip.

Although the analysis of the experts in the U.S. and British navies was more accurate, they believed that the Germans had put into service a more advanced submarine, using newer technology to increase its underwater speed. On the other hand, Allied intelligence also confirmed this news. In the German submarine bases in France, special repair docks and concealed shelters had been set up for this type of submarine.

Clearly, most of the time, a terrifying, unsinkable submarine driven by a black devil was far more satisfying to people’s curiosity than a new type of German naval submarine. So everyone was more willing to believe the strange and messy stories than the ordinary answers given by the higher-ups. The reason was actually very simple: it just wasn’t exciting enough.

Prien took the telegram from the sailor’s hand. After reading only two lines, he was too excited to speak. It was hard to guess the content of this telegram from his excited appearance, so the first officer could only suppress his own curiosity and wait for Prien to hand him the document.

He didn’t have to wait long. He saw the telegram. The message on it was very simple. Four more equally advanced submarines had already crossed the eastern Atlantic and were approaching the waters near Iceland. They would join with Prien’s submarine to form a wolf pack and attack all ships sailing on the route between Iceland and the United States.

This telegram also set the rendezvous point for the several submarines and established a code for their meeting. If this rendezvous could be completed smoothly, then Prien would have more and more advanced submarines in his hands. At that time, the threat posed by the entire wolf pack would be even more terrifying, enough to make the British in the waters near Iceland miserable for quite some time.

“Reply immediately! Tell Commander Dönitz that we have received the message! We will proceed to the rendezvous point immediately,” Prien said, the corners of his mouth turned up in a brilliant smile. Those who knew him knew that whenever he showed this expression, an enemy ship was sure to be in for a bad time.

On the distant sea, the huge fire was still not extinguished. The poor ship had been torn into countless fragments by the shockwave of the explosion a few seconds after being hit. Now even the wreckage had disappeared. That sharp bow had also sunk into the bottomless abyss of the Atlantic.

The thick black smoke blocked everyone’s view, but it could not stop the transmission of radio waves. Soon, on the machine in front of the radar operator on duty inside the submarine, an alarm suddenly sounded: “Woooo… woooo…”

“All hands, attention! All hands, attention! An enemy patrol plane is approaching. Return to the submarine immediately! The submarine will begin to dive in 2 minutes! The submarine will begin to dive in 2 minutes!” Inside the submarine, a warning broadcast came from the loudspeakers. The sailors near the hatch were already sliding down the iron ladder into the interior of the submarine.

The sailors on alert by the anti-aircraft gun over there had already begun to fold up the not-so-useful weapon. Since the installation of the air-search radar, the question of how much use the anti-aircraft gun on a submarine really had had become a constant point of debate among the naval submarine commanders.

The smile that had just been on Prien’s face instantly turned into a bitter one. This was, after all, an area where the enemy appeared frequently. To want to rest here for a while seemed to be a bit difficult. He ducked into the interior of the submarine, and behind him, the last one to enter, the first officer, reached out and closed the heavy submarine hatch.

On the turbulent sea, the water around this submarine began to pour into its ballast tanks. As a large amount of seawater squeezed out the lighter air, the submarine sank into the sea at a visible speed. In a short time, the hull of the submarine had already disappeared, leaving only a conning tower exposed above the water.

Then the conning tower also began to sink into the water with the submarine, white waves churning around it. Not long after, on the sea surface where a ship had just been sailing, only a few limited long pipes, such as the snorkel, were still exposed above the water.

A dozen or so seconds later, the waves on the sea surface had returned to normal. It was as if nothing had ever existed here, nothing at all.

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