Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

"Tiger's afraid of pack wolves", bloodthirsty wolves make all behemoths in nature shudder. Under their turn of siege, even the king of beasts is unable to resist.

Of course, this also depends on the time; the number of wolves in a group is about 5 to 12, and this level of fighting power should have no chance of winning against tigers; but in the cold winter, the number of wolves can expand to four or five Ten of them. If they form this size, even if they are really ferocious tigers, they may not be able to withstand them.

However, under normal circumstances, they are afraid of each other's strength and do not dare to act rashly. Even if they meet, they will just face each other and leave, because being injured in the wild means death, and wild animals understand this truth.

Dönitz, the commander of the German Navy's submarine department during World War II, may have done a lot of research on the animal world and created the "wolf pack tactics" that were rampant in the early days of World War II. Therefore, he was also called the "Wolf Head". The "Wolf Pack Tactics" and Guderian's "Blitzkrieg" are both called the two "magic weapons" of the German army on land and sea in World War II.

The essence of the wolf pack tactic is to concentrate the combined efforts of small and weak ships to destroy a large fleet. During the operation, several ships are sent to hunt and conduct reconnaissance at sea. As long as a submarine discovers the Allied convoy fleet, it will send out a radio to close the distance. All the nearby submarines came over.

Wolves generally attack at night, and each submarine in the wolf pack passes covertly through the gap or flank of the opponent's escort fleet. Since multiple submarines attack the same target at the same time, the hit rate is improved, and at the same time, there can be Several torpedoes hit the same target. In this way, "Wolf Pack Tactics" can achieve greater combat effectiveness, hence the name "Wolf Pack Tactics".

The "wolf pack" tactics were invincible for a while. The highest attack record by German submarines was the sinking of 38 Allied merchant ships in two days. In 1942, German submarines sank a total of 471 Allied ships with a total tonnage of nearly 2.2 million tons. Among them, Britain suffered the greatest losses. In 1942, the German "Wolf Pack" reached its peak of sinking allied merchant ships. A total of 1,160 merchant ships were sunk throughout the year, with a total tonnage of 6.3 million tons, but their own loss rate was less than 7%.

How did such a powerful wolf pack strategy fail?

According to Dönitz's plan, Germany needs 100 submarines to perform tasks in the combat waters, with 1/3 performing tasks, 1/3 being maintained at the shipyard and base, and 1/3 rotating (located on the way from the base shipyard to the sea area where the tasks are performed) ), at least 300 submarines must be equipped.

When the submarine war began, how many submarines did Germany have in total? There are less than 60 ships, and among them, there are only more than 20 ships with larger tonnage capable of performing ocean warfare. Judging from the ratio of rotation and mission execution, there are very few that actually perform missions.

Such a small number of submarines can deal a heavy blow to the opponent, but it is impossible to completely destroy it.

In addition, Germany did not have an aircraft carrier in World War II, and the price was that it had no air power cover, which easily exposed its own ships to air strikes. Throughout World War II, about 40% of German submarines were sunk by British and American air anti-submarine forces. If the support and coordination of surface ships and the sinking results are included, then about half of the German submarines were sunk by aerial anti-submarine aircraft.

Because the construction plan for surface ships was far more than the original time and space, the number of German submarines at this time still did not meet Dönitz's needs. The number of submarine equipment is about 200, and about 120 large ocean-going submarines. According to the 1/3 theory, there are about forty submarines cruising in the vast Atlantic Ocean, and only ten can participate in the attack.

At the ambush point named Point A by the Wolf Pack Command, 12 submarines gathered in a rare gathering. Most of these are viib-type submarines, 4 in the front and 1 in the rear, with a total of 5 533mm launch tubes. That is to say, even if each submarine fires five torpedoes and hits five transport ships, it can only sink 60 transport ships at most. , which is actually impossible to do.

Several captains discussed it and decided to lay mines first after waiting for a telegram from the Wolfpack headquarters that the target transport formation had not changed course and would arrive in about an hour.

It is not uncommon for submarines to lay mines. Submarines were used to lay mines even earlier than submarines were able to launch torpedoes.

In 1801, the American submarine "Nautilus" built by Fulton had an iron frame and a copper shell. The boat was 7 meters long. It carried two mines and was operated by four people. It uses folding masts on the water and is powered by sails. It is propelled underwater using a hand-cranked propeller. In the 1860s, during the American Civil War, the "Henry" submarine built by the Southern Army was about 12 meters long and cigar-shaped. It used 8 people to crank the propeller and move forward at a speed of 4 knots. It used mines to attack enemy ships. On the night of February 17, 1864, the USS Henry sank the Union warship USS Housatonic with a mine, becoming the first submarine to sink a warship.

In 1866, the Englishman Whitehead made the first torpedo. In 1881, the "Nordfeldt" submarine built by Nordfeldt and Garrett was equipped with torpedo launch tubes for the first time; in the same year, the "Holland" II submarine built by the United States was equipped with a torpedo launcher capable of launching underwater. The torpedo tube is an important development in the history of submarine development.

Each submarine was equipped with six mines. They placed these mines in this sea area, then spread out and dived into the cold water, quietly waiting for the arrival of their prey.

Captain Johannes Moher of U124 came to the captain's room and closed his eyes to rest. The captain's cabin is so small that it can only accommodate a bed and a writing desk. A curtain is installed at the door to ensure a more private space.

After all, this is not a super submarine that can be equipped with swimming pools and gyms in future generations. Every space on the boat is quite precious. Most of the space inside the boat is used to house diesel engines and electric motors, batteries and other necessary mechanical equipment. There is very little space left for the crew to live and rest, and even sleeping places are very limited. Two people share a bunk, one sleeping and the other standing guard.

When preparing for departure before a combat patrol, a submarine usually carries about 14 tons of various supplies, fuel, and torpedo weapons and ammunition. Every unused corner on the boat is used as much as possible to store fresh food, such as eggs, potatoes, fruits, vegetables, bread, meat, etc. The submarine has two toilets, one of which is also filled with all kinds of food. After leaving the shore, you start eating from the toilet where the food is...

It is an extreme privilege to have an independent lounge under such conditions.

"Sir! The target has been found!" After an unknown amount of time, the first mate stood outside the "door" and reminded softly.

"Finally here!" Hannes Mohr grunted as he got up, walked out of the room, walked through the narrow corridor, and stood at his command position in high spirits. "Ready to fight!"