The temperature is not very high, the wind is not very strong, and the waves on the sea are not big. Compared with the high winds and rapid waves last night, the sea at noon today looked particularly quiet, shining in the sun.

A black submarine was floating on this shining sea at this moment, and was slowly sailing northwest at a speed of five knots.

This is the Chinese Navy's Q29 submarine, which belongs to the "Shark-class" ocean-going attack submarine, and is in sequence affiliated to the China South Ocean Squadron Submarine Operations Brigade, captain Zhang Haihuan, and captain.

Now, Zhang Haihuan and his Q29 are performing combat patrol missions, and the patrol location is on the Red Sea that separates Africa and the Asian continent. Specifically, the Q29 submarine is sailing off the coast of the Dalaq Islands, not far from Eritrea on the northeastern edge of the African continent. Now, Eritrea is under Italian colonial rule. When sailing in this sea area, you don’t have to worry about being “harassment” from the British Royal Navy destroyers. The Italian government is obviously happy to see the Chinese Navy seeking trouble for the British here.

Just now, a "big-owner" submarine just provided an ocean supply to Q29. Now, Q29 is about to head to the waters closer to the Sinai Peninsula, which is the pre-hunting area of ​​this ocean-going attack submarine.

The q29 submarine is an improved model of the "shark-class". It is equipped with a snorkel. Relying on the snorkel, the submarine can sail underwater for a long time, and only the snorkel needs to be extended out of the sea. This greatly reduces the chance of being discovered by surface ships. This is very helpful for the submarines to pass through the Mande Strait at the connection between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Because now, in the Mande Strait, there are more than a dozen British Royal Navy destroyers and submarines. Their existence makes the Mande Strait the most dangerous sea area. Only submarines like the q29 equipped with snorkels can penetrate into the Red Sea without knowing their knowledge and hunting from the ocean.

The prey is British ships. Whether it is warships or merchant ships, as long as they go through the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific direction, they are now the hunting targets of this group of "Chinese sharks".

Zhang Haihuan just finished his internship as a captain, and his experience is not rich enough. Currently, he can only command old-style submarines like "Shark". Now, among the Chinese Navy's active submarines, the "Shrimp Class" ocean attack submarine has the most advanced performance. Due to the new concept design, this kind of submarine can sail underwater faster, and it also has the longest underwater self-sustaining time when sailing entirely on batteries. In fact, among the Chinese Navy's ocean attack submarine troops that are now performing lurking missions in the Red Sea waters, the number of "Shrimp Class" submarines is the largest, and there are only five old-style submarines like "Shark Class". Zhang Haihuan's Q29 is one of them.

Now, Zhang Haihuan is standing in the command cabin of the Q29 submarine, holding a telegram from the Navy Command, and reading it loudly to the officers and soldiers present.

"...In view of the fact that the center has officially declared war on Britain, from now on, China and Britain have officially entered a state of full-scale war! For the interests of the motherland and the interests of the people, all the navy soldiers must resolutely complete the naval mission with absolute loyalty, absolute tenacious fighting spirit, courage to die, and confidence to win! Let us shout in unison that the navy will win, and the motherland will win!"

"The navy will win! The motherland will win!"

"Now that China and Britain have officially started war, we don't have to worry about international public opinion anymore. From now on, all ships flying the British flag will be our targets, and both warships and civilian ships will become our prey! I order that from now on, all boats will enter the first-level combat readiness state! Telegraphers monitor the radio at any time. Once they receive the call, they will immediately go to the target waters to intercept the British ships!"

The order was officially issued. Soon, the Q29 submarine entered the first-level combat readiness state, and Zhang Haihuan also quickly issued the order to submarine dive. A few minutes later, the "Shark-class" ocean-going attack submarine entered the snorkel navigation state. The entire boat only had the snorkel, and the radio antenna and periscope extended out of the sea.

Zhang Haihuan stood in front of the periscope and monitored the movements on the sea through the eyepiece. The others also completed their work step by step. The officers and soldiers cooperated tacitly and waited for the prey to come to their door.

Now that China and Britain declare war on each other, the two countries have officially become belligerent countries. Before that, the British government had begun to transport troops to Myanmar by sea, and increase troops to India, and at the same time supplementing military supplies. It was also under this situation that the Chinese Navy's ocean submarine fleet began to enter the Red Sea one after another, preparing to intercept the British fleet here. The Red Sea is the main transportation route from the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean and the only channel. This is the best battlefield for submarines. At the same time, the Red Sea is also the most dangerous battlefield for submarine troops, because the sea area here is very narrow, with an average width of only two or three hundred nautical miles, and it only takes less than an hour for aircraft to fly across the Red Sea.

Zhang Haihuan and his Q29 submarine entered the Red Sea five days ago. During these five days, he had several opportunities to attack, but none of them launched an attack because China had not declared war on Britain at that time. According to relevant international law, the two countries cannot be regarded as belligerents. Under such circumstances, the Navy Command strictly ordered the submarine troops not to launch attacks first, so as not to be passive in public opinion.

Zhang Haihuan was completely understandable about the Navy Command's order of "no attack". He also knew very well that the central government called the Chinese army and air forces that entered Myanmar to fight "International Volunteer Army" because it was to try its best to delay the time when Britain officially declared war on China in order to gain more strategic deployment time.

But now, the British government has ignored the "International Volunteer Army"'s tricks and officially declared war on China this morning. So the current Navy Command has no need to worry at all. From this moment on, the "sharks" will pounce on their selected prey with red eyes.

It has to be admitted that there is no "oil and water" in the waters near the Dalak Islands. Zhang Haihuan has not found any target worth attacking for the whole afternoon since receiving the order from the Admiralty. Apart from some Arab sailing boats and fishing boats, there are some passing neutral ships. No one knows that these neutral ships are just not serving the British navy. However, even if they know that these ships are just transporting military supplies to India and Myanmar, Zhang Haihuan cannot launch an attack. This is also a strict order from the Admiralty. The central government does not want to involve other countries in this "Asian Liberation War". The main combat target of the Chinese forces is Britain and its servants.

It was not until six o'clock in the afternoon that the telegrapher of the Q29 submarine received a brief telegraph, which was sent by the "head wolf" Q96 submarine, which was to assassinate a "wolf pack" to attack a British merchant fleet that had just formed a formation to pass the Suez Canal. The telegraph specifically mentioned that this merchant fleet was escorted by warships. Obviously, the British Navy learned a lot in the European war twenty years ago, and the German submarine left a deep memory to Britain.

The telegram was about 700 nautical miles away from Q29. Zhang Haihuan hesitated whether to rush there, because according to the tactical arrangements on the telegram, the attack might be launched tomorrow night. At the speed of Q29, even if it is sailing on the sea, it is impossible to reach the ambush sea before the day after tomorrow, because the diesel unit is overheated and the submarine cannot sail at the highest speed.

After hesitating for a while, Zhang Haihuan decided not to rush there, but he also sent a telegram to the Q96 submarine, telling the other party his current location, and reminding the "head wolf" to pay attention to the plane in the sky. On both sides of the Red Sea, Egypt and Sudan, and on the other side, the Arabian Peninsula. But both areas are British spheres of influence. Britain has deployed many air force troops in this area, and these aircraft are the number one threat to the submarine force. In fact, just yesterday, Zhang Haihuan was targeted by a British navy water patrol plane. The other party did not throw bombs, but I don't know if it was also for caution.

It must be admitted that the Red Sea is a dangerous sea area, and this is true for both parties to war.

Finally, the last ray of setting sun in the sky disappeared below the sea level, and it was completely dark. The Q29 submarine floated up under the cover of night. At Zhang Haihuan's order, the submarine soldiers took turns to go up the deck to breathe fresh air, and also used this time to inspect the diesel unit.

The submarine floats on the sea like a dead fish. As the waves rise and fall, the sea breeze blows, it is cool and comfortable, making people intoxicated. The bright moon in the sky seems to be intoxicated.

Standing at the top of the submarine command tower, Zhang Haihuan held up a telescope and looked around the dark sea, but he could see nothing, listened with his ears and heard nothing, only the sea breeze and waves reminded him that this was a dangerous sea area.

During the ocean training in the past, Zhang Haihuan also visited the Red Sea several times. This sea area is not unfamiliar to him. He hopes to achieve his first victory here.

If you cannot find the target by relying on vision, you can only rely on advanced military technology to help. At the command of Zhang Haihuan, the sailors set up a set of radio transmitting and receiving antennas for short-range sea search radar on the rotating base on the top of the snorkel.

Codenamed "Nightingale", this radar is an improved model of aviation radar and is one of the prides of China's electronics industry. This radar was originally intended to be installed on night fighters to search for enemy aircraft in the night. Its size is much smaller than those long-range radars. It can be installed on twin-engine heavy fighters, so it can also be installed on ship masts. Now, the q29 is installed with this radar, which can detect surface targets dozens of nautical miles away.

At nine o'clock in the evening, the diesel unit was repaired, and at this moment, a large reflected signal appeared on the radar surveillance screen. The radar soldiers initially judged that this was a large ship, but whether it was a military ship or a civilian ship was not confirmed yet, so they could only observe it.

"Submarine dives! All crew members are ready for combat!"

Zhang Haihuan immediately issued a battle order, and then directed Q29 to pounce towards the target position, and a maritime pursuit began.

At half past eleven at night, Zhang Haihuan finally discovered the lonely steamer staggering with the help of the moonlight. It was an oil tanker with a displacement of 5,000 tons. Judging from the depth of the waterline, it should be full.

But the light was too dark and I couldn't see clearly what flag the ship was flying. After hesitating for a while, Zhang Haihuan decided to lean on and ask clearly.

The Q29 is an old submarine. There is still a naval gun on the front deck. After two shells hit, the tanker discovered the shadow of the submarine and accelerated, trying to escape from the sea, but it could not escape at all. Half an hour later, he had to stop under the threat of shells. Then, the Q29 sent an inflatable motor boat to lean over. The fully armed sailors boarded the tanker. After a quick inspection, it confirmed that it was the British tanker "Latonia", loaded with a ship of air gasoline from Malta, and was preparing to go to India.

Since it was a British ship, there was no need to be polite. At Zhang Haihuan's order, the sailors rushed the captain of the tanker and all crew members to a sampan, and lowered the sampan to the sea. Then they installed six powerful magnetic bombs near the tanker's waterline. The explosion time was set, and then evacuated the tanker and carried the sampan back to the submarine.

Fifteen minutes later, with a few roars, a huge bright fireball burst out from the sea. The tanker quickly sank in the violent combustion and quickly disappeared under the surface of the Red Sea.

The captain and crew on the sampan were stunned and were then taken into the submarine and were released before dawn the next day. The captain of the Chinese submarine gave them some food and water and a compass, and then asked them to row to the nearest coast of the Kingdom of Yemen. It was not until the afternoon of the next day that the unlucky British sailors were able to land on the Arabian Peninsula and were discovered by local nomadic troops and then sent to the British consulate.
Chapter completed!