Canteen System Assistance Notes

The rate of fire of all artillery pieces experienced an explosive increase, and the number of shells falling also began to increase. Although subjective initiative could not completely transcend the limitations of material foundations, the sudden increase in effective shells still proved one thing: reinforcements were coming!

"Eighth Street, facing Pandaria. Our ship is heading 195 degrees, with a speed of 18, and is firing at your target!" "Shanwei, facing Pandaria. Our ship is heading 170 degrees, with a speed of 15, and is firing at your target!"

The two friendly ships, stationed north of the battlefield in search formation, finally arrived. Cutting in from the north, one on the left and one on the right, they closed in on the Atlantis's port and starboard sides, jointly unleashing a barrage of artillery fire on the German raider that had stirred up a hornet's nest.

The Atlantis, which had just relied on its training and armament to suppress Pandaria, suddenly felt the pressure mount. The firepower ratio had been 4 to 5, with the Atlantis holding a slight advantage in gun caliber. But now, the two extra ships, each with three guns—a 6-inch, three 4-inch, and one 76mm—joined the attack. The one-on-one situation had reversed, turning into a three-on-one confrontation.

Her hull, weighing 17,000 tons at full displacement, struggled through the hail of bullets and water jets. Several merchant ships armed with World War I-vintage cannons managed to unleash the firepower of a light cruiser. Even with a single-shot hit probability of less than 3.5% at such a range, if the draw was repeated frequently enough, the "low probability event" would eventually occur.

A 152mm shell grazed the Atlantis' starboard side and penetrated the ship's forward section. After penetrating a layer of the side wall, the delayed action of the warhead unleashed the raging force within the disguised warehouse, sending all the debris inside soaring into the air.

A second orange spark appeared in the dark blue sea forest. Atlantis had been hit again! This was her water engine warehouse!

A fully assembled and a partially assembled HE-114 were nestled inside, enjoying a rare break, unaware that their home would be ripped apart by a six-inch cannon. Compared to the explosion-resistant diesel and heavy fuel oil, the lubricating oil and gasoline required for aircraft were natural fire starters in the scorching tropical climate. The aged shells performed reliably, triggering a flashover within the warehouse in an instant. A long, orange flame, mingled with thick black smoke, instantly ripped open the German ship's camouflage, transforming the Atlantis's forecastle into a torch.

Pandaria to all members of the squadron! The Eighth Street follows my ship and joins my fleet at the rear. Follow the firing parameters and fire along with me. The Mountain Prestige maintains course, keeps distance, and fires freely!

The Atlantis finally understood what kind of situation it was facing.

The Pandaman was neither friendly nor harmless, nor even a single ship, but three British counterparts like himself - in the current radio monitoring band

There are already a lot of public frequency messages that cannot be completely deciphered - no need

To put it another way, it must be the damn Pandaren broadcasting their location.

Not only had their identity been exposed, their sneak attack failed, and they were surrounded by three ships, and their position was being announced. This was a very unfavorable situation for an attack ship. Even before they had to worry about the subsequent exposure of their position and the possible encirclement and suppression, the Atlantis had to use all its skills to avoid being defeated by random punches.

Shit! First of all, I have to find a way to get out of this situation!

The German commander first gave up the useless fighting spirit and ordered the crew to start working hard to extinguish the raging fire in the water engine warehouse. This thing was like a target indicator and could be seen from a long distance.

At the same time, he ordered the power cabin to spray diesel into the smoke duct to create a smoke screen.

Immediately afterwards, the track of the Atlantis began to drift left and right, becoming erratic, and the billowing black smoke that continued to emerge from the chimney began to form a smoke screen belt that was large enough to cover the hull, blocking the direct line of sight of the three British ships.

Naval battle bombardment, ranging and angle measurement are prioritized!

As expected, after the zigzag pattern and smokescreen were deployed, the enemy's artillery firepower plummeted in accuracy, with fewer and fewer near misses posing a threat. While this also rendered the Atlantis's bombardment ineffective, she finally gained a precious respite from the storm.

"Set course to 185, full speed ahead, evacuate the battlefield!"

After all, they were a veteran navy, outnumbered by the enemy, and choosing to flee when the situation was unfavorable was not shameful. The Atlantis decisively turned south, not bothering to care about the captured Norwegian tanker Katie-Breuvig. To maintain secrecy, she didn't even dare to send a telegram.

"It will be dark in eight hours. We have to at least make it through the day! Evacuate at full speed!"

"The Germans are running! Starboard ahead, bearing Green-10, heading 180, speed over 15 knots!"

"Catch up! Captain Haddock, you take control of the course; Acting Captain, stop firing, but don't stop the fire! After dark, it will be difficult for us to catch her.

It’s even more difficult!”

"No problem, Mr. Major!"

"Commissioned General, maintaining high speed for a long time puts a lot of pressure on the boiler. I want to go to the boiler room and keep an eye on it."

"Agreed, the safety of the engine room is in your hands, Captain Chen. Messenger! Have the other two ships come closer to me!" "Okay, okay, sir!"

The Pandaria immediately realized Atlantis' intention and quickly gave up her inaccurate bombardment and switched to continuous rounds of fire to interfere with the opponent's steering.

Do your best to prevent the enemy from fleeing south until night falls.

"Radio room, keep informed of the enemy situation! Report immediately upon receipt of a reply!"

At the same time, in the southwest of the battlefield, in a sea area north of the Mozambique Channel, an old County-class heavy cruiser was speeding northeast at a speed of 26 knots. Her captain was sitting in the dining room, eating his corned beef sandwich with black tea.

"Sir, here's the message about the German raider," the chief petty officer on duty walked into the dining room and reported to Captain John Hereward Edleston, the captain. "It was captured by our auxiliary cruiser. It's approximately 62 degrees east longitude and 02 degrees north latitude."

"That's good news, and it looks like we have reinforcements," the colonel stood up and walked quickly to the bridge. He needed to convert the longitude and latitude coordinates onto the nautical chart to get a more intuitive relative position. "Is that the East India Fleet cruiser?"

"Yes, but I heard it was a Chinese ship."

In the bridge, the acting navigator and the cartographer had already been bent over the chart, plotting the position in the message and calculating the distance and bearing between the German raider and the ship. The colonel touched his chin, which had just been shaved that morning. The stubble on it was already showing, and it was a little prickly.

He thought for a moment, then said briefly, "Please ask the Chief Engineer to come to the bridge. We need to discuss whether His Majesty's Lady of Shropshire could raise her skirt a little higher and run faster."

Finally, at noon on February 4, 1941, when Pandaria, Bajie and Shanwei kept firing and trying to chase the German disguised attack ship Atlantis,

In the southwest of the battlefield, the heavy cruiser Shropshire, which was already at 26 knots,

The ship accelerated again, increasing its speed to its maximum sustainable speed of 30 knots, and sped towards the battlefield.

To the west of the battlefield, off the coast of Somalia, another massive battleship broke free from the blockade and alerted route. It blew its whistle, its square red and white Rear Admiral's flag fluttering in the wind. Then, along with its escorting ships, it also began accelerating eastward.

The boilers are roaring, the ships are plowing the sea, and a hunting net is tightening rapidly.

Chapter 403: Shamelessly Tracking the Pandaren

Above the dark waters of the Indian Ocean, the Atlantis fled southward, trailing billowing black smoke.

Part of the black smoke came from the incompletely burned diesel in the chimney, and part came from the still-burning forward cargo hold, which together formed an impenetrable smoke screen that blocked the three ships of the Indian Ocean Yemen Squadron's view.

Despite her disastrous condition, the two massive MAN six-cylinder naval diesel engines within her hull remained intact, allowing the ship to maintain its top speed of 16 knots. The situation on the Pandaria, however, was less optimistic. Just recently, to evade two torpedoes launched from approximately 4500 yards, Navigator Haddock ordered an emergency decompression of the starboard engine, releasing steam to create additional turning torque. Compared to the diesel engines' rapid start-up, the steam boilers were slow to ramp up, and the Pandaria's speed—and time—couldn't be increased, preventing her from rapidly closing the gap with the German ship.

By the time the boiler had completed its power increase and the steam had completed its pressurization, the enemy had already rushed out for more than ten nautical miles and was just hanging above the horizon. The three ships tried their best to speed up and chased for a whole afternoon, but because there was no qualitative difference in the speed of the two sides, they could only watch the enemy's figure sneak into the night.

Finally, this naval battle turned into a protracted battle of endurance.

Only Lieutenant General Clayden, Combat Captain Zhong Lihua and Navigation Officer Haddock were left in the bridge of the Pandaria. As the sun set over the sea and sky, the light in the bridge was replaced by red night lights.

Today, the ship experienced a fierce gun battle, carried out damage control, and set a record for the longest continuous maximum speed in its history. This is a bit harsh for this group of new navy who are just going into battle for the first time, but perhaps because of the young age of the ship, or because of the blessing of the goddess of luck, the ship and the crew on board miraculously did not encounter any major problems.

"Gentlemen, the damage control tally is in."

"How is it? Read it out."

"The ship was hit by 5 shells, including 4 20mm shells and 1 150mm shell. The 20mm shells were all projectiles fired by the enemy ship, destroying part of the mast crane, but no structural damage was caused.

150 shells hit the No. 3 cargo hold, destroying compartments 3B and 3C.

The bulkheads of holds 2B and 4B were deformed but not penetrated. The refrigeration system in hold 3 was malfunctioning, presumably due to damage to the cooling pipes within the asbestos tiles. Repairs will require docking. Additionally, rivet cracks and leakage were observed in hold 12 on the same side of the ship's exterior, but these have been repaired.

"One person on our ship was seriously injured, but the situation is under control; three people were slightly injured, and no casualties have been reported so far."

"Okay, I understand." Temporary Fleet Captain Clayden signed his name on the report board. The sweaty damage control captain nodded to the crew on the bridge before turning and leaving the scene. As he walked, his boots made a splashing sound—damage control operations in the Indian Ocean, wearing a one-piece fireproof overall and a closed breathing mask, were enough to make a person sweat profusely, pouring half a liter of sweat into his boots.

"Do we have any saltines left? A lot of them were ruined, too. We should have some ice cream left. So, you, take my quota of saltines and popsicles to the damage control team. "And take my coffee, too. Remember to get the ground coffee from the machine, not the packaged kind. For the sailors on the night shift."

"Okay, sir. Salt water, ice cream, and freshly ground coffee for the damage control team and the night crew."

Following Captain Zhong Lihua's orders, Clayden turned and gave a word to the orderly who was delivering the food. The entire ship had returned to Level 2 defensive alert, and the fleet was steaming south at 15 knots. The day shift crews were taking advantage of the opportunity to rest and prepare for tomorrow's battle.

-------one

In a traditional naval battle, artillery engagements only account for a small portion of the overall action. Especially when the battle becomes a cat-and-mouse game and the speed difference between the two sides is not significant, the majority of the battle becomes a tense sailing marathon.

After all, a top speed of 16 knots does not mean that the ship can run at 16 knots all the time. This kind of competition mode for ship endurance race not only tests the responsibility and technical ability of the engine room crew, but also tests the ship crew's sense of responsibility and technical ability.

It also tests the availability of the ship's equipment.

Chen Baiqing, the chief engineer of the ocean-going merchant ship, personally went down to the boiler room and kept a close eye on the two most delicate Parsons power units in the entire fleet. The Sulzer diesel engines of the other two ships had just undergone a complete maintenance in Colombo and were in good condition, able to withstand long-term high-load operation.

In contrast, the Atlantis, on its long voyage, was not so lucky. The long period of disguised attack operations had left her in poor condition, and her last maintenance had been in Japan. When the sun rose on February 5th, she could no longer see the three British ships on the horizon, but she had not yet closed the distance.

Meanwhile, the Pandaria once again organized the launch of its carrier-based aircraft in the morning light. "Red Sea Shark 1, take off!"

No matter how fast or agile you are, can you outrun an airplane?

The military-grade "Little Beaver" J2R soared into the air, draped with smoke bombs, and headed south, deploying a fan-shaped reconnaissance screen. Knowing the distance and general direction, it located the Atlantis almost instantly. The ship had transformed itself during the night's voyage into the Dutch-flagged freighter "Noblesse"—but the missing dining platform and the burned forward cargo hold made the traditional skills of the raider a joke.

Soon, the Atlantis began intercepting new messages—not even in military code:

"Updated attack ship C's disguised identity: Dutch freighter Nobriou, fleeing south from 6105 East longitude, 0130 North latitude, heading 170, speed 14, please pay attention to identify its ship's damage..." Hello friends at sea! This is the Dutch freighter Nobriou... At first, Atlantis was still trying to get away with it, but her call was quickly blocked.

"The Noblesse is still in Singapore! You cunning fox!"

She had no choice but to continue releasing smokescreens to conceal her presence and continue her escape. For the entire morning, this aircraft, with a range of 800 kilometers, hung just outside the Atlantis's anti-aircraft fire range, like a shameless livestream voyeur, repeatedly broadcasting its position, speed, course, and, crucially, its disguised identity—for a disguised attack ship, this was like being stripped naked and thrown under the spotlight.

"The reconnaissance plane has flown away. Quickly change the flag and ship name livery!"

Finally, around noon, when the reconnaissance plane ran out of fuel and began to return, the German sailors were able to rush out of the cabin with paint buckets, replace the navigation flag, and go down to the side to paint the new ship's name. But soon, the annoying buzzing sound came again.

Shit!

"Updated attack ship C's disguise: South African freighter Gombo, fleeing south from 6040 East longitude, 0110 North latitude, heading 180, speed 15. Note the damage to its cargo hold..."

Damn shit!

"Updated 'Attack Ship C' disguise identity: South African freighter Gombo, fleeing south from 60'35" East longitude, 001' North latitude, heading 180, speed 15. Note the tarpaulin covering the ship..." Damn it, damn it!

Chapter 404: Hunting for Atlantis

February 1941, 2, late at night.

Starting from the day the mysterious telegram was received, the three ships of the Yemeni Squadron in the Indian Ocean have been chasing the German attack ship Atlantis for three consecutive days.

From the initial radio direction finding, to the subsequent formation sailing, to the subsequent identity confirmation and 4000-yard artillery battle, the ship had been on Level 2 defensive alert and Level 1 combat alert for three consecutive days. After two consecutive shifts of combat duty, everyone was exhausted.

"Level 3 cruise alert. Everyone, take your time and rest." "Okay, sir. All ships, level 3 cruise alert."

In the chart room, Lieutenant General Clayden pressed his hands against the chart table and rubbed his eyes. Just a few bulkheads away, a half-moon hung in the sky, transforming the sponge into shimmering silver fragments, supporting this huge, fortunate ship. But at the edge of the horizon, the sky was dark and gloomy. No target could be seen, not the cunning, murderous ship.

Nothingness, nothingness, everything is nothing!

This strange feeling of emptiness gripped him, leaving him feeling inexplicably uneasy. After the high adrenaline of the day wore off, Clayden felt a little bit of fear and nervousness.

As the ship gradually approached the equator, the surrounding weather became increasingly worse. During the pursuit during the day, the Pandaria once approached within 6 nautical miles of the Atlantis, but the opponent cunningly hid in the sudden equatorial thunderstorm area, causing all the artillery fire to fail and no one hit.

Even after the seaplane re-acquired its trace, the distance between the two parties continued to widen to approximately 20 nautical miles due to the changes in the ship's direction and trajectory. "Acting Captain Zhong, is there any problem with the Shanwei?"

"Commissioned General, no problem. The Marines are all young men I personally selected. They are fully armed and have taken control of the entire ship. I didn't expect there to be quite a few Chinese sailors on board, and they are quite cooperative with us. As for those few Nazi officers, they can't cause any trouble."

"This is the best news I've ever heard. Thank you, Acting Captain." Clayden took a tired breath and smiled a rare smile.

When the Atlantis was hiding in the thunderstorm area, the Red Sea Shark 2, which was flying around the rain clouds, accidentally discovered a tanker sailing south on the sea. After a close observation,

The pilot noticed that the ship's bridge had been hit by several shells.

Although it flies the French flag, its paint job is typical Norwegian style.

After the pilot flew around twice, swept the water surface, and sent out the boarding inspection signal, the other party directly raised the white flag and sent out a signal: It turned out that he f

The door is the previously captured Norwegian tanker Katie Bruvig

number.

Soon, the nearest fast-freezing freighter "Shanwei" sent out marines to approach the ship.

Perhaps catching sight of the two 4-inch guns pointed at the waterline from the stern and stern, the five German sailors and two officers commanding the ship surrendered to the Samwe. They surrendered their small arms but confessed they had destroyed the naval radio and code book. After discussion, the fleet decided to detach the Samwe and escort the prize northward—her bridge had been destroyed by the Atlantis's barrage, and without a ship to carry her, she likely wouldn't have been able to get very far.

So now, the two remaining ships of the Yemeni Squadron in the Indian Ocean have to decide whether to continue the pursuit.

"Herald, have the captain and navigator come to the chart room." "Yes, yes, sir."

-―------

"What's the situation, Captain Chen, Lieutenant Haddock?"

"Captain, the boiler room is operating normally. We had a few minor issues, but they've all been resolved. As for fuel, even without counting the 3000 tons of diesel in the supply depot, the ship's fuel tanks are enough to power it all the way to Durban and back to the Gulf of Aden. However, if we continue to maintain this high speed, I'm afraid the comrades in the engine room will collapse first—the chief engineer has slept less than eight hours in the past three days."

"Major, according to the sextant, our current position is less than 10 nautical miles away from the inertial bearing plotted by the navigation room. No correction is needed. The boys are tired, but they did a great job. The damage from the shells has not affected our navigation."

Chen Baiqing and Haddock quickly arrived at the chart room. They returned from the deck and below deck, reporting their work. "I understand. But now, the situation is clear."

Clayden nodded. Though his seasickness was fading, the intense pursuit had kept him awake for days. He turned and pointed at the chart on the navigational disk, which showed the ship's position as the center. "Assault Ship C is also very close—I don't think she's as fast as we are. Tomorrow, if we keep the course correct, we'll probably catch her. But..."

"But does that require us to be on the right course?" Captain Haddock quickly understood. He unscrewed his small flat flask and took a sip. This time, the strong aroma disappeared, leaving only the scent of scallion, ginger, and cooking wine. He frowned. "You want to know the possible course of 'Assault Ship C'?"

"Yes, gentlemen. I need your wisdom."

Clayton had gradually become accustomed to this approach: it was an unconventional but highly effective way of making decisions. Just as a two-person airplane can have two pairs of eyes for reconnaissance, having more brains thinking about the same thing always yields more ideas.

"First, the Germans can't go any further north. Their ships are damaged and need to return to port for repairs. The marks of wax and swelling are impossible to remove at sea, Haddock."

"As you wish, sir." Haddock picked up a red pencil and began to draw on the map. He divided the 90-degree area due north of the ship and drew a red diagonal line. "To our west is Force T. The Germans are unlikely to go that way," he said.

"Wait a minute, we know this news, but will the Germans know this?"

"Captain Chen, they should know. Even if the Germans can't decipher the message, they can still intercept the radio. They should know there's a warship to the west. Now that ship can't disguise its identity, it probably won't head east, or even southeast." Zhong Lihua touched his chin. "If they haven't revealed their identity yet, we can try. Now, even if they're heading east, we probably don't need to take action or pursue them."

Everyone nodded, and soon the red area on the chart expanded to 225 degrees, covering one side of the ship.

But the remaining area is still very large. Including Pandaria, the Eighth Street and two "Red Sea Sharks", the four reconnaissance platforms have a search range of about 200 nautical miles during the day.

At most, it can only take care of the area of ​​80 degrees - not to mention the current Pan