Another hour passed, it was completely dawn, and the snowy Canadian coast was clearly visible.

The u-400 is potentially underwater at a depth of about 13 meters, and still sails slowly towards the southern end of Newfoundland Island at a speed of about 10 knots, dragging two white tracks behind him, which are not very obvious.

At this time, the United States and Canada had deployed some anti-submarine patrol aircraft on the coast. Admiral Denitz had previously evacuated the submarine forces from the United States' east coast and the Caribbean because the US anti-submarine patrol aircraft suppressed the submarines very well. These radar-equipped U.S. anti-submarine bombers can work day and night over the coast, and the sea detection radars equipped on the aircraft can detect submarines surfaced more than 30 nautical miles away.

The latest uxⅪ/41d ocean-going attack submarine is equipped with underwater snorkels, but it does not need to surface regularly like in the past submarines, charge the battery and exchange fresh air for the boat. Theoretically, this class of submarines can stay underwater for a long time.

However, Hardgen will still order submarines to surface at night to perform an important technical test of the naval technical department: the latest passive radar receiver developed by the German Navy can receive electromagnetic waves emitted from the enemy's aircraft before the enemy's patrol aircraft discovers them, thereby discovering the other party in advance.

This is an extremely dangerous task. If these machines are not effective, the submarines will risk being attacked by enemy aircraft. Fortunately, the latest Gema41 new detection radar equipped on the German submarine has greatly improved its effectiveness due to the introduction of the latest magnetron technology from the Austro-Hungarian military. It can detect surface ships 20 nautical miles away and air targets 45 nautical miles away. This is another important guarantee for the safety of the submarine.

On the night of December 2, the U-400 successfully avoided two enemy anti-submarine patrol aircraft using a new passive radar. During the day on December 3, four batches of enemy anti-submarine aircraft were found flying overhead. It is obvious that the airborne radars of the United States and Britain are still unable to penetrate more than 10 meters of sea water and found a submarine that is submersible under the sea.

However, there was still an enemy patrol aircraft hovering overhead for a while. Haldergen did not order the submarine to dive in order to avoid it, but ordered the submarine to slow down its speed and then dealt with the enemy aircraft for more than ten minutes. He knew that scientists had developed a magnetic abnormality detection device that could detect submarines underwater. It is estimated that the enemy aircraft might also be equipped with such similar things.

This was a new situation. After the enemy plane left, Major Haldergen immediately reported the situation and his own guess to the Submarine Command.

At about noon on December 3, the 101st Submarine Squadron sailed south along the Newfoundland coast, and found a small cargo ship about 1,000 tons near the entrance to the Cabernet Strait. The cargo ship was just within the attack range of the u-400. Major Haldergan thought about the periscope and gave up this "prey". At this time, if an attack was launched on it, it might cause a call for help, which would lead to a comprehensive sea and air search of the submarine near the Cabernet Strait, which would not be conducive to the next battle of the entire squadron. If the British were not alarmed now, and then diving to the southern waterway after dark, it would be easier to achieve greater results.

Major Haldergen intends to make a big ticket here. Then he slips away and goes straight to the east coast of the United States.

After dealing with the enemy patrol aircraft, the excellent performance of the new submarine made him look more confident.

Haldergen ordered the formation to continue sailing southward, crossing the American waterway to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and then ambushed in this area.

The 101st Submarine Squadron waited for the first batch of "prey" to enter the ambush circle when it was almost dawn. The officer on duty reported that the radar found a fleet of three large merchant ships sailing out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and heading towards the coast of the United States. It was almost 6:15 am and the sky became brighter and brighter. After a while, Hadergen saw a scene from the periscope that all submarine commanders coveted: three merchant ships with tonnage of about 10,000 tons lined up in a row, and arrived smoothly on the sea toward their ambush location, without escorting the warships.

In the u-400 boat, the crews were ready for battle, and the killing machine had sharp teeth exposed. Through the thin hull, the crews could hear the increasingly loud ping-ping sound coming from the sonar chamber. The sound was sharp and trembling constantly. The echo detector made a higher tone when capturing multiple targets, trembling more violently, with a special tone.

"Este, we first attack the last target of the fleet!" Hadergen said to the gunman who was operating another periscope.

"Yes, sir! The last target!" the gunman replied loudly.

Major Hadergen saw three hazy gray shadows appearing on the dark sea from the periscope. Since the sky was not bright yet, the navigation lights on the ship were still on, which made them easier to expose their location. Steamers in Europe would never dare to sail with navigation lights so swaying. Obviously, Americans and Canadians in North America have not yet developed such good habits and have not adopted light control.

Now the distance between several ships from U-400 is about 12,000 meters, and it has actually entered the range of torpedoes. However, most German submarine commanders will not launch attacks at this distance. In fact, the probability of torpedo hitting the target at a distance of more than 3,000 meters is quite low.

German submarine commanders prefer to use close-range high-speed attacks when attacking merchant ships without escort, so that the hit rate will reach about 50%. Although it is still a bit far away, Hadergen can still judge with his rich combat experience that it is a 10,000-ton oil tanker and two standard ocean freighters built in batches during wartime.

This type of ship is most common in the United States and Britain, but it is not necessarily an American ship or a British ship, or a ship belonging to a neutral country. However, the Axis powers have announced unlimited submarine warfare. All ships entering the territorial waters of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and Japan will be considered "enemy ships" and are attacked, so German submarine commanders do not have to struggle to identify the flags flying on the ship.

"6200 meters, the front torpedo compartment is prepared, the rotation angle is 3, the fixed depth is 3 meters!" Lieutenant Este gave the order to prepare for launch to the torpedo compartment for the first time.

Two minutes later, he reported to Major Hadergen again: "The launch is ready, sir!"

"Well, keep the current course, one-third of the speed!" Hadergen said, and he needed to wait for the two ships in front to sail over. The u-400 is equipped with 6 bow torpedo tubes and 2 stern torpedo tubes, carrying a total of 24 torpedo tubes. When attacking unprotected merchant ships, usually 2-3 torpedoes are enough.

Perhaps because they have not been attacked by submarines for a long time and approached the Canadian coast, the three cargo ships did not perform anti-submarine maneuvers once, but sailed straight along the channel, which allowed the lurking German submarines to easily lock in the target. The sailors on the ship seemed unable to see the "wolf pack" lurking underwater 2,000 meters away from them. The waves on the sea made them unable to distinguish the two periscopes and submarine antennas about 1.5 meters above the water.

"Three attacks, start!" After lurking for about half an hour, Hadergen finally issued an order to attack.

"Speed ​​one!...Speed ​​two!...Speed ​​three!"
Chapter completed!