Chapter 1084 Type 21 U-Boat Is Here Too

The American escort destroyer finally discovered the fast approaching torpedo boat. The 127mm guns that were originally firing randomly in the air all turned their muzzles and fired with a rumble. The dazzling searchlight also shot towards the sea, illuminating the S100 torpedo boat that was traveling at full speed on the sea.

Colonel Johnson personally stayed in the narrow cockpit of the command boat S115, standing next to the driver, staring at his prey, an Avarz-class escort destroyer, and heard the ranging report from the observation cabin.

"11,000 meters!"

"10,000 meters!"

"9,000 meters!"

"8,000 meters..."

Now all preparations for the torpedo launch are ready, and two compressed air-propelled T1 torpedoes are ready. All you need to do is let the torpedo boat rush to within 6,000 meters of the target, and then you can launch it!

The American escort destroyer had already reacted by this time, and two 127mm guns were aimed at the torpedo boat's route and kept bombarding. Clusters of water columns were constantly stirred up with the explosion of shells. For the S115 boat weighing more than 100 tons, the water columns stirred up by the 127mm shells were like a layer of water wall. But it couldn't stop the boat from moving straight forward at all - this torpedo boat was armored, and although it couldn't stop the direct hit of the 127mm shells, the shell fragments hit the front of the torpedo boat, but could only rub off some paint.

Probably realizing that they couldn't use firepower to stop the German torpedo boat, the American escort destroyer began to twist on the sea and took S-shaped evasive actions. But the escort destroyer didn't have the high speed of a regular destroyer like the "Fletcher" class - if Colonel Johnson encountered a "Fletcher" class that could drive at 37 knots, it would still be very difficult to sink it with a 44-knot T1 torpedo. However, the Avarts-class escort destroyer can only run at a maximum speed of 19.5 knots, and it has no advantage against the S100-class torpedo boats.

Perhaps knowing that a disaster is imminent, the eight escort destroyers targeted by the 16 S100 boats sent out distress signals one after another, and soon the six "Benson"-class destroyers and one of the latest "Allen Sumner"-class destroyers patrolling nearby rushed to support them.

These seven destroyers are all regular destroyers with large displacements. The "Benson" class has five 127mm dual-purpose guns, while the "Allen Sumner" class has dual-purpose guns, and their speeds are as high as 37 knots!

Once they are combined with the 10 "Avarts"-class escort destroyers, Colonel Johnson's 16 S boats will not be enough to deal with.

However, at this time, both the 10 "Aivaz" class ships that were eager to escape from the torpedoes of the S100 submarine and the 7 regular destroyers that were eager to rescue friendly ships had forgotten about anti-submarine warfare.

These 17 high-speed destroyers were difficult to detect underwater targets with sonar because of their own noise problems. Therefore, there was a huge gap in the anti-submarine patrol circle around the US battleships, transport ships, and landing ships.

The 6 Type 21 U-boats that had long sneaked near the US fleet soon found this opportunity to break through.

"Sir, another team of US destroyers is coming, making a lot of noise, and they should be sailing at high speed!"

Sergeant Schultz, a sonar soldier on the U-3001 submarine, lowered his voice to the lowest level and reported the latest findings to the captain, Captain Manzek.

Because it was late at night and the visibility on the water was very poor, the Type 21 U-boat did not raise the periscope, but used passive sonar to judge the situation on the water.

"Captain," Lieutenant Luce, the submarine's first officer, whispered to Manzek, "We should be able to slip in..."

"Boom! Boom!" Before he finished speaking, two dull booms came through the seawater and the submarine's hull.

"It should be the torpedo fired by the S-boat!" Lieutenant Luce immediately made a judgment.

"Our chance has come!" Captain Manzek immediately made a decision, "Speed ​​up to the maximum, we will rush directly under the patrol circle of the American destroyer!"

"Yes, Captain!"

"4000 meters! Colonel, the current distance is 4000 meters!"

When the underwater Type 21 U-boat began to charge at full speed, the S115 boat on the surface had already rushed to 4000 meters away from an American escort destroyer.

For a 44-knot T1 torpedo, this distance is already very close! The T1 torpedo can glide about 1350 meters in the water per minute and can hit the American destroyer in less than 3 minutes.

It is not easy for a 19.5 knot boat to avoid four salvos of T1 torpedoes in such a short time!

Colonel Johnson knew that the torpedo boat could not move forward any further. 4000 meters was already within the range of the 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun. If it moved forward, the S boat would be at risk of being sunk.

"Torpedo! Fire!" Colonel Johnson took the intercom from the signalman beside him and shouted the command that always made him excited.

Not only the torpedo operator on the S115 boat received the order, but also the S116 boat that was charging side by side with the S115 boat.

As the trigger was pulled hard, under the huge air pressure, four 533mm T1 torpedoes jumped out of the launch port, and then like four steel beasts rushing into the water, they bared their fangs and pounced on the prey less than 4000 meters away.

At the same time as the torpedoes rushed out of the launch port, the S115 and S116 boats also turned to the left and right at the same time, leaving the battlefield quickly like flying. They had just completed a big turn when a loud rumbling sound came from behind.

At around midnight on August 24, 1944, the escort destroyer "Austin" with a full load displacement of 1,360 tons was blown into two pieces by two T1 torpedoes launched by the S115 and S116 boats, and completely sank to the bottom of the water in just a few minutes. Of the 156 people on the ship, less than 30 were rescued.

And just 3 minutes before the "Austin" was hit by the torpedo, the two ships of the same class (both Evarts class) such as the Bebas and Decker were also hit by a T1 torpedo each. However, they were lucky. Instead of sinking immediately, they struggled on the sea for a while, which bought time for the naval officers and soldiers on the ship to jump into the sea and escape.

…

"Captain, we are probably close to Georgetown Beach."

Just as the Americans on the sea were busy retrieving their fallen companions, the U-3001 had slipped past the patrol circle of the American destroyer. However, because the submarine was moving underwater, it was inevitable that it would deviate from its course, so the first officer of the U-3001, Lieutenant Schultz, could only estimate a position.

"Slow down to 5 knots." Captain Manzek also agreed with his deputy's estimate, "1, 2 water tanks drain, raise to periscope height."

"1, 2 water tanks drain, height raised to periscope height."

Because it was fighting in the waters close to the coastline, the U-3001 did not dive too deep, so it quickly raised itself to periscope height.

"Okay, now let's see how lucky we are..." Captain Manzek personally raised the periscope and then put his eyes on the periscope eyepiece.

The sea was still dark. Captain Manzek turned the periscope left and right a few times, and a few dim lights suddenly slipped into his eyes.

He suddenly pointed the periscope at the place where the light appeared, and saw a landing ship of two or three thousand tons moving forward while illuminating the channel ahead with dim lights. Obviously, this is a landing ship that is using the cover of night to sail towards the beach of Georgetown!

"The target is found, a landing ship, no... not one, there are three, four, five... God, the sea is full of landing ships!" Looking at the landing ships appearing in the periscope one after another, Captain Manzek's eyes were bloodshot.

Although landing ships are not as valuable as battleships and aircraft carriers, they are so numerous that they cover the sea! There are at least dozens of landing ships of various types here, and there must be tens of thousands of American soldiers on them!

If they were all drowned, the war would probably end a few weeks earlier, right?

Unfortunately, there were not so many torpedoes on the U-3001!

"We have caught a big fish!" Manzek said to the first mate with an uncontrollable excitement, "There are dozens of landing craft on it! If other brothers were here, tens of thousands of Americans would have drowned tonight!"

"Sir, we have 24 torpedoes, and we can fire up to 4 salvos in 30 minutes, with 6 torpedoes in each round..."

In addition to the high speed and low noise underwater (very low noise at low speed), the Type 21 U-boat also has a unique skill, which is the hydraulic loading system, which can complete the loading of 6 torpedoes in 10-12 minutes.

"We can't waste it so much," Manzek immediately rejected his deputy's suggestion, "We can fire up to 4 at a time, 24 torpedoes to hit 6 targets, and we have to kill 6 American landing ships tonight!"

After saying this, Captain Manzek suppressed his excitement and began to issue combat orders one after another.

Although the underwater displacement of the U-3001 boat he commanded was only 1,819 tons, it was small compared to the submarines of Japan and the United States, which were often 2,000 to 3,000 tons or even larger. But in terms of combat capability, it can definitely be regarded as an underwater killer.

Moreover, the German Naval Armament Bureau also designed and produced electric propulsion torpedoes with ideal concealment and accuracy (no bubbles) for this submarine that can travel at a high speed of 17.2 knots underwater. If everything goes well, by the time U-3001 successfully fired 24 torpedoes and sank 6 landing ships full of American sailors, the Americans have not yet discovered its existence!