CHAPTER 288: CHAPTER 288: MOBILE DEFENSE CIRCLE

At 3:30 am the next day, Colonel Hering commanded the U-21 submarine to appear in the western waters of the Dardanelles Strait.

Technically, he didn’t need to arrive so early. Colonel Hering had already investigated the time and pattern of dawn: dawn around six, with dawn time advancing by about ten minutes each day, meaning the attack time was roughly at 5:50.

But Colonel Hering believed that arriving at the attack position one step ahead would be beneficial for the mission.

In Colonel Hering’s office, holding a pencil, he circled the waters in front of V Beach on the map while analyzing to the deputy captain:

"French battleships are usually equipped with 305MM caliber main guns, with a range of over ten kilometers, and secondary guns of 138MM, with a range of eight kilometers."

"I believe that to provide adequate fire support to the landing troops, the battleships will enter within eight kilometers to allow the secondary guns to play their role."

"Therefore, their activity range is estimated within this sea area."

The deputy captain nodded in agreement: "French warships always seem to be at the forefront. The one that destroyed the Ottoman ammunition depot before seemed to be the French ’Gauls’!"

"Yes." Colonel Hering smiled lightly, with a hint of sarcasm at the corner of his mouth: "They seem eager to perform, hence risking close-range firing despite the artillery fire."

"Understandable." The deputy captain replied: "Their warships were overshadowed by the British, so they are eager to make merits on the battlefield. This is probably why Shire came here?"

Colonel Hering looked at the deputy captain and smiled knowingly: "Shire isn’t that simple, Otto. He was forced here by the parliament."

Then Colonel Hering turned the topic back to the main point:

"If we know the enemy will appear here, we don’t need to wait for them to get close."

"We can arrive at the destination one step ahead and then submerge and lie in ambush waiting for them. It will be much safer this way!"

The deputy captain had no objection to this, he just teased: "Aren’t you afraid that once we surface, we might be sunk by the enemy?"

This is indeed very likely. At this time, submarines didn’t even have hydrophones. Submerged, they wouldn’t even know if enemy warships were overhead.

(Note: Hydrophones were invented at the end of 1915 by French physicists and Russian electrical engineers.)

If they were directly above or very close, the submarine might be broken in half by a passing battleship or punctured by a destroyer before it had time to surface to periscope depth.

Either way, it would be fatal to the submarine.

Colonel Hering calmly replied: "Only danger brings rewards; that’s Shire after all!"

...

After the submarine reached the destination, Colonel Hering climbed the submarine’s conning tower, poking his upper body out, and held binoculars to observe the sea surface.

The sea surface was very calm, gray under the moonlight, only the sea breeze blowing the waves continuously hitting the submarine, making it sway back and forth.

In the distance, Helles Point of the Dardanelles Strait protruded from one end of the continent like a sea serpent. V Beach seemed like its tongue.

After observing for a while, Colonel Hering shrank back into the conning tower, carefully looked at the map with a flashlight, then ordered the submarine to change position for observation, finally determining his position to be around ten kilometers west of V Beach.

Colonel Hering was satisfied, shrinking back into the conning tower, flipping the hatch cover closed. The submarine slowly submerged, disappearing into the seawater like a ghost, as if it never appeared.

...

After the submarine submerged, Hering took a nap lying on the desk.

If there was a safest place in the world, it’s when the submarine is underwater; other than reefs, Hering couldn’t think of anything that could pose a threat to it.

At 5:20, the deputy captain woke Hering up on time.

Colonel Hering rubbed his dry eyes, took the coffee handed by the deputy captain, took two sips, and then gave out a series of orders:

"Start the engine!"

"Keep heading, full speed ahead!"

"Ascend to periscope depth!"

...

If Colonel Hering’s estimation was correct, the submarine would appear right in front of the enemy fleet, not more or less by a minute.

However, when the submarine raised its periscope, Colonel Hering was startled by what he saw.

The enemy fleet approached within five kilometers to bomb V Beach at close range, the battleships’ positions were obvious, firing at V Beach from the center of the fleet, the fire and smoke from the gun barrels were like beacons guiding their direction.

Meanwhile, the Ottoman soldiers on V Beach also fired back at the fleet, shells creating towering water columns on the sea surface, the sea filled with white gas, indistinguishable whether it was shell smoke, steam, or exhaust from the warships.

Colonel Hering sensed something was wrong.

If others were so reckless, Colonel Hering wouldn’t be surprised, but this was Shire!

How could he let his fleet be caught in a two-front passive state right from the start, wasn’t he at all worried about a submarine sneak attack?

Carefully observing, Colonel Hering understood.

Against the gray-white sky background, Colonel Hering found a total of nine destroyers surrounding the battleship, circling it continuously.

"Very clever tactics." Colonel Hering praised: "Worthy of Shire!"

This mobile defense was much more effective than anti-submarine nets.

The circling destroyers essentially formed an invisible defense net, making it easy for submarines trying to approach and raise their periscopes to be destroyed.

Now, Hering seemed to have only two choices:

Either retreat before being discovered by the enemy, or launch torpedoes outside Shire’s mobile defense circle.

However, the defense circle was at least two kilometers wide, making launching torpedoes almost impossible to hit.

After considering for a while, Hering gave a low order: "Maintain heading and speed, submerge!"

"Maintain heading and speed, submerge!"

Simultaneously, Hering took out his pocket watch, noting the time at the moment of the submarine’s submergence.

Colonel Hering decided to take a risky move, calculating the time and speed.

If the calculations were correct, the submarine would surface breaking through the enemy’s mobile defense circle, appearing around 500 meters from the target.

The inner layer had only two destroyers; the operational time and space would be much greater then.

What Colonel Hering didn’t anticipate was that it was precisely the three destroyers inside that were the most dangerous.

This was a trap meticulously laid by Shire:

The battleship was fiercely battling the enemy at V Beach, making enemy submarines think they had an opportunity.

The mobile defense circle formed by the destroyers was meant to force submarines to attempt a close-range sneak attack on the battleship.

And the three destroyers within had been modified by Shire from France, ready with deep water bombs waiting for the submarine to appear.

(From left to right, respectively Germany’s U22, U20, U19, and the U21 appearing in the text)