บท 68: Chapter 8: Mobilization
Since Zhang Hainuo left U21, Hessen's achievements have not increased much, but he has experienced various dangers at sea multiple times. Fortunately, his experience and command have repeatedly led the crew to overcome difficulties. When Zhang Hainuo reunited with them on "Hessen Island," there were only two unfamiliar faces on U21, and the two crew members who were recalled to Germany before the end of the war were due to physiological reasons rather than war injuries.
After U148 entered the "secret base," the crew immediately began to inspect the damage to the bottom of the boat without rest. Meanwhile, Zhang Hainuo and Hessen sat on a nearby hillside to assess the supplies carried by the two submarines. First was the fuel; after the long voyage, U148 only had just over 20 tons of fuel left, and U21's situation was even worse. Due to Austria-Hungary's more severe shortage of supplies compared to Germany, the oil reserves in the Pola port had already been depleted several months ago. Hessen had to personally spend money to bribe an Austrian officer in charge of managing the oil depot to obtain enough fuel for U21 to sail to this point. The remaining 3.5 tons of fuel on board could only sustain it for less than 500 nautical miles!
In Zhang Hainuo and Hessen's initial plan, both submarines were supposed to depart fully fueled. However, the current situation was much worse than expected. The fuel crisis that Germany encountered during World War II seemed to have been anticipated here. The ace captain who had sunk six oil tankers totaling over 200,000 tons of oil now had nothing but nostalgia!
"Here, Antalya port, where we can get oil! It will take us only one day to get there at 10 knots, but I doubt the Turks will accept our marks now. We need hard currency!" Hessen pointed at the map, and although they had thousands of marks in their pockets, the value of these notes had plummeted rapidly with Germany's defeat!
"Yes, as long as we have hard currency, we can land near the coast, buy a small barge there, and transport barrels of diesel fuel over. But the biggest problem now lies in this damned hard currency!" Zhang Hainuo did not regret not bringing those gold and silver coins—although these precious metal coins were sturdy, they were still too few for purchasing large quantities of fuel supplies!
"Our plan was to salvage some valuable items first and then go to Turkey to exchange money and fuel. However, with the fuel we have now, we can only travel a little over 1,000 nautical miles. The nearest sunken ship recorded in the log..."
Zhang Hainuo used a ruler to measure on the map, "is 300 nautical miles away. If there's nothing on the first wreck, we'll have to go to the next one, which is nearly 200 nautical miles away. It'll be very dangerous to double back from there!"
"With our diving equipment, we can only salvage at a maximum depth of 40 meters. Once the depth of those two wrecks exceeds this number..." Hessen took a deep breath and glanced at their two submarines. After considering for a while, he proposed, "It seems that we can only temporarily use one submarine so that we can visit more wreck sites. The chances of finding something will be much higher!"
Zhang Hainuo stared at the map for a while, then glanced at the distant sea. "It looks like that's the only way!"
With the help of the old crew members from U21, the young men on Zhang Hainuo's boat quickly inspected the damaged areas of the submarine. There was a breach about 10 to 15 centimeters wide and about 50 centimeters long. They needed to drain the water from the fresh water tanks and then use welding guns and spare steel plates to repair the breach. However, this could only be considered a temporary fix; to restore the submarine's deep-sea diving performance, they would need to return to the shipyard for proper repairs.
For Zhang Hainuo and the others, the shortage of oil was bad news, and the situation with fresh water was equally grim. Although Hessen and the others had brought enough fresh water for the crew of U148 to last eight weeks, considering the number of people and the remaining amount of fresh water, they would run out in three weeks.
During the week since Hessen and the others arrived here, they had tried to collect rainwater, but this was not a long-term solution!
On the evening of the day U148 arrived at "Hessen Island," Hessen and Zhang Hainuo gathered all the crew members. Hessen was the first to speak:
"Everyone, I'm sure you already have a general understanding of our current situation. We are now in the southeastern part of the Aegean Sea, only a little over a hundred nautical miles from our wartime ally, Turkey. The war has ended, but we are the only German soldiers who have not surrendered to the enemy. Germany will be proud of us! Next, we will salvage the sunken ships from the war according to our plan. We won't have to pay taxes or commissions to anyone for what we salvage. All the wealth we recover will belong to us! Now, Captain Finkensiep, whom you all know well, will announce the discipline during our salvage operation!"
Having Zhang Hainuo announce the discipline here had a major advantage. Almost all the crew members on both submarines were familiar with him. While he had spent only a short time on U21, he had still built a strong bond with the crew.
"Everyone, our country chose temporary retreat due to the war situation. If we were to return to Germany now, think about it, these two submarines would undoubtedly be forcibly taken away by countries like Britain, France, and the United States! Our first priority is to preserve these two submarines. With this as a premise, the crew of U21, Captain Hessen has probably told you about our plan. Also, to all the crew of U148, welcome to this treasure hunt!"
Zhang Hainuo began with a plain and unadorned opening statement, then announced various rules:
"First, from now on, everyone must regard U21 and U148 as a whole. Everyone must respect and help each other! This whole is now commanded by Captain Hessen, with me as the second commander. Other personnel will still be managed strictly according to their military ranks and positions on board. Anyone who violates orders will be dealt with according to military law!"
"Second, since our fuel, fresh water, and food are not abundant at the moment, we will implement strict rationing from today onwards. No one is allowed to make fires privately. The fire used for cooking must be supervised by someone at all times, especially at night!"
"Third, regarding the distribution of salvaged goods, we currently have 74 people here. After deducting supplies to be exchanged with the Turks, the rest will be temporarily held by Captain Hessen and me. After the operation ends, we will distribute them according to specific numbers, with the distribution ratio based on military ranks and age! Does anyone have any objections to this?"
After Zhang Hainuo finished speaking, he looked around at the crew members. The concept of equal military ranks and age might be somewhat vague, but perhaps because they were uncertain about how much wealth they could salvage or perhaps because of their trust in Zhang Hainuo and Hessen, without exception, they all agreed.
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