“Are we all ready?” sounded the Admiral as he called the briefing in order.
“As we all know that due to several developments, we had to bring forward the mission. We cannot afford to wait any longer. The window of opportunity has opened for us now and it won’t last long”
“As we know that the Gestapo is facing internal conflicts, it is no secret and even Fuhrer is concerned about this. And the fact that Gestapo may be involved is sabotaging this mission; we have taken every precaution to limit the information from reaching the Gestapo. I wonder what they will do with this information. Of course, the Gestapo eyes are every where and even in Kriegsmarine, we do suspect some of the officers to be the Gestapo agents.”
“The good thing is that the Fuhrer has issued a direct order to the Gestapo Head and regional heads to back off from this mission. Let’s just pray that this order hold until we have completed the mission”
“Another development that favoured this mission is the naval battles between the Japanese Imperial Navy and the British Royal Navy. There has been a major battle in the Far East last week that saw the sinking of three Royal Navy battle cruisers by the Japanese. The Japanese also suffered severe damages to its ships. We therefore expect fewer patrols by both countries in the Far East. That may allow us to slip in to complete our mission.”
“As I mentioned to the captain a few days ago, the U X, the German Navy latest U Boat has been completed and is undergoing sea trials” said the Admiral proudly and there were murmurs among those who attending the briefing.
“And I must thank to the commander of the Reich Shipping Yard, the retired Admiral Kantz for the speedy completion of the Boat” said the Admiral as he looked at the man in the shadow.
The captain immediately looked at the man in shadow who now proceeded to come closer. He finally saw the face of Admiral Kantz. He was aged but clearly he looked brilliant and tactical. Admiral Kantz looked at the Captain Franz now and smiled.
“I know one day you will be useful and it is a good thing I did saving you from Admiral Hessler” laughed the Admiral Kantz.
“By the way, you got the details of the new U Boat which I sent to you? That would explain a lot about the vessel that you are going to captain in the next few days.”
The Admiral went to brief those were attending the briefing on the Third Reich’s latest U Boat but it was clear to the captain that the Admiral had withhold several important information about the U Boat. Perhaps he wanted to maintain the secrecy of the technology of the new U Boat.
“During the construction we faced a lot of challenges – it was not easy to build something that was bigger and sleeker without anyone else knowing about it. We were in particularly worried about internal and Allied espionage and sabotage. So, what we did was to construct the new boat in a under water bunker. Even so, it was not easy to complete construction. Despite our best efforts, we did encounter unexplained explosives and damages. After a detail investigation, we did caught some Gestapo agents who been acting as dock workers. They were dealt with swiftly”
“On the technology, you must note that the Reich Shipping Yard does not build the normal U Boats. We had developed technologies different from what the other shipping yards uses for their construction of the U Boats. The last boat that we worked on was on the Captain Franz’s U 133 which was done for the Bismarck task force mission”
“Now the U X is ready for the Far East mission and we are confident that it will perform better than the captain’s expectations. At this note, I must also add that the captain U 133’s crew are very skilled and fast learners. They have been actively involved in the on-going sea trials of U X and they have mastered the technologies and the working of U X. They will be ready when you take over the U Boat. We still need you to familiarise yourself with the new boat before you leave for the Far East. Different captains push the limits of their vessels differently”
“Be prepared to travel to the U X secret dock soon” said Admiral Kantz as he closed his part of the briefing.
“Professor, you have any updates for us” asked the Kriegsmarine Admiral
The aged professor, Professor Z as he called walked to the front rather slowly. He adjusted his spectacles and took out some notes from his pocket and was reading it.
“The professor and his team of scientists have been isolated since the last briefing” informed the Admiral as he waits for Professor Z to be ready.
“Professor Z, are you ready” asked one of the officers, awaking the Professor from his deep thoughts.
“Yes, yes, I am sorry gentlemen. I was just checking on my notes. Me and my colleagues have been spending sleepless nights running through old notes and ancient artefacts and we found something interesting. It was mentioned that the ancient U Boat appeared just after a whirlpool off the coast of Malaya but there was no movement thereafter. It drifted to its final resting place. So, unlike the information that we received earlier, we now believe that the ancient U Boat may have come either from an alien world or from the future”
“With the progress of technology every day, it is not a surprise that fifty or hundred years into the future, man would have created a powerful sea machine. Running thought the artefacts; we noted the word “Nuclear Submarine” mentioned in several paragraphs”
“The Americans called their U Boat, submarines” remarked one naval officer sitting near to the Professor
“Yes, if we follow our wildest imagination, it could an American Nuclear Submarine from the future” said the Professor Z and immediately there was silence in the room.
“We did not realise that the Americans were capable of building nuclear submarines. We know that their navy is powerful and thanks to us, the Japanese have abandoned their plans to attack the American naval base in Pearl Harbour. Otherwise, we would have hard time dealing with the Americans in the Atlantic” added the Kriegsmarine Admiral.
“The Americans may not have the technology now but being fairly shielded from the ravages of wars in Europe and the Pacific, the Americans certainly have enough time and resources to fine tune their war machines and develop new ones. I won’t be surprise if they already have a nuclear submarine in their arsenal” added another
“This is serious” pondered the Kriegsmarine Admiral
“And this means our mission is more critical than ever. If the Americans decide to join the British in the war and flooded the Atlantic with nuclear submarines, our U Boats will have hard time attacking the merchants and naval ships”
“Wait, are we not jumping the gun? We are not sure whether the ancient submarine truly belongs to the Americans and whether the Americans will join the war or not” remarked one of the junior scientists.
The Kriegsmarine Admiral looked at the junior scientist and said “It is better to be ready with unbelievable scenarios than not being ready for anything. For now, we have to assume that the Americans already have nuclear submarine and they will be involved with the war against Germany. So, Captain Franz, you are aware of the seriousness of the mission?”
The captain nodded and turned around to face Admiral Kantz
“Admiral, I think we have enough of the sea trials. I want take helm of the new U Boat as soon as possible. I need to familiarise myself with the vessel and leave to the Far East once ready”
Admiral Kantz agreed and informed that he will make arrangements to transport the captain and Ernst to the secret U X dock by midnight today.
“We have made the necessary arrangements with several merchant ships that will provide provisions of food, water and fuel on your way to the Far East. Don’t ask where these merchant ships are from. We will coordinate the rendezvous points from Berlin but should anything to happen to any one of us here or the communication from Berlin has been blocked, alternate arrangements has been done to ensure the rendezvous points are met. These alternate arrangements are top secret and is only known to me and several of my trusted staff” added the Kriegsmarine Admiral
The briefing ended with a stern reminder to ensure that whatever that has been said in the room remains as a top secret.
The captain went back to his quarter and was shocked to see it ransacked. Someone has been looking for something in his room. Nothing taking any chances of entering his room, he alerted the guards who quickly closed the main entrance and alerted the sentries. There was no one in the room.
Ernst quickly arrived at the captain’s quarters and so did the Kriegsmarine Admiral.
“Someone was looking for something in my room and I know what it is” said the captain as he held on to the U X blueprints and notes in his briefcase. He was lucky to have decided to take along the blueprints and the notes to the briefing.
The guards were called in and were asked whether they saw anyone suspicious near the captain’s quarters. One of the guards remarked that he saw a naval captain lurking around Captain Franz’s quarters but he could not see the man’s face. The Admiral ordered the security in the base to be beefed up and sentries to be posted at every entrance. Only those with the correct security pass will be allowed to pass through. The situation was getting critical by the minutes.
As his quarters were in a mess, the captain shared Ernst’s room as they wait to be taken to their new place at midnight.
At exactly midnight, the captain and Ernst were transported to the nearest port where Admiral Kantz was waiting for them in a small U Boat. The midget U Boat can only hold about 10 men and only needs three men to operate it. The captain had never seen a midget U Boat before and was amazed. So did Ernst who thought the midget U Boat as someone’s bad jokes.
“You are probably seeing a midget U Boat for the first time” remarked the Admiral noting their silence as they departed from the port.
“The designs for midget U Boat are nothing new. The Americans used similar things during their Civil War although it was not really successful. The German Naval Command don’t operate midget U Boats although we have twenty of them in active service. The lack of range and load is main deterrence for active use in the Atlantic although our special forces have used them on several missions. We provided an older design to the Japanese who improvised and built midget U Boats in large numbers. Their coastal to coastal warfare fits the need for midget U Boats perfectly. Unlike us, the Japanese Imperial Navy believes that long range mission are best done by large battle ships and aircraft carriers”
“It is best transport vessel to reach the U X’s naval base – if anyone was thinking of following us, we will just vanish underwater and they will be lost” laughed the Admiral
“Admiral, someone is tracking us by sonar” alerted the midget U Boat captain
“It looks I spoke too soon but there is nothing to fear. Captain, drop to the floor of the sea bed and activate the sonar cancelation frequency” replied the Admiral as the captain proceeded to click on some of the buttons in front of him.
“By the way, U X has a more high tech sonar cancellation device. Basically what the device does is that it will cloak the U Boat from any sonar detection. You can pass right under the enemy’s boats without being detected. That means closer range torpedo attack” said the Admiral as the midget U Boat continued with its journey.
It was a while before it sounded like the midget U Boat was docking.
“We have arrived” said the Admiral as he helped his crew to dock.
The midget U Boat surfaced and moved towards its pen. There was several other midget U Boats in the other pens. There was one large U Boat at the main pen. It was the U X. Captain Franz and Ernst got out and the sight of the U Boat stunned them for a moment.
“Where are we, Admiral?” asked the captain as he noted that sunbeam was directed to the dock by means of tubes.
“We are under the sea, captain and next to a remote island belonging to the Allies. When we arrived here, there was no one on the island and it made sense. What more a better place to hide the German latest U Boat base if not on an island belonging to the Allies. Further, the German minesweepers have laid more than enough sea mines that it will take years for the Allies to clear them”
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