Azur Lane: Silent Service
Chapter 7 - Data Thief Submarine
In the dark and calm sea, I controlled my submarine in a silent position. My ultimate goal is to sneak out of the Gibraltar military base without their marine sensors detected. The movement of my submarine was at minimum speed and relied on passive sonar for underwater navigation.
“Conn, sonar! New contact bearing 100, designed Siera 1.”
“Conn, sonar! New contact bearing 120, designed Siera 2.”
“Conn, sonar! New contact bearing 140, designed Siera 3.”
All of a sudden, my passive sonar caught a small movement on the surface of the water. Sofia quickly locks the movement and passes the information to a tactical screen that monitors their movements.
“What the hell?” that's what I said after seeing Siera's contact line forming the ship's convoy formation.
“Master, it seems it was a Royal Navy convoy heading for Gibraltar. Should we welcome them?” ask Sofia.
“Ugh, that's a very bad idea, Sofia. Tactics of war for stealth submarines are not like that.”
Sofia's presence in my submarine system provides tactical ease and moral support. I'd be crazy to be alone in the ocean without a interlocutor. In my previous life, I was a loner connected to the Internet. So, I'm not too lonely.
Ugh, I miss social media.
If not wrong, the world of Azur Lane has a global internet and social media network called Juustagram.
I'll find out after finding the main island.
“But, according to a military book published by Azur Lane. Submarines were used to break up the convoy of ships with surprise attacks. Isn't that situation very suitable for the time being?”
“Yep, that's not wrong. Such attack tactics were often used by Uboat submarines during the second world war. However, these stealth submarines are very different from them. Technological developments have changed submarine attack tactics and you should understand that, Sofia.”
“M-Sorry, Master. I was trying to understand the information from the Azur Lane database and it seemed that it was different from the knowledge that Master.” had
“It's okay, just think of it as an additional data for your database. For now, we just pass them undetected.”
“Understanding, Master!”
The depth of my submarine is at 200 meters, sonar contact at that depth can easily find my submarine's whereabouts, if my submarine's body uses its outer-coated steel and iron frame.
However, the Royal Navy's sonar technology was unable to detect my submarine's soft cushion-protected body to dampen active sonar.
“Sofia, make this a special lesson for you. We'll pass through the Royal Navy convoy just below them without their underwater ears detected” my orders.
“Ung?” Sofia looks confused.
Even artificial intelligence has a confused expression to process my commands.
I've heard about this before, to detect a submarine there are two ways that can be done, namely listening to sounds in the water or catching suspicious signals. For this reason, some military ships limit their radio contact.
It looks very interesting.
“Sofia, identify Siera contacts based on the signature you have obtained!” my orders.
Each vessel has its own identifying markings such as hull number, radio wave frequency, the shape of the ship's silhouette, and the sound produced from the cavitation of water bubbles for the submarine's point of view.
“Master, it will take time for ship identification. Too much noise created by them.”
“Yeah, the convoy of the ship sounds very noisy. Adjust to the data that was obtained.”
“Un! Copy!”
Slowly, the small screen in front of me displayed the identification of the ship that Sofia had broken through.
Well, it wasn't perfect but Sofia managed to separate the noise source for one ship.
“Master, for ship name identification. We have one problem-“
“We don't have any data on their cavitation sound”.
“Un!” Sofia agreed with my words.
“Show list of ships heading to Gibraltar military base in Tactical Map Operation!”
“Good, Master!”
Tactical Map Operation lists ships bound for Gibraltar's military base. The data between passive sonar and information obtained by Sofia is very appropriate. There are seven classes of ships bound for the Gibraltar military base.
“Huh? They prepared this many troops to destroy Siren Strongholds?” my spoken.
“Ung? Is it still lacking?” reply Sofia.
“No, it is already more than enough especially with the presence of HMS King George V which is supported by healer and buffer.”
*Bwwmuuummmm...
*Wararararara...
*Swiiiiiirrrrllll...
My submarine slowly passed through the Royal Navy convoy, the sound of the ship's propellers and their water bubble cavitation was very noisy in my ears.
“Uwaaah... We passed them undetected” Sofia said.
“Sofia, periscope depth!” my orders.
“Um, Master? Why do we go to periscope depth?” ask Sofia.
“Sofia, we lack data on the signature of the Royal Navy ship. This is our chance to fine-tune the captured data for ship identification.”
“Ah! Also true! Why didn't I think of this before?” Sofia.
“No, no! Use the periscope to see the situation and launch the Hunter Killer Drone if the circumstances support.
“Hmm... Why should we do that?”
“Sofia, we are a secret unit protected by Admirality Code. Appearing ourselves is very contrary to the background of our story.”
“Eh? Though I've registered a hundred new identities supporting our background in Azur Lane.”'s secret database
“...”
“S-Sofia, what did you just do?” for some reason, I could feel a troublesome event waiting for me in plain sight.
“Ung? Based on the orders given by the Master. We are a secret unit consisting of a hundred Seawolf-class ship girls and the Master becomes the Flagship of a Seawolf-class unit, right?”
“Uhuh... I did order that.”
“So, I registered a hundred Seawolf-class identities along with their military rank.”
“Sofia, send that data to the main system!” my orders.
“Un! It's Master!”
“Hmm... I-It..”.
I was at a loss for words after reading the data Sofia provided, my artificial intelligence was too active to make unnecessary improvisation!
Within my main system, a piece of crap wrapped in the reality of Azur Lane's world was clearly visible. A covert military operation conducted by the Eagle Union party actually took place, they were utilizing the children from the orphanage as trial materials. Sofia added a little drama to the incident and spawned a Seawolf-class unit in Azur Lane's world history.
“Master?” Sofia called.
“Ung? What's up, Sofia?” my reply.
“We have stepped on periscope depth.”
“Raise periscope to water level!” my orders.
“Ready!”
*Caaaakakaka...
*Nggiii...
“Master! Periscope is active! Display data at periscope visibility!”
The main sail in my submarine system featured a surging blue ocean and a line of Royal Navy ships forming convoys. My ship's knowledge is only limited to the shape of the chimney, the main cannon, and the character of Azur Lane. But, that was enough for the identification of the ship.
“Hmm... I only saw the stern of the ship” I said while looking at the main screen.
“Soide the shape of the size of their ship, this convoy is very complete” continued my remark.
“Sofia, prepare Hunter Killer Drone!”
In response to the command I gave, Sofia loaded the Hunter Killer Drone into the torpedo launcher tube.
“Hunter Killer Drone, Ready!” Sofia.
“Fire!” my spoken.
With my orders, the Hunter Killer Drone slid to the surface of the water and flew into the air. He flew high and swooped in the air towards the Royal Navy's convoy. The signal emitted by the Hunter Killer Drone was a little weak because the body of my submarine was below sea level. I want to raise my radar but it will tell me my position.
The Hunter Killer Drone made it through the Royal Navy convoy and aerial imagery of the line was sent to my submarine system.
“Hmm... Let's see!”
“Their leading line consists of Destroyer Comet, Crescent, Cygnet, Acasta, Ardent, Beagle, and Bulldog.”
“The second line consists of Light Cruiser Black Prince, Charybdis, Dido, Hermione, Scylla, and Sirius.”
“The third line consists of Heavy Cruiser Kent, London, Norfolk, Shropshire, Suffolk, and Sussex.”
“Fourth row consists of Battleship Duke of York, Howe, King George V, and Prince of Wales.”
“Fifth row consists of Battleship Monarch and Revenge.”
“Sixth row consists of Light Aircraft Carrier Perseus and Theseus.”
“Last row consists of Aircraft Carrier Formidable, Illustrious, and Indomitable.”
“Have you recorded it, Sofia?”
“All have entered into our database, Master!”
With this, we get the signature of a Royal Navy ship without creating any problems.
“Sofia, Dive 300! Continue our journey to Siren Strongholds!”
“Ready, Master! Uh! What about the Hunter Killer Drone we just launched?”
“Direct that Hunter Killer Drone to Siren Strongholds and switch to patrol mode to air on it.”
“Un! Copy!”
The body of my submarine began to send a small signal to the Hunter Killer Drone and dived to a depth of 300 to continue this small journey.