Damn the World, Ride a Submarine - Chapter 39



Only Krnovel

Episode 39 – Limiting Depth

The helmsman’s call, indicating that the depth limit was approaching, was followed by an order from Lieutenant Colonel Kim Min-soo, the diving officer.

– Helmsman! Attack angle 0 degrees, speed 0%, ship balance

– Attack angle 0, speed 0, ship balance maintained

– 375m…

– 380m…

– 390m…

– 395m…

– Four hundred meters! Limit depth!!!

Submarine officer Lieutenant Colonel Kim Min-su reported.

“The current depth is 400m, the maximum depth has been reached.”

Colonel Choi Eun-seok, who was motionless, spoke quietly.

“Continue diving while maintaining the current depth.”

“yes. All right.”

The 400m deep sea was as quiet as a lie.

No one could break the tension of silence. It felt like it would break if I even coughed.

Somewhere, a crew member takes a deep breath. My eyes were drawn to that place, and I saw the senior sitting next to me paying attention.

The tension continued so much that I could barely breathe.

At some point, I heard a sound that gave me goosebumps and gave me goosebumps again.

– Bang, bang!

– Ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-a-ga-a-ga-a-ga-a-a-a-a-a!

I wonder if the sound of the steel structure bearing the weight of the deep sea caught me nervous…

Senior Vice Captain Choi Eun-seok made eye contact with me and opened his mouth.

“It’s like this when you dive for the first time. “It is the sound of water pressure holding structures in place throughout the hull.”

“Oh, I see.”

“The deep sea is doing what human power cannot do.”

“ah ···”

“and. Submarine crew members use this!”

Colonel Choi Eun-seok continued speaking when he lightly knocked on the ceiling of the command and control room.

“If you don’t trust the engineers who built this steel submarine, you can’t do anything.”

“I guess so…”

“Right now at this moment. Here, 400 meters deep in the sea. The maximum depth of the Lee Hoe-young ship, the length of time it can withstand this deep sea. The crew’s faith will also become stronger.”

At that moment, I was repeating a different belief in my mind.

‘I am holding on to this moment with faith in you, Colonel.’

I listened to his explanation, but the tension only increased. This was because it felt even more real that I was in the deep sea.

Colonel Choi Eun-seok summoned the two vice-captains with a wave of his hand.

“Lieutenant Colonel Park Seo-joon!”

“yes! “Colonel.”

“Identify and report any abnormalities within the ship and any signs of abnormalities with the hull.”

“Diving officer! “Lieutenant Colonel Kim Min-su”

“yes! Senior Vice Captain”

“It will rise to a depth of 350m so slowly that the crew cannot feel it and maintain the depth.”

“yes. All right.”

Colonel Choi Eun-seok looked at me and smiled lightly.

“Captain. “Let’s go eat.”

“Oh, are you ready for that?”

“All supplies and preparations have been completed just like an actual operation. And the skill of the chef whom we hired with great difficulty is excellent.”

When I entered Lee Hoi-young’s restaurant, I was filled with a mouth-watering smell. The chef and Colonel Choi Eun-seok seemed to know each other well.

The kitchen was different from what I imagined.

He was a tall man with a handsome and dandy appearance. He said as he handed me a tray.

“I don’t know everyone’s tastes, so I prepared something that everyone likes.”

What he served was tteokgalbi.

“This thing takes a lot of work…”

“It is nothing compared to the hardships suffered by the crew.”

Colonel Choi Eun-seok, who was watching happily, opened his mouth.

“The chef is also an emergency medicine specialist.”

“Wow~ But how?”

The story of Chef Hyun Jeong-min that he told on his behalf was as follows.

After completing his military service in the Navy, he obtained a specialist degree and worked at a hospital. He felt skeptical about the reality where death was a daily occurrence and the mannerisms of everyday life without stimulation.

He said that he applied to the Navy again because of his memories of serving on ships during his time in the Navy.

“But why aren’t you a military doctor?”

“ha ha ha. “This is a special case where I applied to be a chef because I wanted to ride a submarine.”

“iced coffee ···.”

“Cook Chef Hyun Jeong-min is truly a trustworthy person, both as a doctor and as a chef, to whom we can entrust our physical and mental health.”

The dishes he made were also excellent. Not only the tteokgalbi but also the side dishes were a skill worthy of being treated as a top-notch chef.

Besides, you’re a doctor… Actually, I tried to get the doctor on board the submarine. Perhaps due to the closed nature of submarines, the project was abandoned due to lack of applicants.

When I heard that he gave up his career as a doctor to ride a submarine, I thought, ‘I’m not the only weirdo!’

I think I met someone of the same kind. I felt comforted and understood somehow.

As we were finishing our meal, Chef Hyeon Jeong-min spoke up.

“Captain. “I have a suggestion.”

“yes. “As much as you want.”

“I would like to have a small steam sterilizer on board. “It’s about the size of a microwave.”

“Ah, are you going to sterilize the surgical instruments?”

I could see his eyes widen at my question.

“Ah…how?”

“If the situation arises, I will assist.”

“ah ···.”

“I served as Specialty 810, a medic. “It may be helpful in suture surgery or simple emergency procedures.”

“Wow, such luck… haha”

“I still remember it. Minimum, immediate, delayed, expected… standards for classifying casualties in wartime.”

“ah! That was during the ‘mass casualty training’… ha ha ha”

Colonel Choi Eun-seok, who was looking at this scene with satisfaction, opened his mouth.

“Incredible. A chef who was a military doctor and a captain who was a medic… ha ha ha”

…

After eating, I moved to the command and control room with the senior vice captain. Lieutenant Colonel Park Seo-joon discovered us and approached us.

“I am reporting. There are no abnormalities in the trachea or pressure hull. “To date, no abnormalities have been found within the ship.”

“Good job. Everyone, please come and have a meal with Lieutenant Colonel Kim Min-su. The menu is Tteokgalbi, and they also have Shine Muscat for dessert. haha”

The senior vice-captain, Colonel Choi Eun-seok, also returned with a softer voice, as if the tension had eased.

While the vice-captains were eating, Colonel Choi Eun-seok ordered the helmsman to slowly rise to an operational depth of 300m.

The submarine slowly rose without anyone noticing and regained its balance.

After the vice-captains finished eating. The acoustic detection device and sonar 3D image processing equipment were operated.

This was everyone’s first time using this equipment, so they kept their eyes on the main monitor with anticipation.

The image shown on the 65-inch large screen of the main monitor was like a scene from a science fiction movie. The deep sea was depicted in three dimensions on a green screen.

“Wow~ I can’t believe we’ve improved so much”

Everyone, including Colonel Choi Eun-seok, seemed impressed.

What was even more surprising was that our submarine was depicted in the third person, so even a person without any knowledge could easily understand the entire state of the submarine.

On one side of the screen, the diving depth and various information about the submarine were listed in detail.

A particularly interesting scene was showing deep sea creatures such as whales being identified in the distance.

Lieutenant Colonel Kim Min-su said something.

“Woah~ What is this…? “There is no need for a training report.”

“You’ll still have to do it. “All equipment can fail at some point.”

Lieutenant Colonel Park Seo-jun answered in a somewhat suspicious voice.

“Lieutenant Colonel Park is right. “At the end, there will be people left, and soldiers will have to prepare for that.”

“haha. sure. “I did it because the new equipment was so novel.”

While we were admiring the ‘3D sonar imaging’ equipment, all the crew members finished eating. took a little rest.

Colonel Choi Eun-seok then issued a new order.

“Rapid rise to safety depth”

– Rapidly surfacing at a depth of 50m!

– Steer! Rapid rise, 15 degrees upward strike angle, 50% speed

– 15 degree angle of attack, 50% output, rapid rise

As soon as the helmsman’s review was over. This time, on the contrary, the front of the ship rose sharply. We ended up leaning forward as if we were climbing a rock wall.

Just like on a steep rock wall, the more you pull your butt back, the more you slip. His body was placed in a flower arrangement.

The balance of the body was maintained according to the angle of the submarine’s rudder using only the ankles and toes.

After the submarine reached safety depth and some time had passed, another command from Colonel Choi Eun-seok followed.

“Sneaky! Front and bow navigation.”

– no problem

“Injured at periscope depth.”

Following the senior vice-captain’s orders, the submarine surfaced at periscope depth. The optical sensor electronic periscope that Vice President Han Gyu-dong boasted about was put into operation.

Just like you see in the movies. I imagined the captain sticking his head through the periscope and observing the sea.

The Lee Hoe-young’s electronic periscope displayed the surface of the sea and various information at a glance on a 65-inch monitor.

When the sonar imaging equipment was operated at the same time, a strange yet stylish screen was seen showing both the top and bottom of the water.

And on one side of the screen, a maritime radar screen appeared overlapping.

After testing some equipment, Lee Hoe-young surfaced.

“Captain! “Why don’t you take a breath of the outside air?”

“yes. “The two vice captains, let’s go up together.”

Colonel Choi Eun-seok seemed to hesitate for a moment.

“yes. Of course. “Lieutenant Colonel Kim, Colonel Park, go up.”

When I came out to the bridge mast of the Lee Hoi-young, I felt an unknown sense of liberation. The sea breeze on her was also refreshingly cool.

I felt this way even during a half-day dive, and I felt a deep sense of respect and gratitude for the submarine crews who operated underwater for two weeks at a time.

As I found a cigarette and lit one with Director Kim Jun-myeong, I realized something again. As I heard, there was no thought of cigarettes inside the submarine.

.

.

.

After safely completing the test voyage of the Lee Hoi-young, the ship returned to the Okpo Shipyard.

I asked Colonel Choi Eun-seok and Vice President Han Gyu-dong to take care of the remaining inspection and supply of the submarine, and returned to Tongyeong House with the Alpha Team, which was waiting at Sonyatore.

Director Kim Jun-myeong left Sergeant Lee Ki-seong among the Alpha team members as my security guard and headed to Seoul with the remaining team members.

The purpose was to carry out an operation to transfer 400 kg of gold bars to the Lee Hoi-young ship.

Little by little, the surroundings were being cleared up.

…

I looked into the world situation, something I had forgotten about for a while. Fortunately, there was no further use of nuclear weapons by Russia.

Peace was being restored. It was really strange.

Despite numerous warnings from scientists, things continued as if nothing had happened. The message that winter is coming has become a joke online.

In the movie, despite warnings of a comet crashing, I was reminded of the politicians who carelessly only considered political gains and losses.

That was the case now. Only the scientists were distressed.

Just as there is no sign until the critical point before the state of any object changes.

Like a frog in a slowly boiling pot. ···.

…

The final inspection and remaining design work of the Lee Hoi-young were completely completed. The gold bullion transfer operation entrusted to team leader Kim Jun-myeong also went smoothly without any problems.

Now all that remains is to go to the new camp TMSH on Tawi-Tawi Island, the home port of the Lee Hoi-young.

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communications specialist