1855 United States Tycoon

Chapter 637

Even in the war years, there were still a lot of people exchanges between the two sides of the Atlantic, because the war brought a lot of business, and a large amount of business can not only be solved by the exchange of goods, they must also involve the exchange of people. So in the Atlantic, there are still transoceanic passenger ships.

Moreover, in a sense, passenger ships are much safer than cargo ships. This is because the passenger ship is faster, and naturally it is more difficult to ambush. Before the war, when the average speed of freighters on the Atlantic was only 13 or 4 knots, the speed of passenger ships was already 20 knots. And this speed is faster than the maximum speed of the submarine on the water. Therefore, unless a passenger ship happens to hit the submarine’s attack range with a stupid end, it will be difficult for the submarine to attack such a target. And the sea is so big, the probability of hitting a submarine with a small and pitiful point of damage is actually quite low.

Besides, German submarines generally do not attack passenger ships because they are worried that attacks on passenger ships will excessively irritate United States people. Even after the announcement of the Unrestricted Submarine War, the submarines of the German Navy will still open up the passenger ship network, because there will not be much material on it, and the sinking will have limited significance. On the contrary, it will bring a big deal. Heap of trouble. Although it is almost a foregone conclusion that the United States will participate in the war, anyway, if the United States participates in the war one day later, it will always be a little better for Germany. Therefore, under normal circumstances, German submarines will not attack passenger ships at all.

On June 20, 1917 (a few months after the United States entered the war in history), a passenger ship called the “Light” set sail from New York Harbor for the United Kingdom. This is a passenger ship of about 8,000 tons. There are hundreds of passengers on board, some of them are businessmen, and some are medical staff of the so-called “Doctors Without Borders” organization.

After the outbreak of the war, with the increase in casualties, a large number of medical personnel were requisitioned by the troops. Therefore, in British and French cities, there was an extreme shortage of medical personnel in ordinary hospitals. So they sent out invitations to doctors and nurses on the New World side. They promised to give these doctors and nurses higher salaries, and they promised that they would not be put on the battlefield. And they are not picky about the qualifications of doctors. For the sake of high wages, many doctors, especially graduates who have just graduated from medical school, are often willing to work in the UK and France for a period of time. They can make some money on the one hand, or on the other hand. Easily obtain medical qualification certificates and more experience.

Shabal is also on this boat. He is an ophthalmologist who has just obtained a graduate certificate. He did not find a good job in New York, because better hospitals have high requirements for doctors, and one has just graduated. The little guy, at best, is to mess with people. Of course, starting from doing miscellaneous work and gradually improving qualifications, you can still become an attending doctor or even a higher-level doctor. However, Shabal couldn’t wait that long. Because he took a lot of loans to study at the beginning, if he could only work in a big hospital, the pressure to repay the loan would be very great. If you go to a small hospital, your income may be better at first, but staying in a small hospital is very detrimental to the improvement of the doctor’s art, because the ascension of the doctor’s medical skills is largely derived from the accumulation of experience, and the small hospital However, the treatment methods are insufficient, and the accumulation of experience is naturally poor. Shabal, who was rather ambitious, was naturally unwilling to go to a small hospital to waste his youth. So in order to repay the loan and for the future development, Shabal took his heart out. The “Doctors of the Borders” organization signed a contract with a hospital in London and got on the ship.

It was already the fourth night after the Glory went to sea. Shabal and a few of his colleagues were squatting in the cabin to play poker. Suddenly they heard a loud noise, and at the same time the poker cards on the small table in front of them all flew up. Along with the poker cards, a few sitting around playing poker. People, including Shabal, were also shaken to the ground.

“What’s the matter?” Shabal thought as he tried to get up from the ground. The just now made his head still a little dizzy, and his vestibular function seemed to have been affected a little bit, so that he had to hold on to the wall to be able to stand firm now.

“Ka!” A cracking sound rang from the top of Shabal’s head. Shabal looked up and saw that the ceiling above his head was actually cracking.

“Run! This ship must have been attacked by the Germans and is about to sink!” Shabal shouted at the few colleagues who had just gotten up to play poker with him, and then he wanted to open the door and go out. . After pulling, Shabal realized that the door could not be opened.

“Asshole, who locked the door!” Shabal yelled furiously.

“No, the door frame is deformed!” Another doctor named Benson shouted in a trembling voice.

“No matter what’s going on with him, please help! Or else you will have to die here!” Shabal shouted.

Several people rushed up and pulled the door vigorously together. To say that the strength of the big men was good, with a click, the door was actually pulled down by half.

“Quick, get out, get on the deck, and the ship is going to sink!” Shabal noticed that the floor seemed to have tilted.

The others didn’t need to greet them, and fled out in a hurry.

The boat tilted very quickly. When a few people ran up the deck, the deck had already tilted more than 30 degrees, and it was almost untenable. And the speed of the ship’s tilting is still accelerating.

The crew had thrown the lifeboat directly into the sea-the ship was about to sink, and it was too late to release the lifeboat in the usual way.

“Jump into the water, swim over by yourself, and then get as far away from the boat as possible.” A sailor shouted at them, so everyone on the deck jumped into the sea like dumplings, and was then driven by the sailors in the lifeboat. Catch it up.

Shabal swam to the side of a lifeboat, and a sailor pulled him up. Shabal just took a breath when he heard the people on the lifeboat scream. He looked in the direction of the boat, and saw that the boat suddenly turned over and buckled up on the sea.

…

“Yesterday, a United States passenger ship was hit by a shameful attack on the Atlantic Ocean. I regret to tell you that many United States people lost their lives in this attack. Protests have been made, asking them to stop the barbaric unrestricted submarine warfare, but it is clear that the goodwill of the United States is regarded as weakness, and the German navy has not stopped their evil deeds, but has intensified…”

The sound of President Wilson’s speech came out of the radio, and one hand reached out, pinched the knob of the radio, and turned it off.

“Your Majesty, we didn’t do this. We don’t have any submarines in any area.” General Scheer said to Emperor William II with a pale face, “This must be done by the British, and they planted it on us!”

“Haha…” Emperor William II laughed instead. “Maybe the United States did it themselves? But now, these words are useless. The United States is determined to go to war with us, saying Nothing is useful anymore. General Scheer, how is the production of the new submarine?”

“Your Majesty, one hundred and thirty have been produced.” General Scheer replied.

“Can sending these submarines cut off the route of the Atlantic?” William II asked.

“Your Majesty, it’s impossible to cut it off completely, but it will definitely shrink their transportation volume to the point where they can no longer support it. Your Majesty, even if they want to declare war on us, they must be prepared for at least eight. For more than a month, Britain and France have absolutely supported it for less than eight months under our blow.”

Hearing this guarantee, Emperor Wilhelm II seemed to be in a better mood. So he reached out and turned on the radio again, and from there came President Wilson’s last words: “I ask Congress to authorize me and allow me to announce that, starting today, between the United States of America and the German Empire In a state of war.”

…