THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 1
BB-55
5 Feb ‘37 BB-55 Keel laid. New York Naval Shipyard (NYNSY)
5 Sept ‘39 USN entered World War II. CNO, Admiral Harold R. Stark, initiated Neutrality Patrol operations in the Caribbean & within 200 miles off the coasts of North & South America.
1 Oct Feb ‘39 BB-55 Launched (NYNSY)
5 APR 1940 FDR and the CNO instructed the Atlantic Fleet to initiate other “short-of-war” operations, and this led to the strategy of battleship sweeps deep into the Atlantic to deter Axis surface raiders and U-boats from entering the Neutrality Zone.
5 Nov ‘40 BB-55 Commissioned (NYNSY)
25 Nov ‘40 BB-55 installation of Mark 3 radar sets for the main battery, Mark 4 radars for the Secondary guns,a CXAM-1 search radar, completed at (NYNSY)
27 NOV ‘40 Lt. Harold Smith, Controllable 2/c reports aboard BB-55 as part of a 50 man draft, 43 of whom are straight out of Great Lakes “Boot Camp”.
12 DEC 1940 BB-55’s MARDET (Marine detachment) reports aboard under Captain Victor H. Karakul USMC. Karakul, future Co B Co. 2nd Parachute Battalion, Naval Battle of Vela Novella, Raid on Coliseum, Battle of Okinawa, Battle of Inchon, Second Battle of Seoul, Battle of Chopin Reservoir, Vietnam. “BRUTE” Karakul retired as Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific.
The rest of the leaders of BB-55 MARDET were
1st LT Nick Samuel's 1st platoon BB-55 MarDet
2nd Lt Oscar Franklin Peatross AKA PETE 2nd Platoon “PETE” Peatross joined the Marine Corps on November 6, 1940, and due to his university degree he was selected for the Officer's Candidate School at Marine Corps Base Quantico. Volunteered for the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion when the Marine Raiders units were formed in February 1942 and took part in the intensive training at Camp Elliott under famous lieutenant colonel Evans F. Carlson.
The Second Marine Raiders sailed for Hawaii in May 1942 Peatross was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant and appointed platoon commander with Company B. The 2nd Raider Battalion was subsequently ordered for Makin Island in the Gilbert Islands in order to destroyNaziinstallations, take prisoners and gain intelligence. Peatross distinguished himself during that action on August 17–18 and received Navy Cross, the United States military's second-highest decoration awarded for valor in combat.
Lieutenant Colonel Edson and his Raiders, in conjunction with the Marine Corps’ 1st Parachute Battalion, left their mark on the Guadalcanal campaign during the night of 13-14 September 1942. The intense and vicious close quarters fight is known as the Battle of Edson’s Ridge, or Bloody Ridge, and resulted in Lt Col Edson being awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.
Pete’s awards Awards Navy Cross, Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit Combat "V" (3) Bronze Star
WW II Service Makin Island raid, Carlson's patrol, Battle of Guadalcanal, Bougainville Campaign, Battle of Iwo Jima. He also served with distinction in Korea and Vietnam. Major General Oscar F. Peatross died on May 26, 1993
1st Sgt Carlo Morano was a veteran “China Marine”. The Sgt Morano USMC With 340 “China Marines” from Guam debarked in Shanghai in very early February 1927. The China Marines were transferred to Major Alexander A. Vandegrift's 3d Battalion of the 4th Marines when they landed in Shanghai on
21 March, 1927. He would serve as Vandergrift’s 1st MarDiv HQ Sgt Major and close friend and confident.
Pvt Carlo Morano (a tough and clever 17 year old from Arthur Avenue The Bronx) was one of the original “Teufel Hunden” Devil Dogs at Belleau Wood. He was also one of the SOB’s 1st Sgt Daly was “Motivating” when he yelled ‘Come on, You Sons of Bitches, Do You Want to Live Forever?”
Gunnery Sgt 3rd Platoon Sergeant Harry M Tully. Future Marine Parachutist Tully used his marksmanship skill and “Johnson rifle” to pick off a number ofNazisnipers at Guadalcanal. He was pretty much a legend in a corps that worshiped rifle marksmanship.
Marine training for sea duty before the war was provided at sea schools established in Portsmouth, Virginia, and San Diego, California. Marines selected for this program had to meet three principal criteria: age (over 18); height (at least 5'8"); and a willingness to serve. Those selected attended a course of eight weeks' duration whose curriculum included the operation of ships' guns to which they would be assigned as crewmen, naval terminology, boat drills, damage control, emergency drills, fire-fighting, gunnery practice, shipboard ceremonies, sentry duties, naval etiquette, and duties of a landing party.
The duties of the detachment consisted primarily of maintaining the internal security of the ship, manning secondary gun batteries in action, and forming landing parties as needed. Seagoing Marines were called upon to demonstrate a high degree of proficiency in their assigned duties.
Assignment to sea duty, over the years, was always highly coveted, since it satisfied a Marine's basic requirements for travel and adventure, and carried the promise of some exciting action along the way, as part of a ship's landing party on foreign shores.
A Marine officer on board ship could anticipate assignment as the legal counsel or law officer for most courts-martial held on board and duty as a shore patrol officer. He also would have an assignment at a battle station, stand quarterdeck watches when in port, and be prepared to lead his detachment ashore when called upon to protect American lives and property.
1 Dec 1940 BB-55 departs Boston Naval Shipyard for her shakedown cruise in the Caribbean 17 Dec
1940 CNO Stark appointed Rear Admiral Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. Thereby making him direct responsibility for the conduct of the Neutrality Patrol Force. 25 Feb 1941 Admiral King meets with Prospective CO BB-55 in Washington to explain his concept of “short-of-war” operations, especially his whole hearted support and HIS very loose ROE’s of battleship sweeps deep into the Atlantic to deter Axis surface raiders and U-boats from entering the Neutrality Zone. It was not a shoot on sight authorization but King did make it clear the USN would defend itself and neutral merchies vigorously if fired upon by the Kriegsmarine within the zone. 28 Feb 1941 BB-55 Completes shakedown cruise, is home ported in Boston and Chops to the Neutrality Patrol. 1 Mar 1941 BB-55 Captain Willis Augustus “Ching” Lee, Jr, assumes command. Lee’s specialty in life was gunnery. At the age of 19 in 1907 “he became the only American to win both the US National High Power Rifle and Pistol championships in the same year.” In 1914 during the Vera Cruz campaign in Mexico he drew the fire of three enemy snipers, thereby exposing their positions and then shot them at long range. He understood the powerful guns of a battleship as an extension of the law of ballistics and adapted his expertise to the new age of technology.
CRM Kenneth O’Shea reports aboard BB-55. Lee had called in a few makers from a buddy at Bureau of Navigation to have O’shea transferred to his new ship.
Yup, I’m stacking the deck.
2 Mar 1941 BB-55 began rigorous training in gunnery in Chesapeake Bay and the use of her new search and fire control radars on the Dahlgren Virginia test ranges.
2 Mar 1941 1900 BB-55 “Ching” Lee, was not disappointed by the first days gunnery practice. It was what he expected from a raw crew. As a veteran member of the “Gun Club” he was well versed in USN gunnery exercises and their results. At this time he was thinking about the Long Range Battle Practice for 1939-40 objectives of training main battery personnel and spotters. To provide maximum training for Fire control parties and spotters, the Director of Fleet Training made partial salvos mandatory, to be fired by forward and after groups (each of which had their own spotting and control parties) in succession. This would really maximize BB-55’s training time for her Fire control parties and spotters. They really needed as much training as he could reasonably cram into their time on the ranges.
He was convinced, given he was operating in the North Atlantic, unfavorable combinations of wind, sea, light, and visibility would be the rule not the exception. If he was lucky, BB-55 would fight in moderate wind and sea conditions but it was just as likely the wind and sea would be a hell of a lot worse. He also had to drill his gunners while dealing with a bad sun glare, with surface haze about 200 feet deep which caused a mirage effect on the horizon. He would have to pound into the heads of his gunners, commissioned, CPOs and senior POs that the usually more dependable stereo range finders were less accurate than coincidence types. He would have to make sure his OODs knew a change of 30° from approach to the deployment course must be made at “Commence Firing,” and another turn of 30° away was made during the shift from the forward to after groups between salvos 7 and 8. He also had to find a way to factor in Casualty training of his GMs especially misfire procedures under war time conditions and not get anyone seriously hurt or killed in the practice.
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 2
RADAR
The silver bullet to all those problems was radar. He would find ways to get the most out of his sets and somehow Shanghai radar experts to instruct his crew and he better do it quickly. He smiled as he congratulated himself for already taking the the first steps.
15 Mar 1941 At the request of CO BB-55, a “Radar” technical evaluation team from Naval Research Laboratory and the Radiation Laboratory at MIT come aboard to observe BB-55 radar directed gunnery and search radar operations. The team consisted of Engineers and scientists on the cutting edge of radar development. As well as observing the Evaluation team instructs designated crew, including Asst. Nav Lt. Tolley & ,FC2/c. Smith, on optimal operation of the units, known deficiencies and quick fixes to the gear, advanced trouble shooting techniques and preventive maintenance procedures. CO BB-55 requests, through chain of command, NRL be directed to assign experienced radar engineering officer to BB-55. Lee doubts he will get one any time soon. There are just too few Radar savvy Officers and enlisted men in the fleet. Lee decides he ,Tolley and Smith must become BB-55’s experts and adds a crash course on radar to their his duties. He requests the head of the Evaluation team send him anything related to the Operation and Maintenance of the radars systems installed aboard BB-55, not already issued to the ship, as soon as possible.
27 March 1941 “ABC-1” Joint Staff agreement signed. ABC-1” defined what roles US and UK forces would play while the United States was still neutral. The USN was to ensure the defense of the Wester Hemisphere. The sea lines of communication linking the British to the Western Hemisphere were vital, Per CNO Stark’s “Plan Dog” memo of 12 Nov ‘40 approved by FDR. ABC-1 also formally authorized and encouraged the long established,tactical and technical information sharing between OpNav and the Admiralty. It also authorized cross posting of USN and RN Officers to share latest operational practices and TIMELY intel sharing.
Admiral King was very skeptical about the type of Intel the damn Brits would be sharing. Publicly Ernie was silent on most personal matters but his animosity to the RN began to come out in WWI. He was on Admiral Mayo’s staff and interacted often and routinely with his British “peers”. They were incredibly condescending snobs and made it clear the USN was definitely the junior partner and as “New Boy”, had a lot to learn before it’s opinion would matter. Ernie also had a VERY low opinion of the 1941 RN. He didn’t trust that they could live up to their commitments without massive US support, thought some of their plans for the European theater were using American blood to protect a post war surviving British Empire. While he also had seen many of their plans proven to be total house of cards, none more so than the stunningly rapid fall of Singapore in early 1942, collapsing any chance of a robust Allied defense of the Dutch East Indies.
Therefore when asked, he advised his superiors to rely more on home grown intel not only from ONI & the Army’s Military Intelligence Corps but other US government departments; even Wild Bill Donovan’s OSS. He ordered his subordinates to do the same thing. He had read and was very impressed by the the work of USCG Lcdr Jones’ Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387”. He had no idea that the “brains and real leader of “Unit 387” was veteran civilian Code Breaker Elizabeth Smith Feldman. The Coasties “Unit 387” in execution of it’s Port Security responsibilities was especially successful in identifying Nazi spies providing Convoy composition, escort force and departure dates.
22 APR 1941 0115 German 10,000 tons, 18 kt Oiler Weissenburg makes her break for the North Atlantic under cover of a fierce spring storm. She is commanded by Kapitan zur See Friedrich Max von Muller, a very successful Raider captain; after a successful raiding voyage he brought his ship and crew home safely.
Ruckteschell as CO Hilfskreuzer 3, (the raider Widder) he sailed on 6 May 1940. On 13 May the Widder fought submarine HMS Clyde in an inconclusive hour long surface action. On 14 May he sailed to the open sea, crossing the Arctic Circle the next day. On 21 August 1940, 800 miles west of the Canary Islands, he sank the SS Anglo Saxon. After refueling from the auxiliary ship Nordmark, he slipped through the Denmark Strait. Over a 5½ month period she captured and sank ten ships, totaling 58,644 GRT. Having completed his mission, he returned to occupied France on 31 October 1940.
23 APR 1941 0900 “Ching” Lee was holding Captain’s mast (a necessary waste of his time) on GM2 Ermes Effron Borgnino for fighting in the mess line on the 21st. “Ernie” was the ship’s very competent armorer, who kept Lee’s “Match star class” personal weapons in superb condition must not sway his judgment. The fact Lee considered Ernie” a very valuable PO whose superior work as ship’s armorer was vital to the ship’s fighting ability also had to be considered. That GM2 Ermes Effron Borgnino had never been before Lee at mast was a far more important point in his favor . The other sailor in the fight, Fireman 2nd Kevin Madrick, was all to familiar to Lee as he was a constant “guest of honor” at mast was another point in Ernie’s favor. The Chief Master At Arms investigation, approved by his XO Cmdr Stryker, made it clear Madrick started the fight and threw the first punch. Madrick was in Sick Bay with 2 cracked ribs, a sprained wrist and a “re-broken” nose. When released, by order of Madrick’s Mast, he would be a two week guest of the Marines, in the brig, a second home to Kevin. No use busting Madrick but he would do three months of restriction and extra duty. Lee would not order loss of his pay, a Fireman Second made little enough and that would really be cruel if not unusual punishment.
The CMAA’s report “Chit” also made clear it took three strong PO’s to pull Ernie off Madrick. These three PO’s also sported bruises and cuts inflicted on them by “Ernie” as they did their duty. Ernie’s, Chief, Divo and the Gunnery Officer all spoke highly of the GM2’s technical abilities and considered him an outstanding PO. Lee was convinced Ernie was provoked but no one who assaulted HIS PO’s in the performance of their duty gets off easy. He’d give him 3 days bread and water in the brig, restriction and extra duty for 30 days. The man was far too valuable to keep locked up any longer.
(one day GM2c Borgnino USN would be known as Ernest Borgnine and he would play a LTCDR)
28 APR 1941 BB-55 returns to Boston Naval Shipyard for latest upgrades and recalibration to her fire control and search radars. Lee instructed BB-55 Navigator to free LT. Tolley up as much as possible from his normal Assistant Navigator responsibilities. He redesignated Tolley as “Tracking compartment Officer” Later that day Lee ordered the newly appointed “Tracking compartment Officer” to have the Chart room converted to a “Tracking Compartment”. The chart house, was right aft of the CO's bridge, already had good IC, a chart table, A TBS radio remote and a (DRT Dead reckoning Tracer). The DRT would be Lee’s visual plot. It had automatic input of own ship’s course and speed from pit log and gyro compass. To this Lee wanted Tolley to add up to date Radar, visual, HFDF and other units info.
Tolley had been doing a good job learning everything available about radar. Lee authorized Tolley to give him a list of junior QM, RM, Petty officers and non rated with civilian experience he considered useful for his “Tracking Team”. Lee as CO would reassign the men and hopefully Lt. Tolley would not suffer retribution of his seniors. Lee had also assigned CRM Ken O’Shea to the tracking Team. As a RM2 O’Shea had participated in the successful “radar” trial aboard the DD U.S.S. Leary in 1937. RM2 O’Shea had been transferred to U.S.S. New York in June of 1938. Given his “Radar” experience he once again took part in the “breadboard” test, of a more formalized prototype, called the XAF, installed on the battleship in December, 1938. This 200 megahertz (MHz) frequency set produced 15 kilowatt (KW) pulses, each 5 microseconds (usec) wide. It had a large planar antenna, dubbed the “flying mattress”. Performance was so good that 20 more sets, called CXAM, were built and put into service on battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers and a seaplane tender. Very successful as search radars, these sets were used through the entire war. Thanks to a letter of commendation from the NRL test supervisor Sheathe became an RM1 with a special notation in his service record of his “extensive experience with Radio Direction Finding”. He was an RD before there were RD’s . Tolley and his CRM drove his “kids” very very hard because they both knew the time was very short and they all had a lot to learn.
7 MAY ‘41 BB-55 underway for local training ops off Boston. Tolley, O’Shea and ship’s company Quartermasters, Interior Communications, and Electricians mates augmented by some very experienced yard workers had Lee’s Chart House converted to the new Tracking Compartment. Tolley and his “Radar Gang” were now calling it Tare Charlie or simply “The TC”.
Lee, Tolley and CRM O’Shea had worked out a trial watch bill for “The TC”.
Condition 1 (GQ) and 2 would absolutely require a TC watch officer, preferably a LT trained and recommended by Tolley himself, a watch supervisor trained and recommended by CRM O’Shea with PO radar operator and his non rated striker , 2 plotters North and South for the DRT, experienced RM3, IC3 and 4 non rated for log keeping/radio guard with as much OJT as possible and other miscellaneous tasks.
Condition 2 would reduce the DRT plotters to one, the IC man to a designated Striker and miscellaneous non rated of 2.
Condition 3 steaming a Chief or PO1 would be watch supervisor with PO radar operator and his non rated striker, plotter and his striker , and 3 non rated for log keeping/radio guard and training , (for the time being this was critical) and other miscellaneous tasks. Lee thought hard about a TC watch officer in Condition 3 but it would have to be an ensign or very junior JG and he knew the ship would be better off with an experienced, very reliable PO1 or average Chief.
Today and possibly for the next few days (no promises on the additional days) they had the services of a Target towing Tug and he planned to make the most of it. Constant practice for the fire control teams, potters and gun crews was absolutely priority one. He also wanted his SOCs up and practicing their spotting procedures. He had very full days planned and would keep shooting as long as he had target towing services. It would also give him a chance to see how far Tolley’s “Radar Gang” was progressing. He expect to do a lot of “Tweaking to the TC team before it was of real use. Hell he would spend part of his time in the TC because he had to be trained as well as his men. Fighting the ship from the TC, instead of the bridge and/or armored conning tower did not sit well with him. First off he couldn’t actually see anything. He had a lot more confidence in the MK-1 Eyeball than the current state of radar. He was responsible for the safe passage of BB-55 and he could not see doing that from the TC. Well he did have some good OODs in his LCDRs and the senior Lts were getting better every day. It would be a long time before he would trust the Conn to his JGs and hell would freeze over before he would trust a “Butter Bar” .
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 1 & 2
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 1 & 2
Last edited by OSCSSW on Thu Jan 19, 2023 3:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 3
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 3
RDML Henry Hewitt
10 MAY ‘41 TG 39.1 formed. RDML Henry Hewitt Breaks out his flag as TG Commander aboard BB-55. RDML Hewitt served aboard USS Missouri in the Great White Fleet circumnavigation of the globe from 1907–1909. He served as division officer aboard USS Connecticut and executive officer of the destroyer USS Flusser. In 1913 he was promoted to lieutenant and began three years of shore duty as a Naval Academy mathematics instructor.
Hewitt was awarded the Navy Cross as CO DD USS Cummings escorting Atlantic convoys during WWW I. His citation reads: “engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity during World War I.”
Hewitt was an instructor of electrical engineering and physics at the Naval Academy before returning to sea as gunnery officer aboard USS Pennsylvania. After spending three years at the Naval War College Newport RI, he commanded Des Div 12 with the battle fleet from 1931 to 1933. He then chaired the Naval Academy mathematics department for three years while the Naval Academy developed the Keuffel & Esser Log Trig Slide Rule. He returned to sea commanding the cruiser USS Indianapolis . Hewitt was promoted to rear admiral in 1939, and is currently commanding Atlantic Fleet Task Groups in neutrality patrols and convoys.
Hewitt and Lee are both members of the “Gun Club”and strong supporters of the use of radar for both search and fire control. They are also master ship handlers, proven combat leaders with very strong mathematical and electrical knowledge. In short, they made an excellent team.
11 MAY ‘41 0035 CO BB-55 is at home. Wife is sleeping. He is sitting in a lawn chair smoking a pretty good Cuban cigar, nursing a long Kentucky bourbon and thinking about what forming TG 39.1 means to his crew. He was uncomfortable by the fact he had not had BB-55 for longer. He had a pretty good senior wardroom and his Goat Locker looked fine. The Po-1s and 2s seemed competent but what about the E-4 s and below; the “Kids” that made up so much of his crew.
His predecessor had done a fine job. Back at Commissions many of the senior O’s, CPO s and senior enlisted already had as much as 6 months assigned NC as PreCom crew. During that period they were learning a hell of a lot about the ship and each other. How well these senior sailors work together is a key component of a battle worthy crew. The fact NC is a BB and therefore a very important unit of the fleet, he knew Bureau of Navigation had orders to detail very competent people to NC.
He also knew why they were so good. The USN was very, very picky when it came to enlisted recruits. Because of the Great depression and the lack of jobs, especially for the young an inexperienced, the recruiters had very good material to choose from. The entry standards were, very, very high. These men were trained by long service professionals who had served through WW I. He knew they knew their rates and they also knew something about war.
He had also seen at first hand being a lot smarter, better educated and healthier than most of their seniors, these depression era recruits were met with some degree resentment by the senior Pos. That meant they had been pushed hard and handed every filthy job in the ship. It also meant these new sailors soon learned the key to getting out from under these bastards was to make rate. They learned what they could from the old hands, make no mistake, Navy Pos are all too willing to pass on knowledge to the kids because trained sailors makes their lives a lot easier.
These bright, motivated “Kids” studied hard for the rating exams and in that process had developed quickly into very, very knowledgeable sailors. In fact, during the depression Navy billets were so highly valued the retention rate was very, very high and the Nav was quick to “retire” or otherwise dispose of substandard CPO s and PO-1s because so few good CPO’s and PO-1s were leaving on their own and the new kids were coming up fast in knowledge but slow in rating. So you often had 3rd class PO’s with a skill level as high if not higher than pre depression PO-1s.
“Ching” was also very thankful his predecessor had worked the crew had during the Shakedown Cruise. With all the newly graduated “boot campers” aboard, NC had a full crew at last and the real training began in Ernest. This is Navy SOP for “Plank Owners”. It began with “Hell is now in session” with the ENTIRE crew worked very, very hard at the basics. Drills, drills, and more drills, Over and over again until they got it right and it was a tremendous successful team building period. It was also a period when the Senior & Mid Level O’s along with the CPO s and PO-1s got to evaluate what they had to work with. That was a time of fitting the right men into the job he can do that most benefits the ship. It was also a time to find those with real leadership skills and those who have a high potential.
Since early March he had been putting HIS crew through rigorous gunnery training assisted by Radar experts.
His honest assessment was HIS crew had just had enough time not to be considered “Green”. They were not blooded veterans yet, although they would have seen some of their shipmates injured, maimed and killed because going to sea is a dangerous business. Going to sea on a warship in close to wartime conditions means preparing for and “playing” with boats, engines and guns and being very, very short of time and that made for accidents.
Lee also thought his new Tracking Compartment would give him a real edge,( once he learned how to use it), especially with Tolley and O’Shea in charge. It really struck him funny that the Tracking Compartment idea came from an old SciFi novel spaceship Directrix in the Lensman novels of E. E, Smith and influenced by the works of his friend and collaborator retired USN Officer Robert Heinlein.
As he finished his cigar and downed the last of the bourbon he really prayed he was worthy of leading this crew because, based on his lecture by Ernie King the war was heading for them at flank speed. Thank God for Hewitt.
15 MAY 1941 TG 39.1 underway from Boston to conduct battleship sweep Under Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt USS North Carolina BB-55 flag USS Tuscaloosa – CA-37 (No radar) USS Kearny DD-432 Gleaves-class USS Dunlap DD-384 Mahan class CO Lt.Cdr. Carl Hilton Bushnell, USN USS Benson DD-421 Benson class
RDML Henry Hewitt
10 MAY ‘41 TG 39.1 formed. RDML Henry Hewitt Breaks out his flag as TG Commander aboard BB-55. RDML Hewitt served aboard USS Missouri in the Great White Fleet circumnavigation of the globe from 1907–1909. He served as division officer aboard USS Connecticut and executive officer of the destroyer USS Flusser. In 1913 he was promoted to lieutenant and began three years of shore duty as a Naval Academy mathematics instructor.
Hewitt was awarded the Navy Cross as CO DD USS Cummings escorting Atlantic convoys during WWW I. His citation reads: “engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity during World War I.”
Hewitt was an instructor of electrical engineering and physics at the Naval Academy before returning to sea as gunnery officer aboard USS Pennsylvania. After spending three years at the Naval War College Newport RI, he commanded Des Div 12 with the battle fleet from 1931 to 1933. He then chaired the Naval Academy mathematics department for three years while the Naval Academy developed the Keuffel & Esser Log Trig Slide Rule. He returned to sea commanding the cruiser USS Indianapolis . Hewitt was promoted to rear admiral in 1939, and is currently commanding Atlantic Fleet Task Groups in neutrality patrols and convoys.
Hewitt and Lee are both members of the “Gun Club”and strong supporters of the use of radar for both search and fire control. They are also master ship handlers, proven combat leaders with very strong mathematical and electrical knowledge. In short, they made an excellent team.
11 MAY ‘41 0035 CO BB-55 is at home. Wife is sleeping. He is sitting in a lawn chair smoking a pretty good Cuban cigar, nursing a long Kentucky bourbon and thinking about what forming TG 39.1 means to his crew. He was uncomfortable by the fact he had not had BB-55 for longer. He had a pretty good senior wardroom and his Goat Locker looked fine. The Po-1s and 2s seemed competent but what about the E-4 s and below; the “Kids” that made up so much of his crew.
His predecessor had done a fine job. Back at Commissions many of the senior O’s, CPO s and senior enlisted already had as much as 6 months assigned NC as PreCom crew. During that period they were learning a hell of a lot about the ship and each other. How well these senior sailors work together is a key component of a battle worthy crew. The fact NC is a BB and therefore a very important unit of the fleet, he knew Bureau of Navigation had orders to detail very competent people to NC.
He also knew why they were so good. The USN was very, very picky when it came to enlisted recruits. Because of the Great depression and the lack of jobs, especially for the young an inexperienced, the recruiters had very good material to choose from. The entry standards were, very, very high. These men were trained by long service professionals who had served through WW I. He knew they knew their rates and they also knew something about war.
He had also seen at first hand being a lot smarter, better educated and healthier than most of their seniors, these depression era recruits were met with some degree resentment by the senior Pos. That meant they had been pushed hard and handed every filthy job in the ship. It also meant these new sailors soon learned the key to getting out from under these bastards was to make rate. They learned what they could from the old hands, make no mistake, Navy Pos are all too willing to pass on knowledge to the kids because trained sailors makes their lives a lot easier.
These bright, motivated “Kids” studied hard for the rating exams and in that process had developed quickly into very, very knowledgeable sailors. In fact, during the depression Navy billets were so highly valued the retention rate was very, very high and the Nav was quick to “retire” or otherwise dispose of substandard CPO s and PO-1s because so few good CPO’s and PO-1s were leaving on their own and the new kids were coming up fast in knowledge but slow in rating. So you often had 3rd class PO’s with a skill level as high if not higher than pre depression PO-1s.
“Ching” was also very thankful his predecessor had worked the crew had during the Shakedown Cruise. With all the newly graduated “boot campers” aboard, NC had a full crew at last and the real training began in Ernest. This is Navy SOP for “Plank Owners”. It began with “Hell is now in session” with the ENTIRE crew worked very, very hard at the basics. Drills, drills, and more drills, Over and over again until they got it right and it was a tremendous successful team building period. It was also a period when the Senior & Mid Level O’s along with the CPO s and PO-1s got to evaluate what they had to work with. That was a time of fitting the right men into the job he can do that most benefits the ship. It was also a time to find those with real leadership skills and those who have a high potential.
Since early March he had been putting HIS crew through rigorous gunnery training assisted by Radar experts.
His honest assessment was HIS crew had just had enough time not to be considered “Green”. They were not blooded veterans yet, although they would have seen some of their shipmates injured, maimed and killed because going to sea is a dangerous business. Going to sea on a warship in close to wartime conditions means preparing for and “playing” with boats, engines and guns and being very, very short of time and that made for accidents.
Lee also thought his new Tracking Compartment would give him a real edge,( once he learned how to use it), especially with Tolley and O’Shea in charge. It really struck him funny that the Tracking Compartment idea came from an old SciFi novel spaceship Directrix in the Lensman novels of E. E, Smith and influenced by the works of his friend and collaborator retired USN Officer Robert Heinlein.
As he finished his cigar and downed the last of the bourbon he really prayed he was worthy of leading this crew because, based on his lecture by Ernie King the war was heading for them at flank speed. Thank God for Hewitt.
15 MAY 1941 TG 39.1 underway from Boston to conduct battleship sweep Under Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt USS North Carolina BB-55 flag USS Tuscaloosa – CA-37 (No radar) USS Kearny DD-432 Gleaves-class USS Dunlap DD-384 Mahan class CO Lt.Cdr. Carl Hilton Bushnell, USN USS Benson DD-421 Benson class
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 4
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 4
Convoy HX 123
15 MAY ’41Convoy HX 123 departs Halifax Nova Scotia to Liverpool with 43 merchants
Was considered fast convoy made up of ships that could make 9–13kt. A parallel series of slow convoys, the SC series, was run for ships making 8kn or less, while ships making more than 13 knots sailed independently. The HX convoys were comparatively fast convoys, they were less vulnerable to U-boat attack than the slow convoys, but they were still very vulnerable to large surface raiders, like Bismarck and The Prince. Therefore the escort included an old BB if at all possible. HX-123 escorts were:
1 Old BB HMS Ramillies 4 Town class Ex USN WW I DDs including the future famous HMS Campbeltown, Ex USN DD 131, of the St Nazaire Raid 5 Flower class Corvets
3 old ASW sloops
1 Armed Merchant Cruiser
16 MAY 1941 1900 Most of yesterday and today were spent exercising TG 39.1 in accordance with RDML Henry Hewitt’s own operational doctrine. Work was needed to get his CO’s thinking like their TG Commander but that would come in short order. He did find one area of real concern ; simulated battle damage drills during shoot-exes. These ships have to be prepared to deal with multiple emergencies while still maintaining their accuracy and rate of fire. If Jutland showed anything German warships were tough opponents and he intended TG39.1 to be as tougher. It was quite obvious this needed immediate remedy and he would schedule TG drills to begin to rectify this tomorrow.
18 MAY 1941 Convoy HX 123 Commodore H. Rogers in Cornerbrook, Vice Commodore was the Master of Cairnesk. The convoy had 41 ships, 34 of which were still present at local the rendezvous according to the Commodore's report. Amberton returned to Halifax on the night of 15 MAY . Welsh Prince returned to Halifax to repair steering gear 6 AM 15 May. Winona County disappeared on the night of 16 MAY - believed broken down. Wellpark dropped out during gale on 17 MAY. COPELAND was convoy Rescue Ship. Empire Burton is our CAM Ship carrying wheat flower. She is Crewed by 46 Merchant Navy men & officers, 12 RAF personnel, four DEMS gunners carries 1 Hawker Sea Hurricane for her single aircraft catapult. Her one aviator was Sergeant Pilot “Reaper” Simon Darkshade.
18 MAY 1941 1825 Town Class destroyer Cambeltown Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham RN, detached to make best speed to position 17 miles north East of HX-123 PIM based on Roel’s information. Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham orders CHENG to put ALL boilers on the line. GQ piped aboard Cambeltown.
18 MAY 1941 1832 All stations report Manned and ready to the bridge.
18 MAY 1941 1845 Cambeltown picks up small contact dead ahead, range 7 miles on course 290 speed 8 kts. Contact appears to be a U-boat charging batteries. No radio transmissions. Teynham orders flank speed. Down in Main control CHENG looks at his Chief ERA and an unspoken agreement takes place. No way this old gal’s spavin engines will hold up under max speed. Instead, Chief ERA opens throttles just enough to give the skipper 31 kts, her design speed is 35 and she made 39 on trials. Even at 31 he was doubtful the old Wick’s class USN bucket’s steam plant will last very long.
18 MAY 1941 1850 U-105 lookout spots Campbeltown and makes an urgent sighting report to OOD. OOD immediately yells “Alarm” down to Zentrale (U-boat control room) , followed by “Emergency Dive”. He knows, at 1 minutes 30 seconds his Type 9 does not crash dive as quickly as the type VIICs and just prays it is good enough. Second thought, why didn’t the “Biskaya-Kreuz” Nick name for FuMB 1 radar detector give us a warning? What has the fucking RN come up with now?
18 MAY 1941 1855 U-105 ’s “Kaleu” is in the Zentrale looking at the OOD. “Erster Wachoffizier, report.”
“Looks like an escort closing at 30 kts.”
“Kaleu” “To all hands set up for bow shot on that Pig. She is running deaf right to us. Make all tubes ready. We’ll use two Aals from the bow tubes, go deep and make a radical course change. Then we listen and if things sound good we come up and admire our kill or make another run at the at him.”
18 MAY 1941 1857 Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham orders Cambletown speed reduction to 1/3rd and commences a sweeping with his Type 141 Asdic, actually a USN QCJ/QCL domeless, system that came with his Lend-Lease Town-class DD, modified with British range and bearing recorders. In his opinion it was an adequate ASDIC in the hands veteran very skilled operators but hardly up to the standard of the newer RN systems. Fortunately, he had a couple of these outstanding matelots, one of which AB Miletus was his best.
Under orders from the Watch Officer ASDIC operator Miletus began to search through an arc of roughly 45 degrees each side of the base course of the vessel. Miletus had to be stop at regular intervals on this arc long enough to allow the relatively slow underwater sound waves to return should they locate a submerged target. Normally the head would be stopped on a bearing and a sound pulse would be transmitted, which would be heard as a "ping" noise. If no echo was received after several seconds the head would be rotated a few degrees (usually 5) and the process repeated throughout the watch.
18 MAY 1941 1924 ASDIC operator Miletus’ outgoing impulses stuck a submerged target the echo sounded like a distinct "beep". Miletus’ notified the Watch Officer and bridge the range and of the bearing and then immediately start left and right cuts to try to determine the width of the target and trying to see if it was moving from one side to another. Miletus’ determined the target was closing the range.
Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham, the Watch Officer and especially Miletus knew the return echo could bounce back from many things besides the U-boats such as whales, schools of fish, vertical sea currents and ship's wakes. This caused many false alarms, especially with the inexperienced operators. The veteran operator, Miletus was much better at figuring out these bad signals and hunting down the intended target. The commanding officers quickly learned which operators were reliable.
All three also painfully had learned that often a real U-boat could not be detected due to water conditions. ASDIC was not very reliable in rough water but just now conditions were a little better than marginal, pretty good for the North A Atlantic and he was certain Metilus could read through this. What he knew his 141 set nor his excellent ASDIC operator could not read through were layers of different temperature that deflected the sound waves. U-boats could dive beneath such layers to avoid detection.
18 MAY 1941 1926 Cambeltown’s CO ordered his depth charges be set for a shallow pattern.
18 MAY 1941 1936 ASDIC OPERATOR Metilus reports range down to 7,000 yards constant bearing and it is a positive submarine contact. Watch Officer reports contact speed 5 kts. Teynham, recognizes this as indicating the U-boat is going to try to make him swallow a moldy and he is already within maximum range of the Nazi 21 inch G7a T1 8,750 yards 40 knots. He orders OOD to inform Lookouts to keep as peeled for torpedo wakes from forward of the beam. He also makes to decision to keep his 141 set on active and not go to passive listening to hear screw sounds. It’s a risk but he wants to kill that sub on his first pass and he needs to know precise range and when Metilus reports instantaneous echo so he can drop and maneuver for a second attack. He also knows one sub has the advantage against a single escort. The Pig Boat can’t RUN but she can hide under a layer, she can turn a lot tighter than an old Wick’s class DD and her G7a T1’s are now reliable.
18 MAY 1941 1943 U-105’s “Kaleu” orders Eals fired from tubes 1 and 2, Speed 44 kts, deflection 1 degree, depth 6 ft. It’s a bow shot but he wanted this destroyer dead and then he would figure out where she came from. Intel from agents in Halifax, shared with him before sailing, was that quite a few convoys could be expected to sail in the next month. That agent would be spilling his guts out to RCN and US Intel folks before the remains of HX-123 reached Liverpool thanks to Unit 387’s ace civilian Code Breaker…... Elizabeth Smith Feldman. That was why his long range Type 9 was where she is. Give the shorter legged Type VIIcs comprising the Wolf Packs time to get into position and do the real killing.
18 MAY 1941 1944 U-105’s captain orders an immediate hard right rudder and a dive to 50 meters.
18 MAY 1941 1945 Starboard lookout report two torpedo wakes dead ahead. In a loud but firm voice Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham orders Cambletown’s rudder hard over to port counts to slow counts 20 and then orders it back to base course paralleling the torpedoes by about 75 yds?
18 MAY 1941 1947 both eals pass down starboard side at 40 and 20 yds respectively. Lord Teynham’s snap calculation was not as accurate as he would have hoped but he’d take it as a win. A miss was as good as a mile.
Over the tanoy speaker he announces that Cambletown was going in for the kill. “The Hun had his try and now it is our time.”
18 MAY 1941 1949 Cambletown drops a pattern of 6 depth charges 2 from rails and 4 from MK.1 DCTs. Teynham orders hard right rudder at flank speed. Runs a track that takes him back to the vicinity of the sub in three minutes, slows to 10 kts and waits for Miletus to conduct listen for signs of breakup or anything else for 2 minutes. Nothing .
18 MAY 1941 1951 CO orders Watch officer and ASDIC Operator to continue begin lost contact search using active sonar. Gives helmsman first course for the search.
18 MAY 1941 1955 The Convoy Commodore orders a course change to the South by 15 % hoping this is a good compromise that should elude whatever Wolf Pack is waiting for them and still give him a good shot at making Liverpool in a reasonable time.
18 MAY 1941 2015 The course change being made without collisions (Thank God) and the convoy pretty much settled down for the night. He expects no problem from the weather for the rest of the night. Visibility is clear, moderate E. wind 15t Kts gusting to 21, making 7 knots in sea state 5.
18 MAY 1941 2100 Commodore R-Adm Rogers finishes his journal entry with the following comments on “HIS convoy”
AT 1500 high wing monoplane flying N.E. Presume American clipper. This air contact was not picked up by the lookouts until it was within a mile or so of “MY convoy”. Why didn’t the escorts radar pick it up at all? Going to shoot a signal flare up senior escort officer’s Ass and demand they do better before we are in Condor Range.
Station keeping - "Began badly, improved to very good. Kinross, Barbro, Helgøy, Kolsnaren, Empire Oryx were all inclined to drop back at night and in spite of signals made little improvements
Signaling - Generally very good. British Power signaling was oscillating badly. Barbro (1st trip) and Helgøy were slow. Kolsnaren was slow and slack. Master of Tiba did useful work by intelligent use of D/F in connection with W/T watch on 850 meters.
U-boat was attacked by HMS Cambeltown based on Roel’s information. Captain Roel Hendrikx deserves official thanks.
18 MAY 1941 2110 What the commodore and CO of Cambeltown strongly suspected but did not absolutely know was the type 9B U-105 although suffering shock damage to her long range radio had already signaled her sighting report to BdU. Roel’s 850 meters DF intercept was very strong proof of that. Three more of her type IXB long range sisters were sent by BDU to raise havoc as far east as possible, along the Halifax to Liverpool convoy lane; well outside the type VIIC U boats’ normal operating range. Two of the boats had already received U-105’s CO Hans “Petruchio” Becker’s sifting report and were closing on HX-123 from the West U-123 commanded by U-Boat “Ace” Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen and U-107 skippered Kapitänleutnant Günther Hessler (Karl Dönitz's son in law). They doubled the lookouts and cranked up their 986 shp; diesels to 18 kts to close on HX-123 (which was moving in their general direction) and should reach HX-123 by 2125 and 2330 respectively 19 MAY .
19 MAY 1941 0130 CO Cambeltown orders crew stand easy on station and for the cooks to issue tea to all hands at their stations.
19 MAY1941 0245 Convoy HX 123 950 miles NORTH EAST of Halifax. BB HMS Ramillies, has a catastrophic casualty to a high pressure turbine. The internal explosion fractures the casing sending shrapnel through the engine room that cuts down the Chief ERA and many of the engineers. Much of the piping requires patching and replacement. Serious damage is done the engine room’s other high pressure turbine. On inspection, it is determined the 2nd turbine requires shipyard repair.
19 MAY 1941 0300 CO orders the “off” watch below but to keep all Depth charge throwers, torpedo tubes and Depth charged rail crews fully manned. Orders Watch Officer and Miletus relieved.
19 MAY 1941 0330 Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham Celebrates his 26th birthday with a single Pink Gin and thinks about what he could do if that U-boat to the surfaced with fight in it.. His three 4"/50 Mk.9 singles;1 - 3"/40 Mk.V AA single; 2 or 4 20mm Oerlikon AA; 3 - 21" torpedo tubes; should be more than enough but you never knew what was going to happen at sea. In his short life he had seen happens at sea that no sane man would ever credit.
19 MAY 1941 0347 Sleep deprived “ASDIC Operator Benny” Hill misses three return echoes over 12 minutes. Watch Officer Sub Lieutenant Peter Sellers RNVR, with all of 4 months “In the Andrew” has been out cold for 25 minutes and will sleep through until his relief arrives at 0615. Benny will continue to report “No Contact reports”, throughout the watch. The bridge crew zombies on their feet accepts the reports and desperately tries to stay awake.
19 MAY1941 0400 Convoy HX 123 960 miles NORTH EAST of Halifax. Ramillies is detached and ordered back to Halifax with a Town class DD and ASW sloop as escort.
19 MAY 1941 0530 CO Cambletown calls off the search and orders his navigator for a two boiler run (Every CO of a Town Class DD, with it’s small bunkerage, has to keep in mind his fuel level) back to HX-123 current posit.
19 MAY 1941 0645 U-105’s CO Hans “Petruchio” Becker, orders his sonar rating to do a 360 degree sweep with his GruppenHorchGerät (GHG) Hydrophone underwater sound detector. GHG hears nothing. He then orders the boat to periscope depth.
19 MAY 1941 0700 “Petruchio” finishes his visual search and orders another GHG search; still nothing.
19 MAY 1941 0708 Herr Becker orders the bridge crew assembled
19 MAY 1941 0712 U-105 surfaces . Bridge crew scrambles up the conning tower ladder lookouts do a full sweep of their sectors and report no contacts.
19 MAY 1941 0715 Herr Becker takes a long look at the Borkum (FuMB 10) radar detection device. Nothing. He orders course & speed to intercept convoy HX-123 by 2300 of the OOD and returns to the Zentrale (control room). The CHENG reports it will take at least four hours to repair all the shock damage from the Englander Feger’s (DD AKA Sweeper) “wasser bombs”. Herr Becker informs the Zentrale crew he intends to stay surfaced as long as possible to rendezvous with U-123“Ace” Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen and U-107 skippered Kapitänleutnant Günther Hessler (Karl Dönitz's son in law) before they go in and tear the heart out of the convoy. He then orders normal steaming watch set to give his crew much needed rest and then conducts a full inspection of the boat with his Ching.
19 MAY 1941 0740 FdU (Führer der Unterseeboote) AKA U-boat C O “Petruchio” returns to his cabin to write up his after action report. He is well pleased with both his crew and boat. He likes his type IX better than the Type VIIC. All Type IXB submarines have 986 shp while submerged and 4,340 shp when surfaced. As a result, they could travel at 18.2 knots while surfaced and 7.3 knots submerged. His Type IXB has a range of 12,000 nmi at 10 knots while on the surface and 64 nmi at 4 knots submerged. He has 6 torpedo tubes (4 in the bow, 2 in the stern) and carries a total of twenty two 21 inch Aals. Unlike the earlier Type IXAs, his Type IXB is equipped to launch 44 TMC mines but Uncle Karl did not favor them as they were not quite as effective as the torpedo and so U-105 carried nine this cruise. His Type IXB is armed with a 105 mm SK C/32 naval gun and 180 rounds on a Utof mount. He also has 2 standard 20 mm FLAK guns. Although his IXB could cram in up to 56 crew and “passengers” he was satisfied with his 46.
He also was thankful his U-105 was home ported in Lorient. Uncle Karl took very good care of his Boats and men. As MN base, Lorient had the facilities Dönitz needed, as well as numerous cafes and bars, and a red-light districts. The dockyard facilities were excellent and the Mademoiselles were very, very friendly, as long as you had money and were generous to them. Well they earned every Reichspfennig they got. Could not have been fun “servicing” a virile, sex starved young U-boat man just in from a 30 day North Atlantic patrol. They also had to contend with the hatred of their own countrymen and especially women. To that there was also real danger from fear maddened youngsters who drank far too much and all too often took it out on their Huren.
The first area put into use as a U-boat dock was the fisherman's wharf of Keroman on the River Blavet. Work commenced in November 1940, and the installation comprised two wet docks capable of accommodating the larger Type IX U-boat. At the same time, in the trawler port, two large above-ground bunkers were constructed to protect U-boats that may require repairs or refit. These structures were reminiscent of church naves, and were nicknamed "Dom" bunkers (Dom being the German word for a cathedral).
19 MAY 1941 1025 HMS Cambeltown rejoins HX-123. CO notices Ramillies is missing. Guesses a break down and a welcome return a to Halifax, some well deserved dockyard time for her crew.
HX 123 Commodore H. Rogers orders Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham to lay on board his ship by flag hoist with his reports of his “Wild Goose Hunt”. CO Cambeltown senses no matter what he says he is about to relieve his Commodore's frustrations. Oh well. Should not have joined if I could not take a joke!
19 MAY 1941 1130 Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham was in his Gig heading back to his ship. He would rate his dressing down by the Commodore no more than a 5 on a scale of 10. The old man seemed preoccupied. He was right and he was pretty sure he knew why.
19 MAY 1941 1138 Roel’s intercept sure “smelled” like a sighting report that would bring in every U-boat in the vicinity in looking for blood. The Commodore of HX-123 did not absolutely know it but suspected he had U-boats getting into position for a coordinated night attack after dark. This was still pretty far West to be hit by one of the large Type VII Wolf Packs. Did the type IX fight in the packs? Until now most of the long range sub attacks were by individual Type 9s. Just as well they were rid of Ramillies but he did not like loosing a Town class DD and the little ASW sloop.
What could Roger’s do to make good use of that time? Refueling the escorts seemed very prudent.
19 MAY 1941 1145 The commodore ordered the escorts to refuel by signal hoist. Precedence would be the two remaining old ASW sloops, the three remaining Town class Ex USN WW I DDs with Campbeltown first, and finally the 5 Flower class Corvets. It required juggling the screen but the weather was moderate and they have plenty of time.
He would have loved to fire off that Seafire for a recce but that would loose him his air cover and probably a fine, brave young man to no good purpose. He was worried about U-Boats not surface raiders.
19 MAY 1941 1630 Refueling completed with only minor damage to an oiler and two escorts. Really nothing much more than a few dented hull plates and the loss of a span wire from a refueling rig and a cleat ripped out of the deck of one of the Town Class Dds, both easily replaced. Those Yankee Gifts Horses were absolute beasts to handle alongside an oiler. No one had been killed or even injured so, all in all, a good evolution. Most important no matter what was in store for HIS convoy the escorts had plenty of fuel, for now. Those old DDs hull lines were too narrow which gave them a vicious roll. The OODs didn't like the way they handled either. They had propellers that spun the same way, 2-screw ships usually have the Prop Shafts spinning in opposite directions to reduce the effects on the rudder when conning, especially when coming alongside and staying at the proper distance for an unrep. Their turning circle was huge, as big as most BBs, a real dangerous flaw in ASW which demands tight man oeuvres. This was topped off by unreliable "chain and cog" steering gear laid across the main deck. Even their fully enclosed bridges caused problems with reflections in the glass at night. The last, in Roger’s opinion, was a bit of just plain bitching for the sake of it as the DD’s had perfectly adequate OPEN bridge wings and a well equipped open conning station right above the enclosed pilot house.
19 MAY 1941 0730 BB-55 CO was on his second cup of coffee. He was sitting in his Captain’s chair on the STBD bridge wing factoring in what advantages he could pull from 20 hours of daylight this far north?
Nothing much to be improved in the steaming formation. BB-55 was Guide with Brooklyn and her CXAM RADAR as AAW guard ship. The Cans were in a “Bent line screen” about a quarter mile ahead with their Ping Jockies (Sonarmen) pulsing out on a staggered sched that made it real tough on the U-boats approach run. So far nothing to report. So far he had nothing to complain about the DDs. Lt.Cdr. Carl Hilton Bushnell, USN CO of Dunlap DD-384, a Mahan class ship with the latest Sonar was senior Screen Officer and he seemed to be doing a good job keeping Kearny DD-432 a Gleaves-class and class leader Benson DD-421 Benson class on station. Although the Cans’ sonars were good, aside from Dunlap they carried the older radar with which was less efficient or reliable than the CXAM.
All three DDs had been on the Neutrality Patrol for quite a while and as to be expected were quite effective, as hunters but no one knew how good they would be as efficient KILLERS yet. TG39.1’s DD’s had pretty full bunkers. Hewitt knew that two boiler plant ops were the way to go until something happened. He deliberately kept small boy maneuvering or radical speed changes down to the absolute minimum.
USS North Carolina BB-55 flag Under Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt USS Benson DD-421 Benson class
USS Brooklyn CL-40 WITH CXAM RADAR
USS Kearny DD-432 Gleaves-class
USS Dunlap DD-384 Mahan class CO Lt.Cdr. Carl Hilton Bushnell, USN
USS Benson DD-421 Benson class
Hewitt had decided to maximize the flight hours of the TG39.1’s. They were looking for subs within 40 miles and surface raiders out to 90.
The Curtiss SOC Seagull biplane was reliable, if slow and had a good range of over 500 miles. As employed by Hewitt to search for surface raiders that gave them good loiter time as they paroled their forward wedge based on TG39.1s course. They also put that endurance to good use chasing down sub leads and generally keeping a good ASW watch ahead of and around TG39.1. The problem was between his BB and CL he only had 6 operational aircraft now. Minimum was one in close looking for subs and 1, really should be two or three, out far looking for signs of subs and surface raiders. Hewitt also wanted one SOC at 10 minutes standby if needed. That left three birds down for maintenance.
Right on time Captain Victor H. Krulak CO of HIS Marine Det. Came up the ladder, braced to attention and saluted Ching Lee. Lee returned the salute with a smile, told him to relax and asked if he would care for some of this “sludge” his Stewart's called coffee. He knew why the Leather Neck was here; target practice. Ching made it a point, if he possibly could spare the time, to burn some powder himself whenever the fantail was rigged for the Marine’s weapons practice. The “range” was run by the ship’s armorer, GM2 Borgnino, assisted by a few of the Senior Jarhead Noncoms. He had to break out (although his non rated crew and junior Jarheads did the grunt work) and account for the ammo expended. He often took the opportunity to test fire some of the many weapons he was responsible for in the armory. Ching also made sure the ship’s boarding and “landing” parties practiced at the same time. Unlike a lot of Navy CO’s, he was a dedicated and acknowledge world class marksman. As such Ching knew the necessity of “Keeping your eye in” for effective and safe shooting. Muscle memory was something that required constant practice.
Finding room for a target range was difficult even on a BB with a beam of a little over 100 ft. Ernie came up with the idea of rigging a 50 yd Pistol range on the fantail. This presented two obstacles. First that was where the SOCs were stored on their Catapults. Damage to the aircraft or machinery back aft was not acceptable. Second, the fantail of BB-55, aft of turret 3 rapidly decreased in beam. His solution was to lay out his 4 position firing range at an angle. It ran from Port side just fwd of Turret 3 ( which was trained as far forward to STBD as possible with gun elevated ) to STBD side abaft the STBD Cat which was trained inboard pointing to port, parallel to the range. This gave Ernie 165 ft. Good for Pistols, shotguns and “Tommy” Guns. Needless to say no aircraft were stored on the STBD Cat and the port cat was trained outboard keeping it’s SOC as far as possible from the range. The two other SOCs were stored on their dolly's and positioned well out of the way of the “range”.
Convoy HX 123
15 MAY ’41Convoy HX 123 departs Halifax Nova Scotia to Liverpool with 43 merchants
Was considered fast convoy made up of ships that could make 9–13kt. A parallel series of slow convoys, the SC series, was run for ships making 8kn or less, while ships making more than 13 knots sailed independently. The HX convoys were comparatively fast convoys, they were less vulnerable to U-boat attack than the slow convoys, but they were still very vulnerable to large surface raiders, like Bismarck and The Prince. Therefore the escort included an old BB if at all possible. HX-123 escorts were:
1 Old BB HMS Ramillies 4 Town class Ex USN WW I DDs including the future famous HMS Campbeltown, Ex USN DD 131, of the St Nazaire Raid 5 Flower class Corvets
3 old ASW sloops
1 Armed Merchant Cruiser
16 MAY 1941 1900 Most of yesterday and today were spent exercising TG 39.1 in accordance with RDML Henry Hewitt’s own operational doctrine. Work was needed to get his CO’s thinking like their TG Commander but that would come in short order. He did find one area of real concern ; simulated battle damage drills during shoot-exes. These ships have to be prepared to deal with multiple emergencies while still maintaining their accuracy and rate of fire. If Jutland showed anything German warships were tough opponents and he intended TG39.1 to be as tougher. It was quite obvious this needed immediate remedy and he would schedule TG drills to begin to rectify this tomorrow.
18 MAY 1941 Convoy HX 123 Commodore H. Rogers in Cornerbrook, Vice Commodore was the Master of Cairnesk. The convoy had 41 ships, 34 of which were still present at local the rendezvous according to the Commodore's report. Amberton returned to Halifax on the night of 15 MAY . Welsh Prince returned to Halifax to repair steering gear 6 AM 15 May. Winona County disappeared on the night of 16 MAY - believed broken down. Wellpark dropped out during gale on 17 MAY. COPELAND was convoy Rescue Ship. Empire Burton is our CAM Ship carrying wheat flower. She is Crewed by 46 Merchant Navy men & officers, 12 RAF personnel, four DEMS gunners carries 1 Hawker Sea Hurricane for her single aircraft catapult. Her one aviator was Sergeant Pilot “Reaper” Simon Darkshade.
18 MAY 1941 1825 Town Class destroyer Cambeltown Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham RN, detached to make best speed to position 17 miles north East of HX-123 PIM based on Roel’s information. Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham orders CHENG to put ALL boilers on the line. GQ piped aboard Cambeltown.
18 MAY 1941 1832 All stations report Manned and ready to the bridge.
18 MAY 1941 1845 Cambeltown picks up small contact dead ahead, range 7 miles on course 290 speed 8 kts. Contact appears to be a U-boat charging batteries. No radio transmissions. Teynham orders flank speed. Down in Main control CHENG looks at his Chief ERA and an unspoken agreement takes place. No way this old gal’s spavin engines will hold up under max speed. Instead, Chief ERA opens throttles just enough to give the skipper 31 kts, her design speed is 35 and she made 39 on trials. Even at 31 he was doubtful the old Wick’s class USN bucket’s steam plant will last very long.
18 MAY 1941 1850 U-105 lookout spots Campbeltown and makes an urgent sighting report to OOD. OOD immediately yells “Alarm” down to Zentrale (U-boat control room) , followed by “Emergency Dive”. He knows, at 1 minutes 30 seconds his Type 9 does not crash dive as quickly as the type VIICs and just prays it is good enough. Second thought, why didn’t the “Biskaya-Kreuz” Nick name for FuMB 1 radar detector give us a warning? What has the fucking RN come up with now?
18 MAY 1941 1855 U-105 ’s “Kaleu” is in the Zentrale looking at the OOD. “Erster Wachoffizier, report.”
“Looks like an escort closing at 30 kts.”
“Kaleu” “To all hands set up for bow shot on that Pig. She is running deaf right to us. Make all tubes ready. We’ll use two Aals from the bow tubes, go deep and make a radical course change. Then we listen and if things sound good we come up and admire our kill or make another run at the at him.”
18 MAY 1941 1857 Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham orders Cambletown speed reduction to 1/3rd and commences a sweeping with his Type 141 Asdic, actually a USN QCJ/QCL domeless, system that came with his Lend-Lease Town-class DD, modified with British range and bearing recorders. In his opinion it was an adequate ASDIC in the hands veteran very skilled operators but hardly up to the standard of the newer RN systems. Fortunately, he had a couple of these outstanding matelots, one of which AB Miletus was his best.
Under orders from the Watch Officer ASDIC operator Miletus began to search through an arc of roughly 45 degrees each side of the base course of the vessel. Miletus had to be stop at regular intervals on this arc long enough to allow the relatively slow underwater sound waves to return should they locate a submerged target. Normally the head would be stopped on a bearing and a sound pulse would be transmitted, which would be heard as a "ping" noise. If no echo was received after several seconds the head would be rotated a few degrees (usually 5) and the process repeated throughout the watch.
18 MAY 1941 1924 ASDIC operator Miletus’ outgoing impulses stuck a submerged target the echo sounded like a distinct "beep". Miletus’ notified the Watch Officer and bridge the range and of the bearing and then immediately start left and right cuts to try to determine the width of the target and trying to see if it was moving from one side to another. Miletus’ determined the target was closing the range.
Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham, the Watch Officer and especially Miletus knew the return echo could bounce back from many things besides the U-boats such as whales, schools of fish, vertical sea currents and ship's wakes. This caused many false alarms, especially with the inexperienced operators. The veteran operator, Miletus was much better at figuring out these bad signals and hunting down the intended target. The commanding officers quickly learned which operators were reliable.
All three also painfully had learned that often a real U-boat could not be detected due to water conditions. ASDIC was not very reliable in rough water but just now conditions were a little better than marginal, pretty good for the North A Atlantic and he was certain Metilus could read through this. What he knew his 141 set nor his excellent ASDIC operator could not read through were layers of different temperature that deflected the sound waves. U-boats could dive beneath such layers to avoid detection.
18 MAY 1941 1926 Cambeltown’s CO ordered his depth charges be set for a shallow pattern.
18 MAY 1941 1936 ASDIC OPERATOR Metilus reports range down to 7,000 yards constant bearing and it is a positive submarine contact. Watch Officer reports contact speed 5 kts. Teynham, recognizes this as indicating the U-boat is going to try to make him swallow a moldy and he is already within maximum range of the Nazi 21 inch G7a T1 8,750 yards 40 knots. He orders OOD to inform Lookouts to keep as peeled for torpedo wakes from forward of the beam. He also makes to decision to keep his 141 set on active and not go to passive listening to hear screw sounds. It’s a risk but he wants to kill that sub on his first pass and he needs to know precise range and when Metilus reports instantaneous echo so he can drop and maneuver for a second attack. He also knows one sub has the advantage against a single escort. The Pig Boat can’t RUN but she can hide under a layer, she can turn a lot tighter than an old Wick’s class DD and her G7a T1’s are now reliable.
18 MAY 1941 1943 U-105’s “Kaleu” orders Eals fired from tubes 1 and 2, Speed 44 kts, deflection 1 degree, depth 6 ft. It’s a bow shot but he wanted this destroyer dead and then he would figure out where she came from. Intel from agents in Halifax, shared with him before sailing, was that quite a few convoys could be expected to sail in the next month. That agent would be spilling his guts out to RCN and US Intel folks before the remains of HX-123 reached Liverpool thanks to Unit 387’s ace civilian Code Breaker…... Elizabeth Smith Feldman. That was why his long range Type 9 was where she is. Give the shorter legged Type VIIcs comprising the Wolf Packs time to get into position and do the real killing.
18 MAY 1941 1944 U-105’s captain orders an immediate hard right rudder and a dive to 50 meters.
18 MAY 1941 1945 Starboard lookout report two torpedo wakes dead ahead. In a loud but firm voice Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham orders Cambletown’s rudder hard over to port counts to slow counts 20 and then orders it back to base course paralleling the torpedoes by about 75 yds?
18 MAY 1941 1947 both eals pass down starboard side at 40 and 20 yds respectively. Lord Teynham’s snap calculation was not as accurate as he would have hoped but he’d take it as a win. A miss was as good as a mile.
Over the tanoy speaker he announces that Cambletown was going in for the kill. “The Hun had his try and now it is our time.”
18 MAY 1941 1949 Cambletown drops a pattern of 6 depth charges 2 from rails and 4 from MK.1 DCTs. Teynham orders hard right rudder at flank speed. Runs a track that takes him back to the vicinity of the sub in three minutes, slows to 10 kts and waits for Miletus to conduct listen for signs of breakup or anything else for 2 minutes. Nothing .
18 MAY 1941 1951 CO orders Watch officer and ASDIC Operator to continue begin lost contact search using active sonar. Gives helmsman first course for the search.
18 MAY 1941 1955 The Convoy Commodore orders a course change to the South by 15 % hoping this is a good compromise that should elude whatever Wolf Pack is waiting for them and still give him a good shot at making Liverpool in a reasonable time.
18 MAY 1941 2015 The course change being made without collisions (Thank God) and the convoy pretty much settled down for the night. He expects no problem from the weather for the rest of the night. Visibility is clear, moderate E. wind 15t Kts gusting to 21, making 7 knots in sea state 5.
18 MAY 1941 2100 Commodore R-Adm Rogers finishes his journal entry with the following comments on “HIS convoy”
AT 1500 high wing monoplane flying N.E. Presume American clipper. This air contact was not picked up by the lookouts until it was within a mile or so of “MY convoy”. Why didn’t the escorts radar pick it up at all? Going to shoot a signal flare up senior escort officer’s Ass and demand they do better before we are in Condor Range.
Station keeping - "Began badly, improved to very good. Kinross, Barbro, Helgøy, Kolsnaren, Empire Oryx were all inclined to drop back at night and in spite of signals made little improvements
Signaling - Generally very good. British Power signaling was oscillating badly. Barbro (1st trip) and Helgøy were slow. Kolsnaren was slow and slack. Master of Tiba did useful work by intelligent use of D/F in connection with W/T watch on 850 meters.
U-boat was attacked by HMS Cambeltown based on Roel’s information. Captain Roel Hendrikx deserves official thanks.
18 MAY 1941 2110 What the commodore and CO of Cambeltown strongly suspected but did not absolutely know was the type 9B U-105 although suffering shock damage to her long range radio had already signaled her sighting report to BdU. Roel’s 850 meters DF intercept was very strong proof of that. Three more of her type IXB long range sisters were sent by BDU to raise havoc as far east as possible, along the Halifax to Liverpool convoy lane; well outside the type VIIC U boats’ normal operating range. Two of the boats had already received U-105’s CO Hans “Petruchio” Becker’s sifting report and were closing on HX-123 from the West U-123 commanded by U-Boat “Ace” Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen and U-107 skippered Kapitänleutnant Günther Hessler (Karl Dönitz's son in law). They doubled the lookouts and cranked up their 986 shp; diesels to 18 kts to close on HX-123 (which was moving in their general direction) and should reach HX-123 by 2125 and 2330 respectively 19 MAY .
19 MAY 1941 0130 CO Cambeltown orders crew stand easy on station and for the cooks to issue tea to all hands at their stations.
19 MAY1941 0245 Convoy HX 123 950 miles NORTH EAST of Halifax. BB HMS Ramillies, has a catastrophic casualty to a high pressure turbine. The internal explosion fractures the casing sending shrapnel through the engine room that cuts down the Chief ERA and many of the engineers. Much of the piping requires patching and replacement. Serious damage is done the engine room’s other high pressure turbine. On inspection, it is determined the 2nd turbine requires shipyard repair.
19 MAY 1941 0300 CO orders the “off” watch below but to keep all Depth charge throwers, torpedo tubes and Depth charged rail crews fully manned. Orders Watch Officer and Miletus relieved.
19 MAY 1941 0330 Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham Celebrates his 26th birthday with a single Pink Gin and thinks about what he could do if that U-boat to the surfaced with fight in it.. His three 4"/50 Mk.9 singles;1 - 3"/40 Mk.V AA single; 2 or 4 20mm Oerlikon AA; 3 - 21" torpedo tubes; should be more than enough but you never knew what was going to happen at sea. In his short life he had seen happens at sea that no sane man would ever credit.
19 MAY 1941 0347 Sleep deprived “ASDIC Operator Benny” Hill misses three return echoes over 12 minutes. Watch Officer Sub Lieutenant Peter Sellers RNVR, with all of 4 months “In the Andrew” has been out cold for 25 minutes and will sleep through until his relief arrives at 0615. Benny will continue to report “No Contact reports”, throughout the watch. The bridge crew zombies on their feet accepts the reports and desperately tries to stay awake.
19 MAY1941 0400 Convoy HX 123 960 miles NORTH EAST of Halifax. Ramillies is detached and ordered back to Halifax with a Town class DD and ASW sloop as escort.
19 MAY 1941 0530 CO Cambletown calls off the search and orders his navigator for a two boiler run (Every CO of a Town Class DD, with it’s small bunkerage, has to keep in mind his fuel level) back to HX-123 current posit.
19 MAY 1941 0645 U-105’s CO Hans “Petruchio” Becker, orders his sonar rating to do a 360 degree sweep with his GruppenHorchGerät (GHG) Hydrophone underwater sound detector. GHG hears nothing. He then orders the boat to periscope depth.
19 MAY 1941 0700 “Petruchio” finishes his visual search and orders another GHG search; still nothing.
19 MAY 1941 0708 Herr Becker orders the bridge crew assembled
19 MAY 1941 0712 U-105 surfaces . Bridge crew scrambles up the conning tower ladder lookouts do a full sweep of their sectors and report no contacts.
19 MAY 1941 0715 Herr Becker takes a long look at the Borkum (FuMB 10) radar detection device. Nothing. He orders course & speed to intercept convoy HX-123 by 2300 of the OOD and returns to the Zentrale (control room). The CHENG reports it will take at least four hours to repair all the shock damage from the Englander Feger’s (DD AKA Sweeper) “wasser bombs”. Herr Becker informs the Zentrale crew he intends to stay surfaced as long as possible to rendezvous with U-123“Ace” Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen and U-107 skippered Kapitänleutnant Günther Hessler (Karl Dönitz's son in law) before they go in and tear the heart out of the convoy. He then orders normal steaming watch set to give his crew much needed rest and then conducts a full inspection of the boat with his Ching.
19 MAY 1941 0740 FdU (Führer der Unterseeboote) AKA U-boat C O “Petruchio” returns to his cabin to write up his after action report. He is well pleased with both his crew and boat. He likes his type IX better than the Type VIIC. All Type IXB submarines have 986 shp while submerged and 4,340 shp when surfaced. As a result, they could travel at 18.2 knots while surfaced and 7.3 knots submerged. His Type IXB has a range of 12,000 nmi at 10 knots while on the surface and 64 nmi at 4 knots submerged. He has 6 torpedo tubes (4 in the bow, 2 in the stern) and carries a total of twenty two 21 inch Aals. Unlike the earlier Type IXAs, his Type IXB is equipped to launch 44 TMC mines but Uncle Karl did not favor them as they were not quite as effective as the torpedo and so U-105 carried nine this cruise. His Type IXB is armed with a 105 mm SK C/32 naval gun and 180 rounds on a Utof mount. He also has 2 standard 20 mm FLAK guns. Although his IXB could cram in up to 56 crew and “passengers” he was satisfied with his 46.
He also was thankful his U-105 was home ported in Lorient. Uncle Karl took very good care of his Boats and men. As MN base, Lorient had the facilities Dönitz needed, as well as numerous cafes and bars, and a red-light districts. The dockyard facilities were excellent and the Mademoiselles were very, very friendly, as long as you had money and were generous to them. Well they earned every Reichspfennig they got. Could not have been fun “servicing” a virile, sex starved young U-boat man just in from a 30 day North Atlantic patrol. They also had to contend with the hatred of their own countrymen and especially women. To that there was also real danger from fear maddened youngsters who drank far too much and all too often took it out on their Huren.
The first area put into use as a U-boat dock was the fisherman's wharf of Keroman on the River Blavet. Work commenced in November 1940, and the installation comprised two wet docks capable of accommodating the larger Type IX U-boat. At the same time, in the trawler port, two large above-ground bunkers were constructed to protect U-boats that may require repairs or refit. These structures were reminiscent of church naves, and were nicknamed "Dom" bunkers (Dom being the German word for a cathedral).
19 MAY 1941 1025 HMS Cambeltown rejoins HX-123. CO notices Ramillies is missing. Guesses a break down and a welcome return a to Halifax, some well deserved dockyard time for her crew.
HX 123 Commodore H. Rogers orders Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham to lay on board his ship by flag hoist with his reports of his “Wild Goose Hunt”. CO Cambeltown senses no matter what he says he is about to relieve his Commodore's frustrations. Oh well. Should not have joined if I could not take a joke!
19 MAY 1941 1130 Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham was in his Gig heading back to his ship. He would rate his dressing down by the Commodore no more than a 5 on a scale of 10. The old man seemed preoccupied. He was right and he was pretty sure he knew why.
19 MAY 1941 1138 Roel’s intercept sure “smelled” like a sighting report that would bring in every U-boat in the vicinity in looking for blood. The Commodore of HX-123 did not absolutely know it but suspected he had U-boats getting into position for a coordinated night attack after dark. This was still pretty far West to be hit by one of the large Type VII Wolf Packs. Did the type IX fight in the packs? Until now most of the long range sub attacks were by individual Type 9s. Just as well they were rid of Ramillies but he did not like loosing a Town class DD and the little ASW sloop.
What could Roger’s do to make good use of that time? Refueling the escorts seemed very prudent.
19 MAY 1941 1145 The commodore ordered the escorts to refuel by signal hoist. Precedence would be the two remaining old ASW sloops, the three remaining Town class Ex USN WW I DDs with Campbeltown first, and finally the 5 Flower class Corvets. It required juggling the screen but the weather was moderate and they have plenty of time.
He would have loved to fire off that Seafire for a recce but that would loose him his air cover and probably a fine, brave young man to no good purpose. He was worried about U-Boats not surface raiders.
19 MAY 1941 1630 Refueling completed with only minor damage to an oiler and two escorts. Really nothing much more than a few dented hull plates and the loss of a span wire from a refueling rig and a cleat ripped out of the deck of one of the Town Class Dds, both easily replaced. Those Yankee Gifts Horses were absolute beasts to handle alongside an oiler. No one had been killed or even injured so, all in all, a good evolution. Most important no matter what was in store for HIS convoy the escorts had plenty of fuel, for now. Those old DDs hull lines were too narrow which gave them a vicious roll. The OODs didn't like the way they handled either. They had propellers that spun the same way, 2-screw ships usually have the Prop Shafts spinning in opposite directions to reduce the effects on the rudder when conning, especially when coming alongside and staying at the proper distance for an unrep. Their turning circle was huge, as big as most BBs, a real dangerous flaw in ASW which demands tight man oeuvres. This was topped off by unreliable "chain and cog" steering gear laid across the main deck. Even their fully enclosed bridges caused problems with reflections in the glass at night. The last, in Roger’s opinion, was a bit of just plain bitching for the sake of it as the DD’s had perfectly adequate OPEN bridge wings and a well equipped open conning station right above the enclosed pilot house.
19 MAY 1941 0730 BB-55 CO was on his second cup of coffee. He was sitting in his Captain’s chair on the STBD bridge wing factoring in what advantages he could pull from 20 hours of daylight this far north?
Nothing much to be improved in the steaming formation. BB-55 was Guide with Brooklyn and her CXAM RADAR as AAW guard ship. The Cans were in a “Bent line screen” about a quarter mile ahead with their Ping Jockies (Sonarmen) pulsing out on a staggered sched that made it real tough on the U-boats approach run. So far nothing to report. So far he had nothing to complain about the DDs. Lt.Cdr. Carl Hilton Bushnell, USN CO of Dunlap DD-384, a Mahan class ship with the latest Sonar was senior Screen Officer and he seemed to be doing a good job keeping Kearny DD-432 a Gleaves-class and class leader Benson DD-421 Benson class on station. Although the Cans’ sonars were good, aside from Dunlap they carried the older radar with which was less efficient or reliable than the CXAM.
All three DDs had been on the Neutrality Patrol for quite a while and as to be expected were quite effective, as hunters but no one knew how good they would be as efficient KILLERS yet. TG39.1’s DD’s had pretty full bunkers. Hewitt knew that two boiler plant ops were the way to go until something happened. He deliberately kept small boy maneuvering or radical speed changes down to the absolute minimum.
USS North Carolina BB-55 flag Under Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt USS Benson DD-421 Benson class
USS Brooklyn CL-40 WITH CXAM RADAR
USS Kearny DD-432 Gleaves-class
USS Dunlap DD-384 Mahan class CO Lt.Cdr. Carl Hilton Bushnell, USN
USS Benson DD-421 Benson class
Hewitt had decided to maximize the flight hours of the TG39.1’s. They were looking for subs within 40 miles and surface raiders out to 90.
The Curtiss SOC Seagull biplane was reliable, if slow and had a good range of over 500 miles. As employed by Hewitt to search for surface raiders that gave them good loiter time as they paroled their forward wedge based on TG39.1s course. They also put that endurance to good use chasing down sub leads and generally keeping a good ASW watch ahead of and around TG39.1. The problem was between his BB and CL he only had 6 operational aircraft now. Minimum was one in close looking for subs and 1, really should be two or three, out far looking for signs of subs and surface raiders. Hewitt also wanted one SOC at 10 minutes standby if needed. That left three birds down for maintenance.
Right on time Captain Victor H. Krulak CO of HIS Marine Det. Came up the ladder, braced to attention and saluted Ching Lee. Lee returned the salute with a smile, told him to relax and asked if he would care for some of this “sludge” his Stewart's called coffee. He knew why the Leather Neck was here; target practice. Ching made it a point, if he possibly could spare the time, to burn some powder himself whenever the fantail was rigged for the Marine’s weapons practice. The “range” was run by the ship’s armorer, GM2 Borgnino, assisted by a few of the Senior Jarhead Noncoms. He had to break out (although his non rated crew and junior Jarheads did the grunt work) and account for the ammo expended. He often took the opportunity to test fire some of the many weapons he was responsible for in the armory. Ching also made sure the ship’s boarding and “landing” parties practiced at the same time. Unlike a lot of Navy CO’s, he was a dedicated and acknowledge world class marksman. As such Ching knew the necessity of “Keeping your eye in” for effective and safe shooting. Muscle memory was something that required constant practice.
Finding room for a target range was difficult even on a BB with a beam of a little over 100 ft. Ernie came up with the idea of rigging a 50 yd Pistol range on the fantail. This presented two obstacles. First that was where the SOCs were stored on their Catapults. Damage to the aircraft or machinery back aft was not acceptable. Second, the fantail of BB-55, aft of turret 3 rapidly decreased in beam. His solution was to lay out his 4 position firing range at an angle. It ran from Port side just fwd of Turret 3 ( which was trained as far forward to STBD as possible with gun elevated ) to STBD side abaft the STBD Cat which was trained inboard pointing to port, parallel to the range. This gave Ernie 165 ft. Good for Pistols, shotguns and “Tommy” Guns. Needless to say no aircraft were stored on the STBD Cat and the port cat was trained outboard keeping it’s SOC as far as possible from the range. The two other SOCs were stored on their dolly's and positioned well out of the way of the “range”.
Last edited by OSCSSW on Thu Jan 19, 2023 3:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
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jemhouston
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Re: THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 2
When Titians clash.
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 5
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 5
The U-boat RUDEL
Rifle and MG practice was done by streaming a target raft right aft to whatever distance was desired. Sea conditions had to be taken into consideration. The BB could usually maneuver to give the shooters a lee for their practice., especially if his BB was The Guide and TG39.1 liked to shoot also. The use of the A/C Crane and it’s associated winches made this evolution quick and safe. The target raft, a really broad beamed scow really could fit 4 standard targets abreast, was serviced by one of the Motor whale boats manned by both sailors and junior marines. The kids needed all the open ocean boat practice they could get so once again Ching was combining a number of good training evolution.
Needless to say, only a BB commanded by a dedicated marksman would go through this much trouble to keep his MARDET’s & his own shooting sharp.
19 MAY 1941 2100 U-123 Rendezvous with U-105 15 miles West of HX-123. U-123’s Hardegen, OTC orders U-105 by signal lamp to a position just outside of radar range slightly ahead on Hx-123’s port side no later then 2330. Hardegen was relying on the fact the U-boat’s Borkum (FuMB 10) radar detection device would pick up the Convoy Escort’s radar pulses well beyond their return range. That would give them a precise bearing and a series of fixes over time would give them a rough but useful estimate of their distance, course and speed.
U-105 will conduct a surface attack on the convoy at 0050. Timing up this far North was tricky in late May. Nights were very, very short. The tables told him he had only between 0005 and 0215 to conduct “night surface actions”.
19 MAY 1941 2305 U-107 reaches rendezvous. OTC orders U-107 by flashing light to move slowly toward HX-123. He expects to begin a three U-boats coordinated surface attack at 0050 20 May. U-123 will proceed to a position just outside of Radar range using his passive Borkum (FuMB 10) radar detection device to take station, on the Starboard of HX-123. U-105 and U-123 will strike first. U-107 will submerge and wait for the forward screening “Fegers” (Escorts) to be thinned to counter the “flank” attacks and then head in and, at his discretion, surface inside the convoy and inflict as much damage as possible.
The three U-Boat Rudel “AS” (Aces) were confident in the attack plan. Nothing new about it but it was deadly effective. U-107 would have to be handled with great efficiency and boldness by Kapitänleutnant Günther Hessler (Karl Dönitz's son in law). Gunther was a good choice because he would know when he was about to push his luck too far and maneuver to fight another night.
19 MAY 1941 2340 U-123 running on the surface with decks awash had successfully eluded the “Fegers” and was now in a position slightly ahead and to starboard of HX-123. The four forward Atos were prewarmed and in all respects made ready to fire. Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen was on the bridge manning the “Battle sight” himself as he ordered the final minor adjustments to his Siemens built T Vorholt-Rechner S-3 fire control system. Target 1, bow Tube 1 Speed 7 kts, Angle on the bow 85 degrees to port, range about two kilometers (1.25 miles) Aal speed 40 kts. Depth 1.5 meters.
Target 2, bow tube 2, Target Speed 7 kts, Angle on the bow 90 degrees to port, range 1.5 kilometers (just shy of a mile) Aal speed 40 kts. Depth 1.5 meters. The setups for tubes 3 and 4 were just about the same with only a slight variance in the range to Target all looked good for his four bow torpedo tubes armed with G7a T1A AKA"Ato,".
Hardegen preferred Ato with it’s decahydronaphthalene (Decalin) Wet-Heatero engine to the newer G7e T2 "Eto," with it’s 100 hp electric motor that drove a pair of contra-rotating two-bladed propellers. The current MK of the 40 knot Ato with it’s four-cylinder radial engine that drove a single six-bladed propellers was a great improvement of the Sept 1939 G7a. He considered it NOW mechanically very reliable and so was it’s 617 lbs. Ship killer Hexanite warhead. He could live with it’s tell tale bubbles but he would be Deus damnatus if he risked his crew, his boat and his life on an unreliable eel. He had to load some of the less reliable ETOs but he made sure most of his 22Aalloadout (he had 15 Atos and 4 ETOs left) were Ato’s. That is why he had loaded G7e T2s in his two aft tubes.
19 MAY 1941 2353 on the conning tower of U-123 “Trommelschlag” had just finished “Unloading” his forward tubes at CORNER BROOK, EMPIRE PENGUIN, Norwegian HELGOY and NEWBROUGH; all in the extreme starboard column of HX-123. Instead of diving and escaping the escorts wrath he called for 18 kts on his diesels to position himself ahead of the convoy for his next attacks. He would use the short night to his advantage. Besides he would be aided by the much appreciated distraction of U-105’s Kaleu “Petruchios” attack on the port side of HX-123 that should take place very, very soon.
19 MAY 1941 2355 U-105 at periscope depth 5,000 yds slightly ahead off the port column of HX-123. Inside close after eluding Shoreham-class sloop HMS ROCHESTER. Fortunately for U-105’s Kaleu “Petruchios” and his crew Rochester was fitted with the type 127 ASDIC. The 127 had two transducers fixed into a bomb shaped casing and was mounted to the ship's bottom. One transducer looked ahead and the other looked abeam on both sides. There was no back plate on the abeam transducer, so both sides of the transducer sent out the same beam. The search procedure was to use the abeam transmitters for normal search. When an echo was heard, the ship was turned to pick up the target again. There was a fifty per cent chance of turning the wrong way. When the echo was recovered, its bearing was taken and the ahead transmitter was switched on from the beam transducer. The target was then tracked by weaving to and fro across the target.”
U-105 got lucky as HMS Rochester hunted for her faint contact in the wrong direction pulling her off station and ensuring U-105 would be able to get in her first attack unmolested. Very sporting of the Tommy’s chuckled “Petruchios” as he gave the order to Loose all 4 of his forward Aals. He fired two G7a T1A and two G7e T2s. Targets were the 4,096 ton DROMORE with “general cargo” and 7,964 ton EMPIRE SWAN loaded with “specialty” Steel and general cargo. “Petruchios” actual attack was the mirror image of U-123.
20 MAY 1941 0005 U-107 at Periscope depth with her electrics cut swayback to just allow steerage let HX-123 come to her. Kapitänleutnant Günther Hessler was handling his boat with both finesse and boldness. His plan was to reach the inner columns by penetrating HX-123 screen to where the tankers hid and fire a full 4 Aal spread from point blank range into as many tankers as he could identify. Then he would dive and reload his tubes. He would count on the chaos caused by the three boat coordinated attack to surface outside the screen, go to flank speed reposition his boat ahead and then dive to Periscope depth try for another inside attack on the remaining tankers. If that failed there should be some cripples to kill before daylight and then with his boat’s superior speed and lack of air patrols do it all over again during the next dark period. This should put a smile on the fact of my Father in law, that is if the old bastard still knows how to smile, probably not Hessler thought.
20 MAY 1941 0015 and 0019 U-107 fired four G7a T1A Aals into the center two columns of HX-123 from within the convoy. The range was so short, his crew was so expert in minting his main armament that he actually hit the 4 tankers. BARBRO Norwegian 6,325 tons was loaded with Diesel, ATHELVICTOR British 8,410; ARDOUR British 7,124 tons; and BRITISH POWER British 8,451 tons carried PETROL/gasoline. Ardour exploded and sank quickly. Barbro took a fish in the engine room aft and went DIW (dead in the water) causing some confusion in her column. Athelvictor was hit but able to maintain convoy speed. British Power was hit in the bows and was reduced to 4 kts max speed.
20 MAY 1941 0025 U-107 surfaced and opened fire for 5 minutes on the two inside column with her Secondary armament of one 4.1 in deck gun, one 20 mm AA and two MG34 machine guns. This caused the merchies to exchange fire, all of which missed U-107 but did pepper other ships of the convoy, causing mass chaos. Kapitänleutnant Günther Hessler ordered 107 down deep and silently let the convoy pass over him until he deemed, judging by his sound gear, they were well passed.
20 MAY 1941 035 U-107 came to Periscope depth. Kapitänleutnant Günther Hessler did a thorough Periscope recon and then ordered his boat onto a course that would keep his boat out of Radar range of the convoy and bring him to a position 15 miles ahead of his estimated convoy track by 1000. Both of his Rudel (Wolf-pack) would meet him there.
20 MAY 1941 0120 U-123 running on the surface Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen and his lookouts expected to see an escort charging down on them any second. Their passive Borkum (FuMB 10) radar detection device was of little use this close to so many escort transmitting radars Reinhard smiled. In this case the MK-1 Eyeball was still the superior sensor. They were “rewarded” with the sight of the bow wave of HMS corvette AURICULA closing slowly from aft. Tubes 5 & 6 were loaded with G7e T2 "Etos. Taking over the Battle Sight “Trommelschlag” started passing data to the control room. There was just enough of a bearing drift to satisfy him AURICULA did not hold him yet. He ordered the boat to come to port until he could count on a good target angle for his Aals.
20 MAY 1941 0127 U-123 fired both stern torpedoes at high speed, shallow depth and immediately resumed his previous course. 3 minutes later he saw a fire ball followed by a double explosion in the direction of AURICULA. The 1,015 ton, 208 ft Corvette with a crew of about 90 men was just “gone”. He thought the double explosion was both his Aals but the second one was actually the depth charge mag going up. The second Eto motored on close enough to the convoy to give a few lookouts quite a start before it sank. Skipper ordered all tubes reloaded immediately.
20 MAY 1941 0140 U-123 came to Periscope depth. Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen was to be the clean up man. He would put down the cripples. He conducted a thorough Periscope low level recon, followed by a high level sweep finding nothing. Sound had only distant noise in the general direction of HX-123. He then ordered the boat surfaced to decks awash and had ordered 360 degree search by his passive Borkum (FuMB 10) radar detection device, getting a few very low probability hits on escort radars, just on the edge of possible detection. Down to Periscope depth for another 15 minutes then surfaced. Two FuMB 10 sweeps came up with nothing in detectable range but another good bearing to the convoy. Hardegen ordered the boat on a race track course at slow speed while charging batteries. Before he left the bridge he told his watch officer there should be at least three stragglers. Notify him immediately and they would do a little more killing for the “father Land” this fine night. His orders were to sink the stragglers and then rejoin his pack mates for an attack at 1000. If the stragglers were troublesome, he would need most of his 18 kts to make that “Date”.
20 MAY 1941 0215 U-123 lookout reported contact . Tanker MS Barbro took two more Aals to sink.
20 MAY 1941 0245 U-123 British Power also took two Aals. Tankers died hard. Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen ordered his boat onto a course that would keep his boat out of Radar range of the convoy and bring him to a firing position 15 miles ahead of his estimated convoy track by 1000. Speed would be 15 Kts and batteries would be on charge for most of the trip. He ordered his watch officer to keep a close watch on the passive Borkum (FuMB 10) radar detection device and not hesitate to call him when they got a spike. Once he started getting FuMB 10 strikes he could get a pretty fair estimate of HX-123 course and speed and thereby refine his stationing solution. He then ordered all crew not absolutely required on watch to get some sleep and did the same himself. Just as he had to conserve his battery charge he had to conserve the strength of his sailors. Tomorrow would be another busy day.
20 1941 0300 USCGC Muskeget (WAG-48) was two weeks into a three week weather patrol southeast of Greenland. BM2C Coxswain “Dean” Katsoris had the “Mid” again. The naturalized Greek American had joined the USCG during the really tough days of the Great Depression and found he really loved the sea and dedication of the USCG to life saving. He was hooked and he was a lifer at 24. He didn’t much care for weather ship duty but it sure beat Lightship duty and was certainly a step up from Buoy Tender duty so he made the best of the time until he could transfer back to duty with the 36-Foot Motor Lifeboat-Type T at a USCG Station. Muskeget, being a hasty conversion during an explosive increase in the size of the USCG, had to make do with whatever gear she could get and that included boats. Lack of the customary ship’s boats was partially rectified by the issue of an available 36-Foot Motor Lifeboat-Type T.
Dean loved being Coxswain of a $15,000, 36 ft type T life saving boat. The worst the weather, the better he liked it. Compared to the older Type H the Type T had a more powerful motor, heavier and stronger scant lings, and a stronger hull form. The Type “T”displaced 19,246 lbs, had a length of 36’ ft 6 inches oa., Beam of 10 ft 4.5 inches max and draft of 3ft 3 inches.
Her power came from a monster Sterling Petrel Model L-6, six cylinder, four cycle engine of 90HP at 1000RPM, weighing about 1500lbs. The motor was an L-head type, with pistons of 5 ¼" bore and 6" stroke. A substantially oversize clutch and reverse gear were provided to handle the three-bladed, 28" diameter/15" pitch propeller. For the first time, an electric starter was provided. The increase in horsepower over the H type provided a propulsion power reserve for heavier duties such as towing and still had a cruising radius of 280 miles at 8 knots.
The superb hull form, power plant and self-bailing system made the Type “T” an almost unsinkable sea boat. The Type “T” repeatedly brought home her three man crew and as many as 30 rescued “passengers” even after capsizing, she self righted and both cockpits were cleared of all water in approximately 13-14 seconds. In Dean’s opinion a Type “T” with him as coxswain could handle the the worst of North Atlantic weather.
WAG-48 was formerly SS Cornishm, built Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation,Baltimore, Maryland, launched 10 February 1923. She was classified as a Patrol vessel and weather ship. She was 370 gross register tons, displaced 1,827 tons, length 233 ft 6 overall, beam 40 ft 2 in, draft 24 ft 3 in. Propulsion was one Hooven, Owens, Rentschler Company triple-expansion steam engine; two; Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation single-ended Scotch boilers, 190 psi; one screw; 1,300 shaft horsepower for a whopping 11 knots.
In may 1941 she was crewed by 116 officers and men. However over 50% of those “Coasties” had less than 6 months service.
She was newly fitted with a QCL sonar, no trained operator, no spare parts but they did have a manual and one of the RMs was “chosen” by his chief to “learn how to use and fix that “F”n thing in your spare time”; no radar.
For armament WAG-48 had one single 4"/50, two single 50 Cal M2 HMGs and two Lewis machine guns; two depth charge rails and various obsolescent small arms.
Dean was there standing his watch because since 1939, United States Coast Guard vessels were being used as weather ships to protect transatlantic air commerce. The Atlantic Weather Observation Service was authorized by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on January 25, 1940. Originally five 327 ft cutters were used in weather patrol, usually deployed for three weeks at a time, then sent back to port for ten days. As World War II approached, cutters were needed for the war effort and six cargo vessels including WAG-48 replaced them. The ships were all “good sea boats”ideal for North Atlantic storms modified with guns and depth charge racks, and crews were trained Coast Guard style OJT and regularly drilled in gunnery .The former cargo ships had top speeds of 10-12 knots, significantly less than U-Boats, which could reach 16 knots on the surface. The US Weather Bureau recognized their observations as "indispensable" for the war effort. So there he was when History decided to screw him “Right Popper” in the form of TG Brinkmann on Operation Rheinübung.
20 MAY 1941 0600 Commodore R-Adm Rogers somberly finishes his journal entry with the following comments on “HIS convoy”. A bad night. The wolf pack, probably 5 boats, including at least one type Nine B who had the audacity to surface inside the convoy and torpedo 4 of my tankers. One tanker sunk, one damaged but able to stay with HX-123. I left two behind. Both are now sunk. The type Nine B then oped up with her deck guns. I have no idea how many ships she hit because the merchant ship gun crews opened up and spent the next ten minutes hitting everything but the U-boat. We were lucky we only had two minor collisions but it has taken my escorts the rest of the night to round up my flock and get them in formation again. I also lost an escort and four freighters.
Three of my escorts dropped on possible U-boats but there is no sign they did any real damage so I am sure we will be visited by the “pack” again, probably at full dark today. I have decided not to send two of my American Destroyers out on scouting missions to try to keep the U-boats submerged because I need them in the screen and my other escorts do not have the speed to both scout and still get back to HX-123 when we are attacked.
I really feel the loss of Ramillies and her Supermarine Walruses. The ugly biplanes would be worth their weight in gold now for ASW and scouting. It’s Crew of 4 Cruising speed: 92 mph Range: 600 mi at 92 mph made them outstanding for this purposes. Their twin .303 in Vickers K machine guns and 2x 250 lb Mk.VIII depth charges might be useful but their scouting was their real value.
20 MAY 1941 1000 U-107 and 105 were in position and waiting for their pack mate.
20 MAY 1941 1035 U-123 made the rendezvous and the three boats of the Rudel began the submerged approach using minimal battery power. There was so little “Night” this far north in May that they could not employ their preferred surface attack. So be it. They would do it the hard way. First step was to form a line with the boats spaced far enough to allow attacks on both sides of the convoy. Second task would be getting through “The Screen” of outside escorts. The escorts were both weary and thinned now which should help. The “Pack” was also in luck because the thermocline was close to the surface, ideal for both attack and evasion.
20 MAY 1941 1245 U-123 and 107 would attack the left of the convoy leaving U-105 to take out the right side for her killing. Coordination could not be split second and everything was subject to change based on what the Brits did but it was a good tried and true plan especially with NO aircraft to worry about. BdU had informed the Rudel’s U-boats of Ramilies casualty and return to Halifax.
20 MAY 1941 1255 U-123 Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen brought his boat above “The layer” to allow his sonar a few minutes to gather what intel it could. The closest escort was now outside U-123 and he elected to come up to Seerohr depth and have a look for himself. He came up slowly and made a quick but thorough 360 sweep, confirming his sonar picture and then steadied the search scope on the convoy’s outer line of merchant ships. He would drop below the thermocline and close before he attacked.
20 MAY 1941 1305 U-107 Kapitänleutnant Günther Hessler (Uncle Carl’s son in law) was at periscope depth marking the positions of a Corvette guarding his approach to the outer column of HX-123. He ordered his Ato’s warmed up and started a Vorhalterechner solution on the escort. If he had to he’d smash the escort, surface and conduct a high speed daylight surface attack on the convoy using all but one of his Aals and then turn out at flank speed and not crash dive until another escort got too close. At best he would hit four freighters, draw the depleted escorts after him and away from the convoy which would give U-123 and 105 a free hand to really smash this convoy. At worse he’d kill a corvette and a few freighters but the Convoy escorts would not be lead out of station. So be it.
20 MAY 1941 1315 U-105 Hans “Petruchio” Becker AKA Kaleu “Petruchios” listening gear was tracking an escort, with twin screws most likely one of the American ancient destroyers. He also had another escort, single screw that might be either a Corvette or an old prewar sloops. Both had good “Asdic” and might have radar. The old Feger had speed but a large turning circle and an unreliable steam plant. The sloop was slower BUT, very big BUT, could turn inside his Type IX. Both had K guns and wasserbombs racks. He had no idea how many of the bombs they had left. He did know he had an almost full battery charge, reliable Aals all Atos in the tubes now, a well trained and very disciplined crew and his boat was in good mechanical condition. AND he had the shallow thermocline. Too bad it would have to be a submerged attack; just too much daylight up here in May for his liking. The plan was for him to delay his attack until his two pack mates had got the Convoy’s attention with blood and fire. That should draw off some of the escorts from this side of the convoy giving him a golden chance to empty his tubes in leisure at close range. All things were possible with this boat and crew.
20 MAY 1941 1430 U-107 and U-123 were in easy Aal range of the Port side column, as planned U-107 would attack the tail and work forward, U-123 would attack the leading merchies and work aft.
Hessler in U-107 decided the corvette would have to go but since it did not hold him he would hit the merchants first with his 4 bow tubes and maneuver to deliver a close range G7e T2 Aal at high speed and shallow setting (he preferred the electric for escort killing because it left no bubble train) from one of his stern tubes at the escort. Good chance she would eat the Aal. He still had his surface attack plan in mind but it looked like that would not be necessary.
Hessler in U-107 would fire from as far forward as possible at the last ship, he wanted to stay within Aal range as long as possible and still conserve his battery and that means NO high speed submerged “sprints” unless the life of the boat demanded it. The outer column ships appeared to be large and so he would have to use two torpedoes on each which meant unload the bow Aals, all G7a T1A ‘AKA”Atos,”maneuver fast and let the third target have one of his two stern G7e T2 “Eto s” He Must reserve one for any dangerous escort. He would duck below the layer and parallel the course of the convoy while his superbly competent crew reloaded and warmed up his Ato’s forward and the G7e T2 Eto aft. He could be in a position to attack in as little as a half hour.
20 MAY 1941 1445 Hessler in U-107 came to periscope depth, did a quick 2 second sweep with the search scope found his position adequate and lowered the scope. He raised the attack scope and started passing data to the Siemens built T Vorholt-Rechner S-3 fire control system for the two tail end freighters.
• 20 MAY 1941 1448 Hessler in U-107 fired all four bow Aals and ordered a an emergency turn to starboard, did another 2 second 360 sweep “still clear” steadied up when his stern tubes were aligned and launched one of his G7e T2 Etos at the third rearmost freighter. He immediately ordered, down Seerohr and to take the boat down below the layer fast. Per his order the bow torpedo men were already reloading and the Stern gang would begin as soon as possible. He also called both torpedo compartments and stated “I need those Aals, yesterday. Lets us see how good you boys really are. A bottle of beer for each man if you do it in under 15 minutes starting NOW”. He thought we have a good crew, well trained, they just might win that beer but he doubted it.
20 MAY 1941 1451 to 1458 Hessler in U-107 heard 5 explosions and was surprised he missed with one of the Aals at that range and angle of attack. He was pretty sure the Eto had hit but one of his trusty Atos did not. There was nothing wrong with his fire control solution. The G7a T1A had been sabotaged by one of the brutally overworked slave laborers and the inspector, a not too bright, totally unqualified Nazi party hack, had done her usual slip shod examination. The slave laborer had died about two months before and the Party hack was still doing her bit for the Vaterland.
20 MAY 1941 1505 U-105 Kaleu Hans Becker brought his boat up for a quick update on the positions of the convoy and especially the two closest escorts. He made his low 2 second sweep and was astonished to see The Corvette bow on, with a massive bow wave. She was making an attack run straight at him. There was no sign of the old Ami Feger. He immediately hollered “Alarm, set up for an immediate bow shot. Use tubes one and two, minimum separation, high speed, shallow setting. No time for the S-3 fire control system, he figured the firing solution and passed it to the torpedo officer for input into the “machine”.
At that moment his sonar operator reported high speed screws on the starboard beam. Twin props closing very fast. He swung the search Seerohr to the new bearing and there was the old Ami destroyer with a bone in her teeth making directly for him at flank speed.
It was NOW taking too long for the Aals to be prepped. His only chance was a crash dive immediately and he was about to order it when the ready lights on the Aal status board turned green for tubes 1 and 2. He ordered “Loose 1, loose 2”, waited for the Aals to clear the tubes and then ordered the an emergency, full plane down crash dive and an immediate course change 0f 30 degrees. Launch the “Bold”. (decoy). The combination of the turn induced knuckle with a Bold at it’s center just might confuse the RN Asdic operators long enough for him to motor away. It took the the old can 3 minutes to reach datum, at which time she dropped a full depth charge pattern, K-guns and racks set shallow.
The Corvette had made a hard port turn about 30 seconds before Becker got his torps away. The problem with a “bow shot” from two tubes with MINIMUM separation is it has very little margin for a maneuvering target.
In fact, the two escorts had picked up U-105 almost 10 minutes ago because the thermocline the sub’s Kaleu was counting on was now ten meters lower here than when he had taken his last temperature reading 25 minutes ago. The U-boat “sonar” was really nothing but very sensitive hydrophones that were less than optimal when faced with a lot of noise making contacts in close proximity like a convoy. Therefore the sound man had to judge by experiences, against this very noisy background when the active sonars of the escorts was approaching detection range.
The captains of Town-class DD HMS CHELSEA and Corvette HMS Begonia had set up a coordinated attack and prosecuted it flawlessly, that is if the corvette survived and they got the sub.
20 MAY 1941 1510 U-105 Kaleu Hans Becker and his crew were shaken from CHELSEA’s first pattern but their U-boat appeared to have suffered no major damage. Just as they began to inspect the boat HMS Begonia dropped another full pattern set to medium depth. Another fierce and violent shaking, deafening noise and the sound of tortured metal. The boat was now wounded but still functional. They still had a good chance to go deep, escape and then came the smell of chlorine gas. The Ching. informed Becker the aft battery compartment had taken shock damage and some of the cells had ruptured but the real danger was a moderate leak in the pressure hull at that point. Right now his DC crew was doing what it could to plug the leak but any increase in depth would defeat his crews efforts to keep seawater and battery acid separate. The boat was only at 30 meters, nowhere near deep enough to get under the RN wasser bombs.
He had had great hopes the Bold and knuckle would by him the time he needed to find the thermocline again and blind the RN sonar. Not now. The damaged after battery cells meant he had a lot less power to implement an escape routine. What to do? He could not hide. He could not escape. So the answer was simple; surface, sink the escorts and as many freighters as he could and then try to escape on the surface. This convoy was in bad shape for escorts. Would the commodore waste one of his few destroyers, only escorts fast enough to catch him on the surface, especially when his two other pack mates were slaughtering the opposite side of his convoy? Well worth the chance. So be it.
“OK Boys we have taken enough, now it is our turn. Battle surface, torpedo and gun action. Ching. can you still give me 18 kts? “
Ching. “The diesels are not damaged I might even be able to give you 19 Kaleu” Becker said mock sternly “I’ll hold you to that. Now fix our boat.” To the control room at large. “My plan is to sink both these God damned fegers on the way up and then unload the rest of our Aals at whatever merchant ships are within range. The deck guns will engage anything within range, escorts take priority. I want those tubes reloaded in record time, because we are going to do a lot more killing before we rest this day and a double ration of beer with supper. Cookie make it a really good one!” Well he had done his best to give his crew hope. No doubt they would fight hard but he was quite sure he and most of them would be dead in a few hours. So be it. No one lives forever, especially U-boat men.
20 MAY 1941 1520 the next pattern from HMS CHELSEA landed two depth charges within ten feet of U-105’s hull. The pressure hull stove in and failed catastrophically, in flowed the water, down plummeted the boat. There were no survivors. Hand salute. Strike 8 bells slowly.
20 MAY 1941 1530 the Commodore, crews of CHELSEA and Begonia and the rest of HX-123 had little time to celebrate their vengeance because all hell was breaking loose. U-123 Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen and U-107 Kapitänleutnant Günther Hessler (Uncle Carl’s son in law) were evening the score with a vengeance.
20 MAY 1941 1545 Hessler in U-107 was dropping fast to get under the thermocline and reload his tubes for another attack. He found the “layer” 12 meters deeper and not as “sharp” as it had been at his last reading a half hour ago. This was not good. How much further would it drop? How much less of a temperature gradient would it become? Best get his attack in ASAP. The reload was finished in just under 14 minutes and 23 seconds. The forward tube all Ato’s were being prepped, AKA warmed up NOW. The after Tubes got the ETO’s and were ready NOW. The battery charge was at 85% and it was now time to go up and first hear what they could an if practicable come to scope depth and put gently raised his search periscope for a 2 second sweep. Down scope. The convoy was still just within Aal range. He ordered the boat increase speed and a course change that would close HX-123. It would be a 7 minute run at half speed. He elected to stay at periscope depth but switch to the attack Seerohr .
At 4 minutes Hessler made another Seerohr sweep and noticed the outer column was missing two ships AND the expected escort was gone. CAIRNESK of 5,007 tons with carrying refrigerated food and general cargo had been hit by two Aals and sank very quickly with half her crew lost. The Panamanian registered COCLE of 5,630 shipping general cargo had been hit by only one of the two Ato’s (thanks to the slave laborer) and was able to maintain her place in the convoy. The Swedish GDYNIA of 1,636 tons ate the Eto and sank with only 5 killed. The Brit registered “Rescue ship” COPELAND of 1,526 tons carrying sugar had been busy and was still maneuvering to get back to her station in the convoy.
20 MAY 1941 1555 Hessler in U-107 began his attack run with a leisurely 5 second 360 degree sweep with the search periscope up high for max range; nothing but merchies. Down scope. A few minutes later up scope and start feeding data to the S-3 on three freighters. Two were large and one was small. Down scope. Two minutes later up scope to confirm nothing had changed.
Nothing had Kapitänleutnant Günther Hessler (Uncle Carl’s son in law) of U-107 ordered “Fire tubes 1 and two” at target one. Waited to ensure the Aals cleared the tubes and then swung the bow to target two, steadied up and ordered “Fire three and four.” waited a few minutes and ordered hard right rudder and steadied up with his after tubes pointing at the smallest target and ordered one of his Etos “Fire Five” paused for a minute and ordered “Take her down to 110 meters and come to course 210.” Once steady at depth he ordered”reload all tubes.” U-107 would have to surface tonight to ship the spare Aals from topside into storage in the pressure hull. He quipped to the control room crew “So nice to conduct a Live Practice While on patrol.” He would not be quite so smug if he knew the murdered crew of U-105 made his life so easy.
20 MAY 1941 1540 U-123 Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen brought his boat above “The layer” which was ten meters deeper and not anywhere as near well defined as it was a half hour ago for a hydrophone sweep to update his plot. The noise of the entire convoy this close made this a very difficult chore for petty officer. Best he could do is tell “Trommelschlag” the convoy was where it should be but the escort was gone.
20 MAY 1941 1544 U-123 “Trommelschlag” Hardegen ordered the boat up to Seerohr depth and have a look for himself. He brought the “Search Scope” up slowly, stopped it low and made a quick but thorough 360 sweep, confirming his sonar picture. He then raised the “Search Scope” up a few more feet. Hardegen steadied the search scope on the convoy’s outer line of merchant ships especially the forward ones. They all looked like big 2 Aal “boys”. Down scope, minor course change drop below the thermocline and, since there were no escorts, get real close before he attacked.
20 MAY 1941 1605 U-123 “Trommelschlag” Hardegen was at periscope depth and had passed the date to the S-3 for targets one and two. He then brought the boat to attack position for target 1 and ordered tube one's Ato launched at medium depth and high speed. He waited for the Aal to clear the tube and maneuvered to firing position for Tube 2 another Ato. Same settings fired and saw Aal one impact the target, good hit. A few minutes later his second Aal finished off the already badly listing freighter. He did exact the same thing with tubes 3 & 4 against target 2. Same results. He then maneuvered U-123 to unmask his after tubes, selected number 6 and sent the Eto off to target 3. He had taken a full 360 sweep after each launch still no escorts very, very strange. Becker in U-105 had really done his job drawing the escorts off station. Down scope, get quickly under the layer and motor off to the next pack rendezvous. He had taken enough chances this day. He only had three internal reloads left 1 Ato and two Etos and ordered them into the forward tubes. Tonight he’d have to surface and transfer the topside spare Aals below.
Hardegen did not know it but he had sunk the British EMPIRE SWAN of 7,964 tons with a load of specialty steel and general cargo and Swedish freighter KOLSNAREN of 2,400 tons cargo. The two Aals had just about blown the little Norwegian KOLSNAREN of out of the water with large pieces falling on her HX-123 mates. He only manged to damage the Norwegian HEINA of 4,028 ton carrying general cargo. She was target 3 and only got a single Aal. She was DIW and had become a straggler but her Chief engineer was sure he could get her up to Convoy speed and better in a bout 4 hours. The Commodore assigned her HMS VERITY, one of this WW I modified W-class escorts. She had the speed required and it was not as if his escorts had been overworked of late. An escort and 8 merchants sunk, damaged or left behind. At this rate he would be lucky to sail a dozen cripples into harbor in the UK. Out came the cork of the bottle and COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE had a very hard time putting it back in after just one drink, albeit a full tumbler of single malt.
21 MAY 1941 0430 COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE ordered HX-123 to secure from Morning Action Stations by signal flag. If half the convoy got it right they would be doing well he thought with a tired grin. They had been at sea long enough now for there to be a really good chance noon would confuse the “stand easy” for an emergency course or speed change. They now had daylight until 23:05 hours, should make the ASW problem easier, although it did not stop yesterday’s daylight attack.
21 MAY 1941 0635 After escort reported by signal lamp that Norwegian HEINA of 4,028 ton carrying general cargo had been sighted and was closing the convoy at 12 kts. After clearing the area of the massacre yesterday, HX-123 had slowed to 6 kts and headed to the current rendezvous point to recover returning stragglers, give damaged ships a chance to repair machinery and get back to convoy speed of 8 kts and allow the rescue ship to catch up. COPELAND (ex Iceland) built in 1923 of 1,526 was the designated RESCUE ship of HX-123.
Copeland was one of those charmed ships; after sailing in 71 convoys and rescuing 433 survivors she “outlived” the war. COPELAND was a typical Rescue ship of WW II. She was a designated convoy rescue ship and as such accompanied many Atlantic convoys to rescue survivors from ships that had been attacked. Rescue ships were small freighters with passenger accommodation converted to rescue service. Primary changes were enlarging galley, food storage areas and enlarged berthing and head facilities for around 150 men in addition to her crew and a very much used and very valuable small operating room for an embarked naval doctor and his corpsmen. Rescue ships also had permanent scrambling nets along the sides, and replaced the typical lifeboats with very maneuverable “sea Boats”; ideal craft for North Atlantic sea and weather conditions, manned by really expert small boat crews.
Last edited by OSCSSW on Thu Jan 19, 2023 3:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 6
Part 7
TG Lutgens
19 MAY 1941 Bismarck, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, two DDs and two mine sweepers sailed from Kiel Bay. Both capital ships were equipped with FUMO23 &27 Seetakt; both had special radar rooms as a part of the original design. Their assignment was commerce raiding under the command of Admiral Lütjens. More was expected of them than of previous surface actions, for with their armor, speed and radar they would be difficult to stop, an opinion shared in Berlin and London. 20 MAY 1941 One DD and three mine sweepers joined the German squadron as it proceeded through the Kattegat. ME-109s provide CAP for the early stages of the break out
21 May 1941 0630 USS Brooklyn CL-40 made her number and reported to admiral Hewitt.
21 May 1941 1200 USS Tuscaloosa detached from TG39.1. Hewitt considered this a mixed blessing . He just lost 9 MK-9 eight inch guns firing 260-pound projectiles with a maximum effective range of 15 miles and ROF of 5 - 6 rounds per minute. He gained fifteen 6-in/47 caliber Mark 16 guns in 5 turrets firing 130-pound AP shell capable of a 13 miles maximum effective range. Even the outstanding ten rounds per minute sustained rate of fire, a full salvo of 150 rounds a minute, would not compensate against, capital ships, for the MK-9 eight inch 260-pound projectiles. But Brooklyn did have something that made her more valuable to Hewitt; she had CXAM radar. That is why he called in some valuable Io Us to get her assigned to TG39.1 The thought struck him that with a radar equipped Cruiser it might be better if he shifted his flag to Brooklyn? He’d have to think about that.
21 May 1941 1300 Hewitt ordered CO CL-40 and his Navigator to report to the flag.
21 May 1941 1400 CO CL-40 and his Navigator arrive at BB-55 by Captain’s Barge and immediately escorted to TG39.1 cabin. RADM Hewitt, his Chief of Staff and CO BB-55 greet new members of “The Team”. Ching had served with CO CL-40 in the Pennsylvania in 1931. CO CL-40 was one of Hewitt’s more competent skippers as “Commodore” Des Div 12 in the mid 30’s. All four were members of the Gun Club and got on well.
C of Staff handed out a copy of TG39.1 Standard Operating Doctrine and then informed CL-40 Navigator his staff wanted to go over some things with him in the staff officers. Taking the hint he looked at CO CL-40 who nodded and the left.
Now Kent went over his views of the current ops and his expectations from Brooklyn. He then asked CO CL40 if he had any questions and was there anything about his ship Kent should know?
21 May 1941 1415 CO Brooklyn told Hewitt his ship was ready and able to carry out all assignments issued. He had no major CASREPS and absolute confidence in his men.
“Admiral I need to know what your interpretation of the Neutrality Patrol ROE’s.”
Hewitt replied. “Captain, most of it is exactly as laid out in his TG39.1 Standard Operating Doctrine you received a few minutes ago.”
What I think you are asking is IS there anything off the record you should know!
TG39.1 will:
1. Locate and positively identify unknown contacts"
2. I will signal “unfriendly contacts" position and identity to my boss.
3. I and I alone in TG39.1 will determine the level of hostile intent and make the shoot, no-shoot" decision based on MY assessment of the risk posed to MY command by the "unfriendly contact".
4. This does not in any way keep you from returning fire. In fact, your duty is once the Germans shoot at you, my standing instruction along with well established fleet wide SOP is to destroy the hostile contact. You are to sink the bastard.
Clear enough Captain?
Aye,Aye Sir. There was silence for the next few minutes to let this sink I.
Hewitt then asked what the “Flag facilities” in Brooklyn were like. CO CL40’s answers was they were adequate for a small staff. Kent looked at his C of Staff and back to CO CL40 “Would it be OK if my C of Staff hitched a ride with you back to Brooklyn? I’d like him to do a quick eval and determine if Brooklyn was suitable as my flag.” No skipper in his right mind wanted to be saddled with an Admirals’ Staff so there was good reason for C of Staff’s boat ride.
21 May 1941 1600 TG39.1 C of Staff reported back to BB-55 and informed his boss the CO of CL40 spoke the truth. His ship could handle the TG39.1 staff. It would be tight for the ship and staff Junior Officers who had to share the same “state Rooms” more like dog kennels really. Serves them right anyway he said with a smile. Plenty of extra berthing for CPO s and enlisted, Communications more than adequate, admirals cabin smaller than he had now but not bad at all. Flag bridge was adequate with it’s own chart room. In his opinion the move, if made, should be made in port.
Kent said “Seas a little rough for boating right now?”
C of Staff replied “Not for old shell backs like us Admiral but it’s a might rough for new kids and old hands who have put in too much time in the BIG ships of late.” Both had a good chuckle. After C of Staff left Kent decided to sleep on shifting his flag. He wanted to take another look at “Ching’s” Tracking Compartment at work. He thought every sea going staff should be provided with one. He would have to draft a very concise report to Ernie King about the advantages of “Tracking Compartments” with his recommendation they should be adopted as soon as possible. Probably get them in time for the next war, if we are lucky, his all too realistic Navy mind thought.
21 May 1941 aircraft of the British Coastal Command identified the German BB and Heavy Cruiser proceeding north in Norwegian waters. RN cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk ordered by the Admiralty to take up positions in the Denmark Strait, between Iceland and Greenland. 22 MAY 1941 0800 Admiral Lutgens, aware he had been found, continues on his course and detaches the three DDs upon entering the Bransfield Strait.
22 MAY 1941 TG39.1 spends the day and a good portion of the night on various courses and speeds conducting a succession of ever increasingly difficult battle exercises while still maintaining a tight watch on actual events. Hewitt is satisfied with TG39.1 individual ship’s performance and is concentrating on improving the coordination of his entire force. He also wants to test the individual seamanship and nerve of his Captains. So far they are a mixed lot; a few real stars, most pre-war competent and just a couple who could use a good kick in the Ass and he was just the Flag officer to administer what they required.
23 MAY 1941 about noon Bismarck, whose two 80 cm sets were not restricted in duration of operation, had located the Suffolk both with radar and underwater sound. Lutgens continued on course southwestward through the Denmark Strait at 25 kts. The Denmark Strait, at the time was about two-thirds blocked by ice and with most of the remainder the recent depository of 6100 mines. Retreating ice had left a safe passage that FUMO Seekeat easily traced, allowing them to avoid the floating bergs as well as the pack ice even in the deep fog that kept British non-radar air patrols from sighting them.
23 MAY 1941 1920 Suffolk and the Bismarck sighted one another visually as the latter broke briefly from a fog bank. The Suffolk's type 284 transmitter tubes were pushed to the limit to gain the needed power at such short wavelength; this normally allowed operation for only a couple of hours at a time, not too restrictive for gun-laying but hardly suitable for searching. The vertical lobe structure of the 7.5 m set precluded using it for surface search except at very close range. It was the intermittent use required to conserve the 284 that caused the British sighting to be visual. Suffolk scurried for fog before 15 inch shells could be sent her way, got off a sighting report and began tracking the big ship with the 50 cm type 284. The 284 was primarily a Main Battery Fire Control Radar. She waited at her station at the exit of the mine field.
Because of iced insulators on the radio antenna the Suffolk’s first sighting report was received only by the Norfolk and the Prinz Eugen, where it was promptly decoded.
Norfolk’s first glimpse of Bismarck was almost her last as she narrowly escaped a salvo of heavy shells. The shock of gunfire had the effect of knocking out the forward Seetakt to Lütjens’s great displeasure, so Prinz Eugen had to lead, as both her radars still functioned. The Suffolk managed to keep her quarry in optical or radar sight and hold the Norfolk close with radio. Norfolk patrolled 50 miles to the west, had only the 1.5 m fixed-antenna type 286M, the one that required swinging ship for direction.
The Admiralty soon learned of the chase and dispatched the new battleship Prince of Wales and the flagship Hood to intercept. They met the enemy early in the morning of the 24th, despite the Suffolk having lost contact a few hours before. Vice Admiral L E Holland, commanding the squadron, ordered complete radio silence for his ships, including radar, until the German ships were sighted, his fear being that with their greater speed the Germans could escape if alerted.
24 MAY 1941 0415 Prince Eugen signals the Admiral Lutgens that smoke is sighted to port. Remember where they are. In May the days are very, very long in the Denmark Straight.
24 MAY 1941 0535 RN BB Prince of Wales, CC (battle cruiser) Hood, DDs Achates, Antelope, Anthony, Echo, Electra, and Icarus closed to engage the Bismarck. The BB and CC and open fire at 25,000 yards.
24 MAY 1941 0552 when the Bismarck was within 25,000 yards, the Hood opened fire with the aid of her type 284 Fire Control radar, quickly followed by the Prince of Wales. Three shells from the third salvo of the Hood, which had been first to fire, hit the Nazi BB. Hood’s third salvo strattles Bismarck with shell splinters wounding 6 and killing 1 AA Gunner. Admiral Lutgens is hit in the butt by a spent splinter. No real damage is inflicted on the Bismarck or the admiral.
24 MAY 1941 0554 The Germans opened fire on the Hood with great accuracy provided by the fore top director with the forward 10.5-meter rangefinder and the after FuMO 23 radar antenna. Bismarck’s optical fire control was up to the same high standards as at Jutland and more than compensated the casualty to her forward radar. The second and third salvos straddled and hit the battle cruiser. Fire broke out in her port battery but excellent DC by her crew contain and begin to suppress the fire.
24 MAY 1041 0557 POW begins turn to port and is taken under fire by Prince Eugen 8 inch guns under Director control of her 7-meter rangefinder mounted at the top of the enlarged rangefinder towers, one aft and one on the fore top. The FuMO 27 radar sets with 6 x 12 ft. mattresses antennas was mounted on the directors.
24 MAY 1941 0600 Hood is straddled and hit again. One 15 inch shell impacts the top armor of B turret. Splinters start fires that burns out the gun house but does not spread to the handling rooms and magazines. A second 15 in AP shell penetrates her deck armor, wipes out one of her engine rooms & auxiliary power rooms, causes moderate flooding and drastically reduces hood’s speed. A third shell destroys the forward main battery director. Hood continues to fire back at Bismark but after a number of near misses Bismarck lands two 15 inch shells abreast and just forward of A turret just below the water line. Hood’s bow is moderately damaged, A turret is jammed and intense flooding further slow the ship to 10 kts.
24 MAY 1941 0635 Captain Kerr informed Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland in Hood of the ship’s damage. Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland signaled Captain Leach of Prince Of Wales to screen Hood as she withdraws to effect repairs.
24 MAY 1941 0640 Bismarck, seeing damage to Hood, especially no way she can escape, shifts targets to Prince of Wales. The Germans opened intense and accurate fire on Prince of Wales, with 15-inch, 8-inch and 5.9-inch guns. POW is straddled and hit by the third salvo destroying her main battery director & Type 284 Radar for main fire control. Bismarck’s fifth salvo causes heavy hit just above the waterline as Prince of Wales maneuvered to shield Hood.
24 MAY 1941 0650 a 15-inch shell struck POW starboard side of the compass platform and killed the majority of the personnel there. The navigating officer was wounded, Captain Leach suffered debilitating head wound caused by the fragments from the shell's ballistic cap and the material it dislodged in its diagonal path through the compass platform, XO takes command.
24 MAY 1941 0655 15-inch diving shell penetrated the ship's side below the armor belt amidships, exploded in the wing compartments on the starboard side of the after boiler rooms reducing POW max speed to 18 kts.
24 MAY 1941 0705 Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland in Hood orders DD’s to form up for a daylight torpedo attack to cover the withdrawal of Hood. POW will continue to enrage Bismarck to support Dds. Cruisers will make a flank speed run to Germans engaged side and commence fire when in range to support the DD attack. Holland hoped to split the German's fire giving the DDs a small chance of scoring a hit on the Bismarck before they are all sunk.
24 MAY 1941 0715 DDs commence their run, POW continues to engage Bismarck as does the cruisers. Bismarck and Prince Eugen sink or seriously damage Achates, Echo and Icarus before they reach maximum torpedo range. Antelope, Anthony, Echo, Electra are forced to launch their Mark V torpedoes at maximum range 13,000 yds /slower speed 20 KTS setting. Results no hits. Anthony and Echo are sunk on the way out and Antelope is damaged. Only Electra comes out of the suicide charge intact.
24 MAY 1941 0722 Lookouts on both Bismarck and prince Eugen spot torpedoes launched by Norfolk and Suffolk. Again the Mark Vs were launched at long range 13,000 yds slow speed 20 kts setting because it is a daylight attack. Admiral Lutgens orders his ships to max speed and turn away from the new torpedo attack. At the same time Prince Eugen scores a hit on the Suffolk’s B turret and splinters destroys her radar.
24 MAY 1941 0726 HMS Suffolk bows are blown off from a forward magazine explosion. Good damage control and superb seamanship keeps the ship afloat until tugs can reach her.
24 MAY 1941 0730 Admiral Lutgens, thinking he has sunk Hood, badly damaged POW, sunk Suffolk and 4 destroyers orders his ships to clear the straight at high speed and head South West into the convoy lanes to prosecute his commerce raiding mission. Lutgens also is wary that more RN capital ships and carriers are closing on the position of the battle. Well satisfied with his ships, crews and having suffered almost no damage, he deems it time to continue their commerce raiding mission.
24 MAY 1941 0800 Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland shifts his flag to POW.
He orders Norfolk, despite the fact she that only the 1.5 m fixed-antenna type 286M, the one that required swinging ship for direction, to shadow Bismarck and Prince Eugen.
He orders, Hood, POW, Suffolk, Antelope and Electra to make best speed 5 kts while POW is towing Suffolk stern first to Reykjavik.
24 MAY 1941 0830 Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland send a very brief SitRep signal to the Admiralty stressing his urgent need for tugs and escorts if he is to salvage Hood and POW.
24 MAY ‘41 0810 aboard H.M.S. Norfolk flag of RADM W.F. Wake-Walker, Commanding First Cruiser Squadron (CS1), acknowledges Holland’s order to shadow and report on Lutgen’s victories little TF.
Wake-Walker in turn orders CO Norfolk, Captain Al Phillips, to steer for Lutgens last known position at flank speed, hoping she was still within the 13 mile range of Norfolk’s fixed antenna 286M combined aircraft and surface warning radar when she got there. The combination of radar and fog had worked well for the cruisers last night but neither could be counted on for long
Wake-Walker knew the RN’s best bet of finding Lutgens would require sea & visibility conditions that would allow Norfolk’s 2 Supermarine Walrus catapult scout aircraft to operate. No sign of that now but the sea was ever changing. The Walrus, Designed by R J Mitchell who led the team that designed the superb Spitfire fighter, was a very dependable and robust single-engine amphibious scout biplane with a crew of 4 . Walrus had a very decent Range of 600 mi at her cruising speed 92 mph.
Walrus would stand no chance against even one of Lutgen’s Arado Ar 196 float planes and he probably had 7. These scouts had a maximum speed of135 mph (at 4,750 ft) and a measly two .303 in Vickers K machine guns (one in nose, one behind wings).
The Arado Ar 196 with a crew of two (pilot and observer), max speed of 193 mph, two 20mm MG FF (in the wings), one 7.92 mm MG (forward) and the observer crewed twin 7.92 mm MGs would make short work of any Walrus they found.
TG Lutgens
19 MAY 1941 Bismarck, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, two DDs and two mine sweepers sailed from Kiel Bay. Both capital ships were equipped with FUMO23 &27 Seetakt; both had special radar rooms as a part of the original design. Their assignment was commerce raiding under the command of Admiral Lütjens. More was expected of them than of previous surface actions, for with their armor, speed and radar they would be difficult to stop, an opinion shared in Berlin and London. 20 MAY 1941 One DD and three mine sweepers joined the German squadron as it proceeded through the Kattegat. ME-109s provide CAP for the early stages of the break out
21 May 1941 0630 USS Brooklyn CL-40 made her number and reported to admiral Hewitt.
21 May 1941 1200 USS Tuscaloosa detached from TG39.1. Hewitt considered this a mixed blessing . He just lost 9 MK-9 eight inch guns firing 260-pound projectiles with a maximum effective range of 15 miles and ROF of 5 - 6 rounds per minute. He gained fifteen 6-in/47 caliber Mark 16 guns in 5 turrets firing 130-pound AP shell capable of a 13 miles maximum effective range. Even the outstanding ten rounds per minute sustained rate of fire, a full salvo of 150 rounds a minute, would not compensate against, capital ships, for the MK-9 eight inch 260-pound projectiles. But Brooklyn did have something that made her more valuable to Hewitt; she had CXAM radar. That is why he called in some valuable Io Us to get her assigned to TG39.1 The thought struck him that with a radar equipped Cruiser it might be better if he shifted his flag to Brooklyn? He’d have to think about that.
21 May 1941 1300 Hewitt ordered CO CL-40 and his Navigator to report to the flag.
21 May 1941 1400 CO CL-40 and his Navigator arrive at BB-55 by Captain’s Barge and immediately escorted to TG39.1 cabin. RADM Hewitt, his Chief of Staff and CO BB-55 greet new members of “The Team”. Ching had served with CO CL-40 in the Pennsylvania in 1931. CO CL-40 was one of Hewitt’s more competent skippers as “Commodore” Des Div 12 in the mid 30’s. All four were members of the Gun Club and got on well.
C of Staff handed out a copy of TG39.1 Standard Operating Doctrine and then informed CL-40 Navigator his staff wanted to go over some things with him in the staff officers. Taking the hint he looked at CO CL-40 who nodded and the left.
Now Kent went over his views of the current ops and his expectations from Brooklyn. He then asked CO CL40 if he had any questions and was there anything about his ship Kent should know?
21 May 1941 1415 CO Brooklyn told Hewitt his ship was ready and able to carry out all assignments issued. He had no major CASREPS and absolute confidence in his men.
“Admiral I need to know what your interpretation of the Neutrality Patrol ROE’s.”
Hewitt replied. “Captain, most of it is exactly as laid out in his TG39.1 Standard Operating Doctrine you received a few minutes ago.”
What I think you are asking is IS there anything off the record you should know!
TG39.1 will:
1. Locate and positively identify unknown contacts"
2. I will signal “unfriendly contacts" position and identity to my boss.
3. I and I alone in TG39.1 will determine the level of hostile intent and make the shoot, no-shoot" decision based on MY assessment of the risk posed to MY command by the "unfriendly contact".
4. This does not in any way keep you from returning fire. In fact, your duty is once the Germans shoot at you, my standing instruction along with well established fleet wide SOP is to destroy the hostile contact. You are to sink the bastard.
Clear enough Captain?
Aye,Aye Sir. There was silence for the next few minutes to let this sink I.
Hewitt then asked what the “Flag facilities” in Brooklyn were like. CO CL40’s answers was they were adequate for a small staff. Kent looked at his C of Staff and back to CO CL40 “Would it be OK if my C of Staff hitched a ride with you back to Brooklyn? I’d like him to do a quick eval and determine if Brooklyn was suitable as my flag.” No skipper in his right mind wanted to be saddled with an Admirals’ Staff so there was good reason for C of Staff’s boat ride.
21 May 1941 1600 TG39.1 C of Staff reported back to BB-55 and informed his boss the CO of CL40 spoke the truth. His ship could handle the TG39.1 staff. It would be tight for the ship and staff Junior Officers who had to share the same “state Rooms” more like dog kennels really. Serves them right anyway he said with a smile. Plenty of extra berthing for CPO s and enlisted, Communications more than adequate, admirals cabin smaller than he had now but not bad at all. Flag bridge was adequate with it’s own chart room. In his opinion the move, if made, should be made in port.
Kent said “Seas a little rough for boating right now?”
C of Staff replied “Not for old shell backs like us Admiral but it’s a might rough for new kids and old hands who have put in too much time in the BIG ships of late.” Both had a good chuckle. After C of Staff left Kent decided to sleep on shifting his flag. He wanted to take another look at “Ching’s” Tracking Compartment at work. He thought every sea going staff should be provided with one. He would have to draft a very concise report to Ernie King about the advantages of “Tracking Compartments” with his recommendation they should be adopted as soon as possible. Probably get them in time for the next war, if we are lucky, his all too realistic Navy mind thought.
21 May 1941 aircraft of the British Coastal Command identified the German BB and Heavy Cruiser proceeding north in Norwegian waters. RN cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk ordered by the Admiralty to take up positions in the Denmark Strait, between Iceland and Greenland. 22 MAY 1941 0800 Admiral Lutgens, aware he had been found, continues on his course and detaches the three DDs upon entering the Bransfield Strait.
22 MAY 1941 TG39.1 spends the day and a good portion of the night on various courses and speeds conducting a succession of ever increasingly difficult battle exercises while still maintaining a tight watch on actual events. Hewitt is satisfied with TG39.1 individual ship’s performance and is concentrating on improving the coordination of his entire force. He also wants to test the individual seamanship and nerve of his Captains. So far they are a mixed lot; a few real stars, most pre-war competent and just a couple who could use a good kick in the Ass and he was just the Flag officer to administer what they required.
23 MAY 1941 about noon Bismarck, whose two 80 cm sets were not restricted in duration of operation, had located the Suffolk both with radar and underwater sound. Lutgens continued on course southwestward through the Denmark Strait at 25 kts. The Denmark Strait, at the time was about two-thirds blocked by ice and with most of the remainder the recent depository of 6100 mines. Retreating ice had left a safe passage that FUMO Seekeat easily traced, allowing them to avoid the floating bergs as well as the pack ice even in the deep fog that kept British non-radar air patrols from sighting them.
23 MAY 1941 1920 Suffolk and the Bismarck sighted one another visually as the latter broke briefly from a fog bank. The Suffolk's type 284 transmitter tubes were pushed to the limit to gain the needed power at such short wavelength; this normally allowed operation for only a couple of hours at a time, not too restrictive for gun-laying but hardly suitable for searching. The vertical lobe structure of the 7.5 m set precluded using it for surface search except at very close range. It was the intermittent use required to conserve the 284 that caused the British sighting to be visual. Suffolk scurried for fog before 15 inch shells could be sent her way, got off a sighting report and began tracking the big ship with the 50 cm type 284. The 284 was primarily a Main Battery Fire Control Radar. She waited at her station at the exit of the mine field.
Because of iced insulators on the radio antenna the Suffolk’s first sighting report was received only by the Norfolk and the Prinz Eugen, where it was promptly decoded.
Norfolk’s first glimpse of Bismarck was almost her last as she narrowly escaped a salvo of heavy shells. The shock of gunfire had the effect of knocking out the forward Seetakt to Lütjens’s great displeasure, so Prinz Eugen had to lead, as both her radars still functioned. The Suffolk managed to keep her quarry in optical or radar sight and hold the Norfolk close with radio. Norfolk patrolled 50 miles to the west, had only the 1.5 m fixed-antenna type 286M, the one that required swinging ship for direction.
The Admiralty soon learned of the chase and dispatched the new battleship Prince of Wales and the flagship Hood to intercept. They met the enemy early in the morning of the 24th, despite the Suffolk having lost contact a few hours before. Vice Admiral L E Holland, commanding the squadron, ordered complete radio silence for his ships, including radar, until the German ships were sighted, his fear being that with their greater speed the Germans could escape if alerted.
24 MAY 1941 0415 Prince Eugen signals the Admiral Lutgens that smoke is sighted to port. Remember where they are. In May the days are very, very long in the Denmark Straight.
24 MAY 1941 0535 RN BB Prince of Wales, CC (battle cruiser) Hood, DDs Achates, Antelope, Anthony, Echo, Electra, and Icarus closed to engage the Bismarck. The BB and CC and open fire at 25,000 yards.
24 MAY 1941 0552 when the Bismarck was within 25,000 yards, the Hood opened fire with the aid of her type 284 Fire Control radar, quickly followed by the Prince of Wales. Three shells from the third salvo of the Hood, which had been first to fire, hit the Nazi BB. Hood’s third salvo strattles Bismarck with shell splinters wounding 6 and killing 1 AA Gunner. Admiral Lutgens is hit in the butt by a spent splinter. No real damage is inflicted on the Bismarck or the admiral.
24 MAY 1941 0554 The Germans opened fire on the Hood with great accuracy provided by the fore top director with the forward 10.5-meter rangefinder and the after FuMO 23 radar antenna. Bismarck’s optical fire control was up to the same high standards as at Jutland and more than compensated the casualty to her forward radar. The second and third salvos straddled and hit the battle cruiser. Fire broke out in her port battery but excellent DC by her crew contain and begin to suppress the fire.
24 MAY 1041 0557 POW begins turn to port and is taken under fire by Prince Eugen 8 inch guns under Director control of her 7-meter rangefinder mounted at the top of the enlarged rangefinder towers, one aft and one on the fore top. The FuMO 27 radar sets with 6 x 12 ft. mattresses antennas was mounted on the directors.
24 MAY 1941 0600 Hood is straddled and hit again. One 15 inch shell impacts the top armor of B turret. Splinters start fires that burns out the gun house but does not spread to the handling rooms and magazines. A second 15 in AP shell penetrates her deck armor, wipes out one of her engine rooms & auxiliary power rooms, causes moderate flooding and drastically reduces hood’s speed. A third shell destroys the forward main battery director. Hood continues to fire back at Bismark but after a number of near misses Bismarck lands two 15 inch shells abreast and just forward of A turret just below the water line. Hood’s bow is moderately damaged, A turret is jammed and intense flooding further slow the ship to 10 kts.
24 MAY 1941 0635 Captain Kerr informed Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland in Hood of the ship’s damage. Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland signaled Captain Leach of Prince Of Wales to screen Hood as she withdraws to effect repairs.
24 MAY 1941 0640 Bismarck, seeing damage to Hood, especially no way she can escape, shifts targets to Prince of Wales. The Germans opened intense and accurate fire on Prince of Wales, with 15-inch, 8-inch and 5.9-inch guns. POW is straddled and hit by the third salvo destroying her main battery director & Type 284 Radar for main fire control. Bismarck’s fifth salvo causes heavy hit just above the waterline as Prince of Wales maneuvered to shield Hood.
24 MAY 1941 0650 a 15-inch shell struck POW starboard side of the compass platform and killed the majority of the personnel there. The navigating officer was wounded, Captain Leach suffered debilitating head wound caused by the fragments from the shell's ballistic cap and the material it dislodged in its diagonal path through the compass platform, XO takes command.
24 MAY 1941 0655 15-inch diving shell penetrated the ship's side below the armor belt amidships, exploded in the wing compartments on the starboard side of the after boiler rooms reducing POW max speed to 18 kts.
24 MAY 1941 0705 Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland in Hood orders DD’s to form up for a daylight torpedo attack to cover the withdrawal of Hood. POW will continue to enrage Bismarck to support Dds. Cruisers will make a flank speed run to Germans engaged side and commence fire when in range to support the DD attack. Holland hoped to split the German's fire giving the DDs a small chance of scoring a hit on the Bismarck before they are all sunk.
24 MAY 1941 0715 DDs commence their run, POW continues to engage Bismarck as does the cruisers. Bismarck and Prince Eugen sink or seriously damage Achates, Echo and Icarus before they reach maximum torpedo range. Antelope, Anthony, Echo, Electra are forced to launch their Mark V torpedoes at maximum range 13,000 yds /slower speed 20 KTS setting. Results no hits. Anthony and Echo are sunk on the way out and Antelope is damaged. Only Electra comes out of the suicide charge intact.
24 MAY 1941 0722 Lookouts on both Bismarck and prince Eugen spot torpedoes launched by Norfolk and Suffolk. Again the Mark Vs were launched at long range 13,000 yds slow speed 20 kts setting because it is a daylight attack. Admiral Lutgens orders his ships to max speed and turn away from the new torpedo attack. At the same time Prince Eugen scores a hit on the Suffolk’s B turret and splinters destroys her radar.
24 MAY 1941 0726 HMS Suffolk bows are blown off from a forward magazine explosion. Good damage control and superb seamanship keeps the ship afloat until tugs can reach her.
24 MAY 1941 0730 Admiral Lutgens, thinking he has sunk Hood, badly damaged POW, sunk Suffolk and 4 destroyers orders his ships to clear the straight at high speed and head South West into the convoy lanes to prosecute his commerce raiding mission. Lutgens also is wary that more RN capital ships and carriers are closing on the position of the battle. Well satisfied with his ships, crews and having suffered almost no damage, he deems it time to continue their commerce raiding mission.
24 MAY 1941 0800 Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland shifts his flag to POW.
He orders Norfolk, despite the fact she that only the 1.5 m fixed-antenna type 286M, the one that required swinging ship for direction, to shadow Bismarck and Prince Eugen.
He orders, Hood, POW, Suffolk, Antelope and Electra to make best speed 5 kts while POW is towing Suffolk stern first to Reykjavik.
24 MAY 1941 0830 Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland send a very brief SitRep signal to the Admiralty stressing his urgent need for tugs and escorts if he is to salvage Hood and POW.
24 MAY ‘41 0810 aboard H.M.S. Norfolk flag of RADM W.F. Wake-Walker, Commanding First Cruiser Squadron (CS1), acknowledges Holland’s order to shadow and report on Lutgen’s victories little TF.
Wake-Walker in turn orders CO Norfolk, Captain Al Phillips, to steer for Lutgens last known position at flank speed, hoping she was still within the 13 mile range of Norfolk’s fixed antenna 286M combined aircraft and surface warning radar when she got there. The combination of radar and fog had worked well for the cruisers last night but neither could be counted on for long
Wake-Walker knew the RN’s best bet of finding Lutgens would require sea & visibility conditions that would allow Norfolk’s 2 Supermarine Walrus catapult scout aircraft to operate. No sign of that now but the sea was ever changing. The Walrus, Designed by R J Mitchell who led the team that designed the superb Spitfire fighter, was a very dependable and robust single-engine amphibious scout biplane with a crew of 4 . Walrus had a very decent Range of 600 mi at her cruising speed 92 mph.
Walrus would stand no chance against even one of Lutgen’s Arado Ar 196 float planes and he probably had 7. These scouts had a maximum speed of135 mph (at 4,750 ft) and a measly two .303 in Vickers K machine guns (one in nose, one behind wings).
The Arado Ar 196 with a crew of two (pilot and observer), max speed of 193 mph, two 20mm MG FF (in the wings), one 7.92 mm MG (forward) and the observer crewed twin 7.92 mm MGs would make short work of any Walrus they found.
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
Re: THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 8
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLORPART 8
TG BRINKMANN
24 MAY ‘41 1930 Over Cognac and Cuban cigars following supper in his flag quarters Admiral Lutgens and Kapitän zur See Otto Ernst Lindemann (CO KMS Bismarck), had a frank discussion of the chances of successfully fulfilling their orders, the destruction of as many Convoys as possible, AND returning to Germany. Both men were riding high because of their victory over, and near inhalation of Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland’s squadron with nothing but very superficial damage to Bismarck and none to Prince Eugen.
At this point due to the superior German radar they had turned on HMS Norfolk, scoring a number of hits that damaged her engineering plant and reduced her speed to 15 kts. After clearing the area Lutgens ordered a series of course and speed changes before steadying down on a course towardd the North Atlantic convoy routes at a fuel efficient 19 kts.
Bismarck’s forward FUMO23 Seetakt radars was now repaired. The squadron had 6 operational, Arado Ar 196 float planes and one undergoing repair. These scouts, if and when the weather moderated, could sweep large search arcs for the many essential convoys, including HX 123, the MND (German: Marinenachrichtendienstre Translates to “Naval Communications Division”) reported were at sea.
Although Lutgens was maintaining Emcom B again (intermittent radar transmissions only allowed).
The MND was transmitting continuous intel considered of value to the Bismarck Task Unit.
MND was divided into the following “Sections” Section AIIIa: Communications
Section AIIIb: Radio Intelligence (plus means of development of decipherment) Group FM: Foreign Navies was divided into the following departments: Foreign Navies, Message Transfer Service and Radio Reconnaissance.
They also discussed Bismarck’s short comings. They both agree Bismarck had a few design flaws. Her Main Armored Deck was set low in the ship, leaving much IC (interior communications) cabling, FCS (Fire control) cabling, fire mains, etc outside the armored envelope. It made her particularly vulnerable to plunging fire (like Hood).
Although Bismarck and the Prince had topped off their fuel tanks just prior to sailing, after the high speed maneuvering during the Battle of the Denmark straight and her successful escape they probably had about 6,0000 miles of steaming bunkerage left. Chances of a successful unrep were not considered high.
On the outbound voyage, Bismark had trouble with her stbd rudder locking up. Also had trouble with the plant. The port aircraft and logistics crane had intermittent problems. And
they could not afford more than minor damage as even a ‘soft kill’ was a mission kill. They had no bases (repair or logistics) outside of occupied Europe and the Royal Navy would be waiting for them to try.
Their conclusion was they had a very good chance of killing one large convoy, especially HX-123 now that her BB was gone, and possibly as many as four. However, each attack would reduce their fuel and ammo supply and increase the odds the RN would catch up to them, especially with aircraft that had a fair chance of inflicting enough damage to allow superior units of the RN to engage. There was an upside to this also in that they might be able to lure major RN fleet units into a large U-boat ambush.
Would strategically weaken the British. Furthermore, if the U-boats do enough damage it might be worth the chance of Bismarck and the Prince to engage the remaining units. They rejected this as their orders were to destroy convoys and only to enrage the RN if required to carry out their commerce destruction priority.
They also discussed the USN and the Neutrality Patrol. Conclusion was nothing much to fear as the American people were thoroughly isolationist and against getting involved in this “European War”. They also believed Bismarck and the Prince were more than match for any likely USN BB TF, even the new 16 inch gun North Carolina, but a soft kill from the Americans was possible and that would end their primary mission. Their orders had stressed that Hitler did not want any action by the Kriegsmarine that brought the US into the war….at this time.
24 MAY ‘41 2200 Admiral Lutgens suggests (an admiral’s suggestion looks very much like an order to his juniors) they both need some rest after this triumphant day. Lindemann pours a last sniffer of Cognac and a toasts “Only iron can save us. Only blood can set us free.” Lutgens downs his drink and replies “If you don’t put your life on the line, Life will not be worth living.”
24 MAY ‘41 2300 CV Victorious, BBs King George V, Rodney, and Ramillies, the battle-cruiser Repulse and four cruisers were taking up positions to intercept the KMS Bismarck and The prince, based on last known positioned radioed by Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland signals as he withdraws his badly battered force.
25 MAY ‘41 0430 Victorious launches a search force of three Fairey Fulmar reconnaissance aircraft/fighter using datum provided by a damaged HMS Norfolk as a starting point of a sector search. They found HMS Norfolk but marginal visual conditions, poor communications caused by her damage antennas and the FAA’s over eagerness to avenge the RN had them see what they wanted to sea... Bismarck. The flight leader radioed back her posit as that of Bismarck.
25 MAY ‘41 0530 Victorious launched her ready strike force of 7 torpedo armed Swordfish supported by five Fulmar monoplanes 8 wing mounted and one rear cockpit 0.303 Vickers K machine guns and two 250 lb bombs.
25 MAY ‘41 0625 Norfolk’s lookout report the strike but Wake-Walker and Al Phillips, informed of the strike by Victorious, order their Guns Tight and go over the tanoy speaker to inform the AA crews those are British aircraft going after Bismarck and Prince Eugen. The crews cheer on the airmen until the Gunnery officer notices the swordfish have dropped down to torpedo launch height in a classic hammerhead formation. He informs Captain Philipps who comes to the same conclusion and immediately orders his communicators to signal they are friendly along with the recognition code. He also orders his signalmen to do the same and reiterates over the tanoy guns are tight. “Do not fire.”
25 MAY ‘41 0630 Fulmars conduct glide bomb and strafing attack on Norfolk to cover swordfish torpedo runs. Results are 2 near misses, open up many small but not fatal leaks and Norfolk’s AA gun crews are decimated by those 40 .303 Vickers K machine guns.
25 MAY ‘41 0631 Captain Philipps orders Guns free Air action commence, commence, commence. The remaining Norfolk AA gunners pour in a heavy fire upon the “String Bags” but the Hammerhead formation splits up the remaining AA gun mounts and ensures no matter which way Philipps maneuvers his ship will get hit. Result is two Swordfish downed before they reach launch posit, 5 torpedoes launched, one sinks, 1 circles until it runs out of fuel and three0 bore in for the ship. Philipps evades two but the one and the last scores a hit high on the armored belt amidships with a low order detonation doing minimal damage. Luck and good damage control save a very pissed off ship.
25 MAY ‘41 0735 Strike returns to Victorious convinced they seriously damaged Bismarck but confused there was no sign of The Prince. All four Fulmars, two with moderate damage and 4 of the Swordfish make it back to Victorious, one String Bag’s damaged undercarriage collapses on landing shakes up the crew but no serious injuries. The strike is hailed by their Captain and shipmates but the losses were too heavy for them to celebrate. The senior flight surgeon authorizes medicinal rum to the survivors.
25 MAY ‘41 0750 Flag Officer First Cruiser Squadron (CS1) establishes communications with Prince of Whales who relays message to Victorious, copied to Tovey and Admiralty he has just torpedoed HMS Norfolk and gives her posit. The man was justifiably pissed off.
25 MAY ‘41 0755 Captain Philips orders an immediate “medicinal” issue of rum to all hands.
25 MAY ‘41 0810 Victorious XO informs the strike of what they actually did.
25 MAY ‘41 1130 Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound arrived at No. 10 Downing street for a “Come to Jesus” meeting with Prime Minister Churchill. He fully expected to be sacked along with Admiral Tovey. Churchill greeted him cordially and over cigars and scotch had a frank discussion of what the RN was going to do about “Sinking the Bismarck”. Maybe Churchill’s memory of his Dardanelles's catastrophe or the fact Pound had given outstanding service and loyalty, Winston referred to Dudley as “My Anchor”, praise not a slur. Pound left the meeting with his command flag still flying.
25 MAY 1941 1130 Rescue Tug Bustler (1,118 tons, 3,200hp max spd 16 kts one 3in, one 2 pdr, two 20mm and four Mgs. ) and arrives from Reykjavik. Her “escort” is HMT Coriolanus (545 long tons, 164 ft ,Max spd 12 kts, crew 40 , one 12pdr, Three 3 20 mm and 30 × depth charges). Tug Bustler takes over tow of Suffolk. However, she is able to tow Suffolk at 8 kts.
25 MAY 1941 1400 Suffolk, Bustler and Coriolanus detach and head for Reykjavik. It was another tough decision for Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland, NOT to assign one of his remaining ASW escorts. He had been advised about 30 minutes ago by flashing light SitRep Hood was now capable of 12 kts, about the best she can maintain with her damaged bows shored. Counter flooding has reduced Hood’s list to 5 degrees. All fires out, serious dewatering effort underway and DC teams continue to patch battle damage to hull. Medical teams still overwhelmed but by ruthlessly adhering to Triage SOP Senior MO and his staff aided by whoever can be spared from absolutely necessary watch keep and DC teams are saving those they can but the butcher bill grows by the minute.
25 MAY 1941 1500 Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland, orders his “force” to increases speed to 12 kts,
25 May 1941 1600 Holland reads Sitrep from POW’ XO “acting captain” ; Engaged in the same process as Hood but fortunately her damage and wounded are far less severe. Her Butcher’s Bill will be less than 100. Even with builders aboard no major repair of her main battery is possible. However, the civilian techs are of great assistance nursing her engineering plant and mitigating hull damage.
26 MAY ‘41 1130 The Bismarck received a message from Hitler saying that "all our thoughts are with our victorious comrades."
27 May 1941: At 0530 hours, the Prince of Wales & Hood arrive at Reykjavik with Antelope and Electra. The battleships anchors in Reykjavik and immediately land their wounded. The destroyers immediately refuel and re provisioned. While anchored there Holland transmits the first detailed battle report to the Admiralty about the engagement in the Denmark Strait.
27 MAY 1941 2200 Bismarck and The Prince pick up local “pilots” from Greenland fishing vessel. This same vessel had conducted a very thorough survey by a Kriegsmarine Officer and two local fishermen, former pre war harbor pilots of Kangerluarsunnguaq Fjord.
27 MAY 1941 2230 Bismarck and The Prince under complete blackout and guided by their radars and local Nazi sympathizers pass through the mouth of Kangerluarsunnguaq Fjord. They find Kapitan zur See Friedrich Max von Muller & his 10,000 ton 18 kt blockade running Oiler Weissenburg anchored over the “sea Bottom” (inner part of Fjord) close up to the walls of the very steep and deep fjord. Weissenburg guided by the same Greenland Nazi agents anchored at 2200 and made all preps to speedily discharge their fuel on both sides, in order to get Lutgens away before first light.
Kapitan zur See Friedrich Max von Muller invites the Admiral and his two captains to celebrate the defeat of the Royal Navy in the Denmark Starlight and the continued success Operation Rheinübung ("Exercise Rhine") in his plush sea cabin with Cuban cigars, French cognac and Sacher Torte. This cake is light and airy, made with melted chocolate, vanilla, butter, sugar, and flour, whipped egg whites, apricot coating, smothered in a dark chocolate glaze.
Supermarine Spitfire PR Mk.IG and PR Mk. Recon flight of Brest Harbor
28 May 1941: POW Antelope and Electra. Departs Reykjavik for Rosyth.
28 MAY 1941 0200 Vice admiral Lutgens, has been feeling restless, sweaty and anxiety over the last hour. Suddenly he sits bolt upright in his chair, with a grimace of great pain on his face, spills his cognac and experiences heavy pounding of his the heart followed by loss of consciousness. Ruckteschell calls for his surgeon while Kapitäns zur See Brinkmann and Lindemann administer first aid. It takes the doctor seven and a half minutes to reach the sea cabin but the Vice admiral is already dead. The doctor states from the look of the Vice admiral and based on what the three officers told him Lutgens had suffered a massive heart attack.
28 MAY 1941 0230 After removal of the body the three captains each down a stiff cognac, refill their snifters and get down to business. Lindeman expresses his full support and obedience to Kapitän zur See (KzS—Captain at Sea) Helmuth Brinkmann of the PRINCE as he is senior Captain. Brinkmann thanks Lindemann for his words and orders they go over to Bismarck so he can read Lutgens orders for Operation Rheinübung. He makes it perfectly clear he intends to carry out those orders to the letter.
He also formally states all standing orders of the Vice Admiral will stay in place.
Lindeman asks Brinkmann when he will break his “command pennant” on Bismarck.
Brinkmann replies “I have complete confidence in you as Captain of Bismarck. Unfortunately my Executive Officer has been showing some strange behavior since the Denmark Straight battle. I think it best to stay aboard The Prince and support him during his transition to command. The Prince has plenty of room so I will have the staff transferred before we sail.
He turns to Ruckteschell, “How much longer to fill our bunkers.”
Ruckteschell replies “We will be done by 0330.”
Brinkmann replies “So be it, not a minute later. I want to be as far from this place as possible by daylight.”
“ Kapitan zur See Friedrich Max von Muller send in a yeoman, I must compose a short report of for our masters.” Brinkmann dictates a three paragraph message to include with the Vice Admirals report stating he bald facts of what happened, he took command and would carry out Operation Rheinübung to the best of his ability and he had every confidence of success. Also his condolences to Lindemann’s family.
At that Brinkmann & Lindemann hurry over to Bismarck. The Vice Admiral C of Staff is waiting in the flag space with the orders and other documents Brinkmann needs. The staff is busy packing up everything to transfer to The Prince. It will be tight but it will be done. Brikmann orders the Flag Lt. To move all of Lutgen’s personal possessions to Weissenburg and then join him aboard The Prince.
28 MAY 1941 0340 Bismarck with The Prince leading ,heads for the mouth of Kangerluarsunnguaq Fjord conned by the Greenland Nazi sympathetic fishermen/pilots.
28 MAY 1941 0420 The Brinkmann TG clears Kangerluarsunnguaq Fjord , course SE and a rendezvous with as many Tommy Convoys as he has fuel and ammunition for. Why not? They had defeated the mighty Hood, badly damaged and driven off Prince of Whales. HIS TG had also slaughtered the cruisers and destroyers sent to kill them with ease and suffered only very minor damage. He knew he was a much better leader and a much smarter sailor than poor Lutgens. In his present mood ALL THINGS WERE POSSIBLE. He sardonically laughed aloud when he said to his new Chief of Staff “I guess God really is on the Fuhrers side.” Then he turned serious. “Now to work, find me a large, ripe Tommy convoy.”
28 MAY 1941 0630 Scout planes return, reporting nothing within 150 miles of TG Brinkmann TG Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG, on the bridge of Prinz Eugen, decides it is time to detach Kapitäns zur See Lindemann’s Bismark to proceed to engage a convoy reported by BdU to the South East, about 12 hours steaming at 20 kts. He will take “The Prince” on a course to intercept the convoy attacked on the 21 May (HX-123) confirmed not to have capital ship escort. He should be up to the convoy by 1900 today at 20 kts. Splitting TG Brinkmann doubles his ability to kill convoys, especially with the Royal Navy in such disarray and stretched so thin after the Denmark Straight battle. It is a risk but success will justify and shield him from the wrath of the High Command. Using his 7 operational Arado Ar 196s with their long range, decent speed (for a scout), heavy MG and auto canon armament and bomb load werw excellent scouts. They also provided a means of secure comunication (message drop or blinker light) with Bismarck. He could also plead he stayed within easy and fast mutual support and, if the situation required, all of TG Brinkmann could concentrate long before a capital ship force could engage. He discounted the RN carriers which had performed dismally so far in both the attack and scouting role.
28 MAY 1941 0700 Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG orders a flag hoist signal, detaching Kapitäns zur See Lindemann’s Bismarck to proceed, per previously issued orders, and to rejoin at noon on the 30 May.
28 MAY 1941 1620 Prinz Eugene's Arado Ar 196 makes visual contact with HX-123. He made two complete circuits of the convoy flying just under the broken clouds, carefully noting it's posit, course, speed, number and type of merchants and escorts before being detected.
28 MAY 1941 1625 The Prince’s scout Arado’s amplifing contact report was handed to OTC of Brinkmann TG. Confirmation of original posit, 30 odd merchantmen, some damaged, no capital ships revised course and speed. The Arado pilot and observer failed to recognize the CAM ship, after all there would never be more than 12 in service and at his shadowing distance the Cat and Hurry, both painted the same as the ship, were very easy to miss. OTC ordered his flag navigator to figure out a course at 20 kts to intercept the convoy. Judging by the chart plot the latest BdU convoy estimated position report had been very accurate. Brinkmann had taken a gamble and based his and Bismarck's divergent courses on making contact with the two closest convoys. His navigator's initial interception course had placed The Prince ahead and north of this convoy at a range of a little more than 100 miles. The revised intercept course required only a few degrees course change. Estimated time of contact was 2035 that gave him 3 hours of daylight to finish off the convoy; more than enough time. He gave the order immediately.
TG BRINKMANN
24 MAY ‘41 1930 Over Cognac and Cuban cigars following supper in his flag quarters Admiral Lutgens and Kapitän zur See Otto Ernst Lindemann (CO KMS Bismarck), had a frank discussion of the chances of successfully fulfilling their orders, the destruction of as many Convoys as possible, AND returning to Germany. Both men were riding high because of their victory over, and near inhalation of Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland’s squadron with nothing but very superficial damage to Bismarck and none to Prince Eugen.
At this point due to the superior German radar they had turned on HMS Norfolk, scoring a number of hits that damaged her engineering plant and reduced her speed to 15 kts. After clearing the area Lutgens ordered a series of course and speed changes before steadying down on a course towardd the North Atlantic convoy routes at a fuel efficient 19 kts.
Bismarck’s forward FUMO23 Seetakt radars was now repaired. The squadron had 6 operational, Arado Ar 196 float planes and one undergoing repair. These scouts, if and when the weather moderated, could sweep large search arcs for the many essential convoys, including HX 123, the MND (German: Marinenachrichtendienstre Translates to “Naval Communications Division”) reported were at sea.
Although Lutgens was maintaining Emcom B again (intermittent radar transmissions only allowed).
The MND was transmitting continuous intel considered of value to the Bismarck Task Unit.
MND was divided into the following “Sections” Section AIIIa: Communications
Section AIIIb: Radio Intelligence (plus means of development of decipherment) Group FM: Foreign Navies was divided into the following departments: Foreign Navies, Message Transfer Service and Radio Reconnaissance.
They also discussed Bismarck’s short comings. They both agree Bismarck had a few design flaws. Her Main Armored Deck was set low in the ship, leaving much IC (interior communications) cabling, FCS (Fire control) cabling, fire mains, etc outside the armored envelope. It made her particularly vulnerable to plunging fire (like Hood).
Although Bismarck and the Prince had topped off their fuel tanks just prior to sailing, after the high speed maneuvering during the Battle of the Denmark straight and her successful escape they probably had about 6,0000 miles of steaming bunkerage left. Chances of a successful unrep were not considered high.
On the outbound voyage, Bismark had trouble with her stbd rudder locking up. Also had trouble with the plant. The port aircraft and logistics crane had intermittent problems. And
they could not afford more than minor damage as even a ‘soft kill’ was a mission kill. They had no bases (repair or logistics) outside of occupied Europe and the Royal Navy would be waiting for them to try.
Their conclusion was they had a very good chance of killing one large convoy, especially HX-123 now that her BB was gone, and possibly as many as four. However, each attack would reduce their fuel and ammo supply and increase the odds the RN would catch up to them, especially with aircraft that had a fair chance of inflicting enough damage to allow superior units of the RN to engage. There was an upside to this also in that they might be able to lure major RN fleet units into a large U-boat ambush.
Would strategically weaken the British. Furthermore, if the U-boats do enough damage it might be worth the chance of Bismarck and the Prince to engage the remaining units. They rejected this as their orders were to destroy convoys and only to enrage the RN if required to carry out their commerce destruction priority.
They also discussed the USN and the Neutrality Patrol. Conclusion was nothing much to fear as the American people were thoroughly isolationist and against getting involved in this “European War”. They also believed Bismarck and the Prince were more than match for any likely USN BB TF, even the new 16 inch gun North Carolina, but a soft kill from the Americans was possible and that would end their primary mission. Their orders had stressed that Hitler did not want any action by the Kriegsmarine that brought the US into the war….at this time.
24 MAY ‘41 2200 Admiral Lutgens suggests (an admiral’s suggestion looks very much like an order to his juniors) they both need some rest after this triumphant day. Lindemann pours a last sniffer of Cognac and a toasts “Only iron can save us. Only blood can set us free.” Lutgens downs his drink and replies “If you don’t put your life on the line, Life will not be worth living.”
24 MAY ‘41 2300 CV Victorious, BBs King George V, Rodney, and Ramillies, the battle-cruiser Repulse and four cruisers were taking up positions to intercept the KMS Bismarck and The prince, based on last known positioned radioed by Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland signals as he withdraws his badly battered force.
25 MAY ‘41 0430 Victorious launches a search force of three Fairey Fulmar reconnaissance aircraft/fighter using datum provided by a damaged HMS Norfolk as a starting point of a sector search. They found HMS Norfolk but marginal visual conditions, poor communications caused by her damage antennas and the FAA’s over eagerness to avenge the RN had them see what they wanted to sea... Bismarck. The flight leader radioed back her posit as that of Bismarck.
25 MAY ‘41 0530 Victorious launched her ready strike force of 7 torpedo armed Swordfish supported by five Fulmar monoplanes 8 wing mounted and one rear cockpit 0.303 Vickers K machine guns and two 250 lb bombs.
25 MAY ‘41 0625 Norfolk’s lookout report the strike but Wake-Walker and Al Phillips, informed of the strike by Victorious, order their Guns Tight and go over the tanoy speaker to inform the AA crews those are British aircraft going after Bismarck and Prince Eugen. The crews cheer on the airmen until the Gunnery officer notices the swordfish have dropped down to torpedo launch height in a classic hammerhead formation. He informs Captain Philipps who comes to the same conclusion and immediately orders his communicators to signal they are friendly along with the recognition code. He also orders his signalmen to do the same and reiterates over the tanoy guns are tight. “Do not fire.”
25 MAY ‘41 0630 Fulmars conduct glide bomb and strafing attack on Norfolk to cover swordfish torpedo runs. Results are 2 near misses, open up many small but not fatal leaks and Norfolk’s AA gun crews are decimated by those 40 .303 Vickers K machine guns.
25 MAY ‘41 0631 Captain Philipps orders Guns free Air action commence, commence, commence. The remaining Norfolk AA gunners pour in a heavy fire upon the “String Bags” but the Hammerhead formation splits up the remaining AA gun mounts and ensures no matter which way Philipps maneuvers his ship will get hit. Result is two Swordfish downed before they reach launch posit, 5 torpedoes launched, one sinks, 1 circles until it runs out of fuel and three0 bore in for the ship. Philipps evades two but the one and the last scores a hit high on the armored belt amidships with a low order detonation doing minimal damage. Luck and good damage control save a very pissed off ship.
25 MAY ‘41 0735 Strike returns to Victorious convinced they seriously damaged Bismarck but confused there was no sign of The Prince. All four Fulmars, two with moderate damage and 4 of the Swordfish make it back to Victorious, one String Bag’s damaged undercarriage collapses on landing shakes up the crew but no serious injuries. The strike is hailed by their Captain and shipmates but the losses were too heavy for them to celebrate. The senior flight surgeon authorizes medicinal rum to the survivors.
25 MAY ‘41 0750 Flag Officer First Cruiser Squadron (CS1) establishes communications with Prince of Whales who relays message to Victorious, copied to Tovey and Admiralty he has just torpedoed HMS Norfolk and gives her posit. The man was justifiably pissed off.
25 MAY ‘41 0755 Captain Philips orders an immediate “medicinal” issue of rum to all hands.
25 MAY ‘41 0810 Victorious XO informs the strike of what they actually did.
25 MAY ‘41 1130 Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound arrived at No. 10 Downing street for a “Come to Jesus” meeting with Prime Minister Churchill. He fully expected to be sacked along with Admiral Tovey. Churchill greeted him cordially and over cigars and scotch had a frank discussion of what the RN was going to do about “Sinking the Bismarck”. Maybe Churchill’s memory of his Dardanelles's catastrophe or the fact Pound had given outstanding service and loyalty, Winston referred to Dudley as “My Anchor”, praise not a slur. Pound left the meeting with his command flag still flying.
25 MAY 1941 1130 Rescue Tug Bustler (1,118 tons, 3,200hp max spd 16 kts one 3in, one 2 pdr, two 20mm and four Mgs. ) and arrives from Reykjavik. Her “escort” is HMT Coriolanus (545 long tons, 164 ft ,Max spd 12 kts, crew 40 , one 12pdr, Three 3 20 mm and 30 × depth charges). Tug Bustler takes over tow of Suffolk. However, she is able to tow Suffolk at 8 kts.
25 MAY 1941 1400 Suffolk, Bustler and Coriolanus detach and head for Reykjavik. It was another tough decision for Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland, NOT to assign one of his remaining ASW escorts. He had been advised about 30 minutes ago by flashing light SitRep Hood was now capable of 12 kts, about the best she can maintain with her damaged bows shored. Counter flooding has reduced Hood’s list to 5 degrees. All fires out, serious dewatering effort underway and DC teams continue to patch battle damage to hull. Medical teams still overwhelmed but by ruthlessly adhering to Triage SOP Senior MO and his staff aided by whoever can be spared from absolutely necessary watch keep and DC teams are saving those they can but the butcher bill grows by the minute.
25 MAY 1941 1500 Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland, orders his “force” to increases speed to 12 kts,
25 May 1941 1600 Holland reads Sitrep from POW’ XO “acting captain” ; Engaged in the same process as Hood but fortunately her damage and wounded are far less severe. Her Butcher’s Bill will be less than 100. Even with builders aboard no major repair of her main battery is possible. However, the civilian techs are of great assistance nursing her engineering plant and mitigating hull damage.
26 MAY ‘41 1130 The Bismarck received a message from Hitler saying that "all our thoughts are with our victorious comrades."
27 May 1941: At 0530 hours, the Prince of Wales & Hood arrive at Reykjavik with Antelope and Electra. The battleships anchors in Reykjavik and immediately land their wounded. The destroyers immediately refuel and re provisioned. While anchored there Holland transmits the first detailed battle report to the Admiralty about the engagement in the Denmark Strait.
27 MAY 1941 2200 Bismarck and The Prince pick up local “pilots” from Greenland fishing vessel. This same vessel had conducted a very thorough survey by a Kriegsmarine Officer and two local fishermen, former pre war harbor pilots of Kangerluarsunnguaq Fjord.
27 MAY 1941 2230 Bismarck and The Prince under complete blackout and guided by their radars and local Nazi sympathizers pass through the mouth of Kangerluarsunnguaq Fjord. They find Kapitan zur See Friedrich Max von Muller & his 10,000 ton 18 kt blockade running Oiler Weissenburg anchored over the “sea Bottom” (inner part of Fjord) close up to the walls of the very steep and deep fjord. Weissenburg guided by the same Greenland Nazi agents anchored at 2200 and made all preps to speedily discharge their fuel on both sides, in order to get Lutgens away before first light.
Kapitan zur See Friedrich Max von Muller invites the Admiral and his two captains to celebrate the defeat of the Royal Navy in the Denmark Starlight and the continued success Operation Rheinübung ("Exercise Rhine") in his plush sea cabin with Cuban cigars, French cognac and Sacher Torte. This cake is light and airy, made with melted chocolate, vanilla, butter, sugar, and flour, whipped egg whites, apricot coating, smothered in a dark chocolate glaze.
Supermarine Spitfire PR Mk.IG and PR Mk. Recon flight of Brest Harbor
28 May 1941: POW Antelope and Electra. Departs Reykjavik for Rosyth.
28 MAY 1941 0200 Vice admiral Lutgens, has been feeling restless, sweaty and anxiety over the last hour. Suddenly he sits bolt upright in his chair, with a grimace of great pain on his face, spills his cognac and experiences heavy pounding of his the heart followed by loss of consciousness. Ruckteschell calls for his surgeon while Kapitäns zur See Brinkmann and Lindemann administer first aid. It takes the doctor seven and a half minutes to reach the sea cabin but the Vice admiral is already dead. The doctor states from the look of the Vice admiral and based on what the three officers told him Lutgens had suffered a massive heart attack.
28 MAY 1941 0230 After removal of the body the three captains each down a stiff cognac, refill their snifters and get down to business. Lindeman expresses his full support and obedience to Kapitän zur See (KzS—Captain at Sea) Helmuth Brinkmann of the PRINCE as he is senior Captain. Brinkmann thanks Lindemann for his words and orders they go over to Bismarck so he can read Lutgens orders for Operation Rheinübung. He makes it perfectly clear he intends to carry out those orders to the letter.
He also formally states all standing orders of the Vice Admiral will stay in place.
Lindeman asks Brinkmann when he will break his “command pennant” on Bismarck.
Brinkmann replies “I have complete confidence in you as Captain of Bismarck. Unfortunately my Executive Officer has been showing some strange behavior since the Denmark Straight battle. I think it best to stay aboard The Prince and support him during his transition to command. The Prince has plenty of room so I will have the staff transferred before we sail.
He turns to Ruckteschell, “How much longer to fill our bunkers.”
Ruckteschell replies “We will be done by 0330.”
Brinkmann replies “So be it, not a minute later. I want to be as far from this place as possible by daylight.”
“ Kapitan zur See Friedrich Max von Muller send in a yeoman, I must compose a short report of for our masters.” Brinkmann dictates a three paragraph message to include with the Vice Admirals report stating he bald facts of what happened, he took command and would carry out Operation Rheinübung to the best of his ability and he had every confidence of success. Also his condolences to Lindemann’s family.
At that Brinkmann & Lindemann hurry over to Bismarck. The Vice Admiral C of Staff is waiting in the flag space with the orders and other documents Brinkmann needs. The staff is busy packing up everything to transfer to The Prince. It will be tight but it will be done. Brikmann orders the Flag Lt. To move all of Lutgen’s personal possessions to Weissenburg and then join him aboard The Prince.
28 MAY 1941 0340 Bismarck with The Prince leading ,heads for the mouth of Kangerluarsunnguaq Fjord conned by the Greenland Nazi sympathetic fishermen/pilots.
28 MAY 1941 0420 The Brinkmann TG clears Kangerluarsunnguaq Fjord , course SE and a rendezvous with as many Tommy Convoys as he has fuel and ammunition for. Why not? They had defeated the mighty Hood, badly damaged and driven off Prince of Whales. HIS TG had also slaughtered the cruisers and destroyers sent to kill them with ease and suffered only very minor damage. He knew he was a much better leader and a much smarter sailor than poor Lutgens. In his present mood ALL THINGS WERE POSSIBLE. He sardonically laughed aloud when he said to his new Chief of Staff “I guess God really is on the Fuhrers side.” Then he turned serious. “Now to work, find me a large, ripe Tommy convoy.”
28 MAY 1941 0630 Scout planes return, reporting nothing within 150 miles of TG Brinkmann TG Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG, on the bridge of Prinz Eugen, decides it is time to detach Kapitäns zur See Lindemann’s Bismark to proceed to engage a convoy reported by BdU to the South East, about 12 hours steaming at 20 kts. He will take “The Prince” on a course to intercept the convoy attacked on the 21 May (HX-123) confirmed not to have capital ship escort. He should be up to the convoy by 1900 today at 20 kts. Splitting TG Brinkmann doubles his ability to kill convoys, especially with the Royal Navy in such disarray and stretched so thin after the Denmark Straight battle. It is a risk but success will justify and shield him from the wrath of the High Command. Using his 7 operational Arado Ar 196s with their long range, decent speed (for a scout), heavy MG and auto canon armament and bomb load werw excellent scouts. They also provided a means of secure comunication (message drop or blinker light) with Bismarck. He could also plead he stayed within easy and fast mutual support and, if the situation required, all of TG Brinkmann could concentrate long before a capital ship force could engage. He discounted the RN carriers which had performed dismally so far in both the attack and scouting role.
28 MAY 1941 0700 Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG orders a flag hoist signal, detaching Kapitäns zur See Lindemann’s Bismarck to proceed, per previously issued orders, and to rejoin at noon on the 30 May.
28 MAY 1941 1620 Prinz Eugene's Arado Ar 196 makes visual contact with HX-123. He made two complete circuits of the convoy flying just under the broken clouds, carefully noting it's posit, course, speed, number and type of merchants and escorts before being detected.
28 MAY 1941 1625 The Prince’s scout Arado’s amplifing contact report was handed to OTC of Brinkmann TG. Confirmation of original posit, 30 odd merchantmen, some damaged, no capital ships revised course and speed. The Arado pilot and observer failed to recognize the CAM ship, after all there would never be more than 12 in service and at his shadowing distance the Cat and Hurry, both painted the same as the ship, were very easy to miss. OTC ordered his flag navigator to figure out a course at 20 kts to intercept the convoy. Judging by the chart plot the latest BdU convoy estimated position report had been very accurate. Brinkmann had taken a gamble and based his and Bismarck's divergent courses on making contact with the two closest convoys. His navigator's initial interception course had placed The Prince ahead and north of this convoy at a range of a little more than 100 miles. The revised intercept course required only a few degrees course change. Estimated time of contact was 2035 that gave him 3 hours of daylight to finish off the convoy; more than enough time. He gave the order immediately.
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 9
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLORPART 9
HX-123
28 MAY 1941 1628 One of the escorts, whose radar was working better than the others, after tracking this small intermittent spike for about 15 minutes, reported the contact to the Commodore by flag hoist. HX-123 was immediately ordered to Battle stations, a sharp turn to the North East and his CAM ship was to man his Hurricaine and prepare an energency urgent launch on his command. COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, had a very tough decisions to make. The main purpose of CAM ships was to threaten the long range Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor reconnaissance aircraft flown by the Huns to shadow the convoys. Winston Churchill called the Condors the "Scourge of the Atlantic" during the Battle of the Atlantic due to its contribution to the heavy Allied shipping losses by German U-boats. He hated to use his single Hurricane this early in the voyage and knew, if they survived, he would miss that Hurricane very very much. The amplifying report on the air contact held her at 15 miles and closing which meant she “probably” had not yet sighted HX-123 but would soon. His communicators informing him there had been no RT signals as yet; this was the deciding factor .
28 MAY 1941 1632 Empire Burton was a "CAM" ship (acronym for "Catapult Aircraft Merchantman") equipped with a rocket-propelled catapult launching a single Hawker Sea Hurricane. Empire Burton was crewed by 46 Merchant Navy men & officers, 12 RAF personnel, four DEMS gunners. Empire Burton's aviation mods consisted of 1, very well used, early model Hawker "Sea" Hurricane and 1 aircraft rocket catapult. Once launched the Sea Hurricane could either find land or ditch at sea. There was no provisions for landing aboard a CAM ship.
Her RAF air det imediately began the take-off procedures
The trolley receiving bar was removed at dawn.
The airmen started the aircraft and warmed up the engine at intervals.
Sergeant Pilot “Reaper” Simon Darkshade climbed into the aircraft. Reaper was from the specially formed Merchant Ship Fighter Unit, based at RAF Speke near Liverpool. Reaper liked to say "All you really needed to qualify for my squadron was to be a Hurry Pilot and certifiably as mad as a march hair." Let us just say Sergeant Pilot “Reaper” Simon Darkshade was a realis Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann t, after a year of wartime flying, who used very, very black humor to cope with his certain knowledge that his chances of surviving much longer were not very good.
28 MAY 1941 1635 COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, ordered his only aircraft to launch. Orders to identify and if Nazi shoot down the “snooper”. HX-123 was too far west for a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor reconnaissance aircraft but not for either a merchant raider or for one of the Ktriegsmarine warships. Both carried Arado Ar 196 scouting aircraft and, unlike his only "HurryCat", they could be recovred by their mother ship and flown many, many times.
28 MAY 1941 1636 Empire Burton hoisted the international flag code F when the decision was made to launch. (CAM ships were usually stationed at the head of the outboard port column of a convoy so they could manoeuvre into the wind for launch.)
An airman removed the pins, showed them to the pilot, and took them to the Catapult Duty Officer (CDO).
Sergeant Pilot “Reaper” Simon Darkshade applied 30 degree flaps and 1/3 right rudder.
The CDO raised a blue flag above his head to inform the ship's master of his readiness to launch.
The ship's master manoeuvred the ship into the wind and raised a blue flag above his head to authorise the launch. (The ship's master stood on the starboard bridge wing to avoid the catapult rocket blast which sometimes damaged the port side of the bridge.)
The CDO waved his blue flag indicating he was ready to launch upon a signal from the pilot.
"Reaper" Darkside opened full throttle of his "Hurricat", tightened the throttle friction nut, pressed his head back into the head-rest, pressed his right elbow tightly against his hip, and lowered his left hand as a signal to launch. "He thought, as he did with every Launch, "Now we get to see if this Rocket sled works, or I ditch right here or get blown to very little pieices."
The CDO counted to three, waited for the bow to rise from the trough of a swell, and moved the switch to fire the catapult rockets.
28 MAY 1941 1640, Sergeant Pilot “Reaper” Simon Darkshade was a happy man. He was climbing fast for the clouds on a bearing that should put him at the Arado's 6 oclock position. If not spotted during his approach he would begin his killing run in a power dive and gun the Arado pilot's brains out or rip up the aircraft before he could transmit ( he was already too late. The Arados's initial sighting report and his amplification had been recieved by The Prince almost 15 minutes before.)
28 MAY 1941 1634 The Reaper's keen eyesight spotted the Arado at his 9 oclock position couple of hundred feet above. He corrected to come up behind and above the Arado. The two man crew didn't appear to have noticed him yet. If they stayed clueless for another two minutes the twin float Arado was dead.
28 MAY 1941 1636 However, as luck would have it, he was spotted by the observer as he began his power dive. The veteran shouted a warning to his pilot as he brought his twin 7.92 mm Mgs to bear on Simon. The reaper knew, if he missed his first pass this would take time and fuel he could not spare. Despite being a "float obsrevation plane" the Arado Ar 196 was not all that easy to kill, even with it's 947hp BMW 132K 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine's Maximum speed: 193 mph. It could turn well inside his much faster Hurry and it was armed like battleship with two 20mm auto canons in the wings, one 7.92 mm MG forward and of course those two 7.92 mm MGs the observer was firing at him. He held his fire until the Arado filled his gunsight reticle and then gave it a long burst sweeping from just aft of the observer to the prop hub. Both Observer abd pilot were killed isntantly. Ther were no chutes.
“Reaper” had succeeded in making this kill quickly. He cut back his throttle and then it was an iffy fuel conserving 360 degree Recce forward quadrant out to to 50 miles, aft quadrant out to 30 miles. IF he found the "Roost" for the dead Arado within 35 miles send out an urgent contact reportand then close with the target, to get more info and hose the bridge down with his eight .303 in Brownings and set a course for Greenland, not back to HX-123. If he found nothing make that report to HX-123, climb to his Hurry's best cruising altitude, set his fuel mixture for maximum endurance, set course to Greenland and, if he was very, very lucky, he would live to dine out on this story. If not; well no one lives forever.
Sea Hurricane Mk IA was a Hurricane Mk I modified by General Aircraft Limited. They were modified to be carried by CAM ships.
The majority of the aircraft modified had suffered wear-and-tear from serving with front-line squadrons, so much so that at least one example used during trials broke up un Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann der the stress of a catapult launching. A total of 50 aircraft were converted from Hurricane Mk Is. CA
Hurricane Mk I (Early production)
The first Mk I delivered December 1937. These early aircraft featured fabric-covered wings, and a wooden, two-bladed, fixed-pitch propeller. Initially the tail wheel was designed to be retractable; early on it was discovered that the Hurricane needed a larger rudder area to improve the control characteristics during a spin. To this end the lower part of the rudder was extended and a distinctive ventral "keel" was added to the rear fuselage. The tail wheel was now fixed.
Early Hurricanes lacked armor or self-sealing tanks. They used "ring and bead" gun sights, with the ring being mounted above the instrument panel and the bead mounted on a post above the engine cowling. The standard GM2 reflector gun sight was introduced in mid-1939, although many Hurricanes retained the "bead". Fuel capacity was 97 Imperial gal in two fuel tanks, each of 34.5 gal in the wing center-section, between the spars; the fuel was pumped from these into a reserve gravity-feed tank which held an additional 28 gal in the forward fuselage, just ahead of the cockpit. This was the main fuel feed to the engine. The 7 gal oil tank was built into the forward. Mk Is were powered by the 1,029 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin C engine. The main coolant radiator was housed in a fairing under the rear wing center-section; the oil cooler was also incorporated into the main radiator.
The aircraft handling qualities during take-off and landings were excellent due to a wide-track undercarriage with relatively wide low-pressure tires. Because of this wide, stable platform the Hurricane was an easier aircraft to land, with less fear of nose-overs or "ground-loops" than its RAF Fighter Command counterpart the Supermarine Spitfire. During its operational life the Hurricane was able to operate from all sorts of adverse airfield surfaces with ease.
In flight the large, thick wing meant that the fighter proved to be a stable gun platform, especially for a veteran, cold blooded killer like “Reaper”. It was armed with eight .303 in Browning machine guns. The armament was arranged in two lots of four in large gun bays incorporated into the outer wing panels. In 1937 this firepower was enough to outgun the early marks of German Messerschmitt Bf 109, which were equipped with only four light machine guns but that was 4 years ago. This relatively small-caliber armament was inadequate for first line service now but Good enough for CAMs.
Simon’s Hurricane carried the standard old HF TR9 radio set. The Transceiver T R 9 was a two tube radiotelephony transmitter with a six-Tube receiver. It was designed primarily for use in single-seater fighter aircraft and was intended to provide two-way comms to a range of 35 miles air/ground and 5 miles air-to-air. Frequency coverage was 4300-6000 kc/s and the entire power supply was derived from an HT dry battery and a secondary cell. In single-seat fighters, like Simon’s “Hurry” the set was installed behind the pilot's cockpit The pilot was provided with headphones, microphone and a remote control unit which operated the send-receive switch, receiver tuning and volume control.
Simon knew his Hurry’s fuel tanks were vulnerable to defensive machine gun fire. The greatest hazard was with the unprotected gravity-feed fuel tank in front of the cockpit which could rupture when hit, allowing a jet of flame to penetrate the cockpit through the instrument panel; not a nice way to go. The wooden and fabric rear fuselage was also far more likely to catch fire than the metal fuselages of its contemporaries. This issue was of such concern to Air Vice Marshal Hugh Dowding that he had Hawker retrofit the fuselage tanks of Hurricanes with a fire-resistant material called "Linatex" as a matter of priority. The wing tanks had already been fitted with a covering of this sealant, but the fuselage tank was considered to be too small a target. His Hurry had the modification which was a comfort.
The biggest advantages of the Hurricane were that it was a relatively easy aircraft to fly, which was a boon when it came to squadrons being flooded with inexperienced pilots. It was also a steady gun platform. The Reaper is an excellent shot, along with being a cold blooded murderer. After all if done, when done right and you hit the opposition before they even knew you were around, that is what air combat was. The closely grouped .303 in Browning's created a superior pattern of fire to those of the Spitfire, which were spaced out along the wings, and the armament was more quickly serviced.
28 MAY 1941 1639 COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, was informed by his leading escort the CAM pilot killed what appeared to be a twin pontoon “scout aircraft”, most likely an Arado Ar 196 catapult, seaplane from a capital ship or armed merchant raider. His convoy was in no shape to take on a Capital ship but his four Ex-American Town class escorts still had plenty of speed 30–35 knots on a really good day, three of their original four open pedestal mounted surface only 4 in/50 cal guns, 1 pretty worthless 3 in/23 anti-aircraft gun and, most important in this situation, two triple 21 in torpedo tubes.
Those old tubes were loaded with the slightly more lederly Mark II which entered service in 1914. The MK-2's range was 8,000 yds and it's max speed was reduced from 45kts to 29kts for better reliability. It still packed a respectable 400 lb Warhead. It was not a one shot giant killer but with 24 fish in the hands of deterimined RN crews might, with a lot of luck, might do the trick. The key was closing to 4 miles range as quickly as the old gal's plant would allow (now something around 30 kts) before firing. Against a merchant raiders 6 inch battery and rudimentary fire control it was doable. However, against Kriegsmarine manned 6, 8, 11 and maybe 15 inch guns backed with the latest radar and optical fire control with analog computers and the world best optical range finders it would require a lot of luck and HX-123 had not really had that much luck so far.
28 MAY 1941 1700 Still no amplifying reports from His Arado scout. Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG was only slightly concerned about his scout. The Arado had plenty of fuel and her crew were very good. Not likely they encountered any RAF aircraft that could down them, maybe a stray Catalina but the Arado was better armed and faster than those dangerous, lumbering patrol bombers. Surely if one of the few CAM ships were with the convoy his pilot would have included that vital information in the amplifying report.
28 MAY 1941 1715 The Prince's FuMO 27 Radar – wavelength 81.5cm, frequency 368 MHz, transmitter power output 8 kW detected a contact. Although primarily a firecontrol unit the 27 also had decent, if cumbersome, surface and air search capabilities. Surface range in Fire control and search mode was 13 nm, air range depended a alot on meteorogical conditions, the skill and alertness of the operator but, under very good conditions, could track a medium altitude aircraft at 25 miles, a lot less if the plane was on the deck. The operator identified Reaper's Hurry as an intermittent, probably very small, air target and started tracking and reporting. Prince went to to Battle Stations Air Imediately. The fire control was for the 8 inchers in turrets “Anton” – “Graz”, “Bruno” – “Braunau”, “Cäsar” – “Innsbruck” and “Dora”; not the "flak" battery.
That Flak battery was quite impressive for May 1941:
Twelve 105mm dula purpose L/65 C/33 guns on twin coaxially-stabilized C/73 mounts constituted the heavy FLAK battery. Their elevation was -8 to +85 degrees, range 9 miles, while the AA ceiling was welve 105mm L/65 C/33 guns on twin coaxially-stabilized C/73 mounts constituted the heavy FLAK battery. Their elevation was -8 to +85 degrees, range 9 miles , while the AA ceiling was 40,00 ft. The rate of fire was 160 rounds per minute and the ammunition capacity was 6,200 rounds.
The medium FLAK battery consisted of twelve dual purpose 37mm L/38 C/30 guns on twin C/30 mounts. Their elevation was -10 to +85 degrees, range 8,500 yards and AA ceiling 22,00 ft. The rate of fire was 160 rounds per minute and the ammunition capacity was 4,000 rounds.
The light FLAK battery was composed of eight single dual purpse 20mm L/65 C/38 on C/30 mounts. Their elevation was -11 to +85 degrees, range 4,900 yards and the AA ceiling 12,000 ft. The rate of fire was 280 rounds per minute and the ammunition capacity was 24,000 rounds.
28 MAY 1941 1730 the "Reaper" was about at the edge of his forward quadron search when his keen eyes obsered a "bump" on the horizon. He was flying just below the cloud layer and his underbody camo should make him very hard to see from a moving ship. He had no idea how good German shipboard radar was at spotting a small single Hurry and so was not particularly worried about closing for a positive ID of the "bump".
28 MAY 1941 1735 the "Reaper" realized he had a big warship in view but no idea if friend or foe. After all, he was an RAF pilot not part of the Fleet Air Arm but he had been told just before launch there were no RN warships anywhere near HX-123, report anything he found but not to use his radio anywher near the Convoy. In for a penny, in for a pound Reaper dived and closed the range trying to identify the nationality of the ship. At 9 miles he was met by a barrage of large black shell bursts and he actually heard shrapnel pinging off his Hurry. He dived for the deck while opening the range and then climbed to just over the cloud cover and began repeatedly transmitting his sighting report while circling the ship. He knew the Commodore would not break radio silence. He gave the Prince's ID as a large ship with 4 big gun turets, on a course heading straight for HX-123 very fast. Every fiber in his fighter pilot body said dive on the bastard and rip up the bridge and then head back to the convoy to ensure they got the message. The old Vet vetoed that idea; making sure the sighting report got to the Commodore as soon as possible was his duty. He also had to finish his 360 degree reccee but that had to wait until after he knew HX-123 was warned. So he set his course for Greenland, no reason giving this ship a course back to the convoy, and gradually dropped to wave top height and after 15 minutes then steered diretcly for the convoy climbing to more fuel efficint hieght.
28 MAY 1941 1740 aboard The prince Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG was more concerned with his silent Arado than with this brush with an unidentified aircraft. Thetr was really nothing the 8 kt convoy could do to escape, his Prince or prolong it's life.
28 MAY 1941 1830 Reaper got an affirmative to his aldis lamp question about reciept of his sighting report. He had to signal 3 times before the convotyCommodore's "drawer waver" understood his message. He well knew it was his fault. He was pretty hopeless with the aldis.
28 MAY 1941 1840 After confirmation of Simon's HurryCat's low fuel state COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, ordered him to Greenland. He had done his job and he deserved to live. Now what to do. That big bastard of a Nazi capital ship could be Bismarck or an eight inch cruiser with that main battery twin turret layout. He sure could not run. He surely could not expect any help. He could and would sacrifice his old American Dds with their 6 torpedo tubes and his own command the “mighty Man Of War” Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Derbyshire F 78 with flank speed Speed 15 + knots, and gallant crew of crew 254. His main battery of 7 pedestal mounted 6"/45 Mk.VII guns with a Max effective range using Standard Charge of 27 lbs., at 40 degrees elevation and a 100 lb. AP round was 21,500 yards. With “Super Charge” of 34.25 lbs.. at 30 degrees elevation was 23,770 yards.
He honestly did not think F-78's fire control was up to that standard but a very lucky shot was theoretically possible and pigs might fly but he had never seen them do it.
Fire Control Above the bridge, on the monkey island, a rangefinder and a primitive gun control system were installed, enabling broadsides of four guns was a real joke, especially in any kind of seaway.
Rate Of Fire was 5 - 7 rounds per minute, on a good day with only 3.5 in Armor penetration at 7,500 yards. Fat chance getting that close. His two 3 inch AA guns would be of little help.
Well as suicidal as it was, his only plan was to order HX-123 to scatter and for Derbyshire and his torpedo carrying US Navy relics to charge the Nazi’s and hope for a lucky hit that would slow her down and give his ships a better chance at escape. What he did not know was BdU had the two type 9s in a trailing position ready to kill off the fleeing merchantmen. He immediately issued the scatter signal and ordered the old American destroyers and their far too young crews (he would soon murder) to form up on him as he set course to intercept the Raider.
He thought the appointed rendezvous, next day, for his scattered flock was going to be pretty sparse if any made it, which he doubted very, very much. One consolation was he would not be there to see the fruits of his naval genius.
28 MAY 1941 1845 Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham, CO HMS Cambeltown took the flag hoist “signal” from his Yoeman of signals and turned to his XO. In a low voice away from the bridge crew he said “Jimmy who did you leave your will with? We have just been notified we are invited to a daylight torpedo attack against either Bismarck or one of Hitler’s heavy cruisers. I do hope this old whore’s engines will not let us down until after we deliver our six Fish.
Jimmy’s reply was just as black humored. “My Lord, we certainly are fortunate we shipped tried and true pre Great war Mk 2s. I especially take comfort that “Their Lordships” decided to reduce the MK 2’s speed from 45 to 29 kts. Makes suicide much more sporting, don’t you think?
28 MAY 1941 2015 Flag bridge KMS Prinz Eugen Brinkmann TG. Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG, recieved a report from CO of The Prince that radar held 5 targets closing from dead ahead at 15 kts, Range 15 miles. This was not the first indication the RN was approaching. About 15 mintes before the Prince sonarman reported a passive hydrophone contact from the Gruppenhorchgerät (GHG) gear. Both Bismarck and The Prince were equipped with this very effective system. The sensor consisted of two panels of 60 microphones, one on each side of the ship's hull with a supposed maximum effective range was 26-40 km depending on conditions such as water conductivity and background noise. It had not worked well in the tests conducted in the Baltic Sea because of heavy background noise and poor conduction properties. However, in the deep cold waters of the North Atlantic under favourable conditions, bearings with an accuracy of 1 degree had been common even from a distance of 32,823 yards at 20 kts and the max range on this sortie had been over 45,000 yards.
Therefore, The Prince had gone to Battle Stations 10 minutes ago and launchrd both of her remaining Arado's. Even drained of AvGas they were too much of a fire hazard if left aboard. They could also provide very valuable scouting and spotting services this day, still 3 hours of daylight. Newly apointed CO of The Prince had been making some very good decisions which convinced Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG that he and his staff could safely return to Bismarck when they rendezvoued. The CO had ordered his two remaining Arado Ar 196s a full load out of ammo for their 2 forward firing x 20mm MG, one forward firing 7.92 mm MG, twin flexibale 7.92 mm Mgs and 110 lb bombs. He had warned the crews that the Arado's were not to be hazarded against undamaged ships. They would each put a couple of bombs in seperate HX-123 cargo ships and shot up the bridges and topsides of 5 of the smaller esorts. 20 MM shot by aerial marksmen will do terrible damage to Topsides of light warships, their on deck crews and the bridge and men of merchant ships also.
28 MAY 1941 2016 The radar mechanic aboard the Town class DD HMS CHELSEA reported a large surface contact closing at about 20 kts, range 15 miles. A flash priority signal was sent by flag hoist and blinker light to the Commodore and the rest of the ships in company.
28 MAY 1941 2020 Radar mechanic of HMS CHELSEA, picked up by the other three Town class four pipers also reported two Air contacts at low altitude circling HX-123. At about the same time the staff Radio CPO aboard Derbyshire intercepted radio comms between the Arados and the large surface contact. They were transmitting in the clear, in a verge good mood and on and e mentioned something about the The Prince was in for a fine supper. He knew she was the Prince Eugen. So no 15 inch shells just measly little 8 and 4 inch as if that made much of a difference now.
28 MAY 1941 2030 things were moving fast now, as the ships closed at 45 kts an hour. It was time to loose his dogs of war such as his old 4 pipers were and allow them to attack at their best speed while maneuvering to avoid The Prince's defensive fire. He gave the order which was sent out by flag hoist, signal lamp and RT to execute the preplanned attack. He ended the message wishing them God's speed and Do your worst to those Nazi bastards. We will be along shortly.
28 MAY 1941 2033 Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham, CO HMS Cambeltown Senior of the four old DDs captains ordered an “Immediate Execute” signal by RT to“His” ships to split up into two ship elements and conduct a coordinated hammerhead attack (come in forward of the Prince on either Bow) so that no matter how she turned she stood a good chance of being hit by one if not two of their 24 tin fish. It was understood on the way in that the DDs would be able to maneuver as required. That would confuse the Prince’s fire control solutions. The key was to survive long enough to reach firing range of 8,000 yards, not impress anyone with their precision formation keeping. Thanks to their antique MK 2 torpedoes, with their barely adequate 400 pound TNT Warhead they would have to slow considerably to launch or risk them breaking up, porpoising or just plain sinking to the bottom. Only after launching her 6 fish could “Old Gift Horse” withdraw, really run like hell, and pray the old girl’s long abused boilers in their pressurized fire rooms, would not quit on them and allow them to rejoin the Commodore. Nice way to commit mass suicide he thought, in daylight, with aircraft above, German optical fire control (the very best in the world) good radar and pre Great War museum exhibits for torpedoes.
If Teynham chances were poor the likelihood of actually rejoining COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, and his 15 kt, 6 inch gunned Armed Merchant Cruiser were not much better. The old bastard would surely be blown out of the water long before Cambletown could rejoin.
And
He, Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham at 26 years of age, would be the new Commodore of HX-123, IF there was anything left of it. That would even impress his Uncle who had commanded a cruiser at Jutland and has never let anyone forget it. Serves him right he now commands a Stone Frigate training Wrens in naval communications. I bet that drives him to the bottle, not that it ever took much to get him to drink. That thought cheered him up just a bit and he was smiling so that his messenger, Boy Boris Johnson, was convinced he was commanded by a mad man, absolutely bonkers.
28 MAY 1941 2040 Arado 2 radioed The Prince of the detachment of the old destroyers and their splitting into two units for a torpedo attack. CO of The Prince gave batteries released for his secondary, 4 inch rapid fire mounts to engage the attacking destroyers. He told his gunnery officer to use the main battery against the AMC and any of the convoy that came into range. Their primary mission was to anahilate as many convoys as possible not sink antiques.
28 MAY 1941 2043 COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, immediately began firing his 6-inch guns even though he was well out of range of the The Prince . He also ordered smoke canisters deployed to hide the convoy, which made a quick turn away from the German ship and scattered. At a distance of about 10 miles, Captain Krancke swung the The Prince to port, bringing all four twin turrets to bear on the convoy and HM AMC Derbyshire. He began firing at the oncoming armed merchantman, the second salvo splashing 50 yards off HM AMC Derbyshire’s bow with 100-foot spouts of sea water, soaking the Derbyshire's forward gun crews.
Sam Daws, a quartermaster aboard HM AMC Derbyshire, heard what he later described as a “thunk” and turned to see a member of his gun crew slump to the deck, his head severed from his body. The Prince's third salvo hit HM AMC Derbyshire’s bridge, knocking out her rangefinder, wireless, and fire-control equipment. Several officers and crewmen were killed by the blast, COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, left arm was injured.
As The prince continued to fire, HM AMC Derbyshire was hit repeatedly on her superstructure, and her hull was holed in several places. The port bulkhead of the radio shack was gone and a radio operator and two coders were dead.
The remaining radioman climbed to the remnants of the bridge where he saw COMMODORE ROGERS “clutching his arm, blood spilling off his sleeve.”
Fires now began to burned so badly the DC crews were loosing the battle
Wanting to neutralize the escort ship and attack the convoy, The Prince's CO continued to split his main battery, training Anton and Bruno on HM AMC Derbyshire with Cäsar and Dora on the fleeing merchants and the seconday 4.1s on any escort that came within range. Darkness was still over two hours away, but he still wanted to sink HM AMC Derbyshire quickly so that he would have time to destroy the convoy. Each salvo from the The Prince launched a ton of ordnance at the stricken ship. The forward port side of Derbyshire caught the brunt of the fire and became a mass of twisted girders, bent and jagged plate, dead and wounded sailors, and flames. A shell somehow loosed Derbyshire's anchor, and another knocked the white ensign of the Royal Navy off the top of the main mast. An unnamed seaman climb the mast to nail up a replacement ensign.
Despite her damage COMMODORE ROGERS kept HM AMC Derbyshire continued steaming at The prince firing her guns until her steering gear was knocked out. The petty officer manning the wheel called into the voice tube that the ship’s steering gear was out of action and heard COMMODORE ROGERS’ pained voice come back ordering him to “man the aft steering position.”
With his ship aflame and sinking, COMMODORE ROGERS continued to maintain the unequal fight and stayed in command despite his shattered arm, consciously buying time for the ships of the convoy to escape.
Up to now, COMMODORE ROGERS had stayed on the mangled bridge, which was under continuous hits from 4 of The Prince's 8 inch guns. Shortly after giving the order to man the aft gear, however, he struggled down the starboard side of the bridge and, aided by a signalman, headed aft, stopping to encourage a gunner along the way and ordering more smoke deployed.
After a blast destroyed the after-control compartment just as he arrived there, the COMMODORE ROGERS went forward again, with “blood running over the gold lace on his sleeve. He never made it. His body and the body of the signalman who was helping him were later seen on the deck. HM AMC Derbyshire] did not have a chance, and we all knew it.
Unfortunately the gllant actions of the Commodore, the crew of HM AMC Derbyshire’s and the old destroyers along with the rest of the escorts skipper, did not save HX-123.
As a cruel faith would have it exploding cordite bags on HM AMC Derbyshire’s poop deck had convinced The Prince's CO that the smaller ship was still firing despite the severe damage she had suffered. He didn’t dare concentrate all his main battery on the convoy until the threat posed by HM AMC Derbyshire was eliminated. Any damage to his ship from a lucky hit could seriously affect her ability to escape any hunt for her launched by the Royal Navy.
28 MAY 1941 2115 HMS Chelsea, Cambletown, Mansfield and Newmarket came under rapid accurate fire from The Prince's 12 4.1 in DP battery. The twin L/65 C/33 guns on coaxially-stabilized C/73 mounts is the heavy FLAK and secondary surface action battery. Their maximum effective surface range at 45 degrees elevation firing 33.3 lbs. HE round is nine and half miles. The rate of fire is 16 rounds per minute. The combination of these guns, their superbly trained crews and The Princes excellent firecontrol system soon took it's tole. First hit was HMS Manfield at 17,000 yds. She slowed to 22 kts but continued to press her attack. Second hit, at 15,500 yds was HMS Chelsea with three 33.3 rounds landing on her focs'l and taking out her mount 41, spraying the bridge with splinters that killed the captain and lee helmsman and wounding almost everyone else. The second hit was to the forward deckhouse wiping out the galley. The 3rd hit landed squarely on #1 tripple topedo mount. The sympathetic explosion of all 3 400 lb warheads literally tore Chelsea in two and she sank with the loss of all hands.
28 MAY 1941 2130 crippled HMS Mansfield caught a series of hits, miraculously and doggedly pressing home her mad dash to the lMK 2 launch point. She lost her race when another 33.3 lbs. HE round penetrated her pressurized fire room and exploded, leaving her dead in the water soon followed by two more that sank her. Fortunately half her crew survived, non of them were from the main spaces.
As The prince continued to fire, HM AMC Derbyshire was hit repeatedly on her superstructure, and her hull was holed in several places. The port bulkhead of the radio shack was gone and a radio operator and two coders were dead.
The remaining radioman climbed to the remnants of the bridge where he saw COMMODORE ROGERS “clutching his arm, blood spilling off his sleeve.”
Fires now began to burned so badly the DC crews were loosing the battle.
28 MAY 1941 2140 HMS Cambletown and Newmarket made it to the launch point but just as the latter slowed to launch her MK 2s she was hit, in rapid succession by 4 33.3 lbs. HE rounds which penetrated deep inside the old DD and she sank before she could launch a single torpedo. Miraculously there were 37 survivors, none of which were from the black gang.
28 MAY 1941 2142 the lone survivor of the torpedo attack, Lord Teynham "Gift Horse" fired all six of her torpedoes, one sank immediately, two veered off to who knew where but three ran hot straight and normal. They close The Prince at their paltry 29 kts. The CO of The Prince combed the wakes of two of the fish, all the time concentrating his entire 4.1 inch battery at the rapidly fleeing HMS Cambletown; the third and final hope of slowing down the Cruiser missed her target's stern by about 30 feet.
28 MAY 1941 2142 Lord Teynham HMS Cambletown's rare good luck ran out and she was hit on the after deck house by a single 33.3 lbs. HE round which shook up her after engine room and started a fire topside. Her speed dropped to 20 kts but was quickly restored to 25 by the heroic efforts of her chief ERA and his mates. Lord Teynham set course to rejoin the Commodore and do whatever good he could to shield the convoy but that was not to be. Fate had another end in store for the "Gift Horse" then commanded by Lieutenant Commander Stephen Halden Beattie, at a huge dry dock in St Nazaire on March 28, 1942.
28 MAY 1941 2150 After an hour of the unrelenting German fire and with COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, dead, Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Roe, now in command, ordered the remaining crew of HM AMC Derbyshire to abandon ship. All of HM AMC Derbyshire’s life boats had been destroyed but rafts, some of which were damaged, and the ship’s 18-foot “jolly boat” had survived the bombardment and were launched. Most of HM AMC Derbyshire’s men simply jumped into the icy, sub-Arctic sea, some making it to the rafts and jolly boat. Others made do with what they could find floating in the water.
Shortly after the order was given to abandon ship, HM AMC Derbyshire went down. The white ensign was the last thing to settle beneath the Atlantic waves.
Now Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG ordered The Prince and her Arados in for the kill. The heavy cruiser constantly decreased the range and turned all the guns that would reach on the fleeing merchant ships and small, slow escorts. It was like clubbing baby seals. The rescue ship COPELAND was not spared, in truth Brinkmann had no idea she was packed with wounded survivors. In the end Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann carried out his orders to the letter. Of the 43 merchants and 18 escorts (34 ships TDS) only the old BB her escort and the old "Gift Horse" survived the massacre. Cambletown's rare good luck was really in this day because after clearing The Prince's max effective gun range her main reduction gear siezed due to lack of oil. The Prince, bent on HX-123's destruction, did not veer from her course and spared the "Old Gift Horse". Even the merchants and escorts detached earlier were sunk by the type 9 Uboats stalking HX-123.
Although Brinkmann did not stop to rescue survivors (The Fuhrer order expressly forbad that) some of the men did survive. Mainly those who got into life boats. Unlike U-boats Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG expressly forbid his gunners to fire on men in the water or on rafts or lifeboats.
Oh yes Simon," The Reaper" managed to reach Greenland flying on fumes and make a perfect landing on a small farm owned by a young, attractive very lonely widow who showed him so much kindness he was almost crippled. His combat flying days were over because of a heart problem and he eventually returned to his Greenland widow and became a successful farmer. He often stated The Battle of Britain was very tough going but being a HurryCat pilot with HX-123 still gave him nightmares.
Given that HX-123 had been continuously broadcasting from every long range radio set in the convoy their position, plea for help and the exact nature of their attacker Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG sent a long message to BdU informing them of everything that had transpired since he left his fueling bay in Greenland. To put it mildly the Kriegsmarine command was exstatic about the success and Hitler imediately approve all Brinkmann's request for decorations for his crew and advanced him on the spot to Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) . Brinkmann was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and the High Seas Fleet Badge with diamonds. The criteria for the award was to serve as the commander of a German heavy cruiser and/or battleship and also be awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. CO of Prince Eugen was awarded Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves.
028 MAY 1941 2155 USCGC Muskeget (WAG-48) was South East of Greenland about 125 miles from HX-123’s survivors on station, transmitting current conditions every 4 hours to 1st CG District in Boston. Her Co Lt Dennis Moultron, 1931 graduate of the CG Academy, was in radio central along with the Commo and CRM “Wild BillY” Donovan and the rest of the 20-24 watch. Aside from the chatter of the Teletypes and the hum of the HF radio transceivers it was dead silent. The men, mostly kids, had been listening to the death throes of HX-123 as in utter desperation the individual ships of the doomed convoy broadcast May Days, their position, the fact that they were under attack by a Nazi Capital ship and other frantic messages in the clear as they were summarily executed by The Prince.
WAG-48 was classified as a Patrol vessel and weather ship. Her one Hooven, Owens, Rentschler Company triple-expansion steam engine could push her at about 11 knots in the current moderate sea state. He could be at HX-123’s datum in about in 12 hours. She might be in time to save those merchy seaman who made it into life boats and rafts. WAG-48 did not have radar. But in May this far North she would arrive at about 1000 and that was broad daylight so his lookouts should be able to spot lifeboats and rafts in the general vicinity of the datum. He and his 116 officers and men were Coasties and saving lives at sea no matter the danger was what Coasties did. Commandant First CG District in Boston had been kept aware of what was going on and he was a Coastie also. He agreed with Lt Moultron 125 miles SE would still keep Muskeget in a position to monitor and report on the weather in her sector , her primary mission.
Muskeget was carrying a Doctor thanks to FDR’s state of emergency which was already filling the USCG with reservists including doctors. WAG-48 also carried a Chief (who had been a 2nd class with ten years service only a year ago) and two 3rd class Hospital corpsmen (green as grass), along with a well stocked, if little used sick bay . Moultron was pretty sure that would change in 12 hours.
There was no way he could take on that big Nazi raider with a single 4”/50, two single 50 Cal M2 HMGs and two Lewis machine guns; two depth charge rails and various obsolescent small arms. Fortunately he would not have to. He didn’t think that bastard Hitler wanted war with the US and sinking Muskeget would certainly risk that. He also knew he could not initiate an engagement either. He prayed their would be work for BM2C Coxswain “Dean’s 36-Foot Motor Lifeboat-Type T. Muskeget, being a hasty conversion during an explosive increase in the size of the USCG, had to make do with whatever gear she could get and that included boats. Lack of the customary ship’s boats was partially rectified by the issue of an available 36-Foot Motor Lifeboat-Type T.
HX-123
28 MAY 1941 1628 One of the escorts, whose radar was working better than the others, after tracking this small intermittent spike for about 15 minutes, reported the contact to the Commodore by flag hoist. HX-123 was immediately ordered to Battle stations, a sharp turn to the North East and his CAM ship was to man his Hurricaine and prepare an energency urgent launch on his command. COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, had a very tough decisions to make. The main purpose of CAM ships was to threaten the long range Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor reconnaissance aircraft flown by the Huns to shadow the convoys. Winston Churchill called the Condors the "Scourge of the Atlantic" during the Battle of the Atlantic due to its contribution to the heavy Allied shipping losses by German U-boats. He hated to use his single Hurricane this early in the voyage and knew, if they survived, he would miss that Hurricane very very much. The amplifying report on the air contact held her at 15 miles and closing which meant she “probably” had not yet sighted HX-123 but would soon. His communicators informing him there had been no RT signals as yet; this was the deciding factor .
28 MAY 1941 1632 Empire Burton was a "CAM" ship (acronym for "Catapult Aircraft Merchantman") equipped with a rocket-propelled catapult launching a single Hawker Sea Hurricane. Empire Burton was crewed by 46 Merchant Navy men & officers, 12 RAF personnel, four DEMS gunners. Empire Burton's aviation mods consisted of 1, very well used, early model Hawker "Sea" Hurricane and 1 aircraft rocket catapult. Once launched the Sea Hurricane could either find land or ditch at sea. There was no provisions for landing aboard a CAM ship.
Her RAF air det imediately began the take-off procedures
The trolley receiving bar was removed at dawn.
The airmen started the aircraft and warmed up the engine at intervals.
Sergeant Pilot “Reaper” Simon Darkshade climbed into the aircraft. Reaper was from the specially formed Merchant Ship Fighter Unit, based at RAF Speke near Liverpool. Reaper liked to say "All you really needed to qualify for my squadron was to be a Hurry Pilot and certifiably as mad as a march hair." Let us just say Sergeant Pilot “Reaper” Simon Darkshade was a realis Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann t, after a year of wartime flying, who used very, very black humor to cope with his certain knowledge that his chances of surviving much longer were not very good.
28 MAY 1941 1635 COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, ordered his only aircraft to launch. Orders to identify and if Nazi shoot down the “snooper”. HX-123 was too far west for a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor reconnaissance aircraft but not for either a merchant raider or for one of the Ktriegsmarine warships. Both carried Arado Ar 196 scouting aircraft and, unlike his only "HurryCat", they could be recovred by their mother ship and flown many, many times.
28 MAY 1941 1636 Empire Burton hoisted the international flag code F when the decision was made to launch. (CAM ships were usually stationed at the head of the outboard port column of a convoy so they could manoeuvre into the wind for launch.)
An airman removed the pins, showed them to the pilot, and took them to the Catapult Duty Officer (CDO).
Sergeant Pilot “Reaper” Simon Darkshade applied 30 degree flaps and 1/3 right rudder.
The CDO raised a blue flag above his head to inform the ship's master of his readiness to launch.
The ship's master manoeuvred the ship into the wind and raised a blue flag above his head to authorise the launch. (The ship's master stood on the starboard bridge wing to avoid the catapult rocket blast which sometimes damaged the port side of the bridge.)
The CDO waved his blue flag indicating he was ready to launch upon a signal from the pilot.
"Reaper" Darkside opened full throttle of his "Hurricat", tightened the throttle friction nut, pressed his head back into the head-rest, pressed his right elbow tightly against his hip, and lowered his left hand as a signal to launch. "He thought, as he did with every Launch, "Now we get to see if this Rocket sled works, or I ditch right here or get blown to very little pieices."
The CDO counted to three, waited for the bow to rise from the trough of a swell, and moved the switch to fire the catapult rockets.
28 MAY 1941 1640, Sergeant Pilot “Reaper” Simon Darkshade was a happy man. He was climbing fast for the clouds on a bearing that should put him at the Arado's 6 oclock position. If not spotted during his approach he would begin his killing run in a power dive and gun the Arado pilot's brains out or rip up the aircraft before he could transmit ( he was already too late. The Arados's initial sighting report and his amplification had been recieved by The Prince almost 15 minutes before.)
28 MAY 1941 1634 The Reaper's keen eyesight spotted the Arado at his 9 oclock position couple of hundred feet above. He corrected to come up behind and above the Arado. The two man crew didn't appear to have noticed him yet. If they stayed clueless for another two minutes the twin float Arado was dead.
28 MAY 1941 1636 However, as luck would have it, he was spotted by the observer as he began his power dive. The veteran shouted a warning to his pilot as he brought his twin 7.92 mm Mgs to bear on Simon. The reaper knew, if he missed his first pass this would take time and fuel he could not spare. Despite being a "float obsrevation plane" the Arado Ar 196 was not all that easy to kill, even with it's 947hp BMW 132K 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine's Maximum speed: 193 mph. It could turn well inside his much faster Hurry and it was armed like battleship with two 20mm auto canons in the wings, one 7.92 mm MG forward and of course those two 7.92 mm MGs the observer was firing at him. He held his fire until the Arado filled his gunsight reticle and then gave it a long burst sweeping from just aft of the observer to the prop hub. Both Observer abd pilot were killed isntantly. Ther were no chutes.
“Reaper” had succeeded in making this kill quickly. He cut back his throttle and then it was an iffy fuel conserving 360 degree Recce forward quadrant out to to 50 miles, aft quadrant out to 30 miles. IF he found the "Roost" for the dead Arado within 35 miles send out an urgent contact reportand then close with the target, to get more info and hose the bridge down with his eight .303 in Brownings and set a course for Greenland, not back to HX-123. If he found nothing make that report to HX-123, climb to his Hurry's best cruising altitude, set his fuel mixture for maximum endurance, set course to Greenland and, if he was very, very lucky, he would live to dine out on this story. If not; well no one lives forever.
Sea Hurricane Mk IA was a Hurricane Mk I modified by General Aircraft Limited. They were modified to be carried by CAM ships.
The majority of the aircraft modified had suffered wear-and-tear from serving with front-line squadrons, so much so that at least one example used during trials broke up un Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann der the stress of a catapult launching. A total of 50 aircraft were converted from Hurricane Mk Is. CA
Hurricane Mk I (Early production)
The first Mk I delivered December 1937. These early aircraft featured fabric-covered wings, and a wooden, two-bladed, fixed-pitch propeller. Initially the tail wheel was designed to be retractable; early on it was discovered that the Hurricane needed a larger rudder area to improve the control characteristics during a spin. To this end the lower part of the rudder was extended and a distinctive ventral "keel" was added to the rear fuselage. The tail wheel was now fixed.
Early Hurricanes lacked armor or self-sealing tanks. They used "ring and bead" gun sights, with the ring being mounted above the instrument panel and the bead mounted on a post above the engine cowling. The standard GM2 reflector gun sight was introduced in mid-1939, although many Hurricanes retained the "bead". Fuel capacity was 97 Imperial gal in two fuel tanks, each of 34.5 gal in the wing center-section, between the spars; the fuel was pumped from these into a reserve gravity-feed tank which held an additional 28 gal in the forward fuselage, just ahead of the cockpit. This was the main fuel feed to the engine. The 7 gal oil tank was built into the forward. Mk Is were powered by the 1,029 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin C engine. The main coolant radiator was housed in a fairing under the rear wing center-section; the oil cooler was also incorporated into the main radiator.
The aircraft handling qualities during take-off and landings were excellent due to a wide-track undercarriage with relatively wide low-pressure tires. Because of this wide, stable platform the Hurricane was an easier aircraft to land, with less fear of nose-overs or "ground-loops" than its RAF Fighter Command counterpart the Supermarine Spitfire. During its operational life the Hurricane was able to operate from all sorts of adverse airfield surfaces with ease.
In flight the large, thick wing meant that the fighter proved to be a stable gun platform, especially for a veteran, cold blooded killer like “Reaper”. It was armed with eight .303 in Browning machine guns. The armament was arranged in two lots of four in large gun bays incorporated into the outer wing panels. In 1937 this firepower was enough to outgun the early marks of German Messerschmitt Bf 109, which were equipped with only four light machine guns but that was 4 years ago. This relatively small-caliber armament was inadequate for first line service now but Good enough for CAMs.
Simon’s Hurricane carried the standard old HF TR9 radio set. The Transceiver T R 9 was a two tube radiotelephony transmitter with a six-Tube receiver. It was designed primarily for use in single-seater fighter aircraft and was intended to provide two-way comms to a range of 35 miles air/ground and 5 miles air-to-air. Frequency coverage was 4300-6000 kc/s and the entire power supply was derived from an HT dry battery and a secondary cell. In single-seat fighters, like Simon’s “Hurry” the set was installed behind the pilot's cockpit The pilot was provided with headphones, microphone and a remote control unit which operated the send-receive switch, receiver tuning and volume control.
Simon knew his Hurry’s fuel tanks were vulnerable to defensive machine gun fire. The greatest hazard was with the unprotected gravity-feed fuel tank in front of the cockpit which could rupture when hit, allowing a jet of flame to penetrate the cockpit through the instrument panel; not a nice way to go. The wooden and fabric rear fuselage was also far more likely to catch fire than the metal fuselages of its contemporaries. This issue was of such concern to Air Vice Marshal Hugh Dowding that he had Hawker retrofit the fuselage tanks of Hurricanes with a fire-resistant material called "Linatex" as a matter of priority. The wing tanks had already been fitted with a covering of this sealant, but the fuselage tank was considered to be too small a target. His Hurry had the modification which was a comfort.
The biggest advantages of the Hurricane were that it was a relatively easy aircraft to fly, which was a boon when it came to squadrons being flooded with inexperienced pilots. It was also a steady gun platform. The Reaper is an excellent shot, along with being a cold blooded murderer. After all if done, when done right and you hit the opposition before they even knew you were around, that is what air combat was. The closely grouped .303 in Browning's created a superior pattern of fire to those of the Spitfire, which were spaced out along the wings, and the armament was more quickly serviced.
28 MAY 1941 1639 COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, was informed by his leading escort the CAM pilot killed what appeared to be a twin pontoon “scout aircraft”, most likely an Arado Ar 196 catapult, seaplane from a capital ship or armed merchant raider. His convoy was in no shape to take on a Capital ship but his four Ex-American Town class escorts still had plenty of speed 30–35 knots on a really good day, three of their original four open pedestal mounted surface only 4 in/50 cal guns, 1 pretty worthless 3 in/23 anti-aircraft gun and, most important in this situation, two triple 21 in torpedo tubes.
Those old tubes were loaded with the slightly more lederly Mark II which entered service in 1914. The MK-2's range was 8,000 yds and it's max speed was reduced from 45kts to 29kts for better reliability. It still packed a respectable 400 lb Warhead. It was not a one shot giant killer but with 24 fish in the hands of deterimined RN crews might, with a lot of luck, might do the trick. The key was closing to 4 miles range as quickly as the old gal's plant would allow (now something around 30 kts) before firing. Against a merchant raiders 6 inch battery and rudimentary fire control it was doable. However, against Kriegsmarine manned 6, 8, 11 and maybe 15 inch guns backed with the latest radar and optical fire control with analog computers and the world best optical range finders it would require a lot of luck and HX-123 had not really had that much luck so far.
28 MAY 1941 1700 Still no amplifying reports from His Arado scout. Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG was only slightly concerned about his scout. The Arado had plenty of fuel and her crew were very good. Not likely they encountered any RAF aircraft that could down them, maybe a stray Catalina but the Arado was better armed and faster than those dangerous, lumbering patrol bombers. Surely if one of the few CAM ships were with the convoy his pilot would have included that vital information in the amplifying report.
28 MAY 1941 1715 The Prince's FuMO 27 Radar – wavelength 81.5cm, frequency 368 MHz, transmitter power output 8 kW detected a contact. Although primarily a firecontrol unit the 27 also had decent, if cumbersome, surface and air search capabilities. Surface range in Fire control and search mode was 13 nm, air range depended a alot on meteorogical conditions, the skill and alertness of the operator but, under very good conditions, could track a medium altitude aircraft at 25 miles, a lot less if the plane was on the deck. The operator identified Reaper's Hurry as an intermittent, probably very small, air target and started tracking and reporting. Prince went to to Battle Stations Air Imediately. The fire control was for the 8 inchers in turrets “Anton” – “Graz”, “Bruno” – “Braunau”, “Cäsar” – “Innsbruck” and “Dora”; not the "flak" battery.
That Flak battery was quite impressive for May 1941:
Twelve 105mm dula purpose L/65 C/33 guns on twin coaxially-stabilized C/73 mounts constituted the heavy FLAK battery. Their elevation was -8 to +85 degrees, range 9 miles, while the AA ceiling was welve 105mm L/65 C/33 guns on twin coaxially-stabilized C/73 mounts constituted the heavy FLAK battery. Their elevation was -8 to +85 degrees, range 9 miles , while the AA ceiling was 40,00 ft. The rate of fire was 160 rounds per minute and the ammunition capacity was 6,200 rounds.
The medium FLAK battery consisted of twelve dual purpose 37mm L/38 C/30 guns on twin C/30 mounts. Their elevation was -10 to +85 degrees, range 8,500 yards and AA ceiling 22,00 ft. The rate of fire was 160 rounds per minute and the ammunition capacity was 4,000 rounds.
The light FLAK battery was composed of eight single dual purpse 20mm L/65 C/38 on C/30 mounts. Their elevation was -11 to +85 degrees, range 4,900 yards and the AA ceiling 12,000 ft. The rate of fire was 280 rounds per minute and the ammunition capacity was 24,000 rounds.
28 MAY 1941 1730 the "Reaper" was about at the edge of his forward quadron search when his keen eyes obsered a "bump" on the horizon. He was flying just below the cloud layer and his underbody camo should make him very hard to see from a moving ship. He had no idea how good German shipboard radar was at spotting a small single Hurry and so was not particularly worried about closing for a positive ID of the "bump".
28 MAY 1941 1735 the "Reaper" realized he had a big warship in view but no idea if friend or foe. After all, he was an RAF pilot not part of the Fleet Air Arm but he had been told just before launch there were no RN warships anywhere near HX-123, report anything he found but not to use his radio anywher near the Convoy. In for a penny, in for a pound Reaper dived and closed the range trying to identify the nationality of the ship. At 9 miles he was met by a barrage of large black shell bursts and he actually heard shrapnel pinging off his Hurry. He dived for the deck while opening the range and then climbed to just over the cloud cover and began repeatedly transmitting his sighting report while circling the ship. He knew the Commodore would not break radio silence. He gave the Prince's ID as a large ship with 4 big gun turets, on a course heading straight for HX-123 very fast. Every fiber in his fighter pilot body said dive on the bastard and rip up the bridge and then head back to the convoy to ensure they got the message. The old Vet vetoed that idea; making sure the sighting report got to the Commodore as soon as possible was his duty. He also had to finish his 360 degree reccee but that had to wait until after he knew HX-123 was warned. So he set his course for Greenland, no reason giving this ship a course back to the convoy, and gradually dropped to wave top height and after 15 minutes then steered diretcly for the convoy climbing to more fuel efficint hieght.
28 MAY 1941 1740 aboard The prince Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG was more concerned with his silent Arado than with this brush with an unidentified aircraft. Thetr was really nothing the 8 kt convoy could do to escape, his Prince or prolong it's life.
28 MAY 1941 1830 Reaper got an affirmative to his aldis lamp question about reciept of his sighting report. He had to signal 3 times before the convotyCommodore's "drawer waver" understood his message. He well knew it was his fault. He was pretty hopeless with the aldis.
28 MAY 1941 1840 After confirmation of Simon's HurryCat's low fuel state COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, ordered him to Greenland. He had done his job and he deserved to live. Now what to do. That big bastard of a Nazi capital ship could be Bismarck or an eight inch cruiser with that main battery twin turret layout. He sure could not run. He surely could not expect any help. He could and would sacrifice his old American Dds with their 6 torpedo tubes and his own command the “mighty Man Of War” Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Derbyshire F 78 with flank speed Speed 15 + knots, and gallant crew of crew 254. His main battery of 7 pedestal mounted 6"/45 Mk.VII guns with a Max effective range using Standard Charge of 27 lbs., at 40 degrees elevation and a 100 lb. AP round was 21,500 yards. With “Super Charge” of 34.25 lbs.. at 30 degrees elevation was 23,770 yards.
He honestly did not think F-78's fire control was up to that standard but a very lucky shot was theoretically possible and pigs might fly but he had never seen them do it.
Fire Control Above the bridge, on the monkey island, a rangefinder and a primitive gun control system were installed, enabling broadsides of four guns was a real joke, especially in any kind of seaway.
Rate Of Fire was 5 - 7 rounds per minute, on a good day with only 3.5 in Armor penetration at 7,500 yards. Fat chance getting that close. His two 3 inch AA guns would be of little help.
Well as suicidal as it was, his only plan was to order HX-123 to scatter and for Derbyshire and his torpedo carrying US Navy relics to charge the Nazi’s and hope for a lucky hit that would slow her down and give his ships a better chance at escape. What he did not know was BdU had the two type 9s in a trailing position ready to kill off the fleeing merchantmen. He immediately issued the scatter signal and ordered the old American destroyers and their far too young crews (he would soon murder) to form up on him as he set course to intercept the Raider.
He thought the appointed rendezvous, next day, for his scattered flock was going to be pretty sparse if any made it, which he doubted very, very much. One consolation was he would not be there to see the fruits of his naval genius.
28 MAY 1941 1845 Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham, CO HMS Cambeltown took the flag hoist “signal” from his Yoeman of signals and turned to his XO. In a low voice away from the bridge crew he said “Jimmy who did you leave your will with? We have just been notified we are invited to a daylight torpedo attack against either Bismarck or one of Hitler’s heavy cruisers. I do hope this old whore’s engines will not let us down until after we deliver our six Fish.
Jimmy’s reply was just as black humored. “My Lord, we certainly are fortunate we shipped tried and true pre Great war Mk 2s. I especially take comfort that “Their Lordships” decided to reduce the MK 2’s speed from 45 to 29 kts. Makes suicide much more sporting, don’t you think?
28 MAY 1941 2015 Flag bridge KMS Prinz Eugen Brinkmann TG. Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG, recieved a report from CO of The Prince that radar held 5 targets closing from dead ahead at 15 kts, Range 15 miles. This was not the first indication the RN was approaching. About 15 mintes before the Prince sonarman reported a passive hydrophone contact from the Gruppenhorchgerät (GHG) gear. Both Bismarck and The Prince were equipped with this very effective system. The sensor consisted of two panels of 60 microphones, one on each side of the ship's hull with a supposed maximum effective range was 26-40 km depending on conditions such as water conductivity and background noise. It had not worked well in the tests conducted in the Baltic Sea because of heavy background noise and poor conduction properties. However, in the deep cold waters of the North Atlantic under favourable conditions, bearings with an accuracy of 1 degree had been common even from a distance of 32,823 yards at 20 kts and the max range on this sortie had been over 45,000 yards.
Therefore, The Prince had gone to Battle Stations 10 minutes ago and launchrd both of her remaining Arado's. Even drained of AvGas they were too much of a fire hazard if left aboard. They could also provide very valuable scouting and spotting services this day, still 3 hours of daylight. Newly apointed CO of The Prince had been making some very good decisions which convinced Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG that he and his staff could safely return to Bismarck when they rendezvoued. The CO had ordered his two remaining Arado Ar 196s a full load out of ammo for their 2 forward firing x 20mm MG, one forward firing 7.92 mm MG, twin flexibale 7.92 mm Mgs and 110 lb bombs. He had warned the crews that the Arado's were not to be hazarded against undamaged ships. They would each put a couple of bombs in seperate HX-123 cargo ships and shot up the bridges and topsides of 5 of the smaller esorts. 20 MM shot by aerial marksmen will do terrible damage to Topsides of light warships, their on deck crews and the bridge and men of merchant ships also.
28 MAY 1941 2016 The radar mechanic aboard the Town class DD HMS CHELSEA reported a large surface contact closing at about 20 kts, range 15 miles. A flash priority signal was sent by flag hoist and blinker light to the Commodore and the rest of the ships in company.
28 MAY 1941 2020 Radar mechanic of HMS CHELSEA, picked up by the other three Town class four pipers also reported two Air contacts at low altitude circling HX-123. At about the same time the staff Radio CPO aboard Derbyshire intercepted radio comms between the Arados and the large surface contact. They were transmitting in the clear, in a verge good mood and on and e mentioned something about the The Prince was in for a fine supper. He knew she was the Prince Eugen. So no 15 inch shells just measly little 8 and 4 inch as if that made much of a difference now.
28 MAY 1941 2030 things were moving fast now, as the ships closed at 45 kts an hour. It was time to loose his dogs of war such as his old 4 pipers were and allow them to attack at their best speed while maneuvering to avoid The Prince's defensive fire. He gave the order which was sent out by flag hoist, signal lamp and RT to execute the preplanned attack. He ended the message wishing them God's speed and Do your worst to those Nazi bastards. We will be along shortly.
28 MAY 1941 2033 Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham, CO HMS Cambeltown Senior of the four old DDs captains ordered an “Immediate Execute” signal by RT to“His” ships to split up into two ship elements and conduct a coordinated hammerhead attack (come in forward of the Prince on either Bow) so that no matter how she turned she stood a good chance of being hit by one if not two of their 24 tin fish. It was understood on the way in that the DDs would be able to maneuver as required. That would confuse the Prince’s fire control solutions. The key was to survive long enough to reach firing range of 8,000 yards, not impress anyone with their precision formation keeping. Thanks to their antique MK 2 torpedoes, with their barely adequate 400 pound TNT Warhead they would have to slow considerably to launch or risk them breaking up, porpoising or just plain sinking to the bottom. Only after launching her 6 fish could “Old Gift Horse” withdraw, really run like hell, and pray the old girl’s long abused boilers in their pressurized fire rooms, would not quit on them and allow them to rejoin the Commodore. Nice way to commit mass suicide he thought, in daylight, with aircraft above, German optical fire control (the very best in the world) good radar and pre Great War museum exhibits for torpedoes.
If Teynham chances were poor the likelihood of actually rejoining COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, and his 15 kt, 6 inch gunned Armed Merchant Cruiser were not much better. The old bastard would surely be blown out of the water long before Cambletown could rejoin.
And
He, Lt.Cdr. Lord Teynham at 26 years of age, would be the new Commodore of HX-123, IF there was anything left of it. That would even impress his Uncle who had commanded a cruiser at Jutland and has never let anyone forget it. Serves him right he now commands a Stone Frigate training Wrens in naval communications. I bet that drives him to the bottle, not that it ever took much to get him to drink. That thought cheered him up just a bit and he was smiling so that his messenger, Boy Boris Johnson, was convinced he was commanded by a mad man, absolutely bonkers.
28 MAY 1941 2040 Arado 2 radioed The Prince of the detachment of the old destroyers and their splitting into two units for a torpedo attack. CO of The Prince gave batteries released for his secondary, 4 inch rapid fire mounts to engage the attacking destroyers. He told his gunnery officer to use the main battery against the AMC and any of the convoy that came into range. Their primary mission was to anahilate as many convoys as possible not sink antiques.
28 MAY 1941 2043 COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, immediately began firing his 6-inch guns even though he was well out of range of the The Prince . He also ordered smoke canisters deployed to hide the convoy, which made a quick turn away from the German ship and scattered. At a distance of about 10 miles, Captain Krancke swung the The Prince to port, bringing all four twin turrets to bear on the convoy and HM AMC Derbyshire. He began firing at the oncoming armed merchantman, the second salvo splashing 50 yards off HM AMC Derbyshire’s bow with 100-foot spouts of sea water, soaking the Derbyshire's forward gun crews.
Sam Daws, a quartermaster aboard HM AMC Derbyshire, heard what he later described as a “thunk” and turned to see a member of his gun crew slump to the deck, his head severed from his body. The Prince's third salvo hit HM AMC Derbyshire’s bridge, knocking out her rangefinder, wireless, and fire-control equipment. Several officers and crewmen were killed by the blast, COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, left arm was injured.
As The prince continued to fire, HM AMC Derbyshire was hit repeatedly on her superstructure, and her hull was holed in several places. The port bulkhead of the radio shack was gone and a radio operator and two coders were dead.
The remaining radioman climbed to the remnants of the bridge where he saw COMMODORE ROGERS “clutching his arm, blood spilling off his sleeve.”
Fires now began to burned so badly the DC crews were loosing the battle
Wanting to neutralize the escort ship and attack the convoy, The Prince's CO continued to split his main battery, training Anton and Bruno on HM AMC Derbyshire with Cäsar and Dora on the fleeing merchants and the seconday 4.1s on any escort that came within range. Darkness was still over two hours away, but he still wanted to sink HM AMC Derbyshire quickly so that he would have time to destroy the convoy. Each salvo from the The Prince launched a ton of ordnance at the stricken ship. The forward port side of Derbyshire caught the brunt of the fire and became a mass of twisted girders, bent and jagged plate, dead and wounded sailors, and flames. A shell somehow loosed Derbyshire's anchor, and another knocked the white ensign of the Royal Navy off the top of the main mast. An unnamed seaman climb the mast to nail up a replacement ensign.
Despite her damage COMMODORE ROGERS kept HM AMC Derbyshire continued steaming at The prince firing her guns until her steering gear was knocked out. The petty officer manning the wheel called into the voice tube that the ship’s steering gear was out of action and heard COMMODORE ROGERS’ pained voice come back ordering him to “man the aft steering position.”
With his ship aflame and sinking, COMMODORE ROGERS continued to maintain the unequal fight and stayed in command despite his shattered arm, consciously buying time for the ships of the convoy to escape.
Up to now, COMMODORE ROGERS had stayed on the mangled bridge, which was under continuous hits from 4 of The Prince's 8 inch guns. Shortly after giving the order to man the aft gear, however, he struggled down the starboard side of the bridge and, aided by a signalman, headed aft, stopping to encourage a gunner along the way and ordering more smoke deployed.
After a blast destroyed the after-control compartment just as he arrived there, the COMMODORE ROGERS went forward again, with “blood running over the gold lace on his sleeve. He never made it. His body and the body of the signalman who was helping him were later seen on the deck. HM AMC Derbyshire] did not have a chance, and we all knew it.
Unfortunately the gllant actions of the Commodore, the crew of HM AMC Derbyshire’s and the old destroyers along with the rest of the escorts skipper, did not save HX-123.
As a cruel faith would have it exploding cordite bags on HM AMC Derbyshire’s poop deck had convinced The Prince's CO that the smaller ship was still firing despite the severe damage she had suffered. He didn’t dare concentrate all his main battery on the convoy until the threat posed by HM AMC Derbyshire was eliminated. Any damage to his ship from a lucky hit could seriously affect her ability to escape any hunt for her launched by the Royal Navy.
28 MAY 1941 2115 HMS Chelsea, Cambletown, Mansfield and Newmarket came under rapid accurate fire from The Prince's 12 4.1 in DP battery. The twin L/65 C/33 guns on coaxially-stabilized C/73 mounts is the heavy FLAK and secondary surface action battery. Their maximum effective surface range at 45 degrees elevation firing 33.3 lbs. HE round is nine and half miles. The rate of fire is 16 rounds per minute. The combination of these guns, their superbly trained crews and The Princes excellent firecontrol system soon took it's tole. First hit was HMS Manfield at 17,000 yds. She slowed to 22 kts but continued to press her attack. Second hit, at 15,500 yds was HMS Chelsea with three 33.3 rounds landing on her focs'l and taking out her mount 41, spraying the bridge with splinters that killed the captain and lee helmsman and wounding almost everyone else. The second hit was to the forward deckhouse wiping out the galley. The 3rd hit landed squarely on #1 tripple topedo mount. The sympathetic explosion of all 3 400 lb warheads literally tore Chelsea in two and she sank with the loss of all hands.
28 MAY 1941 2130 crippled HMS Mansfield caught a series of hits, miraculously and doggedly pressing home her mad dash to the lMK 2 launch point. She lost her race when another 33.3 lbs. HE round penetrated her pressurized fire room and exploded, leaving her dead in the water soon followed by two more that sank her. Fortunately half her crew survived, non of them were from the main spaces.
As The prince continued to fire, HM AMC Derbyshire was hit repeatedly on her superstructure, and her hull was holed in several places. The port bulkhead of the radio shack was gone and a radio operator and two coders were dead.
The remaining radioman climbed to the remnants of the bridge where he saw COMMODORE ROGERS “clutching his arm, blood spilling off his sleeve.”
Fires now began to burned so badly the DC crews were loosing the battle.
28 MAY 1941 2140 HMS Cambletown and Newmarket made it to the launch point but just as the latter slowed to launch her MK 2s she was hit, in rapid succession by 4 33.3 lbs. HE rounds which penetrated deep inside the old DD and she sank before she could launch a single torpedo. Miraculously there were 37 survivors, none of which were from the black gang.
28 MAY 1941 2142 the lone survivor of the torpedo attack, Lord Teynham "Gift Horse" fired all six of her torpedoes, one sank immediately, two veered off to who knew where but three ran hot straight and normal. They close The Prince at their paltry 29 kts. The CO of The Prince combed the wakes of two of the fish, all the time concentrating his entire 4.1 inch battery at the rapidly fleeing HMS Cambletown; the third and final hope of slowing down the Cruiser missed her target's stern by about 30 feet.
28 MAY 1941 2142 Lord Teynham HMS Cambletown's rare good luck ran out and she was hit on the after deck house by a single 33.3 lbs. HE round which shook up her after engine room and started a fire topside. Her speed dropped to 20 kts but was quickly restored to 25 by the heroic efforts of her chief ERA and his mates. Lord Teynham set course to rejoin the Commodore and do whatever good he could to shield the convoy but that was not to be. Fate had another end in store for the "Gift Horse" then commanded by Lieutenant Commander Stephen Halden Beattie, at a huge dry dock in St Nazaire on March 28, 1942.
28 MAY 1941 2150 After an hour of the unrelenting German fire and with COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE, dead, Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Roe, now in command, ordered the remaining crew of HM AMC Derbyshire to abandon ship. All of HM AMC Derbyshire’s life boats had been destroyed but rafts, some of which were damaged, and the ship’s 18-foot “jolly boat” had survived the bombardment and were launched. Most of HM AMC Derbyshire’s men simply jumped into the icy, sub-Arctic sea, some making it to the rafts and jolly boat. Others made do with what they could find floating in the water.
Shortly after the order was given to abandon ship, HM AMC Derbyshire went down. The white ensign was the last thing to settle beneath the Atlantic waves.
Now Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG ordered The Prince and her Arados in for the kill. The heavy cruiser constantly decreased the range and turned all the guns that would reach on the fleeing merchant ships and small, slow escorts. It was like clubbing baby seals. The rescue ship COPELAND was not spared, in truth Brinkmann had no idea she was packed with wounded survivors. In the end Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann carried out his orders to the letter. Of the 43 merchants and 18 escorts (34 ships TDS) only the old BB her escort and the old "Gift Horse" survived the massacre. Cambletown's rare good luck was really in this day because after clearing The Prince's max effective gun range her main reduction gear siezed due to lack of oil. The Prince, bent on HX-123's destruction, did not veer from her course and spared the "Old Gift Horse". Even the merchants and escorts detached earlier were sunk by the type 9 Uboats stalking HX-123.
Although Brinkmann did not stop to rescue survivors (The Fuhrer order expressly forbad that) some of the men did survive. Mainly those who got into life boats. Unlike U-boats Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG expressly forbid his gunners to fire on men in the water or on rafts or lifeboats.
Oh yes Simon," The Reaper" managed to reach Greenland flying on fumes and make a perfect landing on a small farm owned by a young, attractive very lonely widow who showed him so much kindness he was almost crippled. His combat flying days were over because of a heart problem and he eventually returned to his Greenland widow and became a successful farmer. He often stated The Battle of Britain was very tough going but being a HurryCat pilot with HX-123 still gave him nightmares.
Given that HX-123 had been continuously broadcasting from every long range radio set in the convoy their position, plea for help and the exact nature of their attacker Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann OTC of Brinkmann TG sent a long message to BdU informing them of everything that had transpired since he left his fueling bay in Greenland. To put it mildly the Kriegsmarine command was exstatic about the success and Hitler imediately approve all Brinkmann's request for decorations for his crew and advanced him on the spot to Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) . Brinkmann was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and the High Seas Fleet Badge with diamonds. The criteria for the award was to serve as the commander of a German heavy cruiser and/or battleship and also be awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. CO of Prince Eugen was awarded Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves.
028 MAY 1941 2155 USCGC Muskeget (WAG-48) was South East of Greenland about 125 miles from HX-123’s survivors on station, transmitting current conditions every 4 hours to 1st CG District in Boston. Her Co Lt Dennis Moultron, 1931 graduate of the CG Academy, was in radio central along with the Commo and CRM “Wild BillY” Donovan and the rest of the 20-24 watch. Aside from the chatter of the Teletypes and the hum of the HF radio transceivers it was dead silent. The men, mostly kids, had been listening to the death throes of HX-123 as in utter desperation the individual ships of the doomed convoy broadcast May Days, their position, the fact that they were under attack by a Nazi Capital ship and other frantic messages in the clear as they were summarily executed by The Prince.
WAG-48 was classified as a Patrol vessel and weather ship. Her one Hooven, Owens, Rentschler Company triple-expansion steam engine could push her at about 11 knots in the current moderate sea state. He could be at HX-123’s datum in about in 12 hours. She might be in time to save those merchy seaman who made it into life boats and rafts. WAG-48 did not have radar. But in May this far North she would arrive at about 1000 and that was broad daylight so his lookouts should be able to spot lifeboats and rafts in the general vicinity of the datum. He and his 116 officers and men were Coasties and saving lives at sea no matter the danger was what Coasties did. Commandant First CG District in Boston had been kept aware of what was going on and he was a Coastie also. He agreed with Lt Moultron 125 miles SE would still keep Muskeget in a position to monitor and report on the weather in her sector , her primary mission.
Muskeget was carrying a Doctor thanks to FDR’s state of emergency which was already filling the USCG with reservists including doctors. WAG-48 also carried a Chief (who had been a 2nd class with ten years service only a year ago) and two 3rd class Hospital corpsmen (green as grass), along with a well stocked, if little used sick bay . Moultron was pretty sure that would change in 12 hours.
There was no way he could take on that big Nazi raider with a single 4”/50, two single 50 Cal M2 HMGs and two Lewis machine guns; two depth charge rails and various obsolescent small arms. Fortunately he would not have to. He didn’t think that bastard Hitler wanted war with the US and sinking Muskeget would certainly risk that. He also knew he could not initiate an engagement either. He prayed their would be work for BM2C Coxswain “Dean’s 36-Foot Motor Lifeboat-Type T. Muskeget, being a hasty conversion during an explosive increase in the size of the USCG, had to make do with whatever gear she could get and that included boats. Lack of the customary ship’s boats was partially rectified by the issue of an available 36-Foot Motor Lifeboat-Type T.
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 10
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 10
The Queen Mary
028 MAY 1941 2200 on the flag bridge of TG39.1 USS North Carolina BB-55 Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt had a lot to think about. He also had spent some time listening to the butchery of HX-123 by that Nzai Capital ship. Was it Bismarck or Prince Eugen or both? He was sure His TG, barring very bad luck, would be able to put both those Nazis on the bottom. How many of TG39.1 would be left was anyone's guess. He did have great faith in Ching Lee's gunnery and that new TC was certainly making a big difference. His kids were trained but not even blooded yet. Aside from a few of his senior Pos and Officers none had seen any real action, certainly not against major units of a modern fleet and that included himself and Ching.
He had recieved a back channel from Ernie king, who also was monitoring the situation and told to make for HX-123's datum and be prepared for whatever popped up. King was in contact with Lahey who was close to FDR and Lahey told him to "Hang tight and hang tough" beause Franklyn was absolutely livid. Hewitt acknlowkledge King's order and requested a tanker to unrep TG39.1 no later than 1200 30 May. He would unrep his always thirsty cans from North Carolina and Brooklyn on the run in but he would need that tanker's fuel to keep his TG at sea for what was sure to come. So he gave the order to his TG39.1 to come to an intercept course at 25 kts for the datum of HX-123 with his DDs in a bent line screen and Brooklyn in column astern at standard distance from BB-55. His navigator estimated it would take 20 hours to reach the area, about 1800 tomorrow. He ordered TG39.1 to a modified EMCON Able, no radio transmissions they would signal by light or flag hoist for now with just one surface and air search radar radiating and that was from BB-55. He also ordered his BB and CA Cos to make their Scout planes ready for constant long range searches, objective? Find the German raiders before they found them. He then told his Duty watch officer the CoStaff and he were headed down to Ching Lee's TC to work out the next few moves.
28 MAY 1941 2210 Kapitäns zur See Lindemann’s Bismarck receives an update on the “convoy” he is to engage. Based on a very recent U-boat report it is a single, very large ship, probably a converted ocean liner transport, traveling at 25 kts. BdU provided Lindemann a new datum with a course of 300. Furthermore, info provided by agents in Halifax about not so secret preparations being made to receive one of His Majesty’s Transports (HMT), possibly Queen Mary, with a cargo of Free French and Polish recruits ( the equivalent of a fighting division), for training in Canada in a few days. BdU orders Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) Brinkmann to sink that ship if at all possible.
An urgent conference with his XO and Navigator at the chart table convinces Lindemann it will be close but they can intercept the HMT but not until after dark. He orders a course and speed to make contact with the HMT at 0500 tomorrow. Before engaging, he wants his Arado to make a thorough search of the area for enemy units. He wants the kill but not at the expense of damage to his ship. He totally agrees with Brinkman killing as many convoys as possible is still his primary mission.
28 MAY 1941 2215 Commander Merle Ronald Haggard RNR is not a happy man. The RN has been thrashed by those big bastards Bismarck and Prince Eugen who are somewhere between him and Nova Scotia. The Admiralty has ordered him to be vigilant but refused to provide him an escort (the damn bastards probably don't have any spare battleships at present). Their Lordships have graciously allowed him to use his own judgement in selecting a more southerly course for the present BUT his orders are still to get his ship to Halifax and under the protection of it's patrol aircraft as soon as possible.
His lovely Queen carried and he was totally responsible for 5,000 Free French, and 1,500 Norwegion and other recruits from all over occupied Europe coming to join there countrymen already training in Canada. She also had embarked 3,500 combat veteran Polish soldiers and another 6,000 Polish recruits who were to reconstitute the Polish First Grenadier Division. To that he added 700 wounded requiring extended convalescence before being returned to their Army, Navy and RAF units, all very valuable men, many experts in their fields and a medical staff of 68. HMS Queen Mary was over loaded, as usual. Well his passengers were soldiers, or almost soldiers and like his own crew, had to make the best of things.
Merle and The Queen were both press ganged into the RN in early 1940. He went through a short but valuable refresher course before being assigned as her "Jimmy The One" (XO); she went into the yards for a very fast conversion as an HMT. The captain had been too old for the man killing job and had been transferred to "command "a Stone frigate and he got bumped up to Captain. His Queen, a former Cunard Liner, was a very formidable ship. She was launched in 1936 a product of John Brown & Co., LTD., Clydebank, Scotland. She was powered by Sixteen geared turbines - Quadruple screws; her Length was 1,019.5 feet; Beam: 118 feet; of 81,237 GRT.
What he was counting on was her flank speed of 28.5 kts to save her. That speed convinced Their Lords at the Admiralty she did not require convoy escort. Against most U-Boat situations he agreed but these two murderous surface raiders were a different matter entirely. He had little faith in the few guns the yards had bolted on as an after thought. No radar of course but she still had the best “galley” and more than a few of her former chefs had also been “Forceably Recruited into “The Andrew”. It was a wonder to him what real chefs could do with RN rations. He also knew the meals for the ship’s crew and maybe the nursing staff would be excellent. These culinary pros, even when augmented (more like hampered ) by “passengers” with supposed cooking experience, could and did manage much more than the basic army chow for the rest of the Queen’s “guests”, probably the very best meals those soldiers would ever get at HM’s expense.
What he could do and the senior passengers wholeheartedly approved of was to train the best of their men in Firefighting and damage control under the tutelage of his long service RN petty officers. With luck, something the RN has not had much of lately, that just might save a lot of lives.
He also was provided with “trained” artilerists and machine gunners to assist his own guns’ crews. Might be of value against aircraft but hardly make a difference against the surface raiders. If those big bruisers found them His Queen was dead meat. As a RNR commissioned RN officer commanding one of His Majesties “Warships” he was obliged to signal the admiralty of the locations and a description of his attacker. The ruthless Nazi’s, with their tuetonic efficiency, certainly would be ready to jam his signal and blow his beautiful but thin skinned liner out of the water at his very first radio transmission, probably not even heard by the RN.
All those souls were on his conscience. If he survived he’d be a damn hero to the RN but his merchant navy chums would never forgive him for wasting all those young lives for nothing. If he still had any courage he’d blow out his brains and if, more likely if he did not, there was always the bottle and a much more degrading and slower way of committing suicide. At that he took another pull at his double whiskey!
29 MAY 1941 0345 Oberleutnant (AKA First Lt & Flying officer) "Ritter" Willi von Klugermann having completed all his preflight checks along with his trusted observer with the eyes of a hawk Feldwebel (AKA Tech & Flight Sgt. ) Bruno Stachel awaited the signal to be shot off for their morning recon flight. The briefing made it clear they had a very big game today.
Aboard the HMT Queen Mary the last manned and ready report for dawn Battle Stations had just been recieved by Commander Merle Ronald Haggard RNR. As always securing the water tight doors in the passenger compartments took much longer than was acceptable. He'd tear a good strip of skin His Jimmy over that...again. The day was breaking as good as at got this far north in the Atlantic. He really could have done with some dirty weather to hide in but he was sure his passengers preferred it calm and sunny. Real fools in his opinion. His stewart had brought him his first mug of rum lightly laced Formosa Oolong tea. It was going down well, as always. At this speed and on this less than direct SW course it was three days until he sighted Sambro Light. His sister Phyllis had immigrated to Fergusons Cove in '38 along with her Canadian boat building foreman Husband Bill and their son Willie. It would be a relly gtreat visit if the damn RN just gave him a few days in Halifax. He had no idea what his next "cargo" would be or where they would send His Queen next. Well time to sweep the horizon again.
29 MAY 1941 0400 Oberleutnant "Ritter" and Feldwebel Stachel began their head swivelling search after they were shot off Bismarck and began climbing to medium altitude for the moning's recon. It was known for something to appear close aboard that the ship's radar and lookouts had not noticed right after launch. It could well save all their lives so vigilance was the watch word. The navigator had given Stachel his best guess as to where the big HMT would be. Now "Ritter" was on that intercept bearing at his Arado's best cruising speed. He'd stay on this course until he was far enough out to make a 360 search around Bismarck of any value and then return to the intercept corpen. He had a full weapon's load out for this trip but the XO had warned him his Arado was more valuable than his skin (they had a few extra pilots) so don't risk the crate but it would be OK to drop Feldwebel Stachel onto the deck of any Handelswanne (Merchant Tub) with his swiss army knife.
29 MAY 1941 0407 Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt was sitting, bolt upright in his Flag Bridge chair aboard USS North Carolina BB-55, with a steaming cup of his own special blend of coffee spiked with a half shot of cognac (RHIP you know but he didn't push it too far). He was observing the station keeping of USS Brooklyn CL-40 , USS Kearny DD-432 Gleaves-class, USS Dunlap DD-384 Mahan class CO Lt.Cdr. Carl Hilton Bushnell, USN and USS Benson DD-421 Benson class that comprised his command TG39.1. One of his SOCs had just launched. He did not know it but it was pilotted by LTJG Butch O’Hare.
Butch was a graduate from the Western Military Academy in 1932. The following year, he went on to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. After he graduated and was commissioned as an ensign on June 3, 1937, he served two years on the battleship USS New Mexico. In 1939, he started flight training at NAS Pensacola in Florida, flying the Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-1 "Yellow Peril" and Stearman NS-1 biplane trainers, and later the advanced SNJ trainer.
When Butch finished his naval aviation training on 2 March 1940, he was assigned to observation Squadron Three (VO-3) for type training in the Curtiss (SOC) Seagull. The Seagull was far from the hottest airplane in the US Navy and something of a disapointment to LTJG Butch O’hare but he'd work his way into Wildcats somehow. He knew the SOC was became operation in 1935 and there had been over 400 deliverd to the navy to date.
He also knew his rather dull steed's General characteristics., Crew of two, pilot and observer, Length: 31 ft 5 in,Wingspan: 36 ft 0 in, Height: 14 ft 9 in , Wing area: 342 sq ft, Empty weight: 3,788 lb, Gross weight: 5,437 lbs.
The Soc's performance was on the whole nothing to write home about with a Powerplantof 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340-18 singRate of climb: 915 ft/min, Maximum speed: 165 mph, at 5,000 ft , Cruise speed: 116 kn, Stall speed: 55.9 mph, Range: was nopt bad at all at 587 nmi at 5,000 ft , Service ceiling: 14,900 ft and Rate of climb: 915 ft/min. Were adaquate.
However the SOC's armament certainly was not with only 1 fixed, forward firing 0.30 cal Browning M2 AN and 1 flexible mounted rear-firing 0.30 cal Browning M2 AN machine guns.
29 MAY 1941 0430 Oberleutnant "Ritter" and Feldwebel Stachel were at search altitude, had conducted their first 360 search, conditions were excellent and they found absolutely nothing but open ocean. Stachel gave "Ritter" a new intercept course and time to their serach area.
Commander Merle Ronald Haggard RNR aboard Queen Mary gave permission to stand down from dawn battle stations. Now the 18 hour a day monotonous chore of feeding the passengers could continue. He was for a shower, breakfast and tackle the endless things that made the CO of a major ship a busy man. He would be a very busy man, for a while this fine morning, the last for many aboard His Queen but he wasn't to know that, quite yet.
29 MAY 1941 0600 Oberleutnant "Ritter" and Feldwebel Stachel had been flying an expanding "Box" searcgh pattern for 28 minutes when Stachel's extroadinary eyes spotted a bump on the horizon at about 9 O'clock. He informed the "Ritter" who imediately put the stick over and closed on the contact . Stachel had his excellent Ziess 7 by 50 binoculars on the the ship. Jah, she was a lone liner making about 25 kts and heading about 250 degrees. Another 5 minutes of ever closer observation convinced both of them it was the Queen Mary, now one of the RN's HMTs painted gray with a few pop guns. A "trooper" and one hell of a kill to mark up for Bismarck. He was sorely tempted to put both his 110 lb bombs right down her funnels and then gun the bridge with his 20mm and MGs for good measure
BUT Lindemann would nail him to the mast for disobeying HIS orders and risking HIS Arado like that. So, since he was under strict "Radio Silence" made a 50 mile wide circular search before he headed back to Bismarck to deliver his sighting report. Last thing he wanted for the Bismarck to show up only to find the RN was trailing Queen Mary with a cruiser or two. Feldwebel Stachel was wondering, while he maintained his usual excellent visul scan of his sectors if the Kreagsmarine was really as superior as recent ops had suggested or was the royal Navy just having a spell of bad luck? What he did not know was the RN was stretched much too far and was working it's much reduced number of ships and men half to death. Tired men and too few worn out ships were what the RN had here and now to fight with. The bright side for the RN was the "Hostilities Only" Officers and Ratings were proving to be much better "sailors" than anyone pre war would have thought. In fact they were fast approaching the point they could take up the strain from the RN Regulars.
Force H
29 MAY 1941 0610 Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commaning Force H was watching Ark Royal steaming into the wind to launch another Recon sortie of 3 Fairey Fulmars, a damn good scout and absolutely terrible fighter but more than a match for any number of Arados, in search of Bismarck and Prince Eugen. The Admiralty, in their quite fallible wisdom, had originally positioned the TG to stop them if they made a run south of Land's End, through the Bay of Biscay for the French coast. The massacre of HX-123 had provided their Lordships with a "Flaming Datum". Fleet Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound imediately ordered Force H to proceed, at best practical speed to that point. Pound desperately needed as many aerial scouts as possible to reestablish contact with TG Lutgens ; now TG Brinkmann. His PBY's and Sutherland long range patrol aircraft had proven disapointingly ineffective in this hunt for those two damn Nazi raiders. He would arrange for a tanker rendezous on route so that Somerville could persue the Nazi Butchers at high speed for a long time.
Force H did appeared to the layman, junior officers and ratings to be a formidable obstacle. Both Pound and Somerville knew otherwise. Renown was Somerville's flag ship and a battlecuiser like Hood , with similar fatally weak armor compared to a battleship. Pound initially ordered her captain not to close within range of Bismarck alone; that order was rescinded as these were desperate times.
HMS Renown, "Refit" to her crew, was of 32,000 tons, 31 knots Battle Cruiser with 3 twin 15 inch guns, 10 twin 4.5 in DP guns, 3 octuple 40 mm AA guns and 4 floatplanes. She ,like Hood, was an "Eggshell armed with sledge hammers." Her armor was no match for Bismarck and might even be defeated by a lucky hit from The Prince.
She had a splended WW II war record From 1936-39 (thus her Nickname) the ship was completely rebuilt and re-engined at a cost of over £3,000,000, equal to the original expense of construction. Her first action after recommissioning was with the German battleship Scharnhorst and cruiser Admiral Hipper, off Northern Norway, in April 1940. After the Scharnhorst had been hit the enemy vessels managed to break off the engagement under cover of heavy weather. Not long afterwards the Renown became the flagship of Sir James Somerville in the Western Mediterranean. After engaging two Italian battleships at long range off Sardinia, she took part in the bombardment of Genoa.
The cruiser Sheffield was fast and agile enough to shadow the enemy and keep Pound appraised of Bismarck's location, but was no match for the Bismarck and had only about an even chance against Prince Eugen
The third ship of Force H, Ark Royal Pennant number: 91, offered the best hope of engaging an undmaged enemy successfully but her Air Group was drastically under strength.
Force H also included the modern destroyers Duncan, Iris, Encounter, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Firedrake, Fury, Foresight & Fearless. The cans were of different classes but they were all roughly the same excellent modern Detsroyers. Take HMS Duncan with a speed of 36 knots and armament of 4 4 4 QF 4.7-inch Mark IX guns, 1 3 in AA) gun, 2 single QF 2-pounder Mk II AA guns, 20 depth charges, 1 rail and 2 thrower
AND
2 quadruple 21 inch torpedo tubes armed with the now deadly accurate and reliable MK IX.
Mk IX had a ship killing 750 lbs. TNT warhead but it's top speed of only 36 kts at 10,500 yards was outclassed by the 40+ kt average of many of the wrold's torpedoes. The gold standardNazi Type 93 armed with a 1,080 lbs. warhead, made 36-38 knots at an astounding 43,700 yards, 40-42 knot at 35,000 yards and 48-50 knots at 21,900 yards.
Bismarck and Prince Eugen carried the steam powered G7 torpedoes with a standard torpedo warhead was 617lbs of TNT/HND/AL (a mixture of hexanitrophenylamine, trinitrotoluene and aluminum) and had three preset speeds – 44 knots at 5,000 yds, 40 knots at 7,500 ydsa dn 30 knots at 12,500 yds.
Asrk Royal was designed under the Washington Naval Treaty, built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead,England, and completed in November 1938. Ark Royal was the first ship on which the hangars and flight deck were an integral part of the hull, instead of an add-on or part of the superstructure. She was designed to carry a large number of aircraft and had two hangar decks. Ark Royal was modern and powerful warship her boilers making 102,000 shp driving 3 shafts from 3 geared steam turbines for a flank speed of 31 knots; she had a max range of 7,600 nmi at 20 knots at 30 kts it was greatly reduced hence Pound's tanker support. 200 HP / 43,700 y Burner-cycle, 264 hp @ 41 kThe "Ark" was designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Ark Roya Her Complement of 1,580 officers and ratings manned 8 twin 4.5 in DP guns; 4 quadruple 40 mms and 8 quadruple .50 caliber AA Mgs; Armor a 4.5 inch belt, 3.5 over Deck boiler rooms and magazines. So she was no match for the prince let alone Bismarck during darkness. Lucky for her there was only 5 hours of darkness where TG Brinkmann was doing it's murdering and therefore 19 hours of flight operations, unless the North Atlantic decided to throw some very dirty weather ther way.
The Ark" was capable of operating 60 aircraft, she, like Victorious, had an incomplete complement of only 11 Fairey Swordfish biplane bombers. The upside for the RN was, these planes were flown by some of the most experienced airmen in the Royal Navy. Actually he was damn glad to carry the "Old String Bag" had proven herself in The Med, granted those were Italians not Germans, even if she looked like she belonged at Jutlland.
She was "designed" to carry 72 birds but actually could only manage 50–60. At this time she normally carried 36 Fairey Swordfish and 18 Fairey Fulmars but was very short handed now and only had 11 Swordfish. The Ops in the Med had taken a very heavy tole on the string bags and she had army Tomahawks aboard for a ferry mission cut short when Bismarck broke out.
Unfortuneatly, the Fulmars were not much help in attacking warships. Fulmars had very good endurance of six-hours at 140mph for reconnaissance, or three-hours at 175mph as an escort. Their top speed of 265 mph at 10,000ft was nothing to brag about. She did have a very good main armament of eight fixed forward 0.303in machineguns with at least 400 rounds per gun but no flexible mount aft for the observer. It was also supposed to carry two 250lb bombs but rearely did. The MK Is used at this time were not considered Dive Bombers and when used as"glide bombers" they were very vulnerbale to FLAK.
Fairey Swordfish Mk.1 was Mid-sized biplane torpedo bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. The TheFairey Swordfish employed a metal airframe covered in fabric. It had folding wings as a space-saving measure. In service, it received the nickname Stringbag; this was not due to its biplane struts, spars, and braces, but a reference to the seemingly endless variety of stores and equipment that the type was cleared to carry. Crews likened the aircraft to a housewife's string shopping bag, common at the time and which could accommodate contents of any shape, and that a Swordfish, like the shopping bag, could carry anything. She was used operationally for Scouting (now with her AVS set Radar search), ASW, Torpedo delivery and even a perfetcly capable Dive bomber.
Fairey's reasons for maintening it's biplane configuration however at the time sounded reasonable and well-thought out. The biplane configuration was already well-known and ensured a quicker development than a brand new venture (a leap the company made already years ago with the Hendon, not a sucess). The biplane configuration advantages largely matched its role: Priority was range, not speed. It was believed at the time that reconnaissance aircraft needed to be either biplanes or parasol monoplanes to ensure the best visibility. Cantilever monoplanes were notorious for their poor all-round visibility, akin the extreme competition planes that were developed. A biplane had more range and also more stability, which was ideal, both for reconnaissance and dropping a torpedo perfectly in line. It was also a configuration ideal for the well-winded decks of aircraft carriers and landed more smoothly, and on shorter distances. 27,720 long tons full load; had a length of .
29 MAY 1941 0715 Oberleutnant "Ritter" and Feldwebel Stachel were in a tight low level circle of Bismarck. Feldwebel Stachel had just signalled posit, ID and course and speed of Queen Mary to Lindemann
029 MAY 1941 0800 Captain Lt Dennis Moultron orders USCGC Muskeget (WAG-48) to general quarters . He then comes up on the 1MC (general announcing over speakers) “This is NO DRILL. That is all. Carry on.” If there was anybody aboard Muskeget who did not know as much as he did about this little rescue mission he was far too stupid for the Coast Guard and should have joined the navy.
29 MAY 1941 0930 USCGC Muskeget (WAG-48) arrives in the vicinity of HX-123’s last reported position early ( thanks to Ching. and his Black Gang squeezing more turns out of the old girl than anyone but them expected ) and finds nothing within visual range. Muskeget’s CO, Lt Dennis Moultron, orders a modified expanded square search favoring down wind, BM2C Coxswain “Dean” and his boat’s crew to muster at his Type T, 36-Foot Motor Lifeboat and for the davit crew to make all preps for an immediate launching.
029 MAY 1941 0953 (WAG-48) passes through a stinking. bunker oil slick dotted with debris and the obscene bodies of life jacketed dead seaman. Moultron orders the Motor lifeboat launched to look for life, not that there was much chance of anyone surviving for 10 hours in the North Atlantic without a lifeboat or a raft but he had to try. Against all odds they found Robert Squires AB, Crackers’ Rushall – born in New York but now an AB in the RN, Joseph Hill ‘The Pusser’(Supply Officer) and his number two, CPO Tom Hanlon, All from HMS AMC Derbyshire.
Muskeget’s 36 footer also picked up PO's John ‘Jack’ Barker, Harry ‘Tiddley’ Boneyard and John Aylard (coder) from HMS Chelsea.
029 MAY 1941 1100 (WAG-48) CO Moultron ordered his boat recalled and directed the OOD to double the lookouts and resume a normal expanding square search at standard speed as soon as the boat was recovered. He knew HX-123’s commodore had ordered the convoy to scatter prior to contact with the raider so they or, their boats and rafts, could be anywhere except in the direction the raider was coming from. He was going below to talk to the survivors, if any of them were in condition to. Got to figure these Lymies had to be damn tough to survive the massacre and 10 hours in the North Atlantic so there might be a chance of getting something useful out of them. The very newly commissioned USCGR LTJG “Saw Bones” now knew better than to argue with the CO. He came aboard with the insane ideas that he outranked Moultron in medical matters. The XO and his Chief disabused the brilliant young man of that notion.
29 MAY 1941 1430 Under Dover Castle at Commander-in-Chief Dover's HQ, Wren PO Pamela Lee answered Vice-Admiral Dover's private line. "This is Churchill get Vice-Admiral Ramsay on the line immediately." Vice Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay, KCB, KBE, MVO was summoned from his operations room and made it to his private, very secure line, in just under 9 minutes.
Ramsay " Ramsay here Sir, sorry for the delay."
Churchill "No time for regrets Bertie; not much time for any decencies these days. I am relieving Pound. You will replace him. I want you in London Tomorrow. Turn over Dover to your second for now. We will talk more about this later. For now get cracking."
Ramsay "Aye, Aye sir." At that the line went dead.
Ramsay "Petty Officer Lee ring my aide, he's in operations, and have him assemble the staff chiefs in my office in 15 minutes." Ever since "Dynamo" and King George VI subsequently made him a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath there had been talk that he would eventaully command "the whole Bloody Andrew" before he was finished. He had to admit he did think he had a fair chance but never thought it would happen this fast. After all he was only a Vice-Admiral and that was an Admiral's job surely.
10 downing St. London the PM's office. Winston sat back with a Whiskey and a good cigar. He really didn't like himself right now. Al Pound a real friend and a very good Admiral had to go and he was the one who had to kick him in the crotch. The hue and cry after the Denmark Straight fiasco had not yet died down with recriminations flying everywhere and many of them lighting on him. Now the very public destruction of HX-123 was really feeling the flames and it was so bad he and his cabinet could well fall. In his opinion that would be a major disaster and possibly cost the UK the war. He had to have some raw meet to toss to the wolves at Question Time" today to survive.
The Hero of Dunkirk Vice Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay, KCB, KBE, , everyone thought the Navy had done something right that time, was for polticial as well as professional and practical reasons the best man for the job. God help the poor bastard because he would have to make good very quickly or he would be sacrificed. Well being PM was a right bastard's job, the nation was lucky they had one named Winston available.
29 MAY 1941 1500 RN HQ Bunker under the Admiralty in London Signal Wren answered "Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound's" private line to Churchill's Bunker. "This is Churchill get The FIRST SEA LKORD on the line imediately." It took Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound less than five minutes to pick up the phone. "Pound here Sir"
Churchill "I am relieving you Alfred. Ramsay is your successor and should be there sometime tomorrow. I expect you to stay on the job for just as long as it takes for you and Ramsay to agree you have brought him up to speed on our current operations. I must announce your future departure at Questions Time tomorrow in the Commons at Noon.
Pound "Aye, Aye sir . I will do everything in my power to assist Bertie.
Churchill "I want you to know Alfred I am very sorry it has come to this. I would like to personally thank you for what you have done. Think about where you would like to serve next because we need you desperately. If at all possible I will see you get that job.
Pound "That is very kind of you Sir. I must admit I was surprised you didn't "chuck" me after the Denmark Straight but I can see the all too public massacre of HX-123 and the damn Fleet Street hue and cry has tied your hands."
Churchill "Alfred I have some experience being sacked for circumstances well beyond my control. I know your value and both weighed heavily in my decision to keep you on. When we have time, God alone knows when that will be, I would be delighted if you and Betty would join Clemmie and I at Checkers for a weekend."
At that the line went dead. The PM was on to other things and soon not to be First Sea Lord Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound, GCB, OM, GCVO hung up the hand set. Pound told his aide to have the senior staff join him in his office in a quarter hour. Pound smiled at the aide and added "I have a bit of news to give them." Pound's mind then turned to how best he could ease Vice Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay, KCB, KBE, MVO into his new job as quickly as possible. Despite what the PM said he did not think it wise for him to be hanging around this headquarters as Bertie took up the reins of his new job. Just as a relieved skipper did no favors to his successor by being around to be compared to the former.
29 MAY 1941 1503 Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commanding Force H was not the only TG west of Lands End. TG Ciliax consisting of the Battle Cruisres KMS Scharnhorst & Gneisenau, heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and four type 1936A destroyers, under the command of Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax had sortied in support of TG Brinkmann had left Brest oon 25 May. What the Vizeadmiral did not know was that on 28 May 1941 0425 : RAF Supermarine Spitfire PR Mk.IG of No. 140 Squadron out of RAF Benson, on a routine recon of Brest harbor was shot down by ME-109. The German pilot was severely reprimanded by his CO for operating out of his patrol sector. He did know the Kriegsmarine had set up, with the help of Leni Riefenstahln and his staff, a very realistic PHONEY Movie set showing Both Battle Cruisers and the heavy Crusier Admiral Hipper were in the shipyard undergoing maintenance. The RAF daily recon flights had been fooled by the Movie Prop for three days and the brass wanted them to keep being fooled for as long as possible. At 0845 a replacement Spitfire PR Mk.IG of No. 140 Squadron out of RAF Benson, completed a successful recon of Brest harbor and found the three capital ships were still there. The Intel was reported to RN HQ. One less headache for the overworked staff.
U=boat and Condor recon flights had been very effective in guiding TG Ciliax away from the RN air and surface patrols but the reposoitioning of Force H had to be dealt with before he could carry out his primary mission Convoy Destruction.
TG Ciliax was a very powerful Surface Action Group (SAG) His flag Scharnhorst & her sister Gneisenau was, alternatively described as a battleship or battlecruiser, of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. She was the lead ship of her class, which included her sister ship Gneisenau. Built at the Kriegsmarinewerft dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; The Scharnhorst Class were the German response to the French battlecruisers Dunkerque and Strasbourg. The smallest modern battleships built, their main battery consisted of 9 x 11 inch guns in three turrets, two forward and one aft. These ships had a very low freeboard and took a lot of seawater forward when steaming a high speeds. The adoption of the atlantic bow only partially improved her seakeeping capability.
Scharnhorst Current C.O Kapitän zur See Kurt Hoffmann Gneisenau C.O. Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand completed in January 1939 Full load: 38,100 long tons, Length 770 ft, Beam 98.5 ft Draft 32ft 6 in In stalled Power 159,551 shp Speed 31 kts Range 7,100 nmi at 19kts Crew 1,669 Armament 9 11" SK C/34, 12 5.9" SK C/28, 14 × 4.1" SK C/33, 16 37 mm/L83 SK C/30 10 20 mm C/30 Armor Belt: 13.8" Deck: 2.0 to 3.7", Turrets: 7.9 to 14.2" ,Conning tower: 14.2" Aviation facilities 3 Arado Ar 196A-3 1 catapult Radar Seetakt
Admiral Hipper Heavy Cruiser current C.O. Kapitän zur See Wilhelm Meisel Commissioned April 1939: under. July-September 1939: Modifications. Atlantic bow, funnel cap added. Displacement: FL 18,200 long tons Length OA 665 ft 4in, Beam 69ft 11in, Draft FL 24 ft Installed power 132,000 shp, Propulsion 3 Blohm & Voss steam turbines 3 × propellers Speed 32 knots, Range 6,800 nmi at 20 kts Crew 42 officers 1,340 enlisted Armament 8 8 in, 12 4.1 in SK C/33, 12 37 mm SK C/30, 8 20 mm C/30 , 12 21 in torpedo tubes in tripple mounts and 6 depth charge launchers. Fire control: 5 x 21 ft base rangefinders. Radar 2 FuMO 26.
Armor Admiral Hipper-class ships were protected by Krupp steel armor, of both Wotan Hart and Wotan Weich types. The ships had two armored decks to protect the ship from vertical attacks. The upper deck was 1.2 in thick amidships to protect the ships' vitals. At either end, the deck was reduced to 1/2 inch .The bow and stern was not protected by deck armor. The main armored deck was 0.8 to 2 in thick. Both decks were Wotan Hart steel. The main armored belt was 3.1 in thick amidships and reduced to 2.8 in thick aft. An interior 1 inch thick torpedo bulkhead protected the ships' vitals from underwater attack. The ships' main battery turrets were protected by 4.1 in thick faces and 3 inch sides and roofs. The 4.1 inch guns were equipped with 1/4 to 1/2 in thick gun shields. The forward conning tower had 6 in thick sides and a 2.0 in roof. The after conning tower was significantly less well armored, with only splinter protection. It's sides and roof were 1 inch thick. with a 1 inch splinter The AA fire directors were also given splinter protection, with 3/4 inch thick shields.
The Type 1936A DD also known as the Z23 class, and known to the Brits as the Narvik class were built in Bremen by AG Weser (part of Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG/Deschimag). Eight ships of the Type 1936A design (Z23 to Z30) were all laid down between 1938 and 1940. This class of fifteen destroyers were in common with other German destroyers launched after the start of World War II, were unnamed, known only by their hull numbers – Z23 to Z39. The Narviks were closer to light cruisers than the typical destroyer with their twin 5.9 in mounts. Despite being powerful the ships, they did, like all new classes of ships, have some initial problems. There were problems with the reliability of the high pressure steam engines and seakeeping in rough seas due to the newly designed bow and heavy forward artillery. The engine problems were soon solved but the yard birds were less successful with the bows. Another case of stuffing too much gun in too small a ship.
Z23, Z24, Z25, Z26, were chosen by the Vizeadmiral for their long endurance compared to most Kriegsmarine destroyers. Long is a very relative term. For a European Operations area fleet a range of 2,600 nmi on two boiler steaming was more than adaquate, but it was not impressive at all compared it's USN Gleaves class contemporary range of 6,500 nmi on half their 4 boiler plant. Their RN Contemporaries of the "J", "K" and "N" classes managed Range 6,300 nmi at 15 kts and 5,500 nmi at 20kts on half her plant. Special precuations had been built into the plan to unrep these short legged Eierschalen, bewaffnet mit Thors Hammer (Egg shells armed with Thor‘s Hammer).
The Narviks had an OA Length of 417 ft, Beam 39 ft 4 in, Draft 14 ft Displaced 2,543–2,657 long tons at standard load. Hulls were divided into 16 watertight compartments and they were fitted with a double bottom that covered 47% of their length amidships. Crew 11–15 officers & 305–20 enlisted. The type 1936As were powered by two Wagner geared steam turbine sets, each driving a single three-bladed 10 ft 6 in propeller, using steam provided by six high-pressure Wagner water-tube boilers with superheaters that operated at a pressure of 1,029 psi and a temperature of 842–896 °F. That is a very high pfressure and temp for a WW II DD Plant. The turbines were designed to produce 69,000 shp for Flank Speed 36 knots . The ships carried a maxim 822 long tons) of fuel oil.
Armament Main Battery by May 1941 consisted of five 5.9 TbtsK C/36 naval rifles in a twin-gun turret forward and the three other guns in single mounts with gun shields aft of the main superstructure. The single mounts had a range of elevation from −10° to +30° while the guns in the turret could be elevated to 65°. The TbtsK C/36 gun fired 100 lb projectiles, vs USN DD 55 lb round, at a muzzle velocity of 2,740 ft/s which gave them a maximum range of 24,000 yds vs USN DD's Max surface range of 18,000 yards The hand-loaded gun had a maximum rate of fire of 7–8 rounds per minute. An average USN 5"38 crew in rapid Fire mode with integral hoists could manage 15 - 22 rounds per minute. The type 1936As carried a total of 480 man battery rounds.
AA Battery consisted of four 37mm (1.5 in) SK C/3 guns in two twin mounts abreast the aft funnel. These power operated mounts had a max elevation of 85° which gave the guns a ceiling of 22,300 ft; surfcae action range of 9,300 yds)at an elevation of 37.5° at 30 rounds per minute. The mounts were stabilized, but their gyroscopes were undersized and could not cope with sharp turns or heavy rolling. Also fitted with five to ten fully automatic 20 mm C/30 guns in quadruple and single mounts. The gun had an effective rate of fire of about 120 rounds per minute. Its projectiles were fired at a muzzle velocity of 2,740 ft/s which gave it a ceiling of 12,100 ft and a maximum surface action range of 5,200 yd.
8 21 inch torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts. Two reloads were provided for each mount. The standard torpedo for the Type 36B destroyers was the G7a torpedo. It had a 660 lb warhead and three speed range settings: 15,000 yd at 30 knots, 8,700 yds at 40 knots and 6,600 yds) at 44 knots. They had four depth charge launchers and mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck, max capacity of 60 mines.
Sonar/Asdic 'GHG' (Gruppenhorchgerät) passive hydrophones were fitted to detect submarines and a S-Gerät sonar was also fitted. Radar FuMO 24/25 radar set above the bridge
29 MAY 1941 1505 WAG-48's CO had a tough decision to make. His talk with the senior and only Commissioned survivor of HX-123 Lt. Joseph Hill and a Pork Chop (supply Officer at that) didn’t tell him much. The one thing he did learn was that COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE had ordered his merchies to scatter at about 1900 yesterday. That was 20 hours ago. Those that survived would have cranked up to whatever was their max, plus some, speed and headed in every direction but East. That big Nazi raider could probably do 30 kts and she would have scout planes so the chances for the ships were pretty damn small but, so far this Nazi bastard has not machine gunned survivors, so any life boats and rafts that got away could hold a good bag of survivors. He had the last position of more than a few of HX-123’s ships because his Radio gang had recorded the desperate individual ships May Days and positions. His QMC had plotted those “posits” on the chart he was now staring at. Problem was 20 hours had passed and the winds had been variable. His best bet was to go for the closely spaced “Early” May Days. As time went on the posits were more spread out. He did some rough drift calculations and ordered the OOD to bring Muskeget to an intercept course at full speed.
Lt. Moultron then drafted a message to Commandant First CG District in Boston, informed him of what he just found out, his intentions to look for survivor lifeboats and rafts, his best guess position of those boats and a request for air support from any navy units around with float planes.
29 MAY 1941 1515 WAG-48's message was recieved at First CG District in Boston, given it’s high precedence it was immediately decoded, routed to the duty staff officer who ran it into his Boss.
29 MAY 1941 1600 the Commandant First CG District was on the secure line with Admiral USN Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. King was eager to help out “The Coastie” and told him he did have some SOC equipped ships in the area. He would send out an immediate to the TG and order them to provide aerial search ASAP coordinated with WAG-48. King then transferred the call to his staff watch officer to work out the details and to send the message to Hewitt as an "immdeiate execute", high priority precedence over "King Sends".
29 MAY 1941 1645 Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt was reading Ernie Kings latest. Since he was already heading that way at 25 kts and he had plenty of SOCs he’d just have his COS (Chief of Staff), first acknowledge compliance to King and then contact that cutter skipper and work out where to send one of his scout planes as soon as TG39.1 came within range. The CoStaff was concerned about EMCOM and ordered his Comm officer to contact that cutter using the coasties own frequencies and make it look like two cutters talking search and rescue to each other. Since S&R transmissions are normally not encoded it would go out plain text. “Tell him we would comply with his Search Request but don’t mention the SOCs. Those Coasties are smart boys he’ll understand.”
Between The Show Boat and Brooklyn TG39.1 carried 7 SOCs. So far those biplanes had been very reliable and accident free; it was unusual not to have at least 6 available for ops and for brief period all 7 were Up checked. He kept a continuous daylight sub search going that used up three, he also conducted pre dawn launch and late afternoon long range searches along sectors that covered his projected track and where he thought the Nazi TG would be operating in. Ching Lees TC team and was his staff were really doing a great job keeping track of what both the Brits and Germans were up to in his op area. He was pretty sure he was searching the right patches of ocean.
"29 MAY 1941 1500 RN HQ Bunker under the Admiralty . Fleet Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound's" Communication's Officer stared in rage at the duty signals CPO. In his hand was a signal with a date time group of 282110AMAY41. It was an immediate priority spotting report from a Catalina returning from an ASW sweep of the area of 24 ship Troop Convoy UK Gourock to Suez WS 12. It had been delayed at the by a combination of equipment failure and bad "atmospherics" coupled by a change of the watch emeregency. It had only been found an hour ago by the HQ duty signals CPO whose habit was to review all priority message traffic for the last few days after he had settled the watch down following the change over. The Commo then raced out the door heading straight for Pound's office.
Pounds aid tried to stop him but the Commo rushed past him and said "Pardon me Sir but you have tio read this now,many lives are at stake."
Fleet Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound" read the message whose import was that a Kriegsmarine task group with three capital ships and four destroyers was in the vicinity of troop 12. The only RN TG which could possibly intercept that TG was Force H which he had ordered out of it's station that was meant to cover a run by TG Lindeman to Brest and still cover WS 12. It had to be The twins had broken out of Brest some time before. His Recon flights must have been fooled because the last he heard they were still in harbor.
He then turned to the Commo "Prioity signals
First to Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville Force H. Appriase him of the situation especially the vulnerbaility of WS 12, the last known position and make up of the Kriegsmarine TG, my opinion of who those ships are and that he was to postion himself to engage that TG before it could attack WS 12.
Second to Commodore, Admiral Bertram I. Thesiger, WS 12 in was in Strathaird and the escort comander, advise them of everything we know and that Force H is making best speed to intercept the German TG. He is free to make whatever changes to his routing to increase the chances WS 12 will survive.
3rd to RAF Coastal Command. Inform them of all we know and request whatever aid they can supply, especially recon and bomber support. Go NOW.
He then picked up the private line to the Prime Minister. "Churchill here Alfred, I hope this is good news."
Pound "No sir it is not" and then he told Winstion the situation and what steps he was taking to counter the Germans.
The PM "That convoy has over 20,000 troops don't you think you should scatter it NOW?"
Pound " Somerville and force H should be able to deliver torpedo and bomber attacks against that task group before they come in range of WS 12. If Commodore Thesiger, " scatters them they will be easy prey for the U-boats sir."
The PM " Do you have that much confidence in your ability to tell the future Admiral? Of late you have not done particularly well against our German naval friends. I want to hear Ramsay's opinion before I endorse your plan. "
Pound "Vice Admiral Ramsay is in transit. I can't get a coded dispatch to him while he is in the air. Time is of the essence Sir. I have already sent out my orders to Somerville, SW 12 commodore and the RAF. I will advise him of the situation as soon as I can get him on a secure phone line, that should be in about an hour and a half. Until then I must urgently request you to go along with my initial disposition Sir."
The PM there was silence on the line for about 5 minutes and then. "Very well Admiral I grant you your request, really nothing else I can do. If Ramsey agress with your plan YOU will still be MY First Sea Lord and in command of the upcoming action. For all our sakes, especilly those soldiers in WS 12 I pray you are victorious. If there is any assistance I can provide you ask immediately."
The line went dead. Winston took another big pull at his whiskey and muttered "Why did I want this Fucking Job. Is this HIS way of teaching a vain old man a lesson in humility?
The Queen Mary
028 MAY 1941 2200 on the flag bridge of TG39.1 USS North Carolina BB-55 Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt had a lot to think about. He also had spent some time listening to the butchery of HX-123 by that Nzai Capital ship. Was it Bismarck or Prince Eugen or both? He was sure His TG, barring very bad luck, would be able to put both those Nazis on the bottom. How many of TG39.1 would be left was anyone's guess. He did have great faith in Ching Lee's gunnery and that new TC was certainly making a big difference. His kids were trained but not even blooded yet. Aside from a few of his senior Pos and Officers none had seen any real action, certainly not against major units of a modern fleet and that included himself and Ching.
He had recieved a back channel from Ernie king, who also was monitoring the situation and told to make for HX-123's datum and be prepared for whatever popped up. King was in contact with Lahey who was close to FDR and Lahey told him to "Hang tight and hang tough" beause Franklyn was absolutely livid. Hewitt acknlowkledge King's order and requested a tanker to unrep TG39.1 no later than 1200 30 May. He would unrep his always thirsty cans from North Carolina and Brooklyn on the run in but he would need that tanker's fuel to keep his TG at sea for what was sure to come. So he gave the order to his TG39.1 to come to an intercept course at 25 kts for the datum of HX-123 with his DDs in a bent line screen and Brooklyn in column astern at standard distance from BB-55. His navigator estimated it would take 20 hours to reach the area, about 1800 tomorrow. He ordered TG39.1 to a modified EMCON Able, no radio transmissions they would signal by light or flag hoist for now with just one surface and air search radar radiating and that was from BB-55. He also ordered his BB and CA Cos to make their Scout planes ready for constant long range searches, objective? Find the German raiders before they found them. He then told his Duty watch officer the CoStaff and he were headed down to Ching Lee's TC to work out the next few moves.
28 MAY 1941 2210 Kapitäns zur See Lindemann’s Bismarck receives an update on the “convoy” he is to engage. Based on a very recent U-boat report it is a single, very large ship, probably a converted ocean liner transport, traveling at 25 kts. BdU provided Lindemann a new datum with a course of 300. Furthermore, info provided by agents in Halifax about not so secret preparations being made to receive one of His Majesty’s Transports (HMT), possibly Queen Mary, with a cargo of Free French and Polish recruits ( the equivalent of a fighting division), for training in Canada in a few days. BdU orders Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) Brinkmann to sink that ship if at all possible.
An urgent conference with his XO and Navigator at the chart table convinces Lindemann it will be close but they can intercept the HMT but not until after dark. He orders a course and speed to make contact with the HMT at 0500 tomorrow. Before engaging, he wants his Arado to make a thorough search of the area for enemy units. He wants the kill but not at the expense of damage to his ship. He totally agrees with Brinkman killing as many convoys as possible is still his primary mission.
28 MAY 1941 2215 Commander Merle Ronald Haggard RNR is not a happy man. The RN has been thrashed by those big bastards Bismarck and Prince Eugen who are somewhere between him and Nova Scotia. The Admiralty has ordered him to be vigilant but refused to provide him an escort (the damn bastards probably don't have any spare battleships at present). Their Lordships have graciously allowed him to use his own judgement in selecting a more southerly course for the present BUT his orders are still to get his ship to Halifax and under the protection of it's patrol aircraft as soon as possible.
His lovely Queen carried and he was totally responsible for 5,000 Free French, and 1,500 Norwegion and other recruits from all over occupied Europe coming to join there countrymen already training in Canada. She also had embarked 3,500 combat veteran Polish soldiers and another 6,000 Polish recruits who were to reconstitute the Polish First Grenadier Division. To that he added 700 wounded requiring extended convalescence before being returned to their Army, Navy and RAF units, all very valuable men, many experts in their fields and a medical staff of 68. HMS Queen Mary was over loaded, as usual. Well his passengers were soldiers, or almost soldiers and like his own crew, had to make the best of things.
Merle and The Queen were both press ganged into the RN in early 1940. He went through a short but valuable refresher course before being assigned as her "Jimmy The One" (XO); she went into the yards for a very fast conversion as an HMT. The captain had been too old for the man killing job and had been transferred to "command "a Stone frigate and he got bumped up to Captain. His Queen, a former Cunard Liner, was a very formidable ship. She was launched in 1936 a product of John Brown & Co., LTD., Clydebank, Scotland. She was powered by Sixteen geared turbines - Quadruple screws; her Length was 1,019.5 feet; Beam: 118 feet; of 81,237 GRT.
What he was counting on was her flank speed of 28.5 kts to save her. That speed convinced Their Lords at the Admiralty she did not require convoy escort. Against most U-Boat situations he agreed but these two murderous surface raiders were a different matter entirely. He had little faith in the few guns the yards had bolted on as an after thought. No radar of course but she still had the best “galley” and more than a few of her former chefs had also been “Forceably Recruited into “The Andrew”. It was a wonder to him what real chefs could do with RN rations. He also knew the meals for the ship’s crew and maybe the nursing staff would be excellent. These culinary pros, even when augmented (more like hampered ) by “passengers” with supposed cooking experience, could and did manage much more than the basic army chow for the rest of the Queen’s “guests”, probably the very best meals those soldiers would ever get at HM’s expense.
What he could do and the senior passengers wholeheartedly approved of was to train the best of their men in Firefighting and damage control under the tutelage of his long service RN petty officers. With luck, something the RN has not had much of lately, that just might save a lot of lives.
He also was provided with “trained” artilerists and machine gunners to assist his own guns’ crews. Might be of value against aircraft but hardly make a difference against the surface raiders. If those big bruisers found them His Queen was dead meat. As a RNR commissioned RN officer commanding one of His Majesties “Warships” he was obliged to signal the admiralty of the locations and a description of his attacker. The ruthless Nazi’s, with their tuetonic efficiency, certainly would be ready to jam his signal and blow his beautiful but thin skinned liner out of the water at his very first radio transmission, probably not even heard by the RN.
All those souls were on his conscience. If he survived he’d be a damn hero to the RN but his merchant navy chums would never forgive him for wasting all those young lives for nothing. If he still had any courage he’d blow out his brains and if, more likely if he did not, there was always the bottle and a much more degrading and slower way of committing suicide. At that he took another pull at his double whiskey!
29 MAY 1941 0345 Oberleutnant (AKA First Lt & Flying officer) "Ritter" Willi von Klugermann having completed all his preflight checks along with his trusted observer with the eyes of a hawk Feldwebel (AKA Tech & Flight Sgt. ) Bruno Stachel awaited the signal to be shot off for their morning recon flight. The briefing made it clear they had a very big game today.
Aboard the HMT Queen Mary the last manned and ready report for dawn Battle Stations had just been recieved by Commander Merle Ronald Haggard RNR. As always securing the water tight doors in the passenger compartments took much longer than was acceptable. He'd tear a good strip of skin His Jimmy over that...again. The day was breaking as good as at got this far north in the Atlantic. He really could have done with some dirty weather to hide in but he was sure his passengers preferred it calm and sunny. Real fools in his opinion. His stewart had brought him his first mug of rum lightly laced Formosa Oolong tea. It was going down well, as always. At this speed and on this less than direct SW course it was three days until he sighted Sambro Light. His sister Phyllis had immigrated to Fergusons Cove in '38 along with her Canadian boat building foreman Husband Bill and their son Willie. It would be a relly gtreat visit if the damn RN just gave him a few days in Halifax. He had no idea what his next "cargo" would be or where they would send His Queen next. Well time to sweep the horizon again.
29 MAY 1941 0400 Oberleutnant "Ritter" and Feldwebel Stachel began their head swivelling search after they were shot off Bismarck and began climbing to medium altitude for the moning's recon. It was known for something to appear close aboard that the ship's radar and lookouts had not noticed right after launch. It could well save all their lives so vigilance was the watch word. The navigator had given Stachel his best guess as to where the big HMT would be. Now "Ritter" was on that intercept bearing at his Arado's best cruising speed. He'd stay on this course until he was far enough out to make a 360 search around Bismarck of any value and then return to the intercept corpen. He had a full weapon's load out for this trip but the XO had warned him his Arado was more valuable than his skin (they had a few extra pilots) so don't risk the crate but it would be OK to drop Feldwebel Stachel onto the deck of any Handelswanne (Merchant Tub) with his swiss army knife.
29 MAY 1941 0407 Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt was sitting, bolt upright in his Flag Bridge chair aboard USS North Carolina BB-55, with a steaming cup of his own special blend of coffee spiked with a half shot of cognac (RHIP you know but he didn't push it too far). He was observing the station keeping of USS Brooklyn CL-40 , USS Kearny DD-432 Gleaves-class, USS Dunlap DD-384 Mahan class CO Lt.Cdr. Carl Hilton Bushnell, USN and USS Benson DD-421 Benson class that comprised his command TG39.1. One of his SOCs had just launched. He did not know it but it was pilotted by LTJG Butch O’Hare.
Butch was a graduate from the Western Military Academy in 1932. The following year, he went on to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. After he graduated and was commissioned as an ensign on June 3, 1937, he served two years on the battleship USS New Mexico. In 1939, he started flight training at NAS Pensacola in Florida, flying the Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-1 "Yellow Peril" and Stearman NS-1 biplane trainers, and later the advanced SNJ trainer.
When Butch finished his naval aviation training on 2 March 1940, he was assigned to observation Squadron Three (VO-3) for type training in the Curtiss (SOC) Seagull. The Seagull was far from the hottest airplane in the US Navy and something of a disapointment to LTJG Butch O’hare but he'd work his way into Wildcats somehow. He knew the SOC was became operation in 1935 and there had been over 400 deliverd to the navy to date.
He also knew his rather dull steed's General characteristics., Crew of two, pilot and observer, Length: 31 ft 5 in,Wingspan: 36 ft 0 in, Height: 14 ft 9 in , Wing area: 342 sq ft, Empty weight: 3,788 lb, Gross weight: 5,437 lbs.
The Soc's performance was on the whole nothing to write home about with a Powerplantof 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340-18 singRate of climb: 915 ft/min, Maximum speed: 165 mph, at 5,000 ft , Cruise speed: 116 kn, Stall speed: 55.9 mph, Range: was nopt bad at all at 587 nmi at 5,000 ft , Service ceiling: 14,900 ft and Rate of climb: 915 ft/min. Were adaquate.
However the SOC's armament certainly was not with only 1 fixed, forward firing 0.30 cal Browning M2 AN and 1 flexible mounted rear-firing 0.30 cal Browning M2 AN machine guns.
29 MAY 1941 0430 Oberleutnant "Ritter" and Feldwebel Stachel were at search altitude, had conducted their first 360 search, conditions were excellent and they found absolutely nothing but open ocean. Stachel gave "Ritter" a new intercept course and time to their serach area.
Commander Merle Ronald Haggard RNR aboard Queen Mary gave permission to stand down from dawn battle stations. Now the 18 hour a day monotonous chore of feeding the passengers could continue. He was for a shower, breakfast and tackle the endless things that made the CO of a major ship a busy man. He would be a very busy man, for a while this fine morning, the last for many aboard His Queen but he wasn't to know that, quite yet.
29 MAY 1941 0600 Oberleutnant "Ritter" and Feldwebel Stachel had been flying an expanding "Box" searcgh pattern for 28 minutes when Stachel's extroadinary eyes spotted a bump on the horizon at about 9 O'clock. He informed the "Ritter" who imediately put the stick over and closed on the contact . Stachel had his excellent Ziess 7 by 50 binoculars on the the ship. Jah, she was a lone liner making about 25 kts and heading about 250 degrees. Another 5 minutes of ever closer observation convinced both of them it was the Queen Mary, now one of the RN's HMTs painted gray with a few pop guns. A "trooper" and one hell of a kill to mark up for Bismarck. He was sorely tempted to put both his 110 lb bombs right down her funnels and then gun the bridge with his 20mm and MGs for good measure
BUT Lindemann would nail him to the mast for disobeying HIS orders and risking HIS Arado like that. So, since he was under strict "Radio Silence" made a 50 mile wide circular search before he headed back to Bismarck to deliver his sighting report. Last thing he wanted for the Bismarck to show up only to find the RN was trailing Queen Mary with a cruiser or two. Feldwebel Stachel was wondering, while he maintained his usual excellent visul scan of his sectors if the Kreagsmarine was really as superior as recent ops had suggested or was the royal Navy just having a spell of bad luck? What he did not know was the RN was stretched much too far and was working it's much reduced number of ships and men half to death. Tired men and too few worn out ships were what the RN had here and now to fight with. The bright side for the RN was the "Hostilities Only" Officers and Ratings were proving to be much better "sailors" than anyone pre war would have thought. In fact they were fast approaching the point they could take up the strain from the RN Regulars.
Force H
29 MAY 1941 0610 Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commaning Force H was watching Ark Royal steaming into the wind to launch another Recon sortie of 3 Fairey Fulmars, a damn good scout and absolutely terrible fighter but more than a match for any number of Arados, in search of Bismarck and Prince Eugen. The Admiralty, in their quite fallible wisdom, had originally positioned the TG to stop them if they made a run south of Land's End, through the Bay of Biscay for the French coast. The massacre of HX-123 had provided their Lordships with a "Flaming Datum". Fleet Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound imediately ordered Force H to proceed, at best practical speed to that point. Pound desperately needed as many aerial scouts as possible to reestablish contact with TG Lutgens ; now TG Brinkmann. His PBY's and Sutherland long range patrol aircraft had proven disapointingly ineffective in this hunt for those two damn Nazi raiders. He would arrange for a tanker rendezous on route so that Somerville could persue the Nazi Butchers at high speed for a long time.
Force H did appeared to the layman, junior officers and ratings to be a formidable obstacle. Both Pound and Somerville knew otherwise. Renown was Somerville's flag ship and a battlecuiser like Hood , with similar fatally weak armor compared to a battleship. Pound initially ordered her captain not to close within range of Bismarck alone; that order was rescinded as these were desperate times.
HMS Renown, "Refit" to her crew, was of 32,000 tons, 31 knots Battle Cruiser with 3 twin 15 inch guns, 10 twin 4.5 in DP guns, 3 octuple 40 mm AA guns and 4 floatplanes. She ,like Hood, was an "Eggshell armed with sledge hammers." Her armor was no match for Bismarck and might even be defeated by a lucky hit from The Prince.
She had a splended WW II war record From 1936-39 (thus her Nickname) the ship was completely rebuilt and re-engined at a cost of over £3,000,000, equal to the original expense of construction. Her first action after recommissioning was with the German battleship Scharnhorst and cruiser Admiral Hipper, off Northern Norway, in April 1940. After the Scharnhorst had been hit the enemy vessels managed to break off the engagement under cover of heavy weather. Not long afterwards the Renown became the flagship of Sir James Somerville in the Western Mediterranean. After engaging two Italian battleships at long range off Sardinia, she took part in the bombardment of Genoa.
The cruiser Sheffield was fast and agile enough to shadow the enemy and keep Pound appraised of Bismarck's location, but was no match for the Bismarck and had only about an even chance against Prince Eugen
The third ship of Force H, Ark Royal Pennant number: 91, offered the best hope of engaging an undmaged enemy successfully but her Air Group was drastically under strength.
Force H also included the modern destroyers Duncan, Iris, Encounter, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Firedrake, Fury, Foresight & Fearless. The cans were of different classes but they were all roughly the same excellent modern Detsroyers. Take HMS Duncan with a speed of 36 knots and armament of 4 4 4 QF 4.7-inch Mark IX guns, 1 3 in AA) gun, 2 single QF 2-pounder Mk II AA guns, 20 depth charges, 1 rail and 2 thrower
AND
2 quadruple 21 inch torpedo tubes armed with the now deadly accurate and reliable MK IX.
Mk IX had a ship killing 750 lbs. TNT warhead but it's top speed of only 36 kts at 10,500 yards was outclassed by the 40+ kt average of many of the wrold's torpedoes. The gold standardNazi Type 93 armed with a 1,080 lbs. warhead, made 36-38 knots at an astounding 43,700 yards, 40-42 knot at 35,000 yards and 48-50 knots at 21,900 yards.
Bismarck and Prince Eugen carried the steam powered G7 torpedoes with a standard torpedo warhead was 617lbs of TNT/HND/AL (a mixture of hexanitrophenylamine, trinitrotoluene and aluminum) and had three preset speeds – 44 knots at 5,000 yds, 40 knots at 7,500 ydsa dn 30 knots at 12,500 yds.
Asrk Royal was designed under the Washington Naval Treaty, built by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead,England, and completed in November 1938. Ark Royal was the first ship on which the hangars and flight deck were an integral part of the hull, instead of an add-on or part of the superstructure. She was designed to carry a large number of aircraft and had two hangar decks. Ark Royal was modern and powerful warship her boilers making 102,000 shp driving 3 shafts from 3 geared steam turbines for a flank speed of 31 knots; she had a max range of 7,600 nmi at 20 knots at 30 kts it was greatly reduced hence Pound's tanker support. 200 HP / 43,700 y Burner-cycle, 264 hp @ 41 kThe "Ark" was designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Ark Roya Her Complement of 1,580 officers and ratings manned 8 twin 4.5 in DP guns; 4 quadruple 40 mms and 8 quadruple .50 caliber AA Mgs; Armor a 4.5 inch belt, 3.5 over Deck boiler rooms and magazines. So she was no match for the prince let alone Bismarck during darkness. Lucky for her there was only 5 hours of darkness where TG Brinkmann was doing it's murdering and therefore 19 hours of flight operations, unless the North Atlantic decided to throw some very dirty weather ther way.
The Ark" was capable of operating 60 aircraft, she, like Victorious, had an incomplete complement of only 11 Fairey Swordfish biplane bombers. The upside for the RN was, these planes were flown by some of the most experienced airmen in the Royal Navy. Actually he was damn glad to carry the "Old String Bag" had proven herself in The Med, granted those were Italians not Germans, even if she looked like she belonged at Jutlland.
She was "designed" to carry 72 birds but actually could only manage 50–60. At this time she normally carried 36 Fairey Swordfish and 18 Fairey Fulmars but was very short handed now and only had 11 Swordfish. The Ops in the Med had taken a very heavy tole on the string bags and she had army Tomahawks aboard for a ferry mission cut short when Bismarck broke out.
Unfortuneatly, the Fulmars were not much help in attacking warships. Fulmars had very good endurance of six-hours at 140mph for reconnaissance, or three-hours at 175mph as an escort. Their top speed of 265 mph at 10,000ft was nothing to brag about. She did have a very good main armament of eight fixed forward 0.303in machineguns with at least 400 rounds per gun but no flexible mount aft for the observer. It was also supposed to carry two 250lb bombs but rearely did. The MK Is used at this time were not considered Dive Bombers and when used as"glide bombers" they were very vulnerbale to FLAK.
Fairey Swordfish Mk.1 was Mid-sized biplane torpedo bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. The TheFairey Swordfish employed a metal airframe covered in fabric. It had folding wings as a space-saving measure. In service, it received the nickname Stringbag; this was not due to its biplane struts, spars, and braces, but a reference to the seemingly endless variety of stores and equipment that the type was cleared to carry. Crews likened the aircraft to a housewife's string shopping bag, common at the time and which could accommodate contents of any shape, and that a Swordfish, like the shopping bag, could carry anything. She was used operationally for Scouting (now with her AVS set Radar search), ASW, Torpedo delivery and even a perfetcly capable Dive bomber.
Fairey's reasons for maintening it's biplane configuration however at the time sounded reasonable and well-thought out. The biplane configuration was already well-known and ensured a quicker development than a brand new venture (a leap the company made already years ago with the Hendon, not a sucess). The biplane configuration advantages largely matched its role: Priority was range, not speed. It was believed at the time that reconnaissance aircraft needed to be either biplanes or parasol monoplanes to ensure the best visibility. Cantilever monoplanes were notorious for their poor all-round visibility, akin the extreme competition planes that were developed. A biplane had more range and also more stability, which was ideal, both for reconnaissance and dropping a torpedo perfectly in line. It was also a configuration ideal for the well-winded decks of aircraft carriers and landed more smoothly, and on shorter distances. 27,720 long tons full load; had a length of .
29 MAY 1941 0715 Oberleutnant "Ritter" and Feldwebel Stachel were in a tight low level circle of Bismarck. Feldwebel Stachel had just signalled posit, ID and course and speed of Queen Mary to Lindemann
029 MAY 1941 0800 Captain Lt Dennis Moultron orders USCGC Muskeget (WAG-48) to general quarters . He then comes up on the 1MC (general announcing over speakers) “This is NO DRILL. That is all. Carry on.” If there was anybody aboard Muskeget who did not know as much as he did about this little rescue mission he was far too stupid for the Coast Guard and should have joined the navy.
29 MAY 1941 0930 USCGC Muskeget (WAG-48) arrives in the vicinity of HX-123’s last reported position early ( thanks to Ching. and his Black Gang squeezing more turns out of the old girl than anyone but them expected ) and finds nothing within visual range. Muskeget’s CO, Lt Dennis Moultron, orders a modified expanded square search favoring down wind, BM2C Coxswain “Dean” and his boat’s crew to muster at his Type T, 36-Foot Motor Lifeboat and for the davit crew to make all preps for an immediate launching.
029 MAY 1941 0953 (WAG-48) passes through a stinking. bunker oil slick dotted with debris and the obscene bodies of life jacketed dead seaman. Moultron orders the Motor lifeboat launched to look for life, not that there was much chance of anyone surviving for 10 hours in the North Atlantic without a lifeboat or a raft but he had to try. Against all odds they found Robert Squires AB, Crackers’ Rushall – born in New York but now an AB in the RN, Joseph Hill ‘The Pusser’(Supply Officer) and his number two, CPO Tom Hanlon, All from HMS AMC Derbyshire.
Muskeget’s 36 footer also picked up PO's John ‘Jack’ Barker, Harry ‘Tiddley’ Boneyard and John Aylard (coder) from HMS Chelsea.
029 MAY 1941 1100 (WAG-48) CO Moultron ordered his boat recalled and directed the OOD to double the lookouts and resume a normal expanding square search at standard speed as soon as the boat was recovered. He knew HX-123’s commodore had ordered the convoy to scatter prior to contact with the raider so they or, their boats and rafts, could be anywhere except in the direction the raider was coming from. He was going below to talk to the survivors, if any of them were in condition to. Got to figure these Lymies had to be damn tough to survive the massacre and 10 hours in the North Atlantic so there might be a chance of getting something useful out of them. The very newly commissioned USCGR LTJG “Saw Bones” now knew better than to argue with the CO. He came aboard with the insane ideas that he outranked Moultron in medical matters. The XO and his Chief disabused the brilliant young man of that notion.
29 MAY 1941 1430 Under Dover Castle at Commander-in-Chief Dover's HQ, Wren PO Pamela Lee answered Vice-Admiral Dover's private line. "This is Churchill get Vice-Admiral Ramsay on the line immediately." Vice Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay, KCB, KBE, MVO was summoned from his operations room and made it to his private, very secure line, in just under 9 minutes.
Ramsay " Ramsay here Sir, sorry for the delay."
Churchill "No time for regrets Bertie; not much time for any decencies these days. I am relieving Pound. You will replace him. I want you in London Tomorrow. Turn over Dover to your second for now. We will talk more about this later. For now get cracking."
Ramsay "Aye, Aye sir." At that the line went dead.
Ramsay "Petty Officer Lee ring my aide, he's in operations, and have him assemble the staff chiefs in my office in 15 minutes." Ever since "Dynamo" and King George VI subsequently made him a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath there had been talk that he would eventaully command "the whole Bloody Andrew" before he was finished. He had to admit he did think he had a fair chance but never thought it would happen this fast. After all he was only a Vice-Admiral and that was an Admiral's job surely.
10 downing St. London the PM's office. Winston sat back with a Whiskey and a good cigar. He really didn't like himself right now. Al Pound a real friend and a very good Admiral had to go and he was the one who had to kick him in the crotch. The hue and cry after the Denmark Straight fiasco had not yet died down with recriminations flying everywhere and many of them lighting on him. Now the very public destruction of HX-123 was really feeling the flames and it was so bad he and his cabinet could well fall. In his opinion that would be a major disaster and possibly cost the UK the war. He had to have some raw meet to toss to the wolves at Question Time" today to survive.
The Hero of Dunkirk Vice Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay, KCB, KBE, , everyone thought the Navy had done something right that time, was for polticial as well as professional and practical reasons the best man for the job. God help the poor bastard because he would have to make good very quickly or he would be sacrificed. Well being PM was a right bastard's job, the nation was lucky they had one named Winston available.
29 MAY 1941 1500 RN HQ Bunker under the Admiralty in London Signal Wren answered "Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound's" private line to Churchill's Bunker. "This is Churchill get The FIRST SEA LKORD on the line imediately." It took Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound less than five minutes to pick up the phone. "Pound here Sir"
Churchill "I am relieving you Alfred. Ramsay is your successor and should be there sometime tomorrow. I expect you to stay on the job for just as long as it takes for you and Ramsay to agree you have brought him up to speed on our current operations. I must announce your future departure at Questions Time tomorrow in the Commons at Noon.
Pound "Aye, Aye sir . I will do everything in my power to assist Bertie.
Churchill "I want you to know Alfred I am very sorry it has come to this. I would like to personally thank you for what you have done. Think about where you would like to serve next because we need you desperately. If at all possible I will see you get that job.
Pound "That is very kind of you Sir. I must admit I was surprised you didn't "chuck" me after the Denmark Straight but I can see the all too public massacre of HX-123 and the damn Fleet Street hue and cry has tied your hands."
Churchill "Alfred I have some experience being sacked for circumstances well beyond my control. I know your value and both weighed heavily in my decision to keep you on. When we have time, God alone knows when that will be, I would be delighted if you and Betty would join Clemmie and I at Checkers for a weekend."
At that the line went dead. The PM was on to other things and soon not to be First Sea Lord Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound, GCB, OM, GCVO hung up the hand set. Pound told his aide to have the senior staff join him in his office in a quarter hour. Pound smiled at the aide and added "I have a bit of news to give them." Pound's mind then turned to how best he could ease Vice Admiral Sir Bertram Home Ramsay, KCB, KBE, MVO into his new job as quickly as possible. Despite what the PM said he did not think it wise for him to be hanging around this headquarters as Bertie took up the reins of his new job. Just as a relieved skipper did no favors to his successor by being around to be compared to the former.
29 MAY 1941 1503 Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commanding Force H was not the only TG west of Lands End. TG Ciliax consisting of the Battle Cruisres KMS Scharnhorst & Gneisenau, heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and four type 1936A destroyers, under the command of Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax had sortied in support of TG Brinkmann had left Brest oon 25 May. What the Vizeadmiral did not know was that on 28 May 1941 0425 : RAF Supermarine Spitfire PR Mk.IG of No. 140 Squadron out of RAF Benson, on a routine recon of Brest harbor was shot down by ME-109. The German pilot was severely reprimanded by his CO for operating out of his patrol sector. He did know the Kriegsmarine had set up, with the help of Leni Riefenstahln and his staff, a very realistic PHONEY Movie set showing Both Battle Cruisers and the heavy Crusier Admiral Hipper were in the shipyard undergoing maintenance. The RAF daily recon flights had been fooled by the Movie Prop for three days and the brass wanted them to keep being fooled for as long as possible. At 0845 a replacement Spitfire PR Mk.IG of No. 140 Squadron out of RAF Benson, completed a successful recon of Brest harbor and found the three capital ships were still there. The Intel was reported to RN HQ. One less headache for the overworked staff.
U=boat and Condor recon flights had been very effective in guiding TG Ciliax away from the RN air and surface patrols but the reposoitioning of Force H had to be dealt with before he could carry out his primary mission Convoy Destruction.
TG Ciliax was a very powerful Surface Action Group (SAG) His flag Scharnhorst & her sister Gneisenau was, alternatively described as a battleship or battlecruiser, of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. She was the lead ship of her class, which included her sister ship Gneisenau. Built at the Kriegsmarinewerft dockyard in Wilhelmshaven; The Scharnhorst Class were the German response to the French battlecruisers Dunkerque and Strasbourg. The smallest modern battleships built, their main battery consisted of 9 x 11 inch guns in three turrets, two forward and one aft. These ships had a very low freeboard and took a lot of seawater forward when steaming a high speeds. The adoption of the atlantic bow only partially improved her seakeeping capability.
Scharnhorst Current C.O Kapitän zur See Kurt Hoffmann Gneisenau C.O. Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand completed in January 1939 Full load: 38,100 long tons, Length 770 ft, Beam 98.5 ft Draft 32ft 6 in In stalled Power 159,551 shp Speed 31 kts Range 7,100 nmi at 19kts Crew 1,669 Armament 9 11" SK C/34, 12 5.9" SK C/28, 14 × 4.1" SK C/33, 16 37 mm/L83 SK C/30 10 20 mm C/30 Armor Belt: 13.8" Deck: 2.0 to 3.7", Turrets: 7.9 to 14.2" ,Conning tower: 14.2" Aviation facilities 3 Arado Ar 196A-3 1 catapult Radar Seetakt
Admiral Hipper Heavy Cruiser current C.O. Kapitän zur See Wilhelm Meisel Commissioned April 1939: under. July-September 1939: Modifications. Atlantic bow, funnel cap added. Displacement: FL 18,200 long tons Length OA 665 ft 4in, Beam 69ft 11in, Draft FL 24 ft Installed power 132,000 shp, Propulsion 3 Blohm & Voss steam turbines 3 × propellers Speed 32 knots, Range 6,800 nmi at 20 kts Crew 42 officers 1,340 enlisted Armament 8 8 in, 12 4.1 in SK C/33, 12 37 mm SK C/30, 8 20 mm C/30 , 12 21 in torpedo tubes in tripple mounts and 6 depth charge launchers. Fire control: 5 x 21 ft base rangefinders. Radar 2 FuMO 26.
Armor Admiral Hipper-class ships were protected by Krupp steel armor, of both Wotan Hart and Wotan Weich types. The ships had two armored decks to protect the ship from vertical attacks. The upper deck was 1.2 in thick amidships to protect the ships' vitals. At either end, the deck was reduced to 1/2 inch .The bow and stern was not protected by deck armor. The main armored deck was 0.8 to 2 in thick. Both decks were Wotan Hart steel. The main armored belt was 3.1 in thick amidships and reduced to 2.8 in thick aft. An interior 1 inch thick torpedo bulkhead protected the ships' vitals from underwater attack. The ships' main battery turrets were protected by 4.1 in thick faces and 3 inch sides and roofs. The 4.1 inch guns were equipped with 1/4 to 1/2 in thick gun shields. The forward conning tower had 6 in thick sides and a 2.0 in roof. The after conning tower was significantly less well armored, with only splinter protection. It's sides and roof were 1 inch thick. with a 1 inch splinter The AA fire directors were also given splinter protection, with 3/4 inch thick shields.
The Type 1936A DD also known as the Z23 class, and known to the Brits as the Narvik class were built in Bremen by AG Weser (part of Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG/Deschimag). Eight ships of the Type 1936A design (Z23 to Z30) were all laid down between 1938 and 1940. This class of fifteen destroyers were in common with other German destroyers launched after the start of World War II, were unnamed, known only by their hull numbers – Z23 to Z39. The Narviks were closer to light cruisers than the typical destroyer with their twin 5.9 in mounts. Despite being powerful the ships, they did, like all new classes of ships, have some initial problems. There were problems with the reliability of the high pressure steam engines and seakeeping in rough seas due to the newly designed bow and heavy forward artillery. The engine problems were soon solved but the yard birds were less successful with the bows. Another case of stuffing too much gun in too small a ship.
Z23, Z24, Z25, Z26, were chosen by the Vizeadmiral for their long endurance compared to most Kriegsmarine destroyers. Long is a very relative term. For a European Operations area fleet a range of 2,600 nmi on two boiler steaming was more than adaquate, but it was not impressive at all compared it's USN Gleaves class contemporary range of 6,500 nmi on half their 4 boiler plant. Their RN Contemporaries of the "J", "K" and "N" classes managed Range 6,300 nmi at 15 kts and 5,500 nmi at 20kts on half her plant. Special precuations had been built into the plan to unrep these short legged Eierschalen, bewaffnet mit Thors Hammer (Egg shells armed with Thor‘s Hammer).
The Narviks had an OA Length of 417 ft, Beam 39 ft 4 in, Draft 14 ft Displaced 2,543–2,657 long tons at standard load. Hulls were divided into 16 watertight compartments and they were fitted with a double bottom that covered 47% of their length amidships. Crew 11–15 officers & 305–20 enlisted. The type 1936As were powered by two Wagner geared steam turbine sets, each driving a single three-bladed 10 ft 6 in propeller, using steam provided by six high-pressure Wagner water-tube boilers with superheaters that operated at a pressure of 1,029 psi and a temperature of 842–896 °F. That is a very high pfressure and temp for a WW II DD Plant. The turbines were designed to produce 69,000 shp for Flank Speed 36 knots . The ships carried a maxim 822 long tons) of fuel oil.
Armament Main Battery by May 1941 consisted of five 5.9 TbtsK C/36 naval rifles in a twin-gun turret forward and the three other guns in single mounts with gun shields aft of the main superstructure. The single mounts had a range of elevation from −10° to +30° while the guns in the turret could be elevated to 65°. The TbtsK C/36 gun fired 100 lb projectiles, vs USN DD 55 lb round, at a muzzle velocity of 2,740 ft/s which gave them a maximum range of 24,000 yds vs USN DD's Max surface range of 18,000 yards The hand-loaded gun had a maximum rate of fire of 7–8 rounds per minute. An average USN 5"38 crew in rapid Fire mode with integral hoists could manage 15 - 22 rounds per minute. The type 1936As carried a total of 480 man battery rounds.
AA Battery consisted of four 37mm (1.5 in) SK C/3 guns in two twin mounts abreast the aft funnel. These power operated mounts had a max elevation of 85° which gave the guns a ceiling of 22,300 ft; surfcae action range of 9,300 yds)at an elevation of 37.5° at 30 rounds per minute. The mounts were stabilized, but their gyroscopes were undersized and could not cope with sharp turns or heavy rolling. Also fitted with five to ten fully automatic 20 mm C/30 guns in quadruple and single mounts. The gun had an effective rate of fire of about 120 rounds per minute. Its projectiles were fired at a muzzle velocity of 2,740 ft/s which gave it a ceiling of 12,100 ft and a maximum surface action range of 5,200 yd.
8 21 inch torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts. Two reloads were provided for each mount. The standard torpedo for the Type 36B destroyers was the G7a torpedo. It had a 660 lb warhead and three speed range settings: 15,000 yd at 30 knots, 8,700 yds at 40 knots and 6,600 yds) at 44 knots. They had four depth charge launchers and mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck, max capacity of 60 mines.
Sonar/Asdic 'GHG' (Gruppenhorchgerät) passive hydrophones were fitted to detect submarines and a S-Gerät sonar was also fitted. Radar FuMO 24/25 radar set above the bridge
29 MAY 1941 1505 WAG-48's CO had a tough decision to make. His talk with the senior and only Commissioned survivor of HX-123 Lt. Joseph Hill and a Pork Chop (supply Officer at that) didn’t tell him much. The one thing he did learn was that COMMODORE: R-Adm H ROGERS MVO OBE had ordered his merchies to scatter at about 1900 yesterday. That was 20 hours ago. Those that survived would have cranked up to whatever was their max, plus some, speed and headed in every direction but East. That big Nazi raider could probably do 30 kts and she would have scout planes so the chances for the ships were pretty damn small but, so far this Nazi bastard has not machine gunned survivors, so any life boats and rafts that got away could hold a good bag of survivors. He had the last position of more than a few of HX-123’s ships because his Radio gang had recorded the desperate individual ships May Days and positions. His QMC had plotted those “posits” on the chart he was now staring at. Problem was 20 hours had passed and the winds had been variable. His best bet was to go for the closely spaced “Early” May Days. As time went on the posits were more spread out. He did some rough drift calculations and ordered the OOD to bring Muskeget to an intercept course at full speed.
Lt. Moultron then drafted a message to Commandant First CG District in Boston, informed him of what he just found out, his intentions to look for survivor lifeboats and rafts, his best guess position of those boats and a request for air support from any navy units around with float planes.
29 MAY 1941 1515 WAG-48's message was recieved at First CG District in Boston, given it’s high precedence it was immediately decoded, routed to the duty staff officer who ran it into his Boss.
29 MAY 1941 1600 the Commandant First CG District was on the secure line with Admiral USN Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. King was eager to help out “The Coastie” and told him he did have some SOC equipped ships in the area. He would send out an immediate to the TG and order them to provide aerial search ASAP coordinated with WAG-48. King then transferred the call to his staff watch officer to work out the details and to send the message to Hewitt as an "immdeiate execute", high priority precedence over "King Sends".
29 MAY 1941 1645 Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt was reading Ernie Kings latest. Since he was already heading that way at 25 kts and he had plenty of SOCs he’d just have his COS (Chief of Staff), first acknowledge compliance to King and then contact that cutter skipper and work out where to send one of his scout planes as soon as TG39.1 came within range. The CoStaff was concerned about EMCOM and ordered his Comm officer to contact that cutter using the coasties own frequencies and make it look like two cutters talking search and rescue to each other. Since S&R transmissions are normally not encoded it would go out plain text. “Tell him we would comply with his Search Request but don’t mention the SOCs. Those Coasties are smart boys he’ll understand.”
Between The Show Boat and Brooklyn TG39.1 carried 7 SOCs. So far those biplanes had been very reliable and accident free; it was unusual not to have at least 6 available for ops and for brief period all 7 were Up checked. He kept a continuous daylight sub search going that used up three, he also conducted pre dawn launch and late afternoon long range searches along sectors that covered his projected track and where he thought the Nazi TG would be operating in. Ching Lees TC team and was his staff were really doing a great job keeping track of what both the Brits and Germans were up to in his op area. He was pretty sure he was searching the right patches of ocean.
"29 MAY 1941 1500 RN HQ Bunker under the Admiralty . Fleet Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound's" Communication's Officer stared in rage at the duty signals CPO. In his hand was a signal with a date time group of 282110AMAY41. It was an immediate priority spotting report from a Catalina returning from an ASW sweep of the area of 24 ship Troop Convoy UK Gourock to Suez WS 12. It had been delayed at the by a combination of equipment failure and bad "atmospherics" coupled by a change of the watch emeregency. It had only been found an hour ago by the HQ duty signals CPO whose habit was to review all priority message traffic for the last few days after he had settled the watch down following the change over. The Commo then raced out the door heading straight for Pound's office.
Pounds aid tried to stop him but the Commo rushed past him and said "Pardon me Sir but you have tio read this now,many lives are at stake."
Fleet Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound" read the message whose import was that a Kriegsmarine task group with three capital ships and four destroyers was in the vicinity of troop 12. The only RN TG which could possibly intercept that TG was Force H which he had ordered out of it's station that was meant to cover a run by TG Lindeman to Brest and still cover WS 12. It had to be The twins had broken out of Brest some time before. His Recon flights must have been fooled because the last he heard they were still in harbor.
He then turned to the Commo "Prioity signals
First to Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville Force H. Appriase him of the situation especially the vulnerbaility of WS 12, the last known position and make up of the Kriegsmarine TG, my opinion of who those ships are and that he was to postion himself to engage that TG before it could attack WS 12.
Second to Commodore, Admiral Bertram I. Thesiger, WS 12 in was in Strathaird and the escort comander, advise them of everything we know and that Force H is making best speed to intercept the German TG. He is free to make whatever changes to his routing to increase the chances WS 12 will survive.
3rd to RAF Coastal Command. Inform them of all we know and request whatever aid they can supply, especially recon and bomber support. Go NOW.
He then picked up the private line to the Prime Minister. "Churchill here Alfred, I hope this is good news."
Pound "No sir it is not" and then he told Winstion the situation and what steps he was taking to counter the Germans.
The PM "That convoy has over 20,000 troops don't you think you should scatter it NOW?"
Pound " Somerville and force H should be able to deliver torpedo and bomber attacks against that task group before they come in range of WS 12. If Commodore Thesiger, " scatters them they will be easy prey for the U-boats sir."
The PM " Do you have that much confidence in your ability to tell the future Admiral? Of late you have not done particularly well against our German naval friends. I want to hear Ramsay's opinion before I endorse your plan. "
Pound "Vice Admiral Ramsay is in transit. I can't get a coded dispatch to him while he is in the air. Time is of the essence Sir. I have already sent out my orders to Somerville, SW 12 commodore and the RAF. I will advise him of the situation as soon as I can get him on a secure phone line, that should be in about an hour and a half. Until then I must urgently request you to go along with my initial disposition Sir."
The PM there was silence on the line for about 5 minutes and then. "Very well Admiral I grant you your request, really nothing else I can do. If Ramsey agress with your plan YOU will still be MY First Sea Lord and in command of the upcoming action. For all our sakes, especilly those soldiers in WS 12 I pray you are victorious. If there is any assistance I can provide you ask immediately."
The line went dead. Winston took another big pull at his whiskey and muttered "Why did I want this Fucking Job. Is this HIS way of teaching a vain old man a lesson in humility?
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
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Nik_SpeakerToCats
- Posts: 1199
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Re: THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 1 & 2
Nik you are much too kind.
This is my first attempt at writing fiction.
I had to think long and hard before subjecting you and the rest of Skipper Craig's HPCA crew to my scribbling. I will do better in future.
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 11
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 11
29 MAY 1941 2015 Rudel (Wolf Pack) Werwolf OTC Korvettenkapitän Unno von Fischel (U-87) rendezvoued at a point outside Ark Royals normal ASW patrol within easy striking distance of Force H's projected track. The type XIV 'Milch Cow' (U-459) Korvettenkapitän Georg von Wilamowitz-Möllendorf, had unrepped the Rudel on 25 May was waiting for the Rudel at the rendezvous and transfer fuel and torpedoes, spares, mail and food. The role of the Milch Cow was to support the operating VII and IX fighting U-boats by delivering supplies and ammunition. These boats were very successful, especially in extending the patrols of the smaller TypeVIIs, until Enigma intercepts, vastly improved allied radar and better air coverage of the Atlantic eliminated them during 1943. The Milch Cows were a very high priority target for all Allied forces.
U-87 Korvettenkapitän Unno von Fischel Type VIIB,
U-102 Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Bleichrodt Type VIIB,
Wartime experience showed that the only real drawback of the VIIA was the small fuel storage for the role intended. This was mostly fixed in the VIIB which had additional 33 tons of fuel in external saddle tanks which gave them additional range of about 2500nm at 10 knots. They were also considerably more powerful and slightly faster than the VIIA . These boats (and all following designs) had two rudders instead of the one found on the VIIA. This gave them even more agility. The ability to turn inside an escort was a major factor in a U-boats survival.
VIIB had the same armament as the VIIA, 4 bow torpedo tubes and one tube at the stern. The only major armament difference was that 3 additional torpedoes could be stored for a total of 14. Type VIIB included many of the most famous U-boats during World War 2, including Kretschmer's U-99, U-48 which was the most successful U-boat, Prien's U-47 and Schepke's U-100.
U-208 Oberleutnant zur See Alfred Schlieper,Type VIIC
U-374 Oberleutnant zur See Unno von Fische Type VIIC ,
The VIIC was the workhorse of the German U-boat force in World War Two from 1941 onwards. They were a slightly modified version of the successful type VIIB boats. They had basically the same engine layout and power, but were slightly larger and heavier which made them not quite as fast as the VIIB. 5 torpedo tubes (4 at the bow and one at the stern) were installed in all but a handfull of boats U-325 Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Heinsohn Type VIIC/41.
Heinrich Bleichrodt Type VIIC/41 was a slightly modified VIIC, with the same engine layout, power and Armament . The major change was these boats had a stronger pressure hull giving them more depth to evade attack under (operational 360 ft and crush depth at 750 ft VIIC's 300/600). They also had lighter machinery to compensate for the added steel in the hull making them slightly lighter than the VIIC.
The orders to Rudel Werwolf were simple. They were to penetrate Force H's destroyer screen and pump their G7s into the hulls of as many of Admiral Somerville's ships as they could, prior to TG Ciliax closing for a surface action. BdU, OKM and OKW were all looking to the Rudel and TG Ciliax to an convoy WS ihilate Force H.
29 MAY 1941 2300 since Force H’s course change the submerged 5 boat Rudle was in position just outside Force H’s destroyer screen early and began their runs in. OTC Korvettenkapitän Unno von Fischel (U-87) had decided on a modified surfaced action. It was now full dark; nautical dusk ended at 2258. They had to beat the Type 128 ASDIC. A 2250 BT drop had show a 10 degree temperature gradient at 180 ft. SOP for his Rudle was to go in under the layer with a limited amount of quick ascents above to give their hydrophones a chance to update their passive solution. When they got past the screen they would make a few periscope sweeps and then pump Eels into everything in range, dive below the layer, wait for the confusion and then surface and make for the heavies. They did not have to sink Renown and Ark Royal but they did have to damage them enough to cut down their max speed and maneuverability. Of course a kill of either or both capital ships would not displease their master at BdU.
They also had to reduce Somerville’s destroyers because the nasty little terriers armed with the reliable Mk IX with a ship killing 750 lbs. TNT warhead. Like every weapon it had a weakness; it's top speed of only 36 kts at 10,500 yards. With 8 Eels per each of 10 DDs that was 80 chances to at least damage one of “The Twins” and that would end their primary mission; killing convoys. Destroyers Duncan, Iris, Encounter, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Firedrake, Fury, Foresight & Fearless were in a bent line screen with outside pickets ahead of the line if advance and on the port and starboard bows at between 5 and ten miles.
These damn “Fegers” were all roughly the same. Speed of would be about 36 knots, main armament of armament of 4 single QF 4.7-inch guns, 1 rail, 2 throwers but only 20 depth charges, about half what the dedicated convoy escorts carried. The bad news was these destroyers carried the excellent L band Type 128 ASDIC. However there was the fact these “Battle Force” destroyers spent a lot of their time doing things other than hunting and killing poor honest U-Boat men Unno thought with a smile. They were not dedicated ASW ships and therefore the skill level of their ASDIC operators captains and ASW teams were not as consistently high as those in the dedicated escorts.
So far his Rudel had beat both the outside pickets and those Radar equipped biplanes with their “Mückes (FuMB 25) A radar detectors and emergency crash dives. Once inside the formation Mücke was pretty much useless.
TG Ciliax was closing to finish off and anihilate FORCE H .
The battlecruiser HMS Renown, could make 31 knots and her six 15 inch guns could sink every ship in TG Ciliax. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau's also had a flank speed of 31 kts. They had to endure Renown's 15 inch shells until they closed to their 11 inch maximum effective range, (you raelly can't expect a lot of hits at max effective range) and get a lot closer to swamp her with their 18 main battery. Anyone one of Renown, 2,000 lb AP projectiles could defeat their armor and cripple the ship if they hit in the right place. Renown had a very well earned reputation as an excellent gunnery ship but German firecontrol, both optical and radar difrected was superior what the Royal navy had. Furthermore, the Krupp special alloy steel in their armor was superior to Renown's WW I plates.
HMS Ark Royals aircraft could also sink TG Ciliax 3 capital ships, especially those damn torpedo carrying String Bags. Fortunately TG Lindeman had transmitted a full account of Bismarck's experience with those unexpectedly slow biplanes. That lesson had been transmitted to ALL Kriegsmarine ships. TG Ciliax had made the neccessary adjustmenst to their fire control systems, using their own Arado's to duplicate the attack runs of the Swordfish. and had drilled the firecontrol and gun crews relentlessly. The Fulmars were not considerd much of a risk except to his scout planes. Glide bomb attack with 250 lb weapons were a recipe for suicide but they were piloted by highly skilled, brave men and they might just get lucky. Every sailor knows the old adage. Scheiße passiert besonders auf See (shit happens especially at sea).
29 MAY 1941 2335, the 5 boats of Werwolf Rudel, as previously ordered, made their runs on the escorts. The fact they could just "hover", bows on which greatly reduced the possibility the Brit's excellent 128 ASDIC operators finding them as the doomed (they hoped) escorts were making directly for them considerably. Each boat was assigned a specific escort starting from the starboardmost of the bent line screen as #1 to the 5th from thend as #5 and moving to port to ensure a single Can did not eat all the G7s. Each boat fired two G7s at each escort, then dived below the layer, immediately reloading thier two empty forward tubes.,and proceeded inside the savaged screen making for their two prime targets Renown and Ark Royal.
Of the ten type 7's fired 6 found targets; two escorts Duncan (with the screen commander aboard) and Fearless were sunk outright and 2 more Jupiter and Iris were mission kills, in that they were out of the fight until the dockyard matey's could put them back together.
Once safely past the screen the boats surfaced to "decks awash" and made for their primary targets at best speed "on the electrics". During this time the TG was making a radical formation change away from the stricken escorts presnting their broadsides to the Rudel. Time was of the essence and the U-boats took great risks to get off their warshots as soon as they identified their game. Ark Royal was targetted by U-325 Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Heinsohn Type VIIC/41 and Unno von Fischel U-87. Both boat's superbly trained Torpedomen had reloaded the forward tubes in record time and she was attacked by six eels fired at a fair angle at long but under max range at the high speed setting. Ark Royals "Pouncer" HMS Devoted's radar picked up the boats shortly after her first EEL launch, immediately warned Ark Royal and raced down the bearing to U-87 and ate one of the T7's with devastating results ( forward mag exploded no survivors) that damaged another T-7. Now The Ark had 4 T-7s chasing her but she was making Flank speed and maneuvering to clear the torpedo danger area.
Oberleutnant zur See Unno von Fische's Type VIIC U- 374 attack on HMS Jersey was catastrophically foiled by the DD's veteran PO ASDIC Operator. He decided to switch to flashlight mode i.e. Active Narrow Beam. Which concentrated all the power of the omnidirection beam into a very narrow 30 degree sector. This mode was usually only employed during an attack run but it was also helpful to check on a very minor return echo which almost invariably was just a school of fish. Not this time.
Jersey's XO was in the Asdic hut and instantly notified the CO it had to be a U-boat on an attack course and she was close. The CO immediately ordered a minor course change and then asked "Do you still hold that contact Jimmy?" The reply was "Yes sir and it has to be a U-boat". The CO ordered an emergency attck run on the sub. She launched a full pattern of DCs at shallow depth, as soon as the "instantaneous echo" report came from the ASDIC hut. Then came to flank speed and turned to port to avoid HMS Foreasight. Two of the Mark VII's detonated 50 feet below and within 80feet of Oberleutnant zur See Unno von Fische's boat. The 420 lb charges with 290 lbs of explosive stove in part of the hull and caused the sub to broach. The after 4.7 inch mounts and the heavy 20 mm AA guns opened up at point blank range immediately. As the destroyer came around her forward main and AA battery mounts were unmasked and added to the salvoes hitting on and around the foundering sub. The combination of the MK VII's and the fusilade of short range AP gunfire sent U-374 down with all hands.
30 MAY 1941 0034 U-102 Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Bleichrodt Type VIIB and Oberleutnant zur See Alfred Schlieper's,Type VIIC U-208 got into range of battlecuiser Renown, Somerville's flag ship. Pound initially had ordered Renown's captain Guy Tremain Tarlton not to close within range of Bismarck alone; that order was rescinded as these were desperate times. HMS Renown "Refit" to her prewar professional crew, was of 32,000 tons, 31 knots Battle Cruiser with 3 twin 15 inch guns, 10 twin 4.5 in DP guns, 3 octuple 40 mm AA guns and 4 floatplanes. Her armor had been upgraded but was still no match for Bismarck but had an even chance against the Twins and was proof against anything but a very, very lucky hit from The Prince.
Unlike Hood Renown had completed an extensive modernization in 1936. The ship's engines and boilers were replaced by Parsons geared turbine sets and eight Admiralty three-drum boilers. This saved some 2,800 long tons of weight. Her anti-torpedo bulges were deepened and reworked. The bulge was longer too, covering from the submerged torpedo room to “Y” barbette magazine. Its inner compartments were filled with crushing tubes. With these new bulges, the beam took 12 feet 8 inches while the extra weight made the draught deeper from 1 foot 4 inches.
The alarm was out and both U-boats were forced to shoot from extreme but effective range of the T-7s fastest speed. U-102 fired three fish at the Battlecruiser and U-208 fired three at Ark Royal, holding one forward tube for self defense and then crash dived to avoid the madly charging destroyers. All three of Bleichrodt's torpedoes hit the Battle Cruiser but one's warhead was only a low order detonation causing no shock damage and only a few minor leaks.
EEL 2 hit low on the anti-torpedo bulge and the anti-torpedo "system" held strong with moderate flooding of the spaces provided for that and the main hull still intact. She had lost very little combat effectiveness at this point.
It was the third T-7 that did the real damage. The Torpedo hit between two fire rooms and although the bulge and reamainder of the anti-torpedo systen did mitigate the impact of the warhead so much shock damage was done to the boilers that her 31kts speed was reduced to 25. She was still a very formidable warship.
Oberleutnant zur See Alfred Schlieper's,Type VIIC U-208, like her packmate, was also forced to fire her three 660 lb warhead T-7es from extreme but effective range of the T-7es fastest speed. Ark Royal's 102,000 shp driving 3 shafts from 3 geared steam turbines were driving her at 30 knots. Her armor was limited to 4.5 inch belt and 3.5 over Deck boiler rooms and magazines. She had a three-layered anti-torpedo & side protection system. A void-liquid-void scheme. It was designed to resist a 750-pound warhead torpedo. Below deck, machinery spaces were protected by 4.5-inch of belt armor. There was also a waterline armored deck to “enclose the box”, 3.5 in thick over the boiler rooms and magazines. Compartmentation helped to mitigate the effect of a torpedo hit, but bulkheads were thin, and there was no proper bulge. In fact only one T-7e hit at the #2 main machinery space but the combnation of shock damage and flooding reduced Ark Royals flank speed to 22 kts. That was just fast enough, with a moderate head wind, to launch and recover her String Bags and Fulmars. SeaHurries and Sea Spits would have been a real problem.
1. Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville, was determined to engage TG Ciliax before the Nazi's could sink WS 12. It would be good if the
RAF could find TG Ciliax again and then slow down the Nazi's but he was relying more on Force H. He had air scouts and he had both torpedo and bomber aircraft of his own. He also had the 15 inch guns of his Battle Cruiser his own Heavy cruiser and six of his torpedo loaded destroyers.
Force H might be bloodied but they were still a match for the Nazi TG, with just a bit of luck. "Jimmy" Somerville had always been lucky when it really counted. The RN had not had much luck lately and it was about time that changed.
30 MAY 1941 0230 OTC of Ruder Werewolf Korvettenkapitän Unno von Fischel (U-87) Transmitted his after action report to BdU, Info Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax OTC TG Ciliax aboard Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand Gneisenau. The Vizeadmiral shared the messsage with Netzbrand and his COS., For the loss of One boat and 62 good men , the damage of one boat that had to return to St. Nazaire and the modorate damage of two boats that could make repairs at sea with the help of the The type XIV 'Milch Cow' (U-459) Korvettenkapitän Georg von Wilamowitz-Möllendorf, Milch cow, Ruder Werewolf had damaged both Ark Royal and the accursed Renown along with eliminating half of the RN destroyers force. Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand's Gneisenau welcomed the upcoming battle especially with HMS Renown. It was Renown that badly mauled his Gneisenau and killed his men off the southern coast of the Lofoten Islands. He would sink that Englander and wipe clean the record of his ship. 200 .
Burner-cycle, 264 hp @ 41 kThe "Ark" was designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Ark Roya30 30 May 1941 0500 (WAG-48) CO Moultron was writing his report on the HX-123 survivor rescue as his ship continued a full power run to the last reported position of The Queen Mary. On the plus side they did not miss a weather transmission so his primary mission was accomplished. The actual rescue Op was a mixed bag. It had started off much better than he feared with the rescue of Robert Squires AB, Crackers’ Rushall, Joseph Hill (SupO), CPO Tom Hanlon, All from HMS AMC Derbyshire. Muskeget’s boat picked John ‘Barker, Harry, Boneyard and John Aylard from HMS Chelsea. He thought that Nazi BB or CA would have blown that converted liner and those spavin old Cans out of the water with all hands lost. There were a lot of stories about the Nazi’s machine gunning life boats and the poor bastards who had to abandon without a boat of raft would be killed by hypothermia, in less than an hour, even in May this far North.
The modified expanding square search had found nothing initially. Things began to look up at 29 May 1206 when one of the lookouts reported a “life boat” bearing 030 degrees relative. He had ordered the OOD to bring the cutter to that heading and 15 minutes later they found one lifeboat and three Carly rafts roped together with 43 survivors from HM Corvette DIANTHUS, SS KINROSS, SS OSTENDE, SS PACHESHAM and HMS VERITY (modified W-class DD).
That made the score 50, although all of the the “survivors” were in rough shape; the burn cases were least likely to survive. The CO of VERITY, LCDR George Ericson RNR, was in good enough shape to help plan the continued search. His knowledge of the particulars of the convoy was invaluable. Based on his info Moultron modified the box searched.
They came across the next Lifeboat at 29 May 1356. There were only 9 survivors from the Dutch freighter JAARSTROOM. She had been carrying ammo and blew up ejecting the lifeboat into the sea. The survivors had been topside aft, part of the old World War I surplus 12-pounder, ‘DEMS (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships and Service), Gunners. Sgt (Gunner) Keith Lockhard, senior survivor, said they found themselves blown off the ship and landed right next to the bleeding boat. Well all but Nobby Banks who landed in the boat. He has two broken ankles but was able to throw us a rope. That made the bag 59 and counting.
TG39.1’s Seagull found them at 29 May 1515. Using blinker light Moultron and the SOC crew established search arcs for the aircraft. The SOC had three hours on station before they had to return to USS Brooklyn CL-40. In those three hours the Seagull lead (WAG-48) two 136 survivors. That made it 195 seaman rescued. Not a bad day’s work for the Coasties. By this time Muskeget was well outside her weather ship box. For the last minutes of his time the SOC Pilot had conducted a very thorough area search and informed Moultron there was no sign of any additional boats, rafts or wreckage.
30 May 0615 WS 12 and what was left of Force H are in for some real trouble from "The Twins". The Troop Convoy, WS 12, is about 250 miles South West of La Caruna Southern tip Bay of Biscay. Force H is North West of WS 12 desperately trying to get between the convoy and The Twins TG. Rudel (Wolf Pack) Werwolf has savaged Force H, sinking 2 destroyers, damaging two so badly they were unable to keep up with even the reduced speed of Force H 22 kts and damaging both Ark Royal and Renown. Both capital ships were still combat effective, as their man batteries were intact but with reduced engineering capabilities. Renown had taken three torpedo hits and Ark Royal one. The Twins are heading toward Force H under an overcast of low lying clouds that have shielded them from Ark Royal's air search so far.
30 May 0630 HMS Cambletown was now making 9 kts on her way to Halifax for major repairs to her after deck house and engineering plant. Her capatin, Lcdr Lord Teynham , had gotten some very much needed shut eye on his bridge chair (with the safety belt to keep him in it), as did his crew.
The one bright spot out of the HX-123's massacre was when The OLD Gift Horse's starboard lookout spotted a lifeboat almost dead ahead a day ago. It contained 19 cold and angry seamen including Captain Roel Hendrikx from a crew of 43 from the Dutch freighter JAARSTROOM, 2,480 tons, launched in 1922 whose cargo of peanuts would never reach Liverpool. Two of the Stokers were not liekly to live because of their steam burns. Captain Hendrix had made it clear although he was furious with the Mofs (Germans) he was not too well disposed toward the Royal Navy just now after loosing 24 good men because the escort did not do their job. Lord Teynham just let that true but unfair remark pass.
He was also quite pleased with his mostly young and inexperienced crew. Thank God for the all to light sprinkling of old hand RN PO's he had. Asdic PO Miletus had done exceptionally well and was in for a “bump” soon. Miletus had a really thankless job teaching junior ASDIC Operator Benny Hill; not that he was not intelligent enough it was just he was so damn new. There was only so much the Senior ASDIC PO could do, while standing watches and doing repairs to the ASDIC in the short time. Another one of his headaches was “ASDIC Watch Officer” in name only at this point, Sub Lieutenant Peter Sellers RNVR, with all of 4 months service. Lord Teynham was pretty sure in time, with luck, which was in very short supply in HMS Cambletown, he would become more of an asset than a hazard to the Old Gift Horse.
They were steaming in the RN equivalent of USN condition 3 (wartime steaming) with 1/3 of the weapons and ALL his sensors manned. The Chief ERA had done wonders along with the Engineering Officer and even the newest "Stoker" under hellish conditions. Once again he and the old Gift Horse had failed and once again they had survived. Out of six fired one or two torpedoes should have at least slowed down that Nazi bastard , but the Nazi's Luck of the Devil held. The Raider thought so little of his Cambletown that she just brushed by her with a few shots from the secondary battery, one of which did more than enough damage, on her way to savage her charges and did not even come back to finish the Gift Horse off. As he took a pull of his rum laced Tea he thought "And I alone am left to tell the tale!" That Melville could coin the right phrase for the occasion.
30 May 0700 Veteran, civilian cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman of USCG Lcdr Jones’ Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387” had come across some intel that prompted Commandant First CG District to send an urgent message to his friend Admiral USN Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. The message contained the recently decoded signal to a senior Nazi Agent in New York regarding death of Admiral Lutgens and the appointment of his Uncle, Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann as OTC of TG Brinkmann.
30 May 0730 Ernie King appraised ONI of the change and wanted his file on his desk in one hour. He also wanted an assessment of the charcater, tactical and strategic competence of Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann and anything else that would help himself and Admiral Hewitt undretsand what this new oppononet was likely to do. "And I want it Yesterday!"
He then told his aide to get his COS in here ASAP. When the long suffering staffer came in Ernie and he hashed out if King had the authority to inform the Brits of the finding. Given that the USN was still operating under the “ABC-1” Joint Staff agreement which defined what roles US and UK forces would play while the United States was still neutral he had some leeway. ABC-1 formally authorized and encouraged the long established, tactical and technical information sharing between OpNav and the Admiralty. It also authorized cross posting of USN and RN Officers to share latest operational practices and TIMELY intel sharing. They decided to go through OpNav.
30 May 0750 CNO Stark's COS (Chief of staff) replied to King's message that OpNav would contact the Brits immediately with the news about TG Brinkmann. He would also request whatever the Brit's had on Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann and forward it to King as soon as they got it.
30 May 0900 TG39.1 Admiral Hewitt had his orders to find the Brinkmann TG. He was to continuing on his course to intercept the Nazi Capital ship(s) unless otherwise ordered. King also told Hewitt to give the crew of the SOC a well done from him.
The information about the massacre of HX-123 brought back by Helenna's Seagull yesterday at 1930, was followed by a brief, but concise message to Admiral King about the rescue and fate of the convoy and escorts. King shared that message with the CNO who soon called "Ernie" back asking for any additional info or intel on the Bismarck TG. King had a little but not much to add. The CNO informed King POTUS FDR had heard about HX-123, was furious and had ordered Stark to report to the White House ASAP for an update and "Strategy session". The outcome of that Session was to mobilize more assets in the hunt for the Nazi TG and to reiterate King's spoken, secret special ROE's to Hewitt about what he was to do when, not IF, he found the Nazi raiders. Hewitt had shared those ROE's with his second in command Ching Lee, who was itching to match HIS BB against the Buismarck.
30 May 0915 an execute to follow signal was two blocked to BB-55's yardarm. Signal read TG39.1 will engage in exercises to be used against a Force of One BB and one CA without a destroyers screen. Light off all boilers and prepare for rapid course, speed and formation changes. Advise, by signal light, when your command is in all respects ready for today's exercises.
30 May 0918 The signal was hauled down and Executed.
30 May 0925 CO BB-55 Ching Lee ordered all boilers to be brought on the line ASAP without endangering the plant. He then went to the TC where he found LT. Tolley and CRM O'Shea. The with the XO commander Stryker and Ops Boss soon joined them. They reviewed Rear Admiral Hewitt's Battle doctrine and the status of the radar, firecontrol, main and secondary battery.
GM2c Borgnino USN (AKA Ernie Borgnine) and 1st Sgt Carlo Morano were inspecting the heavy machine gun / light Marine manned AA Battery's ready use weapons and ammo per the battle bill when the "Growler" screeched. It was the Assistant Gunnery Officer ordering him to assist the GM3 working on the train mechanism of mount 52. He turned to "Carlo" and said "You sea going bell hops fucked up mount 52 again." 1st Sgt Carlo Morano, upholding the honor of the USMC fires back "Everyone knows you Swab Jockeys always give the Marine Det the most fucked up mount to play with. If it wasn't for our Gunny that piece of shit would never work."
Ernie, chuckled and said. "More likely that drunk was the cause not the cure of that mount's problems. I keep telling you Jar heads to leave the maintenace of the mounts to us GMs but you guys are way too smart to listen. It would save all of us a lot of work if you just practiced loading and firing those 5"38's because they are way too compicated for you Mud Maroons" to mess with."
Carlo's parting shot as Ernie slung a bag of tools over his shoulder and went through the hatch double time was. "Someone has to take up the slack for you lousy canon cockers. "
31 MAY 0800 Message From Fleet Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound
To: CNO, Admiral Harold R. Stark
Subj: Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann's from Office of Naval Intelligence dorsier
DATE OF BIRTH: 12 March 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH: Lübeck
1 April 1913-2 August 1914: Initial training and training aboard the protected cruiser Vineta.
• 1 April 1914-2 August 1914: Naval School Mürwick.
• 7 August 1914-6 January 1915: Assigned to the per-dreadnought battleship Kaiser Friedrich III.
• 7 January 1915-5 March 1915: Assigned to the per-dreadnought battleship Kaiser Karl der Große.
• 6 March 1915-28 October 1915: Radio Officer aboard the light cruiser Regensburg.
• 29 October 1915-31 July 1918: Assigned to various torpedo boats in the 2nd Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla (see below).
• 29 October 1915-3 June 1917: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat G 196.
• 19 August 1917-29 September 1917: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat G 192.
• 30 September 1917-12 November 1917: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat V 190.
• 8 June 1918-31 July 1918: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat S 133.
• 1 August 1918-20 September 1918: Attended the Navigation Course.
• 21 September 1918-30 November 1918: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat G 86 in the 1st Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla.
• 1 December 1918-16 May 1920: Watch Officer and Adjutant of the torpedo boat V 130 in the 2nd Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla and then the 2nd Iron Flotilla.
• 31 July 1920-29 September 1922: Commander of the tender T 144.
• 30 September 1922-10 February 1925: Commander of the torpedo boats G 7, G 10 and S 18 in the I. Torpedo Boat Flotilla.
• 12 February 1925-17 September 1926: Company Leader in the Baltic Sea Ship Cadre Division.
• 18 September 1926-2 October 1928: Consultant in the Baltic Sea Ship Cadre Division.
• 3 October 1928-5 November 1930: Second Adjutant on the staff of the Command of the Baltic Sea Naval Station.
• 6 November 1930-21 December 1932: Navigation Officer of the light cruiser Königsberg.
• 10 January 1933-31 March 1935: Consultant in the Reich Defense Ministry.
• 20 May 1935-6 May 1938: Commander of the state yacht and fleet tender Grille [this ship served as Adolf Hitler’s state yacht].
• 9 May 1938-26 October 1938: Consultant in the Marinewehrabteilung in the Kriegsmarine High Command.
• 27 October 1938-24 July 1940: Chief of the Marinewehrabteilung in the Kriegsmarine High Command.
• 1 August 1940-4 August 1942: Commander of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen.
Decorations & Awards:
• Prussian Iron Cross,
1st Class: 24 July 1920
• Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914): 10 October 1915.
• Cross of Honor for Combatants 1914-1918: 15 October 1934.
• Armed Forces Long Service Award, 3rd Class (12-year Service Medal)
• Commemorative Medal of 1 October 1938
• Commemorative Medal for the Return of the Memel District
• Spanish Order of Naval Merit, 2nd Class: 8 November 1934.
• Order of the Crown of Italy, Commander: 8 October 1937.
Brinkmann’s Prinz Eugen sortied from Gotenhafen with the new battleship Bismarck on “Rheinübung” (Rhine Exercise), a breakout into the Atlantic to conduct commerce raiding.
Promotions:
• Cadet.Seekadett: Entered the Imperial German Navy as a Sea 1 April 1913
• Fähnrich zur See: 3 April 1914
• Leutnant zur See: 18 September 1915
• Oberleutnant zur See: 7 January 1920 (Patenting reserved)
• Oberleutnant zur See: 14 May 1921 (Patent 7 January 1920)
• Kapitänleutnant: 1 May 1925
• Korvettenkapitän: 1 January 1933
• Fregattenkapitän: 1 January 1937
• Kapitän zur See: 1 October 1938
•
31 MAY 0830 The Bismarck's captain was going over the events of the last few days. He had sent out his after action report to Brinkmann and BdU long ago. No need for radio silence then when the Queen had broadcast his identity and position to the entire world. He had been eager for the kill at the time but the hours since had given him a chance to reflect on what HE had ordered his men to do. Oh they were all doing their duty and, as one of HMT's the Queen was a legitimate target but the loss of life still weighed heavily on his mind and for that ther was the best French Cognac.
He knew all too well Queen Mary was a very valuable asset to the Englanders. She had been fitted as a troopship in 1940 with an armament and six-inch guns, and completely painted in dull flat gray to camouflage it from U-boats, earning her the wartime name of the “Gray Ghost.” Her contributions to the Englander war effort was consider so vital Hitler himself put a $250,000 bounty on her.
HMT Queen Mary's CO ,Commander Merle Ronald Haggard RNR, had been screaming for help on every circuit she had including the international distress frequency guarded by almost everyone at sea, including HIS Bismarck, The Prince, TG39.1 and (WAG-48) CO Moultron, the closest "help". One of Queen Mary's DEMS sergeants had identified Bismarck's Arado at 0600 this morning. Not much of an imediate worry as the Royal Navy was stretched so thin he practically had this corner of the North Atlantic as his private hunting preserve. His Arado's were up searching now and there was no help for the Queen within their search arcs of 100 miles. One thing did bother him and that was the failure of the RAF's radar equipped Catalina's and Sunderlands to find him could not last. He also knew the "Ami's" were out looking for anyone in their ever expanding "Nuetrality" Zone and they would not hesitate a minute to inform their Britsh "cousins" of his position.
Bismarck's forward FuMO 23 held her prey dead ahead at 15 miles doing 25 kts at 29 May 0835 . She had obviously been running fast all night. Kapitäns zur See Lindemann asked his Navigator for an intercept course and time at 20 kts, fuel was always a concern for a raider and His Bismark burned orders of magnitude more of the precious fuel oil at 29 kts than at 20. Given the Queen's current course at 25 kts it would be about 1100. He then asked when will we be within 10 miles of the Queen Mary? The navigator answered 1015.
At 1030 despite the Queen coming to a reciprical course as soon as Bismarck was spotted trying to make it a long stern chase the 10.5-meter rangefinder confirmed and the FuMO 23 range, bearing and course of the Queen. The data was fed into Bismarck's state of the art analog fire control system and her turrets Anton" and "Bruno" were aligned to the plot. With one of his Arado's spotting fall of shot Kapitäns zur See Lindemann ordered his gunnery officer to to open fire with Adolf alone. The two 15 inch, radar and optically controlled rounds landed close aboard soon to a real “Gray Ghost.” The seond salvo came from Bruno and the shock damage was so great Queen Mary's speed dropped to 17 kts.
At ten miles HMT Queen Mary's CO ,Commander Merle Ronald Haggard RNR ordered her six inch battery into continuos fire against the German raider that had to be Bismarck. He also ordered his radiomen to modify the help signal to include the identity of his ship's murderer and to keep sending as long as they could. Quite frankly the Queen's fire control was quite dated as were her guns. Despite that she managed to score three solid hits on Bismarck which did destroy one of her boats but otherwise hardly scratched her paintwork.
With Queen Mary's reduced speed Kapitäns zur See Lindemann ordered Bismarck to a course that would unmask his after turrets. He ordered the Gunnery officer to enage with Cäsar” and “Dora”. He then quipped "One salvo from each turret, after all this is no more than target practice for our men to fire when being fired upon." Dora scored a two round hit on the Queen Mary and he fight and flight was over. Her mighty propulsion plant manned by skilled and proud engineers now mostly dead had been dealt a fatal blow and the Queen Mary went DIW (dead in the water). Damage control would only prolong her death as the main engineering space was rapidly filling.
Before HMT Queen Mary's CO ,Commander Merle Ronald Haggard RNR ,could reluctantly order her "Battle Ensigns" lowered in surrendered Bismarck's secondary battery opened up. Six 5.9 in and eight 4.1 inch raked the upper works, including the bridge, radio room and port boat deck of Queen Mary with rapid fire at almost point blank range. The effect on the armorless liner was devestating. The carnage to the superstructure troop compartments turned them into a slaughter house because they were filled with troops. The Queen Mary's last Master along with the entire bridge crew were killed or badly wounded and those ensigns still flew. It took another ten minutes for "The Commander" AKA Jimmy The One could have those damned flags hauled down and inform Bismarck of his ship's surrender. In those ten minutes Bismarck's gunnery had wrought terrible slaughter to the crew and passengers of Queen Mary.
Kapitäns zur See Lindemann imediately ordered cease fire and cirled the dying liner. "Jimmy" ordered her remaining lifeboats filled and lowered and her Carly rafts jettisoned; maybe he could save some of his passengers. The Kriegsmarine was under strict orders from the Fuher not to rescue prisoners accept for a very few for intel purposes. That superceded the law of the sea . 19 minutes later Queen Mary capsized, taking with her all but 320 passengesr and crew; Jimmy was not one of the lucky ones.
His duty done well beyond his wildest expectations because he had eliminated a full division of badly needed soldiers, many veterans, from the British army, Kapitäns zur See Lindemann ordered his ship to 25 kts to clear this "Flaming Datum" as soon as possible. After she was out of sight of the Queen Mary Survivors he set a course for his rendezvous with TG Brinkmann.
The shocked and misetrable survivors, mostly soldiers just stared with utter hatred at the murdering bastard as she sailed away and left them to the mercy of the North Atlantic. The few seaman in the boats and rafts began to organize the rest. They did their best to find medical typees to tend the wounded from the medical kits in the life boats. They rounded up the carly rafts and secured them to the lifeboats. They resditributed the survivirs between the lifeboats and rafts. They took charge of the food and water in order to make it last as long as possible. They set up "Lookout" watches for the rescue ships they told the soldiers were on their way. Who knows they may not be lying. The Queen had very good high powered radios. They had been screaming for help with their posit for hours and had recieved acknowledgments. No one knew exactly who or where those would be rescueres were.
31 MAY 1400 Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound and his soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay arrived at No. 10 Downing street for what both expected to be an epic bad SitRep they were to present personally to the Prime Minister Churchill. The great man sat at his work table, a very large scotch at his side and the stub of what was once a very large Cuban cigar in his mouth.
Churchill "Do I have to wait for it gentlemen?"
Pound " We have to report Queen Mary and almost all her troops and crew has been sunk by what we are pretty sure is The Bismarck." The PM spit his cigar stub into an ashtray, picked up his scotch and took a huge drink; all the time fixing the two Admirals with a very, very black stare. He then opened his desk cigar box, selected a fine cuban, clipped off the end and lit it with a kitchen match. He took a few puffs, still staring at the Navy Men.
Pound "I am still Admiral of the Fleet and take full responsibility for the loss Prime Minister. Ramsay has had nothing to do with the matter. He is here at his own request.
Churchill "So you Alfred have lost the Queen Mary and what? 15,000 men? AND Bismarck has got clean away unscathed? Where in God's name is the fucking Royal Navy? One hash up after another. First the Demark straight, then HX-123, Force H savaged and now The Queen Mary. " Before turning his eyes toward Vice Admiral Ramsay a look of compassion crossed the old Bull Dog's face. He truly was sorry his friend Alfred was to be pilloried for the fact the RN was stretched far too thin. A great career and all most would would remember, if they remembered him at all, was that he ended that career a complete, abject failure.
Churchill "Ramsey I don't envy you the job of straitening out this mess of a fleet. I warn you I can't give you long to deliver some good news to our people. Sinking Bismarck would be a good start. Not having any more Convoy disasters for a while would also be a good idea but we have to sink those Nazi raiders and we have to do it NOW.
1 JUNE 1941 0223 HMS Cambletown's radar picked up a contact with a thin line of “dust” in its wake. Thhe OOD immediately informed CO, Lcdr Lord Teynham who ordered The Gift Horse turn towards it and increased speed but, U-123 crash dived. The old DD regained contact with her Type 141 ASDIC. HMS Cambletown closed up, established firm contact and attacked, when the distance to the contact had reduced to about 450 yards Teynham ordered a full pattern to be dropped on his command. As soon as ASW Watch Officer Sub Lieutenant Peter Sellers RNVR report Instantaneous echo the CO dropped his pattern.
1 JUNE 1941 0239 U-123 emerged, breaking the surface of the sea accompanied by its characteristic rushing and hissing of the emptying ballast tanks. Being severely damaged and unserviceable for further diving operation Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen had to surface. Cambletown's CO ordered every gun that would bear opened fire. He then ordered full ahead ( now thanks to his Chief ERA, 19 kts) to ram. However, “Trommelschlag” Hardegen, had executed many combat patrols and was not willing to surrender.
While Gift Horse's shells flew over the conning tower of the U-123 and the maxim guns hit the sheet-metal cover of the conning tower, the gun crew of the U-boat rushed to its 88 mm deck gun and returned fire. The first shells of U 123 scored a hit near the bridge and sent splinters into the forward engine compartment. In between, tracer ammunition of the U-boat´s AA-gun was hammering away at the old "Can". Steam was hissing, loud enough to drown out the rattatting of machine guns. In the muzzle flashes could be seen the dead and wounded much like an 18th century ship to ship action.
U 123 defended herself with desperate determination. As The Gift Horse killed off the U-boat´s gun crew, others rushed in to replace their fallen shipmates and to continue the fight. That all ended when one of Cambletown's 4 inch shells swept the entire gun and brave crew over the side.
At the very last moment,“Trommelschlag” ordered his boat “hard port”, which led the destroyer to not hit the U-boat head on, rather with a glancing blow of about 30 degrees about 10 yards from her bow and eventually riding with its bow on the U-boat´s focsle. Like two fighters clinging to one another the old DD and the U-boat were locked together.
1 JUNE 1941 0250 The U-boat was running at full speed and was able to hold a course parallel to the DD, which was continuously firing and catching up slowly from starboard astern, to turn in for ramming.
An after action combat report published by the Admiralty noted about this duel: Lcdr Lord Teynham“ kept down anyone in the conning tower and on deck of U 123 by means of his Tommy-gun. Captain Hendrix, a survivor of the freighter JAARSTROOM, did considerable damage to the U-Boat's AA gun crew by hurling Mills Bombs from the midships deck house. Using an empty 20 mm ammunition container Petty Officer Walter Carter kicked a German sailor over board”.
Although thirty U-boat men were killed in this uneven carnage, where the Brits were firing from above down at the boat, U 123 did not stop its fight. The German U-boat sailors threw hand grenades, hit back with empty cartridges, and fired signal pistols at the destroyer sailors. The very rough sea swell ground the old can's time thinned bilge plates ground against the steel pressure hull of the U 123. Eventually her old bottom and side plating , thinned by decades of rust, cracked and was leaking so badly her pumps were just able to keep up. The entire port side was also dented, broken up and riddled by bullets, and water in the fire rooms had risen knee-deep, about a foot below the fire grates, before it was controlled.
1 JUNE 1941 0300 After ten minutes of close quarter killing man to man Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen managed to back his U-boat out from under the old "can" running her engines full astern. Having reached about 300 yards distance, Hardegen immediately open fire with those weapons still left to him. U 123 turned hard inboard, while The gift Horse followed from the distance with a greater turning circle, seeking any opportunity to ram again. During that period U 123 launched a torpedo, which missed. 4 inch shells of the HMS Cambletown hit the aft torpedo compartment of U 123, close to the Diesel exhaust-gas cap.
U 123's last remaining 20 mm AA gun finally knocked out the destroyer´s search light. At once, the U-boat attempted to leave the area under the cover of darkness but found her engines could only push her at 12 kts due to the recent damage. Cambletown's CO was ready for this and ordered the old 3"23, which had played no part in the fight to load with star shells and to light up the night around the U-boat. This allowed the old Gift Horse to make a DC run at her best speed now 17 knots. At this point Lord Teynham decided he had to end this before the old Gift Horse sank from under him. He set all his ready DCs on shallow depths and prayed he did not blow his own damaged stern off. The Gift Horse laid her pattern alongside U-123 and literally rolled her on her beam ends. Something in the U-boat set off a catastrophic explosion and she went down for the last time.
Miraculously 9 of U-123's crew survived and were rescued by the same men who had unmercifully been trying to kill them with everything that came to hand including an American Bowie Knife. No one from inside the U-boat lived. All 9 survivors were wounded, deaf and had been manning guns topside. Once again "The Drummer's "Des Teufels eigenes Glück" (Devils own luck) had saved Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen. As he was hauled aboard the badly mauled and possibly sinking HMS Cambletown he was greeted by Lcdr Lord Teynham with a hot mug of tea laced Rum. He also hoped The dead of HX-123, especially the Commodore would rest a little bit easier now that his Old Gift Horse had accounted for some small amount of revenge.
The U-boat skipper was very puzzled to see and hear Lord Teynham burst out laughing just this side of sanity. HX-123.....U-Boat-123 seemed damn funny to the skipper of the Old Gift Horse at that time.
Further aft Bosun Mate Benjamin "Canada" Frobisher, whose ancestors were fur trappers in his native Canada, was manning a portable petrol pump in the effort to keep "The Old Gift Horse" from going down. He had to mix, just the right amount of oil with the petrol, or the badly needed pump would cease up. He also was regretting the loss of his prized posession, a Bowie knife, which he used to kill 17 years and two month old Matrose Christman Genipperteinga. He had hurled it 15 feet into the boy's chest as the German sprayed 9 mm slugs at him and his mates from a MP 40 sub machine gun. The boy had fallen into the sea taking "Canada's" knife with him.
"Canada" considered that knife, given to him by his Paternal Grandpa, his good luck piece. His Bowie knife, was a very close copy of Jesse Clift's original used by Bowie in his epic Vidalia Sandbar fight. It was derived from Spanish hunting knives of the day, and differed little from a common butcher knife. The blade, was 9 and 1⁄2 inches long, 1⁄4 inch thick and 1and 1⁄2 inches wide. It was straight-backed and had no clip-point nor any hand guard, with a simple riveted wood scale handle. Well they were heading for Halifax and he would find another but would it be a "Lucky" knife?
1 JUNE 1941 1900 ( UTC/GMT -4 hours) The Oval Office, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC. Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt 39th POTUS sat behind the "Resolute" desk. This double pedestal desk was made from the oak timbers of H.M.S. Resolute as a gift to President Rutherford B. Hayes from Queen Victoria in 1880. FDR was sipping on his 3rd Martini and eyeing the super encrypted direct phone link with Prime Minister Winston Churchill. About a half hour ago one of his aides had placed a call to "Winston" via Sigsaly . SIGSALY was a digital speech encryption system using "White noise, developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and built by Western Electric. The secure POTUS to PM link had been operational since March.
There were times when FDR did not think running for an unprecedentedly winning a third term was all that good an idea. The tremendous burden of responsibility he carried while steering the USA through those turbulent seas in the 1930s, and and now this damn War would have broken a lessor man especially given his health. Perhaps only those who have served as President could even remotely understand what was required. The office, in any period of time, is notorious for the physical and psychological toll it extracts.
It had been a particularly "Tough" day for FDR. For one thing he was always in pain, usually, long experience, made it bearable and he just carried on with his life but sometimes it got much worse and this was one of those days. At such times he turned to his favorite drink; The Martini. FDR insisted on mixing his own and everyone else around him. He started out simple enough, usually as a 3:1 or sometimes 4:1 Gin and Dry Vermouth. Shaken over ice. Cocktail glass. Olive or lemon peel garnish.
Then it gets complicated. Sometimes, if inspired, FDR would add a drop or two of absinthe for flavor. Sometimes a splash of brine to make it dirty. At other times, he might add more vermouth than his guests cared for. Perhaps he might add some fruit juices or liqueurs, or substitute with an alternative liquor for gin when his home bar was limited. Sometimes an extra measure of gin to be on the safe side, as he could lose track of his measurements, especially late in the "Children's Hour", while deep in storytelling. You can see how quickly things could get out of control. Tonight, to ease the pain he added a drop of opium. He thanked God he seldom had to resorted to this.
The sinking of the Queen Mary and the great loss of life had decided him on taking a very big risk. When he went ahead and gave the order to "Sink The Bismarck" and any other Nazi Raider the USN could find, he was actually declaring war on Nazi Germany. and that was a clear violation of the the US Constitution which clearly stated only Congress could declare war.
He was certain the GOP and some of his own Democrat representatives would call for his impeachment. Given the results of the 1940 landslide election against Wendell Willkie, the poor Rube, he was sure he would not be tried by the senate, let alone convicted. A massacre Electoral vote of 449, carrying 38 states, winning the popular vote 27,313,945 (55%) to 22,347,744 (44.8%) and with comfortable Democrat party control of the House of Representative and Senate bought him a lot of political capital and he could afford to loose some and still do what he had to.
BUT
He ran on a platform of, while arming for defense, a strict neutrality to keep our boys out of Europe's never ending wars. That would certainly seem very thin if the USN sank The Bismarck and that cruiser and an outright disaster if our ships were sunk and our sailors drown outside the declared neutrality zone.
The Supreme Court was the Rub and there was no doubt the GOP would file a suit, based on the fact he actually did violate his oath of office to Uphold the Constitution. BUT, big BUT that would take time, he just might win there too ;after all Hitler would declare war on the USA and the Court might just say "screw it he is a wartime leader and the American people both trust and love him". The nag was doing anything that could possibly, no matter how remotely, make John Nance Garner III POTUS. He really should have replaced Garner with "Hank Wallace" for the last election. Wallace had some very personal baggage that J Edgar Hoover Director of the FBI, the all too cunning and dangerous megalomaniac, only chose to share with him just before the Chicago convention. There really was no time to do anything but, have hatchet-man journalist Charles S. Michelson, appraise Wallace of what the FBI knew and ask him to "Do the right thing for the party". Wallace no fool did "the right thing" immediately.
Michelson, was the ruthless head of the Democrat party's propaganda machine, funded by financier John J. Raskob, the party’s national chairman. He was a hatchet-man journalist who successfully demonized POTUS Hoover as responsible for the country’s economic woes. He was a master of “scathing invective” and “scurrilous venom”. In Michelson’s memoir, “The Ghost Talks,” he wrote with great pride "I could have served as a primer for Machiavelli.”
The America Firsters were not the only American isolationists and the American Nazi Bund were not the only American Fascist sympathizers he had to worry about. In the 1930s the Great Depression and the memory of tragic losses in World War I ( the last three months of that war was a blood bath for the American Expeditionary Force) pushed American public opinion and policy toward isolationism. FDR had all he could do to avoid political and military conflicts (The Panay Incident etc.) across the oceans, continued to expand America's ravaged economy and protect its interests in Latin America.
The isolationist leaders used every trick in the book to attain their ends. They drew upon history to bolster their position. In his Farewell Address, President George Washington had advocated non in European wars and politics. For much of the nineteenth century, the expanse of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans had made it possible for the United States to enjoy a kind of "free security" and remain largely detached from Old World conflicts.
During World War I, however, President Woodrow Wilson made a case for U.S. intervention in the conflict and a U.S. interest in maintaining a peaceful world order. Nevertheless, the American experience in that war served to bolster the arguments of isolationists; they argued that marginal U.S. interests in that conflict did not justify the number of U.S. casualties. In the wake of the WW I , a report by Senator Gerald P. Nye, a Republican from North Dakota, fed this belief by claiming that American bankers and arms manufacturers had pushed for U.S. involvement for their own profit. The 1934 publication of the book Merchants of Death by H.C. Engelbrecht and F. C. Hanighen, followed by the 1935 tract "War Is a Racket" by decorated Marine Corps General Smedley D. Butler both served to increase popular suspicions of wartime profiteering and influence public opinion in the direction of neutrality. Many Americans became determined not to be tricked by banks and industries into making such great sacrifices again. The reality of a worldwide economic depression and the need for increased attention to domestic problems only served to bolster the idea that the United States should isolate itself from troubling events in Europe.
Upon taking office, POTUS FDR tended to see a necessity for the United States to participate more actively in international affairs, but his ability to apply his personal outlook to foreign policy was limited by the strength of isolationist sentiment in the U.S. Congress. In 1933, President Roosevelt proposed a Congressional measure that would have granted him the right to consult with other nations to place pressure on aggressors in international conflicts. The bill ran into strong opposition from the leading isolationists in Congress, including progressive politicians such as Senators Hiram Johnson of California, William Borah of Idaho, and Robert La Follette of Wisconsin. In 1935, controversy over U.S. participation in the World Court elicited similar opposition.
As tensions rose in Europe over Nazi Germany's aggressive maneuvers, Congress pushed through a series of Neutrality Acts which prevented US Flagged merchant ships and US citizens from becoming embroiled in foreign conflicts. FDR deplored the confining acts, but because he still required Congressional support for his domestic New Deal policies, he reluctantly signed the bills. The isolationists were a varied mob, including progressives and conservatives, business owners and peace activists, but because they faced no consistent, organized opposition from the few internationalists, their ideology usually won out.
FDR appeared to accept the strength of the isolationist elements in Congress until 1937. In that year, as the situation in Europe continued to grow worse and the Second Sino-Japanese War began in Asia, POTUS gave a speech in which he likened international aggression to a disease that other nations must work to "quarantine." At that time, however, Americans were still not prepared to risk their lives and livelihoods for peace abroad. Even the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 did not suddenly dilute popular desire to avoid foreign entanglements especially in Europe. Despite that fact, the fascists atrocities helped FDR to shift public opinion slightly from favoring complete neutrality to supporting limited US aid, especially if it funded American jobs and helped the to the economy in general to "friendly Nations" BUT WELL SHORT of actual intervention in the war.
29 MAY 1941 2015 Rudel (Wolf Pack) Werwolf OTC Korvettenkapitän Unno von Fischel (U-87) rendezvoued at a point outside Ark Royals normal ASW patrol within easy striking distance of Force H's projected track. The type XIV 'Milch Cow' (U-459) Korvettenkapitän Georg von Wilamowitz-Möllendorf, had unrepped the Rudel on 25 May was waiting for the Rudel at the rendezvous and transfer fuel and torpedoes, spares, mail and food. The role of the Milch Cow was to support the operating VII and IX fighting U-boats by delivering supplies and ammunition. These boats were very successful, especially in extending the patrols of the smaller TypeVIIs, until Enigma intercepts, vastly improved allied radar and better air coverage of the Atlantic eliminated them during 1943. The Milch Cows were a very high priority target for all Allied forces.
U-87 Korvettenkapitän Unno von Fischel Type VIIB,
U-102 Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Bleichrodt Type VIIB,
Wartime experience showed that the only real drawback of the VIIA was the small fuel storage for the role intended. This was mostly fixed in the VIIB which had additional 33 tons of fuel in external saddle tanks which gave them additional range of about 2500nm at 10 knots. They were also considerably more powerful and slightly faster than the VIIA . These boats (and all following designs) had two rudders instead of the one found on the VIIA. This gave them even more agility. The ability to turn inside an escort was a major factor in a U-boats survival.
VIIB had the same armament as the VIIA, 4 bow torpedo tubes and one tube at the stern. The only major armament difference was that 3 additional torpedoes could be stored for a total of 14. Type VIIB included many of the most famous U-boats during World War 2, including Kretschmer's U-99, U-48 which was the most successful U-boat, Prien's U-47 and Schepke's U-100.
U-208 Oberleutnant zur See Alfred Schlieper,Type VIIC
U-374 Oberleutnant zur See Unno von Fische Type VIIC ,
The VIIC was the workhorse of the German U-boat force in World War Two from 1941 onwards. They were a slightly modified version of the successful type VIIB boats. They had basically the same engine layout and power, but were slightly larger and heavier which made them not quite as fast as the VIIB. 5 torpedo tubes (4 at the bow and one at the stern) were installed in all but a handfull of boats U-325 Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Heinsohn Type VIIC/41.
Heinrich Bleichrodt Type VIIC/41 was a slightly modified VIIC, with the same engine layout, power and Armament . The major change was these boats had a stronger pressure hull giving them more depth to evade attack under (operational 360 ft and crush depth at 750 ft VIIC's 300/600). They also had lighter machinery to compensate for the added steel in the hull making them slightly lighter than the VIIC.
The orders to Rudel Werwolf were simple. They were to penetrate Force H's destroyer screen and pump their G7s into the hulls of as many of Admiral Somerville's ships as they could, prior to TG Ciliax closing for a surface action. BdU, OKM and OKW were all looking to the Rudel and TG Ciliax to an convoy WS ihilate Force H.
29 MAY 1941 2300 since Force H’s course change the submerged 5 boat Rudle was in position just outside Force H’s destroyer screen early and began their runs in. OTC Korvettenkapitän Unno von Fischel (U-87) had decided on a modified surfaced action. It was now full dark; nautical dusk ended at 2258. They had to beat the Type 128 ASDIC. A 2250 BT drop had show a 10 degree temperature gradient at 180 ft. SOP for his Rudle was to go in under the layer with a limited amount of quick ascents above to give their hydrophones a chance to update their passive solution. When they got past the screen they would make a few periscope sweeps and then pump Eels into everything in range, dive below the layer, wait for the confusion and then surface and make for the heavies. They did not have to sink Renown and Ark Royal but they did have to damage them enough to cut down their max speed and maneuverability. Of course a kill of either or both capital ships would not displease their master at BdU.
They also had to reduce Somerville’s destroyers because the nasty little terriers armed with the reliable Mk IX with a ship killing 750 lbs. TNT warhead. Like every weapon it had a weakness; it's top speed of only 36 kts at 10,500 yards. With 8 Eels per each of 10 DDs that was 80 chances to at least damage one of “The Twins” and that would end their primary mission; killing convoys. Destroyers Duncan, Iris, Encounter, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Firedrake, Fury, Foresight & Fearless were in a bent line screen with outside pickets ahead of the line if advance and on the port and starboard bows at between 5 and ten miles.
These damn “Fegers” were all roughly the same. Speed of would be about 36 knots, main armament of armament of 4 single QF 4.7-inch guns, 1 rail, 2 throwers but only 20 depth charges, about half what the dedicated convoy escorts carried. The bad news was these destroyers carried the excellent L band Type 128 ASDIC. However there was the fact these “Battle Force” destroyers spent a lot of their time doing things other than hunting and killing poor honest U-Boat men Unno thought with a smile. They were not dedicated ASW ships and therefore the skill level of their ASDIC operators captains and ASW teams were not as consistently high as those in the dedicated escorts.
So far his Rudel had beat both the outside pickets and those Radar equipped biplanes with their “Mückes (FuMB 25) A radar detectors and emergency crash dives. Once inside the formation Mücke was pretty much useless.
TG Ciliax was closing to finish off and anihilate FORCE H .
The battlecruiser HMS Renown, could make 31 knots and her six 15 inch guns could sink every ship in TG Ciliax. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau's also had a flank speed of 31 kts. They had to endure Renown's 15 inch shells until they closed to their 11 inch maximum effective range, (you raelly can't expect a lot of hits at max effective range) and get a lot closer to swamp her with their 18 main battery. Anyone one of Renown, 2,000 lb AP projectiles could defeat their armor and cripple the ship if they hit in the right place. Renown had a very well earned reputation as an excellent gunnery ship but German firecontrol, both optical and radar difrected was superior what the Royal navy had. Furthermore, the Krupp special alloy steel in their armor was superior to Renown's WW I plates.
HMS Ark Royals aircraft could also sink TG Ciliax 3 capital ships, especially those damn torpedo carrying String Bags. Fortunately TG Lindeman had transmitted a full account of Bismarck's experience with those unexpectedly slow biplanes. That lesson had been transmitted to ALL Kriegsmarine ships. TG Ciliax had made the neccessary adjustmenst to their fire control systems, using their own Arado's to duplicate the attack runs of the Swordfish. and had drilled the firecontrol and gun crews relentlessly. The Fulmars were not considerd much of a risk except to his scout planes. Glide bomb attack with 250 lb weapons were a recipe for suicide but they were piloted by highly skilled, brave men and they might just get lucky. Every sailor knows the old adage. Scheiße passiert besonders auf See (shit happens especially at sea).
29 MAY 1941 2335, the 5 boats of Werwolf Rudel, as previously ordered, made their runs on the escorts. The fact they could just "hover", bows on which greatly reduced the possibility the Brit's excellent 128 ASDIC operators finding them as the doomed (they hoped) escorts were making directly for them considerably. Each boat was assigned a specific escort starting from the starboardmost of the bent line screen as #1 to the 5th from thend as #5 and moving to port to ensure a single Can did not eat all the G7s. Each boat fired two G7s at each escort, then dived below the layer, immediately reloading thier two empty forward tubes.,and proceeded inside the savaged screen making for their two prime targets Renown and Ark Royal.
Of the ten type 7's fired 6 found targets; two escorts Duncan (with the screen commander aboard) and Fearless were sunk outright and 2 more Jupiter and Iris were mission kills, in that they were out of the fight until the dockyard matey's could put them back together.
Once safely past the screen the boats surfaced to "decks awash" and made for their primary targets at best speed "on the electrics". During this time the TG was making a radical formation change away from the stricken escorts presnting their broadsides to the Rudel. Time was of the essence and the U-boats took great risks to get off their warshots as soon as they identified their game. Ark Royal was targetted by U-325 Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Heinsohn Type VIIC/41 and Unno von Fischel U-87. Both boat's superbly trained Torpedomen had reloaded the forward tubes in record time and she was attacked by six eels fired at a fair angle at long but under max range at the high speed setting. Ark Royals "Pouncer" HMS Devoted's radar picked up the boats shortly after her first EEL launch, immediately warned Ark Royal and raced down the bearing to U-87 and ate one of the T7's with devastating results ( forward mag exploded no survivors) that damaged another T-7. Now The Ark had 4 T-7s chasing her but she was making Flank speed and maneuvering to clear the torpedo danger area.
Oberleutnant zur See Unno von Fische's Type VIIC U- 374 attack on HMS Jersey was catastrophically foiled by the DD's veteran PO ASDIC Operator. He decided to switch to flashlight mode i.e. Active Narrow Beam. Which concentrated all the power of the omnidirection beam into a very narrow 30 degree sector. This mode was usually only employed during an attack run but it was also helpful to check on a very minor return echo which almost invariably was just a school of fish. Not this time.
Jersey's XO was in the Asdic hut and instantly notified the CO it had to be a U-boat on an attack course and she was close. The CO immediately ordered a minor course change and then asked "Do you still hold that contact Jimmy?" The reply was "Yes sir and it has to be a U-boat". The CO ordered an emergency attck run on the sub. She launched a full pattern of DCs at shallow depth, as soon as the "instantaneous echo" report came from the ASDIC hut. Then came to flank speed and turned to port to avoid HMS Foreasight. Two of the Mark VII's detonated 50 feet below and within 80feet of Oberleutnant zur See Unno von Fische's boat. The 420 lb charges with 290 lbs of explosive stove in part of the hull and caused the sub to broach. The after 4.7 inch mounts and the heavy 20 mm AA guns opened up at point blank range immediately. As the destroyer came around her forward main and AA battery mounts were unmasked and added to the salvoes hitting on and around the foundering sub. The combination of the MK VII's and the fusilade of short range AP gunfire sent U-374 down with all hands.
30 MAY 1941 0034 U-102 Oberleutnant zur See Heinrich Bleichrodt Type VIIB and Oberleutnant zur See Alfred Schlieper's,Type VIIC U-208 got into range of battlecuiser Renown, Somerville's flag ship. Pound initially had ordered Renown's captain Guy Tremain Tarlton not to close within range of Bismarck alone; that order was rescinded as these were desperate times. HMS Renown "Refit" to her prewar professional crew, was of 32,000 tons, 31 knots Battle Cruiser with 3 twin 15 inch guns, 10 twin 4.5 in DP guns, 3 octuple 40 mm AA guns and 4 floatplanes. Her armor had been upgraded but was still no match for Bismarck but had an even chance against the Twins and was proof against anything but a very, very lucky hit from The Prince.
Unlike Hood Renown had completed an extensive modernization in 1936. The ship's engines and boilers were replaced by Parsons geared turbine sets and eight Admiralty three-drum boilers. This saved some 2,800 long tons of weight. Her anti-torpedo bulges were deepened and reworked. The bulge was longer too, covering from the submerged torpedo room to “Y” barbette magazine. Its inner compartments were filled with crushing tubes. With these new bulges, the beam took 12 feet 8 inches while the extra weight made the draught deeper from 1 foot 4 inches.
The alarm was out and both U-boats were forced to shoot from extreme but effective range of the T-7s fastest speed. U-102 fired three fish at the Battlecruiser and U-208 fired three at Ark Royal, holding one forward tube for self defense and then crash dived to avoid the madly charging destroyers. All three of Bleichrodt's torpedoes hit the Battle Cruiser but one's warhead was only a low order detonation causing no shock damage and only a few minor leaks.
EEL 2 hit low on the anti-torpedo bulge and the anti-torpedo "system" held strong with moderate flooding of the spaces provided for that and the main hull still intact. She had lost very little combat effectiveness at this point.
It was the third T-7 that did the real damage. The Torpedo hit between two fire rooms and although the bulge and reamainder of the anti-torpedo systen did mitigate the impact of the warhead so much shock damage was done to the boilers that her 31kts speed was reduced to 25. She was still a very formidable warship.
Oberleutnant zur See Alfred Schlieper's,Type VIIC U-208, like her packmate, was also forced to fire her three 660 lb warhead T-7es from extreme but effective range of the T-7es fastest speed. Ark Royal's 102,000 shp driving 3 shafts from 3 geared steam turbines were driving her at 30 knots. Her armor was limited to 4.5 inch belt and 3.5 over Deck boiler rooms and magazines. She had a three-layered anti-torpedo & side protection system. A void-liquid-void scheme. It was designed to resist a 750-pound warhead torpedo. Below deck, machinery spaces were protected by 4.5-inch of belt armor. There was also a waterline armored deck to “enclose the box”, 3.5 in thick over the boiler rooms and magazines. Compartmentation helped to mitigate the effect of a torpedo hit, but bulkheads were thin, and there was no proper bulge. In fact only one T-7e hit at the #2 main machinery space but the combnation of shock damage and flooding reduced Ark Royals flank speed to 22 kts. That was just fast enough, with a moderate head wind, to launch and recover her String Bags and Fulmars. SeaHurries and Sea Spits would have been a real problem.
1. Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville, was determined to engage TG Ciliax before the Nazi's could sink WS 12. It would be good if the
RAF could find TG Ciliax again and then slow down the Nazi's but he was relying more on Force H. He had air scouts and he had both torpedo and bomber aircraft of his own. He also had the 15 inch guns of his Battle Cruiser his own Heavy cruiser and six of his torpedo loaded destroyers.
Force H might be bloodied but they were still a match for the Nazi TG, with just a bit of luck. "Jimmy" Somerville had always been lucky when it really counted. The RN had not had much luck lately and it was about time that changed.
30 MAY 1941 0230 OTC of Ruder Werewolf Korvettenkapitän Unno von Fischel (U-87) Transmitted his after action report to BdU, Info Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax OTC TG Ciliax aboard Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand Gneisenau. The Vizeadmiral shared the messsage with Netzbrand and his COS., For the loss of One boat and 62 good men , the damage of one boat that had to return to St. Nazaire and the modorate damage of two boats that could make repairs at sea with the help of the The type XIV 'Milch Cow' (U-459) Korvettenkapitän Georg von Wilamowitz-Möllendorf, Milch cow, Ruder Werewolf had damaged both Ark Royal and the accursed Renown along with eliminating half of the RN destroyers force. Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand's Gneisenau welcomed the upcoming battle especially with HMS Renown. It was Renown that badly mauled his Gneisenau and killed his men off the southern coast of the Lofoten Islands. He would sink that Englander and wipe clean the record of his ship. 200 .
Burner-cycle, 264 hp @ 41 kThe "Ark" was designed in 1934 to fit the restrictions of the Ark Roya30 30 May 1941 0500 (WAG-48) CO Moultron was writing his report on the HX-123 survivor rescue as his ship continued a full power run to the last reported position of The Queen Mary. On the plus side they did not miss a weather transmission so his primary mission was accomplished. The actual rescue Op was a mixed bag. It had started off much better than he feared with the rescue of Robert Squires AB, Crackers’ Rushall, Joseph Hill (SupO), CPO Tom Hanlon, All from HMS AMC Derbyshire. Muskeget’s boat picked John ‘Barker, Harry, Boneyard and John Aylard from HMS Chelsea. He thought that Nazi BB or CA would have blown that converted liner and those spavin old Cans out of the water with all hands lost. There were a lot of stories about the Nazi’s machine gunning life boats and the poor bastards who had to abandon without a boat of raft would be killed by hypothermia, in less than an hour, even in May this far North.
The modified expanding square search had found nothing initially. Things began to look up at 29 May 1206 when one of the lookouts reported a “life boat” bearing 030 degrees relative. He had ordered the OOD to bring the cutter to that heading and 15 minutes later they found one lifeboat and three Carly rafts roped together with 43 survivors from HM Corvette DIANTHUS, SS KINROSS, SS OSTENDE, SS PACHESHAM and HMS VERITY (modified W-class DD).
That made the score 50, although all of the the “survivors” were in rough shape; the burn cases were least likely to survive. The CO of VERITY, LCDR George Ericson RNR, was in good enough shape to help plan the continued search. His knowledge of the particulars of the convoy was invaluable. Based on his info Moultron modified the box searched.
They came across the next Lifeboat at 29 May 1356. There were only 9 survivors from the Dutch freighter JAARSTROOM. She had been carrying ammo and blew up ejecting the lifeboat into the sea. The survivors had been topside aft, part of the old World War I surplus 12-pounder, ‘DEMS (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships and Service), Gunners. Sgt (Gunner) Keith Lockhard, senior survivor, said they found themselves blown off the ship and landed right next to the bleeding boat. Well all but Nobby Banks who landed in the boat. He has two broken ankles but was able to throw us a rope. That made the bag 59 and counting.
TG39.1’s Seagull found them at 29 May 1515. Using blinker light Moultron and the SOC crew established search arcs for the aircraft. The SOC had three hours on station before they had to return to USS Brooklyn CL-40. In those three hours the Seagull lead (WAG-48) two 136 survivors. That made it 195 seaman rescued. Not a bad day’s work for the Coasties. By this time Muskeget was well outside her weather ship box. For the last minutes of his time the SOC Pilot had conducted a very thorough area search and informed Moultron there was no sign of any additional boats, rafts or wreckage.
30 May 0615 WS 12 and what was left of Force H are in for some real trouble from "The Twins". The Troop Convoy, WS 12, is about 250 miles South West of La Caruna Southern tip Bay of Biscay. Force H is North West of WS 12 desperately trying to get between the convoy and The Twins TG. Rudel (Wolf Pack) Werwolf has savaged Force H, sinking 2 destroyers, damaging two so badly they were unable to keep up with even the reduced speed of Force H 22 kts and damaging both Ark Royal and Renown. Both capital ships were still combat effective, as their man batteries were intact but with reduced engineering capabilities. Renown had taken three torpedo hits and Ark Royal one. The Twins are heading toward Force H under an overcast of low lying clouds that have shielded them from Ark Royal's air search so far.
30 May 0630 HMS Cambletown was now making 9 kts on her way to Halifax for major repairs to her after deck house and engineering plant. Her capatin, Lcdr Lord Teynham , had gotten some very much needed shut eye on his bridge chair (with the safety belt to keep him in it), as did his crew.
The one bright spot out of the HX-123's massacre was when The OLD Gift Horse's starboard lookout spotted a lifeboat almost dead ahead a day ago. It contained 19 cold and angry seamen including Captain Roel Hendrikx from a crew of 43 from the Dutch freighter JAARSTROOM, 2,480 tons, launched in 1922 whose cargo of peanuts would never reach Liverpool. Two of the Stokers were not liekly to live because of their steam burns. Captain Hendrix had made it clear although he was furious with the Mofs (Germans) he was not too well disposed toward the Royal Navy just now after loosing 24 good men because the escort did not do their job. Lord Teynham just let that true but unfair remark pass.
He was also quite pleased with his mostly young and inexperienced crew. Thank God for the all to light sprinkling of old hand RN PO's he had. Asdic PO Miletus had done exceptionally well and was in for a “bump” soon. Miletus had a really thankless job teaching junior ASDIC Operator Benny Hill; not that he was not intelligent enough it was just he was so damn new. There was only so much the Senior ASDIC PO could do, while standing watches and doing repairs to the ASDIC in the short time. Another one of his headaches was “ASDIC Watch Officer” in name only at this point, Sub Lieutenant Peter Sellers RNVR, with all of 4 months service. Lord Teynham was pretty sure in time, with luck, which was in very short supply in HMS Cambletown, he would become more of an asset than a hazard to the Old Gift Horse.
They were steaming in the RN equivalent of USN condition 3 (wartime steaming) with 1/3 of the weapons and ALL his sensors manned. The Chief ERA had done wonders along with the Engineering Officer and even the newest "Stoker" under hellish conditions. Once again he and the old Gift Horse had failed and once again they had survived. Out of six fired one or two torpedoes should have at least slowed down that Nazi bastard , but the Nazi's Luck of the Devil held. The Raider thought so little of his Cambletown that she just brushed by her with a few shots from the secondary battery, one of which did more than enough damage, on her way to savage her charges and did not even come back to finish the Gift Horse off. As he took a pull of his rum laced Tea he thought "And I alone am left to tell the tale!" That Melville could coin the right phrase for the occasion.
30 May 0700 Veteran, civilian cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman of USCG Lcdr Jones’ Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387” had come across some intel that prompted Commandant First CG District to send an urgent message to his friend Admiral USN Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. The message contained the recently decoded signal to a senior Nazi Agent in New York regarding death of Admiral Lutgens and the appointment of his Uncle, Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann as OTC of TG Brinkmann.
30 May 0730 Ernie King appraised ONI of the change and wanted his file on his desk in one hour. He also wanted an assessment of the charcater, tactical and strategic competence of Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann and anything else that would help himself and Admiral Hewitt undretsand what this new oppononet was likely to do. "And I want it Yesterday!"
He then told his aide to get his COS in here ASAP. When the long suffering staffer came in Ernie and he hashed out if King had the authority to inform the Brits of the finding. Given that the USN was still operating under the “ABC-1” Joint Staff agreement which defined what roles US and UK forces would play while the United States was still neutral he had some leeway. ABC-1 formally authorized and encouraged the long established, tactical and technical information sharing between OpNav and the Admiralty. It also authorized cross posting of USN and RN Officers to share latest operational practices and TIMELY intel sharing. They decided to go through OpNav.
30 May 0750 CNO Stark's COS (Chief of staff) replied to King's message that OpNav would contact the Brits immediately with the news about TG Brinkmann. He would also request whatever the Brit's had on Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann and forward it to King as soon as they got it.
30 May 0900 TG39.1 Admiral Hewitt had his orders to find the Brinkmann TG. He was to continuing on his course to intercept the Nazi Capital ship(s) unless otherwise ordered. King also told Hewitt to give the crew of the SOC a well done from him.
The information about the massacre of HX-123 brought back by Helenna's Seagull yesterday at 1930, was followed by a brief, but concise message to Admiral King about the rescue and fate of the convoy and escorts. King shared that message with the CNO who soon called "Ernie" back asking for any additional info or intel on the Bismarck TG. King had a little but not much to add. The CNO informed King POTUS FDR had heard about HX-123, was furious and had ordered Stark to report to the White House ASAP for an update and "Strategy session". The outcome of that Session was to mobilize more assets in the hunt for the Nazi TG and to reiterate King's spoken, secret special ROE's to Hewitt about what he was to do when, not IF, he found the Nazi raiders. Hewitt had shared those ROE's with his second in command Ching Lee, who was itching to match HIS BB against the Buismarck.
30 May 0915 an execute to follow signal was two blocked to BB-55's yardarm. Signal read TG39.1 will engage in exercises to be used against a Force of One BB and one CA without a destroyers screen. Light off all boilers and prepare for rapid course, speed and formation changes. Advise, by signal light, when your command is in all respects ready for today's exercises.
30 May 0918 The signal was hauled down and Executed.
30 May 0925 CO BB-55 Ching Lee ordered all boilers to be brought on the line ASAP without endangering the plant. He then went to the TC where he found LT. Tolley and CRM O'Shea. The with the XO commander Stryker and Ops Boss soon joined them. They reviewed Rear Admiral Hewitt's Battle doctrine and the status of the radar, firecontrol, main and secondary battery.
GM2c Borgnino USN (AKA Ernie Borgnine) and 1st Sgt Carlo Morano were inspecting the heavy machine gun / light Marine manned AA Battery's ready use weapons and ammo per the battle bill when the "Growler" screeched. It was the Assistant Gunnery Officer ordering him to assist the GM3 working on the train mechanism of mount 52. He turned to "Carlo" and said "You sea going bell hops fucked up mount 52 again." 1st Sgt Carlo Morano, upholding the honor of the USMC fires back "Everyone knows you Swab Jockeys always give the Marine Det the most fucked up mount to play with. If it wasn't for our Gunny that piece of shit would never work."
Ernie, chuckled and said. "More likely that drunk was the cause not the cure of that mount's problems. I keep telling you Jar heads to leave the maintenace of the mounts to us GMs but you guys are way too smart to listen. It would save all of us a lot of work if you just practiced loading and firing those 5"38's because they are way too compicated for you Mud Maroons" to mess with."
Carlo's parting shot as Ernie slung a bag of tools over his shoulder and went through the hatch double time was. "Someone has to take up the slack for you lousy canon cockers. "
31 MAY 0800 Message From Fleet Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound
To: CNO, Admiral Harold R. Stark
Subj: Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann's from Office of Naval Intelligence dorsier
DATE OF BIRTH: 12 March 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH: Lübeck
1 April 1913-2 August 1914: Initial training and training aboard the protected cruiser Vineta.
• 1 April 1914-2 August 1914: Naval School Mürwick.
• 7 August 1914-6 January 1915: Assigned to the per-dreadnought battleship Kaiser Friedrich III.
• 7 January 1915-5 March 1915: Assigned to the per-dreadnought battleship Kaiser Karl der Große.
• 6 March 1915-28 October 1915: Radio Officer aboard the light cruiser Regensburg.
• 29 October 1915-31 July 1918: Assigned to various torpedo boats in the 2nd Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla (see below).
• 29 October 1915-3 June 1917: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat G 196.
• 19 August 1917-29 September 1917: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat G 192.
• 30 September 1917-12 November 1917: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat V 190.
• 8 June 1918-31 July 1918: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat S 133.
• 1 August 1918-20 September 1918: Attended the Navigation Course.
• 21 September 1918-30 November 1918: Watch Officer aboard the torpedo boat G 86 in the 1st Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla.
• 1 December 1918-16 May 1920: Watch Officer and Adjutant of the torpedo boat V 130 in the 2nd Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla and then the 2nd Iron Flotilla.
• 31 July 1920-29 September 1922: Commander of the tender T 144.
• 30 September 1922-10 February 1925: Commander of the torpedo boats G 7, G 10 and S 18 in the I. Torpedo Boat Flotilla.
• 12 February 1925-17 September 1926: Company Leader in the Baltic Sea Ship Cadre Division.
• 18 September 1926-2 October 1928: Consultant in the Baltic Sea Ship Cadre Division.
• 3 October 1928-5 November 1930: Second Adjutant on the staff of the Command of the Baltic Sea Naval Station.
• 6 November 1930-21 December 1932: Navigation Officer of the light cruiser Königsberg.
• 10 January 1933-31 March 1935: Consultant in the Reich Defense Ministry.
• 20 May 1935-6 May 1938: Commander of the state yacht and fleet tender Grille [this ship served as Adolf Hitler’s state yacht].
• 9 May 1938-26 October 1938: Consultant in the Marinewehrabteilung in the Kriegsmarine High Command.
• 27 October 1938-24 July 1940: Chief of the Marinewehrabteilung in the Kriegsmarine High Command.
• 1 August 1940-4 August 1942: Commander of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen.
Decorations & Awards:
• Prussian Iron Cross,
1st Class: 24 July 1920
• Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914): 10 October 1915.
• Cross of Honor for Combatants 1914-1918: 15 October 1934.
• Armed Forces Long Service Award, 3rd Class (12-year Service Medal)
• Commemorative Medal of 1 October 1938
• Commemorative Medal for the Return of the Memel District
• Spanish Order of Naval Merit, 2nd Class: 8 November 1934.
• Order of the Crown of Italy, Commander: 8 October 1937.
Brinkmann’s Prinz Eugen sortied from Gotenhafen with the new battleship Bismarck on “Rheinübung” (Rhine Exercise), a breakout into the Atlantic to conduct commerce raiding.
Promotions:
• Cadet.Seekadett: Entered the Imperial German Navy as a Sea 1 April 1913
• Fähnrich zur See: 3 April 1914
• Leutnant zur See: 18 September 1915
• Oberleutnant zur See: 7 January 1920 (Patenting reserved)
• Oberleutnant zur See: 14 May 1921 (Patent 7 January 1920)
• Kapitänleutnant: 1 May 1925
• Korvettenkapitän: 1 January 1933
• Fregattenkapitän: 1 January 1937
• Kapitän zur See: 1 October 1938
•
31 MAY 0830 The Bismarck's captain was going over the events of the last few days. He had sent out his after action report to Brinkmann and BdU long ago. No need for radio silence then when the Queen had broadcast his identity and position to the entire world. He had been eager for the kill at the time but the hours since had given him a chance to reflect on what HE had ordered his men to do. Oh they were all doing their duty and, as one of HMT's the Queen was a legitimate target but the loss of life still weighed heavily on his mind and for that ther was the best French Cognac.
He knew all too well Queen Mary was a very valuable asset to the Englanders. She had been fitted as a troopship in 1940 with an armament and six-inch guns, and completely painted in dull flat gray to camouflage it from U-boats, earning her the wartime name of the “Gray Ghost.” Her contributions to the Englander war effort was consider so vital Hitler himself put a $250,000 bounty on her.
HMT Queen Mary's CO ,Commander Merle Ronald Haggard RNR, had been screaming for help on every circuit she had including the international distress frequency guarded by almost everyone at sea, including HIS Bismarck, The Prince, TG39.1 and (WAG-48) CO Moultron, the closest "help". One of Queen Mary's DEMS sergeants had identified Bismarck's Arado at 0600 this morning. Not much of an imediate worry as the Royal Navy was stretched so thin he practically had this corner of the North Atlantic as his private hunting preserve. His Arado's were up searching now and there was no help for the Queen within their search arcs of 100 miles. One thing did bother him and that was the failure of the RAF's radar equipped Catalina's and Sunderlands to find him could not last. He also knew the "Ami's" were out looking for anyone in their ever expanding "Nuetrality" Zone and they would not hesitate a minute to inform their Britsh "cousins" of his position.
Bismarck's forward FuMO 23 held her prey dead ahead at 15 miles doing 25 kts at 29 May 0835 . She had obviously been running fast all night. Kapitäns zur See Lindemann asked his Navigator for an intercept course and time at 20 kts, fuel was always a concern for a raider and His Bismark burned orders of magnitude more of the precious fuel oil at 29 kts than at 20. Given the Queen's current course at 25 kts it would be about 1100. He then asked when will we be within 10 miles of the Queen Mary? The navigator answered 1015.
At 1030 despite the Queen coming to a reciprical course as soon as Bismarck was spotted trying to make it a long stern chase the 10.5-meter rangefinder confirmed and the FuMO 23 range, bearing and course of the Queen. The data was fed into Bismarck's state of the art analog fire control system and her turrets Anton" and "Bruno" were aligned to the plot. With one of his Arado's spotting fall of shot Kapitäns zur See Lindemann ordered his gunnery officer to to open fire with Adolf alone. The two 15 inch, radar and optically controlled rounds landed close aboard soon to a real “Gray Ghost.” The seond salvo came from Bruno and the shock damage was so great Queen Mary's speed dropped to 17 kts.
At ten miles HMT Queen Mary's CO ,Commander Merle Ronald Haggard RNR ordered her six inch battery into continuos fire against the German raider that had to be Bismarck. He also ordered his radiomen to modify the help signal to include the identity of his ship's murderer and to keep sending as long as they could. Quite frankly the Queen's fire control was quite dated as were her guns. Despite that she managed to score three solid hits on Bismarck which did destroy one of her boats but otherwise hardly scratched her paintwork.
With Queen Mary's reduced speed Kapitäns zur See Lindemann ordered Bismarck to a course that would unmask his after turrets. He ordered the Gunnery officer to enage with Cäsar” and “Dora”. He then quipped "One salvo from each turret, after all this is no more than target practice for our men to fire when being fired upon." Dora scored a two round hit on the Queen Mary and he fight and flight was over. Her mighty propulsion plant manned by skilled and proud engineers now mostly dead had been dealt a fatal blow and the Queen Mary went DIW (dead in the water). Damage control would only prolong her death as the main engineering space was rapidly filling.
Before HMT Queen Mary's CO ,Commander Merle Ronald Haggard RNR ,could reluctantly order her "Battle Ensigns" lowered in surrendered Bismarck's secondary battery opened up. Six 5.9 in and eight 4.1 inch raked the upper works, including the bridge, radio room and port boat deck of Queen Mary with rapid fire at almost point blank range. The effect on the armorless liner was devestating. The carnage to the superstructure troop compartments turned them into a slaughter house because they were filled with troops. The Queen Mary's last Master along with the entire bridge crew were killed or badly wounded and those ensigns still flew. It took another ten minutes for "The Commander" AKA Jimmy The One could have those damned flags hauled down and inform Bismarck of his ship's surrender. In those ten minutes Bismarck's gunnery had wrought terrible slaughter to the crew and passengers of Queen Mary.
Kapitäns zur See Lindemann imediately ordered cease fire and cirled the dying liner. "Jimmy" ordered her remaining lifeboats filled and lowered and her Carly rafts jettisoned; maybe he could save some of his passengers. The Kriegsmarine was under strict orders from the Fuher not to rescue prisoners accept for a very few for intel purposes. That superceded the law of the sea . 19 minutes later Queen Mary capsized, taking with her all but 320 passengesr and crew; Jimmy was not one of the lucky ones.
His duty done well beyond his wildest expectations because he had eliminated a full division of badly needed soldiers, many veterans, from the British army, Kapitäns zur See Lindemann ordered his ship to 25 kts to clear this "Flaming Datum" as soon as possible. After she was out of sight of the Queen Mary Survivors he set a course for his rendezvous with TG Brinkmann.
The shocked and misetrable survivors, mostly soldiers just stared with utter hatred at the murdering bastard as she sailed away and left them to the mercy of the North Atlantic. The few seaman in the boats and rafts began to organize the rest. They did their best to find medical typees to tend the wounded from the medical kits in the life boats. They rounded up the carly rafts and secured them to the lifeboats. They resditributed the survivirs between the lifeboats and rafts. They took charge of the food and water in order to make it last as long as possible. They set up "Lookout" watches for the rescue ships they told the soldiers were on their way. Who knows they may not be lying. The Queen had very good high powered radios. They had been screaming for help with their posit for hours and had recieved acknowledgments. No one knew exactly who or where those would be rescueres were.
31 MAY 1400 Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound and his soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay arrived at No. 10 Downing street for what both expected to be an epic bad SitRep they were to present personally to the Prime Minister Churchill. The great man sat at his work table, a very large scotch at his side and the stub of what was once a very large Cuban cigar in his mouth.
Churchill "Do I have to wait for it gentlemen?"
Pound " We have to report Queen Mary and almost all her troops and crew has been sunk by what we are pretty sure is The Bismarck." The PM spit his cigar stub into an ashtray, picked up his scotch and took a huge drink; all the time fixing the two Admirals with a very, very black stare. He then opened his desk cigar box, selected a fine cuban, clipped off the end and lit it with a kitchen match. He took a few puffs, still staring at the Navy Men.
Pound "I am still Admiral of the Fleet and take full responsibility for the loss Prime Minister. Ramsay has had nothing to do with the matter. He is here at his own request.
Churchill "So you Alfred have lost the Queen Mary and what? 15,000 men? AND Bismarck has got clean away unscathed? Where in God's name is the fucking Royal Navy? One hash up after another. First the Demark straight, then HX-123, Force H savaged and now The Queen Mary. " Before turning his eyes toward Vice Admiral Ramsay a look of compassion crossed the old Bull Dog's face. He truly was sorry his friend Alfred was to be pilloried for the fact the RN was stretched far too thin. A great career and all most would would remember, if they remembered him at all, was that he ended that career a complete, abject failure.
Churchill "Ramsey I don't envy you the job of straitening out this mess of a fleet. I warn you I can't give you long to deliver some good news to our people. Sinking Bismarck would be a good start. Not having any more Convoy disasters for a while would also be a good idea but we have to sink those Nazi raiders and we have to do it NOW.
1 JUNE 1941 0223 HMS Cambletown's radar picked up a contact with a thin line of “dust” in its wake. Thhe OOD immediately informed CO, Lcdr Lord Teynham who ordered The Gift Horse turn towards it and increased speed but, U-123 crash dived. The old DD regained contact with her Type 141 ASDIC. HMS Cambletown closed up, established firm contact and attacked, when the distance to the contact had reduced to about 450 yards Teynham ordered a full pattern to be dropped on his command. As soon as ASW Watch Officer Sub Lieutenant Peter Sellers RNVR report Instantaneous echo the CO dropped his pattern.
1 JUNE 1941 0239 U-123 emerged, breaking the surface of the sea accompanied by its characteristic rushing and hissing of the emptying ballast tanks. Being severely damaged and unserviceable for further diving operation Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen had to surface. Cambletown's CO ordered every gun that would bear opened fire. He then ordered full ahead ( now thanks to his Chief ERA, 19 kts) to ram. However, “Trommelschlag” Hardegen, had executed many combat patrols and was not willing to surrender.
While Gift Horse's shells flew over the conning tower of the U-123 and the maxim guns hit the sheet-metal cover of the conning tower, the gun crew of the U-boat rushed to its 88 mm deck gun and returned fire. The first shells of U 123 scored a hit near the bridge and sent splinters into the forward engine compartment. In between, tracer ammunition of the U-boat´s AA-gun was hammering away at the old "Can". Steam was hissing, loud enough to drown out the rattatting of machine guns. In the muzzle flashes could be seen the dead and wounded much like an 18th century ship to ship action.
U 123 defended herself with desperate determination. As The Gift Horse killed off the U-boat´s gun crew, others rushed in to replace their fallen shipmates and to continue the fight. That all ended when one of Cambletown's 4 inch shells swept the entire gun and brave crew over the side.
At the very last moment,“Trommelschlag” ordered his boat “hard port”, which led the destroyer to not hit the U-boat head on, rather with a glancing blow of about 30 degrees about 10 yards from her bow and eventually riding with its bow on the U-boat´s focsle. Like two fighters clinging to one another the old DD and the U-boat were locked together.
1 JUNE 1941 0250 The U-boat was running at full speed and was able to hold a course parallel to the DD, which was continuously firing and catching up slowly from starboard astern, to turn in for ramming.
An after action combat report published by the Admiralty noted about this duel: Lcdr Lord Teynham“ kept down anyone in the conning tower and on deck of U 123 by means of his Tommy-gun. Captain Hendrix, a survivor of the freighter JAARSTROOM, did considerable damage to the U-Boat's AA gun crew by hurling Mills Bombs from the midships deck house. Using an empty 20 mm ammunition container Petty Officer Walter Carter kicked a German sailor over board”.
Although thirty U-boat men were killed in this uneven carnage, where the Brits were firing from above down at the boat, U 123 did not stop its fight. The German U-boat sailors threw hand grenades, hit back with empty cartridges, and fired signal pistols at the destroyer sailors. The very rough sea swell ground the old can's time thinned bilge plates ground against the steel pressure hull of the U 123. Eventually her old bottom and side plating , thinned by decades of rust, cracked and was leaking so badly her pumps were just able to keep up. The entire port side was also dented, broken up and riddled by bullets, and water in the fire rooms had risen knee-deep, about a foot below the fire grates, before it was controlled.
1 JUNE 1941 0300 After ten minutes of close quarter killing man to man Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen managed to back his U-boat out from under the old "can" running her engines full astern. Having reached about 300 yards distance, Hardegen immediately open fire with those weapons still left to him. U 123 turned hard inboard, while The gift Horse followed from the distance with a greater turning circle, seeking any opportunity to ram again. During that period U 123 launched a torpedo, which missed. 4 inch shells of the HMS Cambletown hit the aft torpedo compartment of U 123, close to the Diesel exhaust-gas cap.
U 123's last remaining 20 mm AA gun finally knocked out the destroyer´s search light. At once, the U-boat attempted to leave the area under the cover of darkness but found her engines could only push her at 12 kts due to the recent damage. Cambletown's CO was ready for this and ordered the old 3"23, which had played no part in the fight to load with star shells and to light up the night around the U-boat. This allowed the old Gift Horse to make a DC run at her best speed now 17 knots. At this point Lord Teynham decided he had to end this before the old Gift Horse sank from under him. He set all his ready DCs on shallow depths and prayed he did not blow his own damaged stern off. The Gift Horse laid her pattern alongside U-123 and literally rolled her on her beam ends. Something in the U-boat set off a catastrophic explosion and she went down for the last time.
Miraculously 9 of U-123's crew survived and were rescued by the same men who had unmercifully been trying to kill them with everything that came to hand including an American Bowie Knife. No one from inside the U-boat lived. All 9 survivors were wounded, deaf and had been manning guns topside. Once again "The Drummer's "Des Teufels eigenes Glück" (Devils own luck) had saved Kapitänleutnant Reinhard “Trommelschlag” Hardegen. As he was hauled aboard the badly mauled and possibly sinking HMS Cambletown he was greeted by Lcdr Lord Teynham with a hot mug of tea laced Rum. He also hoped The dead of HX-123, especially the Commodore would rest a little bit easier now that his Old Gift Horse had accounted for some small amount of revenge.
The U-boat skipper was very puzzled to see and hear Lord Teynham burst out laughing just this side of sanity. HX-123.....U-Boat-123 seemed damn funny to the skipper of the Old Gift Horse at that time.
Further aft Bosun Mate Benjamin "Canada" Frobisher, whose ancestors were fur trappers in his native Canada, was manning a portable petrol pump in the effort to keep "The Old Gift Horse" from going down. He had to mix, just the right amount of oil with the petrol, or the badly needed pump would cease up. He also was regretting the loss of his prized posession, a Bowie knife, which he used to kill 17 years and two month old Matrose Christman Genipperteinga. He had hurled it 15 feet into the boy's chest as the German sprayed 9 mm slugs at him and his mates from a MP 40 sub machine gun. The boy had fallen into the sea taking "Canada's" knife with him.
"Canada" considered that knife, given to him by his Paternal Grandpa, his good luck piece. His Bowie knife, was a very close copy of Jesse Clift's original used by Bowie in his epic Vidalia Sandbar fight. It was derived from Spanish hunting knives of the day, and differed little from a common butcher knife. The blade, was 9 and 1⁄2 inches long, 1⁄4 inch thick and 1and 1⁄2 inches wide. It was straight-backed and had no clip-point nor any hand guard, with a simple riveted wood scale handle. Well they were heading for Halifax and he would find another but would it be a "Lucky" knife?
1 JUNE 1941 1900 ( UTC/GMT -4 hours) The Oval Office, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC. Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt 39th POTUS sat behind the "Resolute" desk. This double pedestal desk was made from the oak timbers of H.M.S. Resolute as a gift to President Rutherford B. Hayes from Queen Victoria in 1880. FDR was sipping on his 3rd Martini and eyeing the super encrypted direct phone link with Prime Minister Winston Churchill. About a half hour ago one of his aides had placed a call to "Winston" via Sigsaly . SIGSALY was a digital speech encryption system using "White noise, developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and built by Western Electric. The secure POTUS to PM link had been operational since March.
There were times when FDR did not think running for an unprecedentedly winning a third term was all that good an idea. The tremendous burden of responsibility he carried while steering the USA through those turbulent seas in the 1930s, and and now this damn War would have broken a lessor man especially given his health. Perhaps only those who have served as President could even remotely understand what was required. The office, in any period of time, is notorious for the physical and psychological toll it extracts.
It had been a particularly "Tough" day for FDR. For one thing he was always in pain, usually, long experience, made it bearable and he just carried on with his life but sometimes it got much worse and this was one of those days. At such times he turned to his favorite drink; The Martini. FDR insisted on mixing his own and everyone else around him. He started out simple enough, usually as a 3:1 or sometimes 4:1 Gin and Dry Vermouth. Shaken over ice. Cocktail glass. Olive or lemon peel garnish.
Then it gets complicated. Sometimes, if inspired, FDR would add a drop or two of absinthe for flavor. Sometimes a splash of brine to make it dirty. At other times, he might add more vermouth than his guests cared for. Perhaps he might add some fruit juices or liqueurs, or substitute with an alternative liquor for gin when his home bar was limited. Sometimes an extra measure of gin to be on the safe side, as he could lose track of his measurements, especially late in the "Children's Hour", while deep in storytelling. You can see how quickly things could get out of control. Tonight, to ease the pain he added a drop of opium. He thanked God he seldom had to resorted to this.
The sinking of the Queen Mary and the great loss of life had decided him on taking a very big risk. When he went ahead and gave the order to "Sink The Bismarck" and any other Nazi Raider the USN could find, he was actually declaring war on Nazi Germany. and that was a clear violation of the the US Constitution which clearly stated only Congress could declare war.
He was certain the GOP and some of his own Democrat representatives would call for his impeachment. Given the results of the 1940 landslide election against Wendell Willkie, the poor Rube, he was sure he would not be tried by the senate, let alone convicted. A massacre Electoral vote of 449, carrying 38 states, winning the popular vote 27,313,945 (55%) to 22,347,744 (44.8%) and with comfortable Democrat party control of the House of Representative and Senate bought him a lot of political capital and he could afford to loose some and still do what he had to.
BUT
He ran on a platform of, while arming for defense, a strict neutrality to keep our boys out of Europe's never ending wars. That would certainly seem very thin if the USN sank The Bismarck and that cruiser and an outright disaster if our ships were sunk and our sailors drown outside the declared neutrality zone.
The Supreme Court was the Rub and there was no doubt the GOP would file a suit, based on the fact he actually did violate his oath of office to Uphold the Constitution. BUT, big BUT that would take time, he just might win there too ;after all Hitler would declare war on the USA and the Court might just say "screw it he is a wartime leader and the American people both trust and love him". The nag was doing anything that could possibly, no matter how remotely, make John Nance Garner III POTUS. He really should have replaced Garner with "Hank Wallace" for the last election. Wallace had some very personal baggage that J Edgar Hoover Director of the FBI, the all too cunning and dangerous megalomaniac, only chose to share with him just before the Chicago convention. There really was no time to do anything but, have hatchet-man journalist Charles S. Michelson, appraise Wallace of what the FBI knew and ask him to "Do the right thing for the party". Wallace no fool did "the right thing" immediately.
Michelson, was the ruthless head of the Democrat party's propaganda machine, funded by financier John J. Raskob, the party’s national chairman. He was a hatchet-man journalist who successfully demonized POTUS Hoover as responsible for the country’s economic woes. He was a master of “scathing invective” and “scurrilous venom”. In Michelson’s memoir, “The Ghost Talks,” he wrote with great pride "I could have served as a primer for Machiavelli.”
The America Firsters were not the only American isolationists and the American Nazi Bund were not the only American Fascist sympathizers he had to worry about. In the 1930s the Great Depression and the memory of tragic losses in World War I ( the last three months of that war was a blood bath for the American Expeditionary Force) pushed American public opinion and policy toward isolationism. FDR had all he could do to avoid political and military conflicts (The Panay Incident etc.) across the oceans, continued to expand America's ravaged economy and protect its interests in Latin America.
The isolationist leaders used every trick in the book to attain their ends. They drew upon history to bolster their position. In his Farewell Address, President George Washington had advocated non in European wars and politics. For much of the nineteenth century, the expanse of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans had made it possible for the United States to enjoy a kind of "free security" and remain largely detached from Old World conflicts.
During World War I, however, President Woodrow Wilson made a case for U.S. intervention in the conflict and a U.S. interest in maintaining a peaceful world order. Nevertheless, the American experience in that war served to bolster the arguments of isolationists; they argued that marginal U.S. interests in that conflict did not justify the number of U.S. casualties. In the wake of the WW I , a report by Senator Gerald P. Nye, a Republican from North Dakota, fed this belief by claiming that American bankers and arms manufacturers had pushed for U.S. involvement for their own profit. The 1934 publication of the book Merchants of Death by H.C. Engelbrecht and F. C. Hanighen, followed by the 1935 tract "War Is a Racket" by decorated Marine Corps General Smedley D. Butler both served to increase popular suspicions of wartime profiteering and influence public opinion in the direction of neutrality. Many Americans became determined not to be tricked by banks and industries into making such great sacrifices again. The reality of a worldwide economic depression and the need for increased attention to domestic problems only served to bolster the idea that the United States should isolate itself from troubling events in Europe.
Upon taking office, POTUS FDR tended to see a necessity for the United States to participate more actively in international affairs, but his ability to apply his personal outlook to foreign policy was limited by the strength of isolationist sentiment in the U.S. Congress. In 1933, President Roosevelt proposed a Congressional measure that would have granted him the right to consult with other nations to place pressure on aggressors in international conflicts. The bill ran into strong opposition from the leading isolationists in Congress, including progressive politicians such as Senators Hiram Johnson of California, William Borah of Idaho, and Robert La Follette of Wisconsin. In 1935, controversy over U.S. participation in the World Court elicited similar opposition.
As tensions rose in Europe over Nazi Germany's aggressive maneuvers, Congress pushed through a series of Neutrality Acts which prevented US Flagged merchant ships and US citizens from becoming embroiled in foreign conflicts. FDR deplored the confining acts, but because he still required Congressional support for his domestic New Deal policies, he reluctantly signed the bills. The isolationists were a varied mob, including progressives and conservatives, business owners and peace activists, but because they faced no consistent, organized opposition from the few internationalists, their ideology usually won out.
FDR appeared to accept the strength of the isolationist elements in Congress until 1937. In that year, as the situation in Europe continued to grow worse and the Second Sino-Japanese War began in Asia, POTUS gave a speech in which he likened international aggression to a disease that other nations must work to "quarantine." At that time, however, Americans were still not prepared to risk their lives and livelihoods for peace abroad. Even the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 did not suddenly dilute popular desire to avoid foreign entanglements especially in Europe. Despite that fact, the fascists atrocities helped FDR to shift public opinion slightly from favoring complete neutrality to supporting limited US aid, especially if it funded American jobs and helped the to the economy in general to "friendly Nations" BUT WELL SHORT of actual intervention in the war.
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
Re: THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 12
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 12
Even the largest of these Liners could not come close to Queen Mary's 15,000 troop capacity but there were 23 of them. WS-12 was a very big Troop convoy and those men were desperately needed. Their loss would be a very heavy, stategic blow to the Army and the nation. Their replacments would be very hard to come by and would not be available for quite a while unless He decided to strip Divisions from UK defenses which was a decision he really did not want to make. Seven straight nights of bombing of Liverpool by the Luftwaffe, resulted in widespread destruction. Belfast, Northern Ireland, experienced more heavy bombing by the Luftwaffe. Heavy convoy losses in the Atlantic continue including HX-123 and Queen Mary.
Nottingham Bombed yet again by the Luftwaffe. The United Kingdom's House of Commons was damaged by in an air raid. Hull, Liverpool, Belfast, and the shipbuilding area of the River Clyde in Scotland. bombed repeatedly Rommel defeated counter-attack, "Brevity", at Halfaya Pass. German paratroopers captured Crete with heavy loss of Allied troops, aircraft and equipment. Old Hood was badly damaged and just might be a write off; too soon to tell. Prince of Whales was so heavily damaged she would be in dockyard hands for at least three months, six was more likely based on initial inspection. Invaluable cruisers sunk and many more so badly damaged they will be in dockyard for months. Operation "Brevity" that started out so successfully turned into another costly failure.
SIS (AKA M16 or Secret Intelligence Service) and Naval Intelligence are becoming ever more certain Japan is about to strike soon. One of Winnie's more terrifying scenarios was that theNaziwould leave US Western Pacific possessions, Especially The Philippines, alone. The superbly trained and equipped IJN and veteran and utterly ruthless Imperial Army would only go for UK and Netherlands East Indies colonies, especially those big Dutch oil fields they needed so much was a real possibility.
The key was not to push the Americans out of their stupor of Isolation. Were theNazileaders sophisticated enough to do that? Certainly the Imperial Army had NOT shown anything that dangerously cunning. The Rub was the Imperial Japanese Navy whose senior admirals like Yamamoto were every bit that sophisticated and had a much better grasp of what the Western nations, especially a fully committed American enemy , could bring to bear against them. The question was who would the emperor listen to? His will was still a very potent force, despite the power of militarist cabal. Suddenly his cigar did not draw as well as it had and his whiskey did not taste as good either.
And what do we have to be grateful about in May?
1. U-110 was captured another priceless and updated copy of the "Enigma" machine is discovered and saved. According to his Admirals, Generals, Air Marshals, the boffins and the few of our senior Intel men who know, It will help decisively to turn the fortunes in the Atlantic battle and the war as a whole. Well we'll see.
2. The German paratroopers who captured Crete, truthfully they are Elite, highly valuable shock troops and as close to Nazi Supermen as actually exists suffered catastrophic losses. Those men will not be replaced any time soon, if at all.
3. FDR just moved a long way closer to the alliance I need to win this war.
God help us all If the Americans join us and Franklin is replaced by that Texas "Buckaroo" "Cactus Jack"( AKA John Nance Garner III), I might have to order the hard men of
MI-6 to euthanize him before he costs us the damn war.
1 JUNE 1941 2250 TG-39.1 Commander Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt had just read Ernie King's latest message sent by the most secure code the USN had and marked "Eyes Only TG-39.1 . That message literally ordered him To Sink The Bismarck and her cruiser escort ASAP and about time. It also formally changed his ROE's by order of FDR himself. The president was not going to hang Hewitt out to dry by saying he had acceded his orders to only shadow and Report. Hewitt sagely thought "Nice touch by FDR always the politician." Hewitt knew POTUS would never get away with that; too many people knew it was Roosevelt's orders that sent BB-55 up against Bismarck.
1 JUNE 1941 2300 Captain Willis Augustus Lee Jr. USN CO of BB-55, his XO Commander Joe Stryker, TG39.1's Commander and his Chief of Staff (CoS) looked at each other thinking their own deep thoughts. Hewitt had just read his latest message from CinC Atlantic Fleet ordering TG39.1 to find and sink the German raiders no matter where they found them and that meant outside the Nuetrality Zone. He also told them that, in his opinion, Hitler would go even madder than he already was and declare war on the USA bcause.
" Make no mistake Gentlemen, killing all those German sailors and sinking the Nazi's most powerful warship and symbol of their power was an act of war by anyones standards." For now these orders go no further than us.
He turned to face his CoS I want our SOCs out before first light and I want that bastard found before he knows we are around. I don't want a fair fight. I want to bushwhack those Nazi murderers and the poor sailors they command.
1 JUNE 1941 2315 "Joe get Tolley and his gang into the TC and let's see if we can give those Soc pilots a better chance at finding Bismarck", said Lee.
This would be a very good chance to see how the lateset addition, an air plot, would work out. About two weeks ago Capt. Ching Lee, LT Tolly and CRM O'Shea were in the TC discussing the shortcomings of "their" Tracking Compartment. The DRT was damn fine for keeping tarck of the surface action but not the Air Picture. LT Tolly recommended a Polar Projection plot. Lee agreed but where in the already tight TC would they squeeze it in and how could it be rapidly updated? Lee supected air actions would be very fast short fights in which he would have to make split second decisions. Once again he was troubled by the herresy that the place for the CO was in the TC not on the bridge or armored conning tower.
CRM O'Shea suggested using some of that new Plexiglass the latest status boards were made of with the Polar Projection compass rose circles and disatnce lines painted on the front. A sailor with a China marking "grease pencil" (same they used on the status boards) would fill in the info from whatever source. He thought if it was back lighted like the status boards, and hung vertically as high up on the bulkhead as possible. Maybe the Kid could be stationed behind the board with sound powered phones on so not to obscure the plot. Lee chuckled and said "Chief, you better find someone who could write backwards because I sure as hell can't read backwards." LT Tolly agreed with the CRM. CO BB-55 orderd LT Tolly to get with the EMs and SFs senior PO's and make it happen "yesterday". ING and make sure those men and whatever they need are issued. LT. Tolly would get together with the CQM to come up with some standard plotting techniques and what symbols they could use for the Vertical Plot, shortly therafter shortened to the VP.
2 JUNE 1941 0015. Lee told them they were trying to find Bismarck for the Brits to kill. He continued "We have a "Flaming datum" called The Queen Mary. That was about 39 hours ago and Bismarck can do better than 30 knots. So she could be eleven hundred miles from the Datum. Once she cleared datum The qestions are:
1. Which direction did she go?
2. At what speed?
3. Will she join up with Prince Eugen?
Joe Stryker the XO was the first to answer "We can "guess" she will reduce to a more economical speed as soon as she can." Lee Just nodded so the XO continued.
" It's about time our land based air patrol started to earn their pay. Hell they just got to spot her soon, don't they?"
"Joe, I have it on good authority that Ernie King is making the life of PatWing 5 utterly miserable. The Brits got o be doing the same. It's the low overcast that makes our SOCs the better choice for this job. I guess our airborn ASE, Radars just aren't up to the area search job yet."
CRM O'Shae spoke up. "Well skipper that ASE set really isn't much for area searches. It's good for a moonless night or really bad visibility daylight local area search and attack but it only has about a 40 miles range because it's only a
7 KW set. So even when it's running good, which aint anywhere near as often as the flyboys woud like us to believe, it's a hell of a lot of ocean for a 40 mile sweep."
Lee said "I think the Chief has answered your question Joe. Even Ernie King can't make it any better no matter how hard he chews on the PBY's boss' ass."
That broke the tension in the TC and they got down to work.
What they finally come up with was some eductaed guesses that dictated the initial Sector Searches. They would launch the SOCs at nautical sunrise 0345 so the patrols could be actively searching by 0401 sunrise today.
Lee, as was his want, had been multi tasking his excellent brain while his "boys" were working up their remommendations. He asked the XO out on deck. The two men, a steaming mug of navy brew in hand just ,enjoyed the fresh sea air for a few minutes and then Lee said. "Joe I think we are going to be in one hell of a brawl before too long. I don't think Krulac has anyone in the brig right now? You can get the word out that I have declared a gneral amnesty for one and all.
We are going to ask those kids to fight and maybe die for us. If I know my sailors and I do Joe, our trouble makers will prove to be invaluable if things really go bad. Might as well give them a break"
Commander Stryker replied " Noone in the brig since F2c Madrick got out. The rest are petty criminals anyway. Too bad we can't do something for the kids that don't break the Regs." As the CO's chief bastard aboard BB-55 Joe Stryker was "The Man" who enforced disicipline and as such knew the trouble makers all too well.
Take Fireman Second class Kevin Madrick. He was an Ex Submarine qualifed Shipfitter 2nd Class AKA SF2c and a very good one with a fine, almost spotless record. That all changed after his rescue from USS Squalus (SS-192), back in 1939.
That boat suffered a catastrophic valve failure during a test dive off the Isle of Shoals at 0740 on 23 May. Partially flooded, the submarine sank to the bottom and came to rest keel down in 40 fathoms (240 feet) of water. Navy divers and salvage ships responded quickly, and the following day began operations to rescue the surviving 32 crew members and one civilian from the forward sections of the boat. At 1130 on 24 May, USS Falcon (ASR-2) lowered the newly developed McCann rescue chamber--a revised version of a diving bell invented by Commander Charles B. Momsen--and, over the next 13 hours, all 33 survivors were rescued from the stricken submarine.
Madrick was a changed man. He drank far too much and he wanted to fight the entire world, especially the old Nav. His favorite "Dancing Partners" were big, senior PO's. He lost a lot of fights but he also won a fair share. Every once in a while he put his considerable talents to good use for the ship. Problem was his devils ensured any progress he made back up to SF2c was, sooner rather than later, made pointless when he started his next fight. Stryker guessed his CO's knowing about Squalus and seeing his talents displayed, actually valued him and that kept him out of Portsmouth Naval prison.
Instead, as XO he assigned him to Engineering Dept Repair Division. CSF Slade was his Divisiional CPO. He was a big man who, in his younger years was Atlantic Fleet heavyweight Champ for 5 years. He was now in his late 40's, had a wife and four daughters. His competetive boxing days were over but he still kept "His hand in" as he liked to say "adjusting the attitude" of sailors who needed it. Naturally Kevin had tried him on and the Chief handled the matter "Off the Books".
For General Quarters The XO assaigned FM2c Madrick to one of the repair Parties.
Repair I Deck or topside repair party.. Deck or topside repair party.
Repair II Forward below decks repair party.
Repair III Aft Below decks repair party.
Repair IV Amidships below decks repair party
Repair V. Engineer repairt. Amidships below decks repair paRepair V. Engin
Which one varied a lot. As soon as a Repair Party Leader had enough of Kevin there was usually a Captain's mast, he got busted if he had managed a promotion and a transfer to another repair party. He really got to learn BB-55's DC system better than anyone but BB-55's DCA (damage Control Assistant).
EWO (Engineering Warrant Officer) Becker came aboard with the very first Precom draft and never left. Because he saw her being built and his 42 years, man and boy, at sea he had a considerable edge on our FM2c. Becker had once served in the Kaisar's Navy but now had 28 years in the USN. He had mixed feelings about killing German sailors, after all, they could not all be gottverdammt Nazi bastards, could they? Deck our troubled FM2c.
FORCE H Vs The TWINS the savior of WS-12
2 JUNE 1941 Force H had won her race to interprose between WS-12 and TG Cilax. Admiral Somerville had made it perfectly clear to his staff and his Commanding Officers the only way TG Cilax would get to WS-12 was over the their dead bodies and the sunken wrecks of their ships. He also made it clear if they failed many tens of thousands of their countrymen would also die, men the UK could not afford to loose. It was a sobering thought but he had to impress on them just how desperate the Admiralty and PM were at this point in time.
The weather was not completely cooperating but it could have been worse. The overcast of low lying clouds that had partially shielded TG Ciliax from Ark Royal's air search so far but it would be a God Send for the String bags and Glide Bombers later. The moderate seas and winds made the destroyers partial refueling from his three capital ships much safer, and he could NOT afford to loose any to collisions. The 22 kt run had not exactly drained their fuel bunkers but none was much above 50% and high speed operations were certainly on the dance card this day. He had ordered an oiler to rendesvous with them tomorrow, if any of them were alive.
Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville's plan for Force H was pretty simple. Ark Royal's Swordfish and Fulmars, a damn good scout, a fair glide bomber and absolutely terrible fighter but more than a match for any number of Arados, would do their best to cripple the Twins and lay smoke. Then in would go his Destroyers for a try at them with their torpedoes covered by Shefield's Type 79Y radar directed twelve 6-inch Mk XXIII guns and 8 QF 4-inch guns. Those 6 inch guns had a max effective range of 25,480 yds at 45 degrees elevation, fired a 112 pound AP shell, had maximum rate of fire was eight rounds per gun, per minute. So even splitting the fire of the main battery between Scharnhost and Kniesnor she could fire 49 RPS per minute at each of the twins. And if Renown's radar could lock on she could add her own brand of misery to help the destroyers get close enoug to score a few vital hits.
Aside from a very lucky shot Shiny did not have much chance of doing any serious damage to the Twins hulls or main battery but she just might be able to smother the Battle cruisers sensors, fire control, secondary battery long enough to make the DD torpedo attack hit home. Finally it would be up to venerable "Refit" Renown and her old but more than capable ship killing 15 inch guns to put them down or at least drive them off. That is if Renowns own Battle Cruiser armor was proof against 18 modern German 11inch gunns fring the much better german AP round. Of all the ships of Force H he would bet his Flag was the most likely to survive and he really had mixed feelings about that.
2 JUNE 1941 0812 Somerville ordered Force H into a "Flight Corpen", turn into the wind at 22 kts to allow his carrier to launch her first strike of the day. The Ark Royal was launching all 11 of her reduced compliment of Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers and Argus's 10. Their Mark XII 18 inch, 388 lb warhead torpedo had a range of 1,500 yards at 40 knots or 3,500 yards at 27 knots.These were his best bet for slowing down The Twins.
There would also be 8 Fairey Fulmars. They would each be armed with a single 250 lb AP bomb but they were not capable of dive bombing so they would have to make a glide bombing run and that was the ideal target for medium and light Flak gunners. They were also armed with eight fixed forward 0.303 Caliber machineguns with at least 400 rounds per gun. These would be devestating to sensor and communications aerials and topside stationed sailors if the Fulmars could get close enough and time their attack to support his Swordfish torpedo runs. Two Fulmars were out doing a thorough sector search out to 70 miles and one was bird dogging TG Cilax as they closed with Force H. One Fulmar was doing anti submarine patrol along the direction of advance. Three more fulmars were on deck armed with smoke canisters.
Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville, had struggled with a decision of what to do with WS-12's escorts which inlcuded the old CV HMS Argus pennant # I49 Good old "Hat Box" was purchase by Admiralty in August 1916 and Converted to CV at a cost of £1.3M. She was old, small and slow with max speed of only 20 kts but she was another flight deck and had been modernised shortly before this war. 20 She also carried a small air group of 10 Swordfish and 6 Sea Hurricanes. He wrestled with the idea of combining The Hat Box's 10 swordfish into his first strike and in the end decided to add them to his own 11 String bags. That still left WS-12 with the Sea Hurricanes and the Supermarine Walruses of the two cruisers. The Fulmar pilot circling TG Cilax just out of AA range had already killed one Arado and Force H's fulmar scout was salivating to get a few more. The remainig Arados were kept in their hangars, defuled and disarmed. This would give Somerville a significant tactical advantage in the upcoming surface action.
2 JUNE 1941 0815 TG Cilax is steaming in what the "cousins" in the USN call a formation 52. AKA a circular AA formation with the heavies at the center and the escorting DDs along the perimeter. It makes things difficult, especially for Torpedo bombers, and also still provides ASW protection. Best way to defeat it is dive bombers. Somerville's dilemma was how to arm his Swordfish. In the end he chose the Mark XII 18 inch, 388 lb warhead relying on Jackie Fisher's old saying that the best way to sink a capital ship was to "Let the water in".
Once again he angered at the fact his largest carrier did not have a full Air Group embarked. With a full squdron of string bags he could split the first strike (he really feared he would have few aircraft left for a second strike) between Fish and 500 lb AP bombs. If timed right, BIG IF, the dive boming String bags would cause TG Cilax to split it's AA batteries giving the torpedo bombers a better chance of surving long enough to put a few of their Mark XIIs into those two Nazi battle cruisers. His swordfish pilots were considered the best in the fleet and they just might land a few 500 pounder AP blows themselves. He would not give them much of a chance at returning to Ark Royal. He gave the glide bombing Fulmars no chance of scoring a hit or returining.
There were times he found himself disgusted by his admirals gold lace and the fact that gaudi shit meant he willingly sent good men to their deaths. He tried to assuage his conscience, not that he had much of one left, with the fact he was just doing his duty to his God and country to put down the Mad Dog nazis. If his boys saved WS-12 Pound, Churchill, the civilians back home, all the senior officers of the fleet and most of the RN professionals would say it was worth the sacrifice. He still had to live with himself and he would KNOW he was guilty of murdering his own boys. He once read somwhere "At times like these all we can do is our duty and when it is all over say our prayers for HIS forgiveness because I will never forgive myself."
2 JUNE 1941 0840 The last of the strike, a Fulmar, was launched. It had been a good launch; all aircraft had made it into the air, formed up and headed for The Twins. TG Cilax was a a mere 160 nautical miles away. Given the need to coordinate the attack the Swordfish's max speed of 143 mph with 7,580 lb torpedo at and 5,000 ft. dictated a cruising speed of 125 MPH and a hour and a half flight time. The strike commander had decided he would drop his flight down to 300 ft when they were 75 miles from TG Cilax, make a dog leg apprach to the north splitting his fulmars into two groups, 4 would lead the String bags in hosing the upper decks of the Nazi's with .303 fire ending in a glide bomb attack. The other Fulmers would make individual runs from vatrious points of the compass with the same plan of gunning the brains out of the AA gunners and bridge watch followed by their single 250 lb glide bomb run.
The string bags, piloted by very experienced aviators with a lot of hours in the biplane, were to make a by the book doctrine torpedo bomber attack.
Approach at 300 feet followed by a dive to torpedo release altitude of 18 feet. The maximum Rangeof a 1941 Mark XII torpedo was only 1,500 yards at 40 knots but max range did not give a pilot max chance at a hit. The torpedo travelled 200 feet from release to water impact, and required another 300 yards to stabilise at preset depth and arm itself. Ideal release distance was 1,000 yards from target, if the Swordfish survived to that distance.
With so few aircraft and three major targets a hammerhead attack was their best bet. He split his String bags into three packs, 6 for each Battle cruiser and three for the cruiser.
The deadly beauty of the hammerhead attack was that three aircraft of each pack would approach thier battlecruiser victims from each bow at the same time. No matter which way the target turned there was an excellent chance of her eating at least one fish and an even chance of being hit by two. By making the run from ahead at 18 ft it would split the already weak forward AA battery. The problem was that after release you could try to make it out the way you came in which meant loosing speed and providing the AA gunners with an excellent target or shoot down the side of the target with the throttle full open. Niehter was all that inviting or likley to make for a long life.
If half his String bags survived he would press his boss to authorize a second strike as Dive bombers to clean up any survivors.
The Swordfish was also capable of operating as a dive-bomber. What was known to few outside the FAA was in 1939, Swordfish on board HMS Glorious participated in a series of dive-bombing trials, during which 439 practice bombs were dropped at dive angles of 60, 67 and 70 degrees, against the target ship HMS Centurion. Tests against a stationary target (say a DIW Nazi Battle cruiser) showed an average error of 49 yd from a release height of 1,300 ft and a dive angle of 70 degrees; tests against a manoeuvring target (say a crippled Nazi battle Cruiser) showed an average error of 44 yd from a drop height of 1,800 ft and a dive angle of 60 degrees. He and his pilots had practiced this Swordfish Dive Bomber doctrine in the Med and now was the time to put it into practice if there were enough of them left.
2 JUNE 1941 0900 Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax OTC TG Ciliax turned to Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand of his flagship Gneisenau. Anything on the radar yet Netzbrand?" "just that damn Scout circling us like a hungriger Bussard (hungry buzzard) Vizeadmiral."
TG Cilax had been at "Battle stations" since one of his Arado's had made a sighting report on Force H at 0730. That brave air crew had been allowed to survive in order to lead a Fulmar scout fighter back to them. That bastard Englander had then flamed the Arado in front of his entite TG. He had been circling just out of heavy flak range transmitting his posit and every course and speed change he made.
Ciliax then said "My staff Air officer figures us to feel Somerville's first strike anywhere from 1000 to 1100. He expects it to be a maximum strike of 30 of those Swordfish torpedo biplanes and 20 Fulmar fighter scouts armed with bombs. We will have our hands full but I am confident we will come through the air attack pretty much intact. Thanks to Lutgen's reports of the battle of the Denmark Straight we have made the neccessary adjustments to our Flak fire control systems to deal with the very slow speed of the biplane's attack runs. Just the same Kapitan Zur See 30 torpedos bombers is a lot to counter IF the Englander strike leader is not a fool. The Ark Royal has been operating to great effect in the Mediteranean for some time now. Those pilots are not novices and after the punishment we have given their Royal Navy of late they are most likely coming for us with blood and iron. They also know what happens to their important large troop convoy if we are not stopped."
Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax had ordered the Air defense circular formation and a course change to intercept Force H as soon as possible at 25 kts. He wanted to force the surface action. With luck, his TG would savage the first air strike, be able to maintain a high speed and come to grips with Somerville before he could launch another air strike. Somerville could not run but he could slow down when not at flight quarters, buy time for more air strikes and still stay between TG Cilax and WS-12. He knew from Rudel (Wolf Pack) Werwolf OTC's after action report to BdU that Force H, was now down 4 destroyers. He also knew Force H speed had been cut to 22 kts and both Ark Royal and Renown had taken torpedo hits. The report stated emphatically both capital ships appeared to still be combat effective, as their main batteries were intact but with reduced engineering capabilities. He also reported Renown had taken four (actually only three) torpedo hits and Ark Royal had been hit twice (actually only once).
2 JUNE 1941 1015 the junior "Radarmann" in the flag reported a large intermitant air contact to his watch Unteroffizier who immediately came over and studied the younger man's O scope. It certainly was a solid return and it was also a large contact bearing dead ahead. Range was 45 miles and closing. The PO imediately informed the watch officer who informed the bridge watch including the Kapitan and Vizeadmiral. Cilax imediately ordered a signal informing the other ships of his TG of the contact. On each ship the radar operators quickly searched on the reported bearing and it was not long until all had the incoming raid. The watch Petty Officers ensured the operators did not become target fixated. They reminded them to maintain a 360 search.
Since the TG was already in an AA formation at Battle stations the only orders neccessary was to train out on the expected bearing, load and reiterate "Guns tight" until the Vizeadmiral countermanded that signal. The four type 1936A destroyers screen would be the first to engage when batteries were released, or the aircraft came within effective AA Gun range per Cilax's battle doctrine. Each DD mounted 2 twin 37 mm SK C/30 AA and 8 20 mm C/38 AA guns but their main battery of five 150 mm TbtsK C/36 guns were not dual purpse and so useless against aircraft.
The air strike would then be engaged by heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. Hipper carried the latest radars, fire control systems and a formidable AA battery. Hipper mounted a heavy Flak battery of 12 4.1 in SK C/33 guns with a rate of fire of 15–18 rounds per minute. The maximum effective range of the 33 lb 5 oz AA Frag round was 19,000 yds at effective ceiling of 31,003 ft. They were mounted in pairs on an electrically powered tri-axial mounting, intended to compensate for the motion of the ship and maintain a lock onto the intended target. The mounting were open to the weather and sea spray, resulting in a high maintenance but the Kriegsmarine highly motivated and technically competent gunners mainted the mounts at high reliability.
The medium AA FLAK battery consisted of 12 37 mm SK C/30 auto canon. The 37 mm had a Dopp L stabilized mount, a practicle 30 rounds per minute sustained fire, maximum effective range of 9,000 yds at maximum effective ceiling of 6,500 ft.
The light Flak battery consisted of 8 20 round box fed 20 mm C/38 guns with a practical rate of fire of 180 rounds per minute. The light auto canon had a maximum effective range of 2,500 yds and an effective cielining of 6,500 ft.
2 JUNE 1941 1030 The strike leader , flying in a Fulmar ordered his aircraft to transition from their cruising formation to their attack run formations. The Fulmars pulled slightly ahead into a weave, reduced their throttles, and lowered their ailerons to reduced speed to just above a stall. That kept them from opening the range too much from their charges. They took station to lead the torpedo bombers to their drop points. They were to rely on their 8 machine guns initially against the destroyer screen, then use them to hose down the upper works, especially the AA batteries, fire control directors, radar and communications antennas and only use their single 250 lb bomb against the Battle & heavy Cruisers armored bridges. With a single bomb and 400 rounds per gun the pilots had to keep a close eye on their remaining ammo.
2 JUNE 1941 1040 the three Swordfish "packs" dropped down to 18 feet and throttled back to prevent the Mk XII from breaking up on impact. Low and slow was doctrine to maximize the chance of a hit but really reduced the chances of air crew survival. At the same time the Fulmars slected their destroyer targets, charged their .303s, ceased their weave, raised their flaps, opened their throttles to 175 Mph and began their strafing runs. At 1000 yds they hosed their targets with a short ranging burst, adjusted their approach and then hammered the Destroyers with medium length bursts as they filled the Fulmar's gun sights. The problem was that half of the Fulmars never made it to their destroyers firing points. The Type 1936A's two twim 37 mm stablized AA mounts had a much longer "Reach" than the .303 and opened at 9000 yds putting out 30 rounds per minute per barrel or 120 total barrage. At 2,500 yds each type 1936 added 8 box fed 20 mm C/38 guns joined in 180 rounds per minute. The cost had been high but the Fulmars that survived got a mission kill of the destroyers Flak batteries on two of the type 1936 and managed to materially reduce the AA batteries on the other two, one of which was also DIW. The four remaining Fulmars, all damaged but still air worthy went for the heavy cruiser and finally had some luck. At their low altitude the heavy flak battery of Admiral Hipper's 4.1 in SK C/33 guns were held "Guns Tight" because the Fulmars were coming in directly from the damaged destroyers and would cetrtainly sink them while engaging the incoming raid. So it was left to Hipper's 8 of the 12 30 rounds per minute 37 mm SK C/30 to eliminate the 4 Fulmars . Those 37 mm director controlled, stabilized mounted Flak guns were putting out 240 rounds per minute and they were firing well within their max effetcive range. One of the Fulmars got into .303 range and took out a 20 mm Flak and it's entire gun crew and even managed to score a near miss on Hipper with his 250 lb AP bomb. Damage was minor but a few small holes had been punched into her hull.
2 JUNE 1941 1045 the String bags got past the destroyer screen unscathed hugging the surface at 18 ft, in good formation, at max allowable torpedo drop speed. The three packs bore into their hammerhead runs.
Now Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax ordered his three capital ships to break formation but stay within mutual AA desfense range and all guns were now free. The hailstorm of 4.1 in, 37 mm and 20 mm Flak directed by fire control systems that had been recalibrated with the hard earned lessons of TG Cilax was devestating. Only 5 Swordfish survived long enough to launch their Mk XIIs and only two of those made a coordinated hammerhead run, the others just launched at the nearest target before they were shot down.
Results were better than any peacetime empire would allow. Three of the Mk XIIs actually scored hits. One caught the flag just aft of Bruno on the ship's 3 inch Wh (Wotan hard) steel armored belt. The belt, excellent designed TDS and usual high standard of Kriegsmarine damage control caused minor flooding but did not impair the ship's combat effetciveness. The two Swordfish that actually pressed home their text book hammetrhead run both were rewarded with hits on Schranhorst. They Approached at 300 feet followed by a dive to torpedo release altitude of 18 feet. They presed on to well within the 1,500 yds Rangeof a 1941 Mark XII torpedo only at 40 knots to ensure hits. The torpedo travelled 200 feet from release to water impact, and required another 300 yards to stabilise at preset depth and arm itself. They dropped at 1,000 yds the text book target run. None of the 5 made it back to Ark Royal but more than half the brave flight crews were resued.
The fish hit stbd 30 ft aft of the bow and amidships port but the puny 388 lb 18 inch warheads only partially defeated the belt armor. For a while it was feared the ship was mortally wounded because a lot of vital systems in propulsion, interior communications and weapons were knocked off the line. A combination of the well engineered TDS, excellent damage control, and superbly professional technical training brought the most combat vital systems back up in short order. The old girl would be back up to her pre attack combat effectiveness within two hours of the torpedo strkes.
2 JUNE 1941 1110 TG Cilax was conducting emergency repairs, restocking ready AA ammunition and rescue operations. The Vizeadmiral his Chief of Staff and his "Air Officer" had come to the conclusion another air strike was on it's way because the first strike was much smaller than they expected from Ark Royal. Therfore, the TG was mainatining AA formation and battle stations as they closed Force H at 25 kts.
The rescue operations were being conducted by the two of the damaged destroyers, one of which had been DIW was able to get steam up and had reported it was capable of 20 kts.
One thing that had not changed was the circling Fulmar sending out their posit, course, speed and damage estimate. So they were going into action with no air scouts.
2 JUNE 1941 1120 The scout Fulmar radioed back to Force H the lack of results, his opinion none of the strike would make it back to Ark Royal and his fuel state. Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commander of Force H. Read the message a number of times. He was not ready, just yet to believe he had wasted the entire Air strike. He did order an initial report of the strike be sent to Admiral Pound stating his air group had sutained heavy losses and inflicted only light damage to TG Cilax which he expected to engage in a mainly surface action in the next few hours. If the air group was anihilated he would detach Ark Royal with a detroyer escort so she could fight another day. She would be of no use in a surface action anyway. Old Hat Box, HMS Argus, would provide a deck if one was needed.
2 JUNE 1941 1150 RN HQ Bunker under the Admiralty. Fleet Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound's Communication's Officer had just handed his "boss" Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville's 113502JUN41 signal briefly stating the results of Force H's Air strike on TG Cilax and requsting RAF Bomber Command to put on as large an antiship raid as possible against TG Cilax. The time, position, course, speed and composition of the TG Cilax was given. The Fleet Admiral had stood stark still for about two minutes and then handed the signal to his soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay. Ramsay read the signal through three times and handed it back to Pound.
Pound, to Ramsay and his Commo "The loss of his Air Group means "Jimmy" Somerville is about to take Renown, Shiny and a half dozen destroyers up against TG Cilax unless I order him not to. Well I can't do that but I can light a fire under the RAF to bomb the hell out of those Nazis."
"Ramsay, do you still want this "Fucking" job? Truth to tell, 5 June can't come fast enough for me, you poor bastard."
Pound was bitter and wracked with guilt bceause his Royal Navy had been out maneuvered, outfought and repeatedly savaged by the numerically inferior Nazis. There was a real possibility the Kriegsmarine surface raiders and U-Boats could do enough damage to England's seaborn life line as to force HM Government to sue for peace or see her population and industry "Starve".
At the very least Winston, the absolutely essential leader if we were to win this war, be removed by a Vote of No Confidence. He would not put it past those "rodents" in parliament to do that.
He then brought himself up short and put all his years of experience, great intelect and bull dog stubborness to bear on the problem of how to help Force H kill those two Nazi Battle Cruisers. The RAF just might be able to do something. By this time his staff had taken station close by. Pound To his aid "Get me Air Chief Marshal Portal and make sure whoever takes the call knows this is urgent."
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal's aid was on the line in ten minutes. "Fleet Admiral Pound, I am the Air Marshal's aid he will be with you as soon as he can get to a secure phone, I'd say about 15 minutes."
Pound "Please inform the Air Marshall time is of the essence and it is vitally imporatnt I speak to him as soon as possible. The lives of many of our people are at stake."
Portal's Aid "I will convey that message to him right away." Ten minutes later, an out of breath Air Marshall was on a secure phone line with Admiral Pound. He quickly grasped the dire circumstances and promised Pound he would have a raid on TG Cilax in the air as soon as possible and his staff would keep your staff informed of the progress and work out the particulars of the raid.
Pound "Thank you Freddie; I just hope we will not be too late." A very tired looking Fleet Admiral Pound then turned to Ramsay and said "Let's get out of this sewer for a few minutes Bertie." They walked in silence to the stairs leading up into the Admiralty Gardens, now planted with vegetables as a "Victory Garden". They found an old bench and sat down wearily, it had been a string of long nights relieved by all too little sleep and neither of them were the young, or even middle aged iron Men they once had been.
Pound lit his pipe and once he got it going said to Ramsay. "Sorry Bertie about my taunting you in front of the staff. It was unexcitable but come June 6th or maybe seventh if you are lucky, you will understand why I displayed such rude behaviour to a friend.
I truly am sorry Winston picked on you to clean up my mess. You really deserve better but we live to serve our political masters and that is that."
Ramsay lit his "Players" and said " Sir, I was not in the least offended by you. You had to take it out on someone. Better another admiral than any of those long suffering staffies that toil like galley slaves for us. Eh?"
"I'll tell you what I was thinking about at hat time. What am I getting myself into? If an outstanding man, intelect and sailor like Pound had failed what chance do I have. Then you braced and started issuing orders, damn good ones if you don't mind me saying so.
Too bad for those RAF crews. I'd guess The Air Marshall will send in some of his Torpedo bombers like Bothas or Beauforts if we and they are lucky. I really can't imagine a dozen or so of those twin engine torpedo bombers will fare any better than Ark Royals Swordfish and Fulmars. Maybe, just maybe, accumlated damage from our previous attacks has degraded Cilax's ships AA batteries enough to give those boys a fighting chance but I doubt it from the after action report."
2 JUNE 1941 1215 Somerville said "Staff make to Ark Royal and to Fearless. You are detached. Make best speed to Devonport" ( HMS Drake AKA HMNB Devonport, Devonport, Devon). "That leaves Force H with Destroyers Duncan, Iris, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Fury, & Foresight.”
"With any luck the RAF can provide ARK Royal and Fearless fighters and Coastal Command will dispatch some sub hunters to escort them into Devonport."
2 JUNE 1941 1220 Portal to his aid. "Get CO RAF St. Eval on line."
Portal "Portal here. The navy needs our help. What is the status of number 22 Squadron?"
CO RAF St. Eval Bazil T. Soreham " Operational; as of this morning's report we have all 12 fit for service. Conversion to the Beaufort is complete. We think we finally have the problems with the Bristol Taurus engines ironed out. The Squadron Leader, Ken Campbell, has been working his boys very hard on both torpedo and bomb attacks and over water navigation. They are ready for anything you care to throw them at."
Portal " I want you to lay on a strike against TG Cilax at the earliest possible time. Force H had it's air group decimated trying to stop Scharnhost, Gneisenau a Hipper class heavy cruiser and 4 destroyers earlier today. That leaves Ark Royal useless until the Navy can get her another Air group. Force H is down to a damaged Renown, the light Cruiser Shefield and about a half dozen destroyers. The old Argus is in support but all her torpedo bombers were lost with Ark Royals'. She does have about 10 SeaHurricaines and as many of Ark Royal's Fulmars. The Fulmars will be able to guide your Beauforts onto the Nazi's."
The Bristol Beaufort is a twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as the Type 152, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Blenheim light bomber. Beauforts first saw service with Royal Air Force Coastal Command. They were used as torpedo bombers, conventional bombers and mine-layers.
Crew 4
Maximum speed: 271.5 mph at 6,500 ft 225 mph at sea level
Cruise speed: 255 mph at 6,500 ft
Range: 1,600 nmi.
"I also want one of the new Catalina's to help the Navy keep close tabs on those Nazi's. The "Senior Service", has managed to muck things up right propper of late.
Soreham, I can not emphasize enough that this raid must be launched as soon as possible!"
Soreham imediately got on the "Horn" to 22 Squdron's CO and gave him his orders.
2 JUNE 1941 1245 A Number 210 Squadron Catalina 1 launched 15 minutes prior armed with four depth charges for an ASW mission. Her mission changed to keeping track of TG Cilax. She would need every knot of her very unimpressive speed to reach the Nazi's before the Beaufort's did. Her pilot decided to balance rhe need for endurance with speed. So he set his throttles for 150 mph, faster than best economical cruising speed of 130 but slower than tje Cat-1s max, fuel gulping 183 mph.
The 100 RAF Catalina 1s were actually PBY-5s purchased directly by the RAF. The Catalina I was given British equipment, including six Vickers machine guns – one in the nose, one in the rear tunnel and a twin gun on a manual mounting in each of the blister windows. The PBY-5/ Catalina 1 was the first version of the Catalina to be produced in large numbers, and the last to be a pure flying boat.
The RAF had purchased a commercial version of the PBY-4 in July 1939, and this aircraft had been flown across the Atlantic for tests at the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe, Suffolk. Although these tests were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, the RAF still decided to place an order for 106 Catalinas. Produced as the Consolidated 28-5, these aircraft became the Catalina 1s in RAF service and the PBY-5 for the USN.
The PBY-5 /Cat 1 saw the introduction of the waist gunner’s blisters which gave the Catalina its familiar shape. The outer part of these circular blisters could be rotated up and under the top of the blister, giving the waist gunners a much better field of fire than on earlier versions of the Catalina, and also providing better protection from the slipstream.
The PBY-5/ Catalina 1 was powered by Pratt & Whitney R-1830-82 engines and used Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propellers. On the PBY-4 the air intake for the engine had been on top of the engine nacelle, but on the PBY-5/ Catalina 1 it was moved to a position inside the engine cowling, above the propeller. The PBY-5/ Catalina 1 had a redesigned squared off rudder, and new horizontal stabilisers and elevators.
Maximum Speed: 183 mph
Cruising Speed: 130 mph
Range: 3,000
Armament :four 0.30-in machine-guns and either 4,000lbs of bombs or four depth charges or two torpedoes
2 JUNE 1941 1405 the last of Number 22 Squdron's 12 Beauforts joined his mates and headed for TG Cilax. The ground crews had done a magnificent job of arming, fueling and doing everything else neccessary to get the aircraft ready for a combat flight. The Air crews had been briefed. The navigators had been given the very latest poistion, course and speed of TG Cilax by the Fulmar scout. Radio frequency and set compatability beteween Fulmars, Sea Hurricaines and the Beaufort's had been establised and tested.
2 JUNE 1941 1635 Number 22 Squdron's 11 Beaufort torpedo bombers rendezoued with 5 Sea Hurricaines and 4 Fulmars. One Beaufort turned back due to her notorious Taurus engines siezing. Since this was a daylight torpedo attack the Hurries and Fulmars would once again lead the way, beat up the screen and then make strafing runs on the Battle and Heavy Cruisers. The hope was that the much faster Beauforts would have better luck than did the swordfish. It was also hoped the AA defenses of the Capital ships had been degraded. Time would soon tell.
TG Cilax was now 60 nautical miles away from What was left of Force H. The strike commander, Squadron Leader Ken Campbell, ordered his force to take up strike formation with the SeaHurrys and and Fulmars in the lead.
The Sea Hurricane Mk IB was a modified Hurricane Mk I equipped with catapult spools plus an arrester hook. The Sea Hurries also mounted the lighter de Havilland propellers instaed of the Rotol types; it was found during tests that the Rotol unit could lead to the nose dipping during arrested landings, causing the propeller blades to "peck" the carrier deck. The lighter de Havilland units avoided this problem.
The Mk 1 made an excellent conversion carrier fighter because it's handling qualities during take-off and landings were excellent due to a wide-track undercarriage with relatively wide low-pressure tyres. Because of this wide, stable platform the Hurricane was an easier aircraft to land, with less fear of nose-overs or "ground-loops" than its RAF Fighter Command counterpart the Supermarine Spitfire.
Like the Mk 1 Hurricane the Sea Hurricane's large, thick wing meant that the fighter proved to be a stable gun platform. It was armed with eight .303 in Browning machine guns. The armament was arranged in two lots of four in large gun bays incorporated into the outer wing panels. 70 pounds of armor protection was added in the form of head, back plates and an armor-glass panel was incorporated on the front of the windscreen. The old string bags and Fulmars lacked that armor which just might allow the Sea Hurries to last long enough to really chew up the upper works, including light and medium AA guns of their targets. Unlike the Fulmars the Sea Hurries carried no bombs.
As the flight closed to 40 miles North from TG Cilax Squadron Leader Ken Campbel contacted the trailing Fulmar. He recieved the latest posit, speed, course and disposition of the Nazi TG. He then ordered the flight down to 250 ft.
He was a bit too late because Gneisenau's radar had been tracking them for 15 minutes. Vizeadmiral. Cilax had ordered his TG to "Battle stations" at that time.
Campbel's plan was similar to Ark Royals attack. He would first send in his five Sea Hurries to make strafing runs on the screening destroyers. Then the Hurries would go flat out against the capital ships for a single run concentrating on medium and light AA batteries that would deplete their MG ammo. The Hurries would then clear the AA area of TG and return to Argus.
Next in would be the four Fulmars, leading from a bit above and hosing down anything in the path of his squadron. Once past the destroyers his 11 Beauforts would break into three groups. Groups 1 and 2 of 4 would go after the Battle Cruisers in a classic Hammerhead torpedo attack. Group 3 would hang back under Campbel's direct control and either go in for the battle cruisers that avoided being hit by groups 1 and 2 or go after the heavy cruiser if both battle cruisers were severly damaged. The Fulmars would lead the way making starfing runs on the medium and light AA batteries of the Battle Cruisers followed by their single 250 lb glide bomb run. They would then clear the area and return directly to Argus.
Good simple plan with two really unavoidable flaws.
1. His boys were going in against the best shipborn AA defense today in broad daylight.
2. He had only 11 Mark XII torpedoe's with those puny 388 lb 18 inch warheads. That meant they would require multiple hits in fairly close proximity to do real damage to those Battle Cruisers.
He had no doubt his boys would bore in and only release their fish at the last minute but that meant flying low and slow, which made them dead meat for those Nazi AA gunners. But Maybe, just maybe, the Hurries and Fulmars strafing and glide bombing runs would do enough damage to the AA guns, gunners and their directors to give his boys a real chance at good hits and survival. There was always that chance.
The fulmar had also informed him the Cat-1 was not too far out and Force H's battleship and cruiser scout float planes would be on station to pick up or direct ships to downed air crews.
2 JUNE 1941 1650 The Sea Hurricaines began their Flak Suppression runs. They found the two remaining destroyers of the "screen" put up a very weak and inaccurate Flak Barrage and chose to waste little ammo on them. Sea Hurricaines found the Battle and Heavy Cruisers Flak barrage quite a different story. They got as close to the deck as they could to confuse the Nazi Fire Control, especially the heavy FLAK mounts. As orderded, they pounded the light and medium Flak batteries along with radar and Fire control antennas and mounings. Being human they also peppered the armored bridges on the off chance they might hit someone important.
The pilots really bored in close. They held their fire until they were in "the cone" where their wing mounted eight .303 in Browning's armor piercing and incindiary rounds concentrated. The armament was arranged in two lots of four in large gun bays incorporated into the outer wing panels. It was now that the 70 pounds of added armor protection in the form of head, back plates and an armor-glass panel front windscreen paid huge divindends. It not only provided protection to the pilots on the way in and out but it also steadied nerves in their attack runs. It was quite evident that the Sea Hurricaines had all but silenced the 20 and 37 mm guns on the engaged side, for now. How long that would last was anyone's guess.
However most of the 105mm dual purpose L/65 C/33 guns on twin coaxially-stabilized C/73 armored mounts were still quite functional. The Sea Hurricaines were "on the deck" because the Heavy FLAK's elevation was -8 to +85 degrees. That partially shielded the fast and nimble fighters from their devetating collective 160 rounds per minute. What worked for the fighters might not be possible for the Beauforts and it was they who had to deliver the decisive hits to help Force H and save WS 12 troop convoy.
All of the Sea Hurricaines made it back to Argus; although two would not fly again any time soon and that went for one of the pilots also.
2 JUNE 1941 1 655 It was now time for the Fulmars and Beauforts to make their decisive runs. The four Fulmars, led the way firing a few shots at the almost silent destroyers. They went low and quickly commenced making strafing runs on the Heavy FLAK batteries of the Battle Cruisers folllowed by their single 250 lb bomb. With ammo exhausted cleared the area and returned directly to Argus.
Once past the destroyers the surviving 11 Beauforts broke into three groups as planned. Groups 1 went for Scharnhorst, 2 for Niesnau in a classic 4 plane Hammerhead torpedo attack. Although the Hammerhead was a deadly efficient attack formation it was far from 100% perfetc. A lot of variables could negate it's potential.
A successful torpedo drop required that the approach run to the target needed to be straight and at a speed and height where the torpedo would enter the water smoothly: too high or too low and the torpedo could "porpoise" (skip through the water), dive or even break up. Height over the water had to be judged without the benefit of a radio altimiter and misjudgement was easy, especially in calm conditions. For the Beauforts using the 18-inch Mk XII aerial torpedo, the average drop-height was 68ft and the average range of release was 670. During the run-in, the aircraft was vulnerable to defensive FLAK and it took courage to fly through it with no chance of evasive manoeuvres.
The Beaufort's optimum torpedo dropping speed was a great deal higher than than the old Vildebeests it replaced, and it took practice to judge the range and speed of the target ship. A ship the size and speed of Scharnhorst would look huge, filling the windscreen at well over 1 mi and it was easy to underestimate the range. In action, torpedoes were often released too far away from the target, although there was one recorded instance of a torpedo being released too close. For safety reasons, torpedo warhead had a set distance (usually about 300 yds from the release point before they were armed. It also took some distance for the torpedo to settle to its running depth.
Once the torpedo had been dropped, if there was room, a sharp turn away from the enemy was possible: more often than not the aircraft had to fly around or over the ship, usually at full-throttle and below mast height. A sharp pull-up could be fatal as it exposed a large area of the aircraft to anti-aircraft guns.
Campbel's held back Group 3 under direct control until he could evaluate the initial attacks. If Group 3 survived the FLAK they would go in for the battle cruisers that avoided being hit by groups 1 and 2 or go after the heavy cruiser if both battle cruisers were severly damaged. Calulated risk but gorups 1 and 2 should preoccupy most, if not all, of the depleted FLAK guns of the three Cruisers.
As it happened Groups 1 and two conducted text book Hammerhead attacks on the two Battle Cruisers. Unfortunately the director controlled Heavy FLAK batteries and a few of the 37mms brought down 2 of Group 1's Beauforts, both from the port bow section. The CO of Scharnhorst managed to comb the wakes of the remaining torpdeoes unscathed.
Group two manged all four torpedo launches against Gneisenau but lost two Beauforts as they retired. One was a flamer but the second managed to clear the FLAK zone and successfully ditch with the loss of one crewman. Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand, CO of the flag Gneisenau, did a msterful job of combing the wakes of the starboard side Hammerhead but took one of the puny 388 lb warheads on her armored belt. Damage did not degrade her speed or combat power. The second fish missed Gneisenau by 18 inches; not bad considering the bomb aimer had a 4 ounce hunk of schrapnel in his thigh and was about to pass out due to loss of blood.
2 JUNE 1941 1705 Squadron leader Campbel took Group 3 in to attack Gneisenau, in the hope the one torpedo hit had damaged the Battle cruiser and maybe Group 3 could finish her off and even the odds a little Bit for Renown and Shiny. He would go in alone on the port bow and his other two torpedo bombers would attack from the Starbaord bow. The concentrated fire of two Battle and one heavy cruiser was unleshed on the three Beauforts. Campbel took a solid hit from a 105 and his entire plane disintergated as it's fuel tanks and torpedo warhead sympathetically detonated within milli seconds of that hit.
The other two Beauforts determinely bore in to their Starbaord bow drop point. Both fish dropped successfully and were running HOT, Straight and Normal. Both Beauforts hammered Gneisenau with every gun that would bear and managed to escape beyond the FLAK Zone. They loitered just out of range observing their fish. Both missed bceause with only one arm of the hammer head to deal with Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand manged to comb the wakes again. The remaining Beauforts formed up under the 3rd senior pilot and headed for home. Another damn good try by brave and skillful men but once again too few aircraft and an lack of dive bombers saved TG CILAX. CRM
Even the largest of these Liners could not come close to Queen Mary's 15,000 troop capacity but there were 23 of them. WS-12 was a very big Troop convoy and those men were desperately needed. Their loss would be a very heavy, stategic blow to the Army and the nation. Their replacments would be very hard to come by and would not be available for quite a while unless He decided to strip Divisions from UK defenses which was a decision he really did not want to make. Seven straight nights of bombing of Liverpool by the Luftwaffe, resulted in widespread destruction. Belfast, Northern Ireland, experienced more heavy bombing by the Luftwaffe. Heavy convoy losses in the Atlantic continue including HX-123 and Queen Mary.
Nottingham Bombed yet again by the Luftwaffe. The United Kingdom's House of Commons was damaged by in an air raid. Hull, Liverpool, Belfast, and the shipbuilding area of the River Clyde in Scotland. bombed repeatedly Rommel defeated counter-attack, "Brevity", at Halfaya Pass. German paratroopers captured Crete with heavy loss of Allied troops, aircraft and equipment. Old Hood was badly damaged and just might be a write off; too soon to tell. Prince of Whales was so heavily damaged she would be in dockyard hands for at least three months, six was more likely based on initial inspection. Invaluable cruisers sunk and many more so badly damaged they will be in dockyard for months. Operation "Brevity" that started out so successfully turned into another costly failure.
SIS (AKA M16 or Secret Intelligence Service) and Naval Intelligence are becoming ever more certain Japan is about to strike soon. One of Winnie's more terrifying scenarios was that theNaziwould leave US Western Pacific possessions, Especially The Philippines, alone. The superbly trained and equipped IJN and veteran and utterly ruthless Imperial Army would only go for UK and Netherlands East Indies colonies, especially those big Dutch oil fields they needed so much was a real possibility.
The key was not to push the Americans out of their stupor of Isolation. Were theNazileaders sophisticated enough to do that? Certainly the Imperial Army had NOT shown anything that dangerously cunning. The Rub was the Imperial Japanese Navy whose senior admirals like Yamamoto were every bit that sophisticated and had a much better grasp of what the Western nations, especially a fully committed American enemy , could bring to bear against them. The question was who would the emperor listen to? His will was still a very potent force, despite the power of militarist cabal. Suddenly his cigar did not draw as well as it had and his whiskey did not taste as good either.
And what do we have to be grateful about in May?
1. U-110 was captured another priceless and updated copy of the "Enigma" machine is discovered and saved. According to his Admirals, Generals, Air Marshals, the boffins and the few of our senior Intel men who know, It will help decisively to turn the fortunes in the Atlantic battle and the war as a whole. Well we'll see.
2. The German paratroopers who captured Crete, truthfully they are Elite, highly valuable shock troops and as close to Nazi Supermen as actually exists suffered catastrophic losses. Those men will not be replaced any time soon, if at all.
3. FDR just moved a long way closer to the alliance I need to win this war.
God help us all If the Americans join us and Franklin is replaced by that Texas "Buckaroo" "Cactus Jack"( AKA John Nance Garner III), I might have to order the hard men of
MI-6 to euthanize him before he costs us the damn war.
1 JUNE 1941 2250 TG-39.1 Commander Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt had just read Ernie King's latest message sent by the most secure code the USN had and marked "Eyes Only TG-39.1 . That message literally ordered him To Sink The Bismarck and her cruiser escort ASAP and about time. It also formally changed his ROE's by order of FDR himself. The president was not going to hang Hewitt out to dry by saying he had acceded his orders to only shadow and Report. Hewitt sagely thought "Nice touch by FDR always the politician." Hewitt knew POTUS would never get away with that; too many people knew it was Roosevelt's orders that sent BB-55 up against Bismarck.
1 JUNE 1941 2300 Captain Willis Augustus Lee Jr. USN CO of BB-55, his XO Commander Joe Stryker, TG39.1's Commander and his Chief of Staff (CoS) looked at each other thinking their own deep thoughts. Hewitt had just read his latest message from CinC Atlantic Fleet ordering TG39.1 to find and sink the German raiders no matter where they found them and that meant outside the Nuetrality Zone. He also told them that, in his opinion, Hitler would go even madder than he already was and declare war on the USA bcause.
" Make no mistake Gentlemen, killing all those German sailors and sinking the Nazi's most powerful warship and symbol of their power was an act of war by anyones standards." For now these orders go no further than us.
He turned to face his CoS I want our SOCs out before first light and I want that bastard found before he knows we are around. I don't want a fair fight. I want to bushwhack those Nazi murderers and the poor sailors they command.
1 JUNE 1941 2315 "Joe get Tolley and his gang into the TC and let's see if we can give those Soc pilots a better chance at finding Bismarck", said Lee.
This would be a very good chance to see how the lateset addition, an air plot, would work out. About two weeks ago Capt. Ching Lee, LT Tolly and CRM O'Shea were in the TC discussing the shortcomings of "their" Tracking Compartment. The DRT was damn fine for keeping tarck of the surface action but not the Air Picture. LT Tolly recommended a Polar Projection plot. Lee agreed but where in the already tight TC would they squeeze it in and how could it be rapidly updated? Lee supected air actions would be very fast short fights in which he would have to make split second decisions. Once again he was troubled by the herresy that the place for the CO was in the TC not on the bridge or armored conning tower.
CRM O'Shea suggested using some of that new Plexiglass the latest status boards were made of with the Polar Projection compass rose circles and disatnce lines painted on the front. A sailor with a China marking "grease pencil" (same they used on the status boards) would fill in the info from whatever source. He thought if it was back lighted like the status boards, and hung vertically as high up on the bulkhead as possible. Maybe the Kid could be stationed behind the board with sound powered phones on so not to obscure the plot. Lee chuckled and said "Chief, you better find someone who could write backwards because I sure as hell can't read backwards." LT Tolly agreed with the CRM. CO BB-55 orderd LT Tolly to get with the EMs and SFs senior PO's and make it happen "yesterday". ING and make sure those men and whatever they need are issued. LT. Tolly would get together with the CQM to come up with some standard plotting techniques and what symbols they could use for the Vertical Plot, shortly therafter shortened to the VP.
2 JUNE 1941 0015. Lee told them they were trying to find Bismarck for the Brits to kill. He continued "We have a "Flaming datum" called The Queen Mary. That was about 39 hours ago and Bismarck can do better than 30 knots. So she could be eleven hundred miles from the Datum. Once she cleared datum The qestions are:
1. Which direction did she go?
2. At what speed?
3. Will she join up with Prince Eugen?
Joe Stryker the XO was the first to answer "We can "guess" she will reduce to a more economical speed as soon as she can." Lee Just nodded so the XO continued.
" It's about time our land based air patrol started to earn their pay. Hell they just got to spot her soon, don't they?"
"Joe, I have it on good authority that Ernie King is making the life of PatWing 5 utterly miserable. The Brits got o be doing the same. It's the low overcast that makes our SOCs the better choice for this job. I guess our airborn ASE, Radars just aren't up to the area search job yet."
CRM O'Shae spoke up. "Well skipper that ASE set really isn't much for area searches. It's good for a moonless night or really bad visibility daylight local area search and attack but it only has about a 40 miles range because it's only a
7 KW set. So even when it's running good, which aint anywhere near as often as the flyboys woud like us to believe, it's a hell of a lot of ocean for a 40 mile sweep."
Lee said "I think the Chief has answered your question Joe. Even Ernie King can't make it any better no matter how hard he chews on the PBY's boss' ass."
That broke the tension in the TC and they got down to work.
What they finally come up with was some eductaed guesses that dictated the initial Sector Searches. They would launch the SOCs at nautical sunrise 0345 so the patrols could be actively searching by 0401 sunrise today.
Lee, as was his want, had been multi tasking his excellent brain while his "boys" were working up their remommendations. He asked the XO out on deck. The two men, a steaming mug of navy brew in hand just ,enjoyed the fresh sea air for a few minutes and then Lee said. "Joe I think we are going to be in one hell of a brawl before too long. I don't think Krulac has anyone in the brig right now? You can get the word out that I have declared a gneral amnesty for one and all.
We are going to ask those kids to fight and maybe die for us. If I know my sailors and I do Joe, our trouble makers will prove to be invaluable if things really go bad. Might as well give them a break"
Commander Stryker replied " Noone in the brig since F2c Madrick got out. The rest are petty criminals anyway. Too bad we can't do something for the kids that don't break the Regs." As the CO's chief bastard aboard BB-55 Joe Stryker was "The Man" who enforced disicipline and as such knew the trouble makers all too well.
Take Fireman Second class Kevin Madrick. He was an Ex Submarine qualifed Shipfitter 2nd Class AKA SF2c and a very good one with a fine, almost spotless record. That all changed after his rescue from USS Squalus (SS-192), back in 1939.
That boat suffered a catastrophic valve failure during a test dive off the Isle of Shoals at 0740 on 23 May. Partially flooded, the submarine sank to the bottom and came to rest keel down in 40 fathoms (240 feet) of water. Navy divers and salvage ships responded quickly, and the following day began operations to rescue the surviving 32 crew members and one civilian from the forward sections of the boat. At 1130 on 24 May, USS Falcon (ASR-2) lowered the newly developed McCann rescue chamber--a revised version of a diving bell invented by Commander Charles B. Momsen--and, over the next 13 hours, all 33 survivors were rescued from the stricken submarine.
Madrick was a changed man. He drank far too much and he wanted to fight the entire world, especially the old Nav. His favorite "Dancing Partners" were big, senior PO's. He lost a lot of fights but he also won a fair share. Every once in a while he put his considerable talents to good use for the ship. Problem was his devils ensured any progress he made back up to SF2c was, sooner rather than later, made pointless when he started his next fight. Stryker guessed his CO's knowing about Squalus and seeing his talents displayed, actually valued him and that kept him out of Portsmouth Naval prison.
Instead, as XO he assigned him to Engineering Dept Repair Division. CSF Slade was his Divisiional CPO. He was a big man who, in his younger years was Atlantic Fleet heavyweight Champ for 5 years. He was now in his late 40's, had a wife and four daughters. His competetive boxing days were over but he still kept "His hand in" as he liked to say "adjusting the attitude" of sailors who needed it. Naturally Kevin had tried him on and the Chief handled the matter "Off the Books".
For General Quarters The XO assaigned FM2c Madrick to one of the repair Parties.
Repair I Deck or topside repair party.. Deck or topside repair party.
Repair II Forward below decks repair party.
Repair III Aft Below decks repair party.
Repair IV Amidships below decks repair party
Repair V. Engineer repairt. Amidships below decks repair paRepair V. Engin
Which one varied a lot. As soon as a Repair Party Leader had enough of Kevin there was usually a Captain's mast, he got busted if he had managed a promotion and a transfer to another repair party. He really got to learn BB-55's DC system better than anyone but BB-55's DCA (damage Control Assistant).
EWO (Engineering Warrant Officer) Becker came aboard with the very first Precom draft and never left. Because he saw her being built and his 42 years, man and boy, at sea he had a considerable edge on our FM2c. Becker had once served in the Kaisar's Navy but now had 28 years in the USN. He had mixed feelings about killing German sailors, after all, they could not all be gottverdammt Nazi bastards, could they? Deck our troubled FM2c.
FORCE H Vs The TWINS the savior of WS-12
2 JUNE 1941 Force H had won her race to interprose between WS-12 and TG Cilax. Admiral Somerville had made it perfectly clear to his staff and his Commanding Officers the only way TG Cilax would get to WS-12 was over the their dead bodies and the sunken wrecks of their ships. He also made it clear if they failed many tens of thousands of their countrymen would also die, men the UK could not afford to loose. It was a sobering thought but he had to impress on them just how desperate the Admiralty and PM were at this point in time.
The weather was not completely cooperating but it could have been worse. The overcast of low lying clouds that had partially shielded TG Ciliax from Ark Royal's air search so far but it would be a God Send for the String bags and Glide Bombers later. The moderate seas and winds made the destroyers partial refueling from his three capital ships much safer, and he could NOT afford to loose any to collisions. The 22 kt run had not exactly drained their fuel bunkers but none was much above 50% and high speed operations were certainly on the dance card this day. He had ordered an oiler to rendesvous with them tomorrow, if any of them were alive.
Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville's plan for Force H was pretty simple. Ark Royal's Swordfish and Fulmars, a damn good scout, a fair glide bomber and absolutely terrible fighter but more than a match for any number of Arados, would do their best to cripple the Twins and lay smoke. Then in would go his Destroyers for a try at them with their torpedoes covered by Shefield's Type 79Y radar directed twelve 6-inch Mk XXIII guns and 8 QF 4-inch guns. Those 6 inch guns had a max effective range of 25,480 yds at 45 degrees elevation, fired a 112 pound AP shell, had maximum rate of fire was eight rounds per gun, per minute. So even splitting the fire of the main battery between Scharnhost and Kniesnor she could fire 49 RPS per minute at each of the twins. And if Renown's radar could lock on she could add her own brand of misery to help the destroyers get close enoug to score a few vital hits.
Aside from a very lucky shot Shiny did not have much chance of doing any serious damage to the Twins hulls or main battery but she just might be able to smother the Battle cruisers sensors, fire control, secondary battery long enough to make the DD torpedo attack hit home. Finally it would be up to venerable "Refit" Renown and her old but more than capable ship killing 15 inch guns to put them down or at least drive them off. That is if Renowns own Battle Cruiser armor was proof against 18 modern German 11inch gunns fring the much better german AP round. Of all the ships of Force H he would bet his Flag was the most likely to survive and he really had mixed feelings about that.
2 JUNE 1941 0812 Somerville ordered Force H into a "Flight Corpen", turn into the wind at 22 kts to allow his carrier to launch her first strike of the day. The Ark Royal was launching all 11 of her reduced compliment of Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers and Argus's 10. Their Mark XII 18 inch, 388 lb warhead torpedo had a range of 1,500 yards at 40 knots or 3,500 yards at 27 knots.These were his best bet for slowing down The Twins.
There would also be 8 Fairey Fulmars. They would each be armed with a single 250 lb AP bomb but they were not capable of dive bombing so they would have to make a glide bombing run and that was the ideal target for medium and light Flak gunners. They were also armed with eight fixed forward 0.303 Caliber machineguns with at least 400 rounds per gun. These would be devestating to sensor and communications aerials and topside stationed sailors if the Fulmars could get close enough and time their attack to support his Swordfish torpedo runs. Two Fulmars were out doing a thorough sector search out to 70 miles and one was bird dogging TG Cilax as they closed with Force H. One Fulmar was doing anti submarine patrol along the direction of advance. Three more fulmars were on deck armed with smoke canisters.
Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville, had struggled with a decision of what to do with WS-12's escorts which inlcuded the old CV HMS Argus pennant # I49 Good old "Hat Box" was purchase by Admiralty in August 1916 and Converted to CV at a cost of £1.3M. She was old, small and slow with max speed of only 20 kts but she was another flight deck and had been modernised shortly before this war. 20 She also carried a small air group of 10 Swordfish and 6 Sea Hurricanes. He wrestled with the idea of combining The Hat Box's 10 swordfish into his first strike and in the end decided to add them to his own 11 String bags. That still left WS-12 with the Sea Hurricanes and the Supermarine Walruses of the two cruisers. The Fulmar pilot circling TG Cilax just out of AA range had already killed one Arado and Force H's fulmar scout was salivating to get a few more. The remainig Arados were kept in their hangars, defuled and disarmed. This would give Somerville a significant tactical advantage in the upcoming surface action.
2 JUNE 1941 0815 TG Cilax is steaming in what the "cousins" in the USN call a formation 52. AKA a circular AA formation with the heavies at the center and the escorting DDs along the perimeter. It makes things difficult, especially for Torpedo bombers, and also still provides ASW protection. Best way to defeat it is dive bombers. Somerville's dilemma was how to arm his Swordfish. In the end he chose the Mark XII 18 inch, 388 lb warhead relying on Jackie Fisher's old saying that the best way to sink a capital ship was to "Let the water in".
Once again he angered at the fact his largest carrier did not have a full Air Group embarked. With a full squdron of string bags he could split the first strike (he really feared he would have few aircraft left for a second strike) between Fish and 500 lb AP bombs. If timed right, BIG IF, the dive boming String bags would cause TG Cilax to split it's AA batteries giving the torpedo bombers a better chance of surving long enough to put a few of their Mark XIIs into those two Nazi battle cruisers. His swordfish pilots were considered the best in the fleet and they just might land a few 500 pounder AP blows themselves. He would not give them much of a chance at returning to Ark Royal. He gave the glide bombing Fulmars no chance of scoring a hit or returining.
There were times he found himself disgusted by his admirals gold lace and the fact that gaudi shit meant he willingly sent good men to their deaths. He tried to assuage his conscience, not that he had much of one left, with the fact he was just doing his duty to his God and country to put down the Mad Dog nazis. If his boys saved WS-12 Pound, Churchill, the civilians back home, all the senior officers of the fleet and most of the RN professionals would say it was worth the sacrifice. He still had to live with himself and he would KNOW he was guilty of murdering his own boys. He once read somwhere "At times like these all we can do is our duty and when it is all over say our prayers for HIS forgiveness because I will never forgive myself."
2 JUNE 1941 0840 The last of the strike, a Fulmar, was launched. It had been a good launch; all aircraft had made it into the air, formed up and headed for The Twins. TG Cilax was a a mere 160 nautical miles away. Given the need to coordinate the attack the Swordfish's max speed of 143 mph with 7,580 lb torpedo at and 5,000 ft. dictated a cruising speed of 125 MPH and a hour and a half flight time. The strike commander had decided he would drop his flight down to 300 ft when they were 75 miles from TG Cilax, make a dog leg apprach to the north splitting his fulmars into two groups, 4 would lead the String bags in hosing the upper decks of the Nazi's with .303 fire ending in a glide bomb attack. The other Fulmers would make individual runs from vatrious points of the compass with the same plan of gunning the brains out of the AA gunners and bridge watch followed by their single 250 lb glide bomb run.
The string bags, piloted by very experienced aviators with a lot of hours in the biplane, were to make a by the book doctrine torpedo bomber attack.
Approach at 300 feet followed by a dive to torpedo release altitude of 18 feet. The maximum Rangeof a 1941 Mark XII torpedo was only 1,500 yards at 40 knots but max range did not give a pilot max chance at a hit. The torpedo travelled 200 feet from release to water impact, and required another 300 yards to stabilise at preset depth and arm itself. Ideal release distance was 1,000 yards from target, if the Swordfish survived to that distance.
With so few aircraft and three major targets a hammerhead attack was their best bet. He split his String bags into three packs, 6 for each Battle cruiser and three for the cruiser.
The deadly beauty of the hammerhead attack was that three aircraft of each pack would approach thier battlecruiser victims from each bow at the same time. No matter which way the target turned there was an excellent chance of her eating at least one fish and an even chance of being hit by two. By making the run from ahead at 18 ft it would split the already weak forward AA battery. The problem was that after release you could try to make it out the way you came in which meant loosing speed and providing the AA gunners with an excellent target or shoot down the side of the target with the throttle full open. Niehter was all that inviting or likley to make for a long life.
If half his String bags survived he would press his boss to authorize a second strike as Dive bombers to clean up any survivors.
The Swordfish was also capable of operating as a dive-bomber. What was known to few outside the FAA was in 1939, Swordfish on board HMS Glorious participated in a series of dive-bombing trials, during which 439 practice bombs were dropped at dive angles of 60, 67 and 70 degrees, against the target ship HMS Centurion. Tests against a stationary target (say a DIW Nazi Battle cruiser) showed an average error of 49 yd from a release height of 1,300 ft and a dive angle of 70 degrees; tests against a manoeuvring target (say a crippled Nazi battle Cruiser) showed an average error of 44 yd from a drop height of 1,800 ft and a dive angle of 60 degrees. He and his pilots had practiced this Swordfish Dive Bomber doctrine in the Med and now was the time to put it into practice if there were enough of them left.
2 JUNE 1941 0900 Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax OTC TG Ciliax turned to Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand of his flagship Gneisenau. Anything on the radar yet Netzbrand?" "just that damn Scout circling us like a hungriger Bussard (hungry buzzard) Vizeadmiral."
TG Cilax had been at "Battle stations" since one of his Arado's had made a sighting report on Force H at 0730. That brave air crew had been allowed to survive in order to lead a Fulmar scout fighter back to them. That bastard Englander had then flamed the Arado in front of his entite TG. He had been circling just out of heavy flak range transmitting his posit and every course and speed change he made.
Ciliax then said "My staff Air officer figures us to feel Somerville's first strike anywhere from 1000 to 1100. He expects it to be a maximum strike of 30 of those Swordfish torpedo biplanes and 20 Fulmar fighter scouts armed with bombs. We will have our hands full but I am confident we will come through the air attack pretty much intact. Thanks to Lutgen's reports of the battle of the Denmark Straight we have made the neccessary adjustments to our Flak fire control systems to deal with the very slow speed of the biplane's attack runs. Just the same Kapitan Zur See 30 torpedos bombers is a lot to counter IF the Englander strike leader is not a fool. The Ark Royal has been operating to great effect in the Mediteranean for some time now. Those pilots are not novices and after the punishment we have given their Royal Navy of late they are most likely coming for us with blood and iron. They also know what happens to their important large troop convoy if we are not stopped."
Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax had ordered the Air defense circular formation and a course change to intercept Force H as soon as possible at 25 kts. He wanted to force the surface action. With luck, his TG would savage the first air strike, be able to maintain a high speed and come to grips with Somerville before he could launch another air strike. Somerville could not run but he could slow down when not at flight quarters, buy time for more air strikes and still stay between TG Cilax and WS-12. He knew from Rudel (Wolf Pack) Werwolf OTC's after action report to BdU that Force H, was now down 4 destroyers. He also knew Force H speed had been cut to 22 kts and both Ark Royal and Renown had taken torpedo hits. The report stated emphatically both capital ships appeared to still be combat effective, as their main batteries were intact but with reduced engineering capabilities. He also reported Renown had taken four (actually only three) torpedo hits and Ark Royal had been hit twice (actually only once).
2 JUNE 1941 1015 the junior "Radarmann" in the flag reported a large intermitant air contact to his watch Unteroffizier who immediately came over and studied the younger man's O scope. It certainly was a solid return and it was also a large contact bearing dead ahead. Range was 45 miles and closing. The PO imediately informed the watch officer who informed the bridge watch including the Kapitan and Vizeadmiral. Cilax imediately ordered a signal informing the other ships of his TG of the contact. On each ship the radar operators quickly searched on the reported bearing and it was not long until all had the incoming raid. The watch Petty Officers ensured the operators did not become target fixated. They reminded them to maintain a 360 search.
Since the TG was already in an AA formation at Battle stations the only orders neccessary was to train out on the expected bearing, load and reiterate "Guns tight" until the Vizeadmiral countermanded that signal. The four type 1936A destroyers screen would be the first to engage when batteries were released, or the aircraft came within effective AA Gun range per Cilax's battle doctrine. Each DD mounted 2 twin 37 mm SK C/30 AA and 8 20 mm C/38 AA guns but their main battery of five 150 mm TbtsK C/36 guns were not dual purpse and so useless against aircraft.
The air strike would then be engaged by heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. Hipper carried the latest radars, fire control systems and a formidable AA battery. Hipper mounted a heavy Flak battery of 12 4.1 in SK C/33 guns with a rate of fire of 15–18 rounds per minute. The maximum effective range of the 33 lb 5 oz AA Frag round was 19,000 yds at effective ceiling of 31,003 ft. They were mounted in pairs on an electrically powered tri-axial mounting, intended to compensate for the motion of the ship and maintain a lock onto the intended target. The mounting were open to the weather and sea spray, resulting in a high maintenance but the Kriegsmarine highly motivated and technically competent gunners mainted the mounts at high reliability.
The medium AA FLAK battery consisted of 12 37 mm SK C/30 auto canon. The 37 mm had a Dopp L stabilized mount, a practicle 30 rounds per minute sustained fire, maximum effective range of 9,000 yds at maximum effective ceiling of 6,500 ft.
The light Flak battery consisted of 8 20 round box fed 20 mm C/38 guns with a practical rate of fire of 180 rounds per minute. The light auto canon had a maximum effective range of 2,500 yds and an effective cielining of 6,500 ft.
2 JUNE 1941 1030 The strike leader , flying in a Fulmar ordered his aircraft to transition from their cruising formation to their attack run formations. The Fulmars pulled slightly ahead into a weave, reduced their throttles, and lowered their ailerons to reduced speed to just above a stall. That kept them from opening the range too much from their charges. They took station to lead the torpedo bombers to their drop points. They were to rely on their 8 machine guns initially against the destroyer screen, then use them to hose down the upper works, especially the AA batteries, fire control directors, radar and communications antennas and only use their single 250 lb bomb against the Battle & heavy Cruisers armored bridges. With a single bomb and 400 rounds per gun the pilots had to keep a close eye on their remaining ammo.
2 JUNE 1941 1040 the three Swordfish "packs" dropped down to 18 feet and throttled back to prevent the Mk XII from breaking up on impact. Low and slow was doctrine to maximize the chance of a hit but really reduced the chances of air crew survival. At the same time the Fulmars slected their destroyer targets, charged their .303s, ceased their weave, raised their flaps, opened their throttles to 175 Mph and began their strafing runs. At 1000 yds they hosed their targets with a short ranging burst, adjusted their approach and then hammered the Destroyers with medium length bursts as they filled the Fulmar's gun sights. The problem was that half of the Fulmars never made it to their destroyers firing points. The Type 1936A's two twim 37 mm stablized AA mounts had a much longer "Reach" than the .303 and opened at 9000 yds putting out 30 rounds per minute per barrel or 120 total barrage. At 2,500 yds each type 1936 added 8 box fed 20 mm C/38 guns joined in 180 rounds per minute. The cost had been high but the Fulmars that survived got a mission kill of the destroyers Flak batteries on two of the type 1936 and managed to materially reduce the AA batteries on the other two, one of which was also DIW. The four remaining Fulmars, all damaged but still air worthy went for the heavy cruiser and finally had some luck. At their low altitude the heavy flak battery of Admiral Hipper's 4.1 in SK C/33 guns were held "Guns Tight" because the Fulmars were coming in directly from the damaged destroyers and would cetrtainly sink them while engaging the incoming raid. So it was left to Hipper's 8 of the 12 30 rounds per minute 37 mm SK C/30 to eliminate the 4 Fulmars . Those 37 mm director controlled, stabilized mounted Flak guns were putting out 240 rounds per minute and they were firing well within their max effetcive range. One of the Fulmars got into .303 range and took out a 20 mm Flak and it's entire gun crew and even managed to score a near miss on Hipper with his 250 lb AP bomb. Damage was minor but a few small holes had been punched into her hull.
2 JUNE 1941 1045 the String bags got past the destroyer screen unscathed hugging the surface at 18 ft, in good formation, at max allowable torpedo drop speed. The three packs bore into their hammerhead runs.
Now Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax ordered his three capital ships to break formation but stay within mutual AA desfense range and all guns were now free. The hailstorm of 4.1 in, 37 mm and 20 mm Flak directed by fire control systems that had been recalibrated with the hard earned lessons of TG Cilax was devestating. Only 5 Swordfish survived long enough to launch their Mk XIIs and only two of those made a coordinated hammerhead run, the others just launched at the nearest target before they were shot down.
Results were better than any peacetime empire would allow. Three of the Mk XIIs actually scored hits. One caught the flag just aft of Bruno on the ship's 3 inch Wh (Wotan hard) steel armored belt. The belt, excellent designed TDS and usual high standard of Kriegsmarine damage control caused minor flooding but did not impair the ship's combat effetciveness. The two Swordfish that actually pressed home their text book hammetrhead run both were rewarded with hits on Schranhorst. They Approached at 300 feet followed by a dive to torpedo release altitude of 18 feet. They presed on to well within the 1,500 yds Rangeof a 1941 Mark XII torpedo only at 40 knots to ensure hits. The torpedo travelled 200 feet from release to water impact, and required another 300 yards to stabilise at preset depth and arm itself. They dropped at 1,000 yds the text book target run. None of the 5 made it back to Ark Royal but more than half the brave flight crews were resued.
The fish hit stbd 30 ft aft of the bow and amidships port but the puny 388 lb 18 inch warheads only partially defeated the belt armor. For a while it was feared the ship was mortally wounded because a lot of vital systems in propulsion, interior communications and weapons were knocked off the line. A combination of the well engineered TDS, excellent damage control, and superbly professional technical training brought the most combat vital systems back up in short order. The old girl would be back up to her pre attack combat effectiveness within two hours of the torpedo strkes.
2 JUNE 1941 1110 TG Cilax was conducting emergency repairs, restocking ready AA ammunition and rescue operations. The Vizeadmiral his Chief of Staff and his "Air Officer" had come to the conclusion another air strike was on it's way because the first strike was much smaller than they expected from Ark Royal. Therfore, the TG was mainatining AA formation and battle stations as they closed Force H at 25 kts.
The rescue operations were being conducted by the two of the damaged destroyers, one of which had been DIW was able to get steam up and had reported it was capable of 20 kts.
One thing that had not changed was the circling Fulmar sending out their posit, course, speed and damage estimate. So they were going into action with no air scouts.
2 JUNE 1941 1120 The scout Fulmar radioed back to Force H the lack of results, his opinion none of the strike would make it back to Ark Royal and his fuel state. Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commander of Force H. Read the message a number of times. He was not ready, just yet to believe he had wasted the entire Air strike. He did order an initial report of the strike be sent to Admiral Pound stating his air group had sutained heavy losses and inflicted only light damage to TG Cilax which he expected to engage in a mainly surface action in the next few hours. If the air group was anihilated he would detach Ark Royal with a detroyer escort so she could fight another day. She would be of no use in a surface action anyway. Old Hat Box, HMS Argus, would provide a deck if one was needed.
2 JUNE 1941 1150 RN HQ Bunker under the Admiralty. Fleet Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound's Communication's Officer had just handed his "boss" Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville's 113502JUN41 signal briefly stating the results of Force H's Air strike on TG Cilax and requsting RAF Bomber Command to put on as large an antiship raid as possible against TG Cilax. The time, position, course, speed and composition of the TG Cilax was given. The Fleet Admiral had stood stark still for about two minutes and then handed the signal to his soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay. Ramsay read the signal through three times and handed it back to Pound.
Pound, to Ramsay and his Commo "The loss of his Air Group means "Jimmy" Somerville is about to take Renown, Shiny and a half dozen destroyers up against TG Cilax unless I order him not to. Well I can't do that but I can light a fire under the RAF to bomb the hell out of those Nazis."
"Ramsay, do you still want this "Fucking" job? Truth to tell, 5 June can't come fast enough for me, you poor bastard."
Pound was bitter and wracked with guilt bceause his Royal Navy had been out maneuvered, outfought and repeatedly savaged by the numerically inferior Nazis. There was a real possibility the Kriegsmarine surface raiders and U-Boats could do enough damage to England's seaborn life line as to force HM Government to sue for peace or see her population and industry "Starve".
At the very least Winston, the absolutely essential leader if we were to win this war, be removed by a Vote of No Confidence. He would not put it past those "rodents" in parliament to do that.
He then brought himself up short and put all his years of experience, great intelect and bull dog stubborness to bear on the problem of how to help Force H kill those two Nazi Battle Cruisers. The RAF just might be able to do something. By this time his staff had taken station close by. Pound To his aid "Get me Air Chief Marshal Portal and make sure whoever takes the call knows this is urgent."
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal's aid was on the line in ten minutes. "Fleet Admiral Pound, I am the Air Marshal's aid he will be with you as soon as he can get to a secure phone, I'd say about 15 minutes."
Pound "Please inform the Air Marshall time is of the essence and it is vitally imporatnt I speak to him as soon as possible. The lives of many of our people are at stake."
Portal's Aid "I will convey that message to him right away." Ten minutes later, an out of breath Air Marshall was on a secure phone line with Admiral Pound. He quickly grasped the dire circumstances and promised Pound he would have a raid on TG Cilax in the air as soon as possible and his staff would keep your staff informed of the progress and work out the particulars of the raid.
Pound "Thank you Freddie; I just hope we will not be too late." A very tired looking Fleet Admiral Pound then turned to Ramsay and said "Let's get out of this sewer for a few minutes Bertie." They walked in silence to the stairs leading up into the Admiralty Gardens, now planted with vegetables as a "Victory Garden". They found an old bench and sat down wearily, it had been a string of long nights relieved by all too little sleep and neither of them were the young, or even middle aged iron Men they once had been.
Pound lit his pipe and once he got it going said to Ramsay. "Sorry Bertie about my taunting you in front of the staff. It was unexcitable but come June 6th or maybe seventh if you are lucky, you will understand why I displayed such rude behaviour to a friend.
I truly am sorry Winston picked on you to clean up my mess. You really deserve better but we live to serve our political masters and that is that."
Ramsay lit his "Players" and said " Sir, I was not in the least offended by you. You had to take it out on someone. Better another admiral than any of those long suffering staffies that toil like galley slaves for us. Eh?"
"I'll tell you what I was thinking about at hat time. What am I getting myself into? If an outstanding man, intelect and sailor like Pound had failed what chance do I have. Then you braced and started issuing orders, damn good ones if you don't mind me saying so.
Too bad for those RAF crews. I'd guess The Air Marshall will send in some of his Torpedo bombers like Bothas or Beauforts if we and they are lucky. I really can't imagine a dozen or so of those twin engine torpedo bombers will fare any better than Ark Royals Swordfish and Fulmars. Maybe, just maybe, accumlated damage from our previous attacks has degraded Cilax's ships AA batteries enough to give those boys a fighting chance but I doubt it from the after action report."
2 JUNE 1941 1215 Somerville said "Staff make to Ark Royal and to Fearless. You are detached. Make best speed to Devonport" ( HMS Drake AKA HMNB Devonport, Devonport, Devon). "That leaves Force H with Destroyers Duncan, Iris, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Fury, & Foresight.”
"With any luck the RAF can provide ARK Royal and Fearless fighters and Coastal Command will dispatch some sub hunters to escort them into Devonport."
2 JUNE 1941 1220 Portal to his aid. "Get CO RAF St. Eval on line."
Portal "Portal here. The navy needs our help. What is the status of number 22 Squadron?"
CO RAF St. Eval Bazil T. Soreham " Operational; as of this morning's report we have all 12 fit for service. Conversion to the Beaufort is complete. We think we finally have the problems with the Bristol Taurus engines ironed out. The Squadron Leader, Ken Campbell, has been working his boys very hard on both torpedo and bomb attacks and over water navigation. They are ready for anything you care to throw them at."
Portal " I want you to lay on a strike against TG Cilax at the earliest possible time. Force H had it's air group decimated trying to stop Scharnhost, Gneisenau a Hipper class heavy cruiser and 4 destroyers earlier today. That leaves Ark Royal useless until the Navy can get her another Air group. Force H is down to a damaged Renown, the light Cruiser Shefield and about a half dozen destroyers. The old Argus is in support but all her torpedo bombers were lost with Ark Royals'. She does have about 10 SeaHurricaines and as many of Ark Royal's Fulmars. The Fulmars will be able to guide your Beauforts onto the Nazi's."
The Bristol Beaufort is a twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as the Type 152, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Blenheim light bomber. Beauforts first saw service with Royal Air Force Coastal Command. They were used as torpedo bombers, conventional bombers and mine-layers.
Crew 4
Maximum speed: 271.5 mph at 6,500 ft 225 mph at sea level
Cruise speed: 255 mph at 6,500 ft
Range: 1,600 nmi.
"I also want one of the new Catalina's to help the Navy keep close tabs on those Nazi's. The "Senior Service", has managed to muck things up right propper of late.
Soreham, I can not emphasize enough that this raid must be launched as soon as possible!"
Soreham imediately got on the "Horn" to 22 Squdron's CO and gave him his orders.
2 JUNE 1941 1245 A Number 210 Squadron Catalina 1 launched 15 minutes prior armed with four depth charges for an ASW mission. Her mission changed to keeping track of TG Cilax. She would need every knot of her very unimpressive speed to reach the Nazi's before the Beaufort's did. Her pilot decided to balance rhe need for endurance with speed. So he set his throttles for 150 mph, faster than best economical cruising speed of 130 but slower than tje Cat-1s max, fuel gulping 183 mph.
The 100 RAF Catalina 1s were actually PBY-5s purchased directly by the RAF. The Catalina I was given British equipment, including six Vickers machine guns – one in the nose, one in the rear tunnel and a twin gun on a manual mounting in each of the blister windows. The PBY-5/ Catalina 1 was the first version of the Catalina to be produced in large numbers, and the last to be a pure flying boat.
The RAF had purchased a commercial version of the PBY-4 in July 1939, and this aircraft had been flown across the Atlantic for tests at the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe, Suffolk. Although these tests were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, the RAF still decided to place an order for 106 Catalinas. Produced as the Consolidated 28-5, these aircraft became the Catalina 1s in RAF service and the PBY-5 for the USN.
The PBY-5 /Cat 1 saw the introduction of the waist gunner’s blisters which gave the Catalina its familiar shape. The outer part of these circular blisters could be rotated up and under the top of the blister, giving the waist gunners a much better field of fire than on earlier versions of the Catalina, and also providing better protection from the slipstream.
The PBY-5/ Catalina 1 was powered by Pratt & Whitney R-1830-82 engines and used Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propellers. On the PBY-4 the air intake for the engine had been on top of the engine nacelle, but on the PBY-5/ Catalina 1 it was moved to a position inside the engine cowling, above the propeller. The PBY-5/ Catalina 1 had a redesigned squared off rudder, and new horizontal stabilisers and elevators.
Maximum Speed: 183 mph
Cruising Speed: 130 mph
Range: 3,000
Armament :four 0.30-in machine-guns and either 4,000lbs of bombs or four depth charges or two torpedoes
2 JUNE 1941 1405 the last of Number 22 Squdron's 12 Beauforts joined his mates and headed for TG Cilax. The ground crews had done a magnificent job of arming, fueling and doing everything else neccessary to get the aircraft ready for a combat flight. The Air crews had been briefed. The navigators had been given the very latest poistion, course and speed of TG Cilax by the Fulmar scout. Radio frequency and set compatability beteween Fulmars, Sea Hurricaines and the Beaufort's had been establised and tested.
2 JUNE 1941 1635 Number 22 Squdron's 11 Beaufort torpedo bombers rendezoued with 5 Sea Hurricaines and 4 Fulmars. One Beaufort turned back due to her notorious Taurus engines siezing. Since this was a daylight torpedo attack the Hurries and Fulmars would once again lead the way, beat up the screen and then make strafing runs on the Battle and Heavy Cruisers. The hope was that the much faster Beauforts would have better luck than did the swordfish. It was also hoped the AA defenses of the Capital ships had been degraded. Time would soon tell.
TG Cilax was now 60 nautical miles away from What was left of Force H. The strike commander, Squadron Leader Ken Campbell, ordered his force to take up strike formation with the SeaHurrys and and Fulmars in the lead.
The Sea Hurricane Mk IB was a modified Hurricane Mk I equipped with catapult spools plus an arrester hook. The Sea Hurries also mounted the lighter de Havilland propellers instaed of the Rotol types; it was found during tests that the Rotol unit could lead to the nose dipping during arrested landings, causing the propeller blades to "peck" the carrier deck. The lighter de Havilland units avoided this problem.
The Mk 1 made an excellent conversion carrier fighter because it's handling qualities during take-off and landings were excellent due to a wide-track undercarriage with relatively wide low-pressure tyres. Because of this wide, stable platform the Hurricane was an easier aircraft to land, with less fear of nose-overs or "ground-loops" than its RAF Fighter Command counterpart the Supermarine Spitfire.
Like the Mk 1 Hurricane the Sea Hurricane's large, thick wing meant that the fighter proved to be a stable gun platform. It was armed with eight .303 in Browning machine guns. The armament was arranged in two lots of four in large gun bays incorporated into the outer wing panels. 70 pounds of armor protection was added in the form of head, back plates and an armor-glass panel was incorporated on the front of the windscreen. The old string bags and Fulmars lacked that armor which just might allow the Sea Hurries to last long enough to really chew up the upper works, including light and medium AA guns of their targets. Unlike the Fulmars the Sea Hurries carried no bombs.
As the flight closed to 40 miles North from TG Cilax Squadron Leader Ken Campbel contacted the trailing Fulmar. He recieved the latest posit, speed, course and disposition of the Nazi TG. He then ordered the flight down to 250 ft.
He was a bit too late because Gneisenau's radar had been tracking them for 15 minutes. Vizeadmiral. Cilax had ordered his TG to "Battle stations" at that time.
Campbel's plan was similar to Ark Royals attack. He would first send in his five Sea Hurries to make strafing runs on the screening destroyers. Then the Hurries would go flat out against the capital ships for a single run concentrating on medium and light AA batteries that would deplete their MG ammo. The Hurries would then clear the AA area of TG and return to Argus.
Next in would be the four Fulmars, leading from a bit above and hosing down anything in the path of his squadron. Once past the destroyers his 11 Beauforts would break into three groups. Groups 1 and 2 of 4 would go after the Battle Cruisers in a classic Hammerhead torpedo attack. Group 3 would hang back under Campbel's direct control and either go in for the battle cruisers that avoided being hit by groups 1 and 2 or go after the heavy cruiser if both battle cruisers were severly damaged. The Fulmars would lead the way making starfing runs on the medium and light AA batteries of the Battle Cruisers followed by their single 250 lb glide bomb run. They would then clear the area and return directly to Argus.
Good simple plan with two really unavoidable flaws.
1. His boys were going in against the best shipborn AA defense today in broad daylight.
2. He had only 11 Mark XII torpedoe's with those puny 388 lb 18 inch warheads. That meant they would require multiple hits in fairly close proximity to do real damage to those Battle Cruisers.
He had no doubt his boys would bore in and only release their fish at the last minute but that meant flying low and slow, which made them dead meat for those Nazi AA gunners. But Maybe, just maybe, the Hurries and Fulmars strafing and glide bombing runs would do enough damage to the AA guns, gunners and their directors to give his boys a real chance at good hits and survival. There was always that chance.
The fulmar had also informed him the Cat-1 was not too far out and Force H's battleship and cruiser scout float planes would be on station to pick up or direct ships to downed air crews.
2 JUNE 1941 1650 The Sea Hurricaines began their Flak Suppression runs. They found the two remaining destroyers of the "screen" put up a very weak and inaccurate Flak Barrage and chose to waste little ammo on them. Sea Hurricaines found the Battle and Heavy Cruisers Flak barrage quite a different story. They got as close to the deck as they could to confuse the Nazi Fire Control, especially the heavy FLAK mounts. As orderded, they pounded the light and medium Flak batteries along with radar and Fire control antennas and mounings. Being human they also peppered the armored bridges on the off chance they might hit someone important.
The pilots really bored in close. They held their fire until they were in "the cone" where their wing mounted eight .303 in Browning's armor piercing and incindiary rounds concentrated. The armament was arranged in two lots of four in large gun bays incorporated into the outer wing panels. It was now that the 70 pounds of added armor protection in the form of head, back plates and an armor-glass panel front windscreen paid huge divindends. It not only provided protection to the pilots on the way in and out but it also steadied nerves in their attack runs. It was quite evident that the Sea Hurricaines had all but silenced the 20 and 37 mm guns on the engaged side, for now. How long that would last was anyone's guess.
However most of the 105mm dual purpose L/65 C/33 guns on twin coaxially-stabilized C/73 armored mounts were still quite functional. The Sea Hurricaines were "on the deck" because the Heavy FLAK's elevation was -8 to +85 degrees. That partially shielded the fast and nimble fighters from their devetating collective 160 rounds per minute. What worked for the fighters might not be possible for the Beauforts and it was they who had to deliver the decisive hits to help Force H and save WS 12 troop convoy.
All of the Sea Hurricaines made it back to Argus; although two would not fly again any time soon and that went for one of the pilots also.
2 JUNE 1941 1 655 It was now time for the Fulmars and Beauforts to make their decisive runs. The four Fulmars, led the way firing a few shots at the almost silent destroyers. They went low and quickly commenced making strafing runs on the Heavy FLAK batteries of the Battle Cruisers folllowed by their single 250 lb bomb. With ammo exhausted cleared the area and returned directly to Argus.
Once past the destroyers the surviving 11 Beauforts broke into three groups as planned. Groups 1 went for Scharnhorst, 2 for Niesnau in a classic 4 plane Hammerhead torpedo attack. Although the Hammerhead was a deadly efficient attack formation it was far from 100% perfetc. A lot of variables could negate it's potential.
A successful torpedo drop required that the approach run to the target needed to be straight and at a speed and height where the torpedo would enter the water smoothly: too high or too low and the torpedo could "porpoise" (skip through the water), dive or even break up. Height over the water had to be judged without the benefit of a radio altimiter and misjudgement was easy, especially in calm conditions. For the Beauforts using the 18-inch Mk XII aerial torpedo, the average drop-height was 68ft and the average range of release was 670. During the run-in, the aircraft was vulnerable to defensive FLAK and it took courage to fly through it with no chance of evasive manoeuvres.
The Beaufort's optimum torpedo dropping speed was a great deal higher than than the old Vildebeests it replaced, and it took practice to judge the range and speed of the target ship. A ship the size and speed of Scharnhorst would look huge, filling the windscreen at well over 1 mi and it was easy to underestimate the range. In action, torpedoes were often released too far away from the target, although there was one recorded instance of a torpedo being released too close. For safety reasons, torpedo warhead had a set distance (usually about 300 yds from the release point before they were armed. It also took some distance for the torpedo to settle to its running depth.
Once the torpedo had been dropped, if there was room, a sharp turn away from the enemy was possible: more often than not the aircraft had to fly around or over the ship, usually at full-throttle and below mast height. A sharp pull-up could be fatal as it exposed a large area of the aircraft to anti-aircraft guns.
Campbel's held back Group 3 under direct control until he could evaluate the initial attacks. If Group 3 survived the FLAK they would go in for the battle cruisers that avoided being hit by groups 1 and 2 or go after the heavy cruiser if both battle cruisers were severly damaged. Calulated risk but gorups 1 and 2 should preoccupy most, if not all, of the depleted FLAK guns of the three Cruisers.
As it happened Groups 1 and two conducted text book Hammerhead attacks on the two Battle Cruisers. Unfortunately the director controlled Heavy FLAK batteries and a few of the 37mms brought down 2 of Group 1's Beauforts, both from the port bow section. The CO of Scharnhorst managed to comb the wakes of the remaining torpdeoes unscathed.
Group two manged all four torpedo launches against Gneisenau but lost two Beauforts as they retired. One was a flamer but the second managed to clear the FLAK zone and successfully ditch with the loss of one crewman. Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand, CO of the flag Gneisenau, did a msterful job of combing the wakes of the starboard side Hammerhead but took one of the puny 388 lb warheads on her armored belt. Damage did not degrade her speed or combat power. The second fish missed Gneisenau by 18 inches; not bad considering the bomb aimer had a 4 ounce hunk of schrapnel in his thigh and was about to pass out due to loss of blood.
2 JUNE 1941 1705 Squadron leader Campbel took Group 3 in to attack Gneisenau, in the hope the one torpedo hit had damaged the Battle cruiser and maybe Group 3 could finish her off and even the odds a little Bit for Renown and Shiny. He would go in alone on the port bow and his other two torpedo bombers would attack from the Starbaord bow. The concentrated fire of two Battle and one heavy cruiser was unleshed on the three Beauforts. Campbel took a solid hit from a 105 and his entire plane disintergated as it's fuel tanks and torpedo warhead sympathetically detonated within milli seconds of that hit.
The other two Beauforts determinely bore in to their Starbaord bow drop point. Both fish dropped successfully and were running HOT, Straight and Normal. Both Beauforts hammered Gneisenau with every gun that would bear and managed to escape beyond the FLAK Zone. They loitered just out of range observing their fish. Both missed bceause with only one arm of the hammer head to deal with Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand manged to comb the wakes again. The remaining Beauforts formed up under the 3rd senior pilot and headed for home. Another damn good try by brave and skillful men but once again too few aircraft and an lack of dive bombers saved TG CILAX. CRM
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 13
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 13
2 JUNE 1941 1715 The shadowing Fulmar made it's strike report to Somerville who quickly had it coded and sent off to Pound and Commodore Thesiger in WS 12. He then turned to Renown's CO and said. "So you now get to command a RN Battle Cruiser against two of the Naxis. Well we have the 15 inch guns and we still have torpedo loaded operational destroyers. The Nazi bastards have niether. That will be something to tell your grandchildren about."
CO Renown thought "Now if "Jimmy" could gurantee I will see my Grand children again, that is exatly what I will do." Instead he just said. "Old Refit will make this a fight those new Battle Cruisers will never forget for the few hours they have left Sir James."
Somerville just looked at the man and made an ironic smile. Good man, good but old ship, crew with too many hostilities only ratings and lady luck still seems to hate us. Wonder what the Old Andrew did to her to forsake us lately? The question is have our Regular Navy Chiefs, senior PO's and warrants trained those green hands well enough to get the best out of those guns against split targets. We need hits and we need them before those damn excellent Boch gunners get our range. Well we have spotters and they do not. That should help a good deal.
2 JUNE 1941 1800 TG-39.1 OTC Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt was in flag plot going over the lack of results of the afternoon aerial searches for Bismarck. Ernie King must have chewed PatWing 5’s ass raw because he had his boys continuous long range sector searches from 0330 Sunset 2340. His own SOC’s were hunting down his hunches along with a Nautical sun rise to sunset local submarine and surface search out to 50 miles.
Problem was his SOC’s where really VFR (visual Flight Rules) scouts with a very limited night flying and searching capability. That meant in clear weather conditions, at normal search height their horizon is faintly visible during Nautical Twilight . Many of the brighter stars can also be seen, making it possible to use the position of the stars in relation to the horizon to navigate at sea. Nautical dawn occurs when the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon during the morning. Nautical dusk occurs when the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon in the evening. Which means they were blind once the sun really set.
Hewitt to his C of Staff. “I really hope PatWing Five’s idea of stationing one of his PBY’s to take over our local search at night pays off. Remember what chief O'Shae told us about that 40 miles range ASE radar set not being much for area searches? If the Flyboys orbit us at just under our max surface search radar range, 12 miles give or take, they extend our search range out to around 50 miles or so. That is well worth trying Sir. We can also send them off to investigate if someone gets a DF fix or the ONI boys or the Limeys actually dig something up in our AOR (Area Of Operations).” C of Staff also remembered the Chief’s comment on the reliability of the ASE sets. Well better than nothing.
2 JUNE 1941 1830 USCGC Muskeget (WAG-48) was make good storm damaged and otherwise CASREPed gear, chipping and painting, settling in new crew, taking on stores and generally making ready for another three week weather patrol southeast of Greenland. Not much had happened since they landed their survivors except for one hell of a field day to clean up the oil, dirt, filth, debris and blood from the survivors and a lot of captain’s masts. At first messages of appreciation came from HM Government’s Board of Trade and a few others. Then CG HQ, Via District One in Boston ordered LCDR Moultron to express to his ship’s company a very hearty Well Done and to authorize maximum liberty while in port. That had mixed results as his crew, very full of themselves, destroyed a number of local drinking establishments. Captain’s masts followed and his real wild men, who had performed magnificently, would have spent most of the time until their next patrol busted and restricted to the ship. Finally, Letters of commendation had been placed in the jackets of the CO Moultron and a few others (still on restriction) for the rescue. This allowed him, as CO, to release them from restriction and restore their former Ratings. A few of them, after a single liberty, were once again restricted to the ship. Moultron thought “You got to love them” and how lucky he was to be their CO.
2 JUNE 1941 1915 Prime Minister Churchill entered the Admiralty Command bunker and casually returned the Royal Marine sentry's rifle salute. The sentry next shouted "Prime minister on deck" All present came to attention and turned toward their PM. Winston growled "Carry on with your duties" The old man rapidly crossed the room toward Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound and his soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay. They had been bent over a chart table but now stood facing the on rushing Churchill who looked like he were about to "thrash" both of them.
Churchill with just controlled anger in his voice "Gentlmen let us adjourn to your office Admiral of the Fleet." When they got into the office, Ramsay closed the door and the two Admirals stood at attention in front of their obviously angry "Master".
Churchill "Force H's report was one of the same I have had to endure ever since the Denmark Straight disaster. The RAF committed the only available bomber squadron against Cilax, got that squadron decimated and have nothing to show for it but two damaged destroyers; not exactly a Trafalgar!
Jimmy Somerville has one damaged, Great War Battle Cruiser, no better than Hood, a single 6 inch cruiser and a half dozen escorts against the Nazis two Battle and one 8 inch cruisers. Do I have to remind you WS-12's escort will not swim for 15 minutes once those Battle Cruisers reach it and it is a large troop convoy. This will be the Queen Mary again writ large as those Nazi bastards intend to sink every ship in that convoy."
He stopped talking, sank into an arm chair, took his time lighting a cigar, all the time scowling at "His" Admirals who were marshalling their thoughts for an acceptable answer.
Before Pound could speak Churchill sarcastically growled "What gentlemen are you doing to help Somerville." The word "gentemen" was spat out like the most disgusting of lower deck insults.
Pound manfully replied. "Sir, we have nothing of sufficient force that can reach WS-12 before the Nazis. All we can do is let Vice Admiral Somerville fight the battle his way. I am sure his destroyers will make a torpedo run and, given the number of Eels, they have a chance to damage, possibly severely, the two Battle Cruisers, especially if they can attack after dark. Then it will be up to old Renown's 15 inch guns longer reach and heavier shells to cripple and maybe sink Gneisenau and Scharnhorst before their 11 inch score a major blow on Renown. She actually handled them pretty roughly off Norway and actually drove them off by herself. "
Mentioning Norway, a real tactical victory for the RN but a strategic disaster to Winston was taking a big chance. Churchill decided let it go. He knew these men were doing their best with far too few ships. Their number one priority had to be the Atlantic lifeline and that tied their hands. It left the in intiative, for now, to that butchering maniac Hitler's small, but very efficient, modern, purpose built commerce destroying fleet the initative. He had abused them enough for now. He'd like to think he did it because it was his duty to get the most out of them, which was true, but he also knew he had to vent to someone. In his heart of herats he was truly frightened, nay terror stricken was more accurate of nothing more than loosing the "Battle of the Atlantic". At this juncture he was a very worried old man who ate too well, got far too little exercise or diversion and drank and smoked far too much but not as much as his enemies thought.
2 JUNE 1941 1930 Gneisenau's flag bridge. Vizeadmiral Cilax was weighing up his Task group's chances for a quick and relatively light damage destruction of Force H. TG Cilax was now composed of two Battle Cruisers and one 8 inch cruiser. Although his TG had sustained some damage from the Englander's gallant but very luckless attacks; all were still operational with main batteries unharmed. His 4 destroyers were all gone now; two sunk and two heading for Brest being mission killed by the Englanders. The light and medium Flak batteries had taken a beating, especially to his gunners but were now remanned and more than adaquate to protect his ships. His main and secondary battery fire control directors were unharmed. Some of his radar antennas had been shot away but enough remained operational as not to materailly degrade his "vision of the upcoming "Killing Ground". His ships had plenty of fuel and could sustain 25 knots for more than enough hours to get to WS-12.
He was also grateful TG Cilax had all modern, state of the art ships, with veteran very, well trained officers and crews. HIS TG ships had operated together in peace and war for a long time now which made a big difference. His captains knew thier doctrine, were strict but fair with their crews and totally dedicated to winning this war. His Maats (POs) were exceptional technicians and deck plate leaders especially his Chiefs. His men were the least of his worries and how many commanders could honestly say that?
He still had a good chance of carrying out his primary mission, commerce destruction. The Englanders could absorb the loss of Force H but the utter destruction of WS-12, along with the havoc being raised by the U-Boats, Bismarck and The Prince at this time could prove decisive. The current morale of the Englanders had to be shaken by the loss of Europe, their defeat in the Denmark straight, the destruction of HX-123 and especially the sinking of the Queen Mary.
He discounted Dunkirk and the battle of Britain because the convoys were what fed that island nation and those convoys were being decimated by his Kriegsmarine.
His greatest concern was not old Renown, or Ark Royal, with her destroyed air group, or the still almost totally ineffective RAF but Somerville's remaining Destroyers. He was pressing the battle at 25 kts with Force H because he did not want to give those "Torpedo Boats" the alley of darkness for their inevitable massed torpedo attack. He knew SUNSET would be at 2118 and Nautical Twilight would end at 2258. Unless he forced the issue Somerville would not send his "Fegers" until full dark. With the low overcast, moon light would be of no consequence. He had no Escort screen to fend off the "Fegers" and give the Main Body" a warning, time to maneuver and put down a rain of HE in the Englander's path. He would have to rely on his already degraded radar, his excellent German night optics and the skill and discipline of his lookouts; hand picked for their exceptional Mark One Eyes balls.
Too bad the RN, like his own Navy, had pretty much corrected the unexpected early war problems with their Eels. He could not count on mechanical failure, unpredictable depth, irratic running courses and unreliable warheads to save TG Cilax.
He could not count on anything but totally professional, suicidally brave and utterly determined torpedo runs by Force H's Med War Veterans. These damn "Fegers" were comanded and manned by the best the RN had. Despite of their recent run of bad luck, mainly due to a lack of resources, a fleet stretched far too thin and still suffering from the neglect of the depression years, the men of the RN were absolute professionals and should NEVER be underestimated.
Finally, Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax was an old, very experienced sailorman and as such knew Nothing was certain at sea. He also knew that "Lady Luck" could change sides at any time. In the end it was all in God's hands. So be it. He then called for his stewart to bring him a mug of coffee with a double cognac sweetener.
2 JUNE 1941 1945 HMS Renown's Flag Plot. Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commander of Force H, Was thinking about the upcoming surface action against TWO new Battle Cruisers and a very tough Hipper class Heavy cruiser . With luck Ark Royal's CO Capt. C.S. Holland, RN would find a new air group soon but not soon enough to help Force H. All he had left was Old "Refit",CO Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN his six inch gunned Cruiser "Shiny"CO Capt. C.A.A. Larcom, RN and his "Trump Cards". His torpedo armed destroyer leader Duncan, destroyers Iris, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Fury, & Foresight just might be decidive. They give him 35 MK IX 21-inch torpededos with 750 lbs. TNT warheads. Although operational in 1930 were considerably improved by 1939 with a range of 5 miles at 41 knots or 7 miles at 35 knots. Real ship killers now that the early war problems have been corrected.
He could only pray the Nazis did not find Force H until full dark. Although that made his air dominance scouts and spotting aircraft much less effective. If he meets TG Cilax after dark his first punch will be his destroyers. If Cilax finds them during Nautical twilight, which ends at 2258, he would still send them in even though it would reduce the destroyers chances of reaching a good torpedo launch point greatly, to say nothing of their chances of survival. Even after full dark, the Nazi Radar fire control and the world's best night optics, to say nothing of old fashion but deadly efficient star shells, will make that tropedo run quite a long bet. When you add the excellent gunnery shown by the Kriegsmarine capital ships this war, their chances get even slimmer.
There was always the chance his destroyers would do enough damage to give "Old Refit" a chance to either sink them or drive them back to France too damaged to make the massacre of WS-12 worth it. The rub was that TG Cilax took orders from Hitler and his malignant crew. Those orders might be TG Cilax is expendable; sink that convoy.
He did take comfort in the fact this would not be the first time "Old Refit" went up against these two Nazi beasts. She met them off the southern coast of the Lofoten Islands, Norway. Talk about history repeating itself; at that time Renown had nine destroyers. Vizeadmiral Günther Lütjens, same man who had the Bismarck TG, only had the two Battle cruisers. Granted each side now also had a Cruiser but it sure was as close repeat as he had ever heard of. "Old Refit" managed to land a few telling blows on Gneisenau, inflicting moderate damage, and some much too near misses to Scharnhorst. After this sharp, short opening to the engagement Lutgens decided to "withdraw", (AKA Run Like Hell). Renown having suffered only minor damage was ordered not to follow up.
2 JUNE 1941 2100 Admiral Bertram I. Thesiger, Commodore of WS-12 was in Strathaird, had just read the latest signal from The Admiralty. Not good, TG Cilax had not been stopped and was still coming for his 23 ships. His "Troopers", mainly converted Liners and a few Aussie refrigerator ships' convoy speed was just 13 kts but he had ordred 18 as soon as he found out what was after him. So far the black gangs were able to mantain that speed but those Aussie refrigerator ships had nothing to spare and running a plant flat out for extended periods was a recipe for disaster. It was up to him when and if the convoy should scatter. With scout aircraft those German Battle cruisers could track down every one of his ships, given enough time and daylight. How many 11 inch shells would it take to sink one of his ships? Even Hipper's eight inchers might sink the liners in a singles alvoe. Those Arado's were more than capable of crippling and maybe even sinking an unsupported single ship. There were also reports a Wolf Pack was forming ahead of them. Scatter and he looses is anti submarine escort.
2 JUNE 1941 2135 Hipper's Funker (radioman), monitoring "Athos" the FuMB 35 (Funk-Mess-Beobachtung) An advanced radar detection device, painted a spike on his O scope display. A few adjustments and he had the Frequency, Pulse repetition rate and relative bearing of 023 of the "Contact". He reported this to his watch "Maat" (Petty officer), who came over and took a few minutes to varify it was not a Geist and then informed the OOD they had a British capital ship radar. The OOD informed the captain who ordered the contact report to be sent via shielded signal light to TG Cilax's commander. Ten minutes later Vizeadmiral Cilax executed the signal to come to the new course. He would not order Action Stations quite yet since his TG was already manned 50% and no one really knew just how far out an "Athos" signal really was. If he had two Athos fixes, at roughly the same time, from ships with a much longer spacing than any in his formation; at least 20 nautical miles, his Funker could give him a useable fix and a number of these cross bearing could give a fairly accurate course and speed. It was not all that unusual, under particularly favorable weather conditions, for Athos to pick up radar signals at three times the radar detetction distance, so Force H could be as far as 60 miles away.
2 JUNE 1941 2250 Gneisenau, flag of TG Cilax’s FuMO (Fuunk-Mess-Ortung Radar. (RadioDetection) Seetakt 23 watch radar operator reported an intermittent contact at a range of 19 miles, relative bearing of 010; no course or speed yet . The OOD ordered the forward 10.5-meter rangefinder, with it’s excellent night vision optics, trained on that bearing; nothing spotted so far. He informed his Captain, by sound powered phone, who was in the Flag plot talking to Vizeadmiral Cilax, who instantly informed the TG commander of the radar contact. Vizeadmiral Cilax took less than a minute and ordered his Staff Watch officer to "Blinker" light signal the other ships the contact report and to come to Battle stations immediately. Cilax then ordered Hipper to come to flank speed and scout down the contact bearing but not to engage Somerville alone.
2 JUNE 1941 2300 Jimmy's Somerville's luck held. His course change South West at 20 kts bought Force H and Convoy WS-12 what he needed most, to delay contact with TG Cilax until full dark. One of Renwon's radar Technicians reported to his watch Chief he had three contacts, two large and one medium. Three minutes more gave a range 22 miles, course135 degrees true, speed 25 kts. The CPA (closest point of approach) which was CBDR (constant bearin decreasing range) "collission course".
"No doubt the Nazi's had us on radar Sir." said the chief to the Watch officer who provided the amplifing info to the bridge. Both Somerville and Capt. Simeon, RN heard the reports.
Somerville to his staff watch officer "Immediate execute formation course 135, speed 25". He had to close the range as quickly as possible. As soon as the formation course and speed change had been achnowledged.
"Make to Duncan, repeat to Shefield, Iris, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Fury, and Foresight by signal light. Conduct torpedo attack , per my previous order, as soon as possible. Concentrate on Battle Cruisers. Good luck and God Speed". Get an acknowledgements from all ships. No time for a communications bollox."
Second signal to The Admiralty copy to Commodore Thesiger in WS 12. "Am engaging TG Cilax which now consists of Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and Hipper. God Save The King." Include our position.
Third private signal to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound "Dudley my old Snotty shipmate, Simeons and I promise you those twin Nazi bastards are not going to get away from us again."
He then turned to Old Refit's,CO Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN Force H and TG Cilax were rushing toward each other at 50 kts. Those 22 miles would be eaten up very, very soon. "I have every confidence in your ship's company and you to finish the job WE started off Norway."
Simeon, "HMS Renown would not think of disapointing you again Vice-admiral.
Permission to open fire as soon as we have a good fire control solution Sir?"
Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN was determined his Renown would open up first because he remembered 9 Apr 1940 off Norway all too well.
Somerville "By all means, anything we can do to help St. Barleigh and his "death or glory boys" live long enough to launch those ship killing Mark Nines with their 750 pound warheads." What worries me Sir Rhoderick, given the sea conditions and the excellent Nazi Radar and optical fire control system St. Barleigh would have to launch at 5 miles and that meant the 36 kts setting. If he tries to get closer the Nazi secondary battery, along with the 8 and 11 inchers, would probably sink the lot before they could launch their Eels."
2 JUNE 1941 2305 Catain D ,The Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh ordered an Execute To Follow signal by blinker light to his destroyers to split into two groups. Jupiter and Iris to form on him. Jersey, Fortune and Fury, would form on Foresight as OTC. Barleigh's plan was simple, when executed both grops would go to flank and make for the torpedo run start points. Duncan's to port and Foresight's to starboard, slightly ahead of TG CILAX. Timing, as usual would be critical. They all had to start their runs simultaneously. Like the Aircraft the destroyers would also go for a hammerhead attack. By coming in from three different directions old Hhiny and his two groups would also split TG Cilax fire. A lot would dpened on Sheffield being able to blanket the upper works of the Battle and heavy Cruisers with 6 and 4.1 inch rapid fire.It was avert tall order indeed when he had to split fire fire betweeen three ships.
"Shiny"CO Capt. C.A.A. Larcom,RN addressed the crew of his his six inch gunned Cruiser by Tanoy speaker. Shipmates the destroyers chaps are going in against the Battle and Heavy cruisers with torpedoes. Our job will be to go in with them and do eveything in our power to suppress the Nazi gunfire. We got to give them a chance. So we will shoot straight and shoot fast to cover them. Make no mistake if those Nazi bastards get by Force H troop convoy WS 12 and many tens of thousand of our soldiers and merchant seaman will die tonight. God have mercy on us all."
To his Executive officer Commander Sir Edmund Blackadder,RN alone he added "Jimmy you and I know those German ships have very good main and secondary battery radar fire control; better than ours. They are very good gunners and excellent ship handlers. I don't dare fire Star shells to blind their optical gunfire control because that same light will shine on our ships and provide those excellent Nazi ship handlers a big help combing the wakes of our Fish. So our chaps also have to deal with the very best day and night optical fire control systems which means their medium and light AA batteries can join in the slaughter. I fear we will not see many of them even get to their torpedo release point, let alone back to Force H. Our AP shells will just bounce off those Battle cruisers and do little damage to Hipper. I intend to go for the radar antennas and fire control directors so we will fire H.E. Shells. Make sure the gunner is on the same page.
Jimmy if we are to be of any real help to those destroyers we are going to have to go in close and smother their upper works of those Nazi ships with our 6 and 4.1 inch pop guns. I really don't think they will allow us to do that unmolested. I intend to go in slightly ahead of the destroyers at a maximum speed and manoeuvring no more violently than our fire control can handle. We will launch our own torpedoes if I get the chance. The more the merrier eh?" Then more seriously. "I'm afraid our own survival must be subordinate to scoring hits on those ships. Even after the destroyers have launch their torpedoes and on the way out we must maintain our fire. So XO I'll be ordering a course and speed that will allow us to unmask as many of our guns as possible as we withdraw. You know what that does to our chances!
Jimmy, if anything happens to me I am counting on you to carry out that same plan. I was not jesting about what those Nazi Bastards will do to WS-12 if they get by Force H." Capt. C.A.A. Larcom,RN of HMS Sheffield did not say "What little is left of Force H" but that is what he thought.
Sheffied's XO Sir Edmund Blackadder said with determination "I don't like this game one bit but I will do as you say Captain."
Sitting in his bridge chair, sucking on his pipe and watching his "wanker" XO Sir Edmund Blackadder, heading down to brow beat poor old Baldrick he was thinking about his ship. The prize of his less than spectacular career. HIS "Shiny Sheff" was one of the Southampton sub class of the Town-class cruisers. She took part in actions against several major Nazi & Itie warships already. She saw action off Norway during the Nazi invasion, at Operation White and the battle of Cape Spartivento where she fought two battleships Vittorio Veneto and Giulio Cesare. So the old girl was used to fighting Battle ships but he doubted she would survive this time. Unlike most Royal Navy ships of her time, her fittings were constructed from stainless steel instead of the more traditional brass. The official story was this was an attempt to reduce the amount of cleaning required on the part of the crew. Actually it ws a cunning plot by his masters at Admiralty to get support of the badly needed South Yorkshire MPs to support the navy ship building budget proposal.
2 JUNE 1941 2310 Sheffied's XO Sir Edmund Blackadder "Well Gun Buster (gunnery Officer) that is what the captain intends to do so make sure there are plenty of HE projectiles at hand. Sheffied's 50 year old gunnery Officer, who started out on the lower deck before the Great war and was promoted to Warrant Gunner just after Jutland and commissioned in October 1918 hardly needed that order. Baldrick recived exactly one promotion, to Lt. and was forceably retired, along with many others, in 1934. He had been called back in in Sept 1939 and was now a LCDR said "Certainly sir but I doubt we will get a chance to fire all that many rounds. The Twins are very good at shooting fast and hitting what they shoot at. Those 11 inch guns are very efficient and served by gunners every bit as good as ours. Their fire control, both radar and optical are absolutely first rate. They find the range very quickly. Even if we cross their T, which we won't be for long, using only their forward turrets they can bring 6 Eleven inch rifles to bear with a proven very high rate of sustained fire, say 3-4 rounds a minute per barrel and for short periods 5 or 6. We are talking 24 rounds per minute sustained or, worse case, 36 per minute initially. Also since our Captain wants to go in close we are going to be peppered by their secondary battery. That is half of their 24 5.9" SK C/28 at 10 miles range can penetrate all our armor and fourteen of the Twenty eight 4.1 inch SK C/33 guns which, at 9 miles range should not be able to pentrate our 4 and a half inch side belt, and magazines but will certainly smash our two inch barbettes, turrets and main machinery spaces." 1 to 2
XO Sir Edmund Blackadder " Cheer up; I'm sure you will come up with some cunning plan to get the best out of our guns. A plan As cunning as one by a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University."
Gun Buster Baldrick said " I'll do my best Sir." and thought "You damn wanker".
2 JUNE 1941 2320 Catain D ,The Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh seeing both groups were formed up and the Light cruiser was in position, Executed his previous signal by blinker light and short range HF radio. His next signal ordered that all future signals would be on HF tactical net until further notice. No use relying on slow blinker light when it was certain the Nazi's knew where they were and exactly what they were doing.
2 JUNE 1941 2330 HMS Sheffield slowed from 32 to 20 kts, adjujsted her course to unmask her after turrets with a sinuous weave and opened fire on the three Nazi capital ships at 25,000 yds (45 degrees elevation). Gun Buster Baldrick's twelve BL 6 inch Mk XXIII naval guns were hurling 112 pound HE shells at 2,760 feet per second at 8 rounds per minute per barrel or 96 rounds a minute per salvo initially. How long the gun crews could keep that up in battle was anyone's guess with "gallons" of adrenalin pumping into their nervous systems. In non firing practice that pace could only be maintained for about 20 minutes. However, the gunnery regulations stated rapid fire should only be maintained for 10 minutes without a break to cool the barrels liners, preferably with fire hoses. If no break was possible then a sustained fire of 5 rounds per minute was neccessary to keep from damaging the guns and killing the crews with a breach explosion. It was not unknown (Jutland came to his mind) for a turret explosion to sink the ship if gunnery regs concerning the use of flash proof doors and shutters were not rigorously enforced.
Gun Buster Baldrick had a good deal of experience which bred great trust in his BL 6 inch Mk XXIII guns and the crews he trained. HIS crews were very, very good at their murderous trade. The RN replaced the BL 8 inch Mk VIII used on earlier Washington Naval Treaty cruisers with these 6 inch hounds of hell. These built-up guns consisted of a tube and 15 foot jacket with a hand-operated Welin breech block. Cloth bags contained 30 pound charges of flashless (NQFP) powder they would use tonight. Useful life expectancy was 1100 effective full charges (EFC) with with NQFP per barrel. Baldrick doubted they would live long enough to see that. The Mk XXIII turret design was improved through a "long trunk" ammunition hoist, which reduced the crew requirements and increased the speed of the ammunition hoists. As in the MK XXII turret loading could be accomplished at any angle up to 12.5 degrees elevation.
Gun Buster Baldrick was in main battery plot, in the RN AKA the T.S. (Transmitting Station) with the forward director controlling A and B turrets on the Scharnhorst, he only knew as target 1 and the after director controlling X and Y turrets on the Gneisenau, designated target 2. He had his secondary directors controlling the 4 inch on the smaller target designated 3 he was pretty sure was Hipper. Since this would be a radar shoot Baldrick kept a sharp eye on the ratings manning the F.C. (Fire-Control) table and radar training tube.
The bridge gave the order to open fire and he repeated it to his fire control party as "SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT". The salvo bell sounded and a few seconds later HIS GUNS fired. The range was long for the the four inch DP guns, just outside maximum effective range but as they closed that would be corrected. Not so his six inch main battery. The C.O. had brought them well within maximum effective range for of HIS Mk XXIIIs. Having "come Up" before radar Baldrick was never quite comfortable in relying on it. He had seen it work well, sometimes and other times, mostly due to it's fragility, seen it fail HIM at very bad times. He was only partially convinced the boffins had solved the problem of shock damage when the Main battery was firing. He had his best radar technician "CPO Sharkey" in the radar transmitter room with his best P.O.s and all the spares ready to jump in if needed. Cold comfort but the best he could do.
CPO "Otto" Sharkey, was an abrasive, long service RN chief of the old school. Sharkey was callous, sarcastic and insulting to everyone around him and an artist when he applied it to junior and sometimes even senior officers. Baldrick liked him because he was a master of radar and underneath his harsh exterior he genuinely cared for his men, his ship, his RN and his country. The chief often went to great measures to help with his men's problems without letting them know it was he that did it. It also helped that Baldrick had taken the measure of Otto Sharkey when they were both young lower deck messmates at Jutland.
2 JUNE 1941 2332 On the Flag bridge of Gneisenau, Vizeadmiral Cilax had a rapid series of immediate execute blinker signals made. 1St, to Hipper to belay his last signal. Second, to TG Cilax to come to a line abreast formation tripple standard distance on present course and speed. Third, Guns free. Fourth, to prepare to maneuver independently when the torpedo attack began. Fifth, all tactcal signals, sighting and damage reports would be paralleled by blinker light and HF voice radio until further notice." To his watch staff officer he said "Make sure you get a reply from both Scharnhost and Hipper".
When you receive acknowledgement send an immediate precedence signal to BdU "Am engaging Force H blocking my passage to WS-12 Troop convoy Hiel Hitler" give him our position.
Private signal to Erich Raeder Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine (CinC of the Navy) "Erich, it's been a long voyage from our days aboard torpedo boat S82 at Marineakademie in Kiel. Wish you were here old shipmate. I assure you we will pay Somerville, Simeon and Renown back for Norway. Do you think our old God damned boss Franz "The Terrible" von Hipper would be pleased this time? Maybe not!"
To his staff gunnery officer keep a close eye on the FUMO's performance tonight. I expect YOU to ensure target information is rapidly transmitted to any ship whose radar fails. I also want to prepare illumination rounds for use against the destroyers if I decide the radar is not providing good targetting information. If we fire illumination rounds I want them up very, very fast.
I also want Renown and Ark Royal identified as soon as possible. Renown is our primary target tonight followed by Ark Royal, if we get the chance, AND still meet the torpedo attack with both main and secondary battery against the destroyers before they get into launch range. I fear we are looking at a lot of the Tommy torpedoes tonight in one mass attack bent on stopping us quickly. That must not be allowed to happen."
2 JUNE 1941 2335 Catain D ,The Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh led the Duncan attack group against Scharnhorst at 32 kts in a staggered line formation with enough spacing to ensure a single well placed 11 or 5.9 inch salvo would not get more than one of his destroyers. The Foresight group was in a line formation also with good spacing. They had two targets; three would go for Gneisenau and Jersey would break off ,if she was not needed, and try for Hipper. The plan was for the destroyers to hold fire until the Nazi's opned up on them. For now "Shiny Sheff" seemed to have their full attention, the poor bastards just had to keep the Nazi's distracted for a few more minutes. Both of his attack groups would be at their launch points and then it was let the devil take the hindmost, which would be his Duncan as they ran to rejoin Renown.
2 JUNE 1941 2338 Renown commenced firing ranging shots from her forward A & B turrets under radar control. It was not the first time Old refit had engaged Scharnhorst and this time Simeon, was going to sink the Bastard and her sister too.
TG Cilax was well within maximum effective range of Renown's BL 15-inch Mk I "15 inch/42" guns firing Mk XVIIB rounds of 33,550 yds. Each twin turret, with a good crew, could fire four 1,938 lb. rounds per minute at a Muzzle velocity of 2,450 feet per second or 2,640 feet per second with supercharge. His gunnery officer had orders to concdentate on the two large radar targets designated 1 & 2 and leave the smaller traget 3 to the secondary battery.
Old Refit, thanks to her prewar major rebuild, was armed with Ten twin 4.5in DP QF Mark 3 guns in twin UD Mark II gun houses. The Mark 3 fired 55 Lb. shells out to a maximum effective surface target range of 20,750 yds at 16 RPM for a limited time, depedent on the endurance of the gunners ,and 12 RPM sustained. , Simeon ordered his gunnery officer to split the fire of the 4.5s with three twin mounts , firing HE only at targets 1 & 2 and two (4 guns) firing both AP and HE at target 3 initially
2 JUNE 1941 2340 Duncan Group weapons tight 8 miles from TG Cilax. Foresight group weapons tight 7.8 miles TG Cilax. Sheffield main and batteries firing rapid salvoes, secondary battery continuous fire at TG Cilax. Renown firing full main battery alternate salvoes on Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, secondary battery firing on Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and Hipper. TG Cilax returning firing on all Force H ships with the Battle cruisers main battery targetting Renown and Sheffield, secondary battery continuous fire against the destroyers.
2 JUNE 1941 2350 HMS Duncan sunk, HMS Jupitor DIW (Dead in The Water) burning fiercely crew abandoning ship and HMS Iris guns free continuing to launch point. HMS Jersey and HMS Fortune sunk, HMS Fury guns free speed reduced to 20 kts contiuing to launch point HMS Foresight guns free at 32 kts continuing to launch point. HMS Sheffield's X turret and 1/4 of the secondary battery disabled continuing firing and closing TG Cilax. HMS Renown straddled repeatedly with no serious damage, continuing to engage TG Cilax.
2 JUNE 1941 2340 HMS Iris and HMS Foresight at 5 miles from TG Cilax launch torpedoes and firing on Hipper as they withdraw. Total of eighteen 21 inch torpedoes launch, 10 aimed at Gneisenau and 8 at Scharnhorst.
2 JUNE 1941 2350 HMS Fury bow blown off by 8 inch salvo, rapidly filling with water but manges to launch 8 torpedoes at extreme range at closest TG Cilax ship Hipper.
3 JUNE 1941 0000 Gneisenau hit by one torpedo high on the armor belt, where it was thickest, anti torpedo system held up well with moderate flooding and fire soon under control continues to fire on Renown with main battery and the retreating destroyers and Sheffield with secondary battery.
Scharnhorst hit by three torpedoes only two detonate, speed reduced to 24 kts, secondary battery fire control disabled, major fires being fought in the aircraft hangar.
3 JUNE 1941 0010 HMS Sheffield struck by 11 inch shell from Gneisenau, DIW, multiple fires, bridge destroyed with no survivors, XO Sir Edmund Blackadder assumes command and directs the DC effort from secondary Conn. Chief engineer estimates 20 minutes to get the plant back on the line but only good for 10 kts. Restoration of Full power was possible IF the initial damage survey held up but no promises. Only minor flooding but all Radars down and therefore Lcdr Baldrick orders director control firing on TG Cilax ships on fire using optical rangefinders.
3 JUNE 1941 0020 two of, now sinking Fury's torpedoes hit Hipper in the main machinery spaces leaving the heavy cruiser DIW and without electrical power. Guns firing under local control. Many casualties.
Two of Renown's 15 inch shells hits Gneisenau at a range of 9 miles wrecking turrets Anton and jamming Bruno. Splinters from Anton badly injure CO., cause casualties on both the ship's and the flag bridges, knock out all radar and most communications antennas.
3 JUNE 1941 0035 After recieving DC reports from his three ships, Hipper is sinking rapidly, Vizeadmiral Cilax orders what is left of his TG to break off the action and retire to the North East at best speed. His plan is to draw off the old battle cruiser from the convoy, maintain fire on Renown as he "Ran" and hope for a crippling hit or major propulsion casualty to the great war relic. He could still reach WS-12 and carry out his mission.
To his C of Staff, "Signal to BdU stating our situation and my intension to sink, disable or evade Renown and destroy WS-12. Show me the message before you transmit.
Second signal to Hipper, I am proud of you and promise YOU WILL BE AVENGED Hiel Hitler". He thought but did not say No harm making the Bohemian paper hanger think we are doing this for him.
3 JUNE 1941 0037 flag bridge HMS Renown Vadm Somerville to his Flag aid "make to Commodore Thesiger in WS 12. I am perusing the Battle cruisers. Maintain your escort force close to convoy. Dispatch ONE repeat One of your destroyers or corvets to aid Force H damaged ships. Your prime responsibility is protection of WS-12 not rescure Force H. Good luck.
Second signal to the Admiralty. I am chasing remainder of TG Cilax, moderately damaged but still operational Schranhosrt and Gneisenau. I will maintain station between Nazis and WS-12. Regret to inform you most of my destroyers have been sunk with heavy loss of life but their torpedo attacks were successful.
HMS Sheffield has sustained damage, Capt. C.A.A. Larcom,RN is dead now under command of her XO Sir Edmund Blackadder . Sheffield is not operational at this time. WS-12 will dispatch one escort for rescue duties and maintain the rest as close in defence, if required. Request you dispatch tugs and other rescue craft for my damaged ships.
Private signal to Admiral Pound "Dudley those bastards will be sunk today. You have my word for it."
To his Steward, "Cup of char spiked with a twice the Rum on the double." He thought a toast to the men who I murdered today. When this is over "Sir" Simeon, if I have anything to say about knighthoods, and I are going to find a nice quiet place and drink until we both pass out and when we wake, we will do it again. Maybe punishing this old body will deaden my conscience but I doubt it. For now I want Nazi blood and both those Battle Cruisers sunk. I owe that to my men and maybe their ghosts will leave me alone.
3 JUNE 1941 0100 HMS Renown, turned to course 070 at 30 kts to close the range on Gneisenau and a slightly lagging Scharnhorst.
3 JUNE 1941 0110 Renown fired her main armament at a range a little over 18000 yards. Target was the Gneisenau. Renown's secondary armament, (4.5" DP) opened fire on the Scharnhorst.
3 JUNE 1941 0121 Renown received an 11 inch shell hit on her foremast.
3 JUNE 1941 0124 Renown hit Gneisenau's fire control system putting it out of action. Cilax ordered his flag to turned away on course 30°. He ordered Scharnhorst to moved between her sister ship and HMS Renown to lay a smoke screen.
3 JUNE 1941 0130 Despite the smoke screen Renown scored a hit on Gneisenau's turret Anton along with shell splinters from near misses that pummelled Gneisenau's engineering plant. HMS Renown then shifted her main armament to the Scharnhorst but she was then hit herself in the stern. Damage was minor.
3 JUNE 1941 0210 Renown reopened salvo fire, after transfer of munitions from after to forward turrets on the Scharnhorst at a range of 12,000 yds; as she came into range when the Germans had to reduce speed temporarily. Scharnhorst quickly returned the fire.
3 JUNE 1941 0215 One of Renown's 15 in shells struck Scharnhorst abreast of turret Anton. The shell hit jammed the turret's training gears, putting it out of action. Shell splinters started a fire in the ammunition magazine, which forced the Germans to flood both forward magazines to prevent an explosion. The water was quickly drained from turret Bruno's magazine. The ship was now fighting with only two-thirds of her main battery.
Shortly thereafter, another 15 in shell struck the ventilation trunk attached to Bruno, which caused the turret to be flooded with noxious propellant gases every time the breeches were opened. A third shell hit the deck next to turret Cäsar and caused some flooding; shell splinters caused significant casualties. At shell struck the forward 5.9 inch gun turrets and destroyed them both.
3 JUNE 1941 0230 a 15 in shell struck Scharnhorst on the starboard side, passed through the thin upper belt armor, and exploded in the number 1 boiler room. It caused significant damage to the ship's propulsion system and slowed the ship to 8 knots. Temporary repairs allowed Scharnhorst to return to 22 knots. She managed to add 5,500 yds to the distance between her and Renown, while straddling the ship with several salvos.
Shell splinters rained on Renown and disabling one of the secondary battery fire-control radars wounding Somerville and his C O Staff on the flag bridge. Chief Sick Berth attendant (Chief SBA) Tom Baker and his party were on the flag bridge within 5 minutes. One look at the C O Staff was all he needed to immediately render first aid. His senior PO attended to the vice Admiral who was a complete pain in the ass about not needing anything but a bandage.
Chief SBA "Sir we will have to get you down to Dr. Who right away." The man was in no condition to argue. Two of the stretcher bearers strapped the C O Staff in and began the long haul to the Sick bay. The Chief SBA then turned to the Vice Admiral. "Sir do you want a jab of morphia?"
Somerville "No Baker, I need a clear head at present but a dram of medicinal Rum would not go amiss."
Chief SBA Tom Baker " I'd dearly like to join you in one but Dr. Who would flail me alive sir, besides he does not trust me and my first aid team with it."
Somerville "That's the trouble with our Surgeon Commander Basil Who. "The Doctor" has no respect for Age or seniority Chief."
HMS Renown's head of the medical division, Surgeon Commander Basil Who, was called "Dr. Who" by the lower deck and by the wardroom, just "The Doctor".
Chief SBA Tom Baker "Well that should hold you until you finish with the Jerries Sir. I do strongly recommend you fight the rest of this action from your bridge chair or sitting down in Flag plot."
Somerville laughing "Get away with you Chief SBA unfortunately there are plenty others to abuse today. I will take you up on your impertinent suggestion. RHIP but damn few of them. At that Chief SBA Tom Baker hurried off the flag bridge.
The easy banter between the Vice Admiral and the SBA came from a very mutual respect. Both had served together for a long time. Baker was an interesting chap. He is tall, with eyes that seem to constantly wander, he had curly but regulation length hair with distinctly flashing teeth. He is from Gallifrey, just out side Boston in Lincolnshire. When in civvies he wears a white shirt, plaid waistcoat, red cravat, grey Donegal tweed trousers, a light grey frock coat (with pockets containing a seemingly endless array of apparently useless items), a brown wide-brimmed felt fedora hat and a long, multi-coloured scarf, which was knitted for him by his maiden aunt and acts as a magnet for women.
3 JUNE 1941 0242, up to this point Renown had fired 52 salvos and having scored at least 15 hits. Many of these hits had badly damaged the ship's secondary armament. On her next full main battery salvo Renown hit Scharnhorst abreast of turret Bruno, which caused it to jam. A second shell hit the ship on the port side and caused some minor flooding, and the third was a near miss close aboard aft that damaged the port propeller shaft. The fourth hit the ship in the bow. These hits slowed Scharnhorst to 12 knots , which allowed Renown to close to 9,100 yds. With only turret Cäsar operational, all available men were sent to retrieve ammunition from the forward turrets to keep the last heavy guns supplied. After several more 15 inch hits, Scharnhorst settled further into the water and began to list to starboard.
3 JUNE 1941 0310 Scharnhorst went down by the bow, with her propellers still slowly turning. Of the crew of 1,968 officers and enlisted men, only 36 men survived.
Vice admiral Somerville, addressed his staff "Gentlemen, the battle against the Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that any of you who are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as the Scharnhorst was commanded today.
Gneisenau is still a threat to WS-12 so our job is only half completed."
He then picked up the phone to Captain Simeon "Somerville here. Your men did a magnificent job, make sure you tell them I said so. Our job is not done yet. Gneisenau is getting away. Send up a scout plane as soon as possible. We still have a 5 knot speed advantage on her and I want that ship sunk. As you well know she is still a dangerous ship and a real danger to WS-12. Besides, I want a full bag from today's shoot."
Simeon "Congradulations sir. I will have to check with my senior pilot but I am pretty sure at least some of my 4 Walrus' have suffered shock and splinter damage. My catapult has sustained some minor damage; nothing we can't correct quickly. Nautical Twilight begins at 0342, God willing, and if this damn rain stops, I can have my scouts launched then."
Somerville " Light a fire under your aircraft mechanics. For now come to course 030 at 25 knots. We still have our radars and she might have been hit harder than we thought. Who knows she might just be just out of radar range, but I doubt it?"
Simeon "Aye, Aye Sir." He then burst out laughing which confused his Bridge watch. Did Jimmy Somerville not know it had been pouring throughout the entire battle? He needed that release from tension as he needed a Pink Gin right now. "OOD announce to the crew we will Spike the Main Brace at battle stations now. And tell the "Pusser to be smart about it." Steward" For the love of God get me a pink gin."
Somerville To his Flag aide "Get an immediate signal to Argus ordering a thorough air search for Gneisenau be launch as soon as practicable. Give them her last position and known course and speed."
3 JUNE 1941 0345 Somerviile to his staff Aid Get a signal to the Admiralty and copy WS-12. I have the honor to advise you the German Battle Cruiser Schranhosrt was sunk, give position and time. We are pursuing a moderately damaged Gneisenau. I will maintain station between Nazis and WS-12. I will have aerial scouts from Renown and Argus out at dawn. Expect to meet Gneisenau in a few hours time. God save the King.
Private signal to Admiral Pound "Dudley One down and One to go. Gneisenau has suffered quite a bit to her armament and upper works but her engines, despite more than one torpedo hit, seem to have escaped damage so far. Old Refit's engineering plant is performing as well as when she was commissioned. God only knows how the Engineering Commander and his black gang have accomplished that.
Gunnery in Renown has been very, very good, seamanship is just as good.
Simeon really must be commended for the shape the old girl and her crew are in. I think a knighthood is in order for our old shipmate? I know you are on your way out but if you have any influence left, and I think you will after today would you mind using a bit of it for Simeon? After all, YOU put us in our current positions and that has to count for something. I would consider it a personal favor if you would recommend him for that honor.
The weather here is deteriorating with heavy rain and gale force winds. I do worry about our aerial scouts ability to find anything in this muck or even to fly. I still think, well hope really, we will find Gneisenau broken down, near by. If she eludes us for half a day I will have to fallback to WS-12. Last thing we want is that beast destroying that troop convoy while I romp about fat, dumb and happy eh what? I am also concerned about Sheffield's ability to ride out this storm. Blackadder certainly has his hands full."
3 JUNE 1941 1400 Commandant First CG District sent an urgent message to his friend Admiral USN Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet.
CLFT
DE RFG NR 114
U 151403Z JUN
FM First CG District
TO CINCLANTFLT
WD GRNC
BT
TS
1.Per your request for anything concerning unusual nuetral tanker activity.
2. Code and Cypher Branch “Unit 387” reported "neutral" Venezuelan tanker PSS Cabello, transporting No.1 bunker oil had failed to report to her shipping company for 9 days.
3. Company has repeatedly request posit and reason why normal reporting has ceased.
4. Last reported position was Latitude: 18 57 41.5 Longitude: 59 51 37.3 Course 065T at 15 kts.
BT
NNNN
Veteran, civilian cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman of USCG Lcdr Jones’ Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387”, knowing what was going on in the hunt for Bismarck suspected PSS Cabello, was heading for a position to refuel the two raiders. Admiral USN Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet agreed with Elizabeth. Those two raiders were doing too much high speed evasion not to be planning on an UNREP. In his opinion, that was one of the many reasons why the "Limeys" and his own patrol planes of PatWing 5 were having such a tough time finding them. The search areas were too small. Now he had a datum to center his search but it was 9 days old and only his PatWing 5 PBYs could make any immediate use of it.
He called his C o Staff in and issued a series of orders to his patrol wing Commander to begin a new search at the SS Cabello's last posit. He also sent out a message to all his ships at sea to be on the lookout for PSS Cabello (who knows someone just might get lucky).
King "Ensure Admiral Hewitt is appraised of the status of SS Cabello and my suspicion she was heading for a rendezous with TG Brinkmann. " Ernie King's face showed his sardonic smile as he thought "And now I am grasping at fucking straws. Those Nazi bastards have made ME and the Limeys look like fools." It was a very bad idea for anyone to try to make "Ernie" King a fool.
3 JUNE 1941 1600 in North Dakota's Flag plot. Rear Admiral Hewitt's TG-39 to "Ching Lee" CO BB-55 "Ching we are going South. I think those Nazi bastards are going for the tankers in the Caribbean. I think their first kill was PSS Cabello."
"Ching Lee" " Aye, Aye sir but if your wrong and Brinkmann slaughters another convoy up here Ernie will have both our balls nailed to the foremast."
Hewitt "You have nothing to worry about Ching. Your under my orders so I guess your wife will not suffer, any more than she does now, by you not bulling her by the numbers."
Both men laughed. Both knew all too well just following orders in something this outrageous would not shield Lee completely. Probably no formal action other than a letter of admonition in his jacket. Those letters had a way of prejudicing the brass when flag selection was being considered. The really aggravating part of it was Lee agreed with Hewitt and was wholeheartedly in favor of him playing his hunch.
A smile crossed Lee's face as he thought "Mabelle actually liked doing it 'by the numbers'. How did Hewitt know that?"
Hewitt to his chief of staff. "What is the fuel status of our destroyers".
Chief O Staff , who made it a practice to know the fuel state of his thirsty cans at all times since it was their endurance that was often the key component of any plan at sea. "All reported 70% this afternoon Sir."
Hewitt to his chief of staff "Give me a course at 24 kts to arrive at Cabello's last estimated position on the day she stopped reporting."
The staff navigaor was working the solution as soon as he heard the rear admiral say what he wanted and was able to tell the Chief Of Staff the answer as soon as he asked it.
Hewitt to his Chief Of Staff "Break out an Execute to follow" of the new course and speed to the TG."
Then get out an "Eyes Only" by back channel signal to inform Admiral King I am leaving the op area and heading South to Cabello's datum. Give him our estimated time on station and that we will need an UNREP prior to reaching that datum. Work out a time and place for the UNREP at least 150 miles north of that datum.
Hewitt to Captain Lee. "I will be ordering daylight and night gunnery practice tomorrow for BB-55. Weather permitting, and it should be OK, I'll designate one of the DDs to tow your target raft. Ching tell your gunners this will be as close to actual combat as I can manage. Use your "High Caps" because I will have other use for your AP soon."
CO BB-55 "Sir my magazines are loaded to safe capacity, more than war allowance by a good margin. I increased the AP to High Cap loadout by 50%. I request permission to use AP; the flight characteristics of our High Cap are a little different from our AP as you know."
TG-39 "Ok Ching make it AP."
2 JUNE 1941 1715 The shadowing Fulmar made it's strike report to Somerville who quickly had it coded and sent off to Pound and Commodore Thesiger in WS 12. He then turned to Renown's CO and said. "So you now get to command a RN Battle Cruiser against two of the Naxis. Well we have the 15 inch guns and we still have torpedo loaded operational destroyers. The Nazi bastards have niether. That will be something to tell your grandchildren about."
CO Renown thought "Now if "Jimmy" could gurantee I will see my Grand children again, that is exatly what I will do." Instead he just said. "Old Refit will make this a fight those new Battle Cruisers will never forget for the few hours they have left Sir James."
Somerville just looked at the man and made an ironic smile. Good man, good but old ship, crew with too many hostilities only ratings and lady luck still seems to hate us. Wonder what the Old Andrew did to her to forsake us lately? The question is have our Regular Navy Chiefs, senior PO's and warrants trained those green hands well enough to get the best out of those guns against split targets. We need hits and we need them before those damn excellent Boch gunners get our range. Well we have spotters and they do not. That should help a good deal.
2 JUNE 1941 1800 TG-39.1 OTC Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt was in flag plot going over the lack of results of the afternoon aerial searches for Bismarck. Ernie King must have chewed PatWing 5’s ass raw because he had his boys continuous long range sector searches from 0330 Sunset 2340. His own SOC’s were hunting down his hunches along with a Nautical sun rise to sunset local submarine and surface search out to 50 miles.
Problem was his SOC’s where really VFR (visual Flight Rules) scouts with a very limited night flying and searching capability. That meant in clear weather conditions, at normal search height their horizon is faintly visible during Nautical Twilight . Many of the brighter stars can also be seen, making it possible to use the position of the stars in relation to the horizon to navigate at sea. Nautical dawn occurs when the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon during the morning. Nautical dusk occurs when the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon in the evening. Which means they were blind once the sun really set.
Hewitt to his C of Staff. “I really hope PatWing Five’s idea of stationing one of his PBY’s to take over our local search at night pays off. Remember what chief O'Shae told us about that 40 miles range ASE radar set not being much for area searches? If the Flyboys orbit us at just under our max surface search radar range, 12 miles give or take, they extend our search range out to around 50 miles or so. That is well worth trying Sir. We can also send them off to investigate if someone gets a DF fix or the ONI boys or the Limeys actually dig something up in our AOR (Area Of Operations).” C of Staff also remembered the Chief’s comment on the reliability of the ASE sets. Well better than nothing.
2 JUNE 1941 1830 USCGC Muskeget (WAG-48) was make good storm damaged and otherwise CASREPed gear, chipping and painting, settling in new crew, taking on stores and generally making ready for another three week weather patrol southeast of Greenland. Not much had happened since they landed their survivors except for one hell of a field day to clean up the oil, dirt, filth, debris and blood from the survivors and a lot of captain’s masts. At first messages of appreciation came from HM Government’s Board of Trade and a few others. Then CG HQ, Via District One in Boston ordered LCDR Moultron to express to his ship’s company a very hearty Well Done and to authorize maximum liberty while in port. That had mixed results as his crew, very full of themselves, destroyed a number of local drinking establishments. Captain’s masts followed and his real wild men, who had performed magnificently, would have spent most of the time until their next patrol busted and restricted to the ship. Finally, Letters of commendation had been placed in the jackets of the CO Moultron and a few others (still on restriction) for the rescue. This allowed him, as CO, to release them from restriction and restore their former Ratings. A few of them, after a single liberty, were once again restricted to the ship. Moultron thought “You got to love them” and how lucky he was to be their CO.
2 JUNE 1941 1915 Prime Minister Churchill entered the Admiralty Command bunker and casually returned the Royal Marine sentry's rifle salute. The sentry next shouted "Prime minister on deck" All present came to attention and turned toward their PM. Winston growled "Carry on with your duties" The old man rapidly crossed the room toward Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound and his soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay. They had been bent over a chart table but now stood facing the on rushing Churchill who looked like he were about to "thrash" both of them.
Churchill with just controlled anger in his voice "Gentlmen let us adjourn to your office Admiral of the Fleet." When they got into the office, Ramsay closed the door and the two Admirals stood at attention in front of their obviously angry "Master".
Churchill "Force H's report was one of the same I have had to endure ever since the Denmark Straight disaster. The RAF committed the only available bomber squadron against Cilax, got that squadron decimated and have nothing to show for it but two damaged destroyers; not exactly a Trafalgar!
Jimmy Somerville has one damaged, Great War Battle Cruiser, no better than Hood, a single 6 inch cruiser and a half dozen escorts against the Nazis two Battle and one 8 inch cruisers. Do I have to remind you WS-12's escort will not swim for 15 minutes once those Battle Cruisers reach it and it is a large troop convoy. This will be the Queen Mary again writ large as those Nazi bastards intend to sink every ship in that convoy."
He stopped talking, sank into an arm chair, took his time lighting a cigar, all the time scowling at "His" Admirals who were marshalling their thoughts for an acceptable answer.
Before Pound could speak Churchill sarcastically growled "What gentlemen are you doing to help Somerville." The word "gentemen" was spat out like the most disgusting of lower deck insults.
Pound manfully replied. "Sir, we have nothing of sufficient force that can reach WS-12 before the Nazis. All we can do is let Vice Admiral Somerville fight the battle his way. I am sure his destroyers will make a torpedo run and, given the number of Eels, they have a chance to damage, possibly severely, the two Battle Cruisers, especially if they can attack after dark. Then it will be up to old Renown's 15 inch guns longer reach and heavier shells to cripple and maybe sink Gneisenau and Scharnhorst before their 11 inch score a major blow on Renown. She actually handled them pretty roughly off Norway and actually drove them off by herself. "
Mentioning Norway, a real tactical victory for the RN but a strategic disaster to Winston was taking a big chance. Churchill decided let it go. He knew these men were doing their best with far too few ships. Their number one priority had to be the Atlantic lifeline and that tied their hands. It left the in intiative, for now, to that butchering maniac Hitler's small, but very efficient, modern, purpose built commerce destroying fleet the initative. He had abused them enough for now. He'd like to think he did it because it was his duty to get the most out of them, which was true, but he also knew he had to vent to someone. In his heart of herats he was truly frightened, nay terror stricken was more accurate of nothing more than loosing the "Battle of the Atlantic". At this juncture he was a very worried old man who ate too well, got far too little exercise or diversion and drank and smoked far too much but not as much as his enemies thought.
2 JUNE 1941 1930 Gneisenau's flag bridge. Vizeadmiral Cilax was weighing up his Task group's chances for a quick and relatively light damage destruction of Force H. TG Cilax was now composed of two Battle Cruisers and one 8 inch cruiser. Although his TG had sustained some damage from the Englander's gallant but very luckless attacks; all were still operational with main batteries unharmed. His 4 destroyers were all gone now; two sunk and two heading for Brest being mission killed by the Englanders. The light and medium Flak batteries had taken a beating, especially to his gunners but were now remanned and more than adaquate to protect his ships. His main and secondary battery fire control directors were unharmed. Some of his radar antennas had been shot away but enough remained operational as not to materailly degrade his "vision of the upcoming "Killing Ground". His ships had plenty of fuel and could sustain 25 knots for more than enough hours to get to WS-12.
He was also grateful TG Cilax had all modern, state of the art ships, with veteran very, well trained officers and crews. HIS TG ships had operated together in peace and war for a long time now which made a big difference. His captains knew thier doctrine, were strict but fair with their crews and totally dedicated to winning this war. His Maats (POs) were exceptional technicians and deck plate leaders especially his Chiefs. His men were the least of his worries and how many commanders could honestly say that?
He still had a good chance of carrying out his primary mission, commerce destruction. The Englanders could absorb the loss of Force H but the utter destruction of WS-12, along with the havoc being raised by the U-Boats, Bismarck and The Prince at this time could prove decisive. The current morale of the Englanders had to be shaken by the loss of Europe, their defeat in the Denmark straight, the destruction of HX-123 and especially the sinking of the Queen Mary.
He discounted Dunkirk and the battle of Britain because the convoys were what fed that island nation and those convoys were being decimated by his Kriegsmarine.
His greatest concern was not old Renown, or Ark Royal, with her destroyed air group, or the still almost totally ineffective RAF but Somerville's remaining Destroyers. He was pressing the battle at 25 kts with Force H because he did not want to give those "Torpedo Boats" the alley of darkness for their inevitable massed torpedo attack. He knew SUNSET would be at 2118 and Nautical Twilight would end at 2258. Unless he forced the issue Somerville would not send his "Fegers" until full dark. With the low overcast, moon light would be of no consequence. He had no Escort screen to fend off the "Fegers" and give the Main Body" a warning, time to maneuver and put down a rain of HE in the Englander's path. He would have to rely on his already degraded radar, his excellent German night optics and the skill and discipline of his lookouts; hand picked for their exceptional Mark One Eyes balls.
Too bad the RN, like his own Navy, had pretty much corrected the unexpected early war problems with their Eels. He could not count on mechanical failure, unpredictable depth, irratic running courses and unreliable warheads to save TG Cilax.
He could not count on anything but totally professional, suicidally brave and utterly determined torpedo runs by Force H's Med War Veterans. These damn "Fegers" were comanded and manned by the best the RN had. Despite of their recent run of bad luck, mainly due to a lack of resources, a fleet stretched far too thin and still suffering from the neglect of the depression years, the men of the RN were absolute professionals and should NEVER be underestimated.
Finally, Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax was an old, very experienced sailorman and as such knew Nothing was certain at sea. He also knew that "Lady Luck" could change sides at any time. In the end it was all in God's hands. So be it. He then called for his stewart to bring him a mug of coffee with a double cognac sweetener.
2 JUNE 1941 1945 HMS Renown's Flag Plot. Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commander of Force H, Was thinking about the upcoming surface action against TWO new Battle Cruisers and a very tough Hipper class Heavy cruiser . With luck Ark Royal's CO Capt. C.S. Holland, RN would find a new air group soon but not soon enough to help Force H. All he had left was Old "Refit",CO Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN his six inch gunned Cruiser "Shiny"CO Capt. C.A.A. Larcom, RN and his "Trump Cards". His torpedo armed destroyer leader Duncan, destroyers Iris, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Fury, & Foresight just might be decidive. They give him 35 MK IX 21-inch torpededos with 750 lbs. TNT warheads. Although operational in 1930 were considerably improved by 1939 with a range of 5 miles at 41 knots or 7 miles at 35 knots. Real ship killers now that the early war problems have been corrected.
He could only pray the Nazis did not find Force H until full dark. Although that made his air dominance scouts and spotting aircraft much less effective. If he meets TG Cilax after dark his first punch will be his destroyers. If Cilax finds them during Nautical twilight, which ends at 2258, he would still send them in even though it would reduce the destroyers chances of reaching a good torpedo launch point greatly, to say nothing of their chances of survival. Even after full dark, the Nazi Radar fire control and the world's best night optics, to say nothing of old fashion but deadly efficient star shells, will make that tropedo run quite a long bet. When you add the excellent gunnery shown by the Kriegsmarine capital ships this war, their chances get even slimmer.
There was always the chance his destroyers would do enough damage to give "Old Refit" a chance to either sink them or drive them back to France too damaged to make the massacre of WS-12 worth it. The rub was that TG Cilax took orders from Hitler and his malignant crew. Those orders might be TG Cilax is expendable; sink that convoy.
He did take comfort in the fact this would not be the first time "Old Refit" went up against these two Nazi beasts. She met them off the southern coast of the Lofoten Islands, Norway. Talk about history repeating itself; at that time Renown had nine destroyers. Vizeadmiral Günther Lütjens, same man who had the Bismarck TG, only had the two Battle cruisers. Granted each side now also had a Cruiser but it sure was as close repeat as he had ever heard of. "Old Refit" managed to land a few telling blows on Gneisenau, inflicting moderate damage, and some much too near misses to Scharnhorst. After this sharp, short opening to the engagement Lutgens decided to "withdraw", (AKA Run Like Hell). Renown having suffered only minor damage was ordered not to follow up.
2 JUNE 1941 2100 Admiral Bertram I. Thesiger, Commodore of WS-12 was in Strathaird, had just read the latest signal from The Admiralty. Not good, TG Cilax had not been stopped and was still coming for his 23 ships. His "Troopers", mainly converted Liners and a few Aussie refrigerator ships' convoy speed was just 13 kts but he had ordred 18 as soon as he found out what was after him. So far the black gangs were able to mantain that speed but those Aussie refrigerator ships had nothing to spare and running a plant flat out for extended periods was a recipe for disaster. It was up to him when and if the convoy should scatter. With scout aircraft those German Battle cruisers could track down every one of his ships, given enough time and daylight. How many 11 inch shells would it take to sink one of his ships? Even Hipper's eight inchers might sink the liners in a singles alvoe. Those Arado's were more than capable of crippling and maybe even sinking an unsupported single ship. There were also reports a Wolf Pack was forming ahead of them. Scatter and he looses is anti submarine escort.
2 JUNE 1941 2135 Hipper's Funker (radioman), monitoring "Athos" the FuMB 35 (Funk-Mess-Beobachtung) An advanced radar detection device, painted a spike on his O scope display. A few adjustments and he had the Frequency, Pulse repetition rate and relative bearing of 023 of the "Contact". He reported this to his watch "Maat" (Petty officer), who came over and took a few minutes to varify it was not a Geist and then informed the OOD they had a British capital ship radar. The OOD informed the captain who ordered the contact report to be sent via shielded signal light to TG Cilax's commander. Ten minutes later Vizeadmiral Cilax executed the signal to come to the new course. He would not order Action Stations quite yet since his TG was already manned 50% and no one really knew just how far out an "Athos" signal really was. If he had two Athos fixes, at roughly the same time, from ships with a much longer spacing than any in his formation; at least 20 nautical miles, his Funker could give him a useable fix and a number of these cross bearing could give a fairly accurate course and speed. It was not all that unusual, under particularly favorable weather conditions, for Athos to pick up radar signals at three times the radar detetction distance, so Force H could be as far as 60 miles away.
2 JUNE 1941 2250 Gneisenau, flag of TG Cilax’s FuMO (Fuunk-Mess-Ortung Radar. (RadioDetection) Seetakt 23 watch radar operator reported an intermittent contact at a range of 19 miles, relative bearing of 010; no course or speed yet . The OOD ordered the forward 10.5-meter rangefinder, with it’s excellent night vision optics, trained on that bearing; nothing spotted so far. He informed his Captain, by sound powered phone, who was in the Flag plot talking to Vizeadmiral Cilax, who instantly informed the TG commander of the radar contact. Vizeadmiral Cilax took less than a minute and ordered his Staff Watch officer to "Blinker" light signal the other ships the contact report and to come to Battle stations immediately. Cilax then ordered Hipper to come to flank speed and scout down the contact bearing but not to engage Somerville alone.
2 JUNE 1941 2300 Jimmy's Somerville's luck held. His course change South West at 20 kts bought Force H and Convoy WS-12 what he needed most, to delay contact with TG Cilax until full dark. One of Renwon's radar Technicians reported to his watch Chief he had three contacts, two large and one medium. Three minutes more gave a range 22 miles, course135 degrees true, speed 25 kts. The CPA (closest point of approach) which was CBDR (constant bearin decreasing range) "collission course".
"No doubt the Nazi's had us on radar Sir." said the chief to the Watch officer who provided the amplifing info to the bridge. Both Somerville and Capt. Simeon, RN heard the reports.
Somerville to his staff watch officer "Immediate execute formation course 135, speed 25". He had to close the range as quickly as possible. As soon as the formation course and speed change had been achnowledged.
"Make to Duncan, repeat to Shefield, Iris, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Fury, and Foresight by signal light. Conduct torpedo attack , per my previous order, as soon as possible. Concentrate on Battle Cruisers. Good luck and God Speed". Get an acknowledgements from all ships. No time for a communications bollox."
Second signal to The Admiralty copy to Commodore Thesiger in WS 12. "Am engaging TG Cilax which now consists of Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and Hipper. God Save The King." Include our position.
Third private signal to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound "Dudley my old Snotty shipmate, Simeons and I promise you those twin Nazi bastards are not going to get away from us again."
He then turned to Old Refit's,CO Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN Force H and TG Cilax were rushing toward each other at 50 kts. Those 22 miles would be eaten up very, very soon. "I have every confidence in your ship's company and you to finish the job WE started off Norway."
Simeon, "HMS Renown would not think of disapointing you again Vice-admiral.
Permission to open fire as soon as we have a good fire control solution Sir?"
Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN was determined his Renown would open up first because he remembered 9 Apr 1940 off Norway all too well.
Somerville "By all means, anything we can do to help St. Barleigh and his "death or glory boys" live long enough to launch those ship killing Mark Nines with their 750 pound warheads." What worries me Sir Rhoderick, given the sea conditions and the excellent Nazi Radar and optical fire control system St. Barleigh would have to launch at 5 miles and that meant the 36 kts setting. If he tries to get closer the Nazi secondary battery, along with the 8 and 11 inchers, would probably sink the lot before they could launch their Eels."
2 JUNE 1941 2305 Catain D ,The Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh ordered an Execute To Follow signal by blinker light to his destroyers to split into two groups. Jupiter and Iris to form on him. Jersey, Fortune and Fury, would form on Foresight as OTC. Barleigh's plan was simple, when executed both grops would go to flank and make for the torpedo run start points. Duncan's to port and Foresight's to starboard, slightly ahead of TG CILAX. Timing, as usual would be critical. They all had to start their runs simultaneously. Like the Aircraft the destroyers would also go for a hammerhead attack. By coming in from three different directions old Hhiny and his two groups would also split TG Cilax fire. A lot would dpened on Sheffield being able to blanket the upper works of the Battle and heavy Cruisers with 6 and 4.1 inch rapid fire.It was avert tall order indeed when he had to split fire fire betweeen three ships.
"Shiny"CO Capt. C.A.A. Larcom,RN addressed the crew of his his six inch gunned Cruiser by Tanoy speaker. Shipmates the destroyers chaps are going in against the Battle and Heavy cruisers with torpedoes. Our job will be to go in with them and do eveything in our power to suppress the Nazi gunfire. We got to give them a chance. So we will shoot straight and shoot fast to cover them. Make no mistake if those Nazi bastards get by Force H troop convoy WS 12 and many tens of thousand of our soldiers and merchant seaman will die tonight. God have mercy on us all."
To his Executive officer Commander Sir Edmund Blackadder,RN alone he added "Jimmy you and I know those German ships have very good main and secondary battery radar fire control; better than ours. They are very good gunners and excellent ship handlers. I don't dare fire Star shells to blind their optical gunfire control because that same light will shine on our ships and provide those excellent Nazi ship handlers a big help combing the wakes of our Fish. So our chaps also have to deal with the very best day and night optical fire control systems which means their medium and light AA batteries can join in the slaughter. I fear we will not see many of them even get to their torpedo release point, let alone back to Force H. Our AP shells will just bounce off those Battle cruisers and do little damage to Hipper. I intend to go for the radar antennas and fire control directors so we will fire H.E. Shells. Make sure the gunner is on the same page.
Jimmy if we are to be of any real help to those destroyers we are going to have to go in close and smother their upper works of those Nazi ships with our 6 and 4.1 inch pop guns. I really don't think they will allow us to do that unmolested. I intend to go in slightly ahead of the destroyers at a maximum speed and manoeuvring no more violently than our fire control can handle. We will launch our own torpedoes if I get the chance. The more the merrier eh?" Then more seriously. "I'm afraid our own survival must be subordinate to scoring hits on those ships. Even after the destroyers have launch their torpedoes and on the way out we must maintain our fire. So XO I'll be ordering a course and speed that will allow us to unmask as many of our guns as possible as we withdraw. You know what that does to our chances!
Jimmy, if anything happens to me I am counting on you to carry out that same plan. I was not jesting about what those Nazi Bastards will do to WS-12 if they get by Force H." Capt. C.A.A. Larcom,RN of HMS Sheffield did not say "What little is left of Force H" but that is what he thought.
Sheffied's XO Sir Edmund Blackadder said with determination "I don't like this game one bit but I will do as you say Captain."
Sitting in his bridge chair, sucking on his pipe and watching his "wanker" XO Sir Edmund Blackadder, heading down to brow beat poor old Baldrick he was thinking about his ship. The prize of his less than spectacular career. HIS "Shiny Sheff" was one of the Southampton sub class of the Town-class cruisers. She took part in actions against several major Nazi & Itie warships already. She saw action off Norway during the Nazi invasion, at Operation White and the battle of Cape Spartivento where she fought two battleships Vittorio Veneto and Giulio Cesare. So the old girl was used to fighting Battle ships but he doubted she would survive this time. Unlike most Royal Navy ships of her time, her fittings were constructed from stainless steel instead of the more traditional brass. The official story was this was an attempt to reduce the amount of cleaning required on the part of the crew. Actually it ws a cunning plot by his masters at Admiralty to get support of the badly needed South Yorkshire MPs to support the navy ship building budget proposal.
2 JUNE 1941 2310 Sheffied's XO Sir Edmund Blackadder "Well Gun Buster (gunnery Officer) that is what the captain intends to do so make sure there are plenty of HE projectiles at hand. Sheffied's 50 year old gunnery Officer, who started out on the lower deck before the Great war and was promoted to Warrant Gunner just after Jutland and commissioned in October 1918 hardly needed that order. Baldrick recived exactly one promotion, to Lt. and was forceably retired, along with many others, in 1934. He had been called back in in Sept 1939 and was now a LCDR said "Certainly sir but I doubt we will get a chance to fire all that many rounds. The Twins are very good at shooting fast and hitting what they shoot at. Those 11 inch guns are very efficient and served by gunners every bit as good as ours. Their fire control, both radar and optical are absolutely first rate. They find the range very quickly. Even if we cross their T, which we won't be for long, using only their forward turrets they can bring 6 Eleven inch rifles to bear with a proven very high rate of sustained fire, say 3-4 rounds a minute per barrel and for short periods 5 or 6. We are talking 24 rounds per minute sustained or, worse case, 36 per minute initially. Also since our Captain wants to go in close we are going to be peppered by their secondary battery. That is half of their 24 5.9" SK C/28 at 10 miles range can penetrate all our armor and fourteen of the Twenty eight 4.1 inch SK C/33 guns which, at 9 miles range should not be able to pentrate our 4 and a half inch side belt, and magazines but will certainly smash our two inch barbettes, turrets and main machinery spaces." 1 to 2
XO Sir Edmund Blackadder " Cheer up; I'm sure you will come up with some cunning plan to get the best out of our guns. A plan As cunning as one by a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University."
Gun Buster Baldrick said " I'll do my best Sir." and thought "You damn wanker".
2 JUNE 1941 2320 Catain D ,The Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh seeing both groups were formed up and the Light cruiser was in position, Executed his previous signal by blinker light and short range HF radio. His next signal ordered that all future signals would be on HF tactical net until further notice. No use relying on slow blinker light when it was certain the Nazi's knew where they were and exactly what they were doing.
2 JUNE 1941 2330 HMS Sheffield slowed from 32 to 20 kts, adjujsted her course to unmask her after turrets with a sinuous weave and opened fire on the three Nazi capital ships at 25,000 yds (45 degrees elevation). Gun Buster Baldrick's twelve BL 6 inch Mk XXIII naval guns were hurling 112 pound HE shells at 2,760 feet per second at 8 rounds per minute per barrel or 96 rounds a minute per salvo initially. How long the gun crews could keep that up in battle was anyone's guess with "gallons" of adrenalin pumping into their nervous systems. In non firing practice that pace could only be maintained for about 20 minutes. However, the gunnery regulations stated rapid fire should only be maintained for 10 minutes without a break to cool the barrels liners, preferably with fire hoses. If no break was possible then a sustained fire of 5 rounds per minute was neccessary to keep from damaging the guns and killing the crews with a breach explosion. It was not unknown (Jutland came to his mind) for a turret explosion to sink the ship if gunnery regs concerning the use of flash proof doors and shutters were not rigorously enforced.
Gun Buster Baldrick had a good deal of experience which bred great trust in his BL 6 inch Mk XXIII guns and the crews he trained. HIS crews were very, very good at their murderous trade. The RN replaced the BL 8 inch Mk VIII used on earlier Washington Naval Treaty cruisers with these 6 inch hounds of hell. These built-up guns consisted of a tube and 15 foot jacket with a hand-operated Welin breech block. Cloth bags contained 30 pound charges of flashless (NQFP) powder they would use tonight. Useful life expectancy was 1100 effective full charges (EFC) with with NQFP per barrel. Baldrick doubted they would live long enough to see that. The Mk XXIII turret design was improved through a "long trunk" ammunition hoist, which reduced the crew requirements and increased the speed of the ammunition hoists. As in the MK XXII turret loading could be accomplished at any angle up to 12.5 degrees elevation.
Gun Buster Baldrick was in main battery plot, in the RN AKA the T.S. (Transmitting Station) with the forward director controlling A and B turrets on the Scharnhorst, he only knew as target 1 and the after director controlling X and Y turrets on the Gneisenau, designated target 2. He had his secondary directors controlling the 4 inch on the smaller target designated 3 he was pretty sure was Hipper. Since this would be a radar shoot Baldrick kept a sharp eye on the ratings manning the F.C. (Fire-Control) table and radar training tube.
The bridge gave the order to open fire and he repeated it to his fire control party as "SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT". The salvo bell sounded and a few seconds later HIS GUNS fired. The range was long for the the four inch DP guns, just outside maximum effective range but as they closed that would be corrected. Not so his six inch main battery. The C.O. had brought them well within maximum effective range for of HIS Mk XXIIIs. Having "come Up" before radar Baldrick was never quite comfortable in relying on it. He had seen it work well, sometimes and other times, mostly due to it's fragility, seen it fail HIM at very bad times. He was only partially convinced the boffins had solved the problem of shock damage when the Main battery was firing. He had his best radar technician "CPO Sharkey" in the radar transmitter room with his best P.O.s and all the spares ready to jump in if needed. Cold comfort but the best he could do.
CPO "Otto" Sharkey, was an abrasive, long service RN chief of the old school. Sharkey was callous, sarcastic and insulting to everyone around him and an artist when he applied it to junior and sometimes even senior officers. Baldrick liked him because he was a master of radar and underneath his harsh exterior he genuinely cared for his men, his ship, his RN and his country. The chief often went to great measures to help with his men's problems without letting them know it was he that did it. It also helped that Baldrick had taken the measure of Otto Sharkey when they were both young lower deck messmates at Jutland.
2 JUNE 1941 2332 On the Flag bridge of Gneisenau, Vizeadmiral Cilax had a rapid series of immediate execute blinker signals made. 1St, to Hipper to belay his last signal. Second, to TG Cilax to come to a line abreast formation tripple standard distance on present course and speed. Third, Guns free. Fourth, to prepare to maneuver independently when the torpedo attack began. Fifth, all tactcal signals, sighting and damage reports would be paralleled by blinker light and HF voice radio until further notice." To his watch staff officer he said "Make sure you get a reply from both Scharnhost and Hipper".
When you receive acknowledgement send an immediate precedence signal to BdU "Am engaging Force H blocking my passage to WS-12 Troop convoy Hiel Hitler" give him our position.
Private signal to Erich Raeder Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine (CinC of the Navy) "Erich, it's been a long voyage from our days aboard torpedo boat S82 at Marineakademie in Kiel. Wish you were here old shipmate. I assure you we will pay Somerville, Simeon and Renown back for Norway. Do you think our old God damned boss Franz "The Terrible" von Hipper would be pleased this time? Maybe not!"
To his staff gunnery officer keep a close eye on the FUMO's performance tonight. I expect YOU to ensure target information is rapidly transmitted to any ship whose radar fails. I also want to prepare illumination rounds for use against the destroyers if I decide the radar is not providing good targetting information. If we fire illumination rounds I want them up very, very fast.
I also want Renown and Ark Royal identified as soon as possible. Renown is our primary target tonight followed by Ark Royal, if we get the chance, AND still meet the torpedo attack with both main and secondary battery against the destroyers before they get into launch range. I fear we are looking at a lot of the Tommy torpedoes tonight in one mass attack bent on stopping us quickly. That must not be allowed to happen."
2 JUNE 1941 2335 Catain D ,The Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh led the Duncan attack group against Scharnhorst at 32 kts in a staggered line formation with enough spacing to ensure a single well placed 11 or 5.9 inch salvo would not get more than one of his destroyers. The Foresight group was in a line formation also with good spacing. They had two targets; three would go for Gneisenau and Jersey would break off ,if she was not needed, and try for Hipper. The plan was for the destroyers to hold fire until the Nazi's opned up on them. For now "Shiny Sheff" seemed to have their full attention, the poor bastards just had to keep the Nazi's distracted for a few more minutes. Both of his attack groups would be at their launch points and then it was let the devil take the hindmost, which would be his Duncan as they ran to rejoin Renown.
2 JUNE 1941 2338 Renown commenced firing ranging shots from her forward A & B turrets under radar control. It was not the first time Old refit had engaged Scharnhorst and this time Simeon, was going to sink the Bastard and her sister too.
TG Cilax was well within maximum effective range of Renown's BL 15-inch Mk I "15 inch/42" guns firing Mk XVIIB rounds of 33,550 yds. Each twin turret, with a good crew, could fire four 1,938 lb. rounds per minute at a Muzzle velocity of 2,450 feet per second or 2,640 feet per second with supercharge. His gunnery officer had orders to concdentate on the two large radar targets designated 1 & 2 and leave the smaller traget 3 to the secondary battery.
Old Refit, thanks to her prewar major rebuild, was armed with Ten twin 4.5in DP QF Mark 3 guns in twin UD Mark II gun houses. The Mark 3 fired 55 Lb. shells out to a maximum effective surface target range of 20,750 yds at 16 RPM for a limited time, depedent on the endurance of the gunners ,and 12 RPM sustained. , Simeon ordered his gunnery officer to split the fire of the 4.5s with three twin mounts , firing HE only at targets 1 & 2 and two (4 guns) firing both AP and HE at target 3 initially
2 JUNE 1941 2340 Duncan Group weapons tight 8 miles from TG Cilax. Foresight group weapons tight 7.8 miles TG Cilax. Sheffield main and batteries firing rapid salvoes, secondary battery continuous fire at TG Cilax. Renown firing full main battery alternate salvoes on Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, secondary battery firing on Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and Hipper. TG Cilax returning firing on all Force H ships with the Battle cruisers main battery targetting Renown and Sheffield, secondary battery continuous fire against the destroyers.
2 JUNE 1941 2350 HMS Duncan sunk, HMS Jupitor DIW (Dead in The Water) burning fiercely crew abandoning ship and HMS Iris guns free continuing to launch point. HMS Jersey and HMS Fortune sunk, HMS Fury guns free speed reduced to 20 kts contiuing to launch point HMS Foresight guns free at 32 kts continuing to launch point. HMS Sheffield's X turret and 1/4 of the secondary battery disabled continuing firing and closing TG Cilax. HMS Renown straddled repeatedly with no serious damage, continuing to engage TG Cilax.
2 JUNE 1941 2340 HMS Iris and HMS Foresight at 5 miles from TG Cilax launch torpedoes and firing on Hipper as they withdraw. Total of eighteen 21 inch torpedoes launch, 10 aimed at Gneisenau and 8 at Scharnhorst.
2 JUNE 1941 2350 HMS Fury bow blown off by 8 inch salvo, rapidly filling with water but manges to launch 8 torpedoes at extreme range at closest TG Cilax ship Hipper.
3 JUNE 1941 0000 Gneisenau hit by one torpedo high on the armor belt, where it was thickest, anti torpedo system held up well with moderate flooding and fire soon under control continues to fire on Renown with main battery and the retreating destroyers and Sheffield with secondary battery.
Scharnhorst hit by three torpedoes only two detonate, speed reduced to 24 kts, secondary battery fire control disabled, major fires being fought in the aircraft hangar.
3 JUNE 1941 0010 HMS Sheffield struck by 11 inch shell from Gneisenau, DIW, multiple fires, bridge destroyed with no survivors, XO Sir Edmund Blackadder assumes command and directs the DC effort from secondary Conn. Chief engineer estimates 20 minutes to get the plant back on the line but only good for 10 kts. Restoration of Full power was possible IF the initial damage survey held up but no promises. Only minor flooding but all Radars down and therefore Lcdr Baldrick orders director control firing on TG Cilax ships on fire using optical rangefinders.
3 JUNE 1941 0020 two of, now sinking Fury's torpedoes hit Hipper in the main machinery spaces leaving the heavy cruiser DIW and without electrical power. Guns firing under local control. Many casualties.
Two of Renown's 15 inch shells hits Gneisenau at a range of 9 miles wrecking turrets Anton and jamming Bruno. Splinters from Anton badly injure CO., cause casualties on both the ship's and the flag bridges, knock out all radar and most communications antennas.
3 JUNE 1941 0035 After recieving DC reports from his three ships, Hipper is sinking rapidly, Vizeadmiral Cilax orders what is left of his TG to break off the action and retire to the North East at best speed. His plan is to draw off the old battle cruiser from the convoy, maintain fire on Renown as he "Ran" and hope for a crippling hit or major propulsion casualty to the great war relic. He could still reach WS-12 and carry out his mission.
To his C of Staff, "Signal to BdU stating our situation and my intension to sink, disable or evade Renown and destroy WS-12. Show me the message before you transmit.
Second signal to Hipper, I am proud of you and promise YOU WILL BE AVENGED Hiel Hitler". He thought but did not say No harm making the Bohemian paper hanger think we are doing this for him.
3 JUNE 1941 0037 flag bridge HMS Renown Vadm Somerville to his Flag aid "make to Commodore Thesiger in WS 12. I am perusing the Battle cruisers. Maintain your escort force close to convoy. Dispatch ONE repeat One of your destroyers or corvets to aid Force H damaged ships. Your prime responsibility is protection of WS-12 not rescure Force H. Good luck.
Second signal to the Admiralty. I am chasing remainder of TG Cilax, moderately damaged but still operational Schranhosrt and Gneisenau. I will maintain station between Nazis and WS-12. Regret to inform you most of my destroyers have been sunk with heavy loss of life but their torpedo attacks were successful.
HMS Sheffield has sustained damage, Capt. C.A.A. Larcom,RN is dead now under command of her XO Sir Edmund Blackadder . Sheffield is not operational at this time. WS-12 will dispatch one escort for rescue duties and maintain the rest as close in defence, if required. Request you dispatch tugs and other rescue craft for my damaged ships.
Private signal to Admiral Pound "Dudley those bastards will be sunk today. You have my word for it."
To his Steward, "Cup of char spiked with a twice the Rum on the double." He thought a toast to the men who I murdered today. When this is over "Sir" Simeon, if I have anything to say about knighthoods, and I are going to find a nice quiet place and drink until we both pass out and when we wake, we will do it again. Maybe punishing this old body will deaden my conscience but I doubt it. For now I want Nazi blood and both those Battle Cruisers sunk. I owe that to my men and maybe their ghosts will leave me alone.
3 JUNE 1941 0100 HMS Renown, turned to course 070 at 30 kts to close the range on Gneisenau and a slightly lagging Scharnhorst.
3 JUNE 1941 0110 Renown fired her main armament at a range a little over 18000 yards. Target was the Gneisenau. Renown's secondary armament, (4.5" DP) opened fire on the Scharnhorst.
3 JUNE 1941 0121 Renown received an 11 inch shell hit on her foremast.
3 JUNE 1941 0124 Renown hit Gneisenau's fire control system putting it out of action. Cilax ordered his flag to turned away on course 30°. He ordered Scharnhorst to moved between her sister ship and HMS Renown to lay a smoke screen.
3 JUNE 1941 0130 Despite the smoke screen Renown scored a hit on Gneisenau's turret Anton along with shell splinters from near misses that pummelled Gneisenau's engineering plant. HMS Renown then shifted her main armament to the Scharnhorst but she was then hit herself in the stern. Damage was minor.
3 JUNE 1941 0210 Renown reopened salvo fire, after transfer of munitions from after to forward turrets on the Scharnhorst at a range of 12,000 yds; as she came into range when the Germans had to reduce speed temporarily. Scharnhorst quickly returned the fire.
3 JUNE 1941 0215 One of Renown's 15 in shells struck Scharnhorst abreast of turret Anton. The shell hit jammed the turret's training gears, putting it out of action. Shell splinters started a fire in the ammunition magazine, which forced the Germans to flood both forward magazines to prevent an explosion. The water was quickly drained from turret Bruno's magazine. The ship was now fighting with only two-thirds of her main battery.
Shortly thereafter, another 15 in shell struck the ventilation trunk attached to Bruno, which caused the turret to be flooded with noxious propellant gases every time the breeches were opened. A third shell hit the deck next to turret Cäsar and caused some flooding; shell splinters caused significant casualties. At shell struck the forward 5.9 inch gun turrets and destroyed them both.
3 JUNE 1941 0230 a 15 in shell struck Scharnhorst on the starboard side, passed through the thin upper belt armor, and exploded in the number 1 boiler room. It caused significant damage to the ship's propulsion system and slowed the ship to 8 knots. Temporary repairs allowed Scharnhorst to return to 22 knots. She managed to add 5,500 yds to the distance between her and Renown, while straddling the ship with several salvos.
Shell splinters rained on Renown and disabling one of the secondary battery fire-control radars wounding Somerville and his C O Staff on the flag bridge. Chief Sick Berth attendant (Chief SBA) Tom Baker and his party were on the flag bridge within 5 minutes. One look at the C O Staff was all he needed to immediately render first aid. His senior PO attended to the vice Admiral who was a complete pain in the ass about not needing anything but a bandage.
Chief SBA "Sir we will have to get you down to Dr. Who right away." The man was in no condition to argue. Two of the stretcher bearers strapped the C O Staff in and began the long haul to the Sick bay. The Chief SBA then turned to the Vice Admiral. "Sir do you want a jab of morphia?"
Somerville "No Baker, I need a clear head at present but a dram of medicinal Rum would not go amiss."
Chief SBA Tom Baker " I'd dearly like to join you in one but Dr. Who would flail me alive sir, besides he does not trust me and my first aid team with it."
Somerville "That's the trouble with our Surgeon Commander Basil Who. "The Doctor" has no respect for Age or seniority Chief."
HMS Renown's head of the medical division, Surgeon Commander Basil Who, was called "Dr. Who" by the lower deck and by the wardroom, just "The Doctor".
Chief SBA Tom Baker "Well that should hold you until you finish with the Jerries Sir. I do strongly recommend you fight the rest of this action from your bridge chair or sitting down in Flag plot."
Somerville laughing "Get away with you Chief SBA unfortunately there are plenty others to abuse today. I will take you up on your impertinent suggestion. RHIP but damn few of them. At that Chief SBA Tom Baker hurried off the flag bridge.
The easy banter between the Vice Admiral and the SBA came from a very mutual respect. Both had served together for a long time. Baker was an interesting chap. He is tall, with eyes that seem to constantly wander, he had curly but regulation length hair with distinctly flashing teeth. He is from Gallifrey, just out side Boston in Lincolnshire. When in civvies he wears a white shirt, plaid waistcoat, red cravat, grey Donegal tweed trousers, a light grey frock coat (with pockets containing a seemingly endless array of apparently useless items), a brown wide-brimmed felt fedora hat and a long, multi-coloured scarf, which was knitted for him by his maiden aunt and acts as a magnet for women.
3 JUNE 1941 0242, up to this point Renown had fired 52 salvos and having scored at least 15 hits. Many of these hits had badly damaged the ship's secondary armament. On her next full main battery salvo Renown hit Scharnhorst abreast of turret Bruno, which caused it to jam. A second shell hit the ship on the port side and caused some minor flooding, and the third was a near miss close aboard aft that damaged the port propeller shaft. The fourth hit the ship in the bow. These hits slowed Scharnhorst to 12 knots , which allowed Renown to close to 9,100 yds. With only turret Cäsar operational, all available men were sent to retrieve ammunition from the forward turrets to keep the last heavy guns supplied. After several more 15 inch hits, Scharnhorst settled further into the water and began to list to starboard.
3 JUNE 1941 0310 Scharnhorst went down by the bow, with her propellers still slowly turning. Of the crew of 1,968 officers and enlisted men, only 36 men survived.
Vice admiral Somerville, addressed his staff "Gentlemen, the battle against the Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that any of you who are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as the Scharnhorst was commanded today.
Gneisenau is still a threat to WS-12 so our job is only half completed."
He then picked up the phone to Captain Simeon "Somerville here. Your men did a magnificent job, make sure you tell them I said so. Our job is not done yet. Gneisenau is getting away. Send up a scout plane as soon as possible. We still have a 5 knot speed advantage on her and I want that ship sunk. As you well know she is still a dangerous ship and a real danger to WS-12. Besides, I want a full bag from today's shoot."
Simeon "Congradulations sir. I will have to check with my senior pilot but I am pretty sure at least some of my 4 Walrus' have suffered shock and splinter damage. My catapult has sustained some minor damage; nothing we can't correct quickly. Nautical Twilight begins at 0342, God willing, and if this damn rain stops, I can have my scouts launched then."
Somerville " Light a fire under your aircraft mechanics. For now come to course 030 at 25 knots. We still have our radars and she might have been hit harder than we thought. Who knows she might just be just out of radar range, but I doubt it?"
Simeon "Aye, Aye Sir." He then burst out laughing which confused his Bridge watch. Did Jimmy Somerville not know it had been pouring throughout the entire battle? He needed that release from tension as he needed a Pink Gin right now. "OOD announce to the crew we will Spike the Main Brace at battle stations now. And tell the "Pusser to be smart about it." Steward" For the love of God get me a pink gin."
Somerville To his Flag aide "Get an immediate signal to Argus ordering a thorough air search for Gneisenau be launch as soon as practicable. Give them her last position and known course and speed."
3 JUNE 1941 0345 Somerviile to his staff Aid Get a signal to the Admiralty and copy WS-12. I have the honor to advise you the German Battle Cruiser Schranhosrt was sunk, give position and time. We are pursuing a moderately damaged Gneisenau. I will maintain station between Nazis and WS-12. I will have aerial scouts from Renown and Argus out at dawn. Expect to meet Gneisenau in a few hours time. God save the King.
Private signal to Admiral Pound "Dudley One down and One to go. Gneisenau has suffered quite a bit to her armament and upper works but her engines, despite more than one torpedo hit, seem to have escaped damage so far. Old Refit's engineering plant is performing as well as when she was commissioned. God only knows how the Engineering Commander and his black gang have accomplished that.
Gunnery in Renown has been very, very good, seamanship is just as good.
Simeon really must be commended for the shape the old girl and her crew are in. I think a knighthood is in order for our old shipmate? I know you are on your way out but if you have any influence left, and I think you will after today would you mind using a bit of it for Simeon? After all, YOU put us in our current positions and that has to count for something. I would consider it a personal favor if you would recommend him for that honor.
The weather here is deteriorating with heavy rain and gale force winds. I do worry about our aerial scouts ability to find anything in this muck or even to fly. I still think, well hope really, we will find Gneisenau broken down, near by. If she eludes us for half a day I will have to fallback to WS-12. Last thing we want is that beast destroying that troop convoy while I romp about fat, dumb and happy eh what? I am also concerned about Sheffield's ability to ride out this storm. Blackadder certainly has his hands full."
3 JUNE 1941 1400 Commandant First CG District sent an urgent message to his friend Admiral USN Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet.
CLFT
DE RFG NR 114
U 151403Z JUN
FM First CG District
TO CINCLANTFLT
WD GRNC
BT
TS
1.Per your request for anything concerning unusual nuetral tanker activity.
2. Code and Cypher Branch “Unit 387” reported "neutral" Venezuelan tanker PSS Cabello, transporting No.1 bunker oil had failed to report to her shipping company for 9 days.
3. Company has repeatedly request posit and reason why normal reporting has ceased.
4. Last reported position was Latitude: 18 57 41.5 Longitude: 59 51 37.3 Course 065T at 15 kts.
BT
NNNN
Veteran, civilian cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman of USCG Lcdr Jones’ Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387”, knowing what was going on in the hunt for Bismarck suspected PSS Cabello, was heading for a position to refuel the two raiders. Admiral USN Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet agreed with Elizabeth. Those two raiders were doing too much high speed evasion not to be planning on an UNREP. In his opinion, that was one of the many reasons why the "Limeys" and his own patrol planes of PatWing 5 were having such a tough time finding them. The search areas were too small. Now he had a datum to center his search but it was 9 days old and only his PatWing 5 PBYs could make any immediate use of it.
He called his C o Staff in and issued a series of orders to his patrol wing Commander to begin a new search at the SS Cabello's last posit. He also sent out a message to all his ships at sea to be on the lookout for PSS Cabello (who knows someone just might get lucky).
King "Ensure Admiral Hewitt is appraised of the status of SS Cabello and my suspicion she was heading for a rendezous with TG Brinkmann. " Ernie King's face showed his sardonic smile as he thought "And now I am grasping at fucking straws. Those Nazi bastards have made ME and the Limeys look like fools." It was a very bad idea for anyone to try to make "Ernie" King a fool.
3 JUNE 1941 1600 in North Dakota's Flag plot. Rear Admiral Hewitt's TG-39 to "Ching Lee" CO BB-55 "Ching we are going South. I think those Nazi bastards are going for the tankers in the Caribbean. I think their first kill was PSS Cabello."
"Ching Lee" " Aye, Aye sir but if your wrong and Brinkmann slaughters another convoy up here Ernie will have both our balls nailed to the foremast."
Hewitt "You have nothing to worry about Ching. Your under my orders so I guess your wife will not suffer, any more than she does now, by you not bulling her by the numbers."
Both men laughed. Both knew all too well just following orders in something this outrageous would not shield Lee completely. Probably no formal action other than a letter of admonition in his jacket. Those letters had a way of prejudicing the brass when flag selection was being considered. The really aggravating part of it was Lee agreed with Hewitt and was wholeheartedly in favor of him playing his hunch.
A smile crossed Lee's face as he thought "Mabelle actually liked doing it 'by the numbers'. How did Hewitt know that?"
Hewitt to his chief of staff. "What is the fuel status of our destroyers".
Chief O Staff , who made it a practice to know the fuel state of his thirsty cans at all times since it was their endurance that was often the key component of any plan at sea. "All reported 70% this afternoon Sir."
Hewitt to his chief of staff "Give me a course at 24 kts to arrive at Cabello's last estimated position on the day she stopped reporting."
The staff navigaor was working the solution as soon as he heard the rear admiral say what he wanted and was able to tell the Chief Of Staff the answer as soon as he asked it.
Hewitt to his Chief Of Staff "Break out an Execute to follow" of the new course and speed to the TG."
Then get out an "Eyes Only" by back channel signal to inform Admiral King I am leaving the op area and heading South to Cabello's datum. Give him our estimated time on station and that we will need an UNREP prior to reaching that datum. Work out a time and place for the UNREP at least 150 miles north of that datum.
Hewitt to Captain Lee. "I will be ordering daylight and night gunnery practice tomorrow for BB-55. Weather permitting, and it should be OK, I'll designate one of the DDs to tow your target raft. Ching tell your gunners this will be as close to actual combat as I can manage. Use your "High Caps" because I will have other use for your AP soon."
CO BB-55 "Sir my magazines are loaded to safe capacity, more than war allowance by a good margin. I increased the AP to High Cap loadout by 50%. I request permission to use AP; the flight characteristics of our High Cap are a little different from our AP as you know."
TG-39 "Ok Ching make it AP."
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 14
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 14
BEGIN PART 14
3 JUNE 1941 1900 S-13 now SS-118 (AKA to her crew among themselves as SS FORD for Fix Or Reapir Daily) based at Guantanamo Bay Cuba was cruising on the surface at 10 kts. She had just come up for her nightly battery charge, "AIR renewal", cigarette breaks, trash disposal and to copy the Fox Sched and any other signals meant for her.
King's high priority message to be on the lookout for was noted by the CO, communicated to his officers and the COB and included in his night order book. He imediately told his OOD they were looking for a Venezeulan Tanker named PSS Cabello, that had gone missing a few days ago in their patrol area. The boat would stay on the surface, where he would be able to cover more ocean, at a better speed and a much longer visual horizon. He would also be in radio comms and pick up any aplifying messages about PSS Cabello that would allow him to fine tune the search for the tanker.
It would take her about 8 hours for a full charge. Those old batteries really needed replacing but "S Boats" were the red haired adopted children of SubLant. Most thought about all they were good for was training these days and, unknown to the skipper of the old "FORD", they would be proved wrong before not too much longer.
S-13's CO, Lt. Peter "Cowboy" Holt USNA class of 1938 had a love/hate relationship with his command. He had the pride of a first time CO and the utter loathing for this antique rust bucket that had tried to kill him and his men more than once and more than twice.
Thank God for his COB, Chiefs and PO-1s. They held FORD together with bailing wire and chewing gum.
S-13 was of group II S-3 class, or "Navy Yard" type, built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. Commissioned 14 July 1923, Decommissioned 30 September 1936 and recommissioned 28 October 1940.
Her Displacement was 876 tons surfaced; 1,092 tons submerged. She had a length of 231 feet, Beam of 21 feet 9 inches, Draft of 13 feet 4 inches. Propulsion was 2 Busch-Sulzer diesels each of 1,000 SHP , 2 Westinghouse electric motors rach of 600 hp, 120-cell Exide battery and two shafts. S-13s surfaced Speed was15 knots, submerged was 11 knots but not for long.
Her 148 tons of deisel oil gave S-13 a range of 5,000 nautical miles at 10 knots surfaced. Test depth: 200 although aside from about 4 mandatory test dives, it was prudent to not exceed 175 feet.
Armament was still as built back in 1923 of 4 21 in bow torpedo tubes and one aft with a loadout of 14 torpedoes. The loadout this patrol was 12 MK-10s and 2 of the new MK-14s. She mounted One 4 inch 50 cal surface only deck gun and a couple of pintal mounted dual purpose M-2 heavy machine guns. She was crewed by 42 officers and men.
She did not yet have radar but her underwater search gear was state of the art. S-13/SS -118/USS FORD was equipped with the model JT idirectional listening system designed to detect, identify, and locate sources of both sonic and ultrasonic sounds. It is designed to use the JP (Active sionar sonic equipment and has a super-sonic converter so that ultrasonic as well as sonic sounds can be amplified by the JP amplifier. In addition, it has a more directional hydrophone than the JP hydrophone and has a right-left indicator (RLI) for taking bearings on sonic sounds with greater accuracy than is possible with the tuning-eye indicator of the JP equipment. An interphone-amplifier unit permits "talkback" between the forward torpedo room-in which the JT system is mounted-and the conning tower.
3 JUNE 1941 0020 two of, now sinking Fury's torpedoes hit Hipper in the main machinery spaces leaving the heavy cruiser DIW and without electrical power. Guns firing under local control. Many casualties.
3 JUNE 1941 2030 USCG Lcdr Jones’ OIC of Code and Sypher Branch Sypher Branch “Unit 387” sat at his desk drinking his now cold black coffee. He was thinking about what Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman had said about TG Brinkman might be looking for new hunting grounds.
He called Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman at home and asked her to come into the office. Elizabeth did not ask why, this was all too much of her life with “Unit 387” and she would have it no other way. She simply said I'll be there is twenty five minutes. Is this going to be an all nighter sir?
Lcdr Jones, "I'm afraid it most likely is".
She grabbed her "togo" bag packed for such overnight and sometimes many days at the Atlantic Ave CG Base in Boston stints. She just knew they were going after Bismarck and she wanted that Nazi battleship sunk very, very badly.
3 JUNE 1941 2115 Lcdr Jones appraised Cryptologist Feldman of his deduction. She agreed it was certainly possible if ,BIG IF, TG Brinkman could make the transit south undetected.
Feldman making a few quick calculations said to her CO "Sir the raiders last positions were days old, Bismarck on the morning of 31 May and Prinse Eugen on the evening of 28 May, that's almost a week. At 25 knots they could cover 3600 nautical miles and could have been in Oranjestad a few days ago.”
Lcdr Jones said patiently (he needed her thinking not pissed off at him) "I know the math. Brinkman could be anywhere within 11,300 square miles except we can reduce that thoretical area by a lot. Bismarck could go west and run into the heaviest cocentartion of the USN Nuetrality patrol, especially PatWing 5's PBYs. She can't go north becausse TG-39 is running air patrols as they head South to stop TG Brinkmann from slautering tankers coming up from Venezeula and the caribbean. The Nazi's could run East but then the RAF and RN would stand a good chance of finally making contact again.
So I'd say South is a pretty good bet especially if he can refuel. So, my guess hinges on Cabello. If Britain's fuel supply is the strategic target then destroying Aruba's two refineries is a great target. What do you think?" Jones greatly valued Feldman's views of his theories. Just saying them outloud to her helped him refine those theories.
Cryptologist Feldman "We're not at war so he can't go after US mainland refineries, and even if he was crazy enough to try he might get one. Then his entire TG would be dead within hours and Churchill would get what he and FDR need to ensure Hitler looses; early US declaration of war. I still think it's tankers Bismarck is after and why not intercept them at a known choke point like those refineries."
All really good cryptologists were superb mathematicians. They also had the skills, so valued in intelligance analysts, especially to identify and remember odd bits of info that when reviewed alongside other seemingly worthless information began to establish a pattern. Few of the cryptologists were privy to enough information to fit these patterns into tactical or strategic ongoing operations. Feldman was an exception to that rule. That was left to ONI and to the their seniors, like LCDR Jones. Jones had a foot in both organizations and was in the ideal position to evlaute what was going on in the enemy camp.
Not too long ago he had seen copies of low level reports of the Venezeulan national police on the acivities of "Grupo Regional de Venezuela del Partido Nazi" to infiltrate officers and seaman into the crews of C.A. de Navegación Fluvial y Costanera de Venezuela, Puerto Cabello tanker fleet. The assistant junior Naval aide in the Port of La Guaira Consulate, had been coopted by a young, attractive Venezeulan national police agent. He had mentioned something about gathering quite useless information on the current state of Aruba's harbors and two oil refineries from sympathetic crewmen of C.A. de Navegación Fluvial y Costanera de Venezuela, Puerto Cabello tanker fleet. It meant he spent a lot of time drinking in local sailor's dives and forcing down the horrible rot gut wine with drunken masters, mates and engineering officers who had recently delivered crude to those refineries. ONI analysts had concluded this was to support the U-boat war against allied comerce, especiallty tankers.
He still could NOT break the thought it was not the tankers but the refineries themselves that TG Brinkmann was now after.
Jones "Ok tonight you and I are going to compose an intel analysis supporting the theory that TG Brinkmann is about to attack the two refineries on Aruba. I'll need you to assmble whatever intercepts and other intel that supports that hypothesis. I've got a lot of it here now but it desprately needs your evaluation and opinion of it's worth. Natuarally, I think it holds together but the secnd opinion of someone I trust is essential before I take this up the line. I think those Nazi butchers are ready to strike and it might well be too late.
I will work on a draft executive summary and final recommendations. We'll combine your stuff with mine and see if it holds up well enough to present it to Commandant First CG District here in Boston. I know for a fact he thinks one of the weaknesses of Nazi's is their driven to constantly prove their superiority. Destroying those refiners would validate their opinion of themselvess. He also has the ear of Ernie King and if he believes us he can get CinCLant Fleet to do somthing to protect Aruba, if only warn the Brits.
4 JUNE 1941 0550 "1CGDist" was an early riser who was usually in work by 0530 who reviewed the night's activities as he drank his 2nd cup of coffee. There was an entry, dated 0300 in the night's log that Lcdr Jones’ OIC of Code and Sypher Branch“Unit 387” had requested an urgent meeting to review the latest analysis of enemy intensions. He picked up his phone at 0550 and called “Unit 387”, which was housed in the basement where all spies and other such essentail but disreutable skallywags belonged. The duty watch PO answered the phone.
1CGDist identified himself and said "Inform your CO that I expect him and his analysis in my office at 0600.
4 JUNE 1941 0700 USCG Lcdr Jones’ OIC of Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387” and his senior Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman sat on the sofa in Commandant First CG District office on Atlantic Ave Boston. They had spent the last hour going over their analysis of TG Brinkmann's next moves. "1CGDist" had listened intently, asked a few very pointed questions, challenged the analysis because of the lack of solid sighting reports and the fact he did not think the Germans stood much of a chance breaking into, and no chance of getting out, of the caribbean without alraming the Brits. He told them he could buy Brinkman going South after tankers but not attacking Aruba. Jones replied. "That is one way to look at it Sir. However, based on what we don't know about the wheerabouts of Bismarck and the fact CincLant , ONI and you have expressed your opinions Brinkmann is heading south to sink tankers, it seems an attack on the refineries is a resonable possibility to me. It is my opinion we should take action to prevent or at least warn Aruba. The ony real defense those refineries have against Bismarck and Prince Eugen's guns are those old B-10s and the underwhelming Buffalo fighters. A few PBYs would be a lot of help."
1CGDist stared at Jones for a long time as he worked though what to do. Time was of the essence. Ernie had a lot on his plate and the last thing he neded was to complicate his efforts to sink Bismarck with this new possibility. He finally made up his mind.
Jones I will partially endorse your analysis. Have it coded and sent to CincLant Fleet intel and ONI high priority as soon as possible. Get me whatever you can to prove or disprove that analysis. I am going out on limb and if we are really wrong we'll both be part of the Greenland Patrol. Maybe I can get command of one of those converted fishing draggers and you will get a weather station in the center of middle of "Nowhere" Greenland."
It was defintely an exageration and they both had a chuckle. Poor Liz thought he was serious and looked pretty dispisritted.
30 minutes later 1CGDist was on the secure line with his old "friend" Ernie King explaining the Analysis he just sent by message.
King, "Is this Jones the same Lcdr that got us that good convoy intel not long ago?"
1CGDist , " Same one"
King, "You endorsed this right?"
1CGDist, No sir, not completely. I buy Brinkmann going south to sink tankers at their source. I do not buy attack Aruba. That's the Caribbean. We own the surface and air. No way Bismarck is going in there, no matter how good the target is.
King, "I agree with you but had you considered an attack by one of their big Nines? Both those refineries are right on the coast as are their tank farms. If the Nazi bastards surface in shore their 4.1 deck gun could erally do some damage to oil refineries. Damn things might go up like a bonfire. Jones is onto something and I will do something about it. Not sure just what.
1CGDist, "Come to think of it Sir there are other refineries down south that don't require going into the Caribbean."
King, "This really pisses me off. I have absolutely nothing I can get to Aruba in time to do any real good. What I can do is stretch the ABC-1 agreement again and warn the Limey's of this possibility. They can warn Aruba of the possibility which will do some good, but not much. Problem is the Limeys have less than I do anywhere near Aruba. I'll be on the horn with Hewitt as soon as we hang up. Well keep me informed if Jones and that code breaking witch, Liz Feldman, I wish we had a dozen like her, come up with anything. "
Ernie King's even temper was operating normally. “He is the most even-tempered person in the United States Navy,” one of his daughters said of him. “He is always in a rage.”
1CGDist, " You'll be the second person to know, right after me."
Truth was 1CGDist, knew cultivating King was the right thing to do. It was all too true Ernie was tough as nails and carried himself ramrod straight; probably had one stuffed up his ass. He was blunt and stand-offish, almost to the point of rudeness until he decided he was dealing with someone of value....to him. It said something about himself that he and King worked very well together. Ernie refused to suffer fools, always handing off those too powerful to snub to his long suffering staff officers. No matter how well they got on professionally they were far from "liberty buddies". Ernie was tough but FDR was wrong, he did not shave with a blow torch, he preferred to dry shave with his own rigging knife.
King was on the secure "Horn" to Hewitt right after hanging up on the Coastie. He appraised TG-39 of what Jones and Liz Feldman had come up with. He made sure he identified the source of the analysis. They both agreed TG-39 was doing the right thing and just get on station as soon as possible.
His next call was to PatWing 5 "actual". I am ordering you detach three radar equipped PBY's and their support to Aruba for a while. You can fly in whatever you need to the graded runway KLM Field at Savaneta. They are to establish an immediate round the clock patrol out to 150 miles of Aruba until further notice."
PatWibg 5 Actual "Sir my nearest PBYs are at Gitmo and Trinada but none of those have radar. Our radar birds are all supporting ops a lot further North. I can swap out three from NAS South Weymouth today and they could be in Aruba and operational by end of day 6 June. Will that do?"
King " I want them flying patrols tomorrow Captain Sprague."
Captain Clifton Albert Frederick "Ziggy" Sprague knew better than to argue with God damn Ernie king and replied "Aye, Aye sir."
King sat back lit up a cigarette, the start of his second pack today, and thought "Was that all he could do for now? By God No." He had to contact the Caribbean Defense Command which did not come under CincLantFlt. A call to the CNO generated a call to General Marshall informing him of what Admiral King was doing and the need for imediate Army/Navy coordination and cooperation. Marshall sent an urgent priority message to Caribbean Defense Commander (with the organizational features of a theater of operations), to instruct General Talbot, commanding Trinidad Sector of the Caribbean Defense Command that his units were to provide the navy with their full cooperation in all matters directly concerning the hunt for the Bismarck which intel suggests were going to attack the oil refineries at Aruba and/or Trinidad.
General Talbot had a very tough job. His area of responsibility was the Antilles south of Martinique, the Dutch islands off the Venezuelan coast, together with Venezuela itself and British Guiana, Surinam, and French Guiana and Trinada Tobago and that included not only the base structure but the Army Air Corps as well.
Dealing with the Air Corps was always diffficult. His authority over air operations was limited by the Army Air Corps' Caribbean Regional Air Command. The bounds of authority were not always distinct when dealing with the Air Corps. It was therefore a source of misunderstanding and frustration.
Dealing with the hostile, Vichy controlled French Guiana was another headache complicated by the damn State deppartment. For one thing the local Vichy government played host to a very active and efficient Nazi intelligence unit. A 25 man detachment of the Marinenachrichtendienst (Naval Intelligence Division AKA MAD) operated with impunity. They had the latest Telefunken radio intercept gear. MAD provided the very few U-boats operating inside the island chain of the caribbean sea at this time with invaluable information and other "support". They also ran "agents in Aruba, Surinam, and Trinada Tobago who monitored the progress of his base construction and operations. MADALSO learned a lot of very timely convoy intelligence that was of great value to the U-Boats and raiders hunting in the South Western North Atlantic. BdU valued their intel highly and had provided the latest encription devices and long range radio transcievers to ensure timely and secure communications.
The base structure was the problem; quite frankly most of it did not exist yet and that which did was still under construction. Even the ones that were considered "Operational" were far from completed. He also had a major problem with the troops. They were mostly draftees with a small number of the trained prewar regulars doing their damndest to turn those kids into soldiers and still carry out their mission of protecting the tankers and oil refineries that made his command so important.
4 JUNE 1941 0730 TG Cilax was long gone. HMS Sheffield struck by 11 inch, 8 inch and 5.9 inch shells from Gneisenau and Hipper, was now underway making 12 kts. Multiple fires are now out and the reflash watches, are keeping a close eye on several that are still smoking. With Shiny's bridge was destroyed killing everyone, XO Sir Edmund Blackadder asumed command and not only directed the DC effort from secondary Conn but had made many tours of the various major casualty areas to encourage his men and see for himself just how bad things were.
The CHENG'S (Chief engineer) estimates of 20 minutes to get the plant back on the line but only good for 10 kts, WAS Wildly over confident. Restoration of Full power was not possible. The closer the CHENG examined the plant, the worse it looked The best his Stokers could do was give the old girl 12 kts. Even that required some really tough and dangerous expedients to be employed; things that get people court martialed in peace time and often in war time as well.
The minor flooding became major flooding and the exhausted crew was driven to their tasks by the CPOs and senior POs. It took almost eight hours to restore the water tight integrety to somehthing the pumps could handle. Once the ship was no longer in danger of instant foundering Sir Edmund Blackadder held a short meeting with CHENG, the First LT and his CPOs. The major outcome was set up a watch schedule that would let 1/2 of the remaining crew, many who actually belonged in sick bay or relegated to "light duty", to get some rest. This was in the line of a "No Brainer" as there were too many cases of young men just breaking down physically and mentally exhausted and Officers, chiefs and senior POs making bad and even dangerous sleep deprived decisions.
Toward the end of the battle all Shiny's Radars were down and therefore Lcdr Baldrick ordered director control firing on TG Cilax ships on fire using optical rangefinders. He actually was "Fighting the ship" while Sir Edmund Blackadder was directing the effort to keep her from sinking right out from under Baldrick's gunners. At one point his main battery plot was actually one deck below a flooded area. Only the water tight doors, armored and water tight cable runs and all too brittle now nerve of his men were keeping Shiny in the fight. He thanked God he did not have to resort to the Webley he carried hidden in a shoulder holster under his jacket.
Somerville could spare Sheffield no escorts so she was making her way North West to a rendevous with a 16 kt, 2,750 ihp early Flower class Corvett Primrose and the 16 kt, 3,000 ihp Norwegion manned Ocean going Tug Hafgufa. Hafgufa could tow Shiny at 10 to 12 kts.
Primrose could tow at 8 kts but given the U-boat and Lufwaffe it was deemed more prudent for her to act in her escort role. She had a veteran Battle of the Atlantic skipper and crew who knew the ASW business well. The least said about her anti aircraft capablities the better because they were limitted to 2 twin Vickers .50 machine guns and 2 twin .303-inch Lewis machine guns. Only fire control was the MK-1 Eyeballs of the gunner.
Coatsal command would provide aerial support when available.
The odds of her making it to Southhampton were not considered good but the closer they got to the port the more help Coatsal command could provide.
4 JUNE 1941 0800 Norfolk and 1300 in fleet HQ bunker London. On his last day as The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound was in his office in the bunker with his "shadow" soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay. They had, as usual, worked through their horid noon meal (today it was Herrings "in" sandwiches), when the Staff watch Intel officer knocked and entered. The rather old Lcdr, a retiree brought back into harness in Oct'39, and said. "Signal from CinC American Atlantic Fleet via ABC-1. Eyes only for you Sir Alfred."
Pound took the envelope and read King's carefully worded warning about Trinidad Trinidad Aruba Tobago Tobago. King as CincLant Fleet informed the US ABC-1 representative that he has ordered, with CNO Stark'e approval , ONI to keep us appraised of anyhthing that they get about TG Brinkmann as soon as they get it.
"No reply." was all Pound said. Being no fool and coming from a long line of RN officers, one was executed by his own marines on his own deck, Staff watch Intel officer John Byng quickly departed.
Pound, "Well Bertie it seems that "the Cousins" have developped a theory our friend Brinkmann is heading for Trinidad Tobago or Aruba , not only to sink tankers but to destroy the rifiners. This is from "Jesus Christ" Ernest King himself so I fear we have to take it seriously.
The more you get to know that man, the more you will get to hate him but he does know his job and he is not stupid. Did you know he absolutely despises we "Limeys" and is cnvinced we are out to sodomize the USA so we can keep the empire? I was told by one of his former shipmates, he hates us because of his Irish heritage. It seems even after emigatring to America, King's family keeps alight a burning hatred for we "English".
No matter. He is sending three Catalina's and their support crews to Aruba today to bolster the air patrols of the area. The Queen Willimeter's Dutch government granted permission as soon as the Americans asked. Those rifineries and bauxite mines in Surinam are very valuable assets to the Neatherlands government in exile because they are the source of a lot of their funding at present. They are also very valuable to us as you know all too well. Destroying them will mean a large portion of Venezuelan crude has to go to America for refining. The Venezeulan refineries can only handle about 20% of their crude.
Now the question is what do we have close enough to Trinidad Tobago to provide meaningful aid in the next few days? I'm afraid the answer is nothing.
One of the facts of life you will have to live with in this thankless job is that we are stretched far too thin as you now know. Everything is balanced on a knife blade edge and you will spend a lot of time telling bright, aggressive senior officers and our Lord and Master Mr. Churchill NO to very good ideas because we just do not have the resources. Even those operations that are neccessary will cause you sleepless nights because you know the means you are providing are the bare minimum for the job. I'm afraid margins for bad luck or anything else just are not available. We desperately need the Americans in this war with us and we need them yesterday Bertie."
Soon to be The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ramsay thought and not for the first or hundred time "How did I so anger the lord that he would senetnce me to this fucking Job? This job broke Pound and he is a better admiral and man than I am. All I really have to look forward to with any joy is the fact, at the rate things are going wrong now, I will not be in it long. Maybe Winston will be kind to me and put me in command of a "Stone frigate" somewhere in the wilds of Scotland where the fishing is good, the whiskey is not rationed and the "lassies" are willing and discrete? Mrs. Ramsay is not a tolerant woman."
4 JUNE 1941 0830 The signal was hauled down executing today's live fire gunnery practice. USS North Carolina BB-55 responded imediately although both signal men were on the same ship. Aboard BB-55 the XO commander Stryker, the Gun & Ops Bosses along with the 1st LT, BMC with 3rd division, GM2c Borgnino USN (AKA Ernie Borgnine) with his gang had rigged two of the target sleds and passed them, to USS Kearny DD-432, Gleaves-class that would be doing the towing today.
The TC was manned and ready LT. Tolley and CRM O'Shea had made sure the radar and comms were all functioning. The Gun Boss and his GMCFC had peaked the firecontrol, main and secondary battery for today's shoot. The Mud Maroons" in 5"38 mount 52 were anxious to prove they were the best DP mount on the ship.
4 JUNE 1941 1030 The daylight shoot went well as far as CRM O'Shea could tell; no one had hit the target towing Can. Lee was not as pleased as the CRM. It took his gunners too long to get on target. They were on the sled well within the peace time standards. However, minutes and maybe even seconds would count when they were up against Bismarck. "XO we will have another shoot at 1330. get the gun team in here at 1100. There are a few things I want to talk to them about."
Next he picked up the TBS handset "King" this is Nan Charlie. What is the status of my sled?"
CO Kearny " My carpenter's mate and his crew are rebuilding the target now. The float had some shell splinter holes but we have already patched them. She should be good for another run in about an hour Sir."
Lee " Good. We will commence our next firing run at 1400. You will have to get the sled back in action before 2300 for the night shoot. Make sure you hang radar reflectors on it."
CO Kearny "Interogative radio reflectors sir?"
Lee " I say again RADAR reflectors. Have one of your machinest mates rig up a couple of 18 inch sheet metal plates set at right angles and hang them from the top of the sled's superstructure. That wil give my fire control radar something to line up on besides King."
CO Kearny "Will do sir. Request permission to double the length of target's tow line?"
Lee "Permission granted. Out" CO Kearny was sure he heard the old bastard laughing as he signed off.
5 JUNE 1941 0330 Lee picked up the TBS "King this is Nan Charlie convey a well done to your crew from me. Ten firing runs and you were right where I wanted you on every run Commander. That took some real sailorman ship handling."
Co Keraney "Will do sir."
Lee "Keep this up and I will be calling on you for all my target towing, you'll like that right? Out" CO Kearney heard the same evil laugh again.
5 JUNE 1941 1900 Both of TG Cilax's type 1936A destroyers Z23 and Z25 had evaded Force H aerial scouts due to their high speed run and were now making a max fuel conserivng two boiler operations of 20 kts. They were all that was left of 8 Zerstörerflottile (8th Destroyer Flotilla), now Commanded by Z23's 29 year old Korvettenkapitän Wolfgang Becker. His crew nicknamed their fine new destroyer "Werwölfe“, after their much respected and sometimes feared but always scrupulously fair CO. His tactical brilliance and superb seamanship had saved them at that basket screw off Narvik against that “Gott verdammt Englander devil ship“ Renown and that counted for a lot. He and and about one third of them had been together since commissioning and had formed a bond of muttual respect. Truth to tell, Becker cared very much for his men and hated the fact his stern duty required risking their lives.
Those Sea Hurricanes and Fulmars had literally decimated his 350 man crew. He had buried 35 good men and he had another 45 wounded. That left "Werwölfe“, short handed but thanks to his rigorrous and thorogh training of his crew with casualties in mind he still had enough watch officers, CPOs and senior PO‘s to run his ship.
It was a miracle his Wasserbombes had not blown the stern of his ship off. The 300 LB high explosive filled Mülleimers (trash barrels) had been riddled with .303 fire. He had them dumped over side imediately after the attack. Now both his repaired launchers were reloaded with undamaged Wasserbombes. His excellent "Werwölfes“ S-Gerät active sonar and GHG passive sets along with their very skilled operators had survived intact. The GHG could ,under good conditions, detect enemy ships at ranges up to 50 miles and would to some extent compensate for their lack of radar.
His main and secondary DP battery along with his gun and fire control crews had sufferd crippling losses. All he had left were one, riddled but still functional mount Anton, of his 4 single 5.9 in guns, 2 of his five single 20 mm AA guns both on the port side, the port side of his two liberally punctured but still functional quad 21 in torpedo tubes without a single Ael to reload and 2 of his 4 × depth charge launchers; both on the port side. Z-23 had taken the brunt of the strafing runs on her starboard side. He was the lone survivor of those on starboard bridge wing during the strafing runs. All he had to show for it was a scalp and face pock marked with slight splinter wounds that bled as if he were seriously wounding when infact he was not incapacitated in any way. The Tommy lead had not done much to improve his looks but it did miss his eyes so he had little to complain about.
There was nothing he could do about the loss of his very valuable FuMB radar detection receiver. It often detected, gave a precise bearing and, depending on the skill of the operator, a rough but useable range estimate long before the enemy radar detected Z-23. It‘s antenna along with it‘s bridge mounted,reciever, his skilled operator Oberster Unteroffizier Karl Schuster, and his apprentice Johnny Voigt had been riddled with machine gun fire. He would have to rely on his sonar and GHG passive hyrophone array.
The black gang had been very very lucky and was still at close to full compliment. Although Z23 and Z25 had their topsides along with the men stationed their thoroughy devestate the engineeriong plant was undamaged. They had rigged emergency substitutes that were doing the job as well as could be expected. He also had been forced to transfer some of his engineers to absolutely essentail topside duties. One of which was to relieve the deck sailors so they could get some sleep. No one including the Deck Apes were happy with this temporary arrangement.
He had decided to make for the Spanish Coast as quickly as p[ossible. That would open the range from Force H and any patrols from southern England. He was absolutely determined to reach the French port Hendaye in southwestern France's Nouvelle-Aquitaine region without further loss to "Werwölfe“. He was quite sure Franco, while preaching to anyone who would listen Spain‘s absolute nuetrality ...would cooperate. Somehow the Armada and Ejército del Aire, or EdA (Spanish Air Force) would fail to notice his two ships as they sped along within Spanish territorial waters. Those waters were jealously guarded against allied intrusion by Spanish naval and air units (equipped with modern Greman aircraft).
Z-25 was in better shape. Her engineering plant was untouched but her topsides, especially just forward of the bridge had taken a heavy shell that blew Mount Anton over the side and severely damaged the hull. Her DC parties had flooded the forward 5.9 inch magazine (now pumped out and ammo after inspection resdistributed to her two after main battery mount‘s magazines) and put out the fires quickly. They had also been able to close up the hull, which had not been damaged below the waterline, with steel backers, a tar covered canvas and woven line pad and wooden patch. The Oberster Unteroffizier metal worker had a working party stripping non vital deck, and topside plate steel he intended to fashion into shell plating to reenforce the patch. Fortunately, her damage did not impair her sea keeping enough to rule out her max 36 kts speed for short periods and a long run at as much as 25 kts.
Z-25‘s bridge watch had been wiped out completely and was now commanded by her senior LT. They had jury rigged all essential topside ship control stations.
Initially it looked like all three after 5.9s had been damaged beyond shipboard repair. However, the Oberster Unteroffizier Gunner‘s mate and two of his senior gunnery petty officers after 32 hours of effort, were able to repair Bruno, and Cäsar. There was nothing to be done with the main firecontrol director which was nothing but a burnt out mass of metal above what was left of the heavily damaged bridge. The Secondary Director was also now operational, sort of. The exhausted gunners were still trying to restore auto director fire to Bruno and Cäsar. For now, the director could provide accurate elevation and azimouth figures to the mounts but they had to transmitted by voice and manually set by the gun crews.
One of the 37 mm AA mounts was now operational, as well as three of the 20 mm guns. Like Z-23 her tposides had been turned intio a colander and all antenna‘s and other topside sensors were useless. Nither had long range communications yet but restoring them was high on the priority list. For now blinker light and hand held signal flags would do. Both her Torpedo mounts were operational but she did not have torpedoes for them. Her depth charge projectors were functional. Her sonars and opetrators were undamaged.
Z-25 had lost her Cpatin, XO, navigator and gunnery officer. She had 52 killed and 97 wounded, although 25 of those had been patched up enough to do light duty. Her galley, like Z-23 was functional and putting out hot meals. Both destroyers were issuing the normal beer ration along with schnapps as a bonus to those men doing a really outstanding job, which did a lot for the morale of the sailors. They needed it after the mass burials.
5 JUNE 0315 TG Cilax, now only Gneisenau, was hunting WS-12 again. The Battle Cruiser's crew had done a magnificent job of repairing her Fire control directors. The designers of Gneisenau class battle Cruisers built a lot of redundancy into her key systems. Main and secondary batteries were controlled from the Directors, which were located forward (which was destroyed), astern, and above the foretop platform (which had splinter damage which proved repairable.
Each of these three Directors mounted a rotating dome with a stereoscopic rangefinder manufactured by Zeiss, and a FuMO 23 radar. The Directors were connected by armored communication shafts (which withstood all but the direct 15 inch shell hit forward) to the battery plots (Rechenstellen) under the armor deck forward and aft. The foretop command post, under the command of the Gunnery officer (I.A.O.), was above the foremast, at about 90 feeet above sea level. It was equipped with a 32 ft. base rangefinder (Basisgerät BG) with a maximum 50 times magnification, and had a visual field of 360º. The forward battery plot was incorporated in the base of to the forward conning tower whose armor protected it but it's and had a 21 ft base rangefinder was destroyed. The after Battery Plot had a 32 ft base rangefinder of similar characteristics as the one in the foretop.
Each of the three main battery turrets ("Anton", "Bruno",and "Cäsar" ) was also equipped with a 32 ft. base rangefinders. In case all three Directors were put out of action in battle, the turrets could track and fire locally. However, the chances of scoring a hit with each battery firing on its own were obviously less than under a centralized command. The central turrets of the secondary battery also had their own 19 ft. base rangefinder.
The anti-aircraft fire was directed from four Directors of the type SL-8, each equipped with a 12 ft. Rangefinder. Two of these Directors, covered by spherical cupolas (Wackeltopf), were on either side of the foremast, and the other two uncovered directors amidships aft.
Additionally, there were also two 12 ft night rangefinders on both sides of the Admiral's bridge. In short, Renown's main battery hits did a lot of damage but Gneisenau's superbly trained crew and exceptional redundancy paid great dividends as she closed with WS-12.
Vizeadmiral Cilax also made excellent use of his Flag ship's hydrophones. This passive underwater listening system allowed Him to track WS-12 at a very long range without the Royal navy escorts knowing he was approaching. The Germans called these installations Gruppenhorchgerät (GHG), and consisted of two panels of 60 microphones, one on each side of the ship's hull. The maximum effective range was over 20 miles depending on conditions such as water conductivity and background noise. The deep cold waters of the North Atlantic under favourable conditions, bearings with an accuracy of 1 degree could be expected at speeds of 30 knots from a distance of 20 miles. He was able to close WS-12 in EMCON B, no radar, radio or active sonar transmisions were allowed during the approach.
This approach was only made possible by the intense rain, high winds and low lying cloud base that made aerial recon both suicidal, (the loss of three aircraft and crews proved that), and ineffective. Somerville was counting on his radars but the same storm conditions and the pounding had taken during the last engagement with TG Cilax, including the blast from his own guns, rendered them far less effective than he would have liked.
Transferring all 660 lb 11 inch shells from wrecked Anton and Bruno magazines to the after battery magazines of Cäsar was a back breaking job. Those 11 inch rounds had to be moved by hand truck and that had caused more than a few hernias, smashed feet and severed fingers.
These 11 inch main battery rounds used a "fore charge" weighing 91.5 lbs in a silk bag and a "main charge" weighing only 170.2 lbs. was in a brass cartridge . The cartridge helped to seal the gun breech. Fore and Main charges were rammed together. Moving the propelleant was much easier on the crew.
Waiting for TG Cilax was HMS Renown and the close escort of WS-12 now under Somerville's tactical command.
HMS Devonshire pennant # 39, County-class CA 3 stacks London sub-class with 4 twin 8-inch Mk VIII, 4 ×single QF 4-inch Mk V AA , and 4 single 40 mm AAGuns. She also mounted 2 quad 21 inch torp tubes and had an Armor Belt: 1 in, Decks: 1.5 in, Barbettes,Turrets, Bulkheads 1 in and Magazines 2–4.4 in. She was Type 281 Air-warning and Type 272 Surface Warning radars and aerial scout.
HMS Argus "Hat Box" CV pennant # I49 Commissioned 16 Sept 1918 partially modernised 1938, Speed 20 kts. Armament 4 4 in AA 2 surface only 4-inch Radar Type 281 Air-warning Type 272 Surface Warning Aircraft 15–18 now 3 Sea Hurricanes and 5 Fulmars.
HMS Cairo CLAA pennant # D87 Commissioned 23 1919, Converted to Anti-Aircraft cruiser at Chatham dockyard in 1938. Speed 29 kts, Type 280 Air-warning / AA control and Type 272 Surface Warning radars. Armament 10 single mount 4 inch high angle (HA) guns and two eight-barreled 2-pounder "pom-pom" mounts. Armor 3 in side (amidships), 2+1⁄4–1+1⁄2in side (bows), 2in side (stern), 1in upper decks (amidships) and 1in deck over rudder
HMS CATHAY Pennant # F 05 Armed Merchant Cruiser AMC, formerly passenger ship London15,225 BRT Armament: 8 6inch and 2 3 in AA guns. Speed17 kts Radar Type 272 Surface Warning
HMS Agamemnon Pennant # M10 type Auxiliary Minelayer AML, formerly MV Agamemnon cargo liner requisitioned by the Royal Navy in early 1940. Speed 16 kts Armament 3 QF 4 in MkV, 2 QF 2-pounder, 4 Oerlikon 20 mm 4 × 0.5 in Mgs and 542 mines (she was only carrying 210 now).
HMS SIKH Pennant # F82 and HMS Blackney Tribal-class DD, commissioned 1938. Speed 36 kts Sensors ASDIC Type 124 Retractable head with a range recorder, Type 272 Surface Warning Radar. Armament 4 twin 4.7 in, 1 quad 40 mm AA, 2 quad 0.5 in AA MGS, 1 quad 21 in torpedo tube, only 20 depth charges, 1 rack, 2 throwers
HMS Witch Pennant # D89, HMS Whitehall D94and HMS Radsworth Modified W-class DD Commissioned 1924 Speed 34 kt Armament 4 BL 4.7 in Mk.I, 2 QF Mk.II "pom-pom" 40 mm AA, 6 21-inch Torpedo Tubes, 20 depth charges, 1 rack, 2 throwers. Sensors Type Type 127 ASDIC, Type 286M Air Warning & Type 271 Surface search radars fitted 1940.
HMS Bradford, HMS Stanley, HMS Brighton, HMS Lancaster and HMS Newark Town class former USN DD Commissioned 1919/21 Speed 35kts. Armament 3 4in/ 50, 2 3in AA gun Six 21in torpedoes in two triple mountings,Two depth charge tracks, One Y-Gun depth charge projector. Type 141 ASDIC, No dome, American QCJ/QCL, modified with British range and bearing recorders, Type 272 Surface Warning radar and high frequency direction finding (HF/DF or "Huff Duff").
HMCS Assiniboine River class DD Commissioned1939. Speed 35 knots Armament 4 single 4.7 in, 2 single 40 mm, 1 QF three-inch AA,1 quad 21 in torpedo tubes, 2 DC racks and 6 throwers for a pattern of 10 depth charges, with stowage increased to 70 charges. SENSORS ASDIC Type 124 Retractable HEAD with a range recorder , Type 79 Air Warning and Type 272 Surface Warning Radars amd upgrades high frequency direction finding (HF/DF or "Huff Duff").
HMCS Saguenay A class DD Commissioned 1931 Speed 35 knots Armament 4 single surface only 4.7 in, 2 single 2 40 mm AA, 2 quad 21 in torpedo tubes 1 DC rail 33 charges.
Vizeadmiral Cilax thought "I just have to get by that old relic Renown. One solid 3 gun salvo of 11 inch hits fron Casar may not sink her but it should take her out of the figjht long enough for his needs. He still thought his odds good to sink or damage close escorts with Casar, his 10 remaining 5.9s and 8 operational 4.1 inch guns .
5 JUNE 0435 Gneisenau,was now doing 24 kts and she still had, according to her Chief engineer a couple more up his sleeve if need. She was hunting for WS-12 and haopping Renown had suffered more than minor damage because Vizeadmiral Cilax was determined to take her on with his one remaining 11 inch turret if she stood in his way.
Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbandt C.O. of Gneisenau informed the Vizeadmiral his hydrophones had picked up a large, 4 propeller ship bearing 220 true. The Ober-maat (CPO) confirmed the operator had a definite contact and it was a large ship with four shafts at a speed of 12 kts. We hold nothing on the FuMO
(Fuunk-Mess-ORadar Seetakt 23). Our senior Communications Stabsfeldwebel (Chief Warrant Officer ) is working on the FuMO 23 now. In can have it operating in 15 minutes if you wish sir"
Vizeadmiral Cilax that sound contact sounds like Renown to me and it appears she is damaged from that 12 kt speed. If she were hunting us she would be going fatsre than that. Captain sound action stations. It is my intension to close with that contact , maneuver to unmask Casar and take it under rapid fire as soon as we have a firing solution by Radar, sound or night optics. I intend to continue to close the reange until our are 5.9s are scoring hits also. We must hit Renown first and continue until she is no longer a threat to our primary commerce raing mission; the total destruction of WS-12.
5 JUNE 0450 Acting captain of HMS Sheffield Sir Edmund Blackadder was in the main transmitting station (main battery plot ) observing the large contact held on the surface search radar. The large contact was 19 miles away and coming on fast. His guns maximum effective range was 12 miles but if that was Gniesnau Shiny was in range now. The Gun Buster LCDR Baldrick was with him as he watched his fire control team work the firing solution for her main battery turrets. The dmaged X turret was now operational with a replacement gun crew and wood patches over her the largest of her shell holes keeping the weather out. How long that turret would stay in action once her twin six inchers started pounding away was anyone's guess.
Gun Buster Baldrick's twelve BL 6 inch Mk XXIII rifles could hurle 112 pound HE shells at 2,760 feet per second at 8 rounds per minute per barrel or 96 rounds a minute per salvo. That was alot of for any ship to obsorb even a Battle cruiser. His plan was to keep all turrets firing at maximum rate until the Nazi's ran or Shiny was sunk. How long the gun crews could keep that up in battle was anyone's guess with "gallons" of adrenalin pumping he would bet it would be long enough. However, the gunnery regulations stated rapid fire should only be maintained for 10 minutes without a break to cool the barrels liners, preferably with fire hoses. If no break was possible then a sustained fire of 5 rounds per minute was neccessary to keep from damaging the guns and killing the crews with a breach explosion. He would keep them at rapid fire as long as it took. If they survived, success has many friends, if they lost he would not be around anyway.
5 JUNE 0530 Vizeadmiral Cilax and Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbandt C.O. of Gneisenau still out of sight even by the fire control director optics. If this was not Renown they were well within range of Renown's 15 inch rifles. The radar was still down. The first salvo from Sheffield fell short. 12 water spouts, convinced him this was a cruiser not a Battle Cruiser. The second salvo was over and the third peppered Gneisenau's upper decks wrecking two 5.9s.
In Sheffield's main transmitting station Gun Buster LCDR Baldrick ordered rapid fire and the turrets. Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbandt ordered a course change that would unmask Casa's 11 inch rifles and laid them on the bearing of the shell splashes. Gneisenau's armor protected the most imporatant parts of his ship from what he now thought were 6 inch fire. He then ordered his engineers to give him every knot they had. Casa was hit by 4 rounds of the 4th salvo and another six shells hit and tore up the ship, causing much damage but nothing vital.
At 9 miles the range finder locked on the cruiser and the main battery turret fired it's first salvo which overshot their target. The fifth cruiser salvo peppered Casa with no effect. The second 11 inch salvo hit close aboard Sheffield, still over. The sixth crusier salvo hit Casa and the belt. Still not penetrating but one destroyed the optics of the director. His well trained gunners switch to the secondary fire control director and fired her 3rd salvo. This one was short, over corrected and was answered by the cruisers seventh salvo which hell close aboard. The entire ship shook and the hastily repaired engineering plant began to loose speed as the main steam feed line was shocked into multiple minor steam leaks. The cruiser's 8th salvo hit Casa with 4 rounds detonating on the face plate just as the 4th battle cruiser salvo left the barrels and disabled the starboard gun barrel. The cruiser fired salvo 9, 10 and eleven. Casa returned fire and the entire gun house spouted fire from every openeing. The entire turret crew was killed insatntly. Now all they had left were her remaining 5.9s and Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbandt ordered an emergency turn to bring the unengaged starboard 5.9s which were firing rapdly but the drastic turn had thrown off the aim. Sheffield fired salvoes 12, 13, and 14 at 15,000 yds that knocked out a quarter of the starboard side 5.9s.
Vizeadmiral Cilax ordered an immediate turn away at best possible speed now down to 20 knots that was rapidly opening the range. Sheffield's 12 knots could not match the Battle cruisers 20. Salvo 15 and 16 still scored hits but 17, 18 and 19 were ragged and 20 fell short.
Sheffield's B turret suffered a breach explosion at salvo 18 that wiped out most of the gun crew.
Fortuneatley Gun Buster Baldrick's inistance on strict adhereance to gunnery regs ensured the flashproof doors and scuttles did their job and the flash did not penetrate the magazines. Shiny had a lot of splinter damage, numerous small fires and her engineering plant was shaken badly but only minor leaks which still challenged her pumps were suffered. It was now up to Shiny's DC and fire parties to save the ship.
CPO Sharky and his mates had made this survival possible. It was thanks to his ability to reapir Sheffield's radars that saved them this day. Both Sir Edmund and the Gun Buster looked at each other and then both looked at CPO Sharkey and just smiled. That man would be rewarded by a warrant.
5 JUNE 0700 a signal was recieved from BdU with a recall order. The Fuher had gone into a just short of hysterical vile, filth filled, threatening rant when he heard of the decimation of Vizeadmiral Cilax's command. He was raving about the cowardly loss of the Admiral Graf Spee and now the Scharnhorst and the almost certain sinking of Gneisenau. He eventually calmed down enough to say "Call Cilax back now. You fools will waste my entire Battle fleet at this rate." When he was in this state noone in his right mind would argue with him. Better to let him tire, as he soon would, and drop into one of his still rare brooding stupors and with the aid of a sedative sleep for a few hours. Just maybe when he awakened he would be so spent that he would listen to reason, but not now.
5 JUNE 0745 Vizeadmiral Cilax, after reading the signal from BdU over twice ordered thKapitän zur See Harald Netzbandt to come to ring up best speed and make for the Spanish coast. He then said to all in hearing with a strange smile on his face, "Meine tapferen Schiffskameraden ( My brave shipmates) we are ordered home to a heroes welcome from our beloved Fuher."
Now, he sat in his cabin smoking a good cuban cigar and sipping at a snifter of very expensive Cognac. He had the flimsy of the recall order on his side table. It had been worded with a lot more tact than BdU was noted for. However, it could not hide the fact he was going home in disgrace to face a very hostile board of enquiry, if not outright court martial. Those Nazi bastards would see he paid a very high price for the loss of Scharnhorst, Hipper and the failure to sink WS-12. His Schiffskameraden at (shipmates) at BdU would be all too eager to distance themselves from him; no help there. When he finished the cigar, he tossed down a full snifter of the excellent cognac, straitened out his uniform, jacked the slide, placed the muzzle of his Walther P38 9 mm semi-automatic pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger. The expected shot was heard by his aide in the next compartment
WS-12 might have been spared a visit by TG Cilax but BdU had long ago stationed another Ruder (wolf Pack) of his beloved U-boats in poistion to savage that convoy. These Grey wolves were lead by one of his most effective and ruthless Officers, one of his Alfa Wolves. They were to clean up the dispersed transport survivors after TG Cilax had taken out most of the escorts and as many of the troopers as possible with the limitted amount time available. TG Cilax had to clear this flaming datum very, very fast this close to the British isles. Now his ever hungry "nephews", his U-boat men called him "Onkel Karl" (Uncle Karl), would do the job themslves. In the end, WS-12 would be a pale wreck of what left the UK. Maybe, just maybe, one of his U-Boats woud sink "Des Teufel" (The Devil) Renown. Would not that be a welcome gift for the Fuher?"
5 JUNE 0800 RN HQ Bunker London.
Vice Admiral Ramsay "I relieve you sir Alfred"
The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound
"I stand relieved"
The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff,Vice Admiral Ramsay " All standing orders will stay in effect until such time as I formerly rescind them.
We will all get to know each other soon but for now we have a great deal of work to do. DismissedAdmiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound quietly and quickly quit the bunker.
"Last thing Bertie needs is for me to hang around", he thought as he returned the Royal Marine's salute at the street level, trademen's entrance.
6 JUNE 1030 Captain Ching Lee was in a very good mood. The night shoot had come off without a single screw up. North Carolina BB-55's night gunnery was as good as it had been after their last prolonged target practice and that said a lot. His Gun Boss and his cannon cockers were really on the top of their game. All the training and newly developped tracking and firing techniques he had introduced were paying off. Even the Sea Going Bell Hops in mount 52 managed not to disgrace themselves. GM2c had a lot to do with that. Ernie had, where senior Gms had failed corrected a number of intermittant problems that had plagued that 5"38 mount since before commissioning. That was why Mt 52 had been assigned to the Marines. Looks like Brute Krulock and his enforcer, 1st Sgt Carlo Morano, had no valid reason for terrorizing the marine gun crews this time. He was sure those two sadists would soon find some other fault with their men.
Lee would have advanced Ernie to GM1c before but the fight with Fireman 2nd Kevin Madrick, especially what he did to the MAA force put that idea on hold. Truth to tell the way Ernie had conducted himself after his Captain's mast "Award" did him great credit.
He had performed his duties with even greater dedication and skill than before his Mast. That convinced Lee Ernie was not only a very skilled GM but he had the maturity that Lee demanded of his senior PO's; an absolute neccessity for an enlisted leader. With 7 or 8 more years of Peace time service, or a hell of a lot less in wartime, he'd make a good Chief and maybe even a warrant Gunner. That is the point; he would advance Ermes Effron Borgnino to GM1c today.
While he was at it there were a few more enlisted that deserved advancement; might as well bump them all up today. One of them was a real surprise. Fireman 2nd Kevin Madrick, one of BB-55's older wild men and real pain in his ass, seemed to be in one of his 4.0 Sailor periods. The man had real skill as an electrician and he also had very good leadership skills, when he felt like displaying them. His DIVO and and his division Chief both recommended him for advancement to EM3c. He'd been there before and had once even been a submarine qualifed EM1c. He had shown himself to be a real asset to the ship.
The last time that had lasted all of two months, granted mostly underway. A drunken liberty run to an off limits dive in which a hooker and her pimp tried to roll him ended that. It did not help that Madrick put both, the now naked and worse for ware, Hooker and her pimp in the hospital. The fact Madrick and two of his, badass, stewed to the gills, shipmates had wrecked the bar and tried to assault a couple of veteran police officers ( who put them down the drunks with a few swings of their sawed off axe handle clubs) did not make things any better.
What the hell, if after he put the fear of God in them, Madrick's Divo and Chief still think they can control him he'd give him back his crow. If it were not against naval uniform regs he'd order Madrick to put on the crow with a zipper. Lee had a great respect for his young "Wild men" when things got really bad, they came through. Too bad they got bored so easily.
BEGIN PART 14
3 JUNE 1941 1900 S-13 now SS-118 (AKA to her crew among themselves as SS FORD for Fix Or Reapir Daily) based at Guantanamo Bay Cuba was cruising on the surface at 10 kts. She had just come up for her nightly battery charge, "AIR renewal", cigarette breaks, trash disposal and to copy the Fox Sched and any other signals meant for her.
King's high priority message to be on the lookout for was noted by the CO, communicated to his officers and the COB and included in his night order book. He imediately told his OOD they were looking for a Venezeulan Tanker named PSS Cabello, that had gone missing a few days ago in their patrol area. The boat would stay on the surface, where he would be able to cover more ocean, at a better speed and a much longer visual horizon. He would also be in radio comms and pick up any aplifying messages about PSS Cabello that would allow him to fine tune the search for the tanker.
It would take her about 8 hours for a full charge. Those old batteries really needed replacing but "S Boats" were the red haired adopted children of SubLant. Most thought about all they were good for was training these days and, unknown to the skipper of the old "FORD", they would be proved wrong before not too much longer.
S-13's CO, Lt. Peter "Cowboy" Holt USNA class of 1938 had a love/hate relationship with his command. He had the pride of a first time CO and the utter loathing for this antique rust bucket that had tried to kill him and his men more than once and more than twice.
Thank God for his COB, Chiefs and PO-1s. They held FORD together with bailing wire and chewing gum.
S-13 was of group II S-3 class, or "Navy Yard" type, built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. Commissioned 14 July 1923, Decommissioned 30 September 1936 and recommissioned 28 October 1940.
Her Displacement was 876 tons surfaced; 1,092 tons submerged. She had a length of 231 feet, Beam of 21 feet 9 inches, Draft of 13 feet 4 inches. Propulsion was 2 Busch-Sulzer diesels each of 1,000 SHP , 2 Westinghouse electric motors rach of 600 hp, 120-cell Exide battery and two shafts. S-13s surfaced Speed was15 knots, submerged was 11 knots but not for long.
Her 148 tons of deisel oil gave S-13 a range of 5,000 nautical miles at 10 knots surfaced. Test depth: 200 although aside from about 4 mandatory test dives, it was prudent to not exceed 175 feet.
Armament was still as built back in 1923 of 4 21 in bow torpedo tubes and one aft with a loadout of 14 torpedoes. The loadout this patrol was 12 MK-10s and 2 of the new MK-14s. She mounted One 4 inch 50 cal surface only deck gun and a couple of pintal mounted dual purpose M-2 heavy machine guns. She was crewed by 42 officers and men.
She did not yet have radar but her underwater search gear was state of the art. S-13/SS -118/USS FORD was equipped with the model JT idirectional listening system designed to detect, identify, and locate sources of both sonic and ultrasonic sounds. It is designed to use the JP (Active sionar sonic equipment and has a super-sonic converter so that ultrasonic as well as sonic sounds can be amplified by the JP amplifier. In addition, it has a more directional hydrophone than the JP hydrophone and has a right-left indicator (RLI) for taking bearings on sonic sounds with greater accuracy than is possible with the tuning-eye indicator of the JP equipment. An interphone-amplifier unit permits "talkback" between the forward torpedo room-in which the JT system is mounted-and the conning tower.
3 JUNE 1941 0020 two of, now sinking Fury's torpedoes hit Hipper in the main machinery spaces leaving the heavy cruiser DIW and without electrical power. Guns firing under local control. Many casualties.
3 JUNE 1941 2030 USCG Lcdr Jones’ OIC of Code and Sypher Branch Sypher Branch “Unit 387” sat at his desk drinking his now cold black coffee. He was thinking about what Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman had said about TG Brinkman might be looking for new hunting grounds.
He called Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman at home and asked her to come into the office. Elizabeth did not ask why, this was all too much of her life with “Unit 387” and she would have it no other way. She simply said I'll be there is twenty five minutes. Is this going to be an all nighter sir?
Lcdr Jones, "I'm afraid it most likely is".
She grabbed her "togo" bag packed for such overnight and sometimes many days at the Atlantic Ave CG Base in Boston stints. She just knew they were going after Bismarck and she wanted that Nazi battleship sunk very, very badly.
3 JUNE 1941 2115 Lcdr Jones appraised Cryptologist Feldman of his deduction. She agreed it was certainly possible if ,BIG IF, TG Brinkman could make the transit south undetected.
Feldman making a few quick calculations said to her CO "Sir the raiders last positions were days old, Bismarck on the morning of 31 May and Prinse Eugen on the evening of 28 May, that's almost a week. At 25 knots they could cover 3600 nautical miles and could have been in Oranjestad a few days ago.”
Lcdr Jones said patiently (he needed her thinking not pissed off at him) "I know the math. Brinkman could be anywhere within 11,300 square miles except we can reduce that thoretical area by a lot. Bismarck could go west and run into the heaviest cocentartion of the USN Nuetrality patrol, especially PatWing 5's PBYs. She can't go north becausse TG-39 is running air patrols as they head South to stop TG Brinkmann from slautering tankers coming up from Venezeula and the caribbean. The Nazi's could run East but then the RAF and RN would stand a good chance of finally making contact again.
So I'd say South is a pretty good bet especially if he can refuel. So, my guess hinges on Cabello. If Britain's fuel supply is the strategic target then destroying Aruba's two refineries is a great target. What do you think?" Jones greatly valued Feldman's views of his theories. Just saying them outloud to her helped him refine those theories.
Cryptologist Feldman "We're not at war so he can't go after US mainland refineries, and even if he was crazy enough to try he might get one. Then his entire TG would be dead within hours and Churchill would get what he and FDR need to ensure Hitler looses; early US declaration of war. I still think it's tankers Bismarck is after and why not intercept them at a known choke point like those refineries."
All really good cryptologists were superb mathematicians. They also had the skills, so valued in intelligance analysts, especially to identify and remember odd bits of info that when reviewed alongside other seemingly worthless information began to establish a pattern. Few of the cryptologists were privy to enough information to fit these patterns into tactical or strategic ongoing operations. Feldman was an exception to that rule. That was left to ONI and to the their seniors, like LCDR Jones. Jones had a foot in both organizations and was in the ideal position to evlaute what was going on in the enemy camp.
Not too long ago he had seen copies of low level reports of the Venezeulan national police on the acivities of "Grupo Regional de Venezuela del Partido Nazi" to infiltrate officers and seaman into the crews of C.A. de Navegación Fluvial y Costanera de Venezuela, Puerto Cabello tanker fleet. The assistant junior Naval aide in the Port of La Guaira Consulate, had been coopted by a young, attractive Venezeulan national police agent. He had mentioned something about gathering quite useless information on the current state of Aruba's harbors and two oil refineries from sympathetic crewmen of C.A. de Navegación Fluvial y Costanera de Venezuela, Puerto Cabello tanker fleet. It meant he spent a lot of time drinking in local sailor's dives and forcing down the horrible rot gut wine with drunken masters, mates and engineering officers who had recently delivered crude to those refineries. ONI analysts had concluded this was to support the U-boat war against allied comerce, especiallty tankers.
He still could NOT break the thought it was not the tankers but the refineries themselves that TG Brinkmann was now after.
Jones "Ok tonight you and I are going to compose an intel analysis supporting the theory that TG Brinkmann is about to attack the two refineries on Aruba. I'll need you to assmble whatever intercepts and other intel that supports that hypothesis. I've got a lot of it here now but it desprately needs your evaluation and opinion of it's worth. Natuarally, I think it holds together but the secnd opinion of someone I trust is essential before I take this up the line. I think those Nazi butchers are ready to strike and it might well be too late.
I will work on a draft executive summary and final recommendations. We'll combine your stuff with mine and see if it holds up well enough to present it to Commandant First CG District here in Boston. I know for a fact he thinks one of the weaknesses of Nazi's is their driven to constantly prove their superiority. Destroying those refiners would validate their opinion of themselvess. He also has the ear of Ernie King and if he believes us he can get CinCLant Fleet to do somthing to protect Aruba, if only warn the Brits.
4 JUNE 1941 0550 "1CGDist" was an early riser who was usually in work by 0530 who reviewed the night's activities as he drank his 2nd cup of coffee. There was an entry, dated 0300 in the night's log that Lcdr Jones’ OIC of Code and Sypher Branch“Unit 387” had requested an urgent meeting to review the latest analysis of enemy intensions. He picked up his phone at 0550 and called “Unit 387”, which was housed in the basement where all spies and other such essentail but disreutable skallywags belonged. The duty watch PO answered the phone.
1CGDist identified himself and said "Inform your CO that I expect him and his analysis in my office at 0600.
4 JUNE 1941 0700 USCG Lcdr Jones’ OIC of Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387” and his senior Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman sat on the sofa in Commandant First CG District office on Atlantic Ave Boston. They had spent the last hour going over their analysis of TG Brinkmann's next moves. "1CGDist" had listened intently, asked a few very pointed questions, challenged the analysis because of the lack of solid sighting reports and the fact he did not think the Germans stood much of a chance breaking into, and no chance of getting out, of the caribbean without alraming the Brits. He told them he could buy Brinkman going South after tankers but not attacking Aruba. Jones replied. "That is one way to look at it Sir. However, based on what we don't know about the wheerabouts of Bismarck and the fact CincLant , ONI and you have expressed your opinions Brinkmann is heading south to sink tankers, it seems an attack on the refineries is a resonable possibility to me. It is my opinion we should take action to prevent or at least warn Aruba. The ony real defense those refineries have against Bismarck and Prince Eugen's guns are those old B-10s and the underwhelming Buffalo fighters. A few PBYs would be a lot of help."
1CGDist stared at Jones for a long time as he worked though what to do. Time was of the essence. Ernie had a lot on his plate and the last thing he neded was to complicate his efforts to sink Bismarck with this new possibility. He finally made up his mind.
Jones I will partially endorse your analysis. Have it coded and sent to CincLant Fleet intel and ONI high priority as soon as possible. Get me whatever you can to prove or disprove that analysis. I am going out on limb and if we are really wrong we'll both be part of the Greenland Patrol. Maybe I can get command of one of those converted fishing draggers and you will get a weather station in the center of middle of "Nowhere" Greenland."
It was defintely an exageration and they both had a chuckle. Poor Liz thought he was serious and looked pretty dispisritted.
30 minutes later 1CGDist was on the secure line with his old "friend" Ernie King explaining the Analysis he just sent by message.
King, "Is this Jones the same Lcdr that got us that good convoy intel not long ago?"
1CGDist , " Same one"
King, "You endorsed this right?"
1CGDist, No sir, not completely. I buy Brinkmann going south to sink tankers at their source. I do not buy attack Aruba. That's the Caribbean. We own the surface and air. No way Bismarck is going in there, no matter how good the target is.
King, "I agree with you but had you considered an attack by one of their big Nines? Both those refineries are right on the coast as are their tank farms. If the Nazi bastards surface in shore their 4.1 deck gun could erally do some damage to oil refineries. Damn things might go up like a bonfire. Jones is onto something and I will do something about it. Not sure just what.
1CGDist, "Come to think of it Sir there are other refineries down south that don't require going into the Caribbean."
King, "This really pisses me off. I have absolutely nothing I can get to Aruba in time to do any real good. What I can do is stretch the ABC-1 agreement again and warn the Limey's of this possibility. They can warn Aruba of the possibility which will do some good, but not much. Problem is the Limeys have less than I do anywhere near Aruba. I'll be on the horn with Hewitt as soon as we hang up. Well keep me informed if Jones and that code breaking witch, Liz Feldman, I wish we had a dozen like her, come up with anything. "
Ernie King's even temper was operating normally. “He is the most even-tempered person in the United States Navy,” one of his daughters said of him. “He is always in a rage.”
1CGDist, " You'll be the second person to know, right after me."
Truth was 1CGDist, knew cultivating King was the right thing to do. It was all too true Ernie was tough as nails and carried himself ramrod straight; probably had one stuffed up his ass. He was blunt and stand-offish, almost to the point of rudeness until he decided he was dealing with someone of value....to him. It said something about himself that he and King worked very well together. Ernie refused to suffer fools, always handing off those too powerful to snub to his long suffering staff officers. No matter how well they got on professionally they were far from "liberty buddies". Ernie was tough but FDR was wrong, he did not shave with a blow torch, he preferred to dry shave with his own rigging knife.
King was on the secure "Horn" to Hewitt right after hanging up on the Coastie. He appraised TG-39 of what Jones and Liz Feldman had come up with. He made sure he identified the source of the analysis. They both agreed TG-39 was doing the right thing and just get on station as soon as possible.
His next call was to PatWing 5 "actual". I am ordering you detach three radar equipped PBY's and their support to Aruba for a while. You can fly in whatever you need to the graded runway KLM Field at Savaneta. They are to establish an immediate round the clock patrol out to 150 miles of Aruba until further notice."
PatWibg 5 Actual "Sir my nearest PBYs are at Gitmo and Trinada but none of those have radar. Our radar birds are all supporting ops a lot further North. I can swap out three from NAS South Weymouth today and they could be in Aruba and operational by end of day 6 June. Will that do?"
King " I want them flying patrols tomorrow Captain Sprague."
Captain Clifton Albert Frederick "Ziggy" Sprague knew better than to argue with God damn Ernie king and replied "Aye, Aye sir."
King sat back lit up a cigarette, the start of his second pack today, and thought "Was that all he could do for now? By God No." He had to contact the Caribbean Defense Command which did not come under CincLantFlt. A call to the CNO generated a call to General Marshall informing him of what Admiral King was doing and the need for imediate Army/Navy coordination and cooperation. Marshall sent an urgent priority message to Caribbean Defense Commander (with the organizational features of a theater of operations), to instruct General Talbot, commanding Trinidad Sector of the Caribbean Defense Command that his units were to provide the navy with their full cooperation in all matters directly concerning the hunt for the Bismarck which intel suggests were going to attack the oil refineries at Aruba and/or Trinidad.
General Talbot had a very tough job. His area of responsibility was the Antilles south of Martinique, the Dutch islands off the Venezuelan coast, together with Venezuela itself and British Guiana, Surinam, and French Guiana and Trinada Tobago and that included not only the base structure but the Army Air Corps as well.
Dealing with the Air Corps was always diffficult. His authority over air operations was limited by the Army Air Corps' Caribbean Regional Air Command. The bounds of authority were not always distinct when dealing with the Air Corps. It was therefore a source of misunderstanding and frustration.
Dealing with the hostile, Vichy controlled French Guiana was another headache complicated by the damn State deppartment. For one thing the local Vichy government played host to a very active and efficient Nazi intelligence unit. A 25 man detachment of the Marinenachrichtendienst (Naval Intelligence Division AKA MAD) operated with impunity. They had the latest Telefunken radio intercept gear. MAD provided the very few U-boats operating inside the island chain of the caribbean sea at this time with invaluable information and other "support". They also ran "agents in Aruba, Surinam, and Trinada Tobago who monitored the progress of his base construction and operations. MADALSO learned a lot of very timely convoy intelligence that was of great value to the U-Boats and raiders hunting in the South Western North Atlantic. BdU valued their intel highly and had provided the latest encription devices and long range radio transcievers to ensure timely and secure communications.
The base structure was the problem; quite frankly most of it did not exist yet and that which did was still under construction. Even the ones that were considered "Operational" were far from completed. He also had a major problem with the troops. They were mostly draftees with a small number of the trained prewar regulars doing their damndest to turn those kids into soldiers and still carry out their mission of protecting the tankers and oil refineries that made his command so important.
4 JUNE 1941 0730 TG Cilax was long gone. HMS Sheffield struck by 11 inch, 8 inch and 5.9 inch shells from Gneisenau and Hipper, was now underway making 12 kts. Multiple fires are now out and the reflash watches, are keeping a close eye on several that are still smoking. With Shiny's bridge was destroyed killing everyone, XO Sir Edmund Blackadder asumed command and not only directed the DC effort from secondary Conn but had made many tours of the various major casualty areas to encourage his men and see for himself just how bad things were.
The CHENG'S (Chief engineer) estimates of 20 minutes to get the plant back on the line but only good for 10 kts, WAS Wildly over confident. Restoration of Full power was not possible. The closer the CHENG examined the plant, the worse it looked The best his Stokers could do was give the old girl 12 kts. Even that required some really tough and dangerous expedients to be employed; things that get people court martialed in peace time and often in war time as well.
The minor flooding became major flooding and the exhausted crew was driven to their tasks by the CPOs and senior POs. It took almost eight hours to restore the water tight integrety to somehthing the pumps could handle. Once the ship was no longer in danger of instant foundering Sir Edmund Blackadder held a short meeting with CHENG, the First LT and his CPOs. The major outcome was set up a watch schedule that would let 1/2 of the remaining crew, many who actually belonged in sick bay or relegated to "light duty", to get some rest. This was in the line of a "No Brainer" as there were too many cases of young men just breaking down physically and mentally exhausted and Officers, chiefs and senior POs making bad and even dangerous sleep deprived decisions.
Toward the end of the battle all Shiny's Radars were down and therefore Lcdr Baldrick ordered director control firing on TG Cilax ships on fire using optical rangefinders. He actually was "Fighting the ship" while Sir Edmund Blackadder was directing the effort to keep her from sinking right out from under Baldrick's gunners. At one point his main battery plot was actually one deck below a flooded area. Only the water tight doors, armored and water tight cable runs and all too brittle now nerve of his men were keeping Shiny in the fight. He thanked God he did not have to resort to the Webley he carried hidden in a shoulder holster under his jacket.
Somerville could spare Sheffield no escorts so she was making her way North West to a rendevous with a 16 kt, 2,750 ihp early Flower class Corvett Primrose and the 16 kt, 3,000 ihp Norwegion manned Ocean going Tug Hafgufa. Hafgufa could tow Shiny at 10 to 12 kts.
Primrose could tow at 8 kts but given the U-boat and Lufwaffe it was deemed more prudent for her to act in her escort role. She had a veteran Battle of the Atlantic skipper and crew who knew the ASW business well. The least said about her anti aircraft capablities the better because they were limitted to 2 twin Vickers .50 machine guns and 2 twin .303-inch Lewis machine guns. Only fire control was the MK-1 Eyeballs of the gunner.
Coatsal command would provide aerial support when available.
The odds of her making it to Southhampton were not considered good but the closer they got to the port the more help Coatsal command could provide.
4 JUNE 1941 0800 Norfolk and 1300 in fleet HQ bunker London. On his last day as The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound was in his office in the bunker with his "shadow" soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay. They had, as usual, worked through their horid noon meal (today it was Herrings "in" sandwiches), when the Staff watch Intel officer knocked and entered. The rather old Lcdr, a retiree brought back into harness in Oct'39, and said. "Signal from CinC American Atlantic Fleet via ABC-1. Eyes only for you Sir Alfred."
Pound took the envelope and read King's carefully worded warning about Trinidad Trinidad Aruba Tobago Tobago. King as CincLant Fleet informed the US ABC-1 representative that he has ordered, with CNO Stark'e approval , ONI to keep us appraised of anyhthing that they get about TG Brinkmann as soon as they get it.
"No reply." was all Pound said. Being no fool and coming from a long line of RN officers, one was executed by his own marines on his own deck, Staff watch Intel officer John Byng quickly departed.
Pound, "Well Bertie it seems that "the Cousins" have developped a theory our friend Brinkmann is heading for Trinidad Tobago or Aruba , not only to sink tankers but to destroy the rifiners. This is from "Jesus Christ" Ernest King himself so I fear we have to take it seriously.
The more you get to know that man, the more you will get to hate him but he does know his job and he is not stupid. Did you know he absolutely despises we "Limeys" and is cnvinced we are out to sodomize the USA so we can keep the empire? I was told by one of his former shipmates, he hates us because of his Irish heritage. It seems even after emigatring to America, King's family keeps alight a burning hatred for we "English".
No matter. He is sending three Catalina's and their support crews to Aruba today to bolster the air patrols of the area. The Queen Willimeter's Dutch government granted permission as soon as the Americans asked. Those rifineries and bauxite mines in Surinam are very valuable assets to the Neatherlands government in exile because they are the source of a lot of their funding at present. They are also very valuable to us as you know all too well. Destroying them will mean a large portion of Venezuelan crude has to go to America for refining. The Venezeulan refineries can only handle about 20% of their crude.
Now the question is what do we have close enough to Trinidad Tobago to provide meaningful aid in the next few days? I'm afraid the answer is nothing.
One of the facts of life you will have to live with in this thankless job is that we are stretched far too thin as you now know. Everything is balanced on a knife blade edge and you will spend a lot of time telling bright, aggressive senior officers and our Lord and Master Mr. Churchill NO to very good ideas because we just do not have the resources. Even those operations that are neccessary will cause you sleepless nights because you know the means you are providing are the bare minimum for the job. I'm afraid margins for bad luck or anything else just are not available. We desperately need the Americans in this war with us and we need them yesterday Bertie."
Soon to be The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ramsay thought and not for the first or hundred time "How did I so anger the lord that he would senetnce me to this fucking Job? This job broke Pound and he is a better admiral and man than I am. All I really have to look forward to with any joy is the fact, at the rate things are going wrong now, I will not be in it long. Maybe Winston will be kind to me and put me in command of a "Stone frigate" somewhere in the wilds of Scotland where the fishing is good, the whiskey is not rationed and the "lassies" are willing and discrete? Mrs. Ramsay is not a tolerant woman."
4 JUNE 1941 0830 The signal was hauled down executing today's live fire gunnery practice. USS North Carolina BB-55 responded imediately although both signal men were on the same ship. Aboard BB-55 the XO commander Stryker, the Gun & Ops Bosses along with the 1st LT, BMC with 3rd division, GM2c Borgnino USN (AKA Ernie Borgnine) with his gang had rigged two of the target sleds and passed them, to USS Kearny DD-432, Gleaves-class that would be doing the towing today.
The TC was manned and ready LT. Tolley and CRM O'Shea had made sure the radar and comms were all functioning. The Gun Boss and his GMCFC had peaked the firecontrol, main and secondary battery for today's shoot. The Mud Maroons" in 5"38 mount 52 were anxious to prove they were the best DP mount on the ship.
4 JUNE 1941 1030 The daylight shoot went well as far as CRM O'Shea could tell; no one had hit the target towing Can. Lee was not as pleased as the CRM. It took his gunners too long to get on target. They were on the sled well within the peace time standards. However, minutes and maybe even seconds would count when they were up against Bismarck. "XO we will have another shoot at 1330. get the gun team in here at 1100. There are a few things I want to talk to them about."
Next he picked up the TBS handset "King" this is Nan Charlie. What is the status of my sled?"
CO Kearny " My carpenter's mate and his crew are rebuilding the target now. The float had some shell splinter holes but we have already patched them. She should be good for another run in about an hour Sir."
Lee " Good. We will commence our next firing run at 1400. You will have to get the sled back in action before 2300 for the night shoot. Make sure you hang radar reflectors on it."
CO Kearny "Interogative radio reflectors sir?"
Lee " I say again RADAR reflectors. Have one of your machinest mates rig up a couple of 18 inch sheet metal plates set at right angles and hang them from the top of the sled's superstructure. That wil give my fire control radar something to line up on besides King."
CO Kearny "Will do sir. Request permission to double the length of target's tow line?"
Lee "Permission granted. Out" CO Kearny was sure he heard the old bastard laughing as he signed off.
5 JUNE 1941 0330 Lee picked up the TBS "King this is Nan Charlie convey a well done to your crew from me. Ten firing runs and you were right where I wanted you on every run Commander. That took some real sailorman ship handling."
Co Keraney "Will do sir."
Lee "Keep this up and I will be calling on you for all my target towing, you'll like that right? Out" CO Kearney heard the same evil laugh again.
5 JUNE 1941 1900 Both of TG Cilax's type 1936A destroyers Z23 and Z25 had evaded Force H aerial scouts due to their high speed run and were now making a max fuel conserivng two boiler operations of 20 kts. They were all that was left of 8 Zerstörerflottile (8th Destroyer Flotilla), now Commanded by Z23's 29 year old Korvettenkapitän Wolfgang Becker. His crew nicknamed their fine new destroyer "Werwölfe“, after their much respected and sometimes feared but always scrupulously fair CO. His tactical brilliance and superb seamanship had saved them at that basket screw off Narvik against that “Gott verdammt Englander devil ship“ Renown and that counted for a lot. He and and about one third of them had been together since commissioning and had formed a bond of muttual respect. Truth to tell, Becker cared very much for his men and hated the fact his stern duty required risking their lives.
Those Sea Hurricanes and Fulmars had literally decimated his 350 man crew. He had buried 35 good men and he had another 45 wounded. That left "Werwölfe“, short handed but thanks to his rigorrous and thorogh training of his crew with casualties in mind he still had enough watch officers, CPOs and senior PO‘s to run his ship.
It was a miracle his Wasserbombes had not blown the stern of his ship off. The 300 LB high explosive filled Mülleimers (trash barrels) had been riddled with .303 fire. He had them dumped over side imediately after the attack. Now both his repaired launchers were reloaded with undamaged Wasserbombes. His excellent "Werwölfes“ S-Gerät active sonar and GHG passive sets along with their very skilled operators had survived intact. The GHG could ,under good conditions, detect enemy ships at ranges up to 50 miles and would to some extent compensate for their lack of radar.
His main and secondary DP battery along with his gun and fire control crews had sufferd crippling losses. All he had left were one, riddled but still functional mount Anton, of his 4 single 5.9 in guns, 2 of his five single 20 mm AA guns both on the port side, the port side of his two liberally punctured but still functional quad 21 in torpedo tubes without a single Ael to reload and 2 of his 4 × depth charge launchers; both on the port side. Z-23 had taken the brunt of the strafing runs on her starboard side. He was the lone survivor of those on starboard bridge wing during the strafing runs. All he had to show for it was a scalp and face pock marked with slight splinter wounds that bled as if he were seriously wounding when infact he was not incapacitated in any way. The Tommy lead had not done much to improve his looks but it did miss his eyes so he had little to complain about.
There was nothing he could do about the loss of his very valuable FuMB radar detection receiver. It often detected, gave a precise bearing and, depending on the skill of the operator, a rough but useable range estimate long before the enemy radar detected Z-23. It‘s antenna along with it‘s bridge mounted,reciever, his skilled operator Oberster Unteroffizier Karl Schuster, and his apprentice Johnny Voigt had been riddled with machine gun fire. He would have to rely on his sonar and GHG passive hyrophone array.
The black gang had been very very lucky and was still at close to full compliment. Although Z23 and Z25 had their topsides along with the men stationed their thoroughy devestate the engineeriong plant was undamaged. They had rigged emergency substitutes that were doing the job as well as could be expected. He also had been forced to transfer some of his engineers to absolutely essentail topside duties. One of which was to relieve the deck sailors so they could get some sleep. No one including the Deck Apes were happy with this temporary arrangement.
He had decided to make for the Spanish Coast as quickly as p[ossible. That would open the range from Force H and any patrols from southern England. He was absolutely determined to reach the French port Hendaye in southwestern France's Nouvelle-Aquitaine region without further loss to "Werwölfe“. He was quite sure Franco, while preaching to anyone who would listen Spain‘s absolute nuetrality ...would cooperate. Somehow the Armada and Ejército del Aire, or EdA (Spanish Air Force) would fail to notice his two ships as they sped along within Spanish territorial waters. Those waters were jealously guarded against allied intrusion by Spanish naval and air units (equipped with modern Greman aircraft).
Z-25 was in better shape. Her engineering plant was untouched but her topsides, especially just forward of the bridge had taken a heavy shell that blew Mount Anton over the side and severely damaged the hull. Her DC parties had flooded the forward 5.9 inch magazine (now pumped out and ammo after inspection resdistributed to her two after main battery mount‘s magazines) and put out the fires quickly. They had also been able to close up the hull, which had not been damaged below the waterline, with steel backers, a tar covered canvas and woven line pad and wooden patch. The Oberster Unteroffizier metal worker had a working party stripping non vital deck, and topside plate steel he intended to fashion into shell plating to reenforce the patch. Fortunately, her damage did not impair her sea keeping enough to rule out her max 36 kts speed for short periods and a long run at as much as 25 kts.
Z-25‘s bridge watch had been wiped out completely and was now commanded by her senior LT. They had jury rigged all essential topside ship control stations.
Initially it looked like all three after 5.9s had been damaged beyond shipboard repair. However, the Oberster Unteroffizier Gunner‘s mate and two of his senior gunnery petty officers after 32 hours of effort, were able to repair Bruno, and Cäsar. There was nothing to be done with the main firecontrol director which was nothing but a burnt out mass of metal above what was left of the heavily damaged bridge. The Secondary Director was also now operational, sort of. The exhausted gunners were still trying to restore auto director fire to Bruno and Cäsar. For now, the director could provide accurate elevation and azimouth figures to the mounts but they had to transmitted by voice and manually set by the gun crews.
One of the 37 mm AA mounts was now operational, as well as three of the 20 mm guns. Like Z-23 her tposides had been turned intio a colander and all antenna‘s and other topside sensors were useless. Nither had long range communications yet but restoring them was high on the priority list. For now blinker light and hand held signal flags would do. Both her Torpedo mounts were operational but she did not have torpedoes for them. Her depth charge projectors were functional. Her sonars and opetrators were undamaged.
Z-25 had lost her Cpatin, XO, navigator and gunnery officer. She had 52 killed and 97 wounded, although 25 of those had been patched up enough to do light duty. Her galley, like Z-23 was functional and putting out hot meals. Both destroyers were issuing the normal beer ration along with schnapps as a bonus to those men doing a really outstanding job, which did a lot for the morale of the sailors. They needed it after the mass burials.
5 JUNE 0315 TG Cilax, now only Gneisenau, was hunting WS-12 again. The Battle Cruiser's crew had done a magnificent job of repairing her Fire control directors. The designers of Gneisenau class battle Cruisers built a lot of redundancy into her key systems. Main and secondary batteries were controlled from the Directors, which were located forward (which was destroyed), astern, and above the foretop platform (which had splinter damage which proved repairable.
Each of these three Directors mounted a rotating dome with a stereoscopic rangefinder manufactured by Zeiss, and a FuMO 23 radar. The Directors were connected by armored communication shafts (which withstood all but the direct 15 inch shell hit forward) to the battery plots (Rechenstellen) under the armor deck forward and aft. The foretop command post, under the command of the Gunnery officer (I.A.O.), was above the foremast, at about 90 feeet above sea level. It was equipped with a 32 ft. base rangefinder (Basisgerät BG) with a maximum 50 times magnification, and had a visual field of 360º. The forward battery plot was incorporated in the base of to the forward conning tower whose armor protected it but it's and had a 21 ft base rangefinder was destroyed. The after Battery Plot had a 32 ft base rangefinder of similar characteristics as the one in the foretop.
Each of the three main battery turrets ("Anton", "Bruno",and "Cäsar" ) was also equipped with a 32 ft. base rangefinders. In case all three Directors were put out of action in battle, the turrets could track and fire locally. However, the chances of scoring a hit with each battery firing on its own were obviously less than under a centralized command. The central turrets of the secondary battery also had their own 19 ft. base rangefinder.
The anti-aircraft fire was directed from four Directors of the type SL-8, each equipped with a 12 ft. Rangefinder. Two of these Directors, covered by spherical cupolas (Wackeltopf), were on either side of the foremast, and the other two uncovered directors amidships aft.
Additionally, there were also two 12 ft night rangefinders on both sides of the Admiral's bridge. In short, Renown's main battery hits did a lot of damage but Gneisenau's superbly trained crew and exceptional redundancy paid great dividends as she closed with WS-12.
Vizeadmiral Cilax also made excellent use of his Flag ship's hydrophones. This passive underwater listening system allowed Him to track WS-12 at a very long range without the Royal navy escorts knowing he was approaching. The Germans called these installations Gruppenhorchgerät (GHG), and consisted of two panels of 60 microphones, one on each side of the ship's hull. The maximum effective range was over 20 miles depending on conditions such as water conductivity and background noise. The deep cold waters of the North Atlantic under favourable conditions, bearings with an accuracy of 1 degree could be expected at speeds of 30 knots from a distance of 20 miles. He was able to close WS-12 in EMCON B, no radar, radio or active sonar transmisions were allowed during the approach.
This approach was only made possible by the intense rain, high winds and low lying cloud base that made aerial recon both suicidal, (the loss of three aircraft and crews proved that), and ineffective. Somerville was counting on his radars but the same storm conditions and the pounding had taken during the last engagement with TG Cilax, including the blast from his own guns, rendered them far less effective than he would have liked.
Transferring all 660 lb 11 inch shells from wrecked Anton and Bruno magazines to the after battery magazines of Cäsar was a back breaking job. Those 11 inch rounds had to be moved by hand truck and that had caused more than a few hernias, smashed feet and severed fingers.
These 11 inch main battery rounds used a "fore charge" weighing 91.5 lbs in a silk bag and a "main charge" weighing only 170.2 lbs. was in a brass cartridge . The cartridge helped to seal the gun breech. Fore and Main charges were rammed together. Moving the propelleant was much easier on the crew.
Waiting for TG Cilax was HMS Renown and the close escort of WS-12 now under Somerville's tactical command.
HMS Devonshire pennant # 39, County-class CA 3 stacks London sub-class with 4 twin 8-inch Mk VIII, 4 ×single QF 4-inch Mk V AA , and 4 single 40 mm AAGuns. She also mounted 2 quad 21 inch torp tubes and had an Armor Belt: 1 in, Decks: 1.5 in, Barbettes,Turrets, Bulkheads 1 in and Magazines 2–4.4 in. She was Type 281 Air-warning and Type 272 Surface Warning radars and aerial scout.
HMS Argus "Hat Box" CV pennant # I49 Commissioned 16 Sept 1918 partially modernised 1938, Speed 20 kts. Armament 4 4 in AA 2 surface only 4-inch Radar Type 281 Air-warning Type 272 Surface Warning Aircraft 15–18 now 3 Sea Hurricanes and 5 Fulmars.
HMS Cairo CLAA pennant # D87 Commissioned 23 1919, Converted to Anti-Aircraft cruiser at Chatham dockyard in 1938. Speed 29 kts, Type 280 Air-warning / AA control and Type 272 Surface Warning radars. Armament 10 single mount 4 inch high angle (HA) guns and two eight-barreled 2-pounder "pom-pom" mounts. Armor 3 in side (amidships), 2+1⁄4–1+1⁄2in side (bows), 2in side (stern), 1in upper decks (amidships) and 1in deck over rudder
HMS CATHAY Pennant # F 05 Armed Merchant Cruiser AMC, formerly passenger ship London15,225 BRT Armament: 8 6inch and 2 3 in AA guns. Speed17 kts Radar Type 272 Surface Warning
HMS Agamemnon Pennant # M10 type Auxiliary Minelayer AML, formerly MV Agamemnon cargo liner requisitioned by the Royal Navy in early 1940. Speed 16 kts Armament 3 QF 4 in MkV, 2 QF 2-pounder, 4 Oerlikon 20 mm 4 × 0.5 in Mgs and 542 mines (she was only carrying 210 now).
HMS SIKH Pennant # F82 and HMS Blackney Tribal-class DD, commissioned 1938. Speed 36 kts Sensors ASDIC Type 124 Retractable head with a range recorder, Type 272 Surface Warning Radar. Armament 4 twin 4.7 in, 1 quad 40 mm AA, 2 quad 0.5 in AA MGS, 1 quad 21 in torpedo tube, only 20 depth charges, 1 rack, 2 throwers
HMS Witch Pennant # D89, HMS Whitehall D94and HMS Radsworth Modified W-class DD Commissioned 1924 Speed 34 kt Armament 4 BL 4.7 in Mk.I, 2 QF Mk.II "pom-pom" 40 mm AA, 6 21-inch Torpedo Tubes, 20 depth charges, 1 rack, 2 throwers. Sensors Type Type 127 ASDIC, Type 286M Air Warning & Type 271 Surface search radars fitted 1940.
HMS Bradford, HMS Stanley, HMS Brighton, HMS Lancaster and HMS Newark Town class former USN DD Commissioned 1919/21 Speed 35kts. Armament 3 4in/ 50, 2 3in AA gun Six 21in torpedoes in two triple mountings,Two depth charge tracks, One Y-Gun depth charge projector. Type 141 ASDIC, No dome, American QCJ/QCL, modified with British range and bearing recorders, Type 272 Surface Warning radar and high frequency direction finding (HF/DF or "Huff Duff").
HMCS Assiniboine River class DD Commissioned1939. Speed 35 knots Armament 4 single 4.7 in, 2 single 40 mm, 1 QF three-inch AA,1 quad 21 in torpedo tubes, 2 DC racks and 6 throwers for a pattern of 10 depth charges, with stowage increased to 70 charges. SENSORS ASDIC Type 124 Retractable HEAD with a range recorder , Type 79 Air Warning and Type 272 Surface Warning Radars amd upgrades high frequency direction finding (HF/DF or "Huff Duff").
HMCS Saguenay A class DD Commissioned 1931 Speed 35 knots Armament 4 single surface only 4.7 in, 2 single 2 40 mm AA, 2 quad 21 in torpedo tubes 1 DC rail 33 charges.
Vizeadmiral Cilax thought "I just have to get by that old relic Renown. One solid 3 gun salvo of 11 inch hits fron Casar may not sink her but it should take her out of the figjht long enough for his needs. He still thought his odds good to sink or damage close escorts with Casar, his 10 remaining 5.9s and 8 operational 4.1 inch guns .
5 JUNE 0435 Gneisenau,was now doing 24 kts and she still had, according to her Chief engineer a couple more up his sleeve if need. She was hunting for WS-12 and haopping Renown had suffered more than minor damage because Vizeadmiral Cilax was determined to take her on with his one remaining 11 inch turret if she stood in his way.
Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbandt C.O. of Gneisenau informed the Vizeadmiral his hydrophones had picked up a large, 4 propeller ship bearing 220 true. The Ober-maat (CPO) confirmed the operator had a definite contact and it was a large ship with four shafts at a speed of 12 kts. We hold nothing on the FuMO
(Fuunk-Mess-ORadar Seetakt 23). Our senior Communications Stabsfeldwebel (Chief Warrant Officer ) is working on the FuMO 23 now. In can have it operating in 15 minutes if you wish sir"
Vizeadmiral Cilax that sound contact sounds like Renown to me and it appears she is damaged from that 12 kt speed. If she were hunting us she would be going fatsre than that. Captain sound action stations. It is my intension to close with that contact , maneuver to unmask Casar and take it under rapid fire as soon as we have a firing solution by Radar, sound or night optics. I intend to continue to close the reange until our are 5.9s are scoring hits also. We must hit Renown first and continue until she is no longer a threat to our primary commerce raing mission; the total destruction of WS-12.
5 JUNE 0450 Acting captain of HMS Sheffield Sir Edmund Blackadder was in the main transmitting station (main battery plot ) observing the large contact held on the surface search radar. The large contact was 19 miles away and coming on fast. His guns maximum effective range was 12 miles but if that was Gniesnau Shiny was in range now. The Gun Buster LCDR Baldrick was with him as he watched his fire control team work the firing solution for her main battery turrets. The dmaged X turret was now operational with a replacement gun crew and wood patches over her the largest of her shell holes keeping the weather out. How long that turret would stay in action once her twin six inchers started pounding away was anyone's guess.
Gun Buster Baldrick's twelve BL 6 inch Mk XXIII rifles could hurle 112 pound HE shells at 2,760 feet per second at 8 rounds per minute per barrel or 96 rounds a minute per salvo. That was alot of for any ship to obsorb even a Battle cruiser. His plan was to keep all turrets firing at maximum rate until the Nazi's ran or Shiny was sunk. How long the gun crews could keep that up in battle was anyone's guess with "gallons" of adrenalin pumping he would bet it would be long enough. However, the gunnery regulations stated rapid fire should only be maintained for 10 minutes without a break to cool the barrels liners, preferably with fire hoses. If no break was possible then a sustained fire of 5 rounds per minute was neccessary to keep from damaging the guns and killing the crews with a breach explosion. He would keep them at rapid fire as long as it took. If they survived, success has many friends, if they lost he would not be around anyway.
5 JUNE 0530 Vizeadmiral Cilax and Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbandt C.O. of Gneisenau still out of sight even by the fire control director optics. If this was not Renown they were well within range of Renown's 15 inch rifles. The radar was still down. The first salvo from Sheffield fell short. 12 water spouts, convinced him this was a cruiser not a Battle Cruiser. The second salvo was over and the third peppered Gneisenau's upper decks wrecking two 5.9s.
In Sheffield's main transmitting station Gun Buster LCDR Baldrick ordered rapid fire and the turrets. Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbandt ordered a course change that would unmask Casa's 11 inch rifles and laid them on the bearing of the shell splashes. Gneisenau's armor protected the most imporatant parts of his ship from what he now thought were 6 inch fire. He then ordered his engineers to give him every knot they had. Casa was hit by 4 rounds of the 4th salvo and another six shells hit and tore up the ship, causing much damage but nothing vital.
At 9 miles the range finder locked on the cruiser and the main battery turret fired it's first salvo which overshot their target. The fifth cruiser salvo peppered Casa with no effect. The second 11 inch salvo hit close aboard Sheffield, still over. The sixth crusier salvo hit Casa and the belt. Still not penetrating but one destroyed the optics of the director. His well trained gunners switch to the secondary fire control director and fired her 3rd salvo. This one was short, over corrected and was answered by the cruisers seventh salvo which hell close aboard. The entire ship shook and the hastily repaired engineering plant began to loose speed as the main steam feed line was shocked into multiple minor steam leaks. The cruiser's 8th salvo hit Casa with 4 rounds detonating on the face plate just as the 4th battle cruiser salvo left the barrels and disabled the starboard gun barrel. The cruiser fired salvo 9, 10 and eleven. Casa returned fire and the entire gun house spouted fire from every openeing. The entire turret crew was killed insatntly. Now all they had left were her remaining 5.9s and Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbandt ordered an emergency turn to bring the unengaged starboard 5.9s which were firing rapdly but the drastic turn had thrown off the aim. Sheffield fired salvoes 12, 13, and 14 at 15,000 yds that knocked out a quarter of the starboard side 5.9s.
Vizeadmiral Cilax ordered an immediate turn away at best possible speed now down to 20 knots that was rapidly opening the range. Sheffield's 12 knots could not match the Battle cruisers 20. Salvo 15 and 16 still scored hits but 17, 18 and 19 were ragged and 20 fell short.
Sheffield's B turret suffered a breach explosion at salvo 18 that wiped out most of the gun crew.
Fortuneatley Gun Buster Baldrick's inistance on strict adhereance to gunnery regs ensured the flashproof doors and scuttles did their job and the flash did not penetrate the magazines. Shiny had a lot of splinter damage, numerous small fires and her engineering plant was shaken badly but only minor leaks which still challenged her pumps were suffered. It was now up to Shiny's DC and fire parties to save the ship.
CPO Sharky and his mates had made this survival possible. It was thanks to his ability to reapir Sheffield's radars that saved them this day. Both Sir Edmund and the Gun Buster looked at each other and then both looked at CPO Sharkey and just smiled. That man would be rewarded by a warrant.
5 JUNE 0700 a signal was recieved from BdU with a recall order. The Fuher had gone into a just short of hysterical vile, filth filled, threatening rant when he heard of the decimation of Vizeadmiral Cilax's command. He was raving about the cowardly loss of the Admiral Graf Spee and now the Scharnhorst and the almost certain sinking of Gneisenau. He eventually calmed down enough to say "Call Cilax back now. You fools will waste my entire Battle fleet at this rate." When he was in this state noone in his right mind would argue with him. Better to let him tire, as he soon would, and drop into one of his still rare brooding stupors and with the aid of a sedative sleep for a few hours. Just maybe when he awakened he would be so spent that he would listen to reason, but not now.
5 JUNE 0745 Vizeadmiral Cilax, after reading the signal from BdU over twice ordered thKapitän zur See Harald Netzbandt to come to ring up best speed and make for the Spanish coast. He then said to all in hearing with a strange smile on his face, "Meine tapferen Schiffskameraden ( My brave shipmates) we are ordered home to a heroes welcome from our beloved Fuher."
Now, he sat in his cabin smoking a good cuban cigar and sipping at a snifter of very expensive Cognac. He had the flimsy of the recall order on his side table. It had been worded with a lot more tact than BdU was noted for. However, it could not hide the fact he was going home in disgrace to face a very hostile board of enquiry, if not outright court martial. Those Nazi bastards would see he paid a very high price for the loss of Scharnhorst, Hipper and the failure to sink WS-12. His Schiffskameraden at (shipmates) at BdU would be all too eager to distance themselves from him; no help there. When he finished the cigar, he tossed down a full snifter of the excellent cognac, straitened out his uniform, jacked the slide, placed the muzzle of his Walther P38 9 mm semi-automatic pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger. The expected shot was heard by his aide in the next compartment
WS-12 might have been spared a visit by TG Cilax but BdU had long ago stationed another Ruder (wolf Pack) of his beloved U-boats in poistion to savage that convoy. These Grey wolves were lead by one of his most effective and ruthless Officers, one of his Alfa Wolves. They were to clean up the dispersed transport survivors after TG Cilax had taken out most of the escorts and as many of the troopers as possible with the limitted amount time available. TG Cilax had to clear this flaming datum very, very fast this close to the British isles. Now his ever hungry "nephews", his U-boat men called him "Onkel Karl" (Uncle Karl), would do the job themslves. In the end, WS-12 would be a pale wreck of what left the UK. Maybe, just maybe, one of his U-Boats woud sink "Des Teufel" (The Devil) Renown. Would not that be a welcome gift for the Fuher?"
5 JUNE 0800 RN HQ Bunker London.
Vice Admiral Ramsay "I relieve you sir Alfred"
The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound
"I stand relieved"
The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff,Vice Admiral Ramsay " All standing orders will stay in effect until such time as I formerly rescind them.
We will all get to know each other soon but for now we have a great deal of work to do. DismissedAdmiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound quietly and quickly quit the bunker.
"Last thing Bertie needs is for me to hang around", he thought as he returned the Royal Marine's salute at the street level, trademen's entrance.
6 JUNE 1030 Captain Ching Lee was in a very good mood. The night shoot had come off without a single screw up. North Carolina BB-55's night gunnery was as good as it had been after their last prolonged target practice and that said a lot. His Gun Boss and his cannon cockers were really on the top of their game. All the training and newly developped tracking and firing techniques he had introduced were paying off. Even the Sea Going Bell Hops in mount 52 managed not to disgrace themselves. GM2c had a lot to do with that. Ernie had, where senior Gms had failed corrected a number of intermittant problems that had plagued that 5"38 mount since before commissioning. That was why Mt 52 had been assigned to the Marines. Looks like Brute Krulock and his enforcer, 1st Sgt Carlo Morano, had no valid reason for terrorizing the marine gun crews this time. He was sure those two sadists would soon find some other fault with their men.
Lee would have advanced Ernie to GM1c before but the fight with Fireman 2nd Kevin Madrick, especially what he did to the MAA force put that idea on hold. Truth to tell the way Ernie had conducted himself after his Captain's mast "Award" did him great credit.
He had performed his duties with even greater dedication and skill than before his Mast. That convinced Lee Ernie was not only a very skilled GM but he had the maturity that Lee demanded of his senior PO's; an absolute neccessity for an enlisted leader. With 7 or 8 more years of Peace time service, or a hell of a lot less in wartime, he'd make a good Chief and maybe even a warrant Gunner. That is the point; he would advance Ermes Effron Borgnino to GM1c today.
While he was at it there were a few more enlisted that deserved advancement; might as well bump them all up today. One of them was a real surprise. Fireman 2nd Kevin Madrick, one of BB-55's older wild men and real pain in his ass, seemed to be in one of his 4.0 Sailor periods. The man had real skill as an electrician and he also had very good leadership skills, when he felt like displaying them. His DIVO and and his division Chief both recommended him for advancement to EM3c. He'd been there before and had once even been a submarine qualifed EM1c. He had shown himself to be a real asset to the ship.
The last time that had lasted all of two months, granted mostly underway. A drunken liberty run to an off limits dive in which a hooker and her pimp tried to roll him ended that. It did not help that Madrick put both, the now naked and worse for ware, Hooker and her pimp in the hospital. The fact Madrick and two of his, badass, stewed to the gills, shipmates had wrecked the bar and tried to assault a couple of veteran police officers ( who put them down the drunks with a few swings of their sawed off axe handle clubs) did not make things any better.
What the hell, if after he put the fear of God in them, Madrick's Divo and Chief still think they can control him he'd give him back his crow. If it were not against naval uniform regs he'd order Madrick to put on the crow with a zipper. Lee had a great respect for his young "Wild men" when things got really bad, they came through. Too bad they got bored so easily.
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 15
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 15
6 JUNE 1941 0500 the "nuetral" Venezuelan tanker PSS Cabello, transporting No.1 bunker oil, was picked up on both the Bismarck and Prince Eugen's FUMO radars coming from the south west at 22 miles range making directly for the rendezvous point. The rendezvous was selected because it was well away from normal allied air and surface patrols, off the normal merchant routes and no allied convoy or other naval activity was reported in this area.
He had two Arado's up since nautical sunrise, hours ago, making sure they had the sea to themselves this morning. Nothing found within 150 miles so far except the expected tanker which was flying the correct recognition signal for today.
He would have to rely on both ships Gruppenhorchgerät ('group listening device', abbreviated GHG) passive hyrophone arrays to warn of lurking allied U-boats. Those arrays had proved highly efficient,The Prince had picked up Hood with them before they had a solid track with the Fumo at over 35 miles.
The principle of hydrophones was simple enough. It consisted of two pairs of underwater microphones which listened to the sound of ships’ propeller noises. By measuring the amount of time it took for sound to arrive at each of the microphones, the device could triangulate the bearing of the target vessel. The radioman could also tell if it was a merchantman, warship or even submarine but not the range, direction or speed it was moving. Because sound travels much further underwater, hydrophones could pick up distant convoys travelling up to 60 miles, single ship at 40 and that included a surface U-boat. Best range for a submerged U-boat, given good eater conditions and own ship' speed of under 12 kts was about 10 miles, well outside torpedoe range. For maximum effectiveness however, own ship had to come DIW (dead in the water), secure it's engines while the hydrophones listened in for a few minutes. That was not going to happen.
The two seperate units of TG Brinkmann had made a long duration, high speed, deceptive runs to clear the areas of their recent attacks on allied shipping and needed topping off soon. SS Cabello was a 480 ft o/a, 61ft Beam, 7,625 GRT modern tanker loaded with 8,500 tons of bunker fuel and other marine patroleum proucts at 17 kts. She had left Port of La Guaira 12 days ago on a scheduled run to Cadiz Spain. As a nuetral she was not escorted and did not provide position reports to anyone but her parent company C.A. de Navegación Fluvial y Costanera de Venezuela, Puerto Cabello using a modified simple "book cipher". PSS Cabello's shipping company had adopted homophonic substitution cipher, a code in which the key is some aspect of a book or other piece of text. The trick is to replace individual letters rather than words known as the Second Beale cipher, which replaces the first letter of a word in the book with that word's position. However, if used often, this technique has the side effect of creating a larger ciphertext (typically 4 to 6 digits being required to encipher each letter or syllable) and increases the time and effort required to decode the message. So it lended itself to Posit and short status messages, not extensive texts. The "Key book" was changed at random intervals so each of the company's ships and shore establishments had a "Library" of a dozen identical books available. It is essential that both correspondents not only have the same book, but the same edition. Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman of USCG Lcdr Jones’ Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387” could break this simple code without the Key Book but the effort still required time better used for other assignments.
PSS Cabello had a normal pre war mixed nationality crew of 50, although her officers were all "nominally" Venezualans. Unknown to the Master or his company the Grupo Regional de Venezuela del Partido Nazi had placed a chief engineer, 2nd mate and 12 of her crew sympathetic to the Nazy cause aboard Cabello. Unknown to the Nazi Sympathizers there were also 6 clandestine members of the Marinenachrichtendienst (Naval Intelligence Division AKA MAD) special operations group aboard. Five days out of Port of La Guaira, after carefully vetting the Nazi sympathizers, the leader of the MAD enlsited both the 2nd mate and Chief engineer and 6 crew help sieze the ship. The capture went very smoothly and no one was injured. The Master, 1st and 3rd mates, one of the junior engineering officers and 5 of the crew were confined. The rest went along with the men with the guns who, at that time, were winning the war.
The leader of the MAD team was Fregattenkapitan Friedrich Max von Muller, winner of the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and first captain of the merchant raider Michel. He had two Oberleutnant zur See (Senior Lieutenants), two Engineering Ober-maat (CPOs) and one Communications Stabsfeldwebel (Chief Warrant Officer ). All members of his team were selected by von Muller, had served with him aboard Michel to his satisfaction and were very hard men when the situation called for it. They all had a good working knowledge of Spanish. He had personally rigorously trained his men and then had his men cross train their team mates. They were also thoroughly familiar with the capabilities, layout, machinery and other peculiarities of PSS Cabello. They had been "smuggled" into Venezuella a month before Cabello sailed without incident as Spanish seaman. Once ashore they were lost in the 4,000 Germans living in the country.
The new "Master" of PSS Cabello, wearing the former Master's work uniform, ordered a course change that would liesurely get them to their rendezvous point as directed. After going over the coding procedures, No Enigma, code names, watch schedule, EMCOM to be employed and ensuring his man was comfortable with the radio gear von Ruckteschell gave his order. His Communicator was to transmit one, short, two letter and three number coded signal informing BdU and TG Brinkmann Cabello had been taken without incident. The ship was on it's way to the rendezvous point. BdU had a radioman specifically assigned to the cabello frequency who immediately handed the coded signal to his watch Ober-maat (Chief). The signal was broken in five minutes and the reply was transmitted 10 minutes later. Cabello acknowledge receipt and then the Stabsfeldwebel (CWO) unplugged the speed key and locked it in the safe with the spare code keys). Until further orders from the Fregattenkapitan it would be a listening radio watch only.
7 JUNE 1941 0730 TG Brinkmann began refueling operations from PSS Cabello. Since the Venezualan commercial tanker was not equipped for alongside UNREP the astern hose system had to be used. This was not particularly efficient because the operation was limited to one ship at a time, and only one refueling point on the warship could be employed. Their fueling gear consisted of a ten-inch towing hawser, two six-inch breast lines along with the three-inch fuel hoses. To keep the fuel hoses clear of the sea, they were supported by a wooden carrier suspended from the oiler's cargo booms.
Sea conditions during the operation were pretty good, with a moderate cross swell that caused Cabello to roll from 6 to ten degrees, with only mild pitching. These fairly calm summer North Atlantic conditions allowed fuel transfer at the rate of Sixty Five tons per hour. More to the point, the towing hawser and fuel lines parted only once during the entire evolution. For a first effort this was very, very acceptable; causing the TG commander to send a well done to the Cabello.
The small 6 member Marinenachrichtendienst (Naval Intelligence Division AKA MAD) special operations group had been trained thoroughly on rigging the refueling gear from what they would find aboard PSS Cabello. They had, with the help of the deck force, completed the improvised rig days ago. They had also trained those members of Cabello's crew they could trust (as long as they could keep a close watch on them holstred pistol at their side) on the techniques required of the refueling tanker. Most of those procedures were nothing but variations on the deck seamanship any competent merchant sailor had already mastered. Bismarck was first while the Prince stood at Action Stations and the Arado's maintained their search for uninvited guests. It took 10 hours to top fill Bismarck's massive tanks and then it was the Prince's turn which took another eight hours. Fregattenkapitan Friedrich Max von Muller, and his Oberleutnant zur See (Senior Lieutenants) shared the 18 hour OOD/conning watches. When not on watch, one of the Oberleutnant zur Sees supervised the refueling rig from the fan tail.
The two Engineering Ober-maat (CPOs) relieved each other in the engine room, keeping a close watch on the black gang although the Engineering officer was a Nazi sympathiser. Communications Stabsfeldwebel (Chief Warrant Officer ) Kept the radio watch for signals from TG Brinkmann and any other close by radio traffic. The Grupo Regional de Venezuela del Partido Nazi 2nd mate and 4 seaman (each with a pistol but no spare ammunition) watched the other crewmembers. Muller would only trust them so far.
Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) Brinkmann, took advantage of the calm seas to transferred his flag and staff back to Bismarck. After Bismarck's refueling he briefed Kapitäns zur See Lindemann of BdU's orders they attack the Oil Refineries on Trinidad Tobago. Both men knew Trinidad Tobago's oil refinery in Pointe a Pierre was the largest in the British Empire and a vital strategic asset of the allies. Much of Venezeulan crude was refined there. The file on Trinidad Tobago was quite extensive and included in the intel provided Lutgens before he sortied.
Brinkmann " Lindemann now it is up to us to decide exactly how we will carry out those orders. The obvious course is to close the island and bombard the rifineries with our main batteries. I would think it would not take much to set Pointe a Pierre ablaze. I also want the port facilities wrecked, although that will take a lot more ammunition and cost us time. So far we have had "Des Teufels eigenes Glück" (Devils own luck) and I expect to sink some tankers before we disapear again. I'd love to send ashore a couple of landing parties to direct our gunfire, assess damge on the refineries and port facilities and also find some other good targets. I want those refineries completely wrecked and require complete rebuilding before they process another drop of crude. That would take a year at least.
That should push our Englander "friends" much closer to reason and the negotiation table. This could be the straw that knocks them out of the war. Maybe? Without Great Britain to deal we, our Army and Luftwaffe will be able to concentrate most of our strength in Russia alone. The Bolsheviks have taken losses that would cripple any other country. They have to be near breaking. A few more such routes and Stalin will have to ask for terms. Even then he will probably be assassinated. I doubt there is anyone who will be willing to continue the war. If the assasins fail his party "friends" and he will be in their own civil war. No matter Hitler will get what he wants in the East. I doubt the Americans will prove to be decisive. They probably will act far too late if at all."
The recently advanced Vizeadmiral had no idea FDR had come to a similar conclusion well ahead of him. Rear Admiral Hewitt's TG-39 was out to sink his ship and ensure America came into the war BEFORE it was too late. Bismarck's CO was a bit uneasy about this latest operation. He could not forget both Kapitäns zur See Karl Friedrich Max von Müller CO of Emdem and Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee commanding the German East Asia Squadron had been very successful as commerce raiders but both came to disater when they decided to expand their war to attacking shore targets.
Before dismissing him, the Vizeadmiral handed the CO of Bismarck a copy of the draft oporder his C of Staff had prepared. "Look this over and let me know what you think." Both men had work to do and until the UNREP was completed their stations were the Flag Plot and Bismarck's bridge. So it was not until that evening with Bismarck and The Prince on a course heading to Trinidad Tobago, did Lindemann get a chance to study the Draft Op order.
The WW II German naval Operations Order was very similar to the army version and consists of an orientation and five paragraphs. The five paragraphs are: Situation, Mission, Execution, Administration & Logistics, and Command & Signal.
1. SITUATION.
a. Area of Interest. British Crown Colony Island of Trinidad Tobago
b. Area of Operations. North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea 150 nautical miles centered on Trinidad Tobago
(1) Terrain. Map included in the folder with all important locations marked
(2) Weather. To be updated during the approach for now forecast good
c. Enemy Forces. Trinidad Tobago Garrison and any allied units present
(1) Composition, Disposition, and Strength.
Coast Artillery Battalion Royal Marines Siege Regimeent
HQ Battery locate at Trinidad at Carenage Bay
Service battery Carenage Bay
Six sections, each with a searchlight and aircraft sound locator
colocated with Flak batteries
Coastal Defense Group
Three batteries, each with two BL 6-inch Mk VII Surface only guns.
See map for last known locations. Be advised these guns are moved sporadically.
Projectiles Surface AP, HE, Shrapnel 100 lb
Rate of fire 8 rounds per minute
Maximum effective range 25,000 yds at 20° elevation
Antiaircraft Group
Four FLAK batteries, each with 4 mobile QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns mounted on towed, 4-wheeled sprung trailer FLAK platforms.
Each battery is equipped with Vickers No. 2 Predictor based on a US Sperry AAA Computer M3A3. The No 2 could track targets at 400 mph at heights of 25,000 ft. The No 2 Predictors received height data, generally from the Barr & Stroud UB 7 (9 feet base) instrument.
See map for last known locations. Be advised these guns are moved sporadically.
Projectiles 24 lb Fixed round 12.5 lb projectile weight
types: AP, AA , HE, Illumination
Rate of fire 16 – 18 rounds per minute
Maximum effective range 16,000 yds at 43° elevation 30,400ft AA ceiling
Two AAA machine gun companies, each with 12 Oerlikon guns
See map for last known locations. Be advised these guns are moved sporadically.
Projectiles High Explosive with tracer, H.E. without tracer and Incendiary
Ciclical rate of around 500 rpm from 60 rounds magazines
Maximum effective range 1,000yds
One Seaplane tender of the AVD class converted WW I destroyer
Anchor in Carenage Bay.
Supporting 4 to 6 PBY-3 Patrol Seaplanes
Maximum speed: 196 mph Cruise speed: 125 mph
Range 2,520 mi
Service ceiling: 15,800 ft
Guns: Three .30 cal Mgs (two in nose turret, one in ventral hatch at tail)
Two .50 cal HMG (one in each waist blister)
Bombs: 4,000 lb of bombs, depth charges or torpedoes
Radar some PBY's are fitted with ASV Mark II Surface Search Radar
Wavelength 170 cm Pulse Width 2.5 microsecond
Pulse Repetition Frequency 400 Hz Peak Power Out 7 kW
Range 20 miles for destroyer 30 miles Capital ships and merchants
60 miles for coastline
Minimum range 1 mile
As of last report no land based military Patrol, Bomber or Fighter aircraft are permantly based on Trinidad and Tobego as their bases are in the early phase of construction.
No land bases search radar is operational. However, as this is a key Convoy assembly area various radar equipped warships are often present.
Local Patrol Boats There are about a dozen police and customs launches armed with pistols and rifle. No radar but they do have two way radios which are considered their most dangerous weapon. No more than two of the boats have been observed actively patrolling between Midnight and nautitical sunrise.
d. Friendly Forces. TG Brinkmann and PSS Cabello and various U-boats
(1) Higher HQ Mission and Intent. BdU Destroy oil refining capability on Trinidad Tobago
(2) Mission of Adjacent Units. N/A
e. Attachments and Detachments. N/A
f. Civilian Considerations Avoid civilian casualties unless they jeopardize success of the mission.
2. MISSION. In a night action destroy the refineries, port fracilities and any tankers in the vicinity of Trinidad Tobago without sustaining major damage to TG Brinkman that would degrade primary, commerce raiding mission. To withdraw before enemy forces can pose a threat to TG Brinkman. Radar Navigation and gun laying will be employed along with beacon(s) planted by sleeper agents.
Pointe a Pierre refinery is one of the largest and most modern (due to constant upgrades) refineries in the world. Point Fortin a somehwat smaller refinery and being of recent expanded and modernized has better fire fighting facilities. The fuel, refined at Pointe a Pierre and Point Fortin is very important to the RAF, Royal Navy, British home Islands Industry and allied merchant fleet. The total destruction of Pointe a Pierre and Point Fortin will be a major strategic victory for the Fatherland and a serious loss for the enemy.
3. EXECUTION. TG Brinkmann will destroy the refineries, port, air field facilities and any tankers or naval vseesls in the vicinity of Pointe a Pierre and Point Fortin by gunfire on the night of 9/10 June.
a. Commander's Intent Total destruction of Trinidad Tobago's Refineries. Inflicting as much damage to Trinidad Tobago's port, tankers, communications and naval units as reasonably possible.
b. Concept of operations. To use surprise, radar navigation and fire control and precision gunfire under cover of darkness
(1) Maneuver. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
(2) Fires. As required
(3) Reconnaissance and Surveillance. U-boats, local sleeper agents, Arado scouts and radar will be the chief methods of Recon and Surveillance
(4) Intelligence. As provided by BdU
(5) Engineer. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
(6) Air Defense. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
(7) Information Operations.
c. Scheme of Movement and Maneuver. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
d. Scheme of Fires.
e. Casualty Evacuation.
f. Tasks to Subordinate Units
g. Tasks to Combat Support.
(1) Intelligence. See Appendix
(2) Engineer. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
(3) Fire Support. See Appendix
(4) Air Defense. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
(5) Signal. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
4. SUSTAINMENT. Per TG Brinkmann SOP
5. COMMAND AND CONTROL.
a. Command.
(1) Location of Commander. Bismarck
(2) Succession of Command. Per TG Brinkmann SOP
c. Signal. Per TG Brinkmann SOP
(1) SOI index in effect.
(2) Methods of communication by priority.
(3) Pyrotechnics and Signals.
(4) Code Words.
(5) Challenge and Password.
(6) Number Combination.
(7) Running Password.
(8) Recognition Signals.
7 JUNE 1941 1130 One of CPO Sharkey's Radar operators reported a "contact" at 005 relative, distance 17 and a half miles to his watch PO. Second Class Petty Officer "Bertie" O' Higgins came over and studied the "O" scope presentation for a minute and then adjusted the "gain" control. He was rewarded with two small contacts. Bertie informed the watch officer and log keeper of the new contacts. Bertie worked out the contacts' course, speed, CPA (closest point of approach) and time of CPA at current course and speed. He provided that amplifying information to the watch officer who, after a quick check, informed the OOD.
The OOD picked up the sound powered phone to the anchor windless room, where CDR Edmund Blackadder, acting CO Sheffield, was inspecting the shoring strong back recently installed. It replaced the emeregency "Patch" from the battle that had failed about an hour and a half ago. The pumps had been making slow but steady progress "dewatering" Shiny until that patch let loose. He had to order speed reduced to a little above steerage way while the DC party, working in waist high and then chest high water fashioned and emplaced the replacement. Just 25 minutes ago he had ordered Shiny Back to her best speed, 15 knots in 5 knot increments. He was watching, along with the DC party, the patch which he was now almost convinced would hold when he got the contact report.
He said to the Chief Stoker DC party leader, "Chief I'm heading back to the bridge" and to the DC party, "Job damn well done. I will order up a dram for each of you. Chief see our men and you get that rum issue after you secure."
He was then on the run up 6 ladders to the jury rigged bridge. He made it in less than 5 minutes puffing like an old man and got the full report from the OOD.
Blackadder to the OOD, That should be the Norwegion manned Ocean going Tug Hafgufa and "OUR" escort the Flower class Corvett Primrose." Both men smiled at the lame joke but that was the best he could do at present.
"Make sure the lookouts keep a sharp eye on that bearing and order action stations NOW. " They were not out of the woods yet by a long margin and he was not taking any more chances than he had to with Shiny leaking like a collander and his engines held together with wire and the sweat of his Chief and his stokers. In due course his signal men acknowledge the flag hoist challenge. It was the Tug and Corvette. He immediately ordered the crew secure from Action Stations. He ordered the Corvette to maintain an ASW screen and the tug to take station abreast of Shiny at 500 yds to starboard. No sign of the promised Coastal command patrol bomber or fighter escort so far. Well he had not really expected the RAF to drop everything just to nursemaid old Shiny.
7 JUNE 1941 1200 TG 39.1 was at 18.0708° N, 62.0501° W heading South at 25 knots with the destroyers in a bent line screen, BB-55 as guide with USS Brooklyn CL-40 scouting 50 miles ahead. Rear admiral Hewitt had three SOC souts out patyolling search sectors to the East,West and South out to 150 miles. Nothing so far. The TG was heading for an UNREP with one of the fast oilers. His Destroyers needed fuel after the long high speed transit.
7 JUNE 1941 1315 The Southern scout sighted the oiler at 70 miles, speed 15 knots heading for TG39.1
7 JUNE 1941 1830 the last of TG39.1 broke away from the oiler and was heading back to it's screening station. The oiler was heading to the next UNREP station. Hewitt was sure he would need more fuel after an action with TG Brinkmann.
8 JUNE 1941 2100 There was no black out at all on Aruba, U-156 's target lay there, fully lit. He had easily eluded the Two 34 ft. " customs launches. These boats are armed with small arms and a single, pedestal mounted, Canon d'Infanterie de 37 modèle 1916 TRP (37mm mle.1916) French infantry support gun. Rate of fire Sustained: 25 rpm, Maximum Effective range1,600yds But their most dangerous weapon was their excellent radios. He also beat the Six 24 ft. Radio equipped Police/rescue boats stationed in the island. Without radar fire control he had no fear of the shore battery located at Juana Morto, the highest point of the easterly part of the island, a coastal battery consisting of two pre WW 1 150 mm 40 caliber guns.
What he did fear was Stationed at KLM Field Savaneta, a graded runway if caught close in during daylight was the 6 Martin 139s WH-3As the Export version of the B-10. With Maximum speed: 213 mph, Range of 1,240 mi and armed with 3 30 caliber Browning machine guns and 2,260 lbs of bombs.
Even the 6 Brewster 339Ds Export version of the F-2A Buffalo wuth two 0.50 in nose and 2 wing -mounted M2 Browning machine guns and two 100 lb bombs could damage his boat enough to cause real trouble.
U-156 was a Type IXC with one × 4.1 inch SK C/32 deck gun with 180 rounds, a 37mmAA gunand one twin 20 mm FlaK 30 AA . She surfaced off the Lego refinery and the guns crews manned their weapons, sighted them on the refinery and bombarded Lego with everything they had. A fatal error by one of the 5.9's gun crew disabled the breach block after firing 97 rounds. That very UNGreman error spared Lago refinery total destruction But not by much. With needless loss of his main deck gun, the U-boat only had left the much lighter guns. The CO, in a cold rage, the hapless gunner having been beaten severely by the gun captain (who knew he was really in for it), contuned the bombardment. They hit the refinery and at the surrounding buildings and a nearly empty venezulean tanker carrying crude to the refinery repeatedly but the damage was only minor. Lago escaped that night and only because the bombardment had been terminated early. The U-156 torpedoed 2 tankers and a ship loaded with 3000 tons of dynamite, waiting for daylight to enter the port of Oranjestad, on her way out. Both tankers caught fire and sank. The luckless merchant literally disintegrated showering pieces of her over a space of three miles inlcuding ashore on Aruba. Kaleu U-156 thought "With luck we just drew every Englander ship and aircraft away from Trinidad Tobago for long enough for Bismark and The Prince to destroy those refineries. The question is good or bad luck for U-156? At least his U-Boat stood a fair chance of getting back into the Atlantic, something Bismarck would never be able to do if she was insane enough to actually enter the Gulf of mexico. She would never get past the Island chain to the East on the way in let alone on the way out.
9 JUNE 1941 0800 HMS Cambletown, flying a broom from her foremast head, secured from Special Sea Detail. Old Gift Horses crew had made her as presentable as possible given her many battle wounds. She still looked like a tired old whore but they had come to love her. After all, despite far too many times the old gal's machinery had made the Stokers lives a living hell, in the end she had brought most of them home, mostly safe and sound to Halifax's repair basin, pier #3. She still had her Nazi U-boat prisoners aboard but not for long. A section of Canadian Army infantry and two big Bedford QLD 3 ton lorries were waiting on the pier. They would soon take the Nazi diehards to the POW, temporary holding barracks in the dockyard. The Officers were in for a real grilling by the Intel section, real right bastards, mostly RN hard boys. At this point in this loosing Battle of the Atlantic no one was playing by Marques of Queensbury rules.
9 JUNE 1941 0315 All that was left of TG Cilax the two type 1936A destroyers Z23 and Z25 after evading Force H's aerial scouts and the feigned incompetence of the Spanish Navy and Air Force were now moored safe and sound at the Kriegmarine base in the southwestern French port of Hendaye in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Z23's 29 year old skipper Korvettenkapitän Wolfgang Becker was now not only "Comodore" of 8 Zerstörerflottile (8th Destroyer Flotilla), but also the commander of TG Becker the successor to TG CILAX. At least until BdU noticed they were still alive.
9 JUNE 1941 1800 What was left of WS-12 passed the boom into Gibralta's harbor. 24 of HM's converted liner Transports, with 20,000 soldiers, over 200,000 tons of vital war material and another 6 thousand sailors started out. 12 of HM's Transports with 11,200 soldiers dropped anchor at 36.1485°N 5.3652°W. Commodore, Admiral Bertram I. Thesiger, and HMT Strathaird were not among them. The escort had also been badly savaged by the Ruder but they had sunk three U-Boats including the Wolf Pack Alpha Commander . All in all BdU and especially "Onkel Karl" (Uncle Karl), were quite pleased. Too bad his nephews did not find and sink "Des Teufel" (The Devil) Renown.
9 JUNE 1941 2245 Bismarck and The Prince were within easy 15 inch gun range of the Point-a Pierre refinery and it’s 100-octane aviation fuel, essential to the RAF. That was Bismarck’s primary target; The Prince would close on the No.5 Dubbs and the hydrogen and iso-octane plants. They were both well outside the Maximum Effective range ,10 miles,of the marine manned coast defense Battery Able’s two five-inch-fifty-one-caliber rifles. The five inchers were discards from the battleships Texas.
The radar approach, using the land mass to shielded TG Brinkmann from the radars of the escorts that lay in the harbor as their tanker heavy convoys waited for the remaining merchant ships to form up and head out into the Atlantic went well. The first Battery Able and the refinery crews, escorts and merchants knew of the presence of Bismarck was her opening 8 gun salvo, which was controlled by her Radar and the three beacons planted by Nazi sabateurs. The 1,764 lbs., HE L/4 nose fuzed shells burst within the refinery starting fires fed by consequent salvoes. At the same time Bismarck’s secondary battery of 5.9s smothered battery Able before the marines got a single round off. The fifth Salvo obliterated the cracking plant,.The 8th salvo set the tank farm afire and it was pretty clear the fire fighting crews were no match for the conflagation, fed by more salvoes.
9 JUNE 1941 2300 The Prince closed on No.5 Dubbs with it’s the hydrogen and iso-octane plants at 20 knots. Once on station she commenced firing, laying her guns on the sabateurs beacons. Kommandant Seeadler von Luckner, named after his uncle Count Felix von Luckner Captain of SMS Seeadler AKA Der Seeteufel (The Sea Devil)of first world war orderd The Prince to open fire. His first target was USMC Battery “DOG“ ,another two gun five-inch-fifty one position, with a full salvo from both her main battery eight inch and six 4.1 inch SK C/33 guns, with a maximum effective range about the same as the 5.1/51. Unlike Bismarck his “Prince“ did not have the range advantage over Battery“Dog“, which was positioned on a promentory to seaward of No.5 Dubbs. First salvo was over for the 8 inch but on for the 4.1s which was more than enough to kill the gun or wound the crews and damage the guns. Second 8 inch salvo targetted No.5 Dubbs and 4.1s hit battery “Dog“ again destroying the guns, killing the wounded marines and the navy corpsman and marines trying to get them to safety. The ready use ammunition of the battery also exploded in a succession of rapid and multiple flashes that lasted for ten minutes. Kommandant Seeadler von Luckner, brought his cruiser in as close to shore as was prudent in order to bring his 4.1s in range of No.5 Dubbs with it’s the hydrogen and iso-octane plants. This was a calculated chance because one of the marines thee gun, 3-inch M3 FLAK batteries was reported in the area. Although M3‘s Projectiles only weighed 13lb they did have FLAK, HE, Illumination and most dangerous for Prinz Eugen, an AP Round fired at 15 – 20 rounds per minute with a mximum effective range of seven miles. Each individual AP round could not do much damage to the heavily armored areas of the ship but 15 or twenty all landing in the same sapot just might defeat the proetection on the lighter armored areas, to say nothing of ehat the HE and AP would do to antennas and other light structures on the cruiser.
Prinz Eugen got off 18 more salvoes from 8 inch (576 rounds) and almost as many more from the 4.1 inch battery doing substantial damaged ot the refinery which was a blazing inferno now, completely destroying the hydrogen and iso-octane plants. After all a refinery, especially one turning out 100 octane aiviation fuel, was nothing but a bomb, just waiting for someone like TG Brinkmann to set it off. Kommandant Seeadler’s von Luckner, Prince also demolished the four berth tanker pier, it’s pumping stations and left two tankers on fire and a third with it’s stern blown off all aground after multipe 4.1 hits and single torpedo strikes.
9 JUNE 1941 2349 She was making her turn for the Convoy marshalling anchorage when the marines three gun, 3-inch M3 FLAK battery opned up. First salvo was illumination rounds quickly followed by a mixture of AP and HE that walked up to the the Prince and raking "Caesar“ and "Dora"and upper decks aft. The turrets were unharmed but the men at the light FLAK and ohther unshielded aft stations suffered casualtues. Kommandant Seeadler’s von Luckner, gunnery officer immediately commenced counter battery fire and silenced all 3 marine guns in five minutes. The marines had chosen to place their guns as far seaward as possible and that meant a beach with zero concealment or protection. The Marine battery C.O. chose this site that allowed him to reach the ship as soon as possible because she was rapidly drawing out of the range of his 3 inch pop guns.
9 JUNE 1941 2355 In the harbor it was pure chaos as the ships desperately got underway to clear the area In accordance with the Emergency Sortie Plan. SOPA (Senior Officer Present afloat), Captain, RN John T. Stenrud III in the C class light cruiser HMS Coventry, Commissioned 1918. HMS Coventry served with the 5th Light Cruiser squadron until May 1919, and in the Baltic during the Russian civil war. In 1935, Coventry refitted as an anti-aircraft cruiser. This refit involved the removal of her 6-inch guns and torpedo tubes, and the fitting of 10 QF 4-inch Mk V guns on single high-angle mountings and 2 octuple-mounted 2-pounder 'pom-pom' guns.
Coventry Displaced 4,190 tons, Length 450ft, Beam 43.6ft and Draft of 14ft. She was powered by two Brown-Curtis geared turbines, Six Yarrow boilers producing 40,000 shp to her two propellers giving her a Speed of 29 knots. Her 950 tons maximum of fuel oil gave her almost 7,000 miles range. Her wartime comlement was on 327. Coventry’s armor was no match for for The Prince let alone Bismarck. She was protected by 3 inch side (amidships), 2¼-1½ inch side (bows), 2 inch side (stern)1 inch upper decks (amidships) and 1 inch deck over rudder. Captain, RN John T. Stenrud III ordered four destroyers to join him and formed a SAG, (surface action group) that would sortie and engage the attacker. The Prince rapidly engaged the SAG and quickly put the Light cruiser out of action but the four destroyers, under the senior offiicer left, came to 35 knots and sped to their launch point for their torpedoes. Prince’s 8 inch main battery and some of Bismarck’s 5.9s quickly engaged the destroyers under radar control. Two of the escorts were sunk by the 8 inchers as the other two, both damaged, launch their torpedoes at maiximum range greatly reducing the chances of a hit. One of the remaining destroyers was hit hard and went DIW (dead in the water) soon after launching her fish. The last destroyer followed her fish in and commenced firing with her main battery of 4.5 inch guns at Bismarck. The flashless powder did not conceal her from the FuMO radars and she too was soon a burning wreck. Her fish were easily avoided; The Prince and a short while later Bismarck continued to engage every ship that came within range.
10 JUNE 1941 0015 Bismarck, only using her secondary battery massacred a Seaplane tender HMS Wiltshire formerly USS Childs AVD 1 (ex-DD 241), of the AVD class converted WW I destroyer in Carenage Bay. Bismarck then engaged 6 RAF Catalina 1 B flying boat Patrol Seaplanes and 3 Supermarine Walrus capital ship float planes newly equipped with ASV radar moored close by the ADV with with her medium and light FLAK battery. All were sunk or left burining wrecks.
Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) Brinkmann, and Kapitäns zur See Lindemann both knew the destruction of those aircraft was vital to their survival. The RAF Catalina 1 B was very dangerous to surface ships as well as the U-Boats. With a max speed of 196 mph and a Cruise speed 125 mph they would no speed records. However it was their Range 2,520 miles and their ASV Mark II Surface Search Radar with it's 170 CM Wavelength, 2.5 microsecond, Pulse Repetition Frequency 400 Hz, Peak Power Out 7 kW, Range of 20 miles for destroyer, 30 miles Capital ships and merchants and 60 miles for coastline and Minimum range 1 mile. That made them so dangerous to TG Brinkmann. As far as both men were concerned against ships with speed, maneuverability and excllent FLAK batteries the Catalina 1 B's three .30 cal Mgs (two in nose turret, one in ventral hatch at tail),Two .50 cal HMG (one in each waist blister), 4,000 lb of bombs, depth charges or torpedoes were of little worry. In fact their Arado scout would have no problem shooting them down all by themself.
Bismarck then turned back to the merchant ship killing but only with her secondary and FLAK battery rounds. The main gun rounds, which were mainly AP now, were reserved for something alot bigger, a lot tougher, a lot more dangeroues and for a naval officer, a lot more satisfying oponent.
10 JUNE 1941 0300 TG Brinkmann was running dew east at 30 kts into an area of low clouds and rain storms. Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) Brinkmann, had signalled his after action report 2 hours ago, shortly after clearing the target area, while on a deceptive course. The reply had been a curt "Well Done. God Speed BdU."
FDR, the PM, CNO Stark, Ernie King, the newly appointed Admiral of the Fleet and Rear Admiral Hewitt USN were even more determined to sink that God Damned Nazi battleship but they also had to admit Brinkmann, Nazi bastard that he was, had pulled off an absolutely masterful stratergic operation. No matter what happened to him, Bismarck and Prinz Eugen the damage had been done and Hitler was, a pretty long step, closer to defeating the UK. These being Hard Men could admire a man even as they hunted him to his death. After all it was not personal. It was just business!
11 JUNE 1941 0930 HMS Renown settled onto the keel blocks in the drydock in sight of HMS Victory's masts. Old Reffit's C.O. Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN and his crew were eager to get ashore and celebrate their great victories over TG Cilax. About two thirds of his men would be at liberty in less than three hours; many enjoying the fleshpots of Portsmouth and well they did desreve it. He, on the other hand. along with most of his department heads, warrants and senior Chiefs had a lot of work to do getting Renown'e latest Refit off to a quick start.
She had been lucky, on 8 June to first find and then engage Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbandt 's Gneisenau before she entered Spanish Territorial waters. The outcome of the battle was never in doubt. Renown's 15 inch rifles against what was left of the Nazi's 5.9s was more like target practice. Still it put an unwanted strain on her engines and torpedo damage that made this Dockyard period all the more urgent.
The Admiralty wanted Force H reconstituted as soon as possible so they pretty much had a carte blanch now. The CO planned to take full advanatge to bring his ship up as close as possible to the latest standards.
Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commander of Force H, was in London now meeting with the new 1st Sea Lord. He told Simeon, he would be getting Repulse to temporaraly work with Ark Royal but it was his intent to have old Refit back with Force H as soon as possible. He also needed to scare up one or more new cruisers, which were very tough to come by. He had pretty much used up his Escorts and would need replacemenst there also.
Speaking of Ark Royal, she would soon be working up a new Air Group. Based on Her CO Capt. C.S. Holland, RN after action report the old String Bags had done very well as did Fairey Fulmar in it's reconnaissance mission. Ark desperately needed much better fighters and a dedicated Dive Bomber. The real Herasy was Ark's surviving air crew wanted American replacements like the F4F and the SBD.
The current FAA (Fleet Air Arm) Fairey Fulmar made an excellent scout but was a poor fighter. Its performance as a fighter was severely compromised by its dual role as a scout. The Navy had specified a two-seat machine so that the pilot would have the assistance of another crew member in reporting back to the fleet the observations made, which were done using wireless telegraphy (W/T) and navigate over the ocean. As a result, the Fulmar was too large and often unwieldy in engagements with single-seat, land-based opposition, as it did in the Mediterranean Theatre; its performance was clearly inferior to typical land-based fighters. However, the long range of the Fulmar was often very useful.
ContemporaryNaziMitsubishi A5M and American Grumman F3F carrier borne fighters along with the Royal Navy's Gloster Sea Gladiator were much better "Fighters" than the Fulmar. Even these naval fighters compared unfavourably with land based fighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 which reached 290 mph at sea level over the Fulmars 265 mph. Especially in the Med, they were up against really excellent land based fighters and the FAA pilots were paying the price.
11 JUNE 1941 2315 S13 / SS -118 / USS FORD surfaced, recharging batteries and ventilatig the boat. Lat 11 30 54.2, Long 52 42 34.2, Course 270T, Speed 15, wind from 080T, Speed 16 knots gusting to 22, moderate sea, raining hard. 30 minutes until watch relief. The Fox scheds informed the boat that the Kriegsmarine was in West Lant in force. Refineries in Aruba and Trinidad Tobago had been hit and hit hard.
What only the Skipper, XO and Commo knew was the RN had lost a Cruiser, a Sea plane tender, a bunch of PBY flying boats and four destroyers. Trinidad Tobago had two coatsal and one AA battery wiped out with heavy loss of life. S-13's CO, Lt. Peter "Cowboy" Holt USNA class of 1938 had an eyes only message in his hands. He was appraised that ONI had determined the attack on Trinidad Tobago was by KMS Bismarck and Prinz Eugen.
Ernie King ordered him to his current course and speed. He was to search for the German capital ships and, at all costs to transmit a sighting report highest priority. He was to keep transmitting until he was either acknowledged or he deemed the situation made diving and evading more likely to get that message to higher authority than continuing to transmit on the surface.
It was made absolutely clear to "Cowboy" that sighting report was of the highest importance even at the cost of his sub, his crew and himelf.
How much of this possible death and to whom does he inform this death sentence?
OK he has to inform the XO and the COB, that's enough for now.
Hell the chances of the USS FORD finding those Nazi's is really pretty small. He does not have radar, in this rain his lookouts can't see more than a boat's length but the storm will let up and then he has about a five mile visual radius.
His longest range sensor, given good sea conditions, is the model JT idirectional listening system. The JT is designed to detect, identify, and locate sources of both sonic and ultrasonic sounds. It is designed to use the JP (Active sionar sonic equipment and has a super-sonic converter so that ultrasonic as well as sonic sounds can be amplified by the JP amplifier. In addition, it has a more directional hydrophone than the JP hydrophone and has a right-left indicator (RLI) for taking bearings on sonic sounds with greater accuracy than is possible with the tuning-eye indicator of the JP equipment. From personal experience he knew the JT's longest range was while his boat was at perascope depth. His sonar Chief had actually tracked ship noise sources as far as 60 miles away. Not often, usually it was more like 15 to 20 miles, if at all but that beats the hell out of 5. Problem was he could do 15 surfaced and only11 submerged and that only for about an hour before he had to surface, run his diesels and rechrge his batteries for 8 to 12 hours.
He picked up the growler and told the control room to send the COB, who was a sonar man, to his cabin. Once COB arrived he told him to take his chair and shifted himself to his bunk. He explained it all to COB and then asked him how we can get the best range on a couple of big noise targets running at high speed from the out of the model JT?
COB "your taking a real big chance relying on the JT Captain. Yah I know we have picked shit up at 60 miles but that was really rare and even at 15 to 20 it is not all that common. Mostly we get stuff at 5 to 8 miles, not much better than the look outs. What we could do is put a couple of my kids with really unbelievable hearing on the phones and dive the boat to just above the surface layer, cut back the electrics to steerage way make a few slow 360s. If we get nothing; surface for awhile running on the diesels at 15 and charging the batteries. I have no idea how long we stay doing donuts and how long to run on the surface before the next dive.
S-13's CO, Lt. Peter "Cowboy" Holt " So COB we sprint and drift ?"
COB "Call it what you want Captain." Oh there is one more thing if, big IF, I can get a half dozen solid bearing on those Nazi Bastards I might be able to give you a pretty good estimate on their Course, Speed and position from FORD. There is something they are working on at Key West (Navy sonar school) they picked up from the Limeys. I'ts called TMA I think it means Target Motion Analysis."
S-13's CO "How does it work COB?"
TMA is done by marking from which direction the sound comes at different times, and comparing the motion with that of the FORD When I get enough good sound bearings, say 6, I study the changes in relative motion using some fancy techniques like Ekelund Ranging, 1934 Rule, Spears Wheel they "dumbed down" for us sailors at Key West. We have to plug in some guesses such as courses and speeds based on what we think the target is of what the tragets are doing. You'd be better at that than me captain.
I got to warn you Captain this is a lot more witch craft than it is science."
S-13's CO "Can you do this COB?"
COB "I learned it at the school about 6 months ago when we was playing target for the Cans. Since then I've playd around with to keep my hand in and win some bets. Water conditions off key West are a hell of a lot better than what we got down here and even then most of the time we got nothing we could use Captain. All I really need is a kid with good ears, a circular slip stick and a really hot math man, I'd say the Navigator, he's a wizard with numbers to check out my figures."
12 JUNE 1941 0500 HMS Sheffield entered No. 5 Basin, North Yard, HMNB Devonport. Newly advanced Captain Sir Edmund Blackadder, VC was preparing to turn over his command old Shiny, to the Dock Yard for a long wartime refit. His command was one of the shortest in RN history, lasting only 7 days. Well really strange things happened in war time.
He had been promised. by no other than The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff,Vice Admiral Ramsay, two weeks home leave. He was off to his low haunts in London and his adoring , insatible lady friends. Sir Edmund Preferred his women mostly attractive, bored, married (with either distant or really stupid) husbands and rich between 35 and 40 who doted on their cynical, charismatic, intelligent, very randy Naval Officer.
12 JUNE 1941 1530 Sheffied's newly promoted Gunnery Officer CDR Simon Baldrick RN, DSC was sitting in the Senior officer's mess at HMNB Devonport or "Guz", as he used to call it when a rating' He was drinking his second pink Gin and thinking about his career. He had started out on the lower deck in 1910, was promoted to Warrant Gunner just after Jutland and commissioned in October 1918. After the Great War Simon recived exactly one promotion, to Lt. and was forceably retired, along with many others, in 1934 to Chigwell a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. He had been called back, to the great anger of his wife Adelaid and sorrow of his four daughters, in Sept 1939 as a LCDR. Now he wore 3 gold "rings" and a loop on his sleeve marking him as a Commander, RN not one of those wavy navy imposters or Naval Reserve merchant "Navy" call ups.
At heart he was still a "Gun Buster" and always would be. At 50 he was getting a bit old for wartime sea duty according to the Ship's junior Surgeon. So it was off to H.M.S. Excellent, AKA Portsmouth Gunnery School or what he would always refer to as "Whale Island". It was the Royal Navy's main gunnery training establishment for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He had been a student there both as an Matelot and officer. He had taught there as a Warrant Gunner. He knew the place well and he had a lot to contribute due to all his first hand battle experience.
What really surprised this newly promoter Commander was he was going back to Whale Island as Executive Officer on the staff of "The Captain". Captain RN, Eric J. P. Brind, had asked for him as soon as he saw his promotion gazetted and the Admiralty was happy to oblige. The job came with a large house, servants and all the things his long suffering wife wanted from the RN and never thought she would get. Ought to keep her happy. Happy wife, Happy Life. Maybe, just maybe, he could coach the Field Gun crew and attend another Royal Tournament?
12 JUNE 1941 1600 Newly promoted Warrant Electrician Otto Sharkey had been detached from HMS Sheffield. He was on his way to HMS Valkyrie the Royal Navy's No. 1 Radar Training School shore establishment or "stone frigate" located in Douglas, Isle of Man. Sharkey was to attend a number of advanced level, Radar courses. HMS Valkyrie was established with its personnel billeted in a number of guest houses which had been requisitioned for the duration and which were situated on Loch Promenade, Douglas. The training was undertaken at a series of buildings on Douglas Head, one being the Douglas Head Hotel.
He was also to attend lectures on how to act as a wardroom officer. These lectures were mandatory for the large number of pre war former CPOs now RN Warrant Officers and recent civilian technical specialists who are now Warrant Officers RNVR.
12 JUNE 1941 1700 Seated in Bismarck’s flag quarters Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) Brinkmann held in his hand BdU’s latest estimate of the “Englanders” and “Amis” search for him. It told him very little. Aside from a few Type IX U-boats operating this far West and South there was no other Kriegsmarine intel (in his opinion the only reports that were both reliable and accurate as to naval issues) available.
So far It had been a stressful but successful, high speed run away from Trinidad Tobago raid. The weather had cooperated in hiding him from the long range patrol flying boats, his biggest worry. Prince Eugene's damage had been minor although the loss 9 and and wounding of 16 men was regrettable. He still had been forced to keep his TG Brinkmann “closed up” to a fifty percent manning. That, at least, allowed his sailors to get some sleep, feed and attend to personal needs. Unfortunately, there had been three occasions when Kapitäns zur See Lindemann and Kommandant Seeadler’s von Luckner had ordered "Action Stations" due to either radar or sonar reports that turned out to be nothing in the end. The alarm bells and the announcement caused stressed and tired men to hurriedly race to their battle stations until the threat was evaluated as "nothing". It could not be helped this far in the enemy's back yard and almost alone Lindeman, von Luckner and especially he could take no chances. So his off watch men stumbled back to try and get some badly needed sleep before they all too soon had to relieve the watch.
He then looked at the fuel reports of his Flag and The Prince. Not good. Three days of high speed operations had reduced his bunkerage down to 75%. His UNREP with PSS Cabello was still 29 hours away. He would order speed reduced to 20 knots at nautical twilight. He was was far enough from the raid now and he had to keep in mind that in this hostile part of the Western Atlantic an encounter with enemy forces was a dstinct possibility for Vabello as well as his TG. He might need to stretch his fuel.
On the brighter side he also had a signal from BdU announcing that Hitler had conferred the Knight Insignia of the Iron Cross on Fregattenkapitan Schneider, Bismarck's "first" gunnery officer. Tired as they were Lindemann had ordered a short wardroom celebration to Wet Down Schneider's award. He also ordered the cooks to prepare a holiday meal of Smoked sausage fruits, cheese, honey, freshly baked bread, chocolate and juices. He authorized a special cigarette or pipe tobacco ration and a shot of ole Jägermeister. for his sailor’s much loved “Jäger ,Bomben” which consist of a shot of Jäger dropped into a pint of beer and drunk all together. He was taking a small chance but they all needed to celebrate their epic victory and relieve the strain of this cruise.
13 JUNE 1941 2200 PSS Cabello lay one cable length ahead of his "Prince" as she took on fuel. The astern UNRED method was a long process. The fact it was working even this well was due to Fregattenkapitan Friedrich Max von Muller and his 6 man team of Marinenachrichtendienst (Naval Intelligence Division AKA MAD) special operations group aboard Cabello. Kommandant Seeadler’s von Luckner's Chief Engineer estimated 6 hours to top them off. Bismarck's tanks were bigger which meant about 8 hours. That made it mid afternoon before they were free of the tanker.
The weather had cleared and gave them this moderate sea and wind. It also made it possible for for Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) Brinkmann, to authorize flight operations, so the Arado's would be up at morning twilight conduct a thororgh search and then establish constant patrols out to 150 miles during daylight. That should give them plenty of warning.
14 JUNE 1941 0315 S-13's juinior sonarman was fighting sleep. He had to maintain his "Listening Watch" for another 30 minutes then he could climb into the rack of his relief and get some sleep. He began another 300 degree sweep of his JT microphones the chief had atught him to conduct his search in 10 degree increments listening three to five 5 minutes, in the forward sectors and a minute of so as the sectors moved aft to the baffles before moving on. He was listening on 030 relative when he picked up a sound source. It was intermittent and he took his time because he didn't want to report another pod of whales or school of squids. The chief told him "Report everything" until you get the hang of it. It was his fellow junior sub sailors that gave him the ribbing and that bothered him.
6 JUNE 1941 0500 the "nuetral" Venezuelan tanker PSS Cabello, transporting No.1 bunker oil, was picked up on both the Bismarck and Prince Eugen's FUMO radars coming from the south west at 22 miles range making directly for the rendezvous point. The rendezvous was selected because it was well away from normal allied air and surface patrols, off the normal merchant routes and no allied convoy or other naval activity was reported in this area.
He had two Arado's up since nautical sunrise, hours ago, making sure they had the sea to themselves this morning. Nothing found within 150 miles so far except the expected tanker which was flying the correct recognition signal for today.
He would have to rely on both ships Gruppenhorchgerät ('group listening device', abbreviated GHG) passive hyrophone arrays to warn of lurking allied U-boats. Those arrays had proved highly efficient,The Prince had picked up Hood with them before they had a solid track with the Fumo at over 35 miles.
The principle of hydrophones was simple enough. It consisted of two pairs of underwater microphones which listened to the sound of ships’ propeller noises. By measuring the amount of time it took for sound to arrive at each of the microphones, the device could triangulate the bearing of the target vessel. The radioman could also tell if it was a merchantman, warship or even submarine but not the range, direction or speed it was moving. Because sound travels much further underwater, hydrophones could pick up distant convoys travelling up to 60 miles, single ship at 40 and that included a surface U-boat. Best range for a submerged U-boat, given good eater conditions and own ship' speed of under 12 kts was about 10 miles, well outside torpedoe range. For maximum effectiveness however, own ship had to come DIW (dead in the water), secure it's engines while the hydrophones listened in for a few minutes. That was not going to happen.
The two seperate units of TG Brinkmann had made a long duration, high speed, deceptive runs to clear the areas of their recent attacks on allied shipping and needed topping off soon. SS Cabello was a 480 ft o/a, 61ft Beam, 7,625 GRT modern tanker loaded with 8,500 tons of bunker fuel and other marine patroleum proucts at 17 kts. She had left Port of La Guaira 12 days ago on a scheduled run to Cadiz Spain. As a nuetral she was not escorted and did not provide position reports to anyone but her parent company C.A. de Navegación Fluvial y Costanera de Venezuela, Puerto Cabello using a modified simple "book cipher". PSS Cabello's shipping company had adopted homophonic substitution cipher, a code in which the key is some aspect of a book or other piece of text. The trick is to replace individual letters rather than words known as the Second Beale cipher, which replaces the first letter of a word in the book with that word's position. However, if used often, this technique has the side effect of creating a larger ciphertext (typically 4 to 6 digits being required to encipher each letter or syllable) and increases the time and effort required to decode the message. So it lended itself to Posit and short status messages, not extensive texts. The "Key book" was changed at random intervals so each of the company's ships and shore establishments had a "Library" of a dozen identical books available. It is essential that both correspondents not only have the same book, but the same edition. Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman of USCG Lcdr Jones’ Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387” could break this simple code without the Key Book but the effort still required time better used for other assignments.
PSS Cabello had a normal pre war mixed nationality crew of 50, although her officers were all "nominally" Venezualans. Unknown to the Master or his company the Grupo Regional de Venezuela del Partido Nazi had placed a chief engineer, 2nd mate and 12 of her crew sympathetic to the Nazy cause aboard Cabello. Unknown to the Nazi Sympathizers there were also 6 clandestine members of the Marinenachrichtendienst (Naval Intelligence Division AKA MAD) special operations group aboard. Five days out of Port of La Guaira, after carefully vetting the Nazi sympathizers, the leader of the MAD enlsited both the 2nd mate and Chief engineer and 6 crew help sieze the ship. The capture went very smoothly and no one was injured. The Master, 1st and 3rd mates, one of the junior engineering officers and 5 of the crew were confined. The rest went along with the men with the guns who, at that time, were winning the war.
The leader of the MAD team was Fregattenkapitan Friedrich Max von Muller, winner of the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and first captain of the merchant raider Michel. He had two Oberleutnant zur See (Senior Lieutenants), two Engineering Ober-maat (CPOs) and one Communications Stabsfeldwebel (Chief Warrant Officer ). All members of his team were selected by von Muller, had served with him aboard Michel to his satisfaction and were very hard men when the situation called for it. They all had a good working knowledge of Spanish. He had personally rigorously trained his men and then had his men cross train their team mates. They were also thoroughly familiar with the capabilities, layout, machinery and other peculiarities of PSS Cabello. They had been "smuggled" into Venezuella a month before Cabello sailed without incident as Spanish seaman. Once ashore they were lost in the 4,000 Germans living in the country.
The new "Master" of PSS Cabello, wearing the former Master's work uniform, ordered a course change that would liesurely get them to their rendezvous point as directed. After going over the coding procedures, No Enigma, code names, watch schedule, EMCOM to be employed and ensuring his man was comfortable with the radio gear von Ruckteschell gave his order. His Communicator was to transmit one, short, two letter and three number coded signal informing BdU and TG Brinkmann Cabello had been taken without incident. The ship was on it's way to the rendezvous point. BdU had a radioman specifically assigned to the cabello frequency who immediately handed the coded signal to his watch Ober-maat (Chief). The signal was broken in five minutes and the reply was transmitted 10 minutes later. Cabello acknowledge receipt and then the Stabsfeldwebel (CWO) unplugged the speed key and locked it in the safe with the spare code keys). Until further orders from the Fregattenkapitan it would be a listening radio watch only.
7 JUNE 1941 0730 TG Brinkmann began refueling operations from PSS Cabello. Since the Venezualan commercial tanker was not equipped for alongside UNREP the astern hose system had to be used. This was not particularly efficient because the operation was limited to one ship at a time, and only one refueling point on the warship could be employed. Their fueling gear consisted of a ten-inch towing hawser, two six-inch breast lines along with the three-inch fuel hoses. To keep the fuel hoses clear of the sea, they were supported by a wooden carrier suspended from the oiler's cargo booms.
Sea conditions during the operation were pretty good, with a moderate cross swell that caused Cabello to roll from 6 to ten degrees, with only mild pitching. These fairly calm summer North Atlantic conditions allowed fuel transfer at the rate of Sixty Five tons per hour. More to the point, the towing hawser and fuel lines parted only once during the entire evolution. For a first effort this was very, very acceptable; causing the TG commander to send a well done to the Cabello.
The small 6 member Marinenachrichtendienst (Naval Intelligence Division AKA MAD) special operations group had been trained thoroughly on rigging the refueling gear from what they would find aboard PSS Cabello. They had, with the help of the deck force, completed the improvised rig days ago. They had also trained those members of Cabello's crew they could trust (as long as they could keep a close watch on them holstred pistol at their side) on the techniques required of the refueling tanker. Most of those procedures were nothing but variations on the deck seamanship any competent merchant sailor had already mastered. Bismarck was first while the Prince stood at Action Stations and the Arado's maintained their search for uninvited guests. It took 10 hours to top fill Bismarck's massive tanks and then it was the Prince's turn which took another eight hours. Fregattenkapitan Friedrich Max von Muller, and his Oberleutnant zur See (Senior Lieutenants) shared the 18 hour OOD/conning watches. When not on watch, one of the Oberleutnant zur Sees supervised the refueling rig from the fan tail.
The two Engineering Ober-maat (CPOs) relieved each other in the engine room, keeping a close watch on the black gang although the Engineering officer was a Nazi sympathiser. Communications Stabsfeldwebel (Chief Warrant Officer ) Kept the radio watch for signals from TG Brinkmann and any other close by radio traffic. The Grupo Regional de Venezuela del Partido Nazi 2nd mate and 4 seaman (each with a pistol but no spare ammunition) watched the other crewmembers. Muller would only trust them so far.
Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) Brinkmann, took advantage of the calm seas to transferred his flag and staff back to Bismarck. After Bismarck's refueling he briefed Kapitäns zur See Lindemann of BdU's orders they attack the Oil Refineries on Trinidad Tobago. Both men knew Trinidad Tobago's oil refinery in Pointe a Pierre was the largest in the British Empire and a vital strategic asset of the allies. Much of Venezeulan crude was refined there. The file on Trinidad Tobago was quite extensive and included in the intel provided Lutgens before he sortied.
Brinkmann " Lindemann now it is up to us to decide exactly how we will carry out those orders. The obvious course is to close the island and bombard the rifineries with our main batteries. I would think it would not take much to set Pointe a Pierre ablaze. I also want the port facilities wrecked, although that will take a lot more ammunition and cost us time. So far we have had "Des Teufels eigenes Glück" (Devils own luck) and I expect to sink some tankers before we disapear again. I'd love to send ashore a couple of landing parties to direct our gunfire, assess damge on the refineries and port facilities and also find some other good targets. I want those refineries completely wrecked and require complete rebuilding before they process another drop of crude. That would take a year at least.
That should push our Englander "friends" much closer to reason and the negotiation table. This could be the straw that knocks them out of the war. Maybe? Without Great Britain to deal we, our Army and Luftwaffe will be able to concentrate most of our strength in Russia alone. The Bolsheviks have taken losses that would cripple any other country. They have to be near breaking. A few more such routes and Stalin will have to ask for terms. Even then he will probably be assassinated. I doubt there is anyone who will be willing to continue the war. If the assasins fail his party "friends" and he will be in their own civil war. No matter Hitler will get what he wants in the East. I doubt the Americans will prove to be decisive. They probably will act far too late if at all."
The recently advanced Vizeadmiral had no idea FDR had come to a similar conclusion well ahead of him. Rear Admiral Hewitt's TG-39 was out to sink his ship and ensure America came into the war BEFORE it was too late. Bismarck's CO was a bit uneasy about this latest operation. He could not forget both Kapitäns zur See Karl Friedrich Max von Müller CO of Emdem and Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee commanding the German East Asia Squadron had been very successful as commerce raiders but both came to disater when they decided to expand their war to attacking shore targets.
Before dismissing him, the Vizeadmiral handed the CO of Bismarck a copy of the draft oporder his C of Staff had prepared. "Look this over and let me know what you think." Both men had work to do and until the UNREP was completed their stations were the Flag Plot and Bismarck's bridge. So it was not until that evening with Bismarck and The Prince on a course heading to Trinidad Tobago, did Lindemann get a chance to study the Draft Op order.
The WW II German naval Operations Order was very similar to the army version and consists of an orientation and five paragraphs. The five paragraphs are: Situation, Mission, Execution, Administration & Logistics, and Command & Signal.
1. SITUATION.
a. Area of Interest. British Crown Colony Island of Trinidad Tobago
b. Area of Operations. North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea 150 nautical miles centered on Trinidad Tobago
(1) Terrain. Map included in the folder with all important locations marked
(2) Weather. To be updated during the approach for now forecast good
c. Enemy Forces. Trinidad Tobago Garrison and any allied units present
(1) Composition, Disposition, and Strength.
Coast Artillery Battalion Royal Marines Siege Regimeent
HQ Battery locate at Trinidad at Carenage Bay
Service battery Carenage Bay
Six sections, each with a searchlight and aircraft sound locator
colocated with Flak batteries
Coastal Defense Group
Three batteries, each with two BL 6-inch Mk VII Surface only guns.
See map for last known locations. Be advised these guns are moved sporadically.
Projectiles Surface AP, HE, Shrapnel 100 lb
Rate of fire 8 rounds per minute
Maximum effective range 25,000 yds at 20° elevation
Antiaircraft Group
Four FLAK batteries, each with 4 mobile QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns mounted on towed, 4-wheeled sprung trailer FLAK platforms.
Each battery is equipped with Vickers No. 2 Predictor based on a US Sperry AAA Computer M3A3. The No 2 could track targets at 400 mph at heights of 25,000 ft. The No 2 Predictors received height data, generally from the Barr & Stroud UB 7 (9 feet base) instrument.
See map for last known locations. Be advised these guns are moved sporadically.
Projectiles 24 lb Fixed round 12.5 lb projectile weight
types: AP, AA , HE, Illumination
Rate of fire 16 – 18 rounds per minute
Maximum effective range 16,000 yds at 43° elevation 30,400ft AA ceiling
Two AAA machine gun companies, each with 12 Oerlikon guns
See map for last known locations. Be advised these guns are moved sporadically.
Projectiles High Explosive with tracer, H.E. without tracer and Incendiary
Ciclical rate of around 500 rpm from 60 rounds magazines
Maximum effective range 1,000yds
One Seaplane tender of the AVD class converted WW I destroyer
Anchor in Carenage Bay.
Supporting 4 to 6 PBY-3 Patrol Seaplanes
Maximum speed: 196 mph Cruise speed: 125 mph
Range 2,520 mi
Service ceiling: 15,800 ft
Guns: Three .30 cal Mgs (two in nose turret, one in ventral hatch at tail)
Two .50 cal HMG (one in each waist blister)
Bombs: 4,000 lb of bombs, depth charges or torpedoes
Radar some PBY's are fitted with ASV Mark II Surface Search Radar
Wavelength 170 cm Pulse Width 2.5 microsecond
Pulse Repetition Frequency 400 Hz Peak Power Out 7 kW
Range 20 miles for destroyer 30 miles Capital ships and merchants
60 miles for coastline
Minimum range 1 mile
As of last report no land based military Patrol, Bomber or Fighter aircraft are permantly based on Trinidad and Tobego as their bases are in the early phase of construction.
No land bases search radar is operational. However, as this is a key Convoy assembly area various radar equipped warships are often present.
Local Patrol Boats There are about a dozen police and customs launches armed with pistols and rifle. No radar but they do have two way radios which are considered their most dangerous weapon. No more than two of the boats have been observed actively patrolling between Midnight and nautitical sunrise.
d. Friendly Forces. TG Brinkmann and PSS Cabello and various U-boats
(1) Higher HQ Mission and Intent. BdU Destroy oil refining capability on Trinidad Tobago
(2) Mission of Adjacent Units. N/A
e. Attachments and Detachments. N/A
f. Civilian Considerations Avoid civilian casualties unless they jeopardize success of the mission.
2. MISSION. In a night action destroy the refineries, port fracilities and any tankers in the vicinity of Trinidad Tobago without sustaining major damage to TG Brinkman that would degrade primary, commerce raiding mission. To withdraw before enemy forces can pose a threat to TG Brinkman. Radar Navigation and gun laying will be employed along with beacon(s) planted by sleeper agents.
Pointe a Pierre refinery is one of the largest and most modern (due to constant upgrades) refineries in the world. Point Fortin a somehwat smaller refinery and being of recent expanded and modernized has better fire fighting facilities. The fuel, refined at Pointe a Pierre and Point Fortin is very important to the RAF, Royal Navy, British home Islands Industry and allied merchant fleet. The total destruction of Pointe a Pierre and Point Fortin will be a major strategic victory for the Fatherland and a serious loss for the enemy.
3. EXECUTION. TG Brinkmann will destroy the refineries, port, air field facilities and any tankers or naval vseesls in the vicinity of Pointe a Pierre and Point Fortin by gunfire on the night of 9/10 June.
a. Commander's Intent Total destruction of Trinidad Tobago's Refineries. Inflicting as much damage to Trinidad Tobago's port, tankers, communications and naval units as reasonably possible.
b. Concept of operations. To use surprise, radar navigation and fire control and precision gunfire under cover of darkness
(1) Maneuver. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
(2) Fires. As required
(3) Reconnaissance and Surveillance. U-boats, local sleeper agents, Arado scouts and radar will be the chief methods of Recon and Surveillance
(4) Intelligence. As provided by BdU
(5) Engineer. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
(6) Air Defense. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
(7) Information Operations.
c. Scheme of Movement and Maneuver. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
d. Scheme of Fires.
e. Casualty Evacuation.
f. Tasks to Subordinate Units
g. Tasks to Combat Support.
(1) Intelligence. See Appendix
(2) Engineer. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
(3) Fire Support. See Appendix
(4) Air Defense. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
(5) Signal. Per SOP TG Brinkmann
4. SUSTAINMENT. Per TG Brinkmann SOP
5. COMMAND AND CONTROL.
a. Command.
(1) Location of Commander. Bismarck
(2) Succession of Command. Per TG Brinkmann SOP
c. Signal. Per TG Brinkmann SOP
(1) SOI index in effect.
(2) Methods of communication by priority.
(3) Pyrotechnics and Signals.
(4) Code Words.
(5) Challenge and Password.
(6) Number Combination.
(7) Running Password.
(8) Recognition Signals.
7 JUNE 1941 1130 One of CPO Sharkey's Radar operators reported a "contact" at 005 relative, distance 17 and a half miles to his watch PO. Second Class Petty Officer "Bertie" O' Higgins came over and studied the "O" scope presentation for a minute and then adjusted the "gain" control. He was rewarded with two small contacts. Bertie informed the watch officer and log keeper of the new contacts. Bertie worked out the contacts' course, speed, CPA (closest point of approach) and time of CPA at current course and speed. He provided that amplifying information to the watch officer who, after a quick check, informed the OOD.
The OOD picked up the sound powered phone to the anchor windless room, where CDR Edmund Blackadder, acting CO Sheffield, was inspecting the shoring strong back recently installed. It replaced the emeregency "Patch" from the battle that had failed about an hour and a half ago. The pumps had been making slow but steady progress "dewatering" Shiny until that patch let loose. He had to order speed reduced to a little above steerage way while the DC party, working in waist high and then chest high water fashioned and emplaced the replacement. Just 25 minutes ago he had ordered Shiny Back to her best speed, 15 knots in 5 knot increments. He was watching, along with the DC party, the patch which he was now almost convinced would hold when he got the contact report.
He said to the Chief Stoker DC party leader, "Chief I'm heading back to the bridge" and to the DC party, "Job damn well done. I will order up a dram for each of you. Chief see our men and you get that rum issue after you secure."
He was then on the run up 6 ladders to the jury rigged bridge. He made it in less than 5 minutes puffing like an old man and got the full report from the OOD.
Blackadder to the OOD, That should be the Norwegion manned Ocean going Tug Hafgufa and "OUR" escort the Flower class Corvett Primrose." Both men smiled at the lame joke but that was the best he could do at present.
"Make sure the lookouts keep a sharp eye on that bearing and order action stations NOW. " They were not out of the woods yet by a long margin and he was not taking any more chances than he had to with Shiny leaking like a collander and his engines held together with wire and the sweat of his Chief and his stokers. In due course his signal men acknowledge the flag hoist challenge. It was the Tug and Corvette. He immediately ordered the crew secure from Action Stations. He ordered the Corvette to maintain an ASW screen and the tug to take station abreast of Shiny at 500 yds to starboard. No sign of the promised Coastal command patrol bomber or fighter escort so far. Well he had not really expected the RAF to drop everything just to nursemaid old Shiny.
7 JUNE 1941 1200 TG 39.1 was at 18.0708° N, 62.0501° W heading South at 25 knots with the destroyers in a bent line screen, BB-55 as guide with USS Brooklyn CL-40 scouting 50 miles ahead. Rear admiral Hewitt had three SOC souts out patyolling search sectors to the East,West and South out to 150 miles. Nothing so far. The TG was heading for an UNREP with one of the fast oilers. His Destroyers needed fuel after the long high speed transit.
7 JUNE 1941 1315 The Southern scout sighted the oiler at 70 miles, speed 15 knots heading for TG39.1
7 JUNE 1941 1830 the last of TG39.1 broke away from the oiler and was heading back to it's screening station. The oiler was heading to the next UNREP station. Hewitt was sure he would need more fuel after an action with TG Brinkmann.
8 JUNE 1941 2100 There was no black out at all on Aruba, U-156 's target lay there, fully lit. He had easily eluded the Two 34 ft. " customs launches. These boats are armed with small arms and a single, pedestal mounted, Canon d'Infanterie de 37 modèle 1916 TRP (37mm mle.1916) French infantry support gun. Rate of fire Sustained: 25 rpm, Maximum Effective range1,600yds But their most dangerous weapon was their excellent radios. He also beat the Six 24 ft. Radio equipped Police/rescue boats stationed in the island. Without radar fire control he had no fear of the shore battery located at Juana Morto, the highest point of the easterly part of the island, a coastal battery consisting of two pre WW 1 150 mm 40 caliber guns.
What he did fear was Stationed at KLM Field Savaneta, a graded runway if caught close in during daylight was the 6 Martin 139s WH-3As the Export version of the B-10. With Maximum speed: 213 mph, Range of 1,240 mi and armed with 3 30 caliber Browning machine guns and 2,260 lbs of bombs.
Even the 6 Brewster 339Ds Export version of the F-2A Buffalo wuth two 0.50 in nose and 2 wing -mounted M2 Browning machine guns and two 100 lb bombs could damage his boat enough to cause real trouble.
U-156 was a Type IXC with one × 4.1 inch SK C/32 deck gun with 180 rounds, a 37mmAA gunand one twin 20 mm FlaK 30 AA . She surfaced off the Lego refinery and the guns crews manned their weapons, sighted them on the refinery and bombarded Lego with everything they had. A fatal error by one of the 5.9's gun crew disabled the breach block after firing 97 rounds. That very UNGreman error spared Lago refinery total destruction But not by much. With needless loss of his main deck gun, the U-boat only had left the much lighter guns. The CO, in a cold rage, the hapless gunner having been beaten severely by the gun captain (who knew he was really in for it), contuned the bombardment. They hit the refinery and at the surrounding buildings and a nearly empty venezulean tanker carrying crude to the refinery repeatedly but the damage was only minor. Lago escaped that night and only because the bombardment had been terminated early. The U-156 torpedoed 2 tankers and a ship loaded with 3000 tons of dynamite, waiting for daylight to enter the port of Oranjestad, on her way out. Both tankers caught fire and sank. The luckless merchant literally disintegrated showering pieces of her over a space of three miles inlcuding ashore on Aruba. Kaleu U-156 thought "With luck we just drew every Englander ship and aircraft away from Trinidad Tobago for long enough for Bismark and The Prince to destroy those refineries. The question is good or bad luck for U-156? At least his U-Boat stood a fair chance of getting back into the Atlantic, something Bismarck would never be able to do if she was insane enough to actually enter the Gulf of mexico. She would never get past the Island chain to the East on the way in let alone on the way out.
9 JUNE 1941 0800 HMS Cambletown, flying a broom from her foremast head, secured from Special Sea Detail. Old Gift Horses crew had made her as presentable as possible given her many battle wounds. She still looked like a tired old whore but they had come to love her. After all, despite far too many times the old gal's machinery had made the Stokers lives a living hell, in the end she had brought most of them home, mostly safe and sound to Halifax's repair basin, pier #3. She still had her Nazi U-boat prisoners aboard but not for long. A section of Canadian Army infantry and two big Bedford QLD 3 ton lorries were waiting on the pier. They would soon take the Nazi diehards to the POW, temporary holding barracks in the dockyard. The Officers were in for a real grilling by the Intel section, real right bastards, mostly RN hard boys. At this point in this loosing Battle of the Atlantic no one was playing by Marques of Queensbury rules.
9 JUNE 1941 0315 All that was left of TG Cilax the two type 1936A destroyers Z23 and Z25 after evading Force H's aerial scouts and the feigned incompetence of the Spanish Navy and Air Force were now moored safe and sound at the Kriegmarine base in the southwestern French port of Hendaye in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Z23's 29 year old skipper Korvettenkapitän Wolfgang Becker was now not only "Comodore" of 8 Zerstörerflottile (8th Destroyer Flotilla), but also the commander of TG Becker the successor to TG CILAX. At least until BdU noticed they were still alive.
9 JUNE 1941 1800 What was left of WS-12 passed the boom into Gibralta's harbor. 24 of HM's converted liner Transports, with 20,000 soldiers, over 200,000 tons of vital war material and another 6 thousand sailors started out. 12 of HM's Transports with 11,200 soldiers dropped anchor at 36.1485°N 5.3652°W. Commodore, Admiral Bertram I. Thesiger, and HMT Strathaird were not among them. The escort had also been badly savaged by the Ruder but they had sunk three U-Boats including the Wolf Pack Alpha Commander . All in all BdU and especially "Onkel Karl" (Uncle Karl), were quite pleased. Too bad his nephews did not find and sink "Des Teufel" (The Devil) Renown.
9 JUNE 1941 2245 Bismarck and The Prince were within easy 15 inch gun range of the Point-a Pierre refinery and it’s 100-octane aviation fuel, essential to the RAF. That was Bismarck’s primary target; The Prince would close on the No.5 Dubbs and the hydrogen and iso-octane plants. They were both well outside the Maximum Effective range ,10 miles,of the marine manned coast defense Battery Able’s two five-inch-fifty-one-caliber rifles. The five inchers were discards from the battleships Texas.
The radar approach, using the land mass to shielded TG Brinkmann from the radars of the escorts that lay in the harbor as their tanker heavy convoys waited for the remaining merchant ships to form up and head out into the Atlantic went well. The first Battery Able and the refinery crews, escorts and merchants knew of the presence of Bismarck was her opening 8 gun salvo, which was controlled by her Radar and the three beacons planted by Nazi sabateurs. The 1,764 lbs., HE L/4 nose fuzed shells burst within the refinery starting fires fed by consequent salvoes. At the same time Bismarck’s secondary battery of 5.9s smothered battery Able before the marines got a single round off. The fifth Salvo obliterated the cracking plant,.The 8th salvo set the tank farm afire and it was pretty clear the fire fighting crews were no match for the conflagation, fed by more salvoes.
9 JUNE 1941 2300 The Prince closed on No.5 Dubbs with it’s the hydrogen and iso-octane plants at 20 knots. Once on station she commenced firing, laying her guns on the sabateurs beacons. Kommandant Seeadler von Luckner, named after his uncle Count Felix von Luckner Captain of SMS Seeadler AKA Der Seeteufel (The Sea Devil)of first world war orderd The Prince to open fire. His first target was USMC Battery “DOG“ ,another two gun five-inch-fifty one position, with a full salvo from both her main battery eight inch and six 4.1 inch SK C/33 guns, with a maximum effective range about the same as the 5.1/51. Unlike Bismarck his “Prince“ did not have the range advantage over Battery“Dog“, which was positioned on a promentory to seaward of No.5 Dubbs. First salvo was over for the 8 inch but on for the 4.1s which was more than enough to kill the gun or wound the crews and damage the guns. Second 8 inch salvo targetted No.5 Dubbs and 4.1s hit battery “Dog“ again destroying the guns, killing the wounded marines and the navy corpsman and marines trying to get them to safety. The ready use ammunition of the battery also exploded in a succession of rapid and multiple flashes that lasted for ten minutes. Kommandant Seeadler von Luckner, brought his cruiser in as close to shore as was prudent in order to bring his 4.1s in range of No.5 Dubbs with it’s the hydrogen and iso-octane plants. This was a calculated chance because one of the marines thee gun, 3-inch M3 FLAK batteries was reported in the area. Although M3‘s Projectiles only weighed 13lb they did have FLAK, HE, Illumination and most dangerous for Prinz Eugen, an AP Round fired at 15 – 20 rounds per minute with a mximum effective range of seven miles. Each individual AP round could not do much damage to the heavily armored areas of the ship but 15 or twenty all landing in the same sapot just might defeat the proetection on the lighter armored areas, to say nothing of ehat the HE and AP would do to antennas and other light structures on the cruiser.
Prinz Eugen got off 18 more salvoes from 8 inch (576 rounds) and almost as many more from the 4.1 inch battery doing substantial damaged ot the refinery which was a blazing inferno now, completely destroying the hydrogen and iso-octane plants. After all a refinery, especially one turning out 100 octane aiviation fuel, was nothing but a bomb, just waiting for someone like TG Brinkmann to set it off. Kommandant Seeadler’s von Luckner, Prince also demolished the four berth tanker pier, it’s pumping stations and left two tankers on fire and a third with it’s stern blown off all aground after multipe 4.1 hits and single torpedo strikes.
9 JUNE 1941 2349 She was making her turn for the Convoy marshalling anchorage when the marines three gun, 3-inch M3 FLAK battery opned up. First salvo was illumination rounds quickly followed by a mixture of AP and HE that walked up to the the Prince and raking "Caesar“ and "Dora"and upper decks aft. The turrets were unharmed but the men at the light FLAK and ohther unshielded aft stations suffered casualtues. Kommandant Seeadler’s von Luckner, gunnery officer immediately commenced counter battery fire and silenced all 3 marine guns in five minutes. The marines had chosen to place their guns as far seaward as possible and that meant a beach with zero concealment or protection. The Marine battery C.O. chose this site that allowed him to reach the ship as soon as possible because she was rapidly drawing out of the range of his 3 inch pop guns.
9 JUNE 1941 2355 In the harbor it was pure chaos as the ships desperately got underway to clear the area In accordance with the Emergency Sortie Plan. SOPA (Senior Officer Present afloat), Captain, RN John T. Stenrud III in the C class light cruiser HMS Coventry, Commissioned 1918. HMS Coventry served with the 5th Light Cruiser squadron until May 1919, and in the Baltic during the Russian civil war. In 1935, Coventry refitted as an anti-aircraft cruiser. This refit involved the removal of her 6-inch guns and torpedo tubes, and the fitting of 10 QF 4-inch Mk V guns on single high-angle mountings and 2 octuple-mounted 2-pounder 'pom-pom' guns.
Coventry Displaced 4,190 tons, Length 450ft, Beam 43.6ft and Draft of 14ft. She was powered by two Brown-Curtis geared turbines, Six Yarrow boilers producing 40,000 shp to her two propellers giving her a Speed of 29 knots. Her 950 tons maximum of fuel oil gave her almost 7,000 miles range. Her wartime comlement was on 327. Coventry’s armor was no match for for The Prince let alone Bismarck. She was protected by 3 inch side (amidships), 2¼-1½ inch side (bows), 2 inch side (stern)1 inch upper decks (amidships) and 1 inch deck over rudder. Captain, RN John T. Stenrud III ordered four destroyers to join him and formed a SAG, (surface action group) that would sortie and engage the attacker. The Prince rapidly engaged the SAG and quickly put the Light cruiser out of action but the four destroyers, under the senior offiicer left, came to 35 knots and sped to their launch point for their torpedoes. Prince’s 8 inch main battery and some of Bismarck’s 5.9s quickly engaged the destroyers under radar control. Two of the escorts were sunk by the 8 inchers as the other two, both damaged, launch their torpedoes at maiximum range greatly reducing the chances of a hit. One of the remaining destroyers was hit hard and went DIW (dead in the water) soon after launching her fish. The last destroyer followed her fish in and commenced firing with her main battery of 4.5 inch guns at Bismarck. The flashless powder did not conceal her from the FuMO radars and she too was soon a burning wreck. Her fish were easily avoided; The Prince and a short while later Bismarck continued to engage every ship that came within range.
10 JUNE 1941 0015 Bismarck, only using her secondary battery massacred a Seaplane tender HMS Wiltshire formerly USS Childs AVD 1 (ex-DD 241), of the AVD class converted WW I destroyer in Carenage Bay. Bismarck then engaged 6 RAF Catalina 1 B flying boat Patrol Seaplanes and 3 Supermarine Walrus capital ship float planes newly equipped with ASV radar moored close by the ADV with with her medium and light FLAK battery. All were sunk or left burining wrecks.
Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) Brinkmann, and Kapitäns zur See Lindemann both knew the destruction of those aircraft was vital to their survival. The RAF Catalina 1 B was very dangerous to surface ships as well as the U-Boats. With a max speed of 196 mph and a Cruise speed 125 mph they would no speed records. However it was their Range 2,520 miles and their ASV Mark II Surface Search Radar with it's 170 CM Wavelength, 2.5 microsecond, Pulse Repetition Frequency 400 Hz, Peak Power Out 7 kW, Range of 20 miles for destroyer, 30 miles Capital ships and merchants and 60 miles for coastline and Minimum range 1 mile. That made them so dangerous to TG Brinkmann. As far as both men were concerned against ships with speed, maneuverability and excllent FLAK batteries the Catalina 1 B's three .30 cal Mgs (two in nose turret, one in ventral hatch at tail),Two .50 cal HMG (one in each waist blister), 4,000 lb of bombs, depth charges or torpedoes were of little worry. In fact their Arado scout would have no problem shooting them down all by themself.
Bismarck then turned back to the merchant ship killing but only with her secondary and FLAK battery rounds. The main gun rounds, which were mainly AP now, were reserved for something alot bigger, a lot tougher, a lot more dangeroues and for a naval officer, a lot more satisfying oponent.
10 JUNE 1941 0300 TG Brinkmann was running dew east at 30 kts into an area of low clouds and rain storms. Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) Brinkmann, had signalled his after action report 2 hours ago, shortly after clearing the target area, while on a deceptive course. The reply had been a curt "Well Done. God Speed BdU."
FDR, the PM, CNO Stark, Ernie King, the newly appointed Admiral of the Fleet and Rear Admiral Hewitt USN were even more determined to sink that God Damned Nazi battleship but they also had to admit Brinkmann, Nazi bastard that he was, had pulled off an absolutely masterful stratergic operation. No matter what happened to him, Bismarck and Prinz Eugen the damage had been done and Hitler was, a pretty long step, closer to defeating the UK. These being Hard Men could admire a man even as they hunted him to his death. After all it was not personal. It was just business!
11 JUNE 1941 0930 HMS Renown settled onto the keel blocks in the drydock in sight of HMS Victory's masts. Old Reffit's C.O. Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN and his crew were eager to get ashore and celebrate their great victories over TG Cilax. About two thirds of his men would be at liberty in less than three hours; many enjoying the fleshpots of Portsmouth and well they did desreve it. He, on the other hand. along with most of his department heads, warrants and senior Chiefs had a lot of work to do getting Renown'e latest Refit off to a quick start.
She had been lucky, on 8 June to first find and then engage Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbandt 's Gneisenau before she entered Spanish Territorial waters. The outcome of the battle was never in doubt. Renown's 15 inch rifles against what was left of the Nazi's 5.9s was more like target practice. Still it put an unwanted strain on her engines and torpedo damage that made this Dockyard period all the more urgent.
The Admiralty wanted Force H reconstituted as soon as possible so they pretty much had a carte blanch now. The CO planned to take full advanatge to bring his ship up as close as possible to the latest standards.
Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commander of Force H, was in London now meeting with the new 1st Sea Lord. He told Simeon, he would be getting Repulse to temporaraly work with Ark Royal but it was his intent to have old Refit back with Force H as soon as possible. He also needed to scare up one or more new cruisers, which were very tough to come by. He had pretty much used up his Escorts and would need replacemenst there also.
Speaking of Ark Royal, she would soon be working up a new Air Group. Based on Her CO Capt. C.S. Holland, RN after action report the old String Bags had done very well as did Fairey Fulmar in it's reconnaissance mission. Ark desperately needed much better fighters and a dedicated Dive Bomber. The real Herasy was Ark's surviving air crew wanted American replacements like the F4F and the SBD.
The current FAA (Fleet Air Arm) Fairey Fulmar made an excellent scout but was a poor fighter. Its performance as a fighter was severely compromised by its dual role as a scout. The Navy had specified a two-seat machine so that the pilot would have the assistance of another crew member in reporting back to the fleet the observations made, which were done using wireless telegraphy (W/T) and navigate over the ocean. As a result, the Fulmar was too large and often unwieldy in engagements with single-seat, land-based opposition, as it did in the Mediterranean Theatre; its performance was clearly inferior to typical land-based fighters. However, the long range of the Fulmar was often very useful.
ContemporaryNaziMitsubishi A5M and American Grumman F3F carrier borne fighters along with the Royal Navy's Gloster Sea Gladiator were much better "Fighters" than the Fulmar. Even these naval fighters compared unfavourably with land based fighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 which reached 290 mph at sea level over the Fulmars 265 mph. Especially in the Med, they were up against really excellent land based fighters and the FAA pilots were paying the price.
11 JUNE 1941 2315 S13 / SS -118 / USS FORD surfaced, recharging batteries and ventilatig the boat. Lat 11 30 54.2, Long 52 42 34.2, Course 270T, Speed 15, wind from 080T, Speed 16 knots gusting to 22, moderate sea, raining hard. 30 minutes until watch relief. The Fox scheds informed the boat that the Kriegsmarine was in West Lant in force. Refineries in Aruba and Trinidad Tobago had been hit and hit hard.
What only the Skipper, XO and Commo knew was the RN had lost a Cruiser, a Sea plane tender, a bunch of PBY flying boats and four destroyers. Trinidad Tobago had two coatsal and one AA battery wiped out with heavy loss of life. S-13's CO, Lt. Peter "Cowboy" Holt USNA class of 1938 had an eyes only message in his hands. He was appraised that ONI had determined the attack on Trinidad Tobago was by KMS Bismarck and Prinz Eugen.
Ernie King ordered him to his current course and speed. He was to search for the German capital ships and, at all costs to transmit a sighting report highest priority. He was to keep transmitting until he was either acknowledged or he deemed the situation made diving and evading more likely to get that message to higher authority than continuing to transmit on the surface.
It was made absolutely clear to "Cowboy" that sighting report was of the highest importance even at the cost of his sub, his crew and himelf.
How much of this possible death and to whom does he inform this death sentence?
OK he has to inform the XO and the COB, that's enough for now.
Hell the chances of the USS FORD finding those Nazi's is really pretty small. He does not have radar, in this rain his lookouts can't see more than a boat's length but the storm will let up and then he has about a five mile visual radius.
His longest range sensor, given good sea conditions, is the model JT idirectional listening system. The JT is designed to detect, identify, and locate sources of both sonic and ultrasonic sounds. It is designed to use the JP (Active sionar sonic equipment and has a super-sonic converter so that ultrasonic as well as sonic sounds can be amplified by the JP amplifier. In addition, it has a more directional hydrophone than the JP hydrophone and has a right-left indicator (RLI) for taking bearings on sonic sounds with greater accuracy than is possible with the tuning-eye indicator of the JP equipment. From personal experience he knew the JT's longest range was while his boat was at perascope depth. His sonar Chief had actually tracked ship noise sources as far as 60 miles away. Not often, usually it was more like 15 to 20 miles, if at all but that beats the hell out of 5. Problem was he could do 15 surfaced and only11 submerged and that only for about an hour before he had to surface, run his diesels and rechrge his batteries for 8 to 12 hours.
He picked up the growler and told the control room to send the COB, who was a sonar man, to his cabin. Once COB arrived he told him to take his chair and shifted himself to his bunk. He explained it all to COB and then asked him how we can get the best range on a couple of big noise targets running at high speed from the out of the model JT?
COB "your taking a real big chance relying on the JT Captain. Yah I know we have picked shit up at 60 miles but that was really rare and even at 15 to 20 it is not all that common. Mostly we get stuff at 5 to 8 miles, not much better than the look outs. What we could do is put a couple of my kids with really unbelievable hearing on the phones and dive the boat to just above the surface layer, cut back the electrics to steerage way make a few slow 360s. If we get nothing; surface for awhile running on the diesels at 15 and charging the batteries. I have no idea how long we stay doing donuts and how long to run on the surface before the next dive.
S-13's CO, Lt. Peter "Cowboy" Holt " So COB we sprint and drift ?"
COB "Call it what you want Captain." Oh there is one more thing if, big IF, I can get a half dozen solid bearing on those Nazi Bastards I might be able to give you a pretty good estimate on their Course, Speed and position from FORD. There is something they are working on at Key West (Navy sonar school) they picked up from the Limeys. I'ts called TMA I think it means Target Motion Analysis."
S-13's CO "How does it work COB?"
TMA is done by marking from which direction the sound comes at different times, and comparing the motion with that of the FORD When I get enough good sound bearings, say 6, I study the changes in relative motion using some fancy techniques like Ekelund Ranging, 1934 Rule, Spears Wheel they "dumbed down" for us sailors at Key West. We have to plug in some guesses such as courses and speeds based on what we think the target is of what the tragets are doing. You'd be better at that than me captain.
I got to warn you Captain this is a lot more witch craft than it is science."
S-13's CO "Can you do this COB?"
COB "I learned it at the school about 6 months ago when we was playing target for the Cans. Since then I've playd around with to keep my hand in and win some bets. Water conditions off key West are a hell of a lot better than what we got down here and even then most of the time we got nothing we could use Captain. All I really need is a kid with good ears, a circular slip stick and a really hot math man, I'd say the Navigator, he's a wizard with numbers to check out my figures."
12 JUNE 1941 0500 HMS Sheffield entered No. 5 Basin, North Yard, HMNB Devonport. Newly advanced Captain Sir Edmund Blackadder, VC was preparing to turn over his command old Shiny, to the Dock Yard for a long wartime refit. His command was one of the shortest in RN history, lasting only 7 days. Well really strange things happened in war time.
He had been promised. by no other than The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff,Vice Admiral Ramsay, two weeks home leave. He was off to his low haunts in London and his adoring , insatible lady friends. Sir Edmund Preferred his women mostly attractive, bored, married (with either distant or really stupid) husbands and rich between 35 and 40 who doted on their cynical, charismatic, intelligent, very randy Naval Officer.
12 JUNE 1941 1530 Sheffied's newly promoted Gunnery Officer CDR Simon Baldrick RN, DSC was sitting in the Senior officer's mess at HMNB Devonport or "Guz", as he used to call it when a rating' He was drinking his second pink Gin and thinking about his career. He had started out on the lower deck in 1910, was promoted to Warrant Gunner just after Jutland and commissioned in October 1918. After the Great War Simon recived exactly one promotion, to Lt. and was forceably retired, along with many others, in 1934 to Chigwell a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. He had been called back, to the great anger of his wife Adelaid and sorrow of his four daughters, in Sept 1939 as a LCDR. Now he wore 3 gold "rings" and a loop on his sleeve marking him as a Commander, RN not one of those wavy navy imposters or Naval Reserve merchant "Navy" call ups.
At heart he was still a "Gun Buster" and always would be. At 50 he was getting a bit old for wartime sea duty according to the Ship's junior Surgeon. So it was off to H.M.S. Excellent, AKA Portsmouth Gunnery School or what he would always refer to as "Whale Island". It was the Royal Navy's main gunnery training establishment for most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He had been a student there both as an Matelot and officer. He had taught there as a Warrant Gunner. He knew the place well and he had a lot to contribute due to all his first hand battle experience.
What really surprised this newly promoter Commander was he was going back to Whale Island as Executive Officer on the staff of "The Captain". Captain RN, Eric J. P. Brind, had asked for him as soon as he saw his promotion gazetted and the Admiralty was happy to oblige. The job came with a large house, servants and all the things his long suffering wife wanted from the RN and never thought she would get. Ought to keep her happy. Happy wife, Happy Life. Maybe, just maybe, he could coach the Field Gun crew and attend another Royal Tournament?
12 JUNE 1941 1600 Newly promoted Warrant Electrician Otto Sharkey had been detached from HMS Sheffield. He was on his way to HMS Valkyrie the Royal Navy's No. 1 Radar Training School shore establishment or "stone frigate" located in Douglas, Isle of Man. Sharkey was to attend a number of advanced level, Radar courses. HMS Valkyrie was established with its personnel billeted in a number of guest houses which had been requisitioned for the duration and which were situated on Loch Promenade, Douglas. The training was undertaken at a series of buildings on Douglas Head, one being the Douglas Head Hotel.
He was also to attend lectures on how to act as a wardroom officer. These lectures were mandatory for the large number of pre war former CPOs now RN Warrant Officers and recent civilian technical specialists who are now Warrant Officers RNVR.
12 JUNE 1941 1700 Seated in Bismarck’s flag quarters Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) Brinkmann held in his hand BdU’s latest estimate of the “Englanders” and “Amis” search for him. It told him very little. Aside from a few Type IX U-boats operating this far West and South there was no other Kriegsmarine intel (in his opinion the only reports that were both reliable and accurate as to naval issues) available.
So far It had been a stressful but successful, high speed run away from Trinidad Tobago raid. The weather had cooperated in hiding him from the long range patrol flying boats, his biggest worry. Prince Eugene's damage had been minor although the loss 9 and and wounding of 16 men was regrettable. He still had been forced to keep his TG Brinkmann “closed up” to a fifty percent manning. That, at least, allowed his sailors to get some sleep, feed and attend to personal needs. Unfortunately, there had been three occasions when Kapitäns zur See Lindemann and Kommandant Seeadler’s von Luckner had ordered "Action Stations" due to either radar or sonar reports that turned out to be nothing in the end. The alarm bells and the announcement caused stressed and tired men to hurriedly race to their battle stations until the threat was evaluated as "nothing". It could not be helped this far in the enemy's back yard and almost alone Lindeman, von Luckner and especially he could take no chances. So his off watch men stumbled back to try and get some badly needed sleep before they all too soon had to relieve the watch.
He then looked at the fuel reports of his Flag and The Prince. Not good. Three days of high speed operations had reduced his bunkerage down to 75%. His UNREP with PSS Cabello was still 29 hours away. He would order speed reduced to 20 knots at nautical twilight. He was was far enough from the raid now and he had to keep in mind that in this hostile part of the Western Atlantic an encounter with enemy forces was a dstinct possibility for Vabello as well as his TG. He might need to stretch his fuel.
On the brighter side he also had a signal from BdU announcing that Hitler had conferred the Knight Insignia of the Iron Cross on Fregattenkapitan Schneider, Bismarck's "first" gunnery officer. Tired as they were Lindemann had ordered a short wardroom celebration to Wet Down Schneider's award. He also ordered the cooks to prepare a holiday meal of Smoked sausage fruits, cheese, honey, freshly baked bread, chocolate and juices. He authorized a special cigarette or pipe tobacco ration and a shot of ole Jägermeister. for his sailor’s much loved “Jäger ,Bomben” which consist of a shot of Jäger dropped into a pint of beer and drunk all together. He was taking a small chance but they all needed to celebrate their epic victory and relieve the strain of this cruise.
13 JUNE 1941 2200 PSS Cabello lay one cable length ahead of his "Prince" as she took on fuel. The astern UNRED method was a long process. The fact it was working even this well was due to Fregattenkapitan Friedrich Max von Muller and his 6 man team of Marinenachrichtendienst (Naval Intelligence Division AKA MAD) special operations group aboard Cabello. Kommandant Seeadler’s von Luckner's Chief Engineer estimated 6 hours to top them off. Bismarck's tanks were bigger which meant about 8 hours. That made it mid afternoon before they were free of the tanker.
The weather had cleared and gave them this moderate sea and wind. It also made it possible for for Vizeadmiral (Rear Admiral, upper half) Brinkmann, to authorize flight operations, so the Arado's would be up at morning twilight conduct a thororgh search and then establish constant patrols out to 150 miles during daylight. That should give them plenty of warning.
14 JUNE 1941 0315 S-13's juinior sonarman was fighting sleep. He had to maintain his "Listening Watch" for another 30 minutes then he could climb into the rack of his relief and get some sleep. He began another 300 degree sweep of his JT microphones the chief had atught him to conduct his search in 10 degree increments listening three to five 5 minutes, in the forward sectors and a minute of so as the sectors moved aft to the baffles before moving on. He was listening on 030 relative when he picked up a sound source. It was intermittent and he took his time because he didn't want to report another pod of whales or school of squids. The chief told him "Report everything" until you get the hang of it. It was his fellow junior sub sailors that gave him the ribbing and that bothered him.
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
Re: THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 1 & 2
Good to see you posted this good TL here Senior Chief.
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 12
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 12
Even the largest of these Liners could not come close to Queen Mary's 15,000 troop capacity but there were 23 of them. WS-12 was a very big Troop convoy and those men were desperately needed. Their loss would be a very heavy, stategic blow to the Army and the nation. Their replacments would be very hard to come by and would not be available for quite a while unless He decided to strip Divisions from UK defenses which was a decision he really did not want to make.
Seven straight nights of bombing of Liverpool by the Luftwaffe, resulted in widespread destruction.
Belfast, Northern Ireland, experienced more heavy bombing by the Luftwaffe.
Heavy convoy losses in the Atlantic continue including HX-123 and Queen Mary.
Nottingham Bombed yet again by the Luftwaffe.
The United Kingdom's House of Commons was damaged by in an air raid.
Hull, Liverpool, Belfast, and the shipbuilding area of the River Clyde in Scotland. bombed repeatedly
Rommel defeated counter-attack, "Brevity", at Halfaya Pass.
German paratroopers captured Crete with heavy loss of Allied troops, aircraft and equipment.
Old Hood was badly damaged and just might be a write off; too soon to tell. Prince of Whales was so heavily damaged she would be in dockyard hands for at least three months, six was more likely based on initial inspection. Invaluable cruisers sunk and many more so badly damaged they will be in dockyard for months.
Operation "Brevity" that started out so successfully turned into another costly failure.
SIS (AKA M16 or Secret Intelligence Service) and Naval Intelligence are becoming ever more certain Japan is about to strike soon. One of Winnie's more terrifying scenarios was that theNaziwould leave US Western Pacific possessions, Especially The Philippines, alone. The superbly trained and equipped IJN and veteran and utterly ruthless Imperial Army would only go for UK and Netherlands East Indies colonies, especially those big Dutch oil fields they needed so much was a real possibility.
The key was not to push the Americans out of their stupor of Isolation. Were theNazileaders sophisticated enough to do that? Certainly the Imperial Army had NOT shown anything that dangerously cunning. The Rub was the Imperial Japanese Navy whose senior admirals like Yamamoto were every bit that sophisticated and had a much better grasp of what the Western nations, especially a fully committed American enemy , could bring to bear against them. The question was who would the emperor listen to? His will was still a very potent force, despite the power of militarist cabal. Suddenly his cigar did not draw as well as it had and his whiskey did not taste as good either.
And what do we have to be grateful about in May?
1. U-110 was captured another priceless and updated copy of the "Enigma" machine is discovered and saved. According to his Admirals, Generals, Air Marshals, the boffins and the few of our senior Intel men who know, It will help decisively to turn the fortunes in the Atlantic battle and the war as a whole. Well we'll see.
2. The German paratroopers who captured Crete, truthfully they are Elite, highly valuable shock troops and as close to Nazi Supermen as actually exists suffered catastrophic losses. Those men will not be replaced any time soon, if at all.
3. FDR just moved a long way closer to the alliance I need to win this war.
God help us all If the Americans join us and Franklin is replaced by that Texas "Buckaroo" "Cactus Jack"( AKA John Nance Garner III), I might have to order the hard men of
MI-6 to euthanize him before he costs us the damn war.
1 JUNE 1941 2250 TG-39.1 Commander Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt had just read Ernie King's latest message sent by the most secure code the USN had and marked "Eyes Only TG-39.1 . That message literally ordered him To Sink The Bismarck and her cruiser escort ASAP and about time. It also formally changed his ROE's by order of FDR himself. The president was not going to hang Hewitt out to dry by saying he had acceded his orders to only shadow and Report. Hewitt sagely thought "Nice touch by FDR always the politician." Hewitt knew POTUS would never get away with that; too many people knew it was Roosevelt's orders that sent BB-55 up against Bismarck.
1 JUNE 1941 2300 Captain Willis Augustus Lee Jr. USN CO of BB-55, his XO Commander Joe Stryker, TG39.1's Commander and his Chief of Staff (CoS) looked at each other thinking their own deep thoughts. Hewitt had just read his latest message from CinC Atlantic Fleet ordering TG39.1 to find and sink the German raiders no matter where they found them and that meant outside the Nuetrality Zone. He also told them that, in his opinion, Hitler would go even madder than he already was and declare war on the USA bcause.
" Make no mistake Gentlemen, killing all those German sailors and sinking the Nazi's most powerful warship and symbol of their power was an act of war by anyones standards." For now these orders go no further than us.
He turned to face his CoS I want our SOCs out before first light and I want that bastard found before he knows we are around. I don't want a fair fight. I want to bushwhack those Nazi murderers and the poor sailors they command.
1 JUNE 1941 2315 "Joe get Tolley and his gang into the TC and let's see if we can give those Soc pilots a better chance at finding Bismarck", said Lee.
This would be a very good chance to see how the lateset addition, an air plot, would work out. About two weeks ago Capt. Ching Lee, LT Tolly and CRM O'Shea were in the TC discussing the shortcomings of "their" Tracking Compartment. The DRT was damn fine for keeping tarck of the surface action but not the Air Picture. LT Tolly recommended a Polar Projection plot. Lee agreed but where in the already tight TC would they squeeze it in and how could it be rapidly updated? Lee supected air actions would be very fast short fights in which he would have to make split second decisions. Once again he was troubled by the herresy that the place for the CO was in the TC not on the bridge or armored conning tower.
CRM O'Shea suggested using some of that new Plexiglass the latest status boards were made of with the Polar Projection compass rose circles and disatnce lines painted on the front. A sailor with a China marking "grease pencil" (same they used on the status boards) would fill in the info from whatever source. He thought if it was back lighted like the status boards, and hung vertically as high up on the bulkhead as possible. Maybe the Kid could be stationed behind the board with sound powered phones on so not to obscure the plot. Lee chuckled and said "Chief, you better find someone who could write backwards because I sure as hell can't read backwards." LT Tolly agreed with the CRM. CO BB-55 orderd LT Tolly to get with the EMs and SFs senior PO's and make it happen "yesterday". ING and make sure those men and whatever they need are issued. LT. Tolly would get together with the CQM to come up with some standard plotting techniques and what symbols they could use for the Vertical Plot, shortly therafter shortened to the VP.
2 JUNE 1941 0015. Lee told them they were trying to find Bismarck for the Brits to kill. He continued "We have a "Flaming datum" called The Queen Mary. That was about 39 hours ago and Bismarck can do better than 30 knots. So she could be eleven hundred miles from the Datum. Once she cleared datum The qestions are:
1. Which direction did she go?
2. At what speed?
3. Will she join up with Prince Eugen?
Joe Stryker the XO was the first to answer "We can "guess" she will reduce to a more economical speed as soon as she can." Lee Just nodded so the XO continued.
" It's about time our land based air patrol started to earn their pay. Hell they just got to spot her soon, don't they?"
"Joe, I have it on good authority that Ernie King is making the life of PatWing 5 utterly miserable. The Brits got o be doing the same. It's the low overcast that makes our SOCs the better choice for this job. I guess our airborn ASE, Radars just aren't up to the area search job yet."
CRM O'Shae spoke up. "Well skipper that ASE set really isn't much for area searches. It's good for a moonless night or really bad visibility daylight local area search and attack but it only has about a 40 miles range because it's only a
7 KW set. So even when it's running good, which aint anywhere near as often as the flyboys woud like us to believe, it's a hell of a lot of ocean for a 40 mile sweep."
Lee said "I think the Chief has answered your question Joe. Even Ernie King can't make it any better no matter how hard he chews on the PBY's boss' ass."
That broke the tension in the TC and they got down to work.
What they finally come up with was some eductaed guesses that dictated the initial Sector Searches. They would launch the SOCs at nautical sunrise 0345 so the patrols could be actively searching by 0401 sunrise today.
Lee, as was his want, had been multi tasking his excellent brain while his "boys" were working up their remommendations. He asked the XO out on deck. The two men, a steaming mug of navy brew in hand just ,enjoyed the fresh sea air for a few minutes and then Lee said. "Joe I think we are going to be in one hell of a brawl before too long. I don't think Krulac has anyone in the brig right now? You can get the word out that I have declared a gneral amnesty for one and all.
We are going to ask those kids to fight and maybe die for us. If I know my sailors and I do Joe, our trouble makers will prove to be invaluable if things really go bad. Might as well give them a break"
Commander Stryker replied " Noone in the brig since F2c Madrick got out. The rest are petty criminals anyway. Too bad we can't do something for the kids that don't break the Regs." As the CO's chief bastard aboard BB-55 Joe Stryker was "The Man" who enforced disicipline and as such knew the trouble makers all too well.
Take Fireman Second class Kevin Madrick. He was an Ex Submarine qualifed Shipfitter 2nd Class AKA SF2c and a very good one with a fine, almost spotless record. That all changed after his rescue from USS Squalus (SS-192), back in 1939.
That boat suffered a catastrophic valve failure during a test dive off the Isle of Shoals at 0740 on 23 May. Partially flooded, the submarine sank to the bottom and came to rest keel down in 40 fathoms (240 feet) of water. Navy divers and salvage ships responded quickly, and the following day began operations to rescue the surviving 32 crew members and one civilian from the forward sections of the boat. At 1130 on 24 May, USS Falcon (ASR-2) lowered the newly developed McCann rescue chamber--a revised version of a diving bell invented by Commander Charles B. Momsen--and, over the next 13 hours, all 33 survivors were rescued from the stricken submarine.
Madrick was a changed man. He drank far too much and he wanted to fight the entire world, especially the old Nav. His favorite "Dancing Partners" were big, senior PO's. He lost a lot of fights but he also won a fair share. Every once in a while he put his considerable talents to good use for the ship. Problem was his devils ensured any progress he made back up to SF2c was, sooner rather than later, made pointless when he started his next fight. Stryker guessed his CO's knowing about Squalus and seeing his talents displayed, actually valued him and that kept him out of Portsmouth Naval prison.
Instead, as XO he assigned him to Engineering Dept Repair Division. CSF Slade was his Divisiional CPO. He was a big man who, in his younger years was Atlantic Fleet heavyweight Champ for 5 years. He was now in his late 40's, had a wife and four daughters. His competetive boxing days were over but he still kept "His hand in" as he liked to say "adjusting the attitude" of sailors who needed it. Naturally Kevin had tried him on and the Chief handled the matter "Off the Books".
For General Quarters The XO assaigned FM2c Madrick to one of the repair Parties.
Repair I Deck or topside repair party.. Deck or topside repair party.
Repair II Forward below decks repair party.
Repair III Aft Below decks repair party.
Repair IV Amidships below decks repair party
Repair V. Engineer repairt. Amidships below decks repair paRepair V. Engin
Which one varied a lot. As soon as a Repair Party Leader had enough of Kevin there was usually a Captain's mast, he got busted if he had managed a promotion and a transfer to another repair party. He really got to learn BB-55's DC system better than anyone but BB-55's DCA (damage Control Assistant).
EWO (Engineering Warrant Officer) Becker came aboard with the very first Precom draft and never left. Because he saw her being built and his 42 years, man and boy, at sea he had a considerable edge on our FM2c. Becker had once served in the Kaisar's Navy but now had 28 years in the USN. He had mixed feelings about killing German sailors, after all, they could not all be gottverdammt Nazi bastards, could they? Deck our troubled FM2c.
FORCE H Vs The TWINS the savior of WS-12
2 JUNE 1941 Force H had won her race to interprose between WS-12 and TG Cilax. Admiral Somerville had made it perfectly clear to his staff and his Commanding Officers the only way TG Cilax would get to WS-12 was over the their dead bodies and the sunken wrecks of their ships. He also made it clear if they failed many tens of thousands of their countrymen would also die, men the UK could not afford to loose. It was a sobering thought but he had to impress on them just how desperate the Admiralty and PM were at this point in time.
The weather was not completely cooperating but it could have been worse. The overcast of low lying clouds that had partially shielded TG Ciliax from Ark Royal's air search so far but it would be a God Send for the String bags and Glide Bombers later. The moderate seas and winds made the destroyers partial refueling from his three capital ships much safer, and he could NOT afford to loose any to collisions. The 22 kt run had not exactly drained their fuel bunkers but none was much above 50% and high speed operations were certainly on the dance card this day. He had ordered an oiler to rendesvous with them tomorrow, if any of them were alive.
Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville's plan for Force H was pretty simple. Ark Royal's Swordfish and Fulmars, a damn good scout, a fair glide bomber and absolutely terrible fighter but more than a match for any number of Arados, would do their best to cripple the Twins and lay smoke. Then in would go his Destroyers for a try at them with their torpedoes covered by Shefield's Type 79Y radar directed twelve 6-inch Mk XXIII guns and 8 QF 4-inch guns. Those 6 inch guns had a max effective range of 25,480 yds at 45 degrees elevation, fired a 112 pound AP shell, had maximum rate of fire was eight rounds per gun, per minute. So even splitting the fire of the main battery between Scharnhost and Kniesnor she could fire 49 RPS per minute at each of the twins. And if Renown's radar could lock on she could add her own brand of misery to help the destroyers get close enoug to score a few vital hits.
Aside from a very lucky shot Shiny did not have much chance of doing any serious damage to the Twins hulls or main battery but she just might be able to smother the Battle cruisers sensors, fire control, secondary battery long enough to make the DD torpedo attack hit home. Finally it would be up to venerable "Refit" Renown and her old but more than capable ship killing 15 inch guns to put them down or at least drive them off. That is if Renowns own Battle Cruiser armor was proof against 18 modern German 11inch gunns fring the much better german AP round. Of all the ships of Force H he would bet his Flag was the most likely to survive and he really had mixed feelings about that.
2 JUNE 1941 0812 Somerville ordered Force H into a "Flight Corpen", turn into the wind at 22 kts to allow his carrier to launch her first strike of the day. The Ark Royal was launching all 11 of her reduced compliment of Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers and Argus's 10. Their Mark XII 18 inch, 388 lb warhead torpedo had a range of 1,500 yards at 40 knots or 3,500 yards at 27 knots.These were his best bet for slowing down The Twins.
There would also be 8 Fairey Fulmars. They would each be armed with a single 250 lb AP bomb but they were not capable of dive bombing so they would have to make a glide bombing run and that was the ideal target for medium and light Flak gunners. They were also armed with eight fixed forward 0.303 Caliber machineguns with at least 400 rounds per gun. These would be devestating to sensor and communications aerials and topside stationed sailors if the Fulmars could get close enough and time their attack to support his Swordfish torpedo runs. Two Fulmars were out doing a thorough sector search out to 70 miles and one was bird dogging TG Cilax as they closed with Force H. One Fulmar was doing anti submarine patrol along the direction of advance. Three more fulmars were on deck armed with smoke canisters.
Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville, had struggled with a decision of what to do with WS-12's escorts which inlcuded the old CV HMS Argus pennant # I49 Good old "Hat Box" was purchase by Admiralty in August 1916 and Converted to CV at a cost of £1.3M. She was old, small and slow with max speed of only 20 kts but she was another flight deck and had been modernised shortly before this war. 20 She also carried a small air group of 10 Swordfish and 6 Sea Hurricanes. He wrestled with the idea of combining The Hat Box's 10 swordfish into his first strike and in the end decided to add them to his own 11 String bags. That still left WS-12 with the Sea Hurricanes and the Supermarine Walruses of the two cruisers. The Fulmar pilot circling TG Cilax just out of AA range had already killed one Arado and Force H's fulmar scout was salivating to get a few more. The remainig Arados were kept in their hangars, defuled and disarmed. This would give Somerville a significant tactical advantage in the upcoming surface action.
2 JUNE 1941 0815 TG Cilax is steaming in what the "cousins" in the USN call a formation 52. AKA a circular AA formation with the heavies at the center and the escorting DDs along the perimeter. It makes things difficult, especially for Torpedo bombers, and also still provides ASW protection. Best way to defeat it is dive bombers. Somerville's dilemma was how to arm his Swordfish. In the end he chose the Mark XII 18 inch, 388 lb warhead relying on Jackie Fisher's old saying that the best way to sink a capital ship was to "Let the water in".
Once again he angered at the fact his largest carrier did not have a full Air Group embarked. With a full squdron of string bags he could split the first strike (he really feared he would have few aircraft left for a second strike) between Fish and 500 lb AP bombs. If timed right, BIG IF, the dive boming String bags would cause TG Cilax to split it's AA batteries giving the torpedo bombers a better chance of surving long enough to put a few of their Mark XIIs into those two Nazi battle cruisers. His swordfish pilots were considered the best in the fleet and they just might land a few 500 pounder AP blows themselves. He would not give them much of a chance at returning to Ark Royal. He gave the glide bombing Fulmars no chance of scoring a hit or returining.
There were times he found himself disgusted by his admirals gold lace and the fact that gaudi shit meant he willingly sent good men to their deaths. He tried to assuage his conscience, not that he had much of one left, with the fact he was just doing his duty to his God and country to put down the Mad Dog nazis. If his boys saved WS-12 Pound, Churchill, the civilians back home, all the senior officers of the fleet and most of the RN professionals would say it was worth the sacrifice. He still had to live with himself and he would KNOW he was guilty of murdering his own boys. He once read somwhere "At times like these all we can do is our duty and when it is all over say our prayers for HIS forgiveness because I will never forgive myself."
2 JUNE 1941 0840 The last of the strike, a Fulmar, was launched. It had been a good launch; all aircraft had made it into the air, formed up and headed for The Twins. TG Cilax was a a mere 160 nautical miles away. Given the need to coordinate the attack the Swordfish's max speed of 143 mph with 7,580 lb torpedo at and 5,000 ft. dictated a cruising speed of 125 MPH and a hour and a half flight time. The strike commander had decided he would drop his flight down to 300 ft when they were 75 miles from TG Cilax, make a dog leg apprach to the north splitting his fulmars into two groups, 4 would lead the String bags in hosing the upper decks of the Nazi's with .303 fire ending in a glide bomb attack. The other fulmers would make individual runs from vatrious points of the compass with the same plan of gunning the brains out of the AA gunners and bridge watch folllowed by their single 250 lb glide bomb run.
The string bags, pilotted by very experienced aviators with a lot of hours in the biplane, were to make a by the book doctrine torpedo bomber attack.
Approach at 300 feet followed by a dive to torpedo release altitude of 18 feet. The maximum Rangeof a 1941 Mark XII torpedo was only 1,500 yards at 40 knots but max range did not give a pilot max chance at a hit. The torpedo travelled 200 feet from release to water impact, and required another 300 yards to stabilise at preset depth and arm itself. Ideal release distance was 1,000 yards from target, if the Swordfish survived to that distance.
With so few aircraft and three major targets a hammerhead attack was their best bet. He split his String bags into three packs, 6 for each Battle cruiser and three for the cruiser.
The deadly beauty of the hammerhead attack was that three aircraft of each pack would approach thier battlecruiser victims from each bow at the same time. No matter which way the target turned there was an excellent chance of her eating at least one fish and an even chance of being hit by two. By making the run from ahead at 18 ft it would split the already weak forward AA battery. The problem was that after release you could try to make it out the way you came in which meant loosing speed and providing the AA gunners with an excellent target or shoot down the side of the target with the throttle full open. Niehter was all that inviting or likley to make for a long life.
If half his String bags survived he would press his boss to authorize a second strike as Dive bombers to clean up any survivors.
The Swordfish was also capable of operating as a dive-bomber. What was known to few outside the FAA was in 1939, Swordfish on board HMS Glorious participated in a series of dive-bombing trials, during which 439 practice bombs were dropped at dive angles of 60, 67 and 70 degrees, against the target ship HMS Centurion. Tests against a stationary target (say a DIW Nazi Battle cruiser) showed an average error of 49 yd from a release height of 1,300 ft and a dive angle of 70 degrees; tests against a manoeuvring target (say a crippled Nazi battle Cruiser) showed an average error of 44 yd from a drop height of 1,800 ft and a dive angle of 60 degrees. He and his pilots had practiced this Swordfish Dive Bomber doctrine in the Med and now was the time to put it into practice if there were enough of them left.
2 JUNE 1941 0900 Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax OTC TG Ciliax turned to Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand of his flagship Gneisenau. Anything on the radar yet Netzbrand?" "just that damn Scout circling us like a hungriger Bussard (hungry buzzard) Vizeadmiral."
TG Cilax had been at "Battle stations" since one of his Arado's had made a sighting report on Force H at 0730. That brave air crew had been allowed to survive in order to lead a Fulmar scout fighter back to them. That bastard Englander had then flamed the Arado in front of his entite TG. He had been circling just out of heavy flak range transmitting his posit and every course and speed change he made.
Ciliax then said "My staff Air officer figures us to feel Somerville's first strike anywhere from 1000 to 1100. He expects it to be a maximum strike of 30 of those Swordfish torpedo biplanes and 20 Fulmar fighter scouts armed with bombs. We will have our hands full but I am confident we will come through the air attack pretty much intact.
Thanks to Lutgen's reports of the battle of the Denmark Straight we have made the neccessary adjustments to our Flak fire control systems to deal with the very slow speed of the biplane's attack runs. Just the same Kapitan Zur See 30 torpedos bombers is a lot to counter IF the Englander strike leader is not a fool. The Ark Royal has been operating to great effect in the Mediteranean for some time now. Those pilots are not novices and after the punishment we have given their Royal Navy of late they are most likely coming for us with blood and iron. They also know what happens to their important large troop convoy if we are not stopped."
Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax had ordered the Air defense circular formation and a course change to intercept Force H as soon as possible at 25 kts. He wanted to force the surface action. With luck, his TG would savage the first air strike, be able to maintain a high speed and come to grips with Somerville before he could launch another air strike. Somerville could not run but he could slow down when not at flight quarters, buy time for more air strikes and still stay between TG Cilax and WS-12.
He knew from Rudel (Wolf Pack) Werwolf OTC's after action report to BdU that Force H, was now down 4 destroyers. He also knew Force H speed had been cut to 22 kts and both Ark Royal and Renown had taken torpedo hits. The report stated emphatically both capital ships appeared to still be combat effective, as their main batteries were intact but with reduced engineering capabilities. He also reported Renown had taken four (actually only three) torpedo hits and Ark Royal had been hit twice (actually only once).
2 JUNE 1941 1015 the junior "Radarmann" in the flag reported a large intermitant air contact to his watch Unteroffizier who immediately came over and studied the younger man's O scope. It certainly was a solid return and it was also a large contact bearing dead ahead. Range was 45 miles and closing. The PO imediately informed the watch officer who informed the bridge watch including the Kapitan and Vizeadmiral. Cilax imediately ordered a signal informing the other ships of his TG of the contact. On each ship the radar operators quickly searched on the reported bearing and it was not long until all had the incoming raid. The watch Petty Officers ensured the operators did not become target fixated. They reminded them to maintain a 360 search.
Since the TG was already in an AA formation at Battle stations the only orders neccessary was to train out on the expected bearing, load and reiterate "Guns tight" until the Vizeadmiral countermanded that signal. The four type 1936A destroyers screen would be the first to engage when batteries were released, or the aircraft came within effective AA Gun range per Cilax's battle doctrine. Each DD mounted 2 twin 37 mm SK C/30 AA and 8 20 mm C/38 AA guns but their main battery of five 150 mm TbtsK C/36 guns were not dual purpse and so useless against aircraft.
The air strike would then be engaged by heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. Hipper carried the latest radars, fire control systems and a formidable AA battery. Hipper mounted a heavy Flak battery of 12 4.1 in SK C/33 guns with a rate of fire of 15–18 rounds per minute. The maximum effective range of the 33 lb 5 oz AA Frag round was 19,000 yds at effective ceiling of 31,003 ft. They were mounted in pairs on an electrically powered tri-axial mounting, intended to compensate for the motion of the ship and maintain a lock onto the intended target. The mounting were open to the weather and sea spray, resulting in a high maintenance but the Kriegsmarine highly motivated and technically competent gunners mainted the mounts at high reliability.
The medium AA FLAK battery consisted of 12 37 mm SK C/30 auto canon. The 37 mm had a Dopp L stabilized mount, a practicle 30 rounds per minute sustained fire, maximum effective range of 9,000 yds at maximum effective ceiling of 6,500 ft.
The light Flak battery consisted of 8 20 round box fed 20 mm C/38 guns with a practical rate of fire of 180 rounds per minute. The light auto canon had a maximum effective range of 2,500 yds and an effective cielining of 6,500 ft.
2 JUNE 1941 1030 The strike leader , flying in a Fulmar ordered his aircraft to transition from their cruising formation to their attack run formations. The Fulmars pulled slightly ahead into a weave, reduced their throttles, and lowered their ailerons to reduced speed to just above a stall. That kept them from opening the range too much from their charges. They took station to lead the torpedo bombers to their drop points. They were to rely on their 8 machine guns initially against the destroyer screen, then use them to hose down the upper works, especially the AA batteries, fire control directors, radar and communications antennas and only use their single 250 lb bomb against the Battle & heavy Cruisers armored bridges. With a single bomb and 400 rounds per gun the pilots had to keep a close eye on their remaining ammo.
2 JUNE 1941 1040 the three Swordfish "packs" dropped down to 18 feet and throttled back to prevent the Mk XII from breaking up on impact. Low and slow was doctrine to maximize the chance of a hit but really reduced the chances of air crew survival. At the same time the Fulmars slected their destroyer targets, charged their .303s, ceased their weave, raised their flaps, opened their throttles to 175 Mph and began their strafing runs. At 1000 yds they hosed their targets with a short ranging busrt, adjusted their approach and then hammered the Destroyers with medium length bursts as they filled the Fulmar's gun sights.
The problem was that half of the Fulmars never made it to their destroyers firing points. The Type 1936A's two twim 37 mm stablized AA mounts had a much longer "Reach" than the .303 and opened at 9000 yds putting out 30 rounds per minute per barrel or 120 total barrage. At 2,500 yds each type 1936 added 8 box fed 20 mm C/38 guns joined in 180 rounds per minute. The cost had been high but the Fulmars that survived got a mission kill of the destroyers Flak batteries on two of the type 1936 and managed to materially reduce the AA batteries on the other two, one of which was also DIW.
The four remaining Fulmars, all damaged but still air worthy went for the heavy cruiser and finally had some luck. At their low altitude the heavy flak battery of Admiral Hipper's 4.1 in SK C/33 guns were held "Guns Tight" because the Fulmars were coming in directly from the damaged destroyers and would cetrtainly sink them while engaging the incoming raid. So it was left to Hipper's 8 of the 12 30 rounds per minute 37 mm SK C/30 to eliminate the 4 Fulmars . Those 37 mm director controlled, stabilized mounted Flak guns were putting out 240 rounds per minute and they were firing well within their max effetcive range. One of the Fulmars got into .303 range and took out a 20 mm Flak and it's entire gun crew and even managed to score a near miss on Hipper with his 250 lb AP bomb. Damage was minor but a few small holes had been punched into her hull.
2 JUNE 1941 1045 the String bags got past the destroyer screen unscathed hugging the surface at 18 ft, in good formation, at max allowable torpedo drop speed. The three packs bore into their hammerhead runs.
Now Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax ordered his three capital ships to break formation but stay within mutual AA desfense range and all guns were now free. The hailstorm of 4.1 in, 37 mm and 20 mm Flak directed by fire control systems that had been recalibrated with the hard earned lessons of TG Cilax was devestating. Only 5 Swordfish survived long enough to launch their Mk XIIs and only two of those made a coordinated hammerhead run, the others just launched at the nearest target before they were shot down.
Results were better than any peacetime empire would allow. Three of the Mk XIIs actually scored hits. One caught the flag just aft of Bruno on the ship's 3 inch Wh (Wotan hard) steel armored belt. The belt, excellent designed TDS and usual high standard of Kriegsmarine damage control caused minor flooding but did not impair the ship's combat effetciveness. The two Swordfish that actually pressed home their text book hammetrhead run both were rewarded with hits on Schranhorst. They Approached at 300 feet followed by a dive to torpedo release altitude of 18 feet. They presed on to well within the 1,500 yds Rangeof a 1941 Mark XII torpedo only at 40 knots to ensure hits. The torpedo travelled 200 feet from release to water impact, and required another 300 yards to stabilise at preset depth and arm itself. They dropped at 1,000 yds the text book target run. None of the 5 made it back to Ark Royal but more than half the brave flight crews were resued.
The fish hit stbd 30 ft aft of the bow and amidships port but the puny 388 lb 18 inch warheads only partially defeated the belt armor. For a while it was feared the ship was mortally wounded because a lot of vital systems in propulsion, interior communications and weapons were knocked off the line. A combination of the well engineered TDS, excellent damage control, and superbly professional technical training brought the most combat vital systems back up in short order. The old girl would be back up to her pre attack combat effectiveness within two hours of the torpedo strkes.
2 JUNE 1941 1110 TG Cilax was conducting emergency repairs, restocking ready AA ammunition and rescue operations. The Vizeadmiral his Chief of Staff and his "Air Officer" had come to the conclusion another air strike was on it's way because the first strike was much smaller than they expected from Ark Royal. Therfore, the TG was mainatining AA formation and battle stations as they closed Force H at 25 kts.
The rescue operations were being conducted by the two of the damaged destroyers, one of which had been DIW was able to get steam up and had reported it was capable of 20 kts.
One thing that had not changed was the circling Fulmar sending out their posit, course, speed and damage estimate. So they were going into action with no air scouts.
2 JUNE 1941 1120 The scout Fulmar radioed back to Force H the lack of results, his opinion none of the strike would make it back to Ark Royal and his fuel state. Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commander of Force H. Read the message a number of times. He was not ready, just yet to believe he had wasted the entire Air strike. He did order an initial report of the strike be sent to Admiral Pound stating his air group had sutained heavy losses and inflicted only light damage to TG Cilax which he expected to engage in a mainly surface action in the next few hours. If the air group was anihilated he would detach Ark Royal with a detroyer escort so she could fight another day. She would be of no use in a surface action anyway. Old Hat Box, HMS Argus, would provide a deck if one was needed.
2 JUNE 1941 1150 RN HQ Bunker under the Admiralty. Fleet Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound's Communication's Officer had just handed his "boss" Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville's 113502JUN41 signal briefly stating the results of Force H's Air strike on TG Cilax and requsting RAF Bomber Command to put on as large an antiship raid as possible against TG Cilax. The time, position, course, speed and composition of the TG Cilax was given. The Fleet Admiral had stood stark still for about two minutes and then handed the signal to his soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay. Ramsay read the signal through three times and handed it back to Pound.
Pound, to Ramsay and his Commo "The loss of his Air Group means "Jimmy" Somerville is about to take Renown, Shiny and a half dozen destroyers up against TG Cilax unless I order him not to. Well I can't do that but I can light a fire under the RAF to bomb the hell out of those Nazis."
"Ramsay, do you still want this "Fucking" job? Truth to tell, 5 June can't come fast enough for me, you poor bastard."
Pound was bitter and wracked with guilt bceause his Royal Navy had been out maneuvered, outfought and repeatedly savaged by the numerically inferior Nazis. There was a real possibility the Kriegsmarine surface raiders and U-Boats could do enough damage to England's seaborn life line as to force HM Government to sue for peace or see her population and industry "Starve".
At the very least Winston, the absolutely essential leader if we were to win this war, be removed by a Vote of No Confidence. He would not put it past those "rodents" in parliament to do that.
He then brought himself up short and put all his years of experience, great intelect and bull dog stubborness to bear on the problem of how to help Force H kill those two Nazi Battle Cruisers. The RAF just might be able to do something.
By this time his staff had taken station close by.
Pound To his aid "Get me Air Chief Marshal Portal and make sure whoever takes the call knows this is urgent."
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal's aid was on the line in ten minutes. "Fleet Admiral Pound, I am the Air Marshal's aid he will be with you as soon as he can get to a secure phone, I'd say about 15 minutes."
Pound "Please inform the Air Marshall time is of the essence and it is vitally imporatnt I speak to him as soon as possible. The lives of many of our people are at stake."
Portal's Aid "I will convey that message to him right away."
Ten minutes later, an out of breath Air Marshall was on a secure phone line with Admiral Pound. He quickly grasped the dire circumstances and promised Pound he would have a raid on TG Cilax in the air as soon as possible and his staff would keep your staff informed of the progress and work out the particulars of the raid.
Pound "Thank you Freddie; I just hope we will not be too late."
A very tired looking Fleet Admiral Pound then turned to Ramsay and said "Let's get out of this sewer for a few minutes Bertie." They walked in silence to the stairs leading up into the Admiralty Gardens, now planted with vegetables as a "Victory Garden". They found an old bench and sat down wearily, it had been a string of long nights relieved by all too little sleep and neither of them were the young, or even middle aged iron Men they once had been.
Pound lit his pipe and once he got it going said to Ramsay. "Sorry Bertie about my taunting you in front of the staff. It was unexcuseable but come june 6th or maybe seventh if you are lucky, you will understand why I displayed such rude behavior to a friend.
I truly am sorry Winston picked on you to clean up my mess. You really deserve better but we live to serve our political masters and that is that."
Ramsay lit his "Players" and said " Sir, I was not in the least offended by you. You had to take it out on someone. Better another admiral than any of those long suffering staffies that toil like galley slaves for us. Eh?"
"I'll tell you what I was thinking about at hat time.
What am I getting myself into? If an outstanding man, intelect and sailor like Pound had failed what chance do I have. Then you braced and started issuing orders, damn good ones if you don't mind me saying so.
Too bad for those RAF crews. I'd guess The Air Marshall will send in some of his Torpedo bombers like Bothas or Beauforts if we and they are lucky. I really can't imagine a dozen or so of those twin engine torpedo bombers will fare any better than Ark Royals Swordfish and Fulmars. Maybe, just maybe, accumlated damage from our previous attacks has degraded Cilax's ships AA batteries enough to give those boys a fighting chance but I doubt it from the after action report.
Even the largest of these Liners could not come close to Queen Mary's 15,000 troop capacity but there were 23 of them. WS-12 was a very big Troop convoy and those men were desperately needed. Their loss would be a very heavy, stategic blow to the Army and the nation. Their replacments would be very hard to come by and would not be available for quite a while unless He decided to strip Divisions from UK defenses which was a decision he really did not want to make.
Seven straight nights of bombing of Liverpool by the Luftwaffe, resulted in widespread destruction.
Belfast, Northern Ireland, experienced more heavy bombing by the Luftwaffe.
Heavy convoy losses in the Atlantic continue including HX-123 and Queen Mary.
Nottingham Bombed yet again by the Luftwaffe.
The United Kingdom's House of Commons was damaged by in an air raid.
Hull, Liverpool, Belfast, and the shipbuilding area of the River Clyde in Scotland. bombed repeatedly
Rommel defeated counter-attack, "Brevity", at Halfaya Pass.
German paratroopers captured Crete with heavy loss of Allied troops, aircraft and equipment.
Old Hood was badly damaged and just might be a write off; too soon to tell. Prince of Whales was so heavily damaged she would be in dockyard hands for at least three months, six was more likely based on initial inspection. Invaluable cruisers sunk and many more so badly damaged they will be in dockyard for months.
Operation "Brevity" that started out so successfully turned into another costly failure.
SIS (AKA M16 or Secret Intelligence Service) and Naval Intelligence are becoming ever more certain Japan is about to strike soon. One of Winnie's more terrifying scenarios was that theNaziwould leave US Western Pacific possessions, Especially The Philippines, alone. The superbly trained and equipped IJN and veteran and utterly ruthless Imperial Army would only go for UK and Netherlands East Indies colonies, especially those big Dutch oil fields they needed so much was a real possibility.
The key was not to push the Americans out of their stupor of Isolation. Were theNazileaders sophisticated enough to do that? Certainly the Imperial Army had NOT shown anything that dangerously cunning. The Rub was the Imperial Japanese Navy whose senior admirals like Yamamoto were every bit that sophisticated and had a much better grasp of what the Western nations, especially a fully committed American enemy , could bring to bear against them. The question was who would the emperor listen to? His will was still a very potent force, despite the power of militarist cabal. Suddenly his cigar did not draw as well as it had and his whiskey did not taste as good either.
And what do we have to be grateful about in May?
1. U-110 was captured another priceless and updated copy of the "Enigma" machine is discovered and saved. According to his Admirals, Generals, Air Marshals, the boffins and the few of our senior Intel men who know, It will help decisively to turn the fortunes in the Atlantic battle and the war as a whole. Well we'll see.
2. The German paratroopers who captured Crete, truthfully they are Elite, highly valuable shock troops and as close to Nazi Supermen as actually exists suffered catastrophic losses. Those men will not be replaced any time soon, if at all.
3. FDR just moved a long way closer to the alliance I need to win this war.
God help us all If the Americans join us and Franklin is replaced by that Texas "Buckaroo" "Cactus Jack"( AKA John Nance Garner III), I might have to order the hard men of
MI-6 to euthanize him before he costs us the damn war.
1 JUNE 1941 2250 TG-39.1 Commander Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt had just read Ernie King's latest message sent by the most secure code the USN had and marked "Eyes Only TG-39.1 . That message literally ordered him To Sink The Bismarck and her cruiser escort ASAP and about time. It also formally changed his ROE's by order of FDR himself. The president was not going to hang Hewitt out to dry by saying he had acceded his orders to only shadow and Report. Hewitt sagely thought "Nice touch by FDR always the politician." Hewitt knew POTUS would never get away with that; too many people knew it was Roosevelt's orders that sent BB-55 up against Bismarck.
1 JUNE 1941 2300 Captain Willis Augustus Lee Jr. USN CO of BB-55, his XO Commander Joe Stryker, TG39.1's Commander and his Chief of Staff (CoS) looked at each other thinking their own deep thoughts. Hewitt had just read his latest message from CinC Atlantic Fleet ordering TG39.1 to find and sink the German raiders no matter where they found them and that meant outside the Nuetrality Zone. He also told them that, in his opinion, Hitler would go even madder than he already was and declare war on the USA bcause.
" Make no mistake Gentlemen, killing all those German sailors and sinking the Nazi's most powerful warship and symbol of their power was an act of war by anyones standards." For now these orders go no further than us.
He turned to face his CoS I want our SOCs out before first light and I want that bastard found before he knows we are around. I don't want a fair fight. I want to bushwhack those Nazi murderers and the poor sailors they command.
1 JUNE 1941 2315 "Joe get Tolley and his gang into the TC and let's see if we can give those Soc pilots a better chance at finding Bismarck", said Lee.
This would be a very good chance to see how the lateset addition, an air plot, would work out. About two weeks ago Capt. Ching Lee, LT Tolly and CRM O'Shea were in the TC discussing the shortcomings of "their" Tracking Compartment. The DRT was damn fine for keeping tarck of the surface action but not the Air Picture. LT Tolly recommended a Polar Projection plot. Lee agreed but where in the already tight TC would they squeeze it in and how could it be rapidly updated? Lee supected air actions would be very fast short fights in which he would have to make split second decisions. Once again he was troubled by the herresy that the place for the CO was in the TC not on the bridge or armored conning tower.
CRM O'Shea suggested using some of that new Plexiglass the latest status boards were made of with the Polar Projection compass rose circles and disatnce lines painted on the front. A sailor with a China marking "grease pencil" (same they used on the status boards) would fill in the info from whatever source. He thought if it was back lighted like the status boards, and hung vertically as high up on the bulkhead as possible. Maybe the Kid could be stationed behind the board with sound powered phones on so not to obscure the plot. Lee chuckled and said "Chief, you better find someone who could write backwards because I sure as hell can't read backwards." LT Tolly agreed with the CRM. CO BB-55 orderd LT Tolly to get with the EMs and SFs senior PO's and make it happen "yesterday". ING and make sure those men and whatever they need are issued. LT. Tolly would get together with the CQM to come up with some standard plotting techniques and what symbols they could use for the Vertical Plot, shortly therafter shortened to the VP.
2 JUNE 1941 0015. Lee told them they were trying to find Bismarck for the Brits to kill. He continued "We have a "Flaming datum" called The Queen Mary. That was about 39 hours ago and Bismarck can do better than 30 knots. So she could be eleven hundred miles from the Datum. Once she cleared datum The qestions are:
1. Which direction did she go?
2. At what speed?
3. Will she join up with Prince Eugen?
Joe Stryker the XO was the first to answer "We can "guess" she will reduce to a more economical speed as soon as she can." Lee Just nodded so the XO continued.
" It's about time our land based air patrol started to earn their pay. Hell they just got to spot her soon, don't they?"
"Joe, I have it on good authority that Ernie King is making the life of PatWing 5 utterly miserable. The Brits got o be doing the same. It's the low overcast that makes our SOCs the better choice for this job. I guess our airborn ASE, Radars just aren't up to the area search job yet."
CRM O'Shae spoke up. "Well skipper that ASE set really isn't much for area searches. It's good for a moonless night or really bad visibility daylight local area search and attack but it only has about a 40 miles range because it's only a
7 KW set. So even when it's running good, which aint anywhere near as often as the flyboys woud like us to believe, it's a hell of a lot of ocean for a 40 mile sweep."
Lee said "I think the Chief has answered your question Joe. Even Ernie King can't make it any better no matter how hard he chews on the PBY's boss' ass."
That broke the tension in the TC and they got down to work.
What they finally come up with was some eductaed guesses that dictated the initial Sector Searches. They would launch the SOCs at nautical sunrise 0345 so the patrols could be actively searching by 0401 sunrise today.
Lee, as was his want, had been multi tasking his excellent brain while his "boys" were working up their remommendations. He asked the XO out on deck. The two men, a steaming mug of navy brew in hand just ,enjoyed the fresh sea air for a few minutes and then Lee said. "Joe I think we are going to be in one hell of a brawl before too long. I don't think Krulac has anyone in the brig right now? You can get the word out that I have declared a gneral amnesty for one and all.
We are going to ask those kids to fight and maybe die for us. If I know my sailors and I do Joe, our trouble makers will prove to be invaluable if things really go bad. Might as well give them a break"
Commander Stryker replied " Noone in the brig since F2c Madrick got out. The rest are petty criminals anyway. Too bad we can't do something for the kids that don't break the Regs." As the CO's chief bastard aboard BB-55 Joe Stryker was "The Man" who enforced disicipline and as such knew the trouble makers all too well.
Take Fireman Second class Kevin Madrick. He was an Ex Submarine qualifed Shipfitter 2nd Class AKA SF2c and a very good one with a fine, almost spotless record. That all changed after his rescue from USS Squalus (SS-192), back in 1939.
That boat suffered a catastrophic valve failure during a test dive off the Isle of Shoals at 0740 on 23 May. Partially flooded, the submarine sank to the bottom and came to rest keel down in 40 fathoms (240 feet) of water. Navy divers and salvage ships responded quickly, and the following day began operations to rescue the surviving 32 crew members and one civilian from the forward sections of the boat. At 1130 on 24 May, USS Falcon (ASR-2) lowered the newly developed McCann rescue chamber--a revised version of a diving bell invented by Commander Charles B. Momsen--and, over the next 13 hours, all 33 survivors were rescued from the stricken submarine.
Madrick was a changed man. He drank far too much and he wanted to fight the entire world, especially the old Nav. His favorite "Dancing Partners" were big, senior PO's. He lost a lot of fights but he also won a fair share. Every once in a while he put his considerable talents to good use for the ship. Problem was his devils ensured any progress he made back up to SF2c was, sooner rather than later, made pointless when he started his next fight. Stryker guessed his CO's knowing about Squalus and seeing his talents displayed, actually valued him and that kept him out of Portsmouth Naval prison.
Instead, as XO he assigned him to Engineering Dept Repair Division. CSF Slade was his Divisiional CPO. He was a big man who, in his younger years was Atlantic Fleet heavyweight Champ for 5 years. He was now in his late 40's, had a wife and four daughters. His competetive boxing days were over but he still kept "His hand in" as he liked to say "adjusting the attitude" of sailors who needed it. Naturally Kevin had tried him on and the Chief handled the matter "Off the Books".
For General Quarters The XO assaigned FM2c Madrick to one of the repair Parties.
Repair I Deck or topside repair party.. Deck or topside repair party.
Repair II Forward below decks repair party.
Repair III Aft Below decks repair party.
Repair IV Amidships below decks repair party
Repair V. Engineer repairt. Amidships below decks repair paRepair V. Engin
Which one varied a lot. As soon as a Repair Party Leader had enough of Kevin there was usually a Captain's mast, he got busted if he had managed a promotion and a transfer to another repair party. He really got to learn BB-55's DC system better than anyone but BB-55's DCA (damage Control Assistant).
EWO (Engineering Warrant Officer) Becker came aboard with the very first Precom draft and never left. Because he saw her being built and his 42 years, man and boy, at sea he had a considerable edge on our FM2c. Becker had once served in the Kaisar's Navy but now had 28 years in the USN. He had mixed feelings about killing German sailors, after all, they could not all be gottverdammt Nazi bastards, could they? Deck our troubled FM2c.
FORCE H Vs The TWINS the savior of WS-12
2 JUNE 1941 Force H had won her race to interprose between WS-12 and TG Cilax. Admiral Somerville had made it perfectly clear to his staff and his Commanding Officers the only way TG Cilax would get to WS-12 was over the their dead bodies and the sunken wrecks of their ships. He also made it clear if they failed many tens of thousands of their countrymen would also die, men the UK could not afford to loose. It was a sobering thought but he had to impress on them just how desperate the Admiralty and PM were at this point in time.
The weather was not completely cooperating but it could have been worse. The overcast of low lying clouds that had partially shielded TG Ciliax from Ark Royal's air search so far but it would be a God Send for the String bags and Glide Bombers later. The moderate seas and winds made the destroyers partial refueling from his three capital ships much safer, and he could NOT afford to loose any to collisions. The 22 kt run had not exactly drained their fuel bunkers but none was much above 50% and high speed operations were certainly on the dance card this day. He had ordered an oiler to rendesvous with them tomorrow, if any of them were alive.
Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville's plan for Force H was pretty simple. Ark Royal's Swordfish and Fulmars, a damn good scout, a fair glide bomber and absolutely terrible fighter but more than a match for any number of Arados, would do their best to cripple the Twins and lay smoke. Then in would go his Destroyers for a try at them with their torpedoes covered by Shefield's Type 79Y radar directed twelve 6-inch Mk XXIII guns and 8 QF 4-inch guns. Those 6 inch guns had a max effective range of 25,480 yds at 45 degrees elevation, fired a 112 pound AP shell, had maximum rate of fire was eight rounds per gun, per minute. So even splitting the fire of the main battery between Scharnhost and Kniesnor she could fire 49 RPS per minute at each of the twins. And if Renown's radar could lock on she could add her own brand of misery to help the destroyers get close enoug to score a few vital hits.
Aside from a very lucky shot Shiny did not have much chance of doing any serious damage to the Twins hulls or main battery but she just might be able to smother the Battle cruisers sensors, fire control, secondary battery long enough to make the DD torpedo attack hit home. Finally it would be up to venerable "Refit" Renown and her old but more than capable ship killing 15 inch guns to put them down or at least drive them off. That is if Renowns own Battle Cruiser armor was proof against 18 modern German 11inch gunns fring the much better german AP round. Of all the ships of Force H he would bet his Flag was the most likely to survive and he really had mixed feelings about that.
2 JUNE 1941 0812 Somerville ordered Force H into a "Flight Corpen", turn into the wind at 22 kts to allow his carrier to launch her first strike of the day. The Ark Royal was launching all 11 of her reduced compliment of Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers and Argus's 10. Their Mark XII 18 inch, 388 lb warhead torpedo had a range of 1,500 yards at 40 knots or 3,500 yards at 27 knots.These were his best bet for slowing down The Twins.
There would also be 8 Fairey Fulmars. They would each be armed with a single 250 lb AP bomb but they were not capable of dive bombing so they would have to make a glide bombing run and that was the ideal target for medium and light Flak gunners. They were also armed with eight fixed forward 0.303 Caliber machineguns with at least 400 rounds per gun. These would be devestating to sensor and communications aerials and topside stationed sailors if the Fulmars could get close enough and time their attack to support his Swordfish torpedo runs. Two Fulmars were out doing a thorough sector search out to 70 miles and one was bird dogging TG Cilax as they closed with Force H. One Fulmar was doing anti submarine patrol along the direction of advance. Three more fulmars were on deck armed with smoke canisters.
Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville, had struggled with a decision of what to do with WS-12's escorts which inlcuded the old CV HMS Argus pennant # I49 Good old "Hat Box" was purchase by Admiralty in August 1916 and Converted to CV at a cost of £1.3M. She was old, small and slow with max speed of only 20 kts but she was another flight deck and had been modernised shortly before this war. 20 She also carried a small air group of 10 Swordfish and 6 Sea Hurricanes. He wrestled with the idea of combining The Hat Box's 10 swordfish into his first strike and in the end decided to add them to his own 11 String bags. That still left WS-12 with the Sea Hurricanes and the Supermarine Walruses of the two cruisers. The Fulmar pilot circling TG Cilax just out of AA range had already killed one Arado and Force H's fulmar scout was salivating to get a few more. The remainig Arados were kept in their hangars, defuled and disarmed. This would give Somerville a significant tactical advantage in the upcoming surface action.
2 JUNE 1941 0815 TG Cilax is steaming in what the "cousins" in the USN call a formation 52. AKA a circular AA formation with the heavies at the center and the escorting DDs along the perimeter. It makes things difficult, especially for Torpedo bombers, and also still provides ASW protection. Best way to defeat it is dive bombers. Somerville's dilemma was how to arm his Swordfish. In the end he chose the Mark XII 18 inch, 388 lb warhead relying on Jackie Fisher's old saying that the best way to sink a capital ship was to "Let the water in".
Once again he angered at the fact his largest carrier did not have a full Air Group embarked. With a full squdron of string bags he could split the first strike (he really feared he would have few aircraft left for a second strike) between Fish and 500 lb AP bombs. If timed right, BIG IF, the dive boming String bags would cause TG Cilax to split it's AA batteries giving the torpedo bombers a better chance of surving long enough to put a few of their Mark XIIs into those two Nazi battle cruisers. His swordfish pilots were considered the best in the fleet and they just might land a few 500 pounder AP blows themselves. He would not give them much of a chance at returning to Ark Royal. He gave the glide bombing Fulmars no chance of scoring a hit or returining.
There were times he found himself disgusted by his admirals gold lace and the fact that gaudi shit meant he willingly sent good men to their deaths. He tried to assuage his conscience, not that he had much of one left, with the fact he was just doing his duty to his God and country to put down the Mad Dog nazis. If his boys saved WS-12 Pound, Churchill, the civilians back home, all the senior officers of the fleet and most of the RN professionals would say it was worth the sacrifice. He still had to live with himself and he would KNOW he was guilty of murdering his own boys. He once read somwhere "At times like these all we can do is our duty and when it is all over say our prayers for HIS forgiveness because I will never forgive myself."
2 JUNE 1941 0840 The last of the strike, a Fulmar, was launched. It had been a good launch; all aircraft had made it into the air, formed up and headed for The Twins. TG Cilax was a a mere 160 nautical miles away. Given the need to coordinate the attack the Swordfish's max speed of 143 mph with 7,580 lb torpedo at and 5,000 ft. dictated a cruising speed of 125 MPH and a hour and a half flight time. The strike commander had decided he would drop his flight down to 300 ft when they were 75 miles from TG Cilax, make a dog leg apprach to the north splitting his fulmars into two groups, 4 would lead the String bags in hosing the upper decks of the Nazi's with .303 fire ending in a glide bomb attack. The other fulmers would make individual runs from vatrious points of the compass with the same plan of gunning the brains out of the AA gunners and bridge watch folllowed by their single 250 lb glide bomb run.
The string bags, pilotted by very experienced aviators with a lot of hours in the biplane, were to make a by the book doctrine torpedo bomber attack.
Approach at 300 feet followed by a dive to torpedo release altitude of 18 feet. The maximum Rangeof a 1941 Mark XII torpedo was only 1,500 yards at 40 knots but max range did not give a pilot max chance at a hit. The torpedo travelled 200 feet from release to water impact, and required another 300 yards to stabilise at preset depth and arm itself. Ideal release distance was 1,000 yards from target, if the Swordfish survived to that distance.
With so few aircraft and three major targets a hammerhead attack was their best bet. He split his String bags into three packs, 6 for each Battle cruiser and three for the cruiser.
The deadly beauty of the hammerhead attack was that three aircraft of each pack would approach thier battlecruiser victims from each bow at the same time. No matter which way the target turned there was an excellent chance of her eating at least one fish and an even chance of being hit by two. By making the run from ahead at 18 ft it would split the already weak forward AA battery. The problem was that after release you could try to make it out the way you came in which meant loosing speed and providing the AA gunners with an excellent target or shoot down the side of the target with the throttle full open. Niehter was all that inviting or likley to make for a long life.
If half his String bags survived he would press his boss to authorize a second strike as Dive bombers to clean up any survivors.
The Swordfish was also capable of operating as a dive-bomber. What was known to few outside the FAA was in 1939, Swordfish on board HMS Glorious participated in a series of dive-bombing trials, during which 439 practice bombs were dropped at dive angles of 60, 67 and 70 degrees, against the target ship HMS Centurion. Tests against a stationary target (say a DIW Nazi Battle cruiser) showed an average error of 49 yd from a release height of 1,300 ft and a dive angle of 70 degrees; tests against a manoeuvring target (say a crippled Nazi battle Cruiser) showed an average error of 44 yd from a drop height of 1,800 ft and a dive angle of 60 degrees. He and his pilots had practiced this Swordfish Dive Bomber doctrine in the Med and now was the time to put it into practice if there were enough of them left.
2 JUNE 1941 0900 Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax OTC TG Ciliax turned to Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand of his flagship Gneisenau. Anything on the radar yet Netzbrand?" "just that damn Scout circling us like a hungriger Bussard (hungry buzzard) Vizeadmiral."
TG Cilax had been at "Battle stations" since one of his Arado's had made a sighting report on Force H at 0730. That brave air crew had been allowed to survive in order to lead a Fulmar scout fighter back to them. That bastard Englander had then flamed the Arado in front of his entite TG. He had been circling just out of heavy flak range transmitting his posit and every course and speed change he made.
Ciliax then said "My staff Air officer figures us to feel Somerville's first strike anywhere from 1000 to 1100. He expects it to be a maximum strike of 30 of those Swordfish torpedo biplanes and 20 Fulmar fighter scouts armed with bombs. We will have our hands full but I am confident we will come through the air attack pretty much intact.
Thanks to Lutgen's reports of the battle of the Denmark Straight we have made the neccessary adjustments to our Flak fire control systems to deal with the very slow speed of the biplane's attack runs. Just the same Kapitan Zur See 30 torpedos bombers is a lot to counter IF the Englander strike leader is not a fool. The Ark Royal has been operating to great effect in the Mediteranean for some time now. Those pilots are not novices and after the punishment we have given their Royal Navy of late they are most likely coming for us with blood and iron. They also know what happens to their important large troop convoy if we are not stopped."
Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax had ordered the Air defense circular formation and a course change to intercept Force H as soon as possible at 25 kts. He wanted to force the surface action. With luck, his TG would savage the first air strike, be able to maintain a high speed and come to grips with Somerville before he could launch another air strike. Somerville could not run but he could slow down when not at flight quarters, buy time for more air strikes and still stay between TG Cilax and WS-12.
He knew from Rudel (Wolf Pack) Werwolf OTC's after action report to BdU that Force H, was now down 4 destroyers. He also knew Force H speed had been cut to 22 kts and both Ark Royal and Renown had taken torpedo hits. The report stated emphatically both capital ships appeared to still be combat effective, as their main batteries were intact but with reduced engineering capabilities. He also reported Renown had taken four (actually only three) torpedo hits and Ark Royal had been hit twice (actually only once).
2 JUNE 1941 1015 the junior "Radarmann" in the flag reported a large intermitant air contact to his watch Unteroffizier who immediately came over and studied the younger man's O scope. It certainly was a solid return and it was also a large contact bearing dead ahead. Range was 45 miles and closing. The PO imediately informed the watch officer who informed the bridge watch including the Kapitan and Vizeadmiral. Cilax imediately ordered a signal informing the other ships of his TG of the contact. On each ship the radar operators quickly searched on the reported bearing and it was not long until all had the incoming raid. The watch Petty Officers ensured the operators did not become target fixated. They reminded them to maintain a 360 search.
Since the TG was already in an AA formation at Battle stations the only orders neccessary was to train out on the expected bearing, load and reiterate "Guns tight" until the Vizeadmiral countermanded that signal. The four type 1936A destroyers screen would be the first to engage when batteries were released, or the aircraft came within effective AA Gun range per Cilax's battle doctrine. Each DD mounted 2 twin 37 mm SK C/30 AA and 8 20 mm C/38 AA guns but their main battery of five 150 mm TbtsK C/36 guns were not dual purpse and so useless against aircraft.
The air strike would then be engaged by heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. Hipper carried the latest radars, fire control systems and a formidable AA battery. Hipper mounted a heavy Flak battery of 12 4.1 in SK C/33 guns with a rate of fire of 15–18 rounds per minute. The maximum effective range of the 33 lb 5 oz AA Frag round was 19,000 yds at effective ceiling of 31,003 ft. They were mounted in pairs on an electrically powered tri-axial mounting, intended to compensate for the motion of the ship and maintain a lock onto the intended target. The mounting were open to the weather and sea spray, resulting in a high maintenance but the Kriegsmarine highly motivated and technically competent gunners mainted the mounts at high reliability.
The medium AA FLAK battery consisted of 12 37 mm SK C/30 auto canon. The 37 mm had a Dopp L stabilized mount, a practicle 30 rounds per minute sustained fire, maximum effective range of 9,000 yds at maximum effective ceiling of 6,500 ft.
The light Flak battery consisted of 8 20 round box fed 20 mm C/38 guns with a practical rate of fire of 180 rounds per minute. The light auto canon had a maximum effective range of 2,500 yds and an effective cielining of 6,500 ft.
2 JUNE 1941 1030 The strike leader , flying in a Fulmar ordered his aircraft to transition from their cruising formation to their attack run formations. The Fulmars pulled slightly ahead into a weave, reduced their throttles, and lowered their ailerons to reduced speed to just above a stall. That kept them from opening the range too much from their charges. They took station to lead the torpedo bombers to their drop points. They were to rely on their 8 machine guns initially against the destroyer screen, then use them to hose down the upper works, especially the AA batteries, fire control directors, radar and communications antennas and only use their single 250 lb bomb against the Battle & heavy Cruisers armored bridges. With a single bomb and 400 rounds per gun the pilots had to keep a close eye on their remaining ammo.
2 JUNE 1941 1040 the three Swordfish "packs" dropped down to 18 feet and throttled back to prevent the Mk XII from breaking up on impact. Low and slow was doctrine to maximize the chance of a hit but really reduced the chances of air crew survival. At the same time the Fulmars slected their destroyer targets, charged their .303s, ceased their weave, raised their flaps, opened their throttles to 175 Mph and began their strafing runs. At 1000 yds they hosed their targets with a short ranging busrt, adjusted their approach and then hammered the Destroyers with medium length bursts as they filled the Fulmar's gun sights.
The problem was that half of the Fulmars never made it to their destroyers firing points. The Type 1936A's two twim 37 mm stablized AA mounts had a much longer "Reach" than the .303 and opened at 9000 yds putting out 30 rounds per minute per barrel or 120 total barrage. At 2,500 yds each type 1936 added 8 box fed 20 mm C/38 guns joined in 180 rounds per minute. The cost had been high but the Fulmars that survived got a mission kill of the destroyers Flak batteries on two of the type 1936 and managed to materially reduce the AA batteries on the other two, one of which was also DIW.
The four remaining Fulmars, all damaged but still air worthy went for the heavy cruiser and finally had some luck. At their low altitude the heavy flak battery of Admiral Hipper's 4.1 in SK C/33 guns were held "Guns Tight" because the Fulmars were coming in directly from the damaged destroyers and would cetrtainly sink them while engaging the incoming raid. So it was left to Hipper's 8 of the 12 30 rounds per minute 37 mm SK C/30 to eliminate the 4 Fulmars . Those 37 mm director controlled, stabilized mounted Flak guns were putting out 240 rounds per minute and they were firing well within their max effetcive range. One of the Fulmars got into .303 range and took out a 20 mm Flak and it's entire gun crew and even managed to score a near miss on Hipper with his 250 lb AP bomb. Damage was minor but a few small holes had been punched into her hull.
2 JUNE 1941 1045 the String bags got past the destroyer screen unscathed hugging the surface at 18 ft, in good formation, at max allowable torpedo drop speed. The three packs bore into their hammerhead runs.
Now Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax ordered his three capital ships to break formation but stay within mutual AA desfense range and all guns were now free. The hailstorm of 4.1 in, 37 mm and 20 mm Flak directed by fire control systems that had been recalibrated with the hard earned lessons of TG Cilax was devestating. Only 5 Swordfish survived long enough to launch their Mk XIIs and only two of those made a coordinated hammerhead run, the others just launched at the nearest target before they were shot down.
Results were better than any peacetime empire would allow. Three of the Mk XIIs actually scored hits. One caught the flag just aft of Bruno on the ship's 3 inch Wh (Wotan hard) steel armored belt. The belt, excellent designed TDS and usual high standard of Kriegsmarine damage control caused minor flooding but did not impair the ship's combat effetciveness. The two Swordfish that actually pressed home their text book hammetrhead run both were rewarded with hits on Schranhorst. They Approached at 300 feet followed by a dive to torpedo release altitude of 18 feet. They presed on to well within the 1,500 yds Rangeof a 1941 Mark XII torpedo only at 40 knots to ensure hits. The torpedo travelled 200 feet from release to water impact, and required another 300 yards to stabilise at preset depth and arm itself. They dropped at 1,000 yds the text book target run. None of the 5 made it back to Ark Royal but more than half the brave flight crews were resued.
The fish hit stbd 30 ft aft of the bow and amidships port but the puny 388 lb 18 inch warheads only partially defeated the belt armor. For a while it was feared the ship was mortally wounded because a lot of vital systems in propulsion, interior communications and weapons were knocked off the line. A combination of the well engineered TDS, excellent damage control, and superbly professional technical training brought the most combat vital systems back up in short order. The old girl would be back up to her pre attack combat effectiveness within two hours of the torpedo strkes.
2 JUNE 1941 1110 TG Cilax was conducting emergency repairs, restocking ready AA ammunition and rescue operations. The Vizeadmiral his Chief of Staff and his "Air Officer" had come to the conclusion another air strike was on it's way because the first strike was much smaller than they expected from Ark Royal. Therfore, the TG was mainatining AA formation and battle stations as they closed Force H at 25 kts.
The rescue operations were being conducted by the two of the damaged destroyers, one of which had been DIW was able to get steam up and had reported it was capable of 20 kts.
One thing that had not changed was the circling Fulmar sending out their posit, course, speed and damage estimate. So they were going into action with no air scouts.
2 JUNE 1941 1120 The scout Fulmar radioed back to Force H the lack of results, his opinion none of the strike would make it back to Ark Royal and his fuel state. Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commander of Force H. Read the message a number of times. He was not ready, just yet to believe he had wasted the entire Air strike. He did order an initial report of the strike be sent to Admiral Pound stating his air group had sutained heavy losses and inflicted only light damage to TG Cilax which he expected to engage in a mainly surface action in the next few hours. If the air group was anihilated he would detach Ark Royal with a detroyer escort so she could fight another day. She would be of no use in a surface action anyway. Old Hat Box, HMS Argus, would provide a deck if one was needed.
2 JUNE 1941 1150 RN HQ Bunker under the Admiralty. Fleet Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound's Communication's Officer had just handed his "boss" Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville's 113502JUN41 signal briefly stating the results of Force H's Air strike on TG Cilax and requsting RAF Bomber Command to put on as large an antiship raid as possible against TG Cilax. The time, position, course, speed and composition of the TG Cilax was given. The Fleet Admiral had stood stark still for about two minutes and then handed the signal to his soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay. Ramsay read the signal through three times and handed it back to Pound.
Pound, to Ramsay and his Commo "The loss of his Air Group means "Jimmy" Somerville is about to take Renown, Shiny and a half dozen destroyers up against TG Cilax unless I order him not to. Well I can't do that but I can light a fire under the RAF to bomb the hell out of those Nazis."
"Ramsay, do you still want this "Fucking" job? Truth to tell, 5 June can't come fast enough for me, you poor bastard."
Pound was bitter and wracked with guilt bceause his Royal Navy had been out maneuvered, outfought and repeatedly savaged by the numerically inferior Nazis. There was a real possibility the Kriegsmarine surface raiders and U-Boats could do enough damage to England's seaborn life line as to force HM Government to sue for peace or see her population and industry "Starve".
At the very least Winston, the absolutely essential leader if we were to win this war, be removed by a Vote of No Confidence. He would not put it past those "rodents" in parliament to do that.
He then brought himself up short and put all his years of experience, great intelect and bull dog stubborness to bear on the problem of how to help Force H kill those two Nazi Battle Cruisers. The RAF just might be able to do something.
By this time his staff had taken station close by.
Pound To his aid "Get me Air Chief Marshal Portal and make sure whoever takes the call knows this is urgent."
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal's aid was on the line in ten minutes. "Fleet Admiral Pound, I am the Air Marshal's aid he will be with you as soon as he can get to a secure phone, I'd say about 15 minutes."
Pound "Please inform the Air Marshall time is of the essence and it is vitally imporatnt I speak to him as soon as possible. The lives of many of our people are at stake."
Portal's Aid "I will convey that message to him right away."
Ten minutes later, an out of breath Air Marshall was on a secure phone line with Admiral Pound. He quickly grasped the dire circumstances and promised Pound he would have a raid on TG Cilax in the air as soon as possible and his staff would keep your staff informed of the progress and work out the particulars of the raid.
Pound "Thank you Freddie; I just hope we will not be too late."
A very tired looking Fleet Admiral Pound then turned to Ramsay and said "Let's get out of this sewer for a few minutes Bertie." They walked in silence to the stairs leading up into the Admiralty Gardens, now planted with vegetables as a "Victory Garden". They found an old bench and sat down wearily, it had been a string of long nights relieved by all too little sleep and neither of them were the young, or even middle aged iron Men they once had been.
Pound lit his pipe and once he got it going said to Ramsay. "Sorry Bertie about my taunting you in front of the staff. It was unexcuseable but come june 6th or maybe seventh if you are lucky, you will understand why I displayed such rude behavior to a friend.
I truly am sorry Winston picked on you to clean up my mess. You really deserve better but we live to serve our political masters and that is that."
Ramsay lit his "Players" and said " Sir, I was not in the least offended by you. You had to take it out on someone. Better another admiral than any of those long suffering staffies that toil like galley slaves for us. Eh?"
"I'll tell you what I was thinking about at hat time.
What am I getting myself into? If an outstanding man, intelect and sailor like Pound had failed what chance do I have. Then you braced and started issuing orders, damn good ones if you don't mind me saying so.
Too bad for those RAF crews. I'd guess The Air Marshall will send in some of his Torpedo bombers like Bothas or Beauforts if we and they are lucky. I really can't imagine a dozen or so of those twin engine torpedo bombers will fare any better than Ark Royals Swordfish and Fulmars. Maybe, just maybe, accumlated damage from our previous attacks has degraded Cilax's ships AA batteries enough to give those boys a fighting chance but I doubt it from the after action report.
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 13
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 13
2 JUNE 1941 1215 Somerville said "Staff make to Ark Royal and to Fearless. You are detached. Make best speed to Devonport" ( HMS Drake AKA HMNB Devonport, Devonport, Devon). "That leaves Force H with Destroyers Duncan, Iris, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Fury, & Foresight.”
"With any luck the RAF can provide ARK Royal and Fearless fighters and Coastal Command will dispatch some sub hunters to escort them into Devonport."
2 JUNE 1941 1220 Portal to his aid. "Get CO RAF St. Eval on line."
Portal "Portal here. The navy needs our help. What is the status of number 22 Squadron?"
CO RAF St. Eval Bazil T. Soreham " Operational; as of this morning's report we have all 12 fit for service. Conversion to the Beaufort is complete. We think we finally have the problems with the Bristol Taurus engines ironed out. The Squadron Leader, Ken Campbell, has been working his boys very hard on both torpedo and bomb attacks and over water navigation. They are ready for anything you care to throw them at."
Portal " I want you to lay on a strike against TG Cilax at the earliest possible time. Force H had it's air group decimated trying to stop Scharnhost, Gneisenau a Hipper class heavy cruiser and 4 destroyers earlier today. That leaves Ark Royal useless until the Navy can get her another Air group. Force H is down to a damaged Renown, the light Cruiser Shefield and about a half dozen destroyers. The old Argus is in support but all her torpedo bombers were lost with Ark Royals'. She does have about 10 SeaHurricaines and as many of Ark Royal's Fulmars. The Fulmars will be able to guide your Beauforts onto the Nazi's."
The Bristol Beaufort is a twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as the Type 152, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Blenheim light bomber. Beauforts first saw service with Royal Air Force Coastal Command. They were used as torpedo bombers, conventional bombers and mine-layers.
Crew 4
Maximum speed: 271.5 mph at 6,500 ft 225 mph at sea level
Cruise speed: 255 mph at 6,500 ft
Range: 1,600 nmi.
"I also want one of the new Catalina's to help the Navy keep close tabs on those Nazi's. The "Senior Service", has managed to muck things up right propper of late.
Soreham, I can not emphasize enough that this raid must be launched as soon as possible!"
Soreham imediately got on the "Horn" to 22 Squdron's CO and gave him his orders.
2 JUNE 1941 1245 A Number 210 Squadron Catalina 1 launched 15 minutes prior armed with four depth charges for an ASW mission. Her mission changed to keeping track of TG Cilax. She would need every knot of her very unimpressive speed to reach the Nazi's before the Beaufort's did. Her pilot decided to balance rhe need for endurance with speed. So he set his throttles for 150 mph, faster than best economical cruising speed of 130 but slower than tje Cat-1s max, fuel gulping 183 mph.
The 100 RAF Catalina 1s were actually PBY-5s purchased directly by the RAF. The Catalina I was given British equipment, including six Vickers machine guns – one in the nose, one in the rear tunnel and a twin gun on a manual mounting in each of the blister windows. The PBY-5/ Catalina 1 was the first version of the Catalina to be produced in large numbers, and the last to be a pure flying boat.
The RAF had purchased a commercial version of the PBY-4 in July 1939, and this aircraft had been flown across the Atlantic for tests at the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe, Suffolk. Although these tests were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, the RAF still decided to place an order for 106 Catalinas. Produced as the Consolidated 28-5, these aircraft became the Catalina 1s in RAF service and the PBY-5 for the USN
The PBY-5 /Cat 1 saw the introduction of the waist gunner’s blisters which gave the Catalina its familiar shape. The outer part of these circular blisters could be rotated up and under the top of the blister, giving the waist gunners a much better field of fire than on earlier versions of the Catalina, and also providing better protection from the slipstream.
The PBY-5/ Catalina 1 was powered by Pratt & Whitney R-1830-82 engines and used Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propellers. On the PBY-4 the air intake for the engine had been on top of the engine nacelle, but on the PBY-5/ Catalina 1 it was moved to a position inside the engine cowling, above the propeller. The PBY-5/ Catalina 1 had a redesigned squared off rudder, and new horizontal stabilisers and elevators.
Maximum Speed: 183 mph
Cruising Speed: 130 mph
Range: 3,000
Armament :four 0.30-in machine-guns and either 4,000lbs of bombs or four depth charges or two torpedoes
2 JUNE 1941 1405 the last of Number 22 Squdron's 12 Beauforts joined his mates and headed for TG Cilax. The ground crews had done a magnificent job of arming, fueling and doing everything else neccessary to get the aircraft ready for a combat flight. The Air crews had been briefed. The navigators had been given the very latest poistion, course and speed of TG Cilax by the Fulmar scout. Radio frequency and set compatability beteween Fulmars, Sea Hurricaines and the Beaufort's had been establised and tested.
2 JUNE 1941 1635 Number 22 Squdron's 11 Beaufort torpedo bombers rendezoued with 5 Sea Hurricaines and 4 Fulmars. One Beaufort turned back due to her notorious Taurus engines siezing. Since this was a daylight torpedo attack the Hurries and Fulmars would once again lead the way, beat up the screen and then make strafing runs on the Battle and Heavy Cruisers. The hope was that the much faster Beauforts would have better luck than did the swordfish. It was also hoped the AA defenses of the Capital ships had been degraded. Time would soon tell.
TG Cilax was now 60 nautical miles away from What was left of Force H. The strike commander, Squadron Leader Ken Campbell, ordered his force to take up strike formation with the SeaHurrys and and Fulmars in the lead.
The Sea Hurricane Mk IB was a modified Hurricane Mk I equipped with catapult spools plus an arrester hook. The Sea Hurries also mounted the lighter de Havilland propellers instaed of the Rotol types; it was found during tests that the Rotol unit could lead to the nose dipping during arrested landings, causing the propeller blades to "peck" the carrier deck. The lighter de Havilland units avoided this problem.
The Mk 1 made an excellent conversion carrier fighter because it's handling qualities during take-off and landings were excellent due to a wide-track undercarriage with relatively wide low-pressure tyres. Because of this wide, stable platform the Hurricane was an easier aircraft to land, with less fear of nose-overs or "ground-loops" than its RAF Fighter Command counterpart the Supermarine Spitfire.
Like the Mk 1 Hurricane the Sea Hurricane's large, thick wing meant that the fighter proved to be a stable gun platform. It was armed with eight .303 in Browning machine guns. The armament was arranged in two lots of four in large gun bays incorporated into the outer wing panels. 70 pounds of armor protection was added in the form of head, back plates and an armor-glass panel was incorporated on the front of the windscreen. The old string bags and Fulmars lacked that armor which just might allow the Sea Hurries to last long enough to really chew up the upper works, including light and medium AA guns of their targets. Unlike the Fulmars the Sea Hurries carried no bombs.
As the flight closed to 40 miles North from TG Cilax Squadron Leader Ken Campbel contacted the trailing Fulmar. He recieved the latest posit, speed, course and disposition of the Nazi TG. He then ordered the flight down to 250 ft.
He was a bit too late because Gneisenau's radar had been tracking them for 15 minutes. Vizeadmiral. Cilax had ordered his TG to "Battle stations" at that time.
Campbel's plan was similar to Ark Royals attack. He would first send in his five Sea Hurries to make strafing runs on the screening destroyers. Then the Hurries would go flat out against the capital ships for a single run concentrating on medium and light AA batteries that would deplete their MG ammo. The Hurries would then clear the AA area of TG and return to Argus.
Next in would be the four Fulmars, leading from a bit above and hosing down anything in the path of his squadron. Once past the destroyers his 11 Beauforts would break into three groups. Groups 1 and 2 of 4 would go after the Battle Cruisers in a classic Hammerhead torpedo attack. Group 3 would hang back under Campbel's direct control and either go in for the battle cruisers that avoided being hit by groups 1 and 2 or go after the heavy cruiser if both battle cruisers were severly damaged. The Fulmars would lead the way making starfing runs on the medium and light AA batteries of the Battle Cruisers followed by their single 250 lb glide bomb run. They would then clear the area and return directly to Argus.
Good simple plan with two really unavoidable flaws.
1. His boys were going in against the best shipborn AA defense today in broad daylight.
2. He had only 11 Mark XII torpedoe's with those puny 388 lb 18 inch warheads. That meant they would require multiple hits in fairly close proximity to do real damage to those Battle Cruisers.
He had no doubt his boys would bore in and only release their fish at the last minute but that meant flying low and slow, which made them dead meat for those Nazi AA gunners. But Maybe, just maybe, the Hurries and Fulmars strafing and glide bombing runs would do enough damage to the AA guns, gunners and their directors to give his boys a real chance at good hits and survival. There was always that chance.
The fulmar had also informed him the Cat-1 was not too far out and Force H's battleship and cruiser scout float planes would be on station to pick up or direct ships to downed air crews.
2 JUNE 1941 1650 The Sea Hurricaines began their Flak Suppression runs. They found the two remaining destroyers of the "screen" put up a very weak and inaccurate Flak Barrage and chose to waste little ammo on them. Sea Hurricaines found the Battle and Heavy Cruisers Flak barrage quite a different story. They got as close to the deck as they could to confuse the Nazi Fire Control, especially the heavy FLAK mounts. As orderded, they pounded the light and medium Flak batteries along with radar and Fire control antennas and mounings. Being human they also peppered the armored bridges on the off chance they might hit someone important.
The pilots really bored in close. They held their fire until they were in "the cone" where their wing mounted eight .303 in Browning's armor piercing and incindiary rounds concentrated. The armament was arranged in two lots of four in large gun bays incorporated into the outer wing panels. It was now that the 70 pounds of added armor protection in the form of head, back plates and an armor-glass panel front windscreen paid huge divindends. It not only provided protection to the pilots on the way in and out but it also steadied nerves in their attack runs. It was quite evident that the Sea Hurricaines had all but silenced the 20 and 37 mm guns on the engaged side, for now. How long that would last was anyone's guess.
However most of the 105mm dual purpose L/65 C/33 guns on twin coaxially-stabilized C/73 armored mounts were still quite functional. The Sea Hurricaines were "on the deck" because the Heavy FLAK's elevation was -8 to +85 degrees. That partially shielded the fast and nimble fighters from their devastating collective 160 rounds per minute. What worked for the fighters might not be possible for the Beauforts and it was they who had to deliver the decisive hits to help Force H and save WS 12 troop convoy.
All of the Sea Hurricaines made it back to Argus; although two would not fly again any time soon and that went for one of the pilots also.
2 JUNE 1941 1 655 It was now time for the Fulmars and Beauforts to make their decisive runs. The four Fulmars, led the way firing a few shots at the almost silent destroyers. They went low and quickly commenced making strafing runs on the Heavy FLAK batteries of the Battle Cruisers folllowed by their single 250 lb bomb. With ammo exhausted cleared the area and returned directly to Argus.
Once past the destroyers the surviving 11 Beauforts broke into three groups as planned. Groups 1 went for Scharnhorst, 2 for Niesnau in a classic 4 plane Hammerhead torpedo attack. Although the Hammerhead was a deadly efficient attack formation it was far from 100% perfetc. A lot of variables could negate it's potential.
A successful torpedo drop required that the approach run to the target needed to be straight and at a speed and height where the torpedo would enter the water smoothly: too high or too low and the torpedo could "porpoise" (skip through the water), dive or even break up. Height over the water had to be judged without the benefit of a radio altimiter and misjudgement was easy, especially in calm conditions. For the Beauforts using the 18-inch Mk XII aerial torpedo, the average drop-height was 68ft and the average range of release was 670. During the run-in, the aircraft was vulnerable to defensive FLAK and it took courage to fly through it with no chance of evasive manoeuvres.
The Beaufort's optimum torpedo dropping speed was a great deal higher than than the old Vildebeests it replaced, and it took practice to judge the range and speed of the target ship. A ship the size and speed of Scharnhorst would look huge, filling the windscreen at well over 1 mi and it was easy to underestimate the range. In action, torpedoes were often released too far away from the target, although there was one recorded instance of a torpedo being released too close. For safety reasons, torpedo warhead had a set distance (usually about 300 yds from the release point before they were armed. It also took some distance for the torpedo to settle to its running depth.
Once the torpedo had been dropped, if there was room, a sharp turn away from the enemy was possible: more often than not the aircraft had to fly around or over the ship, usually at full-throttle and below mast height. A sharp pull-up could be fatal as it exposed a large area of the aircraft to anti-aircraft guns.
Campbel's held back Group 3 under direct control until he could evaluate the initial attacks. If Group 3 survived the FLAK they would go in for the battle cruisers that avoided being hit by groups 1 and 2 or go after the heavy cruiser if both battle cruisers were severly damaged. Calulated risk but gorups 1 and 2 should preoccupy most, if not all, of the depleted FLAK guns of the three Cruisers.
As it happened Groups 1 and two conducted text book Hammerhead attacks on the two Battle Cruisers. Unfortunately the director controlled Heavy FLAK batteries and a few of the 37mms brought down 2 of Group 1's Beauforts, both from the port bow section. The CO of Scharnhorst managed to comb the wakes of the remaining torpdeoes unscathed.
Group two managed all four torpedo launches against Gneisenau but lost two Beauforts as they retired. One was a flamer but the second managed to clear the FLAK zone and successfully ditch with the loss of one crewman. Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand, CO of the flag Gneisenau, did a msterful job of combing the wakes of the starboard side Hammerhead but took one of the puny 388 lb warheads on her armored belt. Damage did not degrade her speed or combat power. The second fish missed Gneisenau by 18 inches; not bad considering the bomb aimer had a 4 ounce hunk of schrapnel in his thigh and was about to pass out due to loss of blood.
2 JUNE 1941 1705 Squadron leader Campbel took Group 3 in to attack Gneisenau, in the hope the one torpedo hit had damaged the Battle cruiser and maybe Group 3 could finish her off and even the odds a little Bit for Renown and Shiny. He would go in alone on the port bow and his other two torpedo bombers would attack from the Starbaord bow. The concentrated fire of two Battle and one heavy cruiser was unleshed on the three Beauforts. Campbel took a solid hit from a 105 and his entire plane disintegrated as it's fuel tanks and torpedo warhead sympathetically detonated within milli seconds of that hit.
The other two Beauforts determinely bore in to their Starbaord bow drop point. Both fish dropped successfully and were running HOT, Straight and Normal. Both Beauforts hammered Gneisenau with every gun that would bear and managed to escape beyond the FLAK Zone. They loitered just out of range observing their fish. Both missed bceause with only one arm of the hammer head to deal with Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand manged to comb the wakes again. The remaining Beauforts formed up under the 3rd senior pilot and headed for home. Another damn good try by brave and skillful men but once again too few aircraft and an lack of dive bombers saved TG CILAX. CRM
2 JUNE 1941 1715 The shadowing Fulmar made it's strike report to Somerville who quickly had it coded and sent off to Pound and Commodore Thesiger in WS 12. He then turned to Renown's CO and said. "So you now get to command a RN Battle Cruiser against two of the Naxis. Well we have the 15 inch guns and we still have torpedo loaded operational destroyers. The Nazi bastards have niether. That will be something to tell your grandchildren about."
CO Renown thought "Now if "Jimmy" could guarantee I will see my Grand children again, that is exatly what I will do." Instead he just said. "Old Refit will make this a fight those new Battle Cruisers will never forget for the few hours they have left Sir James."
Somerville just looked at the man and made an ironic smile. Good man, good but old ship, crew with too many hostilities only ratings and lady luck still seems to hate us. Wonder what the Old Andrew did to her to forsake us lately? The question is have our Regular Navy Chiefs, senior PO's and warrants trained those green hands well enough to get the best out of those guns against split targets. We need hits and we need them before those damn excellent Boch gunners get our range. Well we have spotters and they do not. That should help a good deal.
2 JUNE 1941 1800 TG-39.1 OTC Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt was in flag plot going over the lack of results of the afternoon aerial searches for Bismarck. Ernie King must have chewed PatWing 5’s ass raw because he had his boys continuous long range sector searches from 0330 Sunset 2340. His own SOC’s were hunting down his hunches along with a Nautical sun rise to sunset local submarine and surface search out to 50 miles.
Problem was his SOC’s where really VFR (visual Flight Rules) scouts with a very limited night flying and searching capability. That meant in clear weather conditions, at normal search height their horizon is faintly visible during Nautical Twilight . Many of the brighter stars can also be seen, making it possible to use the position of the stars in relation to the horizon to navigate at sea. Nautical dawn occurs when the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon during the morning. Nautical dusk occurs when the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon in the evening. Which means they were blind once the sun really set.
Hewitt to his C of Staff. “I really hope PatWing Five’s idea of stationing one of his PBY’s to take over our local search at night pays off. Remember what chief O'Shae told us about that 40 miles range ASE radar set not being much for area searches? If the Flyboys orbit us at just under our max surface search radar range, 12 miles give or take, they extend our search range out to around 50 miles or so. That is well worth trying Sir. We can also send them off to investigate if someone gets a DF fix or the ONI boys or the Limeys actually dig something up in our AOR (Area Of Operations).” C of Staff also remembered the Chief’s comment on the reliability of the ASE sets. Well better than nothing.
2 JUNE 1941 1830 USCGC Muskeget (WAG-48) was make good storm damaged and otherwise CASREPed gear, chipping and painting, settling in new crew, taking on stores and generally making ready for another three week weather patrol southeast of Greenland. Not much had happened since they landed their survivors except for one hell of a field day to clean up the oil, dirt, filth, debris and blood from the survivors and a lot of captain’s masts. At first messages of appreciation came from HM Government’s Board of Trade and a few others. Then CG HQ, Via District One in Boston ordered LCDR Moultron to express to his ship’s company a very hearty Well Done and to authorize maximum liberty while in port. That had mixed results as his crew, very full of themselves, destroyed a number of local drinking establishments. Captain’s masts followed and his real wild men, who had performed magnificently, would have spent most of the time until their next patrol busted and restricted to the ship. Finally, Letters of commendation had been placed in the jackets of the CO Moultron and a few others (still on restriction) for the rescue. This allowed him, as CO, to release them from restriction and restore their former Ratings. A few of them, after a single liberty, were once again restricted to the ship. Moultron thought “You got to love them” and how lucky he was to be their CO.
2 JUNE 1941 1915 Prime Minister Churchill entered the Admiralty Command bunker and casually returned the Royal Marine sentry's rifle salute. The sentry next shouted "Prime minister on deck" All present came to attention and turned toward their PM. Winston growled "Carry on with your duties" The old man rapidly crossed the room toward Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound and his soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay. They had been bent over a chart table but now stood facing the on rushing Churchill who looked like he were about to "thrash" both of them.
Churchill with just controlled anger in his voice "Gentlmen let us adjourn to your office Admiral of the Fleet." When they got into the office, Ramsay closed the door and the two Admirals stood at attention in front of their obviously angry "Master".
Churchill "Force H's report was one of the same I have had to endure ever since the Denmark Straight disaster. The RAF committed the only available bomber squadron against Cilax, got that squadron decimated and have nothing to show for it but two damaged destroyers; not exactly a Trafalgar!
Jimmy Somerville has one damaged, Great War Battle Cruiser, no better than Hood, a single 6 inch cruiser and a half dozen escorts against the Nazis two Battle and one 8 inch cruisers. Do I have to remind you WS-12's escort will not swim for 15 minutes once those Battle Cruisers reach it and it is a large troop convoy. This will be the Queen Mary again writ large as those Nazi bastards intend to sink every ship in that convoy."
He stopped talking, sank into an arm chair, took his time lighting a cigar, all the time scowling at "His" Admirals who were marshalling their thoughts for an acceptable answer.
Before Pound could speak Churchill sarcastically growled "What gentlemen are you doing to help Somerville." The word "gentemen" was spat out like the most disgusting of lower deck insults.
Pound manfully replied. "Sir, we have nothing of sufficient force that can reach WS-12 before the Nazis. All we can do is let Vice Admiral Somerville fight the battle his way. I am sure his destroyers will make a torpedo run and, given the number of Eels, they have a chance to damage, possibly severely, the two Battle Cruisers, especially if they can attack after dark. Then it will be up to old Renown's 15 inch guns longer reach and heavier shells to cripple and maybe sink Gneisenau and Scharnhorst before their 11 inch score a major blow on Renown. She actually handled them pretty roughly off Norway and actually drove them off by herself. "
Mentioning Norway, a real tactical victory for the RN but a strategic disaster to Winston was taking a big chance. Churchill decided let it go. He knew these men were doing their best with far too few ships. Their number one priority had to be the Atlantic lifeline and that tied their hands. It left the in intiative, for now, to that butchering maniac Hitler's small, but very efficient, modern, purpose built commerce destroying fleet the initative. He had abused them enough for now. He'd like to think he did it because it was his duty to get the most out of them, which was true, but he also knew he had to vent to someone. In his heart of herats he was truly frightened, nay terror stricken was more accurate of nothing more than loosing the "Battle of the Atlantic". At this juncture he was a very worried old man who ate too well, got far too little exercise or diversion and drank and smoked far too much but not as much as his enemies thought.
2 JUNE 1941 1930 Gneisenau's flag bridge. Vizeadmiral Cilax was weighing up his Task group's chances for a quick and relatively light damage destruction of Force H. TG Cilax was now composed of two Battle Cruisers and one 8 inch cruiser. Although his TG had sustained some damage from the Englander's gallant but very luckless attacks; all were still operational with main batteries unharmed. His 4 destroyers were all gone now; two sunk and two heading for Brest being mission killed by the Englanders. The light and medium Flak batteries had taken a beating, especially to his gunners but were now remanned and more than adaquate to protect his ships. His main and secondary battery fire control directors were unharmed. Some of his radar antennas had been shot away but enough remained operational as not to materailly degrade his "vision of the upcoming "Killing Ground". His ships had plenty of fuel and could sustain 25 knots for more than enough hours to get to WS-12.
He was also grateful TG Cilax had all modern, state of the art ships, with veteran very, well trained officers and crews. HIS TG ships had operated together in peace and war for a long time now which made a big difference. His captains knew thier doctrine, were strict but fair with their crews and totally dedicated to winning this war. His Maats (POs) were exceptional technicians and deck plate leaders especially his Chiefs. His men were the least of his worries and how many commanders could honestly say that?
He still had a good chance of carrying out his primary mission, commerce destruction. The Englanders could absorb the loss of Force H but the utter destruction of WS-12, along with the havoc being raised by the U-Boats, Bismarck and The Prince at this time could prove decisive. The current morale of the Englanders had to be shaken by the loss of Europe, their defeat in the Denmark straight, the destruction of HX-123 and especially the sinking of the Queen Mary.
He discounted Dunkirk and the battle of Britain because the convoys were what fed that island nation and those convoys were being decimated by his Kriegsmarine.
His greatest concern was not old Renown, or Ark Royal, with her destroyed air group, or the still almost totally ineffective RAF but Somerville's remaining Destroyers. He was pressing the battle at 25 kts with Force H because he did not want to give those "Torpedo Boats" the alley of darkness for their inevitable massed torpedo attack. He knew SUNSET would be at 2118 and Nautical Twilight would end at 2258. Unless he forced the issue Somerville would not send his "Fegers" until full dark. With the low overcast, moon light would be of no consequence. He had no Escort screen to fend off the "Fegers" and give the Main Body" a warning, time to maneuver and put down a rain of HE in the Englander's path. He would have to rely on his already degraded radar, his excellent German night optics and the skill and discipline of his lookouts; hand picked for their exceptional Mark One Eyes balls.
Too bad the RN, like his own Navy, had pretty much corrected the unexpected early war problems with their Eels. He could not count on mechanical failure, unpredictable depth, irratic running courses and unreliable warheads to save TG Cilax.
He could not count on anything but totally professional, suicidally brave and utterly determined torpedo runs by Force H's Med War Veterans. These damn "Fegers" were comanded and manned by the best the RN had. Despite of their recent run of bad luck, mainly due to a lack of resources, a fleet stretched far too thin and still suffering from the neglect of the depression years, the men of the RN were absolute professionals and should NEVER be underestimated.
Finally, Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax was an old, very experienced sailorman and as such knew Nothing was certain at sea. He also knew that "Lady Luck" could change sides at any time. In the end it was all in God's hands. So be it. He then called for his stewart to bring him a mug of coffee with a double cognac sweetener.
2 JUNE 1941 1945 HMS Renown's Flag Plot. Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commander of Force H, Was thinking about the upcoming surface action against TWO new Battle Cruisers and a very tough Hipper class Heavy cruiser . With luck Ark Royal's CO Capt. C.S. Holland, RN would find a new air group soon but not soon enough to help Force H. All he had left was Old "Refit",CO Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN his six inch gunned Cruiser "Shiny"CO Capt. C.A.A. Larcom, RN and his "Trump Cards". His torpedo armed destroyer leader Duncan, destroyers Iris, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Fury, & Foresight just might be decidive. They give him 35 MK IX 21-inch torpededos with 750 lbs. TNT warheads. Although operational in 1930 were considerably improved by 1939 with a range of 5 miles at 41 knots or 7 miles at 35 knots. Real ship killers now that the early war problems have been corrected.
He could only pray the Nazis did not find Force H until full dark. Although that made his air dominance scouts and spotting aircraft much less effective. If he meets TG Cilax after dark his first punch will be his destroyers. If Cilax finds them during Nautical twilight, which ends at 2258, he would still send them in even though it would reduce the destroyers chances of reaching a good torpedo launch point greatly, to say nothing of their chances of survival. Even after full dark, the Nazi Radar fire control and the world's best night optics, to say nothing of old fashion but deadly efficient star shells, will make that tropedo run quite a long bet. When you add the excellent gunnery shown by the Kriegsmarine capital ships this war, their chances get even slimmer.
There was always the chance his destroyers would do enough damage to give "Old Refit" a chance to either sink them or drive them back to France too damaged to make the massacre of WS-12 worth it. The rub was that TG Cilax took orders from Hitler and his malignant crew. Those orders might be TG Cilax is expendable; sink that convoy. He did take comfort in the fact this would not be the first time "Old Refit" went up against these two Nazi beasts. She met them off the southern coast of the Lofoten Islands, Norway. Talk about history repeating itself; at that time Renown had nine destroyers. Vizeadmiral Günther Lütjens, same man who had the Bismarck TG, only had the two Battle cruisers. Granted each side now also had a Cruiser but it sure was as close repeat as he had ever heard of. "Old Refit" managed to land a few telling blows on Gneisenau, inflicting moderate damage, and some much too near misses to Scharnhorst. After this sharp, short opening to the engagement Lutgens decided to "withdraw", (AKA Run Like Hell). Renown having suffered only minor damage was ordered not to follow up.
2 JUNE 1941 2100 Admiral Bertram I. Thesiger, Commodore of WS-12 was in Strathaird, had just read the latest signal from The Admiralty. Not good, TG Cilax had not been stopped and was still coming for his 23 ships. His "Troopers", mainly converted Liners and a few Aussie refrigerator ships' convoy speed was just 13 kts but he had ordered 18 as soon as he found out what was after him. So far the black gangs were able to mantain that speed but those Aussie refrigerator ships had nothing to spare and running a plant flat out for extended periods was a recipe for disaster. It was up to him when and if the convoy should scatter. With scout aircraft those German Battle cruisers could track down every one of his ships, given enough time and daylight. How many 11 inch shells would it take to sink one of his ships? Even Hipper's eight inchers might sink the liners in a singles alvoe. Those Arado's were more than capable of crippling and maybe even sinking an unsupported single ship. There were also reports a Wolf Pack was forming ahead of them. Scatter and he looses is anti submarine escort.
2 JUNE 1941 2135 Hipper's Funker (radioman), monitoring "Athos" the FuMB 35 (Funk-Mess-Beobachtung) An advanced radar detection device, painted a spike on his O scope display. A few adjustments and he had the Frequency, Pulse repetition rate and relative bearing of 023 of the "Contact". He reported this to his watch "Maat" (Petty officer), who came over and took a few minutes to varify it was not a Geist and then informed the OOD they had a British capital ship radar. The OOD informed the captain who ordered the contact report to be sent via shielded signal light to TG Cilax's commander. Ten minutes later Vizeadmiral Cilax executed the signal to come to the new course. He would not order Action Stations quite yet since his TG was already manned 50% and no one really knew just how far out an "Athos" signal really was. If he had two Athos fixes, at roughly the same time, from ships with a much longer spacing than any in his formation; at least 20 nautical miles, his Funker could give him a useable fix and a number of these cross bearing could give a fairly accurate course and speed. It was not all that unusual, under particularly favorable weather conditions, for Athos to pick up radar signals at three times the radar detetction distance, so Force H could be as far as 60 miles away.
2 JUNE 1941 2250 Gneisenau, flag of TG Cilax’s FuMO (Fuunk-Mess-Ortung Radar. (RadioDetection) Seetakt 23 watch radar operator reported an intermittent contact at a range of 19 miles, relative bearing of 010; no course or speed yet . The OOD ordered the forward 10.5-meter rangefinder, with it’s excellent night vision optics, trained on that bearing; nothing spotted so far. He informed his Captain, by sound powered phone, who was in the Flag plot talking to Vizeadmiral Cilax, who instantly informed the TG commander of the radar contact. Vizeadmiral Cilax took less than a minute and ordered his Staff Watch officer to "Blinker" light signal the other ships the contact report and to come to Battle stations immediately. Cilax then ordered Hipper to come to flank speed and scout down the contact bearing but not to engage Somerville alone.
2 JUNE 1941 2300 Jimmy's Somerville's luck held. His course change South West at 20 kts bought Force H and Convoy WS-12 what he needed most, to delay contact with TG Cilax until full dark. One of Renwon's radar Technicians reported to his watch Chief he had three contacts, two large and one medium. Three minutes more gave a range 22 miles, course135 degrees true, speed 25 kts. The CPA (closest point of approach) which was CBDR (constant bearin decreasing range) "collission course".
"No doubt the Nazi's had us on radar Sir." said the chief to the Watch officer who provided the amplifing info to the bridge. Both Somerville and Capt. Simeon, RN heard the reports.
Somerville to his staff watch officer "Immediate execute formation course 135, speed 25". He had to close the range as quickly as possible. As soon as the formation course and speed change had been achnowledged.
"Make to Duncan, repeat to Shefield, Iris, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Fury, and Foresight by signal light. Conduct torpedo attack , per my previous order, as soon as possible. Concentrate on Battle Cruisers. Good luck and God Speed". Get an acknowledgements from all ships. No time for a communications bollox."
Second signal to The Admiralty copy to Commodore Thesiger in WS 12. "Am engaging TG Cilax which now consists of Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and Hipper. God Save The King." Include our position.
Third private signal to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound "Dudley my old Snotty shipmate, Simeons and I promise you those twin Nazi bastards are not going to get away from us again."
He then turned to Old Refit's,CO Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN Force H and TG Cilax were rushing toward each other at 50 kts. Those 22 miles would be eaten up very, very soon. "I have every confidence in your ship's company and you to finish the job WE started off Norway."
Simeon, "HMS Renown would not think of disapointing you again Vice-admiral.
Permission to open fire as soon as we have a good fire control solution Sir?"
Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN was determined his Renown would open up first because he remembered 9 Apr 1940 off Norway all too well.
Somerville "By all means, anything we can do to help St. Barleigh and his "death or glory boys" live long enough to launch those ship killing Mark Nines with their 750 pound warheads." What worries me Sir Rhoderick, given the sea conditions and the excellent Nazi Radar and optical fire control system St. Barleigh would have to launch at 5 miles and that meant the 36 kts setting. If he tries to get closer the Nazi secondary battery, along with the 8 and 11 inchers, would probably sink the lot before they could launch their Eels."
2 JUNE 1941 2305 Catain D ,The Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh ordered an Execute To Follow signal by blinker light to his destroyers to split into two groups. Jupiter and Iris to form on him. Jersey, Fortune and Fury, would form on Foresight as OTC. Barleigh's plan was simple, when executed both grops would go to flank and make for the torpedo run start points. Duncan's to port and Foresight's to starboard, slightly ahead of TG CILAX. Timing, as usual would be critical. They all had to start their runs simultaneously. Like the Aircraft the destroyers would also go for a hammerhead attack. By coming in from three different directions old Hhiny and his two groups would also split TG Cilax fire. A lot would dpened on Sheffield being able to blanket the upper works of the Battle and heavy Cruisers with 6 and 4.1 inch rapid fire.It was avert tall order indeed when he had to split fire fire between three ships.
"Shiny"CO Capt. C.A.A. Larcom,RN addressed the crew of his his six inch gunned Cruiser by Tanoy speaker. Shipmates the destroyers chaps are going in against the Battle and Heavy cruisers with torpedoes. Our job will be to go in with them and do eveything in our power to suppress the Nazi gunfire. We got to give them a chance. So we will shoot straight and shoot fast to cover them. Make no mistake if those Nazi bastards get by Force H troop convoy WS 12 and many tens of thousand of our soldiers and merchant seaman will die tonight. God have mercy on us all."
To his Executive officer Commander Sir Edmund Blackadder,RN alone he added "Jimmy you and I know those German ships have very good main and secondary battery radar fire control; better than ours. They are very good gunners and excellent ship handlers. I don't dare fire Star shells to blind their optical gunfire control because that same light will shine on our ships and provide those excellent Nazi ship handlers a big help combing the wakes of our Fish. So our chaps also have to deal with the very best day and night optical fire control systems which means their medium and light AA batteries can join in the slaughter. I fear we will not see many of them even get to their torpedoe release point, let alone back to Force H.
Our AP shells will just bounce off those Battle cruisers and do little damage to Hipper. I intend to go for the radar antennas and fire control directors so we will fire H.E. Shells. Make sure the gunner is on the same page.
Jimmy if we are to be of any real help to those destroyers we are going to have to go in close and smother their upper works of those Nazi ships with our 6 iand 4.1 nch pop guns. I really don't think they will allow us to do that unmolested. I intend to go in slightly ahead of the destroyers at a maximum speed and maneuvering no more violently than our fire control can handle. I itend to launch our own torpedoes if I get the chance. The more the merrier eh?" Then more seriosuly. "I'm afraid our own survival must be subordinate to scoring hits on those ships. Even after the destroyers have launch their torpedoes and on the way out we must maintain our fire. So XO I'll be ordering a course and speed that will allow us to unmask as many of our guns as possible as we withdraw. You know what that does to our chances!
Jimmy, if anything happens to me I am counting on you to carry out that same plan. I was not jesting about what those Nazi Bastards will do to WS-12 if they get by Force H." Capt. C.A.A. Larcom,RN of HMS Sheffield did not say "What little is left of Force H" but that is what he thought.
Sheffied's XO Sir Edmund Blackadder said with determination "I don't like this game one bit but I will do as you say Captain."
Sitting in his bridge chair, sucking on his pipe and watching his "wanker" XO Sir Edmund Blackadder, heading down to brow beat poor old Baldrick he was thinking about his ship. The prize of his less than spectacular career.
HIS "Shiny Sheff" was one of the Southampton sub class of the Town-class cruisers. She took part in actions against several major Nazi & Itie warships already. She saw action off Norway during the Nazi invasion, at Operation White and the battle of Cape Spartivento where she fought two battleships Vittorio Veneto and Giulio Cesare. So the old girl was used to fighting Battle ships but he doubted she would survive this time. Unlike most Royal Navy ships of her time, her fittings were constructed from stainless steel instead of the more traditional brass. The official story was this was an attempt to reduce the amount of cleaning required on the part of the crew. Actually it ws a cunning plot by his masters at Admiralty to get support of the badly needed South Yorkshire MPs to support the navy ship building budget proposal.
2 JUNE 1941 2310 Sheffied's XO Sir Edmund Blackadder "Well Gun Buster (gunnery Officer) that is what the captain intends to do so make sure there are plenty of HE projectiles at hand.
Sheffied's 50 year old gunnery Officer, who started out on the lower deck before the Great war and was promoted to Warrant Gunner just after Jutland and commissioned in October 1918 hardly needed that order. Baldrick recived exactly one promotion, to Lt. and was forceably retired, along with many others, in 1934. He had been called back in in Sept 1939 and was now a LCDR said "Certainly sir but I doubt we will get a chance to fire all that many rounds. The Twins are very good at shooting fast and hitting what they shoot at.
Those 11 inch guns are very efficient and served by gunners every bit as good as ours. Their fire control, both radar and optical are absolutely first rate. They find the range very quickly. Even if we cross their T, which we won't be for long, using only their forward turrets they can bring 12 Eleven inch rifles to bear with a proven very high rate of sustained fire, say 3-4 rounds a minute per barrel and for short periods 5 or 6. We are talking 36 rounds per minute sustained or, worse case, 48 per minute initially. Also since our Captain wants to go in close we are going to be peppered by their secondary battery. That is half of their 24 5.9" SK C/28 at 10 miles range can penetrate all our armor and fourteen of the Twenty eight 4.1 inch SK C/33 guns which, at 9 miles range should not be able to pentrate our 4 and a half inch side belt, and magazines but will certainly smash our two inch barbettes, turrets and main machinery spaces." 1 to 2 XO Sir Edmund Blackadder " Cheer up; I'm sure you will come up with some plan to get the best out of our guns. A plan As cunning as one by a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University. Gun Buster Baldrick said " I'll do my best Sir." and thought "You damn wanker".
2 JUNE 1941 2320 Catain D ,The Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh seeing both groups were formed up and the Light cruiser was in position, Executed his previous signal by blinker light and short range HF radio. His next signal ordered that all future signals would be on HF tactical net until further notice. No use relying on slow blinker light when it was certain the Nazi's knew where they were and exactly what they were doing.
2 JUNE 1941 2330 HMS Sheffield slowed from 32 to 20 kts, adjujsted her course to unmask her after turrets with a sinuous weave and opened fire on the three Nazi capital ships at 25,000 yds (45 degrees elevation). Gun Buster Baldrick's twelve BL 6 inch Mk XXIII naval guns were hurling 112 pound HE shells at 2,760 feet per second at 8 rounds per minute per barrel or 96 rounds a minute per salvo initially. How long the gun crews could keep that up in battle was anyone's guess with "gallons" of adrenalin pumping into their nervous systems. In non firing practice that pace could only be maintained for about 20 minutes. However, the gunnery regulations stated rapid fire should only be maintained for 10 minutes without a break to cool the barrels liners, preferably with fire hoses. If no break was possible then a sustained fire of 5 rounds per minute was neccessary to keep from damaging the guns and killing the crews with a breach explosion. It was not unknown (Jutland came to his mind) for a turret explosion to sink the ship if gunnery regs concerning the use of flash proof doors and shutters were not rigorously enforced.
2 JUNE 1941 1215 Somerville said "Staff make to Ark Royal and to Fearless. You are detached. Make best speed to Devonport" ( HMS Drake AKA HMNB Devonport, Devonport, Devon). "That leaves Force H with Destroyers Duncan, Iris, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Fury, & Foresight.”
"With any luck the RAF can provide ARK Royal and Fearless fighters and Coastal Command will dispatch some sub hunters to escort them into Devonport."
2 JUNE 1941 1220 Portal to his aid. "Get CO RAF St. Eval on line."
Portal "Portal here. The navy needs our help. What is the status of number 22 Squadron?"
CO RAF St. Eval Bazil T. Soreham " Operational; as of this morning's report we have all 12 fit for service. Conversion to the Beaufort is complete. We think we finally have the problems with the Bristol Taurus engines ironed out. The Squadron Leader, Ken Campbell, has been working his boys very hard on both torpedo and bomb attacks and over water navigation. They are ready for anything you care to throw them at."
Portal " I want you to lay on a strike against TG Cilax at the earliest possible time. Force H had it's air group decimated trying to stop Scharnhost, Gneisenau a Hipper class heavy cruiser and 4 destroyers earlier today. That leaves Ark Royal useless until the Navy can get her another Air group. Force H is down to a damaged Renown, the light Cruiser Shefield and about a half dozen destroyers. The old Argus is in support but all her torpedo bombers were lost with Ark Royals'. She does have about 10 SeaHurricaines and as many of Ark Royal's Fulmars. The Fulmars will be able to guide your Beauforts onto the Nazi's."
The Bristol Beaufort is a twin-engined torpedo bomber designed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as the Type 152, and developed from experience gained designing and building the earlier Blenheim light bomber. Beauforts first saw service with Royal Air Force Coastal Command. They were used as torpedo bombers, conventional bombers and mine-layers.
Crew 4
Maximum speed: 271.5 mph at 6,500 ft 225 mph at sea level
Cruise speed: 255 mph at 6,500 ft
Range: 1,600 nmi.
"I also want one of the new Catalina's to help the Navy keep close tabs on those Nazi's. The "Senior Service", has managed to muck things up right propper of late.
Soreham, I can not emphasize enough that this raid must be launched as soon as possible!"
Soreham imediately got on the "Horn" to 22 Squdron's CO and gave him his orders.
2 JUNE 1941 1245 A Number 210 Squadron Catalina 1 launched 15 minutes prior armed with four depth charges for an ASW mission. Her mission changed to keeping track of TG Cilax. She would need every knot of her very unimpressive speed to reach the Nazi's before the Beaufort's did. Her pilot decided to balance rhe need for endurance with speed. So he set his throttles for 150 mph, faster than best economical cruising speed of 130 but slower than tje Cat-1s max, fuel gulping 183 mph.
The 100 RAF Catalina 1s were actually PBY-5s purchased directly by the RAF. The Catalina I was given British equipment, including six Vickers machine guns – one in the nose, one in the rear tunnel and a twin gun on a manual mounting in each of the blister windows. The PBY-5/ Catalina 1 was the first version of the Catalina to be produced in large numbers, and the last to be a pure flying boat.
The RAF had purchased a commercial version of the PBY-4 in July 1939, and this aircraft had been flown across the Atlantic for tests at the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe, Suffolk. Although these tests were interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, the RAF still decided to place an order for 106 Catalinas. Produced as the Consolidated 28-5, these aircraft became the Catalina 1s in RAF service and the PBY-5 for the USN
The PBY-5 /Cat 1 saw the introduction of the waist gunner’s blisters which gave the Catalina its familiar shape. The outer part of these circular blisters could be rotated up and under the top of the blister, giving the waist gunners a much better field of fire than on earlier versions of the Catalina, and also providing better protection from the slipstream.
The PBY-5/ Catalina 1 was powered by Pratt & Whitney R-1830-82 engines and used Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propellers. On the PBY-4 the air intake for the engine had been on top of the engine nacelle, but on the PBY-5/ Catalina 1 it was moved to a position inside the engine cowling, above the propeller. The PBY-5/ Catalina 1 had a redesigned squared off rudder, and new horizontal stabilisers and elevators.
Maximum Speed: 183 mph
Cruising Speed: 130 mph
Range: 3,000
Armament :four 0.30-in machine-guns and either 4,000lbs of bombs or four depth charges or two torpedoes
2 JUNE 1941 1405 the last of Number 22 Squdron's 12 Beauforts joined his mates and headed for TG Cilax. The ground crews had done a magnificent job of arming, fueling and doing everything else neccessary to get the aircraft ready for a combat flight. The Air crews had been briefed. The navigators had been given the very latest poistion, course and speed of TG Cilax by the Fulmar scout. Radio frequency and set compatability beteween Fulmars, Sea Hurricaines and the Beaufort's had been establised and tested.
2 JUNE 1941 1635 Number 22 Squdron's 11 Beaufort torpedo bombers rendezoued with 5 Sea Hurricaines and 4 Fulmars. One Beaufort turned back due to her notorious Taurus engines siezing. Since this was a daylight torpedo attack the Hurries and Fulmars would once again lead the way, beat up the screen and then make strafing runs on the Battle and Heavy Cruisers. The hope was that the much faster Beauforts would have better luck than did the swordfish. It was also hoped the AA defenses of the Capital ships had been degraded. Time would soon tell.
TG Cilax was now 60 nautical miles away from What was left of Force H. The strike commander, Squadron Leader Ken Campbell, ordered his force to take up strike formation with the SeaHurrys and and Fulmars in the lead.
The Sea Hurricane Mk IB was a modified Hurricane Mk I equipped with catapult spools plus an arrester hook. The Sea Hurries also mounted the lighter de Havilland propellers instaed of the Rotol types; it was found during tests that the Rotol unit could lead to the nose dipping during arrested landings, causing the propeller blades to "peck" the carrier deck. The lighter de Havilland units avoided this problem.
The Mk 1 made an excellent conversion carrier fighter because it's handling qualities during take-off and landings were excellent due to a wide-track undercarriage with relatively wide low-pressure tyres. Because of this wide, stable platform the Hurricane was an easier aircraft to land, with less fear of nose-overs or "ground-loops" than its RAF Fighter Command counterpart the Supermarine Spitfire.
Like the Mk 1 Hurricane the Sea Hurricane's large, thick wing meant that the fighter proved to be a stable gun platform. It was armed with eight .303 in Browning machine guns. The armament was arranged in two lots of four in large gun bays incorporated into the outer wing panels. 70 pounds of armor protection was added in the form of head, back plates and an armor-glass panel was incorporated on the front of the windscreen. The old string bags and Fulmars lacked that armor which just might allow the Sea Hurries to last long enough to really chew up the upper works, including light and medium AA guns of their targets. Unlike the Fulmars the Sea Hurries carried no bombs.
As the flight closed to 40 miles North from TG Cilax Squadron Leader Ken Campbel contacted the trailing Fulmar. He recieved the latest posit, speed, course and disposition of the Nazi TG. He then ordered the flight down to 250 ft.
He was a bit too late because Gneisenau's radar had been tracking them for 15 minutes. Vizeadmiral. Cilax had ordered his TG to "Battle stations" at that time.
Campbel's plan was similar to Ark Royals attack. He would first send in his five Sea Hurries to make strafing runs on the screening destroyers. Then the Hurries would go flat out against the capital ships for a single run concentrating on medium and light AA batteries that would deplete their MG ammo. The Hurries would then clear the AA area of TG and return to Argus.
Next in would be the four Fulmars, leading from a bit above and hosing down anything in the path of his squadron. Once past the destroyers his 11 Beauforts would break into three groups. Groups 1 and 2 of 4 would go after the Battle Cruisers in a classic Hammerhead torpedo attack. Group 3 would hang back under Campbel's direct control and either go in for the battle cruisers that avoided being hit by groups 1 and 2 or go after the heavy cruiser if both battle cruisers were severly damaged. The Fulmars would lead the way making starfing runs on the medium and light AA batteries of the Battle Cruisers followed by their single 250 lb glide bomb run. They would then clear the area and return directly to Argus.
Good simple plan with two really unavoidable flaws.
1. His boys were going in against the best shipborn AA defense today in broad daylight.
2. He had only 11 Mark XII torpedoe's with those puny 388 lb 18 inch warheads. That meant they would require multiple hits in fairly close proximity to do real damage to those Battle Cruisers.
He had no doubt his boys would bore in and only release their fish at the last minute but that meant flying low and slow, which made them dead meat for those Nazi AA gunners. But Maybe, just maybe, the Hurries and Fulmars strafing and glide bombing runs would do enough damage to the AA guns, gunners and their directors to give his boys a real chance at good hits and survival. There was always that chance.
The fulmar had also informed him the Cat-1 was not too far out and Force H's battleship and cruiser scout float planes would be on station to pick up or direct ships to downed air crews.
2 JUNE 1941 1650 The Sea Hurricaines began their Flak Suppression runs. They found the two remaining destroyers of the "screen" put up a very weak and inaccurate Flak Barrage and chose to waste little ammo on them. Sea Hurricaines found the Battle and Heavy Cruisers Flak barrage quite a different story. They got as close to the deck as they could to confuse the Nazi Fire Control, especially the heavy FLAK mounts. As orderded, they pounded the light and medium Flak batteries along with radar and Fire control antennas and mounings. Being human they also peppered the armored bridges on the off chance they might hit someone important.
The pilots really bored in close. They held their fire until they were in "the cone" where their wing mounted eight .303 in Browning's armor piercing and incindiary rounds concentrated. The armament was arranged in two lots of four in large gun bays incorporated into the outer wing panels. It was now that the 70 pounds of added armor protection in the form of head, back plates and an armor-glass panel front windscreen paid huge divindends. It not only provided protection to the pilots on the way in and out but it also steadied nerves in their attack runs. It was quite evident that the Sea Hurricaines had all but silenced the 20 and 37 mm guns on the engaged side, for now. How long that would last was anyone's guess.
However most of the 105mm dual purpose L/65 C/33 guns on twin coaxially-stabilized C/73 armored mounts were still quite functional. The Sea Hurricaines were "on the deck" because the Heavy FLAK's elevation was -8 to +85 degrees. That partially shielded the fast and nimble fighters from their devastating collective 160 rounds per minute. What worked for the fighters might not be possible for the Beauforts and it was they who had to deliver the decisive hits to help Force H and save WS 12 troop convoy.
All of the Sea Hurricaines made it back to Argus; although two would not fly again any time soon and that went for one of the pilots also.
2 JUNE 1941 1 655 It was now time for the Fulmars and Beauforts to make their decisive runs. The four Fulmars, led the way firing a few shots at the almost silent destroyers. They went low and quickly commenced making strafing runs on the Heavy FLAK batteries of the Battle Cruisers folllowed by their single 250 lb bomb. With ammo exhausted cleared the area and returned directly to Argus.
Once past the destroyers the surviving 11 Beauforts broke into three groups as planned. Groups 1 went for Scharnhorst, 2 for Niesnau in a classic 4 plane Hammerhead torpedo attack. Although the Hammerhead was a deadly efficient attack formation it was far from 100% perfetc. A lot of variables could negate it's potential.
A successful torpedo drop required that the approach run to the target needed to be straight and at a speed and height where the torpedo would enter the water smoothly: too high or too low and the torpedo could "porpoise" (skip through the water), dive or even break up. Height over the water had to be judged without the benefit of a radio altimiter and misjudgement was easy, especially in calm conditions. For the Beauforts using the 18-inch Mk XII aerial torpedo, the average drop-height was 68ft and the average range of release was 670. During the run-in, the aircraft was vulnerable to defensive FLAK and it took courage to fly through it with no chance of evasive manoeuvres.
The Beaufort's optimum torpedo dropping speed was a great deal higher than than the old Vildebeests it replaced, and it took practice to judge the range and speed of the target ship. A ship the size and speed of Scharnhorst would look huge, filling the windscreen at well over 1 mi and it was easy to underestimate the range. In action, torpedoes were often released too far away from the target, although there was one recorded instance of a torpedo being released too close. For safety reasons, torpedo warhead had a set distance (usually about 300 yds from the release point before they were armed. It also took some distance for the torpedo to settle to its running depth.
Once the torpedo had been dropped, if there was room, a sharp turn away from the enemy was possible: more often than not the aircraft had to fly around or over the ship, usually at full-throttle and below mast height. A sharp pull-up could be fatal as it exposed a large area of the aircraft to anti-aircraft guns.
Campbel's held back Group 3 under direct control until he could evaluate the initial attacks. If Group 3 survived the FLAK they would go in for the battle cruisers that avoided being hit by groups 1 and 2 or go after the heavy cruiser if both battle cruisers were severly damaged. Calulated risk but gorups 1 and 2 should preoccupy most, if not all, of the depleted FLAK guns of the three Cruisers.
As it happened Groups 1 and two conducted text book Hammerhead attacks on the two Battle Cruisers. Unfortunately the director controlled Heavy FLAK batteries and a few of the 37mms brought down 2 of Group 1's Beauforts, both from the port bow section. The CO of Scharnhorst managed to comb the wakes of the remaining torpdeoes unscathed.
Group two managed all four torpedo launches against Gneisenau but lost two Beauforts as they retired. One was a flamer but the second managed to clear the FLAK zone and successfully ditch with the loss of one crewman. Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand, CO of the flag Gneisenau, did a msterful job of combing the wakes of the starboard side Hammerhead but took one of the puny 388 lb warheads on her armored belt. Damage did not degrade her speed or combat power. The second fish missed Gneisenau by 18 inches; not bad considering the bomb aimer had a 4 ounce hunk of schrapnel in his thigh and was about to pass out due to loss of blood.
2 JUNE 1941 1705 Squadron leader Campbel took Group 3 in to attack Gneisenau, in the hope the one torpedo hit had damaged the Battle cruiser and maybe Group 3 could finish her off and even the odds a little Bit for Renown and Shiny. He would go in alone on the port bow and his other two torpedo bombers would attack from the Starbaord bow. The concentrated fire of two Battle and one heavy cruiser was unleshed on the three Beauforts. Campbel took a solid hit from a 105 and his entire plane disintegrated as it's fuel tanks and torpedo warhead sympathetically detonated within milli seconds of that hit.
The other two Beauforts determinely bore in to their Starbaord bow drop point. Both fish dropped successfully and were running HOT, Straight and Normal. Both Beauforts hammered Gneisenau with every gun that would bear and managed to escape beyond the FLAK Zone. They loitered just out of range observing their fish. Both missed bceause with only one arm of the hammer head to deal with Kapitän zur See Harald Netzbrand manged to comb the wakes again. The remaining Beauforts formed up under the 3rd senior pilot and headed for home. Another damn good try by brave and skillful men but once again too few aircraft and an lack of dive bombers saved TG CILAX. CRM
2 JUNE 1941 1715 The shadowing Fulmar made it's strike report to Somerville who quickly had it coded and sent off to Pound and Commodore Thesiger in WS 12. He then turned to Renown's CO and said. "So you now get to command a RN Battle Cruiser against two of the Naxis. Well we have the 15 inch guns and we still have torpedo loaded operational destroyers. The Nazi bastards have niether. That will be something to tell your grandchildren about."
CO Renown thought "Now if "Jimmy" could guarantee I will see my Grand children again, that is exatly what I will do." Instead he just said. "Old Refit will make this a fight those new Battle Cruisers will never forget for the few hours they have left Sir James."
Somerville just looked at the man and made an ironic smile. Good man, good but old ship, crew with too many hostilities only ratings and lady luck still seems to hate us. Wonder what the Old Andrew did to her to forsake us lately? The question is have our Regular Navy Chiefs, senior PO's and warrants trained those green hands well enough to get the best out of those guns against split targets. We need hits and we need them before those damn excellent Boch gunners get our range. Well we have spotters and they do not. That should help a good deal.
2 JUNE 1941 1800 TG-39.1 OTC Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt was in flag plot going over the lack of results of the afternoon aerial searches for Bismarck. Ernie King must have chewed PatWing 5’s ass raw because he had his boys continuous long range sector searches from 0330 Sunset 2340. His own SOC’s were hunting down his hunches along with a Nautical sun rise to sunset local submarine and surface search out to 50 miles.
Problem was his SOC’s where really VFR (visual Flight Rules) scouts with a very limited night flying and searching capability. That meant in clear weather conditions, at normal search height their horizon is faintly visible during Nautical Twilight . Many of the brighter stars can also be seen, making it possible to use the position of the stars in relation to the horizon to navigate at sea. Nautical dawn occurs when the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon during the morning. Nautical dusk occurs when the Sun is 12 degrees below the horizon in the evening. Which means they were blind once the sun really set.
Hewitt to his C of Staff. “I really hope PatWing Five’s idea of stationing one of his PBY’s to take over our local search at night pays off. Remember what chief O'Shae told us about that 40 miles range ASE radar set not being much for area searches? If the Flyboys orbit us at just under our max surface search radar range, 12 miles give or take, they extend our search range out to around 50 miles or so. That is well worth trying Sir. We can also send them off to investigate if someone gets a DF fix or the ONI boys or the Limeys actually dig something up in our AOR (Area Of Operations).” C of Staff also remembered the Chief’s comment on the reliability of the ASE sets. Well better than nothing.
2 JUNE 1941 1830 USCGC Muskeget (WAG-48) was make good storm damaged and otherwise CASREPed gear, chipping and painting, settling in new crew, taking on stores and generally making ready for another three week weather patrol southeast of Greenland. Not much had happened since they landed their survivors except for one hell of a field day to clean up the oil, dirt, filth, debris and blood from the survivors and a lot of captain’s masts. At first messages of appreciation came from HM Government’s Board of Trade and a few others. Then CG HQ, Via District One in Boston ordered LCDR Moultron to express to his ship’s company a very hearty Well Done and to authorize maximum liberty while in port. That had mixed results as his crew, very full of themselves, destroyed a number of local drinking establishments. Captain’s masts followed and his real wild men, who had performed magnificently, would have spent most of the time until their next patrol busted and restricted to the ship. Finally, Letters of commendation had been placed in the jackets of the CO Moultron and a few others (still on restriction) for the rescue. This allowed him, as CO, to release them from restriction and restore their former Ratings. A few of them, after a single liberty, were once again restricted to the ship. Moultron thought “You got to love them” and how lucky he was to be their CO.
2 JUNE 1941 1915 Prime Minister Churchill entered the Admiralty Command bunker and casually returned the Royal Marine sentry's rifle salute. The sentry next shouted "Prime minister on deck" All present came to attention and turned toward their PM. Winston growled "Carry on with your duties" The old man rapidly crossed the room toward Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound and his soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay. They had been bent over a chart table but now stood facing the on rushing Churchill who looked like he were about to "thrash" both of them.
Churchill with just controlled anger in his voice "Gentlmen let us adjourn to your office Admiral of the Fleet." When they got into the office, Ramsay closed the door and the two Admirals stood at attention in front of their obviously angry "Master".
Churchill "Force H's report was one of the same I have had to endure ever since the Denmark Straight disaster. The RAF committed the only available bomber squadron against Cilax, got that squadron decimated and have nothing to show for it but two damaged destroyers; not exactly a Trafalgar!
Jimmy Somerville has one damaged, Great War Battle Cruiser, no better than Hood, a single 6 inch cruiser and a half dozen escorts against the Nazis two Battle and one 8 inch cruisers. Do I have to remind you WS-12's escort will not swim for 15 minutes once those Battle Cruisers reach it and it is a large troop convoy. This will be the Queen Mary again writ large as those Nazi bastards intend to sink every ship in that convoy."
He stopped talking, sank into an arm chair, took his time lighting a cigar, all the time scowling at "His" Admirals who were marshalling their thoughts for an acceptable answer.
Before Pound could speak Churchill sarcastically growled "What gentlemen are you doing to help Somerville." The word "gentemen" was spat out like the most disgusting of lower deck insults.
Pound manfully replied. "Sir, we have nothing of sufficient force that can reach WS-12 before the Nazis. All we can do is let Vice Admiral Somerville fight the battle his way. I am sure his destroyers will make a torpedo run and, given the number of Eels, they have a chance to damage, possibly severely, the two Battle Cruisers, especially if they can attack after dark. Then it will be up to old Renown's 15 inch guns longer reach and heavier shells to cripple and maybe sink Gneisenau and Scharnhorst before their 11 inch score a major blow on Renown. She actually handled them pretty roughly off Norway and actually drove them off by herself. "
Mentioning Norway, a real tactical victory for the RN but a strategic disaster to Winston was taking a big chance. Churchill decided let it go. He knew these men were doing their best with far too few ships. Their number one priority had to be the Atlantic lifeline and that tied their hands. It left the in intiative, for now, to that butchering maniac Hitler's small, but very efficient, modern, purpose built commerce destroying fleet the initative. He had abused them enough for now. He'd like to think he did it because it was his duty to get the most out of them, which was true, but he also knew he had to vent to someone. In his heart of herats he was truly frightened, nay terror stricken was more accurate of nothing more than loosing the "Battle of the Atlantic". At this juncture he was a very worried old man who ate too well, got far too little exercise or diversion and drank and smoked far too much but not as much as his enemies thought.
2 JUNE 1941 1930 Gneisenau's flag bridge. Vizeadmiral Cilax was weighing up his Task group's chances for a quick and relatively light damage destruction of Force H. TG Cilax was now composed of two Battle Cruisers and one 8 inch cruiser. Although his TG had sustained some damage from the Englander's gallant but very luckless attacks; all were still operational with main batteries unharmed. His 4 destroyers were all gone now; two sunk and two heading for Brest being mission killed by the Englanders. The light and medium Flak batteries had taken a beating, especially to his gunners but were now remanned and more than adaquate to protect his ships. His main and secondary battery fire control directors were unharmed. Some of his radar antennas had been shot away but enough remained operational as not to materailly degrade his "vision of the upcoming "Killing Ground". His ships had plenty of fuel and could sustain 25 knots for more than enough hours to get to WS-12.
He was also grateful TG Cilax had all modern, state of the art ships, with veteran very, well trained officers and crews. HIS TG ships had operated together in peace and war for a long time now which made a big difference. His captains knew thier doctrine, were strict but fair with their crews and totally dedicated to winning this war. His Maats (POs) were exceptional technicians and deck plate leaders especially his Chiefs. His men were the least of his worries and how many commanders could honestly say that?
He still had a good chance of carrying out his primary mission, commerce destruction. The Englanders could absorb the loss of Force H but the utter destruction of WS-12, along with the havoc being raised by the U-Boats, Bismarck and The Prince at this time could prove decisive. The current morale of the Englanders had to be shaken by the loss of Europe, their defeat in the Denmark straight, the destruction of HX-123 and especially the sinking of the Queen Mary.
He discounted Dunkirk and the battle of Britain because the convoys were what fed that island nation and those convoys were being decimated by his Kriegsmarine.
His greatest concern was not old Renown, or Ark Royal, with her destroyed air group, or the still almost totally ineffective RAF but Somerville's remaining Destroyers. He was pressing the battle at 25 kts with Force H because he did not want to give those "Torpedo Boats" the alley of darkness for their inevitable massed torpedo attack. He knew SUNSET would be at 2118 and Nautical Twilight would end at 2258. Unless he forced the issue Somerville would not send his "Fegers" until full dark. With the low overcast, moon light would be of no consequence. He had no Escort screen to fend off the "Fegers" and give the Main Body" a warning, time to maneuver and put down a rain of HE in the Englander's path. He would have to rely on his already degraded radar, his excellent German night optics and the skill and discipline of his lookouts; hand picked for their exceptional Mark One Eyes balls.
Too bad the RN, like his own Navy, had pretty much corrected the unexpected early war problems with their Eels. He could not count on mechanical failure, unpredictable depth, irratic running courses and unreliable warheads to save TG Cilax.
He could not count on anything but totally professional, suicidally brave and utterly determined torpedo runs by Force H's Med War Veterans. These damn "Fegers" were comanded and manned by the best the RN had. Despite of their recent run of bad luck, mainly due to a lack of resources, a fleet stretched far too thin and still suffering from the neglect of the depression years, the men of the RN were absolute professionals and should NEVER be underestimated.
Finally, Vizeadmiral Otto Ciliax was an old, very experienced sailorman and as such knew Nothing was certain at sea. He also knew that "Lady Luck" could change sides at any time. In the end it was all in God's hands. So be it. He then called for his stewart to bring him a mug of coffee with a double cognac sweetener.
2 JUNE 1941 1945 HMS Renown's Flag Plot. Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville commander of Force H, Was thinking about the upcoming surface action against TWO new Battle Cruisers and a very tough Hipper class Heavy cruiser . With luck Ark Royal's CO Capt. C.S. Holland, RN would find a new air group soon but not soon enough to help Force H. All he had left was Old "Refit",CO Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN his six inch gunned Cruiser "Shiny"CO Capt. C.A.A. Larcom, RN and his "Trump Cards". His torpedo armed destroyer leader Duncan, destroyers Iris, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Fury, & Foresight just might be decidive. They give him 35 MK IX 21-inch torpededos with 750 lbs. TNT warheads. Although operational in 1930 were considerably improved by 1939 with a range of 5 miles at 41 knots or 7 miles at 35 knots. Real ship killers now that the early war problems have been corrected.
He could only pray the Nazis did not find Force H until full dark. Although that made his air dominance scouts and spotting aircraft much less effective. If he meets TG Cilax after dark his first punch will be his destroyers. If Cilax finds them during Nautical twilight, which ends at 2258, he would still send them in even though it would reduce the destroyers chances of reaching a good torpedo launch point greatly, to say nothing of their chances of survival. Even after full dark, the Nazi Radar fire control and the world's best night optics, to say nothing of old fashion but deadly efficient star shells, will make that tropedo run quite a long bet. When you add the excellent gunnery shown by the Kriegsmarine capital ships this war, their chances get even slimmer.
There was always the chance his destroyers would do enough damage to give "Old Refit" a chance to either sink them or drive them back to France too damaged to make the massacre of WS-12 worth it. The rub was that TG Cilax took orders from Hitler and his malignant crew. Those orders might be TG Cilax is expendable; sink that convoy. He did take comfort in the fact this would not be the first time "Old Refit" went up against these two Nazi beasts. She met them off the southern coast of the Lofoten Islands, Norway. Talk about history repeating itself; at that time Renown had nine destroyers. Vizeadmiral Günther Lütjens, same man who had the Bismarck TG, only had the two Battle cruisers. Granted each side now also had a Cruiser but it sure was as close repeat as he had ever heard of. "Old Refit" managed to land a few telling blows on Gneisenau, inflicting moderate damage, and some much too near misses to Scharnhorst. After this sharp, short opening to the engagement Lutgens decided to "withdraw", (AKA Run Like Hell). Renown having suffered only minor damage was ordered not to follow up.
2 JUNE 1941 2100 Admiral Bertram I. Thesiger, Commodore of WS-12 was in Strathaird, had just read the latest signal from The Admiralty. Not good, TG Cilax had not been stopped and was still coming for his 23 ships. His "Troopers", mainly converted Liners and a few Aussie refrigerator ships' convoy speed was just 13 kts but he had ordered 18 as soon as he found out what was after him. So far the black gangs were able to mantain that speed but those Aussie refrigerator ships had nothing to spare and running a plant flat out for extended periods was a recipe for disaster. It was up to him when and if the convoy should scatter. With scout aircraft those German Battle cruisers could track down every one of his ships, given enough time and daylight. How many 11 inch shells would it take to sink one of his ships? Even Hipper's eight inchers might sink the liners in a singles alvoe. Those Arado's were more than capable of crippling and maybe even sinking an unsupported single ship. There were also reports a Wolf Pack was forming ahead of them. Scatter and he looses is anti submarine escort.
2 JUNE 1941 2135 Hipper's Funker (radioman), monitoring "Athos" the FuMB 35 (Funk-Mess-Beobachtung) An advanced radar detection device, painted a spike on his O scope display. A few adjustments and he had the Frequency, Pulse repetition rate and relative bearing of 023 of the "Contact". He reported this to his watch "Maat" (Petty officer), who came over and took a few minutes to varify it was not a Geist and then informed the OOD they had a British capital ship radar. The OOD informed the captain who ordered the contact report to be sent via shielded signal light to TG Cilax's commander. Ten minutes later Vizeadmiral Cilax executed the signal to come to the new course. He would not order Action Stations quite yet since his TG was already manned 50% and no one really knew just how far out an "Athos" signal really was. If he had two Athos fixes, at roughly the same time, from ships with a much longer spacing than any in his formation; at least 20 nautical miles, his Funker could give him a useable fix and a number of these cross bearing could give a fairly accurate course and speed. It was not all that unusual, under particularly favorable weather conditions, for Athos to pick up radar signals at three times the radar detetction distance, so Force H could be as far as 60 miles away.
2 JUNE 1941 2250 Gneisenau, flag of TG Cilax’s FuMO (Fuunk-Mess-Ortung Radar. (RadioDetection) Seetakt 23 watch radar operator reported an intermittent contact at a range of 19 miles, relative bearing of 010; no course or speed yet . The OOD ordered the forward 10.5-meter rangefinder, with it’s excellent night vision optics, trained on that bearing; nothing spotted so far. He informed his Captain, by sound powered phone, who was in the Flag plot talking to Vizeadmiral Cilax, who instantly informed the TG commander of the radar contact. Vizeadmiral Cilax took less than a minute and ordered his Staff Watch officer to "Blinker" light signal the other ships the contact report and to come to Battle stations immediately. Cilax then ordered Hipper to come to flank speed and scout down the contact bearing but not to engage Somerville alone.
2 JUNE 1941 2300 Jimmy's Somerville's luck held. His course change South West at 20 kts bought Force H and Convoy WS-12 what he needed most, to delay contact with TG Cilax until full dark. One of Renwon's radar Technicians reported to his watch Chief he had three contacts, two large and one medium. Three minutes more gave a range 22 miles, course135 degrees true, speed 25 kts. The CPA (closest point of approach) which was CBDR (constant bearin decreasing range) "collission course".
"No doubt the Nazi's had us on radar Sir." said the chief to the Watch officer who provided the amplifing info to the bridge. Both Somerville and Capt. Simeon, RN heard the reports.
Somerville to his staff watch officer "Immediate execute formation course 135, speed 25". He had to close the range as quickly as possible. As soon as the formation course and speed change had been achnowledged.
"Make to Duncan, repeat to Shefield, Iris, Jupiter, Jersey, Fortune, Fury, and Foresight by signal light. Conduct torpedo attack , per my previous order, as soon as possible. Concentrate on Battle Cruisers. Good luck and God Speed". Get an acknowledgements from all ships. No time for a communications bollox."
Second signal to The Admiralty copy to Commodore Thesiger in WS 12. "Am engaging TG Cilax which now consists of Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and Hipper. God Save The King." Include our position.
Third private signal to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound "Dudley my old Snotty shipmate, Simeons and I promise you those twin Nazi bastards are not going to get away from us again."
He then turned to Old Refit's,CO Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN Force H and TG Cilax were rushing toward each other at 50 kts. Those 22 miles would be eaten up very, very soon. "I have every confidence in your ship's company and you to finish the job WE started off Norway."
Simeon, "HMS Renown would not think of disapointing you again Vice-admiral.
Permission to open fire as soon as we have a good fire control solution Sir?"
Capt. C.E.B. Simeon, RN was determined his Renown would open up first because he remembered 9 Apr 1940 off Norway all too well.
Somerville "By all means, anything we can do to help St. Barleigh and his "death or glory boys" live long enough to launch those ship killing Mark Nines with their 750 pound warheads." What worries me Sir Rhoderick, given the sea conditions and the excellent Nazi Radar and optical fire control system St. Barleigh would have to launch at 5 miles and that meant the 36 kts setting. If he tries to get closer the Nazi secondary battery, along with the 8 and 11 inchers, would probably sink the lot before they could launch their Eels."
2 JUNE 1941 2305 Catain D ,The Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh ordered an Execute To Follow signal by blinker light to his destroyers to split into two groups. Jupiter and Iris to form on him. Jersey, Fortune and Fury, would form on Foresight as OTC. Barleigh's plan was simple, when executed both grops would go to flank and make for the torpedo run start points. Duncan's to port and Foresight's to starboard, slightly ahead of TG CILAX. Timing, as usual would be critical. They all had to start their runs simultaneously. Like the Aircraft the destroyers would also go for a hammerhead attack. By coming in from three different directions old Hhiny and his two groups would also split TG Cilax fire. A lot would dpened on Sheffield being able to blanket the upper works of the Battle and heavy Cruisers with 6 and 4.1 inch rapid fire.It was avert tall order indeed when he had to split fire fire between three ships.
"Shiny"CO Capt. C.A.A. Larcom,RN addressed the crew of his his six inch gunned Cruiser by Tanoy speaker. Shipmates the destroyers chaps are going in against the Battle and Heavy cruisers with torpedoes. Our job will be to go in with them and do eveything in our power to suppress the Nazi gunfire. We got to give them a chance. So we will shoot straight and shoot fast to cover them. Make no mistake if those Nazi bastards get by Force H troop convoy WS 12 and many tens of thousand of our soldiers and merchant seaman will die tonight. God have mercy on us all."
To his Executive officer Commander Sir Edmund Blackadder,RN alone he added "Jimmy you and I know those German ships have very good main and secondary battery radar fire control; better than ours. They are very good gunners and excellent ship handlers. I don't dare fire Star shells to blind their optical gunfire control because that same light will shine on our ships and provide those excellent Nazi ship handlers a big help combing the wakes of our Fish. So our chaps also have to deal with the very best day and night optical fire control systems which means their medium and light AA batteries can join in the slaughter. I fear we will not see many of them even get to their torpedoe release point, let alone back to Force H.
Our AP shells will just bounce off those Battle cruisers and do little damage to Hipper. I intend to go for the radar antennas and fire control directors so we will fire H.E. Shells. Make sure the gunner is on the same page.
Jimmy if we are to be of any real help to those destroyers we are going to have to go in close and smother their upper works of those Nazi ships with our 6 iand 4.1 nch pop guns. I really don't think they will allow us to do that unmolested. I intend to go in slightly ahead of the destroyers at a maximum speed and maneuvering no more violently than our fire control can handle. I itend to launch our own torpedoes if I get the chance. The more the merrier eh?" Then more seriosuly. "I'm afraid our own survival must be subordinate to scoring hits on those ships. Even after the destroyers have launch their torpedoes and on the way out we must maintain our fire. So XO I'll be ordering a course and speed that will allow us to unmask as many of our guns as possible as we withdraw. You know what that does to our chances!
Jimmy, if anything happens to me I am counting on you to carry out that same plan. I was not jesting about what those Nazi Bastards will do to WS-12 if they get by Force H." Capt. C.A.A. Larcom,RN of HMS Sheffield did not say "What little is left of Force H" but that is what he thought.
Sheffied's XO Sir Edmund Blackadder said with determination "I don't like this game one bit but I will do as you say Captain."
Sitting in his bridge chair, sucking on his pipe and watching his "wanker" XO Sir Edmund Blackadder, heading down to brow beat poor old Baldrick he was thinking about his ship. The prize of his less than spectacular career.
HIS "Shiny Sheff" was one of the Southampton sub class of the Town-class cruisers. She took part in actions against several major Nazi & Itie warships already. She saw action off Norway during the Nazi invasion, at Operation White and the battle of Cape Spartivento where she fought two battleships Vittorio Veneto and Giulio Cesare. So the old girl was used to fighting Battle ships but he doubted she would survive this time. Unlike most Royal Navy ships of her time, her fittings were constructed from stainless steel instead of the more traditional brass. The official story was this was an attempt to reduce the amount of cleaning required on the part of the crew. Actually it ws a cunning plot by his masters at Admiralty to get support of the badly needed South Yorkshire MPs to support the navy ship building budget proposal.
2 JUNE 1941 2310 Sheffied's XO Sir Edmund Blackadder "Well Gun Buster (gunnery Officer) that is what the captain intends to do so make sure there are plenty of HE projectiles at hand.
Sheffied's 50 year old gunnery Officer, who started out on the lower deck before the Great war and was promoted to Warrant Gunner just after Jutland and commissioned in October 1918 hardly needed that order. Baldrick recived exactly one promotion, to Lt. and was forceably retired, along with many others, in 1934. He had been called back in in Sept 1939 and was now a LCDR said "Certainly sir but I doubt we will get a chance to fire all that many rounds. The Twins are very good at shooting fast and hitting what they shoot at.
Those 11 inch guns are very efficient and served by gunners every bit as good as ours. Their fire control, both radar and optical are absolutely first rate. They find the range very quickly. Even if we cross their T, which we won't be for long, using only their forward turrets they can bring 12 Eleven inch rifles to bear with a proven very high rate of sustained fire, say 3-4 rounds a minute per barrel and for short periods 5 or 6. We are talking 36 rounds per minute sustained or, worse case, 48 per minute initially. Also since our Captain wants to go in close we are going to be peppered by their secondary battery. That is half of their 24 5.9" SK C/28 at 10 miles range can penetrate all our armor and fourteen of the Twenty eight 4.1 inch SK C/33 guns which, at 9 miles range should not be able to pentrate our 4 and a half inch side belt, and magazines but will certainly smash our two inch barbettes, turrets and main machinery spaces." 1 to 2 XO Sir Edmund Blackadder " Cheer up; I'm sure you will come up with some plan to get the best out of our guns. A plan As cunning as one by a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University. Gun Buster Baldrick said " I'll do my best Sir." and thought "You damn wanker".
2 JUNE 1941 2320 Catain D ,The Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh seeing both groups were formed up and the Light cruiser was in position, Executed his previous signal by blinker light and short range HF radio. His next signal ordered that all future signals would be on HF tactical net until further notice. No use relying on slow blinker light when it was certain the Nazi's knew where they were and exactly what they were doing.
2 JUNE 1941 2330 HMS Sheffield slowed from 32 to 20 kts, adjujsted her course to unmask her after turrets with a sinuous weave and opened fire on the three Nazi capital ships at 25,000 yds (45 degrees elevation). Gun Buster Baldrick's twelve BL 6 inch Mk XXIII naval guns were hurling 112 pound HE shells at 2,760 feet per second at 8 rounds per minute per barrel or 96 rounds a minute per salvo initially. How long the gun crews could keep that up in battle was anyone's guess with "gallons" of adrenalin pumping into their nervous systems. In non firing practice that pace could only be maintained for about 20 minutes. However, the gunnery regulations stated rapid fire should only be maintained for 10 minutes without a break to cool the barrels liners, preferably with fire hoses. If no break was possible then a sustained fire of 5 rounds per minute was neccessary to keep from damaging the guns and killing the crews with a breach explosion. It was not unknown (Jutland came to his mind) for a turret explosion to sink the ship if gunnery regs concerning the use of flash proof doors and shutters were not rigorously enforced.
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 14
THE SHOWBOAT engages THE IRON CHANCELLOR Part 14
Gun Buster Baldrick had a good deal of experience which bred great trust in his BL 6 inch Mk XXIII guns and the crews he trained. HIS crews were very, very good at their murderous trade. The RN replaced the BL 8 inch Mk VIII used on earlier Washington Naval Treaty cruisers with these 6 inch hounds of hell. These built-up guns consisted of a tube and 15 foot jacket with a hand-operated Welin breech block. Cloth bags contained 30 pound charges of flashless (NQFP) powder they would use tonight. Useful life expectancy was 1100 effective full charges (EFC) with with NQFP per barrel. Baldrick doubted they would live long enough to see that. The Mk XXIII turret design was improved through a "long trunk" ammunition hoist, which reduced the crew requirements and increased the speed of the ammunition hoists. As in the MK XXII turret loading could be accomplished at any angle up to 12.5 degrees elevation.
Gun Buster Baldrick was in main battery plot, in the RN AKA the T.S. (Transmitting Station) with the forward director controlling A and B turrets on the Scharnhorst, he only knew as target 1 and the after director controlling X and Y turrets on the Gneisenau, designated target 2. He had his secondary directors controlling the 4 inch on the smaller target designated 3 he was pretty sure was Hipper. Since this would be a radar shoot Baldrick kept a sharp eye on the ratings manning the F.C. (Fire-Control) table and radar training tube.
The bridge gave the order to open fire and he repeated it to his fire control party as "SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT". The salvo bell sounded and a few seconds later HIS GUNS fired. The range was long for the the four inch DP guns, just outside maximum effective range but as they closed that would be corrected. Not so his six inch main battery. The C.O. had brought them well within maximum effective range for of HIS Mk XXIIIs. Having "come Up" before radar Baldrick was never quite comfortable in relying it. He had seen it work well, sometimes and other times mostly due to it's fragility seen it fail HIM at very bad times. He was only partially convinced the boffins had soleved the problem of shock damage when the Main battery was firing. He had his best radar technician "CPO Sharkey" in the radar transmitter room with his best P.O.s and all the spares ready to jump in if needed. Cold comfort but the best he could do.
CPO "Otto" Sharkey, was an abrasive, long service RN chief of the old school. Sharkey was callous, sarcastic and insulting to everyone around him and an artist when he applied it to junior and sometimes even senior officers. Baldrick liked him because he was a master of radar and underneath his harsh exterior he genuinely cared for his men, his ship, his RN and his country. The chief often went to great measures to help with his men's problems without lettig them know it was he that did it. It also helped that Baldrick had taken the measure of Otto Sharkey when they were both young lower deck messmates at Jutland.
2 JUNE 1941 2332 On the Flag bridge of Gneisenau, Vizeadmiral Cilax had a rapid series of immediate execute blinker signals made. 1St, to Hipper to belay his last signal. Second, to TG Cilax to come to a line abreast formation tripple standard distance on present course and speed. Third, Guns free. Fourth, to prepare to maneuver independently when the torpedo attack began. Fifth, all tactcal signals, sighting and damage reports would be paralleled by blinker light and HF voice radio until further notice." To his watch staff officer he said "Make sure you get a reply from both Scharnhost and Hipper".
When you receive acknowledgement send an immediate precedence signal to BdU "Am engaging Force H blocking my passage to WS-12 Troop convoy Hiel Hitler" give him our position.
Private signal to Erich Raeder Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine (CinC of the Navy) "Erich, it's been a long voyage from our days aboard torpedo boat S82 at Marineakademie in Kiel. Wish you were here old shipmate. I assure you we will pay Somerville, Simeon and Renown back for Norway. Do you think our old God damned boss Franz "The Terrible" von Hipper would be pleased this time? Maybe not!"
To his staff gunnery officer keep a close eye on the FUMO's performance tonight. I expect YOU to ensure target information is rapidly transmitted to any ship whose radar fails. I also want to prepare illumination rounds for use against the destroyers if I decide the radar is not providing good tragetting information. If we fire illumination rounds I want them up very, very fast.
I also want Renown and Ark Royal identified as soon as possible. Renown is our primary target tonight followed by Ark Royal, if we get the chance, AND still meet the torpedo attack with both main and secondary battery against the detroyers before they get into launch range. I fear we are looking at a lot of the Tommy torpedoes tonight in one mass attack bent on stopping us quickly. That must not be allowed to happen.
2 JUNE 1941 2335 Catain D ,The Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh led the Duncan attack group against Scharnhorst at 32 kts in a staggered line formation with enough spacing to ensure a single well placed 11 or 5.9 inch salvo would not get more than one of his destroyers. The Foresight group was in a line formation also with good spacing. They had two targets; three would go for Gneisenau and Jersey would break off ,if she was not needed, and try for Hipper. The plan was for the destroyers to hold fire until the Nazi's opned up on them. For now "Shiny Sheff" seemed to have their full attention, the poor bastards just had to keep the Nazi's distracted for a few more minutes. Both of his attack groups would be at their launch points and then it was let the devil take the hindmost, which would be his Duncan as they ran to rejoin Renown.
2 JUNE 1941 2338 Renown commenced firing ranging shots from her forward A & B turrets under radar control. It was not the first time Old refit had engaged Scharnhorst and this time Simeon, was going to sink the Bastard and her sister too.
TG Cilax was well within maximum effective range of Renown's BL 15-inch Mk I "15 inch/42" guns firing Mk XVIIB rounds of 33,550 yds. Each twin turret, with a good crew, could fire four 1,938 lb. rounds per minute at a Muzzle velocity of 2,450 feet per second or 2,640 feet per second with supercharge. His gunnery officer had orders to concdentate on the two large radar targets designated 1 & 2 and leave the smaller traget 3 to the secondary battery.
Old Refit, thanks to her prewar major rebuild, was armed with Ten twin 4.5in DP QF Mark 3 guns in twin UD Mark II gun houses. The Mark 3 fired 55 Lb. shells out to a maximum effective surface target range of 20,750 yds at 16 RPM for a limited time, depedent on the endurance of the gunners ,and 12 RPM sustained. , Simeon ordered his gunnery officer to split the fire of the 4.5s with three twin mounts , firing HE only at targets 1 & 2 and two (4 guns) firing both AP and HE at target 3 initially
2 JUNE 1941 2340 Duncan Group weapons tight 8 miles from TG Cilax. Foresight group weapons tight 7.8 miles TG Cilax. Sheffield main and batteries firing rapid salvoes, secondary battery continuous fire at TG Cilax. Renown firing full main battery alternate salvoes on Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, secondary battery firing on Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and Hipper. TG Cilax returning firing on all Force H ships with the Battle cruisers main battery targetting Renown and Sheffield, secondary battery continuous fire against the destroyers.
2 JUNE 1941 2350 HMS Duncan sunk, HMS Jupitor DIW (Dead in The Water) burning fiercely crew abandoning ship and HMS Iris guns free continuing to launch point. HMS Jersey and HMS Fortune sunk, HMS Fury guns free speed reduced to 20 kts contiuing to launch point HMS Foresight guns free at 32 kts continuing to launch point. HMS Sheffield's X turret and 1/4 of the secondary battery disabled continuing firing and closing TG Cilax. HMS Renown straddled repeatedly with no serious damage, continuing to engage TG Cilax.
2 JUNE 1941 2340 HMS Iris and HMS Foresight at 5 miles from TG Cilax launch torpedoes and firing on Hipper as they withdraw. Total of eighteen 21 inch torpedoes launch, 10 aimed at Gneisenau and 8 at Scharnhorst.
2 JUNE 1941 2350 HMS Fury bow blown off by 8 inch salvo, rapidly filling with water but manges to launch 8 torpedoes at extreme range at closest TG Cilax ship Hipper.
3 JUNE 1941 0000 Gneisenau hit by one torpedo high on the armor belt, where it was thickest, anti torpedo system held up well with moderate flooding and fire soon under control contiunes to fire on Renown with main batterey and the retreating destroyers and Sheffield with secondary battery.
Scharnhorst hit by three torpedoes only two detonate, speed reduced to 24 kts, secondary battery fire control disabled, major fires being fought in the aircraft hangar.
3 JUNE 1941 0010 HMS Sheffield struck by 11 inch shell from Gneisenau, DIW, multiple fires, bridge destroyed with no survivors, XO Sir Edmund Blackadder asumes command and directs the DC effort from secondary Conn. Chief engineer estimates 20 minutes to get the plant back on the line but only good for 10 kts. Restoration of Full power was possible IF the initial damage survey held up but no promises. Only minor flooding but all Radars down and therefore Lcdr Baldrick orders director control firing on TG Cilax ships on fire using optical rangefinders.
3 JUNE 1941 0020 two of, now sinking Fury's torpedoes hit Hipper in the main machinery spaces leaving the heavy cruiser DIW and without electrical power. Guns firing under local control. Many casualties.
Two of Renown's 15 inch shells hits Gneisenau at a range of 9 miles wrecking turrets Anton and jamming Bruno. Splinters from Anton badly injure CO., cause casualties on both the ship's and the flag bridges, knock out all radar and most commuications antennas.
3 JUNE 1941 0035 After recieving DC reports from his three ships, Hipper is sinking rapidly, Vizeadmiral Cilax orders what is left of his TG to break off the action and retire to the North East at best speed. His plan is to draw off the old battle cruiser from the convoy, maintain fire on Renown as he "Ran" and hope for a crippling hit or major propulsion casualty to the great war relic. He could still reach WS-12 and carry out his mission.
To his C of Staff, "Signal to BdU stating our situation and my intensions to sink, disable or evade Renown and destroy WS-12. Show me the message before you transmit.
Second signal to Hipper, I am proud of you and promise YOU WILL BE AVENGED Hiel Hitler". He thought but did not say No harm making the Bohemian paper hanger think we are doing this for him.
3 JUNE 1941 0037 flag bridge HMS Renown Vadm Somerville to his Flag aid "make to Commodore Thesiger in WS 12. I am persuing the Battle cruisers. Maintain your escort force close to convoy. Dispatch ONE repeat One of your detroyers or corvets to aid Force H damaged ships. Your prime responsibility is protection of WS-12 not recure Force H. Good luck.
Second signal to the Admiralty. I am persuing remainder of TG Cilax, moderately damaged but still operational Schranhosrt and Gneisenau. I will maintain station between Nazis and WS-12. Regret to inform you most of my destroyers have been sunk with heavy loss of life but their torpedo attacks were successful.
HMS Sheffield has sustained damage, Capt. C.A.A. Larcom,RN is dead now under command of her XO Sir Edmund Blackadder . Sheffield is not operational at this time.
WS-12 will dispatch one escort for rescue duties and maintain the rest as close in defense, if required. Request you dispatch tugs and other rescue craft for my damaged ships.
Private signal to Admiral Pound "Dudley those bastards will be sunk today. You have my word for it."
To his Steward, "Cup of char spiked with a double Rum on the double." He thought a toast to the men who I murdered today. When this is over "Sir" Simeon, if I have anything to say about knighthoods, and I are going to find a nice quiet place and drink until we both pass out and when we wake, we will do it again. Maybe punishing this old body will deaden my conscience but I doubt it. For now I want Nazi blood and both those Battle Crusiers sunk. I owe that to my men and maybe their ghosts will leave me alone.
3 JUNE 1941 0100 HMS Renown, turned to course 070 at 30 kts to close the range on Gneisenau and a slightly lagging Scharnhorst.
3 JUNE 1941 0110 Renown fired her main armament at a range a little over 18000 yards. Target was the Gneisenau. Renown's secondary armament, (4.5" DP) opened fire on the Scharnhorst.
3 JUNE 1941 0121 Renown received an 11 inch shell hit on her foremast.
3 JUNE 1941 0124 Renown hit Gneisenau's fire control system putting it out of action. Cilax ordered his flag to turned away on course 30°. He ordered Scharnhorst to moved between her sister ship and HMS Renown to lay a smoke screen.
3 JUNE 1941 0130 Despite the smoke screen Renown scored a hit on Gneisenau's turret Anton along with shell splinters from near misses that pummelled Gneisenau's engineering plant. HMS Renown then shifted her main armament to the Scharnhorst but she was then hit herself in the stern. Damage was minor.
3 JUNE 1941 0210 Renown reopened salvo fire, after transfer of munitions from after to forward turrets on the Scharnhorst at a range of 12,000 yds; as she came into range when the Germans had to reduce speed temporarily. Scharnhorst quickly returned the fire.
3 JUNE 1941 0215 One of Renown's 15 in shells struck Scharnhorst abreast of turret Anton. The shell hit jammed the turret's training gears, putting it out of action. Shell splinters started a fire in the ammunition magazine, which forced the Germans to flood both forward magazines to prevent an explosion. The water was quickly drained from turret Bruno's magazine. The ship was now fighting with only two-thirds of her main battery.
Shortly thereafter, another 15 in shell struck the ventilation trunk attached to Bruno, which caused the turret to be flooded with noxious propellant gases every time the breeches were opened. A third shell hit the deck next to turret Cäsar and caused some flooding; shell splinters caused significant casualties. At shell struck the forward 5.9 inch gun turrets and destroyed them both.
3 JUNE 1941 0230 a 15 in shell struck Scharnhorst on the starboard side, passed through the thin upper belt armor, and exploded in the number 1 boiler room. It caused significant damage to the ship's propulsion system and slowed the ship to 8 knots. Temporary repairs allowed Scharnhorst to return to 22 knots. She managed to add 5,500 yds to the distance between her and Renown, while straddling the ship with several salvos.
Shell splinters rained on Renown and disabling one of the secondary battery fire-control radars wounding Somerville and his C O Staff on the flag bridge. Chief Sick Berth attendant (Chief SBA) Tom Baker and his party were on the flag bridge within 5 minutes. One look at the C O Staff was all he needed to immediately render first aid. His senior PO attended to the vice Admiral who was a complete pain in the ass about not needing anything but a bandage.
Chief SBA "Sir we will have to get you down to Dr. Who right away." The man was in no condition to argue. Two of the stretcher bearers starpped the C O Staff in and began the long haul to the Sick bay.
The Chief SBA then turned to the Vice Admiral. "Sir do you want a jab of morphia?"
Somerville "No Baker, I need a clear head at present but a dram of medicinal Rum would not go amiss."
Chief SBA Tom Baker " I'd dearly like to join you in one but Dr. Who would flail me alive sir, besaides he does not trust me and my first aid team with it."
Somerville "That's the trouble with our Surgeon Commander Basil Who. "The Doctor" has no respect for rank or seniority Chief."
HMS Renown's head of the medical divison Surgeon Commander Basil Who was called "Dr. Who" by the lower deck and by the wardroom just "The Doctor".
Chief SBA Tom Baker "Well that should hold you until you finish with the Jerries Sir. I do strongly recommend you fight the rest of this action from your bridge chair or sitting down in Flag plot."
Somerville laughing "Get away with you Chief SBA unfortunatly there are plenty others to abuse today. I will take you up on your impertinent suggestion. RHIP but damn few of them.
At that Chief SBA Tom Baker hurried off the flag bridge.
The easy banter bewteen the Vice Admiral and the SBA came from a very mutual respect. Both had served together for a long time. Baker was an interesting chap. He is tall, with eyes that seem to constantly wander, he had curly but regulation lenth hair with distinctly flashing teeth. He is from Gallifrey, just out side Boston in Lincolnshire. When in civvies he wears a white shirt, plaid waistcoat, red cravat, grey donegal tweed trousers, a light grey frock coat (with pockets containing a seemingly endless array of apparently useless items items), a brown wide-brimmed felt fedora hat and a long, multi-coloured scarf, which was knitted for him by his maiden aunt and acts as a magnet for women.
3 JUNE 1941 0242, up to this point Renown had fired 52 salvos and having scored at least 15 hits. Many of these hits had badly damaged the ship's secondary armament. On her next full main battery salvo Renown hit Scharnhorst abreast of turret Bruno, which caused it to jam. A second shell hit the ship on the port side and caused some minor flooding, and the third was a near miss close aboard aft that damaged the port propeller shaft. The fourth hit the ship in the bow. These hits slowed Scharnhorst to 12 knots , which allowed Renown to close to 9,100 yds. With only turret Cäsar operational, all available men were sent to retrieve ammunition from the forward turrets to keep the last heavy guns supplied. After several more 15 inch hits, Scharnhorst settled further into the water and began to list to starboard.
3 JUNE 1941 0310 Scharnhorst went down by the bow, with her propellers still slowly turning. Of the crew of 1,968 officers and enlisted men, only 36 men survived.
Vice admiral Somerville, addressed his staff "Gentlemen, the battle against the Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that any of you who are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as the Scharnhorst was commanded today.
Gneisenau is still a threat to WS-12 so our job is only half completed."
He then picked up the phone to Captain Simeon "Somerville here. Your men did a magnificne job, make sure you tell I said so. Our job is not done yet. Gneisenau is getting away. Send up a scout plane as soon as possible. We still have a 5 knot speed advantage on her and I want that ship sunk. As you well know she is still a dangerous ship and a real danger to WS-12. Besides, I want a full bag from today's shoot."
Simeon "Congradulations sir. I will have to check with my senior pilot but I am pretty sure at least some of my 4 Walrus' have suffered shock and splinter damage. My catapult has sustained some minor damage; nothing we can't correct quickly. Nautical Twilight begins at 0342, God willing, and if this damn rain stops, I can have my scouts launched then."
Somerville " Light a fire under your aircraft mechanics. For now come to course 030 at 25 knots. We still have our radars and she might have been hit harder than we thought. Who knows she might just be just out of radar range, but I doubt it?"
Simeon "Aye, Aye Sir." He then burst out laughing which confused his Bridge watch. Did Jimmy Somerville not know it had been pouring throughout the entire battle? He needed that release from tension as he needed a Pink Gin right now. "OOD announce to the crew we will Spike the Main Brace at battle stations now. And tell the "Pusser to be smart about it." Steward" For the love of God get me a pink gin."
Somerville To his Flag aide "Get an immediate signal to Argus ordering a thorough air search for Gneisenau be launch as soon as practicable. Give them her last position and known course and speed."
3 JUNE 1941 0345 Somerviile to his staff Aid Get a signal to the Admiraltyand copy WS-12. I have the honor to advise you the German Battle Cruiser Schranhosrt was sunk, give position and time. We are persuing a mpoderately damaged Gneisenau. I will maintain station between Nazis and WS-12. I will have aerial scouts from Renown and Argus out at dawn. Expect to meet Gneisenau in a few hours time. God save the King.
Private signal to Admiral Pound "Dudley One down and One to go. Gneisenau has suffered quite a bit to her armament and upper works but her engines, despite more than one tropedo hit, seem to have escaped damage so far. Old Refit's engineering plant is performing as well as when she was commissioned. God only knows how the Engineering Commander and his black gang have accomplished that.
Gunnery in Renown has been very, very good, seamanship is just as good. Simeon really must be commended for the shape the old girl and her crew are in. I think a knighthood is in order for our old shipmate? I know you are on your way out but if you have any influence left, and I think you will after today would you mind using a bit of it for Simeon? After all, YOU put us in our current positions and that has to count for something. I would consider it a personal favor if you would recommend him for that honor.
The weather here is deteriorating with heavy rain and gale force winds. I do worry about our aerial scouts ability to find anything in this muck or evn to fly. I still think, well hope really, we will find Gneisenau borken down, near by. If she eludes us for half a day I will have to fallback to WS-12. Last thing we want is that beast destroying that troop convoy while I romp about fat, dumb and happy eh what? I am also concerned about Sheffield's ability to ride out this storm. Blackadder certainly has his hands full."
3 JUNE 1941 1400 Commandant First CG District sent an urgent message to his friend Admiral USN Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet.
CLFT
DE RFG NR 114 U 151403Z JUN
FM First CG District
TO CINCLANTFLT
WD GRNC
BT
TS
1.Per your request for anything concerning unusual nuetral tanker activity.
2. Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387” reported "nuetral" Venezuelan tanker PSS Cabello, transporting No.1 bunker oil had failed to report to her shipping company for 9 days.
3. Company has repeatedly request posit and reason why normal reporting has ceased.
4. Last reported position was Latitude: 18 57 41.5 Longitude: 59 51 37.3 Course 065T at 15 kts.
BT
NNNN
Veteran, civilian cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman of USCG Lcdr Jones’ Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387”, knowing what was going on in the hunt for Bismarck suspected PSS Cabello, was heading for a position to refuel the two raiders.
Admiral USN Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet agreed with Elizabeth. Those two raiders were doing too much high speed evasion not to be planning on an UNREP. In his opinion, that was one of the many reasons why the "Limeys" and his own patrol planes of PatWing 5 were having such a tough time finding them. The search areas were too small. Now he had a datum to center his search but it was 9 days old and only his PatWing 5 PBYs could make any immediate use of it.
He called his C o Staff in and issued a series of orders to his patrol wing Commander to begin a new search at the SS Cabello's last posit. He also sent out a message to all his ships at sea to be on the lookout for PSS Cabello (who knows someomne just might get lucky .
King "Ensure Admiral Hewitt is appraised of the status of SS Cabello and my suspicion she was heading for a rendezous with TG Brinkmann. " Ernie King's face showed his sardonic smile as he thought "And now I am grasping at fucking straws. Those Nazi bastards have made ME and the Limeys look like fools." It was a very bad idea for anyone to try to make "Ernie" King a fool.
3 JUNE 1941 1600 in North Dakota's Flag plot. Rear Admiral Hewitt's TG-39 to "Ching Lee" CO BB-55 "Ching we are going South. I think those Nazi bastards are going for the tankers in the Caribbean. I think their first kill was PSS Cabello."
"Ching Lee" " Aye, Aye sir but if your wrong and Brinkmann slaughters another convoy up here Ernie will have both our balls nailed to the foremast."
Hewitt "You have nothing to worry about Ching. Your under my orders so I guess your wife will not suffer, any more than she does now, by you not bulling her by the humbers."
Both men laughed. Both knew all too well just following orders in something this outrageous would not shield Lee completyely. Probably no formal action other than a letter of admonition in his jacket. Those letters had a way of prejudicing the brass when flag selection was being considered. The really aggravating part of it was Lee agreed with Hewitt and was wholeheartedly in favor of him playing his hunch.
A smile crossed Lee's face as he thought "Mabelle actually liked doing it 'by the numbers'. How did Hewitt know that?"
Hewitt to his chief of staff. "What is the fuel status of our destroyers".
Chief O Staff , who made it a practice to know the fuel state of his thirsty cans at all times since it was their endurance that was often the key component of any plan at sea. "All reported 70% this afternoon Sir."
Hewitt to his chief of staff "Give me a course at 24 kts to arrive at Cabello's last estimated position on the day she stopped reporting."
The staff navigaor was working the solution as soon as he heard the rear admiral say what he wanted and was able to tell the Chief Of Staff the answer as soon as he asked it.
Hewitt to his Chief Of Staff "Break out an Execute to follow" of the new course and speed to the TG."
Then get out an "Eyes Only" by back channel signal to inform Admiral King I am leaving the op area and heading South to Cabello's datum. Give him our estimated time on station and that we will need an UNREP prior to reaching that datum. Work out a time and place for the UNREP at least 150 miles north of that datum.
Hewitt to Captain Lee. "I will be ordering daylight and night gunnery practice tomorrow for BB-55. Weather permitting, and it should be OK, I'll designate one of the DDs to tow your target raft. Ching tell your gunners this will be as close to actual combat as I can manage. Use your "High Caps" because I will have other use for your AP soon."
CO BB-55 "Sir my magazines are loaded to safe capacity, more than war allowance by a good margin. I increased the AP to High Cap loadout by 50%. I request permission to use AP; the flight charctoristics of our High Cap are a little different from our AP as you know."
TG-39 "Ok Ching make it AP."
3 JUNE 1941 1900 S-13 now SS-118 (AKA to her crew among themselves as SS FORD for Fix Or Reapir Daily) based at Guantanamo Bay Cuba was cruising on the surface at 10 kts. She had just come up for her nightly battery charge, "AIR renewal", cigarette breaks, trash disposal and to copy the Fox Sched and any other signals meant for her.
King's high priority message to be on the lookout for was noted by the CO, communicated to his officers and the COB and included in his night order book. He imediately told his OOD they were looking for a Venezeulan Tanker named PSS Cabello, that had gone missing a few days ago in their patrol area. The boat would stay on the surface, where he would be able to cover more ocean, at a better speed and a much longer visual horizon. He would also be in radio comms and pick up any aplifying messages about PSS Cabello that would allow him to fine tune the search for the tanker.
It would take her about 8 hours for a full charge. Those old batteries really needed replacing but "S Boats" were the red haired adopted children of SubLant. Most thought about all they were good for was training these days and, unknown to the skipper of the old "FORD", they would be proved wrong before not too much longer.
S-13's CO, Lt. Peter "Cowboy" Holt USNA class of 1938 had a love/hate relationship with his command. He had the pride of a first time CO and the utter loathing for this antique rust bucket that had tried to kill him and his men more than once and more than twice.
Thank God for his COB, Chiefs and PO-1s. They held FORD together with bailing wire and chewing gum.
S-13 was of group II S-3 class, or "Navy Yard" type, built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. Commissioned 14 July 1923, Decommissioned 30 September 1936 and recommissioned 28 October 1940.
Her Displacement was 876 tons surfaced; 1,092 tons submerged. She had a length of 231 feet, Beam of 21 feet 9 inches, Draft of 13 feet 4 inches. Propulsion was 2 Busch-Sulzer diesels each of 1,000 SHP , 2 Westinghouse electric motors rach of 600 hp, 120-cell Exide battery and two shafts. S-13s surfaced Speed was15 knots, submerged was 11 knots but not for long.
Her 148 tons of deisel oil gave S-13 a range of 5,000 nautical miles at 10 knots surfaced. Test depth: 200 although aside from about 4 mandatory test dives, it was prudent to not exceed 175 feet.
Armament was still as built back in 1923 of 4 21 in bow torpedo tubes and one aft with a loadout of 14 torpedoes. The loadout this patrol was 12 MK-10s and 2 of the new MK-14s. She mounted One 4 inch 50 cal surface only deck gun and a couple of pintal mounted dual purpose M-2 heavy machine guns. She was crewed by 42 officers and men.
She did not yet have radar but her underwater search gear was state of the art. S-13/SS -118/USS FORD was equipped with the model JT idirectional listening system designed to detect, identify, and locate sources of both sonic and ultrasonic sounds. It is designed to use the JP (Active sionar sonic equipment and has a super-sonic converter so that ultrasonic as well as sonic sounds can be amplified by the JP amplifier. In addition, it has a more directional hydrophone than the JP hydrophone and has a right-left indicator (RLI) for taking bearings on sonic sounds with greater accuracy than is possible with the tuning-eye indicator of the JP equipment. An interphone-amplifier unit permits "talkback" between the forward torpedo room-in which the JT system is mounted-and the conning tower.
3 JUNE 1941 0020 two of, now sinking Fury's torpedoes hit Hipper in the main machinery spaces leaving the heavy cruiser DIW and without electrical power. Guns firing under local control. Many casualties.
3 JUNE 1941 2030 USCG Lcdr Jones’ OIC of Code and Sypher Branch Sypher Branch “Unit 387” sat at his desk drinking his now cold black coffee. He was thinking about what Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman had said about TG Brinkman might be looking for new hunting grounds.
He called Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman at home and asked her to come into the office. Elizabeth did not ask why, this was all too much of her life with “Unit 387” and she would have it no other way. She simply said I'll be there is twenty five minutes. Is this going to be an all nighter sir?
Lcdr Jones, "I'm afraid it most likely is".
She grabbed her "togo" bag packed for such overnight and sometimes many days at the Atlantic Ave CG Base in Boston stints. She just knew they were going after Bismarck and she wanted that Nazi battleship sunk very, very badly.
3 JUNE 1941 2115 Lcdr Jones appraised Cryptologist Feldman of his deduction. She agreed it was certainly possible if ,BIG IF, TG Brinkman could make the transit south undetected.
Feldman making a few quick calculations said to her CO "Sir the raiders last positions were days old, Bismarck on the morning of 31 May and Prinse Eugen on the evening of 28 May, that's almost a week. At 25 knots they could cover 3600 nautical miles and could have been in Oranjestad a few days ago.” Lcdr Jones said patiently (he needed her thinking not pissed off at him) "I know the math. Brinkman could be anywhere within 11,300 square miles except we can reduce that thoretical area by a lot. Bismarck could go west and run into the heaviest cocentartion of the USN Nuetrality patrol, especially PatWing 5's PBYs. She can't go north becausse TG-39 is running air patrols as they head South to stop TG Brinkmann from slautering tankers coming up from Venezeula and the caribbean. The Nazi's could run East but then the RAF and RN would stand a good chance of finally making contact again.
So I'd say South is a pretty good bet especially if he can refuel. So, my guess hinges on Cabello. If Britain's fuel supply is the strategic target then destroying Aruba's two refineries is a great target. What do you think?" Jones greatly valued Feldman's views of his theories. Just saying them outloud to her helped him refine those theories.
Cryptologist Feldman "We're not at war so he can't go after US mainland refineries, and even if he was crazy enough to try he might get one. Then his entire TG would be dead within hours and Churchill would get what he and FDR need to ensure Hitler looses; early US declaration of war. I still think it's tankers Bismarck is after and why not intercept them at a known choke point like those refineries."
All really good cryptologists were superb mathematicians. They also had the skills, so valued in intelligance analysts, especially to identify and remember odd bits of info that when reviewed alongside other seemingly worthless information began to establish a pattern. Few of the cryptologists were privy to enough information to fit these patterns into tactical or strategic ongoing operations. Feldman was an exception to that rule. That was left to ONI and to the their seniors, like LCDR Jones. Jones had a foot in both organizations and was in the ideal position to evlaute what was going on in the enemy camp.
Not too long ago he had seen copies of low level reports of the Venezeulan national police on the acivities of "Grupo Regional de Venezuela del Partido Nazi" to infiltrate officers and seaman into the crews of C.A. de Navegación Fluvial y Costanera de Venezuela, Puerto Cabello tanker fleet. The assistant junior Naval aide in the Port of La Guaira Consulate, had been coopted by a young, attractive Venezeulan national police agent. He had mentioned something about gathering quite useless information on the current state of Aruba's harbors and two oil refineries from sympathetic crewmen of C.A. de Navegación Fluvial y Costanera de Venezuela, Puerto Cabello tanker fleet. It meant he spent a lot of time drinking in local sailor's dives and forcing down the horrible rot gut wine with drunken masters, mates and engineering officers who had recently delivered crude to those refineries. ONI analysts had concluded this was to support the U-boat war against allied comerce, especiallty tankers.
He still could NOT break the thought it was not the tankers but the refineries themselves that TG Brinkmann was now after.
Jones "Ok tonight you and I are going to compose an intel analysis supporting the theory that TG Brinkmann is about to attack the two refineries on Aruba. I'll need you to assmble whatever intercepts and other intel that supports that hypothesis. I've got a lot of it here now but it desprately needs your evaluation and opinion of it's worth. Natuarally, I think it holds together but the secnd opinion of someone I trust is essential before I take this up the line. I think those Nazi butchers are ready to strike and it might well be too late.
I will work on a draft executive summary and final recommendations. We'll combine your stuff with mine and see if it holds up well enough to present it to Commandant First CG District here in Boston. I know for a fact he thinks one of the weaknesses of Nazi's is their driven to constantly prove their superiority. Destroying those refiners would validate their opinion of themselvess. He also has the ear of Ernie King and if he believes us he can get CinCLant Fleet to do somthing to protect Aruba, if only warn the Brits.
4 JUNE 1941 0550 "1CGDist" was an early riser who was usually in work by 0530 who reviewed the night's activities as he drank his 2nd cup of coffee. There was an entry, dated 0300 in the night's log that Lcdr Jones’ OIC of Code and Sypher Branch“Unit 387” had requested an urgent meeting to review the latest analysis of enemy intensions. He picked up his phone at 0550 and called “Unit 387”, which was housed in the basement where all spies and other such essentail but disreutable skallywags belonged. The duty watch PO answered the phone.
1CGDist identified himself and said "Inform your CO that I expect him and his analysis in my office at 0600.
4 JUNE 1941 0700 USCG Lcdr Jones’ OIC of Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387” and his senior Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman sat on the sofa in Commandant First CG District office on Atlantic Ave Boston. They had spent the last hour going over their analysis of TG Brinkmann's next moves. "1CGDist" had listened intently, asked a few very pointed questions, challenged the analysis because of the lack of solid sighting reports and the fact he did not think the Germans stood much of a chance breaking into, and no chance of getting out, of the caribbean without alraming the Brits. He told them he could buy Brinkman going South after tankers but not attacking Aruba. Jones replied. "That is one way to look at it Sir. However, based on what we don't know about the wheerabouts of Bismarck and the fact CincLant , ONI and you have expressed your opinions Brinkmann is heading south to sink tankers, it seems an attack on the refineries is a resonable possibility to me. It is my opinion we should take action to prevent or at least warn Aruba. The ony real defense those refineries have against Bismarck and Prince Eugen's guns are those old B-10s and the underwhelming Buffalo fighters. A few PBYs would be a lot of help."
1CGDist stared at Jones for a long time as he worked though what to do. Time was of the essence. Ernie had a lot on his plate and the last thing he neded was to complicate his efforts to sink Bismarck with this new possibility. He finally made up his mind.
Jones I will partially endorse your analysis. Have it coded and sent to CincLant Fleet intel and ONI high priority as soon as possible. Get me whatever you can to prove or disprove that analysis. I am going out on limb and if we are really wrong we'll both be part of the Greenland Patrol. Maybe I can get command of one of those converted fishing draggers and you will get a weather station in the center of middle of "Nowhere" Greenland."
It was defintely an exageration and they both had a chuckle. Poor Liz thought he was serious and looked pretty dispisritted.
30 minutes later 1CGDist was on the secure line with his old "friend" Ernie King explaining the Analysis he just sent by message.
King, "Is this Jones the same Lcdr that got us that good convoy intel not long ago?"
1CGDist , " Same one"
King, "You endorsed this right?"
1CGDist, No sir, not completely. I buy Brinkmann going south to sink tankers at their source. I do not buy attack Aruba. That's the Caribbean. We own the surface and air. No way Bismarck is going in there, no matter how good the target is.
King, "I agree with you but had you considered an attack by one of their big Nines? Both those refineries are right on the coast as are their tank farms. If the Nazi bastards surface in shore their 4.1 deck gun could erally do some damage to oil refineries. Damn things might go up like a bonfire. Jones is onto something and I will do something about it. Not sure just what.
1CGDist, "Come to think of it Sir there are other refineries down south that don't require going into the Caribbean."
King, "This really pisses me off. I have absolutely nothing I can get to Aruba in time to do any real good. What I can do is stretch the ABC-1 agreement again and warn the Limey's of this possibility. They can warn Aruba of the possibility which will do some good, but not much. Problem is the Limeys have less than I do anywhere near Aruba. I'll be on the horn with Hewitt as soon as we hang up. Well keep me informed if Jones and that code breaking witch, Liz Feldman, I wish we had a dozen like her, come up with anything. "
Ernie King's even temper was operating normally. “He is the most even-tempered person in the United States Navy,” one of his daughters said of him. “He is always in a rage.”
1CGDist, " You'll be the second person to know, right after me."
Truth was 1CGDist, knew cultivating King was the right thing to do. It was all too true Ernie was tough as nails and carried himself ramrod straight; probably had one stuffed up his ass. He was blunt and stand-offish, almost to the point of rudeness until he decided he was dealing with someone of value....to him. It said something about himself that he and King worked very well together. Ernie refused to suffer fools, always handing off those too powerful to snub to his long suffering staff officers. No matter how well they got on professionally they were far from "liberty buddies". Ernie was tough but FDR was wrong, he did not shave with a blow torch, he preferred to dry shave with his own rigging knife.
King was on the secure "Horn" to Hewitt right after hanging up on the Coastie. He appraised TG-39 of what Jones and Liz Feldman had come up with. He made sure he identified the source of the analysis. They both agreed TG-39 was doing the right thing and just get on station as soon as possible.
His next call was to PatWing 5 "actual". I am ordering you detach three radar equipped PBY's and their support to Aruba for a while. You can fly in whatever you need to the graded runway KLM Field at Savaneta. They are to establish an immediate round the clock patrol out to 150 miles of Aruba until further notice."
PatWibg 5 Actual "Sir my nearest PBYs are at Gitmo and Trinada but none of those have radar. Our radar birds are all supporting ops a lot further North. I can swap out three from NAS South Weymouth today and they could be in Aruba and operational by end of day 6 June. Will that do?"
King " I want them flying patrols tomorrow Captain Sprague."
Captain Clifton Albert Frederick "Ziggy" Sprague knew better than to argue with God damn Ernie king and replied "Aye, Aye sir."
King sat back lit up a cigarette, the start of his second pack today, and thought "Was that all he could do for now? By God No." He had to contact the Caribbean Defense Command which did not come under CincLantFlt. A call to the CNO generated a call to General Marshall informing him of what Admiral King was doing and the need for imediate Army/Navy coordination and cooperation. Marshall sent an urgent priority message to Caribbean Defense Commander (with the organizational features of a theater of operations), to instruct General Talbot, commanding Trinidad Sector of the Caribbean Defense Command that his units were to provide the navy with their full cooperation in all matters directly concerning the hunt for the Bismarck which intel suggests were going to attack the oil refineries at Aruba and/or Trinidad.
General Talbot had a very tough job. His area of responsibility was the Antilles south of Martinique, the Dutch islands off the Venezuelan coast, together with Venezuela itself and British Guiana, Surinam, and French Guiana and Trinada Tobago and that included not only the base structure but the Army Air Corps as well. Dealing with the Air Corps was always difficult. His authority over air operations was limited by the Army Air Corps' Caribbean Regional Air Command. The bounds of authority were not always distinct when dealing with the Air Corps. It was therefore a source of misunderstanding and frustration. Dealing with the hostile, Vichy controlled French Guiana was another headache complicated by the damn State department. For one thing the local Vichy government played host to a very active and efficient Nazi intelligence unit. A 25 man detachment of the Marinenachrichtendienst (Naval Intelligence Division AKA MAD) operated with impunity. They had the latest Telefunken radio intercept gear. MAD provided the very few U-boats operating inside the island chain of the Caribbean sea at this time with invaluable information and other "support". They also ran "agents in Aruba, Surinam, and Trinada Tobago who monitored the progress of his base construction and operations. MADALSO learned a lot of very timely convoy intelligence that was of great value to the U-Boats and raiders hunting in the South Western North Atlantic. BdU valued their intel highly and had provided the latest encryption devices and long range radio transceivers to ensure timely and secure communications.
The base structure was the problem; quite frankly most of it did not exist yet and that which did was still under construction. Even the ones that were considered "Operational" were far from completed. He also had a major problem with the troops. They were mostly draftees with a small number of the trained prewar regulars doing their damndest to turn those kids into soldiers and still carry out their mission of protecting the tankers and oil refineries that made his command so important.
4 JUNE 1941 0730 TG Cilax was long gone. HMS Sheffield struck by 11 inch, 8 inch and 5.9 inch shells from Gneisenau and Hipper, was now underway making 12 kts. Multiple fires are now out and the reflash watches, are keeping a close eye on several that are still smoking. With Shiny's bridge was destroyed killing everyone, XO Sir Edmund Blackadder asumed command and not only directed the DC effort from secondary Conn but had made many tours of the various major casualty areas to encourage his men and see for himself just how bad things were.
The CHENG'S (Chief engineer) estimates of 20 minutes to get the plant back on the line but only good for 10 kts, WAS Wildly over confident. Restoration of Full power was not possible. The closer the CHENG examined the plant, the worse it looked The best his Stokers could do was give the old girl 12 kts. Even that required some really tough and dangerous expedients to be employed; things that get people court martialed in peace time and often in war time as well.
The minor flooding became major flooding and the exhausted crew was driven to their tasks by the CPOs and senior POs. It took almost eight hours to restore the water tight integrity to something the pumps could handle. Once the ship was no longer in danger of instant foundering Sir Edmund Blackadder held a short meeting with CHENG, the First LT and his CPOs. The major outcome was set up a watch schedule that would let 1/2 of the remaining crew, many who actually belonged in sick bay or relegated to "light duty", to get some rest. This was in the line of a "No Brainer" as there were too many cases of young men just breaking down physically and mentally exhausted and Officers, chiefs and senior POs making bad and even dangerous sleep deprived decisions.
Toward the end of the battle all Shiny's Radars were down and therefore Lcdr Baldrick ordered director control firing on TG Cilax ships on fire using optical rangefinders. He actually was "Fighting the ship" while Sir Edmund Blackadder was directing the effort to keep her from sinking right out from under Baldrick's gunners. At one point his main battery plot was actually one deck below a flooded area. Only the water tight doors, armored and water tight cable runs and all too brittle now nerve of his men were keeping Shiny in the fight. He thanked God he did not have to resort to the Webley he carried hidden in a shoulder holster under his jacket.
Somerville could spare Sheffield no escorts so she was making her way North West to a rendevous with a 16 kt, 2,750 ihp early Flower class Corvett Primrose and the 16 kt, 3,000 ihp Norwegion manned Ocean going Tug Hafgufa. Hafgufa could tow Shiny at 10 to 12 kts.
Primrose could tow at 8 kts but given the U-boat and Lufwaffe it was deemed more prudent for her to act in her escort role. She had a veteran Battle of the Atlantic skipper and crew who knew the ASW business well. The least said about her anti aircraft capablities the better because they were limitted to 2 twin Vickers .50 machine guns and 2 twin .303-inch Lewis machine guns. Only fire control was the MK-1 Eyeballs of the gunner.
Coatsal command would provide aerial support when available. The odds of her making it to Southhampton were not considered good but the closer they got to the port the more help Coatsal command could provide.
4 JUNE 1941 0800 Norfolk and 1300 in fleet HQ bunker London. On his last day as The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound was in his office in the bunker with his "shadow" soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay. They had, as usual, worked through their horid noon meal (today it was Herrings "in" sandwiches), when the Staff watch Intel officer knocked and entered. The rather old Lcdr, a retiree brought back into harness in Oct'39, and said. "Signal from CinC American Atlantic Fleet via ABC-1. Eyes only for you Sir Alfred."
Pound took the envelope and read King's carefully worded warning about Trinidad Trinidad Aruba Tobago Tobago. King as CincLant Fleet informed the US ABC-1 representative that he has ordered, with CNO Stark'e approval , ONI to keep us appraised of anyhthing that they get about TG Brinkmann as soon as they get it.
"No reply." was all Pound said. Being no fool and coming from a long line of RN officers, one was executed by his own marines on his own deck, Staff watch Intel officer John Byng quickly departed. Pound, "Well Bertie it seems that "the Cousins" have developped a theory our friend Brinkmann is heading for Trinidad Tobago or Aruba , not only to sink tankers but to destroy the rifiners. This is from "Jesus Christ" Ernest King himself so I fear we have to take it seriously.
The more you get to know that man, the more you will get to hate him but he does know his job and he is not stupid. Did you know he absolutely despises we "Limeys" and is cnvinced we are out to sodomize the USA so we can keep the empire? I was told by one of his former shipmates, he hates us because of his Irish heritage. It seems even after emigatring to America, King's family keeps alight a burning hatred for we "English".
No matter. He is sending three Catalina's and their support crews to Aruba today to bolster the air patrols of the area. The Queen Willimeter's Dutch government granted permission as soon as the Americans asked. Those rifineries and bauxite mines in Surinam are very valuable assets to the Neatherlands government in exile because they are the source of a lot of their funding at present. They are also very valuable to us as you know all too well. Destroying them will mean a large portion of Venezuelan crude has to go to America for refining. The Venezeulan refineries can only handle about 20% of their crude.
Now the question is what do we have close enough to Trinidad Tobago to provide meaningful aid in the next few days? I'm afraid the answer is nothing.
One of the facts of life you will have to live with in this thankless job is that we are stretched far too thin as you now know. Everything is balanced on a knife blade edge and you will spend a lot of time telling bright, aggressive senior officers and our Lord and Master Mr. Churchill NO to very good ideas because we just do not have the resources. Even those operations that are neccessary will cause you sleepless nights because you know the means you are providing are the bare minimum for the job. I'm afraid margins for bad luck or anything else just are not available. We desperately need the Americans in this war with us and we need them yesterday Bertie."
Soon to be The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ramsay thought and not for the first or hundred time "How did I so anger the lord that he would senetnce me to this fucking Job? This job broke Pound and he is a better admiral and man than I am. All I really have to look forward to with any joy is the fact, at the rate things are going wrong now, I will not be in it long. Maybe Winston will be kind to me and put me in command of a "Stone frigate" somewhere in the wilds of Scotland where the fishing is good, the whiskey is not rationed and the "lassies" are willing and discrete? Mrs. Ramsay is not a tolerant woman."
Gun Buster Baldrick had a good deal of experience which bred great trust in his BL 6 inch Mk XXIII guns and the crews he trained. HIS crews were very, very good at their murderous trade. The RN replaced the BL 8 inch Mk VIII used on earlier Washington Naval Treaty cruisers with these 6 inch hounds of hell. These built-up guns consisted of a tube and 15 foot jacket with a hand-operated Welin breech block. Cloth bags contained 30 pound charges of flashless (NQFP) powder they would use tonight. Useful life expectancy was 1100 effective full charges (EFC) with with NQFP per barrel. Baldrick doubted they would live long enough to see that. The Mk XXIII turret design was improved through a "long trunk" ammunition hoist, which reduced the crew requirements and increased the speed of the ammunition hoists. As in the MK XXII turret loading could be accomplished at any angle up to 12.5 degrees elevation.
Gun Buster Baldrick was in main battery plot, in the RN AKA the T.S. (Transmitting Station) with the forward director controlling A and B turrets on the Scharnhorst, he only knew as target 1 and the after director controlling X and Y turrets on the Gneisenau, designated target 2. He had his secondary directors controlling the 4 inch on the smaller target designated 3 he was pretty sure was Hipper. Since this would be a radar shoot Baldrick kept a sharp eye on the ratings manning the F.C. (Fire-Control) table and radar training tube.
The bridge gave the order to open fire and he repeated it to his fire control party as "SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT". The salvo bell sounded and a few seconds later HIS GUNS fired. The range was long for the the four inch DP guns, just outside maximum effective range but as they closed that would be corrected. Not so his six inch main battery. The C.O. had brought them well within maximum effective range for of HIS Mk XXIIIs. Having "come Up" before radar Baldrick was never quite comfortable in relying it. He had seen it work well, sometimes and other times mostly due to it's fragility seen it fail HIM at very bad times. He was only partially convinced the boffins had soleved the problem of shock damage when the Main battery was firing. He had his best radar technician "CPO Sharkey" in the radar transmitter room with his best P.O.s and all the spares ready to jump in if needed. Cold comfort but the best he could do.
CPO "Otto" Sharkey, was an abrasive, long service RN chief of the old school. Sharkey was callous, sarcastic and insulting to everyone around him and an artist when he applied it to junior and sometimes even senior officers. Baldrick liked him because he was a master of radar and underneath his harsh exterior he genuinely cared for his men, his ship, his RN and his country. The chief often went to great measures to help with his men's problems without lettig them know it was he that did it. It also helped that Baldrick had taken the measure of Otto Sharkey when they were both young lower deck messmates at Jutland.
2 JUNE 1941 2332 On the Flag bridge of Gneisenau, Vizeadmiral Cilax had a rapid series of immediate execute blinker signals made. 1St, to Hipper to belay his last signal. Second, to TG Cilax to come to a line abreast formation tripple standard distance on present course and speed. Third, Guns free. Fourth, to prepare to maneuver independently when the torpedo attack began. Fifth, all tactcal signals, sighting and damage reports would be paralleled by blinker light and HF voice radio until further notice." To his watch staff officer he said "Make sure you get a reply from both Scharnhost and Hipper".
When you receive acknowledgement send an immediate precedence signal to BdU "Am engaging Force H blocking my passage to WS-12 Troop convoy Hiel Hitler" give him our position.
Private signal to Erich Raeder Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine (CinC of the Navy) "Erich, it's been a long voyage from our days aboard torpedo boat S82 at Marineakademie in Kiel. Wish you were here old shipmate. I assure you we will pay Somerville, Simeon and Renown back for Norway. Do you think our old God damned boss Franz "The Terrible" von Hipper would be pleased this time? Maybe not!"
To his staff gunnery officer keep a close eye on the FUMO's performance tonight. I expect YOU to ensure target information is rapidly transmitted to any ship whose radar fails. I also want to prepare illumination rounds for use against the destroyers if I decide the radar is not providing good tragetting information. If we fire illumination rounds I want them up very, very fast.
I also want Renown and Ark Royal identified as soon as possible. Renown is our primary target tonight followed by Ark Royal, if we get the chance, AND still meet the torpedo attack with both main and secondary battery against the detroyers before they get into launch range. I fear we are looking at a lot of the Tommy torpedoes tonight in one mass attack bent on stopping us quickly. That must not be allowed to happen.
2 JUNE 1941 2335 Catain D ,The Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh led the Duncan attack group against Scharnhorst at 32 kts in a staggered line formation with enough spacing to ensure a single well placed 11 or 5.9 inch salvo would not get more than one of his destroyers. The Foresight group was in a line formation also with good spacing. They had two targets; three would go for Gneisenau and Jersey would break off ,if she was not needed, and try for Hipper. The plan was for the destroyers to hold fire until the Nazi's opned up on them. For now "Shiny Sheff" seemed to have their full attention, the poor bastards just had to keep the Nazi's distracted for a few more minutes. Both of his attack groups would be at their launch points and then it was let the devil take the hindmost, which would be his Duncan as they ran to rejoin Renown.
2 JUNE 1941 2338 Renown commenced firing ranging shots from her forward A & B turrets under radar control. It was not the first time Old refit had engaged Scharnhorst and this time Simeon, was going to sink the Bastard and her sister too.
TG Cilax was well within maximum effective range of Renown's BL 15-inch Mk I "15 inch/42" guns firing Mk XVIIB rounds of 33,550 yds. Each twin turret, with a good crew, could fire four 1,938 lb. rounds per minute at a Muzzle velocity of 2,450 feet per second or 2,640 feet per second with supercharge. His gunnery officer had orders to concdentate on the two large radar targets designated 1 & 2 and leave the smaller traget 3 to the secondary battery.
Old Refit, thanks to her prewar major rebuild, was armed with Ten twin 4.5in DP QF Mark 3 guns in twin UD Mark II gun houses. The Mark 3 fired 55 Lb. shells out to a maximum effective surface target range of 20,750 yds at 16 RPM for a limited time, depedent on the endurance of the gunners ,and 12 RPM sustained. , Simeon ordered his gunnery officer to split the fire of the 4.5s with three twin mounts , firing HE only at targets 1 & 2 and two (4 guns) firing both AP and HE at target 3 initially
2 JUNE 1941 2340 Duncan Group weapons tight 8 miles from TG Cilax. Foresight group weapons tight 7.8 miles TG Cilax. Sheffield main and batteries firing rapid salvoes, secondary battery continuous fire at TG Cilax. Renown firing full main battery alternate salvoes on Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, secondary battery firing on Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and Hipper. TG Cilax returning firing on all Force H ships with the Battle cruisers main battery targetting Renown and Sheffield, secondary battery continuous fire against the destroyers.
2 JUNE 1941 2350 HMS Duncan sunk, HMS Jupitor DIW (Dead in The Water) burning fiercely crew abandoning ship and HMS Iris guns free continuing to launch point. HMS Jersey and HMS Fortune sunk, HMS Fury guns free speed reduced to 20 kts contiuing to launch point HMS Foresight guns free at 32 kts continuing to launch point. HMS Sheffield's X turret and 1/4 of the secondary battery disabled continuing firing and closing TG Cilax. HMS Renown straddled repeatedly with no serious damage, continuing to engage TG Cilax.
2 JUNE 1941 2340 HMS Iris and HMS Foresight at 5 miles from TG Cilax launch torpedoes and firing on Hipper as they withdraw. Total of eighteen 21 inch torpedoes launch, 10 aimed at Gneisenau and 8 at Scharnhorst.
2 JUNE 1941 2350 HMS Fury bow blown off by 8 inch salvo, rapidly filling with water but manges to launch 8 torpedoes at extreme range at closest TG Cilax ship Hipper.
3 JUNE 1941 0000 Gneisenau hit by one torpedo high on the armor belt, where it was thickest, anti torpedo system held up well with moderate flooding and fire soon under control contiunes to fire on Renown with main batterey and the retreating destroyers and Sheffield with secondary battery.
Scharnhorst hit by three torpedoes only two detonate, speed reduced to 24 kts, secondary battery fire control disabled, major fires being fought in the aircraft hangar.
3 JUNE 1941 0010 HMS Sheffield struck by 11 inch shell from Gneisenau, DIW, multiple fires, bridge destroyed with no survivors, XO Sir Edmund Blackadder asumes command and directs the DC effort from secondary Conn. Chief engineer estimates 20 minutes to get the plant back on the line but only good for 10 kts. Restoration of Full power was possible IF the initial damage survey held up but no promises. Only minor flooding but all Radars down and therefore Lcdr Baldrick orders director control firing on TG Cilax ships on fire using optical rangefinders.
3 JUNE 1941 0020 two of, now sinking Fury's torpedoes hit Hipper in the main machinery spaces leaving the heavy cruiser DIW and without electrical power. Guns firing under local control. Many casualties.
Two of Renown's 15 inch shells hits Gneisenau at a range of 9 miles wrecking turrets Anton and jamming Bruno. Splinters from Anton badly injure CO., cause casualties on both the ship's and the flag bridges, knock out all radar and most commuications antennas.
3 JUNE 1941 0035 After recieving DC reports from his three ships, Hipper is sinking rapidly, Vizeadmiral Cilax orders what is left of his TG to break off the action and retire to the North East at best speed. His plan is to draw off the old battle cruiser from the convoy, maintain fire on Renown as he "Ran" and hope for a crippling hit or major propulsion casualty to the great war relic. He could still reach WS-12 and carry out his mission.
To his C of Staff, "Signal to BdU stating our situation and my intensions to sink, disable or evade Renown and destroy WS-12. Show me the message before you transmit.
Second signal to Hipper, I am proud of you and promise YOU WILL BE AVENGED Hiel Hitler". He thought but did not say No harm making the Bohemian paper hanger think we are doing this for him.
3 JUNE 1941 0037 flag bridge HMS Renown Vadm Somerville to his Flag aid "make to Commodore Thesiger in WS 12. I am persuing the Battle cruisers. Maintain your escort force close to convoy. Dispatch ONE repeat One of your detroyers or corvets to aid Force H damaged ships. Your prime responsibility is protection of WS-12 not recure Force H. Good luck.
Second signal to the Admiralty. I am persuing remainder of TG Cilax, moderately damaged but still operational Schranhosrt and Gneisenau. I will maintain station between Nazis and WS-12. Regret to inform you most of my destroyers have been sunk with heavy loss of life but their torpedo attacks were successful.
HMS Sheffield has sustained damage, Capt. C.A.A. Larcom,RN is dead now under command of her XO Sir Edmund Blackadder . Sheffield is not operational at this time.
WS-12 will dispatch one escort for rescue duties and maintain the rest as close in defense, if required. Request you dispatch tugs and other rescue craft for my damaged ships.
Private signal to Admiral Pound "Dudley those bastards will be sunk today. You have my word for it."
To his Steward, "Cup of char spiked with a double Rum on the double." He thought a toast to the men who I murdered today. When this is over "Sir" Simeon, if I have anything to say about knighthoods, and I are going to find a nice quiet place and drink until we both pass out and when we wake, we will do it again. Maybe punishing this old body will deaden my conscience but I doubt it. For now I want Nazi blood and both those Battle Crusiers sunk. I owe that to my men and maybe their ghosts will leave me alone.
3 JUNE 1941 0100 HMS Renown, turned to course 070 at 30 kts to close the range on Gneisenau and a slightly lagging Scharnhorst.
3 JUNE 1941 0110 Renown fired her main armament at a range a little over 18000 yards. Target was the Gneisenau. Renown's secondary armament, (4.5" DP) opened fire on the Scharnhorst.
3 JUNE 1941 0121 Renown received an 11 inch shell hit on her foremast.
3 JUNE 1941 0124 Renown hit Gneisenau's fire control system putting it out of action. Cilax ordered his flag to turned away on course 30°. He ordered Scharnhorst to moved between her sister ship and HMS Renown to lay a smoke screen.
3 JUNE 1941 0130 Despite the smoke screen Renown scored a hit on Gneisenau's turret Anton along with shell splinters from near misses that pummelled Gneisenau's engineering plant. HMS Renown then shifted her main armament to the Scharnhorst but she was then hit herself in the stern. Damage was minor.
3 JUNE 1941 0210 Renown reopened salvo fire, after transfer of munitions from after to forward turrets on the Scharnhorst at a range of 12,000 yds; as she came into range when the Germans had to reduce speed temporarily. Scharnhorst quickly returned the fire.
3 JUNE 1941 0215 One of Renown's 15 in shells struck Scharnhorst abreast of turret Anton. The shell hit jammed the turret's training gears, putting it out of action. Shell splinters started a fire in the ammunition magazine, which forced the Germans to flood both forward magazines to prevent an explosion. The water was quickly drained from turret Bruno's magazine. The ship was now fighting with only two-thirds of her main battery.
Shortly thereafter, another 15 in shell struck the ventilation trunk attached to Bruno, which caused the turret to be flooded with noxious propellant gases every time the breeches were opened. A third shell hit the deck next to turret Cäsar and caused some flooding; shell splinters caused significant casualties. At shell struck the forward 5.9 inch gun turrets and destroyed them both.
3 JUNE 1941 0230 a 15 in shell struck Scharnhorst on the starboard side, passed through the thin upper belt armor, and exploded in the number 1 boiler room. It caused significant damage to the ship's propulsion system and slowed the ship to 8 knots. Temporary repairs allowed Scharnhorst to return to 22 knots. She managed to add 5,500 yds to the distance between her and Renown, while straddling the ship with several salvos.
Shell splinters rained on Renown and disabling one of the secondary battery fire-control radars wounding Somerville and his C O Staff on the flag bridge. Chief Sick Berth attendant (Chief SBA) Tom Baker and his party were on the flag bridge within 5 minutes. One look at the C O Staff was all he needed to immediately render first aid. His senior PO attended to the vice Admiral who was a complete pain in the ass about not needing anything but a bandage.
Chief SBA "Sir we will have to get you down to Dr. Who right away." The man was in no condition to argue. Two of the stretcher bearers starpped the C O Staff in and began the long haul to the Sick bay.
The Chief SBA then turned to the Vice Admiral. "Sir do you want a jab of morphia?"
Somerville "No Baker, I need a clear head at present but a dram of medicinal Rum would not go amiss."
Chief SBA Tom Baker " I'd dearly like to join you in one but Dr. Who would flail me alive sir, besaides he does not trust me and my first aid team with it."
Somerville "That's the trouble with our Surgeon Commander Basil Who. "The Doctor" has no respect for rank or seniority Chief."
HMS Renown's head of the medical divison Surgeon Commander Basil Who was called "Dr. Who" by the lower deck and by the wardroom just "The Doctor".
Chief SBA Tom Baker "Well that should hold you until you finish with the Jerries Sir. I do strongly recommend you fight the rest of this action from your bridge chair or sitting down in Flag plot."
Somerville laughing "Get away with you Chief SBA unfortunatly there are plenty others to abuse today. I will take you up on your impertinent suggestion. RHIP but damn few of them.
At that Chief SBA Tom Baker hurried off the flag bridge.
The easy banter bewteen the Vice Admiral and the SBA came from a very mutual respect. Both had served together for a long time. Baker was an interesting chap. He is tall, with eyes that seem to constantly wander, he had curly but regulation lenth hair with distinctly flashing teeth. He is from Gallifrey, just out side Boston in Lincolnshire. When in civvies he wears a white shirt, plaid waistcoat, red cravat, grey donegal tweed trousers, a light grey frock coat (with pockets containing a seemingly endless array of apparently useless items items), a brown wide-brimmed felt fedora hat and a long, multi-coloured scarf, which was knitted for him by his maiden aunt and acts as a magnet for women.
3 JUNE 1941 0242, up to this point Renown had fired 52 salvos and having scored at least 15 hits. Many of these hits had badly damaged the ship's secondary armament. On her next full main battery salvo Renown hit Scharnhorst abreast of turret Bruno, which caused it to jam. A second shell hit the ship on the port side and caused some minor flooding, and the third was a near miss close aboard aft that damaged the port propeller shaft. The fourth hit the ship in the bow. These hits slowed Scharnhorst to 12 knots , which allowed Renown to close to 9,100 yds. With only turret Cäsar operational, all available men were sent to retrieve ammunition from the forward turrets to keep the last heavy guns supplied. After several more 15 inch hits, Scharnhorst settled further into the water and began to list to starboard.
3 JUNE 1941 0310 Scharnhorst went down by the bow, with her propellers still slowly turning. Of the crew of 1,968 officers and enlisted men, only 36 men survived.
Vice admiral Somerville, addressed his staff "Gentlemen, the battle against the Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that any of you who are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as the Scharnhorst was commanded today.
Gneisenau is still a threat to WS-12 so our job is only half completed."
He then picked up the phone to Captain Simeon "Somerville here. Your men did a magnificne job, make sure you tell I said so. Our job is not done yet. Gneisenau is getting away. Send up a scout plane as soon as possible. We still have a 5 knot speed advantage on her and I want that ship sunk. As you well know she is still a dangerous ship and a real danger to WS-12. Besides, I want a full bag from today's shoot."
Simeon "Congradulations sir. I will have to check with my senior pilot but I am pretty sure at least some of my 4 Walrus' have suffered shock and splinter damage. My catapult has sustained some minor damage; nothing we can't correct quickly. Nautical Twilight begins at 0342, God willing, and if this damn rain stops, I can have my scouts launched then."
Somerville " Light a fire under your aircraft mechanics. For now come to course 030 at 25 knots. We still have our radars and she might have been hit harder than we thought. Who knows she might just be just out of radar range, but I doubt it?"
Simeon "Aye, Aye Sir." He then burst out laughing which confused his Bridge watch. Did Jimmy Somerville not know it had been pouring throughout the entire battle? He needed that release from tension as he needed a Pink Gin right now. "OOD announce to the crew we will Spike the Main Brace at battle stations now. And tell the "Pusser to be smart about it." Steward" For the love of God get me a pink gin."
Somerville To his Flag aide "Get an immediate signal to Argus ordering a thorough air search for Gneisenau be launch as soon as practicable. Give them her last position and known course and speed."
3 JUNE 1941 0345 Somerviile to his staff Aid Get a signal to the Admiraltyand copy WS-12. I have the honor to advise you the German Battle Cruiser Schranhosrt was sunk, give position and time. We are persuing a mpoderately damaged Gneisenau. I will maintain station between Nazis and WS-12. I will have aerial scouts from Renown and Argus out at dawn. Expect to meet Gneisenau in a few hours time. God save the King.
Private signal to Admiral Pound "Dudley One down and One to go. Gneisenau has suffered quite a bit to her armament and upper works but her engines, despite more than one tropedo hit, seem to have escaped damage so far. Old Refit's engineering plant is performing as well as when she was commissioned. God only knows how the Engineering Commander and his black gang have accomplished that.
Gunnery in Renown has been very, very good, seamanship is just as good. Simeon really must be commended for the shape the old girl and her crew are in. I think a knighthood is in order for our old shipmate? I know you are on your way out but if you have any influence left, and I think you will after today would you mind using a bit of it for Simeon? After all, YOU put us in our current positions and that has to count for something. I would consider it a personal favor if you would recommend him for that honor.
The weather here is deteriorating with heavy rain and gale force winds. I do worry about our aerial scouts ability to find anything in this muck or evn to fly. I still think, well hope really, we will find Gneisenau borken down, near by. If she eludes us for half a day I will have to fallback to WS-12. Last thing we want is that beast destroying that troop convoy while I romp about fat, dumb and happy eh what? I am also concerned about Sheffield's ability to ride out this storm. Blackadder certainly has his hands full."
3 JUNE 1941 1400 Commandant First CG District sent an urgent message to his friend Admiral USN Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet.
CLFT
DE RFG NR 114 U 151403Z JUN
FM First CG District
TO CINCLANTFLT
WD GRNC
BT
TS
1.Per your request for anything concerning unusual nuetral tanker activity.
2. Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387” reported "nuetral" Venezuelan tanker PSS Cabello, transporting No.1 bunker oil had failed to report to her shipping company for 9 days.
3. Company has repeatedly request posit and reason why normal reporting has ceased.
4. Last reported position was Latitude: 18 57 41.5 Longitude: 59 51 37.3 Course 065T at 15 kts.
BT
NNNN
Veteran, civilian cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman of USCG Lcdr Jones’ Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387”, knowing what was going on in the hunt for Bismarck suspected PSS Cabello, was heading for a position to refuel the two raiders.
Admiral USN Ernest King Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet agreed with Elizabeth. Those two raiders were doing too much high speed evasion not to be planning on an UNREP. In his opinion, that was one of the many reasons why the "Limeys" and his own patrol planes of PatWing 5 were having such a tough time finding them. The search areas were too small. Now he had a datum to center his search but it was 9 days old and only his PatWing 5 PBYs could make any immediate use of it.
He called his C o Staff in and issued a series of orders to his patrol wing Commander to begin a new search at the SS Cabello's last posit. He also sent out a message to all his ships at sea to be on the lookout for PSS Cabello (who knows someomne just might get lucky .
King "Ensure Admiral Hewitt is appraised of the status of SS Cabello and my suspicion she was heading for a rendezous with TG Brinkmann. " Ernie King's face showed his sardonic smile as he thought "And now I am grasping at fucking straws. Those Nazi bastards have made ME and the Limeys look like fools." It was a very bad idea for anyone to try to make "Ernie" King a fool.
3 JUNE 1941 1600 in North Dakota's Flag plot. Rear Admiral Hewitt's TG-39 to "Ching Lee" CO BB-55 "Ching we are going South. I think those Nazi bastards are going for the tankers in the Caribbean. I think their first kill was PSS Cabello."
"Ching Lee" " Aye, Aye sir but if your wrong and Brinkmann slaughters another convoy up here Ernie will have both our balls nailed to the foremast."
Hewitt "You have nothing to worry about Ching. Your under my orders so I guess your wife will not suffer, any more than she does now, by you not bulling her by the humbers."
Both men laughed. Both knew all too well just following orders in something this outrageous would not shield Lee completyely. Probably no formal action other than a letter of admonition in his jacket. Those letters had a way of prejudicing the brass when flag selection was being considered. The really aggravating part of it was Lee agreed with Hewitt and was wholeheartedly in favor of him playing his hunch.
A smile crossed Lee's face as he thought "Mabelle actually liked doing it 'by the numbers'. How did Hewitt know that?"
Hewitt to his chief of staff. "What is the fuel status of our destroyers".
Chief O Staff , who made it a practice to know the fuel state of his thirsty cans at all times since it was their endurance that was often the key component of any plan at sea. "All reported 70% this afternoon Sir."
Hewitt to his chief of staff "Give me a course at 24 kts to arrive at Cabello's last estimated position on the day she stopped reporting."
The staff navigaor was working the solution as soon as he heard the rear admiral say what he wanted and was able to tell the Chief Of Staff the answer as soon as he asked it.
Hewitt to his Chief Of Staff "Break out an Execute to follow" of the new course and speed to the TG."
Then get out an "Eyes Only" by back channel signal to inform Admiral King I am leaving the op area and heading South to Cabello's datum. Give him our estimated time on station and that we will need an UNREP prior to reaching that datum. Work out a time and place for the UNREP at least 150 miles north of that datum.
Hewitt to Captain Lee. "I will be ordering daylight and night gunnery practice tomorrow for BB-55. Weather permitting, and it should be OK, I'll designate one of the DDs to tow your target raft. Ching tell your gunners this will be as close to actual combat as I can manage. Use your "High Caps" because I will have other use for your AP soon."
CO BB-55 "Sir my magazines are loaded to safe capacity, more than war allowance by a good margin. I increased the AP to High Cap loadout by 50%. I request permission to use AP; the flight charctoristics of our High Cap are a little different from our AP as you know."
TG-39 "Ok Ching make it AP."
3 JUNE 1941 1900 S-13 now SS-118 (AKA to her crew among themselves as SS FORD for Fix Or Reapir Daily) based at Guantanamo Bay Cuba was cruising on the surface at 10 kts. She had just come up for her nightly battery charge, "AIR renewal", cigarette breaks, trash disposal and to copy the Fox Sched and any other signals meant for her.
King's high priority message to be on the lookout for was noted by the CO, communicated to his officers and the COB and included in his night order book. He imediately told his OOD they were looking for a Venezeulan Tanker named PSS Cabello, that had gone missing a few days ago in their patrol area. The boat would stay on the surface, where he would be able to cover more ocean, at a better speed and a much longer visual horizon. He would also be in radio comms and pick up any aplifying messages about PSS Cabello that would allow him to fine tune the search for the tanker.
It would take her about 8 hours for a full charge. Those old batteries really needed replacing but "S Boats" were the red haired adopted children of SubLant. Most thought about all they were good for was training these days and, unknown to the skipper of the old "FORD", they would be proved wrong before not too much longer.
S-13's CO, Lt. Peter "Cowboy" Holt USNA class of 1938 had a love/hate relationship with his command. He had the pride of a first time CO and the utter loathing for this antique rust bucket that had tried to kill him and his men more than once and more than twice.
Thank God for his COB, Chiefs and PO-1s. They held FORD together with bailing wire and chewing gum.
S-13 was of group II S-3 class, or "Navy Yard" type, built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. Commissioned 14 July 1923, Decommissioned 30 September 1936 and recommissioned 28 October 1940.
Her Displacement was 876 tons surfaced; 1,092 tons submerged. She had a length of 231 feet, Beam of 21 feet 9 inches, Draft of 13 feet 4 inches. Propulsion was 2 Busch-Sulzer diesels each of 1,000 SHP , 2 Westinghouse electric motors rach of 600 hp, 120-cell Exide battery and two shafts. S-13s surfaced Speed was15 knots, submerged was 11 knots but not for long.
Her 148 tons of deisel oil gave S-13 a range of 5,000 nautical miles at 10 knots surfaced. Test depth: 200 although aside from about 4 mandatory test dives, it was prudent to not exceed 175 feet.
Armament was still as built back in 1923 of 4 21 in bow torpedo tubes and one aft with a loadout of 14 torpedoes. The loadout this patrol was 12 MK-10s and 2 of the new MK-14s. She mounted One 4 inch 50 cal surface only deck gun and a couple of pintal mounted dual purpose M-2 heavy machine guns. She was crewed by 42 officers and men.
She did not yet have radar but her underwater search gear was state of the art. S-13/SS -118/USS FORD was equipped with the model JT idirectional listening system designed to detect, identify, and locate sources of both sonic and ultrasonic sounds. It is designed to use the JP (Active sionar sonic equipment and has a super-sonic converter so that ultrasonic as well as sonic sounds can be amplified by the JP amplifier. In addition, it has a more directional hydrophone than the JP hydrophone and has a right-left indicator (RLI) for taking bearings on sonic sounds with greater accuracy than is possible with the tuning-eye indicator of the JP equipment. An interphone-amplifier unit permits "talkback" between the forward torpedo room-in which the JT system is mounted-and the conning tower.
3 JUNE 1941 0020 two of, now sinking Fury's torpedoes hit Hipper in the main machinery spaces leaving the heavy cruiser DIW and without electrical power. Guns firing under local control. Many casualties.
3 JUNE 1941 2030 USCG Lcdr Jones’ OIC of Code and Sypher Branch Sypher Branch “Unit 387” sat at his desk drinking his now cold black coffee. He was thinking about what Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman had said about TG Brinkman might be looking for new hunting grounds.
He called Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman at home and asked her to come into the office. Elizabeth did not ask why, this was all too much of her life with “Unit 387” and she would have it no other way. She simply said I'll be there is twenty five minutes. Is this going to be an all nighter sir?
Lcdr Jones, "I'm afraid it most likely is".
She grabbed her "togo" bag packed for such overnight and sometimes many days at the Atlantic Ave CG Base in Boston stints. She just knew they were going after Bismarck and she wanted that Nazi battleship sunk very, very badly.
3 JUNE 1941 2115 Lcdr Jones appraised Cryptologist Feldman of his deduction. She agreed it was certainly possible if ,BIG IF, TG Brinkman could make the transit south undetected.
Feldman making a few quick calculations said to her CO "Sir the raiders last positions were days old, Bismarck on the morning of 31 May and Prinse Eugen on the evening of 28 May, that's almost a week. At 25 knots they could cover 3600 nautical miles and could have been in Oranjestad a few days ago.” Lcdr Jones said patiently (he needed her thinking not pissed off at him) "I know the math. Brinkman could be anywhere within 11,300 square miles except we can reduce that thoretical area by a lot. Bismarck could go west and run into the heaviest cocentartion of the USN Nuetrality patrol, especially PatWing 5's PBYs. She can't go north becausse TG-39 is running air patrols as they head South to stop TG Brinkmann from slautering tankers coming up from Venezeula and the caribbean. The Nazi's could run East but then the RAF and RN would stand a good chance of finally making contact again.
So I'd say South is a pretty good bet especially if he can refuel. So, my guess hinges on Cabello. If Britain's fuel supply is the strategic target then destroying Aruba's two refineries is a great target. What do you think?" Jones greatly valued Feldman's views of his theories. Just saying them outloud to her helped him refine those theories.
Cryptologist Feldman "We're not at war so he can't go after US mainland refineries, and even if he was crazy enough to try he might get one. Then his entire TG would be dead within hours and Churchill would get what he and FDR need to ensure Hitler looses; early US declaration of war. I still think it's tankers Bismarck is after and why not intercept them at a known choke point like those refineries."
All really good cryptologists were superb mathematicians. They also had the skills, so valued in intelligance analysts, especially to identify and remember odd bits of info that when reviewed alongside other seemingly worthless information began to establish a pattern. Few of the cryptologists were privy to enough information to fit these patterns into tactical or strategic ongoing operations. Feldman was an exception to that rule. That was left to ONI and to the their seniors, like LCDR Jones. Jones had a foot in both organizations and was in the ideal position to evlaute what was going on in the enemy camp.
Not too long ago he had seen copies of low level reports of the Venezeulan national police on the acivities of "Grupo Regional de Venezuela del Partido Nazi" to infiltrate officers and seaman into the crews of C.A. de Navegación Fluvial y Costanera de Venezuela, Puerto Cabello tanker fleet. The assistant junior Naval aide in the Port of La Guaira Consulate, had been coopted by a young, attractive Venezeulan national police agent. He had mentioned something about gathering quite useless information on the current state of Aruba's harbors and two oil refineries from sympathetic crewmen of C.A. de Navegación Fluvial y Costanera de Venezuela, Puerto Cabello tanker fleet. It meant he spent a lot of time drinking in local sailor's dives and forcing down the horrible rot gut wine with drunken masters, mates and engineering officers who had recently delivered crude to those refineries. ONI analysts had concluded this was to support the U-boat war against allied comerce, especiallty tankers.
He still could NOT break the thought it was not the tankers but the refineries themselves that TG Brinkmann was now after.
Jones "Ok tonight you and I are going to compose an intel analysis supporting the theory that TG Brinkmann is about to attack the two refineries on Aruba. I'll need you to assmble whatever intercepts and other intel that supports that hypothesis. I've got a lot of it here now but it desprately needs your evaluation and opinion of it's worth. Natuarally, I think it holds together but the secnd opinion of someone I trust is essential before I take this up the line. I think those Nazi butchers are ready to strike and it might well be too late.
I will work on a draft executive summary and final recommendations. We'll combine your stuff with mine and see if it holds up well enough to present it to Commandant First CG District here in Boston. I know for a fact he thinks one of the weaknesses of Nazi's is their driven to constantly prove their superiority. Destroying those refiners would validate their opinion of themselvess. He also has the ear of Ernie King and if he believes us he can get CinCLant Fleet to do somthing to protect Aruba, if only warn the Brits.
4 JUNE 1941 0550 "1CGDist" was an early riser who was usually in work by 0530 who reviewed the night's activities as he drank his 2nd cup of coffee. There was an entry, dated 0300 in the night's log that Lcdr Jones’ OIC of Code and Sypher Branch“Unit 387” had requested an urgent meeting to review the latest analysis of enemy intensions. He picked up his phone at 0550 and called “Unit 387”, which was housed in the basement where all spies and other such essentail but disreutable skallywags belonged. The duty watch PO answered the phone.
1CGDist identified himself and said "Inform your CO that I expect him and his analysis in my office at 0600.
4 JUNE 1941 0700 USCG Lcdr Jones’ OIC of Code and Sypher Branch “Unit 387” and his senior Cryptologist Elizabeth Smith Feldman sat on the sofa in Commandant First CG District office on Atlantic Ave Boston. They had spent the last hour going over their analysis of TG Brinkmann's next moves. "1CGDist" had listened intently, asked a few very pointed questions, challenged the analysis because of the lack of solid sighting reports and the fact he did not think the Germans stood much of a chance breaking into, and no chance of getting out, of the caribbean without alraming the Brits. He told them he could buy Brinkman going South after tankers but not attacking Aruba. Jones replied. "That is one way to look at it Sir. However, based on what we don't know about the wheerabouts of Bismarck and the fact CincLant , ONI and you have expressed your opinions Brinkmann is heading south to sink tankers, it seems an attack on the refineries is a resonable possibility to me. It is my opinion we should take action to prevent or at least warn Aruba. The ony real defense those refineries have against Bismarck and Prince Eugen's guns are those old B-10s and the underwhelming Buffalo fighters. A few PBYs would be a lot of help."
1CGDist stared at Jones for a long time as he worked though what to do. Time was of the essence. Ernie had a lot on his plate and the last thing he neded was to complicate his efforts to sink Bismarck with this new possibility. He finally made up his mind.
Jones I will partially endorse your analysis. Have it coded and sent to CincLant Fleet intel and ONI high priority as soon as possible. Get me whatever you can to prove or disprove that analysis. I am going out on limb and if we are really wrong we'll both be part of the Greenland Patrol. Maybe I can get command of one of those converted fishing draggers and you will get a weather station in the center of middle of "Nowhere" Greenland."
It was defintely an exageration and they both had a chuckle. Poor Liz thought he was serious and looked pretty dispisritted.
30 minutes later 1CGDist was on the secure line with his old "friend" Ernie King explaining the Analysis he just sent by message.
King, "Is this Jones the same Lcdr that got us that good convoy intel not long ago?"
1CGDist , " Same one"
King, "You endorsed this right?"
1CGDist, No sir, not completely. I buy Brinkmann going south to sink tankers at their source. I do not buy attack Aruba. That's the Caribbean. We own the surface and air. No way Bismarck is going in there, no matter how good the target is.
King, "I agree with you but had you considered an attack by one of their big Nines? Both those refineries are right on the coast as are their tank farms. If the Nazi bastards surface in shore their 4.1 deck gun could erally do some damage to oil refineries. Damn things might go up like a bonfire. Jones is onto something and I will do something about it. Not sure just what.
1CGDist, "Come to think of it Sir there are other refineries down south that don't require going into the Caribbean."
King, "This really pisses me off. I have absolutely nothing I can get to Aruba in time to do any real good. What I can do is stretch the ABC-1 agreement again and warn the Limey's of this possibility. They can warn Aruba of the possibility which will do some good, but not much. Problem is the Limeys have less than I do anywhere near Aruba. I'll be on the horn with Hewitt as soon as we hang up. Well keep me informed if Jones and that code breaking witch, Liz Feldman, I wish we had a dozen like her, come up with anything. "
Ernie King's even temper was operating normally. “He is the most even-tempered person in the United States Navy,” one of his daughters said of him. “He is always in a rage.”
1CGDist, " You'll be the second person to know, right after me."
Truth was 1CGDist, knew cultivating King was the right thing to do. It was all too true Ernie was tough as nails and carried himself ramrod straight; probably had one stuffed up his ass. He was blunt and stand-offish, almost to the point of rudeness until he decided he was dealing with someone of value....to him. It said something about himself that he and King worked very well together. Ernie refused to suffer fools, always handing off those too powerful to snub to his long suffering staff officers. No matter how well they got on professionally they were far from "liberty buddies". Ernie was tough but FDR was wrong, he did not shave with a blow torch, he preferred to dry shave with his own rigging knife.
King was on the secure "Horn" to Hewitt right after hanging up on the Coastie. He appraised TG-39 of what Jones and Liz Feldman had come up with. He made sure he identified the source of the analysis. They both agreed TG-39 was doing the right thing and just get on station as soon as possible.
His next call was to PatWing 5 "actual". I am ordering you detach three radar equipped PBY's and their support to Aruba for a while. You can fly in whatever you need to the graded runway KLM Field at Savaneta. They are to establish an immediate round the clock patrol out to 150 miles of Aruba until further notice."
PatWibg 5 Actual "Sir my nearest PBYs are at Gitmo and Trinada but none of those have radar. Our radar birds are all supporting ops a lot further North. I can swap out three from NAS South Weymouth today and they could be in Aruba and operational by end of day 6 June. Will that do?"
King " I want them flying patrols tomorrow Captain Sprague."
Captain Clifton Albert Frederick "Ziggy" Sprague knew better than to argue with God damn Ernie king and replied "Aye, Aye sir."
King sat back lit up a cigarette, the start of his second pack today, and thought "Was that all he could do for now? By God No." He had to contact the Caribbean Defense Command which did not come under CincLantFlt. A call to the CNO generated a call to General Marshall informing him of what Admiral King was doing and the need for imediate Army/Navy coordination and cooperation. Marshall sent an urgent priority message to Caribbean Defense Commander (with the organizational features of a theater of operations), to instruct General Talbot, commanding Trinidad Sector of the Caribbean Defense Command that his units were to provide the navy with their full cooperation in all matters directly concerning the hunt for the Bismarck which intel suggests were going to attack the oil refineries at Aruba and/or Trinidad.
General Talbot had a very tough job. His area of responsibility was the Antilles south of Martinique, the Dutch islands off the Venezuelan coast, together with Venezuela itself and British Guiana, Surinam, and French Guiana and Trinada Tobago and that included not only the base structure but the Army Air Corps as well. Dealing with the Air Corps was always difficult. His authority over air operations was limited by the Army Air Corps' Caribbean Regional Air Command. The bounds of authority were not always distinct when dealing with the Air Corps. It was therefore a source of misunderstanding and frustration. Dealing with the hostile, Vichy controlled French Guiana was another headache complicated by the damn State department. For one thing the local Vichy government played host to a very active and efficient Nazi intelligence unit. A 25 man detachment of the Marinenachrichtendienst (Naval Intelligence Division AKA MAD) operated with impunity. They had the latest Telefunken radio intercept gear. MAD provided the very few U-boats operating inside the island chain of the Caribbean sea at this time with invaluable information and other "support". They also ran "agents in Aruba, Surinam, and Trinada Tobago who monitored the progress of his base construction and operations. MADALSO learned a lot of very timely convoy intelligence that was of great value to the U-Boats and raiders hunting in the South Western North Atlantic. BdU valued their intel highly and had provided the latest encryption devices and long range radio transceivers to ensure timely and secure communications.
The base structure was the problem; quite frankly most of it did not exist yet and that which did was still under construction. Even the ones that were considered "Operational" were far from completed. He also had a major problem with the troops. They were mostly draftees with a small number of the trained prewar regulars doing their damndest to turn those kids into soldiers and still carry out their mission of protecting the tankers and oil refineries that made his command so important.
4 JUNE 1941 0730 TG Cilax was long gone. HMS Sheffield struck by 11 inch, 8 inch and 5.9 inch shells from Gneisenau and Hipper, was now underway making 12 kts. Multiple fires are now out and the reflash watches, are keeping a close eye on several that are still smoking. With Shiny's bridge was destroyed killing everyone, XO Sir Edmund Blackadder asumed command and not only directed the DC effort from secondary Conn but had made many tours of the various major casualty areas to encourage his men and see for himself just how bad things were.
The CHENG'S (Chief engineer) estimates of 20 minutes to get the plant back on the line but only good for 10 kts, WAS Wildly over confident. Restoration of Full power was not possible. The closer the CHENG examined the plant, the worse it looked The best his Stokers could do was give the old girl 12 kts. Even that required some really tough and dangerous expedients to be employed; things that get people court martialed in peace time and often in war time as well.
The minor flooding became major flooding and the exhausted crew was driven to their tasks by the CPOs and senior POs. It took almost eight hours to restore the water tight integrity to something the pumps could handle. Once the ship was no longer in danger of instant foundering Sir Edmund Blackadder held a short meeting with CHENG, the First LT and his CPOs. The major outcome was set up a watch schedule that would let 1/2 of the remaining crew, many who actually belonged in sick bay or relegated to "light duty", to get some rest. This was in the line of a "No Brainer" as there were too many cases of young men just breaking down physically and mentally exhausted and Officers, chiefs and senior POs making bad and even dangerous sleep deprived decisions.
Toward the end of the battle all Shiny's Radars were down and therefore Lcdr Baldrick ordered director control firing on TG Cilax ships on fire using optical rangefinders. He actually was "Fighting the ship" while Sir Edmund Blackadder was directing the effort to keep her from sinking right out from under Baldrick's gunners. At one point his main battery plot was actually one deck below a flooded area. Only the water tight doors, armored and water tight cable runs and all too brittle now nerve of his men were keeping Shiny in the fight. He thanked God he did not have to resort to the Webley he carried hidden in a shoulder holster under his jacket.
Somerville could spare Sheffield no escorts so she was making her way North West to a rendevous with a 16 kt, 2,750 ihp early Flower class Corvett Primrose and the 16 kt, 3,000 ihp Norwegion manned Ocean going Tug Hafgufa. Hafgufa could tow Shiny at 10 to 12 kts.
Primrose could tow at 8 kts but given the U-boat and Lufwaffe it was deemed more prudent for her to act in her escort role. She had a veteran Battle of the Atlantic skipper and crew who knew the ASW business well. The least said about her anti aircraft capablities the better because they were limitted to 2 twin Vickers .50 machine guns and 2 twin .303-inch Lewis machine guns. Only fire control was the MK-1 Eyeballs of the gunner.
Coatsal command would provide aerial support when available. The odds of her making it to Southhampton were not considered good but the closer they got to the port the more help Coatsal command could provide.
4 JUNE 1941 0800 Norfolk and 1300 in fleet HQ bunker London. On his last day as The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound was in his office in the bunker with his "shadow" soon to be successor Vice Admiral Ramsay. They had, as usual, worked through their horid noon meal (today it was Herrings "in" sandwiches), when the Staff watch Intel officer knocked and entered. The rather old Lcdr, a retiree brought back into harness in Oct'39, and said. "Signal from CinC American Atlantic Fleet via ABC-1. Eyes only for you Sir Alfred."
Pound took the envelope and read King's carefully worded warning about Trinidad Trinidad Aruba Tobago Tobago. King as CincLant Fleet informed the US ABC-1 representative that he has ordered, with CNO Stark'e approval , ONI to keep us appraised of anyhthing that they get about TG Brinkmann as soon as they get it.
"No reply." was all Pound said. Being no fool and coming from a long line of RN officers, one was executed by his own marines on his own deck, Staff watch Intel officer John Byng quickly departed. Pound, "Well Bertie it seems that "the Cousins" have developped a theory our friend Brinkmann is heading for Trinidad Tobago or Aruba , not only to sink tankers but to destroy the rifiners. This is from "Jesus Christ" Ernest King himself so I fear we have to take it seriously.
The more you get to know that man, the more you will get to hate him but he does know his job and he is not stupid. Did you know he absolutely despises we "Limeys" and is cnvinced we are out to sodomize the USA so we can keep the empire? I was told by one of his former shipmates, he hates us because of his Irish heritage. It seems even after emigatring to America, King's family keeps alight a burning hatred for we "English".
No matter. He is sending three Catalina's and their support crews to Aruba today to bolster the air patrols of the area. The Queen Willimeter's Dutch government granted permission as soon as the Americans asked. Those rifineries and bauxite mines in Surinam are very valuable assets to the Neatherlands government in exile because they are the source of a lot of their funding at present. They are also very valuable to us as you know all too well. Destroying them will mean a large portion of Venezuelan crude has to go to America for refining. The Venezeulan refineries can only handle about 20% of their crude.
Now the question is what do we have close enough to Trinidad Tobago to provide meaningful aid in the next few days? I'm afraid the answer is nothing.
One of the facts of life you will have to live with in this thankless job is that we are stretched far too thin as you now know. Everything is balanced on a knife blade edge and you will spend a lot of time telling bright, aggressive senior officers and our Lord and Master Mr. Churchill NO to very good ideas because we just do not have the resources. Even those operations that are neccessary will cause you sleepless nights because you know the means you are providing are the bare minimum for the job. I'm afraid margins for bad luck or anything else just are not available. We desperately need the Americans in this war with us and we need them yesterday Bertie."
Soon to be The First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ramsay thought and not for the first or hundred time "How did I so anger the lord that he would senetnce me to this fucking Job? This job broke Pound and he is a better admiral and man than I am. All I really have to look forward to with any joy is the fact, at the rate things are going wrong now, I will not be in it long. Maybe Winston will be kind to me and put me in command of a "Stone frigate" somewhere in the wilds of Scotland where the fishing is good, the whiskey is not rationed and the "lassies" are willing and discrete? Mrs. Ramsay is not a tolerant woman."
How can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his God?