“A good point,” said Volsky. So let us look to this day and learn what we may to make a final decision. We have already waded in to the pond by jamming the German radars and firing a few warning shots to try and bother them, but soon I think we must jump in one direction or another.”
“Mister Nikolin has some further news to share,” said Fedorov.
“Yes sir, I have been monitoring the BBC and following all the news. I recorded a speech today read by a broadcaster on that station and I took a moment to translate it. Shall I read it?”
“What speech is this?”
“Churchill, sir. He was speaking to the British Parliament today.”
“Yes,” said Fedorov. “Churchill would have only recently been appointed Prime Minister.”
The news of that appointment had been received in the House of Lords in near silence, as they had little confidence and less use for the man at the time. But through this dark month of June 1940, the new Prime Minister’s voice echoed through the halls of Parliament and rose on the airwaves to stir and bolster the flagging spirits of the nation. He said he had come to the government with “nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat,” but he brought with him his indomitable spirit and a gift for giving it flight in some of the most eloquent and rousing oratory the world has ever heard. Earlier he had vowed that England would fight on in a speech that would echo through the decades ahead when he said: “We shall go on to the end…we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…”
But this night they heard his declaration to the house of Commons on June 18, 1940, and Nikolin read the translation aloud to the officers all gathered on the Bridge.
“…The Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.
But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, this was their finest hour.”
The broadcast signed off with salutations to the fleet at sea and all men at arms serving the British Empire in her far flung colonies all across the world. There was silence on the bridge for a moment, and then Admiral Volsky spoke.
“An eloquent man,” he said “and one I could easily embrace as an ally. Who’s side do we choose in this war? Such words make it clear to me that our decision to support Great Britain here is a wise one. The issue is laid bare in this man’s words. We all know the British Empire will not last another a thousand years, but I think that if it should fail here in this dark hour as he says, then the Third Reich might last a good long while in its place. We all know what Germany will be making ready to do to our homeland soon if that part of the history holds true. Yes, we suffered much in the cold war against the West, but perhaps that can be prevented, and it was nothing compared to the horror the Germans brought in the few years they ravaged our homeland. Perhaps our real mission was never to destroy the West as Karpov desired, but to join it, embrace it, and make it a friend.”
“Yes,” said Kamenski, “hearing that speech, who could disagree? And that is saying quite a bit coming from my mouth, an ex-Deputy Director of the KGB! I will say that I have learned much of this world in that capacity, perhaps more than I ever wished to know. Yet what we do know now is that we are here in the middle of this decisive era, this great world war, and the outcome may now be as uncertain as the weather appears to be outside as this moment. If I am correct and everything is made new here, then Germany could prevail as the Admiral suggests, and we have in hand the evils of that dark science that Mister Churchill mentioned. We know how this war could end. With Russia divided and perhaps still locked in an internal civil war, the Rodina will not be the great force that eventually beat back the Nazi war machine.”
“If I may, sir,” said Fedorov. “If Germany does decide to attack Russia, they will most certainly strike as they did against the Soviet state that is presently led by Sergei Kirov, just as Orlov has said. Their long term aim may be to control the oil and natural resources Orenburg controls, but even if Volkov cooperates, getting those resources to Germany is the problem. If Kirov controls the Crimea, then he may also control the Black Sea, so they will not get out that way. The only overland routes lead through Kirov’s Soviet state as well. Mark my words-Hitler will attack there soon enough.”
“For now the drama is here in the West,” said Volsky. “We polled the bridge officers earlier, and it was decided to aid those two British cruisers. Now, however, we must contemplate further intervention. What is the tactical situation, Mister Rodenko?”
Sir, the two German battlecruisers broke of that action and they moved southwest. We turned due west to avoid them in the storm, but they detached a cruiser and it is presently running on a parallel course.”
“Then the Germans are ready to make their breakout with the two battlecruisers?”
“Perhaps, sir, but I have picked up another contact off near Greenland, and the battlecruisers have just turned on a heading toward that position.”
“Could this be a convoy they wish to attack?”
“No, sir, it is a single ship.”
“Admiral,” said Fedorov. “My guess is that this is a German oiler. The two ships will want to refuel before heading into the Atlantic, They have broken through here, and probably sent the cruiser Admiral Hipper to see that the British cruisers are no further bother. Now they will refuel and then head into the Atlantic.”
“So if we wish to stop them, now is the time,” said Volsky. “But I think it will take something more than a poke on the nose with the deck guns. These are strong ships, are they not, Fedorov?”
“Yes, sir, and they have very good armor.”
“So we are looking at more than one or two missiles to do the job. If our experience is any guide, it may take several well placed hits to disable these ships.”
“We have programmed many of the Moskit-IIs to strike at a slightly higher elevation, sir,” said Rodenko. “There has been no time to do that with the missiles we received from Kazan, but it may be possible. They have a popup maneuver option.”
“Yes, it is no good wasting our missiles against the side armor of these ships, eh, Fedorov?”
“Scharnhorst class had 350mm belt armor, sir. That tapered forward of her A turret and aft, but that is fourteen inches of Krupp Cemented steel. It was designed to defeat a 16-inch shell at longer ranges. That’s the equivalent of a 1000 pound warhead. But I have a one missile solution for you, Admiral.”
“We will not contemplate special warheads at this time, Fedorov, I’m surprised you even suggest this.”
“No sir, you misunderstand me. Of course I would not suggest nuclear weapons at this time or any other. The missile would simply use a conventional warhead. One of the smaller P-900s from Kazan, or even a fast MOS-III should do the job.”
“But you just expounded on the virtues of this German armor, Fedorov.”
“Neither Scharnhorst nor Gneisenau will be the targets, Admiral. If I am correct and that last contact Rodenko spotted is a German oiler, then all we have to do is put our missile there, or even some good long range gun fire. Sink that tanker and the Germans will not have the fuel to proceed.”
Part IX
Altma
rk
“Sacrificial animals think quite differently from those who look on:
but they have never been allowed to have their say.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
Chapter 25
All over the UK the invasion watch was up, and now the news was filtering in to the Admiralty that the German Navy was at sea in a major operation and had done what no one there had any idea they might ever achieve. HMS Renown was attacked from the skies, with planes flown from the deck of a German aircraft carrier, and they pushed right through the veteran fighter cover of the Royal Navy’s most experienced and capable fleet defender, the Ark Royal.
The British had learned a hard lesson. Their pilots were good, certainly brave and determined, but the plane they were flying was clearly outclassed, and the German fighter pilots were equally hardened by their experience in Poland and France before coming to train for carrier operations. Britain desperately needed a new carrier borne fighter, and the Fairey Fulmar was all they had in the pipeline now, with no replacement in sight for the Swordfish torpedo bomber either.
The stricken battlecruiser survived the attack, but with twenty of her forty-two water tube boilers destroyed and her speed cut to no more than twelve knots. The ship had to be detached from Admiral Tovey’s squadron and sent home with a pair of destroyers cruising to either side for protection against U-boats, and the light cruiser Southampton in the van for additional air defense. Darkness and the onset of bad weather aided her getaway, and she would make it safely home, but now Tovey was in a bind. He had lost six big 15-inch guns and thirty-five percent of his squadron’s fighting power. With only HMS Invincible, the cruiser Sussex and two destroyers left in his force, engaging Bismarck and Tirpitz was now a tall order, particularly if the Germans had more Stukas to throw at them.
Tovey paced in the Flag Plot Room, uncertain, yet determined. We took one hell of a beating today, he thought. The mere sight of a British capital ship used to put ice in the veins of a German raider, but not after this. Holland sends that the Twins have blown through our cruiser screen in the Denmark Strait. Now we’ve lost Renown here, and we were damn lucky the Germans had only two Stuka pilots that seemed to know how to hit what they were aiming at.
There had been several near misses, but aside from splinter damage, neither Ark Royal nor Invincible were hit. Tovey decided the wisest course in the short run was to put range between his fleet and the German carrier. Vice Admiral Carriers reported that they had lost six Skua fighters in the action and four Swordfish trying to find and strike the Germans. Nobody got torpedoes in the water, and now this bloody weather shut the game down. They were just lucky they got most of their planes back safely. Another Swordfish was forced to ditch.
“We’re going to need more air cover, Mister Villers,” he said to his Flag Lieutenant. “Now where can I get it?”
“I can see about Beaufort support from Wick, sir. RAF has Number 43 Squadron there with Hurricanes, 269 Squadron has the American Hudsons we’ve received, and then we have 42 Squadron with Beauforts. No torpedoes yet, but they can rig out as bombers.”
“Beauforts have the range to get out here, but not the Hurricanes, and fighters are what we really need now. We can’t very well fight the German fighters with torpedo bombers.”
Villers hesitated, but ventured to inform Tovey of one other sad fact. “At the moment Wick reports they’ve received no deliveries of torpedoes for the Beaus, sir, but we can have them armed with bombs.”
“No torpedoes? By God, the Germans put BF-109s on the Graf Zeppelin, and here we sit on our thumbs and can’t even properly arm our aircraft! Admiralty will have to take a very hard look at that.”
“The Fulmars will be ready soon, sir. And Hawker Hurricanes are being considered for modification as catapult launched planes as well.”
“Yes, but they aren’t here at the moment, are they? No. We’ll have to play the cards we have, and I’ve just lost a jack in HMS Renown. The real worry now is that the Germans have a bloody pair of kings out there, and a queen back of them with Graf Zeppelin. If we press on and catch up with them, we’ll be outgunned two to one as it is. I need Holland and Hood now, and he’s off chasing the Twins.”
“Sir, if I may, we don’t have to fight here. We can withdraw and effect a rendezvous with Admiral Holland. We’ve taken a knock here, but we’ve done at least one thing. Jerry hasn’t turned into the Faeroes Gap. Our last sighting had them moving west. I think they’re going to run up over Iceland, Admiral. Perhaps the plan is to join the Twins.”
Tovey looked at the map, and thought hard. He had come east to fight and now he had lost Renown without ever getting Bismarck and Tirpitz under his guns! That German carrier out there was changing the rules of the game.
“What do we have at Reykjavik?”
“Sir? Well just two planes, Admiral, a Sunderland and a Walrus.”
“See if we might persuade Wick to send something better. Those Beaus of Four Two Squadron sound enticing, torpedoes or no torpedoes. Damn it, we need air cover, and more than Ark Royal can give us at the moment. Make a request for a Hurricane squadron to be sent to Iceland at once.”
“Most are assigned to homeland defense now, Admiral, but I’ll see what we can find.”
“You say the Fulmars are almost ready? I want them flown out if in any way possible. If they aren’t ready for a carrier landing we’ll pick them up at Reykjavik.”
Then he remembered the aircraft carrier he and Brind had discussed at Scapa Flow before the fleet sailed-Illustrious! He had a perfectly good carrier back home working up on trials, and with new aircraft as well, including these Fulmars.
“Mister Villers, I hadn’t thought to call on her so soon, but I’m afraid we’ll have to enlist the services of Illustrious as well. I know she’s still working up, but the situation appears critical to my eye now, and I want her out to sea and heading our way as soon as possible. And I want those Beauforts and Hurricanes. I know it may take some doing. The airfields on Iceland will have no equipment or service crews, but we must do whatever we can. The Germans can send their Stukas to bomb Iceland all they want, but they won’t sink it, eh? Those airfields are essential.”
“I’ll see to those messages personally, sir.”
“So… now we either shadow the Germans under threat of additional air strikes. Or we turn about and head back west to link up with Holland.” Tovey folded his arms, chin in hand, considering. “Very well, we turn. Come to 230 degrees. Damn good licking and off we go. We’ll turn this watch over to Nelson and Rodney, and it’s down round Iceland for us again. Then we find Hood and Repulse. It’s going to take a heavy fist to win this one, Mister Villers, a heavy fist indeed.”
* * *
18 June, 1940 ~ 08:00 Hrs
The German oiler Altmark was waiting at the refueling point as ordered. One of five ships in its special class, Altmark already had a storied history in the young war, providing able support to the Graf Spee on her sortie, and then causing somewhat of an incident on her return leg home. Sailing in neutral Norwegian waters with nearly 300 British merchant sailors captured by the German pocket battleship in February of 1940, the ship was spotted by an RAF Coastal Command Hudson bomber. Elements of the neutral Norwegian Navy boarded Altmark the next day, but did not search the hold where the prisoners were being held. So the job was soon handed off to Captain Phillip Vian aboard the destroyer HMS Cossack. The signal from the Admiralty was plain and simple: “Altmark your objective. Act accordingly.”
Vian did exactly that, hunting down the tanker in Norwegian waters with a small task force of British destroyers and the light cruiser Arethusa. In spite of a Norwegian protest over the violation of its neutrality, Vian forced a boarding of the German ship, which ran aground while trying to frustrate that operation with an ill considered attempt to ram the Cossack. The British prisoners were found and freed, and Altmark was left with a bloody nose, run aground on the rocky coast. Churchill and Lord Halifax had both weighed in on the in
cident, which caused a bit of a diplomatic row, and also served as fuel for Admiral Raeder’s argument that Norway must be invaded.
So the tanker had a way of finding itself in the center of the maelstrom, and finding its way to bad luck as well. It was renamed Ukermark and later fated to die in a freak explosion after delivering 5000 tons of gasoline to Yokohama, Japan in 1943. A spark from a cutting tool being used on the dock ignited residual fumes and the ship was nearly blown apart, a total wreck. Thankfully the crew had been ashore at lunch, and only 53 died, but the rest would not escape the bad luck of the renamed ship either. They would be dispatched to France on the German blockade runner Doggerbank, another ship that had been renamed, redoubling the bad luck. Crewman Fritz Kürt would later say that he could feel the black hand on the ship all along, and kept having fitful dreams, seeing the numbers 3 and 43 in his mind and by happenstance on the ship itself as they sailed through the wide lonesome stretches of the South Atlantic.
Doggerbank soon suffered the ignominious fate of being mistakenly torpedoed by a friendly German U-boat-three torpedoes from U-43 on the evening of 3 March, 1943, an eerie twist of bad luck and bad numbers. Fate had its bony hand on the throat of Altmark and her crew, and only one man of 365 would live to tell the tale. They thought they had escaped a fiery death in that explosion at Yokohama, but all they did now was bring their misfortune to the Doggerbank, which went into the sea in the middle of the Atlantic, a thousand miles east of Morocco.
Finally realizing its error, U-43 saw what it thought to be lifeboats, and edged closer to the flotsam of the ship, trying to question the survivors. In the fading light the U-boat could not get through the wreckage and close enough to hear them. So the German submarine turned and left the scene. Days later a single lifeboat was found by a Spanish tanker on March 29th.
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