CSS Appomattox: A Thomas Devareaux Alternative History Military Adventure (The Thomas Sumter Devareaux Series Book 1)

by Chris Stoesen

  Reece put a chart on the table in front of the group.

  “The German fleet has reached San Juan. Surprisingly, the Spanish managed to hold off the German fleet. The shore batteries managed a sucker punch and hurt one of the ironclads. The German fleet pulled back. As far as we can tell they are determining how they are going to approach the city.

  “Our plan is to hurt their fleet. We will launch an attack on one of their colliers or supply ships at night. The attempt will be to seize the ship and either steal it or sink it. Depriving one of the colliers or other supply ships may force the Germans to withdraw. They are close to that point after losing a troopship, three airships, a gunboat and a modern ironclad.”

  Looking to the original crew of the Appomattox, Reece complimented them.

  “Well done, by the way.”

  The meeting continued for two more hours. Once the meeting broke, everyone in attendance headed for their quarters. In the morning, they would board the Santiago and begin the journey south.

  Chapter 23: Seize the Night

  The men were now fueled on coffee. They had launched two days ago from the Santiago. Launching from the moving deck of a ship at sea was terrifying. The best that could be said was no one was hurt or killed.

  The airship was now at altitude. They were travelling low. On the horizon they could see the soft glow of the lights of San Juan. Slightly closer were the lights of the fleet. The troopships were lit up the brightest. Apparently large numbers of infantry have poor light discipline.

  To the west, they spotted what seemed like a likely target. There was a dark shape with a low super structure and no visible weapon mounts. Devareaux turned the wheel and aimed for it. They slowed down as well to move quietly.

  He spoke into the repeater.

  “Five minutes.”

  They continued to approach. The attempt will be to seize the ship with as little noise as possible. The marines were waiting in the boarding areas. It was uncomfortable. There were no crew quarters as that had been converted to a boarding area as well. Now the boredom was coming to an end and a nervous tension was racing through the whole crew.

  The night was overcast which blocked most of the moonlight. It was the light of the ships that they were aiming the ship by.

  Over the repeater a reply came.

  “Ropes attached and the doors open.”

  The new boarding areas had large doors that swung upwards and locked into place. Inside the doorway, the ringbolts were present for the drop. The marines would have linked in the ropes and be ready to kick them out of the airship.

  As the ship loomed into view, Devareaux knew he picked well. It was a collier that had a light on its bridge. Through his telescope he could see that the watch officer on the remote bridge was sound asleep. He was a civilian and not German Navy. The sleepy German sailor felt secure.

  The ship had masts up in the bow and stern from which the cranes would operate. The fore and stern castle were raised almost as high as the superstructure in the center of the ship. The one smokestack of the ship stood above the superstructure. They were on a perpendicular approach in their attempt to drop the marines onto the bow of the ship. It would be a tricky operation.

  “Two minutes.”

  They were now close enough that Devareaux could see the outline of the ship. There was a deck mounted Gatling gun in the bow that was covered in a tarpaulin. So it was not an immediate threat. The cranes on the deck were lowered so they would not be an issue, but the support wires and the masts could still be a threat. The Appomattox was higher than the bow mast so that should minimize the risk.

  “One Minute.”

  Movement, he thought he saw something on the deck. Where was it. There, a cat. The skipper allowed a cat aboard. Well, that makes some sense. Help keep the rats and other shipboard pests under control.

  From the repeater came the voice again.

  “Steady. Deck in sight. Ropes out, ropes out. First team go!”

  He felt the tremors through the deck. He was looking out of the bow glass and he could just make out the bridge and saw the door burst open and saw movement.

  A new voice called out.

  “Hold port.”

  The Appomattox had drifted and the port side lines were now above water rather than the deck.

  “Team two go!”

  A few seconds passed and the voice called again.

  “Team three go!”

  This was followed a beat later by the next command.

  “Hold Starboard!”

  The Appomattox had drifted some more. The ropes had shifted off of the deck and now all of them were dragging in the water. Neither side could be used any more. There was no way of getting the Appy back into position in order to drop more marines. Each hold command was linked to the ropes coming off of the ship’s deck for a straight descent. Devareaux pushed the throttles and began to gain more altitude. It was now up to the marines. Only 28 of the 42 marines had made it aboard the enemy ship.

  “Securing Doors Port.”

  “Securing Doors Starboard.”

  The Appomattox began to radio a preset report back to the Santiago that was waiting in the gloom somewhere to the north.

  …

  Upon landing the marines unhooked from the line and moved away from the lines to allow the next group down. They shouldered their carbines and fixed bayonets. Benjamin was in the first group down. He waved a hand and the first team began moving swiftly towards the superstructure and the enemy bridge. They were tasked with taking the bridge. Benjamin led his men to the ladder on the port side of the superstructure that led to the bridge.

  A hatch opened in front them and a bearded man in a watch cap stepped out yawning. He scratched his belly and was stretching. One of his men closed the ten steps rapidly towards the man whose eyes flew open when he heard the running steps. His mouth was still open when the bayonet took him in the throat. The large bladed bayonet was sharp and cut quickly, severing several major veins and arteries as well as the trachea. The bayonet was withdrawn almost as quickly as it was inserted. The bearded man grabbed at the wound in his throat and fell quietly to the deck.

  Two other soldiers ran to the door, he emerged from to ensure that no more men lurked within. Seeing that no other threats were present, they secured the hatch and rejoined their team.

  Benjamin hurried up the stairs. He had three men following behind him. They rounded the corner and continued up to the next level. He could now see the bridge. The interior door was open and two men were staring out the window. They had a rather universal look on their face that told him their thoughts, ‘what the hell was that?’

  One officer shook himself and looked out towards Benjamin. His eyes widened at the gray uniform and turned to do something. Not taking any chances, Benjamin fired. The large 10mm bullet smashed its way through the glass and slammed into the man’s back. He pitched forward and fell to the deck. He cycled the action quickly and pointed the carbine at the other man who simply raised his hands.

  The men accompanying Benjamin moved into the open hatch and rendered the man unconscious with a quick and expert butt stroke from his carbine. Benjamin entered the bridge and they secured the hatches.

  The wind whistled through the hole that Benjamin had shot through the glass. He could hear muffled pops from below where other marines had fired upon the crew. Now was the tricky part. Benjamin did not speak German.

  There was a standard steam ship bridge mocked up at Egg Island. This one looked similar but not exactly the same. He knew he had men assigned to cut the anchor cables. He had to trust that they would get their job done. He pulled his watch and looked at the time. He had secured the bridge in less than 2 minutes.

  He looked around at the rest of the fleet in the gloom. He could see flashes of light. It seemed that they had attracted some attention. He looked at his watch and waited until four minutes had passed. He reached forward and pushed the throttle forward. Nothing happened. The engine room needed to
be taken still.

  The ship changed its movement as the anchors were cut away and the ship was no longer secured by them.

  …

  Henderson and Ramirez leaned against the bulkhead. Henderson peeked around the corner again and a pistol shot rang out again and kicked sparks up in his vision as the shot ricocheted off of the wall and slammed into the rear wall of the corridor.

  Henderson shook his head as a torrent of angry German came at them from the end of the hallway. He backed up a bit and pushed Ramirez while he shouldered his carbine. He wanted to round the corner and attempt to put the man down. He took a deep breath and heard a noise. It was a faint click then there was the telltale sound of a brass casing hitting the metal floor beneath their feet.

  Henderson smiled and rushed around the corner. The sound of more German profanity and the click of a revolver cylinder being hastily pushed back into place reached Henderson. The man appeared through the hatchway with the pistol pointed out of alignment with Henderson. Henderson had his carbine shouldered and pointed down the hallway. With a quick press of the trigger the carbine boomed in the narrow hallway. The bullet found its mark and the man’s head shattered and the lifeless body fell to the deck.

  From within the room that the man emerged from, anxious voices cried out in panic. This was quickly replaced by cries in German.

  “Nicht shiessen, nicht shiessen!”

  Henderson mechanically racked the bolt ejecting the spent round from his weapon. He slammed home the next round. As he did this, Ramirez was moving quickly and moved around Henderson and proceeded down the hallway. Henderson nodded his head and the two quickly reached the doorway. They paused for just a moment and spun to face the open doorway.

  Inside the room were three men. Two dressed only in their underwear. Another had a shirt added to the ensemble. On the floor at their feet was a scattered deck of cards and a blanket. This was their quarters.

  The eyes of the German sailors were locked on their now dead compatriot and the gore sliding down the wall. These men had no fight left in them and Ramirez tied them up and closed the hatch on them. With a piece of chalk he put a check mark and his initials.

  …

  The team that opened the hatch to the engine room was slightly nervous. There were four of them. While they had reached the hatchway nearly unopposed, they had heard shots fired elsewhere in the ship. Now they could not hear anything due to the noise of the engine room. Corporal Gibson grabbed the hatchway and threw it open while the other three had their weapons trained on the room. A petty officer was standing near the hatchway with a pencil and a notepad in his hand. He was so startled, he dropped the pencil. Being a reasonable sort, he lifted his hands in surrender.

  The uplifted arms of the petty officer were enough to draw the attention of the rest of the crew in the engine room. There were only five men in total as the room was largely shut down for the night and the ship was at anchor. The men stormed the room and bound the crew.

  Sergeant Ethan Stanford pulled the paper from his pocket and began issuing orders for getting the engines going. The ship needed to get underway if they were going to survive.

  …

  Benjamin picked up the captain’s binoculars and looked out into the night. There was a gunboat getting closer to them. It was signaling as well. While the binoculars were at his eyes, the ship began to move. Hot damn, they might be able to pull this off. Benjamin doused the light on the bridge. If they could get lucky, they might get away.

  …

  Devareaux circled out and came back towards the collier. Why were they not moving yet? What has gone wrong? He lifted his telescope to his eye and looked down. He spotted the flashing lights of the gunboat and saw that it was moving closer to the collier.

  He looked around the enemy fleet. So far, this was the only ship to react. Devareaux reached for the repeater and got the connection for just the bow and stern guns.

  “Gentlemen, we have an issue. There is a gunboat that is paying our friends a bit too much attention. I am closing on it. When I give the order, open fire on the gunboat. It is flashing a code of some kind at our collier. Benjamin cannot answer. We need to cover his exit.”

  The three gunners responded right away with their aye, ayes and the Appomattox moved in to support the marines.

  The collier was losing ground. The gunboat had been in motion longer and was already up to speed. The slower and larger collier was taking its time to move. It also had a crew of combat marines and not sailors controlling it. It was not a fair chase.

  …

  Benjamin was suddenly blinded when bright sodium light from over the bridge of the gunboat was lit and shone directly onto the bridge of the collier. Benjamin nearly dropped the binoculars as his left hand swept up to clutch at his burning eyes.

  “Great merciful…. Aaaahhhhhggghhh, that hurt!”

  He was doubled over trying to see something besides a giant white spot.

  “Keep us away from that thing.”

  He said as he pointed in the vague direction of the brightness.

  The other two men complied and stood at the wheel. Benjamin slowly rose and could almost make out the controls on the bridge.

  That was when there were flashes from above him and to his left that drew his attention. The starboard and bow Gatling guns from the Appomattox opened fire on the gunboat. The sodium light was the focal point of their attack. The light exploded in the first seconds of the firing. The Appomattox fired a sustained burst of close to a full minute on the approaching gunboat. The gunboat began to turn to starboard which forced it to turn behind the collier.

  The Gatling guns were not the same as the previous hand cranked version that Octavius had on his topside battery in the original Appomattox. First off, these were a dual mount so there were two of the guns. Second, these were driven from a single poppet valve. When the poppet was depressed, it allowed a flow of pressurized air from the steam engine that would cause the barrels to rotate and simultaneously would fire the guns. When released, the weapons would stop firing.

  This arrangement and that the two guns were slaved together actually greatly increased the rate of fire of the guns and the volume of fire that could be placed on a target. In addition, the guns had extended magazines that used a light spring instead of a pure gravity feed. Using the rotating nature of the turret and using gravity fed magazine would render the guns useless when pointing nearly straight down without the addition of the spring. The crew of the gun of the ship was increased to five allowing for one gunner, two loaders and two more men to prepare magazines. This gave the weapons a theoretical sustained fire rate of close to ten minutes, but the crews never had sufficient magazines to keep such a barrage up or the ammunition to do that more than once. It was viewed as wasteful to engage in such a barrage against any opponent.

  …

  It was the marines’ lucky day. Other ships began to turn on their sodium lights and begin to wave them around looking for who knows what. So much light attracted all sorts of attention that the Germans did not want. One of the shore guns from San Juan fired. It landed a shell well short of the German fleet, but close enough that it certainly was disturbing to the men on those ships.

  The last thing that happened that ensured the success of the operation was an explosion. The SMS Kaiser’s stern was rocked by a torpedo hit. A fountain of water leapt into the sky as the Kaiser was struck. Apparently, the submarine support that the Confederacy had sent had arrived in Puerto Rico. They were observing the German fleet and took advantage of the chaos and fired a torpedo. There was no return fire.

  The lights began to swing first to the Kaiser and then out to the water beyond looking for the submarine that had launched it. The Germans were unable to find a target. With the submarine attacking from the northwest, the guns of San Juan from the south and some momentary bright flashes in the sky to the northeast, things were confused for the Germans.

  The Confederates took the collier and steamed away to t
he north. Both airship and collier headed towards the Santiago. The Appomattox trailed the collier to guard against pursuit. The nearly unarmed collier would be defenseless against any of the German warships. Luck was with them as they slipped away into the blackness of night.

  …

  The Appomattox was able to secure itself to the tender two days later. The seas were rising and it made the operation difficult. Two of the ground crewmen were injured in the operation. Fortunately, neither injury was life threatening. One man had a broken arm from being thrown against a bulkhead. The other was knocked senseless and had to be grabbed by one of his friends before he fell overboard.

  The gondola of the Appomattox was quickly reset. The rocket batteries replaced the rappelling bays. The Gatling guns were left in place. Figuring that the Gatling’s were as useful against surface ships as the Winans guns, they did not waste the effort in switching them out. The airbag remained in place. With the interior framework, it could not be collapsed. This made the ship far less seaworthy in a storm. The Santiago put on all steam and headed back to Georgia as quickly as possible to avoid the approaching storm.

  The collier followed the Santiago in its wake. They arrived at Egg Island by midnight the next day. The storm arrived shortly thereafter. The collier was sent further up the Altamaha River. The Santiago was bound to the dock and the crews moved to the barracks. The storm lashed the island with wind and rain for five long hours.

  When the storm had finished, the crew ran out to inspect what was left. The airbag of the Appomattox was shattered. The dock that the Santiago was secured to was buckled and broken in several places. The Santiago itself seemed to have weathered the storm just fine. The windows were broken out of the bridge, but it looked as if it was still seaworthy.

  The ground crew and the crew of the Appomattox climbed aboard the Santiago to begin repairs on the Appomattox. They crawled all over the inside of the airbag. Several ribs and horizontal supports were broken. By sundown of that day, they had a full idea of the damage that had been wrought. Several of the ribs were broken, but the boilers, props and prop shafts were all still in good condition. With the damage that the Appomattox sustained, the airship would be out of action for at least several weeks if not longer.