Untimely Designs

by gerald hall

  “Well, gentlemen. You are certainly a welcome sight right now.” Admiral Holland replied as he looked up at half a dozen of the oddly shaped Dragonfly tandem-wing fighter-bombers from Effingham flying overhead. The Dragonflies were low enough for the admiral to see that each aircraft was carrying a five-hundred pound bomb under its belly as they raced towards the German force.

  Following behind the Dragonflies were two squadrons of Swordfish torpedo bombers from Formidable. It was evident to everyone on Hood that the Swordfish were heading towards Bismarck. The Dragonflies were heading in the same general direction. However, the bombs that they carried would not be effective against a heavily-armored battleship like Bismarck. The pilots of these aircraft obviously had other targets in mind for their bombs.

  The order was given to all of the ships to cease fire while the Swordfish and Dragonflies made their attacks on the German ships. No one wanted to accidentally shoot down one of their own aircraft with a shell intended for Bismarck or one of her consorts.

  The approaching aircraft could see Bismarck, Admiral Hipper, Prinz Eugen, the two surviving destroyers and the two fleet torpedo boats. The cruisers were in the lead while the lighter ships formed a defensive circle around Bismarck.

  The Dragonflies focused their bombing attacks upon one of the big German destroyers while the Swordfish turned and dove down to near wave-top level to make their attacks upon Bismarck. Crewmen aboard King George V and the other British warships watched as the Dragonflies dived down, dropped their bombs and then strafed the German destroyer with their heavy machine guns. Most of the bombs were near-misses, but one of the bombs struck just forward of the destroyer’s bridge, destroying the dual fifteen centimeter turret there and starting an intense fire. The British sailors cheered loudly when they saw the fire and smoke sudden erupt from the targeted enemy destroyer.

  A heavy barrage of antiaircraft fire erupted from Bismarck as its gunners frantically fired at the incoming British torpedo bombers. Several of the Swordfish were hit and tumbled into the ocean. However, the rest continued to press their attacks upon the German battleship. Two of the Swordfish got within point blank range before dropping their torpedoes in spite of all of the tracers being directed towards them. Both of the torpedoes hit Bismarck amidships, heaving huge columns of water into the air and drenching Bismarck’s decks. Neither weapon was able to defeat Bismarck’s torpedo defense system. But additional leaks erupted inside of the battleship’s citadel from shock damage, slowing Bismarck even more and compromising her combat effectiveness.

  “All ships, open fire on Bismarck now.” Admiral John Croyn Tovey ordered just as soon at the last of the Swordfish cleared out of the line of fire for his capital ships’ main guns.

  Even though both Hood and Rodney were now out of the fight due to battle damage, Admiral Tovey now had two fast battleships and two fully modernized battle cruisers with him. Tovey had no illusions about what Bismarck could do if she singled out one of his battle cruisers with their relatively thin armor. However, he fully intended that Bismarck would never have that chance.

  Tovey also knew that Bismarck would never be able to outrun his force either, especially with the aircraft from four aircraft carriers to strike at the German battleship in support. He just had to bear in on his prey and tear it apart like a pack of dogs harrying a wounded bear.

  But the light was beginning to fade as sun began to set in the west. This was making targeting harder for both sides as darkness fell.

  “Sir, Bismarck is turning towards us again according to Norfolk’s radar. The lookouts on a couple of our destroyers are also reporting that Bismarck’s destroyers are laying smoke this time also.” King George V’s communications officer reported about an hour after sunset.

  “Begin evasive maneuvers and prepare to engage. We don’t want her to get a lucky shot in on us. Watch those destroyers as well.” Admiral Tovey ordered.

  As the British naval force prepared for another engagement that night, Prinz Eugen and Admiral Hipper both immediately turned north, back towards the North Sea and even further away from Admiral Tovey’s force. The destroyers’ smoke screen successfully hid the heavy cruisers’ movement away as everyone’s focus was on Bismarck.

  On and off, throughout the night, gunfire roared as the great ships fired at each other. The two surviving German destroyers made one final attempt at a torpedo attack against the British capital ships. Unfortunately for the Germans, radar-directed fire from Phoebe and the battle cruisers quickly reduced the attacking large destroyers to burning wrecks. During the nighttime artillery exchange, the battle cruiser HMS Renown also joined the massive force that had been marshalled against Bismarck.

  When morning broke, Bismarck was almost in range of Luftwaffe bombers. But the Fleet Air Arm reached her first.

  Sirens began to sound throughout the ship as the first Swordfish torpedo bombers slowly came into sight. Twenty-two Swordfish from carriers Effingham and Formidable broke up into half a dozen separate groups as the biplane bombers dove down from an altitude of five thousand feet to just above the tops of the waves. The Germans began to fire every weapon at their disposal at the lumbering biplanes

  The Swordfish could barely fly over one hundred and twenty knots while carrying a torpedo. Yet their courageous crews continued to fly towards the huge German battleship through a sky filled with tracers and red hot steel fragments.

  Seven of the Swordfish were shot down before they could even get within range to drop their torpedoes. But the other fifteen aircraft, some barely flyable because of battle damage, got close enough to drop their torpedoes.

  Three more of the Swordfish were shot down right after they conducted their drops, but the rest were able to turn away and head back to their carriers.

  Captain Lindemann ordered Bismarck to make a series of radical maneuvers to try to avoid the fifteen torpedoes that had been launched against her. He was almost completely successful. Two of the torpedoes did hit Bismarck. But they hit the German battleship in the most heavily armored portion of her hull, doing little real damage except to soak everyone on deck with cold seawater from the warhead explosions.

  Admiral Lutjens watched the bravery of the British airmen as the latter closed to near point-blank range before dropping their torpedoes. He was relieved to hear that the torpedoes had inflicted only minor damage. However, the real purpose of the attack soon became evident a few seconds later when at least twelve heavy caliber shells straddled Bismarck.

  The aircraft had distracted the Germans long enough for the British battleships and battle cruisers to get back into effective gun range. The next British salvoes began to hit Bismarck very hard.

  Bismarck shuddered once again from a hit from a heavy British shell. The flag bridge began to fill with smoke almost immediately.

  “Sir, the bridge was hit badly. There were no survivors.” A battered young lieutenant wearing a torn and smoke-stained uniform grimly reported after staggering onto the flag bridge.”

  Admiral Lutjens looked at the despairing eyes of the wounded young officer. Captain Lindemann’s death meant that the German battleship would be even less able to fight off her pursuers with the loss of his leadership. Half of Bismarck’s main armament had already been smashed into uselessness by the hammering of the Englanders’ guns. Her secondary armament was in even worse shape. Still, the battleship’s gunners continued to gamely fire back with the weapons that they still had available. Bismarck had scored a couple of hits on King George V with her main guns. But the damage was too little to drive even that one ship off, especially not with three Englander battle cruisers and one of King George V’s sister ships also attacking from all points around Bismarck. The German battleship could only focus its remaining heavy guns at one ship at a time now.

  A few moments later, the deadly Englander shelling stopped. Many of Bismarck’s surviving crew breathed a sigh of relief from the brief respite. But Admiral Lutjens knew what the pause meant.

  “Achtung! P
repare for aerial attack.” The admiral immediately ordered, not that it would have done much good. Many of Bismarck’s antiaircraft guns had been destroyed by the British bombardment.

  A flight of fourteen flimsy-looking biplanes from HMS Ark Royal came into view, slowing approaching just above the waves. Each of the archaic Swordfish carried an eighteen-inch diameter torpedo however. This was the same combination of aircraft and weapons that crippled the surviving Italian battle line only a couple of months earlier.

  Admiral Lutjens had a justified confidence in the strength of Bismarck’s torpedo protection. It had been hit twice already by Swordfish-borne torpedoes with little real impact on the battleship’s effectiveness. However, there would be little defensive fire available to disrupt the aim of the Englander pilots this time. There was always a chance that a torpedo could find a weak point in Bismarck’s defenses and strike a critical blow, especially with the increased ability for the Swordfish to close before making their drops.

  Tracers from Bismarck’s surviving antiaircraft guns began to reach out towards the incoming Swordfish. But the volume of fire was so diminished that the enemy pilots barely took any evasive action at all. They just bore in until they were at point blank range before releasing their torpedoes at Bismarck’s starboard side.

  One after another, six tall plumes of water erupted against the side of Bismarck. The battleship shuddered and whipped around with each detonation. The armored belt continued to stand up well to the torpedo hits, with relatively little flooding inside the inner compartments. Unfortunately for the Germans, one of the torpedoes hit the starboard propeller shaft, causing it to bend. The warped shaft then destroyed the seals that kept water out of the interior shaft compartment. This caused the compartment to flood.

  One of the petty officers within the engine room shut down the shaft, but not before it had done significant damage to the reduction gears as well as the shaft seals. The loss of power to the starboard shaft and other hull damage cut Bismarck’s speed down to less than twenty knots. The German battleship was also far less responsive to the helm. But worst of all, the flooding was reaching Bismarck’s engine rooms now.

  Admiral Lutjens felt Bismarck slow down. He immediately realized that the battleship would never make it to port. The wolves were closing in on her for the final kill.

  “Tell the crew to prepare to abandon ship. We will need to set demolition charges and open the sea cocks so that the Englanders can never get their hands aboard this ship.” He told one of the surviving crewmen on the flag bridge.

  Mere moments after the word was sent to abandon ship, the volume of fire from the assembled British armada redoubled as the British closed in for the kill. Admiral Lutjens felt another salvo of heavy shells strike Bismarck amidships and saw a blinding flash of light for an instant as a fifteen-inch shell from HMS Repulse struck the bridge tower.

  Then Admiral Lutjens and all of the remaining personnel on Bismarck’s flag bridge felt nothing at all.

  “Keep pouring it on, men. We’ve got to sink this bastard.” Admiral Tovey told the warships of his command even as he saw the flash from the hit on Bismarck’s flag bridge through his binoculars.

  The last of Bismarck’s main and secondary guns finally fell silent due to direct hits by British guns. The great battleship was burning in multiple locations while already listing to starboard. Shell splashes continued to erupt all around Bismarck while flashes of white light from direct hits continued to appear at the same time. She was practically motionless now. Her main engines were no longer running as the flooded engine rooms had already been evacuated by their personnel.

  “Sir, the Germans are abandoning ship.” One of the bridge lookouts cried out as he looked through his binoculars at the battered hulk that used to be the pride of Hitler’s navy. He saw streams of German sailors climbing Bismarck’s sides and jumping into the water.

  “Cease fire.” An exhausted Tovey ordered. “Send in the destroyers and cruisers to pick up survivors. Have your lookouts continue to watch for U-Boats however. The safety of our ships must come first.”

  The heavy cruiser HMS Dorsetshire began to come alongside the battered hulk when Bismarck shuddered several times as the scuttling charges went off. Within thirty seconds, the battered hulk capsized and slid under the waves, leaving hundreds of German sailors bobbing in the ice-cold waters.

  Dorsetshire and three British destroyers quickly moved in and began to pick up survivors. By the time that they were done, the British had saved three hundred and fifty seven German survivors from the water.

  The British capital ships had already turned towards Scapa Flow, cruising at only ten knots to save fuel. The lone exception was HMS Renown. Her fuel status was still very good after a relatively short journey. She turned and headed back towards Gibraltar at nearly twenty knots instead. HMS Rodney had also immediately turned to return to base upon receiving the news of Bismarck’s sinking. She was limping along at ten knots as this point due to the heavy battle damage that she had received.

  Unfortunately for her, Rodney’s path took her directly in front of U-124. U-124 was the leader of a four U-Boat wolfpack that had been trying to reach Bismarck to help.

  Now, all that they could do is reap some small measure of revenge.

  Rodney and her destroyer escorts slowly plodded their way toward safety. But Rodney’s slow speed made it easy for U-124 and her consorts to move into position. Two hours later, they launched their attack.

  A lookout aboard Rodney was watching the waters around her when he spotted the telltale streaks of bubbles racing towards the British battleship.

  “Torpedoes coming in from the front port quarter!” was the warning he cried out to his shipmates.

  Just as Rodney began to turn to try to avoid the incoming torpedoes, another lookout spotted a second set of torpedoes coming in. Only this time, they were coming in from starboard. It would be impossible to avoid both torpedo salvoes.

  At least four torpedoes slammed into HMS Rodney, tearing huge holes in her sides. The stricken British battleship quickly began to list as her escorts furiously attempted to hunt down Rodney’s attackers.

  Within five minutes of being hit, Rodney’s captain knew that the battleship was doomed. The order to abandon ship was reluctantly given by the captain. Rodney’s escorts raced back to pick up her survivors while the U-Boat wolfpack looked for other prey to hunt.

  Less than fifteen minutes after the order to abandon ship was given, HMS Rodney rolled over and sank, taking over five hundred of her crew with her to the ocean depths. Captain Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton was among the crew lost with HMS Rodney that day.

  With half of the German capital ship fleet gone and the Japanese threat growing in Southeast Asia, Prime Minister Churchill ordered the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battle cruiser HMS Repulse to Singapore just as soon as the battleship’s repairs were complete.

  Chapter Seven:

  Light Cruiser HMAS Sydney

  On Patrol Southwest of Australia

  November 15, 1941

  “This should be a pretty uneventful cruise, Sir.” Sydney’s first officer noted as he watched the horizon with a powerful set of binoculars.

  “I should hope so. We had more than enough excitement while we were deployed to the Med. The most that I expect to see will perhaps be a German blockade runner. I could do without being shot at again for quite a while. We had quite enough of that while we were deployed to the Mediterranean.” Captain Joseph Burnett calmly replied.

  Just then, a messenger came up from the wireless room and handed the captain a message. Sydney’s captain read it for a moment before handing it back.

  “It appears that we are going to have a little aerial support soon. It seems that someone believes that one of those damned German raiders might be operating in our area. So they have detached one of those big Cavalier flying boats to provide us with some additional eyes.”

  “Well, if we can avoid having to use our own scout pl
ane for aerial reconnaissance, I am more than willing to accept the help.”

  “Aren’t those Cavaliers supposed to be passenger aircraft, Sir?”

  “Some of them are. But the man who builds those aircraft has also started building an armed version of his flying boat as well.”

  A lookout began to point towards the eastern horizon. A tiny dot in the sky began to grow into a massive six-engine aircraft that flew a thousand feet over the light cruiser. The growl of the six big radial engines filled the air as the flying boat flew over the Australian light cruiser.

  The flying boat was still low enough for the personnel on the bridge to see the machine gun turrets mounted in the aircraft’s nose, tail and various other points. They could also see a combination of bombs and depth charges hanging from six hardpoints under her wings.

  The flying boats began to fly a series of search patterns in front of and around Sydney. It all seemed quite ordinary after a couple of hours.

  “Captain, that flying boat must have found something. See how she is flying in tight circles out there about fifteen miles away from here?”

  A few moments later, an urgent message was brought over from the wireless room.

  “I guess that you were right, Commander. The Cavalier says that they have found a suspicious vessel out there.

  “Shall I call the ship to Action Stations, Sir?”

  “Yes, go ahead and make it so. We don’t the crew to get complacent, especially since someone else will be watching us, do we?”

  On board the disguised merchant raider Kormoran, the mood was that of sheer terror. Captain Theodor Detmers knew that he could not outrun the Australian light cruiser ever since his lookouts spotted the light cruiser. So the German captain had only two real choices, try to convince the warship that Kormoran was simply an innocent freighter in the hopes that the Australians would simply sail on by or get in close and ambush the light cruiser at point blank range.