by gerald hall
With the Cavalier circling overhead, it looked as though neither option would be possible. The flying boat would instantly see any uncovering of Kormoran’s guns and radio the light cruiser a warning. If Kormoran fired at the Cavalier, then the light cruiser would instantly know that Kormoran was an enemy ship.
“Do we fight or do we surrender, Herr Kapitan?” One of the bridge officers, Lieutenant Hermann Wetmer asked.
“That is a hell of a choice. I hate the idea of surrendering, especially this early in our voyage. But we cannot possibly win a fight against that cruiser, especially now with that damned flying boat circling over us.”
“So what are we going to do, Herr Kapitan?”
“I am going to save the lives of my crew. Pass the order to prepare to abandon ship. We will scuttle Kormoran and send all of her secrets to the bottom of the ocean.” Captain Detmers replied sadly.
To sow confusion with the light cruiser that was closing in rapidly, Kormoran transmitted the standard RRRR code for being attacked by a raider. Then Captain Detmers had his crew board the lifeboats while scuttling charges were set in the engine room.
“At least, the Englanders will never get ahold of our ship.” Captain Detmers confidently said while boarding the last of Kormoran’s lifeboats.
But Captain Detmers never counted on what happened next. As soon as Kormoran’s lifeboats were completely clear of their ship and had no chance of returning, the Cavalier dropped a series of smoke buoys in between the Kormoran and its lifeboats to obscure what the flying boat was going to do. Then the flying boat swooped in and made a daring landing right next to the abandoned raider. The Cavalier’s large nose door opened up to allow four inflatable boats full of commandoes to quickly paddle to the raider and board it.
One of Kormoran’s officers started to pull out a pistol to fire upon the boats approaching the abandoned raider but Captain Detmers stopped him.
“If you fire at them, we are all dead. Don’t you see what is aimed at us?” Detmers said as he pointed at the huge flying boat. Several machine guns, including a pair of fifty-caliber heavy machine guns in a dorsal turret, were all aimed at the German lifeboats.
Somehow, the crew of the flying boat knew from the very beginning what Kormoran was and where she would be, Captain Detmers realized to his horror.
The tables had been turned on the Germans as the commandoes from the Cavalier, all volunteers from the Derby militia and experienced in ship construction, rushed in a race against time to find and disarm the scuttling charges as well as close the sea cocks.
Captain Detmers’ heart sank after fifteen minutes when he realized that the enemy had successfully prevented Kormoran from sinking and now had control of the German raider. At the same time, HMAS Sydney was close enough to launch boats of her own to take control of the helpless German sailors.
This particular mission for the Cavalier was planned and ordered by Harold Cavill himself. As a young boy, Harold had visited the memorial for the men of HMAS Sydney. In the previous timeline, the encounter between Kormoran and HMAS Sydney resulted in a desperate battle at point blank range, sinking both ships. The entire complement of HMAS Sydney was lost as a result of that battle.
Harold not only wanted to save HMAS Sydney because of the desperate need for her later on in the war, but also because he had been so saddened as a boy at the loss of all of those sailors. He did not want to have to visit a memorial for HMAS Sydney ever again. This time, not a single life was lost on either side.
In addition to the capture of a fully intact German disguised raider, Harold’s commandoes were able to capture Kormoran’s secret codes including an intact Enigma encryption machine. A prize crew from Sydney was brought aboard Kormoran to sail her up to Derby. At the same time, the Kormoran’s crew were all taken prisoner and taken aboard Sydney for the journey back to an Australian port and internment for the remainder of the war.
Harold had his own plans for Kormoran, which he had immediately claimed under international salvage law. In agreement with the crew of the Cavalier, Captain Joseph Burnett, Sydney’s captain, agreed not to transmit anything about the capture of the vessel because of the importance of the Enigma machine that was taken from her. The capture of the raider was kept secret from all but a select number of Australian officials. Sydney’s entire crew was also given a cover story that the ship was a German blockade runner.
White House Oval Office
Washington, DC
December 7, 1941
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sitting in his wheelchair that morning just before eight in the morning, reading the newspaper when a Secret Service agent ushered in Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson inside. Both men had grim expressions on their faces.
“Mister President, It is my unfortunate duty to have to inform you that as of seven o’clock this morning, we are at war with the Japanese Empire.” Secretary Hull explained.
“What happened exactly, Cordell?” President Roosevelt asked as he put a fresh cigarette into his cigarette holder and lit it, blowing a cloud of smoke into the air.
“We received a formal letter from the Japanese ambassador stating that his nation could not accept any of the conditions that we set forth during our recent negotiations. The letter also stated that because of the extreme hardships that our most recent set of economic sanctions have inflicted upon the Japanese people, their leaders have decided that they had no more peaceful options. They have demanded that we drop all sanctions and withdraw all US military forces and personnel from Guam Island, the Philippines and all other outposts west of the Hawaiian Islands. The letter finally states that as of seven o’clock in the morning, Eastern Time, Japanese military forces have been instructed to fire upon any American forces within the areas mentioned including all waters between Hawaii and the Gulf of Aden.”
“Have the Japanese acted upon these threats, Henry?”
“Yes, Mister President. I’m afraid that they have. One hour after this letter was delivered and only thirty minutes ago, Japanese carrier-based aircraft attacked our naval installation at Subic Bay and the Army Air Corps field at Clark Field. We have also received reports of Japanese transports and warships approaching both the Philippines and Guam.”
“Have there been any indications of Japanese threats towards Hawaii or the US West Coast?”
“None, Sir. We sent out an alert to all American forces on the West Coast and in the Pacific immediately after we received this letter. All of our forces are on full alert. General McArthur sent us a message back from his headquarters in the Philippines stating that he was confident that he would be able to hold out against any Japanese invasion until a relief force could be dispatched.”
“Of course, McArthur would say that. He has always been a cocky son-of-a-bitch. You better tell Admiral Kimmel to start immediately preparing to send an expedition to the Philippines before that idiot McArthur manages to get himself killed out there. Kimmel better send the entire Pacific Fleet battle line so that there will be no question as to who is the real power in the Pacific.” Roosevelt commented.
“What about Kimmel’s carriers? Will they be going as well, Sir?”
“Of course, they will support his sortie to the Philippines. But we should keep them to the east to ensure that they do not get caught by enemy surface combatants.”
“We will have to mobilize a sufficiently large ground force to reinforce McArthur and send them along as reinforcements.”
“Of course, go ahead and do what you need to accomplish that. The troop transports can be covered by our carriers in the support echelon until the Japanese main surface force is defeated.”
“Yes, Sir.” Secretary Stimson replied.
“Have we heard anything from the Germans or Italians, Cordell?”
“Not yet, Sir.
“I hope that Hitler is foolish enough to go ahead and support his ally Hirohito by declaring war on us also. That will finally give us the excuse to throw
our full resources against him.”
“But what about the Japanese?” Secretary Stimson asked.
“I think that a crushing defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy by our Pacific Fleet will keep the Japanese at bay just fine.” Roosevelt confidently noted.
December 28, 1941
White House Oval Office
Washington, DC
“I can’t believe this, Harry. Even though the Japanese attacked our forces on the Philippines and Guam and Hitler has officially declared war on us, the America First movement has managed to convince most of the American public that we should not be sending our troops overseas to fight.” President Roosevelt growled after reading the latest edition of the New York Times.
At least they supported you sending the Pacific Fleet to the Philippines and extending our convoy defenses out to the mid-Atlantic.” Roosevelt’s closest confidant and administrator of the new Lend-Lease program
“Well, the Pacific Fleet should be getting within striking distance of the Philippines within the next couple of days anyway.
“Yes, Mister President. We are hoping that the British and French naval forces will divert at least some of the Japanese fleet from the Philippines. That way, we will still have an advantage in forces over anything that the Japanese will throw at us.” Harry confidently replied.
“Yes, that would help us considerably if the Japanese were to split their forces. Then we can defeat them in detail. That outcome would work well with our existing Plan Orange. Once we neutralize the Japanese, then we can find a way to convince Congress to let us act decisively against Hitler and the rest of the Axis.”
Unfortunately for the President Roosevelt and the US Pacific Fleet, the Imperial Japanese Navy chose to focus its naval forces against the incoming US Navy battleships. Like the US Navy, the Japanese also had their own equivalent plan to the American Plan Orange.
The Japanese plan was to be a battle of attrition against the Americans. The core of the American Pacific Fleet was its force of eight World War One era battleships, USS Oklahoma, USS Nevada, USS Arizona, USS Pennsylvania, USS Tennessee, USS California, USS Maryland and USS West Virginia. Only the USS Colorado was not present for this mission due to her being under overhaul at Bremerton, Washington. These battleships all had approximately the same maximum speed of twenty-one knots. This was established by intent so the American Standard Battleship classes could operate together well as a unit. This main battle line was screened by a force of six heavy cruisers, eight light cruisers, twenty destroyers and twelve submarines.
To the rear of the main battle line were the aircraft carriers, USS Lexington, USS Saratoga and USS Enterprise. They were being screened by the four heavy cruisers of Cruiser Division 6 and another twenty-two destroyers. The same screening force was also responsible for the protection of a convoy of eighteen transport ships carrying reinforcements for the Philippine Island garrison.
Japanese submarines started attacking the main body of the American relief task force once it got within five hundred miles of the Philippine Islands. The escorting American destroyers were able to fend off the marauding Japanese submarines, but not without some damage having been inflicted. The battleship USS Arizona took a hit from one torpedo but was able to get back underway in just under an hour. Two cruisers, both from Cruiser Division Five, were also hit by torpedoes fired by Japanese submarines. The heavy cruiser USS Chester was forced to retire back to Pearl Harbor after a hit to her bow nearly amputated it. Her sister ship, USS Northhampton was hit by three torpedoes and sank within minutes with most of her crew. Those two ships also accounted for nearly half of the radar-equipped surface combatants of the entire Pacific Fleet. Their presence would be sorely missed.
Over the next two days, aircraft from the three American aircraft carriers dueled with Japanese carrier aircraft of the Kido Butai. Fortunately for the Americans, they suffered little damage to their ships from the Japanese. The Americans defended their ships with extraordinary energy. But at the same time, the efforts to defend their own fleet meant that the American naval aviators were not able to execute many successful attacks upon the Japanese fleet. Both air fleets suffered heavy losses in the course of the conflict in the air at this point.
The night before the main battle, the Japanese executed a powerful night attack upon the American force. This sort of attack had been long planned and practiced by the Imperial Japanese Navy in anticipation of just such an encounter with the US Pacific Fleet.
The light cruisers Oi and Kitakami are key elements to this attack with their massed batteries of powerful long-range Type 93 torpedoes. They had been specially modified to carry and launch massive salvoes of these powerful weapons. At just after one o’clock in the morning, the two light cruisers each launched a barrage of twenty of these massive twenty-four inch diameter torpedoes at a range of just over twenty thousand meters.
Then the two cruisers turned around and less than a minute later fired a second massive salvo at the American force. Their torpedoes joined another fifty-eight similar weapons that had been launched as well by Japanese destroyers.
The Americans had no idea what was heading their way either. They knew that the Japanese were out there. But the Americans had no idea of the capabilities of the Japanese torpedoes.
“Sir, we have about fourteen surface contacts at about twenty-two thousand yards off of our port quarter according to our radar.” The radar operator aboard the battleship USS California told the officer on duty.
“What can you tell me about them, Mister Sykes?”
“This CXAM radar set is still pretty new. But the best that I can tell, they are all pretty small ships. Most of them appear to be destroyer-size vessels except for maybe these two here. They are a little bigger, so they might be light cruisers.
But all of these ships were maneuvering pretty strangely, especially the cruisers. Those two just paralleled our course for a few minutes, made a one-hundred and eighty degree turn, sailed in a straight line for a couple more minutes, then they turned away to the west. Who knows what they were doing? Those ships are barely in gun range. Since no one fired at us, I am guessing that their guns are shorter ranged than we thought.”
“Keep a close eye on your scope, Mister Sykes. We don’t want any of those ships to get in close to hit us with a torpedo.”
While this discussion occurred, nearly one hundred and fifty Type 93 torpedoes sped towards the American naval formation. The first indications of their approach was when an alert lookout on the destroyer USS Mahan spotted the iridescent glow of the passage of one of the torpedoes near his ship as the torpedo’s screws churned their way through the microscopic plankton. Just as the lookout’s alert went out, the destroyers USS Shaw and USS Cushing were both hit by torpedoes and literally cut in half. Another destroyer USS Blue had its bow blown off, but remained afloat due to heroic damage efforts by its crew.
Two torpedoes hit the Omaha-class light cruiser USS Richmond, causing a massive magazine explosion and shattering the warship. She sank in less than three minutes, leaving less than a dozen survivors.
After the explosive demise of USS Richmond, the American formation began to increase speed and zig-zag even more aggressively, thinking that the torpedo attacks must be coming from Japanese submarines. Even with the change in course and speed, the heavy cruiser USS Portland was hit in the aft engine room and badly damaged by another torpedo. The battleship USS Maryland took a hit in the bows, but her torpedo defense system was able to keep damage down with only a few compartments flooded. The damaged battleship was able to stay in formation with only a small amount of counterflooding to correct her initial list.
The last ship hit was the destroyer leader USS Porter on the far side of the formation. She had the misfortune of turning right into the path of a Type 93 that only had a few seconds left on her run. She was hit in the forward fireroom and left dead in the water. The Americans were indeed fortunate that only seven ships were hit that night.
Less than s
even percent of the Japanese torpedoes hit a target. Still, the damage inflicted upon the American force was very heavy. Over one thousand lives and five ships were lost that night as a result of that attack. Only Maryland remained with the force heading towards the Philippines. The heavy cruiser USS Portland was able to get back underway but was forced to limp back to Pearl Harbor for repairs. All of the other ships hit by the Japanese torpedoes were either sunk outright or had to be abandoned because the damage was simply to extensive for the ships to survive the journey back to Pearl Harbor.
The next morning, found the Americans still pushing on towards the Japanese. There had been numerous clashes between American and Japanese carrier aircraft that morning. But once again, the engagements in the skies were indecisive.
“Our battle line is limping but still intact, Sir. The battleships can only do about eighteen knots with the damage to Maryland and Arizona.” Rear Admiral Walter S. Anderson; Commander Battleships, Battle Force, Pacific Fleet, reported to Admiral Kimmel’s flagship, the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga.
Admiral Kimmel chuckled over the radio for a moment. “Well, at least now Oklahoma can keep up.” USS Oklahoma was the slowest and oldest battleship in the Pacific Fleet. She was also the only battleship in the Pacific Fleet that still had the old style reciprocating steam engines, unlike the others with more modern geared steam turbines or steam turbo-electric drives. So Oklahoma had struggled to keep up with the rest of the American battle line.
“In any event, we need to keep our battle line together so that we can mass our firepower against anything that the Japanese can throw at us.” Rear Admiral Anderson replied back from his flagship, the battleship USS West Virginia.
On the Japanese side, they are even more eager to begin the battle. Aboard the battleship IJN Yamato, Admiral Isokoru Yamamoto stood on the bridge, pondering the battle to come as the massive vessel closed on the American force.