“Lieutenant Grove, may I have a word please?” the executive officer spoke quickly as they passed.
“Sir,” Peter quickly responded.
“When you get to the radio room, would you please make sure the ratings monitor the communications coming from our Canadian friends. The captain wants to get a feel for how they are responding to orders as well as to any informal chats they may be having on the network.”
He turned to shake hands with the American officer who Captain Walker had told him about, and even though he was a man on a mission, actually many missions, he smiled warmly saying, “Lieutenant Brand, it is good to have you and your sergeant onboard today. I hope we can give you a good feel for what we do and how we do it. Please feel free to see me if you have any questions or if you have any suggestions that would help us.”
Brand quickly replied, “Sir, thank you for your offer, but I doubt if I can provide you with any help. This ship and its crew have an excellent reputation, and Admiral Noble told us that if we were to learn anything about anti-submarine warfare, the Stork would be the best teacher.”
Commander Hawkins was taken aback by this comment but in a good way. To hear the commander of Western Approaches had told this American that his ship was the model of proper anti-submarine operations was quite impressive. “Thank you for your kind words, Lieutenant. I hope that after today you will still be able to think that Admiral Noble was correct in his assessment. Carry on gentlemen. I will talk to you after the exercise.”
Peter led the two Americans down to his duty station which included the newly installed radar set, a new improved version of the HF/DF system and the various radio systems, including the ship-to-ship system that greatly improved communications between the escort vessels. Most of the merchant ships had a wireless system, but some were only basic Morse code units, so voice communications were not always possible.
The Royal Navy and the commodore of the convoy still used a series of flags, lights, and horns to inform the other captains of a command. These commands might be as simple as “close up” if a ship was falling behind or “fall back” if the ship was getting too close to one of the other ships in convoy. Other times it could mean life or death. Signals were established for “sighted submarine” which also included a compass heading to tell the ships where the U-boat was in relation to the convoy. Other signals could tell the commodore and the escorts if a ship had been hit, was on fire, or was sinking. At night, a series of horns provided information as did aerial rockets, which had different colors indicating various commands to all the ships in convoy. The auditory signals were also a means of last resort.
Before any convoy, the commodore and the commander of the escort vessels would hold a meeting with all the ships’ captains to go over the routing instructions, emergency signals, recognition signals and intelligence so the merchant ships could be informed as to their responsibilities in the convoy. Places within the lines of ships, sometimes five lines with more than ten ships in a line, would be announced. The most valuable cargoes, usually the oil tankers or in fast convoys, troop ships, would be in the center, making the ships on the outside the easiest targets for the Germans. No one wanted to be on the end of the convoy line and especially in the two-quarter positions astern. This was called Deadman’s Corner because a trailing U-boat would often pick off these ships during a wolf pack attack while the other boats would try to penetrate far into the convoy, thus pulling the escorts inside, leaving the outside ships even more vulnerable.
The number of escorts was also a challenge to the Royal Navy planners. How many escorts were enough, when they knew there were limited numbers of sloops and frigates? What was the absolute minimum number of escorts for a convoy of forty ships or only twenty ships? The Western Approaches command knew they did not have enough of any type of escort vessel, so the mix of ships was the best they could establish. If six escorts were deemed the proper number for a convoy of twenty ships, but only four were available, how did they allocate the various types of ships? There appeared to be no answer yet, but Blackett was working on this problem.
Admiral Noble was trying to fill the gaps as best he could so in Captain Walker’s Thirty-sixth Escort Group there were only two sloops, which had both longer range and heavier weapons to deal with both submarines and possible surface warships which might be prowling around. Walker had no large destroyers in his group, so the Stork and one other sloop were the largest escorts. He had been assigned the two Canadian Flower Frigates working with him today.
Recently added to his group were two Isle-class trawlers manned by Royal Navy Reserve crews and hastily armed with only one twelve-pound cannon and three twenty-millimeter Oerlikon cannons, and some depth charges. These vessels with a crew of forty men were only 150 feet in length and had a displacement of 750 tons, which was about the same displacement as the Type VII U-boat designed as a fighting ship and not a fishing vessel. The trawlers were good in dealing with the Atlantic storms, even better than the Flower-class frigates, but they had a top speed of only twelve knots, much slower than their U-boat quarry. But Walker knew this was all he was going to get, so train up and do the job entrusted to you.
Commander Walker explained the exercise to both Captain Jameson and Lieutenant Brand as a way of developing basic anti-submarine skills by having the escorts work together in specific maneuvers that would provide uniform coverage of a convoy. He had developed several attack scenarios based upon where an attack had happened or, better yet, where a U-boat had been sighted. The lack of escorts reduced the defensive options for the escort commander, and he needed to be sure that a specific ship would drive home an attack on a submarine while the other escorts took up supporting positions.
The worse scenario, Walker explained, was the lack of coordination between the ships and everyone taking off on their own to find the enemy submarine. Drills were necessary to combat the instinct to respond to an attack without understanding the entire situation and therefore disregarding the safety of the ships in the convoy. Walker had developed the tactics the escorts could use whenever the convoy was attacked. This was the purpose of today’s drill.
*****
The Stork exited the harbor with Jameson looking ahead as two small wooden coastal minesweepers worked their way through the channel. These small boats went out every morning to sweep the channel and occasionally found evidence of the Luftwaffe dropping mines. Often these sweepers would find the dreaded magnetic mine that exploded when it sensed changes in the magnetic field as a large metal ship went over it. The British had found one of these in the mudflats on the Thames estuary the previous year and now understood how they worked and how to defeat them. This still required the minesweepers to search the area looking for German mines of all types. Walker told Jameson that he thought these crews had the most dangerous jobs in the navy and the loss of many sweepers attested to this brutal form of warfare.
An hour out of Liverpool, Walker started the exercise. He had arranged for a Coastal Forces MTB to be the stand-in for a German U-boat and to maintain a maximum speed of sixteen knots during the exercise, simulating the speed of the German Type VII submarine. He was unsure of where it would appear or when, so he had advised the captains of the two Canadian Corvettes to be ready for any eventuality. He had notified the radar room that it would be their responsibility to find the fake German before they could get in range for an attack. Peter was enjoying the responsibility and had double checked the new radar installation on the Stork and had all his technicians standing by to work out the kinks in the new system.
The two Corvettes dropped back about six hundred yards behind the Stork and about eight hundred yards from one another leaving the Stork in the lead. The small formation looked like a triangle with the Stork out front and the two Canadians on each corner. This position simulated a convoy with the two Corvettes at the back end of a medium size convoy. From this location, they could range across the stern of the convoy and move forward to defend or attack as require
d. The two Canadian ships did not possess radar but were scheduled to get the equipment when they arrived in Halifax on their next trip across the Atlantic. Now the crews of all three ships were at battle stations waiting for their orders to go into attack mode.
Captain Jameson and Commander Walker were scanning the seas ahead as were four other lookouts scattered about the bridge. Sea conditions today were quite calm for the Irish Sea, and visibility was between two and five miles with scattered fog banks and low clouds, which made it a perfect day for an attack by the MTB enemy. The sooner a submarine was sighted, the faster the escorts could attack and drive it down so the convoy, with a normal speed of eight to ten knots, could escape. That was, of course, the main idea for the convoy escorts to drive the sub deep, hold it down and destroy it if possible.
But with few escorts, a corvette or frigate couldn’t hang around to keep the German down for long. This is what frustrated Walker and the other captains of the escort groups; there were simply not enough escorts to prosecute an attack on the enemy. The goal of the escort group was to get ships safely to port, and if this included sinking a U-boat, then it was a good thing but not the prime goal.
Brand watched the crew in the radio room where the radar set and HF/DF were located as they moved their dials and readjusted their equipment to find the enemy. Brand knew the new centimeter radar that had been recently installed on the Stork should pick up a submarine, or in this case the MTB, ten to twelve miles out, but there were no guarantees because of the newness of the operators and the vagaries of the equipment.
These technologies had operational flaws, and they were known to go down at the worst times from the shock of explosions, hard maneuvers of the ships, or power fluctuations. Peter informed James the system had been rewired after one of the first tests because the power circuit for the radar system coupled with the other equipment in the room had shorted out from the high amount of power required to run everything. A separate power cable now ran from a different junction box, and they hoped this would solve the problem. It was impossible to know if it worked until they had a combat situation that would stress the system and the crew.
The little flotilla had been sailing due north up the Irish Sea for well over an hour with no contacts. Walker had told the captain of the MTB to take his time and “think like a bloody German.” He wanted to make the drill as real as possible and gave the young MTB officer carte blanche in his part of the drill. So far, Walker thought, the young lieutenant who ran the patrol boat was doing a respectable job in keeping them waiting and watching.
“Sir, I’m picking up something at about eight miles on a heading of two hundred thirty degrees, south-southwest,” the young twenty-year-old rating who operated the radar reported. Peter jumped over to the set and watched the screen as the radar swung around once more to the area where the rating had seen the blip. Sure enough, it appeared again, and it looked like the heading was just as the rating reported.
Peter picked up the handset that was a direct link to the bridge and the bridge talker; a senior yeoman handpicked for the job by Walker. The yeoman answered immediately saying, “Bridge.”
“Radar reports a contact at two hundred thirty degrees, south-southwest at around eight miles out. Cannot tell the speed but the bearing shows it moving this way.”
The bridge talker quickly relayed the information to the captain, who picked up the handset so that he could talk directly to Peter. “Mr. Grove, are you sure of this contact? What speed?”
Peter looked at the screen again, and the radar operator repeated the course and direction but now at seven miles and closing. “Captain, we still have the target with the same heading. I would estimate the speed at fifteen knots, over.”
Commander Walker looked in the direction of where the MTB was moving and could not see anything except the low clouds and spray covering the sea. He gave the microphone back to the yeoman saying, “Talker tell radar to provide updates every single minute. Flags prepare a hoist of ROSE 2. Engineering prepare for full speed on my order.” Flags was a senior yeoman who had the responsibility of hoisting various signal flags and using the signal lights if required to have the other escort ships conform to new orders which were part of the pre-planned command word.
Walker picked up the radio phone for the newly-installed talk between ships radio system (TBS) and spoke, “Prepare for ROSE 2, target two hundred thirty degrees south-southwest at seven miles. Acknowledge, over.” Quickly the two Canadian captains came back on the radio with quick responses. Walker picked up the handset to talk once again to the radar room. “Mr. Grove, where is he now?”
Peter looked over the shoulder of the radar operator who pointed at the target now bearing further to the north. “Captain, the target is now on a course of two hundred forty-five degrees, same speed at about six miles out.”
Walker put down the handset and peered out toward the sea in the direction of the MTB. He looked at the two Corvettes then glanced over at Flags saying, “Hoist the command. Engineering, full speed ahead, come to heading two hundred sixty degrees, prepare all guns.” He picked up the microphone for the TBS system and repeated the command, “Execute ROSE 2.” He did not wait for a reply because he was looking at the two Corvettes now changing course.
He could see the heavier smoke coming out of the two Canadian’s stacks, and saw one Canadian to his stern port side execute a ninety degree turn to head toward the MTB. The other Corvette began to put on speed to head to the port side and take up the position replacing the departed Corvette. This defensive posture was designed to keep as many escorts between the enemy and the convoy as possible. This worked well when there was only one U-boat to deal with, but when several attacked at once, the escorts were overwhelmed. Still, as Walker thought, it did change the defensive situation to favor the escorts. His ROSE 2 command would let two escorts prosecute the enemy, and the other escort would take up a position to maintain the integrity of the convoy and provide some sense of safety to the merchantmen.
The Stork moved toward the location of the U-boat, but Commander Walker had the ship steer back to the original heading while he watched the Canadian Corvette head toward the MTB. He looked back at the other Canadian Corvette and saw it was now conforming to the original heading and taking station as dictated by the ROSE 2 order.
He looked over at Captain Jameson who smiled back at Commander Walker saying, “It appears that your orders were well executed and that the Corvette is prosecuting the suspected U-boat.”
Walker put down his binoculars and turned to Jameson. “What appears to be so, sometimes is not. These exercises hopefully prepare the young men with a semblance of proper procedure that will take them a long way when the real thing occurs. As we all know, reality can be quite different than plans.”
Grove was again on the circuit to the Bridge talker, “Enemy contact still on course two hundred forty-five at six miles and seems to be slowing. I show our Corvette on a reciprocal course heading at fifteen knots toward interception.” The talker repeated the information, but Walker did not say anything in return. He had ordered reports and did not need to respond. The silence helped him concentrate on the overall view of the battle situation.
The radar operator suddenly spoke loudly startling Grove, “Sir, I have a new contact bearing thirty north by northeast, range seven miles and closing, speed cannot be valued yet.”
Grove immediately picked up the phone to the bridge talker, “Bridge, new contact, bearing thirty degrees, north by northeast, range seven miles, and closing.”
The bridge talker repeated the information to Commander Walker who immediately shifted his binoculars to the new direction and new threat. He then picked up the phone to the radar room. “Grove tell me what you have. Please verify.”
Grove looked at the screen again as the radar operator pointed out both targets and he reported, “Sir, the new target is moving on a course of thirty degrees heading straight for us at sixteen knots and is now five miles out and clos
ing. The original target has shifted back to a course of two hundred thirty degrees, closing now at four miles. The Corvette is within one mile of the target and should be in the range of his deck guns shortly.”
Walker put down the phone and watched the charging Corvette within range of the MTB. As he was about to focus his view to the new threat, he heard a shot from the Corvette’s guns, aimed far and wide of the target but still giving the crew a chance to practice.
Walker searched in the direction of the new target, which was captured in a cloud of low hanging fog. He then looked over at Flags, “Prepare to hoist, LILY 1.”
He then picked up the phone for the TBS system and both Corvette captains answered almost immediately. “New target bearing thirty degrees north by northwest at seven miles and closing. Prepare to go to LILY 1.” He heard an affirmative response from both ships and then with the handset still at his mouth, he looked over to Flags and said simultaneously to him and the Corvette captains, “Execute LILY 1.” The signalman immediately hoisted the new command and Walker looked back at the second Corvette now swinging out of formation to head to the starboard side of the make-believe convoy. As he witnessed this, Walker ordered, “Engine room, full speed. Guns set range and prepare to fire on my command. Depth charge crews set depths to fifty feet and prepare all racks.”
Men scurried about as if they were in a real life or death situation. Gun crews were at battle stations loading real shells in their four-inch guns, and the smaller weapons systems were charged. Depth charge crews scurried about to adjust the depth settings on the deadly explosives. The crews held up their right arms to show they were ready to drop on command. Officers and senior petty officers passed along readiness reports to the bridge.
Mission to Britain Page 16