Mission to Britain

by J Eugene Porter

  Grove continued to provide follow-up reports but now on two targets. The radar operator seemed to be a bit more nervous as he watched the screen displaying more information than normal. He now had two fast moving targets on distinct parts of the screen with three ships maneuvering to counter the movements of the enemy vessels.

  James noticed other crew members in the cramped radio room watching the radar man more than they were paying attention to their equipment. He would discuss this with Grove later.

  Lieutenant Grove seemed very calm and quietly communicated to the radar operator to keep him from getting too anxious. Grove reported, “Bridge, contact one at two hundred thirty degrees appears to be turning on new heading forty-five degrees off his previous position. Looks like he is trying to pull our Corvette towards him. Contact two is still on a steady course toward our ship. The other Canadian Corvette is now in position and holding course.”

  The bridge talker repeated the information. Commander Walker visually followed the target’s actions and the slow-moving Corvette. He knew the U-boat was faster than the Canadian by at least two or maybe three knots, so he could stay away from the Corvette and shadow the convoy. The second contact was heading straight for them and still was not visible. The fog was heavier now, and the visual range was down to two miles or less. The MTB could get in very close, but still, it would be out of torpedo range. The Stork had a top speed of twenty knots so that it could catch a Type VII in many cases, but if the submarine dived, it changed the dynamics of the chase. The submarine would be hard to track at a great distance, and they had to be careful of an attack from the U-boat if they got sloppy in their search. Walker made a note for future reference when he might have adequate resources.

  A lookout yelled, “MTB on the starboard bow, looks like two miles and closing!”

  Walker and Jameson moved their gaze to the new heading, and they could make out the bow wave of the MTB moving at a good clip toward the Stork. Walker picked up his handset and said, “Guns, prepare to fire over and to the port of that MTB using both forward guns.” The gunnery officer immediately replied, “Ready to fire, sir, on your command. We promise not to hit him.”

  Walker who had a profound sense of dark humor replied, “Guns, make sure you are several hundred yards off him because I would hate to have to fill out the paperwork on the loss of one of His Majesty’s torpedo boats.”

  Guns replied, “Yes sir, we will keep the shot wide and far.”

  Walker picked up his binoculars once again and spoke into the handset, “Guns, commence fire!”

  Two shots went out from the forward gun mount within a second of each other. Jameson saw the shots fall a good two hundred fifty yards behind and to the left of the MTB who immediately turned to the right and began to fall back.

  Walker picked up the handset to the radio room and asked, “Grove, please give me a report on the course of the second MTB and their speed.”

  Grove looked at the screen and caught the look of frustration on the face of the operator. “Sir, the radar set is down. We will reset all breakers, and I will report back to you as soon as possible.”

  Walker did not respond but picked up his binoculars to watch the second MTB slide into the fog bank some two miles away. He could not see the first MTB at all but could see the Canadian Corvette still slogging in its last known direction.

  “Damn it to hell,” Walker said as he looked again at the Canadian Corvette. Jameson heard the comment and looked at Walker who quickly responded. “We lost the radar system again. There seems to be a problem when we shoot off our guns, or there is a heavy vibration such as when we drop a depth charge. Bloody thing is not adapting well to an escort environment, but it is so important to get this right.”

  Jameson moved closer to speak without being overheard by the lookouts. “I’ve heard this before on even large ships. It is one of the things Lieutenant Brand is examining on this trip. I hate to say this, but I’m glad it failed on this exercise, so he could see it for himself and hopefully come up with some remedies.”

  “Agreed, Captain. These drills are to test both man and machine. We need to find out the weak points early, so we don’t have to deal with them in the middle of the bloody Atlantic.”

  Walker told the bridge talker to open a circuit to the MTB over frequencies given before the ship left port. The radio room complied with the captain’s request and soon notified the Bridge talker that the MTB commander was available. Walker picked up the handset for the higher frequency radio and spoke to the MTB commander. “Canary, this is Jaguar, copy.”

  The radio was a little squawky as is often the case on warships, but a voice quickly came back. “Jaguar, this is Canary. How did we do?”

  Walker responded, “Canary, well done and very true to form. Hope we did not cause you any problem with our long shots, over.”

  “Jaguar, no problem since we expected some shooting from you. Shall we do this again? Over.”

  “Canary, no, let’s call it quits for today. We have some problems to resolve but thank you for your assistance. The first drink is on me. Over.”

  “Jaguar understood, we will stand down and return to port. I will be waiting for you at the club. Over.”

  “Canary, thanks for the time. See you later. Over and out.”

  Jameson smiled again commenting, “That seems to be a good group to work with, and I would guess this kind of training is good for their future operations as well.”

  “Yes, Captain, when I set this up with the Coastal Forces commander, he was very enthusiastic because his boats are always trying to pounce on German coastal convoys that are often very hard to locate and harder to attack. They had some nasty encounters off the French and Dutch coasts but are doing a good job of keeping Gerry in check. It helps us greatly because I cannot just order up a submarine from the Admiralty to make this appear real to the men. The MTBs serve well as surrogates, and any real-life training is better than none.”

  Jameson nodded in agreement and looked over at the Canadian Corvette which was now returning from its chase of the MTB to begin its slow return to base in Liverpool.

  James watched as Grove and the radar technician inspected connections to the unit and as other men in the radio room double checked their equipment as well. A chief petty officer who was the top enlisted expert on board for anything electrical had come up from the engine room and started to check the wiring. He tore open the junction boxes, looked at various gauges and dials, shook his head and commented to no one in particular, “The Stork was never meant to have these boxes and doo-dads on board. Bloody hell, where are we going to put all this junk?”

  Grove heard the remark but said nothing. He lay on the deck tracing wires from the radar console back to their couplings, hoping to find a loose connection. The radar technician was looking at each of the vacuum tubes to see if there were any broken ones or ones with loose filaments which could stop a tube from working properly. Brand jumped in and started to look at the power cord connectors and spotted a cord that was cracked where the cord head entered the back of the radar console. He felt it, bent it a bit and noted it was probably shorting during vibrations. He looked over at Grove and pointed at the cord he was holding.

  Grove looked puzzled and sat up. “Damn thing,” he pointed at the crack in the wire casing.

  The radar technician crawled over from where he was lying on the deck looking at wires, and he agreed, “Damn, these things seem to be fraying all the bloody time, sir.”

  James motioned toward the cracks, “How old are the cord and the connector?”

  The technician thought for a moment. “I think she’s original, sir, so that would be two months on the ship and probably longer in its shipping box.”

  Grove looked at the cord again and then spoke to James. “If this thing is only two months old, why did it fray?”

  James looked at the cord, went down on the deck of the ship, and started to pull on the wire and the other wires leading to the console. He saw t
here were also two tubes that looked damaged as well but didn’t want to comment on them as long as the technician was present. He should have found these during routine inspections and replaced them, but that conversation could wait.

  “Peter, I think the shock from the guns going off probably was the last straw for this connection. We need to provide more shock absorption for the console and need more slack in the wires. If you were to add another foot to each cable run and then loop them with some soft tie device and have it swing free, that should help reduce fraying of the wires and cables.”

  Brand pointed to the bottom of the radar assembly saying, “Also, by getting this console to absorb shocks better, it would limit the damage from not only guns going off but also normal engine vibration. If we could put the console on some sort of rubber cushion with two or even better three layers of padding spaced appropriately, I think you could reduce this problem by at least fifty percent. I will draw up a simple solution before we dock.”

  Grove saw the logic in Brand’s solution, which while not elegant would work. He quickly agreed. “Lieutenant Brand, thank you for the marvelous idea. I should have seen this before, but I’m glad you are here to help us out. For a colonial, you’re not a bad person.”

  Everyone in the room laughed. James being very laid back by nature quickly waved to all of them in recognition and smiled back. He looked over and saw the chief petty officer who had lamented the power issues caused by the new equipment and asked him for a moment of his time. “Chief, do you have any insulation on board, perhaps some rubber or something similar?”

  The chief sought permission to respond from Sub-Lieutenant Grove who nodded. “Sir, we have some things we use in the engine room and may have some rubber. What were you thinking of doing?”

  James gave him a quick overview of a three-stage shock device that would dampen any major jolts to the system and how it could be built and installed. Grove listened to the young American walk through his idea and got the concurrence of the grizzled old petty officer who now stroked his chin and shook his head agreeing that the idea would work.

  The petty officer turned to Grove saying, “Mr. Grove, this idea seems rather straightforward, and I’m ashamed I didn’t think of it. It’s simple and may help out in other areas within the ship.”

  He turned to James and asked, “Sir, if you can sketch this out, I can get it built by tomorrow morning. I think I have most of what you are asking for on board and if not, I can find it in stores ashore.”

  James looked at both men and smiled his “ah shucks” American grin. “Chief, do you have some paper and a pencil?”

  Part 4

  13

  29 March 1942

  Roseneath Naval Base, Scotland

  • Marines arrive at Efate, New Hebrides.

  A courier was waiting for the HMS Stork when it docked in Liverpool. He carried a request from Admiral Noble for the Americans to meet him at his office. The courier also carried a large file marked TOP SECRET from the office of Admiral Lord Mountbatten. James was sad to leave the ship and its hard-working crew, but when he met Commander Walker on the dock to say goodbye, the commander had a surprise for him. He presented him with a small ship emblem and told him how much he appreciated his ideas for fixing the radar system.

  Walker also thanked him for working with the entire radio room crew and especially the chief petty officer. The chief had met with Commander Walker just after the Stork had secured all its lines and explained suggestions the young American had made to improve the operations in the radio shack. He also told the commander about Brand’s ideas on how to redirect power from another connecting box which could be used as a hot standby for all the electronics in the ship.

  James was pleased to receive the ship emblem which was a special gift given to few outsiders of the ship’s crew. Walker addressed the Americans saying, “Captain, you and your young associate can come on any ship in my command as long as I have the energy to be a captain in His Majesty’s Navy. You, Mr. Brand, have a great ability to see through problems quickly and provide solutions without pissing people off. That is a gift which will serve you well for many years.”

  Walker turned to face Jameson saying, “Captain, I should think that Lieutenant Brand will make a fine captain one of these days and heaven help any enemy who gets in his way. Thank you, gentlemen, for your assistance and your ideas. I shall look forward to trying a couple of Lieutenant Brand’s ideas on setting depth charges to shallower patterns and shorter spacing. Sounds like a good idea to me but please do not tell the Admiralty. They hate things not set in some old dusty book.”

  Captain Jameson and Brand thanked him for sharing his knowledge and experience, then James sought out Peter for one last farewell. Peter was still trying to figure out how James found the wiring problem so fast and solved it just as quickly with such a simple, yet elegant solution. They exchanged contact information and hoped that they would see each other soon. A driver was waiting outside the dock gate, and the two officers and two Marines sped off to the office of Admiral Noble.

  *****

  The communication from Lord Mountbatten was simple, but Jameson thought it very important for learning more about combined operations. He requested the two officers and their Marine guards go north and join Flannigan at the Commando School in Scotland. Once there they would see practice sessions for amphibious operations conducted in the cold fjords of Northern Scotland. There was also a recommendation from Admiral Ghormley. He had heard about the invitation from Mountbatten, and asked the science team to stop at the newly constructed U.S. Naval Base at Roseneath outside of Glasgow which was on the way to the Commando base. Jameson thought this an excellent idea because Admiral Willson had requested the team to look at any American installation and provide reports on the status of these facilities.

  Admiral Noble arranged for their passage north from Liverpool to Glasgow which was about two hundred miles north and an easy train trip. Once they arrived, Noble also arranged a staff car to take them out to Roseneath which was an hour from the Glasgow station. So early in the morning, they caught the train to Scotland, and upon arrival, a navy rating was waiting for them with a large American Ford staff car for the four Yanks.

  The commander of Roseneath Naval Base was Commander Theodore (Ted) Evans. He had overseen the completion of the construction since early December. Base construction had begun in mid-summer 1941 with civilian contractors from the United States. Roseneath had been a small Royal Navy facility before it was handed over to the Americans and was established as the end destination for much of the Lend-Lease shipments. Now with the full involvement of the United States in the war, Roseneath was growing each day to become one of the largest logistic hubs in Britain. The other major advance base being set up was in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

  Commander Evans received a telegram from Admiral Ghormley informing him of a visit by a special team which worked directly for Admiral King and to extend them every courtesy. Evans did not care a bit about any American staff people showing up to look at what he and his group of sailors, contractors, and Scotsmen had accomplished, nor did he feel like he had the time to show these people around the area. The last thing he needed was a group of staff snobs getting in his way of building the base. The plan was for the construction of 749 Quonset huts plus extensive wharf systems for unloading ships of both men and material and then building large storage areas for all the supplies and ammunition. A railroad spur line had already been completed which sped up the distribution of supplies to American bases now under construction all over Britain.

  Evans met the British staff car as it pulled into the parking area in front of Roseneath Castle which was headquarters for the base. He saluted the navy captain and welcomed him, and a lieutenant junior grade who he guessed was some sort of aide de camp for the captain. He did not expect to see two very determined Marines armed with submachine guns escorting the two navy officers. This gave him a bit of alarm as to who these officers were,
but he put that thought out of his mind for now.

  “Welcome, Captain, Lieutenant. My name is Ted Evans, and I’m the commanding officer of this facility. I hope that I can accommodate any request you might have, sir. I’ve asked my executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Weston, to assist you.”

  “Commander Evans, thank you for your welcome and offer of assistance. What I need right now is the direction to your nearest head. I’m still not used to the English coffee or tea or whatever it is they’re serving these days on trains.”

  Evans smiled and thought the captain might be a regular person after all. “Follow me, sir. We have excellent facilities which we just installed in the castle. Probably the most modern head in the United Kingdom but please, sir, don’t tell anyone about this because we may get too many visitors.”

  “Well said and it will be our secret, Commander.” Jameson and the rest of the team followed the commander into the old castle and down one of the long corridors to a large dark oak door which had a newly painted sign which read, MEN. The two officers and the two Marines entered and enjoyed the experience greatly.

  Commander Evans and his executive officer took the team on a tour of the castle which now had the look of a large warehouse of office furniture with wiring strewn across the walls and ceilings. The old place was not wired for electrical service and the temporary setup failed to have enough power outlets for the new owners. Each of the office areas had temporary signs stating, Paymaster, Post Office, Personnel, Supply, Infirmary, Shore Patrol, etc. Dozens of men were busy pecking away on their typewriters with piles of carbons, so everything could be done in the necessary six copies plus original—the real secret to winning any war.

  Several Royal Navy Wrens were also working as file clerks stuffing papers into file cabinets or boxes arranged on the floor. The office staff didn’t even notice who had entered the room and before the executive officer could say “Attention,” Captain Jameson whispered to him to let them continue doing their work. Jameson did not believe in all the ceremony of rank, and Commander Evans appreciated the demonstration of practicality.