Praise for
Sheppard and the French Rescue
“Another fascinating tour de force of naval warfare by the author and a fitting sequel to his first. His seamless blending of historical fact and fiction brings alive the maritime engagements of World War II so vividly that it almost makes us seafarers want to get on to a plotting sheet and recreate the maneuvers of the gripping Fleet actions. The skillful portrayal of Captain Sheppard of the Argonne battling his own insecurities and yet rising to the occasion is so typical of good leadership at sea and all those who have driven warships and submarines would see a little bit of themselves in him.
“G. Wm Weatherly has indeed emerged as the foremost author of authentic naval action and on par with some of the best before him.”
— Commodore A Jai Singh, IN (Retd), Vice President, Indian Maritime Foundation
“Well, he’s done it again—G. William Weatherly that is—or his avatar CAPT Sheppard McCloud, Commanding Officer of the storied Battle Cruiser USS Argonne, as they continue their extraordinary exploits within an alternative history of World War II—the way things might have been, given that a different butterfly was accidentally stepped on at some distant place a long time ago.
“Although it certainly helps if this book is read after reading its precursor, Sheppard of the Argonne, this is not a requirement, since . . . The French Rescue stands well on its own. What makes these series of books so unique is that they are not just another “action” piece full of sound and fury (although there is certainly plenty of that!), but that the author captures as only one who has been there, the nature not only of Command itself, but the agonies of difficult decisions, the politics of a military hierarchy, and the almost paternal pleasures of watching subordinates blossom under your tutelage. Those who have ‘been there, done that’ will recognize all of these nuances, and those that haven’t will learn from them.
“Although I remain amazed at the detail to which this submariner has captured not only the engineering, mechanical details, and tactics of major surface warships, but also the innovative manner in which he employs what was then cutting edge technologies. For example, the VT (Variable Time) or “proximity” fuse. Vannevar Bush, the head of the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), which initiated, controlled funding, and coordinated all wartime weapons development during WWII (including the Manhattan Project), declared that the most significant war-winning development of the conflict was not the Atomic Bomb, but rather the proximity fuse. CAPT Sheppard employs this then very secret device in ways probably never envisioned by its inventors.
“I would highly recommend Sheppard and the French Rescue regardless of whether the prospective reader does or does not consider him or herself relatively knowledgeable about history or naval matters. You can be assured that those areas about which you do not feel knowledgeable are indeed accurate—which is not always the case about other works in this general genre.”
—CAPT Jim Patton, Jr., USN (ret), Naval Submarine League
“As I finished Sheppard and the French Rescue, I sat in stunned silence contemplating what I had just read. I am a retired submarine officer, but have not commanded a ship. I came up through the ranks and so have experience on both sides of the demarcation line between enlisted and commissioned. Following my years in submarines, I surfaced to serve on submarine rescue ships, and later on NOAA research vessels, so I have a broad seagoing background from which to draw.
“Most people know nothing about war at sea. Their view of a ship’s captain is that he is just the guy in charge. Anyone reading Sheppard and the French Rescue will learn the truth, that a warship’s captain is the body and soul of an integrated fighting machine, that he is an extension of his guns, torpedoes (and in the modern world, his missiles). The captain fights his ship, aided by the men he has trained, relying on their expertise to carry out his battle needs, trusting them, relying on them, and leading them. I have never seen this concept so clearly laid out as in this novel. G. William Weatherly, a former warship captain, knows his stuff and has the skill to bring it to his readers in a way they can understand – not only the big picture, but what is happening in gun turret 4, or wherever else the immediate action is taking place.
“Beyond this, Weatherly takes his reader into the minds of the forces opposing Argonne and Captain Sheppard McCloud: German submarine skippers, Italian capital ship commanders, German aircraft pilots, and even the field grade officers urging their troops into frenzied battle. The reader also gains insight into the bigger picture: the British allied vessels, French senior officers, and French resistance ground forces.
“Weatherly has recreated World War II battles, but with a twist. His story takes place within the larger picture of a world at war, but his ships and the people manning them are constructs he employs to tell his fascinating story. The backdrop is real, the nature of the battles is authentic, the infrastructure is accurate, but the actual story originates in Weatherly’s fertile mind. Far from lessening the impact of this novel, this technique allows Weatherly to explore his flawed hero, his less than perfect participants, as they play out one strategic situation after the other, keeping the reader turning pages, while educating him or her to what it is really like in the throes of heated battle at sea.
“This book is a bit technical, but without this detail, it would be much less of a book. It is a must read for anyone interested in WW II, war at sea, fighting capital ships, and the role submarines played in the sea-battles of WW II.”
—Robert G. Williscroft, PhD
Author of the Bestselling Operation Ivy Bells
and The Starchild Series—modern hard science fiction
“Having read G. William Weatherly’s French Rescue, I can congratulate him to another superb book after Sheppard of the Argonnne! Again I suffered and hoped with Sheppard, and again I enjoyed the author’s outstanding style of writing that does not circumvent problems or technical or tactical details, but elaborates on the stuff that was and still is the essence of our wonderful naval profession. Again Weatherly lets his protagonist, the commanding officer of the monstrous battle cruiser Argonne, apply unconventional tactics, be it to save his ship and the people entrusted to him, be it in high risk maneuvers to outwit the enemy. And with every line and with great subtlety, he achieves to bring Sheppard’s warmhearted character ever closer to the reader.
“I feel inclined, however, to admit that—as a German and as a submariner—my emotions interfered with my pleasure of reading another of Weatherly’s thrilling novels. It’s the Germans he describes, getting obliterated by Sheppard and his men, be it at sea or ashore. It’s 1942, the heyday of actual history’s “Operation Drumbeat”—and still the author does not grant the German U-boats any chance of even the smallest success. I would understand if it had been 1944/45, when even getting to the U.S. east coast had been an achievement in itself, let alone the sinking of a ship . . .
“Emotion wells up in me, because—like most Germans of my generation—I have fallen uncles to mourn, two of the three having perished in the theaters of war which this splendid book deals with. Every “swine” (in French Résistance fighter César’s words) among those Krauts was a deplorable individual seduced into a war of aggression, their ideals and their bravery exploited by a ruthless band of brown-shirted criminals . . . But still they were humans—and in a way Weatherly does them justice by letting Sheppard always have morality in the back of his mind when he goes through all the dilemmas he is thrown into by having to kill the enemy.”
—Raimund Wallner
Captain German Navy (ret.)
“William Weatherly’s Sheppard and the French Rescue is a worthy and most readable
sequel to his first novel Sheppard of the Argonne. The author adeptly and skillfully continues to develop the character of Captain Sheppard McCloud, giving the reader an insight into the thoughts and private life of a brave but very human captain who, in his super-capable battle cruiser, is pitted against the odds. However, McCloud’s competence, innovation, and resourcefulness, supported by a first-rate crew, enable him ultimately to achieve success.
“Continuing the theme of an alternate history of the Second World War, where there had not been the constraints of the Washington Naval Treaty upon warship building, this novel focuses upon a scenario where the US has developed battle cruisers of great size, phenomenal speed, and immense firepower. Weatherly, with ever an eye to detail and realism, vividly and grippingly describes the shock and awe of gun actions between capital warships.
“The plot is centred upon the avoidance of the French fleet from falling into the hands of the Axis Allies at a critical time early in the Second World War. McCloud in Argonne has a pivotal role in achieving this. Weatherly skilfully develops a sequence of events and characters which grip the reader’s imagination and attention.
“In sum this book is a superlative narration of the complexities and demands of warfare at sea and is very much in the mould of C.S. Forrester’s Hornblower series. William Weatherly is to be congratulated in delivering a novel which has all the ingredients of a first-rate read which describes maritime warfare in the WWII era in a very comprehensive but understandable style.”
—Captain Dan Conley, OBE, RN, co-author, Cold War Command
Sheppard and the French Rescue
by G. William Weatherly
© Copyright 2017 G. William Weatherly
ISBN 978-1-63393-360-6
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The names, incidents, dialogue, and opinions expressed are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S NOTE
PROLOGUE
1 CONTINUANCE
2 HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
3 UNDERWAY
4 DIPLOMACY
5 INVASION
6 RESCUE
7 WITHDRAWAL
8 COORDINATION
9 TIPPING POINT
10 TRADITIONS
END NOTE
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Sheppard and the French Rescue continues the story of Sheppard McCloud begun in Sheppard of the Argonne. Though this novel will stand on its own and lays out the strategic situation for the next volume, I would encourage my readers to enjoy Sheppard of the Argonne first. This work makes reference to many events from the first work as well as character development contained therein. I have included the prelude of the first work as an end note to outline how I arrived at this alternative history with its larger ships and more difficult strategic situation.
Writing alternative history presents a plethora of choices. In this series of books, I chose to accelerate some technology development such as ship building, metallurgy, ordinance, and radar, while keeping others such as aircraft close to the actual timelines since that development was not restricted by treaty. Using fictional names for ships can be confusing where a ship of that name actually existed in WWII. For American ships, I slavishly followed naming battle cruisers after famous American battles grouped by ships of the same design, to battles of the same war, aircraft carriers after famous sailing frigates, cruisers after cities appropriate for their size, and destroyers after historical naval personnel, mostly Medal of Honor recipients. Battleships are not named, but would follow historical traditions. Nation designators (USS, HMS, FNS, or KMS) are only used where the historically accurate named ship actually existed. Names for allied and German warships followed their conventions to the best of my limited abilities.
To my several editors’ frustrations, I have mostly followed naval usage and style from the early 1940’s period, so please forgive the deviations from The Chicago Manual of Style. Spelling and usage of the rank and position of the ship’s captain as a reference or in conversation may have driven them to drink.
War in the twentieth century was dictated by technology. Presenting that without detracting from the battles and struggles of the protagonist and other characters , I hope, leaves the reader with an understanding of why events can be shaped by the tools of war as much as by the men that controlled them.
PROLOGUE
HE WAS ALMOST HOME. Not his home, but close to Evelyn’s arms. For the moment the memories of what he had done; the screaming wounded as the white phosphorous burned into them—could be forgotten. He knew that the images would return from dark recesses of his memory that everyone wished were not there. They would haunt him in the night when his conscious mind was not occupied or distracted by Evelyn’s beauty. The men, thousands of them screaming in German; writhing in agony as his shells exploded above them, the only relief to throw themselves into the sea. Oceanic swells left no tombstones, no markers for young lives snuffed short at his order. At least this time, in this battle; the men were not his.
Sheppard had succeeded in preventing Schröder from raiding Great Britain’s lifeline—the convoys. But had he? Those ships still served Germany—would be repaired to raid again. Was the price of temporary success too steep? Was he never to enjoy a peaceful respite away from Evelyn’s arms? When would his men learn the truth of his tormented soul? At what critical moment would they question his judgment—his sanity? The only certainty was that there would come a time. It would be his men that screamed, bleed, and died. It would be his fault—all his fault. There would be no one else to blame for his sailors’ deaths.
Had they already guessed the price he was paying? Were the accolades only an attempt to ease his tortured mind? If they were, they failed. He knew what he had done. Nothing would change it. The war would continue. That was a given. More war, more battles, more death; would that be the only future for the “great” Captain Sheppard McCloud and the battle cruiser Argonne?
1
CONTINUANCE
“CAPTAIN IS ON THE CONN,” boomed the Boatswain’s Mate of the Watch.
Captain Sheppard Jackson McCloud, hero of the raid on Pearl Harbor, savior of the West Coast from air attack, victor of the Battle of Cape Vilan, and war criminal had slowly made his way up to the secondary conning station of his ship—the battle cruiser Argonne. Tall, at an inch over six feet, and still athletically trim, he was dressed in his khakis with black tie and his usual spit-shined black shoes, but his steward, Petty Officer First Class George Washington Carver Jefferson, was already hanging his number two set of blues in his sea cabin, appropriate for entering port later on what should be a beautiful May morning tomorrow. The only problem was that to meet the tide and current constraints at the Philadelphia Navy Yard Province Island Annex, his ship would have to begin the transit up the Delaware River on a very dark night.
He had to admit that even though he had been able to rest his leg for the transit back to the East Coast; his surgically repaired left leg had not gotten better. Sheppard resigned himself to the fact that his limp was a permanent part of his gate just as his slightly bent nose was a reminder of his time on the Naval Academy boxing team every time he shaved his black but now flecked grey whiskers. As usual, his Marine orderly Corporal Pease in his open necked khaki shirt and blue trousers with the brilliant crimson strip on each leg, followed behind in tow. Where able,
Pease would follow on Sheppard’s left, slightly behind, but matching his step precisely—right leg moving slightly further than Sheppard’s left allowed.
When they reached the O-12 level of the command tower, Pease opened the joiner door to the secondary conning station, allowing Sheppard to pass and be greeted by the emphatic words of the Boatswain’s Mate of the Watch. Sheppard was surprised that Commander Arthur Roberts, his Command Duty Officer, was not availing himself of the padded leather high back swivel chair of the conning station. Set slightly to starboard so that the helmsman had a clear view of the bow, that chair had been Sheppard’s home for the voyage to the northwestern coast of Spain and the battles with Vizeadmiral Schröder’s German raiding fleet. Now it was his welcoming respite from the long climb on his damaged leg.
“Good evening, Commander,” Sheppard casually said as he surveyed the condition of the watches on the conning station with his pale blue eyes, squinting against the brilliant sun close to the western horizon. A slight smile crossed his face as he noted the same formal watch-keeping practices that he used. Such small observations spoke volumes about Art’s readiness for command of his own ship. As Sheppard’s Command Duty Officer for the tow of the badly damaged battle cruiser Belleau Wood, Art had acted as Argonne’s captain in almost everything. His skill at ship handling and tutelage of the conning officers to keep the fragile tow line from breaking had been the official reason for Sheppard’s decision. His other reason would forever be a secret shared only with his Executive Officer Ted Grabowski, was to test Art in command and instill that thrill in Sheppard’s Navigator.
“Good evening, Captain,” came a cheerful greeting from Art, a barely suppressed smile and twinkle in his eyes telling Sheppard as much as the successful tow of Argonne’s sister ship across the Atlantic under Art’s supervision. Sheppard had never really asked Admiral Hamilton, Commander Task Force 48, if he should tow Hamilton’s second battle cruiser or not. When the tow had rejoined the carriers, smaller cruisers, and destroyers of Task Force 48, more than a few messages were exchanged subtly implying that Belleau Wood’s crew should abandon her and the floating, burned hulk of a ship scuttled. Sheppard had to admit Belleau Wood was a wreck, but a wreck that could be repaired in much less time than building a replacement. After all, none of the German 410 mm shells had penetrated her armored belt and deck. It had taken all of Sheppard’s tact with Hamilton and the good will engendered by saving his flagship, the aircraft carrier Sabine, from a similar fate for the unprecedented rescue to proceed.
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