How to attack the plan? Sheppard did not have the airpower to attack the Italian ships directly. In addition unlike the Germans, some of their anti-aircraft guns were shielded preventing the tactic he had used at Cape Vilan. His only effective asset was the long range 18-inch guns on Argonne. How to attack the plan?
Another of Sun Tsu’s quotes came to mind, “to subdue the enemy’s army without fighting is the acme of skill.” Nice—Sheppard did not think he would be able to do that. His only option was to fight—unless!
Vizeadmiral Joachim Moeller was on the flag bridge of the aircraft carrier Peter Strasser as she passed Tostoya Island in the Trondheimsleia on course 064o at 12 knots. It was a long difficult passage to reach the anchorage at Trondheim, but the very length of the passage was what made it ideal as a base. The outlying islands afforded sufficient patches of level ground for the Luftwaffe airfields making air attack all but impossible. Those occupied islands also afforded sufficient warning of British reconnaissance flights to start the smoke pots ashore blanketing the anchorage with a thick white fog before the Spitfires or Mosquitoes reached the ships.
He had received the latest intelligence updates from Admiral Lütjens. Force H was still in Gibraltar and the reinforcement from the Home Fleet had arrived. That was good news as it further restricted Admiral Tovey’s ability to detach squadrons to block the Denmark Strait. On the other hand there was a report from the U-boats off the American coast that a Task Force had sailed from Norfolk. Again containing two Brandywine class carriers, that Task Force must be the same one that had destroyed Vizeadmiral Schröder’s planned sortie from Brest in April. At least this time it only had one of the American’s new Santiago class battle cruisers. Two of those ships had been responsible for the German defeat at Cape Vilan, but one had been badly damaged. With only one left, even if that Task Force tried to interfere, his ships would be more than enough to defeat them. There would be no Force H to save them.
Admiral Hardy was frustrated. There was still no method by which he could get messages directly to the Americans he was supposed to “coordinate” with. The Admiralty was really dropping the ball on this one. At least the repairs to Renown had proceeded on schedule and his flag captain had reported that the Prince of Wales dock basin had been inspected and flooding of the dry dock would commence momentarily. His flagship would certainly be able to meet the underway time that he had ordered.
Hardy had decided to leave after sunset and hope to avoid the prying eyes of the German and Italian spies that infested Algeciras. It was a constant struggle to keep his movements a secret. His was a unique position. He faced threats in both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. If the Germans in the Atlantic knew he sortied east against the Italians, they were likely to try something. Similarly, the opposite was also a concern. He had been successful before the Battle of Cape Vilan by appearing to go one way and then actually going the other, but he did not have time tonight for a deception. He could only hope that his absence would not be detected until morning leaving both his enemies feeling threatened by his unknown location.
Across the Bay of Gibraltar in Algeciras Capitano di Corvetta Leonardo Marchesani was supervising the suiting up of six of his men for an attack on the British shipping anchored in the Bay. Hidden in the forward compartment of the Italian tanker Olterra, that had been interned in Algeciras, a secret base for the deployment of the Italian two man submersibles maiale had been surreptitiously constructed. Periodically shipments of repair parts had been received by the Olterra that in fact were parts to assemble the pigs.
Once assembled, it was only a question of smuggling in shipments of ‘farm machinery’ that actually were the 300 kilogram warheads to be carried by the submersibles and attached to the targets by clamps. This afternoon would be the first use of the secret base to attack the shipping in Gibraltar.
Leonardo, casually dressed as a merchant seaman, went up on deck with a compass identical to the one used on the submersibles in order to take bearings on the targets that he intended his men to attack. Unknowingly, he failed to consider the compass deviation caused by the steel hull of Olterra that would not affect his crews once they launched.
There were four huge tankers, obviously fully loaded that were his priority targets. He did not know, nor would he have cared if he had learned that they were American. As far as he was concerned any ship on the east side of the bay was a potential target for his men, and the sooner he could attack them the better. The bay was nearly filled with the arrival of a convoy this morning, but these ships were the biggest outside the protection of the mole and submarine nets at the British base. His only limitation on how many and how often he could attack was how fast pigs and warheads could be smuggled into his base.
Sheppard, Admiral Hamblen, Ollie Halverson and the Argonne’s Department Heads made for a tightly packed sea cabin behind the conning station. Sheppard first asked Commander Halverson to review for everyone present the assessment of Italian options and the reasoning behind his estimate of their intentions. As expected there were only a few questions, though it was clear to everyone that the size of the Italian fleet enroute to Mers el Kébir (4CVs, 12BBs, & 6CCs with cruisers and destroyers) had made Argonne’s mission to protect the French suicidal at best.
Sheppard then began by discussing his analysis of the strengths that Argonne possessed to use against the Italians. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone that the advantages were long range 18»/55 guns, a large inventory of shells, exceptional firecontrol equipment with analog computers, and radar for both search and firecontrol. Captain McCloud made a point of mentioning that unlike the German battle cruisers that Argonne had fought off of Cape Vilan, the Italian heavy anti-aircraft guns had shields and were therefore not susceptible to shell bursts above.
Sheppard now had to begin by giving his officers a short tutorial on some of the items that he had learned in Newport. First was the concept of where the enemy’s power came from. It was pretty obvious that it was the Italian Battle Fleet and not the Scouting Group. Then he analyzed the “Center of Gravity” as Clausewitz had called it from the standpoint of how to attack it. Without much effort it was clear to all of the officers that Argonne did not have the power to attack it directly. Accordingly, if they were going to accomplish their mission, they would have to use the indirect approach through some other vulnerability that the Italians had.
To the delight of the Captain, it was Art Roberts who pointed out that the weakest part of their fleet was in the air. He said that since they only had aircraft carriers for a few years and the Italians were chronically short of fuel oil, those ships were probably not proficient at launching and recovering their planes. It also meant that the Italians would not be flying at night; the most difficult of all carrier evolutions. Nor would their doctrine for the use of aircraft on carriers and the employment of those planes be very advanced.
Sheppard asked, “Why do you think the Italians brought them since the Germans are close enough to provide air cover?”
That sparked discussion with opposing views being freely exchanged as Sheppard had intended until the Department Heads settled on two possibilities; the first was that the Italians were not coordinating with the Germans; the second, that the Italians wanted the air cover further than the Bf109s could range. That was when Sheppard reminded everyone that the Italian goal was fundamentally different than the German. There was no possibility of the Italians letting the Germans in on their plans to capture or destroy the French fleet when the German goal was its capture and incorporation into the Kriegsmarine.
“So, Ollie, why would air cover be so important to the Italians?”
“Captain, it has to be Force H. The Italians fear what Admiral Hardy can do to their battleships, particularly after what Admiral Cunningham did to them at Taranto.”
“Good show, old chap,” Sheppard injected with his best attempt at a British accent. He knew he had to keep the meeting light if he was to get everyone’s best input, and Ollie was the p
erfect foil—unimpeachable performance of duty and widely respected.
Sheppard had already spent more time at this meeting than he had intended and began to summarize, ‘Okay, if air is their weakness, and our advantage is gunnery, what do we do?” Sheppard knew he had been successful when Doctor Blankenship offered, “Why, Captain, it is obvious, we get Force H and we attack their carriers.”
To the group as a whole, Sheppard asked, “And how do we ‘get Force H’?”
Admiral Hamblen replied, “Captain, leave that to me.” He then turned to Lieutenant Commander Burdick and said, “Bronco, I am going to need a ride.” After thinking for a moment he also said, “I am also going to need a signalman. Bronco, can your Kingfishers hold three people?”
The answer was immediate, “Not really, Admiral. Cramming three in a Kingfisher can only be done for a water takeoff. The third man would never survive a catapult launch without significant injuries. The radios get in the way of any additional space and even with the .30 cal. removed the gunner’s seat is not very comfortable.”
“Well, that seat will just have to do, and I guess my Morse code is going to be good enough.”
Knowing the way admirals think, Sheppard interjected, “Admiral, do you have anyone in particular in mind that you would like to be your pilot?” Sheppard turned to his squadron commander, “Bronco, who is your best pilot with a signal lamp?”
“I’m afraid it is Barry, but he is grounded.”
“Bronco, if you can see a way to let him fly, I’d like to take that young lieutenant. He showed good initiative in leading the German strike away from us,” Admiral Hamblen softly added so that only Bronco and Sheppard could hear.
Sheppard smiled. One of Hamblen’s more endearing qualities was creating opportunities for young officers in need of redemption in the eyes of their superiors. Sheppard knew that this also created a dilemma for Bronco in how to maintain his authority at the same time he acquiesced to the Admiral’s wishes.
Art Taylor spoke up. “You know we are in a waxing gibbous situation.”
Chuck Williamson jumped in, “Okay what does that mean for gunnery types?”
Art continued, “Sorry, the moon is at seventy-two percent of its maximum illumination. Moonrise has already occurred and it will reach its highest point in the sky at twenty-oh-nine. It will set at zero-two-nineteen tomorrow and we will have two hours of maximum darkness before twilight at zero-four-twenty-two in the morning.”
Sheppard was struck that his request of his oil king matched exactly the time he would have of blackness to engage and defeat the Italians. “Anything else, gentlemen?”
“Yes, Captain,” said Jonathan Becker. “I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that the Italians do not have radar.”
Sheppard looked at his CIC officer dumbfounded. That information meant that the only way the Italians could detect him was the flash of his guns. As bad as that was, they could not get a range from it. The flash would also blind the range takers using the Italian optics. Even Sheppard was beginning to think they might pull it off.
“Captain, if it is going to be as light as Art says it is and if the sea state holds for landing, I think a few of my pilots are good enough to do a little recon for you after sunset. I am sure we will be able to find things, but we probably won’t be able to identify them all that well.”
With Bronco’s statement and an agreement on many of the details, the meeting broke up without discussing the world’s fourth largest submarine fleet—all in the Mediterranean.
The Italian two man crews of the pigs had been moving toward their targets at a little over 3 knots for an hour. Breathing pure oxygen they had to stay within 13 meters of the surface to avoid oxygen poisoning. At the same time they needed daylight to find their targets while submerged; they had to stay deep enough to avoid being spotted by the numerous British patrol boats.
Capitano di Corvetta Leonardo Marchesani had thoroughly briefed his crews on their targets and what they could expect in terms of identifying characteristics of the hulls. Obviously large, they would be square bilged, not rounded like some merchants; importantly engines aft implying the main circulating water systems for the condensers would be close to the stern, and finally that they would have single screws.
As the crews began to see the shapes of hulls before them, some unknown current or problem had caused them to encounter the wrong ships initially. Undeterred, each crew began to search in the vicinity until they located hulls with the characteristics described by Marchesani. It had taken time, but the closed cycle breathing devices they wore had an endurance of six hours and each crew had found a hull with the correct characteristics within three and half hours of the start of the mission.
Now with the pigs resting gently against the targets’ hulls with slight positive buoyancy, the second operators (swimmers) disembarked and removed clamps from the storage locker. Without much difficulty they found suitable gratings in the sea water discharges or bilge keels to attach the clamps, providing anchor points for the ropes that were then strung between the two tie points. This allowed optimum positioning of the 300 kilogram explosive charge directly under the center of the engine rooms; tied off and suspended about a meter below the hull.
Having detached the warheads from the pigs, positioned them for greatest effect, and secured them in place, the swimmers armed the charge and set the timers to detonate at 2100, allowing plenty of time for all the crews to make their returns to the Olterra. It was on the return trip that the oxygen breathing apparatus of one of the pilots began to malfunction. Becoming disoriented with a splitting head ache, he surfaced his pig and pulled off his mask. That was when a British patrol boat spotted them and investigated. Both men were captured but not until after they had scuttled their pig. Suspecting that they had been launched from submarines, the British doubled their patrols and made a thorough but fruitless ASDIC search of the harbor. Every ship in the harbor was alerted to the possibility of swimmers in their vicinity.
“Ted,” Sheppard called after his executive officer as the others left. “How about keeping an eye on things up here for a while? There is something I have to do.”
“Sure, Captain,” was Commander Grabowski’s answer with a puzzled look. What would demand his Captain’s attention on the eve of a major battle somewhere other than on the conn?
Sheppard with Corporal Chase in tow began the long descent down the forward tower of Argonne to the main deck. Sheppard was beginning to know his way around the ship and went directly to the athwartships passage down two decks and forward. There were French civilians everywhere. He found the access trunk leading below the third deck. The Marine guard, watching for any attempt by a civilian to go below, stiffened to attention as he approached. The armored hatch never failed to impress Sheppard concerning how well Argonne had been designed to resist long range gun fire—nearly a foot thick of the best steel American industry could provide. Fortunately for Sheppard and Corporal Chase, it was open.
One deck down and forward, Sheppard first stuck his head into the combat information center or CIC. Jonathan Becker saw him enter, thought for a moment and sounded the “Attention on Deck.”
Sheppard quickly gave them, “As you were,” pleased that Jonathan might be beginning to adapt to the Navy ways and asked politely, “How is everything going?” Lieutenant Commander Becker proceeded to give a detailed status report on every radar and communication circuit in his domain. He then went over every radar return from Cabo de la Nao on the Spanish coast as well as Islota Vedrá, Ibiza and Formentera in the Balearic Islands. He covered every air contact over Spain and the numerous fishing vessels off of the coast lines. It was a thorough briefing, but Sheppard quickly concluded that his effort to turn Jonathan into a naval officer still had a long way to go.
Sheppard and Corporal Chase escaped eventually and continued forward past the fire-control plotting rooms until they reached sick bay. Doctor Blankenship must have been warned that he was coming as Sheppard was greete
d by his friend as they entered.
“Ah, Captain, ready for that proctology exam that I’ve been promising?” Hugh joked. He was the only American onboard junior to him that Sheppard let get away with teasing and Blankenship reveled in the opportunity to humor the man they all depended upon for their safety.
“Today I’m kind of busy. I think I’ll pass until we get a doctor with smaller fingers. Besides, there are more than enough second opinions onboard that think I am still a perfect asshole,” Sheppard joked back reasonably certain that there might not be too many, if the crew was surveyed. Several pharmacist mates nearby unsuccessfully tried to suppress laughs and snickers. Turning serious he asked, “Where are my Marines?”
Doctor Blankenship took him to the isolation ward. It was the only portion of sickbay without armed Marines standing with fixed bayonets. Four of the five men inside began to struggle to rise. Sheppard, shocked that his orderly was not among them, recovered and quickly gave them, “As you were.” He chatted with each for a few minutes, inquiring if the doctor was treating them well? Was there anything that they needed? Discussed their wounds and when they would be able to return to duty. That left his visit to the more seriously wounded Corporal Pease for last.
He was grateful that the young Marine was conscious, though it was also apparent that Doctor Blankenship had him comfortable with morphine injections. “I managed to remove the bullets. None hit his heart or he wouldn’t be here, but his right lung was hit and he has lost a considerable amount of blood,” Hugh whispered to Sheppard. Sheppard whispered,“Is he going to make it?” Hugh answered with a shrug and a shake of his head—indicating probably not.
Sheppard knew at that point that Pease’s attitude was going to be the principle factor in determining the outcome. He would do everything he could to help him.
Sheppard and the French Rescue Page 23