The right hand destroyer had been obviously hit several times. It was burning and in the light of the flames Ollie could see the ruined bridge through his 7 x 50 binoculars. Thankfully the inevitable carnage was too distant for even the magnification of his binoculars to bring into focus. He really didn’t need to see it. He had lived it and would remember the names and positions of every one of his men when the German shells had cut them down. How did God decide who lived and who died? Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no atheists in sea battles, but men would die even as they prayed. How was the decision made?
Sheppard could see what was going through his mind. He knew that Ollie was reliving the Battle of Dover Straits as he had relived Pearl Harbor almost every night since. “We did not start this war, Ollie. If we could get Mussolini and Hitler under our guns this minute, it would give me no greater pleasure than to end it—right here, right now! But we can’t. We have to work our way through their minions until we can. I am only certain of one thing—eventually we will.”
Ollie turned and looked at Sheppard. What did Sheppard see in his eyes? Ollie was a decorated hero of a battle for the survival of his country, a Knight of the realm. Was he actually admiring the determination, resolve, and humanity of another warrior?
It was time to get the 5-inch batteries involved. Lanciere was slowing, listing heavily, afire and down by the bow. Undoubtedly she would soon sink and was not likely a threat. Chuck shifted Spot Three and the forward 6-inch computer to the new right hand target, while he ordered the foremost Mark 37 director, Sky One, to track skunk GEORGE-ONE. The next most forward Mark 37 on the port side, Sky Two, was assigned to HOW-ONE. With the exception of Mount 5-2-2 which he directed to shoot star shells for illumination, the remaining 5-inch mounts were split evenly between the two Mk 37 directors—five each, ten guns on each remaining destroyer.
He immediately recommenced shooting at what turned out to be Artigliere with the 6- inch turrets 6-2 and 6-4 in continuous aim, continuous fire, with the master firing key for the 6-inch computer in the forward main battery plotting room closed and locked. Again, other computers were in charge of Argonne. At 22,000 yards he directed the same for the port side 5-inch mounts. As the range closed the guns did not have to elevate as high and two things helped Argonne. First, the trajectory of the shells was flatter which improved the probability of hits both by increasing the danger space of the target and reducing the dispersion caused by the random variations in shells and powder. Second, with less elevation the guns were becoming easier to load which improved the rate of fire. In less than 45 seconds, shells were falling around Fuciliere and Carabiniere as well as Artigliere.
The bulkhead clock had struck eight bells in the mid-watch (0400) almost ten minutes earlier when spot one reported that skunk DOG-ONE was burning heavily. Sheppard’s phone talkers on the conning station keep him advised of every order or report on each of their circuits, even if he had not given it. Following Hamblen’s recommendation the Gunnery Officer had ordered, “Check fire turrets I, II, and III. Spot two, control turrets I, II, and III. Salvo fire, master key,” beginning the process of destroying the last Italian aircraft carrier—Falco. The secondary explosions from the burning Italian bombs onboard Pegaso had begun when the first salvo was fired at Falco.
“Panther, this is Mustang Zero-Seven, six large ships in column headed your way at high speed, bearing roughly two-eight-zero from you.”
Those would be the Italian battle cruisers coming to try and save the carriers, Sheppard thought. He needed to wait and get a course and speed on them before he decided on his ultimate plan of action. Captain McCloud walked out on the port conning platform to examine his targets through his binoculars. He had closed on the burning carriers in the process of chasing the undamaged ones. They would not present a threat. The three remaining destroyers were rapidly absorbing hits, ending the possibility of a torpedo attack from them. There had been four that had split up, but he would have to look at the SG radar to see where they were.
The 21MC demanded his attention, “Captain, Combat, skunks KING-ONE through PETER-ONE are on course one-zero-nine at speed four-two knots. KING-ONE bears two-eight-one degrees;range four-eight-five-double-oh yards. Gained contact on skunks ITEM-ONE in the vicinity of ABLE-ONE and JIG-ONE in the vicinity of BAKER-ONE.”
“Roger Combat,” the Italian battle cruisers were coming fast. He was going to have to take a risk with the damaged destroyers.
“Guns, Captain, coming left to course one-five-zero.” Sheppard paused, “Conning Officer, drag the outboard starboard shaft and come left smartly to new course one-five-zero.” Both officers acknowledged his orders and Argonne heeled to starboard as she turned with a bone in her teeth. Dragging the shaft outboard of the turn minimized the vibration caused by the propeller race entering the flow to the inboard shaft while still keeping maximum propeller wash on the starboard rudder. The moment the helmsman reported, “Steady course one-five-zero,” the Conning Officer went back to ‘Ahead Full’ on the starboard outboard shaft.
“Guns, Captain, track KING-ONE,” the JA phone talker relayed to the Gunnery Officer. Sheppard looked up from the conning platform where he stood fighting the wind of Argonne’s passage with Ollie, pleased that the younger Hamblen had already trained his director in that direction. He caught Ollie’s eye and pointed at the director. Ollie quizzically looked at Sheppard.
“He’s already on target.” That brought the same smile to Ollie. Sheppard wished that the Admiral was also standing with them on the platform outside of the conning station to see his son’s actions in battle.
Contrammiraglio Dante Falzone stood on the flag bridge of the Italian battle cruiser Coraggio. He could easily see three of his nation’s aircraft carriers burning in the night. How could that happen? It was impossible for Force H to have gotten past his light cruisers let alone his battle cruiser patrol line. Who was this enemy capital ship?
“Gun flashes bearing one-zero-one degrees.” That solved the problem of where, but still who?
His enemy was almost directly ahead and in the prefect position to cap his T. That was unavoidable. He had to close and relieve the pressure on Moretti’s ships, even if it meant accepting a tactical disadvantage in the process. He still had four turrets of his most powerful ships pointed at the enemy. Those twelve 45cm/50 guns should be more than enough to worry his opponent until he could close and turn to unmask the after turrets as well as bring the 40cm turrets of his other four ships within range. Dante also knew that the eastern sky would begin to brighten momentarily and silhouette his target. That was an advantage worth keeping while he remained cloaked in darkness.
Capitano di Vascello Giorgio Sciambra had been in command of the carrier Falco longer than any of the other commanding officers in Ammiraglio Moretti’s squadron. He had seen the initial salvos destroy the Sparviero when he arrived on the bridge. Recognizing what was happening to his sister ships, on his own initiative, he broke the spot on his flight deck. Fostering his own sense of desperation in his crew, they worked like men possessed to remove the bombs from each of the Ariete fighter bombers, either sending them below to the magazines or just pushing them overboard as desperation took hold. Simultaneously with that task the crew set to work defueling the aircraft of the volatile aviation gasoline. As the work on each Re.2001 aircraft was completed, Capitano Sciambra had it pushed to the forward end of the flight deck as far as possible from those aircraft that remained fueled and armed.
Capitano Luzzatto was getting very frustrated. This contact, obviously a very large heavy gun warship was moving away from him as he ran at the best speed his submarine Giulio dé Medici could make. On the verge of giving up and returning to his patrol box before the sun forced him to submerge, he was surprised when the ship suddenly turned and the bearing began drawing to the left. Something had made his contact turn and perhaps that same thing would keep his target moving to the west. He decided to take an intercepting course of 180o. If he could
not hold the bearing steady, he would have to give up, but if he could there was hope he might be able to attack it after all. The coast of North Africa would box in his target.
Sheppard wasn’t sure if he had hit this last carrier or not. He thought he had seen the glow of two exploding shells, but with all of the brilliant flashes of his own guns, what he had seen, or thought he saw, may just have been the spots in front of his eyes as he had blinked. He wanted that last carrier, but he had to think of the Italian battle cruisers and trying to save Argonne from them. He knew he had the advantage of position and radar. With luck he might be able to inflict enough damage that his speed would allow him to escape. As long, that is, as he avoided the damage that had crippled Belleau Wood at Cape Vilan
“Guns, Captain, check fire on DOG-ONE, load armor piercing! Shift targets to KING-ONE.” Sheppard wanted the punishment of the destroyers continued until they sank. He was going to have to pass close to them on this course and did not want a hero on one of those ships making a desperation launch of their 21-inch torpedoes.
“Captain, Guns, roger,” Chuck knew that there would be a delay. He directed his 1JC talker to, “Turrets I, II, and III, discharge guns through the muzzle, then check fire.” Nine more shots left Argonne before the main battery was silent. “Turrets I, II, and III, load armor piercing.” This was the item that would delay the most. In each turret the hoists were put into lower and one by one the high capacity shells were parbuckled back to the rotating shell ring. Once the hoist was empty the shell deck crews worked as fast as humanly possible to fill the hoists with the black and yellow armor piercing projectiles. As soon as one reached the top of the hoist and entered the tilting bucket, the gun captains loaded the two-ton shells and eight powder bags into the breeches. Chuck could hear the projectiles being rammed home and ordered, “Spot one, control Turrets I, II, and III. Salvo fire, continuous aim, master key.”
Sheppard passed the word to his Kingfishers that Argonne was shifting targets to KING-ONE. “Mustang Zero-Three and Zero-Seven, Panther, shifting targets to the leading battle cruiser.”
Both pilots quickly acknowledged. Sheppard went out onto the open platform as the turrets trained round to starboard well aft of the beam. This time when the salvo alarm sounded, Sheppard had to duck as well as close his eyes. The fireball of white-hot gases was much closer. The turrets could actually train 15 degrees further and still fire but at that extreme, they would blister the paint on the bridge and fore tower. He raised his binoculars in time to see the first Italian salvo of six shots land about 700 yards off his starboard quarter. Discretion was definitely the better part of valor, if he was not going to be singed by Turret II. Deciding to return to the safety of the forty pound plating on the conning station, he ordered his Conning Officer to increase speed to 42 knots. As he watched the large spread of the Italian fall of shot, a plan was developing on how he would avoid their salvos.
The fall of shot alarm sounded and Sheppard raised his binoculars to see the mountainous splashes rise over the horizon. He still could not see the target as the first rays of civil twilight began to illuminate the high clouds.
“Panther, Mustang Zero-Four; drop three hundred, right two hundred,” was the observation from on high.
Gerry Archinbald entered the spot in the firecontrol computer and commanded the Mark 41 stable vertical operator to, “Shoot!” All nine guns fired another broadside as Argonne shook with the arrested recoil’s momentum.
No sooner had the guns fired and Chuck Williamson commanded, “Continuous aim, three rounds, fire continuous, master key,” than the answering Italian salvo plowed the ocean just aft of Argonne. Sheppard’s speed increase had caused that one to fall astern. He knew that the Italian gunnery officer would make another adjustment for the new speed. This time he ordered the Conning Officer to come right to course one-seven-zero smartly dragging the outboard port shaft until they were steady on course.
Another Italian six shot salvo landed more than 1,000 yards beyond Argonne. A second battle cruiser was beginning to engage. Sheppard had a decision to make. It was really fairly easy. He knew from experience that if he tried to chase every fall of shot, his maneuvering would be less effective than if he concentrated on just one ship’s shooting. He had to make sure that he did not put two maneuvers together that had the effect of not maneuvering at all for his second antagonist. At least that was the doctrine that had been worked out on the gaming floors at Newport. As the fall of shot alarm sounded, he raised his glasses to observe.
He reached out to steady himself against the inner surface of the armored command tower, the shock of a shell hitting Coraggio causing him to lose his balance. A sharp metallic ring followed a moment later. Contrammiraglio Dante Falzone then listened to the shell splinters rattle off of the command tower aboard Coraggio. The hit was clearly forward but where?
He couldn’t know, but God did. The armor piercing projectile had hit the right hand lip of the forward turret skirt penetrating between the turret face plate and the barbette. It then followed the inside surface of the barbette for 30 feet before the 58.25 pounds of explosive D detonated. The forward turret rose a half a meter before settling back irrevocably jammed. That was all Dante could see. He gasped at what would happen next but fortunately none of the powder bags inside the hoist tubes were ignited by the shrapnel. Had they, the Italian admiral knew seeing the turret rise would have been his last conscious thought on this Earth.
Dante had no idea how many of the turret’s crew had been killed or injured. What was more important to him at the moment was the loss of twenty-five percent of the 45 centimeter guns that could bear on the target. He was actively considering a column course change to bring his after turrets to bear when he was totally surprised by the arrival of more projectiles about 30 seconds after the hit.
Sheppard thought he saw the flash of a hit, but it was hard to tell with armor piercing. He was still looking when the third Italian salvo landed over by 800 yards, almost exactly where Sheppard had planned by his course change. He now had another decision to make. He wanted to come back to the left but that would have the effect of cancelling his first course change for the second ship that was shooting. He decided to go beyond his original course and ordered the Conning Officer to come left to course one-four-zero smartly with the usual dragging of the outboard shaft on the outside of the turn.
“Captain, Guns, spot one reports a hit on the forward turret of KING-ONE.” Hamblen also reported that KING-ONE is classified a Coraggio class battle cruiser. Sheppard did not know how his young lieutenant did it, but he had yet to be wrong.
Ollie Halverson was also watching the enemy battle cruiser without the distraction of trying to second guess the Italian gunnery officers. “Hit,” he sang out in time for Sheppard to raise his binoculars and see the flash of burning powder light the starboard side of his target. Just then the mountains of water rose only a hundred yards over but 300 yards aft of Argonne from the second salvo of Argonne’s other antagonist. Sheppard made a quick mental calculation that if he was that gunnery officer he would ‘down’ spot again as well as right spot to hit. He should miss based on the last maneuver.
Cat and mouse, think and double think, Who would be wrong first?
Dante Falzone was worried. Now the guns of his 152mm starboard turrets were pointed at crazy angles. Eventually the reports came informing him that the third hit had gone through the face plate of his flagship’s forward starboard 152mm turret. After wrecking the interior it exited the barbette continued aft, penetrating the barbette of the adjacent 152mm turret. It came to rest against the inside aft surface of that barbette where it detonated, igniting the powder charges in the turret; burning it out; and killing every man of the crew.
The second one was an inconsequential underwater hit on the port torpedo bulge. It flooded a few tanks, but the small list was quickly corrected by counter flooding.
The fourth hit, which no American observed, was the most devastating. Plunging downw
ard, it hit aft of the tower foremast, barely missing both funnels. Penetrating the superstructure deck, main deck, and second deck the soft cap on the body of the projectile did its job of stressing the point of impact on the deck armor—interstitially welding itself to the Italian steel, it cradled and supported the hardened tool steel of the shell’s body allowing it to penetrate the armor. The protective deck did accomplish one thing—it activated the fuse. Four hundredths of a second later after the shell had reached the bottom of the aft port engine room, it exploded. The shrapnel from the shell perforated the centerline bulkhead dividing port and starboard turbine compartments.
An unusual effect of the American super heavy armor piercing projectiles occurred after detonation. The explosion drove the intact armor piercing nose, actually almost 25 percent of the projectile’s mass onward at higher velocities. That effect virtually guaranteed that any hit would result in the hull being penetrated and damaged compartments would flood. That was the case here, as both inboard main engines were lost. Coraggio was slowing to 30 knots and there was nothing that Dante could do about it.
Sheppard watched as the next salvo from the leading battle cruiser landed. He really could not tell where. There were only three water columns. That confirmed the report from Lieutenant Hamblen in spot one that he had severely damaged one of the lead ship’s turrets, preventing it from firing. This changed things. The odds of being able to spot and adjust salvos accurately with only three shells were small, much smaller than with six. Six was much better, nine made it easy—as long as gun alignment had been done correctly. Captain McCloud decided to stop chasing the lead battle cruiser’s fall of shot; instead he would chase those of the second.
Sheppard and the French Rescue Page 27