“Uproarious and Outrageous are doomed ships,” they said disparaging the vessels in their strange reincarnation as carriers. Yet fingers wagged on the other side when Glorious escaped from her dangerous encounter with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in the North Sea. Yet, as Captain Wells watched that fire burn forward, he had a sickly feeling inside. The ship’s penchant for bad luck had seen her hit in that Stuka attack, and now the situation he was in seemed perilous in ways he could not entirely fathom.
There had once been a 15-inch gun battery where that fire now burned. It was now stowed away in a warehouse in England, also destined to live again when Britain launched her last and greatest battleship, HMS Vanguard. Now Wells found himself wishing he had that gun battery back. His contingent of aircraft might have been a useful weapon in this situation, but that fire was preventing him from launching, and to do so he would have to turn into the wind in any case, right towards the shadow that now darkened his horizon.
“A bit of a pickle,” said Woodfield at his side, looking from the fire to Wells, and then out to sea where the destroyers were making their bold charge in the hopes of fending off this threat. “At least we have a little more company this time.” He nodded to the cruiser squadron steaming in close escort, Coventry off the port quarter, and Sheffield to starboard, with Gloucester following in the carrier’s wake. Two more destroyers, Fury and Fearless, were also in attendance, but they gave Wells no real comfort. The cruisers had nothing bigger than 6-inch guns, twelve each on Gloucester and Sheffield, and five on the Coventry. The distant boom and rolling thunder on the horizon told him the Germans were coming with something considerably bigger.
Wells had done everything right this time, remembering the mistakes made by Captain D’Oyly-Hughes in that first harrowing encounter with enemy warships. Hughes had the destroyers in too close, but Wells had posted three on picket, and they were now making a desperate charge at the enemy. Hughes had no air cover up, and no planes ready below decks for a quick spot. Wells had four fighters on overwatch, but they had been brushed aside by hot German pilots off the Goeben, and could serve no vital role now. He also had Swordfish ready and armed below decks, but that damnable fire forward was preventing their launch, and the German fighters were still up there somewhere, though thankfully the Stukas were gone.
“If it comes to a fight, the cruisers will do their best,” he said quietly to Woodfield. “But that ship out there looks like it will have a big walking stick. Listen to those guns!”
It was then that a runner came in with the news that Impulsive had been lost, which did nothing to raise anyone’s hopes or morale at that moment. Wells looked at his watch, noting their speed was just under 30 knots now. He figured the enemy was perhaps 30,000 meters off. His horizon was 22,000 meters, but he was seeing the high conning tower of the enemy well before that. If the Germans had a five or six not speed advantage, this might be a long chase for them if they wanted to close the range. But they were already in range of those heavy guns, or would be very soon.
“Sir, Icarus reports damage forward as well. They make their range 10,000 meters, but the Germans are still coming.”
Woodfield looked at Wells, his jaw set. “Those destroyers will all go down,” he said flatly. “They’ll have to get to 5,000 meters to launch torpedoes.”
“Signal Lieutenant Commander Maud,” said Wells. “Tell him the Germans seem to be calling our bluff. He is to make smoke and break off at once. We’ve lost one destroyer. No use losing two more. It will just have to be a foot race now, and at least we have our speed.”
“For the moment,” said Woodfield.
“What’s on your mind, Woody?”
“Well sir, that German carrier is still out there. Those Stukas may be back. I think we should try to get more Fulmars up instead of the Swordfish.”
“We’ll need both aloft soon,” said Wells. “Fire or no fire, I want planes spotted for takeoff at once. Alright, Woody, get me six fighters up first. Then we go with the torpedo bombers.”
“Very good sir.” Woodfield was off to the voice tube to call down the orders.
Wells looked at the fire again, gritting his teeth. We’re running fast, he thought, and that will be all the headwind I can give them. And they’re going to have to go right through that business forward. I’m launching whether that fire is out or not. We’ll try, by god, and if necessary we’ll do just what Lt. Commander Stevens did the last time—turn the damn planes around and launch off the aft quarter!
It was then that he saw what he feared, big, heavy rounds coming in wide off his starboard side, but with a good fix on his range. “Come five points to port, and all ships to follow,” he said, the order echoed by the helmsmen and relayed to the flag bridge. No sense giving them an easy target. It was time to squirm a bit, and he would put the ship in a zig-zag until he had his planes on deck and ready to go. He looked for his executive officer, Lovell.
“Mister Lovell, kindly sent to the W/T room and advise Admiral Somerville and the Admiralty of our present predicament. They were sending us help, but we’ve heard no word. Then send to Fury and Fearless. Have them fall back on our wake, zig-zag, and make smoke.”
It was going to be a very hard morning.
* * *
When Lieutenant Commander Maud got the order to break off he thumped his briarwood walking stick hard on the deck of the bridge.
“Damnation!” he swore. “We’ve run up under that monster’s guns for the last fifteen minutes, and now we’re to break off? What’s the bloody range?”
“Sir, I make it 7500 yards,”
“Then steady as she goes. Make ready to fire torpedoes! We’ll not turn tail without sticking it to those bastards out there.”
He waited, the tension on the bridge obvious, and then gave a final order. “Hard to port and fire when we turn!”
Icarus launched her torpedoes as the destroyer turned, getting only five in the water as the destroyer wheeled about in a wide arc. The range was still about 7200 yards, but the enemy was coming at them fast, and they would have to run full out just to keep the range from closing further now. They were going to be in the soup for a good long while, and Maud immediately gave the order to make smoke and continue evasive maneuvers.
* * *
“That’s done it,” said Schirmer. “Those destroyers have finally had enough. They’re breaking off.”
“Good,” said Kapitan Heinrich. “Now re-train your guns on that smoke on the horizon. Can you get me another long shot, Schirmer?”
“We will certainly try, sir.”
A minute later the Kaiser Wilhelm rotated its forward turrets, the guns elevating and booming out a challenge to the distant enemy. Heinrich knew his guns could already hurt the British carrier, if they could find it. He could range out over 36,000 meters with his guns at maximum elevation, but chances of hitting anything at that range were very slim. The hit that had sent Impulsive to the bottom had been a lucky shot, one in a hundred chance at 28,000 meters, and would stand as one of the longest hits ever achieved by a gun in this caliber firing at sea. Warspite hit the Italian battleship Guilio Cesare in July 1940 at a range of about 26,000 yards, but Scharnhorst had bettered that when it first set its teeth into Glorious.
“Torpedoes off the starboard side!” The watchman’s voice was loud as he called from above, prompting Heinrich to rush to the weather deck and look for himself. There they were, three, then five white trails in the water, and he knew he had to turn quickly.
“Come hard to port!”
The ship lurched with the sudden turn as the helm answered smartly, and the Kapitan’s hands were heavy on the gunwale to steady himself, but even at high speed like this, Kaiser Wilhelm maneuvered like a much smaller ship, turning easily, her long sleek bow cutting through the sea. They were going to avoid the main spread, but one torpedo would make it very near the ship, fuming by and finding the wake where the big battlecruiser had once been, but nothing else to strike there. The hard turn bought Ic
arus and Intrepid just a little time to make smoke and race off on a new heading.
“Shall we pursue those destroyers?” asked Schirmer.
“Let them go. The secondary batteries can busy themselves firing at their smoke. Today we have bigger fish to fry. That carrier looks to be burning badly. Signalman! Get a message to Fleet Admiral. Tell them we have engaged as ordered and sunk an enemy destroyer. The carrier is on our horizon, and easy prey. How soon before Goeben will have more planes up?”
He rubbed his hands together, eager for the kill. Kriegsmarine intelligence indicated that this was the carrier Glorious, the same ship that Hoffman hit last year. It slipped away back then, but not this time. With a little help from the Goeben, we may catch this ship in short order. Then Schirmer will have something big enough to justify using the main guns like this.
Kaiser Wilhelm is changing everything out here. The British once had the game there way, with aircraft carriers to find our ships, and fast cruisers to shadow them until the battleship advantage they have allowed them to pile on more and more heavy guns. The outcome was inevitable. They hunted down the Graf Spee, and stopped our first major breakout attempt with those amazing new naval rockets. But apparently those weapons are not in the equation here. They must only be carried by their battleships, and perhaps only a very few. We’ve seen nothing of them since HMS Invincible re-deployed to the Mediterranean. So now we raise hell.
With the Goeben we have just enough fighter support to neutralize a single aircraft carrier like this. They will now have to change their tactics and fight their carriers in pairs to have any chance of enjoying air superiority again. And we have several more surprises in the works, in spite of that latest blow with the cancellation of the Oldenburg. Peter Strasser is more than 85% ready, and Raeder will stop at nothing to meet that January deadline the Führer has set for ship completion. Beyond that, we have those captured French ships converting to carriers as well, and the Europa is nearly ready. Things are about to get very interesting in the Atlantic, but much will depend on the success of the Hindenburg this time out. We must prove to the Führer that we can fight and win, and I can start right here, finishing the business Hoffmann started with this carrier.
* * *
Miles to the northwest, the W/T room on HMS Repulse picked up the plaintive call from Glorious, the fated ship crewed by walking ghosts. The message went quickly to Captain Tennant, who read it with some concern. His thoughts seemed to mirror those of Heinrich now.
As he scanned the typewritten lines, he could read more there than he liked. Glorious had suffered a hit from German Stukas, and well beyond the range of land based German planes of that type. That meant a carrier was about, and he knew the Admiralty had sent him south to look for Lütjens task force. Now he had found it. The enemy was somewhere to the southeast, already engaging Force H under Captain Wells.
A pity Somerville lost all his teeth when the last of his battleships were sent to the Med. Now the baton falls to me. Renown and Repulse are good ships, but that last engagement with the Germans up north proved one thing, we can’t stand long against their big ships with our thin armor, and we bloody well need air cover if the Germans have another carrier here. So my job may not be what it seems. Under other circumstances, I would be fixing to engage the enemy, and at least get hold of his ankle until Home Fleet came up with the battleships. Now the prospect of trying to engage the Hindenburg is completely out of the question.
All we have is a two knot advantage over that monster, and we’ll need it. My job is to find and shadow this beast, and the game is on. This message indicates they’ve been engaged by the Kaiser Wilhelm, a ship faster than any cruiser we have, and one able to sink any cruiser that gets lucky enough to intercept it. Yes, things have changed, but not for the better. And with all this talk of those naval rockets we have, my request to Admiralty for more information about them has been met with complete silence, a silence that speaks volumes, so I’d best let the matter go. For now, the hunt is on. But god help Glorious until I can get there!
Chapter 6
It was once said that god is on the side of the heavy cavalry. In this case he was siding with the heavy artillery. Kaiser Wilhelm had been running full out, with “Wagner’s Girls” singing as the four high pressure boilers fed steam to the turbines. The ship had been gaining on its prey for the last twenty minutes, and had now slowly closed the range to about 26,000 meters. The two British destroyers had been thickening up their smoke screen in an effort to mask the carrier’s retreat, but the German optics still had enough of a glimpse of the carrier to judge the range accurately. Kaiser fired, and four 15-inch shells soon bracketed the carrier, sending tall geysers of angry white seawater up on all sides.
At this point, the situation becoming grave, Captain Charles Arthur Larcom, on Sheffield, requested permission from Wells to break formation and attack, even though his cruisers would be outgunned by the enemy. Reluctantly, Wells agreed, and at 16:40 hrs on the 3rd of May, the second surface engagement with Kaiser began at just under 26,000 meters. Sheffield and Gloucester turned, with the AA cruiser Coventry remaining with Glorious. The British cruisers each had twelve Mark XIII 6-inch guns mounted on four triple turrets, but needed to close the range to under 22,000 meters to open the action. With the two sides closing on one another at a combined speed of 65 knots, or about 2000 meters per minute. So it was no more than a few minutes before the gunfire started.
Aboard the Kaiser Wilhelm, Kapitan Heinrich saw the cruisers turn to challenge, smiling. He had expected this action, knowing the British could do nothing less with a primary fleet asset at risk like this. In his mind, it would only pose a brief delay here, and he ordered Schirmer to shift main guns to the cruisers. The long barrels lowered, re-trained, and then boomed their challenge as the first British rounds began to sprout up in the sea ahead of his ship.
The British guns were only throwing shells weighing 112 pounds at the enemy, but the two forward turrets on each ship opened with a twelve round salvo against Kaiser’s four 15-inch guns. Schirmer ordered his two secondary turrets, one mounted on each side of the ship, to join the action as well. His third turret was super-mounted above the aft main guns and could not join in just yet.
Neither side scored hits in that first exchange, and the British gunners enjoyed a speed advantage in reloading their guns, firing again 8 seconds later. This time they drew first blood, with a round from Sheffield striking Kaiser on the long deck, forward of Anton turret. But the ship’s armor had been designed to counter the bigger 8-inch guns of the British heavy cruisers. The deck armor there was just under three inches, which was enough to absorb most of the punishment without serious damage below deck, yet a small column of smoke now trailed from Kaiser’s nose. The ship was hit, but not hurt, and it would shrug off the 6-inch rounds easily enough.
At 18,000 meters the British cruisers turned hard to port to get all their guns into play, and it was then that disaster struck when Kaiser scored a direct hit on Gloucester, right on her forward turret, which put it completely out of action, its guns elevated and twisted like broken fingers. The fire below decks spread quickly to B turret, which had to flood its magazines to avoid further explosions. In one swift blow, the odds had shifted considerably, and now Kaiser turned to starboard, coming around to bring her aft guns into action.
Aboard Gloucester, Captain Henry Rowley had just lowered his field glasses to note the damage forward. He turned his head, looking for his executive officer and started to give an order, but his words were cut short with a tremendous crash when a second German round blasted right into the bridge and conning tower. Not a man there would survive. The explosion was seen by everyone on Sheffield, being about 500 meters behind Gloucester when the turn was made.
There was a moment of shock, stunned silence as eyes widened with the broiling fire and smoke that engulfed the cruiser’s conning tower. Then, as though dazed and drunk, Gloucester wallowed to starboard, her bow coming round in a turn toward
the German ship. It was soon clear to both sides that the cruiser was no longer under control, though her aft turrets let off one more salvo as the ship turned.
Sheffield dashed behind the chaotic scene, her gunfire temporarily blocked by the intervening hulk of Gloucester. Captain Larcom could see his brave challenge was not going to do anything more to dissuade the enemy than the destroyer rush had accomplished, and the sea around him soon erupted again with wild spray from the big 15-inch guns. His own batteries scored yet another hit, flush against Kaiser’s conning tower, and another very near the aft turret, which was flayed with shrapnel from the deck where the round struck. The heavy turret, with over 8 inches of armor, was not harmed, and it soon boomed out a reprisal, the rounds straddling Sheffield and rocking the cruiser as it turned away, making smoke.
Meanwhile, the men aboard Gloucester realized their ship was describing a wide, uncontrolled circle, with no one alive on the bridge to issue commands. Both her forward turrets were out of action, and the Germans shifted fire to finish off the ship, scoring two more heavy hits with those fearsome 15-inch guns. The hit amidships was the worst, penetrating all the way to the boiler room and ending the ship’s mad dance as it lost all steam, her guts ripped apart by the explosion of the heavy round.
Kaiser Wilhelm slowed to 28 knots and continued her turn to starboard to swing around and resume her course in pursuit of the carrier. It was then that Kapitan Heinrich was handed a message from Admiral Lütjens. He was ordered to break off and assume a course to the northwest.
Paradox Hour Page 5