Kirov Saga: Altered States (Kirov Series) (13 page)

Raeder had also resurrected one of the O-Class battlecruiser designs from Plan Z. Originally intended to replace the
Deutschland
class raiders that had been so successful. They were moved forward in production when
Graf Spee
and
Admiral Sheer
had demonstrated what a smaller ship could do, even when alone at sea, if she was given the right, combination of speed firepower and armor. The designers were keen create an up-gunned version of the
Deutschland
series, faster and more powerful. Where
Graf Spee
had carried six 11 inch guns at 28 knots, the sleek new O-Class battlecruiser, named
Kaiser
, would carry six 15 inch guns, two each in three of the very same turrets that had been mounted on the
Bismarck
, and the
Kaiser
was the fastest capital ship in the fleet, capable of 36 knots in early trials with her new hybrid steam and diesel engines. She was given only 190 millimeters of belt armor to achieve that speed, enough to counter the heaviest armed 8 inch gun cruisers of the Royal Navy, and she would be faster than anything carrying bigger guns.

Beyond this, a pair of fast new
Panzerschiff
armored cruisers would be ready to steam with her as well, bearing proud names of German provincial regions:
Rhineland
, and
Westfalen
. These were basically re-workings of the
Deutschland
class, with the same 11 inch quick firing guns in two turrets of three guns each. They would be faster at 33 knots, and protected with armor to 120 millimeters. While twelve were planned, only two had been completed, and other ship designs had caused all subsequent ships in the class to be cancelled.

Along with these the aircraft carrier
Graf Zeppelin
was also fitted out and ready for operations, the brainchild of naval architect Wilhelm Hadeler. It would carry modified versions of BF-109Es and
Stuka
dive bombers as the primary armament, 38 fighting planes in all, with a detachment of 4
Arado
196 seaplanes as well. Raeder had also worked hard to build the
Seydiltz
, renamed
Peter Strasser
when commissioned, and that ship would be ready soon too. These additions, combined with the fleet’s best new radar, made the carriers excellent scouting ships. Steaming as part of a task force, they would provide added anti-aircraft defense and extended air search capability to the fleet, not to mention the considerable striking power of their
Stuka
dive bombers.

Raeder had promised the Fuehrer six new battleships before the war had started, a fantasy in the time allotted. He knew as much even as he flipped through the various designs back in January of 1936, but instead he had delivered six exceptional new designs that strongly augmented the power of the
Kriegsmarine
, making it a fleet at last worthy of the name. It might not be able to deliver the dream of Admiral Tirpitz when he advocated a world navy, or
Weltmachtflotte
, but it would be enough to pose a credible challenge to the one navy which could claim that title, the Royal Navy of Great Britain.

Together these ships were all the Admiral could muster in the time he had been given, and even completing this much had put a great strain on the nation’s resources. The
Oldenburg
would be the last that would come out of the German shipyards for some time, though the keel and hull was complete for
Brandenburg
, the third H class battleship in the series.

Taken as a whole, he now had another mailed fist to bring to the fight with the Royal Navy, fast, powerful new ships that Germany would not have available if he had not been so diligent, or had the favor of a Fuehrer intent upon building a credible navy. The speed of his ships relative to the bulk of the Royal Navy heavy capital ship classes was a decided advantage, and he also had tremendous operational range. The only problem would be finding the oil to keep the fleet in service.

On paper at least, Admiral Raeder’s fleet looked much more promising. It wasn’t the massive heavy fleet the Fuehrer wanted in the end, but it was twice as strong as it might have otherwise been, and would be further augmented by a large fleet of U-boats as soon as production ramped up. Now, he thought, we will put this navy to the test and see what we can do. God help any ship that comes under our guns…help them to the deepest regions of hell!

In due course I will add the
Oldenburg
and
Brandenburg
to that list, thought Raeder, but now he contemplated what he hoped would be the greatest naval operation of the entire war. Its aims were far grander than anything the old fleet had ever attempted, its most notable operation being the support rendered to the invasion of Norway. That accomplished, the Germans now planned a real offensive operation aimed at the convoy lifeline that sustained the British war effort.

We will take them by the throat this time, he thought. Four big ships at once, and
Graf Zeppelin
along with them!

Chapter 11

June, 12, 1940 ~ CiC, Home Fleet, Scapa Flow

They
were called mystery ships, decoy ships, or simply Q-boats, armed merchantmen disguised as humble tramp steamers or cargo vessels and intended to lure in unsuspecting German U-boats. If they sighted a periscope the crews were trained to stage a “panic party” on deck, running this way and that so as to entice the U-boat to surface and use its deck gun as opposed to the limited and more expensive torpedo in an attack. Then, when the enemy was up and out manning its gun, the Q-ship would raise its skirts and reveal a row of three pounders, all ready to blast the submarine to pieces.

That morning the mystery on Admiral Tovey’s desk was the strange report from Q-ship
Prunella
concerning an unidentified ship that had set off a bit of a panic party at the Admiralty right in the middle of Operation Juno, the evacuation of Norway. It had come on the heels of another warning from Convoy HX-49 out of Halifax about a large warship sighted off Cape Farewell. It seems the navy was seeing ghosts and mystery ships everywhere.

Tovey shook his head, bothered as he read that no further sighting could substantiate the report from
Prunella
, though it had caused quite a row and sent off the battlecruisers
Renown
and
Repulse
, with two cruisers and five destroyers on a wild goose chase to look for these ships. RAF reconnaissance later verified that the Twins were still at Trondheim, so it was all for naught.

 That left the evacuation convoys dangerously exposed, and was, in part, one reason why the Germans very nearly sunk their teeth into HMS
Glorious
. There had been only two destroyers available to escort her home, and only one came back. In fact they did take a good bite out of
Glorious
, hitting the ship twice and killing most of the bridge crew. Were it not for the actions of a junior officer, who arrived on the bridge at a crucial moment and took command, the carrier would certainly have been lost.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, chasing a headache as the memory of a similar incident in his own career returned to him. Then he was a young Lieutenant, newly arrived at the British China Station in the Pacific at Weihaiwei and lucky to be posted to the squadron flagship, HMS
King Alfred
. He remembered it now, a distant look in his eyes. There had been another panic party underway in the Tsushima Strait, and another mystery ship as well. A Russian dreadnaught had been raiding Japanese shipping and threatened to impose a naval quarantine on the whole region, which was preposterous in itself, as a single ship could not hope to live up to such a boast.

Yet this ship was a real mystery indeed. It fought and won several engagements with elements of the Imperial Japanese Fleet, the very same fleet that had so devastated the whole Russian navy just a few years earlier in the famous battle of Tsushima Straits. And then it bore relentlessly down on the narrow channel there where Admiral Togo had sortied again with the Japanese Fleet to intercept the rogue. There was another battle there, he thought, still shivering inwardly as he remembered the distant shadow of the Russian ship, enormous and threatening on the sea ahead as it rounded the headlands of several small islets south of Iki Island.

King Alfred
was leading in the entire squadron of six cruisers to support the Japanese, the Captain and First Officer out on the weather bridge. Tovey had been with them there, but was sent in by the Captain to make a course correction. That order had saved his life, for just seconds after he left the weather bridge where he had been posted as First Officer of the Watch, a shell from the Russian ship struck there and killed both the Captain and First Officer.
King Alfred
was at the edge of battle, leaderless, and Tovey took command.

It was the first real battle at sea he had ever seen, and now he was in the thick of it. He had always had ideas about how he would fight, and here was a chance to prove himself. So he pointed the bow of
King Alfred
right at the enemy and forged ahead, intending to close the range as quickly as possible before ordering a turn hard to port to bring the whole squadron behind him around and concentrate their firepower in broadside.

He could still see it all in his mind, hear the sharp crack of the enemy guns, amazingly accurate. But he held steady, and then made his turn, giving the order to fire. What he saw next was a memory that haunted him to this very day. The shells were falling very near the dark silhouette of the enemy ship, some finding the mark with bright fire and smoke that soon masked the scene in cinder grey. Then there came a shimmering glow, as though a pale moon was shining through heavy mist, rippling with St. Elmo’s fire.

He remembered looking away to check his compass heading, then back again…and the Russian ship was gone! What had happened, he wondered. It was there, bristling with fire just a moment ago, and then it was simply gone! Had it been struck by the heavy weight of shot and shell his squadron was throwing, or by fire from the Japanese? Was it an unseen torpedo that had struck home, fired by one of those brave Japanese destroyers that had charged boldly forward through the gauntlet of the Russian ship’s deck gun fire? Was it a hidden mine? He did recall that explosion forward of the ship…

Tovey closed his eyes, lingering on the memory, and the mystery of that seminal moment in his career, and then letting it go. He had more to concern him that day, much more.

It’s all coming apart at the seams, he thought. I’m here to sort things out. Forbes was a good man, the former CiC here, but they’ve given Home Fleet to me now, along with those extra stripes on my cuff there, and much earlier than I ever thought I would see them. Tovey had been quickly recalled from the Med where he had been commanding the 7th Cruiser Squadron. They could have picked anyone else. Why me? Was it because Cunningham was heading for Gibraltar to plan an operation aimed at securing Dakar and denying the Vichy French Navy any use of that port? North and Somerfield are already there and waiting for ships to build Force H. So it’s all in my lap now, the whole of Home Fleet, right here in this pile of reports and dispatches. But thank god for Daddy Brind. There’s a clear head and steady hand as Chief of Staff.

Now he looked at the stack of reports again, taking heart to read the dispatch concerning the young Lieutenant Commander who had taken command and brought HMS
Glorious
safely home. There is hope, he thought as Brind stepped briskly through the door after a quiet knock. The two men were going to see what they could do about the mess up north where the Twins,
Scharnhorst
and
Gneisenau
, were causing so much trouble.

Brind arrived his cheeks red with the morning air, a fistful of cable intercepts in his hand and a determined look on his face. Wizened and grey, Brind was nonetheless a vital and energetic man, and perfect for the role he now found himself in.

“Good morning, Admiral. I hope I’m not disturbing you, but this is about our little hunting expedition with Force F,” he said. “
Rodney
and
Renown
are heading for Trondheim with
Ark Royal
. Word came in that
Gneisenau
and the cruiser
Admiral Hipper
were out to sea there. With any luck we just might get lucky and catch those brigands but we have more than
Scharnhorst
and
Gneisenau
to worry about now. We’ve just received word that
Bismarck
and
Tirpitz
have left Kiel
and they were spotted in the Kattegat at 18:00 hours last evening with a number of merchantmen. We got a Beaufort reconnaissance flight in a few hours later.
Cloud deck was too thick to confirm the report, but there's an awful lot of activity shaping up south of Kristiansand as well. It looks like the Germans may be planning to another sortie.”

Brind turned to the wall map fingering the position of the sighting. “Coastwatchers report
Graf Zeppelin
and a few of their new destroyers were working up steam off Bremen even as we speak. Then we got this latest report concerning
Bismarck
moving up through the Kattegat, and I'm willing to bet they are heading for Kristiansand, sir, which would give the Germans two strong battle groups to sortie into the Norwegian Sea at a moment’s notice.”

“Any word on the
Hindenburg?”
Tovey asked.

“Nothing yet, sir. It’s still in the shipyards fitting out, though we haven’t any recent photography. There’s bad weather over the whole region and damn near down to ground level in places. But we don’t think that ship is ready, sir. How could it be?”

“Let’s pray to god it is
not
ready,” said Tovey “Obviously the Germans are taking advantage of our situation to move some heavy units.”