Kirov Saga: Altered States (Kirov Series) (14 page)

 “This has all the markings of a major operation,” said Brind. Radio traffic is off the scale, sir. What do you make of it, sir?”

Tovey was very quiet, thinking. “Now here we are with
Rodney
and
Renown
out after the foxes and a pair of real wolves shows up.”

“It looks that way, sir.”

“This is the last thing we need now. They aren’t giving us a moment to breathe. Kicked out of France and Norway, this news of Italy formally joining the war in the Med, and now they tee up another operation.”

“Italy was no surprise, sir.”

Six days ago intelligence from the Med had revealed the fact that large numbers of Italian submarines were leaving ports from La Spezia to Taranto and heading out to designated patrol positions. So the Admiralty knew that it was only a matter of time before Italy entered the conflict, and ordered similar preliminary moves with their fleet units in Alexandria.

“If they throw
Bismarck
and
Tirpitz
at us now we’ve a real nightmare on our hands,” said Tovey. God only knows what they're up to with the rest of the fleet. Intelligence has been rather spotty from the Admiralty in recent days.”

“Do you really think they would risk this many capital ships in a major operation at this time, sir?”

“The movement of
Graf Zeppelin
is somewhat disturbing,” said the Admiral. “It’s their only carrier of any note, and with it they can provide good air cover over the Norwegian coast or anywhere else for that matter. It’s even a threat to the fleet here, though I think RAF and FAA would hand them their hat if they dared.”

“They could be running these ships up to Kristiansand just to thumb their nose at us while they slip the Twins out to sea,” Brind suggested. “They know Home Fleet will have to stay put here is they do that.”

“Possibly, but if I were going to make a run for the Atlantic with the battleships I’d certainly want the carrier along as well. Coastwatchers must have had an eye full.”

“That they did, sir.”

“In light of all these movements this business with the Twins could also be aimed at drawing us up north. It’s a real shell game here. Given this news I think we must immediately recall the
Rodney
group. We can’t have them up near Trondheim with
Bismarck
and
Tirpitz
holding knives at their back off Kristiansand.”

“Agreed, sir, but it would put them in an interesting position if the Germans do head west with an eye towards breaking out.”

“Yes, and it might be an uncomfortable position as well. I think we better have a look at our cards, Brind. What’s our situation with the convoys?”

“A good number are at risk now, sir. We’ve seven inbound long haul convoys at sea at the moment, three from Halifax, two from Freetown and two from Gibraltar. Then we have three outbound convoys out of Liverpool heading for Gibraltar. That’s 350 merchantmen to look after. A troop ship is scheduled to leave Halifax tomorrow, and at least ten more long haul convoys scheduled before month’s end.”

That reminded Tovey of the odd sighting by the escort ship
Ausonia
, and he asked Brind about it. “Anything further from HX-49?”

“You mean the sighting report we received? No sir, all’s quiet there. It was most likely a Canadian ship returning to Halifax. If it was a German raider they had a real feast in front of them and there wasn’t much
Ausonia
was going to do to stop them.”

“Probably true, but just the same I think we’d better confirm that assumption with the Canadians. Well…A lot on our plate today. Where’s that report on current fleet dispositions?”

“I have it here, sir.” Brind handed the Admiral a folder, and he opened it slowly, deliberately, indeed like a poker player sliding his hand open in a crucial game:

HOME FLEET:

2nd Battleship Squadron:
Resolution, Rodney, Valiant

Under Repair:
Nelson, Barham

Working up on sea trials:
King George V, Prince of Wales

Battlecruiser Squadron:
Invincible
(G3 Class),
Renown, Repulse

Under repair:
Hood
(at Greenock)

Aircraft Carriers:
Ark Royal
(at sea),
Furious
at the Clyde

Under Repair:
Glorious,
Working up:
Illustrious

Carrier Cruiser Escorts
under repair:
Cairo, Enterprise

1st Cruiser Squadron:
Devonshire, Sussex, Norfolk, Suffolk

Under repair:
Berwick

2nd Cruiser Squadron:
Galatea, Arethusa, (at Sheerness)

Under Repair:
Aurora, Penelope

         18th Cruiser Squadron:
Southampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield
(in the Humber),
York
(at Rosythe),
Newcastle
(in the Tyne)

Under repair:
Glascow

 36 Destroyers (16 of these under repair)

He looked at the suggested assignments for the new Force H being assembled for Admiral Somerville at Gibraltar.

“Well,” he said after some time. We’ve given
Valiant
a facelift, but old
Barham
is still wearing grease paint from the last war. She’s scheduled to head for the Med for the buildup at Gibraltar. If we send
Hood
and
Resolution
along with them that won’t leave us much here at all if the Germans do sortie.”

“We have
Invincible
ready again, sir. They just fitted her with the new radar sets for fire control.”

HMS
Invincible
was conceived in the early 1920s as an answer to the growing naval might of both the United States and Japan. At the time the design was revolutionary in that it proposed a ship combining incredible firepower, speed and armor protection. They were approved on 12 August, 1921 with orders for four ships placed soon after. When the Washington Naval Conference met that same year to negotiate fleet size and ship specification limits, the Royal Navy was faced with the prospect of having to cancel all four planned ships. Instead they chose to eliminate two older dreadnoughts then in service, scrapping them to make room for at least one new G3 class ship as a trial of the concept.
Invincible
was the result of that wise decision.

She was 856 feet long with a beam of 106 feet, much like the previous design of HMS
Hood
, but the gun placement and superstructure and funnel arrangement was quite different. 16 inch guns were chosen for the design, the same as those slated to be used in the
Nelson
Class ships, in three triple gun turrets, but with a very unusual arrangement. Two turrets were mounted forward of the main superstructure and conning tower, which got 203mm of armor. The turrets themselves were among the best protected in the navy, with 432mm armor. The third was mounted amidships, between the conning tower and twin funnels just aft of these guns. This unique arrangement saw the main turrets and barbettes and magazines grouped closer together, which meant the heavy side armor and bulkhead length could be shortened to reduce weight.

The result was amazing speed, with powerful engines that could drive the ship to 32 knots, and range exceeding any other battleship in the fleet.
Invincible
was the pride of the Navy, still state-of-the-art twenty years after she was conceived, and Tovey found himself regretting that the Admiralty had been forced to cancel the last three ships slated for that class.

They were scuttled by the Washington Naval Treaty, he thought, and thank god for the clause we managed to negotiate that allowed us to retain this one ship. We should have built more G3s, Tovey knew. Instead they fuddled about with the
Nelson
class trying to use the work done for the N3 battleship designs, after scaling it down to meet the requirements of the treaty. What we got was too slow for the war that we find ourselves in now. As it happened, both the Americans and Japanese were busy building new designs that violated the treaty. We were snookered and lost our chance to have all four G3s at sea today. But by god, at least we’ve got
Invincible
.

Just as HMS
Hood
had been the only one of four ships planned for the
Admiral
Class battlecruisers,
Invincible
was an only son born of the G3 class design proposals. Really a fast battleship, it was nonetheless decided that the ship would form the flag of the speedy Battlecruiser Squadron, which is where Tovey planned to be if things heated up, replacing Admiral Whitworth who was taking the position of Second Sea Lord.

“How is she working out, Brind?”

“Very good, sir. New ears for the old girl, and better anti-aircraft protection. Gunnery trials were entirely satisfactory after the new 4.7 Dual purpose guns were refitted. Engines and propulsion are still top drawer.”

“Good to hear it, as I intend to place my flag there tomorrow.”

“You’re going to sea, sir? Tomorrow?”

“Mister Brind, where else would an Admiral of the Home Fleet better dispose himself than at sea with his ships? Tomorrow will do quite nicely. We’ll settle in for a day and depart on the 14th. That will give
Rodney
time to get south and stand a watch closer to home. As for
Renown
I want to her within arm’s reach in 48 hours.”

“I understand, sir.”

“Now then…We’d better have a good look at everything else. Something tells me the Germans are up to something big here, and we had best be prepared for it.”

Tovey’s nose for battle was serving him well.

Chapter 12

Doenitz
leaned heavily over the map, his eyes scanning it with misgiving. “Too soon,” he muttered. “We are not yet ready for major operations in the Atlantic.”

“Well it seems Herr Hitler is,” said Raeder. “These plans were drawn up specifically to satisfy that man. You most certainly read the Fuhrer Directive.”

Doenitz shook his head. “Of course I have read it, but that does not mean we should commit the bulk of the fleet like this—all our newest designs..”

“Not all. I’m keeping Kaiser, Rhineland and Westfalen in the pen. What else can I do? Hitler specifically ordered this planning be given the highest priority.”

“You insisted on building these ships, Raeder, so now don’t be surprised when the Fuhrer asks you to use them.”

Raeder folded his arms, thinking. “We’ve sat on our thumbs for all of a year, with little more than the
Graf Spee
and
Admiral Sheer
to challenge the enemy. Now we are waiting for
Hindenburg
to rig out and run through trials. The ship is almost ready, and so are
Bismarck
and
Tirpitz
.”

“Well if you had left me a little steel in the bin, and if we could keep fat Goering’s hand out of the purse, then I might have more to support you. As it stands, we’ve no more than a hundred U-boats ready now, a third of what we need for this war, and many of those are early Type VII boats, not suited for operations in the Atlantic.”

“Well how many boats can you commit?”

“I can give you one or two wolfpacks for the Atlantic by pulling in most of the units I have there now. But they will have to operate in the east. All the boats are coming out of Wilhelmshaven, swinging north of the UK and then loitering southwest of Ireland. That’s where the real pickings are at the moment. The rest will have to operate along the French and Spanish coast, or in the Med.”

“That will have to do then.” Raeder was equally concerned, but in spite of his reservations there was still the thrum of a thrill within him over the operation. It was truly grand, truly dangerous. Can we risk it, he wondered? The heart of the fleet? Of what use are the ships if we simply leave them riding at anchor in the Baltic Sea or building up layers of frost in the fiords up north? Winter is coming, and it may be a hard one if the Allies regain their balance. We have knocked them back on their heels. Yet what of the fuel situation? We’ll burn off virtually every drop of oil we have in an operation of this size. It could take us months to recover to a level where we could function normally again.

“Do you really propose to operate on this scale?” Doenitz voiced the same basic question, seeming to read his mind, fully aware of the risks and difficulties involved.

“I know, Admiral,” said Raeder. “I have had nightmares about it for months. But we will not sail out in one great sortie to seek battle with the British Home Fleet. That would be foolish. The bands will play, the crews will stand in dress whites on the decks and then it is out of our hands. How much will come back? That is the question I keep asking myself. No. The virtue of the ships we have built still lies in the unique combination of speed, power and endurance. We will accomplish our aims with maneuver, not a set piece battle. To do this we have deployed tankers that will allow at sea replenishment for our capital ships in the Atlantic. Our
Trosschiff
fleet support ships are as important as any of the battleships. We have six deployed to support the battlecruiser operation at this very moment.”

“And what about Norway?” said Doenitz. “If you send out all your warships who will watch the coast? The garrisons will be isolated, without replenishment by sea.”

“We have a supply convoy scheduled to go with
Bismarck
and
Tirpitz
. In fact, this is part of the cover plan for the operation as a whole. If I can convince the Royal Navy that these initial movements are aimed at reinforcing Norway, then we might not raise enough suspicion to prompt a major response from their home fleet.”

“I would not count on that,” Doenitz shook his head again. “The British have been masters of the seas for generations. They will know trouble when they see it, and act accordingly.”