Paradox Hour (28 page)

Chapter 24

Darkness
had put an end to the fitful air attacks mounted by HMS
Glorious
, and the guns were finally silent on
Hindenburg
. Six enemy planes had been blown from the sky, one small reason for Lütjens to be confident. Yet he was not happy. The fact remained that his task force was now one ship light, with
Kaiser Wilhelm
forced to detach and return to a French port.

After lingering to see
Kaiser Wilhelm
off to France, Lütjens had turned northwest. The enemy carrier he had driven off was still in the game, however, and was running on a parallel course. Both sides had planes up sparring with one another, but neither was able to mount a serious threat.
Goeben
had only three
Stukas
, and the pilots aboard
Glorious
were licking their wounds until late on the 5th of May when they came again, just before sunset.

The action had been hot, the AA gunners doing an excellent job against the low flying
Swordfish
. Two enemy fighters fell to the
Goeben
air defense screen, and the flak gunners got four
Swordfish
before it was over. Three enemy torpedoes posed a threat, but all were easily evaded. Yet the incident had Lütjens thinking now, and he was feeling a rising sense of discontent.
Goeben
had only six fighters. Thus far they had been enough to fend off this single enemy carrier, but he knew the British had several more at sea, at least according to the latest reports out of Group West.

We thought that carriers might be good for little more than scouting operations, thought Lütjens, that and onshore support in the Norwegian operations. Now they have proven to be a principle offensive weapon here! We spend years designing and building these ships, and untold numbers of Deutschmarks. When finished they are the most marvelous warships in the world, yet all it took was a single old plane, obsolete before it was even put in service, and the fastest battlecruiser in the world was hobbled. The fighters off
Goeben
did a fine job, and the gunners here as well, but fill the sky with enough of those flying fruit crates, and something just may get through.

He shook his head, feeling a strange sense of presentiment, almost as if the fate of
Kaiser Wilhelm
was predictive, a prelude to what may come. It was May of 1941, a dangerous month for the Kriegsmarine as history might have it, though only the likes of Fedorov would know that.

By now I should be well to the west, joining up with Topp to plan the destruction of the entire British convoy system. This order to turn east again, and seek out this small British force makes no sense.

He had waited for some time for confirmation on that order, and when it finally came it was stark and to the point. REPEAT: ALL UNITS TO LOCATE AND SINK BATTLESHIP RODNEY. NO EXCEPTIONS – THIS ACTION IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE. PRESUMED POSITION AND HEADING TO FOLLOW.

Some U-boat Kapitan must have found that ship, thought Lütjens. But what was so important about a single old battleship? Why that ship and not the others that were now surely maneuvering to engage us? Is Raeder so sent on achieving some victory here that he wants us to gang tackle this ship to assure success? Thus far we have killed a couple destroyers and an enemy cruiser, but it cost us
Kaiser
Wilhelm
in the bargain. That ship will live to fight another day, the damage can be easily repaired, but the fact remains that I am one ship light. Perhaps Adler was correct about this enemy aircraft carrier. Am I failing to see something here?

He paced slowly on the bridge, his eyes scanning the dreary horizon. In the Mediterranean, it was those damnable rockets that put the damage on us, and not shells from the enemy guns. And when we struck back, it was the land based planes the enemy feared most. Am I witnessing a sea change in naval tactics and strategy here? Look what the presence of
Graf Zeppelin
did for us in the Norwegian Sea last year. It was that ship that so bedeviled the British. Yes, our battleships were a real threat, but first blood went to those hot
Stuka
pilots off the
Graf Zeppelin
, and that will likely be the case here. Even though
Goeben
has only nine planes, it has been very useful. Again, it was a
Stuka
that put that hit on the enemy carrier, not
Kaiser Wilhelm
. Things are changing. It is no longer the big ships like
Hindenburg
that will rule the sea, but the aircraft over those waters, and these long range rockets. How long before we have them ourselves?

Lütjens had turned north around midnight, stubbornly thinking he might still meet up with Topp on that course and then continue west. When this last signal came from Group West, firming up his orders to seek out this British battleship, he also learned that Topp had been given the same order.
Tirpitz
had turned southeast, and if he did not turn as well, he could not rendezvous with the northern task force.

And so, reluctantly, Lütjens turned east on a heading of 080 degrees. As the light faded on the 6th of May, the alarm was sounded again and the gunners ran to man their stations. This time, however, the planes in the sky were friendly. It was a flight of three fighters off
Graff Zeppelin
, and they were soon dancing in the sky with Marco Ritter above the task force. Topp was getting close.

“Admiral,” said Adler, coming in with the latest status report. “
U-556
is still shadowing that British battleship. We have a good fix on its location, heading south. Even if we make only 24 knots they are only about ten hours east of us now. If they continue south, we could possibly intercept them mid-day on the 8th.”

“Where will Topp be if we keep to this heading until dawn?”

“Very close, sir. About sixty miles to our northeast tomorrow morning.”

“And the British?”

“Over a hundred and twenty miles behind us to the west—at least the two battleships that were trying to catch up with Topp.”

“What about that enemy carrier that has been bothering us?”

You mean the ship you failed to order
Kaiser Wilhelm
to sink, thought Adler, but he was wise enough not to speak his mind.

“Our turn to the east seems to have shaken them off. I don’t think we have anything more to worry about from them, particularly now that we are coming in range of our planes off
Graf Zeppelin.”

“And the
Invincible?”

“The last information we have is that they have detached a cruiser north, probably to lend additional support to the
Rodney
group. Two ships were seen by a
Kondor
out of Spain, and their last known heading was 330.”

Lütjens was plotting out that course on the map room in his mind. Still on an intercept course with us now. Could they know we have turned? Then again, we were steering that course earlier, and they could still be following our presumed track. In any case, it appears we may meet them soon, sometime tomorrow. The only question is whether we should effect a linkup with Topp first. I think this wise.

“Very well,” he said. “Yes, Adler, I have been thinking about that British aircraft carrier. Perhaps you were correct. If I had ordered
Kaiser Wilhelm
to go in for the kill, we might not be worrying about it now. Then again, we both saw what happened. Where is the
Kaiser
? Back in a French port, and with a good stomach ache. So my caution was not without merit either.”

“Of course, sir,” said Adler. “Yet now the situation has changed.
Graf Zeppelin
has a full complement of aircraft—twelve more fighters to go with the six we have on
Goeben
, and another thirty
Stukas!
Nothing can stop us now. Nothing.”

“Are you forgetting what happened in the Mediterranean?” Lütjens wagged a finger. “We had plenty of land based air cover, but they could do nothing against those naval rockets. This is why we must keep an eye out for this British flagship. You say those two heavy ships are still steering 330? We must confirm that. Send a message to
Goeben
and see if they can locate that ship. If we can strike it with those
Stukas
, and eliminate it early on, then we can take these rockets out of the equation here. After that, I will share your confidence and enthusiasm, Adler, but not before.”

“Agreed, sir. That would be best. But how many rockets can the British have on a single warship? Once we join with Topp, we will have ten ships, the most powerful task force to sail these waters in decades.”

“Suppose they have twenty missiles,” said Lütjens. “You saw what they can do, Kapitan. It took us hours to put out those fires, and months to repair the damage. It was uncanny how they seemed to leap at us, just before they struck the ship, and avoided our main belt armor.”

“This time things may be different, sir, if Koenig’s hydraulics actually work.”

The time in the docks at Toulon had been put to good use aboard
Hindenburg
. Chief Engineer Viktor Koenig had been shaking his head at the damage to the superstructure, and wondering how he could increase protection there. They were lucky that there had been fresh secondary batteries available, waiting on the trains for delivery to the
Oldenburg
, but diverted south to Toulon for
Hindenburg
instead. And he had also managed to pilfer a good deal of excess armor in storage for that ship, and had several tons left over when the repairs were complete. He came up with an ingenious idea that he could mount these armor plates on sections of the deck, raising them with hydraulics when needed to provide several inches of armor protection to the main superstructure that had been so severely damaged earlier. When not in use,
Hindenburg
would also have a much thicker hide against plunging shell hits in those sections.

The extra weight shaved off just a little speed, but with her great beam,
Hindenburg
still handled well, and rode easily, even in very heavy seas.

Armor, thought Lütjens, we certainly have that in abundance now. But it was not merely the structural damage that compelled me to break off that last engagement, it was those terrible fires. If we are hit like that again… And we never once set eyes on the ship that fired at us. That was the most frightening part of that battle. How do you kill something that is not even on your horizon? What good are these massive gun turrets if they have no targets? He looked up again, hearing the drone of the fighters swirling in the skies over his task force.

Graf Zeppelin…
The carrier…. That ship was now the most important vessel in the entire navy, and it was humbling to realize this. With the carrier he had much greater situational awareness, and the same long range over the horizon striking power that his adversary had. The
Stukas
had proven to be most able threats, particularly against more lightly armored ships. We very nearly destroyed the entire British battlecruiser squadron in that engagement up north. Then again, if we had stayed in the fight in the Med, this ship might not even be here now… another humbling thought.

Things have changed. Hoffmann was correct. The entire character of naval warfare at sea has taken a pivot, and we failed to see it coming. Koenig is rigging out makeshift steel plates to try and compensate for our short sightedness. The carriers will mean everything now, and any surface warship without these naval rockets will be at a decided disadvantage. Everything has changed, yet in the meantime, we must fight with the ships we have…

He thought of that fluttering old
Swordfish
torpedo bomber again, obsolete before it was even introduced, and realized that may very well apply to his own ship now, the pride of the fleet. He looked at his Kapitan, a haunted look in his eyes as he spoke.

“So you will soon get your battle, Adler. This is all or nothing now. It is time to fight. I intend to find this British battleship, sink it, and then turn to do the same to anything following us. We will fight to the last shell here if need be. See that Eisenberg is ready on the guns!”

“That is what I have been waiting for you to say all along, Admiral. Have no fear! We will win through. I promise you this.”

Lütjens smiled as Adler saluted and rushed off to see to the ship. He was like a steed that had been given free rein, and now he wanted to gallop into battle as soon as possible. The smile faded on Lütjens’ face as he watched his Kapitan go, and his eyes darkened with that odd feeling that had plagued him all morning. He could feel the rising adrenaline in his chest, though all about him the sea was clear and calm, and nothing threatened his ships.

But he could feel something was very wrong here, a strange sensation that was almost a tangible thing, something he might hear on the wind, or in the depths of the ocean, something moaning, lost, dangerous. What was it? He listened, but could hear nothing beyond the normal sounds of the ship, running smoothly at 24 knots now, the sturdy bow cutting the sea with little effort. He could hear nothing amiss, but he could
feel
it, sense it, a persistent sensation of rising danger.

I must be getting old, he thought. Am I getting butterflies in the belly now that the ship is heading into combat soon? I am Admiral of the Fleet!

That afternoon two seaplanes off his own ship set off to look for the British flagship. They searched down a heading of 120 southeast, and neither one would return. The radio man came running onto the bridge an hour later saying the planes had seen the one thing that was haunting Lütjens now.

“Rockets in the sky, Admiral! That was the last report we have from the Arados. Both our seaplanes are gone!”

So they were out there, he thought. 120 southeast. “How far out were those planes when they last reported?”

“About 280 miles, sir. They were just about to turn back.”