The Atlantic Express
by: justjames17
(Copyright 2004 -2007 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...
 

Chapter 10

The small group of eight ships sped through the blackness, only their white arched bow waves visible as their knife sharp bows thrust through the cold water, the North Sea was in a benign mood and the seas stayed calm as they tore up towards Norway. Daylight began to lighten the eastern skies as the dawn approached, bells rang through the silent ships demanding their crews close up for action stations. Tin helmets donned along with life jackets saw the men scurrying about as they rushed to their positions.

The bridge speakers sprang to life as the guns were declared closed up and all the various departments reported their readiness. The dull light gradually increased as the sun finally made it's appearance beaming a long bright pathway towards the speeding ships, the upper works glistened with the morning dew as the sunlight hit the metallic structures while the water remained black. The tall steel masts lit up in the light their antenna wires looking like spun gold until the sun rose fully and the ships returned to their normal somber hues on the blue seas. The small white caps crisply showing in the gentle breeze as they raced past the small fleet, no visible enemy in sight above or below the surface the ships' crews stood down as belay to mess was piped.

Only the duty turrets were manned and they weaved to the command of the gunnery control, as the circuits were tested and the hydraulics moved the heavy gun turrets about. The ships sped on towards their destination undeterred and so far unsighted by the enemy, the day passed quietly as the crews went about their business until sundown when action stations sounded once more and they took up their positions again. Night closed in hiding the small cluster of ships once more and they made good time, as the seas were still calm, an occurrence not usually seen in these latitudes where huge deep lows came howling down from the Arctic to stir the seas into slavering monsters.

The ships sped on through the night's blackness hiding them from the searching eyes of enemy aircraft, they reached the Norwegian coast just after dawn and steamed along the mountainous coast till they reached the Fjord they had been directed to investigate. They moved up into the narrowing waters under the frowning brows of the snowcapped mountains their binoculars searching the land for any signs of the enemies' movements. Nothing stirred on the land and only the circling sea gulls showed any sign of life, they could see the villages of scattered houses along the shore but no sign of any inhabitants, troops or vehicles. They moved deeper into the enclosed waters as they nervously searched for their targets, many miles passed as they steamed along, then away in the distance smoke was seen rising into the sky.

The Captains warned the crews to be on their toes as they approached the smoke's origins, it was the burning hulk of a steamer beached on the rocks, listing heavily as she burned. It looked as though she had been bombed from above and not shelled by the enemy, they inspected the hulk to ascertain if anyone was still aboard her but her davits were empty except for one, a destroyed lifeboat hung there with it's back broken. They steamed on quietly until suddenly a roaring was heard and a German Ju88 came screaming from behind the mountain and flew straight over the fleet, by the time the guns were swung around the plane was again hidden by the mountains.

The situation was now much more dangerous as their position was known to the enemy the Luftwaffe would almost certainly be arming to attack them in a short time. The ships were on high alert as they moved further into the fjord, more smoke became evident ahead and the binoculars were turned ahead to see a town under fire from a German destroyer. The cruisers guns elevated and four 8inch projectiles spewed from the forward turrets, at maximum range the shells peppered all about the lean vessel although no hits were observed. The small fleet increased speed to close the distance as the cruisers kept up a steady rate of fire and soon hits were observed as the destroyer turned tail to run, although where she was going to run to was a mystery she could only run further up the fjord and she couldn't escape that way.

The cruisers now had closed the range and hits were battering the ship as she fired ineffectually back her guns unable to reach us, she took a heavy pounding then as a last resort she headed towards the shore to beach herself in the shallows. She rammed herself onto the rocks like the steamer we saw before but once aground, the troops of the Norwegian army took up the assault and all resistance was soon quelled. The destroyer was obviously softening up the positions of the defending army, which meant that the German forces were not too far away.

We steamed up to the position and stared at the listing warship, the remnants of her crew being marched off in a column to be interned. We signaled the shore and found out that the invaders were only a few miles south of our position so we prepared to shell them when we could see them. All was quiet for some time then the sounds of heavy armored tanks could be heard and shell bursts were falling amongst the Norwegian positions, our gunnery directors turned searching for the enemy and the guns followed the directors to aim at the mountain just south of the small town. They belched flame and smoke as they fired and the ship shook under the recoil, our shells screamed away to burst on the side of the mountain, the foul stench of the brown cordite smoke wreathed about the ships. Through our binoculars we could just make out the shapes of the enemy vehicles, the explosion of our multiple shells blanketed the side of the mountain with fire.

The enemy guns fell silent under the onslaught, and we pulverized the column, tanks were seen flying through the air as the 8inch shells from the cruisers landed devastatingly in their midst on the narrow mountain road, while our 4inch shells were hitting and destroying many vehicles. Snow fell in avalanches from the mountain tops adding to the problems of the invaders and their neat column was thrown into complete disarray as the road was blasted away beneath their treads and tires. Smoke and fire from the burning vehicles stained the sky as we cruised up and down the fjord shelling at will.

This destruction continued for some fifty minutes till there was nothing visibly moving on the mountain and we ceased fire, the guns smoking hot and the barrels blackened and the paint blistered with the heat. We began to steam away back down the fjord when a covey of Stuka dive bombers appeared howling down towards our small fleet, our guns firing as we rang on full speed ahead. Our movements restricted by the narrow waters as we tried to weave about to throw the bombers off, the aircraft were easy targets as they dived vertically and three soon burst into flames and exploded but seven flew through the hail of gunfire and unloaded over head.

The evil black eggs whistled down towards us, and two found their marks, one hit the leading cruiser on the quarterdeck punching deep into her bowels to explode amongst her steering gear. The plume of black smoke billowed up from her shattered deck as she lost steering and began to veer away to starboard. The second bomb struck the destroyer ahead of us and exploded in her engine room blowing her guts open to the frigid waters. She stopped slewing to port in front of us as we frantically spun the wheel to avoid her stricken hull, flames and steam poured from her shattered mid ships as she slowed and began to settle in the water.

Her crew began to abandon ship as the ship sank beneath them, as the attack had ceased we turned about and returned to assist her, the damaged cruiser was now circling out of control due to her rudder being hard over at the time the bomb struck. Her consort moved to her aid as she slowed after shutting down her engines, towing gear was readied and passed as they came alongside her. We picked up what was left of the now almost totally submerged destroyer's crew and set off again to join the remaining ships of our small force.

We had to escape the trap of the fjord as quickly as we could but our speed would be regulated by the towing speed of the cruiser and that would not be very fast at all most probably about ten knots or the towing gear would part under the strain. We set off again steaming at our best pace the five destroyers grouped around the cruisers as we traveled further down the fjord, as it slowly began to widen. We knew the bombers would return as soon as they reloaded and it was just a matter of time till we saw them again. We were left undisturbed for an hour then the drone of aircraft engines were heard again this time high level bombers cruised into view far above our struggling ships.

We opened fire with the main armament sending time-fused shells up to the bombers altitude the sky became pock marked with red centered black blossoms as the shells exploded amongst them. We fired at the maximum loading rate and some results were seen as a few planes turned back leaking thin plumes of black smoke in their wake, then we saw the strings of tiny black blobs separate from the aircraft and wobble towards us, our hands clenched as the bombs whistled closer. We couldn't do much but grit our teeth and pray to the Lord.

The bombs arrived most missed, plunging into the water leaving small plumes of spray but a few connected, one hit our bow and exploded in the paint locker blowing a huge hole in the deck and setting fire to the paint stored in there. The acrid smoke billowed out covering the bridge as we coughed and spluttered unable to see anything till it cleared, the damage control crew was on the job quickly pouring water into the area. A second missile hit another destroyer on the bridge killing the captain and all those present, she heeled over and away as she steamed out of control until her first lieutenant established command and set up the emergency steering gear in the stern. She limped away towards the open sea trailing a heavy smoke plume as we all headed towards the open sea again.

A third bomb landed on the forward turret of the already damaged cruiser exploding in the turret and setting off the cordite charges being loaded into her guns. These erupted blowing the turret apart as they combined with the disruptive force of the bomb; the gun crew was virtually vaporized in the explosion. She was lucky the explosion didn't penetrate down the lift shaft to her magazine, as she would have been blown apart instantly. We were very lucky the airmen didn't attempt a lower bombing height or we would have been in more trouble but they obviously didn't fancy the firepower of our small fleet, the aircraft flew on, another limping away trailing smoke.

This operation was a poorly planned affair, ships trapped in these narrow waters were at a very distinct disadvantage due to the lack of maneuvering space, we should never have been sent up here to attempt the task and we were paying the price for our superiors' bungling. Although we had destroyed a portion of the German forces and sunk one destroyer we in turn had lost one destroyer and had two damaged plus one severely damaged heavy cruiser. A very costly victory so far and we still had to run the gauntlet of the German Luftwaffe, which would hunt us down till we were out of their range.

We limped along at a steady ten knots and eventually reached the open sea, darkness was descending as we left the fjord and we would be unmolested during the short arctic night. We headed out due west to try to confuse the enemy instead of heading directly towards England. We had only six hours of darkness and that would only mean 60 nautical miles, which wasn't much for an aircraft flying at 200 miles per hour, unfortunately we would be easy to locate in the morning.

The weather remained calm and warmish as we limped through the darkness then towards dawn there was a change in the wind and the temperature dropped sharply, I prayed it would cause a thick fog as the cold air met the warmth and soon it developed into a pea souper. Visibility dropped to a matter of yards as we felt our way along shrouded in thick white vapor, I prayed it would last a few hours and allow us to gain sea room from the coast. The further we progressed the more difficult locating us would be and we steamed steadily along invisible to one another and the hawks in the skies.

The fog stayed with us for most of the day and finally lifted as the sun dropped below the horizon, we had been lucky and the good Lord must have protected us, we were now 250miles from Norway and had another night to escape the bombers. They would not find us now as we were too far out and the search area would be immense, it would be exceptionally bad luck to be located now. We steamed through the night and closed up for action stations at dawn and as the sun rose on a new day we breathed a sigh of relief at our lucky escape.

The sun was just above the horizon when there was a mighty explosion and we jumped in shock turned our eyes to the cruisers to see a massive geyser of spray dissipating on the port side of the already damaged cruiser. It had to be a torpedo fired from a submarine hidden in the sun's glare, the destroyers on that side turned away and raced towards the position from which the submarine had fired. Our trauma was still not finished the enemy was still trying to make us pay for our sortie, the cruiser was wallowing as the tow continued the towing cruiser was frantically going astern to halt their forward speed and take the pressure off the towing gear so it could be slipped as the dying ship began to sink.

The stern of the towing cruiser was inexorably being pulled under as the weight of her sinking sister began to pull her down, the forward motion of the tow hastening her demise. The disaster looked to be complete as the sinking ship stood on her bow the damaged stern vertical her crew falling and leaping from her decks as she began to take her final dive, the ship began to sink rapidly then with a huge cracking and snapping sound the wire hawser connecting the two cruisers broke. The thick wire whipped through the water killing many of the swimmers trying to escape the vortex as the ship sank, the freed cruiser's stern lifted from the water her propellers thrashing the air and then she crashed back onto the sea in a welter of spray and foam killing even more of the frantically struggling men. Her propellers sucked more of the swimmers under to be minced by the flashing revolving blades, the Captain of the cruiser ordered engines stopped to minimize the disaster.

We could hear the plaintive cries from where we were as we headed across to attempt to rescue the struggling sailors, we reached the area and the stench of fuel oil assailed our noses. The men in the water were swimming in the filthy muck ingesting it as they swam and breathed, the caustic oil would destroy their lungs and blind them if they weren't rescued quickly and cleaned up, although those who ingested it were probably doomed anyway. We lowered the boarding nets and our crew climbed down to assist the oil covered men and boys to climb up onto our deck, they clambered aboard and collapsed retching on the deck spewing the foul black muck from their guts and coughing it up from already damaged their lungs.

We rendered what aid we could but having no doctor on board we couldn't do much, the cruiser had a doctor and a well-equipped sick bay but we couldn't transfer the patients under the circumstances. She too was pulling men from the water some in terrible condition from both the oil and injuries and wounds received when her consort was torpedoed. We collected all we could find alive then steamed south towards England, leaving our two destroyers hunting the submarine.

The trip home was much faster now we had no ship in tow although we still couldn't travel at full speed due to our destroyer with the jury rigged steering, she was unable to operate at full speed due to the heavy auxiliary steering, 20 knots was her top speed so we settled on that for the rest of the trip. We had rescued thirty men from the cruiser but we lost 22 on the trip home only eight survived their swim in the oil. We docked and unloaded them to the medical corps ambulances whence they were driven to the Naval Hospital; our ship was to be repaired before we could put to sea again so we had a week's respite to recuperate from the disaster. Our damage was only minor and they would weld patches over the holes in the decks to keep us seaworthy till our next major overhaul.

Tom came to my cabin after we docked and we chatted for some time about the disastrous sortie, his nerves were as tattered as my own and decided to again invite him to stay with me at my home. That way we could support each other and mend our psyches together. He readily accepted my offer and we left the ship separately, after Bradley obtained some provisions for my leave, but we caught the same train and again traveled in separate classes on the journey.

To be continued...
 

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Posted: 07/27/07