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...
Posted: 07/27/07