Elihu Root finally spoke. “James, are you suggesting they won’t be able to fight?”
“Oh, hell no. They can fight and fight hard. They just can’t fight for very damn long. One or two major battles and what they have on hand in their units, as well as their tactical reserves, will be used up. Then they will be in real big trouble.”
“What a lovely picture.” Roosevelt laughed. “So what will they do about it? Resupply?”
“Yes,” said Root. “It will have to be quick and massive. That is just about their only option. When that occurs, we feel they will then try to end this war as quickly and as savagely as possible. Sir, we have won a battle, but we may have set some terrible forces in motion, forces we are not yet ready to control.”
Roosevelt pondered. “So be it,” he said solemnly. “Now, what about our casualties?”
Long cleared his throat. “In the initial phase of the attack, we lost three destroyers sunk and most others damaged. There were about 150 men killed and wounded. In the second phase, when the Germans sent some cruisers through the Kill Van Kull and attacked the remainder at anchor, we lost the surviving nine destroyers and another hundred men. That should not have happened, but no one thought the Germans would counterattack. The New Jersey Militia on guard simply ran as the cruisers entered the harbor and started pounding the docks. The destroyers had not yet been rearmed with torpedoes and were sitting ducks. Hobson and the rest of his men ran down the streets and tried to make themselves scarce in the city. It was a rather inglorious end to a glorious beginning. On the plus side, we did find a survivor from that submarine we experimented with, theHolland. One of the departing destroyers found him floating in the harbor. The man is badly hurt but he did confirm that it was the sub’s torpedo that hit an ammunition ship and started the whole shebang.”
Roosevelt snarled. “Well, thank God for that. Now, what was wrong with the militia? Didn’t they fire at all?”
“No, sir. Either they were too terrified or their orders were to not do anything to further upset the Germans.”
“Damn them!” In frustration, Roosevelt turned to the issue of the torpedo boats. “There are a lot of docks and wharves in that area. How did the Germans know where our little ships were?”
“Sir,” said Long, “it could have been spies, but I think they saw where the crowds were.” He grimaced. “Some well-meaning supporters had festooned the area with flags.”
Longstreet chuckled. “Well, at least your idea went off a whole lot better than I had planned. I was just going to put some of those big guns we borrowed from the navy on Staten Island and try to close the Narrows.”
Roosevelt ’s jaw dropped. “You could close the Narrows?”
“Probably not entirely,” he admitted, “but we could make entering the upper bay a real adventure for them. I’m thinking we’ll still do it. They may have to land some troops to push us off Staten Island, and then we’ll get a chance to fight them in the open.”
Roosevelt thought it was a good idea. “Now, what about Hobson? A medal or a court-martial followed by a public hanging?”
“A medal,” said Long. The others agreed, with the exception of Longstreet, who said he hadn’t seen a hanging in a number of years.
The kaiser was pale and drawn. “How could this have happened? A submarine? Torpedo boats? And at just the moment when we had so much to lose? How did the Americans find out? There must be traitors in our midst. There is no other answer. We will find them and exterminate them, whoever they are.”
Holstein took a deep breath and turned to Tirpitz. “Were our losses in New York that severe?”
Tirpitz, normally serene in his confidence and powerful in his bearing, looked uncomfortable. “Of the smaller ships, a few cruisers were indeed sunk or damaged, as were a number of transports. Two of our capital ships, theBrandenburg and theOdin, were also damaged. They will have to return to Germany for repairs.”
Holstein nodded. And that cannot possibly happen until the war is over. They might as well have been sunk too. He also had it on good authority that a third capital ship had been damaged as well. Tirpitz must have been hoping it could be repaired before his kaiser determined the true extent of the disaster. “And all this from a submarine and some little torpedo boats?”
Tirpitz was agitated. “The use of a ship that can go underwater is unmanly. As the kaiser says, a stab in the back.”
“Do we have any of those strange little ships?” Schlieffen asked.
“No,” answered Tirpitz.
“And we won’t,” snapped the kaiser. “Those are coward ships. Let the Americans and the French have them. We will never stoop to that kind of warfare. Battleships,” he said, smiling at Tirpitz, “will win this war for us.”
Schlieffen rose. Clearly concerned, his face was flushed with uncharacteristic anger. “Battleships? Have you forgotten, All Highest, that an army moves on its stomach? Our food, clothing, and ammunition reserves are gone and with them much of our ability to wage war.” He wheeled and confronted Tirpitz. “I want to know if those supplies will be replaced and just how soon! If they do not arrive within the next few weeks, we will be forced to take drastic action to end this war before the onset of winter makes resupply via the North Atlantic an even more chancy affair than it is now!”
Tirpitz’s face was pale. He was not used to being scolded. “We have already started the resupply effort,” he countered. “Transports from all sources are being gathered and loaded with equipment and supplies. Soon there will be a massive convoy, an armada of more than a hundred transports with everything your army and my navy will need. Furthermore, the kaiser has given me directions that another corps of reserve soldiers will be shipped over with them. I will provide that convoy with the strongest possible escort, and it will get through.”
Now it was Schlieffen’s turn to be startled. He had not been informed that more of his army was being sent to America. A reserve corps would likely be another twenty-five thousand men. Twenty-five thousand additional stomachs to feed and backs to clothe. He recovered quickly and turned to Tirpitz. “You guarantee their arrival?” His voice was a sneer, and even the kaiser looked uncomfortable.
“Yes.”
“You will be using the High Seas Fleet to protect it?”
Tirpitz shook his head vehemently. “No, of course not. We cannot entirely denude Germany of naval protection with the French still so angry at us and the English and Americans off our coasts. No, we will use our existing resources. They will be more than sufficient.” They will have to be, Holstein thought. “The convoy will get through!” Tirpitz slammed his beefy fist on the table. “On my honor!”
Holstein had often wondered about Tirpitz’s honor, and he wondered, therefore, about the worth of the oath. He remained silent, and the meeting was adjourned. While leaving, he managed to walk beside Chancellor von Bulow.
“Von Bulow, you look pale. Do you perhaps have stock in Hamburg-America?”
Bulow barked a laugh. The Hamburg-America Line was the largest shipping company in Germany and one of the largest in the world. When a transport was sunk or captured, it was often one of theirs. “Don’t we all? No, that is not the problem. When von Tirpitz said we were gathering ships from all over, he didn’t say how that was being accomplished. Very simply, the German navy is now commandeering anything that floats and damn the owners, regardless of nationality.”