Not very sporting of Jerry to jump right in with an air strike again, he thought, but something about this one didn’t seem to fit. As far as he knew the Germans had not yet deployed a torpedo plane capable of operating from a carrier. The modified Stukas were their only strike asset, and they would certainly not come in this low. He went to the nearest viewport to have a look and was soon convinced these were British Swordfish. They had been ordered north to look for the German fleet, and here they were, but at this altitude he had the sickening feeling they might have mistaken Invincible for an enemy ship. He turned swiftly, with every second counting now.
“Belay that air alert and send up recognition flags and flares, gentlemen. Those are Swordfish off the Illustrious, if the mainmast would care to have a better look at them. Mister Wells, kindly go to the W/T room and see that those planes are vectored northeast on a heading of 040.”
“Right away, sir!”
Wells walked briskly off the bridge until he was out of the Admiral’s sight. Then, seeing he had a clear ladder down, he hastened away at a run. Tovey heard the man’s footfalls echo from the open hatch and smiled.
Lt — Cdr. Williamson was leading in 815 Squadron with two sub-flights of three Swordfish each, and his planes were lined up well on the target ahead. They were coming in on the aft quarter after descending from 4,000 feet to make their attack run. Lt. Scarlett was ready on the rear gun mount, and fussing about with his W/T headset.
“Signal the lads, Mister Scarlett. Target ahead. Sub-flight B to the right. We’ll swing round the other side.”
Scarlett was fated to win a Distinguished Service Cross later that year over the Italian Navy at Taranto, and Williamson would be admitted as a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order, but instead they would get their medals early for the events that were now about to unfold. John Scarlett thought he heard something in his headset, tapping it again and thinking he had a dodgy wire. Then a voice came through and his eyes widened. At that same moment, Williamson saw two flares go up, an expedient measure that was seldom used by a warship in combat, as it would clearly mark its position. He counted them, one… two… three… blue! “What the hell? Hold on, Lieutenant. Belay that order! That’s Royal Navy up ahead!”
Scarlett looked over his shoulder, saw the flares, passed a fleeting moment thinking the Germans may have worked out their signal sequences, but he had heard a frantic voice in his earpiece, right in the clear. “Lookout ahead! HMS Invincible!” The message came in just as the planes were beginning to swerve off to make their attack approach. “They want us to fly on zero-four-zero, sir. It’s HMS Invincible up ahead!”
“Good of them to introduce themselves,” said Williamson. “Thought we had already passed the Fleet Flagship long ago! If this is Invincible, what was that ship we left in our wake, Johnny?”
“Might have been Sussex or Devonshire, sir. They’re both off to the southwest.”
“What about those other ships up ahead at ten-o-clock?” Williamson had spotted two more dark silhouettes on the horizon.
“The message says our target is on 040, sir.”
This was the first combat mission Illustrious had been handed, and just three days after she had finished initial trials on air wing operations. There seemed to be ships everywhere, and the men had not had enough time over the fleet to drill on ship recognition profiles, or anything else. He would have seen what was in front of him in time, as Invincible had a profile that was impossible to miss, but they had been coming in on the ship’s aft quarter, making identification more difficult. He took a long look at the contact at 10:00, thinking it had to be German ships, but orders were orders and so he steered 040.
Several sub-flights had already fluttered off to their attack headings, as per training, but Lieutenant Scarlett was quickly signaling them to reform. Sub-Lieutenants Sparke and Macaulay were quick to respond and maneuvered off either wing. Lieutenants Kemp, Swayne and Maund were already down at a thousand feet, but he saw them nose up to rejoin. The last two sub-flights in his squadron were well back and got the message before they broke to attack. A few minutes later Williamson had his eggs in the basket again and the Swordfish came up and then veered right to bypass Invincible, wings wagging in salutation. Thankfully not a single round came up for them, but it was a near run thing.
“Did Hale get the message?”
“Right, sir,” said Scarlett. “819 Squadron is coming up behind us and will follow our heading.”
High overhead a sub-flight of three Fulmars surged ahead. They were accompanied by six Skuas of 824 Squadron under Lieutenant Commander Charles Evans, off to sweep out in front in case the Germans were waiting with more Messerschmitts, though no sign was seen of enemy planes.
The whole formation veered right, roaring away toward the spot on the horizon where Invincible hastened to join the battle, and within seconds they saw the smoke and fire of battle. Zero-four-zero it is, thought Williamson. Now that we’ve sorted out our target heading, let’s hope the lads can remember how to make a decent attack. This time the Germans won’t be shooting off flares.
Chapter 2
Aboard Bismarck, Captain Lindemann knew he was not firing flares. The 15-inch guns had opened the action at a little over18,000 meters, with both his own forward turrets firing along with Anton turret on Tirpitz behind him, the first spotting salvos to see if they had the range. True to form, the shots were very close, good enough to begin firing for effect with only minor adjustments.
“Port ten and steady on,” he ordered, swinging around a bit to allow his aft turrets to begin training on the targets. “Looks like our Stukas had the first dance,” he smiled. “That second ship is already burning. What do you make of it, Mister Oels?”
Fregattenkapitan Hans Oels was the Executive Officer aboard Bismarck, making ready to go below decks when Lindemann turned to him. Tall and straight, he was a man of few words, but a strict disciplinarian and not one to cross in the line of duty. Oels stepped up and took the field glasses Lindemann handed him.
“Hood,” he said calmly. “And trouble with one of their forward turrets from the look of it.”
“There’s another battlecruiser leading her,” said Lindemann.
“It would have to be Repulse. Werner says Graf Zeppelin drove off Renown and its back in Scapa Flow by now.”
“There’s no way it could be out here then. Excellent! Two battlecruisers. Good guns but they haven’t the armor to stand with us in a fight like this. Today we prove what the Kriegsmarine can do, Oels. It looks like Schneider already has the range.” He was referring to Korvettenkapitan Adalbert Schneider, the ship’s First Artillery Officer.
“Good shooting, sir,” said Oels. “I had better get down to the Damage Control Center.” Oels action station was the central damage control command post, deep in the bowels of the ship. If anything happened on the bridge he could have an overall view of the situation by reading the lights winking on the damage control panel, and he could command the ship from there if necessary. It was, in effect, Bismarck’s equivalent of a reserve bridge.
“Don’t worry, Oels, I won’t keep you busy. Hood is already burning!”
The roar of Bismarck’s second salvo punctuated his remark, rattling the bridge with its power. Oels was not there to see the results a short minute later when Lindemann saw the tall water splashes straddle the target. “A hit!” he said jubilantly. “Right on the conning tower! That will give them a headache or two, and let them know just who they are dealing with.”
Now we get our chance, he thought. I have the two finest ships available in the German navy. When Hindenburg is ready we will be even stronger, but at this moment we are more than a match for Hood and Repulse. The Invincible is another matter. If that ship is close by, as I believe it is, then the odds will be even. So we must reap every advantage while we can just now. Schneider has the range. Let us sink these ships before the British can do anything about it!