“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Albayi?”
“Sir, the vessel is the Gayret and it’s under strict radio and radar shutdown, conducting a night navigation exercise through the strai…”
“Then order her to heave to. You have the authority!”
“It won’t respond to us even if it’s listening, Sir. Our friends are sailing in a narrow waterway, straight at a large vessel coming the other way… neither group will be using lights… neither group is using navigational radar. It’s a recipe for disaster and I’m going to avoid it by acting right now.”
“What are you proposing, man?”
“I’m going to light the whole place up so they can’t fail to see each other.”
“But secrecy is key to…”
“With the greatest of respect, Koramiral, if they collide your secrecy is shot and we’ll all have blood on our hands, not to say a diplomatic incident with our neighbours!”
Tezeren turned to examine the plot.
The Turkish Navy’s Gayret, once called the Oribi, an ‘O’ class destroyer of His Majesty’s Royal Navy, was already executing the port turn that would bring her down towards Ҫannakale.
The four other vessels were four kilometres from Kilitbahir.
“Yarbayi Nadir, to me!”
Commander Nadir sprang forward quickly.
Mimaroğlu explained the situation and his plan.
“Understood, Sir.”
“Excellent.”
The Captain took a last look at the plot and made his decision.
“Albayi Mimaroğlu, I must protes…”
He cut the Admiral’s remonstration short.
“Now. Get the searchlight batteries illuminated immediately. Priority is to pick out the vessels and keep them in their beams. We must give each vessel plenty of opportunity to see the other. Order the shore batteries to stand by to put a shot across the bows of any vessel that appears to be a danger… emphasis considerably across the bows… two hundred metres at least… we don’t want any accidents.”
Mimaroğlu had once been a submariner, so wanted distance to avoid any issues with shockwaves and torpedo tube doors.
“I’ll take a small signal party aloft and issue any further orders via the command line.”
Tezeren went to protest again but action overtook him.
Beckoning three men to him, the captain was already heading to the stairwell and the open-air command position on the roof of the CNFC building.
The cool breeze that greeted the men as they sprang up three stairs at a time paled into insignificance as night became day.
The searchlight batteries arraigned along the banks of the Dardanelles illuminated and sought out the vessels that were bearing down on each other.
Both Tezeren and Mimaroğlu sought out the group of submarines first.
“Oruspu! What in the name of…”
Mimaroğlu drew in every detail of the partially submerged vessels that were moving across his field of vision, left to right in line astern.
His binoculars picked out the Bulgarian flag on the lead vessel, a large submarine of a type unfamiliar to him.
His submariner’s brain examined the revealed features as his inquisitive brain screamed to look back at the second one again.
He controlled himself before moving slightly to the left and taking in the immense shape that was second in line.
“Oruspu! What in the name of… what is that?”
Tezeren slipped in beside the incredulous man.
“Now you understand why the need for secrecy was paramount, Mimaroğlu. The Gayret is manoeuvring to come in closer to land, and the lead Bulgarian seems to have moved over. Kill the lights immediately!”
The Captain remained silent as he took in the incredible proportions of the huge Bulgarian submarine.
His professional eye recorded detail after detail, some familiar, some merely posing questions to which he had no response.
“I must make sure they have both heeded the other, Koramiral… it’s huge, Koramiral. Never seen its like.”
Tezeren went with the pre-arranged explanation.
“They’re experimental submarines from the Rijeka shipyards, built by the Yugos for their Bulgarian friends. Present circumstances have forced them to make passage to the Black Sea. Our government has exacted a heavy price for our compliance and tolerance of their passage. Now kill the lights, Mimaroğlu!”
The Captain judged that there was now no risk, and he grabbed the telephone and issued the order.
Within seconds the searchlights started going out, which created an artificial darkness as their eyes attempted to readjust to the normal night light.
Tezeren stuck the dead pipe back in his mouth and lit it up again, weighing up his options and deciding that the agreed plan would be sufficient for his needs.
“A secret passage would have been better, but we have prevented disaster, so our political masters will understand, I’m sure.”
He slapped the younger man on the shoulder.
“You did very well, Aydan, very well. I’ll ensure that your part is known. But now we must ensure that any wagging tongues are encouraged to silence.”
Inside, Tezeren was seething, both with Mimaroğlu and with whichever goat-shagging clown had fucked up with the time on the messages, carefully ignoring the fact that he should probably have been aware of the Gayret’s secret schedule himself.
Aydan Mimaroğlu took a final look at the submarines making passage before returning to the command centre to issue the orders his Admiral required.
Koramiral Tezeren took his leave to rendezvous with a boat sent ashore by and containing the puzzled commander of the Gayret, intent on ensuring that no official report would be made of the evening’s events.
The CNFC building returned to something approaching normal and Mimaroğlu accepted iced water and some oranges.
As he peeled the fruit, his eyes would not stray from the rough sketches he had made and the estimates he had pencilled in on the dimensions of the two huge submarines.
‘Well over one hundred metres in length… well over…’
‘Huge conning tower extended structure behind it…’
‘Ramp…’
The image was actually remarkably accurate, but very few would have ever recognised it as an I-400 class Sen-Toku submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Chapter 174 – ZAENSHINBUNRIKI
Submariners are a special brotherhood. Either all come to the surface or no one does. On a submarine, the phrase all for one and one for all is not just a slogan, but a reality.
September 1946
The Swedes maintained the Camp Vár facility at Lungsnäs so that both sides had a meeting place to bring concerns.
Permanent missions were established on the steadily expanding site, and often the different groups were seen to relax together when the business of representing their own national interests had been discharged.
As ever, the intelligence agencies increased their clandestine presence, each hoping to find some piece of information to give their side advantage in the ongoing negotiations.
In capital cities across the globe, some pieces of snatched conversations were refined into hard intelligence and presented to heads of state by intelligence chiefs, keen to give their country the edge.
On the frontlines, the business of relocation carried on, improved by a lowering of tension across the board, and a lack of any clashes or incidents of note.