Churchill’s eyes had narrowed. “And what if they don’t make that mistake?”
“Then we continue down into the Channel and wreck as much as possible of their shipping,” Fraser had answered. “The German bombers will have difficulties hitting moving ships in the dark, even with their radar-guided bombs, and we should be able to shell their ports and sink a few of their ships before the sun comes up. They have to engage us or we will continue to cut their supply lines and cripple their ability to reinforce their army on the mainland.”
He considered lighting another cigarette as the dark mass of Britain slipped away behind them. It would be a few hours before they met up with the other elements of the fleet, but by then, it would be daylight… and then they would advance again towards Scapa Flow. The Germans had learned, now, that the new defenders of the harbour were on the alert… and, after they’d lost a carrier, would know to be careful around Scapa Flow. They had too many other air commitments to launch heavy attacks on the harbour now. Both sides had lost grievous numbers of aircraft as the war raged on. Would they seek to attack the fleet again, or would they wait until the fleet emerged to challenge the German Kriegsmarine for command of the seas?
One way or another, it would all be over soon.
It was quiet in the conning tower of U-453 as the electric-powered U-boat moved to follow the British fleet. In theory, any electric-powered boat could remain on station for weeks, but Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Heidelburger had been reluctant to remain on station for too long, grimly aware that the British destroyers that patrolled the mouth of the Clyde would catch a sniff of them if they remained. They’d already come far too close to being caught. Only a long period of complete silence, hiding and cowering, had saved them from a hunting British ship.
Heidelburger hadn’t seen combat service before the war, but he had drilled with German destroyers… and the British were much more persistent. Several U-boats had been sunk trying to slip into British anchorages and repeat the Royal Oak success back in 1939. Heidelburger had no intention of losing his boat and his crew out of a thirst for glory.
“Take us after them and monitor their course,” he said very softly. The close quarters of the U-boat tended to encourage both informality and quiet. There was no way to maintain the mystique of command when everyone practically lived in each other’s pockets; the twenty-one men on the U-boat knew everything about him, as he knew it about them. They respected him, followed his orders, but they knew that he was human too. “Radio?”
The radio operator looked up from his own console. They were monitoring British radio signals as well, but the British fleet wasn’t sending any signals, not even a message back to port to say that they had left the outer limits.
“Yes, sir?”
Heidelburger considered.
“Encode a message informing Fleet Headquarters that the British fleet has left on course heading 255, 55.6° north, 6.7° west, speed 12 knots. Add that we will follow them as long as we are able,” he ordered. The British fleet, at least, made enough noise that following it would be easy without having to stick up a periscope and watch it from a distance. The submariners back in the Great War had done just that and it had cost them many lives. “We will attempt to confirm strength and disposition as soon as we are able to do so.”
He stepped back as the boat moved slowly in pursuit of the British. It wasn’t a safe tactic at all but there was really no other option. He had considered risking an attack, but getting into firing position on one of the bigger ships would be difficult without one of the smaller ships getting in the way and the destroyers coming after him. The British fleet was zigzagging, moving in an pattern that would make it hard to score a hit at this range except through sheer luck.
“Message encoded, sir,” the radio operator said.
“Transmit,” Heidelburger ordered, grimly. “Kurt, keep an eye out for them turning and sending destroyers after us.”
The tension rose sharply. There were no secrets on a submarine, and every man knew that by sending the signal, they risked detection and destruction. The British would definitely maintain a listening watch and even though they wouldn’t — Heidelburger hoped — be able to decode the message.
“Signal sent,” the radioman said. For a brief few moments, they would have extended an antenna out of the water, into the air. Even in darkness, a radar sweep might pick it up, giving the British a direct line on their location. “Berlin acknowledges.”
“The British fleet is continuing on its course,” the sonar operator said. “If they heard us, they’re not bothering to give chase.”
Heidelburger nodded grimly. The British fleet was moving at a respectable speed; if they hadn’t been concentrating on evasive tactics, they would have out-raced the U-boat by now and left Heidelburger unable to relocate them. The time was ticking by slowly. He waited as the British fleet got further and further ahead, before it finally vanished over the horizon.
“Send a second signal,” he said. He was surprised to feel his heart beating so rapidly. It wasn’t a failure, or at least not one that could be blamed on him, but he hated losing track of the enemy ships. “Contact lost. Will attempt to relocate enemy force.”
He privately doubted that they would succeed.
The Eastern and Mediterranean Fleets were a sight for sore eyes, Fraser decided as his personal autogyro settled down on the deck of HMS Impervious. The Impervious was the most modern fleet carrier in the Royal Navy; the ‘Imp,’ as her crew called her, had been serving with Admiral Sir Philip Vian and the Eastern Fleet for several months, watching the Japanese. It had been a risk, pulling her and her sisters out of the Far East, but as Churchill had said, it was a risk that must be borne.
Japan would have real problems assaulting Australia, and the defence of India and Burma was in the hands of the Indian Army. He somehow doubted that they would risk moving south with such a large American commitment to the Philippines. The War Cabinet had decided that the Japanese had too many problems in China to risk opening up a further war front, but even so, Fraser would be relieved when he could send the Eastern Fleet back to Singapore. The Japanese were not always capable of behaving in a rational manner.
“Welcome aboard the Impervious,” Admiral Vian said. His reputation for taking firm action while all others were confused had preceded him. Fraser knew that the man wouldn’t hesitate to do what was necessary to defeat the Germans. The only black mark on Vian’s record was a well-known hatred of the Norwegians, something that had resulted in a number of incidents before he had been packed off to the Far East to command the Eastern Fleet. “What are my orders?”
Fraser allowed Vian to lead him and Admiral Somerville into his stateroom. “The Germans trailed us for some distance and know we’re here, so I want to take advantage of them knowing our rough location.”
“That rarely helped the Italians,” Somerville said. The commander of the Mediterranean Fleet was the oldest of the three, but as a known Churchill partisan had been denied his shot at becoming First Sea Lord. He was competent enough to take what was, in theory, an inferior fleet and dare the Italians to try to destroy it. After the brief and lethal encounter in 1943, the Italians hadn’t dared to challenge the Mediterranean Fleet again and, even now, remained in their harbours rather than fight. “The Germans, of course, are another matter.”
“Yes,” Fraser said. The two admirals would have read the reports from Scapa Flow with care and attention, but it was important to ensure that they understood the clear dangers in treating the Germans like the Italians. The Italian Navy worried endlessly over a clearly-inferior enemy fleet; the Germans had set about destroying a superior force and they’d damn near succeeded. “We have, however, an operating plan to redress some of our disadvantages and hopefully crush the German fleet when it comes out to do battle. Our priority, of course, are the carriers.”