The Battle of Skagerrak, part IV. The Navy is here!
As the pilots from the Fleet Air Arm were doing their business finishing off the German vessels, the Allied Fleet had been sailing towards the battle area at full speed ever since the first sighting of the Germans had been reported, and now as most of the planes had done their duty the navy had arrived at the battle, and was opening fire with the big guns.
Positions of the fleets as the navy arrives within firing range at 3.08 PM
From the French battleships and the British cruisers artillery was pouring shells towards the unfortunate German destroyer and the wounded transports. The Allied destroyers was racing into position to fire their torpedoes, as well as picking up men from the sea. For the last mission Admiral Pound ordered the British destroyer HMS Icarus to take lead. She was to give full priority to rescue men from the sea, and was ordered not to take part in the engagement.
HMS Icarus, she was ordered to lead the rescue operation
As the HMS Icarus gained speed to get close to the men who could be seen swimming in the sea, the shells started to rain upon the Dieter von Roeder. As the Allied fleet had seen that one of the German transports had just sunk, and the second one was in the process of sinking it was decided to shift all fire upon the destroyer.
Onboard the KNM Draug Admiral Horve and Captain Jensen were leading their ship into action. Having been ordered to lead the Norwegians in close and fire torpedoes upon the Germans, Admiral Horve stood at the bridge personally controlling the Norwegian vessels within range, seeing as the passed the one remaining, but injured, German transport on the way Horve ordered the Draug to fire a torpedo upon the transports, thus making sure the German vessels would sink. As the torpedo left the Draug, Horve had already ordered full speed ahead, they needed to come in close on the German destroyer. Just turning his head around Horve could see the torpedo hit the German transport with an explosion, and opening a huge hole in her side she was no longer able to stay on the surface and as such she sank within minutes.
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One of the German transports sinking after being torpedoed, the last torpedo was fired by the KNM Draug
On the other side of the battle James had just touched the water. Remembering from basic training the great danger to pilots who had to parachute over water was that the parachute and the pilot should be entangled, thus dragging the pilot down James acted. Now James reacted quickly. With his knife in the hand he had started cutting the lines to the parachute already before he hit the water, and now he was cutting the lines as it was a question of his life. After some work he managed to swim away from the parachute. Now he was able to try to orientate him self a little more. Over his head he could hear, feel and see the shells raining down on the Germans, he could see some squadrons of Swordfish planes still flying over the area, and turning his attention the other way he could see a lot of Allied ships racing closer to the Germans. Then turning his attention to his nearest surroundings James could see what he though to be a dead German floating with his face down in the water a couple of meters away. He seemed to have been burned and as this body drifted closer James tried to swim away from it, but seeing that in front of him there was burning oil on the water surface James decided to turn again. Now he started to feel the cold. It was obvious that Skagerrak in the middle of April wasn’t really a nice place to go for a swim.
Onboard the Allied destroyers the commanders were pushing their men and machines to the outermost to be able to have a shot upon the German ship before the big guns had finished her off. It was clear that the German ship didn’t stand a chance. Her fire control having suffered already from the torpedo hit form the plane, as well as from a direct hit from the Bretagne. The front guns had been knocked out from several hits from the British and the French and now the German destroyer seemed to be drifting helpless without any means to defend herself. It was now only a question, and perhaps a competition between the Allied commanders, as to who would fire the last shot to send the Germans to the bottom of the sea.
Onboard the HMS Icarus this wasn’t the case. Here commanding Officer Lt.Cdr. W.N. Petch was in a bad mood. While the other had been allowed to sail chasing after the German he had been stuck with some silly rescuing operation. He asked himself several times: “Who wants to rescue them damn Krauts anyway?”
Still Petch knew that he had to do his duty and obey orders, and since he knew that some British pilots were also supposed to be missing after having their planes shot down, he decided that at least he would do his very best to save the Brits floating around.
James had managed to grab hold of some piece of timber he had found floating, and now he was able to keep himself floating without using to much force. Still he could feel his body was getting colder, and he was getting tired, and James didn’t know how much longer he would be able to hold on. Perhaps should he just let go and fall back and sleep, forever sleep. Shaking his head James managed to get those kinds of thoughts out of his head, no he had to hold on. He wanted to see England again!
Lifting his head James could see a destroyer sailing slowly towards him. The ship seemed to have lowered her boats and the men seemed to be taking all the men they could find on the surface into the ship. Very weak, tried and cold James knew this was his only chance to survive. As one of them small boats got closer he raised his arm and waved while yelling out:
“Over here lads. I am over here!”
Within a minute the boat was alongside James and several strong arms were dragging James into the boat. One of the men tossed a blanket around him, and smiled: “Don’t worry lieutenant; the navy is here. We shall have you back flying in no time, sir. Still next time try to stay out of the water, it isn’t very nice to go swimming this time of the year.”
James smiled, but feeling his knees giving in on him he had to sit down to rest. Although cold and tired James knew his life had been saved, and that in time he would see his beloved England again.
Onboard the German destroyer they had to see the reality in the face, the ship was lost and it was only a question of time before she would sink. The officers seeing this reality ordered the crew to abandon ship. Lowering the boats into the water the crew quickly entered them; last one to leave was the captain, Korvettenkapitän Erich Holtorf. Just as he sat foot in the lifeboat an explosion could he heard from the Dieter von Roeder, the Allied destroyers had sailed within range and now the torpedoes started to hit the ship. Seeing the great danger, the German quickly started to row away from their sinking destroyer, who was now used as target practice by Allied ships. Now after yet an other torpedo hit the destroyer broke in two, and the two parts sank silently under the surface of the water disappearing at 3.17 PM.
Note: The German transports had already sunk by the time I managed to take this picture
The battle of Skagerrak had ended as the Allied fleet finished off these remaining German vessels, the only thing left at sea from the mighty armada that had left Germany to conquer Norway. What hadn’t been sunken by Allied bombs, or now by the Allied Navy had already retreated back to Germany, and didn’t pose any danger to Norway or any other Allied country at the moment. Although not the supreme decisive battle the Allies had hoped for, but still an important victory showing the people in the war faring nations that the Allies and especially Britain still ruled the waves!