Against all Odds: The British Empire in World War Two

Prepare for massive Naval Epic! Its almost done!

Chapter 164​

26th June 1941

Kristiansand, Norway

Early afternoon


The awesome spectacle had lasted for the entire day, and right now they could see the last of the wounded Giants slowly retreat from the Battlefield. Both sides had not lost any sleep over violating Norwegian territorial waters. The battle between these two ships, the biggest one of the German Fleet and the longest one of the British Fleet had taken a long time in the morning and had been one of the most awesome displays of modern warfare that had ever tainted the shores of their country. For the last half our of their battle the two ships had been obscured by massive smoke banks they had produced, enclosing them in a world of their own. Now at last the sound of gunfire at stopped and it was clear to those that had binoculars that something was coming out of the smoke. It was a warship, damaged, battered and with some small fires, but proud and victorious. Only those with the best binoculars could see what flag flew from the ship. “What is it? English or German?” was the question most often asked. “It is....”



Earlier that day, somewhere north-west of Wilhelmshaven

The four Bristol Pegasus Engines of the Short Sunderland produced just enough power to drive the Short Sunderland Mk.II forward with normal patrol speed. The Mk.II was the last Sunderland that had the Pegasus Engines, with the Mk.III about to be fitted with the Taurus that was also phased into the production of the Dakota Mk.III that the BAMTAC[1] were using. The crew of that Sunderland did not know that their mission was essentially pointless, but ULTRA was so secret that it would be decades before anyone knew. Bletchley Park had only recently cracked the newest German Naval Codes, changed after the Battle of the Blockade and the following raids by the RAF. It took them the better part of week to decypher the new code, but what the Sunderland had been sent to discover was planned for several months, and Royal Navy had known almost from the start. The Germans planned to move the few crumbs that remained of their surface fleet into the Baltic Sea where they deemed it safe from British attacks both from their Air Force and from the few Carriers that occasionally raided the occupied coasts. The Kriegsmarine had barely managed to free Bismarck at the cost of destroying Tirpitz for good, and was now using it's last remaining surface ships that were larger than a Destroyer. KMS Bismarck was escorted by KMS Emden, the light Cruisers Königsberg, Emden, Leipzig and Karlsruhe, the Heavy Cruisers Graf Spee and Deutschland, along with several Destroyer Squadrons and KMS Scharnhorst. Farther away several Flotilla's worth of U-Boats were providing a picket line against the British Fleet. So when they spotted the Sunderland, they believed that they had only now been spotted, and Lütjens, for whom this was the chance at redemption, trusted in the reports of Group North that the Home Fleet had been spotted heading South-west yesterday morning, obviously on a raiding mission to the occupied coasts. He did not and could not know that the Royal Navy just happened to have most of her Capital ships in the area, grouped in small hunting packets because despite it all, the exact course the Germans would take was unknown. HMS Nelson was paired with HMS Royal Sovereign, HMS Repulse was paired with HMS Royal Oak, whilst HMS Hood was paired with HMS Prince of Wales.

Intelligence was not flawless though. Bismarck was still reported as immobilized.


HMS Nelson ( Fleet Flagship ), Course: due South, Speed: 5 knots

“Message from the Admiralty, Sir.” Tovey grabbed the message and read the three lines quickly. “Bloody hell! Nav, get back here on the double!” With that he walked to the card table where the navigator was already plotting the German position. “Plot an intercept course for Repulse and Royal Oak. We have to slow them down until Hood and Prince of Wales can come to help.” “Yes, Sir.” “Yeoman, take message to the Admiralty. Acknowledge the message and tell them we are moving to intercept.”


HMS Hood, Course: changing, Speed: 10 knots and rising

“....just about here, Sir.” the navigation Officer said. Vice Admiral Holland nodded, and turned to look at Captain Murray. “How much can we do at best?” “Rougly 30 knots if we push her, and Prince of Wales can do about the same.” Holland nodded. “Good. Signal Prince of Wales to go to best possible Speed, and adjust accordingly.”

Admiralty, London, Course: due east, Speed: Continental drift

Commodore Sheppard was monitoring the situation closely. The First Sea Lord was looking over his shoulder, as was the Prime Minister. Sheppard was uneasy because of that, but refused to let it influence his words. “All we can do now is wait, Prime Minister. Churchill nodded and actually lit his Cigar.

HMS Repulse, Course: 159, Speed: 19 knots

Repulse was proudly steaming towards Battle. With Royal Oak in attendance the Captain cursed whoever had paired Repulse with the slower Battleship, but on the other hand if they were to run into Bismarck, he liked to have those big guns nearby. “Speed?” he asked for the umpteenth time and received the same answer. “19 knots.” “Maintain course and Speed.” Technically they could sight the enemy at any moment. “Get up the Walrus we have on the Catapult and then go to Action Stations.”



All over the soon to be Battle Area, Course: Various, Speed: Various

The two fleets slowly marched towards each other, and as of 0900 AM it was only minutes before Repulse and Royal Oak would make contact. The course the Germans were taking had had them violating Danish territorial waters, but at the same moment, with the tacit and until after the war secret approval of said Government, the British were doing the same thing to Norway, so there was a precedent. The German fleet was slowly going on a more northerly course. Lütjens was still unaware that the British were in the area and was not too worried about the Sunderland that still shadowed his force, and no increase in speed was ordered, even though by now Nelson and Royal Sovereign were close by and about to cut his line of retreat and about to stumble over the extreme rear end of his line, the rear guard in the form of Leipzig and the 7th Destroyer Flotilla. By twenty minutes past nine, the two fleets were about to make contact.

HMS Nelson, Course 141, Speed: 18 knots.

“Contact bearing Green oh-two-oh, RDF plot!” The Officers on the bridge looked at each other. Nelson was already at action stations, and now they had the possibility to vindicate themselves. “Send a Walrus to identify contact. Prepare to open fire.” The Walrus was already in the air and changed course. A few minutes later, the Walrus radioed back: “Ship has opened fire on us, therefore identified as German Light Cruiser. Returning.” Tovey smiled. “Good, our first catch of the day.”

KMS Bismarck, Course 030, Speed: 20 knots


“Sir, Leipzig reports that they have engaged an enemy floatplane!” Lütjens went white and turned on his heels. “All ships: BATTLESTATIONS!”


KMS Leipzig, Course 030, Speed: increasing

“Sir, Smoke on the horizon, bearing...” the sailor rattled off the information. The Captain of the German light Cruiser went white. This was far too much smoke for a Detroyer or two.

“Contact has been identified, they are British...”

The rest of the sentence was never heard, for the British opened fire.



HMS Nelson, Course: Changing, Speed: 20 knots

The thunder of Nelson's two most forward turrets had not yet stopped when Tovey already ordered the course change to unmask the third turret. “Straddled, Sir! Go to quick fire!” “Good job, Guns.”




KMS Leipzig, Course: erratic, Speed: 32 knots

The Captain had immediately ordered the Engines to be redlined and evasive manoeuvres to be started. His command hat still been straddled at the first opportunity, but the near misses had not damaged the ship, merely drenched it in water. Now the second British Battleship opened fire, but Royal Sovereign was farther away, her gunnery suffering accordingly with her shots going wide by almost three-hundred yards. The next salvo by Nelson was closer, but still only straddled as Leipzig was changing course again, and Royal Sovereign too missed. But then the Captain of the German Cruiser made a mistake by ordering a course change that took him slightly closer to the British, and so the four shells fired by Nelson that would have simply splashed into the sea hit Leipzig in the broadside, ripping her sides open. She immediately began to list heavily and slipped under the waves in less than a minute, taking all of her crew with her. On Nelson Tovey silently prayed for the souls of those aboard and said: “Make to Admiralty: One German Cruiser sunk, other fleet elements about to make contact.”
KMS Bismarck, Course: due East, toward the Danish coast, Speed: 20 knots and increasing

“Sir, transmission from Leipzig stopped in mid-sentence.” “What?” “They were reporting being engaged by two British Battleships, and then nothing.” All who heard knew what that meant, and Lütjens realized that the jig was up. For the next few minutes he desparately tried to decide what to do, but there was nothing much. The rear-guard for the formation was gone, and there was no way to tell what else the British had out there. One thing was clear however, his fleet, strung out over a far too long distance was easily in half, and if there really were more British Battleships out there, there was nothing much he could do. He had his orders to observe. “To all ships, prepare for orders.”


HMS Hood, Course: 090, Speed: 19 knots

Captain Murray and Vice Admiral Holland were anxious, for they knew that the enemy was out here somewhere. The small fight Nelson and Royal Sovereign had had was common knowledge in the Fleet by now, and according to what Nelson had reported, there had to be a German ship somewhere around. Meanwhile farther to the north Bismarck was the one to sight the next plume of smoke on the horizon.



HMS Repulse, Course 100, Speed 19 knots

“What is it?” the Captain asked, upon hearing of the sighting. “Bloody hell, it's the Bismarck! And a Deutschland-Class to boot!” The Captain's gut went into his trousers. Scharnhorst on her own would be a mighty opponent for the two ageing British ships, but with Bismarck chances were not good. “Make to Admiralty and CinC: 'Bismarck and Cruisers sighted, add position course and speed, and get it of immediately.” The two British ships formed into line of Battle, prepared to fight as long as possible. They and their flotilla were the far edge of the line, and they had to pin Bismarck in place to give the rest of the fleet time to arrive. Their guns swept the horizon and settled on the bearing of the Germans, waiting to get in range. On Nelson Tovey was getting conflicting reports. One Walrus from Royal Sovereign reported a second group of German warships to the north on a southerly course, one report that Hood and Prince of Wales had not made contact yet, while Repulse and Royal Oak were faced with the heaviest units the Germans could muster. However, there was only one course of action. “Order Hood and Prince of Wales to help Repulse and Royal Oak. All other ships, close up formation, we are going to intercept the second group of German ships.” Of course the second German Ship Repulse and Royal Oak faced was not a Deutschland Class after all.



KMS Bismarck/HMS Repulse, Course: converging, Speed: increasing

The two ships opened fire almost at the same time. A failure of communication that would have cost both Captains their career in peacetime both Repulse and Royal Oak concentrated on the Light Cruiser that was following Bismarck, giving Bismarck an opportunity for almost undisturbed gunnery practice. Tovey had kept most of the Destroyers with Nelson, figuring correctly that theses were the most expendable ships of the German Navy, and would therefore be brought up on the rear, acting as an extreme rear guard. Now however both Captains wished some flotillas were here. “Time?” the Captain of Repulse asked. “11:20, Sir.”

CRUMP!

Repulse was shaken down to the core by this hit. Luckily for the old Battlecruiser, the hit did not hit the thin deck armour but rather hit the aft turret. The shell did not penetrate, but the crew was deaf and would have might headaches for days. Repulse and Royal Oak replied in kind, but missed, still concentrating their fire on the Light Cruiser, though by now it was because it was the closest ship. Bismarck had turned north, and was making straight for the coast of Norway.

CRUMP! CRUMP! CRUMP!

Three hits in Quick succession impacted on Repulse, one on impacted on the belt, one on the forward turret, gutting it open and putting it out of action, and one went through the funnel. Repulse and Royal Oak replied. The remaining forward turret of Repulse fired and her two shells ripped the German Light Cruiser apart, one by hitting the floatplane that couldn't be launched due to earlier damage and setting the petrol storage on fire, the other by penetrating the rear Magazine. The explosion was not big, but enough to break her back. The Germans had lost another light cruiser.

HMS Prince of Wales, Course 000, Speed: decreasing

The drive shaft was rattling in it's bearings, and the vibration was already being felt. Her Captain ordered speed to be reduced. Aboard HMS Hood Vice Admiral Holland took over Command and now Hood was the only ship in the British Fleet that had any chance of intercepting Bismarck before she was in range of German air power again.

Meanwhile the second group of German ships drew closer and closer to the British Battlegroup centred around Nelson and Royal Sovereign.

Contact was made thirty minutes later.


HMS Nelson, Course 060, Speed 15 knots

“Time?” “1233, Admiral.” “Note in the log: “Have opened fire on 1233. Guns..”

The guns of both the Battleships thundered in response a mere few seconds apart, sending their shells towards the enemy. For the next one and a half hours shells flew, torpedoes crossed all over and ships sunk. By the end of it, Scharnhorst, heavily damaged, had managed to slip away and would enter the harbour again late that night, Graf Spee, Deutschland, Königsberg, Karlsruhe and several Destroyers were sunk. In return the British had lost a Light Cruiser, HMS Naiad to a spread of torpedoes fired by Scharnhorst as she made her escape. This however was a small and pre-decided engagement, and paled in comparison to the titanic struggle that was unfolding to the north.

HMS Repulse, Course: coming to 010, Speed: 20 knots, slowly decreasing

Repulse was heavily damaged, and so was Royal Oak. Speed was reduced and falling ever farther, as Bismarck was pulling away. What was he to do, what... “Contact, bearing 179!” The Captain stepped outside and looked backwards through his binoculars. There was indeed a smoke coming, and from the direction it could be anything from a Danish Heavy Cruiser to the Scharnhorst. “Any identification?” “It's....It's.....Hood! It's HOOD!” the rear lookout yelled. Most of the crew were too busy with fighting either the Germans or the fires so no cheers were heard, but soon everyone could see the graceful lines of HMS Hood drawing along side, and since she was undamaged, overtaking them easily. The newer Battlecruiser was undamaged and on her rear mast the White Ensign was a proud testament of British Sea Power. On Bismarck she was spotted only now, and Lütjens, who had been cautiously optimistic as the British ships began to turn away, now felt as of his heart had stopped. “IT'S A TRAP!” he yelled, before ordering Bismarck to be pushed to her maximum speed. He went on a slighly North-Easterly course straight towards the Norwegian City of Kristiansand. Hood caught up and went on a paralell course. On Hood Vice Admiral Holland said: “Now whitness the firepower of this fully armed and operational Battlecruiser!” History would later note that HMS Hood opened fire on 13:11.


KMS Bismarck, Course: 040, Speed: 30 knots

Lütjens had completely lost it. He was walking up and down the Bridge muttering 'It's a trap' over and over again. Kapitän Lindemann had taken over direct command, and on his authority the speed had been slightly reduced. No need to waste good engines. After all, this was one of the most powerful Battleships afloat and they were facing a single Battlecruiser. “FIRE!” he yelled, and the 15'' shells were on their way. Hood was a good, long target, but the gunnery crews were tired after the long running Battle with the two other warships that could be seen turning away. On Hood Captain Murray also fired again. Hood's gunnery and director crews were fresh and rested, and their own shells straddled Bismarck with the third half-salvo. The next salvo fired by Bismarck at last straddled Hood, even though just barely. Hood fired, and once again failed to land a direct hit. Then Bismarck fired again, and most of her rounds just impacted on the surface of the water. One shell slammed into her decks near the main mast, and had she not received additional armour during the rebuild, she would probably have died then and there, while the other impacted and exploded on the superstructure just below the bridge, which had a devastating impact on the bridge. The shell exploded on the outside of the hull, so inside there were mainly splinters. On the bridge of the Hood the carnage was immense. Vice Admiral Holland was dead instantly, Captain Murray and Commander Phillips were wounded. Phillips sustained a wound to the stomach, and only the fact that Britain had recently started mass production of antibiotics would later save his live. Later medics would count twenty-four different cuts on Murrays body, but the Captain refused to have any but the six worst tended to whilst 'the bloody Germans are shooting my ship to pieces'. So his medic ran behind him as the Captain limped to the rear conning position. There his Third Officer was already on position. Claiming that a Captain needed a hat, Murray stole the Officer's cap while an orderly stood beside him with an IV behind him to replace the blood loss. While a third tried to bandage the many wounds Murray still had. It was a testament to the level of training of the Royal Navy that Hood had continued to fire through the entire time, even though the forward fire director was out of action and the turrets had been forced to resort to local control. Accuracy had suffered, but it was enough to keep the Germans on their toes.

It did not look good, mainly because Hood had yet to land a hit on Bismarck. Both sides were laying smoke to obscure the gunnery of the other, but since Hood, unlike Bismarck, had a functioning RDF set, she had the edge in this game. The next salvo fired from the wounded British Battlecruiser was right on the spot. One shell destroyed the Captain's launch, one slammed into the lower superstructure and destroyed two of the 150mm secondaries. Bismarck promptly replied in kind, and once again a single hit was deflected by the increased deck armour of the Hood thanks to the awkward angle. By now both ships were manoeuvring to avoid hitting the Norwegian Coast, and this reduced accuracy for the next few minutes. Hood was to land the next hits. One shall exploded against the main armour belt and made for a small, insignificant crack that flooded one compartment. The other hit was on the rear director, smashing it to bits, killing the crew and making for a spectacular fire. It is unclear what happened next, but Bismarck changed course and this hurt her gunnery more than that of Hood, and the three hits in quick succession were a testament of that. For the next twenty minutes the two ships continued to blaze away at each other, with five more hits counted on Hood, knocking out her RDF set, destroying the catapult for the Walrus Floatplane and knocking out one of her secondary guns. The rest impacted all over the superstructure. Bismarck suffered worse, loosing one of her main turrets to a lucky shell that hit the forward turret square on the roof, with the rest of the hits slamming into the main deck, weakening it considerably. On Hood Murray was still maning the rear position even though he was close to passing out from the loss of blood, still refusing to get his wounds seen to. He ordered: “SHOOT!” since his gunnery officer was dead from splinters, and Hood's guns thundered once more. Only one hit, one that punched through the main deck. The shell splintered, and red hot fragments of steel travelled through the compartments, killing everyone in their path. One penetrated the forward main magazine. The resulting explosion was so massive that even in nearby Kristiansand scarcely a window remained intact. The Supermarine Walrus launched from Hood managed to capture the moment.






Kristiansand, Norway

Early afternoon


The awesome spectacle had lasted for the entire day, and right now they could see the last of the wounded Giants slowly retreat from the Battlefield. Both sides had not lost any sleep over violating Norwegian territorial waters. The battle between these two ships, the biggest one of the German Fleet and the longest one of the British Fleet had taken a long time in the morning and had been one of the most awesome displays of modern warfare that had ever tainted the shores of their country. For the last half our of their battle the two ships had been obscured by massive smoke banks they had produced, enclosing them in a world of their own. Now at last the sound of gunfire at stopped and it was clear to those that had binoculars that something was coming out of the smoke. It was a warship, damaged, battered and with some small fires, but proud and victorious. Only those with the best binoculars could see what flag flew from the ship. “What is it? English or German?” was the question most often asked. “It is English!”

HMS Nelson, Course: en route to Scapa Flow, Speed: 10 knots

1623 PM

Admiral Tovey was nervously pacing on his bridge. Nelson had disengaged almost two hours ago, and Repulse and Royal Oak, both heavily damaged, had rejoined the fleet as it slowly made it's way back home. There was no news from Hood. Last contact had put her off Kristiansand, trading fire with Bismarck at an astonishing rate. So Tovey had tried to raise her on the wireless to no avail, and so there was nothing to do but wait. The day was getting rainy, and a low-hanging cloud bank was in the direction Hood had to be coming from. “Sir! RDF contact on the bearings you told us to watch! Coming in at roughly 15 knots, straight for us!” “Action stations! Send out Achilles to investigate.” A tense few minutes followed, and before Achilles could report back, the clouds parted and they could see what it was. A battered and slightly listing HMS Hood.


Reichskanzlei, Berlin, the next day

The Führer almost exploded with rage upon hearing. Raeder was intelligent enough to send Dönitz in his stead to bring the Führer the news and a few minutes after the esteemed officer had begun to make his report to the Führer, the guards outside nearly dropped their rifles, as Hitler screamed at the top of his lungs: “SINK HER! SINK THE HOOD!”









[Notes: * whistles Rule Britannia * I wrote most of this with 'Sink the Bismarck' and 'Battle of the River Plate' on a constant loop in the background. Somewhere up there Fisher and Beatty must be laughing themselves to even more death....]



[1] In the AAO-verse the transports that are used to ferry the Paras and their supplies belong to the Army even though they use standard RAF markings. How long that lasts post-war is anyones guess.

Lord Strange Indeed. This whole thing is more a "Who's your daddy now!" scene. It made clear once and for all that Britannia rules the waves.

gaiasabre11 Most likely, since the Fleet will probably not send any gun ships to the east.

ColossusCrusher Agreed.

BritishImperial Well, I also once captured Bismarck intact once while playing the UK, so..... But yes, even back when this battle happened I realized what an opportunity this was.

Doge Robert Thank you, thank you. It was exhaustive but good fun, since I wrote about 90% of that during this day with hardly a break.


Griffin.Gen I know.

El Pip Glad you liked it.

As for Holland, a glimpse into what would have been his future:

Holland:

Don't be too proud of this
technological terror you've
constructed. The ability to destroy
a ship underway is insignificant next to
the power of the Battleline.

Cunningham:

Don't try to frighten me with your
Fire Director's ways, Admiral. Your
sad devotion to that ancient way
of war has not helped you conjure
up the naval superiority, or given you
clairvoyance enough to find the
Gerries hidden base...


Holland chockes Cunningham with trigger line of a gun from HMS Victory...

Thomas Kenobi said:

Oh the irony! Great battle and wonderfully narrated! Salute and Rule Britannia!

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Thanks!

gaiasabre11 said:

Just a small question I suddenly want to ask, trek. How much was Hood's deck armor beefed up?

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I honestly never calculated that, but I took the increased armour a friend of mine used for his own Hood alt-hist. Lemme see if I can dig it up.

Second Edit: I need to read more carefully. He did increase the armour, but did not specify by how much.

gaiasabre11 said:

*well though words*

Click to expand...

Well yes. But bear in mind that while the gunnery Officer was dead, the director itself was working fine, albeit with a few holes in the walls. Besides, it was a lucky hit to boot, and Hood was always known to be the best shot in the Fleet.

EDIT: I'll ask him how much he added, because frankly, I want to know.