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@ EvilFishtank: Thanks! The time frame is far different from our own, but I'm looking forward to this project that will go ever more into German "Wonder Weapons," Allied "Secret Weapons," and bring out more than the norm people know. The Gameplay is going to be tough to incorporate though, outside of obvious shape of the world (ie: Antwerp in German hands), but tis a challenge I'm looking forward to embarking on.

@ Kurt_Steiner: But who is to say that Grand Admiral Donitz isn't going to be shot in the future? :eek:

This story is going to get even more puzzling once I introduce the German "Wonder Weapons," this U-Boat already being one of them.

@ endier: There's no doubt the Hunt for the Red October has inspired this AAR, but I plan on having a story far more different but with respectful homages and references to one of my favorite novels and movies of all time.

@ Erie_Patriot: Thanks! Plot twisting is one of my favorite elements of literature to read, thus it will become a staple for this AAR (Well, at least I hope so).

@ Red Eagle: Thanks!

@ Herbert West: "Das Boot" a tragic film, but one of the greatest and perhaps, very underrated film in my opinion.

@ Jemisi: Sometimes, a great movie is made better by a great theme going with it.

@ cthulhu: It's an honor to have someone of your caliber enjoying a story of my own. As you know, 'The Third Empire' was one of three great AARs (the other being Yugi's "The Eagle and the Lion" and Rensslaer's "Fire Warms the Northern Lands" that finally brought me to register. So Thank you! ;)
 
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Chapter One

19. March, North Sea; KMS U-SSN 881

Deep beneath the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, the German submarine U-SSN 881 was silently moving north along the British coastline, right at this moment off the coast of Norwich steaming full turbines north towards Scapa Flow where the battered Royal Navy was recovering from a long and drawn out naval campaign against Germany only years earlier.

“Captain, we are reaching ceiling levels, shall we surface?”

“Go right ahead Lieutenant,” answered Captain Kruger, and with that Lieutenant Robert Conrad gave the go-ahead and the ship was making for the surface with full speed.

Captain Kruger began to walk down the halls of the submarine, heading straight for Captain Gysae’s offices which he sleeping in. He knocked on the door and Captain Gysae opened it, buttoning up his tunic and placing his cap on his head, “What is it?”

“We’re surfacing, thought you might want some fresh air.”

“That would be nice,” said Captain Gysae as he walked out and headed towards the main valve and hatch.

The crew was precariously looking at Captain Kruger who was walking to the hatch ladder, nodding his head and a sailor immediately opened the hatch and several gallons of water entered from the top, but the man exited the ship for the first time in around 14 hours. The sailor was looking straight into the sky, the bright sun shining down below on the beautiful March day. Visibility was high, upwards of thirty or more miles, and the English coast could be seen in the far distance, the cliffs distinguishable while the sea-level beaches could only be recognized if one had a pair of binoculars with him.

Out from the hatch appeared the Captain, walking straight towards the front of the massive submarine. He proceeded to walk to the rear of the ship and inspected the two rear hatches that held the two nuclear missiles that were stationed in the rear tubes of the submarine.

“So,” said Lieutenant Kress to Captain Gysae, “do you know what the hell we’re doing out here on such short notice, and why the captain wanted to leave the harbor before morning?”

“I don’t know lieutenant, all I know is that he’s leading this little expedition to Iceland.”

“Why Iceland,” asked the young junior officer, “there’s nothing there but some ice and few houses?”

“Well Lieutenant, when you’re an Admiral one day, you can make the decisions for grunts like us to follow.”

The Lieutenant smiled, “Yeah, that will be the day.”

The captain walked over to the intercom station at the head of the submarine. He pulled down the radio and looked at the men surrounding him, “Gentlemen, today, we sail into history!”

The ship exploded into cheers and laughter. Many of the sailors began to sing patriotic songs of the past, some of the men breaking out the tune to the Kriegsmarine Marsch. Other men were singing their national anthem; others were smoking cigarettes as they all patted the captain on his back as he walked through the halls with a big smile on his face.

As he made it to his offices, Captain Kruger loosened his collar and took a seat at his chair, looking down at the papers on his desk. Outside Captain Gysae knocked on the door, and a few seconds later he entered with a bottle of Champaign, some of the finest made in all of Western Europe.

“What are you packing there Captain?” Kruger asked his subordinate.

“This, well, this is just for good fortunes and keeping. Shall we have a glass to honor the fallen?”

“Let’s.”

The two captains rose their glasses in the air, said a few words but set their glasses down just as quickly. They dragged the other junior officers inside the captain’s offices, pouring them a glass as well, one for: Lieutenant Kress, Lieutenant Conrad, and Lieutenant Ruth. Together the officers of the ship rose their glasses, toasting them together and drinking the Champaign down in a matter of seconds.

IH023235.jpg

KMS Sea Wolf, U-SSN 881 sailing in the North Atlantic, still in contact with Berlin and on path for Iceland, at the current moment.

Washington DC

Two men walked into the halls of Secretary Robert Stevenson, a high-ranking member within the Progressive Wallace Administration and top official, advisor and diplomat for the well-liked Democratic President who carried on the legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

“Mr. Secretary,” said one of the men, “Senator Gillmore is outside, he wishes to speak to you immediately, he says it’s urgent.”

“Well let him in George,” replied Mr. Stevenson.

The US Senator walked into the offices of Robert Stevenson, taking a seat in front of his desk and placing a folder marked: Top Secret, atop of his desk. Mr. Stevenson looked at his aides nodding them out of the door.

“What seems to be bothering you Joe?” asked Robert Stevenson to Senator Joseph Gillmore.

“Nothing,” smiled Senator Gillmore, leaning over to the front of the desk and opening up the folder he had placed on the desk earlier. “This is, however, a bit of the problem…”

“What is this?” asked Robert Stevenson looking inside the folder and picking up some of the pictures inside.

“British Intelligence, it came in this morning on a plane – I just happened to stumble upon it. IT is the U-SSN 881; “Sea Wolf,” that top secret Nuclear German Wonder submarine. The British know that the Germans have built it, and well, with Ambassador Kennedy over in London right now, we can’t allow this to fall into President Wallace’s hands or the Navy might take drastic measures.”

“The British can’t do anything to sink her, I have conformation from Admiral Friedburg himself, sonar and radar can barely detect this ship, even if they did it would dive under and slip away before they could do anything.”

“There’s one other thing, she was put to sea not to long ago. I got a written document from Admiral Friedburg here,” said the Senator as he reached into his coat pockets and pulled out a piece of paper, “this is from my German contact working with me, just flew in this morning around the same time those papers came in – Operation Wallenstein is a go!”

Outside of his doors Frank Brown was standing, talking to some of Secretary Stevenson’s aides who were stalling him until Senator Gillmore walked out, when he did he knocked on the open walls inside – “May I come in Mr. Secretary?” asked Frank Brown, walking inside as he asked his question.

“Frank, it’s a bit of a surprise seeing you here,” responded Robert Stevenson smiling at Frank Brown who took a seat beside the Secretary.

“Duty calls,” said Frank Brown, who was a working FBI Agent for J. Edgar Hoover and a personal friend to Nathan Banks who was currently over in Britain. Frank Brown pulled out from his coat pocket a few pictures obtained by American Agents in Germany, the very same pictures that Senator Gillmore had shown him. “This is the newest of our worries Mr. Secretary,” handing him the pictures, “She is a new class of German wonder weapons, a nuclear submarine…”

Robert Stevenson interrupted the FBI Agent, “I’ll forward this immediately to the Admiral Fletcher, Chief of the Navy, and he’ll know what to do with this little problem arising in Germany. Are you sure it’s not a mockup?”

“Sir, those pictures are authentic,” said Frank Brown, standing up from his chair and walking out.

Robert Stevenson slumped back into his chair; he combed back his hair and loosened his tie – looking out at his window behind him to see the busy parking lot beneath his offices. He then looked down at the pictures that Frank had just displayed to him, he was thinking to himself that Senator Gillmore must have stumbled upon the actual documents, while Frank managed to get his hands on a spare set.

Secretary Stevenson told his aides to shut the door, and as they did he placed the four pictures given to him by Frank Brown and placed them in the fire place in the left corner of his office, watching the pictures dissolve into ash.
 
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Just stumbled across your new AAR volks, and I must say it has been excellent thus far! A real thriller right now, I can't wait for more from you!

Keep up the good work! ;)
 
Very nice ... sounds like there are all sorts of plots going on!
 
@ EvilFishtank: Operation Wallenstein will be detailed as the AAR goes on, but in terms of wonder weapons that will appear, many will come; mostly German, but a couple of Allied ones will make surprise appearances. Actually, a German wonder weapon is to appear in the next update in a few moments.

@ Red Eagle: Thanks. Conspiracy is a major keynote for this AAR and the wonder weapons as well as I don't think a carbon-copy of the Hunt for Red October would be interesting.

@ Erie_Patriot: Thanks!

@ Surt: The trouble is, what will America and England do to stop them, and what about the Reich? Will they let a rogue take control of one of their newest and most powerful ships?

@ TheEnlighted1: Thank you, glad you're enjoying it.

@ stnylan: Thanks stnylan, always nice to have you around. Indeed there are a lot of plots, but once chapter one is finished setting the story and the many different plots, I'll be branching out into single chapters following one or two of the main characters (or at least that's the plan).

@ Baltasar: It is true that the Red October has influenced me, but let's see just how similar the two turn out. Btw, if you haven't read the book I would highly recommend it, completely different from the movie (but the movie was still really good IMO).
 
Chapter One

19. March, London, United Kingdom

Nathan Banks and John Brooks were walking the cold London streets, near Westminster Abbey in their rain coats, protecting their precious suites from the cold rain falling from the sky. Nathan pulled out a cigarette, offering one to John first, who declined, then placing it in his mouth, angling down to light his cigarette. He pulled from his mouth and exhaled a breathe of smoke into the air.

“So,” he said, “what are you willing to do?”

“For what? “ John asked.

“For what? To find that ship,” answered Nathan, taking another smoke from his cigarette.

“Your missing ship is a major concern I won’t lie, but it isn’t of the top of our priority. The Royal Navy would never take you onboard any of their ships without due clearance from the Foreign Ministry…”

“You need clearance, what of a completely destroyed London, New York or Washington, THAT is all the clearance you’ll need from me!”

“Nathan,” said John, trying to calm his American colleague down, “I think you’re currently blowing this out of proportions. Your insider hasn’t informed us much outside the fact the ship has left port, and those pictures are sketchy at best.”

“Sketchy? Do you think that ship is sketchy? Those German bastards built that thing with one goal in mind, drifting into British and American waters virtually undetected, launching their missiles at our largest cities and military installations and quickly racing back home completely unharmed as we sit on our ass thinking what the hell just happened? Quite frankly, I’m not the type of man that is going to wait in this new age of nuclear weapons to wait for the enemy to take the fight to us and let 50 million Americans die before we do something!”

“Nathan,” pleaded John, “Ambassador Kennedy sent men back to Washington early in the morning, still the eighteenth of March back in Washington to give your government those pictures. They’ve probably reached Washington by now, and President Wallace is most likely reviewing those pictures right now, as we speak, and determine a plan of action; especially since you’ve been keeping in touch with your FBI man in Washington, informing him on everything going on in the North Sea right now…”

German Embassy, Washington D.C

Inside the halls of the German Embassy in Washington D.C. was American Diplomat and Wallace Administration Advisor Jack Hall who was sitting at his desk inside the German Embassy waiting for the German ambassador to enter the room. Mr. Hall was talking to several members of his staff just as the door opened and Ambassador Ludwig Veck walked in, a handpicked diplomat to serve in the United States by Reinhard Heydrich himself. The old gentleman, his hair fading in the center acknowledged Mr. Hall who told his staff to leave. Moments later the German Ambassador sat at the chair in front of Jack Hall.

The German had a bleak and blunt look upon his face, he was looking at the ceiling, then down at the floor, then back at Mr. Hall.

“What seems to be bothering you Ludwig?” asked Mr. Jack Hall, taking his seat to have a face-to-face conversation with perhaps the only non-German American he had any mutual respect for.

“May I have a glass of water,” asked Ludwig Veck, loosening his collar and tie, slowly slumping back in his chair and looking up at the ceiling wall.

“Of course,” said Mr. Hall, walking from his seat into the a small room nearby and poured a glass of water for the German Ambassador, quickly walking back and handing it to the German Ambassador – who was quick to drink from the glass.

“You don’t seem well, like sick, is everything okay?” asked Jack Hall once more.

Ludwig Veck took a deep-gasp of air, looking at Mr. Hall straight in the eyes at the time being, “Something of great urgency has befallen the Reich in Berlin, something of such importance that when I was informed only moments ago, I couldn’t believe it myself.”

“Take it easy Ludwig, now is not the time to talk of World War Three,” laughed Jack Hall.

Ambassador Veck didn’t smile from the comical comment made by Ambassador Hall, “You see, Jack, that’s one of the reason’s why I’m talking to you right now. I have an urgent message from the Reich Ministry, the Fuhrer Reinhard Heydrich himself, and the Kriegsmarine High Command…”

Ambassador Hall slowly turned from looking out at the calm March day, his glasses in his mouth and giving Ambassador Veck a very bleak look. Yesterday, one of our submarine captain’s: Paul Kruger, the commanding officer of one of our newest U-Boats, U-SSN 881, a nuclear ballistic missile submarine, a revolution of it’s class resigned from his commission while commanding the ship – giving a letter to Grand Admiral Karl Donitz in which he announced his intention of firing his missiles on the East Coast of the United States of America. My best guess would be Washington and New York. Exactly twenty-one minutes ago, Berlin Time, we lost contact with U-SSN 881, and have since classified the ship as “Going Rogue.”

“You have a rogue captain somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, heading straight for the East Coast of the United States, I heard that much correctly didn’t I?”

“That you have Mr. Hall, that you have. We have launched restriction codes to prevent them from firing their SLBMs: Submarine-launched ballistic missiles, but this will be of little avail as they can manually be overridden within the chambers of the submarine. Mr. Hall, we need you to help us find our lost U-Boat, and in all likelihood, sink her before she could do her damage and potentially start World War Three…”

German Nuclear High Command, Berlin

Inside the Halls Reichstag, within the wing of the German Nuclear Command Headquarters, two German officers were running down the halls to Colonel Josef Haltzer’s Offices, the ranking-officer and holder of the German Nuclear Arms codes and being perhaps the only man within the Third Reich who knew the positions of the entire German Nuclear Arsenal.

Outside of his halls, the German officers barged in, quickly saluting the Colonel and placing a folder on his desk, the younger lieutenant spoke like a robot, looking straight at the colonel who was still sitting at his desk.

“Sir,” he began, “urgent message from the Kriegsmarine Headquarters, U-SSN 881 has gone rogue. She broke radio-contact with us less than thirty minutes ago and the German Strategic Missile Command just stumbled upon a mystery within their own ranks sir. The entire stockpile of SLBM’s have gone missing. Four of which were already armed on the U-SSN 881 for a secret mission to test her capabilities at Iceland, but the Reich Ministry thinks differently,” said the lieutenant as quickly as possible, parts of his spiel being unrecognizable.

“Lieutenant,” said the Colonel, “I need you to get a grip on yourself and tell me what needs to be said.

“Sir, Sir… sir… sir… umm… We don’t know where the stockpile of Submarine-launch ballistic missiles have gone. Someone within the Reich Ministry gave the order to board all ten ballistic missiles onto the U-SSN 881, which thirty minutes ago went rogue and broke all radio contacts with Berlin. Admiral Donitz received a letter yesterday by the ships captain, Paul Kruger in which he listed upon his resignation his intentions of firing those missiles on the United States.”

“May God help us,” said the colonel falling back into his chair, his jaw-dropped and speechless, looking a deafening pale-white as if he was sick to his stomach.

Bremen Naval Base Air Field

The sirens of the air base were screaming, pilots rushed out of the barracks and heading straight towards the air field that was housing their aircraft. Pilots rushed into the cockpits of their Lippisch P. 13a ramjet interceptors, their only mission – attempt to locate the lost U-Boat, U-SSN 881 and radio their cordinates back to Bremen upon which FW 200 Condor’s would be launched in an attempt to sink the rogue submarine.

The first planes to lift off the air fields immediately embarked towards the last known position of the submarine, 67 miles from the coast of Norwich. The German Air Ministry failed to inform the Royal Air Force of the sudden move and shift of aircraft into British air space. The P. 13’s were storming forward at over 1,000 miles per hour, quickly violating British Air Space, and then vanishing from British Coastal Radars.

As the pilots looked for any trace of the submarine down below, they dropped their speed to about 250 miles per hour, standard cruising speed in hopes to find the revolutionary German submarine, most of the pilots not knowing that such a submarine was in the German arsenal, nor knowing what it looked like. From high above, a German captain looked down from his ridge-sloped cockpit, recognizing water tails from a ship, a ship that was no longer visible as in: above water. The captain set coordinates from his cockpit and sent an immediate radio transmission back to Bremen.

The Air Base commanders gave the go-ahead, radioing the coordinates to the Naval Bombers as they raced off to the new location of where the German Luftwaffe believed the rogue submarine to be below. As the P.13’s raced back to their air bases low on fuel, they passed their comrade bombers, armed with the newest revolution of air-to-sea missiles and torpedoes hoping to end the short and already historic journey of the U-SSN 881.

p13.jpg

A Lippisch P.13a flying over the waters of the North Atlantic attempting to locate the “lost” U-Boat, U-SSN 881.

Anyone for naming the original aircraft that the P.13a was based off of?
 
I wonder... what is Krüger's mind racing about...

Anyone for naming the original aircraft that the P.13a was based off of?

The Lippisch DM-1 test glider, perhaps?
 
From what I read, the P.13a was the original, something completely new, although it was proposed to be powered by coal.
 
Well this is getting slightly serious.
 
Now it is getting really interesting...

And again the situation at the embassy reminds me at Red October.
Luckily you didn't made it a rescue operation. :rolleyes:

At first I thought that the U-SSN 881 has the capability of launching only a pair of Ballistic nukes. Seems that I was wrong. With nearly a dozen of them it can be a real first strike :eek:
 
Ooh! Can't wait to see what "Operation Wallenstein" entails. You said you'd be using a lot of secret weapons. Does that mean we will see the deployment of ice carriers and bat bombs?

Operation Wallenstein will be a major focal point when the story branches out into individual sections following the primary characters I'm trying to set up with the multi-plot first chapter. (Ie: Future Chapters will follow one or two of the major characters). As for the secret weapons, that's something I know and you'll be reading in the due time. The Bat Bomb, and Ice Carrier, well, who knows? Maybe they'll make an appearance sometime in this AAR or not... only time will tell.

I wonder what is Krüger's mind racing about...

Well, that's something that only the good captain himself can actually answer.

The Lippisch DM-1 test glider, perhaps?
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner. ;):cool: I'm not surprised by this though. :p

From what I read, the P.13a was the original, something completely new, although it was proposed to be powered by coal.

The P.13a was developed on the basis of the Lippish DM-1 Test Glider as Kurt_Steiner pointed out above. However, you're dead on as the P.13a was intended to be run on fuel because of the lack of German oil by the end of the war. This will bother you, ever wonder what would have happened if the Germans actually designed and mass-produced their secret weapons. Many of them I'll be bringing out in this AAR. Enjoy!

Well this is getting slightly serious.

But how serious will it become once Operation Wallenstein is unraveled? oops, I just said some things that will occur in the future of this AAR :eek:

Anyhow, I find that this story needs to be a "edge of your seat" type of narrative, whether or not I can actually do that, well, I doubt it! :p

Things are heating up indeed! Looks like the Germans aren't taking a liking to whatever it is Cpt. Kruger plans on doing. Great stuff!

Thanks! Things are heating up indeed, and will stay at a high level until the end of the AAR, I hope. Cpt. Kruger's plan is a mystery to all but him and Cpt. Gysae right now. Who else will learn in the future?

Now it is getting really interesting...

And again the situation at the embassy reminds me at Red October.
Luckily you didn't made it a rescue operation. :rolleyes:

At first I thought that the U-SSN 881 has the capability of launching only a pair of Ballistic nukes. Seems that I was wrong. With nearly a dozen of them it can be a real first strike :eek:

There is no doubt I have homages to "Red October," I guess you're going to nail every single one of them. As of now, you're 2 for 2 (the other being the engineer-doctor similarity).

As for First strike, the Allies don't know that U-SSN 881 is capable of launching multiple missiles, for they only believe it capable of two. What ramifications is this going to lead to, well, that's what my job is for -- writing. The U-SSN 881 is truly the world's first, first-strike weapon (although her SLBM's are of short-range).

Note: The U-SSN 881 [in-game Nuclear submarine] isn't capable of first-strike capabilities within the game, but that's what a good imagination is for by bringing it out in the story as a first-strike nuclear submarine.

Btw, I think I'm going to incorporate "Secret Weapon of the Week," where I'll try my best to bring out the well-known, and not so well-known secret weapons of the Allies and Germans.