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Fog of War
--- SM U-20 Northsea 31/5 1915
Schwieger turned from Conqueror's wreck when the sound of the
intensive gunfire ahead reached U-20. He studied the flashes of gunfire
and glow of burning ships on the eastern horizon through his binoculars.
There was obviously a major engagement underway. They were not close enough
to actually see any ships.
"All ahead flank!" Schwieger ordered.
U-20 left HMS Conqueror behind her and headed north-east at 15
knots, towards the still distant battle. Schwieger's gaze swept over the
horizon, visibility was at least 8000 yards in all directions, except
to the north where a thin greyish mist mixed with lingering smoke from
the battle, limited the visibility to less than a quarter of that distance.
"Lookout, pay extra attention to that mist to port." Schwieger
ordered. Anything could hide behind it or in it.
"Sir!" the lookout acknowledged. He thought it looked more
like a thin smoke screen though.
"Sir. The engineer says that if we maintain this speed much longer
we might have to use oars to get back home." the XO said.
"We have to risk it, lieutenant." Schwieger replied with a
faint smile "The fleet is going to need all the help it can get."
"Yes sir." the XO replied.
The massive barrage ahead seemed to be rapidly fading to a much lower
intensity. U-20 was straining its engines to the limit but U-boats were
much slower than the battle fleets. Visibility began to drop rapidly as
U-20's northerly course took it into the cool veils of mist drifting over
the sea.
"Damn, it looks like we are going to be late again." the XO
murmured as the sounds of battle started to die out ahead.
"Perhaps we should change course to a more northerly heading XO?" Schwieger said.
"Well we are never go..."
"Sir! To port! it seems to be a ship." the port side lookout
shouted suddenly.
"You can see masts and smoke."
"Where? I can't see it!" Schwieger replied.
"There." the lookout responded and pointed into the smoke and
mists. "You can only see the mast and the smokestacks."
"I got it, it seems to be a large ship." the XO said. "Can
you make out if she has tripod masts?"
"No, not yet sir." the lookout responded.
"Where, damn it?" Schwieger asked annoyed. "Ah there,
I see it now. Helm come to 320, engines ahead half." he ordered.
"What range do you estimate sir?" the XO asked.
"Hard to say, four-five thousand yards perhaps. What's your estimate,
XO?" Schwieger asked.
"No more than four. She is big though, definitely a battleship or
a battle cruiser, but I can't identify her. We are only seeing the higher
parts, the rest is still out of sight. Is it a British ship?" the
XO wondered.
"I can't tell either, we have to go in closer. Helm, course 340,
that should take us clear of the fog somewhat sooner." Schwieger
ordered as he continued watching the diffuse shadow.
"Yes sir." came the reply from the helmsman below.
"She seems almost dead in the water sir." one of the lookouts
said.
"Yes, but she still has power." the XO remarked "There
is smoke coming from the stacks. If they see us they might try to run.
We would have spotted it sooner if we had remained on our original course." The ship was closer than he had thought.
"Shall we dive sir? There could be other ships around, destroyers." the XO asked.
"No. The visibility is too low, especially close to the surface.
We might lose her if we dive and then she might escape." Schwieger
answered "Even a crippled Dreadnought can outrun us if we
dive. If it's a British ship we will have to make a surface attack."
"Perhaps they can't run sir, why else would they still be here?" the XO pointed out hopefully.
"I can't be sure, but it seems there is another ship beyond the
first one. Perhaps they are assisting or evacuating that other vessel." Schwieger said and pointed towards the extra smokestacks and masts barely
visible over the shadowy shape of the battleships superstructure.
"I still can't identify her." the XO said.
"Bring up the signalling lamp. Just in case it's a friend rather
than a foe." He said to his XO "We don't want any accidents
and a battleship is likely to fire first and ask questions later where
U-boats are concerned."
"Yes indeed sir." the XO agreed "Damn! I still can't make
out the class, she doesn't seem to have super firing turrets though. But
it is difficult to say for sure." the XO observed. "Perhaps
its one of the older British classes. Could it be the Dreadnought?
Perhaps we shall have the opportunity to avenge U-29 and Weddigen today!"
Schwieger didn't reply; they would know soon enough. U-20 slid slowly,
silently through the water, its low silhouette invisible in the mist and
with the rapidly darkening eastern horizon behind it.
"Forward tubes stand by!" Schwieger ordered. The fog was thinning
noticeably now.
"Tubes one and two ready." the weapons officer replied.
"Helm come to course 290, engines all ahead flank!" Schwieger
ordered and U-20 turned to begin its attack run.
--- SMS Westfalen Northsea 31/5 1915
"How is the evacuation coming along?" the captain asked. He
was acutely aware of his ship's vulnerable position.
"Captain von Mueller reports that the evacuation is almost complete.
They are making sure all secret material it either destroyed or transferred
to Westfalen sir."
"Good. As soon as they are finished make best speed on course 90." The captain replied.
He was keeping a close eye on the sea around his motionless ship. The
visibility had dropped dramatically as moist in the air had condensed
on particles from the coal and cordite smoke that the fleets had spewed
out during the battle. Visibility was only a few thousand yards and his
ship was a sitting duck for any torpedo-boat or submarine in the area.
On board SMS Hessen captain von Mueller received his last
reports, fires are out below, all codes and cipher material transferred
or destroyed, all hands have been evacuated. He looked at his watch and
made one final entry in the ships log before he, as the last man, reluctantly
abandoned the slowly sinking Hessen.
--- SM U-20 Northsea 31/5 1915
"DESTROYER! Bearing 315!" the lookout screamed suddenly.
"Scheisse!" the XO exclaimed and Schwieger silently agreed
with him.
"Continue the attack, they haven't seen us yet." Schwieger
ordered. "Engines, I need everything we have left."
"I'm not holding anything back!" came the irritated response
from the engineer.
"Can you identify the type of destroyer, is it British?" He
asked his XO who was watching the diffuse shape intently.
"No. I can't identify her yet!" the XO answered. "But
she is close, and she is making smoke."
Knife Fighting
--- SM U-20 Northsea 31/5 1915
The smoky mist that had inhibited their view suddenly parted before the
charging U-20 and revealed the target to the men in U-20's conning tower.
Their target wasn't 3000 yards away as they had thought but only about
1500 yards ahead the huge shape of a British super Dreadnought was suddenly
sharply visible as U-20 raced out from the concealing mist.
"My God!" the XO whispered.
The huge ship seemed mortally wounded, images of HMS Conqueror
flashed through their minds. The sea was almost at main deck level and
the ship also was listing, in fact the bow was submerged beneath the waves
of the north sea. It was hardly surprising that they had mistaken the
range to the ship. It was so low in the water that it probably wouldn't
survive the night.
---HMS Thunderer 31/5 1915
"...we also haven't completely stopped the flooding in the torpedo
room but the pumps are keeping pace with the leaks down there for now." a lieutenant was reporting.
"Have all non essential personnel left the ship?" the captain
asked.
"Yes sir the last went over about fifteen minutes ago." another
officer answered.
An exhausted looking crewman stepped onto the bridge.
"Sir. The chief reports that he has patched most of the leaks in
engineering and that the pumps are keeping pace with the flooding. He
estimates that the remaining leaks in engineering will be stopped in one
hour." he said wearily. "We should be able to make five knots
in four to five hours."
"Good. tell the..."
Crack!
A 4" gun fired suddenly.
"Sir! U-boat on starboard side!" an officer shouted.
"Get us moving NOW!" the captain roared, moving might sink
his ship but staying would surely do so.
Crack!
Another gun also fired but it was probably too late, he saw that the
U-boat was only some thousand yards away.
--- British Destroyer Northsea 31/5 1915
Everyone on the bridge flinched when Thunderer's secondary guns
fired.
"There! bearing 120. Helm bring us about guns fire at will!"
the commander shouted. "Get all the crew to battle stations, get
the crew from Thunderer below deck."
Crack! Crack!
The destroyer's guns opened fire on the charging U-boat, the splashes
of the falling shells were close but not close enough.
--- SM U-20 Northsea 31/5 1915
"Range twelve hundred, bearing zero-zero-zero. Tube one fire!" Schwieger ordered as the second shell narrowly missed U-20.
"Tube one away!" the weapons officer acknowledged.
"The destroyer has seen us, sir!" the XO said calmly "She
is coming about."
"Keep an eye on her XO." Schwieger said "Tube two fire!" he ordered.
"Tube two away!" the calm voice of the weapons officer reported.
"Destroyer has opened fire." the XO reported.
More splashes rose around U-20.
"Prepare to dive! XO let's get be..."
WHAAANGGGG!!!!
Schwieger and his XO was thrown against the railing by the blast.
"Let's go lieutenant." he said and shook the other. When the
XO rolled over, a piece of shrapnel the size of a hand was sticking out
of his forehead. The face of the XO looked surprised more than anything
else.
"Dive! DIVE!" Schwieger shouted and climbed down the ladder
from the tower.
The north sea rushed in through the shell hole in the tower as he closed
the hatch.
"But what..." someone began but fell silent when they saw the
blood soaking Schwieger's uniform.
"Report!" he croaked.
"The pressure hull is intact sir." the dive officer said at
once.
"Both torpedoes running straight at the target..." the weapons
officer began.
WHAM! Wham! Wham!
More shells fell into the sea nearby.
--- British Destroyer Northsea 31/5 1915
"Nail the bastard, damn it" the commander almost screamed at
his gun crews. The U-boat, having fired its shots was diving to escape
retribution and the gunners hadn't been able to cause enough damage to
prevent its escape. The pressure hull made the submarines very hard to
kill. You needed a direct hit, not just a glancing blow to sink them.
This coward wasn't going to give them the opportunity though.
"Helmsman, ram the devil!" Well, there were alternatives,
the commander thought.
"YES SIR!" the Helmsman replied eagerly.
The U-boat was going down fast but not fast enough. The hit on the deck
gun had probably killed the captain and that thought delighted the commander,
all submariners were scum but the German ones were also the enemy.
"Aim for the conning tower." the commander said.
"Aye aye sir!" the helmsman replied.
They had to get them before they submerged, unlike the flotillas patrolling
outside Scapa Flow, the flotillas serving with the fleet hadn't yet been
equipped with depth charges. The motivation for that being that torpedoes
would be more useful in a fleet action and that the fleet could always
outrun a U-boat. Well Thunderer surely wasn't going anywhere and
once the U-boat made it into the deep...
--- SM U-20 Submerging Northsea 31/5 1915
"Helm hard to starboard!" Schwieger ordered. It was going to
be close.
--- British Destroyer Northsea 31/5 1915
"NO! They are getting away, more speed!" the commander ordered
as the conning tower of U-20 disappeared beneath the waves.
A sharp jolt shook the ship and the sound of tortured metal screamed
through the hull followed by several sharp banging noises. The crew and
the survivors from Thunderer cheered when they felt the impact.
"YES! Good show, helmsman you nailed the devil!" the commander
said and looked for signs in their wake that the U-boat was surfacing.
But no such signs could be observed.
The Devil in the Deep
---Port engine room HMS Thunderer 31/5 1915
The massive propellers started to turn but not fast enough. In the port
engine room the ship's engineer wondered what was going on on the bridge,
this manoeuvre might sink us, he thought.
WHANG!
The great ship shuddered beneath him as a torpedo struck somewhere aft
, the starboard list increased rapidly.
WHAANGGG!!!
The second torpedo struck the already flooded starboard engine room and
the shock of the blast was transferred through the water and on to the
already strained bulkheads inside HMS Thunderer.
The men in the engine room watched as the entire bulkhead moved under
the blow and moments later gave way and the cool waters of the Northsea
rushed in.
---Bridge HMS Thunderer 31/5 1915
He had hoped the submarine would be as surprised as he was by their encounter
but they had fired their torpedoes and there really wasn't anything left
to do.
WHAM!
The first torpedo hit his ship. The list grew rapidly and several men
grabbed for something to hold onto.
WHAM!
The second torpedo hit and the ship straightened itself somewhat. The
water was already halfway up A-turret.
"All hands, abandon ship." the captain ordered. He was watching
the rapidly rising water closing over A-turret. When the rising waters
reached the bridge he calmly swam away from the ship towards the waiting
destroyer. Many of the topside volunteers had also managed to get off Thunderer when she sank, but no one survived from the many damage
control teams that had been far below decks fighting to save the ship.
--- British Destroyer Northsea 31/5 1915
"Sir there is some minor flooding forward and aft starboard side.
The engineer reports that the starboard propeller is damaged and must
be stopped."
"Thank you ensign." the commander said and dismissed the ensign.
The masts and smokestacks of Thunderer were rapidly disappearing
into the sea.
"We will circle here until the others have picked up all the survivors
from Thunderer and then we will head home." he said.
"Yes sir." the helmsman acknowledged.
"That was excellent manoeuvring back there, I will make sure you
are mentioned in the report."
"Thank you sir." the helmsman replied. He didn't really want
his name anywhere in the reports describing this battle. The entire day
had been one long painful disaster ever since admiral Sturdee had engaged
the Germans. The fewer names the Lords of the Admiralty had to vent their
anger on the better.
"Sir!" one of the gunners shouted and pointed at a mass of
bubbles surfacing just of the port bow.
"Dear God, please let that be her hull rupturing." the commander
whispered for himself. "Guns, stand by to open fire if they surface." there really wasn't any reason to give the Huns a chance to surrender.
--- SM U-20 Submerged Northsea 31/5 1915
The impact of the destroyer's bow hitting the conning tower shook the
entire boat, the force of the impact tipped the boat hard to starboard,
the lights went out. The deafening screech of metal on metal echoed through
the entire boat. The bow of the U-boat was forced down by the force of
the collision and simultaneously the stern was forced up into the hull
of the destroyer. The impact of the destroyer's propeller sounded like
a giant machine gun being fired inside the boat.
"Report!" Schwieger shouted over the noise in the boat.
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