Hobson looked about and realized that the harbor was a circle of flaming buildings and ships. All about him the sky was turning red, not from a false dawn but from the multitude of fires burning on Manhattan and in Jersey City and Brooklyn. He gasped when he realized the Statue of Liberty was headless and without her outstretched torch and arm.
Hobson ordered theAlvin ’s captain to circle while he assessed the damage on the land. Most of the German warehouses on the Brooklyn side were giant torches and continued to be racked by explosions. As he watched, the wall of one burning building collapsed on another, creating a huge shower of sparks that fell on running figures. He thought he could hear their screams.
On Manhattan, he could see numbers of people running about in panic, some even jumping into the water to escape the fires that had burst in on their sleep. Where had all the people come from? Hadn’t the island been evacuated by the Germans? Or were these Germans he was seeing? Not likely. He knew that part of town was populated by immigrants, and it appeared that many had remained regardless of the kaiser’s orders. On the New Jersey side, the damage seemed to be substantially less, as a result of the greater distance from the explosions. Already, people were starting to work on the fires, and there seemed to be a little less chaos as well. As he watched, fingers of water began lifting from horse-drawn pumpers and onto burning buildings.
He had intended to hurt the Germans and had accomplished his task. But had he hurt his own country worse? Totally confused and disoriented, he ordered a return to Newark Bay. What had he done?
Roosevelt ’s face was red. He was upset and distraught. “Would someone please tell me why it was necessary to destroy several of our largest cities in the course of that action? Is this our definition of victory? My lord, spare us from future victories if that is the case!”
Hay tried to soothe him. “Now Theodore, buildings can be rebuilt and, frankly, I don’t think the damage or loss of life to civilians is as great as the rumormongers say.”
Longstreet agreed. “Sir, I think you’ll find that the damage to Jersey City and Newark was confined to the dock and warehouse areas, and the local population was able to put out the fires in a few hours. As to Brooklyn, well, virtually the only buildings left undamaged from the earlier fires were the ones being used by the Krauts for storage, and that makes them legitimate targets. I don’t think we care how many Germans or collaborators were killed.”
“But what about Manhattan?” Roosevelt wailed, reminding all that it had been his home.
“Regrettable, sir,” said Hay, “but let’s put the blame where it belongs. The Germans made it an armed camp, and it was the Germans who moved out the civilians and the city organization that might have stopped the fires. To be blunt, the bulk of the damage from the exploding ammunition was largely confined to the slums and tenements of the Lower East Side, and those buildings are no great loss, if you ask me. Again, we will rebuild. As to the numbers of American civilians dead on Manhattan, it is tragic, but, hell, we may never know.”
Roosevelt sank back in his chair. “All right. But Governor Voorhees has been on the phone several times in the last two days and wants blood.”
“German blood, I trust,” said Longstreet drily. “Mr. President, some of the people of New Jersey were living in a fool’s paradise. How could they expect to get through a war and not be involved in it with the enemy only a mile away? Why not tell Voorhees to go to hell?”
Roosevelt smiled at last. “I can’t. He’s a Republican.” He rose and began to pace. “All right, you tell me it was a victory, but what did we win?”
John Long cleared his throat. “Well, now that the rains have come back and helped drown most of the fires, and we have been able to reestablish our lookout posts on Manhattan and in Jersey City, we can tell you that an undetermined number of transports were sunk and at least twenty-five badly damaged. We can logically assume their cargoes have been largely destroyed. As to warships"-he paused and allowed a catlike smile-"we believe two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and two gunboats were sunk, and that two heavies and four lights were damaged. By damaged I mean it will be some time, months, before they will be back in service.”
“Good,” said Roosevelt, then he saw the smile on Long’s face widen. “What else do you have for me, John?”
“Three capital ships were in the harbor. They were not sunk but they were badly damaged. They are no longer a factor and will not be available for the kaiser’s use for quite some time. They can probably be repaired, but not in the short run.”
Longstreet whistled. “Thirteen to twelve.”
Secretary Long laughed. “Yes, their advantage is now but one battleship, and we are confident our twelve are at least equivalent to their thirteen.”
Roosevelt leaned forward. “Does that mean Dewey will do battle?”
“It does. The information has been cabled to him, and he is now trying to determine a proper time and place to do battle.”
“Capital!” said Roosevelt, who chuckled at his own bad joke.
“It gets better,” added Longstreet. “The warehouses destroyed in Brooklyn along with the ships in the harbor, particularly those ammo ships that started all the ruckus, made up the greater part of the Germans’ strategic reserve. About half their ammunition, most of their food, and virtually all of their winter uniforms are now gone. Those German boys are gonna get hungry and freeze their tails off pretty soon.” He turned to Long. “You might not have known this, but those warehouses also contained a lot of naval supplies, including their coal reserves, which they’d been piling up on Governors Island. Those piles are now glowing a bright cherry red. They have a real problem on their hands.”
Elihu Root finally spoke. “James, are you suggesting they won’t be able to fight?”
“Oh, hell no. They can fight and fight hard. They just can’t fight for very damn long. One or two major battles and what they have on hand in their units, as well as their tactical reserves, will be used up. Then they will be in real big trouble.”
“What a lovely picture.” Roosevelt laughed. “So what will they do about it? Resupply?”
“Yes,” said Root. “It will have to be quick and massive. That is just about their only option. When that occurs, we feel they will then try to end this war as quickly and as savagely as possible. Sir, we have won a battle, but we may have set some terrible forces in motion, forces we are not yet ready to control.”
Roosevelt pondered. “So be it,” he said solemnly. “Now, what about our casualties?”
Long cleared his throat. “In the initial phase of the attack, we lost three destroyers sunk and most others damaged. There were about 150 men killed and wounded. In the second phase, when the Germans sent some cruisers through the Kill Van Kull and attacked the remainder at anchor, we lost the surviving nine destroyers and another hundred men. That should not have happened, but no one thought the Germans would counterattack. The New Jersey Militia on guard simply ran as the cruisers entered the harbor and started pounding the docks. The destroyers had not yet been rearmed with torpedoes and were sitting ducks. Hobson and the rest of his men ran down the streets and tried to make themselves scarce in the city. It was a rather inglorious end to a glorious beginning. On the plus side, we did find a survivor from that submarine we experimented with, theHolland. One of the departing destroyers found him floating in the harbor. The man is badly hurt but he did confirm that it was the sub’s torpedo that hit an ammunition ship and started the whole shebang.”