“We’ll get no mercy from the wolf pack,” he said to his first mate. Let’s alter course just after sunset and come fifteen points to port.”
The convoy would execute the maneuver smartly on command, and it would take the remaining 45 ships right into the path of another great wolf, the Lord of the Manor, flagship of the German Navy, battleship Hindenburg.
Tovey was back aboard HMS Invincible when he got the news that a scout plane out from the fledgling air base on the Faeroe Islands had failed to return. What he first took to be trouble with the thickening weather soon became cause for alarm. A message was received saying the plane had been engaged by German fighters, and shot down. That could only mean that the German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin was on the prowl somewhere near those islands, as they were too far from Bergen to be bothered by fighters based at that location.
This led Tovey to reconsider his deployment of the other two battleships. They had been steaming northwest all day, and were now in a position some 200 miles west of the Faeroes. What if the Germans shunned the more distant coast of Iceland and turned south near those islands instead? He immediately sent a signal to the Admiralty, and Captain Patterson on King George V, suggesting this possibility, and advising the cruiser Kent should investigate. Admiral Pound sent back a contrary opinion. Tovey was handed the message ten minutes later. “Admiralty and First Sea Lord do not concur. Continue on your original posting. HMS Kent to remain on station with Illustrious.”
This was his fate now, he realized, to be shadowed by the meddlesome Admiral Pound, second guessed, with his orders countermanded at every turn. This was the price he was paying for the hospital bill he had handed the Royal Navy on his first major engagement- Hood, Renown and Repulse all laid up for repairs.
When the next message was brought in, it was a sad vindication in seeing his worst misgivings confirmed. R.A.F. Vagar in the Faeroes, the place where he had learned the startling truth concerning the Russian ship and crew during his meeting with Admiral Volsky, was being shelled!
“R.A.F. Vagar under large caliber naval gunfire at 23:20 and taking heavy damage. Three planes destroyed and base no longer operational. Casualties.” He read the message slowly to Captain Bennett. “By God, they’ve snookered us! The Germans are running the inside passage! Large caliber naval gunfire-that can only be from a capital ship, and here I am nearly 600 miles to the west watching the back yard while Hindenburg is skulking right past the front gate!”
He was over to his plotting table at once, scratching his forehead as he eyed the position of Captain Patterson’s battlegroup. “Send to King George V,” he said to a Watch Officer. “Tell them to come about and steer 190 and come to full speed. The Germans will have to steer that course to get down round Ireland… And my God, look here, Captain Bennett. That’s HX-69 there, bound for Liverpool.” He fingered a spot on his chart, right in the path of the oncoming threat.
“We’d best inform the Admiralty,” said Bennett, “and have them scatter that convoy, dangerous as that may be in those waters.”
“Agreed,” said Tovey. “Make it so. He placed two rulers on the chart now, laying one along the suspected course of the German squadron, and another from his own position to a point about 500 miles east of Glasgow. An equilateral triangle formed between the Faeroes, that point, and his ship.
“We could get back into it,” he said glancing quickly at Captain Bennett. “I could turn now and put on thirty knots. Certainly the Germans will do the same, and they’ll have to steer this course until they reach this latitude. Only then can they turn south around Ireland.”
“Right through the Bloody Western Approaches,” said Bennett. “Damn bold maneuver, wouldn’t you say?”
“That so,” said Tovey. “Well, we must make them pay for that.”
“What about Patterson’s group?” Captain Bennett eyed the position of King George V to the north.
“He’ll make 28 knots at his best speed. The Germans have a slight speed advantage, only two knots, but that means they’ll slip away unless we stop them.”
“And what about our watch here?” Captain Bennett stated the obvious, and Tovey gave him a look that seemed to see right through him, his mind obviously fixed on some solution.
Schettler, John
Kirov Saga: Hinge Of Fate: Altered States Volume III (Kirov Series)
“I’ll be in the W/T Room,” he said. “Come about to take that course and go to thirty knots at once.”
“Aye sir, off we go.” Bennett gestured to a Watch Officer and the order was passed to the helm. HMS Invincible was heading south.
“Well Fedorov,” said Admiral Volsky. “It appears we have not worn out our welcome yet.” He had just received the message from Nikolin. Admiral Tovey had sent a code on a special channel they had arranged and was requesting that Kirov resume the Watch on the Denmark Strait for the next 24 hours.
Fedorov had seen all the other message traffic, and put the puzzle together. “I guess we can tell Narva they will not be seeing anything north of Iceland,” he said. “The Germans have just announced themselves at the Faeroes!”
“That they have. What do you think this is, Fedorov? Could it be a diversion?”
“In once sense it is,” said Fedorov. “They showed us Alfargruppe just north of the Denmark Strait first. Now we know that is comprised of only two ships, and I think that is the real feint here. This business at the Faeroes, that is Jotnargruppe, the giants, and from the list of ships we decoded in that Enigma signal it will be Bismarck and Hindenburg. Yet in my opinion, this is also a diversion.”
“Oh? What else can the Germans throw at the British? Hindenburg is their biggest ship. Yes?”
“They can throw three crack regiments at Gibraltar, sir. I believe this is a ruse aimed at keeping the British Home Fleet well occupied for Operation Felix.”
Volsky sighed heavily, folding his arms.
“Correct, Fedorov. The only question I have now is this: what should we do about it?”
Chapter 29
“I’m afraid we are a little too far away to do much about Gibraltar,” said Fedorov. “Besides, what could we do? It will not be a naval operation. The French Fleet might also cause some trouble for Force H, but if Admiral Somerville is sharp he already has his ships up on four hour steam. He won’t want his battleships sitting at anchor if the Luftwaffe comes calling, and this they will certainly do if they mean to attack Gibraltar.”
“But surely that operation is of greater significance than our post here,” said Volsky.
“True sir, but again, what could we do? Gibraltar’s fate now lies with the mettle of its garrison. I don’t suppose you are contemplating putting Troyak and his Marines ashore there.”
Volsky smiled. “No, I think they have done enough with this latest mission. It is good to have them all safely aboard the ship again-including Orlov. But I can see that you were surprised it succeeded.”
“I was,” said Fedorov. “Especially after what Director Kamenski suggested. If Troyak could destroy the back stairway at Ilanskiy, then how did I find it and go down it in 1941? How did Ivan Volkov do the same in 2021? But yet, Troyak reports his demolition was a success.”
“How is this possible, Fedorov?”
“It’s a real mystery sir, like so much of what has happened in these last months. I have been muddling over it for some time.”
“Yes, I have seen you muddling, young man. I noticed your heart was not in the recent fire drill exercises.”
“I’m sorry sir, my mind was elsewhere, and it concerns Captain Karpov.”