Brooks said crisply, “Good to see you. I shall have to tell you a lot more than I intended at this stage. However … ” He did not go- on, but produced a cigarette from his pocket and waited for one of the duty officers to light it. He took several long pulls, displaying his upper teeth, which were very large and ugly.
“Ready, sir.” Another officer spoke from one of the maps. His voice was hushed, as if in church.
Brooks sat down on a table and swung one leg carelessly above a waste-paper basket.
“I’ve been hearing all about your capture. Seen the photographs which my people took in Falmouth. ” He had a quick, darting way of speaking and moving. A compressed bundle of energy, Drummond thought. “We guessed that the Germans were up to something, of course, but they have reached a far more advanced stage than I had imagined. I have ordered immediate enquiries elsewhere,” he shot Beaumont a quick glance, “but there seems little room for doubt.”
Drummond thought of the speed with which things had moved. They had only reached Falmouth yesterday, yet already Admiral Brooks had seen the reports, checked the pictures and intelligence data and was, it appeared, ready to make further decisions.
Brooks said, “I’ve been hearing quite a bit about you, too.” He measured Drummond with a lingering stare. “Record’s a good one.” The teeth dipped down like a portcullis. “Considering you come of an army family!”
Drummond smiled. “I am trying to live with it, sir.”
The smile, if it was one, vanished. “Quite. You have served without any real break since the beginning. Convoy escort, anti-submarine work, Mediterranean and Atlantic.” He was ticking off his record like a grocer’s list. “But this may be something motes of a challenge.”
He swung round on the corner of the table and stabbed his cigarette towards the nearest chart. It was of Norway. All the long, craggy coastline from the Skagerrak to North Cape.
Brooks said, “It has been a hard slog. It is impossible to tell just how many valuable warships have been tied down because of Germany’s remaining heavy units. Bismarck has gone, Graf Spee and others either sunk or disabled. But up there, like wolves in their lairs, the greatest menace still remains. Tirpitz, with her more successful consort, Scharnhorst, can pounce on any Russian convoy they choose. To contain them and their escorts, we in turn must tie down our battleships and cruisers, use them to shadow the Arctic convoys, when they are needed, or soon will be, elsewhere.”
Drummond said quietly, “To cover an invasion, sir.”
“Yes.” Brooks looked round the room. “Even the word sounds like a betrayal of a secret.” He laughed shortly. “But you can’t keep a million men and a thousand ships in the dark forever.”
Through a small doorway Drummond heard the muffled rattle of teleprinters, the jingle of phones, and imagined all the information which was coming into this bunker, to this small, remarkable man. It made the actual fighting part seem almost unimportant. For the moment.
Brooks added softly, “And your old friend is about, too. ” He watched Beaumont’s reaction. “The one which put Conqueror on the bottom with a lot of fine men inside her.”
Beaumont said, “That is why I’m so glad, no honoured, to be part of this, sir.”
Drummond saw his hands opening and shutting, the way he was staring at the great chart.
“Yes.” Brooks continued, “Last year we made an attempt to cripple Tirpitz in her Norwegian fjord by using chariots. Had ‘em slung on either side of a fishing boat, the idea being to release them once they were within range of the battleship. It sounds crazy, standing here looking at that chart. I am only moved to realise that men will volunteer for such impossible missions. ” The mood passed on. “Things have prospered since then. We have perfected a midget submarine which will, with luck, be able to penetrate the net defences and get right under the beast before releasing its saddle charges. We will be sending several such midgets, and I have no doubt from what I have seen of their crews, that some will be successful. Just a few months is all we need. Put her out of action, and Scharnhost will have to come out to make a play for the Russian convoys. And when that happens, gentlemen, our forces will no longer be split into fruitless search parties. We will catch her and put her down, and release our ships in readiness for invasion.”
Drummond said, “I don’t quite see where we come in, sir?”
“You will.” Brooks watched him through his smoke. “Your ‘catch’ has given me a headache, but in the end it may save us lives and valuable time.” He nodded to a sad-faced staff officer. “Show him.”
The man lifted a long pointer and laid it on the top of the chart.
Brooks said gravely, “Tirpitz is up there. To have a snowball’s chance in hell of crippling her, making her a stationary target for the R.A.F. to bash at leisure, our midget submarines must have complete freedom to approach.”
He nodded again and the pointer moved down very slightly.
“There, in that adjoining fjord, is the German experimental base for underwater weapons. These small submarines, human torpedoes, call them what you will, are being assembled and tested round the clock. The fact that you have discovered how near to perfection they may be is unsettling. Worse, any attempt by our midgets to slip through Tirpitz ‘s defences could be foiled by the enemy’s own exercises in the area. Our boats will have to be towed by conventional submarines almost to the threshhold, so to speak. Passage crews will have to be exchanged for the ones who are going to make the attack, and all that on the surface, within range of this damned base.”
Beaumont said, “I suppose air attack is out of the question?”
“Yes. They’re not much of a target, you see.” He looked at Drummond. “Well?”
“I can see two problems, sir. One, for any proposed. underwater attack on Tirpitz, as you have just explained. And secondly, if and when we begin an invasion of Europe, these small subs could play havoc with our heavy landing ships, floating docks and the like.” He bit his lip and returned the admiral’s unwinking stare. “As a destroyer man, I’d say a surface attack into the fjord is the only choice.” He hesitated, waiting for a sign. “Or call off the British midgets’ attack.”
“I see.” Brooks took out another cigarette and waited for a light. “And you Captain Beaumont?”
I agree, sir. Like the attack on Narvik, We did it then. We can do it again.”
“That was at the beginning.” Brooks spoke dryly. “The Germans have increased their vigilance since then.”
“Perhaps they are too confident, sir.” Drummond stepped forward, his eyes moving along the coastline. “After all, we would hardly expect a surface attack in the Clyde! It would be madness, of course, but any determined commander could still do one hell of a lot of damage.”
Brooks smiled. “Another Narvik, eh? Quite apart from the damage you might do, it would work wonders for morale.”
Beaumont said, “Am I being offered this mission?” He sounded strange. As if he were holding his breath.
“I have to visit the War Room.” Brooks glanced at a clock. “I must make reports to superiors like everyone else. But remember, not a living soul must learn a word of this. I have passed information for press release that our surface vessels sunk or severely damaged a U-boat near Biscay. That will keep the enemy from knowing we have actually captured one of his midget subs intact. If he knew that, you’d have about as much chance of a surprise attack as a nun would have of saving her honour in the Royal Marine Barracks.”
Drummond asked, “Won’t the Spanish government complain about our being so close to their waters, sir?”