Authors: John Schettler
“Yet we
are pulling more troops out of Africa than we send there,” said Adler.
“That
will change. Hitler has been focused on Moscow, but I am told that 10th Panzer was
refitted with new tanks for Rommel, and 5th Panzer already has desert Camo
scheme painted on the tanks. Our desert loving General will finally get
something to try and match those new British tanks. A pity, our strategy in the
Mediterranean was shattered by all these recent setbacks, both for Rommel, and
now for us. We’re on the defensive there now. The war in Russia is all Hitler
can think about.”
“We’ll
change that sir,” said Adler optimistically. “Once I close the British convoy
routes to Africa, Rommel will be in a much better position.”
“Precisely,”
said Raeder. “And to aid that cause, I have a few tricks up my sleeve. We
captured a French carrier in the docks, and nearly complete, the
Joffre
.
In another month or so, we will christen it the
Prince Heinrich.
And the
captured French cruiser
DeGrasse
is being converted to a carrier, and
renamed the
Hanover
. It won’t be much, but together with the
Goeben
,
those ships will allow you to put 76 aircraft at sea! Up north, we are also
converting the
Seydlitz
to a light carrier to join
Peter Strasser
.
That will put 62 planes at sea to operate with Topp’s squadron.”
“Excellent,”
said Adler. “When will we have them ready?”
“Soon
enough. First we must see to the battleships. Get the fleet ready to move.”
“We
will work day and night,” said Adler.
“Good.
Get the job done, and then wait for my orders to move south to Gibraltar. We
will fight a new kind of naval war now. Necessity forces us to resume a raiding
strategy. No more massive fleet actions where we risk everything at once, unless
the situation dictates that would be best. There is also a question of fuel
here. Stocks are not as plentiful as you might think. The Italians have been
begging us for oil, and taking out the entire fleet is very costly in that
regard.”
“Then
how will we fight, sir?”
“A new
strategy,” said Raeder. “The one arm of the navy that has been given a loose
budget is the U-boat construction program. Doenitz is getting anything he
wants. So our strategy now is to augment and support the effort of his
wolfpacks. As much as I had hoped otherwise, I realize now that they will sink
far more enemy ships than our battleships. Things have changed, Adler, and we
must change with them. Even so, once you move to Casablanca and join the
French fleet, the British will have a great deal of trouble matching us pound
for pound. Our mission there is twofold. We pose a dangerous threat to the
British convoys to Egypt, and we also defend the French colonies in West Africa
from allied invasion. You will learn more later, but for now… Let us hope
Hitler doesn’t order us to stand down the whole goddamned fleet, and use the
steel to build more U-Boats for Doenitz.”
“Agreed,
sir.”
“Very
well,” said Raeder. “I will get you all the support I can. Now let us go and
have a close look at the repairs. I’m told Axel Faust insisted on getting that
gun in Anton turret back into proper position before you made port.”
“He
did, sir. He said he would not sail home with his middle finger in the air.”
Adler smiled. “A good man, that one.”
All
this sounded very exciting to Adler, whose youth and inexperience only saw him
eager to redress the failures of the fleet thus far in the war. Raeder,
however, was a realist, in spite of his evolving strategy in placing more
importance on taking air power to sea. Yet there were considerations involved
in that which might never enter Adler’s mind, he thought.
How do
we keep those carriers operational at sea over any length of time? Yes, we have
been running exercises in underway replenishment, but the movement of aviation
fuel in any quantities is something we have never done before. We do not have a
ready fleet of merchant ships and enough tankers for the job, and so I will
have to turn to the French for that. Coordinating these operations could also
be very difficult.
And
what about trained carrier pilots for all these grand little projects I have
secreted on the docks in France? We just lost most of the air wing on
Graf
Zeppelin
. It will be months before I can replace those pilots, and, when we
do start operations, we will take even more losses. Inexperienced men will
crash on takeoff or landing. Some may even get lost at sea, as we have no real
experience in carrier operations out in the Atlantic. We could easily expect to
turn over the entire air wing on a carrier in six months time, and certainly in
any given year, assuming the ship survives even that long. Then there are those
naval rockets that go after planes as well!
Losses
will be inevitable, he knew. So building the ships is only half the problem.
Supporting them at sea with fuel, fresh planes, and trained pilots is the rest
of the work. We have a great deal to learn, and something tells me I will put
all this effort into our naval air program, and find it good for only one throw
of the dice when it comes to real operations.
There
was one other ship that he failed to mention to Adler,
Hindenburg
’s
brother ship, the
Brandenburg
, cancelled by Hitler many months ago. The
hull was intact, and a good portion of the superstructure. One of the forward
turrets was ready, and the guns had been machined. All of her engines and most underdeck
work was complete, except for large segments of the aft section, as the crews
had been working bow to stern. That gave Raeder an idea, fueled by intelligence
the Japanese were converting one of their super battleship projects into a
massive heavy carrier.
He went
to the drawing board with the engineers in secret, thinking how he might convert
Brandenburg
into a hybrid battle carrier. If they used those empty
underdeck sections aft for a maintenance deck, and then simply cleared
everything aft of the conning tower… There is my fleet replenishment ship, he
thought with some excitement!
Hindenburg
has an at sea duration of 20,000 miles. That’s room for a
lot of fuel. If we convert some of those fuel bunkers for aviation fuel, and
store it below the water line with a good armored deck above it, than all we
need is pumps to fuel the planes on that maintenance deck. That ship could
replenish all the other smaller carriers, and still have plenty of fuel left
over for its own operations. It was a daring idea, and he ordered plans drawn
up, saying nothing to anyone about it until they were complete. Crews were
already working day and night, for it was his hope that he could surprise
Hitler by April with a very nice birthday present.
He
sighed. Perhaps I am chasing shadows with these carrier projects. It may be
that all we can do is get one or two operational and use them as a scouting and
small air support asset for raiding sorties. The
Goeben
performed very
well in that role. That may be a much more useful ship than a bigger carrier
like
Graf Zeppelin
. When one of those damn rockets can wipe out years of
work in a few seconds, it gives me pause… All the more reason to put that armor
that is already on the Brandenburg to good use. Losing
Graf Zeppelin
was
a very hard blow, but
Brandenburg
would be a much tougher nut to crack. Now
I must set my mind on putting what is left of the fleet to some good use…
Before I lose those ships too.
Admiral
Volsky was walking quietly along the shoreline, watching
the moon that had so confounded him earlier, his hand in his pocket, thinking
of all that had happened. What was this thing Fedorov had given him? It was a
very strange key, but where did he get it? Why was it so important that he deliver
it to the British Admiral? None of this made any sense to him, and Fedorov had
no time to explain in detail, but he was wise enough to do whatever he could in
any case.
His
first decision had been to get to a radio and send a coded message to the
British. He knew exactly what he could do, using the very same protocol that
Fedorov had given him, and he was much gratified when the response came back.
After an awkward moment, arranging a translator, he managed to convey his
wishes, and make a request for British support.
Thankfully,
if Karpov still had any suspicions about him, he did not seem overly concerned.
Once the Captain got his hands on
Kirov
, he left Kola Bay soon after,
and that was that. And that was quite enough. The Admiral spent hours and
hours, walking along the familiar shore that now seemed so desolate and foreign
to him. Home was not what it once was, and now he fought with the sadness of
knowing he might never see the world he grew up in again. Everyone he knew
there, his family, his dear wife, was gone... not even born yet!
He
realized that he was lost, marooned, adrift here in another time, and now
bereft of his command. All of his authority, the long career that stretched
back over 40 years behind him, now counted for nothing. He was a stranger in
this strange new world, and did not quite know what to make of himself. His
mind was even considering what might happen on the day he was born, less than
twenty years from now. Fedorov had filled his mind with so many things, that he
spent long hours thinking about them, trying to sort everything through and
come to grips with it all.
So
there he was, a beached whale, and left to his own devices. He commiserated
with Admiral Golovko, assisting him with fleet planning to support the land
battle, still amazed to realized just where and when he was—1941! It was all he
could do to keep himself busy for a few days, while he set his mind on the
mission he needed to perform.
Fedorov’s
hunch soon proved accurate when he was approached by a sailor, a man dressed in
British uniform, and speaking Russian. “Admiral, sir, would you be so kind as
to follow me? Commander Bone wishes to speak with you.”
That
was a name Fedorov had also given him, and so Volsky followed, the sallow light
fading with the day stretched out to late evening. The man found a truck, and
they soon trundled off in a direction Volsky knew well enough, further up the
bay to a place called Polyarny. There, at Catherine’s Harbor, there would one
day be a big naval base for his Northern Fleet. It was much less developed now,
but he was not surprised to find a pair of British submarines waiting for them,
and he was soon ushered aboard one such boat, the
Tigris
, a new T-Class
sub laid down just before the war in 1938. A very powerful boat, she had eight
tubes forward, and three more aft, giving her quite a sting when lined up on a
potential target. The boat would come to be much feared by the enemy, getting
eleven kills in her many patrols, for 38,500 tons, and a DSO for Bone along the
way
“Greetings
Admiral,” Lt. Commander Howard Bone was a short, round faced man, and he had
already completed nine war patrols, with a number of successful merchant ship
sinkings to his credit. Now, his tenth patrol was to be a special delivery. He
was to ferry this Admiral safely to a British cruiser in the Norwegian Sea. It
was just another gift from the Russians, he thought, who had proudly presented
a reindeer doe to the British during the welcoming ceremony when the two subs
arrived. His sister boat,
Trident
, got the reindeer, and he got the
Admiral, he thought with a wry grin. Though this one looks like he eats a good
deal more than that doe.
The
sailor translated, and Volsky had a quiet chat with the man, grateful to find
support here, and yet feeling very strange as he boarded the submarine. It
seemed to stir up an old memory, though he could not quite put his finger on
the time and place. While the Admiral had spent many days on the sea over the
years, he never much liked the idea of riding beneath it in a submarine.
Somehow, he saw himself on one in his mind’s eye, and with Fedorov, though he
knew that it must have been a dream.
Yet the
time he spent on that sub seemed like a chisel, slowly chipping away at
something in his mind, and giving it shape and form, though he could not quite
discern what it was. He had the strangest feeling that he knew much more about
all the things Fedorov had told him, all the things he had supposedly lived out
himself, though he could not see any way that could be possible.
The
journey was quiet, as Commander Bone had been instructed by Tovey to sail with
the utmost stealth and caution, and in no way endanger the Admiral. So combat
was strictly forbidden until the rendezvous was made, and Volsky safely
transferred to the light cruiser
Nigeria
, the flagship of Rear Admiral
Vian’s Force K cruiser squadron operating off the Norwegian coast. In taking on
this special passenger, Vian would miss his chance to get the German gunnery
training ship
Bremse
, and a pair of transports carrying 1500 troops of
the German 6th Mountain Division, for he was also ordered to proceed to Scapa
Flow with the utmost speed.
It was
there that Volsky would meet the British Admiral Tovey for the very first time,
though Fedorov would tell him otherwise. Yet Volsky also knew that he was
supposed to be well acquainted with this man, sailing and fighting by his side,
both in the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic. When he finally set eyes
on him in Tovey’s headquarters at Scapa Flow, Volsky passed yet another moment
of
Déjà vu
, thinking that Fedorov had been correct all along, and that
he surely knew this man. Tovey’s tall, trim form, thin nose, narrow eyes, and
ready smile seemed very familiar to him, and yet he remained clueless of all
their supposed prior conspiracy.
The two
men spoke through a translator, a man well vetted by Tovey, and sworn to
complete secrecy in all matters, at forfeit of his own life should he ever
reveal a word of what he heard in these meetings.
“Admiral
Volsky,” said Tovey, shaking the other man’s hand warmly. “I’m very glad to see
you again, and I trust the journey was not too uncomfortable. Submarines can be
very claustrophobic, and Vian’s cruisers a bit drafty, even though the real
cold has yet to set in up here.”
“I’m no
stranger to the cold,” said Volsky amiably, “though I must confess that I
remain a stranger to you, at least in my own mind. You tell me it is good to
see me again, though for the life of me, I cannot remember ever seeing you.”
That
puzzled Tovey for a moment, but he remembered all that Professor Dorland had
told him, and warned him of—that this man might not be the one he knew and
sailed with, which left him feeling a little sad, for he had come to know and
like the Russian Admiral very much.
“Don’t
feel awkward about that,” said Tovey. “I was once told, by you and your Mister
Fedorov, that I had met you both before, and I was much in the same place with
that as you are now. I couldn’t recall a wink of that, yet took it on faith,
and always did have a kind of inner hunch about it, some half formed
recollection. I’m told it was on a small island near Gibraltar, but here we
meet again, and whether or not it is the first time, I certainly hope it will
not be the last. And I shall have the distinct pleasure of getting to know you
all over again, for which I will always be truly grateful.”
A most
gracious an accommodating man, thought Volsky, smiling. And now he came to the
thought of why he was here. “As to our Mister Fedorov,” he said. “His own
memory was not blighted as mine seems to be. In fact, he spoke very highly of
you, though the fact you requested to speak with him did put him into some
jeopardy at the outset. You see, the ship and crew I led here is somewhat …
different from the one you may remember.”
“I understand,”
said Tovey. “At least I think I do. I’ve had it explained to me several times
by a very smart man, and then again by our Mister Turing, who took a whack at
it all himself when I briefed him. Yet all I can grasp of it is that this is a
kind of second coming for you and your ship, Admiral. Welcome back.”
“I’m
afraid it’s just me this time,” said Volsky, and he told Tovey all that had
happened concerning Karpov, his strange transformation, the letter from Moscow,
and the transfer of command of his ship.
“This
is most unfortunate,” said Tovey with a shake of his head. “I’m sure you must
feel the loss keenly, and the thought that Sergei Kirov authorized this whole
affair is most unseemly. Yet I can perhaps understand why he did so, given the
Germans are at his throat now. Then your Captain Karpov has command?”
“He
does, though he was not the man he should have been… I know this sounds insane,
but he was different.”
“I’ve
had that explained to me as well,” said Tovey. “The word used was
Doppelganger
,
double walker. I must say, from all I’ve heard of the first man, to think a
second is at large in the world gives me a shudder. You say he planned to sail
to the Pacific? I wonder why?”
“I can
answer that in one word,” said Volsky, “Japan.”
“I
suppose that fruit is ripening and ready to fall from the tree,” said Tovey.
“The Siberians and Japanese have been facing off for some time in the
Trans-Baikal region. Do you have any idea what this Captain of yours might be
planning?”
“Several,”
said Volsky, “and I’m afraid none of them are pleasant to contemplate. Admiral,
what you say of the Japanese is very true. They will surely enter the war soon,
most certainly by December of this year. I’m told that the Japanese control
territory that was once Siberian?”
“Yes, and
that goes back a good long way, and was laid at the feet of the very same
man—this Captain Karpov. It’s strange to think you were also involved in all of
that, and yet you say you have no recollection of anything. Welcome to the
club, Admiral. We’re two peas in the same pod now, as I’ve read reports by my
own hand that I had no recollection of whatsoever… except in these strange fits
that come and go. I was even told that I was also involved in that incident,
and this I do recall, as a very young man.”
Tovey
told Volsky of his service aboard
King Alfred
in the Pacific China
Station, and of that strange incident when a rogue ship re-ignited hostilities
between Imperial Russia and the Japanese Empire.
“I took
it upon myself to side with the Japanese in that event,” said Tovey. “In fact,
I believe I saw the very ship we’ve been discussing, under command of this same
man—Karpov. So now he sails east again, and that bodes no good.”
Now
Volsky lowered his voice, casting a look at the interpreter. “May I speak freely?”
“This
man is completely reliable,” said Tovey.
“Very
well… Japan has a plan to strike the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in
early December of this year. They will also strike at all your Pacific bases,
Hong Kong, Singapore, all of them. So I read a great deal in Karpov’s interest
in sailing east, particularly given his position in this Free Siberian State.”
“Which
is even more elevated now,” said Tovey. “Their former General Secretary,
Kolchak, was apparently assassinated last week. Karpov is top dog over there
now. Do you think he plans to intervene in this business the Japanese have
planned?”
“That
is very possible, perhaps inevitable given all I know of Karpov.”
“Yes,”
said Tovey, “and given all I have seen of the fighting power of your ship, I’d
say the Japanese are in for a most unhappy time. It’s quite possible that we
will get war breaking out in the far east the instant Karpov appears there,
which could be quite soon. If he’s taken the Arctic Sea route, it can be a bit
tricky with the ice, though the real cold has yet to set in.”
“He’ll
get through,” said Volsky. “Yes, and when he does get out east, there will
certainly be trouble. While I cannot say what he will do, it is likely he will
make threats, and then back them up with firepower, which you tell me you are
well acquainted with. This could pre-empt the Japanese attack, and possibly
even upset their entire war plan, which in turn affects the timing of the
American entry into this conflict.”
“Our
Mister Churchill won’t be happy to hear that,” said Tovey. “In fact, he’s
planning to meet with Mister Roosevelt in Argentia Bay. We were to ferry him
there, but I’ve convinced him we need every available ship to set a watch on
the Germans. You may have helped me lick them once or twice, Admiral, but the
German Navy is still a very serious threat. So that meeting was postponed, though
it will take place soon, and the Prime Minister has been convinced that he
might more easily fly to the meeting on one of our bombers.”
“A wise
choice,” said Volsky.
“Yes.
We can get him to Iceland in a Wellington easily enough, and from there down to
Halifax. In fact, if he takes off from Western Ireland he might make the flight
in one hop, but our preference is to have him take the journey in short steps,
so we can post fighter escorts along the way. This means I’ll have to assign a
few carriers along the Iceland Halifax route, and I’ll miss them. We need every
ship we can get, particularly since we no longer have your able ship and crew
at our side. And that said, we need the Americans. They’ve been cooperating
with us out west, and have just relieved our garrison on Iceland. But we’ll
need a little more from them than Lend Lease destroyers, and as soon as we can
get it.”