Kirov Saga: Hinge Of Fate: Altered States Volume III (Kirov Series) (23 page)

So he had only the few planes he
could launch from his capital ships for eyes, and no radar, yet he knew one
thing—the British would come to him. He did not have to worry about finding
them. The Royal Navy would act with the same confidence and determination that
it had demonstrated earlier, only this time they had not truly taken the full
measure of their adversary. The French fleet was fully capable of defending
itself, and posed a far greater challenge than Vice Admiral Cunningham
believed.

It had once been called the
Force
de Raid
, based on the Atlantic with the mission of challenging any German
ships that might threaten French territory. The officers and sailors were proud
of both their country and their mission, and though they did not have the long
years of experience of the Royal Navy, they had determined to fight as best
they could.

Richelieu
alone would have
posed a grave threat at sea, given her speed, heavy armor, and an escort of
fast modern cruisers and destroyers to sail with her. If the two British
battleships could catch her, the issue would have been decided their way,
though not without risk of sustaining damage in the battle. But
Richelieu
was not alone. The ship the French had built to answer Washington Naval Treaty
violations by Germany was with her, the true heavyweight of the fleet,
battleship
Normandie
.

Inspired by the design of
Richelieu
,
the
Normandie
had the same heavy protection, including 320mm belt armor
and 170mm on the decks, which was 6.7 inches at its thickest point. Where
Richelieu
had two quadruple 15-inch gun turrets mounted forward,
Normandie
had
this exact same armament, and then a third quadruple turret mounted aft. Pound
for pound, her broadside of twelve 15-inch barrels had a throw weight that would
match designs built later in the war like the American
Montana
and
Iowa
class battleships, fully a third more powerful than either
Barham
or
Resolution
.
Together these two ships would outgun the British with twenty 15-inch barrels
to sixteen. And while the British gun turrets had good protection with 330mm
face armor (13 inches), the French ships had at least 430mm, of good face
armor. Their sides and roofs were also better protected, so with the business
end of the battleships, the guns, the French had a clear advantage.

Normandie
had to have
special docks at Brest built for her, and when completed she truly lived up to
the name Dumas had used to describe her, a “super battleship” capable of
meeting and defeating any other ship on earth. Yet the ship was raw and
untested. Her guns and fittings were only recently installed, and the magazine
was half empty when she fled her homeland for African ports. Work crews still
roved her labyrinthine corridors and inner decks, tightening fittings, and laying
cable and wire to get her internal communications in working order.

Her commanding officer, Admiral Jean
Laborde, was a disciplined and loyal man, though he had no great love for his
superior, Admiral Darlan. His animosity towards De Gaulle and the British was
even greater, and as the newly appointed commander of the French High Seas
Fleet, he was determined to make them pay for the insult and treachery they had
demonstrated in attacking Admiral Gensoul’s Squadron. Laborde was the fighting
Admiral, Plancon his nominal equal as the authority commanding naval operations
in French West Africa, and together they would stand on the bridge of
Normandie
and lead the fleet to battle.

A man of 62 years, Laborde still
exhibited a youthful aspect and had much physical energy. He was, in fact, in
the prime of his life at that age, and destined to live to the venerable age of
99 years—if he could survive the battle he so eagerly sought here with the
Royal Navy this day. His ships were untested, their crews unbled, and they were
pitted against both veteran ships and crews. It would be the face off of the
old well tried ships and guns of the British, which had first faced battle in
WWI, against a new navy that had been built to face the challenges of this new
age.

And it was about to begin.

Chapter 21

“Well
gentlemen,” said Vice
Admiral John Cunningham, “it appears we have a battle on our hands.” He was one
of two Admirals bearing that name, and framing British operations in the Med
like a pair of strong bookends. His namesake, Admiral Andrew Browne Cunningham,
known as “ABC” in the officer corps, was commanding operations in the Eastern Mediterranean.

A navigator by training, John
Cunningham had served in the Battlecruiser Squadron aboard both
Renown
and
Hood
in that capacity, and went on to become commander of the Fleet
Navigator School. So he could read a map and compass, and knew the position
noted in the signal he just received was very close to his present location.
But he was no stranger to battle. Before moving up in the ranks he had
commanded the same ship he was on at that moment, HMS
Resolution
, and
was glad to be back aboard with his feet planted firmly on the rolling metal
decks of a good battleship.

He looked over his shoulder,
seeing the distant silhouette of the aircraft carrier
Glorious
, which he
had ordered to fall off and maneuver out of the battle zone. Vice Admiral
Cunningham’s fate had been strangely entwined with that ship, and the man that
now commanded the carrier, Captain Christopher Wells. It was Wells who had sent
that message into his hands as Cunningham led the cruiser
Devonshire
south in the evacuation of Norway:
“W/T from Glorious
– Most Immediate - Two battlecruisers, bearing 308° - 15 miles, course 030.”

The two
battlecruisers then had been the German ships
Scharnhorst
and
Gneisenau
,
intent on making a fiery end to the hapless carrier. At that time,
Devonshire
had been charged with the mission to safely transport King Haakon and the
Norwegian Royal Family, and a considerable store of gold bullion as well.
Cunningham knew the message would become troublesome, because he also knew he
could not answer that plaintive call for help. He had every copy collected, and
took charge of the ship’s log books, discretely, and he was very lucky that
Glorious
had somehow managed to escape on her own.

Now he
had just been handed another message that was eerily similar—again from Wells
aboard HMS
Glorious
:
“W/T from Glorious – Most Immediate – Air search
confirms two battleships, two cruisers, four destroyers, Bearing 015° - 20
miles, course 280.”

Two
battleships, thought Cunningham, and well attended, even as I am here. He noted
his old command, HMS
Devonshire
was in the van, followed by the
Cumberland
.
The cruisers
Australia
and
Delhi
had been detached to keep watch
on the troop convoy far to the south, but he also had five destroyers in hand,
Faulknor,
Foresight, Forester, Fortun
e and
Fury
. So it was to be an even
match, ship to ship, and he had every hope he would come off the better.

“Ahead
two thirds and come to 310. Flag Officer will signal all ships to follow.”

“Aye
sir, ahead two-thirds and coming to 310.”

“Signal
all destroyers to take position ahead and prepare for torpedo runs.”

Cunningham
was going to take his squadron northwest, emerging from behind the long isthmus
of Dakar and hope to catch his enemy on their present course, and by so doing
cross their T. Unfortunately, that would not really matter much to the French.
Their bigger ships were front heavy with firepower, with sixteen 15-inch guns
that would have good forward arcs of fire. Their ships were built to hunt and
chase down ships like the
Graf Spee
and
Admiral Scheer
, and to be
able to bring tremendous fire power on them even as they pursued.

With
two twin turrets forward, and two more aft on each of the British battleships,
the French would outgun the British two to one in any nose to nose face off. So
Cunningham knew he had to show the French his broadside, offering them the big
silhouettes of his battleships in order to even up the gun duel, and turning
broadside the French would only get stronger when the after quadruple turret on
Normandie
could be brought into action.

In
ordering ahead two thirds, Cunningham’s squadron would make only 18 knots. Full
out, his battleships could give him another six knots, but he was soon to learn
that the younger legs of his adversary would also pose a great challenge. The
French had yet another advantage in the action that was now unfolding—speed.
Cunningham was waddling up at 18 knots, like a proper English gentleman with
his walking stick or cane, intending to give his foe a good poke in the belly
when he got in range. For their part, every ship in the French squadron could
make 30 knots or better. Led by
Le Fantasque
and her sister
Le
Terrible,
their large destroyers,
,
could run at an astounding top
speed of 45 knots, and cruise easily at 40 knots for sustained periods with
moderate fuel expenditure. They were, in fact, the fastest destroyers ever
built in any era, and at 434 feet they were a hundred feet longer than the
British destroyers, and better armed.

The
large destroyer
L’Audacieux
was well named that day, leading on the
right flank of the French formation. It began to put on speed, making a bold
charge as the British formation came into sight. In its wake came the light
cruiser
George Leygues
followed by
Montcalm
, fast capable ships
at a little over 9100 tons full load, with three triple turrets housing 6-inch
guns. They had sighted the oncoming British destroyers, which had raced up at
their best speed, and a fast paced gun and torpedo duel ensued, with the
experience and skill of the British destroyer captains really shining.

The British
fired their first torpedoes directly into the intended paths of the oncoming
French ships, and a 21 inch lance off the destroyer
Fury
struck
George
Leygues
full on her port side as it swerved in an unsuccessful attempt to
dodge the deadly spread. Then the British destroyers wheeled to port, running
parallel to the French as they continued to launch torpedoes, their deck guns
blazing away at the fast French destroyer in the lead.

George
Leygues
continued on for some time, her
gun crews bravely firing until the list due to the flooding below the waterline
became impossible to counterbalance. The light cruiser made a vain attempt to
turn about, but foundered, keeling over to port and slowly sinking as the crews
scrambled to abandon ship.

Hit by
three 4.7 inch rounds with a fire near her forward turret,
L’Audacieux
swerved hard to starboard to avoid yet another run of torpedoes off the British
destroyer
Fortune
, and put on amazing speed as one threatened her from
behind, literally leaving the torpedo in her wake. The turn send her racing
right across the bow of the oncoming French battleships where she sought to
find and join the three other French destroyers that had led in that main
column.

The
last ship from the French left, the light cruiser
Montcalm
, ran on past
the foundering wreck of
George Leygues
and right into the skilled 8-inch
gunfire of the British heavy cruisers.
Devonshire
and
Cumberland
were out in front, and ready for action when they saw Blue Five raised by HMS
Resolution
,
the Squadron Flagship, well behind them.
Montcalm
bravely ran due west
for a time, trading salvos with the bigger cruisers until two good hits
convinced her captain that he was overmatched and outgunned. The light cruiser
made a hard turn to starboard, coming around to turn north and cross the bow of
the French battleships just as
L’Audacieux
had done. Her fires being too
serious, and threatening a forward magazine, the ship then turned northeast and
was out of the fight.

The
opening rounds had gone to the far more experienced and capable seamanship and
gunnery of the Royal Navy, but the bell was now ringing for the main event.

Captain
Marzin aboard the battleship
Richelieu
shook his head as he watched the
demise of the screening forces to his left. As
Montcalm
scurried across
his bow and turned away, he decided it was time to roll up his sleeves and
enter the fray. He had spotted the tall, proud mainmasts of the two British
battleships, still steaming almost due north, and he knew he had the speed to
cross their T by turning due west. The range was over 18,000 meters, but the
two heavy cruisers that had bullied the light cruiser
Montcalm
were much
closer. He decided to see if they wanted to stay in the fight when faced with a
real adversary, and ordered his big forward turrets to train on the
Cumberland
.

The
15-in guns of the
Richelieu
blasted away, the whole of her main battery
deployed forward on those two quadruple turrets. The first rounds were over,
but surprisingly tight in their pattern of fall. With a projectile weight of
just under 2000 pounds, only the Italian 15-inch guns had more muzzle velocity,
though their shell casings were not as reliable as the French rounds, and the
powder bags were inconsistently packed. The British 15-inch/42 caliber guns on
Resolution
and
Barham
were proven designs in two wars, but had a much lower muzzle
velocity and range than the guns on
Richelieu
. All told, the French
would claim they had the best 15-inch gun then in service, and few might have
argued with that when they saw the result of the third salvo that found the
Cumberland
,
straddling her severely with one of the four rounds striking home amidships in
a thundering roar.