Kirov Saga: Hinge Of Fate: Altered States Volume III (Kirov Series) (26 page)

“That
is regrettably true, sir,” said Brind.

“And
look here—this late directive from the Admiralty expresses dissatisfaction that
our Denmark Strait patrols are to be handed over to untried elements of the
Russian Navy—that is exactly what it says here.” He handed Brind the note. “Has
anyone informed their Lordships that those untried elements were largely
responsible for turning back the German Operation Valkyrie?”

Brind
gave him a long look. “You’ve seen this Russian ship up close, Admiral. What do
you think?”

Tovey
raised an eyebrow. “A marvelous vessel, to be sure. The ship has weapons and
technology aboard that would make you blush with embarrassment, Daddy.” Tovey
knew he had to be very discrete here, as much as he might want to confide in
Brind. For the moment, however, he had sent a quiet message to Alan Turing at
BP instructing him to secure the contents of the
Geronimo
files, as they
were now being called, and await further notice, and to say nothing whatsoever
about any of it until he had heard directly from Tovey.

The
Admiral knew he was now sailing in dangerous waters, concealing from his own
government, and the Admiralty itself, the true nature of the Russian ship, and
the evidence that had apparently already been gathered about it by the Navy… in
another world, another time line! It was something he still struggled to admit
to himself in his own mind, and he knew that he could not hope to ever breathe
a word of what he knew to men like the First Sea Lord, Dudley Pound. Not
knowing what to do about it, he opted for secrecy as the Russians had urged
him, but there was a lonesome edge to that watch, like a man standing alone on the
last wall, with the awful weight and responsibility for the fate of his nation
now resting squarely on his shoulders.

“The
Russians can hold their own in the Denmark Strait. I’m convinced of that, and
will make every effort to convince the Admiralty as well. We’ll watch the
passages east of Iceland, and see that Force H at Gibraltar has what it needs
to get back up on its feet.”

“There
was more in the basket than Cunningham took with him,” said Brind. “If
Rodney
and
Nelson
had been along, I wonder if the French would have been willing
to lock horns with us.”

“Indeed,
but they were well east covering that supply run out to Malta. I’m afraid that
is an operation we will have to repeat time and again, and at some risk.”

“The
Italians haven’t had much stomach for a fight,” said Brind.

“They
may take heart after seeing what the French just accomplished,” Tovey
admonished. “Now… What to do with the forces allocated to Menace?
Resolution
will have to be brought home.”

“Of
course, sir.” Brind was looking over the list of those ships. “
Cumberland
took a knock as well, sir. She’s missing a couple teeth with the loss of Y
turret.”

“Then
get her to Rosythe. We’ll leave
Australia
and
Delhi
at Freetown
in her place. The other cruisers and the F-Class destroyers should return to
Force H. What about the ground element? We’ve got a Royal Marine brigade and
all of De Gaulle’s force at Freetown now.”

“Admiral
Keyes seems ready to have another go,” said Brind, referring to the former
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes, who had come out of retirement to take an
appointment as the Director of Combined Operations—the man who had been
responsible for the overall planning for Operation Menace.

“So he
wants to take another swing, does he? Well he had best get his stumps, bails
and creases in order when he draws up the field plan next time around.” Tovey
was referring to the layout of a cricket field, thinking the whole operation
was nothing more than a proverbial ‘sticky wicket,’ when the ball might take an
unaccountable bounce on wet ground.

“The
Prime Minister suggested a coup de main against Casablanca,” said Brind. “Keyes
is all gung ho for the venture. I read the report this morning, sir. Here are
his exact words.” Brind lifted a page from the pile on his desk and read: “If
the enterprise is confided to us we will get on with it full blast. If I have
the responsibility, you may be certain that it will be planned to the last
detail, and you will not hear anything about difficulties, hazards, and
potential dangers.”

Tovey
smiled. “Confidence is one thing, Daddy, but reckless abandon quite another. We
shall have to take the full measure of difficulties, hazards and potential
dangers every step of the way now. We have no leeway for further mistakes.”

“Well Keyes
says he has over 2500 first class men down at Freetown now, led by excellent
officers spoiling to fight. De Gaulle is stuck there with his troops as well
and the two forces won’t like sharing billets there for very long.”

“They need
not worry on that account,” said Tovey. “I have no doubt the Germans will find
work for them very soon. This talk of an operation against Gibraltar freezes my
blood. I’m going over to Bletchley Park to see about the intelligence
personally, but in the meantime Force H is light two battleships. What can we
possibly send them, Brind?”

“A good
question, sir. The entire battlecruiser squadron is on crutches, and we won’t
get
Hood
back until next year at this rate.
Renown
and
Repulse
are somewhat better off, but will still need long weeks in the shipyards.”

“So
that leaves us with only
Invincible, King George V
and
Prince of
Wales
here,” said Tovey. “Somerville will just have to get on with what he
has:
Valiant, Nelson
and
Rodney
. As for Cunningham at Alexandria,
he still has
Malaya, Warspite
and
Queen Elizabeth.
We’re
stretched thinner now than ever, unless we pull
Revenge
and
Ramillies
off convoy escort duty, and I see no alternative to that now.”

“Agreed,
sir. Shall I cut the orders?

“Make
it so.”

“Where
to you want the old girls, Admiral?”

“Bring
them home. If nothing else they can watch the waters east of the Faeroe
Islands. That leaves us only the Iceland passage to worry about.” Tovey sighed,
feeling very weary, but knowing he had yet another long flight to London ahead
of him. “I’m off to Bletchley Park, and I shall meet up with fleet units by
jumping a destroyer at Holyhead as usual.”

Tovey
had every reason to be worried about Gibraltar. All through the Kingdom the
grey heads were coming to the conclusion that the Rock was in a very precarious
situation now. No formal announcement of Spanish cooperation with Germany had
been made, but rumors were circulating at Whitehall, and bits and pieces of
intelligence were beginning to paint a grim picture. German units were drilling
on the Spanish Frontier, and undercover men in Spain had observed road clearing
operations and repair work being done on bridges and causeways.

Churchill
had been casting about for some remedy should the base be lost. Some had
suggested an operation against Oran or Casablanca. Oran was discarded as being
too vulnerable and with an unsuitable harbor. Casablanca was already
considered, as Tovey knew, but was also deemed too vulnerable to enemy air
attack, and requiring too much in the way of ground forces to defend against
any concerted effort pushed down from Spanish Morocco. The Atlantic islands
also glittered now as potential wergild should Spain turn her back on Britain.
Could the islands be seized without creating a diplomatic mess with Portugal,
or forcing Franco’s hand? Churchill expressed his attitude very simply one day,
his pragmatic logic cutting through the problem easily enough.

“All my
reflections about the danger of our ships lying under Spanish howitzers in
Gibraltar leads me continually to the Azores,” he had written to Whitehall. “Must
we always wait until a disaster has occurred? I do not think it follows that
our occupation temporarily, and to forestall the enemy use of the Azores, would
necessarily precipitate German intervention. Moreover, once we have an
alternative base to Gibraltar, how much do we care whether the Peninsula is
overrun or not? I am increasingly attracted by the idea of simply taking the
Azores one fine morning out of the blue, and explaining everything to Portugal
after.”

When
Tovey arrived in London the following day, a plan to do exactly what Churchill
was proposing materialized out of the blue and landed in his briefcase. It had
been in the works for some time under the code name “Accordion,” but for
security reasons it had recently been renamed “Alloy.” Three battalions under
Brigadier General Morford had been detailed to seize the Azores, and another
two battalions under Brigadier General Campbell would occupy the Cape Verde
Islands under code name “Shrapnel.”

As for
the valuable Canary Islands, they were seen as a possible prime target of the
enemy, and also as the island group that might offer Britain the most easily
defended port facilities should they lose Gibraltar. A plan was also mounted
here under the codename “Chutney,” but it was soon changed to “Puma,” and
Churchill commented that “one wanted the biggest possible cat to catch a
canary.”

Tovey
would now find out exactly how the cricket field he would have to play upon
might soon look. Planners for these operations, most notably Admiral Sir Roger
Keyes, were eager to begin. “Procrastination is the thief of time,” said Keyes,
“and time is half a victory, which, being lost, is irrevocable.” Tovey was
presented with a list of merchant ships, oilers and troop liners available, and
asked to provide two aircraft carriers, two battleships, two heavy cruisers and
at least eighteen destroyers.

He took
the news like a bleeding man being asked to donate blood, but in the end he
agreed that
Ramillies
and
Revenge
could be pulled off convoy duty
as he had already decided. He could either assign
Ark Royal
and
Illustrious
to the operation, or bring
Furious
out of her berth at the Clyde, and
pull the enterprising Captain Wells and HMS
Glorious
from their present
duty. In the end this was what he decided to do, still wanting carriers
available for the watch on northern seas. Admiral Pound agreed, and Tovey was
off to Bletchley Park, his briefcase just a little fatter with these reports and
plans, and his resources just a little thinner.

It
wasn’t until his car pulled up at the estate, and he saw Alan Turing fiddling
with his bicycle gears, that he allowed himself to smile. This time he was the
one about to spring the big news on the intelligence master. Let’s see if
Turing can decipher this business about the Russian ship when I tell him what I
know now, thought Tovey.

“Good
to see you again, Admiral, though I wish the news in the intelligence circuits
wasn’t so gloomy.”

“I can
certainly agree with that,” said Tovey. “Anything more on the German buildup in
Southern France?”

“We’re
getting some bits and pieces decoded. The two motorized divisions we’ve
identified are now on standby notice, and this might interest you, sir, the
Germans have moved one of their big ships from the eastern Baltic to Kiel.”

“The
Hindenburg?”

“I’m
afraid so. The ship has apparently just completed trials. We’ve decoded an
order indicating the Germans are bringing their fleet to a higher level of
readiness again.
Graf Zeppelin
has moved to an anchorage off Oslo, and a
few of their newer ships were assigned to that task force.”

“Is the
Admiralty aware of this?”

“They
will be shortly, sir. I believe the dispatches went out this morning, but you
have it right from the horse’s mouth now.” Turing smiled.

“I must
say it’s the last thing I’d care to hear about. I’ve just come from a meeting
with Admirals Pound and Keyes. They seem to be intent on teeing up an operation
against the Atlantic islands. It’s all this worry over Franco, Spanish
neutrality and Gibraltar.”

“Those
worries may be well founded, sir.” Turing had no comfort for Tovey this day.
“We have now identified the code word for a planned German attack against
Gibraltar as Operation Felix.”

“Any
indication as to timing?”

“We’re
watching, but the general consensus is that they might not go forward with such
a plan until the next favorable moon. That could be any day now, as the moon is
waning and will be dark on the 31st. If nothing develops, then the next window
would be September 30th to October 3.”

“Let us
hope nothing does develop in the short run,” said Tovey. “We’re playing for as
much time as we can get now, what with so many ships laid up for repairs.”

“I saw
the reports on Operation Menace, sir. Not very encouraging.”

“Indeed,
well they’ve just handed me another briefcase full of the same sort.
Coincidentally, those plans call for operations during that same period, September
30th as the moon wanes to black. You never heard that from me, Mister Turing.”

“Of
course, sir.”

Tovey
seemed to linger on an inner thought for a moment. Then he fixed Turing with a
steady eye. “What I am now about to discuss will fall firmly within that same
category. In fact, you will be the first and only person privy to the matter.”