Kirov Saga: Hinge Of Fate: Altered States Volume III (Kirov Series) (30 page)

Raeder
eventually suggested the name
Hindenburg
would be more closely
associated with the modern era as Germany rose from the humiliation of WWI.
Hindenburg was the symbolic heart of Germany’s new rise to power and
Brandenburg the province surrounding Berlin itself, the heart of the nation.
Hitler fretted over the dark possibility that either ship might be sunk.

“That
name is associated with disaster,” he complained, referring to the terrible
loss of Zeppelin LZ 129. “And we have already had a ship by that name in the
first war.”

Raeder
shook his head, his demeanor calm and confident. “My Führer, we are not
building another airship here, but the greatest battleship on earth. SMS
Hindenburg
was the last battlecruiser to be built by the Imperial German Navy, and the
last to be sunk when the fleet was scuttled. Now let this new ship be the first
of this new era of German sea power,
Hindenburg
, rising from the ashes
like a phoenix, just as Germany rises again under your able leadership. It must
have this name! The symbolism is perfect.”

“And
what if the ship is lost like
Graf Spee?
What then?”

 Raeder
eventually convinced Hitler that this was a trivial concern, and one unlikely
to ever happen. We will build it so well that no British ship could ever stand
against it,” he crowed, and Hitler finally agreed.

The
massive ship was just over 911 feet long, 118 feet longer than
Bismarck
,
and much heavier at 62,600 long tons fully loaded, largely due to extra armor
and the weight of the bigger 16 inch gun turrets. Her secondary armament was
identical to that of
Bismarck
, with twelve 5.9 inch guns, sixteen 4.1
inch dual purpose guns and another sixteen 3.7 inch AA guns, and the ship could
work up to 30 knots, making it one of the fastest battleships in the world.

Raeder
had done much to try and make good on his boast that the
Hindenburg
would never be sunk. Her double bottomed hull was divided into 21 water tight
compartments, and an anti-torpedo bulkhead of Wotan Weich steel was added. Side
armor was originally proposed at 300mm, but increased to 360mm at its thickest
point, which was 40mm thicker than
Bismarck
. The turrets were protected
with 385mm, or 15.2 inches of steel, compared to 14 inches on
Bismarck
.
And
Hindenburg
was also better armored on the decks and bow to protect against
vertical shell falls, bombs, and splinter damage.

When
finally completed, the ship was not the 80,000 ton behemoth with 18 inch guns
that Hitler dreamed of, but a far more practical and efficient design, with a
perfect combination of speed, power and protection. Only one ship in the Royal
Navy could justifiably claim a slight advantage against the fearsome new ship,
and that was the G3 class wonder where Admiral Tovey set his flag on HMS
Invincible
.
The British ship was two knots faster, had 13mm more side armor, and one extra
16-inch gun, though
Hindenburg
had more extensive secondary batteries.
It was even money as to which ship might come away the better, and perhaps
would come down to seamanship and fate if the two ships ever met in combat.

Admiral
Gunther Lütjens was on the bridge of the new battleship in the pre-dawn hours
of September 10th, and a rising young protégé Kapitan Zur See Karl Adler was at
his side. Lütjens was a complex and conflicted man. On the one hand he was
proud to see the rising strength of the new German Navy, yet he also harbored
deep misgivings about its eventual fate, particularly over Germany’s lack of
adequate fuel oil to sustain operations. That prospect had brightened somewhat
when the Orenburg Federation under Ivan Volkov had joined the Axis powers.
Orenburg controlled the rich oil reserves of Baku and the Caspian region, but
there was still the problem of how to get the oil. Soviet Russia under Sergei
Kirov controlled all the railroads, and the neutral states in the Balkans and
Turkey all the major sea lanes and ports which might deliver that oil to Europe
and eventually Germany.

With
the Royal Navy prominently based in Alexandria, the Eastern Mediterranean was
under their thumb unless Regia Marina could find some way to neutralize Admiral
Cunningham’s fleet. So in order for the oil to reach ports in Italy and
southern France, Raeder’s Mediterranean strategy would have to succeed, and the
British must be driven from Egypt. Another solution might be to invade the Balkans
and open ports like Constanta, Varna and Burgas on the Black Sea coast of
Romania and Bulgaria, and Mussolini was contemplating such a move. That was, in
fact, how most of the oil Germany needed was now reaching the Reich, but the minor
powers controlled the rate of that flow, which might be doubled or tripled if
Germany could revitalize those rail lines and utilize its rolling stock.

Lütjens
was well aware of these strategic shortcomings and, in spite of Germany’s
remarkable string of victories, he remained doubtful over the long term
prospects for the war. And now, a new shadow troubled him with the news that
the Russians had been able to unhinge two German operations at sea with the
deployment of advanced naval rockets. He was aware of Germany’s own missile
development programs, but shocked to learn that Soviet Russia had leapt so far
ahead.

“What do
you make of all this talk of rocketry, Adler,” he asked his young Kapitan.

“Rockets?
I find it hard to believe, Admiral. Most of this talk comes from Kurt Hoffmann,
which surprises me even more. He is not a man given to exaggeration, or one to
back down from a fight at sea.”

“Böhmer
says he saw the rocket that sunk the
Heimdal
. Lindemann saw them too,”
said Lütjens. “He’s a fighting Kapitan, but elected to terminate Operation
Valkyrie when these weapons struck his ships.”

“That
was also surprising, sir. He had
Bismarck
and
Tirpitz!
Those two
ships could have backed down anything the British have.”

“Agreed,
but after seeing the damage to
Gneisenau
, I have come to believe
Lindemann was correct to be cautious at the outset. In spite of all the fanfare
at the docks when we slipped our berth, we may have to be cautious here as
well.”

“Tell
that to Axel Faust,” said Adler, referring to the ship’s burly gunnery officer.
His name meant “fist” and he was the hard master of the
Hindenburg’s
real power, and an ex-champion boxer for the navy as well.

“Something
tells me Faust will get his chance this time around,” said Lütjens. “We have
orders to get down to Saint Nazaire. Raeder wants to make sure nothing bothers
that new French aircraft carrier in the shipyards there. I told him the
Luftwaffe would provide all the defense he needs, but he insists that we must
establish ourselves there to gain access to the Atlantic without first having
to fight our way past the British up here.”

“I
agree, sir. We will be right astride the convoy routes there, and it will give
the British fits. We can sortie at any hour and there is no way they can stop
us.”

“Perhaps,”
said Lütjens, with far less enthusiasm. “But we have to get there first, Adler.
And Axel Faust may be busier than he realizes in a few days time.”

Adler
looked at Lütjens, thinking something, but saying nothing. He had come to feel
that the Admiral was becoming too sour of mind and heart, and did not think he
had the same iron in his backbone that the builders had put into his ships.
“Well sir,” he said at last. “Perhaps we may soon be able to call on Gibraltar!
The operation is underway on the Franco-Spanish border this moment. Five days
from now our troops will be ringing the doorbell there.”

“That
would be most promising if we could take Gibraltar,” Lütjens agreed.

“Of
course, sir. And if it comes to a fight up here, I do not think Axel Faust will
disappoint us. I heard him talking with Hartman down in Bruno turret yesterday.
The men are eager for battle. They are tired of shooting up garbage scows for
target practice, and want a real British battleship to sink this time around. This
is not
Gneisenau
, sir.”

“True,”
said Lütjens, “but may I remind you, Kapitan, that
Gneisenau
had 350mm
on her side belt armor, only 10mm less than we have here. That was a very sturdy
ship, and it will be months before we can put it to any use after the beating
it received from those naval rockets. Most of the damage was on the
superstructure, where the side armor was of no help.”

“Don’t
worry, Admiral. With
Graf Zeppelin
alongside we will find the enemy long
before they even know we are close at hand. And he who finds his enemy first
also has the option to strike first. This is the difference.
Gneisenau
was taken by surprise. From what Otto Fein told me, they thought they were
steaming up on a slow British man-of-war when it fired those rockets at them.
Forewarned is forearmed. We will have air cover over us, and more than
sufficient warning of the enemy’s dispositions.”

Lütjens
smiled. “That was what
Kapitan Böhmer thought aboard
Graf Zeppelin
last time out. Then the missile found his task force
before his planes ever had sight of the ship that fired them. I will tell you
one thing, Adler, if that is true then it changes everything. All our ships
would be rendered obsolete overnight! So I find myself of two minds. I want to
see these rockets first hand and learn for myself what their capabilities might
be—assuming they do not sink us first.”

Adler
said nothing to that, as he could not imagine it possible. Then Lütjens looked
at his watch, noting the time.

“Speaking
of
Böhmer,” he said, “we had better signal our
intentions. Tell him I plan to steer 240 for the next three hours, but then we
are heading south. See that Lindemann gets the message as well.
Bismarck
will be in the lead position.”

“So
soon, sir?” That will put us on a course for the Faeroes. I thought we were
heading out to Iceland.”

“Not
this time,” said Lütjens. “No… This time we are going to be just a little more
direct. The British will be thinking we will try the Denmark Strait or Iceland
passage again, just as before. We will do everything to strengthen that notion,
as Hoffmann has orders to demonstrate there with
Scharnhorst
and
Hipper
.
Alfargruppe
is already operational, but that is just a feint, and this
time we play our hand out with an inside strait. I have a few surprises planned
for the British as well.”

Chapter 27

Admiral
Tovey received the warning through channels from the
Admiralty, his eyes darkening with concern. The Germans were on the move, and
the operations now seemed to be associated with an even more ominous
prospect—an attack against Gibraltar! Tovey had been there with the Cruiser
Squadron just before being promoted to Admiral of Home Fleet. He knew the place
well, yet had no illusions about its prospects of resisting a determined attack
from the land. There were no more than four battalions in the garrison, and it
was unlikely Gibraltar could be reinforced by sea once the attack began.

The
Admiralty was of the same mind, in spite of the vital nature on the base and
its intrinsic value as a symbol of British power. Gibraltar was a hinge of fate
in so many ways, and yet the screws were weak, and rust had crept in over the
long decades of British rule. The War Cabinet had long known that if Spain
cooperated with Germany, the airfield at Gibraltar would be useless within
hours, and the harbor within a day. Now the Admiralty was already casting about
for some alternative place to base the units of Force H while also mounting
some effective counter to the juggernaut of the German military.

Churchill
was flabbergasted to learn that the Admiralty had no firm plan to reinforce
Gibraltar. When it was explained that it would be impossible to land fresh
troops in a harbor under fire from enemy artillery, the grim reality of the
situation became apparent. Gibraltar would have to stand or fall with the
garrison it had, but Force H would do what it could to lend support if the
Germans actually carried out an attack.

The
instant Tovey received the warning that
Hindenburg
was missing he
ordered his ships to four hour steam, and put to sea immediately thereafter. Yet
now he had a new problem to deal with. Admiral Pound had never been easy with
the posting of a Russian battlecruiser to the watch on the Denmark Strait. He
made the obvious point that even though Russia had signed a pledge of alliance
with Great Britain, the Soviet Union had not gone so far as to declare war on
Germany. Still involved in obvious negotiations with France and Spain, Germany
had also refrained from declaring war on Russia, and so an uneasy tension
remained all along the Polish frontier.

“Suppose
this Russian ship is capable of defending the Denmark Strait,” Pound had said
at the Admiralty meeting. “That alone would be a stretch, but even if it were
so, this creates some rather thorny political problems. The Russians are not
keen to engage in open hostilities with the Germans—this Admiral Volsky you
speak of aside. Unless they go so far as to declare war on Germany, I find it
inappropriate to have that ship posted to such a vital position. The Denmark
Strait is the route most often chosen by German raiders.”