RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 21-3: The Hunt for Bismarck (Part 3)


    cing down the headphone with a direct line to Grand Admiral Karl Donitz, Admiral Tallh still can''t quite believe that their first naval action will be happening soon. Much less it will be one of the most ambitious maneuvers of history. Don''t get Tallh wrong, she is more than able and is not disheartened by the prospect of leading a handful of ships. Rather, she wees the uing challenge. Tallh is smart enough to understand just what kind of mind game is the upper echelon ying. Hence she is eager to contribute her effort to bring about the copse of the Erusean Navy.


    Turning around to Captain Lindemann, Tallh says. "We have our orders. Maintain present heading and formation. Make contact with that Royal Navy intercept party ahead of us and if they ignore our warning, we are to initiatebat and punch a hole through their blockade. The convoy must get to La Coruna on schedule." Tallh then smirks. "Battle stations."


    Lindemann snaps a salute before saying on the fleetwidemunication line. "This is floti leader to all elements, battle stations. I repeat, battle stations! Prepare for the interception of enemy high-speed destroyers and possible torpedo attacks. All elements are to report theirbat readiness."


    The announcementes as a somewhat of a surprise, but ultimately a wee one by the crew of the Bismarck. Tallh and Lindemann take their spot on the bridge, gazing approvingly at the men and women making sure that all the stations aboard the battleship are up to snuff for the eventual conflicts.


    "The Bismarck is green across the board with our guns loaded with high explosive shells, ma''am, sir." Lindemann''s XO gave the report.


    "Yes, I can very much see that. Standby for the deployment of a spotter drone. Once the destroyers are gone, we will need an additional eye in the sky to search for the other Royal Navy ships." Tallhmanded, letting the XO salute, and is just about to return to his post at the CIC when she calls out. "Wait!"


    The XO returns to his former posture. "Yes, ma''am?"


    "Once we''ve made contact with the destroyers, make very sure that their outboundms are jammed. We only need to let them report their status as alive and in contact with our vessels, once. Anything after that is not allowed to be transmitted, let''s keep them guessing about the fate of their ships, yeah?"


    The XO nods, his lips parting into a smile. "Yes, ma''am!"


    "Good. And when we face any other group like one, we will be doing just the same." Tallh then dismissed the XO, turning around to see an impressed Lindemann.


    "You''re gonna y them like a fiddle." The Captain of the Bismarckmented, making the Admiral in charge of the floti chuckle. "Our Royal Navy peers are in this to gain knowledge about our capability. As such, I will use our very ships as bait to lure them in. What happens after that will just be the hunters be the hunted."


    "A bold, but risky move, in normal circumstances. But our Reichsmarine is anything but normal so I will happily see this through." Lindemann acknowledged the idea, confident that the floti can tide through anything the Erusean Royal Navy can throw at them.


    Tallh pats him on the shoulder. "Can''t word it any better myself. Now then, radar, ETA till they''re in visual range?"


    "Ma''am, the Royal Navy destroyer squadron will break past and approach our 40km radius in thirty minutes."


    "ssification?"


    "Four E-ss destroyers, ma''am."


    Tallh nods "I need gunnery to work on a firing solution for the lead vessel. If they ignore us and continue to proceed to the 30km mark, I want to be able to engage them as soon as possible." She looks at Lindemann. "Have the other elements pick their targets, I want all vessels to engage the destroyers as soon as Bismark does."


    "You got it, Admiral." Lindemann replied before disseminating themand to the rest of the convoy escorts.


    Very soon, Tallh notes that the timer of thirty minutes has run out. This is signified by the turning of the two quadruple 431mm cannon turrets of the bow of the Bismarck. Tallh doesn''t have to take a look to know that the C-turret of the battleship is alsoying on the lead Erusean destroyer.


    Lindemann checks aputer terminal and reports. "Gunnery station reports that all guns are trained on the lead enemy vessel, the destroyer Electra."


    "Good, adjust the course of the floti so that all our guns have a firing solution on those destroyers. And broadcast my message to those destroyers only."


    An Ensign that''s in charge of ship-to-shipmunication speaks up after a few seconds. "We''re ready, ma''am."


    Before Tallh can pick up the radio to address the approaching destroyers, Lindemann leans in and adds. "The destroyers belong to the Fifth Squadron of the Erusean Navy."


    Tallh rolls her eyes at the reminder but goes on to say in fluent Erusean. "This is Admiral Tallh of Reichsmarine Battleship Bismarck escorting the convoy Fur Spaniard. Approaching destroyers of the Fifth Squadron belonging to the Erusean Royal Navy, you''re to change your heading. Further continuation of your interception course will be judged as an act of attempted piracy and will be fired upon."


    Having said that, Tallh turns to thems officer, who shakes his head. Lindemannments. "No response? I reckon that your smooth words would have ruffled a feather or two but-"


    "This is Captain Laponfey of the Destroyer Electra, Fifth Squadron. Convoy Fur Spaniard, you''re hereby given the order to stand down and prepare for a military inspection on the authority of the Erusean Admiralty. Any attempt to resist will be met with deadly force from the nearby Royal Navy fleet!" From the loudspeaker of thems officer''s station, a very haughty voice came out. The manner of speaking makes Tallh raises an eyebrow while the rest of the bridge crew is dumbfounded by the absurdity of the Erusean''s request.


    "Stand down? What part of Bismarck being a battleship did they not understand?" One of the Ensign on the bridge said aloud, followed by Lindemannmenting. "Whoever is sending these Eruseans out with an order, obviously didn''t pack any brain with them."


    The XO in the CIC reports. "Enemy vessels approaching 30 km on bearing 57."


    Tallh sighs exasperatedly before saying over the radio wave. "Now you listen here, Captain Tomfoolery, you''re stating to an Admiral, who is clearly outranking you and of the Belkan Navy no less, to peacefullyply with your shoddy request out of nowhere? An order of giving up without any resistance whatsoever, no less? Gosh, if the rest of the Erusean Navy is anything like you then the Ustian Navy is a much more worthy foe. Damn, tea must have gotten your head all mushy-washy."


    "You bloody so-!"


    "Enough!" Tallh cut the Captain of the Electra, going on to say. "Our nations are at war with each other, Captain. And I will be a sorry excuse of an Admiral if I didn''t retaliate to an obvious undermining of the Reich''s authority. Bon Voyage to Neptune, Eruseans."


    Tallh then gestures to the Ensign by thems station, making him end the transmission. Understanding that the moment hase, Lindemann opens a line to the rest of the floti. "All vessels, pick your target and engage after Bismarck. Gunnery crew, half salvo... Fire!"


    Per order and with the firing solution already calcted, six out of twelve primary cannons aboard the Bismarck fire. In a collective burst of air, smoke, and water vapor that ckened out the sun for a second, six super heavy high explosive shells areunched skyward. And were it any other battleship of the era, engaging a fast-moving destroyer at a distance of 30 km would have been nothing more than a pipe dream. Yet, for Bismarck with her state-of-the-artputational facility and fire control system, the hit rate for those six shells is 50%. Truly a ster number that would no doubt cause the Captain of the Electra a run for his money... That is if he lived to learn about it.


    The whistling of heavy artillerying down atop them has been a shock to the Erusean sailors. As prophesized by both the gunnery chief of the Bismarck and the staff of the ship''s CIC, three 431mm HE shells impact along the length of the Electra. The first shell, but of course,nds directly on the thinly armored conning tower of the E-ss destroyer. Suffice it to say, the super heavy shell eviscerates the tower in the blink of an eye, going so far as topletely knock the B-turret of the destroyer off its hinge and making it copses onto the A-Turret. Not stopping there, the second shell touches tip with the aft of the Electra, right at the location where the depth charges rack is located. The ensuingbined explosion of both the shell and the anti-submarine weapon would have pushed the destroyer forth like a rock skipping on water if not for the third HE shellnding. Thest 431mm shell to impact the poor destroyer has torn through the anti-air turret amidship before hitting the base of the second funnel of the vessel. The catastrophic explosion of the third shell shatters the thin hull ting of the deck, allowing the st to travel below the ship and into the boiler room, wreaking havoc as the steam boilers and fuel tanks rupture, adding more to the final kaboom. One that goes on to effectively snap the Electra in half in seconds with the fore end of the ship pointing directly up in the air, the B-Turret being dislodged and falling into the ocean due to gravity. The aft section of the ship, however, is pushed forward, skimping the surface of the water due to the second HE shellbined explosion with the depth charges. Both ends of the ship ultimately meet their demise, sinking at record speed due to the total annihtion of its structural integrity. It still has to be said, however, that the missing shells from the Bismarck, while sshing all over the Electra, still cause some damage below the waterline in the form of hull cracks and aided the quick sinking of the vessel.


    The total destruction of the Electra in the span of five seconds caught members of the Erusean destroyer squadron byplete surprise. Most can only dumbly gaze at the sinking corpse of the Electra, lost with all hands, with the sub-leader and second in the line of the destroyer squadron, the Encounter, to immediately pull starboard. They risk a collision with the debris had they maintained their old heading. The prompted evasive action has luckily spared them another swift death as the sky itself starts whistling. Stradling the Encounter, causing the rupturing of her hull below the waterline, and hitting the two destroyers behind her. This time, it''s not just the remaining 431mm cannons that fired, but also the six 380mm guns of the Gneisenau and the eight 203mm guns of the Prinz Eugen that gave their shocking reports. Bybining their firing data together, these vessels of the Belkan floti timed their shots perfectly so that their shells wouldnd at the same time, casting not just devastating damage but also striking absolute terror on their enemy.


    It''s unknown just what shells havended near the Encounter, but she is taking in seawater into the boiler room, effectively killing off her mobility at sea. And while the Encounter is struggling to restore her choking boilers, thest two destroyers of her squadron aren''t so lucky. Hit by a major explosion, but not to a devastating effect as the 431mm, followed by smaller ones, presumably from Eugen''s 203mm, the destroyer Esk is eeking out herst breath as the ship is slowly tipping to port, her entire port side is ripped apart all across her length. The other, the destroyer Express, is sinking head first... Well, though I said that, you have to realize that there''s not even a head left from that destroyer in particr. The front section of the Express is gone, reduced to atoms by well-ced shots from Bismarck''s main guns. The most powerful battleship of the era is milking that 50% uracy for all of its worth.


    And when the Captain of the Encounter gazes at the utter annihtion of his squadron, paled face and ttering teeth, he tries to hail for other Erusean ships. His action is made out of fear and duty, he needs to warn the maind of the preposterous capability of the Bismarck and her cohorts. Unfortunately for him, his goodwill is returned with nothing but heavy static no matter how hisms officer tries to contact the rest of the fleet. Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Captain of the Encounter orders the deployment of all of their smoke canisters. He hopes to God that it will be enough to obscure the targeting of the enemy''s vessels. Unfortunately for him, the existence of radars aboard even the smallest ship of the Reichsmarine has rendered his effort null. Much to his absolute horror, the Captain of the Encounter hears the whistles of Deathing for him. So, as any sensible man will do, he immediately orders to abandon ship. And before his crew even registers the order, the Captain has already ditched his heavy coat before running out of the conning tower and diving overboard. Two secondster, a shell of unknown caliber tears through the bridge of the Encounter, bearing swift death to the remaining sailors as it explodes, engulfing the upper portion of the destroyer in a ball of fire.


    ------------------------------------------------------------


    "CIC has confirmed, destroyers Electra, Encounter, Esk, and Express, have been eliminated. Our path forward to La Coruna is clear. Do we send out a recovery team for the survivors?" Lindemann reported sinctly. His even tone, however, doesn''t tell the whole story. Until now, he is still feeling goosebumps due to the mighty shockwaves of the 431mm cannons of the Bismarcks. Though they only fired two full salvos, the result was devastating to the point that he''s d to have been born Belkan.


    Tallh, who heard the report, crosses her arms while gazing with reverence at the turrets of the Bismarck. "Bitches love cannons..." She muttered to herself before turning to Lindemann. "Give the coordinates to the Spanish Coalition, let them deal with the Eruseans. I reckon the Inquisition would like to have a word with the Royal Navy as to why they''re intercepting their supplies in the first ce. As for us, we can''t detach any of our vessels to help them, lest they''re sprunged upon with any Erusean surprise. Maintain present heading."


    Lindemann nods, replying. "That can be arranged. This will no doubt make the Royal Navy loses a lot of face in the end. I will also take the chance to report the result of our firstbat with the Erusean navy... If you can even call it that."


    Tallh smiles, gazing ahead. "Convoy to full. Let''s escort our cargo out of this engagement zone first before we proceed as nned. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen will split off to deter any pursuer."


    "Aye aye, Admiral."