warheads more than twice what we have on the GB-7, and they weigh three times more. That’s a lot of excess fuel to burn.”
“Very well, use your best judgment, Gordon. I’m going to huddle with Mack to see if we can sort out this mess with those other ships, and find out what’s happening with Rodney.”
MacRae gave the order to deploy the forward gun, the deck panels sliding open and the hydraulics lifting the turret into view. It was a modified BAE Mark 8 naval gun in an angled stealth turret, using a new barrel and breech designed for the AS-90 self-propelled gun in the British Army. Fairchild had purchased one on a special order, and implemented a BAE plan to up-gun the older Mark 8 turret with this newer 155mm third generation maritime fire support system.
The Captain wasn’t bragging when he talked about over the horizon engagements. The gun could hurl 6-inch rounds out over 100 kilometers, 62 miles, and hit with a circular error of no more than 50 meters at that range. At ten rounds per minute, the rate of fire could deliver a punch similar to a battery of six 155mm howitzers, which would indeed be damn annoying to any ship forced to endure that pounding.
MacRae decided to concentrate on the two contacts arriving from the east, leaving the British battlecruisers to their duel with Tirpitz. This second German squadron was led by the Hindenburg, he knew, though it was not yet on his horizon.
This will be a nice little surprise, he thought.
* * *
Aboard Hindenburg Lütjens was quite startled when the sea suddenly began to sprout up with the splash of shellfall. “Watchman,” he shouted. “Where is that fire coming from? Adler?”
“We don’t know, sir. There’s nothing on our horizon!”
“What? Don’t be a fool. Those are small caliber rounds—a secondary battery or guns off a light cruiser or destroyer. Does the radar have anything?”
“Nothing sir!” The edge of frustration in Adler’s voice was obvious.
“Damn incompetence,” said Lütjens, raising his own field glasses and scanning the horizon. He knew the mainmast above would have a much better view, and they should easily see any cruiser or destroyer in range to fire those shells, but the sea was empty. His next thought was that a submarine might have surfaced and was using its deck gun, but he dismissed that as sheer madness. No U-boat Captain would be so brash as to challenge a pair of battleships like this, and besides, the rate of fire here was well beyond what any deck gun on a sub could achieve. He watched, astonished, as three rounds plowed into the sea just ahead of Bismarck in the van, the third welling up right on her starboard side. That had to be a salvo from a triple barrel naval turret, but where was the damn ship? This was madness!
It was not long before the first rounds struck home, one landing amidships on Bismarck, a second striking Hindenburg right on the forward deck and exploding with a hail of shrapnel—damn annoying. Then a line of three shells came plummeting down to rake right across the ship, one striking his heavy Bruno turret with a loud explosion. Lütjens felt the whizz of shrapnel go right past his cheek, and realized he was in grave danger here. He rushed for the safety of the armored conning tower, still amazed by what he was seeing.
“Aircraft?” he said with an exasperated tone.
“Nothing sir, the sky is clear, except for that storm on the horizon.”
“Clear? Then this cannot be happening, Adler. Who is firing at us? We have no ships sighted on any horizon, and surely this is not a U-boat? What is going on?”
Chief Engineer Eisenberg had been ready to raise his newly fitted armor plates as a defense against rockets, but the plunging fire of the rounds prompted him to delay. It was this extra measure of defense on many of the outer decks in the superstructure that greatly aided Hindenburg now. Yet Lütjens could see several small fires on the Bismarck.
This is insane, he thought. These rockets find our ships unerringly, and now we take gunfire that must be coming from well over the horizon—a range exceeding even that of our main batteries—and clearly from a small caliber weapon. This cannot be happening! No cruiser I know of could fire at such a range, and hit with such accuracy. Could they have a submarine correcting their fire, or an unseen seaplane? Yet how could they