Kirov Saga: Darkest Hour: Altered States - Volume II (Kirov Series) Read Free Page A

were very close,
good enough to begin firing for effect with only minor adjustments.
    “Port ten and steady on,” he
ordered, swinging around a bit to allow his aft turrets to begin training on
the targets. “Looks like our Stukas had the first dance,” he smiled.
“That second ship is already burning. What do you make of it, Mister Oels?”
    Fregattenkapitän Hans Oels was
the Executive Officer aboard Bismarck , making ready to go below decks
when Lindemann turned to him. Tall and straight, he was a man of few words, but
a strict disciplinarian and not one to cross in the line of duty. Oels stepped
up and took the field glasses Lindemann handed him.
    “Hood,” he said calmly.
“And trouble with one of their forward turrets from the look of it.”
    “There’s another battlecruiser
leading her,” said Lindemann.
    “It would have to be Repulse .
Werner says Graf Zeppelin drove off Renown and its back in Scapa
Flow by now.”
    “There’s no way it could be out
here then. Excellent! Two battlecruisers. Good guns but they haven’t the armor
to stand with us in a fight like this. Today we prove what the Kriegsmarine can
do, Oels. It looks like Schneider already has the range.” He was referring to Korvettenkapitän
Adalbert Schneider, the ship’s First Artillery Officer.
    “Good shooting, sir,” said Oels.
“I had better get down to the Damage Control Center.” Oels action station was
the central damage control command post, deep in the bowels of the ship. If
anything happened on the bridge he could have an overall view of the situation
by reading the lights winking on the damage control panel, and he could command
the ship from there if necessary. It was, in effect, Bismarck’s equivalent of a reserve bridge.
    “Don’t worry, Oels, I won’t keep
you busy. Hood is already burning!”
    The roar of Bismarck’s second salvo punctuated his remark, rattling the bridge with its power. Oels
was not there to see the results a short minute later when Lindemann saw the
tall water splashes straddle the target. “A hit!” he said jubilantly. “Right on
the conning tower! That will give them a headache or two, and let them know
just who they are dealing with.”
    Now we get our chance, he
thought. I have the two finest ships available in the German navy. When Hindenburg is ready we will be even stronger, but at this moment we are more than a match
for Hood and Repulse . The Invincible is another matter. If
that ship is close by, as I believe it is, then the odds will be even. So we
must reap every advantage while we can just now. Schneider has the range. Let
us sink these ships before the British can do anything about it!
    “Watch reports aircraft bearing
two-one-zero, Kapitän.” It was Korvettenkapitän Kurt Werner, the ship’s
Intelligence Officer, who had just come up from the signals deck. “Low
altitude, sir. Most likely Swordfish .”
    “Then they must have another
carrier nearby,” said Lindemann. “Signal the fleet to repel air attack. It
would be nice if Graf Zeppelin had left a few fighters over us.”
    The Kapitän would get his wish,
for Marco Ritter had lingered after the Stuka attack and still had two
wing mates with him of the seven fighters that had broken up much of the strike
wing off Ark Royal. There they had tried their hand against the veteran
British pilots, but now the wing from Illustrious was tasting combat for
the first time. Lindemann saw what looked like a flight of falcons drop out of
a cloud bank and come swooping in on the low flying Swordfish , their
wings lit up with machine gun fire. Trails of thin smoke bled from the tails of
two British planes, then he saw that a Squadron of enemy fighters came on the
scene from above and the German planes were soon in a swirling dogfight.
    The flak guns were firing now,
filling the sky with dark grey puffs of smoke as their rounds exploded, but the Swordfish were so lumbering in their approach that it actually threw off
the sighting