Reich Marshal of the Belkan Reich

RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 21-10: The Hunt for Bismarck (Part 10)

Despite planning to utilize the morning sun against the Bismarck, Admiral John Tovey is frustrated to see that the effect is not as pronounced as he has hoped. Currently, Tovey and his Home Fleet are positioned in the early morning gloom. This position is supposed to tilt the scale in Tovey's favor, knowing that the direction the Bismarck will come from will have the sunrise silhouetting them. Yet, an annoyingly dense, low-hanging mist has permeated this arena in the middle of the Atlantic, an aftereffect of yesterday's storm. The mist reduces the vision range to less than 18 km, and that is from the watch post on top of the King George V. Tovey can only guess just how bad the visual range is of the destroyers on screening duty right now. As such, all available spotters are launched into the air in a tight patrol formation. Hopefully, they will give him a better edge in the upcoming engagement... Scratch that, it's a bonafide duel now.

Tovey's only regret right now is not being able to send words back home. By now, he is fully aware that the Belkans have somehow mastered the technology to render their long-range comms useless. Admiral Tovey can hazard a guess that when the conflict is in full swing, their short-range radio will cease to work too. As such, the entire Home Fleet has dusted off the old ship-to-ship visual signals table. It may not be a foolproof system on the chaotic battlefield, but it's better than nothing. 

As for the rest of the naval air wings that Admiral Tovey has access to, they're all on standby 30 km away from his position. HMS Ark Royal and HMS Hermes will be ready to send them up in the air as soon as a location of the Bismarck is given. Despite the supposedly large number of aircraft still left available, Tovey doesn't have much faith in their ability to influence the outcome of the engagement. Not after two whole wings were scrapped in mere seconds back then. Tovey would have gladly traded the mostly useless aircraft carriers for an additional two battleships or even battlecruisers if he could. Truly, the story of aircraft carriers being a waste of money has proven itself to be quite true in the earlier engagement.

Nonetheless, Admiral Tovey would have to make do with what he has at hand. It will be an arduous task, but he is hoping to coordinate with the aircraft from the carriers to perform a synchronized strike on the enemy warships. By having the Home Fleet engage the Bismarck at the same time the naval air wings strike, it's Tovey's hope that they would be able to overwhelm the Belkans. It's a long shot, yes, but it can be an Ace that deals a crippling blow. At the very least, it may course the Belkans to make a stupid mistake or two in their evasive maneuvers.

Regardless, this Ace of his operates under the premise that their communication system won't be tampered with. If they are to be disrupted, then he can only ask the pilots to proceed at their own discretion if they think it's the most opportune time to strike. They have only one shot at this, considering the anti-air system that Bismarck and Prinz Eugen sported, so Tovey hopes the flyboys make it count.

With every proper pre-battle planning made, Admiral Tovey crosses his arms. The only thing he can do right now is wait. Wait for either the screening party to have spotted the Bismarck approaching them under the cover of the Atlantic fog, or the scout planes to sight the Belkans a fair distance away. Either way, the absence of smoking funnel aboard the Belkan warships doesn't aid them in any way. While it's a grave concern to see a navy fielding funnel-less ships, as such technology would greatly revolutionize naval warfare, Tovey decides to place that intel on the back burner for now.

After all, there's still a duel to be fought.

"Aida, honey, pray for me to emerge victorious." Tovey said, knowing well that his wife wouldn't be able to hear him.

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Unlike the Royal Navy vessels that are waiting in the arena, looking around for the Reichsmarine warships blindly, the Bismarck and her escort, the Prinz Eugen, are having no trouble at all identifying the enemy fleet. Thanks to their powerful radar, the CICs aboard the two vessels analyze the acquired data, getting the enemy composition, range, speed, and heading relative to their location, and optimal firing solution and tactical advice, before feeding that intelligence to the required departments. The CIC is even capable of intercepting the radio transmissions of the Eruseans, and soon, the entire data set is available for the officers to peruse. As the one in charge of the two warships, Admiral Tallulah must pour over the information to acquire and determine the best course of action. Going over it with Captain Lindemann, Tallulah notices a few interesting details about Admiral John Tovey's fleet.

"So once again, they brought another battlecruiser to the mix."

"The HMS Repulse, a Renown-class. And despite receiving her latest refit in 1936, she is only noteworthy for her excellent speed. Her armament is even weaker than that of the Hood, with only six 381mm guns." Captain Lindemann commented.

"If anything, it will be another sight to behold when that thing is easily blown up. Though it appears the Eruseans learn their lesson this time and will be positioning the Repulse at the back of the formation, acting as a base of fire for the rest of the fleet to move in on us." Tallulah said, earning a nod from Lindemann.

"It's a good plan. Despite our autoloader and fire control, we will still find it hard to intercept a rush of evading destroyers, cruisers, and battleships. Sure, we can sink them all eventually, but not before they're able to fire off a few salvos of guns and torpedoes. With their numerous guns, they will overwhelm our CIWS eventually."

"They will rush in, yes, but not in a synchronous maneuver. Apparently, HMS Rodney is running on fume, she won't have enough fuel for a high-speed chase by 8:00 the following day. Even with ample fuel, Rodney only has a maximum speed of 23 knots, making it so that the King George V must conform to that speed if Tovey wants maximum firepower. As such, they will have to be sending their cruisers and destroyers way ahead of the formation at best evasion speed. Tovey's intention is clear, under the covering fire from the Repulse, he wants to use the smaller ships as a distraction while he slowly inches into that 14,000 meters range for a broadside attack." Tallulah explained the thought process behind Tovey's plan. "To add more chaos to the mix, he will also be going all-in on the aircraft. The man is hell-bent on scoring a good enough hit so he can capitalize on it."

Lindemann dryly comments. "I am wondering just how many souls will die today?"

Tallulah smacks her lips distastefully. "Too many to count." She then goes on to say. "Knowing that he will be using quantity against quality, we can't just rush into the trap despite our technological advantage. That's no different than inviting a disaster. Instead, we will start by shutting down their comms system. The moment we have them on scope, we will begin kiting away at cruising speed with Prinz Eugen shoring up our rear. This will give both of us a stable platform to engage the speeding enemy. The fog has limited the vision range to around 18 km, as such, I want us to always be at least 20 km away from their capital ships. This will give our gunners a field day thanks to our radar while the enemy can only blindly fire due to the thick fog. Our main priority will be the destruction of their capital ships, especially the Rodney and the Repulse for they are using bigger guns than the King George V. Prinz Eugen will be tasked with intercepting the rushing destroyers while our secondaries pepper the cruisers. With the amount of torpedoes those cruisers and destroyers are carrying, it would be smart of us to be 10 km ahead of them at all times. However, I may have a plan for us to deal with most of them in one go."

"You're saying, Admiral...?" 

"How many of those Orkan torpedoes do we still have in the inventory?" Tallulah suddenly asked.

"You mean those supercavitating torpedoes from that live-fire trial two weeks back? We haven't unloaded the remaining two if you're asking." Lindemann replied, not sure why Tallulah asked that. Though judging from the sudden, predatory glint in her eyes, it won't be anything good for the Eruseans, he hopes.

Smirking while licking her lips like a shark that has tasted blood, Tallulah answers. "My dear Captain, I believe I have a solution to severely hamper, if not destroy, the torpedo threat the enemy destroyers pose to us in one go. You still remember the characteristics of an Orkan?"

Lindemann thinks for two seconds before replying in a deliberate tone. "An Orkan is a 533mm torpedo. A mana-powered rocket accelerates it to cavitation speed, with a combined-cycle gas turbine in the nose creating the required gas bubble. Once accelerated, speed is maintained by an underwater ramjet fueled by hydro-reactive metals using seawater as both reactant and the source of oxidizer, making it so that the torpedo can travel at 200 knots. The high speed is made possible by supercavitation, whereby a gas bubble surrounding the torpedo is created by the outward deflection of water by its specially-shaped nose cone and the expansion of gases from its engine and the gas generator in the nose. This minimizes water contact with the torpedo, significantly reducing drag. They're developed not just as a conventional torpedo but also intended as a countermeasure against torpedoes launched by undetected enemy submarines. As such, they have top-of-the-line guidance systems. However, they're also powerful payload carrying tools in fleet-to-fleet action..." Having said thus far, Lindemann smacks his forehead for not thinking of this sooner. "And it's just so that the last two Orkans in our arsenal are fitted with 30-kiloton warheads."

"It seems like you still remember your homework after all. Indeed, the Orkan is the brainchild of both science and magic working in tandem. Unlike conventional chemical-based high-explosive warheads, the Orkan is fitted with a mana-powered warhead, engraved with numerous explosive runes. The amount and efficiency of modern runes are such that we have achieved never before seen firepower in a singular, unstoppable package. But of course, the price tag for this tactical weapon is not small. And unfortunately, as prototypes, they only have a firing range of 15 km. Though I think I can convince the brass for a live-firing trial on actual enemy vessels nonetheless. They will surely be interested in free data gathering in field conditions." Tallulah ended the sentence while rubbing her palms together. "Oh, we should send all of our drones in the air, armed all of them. They will not just be acting as our spotters but also recorders for the upcoming surface action. The footage will no doubt be needed by those back home."

Seeing that Tallulah's mind is made up and the chance for them to use the Orkan is nothing but a certainty, Captain Lindemann can't help but offers a silent prayer for their enemy."May Yggdra saves the poor destroyer crews' souls for they won't have any idea what will hit them."

After all, an explosion of that magnitude beneath the waves is no different than a death sentence for any vessel in a radius of 1000 meters. The lighter destroyers would have no doubt capsized due to the shockwave beneath their hulls, if not disintegrate outright. Hell, with any bit of luck, they will even affect the enemy cruisers so badly that they will be a non-issue for the rest of the battle.