Bismarck steamed lazily in a circle towards the British battleships
and Von Leahy knew he had to act immediately...
Lining up the Nelson in the scope, he passed the course and speed to Rosemann, the weapons officer, who punched the detail into the TDC.
With the solution set, there was no time for fine-tuning...
"Nummer zwei...LOS!!! Nummer drei...LOS!!!"
U-64 resounded to the whoosh of the torpedoes leaping from their tubes and Von Leahy prayed that Rosemann's solution was accurate.
Lining up on the 2nd ship, now clearly seen to be a King George class battleship, U-64 took a further 2 snapshots at her, although Von Leahy didn't expect to hit anything vital.
As the clock timed down, the air on board the u-boat was so thick you could cut it, and for once it had nothing to do with Leading Seaman Halder's feet..!
"Torpedo HIT!!!!" Von Leahy nearly screamed from the con. A plume of water shot up from the side of HMS Rodney, and then, almost in slow motion, she exploded in a sheet of flame.
"We must have hit the ammo bunkers Herr Kaleun!!!"
Rodney turned over lazily, afire from stem to stern and sank inside a minute, the few survivors clinging to planks of wood blown from the shattered ships boats.
Turning the scope towards the King George, Von Leahy was amazed to see her dead in the water. The explosion of Rodney had masked the fact that another hit had been scored, either on the remaining ship's screws or her engine room.
Consulting the BdU identification guide, the captain carefully selected where he knew his torpedo would have a chance of hitting a fuel bunker. No solution was needed. The target was a sitting duck.
"Nummer eins...LOS!"
(pt4 to follow)