At Last! A Battleship!

[Slateford-5]

200 km W of Rockall Bank, on a wet and windy October 1940 night, just before midnight, I slip quietly by the lead Flower Class, cutting diagonally towards a convoy at periscope depth....

The sonar man is going crazy: Frachter...Frachter...Kontakt Kriegshciff, kontakt Frachter....the convoy looks big, maybe 6 x 4, although disappointingly only coastal merchants and tramps....

And then HMS Nelson hoves into view...I realise I have screwed up my torpedo loading and have G1's and G2's in the wrong tube order (had wanted to fire the G2's first, then set the G1's to fast and let them catch up, so they all struck at the same time: too late now.

Closing to 3,000 m, the stealth meter stays a reassuring shade of apple green: my main problem now is these ****ty little ships catching some eels en route. Gyroangle is taking forever to tick over. Low groan of the tube doors opening. Then hit the button and start counting. Cut to 2 knots and start drifting down, staying on course to pass right underneath the convoy, hoping this will mean the DD's bringing up the rear will find it difficult to get a run at me.

At 70m, torpedo treffe x 4: first time I have ever managed that, although still unsure of what the torpedoes actually hit. Ever further downwards, silently. 12 mins later I am exiting the NW side of the convoy: not a single ping, but no red ship sunk icon either.

After 30 mins drifting, I come up in increments, following warship contact. Entfernt sich. Just after 1am, we come up and 4 km behind us is a badly listing Nelson, with the hindmost DD a tiny smoke plume. Time passes, she rocks, she lists, she is stationary, but the damned thing won't sink. Then sonar boy says the dreaded "Kriegschiff, kommt naeher". A DD is coming back! Reluctantly, the stern tube is used. No mistake: two fires have now started and the foremost gun triplet is awash with water....

The DD turns away to the E to catch up to the convoy as the Nelson bulkheads start to screech. A further 30 mins later, she's going down, 36,000 tonnes, without so much as a ping, never mind a depth charge.

I know sinking battleships is probably quite standard for you guys, but I was elated: I didn't know whether to worry more about the DD's or a sudden CTD.

Anyway, other than a 12 hour depth charging a few weeks back near Malta, I have never been so gripped by a game in my days. Quite superb!

S-5