The British Sea War

After about twenty minutes Tony left to board the nearby HMS Summer Rose. He was piped aboard, and his luggage had arrived on board and was already in his cabin. The cases were being unpacked by the seaman acting as a steward, and he found that compared to a Hunt Class destroyer the Corvette was certainly very utility. However, just out of the builders it did have the latest radar, and sonar equipment, and his cabin was certainly bigger, and had a few more basic comforts than the his Cabin on his previous ship.

The whole of the ships company had not arrived yet, but most of the Heads of departments were aboard checking equipment, many of whom were in their first appointment having just been promoted themselves. His First Lieutenant had been a schoolteacher before the war.. He was very nervous and as Tony pointed out to him the ship is a mess. There were welding hoses, and piles of dockyard rubbish everywhere. The ships bell was dull and had never been cleaned.

He told the First Lieutenant. "Get the messes and as much below decks as you can cleaned up, you can leave most of the upper decks until the dockyard have left, then I will expect that you will be able to produce something close to the Royal Yacht in standard for me. If in doubt ask"

The next day the ships company were marched into the dockyard and halted alongside the ship. By the look of their uniforms they were all fairly new to the Royal Navy and had just arrived from HMS Ganges. The Leading Signalman was standing near him and he heard him mutter "What a shower Gawd help us. What a crowd of nozzers"

At Sunday Divisions the following day Tony cleared the lower deck, he made the point to all the hands. "The next few weeks are going to be tough. You will be wet, tired and hungry most days, you will soon learn to hate me, and your officers, but if we succeed in getting up to the standard that I demand, and expect, it will probably go a long way to saving your own lives."

"Convoy work is not easy, it can be boring and dangerous. Each one of you holds the life of your shipmates in your hands. Obey orders and do your job properly, and your efficiency will make life easier and safer for yourself and your shipmates. Our job is to maintain and safeguard the lifeline of Great Britain. In this ship we are all learning. Teamwork is essential"

The following three weeks were tough on everyone, and was made up of an intensive working up period in Scotland . In which they went through a whole range of evolutions, and exercises under the supervision of a naval Commander who was an exacting taskmaster. . There were lots of mistakes made, and the initial gunnery, and asdic trials were dismal, but gradually the whole thing began to come together, and they were passed ready for sea. HMS Summer Rose was given grudging approval by the Commander who supervised and ran the working up trials for all the newly commissioned small ships.

HMS Summer Rose like all the new class of Corvettes were certainly good sea boats, but they could certainly roll on wet grass, or so it seemed.. Even on what would be termed a good sea they rolled and pitched. There was a lot of initial sea sickness, but gradually they all became a ships company. Tony continued the training even on convoy, wherever time, and weather permitted. The new officers were improving gradually, and soon Tony knew they would be ready to stand a watch on their own. He knew once that happened he would probably lose them to other ships...

His First Lieutenant Bob Rankin was the most experienced officer besides Tony, having got twelve months service as a Lieutenant on a destroyer engaged on convoy work. He had a good idea of his duties, and did his best. Both the other lieutenants Frank Macey R.N.V.R and Roger Twigg R.N.V. R had roughly six months sea experience, since leaving training but really they had much to learn. Most of the new hands were just out of initial training at HMS Ganges, and Tony realised that the level of competence they had achieved in such a short time was a miracle, but they were still a long way from being the efficient unit he was aiming for.

The Midshipman was just seventeen and just out of Dartmouth College having volunteered halfway through his degree in Sociology. However, he had some experience on a cruiser based at Scapa Flow. Although they had never put to sea. The commissioned Gunner had just been promoted from Chief Petty Officer, and was a long service man. Tony decided that given time, he would have to stand bridge watches as well. When he was told by Tony what was expected of him he grumbled saying " I am a gunner sir" No Mr. Tibbs you are now an officer in the Royal navy, and being able to stand a watch will enhance your promotion chances considerably." .

The Chief Engineer was a Chief ERA with some years experience, and seemed very reliable, like most of the key ratings who all had previous experience, and most of them had been promoted into the ship. And so HMS Summer Rose or K 153 went to war.

Chapter 3 Next

Chapter 3

Convoy Work

The weeks and months passed. A few days in port and then back to sea. Now Tony was the Senior officer of the fast convoy AH122 with two more new Flower Class Corvettes commanded by Lieutenants RNVR and an ancient armed sea going tug commanded by a Lieutenant RNR.( Royal Naval Reserve) Both the Captains of the other two Corvettes had gained some limited experience in previous convoys, and like Summer Rose Tony knew that they would give a good account of themselves when called to action.

The other two corvettes had been commissioned at about the same time as Summer Rose, their crews were just as inexperienced, and their commanding officers had very little sea time, and not much real practical previous experience of convoy work before taking up their commands.

But as time went on and they were lucky enough to have had a few easy convoys they had accumulated a lot of experience, and like HMS Summer Rose they were now on their fifth convoy to Halifax and were now relatively experienced. It seemed that no sooner had they arrived home, than they were turned round and sent to sea again on another long frustrating convoy.

The Captain Tony Nash was very tired and frustrated, as at sunset the previous night just before the attack had begun, they had lost their air cover, and now they had to rely on their own resources. Going on past experience, he knew it would be rough. A radio signal from the Admiralty had told them that their were seven U Boats in their vicinity.

This convoy was supposed to be a fast convoy with a planned speed of at least fourteen knots, which they had never yet achieved. He thought that some of it was pressure from the owners that was making them try and conserve fuel.

The attacks had come the night before almost as soon as the sun had set. Four of the ships had been sunk by U boats using both guns and torpedoes whilst travelling on the surface up and down the lines of the convoy, before they had been beaten off by fire from some of the D.E.M.S gunners on the merchant ships, after Tony had in desperation ordered the escorts to light up the convoy with star shells. The U Boats now well illuminated had been forced to dive. For a time it seemed that there were ships on fire and sinking wherever he looked. As the Senior Officer he felt that every ship sunk was his fault..

They had made several attacks on dived U boats and suddenly they found, that the ships suddenly found some extra speed from somewhere, Which meant they had to abandon the attack to stay with the convoy.

Several ships had taken hits from the submarines guns, but were still afloat, but he knew full well, that this was only the beginning. The U Boats would travel with the convoy, and would hit them time and time again, until they were out of torpedoes and ammunition. If he could make the convoy use its speed they stood a much better chance of outrunning the U Boats.

The attacks the previous night had just died down, and several ships were damaged or on fire, but there was nothing they could do to assist them, everyone was relaxing when the Chief Engineer rang from the engine room, to report that the main shaft bearing was running hot, and he had to stop the engine to inspect it, and somehow stop it from overheating.

Tony immediately called the other escorts, and the Commodore of the convoy, and told them that he had to stop his engine for repairs. He instructed the Lieutenant RNR in command of the ocean going tug HMS Osprey to take over command of the escort. Meanwhile, he moved clear of the convoy, and stopped his engine. The ships company remained closed up at action stations, and he warned everyone that they had to maintain silent routine.

He told his First Lieutenant Bob Rankin RNVR. "There is to be no smoking on the upper deck, No radar, No sonar transmissions, just maintain a listening watch. All hands to remain at action stations wearing their lifebelts, and they must keep down out of sight. Check that all depth charges are set to safe, and make sure the galley can supply plenty of hot drinks and sandwiches. Double all lookouts, and I want complete silence throughout the ship. The hand must wear soft shoes or creep around in their socks as sound is magnified as it travels through water "

"Number One While you are at it make the upper deck look as though we are abandoned, loosen a few Carley Floats, put the gun a bit askew anything to make us look as though we have been hastily abandoned.."

The night passed slowly and the air was full of tension as HMS Summer Rose rolled heavily in the Atlantic swell, badly hampering the engine room artificers in their repairs, as they struggled to work in the confines of the small overheated engine room. The lookouts had been doubled, but kept their heads down when the moonlight was strongest, and they were changed every half an hour, and the guns crews waited impatiently, some managed to doze at their station, but many were alert to the fact that if they were discovered by a U Boat, a single torpedo would soon finish them off.

All hands waited on deck for the end to come, none of them believing that a U Boat could miss such a tempting target. The Captain managed to get some fanny's of Kye (naval version of cocoa) sent round to each upper deck station at times during the night, and few hands managed to sneak a smoke behind a closed door, but otherwise utter silence was maintained.

Tony warned everyone on deck to keep their heads well down out of sight when dawn breaks. The ship must look abandoned.

Lieutenant Rankin the First Lieutenant joined the captain on the bridge during the night and asked "I can't understand why you did not allow smoking on the upper deck sir There are lot of moaning bout it?"

Because Number One, the glow of cigarettes would be a giveaway, and if a U Boat sees us, I want it to think we are abandoned.. I hope he will not want to waste a Torpedo on us, if we can make him curious enough to show himself, then we stand a chance of getting the bastard with the guns"

Dawn broke with a cloudless sky, and then suddenly the silence was broken as a spanner was dropped in the engine room, it woke up the few people who had managed to doze off. "The Captain rang the engine room he was furious "Who dropped that "fucking spanner?"

"I did sir, sorry. said the Chief ERA however sir, but the good news is that we should be finished in about fifteen minutes sir."

"Thank god for that, but keep the noise down, we have U Boats popping up all over the place complaining about the noise."

'He turned to the First Lieutenant, tell the hands on the loudspeaker that we should be underway soon, but don't show yourselves yet.. U Boats will not be able to hear the loudspeaker while they are dived."

Just as he spoke the sonar operator reported. Submarine blowing main ballast tanks somewhere to starboard Sir."

Tony ordered over the speaker "Stand by all guns, U Boat probably surfacing nearby to starboard. Load with HE The 4' gun to go for the saddle tanks, and the Oerlikans stop them using the bridge and their guns. Independent fire when you see a target. But keep your heads down until you see him on the surface, he is probably just going to have a look at us first"

"That is if the bastards haven't torpedoed us by then" he whispered to himself.

They waited in silence, and then a lookout reported the sighting of a periscope to starboard. It was about fifteen tense minutes as the U boat circled round the ship, then the U Boat started to break surface, about five hundred yards away, and HMS Summer Rose opened fire as soon as she broke surface. The conning tower had only just broken the surface, when the guns first opened fire. From that distance it was almost impossible to miss the target, as the U Boat staggered from at least three direct hits from the 4" gun, then she rolled over sluggishly and disappeared from sight. It was presumed then that the Starboard side saddle tanks had been hit, as well as one strike on the side of the conning tower. If the damage was as bad as they thought then she could not survive. Some large traces of diesel oil and bits of wreckage came to

the surface which seemed to confirm their success.

**********

U199 had been cruising peacefully at ninety feet not far from HMS Summer Rose. at about two knots to conserve power. Most of the crew off watch were sleeping .The spanner being dropped on Summer Rose woke them up all up, and alerted the Captain Hans Merkel to something happening nearby, or at first he thought, the noise could have come from another U Boat nearby doing repairs, but he decided to have a look anyway."

He ordered. Thirty feet half ahead both motors.". The engineer on the diving panel opened the high pressure valves to put a burst of high pressure air into the ballast tanks, and gradually U199 rose to periscope depth. A quick look through the attack periscope showed him HMS Summer Rose stopped with no sign of life, apart from a black and white cat casually washing itself on the boat deck

The 4" gun on HMS Summer Rose seemed him to be hanging down at a funny angle, and he thought she must be abandoned for some reason.. He watched carefully for any sign of life for about fifteen minutes.

Hans was confused. He could not use a Torpedo as they had not yet reloaded the tubes from the night before. He was sure the longer that he looked that HMS Summer Rose for some obscure reason was abandoned, and he was very curious. So he then decided to have a look He ordered the guns crew to stand by for gun action on the Port side. And gave the order to surface, as he lowered the periscope, and climbed into the conning tower, ready to open the top hatch to the bridge when they were surfaced. He had just undone the first clip when he died.

The first High Explosive shell from HMS Summer Rose had burst through the side of the conning tower, and his body was washed down into the control room with the influx of sea water, two more rounds hit the side of the submarine, and it was obvious that the saddle tanks had been badly holed.

The mortally wounded U 199 turned on her side and sank rapidly to the depths of the Atlantic. A few minutes later the few survivors of U199 in the engine room and motor room died, they had managed to shut the connecting water tight door, but died as the first of two patterns of depth charges exploded alongside them.

**********

The ships company on HMS Summer Rose had broken into some loud cheering at their initial success, and relief just as the engine room reported that they were able to use the engine.

The Captain Tony Nash ordered "Half ahead, stop that bloody cheering, start the sonar, and to the radar. Start an all round sweep." stand by depth charges. Set to maximum depth setting. Port 20. "

To his First Lieutenant " Bob lets see if we can get a fix on him, keep all guns closed up. He may try to surface if he can, using his motors. It just depends on how badly, if at all, his saddle tanks are holed. He may try to use his torpedoes on us. even if he is in trouble. Stand by depth charges maximum depth setting.''

Within a few minutes the sonar reported they had a confused contact, bearing red 45 and a lookout reported that their was some bubbles coming to the surface, roughly in the position where the submarine had last been seen.

Then Tom ordered " Right stand by depth charges. Full ahead, we are attacking. They made two runs at maximum revolutions, and dropped two patterns of depth charges.

Sonar reported there were very distinct sounds of a ship breaking up, as the Captain studied the surface of the sea roughly where the U boat had last been seen, and where a big patch of oil and some debris had come to the surface followed by a couple of bodies .

HMS Summer Rose cruised over the oil patch, and picked up several pieces of the debris, which seemed to confirm that U199 had been sunk.

"Right Pilot." He said to the Sub lieutenant who was acting as navigator

"Give me a course to catch up with the convoy."

To the First Lieutenant he said. " Number one stand down action stations, and go to cruising stations, change watches as soon as you can, make sure that all hands have been fed. You go and eat, and relieve me as soon as you can. Ask the steward to send me up a sandwich and some coffee"

One of the problems that Tony had previously had, was that out of the four officers only himself and the First Lieutenant had watch keeping Certificates. . Now the new officers were both fairly competent to stand a watch on their own, but for now Lieutenant Macey, who was acting as the navigating officer, was officially the Officer of the watch, but Tony was not prepared to leave the bridge to a raw officer until the convoy was in sight. He knew full well the area would probably be infested with U boats and was unwilling to leave the bridge to any other officer.

He left the bridge when he was relieved by the First Lieutenant for a few moments and went down to his cabin for a quick shave and a change of clothes, and a quick breakfast. Returning to the bridge, he was just in time to hear the report come through "Radar bridge echo bearing Green five oh Sir, looks like two U Boats on the surface Range about 5000 yards unless its one of their big supply boats, I have heard talk about Sir."

Taking a quick look at the bridge repeater he ordered "Right Number One, come round on to the bearing Full ahead maximum revs, warn the engine room that with any luck we will shortly be engaging two U Boats on the surface, and I will need everything he can give me including his prayers". Soon HMS Summer Rose was pushing along at her top speed of sixteen knots."

Looking at that bearing through his binoculars he could not at first see anything, due to a slight morning haze. But gradually the two U boats came into view.

He looked again at the bridge repeater, and he could see the large blip on the screen was in fact now two slightly separated echoes and he said "It looks like two U Boats running parallel with one another, having a yarn on the surface while they charge their batteries. They know that there can be no enemy aircraft to worry about here, and they are not keeping a very good lookout behind them, so far they have not picked up that we are here yet. Load with HE, and wait for the order to open fire. I want to get as close as possible to make sure we get the bastards. An extra tot if you sink one, and two tots to the guns crew if you get both "

Quickly the hands were once again at action stations. The Captain steadied his glasses on the bridge rail and said "By god they have about twenty hands on the casing having a chat with each other, some of them are even drinking coffee."