The British Sea War

Ten minutes went by as the corvette quickly closed on their targets. The Captain ordered all guns open fire, when you are sure you are sure that you are close enough to hit them. Oerlikans concentrate on the casing, and the bridges stop them using the guns or diving if you can get within range"

It was about four minutes later that a seaman on the nearest U Boat casually turned round and saw them. From his actions they could see he was raising the alarm. Just then HMS Summer Rose opened fire, from that distance it was almost point blank range, and their first shot was just wide, but a few seconds later the second shot was a direct hit on the bridge conning tower of the nearest boat, and from then on shot after shot hit the U Boats. Later they reckoned that they had at least seven confirmed hits on the boats, before they had dived or sunk, leaving a number of men either dead or swimming in the water in the water. They had managed to get the U Boat numbers of U234 and U97 for the record.

"Stand by depth charges, set for fifty feet" the Captain ordered. As the Corvette raced across the spot where the U Boats had dived. The depth charges were fired. Almost immediately the order came Starboard 30, then midships, as soon as they were facing back to the spot where the depth charges had exploded.

"Reload and stand by for another attack" The Captain Tony Nash ordered. "But Sir the Midshipman said as he popped up from behind his chart table cover. "There are survivors in the water Sir."

"Yes Middie, and what do you think they would be doing to us if the roles were reversed. Remember all the Seaman that get machine gunned by these bastards in there life boats, before you speak to me about saving German seaman."

Just then the bows of one U boat came out of the water and then slid back again. The Sonar operator called up to the bridge. "Submarine breaking up on the Port bow sir."

"Any sign of the other U Boat." The captain asked.

"No sir, their has been too much noise. I think she is either dead or has crept away."

HMS Summer Rose moved round the area slowly for about ten minutes, when the Sonar reported. As the sea settled after the attack. The sonar operator reported. "We have two separate echo's sir both stationary quite close to one another. They seem to be on the bottom or near enough sir. They certainly are very deep."

The First Lieutenant had rejoined the Captain on the bridge from his action station aft. "I could drop another pattern of charges Number One, but we have a convoy to defend, and we are running short of charges . I think we have had a busy morning, and we can certainly claim two certain kills and one possible. Meanwhile lets see if we can pick up any survivors and get any evidence."

A quick search of the area picked up three bodies and one man who was still just alive. The two submarine contacts had not moved, all that was left was a large patch of oil on the surface, with some miscellaneous debris. An hour later, HMS Summer Rose broke off the search, and started her trip back to the convoy at full speed..

It was almost dark when Summer Rose reached the convoy, and Tom informed the Convoy Commodore of their successes. He then recommended to the Commodore that all the Merchant vessels who could make fourteen or more knots should be made to increase speed, and carry on. Any who could not make it should be left to make their own way at the best speed possible. When the order was passed, they found that all the ships after the previous nights attack in the convoy now found that they could maintain that speed and even a little more at times.. Even some of the damaged ships found they could keep up. No longer were they concerned about fuel economy

At fourteen knots they had a good chance of leaving the U Boats behind

Next Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Command Headquarters

In London the next morning it was as usual a cold wet morning as Second Officer Angela Nash made her way into the underground war room in Central London. She made her way carefully down the concrete steps, under a shop, that had formerly been a wine store, to the cellars well below ground. She showed her pass to the Royal Marine sentry at the bottom of the stairs, who checked her identity carefully, then she made her way into the map room. This was her place of duty for the next eight to twelve hours.

"Morning Angela." Commander Ronnie Parker muttered as Angela passed his desk, and went straight to the large wall map to look what was happening with Convoy AH122, She saw that the last news that they had received, was that the convoy was under attack by seven U Boats and that four Merchant Vessels had already been sunk or badly damaged in attacks the previous night.

She looked for HMS Summer Rose a flower class corvette on the map commanded by her brother Lieutenant Commander Tony Nash RN. He was also the senior officer of the escort.

To her dismay she saw that HMS Summer Rose was no longer with the convoy. She had broken down, and had been left far behind the rest. There was no further news from her. Angela gave a little gasp of distress, but her boss said "Don't worry Angela he is still out there, and he has not broken radio silence. Remember that no news can be good news."

It was later in the day that news came through about HMS Summer Rose and her kills. Back in the map room in London their were drinks all round, when the news came through that HMS Summer Rose had made two kills and one probable. Angela was quietly proud of her young brother, and she let every one know about it..

The weekly naval resource meeting was convened at the Admiralty two days later with C in C Western approaches The First sea lord, the Prime Minister and several other VIP's. Angie was requested as usual to take the minutes. Their faces were grim as they considered the statistics relating to the mounting losses of Merchant vessels in trans Atlantic Convoys.

The C in C Western Approaches commented apologetically "I am short of escorts sir, and the ones I have are undermanned, the ships companies are worn out. They are doing a fantastic job considering. We are fitting radar to all the new escorts that are being built, and the Canadians bless them, are building like crazy, but the U boats are still beating us. I am sending ships to sea with only two qualified watch keeping officers, and the Captains frequently are having to stand alternate watches as they give new officers more watch keeping experience."

"I know Roy, the Prime Minister said, but we have just got to hang in there. From what I hear there are still a few bright spots. The Nazi's are bombing the ports every night, and the city is taking a hammering. The RAF are doing their best but they are now in the process of rebuilding from the Battle of Britain"

"Can we not find a few bombers now and fit them with extra fuel tanks sir? If we could only use machine guns on the U Boats, even if we cannot carry depth charges, we could keep them dived as the U boats have to surface to charge their batteries. The First Sea Lord asked. "We are working on it as fast as we can. "The Canadians are working on new aircraft with larger fuel tanks, and they will be able to carry bombs or depth charges as well as the extra fuel.

Roosevelt is sending us a lot of help short of declaring war. We are buying a lot of World war one destroyers from him and we are getting a lot of volunteers from the Commonwealth and quite a few Yanks are also volunteering bless them.

We can build ships and guns given time, but it is the shortage of experienced man power that worries me most. We have to step up their training and increase the call up rate.."

The First Lord replied "We are training fast sir, but the men need experience. I am promoting our few experienced officers faster than the regulations allow. Some of our escorts are being commanded by schoolboys, we are so short of experienced officers."

The prime Minister then asked." What about that Corvette Summer Flower, or something like that, which sank three U boats the other day what's happened to that CO?"

"I am not sure at present sir."

Second Officer Angela Nash spoke up. "Excuse me sir, he is on his way back to Liverpool sir, and has just completed his eighth convoy to Halifax."

The First sea Lord burst out. "Young lady your job is to take minutes not to interrupt the meeting... but as a matter of interest "How do you know that?"

"He is my brother sir."

All eyes were on Angela by now. The Prime Minister said "You must be very proud of him?"

"I am sir. But he is only 25 and he is going grey with the strain. Its killing him." The First Lord said. "Young Lady will you make sure that his service papers are sent to me for my personal attention after the meeting"

The meeting went on as the plans for new Escort Carriers long range aircraft, and building new escort ships were explained. At the end of the meeting the Prime Minister caught hold of Angela's hand to stop her leaving and asked

"When is your brother due?

"He is due in Liverpool any time soon I believe Sir."

"Telephone him from me, and say the Prime Minister owes him, and all his ships Company his best wishes and thanks. I am proud of them."

It was at that meeting that the decision was made to move the convoy protection headquarters in Western Approaches to Liverpool and set up Western Command. . Her Boss told her I am recommending that you be transferred to the new HQ at Liverpool as you are experienced, and you will also be near your brother."

**********

Two days after the meeting a battered a and sea stained HMS Summer Rose proudly led the remains of the convoy into Liverpool Harbour, some had peeled off to go to other UK ports on the way. HMS Summer Rose had two kills proudly painted on to its funnel amidst the welcoming sound of sirens from other ships in harbour. There had been more non effective attacks on the convoy. The Convoy Commodore had cancelled the zig zags in favour of speed,, but the U boats did not have the speed or the ability to keep up with the fast convoy. Especially as they were now in range of coastal command aircraft

On the last leg of the convoy they were hit by a fierce Atlantic gale. The convoy had to reduce speed, as the small escorts had trouble keeping up in heavy weather, but only one more ship had been lost to U Boats. Even U boats found it very hard to operate in Atlantic storms.

On his return to Liverpool Tony was called to see the Admiral. The Admiral greeted him warmly, and congratulated him. " The good news Commander is that you have been put up for a gong. The Prime Minister has heard of your exploits, and asked your sister to convey his thanks and best wishes to you and your ships company. The bad news is, that I want you to tell me in our own words how it all happened.."

Tony a bit stunned at the news, went through the story from beginning to end. As he finished he said "Everything I did sir was by the book. I came across some very lazy and incompetent Jerries all in one place at one time. I was lucky."

"No Commander you were not just lucky, you showed that you know what you are doing given that situation. You took all the right actions. We are now looking at ways of closing that black hole, where we do not have aircraft cover, have you any suggestions?."

"Well sir we must definitely have aircraft with a longer range. The sooner the better. If we can keep the U Boats dived, they can not attack the convoy so often. The first priority is to stop them recharging their batteries, but I also think we should have a few ships that go looking for the U boats, and attack them before they can get at us, we should not be just so bloody defensive all the time."

"Do you think we should drop an escort back behind the convoys deliberately to try your trick again?" He asked.

"It may well work a couple of times Sir, but the Jerries are not fools. We would soon find those ships being torpedoed. We could probably do much better with a group of fast escorts that could go and search for the U Boats before the convoy gets in the area then attack the U Boats or at least keep them dived, and give them a few headaches.

"How about aircraft carriers with convoys."

"Could work sir, but as you know they are big targets for a U Boat. If I was a U Boat commander I would go for the Aircraft Carrier as my first target, but I did think later that a Submarine lying dived, might just get away with the same trick that we did quite a few times, and they would have the benefit of not being seen. They would also know that any other submarines in the area had to be an enemy. The Germans would not be able to find and attack another submarine when it is dived so easily. They would have to be acutely aware that there were other U boats in the area and would be frightened of sinking friends if they fired torpedoes blind.". That's a thought." He rang a bell and a Wren officer came in, and the Admiral asked her to locate Captain Howard and ask him to come straight here."

A few minutes later the Captain arrived and was introduced to Tony. The Admiral explained Tony's idea, and their was a lot of questions and then the Admiral explained " We have to do something quickly, as we can not sustain these losses for much longer. Captain Howard is the man that is charged with looking at anti U Boat operations. It is his job to coordinate and to look at any ideas that come to hand."

Captain Howard then said "If we sail a submarine with the convoy it will not be popular with the Merchant vessel Captains, but I think the idea might just work with the right men on the job, at least for a time. The idea is simple, and straight forward. Yes I will have a chat with the Submarine chappies "

It was later confirmed that HMS Summer Rose should be credited with three kills. For the next six months HMS Summer Rose went back to war, escorting convoy after convoy with very little rest in between convoys. She managed two more kills in that time

During the following months his First Lieutenant left to take command of another corvette. Both his lieutenants were posted to other ships and replaced with green recruits. However, the time came when Summer Rose had to go into dock for a major refit, and to have new weapons added to her armament. It would be a long job, and the ships company were drafted to other ships except for the new First Lieutenant and the Chief Engineer and a few other key ratings.

Tony was sent on an anti submarine command course at HMS Osprey in Portland, and then given some well earned leave pending reappointment. He had been told that he was to take command of one of the new sloops that were being built. These boats would have four four inch guns, Pom Poms and a large number of Oerlikons. He was goingto be attached to one of the new escort groups, that could be used for escort work but would be primarily used for U Boat hunting.

Coastal command would shortly be using some Lancaster bombers with extra fuel tanks, which would give them a much longer range. One or two of them were to be fitted with new anti submarine weapons still in the experimental stage, and radar and the Admiralty had commandeered several Merchant vessels that were to be converted to escort aircraft carriers. These would sail with convoys and provide essential air cover.

But on the 7th May 1941 a bit of overdue luck fell into their hands, the U Boat codes had fallen into British hands when HMS Bulldog captured the U Boat U110. Before she could sink, they managed to board her, and seize the Enigma coding machine and the confidential papers and code books.

U110 was taken in tow, but sunk before she could reach harbour, but as far as the British were concerned, this waa a big turning point in helping to contain the U Boat menace. However, these codes had to be used with discretion, as overuse of them could have tipped the Germans off to the fact that they were in British hands.

CHAPTER 5

A new Command

Back in Liverpool after several weary days in London, then on a course at Portland a very weary Lt Cdr Tony Nash DSO entered the bar. He recognised Heather, Freda's friend straight away. She smiled at him, and he had to admit she was looking lovely, and had obviously taken very great care over her appearance. He could sense from her behaviour that she had been drinking, and had been at the bar for some time. She was not drunk, but her reaction seemed rather more friendly than normal towards him.

Tony smiled at her but did not speak until he had ordered his drink, deciding not to offer her one, as she had a full one in front of her anyway, and then he looked at her. He was going to ask her where Freda his girlfriend was, as he had called at her house and left his kit there, and she was not there. He knew that Heather had the misfortune of being married to that bastard of a husband who happened to be Tony's past immediate superior officer, and Flotilla commander, so he could understand her need to break out occasionally.

She was looking at him in a sort of funny way, and looking him up and down with her mouth open, and her tongue licking her lower lip. She gave him a smile and said.

"Hi darling my names Heather."

"My names Tony!" he responded. "And I know your name, and you know mine full well"

"Of course I do - you are the lucky bastard who was fucking my mate Freda. The lucky bitch. Can I join you, but I warn you I am a little bit pissed?."

"Of course you can." Tony responded.

"It's good to see you again Tony." she said. "Long time no see" .

She sat down a little closer to him than was necessary, and sort of leaned against him. "Put your arms round me please. Tony. I am cold and this place is bloody freezing."

The fire in the bar had not been lit, and the bar man apologize. "It's because of the coal rationing sir".

Heather was looking at him real droopy-like. Tony thought her eyes had that sort of 'come hither look' which many women used when trying to pick a man up. Tony was rather angry, at not being able to find Freda, so if she wanted a cuddle, and a kiss he was not averse to a bit of fun, so he put his arms round her, and the next thing he knew she was leaning against him seemingly fast asleep. The bar man was mopping the bar, looked down at her and said. "You will be alright there tonight mate, her old man has kicked her out, so she says, she has just checked in, and has a room upstairs."

Tony suddenly felt sorry for Heather, He had always liked her before when he had met her with Freda, and he could understand her distress if her husband had kicked her out. Her husband had been the Flotilla Leader for the Fifth Escort Group. From Tony's experience he was a man with a short temper and very hard to please.

However, he now knew that was a thing of the past. He had been informed whilst in London that he was to be promoted to a full Commander, and put in as half leader of a new Flotilla which comprised one of the new Frigates now under construction.

Tony asked the bar man "What room is she in?" "She is a friend of mine and the wife of my ex CO." The bar was not busy so he said. "I will give you a hand with her mate" He fetched a key from behind the bar, and between them they carried her up to her room on the first floor.

As they lay her on the bed she opened her eyes. In a very soft sexy voice she said "Thanks Tony."

The bar man left, and Tony saw him out the door, he made her a cup of black coffee, from the meagre rations in the cupboard, and when he turned round to give it to her, he saw that she had already completely undressed except for a pair of scanty panties and he was looking at one very glamorous naked lady. She was now showing no signs of being the worse for drink but was smiling happily at him. "Like what you see Tony dear?" She said as he handed her the mug of coffee.