“Hear that boys?” he said. “Now we get to earn our keep. Let’s hope Wolfgang has sharp eyes today. We’ve waited a long time to get our hands on the British.” He was referring to the forward gun director where Wolfgang Fuchs would be sending him his targeting data. His job was to see that the turret was properly trained and sighted, the guns elevated to make the appropriate range, and the big shells properly chambered for firing. Faust was the best in the fleet, scoring more hits in gun trials in the Baltic than any other turret, or any man before him. He had put a good many target barges under the sea, and now he wanted to test his hand against a real enemy ship. Pounding the airfield on the Faeroes was nothing more than a throat clearing operation, as far as he was concerned.
The red light glinted off the dome of his large bald head, for he never wore his cap when it came time for action, and he often removed his coat, particularly when things got hot in the turret during a fast paced gunnery trial. He had served aboard Bismarck when that ship went through trials, but was glad to be selected to this prominent post aboard Hindenburg. He and Hans Hartmann in Bruno Turret were the forward might of the battleship, and would most likely be the first to fire given the approach they were making.
High above in the bridge, Klaus Jaeger was watching his radar for any signs of the enemy fleet, and he was soon able to report his first contact.
“Radar contact, bearing 140, south by southeast at thirty-five kilometers. Hydrophone confirms.”
“ Bismarck sees it as well, sir,” said Adler looking at a message just handed to him by a breathless signalman. The other ship was alongside now, moving ahead to take the vanguard of the two ship German group. About two kilometers off their port side they could see the shadowy silhouettes of the French ships. The heavy cruiser Colbert was leading, followed by Strausbourg, Normandie and Dunkerque in the main battle line. Another heavy cruiser, Algerie, cruised with the light cruisers Marseilles and Jean de Vienne off the forward port quarter of this line, and three fitful cats, Lynx, Tigre and Panthere were fanned in front of this formation as a destroyer screen.
There were two other ships in the French Fleet still unscathed by the missile strike. Destroyer Aigle was attending the wounded light cruiser La Galissonniere, which was still struggling to put out fires and retiring to the nearest German controlled port in Greece, along with the survivors of the X-3 missile attack. The last ship was one of the five superb large fast destroyers, Indomitable, which were really a light cruiser class vessel given their size. Capable of 45 knots, it was the fastest ship ever built, and had been assigned to assist as a screening ship for the German carrier Goeben.
“We should sight them soon,” said Lutjens. “You may signal Bismarck and tell Lindemann that he has a free hand and may fire at his discretion.”
“You will not reserve the honor of the first salvo for Hindenburg?” Adler gave Lutjens a searching look.
“Kapitan Adler, it is not the first salvo that matters, but the last.”
The Admiral tipped his officer’s cap, then strode out onto the weather deck to use his field glasses. Soon he heard the watch on the mainmast call out the alarm, ship ahead, and he knew a fateful hour had come. This ship was conceived and designed long ago, built over many years by artisans from all over Germany. It had the latest guns, the best Krupp steel armor that the nation could provide. Then it spent months working out in trials before making its daring breakout at a place the British least expected. All that comes down to this hour, he thought. We build these ships at enormous cost, invest them with as much national pride as anything else. They steam and sail and we proudly thump our chest. But when it comes to the bottom line, it is a single hour like the one before me now that really matters.
It is surprising to me that I even find myself here at this moment, in the Mediterranean Sea! Kurt Hoffmann did his job well, he thought. The British have learned to fear the Twins, and as soon as they got wind that Scharnhorst was at large and heading for the Denmark Strait, they reacted just as we expected and moved their heavy ships too far west. That allowed me to stride right through the Faeroes gap, shelling that airfield as we went. By the time the British realized what was happening, they could only get one ship south after us, HMS Invincible. That is the one ship I must be wary of. It matches me in armor, firepower, and even betters me in speed. Is it out there today?
