AHTL:Vox Non Incerta

[HMS Audacious]

14th September 1939

The opening shots of the longest campaign of World War 2 begins with U-39 firing four torpedoes at the aircraft carrier Ark Royal. Luckily, all four detonate early. The destroyers escorting Ark Royal manage to drive the U-boat deep while Ark Royal launches two Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers carrying two depth charges each and vectors them onto the U-boat. Both swordfish drop their depth charges successfully. Instead of sinking, the U-boat surfaces. The crew are taken prisoner, but not before the crew scuttle the U-39.

Three days later, on the 17th, the Royal Navy’s luck runs out when U-29 fires three torpedoes at HMS Courageous west of the English Channel. Two detonate early, but the third hits the carrier, causing the carrier to slow to 12 knots. U-29 escapes, hounded by two of the four destroyers escorting Courageous. Her two remaining escorts shepherd the stricken carrier into Davenport Harbour. With 78 dead and 130 injured, the carrier is immediately dry-docked and repairs to the hull are started. The goal is to get her repaired as fast as possible.

The immediate result is that all fleet carriers are taken from ASW operations.

 

[sonofpegasus]

thank god for small mercies, not losing Corageous and here deck crew is a major bonus ITTL.

 

[HMS Audacious]

22nd September 1939

The Royal Navy gets revenge of sorts for the 78 dead and 130 injured. The destroyers HMS Fortuna and Forrester sink U-27, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Franz, off the West coast of Scotland. The u-boat is lost with all hands, becoming the first submarine sunk in the war.

On the 25th September, the Royal Navy fights its first air battle when a Do 18 maritime recon aircraft is shot down by an 803 Squadron Gloster Goshawk from operating from Ark Royal. The next day, Ark Royal joins a Home Fleet force to cover the recovery of the submarine HMS Spearfish, which was severely damaged in the Central North Sea. While covering the rescue, she is attacked by Junkers Ju 88 from KG 30. Most of the bombs miss, but one bomb hits HMS Hood, bounces off her deck, and detonates close to her, killing five of her anti-aircraft gunners. Three Goshawk on combat air patrol manage to get in amongst the bombers and shoot three down at the cost of all three Goshawks taking damage from the bombers’ defensive fire.

By 21st September, British intelligence learns through traffic analysis that two powerful German commerce raiders, the Graf Spee and Deutschland, are at sea. The Admiralty sends the carrier HMS Glorious, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, and the cruisers Ajax,Exeter, and Achilles after them.

 

[HMS Audacious]

7th October 1939

The German Naval staff, concerned about the mounting pressure on the two pocket battleships, orders units of the German fleet, led by the battlecruiser Sharnhorst, along with the light cruiser Koln and nine destroyers to sortie towards the southern coast of Norway. The plan is to draw the Home Fleet across a line of four U-boats and into the range of land-based bombers of the Luftwaffe.

As soon as Admiral Forbes learns that the major units of the Kriegsmarine are attempting to break out into the North Atlantic, he issues orders for his main units to head north-east of the Shetlands, where they could cover the exits to the Atlantic. These were the battleships Rodney and Nelson, the battlecruisers Hood and Renown, the cruisers Aurora, Sheffield, and Newcastle, the carrier Furious, and twelve destroyers.

During the night, HMS Furious, HMS Renown, HMS Sheffield, and four destroyers detach from the battle group and head south towards southern Norway. At daybreak, Furious turns into the wind and launches four Goshawks for combat air patrol and four Swordfish on 100-mile search patterns. At 1015, a Swordfish spots the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst and the three destroyers escorting her. The Swordfish manage to make a sighting report before a Ju 88 flying a recon mission sends it spiralling towards the water. HMS Furious receives the sighting report and launches 30 Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers carrying torpedoes. The Swordfish are ordered to put as many torpedoes into the Scharnhorst and Koln as possible.

11:10

On board Scharnhorst, Vice Admiral Lutjens orders the group to retreat to Kiel and to get back under Luftwaffe air cover. With the Swordfish having missed their chance to deal a blow to the Germans, they return to Furious. The operation is fruitless, and with the Germans under fighter protection, Admiral Arthur Dowding retreats back to Loch Ewe. During all this, both the RAF and Luftwaffe bombers fail to find their targets, and by the 11th of October, both the Krigesmarine and the Home Fleet are safely back in port.

 

[HMS Audacious]

On the night of the 13/14th October
U-47, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Gunther Prein, sneaks through the defences of Scapa Flow and at 00:27 enters Scapa Flow proper. Kapitanleutnant Prein spots the battleship Royal Oak, the heavy cruiser Norfolk, and the seaplane carrier Pegasus which Prein mistakes for a battlecruiser of the Renown class as only the bow is visible.

At 01:03, Prein orders for two torpedoes to be fired at Royal Oak. The first one runs deep and misses, but the second hits the bow. The crew wake up thinking that there has been an explosion in the magazines. Thirty men are sent to investigate the damage. The rest of the crew are ordered to battle stations.

Prien fires his last two bow torpedoes at Royal Oak. Both hit, blowing out her hull and setting a fire in her powder magazines. HMS Belfast, anchored 5 miles away with half power, gets her crew to battle stations and slips her moorings when the second torpedo hits Royal Oak. Armour piercing shells are brought up from Belfast's magazines and loaded within 2 minutes. Prein orders a 180° turn and that reload the bow tubes are reloaded. As U-47 turns, Prein orders the stern tubes to be fired at Norfolk. One torpedo fails to hit Norfolk due to detonating prematurely, while the second hits Norfolk but explodes on the armour belt. With the bow tubes needing to be reloaded, Prein fires his last stern torpedo at Royal Oak, but it runs deep and explodes prematurely. U-47 turns 180° and fires a torpedo that has been reloaded from the bow tubes at what Prein believes to be a Renown-class battlecruiser. It runs straight and true, hitting the bow and causing problems for the Pegasus. Most of the crew start to evacuate from Royal Oak. All the boy sailors are evacuated, along with Rear Admiral Henry Blargrove and most of the crew apart from thirty men trying to get the damage under control. HMS Belfast, already at 18 knots and closing fast on U-47 starts to fire her primary armament of 12 6-inch guns at U-47. The first salvo misses to port, but the second salvo brackets U-47. Prein orders a hard turn towards Belfast and a dive to fifty feet. With the bow tubes needing to be reloaded, Prein orders the tubes to be reloaded as fast as possible. Belfast's Captain G.A. Scott orders a hard turn to avoid U-47’s probable torpedoes as Belfast turns her 12 6-inch guns towards U-47. With only one of the bow tubes reloaded, Prien fires one torpedo at Belfast which is closing fast at 25 knots. Captain Scott carefully combs the torpedo track and fires a full broadside. Six shells miss while another three shots bracket the U-boat, which is turning to flee from the cruiser out for revenge.

With the reloading of Belfast's main battery complete in under 8 seconds, Captain Scott orders a hard turn to follow the U-boat. The front two triple turrets fire. Three shells from A turret bracket the fleeing U-boat, and one of the three shells from B turret hits the conning tower, damaging it. Unable to submerge, U-47 tries to escape while surfaced. Unfortunately for Prein, the damage is too great. Prein orders the crew to abandon the U-boat, already sitting low in the water due to the damage from the shells missing too close to the U-boat.

14th October 1939

With Belfast picking up the crew of Pegasus and the remaining damage control teams on Royal Oak evacuated, Rear Admiral Henry Blargrove, on Belfast's bridge, receives word that the fires are out but the Royal Oak is too severely damaged. Pegasus is too damaged to be saved.

With both crews either in life boats or on Belfast, The light cruiser returns to her berth, where the crews of Royal Oak and Pegasus are taken off. Belfast heads for U-47 to take the crew prisoner. She managed to recover most of the crew, but some have succumbed to severe hypothermia. Prein is plucked from the water but is suffering from shock.

A brave Scotsman tries to make it on board the U-boat and grab the Enigma code machine and the code books before the U-47 sinks underneath the cold waters of Scapa Flow. Unfortunately for the RN, U-47 sinks underneath the cold waters before the sailor can get on board.

 

[HMS Audacious]

14th October 1939

While leaving the Admiralty, Sir Dudley Pound slips and misplaces his left foot on a step, falling down two steps and dislocating his left hip. His doctor is overheard that the admiral’s tumor is getting worse. When he has a full checkup, Admiral Pound is told about the tumor. He has to step down as First Sea Lord or the stress will kill him.

Pound steps down as First Sea Lord later that day. C-in-C Home Fleet Admiral Forbes is promoted to First Sea Lord, while Rear Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser becomes the Third Sea Lord after Rear Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson dies. One of the first things that Admiral Forbes and Rear Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser do is review the Lion-class battleships currently under construction, along with the next batch of carriers. It is found that only one of the proposed Lion class is currently on schedule, while the other five have been suspended. The new carriers are to be built to 32,000-tonne design, with two full length hangers at a height of 17.5 feet.

17th October 1939

Aircraft from KG 30 attack Scapa Flow. The depot ship Iron Duke, two salvage ships trying to raise U-47, and the aircraft carrier HMS Furious are present, along with the cruiser Edinburgh and the destroyers Fortuna and Forrester.

Five Goshawk fighters from the airfield near Kirkwall are launched to intercept the five Ju 88 bombers, the Goshawks led by Lieutenant Eric Brown. LT Brown manages to get in close to the Ju 88s and shoots one down in a hail of 20 mm cannon fire. The others manage to line up their bombing runs on the aircraft carrier HMS Furious.

Two other Goshawks manage to damage and disrupt the Ju 88s’ bombing runs. One manages to drop their bombs towards Furious. One bomb hits Furious and others miss, causing shock damage to the elderly carrier. The bombers, now lighter, dive for the deck and try to escape, but one of the Goshawks dive on a bomber and sends it spiraling down in flames, much to the cheering of the crew of Furious.

The damage to Furious is not as severe as first thought, but the carrier will be in dry dock for a while as the bomb went through the deck and into the hangar. Fortunately, the bomb did not explode.

 

[HMS Audacious]

The next batch of Hercules engine, the Hercules II, is capable of producing 1350hp. It is hoped that the Gloster Goshawk will be able to reach speeds of 370 mph in level flight. The Ministry of Aircraft Production sets up a shadow factory for Bristol to increase production of the engines for the Gloster Goshawk Mk.II and the Fairey Albacore Mk.I. Bristol starts tinkering with the Taurus engine that it has been struggling to get more power from. It is hoped that the Taurus III engine will be available for the Blackburn Skua Mk.II.

With the Illustrious class launched and the three Indomitable subclass nearly complete, it is hoped that the Mk.II Goshawk will be in full production by early to mid 1940.

 

[HMS Audacious]

22nd October

U-boats U-10 and U-50 enter the new home of the Royal Navy at Loch Ewe. Their mission is to lay the new magnetic mine. It is hoped that this manages to damage ships entering and leaving.

Unfortunately for the U-boats, the destroyers HMS Hunter and Hardy are at battle stations. The ASDIC of both destroyers manages to find U-10 and U-50. HMS Hunter increases speed to 20 knots as guns from the shore fire star shells, illuminating the entire loch.

Hunter’s crew start to prepare for a depth charge run. As Hunter starts dropping depth charges, both U-boats turn and try to escape from the ASW destroyer. U-50 runs aground while trying to move out of the depth charges. U-10 manages to escape into the Irish sea. HMS Hunter manages to rescue some of the crew from U-50.

 

[HMS Audacious]

3rd November 1939

HMS Belfast is hit by a mine in the Firth of Forth. Luckily, it causes minimum damage. The Admiralty puts an initial order for 150 Gloster Goshawk Mk.II as well as an initial order for the Blackburn Skua Mk.II.

The first King George V-class battleship is launched. It is hoped that she, along with the newly launched Illustrious class, will form the start of the Royal Navy’s fast battle group along with the Town-class light cruisers Liverpool and Newcastle along with four M-class destroyers as escort.

 

[roachbeef]

Spoiler: edits

17th October 1939

Aircraft from KG 30 attack Scapa flow. The depot ship Iron Duke, two salvage ships trying to raise U-47, and the aircraft carrier HMS Furious are present, along with the cruiser Edinburgh and the destroyers Fortuna and Forrester.

Five Goshawk fighters from the airfield near kirkwall Kirkwall are launched to intercept the five juJu 88 bombers, the Goshawks leadled by lieutenantLieutenant Eric Brown. LT Brown manages to get in close to the Ju 88s and shoots one down in a hail of 20-mm cannon fire. The others manage to line up their bombing runs on the aircraft carrier HMS Furious.

Two other Goshawks manage to damage and disrupt the Ju 88s' bombing runs. One manages to drop there bombs towards Furious. One bomb hits Furious and others miss causing shock damage to the elderly carrier. The bombers, now lighter, dive for the deck and try to escape, but one of the Goshawks dive on a bomber who and sends it spiraling down in flames, much to the cheering of the crew of Furious.

The damage to Furious is not as severe as first thought, but the carrier will be in dry dock for a while as the bomb goeswent through the deck and into the hanger. Fortunately, the bomb doesn'tdidn't explode.

With the increase of power from the next batch of Hercules mk 2 engine provides. The next batch of Hercules engines, the MKHercules 2, is capable of producing 1350hp. itIt is hoped that the Gloster Goshawk will be able to reach speeds of 370 mph in level flight. The Ministry of Aircraft Production sets up a shadow factory for Bristol to increase production for the Gloster Goshawk mkMk.II and the Fairey Albacore mk IMk.I. Bristol starts tinkering with the Taurus engine that it has been struggling to get more power from. It is hoped that the mk 3 Taurus engine will be available for the Blackburn Skua mk IIMk.II.

With the Illustrious class launched and the three Indomitable sub classsubclass nearly complete, it is hoped that the MK IIMk.II Goshawk will be in full production by early to mid 1940.

22nd October

U-boats U-10 and U-50 enter the new home of the Royal Navy at Loch Ewe. ThereTheir mission is to lay the new magnetic mine. It is hoped that this manages to damage ships entering and leaving.

Unfortunately for the U-boats, the destroyers HMS Hunter and Hardy are at battle stations. The ASDIC of both destroyers manages to find U-10 and U-50. HMS Hunter increases speed to 20 knots as guns from the shore fire star shells, illuminating the entire loch.

Hunter's crew start to prepare for a depth charge run. As Hunter starts dropping depth charges, both U-boats turn and try to escape from the ASW destroyer. U-50 runs aground while trying to move out of the depth charges. U-10 manages to escape into the Irish sea. HMS Hunter manages to rescue some of the crew from U-50.

I love the story so far. I hate being "that guy," but I would like to point out some recurring errors I noticed:

• You need to italicize ship names. For example, HMS Furious.
• I notice that you're using present tense to write the story. In that case, you still need to use past tense for events that have happened before the one you are currently describing.
• While British vehicles and engines tend to have the Mk.? suffix, the engines seemed to be named as Hercules I, Hercules II, etc.
• You should add commas in sentences to help pace readers where appropriate. How to do that is kinda complex, so maybe use the Grammarly extension or something similar.

 

[HMS Audacious]

I love the story so far. I hate being "that guy," but I would like to point out some recurring errors I noticed:

• You need to italicize ship names. For example, HMS Furious.
• I notice that you're using present tense to write the story. In that case, you still need to use past tense for events that have happened before the one you are currently describing.
• While British vehicles and engines tend to have the Mk.? suffix, the engines seemed to be named as Hercules I, Hercules II, etc.
• You should add commas in sentences to help pace readers where appropriate. How to do that is kinda complex, so maybe use the Grammarly extension or something similar.

Thank you for help

 

[HMS Audacious]

12th November 1939

A large convoy departs from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to its destination—Liverpool. Part of the convoy is 10,000 Canadian troops in three passenger liners. Escorting them are the battleship Revenge, 8 N-class destroyers as ASW escort, and 4 Tribal-class destroyers.

17th November 1939

With the convoy nearing the Western Approaches, it's spotted by U-10 under the command of Kapitan Georg Wilhelm Shultz. Shultz shadows the convoy till dusk falls. He plans to enter past the escort screen and sink the fuel tankers.

On board HMS Neptune, the ASDIC operator who is half asleep, suddenly hears the sound of high-speed screws which can be from one thing: a torpedo. The torpedo impacts the tanker St. Stephen, blowing it in half and lighting up the convoy.

HMS Nero's crew, who sees the St. Stephen blow up, starts a search pattern looking for the U-10.

U-10 fires its second and third torpedos at HMS Revenge. They hit amidships, causing problems with the engine room and slowing her to 14 knots. HMS Cossack's Captain Phillip Vian increases speed and fires a star shell, then charges straight towards the surfaced U-boat. Shultz calls for a crash dive as Cossack fires another star shell.

As U-10 dives to 75 feet, HMS Noone starts a depth charge run, setting the depth charges for 75 feet. The first two depth charges explode short of 75 feet, forcing the submerged U-10 deeper to 150 feet. The next set of depth charges are dropped directly over the U-boat. U-10 sinks to the bottom of the Western Approaches with all hands.

HMS Revenge, now at 14 knots, sends off a request for air support to cover the convoy.

 

[HMS St.Lawrence]

Sub! Always interesting to see another take at the FAA in WW2. Have you yet decided when you're going to end the story?

Looking at them, the Goshawks deployed in the Far East are likely to suffer from some friend-fire, it almost looks like Mitsubishi copied the airframe!

 

[CV(N)-6]

This looks interesting.

 

[Zheng He]

You’ve been busy.

 

[HMS Audacious]

17th October 1939

An RAF Short Sunderland flying boat, armed with four depth charges and countless machine guns, takes off from Ireland and heads towards HMS Cossack’s location.

U-21, also in the Western Approaches, closes on the convoy. The Short Sunderland finds the U-21 on the surface and fires its 7.7 mm machine guns at the U-boat, forcing it to dive away from the machine gun fire. Unfortunately for the U-boat, the kapitanleutnant is hit by a 7.7 mm machine gun bullet. The XO drags him into the fast submerging U-boat.

The flying boat drops its four depth charges on the U-boat, splitting the U-boat in half. It's the RAF’s first un-assisted U-boat kill of the war. The Sunderland continues onwards towards the convoy.

18th November 1939

With the convoy safely in the Mersey estuary, the Revenge enters dry dock for repairs.

 

[Zheng He]

HMS Revenge, now at 18 knots, sends off a request for air support to cover the convoy.

Those Rs were hard pressed to sustain 18 knots in the best conditions. Is that realistic after one takes a couple of fish?

 

[HMS Audacious]

HMS Revenge, now at 18 knots, sends off a request for air support to cover the convoy.

Those Rs were hard pressed to sustain 18 knots in the best conditions. Is that realistic after one takes a couple of fish?

10 knots would be more realistic.

 

[naraic]

HMS Revenge, now at 18 knots, sends off a request for air support to cover the convoy.

Those Rs were hard pressed to sustain 18 knots in the best conditions. Is that realistic after one takes a couple of fish?

I think hms revenge was generally in decent condition compared to her sister ships. The one reference I can find to her pushing her engines in 1940 she managed 21.5 knots.

I also think 2 torpedoes was mentioned rather than 3 however I do agree that 18 knots is rather generous.

 

[HMS Audacious]

20th November 1939

Cape Town

Force G, consisting of the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, the heavy cruisers Exeter and Cumberland, and the light cruisers Ajax and Achilles (the latter from New Zealand) are in port refuelling and replenishing. As part of her replenishment, HMS Glorious gets her first Goshawk fighters to replace her Sea Gladiators. She also embarks 12 more Fairey Swordfish. Fortunately, the weather is good and calm, so some of the Goshawks are tied to outrigger.

22nd November 08:30

Force G leaves Cape Town. As soon as they clear the harbour, the first of a flight of four Goshawk launches from the deck on a search pattern. Another two are launched on a combat air patrol over the fleet.

11:00

The first Goshawk spots a dark shape 150 miles from the coast of South Africa on its outbound search pattern. Force G has found the Graf Spee. The Goshawk sends a short radio message: *1 pocket battleship range 150 course 095*.

A flight of 21 Swordfish are armed with torpedoes, while 12 Skua dive bombers are armed with a single 500 lb armour piercing bomb each. The first to launch are the Swordfish. Last to launch are the Skua dive bombers.