Heilige Maria: The Death Ride of the High Seas Fleet

[Rorke]

October 24th, 1918
Berlin

An aide strides out of the meeting room in the Admiralty headquarters, sweating profusely. In his hand, he holds an order, an order that will decide the fate of the empire. He takes a handkerchief out of his tunic and dabs his forehead, quickening his pace as he heads to the telegraph room. In six days, the great fleets would clash once more in a battle to rival Jutland. The aide knows none of this, however: all he knows is that this order is of the utmost priority and secrecy, and that alone is enough to frighten him. He has a brother on the Derfflinger. After what seems to be an eternity, he reaches the communications room. He hands the order off to the officer in charge and hastily exits. He has just handed over the plan that will decide the war. A small wheel in a big machine that has been running for over four years, he does not know this. All he knows is that it involves the fleet, and by extension the Derfflinger. He utters a silent prayer and does a quick Hail Mary for the safety of the men in Kiel who, in just six short days, will set sail on a last ride towards destiny.

 

[Rorke]

October 30th, 1918
Schillig Roads

The crew is on the deck of the great battleship, the order was not well received. They demand the captain, and the captain obliges. He stands on the B turret, attempting to address the mutinying sailors. Shouted questions and taunts fly from the crowd.

"Why are we being sent to die?"

"The war is hopeless!"

The captain has no answers and as he tries to calm the men down, unrest such as that on the Markgraf is popping up on capital ships across the fleet. The general consensus is that executing the order would be a pointless endeavor. What is notable, however, is that the crews of the cruisers, destroyers, and smaller craft are loyal. They have an almost resigned attitude about them. The opinion of these crews is that a shot in the dark at victory was better at assured defeat. Realizing this, von Hipper orders crewmen from a few of the cruisers brought onto the capital ships to attempt to quell the unrest.

Somehow, the words of their brothers in arms calm the mutinous crews, and by the end of the day, most of the unrest was quelled. In his quarters on the Baden, Hipper breathes a sigh of relief and pours a drink from a bottle of schnapps. The main force would sail that evening. Already, the battlecruisers and light forces were raising steam and setting a course for the Thames estuary. As he contemplates the coming battle, he steels his resolve to see his orders out to the end. He is under no illusion that the fleet will fare well, and he could only hope to bloody the British bad enough to bring better terms for Germany. The empire now rests on his narrow shoulders.

 

[generalurist]

Is the loyalty of the smaller ship's crew OTL?

In any case ,this is a tragedy in the making. But this looks like it could be an interesting small TL.

 

[Rorke]

Is the loyalty of the smaller ship's crew OTL?

In any case ,this is a tragedy in the making. But this looks like it could be an interesting small TL.

The crews of the light forces remained loyal to the fleet IOTL.

 

[SsgtC]

Part of me wants to say it's doubtful the mutiny could be resolved that easily. But the rest of me really wants to read a TL where the High Seas Fleet says, "Fuck it, if we're going down, we're taking those Tommy bastards with us."

 

[DeutscheBratwurst]

Hmm that will be a quite wild ride and even if the british achieve 2 to 1 Kills the Navy will bleed massive in that fight. So they will be no surrender and Scuttling they will go down in Legends.

 

[Sargon]

Looks interesting if grim. Can't be a small thing to calm the nerves of the mutinous crews though with what they are expecting to face.

Interested to see how this pans out and what the fates of all will be.


Sargon

 

[Rorke]

October 31st, 1918
First Scouting Group
The North Sea
615 Hours

At the head of the line of battlecruisers, the Hindenburg slices her path through the waves. On her bridge, Admiral von Reuter sips from a mug of ersatz coffee, heavily laced with cream and sugar. He has been up since the previous morning, the stress of the situation forcing sleep to elude him. The coffee is the only thing keeping him awake and alert, something that is of foremost importance when you're in command of five battlecruisers. His thoughts drift to his home in Brandenburg when an ensign rushes onto the bridge. He holds a report from the submarine UB-93.

FROM LEUTNANT ZUR SEE FISCHER *STOP*
SPOTTED 11 LARGE WARSHIPS AT HIGH SPEED *STOP*
HEADED SE *STOP*
DIVING TO AVOID DETECTION *STOP*
GOD BLESS *STOP*

Reuter thanks God for the wonder of telegraphy and curses Scheer for making him the commander of the battlecruiser force.

"Relay that message to Hipper and signal the squadron, set course NW. We're going to meet the bastards head-on."

The ensign salutes and rushes out of the bridge as von Reuter drains his mug and places it on a table. The battle would commence. Ten minutes later, the Hindenburg unmasks her guns as the distant shape of the HMS Lion comes into view. The British ships do not react - the Germans have the drop on them. Hindenburg fires, her eight 12-inch rifles bellowing. The Battle of Terschelling has begun.

 

[BlackDragon98]

The end of the Kaiserreich is near.
Well, a glorious death in battle is better than being scuttled in Scapa Flow.

 

[Rorke]

October 31st, 1918
SM U-107
I. U-Boat Group
South of the Firth of Forth
615 Hours

Kapitainleutnant Siewert traverses his periscope, scanning the horizon for yet another time. He has been expecting to see Allied capital units for some time now, yet so far nothing. He is beginning to consider stepping away when he spots smoke. First from one gray shape, then another. Then a seemingly endless stream of warships, all headed south. Siewert shouts for the communications officer, who then relays a sighting report to Hipper. As the ships draw closer, he identifies and begins to create a firing solution on the lead ship.

"Battleship, 20 knots, about 5 kilometers out! Bearing 130!"

"Flood all tubes!"

Twenty seconds later, four torpedoes are on their way towards HMS Revenge. A minute after this, she begins to turn away from the torpedoes. Too late. Three strike her: two amidships and one astern. She staggers and falls out of line as the U-107 is swarmed by destroyers. She manages to get a final report out before her hull is shattered by depth charges. Despite the damage control crew's best efforts, water reaches Revenge's boilers. With a tremendous explosion, first her boilers and then her magazines detonate and she goes down leaving 256 dirty, struggling men in the water. They are picked up by HMS Valentine and taken back to Rosyth. The gears of battle begin to turn.

 

[BlackDragon98]

Kaiserreich: 1
UK: 0

 

[SsgtC]

And first blood goes to the Kaiserliche Marine

 

[Rorke]

October 31st, 1918
First Scouting Group
The North Sea
630-715 Hours

Shells arc through the sky as the great warships brawl. Already, HMS Lion has been struck by four shells from Hindenburg while Seydlitz and Moltke have received two and three hits respectively. As the British ships draw closer, the Germans first cross their T and then begin to turn away in order to avoid coming broadside to the British warships. Von der Tann is hit by two 15-inch shells from Glorious, wrecking her Y turret. In response, Glorious is completely wrecked by a salvo from Derfflinger, whatever pitiful excuse for armor she carried proving utterly useless in keeping out the heavy 12-inch shells of Derfflinger. She brews up, disappearing in a cloud of smoke and fire with all hands. Her sister, Courageous, plows into the pall and breaks her bow on the wreckage. She too falls victim to the Iron Dog's shellfire and soon she is holed and sinking by the bow. The engagement isn't going perfectly for the Germans, however, as Moltke falls victim to the concentrated fire of Princess Royal, Repulse and Tiger. She wilts under the hail of shellfire and is soon adrift and ablaze, her armor only able to do so much to protect her. The German ships turn away once again, doing their utmost to keep the range. Repulse staggers, her machinery spaces hit, while Seydlitz falls out of line and continues to circle towards the rear of the British Second Battlecruiser Squadron, her rudder jammed. The luck that had saved her at Jutland holds up and as she continues her involuntary circle she wrecks the HMAS Australia and causes some considerable damage to Inflexible. While the confused Second Squadron is ravaged by Seydlitz, Repulse is picked apart by Hindenburg as Lion has her A and B turrets knocked out. Derfflinger's X turret is wrecked in exchange as the German ships turn away once again, maintaining the T when Pakenham finally and belatedly orders his ships to break off pursuit. Reuter orders his ships to maintain contact but avoid closing with the British ships. It is at this time when Seydlitz, battered and burning and still on her uncontrolled turn, plows into the side of New Zealand. Both ships rapidly begin to sink. Reuter grimaces at this and begins to rescind his prior order to maintain contact when four massive splashes drench Princess Royal. Reuter turns and looks to the east. He exults, for Hipper has arrived.

 

[SsgtC]

Damn. So Glorious, Courageous and New Zealand are all sunk, Repulse, Australia and Inflexible are all heavily damaged (Repulse may actually be in a sinking condition) and Lion is somewhere between moderately and heavily damaged with half her main battery knocked out. That is a massive beating. And in return, the Germans have lost Moltke and Seydlitz with moderate damage to Derflinger and light to moderate damage to Von der Tann. Pretty safe to say that the BCF just got it's ass handed to it.

Edit to add: damage to the German ships seems suspiciously light though. They were outnumbered almost 2-to-1. I get they crossed the T, but they still should have taken more damage

 

[MetternichDidNothingWrong]

Seems to be going awfully well for a death ride. I presume that isn't going to stay the case, though.

 

[Rorke]

Seems to be going awfully well for a death ride. I presume that isn't going to stay the case, though.

Right on the money. The Grand fleet is still on its way and the U-Boats have shot their bolt.

 

[SsgtC]

Right on the money. The Grand fleet is still on its way and the U-Boats have shot their bolt.

Still, exchanging two U-Boats for Revenge is a pretty damn good trade.

 

[weasel_airlift]

Still, exchanging two U-Boats for Revenge is a pretty damn good trade.

Agreed. The RN made out very well not having to carry the Revenge into the treaties.

 

[RamscoopRaider]

Agreed. The RN made out very well not having to carry the Revenge into the treaties.

So instead of Revenge they keep Emperor of India, not seeing a positive there

Anyways that assumes the treaties occur as OTL, if the RN starts a major program to rebuild immediately, that butterflies the treaties as we know them. Like say restarting the last three Admirals to replace loses to the BCF, well that put 35,000 tons as out of reach, probably 40,000 tons and complicates everyone's calculations considerably

 

[Rorke]

October 31st, 1918
The North Sea
The High Seas Fleet
720 Hours

After taking a moment to evaluate his squadron, Reuter realizes that the damage to Von der Tann is worse than initially evaluated. He orders her detached and she makes an attempt to limp back to port. Repulse is sinking and Lion manages to slip away to the west. Hipper orders Reuter to not pursue the British battlecruisers, an order Reuter is glad to receive. Hipper then orders the fleet to continue northwest towards Rosyth to confront the Grand Fleet. The day was going well so far, much better than anticipated in fact. Hipper allowed himself that much self-congratulation. He knew what lay ahead, and he could only hope that he'd see similar results that Reuter saw.