The Kreigsmarine Gets Wings: V2.0

Chapter Three
On June 8, 1940, the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were attacked by Swordfish from the HMS Glorious in the Norwegian Sea. The two battlecruisers survived the attack, but were forced to turn back towards Norway due to torpedo damage. In return, the German AA gunners were able to shoot down three Swordfish.

In July 1940, the Luftwaffe began a campaign to neutralize the Royal Air Force in preparation for Operation Sealion, the planned invasion of Great Britain. The Kriegsmarine had a plan for its contribution to the campaign-a raid on the Royal Navy anchorage at Scapa Flow to ensure that the Royal Navy could not foil the invasion.

Graf Zeppelin and Peter Strasser set out from Hamburg on September 1, with three destroyers on screening duty. They reached striking distance on the morning of September 3. The two carriers launched a total of 36 Fi-167s, 20 Bf-109s, and 22 Ju-87s. Before loading the bombs, the crew painted Rache für Scapa Flow-"Revenge for Scapa Flow"-on the bombs, referring to the sinking of the German fleet in Scapa Flow 21 years earlier. The fact that the ships were scuttled by the Germans and not the British was apparently lost on them.

However, the British were well prepared, and the German pilots found themselves flying into a storm of Spitfires. The British managed to shoot down 27 Fi-167s, 15 Bf-109s, and 18 Ju-87s. In return, the Germans managed to down 10 Spitfires. AA fire claimed a further two Fi-167s and one Ju-87.

The German assault was not entire fruitless, however. A Ju-87 managed to plant a 550 lb bomb on the destroyer HMS Acasta. The bomb hit detonated the magazine for her B turret, causing her to break in two and sink, taking 120 men with her. Also, the old battleship HMS Revenge took four torpedoes in her port side and sank with the loss of 600 men. In addition, the battleship HMS Nelson took one bomb to her bridge, and the heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk took one torpedo to her bow.

In the end, the two carriers's air wings were almost totally annihilated, and all they had to show for it was a destroyer and an old and obsolete battleship. The raid on Scapa Flow was judged an operational failure.
 
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nice work.
looks like the germans need better air craft for their carriers.
I am surprised that the Germans did not have a raid of Bf 110 and Ju 88 from Norway as a diversion for the spitfires.
 
nice work.
looks like the germans need better air craft for their carriers.
I am surprised that the Germans did not have a raid of Bf 110 and Ju 88 from Norway as a diversion for the spitfires.

Coordinating that would be a pain, I think.

The air-air kill ratio seems a bit loopsided, I'd expect the 109's to score a few more kills, what with the Spits focusing on the bombers. But it's still a good description.

Anyone knows the status of the radar network around Scapa, around this time of the war?
 
Chapter Four
The failure to break Britain's air and naval forces led Hitler to postpone Operation Sealion indefinitely. In the mean time, Germany turned its attention to North Africa and the Mediterranean.

On November 11, the Royal Navy launched Operation Judgement, an attack on a Regia Marina anchorage at Taranto by Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from HMS Illustrious. The bombers attacked at night with the aid of radar. One Italian battleship was sunk and two more were severely damaged, along with two heavy cruisers.

On May 18 1941, the Kriegsmarine began Operation Rheinübung, their latest plot to destroy British shipping and force the UK into surrender. Under the command of Admiral Günther Lütjens, the battleship Bismarck would sail into the Atlantic with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen to conduct raids on Britain's merchant marine. Because the primary purpose of the mission was commerce raiding, the crew of the Bismarck was instructed not to engage enemy warships unless they absolutely had to. Bismarck sailed from Gotenhafen in the early morning hours of May 19, joining Prinz Eugen at 11:25. On the afternoon of May 20, the Swedish cruiser Gotland spotted the two ships in the Kattegat. The crew of Gotland relayed their find to the Swedish Navy command. Their transmission was intercepted by the British Embassy, who relayed the information to the Admiralty.

On May 21, Bismarck and Prinz Eugen made a stop in Bergen for Eugen to take on more fuel. As Bismarck was sitting at anchor, a Royal Navy Spitfire flew overhead and took pictures of her. The pictures were sent to Admiral John Tovey, who ordered the battlecruiser HMS Hood and battleship HMS Prince of Wales under the command of Vice Admiral Lancelot Holland to the Denmark Strait to intercept Bismarck.

On the night of May 23, the British cruisers HMS Norfolk and HMS Suffolk spotted Bismarck northwest of Iceland and began shadowing her. Admiral Lütjens, realizing his force was being tailed, gave the order to open fire. Bismarck unleashed her 15-inch guns upon Norfolk, scoring three hits. Norfolk returned fire and managed to straddle Bismarck before a shell took out her radar. Now essentially blinded, Norfolk made smoke and disengaged, heading back to England for repairs, leaving Suffolk to continue tailing the Germans. As Norfolk retreated, a complication arose-the blast from Bismarck's guns had disabled her radar. As a result, Prinz Eugen was ordered to take the lead so her radar could take up the slack of scouting for enemies.

On the morning of May 24, Hood and Prince of Wales made contact with the German force. Because Prinz Eugen was in the lead and looked similar to Bismarck from a distance, Hood opened fire on her first at 05:52 at a range of 28,000 yards, while Prince of Wales opened fire on Bismarck. Lütjens-in accordance with the orders given at the start of the operation- did not give the order to return fire, hoping he could outrun the British ships. This did not sit well with Bismarck's captain, Ernst Lindermann, who ordered the Bismarck's First Gunnery Officer to open fire at 05:55, saying "I will not let the British shoot my ship out from under my ass!" Bismarck fired her first salvo at Hood, followed by Prinz Eugen. The first hit on Hood was scored by Prinz Eugen, causing a large fire on her deck. To keep both of his opponents under fire, Lütjens ordered Prinz Eugen to shift her fire to Prince of Wales. Meanwhile, Hood had switched her fire to Bismarck, but had been unable to score any any hits. To maximize their chances of scoring a hit, Vice Admiral Holland ordered Hood to turn to port to unmask her aft guns. As Hood began her turn, a shell from Bismarck struck her deck just aft of her mainmast. The shell penetrated Hood's thin deck armor and exploded in one of her magazines, igniting 112 tons of cordite propellant. The resulting explosion destroyed everything aft of her funnels except for the rearmost 125 feet of her stern. The remainder of Hood sank in less than three minutes. Out of a crew of 1,419, only thee survived.

CFzfwzRXIAAUbcu.jpg

HMS Hood explosion photographed from Prinz Eugen.

Prince of Wales
now found herself alone against the two German ships. The lone British battleship continued to fire gamely at Bismarck, but soon problems begin to develop with the ship's guns, seriously affecting her fighting ability. Finally, at 06:13, Prince of Wales put up a smoke screen and retreated. Lindermann wanted to give chase, but Lütjens demurred, not wanting to put his flagship in any more danger than he already had.

With Prince of Wales gone, Admiral Lütjens assessed the damage to his force. Bismarck had suffered three hits during the engagement. The most serious was a hit to the forecastle that opened up her forward fuel tanks to the sea and reduced her speed. Lütjens decided the best course of action was to head to occupied France for repairs. Prinz Eugen, which had come through relatively unscathed, was sent off to continue commerce raiding alone.

When the British learned of the outcome of the Battle of Denmark Strait, there was widespread shock. HMS Hood was considered to be the Royal Navy's most powerful ship, and the seemingly effortless manner in which Bismarck sank her cemented the German battleship as an extremely serious threat. Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave the order to all available Royal Navy ships to sink the Bismarck by any means necessary. The battleship King George V led the chase.

Bismarck proved to be an elusive quarry. On the evening of May 24, a group of Swordfish from HMS Victorious found Bismarck and launched an attack. Only one torpedo actually hit Bismarck, and it only did minor damage. In the early morning hours of May 25, Bismarck managed to throw off her pursuers by turning 270 degrees to starboard. Just when it looked like Bismarck had escaped for good, the British intercepted a message from Lütjens to Kriegsmarine HQ. The British were able to get a rough estimate of Bismarck's position.

Force H; consisting of the aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal, HMS Courageous, and HMS Glorious accompanied by the battlecruiser HMS Renown and light cruiser HMS Sheffield, had set sail from Gibraltar under the command of Vice Admiral James Somerville on May 23. First contact was made at 13:00 on May 26. when a Swordfish from Glorious spotted Bismarck roughly 300 miles west of Brest. The lone torpedo bomber went in for the attack. The torpedo struck Bismarck on her starboard stern, severely damaging her starboard rudder shaft. With the rudder damaged, Bismarck found herself stuck in a perpetual turn to starboard. The three aircraft carriers launched the first wave of aircraft, consisting of 14 Swordfish. As they prepared for launch, the carrier crews inscribed "For the Hood!" on the torpedoes as they were loaded onto the Swordfish. The aircraft reached Bismarck and began their attack at 14:30. Bismarck's AA gunners opened fire, but their guns' fire control systems proved ill-equipped to deal with the slow-moving biplanes, the shells exploding harmlessly far in front of the attacking aircraft. Unable to dodge due her damaged rudder, the Bismarck absorbed five torpedo hits-three in her port side, two in her starboard side-along with eight 500-pound bombs, setting fire to her superstructure. The battleship began listing to port, as her bilge pumps had lost power. When the second wave arrived at 14:50, Bismarck's speed had been reduced to 12 knots. The second wave consisted of 12 Swordfish and managed to put five more torpedoes into the battleship's port side and three more in her starboard side, along with four bombs. This proved to be too much, and Bismarck capsized to port and sank at 15:02. Out of a crew of nearly 2,300, only 180 survived. Captain Lindermann was not one of them, having chosen to go down with the ship. Admiral Lütjens chose to escape, and was pulled from the water along with the other survivors by the crews of HMS Renown and HMS Sheffield.

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Aircrew from HMS Ark Royal pose for a photo in Gibraltar after returning from the sinking of Bismarck.


With the sinking of Bismarck, the officers and men of Force H became celebrities in the Royal Navy. The Fleet Air Arm found its prestige massively increased. But more importantly, the death of the Bismarck at the hands of the Fleet Air Arm marked the beginning of a paradigm shift in naval warfare...
 
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All very interesting. Germany did quite well at Scapa I think. They must have been intercepted quite far out, given their losses, so to score those hits is a credit to their determination.

I like the changes for Bismarck given the extra carriers available. Not sure whether a single, presumably scouting, Swordfish would carry a torpedo in such a role, but there's nothing particularly improbable about the result given the three carriers, or the hit ratios on a crippled target.
 
Force H has 3 carriers now? Wouldn't it make more sense to assign at east one of those to the main body of the Mediterranean Fleet?
Imagine what a coordinated strike with 2 carriers could do to Vittorio Veneto at Cape Matapan.
 
600px-Bismarck_aircrew_rewarded.jpg

Aircrew from HMS Ark Royal pose for a photo after returning from the sinking of Bismarck.


With the sinking of Bismarck, the officers and men of Force H became celebrities in the Royal Navy. The Fleet Air Arm found its prestige massively increased. But more importantly, the death of the Bismarck at the hands of the Fleet Air Arm marked the beginning of a paradigm shift in naval warfare...

Shorts & Shirtsleeves in the North Sea? Now that's courage.
 
Force H has 3 carriers now? Wouldn't it make more sense to assign at east one of those to the main body of the Mediterranean Fleet?
Imagine what a coordinated strike with 2 carriers could do to Vittorio Veneto at Cape Matapan.

Hard to say. Raiders are still at large and carriers are the best search tool. Pre-war doctrine would be reluctant to put the old carriers into range of land-based air in the Med too. Gibraltar is a good spot for them, giving the flexibility to cover the Atlantic and enter the Med if necessary.

What does seem surprising is the use of just a single carrier at Taranto. Maybe it was planned like OTL, but Eagle suffered her casualty and had to withdraw.
 
Force H has 3 carriers now? Wouldn't it make more sense to assign at east one of those to the main body of the Mediterranean Fleet?
Imagine what a coordinated strike with 2 carriers could do to Vittorio Veneto at Cape Matapan.

I figured having Bismarck getting sunk by carrier aircraft would have more impact.
 
Here's a glimpse into the future, to give you an idea of the impact of TTL Bismarck's fate.

alternatehistory.web
Accessed October 18, 2006

WI: Bismarck sunk in surface battle
Imperialist (OP) said:
IOTL, when the Royal Navy was tracking down Bismarck after the Battle of Denmark Strait, a task force centered on the battleships HMS King George V and HMS Rodney was poised to intercept and fight her. However, the aircraft carriers of Force H ended up beating them to the punch.

Suppose that something-perhaps the carriers get caught in a squall-that prevents Force H from getting their planes in the air long enough for KGV and Rodney to close in.

SCHIFF88 said:
Bismarck would wipe the floor with the British battleships. There's a reason why they sent the carrier aircraft after her-they knew from the Battle of the Denmark Strait that she could smack down any battleship.

Rosenberg said:
Actually, wasn't Vice Admiral Somerville only ordered to rough Bismarck up enough to make her easier to defeat in a surface action?

Lord Full Nelson said:
Both of you are wrong. Despite what the History Channel would have you believe, Bismarck was really nothing more than a embellished WW1 design that happened to get lucky at Denmark Strait. Had KGV and Rodney caught up to her, they certainly would've won, especially when you take into account the battle damage she suffered at Denmark Strait. As for Somerville going against his orders in sinking her, that is merely a myth spread by butthurt battleship fanboys. Churchill had ordered all available forces to sink Bismarck by any means necessary. Also, Somerville was promoted to admiral for sending Bismarck to Davy Jones's Locker, which wouldn't have happened if he had disobeyed orders.

In short, if the BBs caught up to Bismarck first, it would've been a hard fight, but they would've won.
 
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Chapter Five
The loss of Bismarck came as a massive shock to Germany. Bismarck was considered the most powerful warship ever built by a European navy. Determined to match Britain's naval air arm, the Kriegsmarine made plans to expand its carrier fleet. The heavy cruiser Seydlitz, having been left incomplete since mid-1940, was chosen for conversion into a light carrier under the name Weser. The ocean liner SS Europa was also acquired for conversion.

In Britain, the demonstration of the power of aircraft carriers against battleships led to a reevaluation of shipbuilding priorities. The planned Lion and Vanguard classes of battleships were cancelled, and greater priority was given to the construction of the Audacious-class aircraft carriers. In the United States, the US Navy responded by ordering more Essex-class carriers, along with what would become the Midway class.

In the meantime, Hitler turned his attention to the Soviet Union. On June 22, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the USSR. The Germans were able to make great gains against the unprepared Soviet Forces. Despite his personal distaste for communism, Churchill agreed to help the Soviets in their war against the Nazis. The British sent out convoys to Russia carrying supplies given to Britain by the United States via Lend-Lease.

While this was going on, the Royal Navy turned its attention to the Far East.Imperial Japan had invaded northern French Indochina in September 1940, followed by an invasion of the southern half in July 1941, and was poised to invade British Malaya.

On December 7, 1941, six Japanese aircraft carriers launched an assault on the American Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, where the US Navy's Pacific Fleet had been stationed in response to Japanese aggression. Having the element of surprise, the Japanese aviators were able to inflict heavy damage. The battleships USS Pennsylvania and USS Oklahoma were damaged beyond repair, and the rest of the battleships sustained heavy damage. Fortunately, none of the US Navy's aircraft carriers were present in the attack. The United States declared war on Japan on December 8th. In return, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

While this was going on, the Royal Navy had sent a squadron of ships to Malaya in October to counter the threat of Japanese invasion. Force Z consisted of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable, and four destroyers. The force was commanded by the newly-promoted admiral Tom Phillips.

Force Z deployed from Singapore on the afternoon of December 8 in search of the Japanese invasion fleet. The next day, they were spotted by the Japanese submarine I-65. The submarine shadowed the force for one hour before being driven off by attacks from the escorting destroyers, radioing their position back to Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa. In response, Ozawa gathered up a force consisting of two Kongou-class battleships, three Takao-class cruisers, and eight destroyers to meet the British.

At 1830, reconnaissance aircraft from the Japanese cruisers were spotted by lookouts on Prince of Wales. Realizing that the Japanese knew he was coming, Phillips decided to turn back towards Singapore. In addition, word reached Force Z later that night of a Japanese attack on Kuantun.

At 11:13 on the morning of December 10, the RDF on Indomitable spotted enemy bombers inbound. Eight Mitsubishi G3Ms were inbound from the north. Five Supermarine Seafires rose up to meet them. Five G3Ms went down in flames in return for one Seafire. One G3M managed to get close enough to release a bomb on Indomitable, but missed.

At 11:40, 20 Mitsubishi G4Ms armed with torpedoes approached Force Z. They were met by six Seafires. In the resulting melee, nine G4Ms were shot down in exchange for two Seafires. Of the 11 that got through, four went for Prince of Wales. Two of these were brought down by the battleship's AA guns. The remaining two managed to launch their torpedoes at Prince of Wales, scoring one hit on her port side amidships. The remaining three went for Indomitable. One G4M was lost to AA fire, the rest managed to drop their torpedoes, one of which hit the carrier. The remaining three went for Repulse, scoring one torpedo and two bomb hits.

The third attack came at 12:20. Four G4Ms made an attack run on Repulse. The old battlecruiser took two torpedoes. The bombers were then jumped by three Seafires, shooting down two of the bombers.

The fourth and final attack came at 13:00. Six G4Ms attacked Repulse, scoring two torpedo and two bomb hits, finally sinking her. Two more G4Ms attack Indomitable, scoring a single bomb hit on her deck. Four of these planes were shot down by Seafires.

As the surviving bombers disappeared over the horizon, Prince of Wales and Indomitable limped back to Singapore. They had taken some licks, but they would live to fight another day.
 
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Chapter Six
As HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Indomitable steamed into Singapore harbor for temporary repairs, the Japanese swept into Malaya.

In America, the order for the first ship of what would become the Midway class aircraft carriers was made on January 28. She would be laid down on October 27 at Puget Sound.

By the end of January 1942- at which point Force Z had departed for Australia for permanent repairs-they stood poised to invade Singapore itself. And they may have succeeded had it not been for a fortuitous accident.

On January 30, a vehicle carrying Lt. Gen. Arthur Percival, the General Officer commanding of forces in Malaya lost control and flipped over on the streets of Singapore. Percival survived but ended up comatose. With his incapacitation, command fell to Lt. Gen Lewis "Piggy" Heath.

Heath's first act as commander was to station a large force on the northwest shore of the island, where the Japanese forces were most likely to land. He also turned Singapore's coastal guns to the North. Force Z had left behind several batches of HE shells, and Heath intended to use them.

When the Japanese launched their invasion on February 8, they found themselves walking into a meat grinder...
 
Was the Audacious class design even formed at this point?
Force Z was sent well before Pearl Harbour, they were supposed to be a deterrent, not a response to the attacks.

How have you managed to get Indomitable ready in time to be with Force Z when she wasn't in OTL, due to transfer of dockyard resources to repairing merchant shipping?

Did you manage this by not bothering to have radar installed on her? This would explain why lookouts spot the incoming attack, rather than radar directing the CAP onto it.

How did the sub manage to stay in contact with a surface fleet for 5 hours? Were the ASW plane crews on strike?

Why aren't Zeros escorting the air strikes? As far as I remember they were available but weren't used as there was no threat to the bombers.
 
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