Multiverse War 07 Graf Zeppelin by Chris Nuttall

Author:Chris Nuttall [Nuttall, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-07-17T09:02:18+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Ambush In Great Waters

Atlantic Ocean

27th February 1942

The presence of the ten Contemporary officers wasn’t that much of a problem – the submarine was much larger than anything the locals possessed – but Korvettenkapitän Hans Becker found them irritating. They had grown up in a world of propeller-driven aircraft and submarines that needed to spend time on the surface to recharge; the Günther Prien didn’t require anything, but reloads and perishable supplies.

“We really need to rig up some cross between your torpedoes and mine,” he said, as the submarine raced on into the Atlantic Ocean. They had paused, every day, to use a radar sweep to hunt for possible targets, but engaging them wasn’t a possibility. There were just to many ships for the remaining torpedoes to make a major impact. “There are so many targets that…we could hunt all day.”

Walter Ritchie, who was unfortunate enough to possess an English surname, nodded. “We have been working on the problem,” he said. “We can’t just fit some of our weapons into your ship?”

Becker shook his head. They’d been over it before; the Contemporary weapons were smaller and weaker than anything the submarine could actually fire. They might not well survive the experience of being forced out of the torpedo tube…and, of course, they couldn’t be wire-guided without some modified systems. Eventually, he was sure, they would come up with a compromise design, but for the moment…

It was galling. Even with the British tense and expecting an invasion, there were dozens of targets crossing the sea, at speeds that might be able to outrun a Contemporary submarine, but nowhere near fast enough to escape the Günther Prien. They could have swept the sea clear, if they had had the weapons; they had no choice, but to ignore the targets.

“You know we can’t,” he said, wondering at the question. The Reich had tried to standardize torpedo weapons, but the Günther Prien had come from years in the future. Its weapons were bigger and nastier; they might as well try to replace a computer with a switchboard. “Once the new electric-powered u-boats are online and ready to go, then…”

The thought made him smile. The electric-powered boats would sweep America from the seas. Invading America might be impossible, although perhaps even that could change, given time…but they could force America to accept a compromise peace. Once the Japanese had gotten the same idea, they would be likely to copy the Reich; the Americans wouldn’t have time to use their production advantages to their best advantage.

He checked the display again, hoping that the SS and the Abwehr had managed to get the correct information. Himmler’s men had prepared the briefing on the route that the American reinforcement convoy was supposed to take, but there was no real reason why the Americans couldn’t reroute their convoy; it was only the thought of how vitally important it would be to reinforce Britain that had kept him from telling Konteradmiral Herman Trautman that the mission was impossible.

“Captain, I have some Contemporary radar pulses,” the electronic warfare officer said.

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