The Sea Before Us by Sarah Sundin

Author:Sarah Sundin [Sundin, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Romance;World War (1939-1945)—Fiction;Historical fiction;Christian fiction;FIC042030;FIC042040 FIC027200
ISBN: 9781493412587
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2017-10-27T04:00:00+00:00

25

Lyme Bay, South Devon

Friday, April 28, 1944

Only Wyatt’s sense of duty allowed him to focus on the briefing. On the darkened bridge of the HMS Seavington, lit by red bulbs to maintain night vision, Lieutenant Foster described the night’s activity as Wyatt prepared to take the morning watch at 0400.

Daytime busyness kept his mind occupied, but at night his failures swamped him and disturbed his sleep. Thank goodness he’d been alert enough for Exercise Tiger the day before.

Foster pointed to the nautical chart, indicating the Seavington’s coordinates in Lyme Bay and her designated course back to Slapton Sands.

The previous day, the bulk of the US 4th Infantry Division had landed at Slapton, practicing for the upcoming landings on Utah Beach, with a follow-up convoy due this morning. Over two hundred American landing craft, from the enormous LST “Landing Ship, Tanks” to the small LCVP “Landing Craft, Vehicle or Personnel,” were transporting twenty-five thousand troops.

Along with six other British destroyers and two British cruisers, the Seavington had bombarded the landing beaches. All had gone fairly well. Confusion had arisen when Adm. Don Moon, commander of the US Navy’s Force U, had decided at the last minute to postpone H-hour by an hour when a flotilla of landing craft was delayed.

Wyatt trained his mind and his gaze on the chart. He shared Admiral Moon’s traits of cautiousness and attention to detail, and now he saw the danger of those traits, not only in his own life but in command.

“At 0106, we heard from Commander in Chief Plymouth.” Foster turned to the ship’s log. “The Onslow sighted a German E-boat off Portland.”

“An E-boat? Just one?” That jolted Wyatt awake. The small German torpedo boats were capable of forty knots and usually travelled in packs to devastate Allied shipping. Admiral Kirk had warned of the dangers of German air, surface, or submarine attacks during the exercises, but none had materialized so far.

“Only one, but at 0224, C in C Plymouth notified us of three E-boat groups in the area. However, all has been quiet since.”

“Good.” The warning from the Plymouth Home Command would alert the slow-moving convoy of LSTs and its escort ships.

Wyatt settled in at his station and made the change-of-watch notations in the log, careful to use British terminology. Weariness dragged at his eyelids, but this watch shouldn’t demand much of him. Today’s portion of Exercise Tiger involved landing the follow-up troops and unloading supplies. With yesterday’s assault troops well on their way inland, the destroyers would only serve to screen the naval force.

On Saturday the destroyers would return to Plymouth, and Wyatt would report to US Destroyer Squadron 18, due to arrive from Boston today.

“Captain, we have new orders.” An officer strode onto the bridge and handed a paper to Captain Willoughby. “We are to proceed to these coordinates posthaste for a rescue operation.”

Rescue operation? Wyatt inched closer. What had happened? An E-boat attack on merchant shipping? A grounded fishing trawler? An LST torpedoed by a U-boat?

After the captain read the dispatch, he bent over the plotting table with the navigator, Lieutenant Langley.

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