Victory at Sea

The men aboard the vessel all froze stiff, only the Captain dared to breathe as he peeked through the periscope sticking out of the water above. Their attack had commenced just a few seconds prior, now all they could do hope was that it was successful. If not, they would be in serious trouble; their target was a destroyer covering the advance into the straits. Command felt that spending an attack squadron on a single destroyer was unnecessary. Naturally, it fell upon the submariners to take up the task instead.

The only advantage they had was that they had not been discovered yet, having managed to skirt around behind the destroyer, an advantage they will lose if the destroyer survives. The fish continued on to their mark. Unfortunately, it was not to be; the destroyer piled on steam to dodge the torpedoes and then began to turn in towards the submarine. The Captain called for the submarine to crash dive. Promptly, the submarine’s nose dove. Several sailors grabbed on to pipes and handles to keep their balance.

As the submarine hit its max depth and stabilized its level, the Sonar Officer intently listened to his apparatus, hoping that his counterpart was not as good as, and certainly not better, than him. He listened to the propellers as they approached ever closer to the sub. As they passed overhead, he closed his eyes and prepared to hear splashes of water as the depth charges began to rain… but they never came. Opening his eyes in slight bewilderment, he listened again to be certain of himself and sure enough the ship had passed over completely and was going on her merry way. The Sonar Officer relayed this to the Captain.

They had survived but they still needed to complete their mission. Then a terrible idea occurred to the Captain. He ran the idea by the First Officer who mentioned, with all due respect, that the Captain was insane. But the crew were running out of ideas and battery power. So, the plan was set in motion. The submarine began to surface.

Catching this particular cacophony, the destroyer reduced speed and quickly began to turn around as the submarine breached out of the surface. This particular development surprised the destroyer’s crew. Her depth charges no longer of use, she began bringing her guns to bear as the sub attempted to manoeuvre. The destroyer fired a salvo, and missed as the shells went long, a mistake she wouldn’t make again. Suddenly a panicked scream came from one of the lookouts right as two explosions caught the destroyer on her fore end and amidships, splintering her in two and sending her down.

“Direct hit!” announced the Captain which was immediately followed by celebration from the crew. Their plan to hide the torpedoes in the submarine’s wake was a success. The sailors then took a breath of relief as they proceeded to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet.