Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 22– Black May
(May 1, 1943)
"Captain coming aboard!"
Yelland hears a sailor yell this as he climbs the gangway up onto the Nimitz. After assisting Montgomery's forces in the Battle of the Mareth Line, Nimitz had received an emergency message from Washington, demanding that the carrier return to America.
This order had been given because of an increased threat in the Atlantic. There had been a surge in U-Boat attacks, and even an attack by a German auxiliary cruiser. There had even been an air attack on a convoy pulling into port. It was thought that perhaps the Germans were doing this to take resources away from the impending invasion of Italy, and to draw the Nimitz away.
Admiral Ingersol, commander of the Atlantic Fleet, had decided to pull the Nimitz out of the Mediterranean until the invasion of Sicily and assign her to convoy duty. She had departed the Mediterranean soon after the end of the Battle of Mareth Line, passing through the Straits of Gibraltar on April 2, escorted by only two destroyers, and made a dash at top speed back to America. She had arrived off the East Coast on April 7, and gotten to work very quickly. She was to continue serving on convoy duty until July 1, when she would head back to the Mediterranean to be in position for the invasion of Sicily, scheduled for July 9.
Over the course of April, Nimitz had provided air cover for six convoys, sinking 7 U-Boats in the process. For the most part, Nimitz had sailed in a specific patrol pattern across the mid-Atlantic, not covering any one convoy at a time, but covering any convoys within range of her aircraft. She had returned to Norfolk on orders of Admiral Ingersol, giving her crew a bit of a rest and giving the chance for the carrier to be fully restocked with aviation fuel, ordnance, and other supplies.
Yelland had received orders early that morning from Ingersol that Nimitz was to sail that morning, with two destroyer escorts. She was to head north and get into position to cover the convoy HX 237, set to sail from New York in hours. The carrier would also be covering the convoy SC 129, which was due to sail from New York the following day.
Yelland makes his way up to the bridge. As he reaches the flight deck, men on the docks unloop the mooring ropes, and crewmen aboard the carrier begin hauling the ropes aboard the ship. It takes a bit of time before the ropes are all brought aboard the carrier. By the time the carrier is ready to cast off from the dock, everything is ready, Yelland is on the bridge, and every crew member is in their proper place.
"Engines ahead one-fourth," Yelland orders. The reactors, both at full power, quickly begin sending power to the screws, which begin turning, slowly beginning to move the massive carrier. Tugs move the carrier through the busy harbor, the two escorting destroyers moving to follow the carrier. As the Nimitz moves carefully through the harbor, crewmen aboard watch other ships in their docks pass by. Among them is the brand new battleship USS Iowa, which is paying a brief visit to Norfolk after finishing its shakedown cruise.
It takes the carrier about half an hour before she gets into open waters outside the harbor. Once harbor control contacts the carrier and says they are clear, Yelland orders, "Engines ahead flank."
The helmsman throttles up, and soon the carrier's 4 screws are thrashing the water, driving her to 35 knots as she and her two destroyer escorts speed out to sea.
On the bridge, Yelland is monitoring their progress. As they reach a distance of 60 miles from shore, Yelland moves over to the radio down to CIC. Pressing the button, he calls over the radio, "This is the captain. Do we have our planes on radar?"
"Yes, sir. Leading flight is about 20 minutes out from landing," an officer responds.
"Copy that. Keep us updated once the entire air wing is aboard," Yelland orders.
Sure enough, about 20 minutes later, Yelland watches as the first F-14 touches down, the black tails and skull and crossbones of the Jolly Rogers clearly visible on the tail fins. It screeches to a stop as it catches the arrestor wire, then begins to taxi carefully towards its parking spot, a tractor standing by to guide it into place.
Yelland watches as one by one, every Tomcat, Hornet, Viking, Hawkeye, Greyhound, Intruder, and Prowler touches down, while the helicopters make their way in one by one. Finally, every one is aboard. However, the landing operation is not over.
In the air control station, the air boss hears a voice calling over the radio, "Bobcat 1 to Nimitz. Requesting landing slot."
"You are cleared to land Bobcat 1," the air boss responds.
On the LSO platform on the ship's fantail, LSO officers watch as an F4U Corsair makes its final approach to the carrier. This voyage was not just to escort convoys. The Navy wanted to test to see how well the Nimitz could operate aircraft of the time. The Navy knew that the Nimitz, if carrying aircraft of the time instead of aircraft from the 1980s, could potentially have twice the carrying capacity of even the new Essex class carriers, and perhaps even more. For that reason, a small detachment of aircraft of the time, including 4 Corsairs, 2 SBD Dauntlesses, and 4 TBF Avengers were assigned to operate from the Nimitz on this voyage. To help make room, 4 Tomcats from VF-41, the Black Aces, had been left behind in Norfolk, where they would conduct test flights to fulfill various tests the Navy wanted to perform on their capabilities. While the combat operations would be flown almost entirely by the ship's 1980s aircraft, the Avengers would also be flying ASW operations. There were ideas from the Navy to turn the Nimitz into somewhat of a hybrid carrier, operating aircraft from both time periods. There were also ideas to start using the Nimitz to ferry fighters and smaller bombers across the Atlantic to Europe, given it was believed to be capable of carrying 300-400 fighter sized aircraft at once, depending on how well the planes were packed. This idea was considered not very risky, as even without it's air wing, the Nimitz' ability to maintain 35 knots across the Atlantic without slowing down or stopping to tank protects it from almost any enemy of the time.
The LSOs use the lights to guide the Corsair down. Carefully, the Corsair pilot lines his fighter up, keeping it just above stall speed. He guides it down carefully, touching down very close to the stern. The Corsair rolls down the flight deck before coming to a stop about halfway along the flight deck.
Everyone cheers, having just witnessed the Nimitz' first time landing an F4U Corsair. A yellow shirt guides the Corsair pilot into his parking spot on the flight deck.
Yelland smiles from the bridge as he watches the Corsair taxi into position. He then looks back beyond the stern, towards where another Corsair is coming in for landing.
It takes about 8 minutes for the remaining Corsairs, as well as the Dauntlesses and Avengers, to land and taxi into position. Once the final plane to land, an Avenger, is chocked and chained into position, Yelland orders, "Steer course 060, speed 28 knots."
The carrier begins a slight turn to the north, along with her two destroyer escorts. They slow down slightly to 28 knots, and set course towards their designated path to sail to cover the convoy.
(May 10, late afternoon)
"Launch!" a shooter says as he bends forward and makes his signal. The catapult springs forward, hurling a Viking into the air.
The Nimitz has been escorting the two convoys now at sea for over a week. The carrier has sailed far ahead of the convoy at times to fly anti-submarine patrols. So far, they'd managed to find and sink a single U-Boat, but an escort ship of the convoy had detected a U-Boat the day before. Yelland has the feeling that a U-Boat wolf pack will start attacking the convoy today.
Nimitz has been keeping one or two Vikings airborne at all time, as well as usually at least one helicopter. With night approaching, Yelland knows that the U-Boats will likely start attacking soon. With this recent launch, the carrier now has 7 Vikings airborne, as well as a Sea King and the Seahawk.
The shooter looks back towards the midship catapults, where a pair of TBF Avengers, each armed with a pair of depth charges. This is going to be the first combat mission flown by a 1940s aircraft from the deck of the Nimitz. The Avengers will be joining the Vikings on the ASW patrols around the convoy.
On the midship catapults, another shooter is working with the Avengers. In something Avenger pilots are not used to, the takeoff lane including the third and fourth catapults is wide enough for both Avengers to take off at the same time.
The shooter starts waving his hand over his head, signalling the Avenger pilots to throttle up. Both Avengers push their throttles forward. Then, the shooter makes his launching motion, and the two Avengers release the brakes, making sure the throttle is all the way forward. The two Avengers start rolling down the flight deck. Reaching the end of the flight deck, they fly right over it and start climbing into the air.
Deck crew cheer as the Avengers take off. The two Avengers turn in the direction of the convoy, which is almost 50 miles due north of the carrier's current position.
As the Avengers start winging their way towards the convoy, a journey that will take them about 15 minutes flying at their current speed of 200 mph, the convoy is alive with activity. All of the crews, especially those on the warships, are on alert, knowing nighttime makes it more likely for a U-Boat attack.
The air surrounding the convoy has a number of aircraft flying. The escort carrier HMS Biter is also covering the convoy, and currently has 4 Swordfish circling the convoy. Meanwhile, the Vikings are flying patrols around the convoy, occasionally dropping sonobuoys. At the same time, the Seahawk is flying from spot to spot around the convoy to drop it's dipping sonar.
So far, none of the escorts or aircraft have spotted any U-Boats. However, everyone knows it's only a matter of time.
The Seahawk raises its dipping sonar once again, and the pilot calls out, "Moving on to the next spot."
The Seahawk moves carefully over to a new spot about 2 miles from its last spot. Slowing to a hover, the Seahawk lowers its dipping sonar. The pilot is not expecting to pick anything up, and is thinking more about his need to refuel sometime in the next 30 minutes or so than the sonar.
However, within seconds, the electronics officer who is monitoring the sonar says, "Commander, we may have something."
The pilot is surprised. A few seconds later, the electronics officer says, "Commander, got a possible submarine on bearing 020, distance 1.2 miles."
"Copy," the pilot says. The pilot then raises the sonar and heads in the direction the EO indicated. After flying about a mile, he drops a smoke marker, then gets on the radio and calls out, "Seahawk One to all Allied aircraft. Dropped a smoke marker. Detected possible submarine within half mile of the smoke marker."
"This is Viking 3. En Route to your location," one of the Viking pilots calls out over the radio.
The Seahawk pulls away from the smoke marker and heads towards its next dipping spot. Meanwhile, one of the S-3s heads straight for the smoke marker. Reaching the smoke marker, the Viking pilot deploys an active sonobuoy.
Only a second later, the SENSO aboard calls out, "Lieutenant! Sonar contact! Confirmed sonar contact exactly a quarter mile from the buoy, bearing 025."
"TACCO, arm the torp!" the pilot calls out as he starts circling back towards the site of the U-Boat. As he guides the plane around, the TACCO in the back arms one of the Viking's 4 Mk 46 torpedoes.
The Viking completes its turn, slowing down to give time to drop the torpedo. The TACCO watches the distance, and a little over a mile out from the U-Boat, he calls out, "Dropping…now!" The Mk 46 drops from the aircraft, a small parachute slowing it down before it plunges into the water. Immediately, the tiny screw starts spinning, accelerating the torpedo in seconds to over 40 knots.
Only about a second later, the torpedo starts pinging with its active sonar. Almost immediately, the U-Boat captain realizes he's under attack. He immediately orders full right rudder and flank speed, but the U-Boat isn't fast enough. The torpedo homes in mercilessly, and catches the U-Boat as it's trying to turn to evade the torpedo. The warhead detonates, tearing apart the bow of the U-Boat, which immediately begins its last dive.
The Viking circles the area, waiting for any idea. Then, they are able to see some bubbles and oil on the surface in the fading light.
"Yes!" the pilot calls out. He then gets on the radio and says, "This is Viking Three. Confirm a kill on a U-Boat!"
Right then, an escorting frigate, the HMS Lagan, acting on information from the Seahawk, which has already found another U-Boat, fires its Hedgehog depth charge launcher, firing 24 depth charges from its complement of 150 in the launcher. Two of the depth charges explode close enough, sinking yet another U-Boat.
Aboard the Nimitz, Yelland is in the CIC, watching the tracking information on his carrier's aircraft. Suddenly, he hears the voice of one of the controllers on the patrolling Hawkeye call out, "Hawkeye 1-2 to Starbase."
"Hawkeye 1-2, Starbase, go ahead," a radio officer calls out in return.
"Hawkeye 1-2 to Starbase. Viking Three reports a kill on U-Boat. HMS Lagan reports a kill on a second U-Boat. We also have a report that Seahawk One has a possible third sub contact," the Hawkeye controller says.
"Copy that," the radio officer says.
Yelland smiles. Once more, his ASW crews are proving their skill at sinking U-Boats.
And, I'll end there. Hope you liked this chapter. For those wondering why the chapter name Black May, that was the actual nickname for this month in history because so many U-Boats were sunk for so little Allied ships sunk.
Next chapter will be cover the Nimitz supporting the Sicily invasion. It should be a good one. It should be up soon. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned!