Hey, everybody.
Back with another chapter. Let's get to it.
Chapter 5- Open Fire
(0510)
On the bridge of the battleship Wisconsin, Captain Blesch calls out, "Distance to contacts?"
"Captain, distance to targets 7 miles," a radar operator calls out.
The Wisconsin is assigned to the Eastern Task Force, along with the older British battleships Warspite and Ramillies. As the Eastern Task Force were crossing the Channel, just a few minutes ago, the Wisconsin picked up several contacts on her advanced radar. The radar operators quickly identified them as small ships, approaching from the east. An EF-111 on a jamming patrol had made a pass over the contacts at the Wisconsin's request, and identified them as German torpedo boats.
The Wisconsin and cruiser USS Yorktown are now tracking the torpedo boats on radar. Rather than using gunfire to try and sink the approaching torpedo boats, they intend to use missiles to sink them, as the torpedo boats are not remotely prepared for handling missiles.
Captain Blesch considers the distance, and decides the time has come to strike. "Begin missile firing sequence. Contact Yorktown and issue the same orders," Bleach orders.
"Understood," a radioman responds.
In CIC, the crewmen manning the missiles begin the missile launch sequence. Using Wisconsin's advanced fire control radar, they quickly onto the approaching destroyers. Contacting the Yorktown, they order the Yorktown to fire on the northernmost contact, while the Wisconsin will fire on the other three.
Finally, the missile technicians have the Wisconsin's Harpoon anti-ship missiles locked onto the targets. The lead technician then issues the order, "Launch!"
Seconds later, the first Harpoon launches from its launcher. Not wanting to waste all of their missiles on the small torpedo boats and conserve missiles in case of more German ships showing up, they launch just two missiles at each of the three contacts approaching. At the same time, the Yorktown launches two of its own Harpoons.
The eight missiles fly low over the water as they approach the torpedo boats, which are preparing to launch torpedoes against ships of the Eastern Task Force. However, before they can, the missiles reach them. Making their final pop up maneuvers, the missiles then dive down onto their targets. The Harpoons easily punch through the thin armor of the torpedo boats before their warheads explode, the burning fuel fireballing deeper into the ships. The near 500 pound warheads and burning fuel tear apart the four torpedo boats and set them ablaze. The surviving crews quickly scramble to abandon ship as the torpedo boats begin to sink.
The Wisconsin had launched a small drone after the Raven had made its fly by minutes earlier to keep an eye on the ships. The drone quickly beams back footage of the shattered and burning ships back to the Wisconsin. The pilot operating the drone calls out, "Direct hits on all four ships! Crews are abandoning ship."
Captain Blesch smiles a bit. He feels a great sense of vindication for the Iowa class being reactivated. He quickly refocuses on the coming task and the approach to Normandy.
At the same time, the first phase of the bombardment of the beaches is about to begin. After landing and getting re-armed, aircraft of the 4th, 20th, 48th, and 174th Tactical Fighter Wings are now flying over the Channel, ready to start bombarding the landing beaches. The F-111s and F-16s are armed with a mix of delayed action fuse 1,000 pound bombs and 500 pound cluster bombs, while the F-15E Strike Eagles and F-4 Phantoms are also armed with Maverick missiles in addition to the same bombs as the F-111s and F-16s. In all, 84 aircraft are currently crossing the Channel at 5,000 feet.
As the fighter bombers cross the Channel, they begin to separate into smaller formations to prepare to attack the beaches. The fighter bombers spearate into four formations of sixteen to attack Utah, Juno, Gold, and Sword Beaches, and one formation of 20 planes to attack Omaha.
As the planes approach the coast, they all arm their weapons and descend to 2,000 feet, ready to begin the attack. Their goals are mostly to destroy the bunkers and artillery at each beach.
At Omaha Beach, the lead pilot is flying an F-15E. Calling back to his WSO to arm the bombs, the pilot calls out to the other pilots, "All aircraft, prepare for attack."
Approaching the coast, the WSO fires the targeting laser at a bunker he can see along the beach. Calling out that the bunker is targeted, the lead pilot punches off two bombs.
The bombs fall all but silently towards the beach. Seconds later, they impact the bunker. The bombs break through most of the bunker's armor and thick concrete before the explosions finish the job, destroying the bunker.
The Germans react quickly, realizing they are under attack. Within moments, more laser guided bombs begin to impact more bunkers and thick defensive positions along the beach, destroying most of them.
The fighter bombers streak over the defensive line, then begin to circle back for another attack run. This time, they arm their cluster bombs. Coming back to the defensive line, the fighter bombers punch off the cluster bombs. The cluster bombs break open and disperse their bomblets, scattering across the defensive line. Dozens of artillery pieces and dozens of German soldiers are consumed in the explosions of the bomblets.
At the same time, at each of the other beaches, the fighter bombers have begun their attacks. The air strikes at each of the beaches last for about 5 minutes, each fighter bomber unloading their weapons on the German defensive positions. The bombing is not quite as effective as the American commanders had hoped. However, the majority of the bunkers are destroyed, along with about half of the German artillery.
As the American strike planes retreat back to England for a bit of rest and to be prepared for the next flight, the time is now 0530. The fleets are now almost in position for the naval bombardment to begin.
The fleet positions of the warships of the time were almost exactly the same as they were in the original version of history. The only real difference was the battleship Texas. Due to Pointe du Hoc having been mostly neutralized by Strike Eagles earlier in the night, she had been shifted slightly west, so that her responsibility was now Utah Beach, although she was still responsible for assisting in the strike on pointe du Hoc.
The future American commanders had taken great thought for how to deploy the naval assets they had brought from the future. The two supercarriers, Kitty Hawk and Theodore Roosevelt, along with the British carrier HMS Invincible, were stationed at the southern end of the English Channel, guarded by the cruiser Arkansas, 6 destroyers and 3 frigates.
The rest of the naval assets had been dispersed appropriately throughout the Western and Eastern Task Forces. Wisconsin was assigned to the Eastern Task Force, and would be sailing close to the battleships Warspite and Ramillies. Her task was to bombard Sword Beach and the gun batteries to the east of Sword. Next, the Missouri was stationed further west in the Eastern Task Force, in between the cruisers Belfast and Diadem, with responsibility of bombarding Gold and Juno Beaches. Finally the New Jersey was assigned to bombard Omaha, and would be stationed between the cruiser Glasgow and the battleship Arkansas. Each battleship was accompanied by one Ticonderoga class cruiser (Yorktown with the Wisconsin, Bunker Hill with the New Jersey, and Philippine Sea with the Missouri). The remaining destroyers, including Spruance, Kidd, and Sheffield class destroyers, would be spread out across the five beaches, along with the remaining frigates, all of which were Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates.
The submarines from the future were already backing off from the beaches, having taken back aboard the SEAL teams that had helped to destroy some of the beach defenses. They were now moving towards Calais to help defend the fleet from that direction, given the carriers were protecting the other end of the Channel.
The final resource that had been divided were the seven amphibious assault ships brought from the future. These vessels would be helping to deploy troops and some of the heavier equipment for the landings. After thought, it was decided that the USS Tarawa would be assigned to the forces landing at Utah, the Saipan and Guam to the forces landing at Omaha, the Nassau to the forces landing at Gold, the Tripoli to the forces landing at Juno, and the Inchon and HMS Intrepid to the forces landing at Sword.
As the minutes pass, the fleet begins manuevering into position off the Normandy coast. Now, the German defenders begin to notice them and begin to sound the alarm.
Off the coast of Omaha, Lieutenant General Omar Bradley watches the beaches coming into view. Although the original plan was for the heavy cruiser USS Augusta to serve as the flagship of the fleet for Bradley and several other high ranking officers, Bradley decided to shift that to the New Jersey two days earlier. The reason for the change was not only because the New Jersey was far more armored and protected and had greater firepower, but also because her advanced systems from the future would allow Bradley greater situational awareness and greater control over the operation.
As the New Jersey settles into firing position, one of the officers standing with him says to Bradley, "General, in two minutes, the fleet will open fire." Bradley nods, looking out ahead of him towards the beaches.
Sixty seconds before bombardment is about to begin, Bradley sees the massive 16 inch gun turrets of the New Jersey turning to starboard, settling on the beaches. Bradley takes out the earplugs he's been given and fits them into his ears.
Bradley is counting down the seconds until the bombardment begins. Then, right at the stroke of 0545 local time, the center gun in New Jersey's No. 1 gun turret fires. New Jersey's advanced radar immediately calculates the path of the shell as it flies through the air and feeds the projected impact point back into the firing computer. The guns are slightly adjusted, and the rest of the 16 inch guns fire as the rest of the fleet begins firing.
Chaos descends upon the Germans as the shells from the bombarding warships begin landing crashing down on the ground just beyond the beaches. The warships from the future, with their highly advanced fire control systems and radar, are extremely accurate, and their shells are hitting their targets with greater accuracy than the ships from the past.
For almost 45 minutes, the warships bombard their assigned beaches. At Omaha in particular, the most troublesome defenses are subjected to fierce shelling from the New Jersey, and a number of them are destroyed.
Finally, at 0615, the officers in command of the fleet order the warships to cease fire and save their ammunition in case further bombardment is needed. As they do, the first landing craft begin to peel away from the amphibious assault ships at each beach. All of these landing craft are LCAC landing craft provided by the US from the future.
On board the New Jersey, Bradley watches as the first landing craft begin their journey towards the beaches. The landings are about to begin.
And, I'll end the chapter there.
So, next chapter will center around the landings on Omaha Beach. Needless to say, it'll go far differently than in history. It should be up soon. Until then, please leave a review, and stay tuned!