Feel the Bearn - A Timeline of France's Only Carrier in WWII and Beyond
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Chapter 13 - The Marblehead
JUNE 18, 1945 8:34 PM EST
USS Marblehead
"All ahead, full speed!" Captain Kraker bellowed as he watched the second of the ship's float planes catapult into the night sky. Within moments they felt the throbbing of the ships engines as they began to work up from a state of near idleness, pushing the light cruiser forward. Although the sea state itself was still relatively calm, lightning revealed blackened clouds ahead amidst increasingly heavy rain.
He hurried over to the ship's radarman. The screen tied to the SK-1 radar continued to show the ominous signs that had led to their latest course of action. Squadrons of aircraft were approaching from the east in an almost meandering fashion. Likely because of the weather all around them, his ship had not been found yet. But it was only a matter of minutes. If not sooner.
He shuddered. "Set course for that squall. I want to remain concealed as long as possible."
And he then made a decision. Fleming's wishes can reside in the deep, Kraker thought. The captain turned to the radio officer. "Send out a distress call, immediately. Tell them we are under attack and request all assistance."
He paused.
"And tell them that it is the British Navy."
USS Marblehead
"All ahead, full speed!" Captain Kraker bellowed as he watched the second of the ship's float planes catapult into the night sky. Within moments they felt the throbbing of the ships engines as they began to work up from a state of near idleness, pushing the light cruiser forward. Although the sea state itself was still relatively calm, lightning revealed blackened clouds ahead amidst increasingly heavy rain.
He hurried over to the ship's radarman. The screen tied to the SK-1 radar continued to show the ominous signs that had led to their latest course of action. Squadrons of aircraft were approaching from the east in an almost meandering fashion. Likely because of the weather all around them, his ship had not been found yet. But it was only a matter of minutes. If not sooner.
He shuddered. "Set course for that squall. I want to remain concealed as long as possible."
And he then made a decision. Fleming's wishes can reside in the deep, Kraker thought. The captain turned to the radio officer. "Send out a distress call, immediately. Tell them we are under attack and request all assistance."
He paused.
"And tell them that it is the British Navy."
If it’s jammed successfully, they’re doomed and the ship becomes a huge mystery that the Brits can maybe cover up.
If a US sub happens to be nearby and hear it, then Anglo-American relations go down the toilet fast.
Unless serious questions about orders come up, it’s almost certainly doomed to fail unless Fleming left a dead man switch news packet with proof somewhere it would get to the US if he didn’t make it.
If a US sub happens to be nearby and hear it, then Anglo-American relations go down the toilet fast.
Unless serious questions about orders come up, it’s almost certainly doomed to fail unless Fleming left a dead man switch news packet with proof somewhere it would get to the US if he didn’t make it.
Pangur
Donor
If a US sub was close n just so happened to get receive the transmission the skipper is certain to come and have a look see so even if the RN manage to kill every man jack of the cruisers crew it's no late
How much do you want to bet the seaplanes are carrying the information and Morgenthau away?
Pangur
Donor
Exceptional good pointHow much do you want to bet the seaplanes are carrying the information and Morgenthau away?
Chapter 13 - The Marblehead
JUNE 18, 1945 8:51PM EST
Atlantic
Captain Charles Grisham stood rigidly on the bridge of the USS Omaha, looking starboard at the northern skies. Huge flashes of lighting bore witness to the massive storm gestating in the distance. Yet aside from the wind and and occasional light rain that buffeted the ship, the aging light cruiser continued to proceed ahead without issue.
The bridge's radioman suddenly broke the silence. "Sir," he said, "I am picking up a distress call. It's the Marblehead."
Grisham's brow furrowed as he turned to the radioman. "Are you certain," he asked. "The Marblehead would be nowhere in the vicinity. They should be halfway across the Atlantic right now with the Bearn."
The radioman clutched his head gear. "This is USS Omaha, receiving your transmission. Can you confirm?"
After a moment he nodded, then faced his captain. "Sir, it's confirmed. It is the Marblehead."
Grisham hesitated. There was a rogue German submarine unaccounted for, one that had already attacked both the Marblehead and the French aircraft carrier. Could it be a ruse, he wondered. He then pushed the thought from his mind. "What is their state and bearing? Are they caught in the storm"
"Seventy two miles northeast of us sir," replied the radioman. He paused, eyes widening. "Sir, they say they are under attack!"
"Attack? Is it the submarine again?"
The radioman clutched his headset, then sat back. He was incredulous.
"Speak up! What is their state!" barked Grisham.
"It's an air attack, sir. They're saying they're under British air attack!"
Atlantic
Captain Charles Grisham stood rigidly on the bridge of the USS Omaha, looking starboard at the northern skies. Huge flashes of lighting bore witness to the massive storm gestating in the distance. Yet aside from the wind and and occasional light rain that buffeted the ship, the aging light cruiser continued to proceed ahead without issue.
The bridge's radioman suddenly broke the silence. "Sir," he said, "I am picking up a distress call. It's the Marblehead."
Grisham's brow furrowed as he turned to the radioman. "Are you certain," he asked. "The Marblehead would be nowhere in the vicinity. They should be halfway across the Atlantic right now with the Bearn."
The radioman clutched his head gear. "This is USS Omaha, receiving your transmission. Can you confirm?"
After a moment he nodded, then faced his captain. "Sir, it's confirmed. It is the Marblehead."
Grisham hesitated. There was a rogue German submarine unaccounted for, one that had already attacked both the Marblehead and the French aircraft carrier. Could it be a ruse, he wondered. He then pushed the thought from his mind. "What is their state and bearing? Are they caught in the storm"
"Seventy two miles northeast of us sir," replied the radioman. He paused, eyes widening. "Sir, they say they are under attack!"
"Attack? Is it the submarine again?"
The radioman clutched his headset, then sat back. He was incredulous.
"Speak up! What is their state!" barked Grisham.
"It's an air attack, sir. They're saying they're under British air attack!"
Pangur
Donor
One way or the other he is going to go and have a look see, might launch an aircraft to that end
Welp its pretty much gg for the British, the only defence they will have left now is the fact that the USS Marblehead was on the wrong side of the Atlantic and got "confused" as an enemy ship, but any excuse made up by the Brits will crumble when Morgenthau comes back from the dead...
Also the Royal Navy has Royally screwed up in its Radio jamming department.
But I can still see a chance of the Royal Navy successfully pulling off its mission, why would the captain of USS Omaha believe everything that USS Marblehead says, afterall the ship is nowhere near its supposed location in the Atlantic and the bad weather and storm will make Float plane operations dangerous for Omaha, so its best to ask for an explanation from the British...
Edit: Added an extra paragraph
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Pangur
Donor
We know that they failed to jam, what we don't know if they are aware that the signal was sent in the first place. If they did then they have the option of calling back the airstrike
Chapter 13 - The Marblehead
JUNE 18, 1945 8:52PM ESTMunich, American Zone of Occupation
Anotnia Beckenbauer had waited for five hours. The cries of civilians, the crackle of gunfire that was all around, it had begun to die down. And then it had finally ceased.
At least in the immediate vicinity. The sounds could still be heard, but they were far away. Far off in the distance, somewhere.
Her back was aflame, having laid uncomfortably for so long. She had to move soon, and decided to now. Carefully, she extricated herself from the smashed, fallen clothing cabinet that she had hidden beneath. Carefully, quietly, Anotnia stood and tried to stretch. The pain in her back however was soon to be ignored as she was greeted by the sight that was visible through the now smashed windows of her home.
Munich was in flames.
8:54PM EST
Atlantic
"We're picking up transmissions from the Marblehead!" came the cry over the radio.
Lieutenant Drew Barrett groaned. The squadron commander and his men had been thoroughly briefed by Captain D'Arcy prior to flight. He knew what was at stake, and that the enemy would love to sow confusion between the British and Americans. A supposed cry for assistance from a "United State" cruiser was the last thing that this mission needed. This was to be a surgical strike, and it quickly risked becoming more than that.
The Marblehead had been almost undetected until minutes earlier, when the combined air strike from the Queen, Trumpeter, and Searcher had found her striving towards an intense squall line. And now they were upon her, but yet that distress call could be heard. And to give the enemy begrudged credit at their duplicity, in unaccented English.
"I repeat, this is the USS Marblehead! We are under attack from British aircraft! We request immediate assistance!" came the duplicitous message over the radio.
"Jam that transmission!", barked Lieutenant Barrett, straining to see the Marblehead through the driving rain.
Suddenly the sky lit up, illuminated from a massive explosion below. The cruiser's transmission had ceased.
I suppose there is more than one way to end that, he thought.
8:55PM EST
USS Marblehead
Captain Kraker struggled to his feet, the windows of the bridge smashed from the 2,000 pound bomb that had detonated between the foremost funnel and the superstructure. Rain lashed his face, coming from the holes left by the shrapnel that had torn through the bridge. His bridge crew were similarly staggering up, having similarly been knocked over. At least those who still lived.
"Status report!" he yelled.
"Communications are gone!", replied the radioman.
There was no reply from the radar operator. He was dead, and from a quick look the SK air search radar itself had been taken out by the blast as well. Kraker grimaced. They were not only blind, but they were now completely on their own.
8:56PM EST
Atlantic
A Wildcat exploded near Barrett. Furious, the British lieutenant dove his plane towards the American cruiser, strafing the Bofos anti-aircraft cannons that were helping to illuminate the ship as it sliced through the squall. Moments later a second bomb hit her, creating a mammoth explosion on the stern that sent a 6in turret flying up into the air.
"Sir, we're picking up transmission elsewhere," came a report over the radio.
"Another ship?" Barrett was confounded. He had been briefed on the German loyalist takeover of the Marblehead, not any additional vessels.
"No sir, it's aircraft. I think it's the Marblehead's sea planes."
"Intercept them!"
8:58PM EST
USS Omaha
Captain Grisham was incredulous. Until the Marblehead's communications had ceased, he had listened to the maydays that were coming from his command's sister vessel. And their own radar confirmed it. The cruiser was under aerial attack. An attack that he knew was continuing, but the ceasing of communication meant that the attackers - he could scarcely make himself call them the British - had either jammed transmissions. Or ended them.
And then there was a second round of communications, and he clutched the headset to his ear.
"This is Captain Grisham, USS Omaha. What is your sitrep?" he asked.
"This is Airman Rollins, USS Marblehead. The ship is under heavy air attack!"
"Is it the British?"
There was no reply, except for a burst of static.
"I repeat, is it the British? Your ship said you were under British aerial attack."
Again, there was no response.
"Marblehead airman, do you copy?"
8:59PM EST
Atlantic
"Splash one Kingfisher!"
Barrett shook his fist at the news. The last thing that they needed were escapees from the Marblehead creating more dissension. But he knew that the cruiser carried two float planes. If one had been launched, the other would be sure to be flying away as well.
"Find me that second float plane!"
9:00PM EST
USS Omaha
"I repeat, Marblehead, do you copy?" asked Grisham again.
After several seconds there was another burst of static, and then came a near wail over the radio.
"They are on my tail, sir...I am trying to lose them in the squall. They are British, sir! They swarmed our ship. Sir, what the hell is going on?!"
The Omaha's captain took a deep breath and responded. "Ditch now, son. You will never out run them in that Kingfisher. We'll recover you afterwards."
Again, a burst of static.
"Marblehead, do you copy?"
There was nothing. Grisham stood there for nearly a minute, waiting. The course of action in his mind was the only correct decision. But it was one that he would have to live with for the rest of his life. He finally handed the headset back to his radioman, then faced his first officer.
"Bring us about, Timmons" he said quietly. "I want space between us and that air strike."
"But sir," his first officer protested, "We cannot leave them to --"
"You have your orders. There is nothing that this ship can do to save the Marblehead at this point. All we can do is to alert Naval Command."
He paused for a moment.
"And dispatch our Kingfishers, now. I know that the Memphis is near Tangier. If we do not make it, hopefully our pilots can alert them."
Timmons frowned, but carried out his orders. Grisham sat back in his chair, wondering if the hammer of the British were about to fall upon them. He said a silent prayer for the Marblehead, and then thought on what the doomed float plane pilot had asked. Just what the hell is going on, indeed?
9:01PM EST
Atlantic
Lieutenant Barrett sighed in satisfaction. Having taken down the second Kingfisher personally, he circled back towards the Marblehead. The rain had intensified, but the glow of the fires on the American cruiser provided the glow that lit the way. Three more bombs hit the ship in rapid succession. The first two wrecked the midships, the third impacted where the aft 6 in turret used to be. Huge explosions lit up the sky, and after they cleared he could see that the stern of the cruiser was severed. The ship was now wallowing, her speed soon to drop to zero.
It was time to end this.
9:02PM EST
USS Marblehead
Blood streamed down Kraker's chest from a seven inch shrapnel wound in his midsection. However the rain rapidly washed it away, as the roof of the bridge was now gone. Destroyed in one of the bomb blasts. The crimson stream ran in a tide to join similar streams from other members of his bridge crew. They were all slumped over, and for all that Kraker knew they were dead.
Despite the rain the glow from the fires around provided plenty of illumination. As did one of the Bofos, whose crew stubbornly continued to put up a fight against the overwhelming assault. In the distance he heard the drone of motors and saw several aircraft approaching. He squinted, and then realized what they were. Avengers.
He tried to keep from doubling over as he approached what was left of the portside of the bridge. There, in waves, he saw the telltale tracks. And then he saw no more.
9:03PM EST
Atlantic
Cheers erupted over the radio as five torpedoes hit the Marblehead in rapid succession. The aged light cruiser was lifted from the water, then settled back at different angles. She rapidly began to heel over.
The celebration continued as Barrett circled his Wildcat overhead. He watched with grim satisfaction as the cruiser entered her death throes. Within seconds the midships had disappeared. Then what was left of the stern plunged forward beneath the waves and vanished. Finally that left the bow, rotating as it briefly thrust upwards at ninety degrees. Then it too slipped beneath the waves.
9:06PM EST
Atlantic
Lieutenant Thomas Pritchard saw blackness all around, feeling the seeming tug of the Marblehead as her wreckage continued its death ride to the bottom. And then, his vision fading, there was a sudden explosion below that pushed him towards the surface.
Moments later he surfaced, gasping for air. He floated in a sea of debris and soon realized that he was not alone. Other men were there, all around. Crying out for help. Screaming.
Flaming pieces of the ship provided illumination as he swam to one group of survivors who were clinging to a partially inflated raft. But as he swam he heard it.
The buzz of aircraft.
9:07PM EST
Lieutenant Barrett shook his head. The orders that they had been given prior to launch were explicit. These fanatics, these traitors had already been tried in absentia for their crimes against the British and Americans. Captain D'Arcy, while visibly troubled had confirmed the command when Barrett had questioned him.
"We have our orders," he said. "Begin your runs."
He dove his Wildcat towards the flaming pool of wreckage that undoubtedly contained survivors from the comandeered Marblehead. Beside him his squadron did the same.
Let the politicians sort out the ramifications of this disaster, he thought as ocean grew closer.
No survivors.
So we know Morgenthau, Fleming, and the evidence packet boarded the Marblehead but I wonder whether their complete absence from other updates and the attack means they snuck off later knowing the Brits would attack.
If not, I hope Fleming and Morgenthau had a dead man switch data drop readied that'd be released to the Americans.
The other way this goes really pear shaped is if some enterprising but compartmentalized Soviet sympathizer discovers the British actions and evidence Morgenthau was alive and leaks it to harm both sets of Imperialist dogs. Whoops that trail goes back to Stalin potentially.
But if they get away for it for a generation or two, then it'll truly be water under the bridge even as it's an act of war now.
If not, I hope Fleming and Morgenthau had a dead man switch data drop readied that'd be released to the Americans.
The other way this goes really pear shaped is if some enterprising but compartmentalized Soviet sympathizer discovers the British actions and evidence Morgenthau was alive and leaks it to harm both sets of Imperialist dogs. Whoops that trail goes back to Stalin potentially.
But if they get away for it for a generation or two, then it'll truly be water under the bridge even as it's an act of war now.
No spoilers, save to say that that there is a clue in the Marblehead sequence if you reread it.
Pangur
Donor
At a guess Grisham believed the Marblehead, otherwise why send the kingfishers to the Memphis? He wants to dump up the odds on the news getting out I wonder about the aircrew from the second Kingfisher that was shot down as well as all the bodies from the Marblehead , some will stay floating around and once found will be determined to definitely US Navy or indeed RN
This is an unprecedented disaster for the British and likely lead to a limited conflict between the two Superpowers, the Brits have killed upwards to 450 American Sailors in international waters + more in Germany, we now know that the ships are somewhere "near" Tangier (presumably the Moroccan one and not the island in Virginia) but the USS Omaha can't radio to the USS Memphis (probably because of risk of alerting the British). The Carrier attack happened somewhere in the exclusive economic zone of Portugal I guess, since the Azores isn't near enough it is certain that we are not that far from the coastline of Portugal, Spain and Colonial France.
Oh and before I go we must welcome the USS Marblehead into the group of ships and boats that have been now sunken into David Jones Locker in the TL of the Bearn, unintentionally becoming the fifth ship to have been sunken by the Bearn by indirect means.
Oh and before I go we must welcome the USS Marblehead into the group of ships and boats that have been now sunken into David Jones Locker in the TL of the Bearn, unintentionally becoming the fifth ship to have been sunken by the Bearn by indirect means.