John Schettler - Kirov

“And let us not forget the trump cards,” said Karpov. When they see those, there may be very many other things they pause to reconsider.”

“All things in time, Mister Karpov,” said the Admiral. “All things in time. Just remember your bridge game…Never lead into a suit unless you know you can pull their high cards and win.”

Aboard Victorious, Admiral Wake-Walker could see that his destroyers could not keep up their advance for very much longer. They were simply burning up too much fuel running full out in the ever more difficult seas. But at least they were headed the right direction. The Allied bases and fuel depots of Iceland lay ahead of them at Reykjavik and Hvalsfjord where the Americans were setting up their long range PBY patrol squadrons.

His thinking on exactly what this enemy ship might be had been given a nudge in an unexpected direction when Admiral Tovey sent him a message with Brind’s idea about the German carrier Graf Zeppelin. As far as they knew that ship was still in the dockyards. In fact, naval intelligence believed the Germans had removed many of her AA guns due to a shortage in Norway, where they were now deployed. That thought struck him-what if they were installing these new rockets in their place?

When the Admiralty relayed intelligence that they had finally gotten a clear look at Kiel and found Tirpitz and two other large ships resting quietly in dry-dock, the list of possibilities grew ever narrower. Subsequent photo analysis revealed that the other two ships were indeed the Deutschland class pocket battleships Lutzow and Admiral Scheer.

It was therefore decided to send a long-range reconnaissance bomber to Gotenhaven in the Baltic, where the Germans had towed Graf Zeppelin over a year ago. Much to the surprise of Royal Navy intelligence, the ship was not there! What they did not know, however, was that the Germans had decided to move the ship to Stettin after invading Russia in Operation Barbarossa, in order to safeguard her from possible Russian air attack. Preoccupied with the hunt for the Bismarck at the time, the British failed to pick up the move. The missing carrier therefore seemed to be the only possible ship the Germans could have at sea now, yet they could not understand how they could have completed her so quickly, or why they would risk such a unique and valuable vessel for a solo mission in the Atlantic, particularly without an adequate escort.

Capable of thirty-four knots, Graf Zeppelin clearly had the speed of the unknown contact ahead, which was traveling at a consistent thirty knots. This eliminated Wake-Walker’s ideas about a merchant type raider like Atlantis, which could make no more than eighteen knots at best. And none of the Deutschland class pocket battleships could do better than twenty-eight knots. Furthermore, from time to time Grenfell’s shadowing radar equipped Fulmars had seen what looked like airborne contacts in and around the ship they had been tracking. These clues, and suspicions that the Germans had somehow developed some new defensive anti-aircraft rockets that were used in conjunction with spotter planes, led Royal Navy planners to the conclusion that it was Graf Zeppelin that was now on the loose.

That being the case, Wake-Walker was given the go-ahead for another airstrike with his remaining Albacores. The pilots were none too keen to hear this, but in a preflight briefing it was stressed that they would be making an extreme low level attack, traveling right down on the deck the whole way, and splitting off into multiple groups of four planes each instead of one massed formation as had been the case earlier. With 828 Squadron all bunched together the Germans had managed to get a bull's-eye with their new weapon system, taking out the heart of the squadron in one stunning blow.

This time the planes would fly very low, and would be widely dispersed. And to improve their chances of getting in close without being spotted, they were also going to make their approach in darkness, attacking in the early dawn. It was the most difficult assignment the aircrews had been given, especially after they had seen what had happened the last time out. But with stiff upper lips, they buckled down, mounted their aircraft and were assembled over Force P a half hour before dawn, late on August 3, 1941.

Wake-Walker was going to throw everything he had at the Germans this time. With the range closed to 125 miles, he would send nine Albacore from 817 Squadron, and another nine Swordfish from 812 Squadron off the Furious. 800 Squadron would send out all nine of its Fulmars with bombs as well, just in case the Germans had modified Me-109s aboard their suspected carrier. If they met fighter opposition they could jettison their bombs and engage-if German air cover was minimal, they could go in as makeshift dive bombers.

From his own flagship, Victorious, Walker could send only ten remaining Albacore and a half dozen Fulmar fighters. The fighters had the toughest assignment, for they were going to go in at much higher altitude in an attempt to further spoof the enemy radar. In effect, they were hoping to decoy the German rockets, allowing the torpedo bombers to skim in low and get some hits. Only their agility might allow then to pull that off without severe losses if the rockets were as accurate as they were the first time.

It was a remarkable plan considering all the unknowns in the situation, but was typical of the elasticity, flexibility, and determination of the Royal Navy. Force P had a bone to pick with this phantom German raider, and they intended to get even. The flight deck crews flagged off the last of the fighters and watched as the torpedo planes all dropped low heading away to the southwest, skimming over the crests of the fitful sea. Meanwhile the fighters climbed high and were soon lost in the gray cloud cover, the faces of the pilots set and grim, knowing they could now be flying their last mission.

Aboard Kirov, Admiral Volsky was sleeping in his cabin, getting some well-deserved rest while Captain Karpov stood the watch on the bridge. Rodenko, too, had been relieved by a junior officer, Fedorov had retired for the night, and Orlov was down in the wardroom kibitzing with the Junior officers. Samsonov was still at his post, and would be for another two hours before he was scheduled for relief. Tasarov was gone, as the threat from submarines did not require his particular attention with the ship running at thirty knots. A relief officer manned his post.

First Lieutenant Yazov was leading Rodenko's station with a number of junior starshini at the eight workstations there when he noted something unusual on his screen. “Con, radar contact, airborne, altitude 10,000 feet, speed 240 KPH, now bearing on our position-multiple contacts, sir. I have fifteen separate targets, and they are dispersing.”

Karpov had been dozing quietly in the in the command seat, but was suddenly awake. He leapt off the chair and went to look at the scope himself, hovering over Yazov for a few minutes until he determined that this must be another inbound enemy strike wave. They're trying to slip one in on us, he thought.

“Mister Samsonov, activate air defense systems at once.”

“S-300s, sir?”

Karpov thought for a moment, his mind racing, and he was interrupted once more by the young lieutenant Yazov who now spotted several groups of additional inbound aircraft, flying low and slow, and dispersing in a wide arc as they approached Kirov's position. The Captain had to think quickly.

“Give me the Klinok ADF system.” He was referring to the NATO coded SA-N-92 Gauntlet missile system for air defense firefights. With its electron guided integrated beam radar, each missile was a fire and forget weapon that could acquire and track targets independently. The system was also a multichannel missile defense, capable of tracking several targets simultaneously at all altitudes and speeds, and if one target was destroyed, the missiles had the ability to redirect themselves at the next available target. It's launch and reload intervals were quick enough to respond to any situation, and it had a high immunity to jamming and other electronic countermeasures. The only liability was a shorter range out to about forty-five kilometers at normal altitudes. And of course its overall effectiveness would be limited by its ammunition inventory, in this case 128 missiles in all.