Эдвин Грей - Diving Stations

‘Shall I lay off a course for the Malayan coast, sir?’ Scott asked. ‘Or should we move up into the Gulf of Siam so that we’re across their lines of communication?’

Hamilton stared at the map thoughtfully. Scott’s suggestion of turning north into the Gulf of Siam was good◦– but until they had cleared the Indo-China coast they would have to continue westward. If they tried to reduce the distance by closing the coast and cutting towards the Mekong delta, they stood a good chance of being hunted by Vichy French patrols operating out of Saigon. No◦– far better to hold well to the south of Indo-China. The decision to move north could be made when the battle situation was clearer. And that could be another seventy-two hours.

‘I’ll decide our patrol area later, Pilot. Meanwhile, I want you to give me a course for the invasion area following a line about two hundred miles to the south of the Mekong.’ Leaving Scott to carry out his instructions, Hamilton made his way back to the bridge to tell Mannon what he had decided. The night was still fine and the sea smooth. A phosphorescent glow from the bows was a silent reminder that Rapier was in the tropics.

‘Is it Malaya, sir?’ Mannon asked.

‘At the moment, yes. But it’s my guess the Japs will move into Hong Kong fairly soon. It would be the logical thing to do now that they’ve shown their hand.

‘And if they do?’

‘I’d be inclined to turn back.’

Mannon raised his glasses and surveyed the horizon in silence for a few moments. It wasn’t his place to remind the skipper that they were under the C-in-C’s personal orders to return to Singapore. But Hamilton was right in one respect◦– if they returned to Hong Kong immediately they would be in time to strike the enemy during the critical initial stages of the attack. It made more sense that arriving at Kota Bharu several days too late.

‘It’s a pity we can’t call on the Yanks to help us out◦– their Pacific Fleet would make mincemeat of the Japs.’

‘I wouldn’t underestimate the enemy, Number One. Even the Americans could have a fight on their hands. But, to be honest, I can’t see Japan taking on the United States at this juncture. Once they’ve disposed of us, and perhaps the Dutch, and secured their oil supplies from the East Indies, they might attack the Philippines. But I doubt it. Tokyo knows it can’t defeat America so why invite a hiding for nothing?’

As Hamilton picked up his binoculars and examined the dark rim of the starboard horizon, he was unaware that five thousand miles away, Admiral Nagumo’s carrier strike force was treacherously closing in on its unsuspecting target.

In less than four hours, a sequence of tragic events were to prove the fallacy of his misplaced optimism….

As eight bells signaled the end of the morning watch, Rapier’s officers assembled in the overcrowded wardroom for Hamilton’s council-of-war. Only Villiers, the new fourth hand, who had joined the boat at the last minute after Bruce had gone down with malaria, was missing. And at that precise moment, he was standing nervously on the bridge discovering the awesome responsibilities of watch-keeping under the benevolently paternal eye of Coxswain Blood.

Despite his natural misgivings about the new sub-lieutenant’s lack of experience, Hamilton had been forced to throw the young reservist in at the deep end so that all of the submarine’s regular officers could attend the meeting. Not that he was seeking their approval of his proposed course of action. But if he was going to disobey orders, he at least wanted them to understand his reasons.

‘We have received no further reports of any significance during the morning,’ he told them briefly. ‘The Japanese are apparently well ashore in the Kota Bharu area and are enlarging their bridgehead. From the signals we’ve picked up they appear to have seized a number of advanced airfields.’ He turned to a large chart of South-East Asia which was hanging by a piece of string from a convenient deck head pipe. ‘It’s only guesswork, but it seems the Japs are using French Indo-China as their staging post for the invasion. With Vichy approval no doubt,’ he added bitterly.

Mannon stared at the map. ‘It seems a bit odd they’re only attacking Malaya, sir,’ he said voicing his doubts. ‘The RAF reconnaissance reports indicated only a small escort force with the troop convoys◦– where’s the rest of the Japanese Navy?’

‘A good question, Number One. I’ve been asking myself the same thing.’

‘Well, we’ve got plenty of options,’ Scott broke in cheerfully. ‘They could be going for the Dutch Indies or even Australia. If you want my opinion, sir, we ought to head for Singapore◦– then we can move in whichever direction is needed. If we go north to Kota Bharu, we’ll be too far away to be of any use to anyone. After all, the Malayan landings could be purely diversionary.’

A similar thought had crossed Hamilton’s mind. He looked at O’Brien, the submarine’s engineering officer. ‘Any ideas, Sean?’

‘Well, so long as they’re not heading for Belfast I’m not especially bothered. But whatever they’re doing I’d be after thinking they’re up to no good.’

Hamilton grinned. He was about to say something when the wardroom curtain was suddenly pushed aside and Jamieson, the wireless room runner, entered breathlessly and snapped to attention.

‘What is it, Jamieson?’

‘Message from the Leading telegraphist, Murray, sir. The Japs have started bombing Hong Kong, sir. And some other places. He says all hell’s been let loose, sir.’

‘Thank you, Jamieson. Tell Murray I’ll be along to the Radio Room in a few moments.’ Despite the atmosphere of electric excitement which the news had created in the wardroom, Hamilton seemed totally unflustered. ‘I think we should adjourn our meeting until I have clarified the situation, gentlemen,’ he told the others calmly. ‘You’d better go up and keep an eye on young Villiers, Alistair. He’s probably hiding in a corner being sick.’

‘Very good, sir.’

‘And remember◦– any vessel flying the Japanese flag is to be regarded as hostile. However, no attacks are to be carried out until we receive confirmation from Singapore.’

‘Will you be needing me, sir?’ O’Brien asked.

‘Not for the moment, but we’re short-handed so I’ll probably have to rope you in for some watch keeping. You’d best get some sleep while you can. I shall want you in the Radio Room with me, Number One. I may need a second opinion.’

Murray was busy with his receiving equipment as Mannon and the skipper squeezed into the tiny cupboard that did duty as Rapier’s radio room. He turned in his chair, but kept one pad of the headset pressed against his ear.

‘What’s the scare, Sparks,’ Hamilton asked.

‘Japanese aircraft are bombing Hong Kong, sir. And there’s been a raid on Singapore,’ Murray leaned forward, took a pink signal slip from the pad alongside the main transmitter, and handed it to the captain. ‘This came through about two minutes ago, sir.’

Hamilton glanced down at the message. It was brief and to the point: ‘From C-in-C Eastern Fleet to all ships. Commence hostilities against Japan’.

He passed it to Mannon without comment. ‘Have you verified the source?’ he asked Murray.

‘Yes, sir. It’s definitely genuine.’

‘And those other reports◦– where did you get them from?’

‘I picked up the Singapore raid from general traffic, sir. There was a hell of a flap on. Mostly plain language transmissions. I got the second on the other set◦– news announcements on Hong Kong Radio.’ Murray paused for a moment. ‘Every station in the Far East seems to be transmitting, sir. It’s bloody chaos. I’ve been picking up several reports about an attack on a place called Pearl Harbor – but there’s so much going on it’s difficult to sort out the facts.’