Robert Conroy - 1920 - America's Great War

Lejeune said, “We’ll be heading that way, but we’ll be walking.”

Tovey looked down the line. The tracks had been ripped up as far as he could see.

Was there anything more majestic than a German battleship? thought the crown prince. Given his birthright as the Kaiser’s heir, he’d been on a number of them, but this was his first trip to a glorious monster like the Bayern , the flagship of the mighty German Pacific Fleet.

The Bayern was truly imposing. She displaced thirty-two thousand tons and her main armament was eight fifteen-inch guns in four turrets. They were larger than anything the Americans had and only equaled by the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth class battleships.

Her secondary battery consisted of sixteen 5.9-inch guns and a multitude of smaller guns and a handful of torpedo turrets. She could steam eight thousand nautical miles without refueling and do so at twenty-two knots. Many cars, he thought, could not achieve that speed. She and her three sister ships, the Baden , Sachsen , and Wurttemberg , were the mightiest ships in the German Navy. Only the Bayern was off California. The others remained in Germany.

The prince carefully climbed the stairway to the deck. A stumble would not do for the imperial dignity and, despite calm seas, the massive ship was moving slightly. He was greeted by Admiral Hipper and Admiral Trotha. The ubiquitous Captain Canaris stood behind Hipper. The prince reviewed the immaculately uniformed crew and then the men retreated to Hipper’s quarters for lunch, brandy, and cigars. The prince found himself wistfully thinking that it would be wonderful to have such a movable fort on land. He mentioned it to the two admirals who chuckled.

“We could build it,” Hipper said cheerfully, “but how in God’s name would we ever move it?”

Hipper gave an almost invisible signal and Trotha departed, leaving him alone with the prince. “Sir, I am honored that you came.”

“And I am honored by the invitation. Your ship is truly marvelous.”

“Indeed, sir, but neither she nor her sisters have yet accomplished a thing. I know that blockade work is essential, but it is anticlimactic, boring, and does nothing for the reputation of Germany’s newest weapon, her mighty fleet.”

The prince sighed. He had expected this. “I assume you wish to share in the final assault.”

“Sir, our honor demands it. I have brought four minesweepers to clear the channel. All I need from you is the date and time of your attack and my fleet will blast its way into San Francisco Bay. When the Americans realize they are being assaulted by land and sea, they will panic and resistance will crumble.”

“You will lose some of your ships,” Wilhelm said quietly.

“As you will lose men, sir.”

The prince frowned. The German Army had suffered another ten thousand casualties storming the American’s second line. Intelligence said that the Yank third line was the most formidable and was where what machine guns and artillery they had were massed. He was confident he could carry it, but at what price? Anything the Navy could do to make his job less bloody would be welcomed.

There were other factors, political factors, affecting the admiral’s request to be included in the fighting. Germany’s reputation was that of a land power and the proud German Navy was a new and basically untried force. Worse, it hadn’t accomplished much in the 1914 war and very little in this fight. Modern ships were exorbitantly expensive and the money men in Berlin were questioning the new navy’s usefulness in a modern war. Hipper and the other admirals feared that their navy might be relegated to a secondary force, and they had good reason to worry. No new capital ships had been launched in three years. Wait and see was Berlin’s attitude, while the generals sat back and smirked. A joint victory by the German Army and Navy would ensure that more warships joined the navy.

“And what of the American battleships, Admiral? The Nevada is doubtless joining her sisters, thus constituting a serious fleet in being.”

To the German command’s dismay, the Nevada had somehow been refueled and rearmed. It was presumed from smuggled supplies and another useless protest would be lodged with the British.

The Nevada had emerged from the night and bulled her way past the destroyers and light cruisers loosely blockading Puget Sound. One destroyer had been sunk and a cruiser damaged with no apparent harm to the Nevada .

“The Americans have three battleships at sea,” said Hipper, “whilst we have ten. I am not concerned about them. In fact, let them come and do battle instead of attacking convoys. They are wretched cowards,” he sniffed.

Hipper exuded confidence, but he couldn’t quite hide his lingering doubts. Even though the American force would be smaller in numbers, it would still be quite formidable. The Bayern was the only German battleship with fifteen-inch guns. The others had twelve-inch batteries, with the exception of the Nassau and Posen, which only had eleven-inch main guns. The three American battleships all had fourteen-inch weapons. The Bayern could sink any one of them, but what if she was attacked by two or by all three?

Hipper had decided that would keep his battleships together so the smaller American force could be overwhelmed. And why the devil hadn’t the kaiser permitted at least one other of the Bayern ’s sisters to accompany her, or even some of the lighter battlecruisers that had cost so much and accomplished so little? The majority of the German High Seas Fleet had stayed at home, left to stare at the Royal Navy.

Prudently, Hipper had ordered all convoys to remain in Cam Ranh Bay until the Americans had been destroyed.

Hipper continued. “As I understand it, sir, your attack will be with a degree of urgency. Haven’t the Americans broken through in the south?”

The prince sighed. “They have, but not in great numbers and they are five hundred miles away. I made a mistake, Admiral. I assigned an inexperienced general and an inexperienced regiment to guard the southern approach as replacements for the duplicitous Mexicans. Their commander was ordered to avoid a full battle. He was told to nibble at them as they had nibbled at us in our advance northward. He was to keep between them and their target, whether it was San Diego or the Central Valley. But no, the fool decided to make a heroic stand against a much larger American force. He lost half his men and, fortunately for him, his life. Thank God the senior surviving officer, a major named Rommel, had the presence of mind to continue destroying the railroad tracks as he and the remnants of the regiment fled north. The Yanks will be delayed for some time.”

“A shame, but mistakes do happen,” Hipper said. “Trotha is still cursing himself for letting the Americans escape from Puget Sound.”

“War is imperfect,” the prince said. “After we take San Francisco, I will detach a corps and send it south to squash the Americans before they can bring additional troops. Yes, you may join in the attack on the city. It will occur in only a few days and, yes, the idea of your ships rampaging in San Francisco Bay is intoxicating. I almost wish I could be on the bridge of the Bayern when you blast the Americans.”

Hipper laughed. “Consider yourself invited, sir.”

The prince smiled. “But understand that you may be fog bound when we do attack. You must not take unnecessary risks with the fleet.”

“Trust me, sir. I will be brave, but discreet. If we cannot see the Golden Gate, we will not move. I have absolutely no intention of going down in history as the German admiral who rammed his fleet onto the California coast.”