Andrew Wareham - The Winter War (The War to End All Wars Book 2)

Christopher Adams was exhausted, thoughmaintaining the faade of the alert, stiff and starched epitome of the keennaval officer.

Invincible had steamed ather best economical speed of ten knots south from Lands End to Brazil,navigating precisely to waste not a miles worth of coal, her senior officerswell aware that she had bunker capacity for the exact length of the voyage, ifthey were very careful indeed. She and Inflexible, the battlecruiser in companyfor the mission to seek out and destroy the Tsingtao Squadron, were burning thedust and slack scraped from the bottom plates of the coal storage when they reachedthe first rendezvous at the Abrolhos Rocks at Brazil and met Rear Admiral Stoddartssquadron there and took sufficient from a collier at sea to reach the Falklands.They sailed then in company to Port Stanley.

Christopher was the assistantto the Navigating Officer, had stood watch and watch with him on the bridge forthe whole voyage, adjusting the course by a degree or two in response to everychange detected in wind or current to optimise the distance covered for everyton of coal burned. On reaching the Falklands an achievement they had sometimesdoubted they changed into their oldest uniforms and joined the other officersin setting an example to the crew, running with coal sacks to the chutes thatpassed the fuel down to the furnaces.

Invincible carried threethousand and eighty-five tons in her bunkers at full load. The admiral hadcalled for an even three thousand tons to be taken aboard. He had demanded thatthe Engineer Commander should take samples of the coal to determine itscalorific value. Best Welsh steam coal, or its equivalent, provided an increasein steaming distance of at least twenty per cent more than the stuff availablefrom South Africa or India and he was not certain what the colliers sent aheadhad carried. They had bills of lading, of course - from civilians, and Welshmenat that. How could he trust them?

Admiral Sturdee needed toknow what his ships could actually do. He stood on the bridge, fretting, muchas he had done since Plymouth.

Might be a chase acrosshalf the Pacific. For all we know, the Tsingtao Squadron might have turnednorth to Canada or due west to Australian waters. No certainty at all that VonSpee will enter the Atlantic!

His staff attempted to reassurehim. They had sat day after day as Invincible had made her way south, trying toget inside the German admirals mind, to determine what he must do.

Not a certainty, sir,one must agree. Yet, if Von Spee is to survive, he must get back to Germany. Thatdemands coal, sir, and more than he can pick up from colliers at sea. He musttake Port Stanley and its facilities or go north to one of the South Americanneutral ports, where he would be seen and quickly entrapped by our squadrons.If he can coal here, he has a chance of survival.

Admiral Sturdee knew this he had a good strategic brain, was better suited to planning than to action.He had a suspicion that he had been given this command for that reason the FirstSea Lord, Jacky Fisher, had disagreed with him recently on the best course forthe Admiralty to take over the coming years and Fisher was ruthless to his enemies,who included every man who dared say him no. Add to that, Sturdee had not stoodas one of Fishers friends when he was driven to resign in 1911. If Sturdee failedto catch and utterly destroy Von Spee then he was finished his career ended,never another appointment and possibly a court martial for failing to performhis duty to the best of his ability. Admiral Byng had been shot for failing tocarry out impossible orders the precedent was there and Fisher was vindictivein the extreme.

Canopus is here, atanchor, her guns ready. Can Von Spee hope to enter the harbour against hertwelve inch guns?

His staff scowled inunison.

Canopus was an oldpredreadnought, her four twelve inch guns outranged by the sixteen more moderneight inchers of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau cruisers. There was no greatreason to suppose that Canopus gunners were out of the ordinary while theGerman ships had recently sunk Good Hope and in Monmouth in a very bare hour ofbattle. Add to that, there were light cruisers in the German flotilla capableof mounting simultaneous torpedo attacks.

With respect, sir.Canopus dont look like the most dangerous of opponents! Built for the China Stationand short of armour and her secondary battery only six inchers. Fifteen yearsold now. Slow rate of fire with old guns that have to be returned to thehorizontal to reload and have to be laid anew with each round fired.

Sturdee knew this but hadno objection to being reminded it helped him think, he said.

Poor visibility to northand west from the harbour once we are tied up to the hulk.

That was certainly true.The Falklands had high hills sheltering the harbour an advantage in terms ofthe South Atlantic storms, undesirable defensively.

They had no choice the shipshad to coal.

Admiral Sturdee and hisstaff watched the crew of Invincible run about their duty as they started thehard labour. It did not occur to them to assist, as every other officer,including the captain, was doing. They merely stared ostentatiously at theirwatches and counted the one hundred and forty pound coal bags aboard, shakingtheir heads if the rate slowed at all.

At least the wind blowsmost of the dust away from the bridge, sir. Pity we could not use oil-firedships, sir!

Port Stanley had no facilitiesother than coal. Oil burners would have had to refuel in Cape Town, thousandsof miles distant.

The South Atlantic andPacific are no place for the most modern ships!

The lieutenant meeklyaccepted his masters rebuke.

Does the coal hulk carryas much as six thousand tons, sir?

It should do. Orderswere sent to Cape Town to despatch colliers against our needs, but not loadedlocally! We must have best Welsh for our fuel!

Confirmation came from theengine room that the coal was of the best, relieving Sturdees mind of oneanxiety.

Glasgow, a survivor ofAdmiral Craddocks squadron, had accompanied them with other light and armouredcruisers. Admiral Sturdee wondered whether he might not send some or all of themout towards Cape Horn to act as scouts. The staff had already discussed thispossibility at some length.

Wireless is the problem,sir. Old transmitting equipment a bare three hundred miles range in goodconditions.

Three hundred miles was agood days steaming, would give sufficient notice for the pair of battlecruisersto leave harbour and advance on the oncoming squadron. If the scouts werespotted, a day was sufficient for the Tsingtao Squadron to disappear into the depthsof the Pacific, possibly not to be seen again for weeks.

Safer not. They shouldsail in company with us.