February 25, 1944
Cruiser
De Grasse
Contre-amiral Lapeyre removed his hat as he came back into the flag bridge.
De Grasse was at sea, positioned midway between the two zones of the exercise. "How are we doing, Andre?" Lapeyre asked the FLA's training officer, Capitaine de Corvette Jean Andre Fleurett.
"Belic's group is cracking along to the southeast," Fleurett reported, gesturing toward the S2-Blue Group. "They cut Cape Bon quite closely - the coast artillery reported their lights to us. Formation, according to the umpires, looks good:
Pristina leading
Petrinja, then
Turpin and
Roncevaux. Good spacing, prompt attention and responses to signals, the lot." Fleurett tapped the track charts laid out on the table. "Given what I'm seeing of the reports, if their navigation is bang-on, S2-Blue will cross the T of S2-Red Force here in the next fifteen minutes."
"What's Capitaine Durand doing?" Lapeyre asked. Ostensibly, Durand had superior force: two heavy contre-torpilleurs, the
Le Fantasque and
L'Indomptable, and two minelayer-cruisers,
Georges Leygues and
Dupleix - a total of twenty-eight 138mm guns. Belic's S2-Blue group had only the sixteen 138mm guns from
Turpin and
Ronceavaux, and the eight 120mm guns of the two Yugoslavian destroyers. But for the purposes of the exercise, any damage against the minelayers would be counted doubly-effective.
"The contre-torpilleurs are steaming line abreast about sixteen hundred meters ahead of the minelayers, zigzagging for antisubmarine sweeps," Fleurett replied. "The minelayers are in line ahead -
Dupleix trailing - and also zigzagging. But since none of the ships are using their JDRKE, the zigzags are looking rather predictable."
Lapeyre nodded. Most French warships built or modified since 1940 had a device called JDRKE fitted to their helm systems which allowed a captain to set a base course for the ship to follow. The JDRKE would then use a set of mechanical gearings to steer the ship along a random zigzag course following that base course. In most circumstances, the French Navy didn't approve JDRKE for use by Opposition Forces during exercises.
"What's your prediction for when they meet?" Lapeyre asked.
Fleurett frowned in concentration. "Not sure. In most cases, I'd put my money on Durand. But Belic's running things tightly enough that I think Blue's got a decent shot at crossing Durand's T and getting off the first shots. But
Le Fantasque and
L'Indomptable are tight ships, and they're going to react fast. If they are alerted before Blue opens fire, I think Durand will win it. He's got the advantage of more and larger guns, and he's well-practiced at controlling multiple ships. Belic's doing very well, but he
doesn't have that level of experience yet. And the internationalism of his force will also play against him with communications and doctrine."
Lapeyre nodded. He'd intentionally assigned
Turpin and
Roncevaux to Belic's force, knowing that of all the Forces Legere d'Attaque captains, Guillaume and Robert had demonstrated the best traits suitable for following an inexperienced squadron leader: an exacting discipline and a disinclination for disobeying orders they thought were inept, yet still an intelligence and independence of action necessary for a small-unit action. "Has Belic made any mistakes, yet?"
"None that we've seen in our big picture," Fleurett replied. "My only hesitation is his steaming order. He's up at the front of the formation with
Pristina and
Petrinja following, while the
Turpin and
Roncevaux are in the rear. That puts the vast majority of his firepower in the latter half of his formation. It's gained him better control of the group, so long as Capitaines Guillaume and Robert maintain strict adherence to his signals and formation; but I think he's going to regret that choice as soon as he gets into action."
"Estimated time to engagement?"
Fleurett glanced at his chart. "The forces should be detecting each other in the next ten to fifteen minutes. After that..."
* * * * *
Aboard the MN
Le Fantasque, Capitaine Phillipe Durand felt the tension rise as the sound-powered telephone buzzed. The starboard bridge talker snatched it up. "Bridge..." The talker turned toward Durand. "Detecteur reports surface contact bearing two-zero-five steady, detection time zero-one-zero-five hours, estimated range nineteen thousand meters. Target on course one-zero-zero steady, estimated speed twenty-four knots! Detecteur reports possible second contact."
"Action stations!" Durand snapped. He mentally filtered the information onto his mental map of the sea-scape surrounding his flagship, and reflexively discarded all irrelevant courses of action. "Helm, port standard rudder - make your course zero-nine-zero. Engineering, I want ready steam for thirty knots."
Durand then picked up the handset for the squadron. "JAVELOT to group! Contact two-zero-five, range nineteen. Orders: action plan seven, with deployment zero-nine-zero. Confirm!"
"INDRE confirms Action Plan Seven!"
"PILGRIM confirms Seven."
"AMLIET confirms Action Seven..."
"Range to target one, eighteen five hundred, range to second contact eighteen seven hundred, possible third contact at two-zero-seven, range eighteen nine hundred," the portside talker reported.
"All targets within maximum range of main battery," the
Le Fantasque's gunnery chief advised. "Firing solution from DEM is steady, battery at readiness, gunnery offsets engaged."
"INDRE to JAVELOT, INDRE still seeking solution," the
L'Indomptable's captain reported.
"Fire as you can, INDRE," Durand ordered.
At these ranges, the Yugoslavian gunners will have difficulty with their 120mm guns - they're probably still out of range, if their ballistics are anything like the French 120mm guns. I don't mind keeping half of their destroyers out of range for now, after all! "Gunnery, fire."
The ship's gunner picked up his own sound-powered phone. "Shoot!"
Le Fantasque's six 138mm guns fired in unison. At forty-four degrees elevation, the guns could reach out nearly twenty-two thousand meters. By the simple expedient of offsets - the gunners fired a thousand meters ahead of and to the closer side of the target ship - an approximation of a naval artillery duel could be carried on with relative safety.
Twenty seconds later, as
Le Fantasque fired her second salvo, there came a flash from
L'Indomptable's battery as she joined in. From the southern horizon there was still darkness as Blue Force momentarily held their fire.
* * * * *
Fleurett unfolded the communication from his umpires. "They've engaged, sir," he reported to Contre-Amiral Lapeyre. "Looks like
Le Fantasque got the first spotting with her radio-detection sets, and Durand turned away to the east - probably to avoid possible torpedoes - and opened fire at eighteen thousand meters."
"Care to update your predictions?" Lapeyre asked.
"Durand's going to win this, or at least draw," Fleurett said. "Belic was detected too early to launch torpedoes, and Durand's turn east is keeping the Yugoslavian destroyers out of range, or at the very edge of it. Belic needs to close Red before Durand brings the minelayers into the gunnery fight; I don't think Durand's going let him get close enough."
* * * * *
Notes:
JAVELOT: Radi call-sign for
Le Fantasque / Durand.
INDRE: Radio call-sign for
L'Indomptable.
PILGRIM: Radio call-sign for
Georges Leygues.
AMLIET: Radio call-sign for
Dupleix