Marinestützpunkt Warnemünde, Friday, 23 April 1948
With all proper ceremony Kontr-Admiral Giorgi Abashvili was piped aboard the destroyer Sokrushitelnyi, accompanied by Captain First Rank Pavel Kozyukhin, commander of the Thirteenth Destroyer Flotilla, and Captain First Rank Konstantin Khrenov, naval attaché from the Russian embassy in Berlin. Abashvili, deputy chief of staff of the Baltic Fleet, had come to the temporary base of the Russian flotilla with the principal purpose of reviewing its progress in joint training with the German Navy; his more immediate purpose was to interview the Russian officers involved in what had become known as the “Wolverine Incident”.
The Abashvili had been in Bremerhaven, observing the progress of the recently concluded German fleet exercise when the incident had boiled up; he now wished to hear first-hand from the officers involved the facts, impressions, and theories behind the incident. Once the punctilio of the visit had been completed, the officers gathered in the wardroom of the Sokrushitelnyi.
“Captain Kozyukhin,” said the admiral, “I have read your report, as well as that of Captain Yenin and the other officers of your flotilla. It does not seem as though you had significant difficulty in locating the British vessel.”
“The British submarine was operating on his diesel engines at the time, trusting to an air mast. Had he been operating on electric motors he might have gone un-noticed.” Kozyukhin chose not to play up the abilities of his ships and his officers, but confined himself to the facts. “The acoustic signature from the British vessel did not match those known to us, but such identifications are never certain.”
“Yes,” said Khrenkov, “Naval Intelligence advises that the Wolverine is a smaller sort of British submarine, well suited for operations in the confined waters of the Baltic. The choice of such a boat suggests that the British knew one of their larger submarines would not have been able to penetrate the Great Belt.”
The ability of the British submarine to accomplish that feat had implications for the security of Russian interests in the Baltic. It was clear that the Danes had not connived in the Wolverine’s movements; in time of peace they had no reason to suspect that a friendly power would seek to violate its territorial waters. It was an unspoken consensus among the Russian officers that while the British might have been able to gull the Danes once it was unlikely that they might be able to do so again.
“Captain Yenin,” Abashvili continued. “Once you had located the unknown submarine you chose not to prosecute an attack. Why?”
The admiral’s question seemed accusatory. Yenin was not discomfited by it, and he answered deliberately. “While the identity of the submarine was unknown at the time, the uncertainly thereby engendered made application of rules of engagement difficult. I chose to contact the unknown by underwater telephone in an attempt to defuse the incident. It is a technique that has worked with our Nordish and Danish neighbours, whose submarines we have encountered from time to time.” Abashvili nodded in response, and Yenin continued. “I was quite surprised when the British captain identified his vessel and surfaced in response to my offer.”
“Your initiative is noteworthy,” Abashvili admitted.
“Yes,” added Khrenov. “The photographs you crewmen took, the record of observations made by them, and the information obtained from the British crew have proven quite useful Naval Intelligence.”
Abashvili directed a further question, to Kozyukhin as much as to Yenin. “Do you think that the British captain was surprised to find himself confronting a Russian vessel instead of a German one?”
The cooperative training exercise between the two nations had begun the previous autumn, and had been commented upon by the observers throughout the Baltic; the presence of the Thirteenth Destroyer Flotilla should not have been a surprise. Yenin responded, “The officers who visited the Wolverine obtained the definite impression of surprise.”
The officers debated this point for several minutes, Khrenkov providing insights obtained from the reports of his counterpart in London as well as the Main Intelligence Directorate. Despite the long history of the ongoing exercise, the British failed to grasp the essentials of the German Kriegsmarine’s training programme in Baltic waters, and the role of the Thirteenth Destroyer Flotilla in it. Donnerschlag, the German exercise in the North Sea, was seen as drawing all of Germany’s naval strength into the North Sea; the retention of vessels in training status in the Baltic seemed to have come as a surprise.
Kozyukhin posed a question to Khrenkov, one that had nagged him since the encounter with the Wolverine. “What were British intentions in this affair? All they seem to have accomplished is to embarrass the Danes, annoy the Germans, and highlight a potential threat to the security of the Motherland.”
The naval attaché framed his answer carefully. “I believe that the Wolverine’s intended mission was the covert gathering of radio and other electronic intelligence; to the extent that the British submarine was able to intercept transmissions prior to its discovery, that mission was accomplished. A secondary purpose was, no doubt, to test whether the Royal Navy’s submarines could penetrate and operate in the Baltic without discovery; in that regard the Wolverine’s activities must be judged an abject failure. It seems probable that the diplomatic and political repercussions of her interception will outweigh any gains from whatever intelligence he was able to garner.”
The discussions continued for several hours, examining all aspects of the incident. Abashvili indicated that he had been invited to participate in an after-action review of the Donnerschlag exercise; no doubt the Wolverine incident would be raised in that context, and he thanked all those assembled for their comments and their insights.