I Became a Captain of the British Empire

Baron of the North Sea

Afternoon after the showdown.

The aircraft carrier Langley was having a busy evening.

Before the sun goes down, the squadron that has barely found the mother ship lands and the deck is crowded.

The mission to deceive the fleet was successfully carried out by Langley, but the mission was not over yet. Before returning to the port of Norfolk, he had to stop in Newfoundland.

Operation starts tomorrow morning.

A squadron of bombers launched from Langley was scheduled to deliver bombs to the Canadian port of Newfoundland. News of the defeat of the British Atlantic Fleet had just been telegraphed, and they had no cause for concern. Thanks to that, despite the busy work, Hamnae had a friendly atmosphere.

“Get the elevator ready! Lights control coming soon!”

Captain Mackley, the captain of the ship, stood directly on deck and urged the work in a loud voice. The sun, shooting yellow rays through the clouds, was sinking to the horizon under a gloomy sky. Had it been a little later, we would have made an overnight landing.

“There is no time! People’s lives are at stake, so move quickly!”

By night, his carrier would be heading west at full speed and approaching the Canadian coast.

The Canadian Navy is insignificant, so it would be enough to take the destroyer squadron escorting Langley now. I’m a little anxious though.

“Forward, watch!”

Right after the last aircraft came to a narrow stop in front of the anti-collision net, a report was heard just in time.

“Find a large ship mast at bearing 000!”

“A large ship?”

Instead of being frightened, the captain tilted his head.

“Isn’t this bastard mistaken for our heavy cruiser?”

Thinking nonchalantly, the captain peered out at the horizon through his binoculars. Their battlecruiser squadron was chasing the carrier strike group, and the battleship squadron was on the run to the mainland. Therefore, the only large ships roaming around were allied heavy cruisers.

I bet those sassy battleships won’t come here to help.

“Let’s see… A chimney on a triangular mast… Three?”

Taking his eyes off the binoculars, he tilted his head.

“The Pensacola class has two stacks?”

After a while, he turned to his staff and asked.

“Are there any ships with three funnels among our cruisers?”

Everyone just shook their heads. Even the captain thought that a cruiser with three stacks did not exist in the US Navy, at least in the Atlantic Fleet. If it was an old armored cruiser, at least the heavy cruisers had two stacks.

When his thoughts reached that point, the captain stopped for a moment with his mouth wide open. Soon, I hurriedly looked at the large ship on the horizon through binoculars.

A triangular mast, three stacks, and a gun that was clearly pointed this way.

The captain belatedly got goosebumps.

“Isn’t that a battle cruiser?”

A salvo of Tiger-class battlecruisers erupted before his eyes.

The next day, Captain Holland, the commander of the heavy cruiser Hawkins, was watching the surroundings with his hand on the bridge railing. A sigh escaped from his exhausted face, but he checked the horizon without looking away. It was to issue an order without delay when the chimney smoke was seen rising.

“Correspondent! Can’t you catch anything?”

Holland said, turning to the bridge. Not a single fishing boat was seen around. All he had around him was an army of wounded battleships, cruisers and destroyers that had survived last night’s inferno. Not even a single fishing boat was seen to threaten them.

However, he was anxious.

“No response!”

It was a calm sea area as if even the communication was dead. Holland let out a sigh of relief for a moment, then grabbed his binoculars again.

Fortunately, there was no chase. There was a reason the enemy didn’t have a fast capital ship, but the Royal Navy’s retreat was swift. The surviving capital ships ran so fast that they feared their engines would burst.

Thanks to the efforts of the experienced sailors, no ship sank during the escape. They were now gathering ranks at cruising speed.

“Damn it, it’s no different than a fleet of sick people.”

After looking at the fleet’s appearance, Holland looked at Hawkins’ forecastle deck with a twinge of regret. The deck, punctured by 8-inch heavy guns, looked like a haunted house. He closed his eyes for a moment, recalling the battle in the middle of the night.

The battle that took place in the process of evacuating the remaining capital ships was a melee in the truest sense. Visibility was limited before sunset by smoke screens, shelling and water columns. The distance between the two sides did not exceed 5,000 m on average, and the observer on board each ship could even see the crew of the other ship through binoculars.

Thanks to Commodore Robin’s flagship fighting directly in the lead, the retreating battleship was not hit by a torpedo. However, it was unavoidable that the torpedoes were flying at the auxiliary fleet. Several destroyers were blown apart by blinding torpedoes.

The cruisers scattered thick smoke leaving each other with fatal blows. Holland’s squadron, hidden behind destroyer smoke, provided covering fire while the destroyers rescued survivors.

It would have bought time for our allies to rescue as many survivors as possible.

Somehow the enemy battleships didn’t even come close, but the battle wasn’t over. That night, the sea was constantly illuminated by tracer lights.

Even in that hell, Holland’s ship survived.

But that was all.

All the remaining ships of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron were sunk in a pincer attack by US Navy battleships and cruisers.

On the mast of Hawkins, which was about to collapse, the one remaining fighter fluttered lonely.

At 3:00 PM, an urgent telegram was sent from the battleship Rodney, which served as the temporary flagship. After receiving the telegram from the communications officer, Holland stood in front of his binoculars with his eyes wide open.

“There’s a large ship nearby?!”

The person who posted such a report was a reconnaissance plane pilot from the Furious.

The biplane, which had been scouring the vicinity of the fleet to see if there were any ships approaching, fired a flare as soon as it saw the approaching ship with a long trajectory.

Looking through my binoculars, I could see a really high mast rising from the horizon.

“Everyone, deploy for battle!”

An alarm went off inside the ship and urgent footsteps pounded inside the ship. The five remaining 7.5-inch guns on Hawkins’ deck opened fire on the mysterious ship’s appearance. A really large ship wouldn’t be able to kill even a single gun like this, but Holland was determined to fight.

“A large ship of unknown affiliation! Distance 20,000!”

“Main guns ready!”

The crew members all stared at the horizon with evil eyes. Despite defeat, the fighting spirit never faded.

Holland, on the other hand, bit his lip and watched the approaching large ship.

Has the US Navy’s pursuit reached this far? If so, the remaining battleships will not be able to avoid the engagement.

The remaining battleships of the Atlantic Fleet are four.

However, Warspite was the only battleship that maintained intact artillery capability. The rest were tilted by torpedoes or damaged one by one by shells.

Holland is determined.

If the enemy ship is a swift battleship of the US Navy, it will bravely charge with the cooperation of the destroyer fleet.

It was the only way to save the remaining ships.

However, I had a strange feeling.

A familiar outline was seen in the large ship on the horizon.

“Is that boat… ?”

Holland, who was observing the ship’s movements through binoculars, soon felt relieved. A triangular field and three chimneys were clearly visible to him.

“Professional shipping from a large ship! Ally! Battlecruiser Tiger!”

Before the communications officer could happily post his report, Holland raised his eyebrows.

England, Leicestershire.

It was a languid afternoon, but the sun was shining brightly. The unusual-looking sky was peaceful except for some clouds in the distance. Even the noisy birds were silent, as if asleep in tranquility.

The old man watered the flower beds and looked up at the sunrise. It was the first wind I felt in a long time.

How long has it been since I felt so peaceful?

When he was a little younger, he tasted a lot of air. From the cold winds of the north to the monsoons of the southern hemisphere, each had its own characteristics and created unforgettable memories, but nothing could compare to the calm air of today.

Seeing that the bucket was empty, the old man tried to enter the house. As he turned around, someone opened the yard door. He turned his head. A large gentleman in a black suit was watching with a hard face.

The old man looked at him blankly. The gentleman quietly took off his hat and said.

“It’s been a while, Admiral.”

Secretary of the Navy, Winston Churchill.

The old man recognized his face. I knew all too well.

It’s not just because I saw it in the newspaper. It is a body that once worked with him.

The old man let out a disapproving voice.

“Why did you all come to the old man’s house?”

The heavy-duty Secretary of the Navy was already as old as an old man, but his fighting spirit was not weakened in the slightest compared to when he was young. At least that’s what the old man remembered.

“I have nothing to say.”

However, the man who bowed his head right in front of me was not the Churchill in my memory. It was like a swan that had lost its confidence and crashed. Although the body was completely different.

Churchill, who was silent for a moment, continued with a trembling voice.

“I came here to ask for advice. Admiral David Beatty.”

The Baron of the North Sea looked at him quietly.

“Come in and talk.”

Steam rises from the glass. Churchill quietly took a sip, smelling the rich aroma of black tea.

“I don’t know if it’s okay.”

Churchill nodded calmly to Beatty, who sat across from him in a chair.

“It’s fine.”

“Good thing. Because I rode it myself.”

Churchill looked around the room for a moment. Simple furniture, bookshelves, and chairs that might have accumulated dust. Nothing special, a calm living room.

It is an ordinary old man’s house, but at least one part was different. In a framed painting, battleships roaming the oceans spewed fire, and on a display stand was a model of a huge battlecruiser. Countless medals hung on the walls glistened in the incandescent light.

From Heligoland to Dogger Bank to Jutland, it was a record of reversal that had broken numerous battlefields.

Churchill looked at the old man with a new face. The corners of his wrinkled mouth moved little by little in the blue eyes.

“So, don’t you feel comfortable even after returning to the post of minister?”

“Would it be comfortable to be like you?”

He sighed as he spoke in a snarky manner, as was his nature.

“Half of the battleships of the Atlantic Fleet were lost. Most of the rest are still under repair. Now, the remaining available ships on the mainland are three at most.”

“Which ships are they?”

Beatty asked calmly.

“Repulse, Tiger, Warspite. Rinaun has to dock for half a year, and Hood is still overhauled. At the earliest, you can come out to sea in two weeks or so.”

“What about the Invincible class?”

“Commissioning was delayed due to electrical wiring problems. I’ll join the ranks in two months, but… .”

Having said that, the old Navy Secretary let out a sigh. Beatty knew without him saying it. Time was running out.

“It is dangerous at this rate. Even if Canada has no choice but to give up, we have to stop them from coming to the mainland.”

“Isn’t that the Navy’s job?”

To Beatty, who was quietly arguing, Churchill almost couldn’t say anything. After clearing his throat unpleasantly, he took a deep breath and spoke again.

“The situation in the Navy is nonsense. Admiral Hozzers was killed, and most of the Atlantic Fleet Command was killed or missing, and the Secretary of the Navy and the 1st Naval Police took responsibility and resigned.”

Beatty crumpled her face little by little. The news that the successor he knew had died was not very pleasant news.

“There must be something wrong with the damn cabinet.”

“The new Cabinet is still bewildered. In Congress, the main wave and the main wave are arguing every day. It’s really crazy.”

“So, are you preparing for surrender?”

“Nothing to say!”

Churchill stood up and said: A loud echo poked its head out the window. Beatty thought it was a sound he hadn’t heard in a long time.

“I can’t give up an inch of land to them! Atlantic Fleet? We still have more than half of our capital ships left! And they’ve damaged almost every ship. The war is not over yet! surrender? If they want to come across the sea, tell them to come! We will never surrender!”

After saying that, Churchill belatedly realized that he was angry. Beatty was looking up at him with a relaxed look.

Churchill swallowed dryly. After taking a sip of the tea, he closed his mouth for a moment.

“In the Far East, Japan is holding the Pacific Fleet in check. It is still difficult to participate in the war, but when the power weakens, we will declare war without a doubt. Because they are the ones who will stay.”

Snake -like cubs! Churchill thought so and extinguished the heat in his heart.

A declaration of war right now is not enough. While having more than 10 battleships!

But they were still putting off declaring war.

“So what do you want from me?”

As Churchill wiped his face with both hands, Beatty asked his most curious questions.

“Are you saying that we should lead a battlecruiser again like Jutland? Or should I assume command of the Grand Fleet?”

He smiled as he spoke with a cool accent like a wave. He himself thought it was nonsense. It was Beatty who had already served as the 1st Naval Policeman for a little less than eight years. He knew very well that it was time to step back.

Churchill said firmly.

“Come to the Navy.”

limp-

The sound of pouring tea rang through the drawing room.