Captain Frederic John Walker: The Nelson Touch Part Two

The following story by Terence Robertson is out of copyright and appears courtesy of and with thanks to Mike Kemble, and Captain Frederic John Walker.

Bearings put the enemy ten miles ahead of the convoy, so he ordered Magpie and Kite, the nearest sloops, to investigate. Fifteen minutes later, while Magpie was still some distance astern of Kite and racing to catch up, the U-boat was suddenly sighted as it came out of a patch of mist steaming fast towards the convoy and only 800 yards away from Kite. Her commanding officer’s instinctive reaction to Walker’s long and patient training was to realise instantly the danger of being attacked by “gnats”. As the U-boat crash-dived, he reduced speed to seven knots and fired a single depth charge in the hope of counter-mining a “gnat” torpedo before it could strike home. A second or two later a violent explosion threw up a column of water twenty yards on Kite’s port beam. Her captain’s fears had been well-founded. The U-boat had fired while diving and the depth-charge explosion had set off the “gnat” warhead causing a double explosion. Immediately, Kite increased to full speed and ran over the diving position to fire a full pattern of ten depth charges. This brought no result and, after Magpie joined, the two ships gained asdic contact and settled down to a classic Walker hunt. At the moment Kite and the U-boat sighted each other, Wild Goose obtained radar contact with another U-boat little more than a mile away on the convoy’s port bow. Also fearing a “gnat” torpedo, she reduced speed to seven knots and fired off starshell. The first salvoes revealed the U-boat about to dive, and a few seconds later a loud explosion was heard astern. A “gnat”, having failed to pick up her slow-revving propellers, had missed and exploded at the end of its run. Wild Goose’s first depth charge attack at shallow settings drove the U-boat deep and, by the time Walker came up in Starling, he was again handed asdic contact “on a plate”. By 8.30 am Walker had directed Wild Goose on two creeping attacks and carried out another himself during which another “gnat”, unable to home itself on to targets moving at slow speeds, detonated at the end of its run, a few hundred yards astern of Starling. Although the crews of the three sloops were well aware that slow speeds were the best defence against this deadly weapon, the men could not help showing some anxiety. It was not natural to amble slowly about the ocean while the enemy fired torpedoes; especially worried were the depth-charge crews on the quarter decks who would be the first to suffer should a “gnat” prove hypersensitive and “hear” even the slowest revolutions. Half an hour later oil came to the surface, but the U-boat was still on its feet, if a little groggy. At 9 am the convoy, carriers and close escort steamed between the two battle grounds, each about six miles on either side of it. As they cleared the area, the senior officer of the close escort signalled Walker: “Good luck, hope to see you again.” The reply came: “We seem to have nabbed a couple of particularly tough babies. Will be rejoining soon.” This was nearly wishful thinking. Starling was only just moving when suddenly a chorus of amazed, urgent shouts came from all parts of the ship. Walker spun round and, only a few hundred yards away, the shallow-running torpedo could be seen streaking towards them. There was no time to pick up speed and take avoiding action. The enemy had come up to periscope depth, fired an ordinary torpedo at a sitting target and gone down again. Walker’s mind raced: unless he found a way out in the next few seconds, Starling would be a blazing, sinking wreck. With eyes fixed on the bubbling track of the deadly missile, he gave orders. “Hard a’port. . . Stand by depth charges. . . Shallow setting. . . . Fire.”

Continued.....
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