tube to the command deck of the sub. The bosun pulled the hatch closed behind him and locked it.
“Con clear!” he yelled.
“Take her to thirty meters,” the captain ordered. “We can’t risk a surface shot. Up periscope.”
He had his cap on backward and as the sub leveled off and the periscope rose, he swung it around. The destroyer was in the cross hairs, one thousand meters away and closing fast. He could see her silhouette clearly now as she sliced through the ocean toward them. He swung
“Mark,” he said.
“Six hundred and fifty meters,” came the answer.
Leiger hesitated for only a moment before making his decision.
“First?” he said, still peering through the periscope.
“Yes, sir?”
“We’ll take the two lead ships. Launch four torpedoes, speed thirty-five, then we’ll dive immediately to sixty meters and go under the convoy.”
“That’s right. The destroyer’s closing fast. When we fire, she’ll be looking for us on this side of the convoy.”
The first mate quickly nodded.
“Yes, sir.”
The captain, ignoring the destroyer, fixed the cross hairs on the first ship in the line. Just behind it, partially hidden by the shadow of the first ship, was a second vessel. By plan, the second submarine would take the last two ships in the convoy. Evasion was up to the individual sub.
“Reading?” the captain asked.
“Five hundred meters.”
“Mark.”
“Mark.”
“Down periscope.”
The slender tube slid soundlessly below the deck. Leiger looked at his watch, counted soundlessly to himself.
“Fire one.”
“Fire one . . . one away.”
“Fire two
He and the mate repeated the ritual until they had launched four torpedoes. Then:
“Take her to sixty meters, First. Ten degrees left. All ahead full.”
The U-boat tilted sharply. There was a clatter of falling objects along the length of the narrow vessel as she dove and leveled off. They could hear the steel fish whining through the water. A moment later they heard the first explosion, then the second.
“That’s one,” Leiger said with a smile. They waited, heard the sound of the third torpedo diminish.
“Missed,” the captain said with disappointment. Then the fourth one hit.
A series of explosions echoed through the sea as the boilers in the first ship exploded. Then the second blew up. The U-boat crew held their positions, staring at the steel hull over their heads as if it were a mirror reflecting the surface above them, wondering where the Brit destroyer was.
Then they heard four more torpedoes screaming through the ocean, heard two more explosions
The thunder of the convoy engines grew louder as the U- 17 slid neatly beneath it. The sub was filled with sounds: rumbling engines; tortured steel as the first ship slid beneath the waves; the groaning of steel plates; the sharp
Safely on the opposite side of the stricken convoy, Leiger brought the U-17 up to twenty meters and raised the scope. The black sky was afire. Two of the torpedoed ships were still afloat but ablaze and listing. The rest of the convoy was scattering, taking evasive action. Beyond it, in the garish red light, the destroyer was careening through the sea as it launched depth charges from its stern.
They could easily take two more, Leiger thought. Only one destroyer and she’s occupied. One of the ships, a tanker, her gunnels almost awash from the weight of her heavy cargo of oil, made a sharp turn and suddenly was a perfect target. Five hundred meters away.
“Is the rear tube loaded?”
“Yes, sir.”
“All back two-thirds. . . prepare to launch . . . four hundred meters, mark. . . fire five . . . all ahead full.”
He watched the tanker through the periscope, counted the seconds silently to himself, then the torpedo struck. The whole ship seemed to explode in a great, broiling inferno. A few seconds later they heard the explosion and felt
