Malloy needed to take control of the ship’s movements.
“This is the captain. I have the deck and the conn. Navigator, what’s the range to
Green Point?”
“Twentyfive point four miles to Green Point, sir, twenty eight point two to Table Mountain. Recommend we come right three degrees to zero nine seven true.”
“Very.well. Helm, come right to zero nine seven.” Malloy turned to the 21MC intercom and pressed the button that allowed him to talk to the combat information center.
“Harry, tell our screen to split off as planned. “
The radio speaker came to life as his coded signal was transmitted. The
Wisconsin’s screen of three frigates and two destroyers normally surrounded her, protecting the battleship from air and submarine attack.
They wouldn’t be able to help with this job, though, and some of them couldn’t even keep up with the battleship at top speed.
As his escorts turned away, Malloy ordered, “All engines ahead flank.”
The four ships of the Iowa class were rated at thirty-three knots, but his engineers had promised him thirty- five, and the captain believed them. He planned to close on Table Mountain at high speed, firing as soon as his ship came within maximum range. There wasn’t any point in messing about. Malloy wanted to go in fast, hit the Boers hard, and get it over with.
Even the weather was helping. The sea was relatively smooth, with waves no more than four feet high and the wind at less than fifteen knots-conditions the Navy labeled Sea State Three. They wouldn’t interfere with the big ship’s progress or rock the vessel beyond the capabilities of its gun stabilizers.
Malloy stepped out on the bridge wing and looked aft. Four sleek warships, tiny when compared to his battlewagon, were falling away behind. One ship remained. USS Scott, a Kiddclass guided-missile destroyer, would fall in astern and to seaward of the Wisconsin-to protect her from air attack while she worked. Picked for her high speed,
Scott had five inch guns that couldn’t possibly reach Table Mountain, so she’d just have to wait and watch.
The navigator reported, “Range to Green Point is twenty one point two miles. On course.”
Table Mountain was a little under three miles from Green Point, which showed up clearly on radar and thus made a better place from which to mark the ship’s position. Table Mountain’s guns, if intelligence reports could be believed, had a range of twenty-one and a half miles.
The Wisconsin’s current course took her straight toward the mountain. On this heading, her rear turret, one- third of her firepower, could not be brought to bear. When she was in range, Malloy planned to turn his ship’s bow thirty degrees to one side. That would bring the aft turret into play, while still letting the Wisconsin continue to close with her target. Anytime enemy fire got too hot, he would put the ship’s rudder over-” tacking” to the other side of her base course, continuing to close.
A fountain of white and gray water erupted to port, almost drowning out the navigator’s latest report.
“Range twenty one point five miles. ” The shell burst was close, no more than a hundred yards away.
Right on the money, Malloy thought. He was in the maddening position of being outranged by a six-inch-gun shore battery. It was time to give them a harder target.
“Left standard rudder. Steady on course zero eight eight.”
At thirty-plus knots, the eight-hundred-and-ninety-foot
ship responded quickly to its helm. She would never be as nimble as a destroyer or a frigate, but Malloy loved his ship’s feel as she lumed.
The rules were simple. Head toward the last shell splash so that the enemy’s corrections would move his next shot off target Occasionally make small turns, since they might not be noticed and the enemy might assume you were still on your old course. Finally, stay off the cardinal points of the compass, since that might let an enemy guess your course.
At least running through standard tactics kept his mind busy while he waited for the next ranging shot. Time of flight at this range was almost a full minute-a fact that gave every potential target plenty of time to think about the next salvo between corrections.
A second shell splash appeared, this time to starboard, and closer. Malloy waited approximately twenty seconds, then ordered, “Right full rudder, steady on course one two six.”
The massive vessel actually heeled over in the hard highspeed turn and quickly steadied up on her new course. Half a minute later, a ragged line of shell bursts tore the sea apart, well off to port. Those bastards would have to work harder than that to catch him. Malloy felt as if he were in a pitchers’ duel. He looked over at Craig, who nodded in approval.
A loudspeaker mounted on the overhead carried the gunnery officer’s voice.
“Director reports we are in range, all turrets unmasked. Request permission to fire.”
Malloy pressed the intercom switch.
“Batteries released.
Nine sixteen-inch guns fired simultaneously, bellowing in a thundering crack of noise and smoke that made him think he’d unleashed a thunderstorm.
But would the lightning strike where he wanted it?
Normally a ship twenty miles away would be invisible from the bridge, hidden by atmospheric haze and the curvature of the earth. During World War II, big-gun ships Re the Wisconsin had al I carried their own spotter planes, launched from catapults, to adjust their gunfire.
The target this time, though, was Table Mountain, with a recorded elevation of 3,566 feet. Its rocky, barren cliffs rose straight up out of the sea, visible to the naked eye. Malloy watched the summit carefully through his binoculars-waiting for his shells to arrive.
Another Afrikaner salvo landed, a half dozen splashes a hundred yards behind them. Ordering their speed down to thirty-three knots, Malloy also changed course to zero three three. That should throw them off, he thought, and he continued to watch the target.
At the Wisconsin’s stern, its aft turret swiveled around, its guns now pointing forward and to starboard. The crews inside worked frantically, bringing massive shells into alignment with gun bores and ramming them home. Bags of propellant powder were carefully loaded behind each projectile. Finally, the heavy breech was closed and locked. It took over a hundred men, working in close harmony, to serve the guns of each three-gun turret.
Malloy heard “Splash” over the loudspeaker just as the upper third of the mountain disappeared-enveloped in a cloud of smoke, flame, and dust.
Cheers filled the bridge. Malloy turned round.
“Quiet down. Did you really think we couldn’t hit a mountain?” He kept his tone light, but the message was clear.
Malloy heard a Klaxon and braced for his battlewagon’s second salvo. It roared out and he hoped his guns were having an effect. Time to start thinking about a course change again.
TABLE MOUNTAIN
For the first time during the siege, Sergeant Skuller was worried. They’d endured artillery bombardments, commando raids, even attacks by aircraft.
The Mountain and its garrison had withstood all of them-sometimes with ease.
They’d never fired at a naval target, though. During peacetime, his battery had trained against target barges, but they’d been slow-moving creatures, towed in a straight line by a civilian tug. This battleship, though, maneuvered and dodged and worst of all, shot back.
And what shots! In five minutes of action, they’d received seven or
eight tooth-rattling salvos. Lieutenant Dassen reported that they were being hit by sixteen-inch shells! The Afrikaner artilleryman looked at his own gun and tried to imagine the size of such a projectile. His eyes widened when he visualized the size of the gun you’d need, and the crew you’d have to have to serve such a weapon.
Skuller shook off his speculation and concentrated on the job at hand.
At least his G-5 could fire twice as fast as those on that ship, and rate of fire counted for a lot in a gunnery duel. After all, he told himself, they only needed one or two hits.
LISS WSCONSIN
