Above Us the Waves Page #5

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They might get a little suspicious

if they heard a dirty British song

coming up through their deck plates.

- Are we as near as that, then?

- Sure.

That's it!

Depth charge.

Probably just a routine operation,

nothing to do with our boys at all.

Side cargo makes a bigger bang than that.

Full astern, group down.

Ship not moving astern.

Full ahead, group down. Trim up.

- Hard aport.

- Full ahead, group down, trim up!

Hard aport, sir.

Shut one main vent.

- Blow one main ballast.

- One main ballast blowing, sir.

One main ballast blown, sir.

No ruddy good.

Full astern, group up.

That's done it, sir.

(Machine-gun

Take her down, take her down!

- Open 1 main vent.

- 1 main vent open, sir.

She won't go down.

The net must have fouled the hydroplanes.

Flood Q, flood main ballast.

Q flooded. Main ballast flooding, sir.

- Keep her steady.

- Steady.

- Stop motor.

- Stop motor.

That's her.

Set both side caegos for half an hour.

Set both side caegos for half an hour, sir.

Both side cargoes set 3O minutes.

- Release both.

- Release both.

Both side cargos released, sir.

Well, let's get the hell

out of here, shall we?

It's no good, skipper.

She won't dance, sir.

What's our depth?

40 feet.

She's on her side.

All right, then. We'll go on in as we are.

- Half ahead, group down.

- Half ahead, group down.

Stand by for the bump.

Getting stuffy, isn't it?

You can breathe.

What are you worrying about?

She's moving, isn't she?

She can't be. She's still on the bottom.

Seemed to me she... keeled over a bit.

Well, she didn't.

Ja!

Achtung!

- Course?

- O55, sir.

- Keep her right there.

- Aye aye, sir.

Motor's stopped, sir.

What about it?

- Shafts either bent

or broken, sir.

- I thought things were going too well.

Keep trying.

There she is. Stop motor.

Stop motor.

Set side cargoes for 3O minutes.

Set side cargoes 3O minutes.

Both side cargoes set 3O minutes.

Let em go.

Side cargo's gone, sir.

Well, there's no point in hanging around.

Nein, nein, nein.

Slow astern, group down.

Full astern, group down.

Full astern, group up!

- Stop motor.

- Stop motor.

OK, boys, blow all main ballast.

We are surfacing.

- Blow all main ballast?

- Surfacing?

Well, we've done our job.

With no hydroplanes and stuck under Tirpitz

we've had it. We'll bail out and scuttle.

- All main vents shut, sir.

- Blow all main ballast.

Blow main ballast.

She's not moving.

- No good?

- She won't budge, sir.

- Take this out and have a look.

- Aye aye, sir.

Don't get your feet wet.

Flood him out.

Thudding)

- Dry him out.

- Aye aye, sir.

What's the hell's that?

No wonder she won't move.

We're stuck underneath her keel.

And it looks like the tide's going out.

- She's settling down on us all the time.

- What?

I've got better than that. We're on

top of eight tons of high explosive.

Eight?

DSEAs, quick!

Shall I flood W and D, sir?

Hell, no. Flood the whole chute.

- Hatch lever jammed.

- Got a battleship on it, that's why.

Get ready to bail out.

- Well, keep trying.

- No good, sir. We've had it.

- Depth?

- 15 feet, sir.

- She's rising. Flood Q.

- Flood Q, sir.

All the tanks are full, sir.

Can't hold her.

Any drift?

If the jar is not busted,

we've swung round and back towards Tirpitz.

That would be lovely.

Right back on top of our own side cargoes.

Still rising, sir.

(Shouting

- No sign of any of the others.

- No.

What goods he supposed to be?

They think we were using limpets.

He'll have a headache if he's down

there when those charges go off.

Don't be like that.

Another half hour should

see us out of here.

- She's floating.

- No, she isn't.

- It's the side cargo. It's flooding.

- Not necessarily.

- Couldn't be anything else.

- It might be a tide or a strong current.

There's one way of finding out.

- Start the motor.

- Aye aye, sir.

- We're surfacing, sir?

- No, we're not.

- Take it up ten feet when you can.

- Ten feet, sir.

- Slow ahead, group down.

- Slow ahead...

..group down.

Amt-swan.

I knew it. Side cargos flooded.

That's why it keeled over.

- We're not bailing out.

- But it will blow up.

We're not giving the game away. All right?

- They must have got in by now, sir.

- We can't be sure.

One peep out of us

and the whole attack could fail.

- All right. Stop motor.

- Stop motor, sir.

Ten feet now.

Going up. Ironmongery and hardware.

Seven feet now, sir.

I can't hold her.

- All right, stand by to surface.

- Stand by to surface, sir.

- Can you blow any tanks?

- Only number two, sir. Now?

Right,

. Right, at.

Good grief! Look at her.

Wm?

Cor blimey!

They got the ruddy cooks on that gun.

Stand by to bail out.

Might as well be shot as drowned I suppose.

Bail out!

They're picking them up.

Hello. Here comes the executioner.

Hans!

Schnapps.

Cor blimey! Here you are, skip, have a tot.

Quite a tea party. What happened?

We got stuck under this hulk.

Park yours all right, sir?

Yep. Dead under number one engine room.

And you?

- Right on top of yours.

- Ought to be quite a bang.

So they got eight tons of amatol

underneath them.

- What are they gonna do about it?

- They're getting up steam.

- Yes, sir.

- Hell.

15 minutes to go yet.

- No sign of Duffy?

- No, sir.

- Still flooding?

- Can't tell.

There's no more list.

They don't always explode when they flood.

Yes they bloody well do and we all know it.

- I'm all right.

- Sure you're all right.

Nein, nein, nein.

They've only got to move it

a few feet to one side.

- They don't know that.

- Yet.

Let's stall it.

- You, sir, command this party?

- No.

Are you in charge of this party?

- Excuse me?

- Are you commander of this party?

Oh, yes... Yes, I am.

We wish to know immediately what

kind of charge have you employed.

I beg your pardon?

We want to know what kind of explosives

you have used.

Yes, I'm sure you do.

You realise that you are in danger with us.

- Do you realise that, Corbett?

- No, sir, I didn't.

What's the time?

- Ten minutes to, sir.

- Yes, we do.

Now listen, all of you.

You'll be sent to prison camp, in any case.

If you tell us the nature and position

of your explosives,

we can make things easier for you.

Eight minutes to go, sir.

They must move her. They're not crazy.

Here. Do you think we could move along

the deck a bit?

Not a chance. Why?

I reckon we're plum on top of the charges,

that's all.

What's the matter? You tired of swimming?

(Speaks

(Speaks

- Engines. Feel them?

- Yeah.

Five minutes.

They must get her moving.

I wish to hell we had used limpets.

Three minutes.

She's moving.

- No, she's not.

- Props are turning, anyway.

Tight.

(Speaks

Wm!)

Flood her up - number one. Open everything.

Oh, what a lovely bang!

That must have broken her back.

- She won't move from here in this war.

- Hey, look. It's given me a nosebleed.

- You think they heard that in

Whitehall, sir? -

flooded.

I hope he's got a smashing sense of humor.

Achtung!

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