Battle of the River Plate, The Page #3

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Steady. Steady on 320.

- Staffy.

- Yes, sir?

Make to Achilles and Exeter,

"I would like to see you 1100 today

on board flagship."

- Put a time of origin on that.

- Aye-aye, sir.

- Got the charts prepared?

- Yes, sir. They're all ready.

Flag deck. Make to Exeter.

Flagship signalling sir.

Flagship, chief.

From the flagship, sir.

Bobby.

I shall want the sea boat later.

A commodore calling a council of captains

at sea. Quite the Nelson touch, eh?

Flag deck. Make to Achilles.

- Pilot.

- Sir?

I shall want the sea boat

to go to Ajax in about half an hour.

Yes, sir.

We haven't had much opportunity

to exercise the sea boat recently.

No, sir.

You think they'll drown us all?

It's back to the sheep farm for them if they do.

Have you any idea, sir,

what the commodore intends to do with us,

now that he's got three ships to play with?

Sir, we shall be carrying out

squadron manoeuvres.

Yes, well, that won't do us any harm, will it?

- Chief Yeoman.

- Sir?

- Keep your eye on the flagship.

- Aye-aye, sir.

If I know the old man, we shall soon find out.

Now come on. Don't let the Kiwis

beat you to the flagship. Take it up.

Exeter, sir.

Hello, Bell.

- Good morning, sir.

- Good morning.

You know Woodhouse, don't you?

- Haven't seen you for years.

- Not since that football game at Twickenham.

I'll take care not to leave you two together.

Hookie'll be tipping you off about my bad habits

when I flew my broad pennant in Exeter.

Achilles, sir.

- Good morning, sir.

- Glad to see you, Parry.

- Woodhouse.

- Hookie, I don't think you know Parry.

How do you do?

How are your New Zealanders shaping?

500 individualists.

- Hookie.

- Sir?

That defect list and list of spares for Exeter

that I asked you to get out and send to base.

- Has it gone yet?

- Er, no. Not yet, sir.

- What's the delay?

- I'm sorry, sir.

It's not completed yet. I'll have it finished today.

Complete it and have it put on board

the first merchant ship that can take it.

Well, let's start.

Come on, Parry.

Please smoke if you want to.

Oh, thank you.

I've erm...

I've taken the rather unusual course

of sending for you,

because I wanted to see you and give you

personally my appreciation of the situation.

I've ordered this concentration here,

off the River Plate,

because of news that I've received.

of the latest movements of a German surface

raider that's at large in the South Atlantic.

I'd like you to look at the chart.

The Admiralty have good information

that this pocket battleship...

...it may be the Admiral Scheer

or the Graf Spee or the Deutschland...

...sailed from Kiel on August 21st.

She took up position

well before war was declared.

Up to September 30th,

she attacked no shipping.

I can guess why not.

Hitler thought that after the fall of Poland,

Britain and France would make peace.

However,

on September 30th,

she sank the Clement,

here off Pernambuco.

She immediately left this area

for the mid-Atlantic,

where, between October 5th and 10th,

her victims were the Newton Beech,

the Ashlea and the Huntsman.

Once again, she left this area hurriedly

to proceed to the west coast of Africa,

where she sank the Trevanion.

Again she moved to a new hunting ground

and rounded the Cape into the Indian Ocean.

Presumably to attack

the Cape-India-Australia routes.

But she only sank a small tanker,

the Africa Shell,

here, in the Mozambique Channel.

She then presumably doubled back because,

some days ago, she sank the Doric Star there.

As she knows that the Doric Star managed

to get off a signal that she was being attacked,

it's obvious that the raider will want

to get out of that area as soon as possible.

Now.

In my opinion, she will do one of three things.

One, she'll double back again

into the Indian Ocean,

two, she'll try and slip back to Germany

as she came out, through the Denmark Strait.

Or three,

before returning home...

...she'll come over here, to our part of the world,

where she should have been all the time,

to make a last killing among the grain ships

and meat cargoes of South America.

And it's my instinct

that's exactly what she'll do.

Making a guess at her probable speed,

I estimate that if she were making for Rio,

she'd be there this morning, December 12th.

If she's making here, for the River Plate,

and that's what I believe...

...she'll be here 24 hours later.

Tomorrow.

Yes, tomorrow.

My object is destruction of the enemy.

My intention? To attack at once, day or night.

She can outgun us and outrange us.

So, as soon as we sight the beast...

...we will close at maximum speed,

and divide her fire

by attacking on separate flanks.

Ajax... and Achilles

will attack in close company.

Exeter will attack on her own.

In this way, besides splitting

the enemy's main armament,

we can also report each other's fall of shot.

I wish I had the Cumberland.

I could do with another eight-inch cruiser.

She's still refitting at the Falklands.

She won't join us for a fortnight.

Tell your ships' companies they've got to be

on their toes for the next few days.

Search for any defect that might reduce

fighting efficiency and have it dealt with.

We will exercise my tactics

for engaging a pocket battleship,

both in daylight and after dark today.

Staffy, where's the sun?

Well over the yardarm, sir.

Then open the gin.

Tell the gunnery officer

to sweep the horizon now.

Guns.

Sweep the horizon both sides.

Right.

- Stacey.

- Sir?

Train right.

Dorset.

Dorset!

A fair day.

Should be good visibility, sir.

Oh, what a lovely dream I was having.

- Who was she?

- No, it wash't a she.

No talking, you, Archer and Barnes.

It was him I was dreaming of.

- Him?

- Yeah.

- I was staying at the Ritz hotel in London.

- Go on.

Our chief buffer was the hall porter.

I sent him out in the pouring rain for a taxi

and when it came, I said,

"Fetch me another one, my man.

I don't like the colour."

Time?

4:
50, sir.

Anice gentle breeze.

Going to be a perfect day.

- Good morning.

- Is it? I didn't notice.

- Switches off.

- Switches off.

- Petrol on.

- Petrol on.

- Throttle set.

- Throttle set.

Contact.

Contact.

Here she comes,

the old tiddy-oggy.

Well, today's the day.

Yes.

- Captain, sir.

- Yes, Guns?

Horizon clear.

Thank you.

All right to fall out from action stations, sir?

Better wait for the flagship.

Full visibility now, sir. Nothing in sight.

Third-degree readiness, sir?

All right, Pilot. Cruising stations.

- Bosun's Mate.

- Sir?

- Sound the disperse. Sound off cruising stations.

- Aye-aye, sir.

Signal flying. Assume third-degree readiness.

Close up the cruising watch.

Bugler.

Bugler!

Here, sir.

- Sound the disperse.

- Aye-aye, sir.

To quote Shakespeare freely...

"The ides of December are come."

"Ay, Caesar, but not gone."

- 6:
10, sir.

- Hm?

Oh.

- I shall be in my cabin.

- Aye-aye, sir.

- Keep a sharp lookout.

- Aye-aye, sir.

And especially on the flagship.

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