Spitfire Ringers Read online

  The historical significance of the current conversation never really struck Dylan and Payton. They were discussing the shape of the world, right and wrong, with the King of England, a title that for centuries dating back to the dark ages determined right or wrong for much of the Western Hemisphere. The issue of Hitler did not include shades of grey for the twins or for the King. However, that was not always the case for the German people. Hitler fought in The Great War as a foot soldier for Germany, even though he was born across the border in Austria. At 32, he took over leadership of the Nazi Party, and two years later attempted to seize control of Germany in the Beer Hall Putsch. When his attempted Coup d’état failed, Hitler found himself in jail. While imprisoned, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, his memoir that gained him support throughout Germany based on its nationalistic viewpoint. Hitler took control of the German government after appointment to Chancellor by then President Hindenburg in 1933 at the age of 43, after huge wins by the Nazi party in general elections.

  The Versailles Treaty that ended World War I had crippled Germany economically and morally. Hitler’s fiery oration and fierce pro-German stances found favor with citizens wallowing in depression. Germany missed the roaring ‘20s while recovering from the war, and so when worldwide economic depression hit in the ‘30s, Germany took the hardest hit. Germans felt that he fought to bring Germany back to its former glory, so many followed him simply for giving them a reason to feel good about Germany again. The supposed backing of the common man let Hitler take control of Germany, and lead as a total dictator. With total power, Hitler showed the evil within. He knew that to protect his position and power, to dig Germany out of depression, and to follow through on the promises he made to become Reichsfurher, Germany must re-arm and control continental Europe. Hitler craved power, and more land meant more power. First, Hitler had German forces re-occupy the Rhineland industrial area in 1936, which was taken after WWI by the treaty of Versailles. The industrial area held the key to re-arming the Wehrmacht. Then, Germany annexed Austria in 1938. Later in 1938 Germany occupied The Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia. During this time, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, wishing to appease Hitler and keep him from further pushing out the borders of Germany any more, made a deal that Germany could keep the lands it currently occupied in violation of the Treaty of Versailles as long as they went no further. Hitler, however, did not keep up his end of the bargain. He merely used the time that the appeasement bought him to continue building up his military forces.

  The Fuhrer continually used his political acumen to gain his ends, and his subterfuge with Chamberlain was only one example. Knowing that he was not yet ready to execute a full war on two fronts in Europe, and not wanting to only rely on his army, in 1939 Hitler signed the Pact of Steel with Italy forming the Axis Powers, and in a surprise move signed a non-aggression pact with Stalin and the Soviet Union. No longer fearing a response from the Soviets, Hitler invaded the half of Poland that the Russians agreed to, drawing declarations of war from Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand.

  King George VI sought to understand from the twins whether or not America would stand with the Allies or would simply keep its sphere of influence to the westerly side of the Atlantic. Many in America blamed the Depression on the residual effects of interceding in Europe during The Great War. Before WWI, Great Britain dominated the world with its navy. However, that war ushered in the modern era of warfare which relied heavily on manufacturing and inventiveness to produce the weapons required to win a war of machine guns, submarines, tanks, and airplanes. Great Britain could only produce so much on the island, so King George needed the industrial war machine and all the resources of the United States on his side. Staving off German rule of Great Britain stood in the balance. The Goths of ancient Germany had toppled the Roman Empire, and King George VI wanted to make sure that they did not topple his already tenuous empire as well.

  “Well, Gentlemen, I appreciate your insight. Let us do hope that America can join the Allies quickly. Otherwise I fear this war will drag on.” His Majesty said. “And I really can see why baseball is such an enjoyable sport. It is somewhat cathartic to throw repeatedly. Let’s off some of my obvious frustration with the Fuhrer. Next time I’m in America I shall have to enlist someone to take me to an actual game. You are fine instructors, thank you for teaching me.”

  “I’m pleased you enjoyed yourself, sir, next time we can work on catching the ball, as well as some of the finer points of the game.” Dylan said, with a half teasing look in his eye at the rudimentary introduction to simply playing catch.

  “I should enjoy that very much. I’ll leave it to you to arrange a left handed glove.” The King teased back. “I must return to my correspondences, for the moment. Otherwise I shall never see my daughters at all on this trip. Thank you again.”

  As His Majesty, King George VI, strode back down the length of the ship, both twins knew that they had made themselves an ally should they ever need help of their own as they tried to provide what little help they could fighting against the Nazis.

  Chapter 6

  May 16th, 1940

  The next few days went by quickly for the twins. Mr. Collins required very little from them, serving the royal couple from time to time and lending a hand at a couple of meals, so they found different ways to spend their days. They rose early enough for double time runs around the deck, though the monotony took its toll. Eventually, they set up a game where they would race from far below decks by the stern to the upper decks of the bow at the end of their usual run. The stakes were low, so the loser simply had wounded pride and had to make the beds the next morning. Dylan wrote a letter to Anne describing the King and their anxious anticipation for the unknown that lay ahead. Mostly, he surmised to her, they didn’t know so they could only wait as the ship slowly crossed the Atlantic. They spent as much time as they could on the deck of the ship, catching the early summer sun that shone brightly across the slight ripples in the chilly water.

  This day the ship settled quietly in to the usual afternoon routine. The royal party finished their lunches and retired below decks to rest in their staterooms. After helping with lunch, Dylan and Payton held no responsibilities for the rest of the day. On the ship for nearly a week, the boys knew the Empress of Britain inside and out. They found the best views on the short stern of the ship behind the three massive funnels, so when relaxing they tended to see what lay behind. The vast expanse of water stretched behind the two boys as they idly discussed nothing at all. The boys sat in chairs above the great propellers below, at the very end of the ship. Dylan faced slightly port of dead astern and Payton faced slightly starboard. The midday sun splattered rays from behind the twins as it marched from bow to stern since the ships last turn put it back on an almost direct easterly course.

  Half way through a sentence to his brother, Payton stopped suddenly and squinted out to the southwest.

  “What’s going on?” Dylan asked as he turned toward his brother.

  “Out there, a consistent reflection. I’ve seen it twice, spaced out about 15 seconds each time.” Payton answered as he pointed out to a spot in the ocean about three thousand yards out. As he said it, the small flash showed again in the exact same spot. Knowing almost exactly the angle his brother looked out on, and sharing the same remarkable eyesight, Dylan saw it too.

  “I see it. That’s too bright to be a reflection off the water or a fish. That’s glass.” Dylan said.

  “Right, Uboat. Let’s get to the bridge.” Payton answered as both boys knocked their chairs to the ground simultaneously going from sitting with no movement to as fast as they could run. Running along the port rail and bounding up the stairs, the boys reached the bridge in near world record time for the 100 yard dash. The midday watch officer lead the twins straight to the captain.

  “Sir, there appears to be a Uboat bearing down on us.” Dylan ventured to the captain. Usually the low ranking officers serving as stewards did not speak much to the captain, but t
he twins had spoken with him several times, allowing him to show his pride in the ship while sharing his knowledge of the Empress and of the North Atlantic. The boys impressed the captain with their knowledge of engineering and their willingness to listen. Since they had become friendly, the captain did not dismiss them immediately as green sailors mis-sighting a piece of rubbish floating aimlessly on the high seas.

  “Show me, please.” The captain commanded as he stood and reached for his binoculars. The boys led him out the back of the bridge and angled his view to the last spot sighted. The captain leaned forward and rested his arm on the rail to steady himself against the slight swaying of the ship. After a few seconds staring, the captain saw the bright flash and stood straight up while pivoting and nearly ran to the bridge himself. The flash had moved several hundred yards closer, nearing the range for a torpedo shot. With the stately cruise liner steaming ahead without a course change, the Uboat commander had no reason to believe that he’d been spotted.

  As the captain arrived back at the bridge he addressed the crew, “Gentlemen, we have a tail gaining on us from the southwest. His angle is acute enough that he will overtake us and have a sure firing solution for his torpedoes in roughly 30 minutes.” The mental arithmetic involved in coming to that conclusion showed a keen mind by the captain, and years of experience at sea. The calm tone with which he delivered the statement showed his fortitude.

  “Shall we sound the alarm, Captain?” The office of the deck asked with only a hint of tension in his voice.

  “Not yet.” The Captain responded. “This submariner is going to try and get in as close as possible before taking his shot. He’s underwater, so he’s moving slowly. We want to get our outer two screws turning so that we can make a hard turn and run away from him before he thinks we know he’s there. Otherwise, he’ll let loose his torpedoes from further out and still have a decent shot at getting us. We can’t have that. He’s played at deception, and now it is our turn.”

  “Sir, you’ve only got one engineer, and it would take him nearly an hour to get the boilers going in the engine room.” The officer of the deck reminded the captain.

  “We can help, sir. We know something of boilers and turbines and at the very least could add two extra sets of hands.” Payton offered.

  “Excellent, report to the Engine room and tell the engineer that he has 15 minutes to get the outer screws turning or we will be known as the ship that sank with the crown aboard.” Dylan and Payton left the bridge and hustled as quickly as they could to the engine room.

  On arriving in the boiler room, the twins heard the engineer arguing mightily with the captain.

  “I don’t care who will sink with us, it takes at least thirty minutes to even get the boilers heated, and another ten after that to get the screws turning. We need another plan!” the engineer practically yelled in to the radio.

  The twins knew the logistics involved in firing up the remaining boilers. The water in the boiler must first boil and turn in to steam, and then the steam must be heated and brought up to a very high pressure before it passes over the first set of blades in the turbine. After passing the first set of blades in the turbine, the steam passes over a second set of blades at a lower temperature before condensing back in to water. As the steam is passed over the blades due to the pressure gradient, it turns the gearing system that in turn delivers power to the screws of the ship. If the steam isn’t at the correct pressure, the gears won’t turn and the screws will sit motionless or worse yet, the water won’t turn to steam and it will damage the turbine blades. If the steam is heated too quickly and overheated causing a much higher pressure, it can blow out the bearings and seals in the system, also damaging the turbine beyond repair.

  “Mr. Scott, the captain sent us to help.” Dylan said as the engineer slammed the radio receiver down. The boys knew the Irish engineer quite well from the hours they’d spent going over the engine room peppering him with questions. The short, round, red-haired Irishman was glad for the company at the time, and didn’t mind answering the questions that helped the boys go from theoretical knowledge learned at WestPoint to practical knowledge learned on an actual ship.

  “I’m glad you both are here to help, but I don’t think it will do much good. We can’t cheat physics in this case.” Mr. Scott responded as he cooled down somewhat from the heated exchange with the bridge. “At least you’ve seen everything here and know where to find everything. Hopefully your time spent down here already won’t have been for waste.”

  “Well, sir, in this case we might be able to cheat physics just enough to get out of here.” Dylan continued, somewhat boldly.

  “If you’ve any ideas I’m happy to listen.” Mr. Scott said, and his voice indicated that his desperation meant he would listen intently.

  Payton knew exactly what his brother was thinking and answered Mr. Scott. “In school we had a class dealing with turbines, and one of the professors took us down on the Hudson River to a smaller ship. He wanted us to get some hands on learning. One trick he taught us was to pre-fire the boiler tank in two stages. He said this was for emergencies only because the first stage uses a blow torch to heat the casing until it is hot, but not hot enough to melt metal, and the second stage requires a little more pop.”

  “And by that he means a controlled explosion.” Dylan finished for Payton.

  “That’s crazy. You want to turn the boiler tank in to an internal combustion engine.” Mr. Scott said with a stunned expression on his face.

  “He did say it was for emergency starts. I’d say this qualifies. You pump some of the blow torch gas in to the top of the boiler tank and let it blow to vaporize enough of the water for a kick start. The first heating makes sure that the water is warm enough that it will vaporize quickly, otherwise the boiling will get out of control. I’m hoping you have methyl acetylene and propadiene, MAPP gas, in your blowtorches here for the underwater work. It’s less volatile, so should work better for this scheme.”

  “That’s correct. I’ve no other ideas, so let’s hope that we don’t explode the royal family. If we don’t try, the torpedo surly will. There are two blow torch tanks attached to the bulkhead just outside the boiler room. You each take a boiler tank, and I’ll monitor the pressure gauges here. We’re down to eleven minutes to get these started.”

  “That should be about right.” Payton answered.

  “Good luck and Godspeed then. Off with you.” Mr. Scott said as a brief farewell and half prayer.

  The boys hurried down the half hallway between the engine monitoring room and the boiler room, grabbing the blow torches on the way. The boys felt fortunate that two protective masks hung next to the blowtorches instead of the usual single mask per station. Dylan entered the room first and broke to the left, heading for the dormant outboard port boiler dragging the fuel tank behind him. Payton broke to the right, aiming for the cold outboard starboard boiler with his fuel tank in tow as well. Working quickly to light the torches for each other in between the two boilers, each twin returned to his boiler and methodically started heating the outer tanks. Payton kept a tally of the time on his watch, and reported the minute long increments to Dylan. They moved the blow torches in long circular motions around the bottom of the boiler tanks and worked their way to the top. They managed five full passes each in the six minutes they figured they could spare. Then each twin extinguished the torches flame, but left the gas flow fully open. The twins quickly opened the water overflow ports and held the torch heads in the tanks. As the MAPP gas and oxygen mixed above the water in the tank it started to become more volatile. The twins needed to mix just the right amount of gas in with the oxygen in the tank to reach the flash point and vaporize the top layer of remaining water. Without enough gas, any spark will fall harmlessly in to the water. Too much gas and the resulting explosion will blow the doors off the boiler at least, and possibly blow out the hull of the ship as well.

  “How long do we fill these things?” Payton wondered aloud.

/>   “Well, the Professor said 1 minute, but that tank probably wasn’t even half this size. I say go two and half minutes. Better to overfill at this point than to fizzle and wait for the torpedo.” Dylan answered.

  Besides guessing at how long to leave the gas flowing in to the tanks, Dylan and Payton had another problem.

  “Do you have idea how we are going to light the fire in the tanks? I seem to be fresh out of fuses.” Dylan told his brother.

  “I’ve only got one idea, and it isn’t great.” Payton answered. “It does, however, give us the best chance of not blowing ourselves up.”

  “Let’s hear it.” Dylan said without hesitation.

  “Call it a variation on flicking a cigarette. We’ll loosely attach one of Mr. Scott’s cigars to the valve handles that are directly above these openings. See the spokes in the handles? It shouldn’t be too hard. Then, we’ll each take a baseball and throw it from over by the door at the pipes. If we both hit it the angle next to the valve on cue, the cigars should drop in and light the gas.” Payton offered.

  “You’re right, that isn’t a very good idea.” Dylan deadpanned back at his brother. “We need these doors to slam shut on impact. How you going to manage that, Houdini?”

  “Simple, balance them straight up instead of flopping them all the way to the side. We can wedge a wrench underneath with some grease so it is barely holding and the first rumble of the explosion should slam them shut. They are self locking, so we won’t have to worry about them re-opening.” Payton said to his brother as he began to warm to his own plan.

  “Well, it’s this or no plan. And, like Dad always said, a bad plan well executed is better than no plan at all. Let’s give it a shot. Overfill your tank since some of the gas is bound to leak out while we are getting everything set up.” Dylan said, also warming to his brother’s plan. “I’ll radio Mr. Scott for the cigars. We’ve only got about two minutes left.”