I Became a Captain of the British Empire

homecoming

Caribbean Sea, 300 km west of Jamaica offshore.

A storm rages.

The capricious Caribbean weather sometimes brings squalls and typhoons out of the blue. The waves crashing wildly blocked the way forward regardless.

It’s a merchant ship… No, it was the same for ‘Jenison’, who should be called a smuggling ship.

“youth! It will be difficult to go forward!”

Standing on the open-air bridge wearing a raincoat, the captain shouted to the missionary. In the bridge without a single incandescent light, a short young man in a coat looked at him.

“Please come a little closer! Aren’t the waves still that high?”

“This is a start! A typhoon is coming soon!”

The captain muttered a curse word and shook his head. I never thought I would ask to break through these waves.

To that sea where gunfire resounds.

“You just need to get a little closer. Please let me check the shape!”

“Damn it, if you get caught, are you going to take responsibility?!”

The captain wrinkled his brow while chewing on the curse.

It was a voice I never liked. He was a captain who even suspected that he was a homos*xual, as well as his thin body.

Anyway, I want to see battleships fight. There is no such thing as a separate species. It was a request that a well-intentioned captain would most likely refuse, but he had no other choice.

It was an offer that was too high to refuse.

“Damn it, have you lost anything to battleships? Why are you saying you can’t see it?”

He muttered something incomprehensible, but in the end he silently followed the instructions.

The Jenison barely advances while being overtaken by rough waves.

The gunfire that had been heard from afar was getting closer and closer. Occasionally, flares fell, but the only thing reflected in the sparkling sea was the wake.

“By the way, what the hell are those guys after?”

The captain thoughtfully synthesized the rumors around him in his head. Come to think of it, there was one battlecruiser that made a short call to Veracruz.

Repulse and Tiger.

Maybe he’s on his way to catch it.

When I thought of that, I immediately felt a chill run down my spine.

No seaman who sailed the Atlantic could not be ignorant of the ship’s name.

A notorious battlecruiser that devastated the southern US sea routes. Flyers that devastated major cities in the United States, including Boston, New York, Norfolk, and even the Florida Peninsula.

If he guesses right, that ship could be a US Navy warship chasing Repulse. Or Repulse himself. At least if it’s the former, I don’t want to face it that much.

However, since I had already received the advance payment, I couldn’t back down. Because of this, he turned his head with a desperate face.

“youth! Will this be enough?”

He pointed with a trembling hand at a light not far away and said.

“See that light flashing over there? That’s how a cannon fires. Look at that. it keeps flashing Now, let’s go.”

A young man, to be exact, ‘K’, who appeared to be a young man, frowned and looked carefully in the direction the captain pointed.

Indeed, the silhouette of a huge battleship could be seen with every gun shot.

Two twin guns. Is it a repulse? No, maybe the US Navy. If it’s the US military, it means that Repulse is being pursued unilaterally, given that there is no counterattack.

She thought quietly. Looking at her who kept her mouth shut as if struggling, the captain murmured with his face blushing.

‘I want you to run away quickly. He ended up looking like a parasitic brother… damn it!’

Fire flashes again. A gun barrel that lights up in succession by firing sequentially. Thanks to this, K could see the cage-type mast clearly shining behind the turret. The situation has become clear.

Just when the captain felt the limit of his patience, she opened her mouth.

“great.”

He raised the corners of his mouth and poked his head out of the bridge.

“Please turn on the lights.”

“what?”

The captain asked with his eyes wide open.

She kindly repeated the request again and again.

“Turn on all the lights and move closer to that warship.”

“Are you crazy, you bastard?!”

Finally, an explosive shout rang out, and in the midst of it, K blinked as if he didn’t know why.

“Why is that?”

“Why? Did the madman decide to kill us right now?!”

The captain’s unconcerned appearance was even more eye-catching. No matter how much he was in danger of selling his boat due to debt, money was not more important than his own life.

“Oh, don’t worry. The other side won’t blindly shoot at this side either. We will start with a search and then proceed with the inspection.”

“What if I shoot you all over again!”

“hmm… We want them to abide by international law.”

“f*ck the bullsh*t! Even if a bowl of seawater gets into my eyes, I won’t be able to do that!”

When the captain who removed the crane shouted, K scratched his head as if in trouble.

“Is that so? Huh, this is so… .”

She quietly rummaged through her bag at her feet. It was a little too early to use a pistol. The number of spleens was still left.

“I’m sorry, Treasury friends… There is no way.”

Jeop, regrettably, she closed her mouth and spoke again toward the open-air bridge.

“If I pay this much more, how can I not?”

The captain, who entered the mission with a frown on his face, soon changed his mind.

A bowl of money might tell a different story.

Looking at the captain, whose complexion changed, K raised an eyebrow.

* * *

At the same time, the battlecruiser ‘Ranger’ bridge.

It’s raining hard.

From the bridge of the battlecruiser Ranger, visibility was so bad that it was difficult to see even 3km in front.

A night voyage in bad weather. Captain Husband Kimmel thought the conditions couldn’t be worse.

But with the Ranger, things got better. The flat-deck destroyers that had not been able to overcome the bad weather were being beaten by the waves from behind.

“Is it difficult to use the searchlight?”

“The enemy ship is probably ten kilometers away. Even if I look at it, I can’t see it.”

“Damn it, I can’t believe it.”

At the captain’s advice, Kimmel clicked his tongue.

I was worried about this situation, so I deliberately increased the speed.

In the end, it was a ranger who failed to catch up with an enemy ship that smoked and fled. Rather, the flooding caused by the lightning strike accelerated, only increasing the damage.

“What is your current speed?”

“21 knots. It is getting smaller and smaller.”

Kimmel bit her lip with a shadowy face. If you keep speeding up like this, there will be problems with damage control.

The officer sneaked up to me and said.

“Why don’t you try chasing a little more? Hits hit the equatorial engine system, so it won’t be able to speed up easily.”

“Well, it’s bad weather, so they won’t be able to escape easily.”

The bulkhead is still intact. Let’s chase for another 30 minutes.

It was when I thought so.

“Port-side watch report!”

“what?”

Kimmel turned his head. The watchman, who was wearing a raincoat and was covered in wind and rain, hurriedly continued his words.

“Azimuth 330, unknown navigation light found! Distance 8,000!”

Kimmel lifted the binoculars from his bosom and looked in the direction the watchman said. Bright lights illuminated the sea.

“What is it?”

“Judging by the lights on, it must be a civilian ship?”

At the commander’s words, Kimmel thought hard and shook his head.

“Maybe it’s a trick.”

“yes?”

“It reminds me of New York offshore. How did you say he evaded the search for our carrier strike group?”

He spoke to the officer with a keen eye. The anecdote of the Repulse flyer disguised as a passenger ship was a matter for which a strict silence order was issued, but everyone already knew.

I can’t repeat that humiliation again.

Kimmel nodded with a stiff mouth.

“Conduct an inspection. course change. 330.”

The ranger’s player swerved in the waves.

* * *

A week later, near the Azores.

Battlecruiser ‘Repulse’.

The heat of the red sun warms the deck.

Waves in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean passed coldly over the hull. In the midst of the clear sky, two giant ships passed by.

“The weather is clear. Current speed 22 knots.”

“Good job.”

Received a salute and entered the bridge.

As you approach the bridge window, the calm ocean spreads out in front of you.

There were no ships or planes to be seen around.

It’s already been a week since I left the Caribbean. The gunfire of that hellish naval battle was no longer heard.

On the day we encountered the battlecruiser squadron, as we ran away with all our might in the squall, the enemy ship disappeared at some point. Judging from the artillery fire, it seems that they were less than 10 km away, but luckily they didn’t seem to see us. It was luck.

But that doesn’t mean that the scars that have already been engraved have been erased.

Anyway, we escaped somehow, and went on our way back to England via Bermuda for repairs. It has been two months since she sortied as part of the Atlantic Fleet in March. The morale of the soldiers was generally high at the news that they could go home.

“Chairman! Report from the Furious!”

“Something?”

As I was staring at the sea endlessly, the communications officer reported in an urgent voice.

Judging by the look on his face, it seems urgent.

“A reconnaissance plane found a task force consisting of three battleships and eight destroyers. Bearing 020, distance 20 miles, speed 20 knots!”

“A mobile unit?”

It felt like lightning had struck my head.

sh*t! Why are you suddenly appearing here? Wait, let’s calmly identify first.

“Call the Furious. Please check again.”

He said it in a calm voice. While waiting impatiently, time passed like gold. By the time the masts of the task force reported by the reconnaissance plane were visible over the horizon, the report was heard again.

“Entrance from the reconnaissance aircraft, French Navy!”

“The French Navy?”

If you think about it, it’s close to France. But why are they against us… .

no, there is

“Why are you coming this way?”

The officer tilts his head and asks.

There was something to be expected.

“It will be an armed demonstration.”

French Empire.

Before the sortie of the mobile squadron, I heard the story at the headquarters of the H mobile unit. Their movements are suspicious, so don’t be vigilant. Of course, since they are superficially neutral, I don’t think they’re going to do anything… .

“The French fleet continues to approach this ship!”

You don’t know how the world works. It’s something I’ve been learning steadily over the past few months.

I grabbed my binoculars and looked at the horizon. Battleships with thick bridges and characteristic quadruple turrets spread out in single formation and moved in line to Repulse’s starboard side.

The distance is around 25,000. We’ll soon be within range of their guns.

“Prepare for any contingency. Generals, deploy for battle!”

The sound of footsteps rang the bridge. I wiped my forehead, nervous about not being caught in a cold sweat.

If they even have a strange mind, we are crushed without a hitch.

“Identify Enemy Ships! Two Lyon-class ships, one Breton-class! Six other destroyers! Fleet speed about 20 knots!”

Like Lyon… Apparently, it is a new battleship armed with a 34 cm main gun. Canvas performance is superior here. If you keep the distance well, it’s a performance that can be used against Repulse.

But they’re all three. In addition, the speed advantage is also lost, and now the odds are not high. No, it’s overwhelmingly disadvantageous.

Armed with four quadruple turrets, the battleship quietly closed the distance. In front of the determined momentum, everyone’s face darkened.

Things are so bad. If it stays like this… !

“Chairman! It’s urgent!”

“what’s the matter?”

The communications officer comes running with a telegram.

In the meantime, what’s the news? I accepted it once, leaving behind my troubled heart.

As soon as I read the paper, my legs stiffened.

“Chairman! The enemy fleet is retreating!”

The officer approaches with a puzzled face.

It was cryptic, but I quietly raised my head to him who had a relieved expression.

“Operation officer.”

He handed over the specialty and said.

“Keep an eye on bearing 330.”

An officer tilting his head and looking through binoculars. Soon he opens his mouth wide and freezes.

“That… What is it?”

“It’s an ally. Don’t worry.”

If they were enemies, I would have already collapsed and couldn’t even stand properly.

Overwhelming steel castles lined up and approached our side.

“Two friendly battlecruisers to port! Keep approaching with this ship!”

A huge body was coming across the sea.

“What kind of ship is that?”

An officer looking at you with a dumbfounded face.

Open your mouth and sweep your forehead.

“Have you not heard of it?”

“It’s the first time I’ve actually seen it.”

If that’s the case, don’t be surprised. It’s bigger and more bizarre than any ship the Royal Navy has ever built.

Forward deck, three 16-inch main gun turrets lined up across the bridge. Behind them, gigantic engine parts lined up like a whale’s body. An unusual ship with front and rear divided into an ammunition magazine and an engine room. A sharp improvement on Nelson’s design.

“Invincible class… You are finally commissioned.”

The new pride of the Royal Navy passed us by.

Four days later, we arrived in England.