Battlecruiser (1997) (41 page)
Then he heard a man laugh, and others joined in. They were realizing what they had done. Tomorrow, the whole world would know.
Almost unconsciously, he ran his fingers along the screen.
Reliant
had done what must be done. She had also evened an old score, in some way.
He knew that
Reliant
would never fight again; they both did. But, as is the way with some ships, the legend would never die.
Operation
Husky
, the successful invasion of Sicily, like the landings in Italy which followed two months later, are now firmly placed in the annals of history: great events, which were to lead to and culminate in the D-Day landings, and final victory by the Allied forces.
Reliant
’s desperate fight against the powerful Italian battleship, like so many single actions throughout the war, was overshadowed, a mere episode in a catalogue of inspiring events, except to those who had been there, and had survived. With the hostilities ended, and with the beginning of what is now remembered as the Cold War, like so many other ships, there was no longer a role for the battlecruiser.
On a bright, crisp day, H.M.S.
Reliant
left her moorings for her last passage, to the breaker’s yard. Her sister ship
Renown
had gone to her fate only weeks earlier, so
Reliant
was indeed the last battlecruiser. The end of a dream.
Under tow, she sailed without fuss or ceremony, her past deeds forgotten, except by those who had known her. Stripped of all her guns, engines and machinery, her graceful hull pockmarked with dents and streaks of rust, she was, to the experienced tug masters, just another hulk.
Reliant
had covered several oceans, and thousands of men had passed through her in peace and war.
She was the same ship.
At the inquiry which was to follow, the same arguments were repeated which had been reported after Jutland, and in the Mediterranean before
Reliant
’s last fight. It simply could not happen. It was impossible. But it did.
On a calm sea, and without any power of her own,
Reliant
’s rudder went hard over.
The senior tug master described how she had suddenly veered away, the tow had snapped, and another tug had been hard put to avoid a collision. He also said that he had heard something like a rumble, which he was unable to explain. Another witness stated that the old battlecruiser had given a great shudder, like that first day on the slipway at Clydebank, when she had hesitated before sliding into the water.
She had taken on a heavy list, and had started to sink by the stern. There had been nothing anyone could do. In half an hour she was gone; perhaps, like her motto, she had been determined not to give in.
Now, over the years, those who remember her grow fewer. But when ships pass this place, occasionally, you will still hear a voice, bringing it all back.
‘The old
Reliant
lies down there. I once served in her. I tell you, she was a
fine
ship!’
A sailor’s tribute. None better.
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Epub ISBN: 9781407010557
Version 1.0
First published by Arrow Books in 1998
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Copyright © Bolitho Maritime Productions Ltd 1997
Douglas Reeman has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
First published in the United Kingdom in 1997 by William Heinemann
Arrow Books Limited
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1V 2SA
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780099527589
