Free iron pirate by Unknown Author Page A

surgeon with Theil but decided against it for the moment. The man's name was Stroheim; he was highly qualified and a cut above most naval doctors. The best were usually in the army for all too obvious reasons.
    Hechler had skimmed through his confidential file, but only one part of it troubled him. There was a pink sheet attached to it.
    I lechler hated political interference. It was like being spied on. Nevertheless, Stroheim had come to him under a cloud. You could not ignore it. He held a mental picture of Oberleutnant Bauer, the signals and W/T officer. On the face of it a junior if important member of his team. Bauer too had a special form in his file. He was the ship's political officer, a role which even as captain Hechler could not investigate.
    Hechler shook his sudden depression aside. 'I would like us to walk round the ship before the hands go to their stations for leaving harbour.' He forced a smile. 'To show a united front.'
    Theil stood up and grasped his cap tightly to his side.
    'It will be an honour. For the Fatherland.'
    For a moment Hechler imagined he was going to add Heil Hitler' as Leitner would have done. He said, 'No one goes ashore from now on.' He thought suddenly about the explosion which had sunk the lighter. It was always unexpected when it happened. Vigilance was not always enough. Sabotage. They were out there watching the ship, the same people who had placed the bomb aboard the lighter. To damage the ship or to destroy Leitner's boxes, the reason made little difference. It could have been serious.
    In London, quaking under the new and deadly rocket bombardment, a telephone would ring in some Admiralty bunker. Prinz Luitpold is leaving Vejle.
    A brief radio message from some Danish traitor was all it took. He smiled again. Or patriot if you were on the other side.
    Another more persistent tremor came through the deck plating from the depths of the engine-room.
    He looked away from Theil's strained face. Like me, he thought. Eager to go.
    The Prinz Luitpold's swift passage from the Baltic into Norwegian waters was quieter than Hechler had anticipated. They logged a regular speed of twenty knots and passed Bergen within minutes of Gudegast's calculations.
    For much of the time, and especially for the most dangerous period in the North Sea when the Orkney Islands and later the Shetlands lay a mere 200 miles abeam, the ship's company remained closed up at action stations. Every eye was on the sky, but unlike the Baltic the weather was heavily overcast, with low cloud and spasms of drizzle which reduced visibility to a few miles. They were able to test some of the new radar detection devices, and Hechler was impressed by its accuracy as they plotted the movements and tactics of their escorts even though they were quite invisible from the bridge.
    Further north and then north-east, still following the wild coastline which Hechler knew from hard-won experience. Past the fortress-like fjord of Trondheim and crossing the Arctic Circle until both radar and lookouts reported the Lofoten Islands on the port bow. To starboard, cut into the mainland itself lay Bod0, and an hour later the cruiser's cable rattled out once more and she lay at anchor.
    A grey oppressive coast, with sea mist rising around the ship like smoke, as if she had just fired a silent salute to the shore. They were not alone this time. Another cruiser, the Lubeck, was already anchored in the fjord, and apart from their escorts there were several other big destroyers and some supply ships.
    Some if not all of the tension had drained away on the passage north. To be doing something again, to accept that a sailor's daily risks put more persona! worries into their right perspective, made Hechler confident that his ship was ready for anything.
    With the ship safely anchored behind protective nets and booms, and regular sweeps by patrol boats, Hechler found time to consider the wisdom of his orders. Bodo was a good choice, he thought, if only for