Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2014 17:03:31 +0000
From: Robert Me <winchesterbornbred@hotmail.co.uk>
Subject: The Hut/12

Hi everyone, will you please donate to nifty? Many thanks.

Always good to hear from you and thanks to those who already have.
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Gary's demands.
______________

Patrick was on the bridge and saw Simon coming towards the ship and
waved. He went down to the top of the gangway and told him they were
sailing at midday tomorrow.
"Did you have a nice time Simon?"
"Great thanks. Great to see my father and hope it can happen again."
"Yes, I hope I can get to see my father soon, but he travels all over the
place and its hard to keep tracks on him. He is involved a lot on the
Type 271 and installing it on the escort ships, just hope we get it
soon." Patrick was on watch and Simon said he would get a couple of mugs
of coco and bring them to the bridge.

"Simon when we do get leave perhaps you would like to spend it with me?
You will love our house and grounds, so big and peaceful."
"Thanks Patrick, but I need to see my father, so it may not happen."
"And girlfriend no doubt? Don't tell me a handsome chap like you doesn't
have one?"
"No, no girlfriend and not looking, not now anyway."
"Gosh, how do you keep them off you?"
"Same way as you do I guess. You have a girlfriend?" Patrick looked at
Simon and wondered if he should risk it? Not yet.
"No, same as you, not when we are at war." They left it at that, but
Patrick was dying to tell him the real reason he hoped he would go on
leave with him.

Simon was allowed to ask the signalman to tap out a "goodbye" to his
father as they sailed past the Hamble river. It seemed so unreal as he
saw him and the whole work force through his binoculars waving back. They
were going to join up with the main convoy while escorting a small number
of ships towards it. They had got clear of the Solent and now in the
Channel, Simon was on watch when the call came from the radar shack
saying there were aircraft approaching from the south east of them. Simon
for the first time rang the alarm.
"Hard to port." He ordered so that the 4 inch could come to bear on the
aircraft.
"Midships."
The CO got to the bridge and took over and saw them coming at the convoy
diving to attack.
"Fire when ready Number One." On this ship the First Officer (Number One)
was also the gunnery officer, not the best situation as he would have to
take over the ship if the captain was unable too.

Four enemy aircraft came under fire from the other escort nearest
them and opened up a few seconds before they did with a good result, one
aircraft was hit and broke off. Blossom then fired her 4 inch and then
the 12 pounder. They were still out of range of the Lewis guns. The guns
tracked them as they got even closer and watched in amazement as their 4
inch got a direct hit and the Heinkel simply blew up and only bits of it
fell into the channel. The other two Hienkel's carried on with their
attack, but now the Lewis's joined in and damaged another and it too flew
off. The last one dropped its bombs but missed.
"Bloody well DONE lads!" It could not be a better start and the Blossom
had got her first "kill" of the war, but more important no ship was hit
or damaged. Charles slapped Simon on his back. "Well done Simon, you got
us into a good position to engage. Well done everyone." They stayed at
action stations and would not get much time to stand down during the
whole of this escort. During the west passage most ships would sail with
ballast, no ship could sail without cargo or ballast to give them weight,
they would be in danger sailing empty. That did not stop attacks of
course, killing crew was as important as sinking ships to the enemy and
on this convoy they would loose a lot of both.

Tony had said goodbye to Andrew and thanked him again. He was much
happier as he went back to his room. He was even smiling as he opened the
drawer to get his writing pad out, but as soon as he looked inside
he fell into depression. He sat down and stared at the floor for a long
time.................."Oh shit and I am in it and so could Simon as
well." Those letters could destroy both of them and now they were gone
and he knew who would have taken them and would use to blackmail him into
having sex, there could be no other reason. Gary had made that obvious
since they had got back from Dunkirk and it was also obvious to him now
that the only reason why he helped him get into the Medical Corps and
supported him throughout his training, was only to get him into BED!
"Fucking hell. I am going to have to work this out otherwise Simon and I
could be finished if Gary shows those letters to the wrong people. Still,
I read sometime ago that the best way of defence was to attack, do
something the enemy does not expect. OK, but what the fuck is it that
Gary wont expect?" He now knew what the problem was and because of that
he could now think through it. Ok he did not have a clue what to do, but
by staying calm, he would be able to think it through in a rational way.
"HEEEEELP!" He even laughed at that and went for a bath. It would get
worse though.

The Blossom had joined the main convoy and the opinion they all had was
how the hell could six warships protect 50 merchant ships which were
spread out eight miles in length and four miles wide and three of them
not that well equipped to engage the U-boats.
Ships like the Blossom had to rely on the flotilla leader, who was
equipped with the new Type 271 radar, to alert them of impending air
attack. The plan did not work that well and often the only warning they
had was their own radar which only gave them less than a minute to get to
action stations. The naval ships were totally dependent on Asdic in
the hope they would find themselves able to attack, rather than being
attacked. It did not happen that often in 1941.

The alarm sounded and 85 men scrambled to their action stations.
"Surface contact! 216. Half mile."
Simon as always stood towards the rear of the bridge and would stay there
hoping he would not be needed.
"Guns," fire a star shell." Off it went.......... Nothing.
"And another please "guns." This time they all saw the U-boat's conning
tower.
"Full ahead. Fire when ready "guns."
"Signal we are attacking." The signalman clanked out the message on his
lamp. This was his first convoy as well as 10 other of the crew
who were new to Atlantic convoys.

The 4 inch gun fired off 4 shells before the U-boat submerged, but before
she did there was a hit.
"I think we have a damaged U-boat gentlemen, Full ahead."
"CONTACT! Asdic, 200, 500 yards."
"Depth charges, stand by."
"Still got it?"
"300 yards!" The operator was beside himself!
"200!" He screamed out.
"100 YARDS!!"
"SIR! WE ARE OVER THEM!"
Charles stood upright and focused and thought of his brother. He already
knew what the out come of this attack would be.

"FIRE!"

Four depth charges were fired off the sides and two dropped over the
stern, all set at 100 feet.
"Slow ahead." They all looked aft and watched as the charges exploded
sending massive volumes of water 100 feet up.
"Hard a Port, take us back." Blossom screwed round and was soon
heading back towards the first depth charge attack.
"Gun's, set the DC's to deep." Charles did not wait to see what the
result was after his second attack, instead he told the cox'n to go hard
to port again and get back to the target area for his third attack.
"Set the DC's to shallow Guns.......!"

"FIRE!"

The U-boat had been damaged by the Blossom's second shell and she had
to crash dive, but was not deep enough as one depth charge exploded too
close and did even more damage. They were sinking fast as the forward
torpedo room was flooding. The Captain had only one choice and ordered
the ballast tanks to be blown in the hope they could surface.
On the way up, they met the third set of depth charges coming down.
Mercifully the whole crew died instantly as all six depth charges blew
up and with two of them so close, they ended yet 58 more lives to add
to Hitler's grand total.

The Blossom's crew were on a lot of clouds what with shooting down the
Heinkel and now the U-boat sinking, there was a lot to celebrate. But as
soon as the action with the U-boat was over, other U-boats attacked the
convoy and Blossom now become a rescue ship. By the time they got to
Halifax they had 135 survivors to land and thank the Blossom for their
lives.

"Hello Tony, every thing ok in here?" Tony was in emergency reception. He
had worked on all wards, but this was his favourite place to be, you
never knew what was coming through the door and you worked by your wits
and skill.
"Its not bad, you look happy, got promotion?" Tony smiled at Gary. He did
not want to appear over enthusiastic, Gary could put him somewhere else
if he knew he liked it there. The shit had hit his fan and he had every
reason to be worried.
"Not yet. So, you say its not bad in here, don't you like it then?" Tony
pretended he did not hear.
"I'm on a break in an hour do you want to meet in the canteen? It would
be good just to chat." He had never suggested that before.
"Oh sure, that will be great, see you there." Gary went off happy and
knowing what it would be about, the letters.

Gary came in and got his tea and sat close to Tony.
"So, what do you want to chat about? You coming on leave with me and get
to know one another better?"
"The letters you stole from my room." Gary looked at Tony and pretended
not to understand.
"What do you mean?"
"You stole my letters and my guess is you wont give them back unless I
agree to something and we both know what that is. I am right aren't I?"
"What if I said I don't know what your talking about?"
"You would be lying. Ok, you have got me by the balls, so what's the
bottom line? Sex and I get the letters back, or is there something else
you want to blackmail me with as well?" Well this was the reason he had
stolen them, so cards on the table time.
"No, just sex."
"That will never happen."
"So you want me to hand them into the police? You know if I did both you
and Simon would be in serious trouble."
"So is blackmail Sergeant AND your homosexual as well."
"I will take that risk, sex is just sex no one will get hurt and when
Simon gets home when this war is over you two can carry on as normal
and nobody need know what happened."
"Do I get the letters back?"
"Yes, but I don't suppose you will believe me, but that's your problem.
Tony I will make you an offer, every time we have sex I will give you one
letter back and by the time you get all 21 of them, you will most
probably be gagging for it anyway, many have. Just relax about it Tony,
nobody gets hurt and you wont get pregnant. Simon need not know about it
unless you are stupid enough to say something and in any case I bet he is
fucking about with some randy sailor himself."
"And when is all this supposed to happen?"
"I will give you a week to think about it, after that and you don't
cooperate I will take the letters to the police, just doing what's right
and being a good Senior NCO and protecting vulnerable men from your
possible homosexual advances. I might even get that promotion. Its down
to you Tony, do you want to see Simon thrown in jail and disgraced for
life?"
"So you don't care how you have sex with a bloke even if it is rape?"
"Tony, listen to me. I don't give a fuck how I get it, I want you and
that's all I'm interested in, if you are too stupid not to enjoy it, then
that's your problem not mine. Anyway as I said, you will love it, all 8
inches of my cock in your mouth and up your tight little ass." Gary got
up and left. Tony was in trouble and had no idea how to get out of it.
All he could come up with was to let Gary have his way!

Blossom was at rest now and they all started to clean her up. They only
had two days before they had to meet the next convoy, but this one would
be slightly different for them.
"Shower time Simon?"
"I had one before we left home Patrick, I think I will be fine until we
get back."
"Stupid man, I know you want to see my cock again, go and get your
things." Simon grinned at him, Patrick was right and went to their cabin.
The shower room was not as crowded as the first time they were there, but
once again Patrick got a lot of attention and Simon watched as one then
the other would nudge a mate and nod towards Patrick. He stopped looking
at the men and had his share of cock watching. It was magnificent!

"End of yet another freak show Simon. Still, I don't mind you looking,
its different somehow." Simon stopped and as he did so did Patrick.
"Patrick, I'm sorry if I have got this wrong, but are you homosexual,
like me?" Patrick nearly fell over.
"Yes I am. My word you don't hang about do you?"
"Patrick I do like you a lot, but I have my man at home and we are
together as a couple and neither of us will go behind the others back.
Hope you understand."
"All I can say is, whoever he is he is lucky. I could very well fall for
you Simon. Ah well there is someone for everyone, somewhere, I just wish
I knew where."

"Right chaps we have another role on this escort and we will be sub
hunters and will sail up and down between the second and third line of
ships. In other words we will not stay on station as we have done. There
are three extra corvettes joining us on this trip from the RCN and two of
them will patrol the other two lines, the Flotilla commander thinks it
will give us better cover and a chance of keeping the U-boats submerged
longer. We will go to full speed when we are on station one at a time
with 30 minutes between each ship rather to stay in line. Its worth a try
and it may make it more interesting for us. That's it, lets have a nice
cruise, I have ordered champagne for this one." There were quite a few
insults directed at the captain and they left to go about their work.

The weather conditions were dreadful, calm sea, moderate wind and clear
sky's, perfect for the attacking side. However, the convoy escorts also
had good conditions to search without having to endure a ship being
thrown all over the place and better radar and Asdic cover.
The blossom was at full speed nearing the end of their line and would
have to come about within 10 minutes.

"CONTACT 180 1000 yards."

The alarm sounded and all the men sat up, stood up, or stopped leaning
against something. They had been at "relaxed" action stations for the
past four hours and this was their third contact.
Blossom changed course towards the contact. They knew that the U-boat
would already know they were under attack and would dive unless this one
fancied a surface fight. A U-boat out gunned any escort ship with her 8
torpedo tubes making the difference.

"500 YARDS!" The crews were at the depth charges ready to release.

"Shit, lost contact." Charles waited..................

"FIRE!"

They made four more passes dropping 6 charges at a time, the last two
towards the nearest line of ships just in case the sub was heading that
way. Just as that last drop erupted there was a massive explosion behind
them and a fuel tanker literally blew apart. No one would survive.
"Well, we wont know if that was our sub or not, but lets try to keep the
buggers down." They continued searching the same area and during it there
was an attack going on in the next line and Charles took them to join in
the search, but by the time they got there the RCN Corvette was
celebrating a sinking.
This system of sub hunting was bringing about some good results. As the
Battle of the Atlantic progressed there would be 4/6 ship hunter/attack
groups that would be just one reason the tide would turn. Another one was
the installation of the Type 271 radar system, improved sonar and the
forward throwing 24 anti submarine mortars called the hedgehog which not
only enabled a head on attack, Asdic contact could be maintained. Using
just depth charges Asdic contact was nearly always lost and the attack
became guess work. However, on this escort it was felt that having three
ships hunting could have kept the U-boats submerged longer and they
could loose contact with the convoy. There was no way of calculating how
many attacks were thwarted like this, but there is no doubt this stopped
many more cargo ships from being sunk.

They finally arrived in Liverpool and counted the cost. Five ships had
gone down, 89 men lost and many more badly injured and many of those
would die or take no further part in the war. The allies were not only
loosing thousands of tons of ships but also their best asset, merchant
seamen.

The Blossom moored up and the first thing they noticed was a group of
officers and civilians waiting to come on board. Charles Thickness
welcomed them on board and took them to his cabin.
"Wonder what that's all about Simon? Promotion and a pay rise for you and
me do you think?"
"Or a sex party Patrick. I dare you to go and knock on "Thicko's" door."
"No dear boy, there would be no room in there if I got a hardon."
"Would you get one then?"
"Only in our cabin Simon."

The visitors left and Charles called the officers to the wardroom.
"Happy days chaps. We will be going on leave for two weeks! That's the
good news, but it gets better. When we get back we will have Hedgehogs
fitted, the 12 pounder will go and replaced by a single barrel
40mm Bofor and two double barrel 20mm Oerlikon's to replace the Lewis's.
ANNND! That's not all, we will get the new 271 radar system when we get
back from our next escort.

"Will you go and stay at home Patrick, or go and find your dad?"
"Well, as I know I will not get invited to your home, I will stay with
mother for the first week and then, as you say, find father, he may even
be at home. I wont know until I get there. Simon, just in case your man
has dumped you, here is my phone number for you to come and cry in bed
with me!" They were interrupted when a sailor came and asked Simon to
report to the captain, but not before Simon gave Patrick his phone
number.

The First lieutenant was in Charles cabin as well. "I will come straight
to the point Simon, congratulations Lieutenant Walsh." Simon looked from
one to the other and it at last sunk in, he had been promoted.
"Oh.......oh bloody hell, thank you sir."
"We both recommended you Simon. You deserve it and I will tell you one
more thing, Peter here will most probably be leaving us after our next
escorts and when we get back, he will have his own command and I want you
as my next Number one." After two more doubles and shaking hands, Simon
went off to the tailor for his second ring to be sewed on his sleeves.
His father he knew would be over joyed. He rang him to say he was coming
home, but did not mention his promotion, he wanted to see the look on his
face.

"Well done Simon and congratulations. Goodbye and have a wonderful leave,
but don't forget my phone number." They were in their cabin and Patrick
was packed ready to go. They looked at each other and Simon did not move
as Patrick closed the gap and kissed his cheek. Patrick stepped back
still looking at Simon. "I said to you when we were in Halifax I could
fall for you. I am sorry but a I lied, I already had." He smiled at Simon
and left. Simon stood there and knew just how easy it would be to fall
for someone else, that's just the way things were and this war would see
many affairs going on and many split relationships because of them and
the Yanks had not even got here yet!

He went back to the tailors to pick up his jacket and could not stop
himself from being rather pleased with himself and for the first time
thought about how far he could go. His father had made Lieutenant
Commander and he wondered if he also could get that far. What he did know
for sure was he must be good at what he did, Charles Thickness would
never recommend a promotion unless it was deserved and to be also
considered to become First Lieutenant gave Simon a huge boost of
confidence.

Tony was in the canteen having in a cup of tea before going on night
duty. He always did that half an hour before any duty began. He was only
thinking of one thing and had been since Gary's automatum two days
before.
He had not got far in the options department, Gary was not one to
compromise and even though he knew the risks he was taking
by blackmailing Tony, the outcome would be much worse for Tony and most
probably Simon as well. Gary could get away with it anyway, all he had to
say was he had found them on the floor in the changing room and the
blackmail issue would never come up, or him liking sex with men despite
what Tony would claim. No, Tony was in trouble, unless he went along with
Gary's demands. Ok when he had first seen him climbing on Peace at
Dunkirk he had thought how good looking he was, fantastic in fact, but
that was all. What really "attracted" him to Gary was his ability in his
work and knowing that that's what he wanted to join up to do as well. Not
once did it enter his head about liking him in a sexual way and now
actually hated him, BUT unless he came up with an escape plan it could
very well end up in tears. There was only one thing he was certain of and
that was this fuckwit would never get any where near him. "Big words, but
how do I stop Gary going to the police?"

Tony's problem was he had forgotten how to be street wise since he had
been adopted by two of the most beautiful people that ever existed, The
Reverend and Mrs Williams, meeting Andrew who gave him so much support
and treated him like a second son and then of course, the main man, Simon
the man he fell in love with and now this shit who could destroy it all.
Tony was beginning to think "outside the box." he would have to become
street wise again and this little chat he was having with himself was
beginning to help him think more positively. He looked at the clock, time
for another cup. He got it and sat down, but as soon as he had he looked
up and saw Gary coming towards him, he had a face like thunder.

He sat and stared at Tony. "Aren't you the lucky one, I have been sent on
a months course and go first thing tomorrow morning. This you need to
remember though, the day I get back is the first time I fuck you and
there wont be any excuses. You just get your ass ready." Tony could not
be more relieved, he had time to plan, still he needed to say two things.
"Do you want me to look after the letters Gary? You never know who may go
into your room while your away and steal them." He got sneered at.
"They are safer than the Bank of England. As I say, just get your ass
ready, no more fucking about."
"Gary?"
"WHAT?"
"Its ok, I have had time to think about it and I guess if you promise me
I get the letters back, then as you say its only sex and Simon will never
know. There is one thing though" He smiled at Gary and Gary had
suddenly lost his anger.
"What's that?"
"I don't think its safe getting together in our rooms, but there are
plenty of empty ones around the hospital and I can find a safe place
while you are away, that ok?"
"Fine, just make sure its sound proof."
"And I do get the letters back?"
"I told you, one at a time." Gary got up ready to go, he looked down at
Tony. "Just in case you are thinking something up, there is a little
disappointment coming your way. Don't fuck with me Tony, only I do the
fucking." It was scary as shit, but the best encouragement Tony needed.
He also knew with Gary's last remark he would never get ALL the letters
back  and Simon would be the first to know he had sex with his man,
he would never to able to resist shouting his mouth off about it.

Tony watched him go and went back to thinking about a way out of this
mess and that could only be, create one for Gary himself, it would be
risky and he would need help. He got up to go on duty and at the same
time he had the beginnings of a way to get out of this shit, he stopped
at the reception desk. "Fancy that drink tomorrow Jean?"

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