"The Ship in The Fog" 2023 by Cassie

In the low morning mist, sitting just above the wavy waters of the Atlantic in the opening months of the Great War, sat a small periscope, carefully scanning the gray horizon, searching for any signs of a ship. Inside the U-boat that was the owner of the periscope, sat a group of 50 or so men, who were all rugged and dirty, unable to wash or change their clothes for the past few weeks, due to the fact that there are no cleaning facilities on the submarine. The stench that permeated every inch of the vessel would most likely be enough to kill a small animal, but the crew had just barely gotten used to it after so much time spent in it by now. All of them were exhausted, and bored out of their minds, just waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, the First Watch Officer, Viktor, the man looking through the periscope exclaimed.
“Ship spotted! I think it’s heading directly into our firing line!”
“Quick! Everyone to your stations!” Yelled Fritz Achterberg, the Captain. Everyone quickly rushed to their stations.
“What do you make of it?” Fritz asks, as sailors run around, filling the room with an excitement and energy that it hasn’t seen since they departed.
“Well… It's… I don’t want to ruin the atmosphere but… It looks like an ocean liner.” Viktor stated, a bit dejectedly.
“Maybe it’s a troop ship?” The captain replied.
“No… I recognise it… I think it’s the RMS Majestic” Viktor murmured.
“Isn’t that the ship they told us about, with something like 160 tons of munitions?” replied the Doctor from the back of the control room.
“And 1,500 innocent civilians, don’t forget that.” said the Second Watch Officer, next to the Doctor, Ludwig. “We can’t sink it, that’s too many people, don’t do it.” He continued. “Yeah…” Viktor agreed. The captain wanted to say something or make a decision but just as he opened his mouth to speak all the words escaped him. The ship in front of him was filled with families trying to simply get to England or France, they didn’t know that below their feet was over a hundred tons of guns and ammunition that would be used against his fellow countrymen in the trenches. But on the other hand, he cannot let so many Germans die due to his indecision.
Around him the crew begins to bicker as the tension begins to boil over.
“Viktor… How long until it’s too late to hit that ship?” Asked the captain eventually.
“I’d give it around… three minutes.” he replied.
There was a pause in the room before the Bootsman, a large man named Volkmar, whose job it was to keep the discipline among the crew, said
“I don’t see why this is such a difficult decision. Orders are orders. Sink it.”
“N-no! You can’t just fire at a civilian ocean liner! This is a horrible idea, think about how the rest of the world would view us and Germany! The war has just begun and we’re already sinking civilians? This is ridiculous, please captain, don’t let this happen.” Pleaded Ewald. “Shut up, Ewald. That ship is going to bring weapons to Britain and France, more of our comrades will die from that than there are civilians on that stupid metal hulk.” Volksmar growled, just before the Captain intervened.
“Calm down, both of you. Ewald, I know you’re right about the innocent civilians and everything but…” He cut himself off before he could finish. He couldn’t bring himself to order it.
Viktor sighed, seemingly accepting what has to be done.
“Are you sure you wanna do this, Viktor?” Asked Fritz.
“Yeah.” Viktor replied as he waited for the perfect moment to fire.
“Alright.. Everyone get ready!” Fritz shouted as Ewald stared at him, shocked, before accepting the decision, and pulling out his stopwatch, ready to time the torpedo.
After what felt like an hour of tense waiting, every single movement and breath was as loud as a bullet, Viktor finally shouted into the speaker.
“FIRE!!”
Ewald started his stopwatch and Viktor looked back to watch a white streak in the water form a few seconds later and slowly make its way towards the distant ocean liner.
A few seconds passed on Ewald’s stopwatch before a huge splash appeared at the Majestic’s starboard side. Followed by a second much larger splash.
“Did you fire two torpedoes!?” Viktor yelled into the speaker.
“No! Just one!” A voice answered from below deck.
Another long pause filled the room for a while after that, as Viktor watched the ship sink while Ewald recorded how long it took.
The captain sat down at his desk and took out the logbook.
“Well.. That’s it then… We did it.” he accepted.
As the ship went under extremely quickly, and everyone moved on with their day, some even celebrating their little ‘victory’, the captain was simply left to himself, to ponder whether it really was the right choice to make. In the end though, he would never really know.