Captain Frederic John Walker: Chase Me Charlie

The following story by Terence Robertson is out of copyright and appears courtesy of and with thanks to Mike Kemble, and Captain Frederic John Walker.

A Dornier bomber was apparently sighted by this escort off the French coast and it cautiously circled out of range. Surprisingly, it flew towards the escort as though to attack but, while still at extreme range, let go a missile which looked like an ordinary bomb with miniature wings. Instead of falling, the bomb headed direct for the startled ship. Before reaching its target, the bomb executed a tight turn and dived into the sea. When the Group returned to Liverpool on October 9th, they studied reports of the incident and learned that the bomb was the first guided missile ever to be launched in anger. It was rocket-propelled, fitted with small wings to give stability, and radio-controlled on to its target from the launching “parent” aircraft. Morale was shaken again. Not only were the escorts to be chased by “gnats”, as the acoustic torpedoes were nicknamed, but now they could be attacked from the air with bombs directed on to them no matter what evasive action they employed. The men of Western Approaches dubbed the glider bombs, “Chase-me-Charlies”. From the “gnat”, Admiralty experts established some measure of defence. If escorts steamed at not more than eight knots or less than twenty-four they were immune. Analyses of widespread attacks showed that the torpedoes were hard to shake off between these speeds, but could not “hear” propellers outside them. There was an important snag. At seven knots the escort would be too slow for the convoys, and at twenty-five the convoys would be too slow for the escorts.
Another defence was the introduction of “foxers”, a device which would, it was hopefully supposed, attract the “gnat” and explode it well astern of the target. This consisted of a series of wires trailed over the stern on the ends of which were long strips of metal. When a ship was at sea, according to theory, the metal strips were tossed around in the wake some fifty yards astern and clashed together making a din the “gnats” could not fail to hear above the noise of the propellers. Walker had no use for the “foxer”. It made so much noise the asdic set became practically useless. He rarely used it, relying instead on contacting the enemy first. Against the “Chase-me-Charlies” there was no defence until, one day in the Bay, an escort was attacked by an aircraft which launched its “glider bomb” just as a scientist aboard switched on his electric razor to test out a theory. To the amazement of the ship and the enemy aircraft, the new weapon gyrated about the sky in a fantastic exhibition of aerobatics finally giving chase to its own “parent”. In some inexplicable way, the “Chase-me-Charlie” control system had been affected by electric waves given off by the razor. This method was never officially admitted by the Admiralty as a defence measure, but the ships who sailed into the “Chase-me-Charlie” areas found it foolproof. In Liverpool there was a sudden run on shops selling all makes of electric razors. In October, it became apparent that Doenitz had switched tactics again and was launching his autumn offensive against the north Atlantic convoy routes in a sustained effort to curtail the invasion build-up. With the “gnats” taking their toll of our escorts, and a new threat growing against the major convoys, it was decided to make the mid-Atlantic “Chop” Line area our first line of defence. American forces continued to operate south of the Azores while the Royal Navy undertook to send carriers north of the islands. The Biscayan blockade had proved successful. The enemy in transit had been tamed and, for the moment, Coastal Command could forestall any attempts at a mass break-out. The Second Support Group went into training for the North Atlantic, without Starling. Walker approved of exercises, theoretical training and commanding officers’ courses for all his captains but not himself. Stubbornly he refused to spend long days at Tobermory, considered by many as the cradle of victory in the Atlantic, but encouraged his ships to take every opportunity to go there. He resisted for himself the introduction of new methods to deal with U-boats devised to co-ordinate the latest weapons and equipment. If this appeared as autocratic vanity, it was certainly not baseless. With his “bow and arrow” unmodified asdic he had destroyed more U-boats and killed more Germans than any other commander in the Navy. He had a gift for “smelling out” the enemy, and his mind could unravel the tactical problems of attack as quickly and accurately as any machine. He instructed his captains to exercise and train in the orthodox manner providing that, once at sea, they forgot temporarily what they had learned and reverted to his way of doing things. This stubborn attitude became manifest when Captain (D), Liverpool, suggested he should visit the Tactical Training School set up to train commanding officers and asdic teams in dealing with the various evasive actions a U-boat might take when under attack. It was a sound course considered to be excellent value by most Western Approaches captains. Walker was quite willing to agree, but firmly rejected any proposal that he himself should attend the school. A staff officer told him that Sir Max Horton was taking a poor view of this dogmatic attitude but Walker stuck to his guns.
It is a striking commentary on his reputation and prestige that he could get away with it. Although the most senior ranking officer afloat in the Western Approaches Command, he should still have carried out the general orders governing the working-up, training and equipping of all ships. Somehow, none seemed able to pin him down and he managed to elude issues of this kind without ever openly disobeying orders. While the Group trained at Tobermory until October, and Starling’s officers attended courses at the Tactical Training School and drilled their crews, Walker pottered in his garden at home, went shopping with Eilleen and romped with Andrew in the evenings. His paper work as a captain had so piled up in Starling that someone was clearly needed to administer the whole Group’s office and confidential report work. Captain (D), Liverpool, was persuaded to part with one of his secretarial stafl Lieutenant H. W. F. (Bill) Johnson, RNVR, who became Walker’s secretary and personal assistant. So far there had been no chance to try out the various defences against the “gnat” and the “Chase-me-Charlie”. For the latter nothing really effective had been devised as too little was known about it. It was decided that a striking force should sail under specific orders to test out the varying speeds theory and “foxer” device against “gnats” and to encourage a “Chase-me-Charlie” attack in the hope of shooting one down to be brought home for examination. The selected force would have to be capable of long-range anti-aircraft fire, for the real menace of the “Chase-me-Charlie” lay in the relatively poor anti-aircraft armament in the majority of escort vessels. Corvettes, frigates and destroyers built in the United States for service in the Atlantic under the White Ensign were designed to beat the U-boat but not aircraft as well. These warships had no way of tackling aircraft which fired and controlled rocket-bombs. The double task of acting as guinea pigs and experimental ships fell to the Second Support Group whose powerful guns, high speed and general design made them ideal opponents for the “Chase-rne-Charlies”. On October 15th Walker had the crew of Starling mustered on the quarter deck. “Our main job,” he said, “is to seek out the U-boats and destroy them. If in doing so, we can persuade them to fire off a few of their ‘gnats’ all the better. We shall then find out if these damned awkward ‘foxers’ really work.” He grinned at the blur of faces. “Don’t worry. The Boche hasn’t managed to think up anything we can’t beat yet. Once we get even a smell of him I shall reduce speed to below seven knots and hunt him down. “But about these ‘Chase-me-Charlies’. There’s only one thing we can do. You gunnery boys who are always complaining that I do not show a proper respect for your toys will have a chance to show how good you really are. All you have to do is shoot the things down. Simple enough if you remember that if you don’t they are very liable to hit us.” Smilingly, he told the First Lieutenant to “carry on” and strode away. In the afternoon, Starling sailed to rendezvous off Londonderry with the rest of the Group and the aircraft-carrier, Tracker, for their first hunting strike into the mid - Atlantic wastelands. Kite was in Londonderry repairing minor damage caused in a collision with a tug, and would catch up later; Woodcock was still at Bristol and Wren at the Clyde having new equipment fitted. To compensate, a new sloop called Magpie had joined the Group. (This ship later became the first command of the Duke of Edinburgh, then Lieutenant Mountbatten, RN.) By nightfall they were on their way to take the sting out of the scorpion’s tail.

Continued.....
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