World
War-II saw a pitched battle at Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Mediterranean
Sea. The battle was fought between the U –Boats and the Allied Ships. According to the War Shipping Administration, the U.S. Merchant
Marine suffered the highest rate of casualties of any service in World War II.
Officially, a total of 1,554 ships were sunk due to war conditions,
including 733 ships of over 1,000 gross tons. The colossal battle
reached its frenzy many a times even as the Oceans kept on throwing
multifarious challenges to the navigation and control of vessels on either
side. These battles saw many a men fire their imaginations and setting the
records straight.
It
was a black night and a strong westerly was heaving the Atlantic Ocean. The U-
Boat was on surface and heavy rain was falling from the top. The visibility was
almost dead zero, but, there was a sparkle in the blue eyes of the U-Boat’s
Commanding Officer Kapitan Karl Wachter. He was keen to slip inside an Allied
convoy, unseen and therefore welcomed the wind, waves and the stinging rain.
His imagination was all fired up.
Somewhere
close in the Atlantic Ocean, Captain Donald Macintyre was holding the compass
binnacle on the open bridge of his Destroyer Herperus. He was all fired up and steering at the end of the
convoy. His Officers and Men were continuously hunting for U-Boats and to
safeguard their convoy.
Karl
Wachter ordered a dive of his U-Boat to periscope depth and scanned the area.
His sonar picked up the trace of convoy ahead and starboard (right) side of
him. Wachter surfaced the U-Boat and searched, but there was nothing that he
could find. The ocean was unending and the waves continued to batter the
U-Boat. He dived again and got the bearings checked again. There was a constant
bearing gain and Wachter surfaced to close to the target. Zero visibility was
adding fuel to Wachter’s burning desire to carry out an attack on the Convoy
ships.
Donald
Macintyre was leaving no stone unturned to save his convoy and soon as he saw a
blip on his radar, 5 miles astern, he shouted U-Boat and ordered a high speed
turn. The alarm gongs went ringing and the big Destroyer straightened out and
ran at full speed down the radar bearing. The imaginations were running based
on calculations. Karl Wachter had not imagined such a quick turn of events. He
thought that he was well hidden in wind, waves and rain. It was late when he
ordered a swing to starboard (right) when he saw Hesperus , bow –wave creaming, running down at him out of the rain.
The
U-Boat went into an urgent dive and Macintyre had seen his prey. He went silent
as the U-Boat disappeared and then laid down a pattern of depth charges which
inflicted severe damage onboard the U-Boat. The gauge glasses shattered as
depth charges continued to explode all around. The battering was so severe that
some battery cells cracked and pungent chlorine gas leapt across to capture the
compartment volume. Wachter continued to dive the boat deeper. The crew fought
bravely and restored the emergency lighting and one of her motors. The U-Boat
started limping slowly. A difficult decision lay ahead and the only hope of
U-Boat was on surface. Wachter pulled all his imagination to his side and
surfaced the U-Boat. Soon as he surfaced, the good luck prevailed and both her
diesels fired to life. Wachter saw the Destroyer less than 300 meters away and
swung the U-Boat to its stern to vanish in the rain squall.
The
Destroyer was turning around too and fired its guns onto the U-Boat. Wachter
positioned his stern tubes towards the Ship and fired a salvo of torpedoes. The
heavy sea were making the matters worse and the torpedoes missed their intended
targets. The firing on either side was now to defend their respective skins but
imaginations were running wild. Both Wachter and Macintyre were facing ferocious
weather and each other’s capabilities. They both had orders in hands to finish
their respective enemies, but, at this stage both lay in a different situation.
The 3rd dimension of rain, wind and heavy seas added difficult
factors to this hunt. In their hearts, both had a silent admiration for each
other as darkness engulfed once again around them. They both had to live for
another day of action and slowly both drifted into respective darkness
envelopes to steer clear of the Harm’s Way. Wachter and Macintyre were living
the imaginations of their leaders and their national interests. To execute
those imaginations, they had to match the mission requirements using their own
imaginations. Imaginations are fluid in nature and continuously merit changes
as per changing situations. If the situation changes and the corresponding
imagination is not changed, the results can be catastrophic.
Imagination
is the bedrock of humanity. The capability to imagine and then to build upon that
imagination has been the hallmark of humans. After all humans have the niche
capabilities of being able to do almost each kind of activity which other
living things can do in limited quantum. This is a great gift to the mankind
and its correct utilization is the responsibility of each human. However,
imagination knows no bounds. Therefore, imagination has the capability to run
wild. The capability to run wild leads to chaos as targets of each imagination
are different. Should this deter from imagining? Imagine humans must and
worthwhile should they imagine. In each one’s own way, the humans will continue
to imagine and lead their lives. Each life in turn becomes a cog to churn the
big wheels of society.
Now,
is the time to think big. Should the humans fire their imaginations and in
which direction? This is a dilemma for many humans and their imaginations take
them to choppy waters in their respective life. Do they have the capability to
understand that their lives gravitate towards difficult ends due to their
skewed imaginations? Does anyone ever guides them? Who are their role-models?
Majority blame their circumstances for their lives. They do things without realizing
the repercussions of their actions. Can they be helped or guided? This is the
time and topic to ponder.
We
end up following various humans as role models. These are the people who fire
their imaginations at the correct time and ensure that they do actions to love
up to those dreams. Imagine big, imagine good and imagine correct- Life would
not go astray if the path to imagination is laid out well. After all, it is the
power to imagine which keeps the World moving on its axis. Let us endeavor to
fire our imagination in the right direction and touch scores of lives in our
human arena to motivate them to imagine for good. Humanity thrives belligerently
in chaos. The reverse is also true that inventions occur when chaos prevails.
Imagination is the key to keep the chaos under control.
So,
are you willing to fire your imagination to better this World and to live a peaceful
life?
