Well hello my seafaring friends!
It's me again, your red admiral Kitty Purrfürst!
Today we'll talk about the glorious Kitty Purrfürst I,
son of the famous Blacky,
after whom our entire dynasty was named.
We’ll also look at the battle that rose him to prominence,
warranting the Purrfürsts flag on a mast of his ship.
By the way,
keep in mind that you can hoist a flag like this on your ship as well.
That's how it all went down...
Having graduated from the Naval Cats Academy,
Purrfürst I found himself on a British destroyer—
not the most modern, but very distinguished nonetheless.
It's noteworthy that NCA—
short for the Naval Cats Academy—
always treated the issue of their graduates’ assignment very seriously.
There was no patronage nor indulgence:
those quadrupeds who showed the best results at the Academy
were sent to the ships that needed their sensitive whiskers,
strong paws, and firm character most of all.
Kitty Purrfürst undoubtedly possessed all these qualities—
his naval lineage played its role in ensuring it.
My ancestor faced his first true challenge half a year later,
when his destroyer found itself
in the North Sea, near the Norwegian shores.
By the end of 1943,
the main task of the Allies in that region
was to escort convoys carrying supplies for the Soviet Union,
ensuring their safety.
Accordingly, all capital ships of the Third Reich
were concentrated in Norway
to prevent those convoys from reaching their destination.
Destroyers from the 2nd Division of the 17th Flotilla
carried out reconnaissance near the western shores of Norway,
but lost sight of each other due to dense fog.
The ship carrying Purrfürst I was sailing near a fjord
when the whiskers of my ancestor
picked up faint oscillations inside the firth.
The Academy training didn't go to waste—
Kitty immediately reported to his commander
that his personal radar had detected movement near the fjord's exit.
Under the cover of fog,
the destroyer assumed an attack position
and general quarters was sounded.
As the objects approached,
Purrfürst I was able to discern two ships moving towards the fjord's exit:
a smaller one in the lead
and a bigger one following in its wake.
Apparently, without trained cats on board,
they didn't even suspect they were heading for an ambush...
See for yourself: in September 1943,
a combat-ready German heavy cruiser left a Norwegian fjord,
but having reached Germany,
it was immediately sent for repairs and became a training ship.
Something doesn't add up here.
It seems that the cruiser got itself into a serious trouble.
The commander of the destroyer on which my famous ancestor served,
listened to the report of his ship’s cat
and came up with a daring plan.
He let the enemy destroyer pass without attacking it,
then launched all of his torpedoes at the heavy cruiser that followed it.
Without waiting for the results of their onslaught,
the British literally burst out of the fog
and straddled the German destroyer with their artillery.
By the time that the ship of my grand-grand-grand-grand father
Purrfürst I left the battlefield,
the enemy cruiser was listing heavily,
while the destroyer capsized, engulfed in flames.
It's after this battle that the British destroyer
hoisted the special Kitty Purrfürst flag.
I found only fractions of information about the battle in question.
How reliable are they?
We'll need to thoroughly study them to answer this question,
but at the moment,
there is no doubt that one of the British destroyers
clashed with a heavy German cruiser near the Norwegian shores.
I only tell you the things that can be found in the extensive memoirs
of my distinguished ancestor, Kitty Purrfürst I.
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That's all for now,
until next time!