Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[Cuttlefish]

June 21, 1942

Location: Kobe
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 23
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Repair the ship and get back in the war.

---

1st Fleet Headquarters, Kobe:

Vice Admiral Takasu: Hello, Captain Ishii. Good of you to come in. How are the repairs going?

Captain Ishii: *salutes* They are going well, sir, thank you.

Admiral Takasu: Have a seat. I’ve been looking over that assessment of the anti-aircraft improvements you wrote. *picks up and studies a sheaf of papers*

Captain Ishii: *braces himself* Sir, I was rather upset at the time. I know I shouldn’t have…

Admiral Takasu: A very insightful report. Good work.

Captain Ishii: Sir?

Admiral Takasu: It’s been forwarded up the chain of command. Yet one more piece of evidence that while we’ve made a good beginning there is more work to do.

Captain Ishii: *muttering to himself* Miharu…

Admiral Takasu: What, Captain?

Captain Ishii: Nothing, sir. Please go on.

Admiral Takasu: As you may know, right now in the Home Islands we have one aircraft carrier, two battleships, three heavy cruisers, and nearly a dozen light cruisers and destroyers in for major repairs. All were damaged by enemy air attack. We need those ships out there fighting, not here getting patched up.

Captain Ishii: So many?

Admiral Takasu: Yes. Furthermore, since the beginning of the war we have lost seven destroyers to enemy aircraft or submarines, but we have not lost a single warship to enemy gunfire. *he grins* We’ve sunk a few of theirs that way, though. But it’s a new kind of war, Captain.

Captain Ishii: I admit, sir, that when the war started I openly doubted whether or not airplanes could sink battleships.

Admiral Takasu: You and many others. But on the basis of this report you’ve written I may send some of our naval architects to talk to you. We can’t just add more anti-aircraft guns at random, of course. It adds too much weight topsides, especially for destroyers. But we’re working on it, rest assured, and you have more practical experience with the matter than most.

Captain Ishii: While we are working on it, no doubt the Americans and the British are working on more effective planes and weapons.

Admiral Takasu: No doubt they are. But we’ve managed to stay a step ahead of them so far, and I’m sure that with our fighting spirit and determination we will continue to do so.

[Cuttlefish]

June 22, 1942

Location: Kobe
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 23
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Repair the ship and get back in the war.

---

“Are you mad?” yells Taiki, grabbing Riku and pushing him up against a bulkhead. Riku winces and looks around nervously.

“Lower your voice!” he hisses. Taiki takes a deep breath and releases his grip.

“Sorry,” he says. “But Riku-san, you know what Shun thinks of you. If you ask for permission to see his daughter he will injure you severely. If you try and see her without permission he will kill you. I’m not exaggerating. He really will kill you.”

“But Taiki,” says Riku plaintively, “I’m in love with her.” Taiki throws up his hands in exasperation.

“You are an idiot!” he says. “You saw her for one minute. She did not speak a word. You cannot be in love with her.” Riku just looks stubborn. Taiki sighs. “Look, she is not like the women you know. She is a village girl from one of the most old fashioned parts of Japan. You saw her. She is modest and proper, and there is no chance in all the world that she would see you unaccompanied by her grandmother.” Riku looks up, suddenly intent.

“You know where she is from?” he says. Taiki shakes his head.

“You haven’t heard anything else I’ve said, have you?” he says. “Yes, I’ve asked around a little.”

“What have you heard? Tell me, Taiki, please!”

“If I do will you forget this insane plan to speak to Shun?” asks Taiki. Riku hesitates, then nods.

“She is Shun’s only child. She and her grandmother live in the village of Kunigami at the north end of Okinawa. Her mother died when she was very young. They are staying in Osaka with an aunt and uncle of hers, and when Shun gets leave they will be returning to Okinawa. That’s all I know.”

“Taiki, I must speak to her before she leaves!” Taiki groans.

“You must plan for your own funeral!” he says, then relents slightly. “Look, promise me to do or say nothing about this. To anyone. Let me think about it and see what I can come up with.” Riku grasps Taiki’s sleeve.

“Thanks, Taiki! You are a good friend. I know you have a clever mind, I have faith in you.”

“Do you promise?” says Taiki sternly. Riku nods. Taiki claps him gently on the shoulder, then departs. Riku remains leaning against the bulkhead for a moment, lost in lovelorn thought, then stirs himself and returns to his duties.

[Onime No Kyo]

I think Hibiki is about to be short a crewman....and if Shun finds out that Taiki's involved, she'll be short two. [:D]

[kaleun]

[;)]

[Japanese_Spirit]

Ah-ha, now this is some of my favourite reading and that is "romance". [;)] But, to put it in a thought, Riku and Shun's daughter would be the "Grandparents" in today's world. It really is pleasant to read and think of how that generation was, especially with the "polite" attitude on asking the Father for permission to "see" the daughter.

Anyway, a most excellent piece of writing, sir! I look forward to your next update!

[goodboyladdie]

We'll just have to be careful that when they make the movie they do not concentrate on this bit. The last thing we want the movie to be is a chick-flick! [:)]

[cantona]

ORIGINAL: goodboyladdie

We'll just have to be careful that when they make the movie they do not concentrate on this bit. The last thing we want the movie to be is a chick-flick! [:)]

as long as ben affleck and josh harnett are involved [:D] erm [:-] way

[princep01]

ORIGINAL: cantona

ORIGINAL: goodboyladdie

We'll just have to be careful that when they make the movie they do not concentrate on this bit. The last thing we want the movie to be is a chick-flick! [:)]

as long as ben affleck and josh harnett are involved [:D] erm [:-] way

Right on, Bro. No more Pearl Harbor schizo films that cannot make up their mind whether they are a romantic film or a war flick. Geez.

Carry on Cuttlefish and Hibiki.

[ny59giants]

That's why my favorite movie are Tora, Tora, Tora; The Longest Day; and A Bridge Too Far.
Just action and no romance. [:D][:D]

[kaleun]

We'll just have to be careful that when they make the movie they do not concentrate on this bit. The last thing we want the movie to be is a chick-flick!

Well, a little boobie never hurt anyone (See the 300 yet) [;)]

[Cuttlefish]

June 23, 1942

Location: Kobe
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 22
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Repair the ship and get back in the war.

---

At sea the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Hibiki is a fast, agile engine of destruction, bristling with weapons and capable of sinking any ship afloat with her broadside of nine torpedoes. In the cradle in drydock she is just 371 feet of inert steel. Captain Ishii paces the deck of his ship. It feels wrong to be aboard and not feel the tilting of the ship from the waves or the vibration of her deck plates from her powerful engines. From the port side comes a steady pounding as the repair crews work on the deformed sections of hull around the hole.

Captain Ishii is saddened to hear that the ship upon which he served as executive officer, the Inazuma, has been stricken off Wake Island. The destroyer, a sister ship of the Hibiki, is being towed towards Kwajalein but is not expected to make it. He sighs and tries to put it out of his mind. There is nothing he can do to help, not with his ship out of the water so far away.

---

Seaman First Class Taiki Takahashi has been wracking his brain for almost a full day. He has considered and discarded more than a dozen plans as unworkable. He would give it up as hopeless, but he knows that if he doesn’t do something his friend will act on his own, with disastrous results.

Taiki finally comes to a decision. Consistent with his nature, his solution is direct and honest. He writes a note in the best hand he can muster and has it delivered to a house in Osaka.

[Cuttlefish]

June 24, 1942

Location: Kobe
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 21
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Repair the ship and get back in the war.

---

The widow Rin Shun sips her tea and gazes at the earnest young sailor sitting on the mat across the table from her. They are in a pleasant little tea house, and Taiki has just finished telling her of his dilemma. The old woman is “looking at his feet” as they say in Japan, attempting to assess the young man’s character.

She has some sympathy for his problem. In truth, she has been worried lately about how she is to see her granddaughter Nanami married. Her son refuses to agree to arrange a marriage; none of the candidates proposed have been nearly good enough, in his view. And all of the potential suitors on Okinawa have been forcibly discouraged or driven off by the fierce Chief Petty Officer.

The widow Shun loves her son, but understands him well and knows that Taiki is right to be worried. She finishes her study of the young sailor. He seems intelligent and honorable, and she comes to a decision.

“There is no way my granddaughter could meet with your friend and not tell her father of it afterward. She tells him everything, and it not only would it be deeply wrong to ask her to withhold something, I very much doubt she would do it. But I think that under the circumstances we may be forgiven for practicing a small deception.” Taiki listens intently.

“If you and a group of friends were to encounter the two of us again by chance even my son could not find grounds to take action. He may grumble, but he is a fair man. So here is what we shall do. Can you and your friend get away from the ship tomorrow morning? Good. Bring him and several other friends – make it two or three more, at least – and take a stroll along the Yodo riverside promenade. It is just possible that my granddaughter and I will be examining the gardens there. And if we are, well then, your friend would only be behaving politely if he spoke briefly with her.” Taiki nods.

“Thank you,” he says. “Thank you a thousand times. I shall do as you suggest.”

“Your friend will have to be content with that,” says the old woman. “The day after that we are leaving to return to Okinawa.”

“That will be the end of it,” promises Taiki, “even if I have to chain him below decks until Hibiki sails again.” The old woman smiles.

“We have a saying on Okinawa,” she says. “‘There are four things to dread: earthquakes, thunder and lightning, fire, and fathers’.” Taiki nods again.

“Yes,” he says, “we have that saying where I am from too.”

[Cuttlefish]

June 25, 1942

Location: Kobe
Course: None
Attached to: Disbanded in port
Mission: None
System Damage: 20
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Repair the ship and get back in the war.

---

In the morning the men of the Hibiki are electrified to hear that a powerful American battle group appeared off Nanomea the previous day and is busy landing two divisions. They are opposed only by a base force and some Naval Landing Force troops. While there is little hope that the garrison can resist such an attack, this is exactly the opportunity the Imperial Japanese Navy has been looking for: to find and finally smash the American fleet. Suddenly it is agony to be stuck in drydock in Japan when the Decisive Battle is perhaps only days away.

---

Excerpt from “Naval Battles of the Pacific War, Volume II: Pacific Empire” by Morris Elliot Samuelson; Harper, Row, and Fujimori, New York, 1965

The American invasion of Nanomea came as a complete surprise to the Japanese. They responded quickly with all the force at their disposal, but by the time their carriers arrived from Kwajalein the island was secured and the American fleet was fleeing south.

The Japanese planes caught and sank three old Clemson-class destroyers and the eight freighters they were escorting, but the main body of the American fleet escaped. The only capital ship to suffer significant damage was battleship California, which was struck during the initial invasion by two torpedoes from Japanese twin-engine bombers based at Tarawa.

While the Americans had pulled off a successful invasion, they soon found that they had two divisions essentially stranded behind Japanese lines. Only time was to tell whether the invasion had thrust a wedge into the Japanese perimeter or created a trap from which the American forces could not escape.

---

From the diary of Seaman First Class Taiki Takahashi:

June 25, 1942

I am so glad that is all over. It went as we had planned, an “accidental” encounter between the women and six crewmen from the Hibiki. Once over her initial shyness Miss Shun seemed pleased to talk to us, or rather pleased to talk to men who served with her father, who she obviously adores.

Riku did get to speak with her, though he was more tongue-tied than I have ever seen him. Shiro and I carried most of the conversation, with help from the other three fellows. Everything was quite proper, and after a decent interval her grandmother shepherded her away.

Now we can get back to business as usual. I spoke most strongly to Riku, and he agreed that he was satisfied and would do nothing further for now. It’s clear that he is still lovestruck, but she is going back to Okinawa and we will soon be back at sea and that should be the end of it.

[Capt. Harlock]

In the morning the men of the Hibiki are electrified to hear that a powerful American battle group appeared off Nanomea the previous day and is busy landing two divisions. They are opposed only by a base force and some Naval Landing Force troops. While there is little hope that the garrison can resist such an attack, this is exactly the opportunity the Imperial Japanese Navy has been looking for: to find and finally smash the American fleet. Suddenly it is agony to be stuck in drydock in Japan when the Decisive Battle is perhaps only days away.

---

Excerpt from “Naval Battles of the Pacific War, Volume II: Pacific Empire” by Morris Elliot Samuelson; Harper, Row, and Fujimori, New York, 1965

The American invasion of Nanomea came as a complete surprise to the Japanese. They responded quickly with all the force at their disposal, but by the time their carriers arrived from Kwajalein the island was secured and the American fleet was fleeing south.

The Japanese planes caught and sank three old Clemson-class destroyers and the eight freighters they were escorting, but the main body of the American fleet escaped. The only capital ship to suffer significant damage was battleship California, which was struck during the initial invasion by two torpedoes from Japanese twin-engine bombers based at Tarawa.

While the Americans had pulled off a successful invasion, they soon found that they had two divisions essentially stranded behind Japanese lines. Only time was to tell whether the invasion had thrust a wedge into the Japanese perimeter or created a trap from which the American forces could not escape.

Ah, those sneaky Americans! We thought the Decisive Battle was going to be at Wake. Now, the question is can the IJN blockade two forward American bases at once, until first one and then the other is re-taken?

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: goodboyladdie

We'll just have to be careful that when they make the movie they do not concentrate on this bit. The last thing we want the movie to be is a chick-flick! [:)]

Not to worry. I've already signed a movie deal and it's in the contract that the film will be a good old fashioned war movie. The poster should reassure you:

[goodboyladdie]

Fantastic![:D][:D][:D]

Who will get the cameo of Milo?

[kaleun]

Ziyi Zhang (Memoirs of a Geisha) for Nanami.
Hibiki
Rated R for violence and brief nudity!

[Terminus]

ORIGINAL: goodboyladdie

Fantastic![:D][:D][:D]

Who will get the cameo of Milo?

Hmmm, John C. McGinley? Maybe not weasely enough...

[Japanese_Spirit]

Nice update Cuttlefish! You know, I did have an idea but once the war does end, do you think you will do a part on what each crewman did with their lives afterwards? That would be pretty good. Also, in regards to tactics, it wouldn't be unseemly unrealistic if you were to try not just taking Wake back but also going for Midway and possibly even Hawaii as a last resort.....but, this is just an idea.

And last but not least, in regards to your film, how about John Wayne as a submarine Captain or playing Admiral Halsey? [:D] You can't have a decent Pacific War film in without John Wayne. [:D] Heck, John Wayne could lead a Destroyer......[;)] Perhaps even fight the Japanese on Nanomea? Just ideas for a possible memoriable film.

[kaleun]

No John Wayne movie is R rated![:@]