Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[DuckofTindalos]

Who needs Harry Potter, full stop...[8|]

[ChezDaJez]

That's what I meant![:'(]

Chez

[Rybeck]

Great victory, especially since it's already Feb 1943!!! [&o]

[kaleun]

Looks like Cuttlefish's opponent is getting the same kind of spanking I'm getting from Halsey.

[tocaff]

The sharp sword begins to dull with the loss of so many well trained air crews.  How much damage was done to the merchantmen and are there enough supplies for the troops who've already landed?  This victory is not complete....CF continues to leave us with baited breath awaiting the next installment.

[princep01]

Hummmm.....with the loss of a US carrier and two others seriously damaged, if not lost, I'd have to say that there will be more than adequate time for the IJN CV air arm to equipment and retrain new pilots for the next major CV engagement. The sword may have been dulled by its good works, but, now, the US risks losing the war to intervene again with CVs at Timor.

By any measure, this was a significant victory for the IJN. Follow up convoys will bring more troops and more supply to the fracas on Timor. The Allied troops there may be able to hang on for a long time, but they will not take Koepang unless they are significantly and quickly reinforced.

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Can't you just see that the fleet sails in, unloads the troops, and sails straight home again, without so much as seeing the enemy?[:D]

Aren't you glad to be wrong?

Cuttlefish does his usual thrilling job of reporting -- and leaves us in suspense about the pursuit.[&:]

Meanwhile, I imagine Wolffpack -- ahem, the Americans -- have learned the value of land-based air support. It looks like a number of Yanks and Aussies are destined for the POW camps.

[DuckofTindalos]

Very happy to have been wrong...[:D]

[Feinder]

You -have- to trade air-crews for carriers.  You certainly aren't going to -ever- have the luxury of trading crap crews for enemy CVs, they woulnd't be hitting much less getting thru CAP in the first place.
 
Trading 100 experienced crews for 1 CV confirmed sunk, and 2 others potentially, is well-worth the cost.  As previously said, train some more aircrews.  By the time CF sees the enemy CVs again in any measure, he'll have far replaced those pilots.
 
-F-

[kaleun]

Trading 100 experienced crews for 1 CV confirmed sunk, and 2 others potentially, is well-worth the cost. As previously said, train some more aircrews. By the time CF sees the enemy CVs again in any measure, he'll have far replaced those pilots

Precisely. Just about this time in the game, Halsey attacked Suva with KB#1 (He has 2 of them) He lost a lot of fighters over Suva, so I countereattacked with Essex and Wasp. The first day saw Essex' SB2Cs score hits on three Japanese carriers, but at the cost of Essex that drew the brunt of the Japanese response. His carrier pilots despite the attrition were able to stop enough of my bombers that the damage wasn't that great. Wasp' bombers barely made it through the CAP and scored no hits the next day. Despite heavy loses, the Japanese torpedo bombers and dive bombers sent Wasp to the bottom the next day.

Morale of the story: A sunk carrier is a sunk carrier!

[Cuttlefish]

February 3, 1943

Location: 60 miles southeast of Kendari
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 186

Orders: Protect reinforcement convoys approaching Timor.

---

Admiral Ozawa elects not to pursue the retreating enemy ships. This decision is reinforced by a fierce air battle over Koepang the next morning. Enemy four engine bombers attack the transports, escorted by a large group of the dangerous twin-tailed American fighters. The defending Japanese land-based fighters manage to hold their own, but Ozawa suspects that more fighters and bombers are waiting for them in Australia. And at any rate his primary mission is to ensure that the Japanese can reinforce Timor and that the enemy cannot.

Two transports hit the previous day sink in the harbor at Koepang, and the rest, many of them damaged, finish unloading and withdraw. It is by no means certain that they will all survive to reach Soerabaja, but it is judged that their chances are better making the attempt than tying up at Koepang and waiting for the enemy bombers to finish them off.

The Japanese carriers pull back into the Banda Sea to refuel and wait for the next inbound convoy, which is still a number of days away.

---

On Timor the enemy troops make a final attempt to break the Japanese lines before the newly landed troops can get into position. They storm Snakeback Ridge in a dawn attack, but after several hours of fierce fighting are compelled to withdraw with heavy casualties.

---

For fans of irony:

Far to the east, SS Cuttlefish is surprised by a Japanese patrol bomber while running on the surface off the coast of New Ireland. The submarine takes a bomb aft of the sail and the crew struggles to control the flooding enough to allow the stricken sub to survive and return to base.

[Cuttlefish]

February 4, 1943

Location: 75 miles west of Amboina
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 149

Orders: Protect reinforcement convoys approaching Timor.

---

Hibiki and the other Japanese ships arrive off Amboina during the night. The tankers are waiting for them, and refueling will commence after sunrise.

Lieutenant Miharu has the ship during the night hours, and he stands on the darkened bridge and gazes out at the calm, inky sea. The air is heavy and oppressive and it feels to Miharu like more rain is on the way.

Hibiki is patrolling on the port flank of the task force. A few hundred meters to starboard the silhouette of heavy cruiser Chokai can be dimly seen. Hibiki is slowly pulling ahead of the cruiser when a simultaneous yell from several of the lookouts brings Miharu out of the bridge at a run.

Four phosphorescent wakes are running in parallel about 150 meters behind the destroyer from port to starboard. They are torpedo wakes, and a single glance tells Miharu that they are heading for Chokai. The lieutenant bolts back into the bridge.

“Combat stations,” he says calmly but urgently. “Signalman, warn Chokai immediately!” The sound of Hibiki’s klaxon rolls across the darkened water as the signalman begins to flash his message.

“Left full rudder, engines to full,” says Miharu. “Prepare depth charges.” Hibiki heels around, pointing her stern at Chokai, and begins to race back down the fading tracks left by the torpedoes. All around the ship men are scrambling to their posts, and at the stern Ensign Handa and his men load depth charges into the Y racks.

Lieutenant Miharu steps out onto the port starboard observation platform and raises his binoculars to look back at Chokai. He dreads at any moment to hear the crump of an explosion from astern. The big cruiser is accelerating and starting to come around onto Hibiki’s bearing, but Miharu does not know if it will be in time.

He steps back into the bridge. “Find that submarine, sonar,” he says.

“Captain on the bridge!” someone calls. Lieutenant Miharu turns to see Captain Ishii stepping away from the ladder. The captain remains at the back and waves for Miharu to carry on.

There has been no sound of explosions from astern. Lieutenant Miharu focuses his attention ahead, to the darkened sea where the enemy submarine is hiding.

“Sir, I have something!” says the sonar operator. “Bearing 20 degrees ahead, range maybe 600 meters!”

“Right 20 degrees,” says Miharu. “Pass the word, set depth charges to 100 feet.” Lieutenant Miharu figures that the enemy submarine has not had time to dive too deeply yet. His orders are obeyed, and Hibiki races ahead.

“Range decreasing,” says the sonar man. “Sir, we’re almost on top of him.”

“Fire depth charges,” says the lieutenant. A few seconds later the Y racks rattle and two depth charges are flung to either side. Geysers of water erupt behind the ship, bracketing the destroyer’s wake. Miharu brings the ship around in a curve. As they approach the same spot he looks to the sonar operator. The man looks frustrated.

“Sir, the contact is 40 degrees to port…no, 25 degrees…it’s fading...I’ve lost him sir, he just disappeared.”

“He’s gone beneath the thermocline,” says Captain Ishii, speaking for the first time. “It’s very strong in these warm waters.” Lieutenant Miharu nods acknowledgment and orders the destroyer to slow to 12 knots. Hibiki cruises slowly back and forth but sonar is unable to locate the submarine again.

Two other destroyers come over to aid in the search, but the submarine has escaped. Hibiki and the other ships continue to search for a while but eventually give up and rejoin the task force, which is zigzagging away into the darkness.

The next morning a boat comes alongside Hibiki. It delivers a case of excellent sake, courtesy of the captain and crew of Chokai.

[kaleun]

Running out of popcorn here

[cantona2]

Ripping stuff Cuttlefish [&o]

[tocaff]

Did any of the sake make it out of the ward room to the crew?

[Capt. Harlock]

Lieutenant Miharu nods acknowledgment and orders the submarine to slow to 12 knots.

Wow! On top of everything else, Hibiki can transform into a submarine![:D]

[String]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Lieutenant Miharu nods acknowledgment and orders the submarine to slow to 12 knots.

Wow! On top of everything else, Hibiki can transform into a submarine![:D]

Nono, you got it all wrong. Lt. Miharu has such authority that he can even command enemy troops and ships. [:D]

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: String

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Lieutenant Miharu nods acknowledgment and orders the submarine to slow to 12 knots.

Wow! On top of everything else, Hibiki can transform into a submarine![:D]

Nono, you got it all wrong. Lt. Miharu has such authority that he can even command enemy troops and ships. [:D]

Ack, fixed that.

He can issue commands to them, but I somehow suspect he'll be disappointed in the results. It would be like trying to give orders to a cat, except that enemy submarines don't look at you blankly and then proceed to groom themselves.

[Mike Solli]

What's that saying?  Dogs have owners.  Cats have staff.

[Wolfie1]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli

What's that saying? Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

As I have both, I'd say that that is about spot on.