Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[Feinder]

Transmissions log.
 
Very cool entry CF!
 
-F-

[BrucePowers]

Hmmm, the Cabot could be in serious trouble.........Every hit counts.....

[Shark7]

Sounds like you gave as good as you got this round. While it won't affect the overall situation much, every carrier sunk is a small victory in itself.

I'm guessing it was a very bloody battle, quoting Lt. JG Kato: "You fool, I am the entire Daitai now..." CF, any chance of you giving an indication of actual losses? I'm just curious to see the overall picture of the days events.

[BrucePowers]

That is the one nice thing about this AAR. We are left guessing about some of the actual events in this alternate world.

[maikarant]

The suspense is mounting. [&o]

Been away at the sea and tried to get over the Hibiki withdrawal by reading another remarkable book last week:

Midway - The Battle That Doomed Japan, the Japanese Navy's Story by Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya.

It's a remarkable book and the only one I know of telling the story of Midway from the Japanese point of view. The japanese first print dates back to 51. Fuchida was the japanese lead pilot during the Pearl Harbor attack, and wing leader of the Akagi planes. He couldn't participate during Midway because of an appendectomy.

It comes with a full order of battle, and guess what, I found Hibiki in there, too. She participated as part of DesDiv 6 in the Kiska Invasion force - not in the main battle of Midway but the 'diversion' invasion of Attu and Kiska.

Anyway, a remarkable book if you're looking for explanations as to how the Combined Fleet Staff and the Naval Staff in Tokyo got to grips with an attack to the east aiming to bring the US fleet to a decisive battle, including the Victory Disease and the war games 'results'.

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: maikarant

The suspense is mounting. [&o]

Been away at the sea and tried to get over the Hibiki withdrawal by reading another remarkable book last week:

Midway - The Battle That Doomed Japan, the Japanese Navy's Story by Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya.

It's a remarkable book and the only one I know of telling the story of Midway from the Japanese point of view. The japanese first print dates back to 51. Fuchida was the japanese lead pilot during the Pearl Harbor attack, and wing leader of the Akagi planes. He couldn't participate during Midway because of an appendectomy.

It comes with a full order of battle, and guess what, I found Hibiki in there, too. She participated as part of DesDiv 6 in the Kiska Invasion force - not in the main battle of Midway but the 'diversion' invasion of Attu and Kiska.

Anyway, a remarkable book if you're looking for explanations as to how the Combined Fleet Staff and the Naval Staff in Tokyo got to grips with an attack to the east aiming to bring the US fleet to a decisive battle, including the Victory Disease and the war games 'results'.

Problem with this book is that Fuchida told the US what it wanted to here, and put in a bit of his own mythology... Fuchida has been pretty discredited in Japan, and Shattered Sword, drawing on Japanese research, is a much more creditable work (imo).

[Heeward]

Shattered Sword is a excellent book. What I found particularly interesting is how Japanese Aircraft readiness procedures so differed from the USN.
 
The author goes into great detail on how much more time it took for the IJN to ready a strike than the USN. Limited by equipment (only two trolleys for handling torpedoes typically per aircraft carrier), as well as methods (Vals(?) had to be armed on the Hanger Deck, and brought up one by one to the Flight Deck.
 
Check out the authors’ the Web Page:
 
http://www.combinedfleet.com/kaigun.htm
 
Among other things you can find on this web page is the Tabular Record of Movement (TROM) for a majority of the IJN. Including the Hibiki[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"] Hibiki's TROM can be directly found here:[/font]
 
http://www.combinedfleet.com/hibiki_t.htm

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Shark7

CF, any chance of you giving an indication of actual losses? I'm just curious to see the overall picture of the days events.

Alas, as BrucePowers says we are left to guess at what is actually happening. It's interesting, I think...game results are translated into real-world events which are then interpreted (or misinterpreted) by Hibiki's crew as they pick up radio signals at the far fringes of the battle zone.

One of the ironic things about this AAR is that frequently the readers know more about certain things, and can make better guesses about some of the rest, than even the officers aboard Hibiki.

[Cuttlefish]

April 22, 1944

Location: 410 miles north-northeast of Truk
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 23
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 1
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 364

Orders: Shadow enemy forces approaching the Marshall Islands

---

“We have pulled back a little, sir?” asks Lieutenant Miharu.

“Yes, Exec,” says Ishii. “We are currently at about 10 degrees north latitude, 153 degrees east longitude. The order to shift position came this morning.”

“Farther away, not closer,” muses the lieutenant. “What do we hear from the Marshalls?”

“From the sound of it our daitai have withdrawn,” Ishii says. “Strong enemy carrier forces in the area are still launching strikes and we had a brief transmission from Engebi that said they were being pounded by battleships. They went off the air quickly, though, and haven’t come back.” Engebi Island is the home of the Japanese airstrip at Eniwetok.

“It doesn’t sound too good, sir,” says Lieutenant Miharu.

Ishii shrugs. “The enemy has been hurt, I think, but it’s like shooting a bear with an arrow. Unless the shot is perfect all it really does is make the bear angry.”

“And here we sit with only a few arrows in the quiver,” says the lieutenant.

Captain Ishii smiles a little. “Just so, Exec. And now you know what I know. Admiral Yamada may have a better picture, or he may not. Either way I don’t expect him to tell us.”

The captain goes over a few items of ship’s business with his executive officer and then turns over command before retiring. As darkness falls Hibiki and the other Japanese ships steam quietly in formation while the barely-glimpsed battle continues to rage to the east.

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish


“Farther away, not closer,” muses the lieutenant. “What do we hear from the Marshalls?”

“From the sound of it our daitai have withdrawn,” Ishii says. “Strong enemy carrier forces in the area are still launching strikes and we had a brief transmission from Engebi that said they were being pounded by battleships. They went off the air quickly, though, and haven’t come back.”

It sounds like the opening Hibiki's force is waiting for hasn't materialized yet. In the meantime, I wonder if the American subs are searching in the area?

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

It sounds like the opening Hibiki's force is waiting for hasn't materialized yet. In the meantime, I wonder if the American subs are searching in the area?

I am sure our gallant crew wonders the same thing.

After the war is over I will talk a bit about the game behind the AAR. One topic will be wolffpack's use of submarines. He puts a lot of time and effort into that part of his game and uses them a bit differently than other opponents I have faced.

[Cuttlefish]

April 23, 1944

Location: 525 miles east-southeast of Guam
Course: North
Attached to: TF 23
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 1
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 328

Orders: Shadow enemy forces approaching the Marshall Islands

---

The Japanese ships make another move further away from the scene of the fighting. A rumor from the bridge says that marines are landing at Eniwetok, but this is unconfirmed. It is also worrying. It does not take an admiral or a general to see that losing the northern Marshalls would put the southern Marshalls, the Solomons, and the Gilberts in peril of being cut off from Japan.

---

Senior Petty Toshio Aikawa is making a slow circuit of the deck, checking to make sure the lookouts are alert. It is a cloudy night and very dark aboard the blacked-out destroyer. Fortunately Aikawa knows every foot of Hibiki as well as he knows his own limbs.

Aikawa is, at the moment, a little worried. This is unusual, for he is not a man given to nerves or worries. He worked aboard his father’s fishing boat from the time he was young until he went into the navy. He is a hard man who has grown up around hard men. He knows the ship and knows his job and even Shun respects him.

Yet tonight Aikawa can’t shake the feeling that he is being watched. It is mostly just a feeling, but once or twice he has heard stealthy sounds and once he thought he saw a shadow move among the deeper shadows behind him. It is all a little strange, and as someone who has grown up on the sea Aikawa is not without superstitions.

As he reaches the steps leading up to the foredeck he stops for a moment and eases silently into the space between the steps and the tower. He waits there without moving for several minutes, but sees nothing and hears nothing but the faint rumble of engines and the slap of waves against the hull. If anyone or anything was following him it is gone now. Very strange, Aikawa thinks. Very strange.

[BrucePowers]

Uh-oh...................

Trouble from a troulemaker.

[Shark7]

Foreshadowing...very ominous.

Why do I get the feeling that the 1% sheer terror part is about to introduce itself to Hibiki's crew?

[princep01]

A very bruised and rotting apple resides in the "barrel" holding the Hibiki's crew. Amazingly, the poison in that apple has not seeped out to corrupt the healthy apples at this stage.  That is a testimony to the strength of the crew as a whole and its excellent leadership.

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish


Yet tonight Aikawa can’t shake the feeling that he is being watched. It is mostly just a feeling, but once or twice he has heard stealthy sounds and once he thought he saw a shadow move among the deeper shadows behind him. It is all a little strange, and as someone who has grown up on the sea Aikawa is not without superstitions.

As he reaches the steps leading up to the foredeck he stops for a moment and eases silently into the space between the steps and the tower. He waits there without moving for several minutes, but sees nothing and hears nothing but the faint rumble of engines and the slap of waves against the hull. If anyone or anything was following him it is gone now. Very strange, Aikawa thinks. Very strange.

Could it be that for once Shun has allowed himself to be detected? Naaaah.[:D]

Or possibly Benzaiten is growing a bit too big:

[font="Times New Roman"]Once a python weighs more than half the weight of his keeper, the potential of dangerous constriction becomes very real; snakes of this size should not be handled alone. Once a python outweighs his keeper, fatal constriction is at the discretion of the python.
---from Big Snake Bites, Part II[/font]

[Skipjack]

I'm guessing Okubo is coming for retribution.  And he is not bringing a bottle of Sake with him, this time.

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Or possibly Benzaiten is growing a bit too big:

[font="Times New Roman"]Once a python weighs more than half the weight of his keeper, the potential of dangerous constriction becomes very real; snakes of this size should not be handled alone. Once a python outweighs his keeper, fatal constriction is at the discretion of the python.
---from Big Snake Bites, Part II[/font]

Good grief, what if Benzaiten has run out of rats? This AAR might start to resemble certain scenes from "Alien"!

[Cuttlefish]

April 24, 1944

Location: 400 miles east-southeast of Saipan
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 23
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 1
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 292

Orders: Shadow enemy forces approaching the Marshall Islands

---

“Good afternoon, Captain,” says Lieutenant Sugiyura. “I see we moved further north this morning. Do we have any new orders or information?”

“Good afternoon, Lieutenant,” replies Captain Ishii. “No, nothing new.”

“We seem to be just wandering around out here burning fuel,” grumbles Sugiyura.

“The Imperial Navy has fuel,” says Ishii calmly. “There are good reserves and one advantage of fighting closer to Japan is that we no longer need to keep large stocks in places like Truk and Kwajalein.”

“Hmph,” says Sugiyura, then adds "sir". He seems about to say something else but changes his mind and goes to study the log instead.

[Cuttlefish]

April 25, 1944

Location: 400 miles east-southeast of Saipan
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 23
Mission: Air combat
System Damage: 1
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 263

Orders: Shadow enemy forces approaching the Marshall Islands

---

Excerpt from the personal diary of Petty Officer First Class Taiki Takahashi:

…and so it was just another quiet day of steaming in circles. There’s a lot of talk but no one really seems to know anything. That’s kind of the way things usually work, though.

I figure we have another week out here before we have to at least put in at Saipan. Maybe we will have some mail waiting there. I would love to hear from Sayumi and I have several letters to mail to her. I hope we get some leave time next time we return to Japan!

Petty Officer Aikawa asked me something odd today. He took me aside during the forenoon watch and asked me if I had noticed anything odd the last couple of nights. I told him I hadn’t. I was hoping he would give me more information but he just shook his head. I wonder what that was all about…