Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[tocaff]

Praise the snake and pass the ammunition!

[rtrapasso]

ORIGINAL: Feinder

After:

(actual photos of Osaka in 1945).
-F-

This later inspired a Beatles song... original lyrics were:

I read the news today oh, boy
Four thousand holes in downtown Osaka
And though the holes weren’t very small
They had to count them all

[tocaff]

That was the real reason for Hiroshima & Nagasaki, nobody wanted to count the holes.

[Capt. Harlock]

It is just like the nightmares he had following the dive-bombing attack they endured off Wake back in ’42. The bombers are a bit different – these, he knows, are SB2Cs, not the old SBDs – but he is standing rooted to the spot as the lead plane seems to grow larger and larger. Then it releases it’s bomb, and just like in his old nightmares the projectile seems to hang there for a moment, ridiculously large.

I remember that entry -- a marvelous job of evoking the sights and sounds of the attack. (You might want to watch the confusion of "it's" and "its", though.) Also, a shout-out to Feinder for posting those pictures.[&o][&o]

[vettim89]

I have no idea what to call this. Is it fate or the snake or what? How many times has your Hibiki been involved in a battle where you had absolutely no control over the outcome yet has emerged unscathed? I mean the AI just randomly picked targets at Osaka and picked a different DD. Is anyone else as amazed as I am about this??????

[kaleun]

It IS the snake, of course.
All praise Benzaiten[&o][&o][&o][&o]

[Cuttlefish]

February 23, 1945

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

Orders: Escort damaged ships to Maizuru

---

The enemy carriers withdraw, vanishing back to the south. Late in the morning the B-29s and their escorts return, though, and once again bomb the city’s industrial areas.

Lieutenant Miharu stands on the deck and watches them. He can hear the thump of explosions from inland and see smoke rising into the sky. There is still smoke rising from around the harbor, too, and the salt air is tinged with the reek of char.

Not just factories are being hit out there, of course. The bombing is not precise enough for that. Lieutenant Miharu feels a sort of desperate weariness as he watches and prays that the casualties are not as heavy as it seems they must be from the sheer number of bombs being dropped.

Captain Ishii clumps up the gangway and, after speaking with the officer of the deck, comes over to him.

“I haven’t seen any of our fighters today,” he says. “Have you?”

“No sir,” says the lieutenant. Ishii watches the bombing with him for a moment.

“We are leaving,” he says finally. “Probably not tomorrow, but maybe the day after. As soon as they can get some of the water pumped out of Hiei, anyway. We’re taking Hiei and every other warship that can still float to Maizuru.” Maizuru is a large port on the Sea of Japan. It may not be exactly safe, thinks Miharu, but it’s bound to be safer than here.

“What about Kirishima?” he asks. Ishii snorts.

“The only thing holding up Kirishima right now is the mud at the bottom of the harbor,” he says. “She can probably be refloated but that isn’t going to happen soon.”

“Very well, sir,” says the lieutenant. “I will see that we are ready to sail.”

“Good,” says Ishii. He looks up at the enemy planes, unhindered except for an occasional burst of anti-aircraft fire, cruising high overhead. “I think that this is a good place to leave.”

[Capt. Harlock]

System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0

Apparently the bomb that hit Isokaze blew the rust off of Hibiki!

[kaleun]

Incredible! I checked the AE forum before looking for a Hibiki update.


[:-]Must do penance; must atone[&o]

[bigbaba]

glad that the good old hibiki survived this attack. hoy many allied carrier Ac were shot down? i can imagine that the japanese FLAK must be strong in this stage of the war, although the 25mm have not the same effect like the 40mm.

[mdiehl]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... 7_USAF.jpg

[Cuttlefish]

February 24, 1945

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

Orders: Escort damaged ships to Maizuru

---

Recent events have added two more points to Hibiki’s daytime crew experience, from 89 up to 91. The ship started the war with a day/night rating of 71/66; it is now at 91/69.

[Cuttlefish]

February 25, 1945

Location: Osaka
Course: Southwest
Attached to: TF 31
Mission: Surface Combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Escort damaged ships to Maizuru

---

It is only 95 kilometers in a straight line from Osaka Bay to Maizuru, but the to get there Hibiki and the other Japanese ships will have to transit the Inland Sea, pass through the Kanmon Strait into the Sea of Japan, and then sail back to Maizuru. Given the limited speed of some of the ships being escorted the voyage will probably take two days, perhaps a little more.

Captain Nishida, Hiei’s commander, is in overall command of the task force. While the enemy carriers are still moving south and will not be a threat unless they suddenly reverse course, enemy submarines have been reported lurking in the Kanmon Strait and in the Sea of Japan. That what would have been a perfectly routine mission even a few months ago carries any risk at all speaks eloquently about what a changed war Hibiki and her crew find themselves in.

---

Task force 31 (Hibiki and several other destroyers not visible):

[John 3rd]

CF--I am in Dec 44 and would LOVE to have more then just a single BB operational!  What does Hibiki know about the rest of the Kaigun?  

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd

CF--I am in Dec 44 and would LOVE to have more then just a single BB operational!  What does Hibiki know about the rest of the Kaigun?  

Well, as far as battleships go the crew knows they are leaving behind the badly damaged Kirishima. Taiki knows from his brother that Mutsu is still afloat, though he doesn't know where, and the crew knows generally that two battleships, said to be Nagato and either Ise or Fujo, are at Singapore keeping an eye on the British. Of the others only Musashi might still be afloat but this is beginning to seem increasingly dubious.

[John 3rd]

Thanks!

[Marc gto]

what a story

[FOW]

Did IJN Command not consider sending the Katori separately - would mean the TF would be limited to Hiei's speed and maybe managed 3/3 movement.

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: FOW

Did IJN Command not consider sending the Katori separately - would mean the TF would be limited to Hiei's speed and maybe managed 3/3 movement.

They did consider it, but decided that the danger from submarine attack mandated that all ships travel together.

[Cuttlefish]

February 26, 1945

Location: Kanmon Strait
Course: Northeast
Attached to: TF 31
Mission: Surface Combat
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 460

Orders: Escort damaged ships to Maizuru

---

“What I don’t understand, sir,” Lieutenant Kuwaki asks Lieutenant Miharu, “is why we are risking submarine attack to move the ships such a short distance. Surely they are as vulnerable to air attack at Maizuru as they are at Osaka.” It is night and the Japanese ships are moving at slow speed through the Inland Sea. Lookouts on every side peer through the darkness for any sign of periscopes or torpedo wakes.

“Ah, but they have to be found before they are attacked,” says Lieutenant Miharu. “Japan has many ports. It is like a shell game.”

“Shell game, sir?” says Kuwaki. “What is that?” There is such a look of confusion on his broad, stolid features that Miharu cannot help smiling a little.

“It is a game they play in America,” he says. “A man places a ball under one of three overturned cups. He then moves the cups around very rapidly and challenges an observer to choose which cup conceals the ball. Usually there is a wager involved.”

“I see, sir,” says Kuwaki. “But where do the shells come in?” Lieutenant Miharu blinks.

“That is a good question,” he says. “I never saw shells used to conceal the balls when I was there. But perhaps they used to use sea shells instead of cups and the name stuck.”

“I take your meaning, though, sir,” says Kuwaki. “Keep moving around and make the enemy guess where our warships are.”

“Exactly,” says the executive officer. “And of course it is much easier to get out of range if one can simply escape into the Sea of Japan. Being in Osaka is like being in the bottom of a sack.”

Kuwaki nods somberly. He turns his attention back to scanning the black water of the inland sea. Of the friendly lights that usually twinkle along the coast there is no sign. The ships move through darkness towards an uncertain future.