The little ship that could.

[1275psi]

27/2/42

Nurse Nancy De Groote sinks wearily down onto the steps of the main entrance to Batavia's hospital, every bone in her body aching. She is tired, as tired as she has ever been -but, but never feeling so alive.
Dusk is falling, an uneasy silence falling over the city -but if one listens closely, you can here the guns down south.
She takes a cigarrette from her pocket -only a few left, and smiles as her nearest friend Margeret joins her.
The two young women sit in silence, and contemplate the growing dusk, resting.
It has been a hard day -the casualties have trickled in relentlessly, yet the news has been, dare they think it -good

"Giving them better than we are getting"
'They will never get in"
"We can hold"
How many times had they heard those words today?
Maybe, maybe, there is hope after all...........

Margeret finishes her smoke -rubs nancys shoulder -"Cheer up girl. Hey -did you know there is an Indian brigade on those ships that came in an hour ago? -reinforcements!"
'Is that true?"
If reinforcements are coming in.............
""We Dutch will make a fight of it -you watch -no way those little yellow buggars are getting here......"

The girls stand -and prepare to make their way back into the hospital.

The Hospital, grand colonism at its best, dominates the hill overlooking the harbour, a harbour packed with shipping.
'Oh look" Margeret points towards the horizon.
"Are they Dutch?"-or American?"
Nancy's heart freezes. having a father iuin the service, one tends to pick up things. And those 6 great grey shadows all display the towering japanese pagoda bridges.........

And then the horizon erupts in flame.






Extract from "shattering the sword," a cantona production

history will call it the Butchery of Batavia. 6 japanese battleships, and 6 heavy cruisers , methodically pound the heart of the city itself, methodically targetting every goverment building, every public building, the warves -the shipping,, literally anything.
Butchery it is - how many thousands are killed will never be known, but its purpose is served - by dawn the city is ablaze, and the defences surrounding it shattererd-swamped by a tide of fleeing refugees.
The Indian regiment unloading, is destroyed, and few, if any public buildings will remain to be defended .........




Nancy stumbles, dazed, brocken, bleeding, swept along with the tide of humanity -headed, where?.........did it matter?
A single vision keeps swinging through her mind -the facade of her beloved hospital, her home, her life -mushrooming, mushrooming like some sort of demented balloon..............

And Margeret , dropping like a stone - the life in her whisked so abruptly away............

[1275psi]

28/2/42
If there is one thing any military is good at -it is this
Spreading rumours
passing the goss
Did you hear?

Even as Zuiho backs on her anchor, even as the fuel hoses from the barges snake across, the word spreads like wildfire through the decks.

25th Army has been brocken at singapore.

No confirmation.
No facts
Just that word though,...................brocken



It infects Hasegawa with a rage he does not understand, and he stalks the decks -as if his very prescence can change facts, alter events so far away.
His countenance darkens the fueling point -and all banter dies.
His shadow falls on the ready room -and it empties -all finding something to do.
And this invisible anger seeps to damage central, and the Minobe hated emerges, and lashes with spite and anger too.
Many feel his wrath, and all 'find something to do"

not that there is not enough to do - for this is a visit full of urgency now -, signals flash continously from the grey battle wagons anchored here -the enemy have broken the blockade -the stop must be returned to the bottle.
Zuiho anchors for a mere six hours, fuels, stores-partially -and departs.

Hasegawa stalks the bridge now . and as the heads fall away to starboard in the growing dark
"'Set course 320! -speed 22 knots! -and get Hidaka up here -time for our bloody passengers to earn some keep!'
Four hours later, zuiho's bows bite into the Indian ocean proper -and they will prove any thing but friendly...........

[1275psi]

1/3/42

Dawn finds Zuiho punching into a grey dawn, and a heavy swell.
She is a ship today with many problems, some self induced, some not.

Hasegawa holds himself steady on her bridge, bracing himself as the bow slams into each on rushing swell, the water creaming white over the focastle, flowing in cascades around the base of the bridge.

The darkening sky matches his mood, and he stands silent -undisturbed, a broodingman, crinkled brow now deeply lined

What did they do in batavia?. What did they do?. The image still remains with him -the glow on the horizon -the flames, visible from so far away.
What did they do?. he can remember, can Hasegawa, when Japans fleet mirroed the British. Would Churchills navy flatten an innocent city?. Would the Navy of nelson commit such a crme?
yes.
yes, in this war, it just might.
It leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.
To serve a lifetime, in The Service...................to witness THAT.

Zuiho crashes through the next swell -and her captain barely notices. For the first time in 42 years, he wishes himself no longer at sea.


Below, the Charge's nightmare continues
30% oil
30%!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where, where in the trucking hell had it gone?Oh- that he actually knew. It is there in black and white.
'Transferred 50 gallons to sump, 0300 hours'
transferred to sump - 80 gallons, 1000 hrs
transferred to sump, 40 gallons, 1300 hours.

he should have noticed. they should have noticed. Somebody, should have noticed.
But there it is, each daily running sheet -tiny notations - of a ship internally bleeding to death........
But where?

bad news.
very bad news
But worse. he must tell Minobe -must tell him now.



Hidaka to visits the bridge. takes one look at the onrushing seas -the spary creaming over the flight deck
there will be no flying into this -surely............

'Lt Hidaka"!
The signal should have sent a wave of excitement -should send the blood racing.
Zuiho shudders -green water crashes again
Rain begins to spatter against the screens
"Enemy destroyers -bearing 10 degrees - range 50 miles'

he faces the communications officer 'Who the hell sent this?'
'22nd flotilla sir -operating from Johore"
'Is it good?'
'Is what good Hidaka?'
'This sighting? -is it good"
The communications officer looks around at the growing, angry grey sea around them......
'Its good if you want to show you have balls my friend........otherwise.............."


"Flight crews to the ready room. All hands to prepare for naval strike.................."

[1275psi]

1/3/42

From
ABDA Command
to
Commander, eastern Fleet


'have sighted 3 japanese light carriers passing North by North west Batavia -suspect passing into indian ocean, possible raiding mission/blockade imposition.
Can you intercept?


Admiral Cunningham gently places his cup of tea down, an uneccesary manouvre -20000 ton carriers barely move in harbour
he hands the signal to his captain.
"Worth a shot old boy?"

"Aye -I should bloody think so................"

[herwin]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

1/3/42

From
ABDA Command
to
Commander, eastern Fleet


'have sighted 3 japanese light carriers passing North by North west Batavia -suspect passing into indian ocean, possible raiding mission/blockade imposition.
Can you intercept?


Admiral Cunningham gently places his cup of tea down, an uneccesary manouvre -20000 ton carriers barely move in harbour
he hands the signal to his captain.
"Worth a shot old boy?"

"Aye -I should bloody think so................"

"Sink, burn and destroy: Let nothing pass"

[hosho]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

1/3/42

From
ABDA Command
to
Commander, eastern Fleet


'have sighted 3 japanese light carriers passing North by North west Batavia -suspect passing into indian ocean, possible raiding mission/blockade imposition.
Can you intercept?


Admiral Cunningham gently places his cup of tea down, an uneccesary manouvre -20000 ton carriers barely move in harbour
he hands the signal to his captain.
"Worth a shot old boy?"

"Aye -I should bloody think so................"

me not like this

[1275psi]

Ther ready room is crowded,, many pale faces facing Hidaka.
Some -some are pale from sea sickness - Nashiguchi's actually pales towards green. But most are pal at the prospects ahead.
None here lack any courage -all will fling themselves at any enemy -but no sane pilot would willingly ascend into the day breaking around them.
low scudding clouds -ceilings 500 feet -if that - and the grey at times touching the even darker, angry sea.
rain sweeps the decks now -biting cold heavy rain -mixing with the spray craching with the wind.

Hasegawa has reduced to 12 knots -yet wind over deck reads 60.
Only mad dogs and Englishmen fly in this -yet fly they must.

"This is a damn nuiscance' wispers Kamisaka to Kurihama
'How so?'
"was planning for George to come out today"
Kurihama shakes his head -doesn't his mad friend know there is a war on? "Well -there is always tomorrow"

Hidaka fixes them with a cold stare " if you are ready gentlemen......"

he gives the brief -short at sharp - Kamisaka, Kurihama - ASW, first patrol. remaining kates prepare for naval strike."
he braces against the next shudder of Zuiho, makes the announcement" CAP is stood down"

The men glance at each other...stood down?'

Hidaka answers the unspoken question
"Visibility is terrible. Chances of the enemy finding us nil. This weather is a better defence than we can provide"

[1275psi]

The charge too braces himself against the roll of the ship -no easy task down here in the bilges -bilges slick with oil

He consults his watch - notes the second hand. Places the measuring cup swiped from the galleyunder the leak of oil
30 seconds
30 millilitres
1 ml a second
60 a minute

do the maths.......... now he knows where the oil has gone -at least.

It is pointless to fling recriminations around- the E.O.O.W's should have seen this, he should have seen this.
'TruK"

'Shut the bloody purifier down Lurch -and get that hose replaced"
30% oil. A months worth
Enough, baring disasters...........

[1275psi]

Moulmien


Lt Fuchida, T, our charges son, pauses for a moment at the cockpit of his KI-44
A life time to this moment
'Wish me well father,' he thinks

Then, heart beating with excitement, he slips into his office, begins preflights.

47th sentai is entering the war.

[aprezto]

Herb;
Are you being affected by the flooding? If I remember correctly you called Rockhampton home?

[1275psi]

Hi Wobbly!

No mate - in Sydney -but I am swamped by visitors and Holiday stuff -very hard to update at the moment

is this still worth doing?


( I value your opinion a lot oh old foe

[1275psi]

0700

it is well past dawn –yet impossible to tell. The lights in the hangers burn very brightly indeed – and as the lift slides down, the light wells upwards.

It is belting rain now –sheets scudding across the flight deck, and for the men working the first three kates onto the deck, its backs to the wind –and misery

These first three are meant to be the ASW patrol –if they ever get away.
Hidaka is clutching a stanchion, torn between duty, and the desire to preserve lives, and even more precious planes
Ryujo has launched –but she stands a lot higher than him……..those damn waves keep curling over……..
Moments later, the decision is made for him


“Periscope! , bearing 090 –range 1000 yards!”
The screaming call cuts through Hasegawa like a knife, and momentarily he freezes
There is a crowded moment – how in the hell did anyone spot a periscope in this,?, to, well done that man, to -1000 yards –bearing 090! –point blank range……….
And then years of bridgtime kicks in, and even as his viens turn to ice, his voice is calm, in control.
‘Hard to starboard!, full ahead all!”
hands grip the binnacle, and the knuckles turn white –whiter still as yet another call comes in
“Torpedo! –torpedo ! –hard on our Starboard !”
Hasegawa stiffens…………the orders are given, have been given. There is nothing else to do



Below, deep in her bowels, and mercifully ignorant of the onrushing death coming his way –Okano pauses in the lighting of his smoke as the bells ring………..and he grimaces as the telegraphs swing to full.
“Pushing it aint you skipper?” he thinks –hands already turning the blower and fuel valves— fingers jarring as Zuiho slams into the next swell –machinery vibrating madly about them ‘We aint a battleship you know…….”

Zuiho slides, lurches, rolls across the swells –her flank suddenly a great dam wall against the swell – and chaos erupts through out her length – crashing objects, a symphony of destruction.
Her amidships 25mm gun pontoon is abruptly flooded –and bent upwards and backwards, its men madly scrambling for safety.

“destroyer Natsushio attacking sir!’
They have missed. Or hit and not gone off. No time for that now……
“The SS must be passing astern of us –alert all hands to look hard………helmsman, Port 30!, get me into the wind OOW!.
Quartermaster! – pipe Hidaka to contact the bridge!’



“‘I will launch as soon as we are into wind sir!”
“very good - get them away Hidaka – that was too close”
Too close indeed………………his heart is still racing…….fast, too fast for an old man like himself. Heavens, how did they miss? – how?
Hasegawa glances at the clock –0710 – a long day already…….

“message from Ryujo sir! –2 destroyers, one heavy cruiser –bearing 010, range 100 miles!”

A long day, and going to be longer yet.

[british exil]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

Hi Wobbly!

No mate - in Sydney -but I am swamped by visitors and Holiday stuff -very hard to update at the moment

is this still worth doing?


( I value your opinion a lot oh old foe

Ofc you've got a "pommy" suscribed here, check my mails on my iphone whilst I'm at work so I don't miss an episode. Keep it coming I am enjoying the story unfolding. I have no idea about ships other that they float and that they can sink also that they have big engines. But still find the story hooking.

Thx for all the work put in so far. I know that it takes alot of time to make an AAR.

Mat

[pws1225]

I second British Exile's comments! This is a very interesting and entertaining read. I look forward to each post as does my pbem opponent. We both appreciate your efforts in bringing us this fine story.

Paul

[ckammp]

Excellent writing, the most engrossing story since the classic "Hibiki".
I really hope you continue this AAR.

[1275psi]

Thankyou for kind comments -a touch of doubt there!

Anyway -the long day continues


Kamisaka and his crew try to shelter of one of the gun bays, as they wait for the order to man the plane

Already they are wet, and he just knows that by flights end they will stink to high heaven, sodden leather and fur
‘Truk this……..”
They need to get away ,need to get off this deck
An urgent wave from the flight crew –and they scuttle across the sodden decks, and he is aware, terribly aware of the movements below his feet, of the pitching and twisting.

Into the office, God, wet seat too – this is going to be horrible.
The great blade is beating steadily –swirling the spray back, and his goggles are bloody useless.
“God damn, hell, this is Trucked”, his observer/navigator grumbles behind him.
‘Shut up –and just do your job – if that sub gets another shot at Zuiho Hidaka will have our balls”
‘As if we will see it in this bloody soup”
As if. Yes –he is right. But we will see.

Hands fly over the controls, checking, and again arse muscles have to clench the seat as Zuiho lurches across another swell.
The first kate leaves –spray blasting back –and kamisaka watches keenly – the green beast merges into the grey……..and clears the angry sea.

The second too clears the deck

“Ok, hang on gentlemen –this is will be tricky”
‘Sooner we get aloft, get this canopy shut, the bloody better –I am getting soaked in here!’
‘Don’t you ever bloody stop complaining……….”

Throttle forward –hard………gloves are bloody squelching, unpleasant feeling….

Zuiho lurches again –falls into a hole into the ocean

Heavens, just to be dry again………..

Kamisaka’s kate slams into the rising wall of water – and is gone

And very much to his surprise, he thinks to himself ‘ I have drowned”

And he is right.

[1275psi]

Zuiho’s bow has barely finished trampling the Kate into the depths, when the horrified onlookers gaze is abruptly dragged to starboard

Ryujo’s guns are firing, and 6 grey sleek shapes are boring out of the mist –and the alarm bells are ringing………

Two things immediately strike Hasegawa – just how trucked up Zuiho’s command arrangements really are when under air attack –and just how pathetic the AA armament is –the crack, crack, crack of the guns so inadequate against the howl of the wind, the ocean.

He races to the starboard corner –eyes screwing against the wind and rain – there! –there they are!

Dutch – dutch fighters? – light bombers?—

They attack Ryujo – little crosses racing across the grey – and silent –startling white fountains abruptly rise each side of the ugly ship –ugly splashes in an ugly sea

And the guns try to track –and nature takes all that violence away, whips it into insignificance…………


And Hidaka watches………mortified
A carrier –attacked………..with out CAP


And then –another alarm

“Aircraft! – dead ahead! –

And Hasegawa can see these ones bursting out of the mist –3 bombers, 6 light bombers –low and fast –and close.
And coming directly at them.

[herwin]

[quote]ORIGINAL: 1275psi

Thankyou for kind comments -a touch of doubt there!

Anyway -the long day continues


Kamisaka and his crew try to shelter of one of the gun bays, as they wait for the order to man the plane

Already they are wet, and he just knows that by flights end they will stink to high heaven, sodden leather and fur
‘Truk this……..”
They need to get away ,need to get off this deck
An urgent wave from the flight crew –and they scuttle across the sodden decks, and he is aware, terribly aware of the movements below his feet, of the pitching and twisting.

Into the office, God, wet seat too – this is going to be horrible.
The great blade is beating steadily –swirling the spray back, and his goggles are bloody useless.
“God damn, hell, this is Trucked”, his observer/navigator grumbles behind him.
‘Shut up –and just do your job – if that sub gets another shot at Zuiho Hidaka will have our balls”
‘As if we will see it in this bloody soup”
As if. Yes –he is right. But we will see.

Hands fly over the controls, checking, and again arse muscles have to clench the seat as Zuiho lurches across another swell.
The first kate leaves –spray blasting back –and kamisaka watches keenly – the green beast merges into the grey……..and clears the angry sea.

The second too clears the deck

“Ok, hang on gentlemen –this is will be tricky”
‘Sooner we get aloft, get this canopy shut, the bloody better –I am getting soaked in here!’
‘Don’t you ever bloody stop complaining……….”

Throttle forward –hard………gloves are bloody squelching, unpleasant feeling….

Zuiho lurches again –falls into a hole into the ocean

Heavens, just to be dry again………..

Kamisaka’s kate slams into the rising wall of water – and is gone

And very much to his surprise, he thinks to himself ‘ I have drowned”

And he is right.

[/quote

This reminds me too much of the November 8, 1998 accident on the Enterprise. A prayer for those in peril on the sea.

[PaxMondo]

Great story line.  Thanks!

[1275psi]

Hidaka too see’s them –he knows these planes – CW-22 falcons-obsolescent planes – almost useless against a modern enemy.
But certainly good enough for this situation…..
500 feet high, 1000 yards –dead ahead, and in happy phoenix’s dead zone

Mother of god –we are dead –I have let us down,………I have guessed wrong……
Frozen, Hidaka watches the bombers straighten up, the great black eggs under them already visible

Dead ahead –Zuiho’s guns cannot bear - and even as Hasegawa takes breath, he knows there is no time to turn her –not wallowing like this, no time to open the arcs, no time to avoid.
But he will try………..

“Full ASTERN BOTH!, hard to PORT!”
The XO –white –throws a glance his way –it says all that glance………what the hell….?
But the helmsman does not hesitate or question this strangest of order –not falter at the critical moment, the bells ring, and the telegraphs flash to the stops…….


Unseen, deep in the engine room, it is Lurch –the Lurch who “is useless for anything” who saves them
The E.O.O.W is only 12 feet away –tending to a tricky governor –12 feet, 12 miles –it is too far away for this, but lurch is there.
An idiot could respond to the telegraphs –as Lurch does –matching them
An idiot could grab that astern throttle, that ahead throttle –and wildly swung them –as Lurch does…
And an idiot could have killed the boiler –killed the pressure –done a million terrible things wrong in that critical moment – but Lurch does not.
Smoothly, rapidly, the turbine stops its ahead movement, and then, slowly, rapidly, the great shaft turns astern, and Zuiho begins to slow – and the boiler pressures barely quiver.
He is no idiot, is Lurch………

At 500 feet, 250 knots –they cannot miss –should not miss – and the three bombers are ready for that turn, calculating the curve, the path, but Zuiho’s rapid ‘braking’-is good enough…….

Two bombs flash over the flight deck –one missing by only 50 feet – and they crash into the sea –and the great hammers bang against her hull –jarring teeth through out her length –shattering a few lights –but nothing else.

The third –the third should have hit her –it plunges into the sea –deep where she should have been –but has not yet reached……
It plunges deep – and explodes –a delayed fuse –deep –deep , almost under her –opposite the port MPE room

It explodes – crashing shock into her –lifting her arse –twisting her very body –sending men flying

And Hasegawa grimaces –a hit?
And Hidaka swears – he has seen the flex –and what it does to the forward lift.
In the ready room, our pilots go flying, chairs, lockers –recognition bombers – and all wonder how the hell they can fly in this ……..
And Minobe too –in DC central –curses –that single universal curse – and wonders what has been hurt

And in the Port Engine room –the Charge already does.