I'm a little confused about CVL Ryujo's status. Post #1958 says she is abandoned and burning in Koepang and #1959 says she is the decoy force in the Arafura Sea. Could one of them be CVE Ryuho?
I also suspect BB Hyuga would find 44 DDs a little unwieldy![:)]
Other than this nit-picking, your writing not only gives us the picture of what the ships and aircraft are doing, but more importantly what the men are doing. Great human interest in this AAR!
No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
"There is such a beautiful moon tonight. Shall we watch it as we sink?"
-Rear Admiral Yamaguchi Tamon to Captain Kaku Tomeo of the Hiryu, 5 June 1942
"Leveling large cities has a tendency to alienate the affections of the inhabitants and does not create an atmosphere of international good will after the war." -Rear Admiral Daniel V. Gallery
Fog of War? The American Imperialist using false radio messages to undermine the moral of japanese warriors. (Did the Americans have a version of Radio Tokyo?)
Mat
"It is not enough to expect a man to pay for the best, you must also give him what he pays for." Alfred Dunhill
8/9/44
Takeji stands on his starboard bridge wing, staring at the setting sun
These hours , especially here in the tropics, are easily the most beautiful, and yet the most deadly
As the sun sets, the horizon mists, the line between sea and sky blurs.
Then, as the great red globe sinks, the world fades, becomes indistinct.
Darkness comes reluctantly, almost gently.
Beside him, Aoki stands as well. he has come far, already, has Aoki. Still a pain in the arse in many ways. Yet, and yet, Zuiho is beginning to seep into his viens.
Zuiho, the little ship that can.......
'Your thoughts my captain?"
'My thoughts?" takeji smiles, and for once, his eyes almost sparkle.
"I don't think my friend, I just do"
'But still?"
'I think danger lurks all about us, and we had best be on our guard, yes?"
Aoki takes the hint. he will tour Zuiho again, and check she is dark, and ready for whatever the night brings. The sea is calm, the moon half full.
Yes, the danger lurks.........
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
Hirate looks about him, eyes alert, alighting on every guage, every dial. His ears hear every subtle sound in the roar of the engine room, every minor hiss of steam, every whine of every turbine. He smells the hot air, smells the baking heat, the stink of the bilges.
He feels the vibrations beneath his feet. 164 revolutions, and all is good.
'You have the watch?"
Hirate takes the logbook, and signs.
'I have the watch"
Casually he bends to the voice pipe. "hey Okano , did you catch that dinner or what, something special hey!?
From the Ajoining engineroom Okano's voice comes through loud and clear. "yes it was, last meal for the condemned you think?
Oh lay off you party pooper, now I am doing 164, and my indicator says you are doing 162, hop to it friend!"
The sound of a rasberry comes across, loud even here. "Yes Mien Fueher!"
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
Abe sweeps the horizon yet another time. All is place. The last glimmer of the sun is gone, the battle wagons mere shadows now.
Only Yamato's director reflects dimly the last of the sun, towering so high above the rest of the fleet.
Ahead, the sky is filling with clouds.
Good. Foul weather ahead. Foul weather for foul deeds.
He bends to the voice pipe, hesitates.
This order will split his tightly grouped task forces into multiple splinters, fast, lethal splinters he hopes. But the destroyer screen for those that remain will be thin...........
But that is the risk of war, no?
He utters the single word 10000 men await
"execute"
Around him, the great shadows sterns boil with foam, and funnels belch black.
And vanish into the night.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
A life time ago, a young man on a bike called Bluey served the guns of a battery in the battle of Perth
Over the years his tales have grown, and grown, until now, after a few beers at the Victoria arms one would be convinced that his gun had almost single handed defended the place.
But that was a lifetime ago.
Now Bluey, a older, wiser , but more cunning man is part of the Darwin battery. It is, has been, a damn good way to fight a war.
Over the last twelve months, nary a sight of the Japanese, and life has been a steady routine of report for duty, the vic, and mavis.
In the last two months, especially now with the war moving north at last, it had seemed to be a lot more the vic, and mavis, than the guns.
Not that the war had totally slipped from ones conciousness of course, what with the bombers ceasless operations from the field, headed north, the harbour with its crippled and damaged ships, and of course the constant growl of circling fighters overhead.
But moving north it was, of that there could be no doubt.
Bluey picks up the phone, and waits for the answer
'Number 4 battery reporting in sir, requesting to stand down"
"Approved"
Bluey cups his hands, shouts down to the gang, "secure boys, another day of valor done!'
He climbs out of the concrete bunker, lets the cool night air wash over him. On the horizon, the nightly flash and rumble of the tropical storms sweeping across the bay, ......................
He has heard that noise before.............
the blood in his viens freezes.
that is no bloody thunder!
"CHRIST!", thats guns!"
faintly, overhead, the great screams as frieght trains race overhead, and behind them, the sky flashes with light, and thunder
Darwin field.
Number 4 battery will not fire a shell tonight.
her first shell will freeze in the lift midway between magazine and breech, victim of tropical rain, rust, and far too many short cutted drills............
Nor will a great many of the batteries.
Battleships Kongo and Kirishima will sail almost lazily into darwin port waters, there escorts sinking 3 tankers and the lone destroyer that foolishly tries to raise steam, and literally raze darwin airfield to the ground
Battleship Hiei will also add her share this night, pounding the wrecks and the field even further.
Some 160 aircraft are damaged this day, 60 of them shining new T bolts, 40 off them liberators. 36 aircraft off all types are destroyed.
Bluey will never drink in the Vic again
He cannot bear the shame.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
Faintly, faintly, Bb Hyuga's guns can be heard in the still air. The horizon too, faintly flashes, like a light house gone slightly mad.
Saumalaki is being closed now as well.............
Takeji raises his glasses again, focusses on the horizon, and is staring straight at CVE Shinyo when the fish strikes her.
No time to swear, to curse the gods.........
'Ahead full!, Port 30!, guns action starboard!"
The alarm bells ring, uselessly of course, for she is already at action stations, and Zuiho begins to tremble and heel below him.
Shinyo is swinging alarmingly, the hit has been far aft......takeji does not need to be told she is out of control...
Starboard 30!"
the wind is beginning to whip past now as Zuiho gains speed, Shinyo passing down her flank. Behind him guns bark, starshell lighting the dark..........but making what is not lit even darker.
Two torpedoes strike Hiyo.
And raw fear dumps itself into Takeji
Ambush!..........the bukas!
With swift steps he leaps to the voice pipes, connects himself with Zuiho's living heart
'Give me everything you have got!"
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
There is no need for the urgency, the telegraphs are ringing...........full ahead............but the hammering underwater blows transmitted through the ocean from Hiyos hull, monstorous clangs, giants hammering at Zuihos hull is warning enough.
Hirate and Okano grasp their throttles and begin to wind Zuiho to her maximum...........
It is a delicate balancing act this gentlemen.especially in the age before automatic controls.
You open the throttles maw, and it sucks the steam in, dragging it from the boilers in stupendous quantities.
Steam that must be replaced with water.
Open too quickly, you can kill the boilers pressure, or worse, drop its level past what the feed pumps can provide
When it happens, it can be a sphincter sucking moment.
In the boiler rooms, the steamers are frantically winding the blower throttles to full, they will react quickly, the whine again rising towards the shriek, the fuel pumps are brought to full
The water tenders race to the feed pumps, and they race to full speed as well
The water level drop...............minus 1 inch, minus 2, minus 3, minus 4..................minus 5 is the limit..........
Zuiho trembles, begins to race through the waters..........minus 4, minus 3...........
The telegraphs have rung
"Give me all she's got!"
Zuihos stokers do.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
In the ready room, Diogawa meets Ogawa's eye............'Its moments like these one feels like a fifth wheel"
Ogawa shrugs........just deal the cards..........I only need another million or so yen to buy myself out of this damn war......."
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
Minobe leaps from his seat, stands, Ashen face..........
Damage Control central is so far from the upper deck, the upper decks and the air.
Lurch turns from his seat, and his gaze fixes his engineer in place.
hate, contempt...........fear, a million emotions pass in that instant between the two men
Minobe halts.............and returns to his seat
Ahead of them, through the impersonal steel, the fans are rising to a shriek.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
