The little ship that could.

[1275psi]

The men are qued on the ladder above him
The hatch, Hirate can see, is jammed. The wheel turns, the dogs are disengaged, but it sits squashed in its coaming, impervious to the shoulders vainly pushing at it from below


My nightmare comes true..............

And then it opens, and a great meaty pair of hands reaches in, and the men above him seem to be snatched into the air.
Hirate climbss
The hand reaches down again, he grasps it, and it pulls him, almost lifts him into the lower hanger

Minobe.

Eyes meet.

'Do you care to kill me now, Hirate?, do you think my death will atone?"

Behind Minobe, fwd, a fountain of water rising from below through the rent in the deck, and more through, incredibly, the side, the hull............and the water races, climbs towards them.



'No.........no, it will not"

Minobe smiles. 'Where is the Charge?"
'below"
Minbe stares down the hatch, down into the dimming darkness, where now horrible sounds of water roar, where machinery groans and beats itself to death.

'Typical cranky barsted..........you had better be going Hirate........and live please, japan will need the likes of you one day"

And then he is gone, down, and the water is around Hirate's ankles, pouring down the hatch after Minobe.
Hirate goes...........he will race the waters, race them, and win

[1275psi]

Two men, on a platform, deep in the bowels of a little ship.
about them, zuiho dies

The enginerooms fwd baulkhead is bulging, groaning. The door leading towards Damage central is spraying water under tremendous pressure from all its edges.

"They broke my ship sir" charge groans

Minobe bends to him, eyes filled with tears. 'never mind Charge, you can fix anything.........even me"


And then the baulkhead gives, and the sea claims them.

[1275psi]

22nd sentai moves to Manilla

Fuchida gets drunk. Manilla is a good place, even in war

[1275psi]

Zuiho sinks at 1046 hrs, props still spinning
DD harusame will rescue 150 odd survivors, Hirate, Okano, Takeji.........who cannot look anyone in the eye.

Ogawa, Diogawa, and the remaining survivors of her airgroup, only 10 strong now, divert for salajar.

Combined fleet recovers the first strike
So do the allies

And just after midday, they do it again, two massive strikes pass each other going opposite directions 100 zeros, 106 Jills, 145 Judys heading east, nearly equivalent allied numbers heading west

Decisive battle.

[pws1225]

If you are curious, (even if its to follow a game going into deep 44) on what happens to our men, please follow on.
I for one, want to carry on..............even if its to find out ultimately, what happens to the barsted herbiesan!

Excellent!

[Smoky Stoker]

海行かば
水漬く屍
山行かば
草生す屍
大君の辺にこそ死なめ
かへりみはせじ

[cantona2]

Ive been given clearance by Herb to read and post. First of all what an amazing story and I agree with Whipple in that it rivals Cuttlefish's.
Apologies for sinking the Little Ship that Could but needs must. God speed worthy adversaries

[pws1225]

ORIGINAL: cantona2

Ive been given clearance by Herb to read and post. First of all what an amazing story and I agree with Whipple in that it rivals Cuttlefish's.
Apologies for sinking the Little Ship that Could but needs must. God speed worthy adversaries

Apologies are not sufficient. There must be blood. The Empire lives on.

[1275psi]

Extract from"Shattering the Sword" a cantona production

It is Japans last great chance.............and they drop it.
CV Franklin is struck by a single bomb, as is the Wasp
Battleships New Jersey, Iowa shake of the hits they receive.
The CVL Jancinto is sunk, 4 torpedos catching her, and 2 more CVEs join their sisters in eternal rest.

But for an attack of over 200 bombers, it is a poor result indeed.

The Jills, simply, in that terrible term, expend themselves............over 70% are lost effecting this attack. The wall of Flak, the hunting avenging hellcats will rip the heart out of Japans sword. from this point on, the razor will be forever blunt.

The dive bombers, defeated mainly by the weather, by disorganisation, by the CAP, suffer less.
But they still suffer.

The allied counter blow tears the heart out of combined fleet
Decisive battle was sort.
And it was given.

[1275psi]

From
Combined fleet
to
Southern Command

"have engaged enemy fleet, Timor area
many enemy carriers sunk.

Carriers Soryu, Katsuragi, Kasagi, Aso, Zuiho, Mizuho lost
Carriers Unryu, Ryuho, Chitose damaged, salvagable

Aircraft losses preclude another strike

Am retiring


ABE

[1275psi]

Extract from the Hungry war, the war in burma.


As gambles go, this was one of the great ones. Based on little else than the words of a single escaping airman, the allies launch the attack across the moulmien river.
It succeeds.
Coupled with the flanking attacking to the east, the Japanes divisions have no choice, they begin to retire. To the east, Raheang comes under attack. In the Jungles, armies move slowly. But now, finally, they are moving.

Somehow, somehow, the Japanese must stop them.

[1275psi]

Hosho whistles
About him, his men smile. The happy whistle is infectious. They know the tune, a japanese army marching song. Its a song of victory, of advance, of glory.
They are marching back north again.
Two months has been more than enough. Two months of rest, of more than adequate supplies, of no bombing. Now, the officers tell them, now they return to the north to attack again.

Its been too long since they have attacked.
And Japanese soldiers are born to it.

So Hosho whistles. 6 Divisions march north towards Moulmien, to join the 4 fighting there.
10 divisions!
Others take up the whistle. They march, they whistle to victory. They can envisage nothing else.

[british exil]

"The little ship that could" and nearly did.

RiP. The long voyage is over. Faithful till the end.

Mat

[John 3rd]

Lovely artwork British Exil. Where did you find that?

BANZAI Zuiho!

[british exil]

John 3rd, I just googled Zuiho, clicked on images and copied.

http://www.google.de/imgres?biw=1920&bi ... ,s:0,i:101

Mat

[whippleofd]

Two men, on a platform, deep in the bowels of a little ship.
about them, zuiho dies

The enginerooms fwd baulkhead is bulging, groaning. The door leading towards Damage central is spraying water under tremendous pressure from all its edges.

"They broke my ship sir" charge groans

Minobe bends to him, eyes filled with tears. 'never mind Charge, you can fix anything.........even me"


And then the baulkhead gives, and the sea claims them.

Damn.

[1275psi]

26th of July

DD Harusume steams across a flat, brilliant blue java sea, the very picture of a japanese destroyer at her business.
Today, however, this business, fighting, would be impossible.
Every spare inch of her upper decks are crowded with survivors, not just those from Zuiho, but those from Mizuho as well.
They sit crossed legged on her quarter deck, they lie in her passage ways, they lean against her guns
A tattered, sorry gathering of men.

They mostly sit in silence, many still too stunned to rouse themselves.

Hirate and Okano have managed to find each other, they sit now, stoically, near the aft funnel. An hour ago,, a destroyer man has passed through, handing out cans of peaches, these they have shared. For Hirate, these peaches might possibly be the meal he will remember over any he will ever have.
They mean he is still alive.

They talk little, minds still trying to grasp this day.

Eventually hirate breaks the silence
"Do you think they will send us home to Japan?"
Okano shrugs "be grateful they even stopped to rescue us...............as for whats next." He places his hand firmly on his brother in laws knee " we must stick together, yes?."we have nothing else now, than ourselves"

[1275psi]

Zuihos little band of fighters arrive Singapore.

Uncertain, they climb from their machines, and make their way towards the operations hut.
They are exhausted..
For Diogowa, this flight has been a nightmare. How many times did he nearly fall into a fatal slumber?, how many times did his mind begin to wander off?

Too many.
he must rest. But where?

Ogawa too, is utterly spent. There is , still, a tremendous hole in his rudder. At salajar, they had grounded him, but seeing his companions preparing to go, knowing that to be seperated now could only lead to being absorbed into some other formation, leaving him utterly alone, he had done what had to be done

Stolen his plane, and battled to here.


Now, a dapper young officer approaches them, armed with that most lethal of weapons, a clipboard.
"Zuiho?".he enquires.

There are muttered acknowledgments, weary nods of heads.

"Genda is forming a new flying circus, something like the armies 22nd sentai, Zuiho fighter group is being dissolved, and you men will be transferred to training command until such time as you can reach Japan."

He looks up from his clipboard, and disdain and disgust can barely be hidden.
And Diogawa knows instantly whty. We are defeated men no?.and yet we live.........."

But he can feel no shame. In fact, right now, he can feel truk all.

"Your Emily flying boat departs tomorrow, see the clerks for details"

he turns curtly to go.....
"Ahem......sir.........food?, quarters for tonight?"
The reply is hard, brutal. "What do I care, look to your selves Zuiho men"

[1275psi]

Every day, they arrive throughout Japan, those little envelopes

'Your son has fallen for the empire"

Herbiesan stares at his.
he does not need to open it.
he knows what it conveys.

Every day these envelopes flood japan.
And even here, at its very heart, the results are just the same.

grief and pain.

[Heeward]

Another valiant vessel has met her end, and with here several characters have exited the stage of this narrative to be missed.

As always a excelent read.