The little ship that could.

[1275psi]

Captain Tosa, battle ship Fuso, curses again

from here, here at the top of this great tower, he can see for many, many miles.

he does not need the radar.he can see them himself.

task force 57 flees..............a mass of indistinct dots on the horizon.
transports enough to lift two divisions..........getting away.
To his flank, the rolling thunder of battle.........undoubtably Ashigari and friends

And 20000 yards, between him, and those fat transports, a line of Fletchers..........and a rapidly, rapidly growing smoke screen
He will have to be quick.........

"general chase!..open fire!"

Fuso is old. She is tired. But she is a veteran, and her crew are still razor sharp.

Second salvo .....and one of those devils blooms fire......
'Good shooting
Yubari too hits, a second destroyer burns

But the fletchers fight back.......and the rate of fire is simply incredible
1, 2, 3...........gods, 4 hits in succession, two on his tower........screams, the calls for fire fighters, for medics.......

The trails of fish seemingly cover the ocean in a deadly weave of white bubbles, and Fuso has to weave, has to turn away, and back again

An enemy DD explodes.........a fish?
One of his DDs sinks, glowing red.............and still he cannot force his way past..............the Fletchers bark, and bark, and the nips of their bites are begining to bite

'Sir, our ammunition is all but expended!"
"Already!, but we have only just begun................and then he sees that the battle is now 2 hours old

And those transports are long gone.

'very well..........disengage............they have fought well , those Americans.
But I am sure Fuso will see you again

[1275psi]

Captain Ichiyama of the Haguro, takes command of the Ashigari task force, her captain blown to smithereens on her shattered bridge.

he will attempt to engage the bellue wood again, and fail.
Instead they will encounter another task force, well, they must assume they do.
For they never see this enemy in the rain, the crud of visibility, only seeing and feeling the rain of shells that come down upon them.
they, of course, attempt to fire back, they too have radar.

It is terribly one sided, two destroyers hit by torpedoes, all four cruisers hit multiple times.
Shaken, he takes them out of the battle...........all four will need many months of repairs.

But is does not matter

The mission is done.
40 miles away, the destroyers finish the job.

[1275psi]

Cmdr Ashida is no longer a young man

That man, that ready smile, is gone.
ahead, a life of nightmares, of crushing regrets, of depression.

His seven destroyers race north, tubes empty
Guns empty

behind................

Death by fire, death by water, death by violence

Images

Shells dancing across hulls
Tracer from the 25 mm's, bouncing richochetting , plowing.gods, harvesting the swarming Khaki figures trying to escape the flames

Images

Plowing through an acre of bobbing, pale faces, packed shoulder to shoulder in the water, many busily drowning....plowing through, wheeling hard, so as to trample them under...........

Images

Ships burning
Ships dying
Guns hammering

And the screams...............oh gods...the screams


Images
Images to haunt him forever
Cmdr Ashida is no longer a young man
A great victory............a great victory.

Old now, he takes his ships north to safety.











De derby: 3 hits
DE Neundorf, 12 hits
DE osmus, 11 hits plus her collision

APA knox sunk
AK james H Kimble sunk
AK James Harbin sunk

APA banner, 14 hits, ablaze
APA dawson, 14 hits, ablaze
AP Montery, 25 hits
AP santa Palua, 40 hits
AP maui, 19 hits
AKA Thuban-sunk
AKA Virgo, sunk


3684 casoss
142 squads, 202 non combat squads, 23 engineer squads, 182 guns, 105 vehciles

i am guessing an armoured regiment.............

[1275psi]

And of the air battle?

The allies do exactly as predicted
Exactly as hoped and planned for
(And for what we rely upon for tomorrow)
They place massive CAP over the fleet.

How many the rain keeps grounded, I will never know

LBA launches just over 200 aircraft into the skies above the battle

199 shot down, to 14

And no attacks get through

His CAP is enourmous.
But , to achieve this there can be few escorts

Not a single retiring Japanese warship will be attacked this day.




Combined fleet, decks closed by the weather today, will close the range
Tanaka will sweep Morotai with his Kongo's

Mutsu and Nagato will lunge for his CVs, they are but 6 hexes awa
Ise too will attack

And the CVLs will also advance...........


We are committed now
Drive the enemy from the waters around Morotai
We continue the attack!

[1275psi]

A herbiesan note

If anyone says pyhcology does not matter in this game...............

I have consistantly roughly handled cantona in every carrier battle we have had

Even now, in 45, with KB but a shadow of its former strength, I just knew he would roll himself into a ball, and go super defensive with a massive CAP
The number of ships operating inside the strike range of his CVs is incredible, as well as all the SCTF's, there are 4 or 5 ASW E class Task forces "clouding the picture", several AKs running supplies in, and all have not been attacked.

I hope the japanese fan boys enjoyed a victory in 45![;)]

(Tomorrow might go to custard though..............[8|]..)

[hosho]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

I hope the japanese fan boys enjoyed a victory in 45![;)]

(Tomorrow might go to custard though..............[8|]..)

[&o]
The skill ... the writing? What is better I can`t say...

Hat off to you mate!

[pws1225]

ORIGINAL: hosho

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

I hope the japanese fan boys enjoyed a victory in 45![;)]

(Tomorrow might go to custard though..............[8|]..)

[&o]
The skill ... the writing? What is better I can`t say...

Hat off to you mate!

All that plus a victory in 1945! Very impressive all the way around. Well done, Sir!

[John 3rd]

As a JFB: I AM NOT WORTHY!

Banzai BABY!

[CV Zuikaku]

Hope KB will live long enough to get A7Ms [:D]

[1275psi]

The 11th of January, 1945

Extract from Shattering the Sword, a cantona production

as the battered task forces pull apart, the allied cariers retiring towards Waigo, covering the convoys, nature, already impacting upon the battle, imparts her full influence upon the day.

from Davao, to Ambon, across 500 miles, a deep tropical depression is forming. Winds, already strong, are now blowing at gale force, and blanket rain sweeps the seas.

Visibility..........visibility becomes as the term describes it........"marginal"

For the Japanese, nothing could be better. Nothing, surely, can fly in this.
They fling everything they have left available into the battle.

[1275psi]

january 11 , 1990

Its a comfortable home, well built, spacious.
A great many walls are lined with books, and along the feature wall, are 3 rows of shelves, and lined along them is literally a fleet of 1/700 scale model warships, each painstakingly built and painted
Below each model, carefully framed, a photo of the actual ship, and a small description.

If one knows their history, these are no random ships modelled here, each and everyone served at Morotai, japanese, and Allied alike

Jim Sanderson shows them to me, almost shyly. At 70 years of age now, he finds it dificult to build, his "eyesight aint what is was in 45" he cracks..........so he takes me through his home to a sunny room out the back.'So I thought I would try something a little larger"

There are two models, both, I see, 1/72 scale. The first is completed, sleek lines, beautifully re created, a true and faithful re creation of a Fletcher class destroyer
I know, instictively, of course, that this is Ralf Talbot, Jims old ship
A second ship is under construction, occupying at least 8 or nine feet of the room, it is perhaps 3/4's finished.
But there is no mistaking her, that great pagoda mast, that barsted flight deck aft.

'Battleship Ise," grins Jim "She has occupied my thoughts ever since that night.........I hope to finish her before I go, you know.......something to remind people of...they forget you know, they forget so quickly........."

[1275psi]

"i AM FREEZING MY ARSE OFF"
Hirate laughs at Okano.......'yes, what do you expect, it is 20 below........to sweat?'

'Oh shut the truck up........." grumbles Okano, swinging fittfully with his axe at the ice building up on the capstan.' To think we used to grumble at the heat in Zuiho's boiler room."

Chiburi lies alongside Rashin, ice bound, snow covered rashin. two new tankers, 2 more escorts have joined them, but rashin has little to offer today, they remain idle, waiting for fuel to load.

they are cold...........but they are safe.
And knowing this, both men will chip at the ice with barely a complaint all day.

Well, only a few then..............

[1275psi]

Hosho lies still, carefully takes aim, fires

The string of tracer curves across the field, 1000 yards.........bounces of, shakes the armoured car down the range

he turns his head to the new recruit lying beside him. "Thats how its done..........short , sharp, don't squint, and above all, don't snatch the trigger!"
'Hiei!"

'Good.........now do it again"

Hosho stand, contemplates the firing range.
100 rounds per man..........somebody has influence still, many divisions are not even getting 20 now to train with.
55th Divsion will, must make the most of it.


15th Army trains now, re growing painfully slowly towards full strength again

The prince, still in Command, believes he will need 6 full months at this rate.
There is every chance he may get it.

[1275psi]

Jim finally settles down into his chair.

'Now where was I?".

For a moment you think that this old man has forgotten, that the mind has let that night go, but then he chuckles, and you see almost immediately that once this was a twenty year old, manning his bofors gun, wet cold, but ready to do his bit.

'You know that crummy saying.........it was a dark and stormy night?'
'I may of heard it once or twice"
'Well friend, this was one humdinger of a night. It was'nt cold, no, every goddamned wave was like taking a warm bath, and the rain was even warm..hard, falling stingingly hard........and you could hardly see jack........there was no moon that night you know., and it was beginning to cut up rough, short sharp swells, white caps."

'Did they slow you down?, the waves?'

Jims face breaks into a smile......you see the pride there, see the devotion to a ship, to a Captain, to a crew
he waves his hand dismissively.......'Not a bit, we were ploughing into it, straight on, 30 knots at least, i think we were going over the waves you know, over, through em, felt like a goddam submarine really"

'And you post was still the bofors gun behind the port bridge wing?"
"Still was, yup, and loaded for bear........"

Jim stands, moves to those shelves, takes a particularily small model in his hands, passes it to me
"E class patrol boat. Submarine killing machines in the war........But we sorted em out"

The model, small, but detailed tells you much, even for one who has little knowledge of ships. For it has only one real gun. Fletchers on the other hand, are crammed with them

'You know, I don't think they even knew we were there, until we lit them up.........."



Jim see's them still, in his minds eye. he can still see every detail of that night
The rushing waters, the noise of the sea, of the turbines, of the wind. The shouts, target port 270 degrees........swinging his gun, peering into the dark, the sudden bark, the starshell, those small ships, pitching and rolling in the waves, so brilliantly lit up.
He remembers , remembers peering don the sights, squeezing the trigger, the jolt on his shoulders, the guns all about cracking..........


I see Jim pause..........and I see his trigger finger curl, as if re creating that night so long ago

'It did not last long that action, we took one each, 4 destroyers, 4 kills"
And then the grin
"But I think we attracted trouble............"



The Ralph Talbot, Marshall, Stembell and Martin.
Trouble. Few ships can say they found as much trouble as these..............and lived.

[1275psi]

thanks for comments guys, its a fun ride I hope

[morejeffs]

Brilliant writing.

[1275psi]

"and that, of course was the ISE?" I ask
Jim smiles..........."well not at first."
He gets out of his chair, and gestures to me. I follow him out to the back of the house again, onto a balcony .
Its a brilliant view..........overlooking rolling pasture land, the rockies deep blue on the horizon. 'How far can you see today son/" he asks
"forever"
'Now close your eyes"
I do

'Thats about how far you could see that night"


'The first thing I knew about it was us changing course, hard. Not going through the waves, but across them, rolling hard, one moment we were up to our arses in the ocean, next , seemed like we were being pitched to hell.......I know now that was us cutting in to run parrallel to em, to try to get our fish away.........."


A silence for a moment. I know enough of the story now, why no fish were released, the mount, its crew, washed overboard in a moment.......

'but that , that did not happen..........and then there sh was, a bloody great mountain of steel, impervious to the waves it seemed, so close you could almost touch her"

'And then?"
'Well, we let her rip.............."


And Jim remembers
the starshell
the running figures, stark, lit by the glare
the great guns

The way his tracer arced, struck, bounced away from her great iron sides.........

"But then, well then "
he stops, gets another model off the shelf...........its a Japanese destroyer, the Tsubaki, one of the emergency program boats
"This silly clot got between us and the real target'

Silence falls. I sense it then. I understand now.
All these years
Like a fisherman, who has seen his record catch at the side of the boat, only to see the line break right then.....
Why he builds the Ise, all these models.

Jim thinks she got away. Got away from him, and his bofors gun...........

'By the time we had dealt with HER, the damn battle wagon was gone..............."

[1275psi]

Battleship Mutsu powers on, almost blind in this moonless night, this pouring rain., the spray whipped up from the howling wind

Her radar feeds nothing back but junk, a useless white screen of clutter and interferance. Unknown to her, she has already steamed past a task force of fast transports. they saw her, but she not them.
but now, there, not so very far away, the unmistakable horizon lighting flash of heavy guns,, and, suffused in the rain, the arcing, glowering descent of starshells

there can be no hesitation
Mutsu, Nagato hard behind, swing towards the battle, rifles seeking targets

About them her 4 destroyer escorts attempt to get ahead,....a uselss effort, the sea will slow them to great effect

Minutes later, abruptly, the rain lifts slightly.
At 9000 yards, Mutsu gets a target.

With everything she has, she fires upon the Ralf Talbot, her companions..............and of course, unknown to her, Jim Sanderson.............

[1275psi]

In battles such as this, Admirals have little to really to do.
They can order the fleet manouvres, give directions...but the actual fighting, the picking of targets, the bringing to bear the guns, the hadling of the ship, this he must leave to the Captain , to her crew.

Abe can, do little but this night, but watch, and hope

Up and down the line, the guns , great and small, explode, fifty tons of steel a minute, to be flung at those fleeting, dancing shadows in the dark, in the rain.

[1275psi]

Yamamato reads the signal.
reads it again


'have engaged enemy invasion fleet in surface action, near Morotai
Losses light.
Enemy retiring, heavy losses inflicted.

All this good

But this, this last line

Did he not make it clear to him?, did he not make him promise?
'harass, hit, run, maintain a fleet in being!


"I am continuing to seek the enemy. I am continuing the attack"

"BUKA!"