When the giants died

[John 3rd]

She is a lovely, fast Battecruiser. My favorite class of Japanese warship.

BANZAI Kirishima!



Will read every word. Great to see you writing again.

[durnedwolf]

I was wondering - did you ever do anything with the Hibiki series you wrote? I remember someone saying that you might-could be gathering it all up into a short story or novelette?

[Bif1961]

My apologizes he is still a member of the gun club.

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

My apologizes he is still a member of the gun club.

A different Yamaguchi, there is a carrier one and a gun one.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

ORIGINAL: Bif1961

My apologizes he is still a member of the gun club.

A different Yamaguchi, there is a carrier one and a gun one.

There's an opportunity for an occasional story arc - the two Yamaguchi captains are brothers ...[:)]

[Sardaukar]

Interesting.

Obviously, withdrawals off is great boon for allies.

[nicwb]

Good to see you back in the AAR saddle 1275psi.

Hope you weathered the recent fires/smoke and now storms ok.

[cantona2]

ORIGINAL: Sardaukar

Interesting.

Obviously, withdrawals off is great boon for allies.

We restarted with withdrawals ON at my request for historical accuracy

[1275psi]

South China sea

Captain Tonuji again climbs the seemingly endless ladders of Kongo's bridge to the aircraft look out station.
Here, in the shadow of the forward gunnery director, nearly a dozen men bend to their binoculars, and seek the shadows
under the seas, search the horizons for any glimpse of a growing enemy mast, the skies for those tiny dots that grow so swiftly to become enemy aircraft.
The men, he notes with satisfaction, are not distracted even by his presence. They search, and continue to search.
And they need to. The war is only days old, and the lessons have already been harsh.
6 destroyers lost so far. Six!
A half dozen or more submarine attacks reported already.

If this war was to be won, then they must win it quickly.

"Idiots" he thinks, idiots who start these things, and give little thought to how they will be stopped.
But this, of course, is not for him, is it?
He has his mission, or missions, for better, for worse. One, get 25th Army safely ashore, essentially done (but again, what
did those idiots think this old lady could have done if the Prince of Wales had turned up?), and now........now the follow up
invasions.
Captain Tonuji can see all of his command from here, every inch that he loves so much.
Would he expose his wife or daughters to such dangers that must come?
No, of course not.
But his mistress, his great love, she he must.
"I can't lose you girl, I can't"

[1275psi]

South of Japan

Captain Tan sleeps through Yamashiro's first engagement.
As does her entire crew

The submarine Torpedo, unseen in the 3 am darkness, strikes her at an angle, shatters against her steel belt, a vanishes into the depths, the blow barely felt through her vibrating, hard driven hull.
Not a promising start, but what does it matter?

No fowl, no penalty.

[1275psi]

I must add a correction guys

I did not write the Hibiki tale

I wrote "the little ship that could"

It is doing the rounds of the publishers as we speak, wish me luck

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

I must add a correction guys

I did not write the Hibiki tale

I wrote "the little ship that could"

It is doing the rounds of the publishers as we speak, wish me luck

I wish you all of the luck that you need.

Is there any way of contacting a publisher to increase their interest?

[1275psi]

Another dawn
The sea, still grey, still angry, curls from Kirishima's bow, that gentle breaking sound of water, the sprinkling of spray darkening her fore peak marking her passage through the restless ocean.
Some stars are still visible, the sun still to show herself over the horizon, the clouds still dark, yet hinting pink underneath
It is Yamaguchi's favourite part of the day, this the quite time just before dawn action stations, before the days work really begins.
It is, of course, the most dangerous time, this the period when the ships, dark blobs begin to take form, solidify into moving shapes and angles, when bow waves and wakes begin to show white.
While the seas, hiding god knows what, remain dark still.
Another dawn

He has seen so many, has Captain Yamaguchi.
Those first sea sick ones, on that tiny torpedo boat off Port Arthur, trying so hard to slot a Russian. He had not been the best of torpedo men.
Then that cruiser, ancient that she was, learning the arts of navigation along the chinese coast.
Learning gunnery, learning steam, learning, learning.

But gunnery, that he liked best of all.
Gunnery assistant officer on the Asashi, another old ship.
XO of the minekaze.
Funny, all his ships seemed to have been old

Some wondered how one leaps from destroyer XO to Battleship command.
Let them wonder.

Here he was. Another old ship. But a good ship. Big guns. Fast, bloody fast, a ship one could handle.
Akagi begins to take shape, ever present of his bow.

"OOW, call dawn action stations "
"Hie"
Another day
Another endless ocean

Kirishima, belly again full, her carrier companions also rejuvenated, press on. Soon these oceans will no longer be empty. Soon land
Soon, the enemy

[1275psi]

21/12/41
Captain Koyanagi Tomiji
awakens with a start
A million times now he has awaken like this, one moment deep in sleep, the next awake as the voice pipe beside his head
comes to life
He is sure, well almost, that his mind awakens even at the sound of the messenger opening the tube on the bridge above, so attuned is he to it now.
"yes"
"Captain sir, report from I-26, 3 vessels, moving west towards Kuching, 90 miles south west of us"
"Very well, I am coming up"

Kongo rides easily, riding over the calm seas at nearly 20 knots, the night clear, the moon bright. Too bright really, Haranua, the heavy cruisers accompanying dark, yet distinct about them
The Bridge is quiet, tense, the men..... .expectant?
"Anything else guns?"
His Gunnery officer smiles " A disappointment I am afraid, 3 small vessels only....no Prince of Wales I am afraid"
"But enemy nevertheless?"
"Undoubtedly"

But the enemy just the same. And a chance , maybe to blood some guns.
"We are under orders to save our ammunition sir"
It is the XO. Not one to seek a fight, not one to deviate from orders.
It takes but a moment
"launch a seaplane, lets see just what we have ?"

Dawn is breaking, Kongo at full readiness. Word has spread, action beckons
"Enemy consists of Minelayer Kuung Wa, 2 patrol vessels"

Minelayers. Headed to kuching, or worse. An invasion fleet trailing.
No battleship. But something potentially worse.
"Inform all vessels, increase to battle speed, prepare for battle"

His hands grip the railing around the bridge
Kongo trembles, as if his Mistress already knows.
'Steady old girl, steady, I promise You we won't come to harm"

30 minutes to Singawang
And Singapore aircraft range

[1275psi]

For a few minutes, just as the sun rises, you can see the smooth seas in the waters around Singapore reflect red.
The water is still dark, but its surfave glimmers blood red

A fitting setting for this day
Battleship Haranua leads, somewhere below decks a stoker is struggling with air fuel mix, her aft stack streams smoke, foul and
black, sharp in contrast to her boiling wake
A mere 100 yards astern and to her left Flank, Kongo, trembling, plowing these seas, carving her own great white road

Further out, the heavy cruisers, and ahead, steadily gaining, white bones in their teeth, the pack of greyhounds, the destroyers, sniffing for blood
And on everyone of these straining ships, thousands of eyes seek the horizon, and the guns, both great and small, follow them.

There is a slight mist, and the enemy are not sighted until at 22000 yards.
But the sea planes leave little doubt to what they are, they are what have been reported.

2 Ams, a minelayer.
But minelayers can leave deadly, deadly eggs.
It must be killed before it can lay them.

Haranua crashes into life, her guns the crack of doom, her barrels belching fire, the preview of hell.

The cruisers follow.
At 12000 yards, Tomiji can no longer contain himself
Too many years have passed awaiting this moment
"If you please guns, open fire"

A and B fire together over Kongo's bow, the noise great and terrible, as it always is.
And shoot well
The enemy minelayer is there............and then it isn't
Little of her remains.

Both Ams join her in short order.
Kongo has blooded

"Message from Singawang fleet sir, invasion underway"
Good
"Aircraft!, bearing 180 true!"
Not so good
"Hard to starboard!, prepare for AA action!"

And this, thinks Tomiji, could be instructive...........

[1275psi]

21/12 41

Battleship Nagato slips her moorings, and begins her long journey

Yamamtao eyes his Flagship with satisfaction. She is, in her captains own words, "feeling remarkably frisky". The long months of preparation pre war have paid off.

War is no small thing, how many times has he warned those hot heads that? So easy to fall into, but damnably
hard to escape from.
Still, Nagumo has given them the dream start, the pacific fleet is gone.
But will the rest fall for the plan?

Probably not
But worth the try.
Nagato's bow rises gently to the first swell. She is ready. Japan is ready. Somewhere, somewhere far south of here, both
must meet their destiny.

[1275psi]

Kirishima replenishes.
In these smooth, mirror waters the task proceeds smoothly and with out incident.
As it should.

Captain Yamaguchi’s command has adopted to the thought of war, accepted the new routines, the increased hours, the
sheer uncertainty it all brings.
As it should.

He has inspected his ship today, from her deepest magazine, to the noise of the main spaces, to the look out tops, and examined his men.
Closeley
There is fear deep in many eyes, but fear well controlled, fear not to be shown
Again, things are as they should be.

His ship, old, appears ready.
They are approaching the enemy now. Eager to engage Eager to accompany Nagumo to the next victory, inevitable as it must be under her mighty hammer.
Exactly as it should be .

[1275psi]

Kongo belches fire

Her 8 5-inch/40 calibre dual-purpose guns crack at almost 8 rounds per minute , an almost continous canopony of
noise and fury.
The 25 MMs hammer, and amongst them, the single machine guns added by guns also crack away
A ship enshrouded in smoke and flame, spitting defiance.

Of all her crew, its captain Tomiji who feels the graetest shock, as the swordfish, just 4 of them, just 4 SWORDFISH, slow
vulnerable BI PLANES, seemingly float through it all, and plant a bomb against his beloved ships hull...............

[cantona2]

Herb

please check your inbox and you email inbox as well mate

is your email inbox full?

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

Kongo belches fire

Her 8 5-inch/40 calibre dual-purpose guns crack at almost 8 rounds per minute , an almost continous canopony of
noise and fury.
The 25 MMs hammer, and amongst them, the single machine guns added by guns also crack away
A ship enshrouded in smoke and flame, spitting defiance.

Of all her crew, its captain Tomiji who feels the graetest shock, as the swordfish, just 4 of them, just 4 SWORDFISH, slow
vulnerable BI PLANES, seemingly float through it all, and plant a bomb against his beloved ships hull...............

Just like against the Bismark, too slow to shoot down. [:(]