Extra sheet of the Tōkyō Shinbun from Friday, May 03, 1929
Attempted suicide of Navy Minister Okada Keisuke failed!
Dramatic minutes at the Navy Ministry in the early hours of the morning. Adjutant prevents the minister's suicide at the last second.
Early this morning, Navy Minister Okada Keisuke tried to commit seppuku. At that very moment, his adjutant and two other non-commissioned officers entered the minister's office to deliver a dispatch from the Japanese embassy in Berlin. According to the Deputy Minister of the Navy, the three officers were able to prevent the suicide. In the ensuing scramble for the minister's tantō, his adjutant and one of the two non-commissioned officers were seriously injured. The minister's adjutant is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Minister of the Navy Okada Keisuke is in the military prison under the supervision of the Kempeitai.
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Extra sheet of the Tōkyō Shinbun from Friday, May 17, 1929
Navy Minister Okada Keisuke back in office!
After Minister of the Navy Okada Keisuke renewed his oath to the Emperor to serve the Emperor and the Japanese people until he was recalled by the Emperor, the Minister was allowed to leave the military prison. His first trip led the minister to the hospital, where he convinced himself of the well-being of his adjutant after he had struggled for his life for days.
However, the chapter about the unfortunate events off Formosa is probably far from over. From well-informed circles it was learned that the Imperial Japanese Navy is to undergo fundamental changes. It is not known whether this is to refer to the command structures, training or the floating units.
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Extra sheet of the Tōkyō Shinbun from Saturday 01 June 1929
The war is over!
Prime Minister Tanaka Giichi announced this morning the end of the war with the German Empire.
Secret negotiations in Paris mediated by the French government have allegedly convinced both sides to silence the weapons. Details are not yet known.
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>> Memorandum of the Kaigun-chūjō Kichisaburō Nomura on the German-Japanese Spring War of 1929 <<
Honored officers and members of the 大本営 (Daihon'ei),
In deep gratitude for the tasks entrusted to me, I have the privilege of expressing my experience to you as commanding officer in both battles of the German-Japanese Spring War.
This war began surprisingly and ended unexpectedly. His two battles were also surprising.
The Japanese battle tactics, which have proven themselves for almost thirty years, no longer work!
I cannot deny that on the basis of personal experience, the Admiralty cannot deny that. Even if Japan was ultimately able to gain new bases, this is not due to the results of the naval battles, but to the overall disadvantageous strategic position of our adversary.
Tactically, however, the commander-in-chief of the German High Seas Fleet - Admiral Erich Johann Albert Raeder - did everything right. We have to acknowledge and understand that. The fact that the naval battle in the Yellow Sea on March 19, 1929 ended in our favor was more luck and coincidence than the superiority of our own forces.
During the convoy battle off Keelung on April 27, 1929, our luck was exhausted. A technically far superior enemy ship has literally demonstrated our fleet despite overwhelming numerical superiority. Despite the phenomenal torpedo hit by student pilot Genda Minoru, this did not change the overall situation. The ambitions of our new delivery weapon may be great, but the successes are not. Nevertheless, it remains to be said that without the aircraft carrier we would not have scored a torpedo hit at all. Our destroyers had no opportunity to build on their earlier successes. I therefore note: Naval aviation is not yet able to sink an enemy and the destroyers are no longer able to sink an enemy. In addition, our modern capital ships are available in such small numbers that the use of these units depends on chance and our older capital ships do not deserve this name.
I recommend that the 軍令部 (Gunreibu) of the Imperial Japanese Navy significantly intensify the training of the pilots. To advance the construction of aircraft and to increase the construction of aircraft carriers. Capital ships are not superfluous, but henceforth of limited importance for the Japanese Navy. Our old warships have lost their usefulness! The importance of destroyers in future conflicts must be worked out more precisely by the honorable lords of the 軍令部 (Gunreibu).
Long live the Rengō Kantai, long live the Imperial Japanese Navy, long live the Emperor!
Kaigun-chūjō Kichisaburō Nomura, June 01, 1929
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#012 After the war is before the war!
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Saturday, June 1, 1929
Stunned, Osaki Satoshi sat alone in his office late at night. Later in the afternoon, details of the peace treaty between Germany and Japan had become known and these details shed a new light on the attempted suicide of Navy Minister Okada Keisuke.
Japan had committed itself to scrapping 142 warships!
Among them are all twenty coastal submarines:
5 coastal submarines Type I-1
3 coastal submarines Type I-10
5 coastal submarines type I-22
7 coastal submarines Type I-33
For the Imperial Japanese Navy, this was a considerable bloodletting.
The number of heavy cruisers has halved. The same applies to the number of escort ships, if you consider destroyers and corvettes together. With the submarines it was also considerable, but not quite as dramatic, especially since the coastal submarines had never really played an important role.
However, the scrapping of the two aircraft motherships was completely incomprehensible. These were not only the two newest ships on the entire list, but also ships whose weapon system supposedly represented the future – the aircraft.
Did this war end with a victory or a defeat for Japan? They had won German bases, but was it worth it? In terms of numbers, it was the biggest cut for the fleet in recent decades and the destroyers have been Japan's pride and joy so far. Virtually all naval victories of the last thirty years have been due to the powerful Japanese torpedo weapon. These were the terror of the seas, if you asked representatives of European nations. This is exactly why there was certainly the biggest cut here. Could the Imperial Japanese Navy cope with this cut?
Osaki Satoshi knew that the next few months and years would be more exciting than they had been for decades.
He remembered. Back to that memorable Fourteenth of July, in the year Eighteen Ninety-Seven!
On this day, he entered the office of the Minister of the Navy Saigō Tsugumichi for the first time with his foster father, editor-in-chief Kamata Itachi. The opulent office with its gold decorations, which he had entered so often afterwards. On this day he was completely inflamed by the Imperial Navy, on this day he was one of the first to gain insight into the new fleet of the Japanese Empire. Exactly this feeling from back then came back to him now – Japan left these old ships behind – it was now necessary to build up a new fleet that would be prepared for the future!
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, July 4, 1929
What followed barely a month later was logical from Osaki Satoshi's point of view. The navy scrapped practically all old capital ships.
At the same time, this was a slap in the face to the French government!
Japan was thus declaring to the entire world that it had planned to scrap its obsolete ships anyway, because these ships were not on the list of negotiations of the peace treaty. This also made it clear why the Japanese emissaries had so readily agreed to the negotiations in Paris. Of course, not without announcing a drama and that this was the death knell for the Imperial Japanese Navy, but nevertheless conspicuously willing to agree.
Japan may not have wanted this war – at least not at that time – but it could live more than well with the result, Satoshi now realized.
He briefly speculated whether the loss of the Nisshin was also a set-up? But he rejected this thought as quickly as it had come.
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Editorial office of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, August 5, 1929
With the summer, the quiet day-to-day business in peacetime began again. As editor-in-chief, it was now up to Osaki Satoshi himself how he dealt with his editorial team. There was less work than in wartime, but on the other hand it was clear that a change was imminent. So he would turn his attention to the shipyards, as he had done before.
He could guess what direction the fleet would take. But he also knew that the military was always good for surprises – even if it required murder!
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Tuesday, September 03, 1929
After all the decommissioning in the Imperial Japanese Navy, one of the first acts was to take stock. The result was clear! Compared to the other navies, the Japanese navy was tiny. Japan had a total of six battleships and battlecruisers. The other maritime powers had each listed something around twenty to over fifty battleships and battlecruisers in the fleet register.
The situation was different with the declared ship class of the coming decade. Japan was the only nation with operational large aircraft carriers. Two were in service, two more were under construction. Only the United States of America had a large aircraft carrier under construction, the other nations nothing. This looked neutral for the light aircraft carriers. Here, the Japanese Navy had already had four units in service for several years, but no more were under construction. All other nations also had light aircraft carriers, here even Russia was in the lead with five units, but only the Empire seemed to want to achieve a higher number here. The worldwide newbuildings of this ship class were manageable.
The fact that Japan still had a standard ship of the line in the ship register was an anomaly. This ship, the venerable Mikasa, was a museum ship and was currently moored at 小 野浜造船所 (Onohama Zōsenjo) (Kure Naval Shipyard).
Things looked better with the heavy cruisers. Apart from Japan, however, only the German Empire seemed to hold on to this type of ship. In the light cruisers, there was something like a tie, if Russia was disregarded.
Japan has traditionally been the leader in destroyers, but it was precisely this class of ships that had disappointed recently. Behind closed doors, it was learned that the time of the torpedo carriers was coming to an end. The earlier successes could no longer be achieved because the firepower and precision of the artillery had reached a level that made successful torpedo attacks questionable. However, it was said that these destroyers had a new task. The ever-improving U-boats had become a serious danger and the destroyers seemed to be the means of choice to do something about it.
This was also true of the corvettes, but destroyers were simply more diverse and able to accompany the large ships because of their range and speed. Corvettes were not able to do that.
Among the U-boats, the Imperial Fleet was not in the lead, but it was not defeated either. In terms of the total number of aircraft, Japan was again in the lead, albeit only barely.
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It was also significant that the construction of the new super battleship Fuji was stopped from the beginning, while the construction of the other aircraft carriers was in full swing. The conversion of three older light cruisers also proceeded quickly and with the Suzuya class there were two very large heavy cruisers in the plan.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, December 19, 1929
By mid-December, only ongoing projects had been completed and otherwise the military remained silent. Osaki Satoshi attributed this to a strange kind of lethargy that seemed to affect all of Japan. He had the impression that the world was holding its breath and waiting spellbound for the beginning of the new decade.
The 1920s had made Japan a serious maritime power, and now the world seemed to be eyeing what this Asian people would do in the 1930s?
Gradually, the shock of the Great Earthquake had been overcome and most of the damage had been repaired. The capital Tōkyō seemed to feel comfortable in its new guise and attracted more and more foreign travelers, but it was also rumored that quite a few of these travelers were foreign spies who seemed to be particularly interested in Japanese shipyards.
Whatever the facts were in the end, since the beginning of December no one had any desire to work. In mid-December, Satoshi released most of the editorial team and also included himself. Throughout the country, the most comprehensive preparations for a New Year's Eve that Satoshi had ever experienced were underway, and he couldn't get away from them.
The nineteen hundred and thirties were imminent and many things would be different – at least that's what everyone he talked to believed!
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Sunday, January 5, 1930
It should usher in the new decade peacefully! On the weekend after the turn of the year, France had invited to an international New Year's regatta to promote understanding, cooperation and peaceful coexistence between nations. The crew of the participating boat from Japan did not want to consider the claim of the Grande Nation as the organizer of the race to win alone. The French raged and spoke of cheating, because the Japanese athletes all belonged to the military and had certainly been trained for the race for weeks or months, which meant that they crossed the finish line with a considerable lead.
The scandal was perfect, the regatta had achieved the opposite of its intention and a note of protest from the French envoy fluttered onto the Foreign Minister's desk.
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, March 14, 1930
After the atmospheric start to the year in France, the situation calmed down in the first months of 1930. The countless decommissionings of the past year have now been followed by the modernization of the remaining ships, as well as the expansion of the capabilities of the 帝国海軍航空隊 (Teikoku Kaigun Kōkūtai - Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force). The planned base expansion now also affected the naval air force and no longer only the fleet. Osaki Satoshi took this as an opportunity to pay a little more attention to the bases.
Here it was clear that a quarter of the Navy's maintenance budget now flowed into the naval air force. It became apparent that the numerically small Japanese fleet would hardly become larger as a result. Viewed over a period of ten years, and that the expenditure would certainly increase, this amounted to three to four heavy cruisers that the Navy would be missing, or two more battleships.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Saturday, March 15, 1930
As if to confirm his thesis that the naval air force needed a lot of funding, Osaki Satoshi received the news just one day later that the navy had given up building the super-battleship Fuji. This decision caused quite a stir because thousands of shipyard workers had become unemployed. The ministry accused such reports of being a reprehensible lie and announced that all workers for the Fuji would now be needed for the modernization of more destroyers. This meant that a good thirty destroyers were in the process of being converted.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Sunday, June 22, 1930
The spring and early summer of 1930 were marked by the usual political intrigues and marginal progress in shipbuilding. This ended abruptly on the weekend of June 21, when a large Russian naval group appeared in the Sea of Japan and caused panic throughout the country. Everywhere there were whispers of a Russian revenge attack on Japan and voices became loud after a preemptive strike. However, nothing happened in the course of Saturday. Although all sailors were ordered to their ships, none of them left their berth unscheduled. However, there was all the more activity with the maritime reconnaissance and torpedo bombers. They flew missions to the limit in order to nip a Russian attack in the bud if the worst came to the worst.
Apparently, the navy knew more than it admitted and on Sunday the Russian envoy in Tokyo declared the seizure of South Korea for the Tsarist Empire. The reaction of the Minister of the Navy followed less than an hour later when he explained what excellent targets the Russian positions in Pusan would be for the brand-new Japanese dive bombers.
However, it was learned from the inner circles of the Navy that the developments in South Korea were perceived as a serious problem. South Korea was something like a Russian dagger at Japan's throat. It was not to be expected that this would be accepted without action.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, July 3, 1930
The government publicly declared its dissatisfaction with its own maritime strength, but the Ministry of the Navy responded to this accusation not with words, but with deeds. It took more destroyers out of the active fleet and sent these ships to the shipyards.
Osaki Satoshi could not remember the Navy ever letting such an opportunity of warmongering pass him by. He became aware that something was going on in the government or within the military that had not yet been made public.
Was the shock of the past conflict deeper than it seemed?
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Wednesday, November 19, 1930
Whatever was going on in the Navy, it had to be something big. The navy was so busy with itself that Russia succeeded in the next coup in November and the Tsarist Empire was now able to gain a foothold in the South Pacific. The Navy limited itself to the re-India positions of its modernized destroyers and the new aircraft carrier Akagi. For many years, the navy's expenditures have not been permanently in the red, but the ministry has even saved money.
Osaki Satoshi still hadn't even heard a whisper about the reason for all this.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, November 28, 1930
At the end of November, nothing changed in the behavior of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The design of a new, even larger aircraft carrier was put out to tender and after the destroyers, the battleships now took the path to overhaul and modernization.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, January 9, 1931
The rest of the year was unexcited, but you could feel that the world was holding its breath. The power shifts in the Pacific region were a topic of conversation in Europe. Especially because it was the rather weak Russia that had achieved clear successes here. Not Germany, not France and certainly not the Empire.
Ministry of Navy of the Imperial Japanese Navy – Thursday, March 5, 1931
Secretary of the Navy Abo Kiyokazu sat at the heavy wooden desk, as so many ministers of the navy had done before him. His rather hapless and unpopular predecessor Takarabe Takeshi left office last October and was entrusted with only unimportant tasks. For the last few months since he took office, Abo Kiyokazu had not been available to speak for anyone. But now he granted the Tōkyō Shinbun an exclusive interview.
Osaki Satoshi took a seat opposite the minister after the usual greetings and pulled out his notepad.
"Mr. Minister of the Navy," Satoshi began the interview.
"Your predecessor was unable to maintain his position in the ministry despite the best connections."
Minister of the Navy Abo Kiyokazu cleared his throat audibly...
"It is said that he had lost support among the population due to irritating statements and questionable decisions regarding the Russian advance in the Asian region?"
Navy Minister Abo Kiyokazu remained silent on this statement
"Since he took office almost half a year ago, however, nothing has changed in the policy of the Navy. The capture of Bougainville by the Tsarist Empire already falls during his term of office. Nevertheless, nothing has changed!"
...
"Mr. Osaki, you yourself have written some apt editorials in recent years and have often aroused the displeasure of the Navy. Well, you know, he who sows grains of truth reaps displeasure."
"Mr. Mar..."
Minister of the Navy Abo Kiyokazu raised his hand!
"Please don't interrupt me, Mr. Osaki!"
Osaki Satoshi nodded.
"The truth is, and you were one of the first to realize this, that the Imperial Japanese Navy, despite all its successes, is currently not competitive. The events surrounding the Nisshin have made that clear to everyone."
"We had a tactic that worked extraordinarily successfully for almost thirty years and was easy to do thanks to the Japanese economy with its shipyards. Destroyers are easy, cheap, and quick to build. But they have their disadvantages, which became exclusively an advantage for us. Their short range prevented the European naval powers from operating comprehensively with their destroyers in Asia. The Imperial Japanese Navy was different. Our destroyers were always able to rely on nearby ports and thus bring any enemy to its knees with almost insane numbers."
"Against dozens of destroyers with their torpedoes, the enemy battleships were simply defenseless."
"That has changed!"
"It also didn't matter how old and slow our destroyers have been so far. We always had enough to decide the battles in our favor. Of course, there was also what we often call bizarre behavior of our opponents, but even with capable leadership of our enemies, we would have always dominated the Asian waters until the middle of the last decade. That has changed!"
"The High Seas Fleet has shown that this tactic no longer works. Destroyers have not become worthless, but they can no longer bring about an easy victory. We need battleships, but we can't build them in sufficient numbers. In addition, we urgently need technological superiority of each individual ship in the fleet. The Nisshin was not a battlecruiser, you know, Mr. Osaki, and the Nisshin was not technologically superior."
"My predecessor therefore did the only right thing. He avoided any escalation. He had all completely unusable ships scrapped and he initiated measures to comprehensively modernize all remaining ships. When we're done with that, we'll have the most modern fleet of any nation. Of course, a twenty-year-old battleship hull is no more modern than a two-year-old battleship hull. A twenty-knot battleship will not become a thirty-knots battleship, but all artillery, ammunition, torpedo launchers, depth charges, radio equipment, even the crews' berths will be the most modern we have. And on all ships from battleships to corvettes."
"The aircraft carriers play a special role, which is why new units are constantly being laid down here. I'll put it this way:"
"Aircraft carriers are Japan's new destroyers!"
Now Satoshi interrupted...
"Mr. Minister, the aircraft carriers have always looked different so far..."
"Mr. Osaki, how is your son Okada?"
"Please?"
"Your son Okada, how is he, where is he at the moment?"
"Mr. Minister, I have to confess to you that I don't know. You probably know what happened in the past. Since then, I have avoided asking my children for information about their military service."
"That's good, Mr. Osaki, but you've already noticed that nothing has happened to you for a long time. We need the press for our purposes. You know that very well, and so I know that you expect something in return. Otherwise you wouldn't be here today!"
"So your son Okada has recently been on the new aircraft carrier Akagi!"
"For this, he has just been promoted to squadron commander of the thirty-three fifty-three Sentai. This squadron is still equipped with the Yokosuka Shuka, but that will change soon. Your son is also involved in this, because he supports the Kokuki shikenjo of the 海軍航空本部 (Kaigun Kōkū Hombu - Imperial Japanese Naval Aviation Bureau). And very successfully, if I may say!"
"Why don't you ask your son what he thinks about the future of aircraft carriers?
"Well, the time is well advanced and I have an appointment at the naval shipyard. You now know what we do. We are modernizing the entire fleet and it will take months and years before we are finished with all the ships. Only then will there be comprehensive new ships, unless there are unexpected reasons to lay up new ships beforehand. Aircraft carriers are to become the new backbone of the fleet and your son is significantly involved in this."
"Make something of it, let the Navy's actions appear in a favorable light, it should not be to your harm!"
Stunned, Osaki Satoshi left the office of Navy Minister Abo Kiyokazu. He didn't know what shocked him more? This total honesty of the minister or that his son had taken an important role within the Naval Air Force?
Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, June 18, 1931
The new unspoken arrangement with the marine mister was both a stroke of luck and a burden for Osaki Satoshi. In recent weeks, he had deliberately and yet inconspicuously published numerous articles about the Imperial Japanese Navy. He had to realize that it was anything but easy to write positive articles that still maintained the appearance of criticism for which he had been known for decades. Nobody would have believed him to make an open turn. Of course, everyone in the editorial office was informed. Those who had a problem with this had long since been transferred. If possible, where they could not cause any damage in the future. Stubborn cases were suddenly drafted by the military and had to serve in the overseas territories. But of course, the competition had not missed the change in reporting.
Osaki Satoshi had no direct influence on this. But he had an idea that he could now officially implement with the help of his son. All Japanese daily newspapers were invited to a maneuver. All editorial offices were allowed to send an editor and a photographer to the Akagi to observe the squadron's training flights directly on board. This maneuver would be meticulously prepared to show the press, and Russia in particular, what it meant to seek confrontation with Japan. The navy would demonstrate the full power of its carrier fleet with great effort in the hope that the suspicion of the last few months will be confronted with strength. Ideally, the scathing comments of the competition would be stifled and the Navy would be given exactly the time it needed.
Until then, however, all that remained was the reporting of the usual.
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Editorial office of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, August 10, 1931
In the summer, the navy decided to build new ones for its popular destroyers. Osaki Satoshi had learned that while destroyers were no longer used to decide battles, you could lose battles without excellent destroyers. The two new ship classes had as their objectives anti-aircraft defense, anti-submarine warfare, mine clearance and, in turn, the mining of enemy ports and trade routes. With their 2,500 tons, they are only suitable for this in the first place. Smaller destroyers would have too many restrictions for this wide range of tasks.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, January 15, 1932
The demonstration of the Japanese carrier weapon had the desired effect. The unrest in the press and among the population had then noticeably diminished and Russia had also avoided further provocations. The Navy was therefore able to calmly carry out its plans and push ahead with modernization. It was not until January 1932 that resentment about Russia arose again, but it was suppressed by all sides.
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Wednesday, March 9, 1932
The beginning of the year, nineteen hundred and thirty-two, was quiet.
The military still did not want to start a new conflict and staged disputes with the Empire to distract from Russia. This unusual behavior naturally led to questions, whispering and the subliminal accusation that the top military leadership had even been "bought" from abroad. However, no evidence of this was found.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, June 23, 1932
The second quarter of the year was also quiet. The Navy was partly busy with conversions, partly with new buildings, with the focus clearly on the aircraft carriers and destroyers. Capital ships were neither under construction nor were new designs commissioned. This alone showed the new orientation of the fleet, although no one knew whether it would be the right way.
The tensions with Russia were serious but not dramatic, and yet the publishing house was not as quiet as it used to be.
Osaki Satoshi had all editorial offices and, of course, his office himself equipped with radio receivers from Tōkyō Station (JOAK). The JOAK was the first foreign-language station in Asia and had been on the air since 1925. However, the receivers were expensive and rare. Unlike the radio station he had had in the publishing house for some time, radio was not a matter of course. Now there was not always news to announce, which Satoshi was very happy about – he recognized the competition of radio for his newspaper – but the broadcasting frequencies did not remain unused. Therefore, music sounded from all editorial offices. If an editorial team managed to receive an Asian station other than the JOAK, then there was also musical mush and that in turn was anything but quiet!
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Tuesday, October 4, 1932
Over the summer, however, it became clear that a new conflict was brewing. The navy demanded higher government spending on fleet construction and got it. Ironically, this in turn led to less tension with Russia, which was beginning to remember the last experience in East Asia.
Osaki Satoshi could not really understand this, because the Russian fleet had been able to grow and prosper undisturbed for twenty-three years, and it did!
Compared to the ships of Japan, the Russian battle fleet was truly gigantic. In the aircraft carriers, however, all other nations were behind Japan without exception. Only the United States of America was able to keep up, but nothing more. In fact, the Japanese Navy was on perhaps its most dangerous journey. All other war fleets were still battleship fleets of the old school, only the Japanese fleet relied almost without exception on the new aircraft carrier weapon after the earlier internal disputes. A development that has so far only been able to draw attention to itself through chance hits.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, December 15, 1932
Towards the end of the year, the Ministry of the Navy announced the construction of new warships! However, when it became known that only twelve new corvettes had been put on the pile, one finally wondered whether the Japanese naval leadership still knew what it was doing?
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Wednesday, January 4, 1933
So the year nineteen hundred and thirty-two passed as quietly as it had begun, and it would probably not play a major role in the history books. All the more reason for everyone to be excited about nineteen hundred and thirty-three, because it would not be able to go on forever so calmly, almost boringly.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, March 2, 1933
In the navy, things went on just like the year before! After the extensive modernization of the destroyer fleet, the heavy cruisers gradually came into the dock to be converted to the latest state of the art. It seemed as if the same lethargy settled over the country as the year before. But then on the second of March, the people in Japan were literally shaken awake. Almost ten years after the destruction of Tōkyō by the great Kantō quake, the earth shook again. However, the Shōwa Sanriku earthquake had its epicenter before the continental shelf off the Sanriku coast. The most serious consequence was the destruction of Kamaishi Bay by the tsunami. Nevertheless, panic was palpable in the country, because the memories of the last severe earthquake were deeply rooted in the population (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_Sanriku_earthquake).
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Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, May 18, 1933
The consistency in the Imperial Japanese Navy was indeed impressive. After the acquisition of two new aircraft carriers from the shipyards, a successor generation was ordered, but the rest of the construction activity was concentrated on the modernization of the light cruisers.
Osaki Satoshi became aware of one thing. As small as the Japanese war fleet was, it was certainly the most modern fleet in the world. That alone could make a difference and was one of the lessons from the fall of the Nisshin. Completely obsolete ships no longer existed in Japan's navy, and the ships that did exist were state-of-the-art.
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Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, August 25, 1933
By the end of the summer, this year also became a spitting image of last year. Almost nothing happened. They clashed with Italy, but the resulting tensions were still lower than those with all other nations. Ships were taken over by the shipyards after the overhaul, new destroyers and aircraft carriers were ordered, more ships went into overhaul, nothing else happened!
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Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, August 25, 1933
Osaki Satoshi had to do something, but there was nothing to do. There were also more and more voices in the editorial office as to whether they would live to see the end of the year, or whether the publishing house would discontinue the military section of the newspaper? In the meantime, the Japanese population enjoyed the phase of rest and lost life. There were demands to shorten military service, but they were satisfied with more free leave from the barracks and longer layovers in the ports.
So what to do?
Osaki Satoshi knew exactly: After the war is before the war. There would be a new war, he was absolutely sure of that, and the spellbound calm of the last few years would possibly be abruptly and surprisingly discharged.
So what to do?
Be prepared!
Before his editors were also lost to boredom, he gave them something to do! In a pedantry never before demanded, he demanded from his employees everything, but really everything, about the active Imperial Japanese Navy that could be found.
Then one could check what the navy had achieved with its conversion and perhaps estimate what it was capable of?
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Editorial office of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Tuesday, October 10, 1933
In October, however, an unexpected order from the navy followed. A new gigantic heavy cruiser design was demanded. Was there uncertainty in the navy after all? But the explanation followed immediately: super-heavy cruisers were a very good fit for the aircraft carriers, because they had to be protected from enemy air attacks. To do this, they do not want to rely solely on their own fighters, but also on anti-aircraft guns. However, destroyers and light cruisers are not able to deploy a large number of anti-aircraft guns. However, the new Heavy Cruiser class would be designed from the outset for maximum anti-aircraft defense and would be assigned to the carrier fleets as escorts in the future.
This explanation could be believed or not, the requested design was in every aspect a huge heavy cruiser with more tonnage than many battleships of other nations, even without anti-aircraft defense.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, January 5, 1934
The rest of the year passed again in the usual serenity. The only thing that was noticeable was that the navy did not push its expenditures to the extreme, which was explained around the turn of the year by the construction orders for the new heavy cruisers, which then turned the budget back into the red. Otherwise, the shipyards emptied because almost all modernizations had been completed.
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Editorial office of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Wednesday, March 21, 1934
At the beginning of nineteen hundred and thirty-four, restlessness came to rest. Tensions rose worldwide and Japan was instrumental in this. There it was again – the game of the military! Osaki Satoshi speculated that the fleet was thus ready for a new war. Only the crystal-clear opponent Russia was no longer so crystal clear. In the meantime, the Empire also came into question, which had the most interesting possessions to offer, and the German Empire, with which they still had a score to settle. The navy would probably not be so crazy and take on all three countries at once.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Wednesday, May 9, 1934
Two editors came back to the publishing house downright pale. Both had been at the Navy Ministry in the morning to follow the announcements, which now take place monthly. Something must have happened, that much could already be seen.
Curiously, Osaki Satoshi asked why:
"This time they are crazy - completely crazy!"
"NINETY THOUSAND TONS OF !!"
Satoshi didn't understand anything!
"What's going on?"
"These lunatics can't justify this time with anti-aircraft defense!"
"What can't they justify with anti-aircraft defense?"
"The Navy is building a new battleship, if the term battleship is still appropriate at all!"
"A 90,000 ton monster – they showed the plans – that's a monster – a 90,000 ton sea monster!"
"90,000 tons? Did you drink on the way home?"
"Eight 16inch guns of high quality, twelve 7inch and four 5inch guns. Twenty-six knots with long range. Basic statement: We must be able to wage war anywhere in the world!"
"You're not serious?"
"Why don't you go to the minister yourself – he will surely tell you even the smallest details!"
"Why? That doesn't make sense with the previous strategy – have they explained anything about it?"
"Nothing — I'll tell you what the explanation is — this thing itself is a declaration of war — a NINETY THOUSAND TONS OF DECLARATION OF WAR to the whole world!"
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Tōkyō Shinbun Editorial Board – Friday, June 1, 1934
The last statement had been almost prophetic. The Empire put its entire battle fleet on standby, and there were more Russian warships in Asia than in Europe. A 90,000-ton battleship was an announcement – no one else had anything like it – the designs of the Europeans and Americans did not even come close to this construction weight!
It did not fit the declared strategy of the Navy, but perhaps it did. Tensions with Japan had been rather low in the last three to four years. Perhaps because no one took the Imperial Japanese Navy seriously anymore. Germany had shown how Japan could be beaten. The masses of Japanese destroyers had lost their terror. A Japanese battle fleet did not exist and never would be. Japan's industry simply couldn't do that and no one in general thought anything of the aircraft carriers. They were simply not seen as a threat.
A 90,000-ton battleship, however, was something of a gauntlet. That couldn't leave the other nations alone. They had to react to that!
Sure, one could assume that Japan would not build twenty of them, not even ten or five. Maybe two or three – but could three such sea monsters be enough to sink an entire British battleship squadron? That was probably the question to which no one had an answer! This answer could only be found in a naval battle! But what if the answer to the battle was "yes"?
The Empire could not risk that. It had to react, and now while these ships were still in the design stage. If it were to be launched in a good three years, everything could be too late!
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Tuesday, July 3, 1934
These events also had an effect on the population! They had become accustomed to the peace and serenity. Nobody wanted war, especially not the youth, who preferred to go to Europe to study and not to wage war.
But it was to be assumed that the falcons would get their way, as they did every time.
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Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, September 21, 1934
Over the late summer, the hotheads cooled down. Perhaps also because the Imperial Japanese Navy waived the construction contracts for the 90,000-ton super battleships, at least for the moment.
Even the orders for new aircraft carriers were not signed. It almost seemed as if the people were getting their way.
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, October 1, 1934
Of course, Osaki Satoshi knew better! That's why he wasn't surprised when the current radio broadcast was interrupted and a government statement was read out.
Mobilization!
The entire fleet and also the air and land forces were put on alert with immediate effect. All military personnel had to report to their bases immediately and the young men fit for military service were called to the muster.
Now it could only be a matter of hours or days before there would be a bang – only against whom and obviously without a surprise attack?
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, December 6, 1934
Throughout October, the world held its breath, but nothing happened. No war. Even in November it remained quiet, but at the beginning of December in nineteen hundred and thirty-four it banged after all! However, on completely unexpected whiteness.
In Italy, the founder of the newspaper "Il Popolo d'Italia", a certain Benito Amilcare, Andrea Mussolini, had had enough of the political conditions in Italy and the rest of the world. With numerous supporters, he led the march on Rome and overthrew the established government. Victor Emmanuel III King of Italy had little choice and appointed Mussolini as the new prime minister.
The performance of the Kawasaki aircraft company has almost been lost. The brand-new Kawasaki Myojo fighter, which only went into production in September, achieved an outstanding victory in an air force competition that none of the European competitors paid much attention to because of the events in Italy.
In a serious competition, the 帝国海軍航空隊 (Teikoku Kaigun Kōkūtai - Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force) had compared themselves to their potential enemies and no one took the overwhelming superiority of Japanese aircraft models seriously!
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Saturday, January 12, 1935
Osaki Satoshi was sitting at home in the living area. He was very hungover from the previous nightly editorial meeting. One of the first actions of the new Italian government the day before was to form an alliance with Russia to put a stop to Japanese warmongering. Of course, this led to heated discussions at the Tōkyō Shinbun and the question of the editorial for the extra paper had lasted hours. Plenty of sake flowed down the irritated throats and Satoshi had only arrived home at dawn to get at least two or three hours of sleep and to freshen up. The extra paper came too late anyway. On the way home in his new Mitsubishi PX-33, he could already observe protests all over the city to prevent the impending conflict.
It was already evening, for his wife had let him sleep. If there was a war, he would suffer from sleep deprivation again anyway, so as long as there was still peace, he should sleep. Satoshi was angry but also grateful at the same time. He couldn't be angry with his wife, who had endured everything for years without reproaching him. Besides, nothing had happened. Saturday was over and if something had happened, his editors would have notified him.
He also afforded himself the luxury of a Tōkyō Station radio receiver (JOAK) at home and enjoyed the music broadcasts. With the soft sounds that came out of the device chopped up, he was about to fall asleep again. Abruptly, the program broke off and ugly loud marching music sounded. Then a voice:
"The High Command of the Imperial Japanese Navy announces:"
"Today - in the twilight of the early morning hours of the twelfth of January nineteen hundred and thirty-five, combined naval and air forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the enemy naval base Vladivostok! The rolling air strikes of our aircraft carrier force dragged on into the late afternoon. The bombers of the fleet carriers Hiryu, Soryu and Akagi succeeded in sinking a large part of the Russian battle fleet at anchor. Those ships - which managed to leave the harbor - ran directly in front of the guns of our battleships Kawachi, Yamashiro, Fuso and Shikishima. No enemy ship has managed to escape from Vladivostok! All our aircraft carriers and battleships are on their way home."
For several years, the Tsarist Empire had spread across the Pacific region and used every opportunity, no matter how small, to gain a foothold as a colonial power. Especially with the occupation of Southern Korea, Russia had basically thrown down the gauntlet. Of course, Russia had more than one score to settle with the Japanese Empire, even though the last war had already been over twenty-five years ago. In particular, however, the humiliation of Port Arthur at the end of July 1904 was a bleeding wound in the Russian self-image.
After losing two wars against Japan, Russia was on the ground and had taken almost twenty years to build a new fleet that would be superior to Japan's. The late twenties in particular had shown Russia how to beat Japan to sea. In the early thirties, the transformation of the Imperial Japanese Navy was clearly visible to the world. Russia took advantage of this Japanese weakness for its expansion plans.
In the meantime, however, it became clear that the Japanese strategists were right in their assessment of the development of the sea-based air force. The Russian military also took note of the progress of these flying scraps of fabric, sometimes with excitement, sometimes with fright.
It was certain at the Tsar's court that Japan was not yet finished with its fleet restructuring. Japan therefore had a carrier fleet of little value and a completely outdated and small battle fleet. Before aviation made further progress, now was the time to demand revenge. Conspicuous white, Japan did everything to keep tensions low. It avoided all provocations, even though in Japan a loss of face was one of the greatest conceivable shames. In Russia, this was seen as another sign of Japan's weakness. The last provocation – the alliance with Italy directly from the previous day – also seemed to remain unanswered. There was no official assessment of this process. On the contrary! Japan pretended to be surprised, was surprised, and yet already knew that the negotiations, which had been conducted in Rome since Christmas 1934, were about to be concluded.
In Japan, they did not know how long before the negotiations had already taken place. Only that these negotiations were close to completion. But none of that mattered. Japan had its own plans for a long time!
The Japanese High Command was well aware of the basic situation in Asia. Since the beginning of 1934, it quietly and secretly put more and more ships of the fleet on standby. Foreign as well as domestic observers did not notice quite subtly that all ships that came back from the overhaul from the shipyard had not been mothballed again or at least had been transferred to the reserve. The aircraft carriers were never placed in reserve and Japan had built large air bases in every colony with brute force.
So Japan didn't have to mobilize much, many ships had already been in combat readiness for months and together with land-based aircraft, Japan could control large parts of the Japanese sea at will. The Japanese Ministry of the Navy closely monitored the foreign fleet movements, and the assembly of most of the Russian fleet in Vladivostok was open. The hero of Keelung – the former pilot student Genda Minoru – had long since developed into a respected air force expert. He had become a highly respected instructor of the carrier-based torpedo bomber formations and all active Japanese torpedo bomber pilots had attended a special course with Genda at some point.
The idea of a preemptive strike against the Russian fleet in Vladivostok had already been translated into concrete battle plans since the summer of 1934. Of course, there were still representatives of the old guard who preferred an attack with the battle fleet, but in the end it became a combination. Genda Minoru was experienced enough to acknowledge that the torpedo bombers alone were no guarantee of a certain victory. But it was he who was the first to make the new motto unmistakably clear: "Torpedo bombers are our new destroyers".
"Our tactics," he said, "were always to strike the first blow with the destroyers and then wipe up the rest with the capital ships."
"That's what we're going to do with the torpedo bombers!"
In the staff departments, therefore, a combined attack was planned, which was to be started by the torpedo bombers and ended by the battleships.
In October 1934, 大本営 (Daihon'ei) was given the work with a traditional japanese book binding:
" ウラジオストクに対する雷撃機と戦闘艦隊の合同攻撃 (Urajiosutoku ni taisuru raigeki-ki to sentō kantai no gōdō kōgeki)" "Joint attack on Vladivostok by torpedo bombers and a battle fleet"
hand over.
The Tennō's approval was given in November 1934 and was probably not unusual. Even before his father's death, Hirohito was in charge of government business. On the one hand, Tennō Yoshihito had fallen victim to a mental illness and on the other hand, the honorable Tōgō Heihachirō had taken care of Hirohito's education and training since early childhood. The indoctrination was obvious and paternal advice was non-existent. After the end of the Taishō period with the death of Tennō Yoshihito in December 1926, the takeover of government business by Hirohito, who had now been declared Tennō, was rather quiet, as nothing changed in principle.
It was obvious that the Tennō Hirohito was turned to militarism, even if the war with the German Empire had come about anything but as desired. Now this was different and they wanted to let the Russians know that.
The name of this war plan was also particularly well received by the higher levels of the navy because it took up the name of the 聯合艦隊 (Rengō Kantai) – the combined fleet – and was thus able to unite the opposing forces within the navy. Now it was a true 聯合艦隊 (Rengō Kantai) – on water, on land and in the air!
What the Japanese military strategists did not expect was the imminent alliance with Italy. This made it dangerous because Italy had a large battle fleet that was out of reach of Japan. This meant that there was no other option than to take the Russian fleet out of the conflict with a decapitation strike right at the beginning. In addition, one could not wait for Russia and Italy to agree on a declaration of war against Japan.
Actually, the plan of attack envisaged the deployment of practically the entire Japanese aircraft carrier and battle fleet, but a departure of the entire fleet shortly before the alliance declaration would rightly have attracted attention. It was perhaps the greatest risk that the naval leadership had taken so far. Only half of the 聯合艦隊 (Rengō Kantai) was to be used and fleet units from Southeast Asia were also to participate. If only about a quarter of the fleet left the Japanese ports, this was not conspicuous. If a quarter came from the south, it might look like a replacement. The heavy units from Formosa sailed north in storm speed, while the units from Japan sailed south in complete serenity. The meeting point was south of Sasebo and after the reunification a joint storm trip in an arc across the Pacific to the north. Storm ride was also quite accurate in terms of the weather, because the weather conditions were bad, very bad due to the season. After a stopover in Sakhalin to bunker and repair some sea damage, the 聯合艦隊 (Rengō Kantai) set off on the short journey to Vladivostok. There was practically no danger of being discovered, as there was now a really heavy storm. This was also favorable for the Japanese plans. Firstly, no one expected a Japanese attack during this storm, and secondly, the entire Russian fleet was in port because of the storm. Not even patrol boats were at sea.
For two days, the Imperial Japanese Fleet cruised north of Vladivostok until the weather literally fell asleep on the night of the eleventh to the twelfth of January, nineteen hundred and thirty-five. Clear visibility and absolute calm – mirror-smooth sea – best flying weather – perfect navigation conditions – almost at the same time as the proclamation of the alliance in Rome – as if by divine providence!
The command of the 聯合艦隊 (Rengō Kantai) was led by Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi and in such an important undertaking his leadership at the scene was obligatory. Its flagship was the Kawachi. The second ship of the Fuso class was the largest battleship built in the world to date, along with the Fuso itself. Seventy thousand tons of nominal weight made it a true monster, even if Japan's designers already had ninety thousand tons in mind. The Kawachi was armed with eight 18inch guns and twelve 8inch guns. In addition, there were eight 5-inch guns, which meanwhile played an important role in anti-aircraft defense. Forty medium and thirty-two light anti-aircraft guns completed the barrel artillery. At 27 knots, the Kawachi was only moderately fast, but anything that went faster could be blasted out of the water by the 18inch guns and in the age of airplanes, 27 or 30 knots were no longer of great importance. The tonnage could therefore be used for shells and armor instead of speed.
The 聯合艦隊 (Rengō Kantai) was the overarching whole, but the essential role on this day fell to the new mobile task force of the 機動部隊 ("Kidō Butai"). The core of the Kidō Butai on this twelfth January were the three fleet aircraft carriers Hiryu, Akagi and Soryu, which formed the 18th Aircraft Carrier Division and housed the 1st Air Fleet. The commander was Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa. He was assisted by Kaigun-taisa Genda Minoru as tactical advisor and squadron commander of the torpedo bombers. In addition, on board the lead ship Hiryu was the chief of staff of the Rengō Kantai Kaigun-Shōshō Toyoda Soemu.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi found it more useful for his chief of staff to be present directly on the aircraft carrier to streamline the chain of command and information.
When the storm disappeared around two o'clock in the morning as if by divine providence, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi called a meeting of all the key officers on board the Kawachi. The plan of attack should be discussed one last time and, if necessary, final changes should be made. All available information about one's own strength and the strength of the opponent was checked.
As usual, the lists of fleet strengths were exemplary as far as the Imperial Japanese Navy and the fleet of the Tsarist Empire were concerned. Very little was known about the Regia Marina – the Italian fleet, however. The alliance with Russia came unexpectedly and Italy has not played a significant role for the Japanese fleet so far. Italy had no colonies in the Far East and would probably never gain a foothold here. It was known of 26 capital ships and three light aircraft carriers. The rest was probably not important enough.
With this, those present looked at the following Pictures:
The Imperial Japanese Navy in January 1935
At the beginning of the war, the Imperial Japanese Navy consisted of the following units:
Suwo carrier squadron – 16 aircraft
Kehi Maru Carrier Squadron – 22 aircraft
Zuiho Carrier Squadron – 34 aircraft
Ryujo Carrier Squadron – 34 aircraft
Kaga Carrier Squadron – 60 aircraft
Hosho Carrier Squadron – 60 aircraft
Kaga Carrier Squadron – 60 aircraft
Akagi Carrier Squadron – 80 aircraft
Soryu Carrier Squadron – 80 aircraft
Shokaku Carrier Squadron – 100 aircraft
Hiryu Carrier Squadron – 100 aircraft
Naval Air Force Base Sasebo (Japan) – 60 aircraft
Yokosuka Naval Air Force Base (Japan) – 53 (60) aircraft
Noshiro Naval Air Base (Japan) – 53 (60) aircraft
Maizuru Naval Air Base (Japan) – 59 (60) aircraft
Niigata Naval Air Force Base (Japan) – 44 (60) aircraft
Kitakyushu Naval Air Base (Japan) – 46 (60) aircraft
Takao Air Base (Formosa) – 47 (60) aircraft
Keelung Air Base (Formosa) – 60 aircraft
Saint Jaques Air Base (Cochinchina) – 55 (60) aircraft
Than Hoa Air Base (Tonkin) – 47 (60) aircraft
Haiphong Air Base (Tonkin) – 58 (60) aircraft
Fort Bayard Air Force Base (Kwang-Chou-Wan) – 46 (60) aircraft
Hong Kong Air Force Base (Hong Kong) – 47 (60) aircraft
Wēihǎiwèi Air Base (Wēihǎiwèi) – 56 (60) aircraft
Tsingtau Air Base (Kiautcou Bay) – 46 (60) aircraft
Port Arthur Air Force Base (Liaodong Peninsula) – 46 (60) aircraft
Dalny Air Base (Liaodong Peninsula) – 60 aircraft
Korsakov Air Base (Sakhalin) – 43 (60) aircraft
Wakkanai Air Base (Hokkaido) – 48 (60) aircraft
Hakodate Air Base (Hokkaido) – 57 (60) aircraft
Kushiro Air Base (Hokkaido) – 56 (60) aircraft
Papeete Air Base (Polynesia) – 55 (60) aircraft
- - -
The Russian Navy in January 1935
At the beginning of the war, the fleet of the Tsarist Empire consisted of the following units:
The following units were under construction in January 1935:
1 Ingul-class aircraft mothership (8,300 tons)
5 Zavidni-class destroyers (1,700 tons each)
5 Moshhni-class destroyers (1,800 tons each)
3 corvettes of various classes (900 tons each)
1 Moika-class corvette (600 tons)
2 corvettes of various classes (600 tons each) – Currently docked for modernization
Air Force in January 1935:
Total number of naval aircraft: 597
Reval Airship Base (Baltic States)
Hangö airship base (Finland)
Airship base Riga (Baltic States)
Riga Air Force Base (Baltic States)
Hangö Air Force Base (Finland)
Naval Air Base Kronshtadt (Russia)
Petropavlovsk Air Base (Kamchatka)
Helsingfors Air Force Base (Finland)
Vladivostok Naval Air Base (Russia)
Chemulpo Air Force Base (South Korea)
Shortland Air Force Base (Bougainville)
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Comparison of forces between Japan and Russia:
Unmistakably, the Russian fleet was a classic battle fleet. Eleven battleships and seventeen battlecruisers against a single fleet carrier spoke a clear word here. In addition, no other fleet aircraft carrier were under construction. Although Russia had five light aircraft carriers, the Japanese did not take them seriously. Five light aircraft carriers did not even correspond in capacity to the two Japanese Taiho-class carriers under construction.
It didn't take much to realize that the Russian tonnage of large units was many times that of Japan.
The heavy cruisers were equal in numbers, but the Japanese heavy cruisers were real monsters compared to the Russian ones. The penchant for size has long dominated Japanese ship designers and was found almost universally in all ship classes.
Among the light cruisers, Japan clearly dominated and the comparison of the destroyer fleets defied description.
Now the Regia Marina was added, which continued to shift the imbalance in capital ships to the side of the Russian-Italian alliance. In the light forces, however, Japan continued to have the advantage.
Unlike so many other opponents, however, Russia had a very large, well-developed port in Northeast Asia in Vladivostok. Russia could supply its fleet here. Something that the other European colonial powers were unable to do. They always had to withdraw their large battleships after a few weeks or months. Even the Italian fleet could be supplied in Vladivostok.
Vladivostok, however, had a significant malus. Until the annexation of South Korea, it was practically locked up in the Sea of Japan, and even with South Korea, this had only changed theoretically. The Russian bases in South Korea still had to be expanded and would then still be far outnumbered. Even if the Russian fleet crept close to the coast, it was within range of hundreds of Japanese bombers, without Russia being able to ensure a defense.
Just as the Russian fleet was in principle trapped in the Japanese Sea, the Italian fleet could be kept out of the Japanese Sea.
The Russians were sitting in their base and couldn't get out and the Italians couldn't get in. As great as the first shock may have been. The danger from the Regia Marina was low. The Italians had no bases here and what the Russians could offer with South Korea and the South Pacific was not even close to enough to supply twenty-six Italian capital ships.
Thus, the comparison of forces boiled down to a single question:
How well trained were Genda Minoru's bomber pilots and what were the developments of the Japanese aviation industry really able to achieve?
The answer to this question would decide the war, and the answer would be known in a few hours.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi concluded his lecture at half past four in the morning and dismissed his officers in the direction of their ships. The twilight would be over at about seven-thirty. Then the first planes could take off. This allowed everyone about two hours of sleep and he ordered all his senior officers to do so. There could be no mistakes due to fatigue – not today. As the barges departed from the Kawachi, a radio message arrived from Tōkyō: "Kuro-dake yama Nobore 0112" - that was both permission and order!
The early morning of the twelfth of January nineteen hundred and thirty-five not only decided the fate of Japan, but also passed judgment on future naval warfare: 90,000-ton battleships or 4-ton light aircraft?
At seven o'clock nineteen, Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa found the situation to be good enough to give the order to attack. By the time all the machines were ready, it would be completely light for this time of year.
The first wave of attacks consisted of:
35 Aichi Seiran Fighter planes
17 Kawanishi Donryu Model C dive bombers
16 Kawasaki Seiku dive bombers
39 Kawasaki Shoki Model B torpedo bombers
18 Aichi Tokai torpedo bombers
More aircraft could not take off at the same time for a coordinated take-off if the individual squadrons were not to be torn apart.
The 18th Japanese Carrier Division turned to the wind!
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Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi followed the change of course with the battle fleet. Like a massive wall, this part of the 聯合艦隊 (Rengō Kantai) drove away from the front of the fleet carriers to clear out of the way what was trying to find its way from Vladivostok to the Japanese carriers.
But nothing would come. The Russian fleet lay in the Amur Bay west of Vladivostok without making steam. Of course, it was a risk, but the two submarines I-83 and I-110 had sneaked into the entire Peter the Great Bay during the storm and determined the exact location of the battleships. With the wind subsiding, I-83 had sent the short radio message "Storm in the west" and also received the answer "Also storm front in the east" as confirmation. Both radio messages were too short to be located in a targeted manner and because they had been sent via civil frequencies and unencrypted, they were not particularly conspicuous. Japanese cargo ships gave the weather conditions and it was peace in general and nothing unusual. Especially since such short messages had been made for weeks.
No reason for the guard to become suspicious. The weather was also much too bad for that. He noted these two radio messages in the daily log, which he would present to his superior at eight o'clock in the morning for relief and hoped that the storm would now really subside.
For Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi, things were different. The radio message meant nothing more than that the Tsar's fleet was in the western of the two bays and with the answer he gave both U-boats to understand that the attack would take place and that his convoy was to the east.
If enemy ships were at sea, the light cruisers of the Reconnaissance Division and the maritime reconnaissance ships of the 帝国海軍航空隊 (Teikoku Kaigun Kōkūtai - Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force) were instructed to report either whales for detected capital ships or tuna for detected light units. Enemy aircraft were to be passed on as storm gulls.
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Finally, more than an hour later, the first wave of attacks was in the air. The reconnaissance planes of the battleships and cruisers were already halfway to Vladivostok at this point, which only now began to leave Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi with a sinking feeling.
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Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi disliked all this!
In the past, if an order to attack had been given, it meant that only seconds later the thunder of cannons would kill everything else. Now more than an hour had passed since his order to attack, and he watched through his binoculars as small dots in the distance rose from the decks of the carriers into the sky and disappeared there.
The first sightings came from the scouts over the radio and only now Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi wondered who had actually planned this? Of course - if the Russian fleet now began to heat up the boilers, it would have been much too late. But it would have been better if the Russians only found out that something was happening when the first bombs fell. Enlighteners were nothing unusual. Just as Japanese maritime reconnaissance aircraft always visited Vladivostok, so did the Russian maritime reconnaissance aircraft over Japanese ports. But these were not the big long-haul planes, but small seaplanes. It didn't take much to know that these could only come from ships.
The mistake was quickly found, because it was still part of the operational doctrine of capital ships to launch the seaplanes first. This may have been true at the beginning of the era of sea-based aviation, and it was also a great help for the battle fleet – at least in theory.
For a surprise attack of modern aircraft carrier fleets, it was a mistake!
+ + +
But the worst phase of modern naval warfare began now. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi stood on the bridge of the Kawachi and could do nothing. Nothing happened and it would go on for an eternity. He couldn't do anything, it was frustrating.
His unit continued to push towards Vladivostok. His battleships, because that was the plan, and also the aircraft carriers, because the launch of the second wave of attacks had long been prepared there and the carriers had to steer against the wind. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi also found this to be of little use. He could maneuver his battleships relatively freely, but aircraft carriers had to steer against the wind to be able to take off and land the aircraft. As long as the wind was favorable, this was not a problem, but today it led to the carriers heading almost directly to Vladivostok and actually it would be better if the carriers kept their distance from there.
He ordered the carriers to keep their distance as best they could!
+ + +
At nine thirteen, the first planes reached the entrance to Peter the Great Bay. This was divided into the western Amur Bay and the eastern Ussuri Bay. Between these two side bays lay the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula and there at the southern tip was Vladivostok. Off the coast is Russky Island with its numerous coastal batteries!
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In the meantime, radios were relatively widespread and were in principle available even in smaller aircraft (https://www.bastel-radio.de/funkschau-d ... 0er-jahre/). One of the innovations of modern naval warfare was that the officers on board the ships and aircraft carriers stood spellbound in front of the loudspeakers to listen directly to the radio communication. This is also the case on board the Kawachi and, of course, the three fleet aircraft carriers. Radio discipline, on the other hand, was not so self-evident, but this was also related to the pitfalls of the technology.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi didn't really want to expose himself to this action, but of course there was also a loudspeaker on the bridge of the Kawachi. This very one now began to crackle and rustle terribly. It was only moderately easy to understand, but nevertheless one could put together the message:
On board the Hiryu, the topic of aircraft radio was better under control. Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa stood on the bridge and listened to the reports. He had expected it to be Kaigun-taisa Genda Minoru who would make the announcements, but the slow torpedo bombers would probably be a little behind. A problem that had already occurred again and again during the previous exercises. The coordination of several squadrons was a problem, if it was also a matter of squadrons of different squadrons, any planning was in vain, no matter what it looked like on paper!
It crackled again in the loudspeaker:
"Bomber Soryu – two rows of battleships west of Vladivostok – light anti-aircraft fire – no enemy fighters – repeat no enemy fighters – the surprise succeeded – to ba to ba to ba!"
"Hit – hit – bomb hit on corvette!"
"Barrage – can't get close to the big pots – barrage – barrage"
"Next to it – shit – next to it – next to it"
"I can't get close – crap – miss"
+ + +
Disillusioned, Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa looked at the group of his officers
"What was that? – A corvette? A single hit on a corvette?"
He looked into embarrassed faces – no one dared to say anything!
+ + +
There was another crackling in the loudspeaker. This time the voice of Kaigun-taisa Genda Minoru was heard.
"Torpedo leader to torpedo bomber – nice and low down guys – as we practiced – they can't get that deep to us with their anti-aircraft guns."
"Torpedoes Hiryu attack from starboard – torpedoes Akagi attack from port – fighters hold down the Falk – repeat – fighters hold down the anti-aircraft guns – to ra to ra to ra!"
+ + +
Now it became exciting. Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa knew that Genda had better coordinated his torpedo bombers.
Dive bombers were also comparatively new, the development was rapid, but torpedo bombers had long practiced tactics that did not yet exist in dive bombers.
"Hit hit – torpedo hit!"
"Torpedoes off – torpedoes off"
"Mine is already in the water"
"Mine too – mine too!"
"Runs dead straight towards it"
"Very good, very good..."
"Mine is out..."
"Watch out for the cruiser – it has quite a few anti-aircraft guns"
"Hit – torpedo hit!"
"Another - hit - hit"
"Group Akagi reports four torpedo hits on an enemy ship!"
+ + +
Finally, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi also had a usable reception. Only to be annoyed at how bad the radio messages of the pilots were. Hit? What kind of hits? On which ships? All on the same ship, or all on different ships? Were the battleships hit or just destroyers? Were there follow-up explosions, do the targets have a bias?
NOTHING – these messages were useless – they were NOTHING!
He looked at his orderly: "Go to the radio room – report to commanders of the Japanese 20th Reconnaissance Division – set course for Amur Bay – I need exact target information!"
The orderly saluted and disappeared in the direction of the radio operator's booth, more messages came from the loudspeaker...
"Torpedo hits – torpedo hits!"
"Torpedo hits – torpedo hits!"
"Torpedo hits – torpedo hits!"
"Runs dead straight towards it..."
"Mine too – looks good!"
"Hit, hit - he sat down!"
+ + +
Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa was more optimistic.
"Did you count?"
"I'm at twenty-five now."
"We have twenty-six!"
"Was it only twenty-two?"
"Twenty-seven and a report about torpedo nets!"
"Anyway – Genda will count."
"Gentlemen, we have to do better – bad radio quality or not!"
"But you can probably say that the attack is successful!"
+ + +
"What about the second wave?"
"Should arrive at the finish area at any moment!"
"But are they mainly dive bombers?"
"Yes, Kaigun-chūjō Yonai – dive bomber!"
+ + +
"Bomber Hiryu – take the fat barge at the top with the side – finish him off!"
"Bomb is out – bomb is out..."
"Hit – hit – bomb hit on enemy battleship!"
"Hit – I got a destroyer!"
"Me too – me too!"
"Battleship – Battleship – Bomb hit on battleship – I got a battleship!"
"One more goal – it's burning – it's burning!"
"Hit – hit – two bomb hits on battleship!"
"He's also burning – hit – hit on battleship"
"I'll take the battlecruiser in the north – hit – hit!"
+ + +
Gradually, Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa also started to think!
"It's not enough – it won't be enough!"
"No matter what we hit there – the Russians have so many ships here – it's not enough! If the hits are to be counted collectively on a few ships, we have sunk them safely. But how many will there be? Four, five? And if we hit a lot of ships, what then? Battleships don't sink with just one torpedo or even just one bomb if it doesn't hit the magazine!"
"It's not enough – it won't be enough!"
"When the squadrons are back – immediately rearm and refuel and send them out again – but it's not enough!"
"Report to Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi – it won't be enough – the torpedo bombers won't be enough!"
When Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi received the news from the Hiryu that the planes had achieved great successes, but that they would by no means be enough for a comprehensive victory, he had already acted!
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi may have been a representative of the battleship generation, but he was also an experienced officer who had served long enough to be able to assess a tactical situation. The order to several of his destroyer flotillas to leave the formation and run towards Amur Bay had long since been issued. Of course, the "combined attack of the torpedo bombers and battle fleet on Vladivostok" provided in principle for the use of capital ships, but everyone knew that this was only a pretext. The tacticians in the admiral's staff were sure that the aircraft carriers would be enough and that the battleships were only there as a nostalgic view. Even if it really came to a direct confrontation, according to old tradition, it would again be the destroyers who had to shoulder the burden.
That's exactly what Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had now ordered!
Its flagship was the second ship of the Fuso class, but due to problems at the shipyard, the Kawachi was commissioned three years before the Fuso was commissioned. The Kawachi was already eleven years old, while the Fuso was only eight years old. Both ships had not been used during the German-Japanese Spring War of 1929, which is why critics described them as the most powerful ships made of paper.
Even he thought it was impossible that Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi would ever give the order to fire the most powerful artillery pieces ever installed on a warship at enemy capital ships. Today was soon to teach him better!
The sea rippled. The calm had turned into a light breeze — the Imperial Japanese Navy was hunting — with ships — not just planes!
+ + +
On the Hiryu, Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa overheard a straggler report his attack. That was nothing special. There were always stragglers. Most of them had problems with their aircraft and could not hold the formation. Clever pilots turned around and landed on their carrier. Less clever pilots flew on and were shot down. Daring pilots reached the goal without achieving anything, and heroes – such as Genda Minoru – placed a torpedo in an enemy ship.
This pilot was one of the daring kind. He didn't hit anything, but it wasn't until several seconds later that Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa realized what this pilot had just announced:
"Enemy fleet carrier – makes speed and leaves the bay – see launch preparations – attack – attack – torpedo is out!"
+ + +
Even before Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa could react, his orderly came and reported that Genda was approaching.
"He should come to me immediately – he is banned from taking off – I need him here with me!"
+ + +
Again a messenger came from the radio room:
"Commander – Carrier Akagi reports a formation of dive bombers ready for take-off, carrier Soryu has a squadron of fighters ready for action."
"Where's Genda?"
"Is still in the air, commander – he wants to wait until everyone has landed, commander."
"He's supposed to land — there's an enemy aircraft carrier — I want to know why he didn't see it?"
"Yes, commander – and the Akagi commander?"
"Let's start everything they have and find these fleet carriers. When they arrive, this Russian carrier will already be somewhere south or east of Russky Island – that's where they should look!"
"Yes, commander!"
+ + +
On the Kawachi, too, all kinds of messages were now constantly sent to Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi. The latest said that three heavy cruisers with destroyers escort were on their way to the northeast.
"That can only be wrong! If these ships are so far south, they should have been at sea all along. Where does the message come from?"
"Maritime Reconnaissance Number Sixty-Three from Niigata."
"Radio and ask if it has to be called from northeast? That's the only thing that makes sense, that they want to intercept us!"
"And what is this?"
"We think this is a hoax. The submarines have strict orders to maintain radio silence. But supposedly I-110 torpedoed and hit an enemy battlecruiser."
"Too bad that we can't ask without endangering our submarines."
+ + +
"Kaigun-chūjō – I-110 has again sent a radio message confirming the torpedo hit on the battlecruiser, and the commander is now reporting another hit on a battleship!"
"Capable man – driving around there is probably the most dangerous thing you can do as a submariner at the moment. To torpedo two capital ships at once in this chaos is a great achievement."
+ + +
"Radio message from cruiser Niitaka – five enemy ships spotted southwest of Russky Island.
"This could be the enemy carrier group. The Niitaka is supposed to reconnaissance the enemy but keep its distance. Our own carriers have a third and fourth wave at the start. They don't know that our cruisers have now penetrated so far into the bay. Tell the cruisers to make sure that they must be clearly recognizable as Japanese ships from the air."
+ + +
"New radio message from cruiser Niitaka – enemy ships classified as heavy cruisers and battlecruisers – Niitaka is under heavy fire. Message from Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa – our carriers have turned into the wind to start the next wave!"
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi immediately knew that the bombers taking off would not stop these ships and that these ships could reach his convoy very quickly. It was imperative to take the Niitaka back at first, otherwise the cruiser would be hopelessly shot down. But he would sacrifice the destroyers – he knew that – the destroyer commanders knew that – the crews knew that. Two destroyer flotillas had already received the order to deploy, but were still cruising parallel to the Japanese main force at a distance from the enemy.
This decision not to immediately storm into the lion's den now proved to be the direction. The destroyers were exactly where they were needed. They acted as a defensive bar against the enemy, could swing into the bay at any time or intercept overly daring attackers.
It had to be the case that these battlecruisers had not anchored in the Amur Bay from the outset, but in one of the small bays a little off the beaten track. This explained the position and the fact that the torpedo bombers had taken no notice of it. The fact that these ships had not appeared earlier was probably due to the fact that steam had to be made first. Despite the improvement in the weather during the night, no departure had been planned because of the weekend.
The final attack order for the destroyers has now been issued!
+ + +
Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa had just received an overview of the identified enemy ships when Genda finally appeared at his house and brought very bad news. A wave of torpedo bombers could still be equipped, but after that the existing torpedoes were no longer sufficient for all bombers! This made it clear that the reduction of the attack fleet from six to only three aircraft carriers had been a serious mistake.
Three carriers were clearly unable to neutralize the entire enemy fleet in Vladivostok. It came to the point that the wind direction required to drive exactly towards the enemy in order to launch the planes. Now the destroyers and light cruisers had to succeed in diverting the enemy from his course, or the day could turn into a disaster.
+ + +
One by one, the aircraft of the third wave and even the fourth wave rose into the air from the decks of the three fleet carriers. Overall, the squadrons were already decimated by combat losses and landing accidents. Coordination was also no longer concentrated and structured. There would be a clearer mix of dive bombers and torpedo bombers, which would reduce efficiency but reduce the likelihood of being shot down.
In addition, a little more hunters were now held back as hunting protection for their own ships. After it became known that an operational enemy aircraft carrier was preparing for take-off, a counterstrike from the air had to be expected at any time. This had to be thwarted at all costs.
+ + +
One of the oldest Japanese operational tactics was to push the enemy into torpedo-infested waters. The Russian fleet was only too familiar with this behavior, as it cost the Tsar's fleet countless ships and two wars. Nevertheless, the captain of the Niitaka remembered exactly this tactic and ordered a torpedo fan to be deployed. He reported this coded to the other ships and recommended that they do the same.
Immediately afterwards, parts of the cruiser's crew were struck down by a hit.
+ + +
The Niitaka sighted more and more enemy ships and with this superiority it was only a matter of time before the enemy had zeroed in on the Niitaka and scored hits.
+ + +
Some of the ships had clear damage, but none appeared to be badly damaged. The flotilla leader of the Japanese 31st Destroyer Flotilla looked fascinated at the sky as the third wave of bombers flew over his destroyers, then whispered softly:
"Your time will come, but today my destroyers bring the decision of this battle!"
Then he watched as the first bombers pounced from the sky in the distance on the enemy, whom he himself could not yet spot.
+ + +
Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa had ordered his carrier division to take a strict southerly course after the bombers took off in order to maneuver his unit out of the danger zone. Whether that would be enough or whether he had to turn to the wind again sooner than he would have liked remained to be seen.
About ten minutes later, the first radio messages from the bombers of the third wave arrived.
+ + +
Only now did Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa notice that the pilots spoke of stationary ships with a pitch. Instead of flying south of Russky Island as ordered, these pilots flew back to Amur Bay to bomb the already battered battleships.
At least the torpedo bombers seemed to do better.
The Russian commander had divided his ships into two battle lines and, after some maneuvering, was now heading straight for the Japanese ships again. He didn't seem to care about the Japanese planes yet. He was clearly out to catch the annoying Japanese light cruiser cruising around at the edge of his effective artillery range, probably to direct these planes.
+ + +
Gradually, the damage to the Niitaka took on threatening proportions, but the air attack on the battlecruisers promised help. At least for a moment, the enemy's rate of fire and accuracy decreased.
+ + +
For the enemy battlecruisers, everything now came together. The air attack as such, however, also the disorder of the battle line, enemy destroyers and cruisers on the way and the Japanese torpedo as the symbolic basic evil of all evils.
The Japanese destroyers used the chaos caused by the air raid to do what was demanded of the Niitaka – to contaminate the water with torpedoes.
On the Hiryu, the situation was completely different for Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa and Kaigun-taisa Genda Minoru. Here you only knew what came out of the loudspeaker in the last minutes and currently:
"To ba to ba to ba"
it sounded again and again when a squadron of dive bombers went into a nosedive. Although they were now attacking moving targets, the hit yield was incomparably higher.
"Attack battleship – bomb out – bomb out – HIT – this was sitting – bomb hit on battleship amidships."
"Take the cruiser – the cruiser – that's a good choice."
"Bomb out – bomb out – hit – hit – hit – hit on heavy cruiser."
+ + +
The battlecruisers were now joined by Russian battleships, but even on these you could already see damage from the first two waves. Apparently, the first attacks had hit almost everything somehow, but nothing so massive to put the ships out of action.
"Attention, you're flying too close to each other – more distance – so that one doesn't ram the other – it's better that way and now torpedoes... – torpedoes... - wait... – TORPEDOES GO!"
"Mine is out!"
"Mine too..."
"Run nicely towards the battlecruiser."
"Hit – hit – torpedo hit on battlecruiser aft at gun turret level."
"Mine is through underneath – such a bummer!"
"And mine missed the bow."
"Silence – ONLY report hits!"
+ + +
Then came the moment that the flotilla leader had talked about. The enemy ships had maneuvered so chaotically due to the air attack that they had now got into the middle of the swarms of destroyer torpedoes. Torpedo hits were the almost inevitable result. But the enemy had also used his torpedoes, which caused a moment of shock on the Kiso. Completely focused on the enemy, no one had noticed the torpedo path that ran towards the light cruiser. Only at the last moment did a sailor shout:
"TORPEDO TORPEDO!"
Then there was a dull blow to the fuselage and to everyone's relief, the Russian torpedo was a dud. Only seconds later, the Kiso was hit by the broadside of a battlecruiser and immediately made large quantities of water. The Kiso was badly damaged and swerved out of the convoy!
+ + +
Overall, the tactic seemed to work to force the enemy to turn away. Torpedo hits also occurred. However, the destroyers were nowhere near their earlier successes. If a final proof was needed that the time of torpedo attacks by destroyers was over, it was provided today. The destroyers had no chance to get close enough to the enemy capital ships to place whole series of torpedoes in their hulls.
+ + +
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi scored goals! He was satisfied, but knew that the day was far from over. For the moment, it had to be enough that most of the enemy capital ships were at least badly damaged enough to have to go to the shipyard for several months. As large as the Vladivostok naval base was, it did not have many dry docks. Russia would not be able to repair all ships here in a timely manner!
The fact that successes always brought disadvantages was felt by the destroyers and light cruisers according to old Japanese tradition. So far, it had been almost moderate, but gradually the number and quality of goals increased. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi now expected his first loss report at any time.
But then something completely different came over the loudspeaker:
"Fighters Fighters – a whole swarm of enemy fighters – will be shot at!"
"Reconnaissance number one Kasagi – I'm being shot at – Hit – Damn it - Reconnaissance number one Kasagi – I'm hit – Attempts to water - Reconnaissance number one Kasagi to everyone – enemy aircraft – in the combat zone – enemy aircraft – in the combat zone ..."
+ + +
"Bomber Akagi – to ba to ba to ba!"
Just at the moment when the dive bomber squadron of the Akagi reported their attack, the long overdue message came:
"Cruiser Kiso to flagship – direct hit amidships – ship is unstoppable – Cruiser Kiso to all, we are sinking – Cruiser Kiso to all, we are sinking!”
Then the reports came thick and fast:
"Destroyer Kaede on flagship – heavy hits – ship takes water and loses speed..."
"Bomber Akagi – bullseye – bullseye – bullseye on a heavy cruiser!"
"I'll take the destroyer to port – bomb out – bomb out..."
"Hit – hit – I hit a battleship – Bullseye! Wow that was a bullseye!"
"I'll take the cruiser – damn next to it – next to it – such a bummer!"
"Cruiser Kiso – the enemy is shooting us down now – order all men off board – cruiser Kiso, we are disembarking!"
"Bomber Akagi – heavy explosion detected on destroyer Yuzuki – destroyer begins to capsize and burns ablaze!"
"Torpedoes Soryu – to ra to ra to ra – attack on enemy battlecruiser – torpedoes out!"
+ + +
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi hardly found the time to catch his breath. Success and failure now marched hand in hand. But the worst thing was the look at the map when the latest sighting reports had been entered. The opponent was clearly on the rise. All delays seemed to have been in vain, and so far two ships had been lost. There has not yet been a confirmed report of sinking or already sunken enemy ships!
Apparently, the Russians had learned one thing from the Japanese: A ship is only sunk when it is sunk. All the fury of two lost wars against Japan was felt by the light cruiser Kiso. Many sailors of the crew would probably not have managed to leave the Kiso alive.
The cruiser was literally sifted!
The only positive news was the fact that between the enemy and the Japanese aircraft carriers there was now the Japanese battle line in between.
Then some sirens roared – did it come from the loudspeaker or from one of the destroyers?
"Enemy bomber commander – our fighters are attacking!" roared one of the deck officers on the bridge.
+ + +
Now the alarm bells were ringing on all ships, including the Kawachi!
"BOMBER BOMBER!"
someone roared from outside the bridge, then the deafening noise of the anti-aircraft guns broke out. The rattling and rattling merged into an unreal roar, interspersed with the dull BOOM-BOOM-BOOM, BOOM-BOOM-BOOM of the heavy anti-aircraft guns. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi stepped up to the starboard window of the bridge against the advice of the officers present. In the immediate vicinity of the Kawachi sailed the destroyer Suzunami. The distance was probably less than fifty yards. This was intentional so that the approaching bombers could not fire torpedoes at the battleships.
But here came dive bombers. A whole gang came down from the sky and released their bombs. It was long too late to dodge. The first went into the water in the middle between the Kawachi and the Suzunami. A torrent poured over both ships and obscured the view of the other and the rest of the bombers.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM - BOOM-BOOM-BOOM - BOOM-BOOM-BOOM - drummed the anti-aircraft guns in the ears of Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi...
The two torpedo hits were now finally too much for the light cruiser Kiso. The ship was more of a sieve than anything else anyway. Now, however, gigantic masses of water poured into the hull. The latter lost its balance, the stern sagged, tore itself away from the front part of the ship, both parts leaned a little to the side and sank into the depths.
+ + +
This Russian torpedo bomber attack was the signal for Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi to end the battle in an orderly manner. Twilight would not be long in coming. His own naval aviators were completely exhausted and the Russian aviators were fresh and combative. When it came to hand-to-hand combat as darkness increased, there was much more to be said for the Russian fleet than for the Japanese.
As of now, the attack was a success. With minimal losses of their own, the Russian fleet had not been completely sunk, but taken out of the war for months. Trying to achieve the final victory could still turn the tide. No, the mistake was the too few carriers for the first shot. Now that the Tsar's fleet began to seek the battle for its part, there was nothing left to gain but everything to lose.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi gave the order to take back all ships while fighting and to cover the aircraft carriers until the flight operations were over and the carriers could expire.
+ + +
What was still to come were rearguard battles. The Russians followed up with light forces to keep in touch. It was to be assumed that this served to prepare for a more massive air attack. It was precisely these light forces that had to be employed and kept away from the Japanese carriers. Other air strikes also served this purpose, but Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi would probably have to use his artillery again.
Somewhat surprising, however, was the following radio message:
"Bomber Soryu – several badly damaged battleships with a landing side and some fire on board lie directly off Vladivostok – to ba to ba to ba."
"What the hell?" - Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi was speechless for a moment.
"What are they doing above the city? They should attack the ships near us!"
"Bomber Soryu – to everyone – the fat pot at the harbor entrance looks the worst hit – finish him off!"
"Watch out, the barge is fighting back."
"Bomb is out!"
"Bomb is out!"
"Mine too – bomb is out!"
"Hit – hit – bomb hit amidships on enemy battleship!"
+ + +
The enemy now also followed up with battlecruisers, but as well as the Japanese fleet, exercised caution. The closing took place slowly, probably in order not to get into a flotilla of destroyers again. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi ordered the light cruisers to block the enemy's way. The modern light cruisers had demonstrated their enormous resilience and would therefore certainly keep the enemy busy long enough to let the carrier fleet run off.
Their own bombers also finally attacked the more dangerous targets, even if little was known about the eventual success.
+ + +
All this was not very satisfactory and finally Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi decided to seek direct combat with his battleships.
+ + +
At 15:30 local time, the time had come. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi gave the order to fire for the main heavy artillery, and the Kawachi's 18inch guns were finally able to do what they were conceived, designed, and built to do – pierce enemy capital ships!
+ + +
In the middle of the attack, there was another air alarm, but this time the japanese fighter planes were on the spot. A dogfight ensued above the battleships and an enemy torpedo bomber crashed into the sea directly in front of the battle line.
Then water columns rose into the sky all around the Kawachi. The enemy had also come within firing range, and as in the blessed times of seafaring, the volleys now crashed down on the ships on both sides. The Kawachi was lifted several meters by the pressure of her broadside before the hull swung back and tried to stabilize, only to be lifted again with the next salvo. The 18inch guns represented the temporary end of Japanese heavy ship artillery. Although 20inch guns had already been designed, there were not even test tubes. Even the battleship enthusiasts within the Imperial Japanese Navy shied away from having a battleship of this caliber laid down.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi could now see that this decision had probably been reasonable. The rate of fire of the 18inch guns was lower than that of the 16inch guns, the extra weight of the shells was almost unbelievably high and the hit rate on the longer range compared to the 16inch shells was simply not good enough to gain a significant advantage.
+ + +
The opponents were now driving roughly parallel to each other, and that today would bring a classic battle of the line, no one had thought possible just a few hours ago. All the radio messages from the bombers receded into the background. Now it was artillery against artillery, ship against ship. The fact that four modern Japanese battleships faced two older Russian battlecruisers did not matter.
This was a battle of the line – nothing else!
Then came what everyone had been waiting for. A shell from the Kawachi drilled into the battlecruiser, which was identified as belonging to the Kaliakriya class. There, powerful black smoke immediately rose into the sky and the ship, which was just about to catch up, immediately changed its course away from the Kawachi group.
+ + +
Now Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi, for his part, sought rapprochement with the opponent, who at least had not fled. The Yamashiro had received a heavy hit, but repaid it with her 16inch guns.
The enemy battlecruisers now turned away. Firstly, Japanese destroyers were on their heels and secondly, the hits of heavy Japanese artillery increased.
+ + +
The fact that the Tsar's fleet had other ships in the vicinity was known from the sighting reports of the reconnaissance aircraft. It was also known that the Russian destroyers in particular had received almost nothing, apart from individual exceptions. Nevertheless, the Russian fleet now seemed to be withdrawing and did not bring any more ships into battle. The task of securing the Japanese carriers had thus been achieved. But now there was one big question for Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi to answer:
The distance to the enemy was relatively large, but Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi could still see through his binoculars how some Japanese bombers were attacking.
Somehow he had to acknowledge the courage of the pilots.
The reward came by radio. Some of the few bombers still equipped with torpedoes reported two hits on an enemy ship, presumably a battlecruiser. Then there was a loud bang and the kawachi reverted. It was different from the firing of the ship's huge guns and promptly a sailor came running and reported a hit in the engine room of the Kawachi, which, however, had remained without consequences.
+ + +
Then the Japanese 16th Destroyer Flotilla approached the two battlecruisers, and Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi hoped to finally hunt down the enemy. However, it was also noticeable that the destroyers visibly had problems getting into a favorable firing position.
+ + +
A damage report was received from the destroyer Nasu. The commander of the Nasu was pleased to announce that he had repaired the radio and stopped the flooding. The Nasu is stable, but has a considerable drawback.
Less pleasing was the fact that the artillery hits were only sporadic and the destroyers could hardly catch up. At that moment, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi decided to give up the pursuit, even though he did not give an order to do so. He felt that the destroyers would not succeed and pursuing the enemy could lead his battleships to their doom. Wherever the two Russian battlecruisers headed, there would be more of their kind, and the hit pattern was already unusable. It wouldn't get any better against more enemy ships in the approaching twilight.
+ + +
East of its battle group, an enemy light cruiser attempted to break through to the Japanese aircraft carriers and was at least successful in inflicting considerable damage on the Japanese cruiser Suma. This was the final signal to let go of the battlecruisers and pursue this cruiser that had gone wild.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had the course changed and everyone present could read the disillusionment about this day that had started so promisingly on his face.
This did not improve when the report was received that the destroyer Shii had been badly hit and that a total loss was to be expected.
+ + +
The remaining destroyers gave everything to catch the enemy after all, but from the pursuit a successful torpedo attack had always been difficult. In the meantime, however, the battlecruisers were hardly significantly slower than the destroyers, which made the whole thing impossible.
At the first opportunity, destroyer Suzunami fired several torpedoes. There was at least the hope of forcing the opponent to change course and that would perhaps enable a better start.
+ + +
Barely a moment later, the Suzunami was shot down and swerved out of the convoy!
At least now there was an opportunity for the other destroyers to shoot. The Russian battlecruisers continued to concentrate on the Suzunami and were successful. It took less than five minutes and the destroyer broke apart and began to sink.
+ + +
After the news of the sinking of the Suzunami, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi ordered the battle to be stopped. Dusk began to fall over the bay and the destroyers would have no chance of getting close enough to the enemy for a safe torpedo attack. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi did not want to sacrifice any more destroyers. The war was only at the beginning and how much the enemy had been hit was completely in the dark.
+ + +
Destroyer Akizuki took care of the recovery of the survivors of the Suzunami, the remaining ships had received orders to retake an orderly formation. Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi himself tried to sink at least this light cruiser.
+ + +
The remnants of the Japanese 16th Destroyer Flotilla got into battle with a second light cruiser as they sailed, but at least there were their own light cruisers in the immediate vicinity for support. The first light cruiser was kept at bay by Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi with his battleships, and the Kawachi made heavy hits with the main and secondary artillery, which the enemy certainly could not withstand for long.
+ + +
But then the darkness took its toll and the enemy ships went out of sight. Their own light cruisers tried to enter the battle again, but the enemy avoided exposing themselves to further shelling. Only when the Tsushima and Otowa abruptly let the enemy come up did further hits be made.
+ + +
A short but fierce exchange of blows ensued, in which the Japanese light cruisers kept the upper hand and were ultimately able to successfully torpedo the enemy. After a total of three torpedo hits on the Nadezhda-class light cruiser, the enemy was left to its fate and turned away.
+ + +
At around eighteen-forty local time, the Imperial Japanese Forces had finally broken away from the enemy and Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi drew a first conclusion. He was very dissatisfied because he could hardly say anything about the opponent's losses. How was he supposed to appear in front of his superiors? How was he supposed to stand in front of the Tennō?
What could he say?
"We fought, we gave it our all, but we don't know what we hit and possibly sank?"
Salvation came hours later, when radio messages from the two submarines were received in quick succession. Not only were the two U-boat commanders able to give an exact report on which battleships had been hit and sunk directly at their anchorage, no, the two U-boats had also sailed the entire bay and scouted out the positions of the ships that were still afloat and provided information on their recognizable condition.
The day may not have been a crushing victory, but it was certainly a great success!
The torpedo bombers had proven their effectiveness and it was only due to the small number that it had not hit significantly more enemy ships!
Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Saturday, January 12, 1935
Immediately after the special broadcast on the radio, Osaki Satoshi jumped into his car and drove to the editorial office at daring speed. On the streets there were some tumultuous scenes between war supporters and war opponents. His vehicle had also received some raw eggs, but otherwise he had not suffered any injuries himself. Radio was the new source of information, that had become clear to him immediately. The positive effect was that his reaction was already almost unanimously present when he arrived at the publishing house. The negative effect was that a daily newspaper could never put an extra paper on the street so quickly.
He felt a pain he had never known before, the pain of looming insignificance!
He leaves the same pain in the faces of his editors, as it can undoubtedly be read in his face.
"There's one thing radio can't do," he roared without even saying a greeting – "Pictures!" – Radio has no Pictures!
"Get everything there is to have about Vladivostok from the map department."
"Why?" asked a young employee who had only recently started working for the publishing house
"We invent what happened ourselves - put it on paper as illustrated maps and are still on the street with it tonight!"
"We're inventing it ourselves?"
"Yes, of course! – there aren't that many possibilities – we know the starting point and we're not that stupid either – we'll be able to present a credible scenario."
"But..."
"Nothing, but! – that's how we do it! At the same time, we ring all the experts who could say something out of bed – they should at least confirm the rough facts so that we don't write complete nonsense. In war, a lot of false things are published anyway – even intentionally – remember! If something turns out to be completely flawed, we blame it on a transmission error or a deliberate hoax by the secret service to confuse the enemy."
"But our reputation?"
"Our reputation suffers if we don't bring anything – if we leave everything to the radio – the other publishers certainly don't dare to do that – so tomorrow morning we'll be the newspaper that explains the attack on Vladivostok in words and Pictures to the street!"
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>> Memorandum of Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi on the invasion of Vladivostok 12 January 1935 <<
Honored officers and members of the 大本営 (Daihon'ei),
I'll report! The task of destroying the enemy was achieved. Before there are any objections that many of the enemy's warships have not been sunk at all, this is of course true, but dear officers and members of the 大本営 (Daihon'ei), these ships are badly damaged, unable to fight and cannot be comprehensively repaired in Vladivostok.
The opponent lacks the necessary shipyard capacity in Asia. So it doesn't matter that many ships didn't sink. For at least the next two to three months, we will have complete freedom of action in Asia, and that was the goal of the task that has been assigned to me.
We have achieved this goal!
Now I would like to mention that the revision of the plan of attack on Vladivostok could even have cost us the victory. The power of Kaigun-taisa Genda Minoru's torpedo bombers has been proven and there is nothing to argue about – but – honored officers and members of the 大本営 (Daihon'ei) – there were simply far too few torpedo bombers that we deployed.
The original plan was to deploy all six of our large aircraft carriers. This number was halved for strategic reasons. We have to acknowledge that as a mistake. With all six aircraft carriers, the goal of completely sinking the enemy fleet would have been safely achieved.
I therefore strongly recommend going into battle with a maximum number of aircraft carriers in future battles – this will decide on victory or defeat in the future – I hereby declare this to be a certain finding.
If further proof was needed that destroyers have lost their effectiveness, Vladivostok has provided this proof. Certainly, the destroyers and light cruisers contributed significantly to the eventual success, but this must be described as a fortunate circumstance. In the final phase of the battle, our destroyers failed to sink battlecruisers that were already battered. On the contrary, this phase has caused us greater losses and damage.
The effect of the battleships also did not have the desired success. On the one hand, we had considerable technical difficulties with the 18inch guns and on the other hand, the rate of fire and precision is by no means sufficient. I doubt the sense of this caliber, but I think the results of another battle are necessary to confirm this conclusively.
The effect of our battleships may have been different if we had followed suit. However, the danger of enemy bombers increased by the minute, while our fighter protection and also the maintenance crews of our aircraft carriers showed considerable signs of exhaustion.
An end to the battle was indicated in order not to let the great success at least become a stalemate.
It should also be noted that air strikes begin practically without notice. While enemy ships can be seen long before the battle begins, planes appear immediately and drop their bombs or torpedoes. Our fighters simply cannot be everywhere to prevent this. This is a serious threat that we need to work on. Either we need much larger aircraft carriers to accommodate many more aircraft, or we need another method to detect and repel air strikes at an early stage.
But one thing is certain: The way to Korea is clear!
+ + +
Thus, the officers of the 軍令部 (Gunreibu) of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the 参謀本部 (Sambō hombu) of the Imperial Japanese Army, and the 海軍省 (Kaigun-shō) may take note of the prepared and illustrated course of the battle for the invasion of Vladivostok on January 12 of that year.
Long live the Rengō Kantai, long live the Imperial Japanese Navy, long live the Emperor!
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi, January 13, 1935
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Extra sheet of the Tōkyō Shinbun from Sunday, January 13, 1935
>> War with Russia – this is how the attack on Vladivostok went! <<
>> Japan was right – aircraft carriers are the weapon of the future! <<
The Empire of Japan has responded to the renewed Russian aggression with a massive air attack on the enemy Russian naval base Vladivostok. The alliance between Russia and Italy has the sole purpose of destroying Japan and contesting its ancestral homeland and sphere of influence. Before the enemy could strike out, the Japanese aircraft carriers destroyed the enemy fleet.
As can be seen in our exclusive illustrations, our fleet sailed from southern Japan to Vladivostok and launched its bombers at a distance of about 100 nautical miles. The opponent was completely surprised and was not able to defend themselves.
The naval leadership is still keeping a low profile, but it is claimed that no less than ten battleships of the Tsar's fleet have been sunk.
The naval leadership is also silent about its next steps, but it is not difficult to see that this is likely to be Korea. Whether an invasion fleet has already set out was also neither admitted nor denied.
Extra sheet of the Tōkyō Shinbun from Monday, January 14, 1935
>> War with Russia – Imperial Japanese Navy Mobilized! <<
>> War Cabinet approves massive expansion of all naval bases! <<
This morning, the government of Prime Minister Okada Keisuke approved massive funding at the request of the navy. Almost all bases of the Imperial Japanese Navy are being expanded to a considerable extent.
A form of chaos reigns in the ports after dozens of destroyers have sailed to provide escort for Japan's merchant navy. At the same time, it became known that the Russian Navy in East Asia lacks all the means to be able to act actively. It is also noteworthy that there are no Italian naval units in the region.
From Sasebo it was reported that dozens of civilian ships have been requisitioned by the navy and that several army tent camps are being frantically set up at the gates of the city. Everything points to the fact that the troops that will be transferred to Sasebo will soon be embarked to start an invasion.
The presumed target is likely to be Korea, but there are also voices that claim to carry out a final decapitation strike and capture Vladivostok. To a small extent, it was said that Russia's colonies in the south could also be the target to end Russian expansion and freedom of movement.
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Editorial office of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Wednesday, January 16, 1935
As if struck by lightning, Osaki Satoshi jumped up from his chair when his son Okada entered the office. Sure, he hadn't knocked or even registered, which was very rude, but then it wouldn't have been a surprise!
Satoshi rushed up to Okada and hugged him so tightly that both of them were left breathless.
"You're alive!"
"What are you doing here? It's war – why aren't you on your ship?"
"All pilots have been given three days of shore leave to recover from this gruelling mission."
"You you - you were there?"
"At the front – my squadron, the Thirty-Three Fifty-Three Sentai, is equipped with our most modern fighter. The Aichi Seiran is a great fighter! Fast and agile, it could just use a little more firepower. I shot down two enemy torpedo bombers and a reconnaissance aircraft and we were able to prevent the enemy fighters from shooting down even one. The Russian fighters didn't hit anything because they had me and my boys breathing down their necks all the time!"
"I can't wait to be back in the cockpit! Next week we will sail again!"
"And where?"
"We don't know yet!"
"You don't know or are you not allowed to say it?"
"Both, of course!"
"And unnatural?"
"We don't know, but everyone is betting on Korea!"
"Well, yes!"
"Yes, but it will take some time. The army is not ready yet. It is said that we are therefore making a wide but clearly visible arc to the south..."
"Oh yes? To pretend that Japan is tackling the next goals in the South Seas?"
"Exactly, the admiral wants to ensure that the Italians – if they come at all – go to the South Seas and not get in our way off Korea!"
"Smart, but perhaps also to be expected?"
"That's the risk a commander has to take!"
"Do you say?"
"Say Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi!"
"Do you have more time now?"
"Yes, why?"
"I'm about to have an appointment at Ketel's with an informant, you could come with me?"
"An informant – a spy?"
"Um, no – so – a German who used to spend a lot of time in Russia. In Ketel's it is inconspicuous, because it is visited not only by Germans but also by many Japanese officers. Nobody suspects when the Japanese daily press hangs around there, because they do it every day anyway – besides, the beer is very good!"
Extra sheet of the Tōkyō Shinbun from Saturday, January 27, 1935
>> War with Russia – Japanese Fleet Squadron on its way to the South Seas! <<
>> Russia's expansion will end! <<
From well-informed sources it was learned that the "Kidō Butai" had already set off for the South Seas days ago. This has now been confirmed after an American heavy cruiser sighted the Japanese aircraft carriers near the Mariana Islands and passed on this news uncoded to the Guam base.
The only plausible destination of the "Kidō Butai" is the Russian base on the Solomon Islands. We can therefore expect that the Japanese Empire will soon establish itself in this strategically important position.
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Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, February 1, 1935
The turn of the month had been inconspicuous. Apart from normal war events, there was nothing to report. Osaki Satoshi had leaned very far out of the window to report on the Japanese feint, but the radio message from the American cruiser really existed and so it was no longer a secret. At least for all those who had listened, and that couldn't have been many. So his newspaper report gave the whole thing some emphasis without seeming artificial. Whether it was enough for the Russians was not clear, but in Italy the gazettes have been raging about the South Seas since then and a reporter who described the South Sea beauties as prettier than the Italians was almost lynched (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching).
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Extra sheet of the Tōkyō Shinbun from Monday, March 04, 1935
>> Bang in Europe – is there now a threat of a global war? <<
>> France invades Norway! <<
With all eyes on the war between the Japanese Empire and the Russian-Italian alliance, the Grande Nation took advantage of Russia's weakness yesterday and annexed peace-loving and neutral Norway. Since the blow against the Tsarist Empire six weeks ago, there has been a strange form of calm in East Asia. The Imperial Japanese Navy has not launched its attack on Bougainville, nor has the Russian Navy carried out any major operations on its part.
Italian fleet units behave completely inconspicuously.
In this deep breath before a big bang, the news of a so-called blitzkrieg of the French against Norway is now bursting from Europe. Unnoticed by the other European nations, France has succeeded in taking the Norwegian capital Oslo in a combined air and sea operation. Furthermore, important Norwegian positions were taken in Trondheim, Bodø and Narvik.
Russia, which has been laying claim to Norway for some time, seems to have been completely taken by surprise and had to stand idly by as French troops also marched on the Norwegian-Russian border in the far north.
It is still completely unclear what the impact of this French coup will be, but the immediate demand from the Japanese establishment to declare war on France points to Japan's complicity.
Prime Minister Okada Keisuke immediately and with unusual sharpness contradicted these war demands. There is talk of arrests, but nothing further has been made known about them.
The next few hours and days could mark a dramatic turn in human history if the current regional conflicts escalate into a global war.
Due to the enormous time difference between Asia and Europe, reporting will be difficult, but we will always keep you up to date with special editions in words and Pictures!
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Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Tuesday, April 02, 1935
The great war had failed to materialize. The upheavals in Europe are considerable. Italy refused to send its fleet to Asia, lest it also become a victim of its neighbors. Russia had to march almost everything that swims to Asia in order to be able to continue the fight there. On the approach, the Japanese submarine I-95 achieved the great feat of sinking the Russian light aircraft carrier Pamyat Azova, which was another critical blow to the Tsar's fleet. Russia would have to fight the coming battles without relevant air support. The remaining aircraft were too small in number for that.
Osaki Satoshi had openly reported in last week's editions that Korea was the target and that the invasion fleet was ready. Everyone knew that by now and so there was no threat of betrayal of secrets. It was now only a matter of time and since the Regia Marina remained mainly in domestic waters, this was a hint for Japan not to wait too long. Especially since with the failure of the Hiryu, which had run into a sea mine and almost sank, and the sinking of the heavy cruiser Mikuma by a submarine, the Imperial Japanese Navy also had to realize that it had lost urgently needed offensive potential.
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Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Friday, May 17, 1935
It seemed as if the war had turned into a submarine war. If there were losses – and there were on both sides – U-boats were to blame. Either directly through torpedoes or indirectly through sea mines. At the beginning of May, it became clear that time was running out. In a powerful speech to his nation, the Duce announced that he wanted total war and ordered his fleet to intervene in the fighting.
Japan had to act – now!
What was to follow a few days after this editorial meeting was the most brutal naval battle that had ever taken place in East Asian waters!
In mid-May 1935, the Italian leader gave a fiery speech to his nation and the world's population, in which he declared total war. At the same time, more and more Italian merchant disruptors appeared in Asian waters and the last remnants of the Tsar's fleet were sighted near Sumatra with a general course Vladivostok/Korea.
From Vladivostok itself, spies reported more and more damaged Russian ships as seaworthy or at least seaworthy. Certain damage had been impossible to repair in Vladivostok, but that didn't matter. A moving ship with only a single operational cannon was a warship and therefore a problem.
The Imperial Japanese Navy felt compelled to act, because it was not yet fully ready for an invasion of Korea. The intelligence information on Korea was simply inadequate. There were two main Russian bases – Pusan and Chemulpo. An invasion of Chemulpo was considered impossible. The tidal currents there were "brutal" to say the least and the coast was simply hostile to invasion. Pusan, on the other hand, was home to the bulk of Russia's occupying army, and it was quite certain that it had been reinforced overland in recent months.
The planning team therefore decided to take a risk. The Japanese Marines and Army troops were to land on the southwest coast and march across Korea from there. "Cutting up Korea", cutting off the land supply routes for Pusan and then, in case of doubt, simply starving the Russian army. The southwest coast was hardly less unsuitable for invasion and was considered a natural barrier due to its rugged island structure. The Russians simply had no troops there to defend themselves because they had considered this completely unnecessary.
The offshore island of Jeungdo was chosen as the invasion site, from where the city of Gwangju on the mainland could be reached relatively quickly. Gwangju would then be an excellent starting point for the further advance deep into Korea.
The 機動部隊 ("Kidō Butai") had been stationed in Wēihǎiwèi for some time, where it was basically invisible to the Russians. Russian maritime reconnaissance aircraft did not dare to approach Wēihǎiwèi because the anti-hunt there could not be overcome. At the same time, Wēihǎiwèi was under control with a heavy hand, so that spies could be tracked down quickly. For the Tsar's fleet, the whereabouts of the Japanese aircraft carriers were thus completely unknown.
The battle fleet, on the other hand, was clearly visible to everyone in front of Sasebo on speech and thus pointed directly at Pusan.
The invasion fleet, on the other hand, had been divided in two. Again and again, individual troop transports had left Sasebo and simply seemed to be transporting reinforcements to every corner of Japanese colonies. To do this, they took advantage of the fact that each ship existed "twice". Transport ships that looked as identical as possible were given the identical designation and skilfully set off. One ship went to Tsingtau, the other to some Japanese base where it could be seen well on the way. The only distinguishing feature was the radio communication. Ships headed for Tsingtau were addressed by radio at odd times, the others at even times. This applied equally to necessary answers. They might be able to see differences in radio traffic, but they didn't trust the Russians to do that. Radio direction finding may or may not succeed, the navy made sure that there was really a lot – a lot – of radio traffic. Quite certainly, the Russian radio reconnaissance was hopelessly overwhelmed with all the things they heard.
With this, the first part of the invasion fleet gathered in Tsingtau, while the rest remained in Sasebo, also pointing at Pusan.
The morning of the twenty-second of May was chosen as the date of the invasion, a time when the sea was to be completely dark due to the lack of moonlight and the invasion fleet would have to remain hidden by the morning haze long before a sighting from land.
All units set off as late as possible, but also as early as necessary, in order to remain undetected for as long as possible. Once again, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi was in command and his fleet was visibly impressive:
Japanese 33rd Destroyer Flotilla:
Destroyer Amagiri
Destroyer Keyaki
Destroyer Kaki
Destroyer Matsu
- - -
Japanese 39th Destroyer Flotilla:
Destroyer Hatsuume
Destroyer Sagiri
- - -
Japanese 40th Destroyer Flotilla:
Destroyer Shirayuki
Destroyer Shinonome
- - -
Japanese 1st Transport Flotilla:
4 troop transporters
- - -
Japanese 2nd Transport Flotilla:
4 troop transporters
- - -
Japanese 1st Air Fleet (detachment parts):
+ + +
The deployment plans had been meticulously worked out, but it was not until the night of the twenty-first to the twenty-second of May that all the land bases received their orders of the day in order to make espionage as difficult as possible. This was easy to do at sea, but on land every farmer could see with his own eyes what was going on on the airfields. Therefore, the land-based aircraft were only made operational at the last moment. This hectic activity was certainly noticed, but it was too late to allow the Russian fleet to intervene or even to move troops.
+ + +
What no one knew and what no one had expected – not even Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi – the Russian fleet did not need to be alerted, because the Russian fleet was already alerted!
The dull ignorance, the failure to find large parts of the Japanese fleet, the almost unbelievably high number of radio messages, that literally stank of a feint before an attack!
The acting commander of the Far East Naval Forces – now much more often referred to as the Pacific Fleet – was Mikhail Vladimirovich Viktorov.
Mikhail Vladimirovich Viktorov had been surprised once on January 12, he did not want to be surprised a second time! Precisely because it was considered impossible, Viktorov suspected a Japanese invasion of Chemulpo. He had taken his fleet to sea from Vladivostok to unite with the units coming from Europe off Korea and to receive the Japanese at Chemulpo. This reunion would take place in the early morning of May 22nd. He expected the Japanese invasion the following weekend, so that all ships still had the opportunity to bunker at Chemulpo.
On 22 May, his ships had not yet been fully merged. One part was at the level of Jeungdo Island in the early morning, while other units had passed the Korean Strait and were standing at the level of Jejudo Island.
He couldn't sleep, so he stood on the bridge of his flagship Borodino. The night was pitch black, there was absolutely nothing to see. Out of nowhere, he saw gunfire at about the height of his battlecruisers directly ahead, followed shortly afterwards by a huge explosion.
He was right: Japan's naval forces were on the west coast of Korea – but much earlier than he had suspected!
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi was satisfied with the distraction measures overall. He assumed that Russia would turn its attention to Pusan because it was the relevant city. The port of Pusan was of paramount importance and so it was only logical that Japan would strike right here. Anything else made no sense because of the circumstances, because a landing in Chemulpo, for example, would be tantamount to suicide.
A landing in a completely different place could only be called madness, because it would be a landing in the middle of nowhere. If his squadron were to appear in the morning fog off Jeungdo, it would take the Russians hours to get there, even if they were already at Pusan.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi suspected, however, that the Russian fleet was still in Vladivostok and was waiting there for the breakthrough of the units brought in from Europe.
According to the possibility of a tsar's fleet arriving from the south, he positioned the 機動部隊 ("Kidō Butai") coming from Wēihǎiwèi north of the invasion fleet. Here, the aircraft carriers were able to carry out their air operations in peace and quiet without having to reckon with enemy contact.
In the middle gathered the invasion fleet with its parts from Tsingtau and Sasebo. A little to the south of it were his battleships, which were to carry out the coastal bombardment before landing and could thus also act as a cover unit for the troop transports.
To the south were positioned the heavy cruisers and most of the destroyers and light cruisers. These ships served as a shield in case enemy ships arrived earlier than expected.
Certainly, however, the reconnaissance troops from the land bases would report the presence of enemy ships hours in advance before they could become a danger overbuilt.
The Imperial Japanese Navy had left its anchorages in the course of the twenty-first of May and had been used up in various directions. Out of sight of anything that could pose a problem, the various formations set course for the Yellow Sea to unite for the attack. In the night of the twenty-first to the twenty-second of May, all the parts of the fleet were assembled and began to take up their offensive positions.
As expected, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi received no reports that the Russian fleet was at sea until midnight. Shortly after midnight, he lay down to rest for a few hours to be rested for the coming day, while the troop transports made their way towards Jeungdo at a leisurely pace.
+ + +
The night was clear, but absolutely dark. As if from witchcraft, there was no star to be seen in the firmament or anything else that might act as a source of light. All ships had strict orders not to let any light penetrate outside, and anyone caught smoking, for example, had to reckon with draconian measures.
The sea was as smooth as glass and offered absolutely nothing that could be used for orientation for whatever. The Japanese 31st Cruiser Division glided through the water at moderate speed and avoided creating bow waves more badly than right. But since there was nothing to make the bow waves of the four heavy cruisers visible, it didn't matter much. From the bow of the cruiser Takao, the stern of the cruiser was almost invisible.
海軍大佐 (Kaigun-taisa) Gotō Eiji stood on the bridge of the Takao and rubbed his aching eyes. The highly concentrated staring into nothingness – whether with or without binoculars – hurt him. A stabbing pain ran through the optic nerve of his right eye and he suppressed a scream. Deeply astonished, he heard the shrill sound on the on-board intercom. He picked up the phone and said audibly, "This is Captain Gotō."
"Captain – here 二等水兵 Nitōsuihei Ishisaka – bow lookout – I'm reporting: contact to port ahead about 5,000 yards away makes a lot of steam!"
"Our destroyers Nitōsuihei Ishisaka?"
"No, Kaigun-taisa, our destroyers moved to our starboard side half an hour ago."
"Continuously report if something changes!"
"Yes, sir!"
Startled, 海軍大佐 (Kaigun-taisa) Gotō Eiji wondered what could be there? He himself had just looked exactly there. He put on his binoculars and took off in the direction indicated. There was nothing — nothing but black sea and black horizon — nothing, for the sea and the horizon were indistinguishable. But then – were they radio?
RADIO – damn radio!
In the meantime, everyone present on the bridge except the helmsman looked out of the window into nothingness.
"Sparks?"
"Yes, there — there — I've seen it now, too — sparks from the chimney of a ship at full speed?"
"It has to be, but it's not even a shadow, an outline to see."
"Is that the Chokai?"
"It's on starboard and why should the Chokai make so much speed?"
"And now?"
海軍大佐 (Kaigun-taisa) Gotō Eiji looked through his binoculars one more time, then took a deep breath: "READY FOR BATTLE - READY FOR BATTLE!"
"Message to fleet – presumed enemy contact port ahead – enemy makes high speed – Thirty-first closes up to enemy and prepares for battle!"
"ALARM – ALARM – ALARM!"
+ + +
"Rudder hard starboard course ninety degrees, engines full speed ahead!"
+ + +
"Further contact on Backboard is heading straight for us!"
"Rudder hard starboard course one hundred and forty-five degrees, leak protection teams in position, ship preparing for torpedo impact."
+ + +
On the Kawachi, the radio operator personally ran out of his booth onto the bridge. There stood 海軍大佐 (Kaigun-taisa) Inoue Shigeyoshi, leaning slightly against his chair.
"Yes?"
"Captain, I'm reporting – cruiser Takao reports: Two o'clock sixteen presumed enemy contact on port are zigzagging because of the danger of torpedoes and are trying to reconnaissance."
Suddenly, Inoue Shigeyoshi was wide awake!
"Orderly - wake up the admiral - ship ready for battle - short ninety degrees - we must lay a trench between the enemy and the troop transporters."
+ + +
"Enemy Comes Up and Approaches"
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji simply didn't have an overview. Just a moment ago he was sailing unnoticed parallel to unknown ships, now they were coming directly towards him, but what and who it was was unclear. Had he made a navigational error? Had he gotten too far north and these ships were his own battle fleet?
The now recognizable outlines spoke for very large ships and the Russian battleships were in their harbors. It could only be the Kawachi and the rest of the Japanese 22nd Battleship Division. Who else?
+ + +
Then Nitōsuihei Ishisaka answered again in the intercom:
"I report - silhouette corresponds to Russian battlecruisers!"
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji didn't wait for a second – battlecruisers would make scraps out of his division at this distance:
"The order is: FIRE FREE!"
His first officer was already standing at the intercom and was connected to the control center: "FIRE FREE!"
About ten seconds later, the Takao inherited under the fire of her 10inch guns.
"Grenades are covering – hits on battlecruisers amidships!"
+ + +
"Cruiser Suzuya reports – torpedoes off!"
"Cruiser Ibuki reports – torpedoes off!"
+ + +
"33rd destroyer flotilla passes us on port, contacts change course to the south!"
"We try to turn a circle, then we would have to get out behind them and thus no longer be exposed to the danger of torpedoes."
+ + +
Seconds later, Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji was knocked off his feet – the Takao was brutally pushed aside and the whole scene lit up in a bright red, orange glow.
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji stammered loudly: "Were we hit – were we hit? – Damage reports – damn damage reports!"
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi appeared on the bridge just in time to witness a huge explosion in the distance. The glow of the fire was fierce, but disappeared as quickly as it appeared. He turned to Kaigun-taisa Inoue Shigeyoshi:
"Report!"
"Cruiser Takao reported an unknown contact on her port side six minutes ago and declared it potentially hostile, Mr. Admiral."
"Potentially hostile?"
"You see this pitch-black darkness yourself. You just can't see anything. Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji located all Japanese ships on his starboard side and concluded that these could not be Japanese ships. After that, there were multiple flashes of gunfire, followed by this brutal explosion that you have just witnessed."
"Get in touch with the cruiser Takao, I need to know what's going on!"
+ + +
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji got back on his feet. The cruiser still rocked a little, but was otherwise stable in the water.
"What was that?"
"The lookout reports that a column of water rose first on the enemy battlecruiser and immediately afterwards a shell from cruiser Ibuki hit the ship's turret. Then there was the explosion that almost capsized us. The enemy cruiser has exploded and can no longer be seen, the other contacts are turning away."
"Hit tower magazine?"
"That's how it seems to be."
"Message to cruiser Ibuki: Congratulations on sinking an enemy battlecruiser."
"Yes, sir, captain!"
"And now put us on a safe course so that we don't catch a torpedo as well!
+ + +
"Admiral - cruiser Ibuki thanks for the congratulations, but reports considerable damage from enemy shelling."
"We are far too close to the enemy. The destroyers are supposed to distract the enemy and give us time to form."
+ + +
"Inoue"
"Yes, Mr. Admiral?"
"We need to know what's going on here, even if it's a risk, the aircraft carriers are supposed to put everything that flies into the air."
"Yes, Mr. Admiral!"
"After that, we regroup. We lie down in front of the troop transports and our cruisers and destroyers should also form a trench to the enemy at a distance. The only question is where the enemy stands at all?"
"Mr. Admiral?"
"The Russians will use their battlecruisers as a support or reconnaissance fleet, just like we do. So the Russian battleships can be right behind it or somewhere else entirely!"
The order appeared:
"I report - cruiser Ibuki was hit hard and is currently in the water without power."
"There you hear it Inoue, let's hope that the initial success will not be a boomerang!"
+ + +
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji couldn't do much more than wait until the enemy identified the destroyers as a greater threat than the heavy cruisers. Until then, it was mainly the Ibuki who got the most damage, as it was the closest of all cruisers to the enemy. Now there was an unmistakable explosion on the deck of the Ibuki and black smoke worsened the already limited view of the enemy. Cruiser Ibuki was on fire!
+ + +
Positive was the report of the Japanese 33rd Destroyer Flotilla that the flotilla was able to start successfully and now began the torpedo attack. In the darkness, destroyers were still dangerous opponents.
+ + +
On the Kawachi, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi looked through his binoculars in frustration. Not being able to see what was going on had cost him some nerves even before Vladivostok, especially since the radio messages from the bombers were anything but useful at the time. Now it was a classic battle, but again he had to rely on concrete messages by radio. They came.
Destroyer Kaki reported heavy hits and asked to be allowed to leave the formation after the last torpedoes were deployed, but the commander of the Kaki confirmed two torpedo hits on another battlecruiser.
+ + +
The sounding of the alarm bell struck everyone on the bridge of the Kawachi like a bolt of lightning!
"Destroyer Kashi reports unknown contact on starboard in advance."
"One of our light cruisers?"
"No, the Otawa stands between us and the destroyers, and the Takao convoy is to the south, as we can see from the gunfire."
"Damn – damn – damn – the destroyers should reconnaissance – we need to know what it is right away!"
+ + +
"Cruiser Ibuki and destroyer Kaki report considerable damage and ask to be allowed to leave the battle, Admiral."
"Yes, well, it makes no sense to sacrifice our ships senselessly as long as we don't know who and what we're dealing with."
+ + +
"Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi – our destroyers now refer to one of the enemy ships as a battleship. In addition, the unknown contact in our flank has disappeared."
"Damn it – we need to know what we're dealing with. Are these the ships from Vladivostok or from Europe? Or are the Italians on the road here in the end? We need reliable information!"
+ + +
"33rd Destroyer Flotilla reports several torpedo hits. An enemy battlecruiser lies still in the water, but the damage on the destroyers is enormous."
"Order to the 31st and 32nd Cruiser Divisions as well as light cruisers and destroyers – gather and form new ones. Information gathering where enemy units are stationed is urgent. Shelling with artillery and torpedoes at one's own discretion, as long as the chance of hitting is significantly higher than being hit yourself. Survival of one's own forces is immanent until the situation is clarified and the invasion fleet is secured!"
"Order to 22nd Battleship Division including light cruiser and destroyer – turn north and catch up with troop transports as long as no contact can be made with sighted ships on starboard. There is a danger that the enemy will bypass us and attack the transporters directly!"
+ + +
"Admiral – the 31st Cruiser Division reports that contact with the enemy has been lost. Only the idle battlecruiser is currently still being fought."
"Instead of reconnaissance to the opponent, he escapes us – it's not going well, Inoue – we need results and we need them quickly. If the enemy knows the location of the invasion, the fleet could run into disaster – we need results!"
+ + +
After what felt like an eternity, the commander of the 機動部隊 ("Kidō Butai") gave the go-ahead message. However, Kaigun-chūjō Yonai Mitsumasa made it very clear that the follow-up operation had at most little chance of success, but conversely, high losses due to accidents were to be expected.
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi brushed all this aside. He humorously commented that naval battles also took place at night and that the aircraft carriers were welcome to play with their pilots at home in the sandbox if they did not understand and manage it.
+ + +
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji ordered his cruisers to rejoin the battle after the convoy was halfway organized and the Ibuki had left the division and dragged itself back to base. At least three destroyers were badly damaged and the main load was currently on the light cruisers.
With the appearance of enemy ships in the south, the destroyers also got into a pincer that only had to be closed. The battle remained confusing and no one could answer the question of which side had the advantage.
The destroyers were in a tight spot faster than expected. Northwest was the well-known battlecruiser and definitely a battleship, but it was currently out of sight. To the southeast, the contact was now also referred to as battlecruisers and at least two Russian destroyers launched a direct attack on the Japanese destroyers.
+ + +
In the south, it was primarily a maneuver to sound out the situation. In the invasion fleet, the Japanese 22nd Battleship Division took a defensive position, and only in the north, near the aircraft carriers, had everything remained calm so far. Either way, it was clear that they had not come across a patrol here by chance, but that the Russians seemed to be using everything that was buoyant to thwart the invasion.
Was there a spy who had betrayed everything?
The fact that numerous heavy Russian units were present at the right time in the right place could simply not be a coincidence, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi was already sure of that!
+ + +
The Heavy Cruisers and their companions were now clearly under pressure. The enemy had also rallied and regrouped. At least three fully combat-capable battlecruisers took one ship after the other as their target and dealt out. The Japanese squadron was far inferior in artillery and could only try to run away without luring the enemy in an unfavorable direction.
+ + +
The consequence of this situation was not to be missed. The Matsu, which was already badly damaged, was hit by the battlecruiser coming from the south and literally blown out of the water. Within seconds, the stern sawed away and disappeared under water, only the bow was still afloat like a cork.
After that, the light cruiser Yoshino took a beating and it was pure luck that the port aft turret did not explode after a direct hit. However, the Yoshino's luck ran out only seconds later when a torpedo penetrated the ship's side and tore a hole several square meters in size in the hull. The cruiser immediately tilted to the side and ran full of water.
+ + +
Then things finally got turbulent when further contacts were reported north of the squadron – the Japanese squadron had apparently been encircled by the enemy!
The hustle and bustle of the first few minutes and the joy of a quick victory now gave way to disillusionment for Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi. The radio reports did not bode well. The commander of the Yoshino ordered all men to disembark. Only the leak squads remained on board to try the impossible.
Now that the Russians were on three sides of the Japanese cruiser group, further losses had to be expected, because there was hardly any possibility of escape. The heavy cruisers had to change course as quickly as possible, otherwise they would lead the enemy directly to the troop transports.
+ + +
Remorseful, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi had to watch as the heavy cruisers and with them the enemy came closer and closer. However, the cruisers could not steer a different course if they did not want to be sifted apart by the enemy battlecruisers.
Then came the news that had been expected for a long time. The Yoshino began to sink!
+ + +
The third group of ships could now also be clearly addressed as battlecruisers, so it was right to rectify this situation by dropping in all possible directions. The Japanese 31st Cruiser Division and its companions had fallen into the middle of a hornet's nest and were now besieged from all sides. The enemy's firepower was far superior, and the torpedo hits that had been achieved on other Russian battlecruisers could not change that. The Japanese ships had to leave or they would not live to see the end of the day!
+ + +
However, the 31st Cruiser Division had to change course now, because it was still heading directly for the troop transports. At least the heavy cruisers had now freed themselves from the clutches to such an extent that an evasion seemed possible.
The 31st Cruiser Division changed course to the southeast and would drive roughly parallel to the transports, thus blocking the enemy's path. It would take until dusk and that's how long it was necessary to hide the invasion fleet from the enemy. However, the Russians seemed to be focusing their attention on the battered Japanese units anyway and also wanted to restore their formation. A direct and quick follow-up to the fleeing Japanese cruisers has not taken place, at least so far.
+ + +
The 31st Cruiser Division now sailed exactly along the line of torpedo range, in which Japan was in the lead. As long as the enemy could be held at this distance, the invasion fleet was at least not threatened with a torpedo attack. The situation was different with the artillery range. The Japanese 22nd Battleship Division could fire on all enemy ships from its position, if they were in sight. As soon as it began to dawn, the distance had to be increased to such an extent that this did not apply to the Russian artillery to the Japanese transports.
+ + +
The next few minutes passed without any major events. Both sides maneuvered their formations into new starting positions and the Russian ships continued to bombard the already sinking Japanese ships with shells and torpedoes.
+ + +
In the end, it took until three-fifteen local time for the first planes to take off to assess the situation from the air. It was still dark, but the first faint rays of light appeared far on the horizon and illuminated the upper atmosphere. Soon, however, it would become much brighter.
+ + +
Shortly afterwards, the sighting message came from the commander, who had remained on board his sinking destroyer Matsu, that the light cruiser Yoshino had now capsized and sunk.
+ + +
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji cursed to himself. An unidentified enemy ship made no attempt to pursue its cruisers, but stubbornly held its course, which would lead it directly to the invasion fleet. Despite the damage to his remaining cruisers, he gave the order to change course. If the enemy did not attack him, he had to attack the enemy.
Meanwhile, the radio message came from the 機動部隊 ("Kidō Butai") that the first bombers were now on their way to the combat zone.
+ + +
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji began to curse louder. He had led his cruisers between two enemy ships and had the course abruptly changed so as not to risk crossfire. Quite quickly, however, the southern contact could be classified as an almost defenseless aircraft tender. However, enemy reconnaissance with aircraft was hardly desirable, which is why Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji immediately opened fire.
The fact that the aircraft tender was less harmless than desired was immediately felt by the Takao. Especially since the tender had an escort that gradually peeled itself out of the darkness.
+ + +
All in all, however, these ships were clearly inferior. The question was where the capital ships of the Russians, which had already been sighted so far, were, because none was in sight at that moment?
+ + +
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji abandoned the tender and set course for the invasion fleet. He suspected the enemy capital ships to be somewhere between themselves and the transports. He preferred to play the decoy before the enemy took the troop transporters under fire. But then he received instructions by radio from Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi to keep his distance and fight the enemy who was in sight.
Secretly, Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi did not want to risk that the bombers that would soon arrive over the battlefield would spot ships bound for the transports and assess them as a danger. He did not trust the pilots to be able to distinguish friend from foe in the dark.
+ + +
During the course manoeuvre, the northern contact came back into view and it was clear that it lay motionless in the water. This time Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji wanted to know who was dealing with who and suddenly found himself in battle with one of the battlecruisers.
So now he was in the cross fire of enemy ships after all.
+ + +
Two minutes later, Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji was knocked off his feet again. He got up and through the broken windows black smoke penetrated into the command post. He ran to the front and didn't know whether to laugh or cry? Tower A had been literally torn to shreds by a direct hit. One of the gun barrels bent strangely upwards, another gun barrel was simply no longer available. But at least there was no ammunition explosion, otherwise he and his cruiser would already be history.
From a distance, a roar now joined the scenery and the radio message of the sinking of the destroyer Matsu reached him by radio.
He had to get out of here – immediately!
+ + +
The roar became louder and clearer. Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji could imagine where this nasty noise came from. The Japanese carrier aircraft were probably almost above it and whether the pilots understood that Japanese cruisers were surrounded by enemy ships in battle was anything but certain!
Promptly it blared from the loudspeaker:
"Bomber Soryu – enemy battleships – to ba to ba to ba!"
The roar turned into a kind of howl – "dive bomber" Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji exclaimed, and then he began to pray.
"Bomber Kaga – targets detected – attack – to ba to ba to ba!"
"Bomber Soryu – several ships that want to flee and are now fanning out – bombs out – bombs out"
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji looked around – now all hell broke loose! On all ships around him, the anti-aircraft guns woke up and lightning flashed towards the sky. The first bombs fell into the water at the nearby battlecruiser. Roaring, howling, explosions. In addition, the artillery of his ships and the staccato of the anti-aircraft guns. The sea began to boil, the sounds mixed into an insane mush and could no longer be distinguished.
He yelled at the helmsman "Zigzag course - zigzag course" - but whether the helmsman had understood the command was not even sure until he finally turned the rudder.
"Bomber Soryu – several cruisers on an escape course – to ba to ba to ba!"
Then there was a bang and Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji was torn off his feet for the third time.
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji stood up and shook himself. What had torn him off his feet this time, he could not say with certainty. It could have been an almost hit by their own aerial bombs, or – which was also more likely – the direct hit of one of the dive bombers on the enemy battlecruiser. The bang was not insignificant and neither was the blast wave, the two ships were simply too close to each other for that.
However, there was no longer any talk of two ships. The enemy battlecruiser had disappeared from the scene. Whether he had simply gone out of sight or sunk was not clear for the moment. At least there were wreckage floating on the surface of the water, but too few to indicate an explosion.
The answers also had to wait, it was more important to tell the pilots that three Japanese cruisers were present here!
+ + +
"Bomber Kaga – battleship ahead on the left – attack"
"Hit, hit – man, that's right!"
"Hey – let's leave something – we don't want to have to throw the bombs uselessly into the sea!"
"There's enough for everyone – it's getting light right now, now these bastards can't hide anymore!"
"Yes, where? There is not that much to see here anymore!"
"And what about the three big pots to the west? They make a lot of steam. Let's get them!"
"Fool – don't you see that? Are you blind? These are ours!"
"What are our cruisers doing here?"
"Don't ask so stupidly, you'd better open your eyes and find better targets!"
"Bomber Akagi – battleship on three hundred – is just peeling out of a cloud of smoke – attack squadron – attack!"
"Yes, I see it – to ba to ba to ba!"
+ + +
"Hit – hit on auxiliary cruiser!"
"There — there — there's the whole gang — south of us!"
"Yes, and in the east also obscured by this smoke!"
"Hit – another hit on the auxiliary cruiser!"
"Make three of it!"
"Torpedoes Hosho – targets ahead to the left – take the big pot in the middle – to ra to ra to ra!"
"Hit – man hit – torpedo hit on battlecruiser!"
"Boom – another – enemy ship hit by two torpedoes!"
+ + +
There was a bang and Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji was crouching on the floor again! He began to wonder if it made sense to get up at all?
"Report!" he shouted around him and immediately a reporter, who had just entered the bridge, saluted the visibly battered commander.
"I report – direct hit in the engine room – situation under control – speed is reduced by six knots."
Now that it was getting light, no one could hide and the heavy cruisers of Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji were the most obvious target for the enemy. Only the air raids that were now rolling prevented the enemy capital ships from shooting in undisturbed.
"Torpedos Hosho – to ra to ra to ra!"
+ + +
"Hits - several torpedo hits on enemy ships!"
"Hit – Battleship hit by torpedo!"
"Auxiliary cruiser two bomb hits – black smoke rises from auxiliary cruiser!"
"Hit – auxiliary cruiser and two other ships hit by torpedoes!"
Now it became confusing and the radio discipline left much to be desired. One report after the other about torpedo hits was shouted into the radios, but it was no longer possible to understand which ships were hit and by whom where. The only thing that emerged was that the torpedo bombers could achieve a high hit rate.
+ + +
The opponent began to fog himself and seemed to turn around. At least the enemy shelling decreased and Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji hoped to get out of here.
The stragglers of the carrier fleet arrived and scored more torpedo hits. So busy, the enemy would have to rally again before he could become active again, and the invasion fleet had to take advantage of that. Soon it would finally be daylight and then the transports had to be out of range of the Russian guns, otherwise everything was in vain.
The reporter reappeared on the bridge of the Takao and Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji recognized from the expression on his face that something evil was imminent:
"I report – The chief engineer can't keep up the speed. We have to reduce the speed or the machine system will be completely destroyed."
Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji was devastated by this news. He then ordered the Mogami to become the new leader of the Japanese 31st Cruiser Division and resigned from the unit with his Takao.
+ + +
While the two remaining heavy cruisers steered south-southwesterly, Kaigun-taisa Gotō joined Eiji on a southwesterly course. Following him was a Russian battlecruiser that did not want to let go of the Takao!
Kaigun-chūjō Takahashi Sankichi now had a glimpse of the battlefield after the sun had fully risen. It was now twenty minutes to five in the morning, and to his delight the troop carriers were just out of the enemy's gun range. It was different with his battleships and promptly the Shikishima opened fire on an enemy battlecruiser without waiting for his order!
The captain of the Fuso did not want to be inferior to this and suddenly all his battleships were in battle.
+ + +
The battlefield was confusing, but there were still at least three enemy battlecruisers and battleships to be seen and, like numerous smaller units, probably mainly destroyers. The enemy was fragmented and seemed to be looking for a loophole outside rather than fighting. That was both positive and negative. Because if the enemy drove away in every conceivable direction, he almost inevitably had to meet the battered Japanese ships and, in case of doubt, also the aircraft carriers.
However, one thing was already certain: there was nothing left between the transporters and their destination that could stop the transporters!
+ + +
It got uncomfortable on the Takao! Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji had asked for support from the aircraft carriers by radio and his request was accepted, but the few operational aircraft could not take off because everything had been prepared for the landing of the first wave. Kaigun-taisa Gotō Eiji had to persevere. Even if the other two heavy cruisers turned around to help the Takao, the Russian battlecruiser would sooner sink the three Japanese heavy cruisers than they would sink it!
