February 17, 1943, Part 1 - night
Location: 90 miles north of Koepang
Course: South
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 191
Orders: Destroy enemy forces approaching Timor.
---
Lieutenant Miharu gazes out at the dark waters of the Savu Sea. Straight ahead of Hibiki is Koepang, now only about 90 miles to the south. The Japanese ships have nearly reached to the position from which the carriers are to launch their planes in the morning.
The night has been quiet so far. There have been no cries of alarm from the lookouts, no explosions as torpedoes find ships. As if to underscore the danger, however, the lieutenant orders a course change to port as the entire task force continues to zig zag southwards.
It is quiet on the bridge, and Miharu almost jumps when the voice of the radioman issues from the speaking tube directly over his head.
“Lieutenant Miharu!”
“Yes?” the executive officer manages to say calmly.
“Sir, we have a report from a ship south of us. Enemy battleships are seventeen miles south of our position and closing. They’re coming right at us, sir!”
---
Admiral Ozawa is still buttoning his jacket as he stumbles onto Shokaku's bridge. He is quickly briefed on the situation. The report cannot be doubted; enemy battleships are closing on his position as if they know exactly where the Japanese carriers are. And perhaps they do know, Ozawa thinks. There are reports that American and British radar development has outpaced Japan’s since the start of the war.
If that is true he is in a bad position. There is little room to run directly behind him. The only escape for his ships lies to the west or east, courses that would allow the enemy to cut the angle and narrow the distance quickly. He has no doubt the enemy warships can outrun him.
If it comes to a fight he is low on escorts. The loss of a heavy cruiser and three destroyers in recent days has cut his escort force to four heavy cruisers, a light cruiser, and nine destroyers, and these are split among two task forces. If the enemy force is as large as reports indicate he will be outnumbered and outgunned.
Still, he is thankful he has any warning at all. It is sheer luck that a Japanese force was out there to spot the oncoming ships. If not for this piece of fortune he might have found out about them when shells began falling among his carriers. He issues orders for his ships to turn to the east and run for it, with most of the escorts falling back to screen the carriers against the oncoming enemy.
---
Captain Ishii is on the bridge now. Hibiki is not running at full speed; they can go no faster than the slowest carrier, in this case Akagi. Ishii is suddenly very glad that Junyo and Hiyo were sent back east some days ago. Still, they are making a respectable 26 knots. There is nothing else to do at the moment but wait and see what happens.
---
The ships that have provided Ozawa’s carriers with the warning belong to a destroyer division commanded by Hibiki’s old friend Admiral Goto, who has finally been released from shore duty. Commanding a destroyer division is a bit of a come down for the Admiral, but he figures it beats conning a desk in some backwater. Goto’s orders are to take his flagship, light cruiser Nagara, and six destroyers into the waters off western Timor and conduct a torpedo attack against enemy ships there. At the moment, however, he has been shadowing the enemy ships ever since his lookouts spotted them moving north.
When the Japanese carriers begin to move east and the enemy column changes course to intercept them Goto knows he has to act. Though he has no illusions about whether or not the enemy radar has spotted him, he orders his small task force to turn and attack.
And attack they do, with persistence and ferocity. They are fearsomely outgunned and coming straight at an opponent who can bring all his guns to bear without altering course. Shells, some of them 16” projectiles, begin to find his ships before they even reach torpedo range.
But Goto’s ships launch torpedoes, fall back, then attack again. And again. Each time there are fewer of them, but the crews fight their ships with bravery and dedication. In the end five of the six destroyers are lost, but they have sunk two enemy destroyers and scored torpedo hits on a cruiser and a battleship. Shattered Japanese destroyers continue to fire their remaining guns until the last, doing a surprising amount of damage to the enemy ships. At the end only Nagara and destroyer Shiokaze are left. Both are damaged and limp away into the darkness.
But they have won an important victory. The enemy fleet, weakened by losses and slowed by damage, is compelled to turn around in order to try and get out of range of the Japanese carrier planes before daylight. The carriers have been saved.
---
When the report comes in that the enemy ships have turned around there is scattered cheering on Hibiki’s bridge. Captain Ishii permits this small display, then sends the bridge crew back to work with a stern glance. Yet he too is relieved. He intends to thank Admiral Goto in person for this night’s work the next time opportunity permits.
Soon orders come from Shokaku. The Japanese ships stop fleeing eastward and begin to slowly return to the position from which Admiral Ozawa intends to launch his planes when morning comes. Captain Ishii accordingly orders Hibiki to come about. As the task force resumes its regular formation Ishii reflects that they have been saved from disaster only by sheer luck and the heroism of a handful of destroyers. They cannot afford such carelessness in the future, not against an enemy as resilient and determined as the one they are facing.
Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki
Moderators: wdolson, Don Bowen, mogami
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Cuttlefish
- Posts: 2454
- Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:03 am
- Location: Oregon, USA
RE: Small Ship, Big War
Holy sh$t![X(]
Un f@#$ing believable!
Un f@#$ing believable!
Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you.
Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu
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FeurerKrieg
- Posts: 3400
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- Location: Denver, CO
RE: Small Ship, Big War
Can't wait to see what morning brings.....
SOmeone needs to turn this into a screen play.
SOmeone needs to turn this into a screen play.
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DuckofTindalos
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- Location: Denmark
RE: Small Ship, Big War
This one, and Mandrake's AAR's...
We are all dreams of the Giant Space Butterfly.
RE: Small Ship, Big War
I'll have to cjeck that one out
Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you.
Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu
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Cuttlefish
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RE: Small Ship, Big War
ORIGINAL: Terminus
This one, and Mandrake's AAR's...
Mandrake's AAR would make a great movie. It would be also be a very different war film than one made from this AAR. This one would be an old-fashioned war pic. Mandrake's would have a lot more Catch 22 in it, maybe something like a WWII epic as directed by Terry Gilliam.
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Cuttlefish
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RE: Small Ship, Big War
February 17, 1943, Part 2 - day
Location: 90 miles north of Koepang
Course: South
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 191
Orders: Destroy enemy forces approaching Timor.
---
Shortly after sunrise destroyer Shiokaze, the last surviving destroyer of the attack that prevented the enemy battleships from reaching the Japanese carriers, is sunk by two torpedoes from submarine Graying. The damaged destroyer sinks almost immediately. Thirteen survivors are eventually rescued.
---
Submarine O24 is caught just off the coast of Timor. Lieutenant de Vries will hunt no Japanese carriers this day. A D3A from Akagi comes out of the east, out of the rising sun, and its accurately aimed bomb strikes the submarine forward on the starboard side. The submarine’s forward compartments flood, pulling the submarine below the surface as her remaining crew fight desperately to keep this from being O24’s final dive.
---
Shiro and another sailor help fish yet another man out of the water. Hibiki and two other destroyers reached the scene of last night’s battle at first light and have been pulling survivors out of the water ever since. The man they have just rescued is from Umikaze, and the poor fellow is in rough shape. He is smeared in sticky oil and one arm has some serious-looking burns.
Shiro helps him to a spot where he can sit down. The decks are crowded with 43 other survivors, and Hibiki crew are moving among them with blankets and tea. The rescued sailor gives Shiro a grateful if somewhat wan smile. Riku appears and pours the man a cup of tea from a pot he is carrying and then kneels and helps him get the oil cleaned off his face. Both Riku and Shiro are smeared with the stuff as well by this time.
Riku looks up at Shiro from where he is kneeling.
“It’s hard not to think that it could be us in the water instead of these poor fellows,” he says. Shiro nods. It has been very hard for the empathetic sailor to see so many comrades in such a wretched state. There have been a lot of bodies in the water too, people they could not save, and that has been an even harder thing.
“I know,” is all he says. “Are you okay for now?” he asks the man they have just rescued. “Someone will be along in a bit with clean clothes, and a medic will look at that arm soon too.”
“I will be fine,” the man says. “Tell me, have you rescued a man named Kiyomi Yoshino, also from Umikaze?” he asks, looking worried. “He is my closest friend, and I lost track of him when the ship started to go down.”
“I will ask around,” Shiro tells him, “as soon as I...” He is cut off suddenly by the combat stations klaxon. From the port 25 mm AA tub above them a man is pointed and shouting above the noise. Shiro and Riku turn and look and see planes on the horizon, coming their way. They are not Japanese planes.
Shiro sprints forward. At the front of the tower he scrambles up the ladder into the forward AA tub. The gun captain, Taiki, is already there. He hands Shiro a helmet and gives him a tight smile.
“Keep the ammunition coming,” is all he says.
---
Hibiki and the other two destroyers race back towards the nearby carriers. The fleet disperses slightly, and as the enemy planes draw near Hibiki slides into her accustomed spot on Shokaku’s port flank.
The enemy strike consists of 34 dive bombers and 13 torpedo bombers, escorted by about 15 fighters. There are almost 50 Zero-sen fighters over the Japanese fleet, but not all of them are in position to intercept the incoming strike in time. They shoot down 6 enemy fighters and 11 of the bombers without a loss, but the remaining 36 bombers break through and begin their attack runs against the Japanese ships.
---
Shiro rips an empty magazine out of the receiver of one of the three 25 mm guns and reaches behind him. The empty magazine is plucked from his hands and replaced with a full, heavy one. He leans over and slams it into place. The smoke and noise from the guns blinds him to almost everything, but he is peripherally aware of a enemy dive bomber arcing overhead, trailing smoke as it screams down on Shokaku. He has no time to turn and see whether or not Shokaku is hit. The magazine is emptied in less than 15 seconds and he pulls it out, scrambling sideways to keep up with the traverse of the guns. He hands it back and replaces it with the full one he gets in return.
---
Shokaku is not hit, and neither is Zuikaku nearby, though both are attacked. A few miles away Soryu is not so lucky. Two 1000 lb. bombs strike the carrier. One rips through the overhang of the flight deck and explodes just off the bow, and the second hits the port side of the flight deck near the stern and penetrates two decks before exploding. The carrier heels out of control in a sweeping circle, steering temporarily lost, trailing boiling columns of smoke as she does so.
Fifteen minutes after the last American plane leaves a D3A from Hiryu finds an enemy carrier. It is only 115 miles to the southeast. Ozawa’s four operable carriers come into the wind and launch their planes.
The carrier sighted is Yorktown, and it is doomed. Japanese planes hit the carrier with half a dozen torpedoes and eight bombs. The resulting fires and flooding cannot be controlled, and the carrier sinks less than an hour after the attack. Anti-aircraft cruiser San Diego, operating close by in defense of the carrier, is hit by three torpedoes and battleship Washington is hit by a torpedo and several bombs.
---
No further air strikes approach the Japanese carriers, and no further enemy carriers are sighted. Japanese land based bombers begin attacking the enemy transports now standing off the beach at Timor. Half a dozen of them are left ablaze and a sub chaser is also hit. The small vessel sinks almost immediately.
---
Soryu eventually brings her fires under control. Admiral Ozawa orders his carriers to turn and head for Balikpapan. He does not want to, but he has very few bombs and torpedoes left for his planes, and in his view the few ships he might sink are not worth the chance that a large strike by enemy four-engine bombers could find him and inflict further damage on his force. There are a lot of G4M bombers standing by on Kendari and Amboina; let them deal with the transports.
---
Shiro brings a man over to the patch of deck where the last sailor they rescued sits eating a plate of rice and fish. The rescued man is considerably cleaner, and his injured arm has been treated. The man accompanying Shiro is another seaman, also rescued from Umikaze. The two men greet each other.
“You were asking about Kiyomi Yoshino,” says the newcomer. The rescued man, still sitting, nods. “I am sorry,” continues the man, “I know you were friends. Yoshino was injured, he didn’t make it.”
“Thank you for the information,” says the sitting man softly, and bows his head. Shiro turns and leaves quietly, to give the man a chance to be alone with his grief. As alone, at least, as he can be on a deck crowded with survivors. As he leaves Shiro wonders what it would be like to be in that man’s position and learn that Taiki or Riku had died. He knows that today has been a victory, but he is learning that even victory has a price.
Location: 90 miles north of Koepang
Course: South
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 191
Orders: Destroy enemy forces approaching Timor.
---
Shortly after sunrise destroyer Shiokaze, the last surviving destroyer of the attack that prevented the enemy battleships from reaching the Japanese carriers, is sunk by two torpedoes from submarine Graying. The damaged destroyer sinks almost immediately. Thirteen survivors are eventually rescued.
---
Submarine O24 is caught just off the coast of Timor. Lieutenant de Vries will hunt no Japanese carriers this day. A D3A from Akagi comes out of the east, out of the rising sun, and its accurately aimed bomb strikes the submarine forward on the starboard side. The submarine’s forward compartments flood, pulling the submarine below the surface as her remaining crew fight desperately to keep this from being O24’s final dive.
---
Shiro and another sailor help fish yet another man out of the water. Hibiki and two other destroyers reached the scene of last night’s battle at first light and have been pulling survivors out of the water ever since. The man they have just rescued is from Umikaze, and the poor fellow is in rough shape. He is smeared in sticky oil and one arm has some serious-looking burns.
Shiro helps him to a spot where he can sit down. The decks are crowded with 43 other survivors, and Hibiki crew are moving among them with blankets and tea. The rescued sailor gives Shiro a grateful if somewhat wan smile. Riku appears and pours the man a cup of tea from a pot he is carrying and then kneels and helps him get the oil cleaned off his face. Both Riku and Shiro are smeared with the stuff as well by this time.
Riku looks up at Shiro from where he is kneeling.
“It’s hard not to think that it could be us in the water instead of these poor fellows,” he says. Shiro nods. It has been very hard for the empathetic sailor to see so many comrades in such a wretched state. There have been a lot of bodies in the water too, people they could not save, and that has been an even harder thing.
“I know,” is all he says. “Are you okay for now?” he asks the man they have just rescued. “Someone will be along in a bit with clean clothes, and a medic will look at that arm soon too.”
“I will be fine,” the man says. “Tell me, have you rescued a man named Kiyomi Yoshino, also from Umikaze?” he asks, looking worried. “He is my closest friend, and I lost track of him when the ship started to go down.”
“I will ask around,” Shiro tells him, “as soon as I...” He is cut off suddenly by the combat stations klaxon. From the port 25 mm AA tub above them a man is pointed and shouting above the noise. Shiro and Riku turn and look and see planes on the horizon, coming their way. They are not Japanese planes.
Shiro sprints forward. At the front of the tower he scrambles up the ladder into the forward AA tub. The gun captain, Taiki, is already there. He hands Shiro a helmet and gives him a tight smile.
“Keep the ammunition coming,” is all he says.
---
Hibiki and the other two destroyers race back towards the nearby carriers. The fleet disperses slightly, and as the enemy planes draw near Hibiki slides into her accustomed spot on Shokaku’s port flank.
The enemy strike consists of 34 dive bombers and 13 torpedo bombers, escorted by about 15 fighters. There are almost 50 Zero-sen fighters over the Japanese fleet, but not all of them are in position to intercept the incoming strike in time. They shoot down 6 enemy fighters and 11 of the bombers without a loss, but the remaining 36 bombers break through and begin their attack runs against the Japanese ships.
---
Shiro rips an empty magazine out of the receiver of one of the three 25 mm guns and reaches behind him. The empty magazine is plucked from his hands and replaced with a full, heavy one. He leans over and slams it into place. The smoke and noise from the guns blinds him to almost everything, but he is peripherally aware of a enemy dive bomber arcing overhead, trailing smoke as it screams down on Shokaku. He has no time to turn and see whether or not Shokaku is hit. The magazine is emptied in less than 15 seconds and he pulls it out, scrambling sideways to keep up with the traverse of the guns. He hands it back and replaces it with the full one he gets in return.
---
Shokaku is not hit, and neither is Zuikaku nearby, though both are attacked. A few miles away Soryu is not so lucky. Two 1000 lb. bombs strike the carrier. One rips through the overhang of the flight deck and explodes just off the bow, and the second hits the port side of the flight deck near the stern and penetrates two decks before exploding. The carrier heels out of control in a sweeping circle, steering temporarily lost, trailing boiling columns of smoke as she does so.
Fifteen minutes after the last American plane leaves a D3A from Hiryu finds an enemy carrier. It is only 115 miles to the southeast. Ozawa’s four operable carriers come into the wind and launch their planes.
The carrier sighted is Yorktown, and it is doomed. Japanese planes hit the carrier with half a dozen torpedoes and eight bombs. The resulting fires and flooding cannot be controlled, and the carrier sinks less than an hour after the attack. Anti-aircraft cruiser San Diego, operating close by in defense of the carrier, is hit by three torpedoes and battleship Washington is hit by a torpedo and several bombs.
---
No further air strikes approach the Japanese carriers, and no further enemy carriers are sighted. Japanese land based bombers begin attacking the enemy transports now standing off the beach at Timor. Half a dozen of them are left ablaze and a sub chaser is also hit. The small vessel sinks almost immediately.
---
Soryu eventually brings her fires under control. Admiral Ozawa orders his carriers to turn and head for Balikpapan. He does not want to, but he has very few bombs and torpedoes left for his planes, and in his view the few ships he might sink are not worth the chance that a large strike by enemy four-engine bombers could find him and inflict further damage on his force. There are a lot of G4M bombers standing by on Kendari and Amboina; let them deal with the transports.
---
Shiro brings a man over to the patch of deck where the last sailor they rescued sits eating a plate of rice and fish. The rescued man is considerably cleaner, and his injured arm has been treated. The man accompanying Shiro is another seaman, also rescued from Umikaze. The two men greet each other.
“You were asking about Kiyomi Yoshino,” says the newcomer. The rescued man, still sitting, nods. “I am sorry,” continues the man, “I know you were friends. Yoshino was injured, he didn’t make it.”
“Thank you for the information,” says the sitting man softly, and bows his head. Shiro turns and leaves quietly, to give the man a chance to be alone with his grief. As alone, at least, as he can be on a deck crowded with survivors. As he leaves Shiro wonders what it would be like to be in that man’s position and learn that Taiki or Riku had died. He knows that today has been a victory, but he is learning that even victory has a price.
RE: Small Ship, Big War
[&o][&o][&o][&o][&o]
Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you.
Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu
RE: Small Ship, Big War
ORIGINAL: Barb
Hell piece of luck with the brave Goto and his squadron in the right place.
Not for Goto and his brave e-sailors!! Sort of an IJN version of the Battle off Samar - glorious but costly for those involved.
RE: Small Ship, Big War
quote:
ORIGINAL: Barb
Hell piece of luck with the brave Goto and his squadron in the right place.
Not for Goto and his brace e-sailors!! Sort of an IJN version of the Battle off Samar - glorious but costly for those involved.
You can say that again.
Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you.
Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu
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Cuttlefish
- Posts: 2454
- Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:03 am
- Location: Oregon, USA
RE: Small Ship, Big War
ORIGINAL: rtrapasso
ORIGINAL: Barb
Hell piece of luck with the brave Goto and his squadron in the right place.
Not for Goto and his brave e-sailors!! Sort of an IJN version of the Battle off Samar - glorious but costly for those involved.
Especially lucky in that they were not there to defend but to attack. Having them in the same area as the carriers was sheer chance. But on such chances battles often turn.
Admiral Goto will, of course, be reprimanded for losing most of his command and be reassigned to some backwater again.
RE: Small Ship, Big War
Goto to a backwater job again????? This must be Japanese "Darwinism" at work again.
RE: Small Ship, Big War
ORIGINAL: princep01
Goto to a backwater job again????? This must be Japanese "Darwinism" at work again.
IJN had an interesting habit of dismissing victorious commanders for not winning battles better..
Surface combat TF fanboy
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Cuttlefish
- Posts: 2454
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- Location: Oregon, USA
RE: Small Ship, Big War
February 18, 1943
Location: 150 miles south-southwest of Makassar
Course: Northwest
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 161
Orders: Return to Balikpapan to refuel and rearm.
---
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Marson, commander of the 2/25 Battalion of the the Australian 7th Infantry division, is standing on a beach on the south coast of the western end of Timor. The scene around him is one of chaos. The beach is crowded with men and equipment, and here and there burning lorries and other equipment send smoke towering into the sky. A few hundred yards away a wrecked transport lies canted on its side on the beach.
Further out to sea are more columns of smoke. Half a mile offshore an American destroyer is burning fiercely, and smoke rises from other stricken warships and transports as well. The ocean off the beach is crowded with still more transports, and what looks like hundreds of boats are moving between them and the shore.
Marson’s troops are queued in orderly rows trailing up the sand away from the water. He is proud of the men and the discipline they are showing. Behind them are 50,000 oncoming Jap troops, being held away from the evacuation by a handful of Australian cavalry. A shell explodes a couple of hundred yards down the beach. Two men go down, one of them screaming, and medics rush over to help. His men shift restlessly, and Marson decides it’s time to give them a bit of a morale boost. He takes a deep breath, despite the pain in his chest from the bullet he stopped three weeks ago.
“Not much longer now, men,” he calls, walking up and down the columns. “Our turn is coming soon.” He turns and points out at a large transport, the Esperance Bay, from which boats are even now heading in their direction. “You see that ship? That’s our ticket out of here.”
As he speaks four Japanese Betty bombers drop out of the clouds. They skim across the water, chased by occasional flak bursts, straight at Esperance Bay. The transport begins to move, but two torpedoes strike amidships in rapid succession. Esperance Bay sags in the center, her back broken, and begins to sink. A man nearby utters a low, brief oath, but otherwise there is dead silence in the ranks around Marson. The lieutenant colonel stands looking out at the water for a long moment, then he takes another deep breath and points to the next transport in line.
“You see that ship, men?” he calls. “That’s our ticket out of here.”
Up and down the beach other units wait their turn, or scramble into arriving boats. Not far from Marson’s brigade some wag has stuck a hastily painted wooden sign into the sand: “Timor Round Trip Tours Thanks You for Your Patronage – No Refunds.”
---
The departing Japanese carriers, moving slowly because of damaged Soryu, remain within range long enough to send a final strike of two dozen dive bombers to harry the Allied evacuation. The pilots come back reporting they have struck and heavily damaged a light cruiser.
Aboard Hibiki the crew is kept busy tending their 44 guests. These refugees remain on deck, except for two who are more seriously injured than the others. Though they are exposed to rain and spray they are all destroyer men and do not complain, rather they are grateful for the rescue and whatever attention the crew can give them. Riku takes charge of this effort and is kept busy moving up and down the deck all day long. The rescued men are made as comfortable as possible as Hibiki and the other ships leave Timor behind and head for Balikpapan.
---
AP Esperance Bay:
Location: 150 miles south-southwest of Makassar
Course: Northwest
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 161
Orders: Return to Balikpapan to refuel and rearm.
---
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Marson, commander of the 2/25 Battalion of the the Australian 7th Infantry division, is standing on a beach on the south coast of the western end of Timor. The scene around him is one of chaos. The beach is crowded with men and equipment, and here and there burning lorries and other equipment send smoke towering into the sky. A few hundred yards away a wrecked transport lies canted on its side on the beach.
Further out to sea are more columns of smoke. Half a mile offshore an American destroyer is burning fiercely, and smoke rises from other stricken warships and transports as well. The ocean off the beach is crowded with still more transports, and what looks like hundreds of boats are moving between them and the shore.
Marson’s troops are queued in orderly rows trailing up the sand away from the water. He is proud of the men and the discipline they are showing. Behind them are 50,000 oncoming Jap troops, being held away from the evacuation by a handful of Australian cavalry. A shell explodes a couple of hundred yards down the beach. Two men go down, one of them screaming, and medics rush over to help. His men shift restlessly, and Marson decides it’s time to give them a bit of a morale boost. He takes a deep breath, despite the pain in his chest from the bullet he stopped three weeks ago.
“Not much longer now, men,” he calls, walking up and down the columns. “Our turn is coming soon.” He turns and points out at a large transport, the Esperance Bay, from which boats are even now heading in their direction. “You see that ship? That’s our ticket out of here.”
As he speaks four Japanese Betty bombers drop out of the clouds. They skim across the water, chased by occasional flak bursts, straight at Esperance Bay. The transport begins to move, but two torpedoes strike amidships in rapid succession. Esperance Bay sags in the center, her back broken, and begins to sink. A man nearby utters a low, brief oath, but otherwise there is dead silence in the ranks around Marson. The lieutenant colonel stands looking out at the water for a long moment, then he takes another deep breath and points to the next transport in line.
“You see that ship, men?” he calls. “That’s our ticket out of here.”
Up and down the beach other units wait their turn, or scramble into arriving boats. Not far from Marson’s brigade some wag has stuck a hastily painted wooden sign into the sand: “Timor Round Trip Tours Thanks You for Your Patronage – No Refunds.”
---
The departing Japanese carriers, moving slowly because of damaged Soryu, remain within range long enough to send a final strike of two dozen dive bombers to harry the Allied evacuation. The pilots come back reporting they have struck and heavily damaged a light cruiser.
Aboard Hibiki the crew is kept busy tending their 44 guests. These refugees remain on deck, except for two who are more seriously injured than the others. Though they are exposed to rain and spray they are all destroyer men and do not complain, rather they are grateful for the rescue and whatever attention the crew can give them. Riku takes charge of this effort and is kept busy moving up and down the deck all day long. The rescued men are made as comfortable as possible as Hibiki and the other ships leave Timor behind and head for Balikpapan.
---
AP Esperance Bay:
- Attachments
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Onime No Kyo
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RE: Small Ship, Big War
WOW! ......just WOW!!!!!![&o]
"Mighty is the Thread! Great are its works and insane are its inhabitants!" -Brother Mynok
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DuckofTindalos
- Posts: 39781
- Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 11:53 pm
- Location: Denmark
RE: Small Ship, Big War
Just one thing, 2/25 would not be a brigade but a battalion. I'm sure it's just a typo.
We are all dreams of the Giant Space Butterfly.
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Cuttlefish
- Posts: 2454
- Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:03 am
- Location: Oregon, USA
RE: Small Ship, Big War
ORIGINAL: Terminus
Just one thing, 2/25 would not be a brigade but a battalion. I'm sure it's just a typo.
Right you are. Fixed. The typo was aided by the fact that the 2/25 Battalion was attached to the 25th Brigade. Richard Marson really was their commander, by the way, and actually was wounded in the chest. That happened in New Guinea, though, not on Timor.
RE: Small Ship, Big War
[quote][Just one thing, 2/25 would not be a brigade but a battalion. I'm sure it's just a typo.
/quote]
Picky picky picky.
Seriously, I wish Hollywood was as picky.
/quote]
Picky picky picky.
Seriously, I wish Hollywood was as picky.
Appear at places to which he must hasten; move swiftly where he does not expect you.
Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu