Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[Cuttlefish]

February 25, 1943

Location: 350 miles southeast of Malang
Course: Southeast
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 353

Orders: Strike at enemy ships returning from the Timor operation

---

As night falls the Japanese ships make their way through the Lombok Strait. Tall volcanic peaks stand out to either side against the darkening sky. The tallest of these are Mount Agung on Bali to the east, rising over 10,000 feet, and Mount Rinjani, rising over 12,000 feet on Lombok to the east.

The southern end of the strait is barely 12 miles wide, making it an ideal place for submarines to lurk. None are detected and no attacks are made, however, so it seems that the strait is not currently being watched. This suits the Japanese perfectly. Their ships enter the Indian Ocean and turn to the southeast. Now out into wide open water the chance they will be detected drops dramatically.

The night is mostly clear, and as the Japanese ships increase speed the moon begins to rise. It is just a few days past full and the moonlight gleams faintly on the hulls of the warships and illuminates their long wakes as they leave the islands behind. Far ahead lies Australia.

[Admiral DadMan]

OMG!!! @ the mess hall chatter!!

LMFAO!!!!!![&o]

[Cuttlefish]

February 26, 1943

Location: 650 miles southeast of Malang
Course: Southeast
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 314

Orders: Strike at enemy ships returning from the Timor operation

---

After turning the ship over to Captain Ishii in the morning Lieutenant Miharu stops in the officer’s wardroom for some tea. There he finds a Japanese newspaper someone brought aboard ship at Balikpapan. It is an old newspaper, almost two months out of date, but he sits and reads it anyway.

He only skims through the war news, disregarding what is obviously propaganda and reading between the lines as well as he can for news of what is happening on other fronts. He spends more time reading the editorials. He knows that in general they reflect the opinion of the government, in particular the General Staff and the Foreign Ministry. He finds their strident calls for the military to continue smiting the foreign devils disquieting, however. He hopes that behind the scenes the government is taking a more moderate approach and seeking ways to end the war while Japan still has the upper hand and before the Allies can bring to bear their overwhelming resources.

He spends the most time reading the ordinary news from home. Even the usual fare, politics and crime and scandal, is a welcome reminder that in Japan life mostly continues at its normal pace. The dedication of a new bridge, a boy who bravely rescues his sister from an undertow, all these things bring him closer to home. It is easy to forget sometimes, he reflects, that there is more to his world than one 370 foot destroyer and the war she is fighting.

Buried in the middle of the paper is an article that catches his eye. It reports that Japanese police recently raided a meeting of Japanese Communist Party members who were apparently conspiring to free Russian spy Richard Sorge from Sugamo Prison in Ikebukuro. Six men were arrested and one was killed, the article says. It adds that police are still looking for two men, one of them wounded, who evaded capture and fled.

Lieutenant Miharu puts down the paper. He wonders uneasily if his brother might be among those arrested or killed. He likes to think that even Morito has more sense than to become involved in a foolish scheme like that, but he is no longer sure he knows his brother well enough to say that with any certainty.

His wife Kumiko would surely inform him if she had heard anything, he reflects. She may in fact have already done so, but Hibiki has been on the move so much these last weeks that they have received no mail since leaving Kwajalein six weeks ago.

As there is no chance of learning anything further any time soon, not with the ship heading deeper into the Indian Ocean, he tries to put the matter out of his mind for the time being. He has enough other things to worry about. The lieutenant gets up from the table and goes off to get some sleep.

[Cuttlefish]

February 27, 1943

Location: 815 miles southwest of Broome
Course: Southeast
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 466

Orders: Strike at enemy ships returning from the Timor operation

---

The Indian Ocean Strike Force arrives off the Australian coast. There have been no signs of enemy activity, and no signs that the enemy is aware of their presence. So far everything has gone according to plan.

Admiral Ozawa decides that his ships will patrol here for a couple of days, some 250 miles offshore. The idea is that they will wait for the enemy to come to them. The carriers and their escorts begin to cruise slowly back and forth, waiting as patiently as a spider at the center of its web.

[Cuttlefish]

February 28, 1943

Location: 815 miles southwest of Broome
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 444

Orders: Strike at enemy ships returning from the Timor operation

---

HMS Victorious was to have participated in Operation Torch. The British carrier took two torpedoes off New Guinea in the fall of 1942, however, and was unavailable for that operation or for the invasion of Timor. But she has just completed repairs at Sydney, and now the British Admiralty needs her in the Mediterranean as the struggle to defeat the Germans and Italians in North Africa reaches its closing stages.

To that end a task force built around Victorious and the also recently repaired Prince of Wales is assembled. Their orders are to sail around the south coast of Australia, transit the Indian Ocean, and arrive at Ceylon. From there a pair of destroyers will escort Victorious to the Mediterranean.

No trouble is expected. There has been little Japanese submarine activity in the Indian Ocean since the start of the war, and no reason to suspect that enemy surface forces are operating that far south.

The ships prepare to depart at dawn the next morning.

[Terminus]

Could you maybe stretch out the suspense a little bit more? It's not quite nail-biting enough...[;)][:D]

[kaleun]

[:@]And he leaves us like this!
Grrrrr.
 
Come on[8|] Next update. Now!

[kaleun]

Could you maybe stretch out the suspense a little bit more? It's not quite nail-biting enough

Lucky you, you still have nails. I am down to the knuckles[;)]

I mean, come on, this is Oscar material here. Someone needs to call Clint Eastwood to direct this.

How about Chow Yun Fat as capt Ishii? (Although the Chinese get annoyed when one of their own plays a Japanese as uin Gong Li with memoirs of a Geisha)

[Terminus]

Where would you put Ken Watanabe? Ozawa?

[princep01]

And CPO Shun????  Someone large, bald, quietly sinister, with a smile that appears only near the moment of his targeted victim's demise.

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Where would you put Ken Watanabe? Ozawa?

I kinda see Takeshi Kaga as Ozawa. [:D]

[bradfordkay]

"And CPO Shun???? Someone large, bald, quietly sinister, with a smile that appears only near the moment of his targeted victim's demise."

if I could choose somebody who would have been perfect for the part 40 years ago (maybe even 30 years ago) I would say Harold Sakata (Odd Job in Goldfinger).

[Terminus]

Or Takeshi Kitano...

[Feinder]

Wow.  Vicky is heading back to fight Rommel?
 
I'd give Monty the finger over my CVs.  Oh wait, I -did- give Monty the finger...  [;)]
 
-F-

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

Buried in the middle of the paper is an article that catches his eye. It reports that Japanese police recently raided a meeting of Japanese Communist Party members who were apparently conspiring to free Russian spy Richard Sorge from Sugamo Prison in Ikebukuro. Six men were arrested and one was killed, the article says. It adds that police are still looking for two men, one of them wounded, who evaded capture and fled.

Yet another brilliant bit of including overall history in its possible effects on the crew of the Hibiki. It's a pity you're not getting rich for this![&o]

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Or Takeshi Kitano...

You have a point there, friend.

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: kaleun

How about Chow Yun Fat as capt Ishii? (Although the Chinese get annoyed when one of their own plays a Japanese as uin Gong Li with memoirs of a Geisha)

I have enjoyed this discussion quite a bit. There was some tak about this back on page 18 as well, when I put up the poster for the movie. I absolutely endorse Harold Sakata as Shun, for what that's worth. And I think a younger Chow Yun Fat would have made a good Riku.

ORIGINAL: Capt. Harlock

Yet another brilliant bit of including overall history in its possible effects on the crew of the Hibiki. It's a pity you're not getting rich for this!

Ah, thanks for the compliment. Maybe once I sell the screenplay I can will see some of those riches.

The poster again, just because I like it:

[Cuttlefish]

March 1, 1943

Location: 840 miles south-southwest of Broome
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 398

Orders: Strike at enemy ships returning from the Timor operation

---

The Japanese ships are spending their third day off the Australian coast. They have moved a bit closer, and are now approximately 200 miles southwest of North West Cape and Exmouth Bay. No one on board any of the ships knows the names of these places, however. All their maps show is the outline of the coast and a wide blank area. To some extent this is justified; this area is devoid of towns or even settlements of any size.*

So far no enemy ships have been seen. The Japanese steam slowly back and forth, waiting and watching.

---

Ensigns Izu and Handa are playing a game of shogi in the wardroom. Lieutenant Miharu sits nearby, watching with interest but offering few comments. The two ensigns are using a shogi set made by Shiro for use aboard ship. The 81 rectangles that comprise the board are divided by slightly raised partitions, which prevent the pieces from sliding around.

“Is this the furthest south we have ever been?” asks Handa as he waits for Izu to make a move.

“No,” says Izu, not taking his eyes from the board. “We were further south than this that time off New Zealand.”

“Ah yes, I had forgotten,” says Handa. “That was a similar sort of mission, come to think of it. And it was also very hot.” It has in fact been warm. The temperature has been well over 90 the last couple of days, moderated only slightly by a lackluster breeze. Ensign Izu picks up a captured lance and places it on the board. Handa’s eyes narrow as he studies the ramifications of the move.

“At least the fact that it is summer here means good weather for spotting enemy ships,” comments Izu. Handa, who is studying the pieces that Izu still has “in hand”, says nothing, but Lieutenant Miharu speaks for the first time.

“This is also typhoon season for this area,” he says. “But it looks as though the weather will remain calm for the next several days, at least.” The game continues for a few moments in silence. Then Handa completes a move.

“Australia seems to be very sparsely populated,” he says, leaning back. “I am surprised we have not conquered it.” Lieutenant Miharu chuckles.

“It is also very large,” he says. “And the parts that would be worth conquering are not all stretches of wasteland. There are a lot of Australians, here and there. We would have been raving to imagine we could conquer the entire thing. I think you need to spend more time studying the maps, Ensign.” Handa sighs.

“You are probably right, sir,” he says. “And I do seem to recall hearing that the entire country is populated by criminals. It stands to reason they would be very fierce fighters.” Miharu laughs.

“It was a British penal colony once, true,” he says. “But that was a long time ago.”

“The way I see it, sir, I don’t have to understand them,” explains Handa by way of apology. “I just have to know how to kill them.”

“You’ve been working under Lieutenant Sugiyura, haven’t you, Ensign?” asks the lieutenant.

“Yes sir, why?” says Handa. Izu leans forward and makes a move.

“Nothing,” says Miharu. “It does explain a lot, though.”

---

* Note: in real life this lonely stretch of coast was not completely empty. The US Navy set up a submarine refueling station and PBY base at Exmouth Bay in 1942. This game is being played on the stock map, however, so no base exists there. Exmouth exists as a dot base on Andrew Brown’s map.

[Cuttlefish]

March 2, 1943

Location: 750 miles south-southwest of Broome
Course: Holding position
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 4
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 377

Orders: Strike at enemy ships returning from the Timor operation

---

“Ah, good evening, Exec,” Captain Ishii says as Lieutenant Miharu comes onto the bridge. “We have some new orders. Admiral Ozawa has decided to take us in closer to the coast once it grows dark.”

“Yes sir,” says the lieutenant. “How close?”

“To within about 100 miles,” says Ishii. “There are no signs that the enemy has any bases anywhere in the area, and this way we can cover more of the coastline.”

“Is the Admiral getting impatient already, do you think?” asks Miharu. Captain Ishii shakes his head.

“Ozawa? Not likely,” says the captain. “I believe he has simply made a cautious approach and now that it looks safe he is putting us in a better position to do some damage.”

“Very well, sir,” says the lieutenant. “When morning comes perhaps we will find some targets for our planes.”

“If not tomorrow then soon, Exec,” says Captain Ishii. “I doubt all the enemy fish have slipped the net already.”

[princep01]

The plot thickens; the suspense holds us like a moth to a bright light. 
 
Well done, Mr Cuttlefish.