Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[Feinder]

Congrats Cuttlefish!
 
Do you remember how to change a diaper?
 
-F-

[cantona2]

Congrats Cuttlefish...toy Hibiki's bought for the kids yet?

[vonCommander]

Best news since the threat started!!  

Congrats!!! 

[Onime No Kyo]

Congrats, Grandpa....I mean, CF. A toast to mommy and the kids.

[ny59giants]

If you buy them any baby destroyers, make sure they "don't" come from China. [:D][:D]

[kaleun]

[;)]

[JoePirulo]

Congratulations CF!! Enjoy "the grandparenth thing"!! [8D]

[Cuttlefish]

Thank you, everyone, for your good wishes. The twins (identical twins!) are pretty amazing, even if they are a little too young to play baseball or build models with yet. It turns out I do remember how to change diapers and warm up a bottle, though.

I think I will enjoy being a grandparent. I like babies that you can hand to someone else when they start to cry or fuss.

[Cuttlefish]

March 17, 1943

Location: Tjilitjap
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 381

Orders: Await further orders

---

“All right, sir, I will post an announcement,” says Lieutenant Miharu. “I’ll try to make things clear, the crew is bound to have questions about this.” He pauses, then smiles. “I guess I do too, but I know that there is little point in questioning the will of the Imperial Japanese Navy.” The two men are discussing changes to the rank structure for enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. The changes were actually made several months ago, but the directive announcing them has only now caught up with Hibiki and the rest of Ozawa’s ships.

The actual rank structure has not changed, but the titles for the various ranks have. A Seaman First Class, for example, is now a Senior Seaman, while Seamen Second Class are now Leading Seamen. The titles of Seaman First Class and Seaman Second Class are now held by former Seaman Thirds and Seaman Fourths. The changes in the noncom ranks are similar, though Chief Petty Officers are still Chiefs.

“If I had to guess,” says Captain Ishii, “I would say it is to encourage the men. This looks more and more as though it will be a long war. The Navy can’t give everyone a promotion to recognize their efforts, but maybe they think this will make the men feel as though they are getting somewhere. Or perhaps there is some more practical reason, I do not know.”

“Practical reasons?” ask the lieutenant. “There might not be any. This is the Navy, after all.”

“Good point,” says Captain Ishii.

---

“What do you make of it, Petty Officer Second Class Takahashi?” asks Riku. He is standing with Taiki reading one of the announcements posted around the ship.

“I do not know, Senior Seaman Ariga,” Taiki answers. “I had hoped someday to be promoted to PO2. Now I have the title, but my grade is still P-4 and I notice my pay has not increased.”

“What about Hibiki?” asks Riku. Taiki looks confused.

“What about her?” he asks.

“Well,” says Riku, “I wonder if we are still serving aboard a destroyer. Perhaps Hibiki is a light cruiser now.” Taiki snorts, trying not to laugh.

“Of course, and my grandmother is a battleship,” he says. “That’s enough of that sort of talk. I assume you have duties, Ariga?” Riku snaps to attention with flair.

“Yes, Petty Officer,” he says. “I shall be about them with efficiency and enthusiasm.” He turns and saunters briskly away. Taiki permits himself a smile as he watches his friend leave, but then his face turns more thoughtful as he thinks of the letter he has yet to answer.

---

Hiryu watch: Sys 42, Flood 64, Fires 0

[Terminus]

Hmmm, with the sort of trash the IJN calls light cruisers, I hope the Hibiki remains a destroyer...[:D]

[Feinder]

This sounds like a leader-bug waiting to happen.

[:-]

-F-

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Feinder

This sounds like a leader-bug waiting to happen.

[:-]

-F-

No, nothing that sinister. I'm just reflecting something that happened historically that would have affected Hibiki's crew. The IJN really did make this change towards the end of 1942. I don't know why, though if anyone has any knowledge or ideas about the change I would be interested to hear it.

[Cuttlefish]

March 18, 1943

Location: Tjilitjap
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 381

Orders: Await further orders

---

Excerpt from a letter to Chief Petty Officer Shun from his daughter, Nanami:

…and the doctor says Grandmother may be well enough to return to Okinawa by next month. She has already gained some weight back and looks ever so much better than she did.

Meanwhile Aunt and Uncle have been very good to me, and I have enjoyed staying here in Osaka. But it is all very busy here. Everyone always seems to be in a hurry, and it is hard to get used to the noise and the crowds. It will be nice to go home again.

And (since I know you have given very strict instructions to Uncle!) you will be glad to know that he has taken your words seriously. No suitors have come to call, and I do not talk to any young men of whom you would not approve. Which means, of course, I do not talk to young men at all. But please do not hear any reproach in my words, dear father! You always know what is best, and I know that you will see to my future in a proper and fitting manner…

---

Excerpt from a letter to Captain Ishii from his wife:

…and they have named her Sachiko, after your mother. She is a tiny little thing, but her cry is very healthy and she has no lack of appetite. She is very pretty, too.

I know it is hard to have another grandchild born while you are away, husband, but life does go on here, war or no war. It would be easy sometimes to forget that there is a war, in fact, if it were not that so many men are gone, scattered across the Pacific or Asia or who knows where. Those families who have the honor of a son who has died in battle do not forget it, of course. And neither do those of us who watch the sea, and send our prayers for safety and courage to those who we miss so very much…

---

Excerpt from a letter to PO2 Taiki Takahashi from his brother:

Mutsu has sailed again, better than new, and I am aboard her! I am still no prize to look at, but I passed the physical. We are heading to…well, there is no point in writing that, it would just get blotted out. Suffice to say that just the thought of our destination leaves me cold.

I have thought of you often, little brother. I hear of your ship every now and then. It sounds like you were in on that business down around Timor. What a glorious victory that was! I am envious that you got to participate in that, and I want to hear all about it the next time we meet.

How are you getting on as a noncom? Are you learning the ropes, and are you still bedeviled by the terrible Shun? I may be a junior officer, Taiki, but one thing I have learned is that petty officers are the ones who really run a ship. It is strange to think of you in that role, but this is a time where many of us must grow and change to meet the challenge of war, and I think that perhaps you are capable of more than anyone suspected. Well, anyone except me. I always knew that you were the smart one of the two of us, even if I used to have all the good looks…

[Cuttlefish]

March 19, 1943

Location: Tjilitjap
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 381

Orders: Await further orders

---

“But she is marrying someone else!” wails Shiro. “My heart is broken, Riku! Broken!” Riku sighs.

“You have never even met her,” he says reasonably. “You were supposed to meet her family the next time we were home. Well, we haven’t been home in nearly a year. Your family could not meet their end of the deal and so other arrangements were made, There is no loss of honor. You’ll end up marrying someone else, that’s all.”

“I know, I know,” says Shiro. “But she was beautiful, at least that’s what I heard. Now she is going to marry some lout who runs a manufacturing business and is safe from the draft…”

“A wealthy businessman instead of a sailor,” murmurs Riku, “what a heartbreak for the poor girl.”

“…while I charge around the Pacific while people try to kill me!,” continues Shiro, not hearing Riku. “I ask you, who is going to be left for us? By the time the war is over all the women will be married and have four children. Or maybe even five!”

“Look on the bright side,” says Riku dryly. “If enough of us get killed charging around the Pacific there may be a shortage of husbands by the time the war ends.”

“Hey, that’s true,” says Shiro, brightening. “I guess there is hope after all, isn’t there?” Riku nods slowly. The usually perceptive Shiro is too preoccupied to hear the slight tightening in his voice.

“There’s always hope,” says Riku. “Sometimes it’s all we have.”

[princep01]

Soap opera time on the Hibiki remins us that it was real people, experiencing real emotions, that fought the greatest war in modern history.  Well done, Cuttlefish. 

[kaleun]

Soap opera time on the Hibiki remins us that it was real people, experiencing real emotions, that fought the greatest war in modern history. Well done, Cuttlefish.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Of course now the suspense is: Where is Mutsu going? Is it someplace cold? or, Is it someplace dangerous?

Do I have to start biting my nails again? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: kaleun

Of course now the suspense is: Where is Mutsu going? Is it someplace cold? or, Is it someplace dangerous?

My bet is, yes to both. Spring is coming to the North Pacific (although some wags have stated that the four seasons up there are Winter, More Winter, Still Winter, and Construction). Given that the Allies must depend on land-based air for a few more months until the Essex class and the CVL's come on-line, I expect some activity there.

[Ol_Dog]

I have been told that in Alaska, the four seasons are called June, July, August and Winter

[Cuttlefish]

March 20, 1943

Location: Tjilitjap
Course: Northwest
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 381

Orders: Proceed to Palau

---

Mail is not the only thing Hibiki’s crew receives at Tjilitjap. There is also a great deal of war news. Much of this news is of debatable reliability, but all of it is discussed at great length.

There are various newspapers from home. Most of these are a few weeks old, and the sailors already know that what they experience and what the government allows to be printed are often two very different things. Much of the war news in the paper deals with last month’s events at Timor, for example. The two Allied infantry divisions there are reported as virtually wiped out, while the sailors know that most of them were successfully evacuated.

There are also rumors and gossip. These can be much more reliable than the official news reports, and also much less. Tjilitjap is a quiet backwater, but even here rumors and tales abound, following lines of supply right along with fuel and ammunition, and often more efficiently.

From all these sources a picture emerges of the state of the Japanese empire at the beginning of Spring, 1943. Most of the news deals with the Japanese victory at Timor, events with which Hibiki’s crew are already familiar, Official Japanese accounts state that in addition to wiping out two divisions and sinking over forty other ships, brave Japanese airmen sank seven American carriers.

But it is a big war, and there have also been developments elsewhere. Not mentioned prominently in the newspapers, but the subject of a number of rumors, have been events centered around Gili Gili at the southeastern tip of New Guinea. The airbase there has been suppressed ever since the enemy captured the place. Japanese bombers and warships have ensured that enemy planes have been unable to operate from there, and the enemy has in fact suffered heavy losses in their attempts to keep the base supplied.

This seems to have changed recently. The enemy has reportedly been using a new kind of fighter plane there, a plane that has swiftly established enemy air superiority over the base. The plane has a curiously angled wing and is supposed to possess terrifying speed and firepower. Only very experienced pilots are said to have a chance to go up against one and survive. The veteran fighter pilots aboard the Japanese carriers listen carefully to these stories, but details are hard to come by.

Elsewhere in the Pacific things seem to have been very quiet, except for the far north. Newspapers report another Japanese naval victory there, a victory that cost the enemy a battleship, and that since then the enemy has been forced to withdraw their ships and content themselves with occasional air raids against Paramushiro Jima.

The heaviest fighting is said to be taking place in Asia. Reports speak of battles in northern China, with Japanese troops laying siege to the cities of Homan and Yenen. There is a slightly different tone to the news from Burma. Official accounts speak of shattering victories against enemy armies between Mandalay and Myitkyina, but unofficial accounts say that the enemy has brought a lot of fresh forces into the area and that the Japanese there are currently hard pressed. Myitkyina is currently still in Japanese hands, but the word is that the issue there is very much in doubt.

One thing that most aboard Hibiki notice is that there are no longer reports or rumors that the British or Americans are close to suing for peace, or are willing to enter into negotiations with Japan. Somewhere over the last few months it has become generally accepted that this is to be a long war.

With this acceptance, however, is still a great deal of confidence. The enemy has yet to demonstrate that they can take on Japan head to head and win. A few more victories such as the one at Timor, everyone agrees, and even the stubborn Americans will surely realize the futility of attempting to wrest the Pacific back from Japan. When that happens they will no doubt finally be willing to talk peace.

---

Admiral Ozawa decides that there is no need to sit in this backwater while Hiryu is repaired. His ships are needed elsewhere, and while it is obvious that Hiryu is out of danger it is also obvious that it will be a week or more yet before she is ready to head to Singapore.

He accordingly details a pair of destroyers to stay behind and orders the rest of his ships to head for Palau. To the dismay of almost everyone aboard Hibiki they are not one of the destroyers chosen to remain behind. Dreams of extended leaves in Singapore vanish, replaced by the knowledge that the destroyer is headed back to the war.

[Terminus]

No rest for the brave souls of the Hibiki...