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Hibiki, soldiers on.  The technological race leans ever more emphatically toward the Allies.  Quantatitive advantage shifts ever more clearly to the Allies as the aluminun sky begins to show itself.  Lightnings, Corsairs, and soon enough, Hellcats, appear.  The Japanese strive mightily to land a war winning blow, but it alludes them to date.
 
And the crew of the Hibiki think of home, the painful separation of war time,  the smell of cherry blossoms in a new Spring, the taste of real food, cooked as they like it, and, of course, the exact location of Chief Petty Officr Shun. 

No rest for the wiked [:D]

ORIGINAL: princep01

Hibiki, soldiers on.  The technological race leans ever more emphatically toward the Allies.  Quantatitive advantage shifts ever more clearly to the Allies as the aluminun sky begins to show itself.  Lightnings, Corsairs, and soon enough, Hellcats, appear.  The Japanese strive mightily to land a war winning blow, but it alludes them to date.

And the crew of the Hibiki think of home, the painful separation of war time,  the smell of cherry blossoms in a new Spring, the taste of real food, cooked as they like it, and, of course, the exact location of Chief Petty Officr Shun. 

Nicely put. "The aluminum sky", I like that.

March 21, 1943

Location: 45 miles south of Merak
Course: West, then north
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 444

Orders: Proceed to Palau

---

The Japanese force moves west along the southern coast of Java during the day. By nightfall they are near the Sunda Strait. They enter the strait cautiously. This is partly due to the danger from enemy submarines. It seems entirely likely that this passage will be watched, and so the ships are all at full alert.

It is not only the submarine danger that enforces caution, however. The strait is treacherous to navigate, shallow in places and dotted with many islands and sandbars. The charts available to Ozawa and his captains are the latest available, but even so they are less than complete. To complicate matters a heavy rain begins to fall before sundown and continues through the night. The downpour might help cloak the ships from enemy eyes, but it certainly doesn’t make the navigation problem any easier.

Several of the Japanese sailors, aware of the history of the area, hope to catch a glimpse of the island of Krakatoa, or at least of what is left of it. In this they are disappointed, however, as the task force passes well south of the island and it remains hidden by rain and darkness.

March 22, 1943

Location: 60 miles north of Batavia
Course: East
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 414

Orders: Proceed to Palau

---

“Oizuma says they found the last snake today,” says Riku, talking around a mouthful of rice. He is squeezed in between Shiro and another sailor in the forward crew’s mess.

“Damn,” says someone, “I really wanted that extra day of leave. Who found it?”

“Lieutenant Sugiyura,” says Riku. “It was in one of the torpedo tubes, at least that’s what I heard.”

“Fire pythons from the aft torpedo mount!” says Shiro. There is general laughter, and many suggestions follow for using reptiles as weapons. Some of the more ribald ones, while not practical, conjure hilarious images of American and British sailors with snakes and lizards lodged in uncomfortable places.

The laughter and comments finally die down, and the talk turns to Singapore. The men speak wistfully of tales they have heard of the pleasures to be had there.

“Who knows, we may get there yet,” says Shiro, ever the optimist.

“Sure, if the Navy ever runs out of dull, swampy places for us to visit,” someone says. “Where are we now, anyway?”

“The Java Sea,” says Riku. “We should be at Palau in about a week.”

“I’m really surprised we haven’t run into any submarines lately,” comments someone else. “For a while they seemed to be everywhere, but we haven’t seen any in weeks.”

“That’s the thing I hate about submarines,” says Shiro, loading more food onto his plate. “Just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.”

Stealth and choke points are dangerous combinations in the war between surface units and subs.

aluminun sky

In the European front I believe they called it "Aluminium overcast"

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

ORIGINAL: princep01

Hibiki, soldiers on.  The technological race leans ever more emphatically toward the Allies.  Quantatitive advantage shifts ever more clearly to the Allies as the aluminun sky begins to show itself.  Lightnings, Corsairs, and soon enough, Hellcats, appear.  The Japanese strive mightily to land a war winning blow, but it alludes them to date.

And the crew of the Hibiki think of home, the painful separation of war time,  the smell of cherry blossoms in a new Spring, the taste of real food, cooked as they like it, and, of course, the exact location of Chief Petty Officr Shun. 

Nicely put. "The aluminum sky", I like that.

Cuttlefish, I wish I could claim the term as my own, but I must confess that I originally heard it from a game designer working on an Italian theater game. I suspect it was not an original term for him either. As noted by Kaleun, it probably originated during the actual conflict in Europe.

However, it seems a fitting description of what the Axis forces eventually faced in the air war in all theaters.

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

“I’m really surprised we haven’t run into any submarines lately,” comments someone else. “For a while they seemed to be everywhere, but we haven’t seen any in weeks.”

“That’s the thing I hate about submarines,” says Shiro, loading more food onto his plate. “Just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.”

As Kit Carson said, it's when you don't see 'em that they're getting ready to ambush you!

March 23, 1943

Location: 100 miles north of Kragen
Course: East
Attached to: TF 72
Mission: Air Combat
System Damage: 2
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 377

Orders: Proceed to Palau

---

One thing every Japanese sailor has learned to fear by this stage of the war is the sudden explosion in the night. The geyser of water rising against the side of a ship, the sea churned to phosphorescence by the violence of the blast. The rolling crash echoing across the water, trailing the sight of the explosion by a few seconds. And then the yells of men and the sound of klaxons, all coming much too late to do any good.

Captain Ishii is awakened in his cabin by the sounds. He can even feel the force of the distant blast as a faint shudder through Hibiki’s hull. He grabs his jacket and is on his way to the bridge even before Hibiki begins to turn, seeking the attacker. The only thing Ishii does not know until he gets to the bridge is which ship has been hit.

The victim is Akagi, struck by a single torpedo on the starboard side. This rather courteously offsets the port hit the big carrier took from an aerial torpedo off Australia. Akagi shudders and slows, but maintains what headway she can and begins to turn, hoping to avoid further torpedoes.

Hibiki and two other destroyers drop behind and look for the attacker. But the enemy submarine has disappeared. Captain Ishii is not reassured, however. The task force has now been slowed to the point where a submarine will have no trouble keeping up with them, and Ishii does not doubt that any sub commander with the guts to penetrate a heavy destroyer screen and attack an aircraft carrier will not be content with merely damaging his target. The enemy sub will be back, seeking to finish off Akagi.

Captain Ishii gazes out at the dark water and tries to put himself in the shoes of the enemy sub commander. Evading the Japanese counter attack will have put the sub well behind the carriers. The enemy commander will now be committed to a stern chase. He will no doubt try to get ahead of the Japanese ships and attack again as they pass by.

It is nearly dawn. Ishii orders Hibiki to rejoin the task force. There may also be other enemy submarines nearby, and they will now be alerted to the presence of a slow, valuable target. The next 24 hours may be long ones indeed.

Oh Dear, Oh Dear... Here we go again...

Ouch! The KB is quickly running out of carriers. [X(]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Oh Dear, Oh Dear... Hear we go again...

"Hear"...."hear"......did the great Terminus make a grammar mistake?! [X(]

No, he made a typo... Like I've observed earlier, my brain isn't as quick as it used to be...

The big question is now that Akagi has recieved a second torpedo, has it raised the sys damage above 10?? 
Don't like having those DL's increased involuntarily. [:-]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish


One thing every Japanese sailor has learned to fear by this stage of the war is the sudden explosion in the night. The geyser of water rising against the side of a ship, the sea churned to phosphorescence by the violence of the blast. The rolling crash echoing across the water, trailing the sight of the explosion by a few seconds. And then the yells of men and the sound of klaxons, all coming much too late to do any good.

Great writing! But -- no secondary explosion? (Okay, I'm hopelessly greedy.[:D])

The shipyards are going to busy repairing all the ships unlucky enough to be around the Hibiki.  I think that when Hibiki finally makes port and the sailors get shore leave they'll be in for a shock at how they're received.  Nothing worse for an escort to lose her charges.

I think it's Ozawa that's bringing the bad carma. [:)]

Yeah, and bad karma too...

Oh for Threadsakes.....[8|]