Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[Onime No Kyo]

I wonder what Milo charges for mail delivery? [&:][:D]

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Skipjack

Thanks, Cuttlefish, for this AAR.  You have really sucked me in, even to the non-combat plot lines - very addicting.  Cudos also for selecting a Matrix game monikor based on a WWII U.S. Submarine [;)]  I hope the Hibiki continues to see action and avoid critical hits.

Glad you are enjoying it! As far as my forum name goes, it seemed appropriate to use a name like that, since my actual last name is also the name of a WWII U.S. submarine.

ORIGINAL: Onime No Kyo

I wonder what Milo charges for mail delivery?

Heh, yes, I rather suspect the ubiquitous Captain Ito is going to have some business coming his way soon. I imagine that M & M Enterprises makes a tidy profit on such services - the color of scarcity and all that, you know.

[cantona2]

Id like to apologise to Cuttlefish and the crew of the Hibiki and all Hibiki fanboys
 
From one of my PBEM's
 
Sub attack at 42,52
 
Japanese Ships
DD Hibiki, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
DD Yugiri
DD Akatsuki
 
Allied Ships
SS Salmon

 
The crew was under orders to target the Yugiri, i promise!!
 
Sorry for hijacking thread [;)]

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: cantona2


Japanese Ships
DD Hibiki, Torpedo hits 1,  on fire,  heavy damage
DD Yugiri
DD Akatsuki

Allied Ships
SS Salmon


The crew was under orders to target the Yugiri, i promise!!

Sorry for hijacking thread [;)]

Don't scare us like that!! [:-][:-]

[Cuttlefish]

May 14, 1943

Location: 280 miles west of Buin
Course: Northwest
Attached to: TF 36
Mission: Surface combat
System Damage: 5
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 414

Orders: Proceed to Truk

---

Chief Gunnery Officer Kuwaki steps into Captain Ishii’s cabin and salutes.

“You sent for me, sir?” he says. Captain Ishii nods. He is seated in front of his small desk, jacket off and sleeves rolled back. On the desk is the usual stack of paperwork. The captain pushes back his chair and stands, facing Kuwaki.

“Yes, Lieutenant, I did,” he says. He indicates the papers on his desk. “I have been reviewing reports from the battle the other day. It seems we expended twenty-eight rounds of 5” ammunition. Of these six rounds struck their targets. I work that out to be 21% of the total. This in conditions of darkness, against small, fast targets. Lieutenant, that is outstanding work.”

“Sir, thank you,” says Kuwaki. “I have to point out that the range was very close and that one of the three torpedo boats we engaged escaped.” Captain Ishii snorts.

“And two did not,” he says. “Your performance was a credit to this ship. Please pass my thanks to your guns crews for a job well done.”

“Yes sir, thank you. I will,” says Kuwaki. He is startled but very pleased. Captain Ishii rarely goes out of his way to praise one of his officers like this. He sets high standards and expects his crew to meet them. But in truth Kuwaki is very pleased with the job his men did during the battle, and is proud that the captain has been gracious enough to mention it. It might even, Kuwaki dares to hope, lead to a promotion to full lieutenant one day.

“Very good,” says the captain. “Dismissed, Lieutenant.” Kuwaki salutes again and leaves. He goes to pass the captain’s praise on to his gun crews – and to see that the guns are ready and to schedule more drills. Praise is good, but the fight at Gili Gili is in the past. He knows he needs to keep his mind on the fights yet to come.

[Cuttlefish]

May 15, 1943

Location: 540 miles southeast of Truk
Course: Northwest
Attached to: TF 36
Mission: Surface combat
System Damage: 5
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 378

Orders: Proceed to Truk

---

Hibiki and Tachikaze, the only two destroyers left in the task force, are kept very busy indeed on the voyage to Truk. They are responsible for screening a battleship and three cruisers from submarine attack. The larger Japanese vessels, for their part, are mindful of their vulnerability and rely on speed as their chief defense.

Though no enemy submarines have been seen long-range patrol planes out of Truk and Lunga report they are in the area. This keeps the two destroyers scurrying like overworked collie dogs along the flanks of the column. It is not a pace of operations anyone aboard Hibiki cares to maintain for an extended period, especially given the recent battle. Fortunately Truk is now only two days ahead.

[Cuttlefish]

May 16, 1943

Location: 240 miles southeast of Truk
Course: Northwest
Attached to: TF 36
Mission: Surface combat
System Damage: 5
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 342

Orders: Proceed to Truk

---

Shiro comes off duty dripping wet. He was on watch forward, and has been drenched by the spray coming off the bows. At least the water is fairly warm. He pulls on dry clothes and goes in search of food.

He arrives in the crowded mess and edges his way into a seat. Oizuma, beside him, scoots over without interrupting what he is saying.

“So of course they’ll send us back to Japan,” he is saying. “Anything else would be unfair!” There is general laughter.

“Fair!” says another sailor. “This is the Navy! When does fair have anything to do with anything?”

“But we’ve been at sea for a year!” says another. “I have a son I have never even seen!”

“Count yourself lucky if he does not have a brother by the time you get home,” says someone dryly.

“But I haven’t been home! How can my son have a brother if I…hey!” says the first sailor indignantly. There is laughter around the table, and the unmarried sailors make several ribald suggestions as to what bored wives might be doing at home. The married ones do not join in the mirth.

“You’ve been quiet, Riku,” someone says. “You usually know what’s going on. Have you heard anything?” Riku, a little ways down the crowded table, is neatly scooping up some rice with his chopsticks. He shakes his head as he chews and swallows.

“I haven’t heard anything,” he says finally. “Except that it’s obvious that the brass are worried about what’s happening around Rabaul. I would bet that no ships are going back to Japan from this area right now unless they are badly damaged.”

“Maybe one of Snake Man’s pets can clog a steam line or something and cause a boiler explosion – just a small one!” someone suggests.

“Hey, leave my snakes out of this!” says Oizuma.

“Yes, leave the snakes alone,” says another sailor. “Benzaiten is the luck of the ship – as long as she is with us we will always come back to port safe.”

“That’s right!” says Oizuma. “I just wish that the port was Tokyo or Osaka, not some harbor in the jungle in the middle of nowhere.”

There is general agreement to this. The conversation turns, not for the first time or even the one hundredth, to what they will do when they finally see home again. It gets them no closer to Japan, but it does help bring Japan closer to them, at least for a short while.

[Onime No Kyo]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish
“But I haven’t been home! How can my son have a brother if I…hey!”

Well, someone's slow on the uptake. [:D]

[tocaff]

So even the lowest of the ranks are starting to be aware of the growing pressure being applied by the Allies.  Good stuff as usual.

[Cuttlefish]

May 17, 1943

Location: Truk
Course: Disbanded in port
Attached to: None
Mission: None
System Damage: 5
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Await further orders

---

The task force reaches Truk without incident and is disbanded. Hibiki waits her turn, refuels, and then proceeds into the sizeable anchorage.

Things around the Solomon Sea seem to have remained quiet since the last Japanese attack on Gili Gili. Hibiki is therefore directed to remain at Truk and effect any necessary repairs while the Imperial Navy takes stock of the situation and decides upon its next moves.

There are worse bases than Truk in which to be idle. The anchorage is spacious, the facilities are good, and the place and climate attractive. Many of the crew hope that the Navy takes its time deciding where to send them next.

[Cuttlefish]

May 18, 1943

Location: Truk
Course: Disbanded in port
Attached to: None
Mission: None
System Damage: 5
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Await further orders

---

Things are tense at the captain’s table. With both his current love interest and an old flame present sparks are bound to fly, and they do. After a raucous outburst by the brassy blonde the current love interest, a refined dark-haired beauty, looks at her sadly.

“You must be very fond of him,” she says.

“What makes you think so?” challenges the blonde.

“To humiliate yourself like this,” replies the dark-haired woman with pity. Out in the audience Riku leans over and whispers to Shiro.

“Which one would you choose?” he asks. Shiro does not hesitate.

“Rosalind Russell,” he whispers back. Riku shakes his head.

“Jean Harlow for me,” he says.

The meal ends badly. The handsome, dashing ship’s captain, played by Clark Gable, apologizes to the other guests.

“And as the man said when they were about to hang him, ‘this will be a lesson to me’,” he says.

The movie continues. As the ship makes its way from Hong Kong to Singapore there is both romance and violence aplenty. The sailors nod approvingly at the realism of the typhoon scenes, and wince as screaming deckhands are crushed beneath shifting cargo. The stalwart captain’s fortitude under torture by pirates, even in the face of the dreaded “Malay boot”, is inspiring. They especially approve of the third officer’s act at the end of the movie, sacrificing himself and thus removing the stain of cowardice that had blackened his name.

The captain’s choice at the end is hotly debated as the sailors make their way back to the ship, along with the relative merits of both of the female stars. All in all the movie is a most enjoyable diversion, and for some weeks afterwards many of the crew subconsciously attempt to mimic Gable’s mannerisms and cool, commanding demeanor.

[DuckofTindalos]

There was a movie I'd never heard of. Had to go look it up...

[kaleun]

There was a movie I'd never heard of. Had to go look it up...

...And?

[DuckofTindalos]

China Seas (1935)...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026205/

[Ol_Dog]

No one wanted to play Wallace Beery?

[Cuttlefish]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

There was a movie I'd never heard of. Had to go look it up...

I wondered if anybody would track down which movie it was. Well done. I haven't seen "China Seas" in years, but I remember it as a pretty good movie.

[Cuttlefish]

May 19, 1943

Location: Truk
Course: Disbanded in port
Attached to: None
Mission: None
System Damage: 3
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 475

Orders: Await further orders

---

Half a dozen of the crew are discussing the “Malay boot,” the torture device featured in the movie they saw the previous day. For many it is an article of faith that since it appeared in a Hollywood movie it has to be real. Others are not so sure.

“Of course it is real!” says Seaman Yoshitake. “We saw it!”

“But I have never heard of such a thing,” says Oizuma stubbornly.

“You have not heard of many things,” says Yoshitake, “that doesn’t mean they don’t exist!”

“What do you think, Riku?” asks someone. Riku has been sitting off to one side, listening but not participating. Of the sailors in the crowded bunk area only Shiro suspects that Riku’s distraction since they saw the movie has something to do with a woman far away in Okinawa.

“I have no idea,” says Riku. “But I know who would. Chief Shun was sailing those waters before most of us were born.”

“Ha!” says Yoshitake. “Go ask Shun. That’s a laugh.”

“You are afraid?” says Oizuma.

“Absolutely terrified,” agrees Yoshitake comfortably. “What, you are trying to say that you aren’t?” Oizuma shifts a little.

“Well,” he says, “no, I’m not. It’s just a question, I don’t see how he…”

“Fine,” interrupts Yoshitake. “You ask him. Come, we will follow and hear what he says.” The others second this. Oizuma begins to have second thoughts, but too late. He cannot back out now and save face. With a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach he makes his way up to the deck, with the other five sailors trailing behind.

Shun is located forward, next to the 5” turret. The stocky Chief turns as they approach and waits for them without speaking. As the others hang back Oizuma slowly walks forward and comes to attention.

Shun looks him over, then his glance shifts past him to the other five sailors. Then he looks back at Oizuma, who is sweating slightly.

“This is going to be good, I can tell,” he growls. “Well, Oizuma? What is it? Speak up!”

“Many apologies for the interruption, Chief,” stammers Oizuma. “We were wondering…that it, I was wondering…well, you saw the movie yesterday, yes?” Shun nods. “We wondered about the Malay boot. Is it real, Chief?”

Shun grunts and leans back against the turret, crossing his arms.

“Oh yes,” he says. “Such devices exist. The Malay pirates didn’t use them, though. Their methods were usually…more direct.”

“More direct, Chief?” asks Oizuma. Shun nods.

“They were a savage bunch,” he says. “They still are, though their power isn’t what it was back in the old days. Give the Dutch and British credit for that, anyway.”

“What things did they do?” asks Oizuma, encouraged by the fact that Shun seems willing to talk. Shun grins, not a pleasant sight.

“You little girls sure you want to hear about that?” he says. There is a chorus of affirmation from the men. Shun knows a wealth of fascinating tales, though he can rarely be persuaded to tell them.

“All right,” says Shun, settling back. “There was a ship I heard about once,” he says. “Just after the last war, this was. French ship, out of Saigon. Supposed to have money on board. French officers, mixed crew, and half a dozen French soldiers. Pirates took her in the night, out in the Gulf of Siam. Swarmed the ship with small boats, the way they like to. They cut down the soldiers and brought all the crew up on deck.

“They separated the officers and started to question them. They put a couple of guards with rifles on the crew, but didn’t bother with them much. Crew was a mongrel lot and the pirates figured pretty rightly that they wouldn’t be willing to risk their skins for their officers.”

No one in his audience moves. The hatch in the turret is open, and all sounds of activity from within have ceased. Shun’s eyes acquire a faraway look as he continues speaking.

“They asked the officers where the money was,” he continues, “but they only answer they got was that no one knew anything about any money. So they grabbed a bosun – Malheur, his name was – and made him kneel on the deck in front of the others. Poor bastard begged for his life and they chopped his head off right in mid word. It took three blows, actually, it’s hard to get a man’s head off with just one.

“They took the second mate next, made him kneel in the blood. Same thing. Axe makes a nasty sound biting into a man’s neck. There were smears of blood leading to the rail as they dragged the bodies overboard, but they left the heads lying there in the blood. The blood looked black in the lamplight, like tar.

“Then they went for the first mate, made him kneel too. Asked him where the money was. This man, he had some steel in him. Told the pirates they had the wrong ship and spat in the leader’s eye. Then he looked straight ahead and told them to get it over with.” Shun stops talking for a moment, but his eyes still have that faraway look.

“What happened next, Chief?,” asks Riku quietly after a pause. Shun looks up, almost startled.

“Hm? Well, like I said they weren’t expecting any trouble from the crew,” he says. “There was one kid, though, with maybe more ideals than sense, who figured that the mate had shown too many guts to be killed like that. So he took a guard’s gun away from him and killed him with it, then shot the man with the axe.

“The pirates panicked and turned on the crew, and that set everyone on them. The crew suddenly had a stake in the fight, you see. Kill or be killed. It got pretty bloody for a minute or two there, but we took…they took the ship back. At least that’s what I heard.” Shun returns to the present with an almost audible snap. “Any other foolish questions, or may I return to my duties now?”

“Chief,” says Yoshitake, “what happened to that crewman?”

“Him?” says Shun. “They gave him a nice bonus. He used it to get back home and try and make something out of himself.” He gives the sailors a steely glance. “And now…”

“Yes. Chief, thank you,” says Oizuma. He steps back and then inclines from the waist in a respectful bow. The other sailors present follow suit. They then turn and make their way back below decks without saying anything further. Shun watches them go, for once too startled to make a biting comment.

---

Up on the bridge Captain Ishii and Lieutenant Sugiyura step quietly away from the rail and back inside.

“That was quite a tale,” says Sugiyura. Captain Ishii just grunts. He seems slightly distracted. “I wonder if there really was any money?”

“Oh yes, there was,” says Ishii, looking up. “It turns out only the soldiers knew about it, or where it was. But it was eventually found.” Sugiyura stops and looks at him.

“Sir?” he says. “How do you…?” But Captain Ishii just shakes his head and smiles a little. He leaves the bridge and goes below, leaving Sugiyura to wonder about things on his own.

[Lecivius]

[&o][&o][&o]

[kaleun]

Outstanding!

[DuckofTindalos]

Yup. Superb storytelling.[&o]