The little ship that could.

[1275psi]

22nd sentai sweep Changsha again
1 P40N found, 1 P40N shot down

The field, it seems, is empty.
Very well, time to bomb the field, if we can, to dust.

[1275psi]

"Alright then," the charge observes "Thats pretty well truked, isn't it?"
Minobe replies with the only word that can be uttered in these circumstances
"TRUK!"

There is little room in here, inside this casing area on the top of the boiler. Inside here, the airbox area, it is hot, sooty, black, dirty.
Except for one corner, stark white with chemical spray from an obvious small leak in the pre heater.

"We have been lucky...................we must have been with in a bees penis off a catastrophic failure that last full power run"
Minobe grunts........."explains the feed consumption, at least............I have seen enough, lets get out of here"

They emerge out of the boiler, black from head to toe, sweat streaming, washing the soot in channels from brow and face.
"How long charge?"
"12 hours to cut the bend, 12 to weld another, 12 for the pressure test............."

'Hot work"
"Yes, hot work..........( hotter than you will ever tackle, I am sure)

Minobe begins to strip his overalls off, turns his ample arse his way, a perfect excuse to avoid the Charges face
"Put Hirate onto it"

[1275psi]

A big allied fleet, not huge, possibly 8 to 12 CVE escorting transports, is swinging around the corner towards dilli -a recovery?, or another follow on invasion?
The fleet in the Indian ocean appears to be a convoy

The british seem to be trying for a thrust east of moulmien, in the centre of the line.

The enemy fleet carriers, have vanished.

Japan is thrusting every spare man it has into manilla............ it is never early enough to prepare for the worse.

[1275psi]

28 th june .CV Bunker Hill, Essex, 2 CVL, probe north of Dilli, hunting a japanese BB placed as bait west of Kendari

It costs japan 130 aircraft

But they put three fish into Bunker hill...........

Its still a long way to Tokyo, yes?

[kaleun]

A long long way.

[1275psi]

Hirate, utterly exhausted, gets the pin hole leak tube bend cut free, somewhere after midnight.. It has cost him a arm blistered, from leaning on still too warm pipes, and at least 3 Kg in sweat.
He will stagger out of the casing, faint, pale, trashed.

He will be replaced by an equally plucky young man, the HP welder. By dawn, he too is finished

At 7am, Minobe arrivesin damage central............"we sail at 6 pm, we must be ready"
The weld has gone well, the rest goes down hill, and down hill badly.

There is much to be done to return the boiler to action, the furnace has to be closed up again, the fuel lines reconnected. The backfilling has to be completed, the pressure pump connected, the agonising PFFFT< PFFT< PFFFT, of the air pump endured while the pressure rises oh so slowly.

The weld holds
The mud drum door gasket does not.

The boiler has to be emptied, the door opened, the gasket replaced, the door (all 160 KGs of steel that has to be jacked with crow bars into place) flogged up again, and the whole pressure testing process resumed again.

The clock ticks on

Charge has problems elswhere, the cooling pipe to the port main shaft gland seal has failed (gods, why now), some fool has rotted aft feed tank, and why, for truks sake, is there 4 inches of fuel oil in the aft engineroom bilges?

So in the forward Boiler room, Hirate leads the work.

At 1500 hours, the after end of Zuiho is at sailing presure, Hirates end..........no where near.
he cross connects steam, runs the feed pump, the boiler is pressurised, and the call made....it will do

the next 20 minutes are a blur, Hirate, legs trembling with the effort of the day, shouts orders in a constant stream. This is going to be one hell of a flash up.

mentally, the checks flow, water level, light of blower, systems, drains, fuel recircing......get it in!
It, refers to the sprayer.it bangs into place
The light off stick glow flickers, smoke streaming from the cotten waste, the sprayer pumper opens the light off port.
The air flap is opened, manipulated in a mad dance, the fuel cock opened.

failure.
No light off.

"Truk!!!"
"get the barsted out!"

10 minutes to 6

They must purge the furnace now for 5 minutes.............
Its three minutes before Hirate see's it --------the fuel valve to the furnace is still open.

[1275psi]

1900 hours

Admiral Abe turns to his chief of staff
"Status of the fleet?, already commander?"

"Three ships reort problems sir.........CV Aso is still loading Zeros, Destroyer Akizuki reports a feed failure, ..........and Zuiho has failed to report yet sir, she is at steam, but no ready to sail report."

Abe nods
Aso is short of her fighters..........as expected. 30 plus planes he will need. "very well, inform all units, revert to 4 hours notice for sea"
He will stay overnight then, consider the morning.
Every hour alongside will help, of that he is sure

[1275psi]

Two men
tablue

Surrounded by half a dozen men, pale, shadows in the boiler room.

"present!, growls Minobe

Hirate, eyes glaring, ice, in such sharp contrast to the sweat, soot stained body, hesitates.
"present!, Petty officer!, I will not repeat myself. "

Hirate, internally fighting, fighting Japanes discipline, culture, a thousand years of tradition, bends, grasps the guard rail

The glow of the furnace, that he has done so much to renew this day, reflects upon his face

Minobe wheels about, glaring at his men. "Today, I had to do the unthinkable, tell my captain, that Our ship was not ready to sail, unthinkabel!, intolerable!
I am heavy with shame............"

He balances the 4 by 2 flat plank in his hand, japans weapon of choice in all things discipline.
"Those who are responsible, must pay............"




The beating is long, hard, terrible.


It shatters flesh, but for the stokers on Zuiho, witness to so much this day, it shatters so much more.

[1275psi]

55th div continues south, regaining strength with every mile

Long pig graham, he goes north.
Yesterday, a decision. Go on afraid, or go on bold

Bold is easier
Bold allows an ambush of a careless soldier taking a crap off the track...........a body stripped of a whole lot of useful things

And bold allows a man to pay attention to what is going on.
55th division, heading south
33rd, by the dead mans badges, as well.

How many enemy divisions at Moulmien then?

Graham continues north. One man. how much damage can one man do?
A great deal, if he is bold enough.

[1275psi]

2nd July

Extract from Shattering the Sword, a Cantona production

For the Japanese forces, yet again, the allies give the much needed pause.

Over 180 japanese planes were lost hitting the Bunker hill, another day, two at the most, and the ever growing more brittle airforces would have been shattered.

But the allies had withdrawn, and the newly arrived squadrons in the Home islands have now arrived, the shattered units with drawn.
The ring around Timor stiffens again.
The fleet too, uses every hour to recover. Tankers fill slowly with fuel, planes are overhauled, repaired, replaced. Painfully, repairs continue.

herbiesan moves recon and search units to the North, to the east pacific.
cantona needs another way, even Japan can see that.

[1275psi]

3 July 1944

he joined in 39
graduated in late 41
Assigned to a 36 plane squadron of Kates, Lt kashima has spent the last 2 years doing just one thing, and one thing only.
Training
Training for the art of the torpedo attack.

How many times has he swooped in low and hard and fast, how many times has he cried torpedo away!, how many times has he banked away, watched his practice fish streak towards the target bouys.
Too many times
Far too many

he dreams torpedo runs, he thinks torpedo runs, he sweats torpedo runs

Lt kashima is not just good at this, he and his fellows are as good as they can possibly be.

It has been a long, long two years, frustration building with the months..when, they have all felt and asked, when would they get their chance?
Maybe, they have consolled themselves, they have been kept in reserve for something special.


Three days ago, they have arrived at Endah, the enemy, they are informed, at Dilli, at maximum range.
Three days ago, they have been told, Dilli must not be approached

"A hornets nest of death"


Three hours ago, a running, wildly excited officer.........'A carrier fleet, west of dilli!.........a combined strike!, all planes will take part!"

Two hours ago............36 strong, flying due east, into clouds and muck and crap like never seen
Fighters above, below, ahead.........oscars, zeros, Tojos', Vals stacked above

An hour ago...........36 kates flying alone, escorts gone..........

30 Minutes ago, and some planes turn back.........if there is a carrier, it is not here.

And now, Lt Kashima presses on, and on.
Too many months. Too many practice runs. Too much shame to return..........just another minute, surely will find the carrier?


27 kates enter clear air.
Dilli, ahead

And the corsairs, the t bolts, the hell cats, swarm upon them...........


His kate is the 7th to go down, Kashima too stunned with rage and disapointment to feel fear before the waters rise to smash him.
His entire flight will follow him.


2 years of training.
2 whole years


what a waste.

[1275psi]

3 british divisions enter the area North west of raheang, push out the Japanese regiment.
The centre of the line, the moulmien/raheang road comes under threat.

14 enemy units are reported to the northeast of raheang, and another ten or eleven trecking through the jungle towards this central front.

Japan has withdrawn 3 divisions from the front (20th army), they have gathered at rangoon.
2 divisions east of moulmien now treck towards moulmien
20th army, begin to detrain, and march there as well.

There are three at Moulmien already.
And 55th , 33rd, still coming south, are ordered to stop, wait for 20th army

All going well, just as the allies press on rahaeng, 11 Japanese divisions will be at Moulmien..

japan, incredibly, is planning to attack across the river, take prome, rangoon, and cut of the entire british army.


It could, of course, go the entire other way.

[1275psi]

Pilot officer Graham treck north still.

Three japanese soldiers lie dead in the jungles behind him, supply stops he has plundered enroute. Progress has been slow, of course, keeping to the jungle parrallel to the road. But he is not lost, and the jungle hides him.

He is beginning to know this jungle now.
He is even, he thinks wrily, beginning to think it as a friend.

[1275psi]

Zuiho remains at anchor.

Like the rest of the fleet, her crew continue to work hard, in the constraints of 4 hours notice for sea. the Singapore shipyards, the great dock especially, remain a hive of activity. CV Hiyo has been rudely removed from her repairs, shoved aside, and now the destroyers, 6 at atime, are taking their turns on the blocks.

Abe is waiting, herbiesan is waiting, patiently, for the next move.
Waiting, using every precious day to try to restore some health into the fleet.

Colombo has 100 plus ships in it again.

[1275psi]

4th July 44

The Americans do nothing to celebrate the fourth of July
Today, the war . Well, nothing really happens.


2 am
Singapore harbour
Zuiho

A man lies in his bunk. he is drunk, but not drunk enough. He curses the luck that has bought him to this bucket of a ship, curses the luck that has dogged his career. He could have been the engineer of a Capital ship, should have been.
Bloody idiots, surrounded by bloody idiots.
he gropes for the bottle, it spins away from clutching fingers.
Buka!
Minobe is drunk. But not drunk enough...........tonight, in his mind, the flames, the screams rise higher than ever.


A man lies in his hammock, staring at the depression in the cocoon above him.
Sleep will not come.
Okano stares at the form of Hirate swinging gently above him.
Hammocks are so desirable........so willing to form comfortably about you.
Like your burial shroud.............

A man lies in his hammock, staring at the ceiling in the red glow of the mess.
Hirate swings in the hammock, sleep, tonight a million years away.
Murder fills his heart.
Rest, it seems, cannot come, until it is fed.

An old man swings in his hammock......sound asleep.
Tonight, charge sleeps, Zuiho is reported defect free.

Diogawa, Ogawa, Uto, Hidaka do not sleep. cards are being dealt, fortunes won, and lost.
It does not matter, yes?. None expect to spend them.

And takeji paces his bridge, sleep eludes him too.

The war is going bad.
And it troubles him. troubles him, troubles him.

[1275psi]

Men, as women know, really are simple creatures

Food
Sex, fun, companionship, more sex.
That keeps them happy.
I think you would agree.
Theres one other thing, of course, and this thing has driven man from the cave to the moon
Power, the pursuit of power.
Political power. Military power.
Mechanical power.
Snarling, 22nd sentai slashes through the skies over central china. You sit in your Frank, 400 plus horsepower at your fingertips, vibrating under your hand, pulling you, powering you through the sky.
Through the stick you can feel it, the air cleaving past , over the wings, holding you up, holding you steady.
But it’s the snarling beast , this great radial, that fills you with confidence, with power, that makes you what you are, fighter pilot, now and forever, Ahmen.
22nd sweep the sky, a different target today, sniffing for the enemy, seeking battle.

Today, young men, we find what we are looking for,

The P38’s glint in the sun, circling lazily , waiting for bombers perhaps.
A good plane this, the 38, designed to fight high, to dive, to blast past its prey, to climb swiftly again
They are not going to do this today.

Low, and slow, forced into a battle of manoeuvre.

Against the Frank, against you, against the 22nd elites, they are going to lose.

The 38 banks hard, trying to get inside you……stick, rudder, smooth, oh so smooth, wings vertical now, g’s climbing, holding you so firm……….and Iwaya cuts inside, behind, tracers spitting, the 38 rolls over, burning.
You keep pulling hard around, another 38……….and BUKA!, its Iwaya again!
Stick hard the other way, rolling over, inverting, diving on the next, you don’t think, you just do.
And a man dies

Its not a battle
It’s a slaughter
22nd snarls in the skies above central china.
And you revel in the power
Power of the engine, , power of your plane
And the power of being able to take another’s life.

(2nd take down 18 P 38, for 3 loss)



Zuiho has rested at 4 hours Notice for sea for over a week now.
At 1600 hrs the word comes
At 2000hrs exactly, Takeji gives his first command
“Slow ahead both”
A quiet start, this, for the next great adventure.

He is not alone. Combined fleet, THE fleet, slips into the dusk.

[Long pig]

Great writing Herbisan I feel like I am there somehow!
I hope Longpig makes it and will fly again.
I wonder if he will ever get to shoot someone down?

[1275psi]

Zuiho heads into the gathering dusk, across the dark brown waters south of singapore.
The sun hangs low, hovering above the dusk mist, beginning its nightly plunge into the horizon. The tropical humidity remains, another hour yet before the evening sea breeze brings relief.

Zuiho, however, is making her own. Stern low, wake boiling behind, bow creaming, she is steadily working towards 25 knots again.
Her decks and companionways swarm with men, leaving harbour stations have fallen out, dusk action stations will soon be called, time between for that last look at land, the last smoke, before descending into the world of grey and steel again.

On her flanks, already becoming hazy in the dying light, the great battlewagons she must escort, and further out, the destroyers, fanning out, the curtain against the Buka's that must be out there somewhere.

Zuiho steams hard. Her decks vibrate with the effort. Already the tension of war is rising. Night will fall, and they will dash for batavia, seek the open sea, avoid the Buka's below, and turn south this time.
Takeji is on the bridge, of course. Silent. Almost still.
It is good to be going again. Good to be free of time to think, and doubt. Now, now there is but one thing. Command.
It is way past time to earn further glory for this little ship.
Way past.
The enemy are coming for Koepang.
So are they.

[1275psi]

0035 hours, 8th of July 44
40 Miles North of Batavia.

Zuiho's labratory lies nestled in the zone between the boiler roms, the Engine rooms, opposite damage control central, aft of the ships office, fwd of the mai switch board.
Its a tiny place, the lab. It consists of a bench, half of which is filled with the permanently mounted chemistry outfit- beakers, glass bottles, mixing dishes, glass rods. Alongside it, the sink. Under the shelf, mysterious bags of stuff with wierd names
There is a fan, and on the aft wall, a cupboard, with overalls, gloves, a mask piece, buckets, and usually, the squeeze pump and all its attachments.
Dip tapes hang from everywhere, swaying and clinking with Zuihos movements
Small indeed!
Usually this is a happy place, for here the small crew live a somewhat independent routine, fuel dips twice a day, chemistry tests twice a day, transfer the fuel, feed as required........and as long as the Charge is happy, they will be happy.
Also, being where it is, its THE gossip central for Zuihos stokers, a happy place for swapping smokes, jokes, stories.
A feature of the place is that every second hidy hole is stuffed with pornography..........

Today, however, it is not a happy place. Today (tonight!) it is a tense place, crowded with sweat stained stokers, faces showing the strain, anxiety written large

half a dozen pairs of eyes are staring at the petrie dish, as the chemicals drip in, one after another. The stirring rod fills the silence ( silence, that is, if you , of course, ignore the background noise of the fans, the blowers, the turbines running so hard)
"Come on you prig!" growls Charge, "Come on!'

Eventually, abruptly, the water in the dish changes color, and the Leading seaman looks at the chart, finger tracing lines, intersecting........

This boilers chloride is more than high...........

'Truk!'
The Charge turns to his men.........."Bloody hell, where is that coming from!, Chloride that high......."
'Another blow down chief?"
Grimly, for these reading are bad, very bad, charge nods
'I will let Minobe know" (and what chance of a shut down and bottom blow tonight ney?, what chance of even a decision?, if the old fool is even sober enough....)...."in the meantime, blow the barsted hard"

Charge heads forward.....a futile mission this. Just past midnight, still at high, high revolutions, going somewhere important, chances of slowing down................

"Truk!"

[1275psi]

Ogawa shifts uneasily in his seat, the radial burbling, filling his world with its vibrations, its reassuring beat.
His eyes are fixed on the flying officer , above him on the little flying bridge. He waits for the green flag to drop, to send him on his way again.
There is, however, a delay.
A crew man breaks from the flying tower, climbs his wing.
Ogawa bend to hear the words........many are whipped away by wind and prop wash, but he gets the key word
"Boiler"
Zuiho steams south across amirror calm sea, a grey cieling at 5000 feet above them. No wind, so she must make her own.
Ogawa cares little of the workings below, but he does know that blowdowns need steady revolutions, and that full power is not a given during them.
So, he will wait.
Waiting is far better than plonking into the sea in front of Zuihos bow.............

Zuiho is running to a full CAP routine, her Jills all out on search. On the horizon, low and dark, barely discernable, the DEI's, sliding down the port flank, steadily, mile after mile after mile.

Action is coming. Soon. he can feel it.
At last.

The green flag falls, and noticably, Zuiho increases speed.
Ogawa thrusts the throttle forward, moves swiftly down and away.

He joins the CAP, joins the swarms of fighters circling above Combined fleet.
Action is coming..........about time yes?