Small Ship, Big War - The Voyages of the Hibiki

[Feinder]

And when you're Joseph Goebbels and can't seem to find the right words to spin "We haven't heard from our guys at Stalingrad in over a week...", you just fake the broadcast - "Merry Christmas from Stalingrad!"
 
Or in the case of Midway, altho Japan declared a major victory in it's press, many of the Japanese survivors from Midway were interned for 6 months or more.  It just wouldn't do to have somebody come back and say that, "Um.  Actually, I was on Kaga, and "was" is the operative word..."
 
-F-

[Durbik]

In 41-42, this strength was the argument for the war because the people could see, how important the attack was, as the "bolshewik" had attacked two to three weeks later (official language)

Well, Soviets were scheduled to attack on 4th of july - 'real leather' boots were provided and stockpiled (only for abroad operations), romanian front even engaged in some minor border incidents... So that part of Goebbels' propaganda was rather true

[Historiker]

ORIGINAL: Durbik

In 41-42, this strength was the argument for the war because the people could see, how important the attack was, as the "bolshewik" had attacked two to three weeks later (official language)

Well, Soviets were scheduled to attack on 4th of july - 'real leather' boots were provided and stockpiled (only for abroad operations), romanian front even engaged in some minor border incidents... So that part of Goebbels' propaganda was rather true

Victor Suworow...
I know what he's written and I've seen the videos. All he says is quite logically, but he doesn't do one principle thing that's needed to take him for serious: He doesn't show any proof of what he writes.
With some fantasy, you can construct a nice story that seems absolutly logically - but as long as you don't proove it, it's fantasy!

I have no doubt that the Russians will have attacked sooner or later, but that "we just were two weeks faster" has no scientific proof and consequently stays NS wartime propaganda.

[DuckofTindalos]

Maybe Historiker should take this little train of thought off this AAR, hmmm?

[Historiker]

indeed...

[Durbik]

My grand-grandfather from a small village near Brest Litovsk (Brzesc Litewski) told us about drunk soviet troops ransacking the villages and making 'requisitions' for, as they told, UPCOMING WAR WITH FACISM. And it was june 1941. Not Suvorov.

But enough, away from the Hibiki

[Capt. Harlock]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

Enemy submarines are now to be found right off the coast as well as further out. Attempts to penetrate the Kii or Bungo channels are rare but not unheard of. And Iwo Jima itself seems to be a popular gathering point for them. One officer Ishii speaks with likens it to a popular feeding ground for a school of sharks. The sharks may move away for a time, but they always return – and with healthy appetites. This is no doubt due to the fact that many of the convoys bound to and from the Marianas Islands pass near Iwo on their journey.

I have a suspicion that another reason is that Wake has been back in American hands for some time now. IIRC it was isolated for a while, but after the Battle of Santa Cruz, and the availability of longer-ranged American fighters, I imagine that changed.

[Cuttlefish]

April 1, 1944

Location: 60 miles south-southwest of Osaka
Course: Southeast
Attached to: TF 12
Mission: Transport
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 460

Orders: Escort troop ships to Iwo Jima

---

“Well, Captain, so far so good,” says Lieutenant Sugiyura cheerfully.

Captain Ishii gives him a look. “We aren’t even out of sight of Japan yet,” he says.

“I know, sir,” says the young torpedo officer. “I’m just trying to be positive. While we were in port I read a paper written by the War Ministry that said that men derive their morale from the example set by their officers. To ensure an energetic approach and an aggressive spirit an officer must display the same qualities himself.”

“Lieutenant, I don’t think I have ever worried about you failing to set a good example for your men in that regard,” says the captain.

“Thank you, sir,” says Sugiyura. “Still, I have resolved to try even harder.”

“Gods help us all,” mutters Ishii.

“What, sir?” Sugiyura asks.

“Nothing, Lieutenant,” says the captain. “Nothing. Carry on.”

[Cuttlefish]

April 2, 1944

Location: 225 miles south-southeast of Osaka
Course: Southeast
Attached to: TF 12
Mission: Transport
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 439

Orders: Escort troop ships to Iwo Jima

---

“Tango Maru is drifting out of formation again, sir,” says Ensign Konada. Lieutenant Miharu trains his binoculars across the darkened ocean towards the wayward transport.

“So it is,” he says. The convoy is now well out to sea. Ishii has organized the transports into three columns of three, essentially putting them in a box formation. This leaves each flank of the convoy short enough to be covered by two escorts. Tango Maru, the rear vessel on the starboard side, has already had to be chivvied back into formation a couple of times. Now the ship is falling behind the others and a little to starboard of the rest of the column. Lieutenant Miharu steps out onto the platform.

“Send to Tango Maru,” he tells the sailor manning the signal light. “Message is ‘Do you have mechanical problems?’” There is a short delay, and then a light begins to blink aboard the troop ship. The reply is negative.

“Send this,” says Lieutenant Miharu. “’Resume convoy position’.” The signalman complies, and slowly Tango Maru begins to move back into formation. Miharu shakes his head and returns to the bridge.

“Keep an eye on that ship,” he tells Konada.

“Yes sir,” says Konada. “What do you think the problem is?”

“Just careless seamanship,” says the lieutenant. “Their captain is probably not used to keeping station and has not properly instructed his subordinates. He is asleep and they are sloppy.” But they had better learn, Miharu thinks. There is a popular saying in Japan: the nail that sticks up gets hammered down. In this case the enemy wields the hammer, and it is a big one indeed. But even if Tango Maru escapes that fate the lieutenant is sure he would not like to be on the receiving end of the talk their captain will have with Captain Ishii if the situation does not improve.

---

AP Tango Maru:

[Dixie]

ORIGINAL: Cuttlefish

“Thank you, sir,” says Sugiyura. “Still, I have resolved to try even harder.”

“Gods help us all,” mutters Ishii.

[:D]

[Mynok]

Indeed that was quite a chuckle.......[:D][:D]

[Cuttlefish]

April 3, 1944

Location: 235 miles north of Iwo Jima
Course: South
Attached to: TF 12
Mission: Transport
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 418

Orders: Escort troop ships to Iwo Jima

---

Hibiki slices easily through seas that her crew considers very moderate. So far, at least, everyone aboard considers the voyage a success. No submarines have been sighted, the weather has been fairly good, and all things considered the convoy is making good speed.

The same thing cannot be said for the thousands of soldiers aboard the transports. To describe their accommodations as spartan would be generous. It must also be said that the sailors manning the troop ships do not go out of their way to make the Army men happy or comfortable. Worst of all, however, is the endless motion of the sea.

The constant conflict between the movement detected by the soldier’s eyes and the movement detected by their inner ears makes most of them dizzy and queasy. For some this escalates into nausea, followed soon by violent and repeated vomiting. Empty stomachs don’t help and in fact just make the retching more painful. The vomiting often causes a chain reaction that snares even those men whose stomachs would otherwise behave themselves, especially when their comrades can’t make it to the rail in time.

Conditions aboard the ships go downhill quickly, often to the mocking glee of sailors who long ago got used to seas far worse than this. Not all of the soldiers are affected but for those hit the worst by sea sickness the length of the voyage seems to stretch out endlessly. These men roll on their mats, groaning, and pray for a torpedo to find their ship and put an end to their misery.

Nothing of the sort happens, however. The task force continues towards Iwo Jima, bearing the soldiers aboard ever closer to blessedly dry and stable land.

[bradfordkay]

I believe that "dry" is the word for the land to which they are headed... [;)]

[Cuttlefish]

April 4, 1944

Location: 60 miles northeast of Iwo Jima
Course: South
Attached to: TF 12
Mission: Transport
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 396

Orders: Escort troop ships to Iwo Jima

---

Chief Engineer Sakati enters the officer’s wardroom. Lieutenant Sugiyura looks up from the manual he is reading and greets him.

“Ah, it is the intrepid Lieutenant Sakati! Welcome! I can feel from the trembling of the deck plates that you and your gallant men are keeping the ship’s heart beating strong and true.”

Sakati looks over at the table where Lieutenant Kuwaki and the medical officer, Lieutenant JG Nakagawa, are playing a game of shogi. “What’s gotten into him?” he says, indicating Sugiyura.

“He’s been reading too many manuals about leadership and morale,” says Kuwaki, looking up from the board. “As a result he is determined to set a good example by being enthusiastic about everything.”

“It is remarkable how fast it becomes annoying,” says Nakagawa, moving a piece.

Sakati shakes his head and goes over to a small cabinet. He unlocks it and opens the door. From inside he pulls a bottle of scotch out of its padded cradle and then gets out a small glass.

“Would anybody care to join me for a small nightcap?” he says. “For medicinal purposes, of course. I am sure the good doctor here will attest that it aids the digestion and helps promote a good night’s sleep.”

Nakagawa watches Kuwaki reach out towards a piece and then pull back his hand. “I think that most of what passes for liquor around here actually eats holes in the stomach and large intestine,” he says, “but that stuff of yours is so smooth that I might agree with you. I had better have a glass to test it and be sure, though.”

“Very good,” Sakati says. “Anybody else?”

“I go on duty soon,” says Kuwaki. “I had better not.”

“How about you, Sugiyura?” Sakati asks. He expertly fills a glass halfway, not losing a drop to the motion of the ship, and hands it to Nakagawa.

“An officer should abstain from habits that set a bad example to the men,” Sugiyura says. It sounds as though he is quoting something. He looks wistfully at the Scotch, though.

“Don’t be daft, lad,” says Sakati. “There are no enlisted men here. This is the officer’s wardroom, it says so right on the door.”

“An officer’s inner character speaks as much to his men as do his actions,” Sugiyura replies.

Sakati sighs. “Well,” he says. “I happen to agree with that. Which does not mean that you should become a monk! It means that you must keep yourself calm and balanced, able to meet any situation with reserves of inner strength. And to be able to do that, my friend, you must keep yourself properly fortified!” He carefully pours another half glass.

“Are you sure that isn’t just an excuse for self-indulgence?” Sugiyura asks suspiciously.

“Well, aye, if you were to down half the bottle and then hang from the mast singing old sea songs!” says Sakati. “But I am talking about one small glass, lad, not about going on a spree.”

“Well…I guess that makes sense,” says Sugiyura. Sakati hands him the glass. The torpedo officer hesitates, then takes a sip. “That’s good,” he says appreciatively. “I should know better than to argue with you, Sakati. You could coax even the most determined of abstainers into a life of drunken debauchery.”

“Aye,” says Sakati proudly, pouring a drink for himself. “And that, my boy, is leadership!”

[Capt. Harlock]

“Aye,” says Sakati proudly, pouring a drink for himself. “And that, my boy, is leadership!”

Great line! [:D]

[kaleun]

Concur[:D]

[John 3rd]

Well said!
 

[Durbik]

well... all navies are the same in the end

[Cuttlefish]

April 5, 1944

Location: Iwo Jima
Course: Docked
Attached to: TF 12
Mission: Transport
System Damage: 0
Float Damage: 0
Fires: 0
Fuel: 389

Orders: Escort troop ships to Iwo Jima (40% unloaded)

---

Excerpt from “Red Sun, Black Sand – the Battle of Iwo Jima”, by John Ryan; Owl Books, New York, 1965:

For much of the war Iwo Jima had served mostly as a stopover base for air units staging southward from Japan. This began to change following the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in November 1943. Engineers were sent to join the base force personnel already present. The first of them arrived towards the end of the year and they began to burrow into the volcanic rock of the island, constructing an interlinked series of tunnels, pillboxes, and strong points. In January 1944 a convoy was dispatched to bring artillery pieces and anti-aircraft guns to the island. Two of the three freighters involved were sunk by submarines, however. While many of the men were rescued and made it ashore most of the guns ended up on the floor of the ocean. Replacements for the destroyed weapons would arrive slowly over the next several months.

The pace of preparations on the island increased as Allied forces made further gains in the Pacific, capturing first the Admiralty Islands and then establishing a base at Woleai in the Carolines. While the War Ministry proclaimed publicly that the Japanese positions in the rest of the Carolines and in the Marianas were unassailable, in private they were already making contingency plans for the defense of Iwo.

In February around one thousand navy personnel arrived on the island. These were well-trained SLF (Special Landing Force) troops. They were followed at the beginning of April by the 48th Independent Mixed Brigade, under the command of Major General Kiyoshi Shigematsu. This force was pieced together from units drawn from the famed Brocade Division, stationed in Manchuria.

The task force arrived at the island without loss and Shigematsu’s men immediately began working to help complete the already impressive fortifications. They were followed less than a month later by…

[bradfordkay]

Once again Capt Ishii and Hibiki bring their charges through unmolested. Heve they ever lost a ship to a sub?