The little ship that could.

[CV Zuikaku]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

ORIGINAL: CV Zuikaku

So, I'm going to die.... [8D]

Oh, maybe we had better read on..............unexpected things happen in battle.
Even in 45![:D][:D][:D]

Strange decoy indeed [:D]

[1275psi]

Ogowas eagles have flown both these days past, long uneventual sweeps to the beach, encountering nothing.
But now new orders.
As this long day draws to an end, they deploy south, some to Cagayan, some to davao, others to bases east of cagayan. One unit gets the unlucky draw, cotabatao, a base all but wrecked now.

They will deploy, refuel, re arm, spend uncomfortable hours under wings, and rise before the dawn.

They will have a busy, busy day.

[1275psi]

Feb 22 1945

Hosho and his men begin to load aboard fast transports at Naga. There are nearly twenty E class now employed in this task.
They carry men only, limited supplies.
But they are fast, easy to load, easy to unload.


Japans armies begin trickling south.





Tanaka

Three battle cruisers, Cruisers Takao, Atago, Haguro, Ashigara, Mikuma, Kumano, 9 fleet destroyers.
Full ahead all...........clear skies, full moon, the weather clearing, calm, warm seas.

The hunt is on.

Targets!

Action, port!, range, 9000 yards!. Battleships!

"launch torpedoes!"
"All guns, open fire!"

Battleships Texas, New York, a light cruiser, just 3 destroyers

Texas hits Hiei first, killing a boiler room, pluming flame and death
Texas hits Kirishima.........another battlecruiser burns
The long Lances strike, one, two, three, and the heavy shells follow, again, and again.
Texas does a Fuso.....falling out of line, aflame, rolling over.............

You should never have been in this brawl old man.

The cruisers turn upon New york, salvos at 7000 yards.
A fish, 50 plus strikes............

CL Gambia bay will Follow the new York to the bottom.


Tanaka plows on............ the hunt continues.

[1275psi]

What is our damage Captain!"
Tanaka has to raise his voice, not a window remains on his bridge, and the graons of dying men fill the air.

A 14 inch shell has struck somewhere just below, the bridge is...is a mess.........

"At least eight hits sir........... heavy fire admidships, speed 28 knots..........all guns still functional..........I am still in the fight sir!"
Tanaka nods...........one can never get used to the violence of combat........... and time alters during it ............gods, 3 Am already....

We are doomed, the sun will rise, and there will be no getting away...........I must, I must..........
"The squadron?"
His staff officer steps forward, face black, blood stained, voice unsteady, yet detirmined
"Kongo, 2 hits, Kirishima 7, still afire. haguro light damage, Mikuma, light damage, Kumano reports bridge destroyed, on aft steering. "
He lowers his paper, stiffens, salutes............we are still able to fight!...........

"But who.............Gods.....I need another..............

"Enemy ships!, straight ahead, range 8000 yards..................carriers!!"

That will do nicely....................

Port 20!............all ships, engage enemy. Do not disengage until sunk, or have been sunken!
"Captain!"
Sir!
"A bottle of scotch to every stoker aboard if you can get this old girl to 30 knots!"

"Hiei!"


range 8000 yards
CV Bennington, flickering in the dark, her fires still burning.
Not even Japanese cruisers can miss.

[british exil]

The rate that that you are wreaking and taking his carriers out the game, I'm sure he is hurting somewhat and wondering where his CAP can land, rearm and refuel. His air defense must be messed up.


Good battle so far, shame on the losses but they died as they wanted guns blazing.

BANZAI!!

Mat

[1275psi]

Yamamato sits still in Imperial HQ, a brooding giant in this hornets nest

Behind him, a stream of messages are flooding in from the great battle in the celebes sea.
In front of him, a great map, covered in pins.

Supposedly each pin represents a ship.
he stares at one pin, deep in the ocean near sarmi

Tanaka

Friend
A single red pin, in a sea of green
Another, to the east.
Abe

But these pin positions are at least 12 hours old
Dawn is breaking over the battle.................

Pins, friends.............do we move you now.............or remove you from the map forever?

"message from Tanaka sir"

Alive!

"I greet the dawn, satisfied I have done my duty. Retiring west towards balikapapan, all ammunition expended.
CV Bennington sunk. 2 other Cvs hit, but evaded.
Engaged seperate amphibious task force....2 DE, 13 LCI sunk, mass enemy casualties

The sun shines
red
on my sword, dripping blood"








(3000 casualties reported, as far as I can tell, part of a division)

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

The sun shines
red
on my sword, dripping blood"

Perfection
I hope my sword will be as sharp as Tanka`s when my time come.

[1275psi]

16000 feet

Above Dajangas

banking, banking, wings almost vertical, the G forces forcing him into the seat.
Diogowa flies
Under the rubber mask, he smiles.
The P51 has fallen away, vanishing under his wing, out turning him............
A good pilot obviously................

Diogowa continues the turn, seeking another opponent.

So good to be in battle again
So good to pitch oneself against another man............
The enemy vanish, Ogowas eagles circle.


The allies rule the air across the world.
Except here, above Dajangas.
The only place that matters

[hosho]

ORIGINAL: CV Zuikaku

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

ORIGINAL: CV Zuikaku

So, I'm going to die.... [8D]

Oh, maybe we had better read on..............unexpected things happen in battle.
Even in 45![:D][:D][:D]

Strange decoy indeed [:D]

yeah... me took a swim already [:'(] and your luck seems to hold just fine[:D]

well these are simply unbelievable results herbs... well done! [&o]

[kaleun]

The sun shines
red
on my sword, dripping blood"

Gives me a chill.[&o]

[1275psi]

Approaching Midnight, Febuary 22nd

An Admiral sits at a small desk.
Sweat stains his uniform, streaks his long lean back with an ever growing stain.
For a few minutes he stares at the sheets of crisp white paper before him, attampting to gather wooly thoughts.

He is tired.

About him USS Essex works, preparing for yet another day of battle.. If his group commander can find enough planes to assemble a strike, that is..........
What is done, is done.
Now he must explain himself.

Commander, United States seventh Fleet, is a Godly man. The Truth, he knows, must be said. Must be spoken, unblemished. To not tell it now.............is no way to honour the dead.

So many dead

He reaches for his pen, noting the slight tremor of the hand.

He begins to write, the pen scratchings loud, despite the ships noise about him
He wrtittes steadily, never pausing.
There have been too many lies in this war, now for the truth.

To the President of the United states:

Sir,
I write to you now, with the invasion of Minanado very much in the balance.
Our Army is ashore, yet at a cost that must be considered in light of the future demands of the war, especially any plans to invade the Home Islands, this year, if at all.

As A Navy, I believe we have finished the Japanese fleet. It retains but two heavy units now, and its carrier arm is finished.
But, and I must re iterate the but, in this current battle, it is the Japanese Land based arm that has not been crippled.
In fact, I must tell you plainly Mr president, we are faced with an immense crises here against what appears to be an inexhaustable flow of aircraft, that have now, indisputably achieved air supremacy over the beach head.
I tell you this, not to alarm you, not in a deafeatest air, but as a warning to gird yourself , and the people of America for what will be very hard, costly days ahead.

The army is ashore..........there it must stay, must be reinforced, supported, or die.
To die, will mean defeat in this war.

The days action, briefly (you will, I suspect hear very much of what has occured in the days ahead in detail) is this:

The AM period of the day saw concentrated and continous air action over the beachhead, the bay at Davao, involving mainly my Combat patrols, P51's against multiple squadrons of Navy heavy fighters.
Interspersed amongst these were multiple land based raids, many containing Kamikaze planes

Battleship Missouri is sorely damaged, struck by 3 twin engined "betty" types and a heavy bomb
Battleship Mississipi also has suffered twin kamikaze hits.
Both battleships are retiring

The Kamikaze scourge, as feared, and warned, has reaped a horrible harvest this day, sinking no less than 5 fully loaded transports. Our losses at sea for infantry are now approaching 6000 men

During Mid morning, this task force came under repeated and sustained air attacks from land based air, 2 Cls heavily hit, but carriers Essex, and Franklin were both narrowly missed.
Enemy were roughly dealt with, these attacks severly restricted my own offensive efforts

Nevertheless, Battleship Nagato was put down in Davao bay during this period, Battleships Kirishima, and Hiei finally slowed with torpedo hits.

decisive actions occured this afternoon, with this Fleet engaged against enemy battleships and cruisers retiring towards Balikapapan to my West, and an enemy carrier task force to my east,

At this stage, it is understood that battleships Kongo, Kirishima, Hiei and two heavy cruisers of the Western task force have been sunk, and 4 others heavily damaged.
To the east, carrrier Shokakua has been sunk, CVL Chitose sunk, an unidentified CVL damaged.
Heavy hits to CV Zuikaku, kaga are reported, although both ships were last reported still steaming hard due east towards Truk

A carrier CV Unryu, is reported hit, but I cannot confirm this. Japans last Known carrier CV Taiho, was not sighted today, nor the battleships Yamato, Musashi.

If these should appear, Mr President, I regret to tell you, that I have no battlewagons to counter them at this time.

Carriers CV Franklin, CVL Princeton were both heavily hit today. I do not currently know if they are available for tomorrow.

Mr president, despite the damage to the Imperial Navy, I too must report that we are sorely hurt.
We have claims for 350 enemy planes today, but have lost 240 of our own.

Losses for the last 24 hours are, 2 BBs lost, 5 damaged, one fleet carrier lost, 3 damaged, 2 CVL damaged, 3 light cruisers, 2 DE's, a unknown number of transports.

Sir, at this point, with late 45 firmly in mind, I cannot risk the remaining carriers in close support of the beaches, the load will be taken up, yet again, by the CVE's, an order that fills myself with dread.

Mr president, I , in the spirit of truth, again warn you, that this battle will grind on for many days, even weeks yet, and losses will be heavy.
Unless some sort of war winning weapon can be produced, that finishes this horror in a single blow, we face many, many more bloody days yet on this hard road to tokyo.
We will fight on
Your Humble servant............

[1275psi]

'are you sure?

"Hiei burns from stem to stern........... he refused to leave the bridge"

I see"

Yamamato sighs, reaches across the map, and removes a single red pin.

A drop.........(a tear perhaps) of moisture , drops onto the map, onto the middle of davao bay.
The ink there, red, smears, runs............spreads.

[1275psi]

Two men, tired as well, sit under an aircraft wing.
Tacolaban

'how did we do Ogowa?"
Ogowa shrugs..........i think we have lost 16, for 16..but S701 is wrecked, I think we are down to 3 birds with them"
"that bad?"
"That bad"
"So, my fat friend, did you score?"
"Stitched two B-24s.............but you know............"
"they just kept on flying?"
"They kept on flying"

They fall into silence, contemplate the setting sun
"Tomorrow?"
"another round"
'crap, i was hoping you were going to say we had the day off"
"Funny one"
"yes, a funny one"


It is a beautiful sunset

[1275psi]

Abe stares at the dent below his feet.
Zuikaku has been hit by two bombs. One, through the flight deck, through the hanger deck, into the lower hanger.
It has exploded, bulging, bursting the deck above it. Once, he supposes, a fatal blow for a Japanese carrier.
This veteran crew has put the fires out within minutes.
The second has caroomed off her flank...........and caused little damage

Zuikaku fights on

A lucky day for them.
Kaga has been even luckier............her bomb hit was fair admidships............
And she reports "a slight scratch"

Shokaku, however is gone. 4 fish...............

He turns to his Captain. "We were lucky. Do we have fuel to reach Ulithi?"
"Yes .....but if there are no tankers".....................

There will be.............I cannot believe that we have got away.........



Ibuki may, barring SS, get home, despite three bombs
Chitose will not
Unryu is moderately damaged.


Japan has Taiho, Kaga, Zuikaku, Rhyuho?, yamato, Musashi, 2 CA, 2 CLAA, about 30 destroyers left. A mere shadow of the mighty fleet we once had.
They are ordered to gather in Japan, at Hiroshima.
5 tankers are filling at Manilla, designated for their support.

Enough, for one last run.

[1275psi]

Surat Thani falls

The retreat in Malaya begins.

The tanker crews in Singapore work around the clock.
One eye on the sky.............

[veji1]

Pfiou... I hadn't read for a while. You are still a monstruously good storyteller... And a darn good player. Tanaka's ride into the sunset just gave me goosebumps. The figure of the tragic doomed samurai. Wow.

The sun shines
red
on my sword, dripping blood"

[1275psi]

23rd.

Even before the sun rises, battle rages in Davao bay
6 allied DDs sweep in, seeking cripples.
They dispatch 4 E class boats, exchange blows with three Japanes destroyers.

They will retire as dawn breaks.



To the west, Haguro fires on a shadow on the horizon, a CVE, but there are no shells left.
Japans Navy fires its last shot for this battle

Now, it is time for the eagles..............





Snarling, Ogowas eagles arrive over the beaches at Dajangas.
Wildcats, teeth drawn, claws extended, meet them.

The brawl begins.

At full throttle, he races in, head on at the stubby barsted, a dot, a plane, a blue bird, huge.......zooming past....tracer passing terribly close.
Stick hard over, full rudder, screwing around, head hard back, looking, looking, fighters everywhere, a great milling circle of beasts,Tracer flicks past his left wing, Ogowa looks, abruptly straightens the turn, restarts it, the hell cat caught inside him now, rolling over, onto his tail............Damnation!another cat winging in, avoiding, avoiding.............

Looking around............there is time to, this battle is spread over miles and miles, a huge party.
A party only the dead are leaving.

A shadow...........Ah Diogowa!..........grinning still, the mad fool........


12000 feet below, the waters sparkle.......... covered in ships............
Fires on the front, the scars of the trenches and pill boxes.............the landing craft..ants running too and fro...........
Diogowa, pointing up............he see's them!..p 38's.
They do not scare him. Come on down my friends,...........come on down and play!






The battle will caroom across the sky for nearly thirty minutes..............13 NK2's will fall.
19 enemy will fall to them.

Fuel, ammunition exhausted, Ogowa's eagles must break for home.
below , the enemy too must refuel, rearm.
But japan has many more planes to commit than just Ogowa's eagles

The first strike, 45 old fighters, escorting 30 odd dive bombers at 14000 feet............an altitude now well above the dispersing fight over the beaches.
No Judys are lost in this first attack.............

CVE Hoggart bay............4 bombs
CVE Admiralty island..........2 torpedoes from just two Grace that race across the hills in the confusion...................
3 AK burn ............

The second strike, 50 oscars , 5 grace, 40 Jills, 12 francis.
The wildcats , 30 strong, defy them, claw at them, bring oscar after oscar down.

But it is such a short run , to come in over the hills, to hide in the back ground of the green and grey, (defeating any radar) to race across the battle, the beaches, to weave into, around the packed shipping..........to pick your targets

A torpedo bombers dream...........

CVE Esperance Bay...........sunk
CVE Hoggart bay, sunk, another AK

(Mr president, I , in the spirit of truth, again warn you, that this battle will grind on for many days, even weeks yet, and losses will be heavy.................)



But battles go both ways.
50 Liberators bomb Cotabato......and catch Ogowa's 401st group just climbing away. The field is smashed, planes and men lost

Diogowa "stitches up" another liberator.............but still cannot get another kill. He will dead stick land in the carnage of the field, his plane riddled, no longer grinning.



The attacks will go in all morning, another DD, another AK hit.
Then, mercifully, the rain comes, and hides the allies
Japan loses today 143 planes to 71
Ogowa's eagles lose 24 planes shot down, they claim close to 40 kills.


The allies keep landing
They have to.

Japan rotates air groups on the fields to the north, troops begin to unload at cagayan, many more creep closer to the battle, streaming across the mountains.

Another race.

(Japan, 668 AV to currently 1281 AV, forts 3)

[1275psi]

Important notice!

herbiesan is going to sea on NUSHIP Canberra, Australia's new Landing helicopter Dock Ship, for approximately 9 days, starting today to help witness trials, and to take a huge number of photos for training development (and sorry, no, I cannot post any here, so please do not ask)
No internet access.

On a second, even more important point, the game is 4 days ahead of the AAR, 4 very sorry days for the allies.............
cantona has written, that although he is still enjoying the game, he is WITP burnt out, and thus playing poorly .I wrote back, and told him to think about it while I am away, and offered to open peace negotiations.

I have had no reply yet, and thats 48 hours old

So, see you guys in a week and a bit!

regards

herbiesan

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: 1275psi

Important notice!

herbiesan is going to sea on NUSHIP Canberra, Australia's new Landing helicopter Dock Ship, for approximately 9 days, starting today to help witness trials, and to take a huge number of photos for training development (and sorry, no, I cannot post any here, so please do not ask)
No internet access.

On a second, even more important point, the game is 4 days ahead of the AAR, 4 very sorry days for the allies.............
cantona has written, that although he is still enjoying the game, he is WITP burnt out, and thus playing poorly .I wrote back, and told him to think about it while I am away, and offered to open peace negotiations.

I have had no reply yet, and thats 48 hours old

So, see you guys in a week and a bit!

regards

herbiesan

WAIT! Just in case something goes dreadfully wrong on those trials, tell us where you hid the gold! We'll keep it safe until you return!

Seriously, many thanks for a great work of historical fiction! Compelling drama!

Tell us all about the improvements in engine room comfort when you return! Bon Voyage!

[Long pig]

To my good friend Herbisan
You have had me shot down captured tired alone and frightened in your wonderful tale.
I too wish to see what happens to the gold and the two stokers who know of it's resting place.
Enjoy your time at sea again old friend! Sailors I think always desire to go down onto the sea in ships!
I think it is in your blood ... Bon voyage