Central China
Long pig and Bigglesworth pace the airfield, killing time.
They are due back soon, the great silver birds
Just after dawn 40 plus have left this great dusty field, target Nagasaki.
A great deal depends on this mission. A great deal more than the beginning of the bombing campaign against the homeland proper.
A great deal more indeed.
The "special weapon", is ready
But can it be delivered safely? Or is the risk of losing the Enola gay too great?
Today will tell.
They both hear it together, the uneven drone of the approaching bomber...and both see the trailling smoke too.
'Damnation"
Damnation indeed
Horrified they will watch them trickle home, trailling smoke, gaping holes...blood smeared canopies
Not a bomber returns undamaged
20 do not return at all.
And japan has used but a bare fraction of its fighter defence..............
The little ship that could.
Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition
RE: The little ship that could.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: The little ship that could.
Go BABY!
Can you destroy the A-Bomb if the -29 is intercepted and shot down? HECK YES! Certainly makes sense to me...
Can you destroy the A-Bomb if the -29 is intercepted and shot down? HECK YES! Certainly makes sense to me...
Member: Treaty, Reluctant Admiral and Between the Storms Mod Team.
RE: The little ship that could.
A bare fraction, how many are there?
RE: The little ship that could.
August 4th
Minando
From the diary of private Arsaki, 33rd division, 15th Army
Our supplies are now utterly exhasted. Every day we are bombed and straffed. My Brothers fall about me left and right, from starvation, disease, despair
How I hate these cursed mountains, this jungle.
our officers, those that remain, are planning the final attack.
Soon I die Mother, a life for my emperor.
Do not weep for me, anything must be better than this.
Minando
From the diary of private Arsaki, 33rd division, 15th Army
Our supplies are now utterly exhasted. Every day we are bombed and straffed. My Brothers fall about me left and right, from starvation, disease, despair
How I hate these cursed mountains, this jungle.
our officers, those that remain, are planning the final attack.
Soon I die Mother, a life for my emperor.
Do not weep for me, anything must be better than this.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: The little ship that could.
August 4, 5,th
Nothing much is happening, not if you ignore the russians swarming north, the chinese rushing east, the endless pounding at Minando, the starvation through out the land..............
No, nothing much...............
Nothing much is happening, not if you ignore the russians swarming north, the chinese rushing east, the endless pounding at Minando, the starvation through out the land..............
No, nothing much...............
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: The little ship that could.
August 7th
Susuzuki still lies at anchor at Kagoshima.
War or peace, the Harbour routine continues as time in memorable.
Call to hands at 0500, the fight for the wash basins, the securing of the hammocks, the cleaning and securing of the mess.
Then there follows the half hour Hirate and Okano both hate, the daily calisthenics, the (too them) pointless start jumps, the pushups.
Breakfast follows
Susuzuki musters to salute the flag at 0800 hrs precisely..........is there any navy that does not?
The ship is at Auxiliary steaming, Hirate and Okano have both been taken off the steaming watchbill for the moment, The Engineer has quickly spied the skill of his two new men.
Now they spend the day in the small cramped but well equiped, workshop.
These are good days. The work is steady, pump wear ring machining, shaft re conditioning, bearing replacements.
Good work, the work of skilled hands. Work that comes in, that you do, that you hand back well done.
It is even easy, at times, to forget the war.
The ship generally secures at 1600 hrs. There is no shore leave however.
Every night the ship exercises her damage control.
Watanabe has a slightly different slant to other ships of the fleet. They fight fires, they fight floods. Susuzuki's crw does this as well, but almost equal time is spent on challenging the men to learn other departments work.
Stokers man guns (an interesting moment when Okano and Hirate show their Yamato learnt skill on the guns), Gunners try not to be bewildered by the boilers
Whether the tactic will pay off remains to be seen.
But the evenings do pass quickly.
The evenings are filled with cards, Mojong, games. Rumours of a concert
Talk
The conversations range as far as any you and I would ever have had.
But they always return to the same thing.
The wars end.
It is coming.
If they survive it, what then?
Two men, at least, know exactly what .
Russia.
Under their own steam..
Susuzuki still lies at anchor at Kagoshima.
War or peace, the Harbour routine continues as time in memorable.
Call to hands at 0500, the fight for the wash basins, the securing of the hammocks, the cleaning and securing of the mess.
Then there follows the half hour Hirate and Okano both hate, the daily calisthenics, the (too them) pointless start jumps, the pushups.
Breakfast follows
Susuzuki musters to salute the flag at 0800 hrs precisely..........is there any navy that does not?
The ship is at Auxiliary steaming, Hirate and Okano have both been taken off the steaming watchbill for the moment, The Engineer has quickly spied the skill of his two new men.
Now they spend the day in the small cramped but well equiped, workshop.
These are good days. The work is steady, pump wear ring machining, shaft re conditioning, bearing replacements.
Good work, the work of skilled hands. Work that comes in, that you do, that you hand back well done.
It is even easy, at times, to forget the war.
The ship generally secures at 1600 hrs. There is no shore leave however.
Every night the ship exercises her damage control.
Watanabe has a slightly different slant to other ships of the fleet. They fight fires, they fight floods. Susuzuki's crw does this as well, but almost equal time is spent on challenging the men to learn other departments work.
Stokers man guns (an interesting moment when Okano and Hirate show their Yamato learnt skill on the guns), Gunners try not to be bewildered by the boilers
Whether the tactic will pay off remains to be seen.
But the evenings do pass quickly.
The evenings are filled with cards, Mojong, games. Rumours of a concert
Talk
The conversations range as far as any you and I would ever have had.
But they always return to the same thing.
The wars end.
It is coming.
If they survive it, what then?
Two men, at least, know exactly what .
Russia.
Under their own steam..
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: The little ship that could.
Just after midnight, 30000 drunk, screaming, hopless soldiers burst in great human swarms out of the jungles , down from the hills , out of the ravines, from the caves of central Minando.
The food is gone
The ammunition gone
Hope, gone.
"take one with you"
They will try
5 allied divisions and armour wait for them.
20000 will fall.
And the allied lines will barely be reached, let alone breached.
The blood will flow freely through them however. Thick, stinking, horrible.
The commander of the Aussie 6th division sends a signal that will haunt him forever
'send Bulldozers'
There will be no other way to handle so many dead.
The food is gone
The ammunition gone
Hope, gone.
"take one with you"
They will try
5 allied divisions and armour wait for them.
20000 will fall.
And the allied lines will barely be reached, let alone breached.
The blood will flow freely through them however. Thick, stinking, horrible.
The commander of the Aussie 6th division sends a signal that will haunt him forever
'send Bulldozers'
There will be no other way to handle so many dead.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
-
Mike McCreery
- Posts: 4341
- Joined: Sat Jun 29, 2013 2:58 pm
RE: The little ship that could.
August the 8th
The Killing at Minando continues.
Smaller squads, companies, units this night.
Same piles of bodies, failed attacks, shattered units.
The survivors crawl back into the hills.
The Killing at Minando continues.
Smaller squads, companies, units this night.
Same piles of bodies, failed attacks, shattered units.
The survivors crawl back into the hills.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: The little ship that could.
8th August
The RUSSIANS take PEKING.
An interesting moment.
"return it to our Ancestors, or face a million years of war"
Stalin will have to step adroitly indeed, if WW3 is not to begin right now............
The RUSSIANS take PEKING.
An interesting moment.
"return it to our Ancestors, or face a million years of war"
Stalin will have to step adroitly indeed, if WW3 is not to begin right now............
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: The little ship that could.
Extract from Shattering the Sword, a cantona production
The British Army has for months, besieged Singapore.
The Japanese Army has been chased deep into Vietnam, supposedly impotent and lost.
Not so.
The trains have been running long, hard, taking every able bodied man they can carry to Hanoi.
Un noticed, it appears.
Today 7 divisions attack across the vietnamese / china border at Laing Son, headed east
The 52nd Chinese Corp is the guard unit.
It is flattened.
A "back door attack"
More like a rogering...............
The British Army has for months, besieged Singapore.
The Japanese Army has been chased deep into Vietnam, supposedly impotent and lost.
Not so.
The trains have been running long, hard, taking every able bodied man they can carry to Hanoi.
Un noticed, it appears.
Today 7 divisions attack across the vietnamese / china border at Laing Son, headed east
The 52nd Chinese Corp is the guard unit.
It is flattened.
A "back door attack"
More like a rogering...............
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: The little ship that could.
Perhaps it will serve as a small distraction to the Allies...maybe...possibly...
Member: Treaty, Reluctant Admiral and Between the Storms Mod Team.
RE: The little ship that could.
August 9th 1945
Enemy carriers sighted near Jolo island, headed towards Hong Kong.............
(along with a gazzillion other ships)
Hirate is dreaming. It is a vivid dream. He is standing on the batting plate, and the pitcher is about to throw.
But there is something wrong with his bat.
No matter how hard he tries, he cannot seem to lift it............
'Wake up idiot!"
Conciousness floods in. Its dark, the mess is hot, stinking.
It is the Chief........incredibly.......
'get your arse below............we have to sail in two hours........."
he vanishes, his progress however is clear across the mess as a great many dreams are shattered.
Hirate groans.
0300 hours
If its such a goddam rush why not just broadcast it, call action stations?
Foggy brained he dreses, stumbles forward.
And then it strikes him........the rest of the ship is still asleep. What in the truck?
Okano runs into him, coming in from outside
"What the hell is going on?"
Okano pulls him through the door into the dark morning, and points across the bay
Carrier Unryu's stack broils dark smoke
Zuikaku's funnel whistles steam
Raising steam.................
"'Crud"
Okano grins........"I think this Charge of ours might be on the ball you know, come on, lets get to it"
Susuzuki is called to action stations an hour later, and her stokers are already ready.
She sails, along with the vast majority of Japans remaining navy, an hour after that.
Course south West.
Destination yet unknown.
Enemy carriers sighted near Jolo island, headed towards Hong Kong.............
(along with a gazzillion other ships)
Hirate is dreaming. It is a vivid dream. He is standing on the batting plate, and the pitcher is about to throw.
But there is something wrong with his bat.
No matter how hard he tries, he cannot seem to lift it............
'Wake up idiot!"
Conciousness floods in. Its dark, the mess is hot, stinking.
It is the Chief........incredibly.......
'get your arse below............we have to sail in two hours........."
he vanishes, his progress however is clear across the mess as a great many dreams are shattered.
Hirate groans.
0300 hours
If its such a goddam rush why not just broadcast it, call action stations?
Foggy brained he dreses, stumbles forward.
And then it strikes him........the rest of the ship is still asleep. What in the truck?
Okano runs into him, coming in from outside
"What the hell is going on?"
Okano pulls him through the door into the dark morning, and points across the bay
Carrier Unryu's stack broils dark smoke
Zuikaku's funnel whistles steam
Raising steam.................
"'Crud"
Okano grins........"I think this Charge of ours might be on the ball you know, come on, lets get to it"
Susuzuki is called to action stations an hour later, and her stokers are already ready.
She sails, along with the vast majority of Japans remaining navy, an hour after that.
Course south West.
Destination yet unknown.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
-
british exil
- Posts: 1686
- Joined: Thu May 04, 2006 6:26 pm
- Location: Lower Saxony Germany
RE: The little ship that could.
ORIGINAL: 1275psi
Hirate is dreaming. It is a vivid dream. He is standing on the batting plate, and the pitcher is about to throw.
But there is something wrong with his bat.
No matter how hard he tries, he cannot seem to lift it............
Ah baseball! Long are the days when the crew of the little ship had their big baseball match. Memories of so long ago. Names faded. Some passed away. Heroic deaths or simply vanished from the face of the earth.
Mat
Did not want to start looking but it seems like an eternity when the baseball match was played.
"It is not enough to expect a man to pay for the best, you must also give him what he pays for." Alfred Dunhill
WitE,UV,AT,ATG,FoF,FPCRS
WitE,UV,AT,ATG,FoF,FPCRS
-
Smoky Stoker
- Posts: 87
- Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:34 pm
RE: The little ship that could.
@ british exil
You have a clean mind. I remember waking up in my bunk and finding the bat still in my hand many a time.
You have a clean mind. I remember waking up in my bunk and finding the bat still in my hand many a time.
"Leveling large cities has a tendency to alienate the affections of the inhabitants and does not create an atmosphere of international good will after the war." -Rear Admiral Daniel V. Gallery
RE: The little ship that could.
August the 10th
Japan has not been lying quietly, waiting to be crushed
Other hidden operations, small, but still vital have been occuring.
In the last month numbers of individual cargo ships have been dispatched via Iwo Jima, Siapan. All, surprisingly , have arrived safely at Truk, Biak, Neomfor, Palua.
A tanker convoy of 2 and escorts has even undertaken the journey Siapan, palua, Minando, and arrived undetected at Balikapapan, and begun filling
Another however, of three tankers and 10 E class escorts has been sighted creeping along the southern edge of the celebes sea, south of Minando
A singlr bomb has lightly damaged one tanker.
But Japan also see's (from search mainly at Jolo) a huge stream of ships headed across the Celebes sea, north of the tankers, south of Minando island.
There are three e class at Tarakan
2 at Balikapapan, 3 in the central phillipines, and of course those convoy escorts.
What to do?
Japanese sailors know only one thing
Attack!
The escorts are peeled from the convoy, sent North to Jolo island
At midnight, intercept
7 unescorted Liberty ships, full of fuel
All burn nicely..................
If you were just looking at the red dots, its not the Japanese army surrounded at Minando.
Its the allied one cut off in the phillipines..................
Japan has not been lying quietly, waiting to be crushed
Other hidden operations, small, but still vital have been occuring.
In the last month numbers of individual cargo ships have been dispatched via Iwo Jima, Siapan. All, surprisingly , have arrived safely at Truk, Biak, Neomfor, Palua.
A tanker convoy of 2 and escorts has even undertaken the journey Siapan, palua, Minando, and arrived undetected at Balikapapan, and begun filling
Another however, of three tankers and 10 E class escorts has been sighted creeping along the southern edge of the celebes sea, south of Minando
A singlr bomb has lightly damaged one tanker.
But Japan also see's (from search mainly at Jolo) a huge stream of ships headed across the Celebes sea, north of the tankers, south of Minando island.
There are three e class at Tarakan
2 at Balikapapan, 3 in the central phillipines, and of course those convoy escorts.
What to do?
Japanese sailors know only one thing
Attack!
The escorts are peeled from the convoy, sent North to Jolo island
At midnight, intercept
7 unescorted Liberty ships, full of fuel
All burn nicely..................
If you were just looking at the red dots, its not the Japanese army surrounded at Minando.
Its the allied one cut off in the phillipines..................
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: The little ship that could.
Combined fleets mission lasts less then six hours
CV Unryu is torpedoed by a single fish with Japan still in sight.
(18 flood, 18 system)
The mission, still a mystery to Watanabe, is cancelled. The fleet about turns, makes for Hiroshima, and its docks.
CV Unryu is torpedoed by a single fish with Japan still in sight.
(18 flood, 18 system)
The mission, still a mystery to Watanabe, is cancelled. The fleet about turns, makes for Hiroshima, and its docks.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt
RE: The little ship that could.
Bump to move from second page purgatory. [:)]
RE: The little ship that could.
12 August
Watanabe peers through the thin sea mist. Somewhere over THERE..............the marker bouy. And somewhere beyond THAT, hidden by the damn mist, Nagasaki.
"Slow ahead both"
tension fills the air.
About them, mirror calm seas', deep, deep blue. Scattered fishing boats,
And the damn mist.
Unryu lies 200 yaqrds astern, upright, down a little at the bows.. The fish has caused surprisingly little flooding. Almost so little it could be ignored in these desperate times. But for the fact the fwd elevator is jammed solid half way down, a zero still perched upon it, stranded, however.........
There are 7 other destroyers with Watanabe, 2 he can see, the others..gone.
'Unryu is reporting "I am having difficulties,, I need to slow to contain flooding"
he will need to contain more than slow flooding if a damn Sub spots her..........goddam, lets get her into port............
But he can only reply as any Captain can 'very well...keep an extra eye out, this is damn dangerous..."
Its only 120 miles from Kagoshima to Nagasaki..............about 119 of them filled with potential peril.
Watanabe peers through the thin sea mist. Somewhere over THERE..............the marker bouy. And somewhere beyond THAT, hidden by the damn mist, Nagasaki.
"Slow ahead both"
tension fills the air.
About them, mirror calm seas', deep, deep blue. Scattered fishing boats,
And the damn mist.
Unryu lies 200 yaqrds astern, upright, down a little at the bows.. The fish has caused surprisingly little flooding. Almost so little it could be ignored in these desperate times. But for the fact the fwd elevator is jammed solid half way down, a zero still perched upon it, stranded, however.........
There are 7 other destroyers with Watanabe, 2 he can see, the others..gone.
'Unryu is reporting "I am having difficulties,, I need to slow to contain flooding"
he will need to contain more than slow flooding if a damn Sub spots her..........goddam, lets get her into port............
But he can only reply as any Captain can 'very well...keep an extra eye out, this is damn dangerous..."
Its only 120 miles from Kagoshima to Nagasaki..............about 119 of them filled with potential peril.
big seas, fast ships, life tastes better with salt